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The click ones will be longer duration, and obviously impossible to suppress when up. Energize has a small frontloaded heal, so that also compensates for the case of being temporarily unable to use it, but we will need to test carefully to see how the other click sustain powers behave relative to the toggles.|
Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
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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Its also possible that click powers will benefit (to a point: Arbiter Hawk mentioned that effects won't stack) from recharge, where toggles don't. That may mean they have slightly better potential to grow relative to toggles. But I believe Arbiter Hawk's intent is for the variability of the strength of the powers to be constrained so no one gets the "bad" version.
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Are the new heals/regens enhanceable? Like... will blazing aura take heal IOs?
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TD + Kismet = perma awesome snipe.|
Originally Posted by Tormentoso
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. . . |
Also, four even SOs in TD get you to 22.1%, also perma awesome snipe.
The number was actually chosen so targeting drone could get there without too much trouble, but most other blasters would have the effect non-perma with cycling BU and Aim, so that TD, and devices in general, got a boost relative to everyone else.
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Yeah, I'm sure they can be balanced...just going to be interesting to see how they work out in practice. But yes, it looks like Devices just picked up some good bonuses.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
The click ones will be longer duration, and obviously impossible to suppress when up. Energize has a small frontloaded heal, so that also compensates for the case of being temporarily unable to use it, but we will need to test carefully to see how the other click sustain powers behave relative to the toggles.
Its also possible that click powers will benefit (to a point: Arbiter Hawk mentioned that effects won't stack) from recharge, where toggles don't. That may mean they have slightly better potential to grow relative to toggles. But I believe Arbiter Hawk's intent is for the variability of the strength of the powers to be constrained so no one gets the "bad" version. |
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+Regen will be half-enhanceable according to Arbiter Hawk. Absorb effects and +recovery buffs will be fully enhanceable.
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Originally Posted by Alexander_Drako
Are the new heals/regens enhanceable? Like... will blazing aura take heal IOs?
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I has a happy. Changes to DP animation times means I can use my main RP alt in more non-RP things. And the overall changes make me want to dig out my old ooold NRG^2 blaster again. I sense much stacking of yellow and pink skittles in her future.
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Tactics + 40% enhance and Kismet proc gets you to roughly 16%. So that's only another 6% to go. Hmmmmmmm. Has there been any sightings of the second blaster ATO set yet?
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
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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the click sustain powers have a duration of 60 seconds and are designed to be perma out of the box.(Hawk noted Energize might need slotting)
at a60second duration I don't think the click vs toggle issue will be an issue at all.
It just occured to me that Time will also have an easy time hitting the required +to-hit, between a Kismet, Farsight, and a Power Boost type power (which many Time characters take anyway). I'm very happy with the snipe changes, even beyond the Blaster specific applications.
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Yea. I was being conservative with my slotting and went with 50ish% to-hit slotted. I rarely bother about 4-5% in enhancements and like to look at stuff w/o IOs (even though I IO everything I have). 55% is 21.5%, so a tick closer.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
TD + Kismet = perma awesome snipe.
Also, four even SOs in TD get you to 22.1%, also perma awesome snipe. The number was actually chosen so targeting drone could get there without too much trouble, but most other blasters would have the effect non-perma with cycling BU and Aim, so that TD, and devices in general, got a boost relative to everyone else. |
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Kismet. |
Originally Posted by Tormentoso
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. . . |
Also, on the high end, you can go for Spirital Total Radial/Radial Paragon or Resilient (Can't see a good reason for that tho) to push past the ED cap.
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13.875*1.56 (3 to-hit enhancers)=21.645|
Originally Posted by Tormentoso
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. . . |
13.875*1.59 (4 to-hit enhancers)=22.06
And who cares because Field Operative will take the Kismet IO, so Devices can do it all in set.
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Ok my thoughts on the snipe changes.
In many ways this seems like it will help Defenders more than non-Devices Blasters. A Defender with ED capped Tactics (or Farsight for Time) and a Kismet +ToHit IO should hit the 22% To Hit required for Fast-Cast Snipes without needing Aim/Build Up or Inspirations. A Corruptor can also do it by overslotting for to hit but it's a lot tighter. Devices it obviously the Blaster set with the most to gain since slotting up Targeting Drone and putting a Kismet in Field Operative (or CJ or Hover) will given them permanent fast-snipe.
For specific Blast sets:
Archery: I don't see a huge benefit here, Blazing Arrow has always meant that Archery has pretty good ST damage. Still it could be some benefit.
Assault Rifle: Heck Yeah! A 0.67s cast time on a 2.76 damage scale power in a set that is lacking in ST damage (other than Ignite which has setup time issues). AR/Dev Blasters are going to really love this one, especially when you factor in the damage buff they get for Having Sniper Rifle and Targeting Drone. The downside is that when not paired with Devices the lack of Aim means it'll have less uptime for it than other sets.
Beam Rifle: This is an interesting one. The automatic disintegration spread from Penetrating Ray makes doing Disintegrate -> Penetrating Ray -> Cutting Beam a very attractive combo. On the other hand Beam Rifle is already very high single target damage so is it really worth taking all five powers? And if not what do you drop? All of the single target powers now have a very nice secondary bonus either in the form of cast from mez, bonus damage, -regen, mezzing enemies or just disintegration spread it's hard to say which ones to take. Eh, I'll leave it to the number crunchers.
Dark Blast: Another set with a lot of ST damage already the big advantage here is probably that unlike most of the other hard hitters in the set Moonbeam is straight damage rather than a DoT.
Dual Pistols: No Snipe. Next!
Electrical Blast: Like AR this is a set that is lacks a third tier blast (which is sort of replaced by Voltaic Sentinel) so having a fast cast snipe will help a lot with fighting bosses. I can see a lot of benefit here.
Energy Blast: The long cast time on Power Burst makes Sniper Blast very attractive here.
Ice Blast: No Snipe. Next!
Fire Blast: Given the short cast time on Blaze and the general high damage of the set I don't think there's a huge upgrade here.
Psychic Blast: Like Assault Rifle this has a shorter than average cast time on the snipe and while it has four single target attacks I think a fast cast snipe will add quite a bit to it's arsenal.
Radiation Blast: Another case where the fast-cast snipe will be quicker than the standard T3 blast so I can see it being a good choice here.
Sonic Attack: No Snipe. Next! Oh wait, that's all folks!
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Slotted tactics on a defender hits 19.5% tohit. So I'd say non-blasters will benefit from this change more than blasters will.
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Originally Posted by Calvin Case
I'm very happy with the snipe changes, even beyond the Blaster specific applications.
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I believe the actual intention behind it was that popping "Aim" before using your snipe attack eliminates the "aiming" time (interrupt time) on the attack. As someone mentioned, it makes thematic sense since once your character "Aims" they should not have to then aim through the sniper attack.|
Originally Posted by Tormentoso
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. . . |
Not sure how I feel about the sniper change, I have to wait to see it in play.
THRILLED TO NO END about the changes to T3 single target blasts.
THRILLED TO NO END about the faster DP animations (combined with the above, I think I will love playing DP now).
I'm indifferent to the secondary changes, though I know that puts me in the minority.
All in all, this looks like it will benefit Blasters very well. Admittedly, my impulse reaction was to say, "But if the snipe and T3 changes are being done for all Archetypes using ranged sets, do the rest really add enough to put the Blaster noticeably (if not obviously) ahead of the Corruptor for ranged damage?" I don't know and like I said: that is an impulse (i.e. not thought out) reaction. But it is something I want to investigate.
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So Cauterizing Aura is still 8ft? Rather meh but it's a heal over time. Pop a Theft of Essence proc or even touch of the nictus for some extra proc dmg I suppose.
Same with the Chilling Embrace swap (forgot the name) although that one is auto-hit...Maybe I'll drop some inf for a PvP IO and get some heal-over-time added to that as well...or is the absorb not enhanceable?
Also, other questions since *NO ONE* mentioned how to put the skulls in the chat *EVEN WHEN I ASKED*....The toggles (chilling embrace/cauterizing aura) suppress? I know they said the sustain mechanic doesn't but the power's main effect does?
Also, I think Drain Psyche got a raw deal. Does it give any kind of bonus for hitting nothing? Or does it require targets like now?
I'm starting to imagine some new blaster secondaries but I think I'll just save it to see if these changes are actually worth anything. IMO, the sustain mechanic, while great, will really need to rely on building up some extra mitigation on the side (tough/weave/leadership/epic shield/IO bonuses) otherwise it's still leaving you just as vulnerable to burst damage while only serving as minor protection from high threats (namely bosses).
There's always just popping yellows too >>
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I disagree...You would be taking a secondary for 1 power. I see more + in Energy Manipulation due to Power Boost and Boost Range. I think the Snipe trick will be fun, and I like the idea, but I don't thnk TD will make my future Blasters all Devices...|
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! |
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Well the changes really look pretty insignificant,
Just at first glance, they are going to have even less of an effect than defiance 2.0
The snipes change is a wash for everybody but devices. There is no way you going to be able to make it always on for anything but devices and even if you could the effort wouldn't be worth it. Snipes just don't have that much more damage than most tier 3s.
+Regen is nice but I seriously doubt there is going to be enough to be significant.
The extra range for the T3 blast powers is very nice but its really more quality of life than survival.
If anything it looks like these changes will be best loved by pvp blasters. But overall not going to elevate the AT with the possible exception of devices.
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Field Operative is the only toggle in the bunch of defense powers and it's a stealth besides|
Originally Posted by Energy_Aura
I disagree...You would be taking a secondary for 1 power. I see more + in Energy Manipulation due to Power Boost and Boost Range. I think the Snipe trick will be fun, and I like the idea, but I don't thnk TD will make my future Blasters all Devices...
Cheers |
Targeting Drone allows you the one-second snipes at level 22 and it boosts snipe damage.
What else would you need?
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Conversely, yellows become an interesting thing to pack.|
Originally Posted by Garent
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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Note: the typical snipe will end up with an Arcanatime adjusted DPA of about 1.74 DS/sec when accelerated. Psi Blast's snipe is going to be 2.32 DS/sec. AR's snipe is going to be a mind-boggling 2.99 DS/sec. For reference, Blaze's arcanatime adjusted DPA is 2.29 DS/sec.
All snipes are going to have single target DPA higher than almost any blaster ranged attack outside of Fire Blast - they'll even outdo Telekinetic Blast (1.65 DS/sec arcanatime adjusted).
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Seriously? This is all? A small regen/recovery buff in secondaries and a partial buff to snipes?
Ppl talking about corrs/defs -- are these changes only for Blasters or are they being proliferated to blast sets on corrs/defs?
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I disagree. The Kismet IO + Tactics will get you close enough that a small yellow inspiration will keep you there for a minute at a time. The Regen buff is better than Regeneration's Integration. It may not be enough, but it is going to be significant.
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Originally Posted by Another_Fan
Well the changes really look pretty insignificant,
Just at first glance, they are going to have even less of an effect than defiance 2.0 The snipes change is a wash for everybody but devices there is no way you going to be able to make it always on for anything else even if you could the effort wouldn't be worth it, they just don't have that much more damage than most tier 3s. +Regen is nice but I seriously doubt there is going to be enough to be significant. The extra range for the T3 blast powers is very nice but its really quality of life than survival. If anything it looks like these changes will be best loved by pvp blasters. But overall not going to elevate the AT with the possible exception of devices. |
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.
Cloaking device has always been a useful power thanks to its unsuppressing stealth, and the set contains caltrops. Devices is far from a great secondary, but it's going to have 3 great powers pretty soon.
Defender with Tactics and Kismet turn into a snipe machine. Ho ho ho, I've always wanted those photon torpedoes. Now I have a very good reason to re-spec into them.
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No kidding, Agent. Zapp just became useful to my main besides picking off random NPCs at 300 feet. I already have Kismet slotted!
The real kicker is I have to give up something for Energize (and maybe even some slots). I already have Tier 4 Agility with End mod and recharge at least.
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