As a Shield Tech we Bounty Hunters are subject to take minimum damage over a course of time rather than having spike damage. However, there are quite a few issues with Shield Tech Tanking tree as we speak.

 

As of right now, we have Threat Generating Issues, High Heat constantly, as well as no CC abilities, only a short duration of stuns in which most cases in a Raid setting does not work.

 

I've also been doing some testing about how we're supposed to mitigate damage with our Ion Gas Cylinder and that in turn generates our Threat (supposedly). With that being said the Damage output just from Ion is way too low to be considered any real Threat to any mobs at all. Also to make a suggestion here Ion Gas Cylinder is currently set up to do Damage based on us hitting the enemy with range attacks. Also there are skill tree options to give us more damage or add to the damage by it being triggered by other abilities such as Rocket Punch. The Problem with this flawed ability is that It only does 234 over 9 secs. This is what shows on the Tool Tip. That is only 26 dmg per tick. Honestly; 26 dmg per tick for 9 ticks isn't anything at all.

 

To rectify this Problem I would actually suggest that in addition to Having our Range Attacks do damage; Have our Ion Gas Cylinder create an Ionization Bubble (you could call it "Static Overload") around us shielding us from incoming attacks this creating a Damage Shield causing enemies damage each time they hit us for a certain amount of damage. I would think since our Range attacks are only 26 damage per tick for 9 seconds, then maybe buff that up to about 3 times that much; between 75-80 damage per tick for 9 seconds. Plus if Ionization Bubble was implemented then it could cause enemies an additional 300 damage each time they hit us. Causing a high amount of Threat each time they hit us. Which in turn, vents our heat.

 

With this being said, Our Raid is currently running 2 Sorcerer Healers. With them throwing up shields on me, I'm noticing that I'm overheating a lot. I'm not sure if it's due to issues in general with PT Tanks or that the Shield from Sorcerer's are actually preventing Shield Techs from venting heat. If that being the case then this severely needs to be looked into as well as making my idea above all the more reason to implement the Damage Shield effect on Ion Gas Cylinder. (Ionization Bubble or aka "Static Overload")

 

If anyone else agrees to this or has something to add to the Sorcerer Shields preventing the Heat being vented then please comment below. I would love to see some other people test this theory out more. Unfortunately I'm noticing this in Raids, but in Hard Modes it seems that our Heating issues are mediocre. Thus making us vent Heat periodically by Recharge and Reload. But in Raids it's almost every other pull. So hence forth the reason to add to the above suggestion.

I could be wrong, but I believe that the absorption from abilities like Static Barrier takes precedence over other defensive rolls.

 

Normally, each time an attack is directed at you, this is what happens in the background:

 

1. A roll is made for defense chance, to determine whether or not the attack hits you at all based on your defense rating. If this roll fails, proceed to step 2.

 

2. A roll is made for shield chance, to determine whether or not your shield activates to protect you from some of the damage dealt by the attack. If this roll fails, proceed to step 3. If this roll succeeds, the attack is reduced by a percentage based on your absorption rating, and is then reduced again by the amount of damage reduction provided by your armor rating.

 

3. The attack lands and is not dodged/deflected or shielded. The attack's damage is reduced by an amount equal to the damage reduction provided by your armor rating.

 

 

When you have static barrier on you, however, it is placed before step 1, so as long as that barrier is absorbing damage, you are unable to defend against, or shield against, incoming attacks.

 

 

Now, IF that is the way the game is calculating enemy attacks, and static barrier really does take precedence over defense/shield, it could easily lead to some heat issues, since a large amount of our heat dissipation as shieldtechs is based on shielding enemy attacks.

 

 

 

 

 

Another issue is the type of attack you are being hit with. Only melee and ranged attacks can be shielded - any incoming attack that is listed as a tech or force ability cannot be shielded. I've noticed that some bosses use a lot of normal weapon attacks, but most endgame operation bosses focus heavily on 'special attacks' that seem to classify as force or tech powers, preventing your shield from ever activating. Tech and force attachs also bypass defense chance (dodge/deflect), so generally they are only reduced by armor rating or resistance.

 

Whenever I'm dealing with large groups of melee or ranged focused trash mobs - like the akk dogs leading up to gharj in eternity vault - it's rare for me to overheat, even when spamming AoE abilities. This is because they are exclusively using melee "weapon" attacks which can be shielded, causing my shield vents to go off as often as the talent allows for. This also means that I survive much better than most other tanks in those situations, becuase with a 50% shield chance and 40% absorption I'm only taking half the damage they deal, and avoiding some attacks entirely due to defense as well.

 

However, when going up against bosses or enemies that use a lot of tech or force attacks (like the vault probe droids just after the first boss in eternity vault), I have severe overheating issues and I often lose threat because I'm not able to shield incoming attacks. We had a severe issue with this in a 16 man raid tonight because I kept overheating and would lose threat too easily on those pulls.

 

 

 

 

 

I think bioware needs to take a serious look at the whole tanking stat system. Shield chance should really apply to any incoming attack, including force and tech attacks, and it should work against all damage types (internal, elemental, kinetic, and energy) rather than just the current function against weapon damage. If that change were made, we'd be much better off for both heat and threat (not to mention damage mitigation) in endgame pve.

Which goes to show my point exactly about how beneficial it would be if we were to gain an additional Effect called Static Overload which would act as a Damage Shield that Ion Gas Cylinder would create while activated. Thus creating Threat while Damaging the enemies that are hitting us. This would also help out with heat issues as well as Threat issues.

 

Very good reply. And that is why I'm getting passed up on the Tanking list as a Shield Tech due to the fact on how these Shielding Precedence works over our own shields.

 

Sorcerer's Shields override or take precedence over Shield Tech Shield Chance therefore causing Threat and Heat issues.

 

I vote for my idea on the Damage Shield. And a post I made suggesting other abilities should be added in as well. The lowering of AoE cool-downs such as Death From Above, the longer duration of Electro-dart converting it into a CC for 1 minute. Stuns such as Shoulder Slam needs improving on. So many things that could be improved for Powertechs and Shield Techs in general. I just hope that Bioware sees this and is aware that we need much love in our Tanking Tree.

Honestly a damage shield probably wouldnt help as much as you'd think. I could see maybe changing ion gas cylinder's damage proc into a reactive proc that occurs whenever you shield an attack (but obviously still applied by rocket punch with appropriate talents, to allow more frequent use of rail shot), but this would still only be effective when taking melee/ranged weapon attacks, and not force/tech attacks.

 

One thing that would help you out for the meantime is to tell your sorcerors to stop relying on static barrier so much. They should never need to use it on the tank for any trash pulls, and during bosses it should always be saved for when the boss uses certain abilities. A lot of sorcerors are, frankly, very bad players, and they get in the habit of relying on static shield as a core part of their healing rotation.

 

 

Honestly a damage shield probably wouldnt help as much as you'd think. I could see maybe changing ion gas cylinder's damage proc into a reactive proc that occurs whenever you shield an attack

 

 

lol That is exactly what a Damage Shield is... a Reactive shield that damages enemies when they hit the person with the damage shield on them.

 

You just contradicted yourself. But to say the lease this is exactly what needs to have for us.

Also I should note that I did a lot of testing this past week in working with different healers. And it would seem that my theory and your explanation of how a Hit/Miss roll occurs is correct.

 

Healers - Sorcerer - Static Barrier; causes major Heating issues compare to no Static Barrier, Also Threat Generation or Threat in general seems to drop almost completely when this shield goes up onto the Shield Tech. Thus losing aggro over mobs.

 

Operatives - These types of healers are fine but when putting out the heals compared to that of a Sorcerer it's not equal. Let me clarify; Even tho Sorcerer's are known to be big healers and shielding, The Operative is known for rolling continuous heals and a few HoTs. But just to compare their 2 AoE heals they Operative loses every time. Not to mention the Operative AoE is only for 4 people where as the Sorcerer is for 8.

 

Mercenary Heals - I've found that Mercs also heal just fine except the lack of any major healing. They too have HoTs and tend to roll off continuous healing like the Ops.

 

Honestly if any other Shield Techs are having issues then most likely it's due to having a Sorcerer put a Static Barrier on them while they are tanking.

 

 

Just for those healers who are reading this; In order for a Shield Tech to create the amount of Threat needed and to properly vent Heat to maintain that threat; They have to get hit by mobs. And those hits have to be shielded by their own shields not by any others.

 

If Static Barrier is absorbing those blows constantly then we won't ever generate threat and we'll in turn overheat. Causing us to lose aggro to others.

 

As a Shield Tech we need to have the Devs look into this and Fix this issue. Because as of right now.. Shield Techs will just be put on the shelf and passed up for other Tanks who can rely on the Static Barriers and Raids who want to run 2 Sorcerer healers. Instead of accommodating the Shield Tech with an alternative Healer.

lol That is exactly what a Damage Shield is... a Reactive shield that damages enemies when they hit the person with the damage shield on them.

 

You just contradicted yourself. But to say the lease this is exactly what needs to have for us.

 

"Damage shield" is very misleading. Up until you wrote this, I thought the exact same thing as the poster you quoted, which was that you were talking about an actual defensive shield (like Static Barrier, and you even called it the same thing).

 

What you are referring to is generally called a "Damage reflection shield", and is a very different beast than what most people think when they read "damage shield".

Hmmm. This is rather disheartening for someone who recently made the switch from 50 Jugg Tank to PT. Now a fresh level 50...

 

I am glad I know this information, don't get me wrong. Just a bummer is all.

 

One thing that might help with overheating is putting the Vent Heat ability on the same cooldown timer as Enrage for Juggs. They can increase their rage every minute as opposed to our two minutes. Put it on a 60s timer and reduce the amount it vents from 50 to 30?

Edited February 20, 2012 by midnitemonster

Bumping to keep it on the first page.

"Damage shield" is very misleading. Up until you wrote this, I thought the exact same thing as the poster you quoted, which was that you were talking about an actual defensive shield (like Static Barrier, and you even called it the same thing).

 

What you are referring to is generally called a "Damage reflection shield", and is a very different beast than what most people think when they read "damage shield".

 

If this was misleading I do apologize, however the fact that in my past experience it was always referred to as a Damage shield.

 

Damage Shield meaning every time you take damage you give back damage to the enemy that is attacking you. It's not much but it's a small consistent damage every time you're hit.

 

But Let's not stray from the Subject at hand... Sorcery ability Static Barrier taking precedence over Shielding of the Shield Techs ability Shield Vents which is located in the Tree Skill. By way of Static Barrier absorbing most of the damage and not the Powertech himself then that leads to overheating because the Shield Tech is not getting hit therefore not losing heat in return.

 

Shield Techs need to get hit in order to lose heat. If Shielded by Static Barrier then its the Sorcerer's Shield and not the Shield Tech's shield absorbing the damage.

 

If the Shield Tech is overheated then they can not do damage therefore not cause High Aggro to maintain Threat.

 

Thus leaving us the problem with losing aggro, overheating every few secs, and being useless in Raid scenarios.

PT is one of if not the best tanks for the majority of the content in the game.

 

There IS a problem with ion cylinder though, and there may be less synergy between PTs+Sorcs as there are w/ other healers.

 

All I heard from the Operative healer I lvled from 30-50 w/ doing all FPs then all HM FPs with, was "Oh sorc healer is EZ mode. Their shield is epic. I should have been sorc"

 

then she lvled up to 50 on sorc with that "epic bubble" and started healing our hm fps on sorc instead of Op and guess what.. my repair bill went thru the roof and my heat situations from before heat blast resurfaced. In my view, she went from being an elite op healer to being a lackluster pug sorc healer just from changing classes. Maybe she had better luck healing juggs with her sorc though.

 

IMO sorc was designed to pair best with jugg/assassin and op/bh was designed more with PT in mind.

I would have to agree with you Prolyfic, the Sorc's healing Jugg's are easier due to the fact that Jugg's are defense based and take spike damage thereby with the Static Barrier, it eliminates the whole Shield absorption that PT tanks need in order to vent heat.

 

Just a breakdown - Jugg Tanks rely on defense therefore having Static Barrier is a good thing cause they don't have to vent heat in order to maintain their threat or keep on using abilities.

 

Also Jugg tanks don't need to rely on a Shield Absorption in order to keep their force low. Where as PT Tanks do have to rely on taking steady hits with absorbing them as much as they can so that they can keep their heat low.

 

Ops healing or Mercs healing it's not so much of an issue. However you still have to watch you heating as usual.

 

As a Shield Tech, you will notice a huge difference in the heat gain / loss if you were to switch over to Advance Prototype spec or even the Pyrotech spec. Rather than gaining a huge amount of heat really quick, you will steadily keep venting that heat. I'm not quite sure how this is even right compared to how Shield Techs need low heat to maintain their Aggro.

 

I just personally feel that Sorcerer's use Static Barrier as a Rotation ability where as they should only use it as a Big Hit prevention ability. I believe one other person said the same thing.

Edited February 24, 2012 by TheRealPyxx

would it not make good sense to simply have the attack process the target's defenses first, and then the secondary applied defenses (sorc bubble)?

Even easier than all of that (though ion cylinder needs some work), just tell the sorcs not to bubble you? They can bubble the other tanks all they want, we have our own bubble action anyways. I usually only take the bubble going into a fight with a champ. It takes away the initial burst of the mob, allowing me to set initial aggro and get the healer into sync for the fight. Tossing out a HoT before damage starts rolling in, or CC-ing an add, etc.

That single bubble is rarely enough to cause heating issues, and that is what heat blast is for. Used early, before you have real heat troubles, will help save you from them by keeping you on the better heat-loss steps.

would it not make good sense to simply have the attack process the target's defenses first, and then the secondary applied defenses (sorc bubble)?

 

That would make sorc bubbles last longer, which would increase sorc power relative to other healers. If anything, people have been crying nerf on sorc bubbles.

 

If Static Barrier absorbed something like 98% of each hit rather than 100%, the target's defenses could still be processed. You always have to think of the unintended consequences with these things, though.