Spark

Don't know if this has been fixed yet but last time i played sparker and got the unique map Death and taxes i couldn't deal damage to the flying enemies there. Perhaps something to look into if it's still an issue.

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Vipermagi wrote:

There's nothing to 'fix' there; Spark is a ground-based Projectile, and Animated Weapons are hovering entities (ignore ground-bound effects and collision).

Just because terrible design is intentional doesn't mean it shouldn't be fixed. The only thing worse than not being able to hit fliers is not having any projectiles come out when you're too close to an obstruction, which happens constantly. This is exacerbated by the fact that sometime you see projectiles even though they're not really there. Both of these terrible aspects of Spark have been around as long as I can remember. GGG, you can do better than this.

I just played a Sparker for the first time since Talisman league. The recent nerfs were absolutely brutal. Was Spark really so overpowered that it needed to be crushed like that? I was lucky enough to find a Tabula at low level and Spark still felt terrible even in a 6-link. The problem was only going to get worse as I leveled. If I stack projectile speed, the projectiles disappear before they hit things twice. If I stack duration instead, it's slow as hell in a game that's balanced around killing overpowered enemies before they can move. If I stack both, I wasted my points since the duration's irrelevant (see point about projectile speed).

This used to be one of my favorite skills, even before the massive buffs it received. Now it feels worse than ever since you removed the most important functionality that gave the skill its personality.

You did bad work here, GGG. Please undo the changes you made. If the skill's too powerful, find some other way to tone it down instead of removing the most fundamental aspects of the skill.

Spark one of my favorite skill in PoE.

One thing, why Spark unplayable - projectiles cant hit "flying" enemys.

I could play with this defect before, but with WftA release, to many map bosses have mechanic like Animated Weapon etc.

And those massive nerf before... uhhh.

Please GGG, at least make Spark able to hit flying mobs.

I decided to try Spark for the first time ever and it was a decent/fun experience. I got it into the guardians but not the Shaper. I tried red elder and got demolished (that's more survivability, but my dps was really bad on him), had to ask for help .. until the later phase and I just stood there casting spark.

But the lack of being able to hit Animate Weapons was a serious drawback, significant enough for me to never play this again. (Why not just have a code that allows ground based spells to hit flying if there is any overlap but follow the ground mechanics? Seriously. Once I found this out I decided to not try Arctic Breath for the next league.)
The other drawback is the damage output is pretty lackluster on bosses. It made it really painful to try end game things.

The damage variability does hinder the overall dps considerably, especially since the cap damage isn't all that higher either. I guess this is to even out the map clear speed, but the bosses take so darn long it really seems too weak compared to other skills' clear speeds.

Please fix the way this skill fires! The entire cast fizzles if it is cast next to and facing any obstacle. If you are facing a wall, or facing a rock, or god forbid standing in a doorway, the skill will entirely fizzle and all sparks will immediately die. Even if you are using the nova threshold jewel. Standing next to a wall but facing away from it allows all projectiles to fire, even the ones behind you... but for some reason facing a wall causes all projectiles to immediately die.

I am playing synthesis softcore league at level 91, I've had a few bad deaths, but easily 2/3 of my deaths are because I tried to spark into an obstacle, all of the sparks failed to fire, and the surrounding mobs killed me. It's completely infuriating, and I don't know how this has been allowed to remain in the game. Maybe it's because no one played hand-cast spark until now, but I can tell you that fizzling your entire 3-stack unleash because you cast spark into a tiny pedestal is the most frustrating thing I have ever experienced in PoE, and it KEEPS HAPPENING, because the map design in this game is full of doorways obstacles that most skills don't interact with, but guess what, spark does. I'm trying to navigate through decaying synthesis memories at breakneck pace, and if I get my positioning wrong ONE SINGLE TIME I die and lose 10% of my xp bar because all of my sparks fizzled for some reason. Why is this even coded into the game, sparks are supposed to BOUNCE OFF WALLS. Could you please, for the love of GOD, Kitava, or Kuduku, whoever, PLEASE FIX THIS.

PS-Still love the game btw.

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Jennik wrote:

The only thing worse than not being able to hit fliers is not having any projectiles come out when you're too close to an obstruction, which happens constantly.

I've tried politeness (well, in this thread) for years and it clearly doesn't work. Here's some tough love.

How the fuck has this bullshit not been fixed? I'm leveling Spark and it's an absolute shitshow due to walls eating your sparks. If POE was designed in such a way that you could easily play without going near a wall/doorway/tree/literallygoddamnanything, it'd be okay. It's clearly not, though. I'm playing in a custom league without Synthesis, so I don't even have to deal with all those more-cancerous-than-ever indoor memory layouts. It's still dogshit.

This has been happening for years now. At this point it seems clear it's intentional, but why the fuck would you intentionally be making Spark play like rotten asshole? Do you still hate the skill due to the prevalence of Spark totems ages ago? Get over it. Make the skill not suck.



Here's an Abyss that spawned against a wall and shit a bunch of guys out on the wall side. All those guys were completely unkillable due to the shittiness of Spark, so the Abyss fizzled. Yes, I literally couldn't kill those monsters because Spark can't go over a fucking HOLE IN THE GROUND and can't be cast next to walls. I'll tell you, Flame Dashing next to a pile of monsters and spamming your skill while nothing goddamn happens feels PRETTY BAD.

It's bad enough that all the ground garbage your visual designers shovel into every zone for some reason blocks sparks, but A FUCKING HOLE? What are the sparks getting stuck on, motherfucking air? THAT'S NOT HOW AIR WORKS, GGG.

There is no fucking excuse for any of this. You can do better. Chris said you aim for making the game 90% not shit in his GDC talk, and goddamn it, Spark deserves to be in that 90%. Leave that 10% shitsville pile for things like Templar's model, Scion's new voice lines, and "balance."

Boss room of Underground Sea is a real challenge sometimes with spark.

yes, the room is very small, it should be the perfect boss, but if you are 1 pixel on the wrong position it completely bugs and 0 sparks are sent.

i see more people already complained on this post about this, but the problem still persists(may/2019) and is being something i'm having to play around that i clearly should not.

It's a nice skill agains large mob groups, but I have my problems against single targets, like boss fights, because of it's randomness.

I also had problems in the Moon Temple Map, all those small passages hinder me to spawn sparks, or the sparks don't travel throug it. It's always a risk of life and death, move on the mob fullfilled plattform. Ok, I have a bit low defences (low money rng this season), but still...It fells like a death trap.

Would be nice a buff against bosses, or/and single targets.

This gem will remain dead till these stupid mechanics are removed from it



"Spark projectiles now destroy themselves after travelling 150 units"

"A single cast of Spark can hit an enemy once every 0.66 second (after patch 2.3). Keep in mind this is per cast, not per projectile"


Remove these horrible mechanics off the skill and spark will be alive again