Viper Changes Thread - Share your thoughts

[Khryseis_Astra]

Unfortunately I didn’t get around to leveling VPR until now, so I’m not sure what it was like originally.

The only comment I have to make - and take it with a grain of salt because I’m a caster main and I’m never going to be a great melee - is about the Generation combo buttons. I’ve just gotten to the level where these unlock, and the button arrangement baffles me. I play on controller and always try to set hot bars up so similar skills are in similar places… which has worked fine for the first 10 levels. But now that Generation is available, First and Second proc off of buttons on my right trigger, while Third and Fourth proc on 2 buttons each, 3 of which are on my left trigger. Maybe I just need a better hot bar layout, but this seems weirdly disorganized to me.

[LisseyCrowe]

Unfortunately I didn’t get around to leveling VPR until now, so I’m not sure what it was like originally.

The only comment I have to make - and take it with a grain of salt because I’m a caster main and I’m never going to be a great melee - is about the Generation combo buttons. I’ve just gotten to the level where these unlock, and the button arrangement baffles me. I play on controller and always try to set hot bars up so similar skills are in similar places… which has worked fine for the first 10 levels. But now that Generation is available, First and Second proc off of buttons on my right trigger, while Third and Fourth proc on 2 buttons each, 3 of which are on my left trigger. Maybe I just need a better hot bar layout, but this seems weirdly disorganized to me.

The changes haven't affected this to my knowledge so don't worry for that, at least.

Generation skills really really want you to have them laid out in a way where you brain can easily do 1-2-3-4. Easiest way to showcase this is with a keyboard where you ... pretty much have them on those keys. On a controller that would maybe shift to a setup where it starts from X and goes clockwise, but really anything that your brain can quickly identify as a simple sequence. I would either shift your hotbars to match or perhaps identify the abilities that become 1234 and have one of your hotbars to have that loadout for when you Reawaken.

As for how it was, the TL: DR is that vicewinder/vicepit skills as well as your second combo would apply a 20 second debuff (stacking up to 40s) that increased your damage dealt. Instead of alternating between combos you would only start with the second one if you needed to refresh said debuff. This forced you to pay more attention to the Vice skills cooldown/Uncoiled Fury stacks as well as manage them at a more even pace.

[Carighan]

Unfortunately I didn’t get around to leveling VPR until now, so I’m not sure what it was like originally.

I'll be honest, it was the exact same thing. The changes are drummed up so much, and yeah sure, "one less thing to track now". But frankly you pressed the exact same static sequence of buttons, there was nothing to react to or track or be dynamic. You just had a fixed muscle memory when to press what, exactly as now. It's like saying Reapers have to track their debuff, no they do not after more than an hour with the job, you press the button naturally as part of your internalized combat sequence, whether it applies a debuff to the enemy, a buff to yourself or opens a can of beer in the other room makes 0 difference to how you press it.