Sith Assassin/Jedi Shadow Tanking Compendium

[Eroghant]

(04-15-2012 03:54 AM)frmorrison Wrote:  

(04-15-2012 01:47 AM)Eroghant Wrote:  No stat has a cap, however if you had 418 of defense it would be in heavy DR so you get little benefit getting more of it, so it is likely better to work on other tanking stats at that point instead.

This is where I need clarification, then.

I was chatting with a friend today about these stats. We are both in the frame of mind that Defense is arguably more important than what many guides suggest, and both of us are aware of Diminishing Returns. Before I get deeper, here are my current stats:

425 Def (28.23%)
380 Shield (39.06%; 59.06% with DW)
368 Abs (52.11%)
158 Acc (96.31%; 106.31%)

My friend insinuates that I have too much Shield. While I concede, according to everything I've read, that it's higher than normal. However, what are we supposed to stack once we start hitting hard returns on Defense?

Accuracy is a stat that I have an incredibly hard time justifying:

1) Thrash is used so little in the rotation (I initiated the Thrash-less argument (how spending Force on Thrash prevents us from using the Energized Shock proc as we have to wait for the Force we spent to dig for the proc to cast the Shock)),
2) Saber Strike is filler and does little damage/threat as it is.

Lacerate becomes the only 'real' ability that benefits from Accuracy, and even then, we're still using other abilities to rely on AoE threat.

I could shave a tremendous amount of shield right now via the Enhancement choices I have made (removed Acc/Abs enhancements from Columi in favor of Advanced Sturdiness 22s (18 End/39 Shield/27Abs)). I can replace those with Kinetic Enhancements (18 End/39 Acc/27 Abs) to lose Shield, maintain Abs, and pick up Accuracy, but why?

Throughout the conversation with my friend, I was reminded of how the DW buff's longevity is important to us and how increasing Defense helps prolong the DW buff. My question to this, however, is whether or not we really want that. Do we really WANT DW to last as long as possible, I was always under the impression that we WANT every stack to be used so that KNOW we're mitigating as much as possible. For every stack of DW that does not get used, we lose effective mitigation. Wouldn't then having more shield passively become more desirable so that we don't become overly dependent on DW? Shouldn't we WANT the luxury of having a higher shield chance so that when DW does get spent we're not getting overloaded?

In regards to Absorb, I' have room to add a little more; the change to the augments sure didn't help. I have 9 augment slots. I can afford to add 36 more Absorb (at the cost of losing 36 Defense). Doing this will increase the amount of times I get hit, all while increasing the amount of damage I take when I shield (I know we're splitting hairs, but that's what the numbers mean).

I'd like to think that I'm not the only player who's confused by how the balancing of our stats works. I feel I have a strong understanding of how everything works, and I have been questioning some of the posts that I have read. I know Diminishing Returns is a handicap that we all have to work with, but as gear level increases, the cap isn't going away, we still deal with it.

Any thoughts?