City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Miladys_Knight

Renowned

  • Posts

    2222

  • Joined

  1. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MisterD View Post
    If you dont think SoC is even a LITTLE OP on doms, you have no idea whatever.

    I like how doms are now, with Ios and perma, however..I DID play them back when we only had SOs. By your own admission, you tried doms and didnt like them.

    Now, don't take this the wrong way, but to me..that just puts you firmly in the camp with allll the other people who were too bad at the AT, to actually PLAY it without perma dom.

    And Permadom itself. If you dont think that is OP, again, you have no idea. No other AT gets something as good as Dom, that is NOT even meant to be perma. The very fact we can do it, to me, is just silly, since ED was to stop similar things with other powers.

    Much as I love my permadoms, and I really really do, if Domination got nerfed, I would totally still love them.

    Keep enjoying your crutch.
    At release Plant was the only primary designed specifically for Doms. Every other primary was a cost saving port of an existing controller primary and since none of those were specifically designed for Doms they did not work the best.

    The Plant/Thorns Dominator was THE design target for Doms. The reason it is where it is now is that all of the other primaries dropped the ball and the Dom concept was not a good one for the game at the time.

    CoV was City of Brutes and Master Minds. 2/3 of all villains were one or the other. Of the remaining 1/3, half were corruptors, of that remaining half 2/3s were Doms. People didn't play Doms because Dom mechanics were clunky (a PBAoE and a Cone for AOE? What were the original devs thinking?)

    Plant is where it is today because all the other primaries and the Dom concept together kinda sucked and it all needed buffed to bring it up out of the dark ages and into a condition that more than just a few masochists would play it.

    Do IOs make it OP? Sure. But then IOs make every thing OP. (Except blasters of course, IO'd blasters just barely make par).

    Do incarnate powers make things OP? Sure. But that's what an Incarnate is SUPPOSED to be. (Except for blasters of course, most blasters are locked into a certain set of incarnate powers to try and shore up their weaknesses instead of making them into minor deities like the other ATs).

    Its a super hero/villain game after all. The goal is to become OP. If you weren't OP you'd just be an armed thug and anyone can be that.
  2. Miladys_Knight
    A Model T can still drive down today's roads and it still works as well as it ever did and by it's design standard it's not "broken". You might even enjoy the quirks and familiar bumps and rattles. You might also be very very good using the universal transmission.

    BUT it doesn't compare to the Mercedes, Lincolns, Rolls, BMWs (or even YUGOs) that drive up and down today's highways.

    Sure Defiance 2.0 may have turned it into a Model A but fact of the matter is (whether you see it or not, or agree with it or not) the blaster still does not stand up to close scrutiny (or even not so close scrutiny) with the rest of today's ATs.
  3. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Fulmens View Post
    Arcanaville said:


    What she said. Specifically, I recently did an experiment that showed, to my own satisfaction, that on a level 23 Scrapper I see a spawn in a +1/x1 mission and go, "Hmm, interesting" and on a level 23 Blaster Isee a spawn in a +1/x1 mission and go "What will it take for me to survive this?"

    Your experience may vary; I encourage you to try it yourself and come back and post about it.
    For me its around level 25+ and its a setting of +1/x4.

    My Brutes, Scrappers, Tanks, Doms, Controllers, and Defenders usually just pick a mission, wade in, "yawn", profit. (The defenders are a bit too much on the slow side but still....)

    My Blasters get finicky about what enemy group they face. Need something without too high a damage output, medium to low mez, and not too many debuffs especially slows and to hit debuffs. Once I have that I make sure I have a full tray of inspirations, mostly purples and a few break frees, and timidly chew my way through the mission balancing speed with survival.

    If all the above works out to about a 50/50 chance of survival I pick that mission and go for it.
  4. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hit Streak View Post
    Tomorrow at 10:30AM PDT, we'll be talking to Jeff "Arbiter Hawk" Hamilton on TWITCH.TV about some upcoming changes to Blasters in Issue 24. You won't want to miss it!

    http://www.twitch.tv/paragonstudios
    Excellent news! Thanks, very much.

    Not to be greedy but any chance this could be "Youtubed" for those of us that will be working at the appointed time?
  5. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
    Quite frankly, those heal procs suck, although in Siren's Song it might be at least halfway decent. Synapse stated during the PPM discussions that looking at edge case procs was on his todo list at some point: I believe this is one of those edge cases.

    Its not that the effects are completely unnoticeable, but rather that they are not worth the slot cost in attacks. Devastation chance for hold would probably offer more mitigation.
    Indeed. It was an experiment and iirc when I was figuring out the actual value of having done so from Hero Stat logs it wound up being something in the neighborhood of roughly equal to 2% more regen for all 5 procs total.

    I tried it using Sirens as an opener but I was usually fully healed in that case and got no benefit.

    I switched to opening with Shockwave to mitigate the alpha (which no longer works as well as it once did due to the KB bug) and following up with Sirens to heal a bit of the Alpha damage. Results were similar. I'm pretty sure the Goat is right. The proc heals about 60 HP and Sirens would proc once or twice against 10 targets.
  6. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
    If blaster survivability was boosted by adding +regen defiance buffs into attacks that could be fired while mezzed, would that not be technically a way to mitigate mez - in effect our survivability would not be as strongly affected by mez even if it takes hold. We could still shoot, albeit with less options, and still do something to try to recover health before getting killed.
    I tried something similar to this with my Sonic/Ice/Elec Blaster.

    I slotted the Entropic Chaos chance to heal in Shriek, Scream, and Chillblain and the Call of the Sandman chance to heal in Sirens Song and Frozen Aura.

    The results were pretty negligible for additional survival. Though if I was mezzed with a sleep effect when Entropic Chaos procced it would break the sleep which did have some minor utility.
  7. Miladys_Knight
    You forgot the Dom revamp in your time line.

    Several ATs get ignored in cycles that's the way it is because of available dev time.

    Of all the ATs that need some love blasters top the list.

    If you really want to do a comparison you should do a time line for each AT. It might get the dev's attention if there is really a huge disparity AT to AT.
  8. Miladys_Knight
    Leaving mez aside lots of ideas, pick one (or a couple):
    1. Tier 1 secondary (all secondary sets) give it a 10 foot radius and a 5 target per cast cap. (Yes, Power Thrust too).
    2. Give all secondary powers that apply a status effect a 10 foot radius and a 5 target per cast cap.
    3. Give all blaster powers that apply a status effect but do minimal or no damage, the damage that would be appropriate for the recharge and endurance cost.
    4. Add 15% ranged defense to the Epic resistance shields and to Frozen Armor.
    5. Make the Epic Pool available for blasters ONLY at level 4 just like all the other pools.
    6. Hero side PPPs so that you can do a mission for say Posi or War Witch like you do on Red side and unlock a Hero PPP that addresses blaster issues. (It really sucks to have to go red side to get Mace Mastery and then have to come back again).
    7. Add a row and a column to the inspiration tray FOR BLASTERS ONLY.
    8. Add powers to all the Blaster (but not Defender or Corruptor) primary and secondary sets. It could be done like the pool powers are. The additional powers would open up at the same level and you could choose either one. Don't like or want the power that opens up the next time you get a power? You can go back and pick one of the earlier ones up instead (they won't lock out). This could allow the devs to add AoE damage to the sets that don't have much, Build up to /devices, Aim to DP/ and AR/, status effecting powers to Fire/ and /Fire etc.
    9. Add additional thematic secondary effects to Blasters: Fire would get some -to hit (soot and smoke), Ice would get -def and -res (freezing shrinks metal armor and creates gaps, damage while frozen cracks it), Sonic could get bonus damage (vibration), Energy/ could get chance to stun, /Energy could get chance for KB, etc.
    10. The Blaster is deadly at 40' and less. Make the MoB AI reflect that. Make the mobs reluctant to close with the blaster so that having a MoB close to melee is an uncommon occurrence instead of the usual PVE melee gank fest.
    11. Remove rooting from all blaster powers so that instead of stick and move you can move while sticking. (This could also allow the blaster to not be locked out of activating powers while KB'd which would be both cool and comic book thematic).
    12. Remove movement suppression for BLASTERS ONLY.
    13. Remove (or reduce) the effects of ED for blasters.
    14. Remove interrupt from all powers that blasters can take. (ie: fix snipes, /devices, and aid self)
    15. Create a "blaster" pool. This would have 5 powers that address the most common blaster issues. It unlocks at level 4 and isn't available for any other AT.
    16. Allow the blaster to select a 5th Power Pool.

    I have lots more ideas but this is a pretty decent selection of possible blaster patches.
  9. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by StratoNexus View Post
    To be fair, that is not really the point that was being made. The AoE attacks in Sonic should count no matter what, their damage is low, but not negligible. Yogi was simply stating that incarnate stuff and IOs can make them even more potent, not that they were needed.
    It wasn't germane to the discussion though. He has been trying to do a completely separate comparison of blaster damage and scrapper damage without anything extraneous figured in (like survivability and mez) IOs and incarnate powers shouldn't enter the discussion for the same reasons.
  10. Miladys_Knight

    Blapper Help

    POST-ACTION

    Dark/Em/Mace blapper.

    Open with Umbral Torrent to mitigate the Alpha. Follow up with Tenebrous Tentacles to keep the spawn positioned where you want them. Stun mezzers with Total Focus or hold them with Abyssal Gaze (depending on if they are at range or in melee).

    If you have Stealth on the to hit debuff from either Umbral Torrent/Tenebrous Tentacles will keep you at the effective defense soft cap vs Smash/Lethal vs +4s and +2s vs energy (+4s vs energy if you keep Tenebrous Tentacles double stacked). Most melee attacks have a S/L component so you should be good there. Against ranged exotic damage you are within 1 small purple inspiration of the soft cap vs ranged damage and should also be good there.

    Use life drain as needed to replenish hit points lost from the 5% of all attacks that will still get through your defenses.

    Should be both pretty tough and pretty fun.

    Caveat - Since your AoE attacks are cones I would not run on more than a 5 player setting until you get familiar with the build and play style.

    Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.957
    http://www.cohplanner.com/

    Click this DataLink to open the build!

    Level 50 Magic Blaster
    Primary Power Set: Dark Blast
    Secondary Power Set: Energy Manipulation
    Power Pool: Leaping
    Power Pool: Concealment
    Power Pool: Speed
    Power Pool: Fighting
    Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

    Hero Profile:
    Level 1: Dark Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(42), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:50(43), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(43), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(43), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(45)
    Level 1: Power Thrust -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(40), HO:Nucle(40)
    Level 2: Gloom -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(34), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:50(36), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(36), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(36), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(37)
    Level 4: Energy Punch -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(11), HO:Nucle(34)
    Level 6: Build Up -- AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg:50(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg:50(7), AdjTgt-Rchg:50(7)
    Level 8: Aim -- AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg:50(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg:50(9), AdjTgt-Rchg:50(9)
    Level 10: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(11), Winter-ResSlow:50(48)
    Level 12: Tenebrous Tentacles -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:50(13), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:50(13), Posi-Dmg/Rng:50(15), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(31), DampS-ToHitDeb/Rchg:50(50)
    Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-ResKB:50(A), Zephyr-Travel:50(15)
    Level 16: Bone Smasher -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(17), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(17), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(31), HO:Nucle(31)
    Level 18: Abyssal Gaze -- Lock-Acc/Hold:50(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg:50(19), Lock-Rchg/Hold:50(19), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:50(25), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:50(27), Lock-%Hold:50(27)
    Level 20: Umbral Torrent -- SBlastersW-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SBlastersW-Dmg/Rchg:50(21), SBlastersW-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(21), SBlastersW-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(23), SBlastersW-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(23), SBlastersW-Rchg/Dmg%:50(25)
    Level 22: Stealth -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
    Level 24: Grant Invisibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
    Level 26: Life Drain -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(46), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:50(46), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(46), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(48), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(48)
    Level 28: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(29), RechRdx-I:50(29)
    Level 30: Boxing -- Empty(A)
    Level 32: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(33), RctvArm-ResDam:40(33), RctvArm-EndRdx:40(33), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(34)
    Level 35: Boost Range -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
    Level 38: Total Focus -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(39), HO:Endo(40)
    Level 41: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(42), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(42)
    Level 44: Scorpion Shield -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(45), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(45)
    Level 47: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel:50(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(50)
    Level 49: Phase Shift -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
    Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Defiance
    Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
    Level 4: Ninja Run
    Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:50(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(3)
    Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), P'Shift-EndMod:50(3), P'Shift-End%:50(50)
    ------------



    Code: 
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1450;654;1308;HEX;|
|78DA6593DB6E12511486F7C0600B050A02054468819696728EC62B13136D359A926|
|049BC25239DD0B1384C2818B9F415BC31515BAADE9B184FEFA2BE82871BCF17740D|
|EB871A67C2CC37FC7BEDF5EFB5F79AEAFD0DF7CB6B0F2E09C973A5ADECEF372ED3B|
|3A7761D55A5A5358579CDD01D85DCD856F496BA53DC50BA7B1C9A9E8CD4FB86D1E9|
|F68A9BBADA6D0D1A5545D78C7E5BE9691D5DB86B9D4EBBB8A52A86A6B7FCE33FD7F|
|57BDABE765B6B6BBD816BACD40D55DDF18C5FAF6AADDD1E8546370DAD599C385495|
|A64A0FF37D10A145ADD0BD1B14B8460E7140A8C8227BC85C1F8247E03366FE39F3A|
|E98CE95458D9092C5F24D709BB95A072F1265BBD0C84F829F04BF24FCD2F04BC32F|
|0DBF65F8E9043BFCECF093E127C3CF05BF24FC3A0407CFB13986B6719E5347E00BE|
|65E900FC98C9941CC2C626611B340014E89639C2169ACB97CCC52CCCEFB4179E650|
|DBDC6B5EB3FB0DF896E97DC74CBC67565E71FE30E5F7F05CC9F38935EF07A641EA3|
|CEA9E47DD3ED4ED43DD09D49D40DD3AADC58FB5F8BF739ED33FC09FCCC82FE699DF|
|E01FE61D9A1BC0DCC063AE2DF8047CCA5C38000F999121D343758478AE08619FBCA|
|485A185A175C8230A8F28FAA0803E28A00F0AE88312FAA0843E4851BE18CE2B9663|
|EDEC7F9428260ECFF8882E612765914F505E4CD0CBAA2C9692600A4C339361625C1|
|63D7353912585CC7D7C39669E159C4606A791C16964265D7F814F4326EF3574CF1A|
|76208BEEC906987F7D42E41093434C1E3179C4A4294F115D524477543E327D3456C|
|65ACB93DD90A75F28FDCC5D489A0ABB8CD62DA3658B52B128E72CCA798BB265516A|
|F2F4BB17D25871FAA65FF3E8B38B46A57F47BF9E2892748BABB7DDE0D3F96289FE7|
|6A2D8A425AEDDF610FBF388790C20A1E924|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
  11. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Yogi_Bare View Post
    In addition to being able to slot procs; now that we have Incarnate abilities that can add more significance to the underused and the meh I would hesitate to trivialize any damage having AoE power that can add to a kill count.
    Not sure why you are factoring either of these in. Free players get neither as do some premium players and no premium player gets incarnate powers. They should not even be part of your thought process since these players CAN access blasters.
  12. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by StratoNexus View Post
    No reasonable person is saying blaster damage is poor. Simply that it is not all that much better or not at all better than other damage dealers.
    What most of the reasonable people are saying is that blaster damage compared to scrapper damage does not account for the difference in blaster survivability compared to scrapper survivability.

    As Arcanaville has said before the majority of damage output in the blaster arsenal is in the 0-40 feet range. That small amount of range (in my experience mobs can close that distance in the time it takes most of non-tier 1 or 2 powers to animate) is no where near enough of an advantage to justify the difference either, nor are the 2 combined enough to justify it.*

    This is why I've said that its difficult to separate the 2 issues.

    *This doesn't even factor in the mez issue to which scrappers (in normal content) are essentially immune, and blasters are more affected than any other AT by a factor of at least 2-3.
  13. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Starsman View Post
    Not sure, didn't crunch any numbers. Was a passing idea. I guess blasters would need that effect to ramp up quickly so it would have to be balanced to be that way, perhaps designed in a way that degrades... so you get held or distracted you don't get a binary drop off but perhaps after 5 to 10 seconds of inactivity the entire thing would fade out. It would just require you to be active in order to stay defensive.

    Another option that crossed my mind is to give blasters a front loaded defense inherent of some sort... perhaps resistance, or defense, or a combination of both that is "always" active. However, you slowly lose it during combat.

    The goal would be that a blaster is meant to kill in short fights, but also to survive without instantly killing everything. So, give them the ability to even take a solo sized alpha, the kind of alpha a stalker would survive. Unlike the scrapper, you better start killing fast because you will lose that.


    Hmmm.. what if we return the old blaster defiance bar? This time make the bar be full by default out of combat, it degrades by getting attacked, not by attacking.

    It refills out of combat. The more full it is the bigger the buff. The buff, ideally, would be based on your primary and secondary following the rules I suggested earlier. A Fire/Devices may have a combo of Resistance and defense, a Fire/Fire would be pure resistance.
    Make it a trade off type power. First double the damage buff provided by defiance.

    Now the Blaster starts with Mag 10 mez protection and 25% defense to ranged and AoE and the defiance damage buff is 0.

    Blaster begins launching attacks, as the number of damage buffs from defiance increase the mez protection and defense decrease. At a 33% defiance damage buff you are at mag 5 mez protection and 12.5 defense to ranged and AoE. When you hit 66% the mez protection and defense are 0.

    The defiance buffs are relatively short term. If you get mezzed they will wear off rather quickly and you'll unmez as your defense increases.

    With defiance 2.0 I die most often when hit with an Alpha mez. This would give the blaster tools to mitigate the Alpha mez while still leaving them vulnerable to mez.
  14. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by StratoNexus View Post
    I am fine with that idea, as I said, make the powers better, do not add a gimmick that just adds some bonus for taking more primary/secondary powers. Adding defense debuff resistance to Grant Cover is not the same as suggesting that 4% defense debuff resistance be granted for every shield power taken.

    Adding 15% Sm/Le/Fire resists to Blazing Aura, is not the same as suggesting blasters get mag 1 mez protection and 2% ranged defense for each primary and secondary power that is recharged and ready to use.
    Except adding the DDR to grant cover was a "gimmick" It could have been done by spreading it around to all the other powers.

    Making all the secondary powers better will take quite sometime and considerable developer time. If DPA isn't increased by reducing animation times the blaster will STILL be skipping powers or having them sit unused in the powers tray.

    Providing a bonus of some sort for secondary powers taken but rarely used could provide a short circuiting method to both the issue of required dev time and powers unusable because of excessive animation times.
  15. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Yogi_Bare View Post
    On the subject of mid-to-high level survivability (abandoning Blasters in the 30 level range); did the earlier access change to EPPs impact that in any way?

    Since it isn't available until level 35, 41, 44, and the final power at 47 the answer would be a no.

    If it was available at level 4 like the rest of the pools there would be a small chance of it being a yes.

    That's not the only issue though. The blaster is slot poor until the late 30s early 40s too which was not a huge contributing factor pre-ED but has always been an issue post ED.
  16. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by StratoNexus View Post
    I can agree with that in the general sense, but I would not want to "fix" that by encouraging taking primary or secondary powers that are poor, just to get the other bonus you suggest. I'd rather those primary and secondary powers not be poor.

    That way you can choose to take pool powers for theme and be losing out on a few good powers from your primary/secondary, but not also losing out on some bonus you get for taking as many primary/secondary powers as possible.
    Except we do have precedent for this. The extra defense debuff resistance that Shield Defense needed, and was given, was placed in a power no one was taking precisely to force players to take that power.

    Honestly if a preponderance of players are taking all the same pool powers (fighting for mitigation and a +rech IO, speed for hasten's +rech, leaping for unsuppressed movement, mitigation, Immob protection and +rech IO, Concealment for alpha survival, mitigation, +rech IOs, and a rescue power pre-Epic powers) these effects should be added to existing powers in the Secondary (the secondaries contain the powers that are most often skipped) that solves several blaster issues:

    1) You don't have to take a non-thematic pool power to shore up your weakness.
    2) You get to have the things your AT/power set is lacking AND you get to have the situational secondary power you would regularly skip so that you have it to use in those very rare situations that it would be useful.
    3) It gives you the opportunity to choose pool powers that are thematic rather than feeling locked into the same old (and far too many) pool powers.
  17. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by StratoNexus View Post
    And this is a pretty darn fun one to have!
    Truth!
  18. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Yogi_Bare View Post
    Mez still pertains to the survivability aspect that I was excluding for this particular line of questioning (and it is a pitfall shared, to some extent, by Controllers, Doms, Defenders, Corrs and Khelds; ie almost all the ranged sets... which would make that point largely non-applicable anyhow)
    I wasn't talking from a survivability point. I was talking from a damage output point. (Though it is hard to separate the two)

    Most of the other ATs you mentioned can avoid mez much more easily than can a blaster (and have a better chance of living through it but that's an aside in this discussion). While mezzed the blaster can't activate Aim or Build up. The benefit from assault is lost and the blaster's defiance buff is greatly diminished.

    ALL of that while alive and still able to fire the tier 1 and 2 primary and the tier 1 secondary (provided the target is in range of the primary powers but notably the secondary power). Which are often the lowest DPA attacks available.

    That defeat frequently results shortly thereafter you can factor in or out as you wish.
  19. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Fulmens View Post

    I think the new "Absorb" mechanic might be a possible durability solution for Blasters; BU or Aim each come with 50% of base Blaster HP of Absorb? It may or may not be a perfect solution, but it requires no new code and it's really easy to implement. AR and Dev would require ... some other solution. Poor AR and Dev.
    Don't forget blighted and benighted dual pistols as well.....
  20. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by StratoNexus View Post
    While I like the spirit of the idea, I don't think it is necessarily a good idea to incentivize power choice in that particular way. There is nothing wrong with a build that only takes 10-13 powers from their primary and secondary, IMO.

    If the powers are bad, they should be improved, and not by adding a gimmick that encourages taking a power just to get a passive bonus that is not actually tied to the power.
    Taking powers simply to slot passive IO bonuses is pretty common for most IO builds (a practice that I eschew but I know that a lot of forumites do that)

    Changing that requires coding time that may not be available. Additionally, except for flavor, I'd say there is something wrong with not being able or willing to take most of your primary/secondary powers. That indicates that there is a design problem if pool powers (which by definition are supposed to be inferior to primary and secondary powers) are taken instead by a majority of players.

    That would suggest that the blaster primary and secondary powers are inferior to pools in some (or multiple) way(s) an "upside down" situation that should be remedied.
  21. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Yogi_Bare View Post
    IMO as well. Especially when setting the AT inherent abilities aside; speaking of which, I'm still trying to make heads or tails of the comparative damage issue that some are pointing to (survivability aside)...

    I just rolled another Blaster, just to see what I could sustain for a damage buff from the Defiance 2.0 mechanic. At base recharge, I could maintain an approximate 30% buff [at lvl 12 on a Dark/Fire]. I'm sure that with some basic recharge; I could push that to a consistent 40% (which is nothing to sneeze at; especially considering that you get it for 'free'). Then you toss in your two BU powers (staggered).

    Now, am I missing something about their comparable base damages, damage caps or something else that supports the stance that all the other ATs are seriously encroaching on Blaster damage (outside of Brutes)? Please explain.
    It would be mez again.

    Pre-level 20 damage modifiers are smoothed out. Most of the ATs do comparatively the same amounts of damage. That additional damage and lower scale mob hit points may be what put the blaster in the sweet spot.

    Now add more HP to the mobs in the post 20 game, add in that the blaster is mezzed more often and can't sustain that defiance buff with 3 powers, and increasing the difficulty setting that a blaster is comfortable on makes that worse rather than better. (A dead blaster has a 0 defiance buff)

    Spread that out over the time spent playing and the benefit nearly vanishes.
  22. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Leo_G View Post
    Might be rather gamable though.

    But I like the meat of the idea of a reverse Burn-Out effect because it can be a form of mez protection if you think about it. Whatever causes the shock and awe effect would basically shut down any toggles they're running, any mezzes they were gonna use or were about to use again because they're almost recharge starts recharging back at base, a slew of nasty effects like a Master Illusionist summoning a hoard of Lt illusionist will suddenly be unable to if the Blaster or Stalker hits them hard enough.
    Since they launch the alpha as soon as they notify that only solves the problem of on going damage.

    I think someone else mentioned it before in another thread but I'm also thinking a potential solution might be to grant the blaster mag 1 mez protection and 2% ranged defense for each primary and secondary power that is recharged and ready to use.

    That would allow us to take all of our primary and secondary powers (even if we didn't use or even slot them all, since we won't because they don't animate fast enough) instead of the pool powers that most blasters dip into to make up for the mitigation the blaster lacks.
  23. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Leo_G View Post
    Mmmm, new mez: Shock or Life Passing (before eyes)

    Attack any foe and by taking a certain % of their HP away within so-many attacks (I'd say maybe 2), they trigger the Shocked/Life Passing mez. This trigger is similar to the 1-shot code for players but works by % dmg taken which varies by rank (so maybe 75% or more of a minion's HP in dmg, 50% for Lts and 33% for Bosses...EBs and up are immune). This is a 1-time trigger that, after its duration, cannot be triggered again for the lifetime (which shouldn't be long) of the critter.

    Shock/Life Passing = a momentary (3 sec) immobilize/no-act mez of infinite magnitude, a reverse Burn Out (putting all powers in the 'recharging' phase) and a chance to trigger an 8 second irresistible ToHit debuff or mag 6 confuse.

    Function = Death is a 100% debuff while Near-Death is less so but helps you on your way to the 100% debuff. Anyone can use this tactic but higher dmg ATs would be capable of this on a grander scale, specifically, Blaster who often have high burst damage, wider AoEs and therefore a better chance of triggering this effect. Stalkers and Scrappers would mainly generate this on fewer/single targets. Corruptors and Defenders would be able to trigger this with empowered nukes. Coordinated strikes would be rewarded.
    I was thinking along the lines of Shock and Awe. The first AoE the blaster launches (ie: while not supressed) locks every thing down for 5-10 seconds. (Holy crap! What was that! Duck! BLASTER! Run Away!)

    While every thing is in a panic it can't move or respond BUT....

    They would have to change the way the alpha response works against blasters to make it useful. The mobs would have to notify AFTER the initial mez and damage hit or it wouldn't do anything to help.
  24. Miladys_Knight
    Of all power sets that are desperately in need of a revamp, blaster /devices tops the lists.
  25. Miladys_Knight
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by newchemicals View Post
    As Adeon points out, that doesn't take into account inspiration use. The faster you kill stuff the faster you get insps and the more they stack. I run the AE "farm" thing all the time, when you use insps aggressively, you get more insps faster which can push you even faster.

    The first blaster in your example can better leverage limited duration buffs like the hybrid slot and can better choose to fire off a BU or Aim when a fight starts. (Gotta get the first good shot in)

    Is more damage the best solution? Not really, but is much easier to sell that to the playerbase than a global damage nerf. It not that blasters do not enough damage, its other ATs do too much.

    As far as what I think the devs will do, short of speeding up animation times, would be to buff damage. We'll just have to disagree on the point Adeon.

    We'll just have to see what appears on beta.
    You need to qualify that some what. Once you hit the soft cap on defense with insps loading up more provides little benefit.

    A damage buff from eating reds is the same. If the increased damage output doesn't allow you to defeat at least one class of mob in one less shot you still face the same amount of incoming damage.