An Honest Look - Exceed Skills

[Chaith.8256]

@Solaerin.8635 said:

@Chaith.8256 said:Kind of.. I said that low heat COMES with with playing defensively. High heat COMES with aggression, you're changing the phrase to 'you want to be playing defensively at low heat.' You're just changing the meaning completely...

The point is that there's no actual correlation. You're going to be playing defensively when you need to be. If you choose not to focus on maintaining heat and get jumped by a thief while you're ice cold, having your skills be stronger above a certain threshold might be

inconvenient

, but there's nothing

counter-intuitive

about it.

One thing you're not acknowledging is that you can freely choose to NOT make an such trade off. Here's a better trade off - DON'T TAKE EXCEED SKILLS, and go ahead and feel free to burst down that tanky spec and still have superior defensive skills if you do get counter-pressured badly.

I did acknowledge this. I said that if the full-power Exceed skills aren't good enough to warrant the trade off then they need to be buffed. And let's be clear, the only thing you're losing by entering a fight at ~50% heat is the initial burst potential, in a sustained fight it isn't detrimental to stay at or above 50% heat.

There's no reason to take defensive Exceeds like Hard Light Arena and Spectrum Shield with Vent Exhaust over E.C.S.U., there's much more situations and time where you are under 50% heat with the former, and E.C.S.U makes it so easy and unrestrained to operate between 40-140. Having a 50-90 heat window that you operate in because Exceeds, shooting yourself in the foot. One shockwave is 25 heat. Very inflexible and you need bursts of high damage at many times in a fight past the initial opener. Dancing in and out will kill your natural heat management and rely on wasting dodges to manage it. You want to be cooling at the big 10 heat per second rate as much as possible, it is highly detrimental to only be using forge for short bursts and stay within 40 heat window.

I think you're way-overstating the 'negative synergy', as if every time you dodge roll you fall below 50% heat. Exceed skills are designed so that if you have heat above 50%, you're rewarded for it by the skills being super strong. With Thermal Release Valve, it's possible to maintain a heat level above 50% for the majority of a fight; likewise with Enhanced Capacity Storage. This inherent design is not flawed. If you kitten up and plop down a Hard Light Arena right after a dodge roll without getting your heat back up, that's not a failure of skill design, it's a kitten-up. Is the tuning right for this play style to shine over just using vanilla engineer skills? Perhaps not, in the current meta. But like you said, this thread isn't supposed to be about tuning, it's supposed to be about the general design of the skills being stronger at high heat.

See my above point, you do need burst in sustained fights, and you do need to spend time cooling 10 heat per second, getting the reward for cooling for longer periods of time. Exceed skills are incompatible with hybrid damage Holosmiths, specifically any that run Vent Exhaust.

I'm not arguing that the skills are perfect or that none of them need to be changed/buffed. I'm saying that I don't think the principle of them being stronger above a heat threshold is bad design. The idea that you could master heat management and reach a really high skill ceiling with Holosmith is cool and good, and I don't think you should get rid of that because they're not as good as vanilla skills in the current meta. Just lmao if you think me having that opinion is 'nerdgasming'

Yeah i know you think it's cool and good. You do you, but engineers find it very annoying.

[Silinsar.6298]

@Chaith.8256 said:

See my above point, you do need burst in sustained fights, and you do need to spend time cooling 10 heat per second, getting the reward for cooling for longer periods of time. Exceed skills are incompatible with hybrid damage Holosmiths, specifically any that run Vent Exhaust.

I get the point about Vent Exhaust making it more difficult to stay >50% heat than ECSU but what's the "reward for cooling for longer periods of time"? This is just being less flexible in terms of switching into and dropping out of photon forge. Vent Exhaust is all about cooling faster, so you have more PF uptime and can afford generating more heat.

[Chaith.8256]

@Silinsar.6298 said:

@Chaith.8256 said:

See my above point, you do need burst in sustained fights, and you do need to spend time cooling 10 heat per second, getting the reward for cooling for longer periods of time. Exceed skills are incompatible with hybrid damage Holosmiths, specifically any that run Vent Exhaust.

I get the point about Vent Exhaust making it more difficult to stay >50% heat than ECSU but what's the "reward for cooling for longer periods of time"? This is just being less flexible in terms of switching into and dropping out of photon forge. Vent Exhaust is all about cooling faster, so you have more PF uptime and can afford generating more heat.

When you disengage photon forge, you get no heat loss for 5 seconds, then 5 seconds of 5 heat loss, and then 10 heat loss for the remainder.

It's much much much more efficient to maximize your time losing 10 heat/ second, healing 650 per second and vastly increasing your overall Photon Forge uptime for your next damage phase instead of maximizing the time spent in that 5-10 second penalty zone after disengaging Photon Forge where you don't lose much heat. You spend a lot of time in this penalty zone of losing only 5 or no heat when you are trying to keep it within a small window of between 50-90 heat.

[Silinsar.6298]

@Chaith.8256 said:

When you disengage photon forge, you get no heat loss for 5 seconds, then 5 seconds of 5 heat loss, and then 10 heat loss for the remainder.

It's much much much more efficient to maximize your time losing 10 heat/ second, healing 650 per second and vastly increasing your overall Photon Forge uptime for your next damage phase instead of maximizing the time spent in that 5-10 second penalty zone after disengaging Photon Forge where you don't lose much heat. You spend a lot of time in this penalty zone of losing only 5 or no heat when you are trying to keep it within a small window of between 50-90 heat.

Well, this only works if you want to have long damage phases and long cooling phases which is not always the way to go. With Vent Exhaust you don't need to wait 8+ seconds to lose any significant amount of heat (and you can do it during forge!). You can pop out of forge @80%, use 1-2 weapon skills, dodge sometime in-between and go right back in. This means more frequent access to the mobility and stability it provides. Plus the healing kicks in instantly too, which gives you a bit more sustain during PF.

Overall, imo:Vent Exhaust for shorter cycles and more flexibilityECSU for longer cycles and more reliable >50% heat boni

[Vagrant.7206]

@Silinsar.6298 said:

@Chaith.8256 said:

When you disengage photon forge, you get no heat loss for 5 seconds, then 5 seconds of 5 heat loss, and then 10 heat loss for the remainder.

It's much much much more efficient to maximize your time losing 10 heat/ second, healing 650 per second and vastly increasing your overall Photon Forge uptime for your next damage phase instead of maximizing the time spent in that 5-10 second penalty zone after disengaging Photon Forge where you don't lose much heat. You spend a lot of time in this penalty zone of losing only 5 or no heat when you are trying to keep it within a small window of between 50-90 heat.

Well, this only works if you want to have long damage phases and long cooling phases which is not always the way to go. With Vent Exhaust you don't need to wait 8+ seconds to lose any significant amount of heat (and you can do it during forge!). You can pop out of forge @80%, use 1-2 weapon skills, dodge sometime in-between and go right back in. This means more frequent access to the mobility and stability it provides. Plus the healing kicks in instantly too, which gives you a bit more sustain during PF.

Overall, imo:Vent Exhaust for shorter cycles and more flexibilityECSU for longer cycles and more reliable >50% heat boni

I agree that Vent Exhaust lets you pop back into the forge more frequently; however, I think Chaith's point is that vent exhaust is anti-synergetic specifically with defensive exceeds. Since all exceeds benefit from >50% heat and vent exhaust works based on dodges, when you dodge (to avoid damage) you may lower the effectiveness of your defensive exceeds, which can hurt you. As a result, defensive exceeds become even more unreliable, and thus there's an incentive to not use them on a vent exhaust build.

So why even take exceeds in this scenario? There are other skills without this anti-synergetic trade off that can be just as potent. If ANet wants us to use these defensive exceeds, they need to make it worth the tradeoff risk.

[Chaith.8256]

@Vagrant.7206 said:

@Silinsar.6298 said:

@Chaith.8256 said:

When you disengage photon forge, you get no heat loss for 5 seconds, then 5 seconds of 5 heat loss, and then 10 heat loss for the remainder.

It's much much much more efficient to maximize your time losing 10 heat/ second, healing 650 per second and vastly increasing your overall Photon Forge uptime for your next damage phase instead of maximizing the time spent in that 5-10 second penalty zone after disengaging Photon Forge where you don't lose much heat. You spend a lot of time in this penalty zone of losing only 5 or no heat when you are trying to keep it within a small window of between 50-90 heat.

Well, this only works if you want to have long damage phases and long cooling phases which is not always the way to go. With Vent Exhaust you don't need to wait 8+ seconds to lose any significant amount of heat (and you can do it during forge!). You can pop out of forge @80%, use 1-2 weapon skills, dodge sometime in-between and go right back in. This means more frequent access to the mobility and stability it provides. Plus the healing kicks in instantly too, which gives you a bit more sustain during PF.

Overall, imo:Vent Exhaust for shorter cycles and more flexibilityECSU for longer cycles and more reliable >50% heat boni

I agree that Vent Exhaust lets you pop back into the forge more frequently; however, I think Chaith's point is that vent exhaust is anti-synergetic specifically with defensive exceeds. Since all exceeds benefit from >50% heat and vent exhaust works based on dodges, when you dodge (to avoid damage) you may lower the effectiveness of your defensive exceeds, which can hurt you. As a result, defensive exceeds become

even more

unreliable, and thus there's an incentive to not use them on a vent exhaust build.

So why even take exceeds in this scenario? There are other skills without this anti-synergetic trade off that can be just as potent. If ANet wants us to use these defensive exceeds, they need to make it worth the tradeoff risk.

Precisely.. the proper usages of Vent Exhaust and E.C.S.U are up for debate but the fact that Exceed skills are significantly worse depending on what GM you take, not great.

[Solaerin.8635]

@Chaith.8256 said:Yeah i know you think it's cool and good. You do you, but engineers find it very annoying.I play engineer too, dude.

You can get higher photon forge up-time with Thermal Release Valve than you can with Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit, and you do more damage while in the forge. With the former trait, you can be above 50% heat for the majority of a fight, if not an entire fight if you're focusing on heat management. With the latter trait, being above 50% heat for an entire fight is trivial.

And once again, for perhaps the third time: I've argued that if the benefits from staying above 50% heat don't outweigh the loss in burst potential, the benefits need to be buffed. If it's not worth it to focus on heat maintenance to get the full benefit out of Exceed skills, and it's better to not worry about heat and take core engineer utilities, then Exceed skills need to be buffed. If it's the case that focusing on heat maintenance and using Exceed skills is worse than taking core engineer utilities, this is indicative of the tuning and value of the Exceed skills being too low, not that their design is flawed.

You continuously arguing that 'such and such is the best way to play Holosmith' isn't a refutation of the above paragraph, it's you saying that the value of Exceeds needs to be increased. "[Y]ou do need burst in sustained fights, and you do need to spend time cooling 10 heat per second" isn't true if the value of using Exceed skills is high enough.And let me just add, the statements 'the heat mechanic on Exceed skills is good and should stay' and 'the baseline effects of certain Exceed skills need to be buffed' aren't mutually-exclusive.

I well and truly don't understand where your perspective that wanting a high skill ceiling for a class means I'm an out-of-touch nerd or something. You don't see this attitude in other games. People who are good at the game should want abilities to require skillful play to take full advantage of. If not, then why call this 'An Honest Look'?

[Chaith.8256]

@Solaerin.8635 said:

@Chaith.8256 said:Yeah i know you think it's cool and good. You do you, but engineers find it very annoying.I play engineer too, dude.

You can get higher photon forge up-time with Thermal Release Valve than you can with Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit, and you do more damage while in the forge. With the former trait, you can be above 50% heat for the majority of a fight, if not an entire fight if you're focusing on heat management. With the latter trait, being above 50% heat for an entire fight is trivial.

And once again, for perhaps the third time: I've argued that if the benefits from staying above 50% heat don't outweigh the loss in burst potential, the benefits need to be buffed. If it's

not worth it

to focus on heat maintenance to get the full benefit out of Exceed skills, and it's better to not worry about heat and take core engineer utilities, then Exceed skills need to be buffed. If it's the case that focusing on heat maintenance and using Exceed skills is worse than taking core engineer utilities, this is indicative of the

tuning

and

value

of the Exceed skills being too low, not that their design is flawed.

You continuously arguing that 'such and such is the best way to play Holosmith' isn't a refutation of the above paragraph, it's you saying that the value of Exceeds needs to be increased. "[Y]ou do need burst in sustained fights, and you do need to spend time cooling 10 heat per second" isn't true if the value of using Exceed skills is high enough.And let me just add, the statements 'the heat mechanic on Exceed skills is good and should stay' and 'the baseline effects of certain Exceed skills need to be buffed' aren't mutually-exclusive.

I well and truly don't understand where your perspective that wanting a high skill ceiling for a class means I'm an out-of-touch nerd or something. You don't see this attitude in other games. People who are good at the game should want abilities to require skillful play to take full advantage of. If not, then why call this 'An Honest Look'?

Stop putting words in my mouth, you've been occasionally twisting things I say since your first post... I don't think you're an out of touch nerd but I do think I'm not being heard in that from the perspective of Vent Exhaust, exceed skills are dis-proportionally inconsistent (crappy) regardless of how over or under tuned they are, like that clause you keep adding about buffing them..

[Solaerin.8635]

You said I was having a nerdgasm or some shit and implied that I don't get what engineer players actually want. Like, lol, I didn't quote you as saying that, it was just the sentiment you were giving off. Also, I interpreted your initial statment that "low heat comes with playing defensively" as Holosmiths wanting to play defensively at low heat. Given that what you're now saying is only relevant in the context of Thermal Release Valve, and you never mentioned this trait in your OP, I think it's p understandable for me to have misinterpreted what you were trying to say.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like the argument against the heat threshold boils down to 'When you run this specific GM trait, it's possible to dodge roll (a defensive move) and get below 50% heat, which makes your (defensive) utility skills weaker.' I don't think this is a compelling enough argument for them to abandon a major aspect of Holosmith's design because a.) it's an optional trait. I don't think it's a bad thing for one GM trait to be more challenging but more rewarding to pull off than another; b.) it's a mistake when this happens. It's possible to manage your heat well and always get full value out of your Exceeds; and c.) this specific interaction is NOT the primary reason that Exceed skills aren't currently used. If they get the tuning on Exceed skills right, heat management could be a really cool and unique aspect of Holosmith gameplay that separates good players from amazing players. I'd personally rather see that happen than see heat management become a non-mechanic, apart from just not overheating. Inb4 'nerdgasming' or 'that's not what engineer players actually want'

[Chaith.8256]

@Solaerin.8635 said:You said I was having a nerdgasm or some kitten and implied that I don't get what engineer players actually want. Like, lol, I didn't quote you as saying that, it was just the sentiment you were giving off. ... Inb4 'nerdgasming' or 'that's not what engineer players actually want'

This crap makes me not want to respond to you.. why tho'

I like the high heat rewards existing, if you take a look at my suggestions there are still desirable rewards for properly managing heat..

[draxynnic.3719]

Part of the point here is that it isn't that you want to be playing defensively when you have low heat.

It's that having low heat is often a consequence of being forced to play defensively.

Going into Photon Forge means that you have few skills on your weapon bar that are suitable for playing defensively, especially if you don't have Crystal Configuration: Storm. The unload-esque skill and the knockdown can work, but generally speaking your base weapon set (along with some kits) are going to be better off for playing defensively, out of the combination of standoff capability and having access to active defences. This makes it hard to build heat when you're put on the defensive - particularly if you're running the vent GM. Which in turn means that Exceeds taken as defensive skills are at their weakest when you need them the most.

It also doesn't help that being downed means you lose all heat, so if you're being pressured to the point of going down and getting up again, any heat you'd built up beforehand is gone, along with the benefits.

[Chaith.8256]

@draxynnic.3719 said:Part of the point here is that it isn't that you want to be playing defensively when you have low heat.

It's that having low heat is often a consequence of being forced to play defensively.

Going into Photon Forge means that you have few skills on your weapon bar that are suitable for playing defensively, especially if you don't have Crystal Configuration: Storm. The unload-esque skill and the knockdown can work, but generally speaking your base weapon set (along with some kits) are going to be better off for playing defensively, out of the combination of standoff capability and having access to active defences. This makes it hard to build heat when you're put on the defensive - particularly if you're running the vent GM. Which in turn means that Exceeds taken as defensive skills are at their weakest when you need them the most.

It also doesn't help that being downed means you lose all heat, so if you're being pressured to the point of going down and getting up again, any heat you'd built up beforehand is gone, along with the benefits.

Articulated my thoughts very well, I'm pretty sure most understand the frustration of your defense abilities scaling downward when you're forced out of playing aggressive in photon forge, into Elixir S and dealing with an onslaught of multiple players in general. High heat bonuses feel great when they add greater attack power or counterpressure. They need buffs - rolling the defense into baseline, while providing utility or damage for a high heat bonus I contend is the fairest way that preserves the mechanic.

[Chaith.8256]

Edit: Based on feedback and new desire to make exceeds have increased offense on high heat bonuses I added a couple:

*- Hard Light Arena - Always lasts full 12 seconds, now with high heat - provides the big radius and causes foes inside the arena to take 7% increased damage from all sources (Holosmith raiding utility.)

*- Spectrum Shield - always has 15 second cooldown, activating Spectrum Shield above the heat threshold causes your next two attacks activated to become unblockable.

Feedback required

[Cisii.8317]

@Chaith.8256 said:

Edit: Based on feedback and new desire to make exceeds have increased offense on high heat bonuses I added a couple:

*- Hard Light Arena - Always lasts full 12 seconds, now with high heat - provides the big radius and causes foes inside the arena to take 7% increased damage from all sources (Holosmith raiding utility.)

*- Spectrum Shield - always has 15 second cooldown, activating Spectrum Shield above the heat threshold causes your next two attacks activated to become unblockable.

Feedback required

Yes! Engineer lacks unblockable attacks...

[coro.3176]

Disagree with unblockable. There's too much of it in the game already. I can only think of all the times I've swapped to Toolkit just in time, popped Gear Shield only to have the attacks go right through and kill me anyway. It's one thing for big slow wind-up attacks to be unblockable (or ground AoEs or other easily avoidable things), but just giving unblockable to random attacks is bad design IMO. It just feels unfair for your opponent.

Agree with the rest of the suggestions. Exceed is disappointing right now.

[Chaith.8256]

@coro.3176 said:Disagree with unblockable. There's too much of it in the game already. I can only think of all the times I've swapped to Toolkit just in time, popped Gear Shield only to have the attacks go right through and kill me anyway. It's one thing for big slow wind-up attacks to be unblockable (or ground AoEs or other easily avoidable things), but just giving unblockable to random attacks is bad design IMO. It just feels unfair for your opponent.

Agree with the rest of the suggestions. Exceed is disappointing right now.

Fair enough. Sword Dagger thieves literally spam unblockable 333333 damage, Necro Marks, Corrupt Boon, Spellbreaker's Break Enchantment, Full Counter, all short cooldown staple damage skills that are always unblockable. There is all of a sudden a ton of Aegis on everyone with Firebrand now too. Perhaps this is yet another reason why there is a very healthy amount of Scourges, and Spellbreakers, and to a lesser degree S/D thieves. Holosmith has a taste of that with Prime Light Beam unblockable on 60s CD.

Phase traversal on Revenant is where I took the idea from, that utility gives two stacks of unblockable - it seems to take some actual skill to maximize (can't remember many times getting owned by this mechanic.

[ukuni.8745]

i see what your suggesting there.

i like the ideas personally, all tho i think as much as the 7% damage bonus for hard light arena would be good for pve in spvp it might be a bit to good stacked on top of what hard light arena already gives in terms of boon support but once again the risk vs reward factor of generating heat may balance it out.

[Lighter.5631]

personally i use a combo of Spectrum Shield, Photon Wall, Hard Light Arena, so i can face tank HP champion in HoT maps and solo them

[starlinvf.1358]

@RedSPINE.7845 said:What I'd like to see for Exceed skills (tell me what you think) : take all their defensive aspects and make it baseline, then give them offensive bonuses when above heat threshold.

Coolant Blast -> Same thing you proposed but instead of reducing a chunk of heat, gives a 3 seconds buffs that prevents ANY heat generation, giving you a short time window to pull out a full combo without the risk of overheating.

Cauterize -> Always burn 3 conditions. Above heat threshold : gives Fire Aura for 3 seconds.

Hard Light Arena -> Duration and expended area become baseline. Now only gives Fury if above heat threshold. An enhanced HLA would be red instead of white so everyone would know.

Spectrum Shield -> Base CD is 15 seconds. Above heat threshold : also increases outgoing damages by 25% for the duration.

The rest is ok for me, I really like Flash Spark the way it is because it perfectly fits the way I'd love each Exceed to be built : defensive no matter what, offensive bonuses when above heat threshold. I would just like an upgrade for Photon Wall casting times because it's really slow right now.

You might think my version of Spectrum Shield is OP, but remember that if you use it to boost your damages, you're basically sacrificing a lifesaver and a breakstun to do so.

I would say Spectrum shield should give light aura instead of a damage boost.... not to mention 25% is pretty insane at their current damage levels. Light Aura matches better as a concept, as it gives retaliation and reduces Condi damage (to compliment the normal damage reduction).

That aside, the exceed skills all seem like they're designed to be proactive rather then reactive; so it does make sense that high heat bonuses should be like converting them into a weapon.

[Chaith.8256]

@starlinvf.1358 said:That aside, the exceed skills all seem like they're designed to be proactive rather then reactive; so it does make sense that high heat bonuses should be like converting them into a weapon.

Yup, a very good way to phrase it. Exceed skills for the high heat bonus should add to the proactive damage, using an exceed skill reactively at low heat should forego the proactive damage and still have reliable defense.

[Fplattel.1460]

@Chaith.8256 said:*- Coolant Blast - Always grants additional small heal over time. New above high heat threshold effect: Expel 25 heat. No longer chills or applies frost aura.I'd like this, but only expel heat when not overheated. Otherwise it could decrease uptime of Laser's Edge after overheating when using Photonic Blasting Module.

*- Cauterize - Reduce base cooldown from 30 seconds to 20. Always removes 3 conditions. New high heat bonus: Instead of burning the Engineer, Cauterize applies 2 seconds of Fire Aura for each condition removed.I'd still keep the cooldown to 30s, especially if it were to remove 3 conditions.

*- Hard Light Arena - Always lasts full 12 seconds, with high heat - provides the big radius and causes foes inside the arena to take 7% increased damage from all sources (Holosmith raiding utility.)Either this or a change in the boons/duration for allies would make it a great utility.

• The Protection is mediocre to say the least, and in most cases pretty much useless.
• The Regeneration is just gonna be overwritten by Chronomancers and Druids.
• Fury is somewhat nice though, even though there are more than enough other sources in a regular raidgroup.

Ideally I'd like to see it apply 1 stack of Might for 5s, and 1s of Quickness

[Chaith.8256]

@Fplattel.1460 said:

@Chaith.8256 said:*- Coolant Blast - Always grants additional small heal over time. New above high heat threshold effect:

Expel 25 heat.

No longer chills or applies frost aura.I'd like this, but only expel heat when not overheated. Otherwise it could decrease uptime of Laser's Edge after overheating when using Photonic Blasting Module.

*- Cauterize - Reduce base cooldown from 30 seconds to 20. Always removes 3 conditions. New high heat bonus: Instead of burning the Engineer, Cauterize applies 2 seconds of Fire Aura for each condition removed.I'd still keep the cooldown to 30s, especially if it were to remove 3 conditions.

*- Hard Light Arena - Always lasts full 12 seconds, with high heat - provides the big radius and causes foes inside the arena to take 7% increased damage from all sources (Holosmith raiding utility.)Either this or a change in the boons/duration for allies would make it a great utility.

• The Protection is mediocre to say the least, and in most cases pretty much useless.
• The Regeneration is just gonna be overwritten by Chronomancers and Druids.
• Fury is somewhat nice though, even though there are more than enough other sources in a regular raidgroup.

Ideally I'd like to see it apply 1 stack of Might for 5s, and 1s of Quickness

Coolant Blast if it did expel heat would probably do so regardless - Vent Exhaust always expels heat whether you're overheated or not. It'd be an inconsistent mechanic otherwise.

I don't think Cauterize removing 3 conditions on a 20s cooldown is OP, it has a 3/4s cast time, can burn you, and right now with Inventions traited, Healing Turret currently removes 3 conditions (from everyone). In fact, you can pick up healing turret and remove 3 conditions on a 15s cooldown. Sure, with that same trait Coolant Blast would also remove a damaging condition, but it needs to be at least a little on par with Healing Turret.

Hard Light Arena's protection is NOT useless outside of a raid environment, the protection is the entire reason to use it so you can actually stand toe to toe with people on objectives.

[Arimas.3492]

/Random thought

Hard Light Arena above 50 heat should become a big Ring of Warding that disregards stability, so its actually an arena enemies are forced to fight you in.

/end random thought

[Chaith.8256]

@Arimas.3492 said:/Random thought

Hard Light Arena above 50 heat should become a big Ring of Warding that disregards stability, so its actually an arena enemies are forced to fight you in.

/end random thought

The warding effect that disregards stability is evil. The potential for an "Arena" ability is limitless

[coro.3176]

@coro.3176 said:Disagree with unblockable. There's too much of it in the game already. I can only think of all the times I've swapped to Toolkit just in time, popped Gear Shield only to have the attacks go right through and kill me anyway. It's one thing for big slow wind-up attacks to be unblockable (or ground AoEs or other easily avoidable things), but just giving unblockable to random attacks is bad design IMO. It just feels unfair for your opponent.

Agree with the rest of the suggestions. Exceed is disappointing right now.

Just thought I'd add this as an example of what I mean:

Boo unblockable.