Heroic enemy SR?

[losian2]

Just a real quick one - hard to tell sometimes if some of this stuff is intended.. was runnin' VoN jungles of khyber and whatnot on a recently TR'd character, doing a bit of DC casting, nothing amazing, don't have past lives, so don't get me wrong - I wasn't expecting anything super astounding, just messing around..

With that said, I was surprised to spam AE sleep and such on groups of Drow only for every one to SR resist over and over. I figured it was just elite, no big deal, so tried again when I went through on heroic hard.. And again, not a super specialized character, I'm not expecting to blow through SR like it ain't no thing, but is a CR11 trash mob drow supposed to have 26+ SR?

I did a bit of reading, not having done a heavily SR/DC based caster before so I wasn't quite read up on it, and was surprised as the bonuses from past lives and such, it seems like you really can't compete. Maybe it's time to start thinking about shifting a few more systems to a more loose % base akin to how AC and such was changed, rather than having just a flat 20 range to work with when the disparity between gear and past lives and such is so monstrous?

[GeoffWatson]

Just a real quick one - hard to tell sometimes if some of this stuff is intended.. was runnin' VoN jungles of khyber and whatnot on a recently TR'd character, doing a bit of DC casting, nothing amazing, don't have past lives, so don't get me wrong - I wasn't expecting anything super astounding, just messing around..

With that said, I was surprised to spam AE sleep and such on groups of Drow only for every one to SR resist over and over. I figured it was just elite, no big deal, so tried again when I went through on hard.. Is a CR11 trash mob drow supposed to have 26 SR?

Drow are immune to sleep.

[Chacka_DDO]

I see it similar, the range of 20 is just too small with the current DC system.
I would like if it is not a check if an effect works or not it should be rather a check how strong an effect hit and how fast you can use it again.
So the DC vs the saves check should decide the cooldown and the % damage, much like the new AC vs to hit system.
But of course, this is easy said but hard to make.
And for the SR this could mean if you have a check against the SR the monster gets "only" a bonus to his saves vs the spell you cast and it is not an all or nothing check.
Veterans with past lives should have a noticeable advantage compared to a new player but a new player should not feel like everything he does doesn't work and he is completely useless ballast in a quest.

[Chacka_DDO]

Drow are immune to sleep.

Sure they are, but if you read all it is clear that the OP said they always made there SR check and the spell was deflected.
It is quite noticeable and visible if you do a mass spell on a group of drow and on all of them appears this blue shield for a successful SR check so I hope the OP did not mix it up.
But from my understanding, the main topic of the post is the big difference between veteran characters with a lot of past lives and new characters.

[losian2]

QUOTE=GeoffWatson;6063709]Drow are immune to sleep.[/QUOTE]

I'm aware of that. I am not referring to "sleep didn't stick." I am referring to "they all had purple swirly SR shields with every cast." Sleep is simply the only AE spell I had to test with so I could just watch how many were resisting at once quickly.

Even on heroic normal a CR 9 creature has >23 SR, just tested now - using single target daze that did stick when SR failed, so I do know the difference there.

Admittedly I had actually forgotten originally that elves were sleep immune when first trying the dungeon, but what mostly shocked me and seemed weird was the constant and crazy almost-always failure of the SR check, and that's why I made this post! They just seem kinda crazy high, considering the CR and heroic.

And just to clarify, this isn't even a "past lives are too good/new characters are under powered" as much as a simple and pure "Why does a CR9 random trash enemy have more than 23 SR on heroic normal level 9 quest?"

[Mofus]

Drow seem to have ungodly SR. Even on a toon with 3 wizard past lives, it can be hit or miss on Elite or reaper. If you want success, get the past lives, get gear and invest in feats. Spell pen is only part of it, then you need DC's. It's a bit of a grind to be a viable dc caster, but it can be well worth it when those spells start landing consistently.

[slarden]

I'm aware of that. I am not referring to "sleep didn't stick." I am referring to "they all had purple swirly SR shields with every cast." Sleep is simply the only AE spell I had to test with so I could just watch how many were resisting at once quickly.

Even on heroic normal a CR 9 creature has >23 SR, just tested now - using single target daze that did stick when SR failed, so I do know the difference there.

Admittedly I had actually forgotten originally that elves were sleep immune when first trying the dungeon, but what mostly shocked me and seemed weird was the constant and crazy almost-always failure of the SR check, and that's why I made this post! They just seem kinda crazy high, considering the CR and heroic. Using phanstasmal killer is a better test. If it's based on the old formula drow shouldn't resist 100% of the time against a first lifer. If it's based on the new formula they shouldn't either. So either you are in high reaper, something got messed up with the spell resistance changes or are you confusing immunity with spell penetration failure. Anyhow you can see the spell pen roll and what # you are failing on if you target one at a time.

[EllisDee37]

Before they changed spell resistance last year, enemy drow had CR+10 spell resistance. When they changed spell resistance, enemy drow gained another few points. So looking at your specific examples:

- is a CR11 trash mob drow supposed to have 26+ SR
- Even on heroic normal a CR 9 creature has >23 SR

Both of those look about right, yes.

In addition to being immune to sleep, drow have ungodly spell resistance, highest in the game by a huge margin. So it's not really fair to look at drow spell resistance and conclude that spell penetration is worthless for a first-lifer. But if you really want to cc drow on a first-lifer, try web.

[CSQ]

Drow SR stacks with whatever SR source most monsters get, meaning that their numbers go insane. Pretty much any spell that can trigger SR will unless you have very heavily specialized with penetrating SR.