Energy Aura fix for powerset proliferation

Well, my proposed changes would put the end drain on par with ELA. As for SR doing better defense; well, sure, if defense is all you want. I like a heal that doesn't require dipping into a pool. I like not starving for endurance like SR leaves many early level players. End recovery has not been depreciated by anything in the game. Not as far as SOs are concerned. Inherent Stamina doesn't change anything, it just unlocks another pool for you. People were taking it with EA already.

I don't think they're going to do any fixes to the set or any kind of proliferation as separate things. If they do anything, they'll do them at the same time. It's pointless to just fix it for Brutes and Stalkers when they'd have to turn around and redo everything to make it viable or tankers too. Hence my suggestion for proliferation. It's pretty obvious they'll have to make changes to the set in order for that to happen.

Now, outside of saying it's sub-par to other sets in your opinion and just belly-aching for a fix, make some suggestions. I'm willing to hear them, I've already made compromises with OWB's comments. Just throwing your hands up in the air and saying, "fix it before you let other ATs have fun with it" does nothing constructive for the purpose of this thread. It's not like I only asked for proliferation without making improvements to the set.

Well, smashing things does have it's appeal.

As someone whose main characters both use SR, I second the hell out of this sentiment. EA is way more fun to play.

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

Wait... you think adding more HP would make EA too much like Ice Armor, but adding -Recharge won't?

Oh, wait. You're recommending adding a Recovery debuff. Oh, yes... I really see that happening. Instead of continually draining the enemies energy, you prevent them from gaining any back... uh huh. You don't think that sounds, I don't know... a little overpowered on a melee set? Especially one that is perpetual, meaning that enemies in it might as well be stunned, for all the effect they will have? No, I think asking for more base HPs and an added damage boost is FAR more likely to happen, then that.

I'm also going to guess you don't know Ice Armor too well, then. In addition to Typed defense, Ice Armor provides:

A Dull Pain clone (Click heal and +HP)
Chilling Embrace - a powerful taunt aura that also inflicts -Dam, -Speed, and -Rech on enemies.
A Damage Aura
And Energy Absorption, which is may not give as much End per enemy as Energy Drain, but also significantly boosts their defense.

With the changes made to fury, it takes more than just unlimited endurance to sustain Fury. And the kind of playstyle that DOES sustain their fury... is pretty much counter to what EA seems to be built for.

And unlimited blue doesn't seem to prevent other sets from getting better mitigation, better damage, and/or just more perks & bennies than Energy Aura can provide.

But hey, what do I know? I'm not a numbers guy. I can't crunch up data showing that the combination would be overpowered or not. My proposal is honestly more about make four near-useless powers in the set (Okay, 3 near-useless and one ultimately underwhelming) into something viable, while covering the holes in the set, as I see them.

... did you just compare Energy Drain's heal to Fiery Aura's Healing Flame? Healing flame is up far more often, takes much less time to cast, and is far more reliable.

Energy Drain's heal is more like a much, MUCH weaker form of Dark Regeneration.

Huh... I did not know that. But we'll just have to disagree on the last bit. I think EA needs SOMETHING else to back up its defense, and additional Hit Points is simply one of the easiest ways I can think of to provide that.

Wait. You liken -Recov on top of end drain being like a stun aura, and that it would be over-powered for a melee class, but DA comes with a stun aura. DA's not over-powered. Well, not being a numbers expert either, I could be wrong about adding in -recov. But making the end drain on par with ELA's aura would go a long way for mitigation.

Also, I am very, very familiar with Ice Armor. That's why I said the +HP would be too similar to Ice - +HP and Def and End Drain. It's been done. Twice now that Shields are around (minus the end drain of course). Let's go in a different direction. Yes, Ice does offer other forms of mitigation in CE and with the def bonus of Eng Abs, but you can already get extra defense from Energy Cloak. (I am aware that the values aren't the same, but after you take Brute modifiers into account, they aren't far off) EA trades off some of the layered mitigation, of course, by offering more typed defense than Ice.

Wait... Of the powers you talked about adding changes to, one is a mez protection. I'm trying to figure out if you consider it near-useless or underwhelming. Either way, I'll disagree. Also, I don't want my mez protection to be a taunt aura as well. It's different, I'll grant you that, but I don't think that's gonna sail.

So you want a +HP, great defense, +Rech, +DMG, -To Hit, and end drain. Man, not even Ice armor gets all that.

Okay, let's try some compromise. I think +HP and great defense has been done often enough. But, maybe we go the FA route and add damage boost to make up for some of the lack luster (for some, anyways) survival. CP gets changed into a taunt aura that does -dmg, -recovery to the foe, and does +dmg and endurance discount for up to 10 foes. The -Recovery won't be too much, because now only ED does significant drain. If the fight goes too long, then your mitigation comes from foes being drained from the long fight. This of course, makes it harder for them to finish you off before you finish them.

And maybe recharge debuff res and end drain res in Dampening Field if the other changes don't make it "too good" already.

Still front load ED's heal and reduce the activation time.

Thoughts?

Consider me schooled. I thought HF had the same recharge.

+2

I only have 1 character that uses SR. I love my character, his concept, his survivability and feel...but I'll never roll up another SR character ever. It's boring to look at and play, it's painful to level and it's so mainstream, I wouldn't ever bother unless some major AT/power combos come available. The only reason I even survived my trip to 50 was because he's Katana/SR otherwise I'd have probably shelved him too long to play.

Besides Shield Defense (for concept!), EA is the only set I have multiple characters with.

From my limited experience with the new Fury (only played my Claws/EA Brute a few levels after the change...been too busy with a pair of Blasters and my Scrapper), Fury practically sustains itself. Just walk up to a dude, hit your attacks and there you go. It doesn't shoot up to max but after the dude is dead, you've got time to delete some salvage, combine some inspirations, tab through your targets and then walk up to it all with enough a nice chunk of fury sticking around.

Yeah, a much weaker Dark Regen...except it doesn't cost you 1/3 of your blue bar...and replenishes both blue and green bars...and drains a quarter of the foes endurance....

.....and is auto-hit...

I'm not saying Energy Drain is stronger, but you can't honestly think it is even remotely balanced that this power should replenish *ALL* your endurance *AND* a large portion of your HP on top of it *ALWAYS* hitting its mark.

But serious question: just to get some perspective of the posters replying. If you guys were at the helm, and you were 'fixing' the set, exactly where would it sit?

For me, I love how the set performs as is. I will admit, some of the utility the set has is redundant and it could use some more to even out the playing field for 'fairness'.

The only change I'd put in is probably changing Conserve Power into "Fusion Charge" which would basically be a cross of Conserve Power and Fiery Embrace, except adding Energy Damage to every attack. Survivability wise, the set doesn't seem sub-par if you use its tools however some of those tools may be counter to the playstyle of others (mainly the stealth). Giving it an offensive spin would basically cement the set as an 'off-tanker' (if used by a tanker) and a superb offensive choice for the player that *doesn't* want to be the center of attention (and first to die) yet still wants to dish out the damage. I don't see the problem with EA not being good at tanking.

It would. But I don't think they would add that, because that's Electric Armor's schtick.

And to compare... Dark Armor can stun enemy minions, at the cost of the their own HP. And they pay the HP cost, even against enemies that can't be stunned, so the power can quickly become counter productive.

Putting in a sustainable -Recovery power will effectively completely shut down anything that doesn't die too fast. Not like the End Drain in Electric Armor, where they will still get off the occasional attack, but a complete shut down when they lose all their endurance. Which means that you'll see it most on the tougher enemies... like bosses and higher.

Considering the price DA pays for a minion stun... I really don't want to think of what kind of cost the Devs would level against a sustainable -Recovery power...

Except the added typed defense are to the attacks that Ice Armor provide either extreme amounts of resistance to (Cold), or is its thematic hole (fire.) So yes, Fire damage can be annoying, but at least they can still be slowed and the attacks weakened.

Additional typed defense isn't more mitigation in this case, its just... more of the same. And stealth just falls flat, compared to the plethora of tools Ice can provide.

Yes, I consider Entropy Shield underwhelming. No other set uses a toggle that JUST provides mez protection. Would turning it into the Taunt aura be ideal? No. But it wouldn't break the cottage rule, so it could be done.

If this were ideal, Entropy Shield would provide the stealth and +Def, as well as the mez protection, and Energy Cloak would be a proper form of taunt aura. But they aren't, so I'm trying to work with what is available.

Numbers would have to be handled delicately, but I think it would only be a issue if the self buff power could be made permanent, or worse, stacked. If that is avoided, then I think it would be balanced.

See above regarding the -recovery idea. (And actually, now that I think of it... wouldn't changing a click power into a toggle be a violation of the cottage rule? I honestly don't know...)

I think you are expecting too much from these, if you think they may break the set. The reason I proposed these is because (a) I thought they would fit with the theme of the set, and (b) Energy Aura ALSO possesses the some of the only remaining Auto powers that don't provide some kind of perk besides its primary effect (the small amount of resistance.) Which again, makes them ideal placed to add something to bolster the set without violating the cottage rule.

I can get behind those changes, although I suspect reducing the activation time might be a pipe dream...

Nope. Starts at 40 seconds, and can easily be brought down to 20. Of course, FA will almost always be using it whenever it comes up, so there is a reason for that...

And, in regards to Leo_G... yeah, Energy Drain is auto hit. But since it still needs those targets to feed off of, the comparison can still be made. And I, personally, have no idea how Energy Aura is supposed to keep 10 targets around them even using Energy Drain primarily as a taunt...GAH! Why did they screw with that power so much?

On the other hand, making Conserve Power have a +Energy Damage effect might be a nice alternative...

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.

Yes, stealth and stealth IOs suppress during combat, while energy cloak does not. As far as stealthing missions are concerned, steath IOs perform just as good. So, it comes back to the point whether a combat stealth is of value or not. The combat stealth does not boost damage in any form, it only provides the tactical value of not attracting aggro.