Single Worst Powers as of 2010

The aggro-less Nuke Option actually is a reasonable use for the power that I had not considered. I didn't know about the lack of aggro when out of sight. I'm curious if -perception could help as the number of instances in which one can hide out of sight are limited to the terrain.

As far as stacking damage from Time Bomb with Trip Mine, it makes for more of a spectacular fireworks show than a recurring tactical option in normal gameplay. It certainly could help a soloist clear a boss room faster though (and judging by the recharge on Time Bomb, it could only be used about as sparingly).

...but with that said, the 9 second cast time and high base recharge remains a downer. At least there are some uses that help make the execution appear worth the effort.

I have to admit that this thread may do wonders in offering applications for the very powers that we find so terrible.

Eh, it (literally) sounds cool.

I'll just briefly re-list why I don't like it, since I had more reasons than just that (albeit, scattered through 3 different posts, so I'm not blaming you for thinking my argument is simple or anything.) and I'd hate to have my opinion misinterpreted.

-I don't really like fear. I'll admit it isn't useless, but it's not useful enough to me.
-I would rather be attacking than using fear, causing damage, and approaching the biggest mitigating status effect: Dead.
-To To-Hit penalties in the rest of your abilities are "good enough" for me, on my builds, in my specific case.
-Siphon Life is the only other real mitigation I need (from my primary, at any rate), and it has the benefit of doing damage, so I don't feel like I'm wasting time or anything.
-Mag 3 means it only affects things I'm not worried about when solo without taking something else to stack it, and on a team fear becomes less useful, so I stress to find a situation where I would be getting much benefit from it.

For these reasons I find it bad.

... I giggled like a schoolgirl at this. That is the greatest mental image ever.

Also seconding Time Bomb. I had it for a level on my Ice/Dev back in the day, long enough to give it some slots and see if it got any better. ... It didn't

I guess if you want to be selfish about it, yeah. You could easily skip it and just defeat stuff.

But Touch of Fear is a 1-shot you're-so-weak-you-might-as-well-be-dead move that you can use to help others not so fortunate as you to survive. On ATs like Stalker or Scrapper, where your contributions are simply damage (Single Target in DM's case) and nothing more, the option of such effective control and debuff is far from a waste.

*shrugs* I find that beating enemies in the back of the head works fairly good for getting the heat off other team mates regardless of what AT I'm playing. Standing closer to it than them is also greatly useful. I make this kind of assist all of the time, and I've never needed ToF to do it.

I see what you are saying, but you sound like you have an argument about doing something other than attacking. Which, in a game where de-buffs and buffs have a strong effect, is not an appealing trait.

I've taken a lot of alphas with ToF on my MM, and its a very, very useful ability. I'm not sure what the issue is exactly, but 2 seconds of your time won't kill you. Usually.

What is the acronym MM referring too? Nothing I can think of called "MM" has Touch of Fear. I know Mastermind has Fearsome Stare, which I consider to be better than Touch of Fear, and Mental Manipulation has Scare, which I also consider marginally better than ToF, but I cannot ascertain what you are referencing.

To adress your concern, however, no, I do not beleive damage is king. I have a hard time playing "blappers" because I feel that, until you have enough mitigation to survive an encounter, damage is secondary. It is difficult for me to fully accept that damage=mitigation, despite my comment about dead being the most powerful damage mitigation (and it is). Which is not to say you shouldn't be doing any damage until you can survive nuclear holocaust, but you get the general idea behind the statement I hope. I do not feel that Touch of Fear is needed in order to survive an encounter, and I've already listed reasons why I think it's a waste of time to use. I will respect that others do not feel the same, of course, and I will at very least accept that FEAR is not a waste of time.

At any rate, let's move on. I don't want to turn this thread into "Let's convince Warkupo ToF is awesome." Not that I'm not enjoying all the attention I'm getting.

You're entitled to your opinion but if you consider Scare (lvl35, 8sec duration, 20sec rech, 10END, 60ft range, mag3 fear) better than Touch of Fear (lvl 6, 22sec duration, 8sec rech, 8.5END, 7ft range, mag 3 fear that also debuffs ToHit by 11%)...well, yeah don't take it personally when people think you're crazy.

The point is, unless you can drop 2 bosses with ST attacks *at the same time* in the span of several attack rounds, ToF will always be useful for occupying that target you're not beating down. Your example of 'smacking that add in the back of the head' only slows down the speed at which you defeat your initial target...because you're wasting attacks trying to get their attention, spreading your damage and ultimately leaving more enemies alive longer. It also spreads the debuffs of your regular attacks(which only have a short duration and therefore finite stacking capabilities) making it more dangerous for yourself. Yes, ToF can be skipped but at least use the power correctly when you do take it>_>

I don't really like either. One is ranged though. One of my complaints about ToF is that it's a melee attack, which is usually where the AOE's are going off. With the ranged version you can at least Fear the enemy away from you, so it's not being hit by AOE's, and not being a problem. That and Scare is part of a set that's more thirsty for mitigation. That said, I still wouldn't pick either of them. The To-Hit in ToF probably makes it better, though.

I'm not 'wasting my attacks trying to get their attention' as my ultimate goal is to kill everything, which includes whoever is attacking whatever I have decided to protect. My damage doesn't become less suddenly because I picked a new target. I lose damage walking over to this new target, sure, but I was going to do that if I used ToF anyway. The To-Hit in my attacks is still being applied to protect this 'whatever', so it's not as though that's going away either, though I do have to build it up on this new target. Given how quickly Dark Melee animates, however, even this is not so great of a problem (Dark Melee is in the top 2 for highest DPA builds because of it's type and how quickly it animates.) The enemy at my back is still safely being mitigated through Siphon Life, which is what I was *primarily* relying on anyway, and one of the primary reasons I don't think ToF is needed.

Now, assuming I'm a scrapper or a brute, I'm probably going to just kill the enemy until it's dead, then turn around and finish off what I was on before. if I'm a brute, I have punch-voke to aid that goal even further. If I'm a tanker I just taunt the thing and never bother with any of this. If I'm a stalker... Whatever, that thing is probably attacking the 'whatever' because I used placate, so I don't really care (joking).

I don't find Touch of Fear a good damage mitigation in the first place anyway, I'm certainly not going to trust it to defend this 'whatever' that's in danger and then go about my merry business.

And who is this 'whatever' I'm defending anyway? Why are they so completely helpless that the only one that can save them is me? Do we not have a tanker or a controller or anything that is better equipped to deal with this situation? If so, how is it that we're in this big team in the first place, I certianly can't handle a group sized spawn without at least a controller for support. If we're on a low team why can't they handle the scant 2-3 enemies that are attacking them?

To be honest, I've probably let the 'whatever' die because I don't feel they're useful.

In general SO play, definitely. If you build for a defense it quickly becomes important again, however.

Either way, you don't need to take it until late (if at all.)

It does three things:
1. Brutes use it as a filler attack on tiggt builds to keep up Fury.
2. Everyone can hit someone, it may not do much and Brawl doesnt. But ever toon should be able to punch even if it has the damage of an emote.
3. IO mule. Its funny to slot it but many squishies dont have other melee attacks to slot, and some bonuses are worth it.

Last, there is no drawback to it. You had no opportunity cost for getting it.

I disagree with Stealth and Group Fly. They work well on my Mercs/Traps in PVP zones.

It enables toe-bombing within the set. It can also help control aggro, which is reasonably useful for a Blaster, I'd say. And as was said, -To-Hit is +Defense.

What's really depressing to me is "why don't you just buy the IO?" is becoming a far too popular argument.

Because the IO is EXCEEDINGLY RARE. I put up four bids for the jump stealth IO for 25m each and left them for a whole month and none ever sold, except for one person that outbid me by paying like 100m. I'd love to "just buy the IO" but not like this!

They also cost like 250 merits and I'm not spending that many ITFs on something like that.

Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

The Stealth IO isn't that rare, I didn't think. I've never had trouble getting it for a level 50. The Jumping one might be hard to come by, but Celerity +Stealth is pretty common, not that expensive, and you can slot it in Sprint.

I can sort of see an argument for why Stealth isn't terrible for everyone. I'm in the camp that thinks that any *entire power* that's replaceable by an IO kind of sucks tho.

I agree and would add another point - an IO can not only be as good as stealth but actually BETTER - if one is willing to spend to extra $ on the jumping IO then you can slot it in Combat Jumping and get stealth without paying for a high stamina toggle like Stealth (or even Sprint).

This power is amazing on my tank. With softcapped S/L/E/N on top of DA's resists and Dark Regeneration... if it killed me, we need a silly strong auto-hit disorient to recover.

Level 50 is the only place that stealth isn't rare - and if Dispari is like me and likes to start building up IO sets (and bonuses) before a character gets to 50 this is a big deal. Many of the 'rare' TF/SF/Trial recipes that used to be available (some fairly cheaply, some costing more) at various levels are now only 'easy' to find at level 50, if you can find them at any other level at all (redside being much worse at this than blueside)

This is one of the things that has me both loving and hating merits - I love them because using merits earned through story rewards I can finally get some of the unique IO's that i was never willing to buy before (numina's, miracle and LoTG +rech) but I also used to be able to easily put together less used sets like Malaise's illusions or Glimpse of the Abyss sets (and fairly cheaply as well) for some decent, cheap IO bonuses in the mid 30's and I cannot do that anymore, sometimes no matter how much I am willing to spend because the IO's are not there.

Ob on topic addition: My votes for most uselss powers have mostly been covered already, but I will add them in:

Merc's Serum
Thunderclap in all flavors*
Dimension Shift
Time bomb
All snipe powers**

* = except on a defender/corruptor who can stack it with other stun powers. Oddly enough if they would just change it from KB to KD it would be pretty darn good.

** = except possibly on dominators due to the high damage although even then they are so far to situational to be worth taking if you have any other power choice.

One of my toons has this, an ice/traps corruptor who is conceived as a cocky French-Canadian terrorist. She also uses Challenge and Intimidate.

That same toon also has Time Bomb.