Instant Power: Virtual Power Cap

I think I'll do the test again with a group of 5 and one small power pool, a group of 6 with 2 small power pools and a group of 7 with three small power pools to further demonstrate and clarify what the VPC really is. You'll see it clearly in the group of 7 since after the 3 players with larger power pool pass the 3 players with small power pools. They won't get any Instant Power at all. I'll be posting the test results in Gamplay Discussion since that's where this belongs.

EDIT: If anyone on USPS wants to volunteer so they can see the VPC in a controlled test with their own eyes PM me.

/props for the research, keeping this thread alive with a bump.

Troll player on USPC: Mental/Hero and Gadgets/Villian.

Voted up the bug report. Nice work. Can't wait to see the next results. Betting they confirm the firs test.

Lol yea, they'll definitely confirm the first test. The next test I want to do will really illustrate where the VPC happens.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to do it though. I'm doing finals right now so I might not be able to for the next couple weeks. I also want to get it on video so everyone can see it and support the results I get. I might be able to get a PS4 this weekend so that'll make things a lot easier.

We have gotten 50 likes on the OP, 21 likes on the initial test results and 33 likes on the bug report so it would be really nice if a dev could let us know if they're aware of this glitch and whether its intended or if they're looking into it.

I will get on my villian Evil Derio this weekend and if I catch you on I will pm you and then record it on my ps4. Still surprised that after 8 pages still no response from devs.

I don't think the devs would respond just yet, probably would do some internal testing first...I would. The fact that they haven't denied this fact says it is not intended so that's a start in my opinion. Don't think they aren't aware of this thread. They are.

If I'm on this weekend it'll be on Sunday night. No guarantees though since I'm pretty busy right now. I might be purchasing a PS4 tonight so I'll be able to record the test as soon as I have some free time. Recording shouldn't take too long. Writing up the report, results and analysis will take a bit longer. PM me if you do see me on though

Darth, I'm really glad you keep this thread updated and going. I ran Outer Caverns with my league-mates yesterday, and they're both wearing full 90 gear. The rest of the group was made up of Tier 2 players, and I could not provide instant power to my league-mates once they had half a power bar full even when the rest of the group was full. Your proposed solution to the bug would have helped immensely, and I do hope the developers take this thread seriously when they read about it.

I'm still not sure what solution would be best...

The simple solution would just involve cutting people who have full bars out from the power dump pool. The problem with this is that if someone only has 1 less than full, yet they have a far smaller power pool than everyone else, they will still get the power dump.

The more complex solution as I see it, is to make the power dump go to people based on the % of their bar that's filled. But then you could run into issues with lower geared players never getting dumps because the higher end players will be lower on their % level.

Thanks for the support. I believe this is the biggest/only real problem with the power mechanics that I have seen in 3 years of playing. It doesn't make sense that it is literally impossible to give players Instant Power in this situation. It doesn't make sense that power goes to full power bars that don't need it. I did end up getting my PS4 on Friday so I'll be recording the new test shortly (whenever I get some free time) and have a thread up within the next 2 weeks or so. It'll show that point where everyone else was full but no Instant Power was going to your league mates.

I think the numerical behavior of Instant Power is fine. It worked perfectly well for the game since I started playing 3 years ago. It only became a problem when the Reserve Tank came out and Power pools increased significantly creating a visible VPC. It became more of a problem when T5 came out and all T5 players had much bigger power pools than T4- players.

If they made it on a percentage basis you'd still get power going to players that can't accept the full hit but only when bars were more full. The biggest problem with percentages is that some roles that are equally geared have much smaller power pools but the same power costs. I wouldn't want players with more power to cast with getting the IPH first just because their percentage is a bit lower. But either way, any real fix is better than no fix.

I think the best solution would be for Instant Power to run the way it currently does but then checks if one or more the players with the 3 power bars has a full power bar and then skips them and looks at the next lowest until it either finds 3 people that need power or checks all the players in the group.

I'll be able to get the test done in about a week or so and have the results up on Gameplay Discussion. The VPC glitch is the only real problem with power mechanics and the sooner it get's fixed the better. Hopefully the devs are aware of the issue and looking into it. I'm sure the test I do in a week will help things get along faster.

Just to update anyone that's interested. I'll be doing the next VPC test this weekend. I should be able to write up the report and post a thread for it Sunday or early next week. I know that there's been a ton of stuff going on with the DLC and GU36 coming up but this is still something that should get dealt with for the best interest of the game in the long run. If anyone on USPS is interested in taking part in the test, PM me on here or in game. I'll need 6 people other than myself to do it.

P.S. Does anyone know if there's a way to record in HD using the PS4? I was testing out the "share" feature yesterday and the video quality seemed... poopy. Thanks in advance.

You need a to split the video to DVI and Optical and than to HDMI/component depending on what kind of capture card you use. Sony has said there will be an update to remove HDCP but that has not been applied. Look up the adaptors on Amazon and you can find them. It is a hassle to setup but it does work.

Failing the money or time to invest in that the share footage is pretty much your only option unless your TV/reciever allows you to output non-HDCP signals.

I'm going to have to do some google search on most of that after I'm done my final tomorrow lol Thank you though

A possible elegant solution would be instead of excluding just people at 100%, it would exclude those at say... 85-90% until it finds less than 3 targets that are below that threshold?

So when is this getting looked at Tunso? Spord? Or do I have to boss Tanks around and tell them they have to use Reserve Tank?

Honestly this might be the last thing on their to-do list. However at the same time a best optimal solution is hard to decide on as well.

Just had some Portuguese players swearing at our trollers due to the trollers being unable to budge the healer's power above 20% in the Sunstone Matrix raid. The healer was Tier 6, other players were wearing 60+ gear, so their power was probably full at the same number as the healer at 20%. Sad...

I really hope they are going to fix this. The discrepancy is enormous in the lower raids if most players are properly geared for it and other players are Tier 5 or 6.

I understand the issue here but I run lower tier all the time and haven't yet encounter a power problem. A T6 healer should be able to (solo) heal with little power and little effort in T5 and lower content. Especially with WM available, I'm not sure how his power go so low to start with.