Barata

You underestimate the power of those first three powers you have access to. They're easily sufficient to take out a boss. Immobilizations can keep the boss away, knockbacks can keep him away, there's powers with slows and -recharge. Tanks and scrappers may be able to stand up to a boss better than anyone else, but even defenders and controllers, when mezzed, can't do much. Considering we have more hit points and three damaging attacks, I think it's exaggerated that going up against a mezzer is an instant death sentence. Those three attacks alone can easily make a repeatable attack chain.

Assuming they can be run concurrently, I don't think the tiny amount of defense you get from running both is going to make much of a difference. Even if you're immobilized, if you're hovering out of melee range of mobs, you only have to worry about ranged attacks (which will come whether or not you can move around) or attacks that ground you. Since you are en/en, you have the tools to keep people away from you even if you get grounded. I personally don't think immobs are that big a deal for a ranged archetype, but others may disagree.

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Blasters just don't measure up to other ATs.

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They measure up quite well against defenders. Then again is there anyone who thinks defenders don't need some buffage ?

You are quite right though about blaster reaction to higher hitpoint critters.

If you look at the hit point distribution

Minion: 430
Lieutenant : 855
Boss: 2570

Blasters deliver good damage as long as they alive, well to kill a boss you have to stay alive six times as long as a minion.

Seeing as blasters in general have little in the way of built in mitigation and as you go up in level it gets harder and harder to land your damage playing a blaster gets harder and harder.

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Nobody has anything in the way of "built in" mitigation. Tankers have to run their armors or choose passives when leveling up. Same for scrappers. Controllers and Defenders need to actively use their powers against a boss. If anything, Blasters have the most built-in mitigation as, without using any kind of power selection or activating any kind of power, they can ignore mezzes to a significant degree as part of their inherent.

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Stealth IO? I have to admit I'm new to this IO thing... where would I add the stealth IO? hover?

Also these purchased at the global vendor right?

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Yes. There's specific IOs for each of the travel powers (fly, teleport, Run, Jump) that give you stealth when the power is activated. The stealth remains for 2 minutes after the power is disabled. You can place one either in Fly or Hover (if those are what you use), and when you activate the power, you're stealthed. They're a bit pricey in the consignment house. At least, they used to be. I haven't checked the price in a while so they may have come down. It may be something worthwhile to save up for. The only sacrifice you have to make for using one is a slot to put it in.

To find the IO, just go to the consignment house and look for either IOs or recipes for the Fly, Jump, etc. Freebird: Stealth is the one for the flying powers. A stealth IO for Run powers can be used in Sprint, making it usable by everyone, even if they don't have a travel power.

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And stripping down the AE to the point you can make nothing more challenging then a normal mission defeats the prupose of having it in the first place.

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Actually, the purpose of the AE wasn't to allow people to create more challenging missions, it was so that the player base could create their own stories. The fact that you could create something more difficult that a "normal mission" doesn't mean that it was its sole purpose.

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I will contact support. Hope it works out. Thanks for all the comments. Yes it was all bosses, mainly so we could fight a comparable warface on the hardest setting only LOTS of clones. It gave us a good challenge with him having EM.

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Well, I'd reconsider the all-boss theme. That is a common tactic for player-made farms. I don't know of any official content within the game where everyone is a boss, so it could be considered exploitative since there's nothing official to which you can compare it. Having a mixture of enemy types makes it more interesting. The mission may get completed sooner since it wouldn't be as difficult, but there's things you could do like pepper some EBs throughout the mission. Even if the mission completes sooner with less rewards because there's minions and lieutenants, you can just run it again if you like it that much.

As for getting reported, the way I understand it is like this.... a player can report an arc/mission for whatever reason they decide. An arc can be locked, but you can petition customer support to look at it for their opinion. If they decide that the mission is fine, then the lock is removed. What's important to note is that once they make that decision, the arc can't be reported again in the future unless you make changes to it. In other words, when they decide it's OK, it stays that way unless you make a change, so you won't have to worry about it getting reported again. At least, that's the way I understood it to be, though I could be wrong.

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I may consider picking up ROF and trying with Shiver... I also like the Blaze/Ice sword combo

ha-ha I used to have some long-winded pompous macro that said something to the effect "I call upon the Fire of the GOD X to cleans the evil from this area" or some ish... I need to make another

Also the Ice sword just looks dope

I'm just not sure what to drop now @ 46 though... I guess I'll drop the crappy last ICE power/sleep and pick up freezing touch @ 47

And/or Stealth... I'm not sure if the +Def is worth it... although the stealth portion of it helps me get close to mobs before they see me...

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Just pick up a stealth IO. You can even get Stealth from an empowerment station in a SG/VG base.

I'm having a hard time figuring out if this thread is real or I'm imagining it. Blasters are hard? Blasters are broken? Is this a case of "I've spent so many years complaining about Blasters that I just do it out of habit now!" ?

Tanks are very safe and relatively easy, but they're slow. Scrappers are faster, but are move involved (chasing down foes, managing shields and endurance). Defenders are slow levelers. Controllers bloom late and require much more work.

Blasters are wonderfully balanced. They defeat their enemies quickly, Defiance is near-perfect in that it makes mezzes what they should have been in the first place.... a detriment to be avoided, but not crippling. They actually are interesting to play and require some thought, but aren't so tricky that a casual player can't easily master them.

Really, give blasters anything significantly greater and you've trivialized the game so much it would be senseless to play.

The different archetypes are not supposed to play all the same. Tanks are safe and easy, but have their own dynamics to deal with. It's a totally different type of playstyle when you have to worry about maintaining all the aggro. Controllers have their own playstyle, as do Defenders and Scrappers. If Blasters tend to be tricky for any one player, then maybe that playstyle isn't best for that player. It in no way means that the archetype as a whole has problems or is broken.

My sympathy goes out to his family and friends.

I enjoy the Blaze/Ice Sword combo. Graphically, the animations for both work very well together, it executes quickly, and does enough damage to take out a pesky minion very quickly.
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Has ROF changed? Before it had the fear in it and as a Tank I HATED when some trigger happy Fire blaster would cast that scattering all my mobs…
Perhaps with Shiver it’ll work well


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It works very well with Shiver. RoF has a slowing element to it, so even without Shiver, foes don't get out all that quickly. With Shiver though, only the outermost mobs in a spawn manage to get out before it's over.

Many many thanks Kitteh. I did check paragon wiki, but my searches didn't come up with that.

It's just proper etiquette to let someone know what kind of team you're inviting them in on. If it's a regular mission team, you send a tell first saying "mission team, interested?". If it's an AE farm team, you likewise let them know ahead of time. There's no sense in wasting people's time assuming that they'll be interested in the same things you are.

I know this must have come up before, but if you search on reward roll or MA, you can get thousands of hits.

Is there a resource that shows what recipes fall under what reward rolls for the various levels? If I have a bunch of Architect Tickets, and am hoping to get certain recipes, where can I find out what level range, and whether it's Bronze, Gold, or Silver, to get a chance for that recipe when I cash in my tickets for a reward roll?

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and they have given me 3 free months of play

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How'd you get that?

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Beats me. I logged into plaync and had 3 unused serial codes. i applied them and have 3 free months.

<shrug>

And i think the change and crappy resulting form swapping from toggle block was game breaking. I won't play again. but i'll be damned if i'm going to let 3 free months of posting about how it sucks on a daily basis pass by.

It takes 2 minutes to post it and email it to a dev. I get a free pass to tell them my opinion. That's full of win!

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So, technically, we can just put you on ignore without missing out on anything because you claim all you're going to do is come here to complain on a daily basis. Thanks for the heads up.

That's wonderful!!!! I hate to say it, but I do have enough characters that some get logged off longer than 60 days. I lost some good recipes I had up for sale because I didn't realize that character was logged out for that long. Lately, I haven't been putting things on the market for sale on some of my toons because I didn't want to chance out on loosing the recipes because I forgot to log on.

I didn't want to devote a lot of slots to mine because it's really a situational power, so I dropped a stun/recharge into it. Having the enemies stunned longer is always a good thing. Because I have Heal Self, I just activate that as soon as I resurrect, topping off my health. The stunned enemies are stunned long enough to do that, let me reactivate my toggles, and start wiping them out again, all before the stun wears off.

I believe I was in RV once, and I cast that and stunned one of the AVs once. I resurrected and noticed either Ghost Widow or Scirroco walking around stunned. I didn't think it was enough to do it on its own. Could it? Or was someone else laying stuns on them and mine pushed it over the limit?

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1. Sands of Mu. At low levels this is the only thing that makes them playable. I weep for new players who dont have it.

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Interesting, because when I make a new character, a lot of times I don't activate the vet attacks in order to give myself some more challenge. Dumb yeah, but works for me.


1. Kilts
2. Nemesis Staff. What? I like the knock back.

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But do you actually own a kilt in real life? I wonder how many people who make kilt-wearing heroes actually own a kilt, and if so, actually wear it.

Great avatar, by the way. I'm an old fan from the late '70's (which, sadly, shows my age). It's hard to believe I've been seeing them in concert for 30 years now.

I wrote one arc that got good responses from people who have played, so I'm toying with writing another one of a more serious nature. The one I wrote started out as a test of the MA system. I wanted to see what it could do, and what kind of custom villain groups I could create. So I fooled around with creating a custom villain group I thought would look fun and interesting visually. Because of the type of person I am, I didn't want it published unless there was an actual story, so I fudged a story together, and then polished it up and added all the little details to make it seem like a real story. The end result was a light story of little impact to the gameworld, but still proved to be kind of fun. The important thing was that I really enjoyed doing it. And I love it when I suddenly get a message from someone saying that they really enjoyed it. It's barely played, so I barely ever get those messages, but when I do, it's a great feeling. Because of that, I'll try other players' stories that haven't been voted on yet, and send them positive feedback too (if it warrants it).

Seeing as I have a good idea now of what's possible, I'm trying to come up with another. When I do, it'll get created.

I have to say that I've come across some very wonderful stories. What I love about them is that they're so well written, it's impressive to realize that other players can have such creativity and expertise in crafting such fine tales.

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RoF is awesome for things like zombie invations, Rikti MS raids, and a lot more situations than you might initially think about. It has excellent DPA, assuming things live long enough to stay in its range, and is good to fire off before Inferno, since the fear effect might keep the survivors busy (and may well kill off those pesky stragglers). I didn't have RoF in my build for the longest time, but once I respecced it back in, it's here to stay!

If you don't have Fire Breath, there's almost no point in being a Fire blaster. Well, no, you still have Fireball & Blaze, but still...

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<sheepishly raises hand here>
I don't have fire breath. I can't remember what it was I respecced out of it for, but I didn't pick it up again. I felt lost for quite a while without it. My normal attack of Aim Buildup Fireball Firebreath was so ingrained into my playstyle, I hated not being able to do that. But I adapted. Aim + Shiver + Rain of Fire + Fireball does incredible damage, decimating whole spawns. RoF doesn't recharge as quickly, but I put a lot of recharge into my build so it does come back pretty fast and is ready for every other spawn.

Freezing Touch. I believe it was Freezing Touch I wanted. Anyway, I still try to figure out ways to get it back, but I just can't come up with something I'm willing to give up. I'm close to giving up the Medicine Pool. With the regen I have now, it's not used nearly as much, but I still get some use out of it.

The last time I respecced, I swore I wouldn't respec that character again until they come up with a REAL method of allowing us to respec instead of that half-baked system they have now where you have to go through every freakin' leveling step you've ever taken all over again just to change a single slot or power. When we get that, then I'll find something else to drop to get FireBreath again. Until then, I just make do with all the other things I have. RoF is one of my favorite powers.

Fire raining from the sky is sort of.... biblical. How much cooler can you get?!?

From what I can see, the powers are autohit. Looking at Red Tomax's guide, the power summons a Phoenix. Click on Phoenix, and it gives stats for it. Here's a cut and paste from the Phoenix description:

Phoenix

All foes near the power of the Phoenix will be burned and knocked back.
More Detail
Level 1
Type Auto
PvE damage scale 2.000000
Accuracy 1
Modes required
Modes disallowed
Range -
Activate period 2 seconds
Interrupt time -
Cast time -
Recharge time -
Endurance cost -
Attack types AOE_Attack, Fire_Attack
Effect area Sphere
Radius 25 feet
Arc -
Max targets hit 16
Entities affected Foe
Entities autohit Foe
Target Caster
Target visibility Line of Sight
Nofity Mobs Always

I don't have accuracy in mine, I just have an IO for recharge/stun, and it sure seems like anyone near me is stunned when I activate the power.

I probably get the most use out of the Base Teleporter.

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In theory, Shiver + Chilling Embrace is a lot of -recharge and would work well. In practice, I just don't have the guts to stand around next to badguys like a Tank, and I don't have the melee attacks to be enticed into it with shiny orange numbers.

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Using IOs, I got quite a bit of regen on my blaster. It's actually pretty fun to be standing next to a mob and hitting them and watching them stand there because their attacks aren't recharging. With the reduced attack rate, the regeneration is more effective. Like I stressed in my post, it's just one of the various playstyles I switch into sometimes.

Oh, and my Chilling Embrace has a Pacing of the Turtle: Chance for -Recharge added to it. I dropped it in a while ago (I only have the one slot) when IOs were relatively new, and I never bothered reevaluating it. Between Ice Sword and CE, it's great fun watching enemies just stand there with no attacks ready. When they do manage to get in an attack or two, I can casually pop off an Aid Self. Of course, some bosses are too brutal even with all of those -recharge powers. The Generals in Cimerora come to mind. Thankfully, they don't have ranged attacks, and chillblain and/or hovering keeps them safely away.

Also, Chilling Embrace does extend a little bit. It seems that it's possible to root someone, be out of melee range of them, but still close enough for CE to work its effect. I'm not sure on that, but I think it's the case.


Not all of my playstyles are the most effective, sometimes they're just fun. But when you're already level 50 and just running around solo, it keeps the character interesting to be able to do different things like that.

I just posted this in another thread here....

I do the same thing for all of my characters..... I play them, level up, and pick the most compelling powers that are available at the time. That is, when I have characters that eat through endurance more quickly (tanks, scrappers), Stamina becomes a compelling power early on, so I take it. Generally, I can see long before level 20 that I'll need it, so have already picked up Health. Swift is so good by itself, it gets chosen early just to cut back on travel time. By 20, those endurance-hungry builds that need Stamina will get it.

But on some builds (mainly my defenders and some controllers), I've found that the Fitness line may not be as attractive. I brought a Dark Defender up to the late 30's before I got Stamina, and that was because the most attractive powers were already chosen and Stamina looked better than the choices left.

Play your toon and see how it works out. If you feel you need Stamina, take it. If you feel you're getting along fine and there's other powers you'd rather have, take those. You'll find out eventually if you're really going to need it. At worst, you just have to pace yourself for a couple levels until you can get it.

I do the same thing for all of my characters..... I play them, level up, and pick the most compelling powers that are available at the time. That is, when I have characters that eat through endurance more quickly (tanks, scrappers), Stamina becomes a compelling power early on, so I take it. Generally, I can see long before level 20 that I'll need it, so have already picked up Health. Swift is so good by itself, it gets chosen early just to cut back on travel time. By 20, those endurance-hungry builds that need Stamina will get it.

But on some builds (mainly my defenders and some controllers), I've found that the Fitness line may not be as attractive. I brought a Dark Defender up to the late 30's before I got Stamina, and that was because the most attractive powers were already chosen and Stamina looked better than the choices left.

Play your toon and see how she works out. If you feel you need Stamina, take it. If you feel you're getting along fine and there's other powers you'd rather have, take those. You'll find out eventually if you're really going to need it. At worst, you just have to pace yourself for a couple levels until you can get it.

I think a lot of regen on a fire brute sounds pretty sweet.