corinna

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As promised, I've been looking into the issues facing Tankers; I thought I'd explain the direction we're going. As we analyed it, Tankers have three very valid concerns (aside from the issues with specific power sets):

1. Without Provoke, they are not a real Tanker. Those people who enjoy the MMP role of "meat shield" have trouble holding aggro properly.
2. The Tanker's defense stats can be matched by a properly slotted Scrapper - but the Tanker can not approach the Scrapper in damage.
3. The Tanker doesn't "feel" like a comic book Tanker should. And frankly, this one really, really bothered me. Because our game is a comic book MMP.

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1. Taunt has now been turned into a slighly superior version of Provoke, and better yet it doesn't require a power pool to take it. Big win. Additionally all attacks now create a small taunt aura to further increase aggro management. Excellent.

2. As of I3, Tankers exclusively may reach a 90% resist cap. Scrappers (and all others) are limited to 75%. This mostly effects Invulnerability, but please take into consideration powers such as Increase Density, Steamy Mist, Shadow Fall, etc. which could help non-Tankers reach high resist levels. Not really an overt change for tankers, but a win as far as stronger role definition.

3. As far as I'm concerned, this hasn't really been addressed. Endurance costs are a greater issue now than ever before (my fire/mace *must* run both toggles now for mez protection, invuls and ice have similar issues). It's nice that our base damage was increased but it's not enough to have that feeling of power. Maybe if Tankers could do criticals as well, even if it were a flat 5% instead of scaling as does a Scrapper's crit chances.

Considering all the buffs that tankers received in I3 I think it's unfair to claim that the devs are uncaring, unattentive, or hostile. That's not to say that current issues and problems should be ignored, but I am saying that the benefits should be acknowledged before we rush to throw States under a bus.

LFTF = Looking For Task Force
PST = Please Send Tell
RA=Recovery Aura
Hugs=Gather near caster for buffs

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We're still analyzing the numbers for Defenders & Controllers. We need to get a better picture of the impact of the mob hp/damage increase. If we make any changes, I can't say whether it'd be an Endurance decrease or a Damage increase or both.

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Statesman,

I've tried out the increased HP mobs on test and have come to this conclusion: Increased mob HP doesn't make the fight harder, it only makes the fight longer.

I wish that your team would attempt a more nuanced approach. I've suggested (and seem similar suggestions) giving every mob a small aura increasing the +RES and +DAM of each other mob in the area. Minions give other minions maybe +2% RES and DAM, Lieutenants give maybe a +4% RES and DAM, and Bosses give perhaps a +8% RES and DAM.

Take for example a group of 2 minions and a lieutenant. The minions would each have +6% RES and DAM and the natively strong lieutenant would have a +4% RES and DAM. Another example would be a group of 8 minions. Each minion would have a +14% RES and DAM.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Corinna

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Would you care to shed a light on this gem of wisdom you posess? What new strategies are important in these zones?


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The word you're looking for here is teamwork. Before the patch just about any pickup group could go out and street sweep, no matter how bad the group dynamics were. It was just too easy! The new difficulty level really requires the player to work together more closely in order to be effective, and of course the best way to be effective is when each player fulfills their role. The Controllers figure out the best bad guy to shut off, the tanker takes the heat off the blasters, the blasters trust that their defenders will have their backs, and the scrappers tear down the bosses.

Even a low level team can pull off mighty victories if they can cooperate!

Statesman:

I love the new Outcast powers, in fact it's probably one of my three favorite things about the new update. They're very challenging to face, but employing reasonable tactics they're not impossible. Any halfway decent group should be able to face the Outcast without fear.

I'm begging you to collect data for another few weeks before making these adjustments because I think the existing player base just needs to learn to adapt new strategies for facing these devious foes.

This sounds really excellent, especially the point about damage building as the fight progresses. I hope you can elaborate if this effect will happen on a per-mob basis, or over the course of a larger fight.

Also, I hope that you're able to give equal attention to the Illusion controllers regarding their issues as you have the tankers.