Grim_Fandango

Ok, I'm on a role (toilet paper?) ;-)

When is the issue 7 Prima Guide update coming out IN PRINT as promised?

A couple of sites were showing it as available on 6/30. Now EB Games is showing it available 8/1. I called Prima, and got Random House (who owns Prima) and they didn't know squat about it, what it even was.

Now, as a guy who's spend $70 dollars on both guides, and being told that updates would be sold for these guides, some of us would like to know when we can get printed copies of it to update what we've ALREADY paid for.

And for the record, printing a color page from a .pdf file at Fedex Kinko's is 89 cents a page. With 251 pages in the online update, you do the math and see that option is not viable. So please ask that question, and please don't accept I don't know as an answer, without some kind of indication that an answer, A DATE, will be forthcoming. Speaking for those of us who have already made the investment, I don't think that's too much to ask of her.

Very cool and much appreciated Sapph. Like I said, I had posted that Q last night, but it "disappeared".

Ok, another one for ya (since you've got your catchers mitt out), What the heck happened last weekend with the update server that prevented players from logging in for the better part of the day? Why was there no follow up explanation after the problem was resolved? What has been done to make sure it won't happen again?

Just for the record, yah I'm yappin about some problems with the game, but I'm no hater. I love the game, been playing it almost since it came out, talk it up to friends all the time, and most important, I though my $$$ at it every month.

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Show cancelled

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Nothing on the SI radio site about the show being cancelled.

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Wow, this game is really turning into a "cult of personality". With ALL the stuff that is defective, broken, unexplained, unfixed, and just downright wrong in this game, it's hardly the time for a press op and back-patting.

If you guys think way-way-WAY back - to like....last week, the same group of people who went "Old Yeller" on 70 employees, left us paying customers high and dry, and unable to login, for the better part of a day.

So, before any "unmasking" is done, let's see if we can get some TOUGH questions answered, instead of a bunch of "Larry King" softballs.

Let's see if there's anything worth listening to.

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So, tell me - how is Cuppa responsible for the "defective, broken, unexplained, unfixed, and just downright wrong in this game"?

Like a previous post said - if there are questions you want answered - post them here. If they are good questions, we'll ask her. But if their just going to be agressive scapegoating, then I guess we can just pass on each other.

Cuppa is a huge asset to the community - while she can certainly answer questions about player concerns, martyring her does no one any good. Comparing the immense respect the community as a whole has for Cuppa and all she's done on our behalf to mindless adulation of a leader of a totalitarian regime . . . um, yeah. Get some perspective, man.

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Exactly where did I say she was responsible? So watch the accusations please. She IS however, and PR person for NCSoft, which last time I checked, has something to do with how COH/COV interfaces with it's paying customers. So to that extent, I believe she is responsible for providing information about not only the positive aspects of the game, but the negative issues, especially the status of long term, ongoing problems with the game.

Second, I'm not going to do your job. It's your show, try to pretend for a couple of minutes the show isn't totally in the bag and provide some due diligence. If you read these boards, at all, you'll be able to find more good questions than you'll have time for. As for posting them here, I did post a couple, and they have mysteriously disappeared....????

Cuppa is an asset to the community, no doubt. But that being said, there is serious lack of flow through and response about certain aspects of this game that simply can't be overlooked, no matter how much you (or I) enjoy playing the game. If I was in the lunch line with her, I'd be more than happy to press to get some solid answers, or at least the names of the people who do have some solid answers. But since she's going to be on YOUR show, why not take the time to do it yourself?

The truth is, as anyone who's done PR work knows, is that Cuppa is a gatekeeper, and sometimes watchdog, no disrespect intended. A very professional one, and a very friendly one to be sure, but that is the role of the position. If good will can be fostered by that, so much the better, but it's not the positions primary responsibility.

So perspective is EXACTLY what I'm hoping to get from your interview. Have some fun, have some laughs (it's still a game, right?), but don't loose sight of the fact that all is NOT well in COV/COH land, and since Cuppa is one of the doors to information, put some "umph" in it when you knock.

Lastly, as to questions, one that has talked about, buried, given luke warm lip service to, buried, dug up, and ignored is When will costumers be able to transfer characters between servers? And please don't just ask that and walk away from it. Are there technical problems with it? What are they? Would users have to pay a fee? What about duplicate names inside the same server? Why can virtually every other MMO do this, and yet COV/COH can't.

The answer to the first part is almost meaningless without the required specific responses that go with it. And if Cuppa can't answer the question, can she get those answers? If she can't who can provide those answers - Specifically; someone that we can follow up with and who will respond.

Hey Cuppa's job is a tough job. But it is a job. And while it's great to make friends on the boards and have fun, there is another part that quite frankly, is probably more important.

Wow, this game is really turning into a "cult of personality". With ALL the stuff that is defective, broken, unexplained, unfixed, and just downright wrong in this game, it's hardly the time for a press op and back-patting.

If you guys think way-way-WAY back - to like....last week, the same group of people who went "Old Yeller" on 70 employees, left us paying customers high and dry, and unable to login, for the better part of a day.

So, before any "unmasking" is done, let's see if we can get some TOUGH questions answered, instead of a bunch of "Larry King" softballs.

Let's see if there's anything worth listening to.

From the people who have yet to bring us the "Skills" set!

Hey, how about this: I found a bug in my bank account, it showed up after I opened my account. Because of this bug, I won't be "rolling out" my payment to NC Soft as planned. It will be implimented soon, but I can't give you an exact date at this time.

How the hell does THAT sound!

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DONOT Skip a power pool because you have a holiday Jet Pack - just because it has 30 days left or 90 min or w/e time, i promise you, that IS NOT enough time, Yes i understand you have 4 or 5 other toons below lvl 13 that doesn’t have travel powers and get along fine, Trust me - THIS changes....because when you get to lvl 38 and realized you dont have a way to get around any more...kiss your toon good by and hit the delete button...no body wants to team with you...


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WRONG!

You are NOT required to take a travel power. At ANY level. It is also NOT the obligation of other team mates to port you around, or to wait to start missions for you. It's a sword that cuts both ways.

Again, to make it clear, you are NOT required to take a travel power. Don't let anyone tell you different, for any reason.

Some really good stuff in this thread btw.

Let me just add this one.

Don't make a hero (or villain) with a dot (.) at the begining, middle, or at the end of your name. Is there anything sadder in COX that seeing some level 50 running around named ".Hellspawn" or "Ice.Master" or "Powerguy."? No.

It shows a SERIOUS lack of creativity on your part, not to mention an indication that you choose the path of least resistance. Not good traits for a hero OR a villain worthy of respect or fear.

You simply won't be taken seriously by serious players. Take ten minutes up front, and make your hero/villain truely yours. You're going to be spending alot of time with them.

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Do not broadcast something akin to the following:
"lvl 20 troller lft PST"
^Seriously, you're begging for a team on broadcast and you want them to send you a tell? How arrogant can you get?


[/ QUOTE ] its not arogance its common sence. I broadcasted "lvl 12 blaster lft", lastnight and got picked up by a team where the highest player on the team was 4 lvls below me. So i promptly quit and sent the same message and got picked up buy a person running solo missions but got to one tjey couldnt finish by themself, so i figured we would be getting a team togeather but they didnt want to, they just wanted me to help them defeat a boss so they could get a new contact. i helped defeat the boss then they quit the team saying that a friend was calling them or somthing. So no it is not arrogance.

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I think you missed the point here...
It's not the "lvl 20 troller LFT" that was arrogant, it was the PST part. If you want a team bad enough that you anounce it in broadcast then dont' expect anyone to send you a tell. Just click that team window when it comes up and be done with it.

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That has to be the silliest thing I've read in awhile.

Just because you're looking for a team doesn't necessarily mean you're looking to "help that one guy 20 levels below you kill a single boss then get booted" or "spend the next 4 hours on a TF"...

There is absolutely nothing arrogant about saying "hey, I'm looking for a team, drop me a message and lets see if I'm the right fit for your team (and their current goals)" ...that's what the "PST"'s there for.

At what point did "LFT" become "blind invite me so I have the pleasure of dealing with whatever crap I'm dealt"?

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Looking for a team so bad you have to broadcast it (probably more than once), yet still require all the controls up front about what you're getting into?

Here's an idea...

PUT YOUR OWN TEAM TOGETHER!

Yep, use that find button and build what you want. There are already WAY too many freeloaders that just want to button mash and level. If you go LFT on broadcast, then you can take the time to ask the questions AFTER your joined the team that responds to your broadcast. THEN you can decide to stay or go. Or....just....

PUT YOUR OWN TEAM TOGETHER!

Dooooooooooooooooommmmm!!!

Holy Crap, what a bunch of whiners. "Oh Bluto, we're afriad to go after him, he might drop our toggles! He does things that people do in PvP!". What kind of Villains are you?

Seriously, it's not that bad. Yes, it makes you do things, differently, and think differently when going up against the big, bad B. But that's not a bad thing. It helps to keep things fresh. Way too many players simply using the same attack chain out of rote memory. Time to start THINKING like a Villain. PLOT!

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The forums and various other websites always have all this info for free and are 99.9% of the time more accurate/up-to-date than any published guide.

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ARE YOU ON CRACK!?!?!?!

The number of pinheads, blowhards, and motards that post on these boards (and others) is beyond counting. That's not to say that there ISN'T more current and also valuable information on boards, but it can take some serious time and effort to determine what is "right" and what is "crap". Some people don't have the time, or want to take the time, to sift through much of the fluff and banter here, to get to the good stuff. I'm sure Prima will do well with these guides, IF they put some solid effort into it.

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If the XP changes are to stop PL'rs then here is a suggestion. The only way to stop PL'rs is to put restrections on zones like Brickstown and PI. That is the only way PL'ing will stop just because Bricks has big mobs and PI is where the wolf mission is. PL'rs will find ways to PL no matter what you do. I myself do not care if people get PL'd like someone said they went threw the game did every mission, story arc, tf, etc etc etc and they just wanna play a diffrent build. To some people its all about bragging rights i.e. I got 5 lvl 50's. Other people and I know you know sell accounts or PL on e bay. PL'rs will alway's PL no matter what. They will always find a way.

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Yep, they always find a way. That's why new ways are made of stopping them. There is always going to be crime, so should we fire the police? I think not.

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This really reminds me of drug and alcohol prohibition. The law makes changes, people figure a way around them, and still do what they want to do.
There always has been, always will be drugs, guns crime, and prostitution. No matter what the establishment does to try and stop these things, they will never eradicate them completely. Same as PLing. People do what they want to do, regardless of how loud the mewling PL whiners cry their eyes out. Time the missions people use, I'll herd another mission. Hell, I don't even need them to stack to herd and kill mass mobs.
The devs have made a bad decision here. Minus 5 stars for their short-sightedness.
I wonder if they ever thought that the reason people PL is because the game is a tough grind at 30+. Maybe if the rewards for playing "the way we say!" were more substantial, the PLing will go down.
TomTrompinski, I have a prediction too:
We will PL, we will find a way, and the only reason it "hurts" other players is because the whiners whine, and voila! A timed AV mission.
Maybe if the busy bodies would play their own game instead of mine, no one would feel the hammerfist of the devs on their game.
Whiners, you brought any failer of this mission due to time constraints on yourselves. Maybe I won't herd the wolf mission, ok! I'll herd another.
I can't wait to see the PL crybabies whine when they miss an accolade because of a situation they completely are responsible for.

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Whiners? Someone get this baby a bottle. The people have spoken, and they told you to STHU. Of course you won't, you'll cry like a stuck pig. But that's ok, really.

The fact that you bring up legalized drinking and prohibition just shows that you're so far from a clue, the light from clue won't reach you for 100 years.

Enjoy!

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I understand what your saying, but the point is that a single defense isn't as good as a stacking defense, which is what Ice Armor did.

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Um... duh?

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Um... DUH! You still don't seem to get the point.

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Look, the deal is... it was never supposed to do that.

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One of my points is that I have never seen anywhere that Ice Armor was NOT supposed to work like that. Have you seen anywhere that it states that explicitly? About Ice Armor?

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Really. It's been screwing over Dark Melee for ages and they've been begging for a fix for months that I know of.

And there was a great cheer among them when geko recently posted that the bug did indeed exist and they were fixing it.

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NOW we're getting to the issue I have with your posts. I'm not talking about dark scrappers am I? NO! I never have. Why should I give a rat's [censored] about how the previous situation effected dark scrappers, when it's obvious you don't give one rat's [censored] about how it effects Ice Tankers? Fixing one problem is a good thing, screwing something else up in the process is NOT a good thing. Please understand that before you respond again. It's not just about scrappers, so STOP bringing them up. I know they've been crying about the problem for months, I don't want to have to go through the same thing, just because you did, and now it's somehow "Ice Tankers" turn to get bent over.

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What you had here was a really light version of the old smoke grenade bug, except in that case something was 1000% as effective as it should have been instead of the 150-200% Ice (and Dark Miasma) has been getting. No, I don't understand why things like this take quite so long to find and fix, but they do. There is no consolation prize for this. Your power was broken to your benefit and they fixed it.

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Say's who? Where? Specifically? With the smoke grenade issue, the situation was discussed for MONTHS, with several posts from devs and states himself. I challenge you to find a post about this anywere on the boards as pertaining to Ice Tankers. There WAS NO discussion of it. And, news flash, IT'S NOT MY JOB. Supposedly, Cryptic and NCSoft have a whole room of trained monkeys that QA all these changes. That's why they occur at GLACIAL rates. They keep blathering on about all the quality control. So where was it? No communication, no posts about the upcoming effect it would have. This is not some minor thing, some side power effect. We're talking about how the most important powers in a primary power pool work. I know it means squat to a scrapper, but it's of the utmost importance to a Tanker. Just check out the storm on the tanker board about the change to perma-unstoppable.
Where was the QA on this issue? Where was the communication?

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Note my sig - I get this "nerf" on one my Dark/Dark Defender. I also get the fix on my Ice Blaster, my EM Tanker, and my Dark Melee Scrapper.

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Dude, you lost me there. I have no idea what you're talking about.

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If this screws Ice Tankers then put this energy into looking for ways of fixing Ice Tankers, not wishing for the broken mechanics back.

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This is the biggest clue that you don't seem to have ANY CLUE as to what I'm talking about. Exactly WHERE did I advocate changing the mechanics back to the way they were?

Exactly, nowhere.

You need to put your little scrapper paranoia aside. I'm not advocating going back, I'm advocating fixing the unintended, or at the very least, the uncommunicated change that has a dramatic effect on Ice Tankers abilities. Again, this isn't smoke grenade. This isn't about how blasters take damage, this is about how TANKERS take damage, their primary role in the game. Smoke grenade is a secondary power set. Ice Armor is a primary power set. The method of the "fix" for the dark scrappers was never discussed in terms of how it would effect other classes, at least to my knowledge. If it was, and I missed it, please post a SPECIFIC link to the SPECIFIC post discussing it. Do NOT simply point to thread on the scrapper board talking about the issue.

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The way I see the problem is resists do stack, defense now does not.

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If you have 40% Lethal defense, and 20% fire defense, and are hit by a fire/lethal attack, you get the higher of the two applied: you get 40% defense, even if the attack is 99% fire damage and 1% lethal.

If you have 40% lethal resistance and 20% fire resistance... Each component is modified by the appropriate amount.

Fire Sword is 62.12% fire. If you get hit for a 100 damage fire sword attack from an even con minion, the defense character mentioned has a 10% chance to get hit-- therefore taking 10% damage over time, which averages to 10 damage per attack.

The resistance character has a 40% resistance to 37.88 damage, and a 20% resistance to 62.12 damage. When he gets hit, he takes .6 * 37.88 + .8 * 62.12 = 72.42 damage.

He also has a 50% chance to get hit, so he takes half of that over time, or 36.212 damage per attack.

So, the resistance character is taking 3.6 times the damage the defense character is.

Resistance of the same type stacks just the same as defense of the same type stacks, but you get to pick the higher defense type when you are hit by a dual typed attack. This is an advantage over resistance, NOT a drawback.

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I understand what your saying, but the point is that a single defense isn't as good as a stacking defense, which is what Ice Armor did. In fact the devs just changed it a few weeks ago so that the armors would stack, and now they change it again. On top of that, I saw no posts at the time that explained why this change would be intentionally made to Ice Armor. If they said Ice was overpowered so they changed it, at least that would be the basis for a discussion.

It's no secrect that Ice Armor is one of the least chosen primaries in the tanker set. It gets relatively little discussion on the tanker boards. This whole scenario smacks of a change being made that had unintended, or at the very least, poorly communicated, consequences. THAT is my main point. It's not the first time this kind of situation has occured, but I'd like it to be the last. The only way I can see that happening is to make the Devs aware that they need to spend MORE time explaining and/or justifying their changes.

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I just love reading threads like this and see a few people give accurate information, and the nay sayers NEVER respond to that person, only to the ones that have vague information and continue the "yes it is. no it isn't. yes it is." posts.


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Accurate, but irrelevant information. The question is primarily about single attacks doing multiple damage types. The answers I've seen are either "oh well" or in Gekos case, "hope a bubbler comes along to buff your lower defenses". What kind of answer is that? Keeps your toggles running and wait for someone to buff you??? Rediculous. Actually it's worse than that. If it was coming from one of the board peons it would be rediculous, that kind of answer coming from a developer is borderline incompetence.

This isn't one of those situations where a 5th column BS answer is going to cut it. Take some time (which was obviously NOT done before) and understand the real game consequences of the changes.

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ummm... shouldn't ALL Ice tankers take Toughness?

that'll give you resists to all smash/leathal + whatevers AND mega defense too.

best of both worlds.

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Ummmm...... So I should be forced to take a power pool I had no intention of taking, and mutiple powers in it, just so I can compensate for a nerf that was SO unexpected it was never even bothered to be addressed by the Devs when they rolled it out?

Tell you what, when I get a cut from their paycheck, I'll start feeling obligated to do their job. In the meantime, I think I'll stay a paying customer, and request that they explain the consequeses of their changes to a power set, a power set they just changed withing the last month.

Seems pretty obvious that one hand doesn't know what the other hand is wiping. Of course the end result is that both hands stink.

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The only thing that does not stack any more is multiple damage types. For example...

Fire sword does both Lethal and Fire. Your defense only needs to block one to block the whole attack...

In the old system, with all the armors on, you would get a 60% Def against this attack (45% + 15%). Under the new system, you only get 45% because it's higher.

Now, if you were hit with Fire Breath, which is only a fire attack, you would only get 15% Def against it.


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Which was my point, which of course is a HUGE problem at higher levels because most attacks will be doing multiple damage types. Hell, what do you think is going to happen in PVP? Almost EVERY attack will be doing multiple damage types!

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Actually, I think the best way would be for each type of damage to be resolves seperatly against each defense type, even from within the same attack. For example, if a fire sword hit stacked Ice armor, the leathal PORTION of that attack would be calculated agaist Frozen Armor, while the fire PORTION of the attack would be calculated against the Wet Ice defense. The results would be that for some attacks that do multiple damage types, sometimes, none of the damage would "hit", all of the damage would "hit", or only certain TYPES of the damage would hit.


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I always thought you had a to-hit roll for each damage type against each defense, but if either damage type was blocked, the whole attack would be blocked.
This makes the most sense to me, but the bug fix is close enough -- since the highest defense is most likely to stop the attack anyway.

Stacking armor is still useful for ice tanks, because in any given group different mobs will be doing different 1-type damage attacks, as well as mixed attacks. Think of CoTs, where some attacks are pure fire, some pure lethal, some pure negative energy (Death Mages), etc. Stacking armors will up your defense greatly for each single-damage attack.

Although in general, if you have to choose which armor to slot up, I'd slot Frozen Armor first and stack it with Wet Ice. Biggest bang for the buck, since many, many attacks are either pure smashing/lethal or a combo including one of those.

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C'MON PEOPLE! This does not address the issue i'm bringing up. What about attacks that do multiple damage types??????

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Actually, I think the best way would be for each type of damage to be resolves seperatly against each defense type, even from within the same attack. For example, if a fire sword hit stacked Ice armor, the leathal PORTION of that attack would be calculated agaist Frozen Armor, while the fire PORTION of the attack would be calculated against the Wet Ice defense. The results would be that for some attacks that do multiple damage types, sometimes, none of the damage would "hit", all of the damage would "hit", or only certain TYPES of the damage would hit.

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Do you realize that doing it that way would increase the total damage you take over time?

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Not if the armors truly stacked, taking the total defense instead of the highest one.

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Wouldn't it be nice if an attack did multiple kinds of damage that it would get defended by the higher defense then resisted by the lower defense?

Nahhh. Thats a bit overpowering for Ice tanks. Just a little

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Actually, I think the best way would be for each type of damage to be resolves seperatly against each defense type, even from within the same attack. For example, if a fire sword hit stacked Ice armor, the leathal PORTION of that attack would be calculated agaist Frozen Armor, while the fire PORTION of the attack would be calculated against the Wet Ice defense. The results would be that for some attacks that do multiple damage types, sometimes, none of the damage would "hit", all of the damage would "hit", or only certain TYPES of the damage would hit.

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No, this is incorrect. Stacked armors are still tremondously useful. The only instance where there will be any change is against a foe who inflicts two different types of damage in the SAME ATTACK. Not an attack chain mind you, but the actual same attack. So the only time an ice tanker may be subject to an increased chance of getting hit is against things like Dark melee attacks, fire or ice sword attacks, and energy blasts. When targetted by several attacks each of which do different kinds of damage, the best defense for each attack will apply.


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Thanks for the answer Quickshadow. That is exactly how I perceived the change to effect Ice armor. But the problem is, so many of the attacks do more than one type of damage. I don't think this is a minority, but in fact the vast majority of the attacks, especially at higher levels.

True, a single damage type attack will work exactly as before, but any damage that does multiple damage types is now going to have an much easier time hitting, and when they do hit Ice Tankers, ALL that damage is going to come through. That's a serious isssue.

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Yeah, but this basically screws Ice Tankers, no have almost NO resistance, and all defense. Now they have MUCH less defense because their stacked armors will not help them.

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Well, that's not entirely true. You're still getting the benefit of the "higher of the two" DEFs. You're lucky they aren't averaged, or worse, taking the "lower of the two".

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me, still.

Its been hosing certain toons forever and benefitting others. Now that its hurting some others, the fix "sucks". Not from where I'm sitting, I assure you.

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What the hell kind of lame answer is that? Fix one, screw the other? Are you always that myopic? It's pretty obvious you've never played an ice tanker, so I don't know why you bothered to reply. How does the higher of the two equate to "stacking armors" which is what the Devs JUST rolled out? Since SO many attacks do smashing/leathal, in addition to other damage types, why not just leave up FA, which has a higher defense that the other armor sets? If the lower defense rating are simply ignored, they serve NO purpose at all, except to drain end faster.

Try to look beyond the end of your own nose the next time you post.

Yeah, but this basically screws Ice Tankers, no have almost NO resistance, and all defense. Now they have MUCH less defense because their stacked armors will not help them.