Deacon_NA

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lvl 6: you mention planning on 5 power pools, though you're only allowed to have FOUR, max.

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No, this is what the OP said:

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Most players should plan on at least 5 pool powers by the time they turn 20.

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That's 5 pool powers not 5 power pools.

Hello Arcanaville. I have a question about the effects of –RCH debuffs. How are they factored into the equation below?

Adjusted Recharge = Base Recharge / (1 + Recharge Buffs)

Is it

Adjusted Recharge = Base Recharge / (1 + Recharge Buffs – Recharge Debuffs)

Or perhaps

Adjusted Recharge = Base Recharge / (1 + Recharge Buffs) / (1 - Recharge Debuffs)

I see Recharge Debuffs are limited to -75%. At first I was wondering if it was possible to have negative recharge or even division by 0. This boundary condition takes care of that.

I’m going to guess it’s the former. Let’s say a Cold Def hits someone running Hasten (.7) with Snow Storm (-.625). The first formula would yield a slight decrease in recharge time (a 10 second recharge would become 9.3 seconds), the second would yield a significant increase in recharge time (a 10 second recharge would become 15.86 seconds).

I ask because the game seemingly employs both techniques. The first formula “looks” like the to-hit equation (where buffs and debuffs are additive). The second “looks” like the damage taken equation (where buffs and debuffs are multiplicative).

So, anyway, if you could spare a moment for your insight into this, I’d appreciate it.

There are way too many pages to sift through and I have no doubt I have nothing new to add. Having said that, I do want to give a +1 to the camp that says "this is a terrible change and this paying customer is not at all happy".

Mostly, I can't believe with all the real problems in this game, that this is the sort of project that gets resourced. Hey, can you maybe make it so a mob doesn't get stuck in a wall? No, I suppose not, it's far more heinous that someone, somewhere is softloading a tf/sf.

From my own personal experience, two of my most satisfying moments in game have come from tfs that were long, arduous ordeals that ended up with 2 hardy survivors that needed to really coordinate to defeat the AV. Those two moments would be impossible today.

Listen to your customers and roll this back.

As a Sonic aficionado, I heartily give your guide a "Huzzah!"

I do want to point one thing out.

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Disruption Field
Available Level: 8
Game Description: You set up a constant wave of sonic energy around an ally, weakening the damage resistance of all nearby foes
Mids Numbers: -60% Resistance to all
My thoughts: Amazing ability, I anchor it on a Scrapper or Tank at all times while grouped. This is one of the truly unique abilities that we get, and will help to solidify you as a viable Defender in your groups mind.
Enhance Suggestions: Endurance Reduction, Endurance Reduction, ENDURANCE REDUCTION. This is a pretty expensive toggle, and with the other things you are doing, it will eat through your Endurance. Slot those reductions as necessary.

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This power gives -30% resistance, not -60 (I wish). Both my version of Mids and City of Data confirm this.

What zones have presents? I didn't see any specific mention in the announcement

Your comment for IR says to 6 slot, 3 recharge, 3 jump. The slotting you show has 3 jump. Putting recharges in is, well, craziness, since it's perma out of the box. I wouldn't really advise 3-slotting IR either, unless you're going for a .75% HP bonus from an IO set.

As far as I'm concerned, the word "bombarded" is not hyperbole. I get /tells from that pkpk RMT/PL-ing site all too often.

So, whether it's because of technical or legal roadblocks, I don't know, but the "Zero Tolerance Policy" has no teeth whatsoever. I get constant spam from two sites (pkpk more than the other) so NCSoft HAS to know these are a problem.

This is getting much worse, not better by any means. This morning, on Virtue, I logged in to get a quickie Warburg mission done before heading to work. During the < 1/2 hour of gameplay (Warburg + Black Market), I got 3 tells from this pkpk character, all seemed to be in some non-English font (gibberish and numbers to me).

I've gotten tells from him before (all petitioned) but they were far more sporadic and merely an annoyance, versus the real detriment to my enjoyment that he created today.

I don't know what, if any, kind of load testing Cryptic must do. Whatever it is either doesn't work, or it works and they don't care that many customers' experience will be miserable at best, unusable at worst. Notice my usage of the word "many" not "all" so someone's testimonial that "I had no problems" does not negate that so many of us did.

And no, no user should be admonished for "that's what you get for choosing a popular server." I don't get to tell my clients "Sorry you couldn't use my online services, it was just very busy. So it's actually your fault for choosing my busy service!" We, the playerbase, should not have such low expectations.

Cryptic, my grade for your performance this weekend is a "D".

I appreciate the efforts of the OP, this is a question that's been vexing me for a while. I'm very interested in these questions, not only as a math geek, but also because I'd like to see what "the perfect duo" is.

This is a nit-pick, but I suggest the OP balance the parentheses in the damage mitigation formula. There is currently an imbalance, as I found out by typing the formula into Excel.

For example, is it better to pair a /SR scrapper (DEF based) with a FF (DEF) or a Sonic (RES) defender? My instinct tells me that RES + DEF makes for better survivability than RES + RES or DEF + DEF.

When I get motivated, I'll dig up some old textbooks on calculating the probability of ruin. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambler's_ruin )

Ultimately, that's the question we're trying to solve, what makes for higher survivability. Because that's the real question, I'm in the camp that finds it a flawed conclusion to say that small increments added to a high base is better than small increments added to a low base. Ok, someone's made up a stat that's effectively "rate of increase in damage reduction." Using the above example, going from 90% to 80% is a (10/90) 11.11% reduction and 40% to 30% reductions is (10/40) 25% reduction.

I don't see how that's a more valid stat than "rate of decrease in damage taken". To go from 10% to 20% reduction is a 100% increase in reduction ((20-10)/10). Going from 60% to 70% is just a 16.67% increase in reduction ((70-60)/60). In this case, it looks like adding a little to a little is better than adding a little to a lot.

Please note I'm not espousing the latter technique as more valid than the former. I'm just saying both seem pretty irrelevant to me, except as trivia, when you're trying to figure out how to increase survivability.

Another -fly power is the MA scrapper's Crippling Axe Kick

I just found this guide and it's great.

I do want to add another item. As a non-PVPer, but someone that wants the PVP zone goodies, I like to get whatever buffs I can from whomever is around. Usually as you enter a zone, there may be a couple of people sitting at the entrance. If you see a FF defender, ask them for bubbles. See an emp? Ask for fort and certainly CM. If all you want to do is get in, do your patrol and get out, these external buffs can help a lot.