Blaster Changes Don't Fix Electric

Thanks for that. That's VERY interesting, and I can see why you'd want to explore that as a more active gameplay mechanic.

But still, doesn't this rely on getting them down to zero to begin with? I understand everything you wrote, but whether they give us more access to the other types of endurance debuffs or not, it still relies on the core concept of critters not having enough endurance to attack with.

In other words, I can easily see that this could have profound utility versus bosses, but the fact still remains that -- without first using SC/TB/PS -- you'd still be killing minions and LTs faster than you'd be gimping their ability to fight back. You would have to give the -end component a very large drain (i.e. a blast doing more -end than DMG) to have it make a different versus anything sub-Boss. And most things larger than Bosses either have huge pools of END or are very resistant to drain, so this effect would be pretty Boss-specific, wouldn't it?

I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing and there's certainly no reason NOT to pair attacks with SC/TB/PS, but it does raise a lot of questions about how complementary effects like these would be to the spirit of the AT (eschewing damage in favor of something else).

Again, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it would make it the only Blaster set to put such emphasis on its secondary effect.

Also, I fail to see how a fixed -end system wouldn't also benefit from another attack in the chain. As you said, there are 4 (?) types of endurance debuffs that feed off of one another, and almost every power in the set has a -end component. So what if different attacks debuffed in different ways or in multiple ways? Woudn't an extra attack -- one that didn't require the checks Fast Snipe does to fire or relied on a simpler metric (like stacks of Defiance) -- add to the # of ways and options you would have to debuff END and keep it that way?

It just seems to me that what you're suggesting (and let me reiterate that I LOVE it) would require a tactical approach to use to maximum effect, one that would be better served by a number of attacks stacking debuffs (and possibly differing types of -end debuffs as you described). In other words, that my suggestion and yours don't have to be so mutually exclusive.

I might feel differently if snipes had profound utility in the game, but they don't. And the proposed change increases their value by having them behave as though they're not snipes. So again, what's the big deal in removing the snipe outright and making it a blast? With the amount of brainspace it might take to keep track of all these different types of -end and how best do use them, do we also need to simultaneously be figuring out what we have to do to get Zapp to fire?

Wouldn't you rather have an attack you could just use to, you know, attack stuff?

I'm not exactly getting what Watchdog has against Short Circuit. He keeps saying that endurance drain doesn't work unless you use it... so what? Use it. Its not hard to use an enormous (seriously, its huge) PBAoE without dying. The other powers are basically supplementary in matters of draining, and their uses could be improved, yes. But discounting the best draining power you have is silly. The end drain on all powers does not need to be higher than the damage because he difference is made up with SC.

Arcana's suggestions of a change to how the drain works does seem good, and would definitely solve end drain not being as useful as it should be.

Hmm, if I were suggesting a fix for endurance drain, I'd probably just suggest an alternate advantage to the set when it *doesn't* drain. I mean, the only decent way to make drain work is to...well make it work. And if it's working, the foe can't do anything (or their actions are significantly reduced). Scale that up so it works regardless of if the foes are +0 all the way up to +5 and it practically trumps a lot of other types of mitigation. -rech? -ToHit? How about just not allowing the foes to act at all? It's technically better than a hold since I think certain effects can still be triggered while held like toggles (unless they're offensive toggles...or you're a dirty cheating *****-*** Scrapper Warden with cheating Quills).

If I were suggesting something for Electric Blast: Energy Burn.

Basically, it's corruptor Scourge but checks foe endurance and the more endurance they have the higher the chance of some effect occurring. Not sure what effect that'd be...could be damage or maybe a self buff (like +rech, resistance to drains, +energy dmg buff) or maybe a debuff (like -energy resist). The Blasts would have a high trigger for it while Short Circuit would have a low trigger and if you can drain the foes, you get good mitigation. If you don't, you get something else.

As for Voltaic Sentinel, what if you gave *it* the Charge Up power? Except the pet would cast it on its master. Basically, Charge Up could be a 1-shot buff (expires with your next attack or after 10 seconds) and Charge Up would recharge in 6 seconds and add a charge bolt's worth of energy dmg to your next electrical blast. So VS would then have 2 powers: charged bolt attack and charge up player buff and it'd kinda have to stick near you to use the buff (encouraging it to stay by your side, maybe?).

I guess giving it the Charge Up power is a means of having VS attack the foe you're attacking...by powering up your attacks. It'd kinda also give you an extra shot of damage on something like Tesla Cage if you're looking for another ST blast or charge up your AoEs as well(maybe it won't add a full Charged Bolt's amount of dmg to the AoEs though).

Oh man, a forum argument that uses image macros?

Lol so I guess it's over.

But my main premise with the original post I wrote was: drains don't do anything if the mob has endurance. I was simply proposing a means of focusing on that circumstance, isolating it from when the mob already is sufficiently drained.

Using the mechanic that allows Corruptors to deal more damage to injured foes, you can focus a mechanic to allow Electric Blast to do something more when the foe has plenty of endurance to spare.

This has another effect that might be enticing to people that want to play Electric Blast: if you don't want to be a sapper build, you can get something out of the set's secondary effect. Damage, a debuff or buff, whatever. Just because you chose to make Elec/Dev and don't want to be straddled to Short Circuit, you get other benefits.

For the sapper builds, what does it matter? The foe is drained and cannot do anything (or much) and other Elec blast characters that are tagging along will help keep those mobs there. Seems win win to me.

My longhanded solution to -Endurance would be to make critter AI have a chance to "skip turn" and do nothing if endurance is below a certain value (think of how Scourge works on Corruptors). Part of the value of -Endurance in PVP environments (in this game or in games with "mana burn" type abilities) is the psychological aspect--"I'm close to running out of endurance, so I should run away because if I get drained dry I'm helpless." We'd just bypass the running part because that would just be annoying.

But messing with AI is always tricky so I doubt this would ever happen.

FYI that was essentially part of my solution to making Knockback more effective as well. Distance thrown = reluctance to pick up and start fighting again. (And in my perfect, perfect world where code is free, the difference between Ice Slick and other knock powers wouldn't be knock rate, it would be how long it takes something to stand up after falling, so you'd get a bonus for knocking them down or back onto the slick with any power, as a matter of strategy. Ah, dreams. )

The threshold required to get any effect is still quite high as a percent of enemy endurance so you do or do not drain enough, as opposed to any enemy not using tactics or etc.