Mezz Protection for All!

Yeah, I know. This comes up all the time. Just give those poor squishy Blasters, Defenders, (most) Controllers, Kheldians, Corruptors and Master Minds some slightly better, consistant protection.

Now there used to be some really valid points not to. After all, PvP with Mezz Protection was very broken.

But there is no more PvP Mezz Protection, just Mezz Resistance.

So what is the compelling reason to not allow it anymore? So that heroes and villains can be detoggled by minions? (No, they changed that so only offensive toggles really drop.)

So that bosses are a grave threat? I don't know about you guys, but my corruptor gets waxed pretty dang fast by bosses even when I can move. How is suppressing all my protections and not being able to flee more harsh than that?

Now, just to be fair, I'm not advocating that everyone gets tanker-level protection.

In fact, I'd just add two 'lower-tier' protection levels, built into the different ATs Primary or Secondary.

Low Tier: Defenders, Corruptors, Masterminds. +2 or +3 mezz protection at best. Something to make them feel that they are better than generic minions and lts. (This is where Soldiers of Arachnos generally are, IIRC. A little bit gets rid of a lot of frustration, IMO.)

Low-Mid Tier: Blasters and Kheldians. +4 or +5. For the most part, these ATs are actually a bit heavy melee so need just a bit more to survive in melee.

Mid Tier: Scrappers, Brutes and Stalkers. Lives in melee, but is not the primary aggro-magnet, so needs more than those below them.

High Tier: Tankers, of course. (Dwarf Form Khelds should be about here, but probably would be in this new system.)

Let fun triumph over inertia!

(Yes, I'm pretty sure I'll get yelled at that there is no problem, please shut up, yadda yadda yadda. Every time I personally have a problem playing one of these 'no-mezz' characters, I'll be right back here visiting.)

Still here, even after all this time!

Absolutely no.

If you are on a team, why isn't your tank holding the aggro to keep you from being mezzed? If you are soloing, why can't you use your tools to avoid the mez? Many ATs that can be mezzed have access to a hold sometime in their tier.

Part of the challenge of playing a squishy AT is dealing with the weaknesses. CoH is hardly a challenging game compared to others.

If you're really getting mezzed that much, you should pack more Break Frees. They exist for a reason. Alternately, adjust your tactics to take out known mezzers first before they can inflict their wares upon you.

Another option: give every enemy wiffle bats so we don't get hit at all.

While I don't think squishies should get as much protection as you're suggesting, an IO that adds 1 or 2 points of protection would be handy so you can take one mez, from stray aggro, AoE mezzes or whatever.

It should be a minimal level though, especially given the new toggle rules.

This is a silly idea. Seriously, it's not like the game is not easy enough as it is. Seems like some players won't be satisfied until every single obstacle that might require even the tiniest bit of tactics or thinking is removed from the game, leaving them having to do nothing more than randomly mash buttons on their keyboard for max expeez.

Something like this in a very minimal way WOULD make some of the AT's that are not very soloable a lot more capable of soloing. For example, I pretty much cannot stand playing defenders because I solo 99% of the time and even the most soloable defenders are extremely crippled by status effects - and break free's are NOT enough when most defenders rely on offensive toggles which drop at the slightest status effect - a 0.5 second stun - say goodbye to RI which means a dead solo defender. Unless you suck down a break free at EVERY fight which includes a mezzing, sleeping or stunning opponent you risk losing your protections until you can re-cast the toggles - and with the recharge on many toggles that is not reasonable.

There DOES exist something like this already in the game - acrobatics gives you 2 points of hold resistance which stacks with the inherent 1 point that all characters have so that the first normal hold doesn't stick. I used to use this on my archery/devices blaster for both KB and hold protection, mostly to prevent my targeting drone and cloaking device from constantly dropping as having to raise them after every single fight was annoying. When they changed defensive toggles so that they didn't drop anymore I was able to respec out of it and go with a karma IO for KB protection but thats on a blaster who has no offensive toggles and defiance.

IF they added some more, minimal status resistance to either IO's or pool powers (or both) I think it would be a great thing for the game - not a lot, just enough so that like with acrobatics you can resist that first hold or stun. It would increase the solo-ability of the most squishy AT's without really increasing their combat ability.

Now that traps has been moved to defenders I will probably be trying out a traps defender as it gives you the status protection of FF but offers offensive debuffs which FF doesn't - however I would love to be able to play a rad defender without having to choose to group all the time or feel like I can carry nothing in my tray but breakfree's.

QR

Ya know, I thought about this the other day when I went from my brute to my blaster.

My solution or idea involves creating an IO that provide 4 Magnitude of Mezz protection (all except sleep or something). Of course, it would be Unique.

The other option is a Purple IO Set (either Damage Res or Defense) which gives a 6th bonus of 3-4 points magnitude protection from mezzes (all mezzes).

If everyone has mez protection, then mez will basically go from the PVE game.

Other threats that could be added, high levels of -tohit debuffing, end draining (sappers), burst damage (more mobs with build-up).

Seems to me like mez is the lesser of that list

If this game got any easier, they could just replace all powers with a big red button in the middle of the screen that says "I win."

I mean, look at the ATs:
Tank, Scrapper, Brute, Stalker, VEAT - Mez protection built in.

Blaster - Defiance 2.0

Controller - Should be able to throw some control, buff (say, FF) or debuff
on the enemy before getting mezzed. And most have pets if they DO get mezzed, post-32, to get aggro off the controller.

Defender, Corruptor - See above comments on buff/debuff.

Kheldians - can take Dwarf for insta-breakfree built in. (Not to mention mezzing doesn't detoggle them, so they don't get knocked out of Nova if they're in it, nor do they fall to the ground.)

Dominator - Again, can mez first, and there's always the "Get out of mez free" of Domination.

Mastermind - heh. Sure. Go ahead and mez the mastermind as the pets beat on you. Or mez one of the pets as the MM debuffs you. All pain, no gain.

And of course, Breakfrees are hardly rare, AND we've been able to combine inspirations for a few issues now. There are also plenty of sets that give resistance (lowering the duration of the mez) on top of defense (to make sure you don't get mezzed in the first place.)


So this terrible, horrific need for mez protection is... where, again? (And yes, I do play quite a few defenders, controllers, and dominators.)

See my Guides and Tutorials

I would only be for this, if it were added at 6th slot IO set bonuses to powers that follow the mez. That would have some nice flavor at least. So for example, Holds would get 3 points of hold protection if you get to the six slot bonus. Sleeps would get 3 points, Disorients 3 points, etc. That seems fair and wouldn't totally trivialize mezzing in the game. Most squishies have one or more forms of mezz so they could wind up with protection from a couple of effects.

What does a Force Field defender bring to the team?

Softcapped defense? Pfft. EVERYONE has that.
Passive Mez Protection? I want my own, thanks.
... knockback? Yeah. Knockback.

If the abundance of debilitating status effects has a negative impact on the game, the solution is to reduce the abundance of debilitating status effects, not throw around status protection.

Really...

I have four FF defenders.

They've become steadily less and less useful above, say, level 33. About all they provide that you can't get from (ice/dark/IO's/two guys with Maneuvers) is passive mez protection.

While the entire game shouldn't be based around "my favorite guys are still worth spitting on", you should wonder why ANYONE would group if EVERY character can solo with no gaping holes in their performance.

There's clearly and stupidly too much KB in the late game, but I don't know if you can argue that there's too much mez.

I'd say game balance is actually the minor concern here. When heroes (without mez protection) are as easy to hold, root, stun, and put to sleep as minions, that's so far out of true-to-genre that I find it's immersion breaking. Heroes should be at least as hard as LTs to mez for that reason alone.

"Mez protection for all!"
"Boo!!!"
"Very well, no mez protection for anyone!"
"BOOOO!!!!!"
"Hm... Mez protection for some, miniature Hero 1 capes for others."
"YAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!"