Biospark
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Quote:Hehe.Originally Posted by Auroxis
Useless is taking it too far I'd say. RA's are pretty nice for soloing, and you have a self heal handy.
Admitedly I have done some pretty cool stuff solo with my IOed Empath.
But what makes me see red in these kinds of threads is that I know how well Empathy performs both solo and while teamed. I can buy the thought that a great team set is less powerful solo. But then to see that Empathy is clearly NOT considered the best Team set by the majority of the playerbase and then to also be the worst(or nearly) at soloing, you can see why I keep asking for solo Improvements to Empathy.
SEVEN years have passed ! The game has evolved. The devs need to re-visit this Powerset! Please.
I will not offer sexual favors for this, but I am not beneath Bribery !
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Quote:I agree with this, but have to add that Empathy is Useless... When you are trying to solo with it. Just about every other primary solo's better, with the possible exceptions of TA and Sonic.Originally Posted by DrGemini
....Now, if you want to argue that perhaps Empathy should be updated in the wake of all the "shields" that were converted to AoE instead of single target, then that is something I might agree with. But, to say that Empathy is useless is just plain ignorant of the facts staring you in the face.
You CAN solo with Empathy, but choose something else if you plan on doing it often. -
Having only played PAIN at level 50 on a Test-bumped toon (live only made it to the 20s),
I can only offer limited comparisons.
Empathy offers more protection in a team setting, while Pain helps Kill Rates.
Empathy when Regen Aura is up has better survivability, while Pain doesnt have that Dr.Jekyl/Mr.Hyde feeling at all. Pain can most likely solo better on an IOed build versus an IOed Empathy build. (Sorry, I can only compare IO'd Emp versus SO'd Pain)
Bottom Line:
If you only Team and are planning to IO the heck out of your toon, My vote would be Empathy.
If you mostly/often Solo ...OR... are not planning on IO-ing out your toon then I would choose Pain. -
Because of the announced Dark Blast / Dark Manipulation for blasters, I would guess that Dark Control / Dark Assault is a no-brainer. Here is my Logic. Since they have obviously spent some amount of time on Power Selection and Balance considerations for these Blaster sets, it stands to reason that they must have reached some decisions about Dark Control, Dark Assault and perhaps Dark Miasma for Controllers.
I also believe that Illusion is in the future for Dominators based on the simple fact that it is requested so much by the fans. The devs seem very interested in giving us what we want.
The only reason we probably do not already have it would be concerns about "building" Domination. They could solve those concerns with slight changes to certain powers; like Spectral and Deceive. Currently Fear and Confuse do not build Domination. But why shouldn't they ???
Like others have mentioned in the past, Control sets do not have much in the way of "natural" or "tech" themed sets. This seems a natural way(sorry for the pun) to pursue new and unique powersets for Doms and Controllers. As it stands now, my Controllers are ALWAYS Magic. Lets be honest, how many Magic Controllers do you know ? -
Quote:That is Sig-worthyOriginally Posted by Amy_Amp
....
If I need bodies for a team, and you are willing to team, then let's roll.
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Quote:I agree with what Adeon has said here, especially the part that has been Highlighted.Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
Your choice of secondary is not critical, some are better than others but the only one I'd really advise against on an Empath is Dual Pistols (Empaths tend to spend a lot of time alternating between attacking and Empathy and DP has a very long redraw time).
As others have noted Ice Blast is generally rated as one of the top Blast sets for Defenders in part because Ice Storm is a pseudo-pet that was never re-scaled for Defenders so it does Blaster level damage. Additionally Ice Blast provides good control (two holds and several AoE slows) and has a nuke that, as with Ice Storm, deals Blaster level damage.
So no, you aren't gimping yourself with Ice unless you don't take the attacks.
Personally, there will be differences between the secondary choices for an empath if you ever spend time soloing. Ice is one of the better choices for this type of player.
If you mostly team, then AoE and Control powers have some extra value, because you can throw them out between buff cycles. I am a big believer in using your primary to its fullest AND throwing out some attacks as much as you can while teamed, and Ice has some nice attacks.
With that being said, my Empath has 8 of 9 primary powers and 5 of 9 secondary picks. I would say that your group role forces you to pick and choose the best powers from your secondary, but don't EVER ignore your secondary. -
Quote:As always Tex, you have a great viewpoint to add to the mix.Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
I don't personally think someone soloing an AV with a Empath is a barrier to the set's design. If anything the popularity of the set is its own barrier.
IMO Empathy really does not need many changes. I would drop the recharge on Recovery Aura from 500 to around 240, and possibly make Resurrection work on living players as well as pets (instant full heal and full endurance but only available every so often). The set does not do much for soloing but I don't think soloing is the reason most people are attracted to it.
I feel that given the popularity of Empathy, we're more likely to eventually get (another) heal-based set with some modifications. That way people who enjoy the healer-style sets can have even more to play with.
I would add that a much bigger barrier to the set's ability to be improved stems from the core difference between "Buff-style" powersets and "De-Buff" powersets. This difference is more than a simple analysis of powers IMO and cannot be changed without altering the entire game drastically.
When you look at some of the newer sets being added, you can see that the developers understand this duality because they are giving us new powersets with a bit of both worlds. This allows a defender the tools to solo AND still perform their role on a team.
Will they ever re-visit Empathy's lack of enemy oriented powers ? Doubtful.
**But if they ever do, Here is my 2 cents.
Give me an Empathy version of confusion and this could dramatically alter soloing for empaths. The concept being that the empath "calms an enemy's hostile tendencies and creates 'Empathy' toward the Defender". I would make it single target and capable of confusing a Boss, rather than the AoE WoC toggle that we currently have in the game** -
Quote:Blasters for sure.Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
Meanwhile, over the past 3 years all Dominator characters have been recipients of one of the biggest buffs any single AT in this game has ever received in terms of changes to inherent powers and the proliferation of what are probably the best APPs in the game. You do not have to reroll your character to receive these advantages. IMO Blasters, Tankers, and Defenders should look at Dominators with envy no matter how many new power sets they get.
Really, the ONLY thing that stops me from rolling only Dominators and Brutes these days is the limitations of Dominator and Brute Primaries. IF these ATs get more choices over the next few issues, there will be little reason to play anything else. -
Quote:Herein lies the problem with getting any Empathy changes into the game.Originally Posted by Auroxis
...I don't personally think Empathy needs any buffs. With Clarion, Judgement, Reactive, IO's, and Lore pets there is nothing I feel like I really need anymore for soloing besides aggro management(mobs running around like headless chickens). I'm not denying that Empathy is a weak solo set, I'm merely trying to prove that being a weak solo set can be made insignificant with the current tools the game offers.
...
There are a significant number of folks that think Empathy is fine, Some that don't care, And a few (like myself) that want to see improvements.
I also think that some of the ones that don't think Empathy needs a buff to soloing are saying this because they dont want their Team (or Duo) effectiveness reduced as a result of improvements. Those that don't care include a large (and very vocal) group of Healorz-haters. And most of the few calling for improvements have been drowned out by the haters.
So which group do the developers listen to ? So far, that's been pretty obvious. -
I think PSYONICO was the Empath in question.
Not sure if the VIDs are still online though. It was some time ago. -
This has all been done before.
I seem to remember an Empathy - Energy player posting AV battles some time ago,
and he used hover-blasting too.
Let me just state that : Hover + Decent Attack Chain =/= Empathy is a decent solo set
Empathy is punished for its great team usefulness by being very poorly suited to soloing.
All that things like this do is push back the date that Empathy gets some well-needed attention in the superhero department.
However, Auroxis, Congrats on the accomplishment Well Done !
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Play a Dominator !
Melee, Ranged AND Control.
One of my most enjoyable (not necessarily powerful) combination has been Mind/Energy.
Confusion, Knockback, Holds, Knockback = Happy Melee Fun
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Quote:Reactive and Clarion are two Incarnates EVERY Empath should take.Originally Posted by Garent
Reactive is just that good. My storm/energy has more than enough damage to solo AVs now.
They are that good.
I imagine any Defender would want them as well. Cannot think of any reason not to take them. -
Quote:Funny you should bring this up. I just happen to be toying with the idea of 4 melee characters, one for each melee AT that will be based on the 4 elements.Originally Posted by ketch
I've got the notion, as many of us have at one point, to play each AT to level 50. At heart, I'm a controller and dom player so those are under the belt. I've branched out to other AT's that I felt have interesting mechanics and I'm nearing my 50 on a warshade and mastermind. My next objective will be one of the melee AT's, probably a stalker with a scrapper, a brute, and a tank to follow eventually.
So here is my question, without duplicating any primary or secondary, what are your recommendations for a stalker, a scrapper, a brute, and a tank? I'd like to keep the power sets varied both for a more entertaining experience and to gain a little more insight into how melee plays.
Here is what I have so far;
Stalker (AIR)
Brute (FIRE)
Scrapper (WATER)
Tanker (EARTH)
Good combinations I like so far;
Stalker (Electric/Electric, Electric/SR)
Brute (Fire/Fire, Fire/Energy)
Scrapper (Martial Arts/Willpower, MA/Regen)
Tanker (Super Strength/Stone, SS/Invuln )
You could switch up some combos and do a Water Tanker with Ice or many, many other elemental choices. Additionally Shield is possible for every combination if you alter your shield graphic. -
Quote:Hehe, perhaps.Originally Posted by DrGemini
Excuse me but a properly built Empath can even handle a few bosses. I can "****" a boss quite easily without pets. More than one boss at a time can be done depending on what they do.
If you are face-planting that much, then perhaps you suck not Empathy.
I can handle bosses quite well thanks. Two bosses, eh, not so much.
I have soloed Elite Bosses, even soloed the Alpha-unlock multiple times (counting beta attempts)
When I said face-plant regularly, that was not to say the majority of battles.
But when you contrast this against my Tanks, who only die on teams(never solo), then perhaps empathy is not meant to solo. No other powerset/AT/combo that I have played over the last 7 years (3 accounts) has more trouble soloing. But I have not tried them all. -
Dark/Sonic
Rad/Sonic
Blast sets are kinda suited to taste in my opinion, so you could go something else besides sonic and be fine, but sonic will dramatically increase your damage.
Several posters have indicated soloing GMs with Rad/Sonic, so that is FotM for defenders these days.
You mentioned Empathy. Did you just recently look into defenders ?
Sorry, not being snarky, but Empaths suck at soloing anything tougher than a Lieutenant.
Mine currently can solo +0/x3 no bosses with Uncommon Ion, Spiritual, Reactive, Storm Pet, and the Rare Clarion for perma mez protection. And I STILL manage to face-plant regularly.
So dont choose Empathy if you are looking for a Super Hero. -
Quote:Originally Posted by StratoNexus
No! Empathy is still fun. Also, it is always good to keep it around in case they buff it. No one expected Kin to get buffed, maybe Emps will too one day. This is what I have been thinking since about 2005.
You could be right Strato! Usually are.
Not to worry, Biospark is not going anywhere, except a dusty shelf.
There are other toys to play with. -
Quote:I stand corrected. StratoNexus and you have explained your point successfully.Originally Posted by rsclark
No, the power of the sets went up as well. I used the words I intended to use. My ill/sonic went from buffing and then standing around doing nothing waiting for my energy to come back enough to PA, to buffing and then blasting and holding away because I was using 1/7th the amount of energy to do the same job. That is a dramatic increase in power. On the trials, it's even more dramatic. Whether you count it as more players (and collaterally pets) buffed OR much less energy and time spent buffing everyone (leaving more for blasting and/or controlling), it still represents a huge leap in power.
My original comment still holds true in the spirit of which I took this point, and that is the fact that you are not "increasing" the survivability of any one team member by more that you could previously. You are simply increasing what you yourself can contribute over and above that previous amount of survival-per-time-spent-buffing.
Gosh! If I keep thinking about this and how my Empath got left out in the cold, I am really going to be angry. Good thing there is a Delete button for those times. -
Quote:I believe this just proves the point that buffing was tedious and full of issues. You COULD have had those same effects before, but would have required all the buffers to be completely prompt on keeping everyone "buffed" 100% of the time.Originally Posted by StratoNexus
As someone who plays in trials, I disagree. This change was a FLAT OUT MAJOR INCREASE in power. Before this change, I might have seen 120% defense in trials on occasion. Since this change, in my attributes monitor my defense is OFTEN BLUE; I sit at the hard cap frequently. Before this change, I felt lucky to have Speed Boost even if I had Kin on my team. Now I seem to have it almost all the time. My resistances are frequently blue in the attribute monitor, a sweet 75% to most damage types.
The change may not be a big deal on small teams. Even full teams who are used to solid buffing may notice little change. But in leagues the change is DRAMATIC.
It should also be very useful for MMs. Even in regular teams buffing MM pets was not a usual mode of operation, but now they just get splash buffs. I have only run one event with my MM since the change, and it was a Lambda. It was so very good for the pets to have shields too.
I will however conceed that it is an increase in power because each of the affected sets can spend MORE time blasting, meaning their Damage contribution just went up.
So, now I am really bummed about Empathy not being included in this QOL improvement.
I want to spend more time blasting too !! -
Quote:I am highlighting one thing you said here, which you may want to clarify or re-state.Originally Posted by rsclark
Fort is extremely easy to improve for QoL issues. Now, what I'm about to say does nothing for the overall power of the set, even though the other buffing sets did see a dramatic increase in power - I am merely addressing the QoL issue of constantly reapplying buffs.
Solution - make both duration and recharge of fort 3X longer. That puts it in the same neighborhood as the 4 minute shield buffs. But it doesn't allow you to keep it on more people than you currently can and it doesn't allow you to maintain it perm any sooner than you would have been able to without the change. All it does is allow the buffing process to occur less often. Pure QoL.
The "wow, this is the worst def set that doesn't have arrows" aspect can be left for a completely different solution.
This change did not increase any of the set's overall power. The effectiveness of each set has not changed. The "ease" of use did go up significantly. Perhaps you meant this and chose a different way to express it.
What others are saying, and which is completely true is that Empathy cannot get the same QOL boost without ALSO increasing its overall effectiveness. Sucks being an Empathy I guess. But that never seems to change. -
Quote:Hehe, Thanks Strato !Originally Posted by StratoNexus
The 100% recharge buff. Also the large slow resistance. Stop nerfing my ally targeted powerset to make it more solo friendly!
Play a rad if you want to solo. 
And WB, good to see you again.
(want your stuffs back?)
Hard to stay away, when every other game out there is not as good.
I was really, really unhappy about the way Incarnates turned out, but there is an outside chance of solo arcs, so we shall see.
and No to my stuffs I am sure you put it to good use.
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Been thinking on this Empathy concern since the day the Q.O.L improvement was announced and came up with yet another way that Empathy could be salvaged.
Recovery Aura : change recovery to 100% base
Regen Aura : change regen base to 300%
Adrenaline Boost : Leave duration and recharge alone, reduce recovery to 100% and regen to 200%, make the power a PBAoE buff which affects the Defender and all within 25-30ft and add a 30sec buff when activated which has the same effect as a small break free.
Allow this power to be clicked while under status effects.
For those that would be offended by the inability of this power to overcome "nuke" sickness, allow the power to grant 25 endurance as a one time boost as well.
**anyone notice something missing ?**
Solo Empath fixed ! With the use of their tier 9 power they get a break free once every 90 sec on a mature build. Combined effects do not far exceed the normal current auras and the solo empath might actually survive a fight over +2(x3) when RAs are down.
He would have to get to level 32 first though. Hmmm sounds familiar. -
Quote:THIS ! And as one of those Defender that has asked for improvements over the past 7 years, I would not hold out any hope that we will be seeing more damage in the future.Originally Posted by Amy_Amp
The inherit change to defender's damage pretty much kills any chance of defenders getting more damage.
Balance concerns may still exist between primaries, but asking for more damage is probably a futile hope. -
Quote:I think you understand this post perfectly. As a player that has spent a great deal of my time playing ; Empathy, Kinetics, Dark, Rad and FF, When I read this "QOL" improvement for "buffers", the Kinetics/FF in me said WoW ! Cool !, but the Empath in me said ; "Hey ! I am a buffer too!"Originally Posted by NuclearTwinkie
I don't really understand this post. It basically amounts to "We want our powers to be made better too! I don't know how, but we want stuff too!"
I have no specific ideas which would lessen the amount of time spent buffing while on a team which have not been "poked at" and "pooh'd" upon by one person or another. This is why I did not re-iterate some of my past Ideas. I like the idea of a PBAoE heal effect for Heal Other in theory, but think that the healing powers of Empathy are just fine. Empathy needs something to ease the pain of soloing AND something that makes buffing slightly less of a chore than it currently is (keep in mind that I have a high recharge build that easily keeps half the team under fort).Quote:Originally Posted by NuclearTwinkie
For Empathy, how about regen components added to the healing powers in exchange for some of the power. Target gets healed and increased regen for X seconds. Or maybe add a target component to the power, so it heals for X plus an additional X for each enemy in the area around the target it hits. Kind of like a healing Fulcrum Shift.
WRONG! Sorry to disagree, but this is not true. If you had said Kinetics or Thermal specifically, then I would agree, but FF does not even compare to my Empath in "busy-work" factor. Empathy is not the "most busy buffer", but it ranks pretty high on the list (if you do it right).Quote:Originally Posted by NuclearTwinkie
There are always ways to make a powerset better. But I guarantee that shield powersets spend much more time buffing people than empathy. -
Quote:Yeah sub in Caltrops for Dragon's Tail.Originally Posted by Angelxman81
I would put Caltrops in the build too.
The biggest problem with the choices given in the OP (and other threads) is that you are basically taking more than half the martial arts powers to get the powerset fleshed out. I do not believe that we will be so lucky.
My guess, based on Energy Manipulation is that we would see;
Crane Kick or CAK for the Tier one
Two of the following (Thunder Kick, Storm Kick, Cobra Strike, Caltrops, Shurikens)
MAYBE Eagle's Claw or Dragon's Tail, but not both.
Then Focus Chi plus an assortment of utility powers that would be geared towards the primary instead of survival.
I would like to see passives like the OP suggests, but there is no precedent in Blasters' current powers, so I highly doubt we would see Auto powers. More Likely, there would be things like ; Conserve Power, Boost Range, Powerboost, Focused Accuracy, etc...
Also.... If they were designing it more as a "Natural" based theme, then they could pull from both Martial Arts AND Super Strength, to get more attacks that let you make either a "Kick-Boxer" or a "Brawler".
So add in things like; Jab, Punch, Haymaker, and Knockout Blow to the list of possibilities.