Maelwys

Well, Castle apparently has said that Blasters will be looking at a BIG damage buff in terms of what they'll be at after the changes.

[ QUOTE ]
Incidently, Castle PMed me with the expected buff numbers for the average player: 70-100% extra damage on an aggressive but non-optimized build. They're serious about this stuff, folks -- that kind of damage is a return to pre-ED levels of damage, just not in the alpha strike itself.

[/ QUOTE ]

The "Frankenfury" part of the new inherent will apply equally well to the Blapps as Ranged attacks. So Blappers will benefit from the stacking damage buffs too... (and in fact, my Sonic/Elec Blaster is now looking better than ever with -resistance, cast time buffs, stacking +damage buffs and heavy blapps!)

[ QUOTE ]
Not sure if it'll help any, but this is the IO build I'm eventually going to get around to respeccing my Human/Dwarf into. He's more of a PvE toon these days though... for PvP the power pick order could use a bit of tweaking, but the chosen powers themselves and the slotting should be fine (maybe a few ranges in taunt).

[/ QUOTE ]

I finally got around to respeccing my Human/Dwarf PB into the above build. Well, the above build minus one slot in Energy Flight and plus a +Perception Unique IO in "Build Up". All I'm waiting on now is one last LOTG +Recharge IO to be put into Combat Jumping (already have one in Combat Flight)

The difference between SOs and IOs is astronomical. His actual damage-output-per-attack remains virtually unchanged, but he's able to attack nearly twice as often now, which means my Human-Form attack chain has absolutely no gaps in it at all. (8.87 seconds recharge time on IS compared to 15 seconds with my SO build).

The considerably-reduced recharge time on Seekers and Dawn Strike is also very nice, but what gets me most is the endurance consumption difference. Back when I was levelling him (in, oh, i6 I think) he routinely got down to zero endurance simply by continuously using his Human Form attacks - whilst running no toggles except Combat Jumping. With IOs, I can't get him below 50% endurance when I'm trying unless I use his nuke.

When I nuke in Light Form (which now has considerably less than 4 minutes downtime) he still recovers endurance. I absolutely adore that about Peacebringers. -100% Recovery rather than a Blaster's -1000%. And finally, the accuracy buff for IOs is also very noticable. Finding that your Human-Form PB can finally reliably hit things when you're used to whiffing like crazy versus anything over +3s is a wonderful change.

Total cost has been about 350 million so far, and I've about another 50 million still to spend (on the last LOTG and a few miscellaneous upgrades like Endmod/Taunt set IOs). I've been putting off IO'ing this character for ages, but I'm glad I've finally done it. He really feels both fun and "playable" to me again now...

PvP? I can see it working. Light Form's recharge time for general battles combined with Dwarf Form as an escape route seems very appealing... and he's got Phase Shift plus all travel powers... now if I can just convince a villain to stand still for about 5 minutes until I can do enough DoT to kill them...

Actually, that last bit's not really so applicable anymore. RS and IS do about 220 and 400 damage respectively with "Build Up". That's a good bit of HP- certainly not Scrapper/Blaster level, but nothing to sneeze at when the recharge time for those two attacks is now so low. Gleaming Blast is also quite a nice finisher at about 155 damage (ranged). Photon Seekers will do about 670 Damage if all three hit (unlikely, but certainly possible if you catch someone in, say, the "Total Focus" animation). I'd put Peacebringer damage about level with non-EM Tankers (the numbers are about equal with /Fire for single-target attacks).

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[ QUOTE ]
I confess to being lost as to how exactly, shortening the activation times of all these powers is supposed to be "DEFIANCE THE NEXT GENERATION".

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not. The animation times were only changed because the fire-when-mezzed part of the new defiance depended on the tier one and two blasts being roughly equal utility across all primaries.

The bit that's meant to be "defiance the next generation" is the combination of:

(i) Fire-When-Mezzed for Tier 1/2 (Primary) and Tier 1 (Secondary)
(ii) 12.5% Base Ranged Damage bonus
(iii) "Frankenfury" (All attacks add a short-term stacking damage buff)

Part (iii) is the bit that we're only just starting to get accurate information on. All the animation changes were due to "Balancing" the Primary Powersets so that Part (i) wouldn't overbuff/underbuff any particular set(s).

Source

[ QUOTE ]
FYI, here is the formula currently being used:
Buff: 0.66* (0.1 * CastTime) / AreaModifier
Duration: 7.5 + CastTime

CastTime is the cast time of the power
Area Modifier = ((1 + 0.15) * radius) - (0.11 * Arc in degrees / 6)

[/ QUOTE ]

According to that formula... slower-casting attacks, smaller radiuses and larger arcs will produce more of a damage buff.

I'm not sure it's 100% accurate though (at least 100% accurate when applied to our old city-of-data i7 numbers) since for ST attacks (zero radius, zero arc) we'd get an area modifier of zero and AoE attacks don't have arc values listed.

The few numbers I've run through it (assuming an Arc/Radius of 1 degree/1 foot for ST attacks) come out at about a 6% damage buff for each of the quicker-casting attacks. Will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Assuming you mean "Attack or HEEL" (come to you) rather than "Attack or HEAL" (recover health):

Try :
1. /bind X petcom_all aggressive attack
2. /bind Y petcom_all passive follow

You'll also want one to put them in Bodyguard mode:
3. /bind Z petcom_all defensive follow

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

On the Unstoppable issue, whilst the crash is risky, at least using Unstoppable allows three minutes of very high survivability. If you were trying it with a team that couldn't otherwise cope with tanking LR normally, that three minutes could be long enough to give them enough time to take out a generator. Hospital, rinse and repeat.

[/ QUOTE ]An invul with tough will be at the S/L cap without unstop though. So it's not that large of a boost, unless LR's energy damage is much higher than I think it is.

[/ QUOTE ]

Firstly, LR does more than just Smashing/Lethal Damage. My Sonic Defender has over 70% S/L resists... LR can one-shot my Sonic Defender very easily just with a PbAoE (brings me down to 1HP from full with one hit). His single-target melee damage is primarily lethal, his ranged single target damage is primarily energy (about 3000 points of it with one Blast IIRC).

Secondly, the point of Unstoppable in that "bad team" scenario is primarily to stop the INV being toggle-dropped and subsequently killed by the Endurance Drain. If the tanker is getting drained, it's irrelevant what resists they have unless they have the endurance to keep their toggles up (or have clicky-based damage resistance).

I'm not convinced that the endurance drain is as mild a concern as you guys seem to think it is, because I've seen it drain tankers in one shot (about 5 seconds). Perhaps you're able to always get him into melee-attack-only mode more quickly than the STF tankers I've been with... from what I can tell it's a ranged ability like a Sapper's rifle.

By all means, next time you're doing a STF watch and see how much blue that attack takes off without endurance drain protection on the tanker. Without the towers buffing him, he's probably about the same as listed here. Note the Channelgun, 37.5 % -End, 4 second recharge. "Suppression" is what kills my Defender so quickly. When playing him I stay just inside the 25 Feet Radius of Sonic Dispersion, so I'm well outside the 10 foot radius of "Spider Strike".

Well either you guys have been very lucky with your team composition, or the Fire Tanker I had the last few times I attempted it was just [censored]. I wouldn't put it past him just being [censored]...

On the Unstoppable issue, whilst the crash is risky, at least using Unstoppable allows three minutes of very high survivability. If you were trying it with a team that couldn't otherwise cope with tanking LR normally, that three minutes could be long enough to give them enough time to take out a generator. Hospital, rinse and repeat.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How'd you overcome the endurance drain? RA and "Adrenalin Boost"?
Last time I did it, his endurance drain easily kept pace with that of a "Sapper".



[/ QUOTE ]Didn't see end being an issue, then again I was never the tank myself. Also, the tank was usually perma-AB'd, so that would fix it I guess.

But even if it were an issue, why would invul or ice be any better off?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because the Fire tank loses all their resistance and mez protection when they get toggle dropped via being drained to zero endurance.

An INV keeps their resistance/protection for the duration of unstoppable, and an Ice tanker can use Hibernate to become unhittable right after a drain (although doing so properly whilst fighting LR is likely to be VERY difficult). They both also get a Max +HP power, which stays in effect after being toggle-dropped.

And yeah, Controller AB is around a +1000% Endurance Recovery Boost even unslotted. If it can bypass all the -recovery from a Blaster's Nuke, I'd bet it can bypass the -recovery from LR's endurance drain...

[ QUOTE ]
Do i need to change the way i approach taunt or can i carry on as before?

[/ QUOTE ]

Realistically, unless a Scrapper is attacking full pelt, AND using taunt/taunt aura on a mob, you'll have aggro as-normal just by using taunt at range.

The only thing I can think of offhand is an INV Scrapper with invincibility running, attacking full pelt. Initially you'll have aggro, but over a longish period of time you may lose it to the Scrapper unless you're also attacking and/or have the mob in a taunt aura.

Castle said that heavy attacks are worth about 6000 "threat units" for a Scrapper, and Scrapper Taunt is about 270,000,000. Completely different orders of magnitude... but Scrapper taunt's 270,000,000 versus Tanker taunt's 360,000,000 could in theory be bridged if you add in enough high-damage Scrapper attacks and/or the Tanker's threat level is reduced from using taunt at long-range. It'll also get much closer if the Scrapper's taunt is slotted for duration (which increases threat) and the Tanker's taunt isn't.

How'd you overcome the endurance drain? RA and "Adrenalin Boost"?
Last time I did it, his endurance drain easily kept pace with that of a "Sapper".

With a Kin I can understand... Knockback protection and Smashing/Energy Resists from ID, plus SB...

Last I checked it was certainly possible with an Ice tanker, but very hard. Hibernate and Hoarfrost are about all they're good for in there. Even without Hoarfrost, Fire wins due to the resists... but they only apply if the Fire Tanker can keep their toggles running. Will be interesting to see how Willpower fairs at it.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Consider a Fire tanker tankng Lord Recluse. *Whump* two-shot, Faceplanted. With Support? *Whump* (Heal) *Whump* (Heal) *Whump* (Heal) *Enddrain* *Toggledropped* *Whump* *Faceplanted*. The Fire Tanker can tank him, but not without a heck of a lot of outside buffs.

[/ QUOTE ]I assume you're talking about one without tough.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've seen one with tough and sonic bubbles combined still get two-shot when they were endurance drained and their toggles + knockback protection dropped. It was a combination of the damage (tough doesn't help against the energy component) and the drain (toggle dropping) that killed them.

On that occasion they simply *needed* some form of endurance drain protection in order to properly tank LR, and there was none available on the team. On repeated attempts the tanker was drained and then either knockbacked into the tower team and/or two-shot.

Now an INV would have managed to tank him for short periods of time (Unstoppable) and possibly even an Ice Tanker would have had a chance with clever use of Hibernate and a Breakfree or two. A Stone Tanker in Granite, naturally, wouldn't have blinked... but Fire tankers don't have the self-maximum-HP boost to fall back on, let alone a method of compensating for endurance drain.

A Fire Tanker with Tough, plus FF Bubbles/O2 Boost/etc? Sure, it'll have a fighting chance... but the drain will kill them otherwise. And relying on always having End Drain protection available is "inflexible"...

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
In most other MMORPGs you have to very carefully balance your aggressive abilities, your healing abilities and your hate-generating abilities when you're in a group that's killing a monster(s). In CoX? Just taunt the thing, it'll focus on you and noone else for ages unless it's a Banished Pantheon Mask (or one or two very other rare mobs Including Rularuu).

[/ QUOTE ]

Then why don't you remove taunt from your tanker if your unhappy with it. Empaths heals are autohit, many debuffs are autohit. There are quite a lot of auto hitting features. Team with anyone who doesn't autohit.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't say I was unhappy with Taunt (the power), I was describing how Taunt (the effect) differs in this game to methods of aggro control in other MMORPGs. Taunt (the effect) locks hate on you VERY solidly, and someone healing injuries or causing damage to the mob won't pull that hate off you. I don't know where you're getting anything applicable to autohit debuffs out of that quote.

[ QUOTE ]
Concept wins.

[/ QUOTE ]

Matter of opinion. I like Min/Maxing for a given job/role and coming up with a concept to suit it later. Concept or acting the part is completely irrelevant for me as long as the job gets done.

[ QUOTE ]
It is lazy on account of so few attacks as it doesn't really contribute in damage, it also lacks the need to tactically think their way out of a problem.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, it's not. It's only lazy if the player behind the toon is sitting on his (or her) fat posterior coasting through the mission. There is plenty to do other than attacking. And if you're a "Granite", your attacks are practically worthless because of the damage debuff combined with tanker's lower base damage. Locking aggro and letting other toons do damage is not inherently being lazy. It's being tactical, since you're playing to your powerset strengths and not trying to turn your toon into something that it isn't suited for.

[ QUOTE ]
You might not know everything there is to know about CoH Maelwys. So comparing what the differences are CoH and CoV is more a matter of personal experience than in actual fact.

[/ QUOTE ]

And the knife cuts both ways here, Shannon.

For the record, I've never said "get a &lt;insert here&gt;". I have recommended toons, certainly. But I can get by without them. In my previous MMORPG I was a Jack-of-all-trades class, the welfare of my team depended on me not slipping up doing my job during continuous, intensive play. And that's the principle idea behind the Stone Build: you don't need to rely on any given class or combination in order to achieve maximum performance.

Given your stated views on flexibility, I'd have thought you'd have appreciation for a toon that can survive and fulfil it's primary team role in nearly any situation with nearly any combination of teammates...

[ QUOTE ]
If people are dying around you after you are already ready for them to fight then I don't blame the defenders, I blame you.


[/ QUOTE ]

Why would anyone blame the defenders? I would blame whoever was at fault. Usually the person who pulled too much aggro. Aggro control is not soley limited to the Tank. I don't hold 'pulling too much aggro' against someone unless they do it repeatedly and deliberately, but I certainly try to clear up their messes so that the rest of the team doesn't suffer as a result of their mistake.

[ QUOTE ]
At the risk of boring your teammates to death. Yes, but no, because you see your team mates are your team mates for a reason and visa versa.

[/ QUOTE ][ QUOTE ]
Every effect can be used for survivability but eventually foes must take a fall.

[/ QUOTE ]

You answered your own point here. Your more damage-orientated teammates are far better suited to MAKE the foes fall, rather than a Stone Tanker running Granite Armor. Regardless, my earlier point about a damage proc in Mudpots still stands. The proc ends up doing more damage than Mudpots's own effect. Considerably more with i11, if you can get a Purple "33% chance for Fire damage" Proc in there.

[ QUOTE ]
I play for flexibility.

[/ QUOTE ][ QUOTE ]
You'd be surprised at how good any type of tank can be against Lord Recluse. The need for Inv and Granite is a myth. A lack of understanding, a lack of mental flexibility and too much generalization.

[/ QUOTE ][ QUOTE ]
Some, a lot of the time are unnecessarily in granite not doing more than they could but I don't really give a damn.

[/ QUOTE ][ QUOTE ]
Icetanks, Firetanks, Invulns and Stonetanks are all good tanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then I really don't see why you're desperately trying to find fault with that Stone/Ice build.

The tank in question is a build with a myriad of tools at its disposal, it can operate quite happily in and out of Granite Armor, it can tank any kind of mob in the game without much trouble. Now that's flexibility.

Not all tanks are created equal. For example, I would take issue with someone trying to argue that an INV tanker is inherently more flexible than a Stone Tanker at performing the team tanking role. Stone has far better mitigation against more damage types. The trade-off is Recharge and Damage, Recharge can be overcome with sufficent IO sets and damage doesn't matter. INV is more mobile, and that's about the only advantage it has over Stone. With good use of teleport combined with +runspeed bonuses, that advantage is made virtually meaningless in PvE.

Consider a Fire tanker tanking Lord Recluse. *Whump* two-shot, Faceplanted. With Support? *Whump* (Heal) *Whump* (Heal) *Whump* (Heal) *Enddrain* *Toggledropped* *Whump* *Faceplanted*. The Fire Tanker can tank him, but not without a heck of a lot of outside buffs. which means relying on specific combinations of powersets for specific buffs from your teammates. Which is an inflexible approach to teaming. This is the main reason why people bring "Granites" rather than other tankers to AV fights, they can be relied upon to be self-sufficent and simply not die as easily as other tankers. Aggro control is usually their only downfall, and that can be more than compensated for through good slotting practices. I'm not advocating a nerf, I'm stating that you shouldn't poo-poo a tank build just because it doesn't have many attacks.

[ QUOTE ]
A highly survivable aggro magnet doesn't necessarily provide anything neither as players have different levels of experience and expectation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, it provides just that. A "survivable aggro magnet".

If they do their jobs correctly, the rest of the team will never get hit outside of AoE splash damage. Surprisingly, this is an actual role in most MMORPG teams. It's called "the Tank"...

PUG tanks in CoH have perpetuated the notion that good damage output is somehow a requirement of such a tank. That's nonsense. Damage can easily be provided by your teammates and damage output in Granite Armor is debuffed anyway, so it makes far more sense to maximise the defensive capabilities of a Stone Tanker and specialise in order to augment its role as "aggro control and damage mitigation".

In CoH/CoV, aggro control is relatively easiy to accomplish (see my first quote in this post). However, you can always push the "survivability" aspect further and further. Thus, the specialised meatshield build is actually the optimum choice for a team tanking role. At least in CoH. On CoV, as mentioned, the roles are less well-defined... "Squishies" are generally a lot less squishy, and the "Tankers" do large amounts of melee damage output.

[ QUOTE ]
Laziness is a frame of mind

[/ QUOTE ]

Laziness is simply "sloth"- an absence of action and an absence of any WILL towards action. It's quite possible to be very busy whilst appearing not do be doing very much. Ask any precision-pet-control Mastermind, Sonic defender, or anyone else with powers that don't brightly glow, explode or fire colourful energy beams.

Likewise, the person controlling a Stone/Ice could be practically falling over themselves in their haste to get all aggro locked onto themselves as tightly as possible... but due to the slower movement capabilities of the powerset, their toon might appear lethargic.

[ QUOTE ]
A lot of peoples will be plain old IOs or SOs still have to function.

[/ QUOTE ]

Less than you'd think, assuming they've hit 50 already.

[ QUOTE ]
Taunt isn't about being lazy, its about taunting a foe effecting someone in another place without bringing the AoEs that is on ones tanker to the person that needs help. So if I am on last health Id rather you taunt the foe off of me than come near me plus range beats travel.

[/ QUOTE ]

Taunting is *all* about being lazy. It prevents you from having to keep aggro using less efficient means (attacking). This game has incredibly simple "hate" mechanics, it's laughably easy to hold aggro without much effort because the multiplier for taunt effects is so high.

In most other MMORPGs you have to very carefully balance your aggressive abilities, your healing abilities and your hate-generating abilities when you're in a group that's killing a monster(s). In CoX? Just taunt the thing, it'll focus on you and noone else for ages unless it's a Banished Pantheon Mask (or one or two very other rare mobs Including Rularuu).

Taunt (the power) makes it even simpler. That's why we hear some toons referred to as "taunt bots". They never need to attack if they simply spam taunt and cycle their targets well, because they'll keep all the aggro.

[ QUOTE ]
That build is lazy on account off so few attacks.

[/ QUOTE ]

On the contrary, the build itself isn't lazy, it just promotes a lazy style of play. "Keep aggro and never die" being that style of play. If I were to play that toon, I'd be teleporting about the place like a mad thing to clump foes together, using Ice patch to perma-knockdown them and Mud Pots to slow them so that my teammates could "arrest" them quickly and painlessly.

[ QUOTE ]
Also there is the case of formations. A lot off people are run in and mash keys which doesn't suit all types of defenders much in supporting the team and by creating a formation you can bring greater safety.

[/ QUOTE ]

At the risk of boring your teammates to death. Yes, naturally there are different methods. The most efficient formation in MOST MMORPGS being "(Monster) --- TANK --- MELEES--- SPELLCASTERS". In CoH you usually don't need to worry unless there are several groups in close proximity (&gt; aggro cap), just send the tank in, get aggro and hit it. In CoV the "formations" are much more varied and interesting.

[ QUOTE ]
Meatshields don't impress me as its all only passive defense.

[/ QUOTE ][ QUOTE ]
That build is far more survivable than it needs to be but it won't defeat anything

[/ QUOTE ]

Well that's the idea (survivability). With that build you won't ever have to worry about the tank dying in PvE unless you're fighting Hamidon or the Crystal Titan. The PBAoE-Knockdown-patch-plus-Mudpots combo is also very effective, particularly with a "Mud Pots" slotted with a Damage Proc. That build is extremely efficient at one thing: getting aggro and surviving it. It's one of the best possible builds in the game for that purpose.

Meatshield builds have active defences as well as passive defences. The first active defence is Taunting (you yourself have said that "taunting is the best form of mitigation"), the second is a Damage Aura. The third is Heals. The forth is attacks. The fifth is other clicky abilities, temporary powers and inspirations.

That build has Taunt, a Damage Aura, a Self-Heal, a PBAoE knockdown patch that's easily perma while in Granite, a few attacks (very low priority), Hasten, Conserve Power, Recall Friend and Teleport Foe. All of those allow "active mitigation"... whereas the Defence, Resistance, Mez Protection and Regen are passive.

I'd be quite happy to level and play that toon. Whilst levelling I'd have more attacks, since it'd be slow-going otherwise when not teaming with a bunch of damage dealers... but I'd certainly drag him out to tank just about anything. My INV/SS is "very survivable", That Stone/Ice would be "virtually unkillable". Both would claim and hold aggro very easily, which is the tank's role in a team. The Stone simply sacrifices more attacking power (which is what happens with Granite Armor anyway) for a far more extreme level of survivability.

This game provides a myriad of ways to build an AT, the above Stone/Ice build would simply be on the other end of the "Damage versus Defences" spectrum from a Fire/Fire Tanker. One's better versus lots of smaller, weaker mobs... but the other versus, say, Lord Recluse.

[ QUOTE ]
A granite without a heavily slotted taunt is pretty lacking in flexibility in what they can do for 'various' team make ups but in some team make ups some people only need someone to take the alpha for them.

[/ QUOTE ]

That quote was what I was referring to. "Granites" (I'm assuming you're talking about 'Stone Tanks that rely mainly on Granite Armor') are not nearly as lethargic, slow, and low-AoE-damage as they used to be before IOs.

By it's nature the Stone Armor set allows you to be flexible enough to tank any mob type. Building and playing your toon in order to leverage that survivability into team damage mitigation is what makes a good tanker.

In general, on randomly-selected teams you will have more than enough damage dealers (usually fairly squishy ones) and one or two few support toons. A highly-survivabile aggro magnet like the build I listed would be able to provide mitigation to a team regardless of what buffs or debuffs are available.

That's flexibilty right there. It wouldn't need a FF, Sonic, Empath or any other toon to add to its mitigation. All the team would have to worry about is doing damage and not attracting a large enough number of enemies to go over the aggro cap (and even then, Ice Patch will help). It is not a "tanker"'s job on a typical team to deal the damage, but to attract the foe's attacks and survive. This the Stone/Ice build does very well, regardless of who else is on the team. I'm not stating that all people would enjoy that style of gameplay on such a toon, merely that it is effective and does not preclude "flexibility".

Unless they're built well. Like +60% or more +recharge, some +runspeed and good teleporting skills along with a moderately-slotted taunt for when they're feeling lazy.

It's perfectly possible to get such a Granite near the defence cap and over the resistance cap on three damage types... with the side benefit of having 50% Psi defence, considerable S/L/E/N defence/resistance, &gt;500% Regen and Perma-EE outside of Granite. Check out the "Dedicated meatshield" build below.

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Well, issue 11's out now and the Willpower numbers are a bit more set-in-stone.

After having run some numbers on Mid's new updated builder it turns out that Willpower's fairly on-par with Scrapper Regen in terms of actual regeneration rate (optimised IO builds for a Kat/Regen Scrapper and a Will/EM Tanker both come out at about 705-710% regeneration... Regen has this applied constantly, Willpower when one foe is within melee range. Willpower rises to 1152% Regen with 10 foes within melee range).

When slotted, the mitigation numbers work out at about:

HP Buff:
29.7% +HP (High Pain Tolerance)
(Works out at approximately 557 HP at level 50)

Defense:
Smashing/Lethal: 5.2%
Energy/Negative/Fire/Cold: 20.5%
Psionic: 15.7%
Melee/Ranged/AoE: 0.0%

Resistance: Tier #9 UP-
Smashing/Lethal: 86.1%
Energy/Negative/Fire/Cold/Toxic: 31.3%
Psionic: 62.7%

Resistance: Tier #9 DOWN-
Smashing/Lethal: 47.0%
Energy/Negative/Fire/Cold/Toxic: 11.7%
Psionic: 43.1%

The Tier #9 duration is 2 minutes, with a 5 minute recharge time.

--------------------------------------------------

Willpower/EM "Sample build" follows:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.30
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php

Level 50 Mutation Tanker
Primary Power Set: Willpower
Secondary Power Set: Energy Melee
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Medicine
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Mind Over Body -- HO:Ribo(A), HO:Ribo(9), Aegis-ResDam:50(9), Aegis-Psi/Status:50(13)
Level 1: Barrage -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(45), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(45), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(45), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(46)
Level 2: Energy Punch -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(3), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(3), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(7), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(34)
Level 4: Bone Smasher -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(5), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(5), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(7), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(15), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:50(15)
Level 6: Indomitable Will -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(19), GftotA-Def/EndRdx:40(19), GftotA-Def:40(25)
Level 8: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 10: Rise to the Challenge -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx:50(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg:50(11), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(11), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:50(13), Dct'dW-Heal:50(46)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- Ksmt-ToHit+:30(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(43), LkGmblr-Def:50(46)
Level 14: Super Jump -- HO:Micro(A)
Level 16: Quick Recovery -- Efficacy-EndMod:50(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:50(17), EndMod-I:50(17)
Level 18: Health -- Numna-Heal:50(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg:50(37), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:50(40), Mrcl-Heal:40(42), Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(43), RgnTis-Regen+:30(43)
Level 20: Stamina -- Efficacy-EndMod:50(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:50(21), EndMod-I:50(21)
Level 22: Heightened Senses -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(23), GftotA-Def/EndRdx:40(23), GftotA-Def:40(25)
Level 24: Taunt -- Mocking-Taunt/Rchg:50(A), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg/Rng:50(34)
Level 26: High Pain Tolerance -- Numna-Heal:50(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg:50(27), Heal-I:50(27), ResDam-I:50(31), Aegis-ResDam:40(33), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg:40(34)
Level 28: Fast Healing -- Numna-Heal:50(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg:50(29), Heal-I:50(29)
Level 30: Build Up -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(31), HO:Membr(31)
Level 32: Strength of Will -- ImpArm-ResDam:40(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(33), ResDam-I:50(33)
Level 35: Energy Transfer -- Hectmb-Dmg:50(A), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg:50(36), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(36), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg:50(36), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx:50(37), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:50(37)
Level 38: Total Focus -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(39), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(39), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(39), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(40), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:50(40)
Level 41: Focused Accuracy -- HO:Cyto(A), HO:Cyto(42), HO:Cyto(42)
Level 44: Stimulant -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
Level 47: Aid Self -- HO:Golgi(A), Numna-Heal:50(48), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:50(48), IntRdx-I:50(48), IntRdx-I:50(50), IntRdx-I:50(50)
Level 49: Resurgence -- Numna-Heal/Rchg:50(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:50(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth:50(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]+1.8% Max Endurance[*]+43% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]+4% Enhancement(Heal)[*]+57.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]+140.6 (7.5%) HitPoints[*]+MezResist(Confused) (Mag 20%)[*]+MezResist(Held) (Mag 20%)[*]+MezResist(Immobilize) (Mag 28.8%)[*]+MezResist(Sleep) (Mag 20%)[*]+MezResist(Stun) (Mag 20%)[*]+MezResist(Terrorized) (Mag 22.2%)[*]+13% Recovery[*]+90% Regeneration[*]+3.78% Resistance(Fire)[*]+3.78% Resistance(Cold)[*]+3% Resistance(Psionic)[*]+10% RunSpeed[/list]<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data chunk into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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</pre><hr />

Personally I found the descriptions and piccies on Paragonwiki far easier to follow than /loc commands.

[ QUOTE ]
Isn't the perception cap reached by tactics + drone + 1 x +perception already?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep. In everything but RV/Arena.
And the Perception IO is unique anyway.

Darnit, you made me have to go and look up the post now.
And you're absolutely right!

from here

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Ok whats the deal Castle, can you guys please look into accolade power changes? They should be available at all levels.

[/ QUOTE ]
1) It's a code change, even if Design decides it should be done.
2) Design has not determined at this time if it *should* be done.
I understand it a cause celebre currently, but even if Positron said "Yeah, let's do it." tomorrow, it'll still be quite a while before you guys see it. The tech guys are busy!

[/ QUOTE ]
This is being considered at last?

[/ QUOTE ]
Nothing in my post said it is being considered. I'm not saying if it is or isn't because I don't know. It's not my bailiwick. Sorry if I got your hopes up.

[/ QUOTE ]

And in case anyone was wondering, from Wiki:

A bailiwick is the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff. The term was also applied to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a Crown grant. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of authority, experience, activity, study, or interest.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Consider Invincibility or Chilling Embrace - ever since the Invincibility 'taunt buff' patch, they're meant to be about equal at holding aggro. OK, that's fine... but consider Firey Aura and Mudpots. They have the same taunt effects, but they also do damage which presumably gets multiplied. Ice gets icicles to counter this, but INV gets nothing. Buffs are clearly in order here --&gt; "buff INV pls!!"

[/ QUOTE ]CE and Inv tick faster though.

[/ QUOTE ]

The damage component certainly ticks slower (once every 2 seconds for most Damage Auras IIRC). Not sure about the taunt effects, it's quite possible that they're going at the same rate across all auras now.

Mudpots already has a split between the damage and debuff components (damage isn't autohit, debuff is). This is why I'm not really sure if the threat multiplier is working off the damage in auras at the moment, it's possible it's only tied into some kind of "taunt debuff" a-la Taunt (the power).

Tick rate is fairly irrelevant, since it's now official that damageless Taunt effects overwrite each other rather than stack (whereas Threat multipliers on damage stack) the damage-aura-taunt-auras look much better. Damageless taunt auras could reapply taunt several times a second, but the threat they generate will remain constant... the damage-aura taunt auras could reapply taunt every few seconds and still generate much more "hate". Even assuming that the duration of the taunt effects is about the same, damage auras still win.

Either way, "Buff INV pls!"

IIRC that's more in response to Castle's statement that essentially said they've "no plans to do anything about them at this time, and the relevant teams are all busy anyway".

Personally I'd like Accolades to be available at any level, regardless of when you got them. (And this is coming from someone that's gotten his Stalker every possible accolade villainside before level 30... I wouldn't feel that effort's been 'wasted' if the change was made, I just really don't want to have to go to all that bother again on every CoV PvP toon... safeguard farming was bad enough, but paying off debt badges *sucked*)

That's true...

I'm not sure how the auras work either. I suspect that they're actually slightly more unbalanced in terms of threat multiplication than we'd otherwise believe.

Consider Invincibility or Chilling Embrace - ever since the Invincibility 'taunt buff' patch, they're meant to be about equal at holding aggro. OK, that's fine... but consider Firey Aura and Mudpots. They have the same taunt effects, but they also do damage which presumably gets multiplied. Ice gets icicles to counter this, but INV gets nothing. Buffs are clearly in order here --&gt; "buff INV pls!!"

[ QUOTE ]
Furthermore those with taunt with one base slot might want to rethink their game as they do have their limits.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not that much. Castle said that slotting for taunt duration does affect the threat level, but that the magnitude of taunt effects is pretty irrelevant.

Furthermore, in practice it doesn't make much difference: my DA Scrapper can hold aggro over a Gauntlet-using tanker on an AV by using Scrapper Taunt (one taunt duration) plus his normal attack chain. My INV Tanker has Taunt two-slotted (one duration, one recharge) and can hold aggro over virtually anything, including other Tankers, multiple Brutes, and Taunt-using Scrappers.

The most important thing to realise is that since we now know taunt (the effect) to be effectively a threat multiplier not an on-or-off status effect, we know that closing to melee range and using BOTH your damaging attacks AND Taunt will lock aggro much more solidly than just using Taunt from range.

I'm also unsure whether effects such as Rage or Build Up enter into Taunt (the power)'s threat-equation... one of Castle's examples features slotting and and suggests that damage buffs make a substantial difference to the part of the threat calculation that's attack-based. This may or may not apply to "Taunt" itself, but it certainly applies to "Gauntlet" attacks.

Nah, I had a read through that yesterday evening.
Basically it's a mechanics technicality only, but Kudos to Castle and GW for going through it all.

In practice, threat multipliers are so high on Taunt that a Tanker will pull aggro off virtually everything. However since aggro builds up over time and each time taunt is applied it is overwritten rather than stacked, this does explain why on the old-style Hami raids a Taunting tanker could eventually lose aggro to all the people spamming their powers on Hami. "Eventually" being the operative word here.

The bit I find most interesting is that distance is factored in when calulating threat. A Tanker taunting from melee range will generate slightly more aggro than an identical Tanker taunting from 50 feet away.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'll get a complete one-shot on a squishy instead of simply bringing them down to 1 HP.

[/ QUOTE ]

Isnt that possible only with DoT damage? (i.e Inferno)

[/ QUOTE ]

Normally, yes. Or with "dual-type" damage such as a Scrapper Critical (where the normal damage is done and the critical damage technically counts as an "extra" attack).

The Procs acts like a sort of Dual-type damage, so when the AS goes off the one-shot code stops the target from being outright killed, then the Proc damage kills them (providing the Proc activates!!)

[ QUOTE ]
I cant remember the name of the person but I was on a team with someone from their SG the other day and they were polite and actually a damn good player. Normally seeing the SG in question makes me wonder how much longer the team will last but this player was a credit to the game and very helpful to the obviously new players on the team

[/ QUOTE ]

I think your forum handle applies here...

Yeah. Like any group, I think its reputation is sullied by the members that are, erm... more vocal, less controllable and not-so-good-at-general-social-graces.

There's bound to be a few diamonds in all that rough, though I have to admit that I'm usually just as guilty of slightly prejudging toons from that SG whenever they join a PUG I'm on. Having said that, to this day I've only actually quit a PUG once because of the actions of its members... and on that nasty occasion (it involved a lot of verbal abuse to a relatively new player) none of the members of the unnamed SG were involved.