America's Angel

Well, it's possible to recolour the granite devouring earth minion in the AE. (So it should be possible to add this to Granite.) See for yourself... Powerhouse has mentioned he's is hoping to look at Stone Armour in one of the next few pages. So hopefully this is both doable, and on the agenda.

1) Given that MoG is a huge part of Regen's mitigation, any test that doesn't include MoG it is not accurately testing the mitigation of the set. If the test is not accurately judging the mitigation of the set, then its results don't have real-world application. (Koopak linked the formula for calculating MoG HPS , above. It's easy to factor it in.) Also worth pointing out that MoG benefits you not just through the additional HPS from the defense and resistance, but also through the 15s breather it gives your healing cycle. (Each time you use it you're essentially cutting 15s off-of your heals' recharge times.) 2) You can calculate real-world play via calculation, you only need three variables: Length of fight per group Rate of incoming DPS decrease during fight with the group Length of time between fights Length of fight (1) is easy to figure out, just work out your DPS vs the enemies HP and res. (Using War Mace as a baseline because Powerhouse has said that's the best balanced melee set.) You've already calculated incoming DPS, so the rate of DPS decrease(2) would use that relative to the length of the fight, which you just calculated. Length of time between fights(3) can just be set to 5s. Easy. So hypothetically speaking lets say you have 300DPS coming your way, you can kill your enemies in 30s, every 5s the incoming DPS drops by 100, and the rate at which you can move from one group to the next is 5s. This would be how the incoming DPS varies during the fight: 1s-5 - 300 DPS 6s-10s - 300 DPS 11s-15s - 200 DPS 16s-20s - 200 DPS 21s-25s - 100 DPS 26s-30s - 100 DPS 31s-35s - 0 DPS 36s-40s - 300 DPS 41-45s - 300 DPS 46s-50s - 200 DPS 51s-55s - 200 DPS 56s-60s - 100 DPS 61s-65s - 100 DPS 66s-70s - 0 DPS ...suddenly that incoming 300 is ~175. 3) Considering that the dev team look at your results when making balance decisions, I'd like to do what I can to help make them as accurate as possible. I'm more of a tester/exploit hunter than a model maker.

Two main issues with the above analysis: MoG needs to be included. It is one of Regen's chief mitigation tools. Standing still in mobs as a DPS sponge is not representative of how the game is played, and is therefore not representative of how mitigation works in practice. What this means is you need to pause incoming DPS at regular intervals relative to killspeed/travel speed, in order to reflect moving between groups. (You also need to show DPS dropping as the fight continues due to enemies being killed.)

We are comparing Brute and Tank damage. So we have to keep variables limited. I have no idea how Sovera and Bill's Claws tanks are slotted, so it would be inaccurate to compare their damage to my Claws Brute and try to draw any conclusions. This is why I rolled up a claws tank. When it comes to building characters, the first thing I usually do is build out their attack chains to do as much damage as possible (and with enough recharge to sustain it). Once that's done, then I'll build for mitigation with whatever slots I have left over. So, if I had a tank and a brute with identical powers, I'd most likely have them with the exact same attack slotting on their attack chain powers. The tanker and brute damage mods are fine where they are. I'm not entirely sure what damage procs have got to do with the conversation, but they are also fine as they are. (Outside of a few problem powers such as Burn.) Increasing the damage cap on brutes would probably be a good idea, though. (Worth testing out on Brainstorm, at least.)

I made a Claws tank with the same attack power slotting/incarnates/+recharge as my Claws brute. (A clone!) I then fought Burkholder. Dropped him in ~7:20. My Brute can do it in ~4:40. So yeah...Brute damage is fine. (Guess that's the thread over? ) Yeah I've always thought Scrappers and Stalkers should have a 90% res cap. It seems weird they have the same defense cap as Brutes/Tanks, but a different res cap.

You have to kill Jimmy in PvP to unlock it:

Select "Fight a Boss" for the mission objective. Then set it to look like this: You want this one: Yeah if I was making a PvE build I'd definitely pick up the AoEs. Wouldn't have any impact on Pylon times, though. (Or get in the way of the other stuff I'd do to improve the pylon time vs the PvP build's performance.)

He should be available in the AE under Council.

Claws/Regen PvP build vs a level 54 AV Archon Burkholder: With -res procs: 4:38 With the -res procs switched for a damage proc: 5:24

A pylon defeated with single-target damage isn't equivalent to a map full of mobs mostly killed by AoEs. -Res procs or no, single-target DPS is not the benchmark for how fast something will clear missions. (I.e. If something has great single-target damage, that doesn't mean it has great AoE damage.) So the comparison doesn't really work. A better comparison would be Pylons to other single hard targets such as EBs, AVs, and GMs. In this context, much like Pylon tests, -res procs in ST attacks absolutely increase your DPS. (In some cases more than versus a Pylon!) So there's no skewing involved. In those settings where single target DPS matters, -res procs pretty much always perform the same way. As for PvP, yes -res procs have a place. 1v1 tends to be more sustained damage than burst. Especially in melee vs melee fights. And even in the super-bursty 8v8 matches, if the target caller is a Poison, they'll often put an Achilles in Envenom so that the target's res is floored before the spike.

-res procs don't really skew results because you can use the %chance to fire to accurately estimate the uptime based on how many seconds your attack chain takes. This means you can ballpark how much extra DPS they are giving you, and that this number will be roughly the same each time you pylon test. Also worth remembering that Scrappers, Stalkers, Tanks, and Brutes all have equal access to them (either through their primaries/secondaries, or via Crosspunch and Laser Beam eyes). So when assessing the inter-balance of the four main melee ATs on IOs, -res procs should always be in consideration. (Even in those cases where you decide not to use them, as this will only ever be because something else is preferable.) But yes, both my Claws/Regen Brute and SS/Inv Brute used -res procs. Although honestly I have no idea if ditching LBE + Achilles in favor of the increased DPS of Gloom is a better approach for PvE. I don't tend to min/max stuff in PvE - I just pick the powers with the cool looking animations.

I only posted the videos to show that Brutes have the potential to do good damage. If I was going to do the pylons again with an actual PvE Claws build I'd probably want to switch from vigor to musculature, switch from degenerative 75% -hp to whichever one of the reactive ones is best, lose some of the PvP mitigation tools in favor of assault and adrenal booster, and possibly switch out Body Mastery for Soul Mastery and pick up Gloom. (Unless the switch to musculature necessitated keeping body mastery for the extra recovery and performance shifter procs.) Whatever I end up changing, the result would be the same: a faster time than the ~2:10-2:20 min time my PvP Claws Brute got. Speaking of, I just took my ss/inv PvP build into RWZ and dropped a Pylon in just under 1:50: As above, if I was going to make a PvE build for this, I'd do a lot differently.

I love the P2W. Being able to skip 17-year old content on an alt thanks to XP boosters is a godsend. Add in farming, and I'm able to play any new content the devs introduce, at any level, the day it's released, on a brand new character. The extra base teleporters, various travel powers (Athletic Run, rocket board, etc), utility stuff, vanity pets, being able to switch off/on certain insps and recipes from dropping, etc. All great QoL additions. The amplifiers are useful, too. They help me free up slots on my super min/maxed PvE characters. (When I remember to buy them. They don't really make all that much difference in actual play.)

I would be very surprised if a global proc nerf happens. Implementing something like that would show a tremendous lack of understanding of granular game balance. (Plus, as @Sovera said above, a blanket nerf to procs doesn't seem in keeping with how the devs typically operate, which is to look at new ideas in incredible detail.) What's more likely is that a few problem combos (burn and double/triple-proccing, build up and gaussian, etc) will be looked at. Possibly also the use of AoEs to guarantee self-buff procs. But ST damage procs? Numina/miracle/etc procs? Performance shifter procs? Power Transfer procs? -Res procs? LOTG procs? They're all performing fine as they are, in that they allow for diverse building options. Nerfing any of them would make the game worse (by reducing building options, and therefore increasing build hegemony at level 50). The only genuine balance issue with damage procs is how they interact with you at the damage cap. If your well-made blaster eats 3 or 4 big reds, they hit the damage cap, and damage procs let them go over this. The solution here isn't to nerf procs. The solution here is to make it harder to hit the damage cap. Procs are only a "must have" if you can self-cap your damage bonus. If you can't do this, then procs become a tradeoff - you either pick procs or you pick set bonuses. Tradeoffs are good. They're balanced. The issue right now is that red inspirations are skewing the balance of that tradeoff towards procs. In short... Your friends: Your enemies:

Kentaro Miura, mangaka of Berserk has died at age 54. https://kotaku.com/kentaro-miura-creator-of-the-beserk-manga-dies-at-age-1846932585 One of the greatest artists ever. A huge inspiration on so many of your favorite things. (Heck, without him...there'd be no titan weapons!) /e holdtorch

This topic got me curious. (I never Pylon test!) So I took my Claws/Regen Brute (built purely for PvP) into RWZ... Pylon times: ~2:10-2:20 mins with hybrid ~2:30-2:40 without hybrid I imagine it would do even better with a dedicated PvE build. With Hybrid: Without Hybrid: Brute damage seems fine to me.

Well in that case, in order for us to balance really hard new level 50 TFs, we need to look at how purple/orange/red/yellow inspirations function at 50. One approach would be reducing their strength. Another could be to stop them stacking. Considering all the tools we have available to us at level 50. It doesn't make sense that purple/orange/red/yellow inspirations are as powerful as they are. Level 1-50 they work fine. (And should be kept that way for 1-50.) But at 50 they are ridiculous. Case in point: I basically have infinite money in this game - why would I ever build for defense when I can buy a 50% defense inspiration for 1 million? Why slot for damage when I can just put myself at the damage cap? That said, I think green/blue/break frees/rez insps are all fine. And I think being able to email yourself insps is fine. (Lots of casual players do this with rez inspirations. Wouldn't want to take this away from them.)

@Hot Dogger has a cool PvP channel. Usually streams the 8v8 scrims that the dedicated teams run a few times a week.

Yeah this is similar to what I've got in my spreadsheet. (Serves me right for trying to type it up freehand from memory!) Still doesn't account for autohit attacks which ignore the defense part of MoG, and it assumes all enemies have a 0.5 hit chance, but it's near enough.

You would probably find the super hard TFs a struggle, then. (Which is good! That would mean they're as-advertised!) Honestly, you'd want them to be super hard even for people who were insp-chaining/T4'd out with incarnates/etc. I made a thread about it a while back, actually...

When assessing the HPS of regen, you must always include the following: Moment of Glory (reduction of incoming DPS via res & def divided by recharge time) Reconstruction (heal divided by recharge) Dull Pain (heal divided by recharge) Dull Pain boosting native regen Dull Pain boosting Instant Healing +regen Resilience (reduction of incoming DPS via res) (And native regen, Fast Healing & Health, obviously.) When assessing the HPS of regen, it's advised to also consider the following: Tough (reduction of incoming DPS via res) Weave (reduction of incoming DPS via def) Maneuvers (reduction of incoming DPS via def) Combat Jumping (reduction of incoming DPS via def) Rune of Protection (reduction of incoming DPS via res divided by recharge) Unrelenting (heal divided by recharge) Aid Self (heal divided by recharge) Field Medic (+heal to the unresisted heals in the sets, divided by recharge) Other things probably worth considering: Power Transfer Proc (x2) in the epics. Power Transfer Proc (x2). Regenerative Tissue, Numina, Panacea, and Impervius Skin procs. Superior Entomb proc.

Speaking purely in the context of balancing super hard level 50 TFs...you 100% can balance around these extras. You just have to assume players: -Stack insps to be at the +dam cap. -Stack insps to be at the +def cap / are softcapped through IO bonuses -Have Destiny bonuses. -Have controllable Lore pets. -Puts out a certain amount of -res. -Have high global +rech There's ways to counter all of this with PVE mobs: Autohit attacks counter excess defense, AVs with large AoE debuffs that reduce damage/recharge/accuracy by like 200%, control attacks which turn your lore pets against you, have AVs/missions that require the use of certain inspirations to function (and thus reduce the amount of insp tray space for other stuff.) Anything can be countered by a dev team with enough time on their hands.

Players are welcome to put artificial restrictions on themselves when they play. I know it's popular with certain groups on the forum (tankers, mostly) to not use inspirations/P2W buffs/base buffs/incarnates other than alpha. But that isn't "the norm". It's a subset (tankers & those that think like them) of a subset (forum posters) of the playerbase. The vast majority of the playerbase are casuals playing 1-50 on SOs. The game is balanced around them. But let's consider new level 50 content designed for the min/max uber crowd. If you make new content, and balance it around alpha-only/no inspirations...what's to stop uber players using other incarnates/inspirations/etc? Nothing is stopping them. So what exactly would you have achieved in the months-long process of beta testing the "balance" of the difficult new level 50 difficult content? The answer is nothing. All of the uber players will use the resources that you have decided not to factor in when balancing new content. And they will breeze through it, just like they do all the current level 50 content. This is why I said "balance the game as it is played, not as you wish it was played" in my post. Otherwise you'll end up spending 6 months on a new super-hard level 50 taskforce people will learn to speedrun in 15-20 minutes.

Nothing's been changed. And I'd be surprised if anything does. SS is a great set.