Starsman

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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    Quote:
    Against Carnies, you'd still deal more damage with Incendiary Ammo (discounting PR's -res against a small number of targets) because 70% of your damage is still benefiting from the 20% weakness (.7 * 1.2 + .3 * 1.2 = 1.2 v. .7 * 1.2 + .3 + .15 = 1.29). An enemy group would need to have 50% weakness to lethal damage before it became preferential to use Standard Ammo over Incendiary Ammo (especially if you quick swapped into Standard when firing PR and out afterwards). Changing damage types just doesn't mean much when damage resistances are so comparatively insignificant for enemies and the percent of your damage type you're changing is so small. Incendiary Ammunition is still the best option for outright dealing damage.
    Really, that's a big problem. In theory, swapping ammo to make use of resistances and weaknesses, until you realise that you're actually reducing your damage output by a not insignificant margin when switching away from Incendiary rounds.
    Depends on the foe, their resistances and weaknesses. You will eventually face foes that are both, resistant to fire and weaker to cold, for example.

    Not to mention that you may still get to a point where the damage loss is minimal, but the knockdowns of lethal, -dmg of toxic or -recharge/slows of cryo will end up more than justifying the tiny loss from fire. That's, though, not noting that Fire's damage is not sure damage, the DoT may not happen at all, and it can cancel mid-way. In average, it can do high damage, but it's a bit of a gambling when looking at a specific fight where sure -dmg/-rchg may had saved your life.
  2. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FunstuffofDoom View Post
    So what do the PvP applications of Dual Pistols look like? Not as a blast set, because, as pointed out, animations hamper a high-DPS chain, but as another set of debuffs? Would two or three Dark/DP Defenders, or Rad/DP Corrupters, or what have you, be a new must-have for team PvP?
    PvP is a different beast and damage there is based of cast time, not recharge, so DP should be VERY nice in PvP, plus ice rounds should do a great job at slowing down the foes, Slows and -Recharge tend to be very very annoying in PvP (or meaningless, depends how much you get stacked on you and not sure how this will work with diminishing returns)
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bionic_Flea View Post
    Dispari's anecdote about stacking chemical is relevant, but really that applies to stacking anything -- it could have been 3 sonics to stack -resistance or
    Not really the same. Let's say you get enough stacking to keep -100 resist in the target, that still is only just doubling damage output, or an increase in effectiveness of +100%.

    However, 2 defenders can theoretically take outgoing damage of a foe down to 10%, this is like increasing team survivability by +900%!!!


    Quote:
    3 FF or cold defenders to cap defense, or 3 cold blasters to crush recharge and movement speed.
    Ah but now you talking defenders, defenders, by design, do this stacking, it's the phenomenon called as Power Multipliers. We are talking about a blast set, that on it's own, has the capability of being a power multiplier (with Toxic rounds, cold rounds are not that dangerous as there is a -75% recharge softcap)
  4. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Scythus View Post
    But we've already established that that's precisely how most of the sets already are, including DP. Its damage is pretty average, but it has a very unique utility of being able to change its secondary effects and Dispari has already written an example of how well DP does that. You seem to want it to do more damage which might have the potential of making it overpowered. The damage is already average for blast sets, why does it need to be any higher?

    We're trying to tell you that damage does not solely matter. Its the secondary effects that also give you an edge in combat. Despite all of your protests it just keeps sounding like you want the set to be damage-centric like Fire Blast is.
    At least as far as this thread is concerned, FunstuffofDoom already accepted the utility power can indeed be strong enough to be a counterweight in the "balance equation."
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FunstuffofDoom View Post
    Or, as I've put it, if X is Single Target damage, Y is Area of Effect Damage, and Z is utility, I want every set to be XYZ. And, perhaps, we'll call XYZ the set constant, K. K-Sub S, if other constants are in use.
    Thing is, what you describe there is no "Equality", it's "Balance." Two very different things.
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FunstuffofDoom View Post
    Of course it's a pipe dream. I submit myself to the pragmatist approach that working towards the ideal is the best action we can take, and will be content.
    Thing is equality defeats the purpose of multiple sets with didstinct flavors. If you get equality you may as well just make one set and give people the ability to customize the effects to look icy/fiery/dark/electric/etc. I actually think DC Universe Online is doing something similar, they seem to note that you get to pick a power (ice/fire/dark) and a source (gun/wand/head/hands/sword/etc) and somehow those combine into giving you a customized character that may perform similarly for all variations.

    I am sure it's going to be more complex than that but so far that seems to be their base.


    Quote:
    Actually, that's a callback to something I wrote earlier in the thread. I didn't mean to suggest it was the metric Devs use;
    Well, it's not a metric but they do keep a rule of thumb about it.
  7. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FunstuffofDoom View Post
    I didn't. I wanted equality.
    Just for the record, This is not aimed at you directly, but it's an unrealistic desire that many seem to have: You can't have equality. You just cant, best you can have is a minimum margin of accepted performance for all, DP gets nowhere near it so that should be fine.

    Quote:
    Which is why the metric for some constant all sets could be measured by had three variables: Single Target damage, Area of Effect damage, and Status Effects/Mitigation/Utility.
    Close, from what I understand there is a minimum desired Single Target level of performance, AoE is entirely optional as is utility of any kind. Addition of utility or AoE do are expected but there is no bar to measure them, however you should expect if one is too high there should be penalties in any of the other two.

    Fire and Sonic i think are ultimate extreme examples of this. The stackability of -resist in Sonic, plus sleeps and holds are all considered so dangerous that the set has the weakest self damage while Fire is refused any utility at all.
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Siolfir View Post
    *shrug* The charts make assumptions, some of which I disagree with. I'm curious how the single target damage accounts for Voltaic Sentinel's contributions, since it doesn't necessarily shoot the single target you want it to.
    When I measure ST damage, I'm not measuring if you can hit a specific target but, instead, should you have one foe in front of you, how much damage you can dish out. Having two foes does not change the fact that VS still is dishing out damage, it just means your AoE attacks may also become a viable tool for your fight.

    Quote:
    And Ice Blast is in a far lower position than it should be - for Corruptors at least, where the animations on the single target chain are 1 sec, 1 sec, and 1.07 sec for Bolt/Blast/BIB. Given decent recharge, it's very close to Fire (and higher if you don't give the DoT time to burn out on Blaze) for single target.
    Cant run everything for all ATs at once. This is based off blaster numbers (think I noted that in the thread I originally posted the numbers,) Rad is also much stronger for blasters than Defenders or Corruptors, same goes for Psi Blast. I think Defiance 2.0 really @#$% up Ice Blasters.
  9. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Clouded View Post
    As an aside to Starsman's charts...you'll note the Electric Blast is near the top for Single Target Damage and people have whined about the set's lack of a 3rd ST heavy hitter power. So either the chart is flawed or people's perception of what is overpowered and underpowered is skewed by their own self wants.
    Even Arcanaville has noted on this: Voltaic Sentinel is often ignored when talking about Electric, I did not ignore it. It adds a lot of damage even if it's hard to keep it in the same target as you. When fighting one foe, though, that's the only thing it has to attack. I also think many players also ignore the snipe, I don't, even if it's very hard to use in combat it still is not impossible to do so.
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FunstuffofDoom View Post
    I suppose the counter to that claim is simply a demand for proof. Can you show me --and I mean actually show me. Not theoretical work. A demorecord, or a youtube video, or something-- or a DP/Whatever character excelling some way?
    Don't have the record but I seen two DP defenders bring an AV down to 10% damage by combining their Toxic rounds (non permanently, think a third blaster will make it pretty much perma 10%.)

    DP shares one interesting trait with Sonic Blast: It's secondary effects stack amazingly well. The more Dual Pistol users in the team, the much safer that fight can be (provided you don't have 4 each using different rounds.)


    Quote:
    Have the Devs released some edict from on high that the game must be played their way, and no other?
    No, but all that means is they will not nerf the set if you find a way to make it perform much stronger than they expected (unless you start soloing Hamidon.)

    Quote:
    Have they got some sort of vision they're trying to adhere to?
    They tend to have a vision for every set they design. They design sets with goals and a flavor. The term Jack of all trade, master of none, was pushed a lot during testing of Dual Pistols. It also was noted that secondary effect slotting could be one of the huge advantages of this set.

    Looking at plain DPA of attacks, though, I can tell you recharge boosts are not going to make the set too strong. Fire Rounds, though, do the damage they do with just enhancements. Every other set in my scores (weather you agree with them or not) are using Aim. Point of this? Base Fire Round DPS for DS is higher than base (no aim) damage for other "average" sets. Damage buffs will have a stronger effect on Fire Round DP than any set other than Fire Blast.
  11. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FunstuffofDoom View Post
    I defer to Samuel_Tow's point, then. If skilled used of a keystone power is required to yield middle-of-the-road performance, is a set balanced?
    I would then ask for the evidence that said skilled player truthfully has pushed DP as far as it should be pushed. I already noted how you can use Lethal Piercing rounds, switch into fire, and do much more damage, and that's just an example. Thanks the the lethal rounds -def, you can also slot -res procs in those attacks to increase your potential damage.

    But there is another thing, true, a skilled player should be able to excel the set at something, but that does not mean he should be able to excel it at damage.

    That's not to mention, even in Fire mode you never entirely renounce to your mitigation capabilities. You always will have access to Suppressive Fire, while Fire Blast gets it's damage superiority while entirely renouncing to all forms of mitigation.

    My personal opinion, in the end, is the set is "balanced".

    This does NOT mean the set is perfect, this does not mean anyone that disagrees with me is wrong. It's just an opinion, balancing is not really an all-or-nothing thing, after all.

    I myself did propose some "improvements" during testing but they were, obviously, not accepted.

    Most my proposal was based around Suppressive Fire. Making the power behave differently with different round types.

    Example:
    Under Fire mode, Suppressive Fire does 1.8 DS of damage and only a 2 second hold.

    Under Cold it stays as it is.
    Under Lethal, it does 1.5 and 4s stun.

    Under toxic and ice, rounds that are intended for mitigation more than anything, I'd keep it just as it is now.

    This would give fire damage higher than average damage and a boost to lethal while keeping ice/toxic as survival rounds.
  12. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Venture View Post
    My take on DXP weekend, and this hasn't much to do with how the game overall is doing, is that I'm more convinced now that the devs must be at least considering server merges.

    Sure, Virtue and Freedom were in the yellow the whole time, but I was playing on Champion, and it was dead. I hardly ever saw other players. I could walk into Wents' in Talos and find a whole one other player at prime time. When I made the new DP Blaster there was no one in Outbreak. I had the place to myself until I was halfway through Isolator.
    Forget server mergers, give us cross-server teams.
  13. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FunstuffofDoom View Post
    For the upteenth time, to what benefit?

    Fine, with incendiary ammunition, a DP character is average at single target damage. However, this only lasts as long as the refuse to change ammo types. Since the recurring point is that ammo-changing provides utility to render the set balanced, 'twould stand to reason that an inability to change ammo types ('cause you're keeping it locked on incendiary to be decent at ST, remember.) removes that utility, and thus unbalances the set.
    If you play smart, you can do much much better than that. Like jumping into Lethal to use Piercing rounds then jumping into fire to exploit the extra fire damage on a foe that now has -resist thanks to lethal.

    DP is intended, by design, to be middle of the pack, and Fire rounds, is intended to be the damage you would be doing if you had Aim to spam (that's another thing on my numbers, every set up there assumes Aim Spamming)

    DP AoE damage is just slightly below the median in non-fire, and just slightly over the median in fire. (dont look at the sorting in the list, look at the numbers, there are a lot of ties in the list and sorting ends up being alphabetical.)

    ST, yes, out of fire the set is definitively under the median but it's exactly at the median in fire.

    The set has the potential to do expected damage, you just have to go into fire mode for that. The reason for using other rounds is not damage but strategical. It's the design of the set, not a flaw or unbalance. As it stands the set's secondary effects can be very powerful and damage is the price you pay to use them.
  14. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lazarus View Post
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lycanus View Post
    To be fair, Holmes is described as being an excellent fighter from the first story onward with boxing, wrestling, cane and sword fighting being in his arsenal according to Watson.

    Just rarely does a physical fight ever come up in the stories.
    Yep, while some of the new stuff was made up for the movie it was for the most part a "Casino Royalization" in that many of the ideas really did exist in the original stories. People just still think of the old Basil Rathbone movies is that the problem is.
    This. Criticizing Holmes for the reasons stated throughout the thread is as criticizing Casino Royal for not being truth to the real gadget-loaded Bond.

    I loved every minute of Sherlock Holmes and consider it far superior than that other movie that broke so many records.

    Oh and for Transformers (or "Bayformers") the nostalgia critic says it best:
    NC TF1
    NC TF2

    Say what you want about TF, but NC got it right, THAT is what i wanted from a TF movie.
  15. Quote:
    Originally Posted by BackAlleyBrawler View Post
    The ostrich would disagree with you, being the fastest two-legged animal on land. Even humans when sprinting tend to run on their toes or balls of their feet. There's generally not of heel-to-ground contact during a full out sprint.
    On his defense, he did say "larger birds walk", most birds are not large, though. Although my alexandrine is rather small.
  16. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lazarus View Post
    As someone who has 4 Cockatiels and a Quaker Parrot in his house, the larger birds do walk instead of hop but it is much more of a waddling motion than what we think of as walking.

    Very few birds have feet optimized for running and walking. Most of them are adapted for perching on branches and climbing sheer surfaces.
    I have an African Grey and an Alexandrine, it may just be parrots but they both walk rather smoothly. They never ever hop, I don't think they can. Every time the Alexandrine "hops" it's just a short flight, she uses her wings to do it.

    And off course, there is the most delicious bird of all: Chicken. They walk most of the time and again, every time I seen one hop he uses it's wings to propel it.
  17. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marcian Tobay View Post
    Holy crap! I didn't realize that this was such a coordinated effort!
    Fool left his guard down attack!!!!

  18. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Golden Girl View Post
    I'm not tiny - I'm 5 foot 5 and a half
    So you are 5'5.5"?
  19. Quote:
    Originally Posted by poptart_fairy View Post
    Whereas you're apparently not even on the same continent as it. I never said I wasn't having fun, I said I numbed myself to the grind. Subtle differences, exist they do.
    Full circle to:

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by poptart_fairy View Post
    It never took skill or effort to get to 50, just the ability to numb yourself long enough during the grind.


    Not sure why you require to numb yourself to have fun but hey, I guess some people may enjoy that kind of thing.
  20. Quote:
    Originally Posted by poptart_fairy View Post
    I remember having to gain experience to get to level 50. Did they change this at some point, or...?
    I remember having fun while gaining said experience. You missed that point.
  21. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Perfect_Pain View Post
    Issue 18 is coming with Going Rogue.
    False, Going Rogue wont have an issue attached. I17 is what would had come with GR and perhaps a bit more.

    It's very likely they did this based on previous experience with I6/CoV.

    Despite the issue giving players new (pvp) zones many complained that there was no actual issue 6 and it was just the scraps of the expansion.

    By launching this ahead they make sure there is a proper I17 and after GR is released, few months down the road, we get I18. For all I can tell, everything in GR that was not added to I17 will be exclusive for GR buyers.
  22. Quote:
    Originally Posted by poptart_fairy View Post
    It never took skill or effort to get to 50, just the ability to numb yourself long enough during the grind.
    You are playing the game wrong.
  23. Quote:
    Originally Posted by overkillGA View Post
    Let down with i17 content? It's not a new sensation.
    Positron tf halved, Epics available at lvl 20.. Do you get the feeling only the gripes of a noob majority are being listened to? After all they do make up the majority, with most veterans leaving the game.
    Positon, a tf that can be completed in 3 hours by a team with at least 1 player who knows the ins and outs, halved..
    Epics unlocked at lvl 20. Lvl 20 can be reached in a few hours on a farm map, so if people (new players) were that desperate to get one they could find themselves with 1 on the day of purchasing the game.
    In the time I wasted on Jay's costume thread I think movable tails was umpteenth in the list of wants. Way behind the likes of..
    Monstrous faces, that didn't all look like rabid hedgehogs (Yes, a bird's head could be a monstrous one).
    A back pack - that did NOTHING!!! but was there to see, at the time dismissed because of animation problems - well there's several in game now, not to mention the purchasable one, plus wings, which all cope rather well.
    Movable hair, or flowing hair. Not a favourite of mine but it was highly requested.

    On top of this there has once again been a failure to allow villains access to the shadow shard or a lvl 50 contact with unlimited, non-timed missions. I understand we all got excited with the content for both heroes and villains to play together, but CoV has definitely suffered neglect over recent issues content-wise. 5 minutes in the MA could solve this problem, then we move it on to the live server...

    I will continue this thread later, but for now I ask you to add to the list of missed opportunities.
    OH my another Generic Rant Thread!!! I love these games!!!

    Let me try let me try!!!

    Hmmm oh perfect!!!

    Bash towards the OP for low post count.
  24. Don't think so. Reichsman is, but Reichsman is just another dimension's Statesman.
  25. I think the logic goes a bit more like this:

    If we want to bring new players, the box must include the full game, not just the expansion.

    Players of the game may feel cheated if forced to pay for it all, so we will offere them an expansion only version.

    We cant confuse new buyers at the store so the expansion only will be download only.

    Since Downloads dont really "run out", we get no preorders, but we need preorders to have a good idea of how well the sales are going, so lets encourage players that want to buy the expansion with a powerset headstart.

    The goodies in the box should be enough to convince box-audience to just pre-order.

    Some people may still want the box goodies so lets also sell those separatedly on the store.

    They did seem to have missed the people that may want the CD, Goodies AND headstart.