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Hello All!

I am contemplating two templates, both heavy Melee. One would be pure Melee (with medic 2-0-0-0), wherein one would add Novice Rifleman (same medic lines). The defense mods, for the most part, are comparable. And I like the idea of getting in a few mind shots before the enemy advances into my storm of Melee damage. But some of the defense mods dont compare well. Problem is, I am less familiar with these mods. So here we go!

*Combat Equilibrium +40 vs. +10

*Defense Acuity +71 vs.+15

*Melee Defense +156 vs. +42

*Ranged Defense +134 vs. +37

Will these differences really matter much? All the the other defense mods range from the 50's to the 90's, counterattack at 100 in both templates.

So what do you think? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

As always, thanks for the help!

As a master swordsman, TKM, Master Brawler, fencer 0-0-2-0, medic 1-0-0-0 I can tell you that yes they are very important...more so in pvp than pve. In pve, you can get by with the lower end stats with good preparation before hand.....basically knowing your enemy, what he/it can or cannot do. For PVP, you want as much defense as possible no matter what category the mod is because players are way smarter than the games A.I. and will always attack your vulnerabilities....veteran players just know when you have low defense in a given area (it's not something you can teach but have to learn from experience). All of them really really helps though because offensive firepower is plentiful in this game...defense is not....it's easy to boost your offense....not so much for defense (it's limited to a certain point).

Combat equilibrium is one that is not really needed as long as you have your defense verse KD high enough....all combat equilibrium does is increase the chance for you to recover from a forced posture change (up or down).....for example, when this is high enough, you can literally jump right back up off the ground without having to issue the /stand command.

Defense Acuity basically increases your chances to block, dodge, or counterattack......I haven't checked up on any kind of changes to this lately but it has been said by some that it doesn't seem to work and others say it works. Now one thing I do notice is as a TKM I do seem to have better defense and take less damage than I do when I use my master swordsman....but that's probably due to the fact that TKM's Melee toughness is higher....so I can't honestly say that it's because of TKM's defense acuity.

Melee defense and ranged defense is very important.....you will definitely take less damage the higher you have these. Most serious combat characters, both pvp & pve, have max in these two stats (which is 125, defense food buffs will stack on top of that) so anything over 125 acquired from profession templates is a waste of skill points, so once your template reaches 125 for MD and RD, then you should consider putting the remaining skill points in either another defense category or something that will give you extra offense or healing (I prefer healing myself).... But MD and RD makes a world of difference when fighting mobs that put out high damage or against the likes of powerful professions like swordsman, commando and rifleman.

Personally I say that you can never have enough defense.....the less damage you take, the better your opportunity to be victorious in any situation. Since we have such low HAM compared to creatures and npc's, defense becomes very important. Anyone who has been a fencer/pistoleer know exactly what I'm talking about......those two professions have the best combination of defense in the game and when I was that template, I can stand toe to toe with nightsisters (with their force powers) and not lose more thana 3rdof my HAM (with no armor on...err a very little armor anyway). I could even last against a krayt but only problem with that was my damage output with that template was way too low.....so I had to mix some other powerful profession in.

Just remember that there are skill enhancing attachments (SEA's) and bio engineered clothes that can increase melee defense, ranged defense and all of the def vs. ***whatever*** mods. Some food will also increase blocking, counterattack and dodge temporarily......but there is no way to increase defense acuity or combat equilibrium except to get them from the professions....at least to my knowledge....I've never seen a def acuity or combat equilibrium SEA before and BE's/tailors definitely can't make them.

Unbelievable post Hardwire... many thanks. Plus written in simple to understand terms for this part time gamer. That will help a great deal. I have a ton of attachments and bio clothing, plus buff medically and with food, enjoy high level armor, and usually Uber weapons. As my signature states, I too did the Pistoleer/Fencer combo... and solo many NS but not a couple of the super high level ones. Hoping going to Mastersword will help. Great info... thanks again and bravo to a job well done!

Np, always willing to help those in need of help! Good luck, Have fun playing!

While we're on the subject of defense stacker templates, my current template is TKM, Master Fencer, Novice Medic, and Pistoleer 4040. Any suggestions on what to change on this, other than trading out TKM for MasterSwords?

Mortius Kaynen
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