Stupid_Fanboy

[ QUOTE ]
DC is not part of Dark Armor, but I think you meant Dark Melee.

[/ QUOTE ]

Doh!. time for a stealth edit!

I can't see them changing too much with the set. I can see a potential problem with Follow Up since that dmg buff isn't a big deal to a brute. But it still would be a constant 30% damage. I could see that maybe being a skipable power for Brutes. I can't think of an interesting change though... Replacing with Build Up is doable but so boring.


hehehe
The only thing I'd really want done would be for Babs to allow us to choose a new animation in place of Evis.

i don't see why you'd take that proc with Dark Meleer which has Dark Consumption. If you want more recovery, slot up DC. I'd put a damage proc or another IO on mine.

[ QUOTE ]
The damage is so good now I think most people are slotting it for dam/rech over heal to use it as a touch up heal as part of the attack chain, basically giving you a set % of health/min plus keeping your DPS chain.

Its almost like a regen mechanic when used this way, instead of being something you only use when your health is low.

[/ QUOTE ]

it's always really been that way. 20% heal, enhanced, isn't like the heals in Regen or /Fire. It's always worked much, much better as a constant part of an attack chain.

Now it's just even better because of the damage.

both are possible. there's a great thread on it in the Scrapper forum. you can get all the different attributes enhanced to a good degree but if you want the set bonuses from one or the other, you'll obviously have to make different choices.

For me, this is one of the few powers where I feel it's more important to focus on the enhancement values than the set bonuses. I'd make sure that the Damage, acc and heal are most enhanced. The recharge and end costs will get lowered from the fact you're using triple and double IOs anyway.



here's a link to that thread

Since someone mentioned the Scrapper Issues Thread, I'll just say this.

If you guys can agree on something needing to be done, I'll add it as a balance issue.

If you can't agree and still want it on the list, then I'll still probably add it but only as a wishlist item.

nope, nothing. watch your combat stats or pay close attention to the orange numbers. you can also use the "healing delivered" channel to show you when you're getting the buff.

none of them can be perma. The cap means you can only reduce the recharge to 1/5th the base.

Unstoppable, Elude, Power Surge, Overload, Kuji-in Retsu

180 second durations
1000 second recharges
020 second minimum downtime

MoG

015 second durations
240 second recharges
045 second minimum downtime

One with the Shield

120 second durations
360 second recharges
240 second minimum downtime

Strength of Will

120 second durations
300 second recharges
280 second minimum downtime

castle posted in here somewhere so it'll never be purged unless they purposely choose to do so.

[ QUOTE ]
Wow, great minds think alike, eh? I was just about to suggest that...
I think if you get the vanguard claws and turn it black, it MAY work.

[/ QUOTE ]

what also sorta works is the tiny Widow claws with the the gloves from the Valkyrie set. You can barely see the tips of them through the large hand piece

I'd settle for Brutes getting a dismembered arm and leg as options for Mace.

I think it's because DM is more complementary to SR than Katana, which is more complementary to Regen.

Katana's Divine Avalanche provides tons of melee and lethal defense. If you're trying to softcap an SR scrapper, it's helpful but it's also pretty easy to softcap using IOs At that point, DA becomes superfluous. For Regen though, which starts with no defense, DA really helps to make it more survivable and it allows people to reach the melee def softcap which helps in those AV fights.

DM on the other hand has a lot of overlap with the benefits of Regen. Both have superior end recovery mechanisms as well as great self heals. Regen benefits from those, sure, but not nearly as much as if you can get ~25% defense to range and aoe from IOs and cap your melee def from IOs and DA. For SR, the self heal is a huge deal. Siphon Life used with capped Defenses makes SR a hell of a lot tougher. Same with the end recovery in DM. People have always complained about SR's end use and having DC frees you up from searching out IO recovery bonuses.

That's not to say that Kat/SR isn't a great combo. Hey, I've got one at 50 myself and loved it the whole way.

ditto. both are very good AOEs with very different uses.

Like the others have said, you'll find one of them more useful to you depending on your Secondary but I still think both are very useful tools for anyone.

I've got the new version almost ready but first, would anyone like to comment on any of the PVP sets and their impact?

[ QUOTE ]
Life Guardian Eagle's Claw was changed to a 100% mag 3 stun, wasn't it? So that would be something that can pair with Cobra Strike to stun bosses.

[/ QUOTE ]I believe that note about Thunder Kick has more to do with the uselessness of the Stun in TK rather than the ability to stack stuns on Cobra Strike. If no one objects, I can edit that to be more specific to TK.

[ QUOTE ]
Jack_NoMind Disable enhancements on Toxic resist component of Healing Flames, allowing the power to be unflagged for "ignores buffs and enhancements." Possibly increase duration slightly to compensate (more stacking). (Possibly redundant with one of the "Kludge" entries, but provides a workaround.)

[/ QUOTE ]
We as the players can certainly see why this is a workaround for the powers that give toxic resists on top of heals but I'm not sure that the devs are convinced of this solution simply because it's a rather obvious one, i.e. I'm sure they thought of this and rejected it for some reason. The resists are not close to being the main point of the power clearly but they wanted that slotting option left in for some reason. Perhaps this option wasn't possible. A dev post plus some digging around in the dev digest might shine better light on this subject

[ QUOTE ]
Jack_NoMind Consume: Improve cycle time and add a Slow debuff to the power's effects on enemies. Removing the (paltry) damage component would be an acceptable trade. (Slow would be thematic -- absorbing heat from the bodies of others -- and would combo well with the scatter in Burn.)

[/ QUOTE ]
The debuff for damage trade is probably more doable than improving cycle time. The devs place a very high value on end recovery in most powers and making that effect stronger isn't something I see them doing.

[ QUOTE ]
Jack_NoMind Add perception, endurance drain protection, or recharge debuff protection to the effects of any power(s). These seem thematic for the set and would go a long way towards offsetting its overt mitigation weaknesses.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'd need to see better reasons for why Fire needs these and are thematic.

[ QUOTE ]
Jack_NoMind Eliminate redraw on Fighting and other power pool attacks

[/ QUOTE ]
We all know it's a ton of work but I'll add it to the General Scrapper Issues as a wishlist item. That's all it can be until they have the time and ability to do this.

[ QUOTE ]
Jack_NoMindAdjust click heals for current base HP; regeneration automatically scales, but click heals can only be scaled via level and Enhancing.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think this is very much an intended effect of those heals. I don't believe they want them scaling with HP. All heals in the game are coded as hard numbers for their base values, not % which is why I think that. Making specific exceptions for Scrappers isn't something I see happening.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Wishlist: Would be nice if tough hide and/or invincibility had a positional component (i.e. melee) for more compatibility with IO set bonuses - Daolong, 2007-08-15

[/ QUOTE ]Sarrate With the changes to type defense in I13, is this necessary?

[/ QUOTE ]
No, it's gone in the next list.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Balance: Positional defenses only exist as a set IO buff with 5 or 6 of a set, compared to non-positional defensive buffs that don't stack with SR's defenses - Arcanaville, 2007-04-05

[/ QUOTE ]Dying_Breath Is this not resolved now that IO set bonuses for non-positional defense give half bonus to a positional defense?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yep, also gone in the next list

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Bug: Dark Armor/Oppressive Gloom received the same 12.5% damage boost as all other scrapper powers in issue 5 - problem is this power does damage to the scrapper, not enemies - InfernalNight, 2005-08-03

[/ QUOTE ]Transhade This issue should really be removed from the list. The damage from OG at its current levels is no way breaking OG and really is fine at the level it is at.

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree which is why I added my reasoning for the change. If no one objects, this will be removed from the next list as well.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Bug: Dark Armor/Cloak of Fear is not properly enhanced by fear duration enhancers at least in PvP, probably not in PvE, though accuracy enhancers do work - Aeryn, 2005-10-16 - Castle says 'not certain what this means' - but that it has a low base accuracy - 2005-11-18

[/ QUOTE ]Transhade Is someone trying to say fear duration enhancers do not make someone feared longer in PVP?.

[/ QUOTE ]
yes, I believe that was the point of that item. From your response and the general PVP changes, I'll have this item removed if no one objects.

[ QUOTE ]
Jack_NoMind Oh, hey, as long as we're talking issues, here's a question: Has anyone gotten word whether or not it's intended behavior that the Numina's and Regenerative Tissue procs are enhanceable? I mean, yeah, I'm scared of the answer being "no" as well -- my flimsier scrappers might cry, in game, if they lost that +~45% regen -- but I'd have a bit more peace of mind about it if I knew they were going to stay that way.

[/ QUOTE ]
This really sounds like bug to me. I'm going to put it on here as such because I can't think of any other IO that lets you do this. If the devs say otherwise, then I'll remove it and treat it as "working as intended". Until that time, this is Bugged IMO unless there are some compelling reasons to believe this was intended.

[ QUOTE ]
_Prankster_ Bug: Willpower non offensive toggles randomly drop like "Mind Over Body" or "Indomitable Will" and when I say randomly I mean at any point while playing, on top of being mezzed.

[/ QUOTE ]
Sounds like a legit issue if it pans out but I'd like to hear more from other WP users and some repeated results of this happening. When and how does this occur?

[ QUOTE ]
Transhade Now we need Fanboy to clean up the list.

[/ QUOTE ]
Woah there, partner. No need to click Burn, now.

Patch Notes: January 22, 2009

• Matched cast time to animation changes made to dual Blades Power Slice.
• Modified the amount of Recharge Resist in Shield's Grant Cover. It is now a static 30% resistance at all levels.
• Shield Defense / Shield Charge: This power will now do one tick of damage at 2.4 scale damage instead of one for 1.7 and another for 0.7.
• Corrected an issue with Super Reflexes / Focused Fighting giving Confuse Protection instead of Resistance in PVP.
• Group Invisibility no longer causes travel suppression in PVP.
• Fixed a bug where trades would not work properly after switching between builds.
• Fixed a bug that made Purple IOs invisible after switching builds.
• Right handed Weapons should be visible when customizing your shield.
• General Scrapper Issue: Player damage buffs (Build Up, Follow Up, Blinding Feint) will no longer have their damage buff reduced by the player's own resistance.
• Corrected Ranges of some Scrapper Cones and AoEs
  Dual Blades – Typhoon's Edge - 8 feet
  Dual Blades – Sweeping Strike – 7 feet
  Dual Blades – One Thousand Cuts – 7 feet
  Spines – Ripper – 7 feet (range and radius)
  Martial Arts – Dragon's Tail – 8 feet

Patch Notes: December 09, 2008

• Fixed issue when an attack power was in animation, you were unable to turn off a toggle. The fix now allows for all toggles to be turned off except costume changing powers.
• Dark Armor / Soul Transfer: This power's stun effect now correctly has 2 second duration in a PvP zone instead of 10 seconds.
• Temporary toggle powers with now offensive effects should now suppress instead of being de-toggled.
• It is now possible to purchase Hold, Intangibility, Interrupt Time, Slow and Taunt SO enhancements from the Merit Vendors

(updated April 1st, 2009)

This thread is not for balance issues against other archetypes. It is for balance within the Scrapper power sets. It is for reporting bugs that affect Scrappers.

Please note: this is not a substitute for /bugging it. I am not a developer. Always /bug a problem you've noticed as well as reporting it in this thread or on the scrapper forum!

For the love of Positron, please do not quote this entire post to reply.

Please feel free to submit PvP issues and opinions.

Updates are written in lightgreen.

Notes for Balance Issues

• Attacks are balanced, DPS-wise, on recharge time, not activation time, and whether they're AOE effects or single-target. Secondary effects aren't consistent in how they affect this - Stupid_Fanboy, 2006-02-15
• The following equations are the ones used to create costs for attack powers in PVE (powers whose primary function is damage)
• AREAMOD = (1+(0.75*(RADIUS/5))-(((0.011*(RADIUS/6))*(360-ARC))/5)
• DMG = (0.2*((RECH*0.8)+1.8)) / AREAMOD
• END = 5.2 * DMG
• - have fun with these guys -SF
• All characters, regardless of archetypes, should be able to solo a mission on 'heroic' - generally, spawns of three even-level minions, or a lieutenant and a minion - clarified by Arcanaville, 2006-03-08
• Defensive sets are balanced against the base to-hit chance of minions, which is much lower than the base to-hit chance for characters - in PvP, all players were granted a +25% bonus to base Defense - clarified by Arcanaville, 2006-03-08

************************************************** **********

General Issues affecting Scrappers - unresolved

• Bug: Scrapper inherent description is incorrect - should read, 'Scrappers have a chance to critical hit a target for double damage. Most scrapper attacks have a small chance to critical hit minions, pets, and other players, and a higher chance to critical hit more powerful foes.' (plus more detail if desired) - Arcanaville, 2006-09-01
• Bug: Enemies being feared seem to attack if you attack anyone, not just the feared enemy - Silver_Snake, 2005-10-24 - partially fixed, for Touch of Fear but maybe not Cloak of Fear? - Stupid_Fanboy, 2005-11-29 - while ToF'd, will run away and buff - Stupid_Fanboy, 2006-06-06
• Balance: There appears to be a large discrepancy between the levels of resistance and defense achievable with IO bonuses. Perhaps resistance bonuses should be paired up like defense bonuses were – Daolong, 2009-02-10
• Wishlist: Would be nice if power icons had some kind of indicator when your target is out of range for that power - Shadow_Stone, 2005-12-13
• Wishlist: It would be nice if eventually, all weapons could be used with Shield Defense – combined from several hundred people
• Wishlist: More variety in Scrapper Ancillary Pools would be nice, especially considering the recent addition of Fire Melee and Fiery Aura. In addition to more pool, more variety in power would also be nice. Some better debuffs and ranged attacks for example – combined from several hundred people

************************************************** **********

General Scrapper Primaries - unresolved

• Bug: Powers with Knock effects can ragdoll the target through or into objects on the map, making them difficult or impossible to target afterwards. Targets will also sometime be immune to knock effects if they are at a certain part of their recovery animation when hit. They will stand up and fire attacks as though the effect never hit them. combined from several other notes – SF
• Bug: Target Reticles for Single Target and Cones need to be positioned better on NPCs as you can find yourself unable to hit with both Cones and ST attacks depending on your relative position to the target. This is particularly noticeable with very large targets, like the Jade Spider – Nihili & Desmodos, 2009-02-17
• Wishlist Female Scrappers with Weapon Sets shouldn't run and jump like males when the sword is drawn - huge models suddenly acquire perfect posture as well - combined from several other patch notes.- SF
• Wishlist: Removing redraw from Scrapper Ancillary pools would be nice and allow all primaries equally to use every pool – combined from several hundred people

General Scrapper Primaries - IN PROGRESS

• Wishlist: It would be nice to be able to hit very large enemies, i.e. giant monsters, up in the faces rather than always having to go to the hitbox located around the feet. (suggested by Houma, 2005-03-09 - NotABunny notes that there is a narrow layer above footstomp AoE where a flying/hovering scrapper can still punch/kick the giant monster, 2005-06-01

Broadsword - unresolved

• (home of future balance issues)

Claws - unresolved

• (home of future balance issues)

Dark Melee - unresolved

• Wishlist: Shadow Punch's animation time was changed from .57s to .83s. Backalley Brawler cited animation concerns but there are other powers that still allowed to animate faster.
• Wishlist: Shadow Maul's tray icon should signify it's a cone (white arc across top of button) - Mystic_Amethyst, 2005-08-02 - Castle has said it's not intended that people try to hit multiple enemies with it regularly - 2006-12-14 - but it only takes PBAOE damage IO sets - Desmodas, 2007-09-06
• Wishlist: Would be nice if Shadow Maul could interrupt Embalmed Vahzilok's detonations, it doesn't because it's a DoT - Desmodos, 2007-05-22

Dual Blades - unresolved

• Bug: The Empower combo does not work well with high level of +Recharge bonuses. If the combo is initiated less than 6 seconds after the previous one, it will not work – Nihili, 2009-02-10
• Wishlist: Would be nice if each power's description explained what combos it was a part of and in what order. Combos are a vital part of DB attacking and should be explained in game – CrazyCorsaire, 2009-02-17

Fire Melee - unresolved

• Bug: Greater Fire Swords costs 0.83 more endurance than it should. - SF
• Bug: Fire Sword Circle costs 0.666 more endurance than it should and it recharges 0.8s too slowly. - SF

Martial Arts - unresolved

• Balance: Lacks AoE attacks but doesn't have more single-target damage compared to other sets - SpiderTeo_OC, 2007-09-07
• Balance: Lack of AoE attacks limits the kinds of IO sets that can be slotted. Status Effect sets are little consolation as enhancing for their effects at the cost of Damage, Accuracy, End Cost and Recharge hurts the Scrapper's build - SpiderTeo_OC, 2009-02-10
• Balance: Storm Kick seems to cost too much end (7.0044, should be 6.864) for its damage - Arcanaville, 2006-07-24
• Balance: Martial Arts lacks a general secondary effect (Katana and Broadsword have -Def, Dark Melee has -Acc, Spines has Slow, Claws is faster and less END-costly) - SpiderTeo_OC, 2006-07-03
• Balance: Martial Arts status effects are not nearly as consistent in application as other sets - SamChoice, 2005-10-31, clarified by Arcanaville
• Balance: Cobra Strike does too little damage for its recharge time, compared to utility powers in other sets like Divine Avalanche, Follow Up, and Impale. Mag 3 stun is useful but lacks a consistent stun power that can be paired for bosses - Arcanaville, 2006-03-10
• Wishlist: Crippling Axe Kick has a chance to immobilize, but no visual indicator - Impact_Hazard, 2006-07-26
• Wishlist: Crippling Axe Kick's impact sound is wimpy - TheArtifex, 2006-02-13
• Wishlist: Thunder Kick's disorient was more useful as a 100% chance of a mag 1 disorient which could then be stacked with Eagle Claw's disorient or Cobra Strike's disorient, than a 10% chance of a mag 2 disorient. - reported by Heroic, corrected by Arcanaville, 2006-12-08

Martial Arts - IN PROGRESS

• Bug: Combat chat for Crippling Axe Kick says it slows attack rate, which the power doesn't do - Arcanaville, 2007-04-05 - Castle aware and fixing

Katana - unresolved

• Wishlist: Right fist is closed instead of opened when jumping (blade held in left hand) - Neutrino_Siphon, 2007-08-15
• Wishlist: Female katana (and broadsword) scrappers shouldn't run and jump like males when the sword is drawn - huge models suddenly acquire perfect posture as well - EvaDestruction, 2006-01-27 - GreyDog, 2006-07-14

Spines - unresolved

• Bug: Throw Spines crit is resistible in PvP (scrapper crits are normally not resisted) - Saint_O_killers, 2005-11-15
• Bug: Spines does not speed up attacks to compensate for having to redraw spines - reported by Thornkiller after testing attack chains with minimum/maximum spines redraw
• Balance: Spines/Ripper is claimed to be a 'wide' cone but is about 90 degrees, far less than Slice's 120 degrees.
• Balance: Attacks with notably long cast times compared to damage/effects: Spines/barb swipe
• Wishlist: Would be nice if Spines/Quills noise faded away like other togglable AOE powers (Death Shroud) do - Hellblaze, 2006-01-21

************************************************** **********

General Scrapper Secondaries - unresolved

• Wishlist: Regeneration/Integration and Fighting/tough and other defenses should not emit /tarzan animation, this is a character role-play issue. This is okay for trolls but not for many superheroes - can work around by moving while toggling these powers - VoodooCompany, 2007-03-27
• Wishlist: Click powers in secondaries, like Reconstruction, Dull Pain, Practiced Brawler, etc.. , all cause weapon redraw which is really annoying in combat - combined from several other notes - SF
• Wishlist: Click buffs can sometimes be triggered during death, never giving their potentially lifesaving buff to the player but still entering a potentially long cooldown. It would be nice if the buff was applied when the cooldown was triggered - combined from several other notes - SF
• Kludge: Self-heals with slottable toxic resistance, such as Reconstruction, are unable to benefit from Enhanced Heal Invention set bonuses due to current game mechanical limitations - Arcanaville, 2007-04-26

Dark Armor - unresolved

• Bug: Dark Armor/Cloak of Fear is not properly enhanced by fear duration enhancers at least in PvP, probably not in PvE, though accuracy enhancers do work - Aeryn, 2005-10-16 - Castle says 'not certain what this means' - but that it has a low base accuracy - 2005-11-18
• Bug: Dark Armor/Oppressive Gloom received the same 12.5% damage boost as all other scrapper powers in issue 5 - problem is this power does damage to the scrapper, not enemies - InfernalNight, 2005-08-03 - Castle says this doesn't seem to be a huge difference - still, was this intended for what should have been a buff? - 2005-11-18 - all damaging powers work off of the Scrapper damage scalar, so it is logical that OG is affected. Should it be affected? Castle has to answer that - SF[/b]
• Balance: Scrapper Cloak of Fear was diminished in magnitude to only affect minions instead of lieutenants; given low accuracy, high endurance cost, might be nice if it were rebalanced in some fashion - Wyvern, 2006-08-18
• Wishlist: Most other dark attacks in the game has -tohit as a secondary effect - why not Death Shroud, Dark Consumption, and Dark Regen? - hudsonsmith, 2006-01-07 - Desmodos added other dark attacks that lack -acc for players, 2006-11-01 - Desmodos removed Soul Drain from list because powers cannot have both +hit buff and debuff, 2007-03-23
• Wishlist: Dark Armor effects too obscuring, should reduce quantity of effects - effects have been toned down but are still very obvious and obscuring - some scrappers like obscuring armors - would be nice if this was tunable with customized power effects (TheSpeedingSkull, 2005-05-08)
• Wishlist: Would be nice if Death Shroud could do criticals - suggested by StarmanDX
• Wishlist: Would be nice if Dark Regen could critical hit on the damage it does to enemies - suggested by He_Who_Watches 2005-03-12
• Wishlist: Mag 4 knockback protection in an auto power would be nice – Hejtmane, 2009-02-12

Invulnerability - unresolved

• Bug: Unstoppable's +Recovery is flagged as unenhancable even though the power accepts end mods - Sarrate, 2007-08-15
• Balance: Would be nice if Temporary Invulnerability were swapped with Resist Physical Damage. It's a small amount of resistance, and TI would give Invuln scrappers a good defense power out of the gate - Defense_Options, 2006-06-08 - Liquid points out two other scrapper sets get more effective powers out of the gate, moved to balance issue 2007-08-17
• Wishlist: Would be nice if tough hide and/or invincibility had a positional component (i.e. melee) for more compatibility with IO set bonuses - Daolong, 2007-08-15
• Wishlist: Would be nice to have teleport foe resistance, i.e. on Unyielding - Sky_Hawke, 2007-04-12

Fiery Aura - unresolved

• Wishlist:Mag 4 knockback protection in an auto power would be nice – Hejtmane, 2009-02-12

Regeneration - unresolved

• Bug: Some mob powers that now do -regen need to have that in their debuff descriptions - for instance, EM Pulse, Twilight Grasp, Howling Twilight, Transfusion, Lingering Radiation - Stupid_Fanboy, 2005-06-14
• Balance: Post-Enhancement Diversity, is it still necessary that regen powers have both enhanceable and unenhanceable healing? - MAS0N, 2005-10-11
• Balance: In comparison to the Regeneration % that Willpower can achieve, is it still necessary that regen powers have both enhanceable and unenhanceable healing? - SpiderTeo_OC, 2009-02-10
• Balance: Resilience seems useless as a power with the very small, limited resistance and status resist provided - VoodooCompany, 2005-07-18 - Castle commented none of the passives in protection sets seem popular - 2006-07-16
• Wishlist: Would be nice if -regen effects stood out better. It's too easy to get debuffed and not notice until you're dead - _Pax_, 2005-06-13
• Wishlist: would be nice if debuffs on the scrapper were reduced in length due to enhanced metabolism
• Wishlist: Regen effects too obscuring, constant looping sounds are annoying - repeating sounds should fade after a while and effects have been toned down but are still very obvious and obscuring - some scrappers like the obscuring effect, so perhaps a slider should control this - Halon, 2005-06-17

Shield Defense – IN PROGRESS

• Bug: Phalanx Fighting doesn't show buff numbers when hovering over the icon – Kractis_Sky, 2009-02-10
• Wishlist: One With the Shield: It has no heal to go along with the +HP of the power. A small enhanceable heal would be nice in this power – Rhysem, 2009-02-10
• Wishlist: One With the Shield should have defense debuff resistance. That's one of the situations where Shield Defense can be hurt badly and having protection from that in OwtS would help greatly – Rhysem & Daolong, 2009-02-17
• Wishlist: We can appreciate having a powerset that helps out teammates more than the other secondaries, but encouraging us to take the “team” powers by putting effects in them that are necessary for the solo Scrapper is bad design. We should want to take the power because it is good for teaming and interesting when solo, not because something vital like resistance against defense debuffs and -recharge – many people
  

Super Reflexes - unresolved

• Balance: Mind Control's Dominate and Illusion's Blind seem to have extremely high accuracy or are autohit - noted by Patient_V, 2006-03-10 - Sockem notes per Arcanaville/Castle PMs, these powers are not categorized as Melee/Ranged/AoE - 2006-06-06 - moved to balance issue per Arcanaville, 2007-05-22
• Balance: SR has mainly defense slots, reducing options for IOs compared to other sets - Arcanaville, 2007-04-05
• Balance: Positional defenses only exist as a set IO buff with 5 or 6 of a set, compared to non-positional defensive buffs that don't stack with SR's defenses - Arcanaville, 2007-04-05
• Balance: Super Reflexes toggles take too long to activate, compared to other sets' defensive toggles, especially Evasion - Arcanaville, 2007-01-13
• Balance: SR has no powers that can usefully take multiple types of enhancers that increase defensiveness, versus Regen/Reconstruction, Dull Pain, Dark Armor/Dark Regeneration - WanderingCat, 2005-10-12
• Balance: PvP: SR is very vulnerable to enemies with accuracy buffs, i.e. Aim, Build-Up, Focused Accuracy, Super Strength/Rage[/b], accuracy inspirations - Colette, 2005-10-06 - Arc_Salvo, 2006-02-22
• Balance: SR is a power set where you must take almost every power to succeed, made more true by the fact elude can no longer be made permanent. Every other defensive power set gives you some choices. Even as small a change as adding 5% defense to all in Practiced Brawler would allow SR scrappers some choice about which powers to take and slot heavily - Arcanaville, 2005-07-22
• Balance: Devouring Earth Quartz emanators give what appears to be a 100% to-hit buff increase to nearby enemies, which devastates any defense-based scrapper - updated by Arcanaville, 2006-07-01
• Balance: Super reflexes AOE defense is gotten fairly late in the game - with increased damage from boss AOE attacks in the 30s, now more important to get AOE defense earlier - noted by PicassoCat
• Wishlist: Would be nice if SR could apply highest type of defense (melee, ranged, AOE) against attacks that combine several types (enemy melee cone attacks) similiar to stacked force fields of different types using highest defense - Arcanaville, daolong, 2005-08-02
• Wishlist: Since it is easy to get defense from other sources such as force fields and inspirations, it would be nice if defense specialists like Super Reflexes scrappers and Ice tankers got a higher cap for defenses, i.e. a lower to-hit floor, than other archetypes. (Arcanaville 2005-05-04)
• Wishlist: Super reflexes/quickness should give 33% recharge reduction. Because SR must run three toggles, but does not receive an innate endurance recovery power like regen, giving recharge reduction is its way of substituting for having to put an end recovery SO into powers to achieve the same effect. However, a 20% recharge reduction is barely more than a DO.
• Wishlist: Allowing Damage resist Ios to be slotted into the Passives, even if they do not affect the scaling resists would help SR slot different IO sets – many people

Willpower - unresolved

• Bug: No longer awards puppy temp pet when AVs are defeated - numerous AV soloers

For Discussion

• Balance: Please take a look at all the issues for the secondaries, I know there are some things that are resolved that we could change and/or eliminate from the list now – SF

Note: Internal balance issues are not things like how melee damage is 3x to 5x that of ranged damage (still true? so far as I know, they are heavy-hitting but slower, so actual melee DPS may be only 1.7 times per Fulmens' comment 2005-05-24) or how blasters can do more damage despite putatively equal damage/attack because they can start attacking at a great distance. Internal balance issues are not about how we balance against other archetypes. This also includes comparing Scrapper versions of a powerset to the versions used by other ATs. Those are issues for discussion outside the scope of this thread.

Internal balance issues are things like Super Reflexes having no maximum hit point increase to protect against one shots despite other power sets all having some form of damage mitigationThey're errors, discrepancies, bugs in the Scrapper archetype. Also note that many balance issues are a matter of opinion. Some weaknesses may well be by design. However, it would be nice to know which weaknesses are by design and which are unintentional and needed to be called to the attention of developers.

Developers: we would much welcome responses to these issues, even if only to say 'Will look into it' or 'Working as designed'.

I actually updated and posted a new list! April Fools!

Sorry for the delay guys. I've had almost zero game time lately and even less time for the forums. It doesn't help that my work installed a web filter either.

Anyway, I'm sorry and here's the new list covering up to the pre-release of Issue 14 (all i14 stuff will be in the next issue which will be Soon™.

I'll also be talking to the Mods to get this Stickied so that I don't look like a jerk when I haven't been around for a while and the darn thing gets eaten.

And remember, this list lives and dies on your feedback. If you see something you know is wrong or fixed or needs to be added, speak up! Check the Discussion Topics near the bottom for ideas from me.

yeah, typo. my bad.

For simplicity's sake, here's a list of sets where the magnitude of the bonus changed.

Current values are on top
i12 values are underneath.


<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Set Type Set name Slots Def % 1 Type 1 Def % 2 Type 2 Def % 3 Type 3
Melee Pul. Fisticuffs 3 1.25 Energy 1.25 Neg 0.63 Ranged
Melee Pul. Fisticuffs 3 0.63 Energy 0.63 Neg
Melee Pnd. Slugfest 3 1.25 Energy 1.25 Neg 0.63 Ranged
Melee Pnd. Slugfest 3 0.63 Energy 0.63 Neg
Melee Touch of Death 6 3.75 Melee 1.88 Smash 1.88 Lethal
Melee Touch of Death 6 3.13 Melee
.
Snipe Exploit Weakness 3 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold 0.63 Area
Snipe Exploit Weakness 3 0.63 Fire 0.63 Cold
Snipe Calibrated Accuracy 3 1.88 Energy 1.88 Neg 0.94 Ranged
Snipe Calibrated Accuracy 3 0.94 Energy 0.94 Neg
Snipe Sting of the Manticore 3 1.88 Ranged 0.94 Energy 0.94 Neg
Snipe Sting of the Manticore 3 0.94 Energy 0.94 Neg
.
Pet Damage Commanding Presence 4 1.25 Area 0.63 Fire 0.63 Cold
Pet Damage Commanding Presence 4 1.88 Area
Pet Damage Blood Mandate 3 1.88 Fire 1.88 Cold 0.94 Area
Pet Damage Blood Mandate 3 0.94 Fire 0.94 Cold
.
Set Type Set name Slots Def % 1 Type 1 Def % 2 Type 2 Def % 3 Type 3
Resistance Aegis 3 3.13 Fire 3.13 Cold 1.56 Area
Resistance Aegis 3 1.58 Fire 1.58 Cold
.
Stun Stagger 3 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold 0.63 Ranged
Stun Stagger 3 0.63 Fire 0.63 Cold
.
Taunt Annoyance 3 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal 0.63 Melee
Taunt Annoyance 3 0.63 Smash 0.63 Lethal
Taunt Triumphant Insult 3 1.88 Smash 1.88 Lethal 0.94 Melee
Taunt Triumphant Insult 3 0.95 Smash 0.95 Lethal
Taunt Mocking Beratement 4 2.5 Smash 2.5 Lethal 1.25 Melee
Taunt Mocking Beratement 4 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal
Taunt Mocking Beratement 5 3.13 Fire 3.13 Cold 1.56 Area
Taunt Mocking Beratement 5 1.56 Fire 1.56 Cold
Taunt Perfect Zinger 6 3.13 Smash 3.13 Lethal 1.56 Melee
Taunt Perfect Zinger 6 1.56 Smash 1.56 Lethal
.
Tohit Buff Rectified Reticle 2 1.88 Smash 1.88 Lethal 0.94 Melee
Tohit Buff Rectified Reticle 2 0.95 Smash 0.95 Lethal
.
Tohit Debuff Discouraging Words 3 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal 0.63 Melee
Tohit Debuff Discouraging Words 3 0.63 Smash 0.63 Lethal
</pre><hr />

First, here's the patch note.

[ QUOTE ]
All types of typed defense granted from Invention Origin enhancement set bonuses have been paired up and grant the same size of bonuses that were previously only granted to a single typed defense bonus. The paired up groups are: Lethal and Smashing, Fire and Cold, Energy and Negative Energy. Psionic defense remains in its own grouping.

• Invention Origin enhancement sets that grant typed defense (Lethal, Smashing, Energy, Negative Energy, Fire and Cold) will now additionally grant 50% of that bonus to a single positional defense (Melee, Ranged and AoE). Lethal/Smashing defense set bonuses will now also grant Melee defense, Energy/Negative Energy defense set bonuses also grant Ranged defense and Fire/Cold defense set bonuses also grant AoE defense.

• Invention Origin enhancement sets that grant positional (Melee, Ranged and AoE) defense bonuses will now additionally grant 50% of that bonus to a pair of typed defense (Lethal/Smashing, Energy/Negative Energy and Fire/Cold) defenses. AoE defense set bonuses will now also grant a bonus to Fire/Cold defense, Ranged defense bonuses will grant a bonus to Energy/Negative Energy defense and Melee defense will grant a bonus to Smashing/Lethal defense.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is pretty simple. In Issue 13, defense bonuses in the IO sets were changed to make stacking easier for all types. Standard damage type bonuses benefit the most from this because whatever previously gave a bonus to one type, now gives a bonus to it's brother type. In addition, Positional types have been linked to pairs of Damage typed bonuses. The end result is this. Anything gave a Smashing or Lethal defense bonus now gives both as well as half the amount in Melee defense. If something gave Melee defense, it now gives half the amount to Smashing and Lethal. The same goes for Ranged and AoE as well as all FCEN defense. Sorry, folks. Psionic defense was left out of this.

Here are the groupings in a clearer format.

Melee - Smashing/Lethal
Range - Energy/Negative
AoE - Fire/Cold

There were also a few buffs to defense numbers. Basically, if it used to give defense to two damage types before this, it got raised. A good example of this is the Melee IO set Pulverizing Fisticuffs. it used to be 0.625% defense to Energy and Negative defense. Now, it is 1.25% defense to Energy and Negative and has the additional 0.625% to Ranged defense.

Now the data. Here's all the new numbers on the Defense buffs in IOs

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Set Type Set name Slots Def % 1 Type 1 Def % 2 Type 2 Def % 3 Type 3
Melee Pul. Fisticuffs 3 1.25 Energy 1.25 Neg 0.63 Ranged
Melee Pnd. Slugfest 3 1.25 Energy 1.25 Neg 0.63 Ranged
Melee Sm. Haymaker 4 1.875 Smash 1.88 Lethal 0.94 Melee
Melee Kinetic Combat 4 3.75 Smash 3.75 Lethal 1.88 Melee
Melee Touch of Death 6 3.75 Melee 1.88 Smash 1.88 Lethal
Melee Mako's Bite 6 3.75 Ranged 1.88 Energy 1.88 Neg
.
Ranged Maelstrom's Fury 3 1.88 Fire 1.88 Cold 0.94 Area
Ranged Ruin 5 1.88 Area 0.94 Fire 0.94 Cold
Ranged Thunderstrike 2 2.5 Energy 2.5 Neg 1.25 Ranged
Ranged Thunderstrike 6 2.5 Ranged 1.25 Energy 1.25 Neg
.
AoE Detonation 5 1.88 Area 0.94 Fire 0.94 Cold
.
PbAoE Cleaving Blow 3 1.25 Energy 1.25 Neg 0.63 Ranged
PbAoE Multi-Strike 5 1.88 Area 0.94 Fire 0.94 Cold
PbAoE Multi-Strike 6 1.88 Melee 0.94 Smash 0.94 Lethal
PbAoE Scirroco's Dervish 5 3.13 Area 1.56 Fire 1.56 Cold
PbAoE Eradication 3 3.13 Energy 3.13 Neg 1.56 Ranged
PbAoE Eradication 6 3.13 Area 1.56 Fire 1.56 Cold
PbAoE Obliteration 6 3.75 Melee 1.88 Smash 1.88 Lethal
.
Set Type Set name Slots Def % 1 Type 1 Def % 2 Type 2 Def % 3 Type 3
Snipe Exploit Weakness 3 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold 0.63 Area
Snipe Calibrated Accuracy 3 1.88 Energy 1.88 Neg 0.94 Ranged
Snipe Calibrated Accuracy 6 1.88 Ranged 0.94 Energy 0.94 Neg
Snipe Executioner's Contract 6 3.13 Ranged 1.56 Energy 1.56 Neg
Snipe Extreme Measures 5 2.5 Area 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold
Snipe Extreme Measures 6 2.5 Melee 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal
Snipe Sting of the Manticore 3 1.88 Ranged 0.94 Energy 0.94 Neg
.
Pet Damage Commanding Presence 4 1.25 Area 0.63 Fire 0.63 Cold
Pet Damage Blood Mandate 3 1.88 Fire 1.88 Cold 0.94 Area
Pet Damage Blood Mandate 5 3.75 Area 1.88 Fire 1.88 Cold
Pet Damage Blood Mandate 6 3.75 Ranged 1.88 Energy 1.88 Neg
Pet Damage Sovereign Right 6 3.13 Melee 1.56 Smash 1.56 Lethal
.
Defense Serendipity 5 1.25 Area 0.63 Fire 0.63 Cold
Defense Red Fortune 6 2.5 Ranged 1.25 Energy 1.25 Neg
.
Resistance Reactive Armor 3 1.25 Energy 1.25 Neg 0.63 Ranged
Resistance Reactive Armor 4 1.25 Lethal 1.25 Smash 0.63 Melee
Resistance Reactive Armor 5 1.25 Area 0.63 Fire 0.63 Cold
Resistance Titanium Coating 6 2.5 Melee 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal
Resistance Aegis 3 3.13 Fire 3.13 Cold 1.56 Area
Resistance Aegis 5 3.13 Area 1.56 Fire 1.56 Cold
.
Healing Harmonized Healing 5 1.88 Area 0.94 Fire 0.94 Cold
Healing Miracle 5 1.88 Area 0.94 Fire 0.94 Cold
Healing Numina's Convalescence 6 3.75 Ranged 1.88 Energy 1.88 Neg
.
Set Type Set name Slots Def % 1 Type 1 Def % 2 Type 2 Def % 3 Type 3
Hold Neuronic Shutdown 6 2.5 Melee 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal
Hold Essence of Curare 6 1.88 Ranged 0.94 Energy 0.94 Neg
Hold Basilisk's Gaze 2 2.5 Energy 2.5 Neg 1.25 Ranged
Hold Lockdown 5 2.5 Area 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold
Hold Lockdown 6 3.75 Ranged 1.88 Energy 1.88 Neg
.
Stun Stagger 3 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold 0.63 Ranged
Stun Razzle Dazzle 5 2.5 Melee 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal
Stun Razzle Dazzle 6 2.5 Area 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold
Stun Stupify 6 3.13 Ranged 1.56 Energy 1.56 Neg
.
Immoblize Debilitative Action 5 2.5 Area 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold
Immoblize Enfeebeled Operation 4 2.5 Smash 2.5 Lethal 1.25 Melee
Immoblize Enfeebeled Operation 6 3.13 Melee 1.56 Smash 1.56 Lethal
Immoblize Trap of the Hunter 6 3.13 Ranged 1.56 Energy 1.56 Neg
.
Slow Curtail Speed 4 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal 0.63 Melee
Slow Impeded Swiftness 6 2.5 Melee 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal
Slow Tempered Readiness 6 1.88 Ranged 0.94 Energy 0.94 Neg
Slow Pace of the Turtle 6 3.13 Ranged 1.56 Energy 1.56 Neg
.
Sleep Induced Coma 6 2.5 Melee 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal
Sleep Lethargic Response 3 1.88 Energy 1.88 Neg 0.94 Ranged
Sleep Lethargic Response 4 1.88 Smash 1.88 Lethal 0.94 Melee
Sleep Lethargic Response 5 1.88 Area 0.94 Fire 0.94 Cold
.
Fear Nightmare 3 1.88 Energy 1.88 Neg 0.94 Ranged
.
Set Type Set name Slots Def % 1 Type 1 Def % 2 Type 2 Def % 3 Type 3
Confuse Cacophony 5 2.5 Area 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold
Confuse Cacophony 6 2.5 Ranged 1.25 Energy 1.25 Neg
Confuse Perplex 5 1.88 Area 0.94 Fire 0.94 Cold
Confuse Malaise's Illusions 6 3.13 Ranged 1.56 Energy 1.56 Neg
Confuse Coercive Persuasion 6 5 Ranged 2.5 Energy 2.5 Neg
.
Taunt Annoyance 3 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal 0.63 Melee
Taunt Triumphant Insult 3 1.88 Smash 1.88 Lethal 0.94 Melee
Taunt Mocking Beratement 4 2.5 Smash 2.5 Lethal 1.25 Melee
Taunt Mocking Beratement 5 3.13 Fire 3.13 Cold 1.56 Area
Taunt Perfect Zinger 6 3.13 Smash 3.13 Lethal 1.56 Melee
.
Knockback Explosive Strike 3 1.88 Ranged 0.94 Energy 0.94 Neg
Knockback Force Feedback 6 3.13 Area 1.56 Fire 1.56 Cold
.
End Mod Performance Shifter 6 3.13 Area 1.56 Fire 1.56 Cold
.
Tohit Buff Rectified Reticle 2 1.88 Smash 1.88 Lethal 0.94 Melee
Tohit Buff Gaussian's Fire Control 6 2.5 Ranged 1.25 Energy 1.25 Neg
Tohit Buff Gaussian's Fire Control 6 2.5 Area 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold
Tohit Buff Gaussian's Fire Control 6 2.5 Melee 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal
.
Set Type Set name Slots Def % 1 Type 1 Def % 2 Type 2 Def % 3 Type 3
Tohit Debuff Discouraging Words 3 1.25 Smash 1.25 Lethal 0.63 Melee
.
Def Debuff Exploited Vulnerability 3 1.25 Melee 0.63 Smash 0.63 Lethal
Def Debuff Achille's Heel 3 1.88 Area 0.94 Fire 0.94 Cold
Def Debuff Undermind Defenses 6 2.5 Area 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold
.
Recharge Pets Call to Arms 6 2.5 Area 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold
Recharge Pets Expedite Reinforcements 6 3.13 Ranged 1.56 Energy 1.56 Neg
.
Unvrsl Travel Blessing of the Zephyr 2 3.13 Ranged 1.56 Energy 1.56 Neg
Unvrsl Travel Blessing of the Zephyr 3 3.13 Area 1.56 Fire 1.56 Cold
.
Acc Def Debuff Shield Breaker 4 2.5 Area 1.25 Fire 1.25 Cold
Acc Def Debuff Shield Breaker 6 3.13 Melee 1.56 Smash 1.56 Lethal
.
Acc Tohit Dbf Cloud Senses 6 3.75 Ranged 1.88 Energy 1.88 Neg
Acc Tohit Dbf Siphon Insight 5 3.75 Smash 3.75 Lethal 1.88 Neg
Acc Tohit Dbf Siphon Insight 6 3.75 Area 1.88 Fire 1.88 Cold
</pre><hr />

[ QUOTE ]
Seriously, I'm all for you not bothering to use them since this game provides for any and all manner of builds (also, there is nothing IOs provide that one or two good buffers won't match or exceed), but its downright silly to petition for the devs and those of us who DO use them to pretend like they don't exist.


[/ QUOTE ]

The problem with that statement, Count, is that the devs have explicitly said that they will not balance content around the level of performance that can be achieved with IOs.

I do like EA. I like my DM/EA and enjoy playing him alot more than any other villain character I've made.

I just will not accept the "balance" that has been set up here when it looks so wrong compared to all the other sets.

I'm just going to shut up about this from now on. I'm going to wait till i13 is live and then PM Castle just asking how he sees EA and just continue playing. I'm tired of this topic honestly, particularly in light of the Shield set.

here's a link to the complete list of new defense set bonuses for IOs

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....=1#Post12479533

That's my point though. It doesn't balance out.