Buff Force Field
Issue 16 made me feel like this.
Warning: This poster likes to play Devil's Advocate.
Just for the sake of history: the quote was from Statesman, not Castle. Unfortunately, States' post comparing Sonic and FF is long gone -- it provided some of the only insight into the design intentions behind both sets. One thing States never answered is just how a bubbler would spam a power that KBed mobs away from the bubbler's target.
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Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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First off if any reason FF needs a buff it is because of how ridiculously easy it is to defense cap almost any toon. I used to play an Ice FF and when IO's were released I shortly thereafter stopped playing him because defensive shields simply were not nessesary anymore.
So personally FF is fine, its IOs that messed it up like they have a number of elements of the game but thats another matter alltogether.
The change to force bolt I am ok with if they chose that route but used properly the massive knockback it has is very usefull and I would hate to see it go though it wouldnt stress me much.
Detention Field as a toggle.........can you say OP. Sorry flat out no to this.
I certainly wouldnt complain to them speeding up and changing the animation of Repulsion Bomb but it needs to stay a targeted AOE and personally I think it should benefiet from containment which if im not mistaken it currently does not. Apparently it would be OP if it did but fire kins are allowed to do what they do :P
Force Bubble, please leave it be. Even as it is mobs push in a bit before getting repelled. I think thats why they made it so big in the first place. Adding a Damage Debuff though would fit conceptually and make it more usefull. If mobs were not allowed to push in as they currently do I would be ok with shrinking it some but thats about it.
Truthfully the only power I feel really needs a change is repulsion field. It is imo the only completely useless power in the set. Does not damage, very very high end cost when lots of creatures are getting hit by it and it gets completely replaced when you get Force Bubble. I dont know what the asnwer for it would be but maybe remove the end cost per target affected and give it an additional effect, maybe a to hit debuff (concept the impact dazing them making them inacurate for a short time however then it basicly becomes a clone of hurricane) or even make it a damage aura.
*readies fire extinguisher*
It's a shame about the cottage rule (from my limited understanding of it), because I've often thought that FF could do with some kind of slow movement power, instead of all Knockback/Repel/Defense.
The reasoning behind said power (Slowing Field, for want of a much better name) is: the caster throws down a field (Location AoE) which makes air/particles/insert reason of choice thicker, meaning that any enemies travelling through the field are slowed, and cannot fly/jump. It doesn't cause knockdown, so in many ways it's the same as Quicksand, without the additonal -def. I would also propose that said slow field negates KB (like most Immob powers). In essence the caster is still putting a wall between the team and enemies, but one which benefits either mowing down the opposition or escaping from them.
FF is one of those sets that I like to team with, but not play. In fact, when it comes to the ATs with FF/Ice/Thermal/Sonic as an option, I avoid rolling the 'shield buffers' in favour of the other sets, especially Storm and Dark, because they seem to have more interesting powers.