Quicksand or SnowStorm

I have a 1 power selection I can give 1 slot to on my Earth/Cold. I'm struggling to decide whether tis better to go with Quicksand or SnowStorm.

I'm inclined to go SS because of the -Rch, which Quicksand doesn't have. Also SS + Sleet will pretty much cap -run debuff. But SS is a toggle costing more endurance. If anyone has a compelling argument for Quicksand over Snow Storm, lemme hear it...

It's not like Earth or Cold have trouble mustering -def so that isn't really a big advantage for quicksand, but one nice thing about it is that it lets you make your own chokepoints. You can easily have loads of them out, too, and they're fantastic for applying impeded swiftness procs. Quicksand has a slightly stronger slow effect than snowstorm.

Snowstorm is nice for dropping flying enemies and for pulling large groups to a corner or into your VG or earthquake. It's also good at applying impeded swiftness procs but it costs more endurance per proc opportunity. If you need to blind your team, snowstorm is one of the best powers available.

It would be very silly to drop sleet for quicksand, sleet is a far better power, but quicksand still has its uses. So does snowstorm. They're really pretty different though. This has been an inconclusive post.

Sleet was obviously a typo that I edited, as I only mentioned it one time, so dropping Sleet was never an option.

Snow Storm effects is an issue though, maybe enough to justify QS.

I love Quicksand so much. You can easily get multiple patches down. Great for BAFs if you do a lot of those.

As for Snowstorm.... I've never really used the power myself, but I'm not a fan of AoE enemy toggles in general. They could run off and aggro a bunch of others.

Of the two graphical effects, snowstorm is certainly the "noisier," but that isn't always a bad thing. I find it can be difficult for people to notice that you've thrown down quicksand, the effect is just kind of there, whereas there is no doubt as to what's going on when a snowstorm is active. Quicksand's slow is actually quite a lot stronger than snowstorm's, but at the same time you can't always as easily kite something with quicksand.

Snowstorm is probably going to bring you more varied utility than quicksand since sleet can always be used as a QS stand-in. If you do enjoy toggle pulling as a squishy I'd say snowstorm is the clear winner but if you don't, quicksand would be yet another targetable patch in your already brimming arsenal.

One problem with SnowStorm is that it can attract unwanted attention - particularly when the person it is bound to goes running off into another spawn - something that doesnt happen with Quicksand.

Thats not to say its worse than Quicksand, you just have to be a bit careful using it

Leveling up my Earth/Storm, I had to skip either Quicksand or Snow Storm . . . and I chose to keep Quicksand. Because it is a location-based AoE, it is just a lot more effective than a foe-toggle power. I love the -Recharge and -Fly in Snow Storm, but I constantly use Quicksand under every other control, while Snow Storm is situational. (When we got inherent Stamina, I was able to fit in BOTH . . . but I still use Quicksand a lot, lot more.)

Quicksand+Volcanic Gasses mean that any foes who aren't caught initially by the Geysers will stay in the area for the next pulse. Quicksand+Earthquake means that you don't have to worry about foes running out of Earthquake. Stalagmites+Stone Cages+Quicksand means that you don't have to worry about missing a foe or two with the Cages, as the Q-Sand will keep the stunned foes in the area.

Thanks for your input everybody. It occurred to me that I currently have both powers. One of them I use every spawn, one I use sporadically, for very long fights. Quicksand is what I use all the time and Snow Storm rarely.

Also after this respec he'll have a smidge over 45% s/l def and perma Clarion, so he doesn't use squishy tricks like corner pulling with toggle debuffs.

Therefore... Quicksand is the winnah!

Don't think anyone mentioned Quicksand has a -def component. Not that it matters much after Sleet, but it's nothing to overlook.

A big thing to keep your eye on here is whether as the game evolves fighting in mid air becomes more common. Earth Control is a very good set but has very little it can do in the air. Right now there are only a very limited number of mid-air battles, and none that really require controls, but Snow Storm works even if the enemy is flying and immune to the -Fly portion.

[FYI, -Jump is also fairly useful not to mention somewhat exploitable if you do any soloing. Enemies are generally very stupid in their pathing and don't realize they can't jump out of Quicksand or Earthquake. If you put power down below a ledge they can't jump up to you. Mainly exploitable on buildings or when there is a trap door like hole in the floor. But you can do this with Earthquake (or Ice Slick) without needing Quicksand specifically.]

Quicksand easily, it's just so much easier to use and location drop debuffs can be cast out of line of sight, snow storm can't.