Catwhoorg

The do tend to 1) scatter and 2 ) stay at range.

Makes it fun for melee only types.

Thanks for the comments folks.

One PM'ed comment I got as well was the scaling factor - Basically flooring Def against a 90% to hit opponent was worth more then against the 50% so the number was artefically boosted.

But after examinination you know - it is worth more. Floooring accuracy of a 90% to hit opponent is worth more than that of a 50%.
Its my opinion that the numbers should reflect this.

Now theres a straight answer....

Try Fighting the Cabal - very different AI there.

He didn't (TM) it.

Cheers (TM)

tis mine now...

*Hides evidence of Soloing Babbage*

Whacks Anti-Cat with a cheap imitation





wrapped round a large Gold Brick

Artic_Sun Welcome, looking forward to the first article.

Dont worry about the Anti-Cat

Tosses Artic_Sun a rolled up newspaper of deth. Use that if he gets too rowdy.

So you dont think for example phase shift was put on a timer as people could stealth through entire series of missons with not thought or or risk.

That People have 15-20 Fire imps out wasnt overpowerring the PvE game, and making it too easy.

That I5 as a whole was a rebalancing of the dynamic, which reduces the ability of a single charcater to solo an entire mission set for 8. Which may have been fun for one person, but 7 people /em boomboxing werent being challanged one bit.

the gloabl defence chnage orineted for PvP - hah dont make me laugh, take the poorest perfoming sets (+def based), reduce their capabilities, rescue PvE mobs accuracy a bit, but not touch player accuracy. yes sooooo PvP based that one.

Simple the information Cuppa was given to pass on was wrong at that time, as shown by several people. It was 25% then, and since the time it was chnaged (the WL patch)

Now the 25% of HP versus the 25% total damage done is something that maybe should be cleared up, but isnt a terrible issue.

Nah rescue Jackson Turner would be the best mission series, less unravlleing of history to do.

One thing I find interesting up thread is the comment about Frostfire.

Some people like the new zones specific arcs, others find them repetetive because EVERYONE ends up doing the same missions.

Now this suggestion is a heck of a lot of extra work in missions scripting, but gets more out of the zone design.

Have 2 or 3 paths from the initial contact that eventually merge at the final one.
So Wincott introduces to an outcast a troll or a CoT, whom pushes you onto to a 2nd in the same path and finally a 3rd whom introduces to Talshak.

Each would have a different Elite boss at the approrpiate places.

So a team could have members with 3 different arcs ongoing.

Croatoa could push you into
1) Cabal heavy arc
2) fir Bolg heavy Arc
3) Tuatha Heavy arc
4) red Cap heavy arc.

All of which would have similar progression, and end up at the same place in the TF, but provides much more game play in the single zone.

Boomtown could be reworked into having a series of linked contacts that give
1) ouscasts and trolls missions
2) Lost and Vahz missions
3) council missions
4) clockwork missions.

I guess what this boils down to, is it harder to design zones or a series of missions.
- If mission are the easier portion, then more per zone is the best way for new content.
- If new zones are easier the I guess the existing way is the best.

Sure will some of us bemoan the fact that we cant do ALL the content in the zone (we we can but have to teamor roll alts), but isn't that the Vision ?

8% of the player base has a level 50
A smaller proportion has multiple 50's

So MOST people havent even worked through all the story arcs in the game at the moment.

best investment for Dev time and new zones is in the pre-50 game at this point. (that will change soon).

Soem of us still liek to raid Hami (even if we fail).
Some of us do go to the arena with friends/SG and mix and match teams and have a riotious blast. (distinctly non-uber PvP)

We exemp, we pick Kora, we do old TF's, we help friends with AV's. I am not bored at 50 - YET.

I would love to see where the median and modal highest charcter per account falls.
I'm guessing at the moment into the 25-35 range for Croatoa, which is why that content is geared to that level range.

Having said that, I would love to see a commitment for new tilesets and new maps using the existing ones.
I know my way round some warehouses and offices blindfold - know where the spawns will be the likely location of hostages and glowies, mixing things up moe here will make existing content seem refreshed and anew.

Resiliance is overpower in PvP - the effective imunity to stun effects means those poor blasters cannnot kill me unless they drop my Toggles.

Combined with undroppable click IH it is a killer combination.
So Resliance must NOT be touched, and IH should NEVER become a toggle.

Rescue Jackson Turner Mission

Now ™
Or ELSE!!!!!!11!!

[ QUOTE ]
[Where he goes = across the hall

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh starting work for the CIA.

<anyone get the reference ?>

mmm Consume.

Aoe damagey goodness.

Will undoubtedly not be that. Conserve Power more likely, but you know then they would HAVE to alter the Epic pool, as with 2 routes into it you could have perma-conserve power (I think).

Chnaging topic slighlty, I can see MoG conerns being listend too.

Patch notes
Regen - Moment of Glory
Moment of glory was cirticised as being out of charcater with the rest of the set. With massive defence, resistance, and endurance recovery, but stopping any regen or heals.
As of this patch the resistance and defence are chnaged to a massive increase in regernation rate.


Of cousre due to an "oversight" they don't remove the no regen or heal code.

*sniff*

*chokes*

*bawls like a banshee*

Someone I know and trust in game, described how he maniupulated a set of people, such that 3 evenyl balananced teams went after a GM (was about 18 people in total).

I believe the figure is 25% but there is no official source on that.

All got the badge.

gahhhahhhahahahahhha

its Rogue
Rouge = makeup.

*sniffs again*

Personally I suspect that Stalker he had for a while, you know self proclaimed fanboy.

*sniff*

Catwhoorg's DRR theroy of survivability

Ever wondewred about defense versus srestance verusu regen - here their merits and wekaness are laid out.
The synergy between the types of "defense" is examined in depth

Catwhoorg’s DRR theory of Survivability.

Introduction
This guide is written with the most in depth insight in the game from a regen scrappers perspective, but I have played all AT’s and the guide is, I hope, generally applicable.

The DRR stands for Defense – Resistance – Regeneration. Cats theory is best thought of as “Survivability is a stool, with one leg it wobbles, with two it can still be knocked over, with three legs it is as steady as a rock”.

Now it is complicated by the fact that each of the DRR components can be further divided.
A +DEF is functionally the same as –Tohit on the opponent. (The two are additive to each other.)

A +Res, is compounded or replaced by a –dam on the opponent. (The direct replacement is exact, the two combine in a multiplicative manner, not an additive manner)

Innate regeneration can be boosted by heals (By self or others).

Plus/Delta

Now each of these types survivability boost have their own strengths and weaknesses.
Defense
Strength :- Ghetto Status resistance, in that when someone is whiffing with a status attack, that attack does not affect you.
Weakness :- One shotting. If an attack is going to kill you if it connects, it eventually will connect and down you go. It may take a lot longer, or many encounters but eventually the dice will roll against you.
Weakness 2 :- Scaling. Whilst the combination of defense is being addressed (such as the recent FF changes) the scaling of defense is still very non-linear. If a mob has a 50% acc, and you have a 45% def, that mob will hit only 5% of the time. If the mob has a 65% acc, and the same 45% it will now hit 20% of the time. Minion to boss level accuracy increases the hits four fold, and those hits from the Boss will hurt much more.

* Note Stargazer has done some wonderful testing which shows that there are still stacking issues with +Def from different sources.

Resistance
Strength :-True one shot protection.
Weakness :- Internal scaling issue, a little bit of resistance is not worth as much (Damage taken = 100-resistace) (Going from 10->20% is worth much less than 80-90% resistance)

Regen/Healing
Strength :- Low down time.
Weakness :- One shotting, you cannot regen if you are defeated.


Synergy

This is where the stool component comes in, what you try to do as a team, or as an individual, is to cover a minimum of two of DRR, and ideally you want to cover all three. Want to turn a regen scrapper into a I2 God- like one, throw him/her fortitude (+ DEF and nice other effects), and a sonic bubble or two (+Res). What hits through the + def is weakened by the +res and then regened back quickly.
Status effects will be reduced (though the +def) and one shot resistance improved (+res)

Breaking down the pairs
Defense/resistance – a great combination of being hit less, and when hit hurt less. The risk here is attrition, with nothing to help you , it is easy to be worn down in a long fight. Green Inspirations covers this gap very nicely. INV tanks (and scrappers) are actually in this category once they get Invincibility.

Defense/regeneration – an awesome combination (Cat usually has fortitude placed on him). This combination reduces the alpha risk, and the one shot risk, but does not eliminate it. (that 5% chance of being hit is always there). This is easily replicated solo, by the use of purple inspirations and a regen /self heal. Many /SR scrappers take the medicine pool for the self-heal, which effectively gives them this combination.

Resistance/regeneration – if you have to take a pair this is the one to get. The smooth decline in HP afforded by significant resistance, meshes so well with the smooth replacement of HP by regen or healing. The resistance grants the one shot protection that is regens weakness.

It is interesting to point out that since the last patch everyone has the capability to address the missing 3rd leg of the stool if they have two of them through the use of inspirations. The sturdies are the hardest to get a significant effect from, but it is feasible with the larger versions.

Effective Regen rates.

Now this is where the real regen bias comes in. It is easiest (for me anyway) to compare different mixes of DRR, by reducing everything down to an effective regen rate multiplier.

For defense (Muliplier = ACC/(ACC-DEF))
Assuming a 50% accuracy (even con minions)
5% = 1.11 x regen rate (50/45)
10% = 1.25
20% = 1.67
25% = 2.00 (one small luck)
30% = 2.50
40% def = 5.00
45% def = 10.0 (To hit floor reached)

Here is a graph which shows the way this multiplier scales with opponent accuracy. It is interesting to note, that given a fixed defense the higher accuracy will push the scaling down, the higher accuracies can actually be penalized MORE by boosted defense than by damage resistance.

For Resistance (Muliplier = 100/(100-resistance))
5% = 1.05 (one small Sturdy)
10% = 1.11
20% = 1.25
40% = 1.67
50% = 2.00
60% = 2.50
70% = 3.33
75% = 4.00 (Most cap here)
80% = 5.00
85% = 6.67 (Dwarf form cap)
90% = 10.00 (Tanker cap)

See how for even level minions the defense % is worth twice the resistance %

So to get you effective regen rate multiplier, you take the defense component, and multiply by the resistance component.
Regen rates of typical powers
Health = +40% (+120% 6 slotted with SO)
Fast healing = +75% (+225% 6 slotted with SO)
Integration 100enh +50% Unenh ( 350% 6 slotted)

Here is the response for a even minion (50% accuracy)

Here is the response for an Even Boss (65% accuracy)

Here is the response for a theoretical (90% accuracy)

All the above three are at the same scaling you will notice. See the how the synergy really kicks in with the combination of high def and high resistance.

To get a net regen you take the above multiplier and apply it to your regen rate.

So at a regen rate of 100% (baseline) and you have 50% resistance and pop 2 lucks versus even minions.
10(d) x 2(r) x 100%(r) = 2000% Effective Regen rate

A stone tank with 6 slotted rooted (+300% regen) Health (+120% regen) and granite armour 6 slotted for defense (60% resistance, 44% defense) versus an even con minion and then that theoretical 90% accuracy foe

Even minion 8.33(d) x 2.5(r) x 520%(r) = 10829% effective regen rate.
90% accuracy foe 1.96 (d) x 2.5(r) x 520%(r) = 2548%. Note the two last terms haven’t changed, that drop is entirely due to the non-scaling nature of the defense.

So lets see how Cat lines up. He is running with fortitude cast (5 Def slots = 60% defense) against +2 minions (60% base acc IIRC). He has INT and FH 6 slotted. (+575% regen rate)
12.0(d) x 1.0(r) x 675%(r) = 6900% effective regen (the above stone tank has 4875% in this case)
Of course the problem is that we haven’t accounted for a) Dull Pain (multiplies HP by 1.4, and hence regen rates, and reconstruction with Cats slotting 50% of his HP every 30sec)

His real effective regen rate is actually closer to 12.0(d) x 1.0(r) x 1345%(r) = 16140%, however there is exactly the same risk of one-shotting as before.

The same logic can be applied to heals. A basic 5heal/1end slotted heal other heals for ~69% of a defender HP. Put a well slotted fortitude on that defender, and it suddenly has a value of 690% (even con minions). This is, a little nonsensical at first, unless you think about what that number actually means . Because the incoming damage has been reduced 10 fold, one heal other repairs now, what 10 uses would have been needed to do before.

Throw fortitude, regen aura (+500%) and AB (+500%) on someone against those same even minions, 12 x 1 x 1100 = 13200%. Spam 10 heal others in a minute and that adds in another 6900 taking you over the 20 000% effective regen rate.

Ever wonder why empaths despise the RU healer tag ? With fortitude and regen aura they are throwing out +Def like a /SR scrapper and boost regen rate to near (or heck exceed at times) a /regen scrapper. Do that right and healing becomes very much an afterthought.

Rads and darks are pretty cool, because they cover all three legs to a greater or lesser extent. – acc, -dam and a heal available.

Cautionary note:

Effective regen rate is at best a concept, a useful way of saying would I be better off with this combination than that combination. THERE IS NO ACCOUNTING FOR THE ONE SHOT. It is also a maximum figure, as regen or heals are rarely used at full effect all the time.