Sorry States, but isn't that going about the situation bass ackwards? Why attempt to balance down Tanks and Scrappers. Why not start with Blasters and bring them up to par?
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I would not mind it, but I know some people love the melee attacks.
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(Looks around while clutching a basket of melee goodness) YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM! DON'T TAKE AWAY MY MELEE!
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Would anyone be up to giving up melee powers for status protection. Maybe nothing as huge as the Melee protection, but something to prevent the occasional mez attack.
I would not mind it, but I know some people love the melee attacks.
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I would highly doubt we'll be seing mez protection again . It may have been purged, but in "Blasters and Burn" Statesman tried to explain that we were never menat to have mez protection.
Furio--Lvl 50+3 Fire/Fire/Fire Blaster, Virtue
Megadeth--Lvl 50+3 Necro/DM/Soul MM, Virtue
Veriandros--Lvl 50+3 Crab Soldier, Virtue
"So come and get me! I'll be waiting for ye, with a whiff of the old brimstone. I'm a grim bloody fable, with an unhappy bloody end!" Demoman, TF2
I didn't know that scrappers were supposed to be the damage kings.. 
How about losing Power Thrust, Stun, and Boost Range from the /Energy powerset and adding things that help more than a few power sets....maybe put some form defenses there. I like Energy Punch/Bonesmasher/Total Focus, but the three I mentioned are situational at best.(yeay yeah, some people use them, but most that I have seen have no use for them besides punching people 200 feet for fun at lvl 50)
theres a few disposable powers in /fire /elec and /ice that could easily be replaced with status protection (hot feet, thunder clap, whatever that PBAOE toggle slow is in ice.) It is harder to find disposable powers in /energy and /devices.
personally I think the blappers would be upset with losing their melee attacks. not everyone plays ranged blasters. Elec/Elcec especially.
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Thought I'd post a further explanation about the Blaster damage explanation in "Ask Statesman."
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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At least initially. I'm sure you know just like the rest of us that mobs will quickly close in to melee range and that on in-door maps this happens extremely quickly. If my blaster has to round a corner to target a mob and they are 10 ft away (being stealthed w/ Super speed of course) I have no delusions that my range "advantage" will last any longer than the power's activation time.
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Thought I'd post a further explanation about the Blaster damage explanation in "Ask Statesman."
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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At least initially. I'm sure you know just like the rest of us that mobs will quickly close in to melee range and that on in-door maps this happens extremely quickly. If my blaster has to round a corner to target a mob and they are 10 ft away (being stealthed w/ Super speed of course) I have no delusions that my range "advantage" will last any longer than the power's activation time.
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Good point!
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At the moment, Scrappers, and to a lesser degree, Tankers, are being analyzed. Once we establish a baseline, then we'll be in a better position to look at Blasters.
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I guess it is too much to hope for, but I wish you could just look at all ATs instead of trying to establish a baseline with one or two. The problem is that the baseline seems to keep changing depending on what AT has been the target for analysis most recently. Scrapper defense was changed after you developed the Tanker baseline, but now Scrapper defense seems to be the new baseline that you will end up modelling Tankers after.
Right now the Scrapper v. Blaster choice comes down to whether you want higher damage and superb defenses or ranged attacks. Given how Scrapper achieve the same first strike capability that Blasters have using superspeed and/or stealth, this is just no contest.
And I think PvP has shown us that all the squishies need a little defense/hit point/status defense help.
Scorus
It's been said before, but in the later game Tanks and Scrapper have fully slotted their defense and resistances and can then slot their attacks. Due to many defensive/resist powers being toggles, they can use more powers simultanously.
Blasters get more attacks (including those melee ones) that we and use in lieu of each other (our secondaries give more options on clickable buffs, but these are short-term and not all secondaries have these in number/usefulness). So in effect, blasters are more limited in choice and in the number of powers used at a time. Yes we're damage oriented, but we can't fire off two attacks at a time. Scraps and Tanks can have multiple toggle defense and resist powers while attacking. So the defense and resist abilities of Scraps and Tanks work synergistically, whereas the dmg dealing abilities of blasters are more isolated (yes you can use Build Up with Aim and even boost range with tough and weave, but 10 seconds later (effectively less when you factor the animation times of the second and third buffs) you're back to normal).
So while scraps and tanks can get close enough to a blaster's damage where it's debatable (brawl index (for base dmg), dmg cap, criticals, downtime, herding/AoEs), blasters do not come into resist/defense anywhere near debateable to scraps/tanks.
In part this is due to lower HP, in part to no inherent defense/resist powers, in part to ranged damage being less than melee, in part to blasters getting less benefit from the fighting pool (which is magnified by enhancement having less of an impact), in part from blasters having lower resist caps, and in part to the overall context of how all these relate.
Also, while scraps and tanks are exposed to higher dmg melee attacks, if they get hit with ranged it's less dmg to higher defense/resist/HP (i.e. "win/win"). However if a melee enemy manages to hit a blaster, it's higher dmg to lower defense/resist/HP (i.e. "lose/lose").
Some might argue that this can be mitigated by using say fly/hover. Two issues: 1. If you get mezzed, you drop into melee range, and 2. I understood that it was never intended to steer particular builds (even Hasten and Stamina) for playability.
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theres a few disposable powers in /fire /elec and /ice that could easily be replaced with status protection (hot feet, thunder clap, whatever that PBAOE toggle slow is in ice.) It is harder to find disposable powers in /energy and /devices.
personally I think the blappers would be upset with losing their melee attacks. not everyone plays ranged blasters. Elec/Elcec especially.
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They would be. But you missed my point. /fire had mez protection in burn before issue 3 came out. States took it away, saying that it was not supposed to be there (which i personally think meant the power itself 
) because blasters were not supposed to have significant mez protection.
Furio--Lvl 50+3 Fire/Fire/Fire Blaster, Virtue
Megadeth--Lvl 50+3 Necro/DM/Soul MM, Virtue
Veriandros--Lvl 50+3 Crab Soldier, Virtue
"So come and get me! I'll be waiting for ye, with a whiff of the old brimstone. I'm a grim bloody fable, with an unhappy bloody end!" Demoman, TF2
(thought I'd add this to the conversation)
To quote the manual "Scrappers...often find themselves a bit overshadowed by the more specialized Blaster and Tankers" (Page 8). I assume this is the concept for the AT (and I'd guess, is desired to still be relevant) but I fail to remember the last time a Scrapper was overshadowed by either AT let alone Blasters.
I also take this to mean that Blasters should be able to consistantly deal more damage (for instance, equal or higher damage cap) just as a Tanker has a higher cap than a Scrapper and should be able to tank better as well.
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Statesman said in the balance thread that a fight against +3 level (red) minions should be a fun fight in the later game. That is, that you can progressively fight tougher (level-wise, compared to you) enemies.
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Well, he says that they are looking for a baseline so I am curious to see what the new one is going to be.
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Me too. While my instinct is to be pessimistic, the "nerfs" that go live tend to not really affect gameplay a great deal (in terms of what you're normally expected to face).
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At the moment, Scrappers, and to a lesser degree, Tankers, are being analyzed. Once we establish a baseline, then we'll be in a better position to look at Blasters.
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Scrappers had their chance in the light (Criticals, Stacked Armors for DA, Removal of Rooting for unyielding, increased defense percentage for SR, etc...) and Tankers had theirs too (Punchvoke - No longer taunt bots, provoke instead of taunt for tanker secondaries, Increased damage -i think-, etc...)
I just think its the blasters turn (after controllers have been looked at of course) to get some attention
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And, of course, there's the complaint that some Secondaries have too many melee attacks - something that the Blaster avoids at all costs.
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Though a lot of us blasters have found a perfect balance between melee and range and love our melee moves. We could use a LOT of love in the post 35 game, but I don't think taking away our melee moves would be that much of an improvement unless you also added some kind of new secondaries that involved ranged damage. Though that seems like a lot of work.
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Yes, but that balance usually requires SS and stealth or things along those lines (like teaming w/ a controller who locks down everyone.
Scrappers and Tanks don't *need* any particular pools except for say Stamina which is pretty much and all-AT issue.
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Translated, more damage. It seems that the king of damage is not king. Blasters already have low hit points, no status protection (not counting pools), and draw aggro like mad. We only have one way to beat these weaknesses, and that is to kill whatever is training on us. (Yes, there is the option of tank and aggro management, but even that is no guarantee)
Which is the last point, aggro. I start to wonder if Blasters are unfairly favored aggro magnets. An example, a defender shoots his electric AOE out and hits about 7 Tsoo. I throw out a single target fire blast on one of the minions to try to kill him. What happens is that EVERYONE comes running to smack me and runs past the defender (who is still shooting them).
I have seen other posts with similar stories of strange aggro attraction. If possible, can this get tweaked in I4 a little?
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I've seen strange aggro attraction happen to defenders, controllers, Kheldians, and blasters.
But... I do think that blasters could use reduced aggro generation. I suggested 75% of what anyone else would generate in Statesman's other thread. I do not know how many people agreed or disagreed with me, though - just that some did one or the other.
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States:
here is the flaw in your logic - blasters are supposed to be th edamage kings, but scrappers potentially do more damage, they get this bonus because they HAVE to be in melee range to be effective, right? But they get defenses to make it so they can survive in melee range...
and then they get more damage on top of those defenses. It is like you thought you needed to balance them by buffing them up, but then kind of went overboard.
They have the survivability. They have the HPs they have the resistance or defense, they have the ability to heal themselves. (except for SR) They have mez protection.
With lower HPs, no mez protection, no ability to heal themselves (except through aid self) the blaster can't even survive ranged attacks, even if they are supposedly weaker than melee attacks.
It sounds like you're hinting that blasters might get more Hps. That would be a good start. maybe hold/dissorient protection in secondaries, and more damage... that would be balanced in my eyes.
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I didn't know that scrappers were supposed to be the damage kings..
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AR's reliance on lethal is a big issue, according to some AR blasters I've chatted with. My AR blaster is still low level, though, and I cannot comment.
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How about losing Power Thrust, Stun, and Boost Range from the /Energy powerset and adding things that help more than a few power sets....maybe put some form defenses there. I like Energy Punch/Bonesmasher/Total Focus, but the three I mentioned are situational at best.(yeay yeah, some people use them, but most that I have seen have no use for them besides punching people 200 feet for fun at lvl 50)
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Many of the /energy blasters I team with are very happy with boost range.
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Me too. While my instinct is to be pessimistic, the "nerfs" that go live tend to not really affect gameplay a great deal (in terms of what you're normally expected to face).
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After seeing the new comic preview I have this feeling that Enhancements are going to be nerfed. Actually if they have not thought of doing that the Devs should think of nerfing enhancements. SOs are unbalancing the game and forcing them to make things difficult to the point that in order to challenge a minority the rest of the population suffers.
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Many of the /energy blasters I team with are very happy with boost range.
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I know I am in I4!
AR is a great set, don't get me wrong. But the smash/lethal resistance seems to be a bit one-sided as in almost all villians have it in PVE and in PVP AR is the big joke as everyone has smash/lethal resistance. As a blaster, damage is all I have, so when that is resisted a great deal.. all I have is.. Superspeed?
SOs do and HOs take that to an extreme.
I think that controllers should be put on hold. No other AT generates debt like the Blaster AT...well maybe some Kheld builds, but that's being fixed. I have a 43 ice/storm troller and I have 0 complaints about him. He is and always has been safer than playing a blaster, but he gets 2+ pets to help him mitigate damage. If I get held, then the baddie usually turns on one or more of my pets until I get free and can re-lock things down.
Hmm...what if Sparky became a targetable pet for electric blasters? That would create 50% damage mitigation and might help them....what about pets for the other sets? Wouldn't be infringing on trollers, because we could only have one out at a time, but would be nice to help survive a lil better.
Slightly modifed SFCStaley's quote:
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The higher level villians all seem to have a great deal of smash/lethal resistance, as a Broadsword,claws, MA, or Katana scrapper, this limits my ability to be the damage king.
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See if you can spot the difference!
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
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