It seems interesting but I don't think I fully understand it right now.

Hopefully we can see some of this stuff in action soon™

Cinnder wrote:

Thanks very much for this update -- this has been something we've all been wanting to know more about for a long time.

My initial impression is that it's like the inspiration system from the old game, but far more restrictive. Did I read it correctly that we'll have a maximum of only four? And we can't use them on teammates or pets? I'd be curious to know why this system is seen by MWM as better than the system from the old game.

Also, when you say 'When you obtain a Reserve in your character’s inventory' is that a random drop from defeating enemies? Can they be purchased?

If you were to do a one-to-one comparison to the old game’s Insouratikns where you can carry 20 inspirations, on the surface this seems more restrictive, but there are nuances and differences.

You will be able to set the value of a given Reserve. At its max, a basic Reserve will can be set with 5 increments. So you can use it 5 times for a smaller
Output value or one time for its max output value if you set it to max, or any 20% increment.

Another difference is that we don’t use caps lie the old game, but diminishing resumes on outputs. In the old game you could technically chug 20 of the largest damage inspirations, but for most archetypes, you’ll hit the damage cap way before that. The exception is resistance since technically you can’t exceed 100%, bit it takes far too much output to worry about that for Reserves.

Our system takes the diminishing returns route and lets you use your Reserves more effectively. You are also only being introduced to the starting Reserves here. You here is room to build out Reserves system with different types of Reserves. One idea we have, and this isn’t a promise, is a crafted Reserve that carries dual effects.

Reserves will be available for purchase at launch. However there is always the possibility they we make crafted Reserves, newer Reserves that drop, or unique Reserves for special encounters.

You are correct in that you can’t give a full Reserve to another player. This because Reserves are directly socketed by the type and full based on Momentum use. If you unsocket a Reserve, it automatically empties. The only Reaerve that you can directly use on another player is the Recoup Reserve, allowing you to directly resurrect them.

If we did that with all Reserves, it would make everyone become quasi-support roles, buffing others with Reserves earned off their own Momentum. This doesn’t mean that there won’t ever be newer Reserves that don’t also carry this attribute, but for launch it is the only one.

I didn’t mention pets because they aren’t a concern for launch. They are strictly a post- launch design goal and we will need to evaluate the effect of a pet owner directly using their own Reserves on their pet. We can easily add a new attribute for affecting pets, but again, I didn’t want to delve into pet territory in the update.

Tannim222 wrote:

You will be able to set the value of a given Reserve. At its max, a basic Reserve will can be set with 5 increments. So you can use it 5 times for a smaller
Output value or one time for its max output value if you set it to max, or any 20% increment.

Do you mean we "can't" (regarding the way it's set) change quickly the output we would like during combat ? For example, i usually put the level 2 of my reserve but, during a encounter, i notice i must use my reserve at its max level (because i want to use a particular attribute). Can i change it quickly so as to fit the effect as i need it at this moment(um) ? ^^

Tannim222 wrote:

Cinnder wrote:

I'm still curious about how one gains the slots initially. Do they have to be purchased, or did the comment about one being in inventory mean that they will be random drops? In the old game we started getting insp drops almost right away, so I'm wondering how this will work for poor newbie characters in CoT who might not be able to buy them yet.

Reserve Sockets are set st level one and increase in both quantity and quality (think possible output value) as you gain levels.

Sorry, my bad. I meant to say how does one gain Reserves, not sockets. Ref: 'When you obtain a Reserve in your character’s inventory...' Sorry for the mistype.

Tannim222 wrote:

The setting is a UI issue. As far as I’m aware, we haven’t placed a limitation on combat lock outs of the Reserve UI. As to how quickly you can change things, the setting will have a base delay for the actual switch how fast you can mess with the UI mid-combat is rather more of an issue of reflex and response timing ;)

Noone is faster than a binded key xD Thanks for your answer Tannim !

While very interesting and promising I saw one thing that concerns me, no blues (a.k.a power resources (energy?)). Having to rely only on recovery and powers doesn't really feel right.

Tannim222 wrote:

Blacke4dawn wrote:

While very interesting and promising I saw one thing that concerns me, no blues (a.k.a power resources (energy?)). Having to rely only on recovery and powers doesn't really feel right.

I honestly don’t know how I missed not including this in the update. I’m staring right at the actual designed Reserves and its right there -

Empowerment: replenishes your Power.

Maybe you were too tired when you wrote it? Wouldn't that be ironic. :-)

Tannim222 wrote:

Another difference is that we don’t use caps lie the old game, but diminishing resumes on outputs. In the old game you could technically chug 20 of the largest damage inspirations, but for most archetypes, you’ll hit the damage cap way before that. The exception is resistance since technically you can’t exceed 100%, bit it takes far too much output to worry about that for Reserves.

I don't recall seeing/doing that very often: the damage and accuracy boosts were difficult to quantify during play. What I DID see was slamming a stack of large Purples for 10 seconds of nigh-invulnerability when the chips were down.

Knowing my playstyle, I expect my default slotting will be Recoup, Empowerment, Avoidance, and Breakout.

Oh, neat! I first saw this update and immediately thought, "Inspirations!" Definitely a good nod to this game's spiritual predecessor; I fondly remember how often I was chugging +health and +endurance inspirations so I didn't have to spend a minute resting on hard solo missions. It's so good to see we'll be able to pick up the pace during those lean times, and also avoid getting thrashed when an encounter takes us by surprise.

So, can we get official confirmation that Reserves that we will put into sockets are drops from enemy defeats, like insps? If this is the case, it seems after we get maybe half a dozen (for swaps) we'll have all we ever need, since they refill instead of being used up, and seem to improve as we level ('As your access to higher Reserve thresholds increases, Reserves will improve in how they function.') So will we keep getting these drops for the life of the character even though we won't need them? Or are they not actually drops as some of us have been assuming? And, if not, how do we get them? Only via purchase?

Also, can you give us a rough idea on the non-Momentum-boosted refill rate please? I'm trying to picture how this would work in a mission with several tough bosses. For example, there are some Incarnate missions in the old game where every group of enemies has a boss. As that game's inspiration system works, my blaster can go into that mish with a stack of Tier 3 purples to ensure she has one to use for each enemy group. In CoT it sounds like the most I can have is four Avoidances, assuming I don't keep one slot for a Recoup self-rez. If I want to use Momentum for fighting and there's not much leftover for refill-rate boosting, will the first Avoidance Reserve likely be refilled by the time I get to the fifth group of enemies? If not, can I use Rest or something similar out of combat to get the first one ready again?

Reserve container don’t drop. At least not initially. We can make them a drop as a possibility but it isn’t planned for launch at this moment. How many of each type you will need may vary on build and the type of encounters you have.

The passive fill rate will fill your total Reserves in 5 minutes. If you are building any Momentum, you will fill Reserves faster as the Momentum decay rate multiples the passive fill rate.

Our version of resting will take 60 seconds for full use, which doesn’t change how Momentum decays. Basically, Momentum is always trying to return to 0 within 60s.

Hooray more words. I mean this was talked about what three years ago? And at least back then we got graphical representations of them

Zerohour wrote:

Hooray more words. I mean this was talked about what three years ago? And at least back then we got graphical representations of them

No we haven shown them at all. Perhaps you are mistaking our Augments and Refinement update. We briefly described Reserves [b]in one sentence[/b] in our Momentum update years ago. And then mentioned we would have an update on them.

Since then, we were asked more questions about them. I noted it down as one of the game play FAQs to cover one day and had the time to do a write up on it a while back and PR was able to use it this time.

Tannim222 wrote:

Perhaps you are mistaking our Augments and Refinement update. We briefly described Reserves [b]in one sentence[/b] in our Momentum update years ago. And them mentioned we would have an update on them.

That could have been what I was thinking of. Was a long time ago and I could have confused it. My bad if that’s the case

kk let's not dogpile. Good to have clarification one Reserves and Momentum since they're linked but distinct systems.

Dark Cleric wrote:

Does this mean they are coded into the game or their idea and function has been ironed out?

I've been told it's not at final version, still at prototype stage.

I don't see how it's more restrictive than the old inspirations. It has a lot of potential as a system and I'm excited to see it in practice and see where it will go.

Project_Hero wrote:

I don't see how it's more restrictive than the old inspirations. It has a lot of potential as a system and I'm excited to see it in practice and see where it will go.

In the old game you could end up with 20 insps, whereas in CoT we'll have a max of 4. As someone else said, assuming we always keep one for heal/self-rez, that's effectively only 3.

This will force us to concentrate our buffs into a smaller selection of types, making the system as a whole less dynamic and adaptable. Can't concentrate mostly on a couple types yet still have one or two of another type for certain situations. (E.g. a blue or two in case you don't get that Sapper before he gets you, that sort of thing.)

I'm sure we'll get used to it, but it is more restrictive.

2 more questions for the devs:

1) Will we be able to have two or more Reserves active at the same time? I.e. please tell us there's no global reserve cooldown. And if so, will two of the same type stack?

2) How will we gain reserves in the first place to put into sockets? Purchase only? Random drops? If you're not ready to say, that's ok, but it would be nice to know.

DesViper wrote:

I think it does say that multiple of the same type will stack, but with diminishing returns (as opposed to caps). And the plan is to have them drop or sold by NPCs but it'll take some testing to get that right.

Also idk about you, but with 4 sockets, I probably wouldn't have two of the same type. :p

Apologies, you're absolutely right about the fact that the update does already answer the stacking question.

With a 5-min recharge time, I can definitely see giving a glass cannon char more than one Avoidance so I don't have to read a book between boss fights.

What really concerns me is the lower levels. Right now, in the old game, even a level 2 char has 4 insp slots, which means I can go into a fight with a rez, a def, a heal, and an acc or dmg to get me through any tough fights. And at level 3 that goes up to 8. The new system kinda forces us to anticipate what we think we might need instead of being able to be prepared for just about anything.

Do all reserves refill at the same time?

If i have a healing reserve that has 5 full thresholds and set it to use one threshold at a time, can i use all 5 in succession without delay like in CoH?

Dark Cleric wrote:

Do all reserves refill at the same time?

If i have a healing reserve that has 5 full thresholds and set it to use one threshold at a time, can i use all 5 in succession without delay like in CoH?

The passive fill rate is based on the total Reserve value over a set time filling all Reserves. They are intended to be allowed to activate in succession.

Radiac wrote:

So if I have this right:

We'll have a "progress bar" named "Momentum" which will be at zero when were are out of combat, then will shoot up in fits and starts as we use powers for effect and are hit by enemy mobs' attacks. Some of our powers will be effected by how much momentum we have when we activate them, and some may give us Momentum as part of the power, and some may consume Momentum as part of the power's cost to activate.

Unspent Momentum will bleed off over time until we are back to zero and once again "at rest", but it doesn't truly disappear, it drains into our Reserves in some way, causing us to gain Reserves.

Correct.

Radiac wrote:

The Reserves are basically a short term boost you can get (like a self-heal, a shot of mana or energy or whatever powers up our powers, like Endo in CoX, a small temp damage boost, etc). These are quantized, meaning they exist in the form of discrete quantities of whatever they give you, and there are 5 different quantity levels for each Reserve. The "restore lost hit points" Reserve works like a healing potion, essentially. Presumably we'll have a tray that has slots for 4 buttons on it, one for each "Use Reserve now" panic button we will have. The "use Reserve" buttons will presumably also be key bindable, say to the F1 thru F4 keys, for example, and we can set which key actuates which type of Reserve. I might set F1 to "Heal self" and F2 to "restore Endo" or whatever. I would also set, in the properties of the buttons, what level of Reserves to spend when I hit the button. That or it always uses whatever level it has filled to, I can't tell from the article.

Correct except for the part of the UI. That is still in the works, though a Reserve doesn't have to be full to use it, it has to be at the value you set it at within the UI and then it can be used. Of course, your starting Reserves are at their smallest value.

Radiac wrote:

So as Momentum, which is a "fluid" resource, drains away over time, it will fill our Reserves up to the point where the buttons that represent using a Reserve will go from "greyed out and unusable" to "lit and now ready to use" when it gets enough bled off Momentum to fill it. Apparently, there will be a "wakie" style Reserve that you can use on a friend, if you want to, or on yourself.

The Recoup (healing) Reserve can be used to directly resurrect a defeated ally.

Radiac wrote:

It also sounded like the Reserves, once filled and usable, are then also PORTABLE in the sense that they can be traded or sold like Insps in CoX? Is that right?

Nope. Once you unsocket a Reserve container, it immediately drains. The containers are tradable / sold however. For starting out, this isnt much of an issue, but looking into the future, being able to do so will become more necessary.

Radiac wrote:

Lastly, it sounds like you're saying we may be able to buy Reserves with real money, is that right? If so, that smacks of Pay to Win, to some people. For the record, I don't have a problem with that, but some governments do, including the U.S. increasingly, if the rhetoric I read on the internet from Washington D.C. is to be taken seriously.

I have no idea where you got this from. Nowhere in the update or any official comments by us do we mention purchasing Reserves our company cash shop.

Tannim222 wrote:

Radiac wrote:

Lastly, it sounds like you're saying we may be able to buy Reserves with real money, is that right? If so, that smacks of Pay to Win, to some people. For the record, I don't have a problem with that, but some governments do, including the U.S. increasingly, if the rhetoric I read on the internet from Washington D.C. is to be taken seriously.

I have no idea where you got this from. Nowhere in the update or any official comments by us do we mention purchasing Reserves our company cash shop.

Scrolling up, Cinnder asked "Can they be purchased?" and the answer I read was in the affirmative. Cinnder never stipulated what was meant by the word "purchased" in the original question (i.e. purchased for real money or for IGC?) and Tannim222 never expounded on it in the answer, so I was confused.

Radiac wrote:

Tannim222 wrote:

Radiac wrote:

Lastly, it sounds like you're saying we may be able to buy Reserves with real money, is that right? If so, that smacks of Pay to Win, to some people. For the record, I don't have a problem with that, but some governments do, including the U.S. increasingly, if the rhetoric I read on the internet from Washington D.C. is to be taken seriously.

I have no idea where you got this from. Nowhere in the update or any official comments by us do we mention purchasing Reserves our company cash shop.

Scrolling up, Cinnder asked "Can they be purchased?" and the answer I read was in the affirmative. Cinnder never stipulated what was meant by the word "purchased" in the original question (i.e. purchased for real money or for IGC?) and Tannim222 never expounded on it in the answer, so I was confused.

Aha, that does explain things. I assumed he was referring to purchasing [i]in game[/i] considering the context of discussing in game mechanics (such as item drop).

StellarAgent wrote:

What would be nice is if we could "top-up" our reserves to the first level if/when we revive in the hospital.
Walk up to the nurse at her station and buy some 'prescriptions".

In the more gritty/streetwise parts of the city these handy prescriptions could be priced out of reach for the average hero.

Hi there, I'm French and i don't come often here to speak, so excuse me because i hadn't read all the tread. Probably what i gonna say was already evoqued.

I had read on the French website https://titanscity.com/ that new about reserves and i think about one thing. I think we could perhaps add a reserve. It would increase the speed of recharge/attack and why not movement. I’d call it the speed or celerity reserve. Like that, all the aspects of our character can be enhanced.

What you think?

Tannim222 wrote:

Couscous76 wrote:

I think we could perhaps add a reserve. It would increase the speed of recharge/attack and why not movement. I’d call it the speed or celerity reserve. Like that, all the aspects of our character can be enhanced.

What you think?

While this is technically possible, there is a very good reason to not have a recharge buffing Reserve, and that is because it would increase your actions and thus, Momentum gain, which in turn can lead to refilling Reserves.

So there would be a positive feedback loop, which would be hard to keep in your expected performance boundaries?

Foradain wrote:

So there would be a positive feedback loop, which would be hard to keep in your expected performance boundaries?

Most definitely. We could do it by applying a lot of limitations, like as Desvioer postulated, but that tends to be complicated. Generally, a use of a Reserve should be a net positive. You (as a player) shouldn’t have to also take into account how it negatively impacts parts of performance.

We could do other things like limited use on a Recharge Reserve, make it require longer to fill, etc, but that would definitely be something if a unique type of Reserve and not a basic one.

Right now it’s all about getting the basics in place, letting players learn and use these systems, and get fancy later.