Suggested Changes to Engineer's Skills Protection and Force Shield

[kamikazees]

I either case, I believe the naked Com is getting too much of a benefit or the desert Com not enough... This would favor the lower spec over the higher, which should not be the case, and would not scale well.

I'm not sure I follow. If each Com had his damage reduced by a % before armor, then they get the same benefit, no?

i.e., a 50% increase to a Commando's base Armor would result in a significantly higher gain than for a similarly-leveled Operative (as should be the case),...

Why should that be the case? It's an interesting proposal, but it makes me think: should Empathy and Transferrence also heal higher hp characters more?

Regarding your suggested adjustment to Protection's timing, that sounds a lot like Increase Mass, doesn't it? I think the timing should stay as it is. Besides, two minutes of buff was very generous of STS!

I would rather see the skill make its impact over a short period of time than do little (or basically nothing!) over a long period of time. I don't like having a skill that's used once every two minutes, but maybe that's just me.

As it is currently designed, it cannot provide damage or spike mitigation, as it does not prevent or modify incoming damage.

I don't think it should allow Engineers to tank anything. If it absorbed 75 damage (really absorbed it) it would provide some spike protection, but burst quickly if the Engineer had aggro long.

As for the %, the more I think about it the more it sounds good. I'd leave the current 25...75 progression intact, and have it absorb a flat 50% of that. The remainder damage goes to the Engineer. So, if he's fighting Numa 1 burrowers who hit for 26 a piece, the Engineer would take 13 damage and his shield takes 13 damage. The level 6 shield would burst on the 6th hit (75+ damage dealt to the shield), with the Engineer taking 16 damage on the last hit. Fighting something like Guardian, who can hit for 150+ damage, the Engineer's shield would pop on the first hit, but absorb 75/xxx damage. That helps prevent the spike, but then the Engineer can't cast it again for 45 seconds.