Zen_Concern

This thread is not here for people to complain but for those who wish to share how they beat the odds and want to help other blasters.

We have enough complaint threads. This is a thread that the community can come together and help each other.

3B = Better Blaster *******

(Dark room with a full crowd seated in a half circle facing a black stage.)

(A beam of light shoots down from above and a figure is spotlighted)

(An old man dressed in a pair of Pin Striped Pants and an old white T-Shirt that has several holes in it and a number stains to rival the holes stares at the crowd in front of him.)

*He gazes at the crowd with a befuddled look on his face*
*Lifting his hand to call for a moment of time he pops a light purple pill into his mouth and chews feriously*

Ahhhhhhh. Out of breath give me a sec.
*He pulls out a blue aspirator and sucks in a lungfull of medicine. Seemingly full of breathe he pulls out a green Cigar and puts it in his mouth. He takes a yellow cigarette and puts it in his nose. Lighting both with a red lighter he tokes the cigar while putting a finger to his opposite nostril and pulling in a long drag on the cigarette.*

There, now I got a bit of energy back. Okay, if you are reading this you have probably come here for a bit of a reading from the 3B Bible *spits on the ground*. Well I'll read to you what is in the Bible then I will give you my thoughts on *begins to wheeze* it. Here is the original work.

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Yep its just not hard to solo as a blaster as long as you realize a few things.

One: Remember that as a blaster you are a *******. This is explained in detail in the following statements.

Two: Always remember that you are a coward and a *******. Running is the better part of valor.

Three: You always kick your oppenent when he is down. This is the key thing. Now if you were a hero you might walk up mano y mano to slug it out with that consiglieri. But you're not a hero you're a *******, so what you are going to do is freeze that sum beiatch in place and hit him while he can't hit back. When he is breaking free you run for it and come back and hit him when he turns his back.

Or an alternative method is to knock that beiatch on his postierior and keep him there while you kick him in the ribs.

If you suddenly find yourself facing insurmountable odds, run your tail off and pretend to be frightened. Remember though that in your heart you are a ******* and are just waiting for them to turn their backs so that you can kill the weakest from behind.

I hope this helps those of you who think its impossible to solo with a bastar...... err I mean Blaster.


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*Old man sucks on another blue aspirator*

Did you catch all that crap? *Spits on the words written* It came so close to telling what a young blaster needs to survive in Paragon BUT it FAILED!

*He looks forth at the now angered crowd with a grim smile on his face*

Yes, it was a start but nothing more. What the above missed and should have focused on was what was at the heart of what it takes to survive as a blaster!

What I tell you next is the most important thing that a blaster can remember in Paragon. It is something that you should remember if you are soloing or if you are teaming. Remember this:

Adapt the battle to your strength!

(A figure from the crowd wreathed in darkness with a flowing cloak that spans to infinity with evil emanating from every pore stands up.)

*In a Mike Tyson voice* How do we do that B.M.F? We don't have any tools or special powers or defenses like everyone else. What can we do OH GOD WHAT CAN WE DO!? (Despair causes the speaker to dissappear with a pop like a soap bubble)

*The old man just raises an eyebrow while pulling a mirror with some purple dust on it and taking a line while puffing on both the yellow cigarette and green cigar*

Well now that the moaning and groaning is out of the way maybe we can talk about some of the common mistakes that Blasters make.

The first is that alot of blasters are pack rats. They hoard the little bits of insperation that come to them and don't use the insperations that come to them often enough. Many do not share them with those that might better use the bits of insperation that they do get.

The second is that many blasters don't know when to leave a bad situation. Sometimes it is best to leave a bad situation and to come back at it from a different angle. Sometimes a strategy does not work the first time you try it but will work the second time. Through experience, both your own and others you will learn when a strategy simply failed or when a strategy will not work. You don't have to experience everything yourself.

Take a look in the crowd around you. Amongst you are blasters of Wisdom, old like me and some, are better blasters than I. I did not come here tonight to explain how every single blaster can use every trick in the book to win. I am not young enough to think that I know all the tricks. I can however give the key to learning all the tricks. That key is to adapt the battle to your strength.

If your strength is subterfuge then beguile your opponents. If your strength is surprise then do the unexpected and vary your tactics constantly. If your strength is range then be sure you fight from range.

If your enemy is stronger than your strength then you must adapt the playing field so that this is no longer true. If the enemy has greater range and your strength is range, then you must use terrain to limit your enemies strength over you but still allowing you to strike from range. If your enemy is better at subterfuge then you must eliminate his ability to beguile through insperation or dogged persistance.

The one thing that you never do is play to your opponents strengths or bow and allow him controll of the battle.

(A chess board is suddenly lit on the stage with the pieces in a variety of positions.)

(The old man hovers over to the board and hovers directly over the middle)

Now what is the strongest piece on this board? Is it the Queen, King, Bishop, or knight?

It is whichever piece controlls the center!

*The old man draws in his breathe*

CONTROLL THE CENTER OF THE BATTLE AND BE ITS HEART, MIND, AND SOUL!

Then victory is surely yours.
That is all I have to say to you.

(The light dims from the stage and when the lights in the room turn on, it is empty. The ways are clear for everyone to leave but there is a sign on the door)

*The sign reads*

I Bad <censored> <cencored>, encourage you to leave any bits of wisdom and knowledge that may help future blasters in Paragon. We all have our tips and tricks that are old to us but new to many. With each season life changes in Paragon and it is important that we do our best to make blasting enjoyable for them. The longevity of Paragon depends on it and I encourage you to leave whatever tips you can in the Tip Jar below. The 3B Bible is not a set document but an attitude that flows like water down a mountain.

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I'm still trying to come up with a theory that will explain Blazing Aura. Someday!

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Sorry, there is just no excuse for it. None. Except maybe to combine it with Hotfeet and then chase the enemy around while you stay a millimeter out of melee range. Some how your not getting hurt during this time too. It might be usefull then. Oh, that would make you a tank.

Nope still not sure why a blaster would want to draw agro at melee range. Hotfeet at least has a fear effect.

Guild Wars is alot of fun. I hope it stomps WoW into the ground. After Warcraft III, I just hate Blizzard. Stupid NightElf.

I think a NightElf had relations with the developers over there after seeing WoW and Warcraft III.

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That's what I remembered.

Do you think this, as an unfortunate side effect, punishes people that currently slot for variety to begin with? If I want to slot recharge, or range into my attacks, I now have to choose whether I get to have an SO of range, or an SO of damage, and that really takes the wind out of the sails of slotting variety.

Would it be better if the restriction was 1SO of each type maximum? So that it was still legal to slot 1 SO of damage, 1 SO of accuracy, and 1 SO of range into a power?

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That is kinda the funny thing. My scrapper friend found that because he was looking at diminishing returns if he slotted all one kind of enhancement it actually allowed him to slot different kinds of enhancements. For myself it was the same way.

Did I really want to put those damage TOs in or perhaps I should put in some disorient TOs to make that disorient last just long enough that I can chain disorient. It is interesting how it works out in play but sometimes just the TOs are enough to make the secondary effects worthwhile. You can still slot for damage or accuracy however you choose. Heck if you had a high accuracy attack you may put accuracy TOs in and leave the other SOs and DOs as something else rather going the 1/5 method.

It's interesting. I am glad that you understood my point about the dangers of balancing upwards. It can be done but the flavor of the game will change in the process. The ATs won't be the same as they were at release.

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I've never been against it, really. I just think that it will take longer (2-3x) and be less fun or everyone involved.


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Why? Are you assuming that after the game is balanced that the amount of XP given by mobs can't change? Perhaps if red and purple mobs were a challenge for a group the devs would raise the xp on them? Seems reasonable. The Devs have raised the xp on mobs that are more dangerous to reflect risk VS. reward so I so no reason to assume that if there was an appropriate level of risk the devs would not give an approriate xp reward. Or in other words it will not slow the game down as much as you think.

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Remind me again: 1SO, 3SO, 6TOs max per power altogether, or is this a per-type restriction per power.

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Correct. 1 SO in a power max, 3 DOs in a power max and six TOs max. Any all origin (Hammidon, Eden, Hydra) enhancements will go take up an SO for slotting puposes.

Okay, this is a dang good question. If a blaster role is ranged why do defenders have more range in both their primary and secondary than blasters do?

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This is a good point; I misunderstood you. However, since the difference between Heroic and Invincible is, er, 2 levels... I think that making one a death march and one an easy challenge is going to be.. hard.

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1SO, 3DOs, 2 Training enhancements. Try it out. It is not as hard to balance as you think.

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So I think mieux isn't giving full credit to the complexity of the problem, if this is what he is actually asserting. This is not to pick on mieux specifically either; anyone suggesting nerfing down the other classes to be comparable with blasters, or in any way balancing them based on a nebulous concept of "risk" is bound to run afoul of critical (I believe fatal) problems with any such attempt.

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The way I see it, the classes were pretty well balanced to begin with. I think that if any kind of nerf happens it needs to be across the board rather than to specific sets. It also needs to be fair to all the ATs.

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You attain that the Devs never thought we would 6 slot SOs into our powers...when the ONLY enhancments purchaseable are SOs after 40.


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No, what I said was that the devs made a mistake in playing to the player base that wanted more power when they could have balanced the game then. Instead they chose to balance upwards and we now have the game as it stands. Those with defense and those without in the late game.

The devs thought about it and made a mistake but ended up making players happy for a time.

If you don't think SOs overpower characters I would love to hear your explanation why couched in terms of Statesmans balance goals. Even considering the shifted goals of 3 +3 minions you will have a hard time saying that any AT is not overpowered.

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What I'm getting from Mieux, though, is that the game should be as hard as it is for late game blasters right now, which I disagree with entirely.

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This is not what mieux is saying in my opinion. I believe he is saying if I am reading correctly that the game is as hard as it is for blasters so that they can continue to challenge scrappers and tankers and that all classes should be challenged. In other words he thinks that scrappers and tanks are overpowered and thus that is the reason that the game is so hard for blasters. On the other hand maybe I am completely off base.


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Balancing the players down while bringing the enemies down to an enjoyable level is effectively the same thing as balancing the players up while raising the enemies to a reasonably challenging level. Each strategy attempts to produce the same result, and if each were properly implemented the result would be the same.


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Actually the result would not be the same. Because of the game mechanics concerning damage and defense if you end up with a point at which an AT that does not have defense cannot exist except in certain scenarios. This creates frustration among players who end up asking for a bit of defense in order to survive the standard team encounter. When you start to give defense to blasters you begin to ruin what makes the AT unique to begin with, which is the utter lack of defense. As you make the numbers bigger and bigger the chasm between those with defense and those without grows wider and wider. On the other hand you can balance down and keep the current AT structure with each AT being given its unique role. However again that is if you balance down.

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We both agree that the parts of the game that are difficult to the point where they're unenjoyable need to be fixed, and the parts of the game that are easy to the point where they're boring need to be fixed. The game should be equally enjoyable and challenging for all ATs.


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The last sentence is entirely true.

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The one about them being too cheaply priced?

I don't see the fact that they are cheap so therefore overpowered.


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There was a previous post that he made that actually said that SOs were more powerfull than they thought they were going to be. They did not plan for toons to have six slotted SOs. Or don't you think they would have caught things like how easy it was to get AM perma and hasten perma.

The devs have been reacting to the imbalance that SOs created for sometime nerfing powers as they go so that six slotted SOs don't have the impact that they do. So I will answer you plainly. The devs made a mistake.

I will go further and add that those characters were added after Issue 1 and 2 when the players had already adopted a six slotted SO strategy or did you totally forget that orignaly there were no places where you could buy just SOs? When the game came out those characters did not exist.

The devs have been reacting with power nerfs and mob buffs trying to balance SOs and so far it has ruined the game as they have tried to balance up. Now they are starting to balance down the melee classes but in my opinion by focusing on nerfing powers they are going about it the wrong way.

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Man, if one of the side effects of adjusting the average power level downward is to cut way back on the mezzing in the game, I'm all for it.

I'm not even against adjusting the average power level downward, as long as the end result is a fairly equitable playing field.

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This is exactly what I am argueing for. An equitable playing field not just between ATs but also player VS. NPC.

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If the Devs and any inkling of a lvl50 toon actually slotting TOs in their powers don't you think Ghost Falcon or General Hammond would sell them? Those actions by the Devs spit in the face of your ideas that SOs are gamebreaking.


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The devs didn't have any inkling or did you miss where Statesman said that they made a mistake with SOs? Where he specifically said that they were overpowered.

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The issue, then, is whether to balance the entire game towards the harder areas, or balance the entire game towards the easier ones. Making it easier wins out for a couple important reasons.

1. Making the game harder for tanks effectively eliminates their ability to solo, since the nerf would have to affect their offense in order to preserve the tank's role on a team.

2. Making the game harder and encouraging play on Heroic slows it down. A lot. Not just the time it takes to reach 50, but the time it takes to finish a mission or solo a group of 3 minions. It slows the overall pace of combat and that makes the game a lot more boring than lower risk will.

3. People are lazy. Some of them even pay Cryptic money to not play the game while someone else herds freaks or wolves. These people outnumber the people looking for a challenge, and these people will quit if the game becomes harder and slows down.

4. The boredom associated with not dying is a) not always there and b) better than the boredom and frustration associated with dying repeatedly because the game is too challenging. When I3 bosses came out my blaster simply could not have fun soloing because I was defeated in a single shot by even con bosses, at range. So I made a tank. I still have him, and even though I have effectively zero risk it's still fun to round up a map full of baddies and watch them burn to death. Especially after hitting the debt cap with my blaster.

So although I agree that parts of the game are easy (too easy is a matter of personal opinion) there are also parts right now that are far too hard (Namely, the parts that involve blasters in the later levels), and the hard parts need to be balanced first because they're far more unfun, annoying, and harmful to the game than the easy ones.

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It is not about balancing the game towards harder areas. It is about balancing the players to their PvE environment and maintaning a level of balance and challenge that is constant through the game.

Let me respond to a few of your assertions.

1. Making the game harder for tanks how? You don't explain how you would make the game harder for tanks. I can tell you that it has been tested that if you take a tank and slot 1SO, 3DOs and 2Training enhancements they can still walk into a pack of +2 mobs and tank them. This is more than you would find on a heroic mission level. It is however under what they can currently do and kills herding. Does this keep a tank from helping the team? No. Does it stop a practice that the Devs are flinging every tactic that they can think of at? Yes. So your assertion that a nerf to tanks would ruin the game is wrong. It is merely an assumption on your part and something that you have not tested or even thought through.

2. You are absolutely right. If the game slows down to the point that people become frustrated it is much easier to maintain gameplay balance and simply add higher xp rewards than to allow people to continue to be overpowered. It is an amazing concept but xp rewards can also be changed instead of gameplay.

3. This is another assumption with no proof. People join this game everyday with no expectation of Power Leveling. If the main way to powerlevel were removed they would not even worry about it. As for the majority of gamers being PLers, I think you are way off base. Frankly, they wouldn't leave the game either but instead work and challenge themselves to find a new way to gain levels as fast as they can. Maybe you will leave if the game maintains a steady level of challenge but the majority of players won't.

4. Congratulations you have just pointed out why the game should be balanced down and not up. Why were those I3 bosses introduced? Oh, thats right because the players were overpowered and the devs compensated by changing the enemy instead of nerfing the players. Oops, it broke the game though for some classes.

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So although I agree that parts of the game are easy (too easy is a matter of personal opinion) there are also parts right now that are far too hard (Namely, the parts that involve blasters in the later levels), and the hard parts need to be balanced first because they're far more unfun, annoying, and harmful to the game than the easy ones.

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No. The players need to be brought down and the mobs also need to be brought down. It is not one before the other but both at the same time need to brought down to a new baseline so that they can enhance from a stable platform instead of the unbalanced system that we have currently.

The problem has always been one of enhancements.

In regards to Mieux's opinion that toons are overpowered past SOs I completely agree.

In his assertion that if you continue to upgrade everyone you will eventually break the fundamental game mechanics, I completely agree. In fact, this has already happened. In shifting everyone up they also shifted the mobs up in I2. Suddenly we now face mezzing and range like never before and the game mechanics that allow for balanced ATs before SOs goes out the window. Suddenly we have blasters complaining not because they are not powerfull. Blasters are powerfull but because the game no longer accomodates them.

Is the answer to give defenses or to up blaster damage? No. Doing either will unbalance blasters and create a City of Blasters situation again because of the level 32 nukes. Continuously improving all the ATs results in the mobs being upgraded so that there is a continuous challenge.

Instead, it is far simpler to balance downwards and to manuever the game back to where it was balanced rather than try to balance the unbalanced portions of the game.

If this does not make sense to anyone please explain what is confusing and I will try to elaborate.

Mieux is right though, in his assertions.

Kali you are going to make me cry if you don't look at my arguements and at least acknowledge them. I mean are my arguements that off base?

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No, because that would assume that every Blaster had Smoke Grenade (they did not) and the Purple Patch hit everyone. Indeed, after the Purple Patch the game saw a massive upturn in selecting people strictly for "the most", and was the period in which Defenders complained bitterly about being excluded because Controllers did Defenderish things too well while Defenders didn't hit hard enough. Blasters, Controllers, and Tankers were preferred, nobody else need apply.

The downfall of Blasters came when they upped the amount of ranged attacks on mobs that previously had few or none (Lead Scorchers for example didn't alwasy patrol the streets of Steel Canyon) and upped the amount of status effects in the higher game--a present in Issue 2.


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Very true. I know that I was hella upset that controllers could do everything a defender could. It was the reason I stuck with D3 as my build of choice for a defender. I still don't know why it was a kinetics that got to 50 first though for me. Also in team when the group said they wanted a controller I was usually the one saying "You, know we can get a controller and be even safer since we don't have a tank."

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Many times when the melee types are scrapper-locked into opponents they don't see the blaster hopping about like a [censored] mad man in the back.

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That is true of tanks and scraps. I can't tell you how many times my blaster was left alone with a boss that no one noticed (vahz usually) but I agroed with AoE while a scrapper or tank was locked on an Lt killing them.

I guess what they don't understand is that movement is our defense. If we don't move we die. Ignoring how much we move to attack because this varies by build as do scrappers, we move more just because of defense. Either retreating from an enemy and dragging him back to the tank or trying to move around the tank to make sure that anything you agro goes through the tanks aura. Of course if the tank is moving then so is the blaster. The scenarios go on and on about why blasters move more. At first brush it seems like blasters wouldn't have to move more but if you ever watch them you will find that they never seem to stop moving except to fire attacks.

There are scenarios where a blaster does not have to move much. Playing with a D3 in the early levels means that mobs won't be moving much due to fear and tentacles. This doesn't apply to some of the later levels but it works against early mobs. While the blaster is not moving much beyond positioning for AoEs the scrapper is not moving much either. If the mobs arn't moving for a scrapper they arn't moving for a blaster and nither AT is really moving much. Even in that scenario the blaster if he was trying to maximize damage would still move more.

To maximize damage a blaster must get in melee. Of course he can't stay in melee which means he will be darting back and forth attacking, retreating, attacking. If he has any Cones he will be darting backwards then going forwards to melee then darting back again.

I don't what it will take to cinvince someone who has not played a blaster to the upperlevels that blasters move more than scrappers but I think I have layed out the arguements pretty well.

I am not sure why we are still talking about this scrapper VS. blaster movement question. It is very clear to anyone that has played both a scrapper and a blaster that blasters move more in combat. They just move more. Why?

This should be flat out obvious. If a blaster is going to line up a great AoE then he actually has to cover more distance than the scrapper to try and get his nice cone over as many mobs as he can. Why does he have to move more? If anyone stopped to think about it the scrapper has a smaller cone and is already in melee thus he does not have to move far for his next cone. On the other hand, the blaster will have to skirt around the edges of a mob looking for the best angle to try and get all the mobs that he can, just covering that extra distance on the edge instead of being on the inside means that blasters are moving more. Just wait though because it does not stop there.

The blaster now has to deal with the agro of this attack. Unlike a scrapper who is built to take melee and can just stand his ground the blaster is always going to move away from the enemy to maintain range if possible. There are circumstances when a scrap might run but lets face facts. Those circumstances are much fewer and far between a blaster fleeing.

So you have a blaster that moves more along the edge of combat and moves after he shoots. Was there ever a question of which AT moved more in combat? I thought this was obvious at first look. This does not even take into consideration blasters that move to maximize knockback.

It would be nice if we can get back to blaster damage in this thread.

Geee, am I chopped liver?

I was just saying that while you are playing around in the game you usually never see an Ice Tank hanging around in the Portal Parking lot. I have seen maybe one at a time. I almost think that every Ice tank over 30 that exists in the game has posted on the forums.