Game Update 17: Mental and Gadgets Dev Q&A!

Game Update 17 is almost here, and with it the highly anticipated powers update for Mental and Gadgets! We've revamped, retweaked, rebalanced, and in some cases even replaced powers in these sets. To let you in on all the behind-the-scenes details, Community Manager Ted "Mepps" Stone sat down with Systems Designer Jesse "Spord" Scott for the following Q&A. Check it out!

Mepps: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today! Why don't you start off by telling everyone your name and your role on the DCUO team?

Spord: My name is Jesse Scott (Spord on the forums) and I am a Systems Designer for DC Universe Online. The Systems Team is responsible for item creation, loot drop rates, feats, player abilities, and overall game balance. I mostly work with the player abilities portion of these tasks.

Mepps: We've already talked a little bit about why we're going back and retuning the original powersets, but why start with Mental and Gadgets?

Spord: We felt that some of the other powersets allowed players more freedom and that with a little tweaking, Mental and Gadgets could match their diversity. Mental and Gadgets each had several abilities that in practice weren't too different, so some powers went somewhat unused. A good example of this is that they had three turrets in the Tricks tree of Gadgets. The turrets really weren't different enough and essentially made Gadgets players have fewer choices. Mental was also limited in that there were multiple attacks that would not do damage if the target was immune to crowd control effects.

Mepps: There has been a ton of a discussion and feedback from players in the threads we started in the Developer Discussion forums. Did the team really read all 60+ pages? Was the feedback useful?

Spord: I did read all 60+ pages! I compiled all of the thoughts from the forums and added them to notes I already had to create a "hit list" for the changes. I went over that list with Tunso to make the final actionable list. There were some really good suggestions from the forums. One thing that kept coming up was that Clown Box and Gag Glove were too Joker themed compared to the rest of the powerset. We agreed with this and removed them from the Tricks tree.

Don't worry though! We did put them back in the Iconic power tree for the people that really wanted to keep a Joker themed character.

Mepps: Just off the top of your head, can you think of something you discovered or rediscovered in those discussion threads that really impacted the revamp?

Spord: It seemed people didn't understand the Helpless power interaction. This was understandable, so now we don't add an arbitrary name to it and just say "…levitated, knocked back, knocked down, juggled, rooted, or stunned enemies…"

Mepps: Let's look at Mental first in detail. When reviewing Mental, what did the team find the biggest issues were?

Spord: It mostly came down to the fact that the Illusions tree was a little weak. The Terror power interaction was only useful if the targets of other abilities were not immune to control effects. Illusory Forms was really fun to use with new players in open world PvP, but was really not very useful anywhere else. This is not to say the Telekinesis tree didn't receive some changes, too, but they just weren't as severe.

Mepps: Overall, what changes has the team made to address those issues?

Spord: We mostly wanted to make sure if a power is supposed to do damage, it will do damage, even if the target is immune to control effects. It was also important to remove and adjust some of the lesser used powers. For example, there was no need for two supercharge shield powers.

Mepps: Okay, tell us what the coolest change you made was, or which Mental power you are really excited for players to play with?

Spord: I am actually really excited for everyone to see the new Mental effects the artists made. The Illusions tree has had enough changes that one of our producers told me he was going to respec his live character! From a gameplay perspective, I think people are going to like the changes to powers like Menace and Reflect Pain. Also, Bastion has been updated to shield the entire raid group, and when it is hit that character gets power back in addition to the attacker taking a small amount of damage.

Mepps: Speaking of the new visuals, which is your new favorite?

Spord: That's tough. I like both Phantom Flames and Telekinesis a lot!

Mepps: Is there anything else you want to tell players about the Mental changes?

Spord: Well, this goes for Mental, Gadgets, and Light. We removed the ability for damage to break a stun or panic effect from most abilities. Now in PvE, when you stun enemies, you don't have to worry about your teammates negating your stun with AoEs. In PvP, this means you can stun someone and then continue to hit them, and they have to use Breakout. I think this helps Controllers earn their namesake a little bit more.

Mepps: Moving on to Gadgets! What did the team find the biggest issues were there?

Spord: Gadgets main problem was with too similar powers. Taking up three possible powers with the turrets needed to change. Other than that it was a lot of little changes aimed at balance.

Mepps: What changes has the team made to address those issues?

Spord: We removed the Sentry and Warden Turrets. Most of the Warden Turrets moves were rolled into the Suppressor Turret, which is still in the Tricks tree. In their place we added awesome new powers, Holographic Decoy and Photon Blast. Players will also notice some other new abilities like Napalm Grenade (replacing Bomb) and Vortex Cannon (replacing Gag Glove). Also Energy Shield is new (replacing Clown Box) and Hide was renamed to Distract because you are no longer made invisible when it is used. This last change was to alleviate targeting issues that were caused by going invisible. If you need to go invisible, we have made Stealth useable in combat.

Mepps: What's the coolest change you made, or which Gadgets power are you really excited for players to see?

Some of the team says the best change was that I didn't change Gauss Grenade. Personally, I like Holographic Decoy because it can stun AND taunt enemies, while also receiving some of your incoming damage. It's just fun to use. A much asked for change from the players was for Battle Drone to give power back to your group. Well, we did that and I have found myself using it more often in play tests.

Mepps: And what about visuals? Do you have a favorite in Gadgets, too?

Spord: Bunker Buster has been updated so that it continually rains missiles from high in the sky. It's nice to think you have an orbiting satellite that you can call in help from.

Mepps: I'm glad you mentioned Bunker Buster. My jaw dropped when I saw the new version! Okay, last Gadgets question. Is there anything else you want to tell players about the Gadgets changes?

Spord: You may notice that the background color for the powers has changed to match the blue color the Gadgets powers use and Mental now has a purple background to match those powers. This is because the Mental and Gadgets power backgrounds were incorrectly swapped this entire time.

Mepps: And one final question. Next up for retuning are Fire and Ice. Anything you want to share?

Spord: Nice try, but no, not yet! I will ask everyone to please keep the feedback coming on the forums, though. It helps quite a bit!

We hope you've enjoyed our behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming changes to Mental and Gadgets! If you're curious and want to help us test these new changes, Game Update 17 is now live on the PC Test server, so come test with us!

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