A knockback solution.

Why not solve the KB problem with an IO? I've always admired the way the Theft of Essence proc neatly solved the painfully high END costs of Dark Regen without actually changing the power or breaking anything else. Add a new IO set to the game, maybe travel (10-50) so anyone can stick it in Sprint. Have one of the enhancements in the set be a Global that reduces KB to KD in all powers the character uses.

Of course, now it occurs to most that F2P players won't have IOs... damnit. Maybe Null the Gull is the better way to do this.

The best example I can think of for different spawning patterns is Lost/Rikti

Go into their missions set for 2, you will almost always find solo bosses.
Go into most enemy groups set for two and you never see a boss.

there are different patterns out there, but we could use more variety.

I understand that Knockback is important to some power builds, I like it quite a bit on my Pistol blaster. But as the player of a Tanker, I also dislike Knockback because it's an enormous pain in the butt for a melee powerset to deal with. Especially in team play.

I know why Knockback shouldn't be removed, but why not an option to change it to knockdown or knockup? The affected target is still temporarily disabled, but they aren't hurled across the room in a way that scatters mob packs and makes tanking, melee, and further AoE use impossible.

Well, there's a quick answer to "Why not knockdown", how strong of a reason you consider it is up to you:

KnockDOWN is achieved by reducing the magnitude of a knockback. Changing a knockback power to knockdown puts it below the protection threshold of more targets. If something has Mag 4 protection, You need mag 4 to even budge it. To compare, it's like suddenly changing a Controller's hold to be Mag 2. It suddenly doesn't work on a lot of stuff.

Why not knock UP? Well, it doesn't quite share this problem with knockdown: A VERY high Knockup magnitude still lands the enemy relatively close to where they were lifted from, while still overcoming protection. Below a certain threshold, the Ragdoll system doesn't even kick in, and instead it uses the same knock mechanics that player-knocking uses, which for a knock-up, will ground you exactly where you were lifted from unless you were in some kind of airborne lateral movement.

There's still a reason: It would look doofy. Some powers shouldn't knock up, not based on what they do, visually. Gale, Force Bolt, Nova, all 3 would look strange if they hurled enemies straight UP instead of away. I can't think of others, and maybe they don't exist, but it's a legitimate concern for the developers, even if the players consider it irrelevant. (See: No emotes with a weapon/shield out because of clipping, No Pink Ice because Ice_Is_Not_Pink_in_Paragon.txt was passed into law.)

The final reason is that you actually do sometimes want to move an entire spawn over THAT way, and that should not be the sole province of players with Force Bubble and Hurricane.

Properly used the gripes against kb are by people who are lazy and don't want to have to move even a short distance to attack a mob in melee. That being said improperly used it can be a pain. Everyone has encountered one of those tankers with hand clap that uses it gleefully whenever they get enemies built up and launches the mobs in every direction.

It's kinda like AOE immobilize. AOE immobilize used at the right time is both a damage mitigation and a way to keep mobs clustered. Used at the wrong time it makes people with rains/slicks/kd powers want to kill you.


Personally I've encountered way more people who think they are a blastroller, spam AOE immobs, and forget to actually control or support than I have encountered people who use kb badly consistently.