Melee AoE Damage comparison questions

So, I'm Doing an AoE Damage comparison spreadsheet, and decided that I would post the info when it was done. I'm almost done, and so I thought while I was finishing it, I would ask people if there was anything they wanted added as I finished up.

First of all, I'm comparing powersets not ATs so I'm using damage scales not actual power damage values, though Damage scales include critical damage for scrapper claws, broadswoard, Martial arts, and spines due to scrappers being the only AT with those specific powers making that the base damage for the powerset. Looking at the numbers on city of data while I type this, I notice that they have the damage scales listed modified for PvP's 5% chance, so i'll be changing those.

What I decided I wanted to do for my own use was compare sets maximum potential AoE as well as a comparison of performance when considering the various sizes of AoEs. Additionally, I'm comparing damage slotting: 94.93%, Recharge slotting: 94.93%, and both.

With regard to in-set damage buffs; I will check claws and dual blades with no bonus, 37.5%, and 75%; Dark melee will get 1, 3, 5, and 10 stacked soul drain; Super Strength gets base, and single stack rage; and KM will be checked with 0 and 1 stack of +damage. Each for base, slotted, and weighted values. This (and all of KM, cuz I forgot about it) is whats left to finish.

The method I'm using for comparing AoEs based on size is to give each an ease of use percentage, to act as a modifier. The ease of use percentage is determined by dividing the radius/arc of a power by the Highest radius of the type, and highest cone arc available: 20'/180 deg and 30'/180 deg.

Accuracy bonuses are just increasing damage by the percent of bonus a power has.

The specific categories will be: Base, rech enhanced, dam enhanced, rech/damage enhanced, Weighted versions of the preceding using the ease of use modifiers, and versions of the preceding for each sets +damage.

Because I'm not getting into levels of recharge beyond 3 SOs there's no need to worry about chains, so i'm just doing a sum DPS of all the powers.

So, my questions are:

Anything else you want me to look at, or not look at, while i'm doing it?

Any Issues with how I'm looking at it?

And I've got Thunder strike and Lightning rod's damage scales as .96 (only counting AoE portion for now) and 2.653 respectivly, can anyone confirm?

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Murphys Military Law

#23. Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy other people to shoot at.

#46. If you can't remember, the Claymore is pointed towards you.

#54. Killing for peace is like screwing for virginity.

The modifier for 'ease of use' shouldn't be straight division, because the area of a circle uses the radius squared. Radius of 1 vs Radius of 2 = 4 fold increase in size. Footstomp is looked on very favourable for things like this.

Accuracy bonuses are a bit trickier because 95% additional accuracy does nothing further. It's going to depend on what level the spawn is vs the player to find the optimal return to investment.

Usually these sorts of things end up a mess...



PS lightning rod has two zones of damage, there's an inner zone that does additional energy damage over the normal large AOE.. to make things more challenging.

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Bah, thats right about the radius! That explains some of the results so far. Got it, fixed it, thanks!

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Murphys Military Law

#23. Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy other people to shoot at.

#46. If you can't remember, the Claymore is pointed towards you.

#54. Killing for peace is like screwing for virginity.

Are you taking the target cap into consideration? In general the AoEs are capped at:

Melee Cone = 5 targets
Melee range PBAoE = 10 targets
Ranged Cone = 10 targets
PBAoE = 16 targets
Targeted AoE = 16 targets
Rain = 16 targets

In general it's extremely hard to get more than 5 enemies in a melee cone or more than 10 in a melee PBAoE, so I wouldn't penalize those more than you already do due to the smaller area. Ranged cones, on the other hand, can often be aimed at more than 10 targets when fighting large spawns so you may want to consider penalizing large cones a bit because they aren't quite as good as they look.

I also wouldn't count accuracy bonuses at all. They can be handy in limited situations but in general once you get decent slotting you are going to be at 95% to hit against most things. Maybe add a "high level target" column that does count accuracy, for things like fighting +4s.

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Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
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[u]Arcs[u]
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I assume Melee Range PBAoEs only affect foes in Melee Range, while the other ones affect a larger area.

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