Nearly every manipulation set gets *1* power revamped that adds some form of survival mechanic.
Like Cloaking Device is now 'Field Operative' which boosts regen and recovery.
Drain Psyche wasn't touched.
Touch of Fear = Touch of Beyond. Big recovery buff (does not stack)
Common theme, for the most part you don't need to stack recharge, a 'baseline' ability of the archtype.
Blazing Aura = Cauterizing Aura, every time it ticks it heals you for a small amount.
Chilling Embrace = Frigid Protection. Ticks less frequently but it's range increased to 30 feet. Slows them. Every time it ticks it adds an absorb shield to your character (3 sec duration)
Cloaking Device = Field Operative.
Lightning Clap = Force of Thunder. If you don't use it near any enemies, stillg ives you buff. When you use, adds a regen and recovery buff.
Conserve Power = Energize, similar to Electric Armor and Energy Aura. More about regen/recovery, less about upfront heal. Smaller upfront heal, bigger regen.
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Does Cloaking Device lose it's +Stealth?
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Originally Posted by Agent White
Nearly every manipulation set gets *1* power revamped that adds some form of survival mechanic.
Like Cloaking Device is now 'Field Operative' which boosts regen and recovery. Drain Psyche wasn't touched. |
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
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No it keeps that the regen and recovery are added on top of it. It looks like about 220% regen half of which is enhanceable.|
Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
Does Cloaking Device lose it's +Stealth?
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All of the powers being changed are keeping their old purpose they just get regen/recovery added to them.
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Gotcha...just from the way people were writing it it looked like the power was completely changing. I figured that wasn't the case, but wanted to be clear.
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Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
No it keeps that the regen and recovery are added on top of it. It looks like about 220% regen half of which is enhanceable.
All of the powers being changed are keeping their old purpose they just get regen/recovery added to them. |
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
Quote:
Sorta. Not -all- of the powers are just getting regen/recovery slapped in. Each power gets -some- sort of survival mechanic added, but not everything is strictly regen/recovery. Like chilling embrace gets an absorb shield
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Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
No it keeps that the regen and recovery are added on top of it. It looks like about 220% regen half of which is enhanceable.
All of the powers being changed are keeping their old purpose they just get regen/recovery added to them. |
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Please tell me that ALL versions of Chilling Embrace are getting that!|
Originally Posted by Agent White
Sorta. Not -all- of the powers are just getting regen/recovery slapped in. Each power gets -some- sort of survival mechanic added, but not everything is strictly regen/recovery. Like chilling embrace gets an absorb shield
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(Yes, I know that won't happen, but I'd be a fool not to ask for it!)
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
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Very excited about this. My original character (and now my badge character) is Energy/Ice and was already pretty awesome. Getting one of the first absorb powers not in a new set is just cool. And I don't even have to respec since I usually run CE anyway!
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Originally Posted by Agent White
Chilling Embrace = Frigid Protection. Ticks less frequently but it's range increased to 30 feet. Slows them. Every time it ticks it adds an absorb shield to your character (3 sec duration)
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Quote:
So far, it's -strictly- the Blaster AT Secondaries that're getting the change.
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Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
Please tell me that ALL versions of Chilling Embrace are getting that!
(Yes, I know that won't happen, but I'd be a fool not to ask for it!) |
Quote:
They are the ones who need it, after all. I'm just being greedy.
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Originally Posted by Agent White
So far, it's -strictly- the Blaster AT Secondaries that're getting the change.
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Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
I MAY actually play a blaster now.
Both really excited, and a little worried. I don't see how the sets without snipes are going to be desirable without significant changes.
But as far as I can see, Devices just became the best secondary. Good thing I have two of them! 
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
Big woot to number 4, as that's exactly what I wanted. Everything else is so clearly not enough, and I wonder why they chose to-hit as the activator for the faster snipe.
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Dual Pistols is going to get it's animation times shortened. |
Originally Posted by EvilGeko
Both really excited, and a little worried. I don't see how the sets without snipes are going to be desirable without significant changes.
But as far as I can see, Devices just became the best secondary. Good thing I have two of them! |
As for Ice and Sonic, Hawk said that once I24 hits they'll monitor to see if the sets are still underperforming. They will still be getting the range boost to select powers, but if they aren't up to par with the snipe sets then they'll get looked at.
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No change to mez or mez protection, but the intent is for sustain toggles to not suppress when mezzed. So in I24, when mezzed sustain protection stays up and you have two to three attacks you can use under Defiance.
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Originally Posted by Coffin
4. No changes regarding Mez.
Arbiter Hawk mentioned the possibility of adding mez suppression to NPC powers in the future to modernize the game. |
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Quote:
Actually, I believe he stated they have ideas for the three blaster primaries that don't have snipes, but he wasn't sure if they were ripe for discussion yet.
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Originally Posted by Agent White
Dual Pistols is going to get it's animation times shortened.
As for Ice and Sonic, Hawk said that once I24 hits they'll monitor to see if the sets are still underperforming. They will still be getting the range boost to select powers, but if they aren't up to par with the snipe sets then they'll get looked at. |
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Quote:
Sort of mechanical reason, sort of thematic. Snipes take so long because the idea is you're aiming the shot. |
Originally Posted by Garent
Big woot to number 4, as that's exactly what I wanted. Everything else is so clearly not enough, and I wonder why they chose to-hit as the activator for the faster snipe.
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Well, if you've popped 'aim', you already have, so you can just 'fire'. It makes sense in that sense. And nearly every blast set has an aim power so it's an easy and unique way for range sets to benefit.
This is the part I get mad because I'll need to think if it's worth it to respec back on my main the Snipe, AND find what power I am willing to give up to get Blazing Aura. :P 
Still nice to see the changes are huge, but now I need to go crunch numbers! *ponders giving up Firebreath... or maybe Vengeance... or Maybe.... mutter mutter mutter*
It also sounds like Hawk wants to see how things work with the existing i24 changes (especially snipes) before adjusting ice, sonic, etc.
Also, I think this thread got the highlights down, but I tried to keep up with some shorthand on the Twitch.tv broadcast here (for those of you still at work):
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...2&postcount=97
Thank you, City of Heroes, for giving me a superhero social network combined with amazingly smooth game play. Petitions signed with realistic expectations.
Frankly I'm thrilled for the devices changes.
It actually makes me -not- want to play my electric/devices blaster until the changes come.
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This gives me one concern. The sets with the sustain toggles that don't suppress will be a LOT better off than sets with the click Sustain mechanisms. Because those sustain mechanisms won't be useable under mez. Will need to see how it works out, but it could cause an imbalance in these if the click numbers aren't higher than the toggle ones.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
No change to mez or mez protection, but the intent is for sustain toggles to not suppress when mezzed. So in I24, when mezzed sustain protection stays up and you have two to three attacks you can use under Defiance.
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Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
22% to hit. Something tells me that number was chosen out of pure evil.
Targeting Drone is what? 13.875, enhanceable till 20.8%. So close. . .
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That makes sense. The funny thing is that they'll now be standard attacks that have an interrupt period if your to-hit is too low and no benefit to offset that.
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Originally Posted by Agent White
Sort of mechanical reason, sort of thematic. Snipes take so long because the idea is you're aiming the shot.
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Quote:
Because Blasters tend to have more self tohit buffs than other ranged archetypes. And the +22% was carefully chosen as well: targeting drone slightly over slotted gets there perma all by itself, TD plus kismet gets there easily, but its very difficult to get perma without it in most other cases, so devices gets an edge relative to other sets at that number.
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Originally Posted by Garent
Big woot to number 4, as that's exactly what I wanted. Everything else is so clearly not enough, and I wonder why they chose to-hit as the activator for the faster snipe.
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[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
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The snipe changes look very interesting. I'm definitely going to be giving a Beam Rifle / Devices character a run once i24 hits. Heck, I may just work on him now. I always liked the idea of Penetrating Ray's guaranteed Disintegrate spread and now it'll be much easier to use it mid fight.
The highlights from the Twitch TV stream:
1. *Snipe changes affect other ranged archetypes as well.*
Snipes skip the interruptable period when the hero has over 22% tohit bonus.
Yellow inspirations, BU, Aim, Stacked Tactics in teams, or Targeting Drone from /dev help the Blaster use their snipe often in combat.
Ranged power sets without a snipe might receive additional changes, this is dependant on the upcoming beta tests.
2. *T3 blast changes affect other ranged archetypes as well.*
T3 blasts are getting normalized to 80 ft. range.
3. Secondaries except /mental are getting survivability enhancements added to existing powers.
Examples are:
/dev Cloaking Device becomes Field Operative, gives +regen.
/dark Touch of Fear becomes Touch of Beyond, puts +regen and +recovery on the blaster.
/fire Blazing Aura becomes Cauterizing Aura, works as a heal over time.
/ice Chilling Embrace becomes Frigid Protection, periodically puts an absorb shield on the blaster (every 3 secs). Range is increased to 30 ft.
/elec Lightning Clap becomes Force of Thunder, adds +regen and +recovery.
/energy Conserve Power becomes Energize, adds more +regen.
These powers do not need to hit enemies to apply their buffs to the hero.
Players will not need to respec to receive the updates to these powers.
4. No changes regarding Mez.
Arbiter Hawk mentioned the possibility of adding mez suppression to NPC powers in the future to modernize the game.
5. No changes to Nukes in i24.
6. Dual Pistols might be getting faster animations.
Violence has its own economy. Therefore, be thoughtful and precise in your investment.