Defender Conspiracy Theory

It's very simple. I suspect that the Devs are actually TRYING to find ways to give Defenders more damage, and they are "trying" this in sneaky ways to see which ones work and which ones are too powerful in the live environment.

Fact: They added a blast set AND a primary set that causes damage resistance debuffs (Sonic)

Fact?: They added a blast set (Ice) that has strong single target attacks compared to most of the other blast sets and I have HEARD that the ice storm AoE has the same DAMAGE numbers as the Blaster version. Someone correct me please if I'm wrong, but if it's really there then I suspect it's not a bug and was done intentionally.

Speculation: The Assault Rifle port over will also have numbers CLOSER to Blaster numbers in terms of damage than previous Defender Blast sets. I'm sure someone could go on Test right now and confirm or destroy this speculation. I myself avoid the Test Server because I don't want to spoil new Issues for myself.


So my theory is that this is the Devs' attempt at slowly "testing" buffs to Defender damage, a little here, a little there, to see how each one works or doesn't work. What do you think? Is this all completely inaccurate?

Well, it wouldn't be a CONSPIRACY THEORY if it wasn't based on a ton of speculation and possible misinformation, would it? And a man can dream, can't he?

interesting theory Westley, I hope it's true. We are seeing sets that are more "blastery" in nature. This is a good thing.

I support this Conspiracy Theory.

Also: a lot of the debuff/buff IO Sets come with +damage bonuses really early.

To the best of my knowledge, Assault Rifle does exactly the amount of damage it's supposed to in the hands of Defenders, considering their 0.65 ranged damage modifier. The only exception is Ignite, because no new pet with Defender level damage was made.

Trickshooter's Characters | @Trickshooter @Brightside

Well, there is the other conspiracy theory (blah-blah-blah) that GR will make defenders obsolete. Maybe this is a way to keep them around?

Just a thought.

Ya def ignite looks pretty nice. Too bad they upped the recharge on it so much a while back.

There are a lot of weird powers that do the same effects for all ATs due to summoning pseudo-pets. In many cases the balance reason is pretty opaque. For the various damage patch powers, like Ice Storm, Rain of Fire, or Ignite, I think it's actually good game balance.

Damage over Time is a funny sort of thing. If you're counting on the DoT to kill things, you're committed to leaving them alive for the entire duration, which can be quite a long time. Toss an Ice Storm, and you're basically saying you're prepared to let your enemies live another fifteen seconds -- otherwise you'd be tossing a fireball or something. That's all well and good, but after those fifteen seconds they had better actually be dead. Otherwise you'd have been much better off picking guys off one at a time.

Damage patch powers also tend to slow, avoid, and otherwise debuff, making them feel much like Defender powers anyway. After all, Caltrops and Oil Slick Arrow are Support powers, not Blasting ones. Blasters can and should be much better at burst damage, since that's actually the primary form of mitigation they get. Defenders, who can use buffs, heals, or debuffs to weather the attacks of their enemies, don't need the burst damage, but should get the same benefit from DoTs.

The problem with /Sonic and Sonic/ is that the former provides way more Res debuff than the latter. In fact, in terms of Res debuff, Sonic/ only beats Rad/ in its application of -Res to a single target. And it beats Trick Arrow by only 20% for a single target, and 10% in an area.

Plus there is the fact that Disruption Field can't be used solo. (Unless you put it on a Vet Reward buff pet, shhhh, don't let the devs know about that)

Not to fuel the conspiracy theorists too much, but have you guys seen the numbers on [Power Mastery.Force of Nature]? 50% res. Unslotted. To all but Psi. Two 50 Res IOs caps resistance to everything but Psi. Well, 74.9%, but it's close enough.

Are they trying to make Defenders more survivable, perhaps? Instead of boosting damage, we get staying power? I could live with that.

I think that defenders do need a boost in base damage that should be balanced by a decrease in their damage cap so that they cap out at current levels. Thsi would allow them to solo better and contribute more in small teams, but transition toward more support in larger teams where their damage is less of a factor.