Quor Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 (edited) Bottom line, Prototype Particle Accelerator OR Flame Burst need some changing. As it stands now, it's very easy to get 90% armor ignore on Rail Shot for a Pyro PT. That in itself isn't a huge deal, or at least it's not the main point of this post. The problem comes in the synergy of Rail Shot, Flame Burst, Prototype Particle Accelerator and Superheated Rail. Taken alone, none of these skills/talents are problematic, but every now and then the stars align and allow for some very insane damage that is nearly impossible to mitigate. Anyone Pyro knows what I'm talking about; that sweet, sweet feeling when you get Flame Burst > PPA proc > Rail Shot > Flame Burst > PPA proc > Rail Shot etc. It doesn't happen often, but I've seen Pyros at level 50 churn out back-to-back-to-back Rail Shot's that hit for 3-4k apiece. That's 10K+ damage over the course of 5-6 GCD's when you factor in the necessary Flame Burst's to get the PPA proc. And it's all RNG, I know that. RNG can be a very harsh taskmistress, because sometimes it blesses you with one free Rail Shot after another, and sometimes it laughs at you as you sit there at full heat, trying in vain to do anything that isn't an auto-attack, hoping, praying that your Vent Heat CD comes up faster, or your Flame Burst/Rocket Punch proc a free Rail Shot that will vent heat in the process. I *hate* that. I REALLY dislike RNG-based damage like that, as it cheapens the class. You get GREAT returns when it procs, which involves spamming one skill and is hardly an exercise in a person's skill, but when it isn't proccing you actually have to manage your heat like any other person manages their resource. So in essence, when this talent isn't proccing, it's forcing you to play at a higher level of skill, which essentially means it's taking away from your skill and input as a player the more that it procs. I propose something more reliable. A charge-based system for PPA (and of course the Vanguard equivalent). For each use of Flame burst you gain one (1) PPA charge. For each use of Rocket Punch you gain two (2) PPA charges. At three (3) charges, your Rail Shot is refreshed in cooldown. This means you can engage a target, light them on fire with Incendiary Missile, use Rail Shot, then Flame Burst + Punch to get another Rail Shot right away if you wanted to. Or you could sit on two stacks of PPA and wait until the right time to drop a 2x Rail Shot combo on a person. What this means is....we're bringing skill and reliability back to this spec! No longer will we be subject to the questionable mercies of the RNG Goddess. There is a cost/benefit equation to this talent now. We can choose to get three charges in 2-3 GCD's and just fire off Rail Shot's as often as possible, heat be damned, or we can play it more strategically, saving up one or two charges for the right time to proc the PPA buff, such as when we REALLY need to take down a ball carrier, or during a burn phase on a boss in a HM OP. Tl;DR - Change prototype particle accelerator to function on a charge system. Flame Burst gives you one charge, Rocket Punch gives you two, and when you acquire three you get the PPA proc and Rail Shot resets. This takes away the reliance on RNG that is the current state of PPA, and gives more power to the player in terms of choosing when and how to proc PPA. Alternatively, we could put a 6s CD on Flame Burst and leave it as is, but I think the charge idea is WAY more interesting. Edited February 18, 2012 by Quor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exphryl Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 (edited) In a way, you are creating more burst. Since currently it goes IM > TD > FB > Railshot > RP > Railshot POSSIBLY if it resets, if not go to FB. But under your system it's IM > TD > FB> RS > RP > FB > RS > FB So I'm an guaranteed two RS's in that opening where it is just a possible for the one. As somebody that can consistently get 5K+ Crits if it's a Trinket/Adrenal time, I approve of your suggested change and a guaranteed chance of getting two 5K+ RS Crits in a short time instead of just hoping my Proc resets.... And adding a cooldown to flam eburst woul dhurt our dps immensely as if RS/RP are down, we FB then are *forced* to rail shot. That part I disagree with... Edited February 18, 2012 by exphryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quor Posted February 18, 2012 Author Share Posted February 18, 2012 In a way, you are creating more burst. Since currently it goes IM > TD > FB > Railshot > RP > Railshot POSSIBLY if it resets, if not go to FB. But under your system it's IM > TD > FB> RS > RP > FB > RS > FB So I'm an guaranteed two RS's in that opening where it is just a possible for the one. As somebody that can consistently get 5K+ Crits if it's a Trinket/Adrenal time, I approve of your suggested change and a guaranteed chance of getting two 5K+ RS Crits in a short time instead of just hoping my Proc resets.... And adding a cooldown to flam eburst woul dhurt our dps immensely as if RS/RP are down, we FB then are *forced* to rail shot. That part I disagree with... Well the exact # of charges is open to change. Maybe make it four if that's the case. The main point is to remove the RNG nature of the talent. While it is guaranteed burst if it changes, it's burst with a cost; you'll have a lot of heat after that combination, and Vent Heat isn't always available. As it stands now, there's a chance, however small, that you could keep hammering out 4k+ Rail Shot's every other GCD of Lady RNG smiles on you and keeps proccing PPA on Flame Burst. Thanks to how heat dissipation works and the cost of Flame Burst, if you get consistent PPA procs like that, you're venting more heat than you're gaining. The basic goal I'm trying to go for is smooth that out. Make it more consistent both in the short and the long term, as well as give more control the player (i.e. reward skilled play and use of the talents instead of rewarding random luck and the spamming of Flame Burst, which is sadly effective as it stands now). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seroxxx Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 It does look good on paper. PVE dps will be more systematic and reliable. However this will hurt PVP Pyrotechs.... Think about it. I rather have it as it is, since it is working as intended. Managing Heat Like a Baws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Beastwood Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 No thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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