This was originally gonna be a post asking a couple of questions about */thermal corruptors (not because I want one, instead I wanted to know a bit more about the most common secondary out there
) but as I was writing it it kinda turned into a more general set of ponderings (or perhaps even a rant
). What it basically boils down to is that I was wondering if the whole "R U H34L0R?" thing is infuencing peoples builds in a negative way.
I'll start with the thermals as this is what I was originally gonna say. My highest char (a dark/dark corruptor) is 26 - ok, it's not that high yet, but I've had time to get a decent idea of what's going on - and, while I run into a lot of thermal corruptors, very very few of them have the shields. Instead, they have 3 powers from the secondary and no more: the 2 heals and the rez. Now, my D/D has Twilight Grasp, a wonderful heal (and with it I can, at the worst, match a /thermal for healing power), but I wouldn't think of using it on decent enemies without Darkest Night debuffing them too. So why do /thermals not use their shields to aid their heals? From the few times I've met one with shields (and even then it's usually just the smash/leathal one) it make a significant difference to the damage I take (I'm rather siucidal so I've gotten a good feel for incoming damage
).
But it's not just thermals. A corruptor joins the group and AMs us. "Woohoo /Rad", I think. "Uber debuffs." We go through the first fight and I'm noticing a distinct lack of green clouds around the mobs. So I check his power list. He has three powers in his secondary: the heal, AM and Mutation. If he was level 10 or so, I could understand, but I'm seeing this at 26. I politely ask him why he took the rez instead of of RI or EF. He replies saying the Mutation is his favourite power and he uses it loads. It's all I can do to stop myself secreaming at him. Of course you need to rez a lot - you're not debuffing the enemies. And this isn't nearly just a one off.
But, ok, I admit I've never played a /rad or /thermal, so there could be something I've missed that means they can leave these powers out. What I have played is a /dark. So when I get in a group with 3 other /darks (2 MMs, 1 Cor), I expect some fun. What I don't expect is for none of these players (level 22-24 IIRC) to have Darkest Night. First major battle, we wipe. I survive, along with a...brute I think. One of the MMs tells me to rez. I can't. I haven't taken HT (I regard stopping people dying in the first place more important than rezzing em), so I tell him. So he starts ranting at me for not taking "the most important power in my powerset". Now this is odd, seeing as I rarely have a need for rezzing (apart from myself
) when I've got DN and a load of other -acc debuffs running, yet, as with the /rads, this /dark without debuffs is needing to rez a lot.
I'm not saying this applies to all characters. I've met some rad and dark corruptors that have taken all their debuffs and it works wonderfully. As I said before, I have met a couple of /thermals that have taken the shields, and I love it, but far to often I see characters with heals, rezzes, group buffs (AM, Shadow Fall) and nothing else in their secondary. And the only reason I can really see for this is the old H34L0R problem. And, frankly, there isn't a healer in CoV - yes, some powersets have heals, but those are meant to be used in conjuction with the other powers in the set to protect the group.
OK, rant over
