Author Topic: Trick Arrow revamp - Issue 4 preview!  (Read 3124 times)

MuonNeutrino

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Trick Arrow revamp - Issue 4 preview!
« on: June 19, 2022, 03:06:17 pm »

Trick Arrow is finally getting its long-awaited revamp in Rebirth Issue 4! Trick Arrow has long been overshadowed by other support sets in many ways, but in Rebirth Issue 4, Trick Arrow will finally be getting the love it deserves.

One issue with the set currently is that many of its powers are weaker than similar powers in other sets or are otherwise low-impact, resulting in the set's total contribution simply being weaker than other sets. This is being addressed with a set of improvements to the base capabilities of a variety of the set's powers, to bring Trick Arrow's total support capability up to par with other sets. In particular, Flash Arrow becomes a useful tohit debuff power, helping address the set's lackluster every-spawn mitigation. These changes are detailed below:

Power changes
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(click to show/hide)

Additionally, Trick Arrow suffers from drawbacks that stem from the set's signature property of being entirely enemy-targeted. This is an important distinguishing feature of the set - it's a playstyle-defining property and helps contribute to overall playstyle diversity in the game - and will not be changing. However, because of this, a Trick Arrow character only gets full potential by activating a whole bunch of powers on the enemies, usually at the start of each fight, while sets with buffs and heals can often activate them outside of fights and still gain benefit. This means Trick Arrow puts a bigger burden on the combat animation time budget of its user than most other support sets, meaning they take longer to output a similar amount of support than other sets and have less time to use their other non-support powers.

This property of the set is not going to change, so instead we are making other tweaks to mitigate its downsides. Making Flash Arrow useful is part of this, because its no-aggro nature means it can be used before a fight starts. The main change to address this, however, is adding set-internal synergy between powers. Using two or more Trick Arrow powers in a row now can give bonus effects, making them more than the sum of their parts and ensuring that Trick Arrow users are properly compensated for their investment of animation time. The synergistic effects are as follows:

Synergy effects
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(click to show/hide)

None of the synergy effects stack in any way. The synergies are designed so that every power either gains a synergy from another power or gives one (or both). Synergies also tend to go from offensive powers to defensive powers or vice versa, so that you get the most benefit from mixing both offensive and defensive powers.

These changes will be available on the test server following the weekly server maintenance tonight (June 19th). Go forth and have fun with newly sharper, pointier sticks!
« Last Edit: June 19, 2022, 07:00:59 pm by MuonNeutrino »
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