Blueeyed

[ QUOTE ]
First, I was wondering if this was true.

[/ QUOTE ]
Nope.

Detoggling is getting tweaked, not completely removed. My wager is just that the percentage values all around will be dropped, but no one knows for sure.

I'm an [censored]. Do I need to put it in my signature?

Look, unless you want to claim that Sonic/ Blasters do a full 13% - 25% more damage than any other blast set, you've got to assume that they're doing less damage then normal Blast sets before factoring resistance debuffs in.

Otherwise, you're just being intetionally misleading.

Okay.

Step 1 : Know what you're talking about.

For starters, the resistance debuff on Sonic Blasts is -20% for Defenders and -12 - 13% for Blasters (roughly 1.6 scalar).

Step 2 : Compare similar capabilities.

Last I checked, there were Sonic Blasters. They get 12.5% per debuff, but it's still notable, and a much more apt comparision than generic Blasters.
You'll also find that Sonic Blasters can do 4.468 scalar damage 'burst', compared to a damage-capped Kin/Sonic who will do 3.6 scalar.
Even if you go by average, with an estimate of +100% * 10/45 (Build Up * availability) + 62.5% * 10/45 (Amplify * availability), you'll find the Sonic Blaster doing ~2.8 scalar, and compared to a *normal* value for Kin/Sonic Blast being ~2.5.

Step 3 : Include values that you know.

Er, comparing two full powersets to one full powerset and a single power? Any possible problems here? I hate to point it out, but even FCS vastly shifts this combination, nevermind actually useful powers. And, sure, you can say that you're ignoring Kinetics powers (which alone is a problem), but outside a good FS, the kin/ powers won't buff damage significantly, while Total Focus most definetely will.

Step 4 : Think before typing.

In particular, something that requires you to stand in the middle of ~10 enemies for 3 seconds minimum is not overly sustainable.
Remember that the aggro metric for Defenders is significantly higher than that for Blasters.
And remember that Defenders have 84% of the health of a Blaster, and kinetics defenders have very little survivability through their primary powers against multiple targets.

*that's not to say I don't expect the sonic blast powerset to be nerfed. A viable control in Defender hands won't last long, and neither will the base 70% of Blaster damage Sonic Blast allows.*

EDIT: corrected grammar : mechanic to metric.
Also included more information on resistance debuff in Sonic Blast.

Yeah, of course self-heals are underperforming for Tankers. I've been saying that even in that stupid "Tankers can't tank" thread in the general AT powers forum. It's why I thought Healing Flames should be bumped to a much higher scalar than it currently was.

Scrappers have ~72% of a Tanker's health bar. At least for the example of Invuln, they get ~75% of the efficenct for a defense buff / resistance buff that a Tanker does. As a result, the design plan is for Tankers to have 185% survivability of a scrapper - that's the absolute value difference between a defense buff and a resistance buff between Tankers and Scrappers.

That's obviously not how things work in practice, even with Invuln - Dull Pain and the defense debuff on Unyielding get in the way - but it's where the line in the sand has been drawn.

But self-heals work at a high 72% effectiveness for Scrappers. That's ridiculous compared to the other powers, and it's also why /regen seems so strong compared to the other sets.

[ QUOTE ]
I prefer to look at things in the way in which the greatest number of variables becomes scale-invariant. If tankers benefit from 50% resistance more than blasters, then level 50 tanks benefit from 50% resistance more than level 49 tanks. With each level you get more health, and thus getting a +health benefit. I would much rather call that benefit a singular benefit (-ScaledDamage), than calling it a +HealthCap +Regen +HealFactor +EffectiveResSurvival +EffectiveDefSurvival benefit. Its possible, but no thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]
You really haven't messed with other ATs, then, have you?

When you start throwing control powers or multi-AT teams, you *have* to get a universalized value, or you'll really get fudgered when you toss enemies into the simulation.

Looking at things in a proportional method is great in scaled samples like the excellent work by yourself, DrRock, or Starsman, but I've tried it for group simulations, and if there's a way, it's even more complex than what I'm doing.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
10% is 10%, no matter the AT.

100 health vs 140 health is defintely not the same, especially considering in most cases that 140 health is being applied to someone with a good deal of damage resistance. It means that the tanker with the same scale of heal will almost certainly survive longer than a blaster with a 100 point heal.

Surely, you agree with that?

[/ QUOTE ]

You just confused me. Yes, a tanker with a 10% heal will last longer than a blaster with a 10% heal, and by longer I mean proportionly longer.

But if you give a naked tanker a 100 POINT heal (not %) it will stretch his life the same ammount of time it will for a blaster. Sure with Resistance factored in there is a diference, but i am confused since you noted first a 10% heal across ATs and then a 100 point heal comparation between blasters and tankers.

[/ QUOTE ]
He didn't give a 100 point heal comparision between blasters and tankers. He said a heal that scales to 100 hp for a Blaster will give more health to a Tanker (in absolute terms). For example, if Aid Self gives a Blaster 100 hp, a tanker of the same level will get 155 hp.

It means that the tanker with the same scale of heal will almost certainly survive longer than a heal that gives a blaster a 100 point heal.

[ QUOTE ]
If Castle's perspective is shared with the designers of the power - a heal of scaler X is implicitly stronger for tankers than other ATs because of higher health - its logical to assume that tanker heals are "supposed" to be stronger: that that was the designer's intent.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think _Castle_'s intent was more to clarify the mechanic than state that the power provides more survivability under a specific metric.
[ QUOTE ]
Would you say that 50% resistance was "stronger" for tankers than blasters? I wouldn't. But 50% resistance acts to increase survivability between the two in a proportional way, not a linear way. Resistance doesn't buy everyone a fixed amount of time, everyone reacts to resistance in a percentage way; incoming damage drops by the same fraction, survivability goes up by a different fraction.

[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, I would consider Tankers to benefit more from 50% resistance than a Blaster. Whether you look at it as a damage to kill (a Blaster goes from 112.5% of a base Kheldian's damage to kill to 225%, while a Tanker goes from 175% to 350%) or time to live (what would kill a blaster in ten seconds normally goes to 20 seconds, and a tanker undergoing the same rate of damage would normally survive 15.7 seconds goes to 31.4 seconds). Unless you consider 10 seconds to live to be the same as 15.7, or 112.5% of a Kheldian's base damage to kill to be the same as 175%, of course.

They're equal in *relative* terms. But hey, I've been trying to measure powers between ATs, so I probably look at things a little differently.
[ QUOTE ]
Which would be fine, except that perspective makes it very tedious to ask the question "when do these two powers have equal benefit to tankers and other ATs?"

[/ QUOTE ]
Not really. It requires a bit of math, but not much. For example, 30% resistance on a blaster increases their survivability from 1.125 C/K to 1.607 C/K, a difference of 0.482 C/K. To provide the same change for a Tanker, you need a mere 21.6% resistance (to bring them from 1.75 C/K to 2.232 C/K).

Just type "/demorecord chimera" once you zone into the Chimera map. Rest should take care of itself - the recording will stop when you zone, but if you prefer, "/demorecord stop" works too.

Yeah, this does seem strange. If a number of Lucks are letting you dodge his Katana, you'll be hit more often by his Arrows, but not as much as you seem to be describing.

[ QUOTE ]
To bust through capped defence that would have to be on the order of a 375% bonus (plus the EB's 75% base, minus 350% defence = 100% to-hit).

[/ QUOTE ]
All player inherent connection buffs are accuracy buffs : that is, they are multiplicative. To bypass a capped Defense (and assuming no tohit buffs), they must be on a factor of 1500% (to reach the normal 75% connection rate) or 2000%.
[ QUOTE ]
Incidentally, MA (no redraw) has a 10% bonus. The idea that accuracy bonuses are strictly to do with redraw times is a bit of a myth IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]
Correction. Martial Arts was reduced to +5% accuracy in the same patch that made it not suck completely.

As to the OP: don't know what to tell you. My scrapper took him down during a normal Moment of Glory cycle.

Arcanaville, that's really stretching it. I mean, excluding how your example only works when you don't think about how Player A's power only buys him 5 seconds, while Player B's power buys him 10 seconds.

_Castle_ only said that the power works more for a Tanker rather than a Blaster even with an identical base scalar.

You may consider that a "duh", but given the mess with Slows, it's nice to have official confirmation (even if it's stuff that Iakona gave out a few weeks ago).

[ QUOTE ]
Burning Aura cant really be counted as an advantage, every tanker but invuln has a damage aura.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, but all the other damage auras do less damage.

That's like saying that, since every tanker set has a resistance auto, we should ignore them in balance considerations. But I wouldn't put RPD and Permafrost in the same category, just as I wouldn't include Blazing Aura and Icicles.

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, here's the scoop.

Heal Self is not affected by AT Mods directly any longer. I'm not certain when this changed, but it was before 9/21/2004. The Heal Self Table is now a straight 10% of the AT's base (unbuffed) Health. So, Tankers still see a greater effect from a Heal Self of even scale than a Blaster or Defender because their base health is higher.

So, these values ARE correct.

[ QUOTE ]
A level 30 Tanker using an unenhanced Healing Flames gets 178.5 health. With 2 SO's, that would increase to 296.31. 178.5 is 17.5% of a Tankers health at that level. 296.31 is 29% of a Tankers health at that level.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

Er... anyone see a problem here?

Level 30 Fire Tanker :
1275.88 base health, self-heal modifier of 127.588
Healing Flames provides 178.5 health. Base scalar is ~1.4. Base Recharge is 60 seconds, animation time is somewhere around 3.3 seconds.

Level 50 Regen Scrapper :
1338.62 base health, self-heal modifier of 133.862
Reconstruction provides 334.66 health. Base scalar is 2.5.
Base Recharge is 60 seconds, animation time is around 1 second.

Endurance cost for both powers is the same, at ~10 endo. Resistances seem to favor Reconstruction, but I don't have the most perfect testing for this.

Now, we know from Flash Arrow/Smoke/Smoke Grenade that powers don't actually get a base scalar bonus or penalty regardless of things like archetype or other powers of damage mitigation, and seldom get a bonus due to animation time.

So, why's Healing Flame have a penalty to its heal value?

I know you can't change balance decisions, _Castle_, but can you please either bring it up with Geko or show us the relevant parts of the formula which decide the heal scalar for these two powers?

[ QUOTE ]
Not sure if you're being serious. But you are aware that Invul gets defense and resistance pre-32? Invul is much better on Sm, Le damage, a lot worse on Fire, almost the same on Cold resists and worse on Eng, Neg.

But Invul also has defense.

[/ QUOTE ]

Er, unless it's changed recently, Fire/ gets 30% resistance base to En/Neg damage through one power. Invuln/ gets 17.5% through two powers. Even if you include the defense in Invuln against an average-sized group, that's hardly breakeven.

Comparably, Invuln/ gets 12.5% more Sm/Le resistances if my numbers are right.

I'd consider universally applicable benefits, for less of a power investment, and reliable powers to be well worth the defense difference.

But, yes, Burn needs to have some purpose attached to it.

@Crockpot1:
[ QUOTE ]
erhm, can someone explain just what the h e double toothpicks is happening in layman's terms? Im not going to be nerfed again am I?

[/ QUOTE ]

_Castle_'s looking at Healing Flames, and trying to figure out why players described a sudden drop in their effectiveness. It looks like the actual power didn't change, according to his post, so he's looking at something that may have been a bug or a bugfix.

So, in short, Healing Flames may be getting buffed. I'm doubtful, but it could happen.

Doesn't why Healing Flames has a lower scalar than Reconstruction, though.

@Q_Arkhan:
[ QUOTE ]
What does FieryArmor get to compensate for no KB/KD and no HP boost?

[/ QUOTE ]
The benefit of being the only resistance-based Tanker set pre-32.

I know Hurricane can keep the Swarms off or mostly off of you, so I assume Force Bubble can.

Honestly was never a fan of the power, so I never tested it myself.

This guide was written before the release of ED on the live servers. At that point, it was good practice to slot four or five of the same enhancement.

Now, it's not.

General :

Defenders and Controller Secondaries : What Should I Be? (Blueeyed)

Under Secondaries :

Controllers and Defender Primaries : A Guide to Playing with Other People's Toys (Blueeyed)

Controllers and Defender Primaries : A Guide to Playing with Other People's Toys also known as :
Defenders and Controller Secondaries : What Should I Be?

As most of us have found out by now, the basic concept of Primary powers being better than Secondary, and Secondary powers being greater than Pool powers, a concept that's been echoed around pretty often, is pretty much clutch left over from when the developers thought it easier than discussing the more complex mechanics.

The point of this thread is to list and analyze the different powersets, and the difference between their preformance while in the hands of a Controller as oppposed to a Defender. Using this and the direct guides, you can find the exact value for Controller secondaries. You can also use this to decide whether the concept you've got going for you would work better on a controller, or a defender.

Short and Sweet

The following characteristics are known through-out the two ATs.
[*]Damage : Controller base scales from 97.8% of Defender damage at level 1, to 84.6% at level 20 to level 50. Direct damage sources can be contained to 170% of Defender damage at level 20 to 50 - this does not apply to quasi-pets or summoned entities. [*]Heal - Other/Aura : Controller healing applies at 88% of Defender healing rates. Test Case : All Defender Primary heals.[*]Endurance Drain : Controller drains operate at 88% of Defender efficiency. Test Case : Transfusion.[*]Movement Slows/Recharge Debuffs : Controller slows operate at 125% of Defender efficiency - this is a magnitude difference for every power I've been able to test.[*]Control - Disorient/Hold/Fear/Immobilize : Controllers control at 125% of either the duration or magnitude when compared to a Defender power (seems to be mostly duration-based) - Test Case : ThunderClap, Ice Arrow[*]Defense/Resistance Buffs : Controller values are 75% of Defender ones. Test Case : Sonic Barrier, Steamy Mist[*]Damage/ToHit Buffs : Controller values are 80% of Defender ones. Test Case : Siphon Power[*]ToHit/Damage/Defense Debuffs: Controller values are 80% of Defender ones. Test Case : Enervating Field[*]Resistance Debuffs : Controller values should be 75% of Defender ones. Test Case : Sonic Siphon[*]Recharge/RunSpeed Buffs : Controller values are at 100% efficiency of Defender ones?! Test Case : i5 values of Speed Boost/Siphon Speed[*]Recovery Buffs : Controller values are 75% of Defender ones? Test Case : i5 values of Speed Boost.[*]Knockback/Repel : Controller values are 100% of Defender ones. Test Case : Force Bolt[*]Perception Debuffs : Controller values are 100% of Defender ones. Test Case: Stated by _Castle_.[*]Perception Buffs (clicks) : Controller values are 100% of Defender ones. Test Case: Clarity, Clear Mind[*]Perception Buffs (toggles) : Controller values are 80% of Defender ones. Test Case: Iakona's data.[*]Rez: All rez-other powers are equally efficient for Defenders and controllers.[*]Mez Protection Buffs : These work at 80% effectiveness for Controllers. Test Case: Iakona's Data.[*]Range Debuffs : These appear to be the same for both Defenders and Controllers.


Empathy
[*]Healing Aura : A simple aura heal, 88% efficiency.[*]Heal Other : A simple heal, 88% efficiency.[*]Absorb Pain : This one's interesting. The heal works at 88% of the Defender values, but the self-damage also applies at 84.6% of Defender values (post-20).[*]Resurrect : 100% efficiency.[*]Clear Mind : 80% efficiency on mez protection, 100% on +perception. 90% average[*]Fortitude : 80% on the ToHit buff, 80% on the damage buff, and 75% on the defense buff. All are useful, so taking the average, we get 78.3% efficiency.[*]Recovery Aura : 75% on the recovery buff (estimated).[*]Regeneration Aura : 75% on the regeneration buff (estimated).[*]Adrenalin Boost: 75% on regeneration, 75% on the recovery, and 100% on the recharge. Averages to 93%.

Force Field
[*]Personal Force Field : 75% resistance, 75% defense. Putting this at 75%, although to be honest, both are overkill even on the Controller version.[*]Deflection Shield : 75% defense.[*]Force Bolt : 100% knockback, and 84.6% damage (containable to 170% damage). To be honest, at half a brawl, the damage is ignorable, so I'm putting this at 100% rather than the 110% or so that damage would likely set it to.[*]Insulation Shield : 75% on defense.[*]Detention Field : 125% on duration.[*]Dispersion Bubble : 75% on defense, 80% for mez protection. Averages to 77.5%[*]Repulsion Field : 100% on knockback.[*]Repulsion Bomb : 125% on disorient, 100% on knockback. Since the disorient only shows up around 30% of the time and is pretty short, I'm putting this at 105%.[*]Force Bubble : 100% on repel.

Total : 92.5% effectiveness

Kinetics
[*]Transfusion : 88% of the heal, 88% of the endurance drain. Controllers can use Transfusion to get containment for a short time (go figure).[*]Siphon Power : 80% on both sides.[*]Repel : 100% for knockback.[*]Siphon Speed : 0.2 self-recharge modifier for both defenders and controllers, so 100% for the self-buff part, which most people focus on. Run Speed feels like 100%, and enemy slow appears to be 125% effectiveness. Putting this at 110% effectiveness, tenatively.[*]Increase Density : 75% for resistances. 80% for status protection, averages to 77.5%[*]Speed Boost : 100% for the recharge and run speed buff, 75% for the recovery buff. Putting this at 85% effectiveness.[*]Inertial Reduction : uh... Does this even really matter? I'm going to have to put this at 100%, I honestly can't tell a difference in jump height or speed.[*]Transference : tested to 66% effiency on both drain and recovery in i5, also stated to that in Ladios_Sopp's guide. Can anyone confirm?[*]Fulcrum Shift : 80% effectiveness on all buffs and debuffs.

Radiation Emission
[*]Radiant Aura : 88% on the heal.[*]Radiation Infection : 80% on the tohit debuff, 80% on the defense debuff.[*]Accelerate Metabolism : 75% on Recovery buff, 80% on the damage buff, 100% on the recharge and movement speed buff, 80% value for mez resistance. Putting this at 87% average.[*]Enervating Field : 75% on the resistance debuff, 80% on the damage debuff. Putting it at 77.5%[*]Mutation : 100% on the rez, 100% on the recharge buff, 80% on damage buff, and 75% on endurance recovery buff. Putting it at 90% effectiveness.[*]Lingering Radiation : 125% on the recharge debuff, 125% on the slow. Putting at 125%.[*]Choking Cloud : 125% on hold duration.[*]Fallout : 84.6% damage (containable to 170%). Averages to 127%.[*]EM Pulse : 125% on hold duration, 88% on damage. Although I almost never see this used for damage, I'll place it at 105% effectiveness for simplicity.

Storm Summoning[*]Gale : 100% on knockback, 84.6% on damage (containable to 170%). Since the damage is a joke, I'm putting this at 100%.[*]O2 Boost : 88% on the heal, 80% on resistance buffs. Putting it at 84%.[*]Snow Storm : 125% on slow, 125% on rechage debuff.[*]Steamy Mist : 75% on both Defense and Resistance.[*]Freezing Rain : 100% on the avoidance mechanic, 84.6% on the (ignorable and uncontainable) damage, 125% on recharge debuff and 125% on slow, 75% on resistance debuff, 80% on defense debuff. Putting this at 98% effectiveness.[*]Hurricane : 100% on repel, 80% on tohit debuff, looks to be 100% on range debuff. Putting it at 93%.[*]ThunderClap : 125% duration or magnitude (conflicting reports).[*]Tornado : 125% on stun duration, 100% on avoidance mechanic, 100% on knockback, 84.6% on (uncontainable) damage. Averages to 102.4% effectiveness - really should be rated higher, since Controllers powers with knockback prevention easily negate the damage difference.[*]Lightning Storm : 84.6% on (uncontainable) damage, 100% on knockback, 88% on endurance drain. Averages to 91%.

Sonic Resonance[*]Sonic Siphon : 75% effectiveness.[*]Sonic Barrier : 75% effectiveness.[*]Sonic Haven : 75% effectiveness.[*]Sonic Cage : 125% duration[*]Disruption Field : 75% effectiveness[*]Sonic Dispersion : 75% effectiveness on resistance buff, 80% effectiveness on mez protection, averages to 77.5%[*]Sonic Repulsion : 100% on knockback. Tempted to place this higher due to pet utility.[*]Clarity : 80% on mez protection, 100% on +perception. Averages to 90%[*]Liquify : 84.6% on damage (containable to 170%), 100% on knockdown, 125% on hold duration, 80% on toHit debuff, 80% on defense debuff. Averages to 106.6%.

Trick Arrow[*]Entangling Arrow : 125% duration.[*]Flash Arrow : 80% effectiveness on tohit debuff, 100% on perception debuff. Averages to 90%.[*]Glue Arrow : 125% effectiveness on slow and recharge debuff.[*]Ice Arrow : 125% effectiveness on hold, slow, and recharge debuff.[*]Poison Gas Arrow : 125% duration on Sleep (which will actually happen post-i7), 80% on the damage debuff. Averages to 102%.[*]Acid Arrow : 80% effectiveness on the defense debuff (it still has it, right?), 75% on the resistance debuff, 84.6% on the damage (containable to 170%). Averages to 102%[*]Disruption Arrow : 75% effectiveness on the resistance debuff.[*]Oil Slick Arrow : 125% on the movement slow, 100% of the knockdown, and 84.6% of the damage (uncontainable). 103.2% average.[*]EMP Arrow : 125% on hold duration, 88% on damage. Although I almost never see this used for damage, I'll place it at 105% effectiveness for simplicity.



[/ QUOTE ]

Largely, this suggests the design implied for Defenders and Controllers. A player wanting to focus on buffs, with some notice put to heals and debuffs, will benefit most from playing a Defender rather than a Controller. A player wanting to control first, then help team members or who finds the base buffs 'good enough', should then pick a Controller.

[ QUOTE ]
Something else that is kind of funny is that this post had next to no views until Castle posted here. Suddenly, everyone is interested in Poison

[/ QUOTE ]

Normally, I avoid the MM forum like the plague : ).

Anyway, if you want to test out Transference and Weaken, I've got a 22ish /poison Mastermind available on both test and Champion (do you still have your kineticist?), send me a global tell whenever you're available to look at it. And we can test /regen's other powers while we're at it, if need be.

Uh... have you tried using Concern's metric, testing it against a Regen Scrapper in PvP?

I just reproduced similar results as he did, so there might be a problem somewhere.

EDIT: Will try to get a /demorecord.

[ QUOTE ]
Is there any way to set up so I don't have to keep hitting the shift key to teleport to the next location? Or is this only a side effect of shadow step?

[/ QUOTE ]

Put tp_off.txt, tp_on.txt, and tp_onb.txt into a folder named "Binds" in your City of Heroes folder.

tp_off.txt
lshift "+ $$powexec_name Teleport$$powexec_name Starless Step$$powexec_name black dwarf step$$powexec_name white dwarf step$$bind_load_file .\binds\tp_on.txt"
shift+lbutton "nop"

tp_on.txt
lshift "- $$powexec_unqueue$$bind_load_file .\binds\tp_off.txt"
shift+lbutton "+ $$bind_load_file .\binds\tp_onb.txt"

tp_onb.txt
shift+lbutton "- $$powexec_name Teleport$$powexec_name Starless Step$$powexec_name black dwarf step$$powexec_name white dwarf step$$bind_load_file .\binds\tp_on.txt"

Once you done that, go into your chat window, and type/paste in
/bindloadfile .\binds\tp_off.txt

There's probably a much cleaner way to do this, but I've been messing with OSPF too much today to think of it.

Steamy Mist (Defender) : 20% Cold/Energy Res, 25% Fire Res.
Steamy Mist (Controller) : 15% Cold/Fire/Energy Res.
O2 Boost : 1.32 scalar, or 17% health of Caster Health for Defenders, 13% for Controllers.
ShadowFall : According to a MrQuizzles post, should be 20% En/Neg/Psi Res.
Sonic Rings (Defender): unslotted 35% to non-psi is the total, 20% in the small bubbles and 15% in the large one.
Sonic Rings (Controller) : 26.25% total, 15% in the small rings and 14.25% in the large one.

I believe PFF has a weighty self-buff for resistance, my guess would be 75% for defenders and 56% for Controllers.
Force Bubble has no buff or debuff, simply a repel effect, and hasn't had one since very early in the game's lifespan.
Technically, all defense and resistance buffs work at 75% effectiveness for Controllers. You may want to add decimals to represent this, particularly in the case of Force Field.

That's a valid point - Trust, but Verify.

But (and point me the discrepency if I missed it) until we find a testable - and well outside of margin of error - issue between Iakona's numbers and yours, we might as well look at them.

I mean, I don't think the scientists would throw away a Diety's code to the human DNA simply because it uses funky labels.

[ QUOTE ]
I can't see any good reason for the client to need some of of the data that it has. Maybe some Dev was being lazy, and didn't bother to split the data into server-only and public parts. Who knows.

[/ QUOTE ]
Maybe so people like _Castle_ don't need a full server install just to dig through a couple variables?

Could be anything from QA testing aids to predictive analysis to a nasty bug in the compiler. While I doubt Cryptic runs by Zen programming, it could be any one of a thousand reasons.