How would you "fix" Kheldians?

I figured I'd ask the question, since i24 is allegedly the Fix All The Things issue... how would you guys fix Kheldians?

Any response is valid - story, general gameplay, or more targeted ideas directed at either Warshades or Peacebringers. I'm just interested in what you all think.

This thread again? Heh.

Same response as last time, minus the stuff they already changed. Taunt in Dwarf Mire, buff essence drain to match Siphon Life, buff Pulsar mag, change IS to stun, have eclipse provide 0.5 points of status protection per target hit, and up the damage modifier a little for both ATs. Oh, and toggle suppression.

1. Toggle suppression. No more retoggling after shifting forms, and all +def powers still work in the respective Dwarf forms.

2. Orbiting Death and Dwarf Mire both get an added taunt component.

3. Gravitational Anchor is now a tAOE immobilize.

4. Pulsar has its mag and activation time matched to Gravitic Emanation.

5. Photon Seekers now do AOE KD and summon two Polar Lights with half the duration of Extracted Essences after the initial explosion.

6. Both nukes are now crashless with a 1 minute base recharge and only accessible in Nova form. Same base damage as ROA for Defenders but shorter cast time.

7. The damage cap for Kheldians is raised to 500%

8. Light Form now provides 10% less resistance to everything else in order to provide an equal amount of psi resistance.

9. Bright Nova gets a second copy of Inner Light that only buffs Nova form attacks.

10. All human form ST attacks get a modest buff- I don't know exact numbers and I don't want to break anything but as an example I don't think E Drain should be doing so dramatically less damage than Siphon Life, and I think Shadow Blast should be about as good as Gloom.

11. Reform Essence is now a PBAOE heal.

12. Glowing Touch now has 50% higher base heal.

13. New PB power: Ally rez, +res (all) to rezzed ally for 60 seconds.



That's all I can think of right now.

Hmm...

1. By granting me all of those things for which I wished in this thread...

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=279382

2. By altering Photon Seekers according to my suggestion in this thread...

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=286975

3. By introducing Umbral Mastery and Luminous Mastery as I suggested here...

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=281076

4. By turning everything over to me...

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=282858

As you can see, Rakeeb, it is really quite simple.

This is a consortium thread, AIB. So rather than work from a lot of disparate sources, I'll combine the hits here.

====================

Dear Santa (Devs),

I have been a very good alien all year and I want you to bring me some very special things.

Warshades

1. Toggle Suppression

2. Faster (preferably instantaneous) transformations

3. Better A.I. for Extracted Essences (Why are they are so melee happy?)

4. Some built in -End Res in Dwarf

5. Some built in Psi Res in Dwarf (Suggest 25%ish unenhanced)

(More taunting potential while in Dwarf and/or a base damage increase would also be appreciated. As would the ability to fire off certain buffs/powers while in forms (e.g. Hasten, Extracted Essence). Of course, if wish # 1 were granted it would render this last thing not nearly as important.)

Peacebringers

1. Toggle Suppression

2. Faster (preferably instantaneous) transformations

3. Lightform - Keep the current recharge time. Drop the crash! Lower the base Res across the board. But, add Psi Resistance (e.g. 30%ish Resistance to All. This could be enhanced to 45%ish). Think about it, this would give Human Only PBs a reason to take and slot their other shields and give others a a reason to slot for Resistance in Dwarf as well. Sorry, but Nova would only have 45%ish resistance to every damage type.

4. Photon Seekers - upon detonating I propose that they leave an...afterlight?...an afterflash?...in the form of a Polar Light Pet(s).

5. Pulsar - Please, make it a little more powerful.

6. Allow Incand Strike to be complimentary to Pulsar so folks can get the one, two stun they have long desired.

7. Bring back or give us the option to use the Dwarf Flare Stomp animation (I really miss it and have played my PB far less just because I think the current hand clap looks lame)

8. Some built in -End Res in Dwarf

9. Some built in Psi Res in Dwarf (Suggest 25%ish unenhanced.)

(More taunting potential while in Dwarf and/or a base damage increase would also be appreciated. As would the ability to fire off certain buffs/powers while in forms (e.g. Hasten, Photon Seekers, Inner Light). Of course, if wish # 1 were granted it would render this last thing not nearly as important.)

Thank you,

AIB

====================

For the most part, Photon Seekers function as they do now.

However, upon exploding, each Seeker is replaced by a Polar Light type pet. These three pets deal damage and remain for a long enough period to make them competitive with, though not identical to, Extracted Essences.

Burst damage for the win.

By the way, remember to take into account the damage inflicted by their initial explosion when calculating how long these pets should remain.

I have not examined the numbers but suggest that a 45 second timer might be a good starting place

===============


Umbral Mastery

Indomitable Will

Tenebrous Tentacles*

Power Boost

Shadow Meld

Howling Twilight

*I especially considered Darkest Night, Tar Patch, Twilight Grasp, Physical Perfection and Superior Conditioning.

Luminous Mastery

Indomitable Will

Electric Fences*

Power Boost

Link Minds (Mind Link)

EM Pulse

=================

I think that sums it up. Does that sum it up?

Rakeeb, where's your letter to Santa? (No one tell AIB that Arbiter Hawk was Santa this whole time, I don't want his feelings to get hurt.)

Also, I forgot to mention one of my favorite ideas to make Dwarf form serve more of a purpose, which is adding a Tank-inspired Storm Kick mechanic to the t1 Dwarf Strikes.

Triple base damage and quintuple the damage cap.

I dunno man, I'm not a vet. Where do you even snip on a squid?

...

You'll probably get more mileage out of not suggesting very specific fixes, but of very carefully describing subjective (or objective, if you can identify them -- good luck) problems. Handing a developer a fix is a bit like telling a surgeon where to make an incision without letting them see the injury.

Specifically, increase the DPA of the single target abilities. Especially the first two.

Beyond that, boost dwarf ST damage to be above human form, maybe add some kind of defense against psi to peacebringers, boost pulsar to affect lieutenants. Maybe a damage cap increase, but if normal attacks did decent damage that might be too strong.

Has anyone ever noticed...

That one person's "fix" (6a) is often another person's "fix" (6c)...

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti...0&t=1342178985...???

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Rakeeb This is a consortium thread, AIB. So rather than work from a lot of disparate sources, I'll combine the hits here...I think that sums it up. Does that sum it up?

As we know, some of these items have already been implemented.

I know that Santa is trying his best to bring about the changes I desire. He has been a very good boy this year. As such, I will continue to be patient with him.

Eventually I got around to examining numbers in my Photon Seeker thread. I believe that many will find the ultimate suggestion satisfactory.

The Umbral and Luminous Mastery suggestions also are worth considering. Perhaps, because of the time of the year in which I posted them, they were overlooked.

For the most part you summed up my threads well. However, you did overlook the easiest solution....

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To quote from the fourth thread I posted,

"Vauluur raises the negative, "What WON'T "Fix" Khelds?"
Others present the positive, "What WILL "Fix" Khelds?"
This day, I offer the solution, "I WILL "Fix" Khelds.""

That's right, my fellow aliens, just place everything in AIB's able hands and I assure you that all I bring about will be awesome.

You see, it is altogether fitting for us to entrust our care into the hands of one who ever affirms the Kheldian ideal. The one who has both the wisdom and the ability to make our great dream a reality!

AIB is ABLE!

Able to effectively convey all of our real problems to the Devs!

Able to fully convince them to implement all of the best solutions!

Able to be the infallible voice of the people!

A singular voice of the community.

A voice of leadership, an embodiment of all that is Kheldian!

Say, "Away with disappointment, displeasure and disagreements."

This day, say, "AIB is the way!!!"

That's right, in 2012, I tell you, AIB is ABLE!

Thank you noble constituents.

It was, is and ever shall be a pleasure to serve our community.

AIB, you need someone against whom to run. Anyone volunteer?

What would the opposition platform be? "Gee, I think Kheldians are fine as-is."

In all seriousness, I'll have a detailed list of fixes and justifications in a post in the next few days, stuff from my perspective.

Having now both a level 50 Peacebringer and a newly-forged level 50 War Shade, Kheldians seem "practically perfect in every way." Instant transformations greatly increased my enjoyment playing these two classes. But there are still a few things I would fix:

Both:
Toggle suppression. Kheldians have some fantastic shields, and for War Shades, some dandy toggles like Inky Aspect and Orbiting Death. But who even uses those on a bi-form or tri-from build? (Well, okay, I use Inky Aspect, but not as often as I'd like).

As it stands, the Human form is just something I shift into to fire a few utility powers, or something I might use to take down a few minions or lieutenants, but it is lacking for serious fights. Adding toggle suppression would be a huge improvement.

War Shades:
+Essence Drain: Double the damage by adding a +smashing equal to the existing +neg. Increase the healing to be on-par with Black Dwarf Drain.

+Gravitic Emanation: Reduce the KB. I don't mind seeing a few things scatter, but currently it throws mobs too far back.

Peacebringers:
+Photon Seekers: Considering their suicidal nature, and their unfortunate tendency to waste some of their explosive power, reduce their recharge from 180 to 120, and reduce their end cost by 1/3 or so.

Psionic resistance in some power--Maybe in two (Quantum Shield and Light Form?)

1. Raise the dmg modifiers..

2. Toggle suppression

3. AND end drain protection

For both WS and PBS..

Incarnates pretty much fixed our other probs.

The simplest change?

Lower Glinting Eye's animation time down to 1.07/s (1.32 Arcana)
Lower Gleaming Blast's animation time down to 1.33/s (1.584 Arcana)
Lower Incandescent Strike's animation time down to 2.17 (2.376 Arcana)

These minor changes would be enough to increase the performance of Peacebringers in a single-target capacity to reflect the reverse of the AoE capacity of Warshades. It would also take those select powers and standardize them against similar powers across other sets based on their damage scale. Due to a lower modifier they'd still be weaker in comparison to say, a Blaster; but in that same comparison most powers for a Blaster that have a 1.67/s (1.848) time do more than twice the base damage that a PB would do (sometimes three times as much). The alteration to the animation times only levels the attacks based on comparison in other sets on what X Rech/Animation turns into for damage output. The closest AT's I could compare to for a PB were Defender Blasts and Brute Melee (with no fury). PB's should at least be at Corrupter level damage on Ranged and Tanker level on Melee.

Edit: I should mention that, in my opinion, this minimal of a chance does not move Peacebringers into "Epic" territory, but at least moves them into the 200-260 range for potential DPS performance instead of locking them in the 120-180 range.

I'd go for the toggle suppression for form swaps. It's a long standing request.
Also, change in photon seekers - we had a good, long discussion on those within the last.... eh, few months, I think. Exploring some of the ideas there would be good.

Otherwise:
- Nictus AT for the other side of the story. (Archived in the old AT suggestion thread, probably still searchable in S&I.)
- Redside storyarcs for 20-50 for those that cross over. (And yes, I'd do this blueside for the veats. Maybe give them a decent storyline in the process.)

A few other things need replies:

Quote:

Originally Posted by IronAlex Incarnates pretty much fixed our other probs.

And for those who can't run Incarnate content, or the run from 1-50?

Quote:

Originally Posted by John_Printemps Edit: I should mention that, in my opinion, this minimal of a chance does not move Peacebringers into "Epic" territory

No, the change in power numbers does not tend to move something into the category of being tied to a storyline, typically. Which, again, is what "Epic" in "Epic Archetype" means, and has always meant.

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