Absorb = ?


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Posted

So Heal enhancements now say Heal/Absorb. Nothing about this in the patch notes and all I learned in chat was that Shadow Hunter uses it and we don't have it yet? Can anyone provide actual details on this mechanic?


 

Posted

Absorb is a rather new mechanic that no current powersets use. However, Nature Affinity and Bio Armor will use it.

Basically, Absorb creates an "HP Shield" that gets used up before your actual health.



 

Posted

if you've played D&D 3rd Ed, think Temp HP>


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Posted

Temp HP is alive and well in 4th ed. too (my Artificer hands it out like candy), along with oodles of other games (Mordekaiser is my favorite melee champ in LoL, etc.).

But yeah, looking forward to Bio Armor / Nature affinity if they're allowing us to use damage absorption shields for the first time in ever, since (I would expect) they will effectively let us achieve higher-than-hardcap HP levels.


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Posted

Sounds like it would be a good mechanic to add to Regeneration.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect View Post
Sounds like it would be a good mechanic to add to Regeneration.
Or a new powerset that is basically regen 2.0

Enemies are currently using the mechanic on live. Looking forward to us being able to use it.



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Posted

Personally, I think it should be added to Force Field, being a one trick pony (+Def) is less than useful in a world where Destiny powers can give anyone amazing defenses and many folks in iTrials have IOs out the yin-yang!



 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thirty-Seven View Post
Personally, I think it should be added to Force Field, being a one trick pony (+Def) is less than useful in a world where Destiny powers can give anyone amazing defenses and many folks in iTrials have IOs out the yin-yang!
i second this. Absorb actually does a better job of emulating the mechanics of most traditional fictional/comic book force fields than what we have now. Adding absorb to force fields would also give the set more appeal.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thirty-Seven View Post
Absorb is a rather new mechanic that no current powersets use. However, Nature Affinity and Bio Armor will use it.

Basically, Absorb creates an "HP Shield" that gets used up before your actual health.
What "creates" the shield?

It is a straight math via IOs for any applicable power?
Or is it an auto-hit "drain/syphon HP" type of mechanic?
Or something else?

Will today's external healing buffs be tomorrow's external healing/absorb buffs?


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajani Isa View Post
if you've played D&D 3rd Ed, think Temp HP>
We already have temp HP in this game. One of my characters has his indestructible buff pet - ice shields and Frostworks to get the hit points over 500.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ironblade View Post
We already have temp HP in this game. One of my characters has his indestructible buff pet - ice shields and Frostworks to get the hit points over 500.
No, that's +MAX HP. Technically, +MAX HP +Heal.

Different thing.

Absorb's temp hp shield doesn't affect regen since it's not part of your hit points, for one, while +MaxHP does.


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Posted

To put in game terms I understand, it sounds like the Protoss, who you have to take their shields down to start reducing HP. I approve of this being added to our game.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitteh View Post
What "creates" the shield?

It is a straight math via IOs for any applicable power?
Or is it an auto-hit "drain/syphon HP" type of mechanic?
Or something else?

Will today's external healing buffs be tomorrow's external healing/absorb buffs?
Presumably, it's just another power effect, like healing or +maxhp. So one power might grant a 500-point shield when applied (analogous to a direct heal), another would grant several "ticks" of shield (analogous to an HoT), and another might be an absorb shield tied to an attack (analogous to Siphon Life).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajani Isa View Post
No, that's +MAX HP. Technically, +MAX HP +Heal.

Different thing.

Absorb's temp hp shield doesn't affect regen since it's not part of your hit points, for one, while +MaxHP does.
Yep, +maxhp would be analogous to a temporary Constitution buff in D&D. (nerd points +10)

But yeah, similar concepts have been used in a LOT of games, and it's pretty intuitive in actual play. It's ablative shielding, and acts kind of like pre-emptive healing (preventing damage before it is dealt, rather than restoring it afterward).


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Schismatrix View Post
i second this. Absorb actually does a better job of emulating the mechanics of most traditional fictional/comic book force fields than what we have now. Adding absorb to force fields would also give the set more appeal.
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I am in favor of it as well. It would be extremely awesome if it had a different "hit" animation as well, one where it was obvious the power hit but did not physically hit the character.
Here is an example at 0:55 in the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfGwfhU7z5M

The idea is to have an obvious "pinging off the shield" hit without "making them flinch" like hits currently work in the game.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopeling View Post
But yeah, similar concepts have been used in a LOT of games, and it's pretty intuitive in actual play. It's ablative shielding, and acts kind of like pre-emptive healing (preventing damage before it is dealt, rather than restoring it afterward).
Maybe they finally worked out direct "-damage" rather than a debuff before damage is dealt?


 

Posted

From what I recall of Hawk's description of what they (so far) can do with it, a "AoT" would stack with itself (so if it did 10 tic sover a minute of 100AHP, and you took no damage, you'd end up with 1000AHP after the minute). And other than (possibly) zoning/logging, it wouldn't expire wihtout some "Set to AHP value to 0" power.

Kind of like how old Mog would set your HP to a low value by healing, then damaging you.

Unlike MaxHP, which will simply wear off.


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Posted

Do we know if the Absorb mechanic takes into account a character's Resistance? (and Defense, for that matter?)

Sounds silly, I know.. But several games which sport a similar "Absorb/Shield" mechanic only count the raw unmitigated damage against the Absorb Shield, which makes them go poof much quicker than one would expect.


 

Posted

Rumour has is it that defense works with absorb, since damage that misses doesn't need to be absorbed. However, damage is absorbed before resistance is calculated. This clearly has a huge implications for the def/res balance of the game. My feeling is it will probably be changed before it goes generally live.

Absorb is thought to scale with max HP, and is presumably capped. My guess is the absorb cap will be equal to the max HP cap.

It would be difficult to add Absorb to Force Field without breaking the cottage rule. Nature Affinity is going to be the absorb themed buff set.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU View Post
It would be difficult to add Absorb to Force Field without breaking the cottage rule. Nature Affinity is going to be the absorb themed buff set.
As long as the powers continue to behave as they currently do, it doesn't violate the cottage rule to add additional functionality.

Changing a +Def power into a +Def/+Absorb power wouldn't be a violation of the cottage rule, it'd be a flat-out buff.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man View Post
As long as the powers continue to behave as they currently do, it doesn't violate the cottage rule to add additional functionality.

Changing a +Def power into a +Def/+Absorb power wouldn't be a violation of the cottage rule, it'd be a flat-out buff.
Well, if the +def was changed to absorb then it would still not be breaking the cottage rule because both are damage mitigation and, I would argue, absorb fits the true intention of "force field" more than +def does.


 

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Quote:
Originally Posted by T_Immortalus View Post
Well, if the +def was changed to absorb then it would still not be breaking the cottage rule because both are damage mitigation and, I would argue, absorb fits the true intention of "force field" more than +def does.
The Cottage Rule gets its name from the first time a dev explained it: the power Build Up should not be changed from a damage buff to a power that builds a small cottage, because although both could properly be called "Build Up", the mechanic is entirely different. This was of course a silly example, but it's pretty analogous to changing a long-duration defense buff to an absorption shield. Yes, they're both defensive powers, and they both make thematic sense for a force field, but the mechanic is entirely different.

On the other hand, the Cottage Rule is often misinterpreted as "we will never make changes like this", but the original explanation contained no such statement. It was more along the lines of "we will avoid making such changes, if at all possible". It's a last resort, but not completely off-limits. We've seen several "violations" of the cottage rule, after all, even relatively recently, like during the Energy Aura revamp in i21, when Energy Drain was changed from a heal to a defense buff.

In short, if fixing Force Field is on the development agenda, and it absolutely cannot be fixed except by ditching some defense powers for absorb powers, it will happen, but if less drastic changes will suffice, they will be used instead.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man View Post
As long as the powers continue to behave as they currently do, it doesn't violate the cottage rule to add additional functionality.

Changing a +Def power into a +Def/+Absorb power wouldn't be a violation of the cottage rule, it'd be a flat-out buff.
That's why I said it was difficult, not impossible.

I'm pretty sure the developers will just use Absorb as a way of adding new powersets (which people then pay for) not tinkering with old ones. The biggest flaw of FF isn't it's power anyway, it's simply BORING.


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Posted

Lots of comments. Sorry if this was said already.

On my low level Praetorian I crafted a level 15 heal IO for myself when I noticed the chat said that I received a Heal/Absorb enhancement. I went into management and sure enough: both heal IOs in Health had absorb in them. I asked about this in help chat and was told that the absorb mechanic isn't live yet. So it seems it is not planned for new power sets only.


 

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Wrong conclusion. It's planned for new powersets, but those new powers will use existing enhancements.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU View Post
Wrong conclusion. It's planned for new powersets, but those new powers will use existing enhancements.
Correct. They made Heal enhancements affect Absorb. Which makes sense considering they are already used for +MaxHP as well. Better than adding a new set most people can't use.


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