Ohmi_on_Victory

Cricket bat.
Cricket bat.

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My question is..

Since we only have up to 75 members up till the release of Issue 11, then once it goes live, we can get up to 75 more members.. how much time will there be between going from 75 to 150 members before the Dec 10 prestige increase?

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If your group is established, ask your coalition partners.

My hero group has coalitioned with 10 other groups. Sure, we might share accounts between the two or three, but the characters could do creation to bring up ranks.

Also, check with the forums....I'm pretty sure there is "come on in, grab a chair, and wait till we get the cash" groups out there that will be asking for people.

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SG members could always create an alt or two or four if they have slots to pad the count. I suspect several RO SGs will be experimenting with that tactic, although many RO members do not have slots to spare and might be reduced to offering bribes to those of us who do do make alts in their sg.

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Goes against everything I've seen in the game. I've seen /Stone tankers out control me, and most every other tanker secondary can out-damage me. Based on my experiences in the game, I don't get how the above is true at all. The mathematical experiments we've run in versions of Tundara's thread don't back it up either.

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The problem with most mathematical experiments I see here in the forums is that they are measuring the extremities of performance. The datamining I do shows how players are actually performing in the "reality" of the game. The two are related, but there is often a vast gulf between what a set is capable of and what it is typically asked to do in gameplay.


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This is why the OP and many others come away from these marathon threads with little to cheer about. Theoretical analysis and static modeling is a weak tool since we do not actually know how much of the game mechanics truly operate. Some users work miracles of analysis to suggest foo and then sometime later the response comes that datamining says bar.

Without access to the raw performance data statistically minded users are groping in the dark. Since the devs do not release that data we can't help them in a "many hands make light work" sort of way. We can't question or confirm their answers that one AT or powerset or power is better or worse by some measure or other that can be confirmed and reviewed.

I do not believe Cryptic attempts to deceive or mislead us when they respond in these forums, but we don't know what questions they ask when they datamine and therefore can't point out biases or other issues that might make a material difference in the context of a larger discussion.

I've made this point since beta: good datamining/statistical analysis is very hard to do; the hardest part is coming up with the right questions to ask based on the data thats collected. Next hardest is showing that the facts mined from the data actually answer the question being asked. Bias, wishful thinking, etc. can creep in at any point - it's why peer-review is the gold-standard for serious scientific/statistical publishing in the real world.

We are not peers - we are customers. Cryptic is fully within its rights to not let us peer behind the curtain. Since that isn't likely to change, I predict that we'll see new forum discussions in the future following the same pattern as this one.

Ohmi

Congratulations to those heroes brave enough to have their secret identities outed by the NYT.

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That, and I'm getting cranky in my dottage. :P

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Nit pick: I think that's dotage.

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Unless he's refering to each PM doing dot.

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Enough so I've saved several teams by just continuing to fire where no sane mortal - even the tank - was left standing. (I also eat debt like candy in that toon. He's spent more time on the carpet than a rug doctor.)


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Debt is very bad for your long-term success as measured by your overall xp/minute or other similar measure. If you choose to use Defiance rather than healing and then die you have made an poor choice that has a lingering effect on how effective you are, not to mention bad short term effects like keeping you from the next level, not contributing to your team while examining rug fibers, etc.

No other inherent has such a poor trade-off when you choose to use it. Choosing is the key concept here - if you can't run and can't heal then Defiance is your best friend and may save you from a defeat - it does happen. In my experience it is often a very close thing - a team wipe situation for example. How often does it save me in those desperate straits? Hardly ever - a handful of times in hundreds of hours of play - as far as I can remember - I suffer from confirmation bias as much as anyone.

My lengthy post about how to really learn about Defiance has scrolled off the forum, but the gist was that anecdotal evidence isn't worth very much and so we need carefully gathered data that can be analyzed using standard techniques to get reliable answers to questions like: Do Scrappers get more benefit from Criticals than Blasters do from Defiance? Framing the question is an art in and of itself - Scrappers can't choose to use their inherent, but it never leads to debt when it happens, so in some sense it is clear that they do get more benefit since they never suffer a negative consequence from it. They would get more benefit even if happened only 1% of the time rather than 5%.

Recently I have been playing on a team of elec blasters and defenders. There have been times where I could allow my toon to hover around 40-50% for awhile in relative safety during fights. It turns out that doing so didn't materially change the outcome - I didn't notice that we finished a group of targets off any faster because of my extra damage - most of the damage is wasted because the targets have already been damaged during the rest of the fight. The amount of time a mission takes is usually dominated by the non-fighting parts (exception for AV missions atm), so that wasn't helped for the short time Defiance was supposedly giving me extra damage until I healed naturally. So, I stopped the experiment - I will always use a green at 50% - the extra damage reward just isn't enough to justify the overall risk.

Here is another way to look at it - a defeat means you only progress at 50% speed for awhile. That's just as bad as having a 50% damage debuff for that same time period if you are playing solo. Playing on a team helps you out in terms of reducing the actual game time you suffer from this debuff of course. If you can choose whether or not to use Defiance, does it in fact make sense to maintain an elevated risk of defeat rather than healing and reducing the risk of defeat? I think the answer is usually a resounding no - making choices that do not reduce the risk of defeat is usually a bad strategy.

Another point - there are other ways to increase damage that do not have this nasty side effect: inspirations, BU, Assault, etc. Choosing any of those alternatives seems to be a much bigger win than ever choosing to use Defiance. Now that I think of it, I wonder if blasters who use Assault end up leveling faster all other factors being equal - it would seem to make sense that that would be true.

This holds true also if the choice is to run away. I speculate that most team situations it is better for the team if you live and run away than die, even if you manage to take out a couple more opponents before you go. Although in a team wipe situation, surviving at the end isn't really "saving the team" - they all took debt. You may save some time but that's all.

I would gratefully accept a new inherent that I cannot choose to use if that inherent has no negative consequences. I would be happy with a 3.5% Critical hit. I think I would be happy with no inherent and a permanent 2% damage increase. Or an inherent long-recharge self-rez to 1 hp/1 end. Or an inherent that caps our debt at 2.5% of level instead of 5% like every other AT. That would be just fine with me.

Ohmi on Victory

The scrapper/blaster damage debate can't be resolved scientifically without real mission data. Only then could one test the various hypotheses. For example:

When blasters and scrappers are together on a team, how do the average dps of each blaster/scrapper prim/sec compare? Meaning that it might be that in short missions certain blasters might do better than scrappers, but for longer missions perhaps it goes the other way. Defeats certainly enter into the picture when you aggregate data from thousands of missions - more defeats = lower dps. Considering team size and mission level would refine these answers. It wouldn't surprise me that blasters with AOEs do more damage on teams with tanks than scrappers on the same team.

What is the average reward? If blasters are defeated in a mission more frequently than scrappers their xp reward and overall success in a mission is less because of debt. Does the average level of the team matter to these numbers? I would say it does, particularly when mezzing becomes more common.

Real mission data would tell us definitively if damage done by scrappers via criticals is greater than or less than Defiance-enhanced damage. Anyone want to suggest it isn't? This data could tell us how often foes are defeated by critical damage and compare it to how often foes are defeated by Defiance damage.

Time spent mezzed and defeats while mezzed would also be interesting stats to calculate and correlate by AT. This would measure the usefulness of mez protection, particularly when correlated vs mez attempts, meaning misses.

Insp consumption by AT would also be interesting. I would like to know if using x breakfrees during a Rikti mission leads to a smaller chance of defeat - is starting with 5 enough for a blaster to have a 95% chance to make it through a mission without a defeat while mezzed? Compared to how many for a scrapper? If that number is lower then the scrappers can carry and use more damage insps, upping their damage.

There seems to be resigned but general agreement that blasters won't get more status protections or defense than they can get currently. Instead, I suggest we start lobbying for a replacement for Defiance that gives us an automatic instant, non-interruptable self-heal at one or two %HP remaining points and that works when mezzed. This heal could take the form of an automatic insp pop - meaning that if a blaster is not carrying a green it doesn't work. A fairly long recharge timer could limit abuse.

Ohmi on Victory
Level 49 Elec^3

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One question....is the code that makes Sprinting down a hill too quickly causing dmg going to be taken out then? Or the SJ/CJ that ends =>1 ft below your start point doing dmg? Because those will basically make the One-shotting code useless.

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I bugged that the first day I was in beta - I was so proud of myself finding what I thought was a egregious error. Then I found out it had been bugged since day one of the beta. And it has never been fixed. I always laugh when it happens to me nowadays.

This bug might be exploitable by Stalkers with nothing better to do - hang around slopes waiting for unwary sprinters and then try to AS them before the healing ticks them back up to full.

Ohmi on Victory

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1. We're looking into the tweak to Endurance for mobs that's affected Endurance Drain abilities. Sorry about that!


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Statesman doesn't say that anything about mob Endurance or Endurance Drain abilities is going to get fixed in any way.

In fact, this is a less commital claim than _Castle_'s last comment - perhaps _Castle_'s idea was discarded. Given the amount of vitriol flung at the devs by me and others, I would not be surprised if Statesman chose his words very carefully here to avoid further abuse. Then again, he probably has very high +res to forum posters negative energy attacks.

I'm not celebrating just yet, except to congratulate him on his new son.

Your Elec/Elec suggestions are good although animation changes are probably impossible as are actual changes to the powersets (no swapping out Thunder Clap for something electric and useful).

As such, increasing Charged Bolts BI substantially plus extending the range to equal Lightning Bolt can suffice to bring it up to par vs the other 1st powers.

End drain should be useful in more situations instead of only one or two after you have both SC and Power Sink. I suggest a 3x increase in base end drain for all powers except SC and PS. Only .5x increase for them. -Recovery to all as you suggest, although it might be simpler to make it 1 sec/5 end drained or something like that.

After seeing Stalkers own my teammates in Warburg, and being owned many times from the stun/disorient/sleep side effects of other powersets, unmodified end drain in PvP doesn't seem unreasonable to me but 60% would probably make it possible to use end drain as a tactic in PvP, assuming the 3x increases discussed above.

I never took Voltaic Sentinal - it was always horrible. The best idea I've heard is to make it only fire on your target. If you don't have a target, it doesn't fire. Sort of like a capacitor with 10 shots in it.

Good work.

Ohmi on Victory
Level 43 Elec^3

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If any secondaries need to be looked at, I'd say /Fire and /Ice are much further up on the list than /Elec.

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It does seem that /fire needs attention badly, but IMHO /elec is worse off than /ice, primarily because the end drain secondary effect is no where near as useful and is actually worthless in PvP, whiles icy's secondary works quite well. So it's more about the secondary effect rather than a specific powerset.

My current end drain suggestion to adjust matters is to triple the basic end drain of all such powers and add x sec -end recovery in both elec/ and /elec in order to make it reasonable to slot them for end mod and actually have something happen on each successful attack that can eventually effect the outcome of the fight, just like the other secondary effects. Short Circuit and Power Sink could get raised 2x or perhaps only 1.5x, to make them more effective in more situations. For PvP the story is a little more complicated, but I think explicit promises that Elec blasters would be very happy in PvP because of End drain have not been kept.

There is a nice recent thread with some backstory on End Drain in the Archetypes and Powers General Discussion forum here

Well, I respecced but couldn't bring myself to go full blapper - I simply couldn't give up Zapp for Stealth. I did drop Charged Bolts and took Havoc Punch and Charged Brawl but had to drop Thunderous Strike (I'm 36). I found that ED allowed me to spread out my slots making LB a real threat for me for the first time.

I am living a bit more on the edge, even though I am a mere Heroic character. I most regret losing perma-hasten because I spend more time waiting in a solo mission before engaging a group of yellows. The end drain tactic is definitely less effective, particularly solo, but combined with Power Sink is still useful, especially for large teams vs. large groups and bosses. All in all, I would've been happy if ED had been in from the beginning. I am enjoying the quickness of HP/CP/LB.

Ohmi on Victory

I'm reactivating after many months for the holidays. I read (with a growing sense of horror) all about ED and I6 and I'm sure my level 36 elec/elec blaster will be suffering.

I should have a free respec left, I think, and I was intrigued by the idea of blapping so I think I'll need to give it a shot. Is there anything new I should know Mystic_Amythest? Is Short Circuit still worth fully slotting?

Ohmi on Victory