Amauros

Allow me to step in for a second on the subject of Quad-kiting in EQ (being one of the people in the game at launch time).

The _tools_ were there, and they were obvious. We were able to single-kite at an early level, the druids had a snare and few things had ranged attacks. Kiting was an obvious tactic and with practice you could chase the kite with melee weapons and manage your agro, perfectly safe.

Wizards had to resort to 'root and nuke' due to the lack of an early snare. Later we got the snare and the AOEs but it took quite a bit of work to find where the tactic worked. No one knew about the Aviak islands and how easy it was to kite there for quite some time (and I think that included the Devs). It took a lot of hard work to figure out how to sucessfully quad kite until people drew maps of the exact path(s) to take. Once you followed some of those paths and saw how it worked from a first-person perspective you could go out and work on it at other spots.

To put this in comparison to CoH, just because you had an Inv Tank didn't mean you could herd an entire map. The tools were available but it also took some work and practice. Once you did learn the trick it was quite easy, however.

Reminder not only for Lighthouse and his crew but anyone looking for SR guides in general. My SR guide (linked in my sig) is still up-to-date. If any powers receive major upgrades I'll revise my guide with a new version.

My SR Scrapper / Stalker guide is still up-to-date. Every time there are any significant changes to any of the powers I do a total re-write but in the mean time I answer questions. See sig for link.

Hrm, when I get home from work tonight I'll log into my SR Stalker, if Stalker quickness is not taking fly enhancements then that is a bug.

Oh! Oh! I haven't seen this one.


I remember when Hasten was a _toggle_.

I remember hitting level 10 and getting my first power that did damage.


Illusion / Emp Controllers were able to gimp themselves, Flash was a 0 damage sleep only, I made it to level 10 using only Brawl (and teaming with Brawl, Havok, Onysis and others).

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I stress ocassional 'cause of the low Dom count in PvP.

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Blame all the stalkers that choose to follow us and KS rather than group. I'd be in PVP with my Dom more often then. Hell, my main Dom even has Grant Invis just to enable Stalkers, but getting them to group is far worse than pulling your own teeth.

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Second, I discussed this with our QA and programmer and have filed it as a bug.

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Wait. You only have one programmer working on this game?

If that's not a typo, I'm seriously, honestly impressed.

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Programmers are usually assigned specific areas to work on, I'm guessing there's one person currently assigned that would cover that section of code.

That is tagged for my next major revision to this guide. You also need to remember that the 45% Def from Elude is usually on top of the 30% you get from your passives and toggles. So that is 75% Def before slotting Elude, 100-ish Def after slotting.

For dedicated PVPers recommended slotting is 3x Rech, 3x Def. Anyone else would be 3x Rech and any extra slots you feel like throwing at the power, in PVE the slots are (mostly) overkill.

Future versions of this guide will include the fact that Quickness now buffs Flight speed as well as run speed. Daemon might have been seeing the future but people have been requesting that for a long time (and ED made it even more relevant).

Only partially relevant but I haven't seen if anyone can confirm that Swift/Quickness/Lightning Reflexes increases your speed when you are under the effect of someone else's Group Flight. It should, according to everything we know about how powers work, but I haven't seen it confirmed yet.

Quickness _only_ increases run speed, it is not a generic speed increase (like Speed Boost). You don't have to try building a new character.

If you'd like to try you can always copy a version over to test.

Good news for SR, it has been confirmed that PB _does_ stack with itself. Previously everyone knew you could get 2 icons on your screen but it was difficult to confirm that you would benefit from both, Stargazer has done some testing and confirmed that while both icons are stacked your mez protection is doubled.

Future versions of this guide will include those details and explain why to concider 3x Recharge in PB.

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Yep, well once the children that Drone teleport for 2 hours straight leave the zone it actually becomes fun..

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There's an easy way around this, of course: Stay away from the opposing base.

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Sensible people keep saying this and the sublime ease of the solution still makes me chuckle.

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Just to be an @!# I once had 3 friends, each of us with tport foe, yank someone halfway across the zone to the drone. Took several tries before we got it to work and it was quite fun. Even the target was amused.

Wanted to post one quick comment on Lucks and "flooring" a boss.

The concept of "flooring" is going to change soon, if you want the exact details read Arcana's guide to Defense. Here's the short version however.

Old
Bosses had their innate (boss) accuracy and level bonus *before* defense was factored into the formula. This made them very, very accurate but it was still possible to eventually floor them down to 5%

New
The innate (boss) accuracy as well as the level bonus will be factored in *after* defense. While it will be easier to minimize their to hit chance, you will no longer be able to make a boss at 5%.

To keep it simple I will use a +0 boss and round numbers off. "Boss Bonus" will be defined as 30% (or 1.3 multiplier)

Before
50% ACC * "Boss Bonus" = 50 * 1.3 = 65% - 60 Def = 5% ToHit (aka Floor)

After
50% Acc - 45 Def = 5% * "Boss Bonus" = 5% * 1.3 = 6.5%

In short, it takes less Def to minimize a boss' chance to hit, but you can never actually achieve the 5% minimum anymore. In your question above, you asked how much for a +3 boss. The answer is "45% Def" (or 2 Lucks will do it) but the end result is the boss will still have higher than 5% chance to hit you.

Well, I work 7pm - 7am, so actually it was a hurried edit during my lunch break

Yeah, 1.56 multiplier (including ED factor) I don't know why I used 1.96 (the other ED factor). See, I knew I wanted to post it in this thread for comments before creating it's own thread

Amauros' guide to SR Scrappers / Stalkers v 3.7
Updated 3/5/06 - Issue 6

Purpose of this guide

This guide is intended to be "math lite" meaning I will round off numbers and use simple examples. I will provide all known base values and include the values with SOs slotted. All examples will be assumed to be in PVE unless noted otherwise

Definitions
<ul type="square">
BTH - Base To Hit. This is defined as 50% chance to be hit by an opponent.

Defense - Avoidance of damage, as compared to Resistance. Directly reduces the chance to be hit.

MTH - Modified To Hit The final chance to be hit after all modifications from Accuracy and Defense

Resistance - Reduces incoming damage by a percent, assuming the resistance is against that particular form of damage.

"Positional" Attack - Attacks that are classified by attack form. These are "melee", "ranged" or "AOE".[/list]
CoX Combat - Simplified - or - How SR keeps you alive
Every time an attack is launched there is a base 50% BTH. ACC increases that chance while Defense reduces it. As an example, 12% Defense would mean your MTH was 38% (50 - 12 = 38)

No matter how much Defense you have, there is always a 5% chance to be hit, this is referred to as the "floor". There is no "cap" on Defense, instead there a maximum effective amount you can really use. As of I7 this appears to be about 45% Def, before taking into account ToHit buffs.

Base Values and Enhancements

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
Power Base 3x Def
Focused Fighting 12.5% 24.5%
Focused Senses 12.5% 24.5%
Evasion 22.5% 35%
Dodge 5% 7.8%
Agile 5% 7.8%
Lucky 5% 7.8%
Evasion 45% 88.2%
Hide ** Special
</pre><hr />

In short, each SO you put in FF or FS provides 2.5% bonus each. Each SO you put in Dodge or Agile provides 1% each.

Please note, the values for Lucky / Evasion are expected to change with I7!

Changes to Passives (Resistance as your health drops)

As your health drops, your passives start to generate Resistance to all except Psi, Tox. The actual formula is
(60 - (current_health / maximum_health)) / 3

As a fudge factor, you can use the following chart

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
Health 1 Passive 2 Passives 3 Passives
60% 0% 0% 0%
50% 3.3% 6.6% 10%
40% 6.6% 13.3% 20%
30% 10% 20% 30%
20% 13.3% 26.6% 40%
10% 16.6% 33% 50%
</pre><hr />

The powers

<ul type="square">
Focused Fighting (FF) (Toggle): This Toggle provides Def against any melee attack. An example of Melee attacks are Punches, Kicks, Swords and the like. Some attacks can hit more than one target but are still concidered Melee attacks. The majority of all attacks in the game are Melee, so this power is very valuable to you.

The base Def of this power is 12.5% It will accept End Reducers and Def Enhancements only. This power grants Resistance to Confusion type powers while it is active. Confusion will still affect you, but it will wear off faster than other players.

Recommended slotting: 1 End, 3 Def. Personally I recommend you have this at least 4 slotted by level 22 (when you get SOs).[/list]
<ul type="square">
Focused Senses (FS) (Toggle):This power works the same as FF execpt it is available starting level 2, protects against Ranged attacks.

When you should pick up this power depends upon your play style. Most ranged attacks do less damage than Melee attacks so many players wait until later in their career before picking this up. My personal preference is to wait until the mid 20s to pick it up and assign slots slowly. I had 3 slots by time I was in my 30s and didn't put the final slot in until 40+. This power also grants +Perception meaning you will see opponents who are Hidden, Cloaked or Invisible further than other characters, therefore this power is very important in PVP.

Recommended slotting: 1x End and 3x Def[/list]
<ul type="square">
Agile (Passive): This is a passive power, it is always active once you pick it up. This power will protect you against all ranged attacks, even when you are stunned, held, disorientated or otherwise distracted. It provides 5% base. Each SO you place in will add only 1% DEF, you are usually better off slotting your toggle before your passives.

Recommended slotting: 3x Def.
[/list]<ul type="square">
Practiced Brawler (PB) (Click): PB provides both protection and resistance against Hold, Mez, Knockback and Disorients and is available starting level 10. Once you activate this power it requires no additional endurance and cannot be turned off until it expires. Not only are you less likely to be effected by the protected powers but they will wear off faster than other characters. This power is concidered the best status protection in the game. The level of protection it provides scales with your level, generally speaking it reaches it's maximum protection by level 40.

It is recommended you pick up this power sometime in your mid to late teens, generally when you start fighting the Tsoo.

Recommended slotting: 2x Recharge Enhancements and this power will be available all the time. The end cost is significant (15 end) but it is paid only when you start the power. Slot End reducers as you feel necessary, personally I have only 2x Recharge.
[/list]<ul type="square">
Dodge (Passive): This power is the exact same as Agile except it covers Melee attacks (like FF) and is not available until 16.

I recommend you take this power as soon as possible, either 16 or shortly after.

Recommended slotting: 3x Def [/list]<ul type="square">
Quickness (Passive): This power is not available until level 20. This power will provide a small boost to the recharge times of all your powers, approximately equal to one DO enhancement, and will also boost your innate running speed. The exact value is a 0.2 Reduction (compared to Hasten, which is 0.7)

Recommended slotting: 1x Run Speed. Run speed is the only enhancements you may place in this power. For characters who wish to make a "natural" character with no obvious travel power, it is commonly recommended to slot up Sprint instead. The run speed increase appears to be the same as "Swift" from the fitness pool.
[/list]<ul type="square">
Lucky (Passive): This power is not available until level 28 and will protect you from all AOE attacks. It is highly recommended you take this power at 28 as you have no Def against AOE attacks until this time.

Recommended slotting: 3x Def.
[/list]
<ul type="square">
Evasion (Toggle): This power provides very high Defense against AOE attacks and is not available until level 35. Example of AOE attacks include Fireball, Cone attacks, etc. It is highly recommended you take this power at level 35.

Recommended slotting: 1x End, 3xDef
[/list]<ul type="square">
Elude (Click): The final power in the set, it is not available until level 38. It is highly recommended you take this power at 38, the benefits are hard to overstate.

This power does several effects, first and foremost it provides a very large (45%) Def bonus against all attacks. This power, as a click, cannot be turned off even if you are held, stunned, etc. It also provides a boost to your Run speed, Jumping hight and Endurance Recovery. This power has a duration of 180 seconds and a recharge of 1000 seconds.

Recommended slotting: 3x Recharge. Def enhancements as you see fit.
When you have slots to spare, you could put DEF enhancements in but that would rarely be of use. The Run speed and Jumping are significant already and I have never run out of End while this power is active (even with end drain from Carnies dropping around me left and right). Slotting End Reducers into this power is not recommended, it will not impact the end drain at the end, only reduce the initial cost of this power.

Warning: When this power wears off, you will lose *all* endurance, all of your Toggles will turn off and you will be unable to regen Endurance normally for 20 seconds. You can still use Catch a Breath (Blue) Inspirations during this time. +End regen powers like Stamina or Recovery Aura do not work during this time period as well.[/list]

Holy ressurection, this thread was over 1 year old!

I never wrote a specific guide for DM, but you can check out my guide for SR, latest version is 3.5 (with 3.6 coming soon to fix a few small things).

My SR guide

My SR guide is up to day (other than a simple goof, I mixed up the secondary effect of Focused Fighting / Focused Senses) but you're more than encouraged to add to the knowledge base. More perspective on SR is never a bad thing and I know squat about MA.

That's really odd, I've never seen that documented anywhere before. I have a huge project for school due this upcomming week, finals after that so I'm kind of busy for a while, but I'll try to get some time to test and see if I can duplicate those results.

Guys, read the guide that is linked here.

Hasten = .70 reduction in recharge, slightly better than 2 SOs
Quickness = .20 reduction, slightly better than 1 DO

Original_Time / (1+Sum_Of_Recharge) = New_Time

In the above example, Build Up = 90 seconds

90 / (1+.2) = 90 / 1.2 = 75 seconds

A long time ago in a CoH far away that was true, but they bumped up Quickness to be equal to Swift. The Guide to Movement Powers also lists them as the same.

Unless... recently there was a bug where Quickness was costing a very small end drain, they might of boo-boo'ed when they fixed it, will have to test (have a version of Amauros on Test with a banked respec)

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Nice clean guide Amauros. Small correction: Elude has a 20 second crash, not a 10 second crash.

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Thanks Arcana, props back to you for your testing on SR. Will fix that for the next revision.

There is a difference between Res(Confusion) and Protect(Confusion).

Protection means that multiple effects must be stacked to overcome the defenses.
Resistance means they wear off faster.

FF offers Res(Confusion), making it wear off faster but offers no Protection against it. PB offers both RES and Protection against the listed status effects.

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Just wanted to point out this is incorrect. Focused Fighting provides +Resistance vs Confuse effects. Focused Senses provides +Perception.

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This is confirmed, I've apparently had it reversed in my guide for... frog knows how long but it's managed to miss everyone's proofreading until now.

Another think that I noticed, SR Stalkers do not appear to have the +Per or Res(Confusion) that the Scrappers do. I will create a list of known differences for Stalkers / Scrappers so it can be of use to the Stalking community.

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What's the add for the 4th Def slot?

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In short, very little.

What does that mean in English? Each SO normally provides +20% bonus to the base value. This is additive, meaning 2 SOs would provide +40%

When you get to the 3rd SO, the effecti is limited by ED, so instead of +60% it's actually about +56%. Each SO after that provides approx 5% instead of 20%, or about 0.6% bonus each.

Once your passives and toggles are both slotted with 3x Def, put them somewhere else.

Edit: I need sleep, stupid math error.