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Aggro needs to be less when firing from range.
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Quoting this for emphasis. Paired up with an equal level scrapper with my level 26ish blaster to fight some Banished Pantheon.
Scrapper would rush in to gather aggro. I'd wait for the mobs to see him. Then I'd fire off a snipe and begin my assault.
As soon as the snipe landed, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE MOBS turned on me and fired off ranged attacks. Dead blaster. This included MOBs that were farther away from me than the scrapper was. It seemed like everything in the room saw this snipe take out one of their buddies and immediately decided to attack (never minding that there was a scrapper AOEing the bejeezus out of them).
I get back and we go for the next mob. This time I decided to wait longer. Same result.
Get back from the hospital again and I wait 10 seconds before engaging. Same result (only this time I was able to run and managed to live).
The result?
As a blaster I won't group unless there's a tanker or controller present. And even then I've found myself being picky.
It's funny that the theoretical "City of Blasters" never manifested. It's funny that blasters who were supposedly the "best" AT when the game first launched get their butts handed to them when they up the difficulty past Heroic, while every other AT seems to have no problems moving the slider up. (And I play all 5 ATs.)
Don't get me wrong. I love blasters. I love the Blaster Melee attacks. But they definitely need some love at the later levels.
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Arc # 316340 -- "Husk" -- Azuria loses something, a young woman harbors a dark secret, and the fate of the world is in your hands.
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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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Aiee!! Please don't get this impression. Total Focus and Bonesmasher are the two best attacks I have, melee or not.
Are there some bad melee powers in the secondaries? Sure, and I'm sure that replacing them with something useful is a good idea. But please don't think that every blaster wants all melee attacks removed.
Here's a suggestion: make defense inherent but make it relative (i.e. scale) to range. Let's say you make it easy on the programmers and don't allow it to be enhanced (but maybe even scales with level, like fly speed - kind of like as you progress with more experience, you learn to dodge better).
So the farther away a foe is, the greater defense a blaster has in relation to them.
Edit: also agree that the idea that ranged attacks draw less aggro than melee is a good idea.
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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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Thats not always true. Many blasters including myself don't avoid it. We use it to our advantage. However a little defense and a maybe a unpermable clickable mezz protection would be nice.
I discussed this in the original "blaster response to Statesman..." thread, but blasters will not get a damage cap increase because of the nukes at level 32. Because we can do so much damage to so many enemies, we are treated as if we do that much all the time which is not the case. These are effective if and only if we destroy the group and don't aggro extra opponents. If more than two enemies are standing, we're usually in deep trouble.
The only way to balance blasters is to provide some form of "risk mitigation" in our secondaries, much like the scrappers have with their entire secondary set. Device and energy are good, but not perfect. Ice, Electricity, and Fire are mediocre or worse.
To me, the number one priority is some sort of mez defense. In the high level game, the vast majority of opponents have some way to mez you. The risk to scrappers is minimal because their mez protection is high enough that they can ignore it most of the time. All it takes is one shot and a blaster is as good as dead.
This doesn't have to be some sort of integration-light, but maybe a +defense versus mez attacks, making us harder to hit by them. Ranged defense is also something that has been discussed and has merit. At least it would give us a fighting chance to not be someone's punching bag for the 2 seconds it takes for us to be defeated.
Granted, I know that blasters don't like seeing their damage where it's at, but I have a hard time feelin' sorry for ya when I watch my friend Mogus use Total Focus and hit something almost 2x harder than my MA can hit with Eagle's Claw. 
Personally, I think you guys need a defensive buff to make initiating those close-up attacks less risky. It's not just melee attacks, but the short range attacks like Power Burst, Short Circuit, and Blaze, too.
The thing about blasters is that you've got the potential to really lay in the single-target damage beyond what scrappers could often hope to, but the game design has placed far more danger to you from those attacks than most of you care to risk.
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With all do respect Statesman, the last time you posted about looking at Blasters, you said Controllers were in front of us - that's fine. However, now you're saying that Scrappers and Tankers are in front also? When exactly are the Devs going to actually take a look at Blasters? It seems we've had issues for quite some time, yet are being pushed to the back of the line in (terms of fixes) constantly.
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They have to test/reverse the harm they did to scrappers/tankers based on the bugged test server. They are also using those two ATs as the baseline for how others should play.
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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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Does this mean you are making a new baseline? Last I checked the base line was three white minions. Is this changeing?
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Read his Balance thread. The goal is now for capabilities to grow as we level to 3 +3 minions. So, yes, he's establishing a new baseline.
Personally, I hope he makes all ATs as fun to play as Tanks and Scrappers are currently. If that's going to be the baseline, Blasters should expect some nice buffs.
STATESMAN:
For what it's worth, my ideas for how to fix blasters can be found here: Squishies of the world, unite.
You can make Blasters the Kings of Damage again without raising their actual damage 1 iota. Just give it more ways to get through!
-Pat McCall
Statesman we would love if you would actually say something about the arguements that have been made in regards to the dev's decisions. I realize this may fan the flames but dang it we want to know just what the heck is being thought about up there as a fix to this problem.
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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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If they make changes to the power sets, primaries or secondaries, there will be at least one person who is unhappy. There's no reason to argue over that. The devs will simply need to data mine and questions players and find out which powers are the least desired (if they intend drastic changes) and hopefully those who don't want the change to their power will learn to appreciate it.
Another alternative, though I don't know if this could be implemented, is to offer current players (or maybe always) a choice between the current power set and the new power set. So for instance, you'd have Electric Manipulation (Original) and Electric Manipulation (Revised) available as power choices. This would let people either stay with what they have or choose the new set. Assuming there are drastic enough changes to require something like this. At least then though people wouldn't complain if all their melee attacks were taken away as they would still have the option to keep them.
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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!
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But like I said....MOST don't have/use it. I tried it out, but it doesn't help a Blapper at all. I don't have my aoe's because they pale in comparison to what I can do with my single target attacks.
Realize that boost range only now works with cones. People will need time to incorporate that into their attacks before we make any decisions on changeing the power to something else.
While I'd like to read all my esteemed Blaster colleagues replies I have figured you will and take note of their suggestions. If I'm repeating someone than it should be repeated.
Switch the caps. This will solve a lot of problems. The "overpowered" scrappers suddenly have to work a little harder without touching their precious defenses and our survivability will be noticeably greater. They have higher HP, more defenses, actual resistance, and more damage. They are not in a riskier position. This logic seems flawed. Switch the caps and maybe you'll kill two birds with one stone.
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Frankly, I have no optimism at all that things will turn out well.
[/ QUOTE ] Cynic (n): a person who learns from experience
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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.
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A variation on this theme come up a LOT and I make a point of emphasizing it every time i notice it. There was a thread "tosses a rock over there" that had a LOT of great ideas on some type of aggro mitigating pet to put into our secondaries, and I think it would be a great thing.
My personal favorite (thinking of /fire here) would be a a flaming effect put down using the same means as Rain of Fire. Once in place, you attack the mob, and they react as if the effect generated the attack. They unleash hell on it instead of you, and you proceed to wipe them out. A couple of seconds in to the fight, they realize that it's you hurting them and refocus on you. Hell, I don't even need it to have any attacks of it's own. Just grab that inital aggro and I'll handle the rest.
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
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But like I said....MOST don't have/use it. I tried it out, but it doesn't help a Blapper at all. I don't have my aoe's because they pale in comparison to what I can do with my single target attacks.
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I mean that the damage they do isn't as good as the damage I do with my other powers. I never had a problem hitting all the baddies in Energy Torrent+Explosive Blast(boosting the range a little bit won't help much,) but they never killed everything and made it hard for tanks to hold agro
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But many issues have come up - most notably, the perception that Blasters are too fragile at levels 35+. Their damage potential does not compensate for their low hit points.
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Mostly, that's from the rapid increase in status-effect mobs from the mid-30's or so, combined with only pool-level status resistance. Plus, we tend to be outranged even by the weakest ranged attacks in that range, meaning hit-and-run tactics are useless. Grey con Crey Protectors can be a serious threat simply because of those frickin' sleep shots (never mind Rikti, or Carnies, or...).
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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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Not -all- melee attacks...but most preferred melee-range attacks are the ones with a good chance of rendering a return strike moot. Energy Punch, Charged Melee, etc...good ways to teach newbie blasters where NOT to go. We're happy with stuff like Bonesmasher/TF, Havoc Punch, etc. They pack a solid hit, which for a fragile AT like ours is the only one we can afford. Don't eliminate melee from the secondaries, but seriously consider changing how and what kind they are in light of our hit-and-run tactics. We're Better Blaster Blastards that way. Use the space from removing those weaker secondaries to help fill in gaps that show up in testing.
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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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Looking forward to seeing baseline data and demos and hopefully helping out with the feedback.
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Frankly, I have no optimism at all that things will turn out well.
[/ QUOTE ] Cynic (n): a person who learns from experience
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Ha ha. However, as I point out later, things tend to turn out well anyway, and I really am just being pessimistic when I say that.
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Can you look at all Squishies and not just blasters? This may be the wrong forum for it, but several controller and defender powersets have been having complaints about their powers for a while now too. Controllers were due for a look in I5 if I recall, but defenders thus far haven't been mentioned.
Frankly I think all of them could use a little spiffing here and there.
I understand what you mean I am just saying that there are more blasters than just you out there.
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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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Dude, you REALLY need to read the Balance thread. He plans to "nerf" them by making them too expensive for people to keep them full slotted.
Discussion already going on in that thread.
There seems to be a misunderstanding -- either my own or from others in this thread -- about Blasters role in the game, but there can be no doubt that we are the total damage kings. With a few exceptions, Blasters far outclass Scrappers in damage over time. Scrappers beat us hands down with single target attacks, while we out class the in total damage with AoE's. Turn on your favorite logging program, join a group with a Scrapper of your choice (also logging damage) and a crowd controller, and by the end of any play session you will have smoked the Scrapper's damage.
Scrappers are generally Boss Killers(tm) and we are generally Minion Killers(tm). Unfortunately, given our general squishiness (until APP's) and high hate factor attacks, that means we only really come into our own in groups or with specialized theme-heavy builds (e.g. AR/Dev). This means we come into our own in groups with some form of crowd control and that Scrappers are far more independent from the other AT's. So be it. Move on. The AT's are not created equally and we can be very thankful of that.
If Blaster damage needs any boost -- and I am in no way convince we do -- then a slight increase in the base damage of our single target attacks might be the ticket. Do not give us the same cap as Scrappers or limit the higher cap to single target attacks. The game is too easy as it is past 22. Let's not make it easier.
Defenders are fine. Controllers have a problem because the order of their powers is wrong. Just poor design in my opinion and no excuse for it either.
Blasters have gameplay issues though that need to be addressed, they have lost their role and the title of damage king.
States,
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I did forget to add that the ranged attacks of mobs deal less damage (typically) than melee attacks
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Still high enough to take most blaster builds down faster than scrappers'. Less HP, no defenses... A melee attack deals more damage than ranged attacks, ok. In my experience, if a blaster and a scrapper facing mobs don't attack, a white minion will kill a blaster at the same time it takes 5 or 7 to take a scrapper down.
So blasters take (in plain numbers) XX% less damage from attacks, but mitigate or avoid MUCH less than scrappers. So the whole "melee is more dangerous" isn't very true, IMHO (ok, excepting when facing mobs with AoE attacks and a tanker).
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Their damage potential does not compensate for their low hit points.
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Blasters potential doesn't compensate their presence on a team. Picking on Defenders, say, you can do 25% more damage, but Defenders can give the team lots of endurance and healh and damage, or floored accuracy, or all of that, and many more.
Blasters do damage.
Someone (hint hint) should run some numbers on how much XP a tanker/controller/scrapper, post +35, can earn with a blaster on the team and then swap for a defender.
Then throw these numbers out of the window and see what team had more fun 
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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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Power Thrust is mainly for defensive purposes to knockback a enemy coming into melee range, so since it and Power Push (from the primary) are our only built-in "defenses" I'd keep it, I think it's more that ppl don't use it as intended (as "defense")
Stun, ya most don't use. Even in other secondary iterations (e.g. "Taser")
Boost Range, ironically it's the one buff that directly address the upper (35+/40+) game issues on being outranged, so it is effective, but somewhat annoying to to click often.
Now if you gave all secondaries boost range as a toggle....
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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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IMO, no AT should need any particular pools to function. My scrapper needed the fighting pool to function (and still needs leaping to acrobatics) well in fights, and I think that it would be much nicer if all of these pools were groovy bonuses instead of necessities...because your primary/secondary already covers those.
But I'm not sure how to go about that.
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