DreadDormammu

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Now, the issue is more specifically - what does a Blaster do that a Scrapper can't already do? Or, even worse, is a Scrapper inherently "stronger" than a Blaster.

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Seems to me, in almost every group I'm in, that Blasters easily get 3 times the number of defeat messages that Scrappers do. The ability to change targets without moving adds so much more to Blasters offensive output than people seem to realize.

Blasters need to have their survivability tweaked. Blasters do not need one single bit of extra offense. That is not their problem.

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1. Impliment PvP damage resist bypass in PvE.

2. Increase the range of all primary powers to be greater than the Diameter of Foot Stomp. Greater.

3. Take all PbAoE status effects and toggles in Blaster Secondaries and make them summonable drops or target toggles. Other than cloaking device of course.

4. Make all current melee attacks have a range of 20 feet, either by changing the animations or just letting them have the range. Increase the damage on Melee AoE attack powers again.

5. (stolen idea) Give each single target attack a -10% res that lasts 5 seconds. This not only helps boost the blasters damage a minute amount but also allows the blaster to help a team. Thus encouraging teaming.

6. Swap the damage caps of blasters and scrappers.

7. Remove the rooting effect from blaster attacks.

8. Faster activation times on powers for blasters.

9. Making level 32 nukes into more useable AoE powers like Head Splitter or Full-Auto and less situational all end consuming powers.

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This list is insane. If all of these were implemented, Scrappers would go back to being less useful than Blasters in 100% of situations.

The big difference is that ACC debuffs are proportional to your enemies chance to hit you. Example:

Minion of equal level has a base 50% chance to hit you. A 5% DEF buff, will reduce that chance to 50 - 5 = 45%. A 5% ACC debuff will reduce that chance to 50 - (5% of 50 =) 2.5% = 47.5%. In most cases, DEF buffs are superior, but ACC debuffs are better against extremely dangerous foes (those with over 100% base ACC). Also, as mentioned, ACC debuffs tend to be AE so provide a larger overall benefit against large groups in such cases.

Actually, as far as coolness goes, I wouldn't even mind if base raids had "fake battles". In other words, offline members of the SG could be fighting "fake" enemies that can't be targeted. It would again be window dressing that would make the whole event more immersive and "totally awesome". It would ratchet up the adrenaline to feel like you are in a larger battle. Granted, this carries the potential confusion of trying to attack enemies that aren't real, but consider this: it could even reflect overall status of the fight. As the raid was lost, your offline heroes might be going down or surrounded by 2-3 guys. If the raid were being defeated, you could see the offline guys mopping up.

OK OK. This again adds complexity. But I am just saying: nothing needs to be modelled for reality as I understand it. What I think Zombra means (and certainly how I feel) is that it would be cool *looking* even if it had no actual effect on the game to have these offline characters hanging around. Improves immersion, roleplaying etc etc etc...

And again, all this talk of base defense, debt, xp and so forth is really extraneous. The most important thing is just the visual. If the offline SG members hang around in the base but don't do anything more than other NPCs in the game, it would still be awesome and would have no complications.

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The problem with off-line characters being present in the base is what happens if the base is raided (by players or possibly PvE, who knows)? Do you really want to come back on and find out your hero was defeated while you were away?

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This argument still seems dumb to me. NPCs on the street do weird things like disappear in thin air or police get mugged by thugs or mekmen act like hostages.

This is all about cool window dressing. Even if the heroes don't act in normal ways, it would be cool.

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a hot tub too? Then the male and female heroes can get nude on a server made for adults.

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You haven't seen the nude characters yet?

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Here, here! Or is it "Hear, hear!"?

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It's hear, hear! And I second the sentiment.

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What would happen if someone deletes a character, though? Also, what would happen when someone logs in as a character that is invloved in some animation with other offline characters?

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Eh, we see characters fade in and out already, so it wouldn't be so disjointed for it to happen in our bases.

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For me, that's the real benefit for trading off forward advancement and access to powers: When the mentoring session takes an ugly turn you can unleash your real potential on your foes to protect your student. Especially with the ability to get deeper into debt mentioned further down the thread from your post, forcing characters to be stuck at a low level is basically like punishing them for helping their friends. That nobody really gets any exp for the mobs that drop once you unexemplar is penalty enough for doing so, there's no need to make some arbitrary level lock during missions.


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Spot on. There is no real reward worth thinking about for /exemplaring, so there should be no real penalty. It's just a way to play with friends. Don't make it a huge risk on top of that.

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Ah - therein lies the issue. Personally, I see the level 40 minion in a whole class than a level 5 minion. They're from other dimensions. They're equipped to the teeth with experimental weaponry. They're giant robots bristling with missiles.

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This would be great if it were true. However, there are Crey Medics in the 30s and Nemesis guys with rifles in the 40s. Those are very same-feeling as any other "normal guy" minion.

Rikti minions do feel like an appropriate 3-on-1 foe for a high level hero. Crey guys dressed like riot police don't.