Stats Revamp: Mental

Discussion in 'Stats Revamp Archive' started by Shin-O-B, Dec 9, 2016.

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  1. Shin-O-B Developer

    Please use this thread for feedback on Mental powers. For general combat feedback (not specific to Mental), please use this overview thread instead.

    Self Power Return: Psychic Resonance
    Weapon Buff: Menace
    Supercharge Generator: Thought Bubble


    All abilities have been rebalanced for range, cost, damage, cooldowns, and CCs.

    I sense the question on your mind is, "What has changed?"
    • Telekinesis no longer grants Power over time, while in Controller role
    • Telekinetic Push no longer performs CC
    • Telekinetic Bolt no longer performs CC
    • Psychic Empowerment no longer buffs Might or Precision
    • Psychic Resonance gives Power over time to self. Grants Power over time to group, while in Controller role
    • Invisibility no longer applies passive bonus
    • Thought Bubble no longer performs Mass Thought Bubble, while in Controller role
    • Menace no longer Panics or benefits from Terror
    • Pyrokinesis inflicts Burning, but no damage over time. Also no longer benefits from CC'd states
    • Terror Tendrils no longer Stuns or grant Power over time, while in Controller role
    • Terrorize now benefits from Terror, rather than apply it, and will no longer Stun or Panic
    • Psychic Shock no longer Stuns
    • Phantom Flames no longer Stuns or inflict Burning
    • Mass Terror is now a point blank AOE and will no longer Panic targets
    • Convalesce no longer performs Breakout
    • Bastion no longer reflects damage
    Generally, restoring Power for the group is now a separate choice from performing damage and crowd control. No need to toss wobbly tentacles at everyone to generate Power anymore! :)
  2. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    I feel that Psychic Resonance is out of place at level 13. Psychic Resonance is your Power Over Time ability and you receive it too late. Consider that you receive your power dump (Psychic Empowerment) at level 9 and Controller role at level 10. Traditionally, power over time is the Controller's most important ability and it was always the first ability in both trees.

    As an example of where this maybe a problem, consider the Anti-Monitor event. You can queue into the Anti-Monitor Event Mission at Level 10 as a Controller. If you go in-role, the group won't get the power over time passive and you don't have access to power over time until level 13. You'll only be able to do power dumps.
    • Like x 9
  3. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Bug Report:
    Invisibility is showing up under my Loadout menu at Level 9. However, I'm not able to use "Invisibility" until Level 15.
    • Like x 1
  4. 9001BPM Steadfast Player

    Please don't remove stuns from controlling. That would literally kill the role for me. :-(
    • Like x 8
  5. Jacob Dragonhunter Steadfast Player

    Question: Mass Terror and Mass Lev are still venurable to interrupt(Getting Lunged) With the Big Boom Damage Removed From Both Mass Terror and Mass Lev is this intentional?
  6. Mepps Sr. Community Manager

    These power threads are specifically for testing feedback. Thanks!
    • Like x 1
  7. Sage-Rapha Steadfast Player

    I will give detailed feedback in a bit but I concur with Penryn and what he has stated.
    There must be an accommodation made for controllers.
    I will give feedback for PvE and PvP alike but just judging from a few looks, this completely shifts the role meta for PvP alone and seems to be bugged in both modes beyond belief. Those power costs seem outta whack

    I will ask if PoT from Psychic Resonance could be extended to Ally NPC's like pets and such.
    I don't like the CC changes. I understand tanks need to be more interesting but controlling is just secondary dps with a little more survivability and power distribution with weak debuffs at this point. Not interesting at all imo

    I would like to also ask if debuffs could scale with Dominance. They are pitifully weak at the moment and that needs to change to be quite honest.
    • Like x 4
  8. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Feedback:
    1. At level 14, the cooldowns on Telekinesis and Telekinetic Bolt seem far too long to me. I'm using Telekinesis to setup the "Dazed" PI to do enhanced damage on Telekinetic Bolt. If the mob group dies to my weapon attacks and Telekinesis, I have to wait a long time for Telekinesis to come off cooldown again.

    2. The description for Thought Bubble says it is a "Supercharge Generator". However, there is no place where that term is defined. It isn't described within the context of the power.

    Questions:
    When you activate Psychic Resonance as a Controller in a group settings, do group members receive several several power back ticks corresponding to roughly half the cooldown duration for Psychic Resonance? I'm wondering if the "group version" behaves the same as what is applied to the person casting it.

    What are the mechanics now if two Controllers have Power Over Time active?
    • Like x 2
  9. Lernik New Player

    Question:

    Is removal of CC going to be the meta across all controller power sets? You removed the big bulk of CC from Mental. This highly concerns me.
    • Like x 7
  10. Alrighty Then Loyal Player

    To say that Mental has been nerfed would be kind.
    It has been neutered.
    I have found myself having to use weapon most of the time. Power back sucks, as we need a slot just for that; and you take so much damage without the stuns you need another slot for a shield.
    • Like x 2
  11. Proxystar #Perception

    Avair said that PoT only lasts 6 seconds and that you need two controllers to keep PoT active.

    Is this because the PoT moves have a 12 second cool down thus you need two controllers to keep the PoT active for a 12 second cycle? Can someone testing this answer for me, I don't have time right now to level a test toon.

    What happens when you have 8 elite pieces of gear and every move casts PoT? is that elite gear buff going to be removed from the game?
  12. HoiiowDreamz Dedicated Player

    Tested:
    - Resonance has a 12 second cooldown.
    - Pot is 6 seconds long.
    - Pot is small ticks for 6 seconds for the group (like +11's for me) compared to the additional +86's from the regular power return for the individual person.
    - If a second controller uses resonance while a pot is already active, it has no effect and won't activate the group pot mechanic but will still return power to the user.
    - This means this is ideal currently:

    - First troll throws resonance. Pot starts.
    *6 seconds later*
    - Second troll notices lightning bolt is gone. Throws resonance. Pot goes back up.
    *6 seconds later*
    - First troll notices lightning bolt is gone and his resonance is off of cd. Throws again.

    You will be sharing Pot with a second troll if you want to have it active throughout instances and both controllers must be paying attention since they do not stack or override and reset the timer. Pot can only be thrown by the other troll after the lightning bolt goes down for the group pot aspect to be active.

    Excuse my language but uh

    I F*CKING LOVE IT. First change in years I fully support and like.
    • Like x 4
  13. Jacob Dragonhunter Steadfast Player

    Feedback:

    The leveling Requirements for Mass Terror/Mass Lev are a bit much.

    Explaining in detail:
    Power interactions are supposed to make a big diference in DPS if I remember correctly, and here's the catch: Mass Terror applies the terror PI in an aoe effect. Mass Lev applies the Dazing PI in an aoe effect.


    Players will be limited because they'll be forced to use Telekinesis or Terror Tendrils, and to be honest here: Mass Terror and Mass Levitation do a better job at spreading the PI's.

    So in otherwords: A low level Mental player will be quite limited on the DPS aspect until he/she gets to 30.


    If you can reconsider Mass Lev or Mass Terror to be reduced to around level 18 or 20, then this would be much better.
  14. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Thanks for the information.

    I just tried playing Controller in an Area 51 run and the whole experience felt very weird. At level 18, my pot was doing 12 to 14 per tick and the power dump was doing ~125 to each group member. With the long cooldowns on both powers, it felt like I was doing a horrible job. However, that is just the way the system is now.

    At level 18, I have a power pool of 1801. I'm not sure what it is at other levels. It felt like my pot/power dumps were a mere drip in the bucket and that group members were largely responsible for their own power management.

    Power didn't seem to be too much of a problem except during boss fights. Of course, I think everyone was mostly doing weapon attacks with only the very occasional power.

    That has been my experience playing Controller so far. I haven't had too much of a chance to try out Crowd Control powers yet in a group setting.
  15. inferno Loyal Player

    Some powers still daze and levitate.
  16. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Some additional feedback at level 19:
    1. The cooldown on Horrific Visage is way too long. I can kill several open world mob groups before that power comes off cooldown. The cooldown is long enough that it feels like a wasted slot on my loadout.

    2. Bolt Barrage is a very unimpressive supercharge unless you attack an enemy from point blank range. Even then, I'd probably replace it with another utility power.
  17. HoiiowDreamz Dedicated Player

    I was gonna have horrific visage changed anyway as a reliable controller debuff if debuff duration was still 10 seconds.
  18. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Horrific Visage is a 10 second healing debuff with a 30 second cooldown.

    Thought Bubble is a 10 second defense debuff with a 12 to 13 second cooldown.

    I'm still not entirely sure how the "Supercharge Generator" part of Thought Bubble is supposed to work.
  19. HoiiowDreamz Dedicated Player

    I checked it.
    The regular weapon attacks scale supercharge regen wise like how they do with power aka the longer the animation or cast time or whatever, the more supercharge you get. Currently:
    1st HB range tap: 5 supercharge
    2nd HB range tap: 5 supercharge
    3rd HB range tap: 8 supercharge (different animation remember)
    Thought Bubble: 15 supercharge

    You can see it in the combat log if you change it to show supercharge in and out.

    I want all the controller debuffs on 3-5 second cooldowns with the exclusion of horrific visage being at 10. If I want to debuff multiple adds or bosses I can't strictly because of the cooldown, now I can't even keep bosses debuffed consistently.
  20. PSYL0CKE X8 Well-Known Player

    What happened to mental' invisibility abilities they can't put people to sleep anymore! I Liked using that.
    • Like x 1
  21. BumblingB I got better.

    Possible Bug: Thought Bubble didn't appear to do any damage at all.

    Feedback:
    Cooldowns are way out of wack. TK has a super long cooldown, but it's single target. Yes it setups up a PI, but since you can only hit one opponent with it, it is downright useless. In high end content, the throw object part of it just doesn't have anything to use. So it's kind of a useless power. I don't see any reason to have such massive cooldowns in general. It just makes from tray awkward. Which encourages players to stick with weapon combos. Some of us like being a superpowered meta.

    Feedback:
    What unlocks as you level is very awkward. I like the first power you are given, but some of the ones you get later, like psychic empowerment just seems silly to have before psychic resonance. It essentially gives a player wrong impression of what your role is if you are new.

    Request:
    Is there any way that you can emphasize what you have unlocked while leveling? I actually spent half my gameplay with pretty much the initial loadout. Nothing encouraged me to switch out powers until I got my first supercharge to appear on my loadout. Even then, I didn't even think about swapping it until I realized I might have more powers unlocked.
    • Like x 9
  22. TheDark Devoted Player

    Feedback on Controller changes with Mental.

    In both Damage and Controller role, Psychic Resonance will activate 6 ticks of power over 6 seconds. This ability has no power cost and it's completely free which I don'tmind, and it also has a 12.3ish second cool down in both roles as well. However, when you use this ability in Controller role, you'll get the 6 ticks of Psychic Resonance power heals but you'll also activate the actual PoT innate with is 8 ticks. So in total, the Controller player activating P.R. will have 14 ticks going off with the green lightning bolt underneath just the controller player name tag. Clarifying - 8 ticks of power over time go to the group.

    I forgot to test whether the innate 8 tick pot rewards it automatically to the controller with the highest vit. But when I tested this with Penryn, he would cast PoT, then I would cast mine (my vit was lower) during his 6 second cycle. I (the controller casting my P.R. during his already in progress PoT cycle) would receive my personal self Power heals from Psychic Resonance, which is 6 ticks, but obviously my power over time innate of 8 ticks would not overwrite his. His would continue to run their 6 tick course.

    So in content, if Controller A accidentally cast their PoT power while the controller B had theirs active, Controller A would receive Controller B's group PoT of 8 ticks and Controller A would receive their personal PoT (power regen) of 6 ticks. The downside being that COntroller A just delayed PoT to the team by 6 or so seconds depending how soon they cast their half of the 6 second PoT cycle.

    Because Psychic Resonance has a 12 second cool down, 2 controllers can use the halfway mark on their cooldown as a visual to know when to throw PoT. Once the PoT cycle is going on during content, it'll be easier to do this. At the beginning, either both can communicate and identify the cooldown time they have on the power, or if they don't feel like talking, Controller A can cast PoT while Controller B will look for that animation then cast Psychic Empowerment immediately with it. That will be another indicator for Controller B to cast pot because the cool down on P.E. is 6 seconds. This is aside from looking underneath your name tag to see the green lightning bolt just incase you're in a venue with green backgrounds or if you just don't look in that direction but rather focus on your tray powers.

    Psychic Empowerment cost power. I'll be able to get an amount when i come in contact with sparring targets. The cool down on it is 6 seconds and restores 1 tick of power which is in the same power heal range as 1 tick of Psychic Resonance personal power heal (not the innate tick).

    At some point I plan on confirming/testing the power scaling. The Self Power Heal Over Time is stated to scale with a percentage of your max power pool. So I'm assuming that goes for both Controller and damage role since they were the same amount per ticks of 6 power heals. I'm also assuming the actual innate of 8 ticks group PoT is what scales with Vitalization since that number was much lower. Unless the formula is completely different. Actually speaking of formula's there's always been a lack of transparency with some info and a private message or post here on the new PoT equation would be great.

    Making communication the goal with power healing was achieved by the development team because of how you altered PoT. I personally think the PoT mechanics & power healing have been very simplified now in terms of execution. I'm not a fan of it but just adding input. No double tick exists, PoT syncing technique is gone, and no more lengthy PoT cycle. Individual players definitely have to manage their mana now. I'll ask about Battle Drone's changes when Gadgets goes on test.

    Feedback on the Debuffs and Cool downs
    All debuffs still last 10 seconds. Horrific Visage has a 30 second cool down. Thought Bubble, the defense debuff, and Cryokinesis (which i think is the other healing debuff) have a 12 second cooldown. Just noting that the 2 second difference isn't that bad and obviously Visage wouldn't be an ideal power to use if one was to apply that debuff on a boss that required it in future content. Just mentioning this for the other COntroller powerset changes. I also understand it's a way for 2 controllers to cycle debuffs on power with long cool downs.

    Cool Downs & Control effects
    The following are the powers i actually got to. Leveling is slow & I prefer to test at end game stage considering these stat values are so low.

    Telekinesis - 12 second cool down - Levitate 1 target
    Thought Bubble - 12 second cool down - Encases 1 target
    TK Push 1.2 second cool down - Push then knock down
    Horrific Visage - 30 second cool down - speeds up target then grounds (pvp) - stuns - then transforms into ghost
    CryoKinesis - 1.2ish second cool down - roots 1 target
    TK bolt - 12.45ish second cool down - no CC at all
    PryoKinesis - 6.3ish second cool down - stuns

    I thought the cool down would vary depending on role but that isn't the case here. Some power have get utility in terms of controlling, debuffing, PIs etc but PIs aren't the focus now and controlling has been "reduced in effectiveness."

    So far, there are no stuns in the powerset anymore. The notes state Phantom flames, Psychic Shock, Terrorize, Terror Tendrils do not stun anymore. Mass Terror no longer applies panic but because I'm not at that level yet I cannot examine if it applies an actual stun. Some are confused and think I'm referring to stuns as any type of CC. It's specific to stuns. Although PryoKinesis applies the only stun effect that the combat log registered to this power, I cannot determine it's duration due to my dominance being 70 or 90. With the leveling process everything is just to low. I need end game stats to better analyze. Also, I need it so that I can determine if the base of 15 second for a stun/levtitation is still active and that any additional Dominance would just be added on top of the 15 seconds. Given that Telekinesis levitates and I was only able to do it for 3.5 seconds with 70 Dom, I suspect the team has made it so that the base duration is now zero or perhaps 1 or 2 with Dominance now completely determining duration. Input from devs would be great here.

    This can be an issue depending on endgame Dominance stats in COntroller gear aside from mods and all. The team has already removed the double dom bonus in Controller role for just a vit buff. So i'll keep an eye out for endgame testing to get an idea of current possible max control duration.

    ***Just want to add that the iconic powers on test server have better stun (control effects) than what mental currently has. So maybe taking a look at that might help in my description. Sonic Cry will push and stun enemies with a short stun duration. Penryn tried Gag Glove which does a knock down and stun. It's knock down is 2 seconds no matter what (same for all) and the stun registered in at 9 to 10 seconds with his 79 Dom.***

    The other issue is
    Currently under the Dominance tab it states Stuns, levitations, roots, and encasements will benefit from Dom extended CC duration. It's the same as live. However, pushes, knock downs, transformations... they do not have their CC extended with Dom. the knock down and pushes wouldn't make sure for it (just like live). With Gadgets, you have powers that inflict pushes and knock downs but then there is also a stun effect applied right after them which allows those powers to benefit from the Dom duration mechanic. With Mental, i see Levitation, Mass Levitation (assuming it still functions and hits 8 targets), Thought Bubble (if you don't hit the encasement, and Pryokinesis (also assuming that stun accurately scales with Dom) are the only powers that benefit from the Dom extended mechanic.

    If Controllers are to continue to "have the best CC in the game" and truly last longer in terms of CC, the dev team cannot achieve this by just programming pushes, knock downs (again they have no long duration and currently their Area of Effect is small & short range) or even worse, removing the stun effect from a majority of the powers in the tree. This goes for regular Mental players and for the rest of us who play Controller role based powersets.

    I recommend the actual stun effect be reinstalled. Either to half the powers inthe powerset or all of them. Encasements prove to be a bother to all players including tanks so if a reduction in CC is a quota, then that should be the focus. With the actual Stun control effect, you will achieve the goal of continuing to have Controllers have the longer CC effects (not all controller powers apply levitation to benefit from the Dom duration mechanic) and because stuns generally do not prevent targets from being pulled (except for a few animation roots in Quantum & munitions) it will be easier to position enemies between tanks and/or Controllers provided the dev team also extend NPC breakout profiles to better fit controlling NPCs in general. Is mental going to be designed to have less stuns overall compared to the other powersets?

    Feedback on damage and cool downs
    I didn't have a chance to do any base numbers for comparing damage. Obviously at this low level eyeballing a range is ok. I do agree with the principal of having the higher hitting powers cost much more power. I'd just to get soem time in perhaps after finals to get concrete numbers. My question is, is the defense on the sparring targets still 15%? I didn't see them when I was in the watchtower.

    Feedback on Thought shield (whatever the equilent of Time Bubble is for Mental)
    It's the shield similar to Granduer. I tested the damage cap. At 592 resto and 77 dom, my shield capped at 219 over 5 tests. My question is, what is the formula for shield strength now? 25% resto? 110% Dom?

    P.S. Unfortunately I will not be able to return to test server until sometime later this week or next weekend for further testing. But if I can get dev responses to some of the questions I can give more detailed input. I think releasing formula info private or public would be step in the right direction to helping test content and powers.
    • Like x 10
  23. spack2k Steadfast Player

    The Supercharge Generator is an Encasement ... a lot of players will hate to run with a mental troll, plz change that.
    • Like x 4
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