CircuitBoi

I think it is interesting to see who is most impacted by these boss changes. My take, in decending order of impact, gives blasters the greatest impact, then defenders, then scrappers, then controllers, then tankers. That's just based on my observations, of course, and is strictly related to the post-32 game, and doesn't take into account different sets within ATs.

And now here's why. Solo blasters have no defense. They have no AT-specific way to recover hit points quickly. They have very little in effective crowd control. Damage as control doesn't work on bosses, since they have lots of health (and you just increased it). Two shots, game over. Insps might drag this out to three shots, but blasters are still boss-cream-cheese. A blaster can't kill a boss quickly enough not to feel the pain. I am not so sure what impact the APPs have on this.

Defenders have buffs/debuffs. This gives them a slight up on blasters. They typically have a heal in their sets, which extends their healths. When they get their APPs, they'll have improved crowd control. But they are still two or three very quick hits from the hospital.

Now the high level game jumps significantly in boss survivability with the scrapper. They have good defense, respectable hit points, and some of them have ways to restore HP. They also have forms of damage mitigation (resistance). But it is still a three-hits and you go to the hospital issue for some of them. On a plus-side, they can survive well enough that their damage does reduce the fight-time.

Controllers come in next. But this is a pretty unfair discussion for everyone else, because a typical controller past lvl 32 doesn't really solo anymore. We're slightly more squishy than the defender (but less than the blaster). However, that doesn't matter, because all of us can stack 4 magnitude quickly enough to neuter the boss. Yes, all controllers past 32 can lockdown an even-con boss, although some might not have slotted their powers to do so. Controllers are probably the safest AT to play in a high-level solo boss fight, it just takes 10 minutes.

Finally, there are the tanks. Tanks can typically still toe-to-toe with bosses. They can't be two-shot or three-shot, barring some really heinous mezzing, and even then they have more health than anyone else. It still takes a while to defeat the boss, but not as much time as the controller.

So, my point here is this: All the boss difficulty-increase does is increase the gap between the ATs when it comes to fighting bosses. Tanks and Controllers aren't really going to notice much. Blasters and Defenders are going to feel weakened. This isn't a good idea after so much discussion trying to balance the ATs and their roles across the game.

Everyone solos some. And I think it's a good idea too! Soloing is more casual, you can play around with your powers more, and it's not all about damage, damage, damage. Teams seem to be about speed, until there's something they can't beat without some discussion of tactics. I'd have never developed my Team Teleport/Singularities as aggro mags/GDF/FS combo if all I did was team.

With issue 3 changes to team teleport, the grav controller-tanker will be born!

A group of singies team teleported with you into a battle (just towards the edge) gets them in aggro range of everything. In fact, because they take up no space, they share the exact same location as you once you teleport them. Neat huh? Makes them very easy to position. And more imporantly, it sets them up for full Fulcrum Shift buffage. This takes practice so you can tp in at the right distance not to cause a repel issue, but it is completely doable.

AOE is still a problem, so feel free to take a few steps back and just move in for the Siphon Power buffing you have to do.

This tactic might look a little suicidal. But as long as you are careful you can get awesome tactical positioning out of it. You can select a mob to target, then throw team teleport, click on your aoe hold as you teleport in, and you arrive just in time to hold the mobs. Or take another controller with you and let them do it with their faster activation time!

And bring the blasters with you, they'll love the FULL fulcrum shift buff. Warn them what's about to happen so they don't run away from the buff aoe. Or die of fright for that matter.

The tanks and scrappers might find this tactic a little annoying if they stand too close. Be warned.

Other warnings: This tactic doesn't work well with concealment pool powers. You lose your stealthy attribute when the singies attack. Also invisibility and phase shift will prevent you from bringing your pets with you.

Don't freak out too much if a boss gets a hold on you. Your singies are immune to those, and they hate it when someone is mean to you.

Put team teleport on an accessible keaybind so you can move in quickly. And be ready to use it if things go badly.

Take SOMETHING to improve your defense. I used maneuvers. Be a little bit calm and don't try to aggro the world. I have not tried to use this tactic in combination with any application of crushing field, which I fear would cause massive pavement consumption through its aggro-generation.

I have another story of prompt GM timing.

I had just searched top to bottom this office looking for my last hostage and was frustrated. I sent my petition, then went to the bathroom and to the kitchen for a soda. The GM was there and all set to help me out before I got back to the computer. I messaged and said yo, he teleported me to the badguys.

Well, he did teleport me (a grav/kinetics controller) to the bad guys after all my singies had already timed out. That could have put me in a bad spot, but it just made for a more intense fight. He apologized right after, but I told him there was no foul there. He didn't send me to anything that I couldn't handle.

Pretty sure he knew that before hand, though! It was a touch of a wake-up call for me. Hey! Look! I don't need an army of pets (3) to survive! I usually play so cautiously, a side-effect of being a controller for the first 31 levels I guess.

Big hugs and kisses, GMs! Do they all live here in Austin with me? If so, it's no wonder they're so cool.

Well, personally as a controller, I think this could be a good thing. If it just breaks holds, thats cool. If the different strengths shorten holds, that's cool too. Having some bad guys break out of my permaholds would be good to keep me on my toes.

The idea of combining it with the discipline inspiration sounds bad though. That's like giving a blaster an inspiration that increases his defense and his hit points. It seems like too much punch for just one "pill". You want that? Take your "freedom" pill and then take your discipline pill.

That's fair game by me. I'll just have to be good enough to keep my controller alive while you run out of pills. Which will cause me to use pills too. It could be a truely epic battle in PvP! Heh heh.