Unnerf Paralyzers

[Jahmin]

With the massive coming changes to the game, it is time to relook at other aspects as well. Specifically in this case the (Mod1? 2?) Paralyzer nerf. With the removal of autocrit, Paralyzers should have their helplessness status returned.

Currently Paralyzers are near useless (save perhaps for pulling off my Kama in order to place it on my Bastard Sword…) since the limited crowd control they provide is not nearly worth the DPS lost. Further to this is the extreme difficulty of finding one that bypasses DR.
Even with this buff (un-nerf?) Paralyzers would not be overpowering because the DC remains too low to be of any reliable use.

Small tweaks like this would go a long way to ensuring continued melee relevance in the Epic and post-cap game. Thank you for your consideration!


J-

[GeneralDiomedes]

I never had much fun at a Paralyzer party. Thankfully DDO has steadily moved away from uber, game breaking weapon effects.

[Ganolyn]

I've seen paralyzers work well on up to CR18 mobs. Yes, you have to keep hitting them for it to stick, but you are hitting them anyway and it actually has two saves to defeat, the one to start it and the one to release from. Divine caster mobs are most resistant to it because of their higher WIS score, but everything else just stops in its tracks when I use mine, and I use them a lot. I Icy Burst all mine to gain back some DPS and yeah, it may take a little longer to kill them, but realistically I do it to prevent damage to me, not kill things fast. Paralyzers are fine the way they are. Giving them +50% damage would be OP. They are not like spells, they don't cost anything to use and can be reapplied indefinitely.

[toaf]

they work just fine. but i would like to see a improved paralizer bow. poor bows get the shaft all the time.

[Sidewaysgts86]

/not signed for the reasons stated above. I dont think DPS on your-side of the game should be a concern when using paralyzing weapons- The focus of them should be completely on damage mitigation, imo. Ive had a lot of success in groups that utilized 1-2 people on paralyzer-duty, keeping things locked down while we smashed them into oblivion (Excuse me, Im a paladin- I smote them). The damage we *didnt* take was well worth the dps we lost.

I think having weapons such as these add some flavor- not everything should be about "dps". Weapons like these give us more options to employ in combat, i actually wish we had more weapons like this.

However-

/signed completely for the bows. Im fine with archers not being kings of dps for some obvious reasons, but i do feel they should be able to contribute a lot to CC. Wish they had more abilities to allow this

[azrael4h]

/not signed for the reasons stated above. I dont think DPS on your-side of the game should be a concern when using paralyzing weapons- The focus of them should be completely on damage mitigation, imo. Ive had a lot of success in groups that utilized 1-2 people on paralyzer-duty, keeping things locked down while we smashed them into oblivion (Excuse me, Im a paladin- I smote them). The damage we *didnt* take was well worth the dps we lost.

I think having weapons such as these add some flavor- not everything should be about "dps". Weapons like these give us more options to employ in combat, i actually wish we had more weapons like this.

However-

/signed completely for the bows. Im fine with archers not being kings of dps for some obvious reasons, but i do feel they should be able to contribute a lot to CC. Wish they had more abilities to allow this

This is how my static group utilizes Paralyzers as well. I took advantage of Spring Attack on my Exploiter, and could often keep 4-5 mobs paralyzed at once while the others brought them down. Likewise, mine are Icy-bursted Khopeshes, giving them fairly decent DPS in a pinch, though not uber outstanding. It's a tactic that works well into IQ, though past that it loses a lot of strength.

So /not signed. Adding in an Improved Paralyzing for higher levels would be fine, with a corresponding DC bump, and more CC options for Archers would give the good ones something to prove the naysayers wrong with (the bad ones will still ruin it for y'all however). Turning Paralyzers into the melee-equivalent of a perm Mass Hold Monster for no actual cost whatsoever would be over-powering.

[TimoteoDeLani]

My (family) guild has a large percentage of ranged characters - mainly mechanics and artis, a couple of rangers. We absolutely love paralyzers. Brilliant crowd control allowing the melees and casters to focus on killing things. A party with a paralyzing repeater (where it works - up to at least Reaver's Refuge) keeps much longer blue bars on their healers.

3 shots/volley + Improved Critical + Improved Precise Shot + Paralyzing of Puncturing + Festival Icy Burst + Int bonus to damage (Insightful Damage or Mechanic) + either Elemental Damage or DR breaker if there's an arti in the group ...

OR

Manyshot + Imp Crit + IPS + PoP + Fest IB + Bow Strength + Elemental or DR breaker if arti in group ...

And of course you can add things like the Wind Howler Bracers to up the DPS further.

I'm guessing we've probably got the largest collection of Paralyzing of Puncturing repeaters around - now all with Festival Icy Burst on them.

[Therrias]

I prefer paralyzing of pure good. (with icy burst of course)

[Phemt81]

We now do 50% more damage to helpless enemies, in fact when we score a crit we do even more damage than before the "nerfing".

/not signed.

[TimoteoDeLani]

I prefer paralyzing of pure good. (with icy burst of course)

They're good too (and we've got some). Overall though we've found puncturing to be more effective, especially when enemy healers are around - unless they actually use Heal they'll eventually go helpless, at which time it's all over. Plus with reduced CON the maximum HP they can heal to is lower as well.

[sephiroth1084]

Paralyzing weapons haven't caused helplessness in a looong time, if they ever did. They are pretty well-balanced now, serving as a semi-effective form of melee crowd control. I've seen them used to good effect in epics, but it requires a fast attack speed to bother.

[Xenostrata]

They seem pretty good now - TWFing improved paralyzing weapons lets you do awesome things like keep Warlock Sobrien permanently frozen.

[Quarterling]

Sorry but /not signed. I have two Epic Midnight Greetings, and I paralyze epic mobs quite frequently. If mobs became helpless, it would make anyone that dual-wields those weapons (or any improved paralyze weapons for that matter) horribly over-powered.

[Sarisa]

While it would be nice to have the bonus damage from Paralyzers, it would probably be a bit too strong, especially in the mid levels when Paralyzers are already incredibly powerful.

Paralyzers are already one of the best things a support character can swing in between CC or other damage mitigation spells from the time they become available (8 with RR/UMD) until around level 16-17. Many many mobs during that period have incredibly low will saves, so Paralyze, Greater Command, Otto's Sphere of Dancing, and several other spells and effects are great to use.

Paralyzers are also incredibly helpful when used by a well played ranged character.

Most of those mobs that paralyzers are extremely effective against have massively inflated CON scores so Wounding/Puncturing weapons are less effective. WoP weapons are still great, and I feel they're best used for the high will save trash (like Eladrin for instance) since they often have low CON and are easy to put into "helpless" state (where they can't cast).

In epics, aside from monks and the occasional tactical Kensei, the best melee CC available is probably someone using a pair of Epic Midnight's Greetings or an Epic Sirroco+Epic Timeblade combo.

[voodoogroves]

Not signed. Paralyzers are fine as-is.

[Chai]

I agree that they need to do things to make melee more relevant at end game. But a DC 17 paralyzer isnt going to do it, even if it does put the mob into the helpless state. It would need a DC somewhere in the 30s to get noticed, where mobs arent saving on every roll but a 1. That would make it too powerful for a level 10 effect.