The Go Go Gadget Guide to Everything Gadgets

Weren't all of these reverted to weapon only proc? I'm guessing it's intentional although with this one in particular it would make more sense to have it proc from powers.

Since power is such a big deal we definitely need energized capsule mods on test. The same goes for supercharged mods as well although to a lesser degree.

Photon Blast should probably get another look to make sure it's worthwhile. I'm also still hoping we can get a functional change on Gauss/Napalm to make them more like PDart and prevent them from missing constantly due to their ballistics.

It looks like Revamped Gadgets may have the worst group power heal Supercharge for the Controller powersets. Here is a combat log output for Active Protection System and Battle Drone:

1493491698410643 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Active Protection System critically healed Mr Fixit for 990 Power
1493491698910413 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Active Protection System critically healed Mr Fixit for 1018 Power
1493491699411412 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Active Protection System healed Mr Fixit for 690 Power
1493491699920282 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Active Protection System healed Mr Fixit for 686 Power
1493491700428151 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Active Protection System healed Mr Fixit for 717 Power
1493491700932318 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Active Protection System critically healed Mr Fixit for 986 Power
1493491701437094 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Active Protection System healed Mr Fixit for 674 Power
1493491701942966 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Active Protection System critically healed Mr Fixit for 986 Power
1493491702446989 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Active Protection System healed Mr Fixit for 725 Power
1493491702952836 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Active Protection System critically healed Mr Fixit for 972 Power
1493491703457827 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Active Protection System critically healed Mr Fixit for 1011 Power
1493491703962675 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Active Protection System healed Mr Fixit for 732 Power

1493491831613793 [Combat Out] Mr Fixit summoned a pet using ability Battle Drone
1493491832815359 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Battle Drone healed Mr Fixit for 590 Power
1493491834648058 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Battle Drone critically healed Mr Fixit for 858 Power
1493491835810113 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Battle Drone critically healed Mr Fixit for 872 Power
1493491836822211 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Battle Drone healed Mr Fixit for 629 Power
1493491837824779 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Battle Drone healed Mr Fixit for 637 Power
1493491838837655 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Battle Drone healed Mr Fixit for 600 Power
1493491839839436 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Battle Drone healed Mr Fixit for 650 Power
1493491840848202 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Battle Drone healed Mr Fixit for 618 Power
1493491841854227 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Battle Drone healed Mr Fixit for 613 Power
1493491842861912 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Battle Drone healed Mr Fixit for 640 Power
1493491843856891 [Power Out] Mr Fixit's Battle Drone critically healed Mr Fixit for 897 Power

Looking at the range on the non-crit ticks, I think we can see who the winner of this comparison is.

How's the damage on Drone? That looks like it heals about 20% less than the group shield with around 12% less per tick and one fewer tick. They have the same SC cost now, right? So the damage on Drone would have to be pretty significant to make up for the power AND the group shield. If the damage is as pathetic as always then you'd think Drone would give more power than the group shield SCs at the same cost.

At CR 174, around 2,000 damage per second on single target. Here is a demonstration:


The only thing Battle Drone has going for it is its immortality status. Outside of that, the damage and power regeneration are substandard.

Ever since GU70 went live. I notice my power regen for my AM has been sub-par. I never dip below 40% pre GU70. Has anyone notice this?

A crit on a 300 power cost for single target will add as much damage as battle drone xD Worse part is that it's single target only. RNG on your regular loadout will provide more of a damage difference than BD currently.

Well that's just bad. Not sure what went into the calculation that minor damage and lower power heal is supposed to make up for the lack of a group shield.

I've noticed it; something tells me it's directly related to the Stat-clamping changes that happened last minute towards the starro-event.


With the Revamp still being the main focus I'm not sure if this problem will grab the developers attention, so I just use a Soder cola extreme for the time being.

The clamping changes significantly reduced our power pool. Since AM power regen scales with the power stat, it's now easy to run dry, even with Gadgets in longer fights.

I haven't had any power problems outside clamped content.

So 2 things.

I just found out today that Photobucket is charging to have pictures embedded on third party sites. Nearly 100% of my pictures on the first page are from Photobucket. All my charts, pictures of powers and attacks, etc are important visuals. While this is a major concern because it's what I use to teach players, it is not the main reason for my second announcement.

This is my 1 month notice. In early August I'm retiring this guide, and all my other side projects on the forums. My real life is kicking off well, along with challenges just like anything else, and I cannot keep up with the forum politics and testing anymore. Testing and giving players accurate, updated & honest info about mechanics and playstyles requires 100% confidence, a high degree of knowledge, and alot of time to test, test, test. Most things have to go through a stress test and done over and over. A high understanding of mechanics is needed to classify exploits on your own on the off chance you aren't able to get word from a Developer. I do not have the time or focus anymore to keep up. Especially with Stats Revamp.

Last I tested S.R. was probably in February. I have not been in private contact with Developers on Gadgets since then. So whatever changes occur with Gadgets depends on whoever is communicating with them on the test forums.

Four & half years is a long time to devote to a game especially when everything you're doing is for free. I never sought out this guide. I never wanted to manage it. I think that was apparent in my debates with forum posters in the past. My predecessor chose me because at the time I knew alot. I played both NightBlood (DeadPool5241) & Shady's playstyle. So it just became my responsibility. I was lucky enough to run with them and now I'm being added to that "Former" list.

Penryn will be taking over the Gadgets Guide after me. His work will all be post Stats Revamp so there's nothing he needs to credit from my work. It will be 100% original. From what I've seen it looks good, and like with any REAL good guide it will be a continuing project. He will post it when he's ready.

I will still try to play DCUO even though my time is limited but it will mostly be time spent gearing up or playing/joking with leaguemates. My time and desire for feats and hours of gameplay isn't there either. I don't want to say I will be playing all the time, or that I wont be playing at all because I'm not sure on the future or how Stats Revamp is working out. I'll just try to play when I can but that will never mean I'm going back to forum guide writer duties. That chapter will be completely closed in August.

Until August hits I'm still keeping this forum account and thread open for questions from players about Gadgets & Controlling on how it works on LIVE. It's been relatively inactive and I figure that's because of YouTube & S.R.

As for my YouTube, I wish I had access to Sharefactory years ago because videos are really good tools to teach players with. I could've reached out to more new players. I do like the final product and being creative with those video projects but those take more time than any writing project if you're throwing quality into it. I don't think I'll be active with my YouTube channel either, but I will note outdated videos once Stats Revamp is Live.

I'll post on my last day in August & the thread will be locked afterwards for formalities.

Good to hear from you again. I don't think I've posted in this thread out of all of the times I've visited it until today. I just wanted to say three quick things:

1. In regards to the Photobucket instance, I am assuming you can still view the pictures inside of your account and re-save them. I would say to try Imgr to share the pictures here. This guide has a lot of use ful information and while some of it may become outdated after the stats revamp, it'd still be useful to have as a reference point in case similar things come up if Penryn hasn't already made his own version.

2. I wish you the best in life.

3. While we've had our arguments and disagreements in the past, I still respect the work you've put in over the years for this guide seeing as it was one of the resources I learned from as well as taught others with. You were one of the few players over the years I've considered as more knowledgeable than myself and from your early posts on the stats revamp, you have a level of self-control when giving feedback that I could never exert without severe motivation. I thank you for your attention to detail, your creativeness, your information, your time.



#YouWillNotBeForgotten #ForumLegends

While I'm still not testing Gadgets on the Testing server, I figured I'd post recent changes (Friday 7/14/2017) here until it's time to lock it up. Gadgets has had its tree rearranged.

Game Update 73

You cannot benefit from scorecard damage dealt to tools on the same side as you. This would include Gadgets pets.

• Damage to an entity of the same faction will no longer be added to the scorecard.

For the players that carried Backflip before it became a Supercharge, it's back. The supercharge version of Backflip, like on Live server, has been renamed.


"Acrobatics

• (New Ability!) Backflip Attack:
  • Flip away from your target, damaging and knocking back nearby enemies.
• Backflip Attack (supercharge):
  • Renamed to Devastating Flip.
• Forward Flip Attack:
  • Is now classified as melee.
  • Now hits enemies around the target."

If you went about 1 efficient way of controlling NPCs at melee/mid range while saving power for group power heals, Consumables were also adjusted.

"Consumables

• CC from consumables should now properly apply to non-boss group NPCs when used by a Tank or Controller."

Stealth is now like Distract in that it Detaunts enemies. That means any enemy that is locked onto you at the time you cast Stealth, or Distract, will target something else. That's assuming there is another target for it go after otherwise, it will briefly pause then go back to you. It does not, nor has it ever, prevented new targets from attacking you after you have used it.

Gadgets

• General:
  • Dazing Gadgets
    • Stealth:
      • Now detaunts and Dazes surrounding enemies, setting up for immediate PI exploitation.
  • Electric Gadgets
    • Gauss Grenade:
      • Now 100 cost, stuns in Control Role, and returns as a Defense Debuff.
  • Fire Gadgets
    • Napalm Grenade:
      • Now 100 cost. On Live, this ability benefits from Electrify and Frostbite, but we switched the Electrify exploit to Daze to better fit the model. Knocks down in Control Role and remains a Healing Debuff.
    • Thermite Mine:
      • Now 100 cost and knocks down in any role. Because of its cast time and its point-blank delivery, its damage output is greater than Napalm Grenade.
• Fear Gas:
  • This is no longer channeled and will set up the damage over time even if your character jumps at activation time.

As far as I know, jump canceling doesn't exist in Gadgets anymore unless Photon Blast has remained as a channeled finisher.



Controller power healing viz group power heals has been increased by 20%
Avair

The Stealth shield mod damage cap was also changed. On Live, it's 10,000. I made final contact with the dev on Gadgets, on test server it used to be about the level of stage 2 Gemstone Shield from Earth. I was told it was suppose to be changed to the strength level of Distract. After talking to Penryn, he recommended it be changed to the level of Neural Neutralizer since it's stronger, and Stealth is a high cost as well. Shin told me he agreed so it should have a damage cap like NN. It's a shield worth taking advantage of.

Stealth

• Reduced the effectiveness of the Stealth shield provided by the Improved Stealth mod.
• Reduced shield absorption for Stealth and Invisibility.

There's also something about GG & NG's "reliability" in the patch notes. This could be related to the targeting and damage on moving enemies.
Gadgets

• Improved Gauss Grenade and Napalm Grenade reliability.
• Cryo-Field:
  • Power Interaction application fixes.
  • Fixed Cryo-Field's undo stealth effect. Now persists for Cryo-Field's duration.
• Flamethrower:
  • Benefits from Dazed or Frostbite.
• Suppressor Turret:
  • Stun Grenade is now Frost Grenade, and benefits from Electrify or Burning.

I'm aiming to use the Imgur site to restore some or most of my old images for this thread only. My other threads, like the controller specific guide and guide to all the NPC types in the Batcave, Kandaq, Fortress of Solitude raids will stay blank.

Tonight's patch notes are weird.

Backflip was reintroduced back in June.
Taser Pull is still a single-target power.
Some of the other things mentioned under Gadgets were changed a couple of weeks ago.

I briefly tried Napalm Grenade and it still misses Sparring Targets a lot.

Suppressor Turret and Photon Blast can still be jump canceled.

Also worth mentioning is that Distract and NN are 12 seconds shields now. You can basically have a shield up full time if you keep recasting NN as it comes off cooldown.

Just an update on Shields. According to Penryn's testing, Stealth with the Home Turf Stealth Mod will be Gadgets strongest shield as of now from the numbers I've looked at.

I want to get into reading up on the Controller changes, like PoT, but have a feeling I'll be disappointed.

I'm not sure who is taking over, or continuing with the other powerset guides. I think I'm the last one around from the old batch. I havent seen Greenman on, or on test, and I haven't followed players like Remander for a long time. Shiny Mackerel doesn't play anymore last I spoke to him. In my opinion, that's a huge loss for the game's tester community.

Gadgets wont have an empty slot for forum guide for long. Penryn has gotten alot done so he'll post when ready. I like this one because it has basic info and in depth details plus more examples. For new players to the game or the forums, Penryn is a reliable player to get information from. The history of all the Gadgets authors is that we've been credible sources of correct game info like 90 - 95% of the time when we stay updated. Thing is, if you're not a reader, somethings will fly over your head. But I'm confident this powerset & its players/readers will prosper & navigate well through S.R.

So hopefully the other powersets have reliable authors. I plan on trying out things like Ice, water, sorcery in the future. I can't recommend YouTube as much as I liked working with it. Very few DCUO Youtubers actually posted good info by my standards. It's not full details on whatever topic is being discussed but they cover most and genuinely try to educate the players.

Thank you Dark for the in-depth knowledge on Controlling in general and on Gadgets, both DPS and Controlling. And personally, I enjoy the way you go in-depth in your videos, but yet still concise and cutting straight into the nitty gritty, instead of wandering off on a tangent.

Thanks to Penryn for continuing this guide.

Question on the shields. What kind of damage is NN doing? I have bad memories of NN. How much damage are you taking if your able to cycle shields every 12 seconds?

The damage on it is unimpressive. I wouldn't use it primarily as a PI exploiter. It's decent as a PI setup though. I can see it work well for boss fight melee rotations but then again it has strong competition in that niche with Holo Decoy, Stealth and to a less degree Stasis Field. Decoy and Stealth are very close in functionality to NN (melee surival and aoe daze setup) so that could definitely be an interesting decision.

The best thing I can say about Neural Neutralizer is that it is a very situational power. It is best viewed as a medium-cost shielding power. The damage on it is poor. I think NN's is tied with Stasis Field as having the worst damage ouptut of any Gadgets ability. Neural Neutralizer has poor range on its damage, stun, and PI setup components.

It works ok if you include NN on a Controller build with the primary intention of using as a shielding power and melee-range stun. You can use it in rotation with other shielding powers to maintain high damage absorption. The lack of Dominance on Damage role gear makes the shielding aspect very lackluster when running in on Damage loadouts.

Does that answer your question?

Yep. Thanks.

Cool. I was mkre worried that we might see NN used like it was in the very first gadget revamp. If the damage is bad and being used as a setup, that works.