Energy Aura: A Profitable Future Investment ?
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Another Space,
Posted on: 2009-11-17 15:02 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
I doubt the set will be getting a click heal as it already received a buff which granted a heal. Granted, conserve power is a pretty laughable waste of a slot on that set, but I don't really see what they would replace it with (I doubt something as nice as energize).
Though honestly EA can be made pretty decent with IO slotting. It's just that those IOs are pretty damned expensive(redside where it matters).
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Psssst...
Energy Drain is an auto-hit AOE that gives you 25 endurance and 45HP for every target hit. With 3 level 50 Recharge IOs, it's available every 30 seconds without Hasten, plus 3 level 50 Healing IOs will boost the health regained to 89.5HP per target hit, and it can hit up to 10 targets if you get a good brawl going.
For a set that's otherwise mediocre, this really is one of the best powers in the game.
I gotta agree with Docbuzzard, though. Conserve Power is useless for an Energy Armor character, especially since it comes AFTER Energy Drain.
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
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I was aware that such a change had been made to Energy Drain but I think it was a lazy change. Energy Drain primarily functions as an Endurance drain/recovery; adding a heal factor only divides the player on when to use it. My experience of game play judged EA still inferior after the changes so I have not used it but from listening to other peoples experiences with the new Energy Drain, the heal is not good especially when soloing. Energy Drain should have the heal effect removed and a Click Heal wih Toxic resistance should replace Conserve Power. |
Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
Psssst...
Energy Drain is an auto-hit AOE that gives you 45HP for every target hit. With 3 level 50 Recharge IOs, it's available every 30 seconds without Hasten, plus 3 level 50 Healing IOs will boost the health regained to 89.5HP per target hit, and it can hit up to 10 targets if you get a good brawl going. For a set that's otherwise mediocre, this really is one of the best powers in the game. I gotta agree with Docbuzzard, though. Conserve Power is useless for an Energy Armor character, especially since it comes AFTER Energy Drain. |
Anyway what do you think should be replacing Conserve Power ?
Also when will EA be ported over to Heroes ?
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Originally Posted by New_Dark_Age
Also when will EA be ported over to Heroes ?
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As for what would replace Conserve Power if/when it gets proliferated? Hrm... tough one. We know the cottage rule is still in effect, so it can't deviate from its original goal too much. If you look at how CP was changed to Energize for the proliferation, it still retains much of its END Discount design. It just cut back some of that and added in the Heal and +Regen.
Since Energy Aura already has a Heal in it, I'd imagine CP in this case would receive the Energize treatment, but would give either a small DEF or RES buff instead of the Heal/+Regen. At least, that's what I'd wish for.
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I could think of a few possibilities that I'd rather have than a regular click heal. Or at the very least, would better suit the powerset.
Quick Channeler: (Auto) Either a Quick Recovery or a Quickness/Lightning Reflexes clone, possibly half of both.
Redirect: (Toggle) 10% of the pre-mitigated damage from any Energy or Negative Energy attack that hits you will be released in a short radius PBAOE shockwave that damages nearby foes.
Power Up: (Click) Do 20% extra Energy-type damage on every attack for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of reduced Energy and Negative Energy resistance.
Burst of Power: (Click when defeated) Explode with power as you bring yourself back from unconsciousness, doing medium damage and massive knockback on all nearby foes. Restores 50% of HP and endurance, no invulnerability (unlike Rise of the Phoenix), leaves you substantially fatigued for 30 seconds after 60 seconds.
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
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I like your 3rd option Power Up the best but I do not think it needs to have such consequences. Fiery Embrace, Aim and Build Up do not have such a penalty. |
Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
I could think of a few possibilities that I'd rather have than a regular click heal. Or at the very least, would better suit the powerset.
Quick Channeler: (Auto) Either a Quick Recovery or a Quickness/Lightning Reflexes clone, possibly half of both. Redirect: (Toggle) 10% of the pre-mitigated damage from any Energy or Negative Energy attack that hits you will be released in a short radius PBAOE shockwave that damages nearby foes. Power Up: (Click) Do 20% extra Energy-type damage on every attack for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of reduced Energy and Negative Energy resistance. Burst of Power: (Click when defeated) Explode with power as you bring yourself back from unconsciousness, doing medium damage and massive knockback on all nearby foes. Restores 50% of HP and endurance, no invulnerability (unlike Rise of the Phoenix), leaves you substantially fatigued for 30 seconds after 60 seconds. |
The Quick Recovery/Recharge is also progress and will perhaps allow players to use Energy Drain more for Healing than for Endurance Recovery though solo the heal still seems weak.
Burst of Power would only weaken the set since a player must die to use it. I am by no means a fan of such Rez powers and their only benefit is that you can skip them allowing more room in your build.
Redirect seems hard to implement but I am not aware of all changes in the game during my absence. Plus it only works on 2 damage types making it useless in most engagements and it would be totally useless against ranged opponents.
You first 2 are good though and I like a consequence free Power UP more than a Click Heal.
Step one, Energy Drain needs its heal buffed somewhat. If you're fighting big groups, it's adequate, but thematically, Energy/Energy is a single-target specialist. And compared to similar powers, the per-target HP recovery is brutally low. It also comes too late in the set, IMO, but I suppose there's not much that can be done about that now.
Step two, change Conserve Power into "Stabilize". Very similar to Energize, but instead of a heal, it gives a 30 second Resistance buff. Basically a mini-MoG.
Step three, for chrissakes, why the heck does EA not get any Endurance Drain resistance? That's inexcusable.
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The idea behind the penalty (and it was supposed to be a minor one, like 5%) was that you've expended too much energy in a short period of time and so you're weak in particular to energy damage. But you'll also note that my hypothetical "Power Up" lasts twice as long as Build Up and Aim. And Fiery Embrace still gets to be its own unique power, since it's in a set with very little mitigation that isn't "kill faster!" |
Originally Posted by New_Dark_Age
I like your 3rd option Power Up the best but I do not think it needs to have such consequences. Fiery Embrace, Aim and Build Up do not have such a penalty.
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| The Quick Recovery/Recharge is also progress and will perhaps allow players to use Energy Drain more for Healing than for Endurance Recovery though solo the heal still seems weak. |
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| Burst of Power would only weaken the set since a player must die to use it. I am by no means a fan of such Rez powers and their only benefit is that you can skip them allowing more room in your build. |
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| Redirect seems hard to implement but I am not aware of all changes in the game during my absence. Plus it only works on 2 damage types making it useless in most engagements and it would be totally useless against ranged opponents. |
I thought about adding fire and ice redirection as well, but that really would make it feel overpowered. But, I suppose that could be balanced by making the energy pulses cost additional bursts of endurance, as with Repel-type powers.
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Originally Posted by IanTheM1
Step three, for chrissakes, why the heck does EA not get any Endurance Drain resistance? That's inexcusable.
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
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I wouldn't expect many changes to EA this soon after I13 - after all, it took them three years to determine the set needed a buff in the first place. Of course, if it gets ported over to another AT that might change, but I don't see EA being the next set ported.
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Stalkers do not get Quick Recovery-esque powers. I dunno why, but it's clear they don't. As Stalkers get EA as well, that kinda shoots this one down. Which sucks since it's a kinda good idea.|
Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
Quick Channeler: (Auto) Either a Quick Recovery or a Quickness/Lightning Reflexes clone, possibly half of both.
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| Redirect: (Toggle) 10% of the pre-mitigated damage from any Energy or Negative Energy attack that hits you will be released in a short radius PBAOE shockwave that damages nearby foes. |
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| Power Up: (Click) Do 20% extra Energy-type damage on every attack for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of reduced Energy and Negative Energy resistance. |
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| Burst of Power: (Click when defeated) Explode with power as you bring yourself back from unconsciousness, doing medium damage and massive knockback on all nearby foes. Restores 50% of HP and endurance, no invulnerability (unlike Rise of the Phoenix), leaves you substantially fatigued for 30 seconds after 60 seconds. |
But all of these neglect to take the cottage rule into account. Any changes to Conserve Power MUST retain some level of END Discount in its effects.
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if they could just pump up the heal that would make me happy. The end sucker doesn't need a heal, just beef up that conserve powa! Make it like energize, that's gold now inho.
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Actually, that's something I didn't think about.|
Originally Posted by Rush_Bolt
A mini-Build Up? With a big hole to follow? Not sure I like this at all. Especially since EA's RES values are already lambasted as being useless.
But all of these neglect to take the cottage rule into account. Any changes to Conserve Power MUST retain some level of END Discount in its effects. |
Conserve Power + a mini Build Up = Power Up.
... That'd be pretty sweet, actually.
30 seconds of +50% end discount and +20% Energy Damage. Sounds like it'd be overpowered, though. Even though the damage bonus isn't as significant as the ones from the other damage boosting powers, at least my intent was to add another typed damage (Energy) onto all attacks. That'd still be pretty freakin' awesome.
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
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EA doesn't have a taunt aura? I wouldn't mind seeing one added. Even a Willpower-level weak one. -DMG aura in Entropic Aura would be fascinating (I like mez protection powers that also have another effect for some reason. plus... entropy).
And the Resist Autos could stand the Invulnerability treatment (random debuff resistances added).
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What I'd expect:
-Either a new-ish type power similar to Energize but instead of a heal/+regen, it gets +res vs all/+res vs status.
-A Fiery Embrace type power that boosts dmg for 10sec and end discount for 30.
What I'd think is cool, thematic and want:
-Energy barrier that gives an endurance discount + reverts all damage received into -% Endurance for 15sec. So an attack that you don't deflect that would do 50dmg for 2% of your total HP is reverted to -2% END, an attack that would do 750dmg for 30% of your HP is reverted to -30% END.
I wouldn't hold my breath for major EA buffs. It's a top tier powerset as it is for brutes, the biggest issue with it is its strengths is stuff the playerbase underappreciate or plain dislike (typed defense, infinite endurance, tier9). You can't fix popularity without breaking balance there, unless you also nerf something while buffing it.
Then again, we got Shield recently, so maybe EA will get his cake and eat it too. I certainly wouldn't mind that.
I really wish I knew what the developers at the time were thinking when they constructed the set from a thematic stance. Granted this set came out before most of the current developers had the reins - thus was birthed quite verily in the realm of the game's dark ages (mind you this was around the same year Enhancement Diversification came out - something which took over a year and a half to resolve with IOs).
I honestly don't know much about Energy Aura other than it is considered underpowered. My experience from teaming and PvPing with those who use the set is pretty much in agreement.
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Like Force Fields, conceptually Energy Aura is supposed to represent deflection of enemy attacks from the character. This is why it's typed rather than positional defense (which is conceptually dodging in most instances). |
Originally Posted by Sylph_Knight
I really wish I knew what the developers at the time were thinking when they constructed the set from a thematic stance. Granted this set came out before most of the current developers had the reins - thus was birthed quite verily in the realm of the game's dark ages (mind you this was around the same year Enhancement Diversification came out - something which took over a year and a half to resolve with IOs).
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The developers abandoned this distinction with Shields, btw, probably because the playerbase hates typed defense.
My take is that the playerbase doesn't give this set enough credit. Especially after the buff, this set can really shine. You can quite easily soft-cap Sm, Le, En and get very high on the rest with a bit of work. This doesn't feel functionally much different than my Shield or SR who are soft-capped to all positions. And with an in-set heal and endurance recovery tools, it's actually quite strong.
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Or maybe because it actually makes sense that you block a sword differently than you block a bullet using the shield? And that translates to blocking a fire sword vs blocking a fire bullet.
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Originally Posted by EvilGeko
The developers abandoned this distinction with Shields, btw, probably because the playerbase hates positional defense.
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That would be a reason to abandon typed defenses altogether. That wouldn't be the worst idea in the world, but it's probably too late for that.
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Originally Posted by Leo_G
Or maybe because it actually makes sense that you block a sword differently than you block a bullet using the shield? And that translates to blocking a fire sword vs blocking a fire bullet.
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Only the dev can tell you. It's not even clear whether the dev think that EA is ok or still needs improvements. We had a sticky EA thread in the brute forum (gone now), the dev never made any comments on this issue.|
Originally Posted by New_Dark_Age
Has anyone heard any information about what changes will be made to Energy Aura and when this will occur ?
What changes should be made to Energy Aura ? |
From the title you gave to the thread, I guess you're asking these questions because you want to make an energy aura brute/stalker. The characteristic powers in energy aura are stealth and energy drain, the rest of the powers in the set are pretty standard toggles and passives. If you don't think that you like the two characteristics, you're better off trying other power sets.
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Originally Posted by EvilGeko
Like Force Fields, conceptually Energy Aura is supposed to represent deflection of enemy attacks from the character. This is why it's typed rather than positional defense (which is conceptually dodging in most instances).
The developers abandoned this distinction with Shields, btw, probably because the playerbase hates positional defense. |
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Originally Posted by EvilGeko
My take is that the playerbase doesn't give this set enough credit. Especially after the buff, this set can really shine. You can quite easily soft-cap Sm, Le, En and get very high on the rest with a bit of work. This doesn't feel functionally much different than my Shield or SR who are soft-capped to all positions. And with an in-set heal and endurance recovery tools, it's actually quite strong.
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However, if you compare only defense-based power sets, energy aura may be at the bottom, mainly because people can't find much use of the stealth (from the perspective of a brute, stealth is ok for stalkers) and conserve power, while other power sets have other more useful utilities.
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*checks for flying pigs, looks at thermometer.*|
Originally Posted by EvilGeko
My take is that the playerbase doesn't give this set enough credit. Especially after the buff, this set can really shine. You can quite easily soft-cap Sm, Le, En and get very high on the rest with a bit of work. This doesn't feel functionally much different than my Shield or SR who are soft-capped to all positions. And with an in-set heal and endurance recovery tools, it's actually quite strong. |
Uh oh.
I agree with EG. This can't be good. (I will, however, give the possibility of bias - EM/EA was my first Brute, and first vill to 50.)
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Of course any set that's soft-capped will be workable. Too bad that's not EA, that's IOs.|
Originally Posted by EvilGeko
My take is that the playerbase doesn't give this set enough credit. Especially after the buff, this set can really shine. You can quite easily soft-cap Sm, Le, En and get very high on the rest with a bit of work. This doesn't feel functionally much different than my Shield or SR who are soft-capped to all positions. And with an in-set heal and endurance recovery tools, it's actually quite strong.
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Another thing I'd like to see tweaked is EA's reliance on Energy Cloak. It's sad to have to rely on a stealth power to eke out a few more points of defense.
I like the idea for possibly adding the -DMG aura to Entropy Shield. It fits the name, and considering EA is meant to be the Brute version of Ice Armor, very appropriate. Though I'm not sure how I feel about a taunt aura in a status protection power.
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The only problem there is, if your mez protection toggle had an enemy debuff on it, and someone managed to mez you through it, wouldn't that drop the toggle completely (as opposed to just suppressing it)? |
Originally Posted by IanTheM1
I like the idea for possibly adding the -DMG aura to Entropy Shield. It fits the name, and considering EA is meant to be the Brute version of Ice Armor, very appropriate. Though I'm not sure how I feel about a taunt aura in a status protection power.
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
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Touché|
Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
The only problem there is, if your mez protection toggle had an enemy debuff on it, and someone managed to mez you through it, wouldn't that drop the toggle completely (as opposed to just suppressing it)?
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I think it's beyond the scope of the game without overhauls to lots of ATs/powers, but I think it would've been nice if Brutes got Repulsion and - more importantly - if it helped more than hurt. This is to say, what scrapperlocking melee doesn't want to be surrounded by as many bad guys as possible? Enter the disparity between AOE- and ST- focused builds, bla bla bla.
It would've been neat if an energy/energy was somehow built to want to throw back the hordes and smash them one at a time (with Energy Blasters not getting yelled at!). Instead, you're just ruining your buddy's Shield Charge. >.>
(At this point, I'm not saying I want nerfs/mass changes. Just doing a bit of theorycraft.)
I was thinking about making either an Energy Aura Stalker or Brute but I know how inferior the Power Set is to others currently. However, I do know that Energy Aura will be given to Heroes in the future and because Conserve Power would be twice avaliable to Scraps and Tanks it is logical to assume it will be replaced on both games. But with what? What EA needs the most is a click heal like Reconstruction but I have not seen any information about what changes will be made to EA or when it will be ported over to heroes.
Has anyone heard any information about what changes will be made to Energy Aura and when this will occur ?
What changes should be made to Energy Aura ?
I figure if they gave EA a click heal , it would be a fairly good set which is why I am considering taking it if changes will occur soon and will considerably strengthen it.
Thanks