Work In Progress: Earth Balance

I'd love to see:

1. Rumblecrush affected by weaponization way more, thrown, smashed or dropped.
2. Rumblecrush applies both Earth PIs
3. Reduced power cost for aftershocks without adjusting damage downward.

I love earth pets, I use Brick all the time he never leaves my load out. But can someone please explain to me why Sorcery's guardian whose made of stone looks cooler than any of the earth pets lol. Don't get me wrong i love the Sorcery pets but I feel like our earth pets may need a visual update. Also I feel that earthen grip should be a multiple target pull rather than a single target but that is just my opinion.

1. Summon Brick Golem - Buff his health; should block when player is blocking to prevent damage
2. Combine Damage Shift and Totem; Have heals off Totem scale with DOM and RESTO
3. Rumblecrush - Should have the option to drop out of the sky; Add DOT
4. Meteor Shower - Buff Damage
5. Envelop - Allow the ability to move around while in it; Like in American Gladiators!
6. Upheaval - Buff Damage; Similar to Plasma Retch's damage output
7. Gemstone Shield - 3x after shock to get to 100% absorption should be as strong as Refection (10,000 damage absorption)
8. Jackhammer - Increase range slightly
9. Earthquake - Damage needs to be looked at. There are some DOTs that only tick for +1 Damage on aftershocks
10. Entomb - Replace with some supercharge that would be beneficial for Tanking. (Ex. Summon Trees of Life to Heal you and your Golem; or bring up rock pillars to prevent incoming damage) Just a few ideas but this power has to go...no one uses it.

The main problem is the golem system. Make Brick take all damage and the tank support him with totems to keep him alive (as well as the healer helping). Brick's HP should scale with out CR (exact numbers, I haven't a clue). Crystal should give group immunities (maybe a visual shield around all characters so we knows it's active). Her HP should scale with CR as well.

Brick and Crystal should have the same Def and it should be high (it is a piece of earth!) Maybe scale it with our Dom.

Along with the other suggestions, this will make Earth tanks good again.

Make Rumblecrush like Sorcery's Shard of Life
Make Upheaval like Fire's Fire burst and Ice's Frost blast. Make it shoot dust similar to the Upheaval's current graphics. Also give it a 60% damage modifier.
Make Crystal golem and Brick golem one power.
Make Totem similar to Sorcery's Soul well. (Increasing the overall damage and increasing your crit chance.)
Make Tectonic break similar to Mental's Mass terror. (Increasing the range and also adding a DOT.)
Increase the range of Unstoppable and Jackhammer.

would like to see Debris Field be more fierce...as in..the one you fight against in TP is not one you want to stay in for long...but a player one...nowhere as bad.

would like to see trees reorganized in someways - I used to run a daze loadout but in order to have it / finisher I had to give up on iconic damage %.

would love to see JH / aftershock powers like HL or rage and not cost power. Bout the only time I drain power on earth is JH..and fast.

Still not convinced pet value...

AOE pull seems shorter ranged than other tank aoe pulls. (backdraft for eg)

tank breakout needs improving (while countered).

First yes yes yes!!! If all goes well i will change back from rage to earth.

Some Key things:

Crushed loadouts need a buff.

Shards: Love the effects but the damage isn't very good and it is the bread and butter move. It either needs a damage buff or be swapped with rumble crush in order to gain a 50% modifier as 35 is no bueno

Brick and Crystal should be combine and be t2 powers. A person leveling as Earth should be able to experience the most advertised part of the set. Remove cleasing from crystal and allow her to behave like fury.

The spot that brick left open should be a new power that reuses some stuff if that doesn't count as new animations. My personal pick is to make it a second break out that works like winter ward. It can provide a shield as well as break people out. The visual effect can be that cool rock armor that is seen in the character create description of earth. This way we can at least have a breakout that does no damage and is reliable when countered.

Strikinking Stones should be able to crush enemies (because you are crushing enemies between two giant rocks) instead of taking advantage of crushed interactions

Totem: the totem should summon totems enemies to knocked them up with one remaining to heal your pet. the cast time cooldown should be reduced so you can use it frequently. A new healing totem replaces the old one. Totem should restore power and health over time to your golems. Crystal's should gain more power while brick gains more health.


Keep gemstone shield as is and we now have two different kinds of shields

Upheaval should come out as fast a dreadful blast take advantage of PI and do more damage since it costs power to do so.

Jackhammer could use a slight damage buff or maybe a longer range

Tectonic Break should activate faster and get a range increase

Damage boost to Earthquake and aftershocks shouldn't cost supercharge

Entomb should be renamed and become a super reinforce. It will essentially be like Celestials Damage Absorption super charge


Sand blast should be have like photon because they are both continuous streams.

Epicenter should be after shockable and provide 50% absorption. it should also do extra damage to dazed opponents.

Make localized tremor be a CC move. Like it stuns and dazes enemies. make it long range as well.

Power Tree reorganization will be vital for Earth. Geokinesis - Combine both Golems into one power point (Crystal's slot) and add in a new low cool down, ranged, AOE burst power (Brick's slot, 50% modifier).

IMO the Seismic Tree needs to have dedicated branches to each role for easier navigation.

• The left side (DPS) should consist of Pebble Blast, Tectonic Break (downgrade to a 45% modifier and lower its power cost), and Sandblast. The right side (Tank) should consist of Localized Tremor, Epicenter, and Unstoppable (upgrade to a 50% modifier, breaks you out of cc AND combat counters, similar to Winter Ward).

• Gemstone Shield and Upheaval switching places might also be an interesting idea. Moving Upheaval one position down will give it access to a higher damage modifier.

I like you idea about switching places. You are going to grapb both anyway and gemstone does not take advantage of the 45% modifier anyway. It would be the first step towards dreadful blast - Upheaval parity.

Well played DEVS....Well played. I just hope it takes action soon and doesn't stay in "Work in Progress" too long.

I will be repeating somethings here, so i apologize. Everyone seems to be agreeing on most change ideas so hopefully they will be more likely to be changed.

My changes i think should be made:
- Upheaval should get a animation reduction. Its damage, power cost, and push effect arent to scale with that slow animation. I honestly dont know a good reason to use it once you have jackhammer and gemstone.

- Perhaps Upheaval should get a Knock Up effect, as it looks like a tornado you are throwing at the enemy anyway. Also i suggest the change because push back powers arent great for tanks.

- I am fine with Jackhammer's cooldown, and aftershock powercost, but i would change the block vulnerability to the Second or Third Aftershock, like basic weapon taps. I mostly tank, but the damage, without daze effect, is much closer to my weapon taps than my weapon combos. So i think that being vulnerable at 2 or 3 aftershocks would work without being too easy.

- Think the Brick pet should stay closer to the tank sometimes, instead of relentlessly attacking enemies. In situations where the tank is smart enough to roll away from enemy killer AoEs, the Brick will just keep on punching, which, although inspiringly courageous of him, happens too frequently for pet tanking to be viable in all situations.

- I dont think the Crystal golem is using the CC cleaning power enough. She has never used it when ive been crowd controlled, and ive never seen the flashing immunity to CC except after I use my breakout. But i may not use Crystal enough.

- Finally, i think striking stones should have a shorter animation. Although it is impressive to look at, the time between your character moving, and the rocks appearing and doing damage is so long, i almost feel like it was unintentonal.

I honestly can not think of anything else I would change right now. I love the Earth powerset, it is such a unique way to tank. I just dont know much of the DPS side, so i can not comment on any changes there too much.

Reduce the cool down on Reinforce. Significantly. All this, too.

first off i want to say thank you to captain liberty for listening to us and getting this through the pipe line and actually be a reality for us who love earth... and thank you to spord for starting the thread so we have a voice... now maybe we can reduce the fix earth threads and all congregate here.....

my ideas....
before i mention powers...id like to mention what i feel earth is lacking....

-it needs a better cleanse..a cleanse that can be used while countered/block broken

-it needs a power cost reduction in its powers... as it is right now if i want to use the crush tree and set up pi.. if i go rumble crush>reinforce>debris field i have very little power left over.... when other power sets who do a similar pi set up self buff and massive aoe dot power will still have enough power left over to work with ...so power cost either need to be reduced .... this also happens when i go tectonic break > reinforce> debris field.... this really puts a strain on the trollers

- range....some attacks just dont have a long enough range and im not exactly sure why....someone once made the argument that since earth is a tank power set.. that it doesnt need long range..but in damage stance it does... so some attacks should have a longer range....

- damage increased slightly..

- control resistance in tank stance.... i beileve right now only damage shift will give you 10% control resistance every everytime its off cool down... so if you are after shocking you dont get this benefit in tank stance..i think while you after shock in tank stance you are not able to be crowd controlled that or you have a very strong resistance to control effects while after shocking.... more then10% for sure... as long as this community wants to run 1 tank 1 healer in raid groups this puts earth at a slight disadvantage ... there isnt another tank there to get anything off your back if you are knocked down and theres only one healer to rely on while you are vulnerable...

- more after shock abilities.... currently it only has 4 after shock abilities and 2 of those can be used in a normal after shock damage load out... the other two are for defense and a super charge... i feel earth should have more after shock abilities they dont necessarily have to be in the same tree to after shock id assume... just when it was created one tree did crush the other did dazed...

id like to be able to both after shock tank and pet tank as i please...meaning... id liek to have after sock abilities on my tank load out with out having to get rid of brick to lose damage shift....id love to have damage shift up...and if i feel im gonna need more protection then what that will provide me i can go into an after shock which will then cancel my damage shift , (brick still up) and damage shift reapplied once i feel im in the clear

remove the need for a pi to crowd control in tank stance..... having to apply a dzed pi to make localized tremor knock enemies down is just a bad idea...its too much time not in block as a solo tank when not over geared for content

- cast time reduction...some powers have a really long cast time but pump out very little damagee (striking stones/upheaval)

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what id like to see changed....

rumble crush-
instead of it having the option of falling or being summoned to throw id like to see this just automatically thrown ... like its one smooth animation of the player picking it up and thrownig all at once no running with the rock and choosing when to throw it..it just gets thrown

this accomplishes two things... first its not a carbon copy of ice and fires power, and instances with low ceilings wont cause it to miss or not hit like we see in nexus with ice boulder and meteor.... unless of course they fix that issue then id be on board with it doing both dropping and picking up to throw...


Shards-
Id really like to see shards be an after shock ability increase the range slightly and the dots would then be precision dots....

tectonic break -
id like to see tectonic breaks range increased and the burst damage be a bit stronger hitting

earthen grip-
it has the potential of grabbing multiple adds but rarely ever does... id like to see this either be a guarantee all the time.. or be aftershockable..... that way you can use it as a single target pull or a multi target pull depending on what you needed

Unstoppable-
Id like it fixed to where its a break out whether you are controlled or countered and instead of knocking enemies away can it just knock them down? that way im not having to waste power by having to use a pull to bring all the adds back in ?

pebble blast-
only if shards becomes an after shock ability would i like to see this work off the crushed tree that way the crush tree still has a long range move...make it hit in a cone shape so it hits more targets... it can already do that with the animation it has it just is single target as it is now...

epicenter-
reduce power cost, make after shockable giving a 50% damage absorption

reinforce - tank stance only.
as it works now.. even if im the tank and blocking... i still get the full amount of damage the player that gets my damage transfer ability on them if they arent blocking... fix it to where if im blocking even if they arent the damage is reduced...
also where its located on the power tree makes it really annoying for load outs... would be nice if it was a tier 3 power or even tier 2

gem stone shield-
as it is right now..if i fully after shock it...its not as strong when i only partially after shock it... 100% after shock should be stronger

brick-
brick should block either when i block or fix his ai to know when to block, he also should gain a shield when his life goes down to a certain amount to help sustain his survivability....should get stronger heals from totem then crystal

crystal-
needs to hit harder, im looking at you fury..... id like her to be fixed to work a lot like fury...however instead of having a power like offering... we use totem to provide her with power over time

totem-
should do extra damage when enemies are crushed, should increase the heals it gives to pets, (brick getting the strongest of heals), could provide POT to pets, cast time reduced

damage shift-
make it to where it also is a break out and immunity for my team mates...

upheaval -
quicken its cast time increase its damage, lower power cost of its after shock...

debris field
lower power cost slightly

striking stones-
couple ways to go with striking stones....first if you keep it where its at.... the animation has to be faster and it has to be spammable.... id personally like to see the actual toons animation (not the damage part but motion the toon is making)... be the clap move that you see with resonating gale ... it makes more sense ... cause of what the animation is doing...
you could also move it down to the bottom of the tree leave the animation length where its at and make it a 60% damage modifier power ... if its a 60% damage modifier it either has to hit really hard a few times or it could set up the PI of crush, which means rumble crush would be better being a more burst damage move..

super charges....
meteor strike-
this hits very weak for a 50% sc cost.. either increase the damage and leave it 50% ...or drop it to 35%

envelope- id love that it was stationary where you werent able to be picked up and thrown , id also like this to not drop aggro

entomb-
since you cant really encase anything as a dps..and they will break out of it instantly..which then causes damage when the ads break out...id like to see this do a lot more damage

earth quake- would be nice if every after shock gave precision damage that was just increased as you after shocked... not just upon the last after shock.

Unfortunately, earth needs some visuals changes, and a metal aspect is missing from earth as a powerset. Earth won't ROCK till it gets some METAL.
https://forums.station.sony.com/dcu...-till-it-gets-some-metal.196235/#post-2392105

this has been a long time coming. too long, but im still very happy its happening.

where to begin..... the aftershocks cost too much power. other "combo" powersets either dont even use power to activate their combos, or use very little, and both scenarios put out more damage than earth's power hungry combos.

pi's to crowd control should disappear. pi's should only be for damage increases, not for anything else. powers that as of now have the "chance to knock down when dazed" should just knock enemies down if the dominance requirement is met.

i propose rumble crush and striking stones switch places in the geokinesis tree. making rumble crush a 35% modifier and also including an option the drop from the sky. it will still spread the crushed pi as an aoe. striking stones animation would be increased and be a 60% modifier.

i propose getting rid of crystal and putting brick up in its spot. if you dont want to get rid of crystal, allow the spot to unlock both brick and crystal. crystal's control resistance abilities (which DO NOT WORK) could either go to brick as it is the tank pet, or just get rid of them.

debris field's power cost should drop or the damage should increase, especially since if the enemy leaves the area of effect, the damge does not continue ala inferno.

damage shift should be the second tank cleanse/breakout.

totem should heal brick with a combination of your dominance and restoration. it should either have the animation or the cool down shortened. allow more than one up at a time is another option. an even more favorable option would be for it to spawn at the target you have selected.

since i moved brick up, i suggest a new ranged attack that hits multiple enemies. i understand you guys do not want to update any animations, but i think a power that hits with might, kinda like tectonic break, where those shards would come up from the ground beneath enemies at range and strike all enemies in the aoe would be awesome. 50% modifier and instant cast would be great.

reinforce is great as is, except for the tank side. it should also be either a normal dom+resto shield for yourself, or the damage transfer aspect stays in tact, but your defense/blocking/absorption/damage shift etc should play into how much damage you take. right now if say an ally takes a 10,000 hit and it gets transferred to you, you take the entire 10,000 hit no matter what you do.

meteor shower should hit more like bunker buster or strafing run.
envelop should work exactly like ice's hibernation so you dont roll of off a node or get picked up and thrown.

for the seismic tree not a lot should change i dont think.

i propose tectonic break and upheaval change places in the tree. tectonic break becomes a 35% modifier and knocks down enemies if the dominance requirement is met. it would still spread the dazed pi. upheaval becomes a 50% modifier and the range of the cone of attack widens slightly to hit more enemies.

epicenter's power cost should be looked at. it also should either knock enemies down upon activation ala backdraft or without mercy, or it could be aftershocked to reach the 50% tank damage absorption.

gemstone shield is perfect as is, with the obvious exception of the first shard or just activating the power without aftershocks.
IT DOESNT WORK AS INTENDED!!!! theoretically the mode of the power should last the longest since 50% damage would be going to both the shield and the user, but its breaks almost immediately unless it is aftershocked.

unstoppable should have the damage component removed so it can actually be used as intended.

jackhammer is fine as is, i just wish it either hit harder for the power you have to use, or the power cost for aftershocks was reduced.

sandblast is fine as is.

earthquake is fine i guess, but for it to really be affective it uses 100% supercharge, which is ridiculous.
ive never actually seen entomb used in game. i guess get rid of it and make another tank supercharge? i really dont have any suggestions for this power.

FERRIS

The giant metal tanking golem.

i agree with what some people are saying about brick. it should gain a shield ala robot sidekick when getting attcked. the ai could greatly improve as well, maybe stay out of aoe attacks.

So awesome to see this thread. I guess I have questions before actual suggestions.

How drastic are the changes you guys would be willing to make? I know changing animations is off the table but would the changes be limited to power cost/base damage? Adding/removing powers altogether? Or somewhere in between?

From what I understand an upcoming update or dlc will normalize all powers' cast time correct? So us asking for, say, Upheaval to have a reduced cast time is kind of a wasted request?

Was there ever a reason why Earth's combos cost power when that isn't the case for any other power? I ask because many Earth players would like more aftershock abilities (both for tanking and dps variety) but I think we'd be apprehensive if any new aftershock abilities (or aftershock added to existing abilities) cost power.

Is this real life?

For suggestions I think any changes made to Jackhammer will dictate changes made to Earth overall. No power is more associated with one ability than Earth is with Jackhammer; It's the only viable way of applying absorption for tanks and is the main damage ability for Daze dps. I can see one of two things be done with Jackhammer

1. Keep unlimited aftershocks, reduce cooldown to 5 seconds, reduce aftershock power cost from 75 to 60, add 10% control resistance in tank role, increase base damage by 10%, knockdown without pi if dom requirement is met
2. Cap aftershocks at three to keep inline with other powers, reduce cooldown to 3.25 seconds, increase power cost from 250 to 285, remove aftershock power cost, knockdown without pi if dom requirement is met, increase base damage by 50% (the base damage is kind of a shot in the dark, I forget Jackhammer's exact base damage range).

I feel Jackhammer has excellent range, no need to change that. I'm also sort of iffy on suggestions of not being blockable for X amount of aftershocks as that isn't a luxury other combo powers have. There are plenty of other tweaks needed but I believe Jackhammer should be looked at first. Thanks for listening to (current and past) Earth players devs, we really appreciate it.

another thing, it really isnt a huge problem, but the defense/toughness=dominance buff tanks get. i know when the power originally came out it was basically 2 defense/toughness for every point of dominance, or something like that. maybe it should go back to that way, or at least looked at. i dont think this is a game breaking issue either way, just another suggestion of what to look at.

To other people who are currently Earth I know that Reinforce recently had its cooldown reduced to match up with other prec buffs but is the crit weapon/ability chance still 7%? Because Rage's Bloodlust is sitting at 10% crit chance and has the added benefit of buffing 3 other players. Since Reinforce is a self buff maybe increase the crit chance to 12-15%?