Koopak

Hey gang, I am pushing to gather data and builds for a new and improved pylon and clear speed sheet. To that effect I am posting regular bounties to encourage competition and push the limit. Thus without further to do. Bounty Posted! Prize: 2 billion influence Task: Post the best pylon/dummy time of any Stalker for the month of March. Read the rules and regulations 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, March 1st 2024 See in your timezone here! End Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, April 1st 2024 See in your timezone 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.

Bounty Posted! Prize: 2 billion influence Task: Post the best pylon/dummy time of any Stalker for the month of March. Start Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, March 1st 2024 See in your timezone here! End Date/Time: 00:00 UTC, April 1st 2024 See in your timezone 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.

Keep your eyes peeled tonight folks. The potential exists for another surprise announcement

And that's it folks! Congratulations to the winner @vertigolguana with their 28 second time using Illusion Control / Martial Assault

And that's it folks! Congratulations to the winner @VertigoIguana with their 28 second time using Illusion Control / Martial Assault I will be PMing to coordinate transfer of the prize and to get your input on the next bounty. In the mean time I'll have to let March go by without a bounty as i haven't had time to sort further funds, but I'll be working to make sure the April bounty goes well. If people would like to donate or post bounties of their own, feel free to private message me.

We are officially 24 hours out from the close of the bounty. Get your last minute times in!

We are officially 24 hours out from the close of the bounty. Get your last minute times in!

I generally recommend skipping quick recovery and slotting to not need it so you can use the extra power picks to take pool powers. You can get good milage out of toggles but the best success I've seen is with long recharge click powers and lots of recharge slotting. I actually end up using MoG as an end tool sometimes which is funny. That said quick recovery serum from the START vender will cover any end issues. Dark is not great damage in ST or in a team that buffs damage but does very well in small teams or solo. If you wanna get into the nitty gritty see the tool I've built in my signature

Alright less than 4 days left to go, so time to reveal the super secret extra prize. List up gang, the winner of the Dominator time bounty will get to pick the next AT for the same bounty.

Alright less than 4 days left to go, so time to reveal the super secret extra prize. List up gang, the winner of the Dominator time bounty will get to pick the next AT for the same bounty.

That's fair, in the context of the discussion my point is that the times on that sheet are more reflective of endgame performance than people often give credit. The EXACT build @Clam Leader used for what is still the best PeaceBringer pylon time documented is the one they use in all normal play and routinely leave other players in the dust in clear speed while being able to briefly off tank in our 4 star runs. Changling IS powerful and it IS game changing. But it also can't hold a candle to top end dps ATs, which is why I feel any fears of it being OP are unfounded. Now arguments about it being significantly stronger than non changling play are understandable as it necessitates a certain playstyle to get the most out of the AT, one many may find unacceptable. However I don't personally see that as appreciably different from the fact that to minmax a scrapper you have to take Hasten and optimize proc and rotation sets and in many sets case play Simon says with the set mechanics. If you don't want to do that, then don't, because if you aren't willing to setup some binds and macros which have evolved to be nearly fool proof to use now to play optimally, you probably weren't willing to lock down 99% of your power and slot picks for optimal dps either and THATS OKAY. What id love to see is someone spend some time optimizing both changling and non changling versions of both AT's triforms so we can stop spitballing about how powerful things are or arent and have some hard data beyond proof that even changling cant scratch dedicated dps ATs

Correct, I was simply teasing some things I'm looking forward to. I wasn't aware that a blasters job was to tank a pylon. Yes it IS possible to gimp your AT by over focusing on damage. However this is exactly what I mean by the dismissal. Many people just ASSUME that pylon times are all hyper specialized. In reality aside from the top one or two times currently on the sheet, they are all builds able to be used normally and even then since they are damage ATs an argument can be made it's fine to run them in teams. There is a constant problem with people over building durability and under building damage. Just recently the player with the first build pinned in one of the at discord channels needed help changing their build to solo Kronos Titan in LRSF on +4x8 in less than 2 hours. My build which is the top pylon time for the AT does it in only 6 minutes, while tanking it. Their problem was the lack of a ST rotation and an over focus on durability. They were BARELY out dpsing the AVs Regen. This is an example of the problem with this dismissal of ST damage. I almost never see a build get stuck or take hours longer because it lacks AoE outside extreme solo runs through old content where fighting 500 packs of mobs was considered good game design. I see it all the time because of lack of ST damage and, as you said, durability.

I actively hate this time as its using a new build meant to take advantage of offensive amp and so on and just was not beating my old build until i put geas in the mix and even then its HEAVILY RNG dependent. (i swear im missing 1 in 10 attacks instead of 1 in 20) I also wasn't recording so rip but here's a screeny.) Run Type: Pylon Archetype: Night Widow Primary Powerset: Night Widow Training Secondary Powerset: Widow Teamwork Time in seconds: 77 Burst: Burst Hybrid: Yes Number of Runs: 1 Version: I27P7 Acinus Night v3 experiment - Arachnos Widow (Night Widow Training - Widow Teamwork).mbd

I'll also note PBs can easily solo +4 AVs. Additionally damage is a survival tool. It's great you have a personal standard but that can't be used proscriptively. I care how other people perform because when I'm asked 'what's best', 'how do I build x', or any other build or gameplay question i intend to answer accurately and not based on personal anecdote. To that effect there is a new log parser in development that can prove or disprove the translatability of pylon dps to 'normal' gameplay. I won't name drop the dev in a public forum till they are ready to share but the results of testing are showing a high correlation so far.

ill caution that people often overestimate how different a pylon is from real gameplay. Builds that can do good pylon times often have more than sufficient AoE to clear sub EB targets, and the exceptional single target potential is directly applicable to EBs and AVs I say this because the argument is often used to completely disregard pylon testing when a more nuanced approach is to recognize that pylon speeds directly translate to the part of missions that often take the longest or in rare situations form actual barriers for a team. To use a racing analogy iv heard, saying your drag race time is useless is inaccurate, every track has a straight away. And when you take that straight away three times faster than anyone else, well that makes up for a lot of slower curves.

Update as we close in on the final week. Vertigolguana solidified his lead with a new time on 2/18. I will be reviewing beta times this week to confirm if they remain valid now that page 7 is live

Sure thing, @Frosticus what are the two empty slots in Health and Stamina? Alright i think iv got everyone if i missed anyone else let me know.

Sheet updated, also what i did today Run Type: Pylon Archetype: Night Widow Primary Powerset: Night Widow Training Secondary Powerset: Widow Teamwork Time in seconds: 84 Burst: No, sustain Hybrid: Yes Number of Runs: 1 Version: I27P7 Video Link: Notes: No temps or accolades used Build: Acinus Night v2 - Arachnos Widow (Night Widow Training - Widow Teamwork).mbd

I have not processed your latest time @VertigoIguana, will do so after work. I may not get to it today but now that p7 is out ill need to re review all times and changes and ensure everything is valid for the competition as we approach the final week.

if thats the case needs to be reported to mids

Ill have to remember to comb through and manually update things when page 7 releases.

And EnjoyTheJourney takes is on 2/16 only to have VertigoIguana pull ahead early in the next day 2/17

Great work @EnjoyTheJourney and @VertigoIguana records updated. Its interesting how when you cross the 35 second mark or so Degen slips ahead of Reactive due to how short the fight is.

DM provides a solid heal, it's best synergy is on a set that has a high effective health to make the most use of it. Additionally you want a taunt aura bad for soul drain. Thus my number one suggestion is invulnerability. The -to-hit is nice but overhyped as hitting defense cap, especially in teams, is easy enough.

Things are really heating up! Lead was taken by Frosticus on 2/10 and then by Mezmera on 2/11!