ATO's should lose the /Recharge split on their Procs.

[JPax]

Okay so this is a bit Maths-y but bear with me on this. I have BOLDEDED the bits at the end for the TL:DR

 

We'll start out with a regular example of a proc, like achille's heel -res or any damage proc, where it's just a Proc effect and no other split enhancement values.

 

 

This is the formula to calculate the proc % chance for proc effects in-game currently, this is modified from what you would find on the wiki, fandom, etc, so please take the time to observe before being quick on the comments.

 

Basically what this boils down to is that the BEST chance for obtaining a proc from a skill use is to minimise it's LOCAL RECHARGE, that is Recharge from Enhancements slotted in the power and Recharge from the Alpha slot, and to maximise your Global Recharge, like Hasten and LOTG: +Recharge IO's.

 

So let's take Disembowel from Broadsword as an example to work with, here are it's applicable stats: 

 

Example PPM of Proc = 3.5

 

Cooldown: 10s

Animation: 1.98s

Single Target!

 

Because it's single target, the bottom half of the equation is just 60, as the radius is zero and the arc is zero. So the, the proc rate for Disembowel per attack without any recharge enhancement is:

 

3.5*(10+1.98)  = 69.883..% chance to proc per strike.

          60

 

Now the point about the equation is that adding local recharge keeps the average number of procs you do per minute the exact same, so if it's a 3.5 proc per minute IO and you add 100% local recharge reduction, it's still going to be 3.5 procs per minute, as it's reducing the chance in line with the increase of how many uses you CAN do in a minute.

 

Adding global recharge DOES NOT affect the % chance to proc, so is a genuine increase in PPM, so if your attack does not have ANY local recharge an increase of global recharge of 107.5% (Hasten + 5 LOTG) results in it going from a 3.5 PPM in effect to a 7.2625 PPM in practical terms, if used as often as is possible.

 

Now - enter the ATO procs, which are all a split of Proc/Recharge. At level 50, and using the superior version, they have a 23.185% recharge reduction attached. Using the same details as before:

 

Example PPM of Proc = 3.5

 

Cooldown: 10s

Animation: 1.98s

Single Target!

 

3.5*(10/1.23185+1.98)  = 58.904% chance to proc per strike.

          60

 

This IS a reduced chance, but because it attacks more often it is still averaging at 3.5 procs per minute. Note the relationship with striking faster but hitting with a reduced chance.

 

"But wait, you just said it's hitting with the same average procs and meeting the expected PPM? So what's the issue here?"

 

Boy am I glad you asked! Given that global recharge DOESN'T affect the proc chance at all, all we have to do is ratio the two proc chances to see the difference at higher global recharges. In the same example of 107.5% global recharge, Disembowel now has a practical PPM of 6.122 procs. 

 

"So?"

 

SO - given that the enhancement itself has both the proc and local recharge in it, it's affecting itself further down the line and the player can't do ANYTHING about it because you can't get the proc and not have local recharge. This chance gets even worse the further you improve the local recharge. Now for an example to demonstrate this in extremes.

 

Disembowel with 125% local recharge and 180% global recharge:

 

3.5 PPM

Cooldown: 10s

Animation: 1.98s

Single Target!

 

3.5*(10/2.25+1.98)  = 37.48% chance to proc per strike.

          60

 

Cooldown is now: 4.44... seconds

 

Global Cooldown is now: 2.469 seconds

 

1.79 x faster attack speed = 6.265 procs per minute in effect.

 

Disembowel with 0% local recharge and 180% global recharge:

 

3.5 PPM

Cooldown: 10s

Animation: 1.98s

Single Target!

 

3.5*(10/1+1.98)  = 69.883....% chance to proc per strike.

          60

 

Cooldown is now: 10s

 

Global Cooldown is now: 3.571s

 

2.8x faster attack speed = 9.8 procs per minute in effect.

 

6.265 procs per minute as opposed to 9.8 procs per minute, a whole 2.535 extra procs! That's a massive improvement from what seems like a minor change! This is enough to make the difference between permenant effects, much more regular effects and maintenance, etc.

 

THE SOLUTION

 

All that needs to be done is for the Accuracy/(Damage/Control) and Proc/Recharge enhancements to swap an attribute, maintaining the current enhancement diversity for a full set and freeing the Proc from affecting itself further down the line. It doesn't matter if it's Proc/Accuracy or Proc/(Damage/Control) (The control bit is mentioned here because some of the ATO sets are CONTROL focused rather than DAMAGE focused). 

 

I understand that not everybody is into optimising their character's affects like this, however I feel it would be better to improve the ABILITY to do so for players, especially considering that this is the direct result of the changed Proc chance formula that happened as part of Homecoming. This simple swap of attributes yields a bigger flexibility for the ATO's which are considered so very important, by and large, for our characters.

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to read!

Edited August 10, 2019 by JPax

[Mr. Vee]

Seems like it could be an an awful lot of work just for the few folks who're splitting the proc from the rest of the set and trying to optimize ppm, but if it's not a lot of work I could see it being an ok idea. 

[JPax]

1 hour ago, Veelectric Boogaloo said:

Seems like it could be an an awful lot of work just for the few folks who're splitting the proc from the rest of the set and trying to optimize ppm, but if it's not a lot of work I could see it being an ok idea. 

Speaking from my point of view, having something affect itself without player control like these IO's do is abhorrent. I know that I am playing it up in my mind about how important it is but that is simply my mind. It sticks out like a sore thumb in the scope of setting characters. Never the less, it has been mentioned and papered here, so it's out there. If the Homecoming team want to take notice and change it, yippee, otherwise I'm sure I'll post other topics with problems I personally find.