[Focused Feedback: Attack Typing Adjustments]

12 minutes ago, Crimsanotic said:

That's not really how that works. Defense doesn't equate to diversity. Additionally, there's not as many Energy/Negative/Ranged or Fire/Cold/AoE defense set bonuses as there are Smashing/Lethal/Melee so it doesn't even really encourage people to try and build for one of those other two things more than they already are. I'm also not sure how this change allows them to have "more freedom" with enemies either.

 

I appreciate the response! My understanding is that the defense calculation will target whatever your highest defense type is. In the case of an attack that does 80% cold and 20% smashing, your smashing defense will be used to calculate whether the attack hits if that's your higher stat. If this isn't the case, please let me know! 

 

That said, it's not about defense being the only thing attributing to the diversity. It's about the potential solutions to adversity. Currently, your most viable option to the game is to cap out your Smashing/Lethal/Energy defenses and you're set to handle a majority of the content. Why would you try to put defenses anywhere else when the other option is statistically superior? With this change in place, capping out those defenses isn't a one-size-fits-all scenario, so I feel more free to focus in other areas of my character. Will I be as powerful as I would be without this change? Definitely not, but I have other solutions whether it be attempting to max out other defenses, teaming up, or changing my general tactics depending on the enemy group. These other options are what I meant when I said it contributes to diversity.

 

In terms of freedom for the developers, this system seems like it'll give developers more dials and nobs to tweak when making new content. Creating an attack for an enemy has implications for resistance based characters just as much as it does for defense based ones. Designing an enemy that does Cold damage would be great for Ice Armor, but could potentially more powerful against other sets such as Fiery Aura. A way to try to balance it is to add one of those would be to add one of those common damage types, such as Smashing. But even if the Smashing component was only 10% in the current system, a typed defense based character would get the maximum benefit from their Smashing defense alone. It doesn't give the designer the luxury of designing this enemy without other implications, they can tweak the percentage anywhere between 1% and 99% Smashing to deal with resistance based characters, but not the typed defense one. With the new system, the designer can tweak it up to 49% before changes start taking effect. Not only do I think this makes sense mechanically, this makes sense to me narratively as well. Why would a character know how to perfectly defend against an attack even if it does only 1% of the damage your character specializes in defending against?

 

To me, this is really the same kind of change as the Enhancements Diversification. I understand that people were saddened by the change in power to their characters, but it gave them the ability to shine in other areas and be just as viable. In the content they couldn't solo anymore with their old builds, there were still alternatives. I think the number of alternatives, how they interact, and what we see in team compositions is what I'm excited for by this change.

 

[Focused Feedback: Attack Typing Adjustments]

I'm genuinely excited for this change. I can see this encouraging build diversity, giving more specialized sets moments to shine, and allowing for more freedom in the design of new enemies.

[I want to run fast]

I like the idea of SR for Quickness, but I'm also a fan of the toys Ninjitsu gives you on a Scrapper. I have little experience with putting together builds, but I managed to get something that puts me close to the defense cap and 20mph under the speed cap. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

Spoiler

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.7.2.10
https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Shockwave: Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Kinetic Melee
Secondary Power Set: Ninjitsu
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Body Blow -- FcsSmt-Acc/Dmg(A), FcsSmt-Dmg/EndRdx(29), FcsSmt-Dmg/Rchg(29), FcsSmt-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(31), FcsSmt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37)
Level 1: Ninja Reflexes -- GifoftheA-Run+(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(15), LucoftheG-Def(15)
Level 2: Smashing Blow -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(37), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(37), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mk'Bit-Dam%(43)
Level 4: Danger Sense -- GifoftheA-Run+(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(13), LucoftheG-Def(13)
Level 6: Power Siphon -- GssSynFr--Build%(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(9), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(9), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(17)
Level 8: Shinobi-Iri -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(11), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(11), GifoftheA-Run+(36), WntGif-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng(39), WntGif-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng/EndRdx(40)
Level 10: Kuji-In Rin -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Repulsing Torrent -- KntCrs-Dmg/EndRdx/KB(A), KntCrs-Acc/Dmg/KB(36), Ann-ResDeb%(48), PstBls-Dam%(48), SuddAcc--KB/+KD(50)
Level 14: Teleport Foe -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 16: Seishinteki Kyoyo -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(17)
Level 18: Burst -- FrcFdb-Rchg/EndRdx(A), FrcFdb-Dmg/EndRdx/KB(19), KntCrs-Dmg/EndRdx/KB(19), KntCrs-Acc/KB(25), Obl-%Dam(50), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 20: Kuji-In Sha -- RgnTss-EndRdx/Rchg(A), RgnTss-Heal/EndRdx(21), RgnTss-Heal/Rchg(21), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Ags-EndRdx/Rchg(25)
Level 22: Combat Jumping -- WntGif-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng(A), WntGif-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng/EndRdx(23), WntGif-ResSlow(36), UnbLea-Jump(40), UnbLea-EndRdx(42)
Level 24: Kick -- FcsSmt-Acc/Dmg(A), FcsSmt-Dmg/EndRdx(42), FcsSmt-Dmg/Rchg(42), FcsSmt-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(43), FcsSmt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43)
Level 26: Focused Burst -- CrtStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), CrtStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), CrtStr-Rchg/+50% Crit(27), CrtStr-Dmg/Rchg(31), CrtStr-Acc/Dmg(31), CrtStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 28: Bo Ryaku -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-Max HP%(46), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(46), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(46)
Level 30: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A)
Level 32: Concentrated Strike -- ScrStr-Acc/Dmg(A), ScrStr-Dmg/Rchg(33), ScrStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), ScrStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), ScrStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), ScrStr-Rchg/+Crit(34)
Level 35: Weave -- GifoftheA-Run+(A), GifoftheA-Def(48)
Level 38: Maneuvers -- GifoftheA-Run+(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(45)
Level 41: Focused Accuracy -- RctRtc-Pcptn(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- RgnTss-Regen+(A), RgnTss-Heal/EndRdx(45), SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(45)
Level 47: Tactics -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit 
Level 1: Quick Form 
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- UnbLea-Stlth(A), UnbLea-Jump(40)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A), Run-I(7), Run-I(7)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Prv-Absorb%(5), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(5)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PwrTrns-+Heal(A), PrfShf-EndMod(3), PrfShf-End%(3)
------------

 

[I want to run fast]

Combat Teleport looks cool. Actual travel powers are for those that don't want to inject energy drinks into their veins, I want to run fast as I go from fight to fight delivering the vroom doom. Which power sets allow me to extract the most of Usain Bolt's essence from enhancement set bonuses? Which will work well with Combat Teleport?