Statesman, issue with your position on blasters

Statesman, I've noticed that you've been talking about making mobs tougher (although increasing their xp), and also making changes (making them weaker, I am assuming) to blaster AOEs, all because you believe that the game post 30 is too easy.

Is this the correct way to fix the issue at large? Making mobs tougher and making our AOE weaker will only make our job as blasters more tough. Some will call it challenging, but I don't see it as challenging in a fun way, rather more frustrating to gain xp. This is especially true since most of our attacks rely heavily on alpha strike. We really can't survive long term engagements. You must know this, yet you seem set on this course.

The larger issue - making the game more challenging post 30 - cannot be solved by making the same mobs that we've been fighting all this time suddenly tougher. In fact, even though I like what you did with update 2, introducing different types of mobs is only a short term solution. People will soon get bored with doing the same thing over and over again. Instead, if you want to make the game challenging, you should really focus on pvp and SG-specific issues like HQs.

ANy way, this is my 2 cents. This is not intended as a whine.. just a concern from a dedicated blaster who hopes to see the game grow into a more enjoyable form

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Statesman, I've noticed that you've been talking about making mobs tougher (although increasing their xp), and also making changes (making them weaker, I am assuming) to blaster AOEs, all because you believe that the game post 30 is too easy.

Is this the correct way to fix the issue at large? Making mobs tougher and making our AOE weaker will only make our job as blasters more tough. Some will call it challenging, but I don't see it as challenging in a fun way, rather more frustrating to gain xp. This is especially true since most of our attacks rely heavily on alpha strike. We really can't survive long term engagements. You must know this, yet you seem set on this course.

The larger issue - making the game more challenging post 30 - cannot be solved by making the same mobs that we've been fighting all this time suddenly tougher. In fact, even though I like what you did with update 2, introducing different types of mobs is only a short term solution. People will soon get bored with doing the same thing over and over again. Instead, if you want to make the game challenging, you should really focus on pvp and SG-specific issues like HQs.

ANy way, this is my 2 cents. This is not intended as a whine.. just a concern from a dedicated blaster who hopes to see the game grow into a more enjoyable form

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/standing ovation

BRAVO!!!!!! That's worth much more than 2 cents

Thx. While I respect CoH and the good work of the DEVs in general, I cannot agree with their vision of Blasters.

Also, I would like more of us blasters to post and let Statesman know of our concerns. We are already in a tougher situation post-Update 2 because of the increased difficulty of the mobs. If Statesman indeed makes the changes that he says he in soncidering, it would really force us blasters from having any solo game.

ps: I wrote this also because my RL friend is about to start on this game. He is a casual player who does not want to spend a lot of time looking for teams when he plays. But as it stands now, the only AT I can tell him to try safely for his style is Scrappers. Blasters can solo for now, but Statesman seems bent on changing out entier class.

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lv 39 Ice/ Dev

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Venting is good.

hey hey

btw what is your tactic? I cloak, ss, run in and trip, step back out, and finish off the rest with my ice powers.

I don't use ice storm and frost breath. I have Blizzard 4 slotted and use it occasionally.

WIth Update 2 I find that SG is pretty useless, so I get most of my xp thru farming my CoT outdoor mission with my SG mates.

how about you?

It's exactly this kind of well thought post that will get the devs attention.

Good post.

Capt. Impervious lvl 36 tank

Circle of Dawn

Pinnacle

all pve online games come to a point when they get boring .
you will learn how the npc react and whats the best\easy was to kill them .
COH was the first game with a "smart AI " i have seen for a long time , and its what really is helping this game still be enjoyable .
even so , there will come a time when even the smartest AI will be a deja vu .
thats when PVP helps a online game still be fun , because instead of fighting a previsible AI ,youll be fighting a impredictable human mind .
PVP its not for grieve or ruin others game experience , its the ultimate game challenge , because you never know how youre enemy is going to react .
theres no bigger challenge and fun then play against the human mind ...

stop trying to solo huge mobs above your lvl if you want a game that you can solo go play doom III. /end rant

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Statesman, I've noticed that you've been talking about making mobs tougher (although increasing their xp), and also making changes (making them weaker, I am assuming) to blaster AOEs, all because you believe that the game post 30 is too easy.

Is this the correct way to fix the issue at large? Making mobs tougher and making our AOE weaker will only make our job as blasters more tough. Some will call it challenging, but I don't see it as challenging in a fun way, rather more frustrating to gain xp. This is especially true since most of our attacks rely heavily on alpha strike. We really can't survive long term engagements. You must know this, yet you seem set on this course.

The larger issue - making the game more challenging post 30 - cannot be solved by making the same mobs that we've been fighting all this time suddenly tougher. In fact, even though I like what you did with update 2, introducing different types of mobs is only a short term solution. People will soon get bored with doing the same thing over and over again. Instead, if you want to make the game challenging, you should really focus on pvp and SG-specific issues like HQs.

ANy way, this is my 2 cents. This is not intended as a whine.. just a concern from a dedicated blaster who hopes to see the game grow into a more enjoyable form

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Super Group Head Quarters and PVP will make the game more challenging post 30????

I don't get it.

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stop trying to solo huge mobs above your lvl if you want a game that you can solo go play doom III. /end rant

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God.... morons like you just don't get it..... If Statesman goes through with his plans we won't be able to solo ANY groups with any resonable reliability.

And honestly "the game is easy post lv 30"

I DON'T SEE IT.

Post 30 the game for blasters is a never ending battle to stay debt free. That's why so many SG users are complaining.... The game was ALWAYS hard for the rest of us. If they want to challenge players they should have more challenging missions (elective missions) that people could embark on that would give higher rewards than normal. Even mission sliders so people can adjust difficulty....

Making me = to 3 even level minions however is a lousy idea. And people say... well if there's more xp for those minions then what's the big deal?..... The big deal is you won't live long enough to get that xp and in missions post level 40 you routinely run into red bosses.... yellow minions..... Orange everything.... what am I supposed to do? go beg for help everytime I need to complete a mission?

The thing Statesmans plans are going to solve.... is the descision to keep playing this game or canceling my subscription all together. which is a shame because I really enjoy playing CoH. Probally more than any game to come out in the last 10 years.

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Statesman, I've noticed that you've been talking about making mobs tougher (although increasing their xp), and also making changes (making them weaker, I am assuming) to blaster AOEs, all because you believe that the game post 30 is too easy.

Is this the correct way to fix the issue at large? Making mobs tougher and making our AOE weaker will only make our job as blasters more tough.

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Well yes, if the game is too easy and they take steps to make it harder, it is going to make your job tougher. . .that is a logical consequence.

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Some will call it challenging, but I don't see it as challenging in a fun way, rather more frustrating to gain xp. This is especially true since most of our attacks rely heavily on alpha strike. We really can't survive long term engagements.

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The ability to rely on one-shot, heavy damage up front kills is why the game has been too easy (for some). Rather obviously if that makes the game too easy then addressing that is what is going to occur. As to not being able to survive long term engagement. . .have you ever built to do so? Probably not. Common wisdom was Aim + Build Up + AE = Win, there was no need to build to try to survive a long engagement and so nobody did.

Those days are over.

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The larger issue - making the game more challenging post 30 - cannot be solved by making the same mobs that we've been fighting all this time suddenly tougher.

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Why not? You don't explain why making the mobs tougher doesn't make the game more challenging.

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God.... morons like you just don't get it..... If Statesman goes through with his plans we won't be able to solo ANY groups with any resonable reliability so long as we continue to build and act like we did in the past.

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There, fixed that for you.

Making the game more difficult won't be the end of blasters. It will just be the end of blasters farming hazard zones with alpha strikes/massive AOEs. You'll have to stick to small groups of minions/lts for advancement like alot of the other ATs need to do.

Look at the way the game is now. It's heavily favors those blasters who can insta-kill large packs of near even-con mobs. With the ability to do so, grouping is not necessary and even discouraged to some extent since xp rewards tend to go down in groups. This game was meant to be done in groups, while having the option to solo. Currently (well, pre-update. I haven't done much testing post-update), most can solo almost anything of value. Obviously, this warrants some change.

The front loaded AOE damage also makes alot of the support classes unimportant. You don't need a tank, controller, or defender if you have blasters who drop everything in a few secs. Sure, they may make it a bit easier, but realistically they aren't needed.

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stop trying to solo huge mobs above your lvl if you want a game that you can solo go play doom III. /end rant

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Yes because this is only deserved for other ATs!!!

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stop trying to solo huge mobs above your lvl if you want a game that you can solo go play doom III. /end rant

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Yes because this is only deserved for other ATs!!!

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Such as?

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God.... morons like you just don't get it..... If Statesman goes through with his plans we won't be able to solo ANY groups with any resonable reliability so long as we continue to build and act like we did in the past.

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There, fixed that for you.

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no thanks [censored] hole.

Build like what? Ignore offense and self gimp? There are blasters already doing that. combat jumping, fighting, manuevers, 6 slotted smoke grenade... stealth.... cloaking devices...hover. guess what? you're still flat on your [censored] dead. still stunned and one shotted. Change the way you play? there's absolutely nothing wrong with the way I play. How would you know anyways? Ever team with me? hell no.

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Making the game more difficult won't be the end of blasters. It will just be the end of blasters farming hazard zones with alpha strikes/massive AOEs. You'll have to stick to small groups of minions/lts for advancement like alot of the other ATs need to do.

Look at the way the game is now. It's heavily favors those blasters who can insta-kill large packs of near even-con mobs. With the ability to do so, grouping is not necessary and even discouraged to some extent since xp rewards tend to go down in groups. This game was meant to be done in groups, while having the option to solo. Currently (well, pre-update. I haven't done much testing post-update), most can solo almost anything of value. Obviously, this warrants some change.

The front loaded AOE damage also makes alot of the support classes unimportant. You don't need a tank, controller, or defender if you have blasters who drop everything in a few secs. Sure, they may make it a bit easier, but realistically they aren't needed.

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I don't solo because I can alpha strike. I solo because I like to solo. remove the alpha strike... guess what? I'm still going to solo. If this game ever turns into a morass where I'm at the whim of what other players want to do I will retire my cape. I also like the fact that I can just turn on the game and play without having to wait for an invite. I also don't like falling prey to lousy team play that dosen't take into account my fragility. as for farming hazard zones... I don't think you'll see a lot of that post smoke grenade fix. I'll note that no one complains when they see a grav, fire, or illusion controller soloing in crey's folly.
this is a common site. No one minds that controllers grow to become really powerful. Yet people want blasters to grow up and be gimpy. [censored] that.

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...It will just be the end of blasters farming hazard zones with alpha strikes/massive AOEs. You'll have to stick to small groups of minions/lts for advancement like alot of the other ATs need to do....

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Ah yes, but here is one of the problems. I have been seeing posts of people saying "well, just go after smaller groups..." When I'm cruising SC or Skyway (lvl 17 AR/DEV BTW) all I tend to see are huge mobs of...well...mobs . I'm noticing that there are fewer and fewer smaller groups of mobs for you to take out. I like to try and play it smart and try to stay out of debt. I don't like looking over and seeing a group of 8 - 12 blue - yellow mobs waiting to kick my a$$. To me this seems like the game is trying to force you to group with others. While some people might like grouping instead of soloing, I prefer it the other way around. I would like to see more groups of solo bad guys, or more groups of 2 - 3. You can still enjoy soloing without the necessity of taking on large groups.

Just my $.02 US

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Quote:

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stop trying to solo huge mobs above your lvl if you want a game that you can solo go play doom III. /end rant



Yes because this is only deserved for other ATs!!!



Such as?


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Such as fire tankers (really all tankers can solo high mobs...just takes a bit longer), fire and illusion controllers, almost all scrappers and I'm sure some more I can't think of. Blasters are the lowest defense AT and have such low hp that being one-shotted is quite common against a purple boss...so much for grouping being safer, eh? An AE blaster (especially AR) is very ill-suited to taking on small groups like a couple others have said to do. Our attacks are slow and are very inefficient on a small number of targets. We already sacrifice a good degree of "boss-killing" power, so why can't we be good at killing minions?

People complained that they would see a blaster killing +3's...yeah, minions. These same people probably see nothing wrong with killing an even level boss with a lt. and a minion. Well for an AE blaster, the +3 minions were doable...the even level boss and friends is very hard.

Now, the one thing that AE blasters were good at (taking out the weakest classification of enemies: minions), they can no longer do effectively. The return fire simply during the blaster's alpha strike can easily earn a blaster a trip to the hospital. All the status effects take hold on us on the first try and then we watch as even white or blue minions beat us down with all our painstakingly prepared toggles turned off.

The problem, imo, is that there is far too much villain CC in the game. Status effects posessed by even the lowliest of minions get chained on a hero and he cannot respond. I see even some of my tanker friends having problems with this post-issue 2. It should not be so easy to drop a superhero's defenses to nil. CC is too powerful in this game, from all standpoints and it is quite simply too prevalent in villains.

Blasters take enough damage from villains not to warrant needing to be easily slept/held/stunned/whatever by 90% of mobs you fight.

The changes to mobs, xp, and Smoke effects I think where well done (although I would have been comfortable with a higher acc debuff and removal of stacking).

The point that has been bandied is that you con no longer solo the way you use to this doesn't mean you can't solo anymore.

I will conceed that as I have yet to experience the post 30 game I can't speak to the mobs or the missions there but in the mid 20's I just do missions when I feel like soloing with the new xp pump at the end missions seem like "how" to solo know.

As for street soloing I don't have many more challenges as far as damage to death on mobs but then again I don't play an AoE blaster so I always had to be on the move and my fights typically took more than 10 seconds.

The one thing I dislike about expansion 2 is the afore mentioned chain hold/slow/sleeps that seem to be going around. Being burried in 6 layers of Caltrops is ridiculous and I am being forced to grab SS 4 levels earlier just to combat caltrops.

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no thanks [censored] hole.

Build like what? Ignore offense and self gimp? There are blasters already doing that. combat jumping, fighting, manuevers, 6 slotted smoke grenade... stealth.... cloaking devices...hover. guess what? you're still flat on your [censored] dead. still stunned and one shotted. Change the way you play? there's absolutely nothing wrong with the way I play. How would you know anyways? Ever team with me? hell no.

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I think you need to calm down, there's no reason to be insulting.

The things you're listing are issues that scrappers have delt with for some time. We, if we wish to solo, often need to partake of power pools and heavily slot our defenses at the expense of offense to survive. My Blaster no longer solos better than my scrapper, but my blaster certainly still dishes out a hell of a lot more damage in a group. Seems like the way the the AT's were meant to be.

The majority of street mobs in SC or Skyway are 4-5. You may stumble upon larger numbers as you head north or south depending on the zone, but those city zone mobs are pretty reasonable in size. If they're way larger (which I haven't seen) it may be a patch related bug.

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God.... morons like you just don't get it..... If Statesman goes through with his plans we won't be able to solo ANY groups with any resonable reliability so long as we continue to build and act like we did in the past.

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There, fixed that for you.

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no thanks [censored] hole.

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It was not problem, whiner.

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Build like what? Ignore offense and self gimp?

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More like only thinking about offense and only paying minimum thought to defense.

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There are blasters already doing that. combat jumping, fighting, manuevers, 6 slotted smoke grenade... stealth.... cloaking devices...hover. guess what? you're still flat on your [censored] dead.

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Not from personal experience, not according to others that have respec'd themselves and adjusted their playstyle to something other than running upto a group of 10-12 mobs all higher level than themselves and expecting everything to just die.

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still stunned and one shotted. Change the way you play? there's absolutely nothing wrong with the way I play.

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Then what are you wagging your tongue for?

The large amount of stuns and mezzes by minions is a mistake/bug people. States has said that they will be rolled back.

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Making the game more difficult won't be the end of blasters. It will just be the end of blasters farming hazard zones with alpha strikes/massive AOEs. You'll have to stick to small groups of minions/lts for advancement like alot of the other ATs need to do.

Look at the way the game is now. It's heavily favors those blasters who can insta-kill large packs of near even-con mobs. With the ability to do so, grouping is not necessary and even discouraged to some extent since xp rewards tend to go down in groups. This game was meant to be done in groups, while having the option to solo. Currently (well, pre-update. I haven't done much testing post-update), most can solo almost anything of value. Obviously, this warrants some change.

The front loaded AOE damage also makes alot of the support classes unimportant. You don't need a tank, controller, or defender if you have blasters who drop everything in a few secs. Sure, they may make it a bit easier, but realistically they aren't needed.

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Go take a look at high lvl illusion/fire cont, fire/inv tankers, spine scrappers, they solo much better than blasters, heck I've seen lvl 43 fire tankers taking on 46s without denting his HP lol...