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"Shields" vs "Barriers"
kingpin0000
Posts: 68 Arc User
This is an evolved reply on the recent changes to Force on PTS. It's evolving so much I think it's better continued here vs editing a buried reply constantly. Plus, I wanted some direct feedback on the concept & whether it makes sense to people other than just me. Edit: For whatever reason the original PTS thread post with all of this has just vanished. That's frustrating, but oh well. At least it's backed up here.
Suggestion 1:
Revamp the game's basic concept of shields.
By definition, "Shields" are typically things that provide protection against outside forces, whereas "Barriers" are typically things that prevent direct access to something else such as an amount of additional health preventing access to your actual health. Shields are meant to be impenetrable & direct while barriers are typically temporary & limited measures.
So moving forward...
"Barriers" apply "damage absorption"(pre-mitigation). Barriers serve as extra health or vitality which has to be depleted BEFORE actual health can be damaged. They do not need to factor in target resistances as their max values indicate their relative power. The quicker you can replace and/or stack them, the more useful they become.
Note: This is basically the current concept behind shields. These types of shields could just be rebranded as "Barriers". As far as vfx, maybe you could quickly see an energy box or cylinder being built around your target(vs bubble) then it goes away & you get an additional health bar the same as how shields currently give. It could represent the combined value of all barrier stacks so the value would increase every time you see that effect.
"Shields" apply "damage reduction"(post-mitigation). Shields apply FDR, or Flat-rate Damage Reduction directly to targets(think targeted IDF). The amount of reduction indicates the power of the effect. This reduction applies AFTER initial damage calculation & the reduction amounts would in general be pretty small & always let through at least 1 damage from any incoming attacks.
Note: Same vfx as current shield powers(bubbles that begin to darken & pulse as strength builds) without the additional health meter on affected targets since barriers would use this.
Suggestion 2:
All direct shield powers become maintained powers. (More Detailed examples of the following towards the bottom)
Protection Concept: You create a weak shield(low FDR) & start feeding it energy which builds it up making it thicker & more durable, but it takes a while to reach maximum power. If you manage to fully maintain/empower it, then it lingers for a couple seconds giving you time to start feeding it again. If you fail to do so in time though, the energy dissipates & you have to start over from scratch.
Containment Concept: Same concept as above with key differences: This power is treated as an incapacitate power so enemies can break free, & the shield goes away if you stop maintaining it or it's broken. This power would not inflict damage by default. Also, the FDR & energy cost would be a bit lower than Protection Field ideally because you wanna give enemies bare minimum benefit. Since shields would now use FDR which isn't strong against large damage values & most enemies don't block it should prove itself a minor buff. Overall, it's not going to be nearly as beneficial to enemies as simply cutting player damage in half like in the past.
Field Inversion: A one point advantage that makes Containment Field start to shrink inflicting crushing damage to your target as you maintain it. This damage would increase with maintain time. (A field that reduces outside damage more & more over time begins to cause scaling damage from the inside. That's a literal Field Inversion mechanic. This is how I'd salvage the whole Containment & Inversion gimmick.)
Suggestion 3:
Add "Barrier" powers as a secondary utility for shield-users. These could be charge powers that increase the value of the barrier with charge time. Charge time could also affect their max duration. On top of that, you could give these barriers the ability to stack sequentially(last applied is first hit) vs needing to repair/refresh them since they typically wouldn't be meant to last long. There could be a cap of say 3 barriers per source(self/other) & 9 max regardless or source.
Note: Basically, you can apply up to 3 barriers to yourself & 3 to targets. If already affected by 3 of your active barriers then further barriers cast by you won't apply while those by others will until the target has up to 9 max. If a target is affected by 9 barrier stacks then no barriers can apply to them until existing ones either get destroyed or time out.
Why? Well...
A shield being a click & forget power feels wrong conceptually. The concept of maintaining shields is pretty familiar & basic in the hero genre. Powering them should require focus & actively burn through your energy resources like healing maintains do. Currently, direct shields are static entities born of an energy sacrifice that despawn after taking a set amount of damage or timing out. Basically, they're uncontrolled pets. As "Barriers" they become more logical without needing to change at all. Barriers already are that in concept.
By design "Barriers" would be independent entities so your resistances mean nothing. They'll be taking full damage pre-mitigation with their only resistance and/or strength being their values. Making them charge powers allows direct strength manipulation by users while allowing them to stack & need to be defeated sequentially(last applied is first hit) makes them even more viable as a gimmick.
Think of having to break through 3 brick walls to get to something inside: 1st(1000HP), 2nd(2000HP), 3rd(1500). A 2500 damage attack could clear the 1st easily but not all of the 2nd. Meanwhile, a 5000 damage attack would smash all 3 walls in an instant & hit the target with 500 damage(pre-mitigation). Your resistances would then mitigate that 500 damage. This is typically how barriers work. Shields on the other hand typically repel or reduce impacts & are built to not break or falter. It's typically the person holding a shield who breaks before their shield does so having to maintain a shield to keep it in effect also makes more sense.
The numbers...
Since there may be multiple incoming sources of damage reduction(FDR), I believe they should all just stack & add to a collective pool of FDR per target. The pooled amount could be averaged out by the number of incoming sources including protection powers & IDF auras. The same could apply for containment powers on enemies. Allowing reduction numbers to add up vs average out would end up too OP.
Personally, I feel like values on shield maintains should be about half what heal maintains can do in health recovery on average & have to slowly scale up to substantial values vs being a fairly constant value per tick. Basically, a 250(base) per 0.5 second heal hitting 8 times max(2000 total over 4 secs) would be matched by a shield that applies 100>200>300>400(base) FDR every 1 second over 4 secs(1000 total). Given that FDR would potentially be reducing damage from multiple sources as it builds up power, this would still be very effective in practice against small damage values. It's weakness would be to sudden big damage like crits & charged attacks which typically sport big numbers.
Charged barriers would be the counter to charged heals & the answer to protecting targets from big damage by absorbing some of that damage pre-mitigation. Any remaining damage would get mitigated by your resistances(all damage resistance from blocking, defense, gear, and/or dodging reduction). Shields would then further reduce any leftover damage a player would take allowing small amounts of FDR to be effective.
Below are revamped powers utilizing this change in basic concept:
Protection Field
Protection Zone - New Power
Containment Field
Containment Zone - New Power
Bulwark - New Power
Fortification - New Power
Field Conversion - New Power
Barrier Conversion - New Power
Inertial Dampening Field
Personal Force Field
Field Surge
Presence Mastery - Heal Bubbles
Rampart & Bastion
Defensive Combo, Wall of Bullets, & ect.
Toggle Forms
Armor Piercing Debuff
Suggestion 1:
Revamp the game's basic concept of shields.
By definition, "Shields" are typically things that provide protection against outside forces, whereas "Barriers" are typically things that prevent direct access to something else such as an amount of additional health preventing access to your actual health. Shields are meant to be impenetrable & direct while barriers are typically temporary & limited measures.
So moving forward...
"Barriers" apply "damage absorption"(pre-mitigation). Barriers serve as extra health or vitality which has to be depleted BEFORE actual health can be damaged. They do not need to factor in target resistances as their max values indicate their relative power. The quicker you can replace and/or stack them, the more useful they become.
Note: This is basically the current concept behind shields. These types of shields could just be rebranded as "Barriers". As far as vfx, maybe you could quickly see an energy box or cylinder being built around your target(vs bubble) then it goes away & you get an additional health bar the same as how shields currently give. It could represent the combined value of all barrier stacks so the value would increase every time you see that effect.
"Shields" apply "damage reduction"(post-mitigation). Shields apply FDR, or Flat-rate Damage Reduction directly to targets(think targeted IDF). The amount of reduction indicates the power of the effect. This reduction applies AFTER initial damage calculation & the reduction amounts would in general be pretty small & always let through at least 1 damage from any incoming attacks.
Note: Same vfx as current shield powers(bubbles that begin to darken & pulse as strength builds) without the additional health meter on affected targets since barriers would use this.
Suggestion 2:
All direct shield powers become maintained powers. (More Detailed examples of the following towards the bottom)
Protection Concept: You create a weak shield(low FDR) & start feeding it energy which builds it up making it thicker & more durable, but it takes a while to reach maximum power. If you manage to fully maintain/empower it, then it lingers for a couple seconds giving you time to start feeding it again. If you fail to do so in time though, the energy dissipates & you have to start over from scratch.
Containment Concept: Same concept as above with key differences: This power is treated as an incapacitate power so enemies can break free, & the shield goes away if you stop maintaining it or it's broken. This power would not inflict damage by default. Also, the FDR & energy cost would be a bit lower than Protection Field ideally because you wanna give enemies bare minimum benefit. Since shields would now use FDR which isn't strong against large damage values & most enemies don't block it should prove itself a minor buff. Overall, it's not going to be nearly as beneficial to enemies as simply cutting player damage in half like in the past.
Field Inversion: A one point advantage that makes Containment Field start to shrink inflicting crushing damage to your target as you maintain it. This damage would increase with maintain time. (A field that reduces outside damage more & more over time begins to cause scaling damage from the inside. That's a literal Field Inversion mechanic. This is how I'd salvage the whole Containment & Inversion gimmick.)
Suggestion 3:
Add "Barrier" powers as a secondary utility for shield-users. These could be charge powers that increase the value of the barrier with charge time. Charge time could also affect their max duration. On top of that, you could give these barriers the ability to stack sequentially(last applied is first hit) vs needing to repair/refresh them since they typically wouldn't be meant to last long. There could be a cap of say 3 barriers per source(self/other) & 9 max regardless or source.
Note: Basically, you can apply up to 3 barriers to yourself & 3 to targets. If already affected by 3 of your active barriers then further barriers cast by you won't apply while those by others will until the target has up to 9 max. If a target is affected by 9 barrier stacks then no barriers can apply to them until existing ones either get destroyed or time out.
Why? Well...
A shield being a click & forget power feels wrong conceptually. The concept of maintaining shields is pretty familiar & basic in the hero genre. Powering them should require focus & actively burn through your energy resources like healing maintains do. Currently, direct shields are static entities born of an energy sacrifice that despawn after taking a set amount of damage or timing out. Basically, they're uncontrolled pets. As "Barriers" they become more logical without needing to change at all. Barriers already are that in concept.
By design "Barriers" would be independent entities so your resistances mean nothing. They'll be taking full damage pre-mitigation with their only resistance and/or strength being their values. Making them charge powers allows direct strength manipulation by users while allowing them to stack & need to be defeated sequentially(last applied is first hit) makes them even more viable as a gimmick.
Think of having to break through 3 brick walls to get to something inside: 1st(1000HP), 2nd(2000HP), 3rd(1500). A 2500 damage attack could clear the 1st easily but not all of the 2nd. Meanwhile, a 5000 damage attack would smash all 3 walls in an instant & hit the target with 500 damage(pre-mitigation). Your resistances would then mitigate that 500 damage. This is typically how barriers work. Shields on the other hand typically repel or reduce impacts & are built to not break or falter. It's typically the person holding a shield who breaks before their shield does so having to maintain a shield to keep it in effect also makes more sense.
The numbers...
Since there may be multiple incoming sources of damage reduction(FDR), I believe they should all just stack & add to a collective pool of FDR per target. The pooled amount could be averaged out by the number of incoming sources including protection powers & IDF auras. The same could apply for containment powers on enemies. Allowing reduction numbers to add up vs average out would end up too OP.
Personally, I feel like values on shield maintains should be about half what heal maintains can do in health recovery on average & have to slowly scale up to substantial values vs being a fairly constant value per tick. Basically, a 250(base) per 0.5 second heal hitting 8 times max(2000 total over 4 secs) would be matched by a shield that applies 100>200>300>400(base) FDR every 1 second over 4 secs(1000 total). Given that FDR would potentially be reducing damage from multiple sources as it builds up power, this would still be very effective in practice against small damage values. It's weakness would be to sudden big damage like crits & charged attacks which typically sport big numbers.
Charged barriers would be the counter to charged heals & the answer to protecting targets from big damage by absorbing some of that damage pre-mitigation. Any remaining damage would get mitigated by your resistances(all damage resistance from blocking, defense, gear, and/or dodging reduction). Shields would then further reduce any leftover damage a player would take allowing small amounts of FDR to be effective.
Below are revamped powers utilizing this change in basic concept:
Protection Field
- 50ft Single Target Maintained Direct Shield Power
- While maintained, this power applies a small amount of "Damage Reduction"(FDR) to your target.
- The initial reduction amount scales with END & increases with maintain time. (Simulates it getting denser)
- After fully maintaining this power, the "Shield" effect will linger on your target for 2 seconds. If your Protection Field is re-applied to that target before time ends, it will begin at maximum power as if fully maintained from the start.
- Advantage: Solid Defense(3) - This power now also applies a "Barrier" to your target at the start of the maintain. The "Damage Absorption" of this "Barrier" effect scales with END & lasts for up to 3 seconds. This "Barrier" effect counts towards your global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply if your target is already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects.
Note: The shield would take the edge off of lesser damage like DoTs & maintains while the optional barrier would help mitigate big damage. It's best of both worlds.
- While maintained, this power applies a small amount of "Damage Reduction"(FDR) to your target.
- The initial reduction amount scales with END & increases with maintain time. (Simulates it getting denser)
- After fully maintaining this power, the "Shield" effect will linger on your target for 2 seconds. If your Protection Field is re-applied to that target before time ends, it will begin at maximum power as if fully maintained from the start.
- Advantage: Solid Defense(3) - This power now also applies a "Barrier" to your target at the start of the maintain. The "Damage Absorption" of this "Barrier" effect scales with END & lasts for up to 3 seconds. This "Barrier" effect counts towards your global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply if your target is already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects.
Note: The shield would take the edge off of lesser damage like DoTs & maintains while the optional barrier would help mitigate big damage. It's best of both worlds.
Protection Zone - New Power
- 25ft PBAoE Maintained Direct Shield Power (1 to 5 targets max)
- While maintained, this power applies a small amount of "Damage Reduction"(FDR) to your targets. (Much higher energy costs than Protection Field even with only one target.)
- Base damage reduction decreases based on the number of affected targets.
- The initial reduction amount scales with END & increases with maintain time. (Simulates it getting denser)
- After fully maintaining this power, the "Shield" effect will linger on your targets for 2 seconds. If your Protection Zone is re-applied to that target before time ends, it will begin at maximum power as if fully maintained from the start.
- Advantage: Solid Defense(3) - This power now also applies a "Barrier" to affected targets at the start of the maintain. The "Damage Absorption" of this "Barrier" effect scales with END as well as the number of affected targets & lasts for up to 3 seconds. This "Barrier" effect counts towards your global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply to targets already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects.
Note: This would make for a nice higher tier power. Zone maintains would have very steep energy costs.
- While maintained, this power applies a small amount of "Damage Reduction"(FDR) to your targets. (Much higher energy costs than Protection Field even with only one target.)
- Base damage reduction decreases based on the number of affected targets.
- The initial reduction amount scales with END & increases with maintain time. (Simulates it getting denser)
- After fully maintaining this power, the "Shield" effect will linger on your targets for 2 seconds. If your Protection Zone is re-applied to that target before time ends, it will begin at maximum power as if fully maintained from the start.
- Advantage: Solid Defense(3) - This power now also applies a "Barrier" to affected targets at the start of the maintain. The "Damage Absorption" of this "Barrier" effect scales with END as well as the number of affected targets & lasts for up to 3 seconds. This "Barrier" effect counts towards your global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply to targets already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects.
Note: This would make for a nice higher tier power. Zone maintains would have very steep energy costs.
Containment Field
This power would make a lot of sense classified as an incapacitate. Similar to it's normal gimmick:
- 50ft Single Target Maintained Incapacitate Power
- While maintained, this power applies a small amount of "Damage Reduction"(FDR) to your target. This reduction scales slightly over maintain time.
- After being fully maintained, the "Shield" effect will linger on your target for 2 seconds. If your Containment Field is re-applied to that target before time ends, it will begin at maximum power as if fully maintained from the start. (This means it would be harder to break out of from the start. Also, Field Inversion damage would also start maxed out & be consistent throughout the maintain.)
- If broken or interrupted before being fully maintained, this power is placed on a 10 second cooldown. This cooldown is shared by all "Containment" powers.
- Advantage: Field Inversion(1) - This power now applies a shrinking effect, inflicting crushing damage to your target. The base damage scales with PRE & increases over maintain time. (For manipulation users)
Note: The revamped CF is set to apply "Power Shield" to enemies which rewards energy to the cast when those targets take damage. This isn't bad & could even stick around with this version. It doesn't address the disappointing "Containment" gimmick. The fix for that IMO is to minimize enemy benefit which this does because most enemies won't benefit much from low numbers of FDR since most don't block & it only applies while maintaining the power. The Field Inversion mech also makes more sense here as an advantage since it makes a field that reduces damage from the outside then inflict damage on the inside.
- 50ft Single Target Maintained Incapacitate Power
- While maintained, this power applies a small amount of "Damage Reduction"(FDR) to your target. This reduction scales slightly over maintain time.
- After being fully maintained, the "Shield" effect will linger on your target for 2 seconds. If your Containment Field is re-applied to that target before time ends, it will begin at maximum power as if fully maintained from the start. (This means it would be harder to break out of from the start. Also, Field Inversion damage would also start maxed out & be consistent throughout the maintain.)
- If broken or interrupted before being fully maintained, this power is placed on a 10 second cooldown. This cooldown is shared by all "Containment" powers.
- Advantage: Field Inversion(1) - This power now applies a shrinking effect, inflicting crushing damage to your target. The base damage scales with PRE & increases over maintain time. (For manipulation users)
Note: The revamped CF is set to apply "Power Shield" to enemies which rewards energy to the cast when those targets take damage. This isn't bad & could even stick around with this version. It doesn't address the disappointing "Containment" gimmick. The fix for that IMO is to minimize enemy benefit which this does because most enemies won't benefit much from low numbers of FDR since most don't block & it only applies while maintaining the power. The Field Inversion mech also makes more sense here as an advantage since it makes a field that reduces damage from the outside then inflict damage on the inside.
Containment Zone - New Power
This power would make a lot of sense classified as an incapacitate. Similar to it's normal gimmick:
- 25ft PBAoE Maintained Incapacitate Power (1 to 5 targets max)
- While maintained, this power applies a small amount of "Damage Reduction"(FDR) to your targets. This reduction scales slightly over maintain time.
- After being fully maintained, the "Shield" effect will linger on affected targets for 2 seconds. If your Containment Zone is re-applied to those targets before time ends, it will begin at maximum power as if fully maintained from the start. (This means it would be harder to break out of from the start. Also, Field Inversion damage would also start maxed out & be consistent throughout the maintain.)
- If interrupted before being fully maintained, this power is placed on a 20 second cooldown. This cooldown is shared by all "Containment" powers.
- Advantage: Field Inversion(1) - This power now applies a shrinking effect, inflicting crushing damage to targets. The base damage scales with PRE & increases over maintain time. (For manipulation users)
- 25ft PBAoE Maintained Incapacitate Power (1 to 5 targets max)
- While maintained, this power applies a small amount of "Damage Reduction"(FDR) to your targets. This reduction scales slightly over maintain time.
- After being fully maintained, the "Shield" effect will linger on affected targets for 2 seconds. If your Containment Zone is re-applied to those targets before time ends, it will begin at maximum power as if fully maintained from the start. (This means it would be harder to break out of from the start. Also, Field Inversion damage would also start maxed out & be consistent throughout the maintain.)
- If interrupted before being fully maintained, this power is placed on a 20 second cooldown. This cooldown is shared by all "Containment" powers.
- Advantage: Field Inversion(1) - This power now applies a shrinking effect, inflicting crushing damage to targets. The base damage scales with PRE & increases over maintain time. (For manipulation users)
Bulwark - New Power
- 50ft Single Target Tap/Charge Barrier Power
- Tap: Applies a "Barrier" to your target or self. The base Damage Absorption(value) provided by this "Barrier" effect scales with your END. Duration is capped at 3 seconds.
- Charge: Increases damage absorption of the barrier. Extends barrier duration to up to 9 seconds.
- This "Barrier" effect counts towards your target's global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply if your target is already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects.
- Advantage: Expel Impurity(1) - Removes DoT effects from your target. Number of effects removed scales with rank.
- Tap: Applies a "Barrier" to your target or self. The base Damage Absorption(value) provided by this "Barrier" effect scales with your END. Duration is capped at 3 seconds.
- Charge: Increases damage absorption of the barrier. Extends barrier duration to up to 9 seconds.
- This "Barrier" effect counts towards your target's global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply if your target is already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects.
- Advantage: Expel Impurity(1) - Removes DoT effects from your target. Number of effects removed scales with rank.
Fortification - New Power
- 25ft PBAoE Tap/Charge Barrier Power(5 targets max)
- Tap: Applies a shared "Barrier" around self & nearby allies. The base Damage Absorption(value) provided by this "Barrier" effect scales with your END. Duration is capped at 2 seconds.
- Charge: Increases damage absorption of the barrier. Extends barrier duration to up to 6 seconds.
- This "Barrier" effect counts towards your target's global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply to targets already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects.
- Advantage: Purification(1) - Removes DoT effects from your targets. Number of effects removed scales with rank.
This would be a high tier power & have a very high energy cost especially on full charge so you would need lots of energy.
- Tap: Applies a shared "Barrier" around self & nearby allies. The base Damage Absorption(value) provided by this "Barrier" effect scales with your END. Duration is capped at 2 seconds.
- Charge: Increases damage absorption of the barrier. Extends barrier duration to up to 6 seconds.
- This "Barrier" effect counts towards your target's global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply to targets already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects.
- Advantage: Purification(1) - Removes DoT effects from your targets. Number of effects removed scales with rank.
This would be a high tier power & have a very high energy cost especially on full charge so you would need lots of energy.
Field Conversion - New Power
- Self Heal Over Time
- For the next 15 seconds, targets affected by one your direct shields grant you healing every two seconds over 6 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.
- Shares a cooldown with other self heal over time powers.
This basically heals you while you use Protection Field/Zone. Using Protection Zone will allow it to immediately gain up to 5 stacks depending on how many allies you can apply it to. You would cast this first then start the maintains. Every time a "Protection" power starts it'll check for affected targets & apply stacks of Field Conversion.
- For the next 15 seconds, targets affected by one your direct shields grant you healing every two seconds over 6 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.
- Shares a cooldown with other self heal over time powers.
This basically heals you while you use Protection Field/Zone. Using Protection Zone will allow it to immediately gain up to 5 stacks depending on how many allies you can apply it to. You would cast this first then start the maintains. Every time a "Protection" power starts it'll check for affected targets & apply stacks of Field Conversion.
Barrier Conversion - New Power
- Team Heal
- Consumes all "Barrier" effects applied by you on self & nearby teammates healing those around you for each consumed. Note: This will consume the "Barrier" effect provided by your Personal Force Field as well!
- Advantage: Smart Filter(1) - This power will no longer consume the barrier provided by your Personal Force Field.
Basically, you exchange your barriers for a burst of healing on everyone around you. The more barriers in total consumed, the more powerful the heal on everyone.
- Consumes all "Barrier" effects applied by you on self & nearby teammates healing those around you for each consumed. Note: This will consume the "Barrier" effect provided by your Personal Force Field as well!
- Advantage: Smart Filter(1) - This power will no longer consume the barrier provided by your Personal Force Field.
Basically, you exchange your barriers for a burst of healing on everyone around you. The more barriers in total consumed, the more powerful the heal on everyone.
Inertial Dampening Field
- Support Passive - Shield/Barrier Power
- Improves the effectiveness of your shields effects by increasing the "damage reduction" provided by direct shield powers by ???% based on your super stats.
- Applies a Damage Reduction aura on self & up to 20 allies/teammates within 100ft. This aura counts as a "Shield" effect & scales with your super stats. (It's a passive team-wide shield. Shield maintains further, though only temporarily, add to the FDR pool of targets.)
- Additionally, direct shielding friendly targets applies a "Barrier" to self lasting for up to 3 seconds. Damage Absorption(value) on this "Barrier" effect scales with the rank of this power. This "Barrier" effect counts towards your global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply if already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects.
Note: This power is all about protecting others. It rewards you with barriers when you cast shields on allies while making shields more effective. The recently added boost to shield strength through stacks will become how shielder form powers work(see further down).
- Improves the effectiveness of your shields effects by increasing the "damage reduction" provided by direct shield powers by ???% based on your super stats.
- Applies a Damage Reduction aura on self & up to 20 allies/teammates within 100ft. This aura counts as a "Shield" effect & scales with your super stats. (It's a passive team-wide shield. Shield maintains further, though only temporarily, add to the FDR pool of targets.)
- Additionally, direct shielding friendly targets applies a "Barrier" to self lasting for up to 3 seconds. Damage Absorption(value) on this "Barrier" effect scales with the rank of this power. This "Barrier" effect counts towards your global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply if already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects.
Note: This power is all about protecting others. It rewards you with barriers when you cast shields on allies while making shields more effective. The recently added boost to shield strength through stacks will become how shielder form powers work(see further down).
Personal Force Field
- Tank Passive - Shield/Barrier Power
- Applies passive Damage Reduction(FDR) to self scaling with your super stats. This counts as a "Shield" effect.
- Applies an active "Barrier" to self. The base Damage Absorption(value) provided by this "Barrier" effect scales with your super stats. This barrier counts towards your global cap of 3 per source. Additional applied barriers will always stack on top of this barrier & will not apply if already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects. (This will always be treated as the first barrier applied you & the last to break.)
- The "Barrier" provided by this power passively repairs itself every 3 seconds. This repair amount scales with your REC.
- While current energy is higher than current equilibrium value, this power will consume the excess energy by ?? every 1 second to actively repair of your "Barrier". This repair happens independently of this power's passive repair effect & the amount scales with the rank of this power.
Note: This power is all about shielding yourself. It absorbs large amounts of damage(pre-mitigation) with its "Barrier" effect & reduces lesser damage(post-mitigation) with its "Shield" effect. Conceptually, the active "Barrier" repair has lots of ways to trigger: Excess energy gained from successfully blocking, END-based energy unlock effects, CoAP, specs such as Endurance's Kickback & Recovery's Efficient, etc. It also pairs nice with Endurance's mastery spec as well. Stacking END typically means very high max energy vs equilibrium so the repair effect could trigger very often. Too much REC vs END could hurt your build with this version because you want higher max energy than equilibrium.
- Applies passive Damage Reduction(FDR) to self scaling with your super stats. This counts as a "Shield" effect.
- Applies an active "Barrier" to self. The base Damage Absorption(value) provided by this "Barrier" effect scales with your super stats. This barrier counts towards your global cap of 3 per source. Additional applied barriers will always stack on top of this barrier & will not apply if already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects. (This will always be treated as the first barrier applied you & the last to break.)
- The "Barrier" provided by this power passively repairs itself every 3 seconds. This repair amount scales with your REC.
- While current energy is higher than current equilibrium value, this power will consume the excess energy by ?? every 1 second to actively repair of your "Barrier". This repair happens independently of this power's passive repair effect & the amount scales with the rank of this power.
Note: This power is all about shielding yourself. It absorbs large amounts of damage(pre-mitigation) with its "Barrier" effect & reduces lesser damage(post-mitigation) with its "Shield" effect. Conceptually, the active "Barrier" repair has lots of ways to trigger: Excess energy gained from successfully blocking, END-based energy unlock effects, CoAP, specs such as Endurance's Kickback & Recovery's Efficient, etc. It also pairs nice with Endurance's mastery spec as well. Stacking END typically means very high max energy vs equilibrium so the repair effect could trigger very often. Too much REC vs END could hurt your build with this version because you want higher max energy than equilibrium.
Field Surge
- Active Defense
- This power provides a "Barrier" and/or repairs Personal Force Field's "Barrier" by the same amount.
- The Damage Absorption provided by this power's "Barrier" effect is based on the rank of this power.
- This "Barrier" effect counts towards your global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply if already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects. (The shield/barrier is no longer the main effect.)
- This power increases your END & REC by ?? while active. (Rank based)
- When activated, fills your energy to its current maximum, increases energy generation, & decreases energy decay for 15 seconds. Meanwhile, damage dealt is decreased by 10%. (New main effect. Does not increase equilibrium but fills your energy bar higher than normal thanks to the stat boosts & actively tries to make that excess energy last as long as possible. This is all for the next effect.)
- Additionally, the active repair rate Personal Force Field's "Barrier" is doubled for the next 15 seconds. (Basically, Personal Force Field will now consume excess energy by ?? every 0.5 seconds to actively repair its barrier rather than every 1 second. This repair will still only occur while current energy exceeds equilibrium.)
- This power provides a "Barrier" and/or repairs Personal Force Field's "Barrier" by the same amount.
- The Damage Absorption provided by this power's "Barrier" effect is based on the rank of this power.
- This "Barrier" effect counts towards your global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply if already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects. (The shield/barrier is no longer the main effect.)
- This power increases your END & REC by ?? while active. (Rank based)
- When activated, fills your energy to its current maximum, increases energy generation, & decreases energy decay for 15 seconds. Meanwhile, damage dealt is decreased by 10%. (New main effect. Does not increase equilibrium but fills your energy bar higher than normal thanks to the stat boosts & actively tries to make that excess energy last as long as possible. This is all for the next effect.)
- Additionally, the active repair rate Personal Force Field's "Barrier" is doubled for the next 15 seconds. (Basically, Personal Force Field will now consume excess energy by ?? every 0.5 seconds to actively repair its barrier rather than every 1 second. This repair will still only occur while current energy exceeds equilibrium.)
Presence Mastery - Heal Bubbles
- Direct Healing and/or Shielding friendly targets applies barriers to those targets. Damage absorption on this "Barrier" effect is fixed at 3% of the target's max health. This "Barrier" effect can only apply once every 3 seconds & lasts for up to 9 seconds. This "Barrier" effect counts towards your target's global cap of 3 per source. It will not apply to targets already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects. Due to utilizing fixed values, form powers do not affect the absorption values of these barriers.
This will basically ensure that you always have at least one barrier going up every 3 seconds while you're healing and/or shielding someone. Note that these fixed value barriers won't be nearly as strong as ones applied by Bulwark and/or Fortification.
This will basically ensure that you always have at least one barrier going up every 3 seconds while you're healing and/or shielding someone. Note that these fixed value barriers won't be nearly as strong as ones applied by Bulwark and/or Fortification.
Rampart & Bastion
- These effects now convert a percentage of damage applied to targets as "Barrier" effects to self which count towards your global cap of 3 per source. They will not apply if already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects.
- Due to utilizing fixed values, form powers do not affect the absorption values of these barriers.
For the sake of dependent powers/advantages, tooltips have been updated to specify that having these effects active are the only requirements even if their "Barrier" effects are being prevented from applying due to the global cap.
- Due to utilizing fixed values, form powers do not affect the absorption values of these barriers.
For the sake of dependent powers/advantages, tooltips have been updated to specify that having these effects active are the only requirements even if their "Barrier" effects are being prevented from applying due to the global cap.
Defensive Combo, Wall of Bullets, & ect.
- Effects like these will now apply "Barrier" effects to self which count towards your global cap of 3 per source. They will not apply if already affected by 3 of your "Barrier" effects.
- Since these effects don't use fixed values, form powers do scale up the absorption values of these barriers.
- As "Barrier" effects these effects no longer consider player resistances. (This should be fine since they quickly re-apply/stack & now scale with form bonuses.)
Currently, these effects aren't benefitted by shield forms or passives since they aren't "direct shields". This ensures they receive some support as well since they require advantage point commitment as well.
- Since these effects don't use fixed values, form powers do scale up the absorption values of these barriers.
- As "Barrier" effects these effects no longer consider player resistances. (This should be fine since they quickly re-apply/stack & now scale with form bonuses.)
Currently, these effects aren't benefitted by shield forms or passives since they aren't "direct shields". This ensures they receive some support as well since they require advantage point commitment as well.
Toggle Forms
- Form powers that no longer provide combined healing & shielding benefit.
- Shielder specific forms increase "Shield" effect reduction(FDR on "shield" powers) & "Barrier" effect absorption(max value) by ??% for each stack & scale with END/REC. They also increase melee & ranged damage to a lesser degree. (Basically, this would function partially like IDF's current support passive boost to shielding strength by utilizing stacks to increasing FDR amount & scaling on barriers.)
- Healer specific forms increase heal effect strength(bonus healing?) & "Barrier" effect absorption" & scale with PRE/REC. They also increase melee & ranged damage to a lesser degree.
Note: Shielders shouldn't necessarily be good healers & vice versa or there's not much to each individual gimmick. With these changes, both form types would increase Barrier values but primarily stick to a single main gimmick. This wouldn't stop you from having multiple forms and/or builds. Manipulator would still be a good goto for "Containment" powers. Barriers affected by these forms include any utilizing non-fixed values such as Bulwark & Defensive Combo's barrier effects as well as those provided by power advantages such as "Solid Defense" & "Wall of Bullets".
- Shielder specific forms increase "Shield" effect reduction(FDR on "shield" powers) & "Barrier" effect absorption(max value) by ??% for each stack & scale with END/REC. They also increase melee & ranged damage to a lesser degree. (Basically, this would function partially like IDF's current support passive boost to shielding strength by utilizing stacks to increasing FDR amount & scaling on barriers.)
- Healer specific forms increase heal effect strength(bonus healing?) & "Barrier" effect absorption" & scale with PRE/REC. They also increase melee & ranged damage to a lesser degree.
Note: Shielders shouldn't necessarily be good healers & vice versa or there's not much to each individual gimmick. With these changes, both form types would increase Barrier values but primarily stick to a single main gimmick. This wouldn't stop you from having multiple forms and/or builds. Manipulator would still be a good goto for "Containment" powers. Barriers affected by these forms include any utilizing non-fixed values such as Bulwark & Defensive Combo's barrier effects as well as those provided by power advantages such as "Solid Defense" & "Wall of Bullets".
Armor Piercing Debuff
- Targets affected by "Armor Piercing" take ???% more Piercing Damage. Also, when affected by a "Barrier" effect, 20% of incoming Piercing Damage is dealt to affected targets directly(pre-mitigation so it can be still resisted).
This would make enemies weaker to piercing damage by default like other damage type debuffs but also set piercing damage as a functional answer to barriers. It basically lets 20% of incoming piercing damage flat out ignore barriers for the duration of the debuff.
This would make enemies weaker to piercing damage by default like other damage type debuffs but also set piercing damage as a functional answer to barriers. It basically lets 20% of incoming piercing damage flat out ignore barriers for the duration of the debuff.
Post edited by kingpin0000 on
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