When Bruce Lee takes a pounding - then - gets back up - wipes away the blood - and fignts on
He is using a catch a breath and a Respite - thank you very much. What - you mean the tough fight has 'inspired' him to go to beyond those feeble mortal limits of endurance and pain? OMG
I say - SR is not appropriate for a self heal
I also am dubious about the +res ideas - seems to me that - if you are quick and nimble - you are not only dodging attacks, but deflecting and moving so as to turn lethal strikes into non-lethal - and that can all be summed up by +def anyway.
I do whole heartedly agree that it takes too many slots and powers to achieve the basic defense available to the SR scrapper
I totally agree that the ranged/AoE auto should be combined same same the ranged/AoE toggle.
I recently ran a small maths exercise, and basically, it told me that SR is fine against even con mobs. If you take just the sets powers alone into account, SR will infact handle a bigger crowd of even cons than Regen will. Start giving mobs +acc or more levels or make them bosses though - and SR rapidly drops off.
Include pool powers into the mix though - and SR comes last. Not only does SR have more choices tied up in the main set thus cant buy as many pools, but the nature of +def and +res means that other sets get more from tough than SR does, while SR cant really make use of much more +def, while other sets can - and there is plenty of it in the pools to get.
I have been leaning to the 'better offence' is a better defence idea.
Anyway - SR does do the job well against sensible numbers of even con baddies (missions) and so really - I think it isnt far off the mark - just has too many powers/slots required to get there.
Still - combine some - and you have empty slots - which means you need replacements. And for balance - those replacements simply can not be earth shattering.
+5% accuracy as an auto power would fit right in. Super reflexes means good hand eye coordination means hitting things would be easier for the SR. +5% is neither nothing at all, nor a must have game changer. Its simply nice.
+30% crit click in the same manner as build up - based on the idea that people WILL combine it with build up, and WILL use it with attacks that they have slotted as much as possible for damage. 30% will wind up improving the average damage a similar amount as a bouild up would - so because its similar in power to an existing power, I feel that would be balanced. As a toggle, it would have to be down around 10% or so to be balanced, and as an auto - 5%
I dont see +heal or +recover being applicable to the SR set - and it steps on Regen anyway.
An innate endurance reduction might be appropriate - although in all honesty - I think it should be part of quickness as an offset for the increased rate you burn thanks to quicknesses recharge reduction. Some people feel quickness needs to be +33% recharge BTW - and going on the idea that hasten is a pool power click for 70%, while quickness is an auto power from a secondary - I feel a case could be made for raising it to as high as +40 - but - I would suggest, either raise it to+33% recharge reduction OR add a +20% end use reduction - one or the other, not both
I have seen the 'mirror double' type idea come around a bit. Personally - I think that belongs to a super speed character, and that super reflexes DOES NOT equal super speed. Might be fast, but not super fast. None the less - I do see an option here to add that 'second layer' of protection that is needed to avoid the fact that 5% of atatcks will always get throguh, and there is nothing else SR can do about that.
The power would create a duplicate of the SR, which was phase shifted. It would exactly mirror the movements of the SR, but with a 1 sec delay. It would (though some specific coding) have a 50% chance of being the target of an enemy attack instead of the SR, any time the AI decided to attack the SR. It would be a click, with a long reuse.
KK - let it be known that I dont really like that idea - but it seems balanced more or less.
I had thought that a +res to psionic would not be inappropriate for a SR character. Good reflexes means good neural system, and an ability to deal with surprise and shocks. That might well translate to a resistance to a sudden mental overload caused by psychic attack.
A very interesting idea is - a auto stealth power - just minor stealth. A SR is just naturally able to move quietly. This might have a +5% def mod, or be combined with something else, to make it slottable in some way
Another intersting idea - one that I like a LOT - is a 'defensive fighting' toggle, which wile active, has a PBAE knockdown effect. Something like the Dark Armour power that has a PBAE disorientate. The SR, ever aware of his own balance as well as those around him, can easilly take the chance to trip a foe. The chance to cause a knockdown would be a lot less than the chance for the DA disorient, but the SR power wouldnt be draining your health either.
Finally - why not put a bonafide attack into the set? Low damage, but with a knockdown or disorientate? Or a slow?
I have to disagree with the matrixesque slow idea - why? because while you might move fast - the enemies are still moving at normal speed to everyone else - the AE slow to simulate this would be a debuff that benefits everyone with you.
Ramble ramble hope you liked reading that.
For the record - my SR character does fine doing the non uber stuff - and yes - tank swipers HURT when they get you. But I made my character to be a normal person, just well trained. Being hit by a scythe thing like that would, all things considered, lop limbs off, so just loosing half or more HP seems pretty mild to me :P
