Week 2 of PvP - Statistics and Attacks

[Lord Schmeb]

I use a number of different characters on offense - but on defense it's hard to vary. Simply put - AI is more Artificial Idiocy than Artificial Intelligence, so the disablers give it a fighting chance.

It's my fear about Immunity Talismans or nerfing Mummy/SSD. Take away the disabling and Defensive Hold rates will be 5%. Can see having them - but maybe as rare as Comet Talismans

I agree with this. I have a SSD, but switch him in and out frequently because, while I think the taunt/crowd control is nice, I'd rather figure out a strategy that works more often b/c of what I WANT to happen, versus what the AI and alleged proc rate brings to the table. While I absolutely LOATHE having my entire team wiped out before I even get a chance to tap my screen even once, it is becoming more and more less frequent. Two weeks ago I was getting taunted/stunned into oblivion, now I'm losing only half the battles that I normally would've lost -- and each day brings more success as I test out new ideas and strategies.

I'd wager 95% of us have the toons I use most (and have the most success with so far against stunner/taunter teams) just sitting on the sideline, collecting dust. Not one of mine is fully sharded either, so there's that to consider as well. Again, screw what everyone else is doing -- think outside the box -- and while it may be rough at first, in a few weeks when 90% of the arena is populated with the same old shit that we've all learned to beat, you'll be the new enigma that needs to be cracked, and folks will start to copy you...

Or you could just buy yourself a Troll, Prisoner, AGS, and Cyborg, win the weekly prizes and tell yourself that you're not a loser -- deep down in your heart of hearts -- if all you care about is seeing your name on the splash screen for a week...

[Askora]

Thought I'd share my thoughts on the issue with taunt teams. It's about the numbers. I don't have a SSD to verify, but unless he got a debuff, he's one of the best for pvp. He has a 40% chance to taunt each character, make him all green slots since his damage is based on HP. So, you use all Mystical to build DEF and MR, pair that up with Blind and Paralysis and the the numbers add up. He will hit each member of your team with at least one of those effects a little over 50% of the time. Mummy is worse with a 45% chance to taunt, only slightly balanced by the fact that he can't carry as many HP, but give him some Freezing capability along with Blind or Paralysis and his odds are a little over 55% chance to hit each of your characters with an effect. There's math to it, but I just cheated with an excel spreadsheet. It calculates the odds for 1,000 hits and gets roughly the same result every time. There is random, and there is stacking the odds. That's what makes it work, especially with AI that isn't very I. The odds get worse when you add it up over 4 characters, I didn't calculate that one, but I'm sure it gets it into at least the 60-70% range that one character will be effected. People can argue that if you flip a coin 1,000 times you have a 50% chance heads every time, but this is basically flipping that coin 1,000 times and giving you three tries each of those 1,000 times to get heads. Worse, that's per character, when you go against the whole team, it's flipping it 1,000 times and giving you 12 tries each of those 1,000 times.

All of that said, I hate to speak in favor of debuffing. My team is not a mummy team as I don't have the right other members to make it work. If I did, that would probably be my defense. I do think the taunt odds are rather high, and hitting the whole team makes it even higher. Maybe they do need to be debuffed. If they hit only one player it would at least cut the odds considerably.

[Lord Schmeb]

Thought I'd share my thoughts on the issue with taunt teams. It's about the numbers. I don't have a SSD to verify, but unless he got a debuff, he's one of the best for pvp. He has a 40% chance to taunt each character, make him all green slots since his damage is based on HP. So, you use all Mystical to build DEF and MR, pair that up with Blind and Paralysis and the the numbers add up. He will hit each member of your team with at least one of those effects a little over 50% of the time. Mummy is worse with a 45% chance to taunt, only slightly balanced by the fact that he can't carry as many HP, but give him some Freezing capability along with Blind or Paralysis and his odds are a little over 55% chance to hit each of your characters with an effect. There's math to it, but I just cheated with an excel spreadsheet. It calculates the odds for 1,000 hits and gets roughly the same result every time. There is random, and there is stacking the odds. That's what makes it work, especially with AI that isn't very I. The odds get worse when you add it up over 4 characters, I didn't calculate that one, but I'm sure it gets it into at least the 60-70% range that one character will be effected. People can argue that if you flip a coin 1,000 times you have a 50% chance heads every time, but this is basically flipping that coin 1,000 times and giving you three tries each of those 1,000 times to get heads. Worse, that's per character, when you go against the whole team, it's flipping it 1,000 times and giving you 12 tries each of those 1,000 times.

All of that said, I hate to speak in favor of debuffing. My team is not a mummy team as I don't have the right other members to make it work. If I did, that would probably be my defense. I do think the taunt odds are rather high, and hitting the whole team makes it even higher. Maybe they do need to be debuffed. If they hit only one player it would at least cut the odds considerably.

I don't use a Mummy either, mostly because I hate everything about him, but also because it's so easy to work around his taunts, as well as the SSD. Sure, I get drilled every once in a while, but I'd much rather go against a Mummy over a GR any day.

[Tritium]

I fear that what Nicko said earlier would ring true if Mummy/SSD were nerfed/"balanced" in some way ─ everyone's defenses would be complete crap and our hold rates would hover around 5% (maybe in the teens for those with Prisoners). Face it guys, if those toons get changed for the worse, your complaints will switch from being annoyed at losing to taunting teams to being annoyed that your defense can't hold anyone and you therefore lose hundreds of points overnight. Also, the CG will become the next defensive meta toon to have on your team. Do we really want that? I know I don't. I believe the taunt teams, for as annoying as they are to face, are perfectly fine as they are right now. Any changes to them will make PVP even more of a bad experience for many players. For now, I suggest we all do what Schmeb said and become creative with the toons we use. There are bound to be great PVP toons that nobody has touched yet.

[Askora]

The big problem is the AI. I can beat mummy teams when I'm playing offense, because I get to choose what my toons do. On defense you don't get a say, so the best bet is to force the offensive player into the same boat. If you lose the coin toss, then a taunt team if built right can easily take your team down without you getting a chance to fight. I don't have to worry so much about losing my passives to the prisoner, since I have next to no toons with good passives. The book of disappointing souls isn't my friend. Even my legendary last week was lame. Right now, I'm more just working on getting talismans leveled up to work with the toons I've got. I can't do much to improve my defensive odds, but I can at least raise my offensive ones.

[Silentknight]

Wow!!! Awfully quiet!

[Silentknight]

Could run around naked in here! Lmao!

[Aristo4]

Game's shutting down next week, haven't you heard?

[Silentknight]

Was lol @ Gmac yesterday,filling all his trooper spots. Figure I'll hit him up next vacancy,might as well get something back for all the 'juice points' he's been stealing off me all week. Then I thot that soon there'll be no need for New Trooper threads as we will all be each others troopers. On the plus side,at least we're all getting lots of badges

[slauki]

Was lol @ Gmac yesterday,filling all his trooper spots. Figure I'll hit him up next vacancy,might as well get something back for all the 'juice points' he's been stealing off me all week. Then I thot that soon there'll be no need for New Trooper threads as we will all be each others troopers. On the plus side,at least we're all getting lots of badges

if the trend continues there will only be 50 players who still play this game, so every member has to be the trooper of every other member, if we wanna fill up the slots with actives