Redlynne
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Posts
1942 -
Joined
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Quote:Personally, I've found that any build which doesn't include (much) endurance reduction in it always has "long haul" sustainability problems. These might not show up in PuGs or TFs where there can be at least some downtime between mobs ... but on Rikti Mothership Raids where there's essentially NO downtime for half an hour? Gotta be close to breaking even on Endurance Consumption there or else you're wheezing for Catch A Breath way too often.Originally Posted by WarronPeace
End and Recharge are a bit weaker, but with global recharge and recovery, I don't see much of an issue with them.
And given that the OP is concerned with sustaining attack chains beyond the obligatory 3 minions, it's something I'd watch for. -
Tuesday on Virtue? I ought to be able to be there with Shirayukihime.
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I've got a Ninja/TA ... and my Ninjas do all the damage, just about. Only damage I do personally is via Oil Slick (ON FIRE!) and the occasional Sands of Mu if anything gets too stupid. The rest of the time, I'm fully invested in deploying my Trick Arrows and Directing Traffic. Given how ... spastic ... Ninjas are, simply Directing Traffic is a full time job when you're not just leaving them on Aggressive.
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Level 20: Black Dwarf Strike
(A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage: Level 31
(34) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance: Level 31
(34) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 31
(36) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 31
(36) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 31
(36) Pacing of the Turtle - Chance of -Recharge: Level 20 (* optional)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Smite
(A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage: Level 31
(37) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance: Level 31
(37) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 31
(37) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 31
(40) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 31
(40) Pacing of the Turtle - Chance of -Recharge: Level 20 (* optional)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Mire
(A) Obliteration - Damage: Level 31
(42) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 31
(42) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge: Level 31
(42) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 31
(43) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 31
(43) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 30 (* optional, but damn useful)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Drain
(A) Touch of the Nictus - Healing: Level 31
(19) Touch of the Nictus - Heal/HitPoints/Regeneration/Recharge: Level 31
(19) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing: Level 31
(21) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Heal/HitPoints/Regeneration: Level 31
(27) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 31
Level 20: Black Dwarf Step
(A) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%): Level 10
Level 20: Black Dwarf Antagonize
(A) Perfect Zinger - Chance for Psi Damage: Level 21
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This is the slotting I use myself, including all the procs, on a build without Hasten. If you're pressured for slots, you can drop the Turtle procs. Performance is ... Scranktroller-ish ... even when I've only got Dwarf Form 2-slotted for two common 50 resist IOs.
If I need to conserve Endurance, I simply make sure to use my Antagonize attack on every other cycle of my attack chain in opposition to my Drain attack since Antagonize costs zero End to cast, and with the Zinger proc can do damage to a target AoE. My entire build runs around 65% global recharge (or so) and everything recharges "just in time" to keep the attack chains flowing with remarkably little time wasted anywhere. Everything just synchronizes beautifully. The Drain attack is powerful, using Touch of the Nictus, and keeps my Green Bar nice and full.
As you can see, I've configured my Dwarf around the notion of leveraging my Slow attribute(s) in order to "crash" my target's recharge as a(n additional) means of damage mitigation. The results are very broadly similar in performance to what my Ice/Ice Tanker is capable of producing.
The bottom line is that if you want your Dwarf to be "strong" you've got to invest your slots in it. Difficult to have "powerful" attacks when you're only 4-slotting your attacks. -
Go Ninja/FF and learn to rotate your shield refreshes. Pick up Genin anyway, so that you can solo, and just simply fail to summon them while in teams.
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Simple simple request.
Right now, the Hamidon Mitos drop only Tech Salvage.
Would it really be so hard to code them to drop Arcane AND Tech Salvage?
Rikti Mothership raids yield nothing but Tech Salvage.
Hamidon raids yield nothing but Tech Salvage.
Can we at least get Hamidon adjusted to drop SOME Arcane Salvage?
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Quote:Rularuu Eyeballs ... cheat.Originally Posted by Smersh
No amount of defense* will stop them from hitting you.
*Not technically true, but no amount of defense that it is practical to achieve on a regular basis will do the trick.
End of story. -
Quote:Front loading damage via an aura is ALWAYS a good thing ... because that's damage your teammates won't have to do, which speeds up everything.Originally Posted by Dromio
It also means that you can front load a good chunk of damage based on the number of procs.
We make every pretense of competency around here.Quote:Originally Posted by Dromio
I would add that out of thousands of signatures on the many boards I frequent "Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer" is the first one I have ever commented positively on in a post. Spectacularifically done.
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The best response to Shop. Save. Rularuu. as an MA/SR is to have a variety of responses to the threat of incoming damage ... rather than just relying on softcapped /SR to get you through everything.
The biggest and best thing you can do to save yourself against Rularuu is to get Aid Self and slot it. Doctored Wounds, Miracle, Numina ... just get Aid Self and slot it up. You're going to need those heals if you want to survive against Rularuu.
Being able to stack stuns against Overseers is a very useful ability. Cobra Strike followed by Eagle's Claw can often give you enough time to whittle down an Overseer pretty well. Thunder Kick (of all things) is also helpful for this, although its Stun Proc is not exactly reliable (enough) for all the time performance ... but *is* something that is very useful when combined with Cobra Strike.
Dragon's Tail IS YOUR FRIEND.
Getting a Hold in your APP can also be rather helpful in neutralizing LTs and Minions to reduce the number of simultaneous hostiles you have to deal with. Both Dark and Fire APPs have Holds to help you out here.
If you're going to chomp Orange Skittles, make sure you have more than ONE handy. You'll either need 2 Tier 3 Orange, or 4 Tier 1 Orange, to cap yourself out on resistances. Best to do this before taking alpha, whenever possible/practical.
Always have an escape route. If you're going to dive into a pile of Rularuu ... always have a plan of escape worked out ahead of time should you need to bail out. I prefer leaping off the floating islands and falling myself. It's easier to travel back without dying, and it brings you less Debt.
Do not underestimate the power of ranged attacks to "pick apart" groups of Rularuu. Use of Corner Pull tactics can often allow you to draw solo hostiles to YOUR location, where you can fight them 1-on-1. This is often better than trying to dive into the middle of a dogpile where you're fighting Many (of them) on One (you). Anything to limit the rate of incoming damage enhances your chances survival. Don't be afraid of making use of the local terrain to Divide and Conquer the forces of Shop. Save. Rularuu. -
Quote:/em respirator mask breathing noisesOriginally Posted by Captain_Freak
how about no?
I realize like maybe 10 or 20 people love arrows, maybe even upwards of 50....but thats too few for the devs to care about.
With the number of you [censored] people playing Lamepathy or Lolpaindom how could anyone take this seriously?
Last and certainly the worst.....its a bow. Theres plenty of other MMO's that have bows you can twang in.
/em I'm Crushing Your Head
"I find your lack of CLUE disturbing."
/em respirator mask breathing noises -
Quote:Check your PM.Originally Posted by PhantomRanger
That would be awesome give me a time and i'll make a toon there and give it a look.
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Quote:I'm quite sure it's incorrect ... from personal experience on my Mind/Kin Controller.Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
Someone also said that they thought the proc could only fire once per power use. I'm not sure this is correct.
I've used Mass Hypnosis with a Sandman Proc and seen 3 heals successfully proc on a single cast sometimes. I can tell because there are 3 distinctly separate green numbers that appear above my head as a result of casting Mass Hypnosis (one per proc).
That said ... the proc is almost worthless as a means of keeping yourself healed. Even on multi-proc per cast, the amount of healing you receive is quite pitiful. Better than nothing though if you don't mind spending the slot.
If you're going to use the Sandman Proc ... best to put it into an AoE Sleep power. -
Quote:Level 38: EMP ArrowOriginally Posted by StormyDarkness
EMP Arrow- I'd give the suggestion of 4 slotting Basi's Gaze for the 7.5% recharge. That alone will probably trump your 3% dmg as a defender and the 2.5% hold increase when it's just that power alone. You can always consider doing Lockdown +2 mag hold for an added chance to get bosses held, but to each their own.
(A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 30
(39) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold: Level 30
(39) Basilisk's Gaze - Endurance/Recharge/Hold: Level 30
(39) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold: Level 30
(40) Lockdown - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold: Level 36
(40) Lockdown - Chance for +2 Mag Hold: Level 30
Note:
This slotting guarantees that if you have access to the power (exemplar level 33+) then you have not only the Basilisk-4 set bonuses but also the Lockdown-2 set bonus ... and neither of these set bonuses in any way suck. -
Quote:This is true ... until you hit the ED cap. Once you've reached the ED cap, you get better returns by adding the damage proc on top of everything else instead of merely more damage SO/IO stacking.Originally Posted by Muon_Neutrino
Procs in toggles like damage auras only have a chance to go off once every ten seconds. At level 50, a damage proc does 72 damage. With a 20% chance to go off, on average that's 14.4 damage per proc every ten seconds.
In ten seconds, death shroud will pulse 5 times for (at level 50) 44.5 damage. So adding one damage SO will increase its damage by 44.5 * 0.33 = 14.7 damage over ten seconds.
So if you're looking to increase the damage that your aura does, plain old damage SOs/IOs are just as effective as procs, and are far cheaper. Additionally, they increase damage for each pulse instead of procing once every ten seconds, and they don't rely on a percentage chance to go off, so they're more reliable.
You're also neglecting to consider the value of damage spikes in reducing not only the amount of damage you need to do, but the number of attacks required to deliver that damage. Every time a damage proc takes effect is the equivalent to 16 seconds worth of damage aura duration. This can dramatically hasten the defeat of hostiles. It's effectively a 20% chance for a "critical hit" every 10 seconds ... which is nothing to sneeze at when your enhanced damage is already in ED cap range (particularly on a Tanker). -
I can give you a tour of my Blueside base on Virtue sometime if you'd like to see it.
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Quote:Uh ... you do realize that it's not possible to get both of these Nova attacks on a WS ... right? That's because one of them is for the PB Nova ... and one is for the WS Nova ... and you can't get both on the same toon.Originally Posted by Obsidian_Force2
My only opinion on this slotting is the fact that on 2 sets ( 1 for each AOE) of positrons your losing 18% Global Acc and 12.5% Global recharge, which for a WS building for perma Eclipse is HUGE (something you already pointed out yourself.).
The Bright Nova and Dark Nova names should have been a big hint. -
Quote:I love it when people read only what they want to hear.Originally Posted by Redlynne
Two things would make Maneuvers really competitive in this game.
First ... make the endurance cost dependent upon how many targets are affected by the power. This kind of mechanic is already seen in the Kinetics power Repel where the endurance cost is partially based on number of affected targets.
I pointed out that the KIND OF mechanic needed to amortize the amount of endurance cost for buffing teams already exists in how Repel functions. I did not say "port it wholesale without making ANY changes" at any time. Didn't stop people from jumping to ridiculous conclusions of exact substitution equivalencies however.
Toggle Cost: 0.08 End/sec (on par with Combat Jumping)
Activate Period: 0.5 sec
-0.01 End per Target Affected [Ignores Enhancements & Buffs]
= 0.24 End/Sec when affecting 8 Targets (including Self)
= 0.40 End/Sec when affecting 16 Targets (including Self)
And that's just for example of what would be possible to do. -
The problem is that although Trick Arrow in aggregate can approach or approximate the debuffing throughput of other powersets, it has to use multiple trick arrows in order to achieve on par performance in combat. That means that Trick Arrow often spends more time animating attacks and more endurance generating those multiple attacks in order to achieve almost on par performance with other powersets.
And even when paying those penalties where the debuffs are slow(er) to combo up for maximum throughput, the advantages are either negligible or inadequate ... at a price of needing to slot more powers for an almost equal effect in throughput as other powersets.
Trick Arrow needs Buffing ... BADLY!
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Two things would make Maneuvers really competitive in this game.
First ... make the endurance cost dependent upon how many targets are affected by the power. This kind of mechanic is already seen in the Kinetics power Repel where the endurance cost is partially based on number of affected targets. That way, if you're only affecting yourself, the endurance cost is low(er) ... and if you're buffing an entire Team-8 then the endurance cost is the same as what we've got right now on Live.
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Second ... make the power have both a self-only and a PBAoE buff component to it. The PBAoE will maintain the exact same values as what we see now on Live. The self-only value would also be the exact same values as what we see now on Live.
Net result: the player with Maneuvers gets "double value" from Maneuvers at all times ... once from the PBAoE and once from the self only. Such an arrangement makes Maneuvers "valuable" even in solo play, while at the same time preventing the Team Buff from becoming "too large" and unbalancing in Team-8 play.
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... not being done.
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I'm wondering if this actually HAS been resolved, since I can't get from the Launcher to the Game Proper at this point. Connecting #12 and counting ...
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Quote:True ... but there really isn't all that much Recharge in a Positron set to begin with, so it's not as if you're losing "much" by going with this alternate slotting. And some (some...) of the DPS lost by recharging slower is made up for with a slight (slight...) boost to damage per attack. So there is a tradeoff involved.Originally Posted by GavinRuneblade
Looks like Warshades in addition to losing global recharge, lose ALL recharge.
Agreed.Quote:Originally Posted by GavinRuneblade
I've always thought it was a shame there isn't a single Acc/Slow/Rech or Acc/End/Rech among the slow sets.
It's as if the Slow Sets were deliberately designed to be as useLESS as possible.
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Level 6: Bright Nova Scatter
(A) HamiO: Centriole Exposure (+2 Dam/Rng)
(7) HamiO: Centriole Exposure (+2 Dam/Rng)
(9) HamiO: Centriole Exposure (+2 Dam/Rng)
(9) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
(11) Shield Breaker - Defense Debuff/Endurance/Recharge: Level 27
(11) Shield Breaker - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 27
Level 6: Dark Nova Emanation
(A) HamiO: Centriole Exposure (+2 Dam/Rng)
(7) HamiO: Centriole Exposure (+2 Dam/Rng)
(9) HamiO: Centriole Exposure (+2 Dam/Rng)
(9) Tempered Readiness - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50
(11) Pacing of the Turtle - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50
(11) Pacing of the Turtle - Chance of -Recharge: Level 20
This is one of those things where you're just going to have to load it up in Mids' on the alternate slotting to get a real "feel" for what this particular frankenslotting will do for you in comparison to a more "standard" build choice of a 5-slot (minus proc) Positron's Blast set. First and foremost, these two frankenslot builds are ... competitive ... with the throughput offered by Positron sets. Endurance, Accuracy (on these specific attacks), Recharge and Damage throughput are all quite comparable to what Positron's Blast offers.
Peacebringers will be sacrificing mainly the +9% Accuracy and +6.25% Global Recharge set bonuses, since the +Recovery set bonus in Positron is effectively offset by the 2-slot Shield Breaker.
Warshades will be sacrificing the +Recovery, +Accuracy and +Global Recharge set bonuses ... which depending on your build strategy, and tolerance for loss of Global Recharge, may be a "deal breaker" for some players.
The compensation for using these frankenslot schemes is ... Cone Radius = 94.1 feet (with +2 HOs).
Considering that your other single target and target AoE powers have a range of 100 feet, this is not an advantage to sneeze at. With a 45 degree cone of attack, at 90 feet of range you're hitting a radius of ~35 feet wide or a ~70ft wide diameter of attack at range. You can catch a LOT of hostiles in a cone area that large, and still enjoy plenty of standoff distance for using your single target and target AoE attacks. You can also "unload" into some pretty widely scattered groups this way, if you've got enough range between you and the pile you're going to attack. It also makes your attacks at long(er) range(s) less "finicky" about the position of your chosen target within the pile in Target Rich Environments(tm).
Compare that to the performance you get at the (unbuffed) 55ft of Cone Range, where you've only got ~21ft of radius to work with, or a ~42ft wide diameter of attack at range.
35^2 * pi = ~3848 sq ft
21^2 * pi = ~1385 sq ft
The enhanced Cone Range of the frankenslotting offers a 2.78x increase in square footage that can be held at risk at maximum range (~90ft vs ~55ft).
The two builds I've got above for these two powers were the optimal that I was able to find using "common" components which ought to be available through auctions in WW, and therefore ought to be "obtainable" for those who would like to try this. The greatest advantage (obviously) accrues in spacious locations offering plenty of standoff distance (in the 80ft+ range) rather than in cramped close quarters combat.
Some nice side effects of these two slotting schemes is that the Defense Debuff is enhanced for Peacebringers ... while the Pacing of the Turtle proc offers Warshades the opportunity to "crash" recharge for (PvE) hostiles, which can in turn offer a significant return on investment in the form of suppressed hostile DPS incoming on yourself and your team. -
Level 38: Eclipse
(A) Resist Damage IO: Level 50
(39) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
(39) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
(39) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Recharge: Level 50
(40) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge: Level 50
= 2.25 Resist @ 50 IOs, 2.5 Recharge @ 50 IOs, 1 Accuracy @ 50 IO and 1 End Mod @ 50 IO
That's the equivalent of stuffing 6.75 IOs into 5 slots covering 4 different modifiers without "wasting" enhancement values by exceeding ED Caps. In other words ... good luck finding something more efficient using only 5 slots. -
Quote:The shaft.Originally Posted by Talionis
Trick Arrow has no buffs. I'm not sure what they got for not having those kinds of powers?
(thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week!) -
Personally, I see three overlapping flaws with Trick Arrow which contribute to its "meh..." status for Defenders (and others by extension). It's overall debuffs ... supposedly the point/strength of the powerset ... take too long to put into effect, since they need to be stacked via multiple attacks, and they've got poor "every spawn group" utility due to durations and recharge times.
The biggest problem with Trick Arrows ... in my opinion ... is the animation times. I'm am constantly left wondering why ANY of the animations for Trick Arrow lasts for longer than 1 second. Honestly. If I'm supposed to be stacking debuffs (single target or otherwise) onto hostiles in order for my TA powerset to contribute meaninfully to the battle and it's taking me about as long to debuff as it takes to kill things ... I'm not doing much to help myself, or my team. Unless the target is something filled with hit points, I'm actually wasting time debuffing targets rather than adding my own damage into the mix, when looking at the Time To Kill with either option.
In this respect, Trick Arrow simply doesn't feel *responsive* enough to swiftly shifting combat dynamics ... especially in teams. Quite often, I'll fire off a debuff just in time to watch my target get defeated while I'm staring at a nocked (trick) arrow ... simply because the animation times are so LOOOONNNGG.
Nock, Pull, Release = 1 second
I for one would LOVE IT if BaBs simply streamlined ALL of the animations for Trick Arrow to take 1 second to cast. Every power in the powerset. THAT right there would justify the "need" for Trick Arrow to have all of its debuffs broken up and scattered around between 2 or 3 different powers, all of which need to be applied before the effects of the powerset can even be FELT in play.
Another major problem is that buffs "stick" with the players ... while debuffs "fizzle" when hostiles get defeated ... and this game is entirely structured around defeating hostiles ... quickly. What this means in practice is that when you've got reacharge times that are double the duration of the debuffs, and the debuff durations are long, you get a situation where the debuffs aren't available for use on every spawn group ... meaning the powerset gets applied intermittently. You also wind up "needing" to invest in tremendous amounts of recharge in order to have the debuff powers available "often enough" to start even making a noticeable difference (as opposed to an UNnoticeable one!) in play over time against routine spawn groups.
The reverse problem is when you start being able to stack your debuffs together, because the duration exceeds the recharge time (usually through slotting and globals) which creates a situation where the powerset "needs" to be weakened globably so it doesn't become "too useful" against high hit point targets like AVs. Put these two factors together and you have a worst of both worlds condition ... where Trick Arrow is too weak/intermittent against regular and routine foes, but too powerful(? really?) against the biggest and the baddest foes ... simply because the weaklings die too quickly and the heavies don't die fast enough.
It would be far better then ... in my opinion ... for Trick Arrow to break with the conventional prescription of other powersets with regards to its debuffing powers (ie. the powerset's focus and purpose for existence). Rather than having long recharge times with short debuff power durations, Trick Arrow ought to do the reverse. Trick Arrow should have short recharge times for its debuff powers (such as 20-30 seconds) paired with long durations (20-60 seconds) ... with the caveat that these debuff powers do not Self Stack from Same Caster. Thus, quickly reapplying a debuff attack doesn't stack the effect, it merely extends the duration (by overwriting the previous debuff).
Put these things together ... a faster animation speed for Trick Arrow, and restructuring its debuff and recharge rates ... and you'll have a much more responsive, and therefore much more FUN TO PLAY powerset. And by balancing the powerset around the premise that the debuffs will not self stack, you can "afford" to raise their baseline debuff performance without risking serious unbalancing versus other powersets.