Statesman, issue with your position on blasters
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While teamed everyone advances at the same rate, you all share the same incoming xp
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When you team, the higher levels advance more slowly in comparison to lower levels. Since the level of mobs the team can go after is the level of mobs the blasters can kill effectively, either the blasters are the highest levels on the team, skd to the highest level possible, of the team is of the lower xp variety. Unless you team with exactly the same characters every time this leads to blasters advancing more slowly then other ATs when teamed.
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You're suggesting a Defender can fill the shoes of a Blaster?
When I started my offensively built Defender (and it is one of the more offensive builds out there) I was flatly told I was insane by other Defenders and Blasters giggled.
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Unless you can find a post where I did that, its hardly relevant information.
Simple question, who is going to do more damage, 3 blasters or 2 rad/* defenders and a kin/* defender.
Let me see
2 stacked enervating fields causing all damage to more then double, 2 X RI each giving a 90% defense debuff, nearly 100% bonus on end recovery, recharge reduction greater then hasten that stacks with hasten, no requirement to slot for acc even against deep purple mobs, and even damage only needs to be slotted for convenience.
The three defenders would be at the damage cap 100% of the time and then having their damage doubled on top of that, attacking at a much higher rate, Thats not even mentioning their end advantage or stacked anti status effects. Sorry, the defenders in this scenario are going to be doing vastly more damage then 3 similar blasters ever could.
Want to add someone else? A controller or two would be handy, as would a tank to take the initial brunt of attacks. Some defensive defenders like FF or emp would surely benefit the team as well. A scrapper may even fit in if a tank wasnt available, but the very last thing this team needs is a blaster.
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It was repored by the Devs to be 100%
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It was reported as could be 100% with enh it could be 100% with a base as low as 35%. There was more then sufficient test result to show that it was not 100% with 1 SO because anything above a minion still hit more often then 5% of the time. IOW it could not have been a 100% base.
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That isn't status protection in the sense you're likely thinking about.
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Your main character is only a couple levels above my fire/rad alt. I think I have a fairly good idea what the rad set can do.
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As someone stated earlier, blasters should have a control primary as there secondary (at 75% effectiveness as all others are), that would be fair and equitable and make sense with every other AT.
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This is never going to happen. One of the key goals of the whole AT system was to prevent certain power combinations, one of which was ranged damage with strong (AoE) crowd control. Perhaps we will see something like this in the epic AT's but it won't hapen in the blaster set.
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Erratic thinks that having to scrap a build you worked on for hours over months is a fair and equitible solution. When every other AT get's fixes to round out their AT's.
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No. It's pretty obvious he thinks that if you want to stick with your character, there are respects in the game. Which is a fine option till the devs fix something that lacks parity.
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It is a fine option to deal with what currently is ailing anyone due to Update 2. What the future brings in terms of changes should be gauged in the context of how long SG went without fixing. . .until respecs were in. The developers have been very careful not to downgrade/fix things that weren't absolutely game busting and have provided an avenue for handling changes that seriously impact your character. Worrying about running out of respecs is not really dealing practically at this point so far as I can see and the other doom and gloom predictions are massively overblown.
Under construction
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There you hit on it perfectly fei.....
Your secondary is something you NEED to survive.
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You don't see how this unfair?
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Our secondaries don't help us survive in the same sense. they help us survive by doing more damage. So compairing the two is apples and oranges.
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I compare not because I'm saying Blaster seconds are required to survive. I compare to point out that of all the AT's your seconds are the least necessary, and not because they're not good.
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Our Primary is our defense. God like damage.
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And nobody else gets the benefit of every slot and power counting as double. Don't forget range.
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And you almost sound like blasters that want to be effective don't already have to arrange our pools well. Like we can just willy nilly take any pool we want....
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If that's what it sounds like, then I will correct the impression by saying that's not what I mean. But if you compare PP's in Tanker, Scrappers, and Blasters for effective builds you'll see a clear advantage for the Blasters.
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A highly offensive build with low defense and sub par damage mitagation.
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...Will no longer be able to solo as dominatingly as it once did. Your build will stand out amazingly in teams, and would probably render just about ANY scrapper moot for damage.
I guess I'm not seeing how you're gimped. Your build is fine, but maybe not as awesome for solo play as it once was, that's a far cry from nerfed.
I slogged through dozens and dozens of levels in various rolls of MA/SR before this recent patch. I delt with slow, highly resisted damage solo, and virtually no utility in group play. If post patch I'm a little closer to blasters, and blasters a little closer to me, I think the devs are doing their job. And really, the only thing changed was SG on the blaster end.
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It is a fine option to deal with what currently is ailing anyone due to Update 2. What the future brings in terms of changes should be gauged in the context of how long SG went without fixing. . .until respecs were in. The developers have been very careful not to downgrade/fix things that weren't absolutely game busting and have provided an avenue for handling changes that seriously impact your character. Worrying about running out of respecs is not really dealing practically at this point so far as I can see and the other doom and gloom predictions are massively overblown.
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when dev's say they are probably going to increase the number of hit points mobs have, and AR/DEV blasters are kinda in a bad way now. wouldn't you think that an increase in hit points would severely affect gameplay for blasters and any other AT. And when devs aren't saying what else will change, well for a game we all pay for to radically change seems a bit extreme don't you think.
Also remember this a solo/and party game, so until i see the dev's say how they are going to address the differences, things can go worse or better. For me I have only seen worse for my main build, which I love the concept and design for.
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I slogged through dozens and dozens of levels in various rolls of MA/SR before this recent patch. I delt with slow, highly resisted damage solo, and virtually no utility in group play. If post patch I'm a little closer to blasters, and blasters a little closer to me, I think the devs are doing their job. And really, the only thing changed was SG on the blaster end.
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I think it is great that MA/SR got improved i think it is awesome, also i like the ideas being thrown around about tank damage...very cool.
SG was "key" for AR dev, because our damage isn't a one shot FT and FA take alot of time to do there damage, we dont have aim nor build-up, which is awesome for an "alpha strike".
SG was needed so we could suvive while our damage took effect. I am NOT saying put SG where it was, but I do think it needs to be about twice as good as now to be an effective survival tool. instead of a 10% base maybe a 15 or 20%.
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While teamed everyone advances at the same rate, you all share the same incoming xp
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When you team, the higher levels advance more slowly in comparison to lower levels. Since the level of mobs the team can go after is the level of mobs the blasters can kill effectively, either the blasters are the highest levels on the team, sk’d to the highest level possible, of the team is of the lower xp variety. Unless you team with exactly the same characters every time this leads to blasters advancing more slowly then other AT’s when teamed.
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You presume the Blasters are doing the lion's share of the killing and that in order to do so he must be near the top level in a group that apparently is spread out in levels so much that sk'ing is necessary. In point of fact a Blaster could be 2 levels lower than a Defender in a group and provide the same DPS (Defender deals 66.66% the damage of a Blaster and hits even cons 75% of the time for combined damage of 66.66%*75% = 50%, a Blaster hits a target at +2 level 61% of the time for 80% of normal yielding 61% * 80% = 48.8%) to his group assuming the Defender does nothing but Blast, when in reality the Defender, even an offensively oriented one, is not likely to be as heavily spec'd for dealing damage until late game and in any event has other obligations on his time like debuffing, buffing, healing, etc. and ignoring the Defeender's lack of access to Build Up (and possibly Aim). In a typical group of character of mixed ranges, there is little reason for the Blaster to be the top end hence the premise that Blasters are missing out on the tiny differential (and it is indeed tiny) due to being a level or two higher in your scenarior is of questionable value.
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You're suggesting a Defender can fill the shoes of a Blaster?
When I started my offensively built Defender (and it is one of the more offensive builds out there) I was flatly told I was insane by other Defenders and Blasters giggled.
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Unless you can find a post where I did that, it’s hardly relevant information.
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Its relevant to the point of nobody else playing the game seeing it that way. Now while the world may be wrong and the man may be right, the lopsided nature of the divide betting otherwise.
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Simple question, who is going to do more damage, 3 blasters or 2 rad/* defenders and a kin/* defender.
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Makes no difference as you had to couch your comparison in terms of very specific builds for Defenders when in fact there are 4 other types of Defender (Dark Miasma, Empathy, Force Field, and Storm Summoning) running about. Is your argument going to be that Blasters as a whole are going to suffer due to the number of Radiation and Kinetics Defenders running about? That the typical team consists of multiples of any of those? In 40 levels I can count the number of times I was in a group with two other Radiation types (one being a Controller) on the fingers of one hand, and being on a team with one other doesn't bring in the use of my other hand. And yet supposedly there are so many Radiation and Kinetics Defenders floating around that Blasters are at threat for their positions on teams? Absurd, but just to show how absurd it is, let's go ahead and accept the threat so that we can consider the question of how a Blaster fairs when added to this double Radiation plus Kinetic combo. . .hmmm, he will still put out more damage than any of them do individually as he gets the benefits of their buffs, so there is a reason still to add a Blaster.
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Let me see… 2 stacked enervating fields causing all damage to more then double,
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No, the increase is linear. Each stacks on the same 42%. You're not even at doubling.
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2 X RI each giving a 90% defense debuff, nearly 100% bonus on end recovery, recharge reduction greater then hasten that stacks with hasten, no requirement to slot for acc even against deep purple mobs, and even damage only needs to be slotted for convenience.
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No requirement to slot for accuracy? Well if you're always going to be going around as a group and all your targets will always be in the confines of stacked Radiation Infections. Good luck with that. And in the general case of pick up grouping, you're going to need more than good luck, you're going to need phenomenal luck.
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The three defenders would be at the damage cap 100% of the time and then having their damage doubled on top of that. . . .
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See above, your calculation is off.
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. . .attacking at a much higher rate, Thats not even mentioning their end advantage or stacked anti status effects. Sorry, the defenders in this scenario are going to be doing vastly more damage then 3 similar blasters ever could.
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There are indeed reasons why all Defender SGs exist, but at no point is one served better by adding the next Defender than by adding a Blaster, scare tactics notwithstanding.
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It was repored by the Devs to be 100%
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It was reported as “could be 100%” with enh it could be 100% with a base as low as 35%. There was more then sufficient test result to show that it was not 100% with 1 SO because anything above a minion still hit more often then 5% of the time. IOW it could not have been a 100% base.
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Fine, but that it could be stacked was widely assumed and certainly fits with reports that "Dr. Vahzilok could not touch me" that made the rounds. And personally I witnessed an equal level Blasters using SG to take on mobs and not get touched by any of them in ways that don't happen with Radiation Infection.
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That isn't status protection in the sense you're likely thinking about.
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Your main character is only a couple levels above my fire/rad alt. I think I have a fairly good idea what the rad set can do.
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Then you should know that it doesn't keep you from being effected by status effects.
Under construction
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It is a fine option to deal with what currently is ailing anyone due to Update 2. What the future brings in terms of changes should be gauged in the context of how long SG went without fixing. . .until respecs were in. The developers have been very careful not to downgrade/fix things that weren't absolutely game busting and have provided an avenue for handling changes that seriously impact your character. Worrying about running out of respecs is not really dealing practically at this point so far as I can see and the other doom and gloom predictions are massively overblown.
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when dev's say they are probably going to increase the number of hit points mobs have, and AR/DEV blasters are kinda in a bad way now.
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Pardon me, but when did this become an AR/Dev thread? Looking back at the initial post that poster lists his characters and not a single AR/Dev amongst them.
Various individual primaries and secondaries can have issue that need to be addressed, witness Dark Miasma which until Update 2 was hands down the absolutely most broken and useless primary in the game. That doesnt' mean you don't change and balance the game. If AR/Dev has a problem, start a thread about it, but don't go leaping on the thread of "Woe is Blasters. We are despised above all things by the developers."
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wouldn't you think that an increase in hit points would severely affect gameplay for blasters and any other AT.
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Statesman has flatly stated that if hps go up that xp will as well as making assurances to various ATs that their damage would increase. Ignoring xp for the moment, that suggests that the relative balance between other AT's damage and Blasters may change and that no, I am not concerned about a severe change in how the other ATs operate. So we're back to looking at Blasters.
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And when devs aren't saying what else will change, well for a game we all pay for to radically change seems a bit extreme don't you think.
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Since when have the developers of any game had the obligation to tell you well in advance of everything they were thinking? No, it is not extreme. In fact the CoH developers have been quite communicative about what they are planning, the liklihood of it going through, and when. Much of Update 2 was promised a long time ago.
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Also remember this a solo/and party game, so until i see the dev's say how they are going to address the differences, things can go worse or better. For me I have only seen worse for my main build, which I love the concept and design for.
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That build being?
Under construction
That build being?
the same build i have been talking about since my first post in this thread AR/DEV.
You don't seem to be listening AR need a way to survive while their main damage dealing attacks are going off, while we are using flamethrower we get pounded and CAN NOT move. This needs to be addressed, FA you stand still for 6 seconds while they charge, you CAN NOT move.
Something need to be done to mitigate the damage, SG, faster animations, firing on the run whatever need to get out of melee range, or have it so they hit you less. that is the problem tactics help somewhat, but only so far. when you can't move tactics go out the window doesn't it.
and again this is a solo and multiplayer game, I would have to say 65% of my deaths were with a team so i enjoy soloing.
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That build being?
the same build i have been talking about since my first post in this thread AR/DEV.
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I meant your specific powers and slotting. You listed your powers once but not the slotting.
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You don't seem to be listening. . . .
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Well enough to catch the insult implicit there.
Under construction
dude you know what forget it.
Also it wasn't an insult, if you took it that way i apologize.
get your main build screwed, have a bunch of people who have never played it discuss it like they know what they are doing and see how you feel.
DOT
cant move
long animation
nuff said
otherwise i am out...take care
I have to put in my two cents here. I am currently well into level 35, I run through FF and Bricks when not doing missions. I look for groups of 3 or 4 whites, including Lieus in between my Novas. I have the Nova regenning every 2.5 minutes. I have no problems taking out the whites in this fashion, (the Lieu being yellow). If I am careful I finish and move to the next group, if I relax I just might die. Its fun, its a little dangerous, i do not feel gimped at all. In fact, I look for +1 or +2 groups when I Nova and can usually take out the remainders if I am careful to have an inspiration available for end. It becomes messy if more than one thing survives the blast, once again a little bit dangerous but not undoable. This is basically the same thing I was doing before update 2 and in fact Im doing better now because I have respec'd. I cannot feel gimped by update 2, and nor do I think I am so overpowerd that I need to be nerfed at this point. I seem to be the minority, a happy Blaster, but I wanted to let all know that there are some of us out here.
I just have to start out by saying "Erratic is my Hero!". Okay, got that out of my system. Erratic has given several intelligent, well thought out, civil arguments in this thread. Unfortunately most of the other posters seem to be talking at cross purposes. Erratic says there is a way to adapt, to change tacticts, to use different power sets to achieve the desired end. Hephastus, who I have to say comes off as some sort of emotionally unstable third grader, does have a good point though. It took me about 10 posts to actually dig out what his point was (whereas I knew Erratics point after the first post).
Hephastus' point: at some point in the future the devs have indicated that they may change mob hit points in the upward direction. If this makes the mobs live past my alpha strike I cannot play. He then goes on to muddy the water, but it all comes down to this....if the devs change the game in such a fundamental way as to make a level 40-50 character unable to solo (note: unable, not made harder) then they have done something wrong. Rerolling is not an option. Can I take the toon I have, re-spec and still be able to solo? If not then they have broken the game. This is Hephastus' definition and I agree with it.
Erratic argues that tactics or power choices may be made to compensate, but he is using different deffinitions than Heph (do you mind?). By Hephs deffinition, no power choice makes it possible to still solo. His argument by definition is that solo is impossible no matter changes to tactics and/or power selection. A somewhat circular argument, and one that Erratic does not embrace.
Karras has a better, more focused goal, and one that I think has gotten more refined over the course of this thread. In his last post he comes close to what I would call the root of the issue, at least for AR/DEV. Its not the damage that you do, its being able to live long enough to deliver it (which has been stated so many times at to become a truism). He gives some very good insight into the AR problem. Not damage, not defense so much. Getting killed by animation and activation times.
What is the solution to this problem? I dont have it right now, and I dont have time to work on it, but consider something like this,
New power: AR-Name-Covering Fire-(Delayed activation)- immediately after your next damage dealing power is used you lay down a blistering field of cover fire, briefly slowing your enemies and reducing the accuracy of return fire.
How much of each would be up to the devs of course. But if they make Hephs world come true, something like that is the only way you could make it better.
BWT; Erratic rocks!
Metastable
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Hasten is frankly overrated by many
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You had me until you said that. Just wow.
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Hasten is frankly overrated by many
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You had me until you said that. Just wow.
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Watch me as I build without it (actually better not, that'd be boring. . .just take me at my word, I'm working on three characters which have no plans to get it).
Under construction
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Hasten is frankly overrated by many
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You had me until you said that. Just wow.
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Watch me as I build without it (actually better not, that'd be boring. . .just take me at my word, I'm working on two characters which have no plans to get it).
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And they are blasters? Well, let me know how it goes.
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You presume the Blasters are doing the lion's share of the killing
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Of course I am. This is the only contribution a blaster can make to a team, and if they dont, then they are simply leaching.
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In point of fact a Blaster could be 2 levels lower than a Defender in a group and provide the same DPS (Defender deals 66.66% the damage of a Blaster and hits even cons 75% of the time for combined damage of 66.66%*75% = 50%, a Blaster hits a target at +2 level 61% of the time for 80% of normal yielding 61% * 80% = 48.8%)
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And how does that picture look if the team wants to take on red minions, that are at purple wall to a -2 level blaster?
I also note you conveniently ignore the fact that the defender has access to powers like accelerate metabolism that allow them to attack more often then the blaster. So even in your own example the blaster is considerably less effective at the only thing they bring to the team.
Sorry, but most people will not consider this a positive contribution to the team and will request the blaster take a higher sk if one is available.
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in reality the Defender, even an offensively oriented one, is not likely to be as heavily spec'd for dealing damage until late game
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Any damage dealer has about 3 primary attacks give or take they use a lot and the rest are situational. If you are suggesting that a defender cant spare enough slots to do this until late in the game I disagree.
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ignoring the Defeender's lack of access to Build Up (and possibly Aim).
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and also conveniently ignoring their buffs/debuffs that are in fact superior to these.
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In a typical group of character of mixed ranges, there is little reason for the Blaster to be the top
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Most people consider making a contribution to the team a reason. Blasters cant do this unless the team is attacking easy targets or they are the highest level characters.
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Hasten is frankly overrated by many
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You had me until you said that. Just wow.
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Watch me as I build without it (actually better not, that'd be boring. . .just take me at my word, I'm working on two characters which have no plans to get it).
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And they are blasters? Well, let me know how it goes.
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One is. One is a Defender and now that I think about it, got a Tanker I'm also doing who doesn't take it.
Getting back to the Blaster, she doesn't have it. I admit it will hurt her use of Nova as to get it down to reasonable cycling she'll have to use 3 slots for Recharge enhancers as opposed to a more normal 1 slot. Aside from that, I can't think of any other obvious downside. So in essence taking Hasten would benefit one power.
Under construction
Actually the normal for Nova is 2-3 recharge enhancers. Not 1.
This is becuase with 3 dmg SOs + buildup and Aim dmg is near cap. With 4 it is capped. I could name a few other downsides most definitely but i would need more information on the powersets you wish to take.
Overall failing to take Hasten is just not a very smart move.
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You presume the Blasters are doing the lion's share of the killing
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Of course I am. This is the only contribution a blaster can make to a team, and if they don’t, then they are simply leaching.
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No, there is a difference between contributing and doing the lion's share of the work. Consider a team with 2 Scrappers, 2 Tankers, a Controller, a Defender, and 2 Blasters. If the Blasters are contributing 33% of the damage of the group they are pulling their weight and you're not going to kick them to the curb.
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In point of fact a Blaster could be 2 levels lower than a Defender in a group and provide the same DPS (Defender deals 66.66% the damage of a Blaster and hits even cons 75% of the time for combined damage of 66.66%*75% = 50%, a Blaster hits a target at +2 level 61% of the time for 80% of normal yielding 61% * 80% = 48.8%)
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And how does that picture look if the team wants to take on red minions, that are at purple wall to a -2 level blaster?
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If the minions are red to the Defender then he is hitting 55% of the time for 65% of the 66% of Blaster damage he does, or 55%*65%*66%=23.60% output. The Blaster is hitting 41% of the time for 30% damage or 12.3% output. So at 2 levels behind the Defender he is providing still half the damage in raw terms and again this presumes the Defender spends all his time blasting, something that remains unlikely. And if he sidekicks he ends up fighting at a lower level than the Defender and probably not only makes up ground but surpasses the Defender's damage output while earning more relative xp.
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I also note you conveniently ignore the fact that the defender has access to powers like accelerate metabolism that allow them to attack more often then the blaster.
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Is there a reason why the Defender in the team would be hogging the benefits of Accelerate Metabolism to just himself and not hitting every member on the team with it? I know that before I activate it I use a macro to announce to the team, "Gather round for Accelerate Metabolism". Everyone on teams I'm on is working with AM when I am. Perhaps you deal with less social Radiation Defenders?
No, I wouldn't say I conveniently left anything out, I merely assumed sanity on the part of the Defender.
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So even in your own example the blaster is considerably less effective at the only thing they bring to the team.
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Anyone at lower level than the team average is less effective, that's the nature of the beast. If you take members of one AT, there is little reason not to take members of any other AT.
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Sorry, but most people will not consider this a positive contribution to the team and will request the blaster take a higher sk if one is available.
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I don't think you can speak for most people when advancing a broken consideration. When I'm on a team I'm happy to be there and put forth everything I can. Perhaps you have to have the largest numbers coming when you hit to feel validated, but I don't think most people work that way.
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in reality the Defender, even an offensively oriented one, is not likely to be as heavily spec'd for dealing damage until late game
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Any damage dealer has about 3 primary attacks give or take they use a lot and the rest are situational. If you are suggesting that a defender can’t spare enough slots to do this until late in the game I disagree.
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I suggest that unlike Blasters, for whom damage dealing is their primary function, Defenders have damage dealing as their secondary function and most don't focus on it to the extent that Blaster do early on. And in that a Defender does focus on his damage, by needs his primary powers don't get slotted as heavily. Feel free to look at my slotting (at least as of level 39) in my sig. See how well my heal power is slotted? And while Radiation Infection is fully slotted, it only started getting slotted in the character's late 20s.
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ignoring the Defeender's lack of access to Build Up (and possibly Aim).
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and also conveniently ignoring their buffs/debuffs that are in fact superior to these.
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Please. . .Build Up adds 100% of base damage, Aim 62.5%. Enervating Field adds 42% while reducing incoming damage from affected foes by 30% and can't be slotted to change those numbers. In my book 42% <62.5% < 100%. Admittedly I grew up in the era of the New Math, but I think I've got the relation correct.
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In a typical group of character of mixed ranges, there is little reason for the Blaster to be the top
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Most people consider making a contribution to the team a reason. Blasters can’t do this unless the team is attacking easy targets or they are the highest level characters.
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So how do other ATs contribute without being top dog? With this line of thinking run rampant apparently all groups are composed of equal level team members. But if that were so there'd be no complaints about the Purple Patch. . .so that isn't it, and besides most teams I've been on have not been comprised of characters of exactly the same level. No, it doesn't require being the top level to contribute meaningfully.
Under construction
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Now here is an complete idiot in his natural habitat
Erratic
Congrats Erratic, you win the complete Noob award for a complete stupid comment that basically says.. "change your tactics"
Good for you.. Hey next time tell them to go after mobs of 1 to 3 .. (even though you may run around and hour to find one)
Or better yet (giggle) tell them to team..
HA..
your an AOE Blaster.. instead of running up and using AOEs.. you should use.. .. uh....wait.. uh.. brawl?
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People will leap on me for what I write, but at least what I write has some bearing to the topic.
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No, people will leap on you for the {condescending, smarmy} (your choice) way in which you made your first two posts in this thread. you may think of your chosen posting method as "efficient", but if you didn't think of them as needlessly and purposfully annoying in the tone they conveyed, then I believe you are in the minority.
neye
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Actually the normal for Nova is 2-3 recharge enhancers. Not 1.
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Strikes me a wasteful, but YMMV. With perma-Hasten and an SO you've cut the time for recycle by half, from 360s to 152s. The next SO cuts that to 133s and the one after that to 119s. So you're looking at cutting recycle time from two and a half minutes to 2 minutes. 30 seconds of gain seems wasteful to me, but then I'm used to looking at the matter without benefit of Build Up.
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This is becuase with 3 dmg SOs + buildup and Aim dmg is near cap. With 4 it is capped. I could name a few other downsides most definitely but i would need more information on the powersets you wish to take.
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As a Defender I work with Thunderous Blast, but my views are colored by not having Build Up. Someday in the far future I'm hoping to work with Nova and Build Up (but alas, no Aim).
In any event, conserving Aim or Build Up by having more heavily slotted damage has it merits. . .whichever you don't use is available immediately thereafter. Looks to be 30s of recycle time versus 5s more use of whichever one you don't use with the 32 power.
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Overall failing to take Hasten is just not a very smart move.
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I'll just refer you to the official Hasten thread. Again, without the three criteria I gave earlier holding, you're not losing much. While you can build towards those criteria, you can also choose not to.
Under construction
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Now here is an complete idiot in his natural habitat
Erratic
Congrats Erratic, you win the complete Noob award for a complete stupid comment that basically says.. "change your tactics"
Good for you.. Hey next time tell them to go after mobs of 1 to 3 .. (even though you may run around and hour to find one)
Or better yet (giggle) tell them to team..
HA..
your an AOE Blaster.. instead of running up and using AOEs.. you should use.. .. uh....wait.. uh.. brawl?
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People will leap on me for what I write, but at least what I write has some bearing to the topic.
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No, people will leap on you for the {condescending, smarmy} (your choice) way in which you made your first two posts in this thread. you may think of your chosen posting method as "efficient", but if you didn't think of them as needlessly and purposfully annoying in the tone they conveyed, then I believe you are in the minority.
neye
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Being in the minority is a position I've been in all my life. . .go figure I don't crave majority blessings for who I am and how I handle myself.
Under construction
I didn't make an acct on the board just to post, rather I just wanted to toss my 2 influence in. As a fire/fire blaster, (yes I made the mistake of choosing same element as secondary, I am a firm believer of being a human torch does NOT include using freaking targeting drones!), I find it hard to do ANYTHING post i2, for example, my debt is usually not my own, rather it is the unfortunate side effect of idiots in a team deciding to do stupid stuff.
Example: Today I grouped with level 8s in hollows to help them out, (I was just picking off straggling groups to finish off my horrendous 5k debt at level 11, which is too freaking easy to accumulate now, imho), and a level 8 scrapper decides, 'hey since I can usually take on red con mobs with a healer I'll go hit this level 11 outcast here', what happend?
Well, without me even so much as thinking of firing a flare, they turn as one and proceed to basically turn me into power swissed cheese, I do not have flight because I needed hasten for power recharge time.
It's sad, as I believe, that a good group can help anyone, but people who fail to do their job ultimately spell doom for a blaster now a days, soloing without dev is pretty much insane, see Fire/Fire is pretty much ALL AoE, the few attacks we get that aren't are first choice powers.
So tell me, if I can't find a group thats willing to actually kill something relative so we can get exp, I'm forced to solo, another adventure, I decided to take on two level 9 damned in perez as it was safer than hollows, even with the max training enhancements I had at that level, I somehow managed to miss them more than they hit me, they hit for almost equal damage ( maybe 5.26 under my damage) and yet never seemed to miss that much, I killed one and the other dropped me, result, more debt!
Since issue 2 I've come to the decision to say screw it and retire my aoe blaster as I can't do anything anymore. it takes me far longer than the END I have to kill anything, I've already got rice paper defense, and since I do high damage, in a group I get aggroed most (even in hollows on a clear outcast base mission, WITH a tank 3 levels higher they STILL aggroed me out of a group of 5 people, including ANOTHER blaster.) basically it's pointless to me anymore, it's sad as I do enjoy the blaster class, it's just not pratical, fun wise, anymore. Well unless one considers constantly clearing debt and leveling at half the speed or less of other ATs fun that is.
I don't know, maybe it's just me, my job is to terminate them right? As efficiently as possible, so explain to me how almost doubling mob life points, giving them a hell of a lot of elemetal powers, and making it so someone can't kill a mob two levels lower than them (is it me or is fire/fire the absolute worst blaster 'class' now?) GOOD for a blaster, come on someone tell me this?
It's the same with other fire/fire players I talk to , post 20 we're literally lunchmeat for anything that moves, I can't even kill a level 1 gunner without TWO strikes, and I'm 10 levels higher than it WITH 5 slots of 10++, the damage just does not add up.
So blasters should be defensive, guess what, we have no defense to start with so we're already at a disadvantage, our only advantage is to hurt things, hurt it fast, hurt it good, and try to run away, doesn't work anymore.
Really doesn't work with a Galvord hurls a rock at you for 112 damage and you've already run outta sight/throw range.
Seems to me issue 2 did to blasters what ncsoft korea's chronicle 1 patch did to their archers, basically turned us into walking collectors of debt. 
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Just so that my stance is clear, I do think that blasters need some help, since mobs are now tougher. What I have issues with are the scrapper nerf calls. It's ridiculous to say we have better AOEs and overpowered defenses. Not all scrappers are Inv. It sure doesn't help the blaster cause when a few are outright lying and exagerrating or just clueless. And doesn't anyone have a blaster friend or scrapper? Why the heck are we at each other's throats?
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I've said things such as this for a while, especially when I only had a defender and no blaster toon. In that case, I was very clear that I didn't want blasters nerfed, I wanted other toons brought up in utility.
Anywho, after too many trips to the hospital last night, I'm unhappy again. I thought I'd figured it out when I was doing level 23 (post issue 2), but now that I hit 24, for some reason I seem to have fallen back to BIDS (blaster-instant-death-syndrom). time to "adjust tactics" again.
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Erratic thinks that having to scrap a build you worked on for hours over months is a fair and equitible solution. When every other AT get's fixes to round out their AT's.
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No. It's pretty obvious he thinks that if you want to stick with your character, there are respects in the game. Which is a fine option till the devs fix something that lacks parity.
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In fact all Defender blasts got an endurance reduction.
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Are you trying to say this isn't fair?
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Super Strenght tankers don't have to rebuild super strenght got buffed. All tanker attacks got endurance reductions, and more tanker damage is coming down the pipe. Many tanker primaries are getting lots of attention from the DEVs.....
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Even in the deepest of debt, nearly any blaster combo can out level a */SS tanker. Or really any tanker beside fire tankers.
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Super reflexes, Dark Armor, Katanna, Martial arts? all got buffs or have them in the works.
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I willing to bet that even after this last patch blasters will outlevel a MA scrapper.
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All of these changes came about because players told the devs that certain things were defective. They kept plugging away. They didn't drop their toons and start over.
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Sure they did. Plenty of people put aside their mains or alts, or outright deleted them. A few people brought attention to sub-standard sets over and over. And its not as if these sets have been buffed to uber standards, they brought them up to a decent level, in some cases not enough was done.
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If the devs are dead set on nerfing my damage I want the defensive tools to be viable.
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Again, what nerf to blaster damage?
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Pools are not defining powers. They are powers that help us round out game play.
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You should plug that into the tanker and scrapper boards, they'd be mighty happy to hear that.
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My defense remains my offense. That is what was intended.
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Indeed, but alpha-strike AOE dominance of anything else in the game was not intended. All the dev ruminations on the topic are about fixing this glaring error in design.