TwoHeadedBoy

Seriously? This is so nitpicky and irrelevant. If I use your logic it means that no powers with a cooldown can be used, so no attacking allowed. You have to draw a line somewhere, and for this experiment that line was drawn at no pets, no Judgement, no outside damage buffs, and no temporary powers. If you don't draw that line, you end up with silly stupid stuff like people pulling out their lore pets and counting it as a solo achievement- And if that makes people happy and they have fun doing it, that's totally cool with me... It's just not something that I considered fair for my purposes, I would personally never feel proud of a character that had to rely on what I consider to be outside sources to accomplish something. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Scrappers aren't awesome, because everyone knows they are... In this situation though, they just don't have the tools to compete.

I had to work on my Blaster's build to get it to be able to do the things it does. It took planning, time, and a fair amount of cleverness in order to reach the goals I set for this build. For me, if I considered things like lore pets and --regen temporary powers in my character builds, I would miss out on all the fun and challenge of building characters that can accomplish stuff without the need for things like that. When it stops being fun for me, there's no point in doing it, so I just don't take those things into account. Anyone else is obviously welcome to for their personal experiments if that's what they find enjoyable, but it wouldn't be fair for them to compare what they do to what I do.

You're getting silly now and I think you know it.

Re, this:

I agree that IO's can't always be considered when gauging the overall performance of an AT. That's why I'm doing this. I also don't agree that they can never be taken into account, but when they are taken into account for comparison purposes you need to do it fairly and set the same restrictions for everything. With access to an unlimited budget for the best IO's for both a Scrapper and a Blaster, but no +damage inspirations, no temporary powers, and no pets, Scrappers cannot solo GM's and Blasters can. You can't lump things together like this, temporary powers are not comparable to IO's if you are allowing for a high end build but no outside assistance on all counts. This is the route I took on my Blaster for this achievement so I expect any comparisons to follow the same standard.

Set bonuses aren't an outside source. Sets go into your powers. They become part of your build, they don't expire. They belong to your character.

No. A regen debuff is attainable in a build by itself. Hasten is attainable in a build by itself. Defense via pool powers is attainable in a build by itself. Aim is attainable in a build by itself. Set bonuses just enhance these things to a higher standard of performance. Temporary powers create attributes that are not native to a build in the first place.

Enhancements and set bonuses exist to improve attributes that are already present or attainable in a build. Temporary powers create abilities that are not there.

So you're agreeing with me that first come first serve is the most fair approach?

How is it not an accomplishment...? I did something that according to Arcanaville around 1% of the player base can do, and I did it without anything that wasn't NATIVE to my character aside from like, 5 blue inspirations and 2 Break Free's. Drain Psyche is WAI as far as I know, if you can show me anywhere that a Dev said it was over-performing or not WAI in any way you might have a point but it didn't just come out a week ago and there's nothing exploitative about it. Sure, it's a good power, and I use it to my advantage. I'd be stupid not to.... Just like I use the best IO's because I set a certain standard for my character. I don't see how any of these things equate to this not being a worthy accomplishment. Does that mean that anyone who ever used a native regen debuff and an IO build to solo something should have their accomplishments negated?
I bet a Fire Blaster could DPS down Scrappyyard. I didn't overstress ST in my build because I already knew it could solo AV's and GM's as I have it and that was good enough for me.
Which Scrapper powerset has Envenomed Daggers in it again? Oh wait, none of them do. You can look at it however you want, the bottom line is that my Blaster solos Giant Monsters without any outside help.
You're picking and choosing which posts to read so you can get on the "Yell at THB" bandwagon. Try reading all of what I have to say before you start doing this:

I was referring to solo damage which I probably should have noted, not team performance. I don't personally think that team scenarios are the best way to judge individual character performance due to all the variables, so I keep it simple.
I don't think TW has more AOE potential than Archery on a Blaster. I've seen TW/FA in action and it didn't hold a candle to my SS/FA who my Blaster beats out.
I do not like your logic and I'm not going to dignify this with a response.

That's tricky because you have to look at individual sets, but assuming optimal choices on both counts I'd say a Blaster does more AOE and a corruptor does more ST against hard targets like GM's due to the stronger debuffs.

I don't believe ROF even with Scourge will do ROA level damage. Do you have any data on this?

Well 'better' is a matter of opinion, I don't have Mids open right now but was his build one that went for 40% positional defense? I know the extra utility is useful for pets and I'm not saying barrier would be a bad choice, but the standard I use for my personal builds is to never be beholden to any specific Destiny power since it's often useful to be able to switch between them... Flexibility is good. Not to say that the other build was bad at all.

I declared myself the winner because I met the standard that the OP set and acknowledged that already before anyone else did. It's not really fair to promise a certain prize for meeting certain goals if you're not going to use a first come first serve approach, unless you plan on giving the promised prize to everyone who meets the goals.

Oh yeah, I know Corruptors can be awesome.. I'm not saying they can't, but they definitely can't reach Blaster AOE potential assuming maxed builds and optimal sets for both.

Only the alpha shift works outside of Incarnate content.

I mentioned in another thread that I had already taken down Scrappy on my Blaster with the same restrictions (no outside damage boosts, no pets, no judgement, no having a tank take the aggro for me and passing it off as soloing) but Arcanaville mentioned that the Monster Island GM's would provide a greater challenge and mentioned that she was interested in seeing me try it.

Uh.. What? Soloing a GM without temps, damage inspirations, pets or Judgement is sucky now? I've seen people count it as a distinguished accomplishment with the help of t4 lore pets and envenomed daggers so I'm really not sure what you're talking about.

You realize that the KB specification wasn't in the OP at the time my build was posted right? Sly edits ftw, check the thread. Hovering in melee range works fine. I do it all the time. Swapping around some enhancement values would rectify the whatever tiny amount of discrepancy (talk about nitpicking) you're seeing on the recharge.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=213578

They're definitely neat.

And my next video will showcase my Blaster's AOE damage output, which is insanely good.. So the question becomes, is it balanced? Sure, debuffers might be better at soloing Giant Monsters, but Blasters can still do it. I'd like to see those debuffers pump out the AOE my Blaster pumps out though.. It'll be a cold day in hell. No melee set, even on the same exact budget (that goes for the debuffer too) can match the AOE of Archery/Mental unless they're a Brute at the damage cap, which is pretty unlikely in normal content, assuming the Blaster survives. IO's and especially high end, intelligently crafted builds do a lot to help Blasters close that survivability gap.

So, to summarize, Melee AT's can't solo GM's, and ideally chosen melee sets (for the sake of even ground and no one calling BS, even though they still will) VS. Archery/Mental can't match the AOE of a Blaster. Will a debuffer kill GM's faster? Sure. Will a debuffer hold a candle to a Blaster's large spawn melting speed? Absolutely not. Will a Brute have more reliable survivability than the Blaster against large spawns? Sure. But the Blaster can still out-perform the Brute in terms of the killing of single targets and the killing of many enemies at a time. To me, this is all very balanced. Remember, no "IO's don't count" card-playing, since all of these examples assume high end IO's for every single character and ideal sets for every single character, not just the Blaster. Even ground people.

To me, this doesn't prove that all Blasters are fine, so people should really stop shoving those words or that sentiment into my mouth (you guys are fond of that one.) It just proves to me that the archetype is able to perform at an expected standard- I know that not every set is perfect. I'm 100% behind buffing snipes and making the rest of the nukes crashless... That would help out Defenders and Corruptors too. I just don't think the AT as a whole needs to change, I think that the secondaries need a bit of work. I'm not talking about ground up reworks, I'm talking about just adding three powers max to each secondary (aside from mental) to provide a mix of self buffing and enemy debuffing like Drain Psyche currently does.

I'm not talking about anything with new animations or new powers being made, just some crossover stuff from other sets (Shadow Meld in Dark Assault or even added to one of the APP/PPP's would be a start.) Some debuffing powers from /Traps for Devices. Healing Flames for /Fire. There are a crapload of powers in the game already that could be appropriately tacked on to existing sets with very little extra work required... We don't need bells and whistles and new mechanics to fix the Blaster "standard," we just need little ports.

So anyways, moving forward it'd be great if people could stop antagonizing me and trying to put me down in a roundabout way.


Oh, another thing. I think it would be totally appropriate to raise Blasters to the Brute damage cap.. I could definitely see being annoyed with whoever dropped the ball on that one.

What? My own crap? I don't play VEAT's, lol. I made builds contingent upon the criteria presented to me, just like when I won Zwillinger's build contest (that might be your first hint that I know what I'm doing.)
Derka der. I got them both back in and kept the softcapped defense.
I presented two alternatives at the end. One of them had Leadership and still met all the requirements. Feel free to go double check and maybe learn a valuable lesson about why we think before we post.
Feel free to provide specific examples. This was the last report from the OP:

The damage/recharge IO in the build can be replaced with a dam/end and still break the 100% damage enhancement marker. And the build had a 2:1 recovery ratio plus the recharge to run the chain. This is the standard use/rec ratio for all builds. There is always +end temps and ageless to help with end if it's necessary.

• Unless you consider a temp that takes 2 seconds to make or Ageless.
  
  
  Quote:

  Soulbound Allegiance proc in Summon Spiderlings no

Nice to have doesn't mean "required." That's the only thing close to criteria that I didn't meet, because this statement was also made:
So, "I'm forgiving it" but you're not forgiving it because you're keeping the contest going after acknowledging that every other requirement was met, pardoning the only thing that wasn't met, and then agreeing with someone who clearly has reading comprehension issues since it's convenient for you? Got it. Thanks for clearing that up.

This would be like if when I ran my Pylon challenge a few months ago (and gave away 2 billion inf.) and after the Pylon was downed I said, "Hey guys, that was great, but I'm not going to declare anyone the winner because someone else probably could've done it a little faster."

Once I get t4 Agility my end should actually be fine based on my calculations. I don't think I'm using the optimal ST chain either, I'm going BA>MP>SS but I feel like the redraw running MP is killing my DPS... I just don't have room for aimed shot, and MP takes a Kinetic Combat set (I slot it with 4 of those, a level 53 Nucleo, and a hecatomb proc. Blasters Wrath catalyzed is in BA and Apocalypse is in Snap Shot.)

So you think soloing hard enemy groups on high settings would be more helpful? This was what you asked me to do so I did it. I'm also working on compiling footage of 54x8 soloing on my Blaster.
Well do you think the ability to solo tough targets like GM's is a fair tradeoff single target wise, regardless of how it's done, as long as only native powers are used?

Uh, I'm not stating something that's false. Blasters can be awesome. Blasters can do stupidly powerful things. That's my point.

Yeah, right. What's wrong with starting a POSITIVE Blaster thread? God forbid we do anything but complain about them!

Maybe I just messed up and didn't run my attack chain perfectly. These things happen, playing the game isn't like making a spreadsheet. I still accomplished my goal and that's all I care about.