Fix Lethal Damage balance. 21 years and this is considered balanced? Suggestion.

[Omega9]

So, I have played CoH since 2004 beta. It's a great game and I play it most days still.

 

My one ongoing complaint is how attacks doing lethal damage are fine at first, but at around level 30 they become useless because most enemies have huge resistance to it. It seems like you are sawing logs, not swinging a sword and so your armors/defenses wear out with the battle only half done.

 

So what seems most balanced to me is have lethal damage wear down those defenses over time. That way bosses would eventually fall, but be tough at first and mobs would be mostly the same as now. It could be a new kind of fun. 🥳

[Luminara]

22 minutes ago, Omega9 said:

My one ongoing complaint is how attacks doing lethal damage are fine at first, but at around level 30 they become useless because most enemies have huge resistance to it.

 

Your premise is based on myth.  Testing has shown that Toxic is the most heavily resisted damage type, Smashing is the most commonly resisted damage type, and Lethal is neither "useless" nor do enemies commonly have "huge resistance".

 

 

And if you look at the archetype sub-forums, you'll also note that Lethal sets typically rank highest in Rikti Pylon and Trapdoor tests.

[Omega9]

Don't get me started about Archery. Asteroids and Rikti Pylons do not concern me, but just about every metal armored enemy laughs at CoH Lethal damage. Listen and you will hear them giggle and say that tickles. Any other damage type and they collapse pretty fast.

 

So I think maybe Lethal, when it is resisted it is very high resistance. And at 30 and up you get a lot of robots and Freakshow, which are metal.

 

Also, the blade weapon sets are all lethal damage. It's not like other sets where attack damage type varies. Like Energy has a Smashing component or Assault Rifle has Fire attacks mixed in.

[Psi-bolt]

I don't think it's quite as bad as you're making out, but I do see the issue.  I was playing my Katana Scrapper yesterday and there is a drop off in damage when you're fighting robots.   But it's not most enemies and there are multiple ways to mitigate the drop off.  For my part, I use reactive's fire proc and Assault Hybrid's energy proc along with various individual power procs to help with this.

[Uun]

Yes, there are foes that resist lethal damage. Crey are a big PITA. There are also foes that are weak to lethal damage (Carnies). Other than armored foes (Malta, Arachnos) generally stuff that resists lethal is weak to smashing and vice versa. Note, only the Freakshow Tank bosses resist lethal (and resist smashing as well). Run of the mill Freakshow minions and lieutenants only resist cold damage (and are weak to energy). 

[Luminara]

13 hours ago, Omega9 said:

So I think maybe Lethal, when it is resisted it is very high resistance.

 

It often feels like an enemy Resistance to your main damage source is extreme, but outside of some edge cases, like AVs, it isn't.

 

13 hours ago, Omega9 said:

And at 30 and up you get a lot of robots and Freakshow, which are metal.

 

Incorrect.  You "get a lot of robots and Freakshow", because you choose to play those missions.  You can also choose not to fight those types of enemies.  My favorite character is an Ice/Willpower sentinel, Freakshow have 20% Cold Resistance, so I opt not to fight Freakshow when I'm playing that character.  Problem identified, problem solved, no developer time required.

 

Here's the bottom line: they're not going to buff Lethal damage.  It would overpower Lethal sets when used against anything that wasn't Lethal resistant.  And while you could present an argument for reducing or removing Lethal Resistance from enemies, they're not going to do that either, because then they'd have to reduce or remove all enemy Resistances.  The entire player base would riot if they treated one damage type in that manner.  It'd be all or nothing, and in the process of removing all enemy resistances, they'd also be removing all enemy individuality.  Homogenization of thousands of foes in the game.  Then the game is boring, because every fight feels exactly the same, and worse, there's nothing that makes any particular primary or secondary stand out against any enemies, so they all feel the same.

 

Inspirations.  Temp powers.  Pool powers.  Primary/secondary powers with other damage types.  Procs.  Or simply not accepting missions with enemies that resist your main source of damage.  Those are the provided solutions to enemy Resistances.

[Triumphant]

And there are a few enemies that are quite vulnerable to lethal.  I'm thinking of Mu mystics, specifically.  When fighting them with my energy melee brute, which basically wrecks everything it hits, the Mu Mystics soak a lot of that damage like a tank.  But if I use my savage melee or Stj brute, I can shred them like tissue paper.

Every set has strengths and weaknesses, advantages and drawbacks.  Sometimes a set (even a ranged or melee set) is less about raw damage than damage + various buffs/debuffs/soft controls or whatever.

But like Luminar suggests, if playing solo, try to avoid fighting enemies particularly resistant to your attack type.  In a group, you've got teamates to buff you and/or plug that vulnerability, so it isn't a big deal.

[LightMaster]

Unless there’s Fire/Fire Blaster or Fire/Any Corruptor, where their DoT on top of good damage is more than enough to help shred even fire-resistant enemies. 😛

 

That said, there is a grain of truth of a few Lethal power sets lagging slightly behind at best, such as Archery, due to lack of secondary effects other than -Def (if even that), which leads to mechanic overlaps. Broadsword in particular is only helpful to combine with Shield Defense because otherwise Katana is simply better due to faster animations. This might explain the OP’s grief given that the Power Sets I mentioned can struggle against Lethal-resistant foes and got nothing to circumvent them other than reducing their Defense, something that’s only truly useful when teaming.