Time Bomb... seriously what are the devs thinking?

A power that takes a few seconds to set up and can be interrupted, then 15 seconds before it goes off?

In what perfect world is this useful? Something that does moderate aoe damage with the same recharge that can be used instantly would be 1 million times as useful.

Iv'e seen in other games when outdated powersets get updates making them more relevant.

In this game the best thing I can say about that particular power is...

...dated power is dated.

>.>

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What were the devs thinking*.

And it was probably one of those "Sounds good on paper but doesn't work as well in reality" type things. And with the devs not wanting to drastically change old powers as to piss off any existing players, they haven't, and probably won't, make any serious changes to it.

In the past, pissing off the players hasn't really stopped them from making changes, there's too many variables for me to be specific.

In this particular case I'd vote to change it, or at least get a decent poll and see if the majority would tolerate a change.

I really don't see what it could hurt.

Prior to inherent fitness, every powerset needed at least one power which you could look at, and think, "I wouldn't mind too much if I drop that power since I don't have enough room on my build for it."

Timb Bomb is the candidate choice for skipping on Devices. It exists on Traps as well, so it can easily be skipped there too. o_O

Time Bomb has uses, but they're limited to AVs (While they're attention is elsewhere), an opening attack while soloing (Toe Bomb them, wait, boom) and if you set it then pull people to you. Oh, and as a set mule.

I do think the interupt time should be gone and the animation time reduced. And the timer lenght as well.

When Devices was first coded, Time Bomb was there to complete the theme of the set. Not all powers are there to be über.....just look around and you'll find others.

I agree about Time Bomb being useless, even solo..

I disagree with Poster TGIA about Caltrops. Time Bomb should be as good as Caltrops is. I can close off 2 areas with Caltrops due to recharge. I can make SOA stealth strike ready mobs appear and not be able to stealth thus killing that one big power they have that can out right kill you with one shot.

No one in this gaming company will ever admit that stuff is lacking and they just cannot fix it. To admit is to admit defeat. It would be the war cry of every competitor MMO out there against CoH. We can do what CoH can't.

Unfortunately it has become apparent just from the numerous statements that Devs have said about powers sets that it is just not that easy to modify them as it might be compared to games like Champions Online ( yes I said it, read it while you can ). Unfortunately CO Devs had first hand info on CoH and they knew what not to do. What CO is lacking is content and various ways to level up that CoH does not. But getting off track. But what CO does have is costume parts out the backside and what appears a easier time at creating different power effects and items.

I have always said and I will restate it here yet again.. Do not, do not, do not create a new power set Devs.. Instead add alternate powers to existing sets. This would make the old set new to everyone. This would also preserve that old power that those few that still want it. It's a win/win and makes EVERYONE HAPPY. You level up and you find you have a choice of power A or B from that set available. A is old and B is new.

Now that sounds great but unfortunately it goes back to what my previous paragraphs mentioned. This is not easy for them to do. The code is just not written this way for them to do so. At least that is what I am GUESSING from just reading the comments they say. Example them saying how difficult the whip attacks where to make when Demon Summoning was coming out and for the time it takes to make a full set of whip attacks they can make 2 other sets.. Again that seems to be the magic statement I keep hearing, for the time it takes to make this one I can make 2 of another. I also heard that comment being tossed around with the last pet issue on beast mastery mastermind set.

Further from what I have heard and surmise it is just simpler for them to create a new set instead of messing around with and old set that much. To me I consider Traps the new Device. I also think that maybe certain AT where written by different people so I also think that some code might be a bit more complicated then others. Again as some know when writing code there are numerous ways to get the same results depending on who is writing it. A very simple example I did with Excel in a long drawn out process what someone showed me how to do with SQL in a few steps. I was happy I figured it out but it killed me how easy it was in SQL.

End result this is why Time Bomb ( or fill in that power ) is lacking..

I have to disagree with all the time bomb haters as I do find it "useful" while solo.

My Arch/Dev/Munitions is the only blaster I ever solo'd that hit 50 without getting the first debt badge. The trade off was of course that it took 5-10 times longer to hit 50 even with repaying debt for the other blasters figured in.

My Arch/Dev will drop a trip mine, stealth to the center of a spawn, set up time bomb, walk back to near where the first trip mine is, set up another trip mine, drop caltrops on the mines, Aim, Rain of Arrows. Doing it like that makes rain of arrows hit at the same time that Time Bomb goes off leaving only a lieutenant or 2 with a shred of health and an almost dead boss or 2 (depending on difficulty settings) to finish off with single target attacks and the caltrop/mine nest. Safe and easy mode.

I have before "one shotted" an end mission Elite Boss that had no KB protection by setting up a stack of 20ish trip mines, stealthing behind it and setting up time bomb, and waiting for it to go off. The time bomb's kb tossed the EB onto the stack of trip mines and the huge explosion left a tiny tick of health on the EB. A single snap shot finished the EB off.

So there are uses for it. The set just requires a different and solo based play style.

All that said, I would not complain at all if the devs buffed time bomb (or the rest of the power set) to make it more team friendly while still maintaining it's solo "flavor".

So I like time bomb. Would I accept an improvement to time bomb?

In a heart beat.

I'd rather have LRM (from Munitions) than Time Bomb. It would be even better if it did extra incendiary damage as DoT.

Just to state the obvious.

MK I get what your saying about Time Bomb and Trip mine. But I honestly think your failing to say that the only time your going to place either one of these is at the beginning of a fight. Further your failing to say that if you fail to place Trip mine you will loose the endurance. If you fail to lay down a Time Bomb you not only loose the endurance but also loose the Time Bomb as well until it recharges. So at most if you try to place a trip mine and fail you have about 3 other attempts before your endurance drops so low you will not be able to.

I think everyone by now knows about the whole toe bombing idea and laying down 20 mines, which btw laying down 20ish ( will say 20 ) at a really good recharge rate of 5 seconds per recharge your talking between cast time of 5 seconds and recharge a total of 200 seconds to place 20 bombs. Your talking over 3 minutes from start to finish. Again 5 seconds is a real good recharge number.

Personally I think many would agree eating 3 or 4 reds inspiration and hover blasting would probably prove better results in a shorter amount of time compared to 3 minutes.

The only time I can see Time bomb being of any worth while value as well as Trip mine is with Traps which affords you defense cap and allows you to place bombs at will.

The end result is if your talking about optimal builds Time Bomb or Trip mine for that matter does not have much room in a device build. I am not counting it out all together, but it is very limited power compared to many other T9 powers or even other device powers.

Yes in a concept build by all means this is all a moot point. But I am sure we are not discussing concept builds here.

A lot of these time bomb strategies would be good if the set didn't have trip mine, but it does.

In 99% of cases, you are better off just laying down another trip mine and not slotting time bomb. Trip mine has a base 20 sec recharge (which can be made positively sprightly and quick in today's IO game) and time bomb has a 360 recharge.

Do you really want to: (a) Take this other power in time bomb; and (b) slot the time bomb so that it is useful? When you could just drop another trip mine and be functionally identical in most cases?

This is true times 10-million for ATs like corruptors, etc., that get ffg and will have capped defense so can trip mine when they want to. It is still largely true for blasters, because that time bomb also would have been interrupted if the trip mine was.

ive tried to like devices but its just so hard to play, personally i think traps makes a better devices-like set and could easily be ported a devices set with less debuff and more dmg output

for example poison trap, could be changed to poison bomb, have essentially the same functionality that the traps one has except instead of being extreme debuff with the chance to hold, it would do very high toxic DoT with the chance to hold. the exact numbers would have to be tweaked but it would be more feasible than time bomb is for most situations

i really agree with the point made above that time bomb isnt 100% useless but its few potential uses are easily overshadowed by trip mine

MK sorry again I feel as if you want to paint the rosey picture of Time Bomb and Trip mine for Devices but do not want to admit at least the weakness of it.

Trip mine has it's uses solo, but personally I think getting range defense out weighs Trip mine.

BUT as for TIME BOMB..

Here is it's down fall. If you take ONE POINT of damage while placing Time Bomb you not only loose the full endurance as if you placed it, it also resets the timer as if you placed it. End result you have to wait for it to reset and get nothing out of it.

Now if Time Bomb did 9k worth of damage unslotted then by all means its great. But it does not do that slotted so it sucks because it is so easy to fail with this power.

As far as your endurance comment. Try to place Trip mines on a bed of caltrops and let me know how it works out for you. You just keep clicking that Trip mine button and tell me what happens. Again Trip mine is at least fair enough to just eat your endurance and not reset the power.

But at the end this is a circular debate. So I direct you or anyone else back to my original post. You can have Time Bomb or Trip Mine and just give me the option for something else. We both are happy.

Even if I had a grenade that deals 1/2 the damage of Trip mine for half the endurance and half the recharge I would have no complaints. If I had the old Auto Turret back instead of Time Bomb I would no complaints.

Guys, Time Bomb SUCKS hard. There is no reason trying to deny it or coming up excuses of how it 'may' work under very 'special' situation.

For the longest time, I've been saying Dimension Shift serves 'NEGATIVE' purpose in pve, which means whenever I use it, it causes more chaos and harm than good. I spend more time trying to explain what's going on or trying to figure out why the mobs are still attacking and running when they deal no damage. Enemies are still regenerating when they are phased.


Guess what? Years and years later, the dev finally decides to fix Gravity Control. Why? Because it sucked. There is really no point trying to debate how Dimension Shift can be good. It really just sucks. It really doesn't take a genus to figure out this power sucks. To give you an example of how "desperate" some people are. They say not to slot accuracy in Dimension Shift so you may get some foes not phased and you may be able to pick them out one at a time. Oh please... if that's how this power is supposed to work, then the Power team needs to be fired. Now the old DS may have a use in PvP.


This applies to Time Bomb as well. It truly sucks. Please stop wasting your time to come up "fancy" ways to use it. You want to set up bombs? Use Trip Mine. Trip Mines are pretty fun when you combo with a wormhole user. Trip Mines usually explode when the enemies walk past them. There's no need to count 15s or wait for 15s. Several trip mines deal more damage than time bomb.

Yawn....not this again.

Yes, if the Devs toss the interrupt I would like time bomb better.. even give its timer a extra 15 seconds so I could lay more landmines.

But time bomb does work!

So why would the devs waste the time on 'fixing' a power that isn't broke. Hell, I can think of two dozen things I rather have fix first. In fact, if we have a vote on the forums on things that needed to be fixed, not sure if Time Bomb would even be in the top 100.

Yes, its a skippable power. I have it on my dev blaster but not on my trap fender. I use it rarely, but then there are alot of powers I have that I use rarely. Time Bomb isn't the best, but then it isn't the worst either.

And its not like even if they do fix Time Bomb to whatever crazy level you wish, its not going to make Device any more popular to play. I created my ar/dev blaster as a joke, and was always going to delete her till I got to 32 lvl and started to have fun. Now I mostly play her in the varies respec trials so I can trip mine the reactor (with my recharge, I can only get 12 out before they start blowing). It may be stupid, but I like stupid fun from time to time to keep me from becoming all serious about a mere game.

@plainguy - I'm not trying to paint a rosey picture of time bomb. I simply mention that my Arch/Dev actively uses it while solo and puts it to very good use.

Time bomb and trip mine are very slow to use. The time for safety trade off is far too high but changing either power in a way that results in lower damage does not solve the problem and potentially makes it worse.

There are several TFs/missions where trip mine is useful. Respec trials, Katie Hannon, and the stop 30 firbolg from entering mission just to name a few. It used to be good on the ITF when the post crystal ambush spawned at the door instead of in a random location. I could set a nest of mines while the team worked on the crystal spawn and blow up the entire ambush.

Your point with taking a single point of damage is just that, a point. While solo I've never had a time bomb fail because I make sure that I'm not moving and neither are the mobs before I set one. Stealth and super speed are really good for that ya know?

Also the bed of caltrops I'm talking about when placing trip mines are the ones that I dropped not caltrops that Knives or Tsoo scattered so I'm not interrupted nor am I taking any damage (taking damage would notify the mobs you realize.)

I'd be happy if Time Bomb and Trip Mine just had the interrupt removed and had a 1 second cast time. After all if I was doing that for real I'd be packing set and forget stuff. Pull the pin or set the fuse in 1 second and clear the area.

As far as gun drone goes. I just want to buy mine from the same store Malta get theirs from. 1 second of interrupt to cast, 5 endurance, and it stays until destroyed.

@jibakao - I use them both. It's not really creative its just the way the set works if you are built as a trapper. Time bomb is a crashless mini-nuke, it just takes 24 seconds from the time you cast it til it delivers that damage. Teams can kill spawns in less than 24 seconds which is why the power isn't good on a team.

I can drop a trip mine, drop time bomb, drop another trip mine, drop caltrops and deal 1400 damage all at once with out even getting shot at. Name any other blaster power set that can deal 1400 points of AoE damage without any return fire, in fact name any other blaster SECONDARY that can deal 1400 damage in the span of 4 seconds.

It's not the damage output that anyone is complaining about. Its the much too long time it takes to set up and the clunkiness on a team.

@Bionut911 - it's fun but I wouldn't roll one for that reason only. My toon was a concept character at the start but once I got trip mine 3 slotted it evolved and I took it to 50 and IO'd it for recharge. I didn't need defense of any kind. Nothing lived long enough to shoot back more than once. I can't really reccommend devices to anyone unless you are good with a trapper play style. It's almost as painful to level a x/dev as it is to level a Psi/x or Elec/x. I have no interest in using the power set on any other character with perhaps the dubious exception of creating an Iron Eagle.

Hmmmm.... that gives me an idea.....