DFA hitting for 500?

[RustyDiodes]

The only balance adjustments made to DFA are the ones you see in the patch notes (starts faster and has a smaller radius).

 

Please explain exactly how giving us (troopers & BHs) the smallest AoE is balanced? Because I'm not buying it.

[Elyx]

Myself (PT) and a guildmate (Merc) were discussing this and we initially felt it was a nerf. However, when testing it on clumped mobs doing the dailies on Ilum I noticed that mobs that normally died did die if and only if they weren't knocked back out of the radius.

 

I remember when the broke DFA horribly in Beta and then fixed it, it was awesome. This is similar to that, they "fixed" it, but it's somewhat broken. The radius is the main issue. All AoE abilities should have the same radius, period, and the reticle you put on the ground should show what that radius is.

 

Case in point, Orbital Strike seems to have a larger radius now on both my sniper and my guildmates were reporting similar findings.

 

 

That said, I find DFA to be more situational, and I lead targets, much like I did when I was a gunner in the Air Force. If you drop DFA where people are, it's useless, but if you drop it where they're going to be or want to go to, it is much more useful.

 

the only issue I have with it is the knockback. because it's DoT, the initial knockback can knock mobs out of range. On my Jugg, this isn't an issue (even though the radius' are similar). same with my sage/consular. and both of those AoE's are single applications of damage, so even if there's knockback it doesn't impact the damage.

 

I don't mind the change, but the mechanics have to be address now that the radius is smaller (causing an overall loss of damage). They should set this up like they set up ravage for the Jugg/maurader....If the mob is in the radius of the attack when it starts, THEY TAKE FULL DAMAGE EVEN IF THEY'RE KNOCKED OUT.

 

This would solve the issue of the KB and still allow Bio to keep the radius similar to the other AoE's in the game

[americanaussie]

The damage from DFA is fine. Sometimes I hit light, sometimes I clobber the heck out of what I hit. I am still able to nearly kill multiple enemies in PVE.

 

The radius can hurt if the enemies are not close enough together which is true for most outside quests. I was originally using DFA as a pull, to diminish the health on several targets so it wouldn't hurt as much when I engaged them. Now, I rarely use it unless the enemies are gathered close but the damage is fine. I think the lowest I hit was 300 a blast, other times I hit nearly in the 800-1000 range a blast.

 

EDIT TO ADD: DFA is really effective when several enemies are surrounding another player or if another in your group pulls the enemies, and you can aim in front of group so the enemies get blasted before they make it to your group. If the enemies are running towards you, and you blast them in their run, then it doesn't matter if you knock them out of the radius. Your allies can blast them while they are stunned on the ground and kill them before they can hit anyone in the group.

 

DFA isn't as useful if the enemies are widespread while you're solo'ing.

Edited April 17, 2012 by americanaussie

[Fredcat]

The damage from DFA is fine. Sometimes I hit light, sometimes I clobber the heck out of what I hit. I am still able to nearly kill multiple enemies in PVE.

 

The radius can hurt if the enemies are not close enough together which is true for most outside quests. I was originally using DFA as a pull, to diminish the health on several targets so it wouldn't hurt as much when I engaged them. Now, I rarely use it unless the enemies are gathered close but the damage is fine. I think the lowest I hit was 300 a blast, other times I hit nearly in the 800-1000 range a blast.

 

EDIT TO ADD: DFA is really effective when several enemies are surrounding another player or if another in your group pulls the enemies, and you can aim in front of group so the enemies get blasted before they make it to your group. If the enemies are running towards you, and you blast them in their run, then it doesn't matter if you knock them out of the radius. Your allies can blast them while they are stunned on the ground and kill them before they can hit anyone in the group.

 

DFA isn't as useful if the enemies are widespread while you're solo'ing.

 

 

You must not have used it much before, the hits are about 1/3-1/2 of what they used to be. Thank you for the n00b PVE tips though. Like the people here don't know how and when to use it lol.

[TheronFett]

Great, vanguards finally get a working version and it blows.

 

At least your animation doesn't launch you up in the air so everyone in the warzone knows to come and interrupt you. Several casted abilities can no longer be interrupted (Warrior Ravage for example). Until they do that with DFA, I'll continue to not be impressed by it.

 

And I don't care what Mr. yellow text says, this was a nerf. The radius is smaller and more ticks w/ less damage just means it gives targets better chance to move out of the AoE.

[sithhammer]

if you kids would stop crying for 5 sec you would see that it hits twice as often as it did before.

[TheOpf]

You must not have used it much before, the hits are about 1/3-1/2 of what they used to be. Thank you for the n00b PVE tips though. Like the people here don't know how and when to use it lol.

 

Sometimes, i wonder if you even read anything before you type. The radius was nerfed, it hits half as hard twice the amount of times. It means it's no longer a gamebreaker like every other aoe.

 

I hate when games turn into aoe fests, where you can just spam AOE and dominate. AoE's should not be gamebreaking.

[DarthGnosis]

Neither the damage done, nor the frequency with which it is applied is the problem I am having with DFA. The problem is that with the nerfing of the Radius, the knock back effect often knocks targets out of the damage radius and leaves them taking 1 tick of damage, if that. Get rid of the knockback, make it a root or a stun, and the problem is solved.

[Noollig]

Neither the damage done, nor the frequency with which it is applied is the problem I am having with DFA. The problem is that with the nerfing of the Radius, the knock back effect often knocks targets out of the damage radius and leaves them taking 1 tick of damage, if that. Get rid of the knockback, make it a root or a stun, and the problem is solved.

 

As long as this stun doesn't affect resolve in PvP. Throwing down an AoE and maxing resolve on a group of players would be an even bigger nerf.

 

The biggest problem is the huge nerf to the area covered by DFA now. Dropping from 8m to 5m is a much larger reduction in surface area than it seems. The grouping of enemies is often right about 5m between them already, so DFA just isn't as helpful. You have to set the reticule so you can get your damage ticks off on just a portion of the group, or you risk knocking them out of the damage area...

 

The nerf shouldn't have brought the radius below 6m at worst. A 5m radius is a 60% loss of area.

[exphryl]

My only gripe with the change, and I think it was mentioned in this thread (or maybe another?)

 

Is you can throw it dead center on a voidstar door and players can cap AROUND it.....

 

Seems silly. I don't see why an 8m radius would be gamebreaking...

 

On the plus side, it's great to use against snipers now while you are rooted out of the way

Edited April 17, 2012 by exphryl

[Elyx]

 

The biggest problem is the huge nerf to the area covered by DFA now. Dropping from 8m to 5m is a much larger reduction in surface area than it seems. The grouping of enemies is often right about 5m between them already, so DFA just isn't as helpful. You have to set the reticule so you can get your damage ticks off on just a portion of the group, or you risk knocking them out of the damage area...

 

that's my point. they should make it work like Ravage does atm. If the mobs are in range when you start, even if they're knocked out, they still take all that damage

[HaLeX]

After reading these posts now I realize why I have been using DFA less and less. The range is so narrow that only someone who is 100% distracted will ever take the full dmg from it. Pretty useless in PVP now, better off just spamming TM and unload, more dmg. Also you attract alot of attention to yourself many times ive gone up for a dfa only to come down dead b4 its over. They took away the most fun BH skill in PVP. Im sure its still fine for pve, but they have limited our attack options and we already had very few.

[Operandi]

I guess 90% of merc population picked a class cause they thought it was face roll then complain when something gets changed cause they dont understand basic math.

[RikHar]

If the damage is still the same then why mess with it to begin with? The time spent making it tick faster would of been better served fixing, balancing or doing other things that require BioWares attention.

 

I'm really hoping they don't start imitating Blizzards idiot devs where they continued making unnecessary changes to just about everything, just for the sake of making a change and nothing else.

[RikHar]

I guess 90% of merc population picked a class cause they thought it was face roll then complain when something gets changed cause they dont understand basic math.

 

 

90%, huh?

 

And where did you dig up this percentage from, Professor?

[CoyoteSixGuns]

this ability completely lost its usefulness in game. DFA has become like leveling the unarmed ability in WOW useless..... yea i brought it there...

[Sippix]

I think DFA is more useful now. Since it ticks 4 times in the channel, instead of just 3, I can generally get in a little more damage before someone runs out of the AOE zone. I was getting about ~900 per tick pre-1.2 and now I'm getting ~700 per tick after 1.2 went live. So, pre-1.2, it was only doing ~2700 total (if nothing crit), and now it's doing ~2800 total (again, if nothing crits). Not only that, but I have more chances to crit.each DFA channel. I'd say that's actually a buff, not a nerf. The nerf comes from the reduction in AOE zone radius.

 

When you channel DFA, the first tick happens at the moment of cast (0 seconds),t he second tick at 1 second, the third tick at 2 seconds and the fourth tick at 3 seconds - Just in case anyone is wondering where people keep getting this "extra tick" idea from.

[mulzii]

I think DFA is more useful now. Since it ticks 4 times in the channel, instead of just 3, I can generally get in a little more damage before someone runs out of the AOE zone. I was getting about ~900 per tick pre-1.2 and now I'm getting ~700 per tick after 1.2 went live. So, pre-1.2, it was only doing ~2700 total (if nothing crit), and now it's doing ~2800 total (again, if nothing crits). Not only that, but I have more chances to crit.each DFA channel. I'd say that's actually a buff, not a nerf. The nerf comes from the reduction in AOE zone radius.

 

When you channel DFA, the first tick happens at the moment of cast (0 seconds),t he second tick at 1 second, the third tick at 2 seconds and the fourth tick at 3 seconds - Just in case anyone is wondering where people keep getting this "extra tick" idea from.

 

on paper, maybe. But in Pvp, most people will race out of the aoe range, only getting 1 or 2 ticks of it, if that. The lower dmg/more ticks 'nerf' comes into play, as its hitting only once or twice for less dmg. in pve, the knockback knocks the mobs out of the aoe range now, making them only get hit with one tick, maybe two at most.

 

They really need to either make the aoe range bigger, or front-load the dmg, which each of the hits after the first decreasing in strength. Or make the first 2 hits auto crits, or something to that effect.

[Sookster]

Yup DFA isn't that great, I only use it on bosses now, I don't even use it in pvp at all anymore meanwhile force storm and orbital strike still gets used since their radius are still 8m. Edited April 20, 2012 by Sookster

[TheOpf]

Yup DFA isn't that great, I only use it on bosses now, I don't even use it in pvp at all anymore meanwhile force storm and orbital strike still gets used since their radius are still 8m.

 

I use it all the time, but it's not a use on CD ability anymore. It's a I need to stop a cap and there are 3 guys in my way or there are three guys not looking at me let me aoe them..