Arbegla

I would disagree that /traps is not good on speed runs. Poison trap is insane control, and FFG follows you around. With enough recharge you can get acid mortar up every 18 seconds, and the first mortar debuffs in a group. It doesn't matter if you run away, the debuffs lasts a long time. Seeker drones can be used to soak an alpha when you don't have a tank, so /Traps can be very very fast, it just takes a lot of recharge. I'll agree entirely that bots have no AoE at all until level 26, and the flamethrower hurts cuz the animation is really long. The AoE on the dual plasma blast is tiny, so it might as well be single target. However, bots are very durable, with the double forcefields, and the heals. They also get seeker drones as well, which they use is a very bad way, but the debuffs of them stack really well. Bots are energy/fire/smashing damage and they have a decent amount of additional -regen built in. They do have a lot of knockback, so the kb->kd IO is very useful. Thugs have good AoE once you get arsonist, you just got to keep the Arsonist alive, and he tends to pull a lot of aggro. But I think the other thugs even get some cones before 32, so it's nice. It's also mostly lethal/smashing damage outside of the arsonist, so it's a bit on the resisted side. The enforcers provide a lot of +def/+damage/+to hit, but just for the pets. The BU proc (gaussins) is very nice in the enforcers, and the soulbound BU proc is good in the T1 thugs. So you can get a lot of damage if you can keep them alive. Also Gang War is just amazing. The other primaries don't quite have the complimentary nature with /traps.

The big issue that I've noticed with the beta changes is that it really encourages refreshing the pets as a full heal instead of keeping the pets around when you try to resummon things. You should be encouraged to keep your pets, regardless of the shape they are in once your recharge is up.

This got the gears in my head turning a bit, and I thought of an idea. What if there was a timed based buff that MM pets got to longer they stayed alive? Or after X number of kills? Something small, like 1% tohit/2% damage that stacked say, 10 times? That way, if you manage to keep your pets alive longer, they hit more often, and do more damage, but if you're constantly refreshing your pets, you don't receive that bonus?

So I've stepped out of this debate a bit, mainly to cool my head, and also cuz life got in the way. Having caught up on the posts, I do generally like the idea of Mez Resistance instead of just granting Mez Protection. Reducing the duration of the mez, or giving a 'short-cut' way out would go a long way to prevent the 20 minutes of watching your character die that @Luminara experienced. And we already have a 'hard' mez that have a 'short-cut' to it, be it Sleep. If you are healed, or take damage while under the effect of a Sleep mez, its broken immediately. Why doesn't Hold or Stun have a 'short-cut' option to them? Immobilize, Fear, and Confuse aren't used that often, and already have some mitigation built into them. You can still attack while Immobilized, Fear gives you the option to run/attack/do something every time you're hit, and Confuse does the same thing. There are also powers within the Power Pools that grant immunity or resistance to those (Combat Jumping, Tactics, Assault, etc) I'd push hard for a method to reduce the duration of the true hard mezzes (Stun, Holds) and/or give a short-cut option so you can escape from them immediately. Something like after so much damage you escape from a Stun, and become immune to them for awhile, same could apply to a Hold. Or just give us higher Mez Resistance values that correlate to the Mez badges, so the longer we're mezzed, the more resistant we are to it.

So, you're argument is basically 'The game is already brokenly unbalanced, so why do we care if squishies can get Mez Protection ~50% of the time?'

Ok, you got me on the T9 defense powers, like Elude, and whatever /Nin gets. However, both of those powers have pretty nasty crashes, and RoP doesn't. Also, those are available at 32/38. The resistance is affected by modifiers so you're right there as well. Though, even 16.25% resistance to all, (remember including Psi/Toxic) when enhanced can still get you to 25% resistance, so you're taking a lot less damage, from a power you can get at level 20.

I doubt it. Judgement powers are: 1) Unlocked via the Incarnate System, which is designed to literally turn you into a God. 2) Only available to slot at level 50. 3) Only available to be used down to level 45. 4) Usually end up corpse blasting and/or having wasted targets. Even Ion, with its bouncing has a hard time hitting the 40 person target cap.

Now that Mercs got their Full Auto fixed and standardized, and its been sad that the Robots will get their powers (Full Auto Laser and Flamethrower) reduced eventually, what will that do for the DPS values? Can anyone run the numbers with hypothetical animation times?

The window hardly lasts an hour to be fair...

You can't actually perma RoP.. its not possible now on live. Best you can get is 1/4 reduction, at 400% recharge, giving you a recharge of 150 seconds, with a duration of 90. But what you get is complete immunity to Mezzes for the duration. That is a MASSIVE boost and you're simple intentionally undervaluing. You also get a pretty nice resistance bonus to EVERYTHING. All Damage types. Including Psi. Rune of Protection is best compared to Strength of Will, the Willpower T9 power, which ironically enough, doesn't accept any Recharge enhancements. And you get pick it up at level 20, on ANY AT.

But Easter has a full moon. Zombie WereWolf Jesus rises!

That goes back to the "But What is Balance?" argument. Do we balance around +4/x8? or not?

Blasters have the highest damage scalars for both melee and ranged attacks and are arguable the most squishy. Controllers deal double damage when something is mezzed. I'll give you Defenders and Corruptors, though they do have solo bonuses (30% damage for defenders, and Scourge for Corruptors) They also have MUCH higher buff/debuff values. Except Blasters, who have the weakest. AoE mezzes exist, kiting is a thing. Jousting is also a thing. Line of Sight tactics pretty much wreck the AI in City of Heroes so badly isn't not even funny. There are plenty of other ways to deal with Mez then popping an origin power pool and pretending you're a tank for 60-90 seconds.

I'm confused how you're saying that RoP strips significant Defense bonuses, when it takes Resistance IO sets, and can literally give you 6% defense (via two slots) in addition to the Mez Protection and Resistance. Steadfast Protection, and Gladiator's Armor can both be slotted in it, giving more defense then base Weave/Manuevers/Combat Jumping...

Here is where I would actually disagree a lot. Hasten has an end crash, and doesn't stack (no matter how hard you try..) Tough/Weave have pretty steep endurance costs, as does Maneuvers. What makes them so powerful is that they stack, and you can manage their downsides pretty easily. Now Combat Jumping? That power is heavily overpowered for what it does.

Funny story, that added Resistance that RoP gives you, stacks with Bodyguard mode, giving you an insane level of mitigation on your Mastermind (in addition to the Mez Protection), as your resistance reduces the damage first, then Bodyguard mode is activated.

Except you're using two powers (or three, with Clarion), and you're not quite there. There is a HUGE difference between 40% defense, and 45% defense. (literally twice as many attacks land on you)

Because while the combination of Mez Protection and Resistance is very nice, the Mez Protection is the major offender, not the resistance. The fact it also gives Resistance is just icing on the cake. Getting full Mez Protection, in a clickie every 3 to 10 minutes, for 90 seconds at level 20 on ANY AT is very very powerful.

We're getting a free-respec with this change. You don't like the power, you can respec out of it. That's how it relates to what is going on here.

I think the Devs already have a level of 'Balance' in mind, and I do think they need to make that public knowledge. Once you know where the line is, we'll be able to adjust accordingly. Softcapped defense and 200% recharge is nice, but its not making you immune to an entire section of the game.

RoP not making it to live means that if you wanted to use it, you had to respec into it on test. And/or reroll a new character and pick it up then. If RoP did make it onto live, but you wanted it on a level 50, you had to respec into it.

Melee Hybrid, Clarion, and Barrier are all Incarnate powers thus, they aren't usable below level 45. Temp Powers are by definition Temporary. Break Frees also also temporary, and limited in use, you can only carry so many of them. RoP on the other hand, is available as early as level 20, and does a lot to increase both your survival, and grants immunity to Mez. Its pretty clear it was a very powerful power, that needed to be adjusted.

Ok, that's fair and understable to a point, though RoP still wasn't available on the live servers before the shutdown, so its still a new enough thing to need to be worked out.

Oh I agree, but its still different animals. And pretending they are the same, it isn't fair to RoP. Because RoP is 1 power that provides immunity to an entire section of the game (in addition to granting significant damage resistance to ALL damage types) for its entire duration. Softcapping your defense isn't possible via 1 power. It requires a specific set of powers and IO set combinations to achieve. Its MUCH more then just 1 power.

While I do understand that the respec process is annoying, you do know that when City of Heroes was first released, Re-specification wasn't even included right? You picked what you picked, and if you didn't like it, you rerolled the entire character. Respecs weren't possible until Issue 2.