nihilii

Things I can think of: - 3 minutes to 4 minutes doesn't quite map out to +25%, because Pylons regen. A 3 minute Pylon time is 340 DPS. A 4 minute Pylon time is 287 DPS. 340/287 = 1.185 = +18.5% - +18.5% * 0.65 (+4 AV) = +12%. Still far from the 5% to 8% you're seeing, to be sure. But if for example you were using a character primarily using lethal damage, it would explain the results on its own (many AVs have lethal resistance, some up to 50%). If you're primarily dealing smashing damage, it likely accounts for some (but not all) of your results. -res procs don't mean much in primarily AoE environments, I agree. Especially as if you're going from Pylon to AoE, you likely have your -res procs in ST attacks. My experience is the same as yours in that area - there's no functional difference with damage procs. So the -res procs are neutral against trash, and useful against tough targets.

+25% effective damage into +5% effective damage seems like a pretty extreme difference. It doesn't fit my own experience. There's a fair amount of variables: running content at +4 (~33% less efficiency, post level shift) and/or fighting enemies with resistances (resistance resists -res) and/or not applying -res as well in real scenarios as against a Pylon. I tend to run very "boring" builds with little conditional damage: meleers with taunt auras, running easy attack chains, with low points where clicks easily fit, generally with a fair amount if not a majority of energy or fire damage, and with overkill survivability. As a result, my Pylon results tend to map pretty well to standard content. Not 1:1 (what does?), but I have never had a build where (i.e.) trading a -res proc for a damage proc would improve my DPS in real conditions. I can think of specific builds that look better on Pylon tests that in the overall real game (Claws, Dual Blades). And EM, with zero -res procs, doesn't look as overpowering as it actually is. Some people probably mistakenly confuse Pylon prowess for absolute ranking. But I'd wager most of us are not assuming this level of granularity from Pylon smashing. Pylons are a starting point, a shortcut, generally a pretty good one.

I completely disagree with Brutal Justice's pet crusade, but can't help but admire his ability to insert it into absolutely every single thread. It's like our very own Godwin's Law. Whether Blaster vs Sentinel, Tanker vs Brute, or power color customisation... If a thread lasts long enough, Brutal Justice will show up and advocate for defense to be nerfed to 40%.

Whaat. I never knew that, somehow. I take it it's a solid option in nukes, then, ought to proc at 90% per mob and gives you a massive shield. Right?

Psi Melee animations seem to split people between "love 'em" and "hate 'em". Couple that with an abundance of OP choices for Tankers (SS, EM, TW...), and the somewhat wonkiness of Insight mechanic. Might explain why people don't play it much. In the grand scheme of things, there's nothing wrong with Psi Melee.

VS is sad but I find having a macro to cast it automatically, without the reticle, makes it more bearable. This way I cast it while jumping towards the next group of mob, and it's "free" DPS. Even with that, it's hardly worth it. Poor Volty really ought to be perma, or at least last 3 minutes. I like to stuff a full ATO set in it, gives me guaranteed opportunity or guaranteed absorb. My Zapping Bolt takes 5-pieces Apoc instead.

Most definitely. From my understanding, taunting power comes down to: - straight taunt ability (most important) - priority in dealing damage (first in = best) - amount of damage and/or consistency of dealing damage ... roughly in that order, and everything is additive. So ideally, you want a scrapper who has a taunt aura AND a damage aura, or fast recharging PBAoEs. And you want to be the first to jump in and get mob attention. /bio has both a taunt aura and a damage aura, which makes it a top choice to hold aggro passively. Spines/ has a damage aura, so coupled with a taunt aura secondary (as listed by Apparition) will do just as well. Those are (probably?) your best options. But anything /invul or /rad or /shield, regardless of primary, can do a great job holding 99% of the aggro for a team.

...I kinda liked Warmth for a long while on my fire/sr. Topping off health between groups. Coupled with Master Brawler in panic recovery moments. The odd heal on Lore pets and teammates. It's probably meh in the grand scheme of things, but I like it enough as a side addition to the rest of the fire epic.

Even in the most ideal and easiest conditions, i.e. a Pylon test, the highest blaster times posted have been around the 50 seconds range. Which is just about 800-900 DPS. It seems highly unrealistic to say a merely "good" blaster should achieve that. It's more like, go all out in melee with a fully optimized attack chain loaded with procs, against a target that is kept in place and with mitigation taken care of. This is also limited to a select few powersets so a poor benchmark for the whole AT. I'm not sure any primary that isn't Fire Blast or Ice Blast is going to push 800 DPS, even played by an exceptional player using an optimal build geared for ST damage. Let alone just a good blaster. I think a much more practical blaster number to shoot for is 400-500 DPS. At this range, as previously mentioned you have the damage output to solo level 50 GMs or level 54 archvillains in theory (in practice, they run away and deal damage, so some variable melee DPS will be lost relative to your kiting skills, and some variable DPS will be lost relative to the time you spend on damage mitigation). At 400 DPS, you will be ahead of 90% of the players you meet ingame. Guaranteed. Consider that if every player on a team did half of that, or 200 DPS, and no force multiplying was involved whatsoever, a +4 AV would drop in 40 seconds. Without Lore or tricks. I'd estimate the effective DPS of the average player on a level 50 character around 100ish. I find 300-400 DPS, if it is mostly effective DPS and not conditional, takes on just about any reasonable challenge in the game, and many unreasonable ones (solo +4/x8 ITF, solo Apex/TinM/LRSF/STF). Provided you use all your tools, but without prep time - that is to say, Lore and T1/T2 insps, but no mailed insps or costly temps. This generally comes to a 200-300 DPS attack chain in the Mids builder, if you have some decent -res (be it native or -res procs). If you don't have any -res, you obviously want more DPS.

Yeah, that reason being: - the game is overall easy - speedrunning is a competitive activity - speedrunning also happens to target the lowest difficulty settings (although the game is easy enough speedrunning teams would likely look the same on hardest difficulty settings, to be honest) - the game is extremely easy if you play it in a competitive manner and in a coordinated team - you have so much overkill in everything that the only thing you're looking for is to maximise damage - therefore in this specific scenario it is worth trading just about anything for damage, even if you trade at a 10:1 ratio Unless you are a speedrunner who plays exclusively on teams with friends, I doubt the speedrunning experience is particularly relevant to overall game balance. And you should be thankful for that, else you should expect many many blaster and corruptor nerfs. Let alone Fire Blast. The speedrunning meta has been "all blasters + some corruptors", but it's TW that got the axe. Because TW is what shone far above and beyond everything else in the regular game. Not speedrunning Fire blasters.

SR is bonkers on Tankers. Scaling resistances + Tough and IOs will put you often at the 90% S/L cap, once your life goes down. If you add any source of healing, a SR Tanker is basically the most survivable character in the game against S/L damage, between 59%+ defense (incarnate softcap), capped DDR (defense never goes down) and capped resistance. So OK, that's at high level. What about at low levels? Well, SR Tankers get to 45% defense very fast. Many of us are used to the softcap at level 50, and it already feels nice. But at level 22? With high defense debuff resistance already? It's downright hilarious. Enemies simply aren't equipped with the firepower to penetrate that. You dodge just about everything, which combined with the likelihood you'd be running +0 to +2 rather than +4, makes it possible to handle team-sized spawns on just the regen provided by Health.

Stalkers have like 80-85% of scrapper survivability (basically same values, except lower base HP and different powers in specific cases). Sentinels have 400%+ of blaster survivability. It'd make more sense for Sentinels to be to Blasters what Stalkers are to Tankers. Which, IMHO, was the case before the Tanker buff. So, hey. Since Tankers can get a ginormous effective damage buff without losing any survivability, there's a good precedent for Sentinels to get OP too. Fingers crossed.

Possibly the most important thing to come out of this thread. Now there is much less friction in sharing provable data. I'll go ahead and say if +4/x8 Blaster defeat alls start being posted in video form, I'll give a honest try at recording the same thing on a Sentinel.

That was sort of implied by your earlier tantrum you weren't taking me seriously anymore ( 😢 ). Maybe stick with that? I'll be awaiting any results, hopefully we get data rather than excuses.

Yeah, so... Why are you not on Test getting us some Blaster +4/x8 clear times to defend your position Blasters obliterate Sentinels in clear times. Less talking, more blasting. Chop chop.

It is a ridiculous proposition to ask someone else to spend time and effort to prove a point to you while offering nothing in return. Similarly ludicrous to pretend not to understand this after it has been pointed out to you several times. Come on. Cut the crap for just one second. You're not a complete fool. The reason you posted that "desire to see his Sentinel in action" is BECAUSE you know just as well as the rest of us nobody is likely to agree to such a lopsided query. You don't give a damn about being educated on Sentinel performance. You're just here wanting to have your clever little gotcha. Even though in all likelihood, you didn't even give the AT an earnest try yourself. Why don't YOU hop on Test and get started on giving us some +4/x8 Blaster clear times? Pick some testing conditions, powersets, missions, rules re:insps/temps... That's the second thing: you ask someone else to put effort, and you yourself put the minimum amount of effort. Overall, an abysmal display to the point it's frankly idiotic if you were genuinely looking for what you claim to be looking for. I don't believe you're an idiot. I believe you're a dick.

How is PvP any relevant to the topic? Man, you are desperate to avoid having to back your words. And you are pretty bad at forum-warrioring... Let me post the point you should have made, if you're so desperate to dodge challenges. "The debate isn't about my Blaster vs your Sentinel, but about Blasters vs Sentinels. It's possible for you to be a better player to the point you make Sentinels work better than I do Blasters, and tells us nothing about overall balance."

It seems disingenuous to fail to quote the friendly challenge offered in the sentence just before the one you selectively quoted. Your Blaster vs his Sentinel. What's the hold up?

The Manticore AV showing up after picking up bank loot was untargetable and (mostly) invisible, save for his bow. My Lore pets and the PPD jail prisoner could attack him just fine, and my PBAoE would hit as well. But I couldn't target him or see him. This wasn't a perception issue, I had double Tactics (dualboxing) and chomped on a bunch of yellow insps just to check.

It's worth noting they're natural AVs, only downgraded to EBs if you have the "no AVs" solo setting. So if you're used to AVs on, or if you play on small teams, it's a significant step up. But more importantly, I have a strong suspicion most players have no idea about the specifics of Vanguard Captains -maxend power. Let alone that there is a temp to counter it. Players just suffer through it. Losing half of your maxend, ergo half of your recovery, and having your powers deal twice as much damage... is devastating to many builds. If you're at 3eps recovery and 2eps consumption from toggles (+1eps), going down to 1.5eps recovery turns you negative *even without activating anything* (-0.5eps). A good rule of thumb for "why do people do this thing I find irrational" tends to be "if there is ever a special mechanic that differs ever slightly from what is experienced in most of the game, assume the player isn't aware of it".

Oh right, entirely fair point. This significantly lowers the net value of some builds. Hmm, then again, I kinda want to argue I never sell a boosted IO on the market if I'm stripping a character. I just pass it to another character who can use it. So the IO still holds its value in that said value doesn't need to be spent again. But, I think you're right ultimately. We can't count used boosters as wealth. Probably? (...I keep going back and forth in my head as I write this.)

I don't mean that it is a standard everyone should abide to. Just that I know that on the characters I personally considered maxxed out, it's probably a good average. Almost every slot is worth about +8 millions than the slotted IO, because of enhancement boosters. Throw in purples (likely 3 to 5 sets), winter sets (likely a full set, if spread across several powers), ATOs (likely 1 full set, perhaps 2 sets, sometimes just 2 IOs admittedly). That's a solid 30-40 slots worth perhaps 20 millions each, once boosters on purples and catalysts on winter/ATOs are averaged out. You could slash the figure in half if it jives more with your expectations. Even at 500 mill per character, I have a strong suspicion there's at least a few players who must have gone all out and have a stable of 2000+ alts - or have enough alts that combined with a few mains they love and overplay, and accumulate merits on, they're in the trillion networth. With "moderate" daily AFK farming (2 accounts), you'd make a couple billions a day just from influence and drops. Someone who'd do that since the server started and with no stops would be close to the trillion mark without even touching the market, beyond "list at 1 inf". There's some big fishes out there who have a lot of free time.

I believe there has to be at least one trillionaire, and most likely several. Let's say one fully IOed out character, sparing no expense, ++ IOs and everything, is 1 billion. Being a trillionaire is "only" 1000 maxxed out characters. I play on and off, more off than on lately. I've never been a high performer in either the market or farming. Yet I have at least 60-70 maxxed out alts, perhaps close to a hundred even. For that matter, if you're sitting on 4k Winter Packs... That's another 100B. We know there's people who accumulated significantly more than 4k Winter Packs, and that's just one play amongst their marketing activities. There's people who clock some serious game time, "triple" AFK farm (and that "triple" is a wink to the three account maximum rule, in reality they're multiboxing further). There has to be trillionaires. Is the wealth liquid? You're right, there's no way the market could absorb it in an instant. But it's no different than saying Bezos or Musk is the wealthiest man on Earth, where 99% of that wealth is in stock options that could not be cashed out all at once without crashing the market. I think it's fair to say CoH trillionaires are trillionaires regardless. There is probably enough liquidity on the markets to convert that wealth to inf within a month or so, if not a week.

All of your must-skip are must-play for me! I skip either missions in Black Scorpion like you mentioned, or random missions in incarnate arcs without rhyme or reason (gets me closer to the end of arc reward).

It might be because I haven't used the power in a while, but the animation seems to root for much longer than it used to / should. If I try to time it with a stopwatch from activating start to the moment I can move again, I get ~3.5s more or less consistently (on a female character, haven't tried other genders). Am I crazy here?