Dynamic Fortify Duration

Oh another thread about fortify, here we go again.

- previous system allowed to easy access for non-melee
- current system is bad for DoT as they usually don't do much hit-damage even when in melee-range
- with current system (fortify by damage) when your melee build is already weak it gets even weaker
- suggested solutions like remove-when-casting (or range-attacking) would cripple hybrids like the Inquisitors Instruments of Virtue and Zeal


Solution:
Duration / Effectiveness is not bound to the damage done but to the attack time.
E. g. double duration of fortify than that of attack time, stacked up to some max value (e. g. 5s). So attacking 3x with attack time of 0.5seconds (1.5seconds in total) gives you 3 seconds of fortify but you already stayed in melee range and attacked for 1.5s.

A spellcaster could use Shield Charge and get fortify but only for a very short duration, he would than need to keep shield charging which means he would actually stay in meleerange and not cast spells or lose the fortifybuff quiet fast.

Someone whose main damage output is damage over time from melee attacks will still get the fortify buff proportional to his actions in melee-range.

Someone who attacks slow gets a longer fortify buff but also needs more time for his attacks, someone with a fast attackspeed gets a short buff but can get the next one faster. So it doesn't really matter that much what you prefer.

A hybrid using melee and spells (or ranged attacks) gets a fortify buff proportional to how much he does in melee-mode. See also Instruments of Virtue and Instruments of Zeal from the Inquisitor.


This can also be combined with an effectiveness-modifier increasing the damage-reduction proportional to how much buff-time was stacked up to prevent last-second-melee-attack for a full damage reduction before getting hit. So basically the same but instead of stacking duration you stack damage reduction.
E. g. for each 0.1 attack-time you get a stack which lasts 5.0seconds and gives you 1% less damage taken, you could get 50 stacks but the damage reduction is limited to 20 (value is still just an example). So you would need to melee-attack 40% of the time to keep buff at it's maximum consistently.


I challenge everyone to name me some reasons why using the attacktime is not a good idea.

The idea with linking fortify to damage isn't necessarily bad, in the end where our damage comes from defines our builds the most. What is bad, though, is linking fortify effect to doing damage instead of ramping up duration. If they did that, and tweaked the numbers a bit, they would probably have a pretty decent system.

My best guess for why they went this way is because the idea of scalable fortify seemed attractive. For instance, if they changed basalt flask to full fortify it would be too good, but 10 or 5 would be ok, or they could do stuff like 'gain 5 fortification per second of channeling'. And I hope that those with the bright idea of disabling spells during fortify get no more ideas this year.

+1

A workable solution, which should have been applied by default...

Fortify got killed by the changes to ailments. Good luck. Honestly who really cared that spellcasters got fortify, just tie the duration to the gem and/or nodes on the tree.

They should probably just make Fortify a 10% reduction in damage. Make a new cluster near the Templar/Marauder area. Move 1 of the two current ones near Ranger/Duelist (Maybe even more by the ranger start so shadows can grab it).

Just go back to gaining fortify on hit, no special damage needed. Just hit the target. Have the fortify wheels gain extra fortify effect so it's real easy to get back to 20% or more by going through a wheel. You may have to cap fortify reduction to 30%. If spell casters are willing to come down to temp/marauder area then they can gain access to fortify. But they have to invest in it. Invest points, invest annointments, something.

Spellcasters gaining fortify isn't a problem, the problem is that they just slap it on shield charge and gain the same level as everyone else.

Adjust current masteries to give better bonuses. Current ones are bland outside of granting fortify on hit. I would rather the clusters grant you fortify on hit.

I get that they made it much easier this league but the concept makes no sense. You need the be fortified against hits from the tougher enemies but it's harder to be fortified against them.

Any solution is better than current implementation. My 2 cent here.

Basing it on hit damage is a fast solution and a compromise at best considering there are lots of melee builds not based on pure hit damage.

They want only melee to gain Fortify but also includes DOT builds or low hit damage? Okay lets do it.

Some suggestions:

- Stacks based on duration in melee range. Ramping stacks. The longer you attack in close range the more stacks you get.
- Reverse debuff approach: Gets initially 20 stacks but you need to attack in close range (15-20 units) for some time to keep it up, otherwise it diminishes fast