City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

So with Crashless Nukes and Insta Snipes...

Adeon Hawkwood

By Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2012-07-11 16:33 in Defenders

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Biospark View Post
Because Fortitude has 3 bonuses to Farsight's 2, I would say that the effect should be around 2/3rds of its current effect. Maybe 10% Defense, 10% ToHit, 15% Damage (for a defender). The auras should be perma with approx 300% recharge at their current values (360 sec recharge) and "non-stackable". These numbers would still have decent team effect, but make solo-ing much more satisfying from 1-50.

EDIT : Actually, the more I think about it, the +Dmg in Fort could remain as is, since Defenders are a low damage AT. 18% is not really that great, and does much more when applied to a teammate.
Comparing Farsight to Fortitude, while Fortitude does have three effects it's worth keeping in mind that Time has a lot of other synergistic effects while Fortitude is the main buff for Empathy. I think that the To Hit buff would need to be dropped to 12% or so but I'm not sure that the Defense and Damage would need to be dropped.

 

Posted

Hmm, Empathy. I'd actually prefer not to mess with Fortitude too much. Here is where I might want to take the set:


Resurrect
Current: Rezz one ally within 15ft.
Revised: Rezz all allies within 30ft of the targeted ally.

Recovery Aura
Current: 500 second recharge, 90 second duration
Revised: 360 second recharge, 90 second duration (perm-able with IOs)

Clear Mind
Current: Mezz protection, single ally only.
Revised: Can be cast at enemies.

  • -87.5% Recharge for 20 seconds
  • Mag 3 Confusion 8.94 seconds [scale 6] (Defender values).
[Net effect is a Confusion ability of modest length that can be stacked, but casting it slows the enemy attack speed, so it is less directly offensive.]

Absorb Pain
Current: 65% heal to target, self damage, -Heal, -Regen
Revised: Not sure yet. Need to think this thru carefully.

 

Posted

Making Fortitude a group buff wouldn't change much. A lot of people would still avoid playing Empathy. I don't play empathy personally because I like a set I can solo and team with.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex View Post
Hmm, Empathy. I'd actually prefer not to mess with Fortitude too much. Here is where I might want to take the set:
It's a neat idea. My only issue with it is that is would effectively change Empathy form a pure-Buff set to a combined Buff/Debuff set. That isn't inherently bad but I do like the idea that thematically Empathy is a pure buff set (in fact the ONLY pure buff set). Changing it to a combo set would be like fixing Trick Arrow by giving it a Healing Arrow.

That being said I don't think it's a coincidence that the only pure Buff set and the only pure Debuff set are consistently ranked as some of the weaker sets but I'd still like to see them fixed without changing their nature.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tater Todd View Post
Making Fortitude a group buff wouldn't change much. A lot of people would still avoid playing Empathy. I don't play empathy personally because I like a set I can solo and team with.
Well if Fortitude was a group buff then it would affect you while solo, which would help solo Emps a lot.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood View Post

Well if Fortitude was a group buff then it would affect you while solo, which would help solo Emps a lot.
Yep. Empaths start with Healing Aura as a solo power and to some extent it works, but you need to wait until level 26 to get Regen Aura, which is your next best solo power. Recovery Aura is nice at level 18, but has limited use in "survival". Fortitude is right at a very nice spot in power selection to help carry a low level defender thru the hardest solo levels (17-25).

To be quite honest, if they were to make Fortitude a PBAoE buff, I would be very tempted to try my solo quest all over again just to see how much better the trip would be.

BIOSPARK :: DARKTHORN :: SKYGUARD :: WILDMAGE
HEATSINK :: FASTHAND :: POWERCELL :: RUNESTAFF

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood View Post
Well if Fortitude was a group buff then it would affect you while solo, which would help solo Emps a lot.
I don't know though...I think it would need a touch more than that to make it super solo friendly...or enough to pull stubborn people like me over to the Green Side.

Even Pain isn't quite enough for me to want to attempt solo.

I also might be still suffering from Beginners Trauma. Trying to solo a Empathy/Elec defender on a dead server *rocks back and forth*.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tater Todd View Post
I don't know though...I think it would need a touch more than that to make it super solo friendly...or enough to pull stubborn people like me over to the Green Side.
Well sure it's never going to be as solo friendly as the top end sets but it would be more solo friendly.

I don't think it could be made as solo friendly as the top sets without becoming something other than Empathy .

 

Posted

Really, to be honest I would just be happy if I could perma my Auras. Those two powers are just so dang tasty

As for Empathy, as a whole, I love the set. Sure its not "teh uberest omg droolz" but that doesn't make it bad either. I mean, if you see a well played one it is a true work of defender art. Now, that doesn't mean it couldn't be tweaked but it should stay as a purely buff set as it is now. Its just what makes it feel right I think.

Dreaded Wail hits things freakin' hard.. i like to hit things freakin' hard... so.. id go Wail... SAVE THE WAILS!!!! - Solar_Lunata

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by SonicRemedy View Post
Really, to be honest I would just be happy if I could perma my Auras. Those two powers are just so dang tasty

As for Empathy, as a whole, I love the set. Sure its not "teh uberest omg droolz" but that doesn't make it bad either. I mean, if you see a well played one it is a true work of defender art. Now, that doesn't mean it couldn't be tweaked but it should stay as a purely buff set as it is now. Its just what makes it feel right I think.
Indeed perma Auras and several of my Emps while they wouldn't be solo monsters would solo quite readily. Right now the thing that truly slows them down when solo is Aura downtime especially Regen Aura ... amazing what a 6 fold increase in one's regeneration can do (from around 10 hp/sec to over 60 hp/sec) when you add in defense and resistance on top of it. Top that with crashless nukes, insta snipes and let's not forget 80ft T3 blasts ... yummy.

Doomguide

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood View Post
Well sure it's never going to be as solo friendly as the top end sets but it would be more solo friendly.

I don't think it could be made as solo friendly as the top sets without becoming something other than Empathy .
True, I would just want small tweaks here and there like making both Auras Perma and maybe the Fortitude change. I don't want to change the set entirely...I just think that it needs to be more inviting especially for the players who are on low populated servers or players who can't play during prime hours.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood View Post
Well sure it's never going to be as solo friendly as the top end sets but it would be more solo friendly.

I don't think it could be made as solo friendly as the top sets without becoming something other than Empathy .
Nor should it be super-solo-friendly. As many people know, Empaths are pretty decent team players when they know how to buff. So I am OK with the trade-off in solo-ability. It would just be nice to be closer to the middle of the pack than near the bottom.

Making Fort a PBAoE would also help Empaths to be more fun while teaming. The rotating buff nature of the current Empathy makes it hard for me to team for too long at a time. It is almost like work keeping fort on as many teammates as possible. This leaves less time to actually blast stuff while teaming, especially on a "squishy-heavy" team. I would love to "team-fort" and go. Then use healing and other buffs like CM and AB more selectively during battles. More Blasting makes Biospark a happy camper.

BIOSPARK :: DARKTHORN :: SKYGUARD :: WILDMAGE
HEATSINK :: FASTHAND :: POWERCELL :: RUNESTAFF

 

Posted

While I've defended the ally-only buffs in the past, I think a case could be made for making Fortitude an aura team-and-self buff now.

Other sets do it, such as Time.
And like Biospark says, keeping track of a 30 second buff and who last got it is not a whole lot of fun.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by SonicRemedy View Post
Really, to be honest I would just be happy if I could perma my Auras. Those two powers are just so dang tasty

As for Empathy, as a whole, I love the set. Sure its not "teh uberest omg droolz" but that doesn't make it bad either. I mean, if you see a well played one it is a true work of defender art. Now, that doesn't mean it couldn't be tweaked but it should stay as a purely buff set as it is now. Its just what makes it feel right I think.

You are spot on with this.

I love Empathy from a playstyle perspective. No silly bubbles. No Debuff Toggles that your friendly neighborhood scrapper just HAS to defeat. No Pseudo pets. No actual pets. No crazy FX that turn your whole team into ice-cubes. Just the simple elegance of all your primary powers are for friends and all your secondary powers are for enemies, make me keep coming back to the set.

BIOSPARK :: DARKTHORN :: SKYGUARD :: WILDMAGE
HEATSINK :: FASTHAND :: POWERCELL :: RUNESTAFF

 

Posted

I don't know if comparing fortitude with farsight is really fair, considering how clearly above average farsight is. It's similar to, but not nearly as ridiculous as, comparing VEATs to blasters.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Harmony View Post
And like Biospark says, keeping track of a 30 second buff and who last got it is not a whole lot of fun.
They already took the joy of managing Speed Boost away from me, might as well kick my Empathy joy into the dirt as well.

Managing the buff cycles is why I play Empathy (and I miss it on my kins and bubblers). YOU may not find it fun, but I do.

Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by StratoNexus View Post
They already took the joy of managing Speed Boost away from me, might as well kick my Empathy joy into the dirt as well.

Managing the buff cycles is why I play Empathy (and I miss it on my kins and bubblers). YOU may not find it fun, but I do.
Well these are all suggestions at this point. Things that players would feel would be nice QoL changes is all. I too am fond of managing the buff cycle cause I am so used to doing it in other games.

However, I must admit that if it was a PBAoE buff it would be nice to be able to benefit personally from my own fort Actually, a nice medium ground would be to be able to target yourself and fort yourself. That or a small scaling buff each time you cast fortitude. This way it further rewards you for casting it, however that is not as solo friendly. A neat idea I think though.

Dreaded Wail hits things freakin' hard.. i like to hit things freakin' hard... so.. id go Wail... SAVE THE WAILS!!!! - Solar_Lunata

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by StratoNexus View Post
They already took the joy of managing Speed Boost away from me, might as well kick my Empathy joy into the dirt as well.

Managing the buff cycles is why I play Empathy (and I miss it on my kins and bubblers). YOU may not find it fun, but I do.
You would still like Empathy Strato, you know it

Besides, it would just make you find new ways to test the limits of your defender

BIOSPARK :: DARKTHORN :: SKYGUARD :: WILDMAGE
HEATSINK :: FASTHAND :: POWERCELL :: RUNESTAFF