CoH's Turret Syndrome. (Dur hur)

I realize this is kind of a dead horse, but with a lot of things, I'm hoping that if enough people call it out, maybe one day it'll get some attention.

We all know that Devices has its issues. It has two powers that are definitely lame ducks, one being Time Bomb, the other being Auto Turret. Since I've been playing my AR/Dev a lot more I have to say that I cut out Time Bomb with no real problem. But Auto Turret I have a hard time with letting go, and not just because it's sitting in my build for the Expedited Reinforcement bonuses.

As Devices blasters, we have to accept a few inevitable things. People with Build Up are going to outdamage us. We have no blaps. Our Trip Mines are pretty much unusable on fast-killing teams. And finally, we're garaunteed to have our caltrops out the second the tank pulls the mobs away from that area. What would really help us cope would be a nice perma-pet. It doesn't have to be a damage machine, but something that could follow us around doing chip damage, occassionally getting a kill and in general making us look pretty boss.

We can have Auto Turret out perma now, but it comes at the annoyance of having to go through its lengthy, interruptable cast time every minute or so. And guess what? If you're a blaster with hover, arguably one of our best defenses, you can't cast it while you're in the air! Sure, it gives a mini-Build Up for a few seconds after you bring it out, but it's a small consolation. For the most part, AT has limited usefulness solo, and next to none in groups. On things like BAF, it couldn't be MORE useless, since any good blaster is doing much more important attacks than wasting time bringing it out.

What would I suggest to make this a more likeable power? A few things that I'm sure others have touched upon, but merit saying again! My first thought would be to make it a Controller-style perma pet. It'll stay with you, and while it'll never break the game, will be a very unique thing that only Devices blasters get. Alternatively, treat it like Acid Mortar. A brief, un-interruptable cast time. I'd be more than happy to kiss mini-Build Up goodbye if it meant AT was less of a pain in the butt to use.

I've been Ar/Dev since before ED, and Auto Turret has always been one of those powers I've wanted to love despite itself. I mean, even back before it followed you around, it was awesome to whip out a freaking turret to shoot baddies down! It looks rad, it makes Devices unique, but sadly, it's just not that good right now.

So please. Think of the turret babies. D:

I believe in I21 they're removing the interrupt time and possibly reducing total cast time on Gun Drone, so good news.

Any chance they made it castable from Hover?

Wow. If that goes through all they need to do is replace/rework Time Bomb into something useful and /Dev might actually be viable.

Detonator would be awesome if it could be used on teammates. I could see them doing it a little bit like Self Destruct. Can't cast Veng on a detonated teammate, for example. I suppose we still wouldn't see it on Blasters though, since it definitely seems a bit sadistic for a hero archtype.

Time Bomb would be neat if it was more of a sustained power. Like...drop your Time Bomb, and it'll do a Trip Mine-esque burst every five seconds for twenty seconds. Be great in places like BAF, and while it wouldn't have a lot of regular teaming utility, it'd be slightly more useful than it is now. Or just scrap the power entirely and give us something new.

Heck, replace the Traps version of it with Targeting Drone for Corrupters and Defenders and Cloaking Device for MMs, and replace the Devices version of it with Force Field Gen or Acid Mortar.

The Turret can currently be worth its cast, end cost etc.

Time Bombs usefulness varies from player to player. I use it.

It's almost a little scary to think Gun Drone might be buffed to the point of usefulness. I'm almost expecting a cruel turn.

"No longer interruptable, and has a shorter cast time. But it now targets and attacks you."

I have a fire/Devices, alas I have skipped AT and need the room for the upcoming epic powers (I did get, and 6 slot, timebomb though on principle. At least the larger than Tripmine blast radius helps occasionally solo, but nobody ever wants to wait on teams for a 9 second cast + 15 second timer bomb. Even when I can Cloaking Device+SS into the middle of a mob to place it). But while this is being talked about I have a question regarding AT as it is now.

Does it still lock onto a single target and then never stop firing on that one alone until the target dies, like it's description says? Because the odds of the thing targeting an AV during a trial like that seem astronomical.

From the I21 Patch Notes (http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/p...011_live.php):


"POWERS

Blasters

Devices - Gun Drone can no longer be interrupted while cast.
Its Defiance buff has been adjusted to match the new total cast time."

Did anyone find out if it can be cast from Hover?