_Ilr_

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geez you're dense. A fireball, firebreath combo is the very heart of multi tasking. Because I'm hitting multiple targets. a blaster who's running around trying to sucker punch mobs when a salvo of ranged attacks is faster, more effiencent and come with a 40% base to hit bonus needs a room in a very special place for people like you.

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All functions you just mentioned, plus Build-up and Aim, are exactly why we are faced with having all Minion HP's boosted. They are allowing some Blaster Builds who were meant to be Team-Players, to actually Solo faster than the Blaster builds who WERE designed to Solo...albeit at a more moderate pace. You are out-of-step with the original Vision of this game's design.

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and btw they have this class who specializes in keeping mobs off that defensless healer off to the side. They're called tanker I think. I'm not sure.... so maybe you should look it up.

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A Tanker's Provoke was Nerfed, in case you forgot, for the exact purposes of putting a limit on just how many Mobs they can prevent from breaking through the Front lines. Scrappers fight Bosses and provide Offense for the Tanks right on the Front Lines. Blasters and Defenders MultiTask by Sniping a single target who refuses to come into the Tanks&Scrapper's Melee Range and they also tend to any threats that who break through the Front Lines. And Lastly but not Leastly, Controllers Mez those Ranged attackers and Break-Throughs so that a Blaster can take them out without a threat of returned fire...and any other support niches not already filled in.

...This certainly doesn't apply to AT builds who are designed to solo but it does apply to the vast majority of RTS games as well as fast-paced Team-Combat games. And you can see this in this game as well if you follow the changes made to it and see the "holes in our Armor" that the Devs intended to Create. They create these weaknesses on us so that other less-used AT's can step up and act as that missing ***** in the armor and make Team-Play as exciting and rewarding as possible for ALL involved, not just for the AoE Nukers who are currently using bad tactics fueled by imbalanced Power Stats.
You are once-again out-of-step with the original Vision of this game's design.

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Support classes are classes not directly involved in the killing of enemies. The Blaster is directly involved in the killing of enemies.

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In the Millitary, Artillary units are categorized as Support, and require Garrison units at their Flanks to protect them from counter-attacks. They lack the Mobility and Armor of a Special Forces unit but pack a harder punch. Some Blaster Builds are Intended to be Artillary. Others are intended as Special Forces, IE: soloing safely. However no one Ever took down a whole army with only one of those Components. Even the Vastly-Unblanced English Long-Bow teams in the middle ages required protection from Knights. Their esistance was so feared that any Bowman who were captured would immediately have their middle fingers cut off just in case they escaped and re-joined their battallion, thus preventing them from pulling the heavy bows.

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If you were on my team and I saw your rushing into every fight with melee attacks instead of providing ranged fire support like you're supposed to I'd fire your [censored] outta there so fast You'd forget you were even invited in the first place.

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...And whenever I'm a Team Leader, I "fire" any blasters who rush in or snipe to start a fight they can't survive. Meanwhile I PROMOTE-to-Leader, Blasters who stay in the middle of a Team and remove the threat of mobs who break through the front-lines. Because it demonstrates to me that they have the Team's wellfare in mind even more than the Healers and controllers do. It also demonstrates that they can Multi-Task. Any Blaster who only Attacks at range is NOT multi-tasking because 90% of them are shooting at random target in front of the "trenches" while ignoring the Mob who's Meleeing the Healer behind them.

Care to go 'round again?

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Blasters are only given "a few ways" to play this game. Btw, I still have my smoke grenade. Apparently you think it's useless now. But when you told me the hallmark of a great blaster is one who wades into melee, damn man I just can't regard you as an authority on this subject any longer. As far as I'm concerned your point of view is null and void after a statement like that. That might have been pre update 2 buddy, but that crap doesn't cut it in this brave new world of blasters. So great you leveled your 44 Ar/Dev back in the SG godmode days. Want a cookie? You still don't have a clue what high level blasters are facing in the game at this very point in time. Otherwise you wouldn't have made such a stupidly ludicrous statement like "the hallmark of a great blaster is one who wades in and melees". Oh Lord have mercy.

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"A blaster who Wades into Melee" is a connotation of someone who doesn't understand Body-Positioning and Melee-Range as well as having no attention to Peripheral threats. I very specifically said that they should reserve Melee Attacks for "any minions/Lt's who strays into the middle of a group of heroes." AND also use any Cone-Range Melee against Groups of minions who are kept busy by a Tank, Pet, or well-suited Scrapper.

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When I say I don't want AOE damage to scale with the HP of mobs, that doesn't mean I think Blasters should then just be left alone. My Fire/Fire would certainly fall by the wayside if there was no response to the dramatic change mob HP increases would have on his playability.

Honestly, nobody that has posted so far has indicated that they think that mob hp increase + no changes to blasters = ok.

I think changes to mobs will have big impact on all AT's. Blasters are just one of many.

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THANK YOU! If there's any point I'm trying to get across here, it's exactly that... I think everyone is beginning to recognize that there's a problem, but forcing everyone to suffer for a few flaws in a small number of Blaster Builds is something that will hurt EVERYONE equally and THAT would put the final nail in the coffin of most other AT Builds who DREAM for the exicetment of hitting so hard that they Draw agro. ...As they are now, it aklready takes them several minutes to defeat even LT's... Making Minions take just as long would have them running to play Chess just because it was "faster paced".

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Erratic If that is what you want to use as your out then whatever. Doensnt change anything.

In terms of the melee attacks, I dont care toss em and replace em with stuff that is actually good.

On AoE, i still dont see why this is a problem. Blasters fall dead from a gentle breeze. But they can kill a group of mobs with a single massive salvo. I see that as balanced. Ultimate offense and zero defense. You ask me, i think AoEs should be more prevalent not less. Eng, Ice, and Elec should have just as many as Fire and AR do. Ranged AoEs, massive uber pbaoes, and are what a Blaster is all about. Leave the single target dmg to the Scrappers.

But i think what a lot of Blasters are expressing in this thread is that if the Balance of "you can kill lots of mobs real fast but one screwup and you die" isnt good enough, Then taking the "kill lots of mobs real fast" part out is not going to result in Balance. Its going to result in Brokenness.

What do i think? I think that AlphaStriking could be considered a problem. But its not just a problem of AlphaStriking making other classes useless. Its a problem of AlphaStriking being the only way a Blaster can stay alive.

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Two exaggerations in your post here...

1> You make it sound like Blasters die from one Hit. That's not true. However ANY support class and even Scrappers CAN die in one Salvo against Hazard-Zone sized groups that are +1 above them. The Manual ansd Statesman make remarks and gameplay suggestions about this being the way it is designed to work and for the most part it is functioning as intended.

2> Blaster Melee attacks aren't just good, they're Great. Unfortunately most Blasters never play any other support Class so they don't realize just how weak and exhausting all the other Melee attacks available to most Support classes really are.

Some Blasters, like Elec, Ice, and Dev are instended to Solo moderately. ...Most others with Melee Attacks are intended to be Group Blasters. Just like how not all Controllers are intended to solo quickly, not all Blasters are intended to Solo quickly either. ...So with their high-damage Melee attacks they become empowered to do a Finishing-Combo against any minions who strays into the middle of a group of heroes. It was never intended to be a Boss killer, but a Blaster who avoids mass agro can survive 1-3 hits from most LTs and infact will never be hit in the first place if they charge-up and time their 1-2 punch wisely.

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Dude we gotta leave this thread alone, it's turned into majority idiots from other ATs who have no clue how blasters are played. I am saddened by the amount of supposed blaster expertise I have witnessed in this thread.

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Congrats, you're both Awarded the AssU&Me Badge because I DID take a Blaster up to 44. I've even been PM'd multiple times by people just like you screaming at me not to talk about blasters just because I now prefer to play a different AT.

... Admit that you only know a few ways to play this game and stop jumping anyone who plays it differently than you. That won't solve anything, just like quitting this thread because you're losing the battle of logic and getting frustrated...That won't accomplish much for yourselves because when logic prevails and changes are made, your closed minds will prevent you from staying on top of the gameplay alternatives and you won't know how to play effectively. Doubt me? Just look at any **/Dev blaster these days still spamming Smoke Grenade and then wondering why they die now to huge groups. ...come on back to Mainstream guys, please, we need you.

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Great now tell me again why a blaster would WANT to melee in the first place? Stupidity folks, look it up.

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I play with many blasters and defenders all over 29 who have their Melee attacks slotted up in many different ways. Putting some of them on Auto-attack is even better. They use them because they are quick, powerful, and low END cost compared to many of their ranged attacks. They are also a hallmark of a great player when used properly. Would you rather instead that Buildup gets Nerfed to the point that it doesn't work well enough with ANYTHING? ...Because that's exactly what will happen if you people FORCE the developers to make a Stealth-Nerf against your AlphaStrikes Vis a Minion HP increase. I don't want to see that either because it already takes my Scrapper and Controller too long as it is to deal with High Level minions... Both of my Avatars are Boss and LT killers, minions are a droll challengeless waste of Endurance for each of them as it is.

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Hell no. You may as well but the last nail in the coffin after a move like that. most of can't even "afford" those worthless melee attacks that you want to FORCE us to use.

Tankers/Scrappers= Melee attacks.

And since when does a 6 slotted fire ball mean I don't let the tanker wade in swinging first? since when does it mean I don't wait for the controller to hold, the defencder to buff, the scrapper to scrap.

This is bar none the dumbest [censored] post I've ever read on this forum. and that's saying a lot.

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Case in point, Yet another Blaster who sees no fun in Strategical Melee Attacks, turns a blind Eye to Alpha-Strike soloing, and loathes the idea of being "Fire Support" as demonstrated by his Ego, Generalizations, and malicious comments on a creative/strategic soultion. News for him, only 4 Secondaries have Build-Up and New Changes coming to Tankers will ensure that Blasters can safely wade in and Melee side-by-side with a Tanker. It's called Synergy folks, look it up.

Well this thread certainly is it's own private little hell.

...Then again anything is - whenever you say that Blasters are overpowered because 1> There's so damned many of them and they're all so Varied. 2> A Majority of them MinMax out XP-Per-Hour and refuse to see themselves as "Fire-Support". You can tell a Group-Friendly Blaster because they have Melee Attacks Slotted up and Assist the Fight-Starters instead of Starting the fights themselves and then draining the Healer's END with their demmands to be kept alive.


Common sense tells us that only Certain Builds can do this "Alpha-Strike" (Mechwarrior Term that seldom ever equaled an Instant win unless you hit the jackpot and landed a missile in the other guy's cockpit) ....So Why not just give those couple of Builds extra Hurdles such as making Buildup/Aim only work with Melee attacks?... Thus forcing them to rely on Damage Buffs from Defenders/Controllers if they want to pull off a Ranged Alpha-Strike? They could also Alpha Strike if they Played with a Tank or AoE Controller and their Melee Attacks were given Cone-Damage. As a high level Scrapper, I can attest that Cone-Meele attacks are some of the most gratifying and challenging attacks in the whole game.

Yes/No?

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....The increased damage has proven a tad problematic, but we're wrestling with some ways around it. I'm afraid I can't give anything definite there.

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Sounds like you're having trouble coming up with a simple Boolean Condition for it. When ya announced the idea at first, I immediately thought "Now how in the hell will they detect that one?" ...Still not sure.

Might have an Idea though... Progressively increase the Tank's damage for every unit of Base Endurance** they Expend on Secondary powers only. HOWEVER, apply a Normalizing Decrease in Damage as well for every unit of Endurance they gain back, like for example, from having Stamina.... Otherwise Stamina will become even more of a 'Must-Have" than it already is.

** (This in turn would make EnduranceReducer ENH's progressively double as Damage Enhancers)

...And of course put a Cap on it to ensure that a Tank doesn't run every group in a Zone completely out of Endurance but doing 1,000 damage per hit

HTH!

PS: This would be very simple Math too since We always have 100 total-Endurance usually. A player could simply approximate the the amount of extra damage they're getting simply by looking at how low on Endurance they are and factoring it by their Endurance Reducer slotting on Secondaries.

...'Guess'timates follow...

What are we going to see?, what do people want to see.

More AT balance and difficulty at higher levels. That new Non-Combat Automatci/Detective/Crafting/ -GawdOnlyKnows system.

And personally I'd like to see 3 more things...
--Limit the Level of Mobs allowed to spawn in all Zone. IE: If a level 50 run through Atlas Park on a Story Arc, the highest level Ambush that can spawn for him will be level 7's. ...Level 10's in King's Row, ...Level 20's in Steel Canyon ...etc.
--A second Tram-Stop in the South-West part of Independance Port.
--Extra Groups of Patrol-AI Mob Spawns in Hazard Zones(except PP and Hollows) similar to the ones in Missons currently but their Group Leaders have GroupTravel powers like 'Inertial Reduction', 'Speed Boost', and 'GroupFly'.

Rumors of trench coats. Also before was mentioned longer skirts etc.

Yes

I would like to see some more options at character creation.
More Hair Styles, More than 1 jacket, Animal Heads would be fun etc. Longer Skirts for Female Characters, Heck even cigars for women (for those who want them).

Issue 4/5 "Fat" body types in 4, Animal/Quadrapeds in 5... Maybe even "digitigrade legs"(toepads touch ground, heel joint elevated).

Maybe a Plastic Surgery Shop, where you could go back and change your body slider and gender, if you wanted to.

New body styles would be nice (and available in surgery shop).

Likely Not gonna happen, (??)

Of course the standard, new bad guy groups, new zones etc.

Hard to say but probaby a sure bet since they've got Animators and WorldBuilders employed full time.

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When I log into CoH it’s *work*: boring, tedious work.

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Then I want Your Job buddy. You know what I did at work today? After Scrubbing the crusted-on poop that someone left in the tullets for a week, I move 2 tons of freight for the THIRD time in as many days. Then I go outside in the rain and have to restack about 1200 feet of 2" thick galvanized pipe. All the while in between this I have to run from the way back of the building to the way front multiple times to fill propane for people who's temperment matches the weather all too well, and this is about 2 acres or more it's sittin on so it's not a short walk. Then Mop mop mop, and mop some more(You want Tedious? Go mop an Acre of 30-year old Vinyl Tile in a day) And yadda yadda that's about as good as it gets most days. So when I finally come home, sittin down to some CoH is an absolute frikken joy compared to REAL work. At work I watch the clock. In CoH ever since Issue2, the last thing I watch is the EXP bar.

There's a lot more to do in the game now than just power level. It's not their fault if you've never experienced real work, or the desitination is more important to you than the journey.

LineageII Anyone?

Even though I've tried to repress any memory of that game I actually go in search of tidbits from it's "community". Once I even found stuff from a GM's bad behavoir that made me laugh unctrollabley for a good couple of minutes

It's a strange kind of humor, a lot like.... Well, if you've ever been to this site, you get the picture...:
bad-candy.com ...or a really whack game like...
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/s...RView/comments
Some things, are SOOO bad that's it's hilarious. Some Game Communities are a great example of this

If that's the Case then I can brag that my Controller was soloing even cons in a Trial Zone at 19, Bwahhahaahaaa! And You shoulda seen what Blasters were soloing in there, OMG

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What isn't acceptable right now is that some Archetypes solo slowly AND aren't so needed in groups. And that's what I'm focused on at the moment.

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Hope you're studying Positron's TF very carefully then. A lot of people seem to think it's an Accident that Positron's is so flippin hard and actually goes faster, infact success pretty much hinges on it, having atleast 3/5's of your group make-up be Defensive/Support AT's. It's also the TF where Scrappers have the hardest time and Blasters who play anything but FireSupport endup face-down on the floor 10x times more than they hear the Dinging sound.


The Arch Villians are cool and All, but nothing can compare to a TF where just about everyone in the group is Amazed everytime they beat a Mission without dieing constantly.

Whatever you guys did with Positrons, whether accidental or not, should really be applied to the 25+ game. Not to mention a lot more TF's that are only half as long as current TF's so that Casual players can get in on that action too without such a heavy Timesink gating them off from it.

THANK YOU!!

I don't mind grouping or stepping back out of a misison and Requesting help to complete it when it's really necessary. But I do mind doing it when it's just a gimmick trigger on some Glowies and my chances of actually finding someone to help me has me sitting there spamming channel for an hour or longer.

That can't be it because this new system is also said to be like crafting in a way. So it must produce something... not sure what, and it starts with the word "Automatic", but yes it is also like detective work or problem solving.

But likely only one of these things said about it will actually be what it is and the rest were just thrown in to throw us off the trail