EnjoyTheJourney

You've responded to concerns by essentially waiving them away, while also not addressing the proposed solution. Why not give players a more granular level of control over difficulty levels? That is, in fact, the current situation. As an example, the group with whom I game the most often runs level 44 ITFs at max notoriety, no insps or temps, with limited lives and a time limit. Often teams are lopsided by design, such as all scrapper / stalker, or all blaster, or all controller / dominator, etc. Often enemies have been buffed for such runs, especially when it's all tanks. But, enemies aren't always buffed because for some team makeups that's just a death march which usually ends in mission 2. The key is that players currently get to choose which array of challenges makes sense for their particular team. The new approach seems to be for the devs to take a significantly higher degree of control over the process by packaging together some things that used to be handled in a more granular way. For example, you can in a granular way pick one power limit (but not more than one, for some reason). You can choose between different limited life totals and different time limits. But, as soon as you pick relentless you get a big package of things that are collectively likely to make many team leaders significantly more picky about who gets onto their teams and who doesn't. On that note, right now when a team leader tries to interview potential teammates in most cases, with rare exceptions for really difficult challenges, that seems to be a sign that they're not a very good player or that they may be a control freak. If relentless difficulty goes live as it currently stands there's a good chance that needing to PM a prospective team leader with an explanation of how you fit well into the team becomes a significantly more frequent occurrence. There is a potential downside to forcing team play based on roles, in case that's presently being set aside as a concern.

There's no doubt that these changes promote more and better teamwork. And that could be a very good outcome. But, the main concern is that there could be a fairly narrow selection of powersets within particular ATs that end up being fairly heavily favored for relentless difficulty teams. As just one of a multitude of possible examples, grant cover could lead to shield being significantly favored over super reflexes, perhaps, if 75% defense totals end up being the softcap for "relentless" difficulty content. Also, one of the features of CoH to date has been the flexibility of how to build and play different characters. Relentless difficulty, as currently conceived, could lead to more of a "Know your role and stay in your lane" approach to putting together teams and playing them. The currently-on-beta large buffs to mobs' global defense and their to hit seem like keys to driving relentless difficulty in that direction. On a connected point, I'd rather that players had more granular control over difficulty level choices. I'd be happy to play +4x8, no insps, no temps, etc. But, hopefully we'll still be able to decide whether we'd really like to have +30% global defense bonuses to enemies for our characters with soul drain, follow up, dark regeneration, drain psyche, twilight grasp, etc. I'd also like to be able to play higher difficulties with a SR character that didn't need to push positional defenses into the mid 70s as a starting point. One of the risks of a big global defense buff for mobs on relentless difficulty is that progression through TFs may noticeably slow down, without changing the final result.

As an initial reaction, the 30% global defense buff for relentless and the 30% to hit buff will probably require extensive adaptation to builds. It would seem that with 45% defense being the current softcap for most content, on relentless 75% defense is needed to reach the softcap. Perhaps a smaller to hit buff could be selected, but with a buff to accuracy added in as well. A global 30% defense buff for relentless means substantially more effort will need to be expended on raising to hit values. Builds that rely on first hitting mobs to raise to hit values and to heal / buff could be at a relative disadvantage if whiffing becomes a lot more common. Power sets such as earth control, storm, cold domination, and other sets that have one or more powers which automatically debuff defense in a wide area will surge ahead of their peers for how well they help teams tackle relentless difficulty content. A key question that ends up arising is whether these particular global buffs for relentless will promote the importance of different roles, while also raising the value of particular powersets well above their peers in the same AT, at least on relentless. Not sure how this will play out.

It seems that sometimes players choose acrobatics at least in part for its ability to mitigate holds. But, it's not clear what the value of mag 2 hold protection would be, in most cases, given that most holds have a mag of 3. Am I missing something about how acrobatics protects players against holds?

For an earth / dark dominator build I was able to slot the dominator +dmg proc into the secondary (midnight grasp) in mids and in-game. But, I can't do that for Bitter Ice Blast for ice assault. Edit: I checked by trying to insert the dominator +dmg proc IO into bitter ice blast and found it doesn't work in-game, and Mids suggests it can't be put into bitter ice blast as well. As a working hypothesis, perhaps a power must have an effect labeled as "control" before a dominator ATO IO can be slotted. Is that correct?

If dark assault can reach 350 - 400 DPS without any help from the primary then I'm content with that. At that point the extra survivability afforded by dark starts to carry quite a bit more value to me than the marginal extra damage one can get in exchange for giving away improvements in survivability. FWIW, recognizing that this thread morphed at some point into a disagreement about what constitutes "mediocre" vs "excellent, even if not the absolute highest DPS". Also in the vein of "FWIW", I tend to favor resistance shields in the epic / patron. Part of the price for that preference is that bypassing cold mastery pretty much assures doms I play won't deliver high end results for pylon tests. I'm OK with that. On a connected point, I'm currently trying to figure out how to get strong single target damage, AOE damage, *AND* survivability out of an earth / earth / ?? dom; earth control seems likely to work well for the new challenge content coming out and earth assault is my favorite dom secondary. And, this thread has provided concrete ideas to improve single target attack chains, which has been very helpful and is much appreciated. I'll also be able to re-visit a few shelved dominators, in fact, and potentially be able to make them enjoyable to play again. Many thanks to those who've contributed to helping this thread dive as deeply into the question of how to maximize single target DPS as it has.

Cimerorans have very high defensive buffs and quicksand substantially improves chances to hit them. Also, given that the clear majority of Cimerorans' damage and debuffs are delivered in melee it's very helpful to drop a quicksand under their feet, given that it debuffs mob movement speed by a base value of 90%. The scatter brought about by caltrops is sometimes helpful and sometimes the opposite of helpful. In contrast, quicksand can be used to create a kill zone for team AOEs by slowing mobs down and grouping them up in a predictable location as they stream into a fight.

Thank you for your feedback. I've kept the soul mastery patron, for better or worse. Putting the +dmg ATO proc in midnight grasp was done and seems to be working well. I also re-slotted life drain and gloom, shifting more damage to gloom. I'll be getting assault radial hybrid and intuition radial alpha. Once those are T3, then damage should get noticeably better. Then I'll test again.

I'm definitely testing on "Zone pylons"; I didn't even know that "LFG Event Pylons" existed. Thank you for the "heads up", nonetheless.

I'm not very technically inclined, and so I'll stick with a written summary of a quick test I did with a new build. The new build does better. I am a bit confused by the output, though. In case somebody wants to look at it, there is the UUID: https://www.carnifax.org/?uuid=6ea513cd-e104-4537-af28-4b4fb7764fc8 Basically, DPS starts at 225ish, and then declines to about 155ish by the end. I can see some fall-off happening from a bit of lag here and there. And, for the last 30 seconds or thereabouts I became so sleepy that I definitely lost DPS (I stopped when I realized I was losing focus). But, that's still a lot of DPS to gradually lose, according to the chart, and DPS fluctuations in-game didn't seem to line up with a steady DPS decline. The percentage of total damage done by each power is as follows: 21% - midnight grasp 19% - moon beam 19% - smite 14% - gloom 6% - 2 gladiator's javelin toxic dmg procs ... with the remainder of the damage coming from life drain (seldom used) and other damage procs.

Thank you. Carnifax mentioned this in his earlier post, and so the information was right there. But, I somehow didn't connect the dots. Now I know what to do.

Thank you for pointing this resource out to me. I'm interested in trying it out, as I've revised my dom's build and would like to see how much single target DPS may have improved. How can I get information from the combat log into a file format or data format that would work for the combat logger? I tried a direct "paste" into the different entry screens, but that didn't work.

After experimenting in a variety of content for a few days, survivability seems better than fine. In fact, it's probably better than needed for most content. TFs completed without any defeats includes both a lvl 54 MoMLTF (not successful, as a teammate was defeated) and lvl 54 MoLRSF (successful, with great teammates for both of these, which obviously helps a lot). Soloing cysts for mission 2 while doing (team) speed ITF runs goes just fine, at least at lower notoriety levels. The build exemps just fine as well, at least all the way down to Synapse TFs. One test not yet done, and one of the hardest I'd likely attempt with this build, would be to run a level 44 ITF with enemies buffed as part of an all-stalker team. No matter the content, shadow meld seldom gets used other than as a LoTG mule; other circuit-breakers work well enough on the clear majority of occasions that using shadow meld typically doesn't become the most appealing option at any point. At this point, I'll probably keep the build given here for more challenging content, especially with new options for more challenging play coming to the game. But, I'll also put together a more damage-focused second build. Several posts made here have been helpful for that, and my thanks to those who took the time to make them.

The most commonly used ST chain won't involve starting with an assassination. But, when possible starting with an assassination provides better burst damage, with "lower time from getting aggro to enemy defeat." That's a get-hit-as-little-as-possible approach, in the end. SuperPlyx: Good catch on the other 3% global defense IO. It was a surprising omission from the earlier build. As for the Impervious skin unique IO, I never realized that it is as appealing as it is. I'll still keep Numina's in, though, as the regen loss isn't large and the recovery bonus in Numina's has some value in how it helps (even is oh so modestly) to rely slightly less on energy drain to keep endurance totals in a healthy place. The status resistance unique IO will stay on my radar for future builds, though, especially for high hit point characters such as tanks and brutes. A revised build is given below: This Villain build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.5.6 https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Stalker Primary Power Set: Energy Melee Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura Power Pool: Force of Will Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Energy Punch -- SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAssMar-Dmg/Rchg(5), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), SprAssMar-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SprAssMar-Rchg/Rchg Build Up(5) Level 1: Hide -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Ksm-ToHit+(50) Level 2: Kinetic Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(3), RedFrt-Def(3) Level 4: Power Shield -- ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(A), ShlWal-Def(15), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(15), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(17) Level 6: Assassin's Strike -- SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprStlGl-Dmg/Rchg(7), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), SprStlGl-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprStlGl-Rchg/Hide%(11) Level 8: Build Up -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A) Level 10: Entropy Shield -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 12: Weaken Resolve -- Acc-I(A) Level 14: Kick -- Empty(A) Level 16: Kinetic Dampening -- TtnCtn-ResDam(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(17), TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(19), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(19), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(23), GldArm-3defTpProc(27) Level 18: Power Crash -- Erd-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Erd-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Erd-%Dam(29), Arm-Dam%(25), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34) Level 20: Tough -- UnbGrd-Max HP%(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(21), TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(21), TtnCtn-ResDam(25), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(31) Level 22: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-Def(23), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(34), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(48), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31) Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31) Level 26: Total Focus -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Hct-Acc/Rchg(36), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(37), Hct-Dam%(37), GldStr-%Dam(46) Level 28: Energy Drain -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(34), Rct-Def(48) Level 30: Mighty Leap -- WntGif-ResSlow(A) Level 32: Energy Transfer -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(37), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(40), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(40) Level 35: Energize -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(36), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(39), Prv-Heal/Rchg(39), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(39), Prv-Absorb%(43) Level 38: Moonbeam -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(42), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(42), Apc-Dam%(43) Level 41: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 44: Tactics -- AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(A), AdjTrg-ToHit(45), AdjTrg-ToHit/Rchg(45), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(46), AdjTrg-EndRdx/Rchg(45), AdjTrg-Rchg(46) Level 47: Unleash Potential -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(A), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(48), ShlWal-EndRdx/Rchg(50), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 49: Shadow Meld -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 1: Assassination Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A), Clr-EndRdx(33) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(29) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PwrTrns-+Heal(33) Level 1: Energy Focus Level 24: Takeoff Level 49: Quick Form Level 50: Agility Core Paragon Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany Level 50: Assault Radial Embodiment Level 50: Diamagnetic Core Flawless Interface ------------

Thinking about it, that's a helpful change. SM doesn't have a crash and it boosts def enough to help reduce the odds of cascading defense failure. It has a short cooldown and it's also a good mule for a LoTG. Plus, it frees up a slot that can be used to get the kismet +to hit IO for mobs that have access to high defense buffs **cough Cims cough**.

I'm quite new to stalkers and so this build may have some really glaring flaws. Any feedback provided is welcome. Does the build provided further down seem likely to do OK in a variety of endgame content? Intended ST attack chain could go assassin's strike from hide, total focus, energy transfer. Energy punch would fill spots in the attack chain when other powers are not ready and would hopefully keep build up available noticeably more often. The build has multiple circuit breakers if heavy damage starts to flow in and hopefully those would be enough to keep this stalker upright most of the time. My thanks to Mezmera for providing the template needed to put this together. This Villain build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.5.6 https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Stalker Primary Power Set: Energy Melee Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Force of Will Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Speed Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Energy Punch -- SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAssMar-Dmg/Rchg(5), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), SprAssMar-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SprAssMar-Rchg/Rchg Build Up(5) Level 1: Hide -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 2: Kinetic Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(3), RedFrt-Def(3) Level 4: Power Shield -- ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(A), ShlWal-Def(15), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(15), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(17) Level 6: Assassin's Strike -- SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprStlGl-Dmg/Rchg(7), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), SprStlGl-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprStlGl-Rchg/Hide%(11) Level 8: Build Up -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A) Level 10: Entropy Shield -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 12: Weaken Resolve -- Acc-I(A) Level 14: Boxing -- Empty(A) Level 16: Kinetic Dampening -- TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(17), TtnCtn-ResDam(19), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(19), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(23) Level 18: Power Crash -- Erd-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Erd-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Erd-%Dam(29), ClvBlo-Acc/Dmg(25), ClvBlo-Dmg/EndRdx(34), ClvBlo-Dmg/Rchg(27) Level 20: Tough -- UnbGrd-Max HP%(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(21), TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(21), TtnCtn-ResDam(31), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(25) Level 22: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-Def(23), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(34), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(48), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31) Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31) Level 26: Total Focus -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Hct-Acc/Rchg(36), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(37), Hct-Dam%(37), GldStr-%Dam(46) Level 28: Energy Drain -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(34), Rct-Def(48) Level 30: Mighty Leap -- WntGif-ResSlow(A) Level 32: Energy Transfer -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(37), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(40), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(40) Level 35: Energize -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(36), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(39), Prv-Heal/Rchg(39), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(39), Prv-Absorb%(43) Level 38: Moonbeam -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(42), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(42), Apc-Dam%(43) Level 41: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 44: Tactics -- AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(A), AdjTrg-ToHit(45), AdjTrg-ToHit/Rchg(45), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(46), AdjTrg-EndRdx/Rchg(45), AdjTrg-Rchg(46) Level 47: Unleash Potential -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(A), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(48), ShlWal-EndRdx/Rchg(50), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 49: Overload -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(50) Level 1: Assassination Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A), Clr-EndRdx(33) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(29) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(33) Level 1: Energy Focus Level 24: Takeoff Level 49: Quick Form Level 50: Agility Core Paragon Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany Level 50: Assault Radial Embodiment Level 50: Diamagnetic Core Flawless Interface ------------

My thanks to everybody for the feedback. There's plenty to unpack here and it will take a while to digest and integrate everything. I'll be experimenting with builds for the next several days; thanks to some help I now know how to export IOs to beta characters from Mids, which is hugely helpful for testing out new builds. Carnifax: I'll check out the combat parser as part of this process. It makes it very easy to see the effect of marginal changes, which is crucial improving builds. Thank you for creating it.

That's a fair question and there may be no clearly "best" answer. Personal preferences about survivability vs maxing out damage are relevant. Also relevant is the kind of content you intend to play. For example, if you mostly run +0 or +1 speedruns, then max out damage. If you like to solo really hard content, then max out survivability. Incidentally, one key to making this build so tanky is to rotate using gather shadows + unrelenting (pushing defense levels to well over softcap for one minute) and barrier, as well as rotating in melee hybrid from time to time. Kudos to Mezmera for pointing out how this can make a dom much more survivable. That's not to say, though, that you can't reasonably take intuition radial / ageless radial (debuff resistances) or ageless core (endless endurance).

Thank you for your response! The snipe damage number given is with quickform engaged. The snipe has 5 pieces of the sting of the manticore in it. It has 2 damage procs, including the Manticore damage proc and the PvP toxic damage proc (in the 6th slot). The only other characters I've had with such slow pylon times weren't fun to play and they were all abandoned. But, Mids pretty much suggested that a lack of optimism about pylon time was warranted for those characters. In this case, pylon times would be expected to be less than half of what it was shaping up to be. Two key differences from ohter tests done are that I usually take degenerative interface and have T3 or T4 incarnates before testing. It's hard to see how these differences would more than double expected pylon times, though.

Testing out a lvl 50 earth / dark / soul dom on a pylon led to the pylon having about 75-80% of its hit points left after 3 minutes. At that point I gave up. That was completely different (and much worse) than what was expected when looking at ST DPA on Mids. On Mids the damage figures for the ST rotation are as follows (all figures without gather shadows or soul drain, so these are minimums): Moon Beam - 458 damage, 1.33 second cast time Gloom - 268 damage, 1.1 second cast time Smite - 245 damage, 0.97 second cast time Dark Obliteration - 162 damage, 1 second cast time Life Drain - 260 damage, 1.93 second cast time Dark Blast - 91 damage, 1 second cast time It's a permadom build with 150% global recharge, so the recharge times are fairly low; soul drain is up close to 50% of the time and gather shadows a little less than 1/3 of the time. Plus, the most damaging three powers make up the clear majority of the attacks used. And, of course, the most damaging available attack was (nearly) always used. This dom has a T1 cardiac alpha, a T1 melee hybrid, a T1 reactive interface, and a T1 barrier destiny. Judgment is void T1 and it was used a couple of times. Factoring everything in, the DPS being done seems much too low. But, is there something I'm missing about Mids and/or pylon testing?

Below is a build that may be tankier than it needs to be. But, it is another take on how to build an earth / dark, FWIW. Hopefully it helps. Barrier core and melee core hybrid were disabled for the purposes of showing this build, so its base stats are more easily discernible. This Villain build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.5.6 https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Stonegrave: Level 50 Magic Dominator Primary Power Set: Earth Control Secondary Power Set: Dark Assault Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Force of Will Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Fossilize -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Rchg/Hold(25), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(25), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(27) Level 1: Dark Blast -- HO:Nucle(A) Level 2: Smite -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(21), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Mk'Bit-Dam%(19) Level 4: Gloom -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(7), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(7), GldJvl-Dam%(11), CldSns-%Dam(11) Level 6: Quicksand -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 8: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Ksm-ToHit+(9), Rct-ResDam%(9) Level 10: Kick -- Empty(A) Level 12: Stalagmites -- SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear(A), SprAscoft-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg(13), SprAscoft-EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx(15), SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg(15), SprAscoft-Rchg/+Dmg%(17) Level 14: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(17), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(31), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(31), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(34) Level 16: Gather Shadows -- HO:Enzym(A) Level 18: Earthquake -- AchHee-ResDeb%(A) Level 20: Engulfing Darkness -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Arm-Acc/Rchg(40), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Arm-Dam%(43), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(23) Level 22: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(45), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(45), ShlWal-Def(46), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(46) Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31) Level 26: Volcanic Gasses -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(27), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(29), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(29) Level 28: Life Drain -- Apc-Dmg(A), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Apc-Acc/Rchg(39), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Apc-Dam%(39), ThfofEss-+End%(40) Level 30: Weaken Resolve -- Acc-I(A), AchHee-ResDeb%(46) Level 32: Animate Stone -- ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(33), ExpRnf-Dmg/EndRdx(33), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(34), ExpRnf-+Res(Pets)(34) Level 35: Moon Beam -- StnoftheM-Acc/Dmg(A), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx(36), StnoftheM-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg(36), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), StnoftheM-Dam%(37), GldJvl-Dam%(37) Level 38: Dark Embrace -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(45), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(42), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(42), UnbGrd-Max HP%(43) Level 41: Dark Consumption -- PrfShf-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(A), PrfShf-Acc/Rchg(42) Level 44: Soul Drain -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(50) Level 47: Mighty Leap -- WntGif-ResSlow(A) Level 49: Unleash Potential -- Prv-Absorb%(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg(50), RechRdx-I(50) Level 1: Domination Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- UnbLea-Stlth(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Flight-I(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(5), Mrc-Rcvry+(5) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-End%(3), PwrTrns-+Heal(3) Level 49: Quick Form Level 47: Takeoff Level 50: Cardiac Radial Paragon Level 50: Vorpal Radial Final Judgement Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Knives of Vengeance Radial Superior Ally ------------

Taking a step back and looking at the game as it is now, enemies not being a threat to players probably has mostly to do with high end character builds doing speedrun TFs set to lower notoriety levels. But, there already exists multiple groups of players who deliberately seek out challenges in the game, just as there is another set of groups of players who do low-to-no challenge speedruns. And, for the players who deliberately seek out challenges support substantially increases a team's chances of success. Control also plays a valuable role. With new content and/or difficulty modes that get created players will probably continue to self-sort in the same way as listed above. Those who prefer low-to-no difficulty speedruns will continue to find ways to enjoy the game the way they want. Neither support nor control will matter in the future for those who prefer to play the game that way, just as things are today. And, those who prefer challenge will continue to enjoy the game the way they want, as well. For those players control and support will remain important, as they are now. Essentially, the frequency with which control and support play an important role in endgame play will still boil down to player preferences, in the end. New content and new game modes are likely to still be a significantly positive change for the game. Thank you for caring about the game to do the work needed to make this happen. Circling back to the OP, unsigned on the idea of nerfing level shifts. Players have the option to set their own challenges already and it seems clear that the dev team intends to make choosing higher difficulty content even easier, going forward.

Others just made mistakes when reading, which then got taken as fact in later posts. Which isn't your fault. No apology needed, especially for another's error of inference. Even if you made an error reading, in the bigger picture of life this kind of stuff is *very* small potatoes. Some tend to make assumptions about a poster who is asking for changes that lower the difficulty level, no matter the (de)merits of what's being proposed. Most likely that's what was really at work in this thread.

I had never heard of a bug affecting to hit calculations like this. That would make a failure to hit any mobs with a casting of a T3 void judgment still pretty awful luck, but at least a little bit more understandable.

Somehow responses morphed from responding to the OP to making erroneous inferences that depart from the issue at hand. What's above is a case in point, as the issue is the occasional instances of extreme defense stacking by the Cims as a general issue. It was particularly noticeable while soloing, which is why I cited it as an example. But, it's just one example. It's also sometimes an issue for teams, with the caveat that larger teams will often probably on average have more +to hit that affects the team and also less holes and limitations in the portfolio of debuffs they bring to any given ITF. The quote above is a black-and-white response to an issue that obviously has shades of grey; there is more to the game than solo vs (nearly) full steamroll teams. To correct a few of other errors of inference, my scrapper has shield as a secondary, not willpower. Somebody else introduced willpower as an example, not me. Also, I was not and am not "mad" about extreme defense stacking by Cims and my scrapper didn't die amidst all the whiffing. She came close to dying a couple of times, but she didn't die. I just didn't come as close to keeping up with the rest of the team as I usually do when I solo one side of that mission and the rest of the team goes in the other direction. Which isn't an issue to get mad about. It's surprising to hear this was always how things were on live. But, if it was, then it seems the current status quo is working as intended after all.