Just wanted to add, level 44 Blaster still soloing with ease. This is against every type of mob this game can throw at me, +1s, +2s, sometimes +3s and even +4 depending on the type of mob (rarely though). The only thing I cant solo are AVs and no one is supposed to solo those guys. All it takes is a little practice, learning which baddies to take out first, and developing tactics. Tactics will come to you with experience.
Plus I do not consider myself useless in teams either. I am taking out hordes of minions with ease. I can take down lieutenants in 2 to 3 shots, and with Total Focus I can stun bosses consistently for easy take down, or even solo them myself. A Blasters team role is to kill baddies, and to kill them quickly. Blasters already have the tools to do that successfully.
The only problems I see with Blasters is that the only viable secondary power set are Energy and Devices. The rest need to be overhauled to become more useful. And second I would think that Blaster could use something to give them a little mezz protection, other then power pools and inspirations. Because 99.9% of the time when my Blasters dies, it is because I was held/stunned/mezzed. And last a Blaster does not need to do more damage.
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What MageStorm said. What the hell is wrong with you. ITS TOTAL FOCUS. Uberest of all uber, and my favorite attack except Full Auto. If you cant use it right, then learn how and love it. Absurd damage and a Mag 4 stun. Whats not to love? Its the ultimate Damage and CC power for bosses.
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Whats not to love is that it a s melee attack, that outshines our primary attacks. If States is correct, which I think he is, our jod is Range Damage. It has nothing to do with weather I 'Know how to use it" because I do. It has to do with the fact it doesn't belong as a blaster secondary (as I stated this my opinion and I also acknowledged I'd catch flack for it). I play a ranged damage character, that is why I went with Blaster, it is also why I refuse to take 4 out of 5 of the powers in my secondary set (this includes Total Focus and Bone Smasher). As I stated you should be able to (with the aid of PP's) to build a Blapper, I as a Blaster I shouldn't be penalized in my secondary by missing out on more than half of the powers so people can build an Aberant Blapper. If the AT was blapper then I'd expect to have to go out of the powersets to make a Blaster, it isn't though. I agree 2-3 Melee at the max, but more than this is punishing those who are playing the character the friggin AT is supposed to be.
Be a hero!!
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Whatever dude. Just because you dont think it should be there doesnt mean it shouldn't. Its the crown jewel of the Energy Secondary.
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According to Statesman assertation that we are Range Damages it isn't just MY opinion that it doesn't belong. And NO it isn't the crown jewel of EM. Conserve Power is, or at least was befor giving it to all the other AT's as APP.
Be a hero!!
Well, if you run past the boss and jump while using it, it does become a renged attack 
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Can I kill a boss faster than a scrapper? No. However, when there's four bosses in a group (which I see all the damn time in our big groups) I can cycle between them at speeds scrappers can only envy. I MIGHT rival a scrapper in boss killspeed.
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I've teamed with another ice/ice blaster and I have to say that his killing speed was definitely rivalling mine. It's arguable as to who was taking them out faster.
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
I have never played a blaster past 10 but I have played with more than a couple and here is my thoughts on these changes (forgive me if this has already been addressed)
From Concern
This is what I would like to see happen to blasters.
1. Impliment PvP damage resist bypass in PvE.
Im not sure how good of an idea this is, but Id be willing to see how it plays out, it will most likely happen in CoV anyway.
2. Increase the range of all primary powers to be greater than the Diameter of Foot Stomp. Greater.
Again this seems reasonable if range is supposed to be your defense, but Im not sure what the range of foot stomp is.
3. Take all PbAoE status effects and toggles in Blaster Secondaries and make them summonable drops or target toggles. Other than cloaking device of course.
Seems reasonable as well, but would probably entail a shorter duration to balance.
4. Make all current melee attacks have a range of 20 feet, either by changing the animations or just letting them have the range. Increase the damage on Melee AoE attack powers again.
The thought of someone being able to use Bone Smasher or Total Focus on me from 20ft away is pretty disturbing, but if you want more range on these then the damage or duration or effect would have to go down a bit.
5. (stolen idea) Give each single target attack a -10% res that lasts 5 seconds. This not only helps boost the blasters damage a minute amount but also allows the blaster to help a team. Thus encouraging teaming.
I like this idea because it does help the blaster and the team without giving any undue defense to the blaster. As long as you couldnt enhance the res I imagine it wouldnt be too over-powered
My only caveat being that an attack that lowers res shouldnt also be able to bypass it, so an either or would probably be ok.
6. Swap the damage caps of blasters and scrappers.
This is where I have to disagree with you and here is why. IMO it seems Scrapper damage types are far more resisted than most Blaster damage types.
All scrappers deal smash or lethal with a smidge of negative or toxic here and there, and pretty much everything and its mamma has resists to smash/lethal some DE and carnies aside. Also if we are supposed to be the boss killers (not my idea talk to States about it) then we need to be able to do that, and the extra cap helps this, and really this only comes into play when someone is using Fulcrum shift as far as I know.
7. Remove the rooting effect from blaster attacks.
Definitely, this already works for Khelds as long as you are in movement when you fire you are not rooted but if you are stationary you are rooted.
8. Faster activation times on powers for blasters.
Arent your attacks already faster than anyone elses? Not really sure on this but I could be wrong.
9. Making level 32 nukes into more useable AoE powers like Head Splitter or Full-Auto and less situational all end consuming powers.
Ive seen tons of Novas, ect and really them being PBAOE isnt that much of a pain in a group, and I know my friends use them solo too, there simply has to be some risk for the ridiculous amount of damage those powers do, I may be able to get behind a short range targetable version of this but it would have to be pretty short.
Just my 2inf which may or may not mean anything to you.
Well, I'd say that some blasters have problems, certainly.
Do I die while soloing? Sure. When I'm not familiar with what particular mobs resist, whether I can two-shot them or not (depending, to a higher degree than for just about any other toon I've ever had, on how fresh my SOs are)... etc.
BUT... I stay in debt a HECK of a lot shorter time than my kinetic defender ever did prior to 35 (when Update 2 came out for respec). And my kat/regen scrapper, who I leveled to 20 before Update 1... you want to talk about debt? Yech.
As to not being able to solo on Invincible...
... well, I don't for Devouring Earth, particularly not Devouring Earth kill-alls -- too many mobs resist my damage types. Those get Rugged. Rikti, I also tend to do on Rugged - too many stuns everywhere. But my goal for this toon was to do all the story arcs, many of which that I missed on other toons, from teaming, or hazard-zone hunting, or whatever else.
But most mobs I do on Unyielding. (Except for the final missions of arcs, which I do on Invincible no matter what, for the xp bonus).
I'll admit that I'll be needing help with some of the late-30s arcs (Nosferatu, Terra, Envoy of Shadows)... but ... I'm not a masochist, I'll probably just recruit a friendly level 50 from my SG (we have probably 30 by now in our 'alt' SG) to help with those...
But some bosses are no trouble at all, for my Trip Mines appear to be fully functional (unlike what some others have reported).
It's a time investment, but I'd rather invest the time to blow up a boss than get debt...
... so I'll lay 9 mines in a grid, lay caltrops, and then Trip Mine / knockback the boss (if they're stationary...) into them... so far, I'm at 100% dead bosses when I use this technique.
That's easy if the boss is standing there, not easy but somewhat doable if they are moving around... not doable at all if they are immune to knockback/down, of course. But that's what luring them into the minefield is for...
Beanbag and Taser (while I have died to Tasering once or twice) are useful, too. I'm hoping to double-stack Cryo Freeze Ray later on, so that I don't have to try to joust-stun bosses.
I am also not useless on teams.
Someone said something about being useless if there's a meleer... I have not found that to be the case.
We did a successful Freak respec last night, fighting up to level 42 foes (I'm 36, our highest teammate was 39, and I believe the tank was sk'd to 38, the grav/rad troller was sk'd to 38, and by the time we hit the reactor building, I sk'd to 38 as well).
Against +6s, yeah, my Full Auto did ticks of 3. Whoop-de-doo. Against +4s, it was up to 11/tick. The entire team fought, and the entire team took down mobs.
I was KO'd *once*. At the last wave, I think because a tank managed to agro on me and whack me.
I can hardly fault our Tanker, who did a great job otherwise, since that was the last wave of four groups of freaks.
HOWEVER... while I was defeated only once... one of the blasters faceplanted 5-8 times all told, ending up with about 75K debt for the exercise.
Now, I run Superspeed + Cloaking Device at all times (except, of course, when stunned or OOE). So possibly, other targets are easier, the blaster wasn't quite as careful about keeping Stealth on...
... which may be a problem right there.
At 35+, sight agro kills squishies, between ranged attacks, ranged AOE, ranged mez, etc etc. All of my defenders, blasters, and controllers get a stealth power sooner or later.
If anything, I think the main problem blasters face is that the agro they generate is more-or-less in line with their OFFENSE, but not at all in line with their DEFENSE.
Although, some things piss mobs off more than others: for most early controllers, using their early-game ranged AOE immobilize (if there's no tanker even at that level) can often mean a quick defeat, and AOE immobilize seems to get as much agro as some ranged AOE damage powers.
So... 500% cap? Sure. I can't meet it except by popping red insps or teaming, so rock.
Maybe put scrappers back to 400%? Don't care as my scrappers, so whatever.
But it's the amount of agro that blaster take that is out of proportion to their ability to survive that agro that really seems like a major problem to me.
Also, mez. 'Nuff said.
Currently: 50s (5), 40s (3), 30s (5)
Red and blue side, mostly Infinity, Virtue, and Freedom.
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*Yawn* More argument by assertion.
You claim a lot of things are overpowered but never define what overpowered is or how the things detailed meet the qualification.
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Basically Overpowered takes the fun away from the game.
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Hint: Fun is subjective.
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Well, over powered can be defined in terms outside of examples. Literally it means too powerful. But what does that mean. Terms like "powerful" are like "yellow" they are only defined by example. And of course saying anything is "too" yellow, etc. is just a matter of opinion. However, to say something is "more" yellow or powerful, isn't.
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That was - and is - the reason why Blaster damage is capped lower than Scrappers. I did forget to add that the ranged attacks of mobs deal less damage (typically) than melee attacks - and the Blaster is generally the target of raned attacks.
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Dear Statesman: We are not worried about ranged damage. We are good about keeping enemies at range. We are worried about RANGED MEZZING, which negates EVERYTHING and which we have no defense against except break frees. And no, that's not enough, don't start.
We're talking about the 35+ game. Before then, you're fighting thugs with guns with the occasional eidolon or CoT mage. Range is a defense. Damage is a defense. Tiny machine gun bullets, pistol shots, and the occasional shotgun blast do nothing damage... at least, nothing that a few respites can't cure.
Post 35, you're facing armies of Devouring earth, each of which throws AoE mez bombs that instantly, totally render us helpless without fail. You're facing armies of earth thorn casters who immobilize and slow at range, constantly, without fail. You're facing Rikti mentalists, who chain mez you at great range, instantly rendering you utterly helpless, until minions get into range and kill you with one sword swipe. You're facing carnies who decimate even tankers at range, to say nothing of blasters. You are facing Nemesis, who notice you and fire at you from a greater distance than anything you can throw. You're facing Malta sappers who have the most debilitating, feared attack in the game, AND IT IS RANGED.
Please just stop it with the ranged defense argument. All it does is show that you don't play this game at its high levels with blasters. Range is nice, and kind of useful 35+ sometimes. That's it. 35+ it doesn't matter if enemies are next to you or far away, they're going to mez you and kill you.
We don't have to worry about mezzes if we literally carry nothing but breakfrees, but guess what? Bye bye lucks, accuracy, respites, or anything else that we normally depend on. We'd have to carry a full tray of breakfrees just not to be chainstunned and helpless, no matter what we do. A full tray just to not be annoyed and cheaped to death.
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Well, if you run past the boss and jump while using it, it does become a renged attack
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Well, you shouldn't have to cheat and finagle the physics engine of the game to do something like that.
speak for yourself.
I am very much worried about ranged damage if Statesman thinks that I'm safer at range than a scrapper is in melee.
My point was that ranged damage is USUALLY nothing. However, 35+ ranged damage also comes with a nice mez package attached, and that's what really messes us up. Ranged damage is bad enough, but we could get by if we were able to use respites and lucks and what have you. But we're not, because trays are full of break frees.
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The thought of someone being able to use Bone Smasher or Total Focus on me from 20ft away is pretty disturbing, but if you want more range on these then the damage or duration or effect would have to go down a bit.
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You do realize that the current range on melee attacks is 10' right? That is basically just doubling the range. No lessening of the power needed. Why, Because we are supposed to be about range and putting it up to 20' is just a bone thrown in that direction.
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Again this seems reasonable if range is supposed to be your defense, but Im not sure what the range of foot stomp is.
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Greater than the Diameter of Footstomp. The range of Footstomp is PbAoE. The reason behind this is if I want to hit a guy behind the tank and it gets knocked back by Foot Stomp I want to be able to shoot him from range without having to possibly go through melee opponents to get that guy. I have no doubt that AoEs from Malta grenades will be going off around the tank and I don't want to be near him. That is why I asked for that range specifically.
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This is where I have to disagree with you and here is why. IMO it seems Scrapper damage types are far more resisted than most Blaster damage types.
All scrappers deal smash or lethal with a smidge of negative or toxic here and there, and pretty much everything and its mamma has resists to smash/lethal some DE and carnies aside. Also if we are supposed to be the boss killers (not my idea talk to States about it) then we need to be able to do that, and the extra cap helps this, and really this only comes into play when someone is using Fulcrum shift as far as I know.
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I got news for you. The cap is not helping you, unless you play with Sould Drain or you have a kinetics defender on tap. Why exactly do you think you need the potential to do more damage than blasters? Your boss killing role is made evident by your criticals. The reason you have your cap is because Statesman said that you had more risk. Please, come back and tell me that you have more risk than a blaster in melee or ranged. You do lethal damage? So does AR. You do smashing damage? So does energy. You are not alone in having damage types that are resisted.
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Arent your attacks already faster than anyone elses? Not really sure on this but I could be wrong.
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Yes, you are indeed wrong. Take a look at AR animation times or for that matter Fire and Energy animations. The only set that has fast animations is Ice. Even then you have wonderfull rain animations that root you. Not to mention the snipe animations that root.
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Ive seen tons of Novas, ect and really them being PBAOE isnt that much of a pain in a group, and I know my friends use them solo too, there simply has to be some risk for the ridiculous amount of damage those powers do, I may be able to get behind a short range targetable version of this but it would have to be pretty short.
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The real issue with nukes is that they are not usefull in every combat. I mean every combat. Blasters have enough problems and the last thing they need is a situational damage power that is good for clearing minions. Jeez like our AoE we have in our primary is not already good for that. Why in the world would we need these solo unless we wanted to go nuke a hazard zone mob of minions. Only when we were doing that every one got pissed. So why not simply make them a usefull high damage attack that is a small AoE but does at least Head splitter damage with the same endurance cost and recharge so that we can do some real damage to bosses with our attack chain. Having a fast animation would be a requirement of course. We are not friggin Sayans running around with Kamaya maya blasts.
Not to mention that having another boss killer attack would be really usefull in PvP.
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I have never played a blaster past 10 but I have played with more than a couple and here is my thoughts on these changes (forgive me if this has already been addressed)
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This fact is glaringly obvious. I wish I could say go make a level 40 blaster and take it for a spin but you can't do that. It is obvious that playing on the scrapper side you really don't know what it takes to play a blaster. Having seen friends use nukes is not the same as useing them and dealing with them.
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My point was that ranged damage is USUALLY nothing. However, 35+ ranged damage also comes with a nice mez package attached, and that's what really messes us up. Ranged damage is bad enough, but we could get by if we were able to use respites and lucks and what have you. But we're not, because trays are full of break frees.
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they're full of breakfrees because the damned things last 30 seconds. something you said you didn't mind. In fact I said you wouldn't have room for other inspirations because of them and you pshawed me. said you had gifts left over from christmas.
Which is it man?
leave Tankers ALONE!!!
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leave Tankers ALONE!!!
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What does that have to do with anything?
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If I could just use clear mind on myself, that would be my only request***Some help with mez would be grand
[/ QUOTE ] Kikyo, something you should think about regarding mez prot:
1) The reason why you have CM is specificially because other players don't have the equivelant. Kinetics and Storm have similar anti-status powers, but they still need you to protect them. Why shouldn't the reverse be true?
2) If we give some defender sets mez protection, how long before all the sets demand status protection?
3) The whole point of not having status protection is to present interdependencies on teams. My defenders get mezed ...but if I have good scrappers and tankers, I still won't die. They see I'm down, they protect me. Same goes for blasters and other defenders. The more weaknesses we have, the better the team has to be in terms of playing like a "team." So many people ignore that and simply want to destroy an dependency they have on other AT's.
If you want complete self-sufficiency, play a scrapper. Don't like that scrappers are the only one who should be self sufficient? Well, what happens to the game if everyoen is as self-sufficient as scrappers?
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oh, no fellow defender friend. I don't expect or need a change to my lovely defender. help with status is my "wish" not a demand in any way.
As far as self-sufficient? even with help on the mez, my damage output is well.... less than solo fun. I'm a team player who eats disp until my belly is sick.
It would nice if the power pool mez protection was a tiny bit better or something like that.
But please, no big changes to defender. I don't think it is needed. we are neither uber nor gimp
-k
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That was - and is - the reason why Blaster damage is capped lower than Scrappers. I did forget to add that the ranged attacks of mobs deal less damage (typically) than melee attacks - and the Blaster is generally the target of raned attacks.
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Dear Statesman: We are not worried about ranged damage. We are good about keeping enemies at range. We are worried about RANGED MEZZING, which negates EVERYTHING and which we have no defense against except break frees. And no, that's not enough, don't start.
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This is a big issue: There's too much mezzing in the game. It's what the villains get as trump cards (except where mezzing fails and then the mez-heavy faction also gets endurance drains).
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
Okay, I'm sure this post is like 20 pages too late but I got bored after reading the first 10 or so.
I'm not quite sure what game some of you are playing, but I'll never out damage any other blaster or scrapper or tanker. I play a concept character, I like the juxtaposition of ice and fire. Unfortunately, I chose my power sets backwards. As an ice primary I love my holds. I live and die by them. I have two "AoEs" in my primary. Frost Breath and Blizzard. I have no snipe and I don't have an awesome nuke. In fact, I often make do with a ad-hoc nuke of frost breath followed by fire sword circle. Blizzard being unaffected by aim and buildup makes it more of an "Oh Phunk" power than a "Let's get it started!" power. My secondary is extremely lacking in anything interesting and worthwhile. Ring of Fire only gets used if I'm exemped to below 20. Fire Sword Circle is a finisher. If I don't finish them with that, I am on the floor because of the time I sit there like a "deer in headlights." And build up is a must have if it's in your secondary. Burn and consume are nice...on my fire tanker. But I can't up damage on burn. Consume is just a power I don't find worth the risk. Sure I get endurance back, but I have to be in the middle of a few mobs. Which is a place I'd rather not be as a character with no defense. A lot of people are saying "blasters do more damage because of AoEs". Well ice blasters certainly don't. Others are saying "oh you can aim, buildup, snipe and you've got one guy down". Well ice blasters can't. (And I'm only pointing out ice blasters because that's what I play and the ice primary set is certainly a different flavor of blaster). From my experience, most blasters aren't AoE blasters, and those that are, are often scared to use those AoEs in teams.
When I created this character I had a great concept. He'd lead the charge, stand tall, fire a bunch of shots off, and hope that he had nailed all his enemies to the floor. Now in reality, I cower behind a corner with invisbility, walk in very slowly, switch to stealth, shoot a mob, run back around the corner and freeze that single minion out of sight. Feels more like a villan than a hero to me. But I'm dedicated enough to work this blaster through the last ten or so levels. Then I'll put him away and move onto another concept character, but one that feels a bit more heroic (not that that's hard to do).
As for what this all has to do with this thread. I could careless about more damage (though it'd be nice), I wouldn't mind mez protection (even if it's insanely limited), or even a bit of defense (even if I see the floor in three shots instead of two). But any changes to the blaster AT should make me feel more heroic. I know there some characters that are the "silently, deadly ninja assassin" but I don't remember too many comic book blasters that ran for their lives every time there was more than one villan.
Adversity
@Chilling Temper - L50 B
Candela - L50 PB
Caustic - L50 C
Crystallizing - L50 T
Crippling - L43 D
Animosity
Caex - L50 B
Psilencer - L37 F
Cooldown - L35 C
Q.Q - L19 S
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they're full of breakfrees because the damned things last 30 seconds. something you said you didn't mind. In fact I said you wouldn't have room for other inspirations because of them and you pshawed me. said you had gifts left over from christmas.
Which is it man?
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My point was that just giving us back disciplines is thinking too small. We don't need to fill our trays with even one row of insps just to survive, we need mez protection in our powersets, because we are a damage AT that generates hate, and the level 35+ game is nothing but mezzing attacks.
I'm not disagreeing the proposed change to mezzing insps is bad, i'm disagreeing that it's a big deal. It's not. What IS a big deal is that we absolutely need them to survive.
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When I created this character I had a great concept. He'd lead the charge, stand tall, fire a bunch of shots off, and hope that he had nailed all his enemies to the floor. Now in reality, I cower behind a corner with invisbility, walk in very slowly, switch to stealth, shoot a mob, run back around the corner and freeze that single minion out of sight. Feels more like a villan than a hero to me. But I'm dedicated enough to work this blaster through the last ten or so levels. Then I'll put him away and move onto another concept character, but one that feels a bit more heroic (not that that's hard to do).
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Excellent point: You guys might be able to survive using tactics, taking stealth and superspeed. Blasters survive by being cheap ninjas in the night. That's admirable and a neat way to play if you're Solid Snake or Tenchu: Stealth assasin.
Unfortunatley, this is a superhero game, and you'd be hard pressed to name a blaster superhero who acts like that. Know why? Because once he starts acting like that, he ceases to be a superhero and starts being an assasin.
If you want to play like that, pick devices and be done with it. However, other blaster types should be able to play like an actual superhero, blazing down from the sky and destroying all. The Human Torch is a non-stealthed, non-superspeeding blaster, and he's not gimp. Cyclops, while he usually fights in a team, doesn't use stealth or invisibility either.
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However, other blaster types should be able to play like an actual superhero, blazing down from the sky and destroying all. The Human Torch is a non-stealthed, non-superspeeding blaster, and he's not gimp. Cyclops, while he usually fights in a team, doesn't use stealth or invisibility either.
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This I completely agree with. We are playing a game of Heroes. When I made my 3B guide it was insult to the Devs in disguise. It was to point out that the way that they made blasters created people that if they wanted to be successfull they would use tactics that were bastardly. It was just a tongue in cheek guide on how all blasters could do really well if they just stopped playing like heroes and began to play dirty.
It actually did help people which was a bonus in a way but unfortunately the devs never saw it or ignored the point that it made. Blasters aren't heroes. Sometimes blasters can do amazing things, so can your average pedestrian in paragon. Every other AT does amazing things all the time, so why are blasters the only class to left out of the Hero biz.
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If you want to play like that, pick devices and be done with it. However, other blaster types should be able to play like an actual superhero, blazing down from the sky and destroying all. The Human Torch is a non-stealthed, non-superspeeding blaster, and he's not gimp. Cyclops, while he usually fights in a team, doesn't use stealth or invisibility either.
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It does need to be pointed out that the Human Torch's fiery aura melts incoming bullets, and people tend not to punch him because OH MY GOD IT BURNS.
But these are hard to emulate for blasters currently. 
I think "zero defense" was not the best decision.
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
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I wonder what level your blaster is at the time of the writing and what power pool sets he has. A base blaster without taking power pool sets that make him a "Blapper" would be hard pressed to take a "group" of red cons to him or her at 30+... I play a 50th level blaster and i can tell you through experience that there is no contest when it comes to other archtypes.
The blaster, as stated in earlier posts, is fine pre 20th level. This is due to the fact that the dmg of mobs prior to that level is relatively low, the defenses of mobs is relatively low, and the chance of comming across a slepp ect type mob is extremely low. Also the range of these mobs at this level is comparable to the blaster range.. and yes a blaster can out dmg a ranged opponant at these levels because of this. Post 30th the game changes and the blaster must come real close to the high range mobs even with snipes to do much against them. As for the Nuke type powers.. if you dont take every one of the enemies down, you are screwed mainly because you have done a short stun to yourself and have no end left to run any toggles.. even if you have a toggle defense such as the force field ancillary.
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my fire/fire blaster turned lvl50 last august.
lvl29-38 is where i shined the most. my current live build for defense: 6 slotted stealth, tough, weave, fireshield.
lvl29-38, i was in bricks, street grinding. spent a lot of time soloing. my tactics: ss+stealth makes you fully invisible. find the right angle, distance, bu+aim, breath+ball = dead orange mins. add fireswordcircle = dead red mins. finish lts with blaze. bosses have strong melee attacks that can 1shot kill you. so i never stay in melee range, always SSed around them.
post 40s, life is definitely a bit tougher. but i still hunted +2s in PI. this was back before the mob nerf on PI docks. where i could nuke a pack of 10 +3Lts at once.
the bottom line is, it's all about tactics. being a fire/eng blaster, one of the best pve blaster build, your comments shock me a bit.
as far as enemies range is further than mine.. i don't see how that matters with my tactics.