Test Discussion PCTest Update: Movement mode ability changes

Discussion in 'Testing Feedback' started by JackFrost, Sep 28, 2018.

  1. JackFrost Developer

    Hey all!

    Going live on the PCTest server today are changes that will allow many movement-mode tree abilities to be used while temporarily in other movement modes.

    For example, if you're playing a Nature character who uses Super-Speed as their default super-movement mode, you can unlock abilities in the Super-Speed Traits menu (such as 'Whirling Dervish' or 'Tornado Pull'). And you can put those abilities on your Damage or Healer ability loadouts, and use them in combat. But you wouldn't be able to put those abilities onto your Nature Gorilla form loadout, because that form forces you into Acrobatics movement mode while it was active.

    The change that should be on PCTest today will allow you to slot and use most of those movement mode-tree abilities while in other forms (such as Nature Gorilla)! Your acrobatic nature gorilla will still be an acrobat, but you'll be able to trigger Whirling Dervish or Tornado Pull despite that.


    There are a few caveats:
    1) Some of the forms that you can form-change into won't be able to play all of the animations associated with some of the movement mode abilities. A good example of this is Sorcery's Arbiter of Destiny form. A player in this form-change will play a different animation for a lot of attacks.

    2) A couple of abilities are not able to be used outside of their appropriate movement modes. Specifically, Super-Speed's "Dash Attack" and Flight's "Dustoff" ability are like this. There were issues with these because of the forced locomotion of the player-character working incorrectly while not in the proper movement mode. Rather than have an ability that is basically broken, we opted to keep the status quo with these particular abilities, making it so that you can only use them while in their root super-movement mode.

    3) Skimming players who put skimming abilities on their ability tray, and then form-change to something that isn't also Skimming will play Flight animations and have damage calculated on those Flight animations. We thought it'd be better to allow players to keep the Skimming abilities as part of their loadouts rather than locking them off. So it creates a situation where a Nature player with Skimming can put a Skimming ability on their Gorilla loadout, and when the player goes into their Gorilla form, when that ability is triggered, the Gorilla will use a Flight animation and do apparently different damage. Rest assured, the damage is balanced for the duration of the animation!

    I apologize for these minor known issues, but hope that the overall effect of these changes is positive, and that it opens up more abilities that folks find viable for play.

    As a side-effect of the above, this change also fixes some issues that would sometimes affect players, causing abilities to disappear off of hotbars when switching back into default form after being form-changed.

    If you get a chance to test any of this, or just have an opinion on these change, please post any feedback or issues you may have about these changes here!

    Thanks!
    • Like x 8
  2. Alrighty Then Loyal Player

    Very happy to see this!
    I'll gave it a quick run through with flight.
    I hope movement mode tokens are easy to acquire. I could not find them.
    Are they available on test somewhere?
    The problems that I had previously were having the movement mode powers end up slotted improperly after switching into and back out of invisibility and stealth.
    These problems are fixed; plus the bonus of using these in other modes!
    Thank you so much!
  3. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Bug Report
    I can slot Dustoff for Stealth, but it disappears from my loadout bar. If it is going to disappear, it would be nice if it didn't appear as being usable:
    • Like x 1
  4. recoil2 Dedicated Player

    hmmmmmm i wonder what i could apply to dog form?
  5. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Nature's Dog Form has a fixed loadout bar. So this change won't affect Dog Form at all.
    • Like x 3
  6. MrMigraine Devoted Player

    Conspiracy theory time:

    These changes are being made now because of the new Movement Mode in Atlantis: Swimming.

    :eek:
    • Like x 4
  7. Fatal Star 10000 Post Club

    You and this swimming lol.

    Would be interesting though
    • Like x 5
  8. EconoKnight XIII Legion

    Was talking about this in league, and a league mate brought up a good point. This update is focused on forms; and that makes one think we’ll all be changing form for significant periods pretty soon (they wouldn’t go to this effort just for a few powers). So maybe it is swimming, but the change form ability is being used to make it Atlantis specific.
    • Like x 3
  9. CaptainColdJr007AKAFreeJohnson Committed Player

    Question 1:Ice Elemental Form for ice rn on live isn't able to have Cold Snap or Heat Vision or Movement Speed Iconics. Will it have any of these 3 or do these fall under animation issues?

    Question 2: Since we're testing dps and Mepps mentioned other quality of life things, can we have updated artifacts and or titan cred currency in the pve token//atlantean gen mods?
  10. MsTickle Fate Devoted Player

    A fairly large bug: I tried starting races in Gotham in flight mode, and every time I went through a ring, I was knocked out of movement mode.

    Which meant I had to do the entire race in slow mode. Which means I couldn't get even a Bronze.

    So at first glance, this suggests the movement mode changes have broken the races for now.

    I didn't get a chance to test any of the races that themselves change your character/movement mode.
  11. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    To answer part of your question, Movement mode powers can now be used in Ice Elemental form:
    • Like x 1
  12. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Feedback
    With regard to Gadgets Stealth and Mental Invisibility forms, Superspeed offers the best compatibility of any of the movement powers.

    The following four Superspeed powers trigger the Stealth and Invisiblity Damage procs:
    Vortex Trap
    Cyclone Push
    Tornado Pull
    Whirling Dervish

    In the Flight and Acrobatics trees, only Flight's Whirlwind Attack triggers the Stealth and Invisiblity Damage proc.

    Being able to use Phase Dodge from Stealth Form is huge! It gives you an extra shielding power on a secondary loadout tree that can help you avoid a One-Hit Kill attack if you have the correct timing. Also, Phase Dodge doesn't remove Stealth form. So you can do some interesting things with Shield stacking if you have the Improved Stealth Mod and Hard Light Shield/Phase Dodge on your loadout. Flight and Acrobatics don't have any non-Supercharge utility powers that offer as my synergy with Stealth form as what Phase Dodge does.
  13. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Bug Report
    If the player is using Skimming and uses Whirlwind Attack while in Stealth form, you end up with this graphics bug:


    The skimming pads and sound effects remain after going Stealth->Whirlwind Attack. That doesn't happen if you use Whirlwind Attack by itself outside of Stealth.
  14. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Flight races are working normally in Gotham and Metropolis for my character.

    It sounds like you are encountering a fairly old bug where going through a race ring knocks you out of movement mode. That bug always happens to me a lot on the Live server during the Valentines Day event. It is very annoying and relogging is usually the only way to fix it. Are you still experiencing this issue today?
  15. L T Devoted Player

    None of the acrobatics damaging abilities procs for extra damage from Invisibility. In Flight, only whirlwind attack gets a bonus, and only against a single target. All of the abilities in super speed seem to proc. There doesn't seem to be a how or why something gets an extra damage tick or not. Seems like a bug.

    You can put dustoff in your Invisibility load out bar, but when you enter Invisibility you're not able to use it. Doesn't seem right. Likewise you can add Dash Attack to Invisibility on the load out menu, but can't actually use it while transformed.

    Perfect Poise retains invisibility-- which also seems like a bug, since it does a burst of damage.
  16. 9001BPM Steadfast Player

    This may or may not be connected... one of my characters on live keeps being told she’s learnt certain abilities every time she switches armoury, even though I have anything I use unlocked on every single one to avoid this very thing.
  17. MsTickle Fate Devoted Player

    Sorry I couldn't get back to this sooner; I have ongoing medical issues getting in the way.

    But I was able to get on test earlier, and I couldn't reproduce the bug, so a big Never Mind. Thanks!
  18. JackFrost Developer

    Thank you everyone who's had a chance to test these changes and have chimed in.

    I'm submitting fixes for a number of the bugs that have been reported here, and those will hopefully make the PCTest server this week.

    Specifically, more of the movement abilities will trigger the Gadgets->Stealth extra damage proc. Sadly, this won't affect every ability in every tree, but should make more abilities viable to use to break Stealth.

    Additionally, Dustoff and Dash Attack won't show as valid abilities that can be used on the Stealth Loadout hotbar.

    I don't yet have a fix for the minor visual Skimming Disc bug related to Stealth where the Discs appear on your feet until you activated and deactivate Skimming.

    Regarding this question:
    Question 1:Ice Elemental Form for ice rn on live isn't able to have Cold Snap or Heat Vision or Movement Speed Iconics. Will it have any of these 3 or do these fall under animation issues?

    Ice Elemental Form should be able to use most unlocked movement mode abilities, but these changes shouldn't affect the Iconic Powers.

    As for the Movement Challenges in Metropolis and Gotham, I don't believe what is being described sounds related to these changes. I wasn't able to reproduce the issue you're describing. Any additional info from anyone may be helpful for us trying to figure out the issue.

    Thanks again all!
    • Like x 2
  19. MsTickle Fate Devoted Player

    I couldn't reproduce it after logging out and logging back in, either, so I suggest forgetting about it unless someone experiences it when live. Apologies for wasting your time with an unconfirmed report. Thanks for all your hard work and attention! (And to everyone on the team!)
  20. JackFrost Developer

    No worries! If there's something funky, we want to fix it. Thanks for helping test regardless!
    • Like x 1