Blaster Update
HOLY COW! HALLELUYAH! WE'VE BEEN HEARD!
ZOMG STATES MAN1!1!1!
Bestill my heart. Gasping swoons I feel all flushed.
First dev post in this forum.
/em happy dance
The Legion of Freedom
YES!
Hello States.
Thanks for the hard work in getting all the ATs up to speed. It's reassuring to know that everyones concerns do not go unheard.
w00t!!
well, maybe I can look forward to a day where all but 2 powers in my secondary dont force me to close into melee.
If I say one thing, let me say this:
Replace Freezing Aura.
And thanks. We love the updates!
Woot! My small, faint hope has just turned into a gigantic swirling vortex of eager anticipation!
VIRTUE
Agahnim- Elec/Ice Blaster
"Elec/Ice. Nice. Holy <@*&$@#!> =) You're like the CoH equivalent of those bdsm people who hang from the ceiling on hooks!"
-Plasmar
Agahnim Dragmire- Warshade
"(You spin space webs. =D)"
-Paladin
Its like the holy grail of blasters and its right there in front of me. A dev post admitting there is a problem and saying they will fix it!
Runs around squirting like a happy puppy!!!
About time! Thank you States! YOU ROCK!
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I promise I'll look at Blasters afterwards and take a much closer look at the issues. The major one that strikes me is that the secondaries are not all created equal. A couple complement the primary set SO much better than the rest. That's an issue not just for levels 40 - 50, but for ALL levels. The second major complaint is that damage doesn't scale well enough for Blasters in the late game. I'll look into that, too. And I'll make sure to read these boards to find others.
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Its great to hear this is being looked at.
I would just like to make a point on the issue of late game damage. This is something breaks down clearly along AoE vs single target lines. I dont think many people will argue that the AoE sets (Fire and AR) do enough damage in the late game. This is, however an issue for the other three sets to varying degrees.
The problem is that ice, eng and elec sets rely primarily on their single target attacks for damage. In a game so heavily dominated by AoE damage this is something of an issue for a high damage low defense AT in and of itself, but there is a further problem.
Where the issue of scaling comes in is that while blasters tend get a number of specialized attacks they dont have enough general purpose ranged attacks and most of those come early. So, in the late game when scrappers and tankers get additional high quality attacks and the slots to make them useful blasters dont get anything to keep up.
The result is that even though these blasters are primarily single target damage dealers, they are not particularly strong in this respect and are generally in the late out damaged by scrappers and sometimes tankers who have been built as damage dealers game as a result despite facing much higher risks.
*falls off chair*
Thanks for the post. I think you certainly have my two main issues/grumbles/call them what you will banged right on the head there. The secondaries are awful and single target damage just isn't that good compared to what a scrapper can offer for so much less risk. I absolutely love my blasters to bits (I have several) but I do find that I'm watching what my boyfriends SR scrapper can do at level 40 (and he doesn't even perma-elude) and gritting my teeth at times. I don't mind being fragile if I have something else to compensate for it and late game this is lacking in certain types of blasters.
Personally I've been under the impression that there was no real acknowledgement from the devs that blasters really had any serious problems that needed sorting out, and have avoided making any real effort to post suggestions other than "ways to work round it" because of this. It is good to be proved wrong at times.
Welcome, Mr. Emmert. It's been a long time. Thank you for taking a look at our concerns- maybe now we can finally be the AT we want to be.
"A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates
MA Arcs: #12285, "Small Fears", #106553, "Trollbane", #12669, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising"
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I promise I'll look at Blasters afterwards and take a much closer look at the issues. The major one that strikes me is that the secondaries are not all created equal. A couple complement the primary set SO much better than the rest. That's an issue not just for levels 40 - 50, but for ALL levels. The second major complaint is that damage doesn't scale well enough for Blasters in the late game. I'll look into that, too. And I'll make sure to read these boards to find others.
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Its great to hear this is being looked at.
I would just like to make a point on the issue of late game damage. This is something breaks down clearly along AoE vs single target lines. I dont think many people will argue that the AoE sets (Fire and AR) do enough damage in the late game. This is, however an issue for the other three sets to varying degrees.
The problem is that ice, eng and elec sets rely primarily on their single target attacks for damage. In a game so heavily dominated by AoE damage this is something of an issue for a high damage low defense AT in and of itself, but there is a further problem.
Where the issue of scaling comes in is that while blasters tend get a number of specialized attacks they dont have enough general purpose ranged attacks and most of those come early. So, in the late game when scrappers and tankers get additional high quality attacks and the slots to make them useful blasters dont get anything to keep up.
The result is that even though these blasters are primarily single target damage dealers, they are not particularly strong in this respect and are generally in the late out damaged by scrappers and sometimes tankers who have been built as damage dealers game as a result despite facing much higher risks.
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Don't forget to add in issues with drawing aggro for AoE sets. In large groups, many AoE blasters are rendered into single target blasters because of fear of drawing devastating return fire. The damage we do I can live with, the aggro we draw. Yeesh.
What the... I don't see any pigs flying and hell is still burning hot! What's going on around here!
No, I kidd. First dev post that I can remember that was not about nerfing blasters. Fantastic.
-AZ
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Its like the holy grail of blasters and its right there in front of me. A dev post admitting there is a problem and saying they will fix it!
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"Look into it" and "fix it" are two different things. Not holding my breath, but I am glad to finally see a red name in here. It's a very positive start.
Seems to me I've also read a bit about villain range scales with level, and blaster range doesn't, thus removing one of the few defensive advantages available to the AT. Should a minion really be able to return fire at a sniping blaster without closing in a bit?
Don't play my blaster much, so I'm going off of board commentary, but late game range seems to be mentioned pretty consistently.
Plus.. I want to see blasters get some love.
I can't belive it. It's like he read my mind! Actually...
You posted one minute before my complaints... You did read my mind! And I thank you!
This really means alot, I can't say that I am "squriting" like some people, I'm but happy none the less.
Just one thing worries me...
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The major one that strikes me is that the secondaries are not all created equal. A couple complement the primary set SO much better than the rest. That's an issue not just for levels 40 - 50, but for ALL levels.
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Saying a few are better than the rest means that the rest are getting buffed, not that the good ones are taking one for the AT, right?
Don't let us down States, you've got a great game here.
Oh and thanks again.
As this forum in particular evinces, some Blasters have come to think that they're no longer necessary in the 40+ game.
I've received a few PM's requesting that I give some sort of Update on the Blasters - are the devs going to do anything about it?
As my thread in the Dev Corner already announced, I want to take a look at Controllers. We've made some nice changes already in I4, but I want to make sure they're sufficient.
I promise I'll look at Blasters afterwards and take a much closer look at the issues. The major one that strikes me is that the secondaries are not all created equal. A couple complement the primary set SO much better than the rest. That's an issue not just for levels 40 - 50, but for ALL levels. The second major complaint is that damage doesn't scale well enough for Blasters in the late game. I'll look into that, too. And I'll make sure to read these boards to find others.