Earth, gemstone shield bugged

Discussion in 'Old Arkham (Bug Archive)' started by chaoticreign, Mar 23, 2013.

  1. chaoticreign New Player

    The first gemstone absorbs a flat 10 damage regardless of gear or anything. The 2nd through 4th will absorb your resto + dom.

    I thought it went 1=25%, 2=50%,3=75% & 4 = 100% absorb until you absorb your resto+dom or until times runs out. So the first gemstone is broken and not absorbing any damage please fix.
    • Like x 47
  2. chaoticreign New Player

    Messed up on the amount of absorb. However the problem is the same, as non "aftershocked" gemstone shield breaks after only 10 dmg and should still take 10 dmg + resto and dom before breaking.

    Wrote a ticket, they said post here to. Please fix

    The absorb should be:
    • 1 shard (0 aftershocks) = 50% absorb
    • 2 shards (1 aftershock) = 67% absorb
    • 3 shards (2 aftershocks) = 83% absorb
    • 4 shards (3 aftershocks) = 100% absorb
    • Like x 1
  3. thelostczarnian New Player

    it doesnt work like that dude. if you only summon one gem you are granted 25% absorbtion on top of the standard25% just for using any power for around ten seconds but the single gem gets oneshot. take at least 3 or 4 gems to get any real actual health to your shield. maybe carry hl shield for when your aftershocks fail
  4. Drift Hazard Dedicated Player

    That's exactly why it's bugged. If I'm correct, the Gemstone Shield is supposed to absorb damage equal to your Dominance + Restoration stats, regardless of how much it actually absorbs at a time. The bottomline is, the three aftershocks are working correctly. The initial power doesn't, but should.

    Not only that, I also found out today that the first shard only absorbs 25% of incoming damage instead of the supposed 50%. This is the equivalent of using any power once.
  5. Lacedog Loyal Player

    Bump. Just switched back to earth, and while the new shield formula is sweet, the initial cast is doodoo right now.
    • Like x 1
  6. chaoticreign New Player

    How it is supposed to work is this:

    The shield absorbs up to your Dom + Resto like every other shield. Now aftershocking does nothing for your personal absorb (other then giving you 25% if you do not already have 50% from jackhammer, etc.)

    What the aftershocks on gemstone do is the determine how much your shield absorbs. I.E. No aftershocks = 25% to shield & 75% to you, scaling with each aftershock until your shield takes 100% of all incoming damage until it breaks. This is actually a good thing as it is very advantageous to only have your shield take 25%.

    The problem, and it is only in dps mode ATM as they seem to have recently fixed it for tank, is that the shield which should take up to Resto + Dom regardless of how many aftershocks are done (again after shocks just determine the % of dmg that goes to shied) only abosorbs 10 dmg with no after shocks in DPS role. All other aftershocks work correctly and it works correctly in tank all together, it is just that in dps the shield is only abosobing 10dmg when casted when it should absorb your Dom + Rest at a rate of 25% of incoming damage.
    • Like x 1
  7. Drift Hazard Dedicated Player

    Oh so they fixed it in Tank role now? I wonder when that happened. I'll need to double check.

    But no, I disagree. I think the initial casting should absorb 50% from the very beginning because, first of all, it's supposed to be a shield, not a regular tank buff. Second is that the progression of the damage absorption values would make more sense at 50-67-83-100%. 67% is such a huge jump from 25% but it's more even if it had started at 50%.
  8. chaoticreign New Player

    25% is better. While it may seem like less, I did a post on this showing that for you to be one shotted you are dead at 25% and 100% anyway and why 25% is so much better, let me find it
  9. chaoticreign New Player

    Gemstone = great, however too many people play it in a non-optimized way and do not understand how it works (although the tool tip is wrong, and it is broken for no absorb tap in dps role still). My tip: here is the thing with gemstone. First the absorb amount is what percent of the damage goes to the shield until shield breaks. If you do not hit a absorb a base 25% go to shield until shield breaks, if you max absorb 100% goes to shield until it breaks. It is always better to use shield at full health and NEVER aftershock it. Why? 1. It will last considerably longer, ensuring no heals and especially HOT's go to waste. 2. and more important, that time it takes to get the aftershock, you can be in block and the extra defense from block > the extra % absorb from aftershocks. Right now dom+resto can not get high enough to create any situation in which the full shield in 2 seconds > 25% in one second and the extra def. from block during the second second. I.E. anything that kills the second would always kill the first anyway, but the 25% will allow you to survive a lot of things (like the new raids) that the first would wipe on... let me explain.

    Look at it like this. Say you have 7k health, 2.5k shield, 45% def. after armor pen and 50% absorb. To "one shot" you through shield and it absorbing only 25% would take 10k dmg after def. and 50% absorb (10k - 25% = 7.5k). So here your "one shoted" either way.

    Now say it only takes 1 extra second do get full 100% absorb. and your talking 15,000k dmg per second or 4,875 after def and absorb.

    100% absorb
    • 1st second =4,875 dmg - 2,500 dmg to shield = 2,375 dmg to you (shield instantly breaks)
    • 2nd second = 4,875 dmg to you and your dead. I.E. you took 7,250 dmg in 2 seconds.
    25% absorb
    • 1st second = 4,875 dmg - 1219 dmg to shield = 3566 dmg to you and 1,281 left on shield
    • 2nd second = since blocking w/neck mod dmg is now (15,000 *.2) / 2 or 1,500 dmg of which 375 gets absorbed, meaning you take 1,125 dmg... total dmg taken = 4,651 and 906 left on shield
    • 3rd second = 1,500 dmg, 375 gets absorbed, so 1,125 dmg...total dmg taken = 5,776 and 531 left on shield
    • 4th second = 1,500 dmg, 375 gets absorbed, so 1,125 dmg...total dmg taken = 6,901 and 156 left on shield
    As you can see not getting extra shards on the shield kept you alive a full 2 second longer. That two seconds is the difference between getting a heal and "being one shotted". I have seen many, many earth tanks try to aftershock gemstone and die doing it or aftershock jackhammer past the first aftershock and die doing it, even after I tell them they are better off not aftershocking gemstone and should only aftershock jack hammer once for the 50% and then block. Of course these same earth experts, I later see QQ to the boards about how they "know how to play earth and earth is broken"

    95% of the people who claim to be earth experts and write their guides are going to get you killed. Do the math and play your earth toon accordingly and you will find earth is by far the best tank in the game... by far.
    • Like x 3
  10. Drift Hazard Dedicated Player

    It's not about which percentage is better. It's about the initial gemstone's absorption value being redundant. While it doesn't seem to have much issues in DPS role besides blocking only 10 damage, in Tank role, a shield that absorbs only 25% incoming damage is redundant precisely because Earth Tanks already gain 25% damage absorption upon casting any power. It would have been nice if damage absorption stacks like Damage Shift does but this is clearly not the case. This is why I would want to see the initial casting bumping your damage absorption into a straight 50%.

    Oh and if you still think that 25% > 100%, you're forgetting another situation. I don't know if your math is correct or not because honestly, calculating for Gemstone Shield is a pain in the ***, but 100% is clearly better than 25% when using Gemstone Shield while controlled, because you cannot block while you are stunned and cannot break out of that situation.

    Another situation where 100% trumps 25%? Gemstone Shield's aftershocks (all three of them) actually taunt, so there's actually a good reason to use its aftershocks.
  11. chaoticreign New Player

    You may misunderstand. Let's say you cast gemstone as you first power without any prior buffs. You will actually get two 25% absorb buffs. The first is you absorb 25% of incoming dmg for casting a power in tank role. Now some powers, two actually: jackhammer/upheaval, you can after shock to bring that 25% to 50% absorb. Gemstone, contrary to some popular illusion, does NOT work like those powers. Your aftershocks do not determine how much you absorb (although casting any power in tank will grant you 25% if you do not have it already) instead aftershocks for gemstone determine what % the shield absorbs rather then yourself. This is actually the opposite of redundant as it is a unique ability regarding shield that only Earth has and is actually rather advantageous.

    I have already addressed your first situation, for 99% of all play situations... but it sounds like your talking about the stun bot in nexus that perma holds lets look specifically at that. In that situation if you have healers who decide not to heal you and you do not have any soders or trinkets up then then getting 100% would be better; however, in that situation of not being healed and not having any soders or other trinkents you can cast you are dead anyway.

    In the time it takes to aftershock gemstone in that situation... I can press gemstone once and then pop a soder; which will give me a greater chance to survive. Or I can hit it once and cast supply drop clipped with soder... same thing. There are any number of things I can do in that 1-2 seconds it takes to get 100% from after shocks that will make my ability to survive greater then trying to aftershock


    Your seconds point: Tank powers taught when casted and when do yellow dmg. The aftershocks of gemstone do not taught any more then the cast and the attack you get is white dmg.

    But you sound like someone that would rather be "right in your own mind" then actually better in the game... whats the saying? you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.
    • Like x 1
  12. Drift Hazard Dedicated Player

    I don't know why you think Gemstone Shield works differently. Damage Absorption is not a new mechanic created solely for Earth powers. It's what various shield powers use, such as Reflection. The only thing new when Earth came was that Earth was able to use them at varying degrees of absorption such as 25% and 50%. However, it still works like a shield. In fact, just using any power, Upheaval or Jackhammer will grant Earth tanks to gain a shield with an unspecified amount of health but receives only 25% or 50% damage at a time. Gemstone Shield is no different.

    Here are two pictures showing Damage Absorption and their values in the Action menu. Despite Gemstone Shield saying it absorbs 50%, it still actually only absorbs 25% as I've tested earlier.

    [IMG]
    [IMG]

    Now the thing is, Damage Absorption does NOT stack. The one with the higher absorption will always trump the one below it, at least until it expires. With regards to Gemstone Shield, not only does it absorb a much less amount than intended, it's also just like you've just casted a power, which already grants 25%. This is why I said it was redundant, because it's as if there is no point in using Gemstone Shield's initial casting. Think about it, if casting any power will block the same amount of damage as casting Gemstone Shield, why cast the shield at all, besides maybe for clipping?

    I'm not talking about the Stun Bot specifically. It could be at any given situation you are hard-stunned, like say, soloing PvP open world, getting interrupted, blocked or block broken, having both the soder and trinket slots on cooldown and unable to cast Unstoppable due to its offensive nature. Do you actually think I'm only implying exactly one instance when there's so much more where that came from?

    Also, what's stopping me from casting it the other way around (Using Soders/Supply Drop and clipping it into Gemstone Shield + aftershocks)? If I can't break out, at least I can still get myself healed and shielded at the same time despite being unable to block.

    This video begs to disagree (turn on annotations):


    Might damage taunting is only applicable when powers are offensive by nature. Thing is, Gemstone Shield is not a primarily offensive power, thus it was rigged to taunt in an area around you once casted. Other supportive tank powers also do this, and is not exclusive to Earth alone. It's just that with Gemstone Shield, you can almost guarantee a taunt better than a single casting due to its ability to aftershock.

    Also, powers do not have to deal Might-based damage in order to taunt. Upheaval and Jackhammer deal Precision-based damage yet they are still capable of taunting.

    So with all these in mind, I ask you: while you may be "better" in game, which one of us has actually truly tested the mechanics on hand? I suggest you start testing first with hard facts to back up your claims as you're only fooling yourself.
  13. Aiden Warren New Player


    using that shield as dps, so your going to have to deal with how it does not work well as it Is meant for Tank Effects, we have enough dps in this game and not learning the game properly, Try the Iconic Power "hard Light Shield"
    Using a Tank power for Dps role, and yet it gives a damage buff for the damage role, so I don't see why you have an issue with it. Using the shield to absorb damage as a dps, or just to gain the damage buff as a dps, so if it doesn't absorb damage, then so be it. Your a dps.
    you can have 2000 restore and 500 dom, and your still going to take damage, even in PVP, so I don't see why you need use of a shield, as you say your in dps role.

    if your in dps role for the shield's restore and dominance, then you won't last from the damage absorbtion.
    Dps gear has no restoration or dominance, so Base dom is 53 with shield tree, and base retore is 755 with all skills filled for dps, and +15 restore if you have more sp, so your dps role and I don't see why you have an issue with that you don't have enough restore and dom for it to work well.

    you need to listen to these people as they are telling you right, they are not trying to be rude, listen to them, don't be so stubborn.

    Even my brother thinks the shield protects you from damage for 15 seconds and you can use it again in 6 seconds, and I tell him that wont work in raids, but he wont listen, and he did a raid, used shield and died instantly, and he says, its a bug, and I tell him you don't have enough restore and dom
    755 restore and 50 dom lol. but he wont listen, he said, it doesn't do that, it protects you from all damage.
  14. chaoticreign New Player


    Do you even read? What are you talking about? The bug is in dps the shield only absorbs 10 dmg when it supposed to absorb 10 + resto/might. This is not a dps vs tank issue it is a bug. In dps you get considerably less out of the shield cause you have less dom and resto, not to mention absorb and def. But again it is bugged where the shield is not doing what it is designed to do... mitigate up to your resto + dom regardless of role.
    • Like x 1
  15. chaoticreign New Player

    Wow, guess I will explain once more so other people can test and not get screwed up by your miss information then leave it at that.

    Aftershocks do not taunt. The cast taunts for all tank powers. How to test. Go to either BIA or FR... jackhammer and aftershock before a spawn appears so you are only hitting them with aftershocks... have someone else hit them with a power... bam they will pull them right off you. Do the same thing but hit them will jackhammer to start... they will not be pulled off you. You can see the same thing with upheaval. Hit one add... then switch to an add that came and only aftershock and have someone else hit it with a power... they will pull the agro. Same goes with trying to pull agro off someone after your original cast only using aftershocks... you have to recast it to regain agro.

    Only two powers give YOU absorb beyond 25%... jackhammer and upheaval and it only takes 1 after shock to be at 50% cap, as you get 25% for the after shock and 25% for the power... so yes the two do "stack" Because it takes a flat 50%... and not 25% twice. I.E. 100-50% = 50 as 100-25% = 75 - 25% = 56.25. Aftershock reduces 100 dmg to 50, not 56.25. The exception to this is brick where your 25% does not stack with dmg shift. Where you absorb 25%, then brick absorbs 25%, so you take 56.25 instead of 50 with brick.

    I have tested many times over... on more then a dummy, and have gone beyond reading a description.



    Absorb Here is how it actually works... ready

    1) In tank any power gives you 25% absorbtion
    2) Jackhammer/upheaval when aftershocked 1x will bring that up to 50% (the two 25% stack)
    3) The absorb for gemstone shield for aftershocks is the amount the shield absorbs between 25 (no aftershock) -100% (full aftershock)
    4) To make 3 more clear, if you have nothing active and hit gemstone you will actually get 2 absorbs, both at 25%. Then first 25% goes to you as you used a power to get #1, the second is how much the shield absorbs and if its not aftershocked that value is 25%. So if you get 4 aftershock shards after a cast and you had nothing active before you will actually have 2 messages in that window. 25% absorb (for you using a powers) 100% absorb for how much the shield is absorbing.
    • Like x 2
  16. Aiden Warren New Player

    oh its no use trying to help you, this thread is going to be done.
  17. Drift Hazard Dedicated Player

    And disregarding my whole post, video included? Way to being open-minded then.

    Truly tested it? Give me a video. A spreadsheet. Screenshots. Let's see your proofs instead of just babbling about without anything. GIVE ME A CHALLENGE!
  18. Aiden Warren New Player

    Just leave him be, it's a game, let him act as he wants, he is an adult, we all tried to explain things to him, he said dps role and now he trying act like what im talking about and being that in dps role it uses restore and dom
    here is an Example for
    Healer in healer stance 125% restore, in dps stance 50% restore

    and doesn't get that in dps role it only uses restore and dom, and no tank effects applies, on dps role, he doesn't get you font get those effects, unless you in that specific role.
    regardless, it uses restore and dom and that's that. if he is stubborn about it, let a Dev help him out.
    You get no effects from the power, unless you are in tank role
    Shield has no effects at all, only applies the restore and dom in dps role, and a damage buff. and that's all.

    If he think this works in dps, just let him be
  19. chaoticreign New Player


    In TANK
    • Cast = takes dmg up to 10pts + dom+resto
    • 1 Ashock = takes dmg up to 10pts + dom+resto
    • 2 Ashock = takes dmg up to 10pts + dom+resto
    • 3 Ashock = takes dmg up to 10pts + dom+resto
    In TANK
    • Cast = takes dmg up to 10pts that is all
    • 1 Ashock = takes dmg up to 10pts + dom+resto
    • 2 Ashock = takes dmg up to 10pts + dom+resto
    • 3 Ashock = takes dmg up to 10pts + dom+resto
    The problem/bug is in DPS even at only cast gemstone should take dmg = 10pts + your dom and resto; but it only takes 10pts and that's it.


    Also to translate what that says. The Gemstone shield itself will absorb a % of damage until it breaks... just like I said. It does not buff or increase the amount you absorb like upheaval and jackhammer, except to provide the base 25% like any power used in take will... it basically transfers a % of damage to the shield until the shields breaks... To make it more simple its like having a second brick with very little health where you can decide how much damage goes to him instead of you until it dies.
  20. Drift Hazard Dedicated Player

    Tank role's initial cast isn't consistent, as I was testing it yesterday. Sometimes, it broke after receiving some good amount of damage, sometimes, it breaks after receiving 10 damage, just like what it does in Damage role.