F22Major

[ QUOTE ]
lol nice. I think something similar happened when the LD guys left to join Penance.

[/ QUOTE ]
Didn't happen like that.

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I remember a Penance vs JAL match where I scored 61 kills on my ice/devices blaster.

[/ QUOTE ]
59

Like Lab said, JAL was a completely different team then.

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Yes...I do remember the days of me using TP on my fire/kin. Hehe

[/ QUOTE ]
Don't misunderstand, at this point you're a far better player than I am. Just poking a little fun when I can.


[ QUOTE ]
I also remember some epic fire/kin vs fire/kin fights with you on test a long time ago, although I don't remember what issue that was. You were the best fire/kin player I've ever saw, even to this day.

[/ QUOTE ]
Likewise. That was a great duel. I *think* it was issue 7. On our first attempt, we zoned in and I was really sluggish in my movement, and wasn't doing any damage. After a minute or two and a few deaths I decided to pull up my enhancement tray and realized that I'd logged in the wrong character and was dueling with a build that had no enhancements. I switched to the correct build and we tried again. I definitely remember that during the real duel I was wishing I hadn't spent so much time in zones forgetting how to conserve BFs.

I can reminisce about the early days and my time in Penance. Past I7 or so into to the "modern era" of Test PvP, I'll have to defer to others' experience. Warning: This is a very long ramble with a few matches detailed.

Issue 4 test
-----------------------------------
Very few people had any idea what they were doing when the arena was released on test. Since most of them were dabblers looking to try something new, things like insp management in a duel weren't even considered. Game mechanics like the ToHit equation were still being figured out, so perma Elude/MoG had few counters and were wildly popular. Between sheer inexperience, random builds, no travel suppression, and lots of bugs, and the arena hopping any time of day or night, it was a fun time.

Various things that come to mind are:
- Defenders were widely disparaged due to their perceived fragility and lack of damage. Even blasters were often overlooked in favor of the "stronger" melee types.
- Observer cameras were visible, targetable, and destructible. They could also pass insps to players.
- This was the heyday of HOs, back when they were 50/33% instead of 33/20%. Blasters (with a 400% cap) could cap their damage via slotting alone. Boost Range and Dmg/Range HOs would enhance the range of melee attacks, so TF was easy to trigger and Headsplitter 6-slotted with dmg/range HO was, to use a quote from Patient: "like swinging a telephone pole".
- Howling Twilight was mag 30 stun
- Due to a bug, if you died while Taunted you would remain Taunted for the rest of the match.
- Due to another bug, Speed Boost would act just like Siphon Speed, so friendly players even in PvE would get slowed to a crawl
- The devs held several sponsored events on test. One in particular had over 60 players, which drew the Office Map.
- Brawl had a 33% chance to drop *all* toggles
- Blaster toggle drop in general was extremely easy. Bone Smasher for example had an 100% chance of dropping one toggle, 75% chance of dropping a second toggle, and a 50% chance of dropping a third toggle.

Before this issue, there were no such things as player Perception or even Break Frees. Instead there were two insp types, one that protected from Stun/Sleep, the other from Hold/Immob. They could not be used while under a mez effect, except for immob.


Issue 4 (Patch notes)
-----------------------------------
With the release of I4 to live, arena test died out until the tail end of the issue. Duelers came to know each other on their individual servers and started forming SGs, with Freedom being a hotspot of activity. Eventually people began to start meeting on test for duels.

Some of the more potent dueling builds at this time were Ill/Storm, Spines/Regen, and */Rad. Player names included Epik, Forum Troller, Johhny Priest, TerpMan, Peritus, and many others that slip my mind.

More fun facts:
- Nerfs in this time frame include travel suppression and the reduction of HOs to SO levels
- "Squishies" like Controllers could easily cap out their S/L resists, and Inv tanks could cap res to all but Toxic/Psi via toggles/passives alone.
- Flamethrower could one-shot most people
- Superior Illusion didn't suppress
- The Troll Caves map was "removed" from the arena map rotation
- Controller containment was 3x base. At damage cap, Controller Mental Blast could do over 700 damage in one hit.
- Transfusion, Transference, and Twilight Grasp all had an extremely high-mag immobilize that was not affected by mez suppression. Given 3x containment, it was possible to one-shot a player by casting Transfusion/Transference and immediately following up with Hurl Boulder.


Issue 5 (Patch notes)
-----------------------------------
With the greater activity on test, SGs started challenging each other. With the exception of Tribute the SGs were still inexperienced as far as builds and tactics went. Lion's Den had a 16v16 match (or possibly 12v12, not sure) vs the Sitting Ducks in which LD had a total of 3 Defenders: a flying Sonic/Sonic, a Kin/Elec damage dealer, and a pure Emp. One strategy attempted by LD was having a Claws/DA scrapper suicide rush the opposing spawn and use Soul Transfer to stun the entire team. It didn't work, but LD still won. Top kills in the 20-minute match was 18 and went to a Fire/Kin controller.

As Ajax said, Tribute on the other hand were the pioneers. Nilhilaa introduced the Ill/Emp build and Johhny Priest and Chris Havoc demonstrated what properly buffed Ice/Eng blasters could do. They steamrolled anyone they fought, and so eventually got bored and temporarily moved on to Guild Wars. By the time they left, other SGs had started learning from their example and began to bring more buffers/blasters and focusing fire.

The arena was extremely unstable, almost to the point of being unusable: it would randomly kick players out of matches, and crash when an observer left map. This caused a "No observers" rule in most SG matches. This wasn't fixed until relatively recently.

Notable happenings this issue:
- The Sonic powerset was introduced. Before this, players had no targetable resist buffs.
- Whirlwind came into heavy use since it prevented animations from rooting players
- Taunt had no ToHit check, but did have a set 50% chance of success. It was unresistable.


Issue 6 (Patch notes)
-----------------------------------
CoV was released, and with it came ED and a few VGs, like LotD. With the introduction of zones many more people started PvPing, although only a few of them made the transition to the Arena. The boards were full of "advice" to players about PvP builds. One bit of advice in particular that I remember came from a player with a BS/Regen scrapper and Fire/kin controller, who advised other Fire/kins to take Teleport/SJ for travel instead of IR. Ajax has come a long way since then .

During this issue Nihilaa started up the first Test PvP league. Although short-lived it introduced new players and showed the potential of new builds, particularly rad/psi in the forms of Peritus and Chris Havoc (on Rad Hawk).

Controversial issues around this time included caging, targeting macros, tier3 inspirations, and questionable/timely disconnects that could force a restart.

During this issue several LD members split and created Penance. One of our first matches was against the old-school Freaks with characters like Relativator, -Annoyance, Blind Sight, Duff.Chick, Tera Winters, Rain, counterfeit. I unfortunately don't have any screenshots of the scores, but I remember it fairly well:

Match 1: Lab map. Penance brought: 2 emps (ill/ and earth/), 2 kins (fire/ and grav/), a Sonic/Sonic (Lab, I think this was his first official with the Sonic), an Ice/Eng blaster, an Ice/Dev (who really, really, wished he had BU), and a BS/regen scrapper. FoL brought a storm-heavy team. Although the Freaks got the early upper hand, after the Penance scrapper tagged a one-shot crit against one of the Freaks the match tilted in Penance's favor, ending in 36-17.

Match 2: Perez map. Penance switched out the scrapper and grav/kin for two Storm controllers and the Freaks switched their storms for more blasters and a scrapper. I remember this match because shortly after after we started with 18 minutes left on the clock, my mouse died. I had to use Q/E to turn and shift+#/Follow to buff teammates. I've never scrambled so much in an any other arena match, so it remains one of my most memorable. Penance won this one 65-0.

After a few other matches, Penance fought HVND in a 10v10. This was the first heavy use of the turtle, and we couldn't break it. With our lack of both damage and debuffs, we weren't able to hit through their high defense. We tried dual Infernos in the second match, but between Detention Field (I think Lab managed to get 3 DFs on his Fire/Eng at one point) and the fact that it took 4 IDs to break through Force Bubble, Penance lost hard to this tactic.

Tribute came back for a short time to fight against the HVND turtle team. They brought spikes back from their time in Guild Wars, and used it to great effect in this match. This marked one of the first times that SGs would practice for matches: before this SG practices were practically unheard of. The Freaks began to practice pretty hard and beat HVND in their next match.

Penance waned after this due to an unwillingness to practice and players leaving for WoW. After losing to the Freaks and HVND again, we called it quits.

-----------------------------------

There's my roundup, based on memory, patch notes, and old forum posts. I'm sure I left many people and events out, and if I did please don't think it was intentional.

[ QUOTE ]
Check out most blaster primary power (example) to see that attribute in effect .. all the defiance effects have allowStrength=0, which is displayed as "[Ignores Enhancements & Buffs]"

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Aren't those are the per-attribute strength flags? I was referring to the per-power strength flag that disables strength modifiers from affecting any attributes of that power. Increase Density, Reconstruction, and Unyielding have it set to name just a couple examples.

Since the last major GUI change, I haven't figured out how to check the global IgnoreStrength attribute for a power. It used to be a bold "This power is unaffected by buffs" header directly underneath the power name. Is there a way to see that flag in the current interface?

Thanks, keep up the good work!

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How does it affect placed AoE powers? Say I use a power boosted Quicksand with my Earth troller? Does the boosted -def and -speed effect only last for the duration of the power boost or does it last for the duration of the quicksand?

[/ QUOTE ]
Depends on the power. Some dropped pets will transfer the PB modifier while others won't, and I don't know of an easy way to tell aside from testing. If the buff is transferred, then it will probably only last the duration of PB.

In Quicksand's case, the buff is transferred so the -def and -runspeed will both be enhanced (the runspeed cap debuff is not affected, however). They will only have the increased values while PB is active on the caster.

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Power Boost should also buff mez protection, which I think is really only relevant to Dominators if used prior to Domination.

[/ QUOTE ]
Domination is one of those powers exempt from PB's buff.

As always, excellent guide. My thoughts:

[ QUOTE ]
Bounded[ NetToHit = (InherentAttackAccuracy) * (1 + AccuracyEnhancement) * Bounded[ BaseToHit + ToHitBuffs - ToHitDebuffs - (Defense - DefenseDebuffs) ] ]

[/ QUOTE ]
What about showing where the ToHit and Defense caps are applied here? It becomes important in PvP since the "base 50% ToHit" is implemented as a 25% def bonus instead of a BaseToHit reduction, as you mentioned. It's confused me a bit in the past. Something like:

Bounded[ NetToHit = (InherentAttackAccuracy) * (1 + AccuracyEnhancement) * Bounded[ BoundedToHit(BaseToHit + ToHitBuffs - ToHitDebuffs) - BoundedDefense(Defense - DefenseDebuffs) ] ]

This:
[ QUOTE ]
All mez protection powers in melee defense sets scale up with level, with tankers getting maximum protection at level 35, and scrappers at level 45.

[/ QUOTE ]
is a quote from Statesman (I think) that IMO needs to die. Mez protection never stops increasing with level. A standard tank has -11.725 mag at 35, -13.975 at 50, which is the difference between being held by 3 Troller/Dom holds and 4.

In addition to mez protection, mez resistance is also affected by strength modifers.

You also might want to change Iakona's link to his v2 guide, so people don't have to go digging through pages to find the data (and also don't get confused by the incorrect numbers on Aim in the linked post).

Again, the CoH community owes you a great deal for this guide. Thanks!

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I am curious, +perception is not mentioned at all. Does PB affect perception?

[/ QUOTE ]
Weird, I could've sworn I put that entry in the list at some point. It must've gotten lost during one of my revisions. No, PB does not affect perception buffs or debuffs, thanks for the catch.

Looks like the CoD link has moved again, this should point to the Power Boost info:
City of Data's Power Boost Page

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Some of them can be affected by Power Build Up, the Defender Ancillary power, which is almost identical to Power Boost, but contains +DMG and +ACC components.

[/ QUOTE ]
The list of strength modifiers from Power Boost and Power Build Up are identical. Which powers are you referring to?


[ QUOTE ]
And it seems that in at least one situation, PBU gives a better boost to powers than PB. The case I'm referring to is Heal amounts. PBU seems to have a ~1.76x modifier while PB gives a ~1.56x-ish modifier of Heal Other (on the Defender) and Aid Other (on the Blaster) slotted identically at lvl50. Seems counterintuitive that a Power Pool power gives a better boost to powers than a Secondary power. However, I asked _Castle_ about this and his initial response was that it was probably related to Defenders being better at buffing than Blasters.

[/ QUOTE ]
PBU and PB have different modifiers. Read the highlighted table in the middle of the guide for numbers, but as far as balance goes look at the recharge of each power.

Overview
The question of exactly what Power Boost does is a common one, so I put together this guide for easy reference. There are a lot of numbers and formulas here, but I've highlighted the important parts for what I hope is easy reference.

Most importantly: Ignore Power Boost's in-game description. "Secondary effects" is a completely subjective and misleading term.

There are specific effects that PB enhances (list below). If a power has an effect on the list, then PB will affect it, as will all of the PB derivates (with the possible exception of Vanguard). Simple as that.

The actual modifier value varies with AT and level. It is not a simple "+100% to powers" (more on that later). As with nearly every enhancement effect in the game, it enhances base values only. Any toggle or passive power that you have running (that is affected by PB, obviously) will be boosted for the duration of PB. Any click used with PB active will be boosted for the duration of the click. Clicks used before PB is cast will be unchanged if you cast only PB. For example, if a Force Field Defender uses Power Build Up, his Dispersion Bubble will have increased defense and mez protection until PBU wears off, and any click ally shields (Deflection/Insulation Shield) he casts while PBU is up will have increased defense until they wear off four minutes later, or until he recasts them without using PBU beforehand.

Here's a list of all the effects that I know PB enhances as of Issue 8. I've tested out each of these personally.

What Power Boost Affects
Stun/Sleep/Hold/Immobilize/Confuse/Fear Duration
Knockback/up Magnitude (Both KB Distance* and ability to overcome KB protection)
Knockback Protection Magnitude
Mez Protection Magnitude
Mez Resist (Acro/AM/Vengeance)
Repel Strength (Hurricane, Telekinesis, Force Bubble)
Defense Buffs/Debuffs
ToHit Buffs/Debuffs
Heals (Direct heals only, not +regen or -regen)
Endurance Drain and "Heals" (Direct +end from powers like Transference, not +recovery)
Run/Fly Speed
Run/Fly Speed Resist
Movement Slow Powers (Not -recharge)

Also, here are some effects that I've tested that are specifically not modified by PB. Obviously, this is not a full list:

Some Things Power Boost DOES NOT Affect
Inspirations
Eye of the Magus/Demonic Aura Accolade
Domination
Mez Magnitude
Intangibility Magnitude/Duration (Sonic Cage, Dimension Shift)
Damage/Damage Buffs/Damage Debuffs
Resistance Buffs/Debuffs
Recharge Buffs/Debuffs
Recovery Buffs (Stamina, Recovery Aura)
Regen Buffs/Debuffs (Adrenaline Boost, Regen Aura, Lingering Radiation)
HP Buffs (Dull Pain, accolades)
Endurance Drain Resist
Conserve Power
Range Buffs/Debuffs (Boost Range/Hurricane)
Repel Protection Strength from Increase Density
Taunt Duration
Jump Speed/Height
Power Build Up's ToHit Buff

*Note on Knockback Distance: If you are attacking high-level targets, particularly in PvP, PB will often not seem to increase KB distance very much or at all. This happens because the target's KB magnitude cap, which determines max KB distance, is very low for high-level targets. The level 50 cap is actually so low that most KB powers are capped already before PB is even used.

PB will also increase Domination's long-duration mez effects since those are implemented as additional mezzes with higher duration scales.

There is another list of PB's effects at Red Tomax's Power Quantification guide (formerly City of Data). The two lists differ because CoD's list shows all the effects that the game engine uses, which can include seemingly unrelated in-game effects. For example, when the game engine adds a "Hold Enhancement" modifier, hold durations are obviously increased. But when this same hold modifier is applied to mez protection powers, they increase hold protection strength. The same goes for effects like Run Speed and Run Speed Resist: unless you know the connection between the various game effects, it is not obvious that some effects will be enhanced by PB.

Some powers are exempt from the PB/Weaken strength modifiers by design. Often if a power has a damage resistance component, it will ignore the PB variants, although there are a few exceptions. Here's a short list of powers known to be unaffected by PB:
Antidote
Earth's Embrace
Essence Boost
Frozen Armor
Glacial Armor
Healing Flames
Hoarfrost
Increase Density
Kuji-In Sha
Obsidian Shield
Plasma Shield
Reconstruction
Static Shield
Thaw
Unstoppable
Unyielding

Here's some known exceptions to the above rule. These powers have damage resistance but are affected by PB/Weaken:
Alkaloid
Deflection Shield
Kuji-In Rin
Wet Ice


Amount of PB's Boost
A common misconception is that Power Boost provides a flat modification value (i.e., +100% for Blasters, +150% for Defenders). This is incorrect; PB's actual modifier varies by Archetype and Level. For numbers people, PB follows the mez duration formula (which Iakona explains in his excellent Power Data Standardization v2.0 guide). Thanks to gSolo and Peritus for pointing this out. The formulas are:

Power Boost: Melee_Stun * (1 + 0.01*[Level - 1])
Weaken/Benumb: -0.5 * Ranged_Stun * (1 + 0.01*[Level - 1])

The Melee/Ranged_Stun terms in the above equation are the AT mods that PB uses. The actual numbers from Iakona's guide are:
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Mod Blaster Contrlr Defendr Scrappr Tanker Khldian Brute Stalker MasterM Domnatr Coruptr
M_Stun 0.8 1.25 1 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.8 0.8 1 1 0.8
R_Stun 0.8 1.25 1 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.8 0.8 1 1 0.75</pre><hr />
For example, a level 31 Blaster would have a PB modifier of 0.8*(1 + .30) = 1.04.

Here are the values of the Power Boost derivates at level 50, along with the recharge and duration of each power:
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Power AT Lvl 50 Modifier Recharge Duration
---------------------------------------------------------------
Power Boost Blaster 1.192 60 15
Power Boost Controller 1.8625 120 15
Power Boost Dominator 1.490 120 15
Power Build Up Defender 1.490 240 12.5
Weaken Mastermind -0.745 16 30
Benumb Corrupter -0.55875 120 30</pre><hr />
Note, this is a straight percent increase to all effects, no matter what enhancement schedule they use.

I personally love examples, so here are a few to make this more concrete:

Level 50 Radiation Controller: Radiant Aura (PBAoE Heal)
Heal Scalar: 1.0
Heal (Base): 117.80
Heal (3 +0 SOs): 117.80 * (1 + 0.9493) = 229.63
Heal (3 +0 SOs + PB): 117.80 * (1 + 0.9493 + 1.25*1.49) = 449.03

Level 50 Blaster: Aim (Self +ToHit, +Dmg)
ToHit Scalar: 5.0
ToHit (Base): 37.50%
ToHit (3 +0 SOs): 37.5% * (1 + 0.560) = 58.5%
ToHit (3 +0 SOs + PB): 37.5% * (1 + 0.560 + 0.8*1.49) = 103.2%


Weaken/Benumb
These two powers essentially work as inverse Power Boosts, affecting the same attributes as PB but weakening them instead of enhancing them. Taking the above example of a level 50 Radiation Controller and applying a level 50 MM's Weaken:
Heal (Base): 117.80
Heal (Weaken): 117.80 * (1 - 0.5*1.0*1.49) = 30.04

Weaken and Benumb cannot stack with themselves from the same caster. When used from different casters however, they will stack, adding together. There is a 0.10 floor for most effects. Example with the above heal:

Heal (Two Weakens): 117.80 * (1 - 0.745 - 0.745) = 117.80 * (-0.49)[floored at 0.10] = 117.80 * 0.10 = 11.78

Power Boost and its derivates all modify each other: if activated when Weaken is on the caster, Power Boost will have a lower effect than it otherwise would. In other words, Weaken and Benumb reduce PB's modifier. For the same reason, if you can get the recharge on Blaster's PB down far enough, you can see that PB will boost itself when it stacks. Pulling out the Rad heal once again:
Heal (Base): 117.80
Heal (PB only): 117.80 * (1 + 1.8625) = 337.20
Heal (Weaken only): 117.80 * (1 - 0.745) = 30.04
Heal (PB first, then Weaken): 117.80 * (1 + 1.8625 - 0.745) = 249.44
Heal (Weaken first, then PB): 117.80 * (1 - 0.745 + 1.8625*[1-0.745]) = 85.99
Heal (Weakened PB only): 117.80 * (1 + 1.8625*[1-0.745]) = 173.75

That last number is the heal when only PB is active, but PB was activated just before the Weaken debuff dropped.


Mez Protection
A nifty feature of PB is that it increases the level of mez protection a power provides. This is occasionally useful for unbuffed squishes in PvP, as the combination of PB+Acro will protect against a Controller/Dominator mag 4 hold (but only one). The Vanguard accolade will do the same thing, though not quite as effectively as the PB derivatives. By the same token, Weaken and Benumb will lower the affected player's mez protection.

From Iakona's guide, the mez protection formula for a given power can be written:
Protection Magnitude = (AT ResBool Mod * Level ResBool Mod * Power Scalar) + AttribBase

Power Boost effects this equation as a multiplier, much like the AT modifier. Taking Power Boost into account, the equation looks like:
Protection Magnitude = (AT ResBool Mod * Level ResBool Mod * Power Scalar * [1 + PB mod]) + AttribBase

Here's an example with a level 50 Empath Defender and Clear Mind. CM has a scalar of -30, Defender Ranged ResBool modifier is 1.25, and the Level 50 ResBool modifier is 0.346. AtrribBase for players is -1.
CM (Base): (1.25 * 0.346 * -30) - 1 = -12.975 - 1 = -13.975
CM (PBU): (1.25 * 0.346 * -30 * [1 + 1.49]) - 1 = -32.308 - 1 = -33.308
CM (L50 Weaken): (1.25 * 0.346 * -30 * [1 - 0.745]) - 1 = -3.309 - 1 = -4.309

Acrobatics is an exception to this equation, as it's a straight -2 Hold protection regardless of AT or level. PB still multiplies the -2, however, so in Acro's case the equation changes to:
Acro Magnitude = -2 * (1 + PB mod) - 1


Repel Powers
There are currently three powers in the game that do Repel: Hurricane, Telekinesis, and Force Bubble. For Hurricane and Telekinesis, PB will modify the rate of the repel "pulse." The easiest way to observe this is with stacked Weaken/Benumb on the caster. For example, with two Weakens on a Storm Controller, Hurricane only repels roughly once every 9 seconds. With two Weakens on a Mind Controller, the Telekinesis pulse rate drops to the point where there are gaps between pulses: the red "Held" text blinks on and off and the target can slowly advance against the repel. This is similar to what happens when TK is used against very purple NPCs.

According to my tests, Force Bubble works differently from the other two repel powers. PB/Weaken do not seem to modify the pulse rate, even when stacked. Instead, they change the magnitude of repel protection (i.e., number of IDs) required to overcome FB. So far I've not been able to determine the exact mechanics of repel, but here are a few examples of the number of IDs required to get through FB in several scenarios:

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre> #IDs required to get through L50 Defender Force Bubble
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ID AT Base PBU Weaken PBU+Weaken Weaken+PBU PBU+2Weakens
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Defender 2 5 1 4 2 3
Corrupter 3 6 1 5 2 3
Controller 3 7 1 5 3 3</pre><hr />
Stacked Weakens allow a player with no repel protection to stand in Force Bubble without getting repelled.

Most of the tests using Weaken were done with a level 31 MM. Note that these numbers are for a Defender's FB; although FB magnitude does not seem to differ across ATs or levels, these numbers might vary depending on the level and AT that uses Power Boost and Weaken. For example, if Controller Power Boost was used instead of Defender PBU, more IDs would probably be required to break FB than shown. For a slightly more involved discussion of this issue go here.


Vanguard/Megalomaniac
Vanguard/Megalomaniac is a Hero/Villain accolade respectively with a 1 minute duration and a 25 minute base recharge that is a flat +100% boost to mez durations, mez protection, mez resists, knockback mag, and knockback protection. Unlike the other PB derivates, this power does not scale with level or AT, and is not affected by other strength modifiers (meaning Weaken/PB will not change the +100% boost value). However, if Vanguard is cast first, it will boost the mez strength modifiers of PB.

This is subject to a 400% mez duration/protection cap, which anybody with PB and Vanguard can hit.

Example:
Level 50 Fire Controller: Char
PvE Duration Scalar: 12 (8 in PvP)
Hold (Base): 12*1.25*1.49 = 22.35s
Hold (PB): 22.35 * (1 + 1.8625) = 63.98s
Hold (VG): 22.35 * (1 + 1) = 44.7s
Hold (PB + VG): 22.35 * (1 + 1.8625 + 1) = 86.33s
Hold (VG + PB): 22.35 * (1 + 1 + 1.8625*[1+1]) = 22.35 * (5.725)[capped at 4] = 22.35 * 4.0 = 89.4s


Thanks to Iakona, Peritus, and gSolo for helping me get a handle on the numbers and mechanics, and many thanks to my SG mates for being very patient with me while helping me test some very bizzare situations.

[ QUOTE ]
B &lt;40% 40-60% 60-80% &gt;80%

[/ QUOTE ]
I think Schedule B uses brackets of
&lt;40% 40-50% 50-60 &gt;60%

Because 3 +2 resist SOs give an in-game resistance boost (both from the display and from testing actual resist values) of ~56.9%.

3 +2 resist SOs = 3*1.10*0.2 = 0.660 pre-ED buff

Using the quoted brackets:
0.4 + 0.9*0.2 + 0.7*0.06 = 0.6220 buff

Using the new brackets:
0.4 + 0.9*0.1 + 0.7*0.1 + 0.15*0.06 = 0.5690

[ QUOTE ]
Force Bubble ticks every 0.25 sec, TK ticks every 0.5 sec, and Hurricane ticks every 0.25 sec but is set to tick every 1 sec vs. players (no idea if this actually works or not).

[/ QUOTE ]
The Hurricane rate feels right, though the FB value seems a little bit fast. In-game vs players FB's pulse rate feels about the same as Hurricane's.

TK though definitely ticks faster than every half second. The most visible example is of a Mind Dom using TK with Domination running, you can actually see the "DOMINATION" text at each pulse. It's extremely rapid, the only time I've seen a noticeable slowdown was with stacked Weakens. At that point the pulses stop overlapping, though they're still relatively fast (maybe every 1/5-1/4 of a second, going on memory). Could there be another modifer involved?


[ QUOTE ]
I've never been able to get a clear answer on the mechanics of knockback/up/repel, so I'm not entirely sure how it works.

[/ QUOTE ]
That's unfortunate. Sorry if I'm being a little too persistant with this issue. Your responses have at least given me some numbers to mess with and try to fit my tests. Thanks again!

Bringing a question on this post from the scalars thread over here since it's more mechanical in nature.

[ QUOTE ]
Force Bubble, Hurricane, and TK magnitude do not vary by AT and level, but are affected by strength modifiers, such as Power Boost or Weaken.

Force Bubble is Magnitude 10, while Hurricane and TK are Mag 1. Hurricane's repel is listed as an unresistable magnitude (the knockback portion is listed as resistable), while FB and TK are listed as resistable.

Increase Density provides -10 repel, knockback, and knockup protection (no resistance) for Defenders, -8 for Controllers, and -9 for Corruptors; this value is modified by anything that boosts or weakens these 3 attributes, such as power boost or weaken.

AttribBase is 1, AttribMin is 0, StrengthMin is 0, AttribMax varies by level and AT, with Blasters, Defenders, Controllers, Stalkers, Masterminds, Dominators, and Corruptors ranging (linear) from 100 at level 1 to 4 at level 49; Scrappers, Peacebringers, and Warshades range from 95 to 3 (affected by LvlMod from 1 to 20); Tankers and Brutes range from 90 to 2 (affected by LvlMod 1 to 20).

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Hmm...does Repel mag use the same mechanic as mez?

Repel Protection = (-10 * Number of IDs) - 1

Each Repel power would add a mag to that sum and once it became positive, you would get repelled assuming you don't have 100% resist? I ask because if that's the case, something very strange is going on with my tests. Here's my results (the Lxx is there to denote what level the target(s) casting Weaken was):

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Test Specifics #IDs required to get through modified FB
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ID AT FB AT ID Mods Base PBU Weaken PBU+Weaken Weaken+PBU PBU+2Weakens
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
50 Def 50 Def None 2 5 1 L32 4 L32 2 L32 3 L32/32
50 Def 50 Def 1 Weaken L50 2 5
50 Def 50 Def 2 Weakens L50/31 2 1 L31
50 Def 50 Def PBU 2 1 L31
50 Def 38 MM None 2 1 L31
21 Def 50 Def None 2 5
50 Cont 50 Def None 3 7 1 L24 5 L32 3 L24 3 L32/32
50 Cont 38 MM None 3 1 L31
50 Corr 50 Def None 3 6 1 L31 5 L31 2 L31 3 L50/31
50 Corr 38 MM None 3 1 L31</pre><hr />

With 2 Weakens or 2 Weakens+PBU on the bubbler, it took no IDs to overcome the repel mag and stand in the bubble. I tried it multiple times and I was never repelled until one of the Weakens wore off or during the recasting animation of a Weaken.

So I'm wondering:

When you said that PB/Weaken should should enhance ID's attributes, did you mean only KB/KD? Because it's currently not affecting ID's repel protection with even 2 Weakens on the caster.

Unless I'm missing something (probably am, happens frequently), the protection formula I wrote can't be correct unless there's some kind of modifers in use. If Controller ID is -8 and mag from IDs add together, 2 IDs should be enough to break FB, not 3. Also, if PBU affects Repel mag like it does mez protection mag, PBU'd FB should be 24.9 (10*2.49), which would take far fewer than 5 Defender IDs to break though.

I also find it interesting that though FB has a higher mag than the other two Repel powers, it can be Weakened to the point that it takes no IDs at all to protection against Repel. TK and Hurricane however will still repel an enemy when hit with stacked Weaken, albeit at an extremely reduced pulse rate. I suppose it's possible that FB is still pulsing but the rate is so low that it will never pulse before Weaken drops, however. I see in the Storm data post in the Power Scalars thread that Hurricane has an attribute of 0.75 seconds against players, is this the base pulse rate? And is there a similar number attached to FB and TK?

Also, none of the bubblers I tested with had Vanguard. Do you know if Vanguard affects Repel mag? I thought it might be possible since it affects mez protection.

Thanks!

Edit: Table broke the boards, should be fixed now

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It looks like Power Boost adds 1.0 * Ranged_Stun to the Strength modifier, and Weaken/Benumb adds -0.5 * Ranged_Stun.

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Thanks for mentioning that, you saved me some potential confusion when testing. So far all my tests (what few I've done on Weaken/Benumb) have confirmed this.

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If I'm calculating all this correctly, then a level 50 Controller using Power Boost and Block of Ice slotted with 3 even hold SOs, while affected by Weaken, would have a PvP duration of:
(8 sec * 1.8625) * (1 + .9493 + (1.0 * 1.8625) + (-0.5 * 1.49)) = 45.7 sec

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Just finished some testing on this. Turns out, Weaken actually reduces PB's effect as well. The number above will be correct *if* Power Boost is used first, before Weaken. However, if Power Boost is activated while Weaken is active, that equation changes to:

(8 sec * 1.8625) * (1 + .9493 + (1.0 * 1.8625) * (1 - 0.5*1.49) + (-0.5 * 1.49)) = 25.0 sec

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Did you confirm the -30 scalar for Combat Jumping by testing? If so, was the test conclusive, or is a value of -24 possible? A while back I calculated a scalar value of -24 from the Prima guide data. Just curious whether it's a mistake in the guide.

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It was pretty conclusive. I narrowed it down to: -30.05 &lt; scalar &lt;= -29.03

Assuming:
Player Mag Protection = (AT Mod * ResBool * Scalar) + (-1)
In PvP only, Controller single target immobs are mag 5, AoE immobs are mag 4

Assuming that the scalar for standard melee mez protection is -30 per Castle in Iakona's previous thread, and that Controller/Dominator holds are mag 4 in PvP per Castle in that Aim/BU thread, I'm pretty sure both of those other assumptions are right.

If you want my raw data, let me know. I'd have to clean up my spreadsheet a bit and post it when I get home from work, though.

Edit: Forgot to qualify the immob magnitudes as PvP-only
Edit 2: Stupid negative sign on the scalar meant my inequalities were reversed.

Awesome job! This format makes looking stuff up much easier as opposed to remebering which table was on which page. As always, thanks for putting this together for the rest of us, it is much appreciated. I'd reference the old guide at least a couple times a day.

You might want to have an addendum posting little tidbits of information that were mentioned in the last thread. The primary ones I can think of are:
ToHit/Defense Caps by Level (unless I missed this in the current table)
Resist debuffs use the same table as res buffs, Ranged Res Dmg.
There is no Hold table, it uses one of other mez tables (probably not the Sleep table though, as Scrapper/Stalkers have access to holds via Epics/Patrons and that modifier is nuts)
The AttribBase values for calculating mez protection magnitude

Here's a few more random statistics for you. The topic came up in another thread (thanks to Peritus and gSolo) that Power Boost's modifier follows the same scale as mez duration and is affected by the AT mez modifiers. I had a chance to test this out recently and confirmed it. At level 50, the ToHit on my controller's Tactics was boosted by 1.8625 (1.25*1.49) with PB running. At 50, my Blaster's Aid Self was boosted by 1.192 (0.8*1.49) and at 31 it was boosted by 1.0399 (close enough to 1.04 = 0.8*1.30).

A not-quite-thorough test I did indicated that the PB modifier effects mez protection in the same way as an AT modifier would, so the mez protection formula would look like:
(AT ResBool Mod * Level ResBool Mod * Power Scalar * (1 + PB mod) ) + AttribBase

When I get some time I'll test this more extensively, and also check if the Villain inverse Power Boosts (Weaken/Benumb) work the same way.

Acrobatics seems to ignore the ResBool and AT Mod values and provides a straight -2 mag protection for all ATs and levels (that I tested). It is affected by Power Boost. Combat Jumping however works per the standard formula (with a scalar of -30 if anyone cares).

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I don't have a full set of Kins with Speed boost, but that would be another thing to test. But in general, I believe caster level and AT doesn't matter. For debuffs, I would expect the same.

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Last I tested, both Controller and Defender Speed Boost and Siphon Speed had the same buff value (.5 and .2 respectively).

There seems to be a recharge debuff modifier however, since back in I4 there was some arena testing done on both Lingering Radiation and Snow Storm's effectiveness when casted by a controller or defender, and the debuffs were different. I'm going to take a stab that -recharge is the "Slow" modifier in the list. Since in-game -recharge and -spd are two different things, I'd guess that powers that do only -spd actually modify the run, jump, and flight speed attributes. This is hinted at in-game because if you slot slow into a power that does -spd the enhancement value window shows Run/Jump/Fly speed being modified, not an overall "slow" attribute.

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I'm looking into the Mind Control issue. The high accuracy of certain Controller powers is intended and unlikely to change.

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Just wanted to say, although all Controller single-target holds are innately accurate, this is a special case with the specfic powers listed. I did some testing on this and both Blind and Mesmerize, without any accuracy slotted, were hitting as if the target had no defense (with slotted toggles, passives, and Elude). I then tested again using Fire's Char (heavily slotted for acc with slotted Tactics going), Earth's Fossilize, and Ice's Block of Ice, and all of those were solidly floored by slotted Elude. I'm pretty sure this isn't just because Blind and Mes are Psi-based either, since Mental Blast was floored as well.

Have not personally tested how these powers do against other high-defense targets, such as PFF. Thanks for looking into this.

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The imp dmg as far as I can tell is 27.8 of lethal and then the 3 ticks is fire dmg


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Imp Brawl is smashing/fire, not lethal/fire.

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Was the imps dmg lowered recently? I use fulcrum shift on my imp now and do a max of 100 dmg and 40 DoT. Im pretty sure i used to be able to cap out at 63 DoT...

Was the base dmg lowered?

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Last damage nerf to Imps was in I2 was far as I know, I haven't noticed a difference since then.

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Sorry, but not quite correct. What you are suggesting will gives us the BIs, however the goal is to find out what and IF there is a damage cap for the pets. For that the pets will need to be buffed, but incremently. So, to start off yes the pets will need to be stripped of all enhs, and then slowly added on. Yet I doubt 6 Dmg ++ SOs will be enough for the pets to hit the dmg cap, and thus they will have to be buffed by other means as well.

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Yeah, forgot about testing caps, though last I tested it was 400% and I don't see any reason why it would have changed. But that can be tested either by yourself if you have the proper powers or with a single buffer to help. The reason to get a bunch of controllers on test and go into the arena is to get exact BI values for each pet's attack, which was Pilcrow's original intention back in July.

Btw, here are the BIs I tested for Animate Stone at level 32, my brawl is doing 8.44 smash damage:
Hurl Boulder: 8.30
Stone Fist: 5.06
Stone Mallet: 8.30

Edit: Probably won't make it tonight, good luck testing.

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I can throw in Stoney, Sing or Phants. My question is how do you plan on buffing the pets damage? everyone respec into assault? or forts?

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This is in the arena, so there's no need to buff the pets' damage since we'll (hopefully) be able to read it straight off the combat log of the person getting attacked, which means that all damage enhancements should be removed from the pet. I will say though that I've occasionally had weird things happen to my combat log in the arena and you *might* not get all the numbers you want. If it's a time I can attend I can provide a tank without any passive resists and Aid Self. Wednesday or Thursday evening probably won't work for me.

Here's the Brawl Index I've tested on imps, Controller Brawl at level 50 is exactly 11.00 smashing damage for reference.
Imp Brawl (melee): 2.53 smashing, 1.00x3 fire (DoT)