Why is reaching the soft-cap so important?

This guide has been moved to my blog, a central location for me to keep all of my content, free to format as I please.

I wrestled with the idea of leaving the guide as is here and keeping the most up to date version on my blog. I ultimately decided that as I make the guide better over time, I won't want old poor versions hanging around. And you're mad if you think I'd like to double my work by updating in two places all the time.

Very good summary. The only thing I'd add is that while hitting the soft cap is extremely beneficial if you aren't specifically trying to (i.e. most Blasters) getting 10%-15% defense still makes a lot of difference over 0% defense.

I love the smell of Power Boosted bubbles in the morning.

My version of this speech goes something like this:

The last 5% of Defense blocks as much damage as the first 40%.

Bookmarked! Thanks for this ; )

Fulmens: I agree with the general thrust of your argument but don't quite follow your math. The last 5% defense to the softcap halves incoming damage, from 10% to 5%. Isn't the first 25% that does the same, from 50% to 25%? By 40% defense, you've gone from 50% to 10%, a full fivefold decrease...

well apparently that long hiatus for educational reasons seems to have paid off
now unless your an engineer, that will be the last time you ever have to use that level of math again, math is the great school lie. "you'll need it throughout your life" teachers said, "it will help you almost everyday" they said, "you wont be able to function in society without it" they said, POPPYCOCK!!! wish they had emphasized English as much, THAT would have been useful.

but i am glad you laid all that out, and that i read it, and now i never want to see it again
i can't stand looking at my superheroes/villains like they are nicely adorned wireframe calculators, takes all the life out of the game.

The reason I no loner softcap my SR Scrapper is I have much more fun using some active mitigation in the form of Caltrops and Dragon's Tail (KB slotted ). Also, I have Elude to fall back on, and all of this is on top of Inspirations, of course (I almost always have at least 1 Defense Inspiration in my tray as they drop pretty frequently). This has also allowed me to get 24 HP/sec Regeneration and +45% Damage bonuses instead.

My build's a lot more fun to play now than when I was soft capped. Even for SR, soft capping isn't the only way to go. Also, I just enjoy being contradictory and go against the flow with my builds.

WARNING: I bold names.

...I hate maths.

That was a very nice summary!

I would also add one thing, which goes for pretty much any game (and IRL, too); Why do you need to be the best when close-to-the-best is about as good? Because, close-to-the-best isn't the best. (Eg. 44% Def vs 45% Def)

It's surprisingly often true that people are willing to spend large amounts of in-game currency to improve their performance by very little.

I think this should be in the Guides section, where it won't be purged.

I already notified the moderator and requested it, but you can do the same as well, just click that little Caution triangle under your name and then type in the reason why you're notifying the moderator about the post.

By the way, you might want to read the guide in my signature about the New Forums, it might help you a bit.

First, awesome information. And I agree with PhiloticKnight, this should be in a Guide.

I am conflicted by this crazed "Soft-Cap" obsession because:

minus "soloing" AVs, for rest of PVE, wouldn't I still be ok with regular SR numbers or such AND having Aid-Self?

I have a SOed /SR scrapper (haven't felt like planning out IOs) that I made almost four years ago and he has Aid-Self. On the ITF, the only time I face-planted was when I took simultaneous hits which ocurred once.

Just curious what the math would say Soft-Cap versus /SR numbers alone with Aid-Self?

Very informative. However, at what cost does the defense come? Are you sacrificing your own dps to achieve survivability? For tanks and scrappers, I'm sure it is useful to hit soft cap, but as a defender/controller/blaster, there are other forms of damage mitigation which can just as effectively be used to survive.
Sleep a whole spawn and you don't have to defend as much.
Mez/Debuff a boss, and his dps will drop.
Team with a (good) aggro holder and your soft capped defense will be redundant/unnecessary.

While I think that defense is important, it is more important to consider the tradeoff. The original post did a lot to show the effectiveness of the last 5%. For some archetypes, it makes me think that if you can't reach soft cap, don't go out of your way to increase your defense because the gain will be so marginal.

One thing that nobody seems to have touched on yet, is that high defence values do more than just stop your health dropping.

A lot of those red numbers come with a special added bonus, free of charge - debuffs and mezzes.

High defence values can, at a pinch almost substitute for mez protection, or make existing mez protection far more potent.

For example, my Stone/Fire scranker, who uses Granite purely as a panic button, has all bar softcapped Psi defence. He laughs at Master Illusionists - they summon their 4 Illusionary Illusionists, all 5 pop flash and Blind and he's still stood there, almost completely untouched, and absolutely not held. Add in the fact that the Carnie end drain [Psychic Visage] is AoE/Psi typed, and Rooted gives end drain resist, and he's almost immune to that irritation, too.

Hmm, I'm waffling. I'll return to the point, High defence levels are valuable for more than just mitigating damage, they can help mitigate other things too.

I do, however appreciate the running of the numbers, and fully endorse the conclusion that the last 5% defence approaching the softcap gives as much mitigation as the rest.

Nice mini-guide-ette

Nice post although I think most of the forum goes probably already got the idea. Wasn't quite sure if you were asking or trying to explain at first. Also, the snarky part of me wanted to respond to this part:

Quote:

Originally Posted by DechsKaison Coming back to the game this time I find I have a different point of view, similar to a min/maxer. I want to get the most out of my characters with these shiny "new" IO's.

I didn't worry about numbers back then either, but really we didn't need to. You could be great without having to know every number in the game. Now, sure you can get by just by playing with SOs and whatnot, but you'll never be near what you could have before, or close to what you can be with IOs.

Alright, I've added those couple sections that were requested, 10-15%, 40%, and a bit about defense and its effects on mez. I've also included a note on the math at the beginning of this mess.

Thanks to everyone for the warm reception this has gotten; I'm surprised it was so liked. I appreciate all the feedback.