Test Discussion Solar Amplifier Bug

This was brought up when the increase to 200 first came out. Heat Vision locks you into place but allows you to jump-cancel it. What this really means is that while you can't move (other than Jump), any movement done to your character cancels it as if it were a Jump. I tested this out in Metal Gotham by firing it off from the side of one of those rounded barracks. The moment I start sliding down, Heat Vision cancels. It's the same if you are fighting a Themyscira bounty who moves you (Athena's knockback or Hydra's pull, for instance) or their AE merely Grounds you (Like Ares' foot stomp).

I don't think it can be "fixed" without removing the stationary aspect of the power altogether.

Like I said before Mepps and Batuba...Leave it alone..nothing good will come out of this for both sides. AV is right here don't do this. Still a chance for you guys to make it right and walk away

If you guys take the time to look at my data, I can assure you that you will see that this isn't a justifiable decision. I'm not asking you to trust me at face value, I'm not just ******** and moaning, I did the work and the testing (I gave up my entire long weekend for it and only slept a few hours to get the work done) and this is just a mistake altogether. We've already covered a third of the power roster and I specifically applied my methods on the powers that had the best chance of indicating any degree of overperformance first to save time, but if you need more data just tell me. It has proven physically impossible for us to even force this artifact to overperform in even the most contrived scenarios. Reality does not support this decision and I would back you guys up if it did.

The problem is ,that although this is a "bug" and was not originally intended, but the correction of the "bug" as it was originally conceived, leads to an imbalance.
That is, it is now on the live server more balanced than on the test server.
Yes, after the changes that Batuba mentioned, the problem of reduced damage to a single target is being solved.
But the usefulness of the artifact becomes niche, which leads to fewer options for playstyles.
Moreover, with the decrease in the utility of the SA, other artifacts (in particular the Strategist) become from the "choice" option to the "necessarily" option, which leads to an even greater decrease in the options for playstyles and more imbalance.
And we do not understand what is the point of such a change. From the outside it looks "suspicious".

Powers equipment and ability powers are more than fine to change at any time, but...when it comes to artifacts theres got to be some type of safety net so people do not feel cheated or swindled. Its already a deterrent to just feed an artifact into another because you lose all of your catalyst and half your exp , and the only safety net to the exp portion of the problem is a doubles week you guys put out literally every 6 months. And the process to naturally recover from such a change is..$220 + catalyst or 5-6 months of heavy duty grinding +catalyst.

Please dont take this as if im asking for a free handout . i still feel like artifacts should be grinded out or should cost a hefty sum of money but, if they can change at any time or any reason theres got to be a way to at least recover some of that time or money back . like how body mods had exceptional and total recovery kits for cheap.

Don't concern yourself with it, this entire situation is literally turning into a Ahab Moby-Dick storytelling. Batuba has already addressed the splitting DOT concern and was kind enough to apply burning to the primary target which was one of the drawbacks compared to Amplified vs Regular HV so we have dots ticking quicker for not only damage but potential strategist procs. The original issue dating back to the Rank releases has been properly addressed and any other discussion on the topic is just unproductive.

Thank you

This right here sounds so desperate. It’s like your sobbing because your girlfriend is leaving you. Why would you give up a whole weekend for this. The fact that your defending it so hard is just getting weird. Powers get beefed all the time, and I get that you put a lot of work into your videos but it’s time to let it go. Pick yourself off the floor like a man and drop a new updated videos of you getting it done without a broken artifact. When this episode dropped they obviously had time to look into balance, and at the same time there was an out pouring of solar amp haters after prec was nerfed so it was only a matter of time. Cmon buddy let’s go get a drink and forget about that girl...... solar amp.

Not being a bully or trying to gang up on you, but I've heard you express it does better damage than most powerset abilities, but never expressed it as an actual (glitch). I'm kind of in agreement with the other guy that you didn't say anything was wrong with it (to my knowledge) before this update (not counting when revamp dropped). Most ppl who don't know how to test or understood damage splitting got it & just took your word on it for the damage. Especially since you actually made multi targeting builds with it......


I don't use it personally (already takes too many resources getting the 6 I have where I want them lol).


Just saying you can't claim ppl were chasing a glitch. Some actually didn't know but have a right to feel upset they suddenly see a 60- 80k-ish loss lol. This is doubly so for those who read the artifact & assumed it was supposed to hit hard on multi target lol.

Erm.. dude... that's literally just because there's about 100 document pages worth of replies in this thread and it was likely they weren't getting looked at in detail and it's important to convey, "pssst... if you actually look at the work that's been done you'll see that results don't support what you're doing."

Not sure what you're talking about with videos unless you have me confused with someone else. The only edited DCUO video I have is an LPVE guide... The only things we have in the master guide are quick rotation demos that is just unedited gameplay. This is specifically to avoid any doubt about our motivations, ie. so we don't look like YouTube shills.

Your post is just really cringe tbh.

That's not the story they were spinning at all. You don't need to make up bs to try to carry water for the devs. Doesn't help them or anyone.

Except Mepps just proved this wasn't the case either. There was no "outpouring" of anything. Both Mepps and Batuba affirm that no one ever complained about it and they weren't aware. If it even was the case, do you really think "some people bitched so now we have to nerf something" is how things work?

Ah... yes... that broken artifact that... *checks notes* ... Has less of an impact than every other artifact either myself or Obsidian Chill looked at. Excellent reasoning skills.

There's enough off-topic non-testing bs in this thread to begin with. Please keep your unsubstantiated non-objective cringe opinions to yourself. I'm sorry I care about the game enough to do testing for the testing section, I guess. Your entire thesis is basically that your ignorance and lack of interest are somehow more relevant than the knowledge and testing of others.

Not sure how practical it is but it would be nice if a dev wrote in the chat they are investigating a particular product/in game (item) before special weekends & if changes need to be made allow a free one for one change. They were pretty nice about that with the VWD art

Nah you just sound like a whining little girl begging the devs to leave solar amp alone bc it’s prob the only way you can get any decent dmg. Fact is you sound so pathetic saying you gave a weekend for testing but hey it looks like it was a weekend well spent since you were able to stop them from changing solar amp.... oh wait na you just wasted a weekend crying over a video game artifact. I love playing the game also but my life doesn’t revolve around it. Btw your guides are trash now without solar amp lmao guess you can add that to more time wasted lmao

Batuba - Thank you for looking more into the matter of the splitting issue.

As for your statement that the "Empowered channeling affects all channeled abilities individually" can I assume that the List of powers in the empowered channeling mod does not contain all the chanelled powers affected by the 200 rank ability of Solar Amplifier? I've always wondered if it was possible to add Fireburst and Mass detonation to the affected powers as they are two of the longest channeled power that is highly susceptible to interruption; While some powers have at least 5 protected by empowered channeling.

Unfortunately they aren't channeled, just powers with a cast time associated with them. Channeled essentially means any multi-tick-while-casting might power (usually depicted by some sort of beam animation/visual) and the list on the mod is complete.

Ah thank you for that info. That makes more sense now.

(Just thought of something that might help people see the bigger picture who are having a hard time, without having to get into the nitty gritty of the math. The math is still required to actually demonstrate the worth and balance of a given artifact as represented by its relative contributions but this should dispel the common misconceptions that some people seem to have)

Open questions to anyone and everyone: 1. What is the DPS of the below rotation? 2. What do you think other people will say the DPS of the below rotation is?

(I included the combat summary & rotation flow in text so no one has to actually click the video if they don't want to)

Artifacts: Solar Amplifier, The Strategist Card, Tetrahedron of Urgrund
Arc Lightning>Tesla Ball>Electrogenesis>Arc Lightning>Heat Vision>Arc Lightning>Tesla Ball>Electrocute>Arc Lightning>Heat Vision>Repeat

Damage [76.1s] 105799/s - 8046219 total - 2527 hits (34785 max) - 642 (25.4%) crits - 8 targets

This is something of a trick question. No wrong answers, as this is purely rhetorical. This will also help us see if we need to expand the might guide.

My question for those who asking for compensation is this. HV is ST power. Solar was intended to make HV a stronger ST power to help the play style of player who wanted to use Iconic powers.

While I understand the frustration of losing the effectiveness on AOE rotations, Solar and HV would still be the strongest and most effective ST combo, thus making Solar still extremely viable and worth leveling.

I concede the Devs have bungled this situation despite their best intentions, however, why should we receive compensation when the artifact is still extremely effective?

If the artifact was not intended to also be used for AOE, why add the explosion, and the dot on nearby enemies?

Originally I intended on using it for both (as when I returned to the game, I only had a few artifacts available). I immediately, upon reading the artifacts levels, noticed the AOE portion (explosion and dot) of the levels, and thought it would likely be viable to use, which is why I leveled it up to 200.

To add to the reply you have already gotten.
The point for me is there was nothing indicating from a credible source (Meaning a dev as players an their opinions arent credible sources on deciding if things are intended or not). Meaning all info available (i.e. silence from devs) tells us its fine. Ow suddenly after we invest they wanna change it.
Thats iust drity practice and wrong.

How many people do you think knew that was the intention? No dev came out to clarify this and address it's current situation BEFORE people went ahead and spent their hard earn money on the artifact. You have to look at the overall picture and not just this one problem. The devs attempt to douse the flames has blown up in their faces due to poor PR. Like I mentioned earlier when they always want people to spend their money and they do this it never looks good.