Tanker Update
Haven't the time to read the bajillion reponses, but this solution from Statesman sounds far freakin' out! It's finally something I'd think about going to the Test Server to see how it'll work!
I'm excited. I really do think the increased dmage over the length of a fight will add to the enjoyability of playing a Tanker.
Thanks Statesman and the design team!
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?? What's "hard data" as you understand it?
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Hard data is data that is not random depending on person. Like absolut damage, recharge and end costs. There are hard numbers behind those.
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A tanker being rooted is doing less damage *statistically*. You're confusing "potential damage" with "effective damage" here.
Potential damage can be claculated easily (as in DPS = (Damage of a power)/(Recharge Time in Seconds).
Effective Damage is much harder to nail down, and you *need* statistics to find it.
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A Scrapper will also do less effective damage when doing that. What if you do balance damage in the way you seem to want? What about when a Tanker is not acting as a tank and is free to do damage? What if the Tanker now due to boosts that asume he will not try and do damage is better at the damage role then a Scrapper? This is actualy what would happen as the Statistics mentioned shows such large diffrences.
It will be interesting for some of the power sets. Right now I'm thinking of a peak power hit with beheader with buildup. Now Axe tankers can put up some big numbers already. Will big damage sets have less of an increase of damage than say SS and energy?
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Last night I sidekicked a scrapper on my missions. My attacks are pretty well slotted and are full with SOs. My sidekick scrapper is at the DO level. So even if his attacks were all 6 slotted they would not get the same benefits my attacks do (having at least 3 dmg SOs each).
Even when I had Rage running my sidekick was doing more damage. It got a lot closer but he was still doing much greater damage. I didn't run out of END as quickly but that is just due to the fact that I am running on SOs while he is running on DOs
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Rage kind of gave you away there. It would help some if its not always the worst Tanker set that is used to compare with. Its somewhat telling that its always the best Scrappers and the worst Tankers used in comparison.
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Sorry but that is a lame response. The scrapper in question was MA by the way. What would you cosider a valid comparison then?
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What about Fiery Melee, Energy Melee or Battleaxe? Why does it always have to be Inv/SS? Even MA who before this update is considered the worst Scrapper set is still not that far behind other sets. Its the animation times that is a problem, but you wasnt comparing those after all. 3 SO's gives the same bonus as 6 DO's btw so he could get as much bonus as you with only 6 slots.
Will the provoke like effect in attacks work with attacks like combustion and burn?
Technoid - Lvl 50 Ice/Device Blaster
Mind-Render Lvl 47 Illusion/Forcefield
Hot-Pants - Lvl 37 Fire/Fire Tanker
Mr Pointy - Lvl 33 Spines/Regen
I'm with Ariel about Hasten...
Anytime such a HUGE percentage of players make the same choice, it is time to take another look at that choice...
What I don't get is why all tankers don't already have it... mine do!
I realize essentially this is going to be a code change to the way the powers work. But eventually would new art be added to accompany it? It might give it a bit more of a 'heroic' feel if the tanker starts animating/glowing/etc when they're peeved.
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Essentially, each hit (if successful) will give you a short term damage buff. Different powers would have different buffs; but if you could string enough hits together you can "peak" your damage.
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They've developed a delivery system that will shock the dickens out of players through they're keyboard when they think of power leveling/herding/etc.
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Statesman, you've been hinting at changes "coming soon" to deal with lack of challenge at the mid to upper levels for quite a while now.
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Right after Expansion 2 goes live.
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Interesting. Not quite as new and ground-breaking as I had hoped, but interesting and worth a shot. Two comments:
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it makes a lot of sense. Some huge monstrosity is bashing the heads of a villain group - they're going to get more and more concerned about taking him/her out....
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Even though the tankers teammates are the ones that are actually doing the real damage and taking you out? Okay, we'll chalk it up to the notoriously stupid villains that were the staple of comics for decades. That said, keep in mind once PvP gets here that nobody will be attacking the low-damage, high-resistant tank when any of his teammates are still standing.
Secondly, you mentioned that landing an attack would give the tanker a short-term, stackable damage buff. Keep in mind that some tanker offensives styles are MUCH slower than others. The duration of the damage buff will have to be much longer for a Stone Melee attack than a Superstrength attack if you want both the builds to get the same number of buffed attacks. And let me point out that this will make Hasten a required power for tankers wanting to take full advantage of this.
I assume the aggro and damage buff effects will only be for tanker powerset attacks and not pool powers? I could see some abuses of the system if the latter...
Scorus
Statesman,
Thank you for taking our problems to heart, and coming up with a creative solution. The nitpickers can question, but this sounds entirely valid to address major Tanker concerns. Big thanks to you and the entire development team.
Gaston
Magic Tanker, Freedom
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2. As a Tanker lands more and more blows, he'll start doing more and more damage. The longer the fight, the more powerful the Tanker becomes.
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I love you, statesman!
err....in a purely paternal/straight sort of way of course
seriously though, this might help tankers shift towards the "arch-villian killer" role.
long battles like them could see tanker damage go through the roof
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Level 3:
Tank does X+Y+Z damage as they deal damage in the next 10 secs, and not only does the damage resistance of any current target drop even more, but other targets in the area of the tanker randomly get affected by Fear - not the way it works now, but the way it will work when it is changed..mobs cower but do not run away, since they are so awed by the 1st class can of whoop a$$ the tanker is dealing out with free refills!
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OMG ROTFLOL
Someone diall 911 he's killing me!
Can I use your Whoop @$$ comment as my battle cry. Tha is so funny specially the Free Refills part.
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I mean, does your damage build for each successive attack on the same enemy, or does it build over the course of a single battle? If I fight and kill three enemies, and then run over to another group ten feet away, do I lose all my accumulated power? None of it? What?
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Essentially, each hit (if successful) will give you a short term damage buff. Different powers would have different buffs; but if you could string enough hits together you can "peak" your damage.
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So..for example...using SS I could string a couple of jabs and punches together to build up my strength then turn to the big boss and lay him out with a super-buffed knockout blow?
I like I like
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Mebbe when the self-buff damage nears peak, there could be some screen shake, similar to the effect of a Stone tanker attack ...
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Quoted this cause I love it - the longer the fight takes the more it goes
*boom* - *Boom* - *BOOM* - *BOOM* - *WHAM!*
That would rock. The screen.
Add Mudpots to the Burn question. Obviously AoEs need to not give the stackable damage buff.
The more I look at these, the more I wonder if it will make a difference, though. Scrappers will still be just as defensive and will still be more offensive. Given the offense-is-king nature of this game, will a team want a Tanker over a Scrapper with Provoke? I have my doubts. But I guess we need to wait and see what the 'combat at higher levels will be harder/longer' changes bring.
Scorus
Why does everyone keep saying scrappers are just as resistant as tankers? I know that they can reach the same cap as us but are resistance debuffs really that rare at high levels? Also what about the incredible HP difference? Doesn't that count for anything? Sorry if this sounds like a flame or something but I've been hearing this for a while and I'd really like to know how it's possible. I mean I'm 37 with a fire tanker (the supposedly weakest of the tankker, resistant-wise) and I've yet to see a scraper who can take a hit like me.
ummmmm sounds tasty....
I can say from experience, that Mud Pots for what little damage it does holds aggro decently. That is why I use it. Once in the mud pots things just about NEVER leave them to attack someone else, and I can focus my provokes on more distant enemies to pull them in towards me.
Although I think the small AoE taunt generated my melee attacks is a great idea.
How to represent it.. SIMPLE. Do it like they do in the comics, draw the tanker with progressively darker and thinker lines to show that they are more and more furious...
As for the build up, yes, it sounds great. And yes i'd love to see a WoW style "fury" bar.
Super excited about these changes.
Of course I won't be sleeping this week...waiting for Issue 2 to go live and the "server event" people have been whispering about....
Actually feel motivated to push my stone tank to the later levels again!
Thanks guys!
*dances a Jig*
Just reading this made me feel more like a comic book tank!!!!!
THANK YOU DEV TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, after 25 pages of responses this will probably be buried and never seen but here goes.
While I applaud the feel of this change, I believe the execution is lacking. From the description given, the tanker will build damage as they land hits. This concept goes against the tankers schtick - which is to land a few big blows. This will really favor the tanker who foregoes tradition and piles on lots of small attacks which will invariably come from the power pools. If you work the numbers on the "hits = damage" concept I think the overall effect will be less desirable. Tankers will effectively be penalized by using a "fewer big hits" style and their damage will suffer if they waste time hitting provoke and taunt unless those "hits" count.
As an alternate I propose the following:
Tanker damage increases with the amount of incoming damage that *targets* them. Notice I didn't say hits them, or damages them. Targets them. So if 5 mobs all target the tanker with 100 point attacks the tanker gets 500 points of credit towards their damage buff (not a 500 increase - just that 500 is counted toward whatever ratio ends up getting used) even if the attacks miss or the damage is resisted away.
In this way the tanker is slowly rewarded for, well, tanking and the slow heavy hitting attacks are not penalized and the tankers with quick power pool attacks are not overly advantaged. Also taunt and provoke will have the side effect of adding to the damage buff. Lastly the tanker can move to draw agro and intercept without reducing their damage buff.
I really think basing it on incoming (targetted) damage will be more balanced and more tanker-like than requiring the tanker to hit quickly to maximize the damage buff.
Moonlighter
50s include MA/SD, MA/SR, DP/Elec, Claw/Inv, Kat/Dark, Kat/Fire, Spine/Regen, Dark/SD
First Arc: Tequila Sunrise, #168563
The AoE aggro attacks is a great idea -- give the tankers the ability to do what they do (hold aggro!) easier...
And I love the general concept of "tanker rage" --
But I do share the previously mentioned concerns about basing the damage buff on the number of hits landed. This encourages tankers to haste/recharge reduce their attacks, and favor quick, weak attacks over the pounding whollups that "fit" the tanker more.
An alternate proposal:
Instead of number of hits he lands, how about basing the rate that the Tanker *Rage Damage Bonus* increases on the number of enemies in near proximity that the tanker has aggroed.
So imagine the *Tanker Rage* meter (the higher it is, the more damage a tanker does) -- as a thermometer that "heats up" faster the more enemies in close proximity the tanker has aggroed (feeding off of their aggression I guess?)-- This rage-o-meter could get drained significantly with every melee attack (essentially, the Tanker Rage aggression is released into the attack in the form of extra damage -- think of it as the tanker blowing off steam-- higher the meter when the attack is released, the more bonus damage). Of course, the meter would also drain when there aren't enough aggroed guys in close proximity-- and you might have take in account the difficulty of the opponent to prevent farming "weakling" enemies just to build up and release attacks on bigger opponents. Definately a system that would have to be tweaked to encourage the desired tanker feel.
This system would reward tankers for doing what they do. The more guys they draw in and aggro, the faster their rage-o-meter builds up, and thus the more often they could release more powerful attacks (the rage-o-meter would "max out" at some point [great opportunity for a cool visual tanker rage effect]). Since the rage-o-meter is drained with each attack, it also rewards attacking less often and going for the "big blows", which really fits the tanker feel.
That's my suggestion, take it for what you will
(didn't read the whole thread ... just the statement ... I admit)
This sounds really cool =) I like the idea of having a different feel ... I wouldn't even mind if the tank would get to a point (lets say after 3 mins of fighting or a said number of hits within a period of time) where the tanker was dishing out the same kind of damage as a scrapper ... those big dudes (and dudettes) do get really scary when they get pounded on!
I do have to say that a "provoke like" effect on each attack was not something I was expecting ... some tanks like to more micro manage the agro and that might cause all tanks to end up in a very similar mold. A system similiar to the new one used for knockdown/knockback situation, where an enhancement in the power takes it from knockdown to knockback, could also be used for the taunt/provoke effect on the attacks. 1 enhance duration and you go from single taunt to AoE effect for example. Naturally a new enhancement would be even better ... but I'm just using what is already in the game to make my suggestion.
my 2 inf ...
Arc: A Little RnR (17523) - Poster
Char Site | My DeviantArt
Global=@Thornster
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Tankers single target attacks do about as much as Scrappers do. The upside for Scrappers realy is the crits against bosses. But if the bonus from this change is larger then the 15% crit chance against a boss, then more then just boss killing will be a problem.
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Actually, the upside for scrappers isn't just crits--though that's nice. The upside is that they get way more AOE's that do damage. Consider the power sets:
Tankers:
Axe: 2
Energy: 1
Fire: 3
Ice: 1
Stone: 1
Super Strength: 1
War Mace: 2
Average: 1.57
Scrapper:
Broadsword: 3
Claws: 3
Dark Melee: 3
Katana: 3
Martial Arts: 1
Spines: 4
Average: 2.83
Right now, AOE damage is king in this game. In a typical permahastened 5 attack combo, the average scrapper can AOE 57% of the time. The average tanker can AOE 31% of the time, about half as often. Combine this with crits and higher base damage, and tanks don't come anywhere close to scrapper damage output.
You have to look at everything a scrapper can do, not just crits. AOE matters, Znail. In CoH as it currently stands, it matters more than any other factor.
I think Znail needs to go back to trolling other forums, and posting useless info there. Consider the following:
1) FACT: Cryptic lead designer admitted, on a public forum, that Scrappers could attain the same defense caps as a Tanker.
2) FACT: Cryptic lead designer admitted, on a public forum, that Tankers could not even come close to matching Scrapper damage output.
3) Opinion (shared by many I know): Scrappers, during most of the game, are preferred to Tankers in groups.
Gee, we can either believe Znail's arguments (based on assumptions,"statistics" and a clear bias), or a dev's statements, based on hard data. Wow, tough choice.
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Tankers single target attacks do about as much as Scrappers do.
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Golly, nearly fell off my chair laughing at that. You DO know that generally, all secondaries are capped at 75% effectiveness of the same primary, right? And that tankers generally slot primary damage-mitigating powers, while scrappers tend to slot primary damage-dealing powers?
Man, I've met biased people trying to defend their over-powered class (relative to another) by pulling fictitious statements and facts out of their a**, but you, sir, take the cake.
If it hasn't been mentioned (I am not readin 10 pages to check), a tanker's accuracy should increase with successive hits as well as damage. This would really help them against bosses.