Starsman
-
Posts
2248 -
Joined
-
Quote:Grow up.Originally Posted by Lacrymosa
Now everyones going to play the "kiss the red name a$$" just because you defended the people with no lives. In that sense I mean the people who do nothing but frequent the boards, and defend that one topic. I guess you missed my point.
I have no problem with people posting on a DISCUSSION board. But when the thread is about having more posts, I think you lose any defense about having anything more than a "board life". Like I posted before, I'm sure I could find many posts from the people on this thread that are one liners, and internet memes that have nothing to do with the topic they are in.
People post just because they can. Not because its helpful. A dev defending that is pretty bad. -
OK about the original topic in the thread, I didn't read the full thread but there are a few things I would like to note. First off, I am not a huge defender player, my Sonic/Sonic is the only defender I have and it's not very high, most my analysis is theoretical and many may use this to dismiss it but remember it's the same theory the devs use to balance and if you want to catch their eye you got to dismiss theory with more theory or actual proof, not with anecdotes.
OK, first: Survival.All defenders have at least one power that will directly benefit their own survivability. Debuffers are generally in better grounds as most their powers are useful to themselves.
Now, Damage....
Epics provide some strong survivability for defenders. Temp Invuln yields base 30% smash/lethal resistance. On top of this, defenders use the same resist and defense modifiers as tankers so Tough, Weave and Combat Jumping are all as useful to them. Tough + Temp Invuln + 3 SOs on each gets you 70.2% resistance to the most common damage type in the game. That combined with any native buffing can yield some strong survivability.
Right now there is no much defense available to build upon other than IOs (that are not too hard to use for high amounts of defense) but if we ever hit epic proliferation we may get a cold epic with Ice Shield ready, but that's not now.
NOW you can just get a lot of native smash/lethal resistance without even looking at your primary, mind you, it's late game but still possible.
It would mess too much with tanker desirability if the defender can barely be killed.
All defenders BUT force fields get damage boosting tools, be it -resistance or + damage. Off these, I think only Empathy is not able to use at least some of that on self (unless you count recharge as such but for now I am trying to look only at direct damage.) And off course, there is Assault that is available to all and defenders get 18.75% buffing out of it.
These buffs and debuffs can be very strong to the point where the real issue of "defender damage" suddenly becomes an issue of "Empathy and Force Fields" damage, not "Defender Damage". Certain sets also may see themselves being too late bloomers in the damage department but again, that's a set issue not an AT one.
What I'd recommend if anything:
Empathy: Allow to somehow use Fortitude on self so its useful solo.
Force Fields: Repulsion Field and Force Bubble seem extremely redundant to me. I'd say turning Repulsion Field into a -resist power that just has a base end cost (no per foe -end.)
And the only thing I'd make as an AT wide effect: Allow Vigilance to work off Endurance AND HP, not just off HP, and allow it to take into account the player's own stats. This would make Vigilance useful solo while also making it useful when the team is getting exhausted, not only when the team is simply dying. -
Quote:Note about the overkill thing, there are two measures of overkill when analyzing Scourge.Originally Posted by Turbo_Ski
12% is the average buff against minions/lts/boss taken from extensive data simulations by Starsman. This data factors in overkilling, without factoring in overkill you end up with a number like 21.25%.
Case 1:
Foe has 10 HP left, you launch an attack that does 12 base points of damage, it scourges so the total is 24, but the base would had killed.
Case 2:
Foe has 10 HP left, you launch an attack that does 9 points of damage. This attack would not kill the target without Scourge. So we get scourge and do 18 points of damage.
In my analysis, Case 1 is not accounted for becasue Scourge was never usful. Case 2, however, is accounted for in full, I don't discount any damage from that, its fully "benefitial". Thats why I noted in my guide that I did not worry about direct overkill since everyone inflicts overkill, I only wanted to make sure that scourge that was 100% wasted was not accounted for.
My data also includes the actual Scourge rate. It can variate drastically from one attack to the other and not in the expected increments. It seems spamming higher damage attacks while solo may get you better scourge rate by simplicity of less attacks getting you faster to the 30% hp range where chances are higher of you scourging. It ends up being more 100% wasted scourge, though.
If I wanted to get an accurate measurement I'd have to go through a full attack chain calculator that actually goes on killing thousands of minions and gives me a real scourge rate for each set, but it seems that's a bit pointless right now since the true useful scourge rate is rather fixed across different scale attack tests against anything but minions. -
Quote:This is a topic for another thread but Fiery Armor is indeed in a disadvantage. The only thing that makes Fiery Armor look good is pre-granite stone.Originally Posted by Ice_Ember
A shield tank can have 40%defense to everything without IO's. That also does not include Maneuvers, just Weave.
My shield/ice is currently much more efficient at clearing missions than my fire/ice.
Fiery armor's offensive HAS to bee looked at. I say offensive and not defensiveness because the set was always meant to be THE offensive armor set. -
Quote:I'd argue I didn't try to interpret and went plainly for literal definition BUT that still is the same thingOriginally Posted by StratoNexus
The dictionary defines Semantics as:
Quote:3. the meaning, or an interpretation of the meaning, of a word, sign, sentence, etc.: Let's not argue about semantics. 
Anyways, there was also this in my post:
Don't want anyone to change their meaning, why from the start I said "Depending on your point of view" just to dismiss a bit bashing against people that do see it this way, not to defend anyone other than myself, though.Quote:I just note why I don't include healing as mitigation.
I would not remove them from the complete discussion, they HAVE to be accounted for, but I would still not call it mitigation.Quote:While there are many reasons where you may want to separately analyze healing/regen and def/res (and/or to-hit/dam debuffs), AT balance, specifically relating to speed through missions/speed acquiring rewards is not one of them. 
Anyone that uses the "it's not mitigation" as an excuse to eliminate it from the discussion is either too lazy to analyze it properly, just don't understand it, or just attempting to cover things that don't benefit their case. -
If you think you can repeat this predictably or by doing it over and over for a while, demorecord it and send the demorecord directly to Castle and perhaps Phosyb.
-
Quote:The dictionary defines Mitigate as:Originally Posted by Arondell
This is a semantics issue and a rather narrow definition of mitigation. In truth mitigation is something that can occur before or after whatever is being mitigated. Healing powers are reactive mitigation. +Def and +res buff and -Acc debuff powers are active mitigations. Both reduce the severity of incoming damage. I personally prefer active mitigation.
1 : to cause to become less harsh or hostile : mollify
Both of these denote reduction of pain, not removal of pain.
2 a : to make less severe or painful : alleviate b : extenuate
Now, Alleviate itself, noted as a synonym of 2a, happens to have two meanings on its own:a : to make (as suffering) more bearable <her sympathy alleviated his distress>
Now, I don't know what is the popular usage of the word Mitigation and synonyms as I learned English by myself. I self taught via the Dictionary for the most part, attempting to avoid falling on the cultural traps all my Spanish teachers frowned upon in my every day native language. Due to this, I take the dictionary a bit literally and so I retain that the definition of "Mitigate" does not include repairing or curing implicitly.
b : to partially remove or correct <measures taken to alleviate a labor shortage> synonyms see relieve
Then again you will find my posts to have loads of typos and more than one grammatical errors so who am I to correct anyone. I just note why I don't include healing as mitigation. -
Quote:Like a bratty child, you think you make a bigger impact on people's lives than you really do.Originally Posted by Kruunch
Are you still crying in the corner about me dinging your precious charts?
Good lord man get over it (they made you produce better charts didn't it?).
Sheesh.
But carry on.
-
Quote:You sound like some one that has never talked to the guy before.Originally Posted by MunkiLord
Lol, that's the best you can come up with? I made claim and backed it up. You made a claim and put your hands over your ears and started yelling 'lalalalala.'
-
Quote:Depends your point of view.Originally Posted by Mr_DJ
healing/regen is a form of damage mitigation, you cannot refute that
and don't leave yet...for at least two more hours >.>
I know Arcanaville calls them forms of mitigation, or did in the last post I read her writing about them.
I refuse to call them forms of mitigation, though, as I think of mitigation as things that prevent you to loose health.
I consider Healing and Regen forms of, well, healing after not being able to mitigate incoming damage.
The biggest difference is that Healing can't prevent you from dying from a spike. Think of it as discounts in a store vs mail in rebates that you still have to pay full price up front and hope you don't overdraft before the rebate gets to your bank account.
Both are, in my book, survival tools, but in two mayor separate different categories: Prevention (mitigation) and Recuperation (healing). -
Quote:Originally Posted by Coldmed
whats the basic slotting of it ?..3 recharges or do you place running in it as well.?
It's a passive that only takes run and fly enhancements. -
Quote:I think I know what the root of this confusion is: Ultimo must be thinking Ice Storm every time he says Snow Storm. It's the only thing that can explain his opinion without going all the way to say he just made it up.Originally Posted by Turbo_Ski
For the record, Snow Storm DOES NOT and NEVER HAS caused scatter.
-
Quote:Not to mention: If castle ever went to normalize "aggro control" capabilities, he would go for the lower end possible, not the high end. I doubt he is extremely happy with tankers and brutes just turning on their aura and auto following and still be effective tanks.Originally Posted by Shannon_EU
Doesn't matter what character you create. The game is set up to make a certain amount of powers as desirable as possible to anyone. One can't fit them all in and have a build for everything. If I could taunt control 16 with my aura alone I wouldn't have to gauntlet or taunt that extra few more when gaining the numbers of enemies in order to maximize the output other players debuffs and aoes.
-
Quote:Originally Posted by Heraclea
The endurance mechanic as currently implemented is a drag on gameplay that's inconsistent with the things that make this game unique. This game has far less of a need for mechanics to make character building a time-sink. Mandatory stamina at 20 prevents me from exploring the actual power sets I choose. Mandatory stamina encourages power levelling to get those levels over with and pass by the content written for them.
The endurance mechanic is inconsistent with the things that make this game unique. It is specifically bad for this game.
I have to disagree with this. First: there are options to stamina, specially with IOs. Frankenslotting is an option. Taking more attacks and slotting for endurance, damage and accuracy instead of going recharge heavy with few attacks is another approach. Arcanaville proved it worked even before IOs, although I think she did use HOs.
Again: as long as endurance exists you will have people that will insit that they "require" to get any option that gives them moar.
This game was heavily balanced around endruance. Certain sets get intentional endurance advantage at a cost, arguably some sets may not be properly penalized in that department (*cough WP*) but the root of certain builds disadvantages are based around their endurance advantages. For instance, Masterminds barely use endurance because their pets are doing the job for them, as consequence every mastermind action has increased endurance cost (25% more end cost.) Removing stamina from the game entirely would force all these sets to be redesigned.
All that being told, I don't have a big issue with stamina as a limmiting factor, but I do have an issue with specific ATs having worse endurance efficiency than others in equivalent builds. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Johnny_Butane
Please don't do that. It's both childish and confusing for anyone who's trying to follow the conversation. It's easy for anyone to be misrepresented when you alter their opinion and don't include the original text. In a gag thread, its one thing. In a discussion thread, it's another. If you can't at least respect my opinions, respect Starsman. It's his thread.
...
-
Quote:Yea, i still hope someday the devs create Density Mastery buff/debuff set that specializes in increasing player's HP and Endurance bars and decreasing Foes HP.Originally Posted by Turbo_Ski
I would imagine it will only get worse as more powersets are added in, since it's just a matter of time before they attempt another go at ally +maxhp buffs.
I can see 6 powers right there:
Target HP buff
Target End Buff
AoE HP buff toggle
Foe -HP Debuff
Foe AoE -HP Debuff
A ST heal
...and not sure what else from there but for such a set to be usable it would require HP cap increases across the board (other than brutes.) -
Quote:If that was all that Invuln had to relly on, sure. When the invuln also has HP and darn high Defense values, yea, it can be next to nothing even if in theory it can be huge.Originally Posted by Dersk
Besides, you of all people know that 90% down to 78% isn't "next to no effect",
That's no torture... I shave every single day, there is nothing left for you to shave! And I don't lather to do it! My skin does not need the lathering, it does not irritate easily, I sunburn in 15 minutes, though...Quote:All three invuln brutes in the game would hunt you down and shave you without lathering you first.
Don't mind if i dont sympathize too much with Brute's, though. However: You can always just change tankers and leave brutes with their crash of doom. Would even bring some distinction to tank vs brutes, even if just in a few builds. -
Quote:The powers, as they stand, tend to all be total set replacements. Given that its unlikely you will start micromanaging your other powers when you activate your Tier 9s (specially since these tend to add endurance recovery) truth is making them weaker would have next to no effect on the builds.Originally Posted by Dersk
As much as certain people hate powers like unstoppable, making the resistances weaker to justify a weaker crash would likely, depending on the specifics, make the power less useful when I need it. At the same time, though, I don't use any of the S/L resistance from the power...
Take invuln for instance. With just Resist Energies and Unyielding the set gets 31.2 resistance to elements and energies (plus defense.)
A modified version of One with the shield, one that didnt bother providing Smash/Lethal and instead focused on element/energies, could be justified to give 30% base to all types but psi/smash/lethal that would be 46.8% extra resistance for a total 78% elemental/energy/toxic resistance on a much reduced timer and without a kill or die timer. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Turbo_Ski
While on the subject of HP, none of the ATs except maybe stalkers should have their base hp raised at all. However HP caps really need to raised significantly on any AT that isn't a kheld, SoA, or brute.
I agree big time. Been saying it for ages. As it stands its a waste for Cold Domination > Frostwork to be cast on way too many builds. -
Quote:I think all armor Tier 9s other than Shield's and Willpower should be reviewed.Originally Posted by Heraclea
I'm also curious as to whether they will change the tier 9 into something other than a slow suicide button for tankers.
I'd turn all the resist ones into One With The Shield-like behavior at the bare minimum, if given enough time I'd review them into something more interesting. -
I love it when I propose two different things, either of which would fix an issue, and castle implements BOTH.
Bet this was in the back burner since before I proposed it on the forums but I still love the coincidence!
So, the power heals 25%, that's 50% enhanced, every 2 minutes, that's 1 minute enhanced...
Then for 30 seconds it gives a 200% regeneration once enhanced... would have to sit down with some spreadsheets to see how that all looks but so far it sounds rather nice... -
Quote:HP does not work off base HP, it works of an independent modifier that has been intentionally set to match base HP in the case of self-heals.Originally Posted by BurningChick
I don't think you've even thought through what happens to Regen Aura (and don't some heals work off base HP, also?) if defenders get more HPs.
If Castle wanted, he could even remove the healing modifier from Aid Self and make the power heal exactly the same amount of HP to all ATs, for instance, or give it the Damage modifier and make it heal more if used by heavy damage ATs, etc etc.
Minor nitpick: Purple Patch does not affect the duration of debuffs, only the duration of mez and strength of debuffs.Quote:Originally Posted by BurningChick
Some things to remember: The Purple Patch (shortens duration and strength of debuffs);
The duration of buffs and the magnitude of holds are not affected by mezs, reason why a level 50 dominator can't hold a lvl 1 boss in one shot (out of domination.) -
Quote:I think he is not familiar with many many things.Originally Posted by Sorciere_NA
You aren't familiar with the streak breaker, I take it?
-
Quote:Castle has talked about Tankers in the past, although passingly.Originally Posted by Johnny_Butane
That's the most he's said on the subject in 3 years that I've seen.
And that's considering Starsman is fairly well respected.
.
I would have to dig a lot, and with the forum changes not sure how much more may have been lost than normal, but he has expressed in the past that tankers can use something, he just made it also clear he does not think damage or more survivability to be the way to go and recall him noting that a reverse-bodyguard system would be a nightmare to code (and was already hard to do for Masterminds that redirect their pain to pets instead of sharing the team's pain)
I can see the potential of recursive nightmares with multiple reverse-bodyguard tankers may cause.
Based on that previous feedback I TEND to avoid suggesting damage as a tanker improvement proposal unless I have some solid convictions about it having a good selling point, but I think Castle is very decided in his "damage is not the answer" mindset and I don't blame him.
His response here simply reaffirmed his stance about damage and tanks. -
Quote:Originally Posted by GibberingLunatic
No typos, yes I was able to defeat him alone.... After about a half hour of punching him in the gut. 75% accuracy doesn't mean nothing when the hits still come down to a roll of the dice.
By that standard my lvl 1 blaster can take an alpha better than my Ice Tanker.