Johnny_Butane
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:It ain't superheroes without property damage and cars being tossed around.Originally Posted by SilverAgeFan
Physics. Meaningful physics. With powers that interrupt the physical environment and allow for problem solving innovation in meaningful ways beyond a hit points driven paradigm.
That is the future.
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Yesterday I saw someone boasting about perma-stacked Rage with Ageless Destiny and Spiritual. As in, two stacks always running. Is that even possible?
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Another thing to consider is that because of the Incarnate system and the addition of Bruising, there are more opportunities now for Tankers to have better damage than there used to be.
Most of the other melee ATs will opt to shore up their defenses and increase their survivability with the Incarnate system. Due to the fact Tankers get better survivability out of the box, the Incarnate abilities that can increase damage output become more attractive to them.
A well-built Tanker can get away with slotting Alpha Musculature Core Paragon. That can be an increase to damage of 11% right there.
I'd think most ATs would opt for Diamagnetic Interface. Tankers have the freedom to go for Reactive Radial. Because Bruising increases the potency of the DoT effects, Tankers get more damage added from Reactive than comparable Brutes or Scrappers.
Being an aggro grabbing Tanker, you can more easily keep Lore pets alive and throwing damage. They inherit your Reactive Radial and Musculature.
With Destiny, Ageless becomes an attractive way to increase damage output via +Recharge when you can forgo Barrier.
Assault's +Damage from Leadership also becomes viable when you don't need Maneuvers and have the endurance and Recovery from Ageless.
In the case of SS, thanks to Ageless you can stack Rage longer. Mid's tells me that a Tanker's KO Blow with stacked Rage and Bruising alone matches a Brute's KO Blow with stacked Rage and 50% Fury.
Again, because of Bruising, any IO damage procs slotted in your powers like Chance for Psi Damage in Perfect Zinger and Hecatomb's proc do 20% more damage for Tankers when they go off.
Each of those little things don't seem like much on their own individually, but I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face.
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Quote:That's like saying it's better being homeless and finding $5 on the ground than being a millionaire and finding $5 on the ground.Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Tanks get more from Rage than brutes do.
80% bonus on top of 0% is huge.
80% bonus on top of 160% isn't as great.
It's still a great power for both ATs, but tanks benefit from it more.
Also, as Willpower, you will have to actively try a little harder to hold agro than some builds. The taunt aura in WP (RttC) is pretty weak compared to some others.
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Quote:'Distant' isn't necessarily used in this context to reflect performance. As you say, Dark Melee is what famously had the 'buzzsaw' moniker attached to it. Dual Blades isn't commonly referred to in that way; usually its been dubbed The Blender.Originally Posted by Fireheart
I don't know about 'distant', but I agree that Dark Melee is famously suitable for 'buzz-saw' builds, and Dual Blades is also a fast target-focussed set.
At lower levels, Energy Melee definitely fits the buzz-saw mentality and when ET and TF come in... Well... You're still a buzz-saw, with two clown-sized sledgehammers attached.
Be Well!
Fireheart
Nicknames aside, I would still put DB a ways behind DM due to Lethal resistances being what they are and DB being balanced around the combo mechanic.
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Quote:Dark Melee paired with either Shield Defense or Fiery Aura.Originally Posted by Ice_Cube_Maker
What do you think is the best "buzzsaw" tank or brute?
Dual Blades a distant second.
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Quote:I'm always triggering it when punching in zeros at Wentworths.Originally Posted by Smersh
If you're hitting Unstoppable by accident, you're doing something wrong.
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Quote:50% of your end bar is better than 100% of your end bar plus 99% of your HP bar, which is what Unstoppable gets.Originally Posted by ArcticFahx
I love how you use SoW as an example when it still crashes for 50% of your end bar.
With WP you can use SoW freely. There's little risk. WP with SoW is arguably better than Invulnerability without Unstoppable, so what's the point of a Tier 9 that people are afraid to use?
It doesn't matter if Unstoppable has bigger resistance numbers and can have more up-time with high +recharge builds if people don't like using it. The advantages over more modern T9's like SoW and OwtS don't outweigh the risk and stigma attached to Unstoppable.
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Quote:A question: Why did you single out Void Judgement?Originally Posted by Beef_Cake
As a side note, take the Diamagnetic Very Rare which offers a 100% Proc chance for a -tohit which works on all your attack powers, and will stack nice with capped defense, not to mention your Lore Pets should you take any also take advantage of the Diamagnetic.
Follow that up with a Void Judgement power and you are golden. You will be surprised what your Invuln can now do ...hahaha
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Plugging numbers:
The -Res will only enhance your attack's damage 10%
Lets err on the lower side and say only three ticks of DoT ever happen:
3 x 15 = 45
45 x 10 = 450
Only attacks that do over 450 damage before Bruising will benefit more from the -Res than from the DoT.
For a Tanker, that's likely one, maybe two attacks. All other attacks will benefit more from the added DoT.
The only time Reactive Core Flawless could become better is in a team situation where you are the only one who happens to have a Reactive slotted, or perhaps if one other person has a complimentary Reactive Radial Flawless.
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Re-reading what you said in your first post after reading your second, what you describe sounds like it's working as it's supposed to.
The DoT component of Reactve, as I understand it, works like this: It's 6 ticks of 15 damage, each with an 80% chance to fire. That calculation is made after the calculation is done to see if the DoT will fire at all on an attack.
So, in one attack, lets say Brawl for example, you can potentially see as many as 6 little 15's stream off, regardless of if the DoT has a 25%, 50% or 75% (depending on Reactive's rank) chance itself to go off.
I got confused by what you meant by 'extra ticks'.
Seeing five or six little 15's tick off from one attack, that's working as intended. As long as you're not seeing a cloud of 35x15 numbers. :P
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Quote:In the situation outlined above, if indeed Reactive is having a chance to proc off of the two damage types, then again off of each DoT, it creates a significant advantage:Originally Posted by Arbegla
With the limit on the DoT stacking to 6, i don't see how it will give much of a advantage to the other sets, unless you count front loaded damage, but even then it won't make too much of a difference on hard targets (and soft targets, like minions, and LTs already die fast enough, without the DoT adding to them)
You essentially hit the cap for both the -resistance debuff, and perhaps even the DoT on your first attack, regardless of if you go Core or Reactive.
That's 10% -Res and and pretty much 100% chance at the DoT for throwing one attack, and the same for every attack after.
Compare with a set like Stone or Super Strength:
If they go Reactive Core (75% res, 25% DoT) they'll be lucky to stack to the 10% -Res cap; it'll take them four or more attacks to get there, and they likely wont be able to maintain it at 10% because of attack speeds vs the debuff's duration. They'll be lucky to get the DoT to proc once every four attacks.
They would be similarly disadvantaged with Reactive Radial.
In other words
Stone/SS is lucky to hit the cap for one of the procs, after several attacks, with only a small chance of the other proc going off occasionally. Fire would immediately hit the caps for both and not even really have to do much to maintain them.
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Quote:Can anyone else confirm?Originally Posted by JakHammer
The big thing I have noticed is that ALL my attacks have a fire damage DoT component. And every tic of DoT appears to have a chance to trigger the Reactive. Also, some attacks have both a Fire and a Smashing component in the initial strike, and they appear to each have a chance to trigger the reactive proc.
Those should be bugs. If not, it gives a considerable (and arguably unfair) advantage to sets that have mixed damage attacks, and a massive advantage to sets that have DoT components already.
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Quote:Yes, the current reward scheme is now...grim in my experience with my Tanker. It was better however, for a while.Originally Posted by Obitus
Haven't gotten around to running my Tanker through the trials yet (He's next on the list). Given Positron's most recent post, I may just wait on that for awhile.
When i20 first dropped, I decided to forgo the low-hanging fruit and went right for T3 Lore and T3 Destiny for the shifts. For a time my rewards were very good; most often a Rare or Very Rare, because I was putting out more damage than un-shifted individuals of any AT and I was usually the only one concerned with tackling the adds.
Now, the damage dealers have their shifts, caught up with my damage and everyone tries to tag the adds. This week I'm lucky if my Tanker sees an Uncommon.
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Quote:Are you sure about that last one? Because I've seen people on other ATs boards boasting larger DoT numbers than I'm seeing. Obviously, it's possible they're using other sources of -Res they're not mentioning up front.Originally Posted by Obitus
The DoT adds a good deal of DPS, as you noted unmodified by damage buffs or AT scalars.
I ask because in i20 Beta the DoT was busted and just did ticks of 1-2 damage, then later it was fixed and I think I remember it doing ticks of 25-30 in the RWZ with the copy of my Tanker there. Live it's ticks of 18 DoT (after Bruising) to a 50 Rikti Boss.
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I've been experimenting quite a bit with -Res vs DoT, trying to decide what each branch's strengths are. I'd like to share what I found and encourage others to share their experiences as well to build a consensus.
Soloing Requiem on my Invul/SS, I found significant gains using Total Radial (75% DoT) over Core Flawless (75% -Res, 25% DoT). The Tier 3 Radial outperformed the Tier 4 Core by a good 25-30 seconds. Logically, the T4 Radial should even do a little better.
The tests were done using my standard attack chain, stacked Rage when possible and fighting through the crashes.
I suspect the main advantage for the DoT, in this case, is it's unaffected by the Rage crash and allows more damage to be dealt for those 10 seconds.
I conclude that the Radial branch for Reactive is the optimal choice in this case for solo damage purposes against AVs, pylons, etc.
In a team situation however, I would think equipping Core would be the most beneficial because it would act as a multiplicative effect for the team's damage, rather than the additive one the Dot brings.
Misc musings:
-Judgment is not (supposed to be) affected by damage buffs. Seems like a Rage crash might be a good time to whip out Pyronic.
-If using Lore pets, it may be advantageous to equip Core Reactive for the same rationale as team situations.
Agree? Disagree? Thoughts? Opinions?
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Quote:It's not even really a question of being healed/buffed enough. As long as there's not dozens of adds swarming, odds are nothing is going to attack you. The AV that sequesters you quickly loses interest.Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim
Well, if you are supported well enough, you can survive through being sequestered.
At this point, I just take the sequestration. It's not worth the effort doing the 'drop aggro dance'. I just hop back to make sure nobody else is caught in the circle and keep at them with my ranged attacks. Yes, it takes you out of play for a couple seconds, but so does running to break LoS/aggro. I use the opportunity to take a drink and organize salvage.
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Quote:To be fair, I don't think people are looking at things from a bigger picture perspective. Sure the Radial path might be best for you, the individual, but in a team/league situation, you get far more bang for your buck mixing things up. If two people are using Radial, you'll likely get more with the third person equipping Core. By the same token, I hear people debating Barrier vs Rebirth when the fact of the matter is having both increased Regen and insane Resistance and Defense is better than one or the other.Originally Posted by Hopeling
The Radial lets many characters cap their regeneration during the initial burst. Regeneration is normally a LOT harder to cap than hit points, yet even a Blaster (who have the least room between their base HP and their AT cap) needs a few hit points from accolades/sets for Core to cap their health for even the first 10 seconds. It's just severely worthless compared to the benefit of the Radial path.
The true power of these incarnate abilities is in their flexibility, their ability to be combined and in people coordinating them effectively. A coordinated team rocking the proper proportions of Rebirth, Barrier and Ageless with both branches to boot is positively nasty.
The same goes for Interface abilities. Everyone going Reactive or Diamagnetic is inferior to having a proper mix.
We don't have any content that requires that much planning and coordination of Incarnate abilities yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if future content does.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Zombie Man
Actually, if you're going to pull, pull to the wall near the tennis court, not the tennis court themselves.
All the squishies, especially the ones dealing with the adds will appreciate it since they'll have a corner to work with.
I agree, this is a superior area to fight them. Having the wall there effectively cuts off the adds from attacking from that side, so if any get away from the adds team, they'll only be coming from one front.
It also gives people two corners to duck around to quickly dump aggro if they're on their second warning, or to help reposition the AVs if need be.
But...
There's a few Trial leaders who insist they be brought smack dab to the middle of the court. To the point they start fuming if you don't. It's not really feasible to debate this while pulling. Some people are flexible enough to understand and just go with them being pulled to the wall, but some people are deadset on pulling them to the court, even if they don't know why they should, and will totally flip out and waste time confusing everyone else.
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I could get behind a Telltale Games-partnered adventure game set in the CoH universe.
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Quote:We've got that. It's called the RWZ.Originally Posted by Aura_Familia
Honestly a new "Trial Launching zone" might be the best possible solution to all this.
But apparently people launching trials don't like it because it's full of people launching trials.
And that annoys them so much that they go to the Pocket D to launch trials because there's no one there launching trials, and are then surprised that people are annoyed at them for launching trials there.
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Quote:Considering before the trials, nobody but RPers gave a damn about about the Pocket D outside of the holiday events.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
This attitude is greatly disappointing, as it amounts to "I'm more important than you because you're playing the game wrong, so I have the right to ruin your fun however I like." And we used to have such a friendly community.
RPers claimed a RP-centric space (the bar/tavern is the classic roleplay setting) nobody else wanted. It's correct that the game is for everyone, but the fact of the matter is they were there first long before i20 and they'll be there after the trials become passe.
From what I can see, the RPers reacted much better than I'd expect if the situation was reversed and a large group of RPers were blocking a team's mission door.
The fact of the matter is, the RPers were doing their thing in an out-of-the-way place, keeping to themselves, not bothering anyone and people have now swarmed in en-masse and invaded their space. I don't see the RPers as being in the wrong in that situation.
Now, to the OP:
Organize your trials from Studio 55. Studio 55 is merely part of Imperial City. It's all the same zone. IC has an auction house, inspiration vendors at the hospital AFAIK and stores.
"Between mission people wind up running to the hospital in Imperial City to resupply."
You do NOT have to be in the same location to start a trial, just the same zone. Read: You don't have to have every amenity in the same spot because you don't have to have everyone in the same room to launch a trial.
If someone constantly needs inspirations between trial runs, they can sit at the hospital/vendor and the trial will still pick them up from there and drop them back again when complete.
People can be standing at the auction house, store or university crafting table.
There is no need to 'run back and forth' to a central location to launch trials.
Studio 55, and by extension IC, is superior for trials because AFAIK no other Co-op zone has an auction house and university.
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I believe that several of the defensive Tier 9 powers should be tweaked to better suit the realities of the game as it is now. This includes Granite Armor, Power Surge and Unstoppable.
As it stands, a T9 that people are afraid to use is no good to anyone. Unstoppable is very much in this territory.
At the very least, every timed buff like PS or Unstoppable should clearly show how much time is remaining on it (without needing third party software like HeroStats) and allow players to 'force' the crash and end the power early if they choose to.
However, I don't expect any changes to happen. The practical solution is to run HeroStats and seek Incarnate abilities that help negate the crashes and downsides of these powers. Rebirth and Barrier both help with crashes for example.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Hydrophidian
Lambda, on the other hand, is a whole different story. A very different story indeed. I'm lucky to find a team of 8 for it, nevermind 16. A lot of people seem disinclined to tackle it (with strangers, anyway), and I've now seen quite a few folks on BAF leagues declaring their hate for the Lambda scenario. At this point, I've all but given up on pugging it. I'm going to have to prearrange a full league for it.
My thoughts on why Lambda gets the hate:
-Lambda is far too easy to be griefed, intentionally or unintentionally. All it takes is one person holding out on the temp powers or going AFK to completely shaft the entire attempt.
-The BAF rewards you an Astral for completing each major phase. Lambda doesn't and only rewards you for the bonus.
-Because of the smaller League size on a Lambda, it's actually harder for good players/players who've made serious progress into their slots and have i-shifts to pick up the slack. On a BAF you may have five level 53 players, three of whom can handle the adds by themselves.
-Since the BAF will take more people, it's the choice Trial that SGs and in game channels are organizing runs for; to allow as many people as they can to take part. Which leads into....
-Since Lambda will start with a smaller team size, it's the Trial that is getting launched with random PuGs most often from the LFG queue. This means you are more likely to end up on a Lambda with inexperienced players than be thrust into a BAF in the same situation. This sours players to Lambda, and later when they end up in a BAF that's been organized by an SG/group in a zone with a float of competent, powerful players to allow it to run smoothly, it only reinforces the impression that Lambda is worse.
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Quote:That's the whole joke...Originally Posted by Spectral_Ent
I'm still laughing that Marauder's super serum is kept in an enriche bottle.
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