StratoNexus

I swore it must have been a Regen scrapper, but I feel the same kind of sad about losing my three Singularities, so I get it.

Pull the Fire/Rad out of retirement before we all have to go. Respec and IOs. One last spin, even if just to make your self angrier and more bitter!

I remember once in Issue 4 playing my Kat/Invuln in PvP against two Fire controllers. 18 Imps swarming over me. It burns.

It's fun, you know you want to.

I logged in this morning and saved two of my costumes out to email to you, so you could do what you will. I wish my feelings were mixed.

I still can't believe its true.

Clarification?

Here is an incarnate version

They were exclusive before, now you can get them for tokens.

I don't find the statement that they are equivalent in mitigation obvious or else I wouldn't be quarreling with it. I can't see how you think Ice is not noticeably better at mitigation than Psi. Psi is very good, but Ice is simply better. More AoE mitigation, equivalent or possibly better -recharge, better mezzes, and an easier time keeping enemies at range.

Since it is not easily quantifiable, I don't see how either of us will convince the other. And, again, I am still not saying that this justifies fast snipes exactly as they are, nor am I saying BFR should be as poor as it is. However, if we agree that there is going to be a range of damage output possible, then someone has to be on the bottom. If I were to pick the set I think should be there, Ice would be it, because I find everything else it brings to be very valuable.

Getting mezzed some of the time (maybe even frequently) is unavoidable until incarnate powers come into play. But there are some things that can help.

Break Frees. These aren't really optional for leveling a blaster. You will need some occasionally.

Combat Jumping will prevent immobilizes from stopping you (and is handy for movement anyway).

Acrobatics will protect you from 1 hold as well as prevent almost all KB/KD. But other mezzes will still get you.

One KB protection IO will prevent most KB/KD.

Defense can help mezzes miss, so your instincts to look for defense are good.

In I 24, mez resistance from IOs will become stronger. Combined with toggles that only suppress, it might be possible to use mez resistance to make some noticeable differences, especially if you make sure to keep Touch of the Beyond active. Mez resistance does not prevent mez, but it will shorten the duration and hopefully it will do so noticeably in the the future.

I think one of the items on the Paragon market provides some actual protection if the budget allows.

It should be noted that Paragon Studios themselves asked what they could do to make being a VIP seem more valuable at the Pummit. That says to me this is likely something they feel is an issue and that they want to improve the VIP experience.

Therefore, while I do not agree with the OP, I am guessing enough people do that Paragon is concerned. So rather than laugh it off,

What can be done to make being a VIP more valuable to more people, not just those of us who already can't fathom not subscribing?

Sigh. Sure I guess we can go there. But I think some of it will be hand-waved away because you won't think it is valuable and the value is not easily quantifiable.

Psi Dart: 30% -recharge for 6 seconds
Mental Blast: 30% -recharge for 6 seconds
TKBlast: 60% chance for good KB
Will Dom: 80% chance for mag 3, 19 second sleep, 20 second recharge
Psi Lance: 15% -recharge for 10 seconds
Psi Nado: AoE 30% -recharge for 10 seconds, 50% chance for modest knockup
Scramble Thoughts: mag 3, 11.92 sec stun (I must note the very bad 3 second cast time, which I think should be improved, significantly)
Psychic Wail: huge AoE mag 3, 11.92 sec stun; 70% -recharge for 20 seconds (and it makes dead things), longish recharge (145 seconds?)

Ice Bolt: 20% -recharge and speed for 6 seconds
Ice Blast: 20% -recharge and speed for 10 seconds
Frost Breath: AoE 20% -recharge and speed for 10 seconds
Freeze Ray: mag 3, 9.536 second hold, 10 second recharge
Ice Storm: -10% recharge, -40% speed, Avoid, duration up to 15 seconds, but enemies can escape early
Bitter Ice Blast: -7% to-hit for 6 seconds, 20% -recharge and speed for 12 seconds
Bitter Freeze Ray: 20% -recharge and speed for 18 seconds; mag 3, 9.536 second hold, recharge 20 seconds
Blizzard: huge AoE -20% to hit for up to 20 seconds, -30% recharge for up to 20 seconds, -50% speed for up to 20 seconds (Fly is -60%), good KD patch, Avoid (and it makes dead things), longish recharge (170 seconds?)

There it is. I think the combination of hard and soft controls Ice has is better mitigation than the combination of hard and soft controls Psi has. Due to the longer durations, can Ice stack more or equivialent -recharge? The movement slow is likely a big part of my experience, although the potential to have two mag 3 holds, the early AoE debuff in Frost Breath, the Avoid and debuff in Ice Storm, and the excellence of Blizzard contribute, but I don't know how to quantify the fact that I can easily keep Hewers out of melee on my Ice blast characters, but they still more easily run up to my Psi blast characters (well, one of my psi blast characters is Storm, so that isn't true for him) and Avoid is also hard to quantify. The extra range Psi has had in the past is a help, but the slows of Ice worked better IME, and now Ice will have 80 feet to work with as well (although blaster Psi could have 120' after a snipe and defender/corruptor Psi get 100 feet).

My agenda against Ice stems from playing it. I love my Ice/Elec blaster and my Emp/Ice and Rad/Ice defenders. My agenda is not really against Ice blast, but against the belief that Ice blast is a suffering set that is a poor performer. I just do not believe that to be the case.

You may not believe it, but I feel Ice has noticeably superior mitigation to Dark and Psi. I have several dark and psi blast characters, although none are blasters.

Despite those thoughts of mine, I am not opposed to a buff for Ice Blast as I also suggested a change for Bitter Freeze Ray:

Possibly. I think Ice has more mitigation than either of those as well as a better nuke.

Of course. That said one also has to consider this possibility:
Current performance range:
------------------------------------------------------1-------2-------3-----------4--------------------5-----------6----------7----------8-----------9-----------10---------

New range:
---1--2--3---4-----5---6--7----8----9-----10--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the first situation, set 10 has more to be upset about. In the second, they are all much closer together; while going from 2 to 10 can be a concern, if new 10 is still better than the old 2 AND the spread from 2 to 10 has been tightened, I think it is a net win all around. I am not positive this is how the I24 changes will work out, but so far it seems to be that (given the same build investment) even the best blasters that exist now will still be noticeably weaker than even the worst blasters after I24.

The snipes are strong though. Not good enough to make me forget all the benefits Ice blast has, but I can see some people really chasing that damage increase.

Overall, will I24 increase or decrease the range of performance amongst blaster primaries? Will I24 be improving all blaster combination's possible performance? Are there any combinations worse off in I24 than in I23 in an absolute scale? Those sets whose "relative" performance is decreasing, is it only one facet that is being measured (damage (which is a very important facet, but still not the only thing to consider))?

Blasters do not have access to +to-hit in their APP pools.