Earth/Storm: Quicksand versus Snow Storm

MentalMaden · 04-05-2010 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torrynt

Of course all of this is anecdotal and I can only claim experience of myself and a few friends. It's a great tool prior to your slotting your powers and as a slow patch it's useful. However, once I've gotten slotted I don't need -DEF for +3 or +4... and a slow patch is of marginal use to me.

Others might find more use out of it and who knows, you may love either or both. I like them, but not enough to sacrifice things like Tough/Weave which let me live longer and hence use controls that have, IMHO, a far more tangible effect on the battle.

Pardon me, and I sincerely don't mean to sound snarky. But a controller does not in any way need tough/weave for survival. It is a neat trick to help softcap a farmer for S/L etc etc, but by no means required/needed by your standard controller. This idea that a controller needs any protection other than their own mezzes and debuffs is quite frankly not looking at the AT for what it does best. Epic shields are just nice little bonuses, but look how long your career is to that point and you did (hopefully) just fine without them. I would never-ever recommend to anyone they forego any primary or secondary power for the sake of punch or kick/tough/weave. (farm builds excluded) My first controller 50 (earth/rad) has zero shield protection and doesn't die anymore than any other toon. I can almost (almost) see the argument for a solo toon but you say you team and I can't for the life of me see how a teamed controller needs that little extra protection, sorry.

@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff

dave_p · 04-05-2010 08:41 AM

Most ppl who post on the forums are good about slotting and IO'ing bonuses and thus have high Acc/To Hit bonuses. I'm no exception, but I still lead w/QS as much as possible for the -Def. Remember, just because you have a high accuracy, doesn't mean the rest of the team does. Also, there are enough debuffing mobs in the game where I always like having an auto hit Def debuff (unlike say Rad, which needs to hit first). It recharges and casts fast, has a nice area, and a good slow to boot. No way I'd ever skip QS.

Someone described how I feel about SS above as a luxury, i.e. nice to have, but optional. I currently skip SS on all my controllers and even my Cold defender, though I'm reconsidering that last. For stuff like witches and any flying/scattering mobs, SS is wonderful to have, but it doesn't happen nearly enough for me to want to devote a whole power to it, esp if I can ground them w/an immob.

An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee

dave_p · 04-05-2010 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MentalMaden

But a controller does not in any way need tough/weave for survival. It is a neat trick to help softcap a farmer for S/L etc etc, but by no means required/needed by your standard controller.

Not only is it not necessary, but I manage my AV soloing build w/o Tough/Weave. In fact, I manage ranged def caps on pretty much all my 50 controllers w/o Tough/Weave (thos this may change w/I17). Then again, maybe if you're farming/cherry picking S/L dealing mobs, Tough/Weave are more useful? *shrugs* But for most cases, QS is far, far more useful than Tough/Weave will be for controllers. YMMV and all that, I guess.

An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee