Jade_Dragon

It's ironic because when redraw doesn't effect overall DPS, players complain about it, and when redraw does effect overall DPS, players complain about it. Even if it has no significant effect on DPS. The devs could solve the redraw problem once and for all, allow you to have scabbards on your back to hold the weapons before you draw them, and allow you to use your free hand for other attacks, with no loss of DPS anywhere, and players would STILL find a reason to complain about it.

The devs cannot change this game without complaints from the players who like things the way the are. And the devs cannot leave the game as it is without complaints from the players who want things to change.

I believe what Posi was saying is that it is usually more acceptable to make a given action consistent, instead of varying. The redraw time being included in the animation time, THAT was consistent, it was always present, whether you actually played an animation, or paused. Whether or not the weapon sets WERE balanced around that redraw time, the fact was they COULD have been, the DPA for each attack could have been designed with the redraw time in mind. That would be consistent, and would have resulted in consistent DPS. The only reason the weapon sets were not balanced is that NONE of the sets were balanced, they ALL had random and inconsistent DPA. Random chance meant that a weapon set was as likely to be better than a set (like Ice) than it was to be worse than a set. (Like Energy)

The players ASKED for a behavior that was not consistent. They were willing to sacrifice DPS some of the time to have increased DPS other times. Which, as Posi said, could be seen as a buff if you compare it to always having the redraw, but a nerf if you compare it to never having the redraw. This also applies to the new Defender Vigilance damage buff, Fury, the old Domination, a lot of buffs in this game are situational because that enables them to be situationally stronger. A consistent buff must always be much lower.

So, what, it's, "It a buff, but it's not ENOUGH of a buff for me! I want MORE!"

The truth is, the main reason most people requested the removal of the redraw times is that it irritated them to pause between swings for an animation that was not taking place. Balance didn't enter into it. The weapon sets tended to underperform relative to the other sets, but that's because they were never balanced relative to ANYTHING. Animation time was not considered in the initial balancing, and so redraw time was considered inconsequencial.

When redraw times were removed from cast times, ALL of the applicable sets got rebalanced to be comparable to the other sets. Which means that if the redraw time was removed, it would be MORE powerful, not less or equal. You are asking to be imbalanced, you are currently balanced, and want to be more powerful than the sets that don't have to factor in redraw time.

Of course, in the long run, redraw doesn't actually have a significant impact on overall DPS. You only percieve it as being a problem because, like the people who were irritated by the pause, you are irritated by seeing the redraw animation happen over and over again. Because it becomes repititious to you, you assume it is hurting your DPS. Dual Pistols underperforms because it is a new set, which has not had time to be rebalanced a few times, and it trades Aim for the Swap Ammo mechanism. Redraw simply isn't the problem, and eliminating it won't bring it any closer.

I have to agree this is the way I ended up using it. To me I think the purpose of the pact is to eliminate the little variances that might throw a pair of characters out of sync. Like, I might end a session with my sister where we're just shy of the next level. I would then go ahead and play a couple of missions on my own so I can get that level for both of us. If not for the level pact I would have to switch to the other one to level it up as well.

There's also Patrol XP and Vet Rewards that might change our rate of levelling, even when teamed up. So it might otherwise take additional effort to make sure the characters are kept in sync.

I have to admit, I never thought of the previous poster's idea of using a third character to level the pact, so he can level a character on his own account.

Ditto. I am thinking of using Bayonet and Pummel on my Huntsman's normal build as replacements for the Bane attacks on his Bane build, as he plans on using the Cloaking Device in both. So unlike the "go in guns blazing" kind of Huntsman he will be a sort of Huntsman/Bane cross. Then again, he's an undercover hero infiltrating Arachnos, and his true identity is a MA/SR Scrapper with Stealth.

The lack of any strong defense outside of Manuevers in the early levels, though, made Pummel's stun a pretty handy thing to have.

Interestingly, in retrospect I think I have determined that Trip Mine and Omega Manuever do the same damage. Time Bomb does 66.7% more. Although Trip Mine does have an additional chance of 55.61 Lethal damage that Omega Manuever doesn't.

At level 50:

Trip Mine = 111.22 Lethal + 55.61 Fire
Time Bomb = 166.83 Lethal + 111.22 Fire
Omega = 55.61 Smashing + 111.22 Energy

Now, what's amusing here is that 111.22 is exactly twice 55.61. And 55.61 is the damage of an AT with damage scale 1.0 at level 50. So ignoring the damage modifiers of the ATs (since that's being ignored for these three anyway) that comes out to:

Trip Mine = 2.0 Lethal + 1.0 Fire
Time Bomb = 3.0 Lethal + 2.0 Fire
Omega = 1.0 Smashing + 2.0 Energy

Trip Mine and Omega Manuever both have 3.0 scale damage, with Trip Mine doing mostly Lethal, and half that Fire, while Omega is mostly Energy and half that Smashing. Time Bomb has a scale 5.0 damage, with 50% more Lethal damage than Trip Mine, and 100% more Fire damage.

Trip Mine and Time Bomb also both do knockback as a secondary effect, while Omega is stun. But the similarity there is no coincidence, I'm sure.

BTW, the above is for Blasters, Corruptors, and Crab Spiders. Defenders and Masterminds appear to have a different Trip Mine and Time Bomb. (And in fact I believe the Mastermind Detonator does different damage depending on the tier of henchman destroyed)

I would make the snipe bonus be +100% of the damage of the Sniper Rifle, unenhanceable. That may be a little high, but it would help make the interrupt time of Sniper Rifle more manageable. For all other Sniper attacks, I would make it +50% damage, again unenhanceable. (The current bonus is 20% unenhancable. Alternately, make ALL attacks in AR, not just Sniper Rifle have a +20% Critical, and for all other sets make it +10%)

Taser was made ranged quite a while back, it currently has a 20 foot range. Probably few people know this.

I dunno, I have to agree with BlissfulChaos. It seems like a waste to slot your attacks and then not use them. There should be options in the Pool that would support your choice to use only a single ranged attack while still providing places for Set IO mules.

Honestly, given that you are slotting Electron Haze with knockback like that, I would go ahead and use it. It will do negligible damage with no damage slotting, and the knockback will help keep foes off you. Cosmic Burst, too. Picking up Proton Volley and slotting it with Manticores, though, and then not using it; I realize you're going for the damage bonus, but there are better ways to get the damage bonus, and even with less slots.

Forget ever getting a team with this build. Unless you plan on ignoring your concept and using attacks on a team. Personally, if I were going with this concept, I would concentrate on the EM melee attacks, and build this character as a Blapper. X-Ray beam would then be my main ranged attack, but in melee I'd be doing way more damage. More than just Boxing or Kick anyway. And if you're willing to use melee attacks I don't see it as too far out of concept.

I just can't see you getting that much damage out of X-Ray beam, even if you fire it back to back. I'm guessing maybe it has the DPA for it, but still, I can't see it beating Bonesmasher or even Cosmic Burst. (In fact, I know it won't beat Cosmic Burst)

Well, Time Bomb's countdown time is 15 seconds, (IIRC) while Omega Manuever's is 10 seconds. Omega Manuever does much less damage. However, it has a property that Time Bomb doesn't, which is that it taunts, thus keeping its targets in range until the explosion goes off. This is MUCH more helpful to ensuring that the longer "click to boom time" as you put it, is effectively used.

Since the damage of Omega Manuever is 0.6 of Time Bomb, I think making Time Bomb's cast time 3.83 seconds, so it has the same DPA as Omega Manuever, and lowering its countdown time to 10 seconds, while adding the Taunt, would make it just as effective. Heck, I don't think anyone would argue against a clone of Omega Manuever.

I think the solution to Trip Mine is to simply keep it like it is, interrupt and all, but have it drop three mines in a triangle. Even have them drop at 2s intervals so if you toe bomb with them the explosion will be staggered.

Well, adding a defense bonus to a Blaster Secondary is out of the question, Blasters are not Defenders, and none of their other Secondaries have defense. Cloaking Device and Smoke Grenade are pushing it by having +Def and -ToHit at all, and their combined strength is not in that, but their combined strength, that is, with the two of them together you have the effective stealth of a Stalker. You have the capability of getting into melee with your foes without alerting them. This is the capability that makes Trip Mine and Time Bomb usable. So that's no small feat.

I would also disagree that Cloaking Device is a "glorified pool power". Cloaking Device does not slow you, as Stealth does, and does not prevent you from attacking, as Invisibility does. It has a lower End cost, and according to CoD it provides 15 feet of stealth in PvE even when suppressed. So while it's not as good as Superior Invisibility, or even the SoA Cloaking Device, it's certainly better than pool Stealth. When combined with Smoke Grenade, it is WAY better than pool Stealth.

I would certainly like to see it have a Critical component, like the SoA version, but clearly the devs went with the Targetting Drone/Sniper Rifle combination instead. Which, as I said, is a marginal at best attempt to address the issue, but obviously the devs did not want to give too much benefit to the AR/Dev combination without addressing the other sets as well. But again, the bonus to Sniper Rifle and possibly to other sniper attacks could be something the devs could improve in the future, along with the long cast times.

My first statement on any team with my AR/Dev is, "My Smoke Grenade is not aggroing the spawn. You do not have to rush in just because I threw it. Hang back and make sure everyone is ready to attack like you always do. When you are ready, I will be ready."

I've even started saying the same on my Night Widow since she picked up Smoke Grenade. I even made it a point to remind my usual SG team, even though they've seen me do it plenty of times, just in case they forgot.

There's actually nothing wrong with any of the powers, it's the animation times that need work. None of these powers, even Time Bomb, would be a detriment to a team if they had a shorter cast time. In fact, none of them are a DETRIMENT to any team even as they are.

The keybinds posted here, while they are very useful, do tend to be a little TOO complete. You have such fine, precise control that it can be wasted. Particularly if you are using the Tankermind strategy, you are right, you don't really need to control your pets with fine detail. Just letting yourself initiate combat and letting the henchmen follow up on your attacks at their own pace works fine.

On the other hand, one thing to remember about Bodyguard is that it works with Stay, Goto, and Follow. Only Attack overrides it, and even then, if you order a henchman to Defensive Attack, he will finish off the indicated target, then go back into Bodyguard mode. Since often when you are taking on AoE oriented foes you don't want your pets near you, it can be helpful to tell them to Stay or Goto a spot outside of AoE range of your target. This assumes, of course, they are ranged henchmen, this is pretty much useless for Ninjas or Necro.

I believe the only complication is that setting a henchman to Defensive will cause him to stop attacking for ten seconds. (It may be Follow, but the main reason for this is so the henchman has a chance to lose aggro and return to you) What this really means is that it is more effective to set Goto or Stay separately, not linked to Defensive or Aggressive. The recommended keybinds set them separately, and I do this too.

However, I have a special keybind arrangement that I find much simpler than the "official" version. Basically, I have an "offensive" team and a "defensive" team, and my Aggressive key is bound to only set the offensive team to Aggressive. Likewise, Attack will only make them attack. This may be the way to handle it for your keybinds, set a key that sets Attack for some of your henchmen, using a unique common character in their name. That way you've got some henchmen attacking your target, but others stay in Bodyguard to protect you.

Since you use the Tankermind strategy you probably won't use this as often as someone who would have those henchmen initiate combat, but it can be helpful to concentrate fire once you have aggro. Since you will likely be taking less damage after you take the alpha strike, you can turn off some of your Bodyguard and still survive it. That's my first suggestion. If you want to get really complex, you can define other keys to split off your offensive team even more, dividing them between two targets as well as concentrating fire on one. (so for example you would bind a key to "petcomname y attack", with all the henchmen you want to attack having a "y" in their name)

If you feel you want to try out the "henchmen lead" strategy, the best way I've found to do this is to set the offense team to Aggressive. Then you can either tell them to attack your target, or just plain move them into range with Goto. I find this the best way to play a /Dark, as then I don't get mezzed as much. Basically instead of tanking yourself, your offense team is tanking, so your Tier 3 (Assault Bot) is the best choice for doing this, as he has the most HP. You'll want to back him up with Twilight Grasp, though, and perhaps hit the spawn with Fearsome Stare or Darkest Night just as he gets into aggro range. If you're Necro or Ninjas, you can send your Tier 2s in and hope they split the aggro between them.

Note that there's two reasons you set your henchmen lead team to Aggressive. One is that they'll initiate combat even if you don't use Attack, and will continue to seek out targets if you do. The other and more important one, though, is that you don't want a henchman that is tanking for you to be taking Bodyguard damage too. Your Bodyguard should stay well behind you and your offensive henchmen, so they don't take AoE damage. (And again, ranged henchmen will be better for this than melee)

I also find that the best way to use Goto is to bind it to a ctrl-click or shift-click configuration. For example, when I shift-click, it calls "petcomname y Goto", with "y" being whatever letter or sequence of letters I've chosen to identify my offense team.

In your case, being a Tankermind, you might want to go ahead and use the petcomall, since you'll want your henchmen to group up outside of AoE range. It's very easy to use, though, just hold down shift and click where you want to henchmen to stand. Then move in and begin your attack. It's a little more difficult to move your henchmen after they've started fighting, as when they are aggroed they will hesitate to move away from whatever they're attacking. But you can keep clicking it to gradually move them back out of melee range, or even move from one spot in melee to another.

The only other thing to remember, of course, is that after you have set a Goto, you need a key to recall them into Follow. Otherwise they won't follow you.

The way my keybinds are set up, U is Attack (offense team only), I is Stay, O is Follow, J is Aggressive (offense) K is Defensive (all) and L is Passive (all). I don't really need any more than that, I hit O-K to make sure everyone is in Bodyguard, and then J to put my offense team into Aggressive if I want to. O-L is the Heel command, it'll bring everyone back no matter what they're attacking. And I-K is the Passive Stay for pulling. (I'll go pull something, retreat into the henchmen, and hit K as the spawn comes around the corner. This loses Bodyguard for the pull, but keeps the henchmen from just charging in and retaliating the moment I'm hit)

Actually, when BaB started to test it out, he found that it was inconsistent. Some sets had the redraw time included in cast time, some didn't. I suspect that War Mace didn't, because it's animation times weren't changed, it just got damage added to Clobber.

It was actually players that, in many cases, went back over the cast times and realized they were inconsistent with what was called the "rooted time". This was all fixed around the time the redraw times were eliminated from cast time, and some non-attack animations were made to not root. Some of the original times looked like they were just thrown out at random and adjusted if they didn't work. ("shotgun debugging", as it's sometimes called )

The irony of all this is, of course, that the players ASKED for redraw time not to be included in the cast time. This so-called "penalty" of losing DPS because you draw your weapon is what the players wanted, because overall it increased DPS from what it was when the redraw time was included whether you drew the weapon or not. Which just goes to show, as I believe Positron said, that a bonus given under one condition can be seen as a nerf when you don't have that condition.

I think the point is that it would be a Taunt aura, not an attack with a Taunt on it.

It could have a Taunt aura like Rise to the Challenge. That would satisfy the requirement to have a taunt component. And it would not add much to other Taunt auras, but would actually be somewhat useful to a Spines/WP Brute. (It would double his Taunt aura)

I think my characterization of the Corruptor as the nuker and the Dominator as the blapper pretty much handles the details. Sure, a Dominator can get AoE attacks at 41, but a Corruptor can get melee attacks and control powers. The ATs tend to become more alike post-Epic Pools.

The Corruptor will tend to have a little better defense, which means the Dom has a little better damage. But as you say, the damage is pretty much equivalent (but not identical) and thus you usually invite according to whether you want control or buff/debuffs for your team.

Personally, I've always felt this to be the flaw with comparing base damage of any Corruptor, Defender, Mastermind or Controller to the other more direct damage ATs. It is rare that a Buff/Debuff archetype would not have any buffs or debuffs.

It might be a valid comparison for Force Field and Empathy, but for other Buff/Debuff Sets I'd say the equivalent base damage scale is around 0.85-0.95 for Defenders and Corruptors, and 0.65-0.75 for Controllers, with Kinetics, et al. at the top of that range. Masterminds are nearly impossible to directly compare as their damage comes from their pets. (But I would roughly estimate it as about the same as Corruptors. It could also be argued that Containment bumps Controllers up to about that same level as well, so they could all four be pretty much equivalent at the top end, with the only difference how much the Set choice effects that)

Doms can also vary in their damage, as sets like Fire and Electric Assault, with their Build Up, can produce more burst damage than the sets with Power Boost. It's also important to note that since a Dom's base damage IS higher, it gets a lot of benefit from other buffers on the team.

Hm. Yes, I think I see. You're eliminating the stance by making all the attacks the Right Hand stance, but then the weapon is added by the power.

Sounds really complex, though, and I'm not sure I'd want to say it is possible. Yes, you can change FX depending on a buff (now, I'm not sure if that was possible before Dual Pistols) but I'm not sure you can cause a weapon to appear on an attachment node.

Plus, you would have to deal with dual wielding as well. Either there would still be redraw as you switched between Right Hand and Dual Wield stance, or dual wielding would have to take place in the Right Hand stance. Either way, it's looking more and more like a total redesign of every animation in the game. [edit] I suppose if all stances were changed to Bare Hand stance, that would only require redoing those that aren't bare handed.