Elendildur wrote: »

Arguably, you want Calculated Defense to always be the last shield to be damaged, since that allows you to keep the 6% WSD buff active

The duration is 20s and it happens from all Sorc skills, even non Sorc cast time abilities, so the uptime on the w/s damage will be close to 100% all of the time without any actual consideration.

• All shields last at least 6s, Calculated only lasts 0.5s, if you're using a dedicated shield there is a high likelihood Calculated will expire during that 0.5s window before it ever actually improves how much damage you're preventing.
• Healing Ward's healing is directly attached to the strength of it's shield, if Calculated happened 1st then an ability like this would get a massive bump in power.

Even though what OP is suggesting makes more logical sense from the point of view of what this Mastery represents, as a parry like shielding system, it seems it was done this way to reign in some of the overwhelming power it already possesses because let's be honest, this Mastery is cracked.

If Calculated happened first, layering 2 to 4 six second shields would become devastatingly easy to pull off, giving a gigantic window of 60 to 80k health someone has to chew through, all the while the Sorc continuously tops off those 6s shields while spamming Curse, Streak, Dark Exchange, Frags, etc.

By flipping the order, Calculated becomes a soft net of safety for when those shields break, rather than being this crazy consistent buffer to prevent them from ever being broken.

I went into this comment agreeing with OP, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized a change like this would inevitably come with a massive nerf and frankly I don't want to fight other shield stacking Sorc's with seemingly infinite shields I can't break through because Calculated keeps refreshing while they turn on the offensive.

It's strong enough as is, the fact that it's useless sometimes seems entirely deliberate the more you think about the alternative. I'd only agree to flipping the order if the Mastery only procced from shield abilities instead of all Sorc and cast time abilities, then it wouldn't be possible to flip to offense and still keep your shields layered, but even though this option would be balanced I prefer the current version which provides much more flexibility.

Tonturri wrote: »

MashmalloMan wrote: »

Elendildur wrote: »

Arguably, you want Calculated Defense to always be the last shield to be damaged, since that allows you to keep the 6% WSD buff active

The duration is 20s and it happens from all Sorc skills, even non Sorc cast time abilities, so the uptime on the w/s damage will be close to 100% all of the time without any actual consideration.

• All shields last at least 6s, Calculated only lasts 0.5s, if you're using a dedicated shield there is a high likelihood Calculated will expire during that 0.5s window before it ever actually improves how much damage you're preventing.
• Healing Ward's healing is directly attached to the strength of it's shield, if Calculated happened 1st then an ability like this would get a massive bump in power.

Even though what OP is suggesting makes more logical sense from the point of view of what this Mastery represents, as a parry like shielding system, it seems it was done this way to reign in some of the overwhelming power it already possesses because let's be honest, this Mastery is cracked.

If Calculated happened first, layering 2 to 4 six second shields would become devastatingly easy to pull off, giving a gigantic window of 60 to 80k health someone has to chew through, all the while the Sorc continuously tops off those 6s shields while spamming Curse, Streak, Dark Exchange, Frags, etc.

By flipping the order, Calculated becomes a soft net of safety for when those shields break, rather than being this crazy consistent buffer to prevent them from ever being broken.

I went into this comment agreeing with OP, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized a change like this would inevitably come with a massive nerf and frankly I don't want to fight other shield stacking Sorc's with seemingly infinite shields I can't break through because Calculated keeps refreshing while they turn on the offensive.

It's strong enough as is, the fact that it's useless sometimes seems entirely deliberate the more you think about the alternative. I'd only agree to flipping the order if the Mastery only procced from shield abilities instead of all Sorc and cast time abilities, then it wouldn't be possible to flip to offense and still keep your shields layered, but even though this option would be balanced I prefer the current version which provides much more flexibility.

You wouldn't happen to know if the passives work like this: If I take them both and use Crystal Weapon, do I proc Calculated Defense and then Sphere of Influence both? What about an infused hardening enchant on the frontbar - am I getting both shields from the enchant, too? Maybe toss in Torug's for good measure.

I was gonna try to run an absorb shield stam sorc with crystal weapon spammable (for the blood magic heal) and then just see how much damage shields I could cover myself with.

They do not procc eachother.