#Rage control needs a big boost

21 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

solid briar
#

It seems to me that rage control is a topic that is rarely discussed, if ever. Yet it's a game mechanic that exists, and in my opinion it is in need of a dramatic boost.

Rationale: with recent updates many sources of damage have been boosted. Since every point of damage enrages monster, their rage bar is now filling faster. In the meantime, as far as I can tell rage reduction abilities have not received the same boost, at least for most of them. In particular the recent AH change increased damage overall, but did not change the amount of rage reduction pets can apply (or if it did, it's not in the patch notes).

I tested the current state of rage control with Vidaria demons in the northern area, because many of their rage attacks are quite punishing and a control build is well-suited for them. Specifically it's Sword/AH, with Sword having all possible rage reduction mods you can have, and AH all possible rage reduction you can give to a pet. I am also using the level 78 Calligraphy recipe Obstinate+ to generate -18% rage.

The result in practice is that even if I focus on reducing rage as much as possible, never using any of the AH abilities that boost the pet's damage, I can barely keep up when fighting Justicars and Behemoths, and Overseers are just impossible to control (for some reason their rage goes up faster).

Note that if I was using Sic'Em I would activate rage reduction mods for the pet, but the additional damage mods I have for that ability more that counter this effect and the overall result is an increase of rage.

Granted, this is with a maxed out pet (Blinding Wasp), but still: I am not using AH offensive abilities. Except for the first attack, because I need the pet to get aggro quickly, the pet just uses its basic attack the entire fight.

#

So, in ideal conditions for rage control it's shacky at best, or just doesn't work. This is why I think it should receive a big boost.

Alternatively, monsters could be altered to have their max rage increased. However that would change the balance between natural rage over time when engaged + rage due to damage done, and rage due to damage received.

normal quiver
#

doesnt the rage mechanic just make the game about either 1 shotting the mobs or having a tank that can defend against rage attacks?

solid briar
flint summit
#

I only know this version of current rage (playing for roundabout 2months now) and I simply didnt understand the point of it. I saw it being possible to manage rage in a solo lowlevel situation (if you are modded poorly for dmg) while using a sword but everything later down the line is straight up impossible and absolutly pointless especially in a partysetup.
Dmg without a modifier appears to be 1:1 rage. Rage bars are for most mobs too tiny for their ehp without "real" counterplay.

It also leads to rng, because somtimes mobs cant use a single rageattack during a fight, while their bar appears to be full.
My guess on this behaviour is simply that whenever they queue up their rageattack for the next gcd but someone reduces their rage by atleast 1 right before the execution, they have to skip this and do another ability/ba intead. Correct me if this is wrong, but thats the only viable explanation for me.
It also doesnt help that mobs dont have a CD (atleast thats what it feels like) on rageattacks... so fights are pretty much just a rageattack spamfest back to back - if the "skip because not max-bar" doesnt happen

granite island
#

I’ve been playing for years and the only advice I’ve ever gotten for rage is “don’t use any of those mods…ever”. In high level group settings(even high level solo) we just nuke things dead and ignore rage mechanics all together. Kinda sucks, because it makes a lot of treasure effects and skills just straight up useless.

granite island
#

The whole mechanic needs a tune-up probably.

#

Or to be gutted entirely.

normal quiver
#

I can think of a bunch of really annoying ways to solve this, like.. raged up mobs are immortal 😆 jk, this is worse

honest bronze
#

Years ago I had a group in labs and for some reason I had a weird build that had some rage reducers. I think I was still rolling mods (or just testing things to send in feedback). I think I had ment and psych and someone else had ice magic and psych. Don't remember who ran what exactly, but I know we had Psychoanalyze and Frostbite across two people and no fire damage going out. When we were getting close to claudia tank asked if anyone noticed the golems never AOE'd. We talked and figured out why.

It was a fun memory, but really not worth the happen stance effort. One player heavily reducing rage would not be enough, two probably would still not be enough if someone ran fire magic.
Rage feels like a mechanic that you might be able to manage solo, but it's simply not worth the risk by lowering your dps.

Everyone's strategy is, kill it fast and try and kill it before the 2nd rage. DPS is the better rage management.
edit-- imo rage needs to increase per tick, and have a max value it can increase after the mob calculates how much rage damage it took.

normal quiver
#

i think we first need an idea what rage is meant to accomplish as a feature to have any idea how to 'fix' it

granite island
#

i mean, look at hammer, hammer has a whole mechanic about increased damage at high rage

#

are we suppose to reduce it or increase it?

solid briar
flint summit
# solid briar Increase if you're a Hammer user, reduce if not? 😆

Thats a interessting idea. The whole mechanic could change into a balancing act of keeping the bar in the middle and bad things happen if i reaches either the left or right end. Abilities would need to have a positive or negative polarization, so it becomes kind of a minigame and can be done by solos ASWELL as groups. Just a brainfart

honest bronze
#

I mean, its technically supposed to be, more more rage =more risk. So, hammer/fire's "increased" damage is balanced by causing more rage, allowing the mobs to deal more damage.

ruby cedar
#

I do feel it's a bit useful when soloing, pretty noticeable against elites when you can essentially remove their rage attack. Especially those bears that go through my armor! xS

I was first running sword/shield, but now that I swapped to sword/necro it's less useful with the minions.

ruby cedar
granite island
#

maybe they need to turn into something else at higher level

#

i understand their usefulness early on for sure

#

but damage is so high at the end that you can just kill everything quicker than it can burst