Replace Time Bomb!

So far as I can tell, everyone agrees that Time Bomb is one of the most flexible powers in the game, because if you have it in one of your power sets, you get to pick from literally any pool power in the game at that level.

I don't know whether it can be fixed. I don't think it can, though.

Please give us a power that is at least conceivably useful.

Proposal for making Time Bomb useful, just in case:

Make it a ranged thing which creates the time bomb pet, which then goes off in 15 seconds. The key here is, it doesn't create aggro, and the pet doesn't get noticed or picked up. Give it a range comparable to blasts, and a medium-sized AoE.

Basically, the reason it's useless is that you can't reliably control enemy positioning over time; you can be sure of getting enemies to a given point, but it could take five seconds or twenty. If the bomb goes off early, it's wasted, and if it goes off late, it doesn't do much good. If we could position the bomb somewhere more useful, such as in a spawn, it might actually be useful. (Down side, it's sorta overpowered then, perhaps.)

Alternative: Make the timer quite a bit longer (say, 60 seconds), and give us a plunger power that can set it off prematurely. Then at least we CAN use it.

my dream for Time Bomb is to turn it into a sticky grenade with a timer.

you chuck it at a foe, roll to hit, if you succeed the timer starts. whatever they do, wherever they go, when the timer hits zero BOOOOOOOM!


this was inspired by the fun I had with the Semtex grenade in MW2.

Summoning at range would really pretty much make it into a usable power. It wouldn't be unbelievably awesome, but it'd be good enough to use, and you might occasionally see people even letting the /dev blaster set stuff up.

Mine the heck out of a hallway, time bomb a mob, move around corner, wait.

My suggestion is to turn it into a simple target AoE. Call it Satchel Charge, it's a location targeted AoE with a short range (say 25ft) where you throw a satchel charge that explodes with a short (about 2second) delay. Make the casting time 3-4second uninterruptable (in line with the various nuke powers) balance damage and recharge accordingly.

Actually because I have a twisted sense of humor what I'd really like is to call it Petard, give it the same effects as above except that when it explodes you get a moderate magnitude, unresistable, knockback applied to you. Unfortunately I can't see that going over well with to many people (plus I'm not sure if it's even possible with the powers system).

My wish for this power is to simply change it into another proximity triggered bomb... that lays a 10' radius burn patch. Old or new style of the Burn Patch would work. This is an ideal match with a spam-able single-target immobilize... something that is included in both sets that can get Time Bomb.

Time Bomb should become a Triggered Bomb. When you successfully set (us) up the bomb it should change the Power's Tray Icon into a Trigger Icon that you can click at your command up to 60 seconds, at which time, if un-detonated or defeated the bomb would self-detonate. The Triggered Bomb should be targettable and draw aggro, have hit points, resistances, and defenses, and detonate if defeated. If YOU are defeated the bomb would be diffused, or alternately it could be a 50/50(was it the blue wire?) chance of remaining and detonating even after your defeat. IF this change was done to Time Bomb, all other statistics could remain as they are. The power would suddenly become useful.

For the Satchel Charge idea above, I would leave the interrupt there but reduce it down to the 3-4 seconds. This would counteract the lack of an end crash, or give it similar stats to the other crash less nukes in the game.

Time Bomb itself is not a BAD power, in that its damage can be significant, and the tools to set it up under an unaware spawn are within the same powerset as the power. It's about half-way to a crashless nuke.

The problem is that the power is balanced by annoyance and becomes almost useless on a team because of its 23 second setup time (8 second activation + 15 second timer). I have successfully used this power on a team precisely ONCE, and that was on an ITF when I knew an ambush was coming and from which direction. Beyond that, it's just far, far, FAR too irritating to bother with.

I don't think the system allows for the bomb to be triggered manually, which is why it was made into a bomb on a fuse instead of on a remote trigger. However, being able to summon it at range like the Omega Manoeuvre sounds like a good idea, especially if we can get rid of the EIGHT SECOND activation and possibly get rid of the interrupt.

I have a problem with Devices as described in general, in that the set as a whole is designed to be reactive. You set down these devices before battle and then pull enemies into them. While there's nothing wrong with pulling, it is and has always been a slower, less productive tactic, one reserved only for situations where you cannot survive a fair fight. Most teams WILL NOT pull, because most teams will not need to, leaving a Devices Blaster, or indeed a Traps Corruptor, with rather a few less powers to work with. The whole set feels "overbalanced" to me, with far too many powers paying far too high a price for what they do.

I'd actually like to see both Trip Mine and Time Bomb be changed into something which is useful in combat, even if that means just faster deployment and no interrupt like how Acid Mortar is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville 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.

Time bomb really could use a manual activation :/

As for Trip Mine... I'd like to steal a leaf from Global Agenda's book. You throw it out (Caltrops animation), and it lays there, inert. As long as there's mobs within 7', it'll stay there. Once there's no mobs nearby, only then does the mine arm itself. You'd give up toebombing for quicker castttime.

[edit] Figured out a way to implement it.

The mine stays an intangible, untargettable pseudopet. It has two powers, Proximity and Arm.

Proximity is a 7' aura. As long as there's a hostile mob in the range, Proximity produces the effect Don't Arm, which locks out ("greys out") Arm. If there's no mob, Arm is available, and the pet can use it, losing Arm and instead gaining Explode.

[edit2] The second upgrade in Thugs has an animation that could be easily repurposed into a satchel charge toss.

Not having such an overlong, ground-only, interruptible animation for Trip Mine would probably be worth the loss of toe-bombing capacity. I don't actually necessarily have a problem with the Trip Mine being used as a bomb, however. Rename it as Proximity BOMB and let people toss it like a grenade. I've always felt that having a hand grenade style power was appropriate for Devices and Traps.

*edit*
As far as Time Bomb goes, I don't actually think it should be usable as a tossable AoE, lest it become a proper nuke. I'd still retain the the timer, or at least A timer, even if the powere were to become summonable at range. Just so long as you don't have to lay it down at your feet with an animation time long enough to go have dinner, it should be considerably better. Easier to toe-bomb with, as well, which is about the only thing it's good for now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville 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.

If I had my way with traps (and I guess if I had too, devices ), I would change Trip mine and Time bomb.

I would change Trip Mine to have a 2 second interruptable animation time.

I would change Time Bomb in the following ways:

1. Selecting Time Bomb as a power on level up will also give the power Detonator.

2. Activation for Time Bomb would be the same as the Alkaloid and Antidote softball pitch.

3. Activating Time Bomb Suppresses Detonator for 2 seconds.

4. Time bomb has the same damage and area. It would eminate from the targeted enemy, but only if: Self, Detonator = 1. This is the same way that scrapper/tanker/brute attacks have extra damage, but only if Fireyembrace.

5. Time bomb has: Self, Detonator after 10s

6. Time bomb has a taunt aura that draws minions with a chance to draw in lieutenants. As if they were trying to help get the bomb off the target.

7. Detonator has an activation of 1s

8. Detonator upgrades Time bomb to have the power Detonate. This is in the same way Mastermind's upgrade their henchmen.

9. Detonate has the effect: Self, Detonator

On a blaster set, Time Bomb is awesome solo. Smoke grenade, cloaking device, +Stealth proc for the higher perception mobs, and set. My favored tactic with my Archery/Devices/Elec blaster is to set a bomb in one mob and Rain of Arrows/Fistful of Arrows/Static Discharge another mob. By the time the bomb goes off I'm left only with a fraction of a mob to deal with.

Traps, however, I don't think Time Bomb fits. It seems far too offensive and not at all supportive for a support set, and with the lack of cloaking device/smoke grenade it's harder to set up a good bomb. I'd like to see it changed into something similar to the Omega bomb, even if it meant less damage.

That being said, if they shaved off half of the animation times for Trip Mine, Time Bomb, and Gun Drone I'd feel more inclined to pick them all up on one character.