i24 Blaster Changes

Think Destiny. We can also play games with slotting and number of targets hit so that one or the other increases the duration of the buff rather than the magnitude. So lets say the power does 300% regen for 10 seconds, 200% regen for another 10 seconds, and 100% regen for another 10 seconds, over a 30 second duration. You could theoretically make it so that instead of becoming 600/400/200 over 30 seconds if it hits two targets, it becomes 300/200/100 over 60 seconds instead. In this way, the more targets you hit, the less often you have to use it to get the benefit, or alternatively you can use it more often to maintain the peak benefit. But hitting large numbers of targets doesn't make the peak performance of the power run amok.

The devs don't generally use the word "overpowered" for the same reason they are very cautious about using the word "balance" - because the players make up their own definitions of both words.

Case in point: you don't care to know what the devs mean when they say what they say, you're just trying to explain why based on your definitions for everything what they say is inconsistent. Its not inconsistent at all, and I understand perfectly what they mean, because ironically I don't play word games with the devs.

This is why I do the math, see the effect in game, and judge for myself how a power behaves.

For you to assume that I don't care what the devs mean when they say what they say is not only incorrect, but is also totally inconsistent with my history of asking the devs to comment on issues in threads to get clarification when the community appears confused.

My position in this case is the devs would be inconsistent if they felt a power was truly overpowered and unbalancing and did nothing given the opportunities they specifically had to do so in the case of DP. The fact that they have not changed it seems to weigh heavily on the side that they feel it is not overpowered and unbalancing.

They have consistently been very leery of changing powers even when they know they are overpowered. Energy Transfer remained for a long time before they finally fixed it. They still haven't fixed Drain Psyche nor adjusted Blaze nor addressed Spines. *Stares at Fulcrum Shift still amazed.*

Sometimes stuff is overpowered, but they leave it. If they were not revamping some blaster powers, I would not want them to adjust Drain Psyche. But since they are working on this area anyway, I really think they should both make Drain Psyche easier to use and bring down the top end performance.

If this were a statement made by a dev then I would agree with this position, but it is not so I have other thoughts about their non actions based on their actual statements.

I think I am in good standing with agreement in the "outlier" statement, but the stretch to "overpowered" is one I can't make.

I know what the devs mean when they use those two words, and I know what I mean when I use those two words. What do you mean when you use those two words, and what's the difference.

Yes. No.

It means Arbiter Hawk is EVIL. Just ask him

Outlier a power that if they were making the set from scratch today would be different less powerful and possibly different mechanics/gimmicks. Not something that throws things out of whack balance wise.

Overpowered a power like PSW use to be. One that throws the balance out of whack and must be brought into check for the overall balance of the set..

You can do it if you overslot a little bit but it's probably easier just to slot a Kismet IO since that gives you 6% (Field Operative is a good place for it since you'll be running that anyway).

I personally wouldnt like to see Drain Psyche nerfed. The game is supposed to be balanced around SO's, and on SO's my MM blaster peaked at 10 targets is still pretty squishy(especially vs Mez). Its a very high risk, small radius power, so even when i use it, i usually only hit 3-6 targets, which is only enough to keep my blue bar up. It CAN be Op'd, but only after you dump billions to cap def and make it perma.

I can understand the enhanceable -regen being a bit much though.

I liked Arcanavilles idea earlier:


This would be a change im sure most people would agree on, and if you wanted to dump billions into it, this could be stackable to reach regen near what it peaks at today.


But like I've said before, /MM should be the example that other blaster secondaries should be tweaked to(in their own unique ways), and even /MM needs some buffing.

A power that completely throws off game balance is broken. The devs are compelled to change those.

A power that is overpowered is one that has more power than the devs would allow today. It may not be so powerful that they are compelled to change it.

A power that is an outlier is a power that exists at or slightly beyond the normal limits of what the devs are normally comfortable creating, generally exceptionally so. It might not be problematic on their own, but its far enough away from the target so as to not be an example to aim for ever again.

Whatever you want to call them, there are at least three classes of power level where you're admitting only two. Powers that are higher than normal, and exceptionally so, but not necessarily outside the limits of what the devs normally do; powers that have more power than the devs currently limit their designs to; powers that have so much power they break other parts of the design. The one in the middle is too powerful, but not so powerful it compels nerfs. Drain Psyche is one of those.

You believe, or at least have stated, that everything is either ok or broken and must be fixed. That's not how the devs operate, and that's not how you can operate in an MMO that is developed over time by different dev teams. Its not a semantic issue as you've described it, because there are three classes requiring three different terms, no matter what they are.

If the only statements you'll trust come directly from the devs, then I would suggest you take up this topic with them directly. Because that's what I do.

Full stop... I disagree and on that note we can just agree to disagree on this subject.

The good thing as I see it there is no change to the power and that is all that really matters as I see it.

Actually, compared to other characters on SOs, you are not all that squishy when you have that much regen.

If your premise is that you normally only hit 3 to 6 anyway, then why complain if I suggest we lower the power so that it caps where 5 or 6 is currently, but it starts off at a much higher place AND can be used without risk for some benefit, but adding risk adds benefit?

Princess Darkstar - Proud Member of the Handprints of Union, the #1 ranked SG in Europe!
British by act of union, English by grace of God, Northern by pure good fortune!

Originally Posted by Aggelakis PrincessDarkstar: "RAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH SOMEONE IS *WRONG* ON THE INTERNET!"

They also track things like amount of debt gained and such to determine this.

But do you think that /Mental stuck out as being the only secondary without a problem? I don't think DP makes any real difference until a build has massive recharge slotting.

Previously it was an outlier because it was overpowered in the end game, but now it is weak in the levelling game and then overpowered at the end game, and I think that is worse balance than before.

Princess Darkstar - Proud Member of the Handprints of Union, the #1 ranked SG in Europe!
British by act of union, English by grace of God, Northern by pure good fortune!

Originally Posted by Aggelakis PrincessDarkstar: "RAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH SOMEONE IS *WRONG* ON THE INTERNET!"

Precisely.

This is exactly why I want this power adjusted. Edge case poorly balanced powers cause all kinds of issues that make the entire set difficult to adjust, and need to be nerfed.

I wasn't really following this thread up until I decided to post and only skimmed a little, I didn't realise anyone else agreed

Princess Darkstar - Proud Member of the Handprints of Union, the #1 ranked SG in Europe!
British by act of union, English by grace of God, Northern by pure good fortune!

Originally Posted by Aggelakis PrincessDarkstar: "RAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH SOMEONE IS *WRONG* ON THE INTERNET!"

It's funny I read that in a quote and thought you were referring to the snipe changes. Which are creating exactly that situation.

The snipe change, if it is precisely what we have been told and what we think it is, is not something I can get behind. Ditto the Blaster changes. I fear that both of those solutions are band-aid solutions that will only make it more difficult to make needed changes in the long run. I haven't given my big info dump because I'm waiting for I24 beta, so that I can make an informed opinion based on actual numbers, instead of inferred.