Dersk

Legend
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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    Personally, I view "less epic" stories as a major waste of time, consigned to such filler episodes or levels designed to just pad out a series or a game. "Oh, no! The caravan tipped into the river and giant frogs ate my iron ore! Go to the lake and kill giant frogs to get me my ore back!" I'm dead serious here, this is a real mission from a real MMO. And it's also a real waste of my time. While I'm glad that Some Guy in Some Village got his shipment on schedule this time, I can't help but think "So what? Is that it?"
    Perhaps this is a difference in terminology, but there is a wide variety of accomplishments a comic book character can achieve that are neither save-the-world-epic nor as mundane as delivering a pizza.

    A lot of the arcs I see start off with relatively mundane things... looking for someone that's missing, looking for several someones that are missing, looking for a particular villain, or knocking skulls to find out some information. Often these types of missions turn into more damatic stories where, supposedly, the fate of the city or even the world is at risk, but it doesn't have to be that way.

    Sometimes, saving a life should be enough.

    That gets watered down with the repetitive mission objectives and limited (one) ways of accomplishing those objectives. I get the impression that the progression of various ways that mankind could be completely destroyed is overcompensation for the lack of any real interaction with the content beyond its extremely straightforward method of defeating the "bad guy".

    We can't even rescue someone from a burning building
  2. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sin_Stalker View Post
    Follow the logic though. You can't just simply stop there. For it to remain logical follow it through all the way.

    So the next part is why do they not want bats and such, doing lethal damage?
    It defeats the purpose of having different damage types if they no longer apply to the theme of the attack. Imagine being able to make greater fire sword look like it uses a bat. It's more extreme, but is wrong for the same reason. Why have damage types at all?

    Although, broadswords should thematically apply smashing damage whenever lethal damage is more resisted, but that's probably far beyond what this game will ever see.
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    Say someone's coming onto a cop with a pipe. Is the policeman really going to go from verbal warning to two shots, centre-mass?
    Aiming for the limbs of a moving target is a great way to risk one's own safety in a confrontation.
  4. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Linea_Alba View Post
    I doubt that 7% was worth everything else that was lost in the unslotted build.
    I rarely see teams stay inside of the dispursion bubble while fighting, so it would be a bit of a stretch to say they "only lost 7%". Well, actually, in the past 5 1/2 years, I can't recall *ever* seeing a team stay inside the dispursion bubble while fighting. The bubble is simply too small to expect its effects to always apply.

    That is except for that one mission I duo'd with a blaster that only had ranged single-target attacks. God that was boring.

    It appears to me that people start getting more reckless when they stop taking hits, spreading themselves out until they start dying again.
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chyll View Post
    Damage, the word on the street I've always heard is that is super strength is the way to go. Never tried it.
    The people that skip over superstrength for recommended secondaries forget the increased damage efficiency and final accuracy check of superstength once rage is included and all the slotting benefits that can create, how those beneifts transfer to primary and epic powers like shield charge and fireball, and the fact that footstomp is tied with tremor as the largest AE attack in a tanker's secondary in terms of area covered.

    Then we get someone trying to pass crowd control off as a PBAE

    A major problem with superstrength is the total lack of AE damage until 38. It's a rather long investment.
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hyperstrike View Post
    Yeah, and if you live in about 11 countries that aren't the US, it gives you cancer.
    I suggest drinking lots of suger-loaded soda and snacking on candy bars until your body fails due to a sugar overdose. At that point, you have a 0% chance to die of cancer. Ignoring seatbelts helps, as does using sign language in uban areas.

    ...or...

    Thank God I live in the U.S.!

    ...or...

    Better to die of cancer than to drink Diet Coke.
  7. Quote:
    Originally Posted by StrykerX View Post
    How well does /Dark Armor compare to te other Scrapper defenses on a moderate IO build? Can you handle the heavy endurance usage with just Stamina and frankenslotting / mid-range sets, or are recovery uniques pretty much required?
    Dark armor arguably sees the largest improvement in survivability on a limited budget, compared to the other secondaries (barring a very build restrictive cheap softcapped SR). It's much easier to slot death shroud, dark regeneration, and cloak of fear for multiple aspects without sacrificing endurance reduction when frankenslotting.

    Uniques were never required, they just make the build a bit more enjoyable. From my experience with a spines/dark, the ability to use mutli-type IO enhancements had a larger impact than the uniques did.

    Leveling the character, my endurance problems stemmed from my inability to properly slot to maximize AE and single-target DPS. I found myself sucking a lot of wind while soloing bosses on my AE-centric build. No uniques affected that.
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by protector_knight View Post
    Wowthat is the same thing with Freezeing rain. It calls for acc, but I yet to ever see that miss
    Freezing rain can actually miss, so it's not totally in error to allow accuracy slotting. The issue with freezing rain is that it has so many ticks to attack that even against a Paragon Protector using MoG, it will eventually hit, and one hit is all that is needed for the debuff to take effect. That, and the defense debuff is so incredibly large, one hit and the rest of the ticks of damage have no difficulty landing.

    If energy absorption allows accuracy, it shouldn't. Unless there some masochistic PvP rule, like with Taunt, then it is entirely autohit in all aspects.
  9. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tin_Soldier View Post
    Isn't Energy Absorption autohit?
    It is autohit.
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Vanden View Post
    Is this power still a big contributor to defense, or is it more about the endurance these days?
    It hasn't changed since what, i6? The contribution to defense and endurance is equally effective in large groups. The defense contribution against a single enemy is rather forgettable, but without particular slotting it won't be giving much of any endurance against a single enemy either.

    Either way, slotting for recharge is paramount. Eventually IO slotting in defense, endmod, and recharge at or near ED caps is possible, and double-stacked energy absorption becomes typical.

    If you fight like you want defense, you'll have all the endurance you need.
  11. Dersk

    Gauntlet 2.0

    I think there are several changes that can and should be made to brutes and tanks, but exaggerating the differences to the point where they no longer look like the same game only detracts from the problems and fights to make change more difficult.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Vicar View Post
    As usual people like you only quote the parts they can twist to what they wish them to say. You completely cut out the mention of damage caps or where I go over the fact that the brute does not have the endurance issues that a tank does because their damage per endurance is so much higher.
    I didn't challenge the endurance efficiency differences because they exist, and are completely irrelevant to whether or not brutes do three times as much damage as tanks. 55% more damage is 55% more endurance efficiency when using the same attacks and slotting.

    You still haven't shown how you came up with brutes doing three times as much damage as tanks. Because, you know, it looks like you have no idea and pulled a number out of your [censored] to convince others the situation is worse than it is.

    I suppose I should throw away my play experience and just trust you, even though you have nothing beyond perception and opinion.

    Quote:
    Ill go play the game instead and tell you how it is.
    With your utter disrespect for numerical values and math, I don't think I'd trust anything you had to say that wasn't backed up by herostats and a screenshot of a character's build.
  12. Quote:
    Originally Posted by shodden View Post
    I would love a dirty fighting powerset, it would be melee for scrappers and brutes. It would kick so much ***, with head butts, groin kick, maybe a knife in the boot.
    I'm sure it'd work wonders groin kicking giant robots in their leg, or groin kicking hoverbots somewhere beneath them, or groin kicking a giant monster underneath his toenail, or groin kicking the cabal, or groin kicking a clockwork in his head. Because, y'know, attacks have failry generic destinations because they don't target a specific aspect of an enemy... an aspect that may or may not exist.

    Though, I'll be all for a "knife to the boot" attack if it automatically failed against enemies without feet.

    *** kicking cannot be found. Please try again.
  13. Dersk

    Gauntlet 2.0

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rangle M. Down View Post
    So if scrappers with their equal defensive numbers to brutes and quite high damage haven't killed off tanks I really don't see how brutes will do it either.
    There are three things going for brutes that are missing from scrappers.
    • Powerset availability, such as superstrength and stone melee. They aren't available to scrappers
    • Taunt effects. All brute attacks taunt what they hit. Brutes also get taunts in a toggle from their secondary, except for energy aura. Scrappers only have their single-target taunt power, and taunting effects from invinc, rttc, and aao.
    • Caps. In typical solo play, and most groups, a brute will have comparable damage and defensive capabilities to a scrapper (outside of the better selection in powersets). With particular buffs, brutes far surpass scrappers in both resistance values and damage output. Even solo the higher resist caps can be used in favor of the brute with powers like unstoppable and power surge.
  14. Dersk

    Gauntlet 2.0

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Vicar View Post
    ...brute kills things 3 times as fast...
    .
    So lets compare vannila builds. Nothing fancy Invuln SS vs SS Invuln.
    Brute SS at 90% fury does approximately 55% more damage than tanker SS (single-application of rage, 95% damage enhancement). That's a best case scenario in favor of the brute, aside from the differences in power availability due to level.

    If you loved facts as much as you love brutes, you'd be more hesitant to spout nonsensical comparisons that probably aren't even true when comparing brutes to defenders.

    Quote:
    Fairly simple math really you can cloud the issue with as many numbers as you wish but...
    If you had done any math, you'd be embarrassed right now.
  15. Dersk

    Gauntlet 2.0

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Vicar View Post
    Lackluster damage paired with survieability that is only slightly better than a brutes (while the damage does not even come remotely close)
    I've posted this several times before, since people repeatedly dismiss the survivability differences betweent he ATs with a slight of hand. Here's a comparison of invulnerability tankers and invulnerability brutes with resists against smashing and lethal damage with 56% enhancement. Dull pain and defense are excluded as they provide more complication without altering the overall effect, but otherwise including defense would widen the gap.

    Unbuffed @ level 50:
    Tankers withstand 1875hp in damage
    Brutes withstand 1500hp in damage

    Invuln @ 50, primary resists only:
    Tankers, 70.2% res, withstand 6292hp in damage
    Brutes, 52.65% res, withstand 3168hp in damage

    Invuln @ 50 with tough, resists only:
    Tankers, 90% res, withstand 18750hp in damage
    Brutes, 70.2% res, withstand 5034hp in damage

    The two would have to make liberal use of unstoppable for there to even be any similarities.

    Without handwaving away build choices and claiming all brutes are defense capped, shield and stone brutes are quite similar. Willpower, dark armor, and fiery aura aren't as pronounced due to the relatively high dependence on healing/regen, but still see larger differences between tanks and brutes than a linear interpretation of the AT modifiers would suggest (edit: barring any bugs in cloak of fear). If the survivability differences matter is certianly up to one's own interpretation in group and IO'd circumstances, but this is the tanker forum after all.

    In short: What game are you playing?
  16. Quote:
    Originally Posted by peterpeter View Post
    That would certainly do the job, but the resulting whine from people who saw their money stockpile dwindle by 90% would reach epic proportions, and the fact that their buying power hadn't changed would never penetrate.

    Good. The forums haven't had enough entertaining posts lately.
  17. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Warkupo View Post
    Seems like that would make Tactics with the Build-UP IO absurdly good. Are you certain of this?
    The build-up proc affects the user, not the target. Tactics doesn't transfer that to teammates.

    The performance shifter proc affects the target, which may or may not be the user.
  18. For just three enhancements, endurance modification only is the most effective option.

    The idea is to put it in stamina as a 4th slot where enhancement diversification causes additional endurance modification to have limited effect.

    Even better is have the first three slots filled with other pieces of the performance shifter set that enhance endurance modification, so that the character gets a four-set bonus for even more endurance benefits.
  19. Quote:
    Originally Posted by BlackBellatrix View Post
    Hand Clap: My suggestion for this one would be added a small damage component to it, as well as maybe a small -5% Resistance Debuff. This would be more in fitting with the theme of Super Strength, with the damage and the resistance would help counter the DPS loss of the scatter. I chose not to suggest changing it to Knockdown as I think that it would just make it a clone of Fault but that is an alternative suggestion.
    The resistance debuff seems completely random from a thematic viewpoint, and would do little to counteract the loss in damage potential as well as survivability issues the scatter causes, especially against higher level foes that will mitigate a value that is small to start. I'd rather see the knockback completely removed. Not changed to knockdown, just removed.

    I'd like to think any power that causes knockback would have bonus damage, at least occasionally, associated with that knockback, ideally with the damage and knockback mag enhananced together. Barring that, I'm curious just how small a "small damage component" would be, as I often see current AE powers skipped because of their damage magnitudes. If it's as small as Gale, then it's too small to bother changing an existing power, really.

    edit: I asked my magic eightball what the odds were of any power in superstrength getting a damage boost. It said "lol".
  20. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sarrate View Post
    Sorry if I missed it, but was this a joke / sarcasm? If not, I'm not sure what you just proved, since (from what you wrote) you were still aiming for +def, not runspeed.
    I think she was trying to go for the most ridiculous set bonus to make the sarcasm plain, though she should have gone with immobilize resistance.
  21. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Frosticus View Post
    I'd imagine sticking a theft of essence +end in dark regen would solve almost all of Darks endurance issues?
    It helps a lot, but it doesn't turn someone that can't handle themselves in a normal fight into someone that ignores endurance. When I put it into my tanker and scrapper, it had less of an overall effect than the copious amounts of endurance reduction everything got due to IOs with multiple enhancements.
  22. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Finduilas View Post
    Even though I think Vanden's analysis is too simplistic, since it doesn't take into account damage lost due to misses, and the possibility that the player will have to wait between attacks when endurance is low, it is quite possible that only slotting damage is more efficient in terms of DPE.
    A basic problem with enhancing for damage instead of endredux at low levels is that, if they have the same efficiency, characters can still only kill at the same rate due to endurance. If one build kills faster, it has to wait longer simply because there's less time spent fighting. Now, that can translate directly into increased survivability, or more frequent use of rest and therefore higher recovery, but players are often incapable of controlling themselves. If they have a power, they must click it. If they're alive, they must go to the next group of enemies.

    Slotting for endredux instead of dmg forces efficiency on those that aren't capable of handling the shorter fights to their long term advantage.

    If it takes 100 endurance to kill a lieutentant, and player 1 defeats the lieut in 30 seconds, while player 2 instantly kills the lieut in 1 shot, player 2 will complain more about endurance because (s)he runs out of endurance every fight while player 1 has 30 seconds worth of recovery left.
  23. I was lamenting the lack of pros and cons for powers in City of Heroes, despite the overall greater depth of the character customizations compared to the ugly options most other games have. EverQuest2 gave me smallpox the characters were so ugly. The only common downside to anything is an endurance cost, which is so widely used it's hardly surprising endurance recovery is the most villified aspect of gameplay.

    I had, once, suggested that energy transfer would be better suited by allowing the self-damage to be enhancable, rather than see the animation time changed to something that looks rather silly. The 1st part and 2nd part of the animation don't flow. It's EQ2-ugly. Allow 95% enhancement, and to fire off twice in one build-up for significantly more self-damage than what you'd see in normal gameplay. Or, use it more sparingly without killing yourself. Needs work, but the I like the idea.

    Then, I remembered how some enhancements affect multiple effects, like damage enhancements increase damage, resistance, and resistance debuffs unless powers are specifically told otherwise. So, what if powers like Unstoppable were altered so both the buff and the crash were enhancable?

    For example: New unstoppable has 70% resistance, and at the crash hits the player for 70% of his/her max hp (ignore mechanics issues for the time being). The tanker can choose to enhance unstoppable's resistance to 90%, but that also enhances the self-damage to 90% of his/her max hp. A tradeoff. Now, do something similar to the endurance recovery and the endurance crash. Cut the recovery in half (or 1/4, whatever), but also cut the endurance crash in half. Enhance the buff, enhance the crash.

    People that want a 'pick-me-up' of sorts but don't want to risk the chance of sudden death when the power crashes don't have to enhance the power. Those that want a power that overcomes the harderst fights in a win-fast-or-die-fast fashion can throw in a few enhancements.

    Spreading that idea out to powers like nukes or elude doesn't work so clearly, but I'm curious if such a change would be both interesting from a gameplay perspective, as well as make unstoppable something more appealing to everyone that has access to it as a means of balance.

    A secondary, and quite intentional, effect of this would be players, like me, who skip on resist passives but enhance unstoppable to cap res. anyway would have a more compelling reason to find another way to reach the resistance caps.

    The cake is a lie.
  24. Quote:
    Originally Posted by LostHalo View Post
    I wouldn't put Invuln above Dark as, except for Smash/Lethal, its resists are lower in nearly every case (but subsequently has higher native Defense potential).
    It was rather casual, though invuln also has comparable toxic and energy resistance in addition to the superior smashing and lethal res. Despite the significant psi and negative energy res, I think unstoppable tips the scale in favor of invuln, even though the forums give me the impression the power sterilizes the player, salts his soil, gives him female pattern baldness, makes him talk like Dan Quayle, and retroactively kills his great grand parents in the wombs of their own parents. Even worse if the player is a woman. And then takes all your endurance.
  25. I don't see how the new difficulty settings, which allow me to pursue and achieve more rewards, is socialistic. I can't think of anything that has recently been added that strikes me as particularly socialistic. It's possible to kill a game without enforcing any economic morals upon others, so I don't see the logical step here.

    Now, the whiners in the market forum, they would certainly applaud.