Hobo_Healer

[removed]

That is one hell of a guide, but I do have some problems with the Empathy information, slotting etc.

I would advise HO over AP anyday especially since you are not taking regen aura which is the only thing that will heal you in the penalty period. CM at 41? CM also protects against fear and confuse and now grants +perception. And only 1 slot in Fortitude, one of the best buffs in the game seems way to slim. I am reminded though that it is your secondary and not a priority. Hard to choose when every empathy power is useful.

Overall though a really well done guide.

Cheers!

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for all the tweaking, you saved me the 300 plus hours I would have invested in making a trick arrow defender who can't really defend! Always good to know ahead of time when something is going to be complete and utter garbage.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ha, agreed. I won't be rolling one anymore.

Cheers!

Gof Forbid defenders blur the lines a bit, meanwhile troller secondaries work at 80-100% effectiveness of defenders. Meanwhile defender secondaries work at 66%.

Cheers!

Gah there is no way in hell I am running through those Shadow Shard TF's again. Way to time consuming and not very interesting.

Cheers!

Posion Gas Arrow does not seem to do anything at all. I already respec'd it out. The animations need some work, hard to tell who or what is anchored etc.

Cheers!

I enjoy it, but compared to Archery it feels much more powerful with less of an endurance cost.

Cheers!

[ QUOTE ]
Sweet! Now I can make my Burt Reynolds/Deliverance Bow Blaster and run around Croatoa pretending all the Tuatha de Dannan are inbred banjo players!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

HAHAHAHA! Best mental image.


On a side note . . . .


Any predicitions on when this will hit test if it is to go live sometime in August?

I am itching for something to do . . .

Cheers!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yay more shared power sets between controllers and defenders. There was not enough overlap already.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm going to mark it, at 12:25 pm ET I5 has it's first offical complant.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please do. Because as far as I am concerend it is !@#$%^& stupid.

No incentive to play a defender anymore unless you want to play Dark/, /dark, /psionic. At 80% funtionality between the two there is no point. Heck just hit 41 and you get ranged damage then also.

Cheers!

Cheers!

Yay more shared power sets between controllers and defenders. There was not enough overlap already.

*snip*

Will bases only be able to be placed in City Zones? Will there be a zone limit and then filled up (sory of like in SWG and planets filled)?

I can't wait for bases, and I would really love a base in the Storm Palace if possible.

Cheers!

Eh usually when I am drunk, silly stuff I see in the city or on tv. Or just my own oddity, or from talking to myself.

Cheers!

Well the HO nerf should help Defenders a bit in PVP. So that is a nice little start.

Cheers!

Thank you for the Storm post. I was in no way trying to bring down Storm Defenders, just showing how it is easy to overcome a slightly less effect difference between primary and secondary. Mineis similar to yours. At 32 I have all earth powers except for Salt Crystals and from Storm I have Gale, Freezing Rain, Hurricane, and Steamy Mist, 35 and 38 will be Torrnado and LS. Most of my Primary is slotted up besides my pet so I can spend a ton of slots on my secondary, which already has FR and SM slotted decently. The only pool power I have is Speed, Fitness and TP Foe.(The first design was a PVP only toon.)

But thanks for the break down!

I know my Storm controller has felt just as capable as a storm defender at the same level. I have never seen anyone run out of Freezing Rain or leave Snow Storm. Earthquake+Quicksand+Freezing Rain+Volcanic Gasses+Stalagmites+my stupid pets. Just totally nullify's the enemy. Then at 35 I get Toranado, and 38 Lightening Storm. I don't have O2 boost or Thunder Clap, but the heal is not great and I already get a big disorient in Stalagmites.

What would be the benifit of a team taking a storm defender over a /storm controller? I don't know, but I can't see much of one, and that does not sound right to me.

Cheers!

[ QUOTE ]
With my Rad/Rad I usually feel like one of the most important members of any team I'm on. AM, healing, debuffing, rezzing, even quality AoE damage, what is it that I can't do?

What crazy world are people living in where people don't like getting their metabolisms accellerated?

[/ QUOTE ]

One where a controller can do it just as well as you and hit a pile of pets at the same time. Then lock your anchor down in place and massily hold, slow, immbolize etc. everyone else next to your debuff?

Just a thought hehe

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It does warm the heart to see some defenders in the arena other than myself....I have only seen one bubble defender. Bayne. In our large Virtue vs Liberty match last weekend and he seemd to do ok as well.

[/ QUOTE ]
In the Virtue vs. Liberty match there were 2 Force Field Defenders: Bayne and Savant. I chatted with Savant during the event about our builds. We have different slotting approaches for things like Force Bubble and the APP powers.

Bayne does OK in PvP because I did an analysis of what was and what was not working with my original PvE build. I found I had to alter several things from my extremely effective PvE build in order to have a suitable PvP build. Not everyone is going to do that kind of analysis, nor should they have to. Even after the respec for PvP I find my build is hampered by the extremes of the to-hit code. My defense buffs can be trumped by all of the To-Hit buff powers even if they have minimal slotting in the power.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree Bayne. There does need to be something done for +def and -acc sets.

I can't believe I totally forgot Savant also. to many people. Like you Bayne I totally respeced my build for PVP. Which I have said before not everyone, nor should everyone have to do that to be viable and productive.

Cheers!

Sounds like 1v1 to me Click. I had a 1v1 against a Kin/Electric defender last night, in the match before he destroyed my Fire/Fire tank so I logged on to Hobo for a rematch. Before the match I stocked up on Endurance inspirations and some break frees. I knew he could suck my end. and the imbolization he has is brutal, especially when mixed with the stun of his total focus. I also grabed some stun grenades to help me out if needed. Knowing he was Kin. and needed me to be close I tried to stay out of melee range.

I went Invis., super speed in and total focused him for a stun, then spamed my immbolize and backed up to stay out of melee. I followed with running and jumping over him and hitting Tentacles and then hitting from distance. If I had remebered that I bought a jet pack I would have used that and fired from a distance. Was a tough battle, I struggled to get back my endurance from his end drain. I ended up winning 6 to 1, but it took a lot of planning and tactics for me to come out on top in that match. Of course if I came in unprepared, he would have knocked me around. PVP is anything but spamming attacks, especially in teams.

I have only been in two 1v1, but near 100 team matches. It is unranked team matches or nothing. 1v1 will never be balanced. Team PVP is where it is at.

I would encourage everyone to give it a try in a 8v8 match. Very fun indeed. Practice makes perfect.

Cheers!

[ QUOTE ]
I just don't personally get much out of PvP. I like cooperative play over competitive anyway, and there's no tangible reward to Arena victories, so PvP is just lost time where I could be leveling one of my characters...

[/ QUOTE ]

In my entire time I have seen more cooperative play in PVP than in PVE. A team without tactics will always suffer. Every match I enter always starts with "What's the plan" Using AT strengths, picking up for others weakness, using terrain etc. is much more involed than in PVE. I guess mowing down mindless PVE mobs for well over 100 levels gets a little old to me. PVP really saved a game I really enjoy for me. If all I could do is Hami. raid with Hobo I would be bummed. All the time I have spent with him would be lost.

I suppose if I had not run every task force 2 or more times and gone through the 1-50 almost twice now I would be more interested in PVE. Just does not offer the challange that PVP does.

Cheers!

[ QUOTE ]
Well balance in the Arena is screwed heavily against Defenders, but I can solve that one by just not going to the Arena (I don't and I won't).

Perma-suppressions though. . .well, I've already explained to Statesman how toggles have become nothing but a substandard mechanism and perma-supression is but another strike against them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I gotta say, I have now seen a defender of every primary type hold his own in the arena. That Kin/Elec. defender last night was the first Kin I had seen and he was awesome (way to wreck melee Correspondent.)

If no defenders use the arena, and there is no data being pulled how do people expect it to ever work out? Or do people just plan to avoid all PVP in COV? Heck if an Empath can hold his own I would think just about the rest would have a fighting shot. It's a shame people wont give it a go, glad it is strong on Virtue.

Cheers!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Just a quick thought:

Scrapper defense =~ 80% Tanker Def.
Tanker def. =~ 80% Scrapper offense
Controller secondary =~ 80% Defender (ignoring the fact that in many instances is really 100%)

Defender damage = 66% blaster damage

Why do defenders get so much less benefit from thier secondary than all the other ATs?

[/ QUOTE ]

Enervating field, freezing rain, and now tar patch.

Raising the defender secondaries would lead to offenders outdamaging blasters.

[/ QUOTE ]

Increasingly I'm seeing that as sham reasoning. Its not as if Fire Controllers, Fire Tankers, and Spines Scrappers don't exist and can't mow things down far faster and at higher rates of damage than a Blaster. One wonders why it was so critical to keep Defenders down, especially when if you factor in setup for the Defender (have to use Tar Patch, Enervating Field, or Freezing Rain) and the limitations involved (only having Aim at best) it is not clear how much of a lead if any those Defenders would have.

[/ QUOTE ]

This I agree with, especially since I play a set with no ability to raise my damage through my primary. I never really noticed damage that much until I slotted them all out with HO's. Now they really shine, but still don't out shine blasters.

Cheers!

Agreed Pillcrow.

I will say that I am speaking more towards 41+ PVP. With somewhere around 100 matches under my built this concerns me as well. I also feel that the arena is a big test for COV which will have base raids, and pvp zones. I would like defenders to feel viable, in those areas as well.

(Actually had 6 defenders in an 8v8 match last night good fun, and I had a 1v1 against a Kin/Elec. that in the prior match destroyed my Fire/Fire tank in 1v1)

Being an Empath that did, and does not shy away from offense as anyone that I have played with in the arena can attest to, I never bought into the feeling of having to save end for my primary (I dont even use Stamina!). But my secondary did not become as exciting till I almost full slotted it out with HO's and now it does some serious damage. Power Build+Total Focus+Moonbeam is an almost 900 point combo.

Despite this the secondary is not that great in terms of damage, at least without a way to boost that damage with a power from my primary. But raisng the damage steps on blasters toes. Heck raise from 66% to 70% and then make the secondary effects much more noticible. End Drain and Knockback are noticable, but the -def, and -acc of sets like rad and dark are not very noticible because everyone can over come -def and -acc so easily now.

I think many defenders shy away from this area of the game is because of the squishy mez factor. Yes we were meant to be in teams, but even in teams it is hard to not get hit, and where a blaster can two shot you, some defense is nice. I have my TI which is great, and more than enough S/L resistance, but what I need more is some minor mez protection. Going through 15-20 break frees a match is a bit much. Or if some simple mez protection is to much how about a slight HP increase to move us out of the 1-2 shot range?

In the 41+ game the epics come in and things get even more blurred between sets. I can honestly say on my Fire/Fire tank I have never needed or used a defender. Defenders need something special. At 41+ a controller can do anything a defender of the same class can do and better, I honestly even feel I can use storm better on my 32 controller than a 32 storm defender. Once I lay down earthquake, quicksand, volcanic gases no one is going anywhere. So it is farily safe to throw freezing rain, push people around etc.

It does warm the heart to see some defenders in the arena other than myself. We now have a regular dark defender/elec that does great, a Kin/Elec that seems to do very well in 1v1 (despite my lucky 6 to 1 win), the occasional rad and the occasional storm. I have only seen one bubble defender. Bayne. In our large Virtue vs Liberty match last weekend and he seemd to do ok as well. But maybe if people had a tad more surviveability there would be more than controllers/blasters/scrappers in the arena. I see controllers/blasters more than anyone though.

First off, thank you Statesman for posting this. Being one of the more vocal defenders, and one that always has my brethren on the look out, this mean a lot.

Many of us have been frustrated with the lack of response regarding our concerns. This acknowledgement goes a long way. So thank you.

It's a shame that a possibility of everyone getting nerfed down to defenders. I really think a small boost our way would help much more. Hopefully all of our arena testing and 41+ play is providing some good numbers.

First concern from many of us is the feeling of uselessness in the 41+, more so with a controller on the team.

By the time 41+ comes around, our secondary just overlap to much. Our secondary damage is not that strong, so we are lacking something. The holds, immobilize etc. from their primary greatly increase the power of the secondary. It is to late now to change the overlapping pools. May I suggest that any future defender primary not be controller secondary like Dark/ and the same for Destroyers and the controller equivalent in COV. Possible secondary fix would be: Leave damage at it's current spot and greatly increase the secondary effects of our blasts. Let them be noticeable. -acc, -def, etc. Slotting these qualities now is almost worthless. This might also encourage some defenders to take and use their secondary to benefit the team.

A secondary major concern is mez protection in the 41+ game. With epics, everyone but blasters and defenders gets some sort of mez protection, and everyone gets a hold. I would trade a drop in the %res on my epic shield for some mez protection. Even something more than acrobatics and slightly less than IW. If you could monitor the amount of break frees purchased in the arena I wonder what it would be? Going into a match with less than 15 break frees is a death sentence.

Or possibly a slight HP increase to raise our survivability out of the 1 to 2 shot range?

Finally something to help out the -acc debuff and +def buff sets. In terms of the arena these powers can be voided by FA, Drone, HO's etc. (This is coming from someone with almost 30 HO's).

There are no simple answers or solutions. Thanks for the response and we will continue to provide data by PVE and arena play. Lets hope the future in the 41+ game is bright for all defenders.

Cheers!

Curious to see what it will be like, will be nice to have something to spend "Influence" on. Between all my characters I have about 40-50 Million. I have run into people with 100 mill plus. I imagine there will be some pretty impressive basses. Think that my moderate sized SG has 16-20 50's in it. I can't imagine what a 75 person SG base would look like.

Cheers!