Change the Defensive Soft Cap per AT
By
BrandX,
Posted on: 2011-03-25 20:05 in Suggestions and Ideas
Eleventy Bajillion % /unsigned. That is all I am going to say for now.
Quote:
Have you played a defensive softcapped Blaster?|
Originally Posted by Hatred666
Resistance and Hit Points are already capped per AT, and I think the defense soft cap should seriously be looked at being changed as well for the different archetypes.
Soft capping adds a level of survivability that shouldn't be achievable except for Tanks and possibly Brutes. My tank isn't going to reach the level of damage that my Scrapper or Blaster is going to do, so therefore my Scrapper or Blaster shouldn't be able to reach my Tanks survivability. Yes, I realize Fire/ and Shield/ tanks can do insane amounts of damage. But tanks are limited to specific sets to reach that level of damage. Any powerset combination for Blasters or Scrappers can reach a defensive cap, or any powerset for any other AT for that matter. |
I have. They're survivalable! Very much so!
You know what? They are no where as survivable as a melee AT at softcap.
Take any melee combo, and put it between Tanker, Scrappers, Brutes and Stalkers.
The Tanker will be the most survivable.
This might not seem like much on a pure defense Tanker, but currently they only have one real defense set...Ice Armor (though it has a few other things to layer it's defense...+HP/Heal, -DMG Aura, -END power...of this set set, I think it only needs a S/L Resist put into it's first armor, and possibly more DDR).
If Tankers had SR (Brutes do), you'd see the Tanker SR surviving more than the SR Scrapper because of that added +HP (as SR Brutes do now compared to Scrappers)
Now when it's a one trick pony, that might not seem like much. :/ But figure the Defense based Tankers need to worry less about adding on +Defense, and then can work on ways to increase their dmg output.
Will it generally reach Scrapper level offense? No. But then a Scrapper will never have a corresponding Tankers defenses.
For a good comparison...ELM/WP Combo (as it's available to all 4 melee ATs).
Something I would suggest (but know it would be shot down)...
Tanker: +.05 to damage mod.
Brute: +4% to base resists on shields, +2% to base defense on shields (for passives maybe a +2%/+1% respectively), lower Resist Cap to 85%, but this is based more on thinking the Brutes do enough below scrappers in damage (solo wise) to give them a bit more defense outside of extra Health.
Scrappers: Raise resist cap to 80%. Solo wise, this only effects Fire Armor and Electric Armor in their favored resists. INV can achieve 75% S/L Resist solo, but it's not easy and requires taking a hit in damage (I believe Bass Ackwards DM/INV was able to achieve 73% S/L Resist without sacrificing damage, but it wasn't cheap, and hitting 80% would likely be impossible).
Stalkers: Raise the DMG MOD to scrapper levels! The fact that my stalker does less DPS than my Scrapper is just depressing. Keep the resist cap as is (at 75% same as every AT outside of Tankers, Brutes, and Epic ATs) Solo wise, Stalkers would have the damage over Scrappers, while losing out in the survival.
...now that's just seperating the melee ATs.
As for the squishie ATs gaining softcapped defenses. Again, it doesn't put them on par with the Melee ATs AT ALL. The closest I found to even come close (in my experience) was Dark Miasma users, but even then, one mez gets through, I was usually done for without a quick Break Free to hopefully recover in time with.
My Rad Defender at softcap never felt as tough as my DM Defender at softcap.
And Blasters do have more damage than Scrappers, it just tends to be more AOE focused. There are of course exceptions on both sides.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
Just...NO.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
The "Softcap" isn't a characteristic assigned to any Archetype, it's a mechanical function of the way Tohit works.
There is no way to alter where the softcap lies based on archetype, unless you start doing funky things with the code such as giving mobs Tohit bonuses that only work vs specific archetypes or powersets... and I'm not sure the game even has a way of doing that. (Which in and of itself would be a major hit to defense buffing sets like Forcefield and Cold Domination, Forcefield in particular.)
The Defense "Hardcap" is a specific limitation based on archetype, and that IS different between the different Melee and ranged types. The Hardcap is significantly higher than the Softcap. That just doesnt really matter because any amount above softcap isn't particularly useful except as a buffer against Defense debuffs.
@Oathbound & @Oathbound Too
I think an issue here is that for the vast majority of the game (just leveling up, pugs etc) a soft-capped brute/scrapper can pull things off well enough to make a tank feel 'defunct'. Sure they aren't quite as tough as a tanker can be, but unless **** really hits the fan, that ain't gonna mean much.
Now this doesn't tend to hold true for some of the harder TFs', and I imagine future incarnate stuff will probably widen the survival gap even further.. But for the leveling and leisurely portion of the game, ya certain soft capped scrappers/brutes could make the tank feel a bit envious..
However, one of this game's many blessings is you don't *need* a tank.. Heck you don't *need* any AT for the large majority of the game, and I hope it stays that way..
Quote:
This right here. The "defense softcap" is nothing more than the point at which your defense reduces an enemy's chance to hit you to 5%. If said enemy has no tohit buffs, that's 45%. If said enemy does have tohit buffs, it's higher. That's all there is to it.
|
Originally Posted by Oathbound
The "Softcap" isn't a characteristic assigned to any Archetype, it's a mechanical function of the way Tohit works.
|
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Quote:
/this. |
Originally Posted by Oathbound
The "Softcap" isn't a characteristic assigned to any Archetype, it's a mechanical function of the way Tohit works.
|
The only way anything without a defensive powerset comes close to seeing any of them permanently is via IOs, as it is. If people want to put that much work taking themselves from 0 (or 2.5 or so) to the softcap, they should be allowed to.
Note, I have zero squishies even all that close, so this is not out of self interest.
As it is, the devs are throwing in more mobs with -def, so once that defense is gone or lowered the other AT/set specific settings (resistance, hit points, regen) come into play.
The game has always been RIFE with -defense debuffs anyhow, and without any kind of debuff resistance even a single hit can lead an IO'd out squishy into cascade defense failure in a hurry.
Hell even characters WITH DDR can suffer cascade failure against various groups. (CoT Earth Thorn Mages.... I'm looking at you and your stacking auto-hit quicksands.
)
@Oathbound & @Oathbound Too
The Defense hard caps and the complete unevenness of Defense Debuffs (unbalanced and poorly distributed) should have both been fixed a long, long, long time ago.
Never surrender! Never give up!
Help keep Paragon City alive with the unofficial City of Heroes Tabletop Role Playing Game!
The day this happens is the day I quit the game. With all the +to hit and +accuracy ******** they have been adding since going rogue softcap isn't even as powerful as it use to be. Play an SR character whos only type of survivability is not getting hit and you'll see how frustrating it is. We build our characters and we build them well to have fun and then you want to take that way? People will only endure so many more nerfs before they simply leave the game and never come back.
Friends don't let friends buy an ncsoft controlled project.
Resistance and Hit Points are already capped per AT, and I think the defense soft cap should seriously be looked at being changed as well for the different archetypes.
Soft capping adds a level of survivability that shouldn't be achievable except for Tanks and possibly Brutes. My tank isn't going to reach the level of damage that my Scrapper or Blaster is going to do, so therefore my Scrapper or Blaster shouldn't be able to reach my Tanks survivability.
Yes, I realize Fire/ and Shield/ tanks can do insane amounts of damage. But tanks are limited to specific sets to reach that level of damage. Any powerset combination for Blasters or Scrappers can reach a defensive cap, or any powerset for any other AT for that matter.