Guardian AAs, on reflection...

[TuinalOfTheNexus]

<DIV>I'd originally intended the stalwarting AA line with EoF. It offered a good bonus to mitigation, and the block end-line ability seemed extremely worthwhile.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In retrospect, I'd like to argue this line is completely worthless. Why? Because with the mitigation "curve", there's no point getting your mit past 4000, because your own self buffs, plus raid buffs, make additional mit worthless. My current ideal spec with 100AA is:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Warrior</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <UL> <LI>Str: 4 4 4 8</LI> <LI>Agi: 4 4 5 8 8</LI></UL> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Guardian</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Slaughtering</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <UL> <LI>Enhance: Overpower 5</LI> <LI>Enhance: Vehement Strike 5</LI> <LI>Enhance: Compression 5</LI> <LI>Enhance: Flay 5</LI> <LI>Enhance: Precise Strike 5</LI> <LI>Lay Waste 5</LI> <LI>Double Attack 1</LI></UL> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Crippling</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <UL> <LI>Enhance: Merciless Charge 5</LI> <LI>Enhance: Sever 5</LI></UL> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Stability</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <UL> <LI>Enhance: Rescue 4</LI> <LI>Enhance: Reinforcement 5</LI></UL> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Whilst under the old system upping the mitigation on Command, and a long duration Wall of Force looked extremely tempting, under the new system mitigation is simply not worthwhile. What's crucial now is avoidance, because we're much further from the cap.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hence the Agi line is maximised to gain additional +defence. Gear is selected to favor +parry, to close the gap. With enhanced Merciless Charge you're debuffing the target's melee skills to the maximum extent possible, effectively increasing your avoidance still further. Sever also provides a 30% DPS reduction (assuming you have M1) to any epic, which is a colossal amount - far, far more than 900 more mit from the Wis and Command lines, or a block once a minute would offer.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>You lack the flexibility a faster recasting ToS would offer, but you shouldn't be using this the second it comes up anyway. You lack Block, but that turns out to have been mislabelled, and realistically offers very little protection. The remainder of Stalwarting is useless, so no great loss.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>You gain the maximum DPS possible, which means more hate (compounded by +10% from the str line). You gain Reinforcement on a 2:10 reuse. You're pulling pretty much the maximum hate you could get, without using the buckler line - which it turns out doesn't stack with the other auto-attack. Which is great, because apparently in EoF your mitigation is pointless, and burning mobs down fast is generally the way to go. This has the added advantage of making you better solo and in groups because of your DPS - I definitely don't see this as being at the expense of a more raid-oriented build, though - it's simply a bonus to what, to me, is the best build for a raid tank at the moment.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Astery]

TuinalOfTheNexus, you just told what the bruiser class is. avoidance + damage.Guards should excel in pulling (class independent thing), taunting and mitigate damage.<p>Message Edited by Astery on <span class=date_text>12-08-2006</span> <span class=time_text>07:15 AM</span>

[TuinalOfTheNexus]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Astery wrote:<BR>TuinalOfTheNexus, you just told what the bruiser class is. avoidance + damage.<BR><BR>Guards should excel in pulling (class independent thing), taunting and mitigate damage. <P>Message Edited by Astery on <SPAN class=date_text>12-08-2006</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>07:15 AM</SPAN><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Indeed they should, but when you're at the effective mitigation cap, avoidance and damage are the only things left to upgrade.</P> <P>They may have raised the hard cap, but mitigation past 4000 is simply wasted.</P>

[aislynn00]

<DIV>I parsed my own MT-buffed avoidance vs the Shredder in Freethinkers a week after EoF went live (before brawler avoidance was tweaked.)  Of course, given the streakiness of the RNG, you can't base any solid conclusions off one single fight, but it at least hints as to the way things really work.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>What I saw was something like 5% misses, 3% parries, and 18% blocks.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In that case at least, even with a dirge in the MT group, me in Master I defensive stance, and my own Master I defense buff up, it seems the effects of defense and parry are marginal at best.  Block, on the other hand, which wasn't enhanced at all by adornments, was very close to the base 19.9%, meaning you get a lot of bang for the buck.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My mitigation was far from what it should have been vs an even con (this conclusion is based on the damage per hit taken compared to the unmitigated damage values prevented by stoneskin effects), leading me to believe that I wasn't close to the point of very diminishing returns before putting up a short-term mitigation buff.  My mitigation was around 6K without short-term mitigation buffs.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I don't know whether anything has changed with regards to parry/defense since I ran my tests.  I'll do another parse and analyse the numbers sometime this weekend and post my findings.  However, if I end up with the same results as in my first test run, mitigation remains crucial, Block is important too, while parry and defense are virtually useless.</DIV>

[Judist]

<P>I think its a little funny to see some tanks decked out in +mit adornments, trying to squeeze every drop they can.</P> <P>Sure, I too thought it was awesome. What could be better that adding +67 to your forearms, shield, 2 bracelets and even neck (if you have a neck item thats also a bracelet, *cough* DT reward). That's atleast 335 free mit. Before the LU that would have been admirable.</P> <P>But now with the new curve 335 equals to squat in a MT group. I dont know the numbers but I highly doubt its even 1% self buffed. And when you hit your temp mit buffs you'd be lucky if that 335 counts for anything. Thats pretty much 5 wasted adornments.</P> <P>Stick with avoidance and recruit a dirge and defiler. You'll find between the buffs and debuffs you'll dodge a significant amount of blows. And the hits that do land are still hitting a plate wall, so your nothing like a brawler.</P> <P> </P><p>Message Edited by BeatinGuts on <span class=date_text>12-08-2006</span> <span class=time_text>01:50 AM</span>