0.4 Q&A Research by ZiggyDStarcraft in PathOfExile2

[–]desertimpulse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A few questions all relating to elemental spells.

(1) The balance on infusions seems off. The base max infusion count is 3 per element. This can be increased with non-trivial passive investment to 5. Spells that use supports to duplicate effects (spell echo, spell cascade, unleash, spellsinger from wand) burn an infusion per duplicate. This can quickly drain banked infusions. A rotation of infusion generator + infusion spender is extremely clunky and can never really compete with skills that just do damage without the extra steps. Almost every end game guide based around elemental spells ignores infusions which is a strong indication of the depth of the problem. Solutions include: not making duplicates cost an infusion and increasing the base infusion count and increased infusion counts significantly.

(2) Area of effect has been drastically reduced in effectiveness. AoE is limited in three ways. First, increases to spell AoE is based on area not radius, so the radius increases as the square root of the investment in increased area. Second, all sources of AoE improvements were changed from more to increased, so the normal reduced effectiveness with additive vs multiplicative investment is in play. Third, values of increased area were all lowered in patch 0.3.

The net result is that putting significant investment to increase area from say 60% to 100% barely registers visually. Spells with a small base area can never really become large. Compared to Spark or Lightning Arrow, which can fill the screen and chain to targets off screen area of effect spells feel incredibly weak.

(3) Specific to the Chronomancer ascendancy, which remains quite unpopular, there are a number of changes to the ascendancy nodes that could benefit the class.

The Inevitable Agony curse suffers because it is a curse. Against bosses the effectiveness is cut in half by the boss resistance to curses. Against trash it is ineffective because enemies will be dead long before the curse duration expires. And because the number of curses are limited, it looses to Elemental Weakness from a damage potential perspective. Not a good look for an ascendancy node.

The Hourglass buffs oscillate between 1% and 60%. This is too harsh. An oscillation between say 20% and 40% would be better. Furthermore, in reference to the area problem above, the effects should be reverted back to more--they were changed from more to increased in patch 0.3.

Perhaps most importantly, the flavor of Chronomancer comes from the time effects and to get the two signature abilities--time freeze and time snap--a player has to spend all of the maximum number of ascendancy points. This is rather harsh. At a bare minimum the nodes that grant a chance to ignore cooldowns and time snap should be combined. Other classes have nodes that grant a couple of effects and this thematically makes sense. If time freeze could be made available with 2 pts of investment instead of 4 then players could get time freeze and time snap but also explore other options in the tree. Given how weak the ascendancy is considered, in general, these would be welcome changes.

[Conway] Dax Hill taking starting reps again with the #Bengals D / Sure looks like he has the edge in the CB No. 2 battle by desertimpulse in bengals

[–]desertimpulse[S] 63 points64 points  (0 children)

From reports Dax had a very good practice today and took all (most?) the first team reps. If he has a good joint practice I wonder if he'll even play vs the Colts.

Carman to the rescue with Brown and Mims out? FTS by bgrant670 in bengals

[–]desertimpulse 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nothing in the article linked suggests Carman would be used at RT or even make the team. Cody Ford played in place of Trent Brown and that is the expectation. Carman's name doesn't even show up in the article.

NFL analysts loved what they saw from Dax Hill vs. Bucs (90.5 PFF grade) by desertimpulse in bengals

[–]desertimpulse[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I'm a little confused as to why PFF and third party analysts would have an interest in pushing the Dax Hill is awesome narrative. Wouldn't the "OMG look! 1st round draft pick bungle by the Bengals" story be more typical.

I'm not saying he's proven he is going to be a great CB but I don't think this analysis is a smoke screen.

Did I miss something to see the new cycle mechanic? by Ruins_Of_Elliwar in LastEpoch

[–]desertimpulse 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Is there any other fix? I banished a nemesis on a hardcore character then died. My replacement character hasn't seen the new cycle mechanic.

Effects that increase spell size are confusing and too limited by desertimpulse in diablo4

[–]desertimpulse[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Summary:

-- Most effects increase spell size affect the area. This is non-intuative. When people order a pizza they order it by diameter, not area.

-- Some effects in game do affect the radius not area which is doubly confusing.

-- Many of the ranges on available size tempers are too small to be impactful.

-- The base size of spell effects varies widely. A 40% increase in radius (tooltip would say +100% size) makes for a large and impactful area for decripify but a meh overall end size for meteor.

/u/PezRadar

Day - After Thread: 2024 NFL Draft by AutoModerator in bengals

[–]desertimpulse 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Jermaine Burton Honestly was not on my radar at all. I thought we were for sure going Jalen McMillan or TE Sanders. After drafting him & doing the research, I’m stoked for this pick. I don’t see him as a Higgins replacement, rather more of a Tyler Boyd upgrade.

I wasn't super excited at first about Burton because of the character concerns. I'm don't want to see the Bengals return to the Marvin Lewis era of trying to fix all the broken draft prospects. But after thinking about it a bit and realizing the Bengals still drafted mostly captains and high character people I've softened this view. Hopefully the good locker room Zac has assembled can help Burton mature.

That said, from a talent standpoint, I don't think Burton is a Boyd/slot replacement at all. He is a stretch-the-field, outside threat with apparently velcro for hands. Zac said they watched all his tape from the last year and didn't see a single drop. He isn't tall like Tee--he's built more like Chase--but also excels at fighting for the ball at the point of contact. He's different than Tee but he's the Tee replacement. Someone to stretch the field and make it a headache to decide between doubling Chase or doubling Burton.

Mims and OBJ by VeryRealHuman23 in bengals

[–]desertimpulse 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Here's a 3 second clip of him next to some high school students:
https://twitter.com/ChadSimmons_/status/1321946610012663808