Proposed Snipe Changes - Please no "Magic Number" for useful snipes

The great thing is that i was eating popcorn even before i started reading this thread.

Anyway, the thing about the snipe changes is that they're just part of a general overhaul of blast sets intended to make snipes more useful and desirable, not specifically part of improving Blaster performance in particular, so linking snipes to Defiance stacks alone would be silly on its face, although it could be interesting as additional mechanic if it's workable.

While my Defenders will be speccing in their snipes when this goes live, i do agree that it's not necessarily a great boon to Blasters as it is, but it's worth keeping in mind that the Devs have been pretty good about listening to players and tweaking things. Even occasionally scrapping a mechanic and redoing it completely. That doesn't mean they will incorporate every (or even any) suggestion that is made by everyone, and there are changes they will rule out for one reason or another regardless of how popular it might be, but the Devs do listen to feedback, so please do continue with the brainstorming and suggestions.

*goes back to munching hatch chili con queso popcorn*

I think there is some over reaction here, though that is to be expected when any significant change is announced.

First, people need to really wait for it to go into beta before raging about how it was done wrong.

IMO, the change was well thought out AND based on our feedback over the last several months/years.

#1. "Devices is weaksauce!!!! It doesnt have build up!!" has been the blaster board mantra for years. - Looks to me like devices got a boost now. IMO, people are weighting this fast snipe dmg increase to be worth more then what build up can do for other sets. I disagree with this as a whole. Targeting drone is not going to increase the damage of rain of arrows, or overcharge, or inferno by 100%, or blaze, or bitter ice blast, etc. PLus build up will also temporarily (when combined with a few minor build considerations) allow for fast snipe. Overall, I feel the devs have a solid starting point for "devices vs build up"

#2 "AR has nice aoe, but pretty poor ST dmg" Well, fast snipe is going to benefit it more then some other sets. I would make a case for elec blast poor st dmg, but I hold hope that that particular set will be seeing some other changes to give it a boost.

#3 "snipes lost their utility with ED" - Utility restored, though in a different useage compared to what was going on pre-ED. A good thing IMO, the game has changed significantly from that time.

#4 "Drain Psych is so useful, it is an anomoly when comparing performance of secondaries"- yup, so we didnt give that set any changes. If it was clearly the top performer before and players liked it, why would the devs buff it? And obviously the players like the regen/recovery boost mechanic, so they used that as a basis for the changes to the other sets. Not particularily related to snipes, but its not like the set "got nothing"- it still has build up to use with snipes.

#5 "OMG what about ice blast and sonic?" LOL ice blast. ORLY? I have NEVER seen anywhere on the boards a post where people complain ice blast is too weak. It has 2 holds, one of which does significant dmg, it has the most potent nuke in the game(crashing style) it has a steller tier 3 blast- but indeed, no snipe. And the devs have already said they might adjust other aspects of the set if it doesnt see the right amount of buff from this change. Sonic is similar, though not quite on the same level as ice. The tier 3 blast isnt stellar, and IMO sonic will be the one of the two that actually sees a change to compensate for the lack of snipe. my money is on a decrease in activation of the tier 3, and possibly a minor buff to something like howl.

#6 "OMG not everyone can use the fast snipe all the time!!" - DUH. Of course not. If they wanted us to do that, then why in the world would they spend time in programming to make a new mechanic for the powers? Why not just hax the interupt time off and call it good? -Answer: because then devices would still sux compared to the other secondaries see #1. IMO, it is always better to make an interesting change that requires some planning and thought to utilize then to make a ham fisted easy change that results in simple button mashing play.


tldr: The devs have approached this in the correct manor, and IMO have picked a suitable starting point for beta testing.

I agree with Eldagore. to paraphrase a quote i saw in the official thread:

Before: Aim + Build-Up are awesome, yay!

Now: Build up and aim suck because I have to use them to use a power i never use >=O

And here's my thing: Why would you NOT use Aim+BU before sniping ANYway? I always always ALWAYS use Aim+BU before sniping. Now it just won't take 3 seconds for the snipe to go off.

Maybe you people would be happier if the devs lowered the snipes' damage, lowered the range, removed the interrupt time and just made it another normal blast? One where you'd probably be using aim and build up before using it anyway? Sounds pretty boring to me...

Sorry guys, I can't support this change if I understand what is being proposed.

I for one am not excited that for 9 of 12 Defender and Corruptor sets, your build now requires Kismet and Tactics. For 2 sets (Psy and Dark) you don't even get Aim, so this is your only avenue. Some people are going to nitpick on the word "requires." I guess you arent "required" to take T3 blasts, mezz shields, basic armors, Hasten, or old Stamina either, but not doing so often has a detrimental impact.

Again maybe I missed something. I don't want to be Chicken Little. But I think this change breaks many more things than it fixes.

From what I see of it, the change itself is not complex. It's basically "In what circumstances do we let characters have access to a new powerful attack?" Well the answer to that is "always" if you are a Defender or Corruptor but only if you build yourself like a cookie cutter.

Like I said in the other thread, why would you want to play a terrible set like Devices when you could roll Traps Corruptor (or any Corruptor) and still get that Device's supposed benefits? Please tell me what I've missed (serious request, not being facetious).