Provide Access to Red Eye Cloak

[trh382]

I understand Red-Eye is being reworked to add a belt - this makes sense to me for the reasons stated.

It is important to not deny new tanks access to the Red Eye Cloak which is an important prebis item for many gear configurations.

Suggestion: Add Red Eye Cloak back in from:

A) Any one of the GB quests already implemented
B) Sentinel Talismans
C) Generic PQ Bag item in GB
D) Influence reward

Doesnt matter which tbh, just make it accessible in the quickest/easiest to implement manner possible.

[dshdf]

i second this
access to items should be equal for old and new players

[Aluviya]

i second this
access to items should be equal for old and new players

I agree.

[Gunlinger]

i second this
access to items should be equal for old and new players

Well, there are players that have the Valewalker Set from when the dungeon was working. Some players have rings from an Event, where noone knows if it comes back. There are many items that new players will never get access to. So why should it be different now with the cloak?

[JohnnyWayne]

It should be different for all of those cases.

[Sickesthater]

I disagree. You can get the cloak fine. You need to earn it just like i did.

[trh382]

i second this
access to items should be equal for old and new players

Well, there are players that have the Valewalker Set from when the dungeon was working. Some players have rings from an Event, where noone knows if it comes back. There are many items that new players will never get access to. So why should it be different now with the cloak?

I think everyone should be able to access the VW set as well and I have made this suggestion elsewhere.

The event rings are a special case and were designed to not be an essential part of any prebis builds (unlike VW and Redeye)

[trh382]

I disagree. You can get the cloak fine. You need to earn it just like i did.

My understanding is that the cloak is not currently available in game.

[trh382]

One alternative to the red eye cloak is the Lair boss cloak from Ravack in Black Crack. You can find it on the Auction house if you search "ravack". Nonetheless, Redeye seems better to me by a good margin based on the simple analysis below. Would be curious to hear thoughts from any tanks who have done their own math.

Ravack vs Redeye:

+37 resist points
+21 toughness
+17 str
+720 armor (3pc redeye bonus)
-2% Block
-2% Parry Strikethrough

For a fresh 40 trying to cobble together some mix of ruin/redeye etc: The relevant question is: 2% block vs 720 armor, 21 toughness, and 37 resist points. My understanding is that its not particularly close because those are just better stats and, at lower levels, tanks have a much harder time getting enough armor given high Arpen levels on many classes.

When you get to Vanquisher, Ravack's is better if you wear six piece vanq. However most people wear 4 or 5 pieces to get the extra tankiness from the redeye set bonuses. 4-3 vanq/redeye vs 4-2 and ravacks is the same comparison as above.

4-2+ravacks vs 5-2 Vanq comparison is:

2% block vs 3% critical reduction, 21 toughness, and 37 resist points - once again a very clear win for the redeye loadout.

The redeye belt is also just much worse than the Bloodlord belt which you can try to fit in for the 2pc wounds bonus. It is also worse than the Vanq belt - which also hit set bonuses.

The redeye belt is slightly better than the conq belt at an eyeball so it should give a slightly upgraded loadout in the mid 40s (although most people will recommend sticking with full PVE gear until Vanq to save crests).

Conclusion: The redeye cloak slot enables superior tanking loadouts at fresh 40, mid 40s, and mid 50s by giving the tank an extra slot to gather set bonuses which are worth 3% crit reduction or 720 armor with the 2 and 3 piece redeye loadouts.

Addendum - The lair bosses are obscure content. I would not recommend pushing new tanks into gathering that gear as tanking is a role that is hard to get people to play and should be made easier to get into.

[trh382]

A guildmate suggested other alternatives:

1. Genesis Cloak - +7 toughness, +4AP per second, +3% reduced armor pen (4pc genesis) vs +21 wounds +81 resists + 720 armor.
The value of the 3% reduced armor pen depends on how much arpen your opponent has. Lets suppose a tank has 4k armor and 3000 of it is being removed by arpen at 75%. 3% less there would be flat I believe so 120 more armor (eg 1% of 4k is 40, so 120). Even if armor values were equal, 21 wounds and 81 resists beats 7 toughness and 4 AP by a large margin as tanks do not have AP issues.

2. Beastlord Cloak - the beastlord set bonus is weaponskill so this isnt what a tank is going to be focusing on

3. LOTD cloak - +5 toughness, +14 initiative, +18 fortitude -17 str, - 4 wounds, -40ish resists, -720 armor. The LOTD cloak doesnt add a set bonus because it costs a ring slot which loses the 3% genesis crit reduction debuff. Im not quite sure how to calculate this one, but Im fairly sure that 720 armor outweights the 14 init and 18 fort. Furthermore, Scarabs are hard to get for new toons if they are on the losing side in LOTD since it will likely take 3-5 weeks of losses to get the set with pure losing.