Starshield

[ QUOTE ]
I have one question for you about your choice of energy blast. Do you find that it brings anything particularly useful to a defensive FF build over the other power choices? Most blast sets have a lot in common, and I was wondering if you found the damage or knockback in energy of particular use to the build.

[/ QUOTE ]

Honestly? I made Star so early in my CoH "career" that the visions of overwhelming knockback that danced in my head were at lot stronger than eventually played out. That and Energy just fit her from an RP perspective.

From a pure utility point of view I would find Sonic, Dark, or Electricity the strongest secondaries for a Bubbler. Sonic adds both team-offense-boosting oomph in the form of RES debuffs as well as some nice controls later in the set. Electricity offers end drain and an early single-target hold, as well as being the only way a Defender can pull off the "Pet plus PFF" MM trick. Dark synergizes well with DEF with its toHit debuff, and provides very useful Immob and Disorient powers as well as a self heal.

[ QUOTE ]
Anyway, great job, 5 stars.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks!

Hey all, I'm Starshield - an oldtime Bubbler who's been parsing out occasional semi-lucid advice about FF on the boards for quite some time but who never got around to writing up any sort of comprehensive Guide. CDN_Guardian's latest FF/NRG Offender guide finally inspired me to write a counterpart for the Defensive FF/NRG Defender. It is very much my opinion, my preferences, and my take on things rather than word handed down from on high, so take it with a pinch of salt and always defer to your own judgement of what is fun for you first.

StarShield's Defensive Defender Guide to Force Field / Energy Blast


Much like CDN_Guardian's guide, this is based on my experience building and playing an L50 FF/NRG Defender. Star has been touring the streets of Paragon since close to release date (after a brief but unsatisfying experience with Blaster life). Star is both a heavy Defense build, and heavily PvE focused. Star does PvP on occasion for variety's sake, but that is not remotely her focus. Those looking for strong PvP builds should definitely take that into account.

Overview:

I've always played Star with a heavy team-defence focus - including active defense through pseudo-control. But she is not a "pure" Defender of the no offence at all variety. She is quite capable of soloing even on Invincible - she just takes a while since her primary approach is controlling the enemy and whittling them down in a battle of attrition. The basic focus of Star's build is Battlefield support. She provides strong Defence to a team vs all attacks. She provides basic healing and protection. She puts the mobs where she wants them, she identifies problem individuals and takes them out of the fight through knockdown, outright control, or Detention. She attacks surgically to support her team, and she can absolutely hold her own when pressed, but offense is simply not her primary focus. If this sounds like you as well, read on!


Energy Blast Powers:

As with CDN's Offender, your primary attacks will be Power Bolt, Power Blast, and Power Burst. You may be a Defender, but the ability to defend yourself when called upon and fill in offensively when needed is an important part of any Defender build. As a Defensive Defender you will tend to use your offense surgically even solo. Your strength is your Defensive and Control prowess. You win battles of attrition rather than overwhelming outright.

Power Bolt and Blast:
Your basic ranged one-two punch.

Power Burst:
A short range burst which does strong single-target damage. Very useful as a finishing move - just hop in and delive the coup-de-grace.

Energy Torrent:
I have never had much use for this attack with Star. You have other tools at your disposal for AOE knockback, and she is normally far more concerned with concentrated fire on a particular single target than on AOE mayhem and the resulting aggro. Take it if you have slots to burn, but it is by no means necessary.

Explosive Blast:
I have found little use for this power whatsoever. Low damage AOE with knockback. All the same caveats as for Energy Torrent, plus it does less damage and its AOE KB effect can be better replicated with the new Repulsion Bomb if you really want it.

Sniper Blast:
Another attack for which Star has never had much use. If I want to pull I use Force Bolt. And I generally don't turn to offense until battle is engaged, in which case the new, lesser strength personal defenses of a bubbler mean it gets interrupted a fair bit. You might get some use out of it standing out of the way picking off stragglers, but I've always been just as happy hopping on into the fray to deliver a Power Burst if I want that.

Nova:
A defensive Defender's job rarely includes mass minion mop-up, Nova no longer can be 6-slotted for damage, and a defensive buld lacks many tools to significantly increase damage like Power Build Up. Quite skippable and Star never missed it.

Aim:
The only offense-boosting power you'll ever get, and requires no significant slotting. Take it when you have a slot free.

Power Push:
Outclassed in every way by Force Bolt. Utterly pointless for an FF/NRG.


Force Field Powers

Personal Force Field:
The strongest DEF power in the game by a wide margin in addition to respectable RES - but at a very hefty price. While PFF is running *no power will have any effect on anything at all except you*. If you are not familiar with the power read that twice and memorize it. Dispersion (for example) will display graphically, and will protect *you*, but wil have *no effect* on your teammates. This is very important to remember - as many new Bubblers believe that they can hide out in the middle of combat running toggles while protected by PFF and provide a useful contribution to the team... That said, PFF does have one proactive use - tanking! You will never be a true tank, as you haven't the HP and you cannot hold aggro with full defences up, but in the absence of a true tank you can absorb an alpha strike like no other. Particularly once you add an Epic +RES shield to the mix. Just note when using this tactic that:

1) Mobs will quickly lose interest in attacking you in favor of your teammates.

2) Be very careful of large numbers of mezzing mobs - particularly Sleep mezzers. The MAG protection of Dispersion is not that high, and it provides no sleep protection at all. If large numbers of mezzers concentrate on you even PFF will go down if a few get lucky.

3) PFF + Mind Over Body (Psy Epic Shield) = among the best Psy damage protection in the game. Keep that in mind when going against Psy AVs - you may be better equipped to absorb the AV's initial hit than even your team tanker... You may also be better equipped to survive an initial barrage of Vahz zombie puke than any tank in the early levels if you grab PFF early.

4) While you are in PFF your team gets no benefit from any of your other powers save the previously cast small bubbles. So hanging out in PFF long term is not of great benefit to the team.



Force Bolt:

The absolute A-number-one gem of the set after the big 3. Used properly no other power in the set is as good at precision rearrangement of the battlefield or delaying or controlling dangerous single targets. Knock mobs into debuff fields and next to tankers. Machine gun it to keep a dangerous Boss from ever even standing upright. Its cheap, fast, accurate, and dependable right out of the box. What's not to like?

The key to learning to wield Force Bolt accurately is to learn to master pool-table physics. The higher the angle downward from which you launch Force Bolt at a mob, the more knockback will be translated into knockup. Therefore the trick to controlling knockback distance is timing jumps and managing hovers. Practice sessions tossing greys into dumpsters are great for mastering the technique. Once you're good at it you can place mobs just about anywhere you want them.

Note to the newly initiated. This is *not* an attack by any stretch of the imagination. There is no point whatsoever in even considering it as a damage power. Don't let the ability to slot DMG fool you. It does half the DPS of *Brawl*.


Detention Field:

A lot of people don't like this power, and it is stronger in PvP and solo than in teams, but it still has its uses. There's few powers better at separating an AV from his posse so that you can clean up the help before taking him on. And its a godsend solo. Remember the Defensive Defender's mantra - divide and conquer. When you come into your prime you can charge a group, mez one, detention another, and bounce a third and fourth while whittling em down and never even take more than a potshot or two in return. Just make sure that in teams you make it clear what you intend to put in Detention and when - it is often very difficult for even attentive teammates to recognize the Detention effect through the haze of Dispersion and their own personal bubbles.


Dispersion Bubble:

Absolutely unskippable. Take ASAP and slot out ASAP. This is your personal and team mez protection, the majority of your day-to-day personal defence, and almost half of your team defence all wrapped into one package. No discussion. No disagreement. You *will* take this power at L12 and slot it out (3 DEF and 1 or two END) as soon as humanly possible.


Deflection and Insulation Shields:
The absolute cornerstone of your team defense. Deflection is higher priority than Insulation, but take them both ASAP and have them both fully slotted out before you hit 22.


Repulsion Field:
A lot of Bubblers dislike this power, and its true that it takes a fair bit of effort to get good effect from it, but used properly it can be quite powerful in the right circumstances now that I5 and 6 have made it cheap enough. First, erase all thought from your head of this being a melee keepaway power. It is in the crudest sense, but it really isn't all that effective at this job. Most mobs *will* get in a shot at you before being flung away. Solo I basically consider it a form of RECHARGE debuff. Enemies will charge me and get in a hit, and then be flung away and waste time getting up and running back before attacking again or switching to ranged. Useful at times, but hardly amazing. In teams you can jump next to squishy teammates with it to temporarily rescue them from being mobbed. Also useful but not fantastic. (Note: I have always found this method of rescue to be faster than tossing a Repulsion Bomb.) So when is it "powerful"? As a lockdown!

The single most powerful use for RF is juggling KB-susceptible mobs. Bosses, Lts, mezzers, you name it. RF used properly can prevent them from getting a shot off for as long as you have the endurance and patience to keep bouncing them. Indoors you need only find a convenient corner, shove them into it, and then stand back just within range and watch em bounce! Note - high ceilings are best as they will bounce less often and thus drain less end over time. If you really want to be ultra efficient you can run back and forth and only get into bouncing range just before they get back up. Managed properly this can bounce them at less end cost over time, but it requires good timing.

If you are outdoors or don't have a convenient corner? Ring-around-the-Rosy! Run at them, watch em bounce, and then run to where they land! If you circle about as you run you can keep them bouncing about in a circle without getting up, so that ranged teammates can blast em with impunity without having to give chase. Melee teammates...will likely not appreciate this method of control nearly so much. Note: If you are really good at maneuvering and timing your jumps you can juggle multiple mobs this way. I think my personal record was juggling three Red Lost Aberrants out in the open while a pair of teammates slowly whittled them down in safety. But I think I got vertigo by the end of the encounter.

Repulsion Bomb:
I tried to like this power. I really did. It has come and gone from my build numerous times since I first qualified for it, and I've tried to find a good use for it in all its forms. I've never been all that impressed with its Disorient capabilities, but I know some folks have been. I did find it occasionally useful as a perma-juggle tool in certain specific situations like the Freakshow Reactor trial (melee mate engages a large bunch in a corner and I spam RB on him from above). Now that it has been changed yet again, I find it has almost no use at all as a mez power with its low duration, long recharge, and low chance of a low MAG mez. Its animation and recharge time are long enough that I have always preferred jumping about with Force Bubble or Repulsion Field for rescuing mobbed squishies. So the only use I can find for the new incarnation is to break up an alpha strike. Cast it in the middle of a group, pop up PFF before the return fire hits, and then drop PFF again once your teammates have engaged. But at this point that is such a situational use that I simply cannot recommend the power unless you are simply determined to find a consistent use for it.

Force Bubble:
Can definitely be useful in the right circumstances, and is now cheap enough to run indefinitely, but be *very* careful with this power. It has a huge radius and will aggro everything it touches...onto you...the weakest defended member of the team. Always be aware of that tradeoff. Yes, it reduces damage to the team by preventing many mobs from closing to melee. But the cost is that much of the remaining ranged damage will be focused on *you*. And the rate you can drop when heavily engaged in such a situation can be astonishing. So be very certain you either have additional support backup to keep you upright, sufficient melee support to draw off the aggro, or are well protected enough with personal defenses to handle the resulting aggro before you use it. Note that very few melee-heavy hitters can penetrate this in PvP. A few Tanks, Scrappers, and Brutes using their temporary super-defenses, but most others save Energy Aura Scrappers/Brutes will be unable to penetrate it. If the likes of a Dark Scrapper has no ranged attacks he may find himself completely impotent against you....



Pool Powers :

I *strongly* recommend the Medicine Pool for any Bubbler post-I5. You do *not* have the DEF to prevent 95% of incoming damage any more, you do *not* provide sufficient damage mitigation to be the sole support in a large team, and regardless of team size your teammates *will* take damage. Aid Other has been vastly improved since the early days of CoH. A few recharge and/or interrupt reducers and you can easily and often fire it off even in the thick of combat, and it has a very respectable heal for a Defender when well-slotted. The PFF/Aid Self combo can be a lifesaver both solo and in teams, and is the key to soloing at Invincible for a Bubbler. If you can take a timeout and heal up at will you will eventually win almost any small encounter if you don't get mezzed - and you are one of the few squishies in the game to have any significant personal mez protection. It may take too long to be enjoyable - hence Star rarely solos at Invincible save when proving a point. But it is quite doable.

Maneuvers has been gutted, but the only way you can floor white con minions in the current release is by stacking Maneuvers with Dispersion and the small Bubbles. Since the difference between 40% DEF and 45% DEF against even con minions is cutting incoming damage in *half* this may well be worth it. On the other hand, white minions are not generally all that dangerous to an advanced level team unless in very large numbers. I personally prefer to eke out all the DEF I can, and take being able to floor at least *something* beyond Blues to be a matter of personal honor. But to each their own.

If I were to replace Leadership with another pool it would almost certainly be Stealth. Stealth is very strategic in PvP, and Grant Invis can be slotted for extra DEF similarly to Maneuvers - if requiring more effort to keep active on a large number of teammates.

Even with the end reductions of I6 I consider Stamina a must for almost any toon - especially one intending to rely to any degree upon toggles. So the Fitness pool is pretty much a given. The choice between Swift and Hurdle is largely personal preference depending upon the travel power you choose. I went with Swift and the Flight pool, but there's nothing wrong with any particular combo that strikes your fancy. I do recommend Health over taking both Swift AND Hurdle. Flight is particularly useful because Hover makes it easier to leverage knockback.


Epic Power Pool:

The strongest defensive option among the Defender Epics is Psy - no contest. A great hold, an AOE sleep, a shield that includes the very rare Psy RES, and Telekinesis. What's not to like? Picking up this pool is where you truly branch out into becoming a mini-Controller. Dark Mastery with Oppressive Gloom is the only other Epic which holds a candle to it for a Defensive Defender IMNSHO.

Domination:

Get it, slot it, love it. 6-slot ASAP with ACC, HOLD, and RECHARGE. This power makes it *so* much easier to nullify problem mobs like mezzing lts, bosses, etc its not even funny. Alternating this, Force Bolt, and possibly even Repulsion Field you can keep surprising numbers of opponents from retaliating. Just use KB powers to juggle the ones you haven't yet gotten locked down with a hold as you keep reapplying Domination to stack on bosses or hold down lts.

Mass Hypnosis:

Quite underrated in my opinion as a great way to break up alpha strikes, put a lid on unintentional draws, etc. Particularly on single-target and small area focused teams (Energy Blasters, Scrappers and Tankers, etc) this power can do a fantastic job of reducing incoming fire in the early stages of an engagement. Slot with 2 ACC and 3 RECHARGE, possibly a few sleep if you desire, but the duration is pretty good out-of-the-box.

Mind Over Body:
A great way to improve your personal defense, with the added advantage that once you stack it with Dispersion and PFF you will be a better tank against Psy foes than almost any other toon in the game. No, you can't hold aggro with PFF up, but not even a tank can take a Psychic alpha strike like an FF'er stacking PFF, MoB, and whatever other defenses she has at her disposal. Better than 100% DEF, capped 75% RES vs PSY and SMASH/LETHAL, and low level mez protection vs all but sleep is quite the defensive package!

Telekinesis:
An interesting power which takes a lot of work to get good use out of. It is expensive, slow recharging, and awkward but it is also a 100% to-hit *toggle* AOE hold. By the time you get it you should have had plenty of practice managing Repel powers, and in combination with Force Bubble and a corner it can be quite strong - taking high-con minions out of the fight indefinitely. Stacked with Domination it can lock down even a Boss in a corner pretty quickly.


Conclusion:

This is about as defensively strong and diverse a build as you can put together for an FF/NRG. By the time you reach 50 you will have a decent array of control and repositioning capabilities, decent healing capability in a pinch, as strong +DEF as can be provided in I6, while maintaining acceptable single target offense. You will have enough proactive defense through control that you can even solo relatively safely if slowly. You still are not as strong or diverse overall as a Rad or a Dark, but you have a lot to offer and are more than capable of making a valuable contribution to almost any team. Remember, in the end intelligent play and good strategy trump powerset every time.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.6.7.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name:
Level: 50
Archetype: Defender
Primary: Force Field
Secondary: Energy Blast
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Deflection Shield==> DefBuf(1)DefBuf(3)DefBuf(11)
01) --> Power Bolt==> Acc(1)Dmg(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(9)EndRdx(19)Rechg(27)
02) --> Force Bolt==> Acc(2)Rechg(34)Rechg(40)
04) --> Power Blast==> Acc(4)Dmg(5)Dmg(7)Dmg(9)EndRdx(19)Rechg(23)
06) --> Aid Other==> Heal(6)Heal(7)Heal(17)Rechg(23)Rechg(33)Rechg(34)
08) --> Insulation Shield==> DefBuf(8)DefBuf(11)DefBuf(15)
10) --> Hover==> Fly(10)
12) --> Dispersion Bubble==> DefBuf(12)DefBuf(13)EndRdx(13)DefBuf(15)EndRdx(37)
14) --> Fly==> EndRdx(14)Fly(17)Fly(25)Fly(25)
16) --> Swift==> Run(16)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndRec(20)EndRec(21)EndRec(21)
22) --> Personal Force Field==> DefBuf(22)Rechg(36)Rechg(40)
24) --> Aid Self==> Heal(24)Heal(34)Rechg(36)Rechg(37)Rechg(50)Heal(36)
26) --> Repulsion Field==> EndRdx(26)EndRdx(27)EndRdx(37)
28) --> Power Burst==> Acc(28)Dmg(29)Dmg(29)Dmg(31)EndRdx(31)Rechg(31)
30) --> Aim==> Rechg(30)
32) --> Force Bubble==> EndRdx(32)EndRdx(33)EndRdx(33)
35) --> Detention Field==> Acc(35)Rechg(43)Rechg(46)
38) --> Maneuvers==> DefBuf(38)DefBuf(39)DefBuf(39)EndRdx(39)EndRdx(40)
41) --> Dominate==> Acc(41)Hold(42)Rechg(42)Hold(42)Rechg(43)Hold(43)
44) --> Mass Hypnosis==> Acc(44)Acc(45)Rechg(45)Rechg(45)Rechg(46)Sleep(46)
47) --> Mind Over Body==> DmgRes(47)DmgRes(48)DmgRes(48)EndRdx(48)
49) --> Telekinesis==> EndRdx(49)EndRdx(50)Rechg(50)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
01) --> Vigilance==> Empty(1)
---------------------------------------------

Sarah stared out the window of her room, lost in thought. She had just finished getting dressed and gathering up her things, as her friend John carried a load down to his car. She would be leaving the hospital today - as her physical wounds at least had fully healed. And despite their gratitude for her driving off the dangerous Red thief, they were not overly sorry to see her go. After all, she herself had destroyed two separate critical care facilities during her stay. She had learned much since first waking in the hospital about controlling her powers, such that she no longer felt a danger to those around her. She could still hear the Song at the edge of her consciousness, still feel its warm echos in the sunlight streaming into the room. But she was still unsettled by it. And she was troubled even more by the other recipient of such abilities.

Even after her "victory" in their confrontation the thief had not disappeared for long. Once freed of restraint he had picked up his old life with a vengeance, using his powers to fuel a string of violent robberies and gang wars in carving out a place for himself among the super-powered Hellion thugs. Now going by the name of "Blast Shield", his exploits had made news several times of late even in the super-power saturated atmosphere of Paragon City. His sheer audacity, ambition, and wanton violence went far beyond the average thugs in this part of the city. And Sarah was concerned that even for all his success, his power was no more developed than was hers. They were still but novices to their abilities, and she shuddered to think what harm he might do as his power grew.

She had the sinking suspicion that she herself was best qualified to pursue him. Her powers in theory exactly matched his own, and she understood their source far better than he ever would. But....she was a physicist! A lifetime lab jockey! She did not know if she was ready to consider herself "super". She did not know if she was even cut out to be a "hero". But she did know this: Blast-shield was in some way her responsibility - and she would never be free of her link to him as long as he was loose. And if she could not neutralize the threat he posed he would surely eventually come for her. She did not know the first thing about fighting crime. Indeed she knew very little about fighting in general. But she knew where to learn.

She had heard a man speaking about Rikti Technology at the University several months ago - a Commander Trasc, leader of a group known as Righteousness. He was a metal giant of a figure, as much machine as man, with a body saturated with Rikti nanobots and cybernetic modifications - the victim of Rikti experimentation early in the war. His body had integrated the machinery to the point that it was a conscious part of him, and he had shown the ability to manipulate it for both astounding medical applications and fearsome demonstrations of offensive power. If anybody could understand Rikti energy, if anybody could teach her to better hone her talents, it would be him.

"Hm. Me as a super-hero", she mused to herself as turned away from the window and left the room. "The girl with the shields from the stars". And her Song of Blue hummed softly at the edge of her consciousness as she set her life on her new course.

Sarah wakes up once again. She is alone in her room. Still the same white walls - the same sparse trimmings. Though a few scattered flowers and balloons do serve to brighten things up a bit. She smiles faintly.

With her friends' help the hospital has done much to dampen the energy noise around her. She does not feel nearly so overwhelmed by sensation as she did when she first woke up in an unprotected room. But she can still feel the dim pulses of energy around her at the edge of her awareness - the faint humm of electricity in the shielded medical devices beside her, the slight kiss of the dim lights overhead, the muffled rumble of power conduits in the floor and walls. Calling...singing...shades of blue and green.....No!! No!!

She shakes her head furiously as she quickly interrupts the seductive line of thought. She knows all too well where it can lead. Even here it calls to her. No matter how much they dampen the sound they can never entirely silence it.

She attempts to think of something else - anything else - anything to take her mind off of the inevitable. But she cannot ignore it. There has to be an answer - there has to be a way she can be cured. She cannot stay in here forever, and yet she cannot risk leaving the room. Even here she must be careful not to loose control. Not to give in. The call is so seductive, so warm and inviting. And the vibrations feel so good resonating through her, connecting her, binding her to....No!! Dammit! No!!

It seems stronger today. Harder to fight the temptation. Yet she sees no lapse in her room's countermeasures. No change in the dull background of her surroundings. Except....

Outside. She hears something. Muffled strongly by her insulated walls, but filtering through all the same. Pulsing, beating, but not at all like her call. Red, angry, shouting rather than singing - screaming and defiant. She realizes she hears with her ears as well. Faint thumps outside her walls. Shouts? Screams? What in God's name is going on out there?

The pulsing is louder as well. Something is coming closer. Something angry. She can hear her song of blue and green straining to respond. She tightly ignores it, but she is uncertain. And she is scared.

Louder and louder it comes. She finds herself huddled in her bed, squeezing shut her eyes, hands over her ears, straining to block out the mad red chaos. It keeps getting louder! Stronger! Pounding at her from all sides! She barely even hears the yells and thumps outside from the assault within.

Then *BOOM* her door is violently flung open! Flying off its hinges and skittering across the floor. She can clearly hear moans and sirens through the open doorway now, but stares in rapt attention at the eerie glow of pulsing red shining through. Madly swirling in hues of blood red and angry purple. Then she realizes it has a shape - a center. And she sees him step into the room. Not him! They couldn't have held him here without telling her! Not him!

"Ah girlie," she hears him laugh menacingly, "I thought I felt you here. They couldn't hide you from me forever".

"Go away! Leave me alone!", she sobs, crying out from the pain of the Angry Red beat assaulting her psyche.

"Now now girlie. I can't do that. I find I like what you've done to me, but I don't intend to leave any loose ends before I go."

Her eyes widen as she sees his hands begin to glow in menacing shades of firey orange. A yell, a shout, policeman running down the hall towards them. But he turns in their direction and sends them flying crazily back down the hall with flicks of his wrists - great red torrents of energy firing from his hands like twin cannons.

He turns back to her, smiling evilly. "Oh they tried to dampen me like they have you girlie. But they can't drown out the source. Once you give in, its always there. But a scared little birdie like you would never know that."

A gesture from his hand and she is flung out of bed, hitting the wall with a thud before slumping into a heap on the floor. She cannot think. She can only feel Red pulsing pain. Even the pain in her side from hitting the wall cannot distract her from the constant assault of angry color.

"I'm going to enjoy this girlie. I've been dreaming it ever since you put me in here." Another gesture, and she is flung across the room. She slams into a wall, but this time is held there. She can feel the red all about her. Squeezing her against the wall. She cannot breathe. Her sight is dimming.

She sees him approach slowly. Smiling. An evil red glow with purplish haze dancing all across his form.

"And now for the fun part. For me anyway". He laughs. Reaches towards her. Grabs her chin in his calloused hand.


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!


She screams. Blue and Green! Blue and Green! She can feel it welling up inside her like a geyser. Erupting. Singing. No more red. No More RED!!!

She feels more than sees as gouts of energy fly out from her in every direction. The red man is thrown across the room like a rag doll - as every piece of furniture in the room smashes into the wall around him. Bright hues of green and blue dance crazily around the area pushing back the red. Coalescing into a ball around her, lifting her, carrying her. She floats in the air - supported by her song. Caressing her, protecting her, soothing her.

The red man growls as he stands back up. "So that's how you want to play it girlie." He sneers, as his hands begin to glow once again. "They always want to do it the hard way."

Flashes of orange as he flings great balls of reddish energy at her, wave after wave of hate and violence. But her song sings clearly in her soul now. She can feel it in every fiber of her being. And she calmly pushes the blasts aside. Watches with disdain as he futilely assaults her warm symphony.

His eyes narrow as he notes the complete lack of effect. "You can't stay in there forever girlie, and I'll be right here when you come out."

Sarah laughs. Feeling the green flow through her veins - strengthening her, sustaining her, guiding her. He knows nothing. He understands nothing. He wields a star as a club.

She prepares herself, and then lets her field of green move outwards. Unwrapping from about her and moving towards him. His eyes widen as it approaches, and he fires blast after blast at it, but to no avail. It wraps itself about him, containing his fury even as it shrinks to envelop him.

"Who's the bird in the cage now?" she asks, an edge in her voice as she allows herself to drop to the ground and approach.

"You can't do this to me!" He screams. Rage in his voice as he expends volley after volley on the unyielding blue harmony surrounding him.

She can feel his power hammering at her song. He may be a crude thug, but his raw power is too much to contain for long.

"Yes. I. Can!" She snaps back, as she sings her song once more. The ball of blue begins violently bouncing back and forth, smashing into walls and tossing the red man about inside. He cannot maintain his assault on her fields, is beaten and battered against it. But she can feel her strength weakening. Her song is stong, but her mind and body are faltering. She cannot continue to channel it at this rate, and when she relents she knows he will renew his attack.

She must get him away, far away, before she weakens any further. She summons all her strength, lets the song flow through her as never before, and *hurls* with all her will. Away! Far away!

Faster and faster the ball crashes back and forth, accelerating crazily as it smashes back and forth between the walls of her room. Then *BAM*!! Great chunks of concrete fly in all directions as it bursts through and out into open air - still accelerating as it speeds off into the night. She watches as it soars out of sight, and then collapses on the floor.

Her song is spent. And she bathes in the soft caress of its blue green afterglow as she fades into sleep.

"Are we ready?"

"Is everything secure?"

"You're sure the shielding is enough? The room is completely isolated?"

"Is it safe to wake her?"

Sarah could hear voices whispering - fading in and out of her hearing as if from very far away, but coming from all around her as if close by. She felt calm, detached, vaguely aware of being on the edge of wakefulness, but lacking any desire to expend the energy to complete the transition.

Her headache has faded. The pounding seems oddly silent now. She wonders where it has gone - she almost misses its presence. It has so permeated her dreams of late she had forgotten it had ever not been there.

"Sarah?"

She feels a hand gently touching her shoulder.

"Sarah, can you hear me?"

A part of her seems to almost recognize the voice. That odd catch. That familiar crack in an otherwise smooth and confident male tenor. But memories are so hard to summon, take so much to acknowledge. And the silence in her head is so...peaceful.

"Sarah we're both here. We need you to wake up for us."

Another voice tugging at the faint strings of her memories, stirring parts of her mind which preferred to remain in limbo. The odd vowels. The just-too-soft emphasis on the "r"s. The way her name sounded so much more musical from those lips than it ever did otherwise.

More sensations awaken in the shadows of her mind . Quiet! Quiet! Do not disturb the sleeper!

A hand takes her hand. A light touch strokes her arm.

"Please Sarah. Please wake up. We really need you to come back to us."

The voice catches, chokes as it calls to her. And the sound of emotion echoes inside her in surges that can no longer be ignored. Her memories crash in upon her, her pain returns to her awareness, and with a gag and a moan she forces her eyes to open - forces herself to leave her silence for the beckoning world outside.

She is in a stark white room - almost bare but for the bed on which she lies, a few folding chairs, and several odd-looking instruments. She feels tubes in her arms, wires attached to her head and body, but she does not feel energetic enough to look about and see to where they lead.

Two faces looking over her - anxious, concerned. Friends? Co-workers? Yes. Both. Jonathan and Paula, her companions in arms since her earliest days at University.

"You don't look so good Jon-Jon," she chokes out as she attempts a wry grin. "You haven't been letting Paula cook again have you?" Nervous laughter greets her attempt at humour, and her sides hurt as she attempts to join them.

"Do you know where you are Sarah?"

"The hospital...still...I think. But this room seems pretty weird."

"They had to move you to special care because of your....condition..."

"My condition? What's happening to me?"

"Don't you remember? What happened when you woke up the first time?"

"So hard to remember anything. Dreams. Flashes. Green - so much green."

Her friends exchange glances. An awkward pause hangs in the air before Jonathan looks back to her. "The accident did something to you Sarah - changed you."

"Changed me how??"

She wasn't really sure she wanted to know. She had a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't going to like this.

"We don't really understand it Sarah. You always seemed to understand so quickly - so intuitively...but we never dreamed it could interact with living matter in such a fashion."

Why couldn't they just tell her? It was *her* life after all!

"Understand *what*?!? Spit it out already JonJon!"

"The Rikti energy Sarah. You're suffused with it. Saturated with it. Its energy signature is all over you. And sometimes..."

She is too stunned for this even to register in her mind. She stares at him blankly, then presses on.

"Sometimes *what* Jon?"

"Sometimes you project it. That's why you're in here. That's why the shielded room. We can't tell where you draw your power from - so we cut off all the sources we could. But when you woke up the last time...."

Oh God. A sudden clenching in her gut. A cold shiver of fear runs through her.

"What Jon...When I woke up what..."

He hesitates - clearly uncomfortable - and then sets his jaw and continues on.

"You blew out the windows. Fried all the electronics in all the rooms near you. Threw doctors and nurses down the hall like ragdolls".

She feels sick. She doesn't want to hear any more, but she has to know.

"Oh God. Was anybody hurt?"

He bends closer - puts a hand on her shoulder. Paula gives her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Not seriously, no. But we had to put you in here to be sure. Any sort of outside energy source seems to stimulate you - start a cascade reaction. We can't let such things near you until we figure out what's happening"

Paula interjects, cutting Jonathan off with a look and sounding hopeful and energetic. But Sarah can hear the edge in her voice.

"But we're working on it Sarah. Really. The whole lab is in on it. Crey Industries itself gave us funding to study it - to figure it out. With all of us working on it we're bound to find a way to fix it - a way to help you".

She's heard too much. She can't make sense of it. Can't process it. Can't digest it. She is so very tired. Too exhausted to feel these things. To confused to make sense of them.

"Leave me alone".

"Sarah...."

"Please. Just leave me alone. I need to think. I need to rest. I need to...I need to..."

She doesn't know what she needs. She just knows she wants to sleep. To shut out this frightening new world and fall back into the peace of unawareness.

"OK Sarah. We'll be right here if you need us. The nurses have all our contact information. If you need *anything* we'll be right here."

She mumbles as Paula gives her a hug and gets up. Watches as Jonathan takes her arm and leads her away. She is too tired to turn her head to watch them go.

It takes her no time at all to fall back into oblivion.

"Oh God", Sarah moaned, as she began to fade back in. She hurt all over - skin, muscles, bones, and had a pounding in her head that wouldn't quit. She wasn't quite sure where she was - lying someplace soft - but she really didn't feel energetic enough to open her eyes and see for sure.

After a few moments she felt a cool hand on her forehead and a soft voice asking, "Miss Silverman? Are you awake?"

Sarah managed a half-hearted groan in response.


<The pounding in her head seems...oddly rhythmic. Familiar.>


"Do you know what happened? Where you are? Why you are here?"

She thought about it for a second. The lab, something about a breakin, fear, and then pain. It was all so hazy, hard to think. "Uh-uh" she squeezed out, hoping hearing a complete answer might help her put the pieces together.


<The pounding in her head grows louder. Flashes of sensation, patterns, rhythms, colors.>


"You were in an accident at the University... A break-in and an explosion. A bad one. Several people died."

A flash of anger. A thief's shadowed face. "Thieves!" she croaked. Feeling little sympathy for them.


<The pounding grows stronger. The pattern more insistent. Flashes of blue-green color cloud her vision behind closed eyelids>


"Oh not just the thieves Ms Silverman - though two of them certainly didn't make it. There was a security guard killed by the theives, and another who was injured pulling you out of the wreckage."

"Guards?" she asked, hoping very much one of them wasn't Carl Conley. She'd always liked him in a fatherly sort of way. He'd kept a special eye out for her since she'd lost her parents, always making her feel welcome and thought about when she worked odd hours at the lab.


<The pounding spreads. She can feel it in her back and shoulders. The green haze takes shape - forming the outline of a bed about her and a human figure leaning over her. >


"Yes Ma'am. A Mr. Fizoli was killed and a Mr. Conley was hurt."

She felt an instant wave of relief that Carl had not been the one killed, followed by sorrow that he had been the one hurt and guilt that she did not even recognize the name of the other guard.


<The pounding reaches her arms and hands. She finds herself tapping her finger to the ever more complex beat. Sensations of movement nearby. The flow of electricity. The hum of fluorescent lighting. Flashes of green forming more complex patterns. >


"How...is...Carl?" She asked, still having trouble stringing together words.

"He will recover Miss Silverman, burns on his arms and hands, a minor head wound. He will probably be able to come and visit you before too long."

And then to the question that had been floating pregnant in the room since the conversation began....

"And....me?"


<The pounding grows louder and louder. The rhythm so insistent she can hardly think. The beat of the man's heart above her. The static electricity in the air. The sunlight streaming in through the window. All forming on her eyelids in ever shifting shades of green>


"Oh....I can't deny it Miss Silverman. You're in pretty bad shape. Its a wonder you survived at all. You've got numerous broken bones, severe lacerations from the explosion, and some odd sorts of radiation burns we haven't quite made sense of. The good news is you seem to be recovering remarkably quickly considering."


<The beat has enveloped her whole body. It hurts to move, but she cannot help it - swaying with the pattern - joining with the harmony. Brilliant flashes of green and blue swimming all about her. The pounding of the pattern singing in her soul. She can barely hear the doctor now. But she no longer cares. >


"Mrs Silverman! Mrs. Silverman! Oh god! Doctor! Doctor! Come quickly! What in God's name is that light!!"

-Flashes of Light-

-Pops-

-A Scream-

-The Tinkle of Broken Glass-

-Silence-

It was just starting to get dark as Sarah arrived at the door to Paragon Tech's particle physics laboratory. It had been only lightly raining when she left home, and so she hadn't thought to grab an umbrella, but it was pouring down quite hard by the time she arrived at the lab.

"Lovely", she thought to herself, "I *so* needed a good soaking tonight."

She waved to the security guard as she tried to brush herself off a bit under the front awning before continuing on inside.

"Another all-nighter Miss Sarah? Should I tell the night crew you'll be here?", he asked.

She smiled and nodded absently towards him as she swiped in her badge and headed in to her lab.

Once there, she shed her wet shoes and overcoat, turned up a space heater, and started powering up her test systems. She gazed about as everything began to warm up, surveying the clutter. Her eyes were always drawn first to the array of odd looking Rikti artifacts in various states of assembly lining the walls like the archives of a museum. Many of them were hooked up to random seeming combinations of small intruments and laptop computers - testament to the myriad ways they had been attempting to attack the problem. As she glanced about each mini-experiment evoked brief flashes in her mind of discarded theories and still forming hypotheses.

Then, as always, she finally found herself drawn to the large and menacing device which dominated the center of the room. Recovered from the engine core of a downed Rikti fighter craft, it was a form of resonance chamber clearly intended to amplify and project Rikti energy shields. Mad tangles of cables, electrodes, and sensors covered its surface, leading to a chaotic array of computer racks and assorted displays. As the systems finished coming online, a low pitched, throbbing hum began emnating from it - just on the edge of sensation between hearing wuth her ears and feeling through her skin. A familiar green-blue haze formed in the air about the chamber as the startup sequence completed.

Sarah's practiced fingers flew over several keyboards as she initiated the series of tests she had planned for the evening. She then turned off the lights in the lab, leaned back in her chair, and stared at the patterns displayed on the instruments in front of her - lit only by the soft glow from the monitors and the eerie glow from the Rikti resonator.

She grew so entranced by the displays, and so focused on immersing herself in the patterns, that she soon lost all track of time. Hours had passed by the time she was awakened from her concentrated trance by the faint sounds of footsteps in the hall.

"Must be time for the night shift", she thought to herself, as she turned back towards her tests. But then she heard something more unexpected - low whispers outside the door and what sounded like stealthy fumbling at the lock to her door....

Now she was at full alert. Security knew she was here. The guards would *never* approach in such a manner when they knew she was working. If curious they would knock on the door and ask if she was OK. Something was wrong, and she didn't like it. She reached for her phone to call security, but the door began to open before she could dial. She quickly slipped back into the shadows off to the side of the lab and kneeled down - heart beginning to beat hard in her chest- thankful for having taken off her wet shoes when she came in.

She watched nervously as the door quietly opened and three male forms slipped quickly into the lab. She didn't recognize any of them in the low light, but she they seemed to have some idea what they were looking for. One motioned to either side for the either two, and they fanned out along the walls searching her array of Rikti devices. Then they began disconnecting some of the artifacts from their systems...they intended to steal them!

Sarah's fear began to melt into frustration and anger as she began envisioning what would happen to her work with the loss of the irreplaceable artifacts from which she had been learning. This could not be allowed to happen! They had to be stopped!

She had one large advantage over the intruders despite their numbers and relative size. She knew exactly what the majority of the devices in the lab actually did and how to use them...

She quietly reached up and took the two devices within easy reach without exposing herself and took stock. A hologram projector thought to be a teaching aid and...a power source. Hm. There were other nearby devices with potential use as weapons, but she did not think she could reach them without being noticed. Unless....

She quickly hooked up the projector to the power source, and carefully twisted together a few connections her fingers knew almost by rote. She carefully aimed the projector, and then tossed a small screw towards the middle of the room. All three thieves instantly whipped about to face the sound, and she quickly shut her eyes as she completed her last connection.

*WHOOSH*

A blinding flash of light and a loud pop as the projector overloaded and blew itself out. She had been unable to see for several minutes when she had accidentally caused such a thing in experiments earlier that month, so she felt confident the thieves would be at least momentarily indisposed.

"Damnit!!" one hissed, as all three stumbled back attempting to shield their eyes. Sarah dashed towards the opposite corner of the lab. If she could just reach the stun ray in the corner....if her assistant had left it functioning....

"I see you girlie!" another growled just as she arrived at her target. Damn! He had recovered too soon! Sarah saw caught a glint of flashing metal out of the corner of her eye, and ducked under the table with her prize just as the "Pfft" of a silenced gunshot hit the wall behind her.

"You can't get away girlie! And here I thought a few trinkets were all the haul we'd get tonight..." she heard from across the room, as the thief chuckled softly to himself. "Me pals here will want to thank you properly for that little stunt..."

Sarah knew she had little time before the other thieves recovered, and she felt the Rikti stunner warming in her hands. She knew how to operate it, but had little experience aiming such things. She knew she would only get one shot. She aimed carefully around the corner of the table as she heard the thief approaching - her heart pounding as she waited for her split second opportunity to surprise him.

There! Just as his form appeared in view she squeezed the trigger and a bright flash of purple-pink light spat out of the stunner and hit him squarely in the chest. He fell back flailing wildly, crashing into a rack of computers. The resonator jerked madly as several of its cables were pulled - making the soft lights dance crazily about the room.

"Pft Pft Pft" spat softly at the wall as the wildly spasming thief's finger squeezed tightly on his pistol. Sarah huddled back under the table to avoid getting hit, then heard one last oddly dull "Ping". Time seemed to stand still as she noticed for the first time that the background hum of the Rikti Resonator was growing both louder and more chaotic. She glanced wildly over at it - just in time to see a brilliant flash of blue-green light, followed by an oddly comforting sort of warmth. Then she anticipated more than actually felt herself flung backwards into the wall, and all went black.....


************BOOM!!!!**********

"Down Cat, Down!" Sarah laughed as she pushed her cat off the table and out of the middle of the stack of papers she had been studying.

"I just can't figure out the reason for these resonance harmonics!"

She frowned, biting her pencil, as her eyes wandered idly over the table.

She'd been working on this project for the better part of 4 years - ever since her postdoc days at Paragon Tech University. Right out of undergrad she'd been swept up in a join research program funded by Crey Industries to reverse engineer Rikti technology recovered from the war. Her particular background in quamtum physics and nuclear engineering had led her into a project to study Rikti shield generators. They had long since figured out the power source. They understood the controls and general functions of the devices - they had perfectly mapped the energy waves the devices generated - but they couldn't seem to get a handle on how exactly the darned things worked! The energy waves seemed to twist and turn back on each other in crazy, nonsensical patterns - full of wild harmonics and unpredictable frequency spikes. It just didn't make sense how such chaos came out of the seemingly ordered electronics, and how the chaotic energy waves somehow added up to such a stable standing field.

The project's sponsors had been getting restless lately - as despite the rapid initial progress Sarah's team couldn't seem to crack this last obstacle to understanding how to design and build shielding devices themselves. Every attempt to even copy the strange machines had led to explosive failures.

She kept turning the problem over in her head, but just couldn't quite get it to make sense. She needed more data. She needed to see the waves - to hear the harmonic interplay - to be surrounded by the patterns so her mind could fully concentrate on solving them.

"Oh well, looks like another night at the lab." she told the cat, as she stood up and picked up the pizza box and leftovers from the table. She put a handfull of catfood in the bowl, gathered up her papers, and bundled up to go out. It was going to be another long night....

[ QUOTE ]
Taking your suggestions into account, I've added Defense to the Power Pools to EVERY single damage type EXCEPT Psi. In other words, the Pools are no longer limited to Smashing and Lethal.

Frankly, my original idea didn't account for the fact that some pools would have been situationally more useful to certain Tanker and Scrapper builds...This change addresses the inequality.

[/ QUOTE ]

Statesman,

Thank you for the response. This would indeed fix a lot of the stacking problems. The remaining issues I see are listed below. These may or may not be "intended behavior" or "acceptable behavior" from your perspective, I merely wish to ensure you are aware of them :

1) Does this change apply to Illusion Control: Group Invisibility? Superior Invisibility? How about Dark Miasma: Shadowfall and Storm Summoning: Steamy Mist? Devices: Cloaking Device? These five powers all suffer from the same stacking issues as the pool powers.

2) Mineral Armor, and Indomitable Will will be left unable to stack with anything save each other, Dispersion Bubble, Fortitude, and Personal Force Field.

3) Empathy: Fortitude still will not ever stack with SR Scrapper defences.

4) Force Fields will still stack oddly with SR Scrappers. Non-SR toons will get the full 55% (Dispersion + small bubbles). SR will only get 33% MELEE/RANGE (from Deflection/Insulation) and 22% AOE (from Dispersion).

[ QUOTE ]
So the only types of attacks the power pool powers don't help with re aoe-psionic types. All other Aoe, and psionic attacks are covered as well...

[/ QUOTE ]

Essentially. Stacking means that with this change:

1) Anybody with just Pool defences will only have Psy AOE as a hole.

2) None of the powers that yield "real" PSY DEF - Mineral Armor, Fortitude, Indomitable Will, Dispersion Bubble - will stack with any of the Pool Defences against Psy.

Meaning Stone Tankers against Psy opponents get a bit of a shaft, and there's still some remnant stacking issues to do with Dispersion Bubble and Fortitude w/r to SR Scrappers, but there will be far fewer stacking issues than in the last proposal.

[ QUOTE ]
So; essentially...

Power Pools will provide AoE defense to all but Psi? The only hole is Psi AoE, because they still have Melee / Ranged vs Psi.

[/ QUOTE ]

Shhhhhhh.....

[ QUOTE ]
just want to add more to the detention field issues. detention field does not accept hold enhancements. don't know if that was as intended.

[/ QUOTE ]

Detention Field does not take HOLD enhancements because it isn't a HOLD... It is a PHASE, so it takes PHASE enhancements.

Also note: unlike just about every other status effect in the game, PHASE enhancements do not increase the duration of the effect. PHASE enhancements increase the MAG of the effect. Granted Detention Field can PHASE a +2 AV out-of-the-box in my experience, so the +MAG seems rather pointless. But that's how the Dev's have specifically described its function.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I added the same to Controller/Illusion/Group Invisibility.


[/ QUOTE ]

Is there a reason why Group Invis is getting the bonus, but not Superior Invis? Or does Superior Invis already have this benefit, and I'm just not aware of it?

Not trying to be b**chy about it, just curious what the "in-game" explanation would be for why ONE illusion based invis WOULD give defense to smashing/lethal, while another WOULDN'T, particular if the one that doesn't give it is called "superior". Statesman? Red Name? Anybody? Buehler?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're looking for meaningful, in-game explanations for much of how DEF works you're just in for a headache. Much of such DEF issues currently are a hodge-podge of kludge patches to try to make a stacking work for a DEF typing system which is inherently non-intuitive and non-sensical.

In the current system:
"If a Defender surrounds you with a protective bubble then ducking under sword swings capable of penetrating said bubble doesn't add to your survivability in the slightest."

After this patch:
"If a Defender surrounds you with a protective bubble then ducking under sword swings capable of penetrating said bubble may help you survive. But if the sword is made out of fire then dodging doesn't add to your survivability in the slightest."

[ QUOTE ]
My comment was really about how resist and defense to Psi is very rare. I could be wrong, but Blasters, Controllers, Defenders, and Khelds don't have Psi defense or resist and can't get it. Only one Tank type, and one scrapper type have some defense or resist to Psi (although I think there is no resist to psi, only defense).

So, it seems to me that the majority of toons out there don't have resist or defense to Psi. Hence my earlier comment that the Devs don't seem to like us having much in the way of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

All Positional defences (Melee/Range/AOE) work against Psy. This includes all power pool defences, Cloaking Device, SR Defences, both Illusion controller Invis powers, and the Defender buffs Shadowfall and Steamy Mist. All three FF Bubbles also provide Psy defence in some form or another nowadays (the two small bubbles through MELEE and RANGE, Dispersion through both AOE and outright PSY).

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Quality of Life: Detention Field's graphic needs to be more obvious -- currently teammates can't tell when an enemy is detained and waste attacks on it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe a nice way to fix this without messing with the graphics would be to utilize the same coding that Taunt uses in PvP. So that when a target is in the Detention Field, it is not targetable.

[/ QUOTE ]

While this would be a good addition, I fail to see a good reason *not* to mess with the graphics as well. They already did once. Several Issues ago they made the graphic effect fainter and less visible than what it was originally... Pfltht.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's not that easy though, as everything would have to be rebalanced to take into account the new changes.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, a quick glance through the Hero Planner yielded a total of 34 powers that give +DEF (not counting Def/Cont sets or Tank/Scrap sets twice). Only 8 of them had +DEF that was damage-typed (I may have missed some):

They could all be switched to positional DEF with little balancing needed. The only problem, really, is how to differentiate Ice Armor and Stone Armor from Super Reflexes. So for those 5 powers, change them into a combination of different positional +DEF and damage-typed +RES, possibly a side-effect or two. Is that "everything needing rebalancing"? Doesn't seem too monumental to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

You missed a lot of DMG DEF Type powers (Hero Planner is not up-to-date with the status of Fortitude, for example). Check this list: I count 16 not counting duplication in the Epic sets.

Tanker & Scrapper
Invulnerability: Invincibility (SMASH/LETHAL/FIRE/COLD/ENERGY/NEG)
Invulnerability: Tough Hide (SMASH/LETHAL/FIRE/COLD/ENERGY/NEG)
Ice Armor: Frozen Armor (SMASH/LETHAL)
Ice Armor: Wet Ice (SMASH/LETHAL/FIRE/COLD/ENERGY/NEG)
Ice Armor: Glacial Armor (ENERGY/NEG)
Ice Armor: Energy Absorption (SMASH/LETHAL/FIRE/COLD/ENERGY/NEG)
Stone Armor: Rock Armor (SMASH/LETHAL)
Stone Armor: Crystal Armor (ENERGY/NEG)
Stone Armor: Mineral Armor (PSY)
Stone Armor: Granite Armor (SMASH/LETHAL/FIRE/COLD/ENERGY/NEG)

Defender
Empathy: Fortitude(SMASH/LETHAL/FIRE/COLD/ENERGY/NEG/PSY)
Force Field: Personal Force Field (????)
Force Field: Deflection Bubble (MELEE/SMASH/LETHAL)
Force Field: Insulation Bubble (RANGE/FIRE/COLD/ENERGY/NEG)
Force Field: Dispersion Bubble (AOE/PSY/SMASH/LETHAL/FIRE/COLD/ENERGY/NEG)

Controller
Controller Epic: Cold Mastery: Frozen Armor (SMASH/LETHAL)
Controller Epic: Psionic Mastery: Indomitable Will (PSY)
Controller Epic: Stone Mastery: Rock Armor (SMASH/LETHAL)


Blaster
Blaster Epic : Cold Mastery: Frozen Armor (SMASH/LETHAL)
Blaster Epic : Force Mastery: Personal Force Field(???)

[ QUOTE ]
If you're going to insist on a band-aid, then, why not make the band-aid actually match the size of the wound?

In case you missed it the first time :

[/ QUOTE ]

You didn't even catch the similar writeup I did for Tanker armors...


Tank Armor DEF Stacking


Defender/Controller Power DEF Stacking

[ QUOTE ]
This goes back to the original issue though. Take, for example, a smashing/energy melee attack. If we use your system to take this attack versus an Ice tanker who has both FA and GA, then you would take the smashing defense of FA, and add it to the energy defense of GA. This should not be happening, as it should only calculate against the better of the two.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, the original issue was that DEF powers that provided both SMASH and NRG defense - like Dispersion Bubble - were counting *twice* against such attacks. My proposal would not allow any one power to apply twice. But I see no reason why both of the Ice Tankers armors should not apply against an attack against which both are applicable. Its not like Ice Tankers (or non-Granite Stone Tankers) are overpowered at present...

The only real problem I see here is with FF Deflection and Insulation stacking against energy attacks. But if they were made solely MELEE (Deflection) and RANGE(Insulation) - and stacking worked as I requested - then even that would not be a problem.

I'm still not sure why DEF stacking can't simply boil down to: For each DEF power in effect, do any of its types (positional or damage) match any of those of the incoming attack. If yes, its DEF adds with that of any other current effect which passed the test. If no, ignore it. So a power like Combat Jumping which gives MELEE/RANGE would stack its 3% to the sum against any attack that was MELEE or RANGE - regardless of any other considerations. How hard is that?

[ QUOTE ]
Yep. That's what it meant.

As for changing the way defense works...eek. That's not really an option. There's simply too many things that would break...It's just not do-able.

As for why only S/L? Because in these powers, that simply made sense - and because of the prevalence of S/L damage throughout the game.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are aware - I trust - that this still leaves a whole lot of DEF stacking issues seriously counter-intuitive.

How many players are likely to understand that if they are fighting off - say - Freakshow Juicers with a Bubbler defending the team that Maneuvers will provide them no benefit against ranged lightning bolts (Dispersion + Insulation vs NRG >> Insulation + Maneuvers vs RANGE), but *will* benefit them against melee attacks (Dispersion + Deflection + Maneuvers will all stack against SMASH/LETHAL)?

Is there even a good reason why Dispersion stacks with Deflection and Insulation vs Damage-typed attacks but not vs positional-typed attacks?

How many Invul tankers will understand that gobs of RANGE defence from power pools will do *nothing* for them in combination with Invincibility and Tough Hide if a baddie takes a potshot at them with a Fire Bolt?

How many SR Scrappers will understand that Empathy's Fortitude will not improve their DEF in the slightest against anything if they are running all of their toggles?

Even with this "fix" - DEF stacking is left a rather complicated and confusing morass that even better help text isn't likely to make any easier for most players to understand. Silly us, we generally figure if we grab a power that gives DEF vs MELEE that any time we are attacked in MELEE it will help... Given the current labrynthine mess that is DEF stacking that is as often as not WRONG.

[ QUOTE ]
Hey since weave does not help much does that reduce the benifit of the fighting pool enough to make it not worth taking or is it still a good idea.

[/ QUOTE ]

Weave doesn't just "not help much". It doesn't stack with Ice Armors at all....

[ QUOTE ]
I must say I'm becoming increasingly frustrated - and disappointed - with the lack of developers comments on the Dev's Response threads. What's the point of having them if no Dev comments on them in 3 weeks? Especially in light of Statesman's comments above.

But I'm a little sensitive on I5 - my 2 highest chars are dark defs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heck. The main toons I was playing before RL took me away from the game for a while are listed in my sig. Most will require siginificant-to-drastic respecs and significant playstyle changes if I ever feel motivated to return.

So yeah... I too feel a tad unenthusiastic about it all.

Starshield - L50 FF/NGR Defender on Triumph
Starshield

[ QUOTE ]
I am not suffering from any misconceptions. Whether useful or not is not part of the point I was making. Consider it, if you will, an inverted Power Bolt or whatever. Knockback is the Primary effect, damage the Secondary.

Point is, it is a direct (damage) attack in a Defender Primary and as such evidence that being a Defender is not all about renewing bubbles and heal-spamming, by design and as opposed to what some ADD Blaster tells you. Since you don't seem to agree with that, I guess we're just from different sides of the Defender fence and leave it at that.

[/ QUOTE ]

You read too much into my response. Just because I disagree with your evidence does not mean I disagree with your conclusion. I do not disagree in the slightest about the purpose and role of a Defender. A Defender is patently obviously intended to attack as well as defend - otherwise what is the point of our entire secondary? And I will even agree that Force Bolt is an active-use control power. Its just not by any stretch an attack.

Force Bolt does not do damage as "a secondary effect" even in the sense that defender blasts do "secondary effects". It does a token pittance of damage for the Devs only know why - but damage is in no way shape or form a meaningful function of the power. Conversely knockback is very much a useful and meaningful part of the function of a blast like Power Bolt.

Controller single-target holds do significantly more damage than Force Bolt. Many Controllers even slot their holds for damage to assist with soloing. Damage is a meaningful if secondary effect of the power. Conversely no Bubbler with any experience would ever have any reason whatsoever to slot Force Bolt for damage. *Not even Controllers* slot Force Bolt for damage.

Think of it this way. The secondary effects of Blasts matter when choosing a blast set. The knockback matters in strategic use of Power Blast - for example. But Force Bolt does damage like Freezing Rain does damage. Its not even a consideration in the use and slotting of the power.

I don't disagree with your premise - just the specific point you use as evidence does not actually support it.

Having played a Bubble Defender since launch, I am likely as familiar with the intricacies of the ForceField set and how they play out in-game as anybody. So, one comment at a time.

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, there is something wrong with making a control focused Defender primary. The devs are obviously not gonna give it more control strength than a Controller primary, or else they would have made it a Controller primary. At least with the Storm pool, it has a lot of debuffs/buffs along with each control ability (eg, Hurricane may have repel, but it also is a mob debuffer), and I always considered that pretty control heavy for a Defender primary.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again. Have a good strong look at Dark Miasma. It has enough pure control to make many a controller jealous. Holds. A Freakin awesome AOE Fear (and yes Virginia, Fear is real control since I3). Pets that hold! A slow. Even a near-useless AOE phase like Grav Controllers get. Tack on Dark secondary and you add AOE Immob and AOE disorient to the list. That's a pretty hefty set of "control" powers. That's a Defender that can stack more holds on a single target than any Controller short of a Grav with Singularities.

[ QUOTE ]
I certainly see no reason why there's not more +res in FF, since you'd expect things that end up breaking through force fields to be softened by the force field. Think of Star Trek or other sci fi shows, where with shields up, the ship gets hit and sometimes does still take damage (sometimes they don't, too), but with shields down, it blows up in one shot.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've always been in favor of this - but with the new Sonic defender primary in the pipe with other-cast RES bubbles I think chances of FF getting much of this are waning rapidly.


[ QUOTE ]
A lot of the abilities I see don't make sense role play wise or gameplay wise. So could someone who knows FF please explain to me where they came from and why they fit a Defender AT?

Repulsion Bomb... I have no idea where the idea even came from. You put a force field around an ally and let it explode? I'd like to see how that works in the comics.... Besides, it's yet another Controller ability. Ok, so knockback is in a lot of sets, but here you're not really buffing your ally, you're just kncoking back the foes around it. Now, if you were to actually keep a bubble around your ally that lasted for a set time, which knocked back or knocked down enemies, it'd be a different story, because your ally would be buffed with a knockback/down power....

[/ QUOTE ]

Heh. You will be very hard pressed to find many folks defending the current implementation of Repulsion Bomb. Whatever your take on it from a comic stance it is by far the least generally useful tool in the set from a game-mechanics standpoint.

[ QUOTE ]
Force Bubble and Repulsion Field to me look like Controller powers, but it seems other Defender sets have similar powers. Which makes me wonder why these two powers aren't rolled into one power.... Hurricane does knockback, repel, and -acc, so why doesn't Force Bubble have knockback, too? Not that I like the way Hurricane works now, but it looks effectively to be a stronger Force Bubble, to me, and Force Bubble is the top tier power....

[/ QUOTE ]

We've all wondered what on earth is so great about the mass repel on Force Bubble that its worth being both our L32 power and the highest end-cost toggle in the game. Conceptually a big "do not enter" bubble is quite classically comic-ish. Unfortunately Force Bubble as implemented is merely a "do not enter if you are not particularly strong or heavy melee" - because Devs forbid it should keep out mobs we might actually *want* to keep out of melee with bubbled teammates.

Many of us have also wondered repeatedly what Repulsion Field is supposed to bring to a set that already has Force Bubble. The two powers are severely redundant. The only reasons to pick one or the other are specific nuances in their pattern of end use relative to the situations you may wish to use them, and the occasional advantages of KB over pure Repel.

[ QUOTE ]
Last I'll mention is Force Bolt. Ok, so one person here seems to like it, but otherwise I've heard nothing but bad things about it. How does this belong to Force Fields, anyway? Protective shields are not weapons, so why are FF Defenders getting pseudo Blaster powers in their primary?

[/ QUOTE ]

Where on earth are you getting the idea that Force Bolt is a weapon? It does approximately one quarter the DPS of brawl. No wonder you hear bad things if anybody sane attempted to use it as a damage power. It is a control tool. Cheap, fast, reliable, high-accuracy knockback. You can keep anything not-KB resistant off its feet indefinitely simply by spamming this power. It is fantastic for positioning stragglers in debuff fields, keeping dangerous mobs off balance, etc.

With that one power two-slotted I have kept as many as three Bosses at once from doing anything at all but standing up and being knocked back down until my teammates could "arrest" them.

And if you think I am the only Bubbler who likes it...you *really* need to get out and talk to experienced Bubblers more. Just check out past FF threads in this forum. I am by no means whatsoever its sole supporter. The most common suggested alteration for it is the simple addition of a chance to disorient...making the power even more "controller-y".