mrObtuse Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 (edited) I listened to the new official podcast and found it very intriguing the class devs' comments on looking to the class forum posts for creative solution ideas. The issue I'm seeing that's compounded by the 1.2 balance changes is that we don't have sufficient options in the shield tree to pack a bigger punch for general use. The main ability we already have, rocket punch cooldown reset, is dependent on shield effect. A couple of small changes can improve that and fix a huge loss that some hybrid shield pyro players are getting by losing the ability to use the prototype particle accelerator with IGC. I think that in general proc on shielding effects should bolster defense instead of offense, as you only shield effectively while having many targets attacking you in a tank or off tank flashpoint situation. Defending or taking damage itself should bolster offense. A good example of this is abilities that have short/moderate cooldowns but have a use proc after taking damage or avoiding/deflecting- you can't just spam it but can use it fairly reliably while taking fire. I believe the jugg/guardian have one of these as a base ability and is not on global cooldown. If you replace the supercharged ion gas (which extends the ion effect damage and increases it, and I think most people skip the point) with something that takes a chance on all attack avoid/deflect and slight chance on taking any damage to blast the attacker with the ion effect, that by itself will let rail shot be used more when using IGC, but I think the length of the cooldown needs a way to reduce or reset rail shot cooldown to really let the intended benefit of the on-defense/damage chance happen. Since the ion effect gives you a window that rail shot can be used already, IGC could passively provide around 8 to 10 second cooldown on rail shot, with possible cooldown reduction or occasional cooldown reset when we take damage/defend. The energy rebounder skill for pyro has a model for defensive cooldown reduction on taking damage. Perhaps this idea could be applied to rail shot usage when IGC is in use. The other way to approach it is through an added base effect in IGC that just turns rail shot into a counterattack, without having to rely on ion effect damage to unlock it. That may be more consistent for players of different specs to benefit without imbalance. The ideal resolution in my opinion uses both-- TLDR---- replace supercharged ion gas so that it inflicts ion effect as a chance after taking damage, avoiding, deflecting attacks. IGC base use causes rail shot to have a shorter cooldown, with a proc chance to enable the use of it after shielding, defending, or taking damage. This benefits shield powertechs/vanguards across the board, while providing an extra useful customization for those invested in shield points if their playstyle calls for a little more offense. It also provides utility even to pyro or AP players who may wish to put on IGC for off tanking or pvp, such that it is balanced and they can use it for the intended purpose, not over-synergizing with their own skill point benefits (see PPA). Edited March 31, 2012 by mrObtuse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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