Pet Recharge Inheritance Change


300_below

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Powers like Lightning Storm, Voltaic Sentinel and Auto Turret are precisely the powers that were targeted by this fix. Making exemptions for them would defeat the purpose, don't you think?

[/ QUOTE ]

I may be coming in a bit late into this, but I have one question for you Castle:

Can you honestly tell me that Voltaic Sentinel needed a "nerf"

or really, that anything in electric blast needed it?

Side note: I have an elec/dev that I love dearly, and actually, until this change was mentioned, I didn't know that VS or Gun Drone could even inherit hasten (drat!) so it won't really affect me that much, but I just want to make it clear that you see Elec as being in the "above average" category


No

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

I think you underestimate our fools, sir.

Why /duel is a bad idea

 

Posted

This late in the thread, my comments here will probably essentially be eaten by the forum monsters, but I still feel the desire to add my input.

Please reconsider the goals of this patch, or at the very least, modify your goals into two separate categories.

Is the main goal here in the change of recharge values specifically targeted at Lightning Storm, Voltaic Sentinal and Gun drone, or is your specific goal that of finally "fixing" the Pet AIs?

If the main goal is to make LS, VS and GD less "godmode" to IO users, I plead before the developers to change their mind. if that is the primary goal, then there has to be another way that allows *some* modification; I don't mind losing the +rech that is part of enhancements, but losing the pet recharge from global set bonuses, the force feedback proc, hasten and other *character* enhancing buffs, then it falls into the design of the pet inheritance code.

If the main goal is to "Fix" the pet AIs on permanant (and semi-perma pets like Dark servant) that actually follow you around and have an attack chain of their own, so that they no longer get "hung up" on chaining one attack at a time, then please, limit this change to the pet powers that have more than one power in their attack chain. if this second possible goal is the truly important thing to fix this issue, then please, find something else that will work for non-targetable, single-attack pets.

the AI has to be limited in recharge, that is understood, and a fix that will have a highly desirable effect on two pet-equipped archtypes is worth the cost of one powersets 'extra'. that said, I ask that these two issues be addressed separately, rather than subjecting both issues to the same patch. LS, VS and GD are stronger than intended due to IOs, but they are not currently game-breaking. As an alternative, consider buffing these powers (VS and GD especially) to a more desirable level if this range of upgradability is removed from them.

even if only temporarily, please exempt any pet powers from this change that only have one attack to chain. their AI isn't having trouble.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Haven't read the rest of the thread except for spots here and there but my thoughts are these.....

Sparky was buffed a couple issues ago because it was under performing. It's not targettable (so it can't be destroyed), it accepts recharge enhancements, it has a finite duration, you can only have one out at a time, and it's recharge time matches its duration with out slotting, so the only reason that recharge is even allowed is that you devs know it was there to speed up the firing of sparky's blasts. In essence this nerf nullifies the buff that Sparky received so he's back to the same level of underperformance that he was pre-buff.

Auto turret was a poor performing pet. It took too long to cast, was interruptible, and was only mobile through the "unforseen" use of recall friend. When you fixed the griefing exploit from using TP foe on Malta turrets you made the old turret non-viable. It's "buff" was in the current form on live. Self mobile instead of fixed and able to accept recharge since it is both destroyable and has a shorter duration than recharge. Recharge still has a function here but the firing speed nerf makes gun drone not worth the power pick again. (If you want to really make gun drone worth it make it identical to the Malta Gun Drone. 1 second of non-interruptible cast time. Even at the current endurance costs and with the recharge nerf this would make it a viable power.)

Lightning storm was always good, even back in the days of SOs only. This change for Lightening storm just takes it from Uber back to good again so I have no reason to complain here.

Recharge intensive pet sets. I understood that these were created to increase the firing rate of the pets that they were accepted into. What exactly is their purpose now? Sparky accepts them but post nerf gets absolutely no benefit from the "recharge intensive" part of the set or the recharge aspect that's a part of the IOs in these sets. Since Sparky isn't targettable it's not affected by recharge slows pre-change anyway.

Gun Drone "could" actually benefit from the recharge in the intensive pets sets and the purple set but it can't slot them. What gives here?

What's the chances of getting some consistancy on pet rules before taking the proverbial machette to all of them?

How about waiting an issue (it's all ready in place on live can it be worse by waiting an issue to get a real fix toghether?) and actually getting consistant pet rules for all pet class powers (taking destroyable and non-destroyable into account) and making a game wide improvement instead of nerfs of various strengths?

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree 100 percent with THIS GUY.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
blah blah blah, out of context blah blah pyramid blah blah missing the point blah

[/ QUOTE ]

Your comments are summed up perfectly there, you seem to be accusing people of taking advantage of a "loophole" which is farcical, this has been the status quo for 7 issues and certainly known about within the dev team (but not by the majority of players) People will have become used to however this effects their damage output and this will unfairly effect many players.

[/ QUOTE ]

K.... and in my counterargument I will compare granite armor to pff to make my point that I should be able to attack through the pff... because that to me was the way you were going.

And since i5? Like before Io's, villains, and such? What the hell does the KTF have to do with anything? And as much as you would like to believe that large groups of people were using (hamis?) to get past the recharge of gun drones and Vs I can pretty much assure you that that is not true.

And people got used to it? People got used to the smoke grenade fix, mag 100 protection in Acro, and a number of things.... what is your point exactly? Oh yes, if people get used to something it should stay that way forever.


[ QUOTE ]
What I find galling though is sub par powers are being held up as examples of specifics that need this "nerf" VS and Gun Drone, without any lip service whatsoever of "if we find this affects said power too negatively we will look at what we can do to improve it" That line alone would have shut up 90% of people annoyed at this change, we cannot expect that as a given as player powers have remained broken and unchanged for years previously.

[/ QUOTE ]

They are being held up as examples of what it is supposed to do and what it is actually doing? I just thought he chose them because they were the clearest examples (ie only one attack) of the problem... and not because they were overpowered (a shark that seems to be jumped alot in this thread).....

[ QUOTE ]
This is just another nerf that they tried to pass off as a buff "yeah yeah it will fix retarded pet ai....maybe....perhaps....in one pet....."


[/ QUOTE ]

From the little I know of coding it is pretty much impossible to tell whether or not a bug will be fixed until after you do the change... more so in more complex systems. From my (very little) experience it tends to be trial and error until you solve the problem. As much as you would like for them to leave certain aspects untouched while they try to fix negative aspects... I'm pretty sure that is impossible/very hard to do.

[ QUOTE ]

and "but dont worry, your pets wont be able to be speed DEBUFFED either..... you know all those rampaging mobs that -recharge debuff your pets.....well ok theres hardly any.....


[/ QUOTE ]

You mean besides the 5th column, arachnoids, Arachnos (soldiers, widows, fortunatas, Tarantulas, the robots), banished parthenon, Cabal, Carnival of shadows, Circle of thorns, Coralax, Council, Crey, Devoured Earth, Freakshow, Knives of artemis, longbow, The lost, Malta, Outcasts, Paragon Police Department, Paragon protectors, Psychic Clockwork, Rikti, Soldiers of Ruluruu, Tsoo, Vahzilok, Vanguard, Winter hord, and Wyvern?

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't forget the Sky Raiders machete that slows too.
And Nictus.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It would make so much more sense if we simply were allowed to slot any power with any kind of enhancement.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, it actually wouldn't. Some powers would see no benefit from certain enhancements even if you could slot it. What do you imagine an end mod enhancements would do to improve Gun Drone? Oh wait...nothing!

Now I have jumped on the devs myself when they have done things that I don't agree with. Repeatedly.

I am honestly having trouble though, with the 'huge number' of people who suddenly find that -recharge was the only thing making their pets worth a damn.

If pets NEED that type of boost to be effective, then there is something wrong with the pet...period. If Gun Drone is 'useless' without a -recharge to its attack and LS is laughable without a -recharge to its attack and VS is also similarly useless, then these things need a buff. Especially since that -recharge buff was a side effect of something introduced to the game that wasn't initially meant to happen.

When someone comes and posts about how they are shelving all their storm toons because suddenly, they are broken and worthless, its silly.

[/ QUOTE ]

What is really silly is that a tier 9 power is totally subpar to others when it is not properly enhanced, including -recharge among others.

While at the same time some other powers that are right out of the box awesome ( like MindLink ) can still get even better because they keep their "sneak -recharge IO slotting" untouched.

Silly indeed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe what's silly is that people have a preconceived notion of what a power is supposed to do and don't look at the context of the power and the set it is in.

Lightning Storm is a compliment to the other powers in the Storm Summoning set. Its still a power for defenders, controllers and corruptors. I highly doubt its purpose was to be a stand-alone mini-blaster. It does AoE knockback and some damage. When used with the rest of the storm powers...its hardly subpar.

VS and Gun Drone, and this is just my opinion, both need a second attack or utility function to round them out. That does not mean that they should inherit recharge to attacks from the caster or IO sets.

Yes, I understand that some people will be affected, but I don't think they are affected to the degree where the toon is so much less effective, that they need to shelve it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Its not that people will shelve them because they are much less effective, people are disgruntled because they can see "weaker" sets getting weaker. We dont have fire/kins in here complaining because quite frankly fire/imps is not where they get their damage from, the majority of that is from hotfeet, but poo man from earth control however needs all the DPS he can get Jack frost too (yeah yeah this magical fix will resolve all AI issues they would ahve us beleive but people on test are not reporting this)

VS and Gun Drone are just insulting powers in their current state even with their current "game breaking" ability to recycle their attacks faster. The cost to summon these is 26 end per minute which is rediculous, to put it in context if the crappy patron epic pets were on the same cost to existence ratio they would cost 104 end per summon, so you would need an accolade before even being able to summon it and these are powers in primary and secondary sets.

Many other summmons cost 26 end but not per 60 seconds, we have

Dark Extraction
Phantom Army
All patron pets
Dark servant
Fire imps
Phantasm
Fly trap

and probably more, all with longer durations, ranging from 200 seconds (dark extraction i beleive you can still get multiples of them out as well) to perma. I dont think anyones asking for GD and VS to be perma but even if they were it wouldnt make much of a difference as they still recycle the one crappy attack as opposed to the much better "pets" listed above and I never ever thought I would be calling a patron pet better than anything.

[/ QUOTE ]


I agree here, the cost of this power should be brought down significantly or the length of its life extened.

OR....

one more option....

For those who played GodofWar 2...the "Voltaic Sentinals" in that game, at the end of thier life would explode doing damage...

So if when its life was almost over, the VS zeroed in on the nearest target and went suicide-bombed that target (sort of like Photon Morons). Then keeping the current life and end cost would be fine.

Since I doubt that will ever happen, I think that extending its life would be the best option for balance. Make the thing live for 3 minutes, have the base recharge at 3 minutes, that way itÂ’s rare for people to have more than one out at a time.


Another option, would be to give VS "ball lightning" with the same recharge as its other single shot attack. That would almost make the power worth it.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I am just saying now that you take away something that some MMs been enjoying (-recharge in pet's attack chain), are there gonna be some adjustments to make up for it?

[/ QUOTE ]

Fixing their pets' attack cycling generally makes up for it...

[/ QUOTE ]

You're assuming that the change really did that. From what I've seen only the Bruiser is behaving better.

[/ QUOTE ]

Really? Because that goes against other people's reports in this thread...

[/ QUOTE ]

Really.

There are several vague claims of improvement, but I view any reports that don't give details with skepticism. And so should everyone else. If you can't tell me in what way a pet is better (or worse) now than before, then the claim that it is can't be given much weight.

First, it makes me doubt that the claim is based on observation: Are there no details because there are none to report?

Second, it makes me doubt the reporter's ability to make detailed observations: Are there no details because the reporter is unable to distinguish them?

Third, it only tells me the reporter's opinion of whether the behavior is better or not: the notion of "better" is left vague.

So to me, someone saying "they behave better now" is an untrustworthy claim (and I use the word "untrustworthy" advisedly here). I need the facts regarding the behavior of the pet so that I can decide for myself whether that is better than what the pet is doing now or not. Even if it's not better or worse, any change may still be of interest to some.

[Edit: Removed a redundancy.]


Kosmos

Global: @Calorie
MA Arcs in 4-star purgatory: Four in a Row (#2198) - Hostile Takeover (#69714) - Red Harvest (#268305)

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
"Increases attack rate" can easily be interpreted to mean that the pet's attack rate is being increased by slotting the IO. The people who thought this was a normal, expected result of slotting the IO didn't need to execute an epic logical long-jump to reach their conclusion.

[/ QUOTE ]

As I recall, pretty much EVERY -O reads that way - and in every instance it increase how often the player's power recharges.


Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net

Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

"Increases attack rate" can easily be interpreted to mean that the pet's attack rate is being increased by slotting the IO. The people who thought this was a normal, expected result of slotting the IO didn't need to execute an epic logical long-jump to reach their conclusion.


[/ QUOTE ]

As I recall, pretty much EVERY -O reads that way - and in every instance it increase how often the player's power recharges.


[/ QUOTE ]

Indeed, it's not just Set IOs - and demonstrates how in-game text can contribute to confusion and "unintended" uses. Especially since live-server Pet power recharge *is* affected in many cases, making the "increases attack rate" statement quite true.

"increases attack rate"
- Whose "attack rate" is increased? the player's? targeted pets? pseudopets? Are there exceptions (player's SoW, Mind Link)?
- Does this still benefit powers that are not an "attack"?
- Does it make a PBAoE toggle power hit enemies more often?
- Etc.
These are all legitimate questions from a new player, or one who is exploring the Real Numbers and IO system. The combination of help text, combat attribute monitoring, enhancement placement window, and even player testing can give conflicting or incomplete answers, and even if perfect still does not reliably indicate "intended" use.

"reduces delay before the power can be reactivated" seems closer to expressing the developers' apparent intended function for recharge SO/IOs.

When changes in code or intended gameplay are made, I encourage adjustment to the corresponding help text at the same time. If something is unintended but not exploitable to the degree that it warrants secrecy and emergency codefixes, then warning the players of the existence of the bug through a Bug List or similar means is a reasonable approach that I'd like to see.


 

Posted

Why all the hub bub about this? Doesn't the lack of pet recharge buffing pretty much even out considering they can no longer be slowed? Given that and the fact that at least thugs have better AI now this is clearly a buff and not a nerf at all.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Why all the hub bub about this? Doesn't the lack of pet recharge buffing pretty much even out considering they can no longer be slowed? Given that and the fact that at least thugs have better AI now this is clearly a buff and not a nerf at all.

[/ QUOTE ]What about the psuedo pets like Lightning storm, Voltiac Sentinal ?


Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator

Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!

 

Posted

It is indeed a nerf. I entirely understand re-adjusting LS and other powers that were never meant to have their attack rate increased, and MM pets dont necessarily get much use out of +recharge, barring mercs and other pets with really long recharge attacks, but this is still a nerf. And why? Because Controllers and other corruptors and any other buffers who had pets could buff the pets recharge on a regular basis, every mission, and it was a legal buff, from a legal move, and that was part of their characters' duo powersets benefits. But now those trollers cant do that and their pets will be weakened quite a bit. Slows on the other hand from the enemy arent anywhere near common enough hitting pets to make the change an equal exchange, not to mention because many powers that give +recharge to the pets are already giving slow resist anyway.

I do understand why they did it, and i would be fine with it, but i think they need to give a bigger buff to adjust for what they did. Some masterminds DID get weakened by this, and mercs by a longshot. Necro probably would consider this a nerf as well, because they already have good slow resist.

Personally, i think making the pets that got uber messed up by this and the pseudo pets that were never intended to get buffed like LS should not take recharge attack rate buffs at all, but as for the normal pets, maybe give them a slight damage buff. As for the rest of the pets that were fine, just give them 50% resist to recharge attack rate buffs or something, so that the FF proc and players buffs, and some IO buffs (because we should be able to add recharge to our attacks through pets like a blaster can to its fireball) can still actually help their pets somehow. Or maybe just make a recharge cap for pets. BAM! That seems like something that would help. But the devs know a lot more than i do, but i still think the compensation for the buffage lost was simply not adequate, and i think a lot of players might be happier if something more was added, because like i said, there simply arent enough slows in the game from enemies to make that worth it.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Sparky accepts them but post nerf gets absolutely no benefit from the "recharge intensive" part of the set or the recharge aspect that's a part of the IOs in these sets.

[/ QUOTE ]As has been said several dozen times already, that recharge will *still* allow you to get the pet out more often. Which was the point of these sets in the first place.

[/ QUOTE ]
That may be the point of those sets but it is a point wasted on Voltaic Sentinel. It is a summons that doesn't stack whose duration = its recharge time.


 

Posted

What about the pseudo pets? They used to be able to be slowed too right? So even they will benefit or at least break even much of the time.

Those ideas sound reasonable FreshFish but I run into slows all the time in this game even outside of PvP so don't think it's quite all that one sided.


 

Posted

I just tested these awful changes using the ninjas. It doesnt help them at all. They still get stuck in the loop and spam darts. The only way they dont is if I use the goto aggressive command or teleport foe or if the critter closes to melee. Otherwise they just spam darts.


Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator

Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Powers like Lightning Storm, Voltaic Sentinel and Auto Turret are precisely the powers that were targeted by this fix. Making exemptions for them would defeat the purpose, don't you think?

[/ QUOTE ]

I may be coming in a bit late into this, but I have one question for you Castle:

Can you honestly tell me that Voltaic Sentinel needed a "nerf"

or really, that anything in electric blast needed it?

Side note: I have an elec/dev that I love dearly, and actually, until this change was mentioned, I didn't know that VS or Gun Drone could even inherit hasten (drat!) so it won't really affect me that much, but I just want to make it clear that you see Elec as being in the "above average" category

[/ QUOTE ]
You haven't missed anything Psyonico. Hasten doesn't affect Voltaic Sentinel's firing rate on Live servers. Also not affecting Sparky's attack are Aim, Build Up, Enrages, Defiance, and Recharge enhancements. The only thing I've tested that has any effect is EndMod IO sets. I have not tested Recharge Intensive Pet stes and am not going to.


 

Posted

The pseudopets most posters are discussing could not be targetted and were not directly affected by recharge debuffs. If the player was suffering from a recharge debuff at the time the pseudopet was summoned, then that recharge debuff would be passed through to a subset of those pseudopets.

However, a number of factors combine to leave this a net loss for many pseudopet users.
1) Hasten's recharge buff is large, long-lasting, and common
2) Team buffs such as AM and SB are seen fairly often
3) Pseudopets are often summoned prior to battle when no debuffs are on the player
4a) Pseudopet summoners (blasters, defenders, controllers) on teams are less likely to get aggro from multiple stacking or one large recharge debuffer(s)
4b) Pseudopet summoners soloing are likely to control, debuff, or defeat recharge debuffers before the recharge debuffs can hit
5) Set IO users could see additional benefits, but this was less common knowledge.

There will be some cases where the benefit of recharge debuff immunity outweighs the lost damage/control, but my pseudopet-using characters will almost never experience those cases. Players who intentionally take aggro, position themselves near an aggro-holder when AoE recharge debuffs are being fired, or are less aware of enemy position, powers, and attack sequence may experience those cases more often.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Perhaps some time away from math, spreadsheets and tables would do Castle some good, pick up a character and play it on live.

[/ QUOTE ] This is why sometimes player experience will trump the numbers they get from so called datamine. I cant believe for one minute that anyone is using VS, Gun Drone or LS in an overpowered way. I am still waiting for what the real reason is behind this nerf because the stated reasons dont make sense at all when everyone knows those powers are subpar in what they do.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, this wasn't done because they were over preforming. It was done because they were broken.

No Dev said these powers were overpowered in the way you're implying they did. They said they were getting more recharge in a way they didn't like that bent/broke the rules.

If the powers are broken, then they're broken. If they get fixed and that makes them weaker then they should be. Then they should get rebalanced to make them good powers.

Unless you're saying the opposite?


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Again, this wasn't done because they were over preforming. It was done because they were broken.

[/ QUOTE ]
Please explain to me how casting Speed Boost on Animate Stone was "broken," and how making Speed Boost do nothing for Animate Stone but raise run speed is "fixed." Because I'm not getting it.

Or, we could agree that this is a sledgehammer "fix" that impacts things far beyond the one or two nails that maybe needed to be hammered.

Also, insert standard rant about using "broken" as a rationale for game changes, since it's purely subjective and unverifiable, logically equivalent to "because the game bible says so." For example, if Castle says the PvE damage levels on Flares and Blaze are going to be switched because the game bible says Flares is intended to do more damage than Blaze, would you just accept the fact that they're "broken?"


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I keep waiting for Castle to snap and post something that gets modded.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd love to see something like:

Castle: O yeah <bleep> <bleepers> take this, instant healing is now a toggle again, vengeance gives 2% defense so who cares if you stack it, and fire blast now shoots fluffy bunnies in PvP. Mwuhahahah!


Infinity and Victory mostly
dUmb, etc.
lolz PvP anymore, Market PvP for fun and profit

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I just tested these awful changes using the ninjas. It doesnt help them at all. They still get stuck in the loop and spam darts. The only way they dont is if I use the goto aggressive command or teleport foe or if the critter closes to melee. Otherwise they just spam darts.

[/ QUOTE ]...you must use some pretty stupid ninjas, because mine behave just fine.

Or maybe you're so dead-set against this change (like any change to the game...) that you're going to say that it fails no matter what.

[ QUOTE ]
and fire blast now shoots fluffy bunnies in PvP.

[/ QUOTE ]I approve this change.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]

If the powers are broken, then they're broken. If they get fixed and that makes them weaker then they should be. Then they should get rebalanced to make them good powers.


[/ QUOTE ]

I agree, to a certain extent; having been involved in software design I know there are some problems where the "it's broken we have to fix it" mentality is appropriate. However...

Implement a reasonable solution *simultaneously* with changes to mitigate the side effects, such as buffs to certain pets. Rebalancing doesn't need to wait; it can be based on numerical adjustments to a previously-mined dataset, on testing under conditions that simulate post-fix gameplay, and on discussion between the players and developers.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]

I just tested these awful changes using the ninjas. It doesnt help them at all. They still get stuck in the loop and spam darts. The only way they dont is if I use the goto aggressive command or teleport foe or if the critter closes to melee. Otherwise they just spam darts.


[/ QUOTE ]

Would you describe the other conditions and results in your test? For example:

Does their behavior on Test match their behavior on Live servers? If not, how is it different?
Which upgrades had you applied to the pets?
What enemies were you fighting?
What powers (if any) were you using, such as Tar Patch, immobilizes, holds, knockback powers...?
Were the pets or enemies on any unusual or uneven terrain?
Is there else that you think might be influencing the pets' behavior?

If you have already reported the issue elsewhere, please ignore this. I was going to test my Robots and Zombies tomorrow and it would help me to know if I should include certain test conditions.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Again, this wasn't done because they were over preforming. It was done because they were broken.

[/ QUOTE ]
Please explain to me how casting Speed Boost on Animate Stone was "broken," and how making Speed Boost do nothing for Animate Stone but raise run speed is "fixed." Because I'm not getting it.

[/ QUOTE ]

It wasn't. No one said it was. It was caught in the crossfire. Castle's already said this wasn't really what they wanted. But the only other alternative to fixing what they wanted to would have resulted in a much worse situation.


[ QUOTE ]

Also, insert standard rant about using "broken" as a rationale for game changes, since it's purely subjective and unverifiable, logically equivalent to "because the game bible says so."

[/ QUOTE ]

Er, what is and isn't broken isn't really subjective OR unverifiable.

Does it work X way: Y/N?

Is it suppose to work Y way: Y/N?

If Y to both. Is broken.

[ QUOTE ]

For example, if Castle says the PvE damage levels on Flares and Blaze are going to be switched because the game bible says Flares is intended to do more damage than Blaze, would you just accept the fact that they're "broken?"

[/ QUOTE ]

The argument is illogical. The "Game Bible" as you describe it doesn't exist. If you mean the one I outlined above. Well, that one wouldn't encounter a situation like this. For the most part, the Devs have provided adequate explanation and reasoning behind all of the changes I've questioned. The change you've suggest above doesn't follow any logic.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Recharge intensive pet sets. I understood that these were created to increase the firing rate of the pets that they were accepted into. What exactly is their purpose now?

[/ QUOTE ]

That was never my understanding of what these sets were created to do. They are to increase the recharge rate of the summon power for the pet.


Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
@ Frost.

[ QUOTE ]


Forgive me for exploiting the game and having no idea I was doing it. You are smart enough to realize that if you put a rech SO in a fire imp the detailed power widow tells me it is attacking faster right?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well since it wasn't supposed to be like that I'm guessing... no... not that smart at all.... and I don't know... I'm weird I thought that when I slotted recharge into pets it was for the purpose of reducing the down time of the power.... not the down time of everything the pet does ever.... you know... the same way it works for So's, to's, do's, and other single enhancements (only effects one thing)?


[ QUOTE ]

How the hell was I supposed to know they weren't and only by slotting a thunderstike dam/rech was LS actually benefiting?

I guess I should have asked the devs to send me the code to know I wasn't supposed to be benefiting...

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know.... Did you think putting a rechage SO should do the same thing that a recharge IO did for pet powers? Do you assume that putting a green into a bots healing power should effect their regen too? Or that end mod enhancements in pets should increase their recovery? I'm not in your mind.... so explain it to me.



[/ QUOTE ]

It is pretty simple. They added this nifty feature called detailed power information.

As a really easy to understand example go to a fire imp or lightning storm and slot a recharge: to, do, so, IO, or set IO w/ recharge. Then open up the detailed info window for that power and click the drop down to expand the attack it uses.

NOTE the increased attack rate compared to not slotting it.

That is where I garnered the information to make the game breaking logic leap that slotting recharge in a pet power makes it attack faster.

If everyone is still with me at this point this is where it gets really fun.

It wasn't until I started fraps'ing gameplay footage that I learned that recharge enhancements had ZERO effect on how fast imps attacked as I only have a SA dam/rech IO in them + 2 acc/dam HO's.

Up until 3 days ago I completely believed that all types of recharge enhancements buffed the attack rate of LS (detailed power window if you recall), but only found out at that time that Set IO's were buffing it. I always knew hasten buffed it because in i7 they announced that it would be affected by caster buffs, and logic be damned here I thought hasten WAS a caster buff...

So we can blame the player for trusting what the game is telling them. Like I said send me the code so I know what is and isn't supposed to work because the delivery at this point is incredibly inconsistent and in game tools are failing.

My bad I suppose.

As to the rest of your post, ya if bots had a heal or regen power I'd expect slotting a heal SO, IO, or set IO would improve it. Wouldn't everyone?
If a bot took end mod SO, IO, sets, or if another set affected end mod (say dam/end mod for instance if it existed) then I'd expect it to improve the bot's recovery and the detailed power window would support that expectation.

What "I" or "anyone" expects really doesn't matter when the in game detailed power info is telling me exactly what is supposedly happening (though it is wrong lol).

And for clarity it is still this way on TEST server even after the patch, so we will still likely wind up with some people slotting things with recharge and believing it is benefiting them. Reminds me of when you could slot wet ice for resistance...

I fully understand "why" this is being jammed through, but that doesn't make it a thematic, logical, and well implemented. It fails on all counts lol I honestly hope the devs hang their heads in shame at how poor of a job they are doing in this case.