[edit] That's a point, I don't think we can link to HC forums. Shouldn't be too hard to find for anyone that wants the details.
New Origin Power Pool: Experimentation
New Support Powerset: Shock Therapy
New IO Sets
Dark Melee Update
All players can now move through Mastermind henchmen and push them out of the way, not just their owners.
Also, I never realised that the Sentinel Beam Rifle replaced the annoying Penetrating Shot (yay, lining up long range powers...) with one that splits as it hits targets. I mean, it's a Sentinel power, so it's undertuned as hell, but it just seems more fun. I might make a BR/ Sentinel just to try it out.
Wait, you can directly link the HC forums here? Thought you couldn't.
Just in case, going to quote some stuff:
Shadow Maul (Tanker, Scrapper, Brute, Stalker) is now a much larger, faster cone that's actually capable of easily hitting multiple targets - especially on tanks!
Arc increased from 45 to 120 degrees.
Recharge increased from 8 to 14 seconds.
Cast Time reduced from 3.07 to 2.35 seconds.
Damage lowered from scale 2.156 to 1.588.
DPS reduction is minor, it has only been lowered from scale 0.653 to scale 0.633.
Target Cap increased from 10 to 16 for Tankers.
Target Cap increased from 5 to 10 for Scrappers, Brutes and Stalkers.
Thank. Fucking. Christ. Holy shit is Shadow Maul obnoxious to use. You know how hard is to get Sands of Mu to hit more than a single target? Imagine what is like to spend a primary power slot for the privilege.
Big things are the Mastermind henchmen thing, since with that maybe people will stop complaining about MMs on cave maps, and the Endurance Modification IO set, since that maybe will make Electric Blast not worthless and Electric Control is just missing that little extra push. Also Shock Therapy sounds cool.
Yeah, my main problem is....I had a Pain Dom/Rad defender who I didn't like so I rerolled him into an Electric Control/Pain Dom Controller who I like a lot more
But I don't think there'd be an archetype combination where you could get the new "Shock Therapy" and Pain Domination, but...those powers sound so cool
I'm very excited about Experimentation. The attacks alone are going in at least two, maybe three of my characters. Very hype.
The Focused Feedback threads, aka the exclusive feedback threads for each aspect of the patch (Experimentation, Shock Therapy, Dark Melee Update and New IO Sets) are up. Shock Therapy already has an answer to the very early feedback:
Teams with pets / random chaining
The set was balanced with the random chaining in mind, and we were concerned about the potential for this causing issues on teams with pets but we were interested to see how the set fared as-is. However, we agree that some changes are needed here, so we're making the following adjustments to the four Circuit powers in an upcoming patch:
At 5 stacks, the maximum target cap will be 255 instead of 7
Target cap at 0 to 4 stacks remains unchanged
We're investigating the possibility of prioritising players for each jump
The strength falloff per target will be adjusted
The strength falloff is now -25% per jump instead of *80% per jump
The strength falloff now caps at -50%
Lack of offensive power
Shock Therapy is a hybrid buff/heal/debuff set with a primary focus on buffs. At this time we don't feel additional offensive / debuff power is warranted beyond what the set currently has (+damage on Empowering Circuit, -end on Shock, Discharge and Amp Up and -damage on Shock and Discharge).
Endurance drain in PvP
This will be looked at, but may not make it into the next update.
The name of the set
We appreciate the concern here and are actively monitoring the feedback. We're going to discuss this internally and will update you when a conclusion has been reached.
I wish they would let us to set more than 1 non-offensive/self-only power on autocast. I understand not wanting to let the game play itself, however thanks to Hasten being in pretty much every build it means the moment you have something like a clickly mez protect you're having to manually click one or more powers once a minute just to keep your self-buffs up; it takes no skill, it's just busywork.
The auto-cast power is basically the "having to hit Hasten makes you lose DPS so" gimmick.
0
H3KnucklesBut we decide which is rightand which is an illusion.Registered Userregular
Hasten, to me, feels like the Fitness Pool. Remember when that was a power pool you had to give up slots to get, rather than just being something you unlocked automatically at certain levels? And then they realized that it was such a universally optimal choice that basically everyone was taking it so they baked it into the level curve instead?
I understand from a lore perspective why its a super speed power and not just something everyone gets, but from a gameplay balance perspective it's way too good to pass up for most characters. That's a design issue that either needs to be addressed, or just bake it in.
It actually bugs me a lot that "everyone" takes it (I don't, personally, unless it fits concept), but I understand why.
What it reminds me of, really, is how in tabletop Champions, everyone bought up SPD - again, even those whose powers and Origin had nothing to justify them being faster than a normal human. For the simple reason that going only twice in a 12-round turn sucked.
Like you said, a break between lore and gameplay.
If they removed the recharge meta that turns all endgame builds into "your chain is your two biggest nukes plus Incarnate powers" I would be all too thrilled, let me tell you, playing fully kitted out 50s is boring af right now.
I don't think it's ever going to happen, not only would the task be monumental, much of the playerbase would riot that they spent weeks working on a build that no longer works. Like, people lost their shit over ED, but all they lost there was SOs and a respec, not hundreds of millions in inventions.
But ideally what I think should happen is that recharge gets softcaps same as everything else, they make Hasten an inherent passive so it's not eating a pool and retune powersets/pools for whom high/perma-Hasten is the only reason you'd even play them to begin with (Dominators) to hit it naturally.
I gotta say, I jumped back in for the first time in months last night and had an absolute blast playing my Elect/Pain controller. Took him from 27 to 34 over a few hours with a good group.
However, I realized as we kept playing that...I guess a ton of my stuff was just unslotted?
I jumped on the black market and whooo boy did Homecoming's level 25 IO market tank. Over the summer when everyone was playing, it was super easy to spend a few million inf and get every single level 25 IO you could need. Now many of them only have 3 or 4 available, and they cost a couple hundred thousand instead of 45-50k.
This is a problem! I might have to *chokes* learn to craft!
I'm also trying to think about the best way to build and slot an Elec/Pain controller. I saw a really interesting idea involving adding Call of the Sandman into Static Field to turn the power into an additional pulsing self-heal, and apparently electric control is a Good Set to lean into proc-heavy building so I know that for the Electric powers that's what I'm going to aim for. Haven't figured out what to do about the /Pain powers, and I know some stuff is going to move around in a bit, when Experimentation lands.
I really can't wait for Experimentation to hit live, as I'm going to immediately respec into it on this guy.
Man I love Electric Control so much, my favorite character is Eelectric Maiden who is Electric / Nature. The nonsense that I can get up to without even using the fancy inventions (just regular IOs) is a hell of a lot of fun. The idea of making Static Field also a pulsing self-heal sounds amazing, next time I play the character I'll have to look into that.
Man I love Electric Control so much, my favorite character is Eelectric Maiden who is Electric / Nature. The nonsense that I can get up to without even using the fancy inventions (just regular IOs) is a hell of a lot of fun. The idea of making Static Field also a pulsing self-heal sounds amazing, next time I play the character I'll have to look into that.
Yeah, my Elec/Pain guy is a rogue doctor named Malpractice who can control people's nervous systems so he can either paralyze them, make them able to ignore pain, or cause intense pain in their bodies!
I was really proud of this character and then I read the "Villains" series from V.E. Schwab and realized oops I accidentally invented Victor Vale
Still, I made him before I read the book, so I don't feel too bad
| Zinnar on most things | Avatar by Blameless Cleric
+3
RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
Can't feel as bad as I did after rolling up a character for a tabletop supers game and belatedly realizing that by combining two of my favorite X-Men I had faithfully recreated Naruto
KayWhat we need...Is a little bit of PANIC.Registered Userregular
I once concepted a character for an online X-Men roleplay place who had real limited precog capabilities, like they could only predict the next few seconds and only if they were present.
Between that and some hardcore physical training they were an incredibly competent hand to hand fighter. Like almost preternaturally lucky, as long as people didn't know their power.
Don't think that rips anything off, just wanted to mention it.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
+1
RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
Longshot has actual Luck powers
But they are ridiculous and he has 6 fingers on each hand so you're probably safe
But they are ridiculous and he has 6 fingers on each hand so you're probably safe
Domino has luck powers as well. Normal number of fingers, but odd skin pigmentation in the comics.
The near future vision thing sounds familiar. I think Nic Cage did a movie where he could see a bit into the future and used it for fighting a few times.
I once concepted a character for an online X-Men roleplay place who had real limited precog capabilities, like they could only predict the next few seconds and only if they were present.
Between that and some hardcore physical training they were an incredibly competent hand to hand fighter. Like almost preternaturally lucky, as long as people didn't know their power.
Don't think that rips anything off, just wanted to mention it.
Pretty sure the Parahumans series (Worm, Ward, some other odds and ends) has a few characters with powers like that. But that might post-date the thing where you came up with it.
Strangely enough this movie has a character with that power. It's barely mentioned in the trailer and gets one sentence about it in the description. You'd think Brendan Fraser being able to see the future would be a bigger deal.
0
KayWhat we need...Is a little bit of PANIC.Registered Userregular
I once concepted a character for an online X-Men roleplay place who had real limited precog capabilities, like they could only predict the next few seconds and only if they were present.
Between that and some hardcore physical training they were an incredibly competent hand to hand fighter. Like almost preternaturally lucky, as long as people didn't know their power.
Don't think that rips anything off, just wanted to mention it.
Pretty sure the Parahumans series (Worm, Ward, some other odds and ends) has a few characters with powers like that. But that might post-date the thing where you came up with it.
Worm's way more recent than the X-Men MUSH I was looking at yeeeeears ago. I think I was still at University.
It has several changes that help it chain it's powers now, including a pet. Neat.
I personally am waiting for.. I think it's the Utility Belt power pool? The one that has an upgradable Ninja Run as a travel power.
Also waiting for Regen to get changes and also get ported to Tankers.
Regen getting some changes would help my other favorite character, Protoplasm, who is a radiation/regen brute whose concept and visuals are a sentient ooze man
If they removed the recharge meta that turns all endgame builds into "your chain is your two biggest nukes plus Incarnate powers" I would be all too thrilled, let me tell you, playing fully kitted out 50s is boring af right now.
I don't think it's ever going to happen, not only would the task be monumental, much of the playerbase would riot that they spent weeks working on a build that no longer works. Like, people lost their shit over ED, but all they lost there was SOs and a respec, not hundreds of millions in inventions.
But ideally what I think should happen is that recharge gets softcaps same as everything else, they make Hasten an inherent passive so it's not eating a pool and retune powersets/pools for whom high/perma-Hasten is the only reason you'd even play them to begin with (Dominators) to hit it naturally.
Unpopular opinion time: Judgment nukes should have a 5 minute CD at minimum
Hell, with 8 people on a team, even that might be too low.
Hmmmm I need to start concepting a hero based around the new electric healing set on Homecoming. Wondering if I should stick with the defender or wait until it's ported to other ATs.
I don't think I want to double up on electric blast or control to pair with it, but I'm not sure yet
For some reason, the client was running like crud last year for me, but this year it works again, so back on the saddle. Did a new costume for my Brute based on the Hazard Zones colors:
In action:
Level 28 at the time of this post, just at the beginning of Night Ward. TW is a lot nicer while leveling when you haul ass to buy the +End IOs earlier.
I love me some Scrappers. You're all "hey, you! Lieutenant/Boss over there! You're going down and I don't care how many friends you have around you, I ain't dyin'!" Brutes are fine, but their constant "my damage is up, my damage goes down, my damage is up, my damage goes down" makes them feel meh at the start of fresh fights, where Scrappers can just get in there and start doing work.
I mean, that's okay? But everyone gets to 'I ain't dyin'' levels with a suite of support.
But yeah, I would pin it on it being too simple. Tanks manage aggro and position to herd enemies, Brutes basically do the same with additional Fury management, Stalkers have a combo system that lets them crit Assassin Strike mid-combat, etc. Even Blasters have consistently high damage that they can spike with their Nova abilities, and I can't emphasize enough how much fun the Snipe changes have added, practically giving Blasters a ranged Assassin's Strike.
Scrapper, uh. You hit the buttons until the enemy stops moving. And sometimes you critical hit, but you don't have control over it. So yeah, just hit buttons.
It's so much less engaging, at least in my experience. It probably doesn't help that my scrapper is also MA, which seems like quite possibly one of the least interesting melee sets in the game.
There are times when I want to do combos and chains and fancy stuff, and times when I just want to hit a couple of buttons again and again until everything's on the ground.
Posts
[edit] That's a point, I don't think we can link to HC forums. Shouldn't be too hard to find for anyone that wants the details.
Also, I never realised that the Sentinel Beam Rifle replaced the annoying Penetrating Shot (yay, lining up long range powers...) with one that splits as it hits targets. I mean, it's a Sentinel power, so it's undertuned as hell, but it just seems more fun. I might make a BR/ Sentinel just to try it out.
Just in case, going to quote some stuff:
Thank. Fucking. Christ. Holy shit is Shadow Maul obnoxious to use. You know how hard is to get Sands of Mu to hit more than a single target? Imagine what is like to spend a primary power slot for the privilege.
Big things are the Mastermind henchmen thing, since with that maybe people will stop complaining about MMs on cave maps, and the Endurance Modification IO set, since that maybe will make Electric Blast not worthless and Electric Control is just missing that little extra push. Also Shock Therapy sounds cool.
Sure, Shock Therapy is a real thing that fucked people up, but it doesn't seem too out of line, given the context?
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
Mainly is the ties to conversion therapy which...yeah. Perfectly avoidable issue.
ORIGIN
POOL
*Defender only
B...but...I already rerolled my Pain Dom guy....if they port this to controllers...argh
ArGH!
I love it though I need it
But I don't think there'd be an archetype combination where you could get the new "Shock Therapy" and Pain Domination, but...those powers sound so cool
I'm very excited about Experimentation. The attacks alone are going in at least two, maybe three of my characters. Very hype.
I understand from a lore perspective why its a super speed power and not just something everyone gets, but from a gameplay balance perspective it's way too good to pass up for most characters. That's a design issue that either needs to be addressed, or just bake it in.
What it reminds me of, really, is how in tabletop Champions, everyone bought up SPD - again, even those whose powers and Origin had nothing to justify them being faster than a normal human. For the simple reason that going only twice in a 12-round turn sucked.
Like you said, a break between lore and gameplay.
I don't think it's ever going to happen, not only would the task be monumental, much of the playerbase would riot that they spent weeks working on a build that no longer works. Like, people lost their shit over ED, but all they lost there was SOs and a respec, not hundreds of millions in inventions.
But ideally what I think should happen is that recharge gets softcaps same as everything else, they make Hasten an inherent passive so it's not eating a pool and retune powersets/pools for whom high/perma-Hasten is the only reason you'd even play them to begin with (Dominators) to hit it naturally.
However, I realized as we kept playing that...I guess a ton of my stuff was just unslotted?
I jumped on the black market and whooo boy did Homecoming's level 25 IO market tank. Over the summer when everyone was playing, it was super easy to spend a few million inf and get every single level 25 IO you could need. Now many of them only have 3 or 4 available, and they cost a couple hundred thousand instead of 45-50k.
This is a problem! I might have to *chokes* learn to craft!
I'm also trying to think about the best way to build and slot an Elec/Pain controller. I saw a really interesting idea involving adding Call of the Sandman into Static Field to turn the power into an additional pulsing self-heal, and apparently electric control is a Good Set to lean into proc-heavy building so I know that for the Electric powers that's what I'm going to aim for. Haven't figured out what to do about the /Pain powers, and I know some stuff is going to move around in a bit, when Experimentation lands.
I really can't wait for Experimentation to hit live, as I'm going to immediately respec into it on this guy.
Yeah, my Elec/Pain guy is a rogue doctor named Malpractice who can control people's nervous systems so he can either paralyze them, make them able to ignore pain, or cause intense pain in their bodies!
I was really proud of this character and then I read the "Villains" series from V.E. Schwab and realized oops I accidentally invented Victor Vale
Still, I made him before I read the book, so I don't feel too bad
Between that and some hardcore physical training they were an incredibly competent hand to hand fighter. Like almost preternaturally lucky, as long as people didn't know their power.
Don't think that rips anything off, just wanted to mention it.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
But they are ridiculous and he has 6 fingers on each hand so you're probably safe
Domino has luck powers as well. Normal number of fingers, but odd skin pigmentation in the comics.
The near future vision thing sounds familiar. I think Nic Cage did a movie where he could see a bit into the future and used it for fighting a few times.
Fake edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_(2007_film)
Pretty sure the Parahumans series (Worm, Ward, some other odds and ends) has a few characters with powers like that. But that might post-date the thing where you came up with it.
Strangely enough this movie has a character with that power. It's barely mentioned in the trailer and gets one sentence about it in the description. You'd think Brendan Fraser being able to see the future would be a bigger deal.
Worm's way more recent than the X-Men MUSH I was looking at yeeeeears ago. I think I was still at University.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
It has several changes that help it chain it's powers now, including a pet. Neat.
I personally am waiting for.. I think it's the Utility Belt power pool? The one that has an upgradable Ninja Run as a travel power.
Also waiting for Regen to get changes and also get ported to Tankers.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
Regen getting some changes would help my other favorite character, Protoplasm, who is a radiation/regen brute whose concept and visuals are a sentient ooze man
Unpopular opinion time: Judgment nukes should have a 5 minute CD at minimum
Hell, with 8 people on a team, even that might be too low.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
It's REALLY painful.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
Of course it's painful! That's why you have all those buttons that heal you!
I don't think I want to double up on electric blast or control to pair with it, but I'm not sure yet
Hmmmm
In action:
Level 28 at the time of this post, just at the beginning of Night Ward. TW is a lot nicer while leveling when you haul ass to buy the +End IOs earlier.
Probably has to do with their class mechanic being completely passive, because I love Stalkers.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
Mastiff Damage.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
But yeah, I would pin it on it being too simple. Tanks manage aggro and position to herd enemies, Brutes basically do the same with additional Fury management, Stalkers have a combo system that lets them crit Assassin Strike mid-combat, etc. Even Blasters have consistently high damage that they can spike with their Nova abilities, and I can't emphasize enough how much fun the Snipe changes have added, practically giving Blasters a ranged Assassin's Strike.
Scrapper, uh. You hit the buttons until the enemy stops moving. And sometimes you critical hit, but you don't have control over it. So yeah, just hit buttons.
It's so much less engaging, at least in my experience. It probably doesn't help that my scrapper is also MA, which seems like quite possibly one of the least interesting melee sets in the game.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
and they're going to start enforcing it as of March 8th.