Aura_Familia

Originally Posted by Obitus

And yet it gives certain ATs disproportionate benefit.

Originally Posted by Obitus

Eight years.

A mistake is only a mistake in retrospect if you can demonstrate that the outcome was predictable at the time the decision was made. It's a fallacy to assume that a past choice was a bad one simply because a bad result followed. If I take a risk with a 10% chance of failure, and I happen to get unlucky, then am I a wantonly irresponsible idiot in retrospect?

We can only evaluate what we know at any given time. It should go without saying that any relevant developments going forward will change the landscape of this discussion.

Your play habits are irrelevant. The above quote represents a common theme in the Blaster debate, by the way; people seem to think that an AT's capabilities are an insignificant balance consideration simply because those people don't choose to make full use of those capabilities. If Defenders were given a 200% AT damage scalar, I'm sure someone would chime in to say that the AT's damage advantage is unimportant because all they do is spam debuffs and Neutrino Bolt.

An extreme example, I know, but sometimes the extreme case is illustrative.

So you think the existence of fast snipes doesn't affect the balance of Blaster single-target damage?

Originally Posted by Oathbound

^This.

People seems to be fixating on Devices vs Other manipulation sets, when it's really more of an issue with Defenders and Corruptors vs Blasters.

Defenders and Corruptors get a markedly higher benefit from this change than the majority of Blasters, when Blasters are the AT that specifically needs improvement at the moment.

I say this as someone with a myriad of Defenders and Corruptors (all of which could benefit greatly from this change, provided they have a snipe in their set) and not a single Blaster above level 12. This change disproportionately favors the support archetypes.

Originally Posted by Obitus

Recently, someone in a different thread asked me sarcastically if Blasters would trade Build Up for Freezing Rain. He dared me to "pole" the Blaster forum. So here I am; I put it to you, gentle reader:

Ignoring conceptual preferences, would you accept a wholesale trade of Build Up for Freezing Rain?

This is strictly a mechanical question. That is, do you feel the self-contained, immediate burst-damage bonus from Build Up is more or less useful than a 20-foot-radius resistance debuff that also slows and knocks down foes? The powers' breakdown follows:

Build Up (Blaster version) - 90 second recharge, 1.17 activation, 5.2 Endurance, confers +100% damage buff and +15% ToHit buff for 10 seconds.

Freezing Rain (Controller version) - 60 second recharge, 2.03 activation, 18.2 Endurance, summons pseudo pet Freezing Rain, which has the following attributes:

• 20-foot radius
• 15 second duration
• 75 ticks of 0.33 Cold Damage
• -50% movement speed debuff (for the duration of the rain)
• -40% recharge debuff (for the duration of the rain)
• 5% chance of knockdown (per 0.2 seconds)
• -30% Defense debuff for 30 seconds
• -30% Resistance debuff for 30 seconds
• Triggers avoid in NPC opponents (for the duration of the rain)
• (*weaker versions of the slow and recharge debuffs last for 30 seconds, persisting after the rain has finished.)

Obviously, if Blasters were to be given Freezing Rain, there's a solid chance that the power would have weaker debuff effects (and probably stronger damage, but FR isn't known for its damage output) due to the design intent behind AT scalars. This isn't intended to be a realistic question; it was posed to me rhetorically, and the discussion that gave birth to the question centered around comparing the performance of the two powers as they exist within their respective Archetypes.

And srs-business forum acrimony aside, I think it's an interesting hypothetical. Keep in mind that damage buffs boost your offense by a proportion of your base damage, whereas Resistance debuffs boost your offense against affected foes by a proportion of your total damage. That is, if you have ED-compliant damage slotting in your powers (and no other damage buffs from Assault, IOs, Aim, or Defiance), Build Up represents a 100 / 195 = 51.2% net damage buff. Under the same conditions, Freezing Rain would represent a 30% net damage buff.

Originally Posted by Thunder Knight

I think it's just the large gap since SSA2.1 (released June 5th) that's making people edgy. Even if they release 2.2 next week that'll be a full seven weeks, just one week shy of two months, since the last one. Even though you can technically say that's "once a month", it's not really such in any practical sense of the phrase.

Originally Posted by Forbin_Project

Actually I prefer it if they have a routine for releasing new stuff on the store. I just want whatever routine they use to be regular. A regular routine lets me plan ahead.

Personally I like to keep at least 800 points available. A regular routine allows me some time to figure out a way to get more points if I want to get something new that might be more expensive as soon as it's released. A fluctuating routine (4 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 weeks) is irritating because it's harder to plan ahead.

And while I don't doubt everyone woul like new items as soon as possible, if it's too difficult for the devs to put something new out, for example the first Tuesday of each month, then by all means make it every 6 weeks.

Originally Posted by Rajani Isa

Unless it's related to a certain gazebo, I'd rather keep Build Up instead of summoning player housing. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Forbin_Project

Never said that that wasn't the case.

What I said was that this isn't a case of them "taking a week off". The current schedule they appear to be following is to release something brand new every three to four weeks or so with various sales and rereleases going on inbetween as filler.

An established routine isn't taking a break for a week.

Originally Posted by Draeth Darkstar

Since Freedom came out we've gotten Time Manipulation, Dark Control, Dark Assault, and Dark Affinity for free. That's 4 sets in less than a year. On top of that, any VIP that didn't buy Going Rogue also gets Kinetic Melee, Electric Control, Demon Summoning, and Dual Pistols for free.

Prior to Freedom (span of 7 years), we got Shield Defense, Willpower, Dual Blades, Archery, Trick Arrow, Sonic Attacks, and Sonic Resonance for free, and the sets that came out with CoV were made free several years later.

I'd say they're doing pretty good.

Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect

Question:

Would people respect Superman if he used his godlike powers to beat up muggers that posed zero threat to him, while balking at the idea of fighting something that can hurt him?

Not likely.

That's what I'm seeing a lot of. People becoming Superman and beating up carjackers instead of fighting something that can fight back.

Originally Posted by MrLiberty

Anyone who wants the old nukes back should swap out those blues they've been carrying and pop a few reds before nuking now.

Originally Posted by Agent White

it's a pretty safe assumption since he said he had it open.

Remember kids, reading is FUNdamental!

Originally Posted by Forbin_Project

Taking a week off? I'm sorry but this isn't the first time they had nothing of interest on a Tuesday. For a couple months now it's been old stuff on sale, old stuff on sale, old stuff on sale, something new and cool, old stuff on sale, old stuff on sale, old stuff on sale, something new and cool.

Originally Posted by Golden Girl

If you have your Alpha slot open, even if you avoid other Incarnate content, it's still quite hard to avoid content that gives you Shards.

Originally Posted by Ultimus

See I am in the opposite boat, if they hadn't added Incarnates I would have gotten bored a long time ago. It was the original problem the game had, no end game content. Now you can play a single character and keep making progress on it.

I enjoy raiding and seeing my one character grow more and more powerful. However, I think its fair that people asked for solo content, that I ask for solo content that challenges my fully Incarnated character.

Even DA on +4 isn't a challenge because I can slot Ageless Epiphany Radial and nullify all of the debuffs.

Originally Posted by Ultimus

Just a really bad week in my opinion. It seems like more focus was on celebrating the Batman release come Friday with some of the item picks then actually giving us anything new. I know there is plenty of items in the pipeline.

If something is new and ready to go, why isn't it given to us? Was there an issue with SSA2 in beta?

Originally Posted by Chyll

Nolan has done an excellent job to convey the character of a hero movie. It would be a shame for DC/WB to not have him. It would be interesting to see what he would do with a group.

OTOH, other than Batman I have always found DC to be largely uninspiring and un-fun. So it is a shame that he is getting attached to yet another attempt at Superman, and I hope he stays away from JL.

Originally Posted by Forbin_Project

There are 27 incomplete Doctor Who serials, with 106 of 253 episodes from the first six years of the programme missing.

Originally Posted by nethergoat

i'd pay for access to a web-based market interface, like the one that giant fantasy mmo has.

I'd also pay for stand-alone offline and/or web based tailor access.

Originally Posted by DJ_Korith

I'm thinking....

-GM code (your level shifts don't matter - they con purple no matter what)
-Exponential threats (they buff each other; one might be a pushover, but 10 will be extremely difficult to overpower)
-Powerful debuffs
-Tactics required (eg, stay together, separate, stay away from the red deadly stuff, etc) for effective survival

Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn

As has been said multiple times in this thread alone: solo, there isn't THAT much of a disparity between the two ATs. However, in a high-buff scenario, Brutes are a clear outlier in performance, meaning that they have more than enough survivability, and very good offensive potential as well. Basically, they have almost-Tanker survivability and more-than-Scrapper levels of offense. That is one of the problems. This is why when people talk about bringing Brutes back into balance, they talk about reducing caps that they would almost never hit solo. This wouldn't impact most solo Brutes (except those that famr specific enemies, but again, the Devs probably don't care that much about performance in those specific circumstances), but would have an impact where the problem exists.


Do Tankers have a survivability edge over Brutes at the caps? Yes. But it's not that big. Do Brutes have an offensive edge over Tankers at the caps? Yes, which they should. But the difference on Offense is much higher than the lower survivability gap is. Basically, the question becomes what percentage of survivability are Tankers over Brutes base and at the caps? What is the percentage difference of offensive potential between the ATs at base and caps?

Brutes are around 75% as survivable as Tankers at base, and if HP is the only difference at the caps, then maybe about 90% there. Offensively, we have to assume a reasonable level of Fury, because there's just too wide a difference there. But I'd say that a Brute doing 125% Tanker damage is lowballing Brutes, but we can use that. But at the caps, Brutes are doing WELL more than that when compared to Tankers.

So, the problem becomes that in high-buff scenarios, Brutes close the survivability gap on Tankers, and GAIN on offense. This is where people see the problem. Compare other ATs to the Tanker, and the relative values stay about the same, maybe a few percentage points here or there. But Brutes are a clear outlier at the caps.


And this isn't even taking into consideration the effect that offense has on your survivability. If you can take out enemies faster, they will do less damage to you.


The discussion is taking into account both potential scenarios: the solo character, and the character in the high-buff scenario. Solo, the two ATs are about right, thought Tankers may need a slight buff there as well, I'm still not entirely sold, but it's possible. But at the caps, Brutes are better than pretty much every other melee AT.

Originally Posted by Rylas

ED took place before CoV launched, so if I a Kin was able to get me to the cap, then it was possible after ED. Now, Kin buffs on Corrs we're tweaked down, so I'm sure that's greatly changed since then. As it stands, a Corr can get you to 400% percent for 15 seconds every 30 secs. So, half the time. You mentioned double-stacked rage, so that's another 160%. If you have Fury at 80%, which isn't hard to do, then that's another 160%. Bringing the total to 720%.

So yes, your brute you just mentioned can be kept at the damage cap half the time by a Kin Corr.

Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect

For every player that wants more challenging things to fight.....there will be 3 that whine when their Incarnate character gets owned when they try to button mash their way through something instead of approaching it with caution. Look at how many times people have complained that enemy group X is cheating because they actually lost a fight with them. There is never any question of "what should I be doing different?" it's always "I jumped into a mob and died...they're CHEATING!"

Most players I've seen don't want to become Incarnates in order to fight harder stuff....they want to become them in order to trivialize the stuff they were already fighting.

Sad....but true.

Originally Posted by Garent

My experience shows that smaller trials do better as well.