Reflections, perspective and design

admiralwarlord

For some time now, I've been thinking about why some game items (companions, mounts, equipment, etc.) are rarely used or even ignored. Another factor that led me to write this post has to do with the designs of these game items and even content that somehow makes certain classes stronger, easier, and even more fun.

About a month ago, I was doing RC in FBI and a player in my group was a returning player. He was using the Primal weapon set from the Chult module, and I told him that I loved the design of these weapons and that it was second only to the design of the profession sets. He asked me why their design was unique and I explained to him that any class would have the same bonus and it was easy to activate it. Here are some examples of failed designs in the game because they gave certain classes an advantage: Zariel's set (I never even made the baby, I thought the weapons were so bad that I wasn't even tempted to try), Imperial Citadel's weapon set, and Stormforged's weapon set. I chose these 3 specifically to go through since the first one is a trial set, the second one is a dungeon set, and the last one is a campaign set. Take the Stormforged bonus, which gave a comparative advantage to classes that deal damage without needing a specific positioning; a TR would have an advantage in having these weapons over a GF, for example. These small details sometimes go unnoticed, but they can make a difference in the gameplay, since they cause an imbalance in the damage dealt and affect other classes.

To delve deeper, you need to understand how I see what a perfect design is. To do this, I need to demonstrate how I see classes and how they can be assembled. Don't be scared, I'm a design fan, and I'm not a fan of large or perfect numbers, although I recognize that they are the best options in most cases.

Paladin: Tank Tank - maximum status and stamina bonus for yourself;
Tank Buff/Debuff - here the debuff would be damage reduction for you and the group with items like Valhenas set + Flash Freeze + Tiefling race + Bruennor (summoned) + Elemental Air Cultist (bonus) + Ring of Darkness + Auras.

Barbarian and Fighter: Tank/Tank
Tank/Debuff - Here the debuff will cause the target to take more damage. Enforced Threat and Trample of Fallen + Marilith Seth + Drow race + Armor Break.

Paladin and Cleric healers: Healer/Healer -Here I would only fit the Cleric, the class in my opinion is the worst of the healers to be chosen, despite its massive healing, it always seems to be missing something; For the current content I think the Cleric would have to use the Deva Champion (in this case another debuff for more damage reduction like Weapon Break) + Giant Space Hammster (bonus) for greater group survival. Maybe put some damage resistance in some powers to combine with Divine Aegis, for example the Anoited Army in which the bonus only activates if the HP drops below 50%, it should have something when above to be more useful. In my opinion the Cleric was strong for spamming Daily, after the bug was fixed for some reason he fell into ostracism, but is it impossible to spam Daily? I believe that with a build focused on AP it would still be possible, but I will leave it to explain in the DPS part when one of my loadouts appears.
Healer/Buff - Here there is a discrepancy between the classes, paladin already comes with auras and he can maximize the buffs even more with bonus insignias + Aasimar race (helps in case the player also plays tank) + equipment (equipment buffs have a design that needs to be improved, the buff time is short and if compared to the debuffs they make them bad).
Bard and Warlock: Healer/Buff - There's not much to say, since part of it has already been said before, I'll just point out that Bard is the top buff in the game.
Healer/Debuff -This is for experienced specialized groups, not that other classes can't use debuffs, but there is again a comparative advantage over other healers. Equipment like the Bregan armor which is a combo with the Antiquated gloves + Elistraee's Grace ring + Vistani/Apocalypse + Drow/Menzoberrazon + Duelled Sense race is something that will really help you complete content quickly.
Healer/DPS - No! I didn't go crazy! I recently started playing on my SW, as I didn't want to spend money on it at the moment since I'm buying my tank's insignia to make it more resistant, so I decided to improvise the warlock build with some companions that I already had and here came a companion that I sometimes use in my DPS that gave me the idea to try it, Blaspheme Assasin. With specific equipment and active bonuses and group buffs it is possible to reach 90% of all the most important offensive stats (a little above 50% acc) and have a DPS bonus that would be close to a DPS (not an end game since these can use companions with more DPS bonuses). It would be a build to make randoms and without the players having to change much for this to be possible. Note that I didn't put a tank/DPS as something plausible, there is even some equipment for that, but there is no synergy in the stats. For example: for a healer, Power and both types of Criticals are essential for healing right after Outgoing Healing, but for a tank there is no such synergy between DPS and Tank status. Currently I do MDWP with this build without it being fully ready, but of course when the tank is above average than the others.

This is the first part, as soon as possible I will try to write the DPS part and a conclusion.

admiralwarlord

Well, the DPS part was a bit late, I was thinking about the new module and how it would affect existing builds. So I'll talk about the current and next module.

Basic knowledge, 1000 = 1%; All stats vary in damage gain, but for example, +5% CA= +3.5 damage. Note that not all stat gains turn into damage. From my perspective, the right choice for equipment would be Damage, Power, AC, Critical Severity, Critical Strike and Acc. There are also utilities that bring damage gain, such as AP gain and Recharge Speed. I'll give my CW build as an example: in my CW, in a group where someone had the Wildspace Cptain companion (I don't =/), I would activate the daily every 30 seconds, which would give me 2x the encounter rotation because of the Tactician's Precision insignia bonus, which would theoretically give me a damage gain due to the Magnitudes of the encounters + daily; in this module we got as close to what it was in module 16 as we've never been since. For more accuracy on how easy it is to build a dps, I will create a fictitious group for a trial based on what was said above and mentioning companions:
GF Tank with Lion as a companion + Pack Tactic
GWF Tank with Minsc as a companion + Providence
OP Healer with Flapjack + Runic Aura
Bard Healer with Tutor + Mystic Aura
Ranger with Aspect of Pack
+5 dps with companions who help the group with buffs or debuffs.

Note that there is a sharing of almost 20% of CA + some additional power and acc. Remember the Healer dps? Here is the tip, since if you add it to the Detector set that gives 7% of CA and using insignias that you would use if you were a main dps like the Skill type, added to debuffs from equipment and powers, it makes it give reasonable damage and would help in weak groups in randoms.

admiralwarlord

The interesting part is that a Trial group is different from a Dungeon group, since the former has 10 players and the latter only 5. Since there are more dungeons than trials, we will ignore part of these buffs.
All a DPS needs to achieve is 73.8% power, the rest will come from one of the Healer mount auras (Runic or Mystic) + 15% Rap. This 73.8% power will be composed of enchants, insignias, boons and Forte, the latter two being very important in the next module. Forte will also give you a class stat bonus. From this point on, the main objective is to focus on maximizing the maximum stat in the order mentioned above.

For curiosity's sake, I will link photos of the construction of my wizarding, because I will talk about equipment choices and their design.

https://ibb.co/QmX9k0V
https://ibb.co/9bvnG0w
https://ibb.co/d6FDN68
https://ibb.co/t2gnGFj

One day I was chatting on PE with a friend about builds and a friend of this friend of mine came up to me and asked me why I used this set. I told him because it was good. He asked me in a teasing tone if the boots I used were also good. I told him yes, it gave me the numbers I was looking for. Then he told me that I would never be a top DPS in an elite group. I told him that when I made the build, I wasn't thinking about being top DPS in an elite group. I made this build because I wanted to save AD and be efficient in doing any content, especially the recently released ones on a character that is an alt. See, even though I didn't build to be an elite DPS, I was in some top DPS races in all the content released. This shows the effectiveness of the build. Some people will find it strange, but how can you complete with such low numbers? Overload Devil's Precision = 5% Critical Strike + Acc, Sunlord's Gift Elixir = 5% CA + 2k Acc, Soup = 5% Critical Severity + 5% Critical Strike, +15% Rap Power, +5% Tutor or Flapjack CA, +7.5%, +2.5 Spider Totem CA, +1k Acc from Awareness Gift. In my opinion, whoever wants to play Master content has to spend resources. Thinking that stacking equipment by gaining item level alone does not help, you have to try to understand what the game asks for, and understand that the damage gain by exchanging equipment with more item level is minimal.

To conclude, I will discuss design and what I have been thinking about the new module.

What is the best Tank boot in the game? In my opinion and from what I have seen, it is still the Rugged Sabatons of the Dragon Hunts. It is a Mod 23 boot whose design was released in Mod 19 and was re-released. Despite being an old piece of equipment, its bonus is so strong that players still use it even though it gives them less item level. This is what players should try to understand: bonus quality + need > item level.

Regarding the new module, players have forgotten a change in Boons that will greatly influence the new module. For the new module, I will choose to reduce acc and critical strike (Companion Enhancement; Armor; Alchemist by Golden Cat as examples) to gain stats that influence damage more, and I will count on boons to complement these. First I will change my armor for the MDWP armor that I already thought was very good to build, since it is AOE and ST, I will change the gloves for the MDWP one that gives 10% Power, I will change the shirt that gives me a bonus + 2% of ACC because of completing the set for the Dragonvale shirt that gives 5% of CA and I will count on the boons blessend advantage (everyone got this boon only for the recharge speed) and a boon that is ignored but that works in ST (test in ToMM if there are doubts) which is the Deathly Rage, the latter even combos with some equipment that already exists in the game. These boons when active at the same time give 12% power, 6% AC and 6% Critical Severity. I don't think about using augment companions because it's a burden to change insignias and because in the next modules there should be an upgrade for insignias or collars.

admiralwarlord

I forgot to mention that the new dungeon is in the Underdark. There is equipment with bonuses for this zone, which would allow you to create a specific build to run this content, but with the changes that are coming, it is practically impossible to take advantage of this equipment. This is a disincentive to make specialized loadouts in my opinion.

admiralwarlord

Preview build mod 30: https://ibb.co/GPGy5JR

The Blessend Advantage boon is already active, the companions are still mythical, I'm solo and without potions, buffs and active equipment bonuses. But as mentioned above, just do the calculations to add the buffs and add the Moondancer's Detector set.