Biospark
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Quote:Originally Posted by Garent
Well that ruins my entire argument. Hasten it is.
Re: Biospark:
According to City of Data, voltaic sentinel's attack has a 1.17 casting time and a 2.5 second recharge. Ignoring arcanatime, it should be able to do 17 shots in the span of 59.89 seconds (since the attack has to recharge 16 times and has to be cast 17 times). Arcanatime and other factors most likely means it isn't capable of doing 17 shots though.
Like I said before though, I haven't tested this so it could work differently in game.
Good Info Garent, Thanks
As I dont currently use VS, I cannot test it out, but having that many blasts makes me reconsider taking the power.
I was under the impression he fired only 10 times maximum.
16-17 is significantly more than 10. Hmmmm -
Quote:Are you sure Garent ? I thought Sparky only fired off 10 times before expiring, And thats only if he is in range of a villain when summoned. I am not 100% sure though.Originally Posted by Garent
Look at it a different way. It takes 3 seconds to summon the sentinel, and in the time that it's up it will attack 16-17 times (I haven't tested this). Since each attack does about as much as charged bolts, voltaic sentinel is about five times as much damage as your normal attacks, depending on the situation. The drawback being that you can't control what it attacks.
I'd suggest rearranging the power picks so that voltaic sentinel can be grabbed at an earlier level and slotted up. If that's not possible, then you can't go wrong with hasten.
To the OP, I agree with others and would say Hasten or Maneuvers. I have both in my build, but I took Hasten much earlier (level 22 iirc) and Maneuvers in the 30s. Lately I have been warming up to the idea of sliding the Ancillary choices later. For example, if I am only taking 3 of them, I would take them at 44,47 and 49. Most of the TF/ARCs I do where I lose epic powers cause me to lose them all, so having them later only really matters if I want the third one 6-slotted or something.
Did that make sense ? -
Quote:Way to Go PSYLENZ !!! Keep on Defending !Originally Posted by Psylenz
In May of 2010, I plan to collect my 72 vet badge. Let me take a moment to restate the obvious.
Teams can always use a defender.
Teams can always use another defender.
Teams with four defenders on them rarely have trouble of any kind.
Teams of eight defenders can adjust the difficulty way up, beat the snockers off anything, and nuke at will.
This is also my 3000th post so I thought I would make it count.
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Quote:I was not implying that all defenders benefit the same from Vigilance on a team, just that I dont think anyone has proven that its a large difference from set to set. Logic will say that a set like forcefields will benefit less than Empathy, but from personal experience playing my Kinetic, Empathy and Forcefielder (recently) on teams of various make-ups, I honestly cannot see ANY difference in their endurance use from one team to the next. I would expect that one defender would have more trouble with endurance than another (Forcefields), but having concentrated on endurance efficiency for his build, I almost never run low, and he has NO +recovery powers like Emp or Kin and actually spends MORE time blasting than the other two.Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
I'm not so certain about the claim that no defender benefits more from vigilance than another.
P.S. I probably should add that when I run teams with my guildmates (which is the majority of teaming I will do), there is never a shortage of Defenders/Controllers. I am almost never the "sole support" for a team. I could envision a situation like that being more favorable to "Vigilance" than my typical teaming situation. -
I would tend to agree with Dr.Mike,
Dark Mastery seems like a really good choice for Kinetics, and probably will be the way I go with mine eventually.
If your looking for melee Defense. 5-piece Razzle-Dazzle in Stunning Shot and Oppressive Gloom is 5% (2.5% each), and 6-piece Gaussians is 2.5% Melee/Rng/AoE.
Also, if you went Electric for some reason, 6-piece Enfeebled Operation in Electric Fence (or any Immobilize for that matter) gives 2 melee defense bonuses, for 4.375% total.
A good Hold set is Neurotic Shutdown which has 2.5% as a 6-piece bonus. -
I would chime in here with my own opinion based on experience playing both Empathy and Kinetics on teams. I agree with Strato_Nexus in his observation that there is no evidence to support one type of defender getting more benefit from Vigilence than another. Thruthfuly, I view my "Job" on a team primarily as "prevention" and then as a secondary task to "recover". And it seems more common that I rarely need to rely on my healing to keep a team rolling along.
That being the case, I agree with many of the folks here that are saying you should not plan around Vigilance (which I most certainly don't). If vigilance "kicks in", I hardly notice or even need the assistance it offers, because my build is already slotted to maximize my endurance effectiveness over time. This is also why I think it (Vigilance) needs a change, because it has no obvious benefit on a team, and certainly no benefit while solo. Say what you will about a teaming AT having a teaming based Inherent, you will never convince me that this "must" be like this.
Quote:I am sorry Adeon, you are partly right in that Fortitude cannot provide "preventative" protection to the entire team, but through proper application to the "most likely to get harmed" members of your team, Fortitude provides a HUGE preventative benefit to a team. What is more often a challenge to my defender is when the team splits up too much OR, the most likely "squishy" team-mates changes frequently or is greater than "4". Thats when my "empath" starts to feel a little more like a "healer" and less like a "buffer". In the Case of Kinetics, the only real Healing I do is when I need to heal myself, which occurs from time to time due to being in melee/AoE range alot.Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
Empathy cannot reduce a significant portion of incoming damage. The only defense/resistance buff in the set is Fortitude which prevents a lot of damage on a few teammates but by no means the entire team. -
Quote:THIS !! Never could have said it better myself Miladys !Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
If you want to be "realistic" about it, a DEFENDER, that lets a teammate DIE, has failed at being vigilant and should actually get a penalty of some sort.
Vigilance needs to be decoupled from team size and team health and control of it needs to be put into the hands of the defender.
All a tank has to do to get benefit from their inherent is hit with an attack. It's easy to use and the benefit is linear.
All a scrapper has to do is hit wth an attack. It's easy to use and the benefit is consistant.
All a blaster has to do is attack. A nice attack chain can be planned so that the blaster gets maximum benefit from the inherent. There's a bit of thought involved and it's a nice change of pace from other inherents.
All a controller has to do is their job and control things. Containment damage occurs anytime a mob is contained and they actually benefit more when other controllers or team members are present and using controls on the mobs.
A defender on the other hand needs to be on a huge team and fail miserably at their intended team role for maximum benefit?!?!?!?! That's totally messed up.
And I also think it should do SOMETHING while solo, even if its just a small something. -
Quote:Hehe, Thanks for the reply AmyOriginally Posted by Amy_Amp
I don't do TOs. I level too fast and they just don't seem worth it really. 2 acc and 2 end for attacks with DOs. The amount of acc and end redux can be played around with, ie /rad can abuse 1 acc due to the -def it gets. I could see doing 1 end reduc and 1 damage, or maybe even 1 recharge, but I always slot for end. The only time I don't is on a Kin with Stamina post SOs.
I can see Siphon Power getting an end reduc in it early due to it's slightly high end cost, but I have never done it personally.
"Hey, I have end issues before getting Stamina."
"Do you slot for end reductions during that time?"
"Well, no."
End usage is the highest in attacks. Blasters and brutes are infamous for their end usage due to their aggressive nature.
Something that I will definitely have to expirement with. -
Quote:Hello Dr.Mike,Originally Posted by DrMike2000
The only time I've dispensed with my Tier 1 attack at higher levels was with my Emp/Energy duo - once they were perma-AB'd they were using Blast-Torrent-Burst-Explosive as an attack chain.
Every other Energy Blast Defender ended up with Bolt-Blast-Bolt-Burst with AoEs thrown in when they're up.
So I'd dispute that your first solution only helps low level Defenders. Luckily, I think its not just low level Defenders that need help.
I think it introduces too many extra issues though. How do Archery and Rad Blast work, with their faster smaller Tier 1's? If you up Neutrino Bolt's damage, you shift the procs vs Damage slotting balance that many builds are based on.
Does it unbalance Psychic Blast, which has four single target attacks?
In the end it would be a lot easier and lower risk to reduce all Defender (and Tanker) attacks to 80% of their current endurance cost - still leaving them with lower DPE than Blasters and Scrappers but better than what they have now.
I would be very happy if they addressed the endurance problem directly and lowered endurance costs by 20%. As you may know, I have suggested things like this in the past.
This particular idea is more a What IF ...to save endurance we upped the single target DPS chain noticeably ( DPA and DPE slightly). It seemed to be an elegant way to help defenders at low level, fighting bosses or hard targets at higher level and would not boost AoE damage or step on Blaster/Corruptor toes.
That being said, when its all said and done, I can deal with the amount of time it takes to bring down a hard target (I am reasonably patient). I just find the road to 22 unfairly difficult for defenders when compared to other ATs. More endurance efficiency would fix it IMHO.
P.S. You mentioned some sets that might become a bit askew with something like this. Another thought I had was that you could swap the Tier 1 and Tier 2 attacks and let the defender have the option of taking the lower DPA attack or being able to skip it (iirc Broadsword has something like this in its arrangement. The reason I did not suggest it, was that, for the most part Defenders would STILL have to take this smaller blast to build a reasonable attack chain, so without some kind of improvement, we would have gained no benefit for alot of coding. -
Quote:I agree, there are vast differences. Perhaps just my typical choices have been poor performers pre-stamina.Originally Posted by Amy_Amp
End issues are partly based on what sets the ATs are playing. Take for instance a Kin/rad versus a Fire/kin. IMO, defenders are rather end friendly even on the solo side of things because they get a virtual free pass on teams. I vastly slot for end redux in my attacks and various powers early, so I really don't feel much of a end crunch unless I am using a well known end heavy set. I generally don't take any of the toggle powers before Stamina unless it's Sonic, or FF and only Sonic is really end heavy.
Funny you should mention Kinetics, I have made 3 alts in the last month with Kinetics (2 defenders and 1 brand new controller). After Transference, their End issues goes away, but even pre-stamina Siphon Power contributes a great deal to reducing the endurance needs of leveling. This could even be why the idea occured to me to boost the tier 1 attack.
With toggles, I 100% agree with waiting on them. I usually take only 1 prior to stamina and only 2 IF its something like CJ or Hover. After level 21 is when I start looking at stacking more toggles on a character.
So what do you typically slot in your blasts while leveling Amy ?
My plan is 2 TO ACC until after 10, then between 12 and 20 I usually have 1 DO ACC and 3 DO DMG. Between level 23-34 I fill in any remaining slots 4-6 total and start getting IO sets into them. -
Quote:Yeah the whole idea is a bit tricky, I would like to see a single target attack chain worked up for each defender blast set (something like Bill_Z_Bubba's scrapper chains) so that this change could be shown numerically. I know what my "gut" tells me would happen, but the numbers could be completely out of whack (doubtful).Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
Well, there are several sets that use different numbers while maintaining the relationship. Also, for those curious there are three sets where the T2 has better DPA than the T1: Archery, Dark Blast and Psychic Blast.
To Fulmens, I was not sure what you are hinting at ? I would be interested in hearing more on your DPS comment.
One of my first thoughts was to bump the Tier one 20-30% and the Tier 2 10-15%, but I personally dont see a problem with the DPA on the Tier 2 attacks, they feel fine. The teir 1 blasts, I would skip completely (if I could). -
Quote:Hello Jade,Originally Posted by Jade_Dragon
I look at the melee "hole" as being an inherent part of the balance of the AT. (And Corruptors as well) Defenders have blasts and can to some extent defend themselves, but they don't have melee attacks.
And really, Defenders do less damage in melee (0.55 base mod instead of 0.65) so technically if your blast doubled as a melee attack it would have to do it on the 0.55 scale. So instead of doing double damage you would only do about 1.7x damage.
Additionally, Blasters do more damage with their melee attacks, but they have greater recharge and End cost them as well. You could make the Defender attack cost greater End for the double damage, but there really wouldn't be any way to make it recharge slower.
No, I'd leave the Power Pool for those Defenders that want a melee attack. I like your first idea, though. Although maybe they should Scourge, like Corruptors do.
Yeah the first idea is certainly an easier fix. Bump the required attack up a little to make it more respectable. Everyone has to take it anyway, and with more damage it helps our endurance use at low level and helps take down hard targets better at higher level.
I also dont really see blasters getting upset if our tier one attack did 80% (or so) of their equivalent, since all our other attacks and AoE would still be lower damage. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Amy_Amp
Problems with it.
- It means adding in animations and I'm not sure BaB would be found of it.
- Damage scaling happens 1-20 and helps defenders, so pre-Stamina damage isn't an issue.
- If Defenders have a damage issue, it's after 20.
- Getting to 20 is easy enough to where any under performance is quickly bypassed.
Hello Amy,
Yeah the second idea is more of a "wishful thinking".
I would love some more melee options that arent found in pools.
As far as damage, I was thinking of how this could help after level 20 as well, which is why I thought the teir one blast and more ST damage could help in later levels (especially on Bosses).
Pre-stamina though, I do feel there is a major endurance issue, which a little more damage could smooth over until then. I realize all ATs suffer from the endurance pinch at these levels, but having played all the ATs to this point, I think Defenders are the worst off.
Tankers and Trollers are next, but they both have the option of "letting their natural recovery catch up" in a battle (most times, not always). Scraps, Blasters and Defenders (in general) have to go "full-bore" on attacks until the fight is over.
I just want the pre-20s to not "suck so bad". -
Hello Defenders,
**Disclaimer**
Yes, its another "Change my Defender thread", but be gentle, this is just something to discuss peacefully
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Many of us feel that something should be done to help defenders out a bit.
More damage would be nice to help take down Bosses faster (I can read a paper in the time it takes),
and some kind of help pre-stamina/pre SO for the endurance crunch we feel.
And my personal desire to add some melee feel to the AT.
So here are a couple ideas I had;
What if we boosted the Tier One blast damage to be about 30% more damage.
This would help tremendously pre-stamina and pre-SO levels, but would not add to AoE strength of the AT, and would not push overall DPS too much and be in danger of upsetting Blasters/Corruptors. As it stands now, this blast is;
1) Required, so you cannot avoid it, even if you wanted to
2) Very low damage, to the point that I wonder if it would make more sense to just leave it out of an attack chain and add more recharge into the Tier 2 blast.
My second Idea is one that could be implemented by itself or even combined with the first;
What if our Tier One blast had a kind of dual effect. If your target was at range ( farther than 8 feet away) it would act as it does now and animate/damage as a blast. Then, if your target was in melee Range, it would animate as a melee version of the attack and do essentially double damage. (For reference Power Bolt --> Energy Punch for Energy Blast set). These numbers could be tweaked, but this addition of a melee option would be really helpful to defenders, since melee range is unavoidable and it would open up some interesting attack options. For unusual sets like Archery and Assault rifle, they would not get a melee animation necessarily, but they could get extra damage at melee range to be fair.
Ok, flame-retardant is on. Anyone think these could help out Defenders solo and pre-stamina ? Too much extra damage ? -
Quote:Hmmm,Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
This hasn't been my experience. It would be more true, to me, if the set didn't experience such significant downtime. Empathy rocks all of the other sets when its powers are up, but with two powers at base 500 second recharge, the shield on base 60 second recharge, and the Tier 9 at base 300, Empathy performs like a roller coaster in a game where we need a steam roller.
It's a matter of opinion, but for team safety specifically I'd take a Controller with any secondary prior to an Empathy Defender. For hybrid mitigation/DPS, the Defender is just fine. But for some reason all of the Empathy Defenders I meet think they add more survival than Controllers (or even FF Defenders), which I have rarely actually witnessed.
My experience doesnt feel like a roller-coaster of effectiveness. With proper attention to buffs and heals everyone stays near full health when the RAs are down. When they are up I dont have to heal at all and can have more fun blasting, but I would not say that the team is steam-rolling any faster or slower because of the RAs. They DO help on AV fights and, as mentioned, I will save them till the start of those fights once we get close.
I agree with your second statement. I "Know" that Controllers can keep a team safer from large hordes of Villains. Where the whole thing breaks down is with Bosses mixed into a large Horde. Controllers have a whole different duty at that point, and one which my Empath doesnt share. Locking down runaway "Bosses" is something my defender does not have to do, just something I can help out with. Usually my job is to react and keep that teammate standing who drew the extra aggro till a tank or troller "locks down the threat". But I often can use Tesla Cage as a back-up hold to a controller on my team, in order to "Lockdown" a Boss BEFORE he starts hacking apart squishy team-mates.
One of the highest complements I have ever gotten while playing my Defender was on a small team (only scraps and defenders) and after a long session, a teammate says "you are a Defender right?". I respond "Yes". Then he says "Man, I wasnt sure, cause you are like a blaster combined with a troller, can you Tank too?" -
Quote:Yeah, I get that. And you both are correct. The timing on the Emp buffs is kinda unique, I was fixating on the number of buffs rather than the strategy of buffing between the two sets.Originally Posted by Ben_Arizona
Nah, I know what he means about going from Kin to Emp. The thing is that SB recharges really fast - not quite "before it's done animating" fast, but fast enough that you can buff the whole team at a go without much trouble. You don't need to juggle who needs Fort when; as soon as one person's SB is blinking, it's just Buff Time again for everyone. With Fort there's the extra timing element to track.
That said I'm quite enjoying learning how to Emp on my Ill/Emp. It's a bit of a different experience from the other buff sets I've played, with a very heavy focus on its powerful, slow-recharging/long-duration buffs.
For what its worth, the way I approach Empathy Buffs are;
When I join a team, I identify which ATs I have and their powersets.
Every Controller, Defender, Blaster gets Clear Mind and I keep it refreshed. Sure wish this buff was longer, but I manage. Sometimes on a lower level TF, I will notice melee folks getting knocked around, so I add them to the buff cycle.
Fortitude goes initially on the person that is taking the alpha each spawn. And I often only charge up one player on a new team and see who is getting hurt the most on a regular basis. This is a good indication of several things; how much DPS attention they are getting, how tactical they play, and more subtlely, how well their character is built.
I can keep 3 people with Fort easily, sometimes 4 if I am really firing on all cylinders (usually it means there is a Rad or Kin on my team though).
Recovery and Regen Aura are used once they recharge, but I wait until after a fight has gotten started and find a good spot to fire the auras off so as to hit the whole team. Also, if I know that an AV or EB is coming up, I will hold off until the start of that fight to use them. The only people that usually miss RA are the ones hanging way far back or the ones that run off seperate from the team. Nothing I can do about that, but I dont shout "gather" anymore because my friends dont really care. They dont stop even if I do shout hehe
Adrenaline Boost gets blessed on whoever seems to regularly be using all their endurance.
((Yes I am looking at you Fire Controllers and Storm Users)). I have it slotted to over 1000% recovery, but sadly, I dont see many people using Nukes, so it gets used on the next best candidate.
Heal Other is a no-brainer, but doesnt get used as much as one would think, and Healing Aura I like to think of as my "solo" heal, cause the more I play Empathy, the less I need to use this heal at all on my teams. I am not saying I am "that good", just that when the buffs are being refreshed properly and being administered to the "correct" targets, healing is secondary to my teams. -
Quote:Maybe I just dont see enough Empaths to judge. Teams stop recruiting them once I have joined, hehe. But I think the same can be said about other defenders that are Buff oriented. In fact, just the other day I helped someone do a Synapse TF and we had a Bubbler that just put up bubbles and stood around at first. Then I think they (the FFer) got embarassed watching me blasting like a mad-man and tried to do the same. All this accomplished was that bubbles did not get refreshed as "timely" as they could have.Originally Posted by Call Me Awesome
You're absolutely right that a skilled player is an asset no matter what they're playing and I do wish there were more skilled Emps. Unfortunately your odds are much better finding a good player with any other set. A FF, Sonic or Rad is just more likely to have a good player at the controls.
To some degree I can understand it, I've played an Ill/Emp to 40 and found I despised it... I could do it, I just didn't like it. It was the recharge cycle of Fort that was the most irritating to me; I much prefer a set you can use to buff all at once then do other things until it's time to buff again. Kinetics were a lot easier; just take time out every 90 seconds to buff everyone then back to killing.
I did not accost this person, because my "gut feeling" is that they left with a somewhat better idea of what defender's are capable of, and we did not fail in the missions, so it was all just fun and games (since no-one got hurt).
Your reference to Kinetics is kinda funny, because (to me) Kinetics feels alot like Empathy when I play it on a team. Speed Boost and Increase Density replace Fortitude and Clear Mind. Transfusion replaces Heal Other and Transference replaces RA. Then you still have Blasts and Siphons on top of it all.
I dont have FS yet, ...soon though
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Quote:To the OPOriginally Posted by snake1313
So, never made a empath, but since I do RWZ alot, Thought id make one on my other account to help me do some AE missions.
So the question is, would empathy in this manner be better suited on a controller or a defender? I might actually take the toon on a tf or whatever later on, so wasn't sure if the empathy defender is more needed on teams (and better buffs) rather than the dmg/control that a empathy controller can do.
Anyone else been in my situation and wasn't sure which to make?
Others here have posted good advice, even those that seem to have a prejudice against Empathy, so I will just add a couple other points to consider.
The choice of ATs is one that you have to answer. Empathy would be one-half of your powers in either decision, so which Archetype would apeal more to you. Every character is the SUM of their powers, not just one set or the other.
That being said, Defenders offer good team support combined with Blasting.
As a Defending Empath its a little more seat-of-the-pants and requires alot of work to make a good Team and Solo character. Controllers that take Empathy, by contrast, feel as if they have decided to work two different jobs. As Doomguide pointed out, you can feel a bit stressed to do both jobs equally well.
I have Played Empathy as a Controller paired with Illusion, Ice and Mind.
Each one was fun for me (but I love playing the support role), however, of the three, I would say that Ice/Emp had a better "feeling" of synergy than the other two choices.
If you plan on soloing more than teaming, then I would say Controller. If you plan on teaming more often, then either one is fine, just decide which AT better suits you, rather than just focusing on "Empathy"
To those here that have posted harshly about "Empathy" players, I feel badly that there are that many poor players out there and that you have had the misfortune of teaming with folks that dont understand they have 2 powersets at their disposal. But as Adeon_Hawkwood mentioned above, try and realize its the player, not the powerset, that has probably colored your opinion. I am not one of those that puts empathy on a pedastal, but it IS one of my favorite powersets, and I know it works well for keeping a team alive. I would bet any money that "Defender Primary X played by a good Player" outshines "Defender Primary Y played by a unskilled Player". -
Quote:Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
Energy Blast is beautiful. I love the sound effects, the graphics, and the overall feel.
But I'm getting frustrated, because I can't figure out how to use this powerset on a team without making a huge mess. The issue, of course, is the knockback. I spend more time positioning myself than actually shooting at stuff, and no matter where I'm standing things still go flying everywhere. I feel like I'm a huge hinderance to the team, even when I try to knock things down or into walls.
So what are the secrets of dealing with this set? Or are there any? I've teamed with Energy Blasters before and noted things didn't go flying all over, but was it just because they decided not to shoot as much?
Fulmens and Miladys have expressed some pretty core ideas to energy that you can take to the bank. So I will re-iterate them based on 47 levels of Energy-device use.
1) On a team I switch to a single target blaster. (I love Fulmens term; Single Target Assassin) You can do massive damage to a single target in short order, so champion whoever needs your assistance. Blast that mob that decided to attack one of your squishies, especially if that squishy is you. Don't attack mobs that are being engaged by melees unless its one they are not directly attacking. I have never had a scrap/tank complain about knocking a mob that they were not actively targeting at the time.
2) I love grouping with controllers. AoE immob is a free ticket to AoE KB, sorta. Know when you can AoE and when not. If it doesnt seem like a good tactic, just switch to single targets. Also, depending on your secondary, you can use your own immobilize prior to opening up on a single target. My favorite group tactic is web grenade followed by every attack in my arsenal, switch targets, repeat.
3) My last note is that positioning is key to Energy blast, like it or not. You have to identify quickly where you should be pointing your enemies. Indoors is pretty easy to find corners, wall outcrops, etc to blast things into. Once you pin a villain in one of these spots, no one will complain about them flopping and twitching in a corner, if they even notice before your done with the bad-guy. When all else fails, hover directly above and shoot down on top to keep them approximately in the same spot. Fly-enhanced Hover has been my best friend with Energy on a team. No matter what you do, mobs are gonna fly away, so take a few seconds at the beginning of a fight to determine where you want the villains to pile up. Move during combat. A second or two here and there will not hurt your team, but sending a villain flying into a nearby spawn could.
Good Luck, and dont give up. Energy Blasts ARE VERY FUN and Beautiful. -
Quote:Agreed. Pretty much the nail in the coffin for Tough (at least for me) was being required to take Boxing/Kick to open up the pool. Boxing could be useful prior to Stamina and decent recharge, but after that its a power that doesnt even earn a spot on my bar.Originally Posted by FireWyvern
But in a way, i mostly see "fighting" as weave + steadfast unless i really want the s/l resist. (one of my invuln, that's about all...) =P
::Edited: Oh when I say useful I mean for a defender, as a blaster it would not even stay on the bar for 5 mins, nowhere near the amount of damage a blaster requires to function::
I really, really have trouble with taking a power that I will not use, when I could have taken something else that I will use the heck out of more regularly.
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You are correct FireWyvern
I had not looked at the numbers in that way, but the smaller the number, the closer it is to a 1-to-1 trade-off.
So 15% Hps is more like 13% resistance. Still small enough to make me pursue hps rather than Tough.
The ONLY thing that makes me consider Tough, rather than waiting for an Epic Toggle is the ability to slot the Steadfast IO earlier in a build. (POSI TF anyone ?)
With that as my only exception, I prefer getting S/L resist from the epic powers and +HP from sets/accolades rather than tough.
Just one way to look at it
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Cool, sounds interesting Claws
Maybe one day defenders will have an Ice epic to help maximize overall defense like that.
Too bad about Obliteration, but I know the feeling, I have all my melee defense IO bonuses in a Hold and an Immobilize (Neurotic Shutdown, Enfeebled Operation). The only Oblit I could have slotted would have been in dark mastery.
Perhaps, you will find another powerset combination lends itself better to this idea. -
Quote:Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Exactly why I'm going with Smashing/Lethal defense instead.
I plan on playing as a blapper both in melee and at range, and I believe someone once proved that smashing/lethal covers some 65-70% of attacks in the game. I wanted reasonable defense in a variety of situations over nearly unassailable defense in a very narrow situation. Ranged defense does no good at all if you can't stay at range. Try hoverblasting in a low ceilinged cave and tell me how that worked out for you.
Not trying to say that ranged defense + hover isn't a solid tactic, I have a hoverblaster myself and he very seldom gets defeated. Just this time around I want a ranged/melee damage dealer. So for me, I slotted Tough and took Weave in order to achieve what I was aiming to do.
For a strictly team blaster that has a lot of support, no, the fighting pool isn't worth it. If you're trying to maximize what you can get in terms of reliable defense, it is absolutely invaluable.
If your not going for Hover blasting, then my personal take is to try and even out the positional defences rather than S/L. I have done Tough+Weave+IOs on a defender and I have also gone without Tough/Weave. They do have a noticeable effect once slotted up, just not as much as one would hope.
Plus, once you get your epic Toggle, you would be running it and Tough/Weave, thats alot of endurance drain.
Some things to consider;
Tough slotted up could get you to 15%+ resist S/L, but...
get IOs to bump your hps by 15% and you just gained 15% resist to ALL types (at zero endurance drain).
Weave grants 3.5% defense (5% slotted) plus Immob resist, but...
Combat Jumping slotted with 3 Zephyr IOs grants 1.75% Defense to ALL, plus 3.125% def Rng/AoE, Immob protection and KB Protection, for a fraction of the endurance use.
So if you add in a set of Obliteration someplace, and a set of Devastation, you get right around 5% defense to Melee/Rng/AoE/Psi all at the whopping .07/s cost of Combat jumping.
I know that you are thinking you could stack my idea on top of Tough/Weave, and you would be right. Sometimes its less about survival numbers and more about efficiency and up-time.
Good Luck, whichever way you go with tough/weave.
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Quote:Break FreesOriginally Posted by Nny_the_mad
last question, mezz !
i came to realise that i never played a toon that had no mezz protection/resistance of some sort.
AM, mezz shield for meleer, sonic aura, domination..
how do you handle the stun/hold that will cross your road?
Seriously, I ALWAYS maintain half my bars with breakfree inspirations.
Increasing your defense, especially Ranged, will help you use fewer inspies, but never get caught without them, even if it means your team needs to wait a few minutes between doors for you to make a side-trip for Break-Frees. -
Quote:My vote is for it being an indication of a real issue, perhaps more perception than reality, but an issue in either event.Originally Posted by Westley
If they ever proliferate a Force Field Corrupter, I'll definitely be playing a heroic one, and never look back at Defenders again.
Is that bad? Or just indicative of a bigger issue?
I will be staying with Defenders personally. But thats just me being me. I dont play villains.
Its probably safe to say that the Developers will be monitoring the AT populations closely after GR to see what happens. /emote prays