Level 50 Assault Rifle / Devices here.
As many people have suggested, Defiance simply kicks in too late to be of any intentional use to blasters in the late game. When a strong hit from certain bosses can flat-out kill me, the -last- thing I want to do is put myself into hitpoint ranges that allow not only -all- bosses, but most lieutenants and some minions one-shot me as well. 40% HP is well past the point of panic for me, and I'm sure many other blasters as well.
Status effects, holds, sleep, etc. should also be mentioned, because they are simply so prevalent in late game that it is a very safe assumpthion that an AT with no lasting protection against -any- status (leaping/acrobatics versus hold excluded) will likely be affected by one or more such affect if they are taking and holding any amount of aggro over a small amount of time. No class should have to absolutely -rely- on a single inspiration type in order to survive common encounters, yet I -always- have to carry breakfrees on me. That's a gap in powerset design.
If I take a single volley of fire, putting my HP below even 70%, and I still visibly have aggro, I'm already either taking evasive action, chewing down defense skittles, or throwing up personal force field both to keep from taking more damage and to dump off some aggro in the process.
As many people have suggested on the cosolidated thread, IF you intend to use this "lower HP" = "more damage" model for a blaster fix, then there are several things to consider modifying. A lot of these are NOT my own ideas, or they are ideas that I thought of that have already been voiced by others. Now I am not saying implement every single idea here, nor am I even asking for any single one of these. These are just ideas that I agree with that could help out the Defiance ability.
1) Consider a complete overhaul of the "hp range" idea
1a) Make damage scale based on current HP per percent, starting at no buff at 100% and gradually increasing for every percent of damage taken. Even if the increments are small, it is still a benefit that can be used by blasters that play as I do, and may adjust my "panic" phase to be lower than 70% HP, as I would have a reason to keep firing at that point, and would still be relatively safe from immediate death.
1b) Base the defiance increase on -recent spike- damage taken. In other words, have it act like an ability that triggers at certain HP totals then functions for a set duration regardless of HP increases, but have it "upgrade" if HP continues to plummet. Make the damage bonus smaller to account for the fact that it will be much easier and/or simply more likely for blasters to be defiant for stretches of time.
1c) Base the increase on -recent total- damage taken. If a blaster gets hit with a volley that puts him at 70%, he gets healed one way or another to 100%, then the same volley drops him to the same 70%, then start building Defiance. One doesn't have to sustain a single large hit to be defiant, they could be equally defiant by taking a steady flow of damage. "Okay, enough already, time to end this."
2) Give defiance something (or several somethings) more than extra damage, even in a trade-off for some of that extra damage if necessary.
2a) A LOT of people would like to see accuraccy increase as the defiance meter fills. While targeting drone does that for me usually, I still can't fault this idea.
2b) There is a possiblity of adding status resist as defiance increases.
2c) This isn't directly related to Defiance, but making the blaster secondary pools more useful could indirectly contribute some usefulness to Defiance. As I said above, if I'm below 40% on my blaster, chances are I'm already well on my way to dead, and most likely held in the process. If blasters were given powers that provided even a limited amount of status resist, it would at least make it more feasible to function in low HP ranges, where currently getting held while low on health is a trip to the hospital, guaranteed. If the fear of such an end was reduced, it could be possible to choose to be defiant instead of pounding heals or hiding like a wanted criminal.
2d) With such a narrow amount of time that Defiance currently allows for significant damage increase (because you'll either die or heal within relative haste) consider expediting recharge rates of blaster primary powers as the meter fills. If I have two guys on me, either of them can kill me in a single hit, and full auto is down, that split second of Defiance isn't going to save me anything.
2e) Consider even adding damage reistance as Defiance increases. Nothing drastic, just a little something to help insulate us from debt and allow us to stay in the defiant range a little longer with a little relatively more safety.
3) The current Defiance meter is awful, plain and simple. You tried to make a scaling bar based on pre-determined ranges, and that quite honestly does not work.
3a) If Defiance will use HP "ranges" to determine the level of functionality, then divide the bar up into equal parts, one for each range, and have it fill as those are met.
3b) If Defiance adopts some other, more smoothly scaling, method of damage increase, then leave the bar as is, and have it fill accordingly as the damage is scaling.
3c) Brown and black are unattractive colors to gauge Defiance. This is more a quality of life issue than anything else. HP is green (then yellow/orange/red), Endurance is blue, Exp is purple. Make Defiance something similarly bright. Hell, make it the inverse of the health bar colors. Green for a short, not-very-defiant bar and bright red and flashing for a full bar.
3d) Another eyecandy nitpick, but if Defiance is made into something blasters can actually put to use, why not give us a little showmanship with it, similar to scrapper criticals. Make the word "DEFIANCE" pop up, or "PLUS X" with the damage tally. I want mine to say "BOOM, HEADSHOT!" above the damage number.
In closing, I see Defiance as having potential, but utterly useless as a real improvement to blasters in late game. It doesn't hurt us, but for 999 times out 1000, it may as well not even exist, either. If it is adjusted in some or many ways, it could have a lot of purpose and value to a blaster.
The basic problem that is simply too difficult and risky, almost to the point of unattainability, let alone sustainability, to get into Defiance mode and be able to do anything with it.
Sig will be out of date. I'm lazy.
