Black_Marrow

A pun only lacks foundation if it is revealed within the first 2 replies.

I believe it's foundation was fine.

*Shrug* Whatever floats your boat I suppose. I got a few interested people in /t's and some from another forum I visit, making a total of 7 people who want the spot now, so rather than first come first serve we've changed it to a group vote thing. Post a character background some time soon and we'll take a look.

Why, exactly?

@nightookami: possibly. Someone expressed they're prefer 5 for some reason, so im unsure. Post a character background or something and I'll happily consider it.

Maybe giving it to corruptors will help, considering corruptors are more commonly played in groups nowadays and actually have a higher chance that the player behind the wheel isnt a complete moron. From my experience it seems there's no middle ground with Mastermind skill, either the're terrible and deserve to have their characters deleted (about 94% of MMs), or are so amazing that I get jealous (6% of MMs). And this has nothing to do with powerset choices just the class in general. The whole concept is cool at first, but getting it to work is a real pain.

The best way to handle someone who is just a bad player is to help them out rather than yell at them for being bad. If no one steps up to offer help and/or guidance to the terrible players then we'll just have a bunch of terible players forever.

This. Using OPs logic, I can tank on my Plant/Emp using nothing but Seed of Confusion. That's not tanking, just CC. My Crab Spider tanks, but that's because he has softcapped Defense to all positions 50-30% res to most, a decent self heal/+HP and an AoE taunt, along with 2 good AoEs that are DoTs, which also provide nice DeBuffs, I buff my entire parties Dmg and Acc and I give about 21% Defense to the whole team. Jumping in, not dying and holding aggro is essentially tanking. Granted, a Storm Defender CAN tank, as can a Force Fielder and a few more, but in order to actually tank, you need Provoke, at least.

I found Electric Melee a good place to start on a scrapper to help understand how stalkers play and still have some AoE potential. The powerset isnt as great on single target as the others, granted, but it puts out good DPS if you actually try. Pair with a defense/utility based secondary (examples: Ninjitsu, Energy Aura) and you'll have alot of fun.

I completely forgot about GR. Just give Poison to Corruptors and leave it at that, if anyone wants to be heroic they can swap sides.

And it would make up for Defenders having Psy Blast Well not really, but its a step in the right direction.

Thanks for turning a silly, only semi-serious thread into a numbers game.

Lowering the Defense softcaps for other ATs is the easy way of saying: "I wanna tank on my Blaster, and I dont wanna spend that much Inf on it".

Honestly, the balancing portion of this is that the ATs that get Defense buffs HAVE DEF BUFFS. Granted, it's 100% Possible to softcap ranged def on a blaster, but at what cost to damage, a blasters primary role? As it is, any AT can get softcapped defense to at least 1 position, and to do so means to sacrifice alot of build room. The whole point is to promote people to stay focused on their primary role.

Take for instance my Crab, He's at the softcap for all 3 positions. I took provoke, extra leadership powers, tough and weave and IO'd him for nothing but survivabilty. His Resists are around 50% to all, he has softcapped Defenses, and a Strong Self Heal/+HP Power, along with a group damage and ToHit buff and 21% defnse for my whole team. I tank on him. The only downside is his damage. If I had slotted +Acc, +Dam and took more ranged attacks, his DPS would be fantastic. As it is, his DPS is lacking in comparison to other Crabs, but is fantastic compared to tankers. The only drawback is his low base HP, which is only 1300ish without Serum active (with it its more like 2000). The point si that I spent so much of his build focusing on his Defense and Survivabilty that there's no way he can DPS like other Crabs can. Lowering the Defense Softcap for Arachnos Soldiers would mean I could change my build to include more Damage buffs, include the nuke and maybe even the pets, which would effectively double his damage or more, ALONG with being able to tank (Or I could get more +HP buffs and get to around 1600 instead). Granted, I woundnt complain, but It would be VERY overpowered.

Power Thrust isnt exactly a melee attack, it's more of a Knockback tool. Stun is Equivalent to Cobra Strike for the most part though. Also, energy only really has 3 melee attacks, Energy Punch, Bone Smasher and Total Focus. I could see a more natural feeling set, but there's a point where it may just be better to put some survivabilty abilities in this blaster secondary. Not nearly as much as a Stalker or Scrapper, mind you. Maybe a Weave clone would work (Small Def buff to everything toggle), or maybe have something of a combination of Focused accuracy and Weave: Alertness (Small Def Buff, maybe 8% Unenhanced and an 8% ToHit buff unenhanced, and a Perception bonus of around 30%). This could add a small toggle buff (with a rather steep END cost mind you) that could make it a much more Blapper-centric secondary to compliment people who enjoy blapping. The only problem with this would be IO Bonuses and Defense softcap, consider people already can get softcapped defense on blasters as it is, but at least this way a Blapper-y set can have a bit more survivabilty out of the box.

In this instance, do not give it boost range, instead give it Focus Chi (Build Up, essentially) and leave it at that. The melee attacks would need to be a little less flashy in comparison though. Perhaps having Crippling Axe Kick swapped out for something more like Conserve Power. This would remove the immobilize, sure, but we have Cobra Strike and whatever mezzes from our Primary for Mezzes to work with. Crane Kick is a good idea, but make the Knockback chance guaranteed on hit (so long as enemy doesnt have high enough KB resists of course) like Pwoer Thrust, so they have another tool. Dragon Tail also feel a little out of Whack, but I see no other real option for an AoE in Melee, and a blappery set needs one, unlike Energy Manipulation.

Also, why All of the little tools like Binding Powder, Caltrops and Smoke Flash? Smoke Flash seems fine (and the Placate would add some addd survivabilty to Blapper life, though, I rarely see it hit on Stalkers as it is), but Caltrops is already in a Blaster secondary, so why not something a little different? As far as natural abilities go, why not an Autopower like Quickness from Super Reflexes (Small speed and recharge buff) or Physical Perfection from the Scrapper and Tank epic sets? Quickness wouldn't unbalance blasters as far as I can tell, and Physical Perfection doesnt affect anything but Recovery that a blaster can really get any use out of (Regen is pointless on a class that will get 1, 2, or 3 shotted regardless of Resistance toggles from our epic sets). Blinding Powder seems somewhat out of place here, so why not a Smoke Grenade (-ToHit, and Perception). I realize this one is in a Blaster secondary as it is, But this is a tool that can assist your teammates quite well. Granted the -ToHit really doesnt make a hige difference, but the -Perception will help any Stealthers in your party from enemies that have Perception buffs (cage consortium, Arachnos, longbow and more).

And maybe instead of smoke grenade, an entirely different power is needed, something a bit more original: Supply Drop. Similar to Triage Beacon, it has a Periodic Heal in the area around it. Animation could be Throwing a Grenade on the ground, releasing colored smoke, and then a padded crate hits the ground on it's location. The effect could also be, instead, a long-term buff that randomly buffs players in the group with a small buff similar to Telling other players fortunes.

Just spouting ideas here, if you see any you like, take em.

Also, that was ALOT longer then I originally intended, but there's no problem with that.

/Signed