Hmm. I use provoke specifically to target mobs that arent' close to me. The innate aggro generation of invincibility keeps the mobs closest to me pretty darn ticked off. When my blaster friend gets attacked, they jump over me and invincibility will usually take the aggro (Of a melee attacker, mind you). Of course, more often they just kill the minion--because it's very rare for a lt/boss to escape me. That's what I'm most worried about holding.
I do think AoE are out of whack. Think the best solution would be to decrease damage as the blast radius increases. Anyway, an AoE nerf would effect almost every character in the game--so the Devs would have to be very careful about how they did it.
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If the Devs nerf AoE damage, what role do you see blasters having
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No matter what, they will deal more damage than scrappers, faster. Meaning they are the definitive damage dealers in groups. Problem now is that 2 blasters can kill hordes of enemies in one shoot, and that is ether too much damage or too weak enemies.
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So can scrappers using whirling sword, spin, and shockwave, [censored] NERF SCRAPPERS.
Thats the way it seems this is going. The idea of AoE is to obliterate low mobs. I can one hit even level minions with no lethal resist with full auto, whats wrong with that? Is it that i'm able to kill them with six slots of ++damage SO's in it? I can't one hit Lts, I can't one hit bosses, I can't one hit +1 levels, the use is very specific. Theres nothing wrong with AoE unless you expect this game should be only single target.
Its not like AoE is the magic power where i press a button and 200 enemies die with no risk to me.
If your talking about lower level AoE like fireball or Flamethrower you can't one hit white minions with them, that means they get to attack you back. When they attack you back you damn well better not have just aggroed 20 guys because they are going to kill you. If i'm using full auto it takes about 6 seconds for the attack to finish dealing damage (which is just enough for the white mobs) While i'm attacking im essentially immobilized and unable to use anything and the enemies can attack me back as much as they want so I had better not have just aggroed 20 guys.
Then theres placement, ranging, and follow up attacks that need to happen too with most AoE's. There is NOTHING wrong with AoE damage. Its a minion sweeping attack and thats all, thats its purpose. Some times I think people want the game to become everquest where you need 8 people to kill a rat.
I mean really, single target damage? Have you even *played* a fire blaster? Their single target damage is a steaming pile of crap, if you want to do great single target damage you have the ice pool. Blaster are not "The Ultimate Dealers of Single Target Damage" blasters are the ultimate dealers of *RANGED* damage.
I can easily understand the SG fix but for God's sake, why do you people want to slow down the game, I don't see how people can miss the reason why so many play this game its because its a FAST, relatively easy, low set-up type of play.
If you want long game hours and ridiculous amounts of set up go play SWG or EQ.
The problem as i see it is that blasters have a huge glaring weakness
They have no defense and no hp whatsoever.
As i see it, this entitles Blasters to have a great strength
I see that strength as being powerful AoE attacks. That is what i think of when i think "offensive juggernaut", "massive damage at range".
If you take that away then what are you giving Blasters that balances out the enormous weakness of their incredible fragility.
What are you left with if you take the "Cannon" out of Glass Cannon.
Hate to agree with Punni, but...I do. Either let blasters have their AOEs, in fact give all sets AOEs, or change the secondaries so theyre more useful defensively.
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Hate to agree with Punni, but...I do. Either let blasters have their AOEs, in fact give all sets AOEs, or change the secondaries so theyre more useful defensively.
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I agree but theres a problem there too. If you give us crowd control..... then we intrude on controller territory. If you give us too much defense then we intrude on defender and scrapper territory.
We are right where we should be. Extreme damage output and low defense is the ONLY way to balance Blasters. The Dev's need to wake up and see that.
Well I personally think that death is really good crowd control.
Thats besides the point, controllers and tankers were made with flawed ideals.
Blasters were made on the idea that the gameplay would be fast paced and based on making the hero feel super though not invincible.
Scrappers are the middle.
Tankers are based on the idea that blasters, who doing lots of damage, would need their help in absorbing enemy fire because the enemies would not be easy to defeat. The obvious problem is now appearing clear, they are based on two different games.
Then we had the controller, the red headed stepsister of the tanker. Thats based on the idea that tankers, while good at aggro control, would not be able to take *all* the aggro (then they gave them provoke of course) and therefore would need a controller to AOE lockdown mobs so the blasters in figure one, would not get killed. Of course thats all based on the idea that the enemies would be dangerous enough to risk definite death by facing a couple at a time which of course crosses over the idea that were heros thus leaving us with 2 classes that can take care of themselves fairly well and 3 classes (tankers, defenders and controllers) who are stuck in some alternate dimension where the MOB's are *supposed* to be hard so that blasters and scrappers need help.
How can this be solved?
1: We can nerf blaster damage preventing them from using the "Ultimate debuff" before the enemies would probably kill them.
2: We can change controlllers and tankers to serve more specialized roles while broadening their combat related skills. (defenders are not bad at this now)
3: We can take away blasters ability to apply the "ultimate debuff" to many mobs at once in a short amount of time thus forcing them to have a group without making them too easily killed.
Of course 1 and 3 will end up with blasters and scrappers who have been playing game A (which I think is MUCH more intersting) and drag them into game B (which the tankers, controllers, and defenders play.)
Now personally i'd like to move tankers, defenders, and controllers into game A by just increasing the efficacy of their powers.
Controllers would gain mass immobilize's as well as mass sleeps and holds early, as in 12 rather than 18.
Tankers would lose provoke and be changed to taunters with AOE taunts on their attacks, some possibly with mild taunt auras. Tankers attacks would change to become minion slayers. They can hit hard enough to trash minions but they can't hurt bosses very well (letting scrappers do their job) However, to keep it in balance (as tankers can be near invulnerable though some of their armors just plain bite) tankers would be big first hitters but too slow to efficiently mow down wave after wave of minons with AOEs.
Defenders would stay essentially the same except they would gain more buff powers for ALL the sets that include increases in HP. They would lose many of the nasty side effects of their powers like stunning from adrenaline.
And now finally, and most importantly:
NO PLAYER WOULD BE PENALIZED FOR JOINING A GROUP.
Sure the manual says you kill faster, but when you calculate it, is it true? Count in AFK breaks, choosing a mob group to attack, finding a MOB group, talking, death, buffing, planning, preparing. That all cuts into XP time. There would be 0 penalty for grouping and for every AT you have in your group you would get 5% MORE xp per person. That means with a blaster, controller, scrapper, tanker, and defender you would have 125% exp coming in to counter the fact that your suffering far more downtime than when your soloing (for those classes that can solo now)
Why should any blaster or now, scrapper, even bother grouping when it punishes them? All this design does is punish support AT's for just being support and that just isn't fair. The number 1 way to get rid of non-solo classes asking in large numbers for a way to solo is to give them a better way to bloody group.
This brings ALL the AT's into the A style game where everyones powers can be appreciated and everyone can feel like a hero rather than feeling like a level 30 PSI kinetics defender whose general grouping experience goes like this:
"Are you an emp defender?"
"No"
"You have been kicked from the group"
That would never have happened if the group would not be punished for adding a new member.
With everyone in the A game I can see several things happening.
1: Relatively fast leveling for ALL AT's. Lets face it, most people play to level (and I know some persons gonna say Nuh Uh, not me "insert long explanation") but in general people want to level, thats what prods them along their path. There are relatively few tankers, and defenders because theya re slow at leveling. Bizarrely enough there seems to be lots of controllers but very very few at high level so I think we can toss them in there with the other non-solo AT's.
2: Very few will be suffering "pariah syndrome" where you get tossed out of a group because your very presence with a non-FoTM build is a drain on the groups leveling ability.
3: Everyone will feel the power. Tankers will be wailing on minions crushing them to a paste while AOE blasters nail the weakened minions for the final blow. Controllers would lock down the aggro the tanker couldn't catch and the scrappers would move in to tear them apart. All this time the defenders would be buffing, healing, and when they got the chance, attacking point targets to help cripple the enemy.
Instead of this: Blasters find a group, the tank moves in an uses provoke, the blasters AOE the provoked group in 2 seconds. Next mob. (notice there are no controllers, defenders or scrappers, they aren't needed.)
4: More people would be experiencing the four games of CoH.
1-10: Low levels, massing hellions and rampaging around perez park. No one is *THAT* powerful yet, but everyone has a specified task they complete and none of them are punished for using a specialist instead of glossing it over with near specialists.
10-20: Mid-level gangs of enemies witht he first super powers begin appearing. Group tactics are evolving, players are powerful and they depend on one another to fight well. Everyone still has their role to play in the game.
20-30: MId-high level game, your fighting enemies who regularly use organized tactics and better fire power as well as resistant mobs. Crey will lock you up, early rikti will stun you to hell, 5th column will throw werewolves and vampyr's at you and freakshow will be massing the tanks. Luckily for all these situations you have a team you can AFFORD to play with because you aren't penalized for fighting.
30-40: High level game, now your actually fighting the big boy, crey are still running around, rikti are all over the place, you first experience nemesis and the circle of thorns as well as the devouring earth roll out the heavy guns against you. A good team build becomes a must for big game hunting, teams are easier to find of course if you aren't punished for making them.
40-50: Ultra-High level game:
Rikti are coming out of all the cracks, nemesis are bringing out the heavy robotics against you, malta and the carnival of shadows will lock you down and tear you apart in no time flat, the circle of thorns throws large numbers of behemoth overlords at you and demented possesed scientitsts will attack you with a bewildering array of elemental powers. You will first set foot int he Rikti crash site, the shadow shard, and in the hive in these levels and experience epic battles with monstrosisties better left unknown. A few minions are more than a match for many determined soloers, even tanks find it hard to keep going with chain stunning high acc enemies blasting them.
At this level currently there is a real grouping problem, mainly there is practically no-one there to group with, they are either soloing or new guys look for a PL. Whats the root of this problem? All our good friends, the tankers, controllers, and defenders were left behind at levle 32, we didn't need them anymore, they were extra baggage. Its not to say we couldn't use them, but the punishment to your XP for their very presence precludes people from even SKing them.
The problem isn't blasters, its not AoE, its not scrappers, in not fire burn tankers or Fire/dev blasters, perma-elude scrappers, or fire imp controllers. It the entire XP system.
I don't know how I can stress the importance of this one point.
YOU ARE PUNISHING PEOPLE FOR MAKING GROUPS . If you stop punishing groupers, there are going to be more of them and our friends in the non-solo department will finally get the posistions they deserve.
Really, my blaster gets killed with one hit by a boss. If they lessen the AOE and damage, they HAVE to give us the hit points of a scrapper. If they do, than we are now all scrappers. I say everyone quit whinning, if you don't like your toon, make another. I saw what my husband's blaster did and made one. Whinners are losers! Don't be a loser!
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Really, my blaster gets killed with one hit by a boss. If they lessen the AOE and damage, they HAVE to give us the hit points of a scrapper. If they do, than we are now all scrappers. I say everyone quit whinning, if you don't like your toon, make another. I saw what my husband's blaster did and made one. Whinners are losers! Don't be a loser!
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They whine because it's easier to do so, than to work at getting the blaster to a good level, especially with Issue 2, everything's screwed up in the lower levels..
Man that was beautiful.
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So can scrappers using whirling sword, spin, and shockwave, [censored] NERF SCRAPPERS.
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just for the record, whirling sword with 6 damage SO's will bring a (no leathal resistance) minion to 45% health and the dot will take that up to 55% buildup will add to make it 65% of the life of a minion villian.
the pbaoe is very small and will really only hit those in melee range.
if your going to compare those attacks with anything compare them with other PBEoA's please.
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So can scrappers using whirling sword, spin, and shockwave, [censored] NERF SCRAPPERS.
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just for the record, whirling sword with 6 damage SO's will bring a (no leathal resistance) minion to 45% health and the dot will take that up to 55% buildup will add to make it 65% of the life of a minion villian.
the pbaoe is very small and will really only hit those in melee range.
if your going to compare those attacks with anything compare them with other PBEoA's please.
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apparently your mistaken cause its ALL AT AoE's. there not just gonna scale down on Blasters but all AoE's in general.
and from your stats please post if the minis are even con or not. i have a very hard time believeign that those stats came from anything above an even con mini.
in fact i doubt it now with the increase to all mobs HP's.
First... Look at my main character...
Stateman... Are you thinking in implementing warnings like "this combination of primary and secondary is much less powerfull than the common hero... Are you sure you want to proceed?" in the power pool selection at character creation?
First, dev team removed the SG protection and nerfed it to nothing but a cheap stealth power below common pool performance. This has a DIRECT impact on AoE performance... and you know why.
Now you say that AoE is a problem so Fire primary which is all about it will get the shaft... Not to mention that the other still usefull powers on devices are... AoE also.
/[sarcasm on]Are you aware that respec do not allow change on primary/secondary pools? /[sarcasm off]
You are thinking in nerfing PRIMARIES (and SECONDARIES in the case of devices) accross the board!... OMG they can't be changed unless you make another character... So I only request some respect for high level players invested time in characters they love to play.
I don't want to came after a patch, do a FORCED respec in an absurdly difficult TF just to have a build like:
- Flares
- Fire Blast
- Aim
- Blaze
- Fire Bolt
- Web Grenade
- Clatrops
- Targeting drone
- Cloaking device
And the rest of the 11+ powers will be in power pool powers because my primaries and secondaries suck.
Do not base your gameplay decissions on OLD ways to play... Go around and do some research on how the life of an AoE blaster is this days.
Basically AoE could be performed better by tankers or scrappers because they COULD survive the extended beating triggered by ANY FORM of AoE nerf... Either solo or in groups. Coupled with the ACTUAL fact that scrappers are finally able to fit the role of LT+ hunters (which makes sense... not a nerf call here) then... What blasters will do? I forsee the overnumber technique: "Hey!... once of you launch first AoE... The rest... Attack! Some of us will survive!".
I know that this words lack impact just because there are 4 other AT that claim "AoE is overpowered" and this changes will be implemented... But after doing it, pls update the description of the blaster AT in character creation tool so new players are not fooled in taking an AT that is not working as advertised and remove things like:
"The blaster is an offensive juggernaut"
or
"This hero deals a ton of damage from a distance"
And remark more important details like:
"But the blaster must be careful, becuase he's somewhat fragile compared to other heroes"
And add more detail on the "fragile" statement, something like:
"From L20+ it's common to find in big groups 1+ foes that can keep you unable to do anything but watching your health bar dropping and offering you a direct free ticket to the nearest hospital"
An angry fire/devices blaster
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Yes, AOE damage is an issue. We're still looking at ways to solve this. So no changes are imminent.
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I disagree Statesman. Now that you finally "fixed" Smoke Grenade the blasters are all grouping and teaming up. The problem was not that Blasters do too much damage (they do a lot) it was that they did a lot of damage and had Smoke Grenade so they did not need anyone. Defenders, Tankers, and some Controllers were trying to find groups while the Blasters were single handedly destroying an entire zone and the Scrappers were just being Scrappers and soloing what they could.
However Statesman you created a side effect. The people wanting a total killing maching made Fire/AR + Device Blasters but they did not make it to 45+ before Feature Release #2. Now those same characters are trying to solo. Those same Blasters run in stealthed (SuperSpeed + Stealth), drop a TripMine, then speed away to another group. Of course this TripMine did not even come close to killing all of them so you have weakened upset mobs running around that actual grouped characters need to clean up.
Why oh why did they not get a clue before the upcoming changes to Smoke Grenade and just make a Scrapper. Yes, Scrappers are a little boring (just stand there and click click click) but that is what they are built for but they can atleast solo when they get Invulnerability or Instant healing.
I believe if you Nerf AoE damage right now the whole high level game will get unbalanced because there is not enough high level support characters. There is still an influx of high level blasters. The Blasters are now grouping (except the poor souls I listed above) and the AoE damage will let the Blasters help take out mobs fast. If you reduce the damage of those blasters they will start to take a lot more damage. If you Nerf AoE damage now and their is not more high level support characters (Tankers/Controllers/Defenders) you will kill off a lot of parties.
Tankers and Controllers rule at support. With Controllers secondary pool being the Defenders primaries you completely devalued Defenders completely. A Controller that can Hold and Heal/ForceField has made the Defender Class totally obeolete. You need to bring the Defenders back into the game a little more before you up and nerf AoE damage. I might accept a nerf to AoE damage if you redesign Defenders (or Controllers Secondary lines) and give a couple of months so there are more high level support characters before the AoE nerf.
Here's a suggestion that may help two AT's in group situations.
Give tankers a "Cover" aura.
Any other character within said aura that is targeted by Ranged attacks (maybe melee and aoe as well) has an additional layer of defense check. "Misses" are actually blocks performed by the tanker, and as such takes damage it in place of the squishie.
This benefit is two-fold. Tankers have very little to do in their cryptic given role. That of playing the Colossus type guy. Some of them would rather have a more offensive bent, and I agree most of their sets need more damage, but they are built with the vision of a Steel wall. And a wall that smacks the snot out of anyone who gets close to the squishies.
The second part of the benefit is that all the aggro that a blaster pulls is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the return volley is being buffered by the highest defense AT in the game. Synergy in action. Blasters who are also willing to invest in some Tough/Weave or any other pools that provide DEF, or who have a Defender in the group as well will probably find they can blast with more impunity and that when something goes wrong it's unlikely that it will mean Instant death.
And it fits comics to boot.
the terms of my probation say that i have to post in every one of these threads.
they will not up minion HPs, that will gimp the other ATs.
they will not "fix" AE damage. They will horribly screw it up and overgimpify it. This will be issue 3.
about a year from now, with issue 5 or so, they will tone AE damage back up to where it is right now.
thus Simba, the circle of life will continue.
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Yes, AOE damage is an issue. We're still looking at ways to solve this. So no changes are imminent.
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Could you please tell me what ATs you consider not broken, or that don't need of an adjustment?
I'd like to know so I can start one that won't be changed 1/2 way through the game.
I like to group, no rather I should say I love to group. The xp is better, I make new friends. Soloing to me is boring.
When I am in a group and that cluster of mobs is keeping us from completing the mission, thats when I ask the leader if they'd like me to take 'em out.
I then get buffs, RA, and let the group know that my AoE (inferno) could miss so they won't get caught in a rush of angered mobs if it fails.
I don't go in there with a cowboy attitude, I consider each every person on the team important. Without them, I'd be dead in short order. Especially when inferno misses.
Every time I do this I get a "wow! thanks!" from almost everyone in the group.
I actually get to feel like a hero!
I do my best to make sure everyone else gets their "hero moment" if at all possible.
I know AoE isn't my only power, but as a fire/fire blaster its one of my best. Its my way of helping the group have fun and get xp.
My f/f blaster is by far my hightest level toon, all the others are not even half her level. Not because they are bad, but because I enjoy playing her.
And now you're going to "fix" AoE?
Bye fix I assume you mean nerf. 
Sorry if this posts makes anyone mad. No I don't intend to quit, so you can' t have my stuff 
Just a little frustrated is all, I don't level that fast because I take time to have fun and socialize.
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After reading this, I sense the meaning of the word "fix" is similar to what we did to our cat.
I'll have to agree that if they dial down the damage, they better dial down the agro. The only defense we really have is to take down the opponent(s).
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not aimed at the person in the quote, more aimed at this general attitude a lot of blasters have.
laf, gee, blasters may actually need help then. I have a 41 ar/dev blaster, i have a 43 fire/rad controller, and i have a 30 ma/sr scrapper, i have a good grasp on the game and groups and im amazed at the whining that goes on when cutting dmg or AoE dmg is mentioned. omg its so horrible a blaster wont be able to 1 shot an entire group of 12 or more reds, what a shame. you may actually have to group with someone, omg?!. several other classes either entirely depend on others, or at least work better with groups, a blaster shouldnt be a 1 man wrecking crew.
from personal experience blaster dmg/aoedmg needs a cut or fix.
What blasters do you hunt with?
Mines withstanding, I don't know of any blasters using any AOE that don't need help. Certainly, the Nova/inferno crowd can hunt white to OJ groups fairly easily. Throw a boss in there or red LT. and that blaster is at a serious risk for debt.
Like I said, I don't know what AOE blasters you think are "so powerful" solo, but let me share with you my experience.
I have a level 46 Fire/Energy blaster on Pinnacle named Pu (from Taoism, not... the other thing... 
) When I hunt in PI, about the only thing that is safe for me to hit is white con to orange con minion groups. This is if I use fireball/firebreath, and the typical battle goes like this: (use 5 Jaeger, 5 Hussar Orange Con for example)
Build up
Aim
Firebreath
*They start to retaliate. I take 4 DOT for 25 tick each, and 4 average machine gun DOT from the Jaeger
Fireball
*most of them are defeated, but sometimes my dot ticks miss and one or 2 can be up. By now I am usually at 1/2 to 2/3 health. Not in any real danger, and I can finish the minions off fairly easily.
Now, what I want you to do is insert 2-3 orange con lieutenants in there. The whole scenario changes. Not only am I the center of all the aggro, but when the minions die, the LT. get vengeance. Up goes the defense! They become incredibly hard to hit, and I have to either run (wow I feel so strong and powerful now... not) or sweat it out.
In the mean time, the LT. has a chance to do 200-300 damage a strike, knock me down, and stun me.
That is the easiest mob in PI to fight.
I guess my point is, the AOE damage may be great, but it isn't the end all be all. I could list several drawbacks, like end cost and recycle time, but the biggest is:
You get ALL the aggro. I don't care if you have a tank or not. I have had tanks tell me not to use my attacks because he can't keep their aggro over my damage.
This is fine if you are fighting low HP minions. But let me ask you naysayers... EVER fought a praetorian werewolf? Ever been the center of attention for a pack of Carnie LT or bosses? How about Malta?
Do I need to tell you about how I got stunned and died to a group of green and grey Malta?
Talk to the people in my SG, ask them who the king of debt is. It isn't because I don't know what I am doing, it is because when I use my AOE attacks, I get the aggro. Some may argue that things like Inferno and nova counter that because you can hunt large groups of red minions for fast xp. Sure, but throw a boss in there, and the whole game has changed. Not much you can do without sucking down catch a breath and hoping that you can get your paltry defenses up before, say, that Fake Nemesis stuns you for 500 points of damage and game over.
Yes, I agree that booming large groups is a tad overpowered. Yes, AOE does more damage overall than single target, but we do have our drawbacks. Every missed minions in a group of reds when you inferno? Let me tell you it isn't pretty.
The way to keep AOE in line is to maintain bosses in large groups of mobs.
If you lower AOE damage, then they will have to lower the end cost as well, because quite frankly it won't be worth it.
By the way, I regularly hunt in a group with a defender or controller if I can. I abhor dying, but it happens more often than not when I am alone in PI. Last night I earned 69000 debt from a group of yellow LT because I missed 2 of them. One stunned me, the other 2 beat me down. That's 69,000 more than a scrapper, tank, or controller will have I gaurantee.
So next time you scream nerf the AOE, think about this stuff. Our greatest defense is our offense. Take that away, and we might as well be glorified defenders without defender powers.
You got vengence reversed.
Killing minions dosen't trigger vengence. Killing LT's triggers vengence. If you see vengenced LT's it's because you killed an LT in the group.
What's really horrible is a vengenced fake nem.... not fun at all.
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So next time you scream nerf the AOE, think about this stuff. Our greatest defense is our offense. Take that away, and we might as well be glorified defenders without defender powers.
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if AoE is nerfed, I want to see resists cap at 90% total (meaning cumulative of all damage types resisted...), single target damage reduced, defender buffs and debuffs capped at 10%, heals capped to 100 points, and speed capped to a slow jog.
that works for me!
Liberty:
proud member of the LEGION, SISTERHOOD
@Doctor Photon
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Yes, AOE damage is an issue. We're still looking at ways to solve this. So no changes are imminent.
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- When you nerf AoE, please, let me reroll for free or, hell, with another trial like TV into another AT. I already had to respec out single target attacks and Aim to make space for more defensive skill after the SG fix, now if you nerf AoE I won't have any good attacks other than Blaze. Hell the only two useful skills on the Devices line will be Cloaking Device and Targeting Drone and on the main fire line probably Blaze and Blazing Bolt ... maybe Fireblast. So if you deem neccessary to castrate blasters more, please let us change completely AT. Because I for one won't play a blaster after AoE nerf and if I can't reroll into another AT without wasting time to level up again, you can kiss my account goodbye.
Some AOE like fireball or ball lightning needs to have a damage gradient over its area of effect diameter, villians farther from the center take less damage. AOE like rain of fire or cone AOEs dont need to be changed. The only attacks i see as problems are things like the already mentioned fireball, that deal the same damage to all the targets, where realalistically they would not.
I am an ebil markeeter and will steal your moneiz ...correction stole your moneiz. I support keeping the poor down because it is impossible to make moneiz in this game.
yeah, i mean realistically when i fly around in real life looking for nemesis to grind on and gain levels, my fireball doesn't do the same ammount of damage to all targets. it's a lot more realistic than in the game.
there is no reason for gradient AE damage. that would be a nerf, not a fix, and would screw the class.
I think there's a price to pay for having aoe's as a blaster, you draw aggro, so you have to know your times when to really hit it. O also just sort of testing what my post will look like first one.
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Yes, AOE damage is an issue. We're still looking at ways to solve this. So no changes are imminent.
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Really? In what way?
Because AOE Blasters can kill things too quickly?
Statesman, you do know that the power to do this comes with a nasty price don't you? One slip-up, one mistake, one wrong button hit or second too much of server lag and the blaster who just fired off that nice AOE is instantly defeated.
There is NO chance for recovery if you do not time an attack like that perfectly and NO real defense a blaster has unless he happened to blow a ton of purple inspirations just before attacking.
On the flip side, my scrapper can mow through groups about 80% as quickly, has no downtime between fights to recover build-up or End and if I happen to hit a wrong button or have a few seconds of server lag while fighting with him I am in very little danger of being taken down before I can recover.
My Tank can't tear through groups anywhere near as quickly as either the AOE Blaster or the Scrapper but to be honest he has virtually no chance whatsoever of being defeated when soloing even a 12+ group unless I am picking on orange-purple cons. They just can't do enough damage to be a threat.
I can't say how those three characters compare to Defenders and Controlers as I haven't played either class higher than level 10 but as for the other three..
At this point in time I honestly feel that my Blaster, Scrapper and Tank are all relatively well balanced and if I were you I would stop looking at how to weaken either blasters or scrappers and instead put the effort into building up the power sets and ATs which seem to be having the most trouble keeping up.
Because frankly, if your company continues to attempt to "correct" these mis-perceived "balance" issues with the positive feedback approach of "weaken this AT a little here, and that AT a little there..." then you will succeed only in ruining the "Super" aspect of a game which is supposed to be about Superheroes and alienate the customer-base which was attracted to this concept in the first place.
No one wants to play the "Amazing Slightly Better than Average Man" who can barely defeat a group of three even con "Minions". If the game evolves to that level then I know that I and every single person I know who is playing will quit and never look back.
I and the people I play with want to play the HERO who can go up against incredible odds and WIN! (at least most of the time...)
We want to be able to deal with "Minions" as if they were just that. We do not want to be on par with them, or even small groups of them. We want to be able to handle about three even LTs. and be able to consider the Boss who is at our level to be the real threat.
This is the level we have been playing at since the game was launched and if you reduce our characters to the point where they are barely on par with a single even con LT. then the whole feeling of "Heroic" proportions will have evaporated and with it any real interest this game concept may have once had.
In the comics even "weak" characters like Wildcat, Daredevil, Green Arrow and ROBIN can deal with a room full of "Minion" class thugs with no real threat of defeat or even concern until the number of opponents approaches ten or more and frankly I would guess that very few of your customers would like to consider "Their Hero" to be weaker than Robin.
Please take a moment to really look at City of HEROES and compare it to the genre which it is based off of ... "Comic Book Super Heroes" and stop trying to force it into the mold of the average, boring, fantasy MMORGs which are already out there.