Bopper

I didnt post anything on reddit, I just corrected a reddit post that referenced my work from these forums. To save folks from needing to search for it, the Area Factor referenced here is 1 + Radius x (11 x Arc + 540) / 40,000.

Mathematically speaking the littlest amounts of added recharge will have the most drastic effect on proc probabilities. As the added recharge increases, the proc probability will continue to decline but the decline will be at a slower rate. So yes, less recharge is always better. But you'll be surprised by how much just a little bit of recharge can cause a big drop. There is a caveat, however. If the power has a long cooldown, then it's possible you can add recharge and still retain the max possible probability of 90%. In those cases, add recharge until you hit that 90% threshold.

Can you elaborate a bit more on what you mean by triangle? When I'm in the air looking down, my cones seem to hit in a circle (maybe square?). So I'm having a hard time trying to visualize a 2D triangle in my 3D experience. When you say thick triangle (or circle for pbaoe), how thick are we talking? 10 feet? 1 foot?

It does look better. I don't have Pines to look at everything with your build. Still, with my quick glance, it looks like you approached the proc maximization correctly. You minimized recharge where you put procs. Only thing I saw that I didn't like was not having a Performance Shifter +End proc in stamina. That should be a staple. But if you have no endurance problems, then no worries.

That is certainly a viable approach. In fact, you should check out Redlynne's original thread that is a Time/DP/Dark build. Certainly good things in there. As for Assault, it's fine. It's 18.75% of defender base damage, which isn't much all in all. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice boost and teammates love it. It's just that my builds are so heavily proc based that my base damage pales in comparison, relatively speaking. Sadly, I just put away my laptop for the night so I'll have to check out your build tomorrow. I'll say this, Clarion + Farsight is still nice...very nice. It's a perma 10% boost to defense and to hit. And perma souldrain drain is niiiiice, plus you can proc the hell out of it to make a mini nuke, and it has a wider radius making it easier to hit multiple targets. Personally, I might make a dark version and go that approach too, it just requires some more defense slotting is all.

Thanks a million, Number Six. That is all really excellent info. Some additional info Number Six passed along that is pertinent to the thread, the PPM formula should use the correct cast time of a snipe (if regular, use regular cast; if quick, use quick cast). Also, there is no funny business with the purple procs, it is in fact 4.5 PPM (I did an 800 sample test tonight that also confirmed this).

I was unaware of this, so thank you. That's good info to have. I am completely unaware of this, but I think I saw some source code that made reference to it (I believe it was the code to ChanceModAccumulate, but I didn't understand the code at that time either). Could you elaborate on how this game mechanic works (or would work)? If there are no powers in the game that utilize it, I wonder why the code would be developed. But if you can think of any powers, please let us know. How does this work for powers (pseudopets or toggles) that have ActivatePeriods that are far less than 10 seconds? Are the procs penalized by using the smaller ActivatePeriod, or does the formula treat the ActivatePeriod as 10 seconds for the proc? For example, let's say it is a 3 PPM power and the ActivatePeriod of the toggle is 2 seconds, is the probability to proc 3x2/(60xAreaFactor), or would it be 3x10/(60xAreaFactor)? I don't recall everything that is resolved or unresolved in this thread (and many others), but if I can think of anything I can send you a PM and I'll update this thread with correct information as needed.

I did a very quick test because the answer I was looking for took one attempt. With a 5 proc slotted Distortion Field, on just 1 target, I was able to get multiple procs on one attemt. I did the test twice. I color coded the combat log based on which tick the damage was applied: Cast/First Second Third Fourth Fifth (Never occured on the last tick) As you can see, the first DF had it proc 3 times on the cast, then it proc'd 2 times on the 2nd tick. From then on, I never saw it proc twice again.

They are called ATOs (Archetype Origin?). Anyways, you can buy them at the auction house, you can get them in Super Packs (that you buy at the auction house) or you can use Merit Rewards and by them from the Merit Vendor.

To tack on to this and the cone topics, in a farm you can fly above the crowd and know they can't fly up to you (if you pick the right farm. What's nice about that, they will still try to get as close to you as possible which means they will typically group up into a nice tight area for your cones to hit. And finally, since you're above the crowd shooting down, the cones will effectively turn into a PBAoE on the ground. For example, I think a 40 foot ranged cone with 30 degreen arc turns into roughly a 10 foot PBAoE on the ground. On the other hand, I'll say this about DP, Hail of Bullets cycles pretty fast (~25 seconds) and you can slot it with the -res FotG proc, which mitigates some of the lost -res you get from Piercing Rounds (which I rarely used, since I typically cycled Empty Clips and Bullet Rain with Explosive shot thrown in). I recommend try both on Justin test server and see what you like Edit: I was close, it is a 10.7 foot maximum AoE radius. Simple math to calculate that: Max AoE Radius = MaxRange x tan( Arc / 2 ). So boost that range and you can effectively keep your self safer and hit a larger area on the ground.

Correct, and my analysis used that process.

Should be an AoE monster, you might want to go /dark mastery for perma soul drain and dark consumption for the endurance hog of storm/

Thank you greatly for that information. I have not tried to look at the source code (not my wheelhouse). Can you confirm any additional information about PPM formulas used in i25, either things mentioned here or other things we haven't considered or looked at yet?

Technically, my test results showed slightly less than 1 proc per tick (0.96) if you had all 5 damage procs in DF, but that's symantics. Sounds like you were seeing something else. My tests showed it was fairly equiprobable in when procs come (at cast or at one of the subsequent ticks). An easy test of this, go find a mob of 20 rikti monkeys at PI and I guarantee you there will be at least 1 proc each interval.

You and me both. Partially why I'm trying to offload this one. I have too many other things to test (I haven't forgotten your request).

I didn't record test results, but last night, prior to doing my calculations, I spammed it repeatedly in hopes of confirming the damage boost was 80% (it was), to see if the buildup impacted the damage on the same cast or only following attacks (only following), and if I could fit 2 more pistol attacks following a build up proc (I can). The testing was stupidly tedious as the probability to proc was so low and I have no interest in revisiting it. But to answer your question, I probably got it to proc atleast 6 times while trying to answer my questions. I did not time it, so I don't know what my proc rate was. Sadly, with extreme values in probability (low or high), it takes so many more samples to confidently report on the binomial probability performance. I just don't want to do that.

Here is some homework if anyone is interested. I looked at what I think the correct calculations should be for DF in regards to the procs, and I think the 3.5 PPM ones line up pretty well while the 4.5 PPM proc performed over its head. I wonder though, is it possible the 4.5 PPM procs actually perform a 5 PPM proc and the text never got updated in i24? If anyone wants to test that out and report your findings, it would be appreciated.

I tend to do that preemptive healing whenever I have a gap in my chain. Maybe I'll need it, maybe not. I'm glad that cleared it up, though. I'm not a writer, so my word vomit has a tendency to find itself on my posts.

All of my testing was done in Peregrine Island on the Justin test server. The heavy majority of my testing was done against the same level 50 mob consisting of 2 bosses (both Death Mages) and 2 lieutenants. I typically did each test ~9 times. I first tested each proc individually (so one proc loaded into DF), and those numbers were the ones I posted. Then I tested with all 5 procs loaded into DF, which was the last numbers I posted. With this test, I simply looked at the count of procs that fired with each DF cast. I never stacked. In regards to your observations, I should go back and look at how my performance might change if I only attacked 1 target at a time. Since I kept attacking the entire mob, I cant say whether or not a single target got hit multiple times on one tick...I just presume it happened. When comparing my single proc performance with my 5 proc performance, the expected number of procs were almost dead on, so I think everything is fine. Perhaps I'll look at it more tonight if my wife doesn't keep giving me the stink eye.

I used defenders numbers and will do so again here. If you're using a different AT, you'll need to modify the numbers, but they should scale the same. RA: 8 second recharge. 13.4 end. 2.03s cast time. 133.86 Heal TM: 18s recharge. 13.4 end. 2.03s cast time. 100.4 Heal + 5 x 26.77 Heal over Time (assuming not "Accelerated"). 234.5 Heal total (takes 7 seconds for all the heal to be applied).  So same cast time and Endurance cost. RA will recharge faster and provide you with a stronger burst heal, whereas TM will provide you more heal per activation (234.5 vs. 133.86). So if you're looking to spam your heal, which is better? Let's assume you have +167% recharge in your heals from enhancements and global boosts. RA would recharge in 3 seconds, TM would recharge in 6.75 seconds. With an arcana time of 2.244s, you can expect the Heal per Second capability of the two powers to be: RA: 133.86/(2.244+3) = 25.526 HPS TM: 234.5/(2.244+6.75) = 26.073 HPS So with TM, you are capable of providing more heal per second at a lower endurance cost (you cast it less) and you have more time in between castings to do other things (attack, buff, debuff).  That's what I was kind of going for.

Annihilation proc is -12.5% only, but it is unresistable (which is nice). So for example, let's say your target has 40% resistance and you applied a 20% resistance debuff, the target would resist 40% of that debuff, so your debuff would reduce the targets debuff by 12%, making them resist 28% of damage going forward. (40 - 20x (1-0.40) = 28.0) If you hit with the Annihilation proc, the target would resist 27.5% (40-12.5=27.5). Edit: I did some testing on Justin server and it appears Annihilation proc is resistable, so disregard most of my prior statements. (6 Sep 2019) As for caltrops, I suspect it to be the same, but I have not tested it.

If we just use the numbers from my testing (since I haven't confirmed the formula for DF), the purple proc showed a 29% probability to proc 107.1 damage on each tick. The other procs combined for a 16.7% probability to proc 71.75 damage on each tick. So if you 5 slot all the damage procs into Distortion Field, you can expect the following: E [Dmg/Tick/Tgt] = 107.1 x 0.290598 + 4 x 71.75 x 0.167123 = 79.08746 damage on each target for each tick. If a target stays in the DF for all 5 ticks, the expected damage would be 395.44. So yes, I would say this method works as a rain nuke. But again, I must emphasize, these numbers are strictly based on my limited testing. Once I confirm the parameters of Distortion Field (radius, basically), I can provide you exact numbers on how it should perform. Edit: also, take these numbers with a huge grain of salt. The purple (4.5 PPM) proc should only have a 28.5% higher probability to proc than the regular (3.5 PPM) procs. I'm seeing 73.9% higher probabilities (61.4% if I remove the outlier performance of Neurotic Shutdown). I have no explanation for why I'm seeing this much discrepancy. I will need to do additional testing to see if the purple proc was just a little bit lucky and the regular procs were a little bit unlucky, causing a divide.

Still haven't figured it out. All I know is don't eat them.

I did further testing for a separate thread of mine, but the findings/results apply here. Basically, Distortion Field is perfectly viable as a large AoE proc damage source. You won't melt mobs with it, but it will provide you with some nice damage if the targets stay in it. Since you can easily double stack it, even better.

New testing of Distortion Field with Damage Procs I still don't have a way of knowing whether or not I missed during DF's ticks, so I will just provide the raw numbers. First some background, DF is a pseudopet and it is not impacted by modified recharge time. Once it is dropped, it seems to just use the activation period. DF has a 45 second duration and its proc opportunities start upon cast, then repeats every 10 seconds until the DF disappears. So every activation will have 5 ticks (or proc opportunities). I assume the correct way to calculate the probability would be: Prob = PPM x (10 sec) / (60 x AreaFactor). In this case, I believe the radius is 20 feet (could be 25?). Either way, I won't focus on the expected probability, just report my numbers (Note, I'll update later if I find out for sure what DF's radius is. The animation is the same as Time's Juncture which is 25 foot radius, but somewhere I thought I saw DF had a 20 foot, maybe in pines?): For the purple proc (4.5 PPM) I took 234 samples (sample = 1 tick opportunity on 1 target per proc) and I proc'd 68 times (29.06%) For the 3.5 PPM procs (I had 4 of them, Neurotic Shutdown, Ghost Widow, Gladiator's Net, Impeded Swiftness): Neurotic: 23 procs out of 180 opportunities (12.78%, this might be small sample size bad luck) Ghost Widow: 35 procs in 190 opportunities (18.42%) Gladiator's Net: 33 procs in 180 opportunities (18.33%) Impeded Swiftness: 31 procs in 180 opportunities (17.22%) I also tested with all 5 procs (1 4.5 PPM, 4 3.5 PPM) and monitored that action: 91 procs in 475 opportunities (19.16%) Conclusion: Distortion Field is decent for procs. If you put all 5 damage procs in it, you will see almost every target get hit with at least one proc on every tick cycle, so that's decent damage. It just takes a long time to have all that damage applied. But you still get the utility of DF even though you may not get the benefits of enhancing it as you normally would.