Gemini_II

So, with that said, let me give you my 10 Commandments of Geko:
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*I will always listen to the community (that goes for the boards, in game, and thru mining data and statistics).

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- Hopefully, you are hearing the cries coming from the general populace about the wide-ranging nerfs of I5.

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*I will not be scared to be wrong.

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- Great, please stop adjusting AT powers and add more content instead. The general consensus of the players that show up here is that we'd like some things that are *broken* fixed, and more content, *NOT* power adjustments/nerfs.

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*I will react as quickly as possible, but not sooner than needed.

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- Hopefully you won't wait until the I5 release to back away from the nerf button. I foresee a large population leaving the community, and its a real shame if Cryptic takes the viewpoint of "Some leave, some come"......

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*I will not be scared to be unpopular.

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- You might want to rethink this one. Being unpopular in a business leads to failure.

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*I will not make a change to the game simply because it is popular.

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- Why was suppression added to travel powers? Was it because PvP'ers were crying about it? Did you find out from the PvE'ers if they wanted that change? Oh, nevermind, you aren't going to change the game just because something is popular.....

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*I will do my best to continue to make this game fun.

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- Recent changes to the game have made it decidedly UN-fun. Can we please go back to I3?

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*I will not intentionally stealth nerf.

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- That's dandy, but a nerf is still a nerf. Knowing about it doesn't make it any better.

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*I will not reduce Accuracy.

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- But you will reduce Defense on the heroes across the board? I guess I should have read the small-print.

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*I will try my best to give you detailed information.

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- Could we get some hard numbers on damage, recycle times, magnitude, etc.? I've yet to see Cryptic provide this information that many of us have been asking for since day 1.

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*I will make Statesman wash my car.

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-


BTW, making something more challanging does NOT mean its more interesting.....

1. Walking a tight-rope over lava is challanging, but I wouldn't consider it "fun".

2. Running a marathon is challanging, but not necessarily "fun" for most people.

3. Playing chess against a Master might be challanging, and probably futile, that doesn't make it fun.

4. Committing a crime and getting away with it might be challanging, but is not necessarily fun or morally comforting.

5. Memorizing 'War and Peace' would be challanging, but definitely not fun.

I could go on for hours, but I think you can see that something that is challanging doesn't make it fun or even interesting....its just challanging. And, just because something is easy doesn't make it boring, I could lay out under the night sky and watch a meteor shower, eat some pizza, hold hands with my wife and listen to some Pink Floyd. That would be easy and a lot of fun.

I've only been in one "hoax" costume contest, and I received 250K from a nearby hero since they liked my costume.

Most of my low level characters will participate in costume contests, especially if the money is right. Anything less than 100K isn't worth the time, when I could just login with one of my higher level alts and make the transfer...

My 16th level rad/dark def has won over 2million influence in costume contests. She wears a very classic-style comic book costume and she's won at least 5 contests and came in second in 1.

The OP sounds a little bitter/miffed, but I can attest that the majority of contests I've seen or participated in, did in fact, have a winner and I've heard no complaints about prizes not being handed out.

BTW, I've found that simple color schemes (2 to 3 colors) make the best combos. Overly flashy rarely wins. Also, overt sexuality rarely wins either....no one seems to like the "dumb ****/stud" look. Any imitation is a sure loss, unless you imitate something unusual; the contest where I came in second, I lost to a pair dressed as Thing1 and Thing2, but another hero gave me 2x what the prize was, because they thought I should have won. That seems to happen a lot, nearby observer handing out influence....I usually use 2 primary colors, and then 1 "trim". I also try to match my costumes to the character's name and AT. For example, I have a D3 by the name of Sadie Stick (sadistic), that wears matching black leather. When people see the combination, it usually gets a good response because I've taken the time to "theme" my character. A good bio can also benefit you in a costume contest. I've been in 2 or 3 contests where the holder has stated that in case of a tie, winner will be decided by bio.

SS is a treat, not a need. I could have gone with Laser Eyes, but then I'd be tempted to slot it, and with SS and Build, I won't do that.

I'll repeat that I against the swords. They are not endurance friendly and FSC has to be one of the worst D:E ratios in the game. Get Combustion before FSC....best thing to get, IMHO, is BoF.

AoEs: BA, BoF, Burn
ST: Scorch, Incinerate.

If you want to get a sword, the only one I think is worth a lick is GFS.

Excellent Mephe, your best work and very good (and needed) detail on the powers. Thanks a ton for your effort.

I have a few comments coming from 45+ levels;

1. I've only seen one thing that can help Burn, and that's RI+EF from the Radiation set. (1) RI makes Burn increase density of floaties to an unbelievable degree. When fighting +2 Bosses, this makes an incredible difference and in particular with bosses that use "end-of-life" powers (Paragon Protectors and Fake Nemesis). RI will prevent them from having time to activate these powers, many times, before they finish the animation they are dead <arrested>. (2) EF lowers the Fire resistance of the mobs (and bosses/AVs/Monsters) that you start seeing with more frequency in the post-35 world. When you see RI and EF on a large group of +2/+4 mobs, it will be just like when you first got Burn and everything melted away in seconds. So, look to team with */Rad controllers or Rad/* defenders.

2. Force Field Defenders/Controllers make the Fire/* tank a full-fledged tank. The bubbles mix extremely well with the standard Fire/* build (your build), to max out everything.

3. I've come to the conclusion that in the post-35 world, it becomes essential to run with two single-target attacks and 3 AoE attacks. Burn and BA are automatic, so what to use as the 3rd AoE and the single-target attacks?
- 3a. I've respec'ed, I've played on the test server, I've helped others build their Fire/* tanks, and after all of that I've finally come to the conclusion (which Iron_Vixen already arrived at), Breath of Fire is the AoE of choice. Most of this has to do with Damage per use, Endurance usage/cost, recycle time, and accuracy. Apparently, BoF has a 20% accuracy bonus meaning that more damage can be dealt. It does significantly more damage than Combustion and is right in the ballpark with FSC, but at a much lower cost and recycle time. I've found that when herding solo or on a team in missions, the majority of my herds will pile up on one side of me. If done properly, they will fill a very small space and this creates the perfect situation for the BoF. Since I tend to face +2s or better a lot of the time, I use 1 Acc, 1 End Reduct and 4 Dmg. BTW, I spent many levels with FSC and Combustion, and if you've ever played a Fire/* blaster, than using the BoF is a joy because of the >> damage the Combustion, << Endur than FSC and the ability to actually stand toe-to-toe with the group you're breathing on...
- 3b. I agonized over this for some time when doing the 44 respec. Finally, I mapped out (see below) my single target attacks and found that the best synergy/damage/endurance management came with Incinerate and Scorch. That's right, Scorch. In the course of a minute, Scorch will outshine all of your other ST attacks. It chains with Incinerate/Burn extremely well, and will recycle fast enough to give you constant AoE (Burn and BA) and ST damage with no real change in your endurance usage.
Attacks: BA, Burn, Breath of Fire (all the Bs); Scorch and Incinerate.

4. A word about why Incinerate is the best power in your secondary; when it hits, the damage gets done regardless of what the mob does. My favorite situation is to get a Fake Nemesis down to right before he snaps up his Invulnerability bubble and nail him with Incinerate...then, I sit back and laugh out loud as his slowly dies with that idiotic look on his metallic face. I kind of imagine that he's locked himself up in a bubble with bees on fire......muhahahahah! But, I digress; flyers, runners, bosses with end powers (MoG of PP) don't mean a thing, by the time they get on the second tick of Incinerate, I turn my back and walk onto the next group, because its "game over" for that mob. -= I LOVE INCINERATE =-

5. Want a place to hunt 35-41? Eden....Its like that place was designed with Fire tanks in mind. I found so many nice spots to hunt there, its crazy. I even found a little niche in the rocks near The Hive waypoint (the outcropping of rocks where you pick up the Eden Trial) where there ~12 Lesser Devoured in a very small trail that respawned as fast as I could run them and then the path ends in a perfect herd spot....I was sad to finally out level that place

6. I think its important that you mention that the post-35 game is all about endurance management and knowing your limits. It is possible to build a Fire tank with Leadership (Manuevers/Tactics) instead of Speed (Hasten), which will give you at least 11.5% more defense and ~20-30% more accuracy, but the endurance output for all of those toggles will make it so that you will be unable to fight any group of bosses/Lts. Its a better idea to take the hits and recover from them while dishing out the damage. The way this is accomplished is with Healing Flames and Health. I am constantly just popping green inspires when I'm at 100% hp just to get them off my bar, because I just never get to a point where something gets me down below my comfort level.

8. Sappers & Carnies will sap your endurance, bring down your toggles and you will be at the hospital. Psychic damage and the radiation (?) damage from the Praetorians will take you down very fast. Knives of Artemis are the most hated enemy in the game (caltrops). Know your weaknesses and strengths, and plan accordingly.

9. Teach your teammates about how Knockback and your Burn can work together. Try to setup your attack point against an obstacle where teammates with knockback powers will effectively lock down the mobs by knocking them on their butts while you burn them to the ground. Don't fear/hate Knockback, work together to make it the Uber-power for your combined skills. I have Energy/Energy blasters set up at a 90º angle to me, and I make sure I set my patch down in a spot where the mobs will hit a wall/fence/railing/car/whatever. With Illusion controllers, its harder, but they can control where they initially set down their PA/Phants and that should be *behind* you so that you can control where go. If you can learn to work within those parameters, you will make an excellent team. Just remember, strategy while teaming always differs from solo'ing, and YOU need to adjust too.

Here is my current build / plan;

Exported from version 1.4D of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Tanker
Primary Powers - Ranged : Fiery Aura
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Melee

01 : Scorch acc(01) acc(5) dam(31) dam(39) dam(39) dam(48)
01 : Fire Shield damres(01) damres(3) damres(5) damres(7) damres(9) damres(15)
02 : Blazing Aura acc(02) endred(3) endred(7) dam(9) dam(31) dam(48)
04 : Taunt tntdur(04)
06 : Combat Jumping defbuf(06)
08 : Hurdle jmp(08)
10 : Hasten recred(10) recred(11) recred(11) recred(15) recred(17) recred(43)
12 : Plasma Shield damres(12) damres(13) damres(13) damres(17) damres(31) damres(43)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Breath of Fire acc(16) endred(33) dam(33) dam(36) dam(37) dam(40)
18 : Burn dam(18) dam(19) dam(19) dam(21) dam(21) dam(23)
20 : Health hel(20) hel(46) hel(46) hel(50)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(25) endrec(25) endrec(27) endrec(27)
24 : Boxing acc(24)
26 : Tough endred(26) damres(34)
28 : Weave defbuf(28) defbuf(29) defbuf(29) defbuf(33) defbuf(34) defbuf(34)
30 : Healing Flames recred(30) recred(40) endred(42) hel(43) hel(48) hel(50)
32 : Acrobatics endred(32)
35 : Incinerate acc(35) acc(36) dam(36) dam(37) dam(37) dam(40)
38 : Consume acc(38) acc(39) recred(50)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(42) recred(42) recred(45)
44 : Fiery Embrace recred(44) recred(45) recred(45) recred(46)
47 : Super Speed endred(47)
49 : Build Up recred(49)

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01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)

Somewhere, I've read that AM boosts things by 24%, with the exception of recharge (30% vs. Hasten's 70% deduction). This would make a lot of sense considering that we're ballparking this at around 20-25%.

This would make AM's contribution to End recovery 0.40 EPS, if perma. Not using any verifiable testing procedure, I've calculated that AM is down for about 5-7 seconds with 4 even level SOs in it and 5 in Hasten....

Garrik,

I agree, it is a money management issue, and you are free to spend your money as you wish. But, I would like to mention that during the life of your toon, assuming you go to level 50 and start buying SOs at level 22, you actually buy five extra sets of enhancements when you replace as soon as you are able.

I just got my Fire/Dev alt to level 38 today, and I ended up buying 59 level 40 enhancements (not counting the 6 or so unsuccessful combines I had). On average, they cost me 45K each (I bought 34 damage enhances at 48K each) which equals 2.655M influence (not a trivial sum to me, although I guess it is to many).

For the sake of ease, since 37/38 is in the middle between 22-50 and taking 59 enhancement slots as an average (yes, I know there are more awarded on the topside of the levels, but I want to make this easier), 5 extra sets actually comes to ~11M extra.

As far as damage, I calculated that I would be doing a good bit more of damage (4.6x vs. 6.11x) after I upgraded to 40+ enhances, but I guess that the villians' HP went up faster than my damages did, because it was still taking me a Blaze+Fireblast to take out yellow and white minions.....here I thought I would be knocking them down faster...oh well.


I suppose over the life of your character, 11M is a small amount, but I'd still prefer to save my money, especially when it seems to have no major effect (for me) to have the latest level enhancements. Level 37 was really pretty painless...so, no complaints from me in the damage department.

BTW, anyone know an actual number on the bonus blasters get for damage?

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If you're sweating 1.62M in the level 37-38 range, you must have something else you're spending your cash on. I've given away 3-4 million, bought new enhancements as early and as often as possible, and I still have 3-4 million just sitting there at level 39. My SG mates in their 40s have between 15-20 million.


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You go ahead and waste 2M, that's your business. The poster said there is no good reason, and to me, 2M influence is a good reason. Tell me you wouldn't participate in a mission or costume contest if it offered 2M influence.

And, I do sweat 1.62M influence at 38th level. I don't know of any other way to spend influence than to buy Enhancements and Inspirations (trivial at this point), but I do tend to only go to one shop and sell instead of running around to all the specialty shops just to sell the 1-2 enhances that I have for that origin.

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I'll agree with your final statement here, but not the first. There's no good reason to go through, e.g., level 17 with yellow enhancements when you could be buying shiny new green ones. Not buying any until they're combinable doesn't buy you any additional effective time, it just delays the first purchase.

When you do buy them, though, it is definitely wiser to combine existing enhancements with each other where possible than it is to unnecessarily trash enhs by replacing them with level+3 enhs.

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"There's no good reason..." --> So, all I have to do is come up with one? Easy.

Effectiveness: Level 37, you have level 35 SOs with 2 pluses (effectively 37s). Until you level, these are White, not yellow. Which means, they are still effective. When you hit level 38, if you are still in a mission, finish it, of course, but as soon as you leave the mission, excuse yourself, go level, and buy your new enhancements. Minimal yellow-time.

Cost: Lets suppose that you are going from level 35s to level 40s upped to 41s

Poster's Way:
Starting from level 33, you buy 18 Level 35 damage SOs at 42000 each = 756K to get 18 level 35+ SOs (assume all combines are successful)
During the next 5 levels you purchase 18 more level 35 damage SOs to up your damage to 35++ (assume all combines are successful) = 756K
At 38th level you purchase 18 level 40 damage SOs at 52K = 936K
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18 level 41 damage SOs = 756K + 756K + 936K = 2.448M

Now your way;
At level 32, you buy 18 Level 35s damage SOs (replacing your old 30++s) = 756K
Over the next 5 levels you purchase 36 level 35s to up the enhances to 35++ (assume all combines are successful) = 1.62M
At level 37, you purchase 18 new level 40 damage SOs = 936K
At level 38, you purchase 18 new level 35 damage SOs (because you are daring that way, and its cheaper than the 40s) to up your 35s to 35+s = 756K
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18 Level 41 damage SOs = 4.068M

1.62M more your way? I don't know about you, but I need a hell of a lot more than 18 SOs, and wasting 1.62 million influence is not a smart solution. The difference between a white and a green + = 0.1x damage --> is that pittance worth 1.62 million influence?

My contribution:

SS+Cloaking Device+Smoke Grenade makes you completely invisible to all enemies, including Snipers, Rikti Drones and Rularuu, regardless of level. Nothing is better than being able to scout without fear. Glowie missions become much less of a hassle. Also, aggro seems to drop faster when you have invisibility, so mobs don't chase you as long, and quickly forget that you attacked them.

If you get lost/confused on where you are, click on one of your teamate's names and then right-click to Follow them (F is default for Follow). You may run into a wall, but you will also get their green HUD box and you can get a better idea which way to go.

When using FlameBreath, set up with the thinest profile of the group possible, then target the enemy furthest away from you to get the largest group possible.

AoE attacks: AoE attacks are weaker than single-target attacks; if a boss or tough Lt. is in the middle of a group, use your single-target powers on the minions until you can be sure to set off your AoE without aggroing the boss.

Force Fields #1: The Dispersion Bubble draws aggro. For the best results, put Deflection and Insulation Shields on your teamates and then put on your PFF. Once someone has gotten aggro on the mobs, get near to the lead melee'er and turn off the PFF and turn on the DB. Beware of AoE attacks from the enemies.

Force Fields #2: Force Bolt is an excellent tool; if a teamate (read blaster) is getting hammered by a melee mob, FB them off of your teamate, which gives the person time to throw some damage at the mob, and rarely gives you aggro. FB is also useful for protecting you from melee attacks or protecting an area (read Reactor Core). FB is good from driving retreating mobs back towards your damage dealers (read Scrappers), nothing gets a Scrapper more excited than to have a FF'er pop a FB onto a runner and knock them right back into melee range.....neat trick, and its amuses all.

Force Fields #3: Two FF'ers' bubbles WILL stack. Even slightly slotted, this will reach the Def cap, plus the other FF'er gets a rarity, to actually enjoy the protection of some bubbles.

Trip Mines: Trip Mines are sensitive to your location/nearness. If you aren't near, they won't go off. This offers the */Devices blaster a nice side-effect, you don't need the 9th/ultimate power to do a "blow-up".....set down 4+ mines in a small area, get far away but within line of sight, then have some nervy soul bring a whole slew of baddies into your mine field. Run into the mine field and, BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM... plus you can still do your ultimate if you need to

Hydras: Hydras are suseptable to Lethal damage, which makes AR/* blasters especially effective in Hydra hunting.

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hmm..ok i was gonna follow this guide to a "T"..but just realized its pretty old..

I've followed it exactly..and now i'm lvl10..

anything i should do differently from what the guide says?

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Without knowing the results of the 3rd issue, we'll just go with what we are running today (12/14/04). After two respecs trying to tweak this build.......

1. FireBlast/Web grenade (never get flares)
2. FireBall
3. - slot fireball x2 (3)
4. Caltrops (you'll find these helpful occasionally)
5. - slot fireball x2 (5)
6. Hasten (for slotting purposes)
7. - slot fireball x1 (6), hasten x1 (2)

8. Firebreath (as soon as you get this power, go out and practice with it. Nothing is more pathetic than a Fire/Dev that can't figure out how to get the most mobs with their firebreath and waste it -- tip, find a group, profile them so they have the least width (from the side for a group of 5th column in boomtown for example) and target the enemy furthest away from you (so you burn everyone between you and them)

9. - slot firebreath x2 (3)
10. Targeting Drone
11. - slot firebreath x2 (5)
12. Hurdle (vertical movement will be your biggest gripe, but you'll get over it. Hurdle lessens the pain)
13. - slot firebreath x1 (6), TD x1 (2)

14. Super Speed --> here it is...you need super speed, not because of the travel (worst of the travel powers IMHO), but because of the slight stealth. This allows you to get close enough to line up the firebreath, and then the fireball and also to get away quickly from fights (you're all squishy). Your attack cycle is thus; Firebreath --> Fireball --> Fireblast stragglers or run away

15. - slot TD x1 (3), Hasten x1 (3)
16. Smoke Grenade --> ToHit debuff bug is gone, but it does give you increased stealth and slight ToHit Debuff on targets (and you are still squishy). Attack cycle; Smoke --> Firebreath --> Fireball --> Fireblast stragglers or run

17. - slot Smoke x1 (2), TD x1 (4)
18. Swift --> I say swift because when your endurance runs out, you better be faster than your opponent if you hope to run away (health seems to have a neglible affect)

19. - slot Hasten x2 (5)
20. Stamina --> Thank God we made it here finally!
21. - slot Stamina x2 (3)
22. Blaze (yay, we get another attack finally!)
23. - slot Stamina x2 (5)
24. Cloaking Device --> 5% defence, low end drain, SS+Cloak = invisible to all except snipers and Rikti drones, some Illusionists (and Rularuu, but that's later)
25. - slot Stamina x1 (6), Hasten x1 (6)
26. Combat Jumping --> more defense, and you'll be tired of your vertically challenged build to this point
27. - slot Blaze x2 (3)
28. Trip Mine --> oh glory be! My favorite new toy! You'll love this for at least 10 levels......
29. - slot Trip Mine x2 (3); New Attack sequence -- SS+Cloak up to mob, lay down TM --> back away and hesitate for just a second, then Fireball or firebreath. Anything left standing gets other AoE + Blaze + FireBlast (enjoy!)

30. Super Jump --> Wheeeeeeeee, trip mine + SJ = less bordom
31. - slot TM x3 (6) --> 1 Acc, 5 Dmg for best results. By everything I've seen, TM is not affected by your Targeting Drone.
32. Inferno --> You could go for Blazing Bolt here, but it seems like everyone likes to go farming with a tanker and get mass kills using their new final primary power (we call it our "blow up"). Really, 4 trip mines are better because they don't knock off your toggles nor drain your endurance. This is a personal choice on style. I find that you can use Blazing bolt to add flavor to your style, by using it to drag bosses into mine fields+caltrops and reduce your risk.

33. - slot Inferno/Blazing Bolt x3 (4)
34. - slot TD x1 (5), Inferno/Blazing Bolt x2 (6) -or- Smoke x1 (3), TD x2 (6) --> if you are hunting higher level mobs, you may want the TD x2 + Smoke to get more hits and less return damage. However, the blasters' motto of, "Mitigate return fire by killing all your targets with an alpha strike" might be better served by slotting Inferno/Blazing Bolt (personally, I took the TDx2+Smokex1)

35. Acrobatics
36. - slot Blaze x3 (6) --> this is your shot to finish off Lts and drive down the HP on bosses
37. - slot Fireblast x3 (4)
38. - Take whatever you didn't take at 32 Inferno/Blazing Bolt
39. Max out TD, get Smoke to 3 slots, Fireblast to 6 slots, and/or new attack with remaining.
40. Same as #39
41. Boxing
42. Get Smoke to 5 slots
43. - slot --> TD should have 6, FireBlast should have 6, Inferno 6, Blazing Bolt 6, Smoke 5, Caltrops 3 --> fill in the gaps
44. Tough
45. - slot Tough x3 (4)
46. - slot Tough x2 (6), Smoke x1 (6)
47. Weave
48. - slot Weave x3 (4)
49. Rain of Fire --> just for fun
50. - slot Weave x2 (6), RoF x1 (2)

Fireblast (6 dmg)
Fireball (6 dmg)
Firebreath (6 dmg)
Blaze (6 dmg)
Inferno (6 dmg)
Blazing Bolt (6 dmg)
Rain of Fire (2 dmg)

Web Grenade (1 hold)
Caltrops (3 slow)
Targeting Drone (1 End Redux, 5 ToHit Buffs)
Smoke (1 Acc, 1 End Redux, 4 ToHit Debuffs)
Cloak (1 End Redux)
Trip Mine (1 Acc, 5 Dmg)

Hasten (6 Increase Attack Rate)
Super Speed (1 End Redux)

Swift (1 Run)
Hurdle (1 Jump)
Stamina (6 End Rechg)

Combat Jumping (1 End Redux)
Super Jump (1 End Redux)
Acrobatics (1 End Redux)

Boxing (1 Acc)
Tough (1 End Redux, 5 Def Buffs)
Weave (1 End Redux, 5 Def Buffs)

That should do you. In the later levels, you can switch out a couple of things, because you have to be the one that determines what you need the most. If you find you are constantly getting hit, you may want to build defenses. But, from my experience, Trip Mine + Fireball will kill all minions less than red (grey - orange) and Blaze with Fireblast will supply the rest of your clean up work. Tough bosses (orange+) will require some time (setting up a trip mine field properly), but with practice and Blazing Bolt you should be able to avoid a lot of danger. This build, IMHO, needs to be based upon STEALTH, and with SS+Cloak+Smoke, you have it. Most missions can be done with a minimal of risk, and you can just run around killing the minions and Lts. When you do find you need to kill a boss or AV, you have the tools, it just takes longer to set up. This class really can do really really well (as of issue #2) solo or in a group. In fact, when I SK my friends in my SG, they are amazed at my efficiency. Rarely do I need any assistance, but if you can find a good Tank with Invul/* that can round up a whole map....well, you are the perfect machine for dealing with that. Lay out 6-8 mines in a predesignated area, run far away, but in sight of the mines, have the tank round everyone up and haul them back to the mine field, and then run in and do an inferno (trip mine + inferno = everyone everyone everyone everyone dead)

If you want to throw in Time Bomb and/or Auto Turret, that is also up to you, but I find that using your 3 primary AoEs (Fireball, FireBreath, Trip Mine) and your 3 single target attacks (Fireblast, Blaze, Blazing Bolt), you are ready for just about anything and don't need to waste your time on anything else. Like Grandma Gemini used to say, "If you're going to do something, do it right!"

Good luck, and don't get discouraged in the mid-20s....it gets better, honestly.

Respec'ed last night just to tweak it a little. Level 36 --

Fire Blast (5 damage)
Fire Ball (6 damage)
Fire Breath (6 damage)
Blaze (6 damage)
Inferno (1 damage)

Web Gren (empty)
Caltrops (1 Slow)
Targeting Drone (5 ToHit Buffs, 1 End Redux)
Cloak (1 End Redux)
Smoke Gren (1 ToHit Debuff, 1 Acc)
Trip Mine (1 Acc, 5 Dmg) <-- I tried this with 2/4 Acc/Dmg, 1/5 Acc/Dmg and 0/6 Acc/Dmg <-- with 2 Acc, I almost never missed anything (including purple Lts). With 1 Acc I hit just about everything with occasional misses. With 6 Dmg, I missed like 1/3 of the targets/time. Since this often occured on the Behemoth Overlords (ranging from orange to purple) that I was testing on in FF, I was kinda upset. Running over to Mark IV and swapping out an Acc for the 6th dmg made all the difference. Smoke+TM+Fireball+Firebreath+Blaze did the job and I didn't have any pesky Fire/Air Thorns still around to make my life more difficult

Smoke is still effective, since its the final ingredient to complete invisibility (against everything). If you get a sniper's attention, you can drop a SG on him/her and then retreat for awhile. Come back in 15 seconds, and their short-term memory loss kicks in. I really don't use it any differently than I did back in Boomtown, pre-issue #2. I use it to make them miss more, and to get myself closer without drawing aggro.....only thing is, now I have cloak and trip mine to make the battle more favorable for me.

I did use caltrops on the Respec Trial, since it was nice for slowing down the incoming Freaks. Enough time for us to put a big dent in their initial rush, and then the trip mines I laid usually got those tanks down to a sliver

But, even against bosses, I still don't use caltrops very often. Maybe I should? They do seem to be effective at slowing down the rush...perhaps I should invest more heavily in slotting them.....

Level 36 Fire/Dev here.

FireBlast (3 slots)
FireBall (6 slots)
FireBreath (6 slots)
Blaze (6 slots)
Inferno (3 slots)

Web Gren (b/c I have to)
Caltrops (don't use them anymore really 2 Slow SOs)
Targeting Drone (3 ToHit buffs, 1 End Redux)
Cloaking Device (the best 1 End Redux)
Smoke Grenade (still useful, see below 1 ToHit Debuff)
Trip Mine (5 dmg, 1 acc)

Hasten, SS
CJ, SJ, Acro (defense + status affect res)
Hurdle, Swift, Stamina

The AoE Fire Blaster is most effective as a Stealth build. This means that SS, Cloaking Device and Smoke are your best friends. SS+Cloak = complete invisibility to everything except Drones, Snipers, some Werewolves and some Rularuu (sp?). Hitting them with a SG means complete invisibility to *everything* that I've run up against. Snipers are the most difficult to get enough to to drop a SG on them. The secret is approaching them from the rear.

2 things about Trip Mine that I've noticed (pre-issue 3); one, variable damage to same targets and two, TD doesn't seem to help.
- When using TM against Behemoth Masters (white - orange) I see that damage varies. I can eliminate a Orange Lt with a TM and a FireBall sometimes, mostly its TM + Fireball (to get rid of all the yellow minions...just to be sure) + * on the Lt. If I face an Behemoth Overlord, I use TM+FireBall+Blaze and its pretty much 100% effective. The best is when the TM causes a knockdown, since that means free attacks, and Blaze requires up close and personal range.

TD is not supposed to aid with the TM from everything I've ever read on these boards. Perhaps I'm wrong, but its in the guides on accuracy and damage. I can vouch for 1 Acc, 5 Dmg TM (one) taking out yellow minions. Orange minions, I don't think so, but I don't think its impossible since I know that yellows go down pretty easily. When going up against orange Agents (minions) in Brickstown, its hard to determine how close it is, since I usually follow up with a fireball anything that is higher that white to me. I think that the timing of the fireball makes a BIG difference too. Sometimes, if I fire off the fireball too soon, its like the mob has increased defenses and takes no damage from the TM...

Blaze is the boss killer you are all looking for. 6 slotted with damage, its best used in combination with FireBlast to finish off what TM doesn't. --> If you think about it, the Fire build cannot not make effective use of Blazing Bolt unless you use it close up. We dont' WANT to pull, we want to GROUP, this is our design specialty.

SS+Cloak up to your target, SG them, lay down your mine, back up and fire off a fireball just as the TM trips. Anything still alive receives the Blaze --> Fireblast. Many times, I do a Firebreath instead of Fireball after the TM and its about the same except the animation and DoT makes a difference. If the target is knocked down, its actually better for Lts/Bosses as it does more damage.

I don't use Inferno, because its rarely worth it. Why should I knock off most/all of my toggles, reduce my endurance to near zero, risk leaving some baddies around when I can easily dispose of groups with my TM+Fireball combo?

I really do not fear any minion up to orange. Reds make me nervous, but if there isn't a Lt/Boss around I usually try it and be pleasantly surprised. Purps aren't terrible if you do your setup properly......just make sure that bosses and Lts are not around and you have room to do some kiting.

My Fire/Dev does almost exclusively missions since I think farming is worthless and boring. There are a lot of story arcs in the 30s and plenty of badges to be had. I don't have to depend on anyone to have fun, and if my friends are on we group. I don't even look at exp/min because I'm not a level [censored]...I'm paying for entertainment, and this build is very entertaining once you get into your 30s.

PixelShock,

You are right about something, that is, the OP dissuades readers from trying the Elec/* build. Reading your post, I found myself considering building yet another AT to play with (what is it now, 24+ and growing ? )

As far as pre-issue 3 street sweeping goes, I can vouch for the effectiveness of the Fire/Dev blaster. Here is the build;

Targeting Drone 4-slotted (1 end redux, 3 acc buff)
Cloaking Device 1-slotted (end redux)
Trip Mine 6-slotted (1-2 acc, 4-5 damage --> I find Lts and bosses "respond" much more favorably to 2 acc+4 damage, but minions require less "effort" with 1+5)
Smoke Grenade (1 acc debuff --> respec'd it out originally, and wish I hadn't)

Hasten(6)+SS
CJ+SJ+Acro
Hurdle+Swift+Stamina(6)

FireBlast (3 dmg)
Fireball (6 dmg)
Firebreath (6 dmg)
Blaze (3 dmg)
Inferno (3 dmg)

Traveling --> SS+Cloak+Acro+CJ/SJ, if I'm in a hot zone, I'll have Targeting Drone running too. With Stamina fully slotted, I gain End back with all these on pretty much constantly.

Combat --> Normally, in Brickstown/FF/Crey's Folly; its Trip Mine, step back, and choice of Fireball, Blaze or Firebreath (only one). Then, either walk away or finish off Boss. +1 Minions (Freaks, 5th Col, Riot Cops, Nemesis, etc.) are dead (or just a fraction of a sliver) with just the TM. With Fireball added, I insure that if there are 2/3 +1 Lts in the group, they are dead as well. Blaze if for the lone Lts/Boss as insurance. The TM will knockdown a lot Lts, giving me time to do more.

More normal attack plan is to approach large groups or blues-yellows/oranges with SS+Cloak+CJ+Acro+TD, before they start to spread out. The presence of a boss DOES worry me, but the biggest groups don't usually have one. I get in the Trip Mine, walk back and 9/10 times fire off the fireball, just to be sure. Most of the time (90%?), everything is dead or nearly so, and I can either mop up with Blaze+FireBlast or do a Firebreath+Blaze for the stubborn foes.

The whole process takes around 5 seconds, give or take.

In Brickstown, this means I can hunt as fast as I can go from group to group. Anything less than 3, I won't even bother with unless its two Orange Lts. Crey's Folly still can cause problems, mostly with the tougher Crey Tanks/Protectors. In those cases, the effort is usually not worth it, and if I can get away from the battle, I will.

When I've run around with my friends in my SG, they are usually quite surprised at the effectiveness of my AT. My Kat/SR scrapper friend take about a minute at a time to take out +2/+3 Lts, and 10+ sec to take out a +2/+3 minion. If there is a group of minions, it may take him 2 minutes to finish them all off. My Enrg/Enrg friend goes a little faster, because he has Nova and can do groups a little faster and then recover End with Inspirations and go on to the next group.

However, Fire/Dev and AR/Dev (more so, since they are great at both Single target and AoE) blasters will go through a +1/+2 group in a couple of seconds, literally. Basically, there are more minions than Lts/Bosses in the game, in number and experience wise (assuming that a minion x ~4 = boss) so an AoE blaster can gain experience much faster since they only need to spend a few seconds with each group and move on....

however, the HUGE downside is our weakness in the defenses area. If our AoEs don't finish off the group, we have the aggro of all the villians we attacked, plus any neighbors close enough to be alerted. This can be extremely dangerous, especially when solo'ing as there is no escaping either the huge "reply", or the status effect powers of anyone left standing. I especially recall facing a Ritiki boss in a group of Lts and minions that I had taken out, that put me to sleep for 138 pts of damage, which wasn't *that* painful, but the sleep would not wear off before he could fire it off again, meaning I just sat there for 3 minutes frantically clicking on a health inspire in hopes that he would miss a sleep and I could gain some HP back and get the heck out of dodge.....

As Fiero (sp?) said, no blaster is gimped, we're just played differently. Electric actually sounds inticing now, so thank you for that!

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Fighting greens-whites once I had more than one power was my bread-n-butter. It was pretty easy to just run around two or three-shotting mobs.

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The top portion is the IMPRESSION that people have of blasters, and that their powers are permanently uber-powerful. I can take out even con minion mobs with a sniper shot + Aim, or by adding in Build up, more.....but the impression is that blasters do all this incredible damage. The damage is not so great as to kill whatever you're attacking, so you are exposing yourself to the same danger as a scrapper, except you don't have the defense they do, and nearly every mob has a ranged attack. What is not understood is that the energy blaster uses up a lot of endurance for those shots, and you spend a good deal of time kiting or downtime because of endurance recovery or missed shots.

I think the real "jealousy" is with the Fire blaster, since they can do decent damage over many targets. Problem is, killing groups of blues-greens is chancy, since most blues will probably survive, and of course there is the serious side-effect of damaging a large number of mobs or *missing* (because all those you hit around that mob will "notify" the mob that you attacked them)....you get a large amount of aggro, and until your AoE attacks recycle...you are a fairly weak single-target blaster (well, unless you picked up RoF too, and that will quickly become useless post 16th level or so)...even then, chances are you are running for your life or dead. Plus, once a group of mobs has been attacked, its not like they stick close together (even with Caltrops) afterwards, so using AoE powers is a waste. I can't tell you how many times I was forced to use FireBreath or FireBall on a single target simply because I had no other attack to use.....

Blasters do not have a cake-walk, no matter what anyone says.

The whole point of my post was this; you can't judge an AT by running around getting a few levels with them. Until you've had experience post 30th level (just as heph said), you really have nothing to add to this conversation, because its an uninformed opinion which you have no experience with to back up.....

Nerf Scrappers! w00t!

You've probably hit upon a point that needs to be **loudly** addressed.....

Everyone that "dabbles" with a blaster sees the great damage they do. To wit;
- Energy blasters can take out even con minion mobs with one shot, and with build up, they can do more than that.
- Fire/* blasters get Fireball as a power upon entering GC/AP if they so desire. Firebreath comes shortly after, and the combo of those two is incredible for when they get them.

Now, let's zoom forward to level 20. They probably have Stamina and perhaps Hasten (and SS, if so). They've got some mediocre DOs, in anticipation of getting some SOs at level 22. What anyone that hasn't taken a Fire or Energy blaster this far is, where you are running has more than one boss/Lt with status effect powers. And, you're running more than fighting. Sure, levels 8-16 were pretty nice, especially if you are a Fire/Dev in Boomtown smoking-->Firebreath-->Fireballing all those nicely grouped 5th column, but now you are lucky if you can kill 3 or 4 minions in DA without getting hunted down by Shaman and getting cornered. You're *constantly* trying to recover endurance and if you're soloing, you are spending more time kiting/running than hunting. Its more like guerilla warfare, where you do a hit-n-run, or snipe-n-run. You certainly aren't go toe-to-toe with **anyone** above green. And, if you are always fighting oranges, you are either seriously in-debt, or lying. Your attacks already do too little to the Lts and Bosses after your "alpha strike", and their return attacks are of the "One Shot, One hold, now I take my sweet time killing them" variety. I only wish I were a mob, so I could kill me a bunch of so-called heroes.

So, you eventually get through the hell of the early-mid 20s (maybe you hooked up with a FF/* defender and a Tank?), and you get to 30th level. Now, you are searching for ways to do more damage, because even the SOs just aren't cutting it. You feel worthless on missions with your friends because, at best, you make a good pin-cushion for all those ranged attacks and status effect powers. You either take too much aggro, or you don't do enough damage. Either way, you're none too happy......

Let me use an archer as an example that we can all invision; the archer wears very little armor (leather maybe?) and fires off their missiles from long range. They risk return fire, of course, but the chances of being hit by return fire is very low, hence no one thinks to give the archer more armor, because they don't need it. They can attack multiple targets without fear, other than the occasional return fire. A sniper, in other words.

Now, consider the knight in armor riding a horse. They ride in and use all manner of weapons, and attract the fear/ire of those in the immediate vicinity, and need a decent amount of armor to protect them. They do a lot of damage, and everyone is surrounding them, giving them a lot of grief. That is why they have the armor.

Now, if the archer were receiving a lot of return fire that was on-target, then they would be getting a lot of armor. As it is, their perch in the castle/fort and their distance from their targets, afford them all the defense/protection they need.

The answer to the Blaster issue is only going to be solved to everyone's satisfaction in one of these ways (that I can think of);

#1. Lower the AoE damage --> Means you either give the blaster controller/hold secondary powers, change the aggro system, or increase the defenses of the blaster considerably.

#2. Remove ranged AoE attacks (make all AoE a PBAoE) --> Means that all ranged attacks are of the single-target variety, in which case, the blaster must be allowed an aggro prevention (like when a sniper attacks your group, the mobs have a strong chance of being unable to determine where the attack came from).

#3. Raises the mobs HP --> Same as #1.

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Anyway, I've been playing alternates recently to see what each was like.

- FF/Dark Defender: Did the Isolator badge on the Tutorial as fast as I could refresh Dark Blast. I chose Defl Sh instead of PFF as my first bubble, so I didn't get to enjoy any real protection. I wasn't getting hit much though, tougher than with a blaster, but still fun. Doesn't solo any worse or any better than the single-target blasters in the beginning, except that I'm a lot more attractive to groups, and when I join a group, they literally walk through missions. On Synapse's TF, we had guy that told me he received 27 hp of damage on the last mission (including the fight against the Clockwork King). Solo'ing against small groups of mobs is still pretty easy, and I can go and collect badges or scout missions or complete non-killeverylastone missions with ease when I use my PFF + Fly. Endurance is only an issue with I have more than 5 teamates and its re-bubble time. I'm taking this one the distance....

- Claws/Inv Scrapper: Walked through the tutorial mission (getting the 100 Contaminated for the Isolator badge) as fast as I could reach the mobs. I was literally running from mob to mob and killing them as fast as I could mash the buttons. Literally no down time from level 1-8, I played at 3am EST, so the server was pretty slow (few people on), and I just ran around GC killing things as fast as I could target them. I got my Strike-->Slash-->Swipe-->Strike-->Swipe-->Slash combo going and yellow Lts were going down like crab on an all-you-can-eat night at Red Lobster. I did group once on a mission because I couldn't handle the Vahz Cadavers spitting on me (don't recall that being a problem with my blaster, since I always took them out quickly or kited, I guess). Without range or an AoE early on, taking out those spitters was a pain in the [censored]. Then I moved on to KR, and I was sad that I couldn't find larger groups to fight, since most of the groups were 2-3 mobs. I found that fighting whites-yellows were the most exp for the effort/end, and I just kept on running. I don't think my end bar ever got below 1/2, and my hp rarely dipped once I got the attack combo/order down. I would simply make a button to follow whatever I targeted/attacked, and then it was cake after that, but I did avoid groups of cadavers. Mostly, the Vahz I fought had 1 cadaver and an assortment of reapers and morts. I got into a kind of mentality, where I was sorta fearless, and was attacking anything and everything....no longer were Eidolons or clockwork scary, I just waded through everything. Getting to PP, I thought that Bone Daddies would still scare me, but up close, I just started them out with a Swipe (which seemed to give them a seizure) and then just Strike-->Slashed them into the ground. The minions barely laid a hand on me, and the little red floaties going up scared me at first until I saw that it barely dented my health bar.......moved onto Hellions, and those DID hurt a bit with their firebreath, but they only got one of those before they were biting the dust, they didn't stand up to the claws as well as they did against my Fire/Dev's fireball....Inside the park, I was fearful of the Madness Mages....for a little while. Even while mezzed/asleep, their knife attacks weren't nearly as "painful" as they were when I was a Blaster. I found that some mobs' melee is less scary than their status effect or ranged attacks (I hate Vahz crossbows, I think we can all agree on that one). Basically, the scrapper was/is a fun AT to play, they are fairly fearless, and I think that they probably see more action and have more fun than any other AT I've played. I don't see how they can complain about blasters, it seems like they should keep their little secret quiet; they get great defense, and awesome animations, fast attacks, they kill like there is no tomorrow, and they get to enjoy almost no downtime. I don't see the downside other than the absence of flashy particle effects......not sure how long I'm going to play this one, it kind of gets boring mashing the same buttons and just standing there. There wasn't the kind of fear that sometimes made my some of my blaster/defender builds exciting (although I readily admit that my Fire/Dev blaster was a bore when "grinding" through certain areas).

- Energy/Energy Blaster: Did this as a comparison, and because I had a certain role-playing character in mind. Immediately, I noticed that the recycle times on the blast and bolt would determine whether I did well or not, and I had to wait several times for endurance to recover while doing the Isolator badge in the tutorial. I also became aware of how often you miss! Jeez, I wait all that time for Blast to recycle, and then it misses?!?!? What's even worse, you waste valuable end, and you either kite around, or go melee with thrust/brawl. Any way you cut it, it was slower going, especially when compared to my claws scrapper. It was down-right annoying. Fighting greens-whites once I had more than one power was my bread-n-butter. It was pretty easy to just run around two or three-shotting mobs. If I missed, then I had problems and spent a lot of time kiting and waiting for endurance/powers to recycle/rebuild. I could go probably 6-8 fights before being forced to take an End break. Getting Build-up was nice.....when I got to use it, I decided that it was probably a situational power until I could properly slot it with at least some DOs and had Hasten well slotted as well. Basically, it was like using my FF/Dark defender, except I didn't have any other cool powers besides my energy blasts. I decided that I had to go the Hover-Sniper route, as anything else was problematic after 6th level. Getting to KR, the plan was to long range shoot the Lt./Boss (unless it was an eidolon, then I used Build-up first) then kite around trying to avoid other mobs until I could bring down the Lt/Boss. Then, I would take on the 2-4 minions without any real fear. Getting knocked down (eliminated once I was using Hover all the time) and missing were still the biggest problems.

Basically, I would have much preferred playing the scrapper than playing the blaster, simply because it was easier to stay alive and still kill mobs. I wasn't constantly worried about my endurance, my hp, the mobs getting into melee range, or missing.

Sorry to go off on a tangent from the rest of this thread, I just don't understand all these cries for nerfing the blasters.......maybe I just suck at this game?

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#+4: Mitigation of aggro is always better than concentration of aggro on one hero. Pulling and controlling (mez, holds, etc.) are prime examples of mitigating aggro.


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I'd have to disagree here too... I'd rather have 10 mobs beating on a tank in a futile manner, than have 10 mobs aggroed on a Controller whose hold could miss and cause him to die in two hits... It's just more reliable to use a tank.

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As long as the 10 mobs are beating in futility, sure.

Mitigate: To lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of.

If the tank is mitigating the aggro by withstanding all attacks, then the seriousness of the aggro/attacks is lessened. If the tank is affected by the attacks however, then the team is toast. If a controller and a tank are present, would it not be best if the controller tried their hold, and if they missed some, the tank drew their aggro? Worst case scenario, you would only be as bad off as if only a tank were present. BTW, the Taunt power mitigates aggro by pulling...

So, I stand by the statement. It is best to mitigate the aggro, however you like to do that, rather than to concentrate all aggro on a single HERO (didn't say tank).

#+1: Never run/sprint around a corner on an indoor mission

#+2: Never let a Fire/* blaster fire first on a mission. There are not enough healers....

#+3: Reduction of damage is always better than healing damage. Reduction is preparation (control, buff/debuff, bubbles) while healing is reaction.

#+4: Mitigation of aggro is always better than concentration of aggro on one hero. Pulling and controlling (mez, holds, etc.) are prime examples of mitigating aggro.

#+5: An AoE hold is usually superior to an AoE attack. Unless the AoE attack eliminates the entire enemy force, a hold is superior. If the AoE attack does eliminate the entire enemy force, then that blaster should be solo'ing . AoE attacks coupled with a buff/debuff fall under #+3 above.

Where to start...

1. I believe that defenders get a larger percentage than others for Manuevers along the lines of 12.5%, not 7.8%. That would be substantial difference. Meaning, that the Defender was supposed to take that power pool. Taking a 1/2-a$$ed power pool to buff up your already low defense does nothing. I'm trying to figure out if 12.5% of 100 is better than say, 6.5% of 50.......the whole idea is, the game has severely limited what the blaster can do to build his defense. Your AR/Ice build hits Stealth early on, but Manuevers/Tactics don't get picked up before 35th/38th level? How are you ever going to get that far?

2. Played with a same-level Fire/Fire blaster last night on Positron's TF. Six times, he was one-shotted and sent to the hospital. The last two times, we had him refrain from firing until our controller had everyone held, the scrapper had the mobs blocked in a doorway, and everyone was fully bubbled. As soon as the Fire let loose his Rain, he was dead and the mobs overran the scrapper....with the weak defense of the blaster, I truely do see the AT disappearing...

3. Defenders, Tanks and Scrappers all take defensive power pool selections to suppliment their already substantial defenses. No one is being fooled into thinking that if a blaster "incorporates" some of the power pool selections, that he will suddenly become a viable class. As a comparison, we should tell the Tanks that from here on out, the minions will have double the accuracy against their class as before, then go and tell the Tanks that they now have to suppliment their builds with increasing offensive powers. They probably wouldn't feel too bad about that (other than the gross unfairness of that), because their secondary is melee. AGAIN, I bring up the fact that the blaster's secondary is not control (with possible exception of the Devices line), but more damage.........one cannot escape the idea that the Devs wished for the AT to be a one-shot, one-kill build, other wise they would have designed the AT in a more logical fashion.

....well, I'm not going to go any further, its really pointless.

Just eliminate the class. To me, they seem worthless already. They are a one-shot wonder. All of their attractiveness lays in their ability to deal mass damage, and that has already disappeared from what I can tell. I don't know what blasters you've been teaming with, but I don't see them doing much of anything. I've taken a Fire/Dev and an AR/Dev to their mid-20s, and they were in constant threat of being killed/KO'd. But, everyday, I still see the "Kill Frankenstein's monster!" in the forums and constant calls for nerfs. I've visited a few Super-Group webpages, and when I take a look at their rolecall, I see more Tanks at 50th level, than anything else.

If you wish to respond, I'd like to hear how a blaster is a viable class with the changes proposed. Having little or no defense to withstand any return fire, absolutely no defense in the secondary pools, limited hold/knockback powers in the secondary, and the lowest HP. Anytime you mix lowest HP + lowest Def, you get dead character unless they can avoid aggro or deal massive damage (eliminate the enemys' potential to harm them). I just don't see how its possible to carry forward with that idea.

Try giving the villians double the accuracy, and then we'll see how many people cry. No one wants to play a game that can't be "won". If my blaster has no solo or team viability, I won't ever play one, I don't have time to be that frustrated. Its no difference than if my defender couldn't properly defend or if my controller couldn't properly control......if the damage dealt by the blaster has half the effect (not enough damage to kill), they will not "work", it will be a broken AT.

All the builds in the world won't give the blaster the tools they need early in the game to even make it to the higher levels to pick up power pool selections.

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Just so that my stance is clear, I do think that blasters need some help, since mobs are now tougher. What I have issues with are the scrapper nerf calls. It's ridiculous to say we have better AOEs and overpowered defenses. Not all scrappers are Inv. It sure doesn't help the blaster cause when a few are outright lying and exagerrating or just clueless. And doesn't anyone have a blaster friend or scrapper? Why the heck are we at each other's throats?

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I don't know, possibly because originally, everyone was out to pull the rug out from under the Blaster, especially the Fire/* blaster. And, the nerfs did come....

Really now, I cannot fathom why anyone wants to, or even cares about, changes to an AT so that they are less effective at say, grinding against mobs of mobs. We each own this game, and hence, we can play whatever AT we want to....if you don't want to play a blaster, don't. But, why get your panties in a bunch because the Fire/Dev blaster could solo their entire career? Make your own Fire/Dev blaster if you want to solo all the time....why should anyone CARE? There are very few people that know me online (in RL), and they might care that I'm off soloing instead of playing with them, but who else?

Again, I have the same questions;

1. Why should anybody care if an AT is "unbalanced"? This is not a competition, nor a PvP system (yet).
2. Why would anyone care if a power was "uber"? If SG can be abused, then if you're a */Dev blaster, don't use it if it makes the game boring. If you're another player, why do you even care? Really? Why would anyone care other than the Devs, who want to make sure the power does as it was designed, whether that benefits the player or not?
3. Can you not build any AT yourself? If you play this game to "level-[censored]" and then become upset that Fire/Dev can get to level 40 in just 4 weeks (we all know that post, right?), why not build one yourself and satiate your desire to <announcer's voice>POWER POWER POWER</announcer's voice> level? After 4 boring weeks of grinding everynight, I'm sure you'll be over it, and your face will have marks on it from all the times you fell asleep at the keyboard.
4. Are you concerned that others are having more fun than you? If you want to have fun, try playing a controller. To me, holding a bunch of villians while my friends tear them apart is just great fun.
5. Did you buy into the sell that PlayNC gave you that you could solo? Well, get a scrapper.....wait, what if you didn't want to melee? Hmmm, defenders take too long and are really more suited to teaming......well, perhaps take a blaster? How about we have two choices for melee, and two choices for ranged soloing? Wait, we do! But, now everyone wants to make the blaster un-soloable......<small cry>. Scrapper and Blaster should be viable solo choices for those of us that can't always team.

Let me just inform everyone of some things....

- Scrappers can do more damage over time than Blasters can, because they can withstand more damage and move on to the next group. Evidence of this can be found in any TF. After every fight, the blaster is low on end and sometimes hp, the scrapper is slightly low on end and barely touched on hp. If you have 500 hp and a great defense, that is more valuable than having 350 hp and poor defense. Assuming the blaster can do more damage per attack, they still end up with more downtime due to their weak def/hp and the drawing of more aggro because of their more damaging attacks....hence, the exp/min of the scrapper is potentially greater than any blaster on a level playing field.

- Playing a solo blaster/scrapper is boring if you are only playing to level. If you want to go out and hunt down badges, that is different, but just grinding, is boring. You'll notice that the word is "grinding" and not something more......energizing I guess. The daily grind, grinding me down, the project has ground to a halt, grind it into your head.....see? All negative connotations associated with grind. Grinding is not too much fun, so unless you have the mental capacity of a flea, you'll get quickly bored of this game if all you want to do is "level-[censored]".

This game is fun if you do/experience more than just arresting/killing villians in Hazard zones.....badge collection, missions, TFs, story arcs, different AT builds, etc. Those are the things that keep me from getting more than 4 hours of sleep a night......all this infighting and bickering over other players' ATs (asking for nerf, etc.) only makes the game less fun for everyone......No one should have to change they way they want to play because of "balance" issues, that is just ridiculous (do I use that word a lot?). How ean there be balance issues, when there is no PvP?

- If one AT were so "uber" and everyone played that AT, then the game would quickly become stale for those players, and they'd probably either move on to another game, or role up (punny ) another AT. But, the differences between the ATs presently is ever-so-slight, that I don't see a proliferation of any one AT. Every time I look at my Find button, I invariably see a mix of ATs. Do a /who, and I get the same......in the beginning, there might have been more Blasters, but perhaps that is because its the easiest AT to play out of the box. Once people have played awhile, they get the hankerin' for some spankerin'....whoops, I mean, for something different/more interesting. I payed for 6 months up front, so I'm going to get more out of this game than just run-n-gun blaster play, but I don't care in the least if someone else wants to do that, and even if they have a power that completely incapacitates the enemy 95% of the time, I still don't care.

Why should you?

Leave the blasters alone. Leave the mobs alone (except for the over-mez issue) and lets go back to playing.....

Nice post, from another experienced blaster.

You hit on the most important issue, I think, and that is that the Devices line is the ONLY real control secondary in the blaster line-up. And, if you look over my previous post, it would be logical to assume that the blaster should have gotten a control secondary for each, from the beginning. Raising the HP of the minions would be less of an issue then.

With Blasters having low def/high off, they deserve to have the control secondary, not a "support" secondary. Its the logical progression following the builds of the other ATs and its a logical answer for the changes that have been proposed. The blaster simply cannot be a viable build if the changes proposed are implemented and there is not something done to aid the blaster in lasting beyond the initial engagement.

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Could you please post your Blaster build that is designed to engage in long-term battles?

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...or are you wanting a general build for all blasters to go by?

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It appears that you understand fairly well that blasters mitigate their loss of HP by "downing" as many opponents as possible with alpha strikes. This is seen across the board with ALL blaster builds. Whether soloing or teaming, a blaster will attempt to down their target-of-choice (minions for the AoE blaster, Lts/Bosses for the single-target focused blaster) in the first 1-2 volleys. In the subsequent rounds is where trouble is unavoidable....I think that the blaster would need a generalized guide by which to build in order to survive encounters where all of the targets-of-choice would remain standing and returning fire......in the present, this equates to the blaster being on the ground in the first round, not a very attractive build and certainly not as advertised.

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Taking it off the table for now, what remains? Knockback/Knockdown, Disorient, Slow, Immobilize, and Hold at least. Mitigation takes the form of resistance, +Defense, -Accuracy/To-Hit Debuffs, healing, damage reduction (not open to Blasters)

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With the exception of the Knockback/Knockdown (Energy/AR) and Slow (Ice), none of the others will apply to the Blaster outside of the power pools. If you count that the Energy blaster can disorient with the punches, then we have to start arguing for the blaster to become a melee-oriented AT, and also a boost to those methods should definitely be enhanced on the characters. Also, immediately following implementation of a HP increase for minions, will be the proliferation of Energy/Energy blasters and possibly Ice/Ice. The AR and Fire builds will both be forgotten because the AR will never produce a viable character without enhancing the M30 and Buckshot powers, which are sorely lacking presently. The Fire will be forgotten entirely, because no one wants to go through "life" only half-way doing damage. In a solo fight, the development would be stifled prior to Hasten 6-slotted w/ SOs, since your alpha attack would result in all of the enemies returning fire on you, and your single-target attacks are fairly weak.

The point being, you are describing a Defender, not a blaster. The description of the blaster is that there is very poor defense and extreme offense, a ranged attacker. A character class should not need to engage in the power pools in order to survive, this is a ridiculous assertion. If the character is incapable of surviving using their primary & secondary power sets, then they are ill conceived.

Again, it is my opinion that blaster should be left alone, and I play defenders primarily, if you're asking.

Let me ask a couple of questions;

1. Is CoH a competition to see who can get to 50th level the fastest?
2. Is CoH a PvP system (presently, Hero vs. Hero)?
3. Does the blaster's exp/min rate affect other heroes?
4. Do blasters ONLY solo, leaving teams scrounging for damage dealers for TFs?
5. If the minion HP were raised, thereby reducing the effects of the blaster, would you prefer to have two scrappers or two blasters on your team for a TF? Consider the amount of defense and healing required to keep a 1/2 effective teamate alive, when they bring NOTHING else to the table besides the 1/2 damage they deal, and are constantly in need of attention/buffing/healing thereby hurting the rest of the team....I know, every blaster gets a pet medic
6. Would you be happier if we just eliminated the blaster AT?
7. If/When you play a blaster, would you be frustrated if every fight you had resulted in you being down to 0 endurance and 1/2 HP? Or, would you consider it a challange and run off to see if you could brawl the next mob into submission while you recover end/hp?

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I would focus on taking as much of those as you can get

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1. 24 powers; take into account travel and fitness (that's 5 minimum). 19 powers; We now have two pools to use, Stealth & Leadership. Blasters receive the lowest bonus (does that mean its a penalty?) for Leadership...so, let's avoid that. Take CJ/SJ/Acrobatics instead....every blaster MUST become a super jumper to persue Acrobatics (Hover offers same def bonus 5-11% as CJ, but Acrobatics makes Jump line worth more). So, that 6 powers, leaving 18. Take Stealth, Fighting or Leadership. Four more powers for those? Leaves 14 powers. Should be plenty, right? Why not just make a Power Pool AT? EVERY blaster will be REQUIRED to use 10 power pool selections just to be viable for developing, and most of those will not be able to take early in the game to even develop. So, lets all go out and make Super-Jumper blasters that can't run down the street at 10th level without dying.....

2. Blasters focusing on defense......hmmm, seems a curious way to build. Why don't I just go build a defender instead? I can get a half-decent build out of my defender and have defense/buff/debuff right off the bat! How about I just build a Rad/Dark, FF/Dark and then I can use Dk Blast, Gloom, Moonbeam, Tenebrous Tenticles, Nightfall & Blackstar and be a solo machine!!!!! muhahahahahah.....whoops, I can see the fingers hovering over the nerf button already.....

Erratic,

I can let my defender focus on Defense/Buff/Debuff and secondary on offense, but I can't have my blaster focus on offense and secondary on defense. And, its the Devs' fault! They made the Blaster's secondary "Support" and not defense. You look at the other ATs and what are their Primary and Secondary power sets?

Tank - Defense/Melee
Scrapper - Melee/Defense
Controller - Control/Buff
Defender - Buff/Ranged
Blaster - Ranged/Support

Why is that? Why isn't it "Control", which seems like the most logical considering the other builds? Or, in the least, why not Ranged/Buff? It doesn't make sense, and it is the devs' fault.

If there is a problem with the Blaster, then there needs to be defense added, bonus given to defensive power pools choices, and/or more control/buff/defense secondary powers. As it stands now, if those changes are not forthcoming, you may as just eliminate the AT.

IMHO, I think everyone would be a lot happier if they just increased the amount of exp for missions/TFs/etc. so that more blasters would team, then all the nerf-brayers (bray, as in a jackass) would calm down.

Me, I have to solo many times, and when I do, I play either my defender or occasionally my blaster.

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No, I would have you recognize that insufficient defense means not surviving long enough to use all the offense you stocked up on

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See? You agree with me that the Devs' gimped the Blaster from the beginning. If they had just given us some Def/Contrl/Buff/Debuff options, this would never have been and issue. Its sad that the Devices secondary is the only one that seems capable of doing the control portion, and that's the thing that bothers everyone so much....caltrops gets "fixed", smoke grenade gets "fixed"....I wouldn't be surprised if Trip Mine and Targeting Drone get looked at next...

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Is it absolutely necessary to have every damage dealing power open to you to be a good blaster?

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No. The AT most people whine about is the Fire/Dev, and they use very few of their primary...Fire Breath, Fireball, and blast/flares (or both). Blaze maybe a little later as well as Inferno, but mostly SG --> SS --> Trip Mine --> Caltrops --> Firebreath --> Fireball or something along those lines....and the thing that gets me, people whine about the control portion of the build!

OK, so how about we look at this differently? Give the villians more HP, but give the blasters control powers, then the blasters can hold the villians while they wait for their powers to regen..........hmmm

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...don't defenses give you more opportunity to use your offense?

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This would assume that you had both defensive AND offensive powers. The blaster doesn't. If the blaster HAS TO HAVE defensive powers to stay alive, then it needs to be in the secondary....that is all I have to say. The power pool is to supplement every hero, not to be a pre-requisite.

/me goes back to playing my defender again.....but starts eyeing that fire Tank.....

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...This game was meant to be done in groups, while having the option to solo...

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Actually, the viability of grouping or soloing was pushed at the beginning, so that it would attract more players, now it seems as if soloing = over-powered. So many players complain about the mythical "one shot, one kill" abilities of the blasters that a bandwagon gets formed.

My Fire/Dev blaster has always had trouble staying alive. The warning in the manual about being aware of your surroundings at all times is exactly right. With those big rewards, come greater risks. If my defender takes on a group of 3 mobs (one Lt. and 2 minions), I'm pretty confident that if things go badly, I can still get out of trouble. But, when my Fire/Dev blaster takes on a group of 8-12 mobs, she better get it right, or she's dead. Endurance dependence leads to many deaths while trying to avoid the groups that you can't kill with one, or two, or three, or four, or five....etc. shots. And, when you're out on your own, an Awaken is not an option (usually), so its off to the hospital and then run/fly/jump back to your area.....oh, and did I mention that grinding is so boring that you fall asleep at the keyboard?

People really should try playing each of the ATs before making statements about the "uberness" of them. Some things did need to be addressed (SG, for one), but this talk of how over-powered blasters are is really ridiculous...

/me goes back to playing my FF/Dark defender.....

Could you please post your Blaster build that is designed to engage in long-term battles?

I'm thinking that you must be designing with Defense in mind, but then I think that the defender receives the most beneficial defense bonuses with such things as Manuevers. Both the manual and the play style of most Blasters is to deal a great deal of up-front damage to avoid return fire, the idea that the best defense is a good offense.

You would have players build a weak defensive-oriented blaster that exchanges offensive powers for a few defensive ones? Its sounds as if you are trying to change the nature of the blaster to me. A defender is what you are thinking of, someone that can buff/debuff/bubble and still knock out a few offensive shots.......if you revisit the blaster builds, you will find little or nothing to aid in their defense outside of the generic power pools, and those are better suited to other ATs.

Blaster = High damage, low defense, low hp

Did I get confused on the issue here, or is the blaster being "phased out" to be replaced by an AT that has no value to the game?

BTW, if we wanted to talk about the ease of CoH post-30th level, I wouldn't be opposed to studying the Tanks, Scrappers, Controllers and Defenders. Do the Controllers or Tanks have any fear once they reach 30th level? Seems like the ones I meet are bored because their jobs become too easy and they end up re-rolling....

Or, as an alternative, let's leave everything the way it is. Blasters can continue to run-n-gun, tanks can continue to stand there and dish out the AoE damage while they go eat dinner and watch a movie, the Controllers can play Puppet Master all night, and the scrappers can run around and count how many "floaties" they can get to show up on the screen at the same time. Honestly, I don't think that the game is THAT hard for any AT post-30.........ask anyone to tackle solid Purple areas pre-15th leve (Talos Island maybe?) and people will laugh, but all of the people I play with hunt reds and purples in their late 30s and 40s, and that's all they do (Tank, Blaster, Defender, controller....don't play with a scrapper though)...........

For a Fire/Dev build, this is how I would start out;

1-2nd lvl - Fire Blast, Fire Ball, Web:
3rd lvl - add 2 slots to Fire Ball (most damage per shot)

4th lvl - Caltrops:
5th lvl - add 2 slots to Fire Ball (now you should have 5 slotted dmg Fire Ball)

6th lvl - Hasten:
7th lvl - 1 slot Fire Ball, 1 Slot Fire Blast (or Hasten)

8th lvl - Fire Breath:
9th lvl - 2 slots to Fire Breath

10th lvl - Targeting Drone:
11th lvl - 2 slots to Fire Breath

12th lvl - Swift/Hurdle (your choice)
13th lvl - 1 slot to Fire Breath, 1 slot to Fire Blast

14th lvl - Super Speed
15th lvl - 2 slots to Hasten


You want to concentrate on getting Smoke Grenade, Blaze and Stamina next. Targeting Drone, Hasten, &amp; Smoke Grenade can split the slots until you get Stamina, then get Stamina to 6 slots ASAP.

Here are your big slot hogs:
Fire Blast - 6 slots
Fire Ball - 6 slots
Fire Breath - 6 slots

Hasten - 5 to 6 slots
Stamina - 6 slots
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One thing I'd like to find out is, what are the benefits/tradeoffs of slotting the "auto" powers Swift/Hurdle vs. slotting Super Speed/Super Jump?

-= Edited per Cambios suggestion =-