Devices: Behind the times?

same can be said of Cloaking Device vs Stealth, only CD doesnt make you slower...thats about it

Direct Comparison again. with no slotting;

Cloaking Device;

- 0.26/sec Endurance cost
- +3.5% Defence to all stealthed, +1.75% Defence to all detected
- Stealth +35ft
- No movement penalty

Stealth;

- 0.33/sec Endurance Cost
- +3.5% Defence to all stealthed, +1.75% Defence to all detected
- Stealth +35ft
- -35% Run and Fly speed

Ok, so, Cloaking device is a little better than that. But even so, its a second endurance consuming toggle in the set, for not really much more of a bonus than a pool power. Its certainly not the greatest level of stealth. Adding in Stealth strike like the PPD Ghosts get would be a nice boost, especially since the set lacks Build Up of any sort.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I always wondered why they didn't give targeting drone a +critical shot chance...it just makes sense. You're aiming better, so wouldn't it make sense if you're able to hit a target at it's weak point, dealing critical damage?

The cloaking device stealth strike makes sense as well. Something along the lines of the widow/bane stealths would give devices a distinct flair.

Exactly, which is why i proposed a +25% damage buff to both Cd and TD, as well as the sniper bonus to ALL snipes (and crits with AR and DP) in TD

Hm. For flavor, I'd go more for a +critical chance than a straight up-damage increase all the time. Critical shots are usually synonymous with a perfect hit, while straight +damage usually is more to do with more powerful hits.

But that's just my take on it.

^ Trues dat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

perhaps...but what would be good?

a constant damage buff works in both IOs (slot for +damage) and defiance...

a crit chance with TD doesnt really stack with an auto-crit im assuming from CD...

I would like to see the gun drone with an on/off switch. It seems to mess up what seems to be the primary benefit of devices from the solo perspective(imo). My routine usually goes like this.
1. Find mob.
2. Smoke grenade mob
3. Plant explosive at the mobs feet.
4. Launch AOE attack from primary.
5. Mob dies.

With gun drone it ends up more like.
1. Find mob.
2. Gun drone shoots mob while you are planting explosive at mobs feet.
3. Mob shoots you before explosive is placed.
4. Now you are sad.

Ok, here are my thoughts on the set:

Web Grenade: Overall I think this power is fine, the slow and recharge debuffs make it a nice power at higher levels and are much more useful than the damage other sets get. My only issue is that at lower levels the lack of damage means a Devices Blaster is dealing less damage than other Blasters but still has to spend the same endurance to stay out of melee. I think a small endurance discount of this power would be nice at low levels.

Caltrops: Love them. Next!

Taser: This isn't a particularly inspiring power but it works and is balanced with similar powers in other manipulation sets so I can't really complain.

Targeting Drone: Personally I think Targeting Drone is fine as is. Techbot does have a point about the comparison with Tactics being better on a team but solo the extra to hit buff and, more importantly, the to hit debuff resistance do make a significant difference. It would be kinda nice if Targeting Drone gave a "Tactics lite" buff (i.e. the to hit and perceptions buffs but not the resistances) to teammates along with the larger self buff since the Devices set as a whole is not hugely team friendly but it would go against the general design philosophy of blaster sets.

Smoke Grenade: I certainly wouldn't complain if the to hit debuff was increased but overall this is a serviceable power. It doesn't make a huge difference on it's own but if you can stack it with defense or other to hit debuffs it's a nice power.

Cloaking Device: As others have said this is a glorified pool power and really needs a change. My preference is a damage bonus (about 30%-50%) which is suppressed when attacking/attacked. This means if you attack from stealth you get some extra damage. A Devices Blaster who drops a trip mine right before combat would therefore get 56.4% - 76.4% damage on their first attack of each combat which is nice but still a little worse worse than Build Up (fair enough since Targeting drone gives a permanent to hit buff.

Trip Mine: I wouldn't mind a reduction in casting time just to make it more user friendly but other than that I can't complain.

Time Bomb: My suggestion (which is definitely skirting the edges of the cottage rule) is to rename this Satchel Charge and make it a short range (30ft) targeted AoE (casting time becomes uninterruptable and shorter, damage probably goes down a little). Basically you toss a satchel charge and it immediately explodes. (Actually I'd love for it to be called Petard and apply a high magnitude knockback effect and some damage to you as well as dealing damage but I doubt that would be popular).

Gun Drone: A 7 second casting time is ridiculous, 3 seconds would be much more reasonable other than that it is fine.

I love this game!

Taser: 15% chance for enemy to say "Dont taze me bro!!"

Targeting Drone: +10% recharge. Add to description: "The Targeting Drone's laser sights vastly improve your ability to rapidly follow up your attacks."

Smoke Grenade: Replace -preception with Placate. Increase recharge to 90s and decrease radius to 20', make placate duration 20s. It can still be used to stealth mobs, as placating before they aggro causes them to ignore you, but now allows it to work mid-fight to lose some hate.

Cloaking Device: The +damage idea works, I cant really think of anything creative here.

Time Bomb: Instead of placing a bomb on the ground, you attach it to an enemy. Add a low magnitude taunt effect that has Minions and maybe Leutenants go tward the poor sap thats gonna blow up, as if they're trying to get it off. Though Bosses or possibly Leutenants would be smart enough to stay away. Possibly lower activation and inturrupt.

Gun Drone: Haven't used the drone before, so I have no idea how it might be improved.

I wonder how many people thought this post would be sarcastic with the way I started it.

Good luck all and have fun

Hehe, great idea for Time Bomb William!

I have 2 Devices Blasters, one's 50, the other's 34 and I have many a time watched other Blasters in teams who're /Energy, /Elec or even /Ice and thought how nice it'd be to use something other than the toggles from my secondary. If I use Trip Mine, everything's dead by the time it's down, same with Time Bomb and Gun Drone. Caltrops is alright, but doesn't add much to the fight. Web Grenade is okay for fliers so the Scrappers can get their well deserved meal, but at the same time why use it when you could be using an attack?

The main ideas here that I agree with are the changes to Cloaking Device and Targetting Drone. Give TD a constant 25% damage buff (maybe more to Lethal damage?), aswell as an extra 25% damage to Snipe attacks (again, maybe a little more to the Archery/Assault Rifle snipes?) and that'd be great. CD can use some loving, and a damage buff if you attack from stealth would be awesome, especially with a stealth nuke (Assassin's Nova, BOOM). I can imagine a 25-50% bonus, seeing as it's only the first attack and there is no click buff in Devices.

On the subject of Time Bomb, however, I think that once chosen it should give you two powers like the Dual Pistols ammo changes. One would place the explosive on the ground (with a reduced animation/interrupt time, please? Pretty please?) and the other would send it a command to explode if it hasn't reached the end of it's countdown. Same recharge, same endurance, same damage, just give it a remote detonator and reduce the time it takes to put the thing down.

I've read the whole thread, but am replying in a new thread just for threads' sake.

First, I don't think Devices would be balanced if it was uplifted by adding damage. That also wouldn't address the playstyle issues that actually keep people from playing it in practice (bribing people to play a powerset they don't naturally enjoy by adding extra damage is harmful in the long run).

I also don't agree that Taser needs augmenting. As stated, there's synergies with other possible stuns, and it's useful enough as-is in a general sense. I could see a 30% or less chance of adding +1 mag to the stun, but don't agree it's needed. I would be distinctly amused if a largish -End component were to be added, as this would in its own small way aid the Electricity primary's issue of having few sets it has that synergy with (even if it's just this one power). But adding a -End that doesn't in practice do anything at all without other -End powers is highly misleading to new/unknowing players.

The powers I think could be augmented and would like to toss my own thoughts into are these:

Time Bomb: the "remote detonator" idea is one I like, but in practice there's enough trouble getting the Oil Slick pet to behave the way it's supposed to. Still, tech-wise, I see how this can theoretically be done:

- First, choosing the power awards two "powers", Time Bomb and Detonate. This is likely possible in the same way Swap Ammo awards multiple toggles.

- Second, using Time Bomb spawns a pet that essentially deals damage in an AoE when it dies. The pet dies when it runs out of health.

- Third, the pet casts a "buff" on itself with a certain duration when it spawns. All this does is deal 1000%* damage to it when it expires. (*not a typo. Needs to guarantee death.)

- Fourth, "Detonate" is an PBAoE attack with an appropriate range that affects solely the Time Bomb you spawned*, dealing 1000% damage to it. (*this is tricky, having it only affect yours and not everyone's). Is only "clickable" while the Time Bomb is spawned. (Alternate approach: clicking the button orders the Time Bomb pet to activate a power targetted on YOU, whose only effect is to apply damage to itself. There are already powers, such as Shared Pain and Energy Transfer, that harm the user, and possiblt several other ways the power can behave this way. This wouldn't require a check of everything in a possibly large radius, and if you're outside its range it would naturally fail to function.)

I see this not as a way to buff the set, but as something that would be worth implementing just for the sake of being cool.

Smoke Grenade: I like the general concept of a 30% (at MOST) chance of choking/coughing animation as a quick and easy boost to its utility, but I'm not convinced it's fully appropriate. Alternatively, for synergy with the rest of the set and for the sake of providing something unique I'd like to recommend this be given a Placate (with brief Stealth) effect similar to the power from Ninjutsu. A Devices blaster would then have a unique way to escape a fight, especially when combined with Cloaking Device. Tricky part: providing blasters a way to shed aggro is likely too powerful of a tool, even if the powerset gives up damage to do it.

Cloaking Device: on the other hand, I think making this work like Hide and provide a damage bonus to your initial attack steps on Stalkers' toes a bit much. The ability to engage the enemy on your terms is powerful enough as it is. To set it apart from other Stealth powers and abilities (such as the Stealth you can add to any travel power now), I could see adding a larger BUT suppressed Defense component, making the Blaster more likely to evade an attack when s/he hasn't broken Stealth. Tricky part: Blasters are already soft-capping Defense with IOs. Giving a large Defense value, even if it suppresses, could allow for abuse of the power. Also, this with a non-aggroing Smoke Grenade could similarly be abusable.

(Counter-argument: the Blaster inherently builds up a rolling damage bonus as s/he fires off attacks. A damage boost of a level that represents the average a blaster is expected to get from their inherent makes a certain sense, as a blaster in non-suppressed stealth is all but guaranteed to be outside the durations of those bonuses. This would give the first shot the same damage boost anticipated for the rest of the blaster's shots, which wouldn't disturb the balance equations so much. This boost might not be more than 15% or so, though, which won't necessarily SOUND like enough.)

Targetting Drone: I'll admit, I'd rather this didn't boost sniper attacks, as it's a synergy contingent on taking a specific other power that not every set has. If it didn't, I think there would be more room to argue for a first-attack-from-stealth damage boost in Cloaking Device. I also feel this power provides a very strong boost as it is just in adding Accuracy and Perception. The one thing this power could do to make Devices play more uniquely would be to have a small but constant +Range component (!), which would have broad synergy with many of the Blaster's powersets. I propose this mainly as it's thematically consistent and doesn't tread into the more murky areas of balance. Tricky part: adding this now would likely make this power too much of a must-have within the set. It's too many different benefits coming from a single toggle.

The remaining powers I feel are largely good as-is. Anyway, my two cents and food for thought.

ok, so it seems to be a consensus that my idea for taser isnt worthwhile, and taser itself doesnt really need attention...

timebomb needs an overhaul

Smoke nade could use some added...something, but nothing major

and CD and TD should/could be the means of having +Dam of some sort to the set?

@whynot:

why exactly is offering +damage in a new way not really seen in the blaster AT a bad thing?

I disagree on attaching a timebomb to an enemy. I prefer to see it changed to a toggle that if you dont detoggle it, detoggles itself after the 15 secs so it can be a either a timebomb or detonated. The detonated bit is more or less just setting the time to detonate yourself.

I really don't feel any other powers need to be adjusted in the name of anything.