sunderthefirmament

Smeeta also randomly gives rare resources, which can help with bile costs. I’m not looking forward to unsharding when the newer frames get primes. I think a big part of why I use smeeta is that the competition is trash, and I don’t need help killing things. I’m still waiting for the dust to settle on sentinels. Some of the new mods seem tempting, but apart from Guardian spam or grouping, there isn’t significant utility on offer. Yet. I’m curious to see what phase 2 brings.

Agreed, but I can't blame the players for this. It seems like every new update releases with yet another new resource to gather. Combine that ever-growing grind with the dismal state of basically every other companion pre-rework, and it's no surprise that people flocked to Smeeta. Or Panzer. I'm glad we got phase 1 of the pet rework, but I'm still using my Smeeta with basically the same build. The only change is that I put on Primed Pack Leader instead of the normal version. Some of the bond mods are interesting, but not interesting enough to warrant replacing a chance at x2 (or more) Steel Essence during the odd incursion that goes long enough for an acolyte to spawn, or an affinity boost when forma'ing and reranking Grendel Prime, Hydroid Prime, and Dagath like I did last week.

I didn’t bring that up because I just don’t see it as a problem. I don’t see how people can expect this game to attract new players in its current state. And it doesn’t really make sense for DE to focus on more story content that builds on the existing quests when it gets harder and harder to actually catch up and see this new content. But that’s off topic for here.

I’m glad you brought that up. I would posit that the ease of swapping between ranged weaponry and Hysteria makes the armor boost from Warcry still relevant. You’re not invincible while aiming with a ranged weapon during Hysteria. I will certainly agree that Valkyr has aged a bit. She’s got some significant flaws, and I hope she gets developer attention. But I guess I don’t think of how warcry and hysteria interact as anti-synergy, or the slam dunk “she’s the worst designed frame in the game” argument that you think it is. Honestly, I think a bigger issue with Warcry is the slow and how the augment doesn’t reapply it. Anyway, if she does get any developer attention, what I would hope for first and foremost would be redoing the hysteria stance. It feels awful. Then I would look at preserving momentum on ripline and changing its “pull enemies” functionality, maybe even removing it. Then paralysis. God, what a mess of an ability. Finally, the slow on Warcry.

My view is that if you're looking for something to be outraged over, you should direct your attention to the absolute whalebait catastrophe that is the Heirloom pack system. Moving flawed mods to a niche collector location is a good thing. It feels icky as a new player to invest in something that is going to be obsolete, especially when endo and credits are scarce. Now there's less danger of that, at least in a modding direction. Primed mods are another matter, but that's not really what this thread is for.

#NotAllVeterans But really, if it were made available earlier, it would be a net gain for me. The only time I die in this game is due to chained CC. I can only imagine that other players' survivability would increase if they had access to PSF. This would then result in me reviving fewer teammates. I'm just unspeakably tired of reviving people, so if it means I revive people less, I'm all for it. Who knows? Maybe DE will include it in their story pack. ; )

Sorry if I missed something, but is your "anti-synergy" stance that the armor boost from Valkyr's 2 is what makes it anti-synergistic with her 4? I don't think the armor is the selling point on her 2. And even if it were, doesn't reducing incoming damage during her 4 mean she has less backlash when it ends? To be fair, I've never noticed the backlash damage. I don't play Valkyr much these days, but she was my main when I was making my way through the star chart years ago.

I’ve had swinging enemies end up dangerously close to the point. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if I ever willingly engage with this NW challenge again, I would be happier to group up with a competent Limbo than a Khora.

The barrels got buffed.

His mechanical complexity might make it seem like he has a high skill ceiling, but really, there's nothing up there. It's jumping through hoops to accomplish what other frames do far more effectively. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll trot it out again, but Revenant with Mesmer Shield and Zenurik does everything Limbo can do, only far better and with less griefing. I get the appeal for a more subtle and complex character, like a Medivh in Heroes of the Storm (some damage, but focuses on shielding allies and creating portals for them to move through), or a Mesmer from Guild Wars 1 (disruption and punishment, but very little direct damage). Limbo is a sad interpretation of that fantasy/playstyle. Limbo isn't well designed. He never was. And he's getting worse with age. His niche, feast or famine CC, was never healthy for the game, and it has been eroded to the point where it doesn't even exist anymore. There's only one mission type where he still excels: the Nightwave Index challenge. That's not of a niche to make him relevant. And a frame as actively harmful to others' experiences should be the top priority for a rework.

It was also extremely grating. This is a grindy, grindy game, where repetition is expected and required. A "cool atmospheric sound" can grow tiresome quickly, and wear out its welcome. I'm glad the sound effects are gone. If you needed them to check whether the ability is up or not, I'm sorry. You can check the bottom right corner of the screen. It's not a perfect solution, but it's there. I just wish Citrine could get a similar update. We don't need the constant chiming from her 2.

Fair, but I think the 2 would be a better fit for a grouping ability. It's criminally slow, and is likely his worst ability over all.

This is Limbo erasure. Yeah, Valkyr needs help. So do Inaros, Atlas, Loki, and Nyx. I would throw a few others on the pile too. But Limbo, the obsolete grief frame, should really come first. He’s the one who needs a total overhaul. Valkyr could be saved with a few strategic changes/tweaks. Inaros could be saved by putting overguard generation on his 3. Limbo is the only frame that needs an entirely new kit.

It's deeper than that. Support can work fine in this game. Trinity would still work fine if she had reasonable durations and casting times/animations. Her buff durations are tiny, which wouldn't be a problem if literally all of her abilities didn't require a full body, stop everything you're doing, casting animation. This is further compounded by how tight mod space is on Trinity- she needs everything. Yeah, she can instantly replenish health and shields, max out people's energy, provide damage reduction, and strip armor. But doing all that means spamming 2, 3, and 4 endlessly. I'd fix her by changing most or all of her animations to upper body, one handed only. Then I'd double the base durations on Link and Blessing. Finally, I'd bake in some refresh conditions, at least for Link. Maybe attacking a Well of Life or Energy Vampire target could give her additional seconds on Link and Blessing.

I’m enjoying the changes so far as well, though nothing in the update has made me want to swap off my charmbot for something else. Pet ability changes are apparently going to be part of phase 2 of the pet rework, whenever that happens. But I haven’t even been tempted to try any bond mods yet. I don’t see my smeeta as an active combatant that I fight alongside. She’s utility. That’s all I need from her. It’s also really hard to find mod space on kavats.

It would fit better on his 3, in my opinion. Overguard per hit or something. Inaros’ 4 is arguably his best ability already.

I cannot fathom how Thermal Sunder’s sound effects made it into the game. I avoid playing Gauss because that beeping sound is really grating. They don’t often replace sound effects. But I’m hoping they make an exception for Gauss Prime.

I don't encounter any major bugs when playing solo, or when playing with one other friend and I'm the host. The only annoyance is how frequently enemy fighters/crewships will stop spawning. Usually this is because a ton of enemies spawned inside an objective somewhere and I didn't clear them out. Revisiting these areas and massacring their inhabitants can prevent this pseudo-softlock, but it's annoying that the game can't just clear them out for you.

For interception, Nova is your best friend. Get her strength up a bit and max out her duration. Press 4. Capture points and avoid enemies. They'll be too slow to be much of a threat. For Hijack (the shield draining payload one), use Hildryn or Inaros and the railjack on-call crew summon with the healing effect on kills. Edit: For solo defense, don't be afraid to use specters to support you. The ancient healer and the shield osprey are both really useful. During my initial clear of SP, I used Khora for a lot of missions. She's not the easiest to get, and I honestly don't even like using her, but she can do significant damage with her Whipclaw, and her Strangledome can protect a point very well.

Yeah. I get the sentiment that Turritopsis_Dohrnii is going for. Charge-to-cast abilities can feel cool and immersive. But I would say Garuda's are done way better than Hydroid's. Charge up Garuda's 4 and you'll send out a wide swath of blades, accompanied by increased slash procs and satisfying sound effects. Charge up her 1, and you can clear an entire room. Charge up Hydroid's current abilities, and all you get is limp and unreliable flopping. I partially sympathize. It is sad when a frame loses something unique to be more homogenized. But World on Fire looked and sounded really, really stupid. Spurts of randomly appearing flames accompanied by explosion sounds that wouldn't have been out of place on an N64... is this really what you miss? Yeah, the meteors are cheesy. And yeah, the variable energy cost of Ember's new 2 is really stupid and unclear. But she's still in a far better place than she was. I think the puddle could have been turned into something quick and engaging, but I'm going to hold off on mourning its loss until I actually try the reworked Hydroid. It was unique. But it was also really, really terrible.

Nyx has a weird reputation that shifts depending on experience with the game: Newer Players: "She doesn't do anything, so she sucks." More Experienced Players: "She's got solid CC, defense-stripping, and she can tank for days! She's great and underrated." Players with Too Many Hours in the Game: "CC is basically useless (and Nyx's CC is unreliable), other frames can defense strip better, and you shouldn't need Assimilate to never die. She sucks." Just because a frame got some dev attention recently doesn't mean it shouldn't receive more. I'm with the OP. Nyx needs some help. Mind Control: Have minions deal % based true damage or something. Psychic Bolts: Remove the target limit and make it permanent. Chaos: Add the % based damage buff suggested above to enemies afflicted by Chaos, but only when they hit other enemies. Absorb: Throw the whole ability out. It's unusable as anything other than an AFK-at-extraction button without the augment. With the augment it's still terrible. I'd like to see it replaced by some sort of telekinetic barrier or something. We don't have enough wall frames.

No amount of modding is going to prevent my idiot smeeta from crouching in a flame jet on Jupiter and dying repeatedly. No amount of learning or skill on my part is going to magically make my pet keep up with me as I move through a tileset quickly. No amount of preparedness is going to change the fact that going into operator mode means almost instant death for a sentinel at the level of content that DE keeps pushing us towards lately. I shouldn't have to be a stealth frame, a massive wall of linked HP, or a Safeguard spamming Nezha to keep my fully modded and meta build pets alive in high level content. I don't think DE is willing to allocate the resources necessary to make pets behave with some degree of self-preservation in mind, so this pseudo-invulnerability rework might be the best we can hope for. I'm going to withhold initial judgement until the update comes out... and then I'll withhold further judgement after the next round of the pet rework arrives (if, indeed, it ever does).

I don't think that's what "overrated" means. They're certainly popular, but they're popular for a reason. "Overrated" is usually reserved for something that is highly praised or desired yet has little real merit or worth. Furthermore, I can't say I agree with the title (questionable "make ____ ____ again" format aside), as I don't think Sevagoth or Grendel have ever been particularly popular. Now that I've "well ackshually'ed" enough for one day, let me simply state that over all, I agree with you. It's absolutely nuts that Defy is nerfed through the Helminth and yet Gloom and Nourish aren't. I think instead of nerfs, I'd rather see some changes to the base versions on their original frames. If Sevagoth could hit that max slow at a lower power strength requirement, maybe he wouldn't be quite as much of a forma hog as he is, for example. That said, I don't really know that these changes, either the ones you're proposing or something else, would actually increase the popularity of Sevagoth or Grendel. Kind of off topic, but I'm curious to see if their popularity/usage increases significantly when they get primed. I've seen a lot of claims that Grendel's farm is brutal, and that Sevagoth's is also a pain. Primes will make them easier to get a hold of, if only for a time.

Faster revives are fine with me, honestly. I’m really, really tired of reviving people. I still do it though. So anything that makes that process faster is great. Maybe she could grant extended invulnerability on revive or something. It certainly would be welcome in the pre-pet rework world. Not every passive needs to be as powerful as Wisp’s or Yareli’s.

That’s a really good point. Maybe shooting or attacking a well of life enemy could give small duration boosts, with a bigger boost at the end. I certainly approve of the other synergies you’re suggesting as well.