FromBelow

OK thanks a lot.

So Empower gives a total of 40% with blinding feint? 10% from the combo and 30% from blinding feint?

Does anyone know the exact information on the dual blades combos? Like exactly what the tohit and damage buffs are for empower and how long the combo lasts? I can't figure it out from the game because fury is always going up and down and it is combined with the effects of blinding feint. So I was just wondering. I also would not mind getting the info on all the combos, actually.

Thanks.

I remember the days when everybody used to talk about how much better ELA was than EA. My the times have changed.

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I really don't think it's that hard to do SB every two minutes. You can set up a cycling bind that will let you hit one button over and over to SB your whole team. If you can't tap one key sixteen times (I tend to separate my targeting and casting binds) every two minutes, you should not be playing a buff set.

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The point is that while you are hitting that key 16 times, there's other stuff you are not doing. If I were a kin defender, it would be no sweat. But I posted this in the troller forums. I'm an ice troller. I can shut down gobs of mobs....if I am not hitting speedboost all the time

I would not mind that, kent. And I do have the binds. It's still a pain. Especially when they [censored] for it right in the middle of the mob.

I'm seriously thinking of respecing out of it. THey can just live with the damage and resistance buffs, and the heals. And let's not forget the ice controls.

I've just gotten off a team with yet another bunch of people letting me know they need SB the split second that the current SB wears off. I think SB doesn't last long enough. I am an ice/kin controller, but to the rest of the world I might as well be a kin/ defender, because nobody complains if I fail to control mobs, but they sure complain instantly if they don't get thier SB. The buff doesn't last long enough. I'd like to think that I am a good controller, and have even offered to tank for teams because I think I can control so much, and if you actually give me a tank, I, as the lone controller, can make pretty much any team able to move through lvl 54 AE boss missions of pretty much any type. I have all my ice powers slotted well and I use them well and I can keep just about anyone on their back and slowed and confused and held to the point of uselessness. But nobody really seems to notice that. They just want their SB, and I pretty much spend all my time SBing everyone.

If they made SB last longer, wold that really hurt the balance of the game? I might actually have some time to control things if I weren't forced to spam SB.

Honestly, this issue is enough to make me not want to take my ice/kin to 50. I am on a real controller kick right now, and am having a blast with this one, but am seriously thinking of taking another toon, like maybe ice/rad, because I don't want to spend 95% of my time being a second-rate kin defender. But if I could count on SBing people every 3 minutes or more, then I might actually feel like a controller. I really don't think the game balance would be upset in any way. I would just be less annoyed.

What do people say? I know kin is a highly praised set, considered uber by the community at large. But I am just not sure I want to play it because nobody will be satisfied with me SBing them 'every now and then.' People actually walk away thinking I am a lousy controller even though I have been keeping the entire team alive with my controls. I think if I were an ice/rad, I could at least feel like a controller without any hassle from other players.

I have a non-medicine pool build on my BS/SR. I can't PvP with it. I can't take out AVs solo with it. But for anything short of that, what I noticed is that if I have softcapped defenses and IO slotting for regen, then basically all I need to do it eat a green every now and then. A build without sofcapped defenses is going to need to pop a purple on rare occasion. A build with no recovery slotting will have to pop a blue every now and then. None of this is really a problem. People get too dependent on the self heal.

I really like the way my BS/SR runs without the self-heal. And I have aid self for my anti-AV build.

Mids is saying that there is only 1 power for widows that gives defense debuffs resistance: foreisght. It also says this in unenhanceable. Is this correct? A fully-slotted out night widow is only going to have 17.3% defense debuff resistance like mids says?

I'm asking because everytime I try to build a SD brute in mids I get the same results. But someone on the forums said that SD's defense debuff resistance was enhanceable and it's actually possible for an SD toon to cap defense debuff resistance. I don't know if that statement is true, but the whole thing has me thoroughly confused.

My widow is level 26 and does not have a shred of defense debuff resistance. I do not yet have foresight though. Picking it up at level 28. I've never actually played an SD toon to any level. So I really just don't know about this yet. Can anyone confirm or deny?

And if widows don't have any defense debuff resistance, aren't they kind of squishie pre-perma-mindlink?

OK thanks. How do I determine the number of spawn points a map has? The only info it gives me is the number of wall items floor items glowies, etc. I have never seen a spawn point number on the maps.

I am trying to make a tomb raid. I would like the character to come into an empty map that stays completely empty everywhere on the map with no bad guys at all until a glowie is clicked (wood coffin) that will trigger a boss fight, ambushes, all that. I've tried maxing the number of glowies and different combinations of bosses that appear when glowie is clicked and ambushes that appear when glowie is clicked and boss is at various health. But no matter what I try, there are always enemies on the map when I start. How do I get an empty map with no bad guys in it?

Really vexing this. I hope there is someone there that can help.

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You truly didn't think it was gonna last forever did you? I mean really.

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Yeah, but it totally [censored] normal teaming and everything people do AE wise blows.

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Please go find another game. If what you want is normal, then I am screwed. Please leave, and take everyone like you with you.

I wasn't talking about IOs. Back in I7 I had a fitness/leaping/fighting/leadership build with 40% S/L defense. That was good in those days. And I didn't know it at the time, but I did not need fitness. Then I went to a leaping/speed/presence/teleport build, thinking presence would protect me in PvE and give me something in in PvP. teleport and presence helped me a ton in PvP, but not enough under the old system, and presence was messing with my attack chain to use it well in PvE. So once I started getting IOs into the build I did not need all the utility powers for protection, but had already figured out that stamina was a waste, so I went for a convenience build with leaping/speed/fly/leadership build that I farmed SFs with and did all the endgame content with. But when I started doing a lot of ouroboros content and lower level badge missions, and I started running into AVs while soloing, I noticed problems. Also, even under the new system, not having a self-heal in PvP makes life suck. So I have recently started on my second build as an AV/exemp below 28/PvP build that has speed/fitness/medicine/teleport.

I am basically saying I have played EA a ton of different ways, and I would just not have been able to do that with SR. Or even SD. SD has some utility in that it has buffs and the like in the set, but what I mean utility is the ability to play the toon a variety of different ways. And you can do this without IOs. IOs just open even more doors. But I've had the toon super tough before IOs as well as pulled in controls and diverse mitigation methods before IOs. So that is a definite strength of EA is just about unmatched.

I guess mids is broken on the defense debuff resistance. Thanks for the tip. I will roll up a toon and see how it goes.

Yeah Spirit Chaser I think I have been around this horn with you 50 or 60 times already. There's really not any need to go over it again. Your scale is very linear and speaks speicifcally about protection, mentioning a couple of inceidental perks of SD merely as asides that have little to do with your overall argument that EA is underprotected.

We all know this. That does not mean EA needs a buff. EA has crappy protection. We all know that. EA and elec are both utility sets offering subpar protection in echange for utility. I think I have made this argument a hundred times, and I know that you've heard it from others if not me. Basically, if EA could give me SR's protection and still be EA, that is, still requiring me to take only 5 or 6 powers from the set and not requiring me to take fitness pool, then EA would be overpowered. As it is, EA gives me crappy protection but lets me skip stamina and only requires me to take 1/2 the powers in the set to give me its baseline crappy protection (and some stealth too). I use these powers to do whatever I want with the toon. Elec and EA are utility sets. SR is for those who are only worried about protection. They have to take all 9 powers, and they get superb protection. Nothing else.

So I am not really sure I know what you are going after. Do you want EA to give as good a protection as SR or something? I personally have figured out how to build my toon to be basically softcapped (to everyhing that matters) while still having all kinds of slots for powers I like.

So I think you need to move past the argument that 'SR has better protection, so it needs a buff'

The devs heard that one a long time ago. Everybody seems to know that EA gives crappy protection, and everybody seems to be fine with that.

At this stage in the game, discussion about improving EA has really moved on to thematic elements, like making it tougher against energy because it's EA for crying out loud, or issues of consistency, usually related to the psi hole (which a lot of sets deal with), or problems with defense in general, and often talk of adding regen, heals, etc. And frankly, EA got a buff recently, and for better or for worse, that's really probably all it's going to get, so most of the talk is turning to issues of porting to other ATs. Really, the EA discussion is pretty much over. I am in the camp that really did not see EA as being terribly broken, and I am happy with the last buff. THose who saw it as terribly broken and are not very happy with the last buff, are still trying to keep it going. But frankly, the 'SR has better defense so we need to buff EA' was pretty much thrown out the window way way back at the beginning. I mean sheesh. I should say that SR requires you to take stamina, makes you take all 9 powers, and doesn't give you stealth, so SR needs a buff.

I have always liked EA. I am glad they tweaked it a little. The taunt in energy drain ROCKS, and the heal kind of comes in handy as I notice the ebb and flow of my health bar these days. I am popping fewer greens on my non-Aid Self build.(My favorite build, BTW). I could care less about the toxic resist.

Honestly, I was wanting something somewhere that made the set feel really uber against energy damage. I didn't really know if it was resists, or more defense, or some kind of a something. I didn't know what. But I did want the set to feel uber against energy like elec feels uber against energy. I didn't get that. But basically, I was cool with the set before and I still am, being pleasantly surprised by the minor changes. That's basically it, man.

At this point I would just suggest that you not play EA and be sure to voice your difficulties with AE to friends who might consider playing it. You seem to like SR better because it's better protected. So I will steer you to play SR instead.

Now on a final note, can you give me details about how you would softcap defense bebuff resistance for shield defense? I got an idea for a scrapper.....

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Rethinking what I posted earlier, a 3rd option they could go with. Make the effects not stack from the same caster. which would more or less force the user to only use one at a time. effectivly doubling the durration.

but I agree Spirit, there are probably a few billion things they could do with CP to change the powers effects while keeping it similar to how it is now.

personaly I wouldn't mind seeing some end drain resistance added into the set somewhere. I suppose CP would be a good a place as any to add that.

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Can someone please explain to me how a toon with two CP powers would either be overpowered or jilted in some way? You know my brute has taunt, but there's a pool I could take that would give me provoke as well. The presence pool. But you know what? The world still turns.

Leave CP alone. Leave the epics alone. Everybody wins.

I'm a staminaless build and CP is great and needs to stay in the set right where it is unchanged, and if the set ever gets ported heroside and the players have the option to take two CPs, then so be it. I would not mind having two CPs.

How do diminishing returns affect heals? Does anyone have any specific number or any specific advice about how often I should heal a toon to get maximum effect?

Just wondering. Thanks.

Fallenhero, that is exactly what I was looking for. Now a couple of things:

How can I calculate the effect of diminishing returns? How did you arrive at 45% defense in PvE turning into 34% in PvP? I thought DR was a refelection of the number of buffs applied. Would that not be a variable?

THen what does 'clamp' mean in your formula? I am still trying to figure it out and perhaps I will on my own. But knowing what you mean by that may accelerate the process.

Thanks for working me through it though.

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It wasn't just elusivity that was nerfed but defense as well. I'm not sure on all the numbers but since i14 went live I hit defense based toons noticibly more often.

My accuracy on each attack is about 70% and I have about 75% global accuracy but I also have targeting drone plus the perception IO for the to hit buff. Same exact build as i13 but I hit much more often.

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Well, I hd no idea that the perception IO gave a tohit buff. Thanks for that tidbit. That was exactly the kind of thing that I was looking for. I'll be sure to have it on my stalker. Got any idea how much the tohit buff on it is?

Is there someplace that I could figure out the PvP tohit formula and the defense numbers? I used to go by an old site by arcanaville. I have no idea if he's still playing CoH or if his forum posts are still up to date. I'm just returning to the game after being gone a year. I see that Red Tomax's site is still intact, but it doesn't have a lot of the info that I am looking for. Is this info being published somewhere?

The only change with I14 was reducing elusivity from 30% to 10%, right?

Now is global accuracy affected by enhancement diversification? So say I have about 120% accuracy from enhancements but it is reduced to 99% from enhancement diversification, but I have 60% accuracy from sets, does that mean I have 159% accuracy (99% + 60%)? Or do I have 180% accuracy pre-ED reducted to 110% or so because of ED? Basically, how does the whole accuracy formula work now?

Regardless, I don't think I understand how it all fits together. Say I had 100% accuracy, with 30% elusivity, I would only hit a softcapped toon 8.5% of the time (5% * 1.7) but with the new elusivity at 10%, I would hit him 9.5% of the time (5% * 1.9). Either way they are pretty freakin hard to hit. Have people noticed a huge difference in hitting softcapped toons since I14? I have not tested it in the zones. From my understanding of the formula, softcapped toons were very very very hard to hit, but since I14 they are just very very hard to hit.

If my math is wrong, please let me know. But the from the math I just don't see the elusivity nerf really being a deal breaker for defense toons.

In PvP, what are one's options when fighting a softcapped toon? I'm asking this in a general context, as I would like answers applying to multiple situations. I have already figured out that I can pop yellows. I have also figured out that I can bring a radiation corruptor or some other friend to provide some debuffs. I know diminishing returns keeps the debuffing from getting sick, but a single application of radiation infection can still bring things down to a manageable level, right? Of course this would only work for ice and SD. SR is basically immune to -def anyway.

Beyond these things I have the option to take tactics. (I am a stalker, so I will not have a focused accuracy type power option as far as I know.) In any event, I really do not have room for tactics on my current build. It might be an option for build 2, which will be the PvP build.

So other than assault, inspis, and debuffing buddies, what is there for me to do? I'm a MA/WP stalker. Yeah, I know MA is not a good PvP set. But I am wondering how I can go about fighting the defense sets, most notably SR.

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OK as I write this I am currently in Siren's. Actually, I am dead on the street in Sirens. It's my first time PvPing under the new rules. Frankly, I like them quite a bit. I particularly like the lack of status protection. But I am confused about dimishing returns. Everyone on the forums gripes about them. But we've currently got this defender and controller in Sirens who are tearing us up. I mean I doubt any of us are experts. I am no expert and am just in there tooling around checking out te new rules. So it could be that these guys are experts. But nonetheless, this defender and controller are owning the zone. So why all the whining and complaining? The New PvP rocks.

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Siren's was always one of the better/balanced zones.

Oh, and that Defense you're in love with now because of Elusivity.... it's getting cut by 2/3rds when I14 drops.

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Well, I went into the zones with 26% defense and got hit a fair bit but missed some and I was alright with that. However, if I went in there with 45% defense I can imagine that nothing would have hit me hardly ever. I can see how it would be easy for me to build a super reflexes PvP toon that would be just too far beyond everything else. So I imagine that less elusivity would actually serve to balance a defense toon that was specifically built for PvP. I had read some posts before about SR being too potent on account of diminishing returns, and of course everyone is always complainging about VEATs. So I imagine the elusivility changes are for the better.

I was just happy that my overall lousy defense counted for something. I used to come into the zones with capped defense and it counted for nothing. That's what I thought was wrong. I am sure that my lousy defense will still count for a little bit after the elusivity nerf, and I am sure that top notch defense will still count for quite a bit after it. It just won't be overpowered.

This thread provided much more detail about what I liked about the new PvP than the other one. Not unecessary at all. But I see that you guys are going to try to make it unecessary by not reacting to anything said in it.

Anyway, the reactions to both my posts are indeed showing the baseless nature of te discontent of the PvP community regarding the new changes.

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But nonetheless, this defender and controller are owning the zone. So why all the whining and complaining? The New PvP rocks.

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I'm not exactly sure what you mean here. Are you saying that before I13 it would be somehow amazing if a defender and controller wrecked a zone? And are you also saying that because of the I13 changes Defenders and Controllers were somehow NOT owning in the zones before the changes?

Because if you are... well. That's pretty much how things were before I13.

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I'm not sure what was unclear about what I was saying. Before I13, defenders and controllers owned. But their buff ability was seriously impeded by I13. Everyone is constantly complaining that defenders were ruined by I13. Well, my exerience showed me that they weren't.

Well, I just hope he hears it from a lot of people. He needs to. So you are saying there are a lot of people out there like me voicing their pleasure at the new system? Because all I see on here is griping by old schoolers.

I just hope they are concentrated on getting the word out to the player base on how cool they've made PvP.

So....that's it.