GU 44: Quantum Advanced Mechanics

Please use this thread to discuss and give feedback about Quantum advanced mechanics.

Quantum's advanced mechanic center around abilities in the Time tree. The centerpiece of the mechanic is Time Bomb. While active Time Bomb takes all damage done by Anomaly, Distortion Wave, Tachyon Blast, Tachyon Burst, Time Shift, Warp Barrage and Temporal Vortex and loops it back, multiplied and deployed in a radius as it explodes.

Note that if the Time Bomb doesn't hit any targets when it explodes, the bonus damage will be deployed on the next attack you make within a second or two. So if, for example, the boss teleports behind you or you finish all the adds in the corner before the bomb explodes, you don't lose the payoff.

Preliminary notes follow:

• Quantum Power Points Refunded: Due to changes in Quantum skill trees, Quantum users will find their Power points refunded.
• Quantum Tunneling: Quantum Tunneling has changed places in the Time tree, requires level 8 and now gives a 40% damage bonus in Damage role.
• Time Bomb: Time Bomb has changed places in the Time tree, no longer has a level requirement, is now Weapon Mastery Crit Excluded, is Vulnerable to Interrupt and gives a 35% damage bonus in Damage role. Time Bomb no longer debuffs enemy defense in Controller role (this effect has moved to Time Shift, see below). In addition to existing effects Time Bomb now creates a localized time loop. Any damage caused by Time abilities is amplified and returned when Time Bomb ends. A portion of the power spent on damaging Time abilities also returns. Damage is further amplified when you are close to your target. In PvP? regions and while dueling, using damaging Time abilities while Time Bomb is active causes you to become Vulnerable to Interrupt.
• Warp Barrage: Warp Barrage has changed places in the Time tree, requires level 16 and now gives a 50% damage bonus in Damage role. Cooldown increased to 2.5 seconds.
• Time Bubble: Time Bubble has changed places in the Time tree, requires level 16 and now gives a 50% damage bonus.
• Anomaly: Anomaly now hits multiple targets in a sphere at range, rather than just being effective at point blank range. Cooldown increased to 2.5 seconds.
• Distortion Wave: Distortion Wave now hits multiple targets in a sphere at range, rather than just being effective point blank. Cooldown increased to 2.5 seconds.
• Tachyon Blast: Tachyon Blast has changed places in the Time tree, no longer has an activation time, is no longer Vulnerable to Interrupt, requires level 12 and now gives a 45% damage bonus in Damage role. Cooldown increased to 2.5 seconds.
• Time Shift: Time Shift now hits targets up to 25m away and now applies a Defense debuff if used in the Control role. Cooldown increased to 2.5 seconds.
• Tachyon Burst: Increased cooldown to 2.5 seconds in Damage role only.
• Gravity Well: The Cooldown for Gravity Well has been reduced to 12 seconds to bring it in line with other standardized timings.
• Warped Reality: The Cooldown for Gravity Well has been reduced to 12 seconds to bring it in line with other standardized timings.

The tool tip for warped reality is for gravity well.

some spells may not split like Tachyon Blast etc..

overall quantum AM does an average of 2k dps more than dot powers like Nature/Electricity atm which needs to be brought in line to match AMs like HL/Ice

Can Warped Reality be fixed into applying it's PI on a AOE basis and not be single target? Having this move as a single target one hurts DPS. Warped Reality is bugged on live, the might damage is not applying to enemies fully; there are bug reports already posted on the forums to support this. Also can this ability be given a might % buff to match the other power sets and give Quantum a much need damage boost?

Is it to much to ask for Time Bomb to be given a small H.O.T to match Mental's Resonance & Gadget's Battle Display powers?

Alcubierre Wave should be made equal to Electricity Static Push ( Polarizes the targets causing objects to be attracted to them and deals more damage to already polarized enemies.) Making it fully range and apply it's PI while also deals boosted damage on PI applied enemies.

Gravitonic Field is bugged; It's D.O.T stacks on it self endlessly.

Tachyon Blast isn't splitting it damage after two or more targets as it should be.

This is my comparison test for Quantum agaisnt Nature. I'm using the exact same equipment and have the same stats for both cases. I could have added a tap range with rifle in between powers but due to latency issues on test servers I was missing the 3 attacks window within Timebomb coldown, so in fact Quantum's damage should be even higher.

Also, I'm using Penetrating strikes so the damage is not realistic, since as the sparrings have 0 defence and they are lvl 1 I'm getting a 32% damage buff instead. For getting the real DPS we need to multiply the effective DPS from the video by 0.79 if I remember properly. To me, the AM needs to get tuned down a bit, before Ice had the best instant burst, well, this version of Quantum makes any other power weak compared to its potential.

In my testing this morning, I saw no difference at all between time bomb at point blank range vs max distance when used against a watchtower test target. Didn't have that long to test, I'll look at it again tomorrow. Can anyone else confirm this in the mean time?

There's nothing that generates supercharge unlike other AM. This would make it hard to use Temporal Vortex as part of AM. I'm not sure if intended or not.

I think the damage is fine and here's why: Nature and Electric put DoT on their targets. Quantum has a greater chance of targets moving outside of GWell or moving away from the Time Bomb. With testing dummies who don't move it's easy to suggest that powers aren't balanced. I would wonder for those who are running the new raids if Quantum is topping the charts in those runs or if it is any other power.

Additionally since the power return occurs once Time Bomb executes, I still find Quantum to be extremely power hungry.

Another positive is I am happy how you have updated the lay out of the Time tree.

I have a few concerns about using Warp Barrage and Time Shift with the AM.

> Warp Barrage still has that delayed damage that makes it difficult to use in an AM loadout. Sometimes, the damage will only register after Time Bomb has exploded, and it seems to not amplify the final burst damage, the extreme one. The dovetail also feels awkward, as if it's longer than any other in the power set, which makes its early use in the rotation slow and not intuitive. This last part also goes for a WM loadout as well, as it significantly slows you down.

> Outside of AM, Warp Barrage is still not getting buffed by WM. I assume it's because of the delayed damage issue, but looking at Sticky Bomb, for example, and its delayed damage, I'm not sure why we can't buff the damage with WM.

> Time Shift has a limited cone or wideness in the attack. If I'm attacking the new sparring targets in the League hall, they are very close to each other so they all take damage from it. If I go to the old set of 3 sparring targets, the only one taking damage is whichever I'm targeting, as they are a little further apart. Is there any chance of changing it to hit in a wider range?

Also, players have been testing Tachyon Blast's new damage using WM and it seems the power is not splitting properly, at least after two targets. Might need a double-check before it goes Live, to prevent exploiting.

Moving on to Supercharge powers, Temporal Vortex seems to affect the extreme damage done by Time Bomb, but we don't have the ability to build supercharge just by using powers. Other Might AMs were adjusted to allow for this, should we expect Quantum to be given the same ability in a future build?

So there is a bug with Time Bomb. If I do a WM combo and meet the crit window, when Time Bomb connects, it does an elevated amount of damage. Now you if you do that, then add in your AM rotation, when Time Bomb connects the target, you actually get a double tick, one of what the WM damage would be, plus the amplified AM damage.

A couple other concerns, I know that Gadgets gets a buff for not speccing WM. Does this apply to Quantum too? I notice no difference in damage whether WM is specced or not.

Quantum has become fun to play. The AM does not need to be changed drastically or nerfed in any way. It is very much in-line and when tested in a raid, puts out comparable damage as other contending powers such as ice, nature, and electricity. Note that quantum-users will often lose damage when adds die while waiting for time bomb to finish, thus losing a lot of damage over the course of an instance if there isn't an immediate add to attack next. Therefore, the slight advantage over a stationary target with significant HP only provides further evidence of balance for this power.

Fixes:
1) Warped reality feels sluggish near the end of the animation. I would recommend speeding up the animation to bring it in line with comparable powers such as electricity's wired. Also, movement should be allowed after the use of WR. When WR is used, players are stuck in place.

2) Consider Increasing the time to apply time bomb's damage of a group of adds die. Increasing the time to 5 seconds is reasonable. It would allow you to get to another enemy in a large room, but not a group of enemies in another area.

3) Consider increasing the ability to gain a supercharge as this is not realistically possible with the AM.

4) Please take a look at point blank range fighting. When testing the first day, there was a noticeable difference. However, over the last day or so, it feels like that aspect does not function properly compared to ranged fighting.

This was the comparison videos I made as well. Quantum seems to be doing the most damage, Nature/Elec seem to be next by a wide margin, next is Ice by a medium margin, and then Gadgets and HL behind that with a narrow margin, and the rest wherever they are. I think Quantum is probably due for a slight tuning down.





In terms of playstyle, I found this very fun.

Time Shift will only hit 4 max it seems. Perhaps that is intentional? So if we were to replace Time Shift with an 8 target ability, it is Warp Barrage or Anomaly. Right now Anomaly is the only choice due to issues with Warp Barrage.

Also, I was just testing Tachyon Blast and I agree, it is not splitting properly.

I agree, something feels off with WR.

What weapon you have equipped seems to affect WR alot just due to it having several animations. I find that if I have HB equipped its faster to attacking compared to DW.

I've thought a bit more about this. RIght now, it seems Quantum can get its full damage burst much quicker than Electric and Nature can set up it's full DoTs. Obviously, that will give Quantum a lead in damage. Possibly slowing down Time Bomb slightly might bring it a bit more in line.

Also, maybe slowing down TIme Bomb slightly will give Warp Barrage the time it needs to connect?

The +5% crit chance and +25% crit damage for the might damage of AMs is not affected by unlocking WM.

Oh, forgot to mention sometimes, using Distortion Wave would cause me to jump.

I would like to see a better flow between powers. For example, going from Time Bomb -> DW seems chunky, same with going from DW to Tachyon Blast. I find myself hitting the power next in line repeatedly because of this. It's such a small window and hitting a power just a little too late means a lot less damage.

Also, can the power return be spread out a bit more? Right now you get a huge return after Time Bomb completes. But my power bar can drop really low before that happens. If I see that as a troller I'm gonna wig out and dump a ton of power. It's not an issue when you're solo, or running a duo / alert sans troll for power. But as someone who trolls, it's very misleading to see.

Light is the one that gets the buff for no WM, not gadgets.

Ugh, I'll just forget that and spec my WM back in on live.