Ask Anything: Ranged Blast and Blaster Manipulation Changes
By
Abysmalyxia,
Posted on: 2012-06-21 13:45 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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All powers are retaining their old functionality - they are only gaining new functions on top of what they had before. Field Operative will still provide just as much stealth and Defense as Cloaking Device did before it.
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Originally Posted by Op_Megs
So, regarding the changes to Cloaking Device/Field Operative, is Field Operative going to retain the stealth function of Cloaking Device?
While fighting out of Stealth has never been as much of a benefit to my Blaster as it would be for a Stalker, I have to admit, the sniper changes could make a cloaked Sniper a *lot* more viable, as I'm given to understand the snipes won't have their (highly localized) aggro tendencies changed. |
Since we're almost done here I thought I'd poke you with my question one more time 
What do you think of Time Bomb granting a second "detonate" power that lets you pop it whenever you want. Any thoughts on ranged casting for the Bomb/Mine powers?
Can I get over time bomb, or should I keep holding out hope? 
Oh and thanks for doing this. As an almost 6 year player, I appreciate this kind of dev interaction with the long term fanbase.
Are there any plans to buff the -end drain capabilities of Electricity to make it useful when not paired with a +special secondary? The all or nothing component right now makes it so that even fully slotted for end drain, the targets will be dead before they are out of endurance.
VIRTUE
Agahnim- Elec/Ice Blaster
"Elec/Ice. Nice. Holy <@*&$@#!> =) You're like the CoH equivalent of those bdsm people who hang from the ceiling on hooks!"
-Plasmar
Agahnim Dragmire- Warshade
"(You spin space webs. =D)"
-Paladin
I'm curious, what is the reason why LRM Rocket is being skipped for the snipe change?
It's a final tier APP power so it requires 2 other power picks and isn't accessible till level 44 so it's not like it doesn't require an expenditure to reach, and by mere observation, it seems the Munitions APP is actually already the least popular of the APP choices for blasters.
The power just always seemed very underwhelming to me, especially compared to having Judgement now at level 50.
Time's up guys/gals.
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Hmm. That's not really possible within the constraints of how the game works right now. It's a cool idea, but we don't have the concept of "Status Protection that goes away when a status hits it." If it were possible, I would also worry about it fundamentally changing the way Blasters play - one of the last things I would personally want to create is a mechanic or power that encouraged you to sit around and wait for it to recharge before you started the next combat.|
Originally Posted by Alluvion
What if blasters had a 'bank' of protection that was in some way related to defiance? Perhaps it only regenerates out of combat, but allows a blaster to navigate alphas (and some extended combat) with some reliance on 'damage as mitigation'.
At full charge I have 3 'charges' of mag 3 stun/sleep/hold/confuse protection, after those three are consumed, I have one mag 2 charge, and one mag 1 charge left until I am without any mez avoidance. Kind of like 'absorb' but for ranged_mez only. Thanks for your work, Sir Arbiter! |
If we were going to give blasters a way to mitigate mez, I think we would probably go with "fighting your way out of it", since that feels very thematic and defiance-y. No plans to add this to the AT right now, though - we want to see how this regen/absorb/HoT solution shakes out before we consider adding anything else defensive that might be multiplicatively powerful with that same solution.
Aww booo I just missed it.
Did anyone ask about the impact on pvp, which psi and fire blast snipes? Maybe some poor pvp'r somewhere still has the hope they might make a pve change without further killing pvp.
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Most likely because it is an aoe.
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Originally Posted by Haetron
I'm curious, what is the reason why LRM Rocket is being skipped for the snipe change?
It's a final tier APP power so it requires 2 other power picks and isn't accessible till level 44 so it's not like it doesn't require an expenditure to reach, and by mere observation, it seems the Munitions APP is actually already the least popular of the APP choices for blasters. The power just always seemed very underwhelming to me, especially compared to having Judgement now at level 50. |
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If we were going to do this to Time Bomb, we would have a way of doing it without granting you any extra powers or making you click any buttons that weren't Time Bomb. |
Originally Posted by Neogumbercules
Since we're almost done here I thought I'd poke you with my question one more time
What do you think of Time Bomb granting a second "detonate" power that lets you pop it whenever you want. Any thoughts on ranged casting for the Bomb/Mine powers? Can I get over time bomb, or should I keep holding out hope? Oh and thanks for doing this. As an almost 6 year player, I appreciate this kind of dev interaction with the long term fanbase. |
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End Drain is rough because it's so binary, and because high-class NPCs such as AVs and GMs have a huge base End pool. I'd personally rather focus on Elec's damage first, then worry about getting its secondary effect up to par.
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Originally Posted by Agahnim
Are there any plans to buff the -end drain capabilities of Electricity to make it useful when not paired with a +special secondary? The all or nothing component right now makes it so that even fully slotted for end drain, the targets will be dead before they are out of endurance.
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"Eh, wot?" |
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Simpler, more direct questions would help in this specific instance.
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.... might be a bit too simple of a question.
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LRM is awesome already. Instant LRM would just be ludicrous. |
Originally Posted by Haetron
I'm curious, what is the reason why LRM Rocket is being skipped for the snipe change?
It's a final tier APP power so it requires 2 other power picks and isn't accessible till level 44 so it's not like it doesn't require an expenditure to reach, and by mere observation, it seems the Munitions APP is actually already the least popular of the APP choices for blasters. The power just always seemed very underwhelming to me, especially compared to having Judgement now at level 50. |
If Munitions Mastery needs a boost, I would probably look to Sleep Grenade or Body Armor, not to LRM.
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"Indeed."
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Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
"Eh, wot?"
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Tier 3 blasts are so useful because the are concentrated damage on a specific target of your choice. If voltaic Sentinel has the equivalent DPS of the tier 3 blast, but spreads that damage around in a random uncontrolled fashion, it will still be vastly inferior to a true tier 3 blast. Honestly, if the goal is to bring Electric Blast up to par with other sets, I don't think that would be enough.
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Originally Posted by Arbiter Hawk
We will probably measure and adjust Voltaic Sentinel's uptime and DPS to make it functionally equivalent to having a tier 3 blast.
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The Bacon Compels You.
Alright ladies and gents, that's it for today. If you have further questions, please feel free to continue posting them, I'll try to free up some more time tomorrow to follow up.
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Understandable! Thank you for your response!
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Originally Posted by Arbiter Hawk
End Drain is rough because it's so binary, and because high-class NPCs such as AVs and GMs have a huge base End pool. I'd personally rather focus on Elec's damage first, then worry about getting its secondary effect up to par.
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VIRTUE
Agahnim- Elec/Ice Blaster
"Elec/Ice. Nice. Holy <@*&$@#!> =) You're like the CoH equivalent of those bdsm people who hang from the ceiling on hooks!"
-Plasmar
Agahnim Dragmire- Warshade
"(You spin space webs. =D)"
-Paladin
Here's one: Is the Sustain mechanic even across the board, or is it higher/lower for some powers based on their endurance use? Like if a power costs 15 end to use, is the amount of recovery any higher than a power that costs 10 end to use? What about toggles, like where Cloaking Device is 0.28 End per Second while Blazing Aura is 0.78... does Blazing Aura give more EpS by default? Because otherwise it's giving far LESS... now granted maybe the extra damage helps the fight end sooner, but if I'm using the power ONLY for the end recovery, I'm gonna feel shafted compared the the Devices user.
-STEELE =)
Allied to all sides so that no matter what, I'll come out on top!
Oh, and Crimson demands you play this arc-> Twisted Knives (MA Arc #397769)
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I'll choose to read that as "a toggle a la Dimension Shift". |
Originally Posted by Arbiter Hawk
If we were going to do this to Time Bomb, we would have a way of doing it without granting you any extra powers or making you click any buttons that weren't Time Bomb.
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Speaking of which, please send a huge THANK YOU to whoever in the art team took the time to slip the FX in. I know I bugged you mercilessly about that during beta, and while the power is still very situational, at least it looks REALLY FREAKING COOL now.
Right, so we're down to answering the jokey questions from the same forum favorites more than the dumb ones from average players like me who don't speak beta-babble... I'm sooo sorry I took the time to read and post a question earlier.
#neveragain
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Right, because the whole 15 seconds he spent typing "Indeed." in response to Memphis_Bill's joke question is totally the reason he didn't answer yours. Can't possibly have anything to do with the volume of questions, or the fact that he was about to leave, or that there might be questions he's not allowed to answer. Totally. |
Originally Posted by Rubberlad
Right, so we're down to answering the jokey questions from the same forum favorites more than the dumb ones from average players like me who don't speak beta-babble... I'm sooo sorry I took the time to read and post a question earlier.
#neveragain |
@MuonNeutrino
Student, Gamer, Altaholic, and future Astronomer.
This is what it means to be a tank!
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Sounds good to me AH.|
Originally Posted by Arbiter Hawk
If we were going to do this to Time Bomb, we would have a way of doing it without granting you any extra powers or making you click any buttons that weren't Time Bomb.
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How about front loading some of the damage on AR - Flamethrower? Target cap boost for Full Auto?
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Gee, he stayed later to answer questions than he was scheduled to. |
Originally Posted by Rubberlad
Right, so we're down to answering the jokey questions from the same forum favorites more than the dumb ones from average players like me who don't speak beta-babble... I'm sooo sorry I took the time to read and post a question earlier.
#neveragain |
A joking interaction among a few regulars was seen as he got ready to log off.
He made a quick one word post before making his That's All, Folks post.
Had he answered your question, or any other question for that matter, it likely would have needed to have been a longer post and taken more of his time.
Time that he didn't have to spend answering our questions in the first place.
Time that he didn't have to stay longer than scheduled in order to answer more questions.
Yeah, he was totally out of line there.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
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Not sure if this was suggested at all but...make Tesla Cage the same as Abyssal Gaze from dark? A High damage dot elec hold! That also solves the issue of elec having no tier 3 blast or proper blasty attack chain?
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Originally Posted by Starsman
*cough* tesla cage *cough* give it damage *cough*
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Got some emo kids in here.
ELECTRIC BLAST STUFF OMG
So basically, my concern with using Voltaic Sentinel as a way to fix Electric Blast's throughput isn't that it's a valid option - it is - but that the option doesn't fix the attack chain issue. It's not just damage that's missing, it's the *feeling* of being powerful, like how Fire Blast and Beam Rifle *feel* powerful because you never stop wailing away with powerful attacks.
In addition, fixing Electric Blast without attending to its secondary effect would feel abortive. Do you really want to be talking about this again in three months? Best to be thorough, do it all at once and get it done rather than talking about it over and over again.
Lol [pancake] you too.
Had it been phrased as a neutral comment (especially with the
And it's rather obvious you aren't on MY ignore list, so no, you aren't on EVERYONE'S ignore list.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.