Seraphael

That's a blatant cop out if you ask me. They make it sound like creating new Blaster secondaries is like reinventing the wheel, when in reality these secondaries are comprised to a very large degree by pre-existing powers from other sets.

Blaster secondaries are much better compared with Dominator secondaries than Mastermind primaries. Fire and Ice Manipulation doesn't have a single unique power and never had as far as I can recall. Electricity has 1 Energy and Mental Manipulation has 2. Most of these "unique powers" use much the same animation as other powers. Only the maligned set Devices is an outlier with 4 unique powers. Masterminds have about 6 times as many unique powers as Blasters. Stalkers have about twice as many uniques as Blasters.

I've been waiting for another secondary set for a very long time. Preferably something that is fun to level up with and useful throughout. Notable blaster lovin' only seem to happen every 6 issues or so, making the AT is overdue a little attention. I can dream, but in addition to new (secondary) sets (radiation, dark and kinetic would all be great choices), I'd very much like to see the old ones given TLC as well:

* Make all snipes worthwhile power picks. Increase damage and recharge significantly.
* Soften endurance crash of old-school nukes similar to the Kheldian Quasar or Dawn Strike (-100% recovery and not -1000%).
* Give Frozen Aura the Tanker treatment. It's currently nigh useless and by far the worst tier 9 in the game.
* Give Full Auto the Seeds of Confusion treatment and increase max target from 10 to 16. It's currently the only nuke power affecting less than 16 targets. Also make it debuff ToHit slightly like that kind of suppressive fire is supposed to.
* Give Ignite the i18 Burn treatment.
* Remove corpse-blasting issue with Slug by making damage come sooner.
* Frontloaded damage on Flamethrower or faster ticks.
* Add damage and/or chance of stun to Power Push.
* Add ToHit debuff to Scare similar to Touch of Fear.
* Give Devices a little boost. Make Cloaking Device compare better with Cloak of Darkness and Targetting Drone add a small +dmg/initial critical strike. Change Time Bomb somehow.
* Lower activation time of Scramble Thoughts significantly. Single target, low duration stuns should be fast.
* Lower activation time of Shout and change corresponding sound effect into something a little less grating.
* Lower effect and recharge of Conserve Power.
* Make being mezzed only suppress and not completely shut down offensive auras.
* Add stun resist to Stamina.
* Give summon powers the correct AT damage scalars and not Blaster scalars as is done in many cases (rain powers for Corruptors are much better than for Blasters for instance). Either that or allow Blasters to step on some of the other ATs toes similarly.

I agree with your reasoning for the lack of love. The Blaster AT is still popular, though not nearly as popular as it once was. Novices, and die hard fans of the AT primarily play Blasters, more seasoned players tend to move on to greener pastures. A fact that's reflected on the activity on the boards as well.

How do you even begin to figure that?

I agree it was a rather good breakdown. However, I have some issues with it.

1. Drain Psyche won't overcome the endurance crash of nukes in almost any circumstance. Nor will Conserve Power. Realistically, it will at best lessen the need for multiple blues after a true nuke (but there will still generally be too short a supply on blues if a Blaster nukes whenever possible). That means only two secondary sets truly allows for Blasters to "nuke n' go". Corruptors have access to several endurance management tools in their secondaries and all may choose Power Sink at epic levels.

2. Circuit Boy left out that all Corruptors may choose Soul Drain at epic levels to further boost their damage potential.

3. Corruptors (and Defenders) benefit from using Blaster damage scalars in a few attacks like Ice Storm, Blizzard and Rain of Fire.

4. Corruptors have significantly better survivability, making it much easier for Corruptors to make good on their offensive potential. Theory doesn't always work in praxis.

As for your comment, you imply every team has one kinetic or even several. In reality most (blueside, don't know how it is red side) teams doesn't have a single one unless you count farming teams. You also seem to neglect the particular Blaster debt problem; a defeated Blaster doesn't do any damage at all.

Quite the opposite I'm afraid, it actually gets worse for Blasters as time goes on. Lower levels is where Blasters shine. At higher levels, the enemy groups become tougher while Blaster offense doesn't increase nearly enough to compensate for the continued lack of defenses. All other ATs come into their own at higher levels in a way Blasters just can't match. Adding yet another attack or a sub-par control or utility power doesn't do much for Blasters. That said, at top levels specific Blaster IO-builds can make Blasters competitive and quite impressive.

These powers are very rarely seen in Blasters because they are very situational, meaning useful only in certain fairly rare instances. Expensive, end game, IO-builds is a common denominator and this game isn't supposed to be balanced after IOs. As a matter of fact, it seems to me your whole suggested design virtually screams of someone looking for an alternate farmer/IO-ed out demi-god. I'm more preoccupied with making a set fun to level and balanced beyond.


Did I ever say that? Cones are a very common power type though. Dark, AR, and Sonic have three each. You do seem to have an exceptional liking for stating the obvious, clearly stealth isn't going to help lining up attacks after the initial engagement - but Cloak of Darkness will always provide both positional and typed defense which is useful in all combat situations.


Of course not. However, thematic sets should be made to mesh well together. A PBAoE through Soul Drain goes particularly well with sets like Radiation and Electrical which already have PBAoEs. The stealth from Cloak of Darkness will be particularly useful for sets with cones (all but Psychic Blast). That you attempt to pigeon-hole me as one attempting to build a narrow set, even AT, is pretty astounding feat of self-deception considering you're attempting to build a set purely for blapping/melee.


I didn't say the direct damage Soul Drain contributes over time is formidable now did I? Seems to me someone should take their own advice and learn to read. However, it is an damaging attack comparable to other Blaster AoEs while simultaneuosly acting as a damage booster and as such provides better DPS over time than Aim or BU. Not to mention both Aim and BU have their damage boosting effect lowered due to having to take time out from attacking to boost self unlike Soul Drain.


But of course it would. Firstly, the stealth would help a /Dark blaster get into the middle of the spawn for a target rich drain/damage without getting aggroed prior to the act, and very possibly mezzed before you even get a chance to do anything. Secondly, Cloak of Darkness provides defense (how many times do I need to say this before it actually begins to sink in?) that also has a very nice synergy with the ToHit debuff particularly in Dark Blast (and before you drone on and on again, yes I know not everyone will be Dark blast Blasters).


Shield Defense is similar to Fiery Aura only in that they are both offensive sets. To argue against SD being a breath of fresh air is pointless. It's been flavour of the month ever since the set was released. Yes I know, partly because a bug making the tier 9 overpowered, but even when fixed the set will provide the melee player with something very different and therefore fresh.


I stand corrected. But as I said, it's a moot point. The 25% additional +dam Scrappers get and Blasters would get is nothing compared with the +225% area of effect (damage and drain) Defenders get and Blasters probably would get now is it? Knowledge without insight is wasted.


Didn't I indicate that Stun and Scare are underachievers that shouldn't be a yardstick for balance? As previously stated, there is a reason for so few Blasters actually picking these powers.

As for Touch of Fear being substantially too strong for a non-support AT as a ranged power you shoot yourself in the foot. Scrappers have significantly better survivability even in melee than Blasters have at range, thus the natural conclusion of your statement is that you also feel that ToF is even more grossly overpowered on Scrappers than it ever could become on Blasters in a ranged version. Touch of Fear is clearly too strong compared with regular Blaster control powers though (not to mention Scrappers), I'd agree with that. I never suggested the same insane duration or recharge as Scrappers are blessed with though, I'd have such a power mesh well with similar mezes, but be given the additional debuff because fear cannot be stacked as easily as stun (and because of less range if kept melee). Having Cloak of Darkness (see, another nifty usage of a stealth power?) in the set would make range in such a power not as needed or, indeed, warranted.


...as I find your tone of voice that of a punk that hides behind the anonymity of internet. That sets in the past have included obviously overpowered powers and equally obviously underpowered powers only to call the set balanced is a fact you're just to anal to acknowledge. For most ATs this isn't a big deal (other than losing diversity), Blasters on the other hand cannot afford as much to do the "wrong"/inferior power picks.


Why even bother to ask? I've clearly made my case against (esp. short radius) pure damage auras. I can also mention I have a beef with snipes and old school nukes with drain as design flaws. A fact the developers themselves seem to acknowledge by changing how new nukes work.


You're simply too precious for words. Don't delude yourself, you're abrasive simply because your own inflated ego makes disparaging others come natural, coupled with the anonymity of internet allowing you to get away with it. In my eyes, that is the behaviour of a rude punk.

I'm not a native speaker of English, but my grasp of the language is more than sufficient thank you very much. I can even do a Texas drawl if forced to. I won't deign comment this sort of garbage beyond that.


Our disagreement on your suggested Dark Pit Blaster version stems from me not noticing you changing it into a PBAoE. I have no objections with the numbers in that case and can understand you found my "blasterish" claim rather arbitrary. That's still no excuse for your snotty personality though.


I added that comment as a response to your matter-of-factly claim that "you simply use numbers based upon that Blasters have/get". That claim doesn't really play nice with some of your other suggestions.

Giving Blasters what amounts to a instant and complete heal every 60 secs with SOs and half that time with a solid IO build seems a little bit too much for an AT without any such powers in their primaries or secondaries. A +/-Regen power would probably be more palatable even though +Regen generally can heal significantly more over time than a pure heal (neither being extremely good without significant amounts of mitigation). It will give the Blaster a fair boost in survivability while also giving the Blaster a little but very welcome situational support utility.

Your parting shot in your last paragraph shows your anal retentive lack of character and class. Please get over yourself and stop making the internet an even more obnoxious place to reside.

You might find them fun, but that is only due either to masochism combined with a love of Rise of the Phoenix nuke/self-rez or, more likely, an expensive defensive IO-build at endgame level. "Practice and get better" is just your flippant way of saying you value a power that is ONLY useful for hard-core players at level 50 with expensive IO-builds over something that could potentially be fun levelling with for all, but at the end not provide the same amount of destructive overpower/farming potential (with a particular expensive IO-build only) you prefer. Could you be any more transparent?

Actually there are four -4- auras with damage available to Blasters. You rather handily neglected to differentiate between primary/pure damage auras and other auras with significant benefits besides damage. Both Hot Feet and World of Confusion have significant effects other than damage and can be useful. Blazing Aura/Death Shroud is the type of aura you advocate and which is absolutely horrid on Blasters. Instead of allowing the Blaster to arrest faster they will in most instances wind up getting the the Blaster defeated faster. Blasters lack of defenses means they cannot stay in melee range long enough to benefit from a pure damage aura or on teams survive the added attention for trifling amounts of damage. There's a very good reason almost no Blaster ever picks these powers (Blazing Aura, Lightning Field) you know. I wanted to put conventional wisdom to the test and found out the hard way.

Cloak of Darkness would be infinitely more useful as it allows the Blaster to line up cones effectively (of which Dark Blast have a great deal) without getting aggroed. Combined with Super Speed, Stealth or even stealth-IOs? it will become true invisibility which is EXTREMELY useful for any squishy. Cloak of Darkness would also provide the Blaster with typed and positional defenses which would work in synergy with Dark Blast -ToHit debuffs generating significant survivability (for a Blaster). That there's only one other stealth power in Blaster secondaries is in my book an argument for Cloak of Darkness rather than opposed it as you seem to think. We need new sets to provide actual tangible differences rather than regurgitating the same old news, or even worse - the same old mistakes.

In addition to Cloak of Darkness, something a kin to Chilling Embrace toggle aura would be useful and provide something new to the Blaster arsenal. Call it Essence of the Night or some such and have it provide -ToHit and -DmgBuff debuff in a minimum 10' radius. That or introduce a Blaster version of Chill of the Night (-ToHit and Dmg). Anything but a pure damage aura. I repeat; pure damage aura for the Blasters archtype always was and still is an exceptionally BAD idea. They are remnants of an archtype the Blasters lack of defenses never could become, less useful than the human tailbone. That mistake should NEVER, EVER be proliferated.


Front-loaded damage OBVIOUSLY won't be that much of a point with Dark Blasters given that a significant amount of the damage is by the way of DoT (Gloom, TT, Night Fall) while also potentially lacking a tier 3 big hitter in the blast set. Soul Drain has three times the duration of BU/Aim, and the longer duration allows the buff in many cases to be carried over to the next spawn providing front-loaded damage. Besides, a Dark Blast set for Blasters will more than likely include Aim to expedite arrests.

With all the control and mitigation potentially in Blaster Dark sets, such Blasters wouldn't be as dependent on front-loaded damage as more conventional Blasters. Soul Drain is a formidable AoE attack on it's own and would provide better DPS over time than BU. Cloak of Darkness would let the usage of Soul Drain be more forgiving. It's a risk versus reward thing that meshes particularly well with the thematic primary set and a couple of other sets. Besides, making every set virtual clones of each other isn't good design. Dark has a real chance of becoming a breath of fresh air, something different and interesting for Blasters, a little bit like Shield Defense for melee classes.


Incorrect. If that was the truth, then why does Scrappers have the same +ToHit as Defenders while having superior +DmgBuff? Normally a Defender would have higher +ToHit and lower +DmgBuff compartment to that of the prime damage dealers. OBVIOUSLY, it's not "due exclusively to AT mods". What you simply term as "the sole exception" is a rather tremendous difference which more than likely is part of the balancing equation. Blasters would need the added radius of Soul Drain even more so than Defenders. The modifiers themselves are rather insignificant and a moot point if kept at that level.


Yes, it does make sense. The Blaster is mainly a ranged archytype. Ranged mez/debuff powers do have a place within manipulation sets, as the devs clearly have indicated giving Taser range and making Scare which is a ranged Foe Fear power (which few ever takes simply because there are better - some much better - alternatives). The only non-damaging melee mez/debuff in manipulation sets is Stun in Energy Melee (the damage is so low it might as well not be there), an eminently skippable power, nobody takes despite it being easily stackable with other stuns.

Let me be totally clear about this; I'm opposed building a set with clearly superior and inferior powers and then calling the set balanced. That kind of approach promotes cookie-cutter builds and lessens diversity. It is simply lazy and unimaginative. Why so hellbent on perpetuating the design flaws of the past? Fix the old underachievers (of which Blaster sets have many) rather than introducing new ones out of a warped sense of balance.


If you were less abrasive and actually seemed to have an exceptional grasp of the Blaster aspect of the game, then I just might have bothered tracking up your full and complete reasoning. Brandishing about empty rhetorics to justify your own completely arbitrary numbers doesn't impress me even in the slightest though. Nothing in the Blaster arsenal has a 10' AoE radius. Nothing in the game has 40 secs recharge. And no Blaster primary or secondary have hard mez (hold/stun) durations even remotely like what you suggest. Blasters have without exception shorter durations on mezzes than Defenders, your suggestion breaks with that staple. Let alone the small melee range pure damage aura (Death Shroud) and ultra strong heal (Dark Regeneration) which you also rather ludicrously claim to be more blasterish than my suggested alterations.

1. An immobilization as a Dark Manipulation implies either redundancy with Tenebrous Tentacles in Dark Blast, or that the devs remove TT - the gem of the set - when the set is proliferated. Let's hope Blasters get to keep TT and that a melee KB power replaces your suggested immobilization power.
2. Ok.
3. Replace with Cloak of Darkness. Damage auras for Blasters = suicide. Stealth ease usage of Soul Drain and other powers best used in melee.
4. Ok.
5. Replace with Soul Drain. Defender version for radius and effect. Scrapper version for damage.
6. Extend range from melee to 40'.
7. Ok.
8. Change into +regen/-regen power similar to Drain Psyche without the recovery boost.
9. 15' radius, 45 sec recharge and 9.5 sec duration would be more blasterish.

This.

Selective comparisons under ideal conditions is where you, and others, go wrong in my opinion. It does not translate well into practical game experience.

Blasters in general must sacrifice damage to get a tiny fraction of the mitigation all other ATs has. Compare to Ice Blast, Sonic Blast, Psychic Blast, Electrical Blast or Energy Blast, how does your numbers fare then?

Another issue is the ability to make good on damage potential; Tankers are easily able to keep performing optimally in sustained combat and keep dealing damage long after the Blaster has faceplanted or withdrawn from combat.

Shield Defense was introduced with issue 13 late 2008...did it really take the develpers more than two and a half years to discover Shield Charge being grossly overpowered and not working as intended? Pretty astounding if that's the case.

Thanks for the informative reply though. My reaction was triggered by teaming with too many ubermench Shield/Elec Scrappers as of late that have put my alledged DPS monster (Fire/Elec Blaster) completely to shame.

I'd agree if Ice Manipulations tier 9, Frozen Aura, got the same treatment as the Tanker version and came with a damage compartment. As is, it's one of the worst powers - if not the single worst power - in the game. Ice Patch could do with lowered cast time, 3.5 secs is too much.

As for Mental Manipulation, Blaster Telekinetic Thrust should get the same level of damage as the Dominator version while cast time also being sped up to Energy Thrust levels (Blasters have need of such a power, but it needs to activate faster to have a chance of repulsing the enemy before he squishes you in melee). Mind Probe also breaks the Dominator/Balance scale in favor of Dominators. Scale back Dominator version or scale up the Blaster version. Scare could be turned into a mag 2 pbaoe to become a kind of Lightning Clap equivalent panic button.

Blasters need to be able to do (AoE) DAMAGE upfront to truly justify a spot on a team. Devices Blasters make good soloists as far as Blasters go, but still perform a lot worse solo than your average Scrapper while harming your team contribution in most instances. There's a thread on proposed fixes in the Blaster forum, they're too numerous to mention here.

Rename Lightning Field to Lightning Faceplant and you get the essense of this power. The instant aggro a squishy get for puny damage is suicide on a team facing challenging enemies. All damage auras for Blasters apart from Hot Feet is likewise counterproductive. Only through expensive defensive IO builds does the power begin to be of any use. I wouldn't build the power around something as esoteric as sapping, but rather add a secondary mitigating effect, like a chance to induce a short mag 2 sleep for instance. Reduce the knockback magnitude of Lightning Clap by half or simply turn it into a knockdown.

No simple fixes to the disaster that is Blaster secondaries, but how about:

Fire: Combustion get significantly lowered cast time. Blazing Aura gets a chance to conflagrate/turn enemy on fire resulting in an afraid effect while something similar to a hostile Blazing Aura affect scared mobs and other mobs in the (hostile aura) radius for a few seconds. Burn could be improved to include resistances (not outright mez protection though) to holds, sleeps and stuns (Accelerate Metabolism levels) for the duration. Perhaps even a slight +recharge, around 10-20, for the same duration? Increase timer on power to balance.

Energy: Energy Thrust get the same damage as Dominator Telekinetic Thrust (scale 1.0 for Blasters and 1.05 for Dominators). Change Conserve Power to something than can be made permanent but yield correspondingly less endurance reduction. Stun turned into a mag 2 pbaoe on a longer recharge. Double duration and double recharge of Power Boost, let KB be affected.

In short; Blasters need more viable alternatives and every Blaster secondary should get more mitigation to help the by far squishiest of all classes to keep from face-planting with too regular and short intervals.

Amen, but a fix as outlined above would certainly be a massive step to truly correct the problems that plague a single AT in the entire game.

Fiery Embrace is a 85% damage buff that is up 50% more than either Aim or Build Up. Soul Drain can be enhanced to be up nearly half the time with high global recharge and it is also a VERY solid AoE attack more damaging than Breath of Fire. Surveillance matches Poisonous Ray well? Haha. Surveilance is CRAP compared to Poisonous Ray. Poisonous Ray debuffs more, recharges almost twice as fast, and is more damaging than tier two Blaster powers.

In a fishtank that might be true, but in reality Blasters seldom manage to leverage that amount of Defiance quite simply because a significant amount of time is used to cast slow AoE attacks (that give very little Defiance). And often to hide from aggro Blasters lack of defenses cannot deal with.

I though you did the math and found Fire Doms single target damage to surpass the best Blasters have to offer? Dominators uses higher damage scales on melee attacks than Blasters. I'm pretty freakin sure my AR/Dev Blaster cannot touch even the worst combo among Dominators.

Dominators have little need for secondary effects in their assualt attacks unlike Blasters and is therefore completely free to choose the most damaging set.


Energy Blast has 2 AoEs besides a very slow recharging situational nuke that causes endurance crash. Sonic Blast has 1 semi decent damage AoE in addition to a similar nuke. Electricity Blast has 2 AoEs (one a slow DoT) and a nuke. Ice Blast has 2 AoEs (one of which is a long DoT on a 60 sec recharge) in addition to an endurance crashing nuke. Psychic Blast has 1 AoE in addition to the nuke.

Just to be clear; nukes that causes endurance crash actually lowers DPS unless you have proper endurance tools. Only Power Sink and Consume available in two out of six sets are in practicality able to keep a Blaster going.

Char is a hold that is almost as damaging as regular tier one Blaster attacks (more damaging than some). Control powers can be enhanced to throw at the beginning of combat where the Blaster will have to wait for someone more sturdier to initiate combat any way.

Also, and this is important; a Blaster is seldom able to make good on his offensive capacity (where as a Dominator very often can go full out). Simply too little defenses to deal with the aggro generated, need to position cones vs. moving targets (Doms can simply lock down a field), need to reposition between range and melee (Doms have much less need to keep mobile).

Where as this is certainly true, being versatile is a big plus. Especially if the versatility comes with very little cost in terms of lowered damage. Besides, any AT can bring damage these days. Certain Scrapper combos can even outdamage Blaster AoE while being massively more survivable.


It would be folly to judge snipes solely on experiences with Dominators. That AT is versatile and absolutely not in need of such powers. For Blasters, on the other hand, snipes could be an excellent additional tool if buffed sufficiently (a significant amount).

Heh. Blasters being the most popular choice had to wait how many issues to get their MUCH NEEDED fix? Soon is a relative term isn't it?

Dominators have access to Fiery Embrace (or Build Up) as well as Soul Drain and Poisonous Ray from their epic pools, so I wouldn't exactly say they are inferior to Blasters when it comes to direct damage boosting powers.

Dominators single target damage is in general better than that of Blasters, while their AoE damage easily rivals or exceed half of the Blaster sets. At the same time their defenses is several times as good as Blasters through heavy control which also support the entire team. Dominators benefit slightly better from pool powers. Dominators are vastly better soloists and bring more to their teams.

Dominators having superior snipes is just adding insult to injury. I've long suspected the developers of this game have a really strange and outdated view on AT balance. Despite their obvious shortcomings, Blasters remain quite popular, at least at low to medium levels. The living on the edge game style is certainly more exciting than any of the other much safer ATs! I believe this popularity is holding back fixes which the class by all means should get.

Fire/Ice is a very solid combo. /Ice covers the defensive weakness of Fire/. It provides good synergy with Rain of Fire and Shiver. Ice patch is excellent early on until fast moving teams of higher levels make it a little redundant.

Fire/Mental is excellent for AoEs and provides mitigation through fast mass arresting, through -recharge debuffs, through Drain Psyche (though in some cases the use is just as likely to get you killed), and through World of Confusion (made quite useful with purple confusion IOs).

Fire/Elec is good at AoEs and very good at ST burst damage. Power Sink makes using Inferno less situational. You WILL faceplant a lot though as you have next to no mitigation and will grab a lot of aggro while also moving into melee quite a bit.

1. Shield/SS Tankers still outdamage most Blaster AoE combinations or at the very least they come very close. I'm aware BaB has stated Shield Charge would be nerfed but I don't see the devs nerfing Shield Charge that much and risk offending the hordes of Shield using Brutes, Scrappers and Tankers.

2. Isn't Lightning Rod even a greater offender though? That power alone is a mini-nuke that is as good as or better than anything in the Blaster arsenal. Why pay the rather heavy face-planting price of a Blaster (the one thing the AT generally did better than most other ATs were AoE damage at the cost of personal defenses and team support) when you can have your pie and it it too with other ATs?

If you by best mean coolest, then I'd agree. FA is unfortunately the worst of the mini-nukes from a power gamer point of view though.

I've heard that too many times on these boards. Of course, no one NEEDS just about anything. But if you plan on having fun, if you plan on keeping up with your team to contribute in a meaningful way and plan on being to be competetive, then it's not practical to be without Stamina for most power sets in the game.

Higher base recovery would make a bad situation a little better. Nothing more, nothing less.