StrykerX

Two isn't hard as long as you are willing to move a bit... of course every second you are repositioning is a second of zero DPS so you may not always want to take the time to hit two if firing off a second attack is quicker.

Three is hard unless you take plenty of time or the enemies are lined up in a row, though it's slightly easier at max range since the cone does spread a little bit.

Four or more is impossible since Piercing Rounds is capped at 3 targets.

The "average damage" in-game numbers are actually wrong on several powers, including Rain of Arrows. The average seems to assume only two of the three ticks hitting, but in reality all three usually do unless you try to hit running targets (at least solo... in teams it does miss a lot more). The real RoA numbers should be:

Rain of Arrows (unenhanced)
Recharge: 60 seconds
Average Damage: 225.225

Rain of Arrows: (enhanced at +95% damage)
Average Damage: 439.18875

Rain of Arrows (enhanced) vs 50% Lethal Resistance: 219.594375 on average


That means Rain of Arrows still hits harder than Hail of Bullets even against robots and other 50% lethal resistant targets unless you use incendiary ammo, in which case the fire DoT will push HoB's average up to somewhere in the 245-250 range (it's hard to calculate exactly since the DoT stops on the first missed tick).

Of course the thing that I personally find more important is that RoA reliably kills non-resistant even con minions every time I use it, and kills +1s and +2s every time with Aim or Build Up (or moderately resistant +0s or +1s). It also does so without them ever getting to shoot back since I can use it at range or even from around corners (rain powers do not need line of sight). HoB kills even con non-resistant minions less than half the time and always gives them a chance to return fire (unless you get lucky and the first tick knocks them down), and you don't have Aim... though at least with the longer recharge you probably will always have Build Up ready.

I think the real imbalance is in the risk posed by using these powers:

Rain of Arrows = highest damage and lowest risk, but enemies can run away in mid-activation and avoid some or all damage (like when the tank pulls a group just after you start to fire )

Full Auto = middle damage, moderate risk (some enemies might shoot back but it does have a long range), guaranteed damage

Hail of Bullets = lowest damage, far higher risk, wildly variable damage

With FA or RoA (assuming the targets stay still) I know what I'm getting. I know what will be alive afterward (barring the occasional miss) and how damaged the survivors will be. With HoB I might take out +1 minions, or I might leave -1s alive. I just don't know, which means I can't rely on it... so I can only use it in situations where I'll stay alive even if nothing drops. That's kind of limiting for a PBAoE with a huge animation time.

I played a Pistols / Devices Blaster in beta. It was horrible. Dual Pistols is the overall lowest damage blast set in the game, so adding a secondary that has no Build Up is just painful. I'd only recommend it if you are patient and really like Trip Mines. A Traps / DP Defender will also have low damage, but at least you'll have debuffs and that wonderful Force Field Generator. And you still get the mines. The DP / Traps Corruptor would probably be the best for soloing, but the Defender is going to be better on teams. If you really want a Blaster, DP / Mental is going to be a lot better than DP / Devices.

Actually, you can recolor Dark Miasma to make it look like smoke or steam so it's not entirely out of line for a steampunk Carmen San Diego. DP / FF would fit the steampunk theme well, though if you want to make a Carmen Sandiego homage she really needs to be a villain and sneaky... I'd actually make her a MA / Ninjutsu Stalker since she was hard to find and I don't think she normally used weapons. If you really want the guns, DP / Traps seems the best bet.

To be fair, Empathy actually has at least seven "healing" powers, at least as far as general MMO thinking goes. Adrenalin Boost and Regeneration Aura are essentially Heal over Time powers, which in most MMOs are counted as heals rather than buffs. Sure Adrenalin Boost does more than just boost regen, but to the average MMO player anything that makes you get health back faster than you normally would is a "heal". Breaking status effects (Clear Mind) is also something "healer" classes normally do, as is rezzing and often mana (endurance) recovery. Really, the only difference between Empathy and a standard MMO "healer" is Fortitude... most healers have no offensive buffs, those are more likely to be found on hybrids (Paladins, etc...), though in some games they do.

I'm not saying that we need "healers" in CoX teams... our buffs are far stronger than what most MMOs allow and so are our debuffs. But the fact is that if you replaced Fortitude with a PBAoE resist buff and renamed Empaths "Clerics" they'd fit in perfectly in a generic fantasy MMO. And they'd be healers.

Of course that's not counting the Empath's other power set... in fantasy MMOs a healer usually has mez powers, like a Mind / Empathy Controller, and really terrible offense. Again, like a Mind / Empathy Controller. They don't generally start blasting things when they get bored of healing (at least not for enough damage to notice)... which is why I'd much rather play an Empathy Defender than a Cleric.

Normally when people talk about softcapping a non-defense set they are not talking about softcapping to all positions, but rather to Ranged, Melee, or Smashing / Lethal. Plus some resist sets like Invulnerability actually have good defense too... an Invulnerability Tanker can softcap all typed defenses except psi with only saturated Invincibility, Tough Hide, Weave, Combat Jumping, and a 3% defense IO. Add in two Kinetic Combat sets, two Aegis, and two Mako's and you are softcapped to all but Psionic with only five targets in melee range. Invulnerability Scrappers give up more to softcap, but a few Kinetic Combats can at least softcap Smashing /Lethal which is the big one.

Granted, softcapping sets with no defense at all like Regen is pretty hard unless you go Broad Sword or Katana and focus on Melee defense, but it's not impossible. Blasters can softcap Ranged (without Zephyrs), and Scrappers, Tanks and Brutes get more out of defense powers than Blasters do so they can softcap Melee if they really want to, or just get around 25-30% melee defense added to their normal mitigation and still have good recharge.

Almost all of those IOs are dirt cheap and require no rare salvage, so they'll actually be cheaper to buy and craft than buying new SOs from 35-50. The few that are more expensive can be postponed and filled in as you can afford them... which won't take long since the rest of the build is dirt cheap and you should have tens of millions by the point that you need them.

Actually, if that is the question and you are focusing only on other protection sets rather than softcapped squishies, the answer is probably a solid "no", at least in some cases. After all, the protection sets are supposed to be reasonably balanced out of the box (with the exception of high-offense sets like Fire Armor). When a non-defense set uses IOs and pool powers to softcap, they still have all their normal mitigation to fall back on if the defense collapses. /SR's defense won't collapse, but it will weaken somewhat... so as long as a given set's non-defense mitigation is as good as debuffed /SR the non-defense set wins out. In particular (assuming softcapped):

Shields + Hami-O def debuff resist trick > SR (almost as much defense debuff resist + other goodies)

Shields without Hami-Os > SR in most cases (half the debuff resist, but a lot more damage to shorten the fight and extra health)

Invulnerability > SR as long as the enemy has Lethal / Smashing damage (lots more HP, high resists, a self heal)

Dark and Fire might be better than SR in some situations, worse in others... you're not going to softcap a /Dark or /Fire to all positions but you could to melee, especially with Parry. Still, they have better overall resists than SR and good heals. Likewise, Regen is not likely to be softcapped but even moderate defense is great when you heal that fast. Willpower is great if you are fighting large groups but SR is way better for solo AVs so it comes down to playstyle with those two.

Where /SR really shines is the low-end IO game. With SOs only it's good but nothing special, but it is far cheaper to softcap than other sets (even Shields) so it's one of the best sets for a cheap IO build. But once you start getting into high end builds many other sets start passing it, probably because Defense is the only mitigation you can get in any significant quantity from IOs. A few percent more resist or an extra 100% regen aren't going to make much difference in a fight, but an extra 20% defense sure will. Since /SR is only a few percent shy of the soft cap without IOs, about all a high end build does for it is allow not taking Weave to free up power slots or add some more regen and +HP (which actually does help at softcapped defense). But when you can get near-SR level defense on sets that already have high resists or regen and +HP you add a huge amount of mitigation compared to what /SR gets, and of course Shields gives everything SR does and more if you can afford it.

Still, not everyone spends a billion or more on every alt (I sure don't), so having a nice inexpensive way to get softcapped defense that also allows all weapon options isn't a bad thing. But just about every other set either has higher peak mitigation or near equal mitigation plus significant damage in a top end build. Though /SR does have one ability no one else has... it can hit a fully slotted Elude and dance around on an Earthquake while being pounded on by 20 Romans and never lose softcapped defense. Not something that comes up often, but being truly immune to even unresistable defense debuffs for two minutes might come in handy at times.

BotZ was providing 3.13% Ranged defense for two slots and 3.13% AoE defense for three slots. That's 1.57% Ranged per slot, and 1.04% AoE per slot.

Compare that to any other set and you'll see those values are too high. Other sets that provide Ranged and AoE defense generally do so in the fifth and sixth slots, so even though they provide as much or more defense per set, they provide significantly less per slot and that's what's important. 2- and 3-slot bonuses are not supposed to be as good as 5- and 6-slot bonuses.

It has more than just style... get some decent global recharge and perma-Boost Range and you can start off with Rain of Arrows every spawn, which pretty much wipes out the minions (especially if you alternate Aim and Build Up). You can then follow that up with a 70+ foot range cone attack (or if you want to slot a couple of Dam/Range HO, a 95 foot cone ) and then Explosive arrow... that's enough AoE to wipe out most of a spawn (possibly even Lts) without ever getting within standard 80 foot range of them. Trust me, it's a lot of fun...

(Oh, and for the ultimate in silly but fun builds, try slotting all the Archery attacks with three Dam/Range HOs. With Boost Range that gives you 172 foot range normal shots, which is over 20 feet beyond normal snipe range, and a 323 foot snipe! You'll probably have to get someone to target for you since you'll be shooting things beyond draw distance... )

The main things you need to tank an AV are:

1. A taunt (either Challenge or Provoke) that is slotted up enough to be sure you can keep it going continuously
2. Some form of healing for both you and your pets (Triage Beacon helps but Aid Other and Aid Self are nice additions)
3. Bodyguard mode to reduce damage
4. As much ranged and AoE defense as possible
5. Some way to keep the AV out of melee range, such as immobilizing him or using Hover

Theoretically you could get by with softcapped defense and extra regeneration, but Aid Other is useful to Masterminds so you may as well get Aid Self too. It will increase the range of AVs you can solo and help recover from unlucky streaks.

Rad/Sonic Defenders are experts at taking down single hard targets. Rad has a huge array of debuffs, which are very handy against AVs and GMs. In particular, you get -damage and -resist debuffs (which are not 85% resisted by AVs and GMs like most debuffs) and a very powerful -regen debuff (which is resisted heavily, but is so strong it still drops their regen to 1/4 normal). You also get an AoE heal, and a nice multi-effect AoE buff in Accelerate Metabolism. /Sonic gives you a single target focused blast set with stackable -resist debuffs, and since Defenders have the most powerful debuffs those add up fast. Combining Lingering Radiation's -regen with all the -resist you toss around a high end Rad/Sonic can solo giant monsters, provided they live long enough. Since your to-hit debuffs don't work well on AVs or higher that means softcapping ranged defense... fortunately Defenders get a lot of defense from things like Weave and Maneuvers.

In general, a Rad/Sonic will probably defeat a GM faster than an Ill/Rad, but the Ill/Rad will have a better chance of winning. Both will require insanely expensive builds though... a Bots / Traps might not defeat every AV or monster, but he'll beat quite a few with a build literally a hundred times cheaper than either a Rad/Sonic or an Ill/Rad. (10-20 million or so vs a couple billion).

Maybe they'll do what Dark Age of Camelot did and cluster multiple servers together so that you can travel between them... it's a nice compromise between a full merge (which can cause character and SG name conflicts) and completely separate servers.

Tell that to my Dual Blades / SR evil swashbuckler...