BW, please fix PVE power relic proc not stacking with direct damage relic proc.

[Lyer]

Dear BioWare,

 

Please fix PVE power relic proc not stacking with direct damage relic proc. In their current states, a proc from a PvE Serendipitous Assault relic triggers a 4.5s cooldown on any other equipped damage relic, and the direct damage relics put the Serendipitous Assault relic on a 4.5s cooldown as well. Effectively, this makes it so that only one relic can proc every 4.5 seconds, and therefore makes it as worthless to equip the Power Buff and Direct Damage relics as it is to equip any two damage proc relics. To put it in one sentence, the PVE Power Buff (Serendipitous Assault) relics do not stack with any of the Direct Damage relics.

 

I do not believe this is intended because the relics are documented as non-stacking only with similar effect relics. The effects on these relics are different enough in terms of cooldown, damage mechanism, and effect trigger (As indicated below by color) that I don't think they qualify as "similar".

 

Underworld Relic of Serendipitous Assault - On Hit: Healing an ally or performing a damaging attack on an enemy both have a 30% chance to grant 550 Power for 6 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 20 seconds, and shares this limit with similar healing or damaging effects. It will not trigger inside of PvP areas.

 

Underworld Relic of Dark Radiance - On Hit: Damaging attacks have a 30% chance to deal 264 additional internal Force damage to the target. This effect can only occur once every 4.5 seconds, and shares this limit with similar damage-dealing effects. It will not trigger inside of PvP areas.

 

I tested for a good while (Long enough to eliminate any reasonable doubt) on an ops dummy with a Serendipitous Assault and Dark Radiance relic equipped at the same time, then browsed my combat log to see how far apart the procs were, and the frequency of the procs from either of the two relics combined was the same as the proc rate for only one 4.5 second CD relic. No two effects from the relics activated within 4.5 seconds of each other under any circumstance. This often causes the Power buff relic to delay its activation for several 4.5s cooldowns, significantly reducing its value.

 

If they stacked properly, each relic would be able to activate independently of the other when its own cooldown ends. As it is now, the Serendipitous Assault relic is the better one to have, and all of the direct damage proc relics are superfluous. Stacking both relics as is can cause a loss of 14-66 DPS compared to what the expected DPS would be without the extra 4.5 second cooldown. Being generous, that is potentially a 1-3% DPS decrease.