streetlight

How much of that was rule changes and how much of that was IO-based and how much of that was people leaving a game made in 2004 for something shinier and newer?

Pre-i13, I can remember hitting a zone, barely getting out into it, then getting repeatedly TP'd to drones or some impossible to escape corner while a Bots/FF MM kept my Scrapper KB'd and useless. These were not "good old days" for me. There were tons of problems and I would allege that the i13 changes made PVP better, not just for me, but for a whole lot of people playing a whole lot of ATs.

The PVP IOs have definitely moved the goalposts, though. Anytime you can retain the set bonus at a lower level without giving up the benefits of high-level IOs, you create an imbalance. Giving them an additional benefit for PVP only creates a further imbalance. I would say that creates a barrier to entry, yes.

I'd say that's a GOOD thing. Back in the "good old days" if you were a mezzer, you were kind of useless unless you happened to have one of the few that wasn't commonly protected against. Now, you've got some bite, even against melee ATs. Less against other squishies, sure, but more universally useful and this opened up the game to additional ATs.

PVPers adapt to changes, but they never do so without a whole lot of "Wah!" You ever read PVP forums anywhere? Every change is DOOOOOM!!! Every forum thread loaded with "I quit!" drama. Here, it is no different. When people spend time and virtual currency building for one set of rules and the rules change, even if only nominally, the "Wah!" goes through the roof. These were big changes, but on the whole they were good changes (not perfect, not good everywhere, but better). The "Wah!" still went through the roof.

However, I would agree that PVPers have adapted. Those that could, anyway. Those that couldn't or wouldn't "Wah!" instead. And they keep it going while others enjoy the new system and still more make efforts to do so. They're part of the problem keeping PVP down, not part of the solution.

Did I say anywhere in there that everything is perfect now? No. What I said was "Wah!" isn't helping. "Wah!" doesn't do anything to make PVP better. "Wah!" doesn't provide any incentive to increase resources spent on fixing PVP (whatever may be broken or not perfect). PVP will only get attention if people are interested in it and participating in it.

Since we're feeling more-knowing-than-thou, how about answering a couple questions?

1. What roles are missing from PVP? I see offense, support and disruption roles in current PVP. That covers a whole lot of ground and provides opportunities for a wide range of ATs.

2. What ATs are absolutely useless in PVP? Brutes, probably, because of how run-and-gun tactics or one-on-one fights hurt Fury. I'll chalk that up as a counterbalance to their farming abilities. What other ATs are useless?

I am likely to take Combat Jumping or Hover anyway, so it just makes sense to slot either power for defense if I'm building toward softcap. If softcap is the goal, then Weave is likely a must-have as well, though I would be happier not to need it.

Manuevers is more rare for me. I like the team buff aspect, but it is usually a very small benefit for a lot of endurance. Like any other defense bonus, though, stack enough of it and you can really achieve something. I expect this to become a staple of incarnate content leagues.

I'm more likely to pick up Tactics and slot with a full set of Gaussian's. The exotic resists in the power are nice, as well as the set bonuses.

Tough gets slotted based on how slot-starved I am. If I'm going for softcap, then Tough or some other resist power will get the Steadfast 3% Unique. If I have slots left to spend, then I might slot it for additional bonuses, assuming I couldn't get better bonuses elsewhere. I'm happy just using it to mule the Steadfast in some cases.

When I pick powers to mule IOs, I usually pick powers that can slot LotG 7.5 IOs. The Concealment pool is perfect for this. If you spend a lot of slots getting defense bonuses, then these one-slot wonders can really help keep your attack chain moving.

Someone else clued me into this, too. Apparently it procs for the pet (which doesn't last long enough to matter anyway) and not for the attacker.

It depends on what you're facing: -DEF or +ToHit?

Theoretically the Scrapper wins against a straight series of -DEF attacks, due to the huge difference in DDR. Even after (well) over 100 hits with a 7.5% -DEF component for each, the Scrapper would still be softcapped even to 64% ToHit opponents. The Night Widow would lose softcap to 64% ToHit opponents at around 29 hits and to 50% ToHit opponents at around 33 hits.

Barring a crazy unlucky streak with the RNG, though, both would show exactly the same survivability in-game under the same circumstances. Then it's down to damage and other mitigation as to who would survive longer. If either took 29 hits within the 10sec debuff window, neither of them would survive.

If you look at +ToHit, the NW fares much better than the Scrapper, due to the higher base defense. This is much more likely to be an issue. Stacks of Vengeance, higher base ToHit figures in high end content, Build Up, Aim, Rage, Tactics... lots of things have +ToHit effects.

Altogether, I'd say the Night Widow will have better survivability for a wider range of content in actual gameplay. Both would be dead anyway by the point the DDR difference is felt, so it's down to how they handle high ToHit and the Night Widow wins there.

Fire farms are incredibly difficult for anyone that isn't specifically built for that one task. S/L farms are easier and open to almost any AT, because it's a lot easier to softcap defense and get some resist behind it, regardless of AT (Tough + APP/PPP). For Fire farms, you're pretty much down to using a Fiery Aura Brute. Fiery Aura Tankers are somewhat more survivable, but do significantly less damage (more safe, less efficient). Fiery Aura Scrappers do less damage and have less survivability (less safe, less efficient). Anything else is in trouble and likely won't last seconds (e.g. the PFF example).

So this is a situation where one particular armor set is uniquely suited for one very specific task. That is okay. What you don't want is one particular armor set capable of handling everything without some downside (e.g. even Stone has -recharge). Fire has big downsides compared to its peers and the more you build for Fire farming, the more those downsides show up in non-Fire content.

With current builds, even modest builds, it's easy to have only nominal risk in all PVE content, so why should AE be treated differently? Fire ambush farming carries obscene risk (possibly worse than soloing AVs) that can only be mitigated through the choice of a single armor set. It is nearly entirely mitigated by that choice, yes, but any other choice produces an unsurvivable level of risk (e.g. again, the PFF example) so as to make the reward roughly zero.

Agreed. It's just a very difficult mish that only a very specific range of builds can survive in. It's not an exploit along the lines of the Rikti Monkey maps (I still have no idea how that worked...). It'd be no different than an Electric Armor toon doing missions filled with Mu or an Invuln facing nothing but Smashing/Lethal damage. Or a Stone facing, well, anything except Psi.

EDIT: And to answer the OP, the best bet would be an Emp/Sonic Defender with softcapped Fire defense. I don't even know if softcapped Fire defense is possible on an Emp. Sonic is the better secondary option for the Cone Sleep (mag3).

Maybe try...

3-slotting Hover with BotZ
6-slotting Boxing with Razzle Dazzle
6-slotting Siphon Life with 5pcs Crushing Impact (no Acc/Dam) + 1pc Theft of Essence (Acc/End/Heal)
2-slotting Health with Miracle & Numina's Uniques

Even with Hover off, you'd be softcapped to all three positions. Shield Charge will proc against almost every spawn, so you'll get a nice recharge boost (8.33% effective global recharge per use per minute) that'll keep Hasten permanent. That's the good news.

The bad news is endurance. I wouldn't want you to invest in this build just to find out that it detoggles in 30 seconds. Cardiac alpha is one way to go, though it'd likely mean giving up on all-position softcap and perma-Hasten. It's what I ended up doing with my KM/SD Scrapper (softcapped Melee, small purp to softcap AOE & Ranged).

EDIT: removed the Force Feedback option for Shield Charge

You can frame it as either a 50% cut (ZOMG!!1!) or another 5% (...whatever). Technically, 0% defense cuts down about 50% of attacks. 40% cuts another 40%, leaving 10% of potential attacks getting through. 45% leaves about 5% of potential attacks getting through. So, yes, 5% is half of 10%, but that's 50% of 10% of the total incoming attacks, not 50% of 100% of the total incoming attacks.

In related news, 99% of 30% of the people surveyed by 10% of our surveyors agree that you should be wary of percentages...

That said, more is better and I'd want to find that 5% if I had a real chance of regular aggro. As an SD, you will have a real chance of regular aggro. The average spawn probably won't have many AOEs and they won't be that damaging, so you likely wouldn't notice the difference in normal gaming. Where you would notice it is with the heavy-hitting AOEs used by AVs. When Reichsman winds up his murderous stunning AOE, you're going to wish you'd sprung for the 45% (or at least popped a purple).

Out of curiosity, is that a real +33% to the base chance to crit or 133% multiplied by the base chance to crit?

Granite is the tier 9 for Stone, but it's a toggle, so no crash or weirdness with it. If you want to be the best meatshield, you roll Stone and pick up Granite. You can easily softcap S/L/E/N/F/C, regardless of the number of opponents around and without needing a click buff. You can easily hardcap S/L resistance at 90% and have 85% (88% with the PVP IO) resistance to E/N/F/C/T if you run Cardiac Alpha. Oh, and you get a click heal with +HP that can take you to the HP cap with accolades and a few set bonuses. It's just a beast.

If you want to have more of an offensive impact with the best possible survivability from among the rest without need of a crashing godmode, then I'd probably say... Dark?

Dark has good (not great) resists, exotic resists, additional base defense to work with, two mitigation toggles (one of which includes -ToHit) and a great self-heal. Endurance is its downside, but Cardiac helps a ton there and helps bring the resists up even further. Plus, you can (I would say *must*) slip a Theft of Essence proc in Dark Regen to help keep your blue bar full.

I love my Invuln, but he is vulnerable to exotic damage and debuffs. WP is great all around, but doesn't have the aggro grip that I want from my Tankers and it's also vulnerable to debuffs. Electric is really good all around, but has no base defense to work with and lacks Dark's mitigation. Ice's resists are a bit light for my liking, but it has a lot of other good characteristics.

None of those really compare with a well-slotted Stone running Granite, though.