Ex_Libris

What a bunch of CRAP! Just cuz I am a elec/elec blaster, I am the crap of the barrell of Blasters? What a bunch of.........

HEHEHEHEHEHEHE, just kidding.

Hey man, very good post, it makes me feel like starting a hero all over again. I am a Elec/Elec blaster, and I am level 21 now. I have fun, and I do good damage, but your post makes some sense on how to do more. I am not into power leveling, just want to maximize my damage potential and this is a great guide. I am linking this on my site with your permission, as it is a great guide for any Blaster. If they take the time to read it, they will see all sorts of ways to improve thier hero.

Is it okay to link this? Just give me a reply here or PM me. Thanx.

Great post, 5 stars!!

Upon further review.............this is still the best thread evar.

How in the hell can you kill swarms for 4-5 hours? That sounds insanely boring....

"Or Blasters really did suck during beta (I didn't play one) and at the end, with too little time to test, they were adjusted and improved a hair too much, with more pressing things doubtlessly coming up after release than rebalancing Blasters. "

One to one and half weeks before the end of Beta, the Devs increased hit points of blasters to be equal to defenders (same for controllers) because the Devs ran stats that Blasters died twice as often as any other Archetype.

And just a few days before going to pre-order live, they increased Blaster damage by a %. No where was it posted how much this % increase was except that it was close to 25%-30% damage increase. I can only assume the reasoning for this was to counteract the damage output a Radiation Defender with Accelerate Met. and Envenerating Field could dish out (pre-live nerfage) to targets.

Not to mention many AE damage powers had an increase as well (i.e. Ice Breath) just before pre-live as well.

Blasters per se never really sucked during Beta but when you were as fragile as you were (pre-changes) and didn't dish out any more damage than most optimized other Archetypes, Blasters were gimpy compared to some of the others who had damage + multiple utility powers.

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Finally, for those who are still new to the whole blaster thing, the fire blasters being an "AOE build" just means that they have just one AOE, fire ball. Very nice attack and I use it all the time, but that is the extent of their AOE superiority.

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All right I see bull [censored], let's set the record straight and include Fire Breath in there. You must be half asleep or not paying attention. Add Fire Sword Circle and Inferno for kicks.

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But the fact is that after level 10 or so, you really don't care about melee damage as much, there's very few villains that can get into melee range with you, and even fewer that have a melee attack you worry about.

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You must be still fighting Hellions then. Higher level Capo Muscles, Freak Smashers & Swipers will stun and kill you in 2 hits. I can think of more, but you obviously haven't seen higher mobs than that. Get a bit higher in level before you start making up incorrect generalizations.

Seriously, this thread should have been closed and saved at the top of the blaster forum as a guide before all this nonsense got put into it.

Mezrah_FearGiver and anyone else reading this for the guiding part, there has been several threads leveling guides like this before. Here is the thread I wrote for instance:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...t=all&vc=1

Also seen many on the general boards and various other class boards.

Thanks much Luscina, good info to know.

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Would sure be nice if this could be put on the webpage.

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Eh, I might as well throw that up -- gimme a minute.

EDIT: I'm going to do quite a bit of tidying and site maintenance, check out my progress.

"What is it, 'Patch?"

He didn't particularly care for her ever-exasperated tone of voice, but if he wanted to accomplish the tasks he had set out for himself, he would have to simply deal with Sarah Davies. It was almost enough for him to want to go tell her husband to put a leash on his cat, but he wasn't in the mood to watch and perhaps partake in the subsequent theatrics.

"Why didn't you tell me about Baumtown?" he asked. His monotone did not betray anything. He was actually not at all bothered by the lack of info, but getting her irritated was usually a good way to acquire intel. She had a tendency to blurt things out when mad.

"Because I didn't," was her answer, but the bunching of muscles at her jawline told him he already was under her skin.

"Look, if you think I can't hack it, just go ahead and say it--"

"5th Column's getting uppity. Don't know what they've got planned," Davies said. Her eyes didn't leave the newspaper. They never did. He sometimes wondered if her powers somehow resided in that paper. Perhaps information came to her and it was the equivalent of an information black hole.

Only less efficient; she leaked stuff out.

"5th Column's planning something?" he asked.

"Like I said, I don't know. That's what you're here for; to get me information."

He shrugged. "Then I'll get it. All you have to do is ask. No need to get defensive."

Yeah, that scored.

So. First things first. Go check out the 5th Column and see what's going on in Baumtown. To go in there alone would risk suicide, and beings that he did not yet have stealth skills, he would have to use brute force to acquire the information he seeked. Doing so in the rat's nest of mooks would not be the most intelligent of tasks.

Well. Atlas Park's 5th Column... ists... were not usually in-the-know, as being so close to the hive of heroes, giving them sensitive information would be on par with just handing it over to him personally.

However... Steel Canyon was not too far away. He could check that out, perhaps find something, perhaps not. If things got too boring, he could always just go to Perez Park and crack some Skulls (pun intended).

Before he came to this city, he was Jack Larson. Worked for the Counter Terrorist Unit and Central Intelligence's Special Operations Group (SOG). After the Damascus Incident, however, he was simply known by his designation while across seas: Soul Patch.

Pump a round into the chamber. Time to gather intel.

"I can feel the nerf bat winding up"

Yeah, I think they have been doing a fine job of rebalancing... but I also think they should not rebalance ANYTHING AT ALL before respec is put in. Doesn't matter if it is broken or not, if I build a character based on an ability that gets changed, I need to be able to change with it. This is by far the most common reason I have quit previous mmorpgs.

As far as the sleep/stun thing: I have combat jumping, which resists immob, and acrobatics, which resists hold/knockback...

BUT acrobatics costs endurance that I would rather spend defeating mobs, and you can't get protection from sleep at all. Not only that, but even popping iron wills before a fight, they still sleep me...

One of the biggest secrets to powerleveling is to CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTS. That's why superspeed is a must. Rewards are not balanced for the difficulty of an encounter. If I want to make exp, I don't fight bosses. I don't fight high level stuff. I don't fight anything that sleeps me. You run around with superspeed and choose the fights that offer the best rewards for the difficulty - you farm.

Thanks for a great post.
Very informative.

Hey Wasabi_Joe thanks for that last post explaining how it works.

I've successfully created those files and have fixed my problem. It involved making

fxw
fxwa
fxwd
fxwad
fxs
fxsa
fxsd
fxsad

I am currently testing it out and will search for any additional files I need to add or any other bugs. When satisfied I'll post an updated set or something.

**Edit - Couldn't manage to access my FTP host, been so long since I've needed to put a file up, so if you want my changes, just Private Message your email addy to me and I'll send them. In total, I had to modify every fx...txt but it works great now.

What do blasters do for defense against being held/disoriented/slept? I asked this question in a thread where I was looking for guidance with my Ice/Dev build but unfortunately got no response.

Soloing for me with the blaster has meant really loathing mobs that stun, and I just can't keep enough luck/discipline inspirations on hand to have them constantly going.

"We were ambushed by the 5th column, you can help us get away and out of Baumtown, and I wouldn't know, but with Lobe here, I doubt it."
The hero's response is all Fyre needs. He jumps into the air, and flies up to the hole in the building to check the situation. He hovers there, squinting as his eyes adjust to the lighting.
"Hello? Anybody in there?"
A sudden burst of gunfire answers his question. He falls from the air, and hits the ground, a small cloud of dust rising from the sidewalk as he lands. The others look at him in surprise. He coughs, and smiles weakly.
"Thank God for kevlar, eh guys?"
He hops back onto his feet, and jets back towards the fight. He lands just inside of the hole, and lets out a huge fireball before even taking aim. Luckily, he hits his targets just where he wanted. Still shocked from the sudden attack, and frantically trying to shake off the fire, the 5th Collumn soldiers are unprepared as Danny runs forward, throwing rings of fire around various foes. He stops short as he comes across someone on the floor. He quickly checks the pulse with one hand as he throws flares out into the crowd of enemies with the other, but it doesn't do enough. The tell-tale sound of a grenade shooting from the barrel of a gun is more than Danny needs.

He grabs the stranger on the ground, and runs full speed back the way he came.
"How do I always get mixed up in these situations twenty minutes after leaving the house?"
Fyre hoists the man onto his shoulder, and dives through the hole while laser beams, flames, and bullets follow. He answers his own question as he hovers down to the ground.
"Oh yeah, I'm a superhero."

Breathing deeply, Danny gently sets down the hero, who appears to still be conscious. He then looks around at the others.
"Talk about a warm welcome. You'd almost think those guys weren't happy to see me."
With that, Danny lets himself slide down the wall of the building, gasping for breath.

Forbidden Legion

25th lvl + ONLY (don't even approach us about membership until you're at least 25th lvl.)

Must have VERY high play time on your MAIN. (5 days a week with 5+ hours played per session). We start at 4:00 p.m. ET and end around 2 a.m. ET).

You will NOT be an officer. (This is an old guild. The officers are already chosen. We don't hold elections.)

Nurse Frank rules with an iron fist. (Please don't be offended easily. We like to win and whiners will not be tolerated.)

You need to be a Mature player. (I don't care if you're 12 years old. If you're a mature player, then you can find a home here).

We want people that know their role and are able to participate in Task Forces on a daily basis. (If you're a Healer, heal. If you're a blaster, blast. If you're a Tanker, then for the love of god tank. Just know your role and do it very well.)

This is not a SG for everybody. It's for the serious players that care a lot about playing CoH. (Many people will not want to be a part of FL because we're more hard-core than most others. That's OK. This is a super group for people that play a lot. We'll probably raise the minimum level to 40 within a few weeks.)

Website will be published as soon as Cliche and Doby figure out what the hell they're doing. (We've owned the domain for 3+ years but can't decide on the format for the CoH site. Go figure.)

For More Information See:

Nurse Frank
Cliche
Strag
Quazit
Agitator
Icee Blast
Doby

You must know one of those heroes in order to be considered for membership. Talk to them. Group with them. They're all nice people that love kittens and warm milk.

As for the burn "exploit" or the hasten "exploit" or the provoke/invinc "exploit"; its a load of crap all of it. The devs are delaying the inevitable. This game is unfortunately doomed. They are trying to balance out something that in a year will be running at AC2 numbers. If someone finds a way to level fast or have some fun let em. Your mistake not theres. Stop worrying about what to nerf and start worrying about what happens when the players hit lvl 40 and have nowhere to go. Start worrying when the players have read the book and seen the movie. With CoV not coming out for another year roughly then its gonna take alot of content update patches to keep anyone occupied for to long. I have a lvl 23 char and several lvl 15 and belows; to tell you the truth I am really getting bored. All there is to do is fight and if your not fighting your doing nothing. I dont count looking for a group or soloing, which if I wanted to do I would play Sacred or Far Cry, as something that breaks the monotony of the level grind. They had noble intentions when they started the game but somewhere it fell out from under them. I was really looking forward to this game but its lack of space and content is going to be its downfall. Granted it is fun blasting out tons of goons is the streets of Paragon, or at least it was then first 100+ hours I did it. I really could care less about fighting that new giant robot or circus clown gone bad, its all the same. As for pushing strategy and working harder for your kills; how can you even say its hard to develop strategy for this game. If things go bad its because a moron joined the group and doesnt know his job not because the AI is so smart and you have to develop new strategy. Its basic and once you figure out a good way to take em down you do it over and over again in every city zone in the game.

Lack of interest in future updates will kill them and nerfing everyone under the sky will not help players to want to stick around when more online games come out in only a few months (i.e. Guild Wars--not that great--, WoW--could be good--, EQII--another could be good--) Those few come out in August and have good potential.

We will see and only time will tell. I would like to renew interest in CoH as it is one of the few original online games on the market. I am a little dissapointed with the approach and lack of non-combat content though.

"Come on Nate, we're all down, let's go!"

Nathan heard Sly Fox's voice over the noise of the fifth column and the steady whine of his repulsion field and nodded, slowly backing towards the hole in the wall a few feet behind him. The strain from holding back so many enemies was almost too much for him and he felt his energy starting to bottom out.

"Too many..." he muttered, clenching his teeth as he moved back towards the wall. "I cant hold them for much longer..."

As he slowly inched backwards, trying to reach the wall, Nathan felt his energy flatline for a second, but that was all the fifth soldiers needed. As his repulsion field collapsed, he swore, turning to run through the Lobe shaped holes to join the group outside. Suddenly, a burst of gunfire knocked him off of his feet, sending him headfirst into the wall.

"...goddamnit!" Nathan swore, struggling to his feet through a hail of bullets, managing to crawl through the first hole before collapsing.

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The only thing I have to kind of disagree about is endurance drain being worthless. Your example friend didn't take Short Circuit, our primary end drain skill. It has an inherent +20% acc according to the hero planner, and unslotted will drain a little under 1/2 enemy endurance and prevent regen. I've read from other topics as well that Super Speed + Stealth is an awesome combination. Use that, speed into a group and open with Thunderclap. Follow up with Short Circuit. Run back and use Thunderous Blast, everything has 0 endurance that is still standing.


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Or you could just skip the first three steps and Thunderous Blast them to begin with.

There's almost no mobs you'll come across where draining their endurance is better than defeating them.

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Endurance Drain has the potential to be the best defense, the only problem is that you need to get them to 0 and keep them at 0 or it really is as worthless as you describe it.

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But in that same amount of time you could just defeat him. Seems better.

Building an endurance drain blaster might be fun, or roleplay, or match your style, but it certainly is not for the powerleveler.

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I will not argue with you though about Elec being lacking for a power gamer. Late blooming means slow leveling early on, and even the combo I described above is probably slower xp than what you describe doing.

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exactly.

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Pressing 'x' whith either 'w' or 's' will always break the binds. those are two key combos I have left out. The only reason is that the 'x', 'w' , 's' set seemed to be used mostly by one finger and so I didnt think those combos would be used much. In order to incorperate them into the binds that I have the following files would have to be made fwx.txt, fsx.txt and fwsx.txt. The last one would be only to keep the system robust.

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Cool, I'll try to figure this system out and modify it but I have to admit I haven't played with binds much yet. Would it be accurate to presume that those 3 files would look much the same as their Spacebar alternates, with space "$$" and x "+down$$bind_load_file c:/coh/moves/fly/fs.txt" ?

Also would I have to put links to these files anywhere else?

Thanks to everyone who has worked and keeps working to perfect this set!!

I agree completely that Electricity's secondary effect is inferior in its usefulness in PvM Vs the other blaster primaries.

But has anyone taken time to consider the potential juggernaut endurance draining/stunting it could be in PvP (especially group PvP)? Assuming there is a possibility that actual damage dealing might be reduced in pvp to make the battles longer and less DAOC-like, this secondary effect might all of a sudden become quite valuable to top level villain/hero fighting endeavors. I think this line holds its own nicely in PvM and any requests to change the line should be held until CoV is released and rolling for a few months.

*CRACK* The wooden pole gave way just as Crazy Baby Boom hit the asphalt. Immediately, he leaned forward with all his might, snapping the pole forward, smashing the parked SUV and shattering a fire hydrant.

Boom didn't care there was a hangman's noose around his neck or the water was ice cold. He smelt like rotten fish and stale mushrooms. He got fairly clean by the time the exposed water main lost pressure.

Pulling chunk of upholstery out of the destroyed Escolade, he dried off. Then he gathered up his clothes, grabbed a tire, hoisted the pole (still attached to his neck, a very tricky operation) and went 6 blocks over to where the next water main, naked to the world.

Hey a guy's gotta have clean clothes, right?

Crazy Baby looked at the light pole again. For the last hour he'd been calculating how to get the rope around it so it was just right: not too long not too short. Too long and he'd hit the ground and too short he wouldn't build up enough velocity. After about another 20 minutes of trial and error he finally gets the rope over the long arm of the lightpole.

A cold breeze shuffled through the air, reminding him in a way, just how lonely he really is. His SuperGroup, The Date Rapiers, was largely ignored, his talents as a tanker were underappreciated and his humor was often seen as belligerant and boorish. After all, when you're in the City of Heroes, just one more good deed done by a hero matters jsut one bit more, right?

Now that rope was secure and properly knotted, Crazy Baby Boom dragged a dumpster out of an alley way. Normal people would use a stool for this part but CBB is an even 8 feet tall, so all conventions of normality cease.

Boom shucked all his clothes and neatly folded them up next to the dumpster. Not that it really mattered. He hadn't taken a shower in over a month and the homeless shelter refused to let him in since the Vahz zombie incident, resulting in numerous injuries and fatalities.
"At least those damn corpses got what was coming to them," Boom smiled reminiscing over the ensuing carnage.
So there he was, naked, alone,standing on a dumpster with a noose around his neck. He had no worries, no fears and no future.
Crazy Baby Boom jumped from the dumpster and into infinity of dirty yellow lights and nightime gloom.


TO BE CONTINUED

"Listen, lady, I did everything I could, but--"
"Don't you 'listen, lady' me! The damage done is not repairable!"
Danny Fyre sighs, and scratches the back of his head. He brushes a piece of spiked brown and red hair out of his eyes, and attempts to speak up.
"But, really, it wasn't all that--"
"Don't you talk back to me!"
The stubborn woman, no younger than 60, hits Danny in the shins with her cane once again. He winces, but tries to hide it beneath his black rubber mask.
"I'm very sorry about your purse, ma'am, but I DID catch the crook."
Danny holds up the unconsious form of a Hellion in one gloved hand. The gang member hangs limply from his grip like a rag doll. The woman spits on the ground, and ignores Fyre's statement.
"Look at my purse! Look at it!"
She thrusts the old bag into his face once more, and he instinctively flinches and takes a few steps back. The smell coming from inside is too much to bare. He looks up and sees that she is once again pointing to a small tear in the fabric near the top. It had apparently ripped during Danny's battle with the Hellion, although he is quite sure she did it herself during the 10 minute struggle the two had before the thug finally wrestled it out of her claw-like hands.

Danny rolls his eyes, and is about to speak, when there is a sudden crashing noise just across the street. He looks up just as a large hero smashes through the wall of a building, and jumps to the ground. As he hits the sidewalk, the building begins quivering and shuddering, apparently about to crumble. Danny isn't sure whether he should be worried or thankful for an excuse to get away. He puts on his 'hero' face and straightens up.
"Well, ma'am, I'm quite sorry about the purse. I'd like to aid you in repairing the damage, but it appears that there are people in need just across the street."
The old woman brings her cane back for another crack at his legs, but Danny is already up in the air, flying towards the scene of the disturbance. He drops lightly on the ground next to the large hero, and examines the building once more. Frantic voices, and what sounds like german cursing, emits from the hole in the wall above. Danny raises an eyebrow, and turns to the hero.
"What's going on in there? And more importantly, can I help? And as a follow-up question, does it hurt to break concrete with your body?"

Er... right. Auto Turret. Not Full Auto. I blame lack of caffeine there. XD Thanks for the input either way.

Supergroup Name: S.U.P.P.O.R.T

Synthetic Units, Programs, Prototypes Or Robots Team

Website (if any): Later

Leader or Recruiting Officers: Stimpack (Main CPU)

Preferred Method of contact: In-game.

Group Description:
S.U.P.P.O.R.T is a group of artificial heroes that support other heroes of Paragon City.

If your character have its own will, he can't be in this group. S.U.P.P.O.R.T heroes are drived by an Artificial Intelligence or a Main Program.

When a S.U.P.P.O.R.T member is in Super Group mode, it is like sending the message to all other heroes that he (or it) is ready to help.

That is the good robot's mission: Help heroes, help citizens, help the city.

Our guidelines:

- Your origin must be Technology.

- You must have a background that fits in the group description.

- We encourage roleplay, but it is not a perequisite. We like when our members act "sometimes" like robots. People always appreciate stuff like:
- Hi Mr. Roboto! How r u?
- All systems are ok.
Or:
- Grats Mr. Roboto, r u going to lvl up?
- Thanks, yes i'm going to upgrade some software.
But it's always ok to just "play the game" and nobody will banish you if you don't rp.

- When you are in SG mode, you must always accept team invitations.