Pathfinding: probably the most common complaint about Phaseflare, it needs to be fixed, allowing it to ignore geometry when it’s ACTUALLY homing into an enemy OR being ‘recalled’ just seems like the easiest solution considering we 'd then be able to just call it back should it get “stuck” inside geometry, to avoid issues, it should have limited range when not locked onto a target(so that it doesnt fly away), and regardless of that, if it currently finds itself inside geometry it should then float up to the nearest point directly above it where it wouldnt be clipping into geometry(but allow it to float mid air for flying targets without floating down)
5 Punches Causing Early End/Detonation: Why is this even a thing? it’s not even listed on the skill card for any of the Phaseflare-related skills! Quite simply, instead of limiting phaseflare to 5 punches that make the flare orb to detonate early, the limit/early detonation should not exist at all, the skill should always last full duration, to compensate for this, the shooting star and the base version’s dmg increase per melee hit should be limit to first 5 punches, after which it’s damage no longer increases
Side Notes:Cryo not working with Infusion and Forceful Expression skills needs to be fixed ASAP and it’s really disappointing amara STILL cant switch elements without opening a menu and i can’t help but assume her new tree’s capstone killskill was a bandaid solution for that
Phaseflare punch Key-Bind: Don’t really understand why the orb punch key-bind is the melee key/button, i know its a literal punch but wouldn’t it be better to bind it to Action Skill button? since it ALREADY requires u to be up-close to punch the orb AND it prevents recalling(currently bound to AS button when orb is active) when too close to it, i feel like it’d be better to have the orb punching bound to the AS button, avoiding the weird buggy nature of trying to use phaseflare when spec’d into Blitz(often causes amara to dart THROUGH the orb to punch enemies instead of punching the orb in front of her)
just make it so that: if orb is active-> AS key = recall (if out of range) - or - AS Key = punch orb to fly at enemies (if in range)
Main Menu Woes: currently phaseflare’s preview in the main menu is shown with amara’s base body model, even if using the multiverse skin pack’s different model/skin
Bosses protected by Ledges: any reason in particular for the orb to be unable to fly to bosses floating outside of the platform we’re standing on, like Grave Wardthe Psychoreaver from DLC4? its a flying orb! why cant it fly over a ledge???
in fact its worse than that, not only does it refuse to fly over these ledges, it… breaks faster if u try to punch it into the ledge… just… why??? its a flying orb, let it FLY! AND to add insult to injury, Light Fantastic variant of Phaseflare actually ignores the barrier, but in the Graveward fight it cant build up dmg(and in the Reaver one u need to wait for the rocket riders) so it CAN mechanically fly anywhere it wants, its just being stopped by weird invisible walls that shouldnt exist!!!
this goes back to the 1st complaint from the OP, just let this thing act as the flying magical ball that it is, let it fly freely and ignore geometry when locked into an enemy, let it lock into grave and reaver, let it fly over ledges
all this plus the 1st post’s recommendations of course
I was actually looking forward to using Light Fantastic because I completely despise melee and the new AS looked fun. But the fact that this thing collides with EVERYTHING made me spec out of it after playing with it for a while. It’s clunky beyond belief as it gets stuck in everything all the time. A small stair? Stuck. A fence? Stuck. A barrel? Stuck. A pixel touched the edge of a building? Stuck. And the thing is literally unusable in many scenarios. Even having to recall the damn thing constantly actually lowers my DPS.
Why this thing has collision though is beyond me. But these devs don’t surprise me anymore because I doubt they ever play their own game with the way they keep putting out clunky, unusable, unbalanced or outright bugged and broken stuff.
I really like the concept but seriously, the fact that it will stop from the tiniest contact makes it hard to justify as a serious build. I can understand needing a clear line of fire like a gun but how little it takes to hang up is really bad implementation.
I also hate that it doesn’t seem to be able to punch down, i.e. standing on a ledge with enemies below (at a completely reasonable angle mind you) it simply wont spawn at all. Imagine if any of the other class skills did this. Again that’s an instant No to creating a build around it.
1 Like
maxageddon
(There's safety in numbers. There's Safety in pins.)
#5
Aim your crosshairs in the direction of the enemy. Tricky, but you can punch it up and down. It goes towards where the crosshairs are pointing
punching it up doesnt really do anything besides being a way to get around blitz, it will still go straight forward along the floor(or try to), it will only go “up”’ if it ‘locks on’ onto an enemy, and even then its still subject to being stopped by geometry
light fantastic has the best tracking, tho thats a low bar, and it comes at the cost of control/dmg build up
yea its a real shame, im really hoping they fix the way the orb interacts with geometry and enemies, cause on paper its a really cool design for a skill AND it does do great dmg, just ridiculously annoying to use it on most areas due it anything causing it to get stuck… or the occasional “orb spawns under the floor” situations
1 Like
maxageddon
(There's safety in numbers. There's Safety in pins.)
#8
You need to be aiming at an enemy, otherwise, move around the obstacle and call it. You do have to ■■■■ around with positioning a bit, and it can take its sweet time getting over to obstacle, but it can be done.
I like the mechanics of AS, personally. It’s wonkyness is its charm. That and it still does a stupid amount of damage
nope, it goes in a straight line along the floor unless it recognizes a target, in which case it tries to fly in a straight line to them, and even then, that depends on the target, some it will simply not lock on to and it struggles a LOT of verticality, for others like the bosses already mentioned, it is simply stopped by invisible walls(unless using light fantastic), or in most enviromentals, it will be stopped by random crap in the way(as the devs made sure to add a lot of clutter to combat environments for enemies to use as cover, or for decoration, or both)
recalling is seemingly more responsive, but still not perfect and the orb will still get stuck in geometry
i like the mechanics of the AS too, i absolutely hate its glitchyness, how often it gets stuck in environmental geometry and invisible walls preventing full usage against certain enemies, it should not “take its sweet time getting over obstacles”, it should simply fly where its ordered to, players shouldnt waste time under fire trying to position themselves in the perfect spot where a recall/punch makes it move properly
Well that’s kinda asinine. If I have two or more separated enemies anywhere thats lower than where I am and I want to draw them together I cant aim between them because the flare simply wont spawn at all. Whose brilliant idea was that?
I agree with what a lot of people are saying. This ability, in theory, is AMAZING!! But in practice it is very difficult to play around and you always have to be aware of your structures and buildings in the game. I honestly wouldn’t even form a build around it until it gets fixed or if you are in an open arena type fight. It’s best used on an open field type area but I was just using it in the BALEX ship area and my God was I getting frustrated. I just ended up not using my Action Skill until the end with the fight with GENEVIV because every nook and cranny makes it unusable. You are going through multiple rooms in the spaceship and each room has lots of desks or stairs or pipes that this orb gets stuck as soon as it spawns. A lot of times it wouldn’t even spawn and cancel out and refund my cooldown. Very frustrating action skill.
Within 20 minutes of playing my lvl 13 Amara I realized the orb mechanics and knew I was going to dread this orb. Unsure why Gearbox kept the orb mechanics this way but whatever. It should just be able to phase through everything and slip through everything. A lot of times when you hit F it simply does not come back to you at all because pathing. I NEED my orb back to me hence why I’m calling it back. It’s a wasted ability if that even doesn’t work right. If this isn’t an option then make the orb smaller. Zane’s drones follows stuff perfectly. So do Atlas grenades. Why is the Orb getting stuck on everything? It’s size. Okay so make it smaller for more maneuvrability
2a) The 5 punch detonation: I don’t like it. I’d hit it all the time by accident and it would explode when I didn’t want it to. I’d like it to be completely taken away. (But what about the higher damage punch mechanic?) You may ask. Just have the orb go for full duration but get increasingly more damage as the duration lessens. The orb can then automatically detonate at the end of its duration for max dmg.
2b) I’d like if I hold F then I can detonate my orb myself. The reason for this is simply just a quick fix (IMO idk how fast game mechanics are implemented). The orb keeps getting stuck in the ground or on stairs. Then I have to wait for the full duration to use my ability again meanwhile I’m just dying or running around waiting for it. I’d like to just explode it myself and get refunded my cooldown sort of like how Zane can explode his clone himself. If this action skill was perfect this wouldn’t need to be an issue but since the orb is troublesome to use I think exploding it would solve a lot of headaches for quick relief but it’s not a long-term solution.
Make the ball fly. Just please. I was farming Graveward for some lvls and a shield and this orb looks like I could punch it to his chest but I can’t. It only goes to the ledge so I can only use it when his face falls.
I will say I do enjoy the Projectile Augment though. I sometimes would just call my orb in the middle of the room and leave it there to shoot projectiles out. The Tracker Augment is my favorite augment, in theory, and would be my main skill once the orb is perfected.
So I’d started a new Amara from scratch to base around phaseflare/cold, and the more I play it the more annoying it gets. Going through the Jackpot has been a nightmare. It doesn’t fit under or between anything, and of course the wide open spaces aren’t where the baddies like to hang out now are they?
There are plenty of spots where Iron Bear doesn’t have space to spawn, but then IB can still shoot into the tight spots. The little PF projectiles dont compare in that respect and if it’s never going to get more than 2ft away from you then you’d be far better off sticking to Phasecast.
It rarely works at any kind of down angle even with the crosshairs on a target, and when it does it - anyone? that’s right, it gets stuck. In clear open space being on a step 6 inches lower than your target stops it dead. It’s also completely counterproductive to run around like an idiot trying to find an angle to get it to return to you on the off chance you did manage to get it to travel any meaningful distance.
At lower levels it was great at freezing enemies, but now at lv50 I’ve got Atman, Anima, and Tempest maxed and it’s just not keeping up. (FWIW my guardian rank is about 340 if I remember right and the elemental damage boost is about 11%) Even the weakest enemies seem to experience no more of a minor chill than could be countered by a light sweater. If ppl are correct about cold not working properly with Infusion, Forceful Expression etc, then what else might not be working as intended?
In ideal circumstances yes, it’s awesome. But those circumstances are so infrequent that you’d be better off swapping skills and if you have to be doing that constantly why not just ignore PF from the start?
I agree with the others: this skill is awesome and very powerful but extremely unreliable and stressful to use on the long run.
Geometry collision needs to go and the fact that you punch enemies instead of the ball can be a death sentence.
I have tried punching it to send towards enemies/bosses i am fight and 99% of the time it won’t budge. I cannot which passives/actionskills cuse blitz asI read that is a bug with it.
To launch in proximity of enemies just look straight up while inside the ball. It’s a chore but it works.
Also remember that Find your Center gives melee range and with two points in it (with muse com) you punch enemies from kilometres away.