Koopak

bruh, no need to be that hostile, goddamn

Overfocusing on healing is just putting the board entirely in Emp's favor though. The set struggles to have impact and always has, the only thing that makes Empathy seem like it was better back in the day is the lack of game knowledge at that time. Since then IOs, Incarnates, and player knowledge has left it in the dust. I say this as someone who LIKEs Empathy, but its not good compared to its compatriots because what it offers isn't as valuable. Purple Patch swings things such that the harder the content you are doing, the less useful Empathy is outside of tailored engagements like specific boss fights, and i do mean specific. This is because healing, at its core, is about undoing damage. This means it has to be reactive, you can try to preempt the cast time some sure, but now you are expecting an awful lot of a game that has poor communication to the player and a playerbase that gets overwhelmed any time more than 4 characters hit their buttons at the same time. (One is partly the product of the other) A casual trawl through health and damage values with purple patch in mind will show you that in MANY cases, anything besides a Tanker or Brute is going to have their health evicerated in mere moments if they don't have high defense and resistance, and it can still happen with just high defense, leaving the Emp player no time to react. At lower difficulties this isn't an issue, but that same perusal will show those same values aren't even close to threatening. This is exacerbated by every AT having different max, and maxmax hp values, often by ridiculous amounts. A Tanker quite literally can have 3x the health of another member of your team, and remember regeneration scales with maxhp. Meaning this threat profile is inconsistent. Inconsistent in a way that means if things are moving smoothly at high difficulty your Tanker is keeping aggro and probably needs little if any healing, but if he loses aggro, your other teammates are likely to die before you can react unless you are a very above average player for this game. This can be resolved by lowering the difficulty sure, but now you are artificially handicapping your rewards because the Tanker is BAD, which is fine, but feels shit to a lot of people. This prevents you from finding a middle ground, say +2, +3, whatever it is for you, because what that middle ground is is different for every AT. The exceptions are those specific encounters I mentioned, things like Romulous, especially on hardmode runs, create a scenario where you are likely to have spill over threat and even if you don't expecting the Tank to hold all of that threat and survive is unreasonable. Rommy has slow recharge, heavy hitting attacks to slap a Tank down to low health in a few attacks but not finish them, and the aggro packs are scaled similarly. Or atleast they are after you add a full set of team buffs. And theres the rub. The one time Empathy is unequivocally good at something, that something presumes that the team is already rocking 3 other support sets which are more important to team survival than the Empathy is. This is less an issue with Empath persay, and more an issue with the game at a core level. A dedicated healing set, no matter how good at healing, will always be underwhelming, because this game rewards preventing damage FAR more than reversing damage. Empathy has other things, but they don't come close to competing with the competition in value, and when multiple other support sets can heal almost as well? Its a nail in the coffin. Empathy is nice to have, it FEELs nice to have the auras and adrenaline and fortitude. But it wont be the difference between you clearing content or not, living through a fight or not even a fraction as often as the others. Again, this is as much a core game design issue dating back to beta, as it is a modern issue. Modern situations just make it worse.

Had this set burning in the back of my mind, all three are on the same build. Run Type: Pylon Division: 4 Archetype: Blaster Primary Powerset: Fire Blast Secondary Powerset: Plant Manipulation Time in seconds: 43 Burst: Burst Hybrid: Active Build is usable for General Purpose: Yes Number of Runs Averaged Together: 1 Version: I28P1 Notes: I know of a Fire/Nin that out performs this but Toxins should scale much better in a team and at damage cap. Video Link: Run Type: Pylon Division: 2 Archetype: Blaster Primary Powerset: Fire Blast Secondary Powerset: Plant Manipulation Time in seconds: 40 Burst: Burst Hybrid: Active Build is usable for General Purpose: Yes Number of Runs Averaged Together: 1 Version: I28P1 Notes: I know of a Fire/Nin that out performs this but Toxins should scale much better in a team and at damage cap. Video Link: Run Type: Pylon Division: 1 Archetype: Blaster Primary Powerset: Fire Blast Secondary Powerset: Plant Manipulation Time in seconds: 28 Burst: Burst Hybrid: Active Build is usable for General Purpose: Yes Number of Runs Averaged Together: 1 Version: I28P1 Notes: I know of a Fire/Nin that out performs this but Toxins should scale much better in a team and at damage cap. Video Link: FirePlant - Blaster (Fire Blast - Plant Manipulation).mbd

Congrats again to @Auroxis for taking the November bounty! I'll be moving on to more specific challenges in the near future. Going to fill in some blanks myself and set out bounties to beat various times in various conditions as i am able to ear mark the inf.

1. 150% (70% comes from Hasten) global recharge is all that's needed to make it permanent. You also don't need it to be permanent, your endurance doesn't evaporated instantly the second your income doesn't match your use. 4 minutes is a long time, you'll be fine. Even with 0 recharge, it averages out to +0.66 end/s which is about +40% recovery. 2. Ageless Radial is the best suited option for a lot of builds when soloing because debuffs are usually the issue for a build that can normally solo without relying on it's destiny. For group play you just don't use ageless because the group has your end covered. For the niche case of a solo build reliant of barrier or rebirth to survive solo, then sure, but recovery Serum is still available unless you are doing something like hard mode TFs solo. The level argument is fair to a point, but you don't need to get build fancy before 50. Sure it can help but ive leveled every AT and a lot of power sets using just SOs and basic IOs and yeah then I slot end redux because I just have the spare slots since I only need 3 of the likely 4-6 each attack will get, to cover accuracy and damage and only 2 for each buff or defensive

So here's my contribution to your goblin hoard, if you'll have it. Abandon +recovery, embrace drugs. https://cod.uberguy.net./html/power.html?power=temporary_powers.temporary_powers.alt_lp_recovery_serum Really this is something that took me several years to realize. Most builders tend to worry a lot about endurance, and I did too for a long time. Initially it was just vibes, then i got into the nitty gritty and tried to make sure i had more end/s coming in then my ST rotation and my toggles would eat, then i just shot for lasting two minutes with the understanding that Ageless Radial (not the one gives recovery, just a full bar) would solve that, as well as embracing accolades. Eventually however I realized that hitting that two minute mark is pretty easy most of the time, and when its not there's this stupid cheap gem at the START vender. Now its a temporary power sure, but the only content that locks you out of temporary powers is specifically tuned for teams, specifically large and/or coordinated teams. This means that you almost certainly have an endurance battery somewhere on the team, take a look through the support sets they are absolutely lousy with +recovery and +end. Not to mention the kings of support (in said content) currently, Kin and Cold, both bring big end to the team. Thus I've landed strongly on the ideology that endurance is a non factor even before factoring in any other tools. This opened up my options and planning a lot.

Also congratulations to @Auroxis for taking the gold on this one.

Terribly sorry for missing your question all month, been a messy year all around for me. These are challenges I am posting to get engagement with the thread linked in the OP. For now its mostly pylon times but there are other categories and I am open to adding more, all in an effort to collect real world performance metrics for ATs and sets under various conditions.

Congratulations to @mezzosoprano for taking the win

Alright been a busy as hell week for me IRL so apologies for the delays. Congratulations to @Auroxis and @mezzosoprano for winning the D4 Sentinel and D1 Controller competitions respectfully. I will be in touch to transfer your winnings via the forum dms here. Due to said IRL roller coaster and others I'll only be posting one time gated bounty for November, one requested by a previous winner. Depending on activity levels I may be swapping to 'first to beat x' bounties in the near future as well. Without further to do. Bounty Posted! Prize: 2 billion influence Task: Post the best Division 5 time of any AT for the month of November. Start Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, November 1st 2024 See in your time here! End Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, December 1st 2024 See in your time here! (In the links, look in the non bold text with your location in it, if anyone has a better translation method, let me know.) Runs on the test server are valid provided they do not make use of any changes currently being tested, or the changes used are promoted to live. Division 5 Rules: No temps or incarnates that provide anything but defense, resistance and hp, this includes no endurance tools.

But this time with a twist, lets see what you all can do without the toys! Bounty Posted! Prize: 2 billion influence Task: Post the best Division 4 time of any Sentinel for the month of October. Read the rules and regulations for Division 4 and post your results here: Clear Speed Leaderboards (posts made in this thread will be processed if they meet the requirements listed.) Start Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, October 1st 2024 See in your time here! End Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, November 1st 2024 See in your time here! (In the links, look in the non bold text with your location in it, if anyone has a better translation method, let me know.) Runs on the test server are valid provided they do not make use of any changes currently being tested, or the changes used are promoted to live. Division 4 Rules Synopsis: Any power not available in the most restrictive endgame content (currently 4 star hardmode) is banned. (See OP for specific powers)

Its finally time for Controllers to flex their stuff, and in this competition the AT has a history of unexpected results, lets see what yall can manage. Bounty Posted! Prize: 2 billion influence Task: Post the best Division 1 time of any Controller for the month of October. Read the rules and regulations for Division 1 and post your results here: Clear Speed Leaderboards (posts made in this thread will be processed if they meet the requirements listed.) Start Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, October 1st 2024 See in your time here! End Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, November 1st 2024 See in your time here! (In the links, look in the non bold text with your location in it, if anyone has a better translation method, let me know.) Runs on the test server are valid provided they do not make use of any changes currently being tested, or the changes used are promoted to live. Division 1 Rules Synopsis: Any temp that can be easily stockpiled and ran as part of normal play is legal, lores and inspirations are banned. (See OP for specific powers)

Huge congrats to @Ratch_ and @BRADICAL for taking the month's challenges. As we roll onto October, the next round begins. Bounty Posted! Prize: 2 billion influence Task: Post the best Division 1 time of any Controller for the month of October. Start Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, October 1st 2024 See in your time here! End Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, November 1st 2024 See in your time here! (In the links, look in the non bold text with your location in it, if anyone has a better translation method, let me know.) Runs on the test server are valid provided they do not make use of any changes currently being tested, or the changes used are promoted to live. Division 1 Rules: Any temp that can be easily stockpiled and ran as part of normal play is legal, lores and inspirations are banned. (See OP for specific powers) Bounty Posted! Prize: 2 billion influence Task: Post the best Division 4 time of any Sentinel for the month of September. Start Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, October 1st 2024 See in your time here! End Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, November 1st 2024 See in your time here! (In the links, look in the non bold text with your location in it, if anyone has a better translation method, let me know.) Runs on the test server are valid provided they do not make use of any changes currently being tested, or the changes used are promoted to live. Division 4 Rules: Any power not available in the most restrictive endgame content (currently 4 star hardmode) is banned. (See OP for specific powers)

Big congratulations to @Ratch_ for taking the win, and doing it with two hands behind his back. Submitting a time of 52 seconds with inactive hybrid and no 'burst' category powers used.

Huge congratulations to @BRADICAL for claiming the win with a monumental 10 seconds, taking the record not only for this month, not only for the AT, but for all pylon times submitted thus far!

time for your last minute entries!

not much time left now!

Can we get this pinned? i know this category is a little pin heavy but given Carni helped provide code for this and its versatility id like to avoid it eventually slipping off the list. Especially with the search tool as bad as it is. Not sure who to ping if anyone.

I have no intentions of making any changes based on a TW/Bio time using multiple buffs, no. If any Scrapper can do it, it is definitely that pairing but there are multiple other factors than just damage cap at play. Bio greatly shifts the raw dps of a set by itself, which is also not represented in my data, intentionally so. I COULD meticulously go through the video, reverse engineer the rotations, and check to see if the extra 100% recharge was also granting a benefit or not, and try to hunt down the build and compare proc data, but I'm not about to launch a multi day, likely multi week investigation to prove your point for you and i don't that that is unreasonable. I am HAPPY to add a note that the current best PB time is beat by the current best Scrapper time if I have a like for like comparison. Until then, I'm continuing to follow the data.

Firstly, that would be a division 3 time, not a 1 or 4, i do not have a division 3 Kheldian time to compare against. So at minimum it is using an offensive amp the 35 PB is not. Secondly... Notice the last buff icon there? Its this which is because this time is from before the tester AoE buff was changed to only effect your team. Someone was in the map with this buff active. I don't blame Ratch, this tripped up a lot of entries during one of our Pylon competitions. However they do have the buff on them and here are the effects. Here is the link to the CoD entry for that buff, note it wont let you select scrapper but since it uses melee_ones that's almost always just 1.0 which you can verify in the following link meaning in +damage% alone hes sitting on +75% from that and another +15% from offense amp, meaning he has a +90% damage advantage before considering all the other effects. https://cod.uberguy.net./html/power.html?power=incarnate_i20.playtest_buff.playtest_buff_aoe https://cod.uberguy.net./html/archetype-data.html?at=scrapper That said if Ratch or anyone else would like to provide a like for like I would love to see it. Edit: Thinking through some more theres another layer of issue with this run in the form of the Epic pet. While the Epic pet would be allowed in Division 4m the Playtester AoE buff and the Offensive Amp buff would also both be on it, which would nearly double its contributions. As we have seen, the dps contributions of epic pets are quite substantial.

donezo

If you would like your name and credit for your accomplishments removed from the end of the original thread all you need to do is say so, I in no way meant to embarrass you or misrepresent your contributions, and apologies if your inclusion offended you. I do however look forward to you continuing to push the AT's limits.

With only a little over a week left on the timer, it is still anyone's game, could be an easy two billion influence.

A new challenger approaches as BRADICAL proceeds to set new records both within and without of the Mastermind AT

Amazing times, and @BRADICAL that puts you in the lead, not only of the bounty but of the entire leaderboard, huge congratulations. With regards to your question of Enflame and proced Shifting Tides, I have heard good things about procing Shifting Tides, but I cant speak to how it would work out in such a short run. Enflame on the other hand can theoretically bring another 100-150 damage to the run, but that's damage not dps. Both together MIGHT give the possibility of hitting a 9, but as you yourself said, at these absolutely silly clear times, the amount of damage necessary to cross the next second boundary is nuts.