Hmm... make that DoT poison ticks. It would make sense to me for toxophilists to be using toxins...
Having played a lvl 50 MM Trick Archer and a lvl 50 Rad defender...
I use both EMP as "Oh..S..." buttons. Id rather be sure it was there when needed instead of every x minutes having an easy fight and then when the s hits the f it isnt available.
In such a case, I find EMP superior simply because it has a faster activation. And thats what you want when the plan goes a bit pear shaped. Both are good, but that EMP arrow takes an awfully long time to fire when everybody is in the red...
I think waiting until everyone is in the red is a bit to long to wait before using a panic button.
I really should do something about this signature.
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Having played a lvl 50 MM Trick Archer and a lvl 50 Rad defender...
I use both EMP as "Oh..S..." buttons. Id rather be sure it was there when needed instead of every x minutes having an easy fight and then when the s hits the f it isnt available.
In such a case, I find EMP superior simply because it has a faster activation. And thats what you want when the plan goes a bit pear shaped. Both are good, but that EMP arrow takes an awfully long time to fire when everybody is in the red...
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True, I use EMP Arrow as an opener on my Grav/TA rather than as a panic button which is why I love it so much, I use EMP as a panic button on my Fire/Rad, which is why I don't.
Agreed with Estarriol on the top-heavyness aspect too, compared to Fire/Rad and Ill/Storm I found Grav/TA much harder going until the 30s when the really good powers came about. TA is fairly dreadful until level 20ish, even with the improved control durations of Ice & Net arrow a controller has. Glue is the only really worthwhile power up until Acid arrow.
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I think waiting until everyone is in the red is a bit to long to wait before using a panic button.
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Live... on... edge...
Fair point, I do use it earlier than that, but when I do use it, I want a fairly fast activation. EMP arrow leaves me a bit nervous in this regard... although I still use it as such and jolly good it is too.
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True, I use EMP Arrow as an opener on my Grav/TA rather than as a panic button which is why I love it so much, I use EMP as a panic button on my Fire/Rad, which is why I don't.
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*nod* I can certainly see why Grav/ would need EMP as an opener and Fire wouldn't...
Ah, well have AM and Hasten on Rad but not on TA
My Rad sits in melee and thanks to Choking Cloud gets a double stacked AoE hold. Can use Powersink with EMP to drain almost all end and not worry about losing end from toggles. EMP really suits my normal playstyle as I'm normally in the thick of things and PBAoEs are so me
Edit: Use both in normal usage, but probably use EMP more, mostly when its recharged. EMP Arrow I just use to get containment when Flashfire isn't recharged really (I prefer Stun to hold on my controller as I spam cages anyway) but I use EMP arrow with CC all the time to keep groups at my mercy. If I can get that much control with it on a defender it must be awesome on a controller
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
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True, I use EMP Arrow as an opener on my Grav/TA rather than as a panic button which is why I love it so much, I use EMP as a panic button on my Fire/Rad, which is why I don't.
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*nod* I can certainly see why Grav/ would need EMP as an opener and Fire wouldn't...
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Because?
IIRC both Grav and Rad have almost identical holding powers. The only difference is Hot feet and Smoke Vs Lift and Dimension Shift (and I cant see much in it here), and the Pets - In actual fact Sing provides much more protection than imps in the form of holds, lifts, and the not often used but extremely effective KB Aura.
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True, I use EMP Arrow as an opener on my Grav/TA rather than as a panic button which is why I love it so much, I use EMP as a panic button on my Fire/Rad, which is why I don't.
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*nod* I can certainly see why Grav/ would need EMP as an opener and Fire wouldn't...
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Because?
IIRC both Grav and Rad have almost identical holding powers. The only difference is Hot feet and Smoke Vs Lift and Dimension Shift (and I cant see much in it here), and the Pets - In actual fact Sing provides much more protection than imps in the form of holds, lifts, and the not often used but extremely effective KB Aura.
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Eh? Grav and Rad have similiar holding powers? I assume you mean Grav and Fire?
Which is still wrong anyway. Gravs AOE hold is ranged (like EMP Arrow), Fires is PBAOE (like EMP).
On paper both have AOE stuns but Wormhole and Flashfire work pretty differently in practice.
The main reason Grav does well with EMP Arrow is because other than GDF they don't have a quick, team friendly, AOE mez. Wormhole is best fired from cover and does knockback, Plus its a fairly small AOE. I use it solo and on small teams mainly to set up patches of death. On large teams I switch to EMP Arrow and just EMP Arrow or GDF the bunch the tank is running at followed by the debuff arrows.
Fire has Flashfire to fire off from afar anyway its quick triggers & recharging with a better AOE then run in for Hotfeet goodness. Cinders and Rads EMP thus really become PBAOE panic buttons which work well with the PB auras
Thanks Carnifax, Cynic. When I was trying to find other apples to compare to the TA powers, I noticed that there's often overlap, but generally other defender sets seem to get a better deal (e.g. Darkest Night compares very favourably to Poison Gas Arrow IMO, Tar Patch is better than either Glue or Disruption). I appreciate it's not always as simple as the numbers make out, as you've pointed out, but overall I'm not noticing much "bang" to TA.
It does indeed appear to be a top-heavy set... personally those [censored] me off, I think all sets should have two of their three best powers in the first 12 levels, 18 at the outside... and most sets do follow that pattern.
It does also seem to suffer the "Kinetics Syndrome" of having better synergy with Controlling powers than Blasting powers.
And finally, it does look like a large part of my problem is the underperformance of /Archery, which has an increasingly meaningless secondary bonus in the world of Inventions Sets. If it were given a better secondary effect (-ToHit due to having arrows interfering with your fighting, or even DoT bleeding ticks) I think it would be a much more competitive set overall - a great Tier 9 power doesn't make up for the basic lack of a secondary effect and almost-exclusive lethal damage.
I did consider TA/Rad for the lighting ease and overall awesomeness of /Rad, but I wanted to play a "True Natural" character (no real travel power, all skill and equipment based).
Lots of thinking to do. Thanks for all the replies.