I play bst main, mostly with a bard and working on a rog. In the past I focused almost exclusively on hDex on BST and threw hAGI and other random augs on the bard. Now i'm thinking of switching to a heavy hSTA focus on ALL toons, regardless of class or role. Have other people gone down this path and have they seen a noticeable improvement in survivability against modern AE's, DoTs and damage shields? I'd rather not sacrifice dps gains from hDEX unless hSTA makes a noticeable difference.
I play a paladin wearing group gear playing the group game. I go heroic dexterity as the primary stat on all of my type 6 augs. I have about half of my type 5 slots filled with TBM vendor type 5 augs for that stat, with the rest being largely a mix of the heroic dexterity focused augments that drop randomly from TBM/EoK/RoS. In TBL, I have not noticed any issues thus far with my stat choice. As I don't raid, choosing heroic stamina seems rather foolish, as it hamstrings my defensive gains - not to mention the offensive ones (since, really, paladin offense is laughable most times, and no undead in TBL that I am aware of).
Hsta allows survival of dmg spikes. It's best vs spell and aoe dmg. It's my top stat pref for all my chars (mage,dru,pal) and it has helped in ROS GROUP game imo. Since TBL sounds even more spikey with even more spell and aoe, i'll definitely be sticking to hSta. Edit: Melee dps have a hard choice. Not sure what i'd do on monk/rogue, had i these classes...
Dead DPS is no DPS. If you're having trouble staying alive, hsta might be a good choice. There is a thought that as hdex increases your DPS, the mob dies quicker and as such will have less opportunity to produce damage spikes. I think fine-tuning to this level on a micro scale is a bit over the top, but it might contain truth. It has more of an impact on a macro scale (raids). Personally, I stack my hdex as high as it will go. In terms of raids, I "don't" tank so I shouldn't need the hsta. Any AEs that happen I should ideally be able to absorb because I'm not taking in extra damage from tanking mobs. And I should be able to predict when an AE will happen, more or less. Of course, some AEs do kill me. They're more the exception than the rule, and I'd wager if I had stacked hsta instead I probably would have died all the same. Group-wise, any hsta gains I would have are held up by raid gear. Quick edit: I do use the tank powersource instead of the melee one. I like the comfort of the extra 10k hp.
I've been using hDex consistently on all my melee characters, but it is tempting to load up on hSTA type 5s this expansion and have the option of hDex vs hSta. Some of the spell damage coming in is pretty intense.
Well i think i will load up on some hSTA augs from TBM to see how much impact it has to my HP. Lord knows i have enough of the TBM currency. Then i can keep my hDEX in the bank until the rest of my gear keeps me up against AEs and DoTs. Definitely loading my baby rogue up on hSTA. As it stand now, i'm afraid to let him near a mob.
Good call on the tank power source. i tended to favor mana (on bst) or mana/endurance (on bard) to maximize how long they can keep going without medding. this goes back to learning the game before OOC regen. Hard for this old dog to un-learn his old tricks
Go to your stats tab in the inventory screen. Then mouse over the values in the column on the left. It should tell you how much of each heroic you need to raise the % value. For most of them the steps require 200 heroic points each. If your heroic value is just over a step threshold then it is unlikely that you are going to raise it much above that, so instead try to increase on of the others. The important ones you want to pay attention to are your melee, spell and dot shielding. Those should be at least 37%, and depending on your class, 38% for some of them. If they are not at 37%, choose heroics that get you there. You are unlikely to be able to raise them much above that, so beyond you should try to raise your avoidance and accuracy values. Spell and DoT shielding require hWIS or hINT btw, so don't ignore those. They are useful, even if you are a non-casting melee/tank.
While the damage output from TBL might be high atm, i think you might need to look at the whole picture instead of making a decision based on an expansion that has been active for only 4 days... In particular check out the gear you are currently in and compare it to what TBL offers. If you aren't talking about TBL, i would do the same for whatever expac you are worried about.
I am mix of RoS/EoK raid gear on bst, mostly EoK raid on bard, conflagrant on rogue. Looking to boost survivability in Empyr so i can comfortably xp on trash mobs with merc healers during times between doing group progression and raiding. i really dont want to go back to ST at this point. i think the answer for now is to boost raw HP as much as possible, provided my DoT shielding is maxed already. Next time i log in, I'm curious to check what Natal said about Heroics. i always thought they jumped in 25 point increments, not 200, and i did not know that hWIS and hINT factor into DoT and spell shielding.
Added some augs to Rog. for each 32 hSTA he was getting exactly 500 hp. not sure if hSTA has thresholds. it seems to scale pretty smoothly
The 25 point increments you mentioned two posts ago, and the per-point benefit for some of the heroics like stamina, wisdom and intelligence are there. The largest increments in the hundreds are for the increase to the mod2 stats like shielding, dot shielding, etc. Not all of the tool tips are terribly useful, but all of the stats and mods have tool tips to at least suggest to you what happens, and when.
