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Defenders are not fine.
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Okay I'll bite, what problems? Other than specific power problems I have not seen any problems with defenders as a whole so please enlighten me.
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This really isn't the place to get into a full blown discussion of Defender issues, the topic at hand being Blaster issues.
I'll note a few in quick passing that are AT wide, but keep in mind that unlike other ATs, the variance between Defender capabilities and roles varies considerably so to an extent it is a matter of a bunch of subgroups each with specific issues (which is probably why Defenders continue to languish as the only AT not to recieve or even be promised an actual review despite claims in this forum otherwise).
* Secondary endurance costs were adjusted as part of reviewing Tankers, but no consideration was ever taken of Defender's primary powersets.
* Despite repeated assurances that Defenders are better with their powers than Controllers are with the ones they share it continually comes to light that various powers perform the same on both sides. (Pay the more than Blasters to do the least with shared powers due to having them as secondaries, pay the same as Controllers to do the same things with shared powers even though having them as primary.)
Oh, and Defenders don't have mez protection as a whole--one primary features protection of any sort that can effect the user. And no, I don't think it needed or warranted.
Damage is not a moot point. Defenders and Tanker were paired in their damage scales and now for some unknow reason Tankers get a boost in theirs, bringing them into the realm of normalcy with every other primary/secondary value relationship whereas Defenders continue to be massively out of whack. I'll admit that Kinetics and Radiation primary do not need more ability to deal damage (soon to add Dark to that list), but Force Field and Empathy are primary powersets too (back to that bit about subgroups).
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I've said it before and I'll say it again ... late game blasters need some mez protection. It doesn't need to be overwhelming, mag 15 protection like melee's get. Heck it doesn't even need to include knockdown/immobilize ... but I would think that every secondary's level 9 (level 38) power should be a minor (think mag 5) mez protection toggle against sleep/stun/hold. This alone will fix a large majority of late game blaster issues which all more or less revolve around mezzing. In the late game everything mezzes and it's usually huge AoE style mez. For a blaster to be successful they more or less require an empathy defender to perma-CM them or whatnot. That's dumb.
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Why would any informed person, who wants to be effective, play a Blaster over a Scrapper as the game now stands? Blasters need a boost in damage to fufill their role in a team.
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Because for some its a matter of how you do something, not that you do something.
Yeesh, people need to stop thinking in such mercenary terms.
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Yes, it does seem pretty scary the amount of scrappers and tankers and DEFINITELY defenders compared to blasters.
Most teams I have been on lately I have been the only blaster. I see a lot of defenders and scrapers and the popular fire-tank.
Maybe the reduced amount of blasters will show Statesman that something is wrong when they start data-mining numbers.
I was on an all defender team today, my third since sunday.
My god it was insane. Lets just say that I have no problems finding tanks, scrappers, or defenders. Blasters though love to get the invites but there are too few of them.
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Can I ask why are blasters solid up to say level 20?
What makes their damage good till then but fall apart later?
The cap is in play then as it is later, so it can't be that can it? Or is it that you don't really keep getting better attacks while the scrapper does?
I don't know for real but could better later attacks be the problem. Hack is much weaker then headsplitter. But you get snipe one of your best damage attacks very early. Maybe what's needed besides mezz defense is better late attacks.
I don't know just asking.
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My theory which has every right to be wrong is: The lower-level game is balanced for low defenses (since no one has really matured their defenses...tankers come close, scrappers not so much) and immature offense. Blasters can fairly rapidly slot out their main attacks and don't have to worry about defenses, so the lower-level game is practically tailor-made for them.
It gets harder later as the game adjusts to try to keep up with tanker and scrapper defenses and defender/controller buffs/debuffs.
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Combine too that since Blasters don't have to worry about doing anything other than damage, they slot their damage abilities well at low levels. A Scrapper who does that and ignores his defenses ends up in the hospital a lot. A Tanker may be focused on his defenses, but he does have to split time with his offense as well. Controllers and Defenders too have plenty of reason to be dividing things up.
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I agree with someone elses idea. Give blaster range attacks more range. A lot more in some cases and give all range attacks a running shot animation. None of this lookit I am ranged (30 feet away) and by the time my animation goes off all the bad guys are in melee range and pomelling me. At least a scrapper has defence and DR that they can easily sleep thru the mobs.
Yeah definitely a riskier place for scrappers to be.
What exactly kind of risk are scrappers taking again when they can sleep thru most fights by putting a power on auto..waking up and all the bad guys are dead.
I play more scrappers than blasters simply because scrappers are low maintenance. I can afk in the middle of a fight to get a drink or some munchies without worrying about it.
Risk vs Rewards nothing!
Lets al play controllers instead ! They are more time consuming and hard to raise : )
Wow, I agree that Blasters need some help w/ PvP, but in PvE?... where is all this coming from?? You complain more than regen's and at least these guys have a good reason to do so.
While I don't agree w/ scrappers having higher damage cap (I think everyone should have same damage cap, and Statesman's argument that melee is more dangerous doesn't work because scrappers achieve excellent levels of defense that pretty much negate any inherent danger in getting withing melee, DA exculded), but we certainly don't need any help in the damage departement.
You're all focusing on the damage cap, and forgetting that we have the AoE advantage. I can obliterate a group of 10 or so +2 minions in less than 10 seconds, any Lt's will be down next with a shot or two, which leaves the boss - melee range can be avoided easily for the most part, and yeah sure they're more dangerous to us than to scrappers, plus there are the mezzes but it's part of the game, if there were no danger it wouldn't be fun.
Can scrappers take on many more mobs and in some cases higher levels, sure, but it'll take 'em several times longer to kill them, while we move on to the next crowd.
The suggestion to implement the 30%-dmg-not-resistant in PvE is ridiculous - we'll be back to the days of "City of Blasters" when everyone complained how fast blasters kill everything and how they don't need anyone else for support and we'll just get nerfed again.
As far as some of Concern's suggestions... I'm sorry man, usually you make very good points but some of this stuff... I was like, wth!?! 
(Were these a joke, cause sometimes I'm slow to pick up sarcasm?)
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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.
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.
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Huh??
Melee attack with a range of 20ft., hmmm, sure why not. If we gonna be redefining the meaning of words then why not give that range to scrappers as well, I'm sure they'll enjoy that.
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7. Remove the rooting effect from blaster attacks.
8. Faster activation times on powers for blasters.
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The whole melee range issue is also completely ridiculous. Sure we occasionally find ourselves in melee range but in comparison to scrappers it's nothing, not even worth mentioning - especially if you consider how many mobs die before they can even take a step into our direction. How can you even bring that issue up when scrappers practically live in melee range??
Is there a perfect balance between ATs (or even just blasters and scrappers)? Of course not, and never will be, it's impossible. Are there some blaster powerset or some particular powers that need a bit of help? Yeah, probably. Is the Blaster AT horribly unbalanced, gimped or whatever? Heck no! As it stands right now, the Blaster AT is as close to good balance as it can realisticly get, at least in PvE, in PvP there's some work to be done but we're still better off than Defenders or Scrappers (<-- powerful but horribly unbalanced).
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They are continually finding ways to make mobs harder because the player base is overpowered.
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Not the player base, but segments of the player base. The Summer of City of Blasters is what brought about the changes in Issue 2. And Scrappers and Tankers passing videos about showing them soloing AVs and herding hundreds of warwolves brought more.
But haves and have nots already existed and despite the contention that SOs made everyone powerful, most assuredly it did not. Call me when you see an Empath Defender soloing an AV or herding.
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Instead of pushing the game towards bigger and bigger numbers they should have made the enhancements obtainable smaller and balanced the powers from there.
Which would have taken care of:
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Some would call it a state where they get to have fun with their characters as opposed to always be running out of endurance, being casually hit, easily damage, etc.
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Hardly, it would have shifted where the complaints were coming from, nothing more.
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They are continually finding ways to make mobs harder because the player base is overpowered.
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Not the player base, but segments of the player base. The Summer of City of Blasters is what brought about the changes in Issue 2. And Scrappers and Tankers passing videos about showing them soloing AVs and herding hundreds of warwolves brought more.
But haves and have nots already existed and despite the contention that SOs made everyone powerful, most assuredly it did not. Call me when you see an Empath Defender soloing an AV or herding.
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Instead of pushing the game towards bigger and bigger numbers they should have made the enhancements obtainable smaller and balanced the powers from there.
Which would have taken care of:
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Some would call it a state where they get to have fun with their characters as opposed to always be running out of endurance, being casually hit, easily damage, etc.
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Hardly, it would have shifted where the complaints were coming from, nothing more.
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AMEN
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Combine too that since Blasters don't have to worry about doing anything other than damage, they slot their damage abilities well at low levels. A Scrapper who does that and ignores his defenses ends up in the hospital a lot. A Tanker may be focused on his defenses, but he does have to split time with his offense as well. Controllers and Defenders too have plenty of reason to be dividing things up.
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That is not entirely true. A regen scrapper can afford to spend alot more slots on his primary in the lower levels than most scrappers. Even so a scrapper does not need to slot his attacks and can afford to slot his defense unlike a blaster that HAS to slot his attacks or he is a dead man with nothing to fall back on.
I was surprised by Statesman's response that the reason Scrappers get a higher damage cap was because they are in melee range, which is more dangerous.
I thought that was the reason they had personal defense for secondary powersets. Seems like they're getting the best of both worlds.
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My god it was insane. Lets just say that I have no problems finding tanks, scrappers, or defenders. Blasters though love to get the invites but there are too few of them.
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Probably better than 80% of the teams I've been on in the past week have had a Blaster on them and the ones that didn't were 2- and 3-man teams, so go figure they didn't have other various other ATs on them either.
Indeed, when I check to see who is looking, it is far from Blaster symbols making the largest showing in population.
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In other words, all scrappers prepare for the nerf bat soon.
why not just make the blaster melee powers equal that of a scrapper or maybe even a little more since they are risking more when they get in melee range.
I say: for PvE, we need:
1: a bit of a boost in toughness. being a glass cannon gets ANNOYING sometimes, and I hate having to wish for level 47's force of nature power pool to enjoy 2 minites of god mode every now and then.
this could be done by something of a nice toggle or two in our secondaries. I'd GLADLY give up energy punch and stun for a smash/lethal minor def toggle/res toggle, and stun for one that covers energy, fire, and neg. even when capped 30% res all, makes you live SO MUCH longer.
2: we need the damage cap to be at least 500%, and get a little bit of an up in damage, leaving defenders alone enough as it is.
3: we need better ranges for some of our primaries. short circuit is nice, but I have to be in melee for that.
PvP changes:
1: 30% unresistable damage needs to be calculated right. since all res caps at 90%, rollover can't negate that. meaning we will ALWAYS DO at LEAST 40% of our damage in our primaries and secondaries, as well as pool powers.
2: have us have a floored accuracy minimum of
10%
yes, I said it.
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Call me when you see an Empath Defender soloing an AV or herding.
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Yep I am calling! My empath can herd just fine. Provided I buff myself and heal myself while herding. I don't herd mezzers though without mez enhancements.
Yes, SOs have ruined the game balance of this game and HOs have thrown it more out of whack in PvP. It is fairly obvious but this is not the place to argue about it.
Ok early game blasters are good is that something that most people agree with?
If so then its becauseof two things from what some have said.
Tanks/Scrapper/Defenders have two lines that they are slotting so they can both defend themselves/others and do damage where as the blaster is only concerned with damage in the early game. Basically the blaster has twice the slots for attacks as the rest because he's an all attack guy/girl early on at least.
Mezz takes balsters apart in the 20s and up.
My idea for the first is give blasters the same damage cap as scrappers BUT reduce their big nukes in damage and side effect. I say that last line since I read in another thread that the nukes are why they will not raise the damage cap. Lower the nuke power and side effect (side effects I am to say what happens to the blaster when he uses them, Nova reducing end to 0 and such) and then you can feel better about raising the damage cap.
Give blasters some defense against mezz even if its half the strength of tanker/scrapper it would still be enough to resist the first few mezzes.
I would like to see some defense additions to blasters too but try those and if it works great if not lets add some defenses. Just a thought you have to try something first.
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Can I ask why are blasters solid up to say level 20?
What makes their damage good till then but fall apart later?
The cap is in play then as it is later, so it can't be that can it? Or is it that you don't really keep getting better attacks while the scrapper does?
I don't know for real but could better later attacks be the problem. Hack is much weaker then headsplitter. But you get snipe one of your best damage attacks very early. Maybe what's needed besides mezz defense is better late attacks.
I don't know just asking.
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It's not totally the attacks we have, it's the enemies. Status attacks, greater range on the baddies, Status attacks at range, more damaging attacks...all of these combine to make our range and damage nearly moot. Then you add in insults like /fire's lvl 38 power....hot feet.
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Couple this with the hit points that bosses have in the late game. That snipe attack that can one shot minions? Forget about it as it barely dents a boss. (And don't even begin to think that boss is going to let you get another snipe off -- no way.)
Rikti bosses do colossal damage at range AND mez or stun. Carnies? Blasters are going to get chewed up by the Carnie bosses (heck my SCRAPPER gets chewed up by Carnie bosses). Blasters are going to get hosed by the Nemesis Lieutenants who have a much larger range than blasters do. I won't mention sappers because everyone hates those guys 
As a blaster, hitting level 20 is pretty easy. There's a minimum of status effects that get thrown at you (Tsoo Ink Men, primarily) and the mob hit points don't get too out of control.
After 20 though you start wandering into Devouring Earth, Banished Pantheon (Storm Shamans SUCK!), more Tsoo, CoT mages that cause issues, Lost mind controllers, and Family Consiglieres (rarely). And let's not talk about the Freakshow tanks that can pound you flat in one or two shots.
That's the problem with blasters after 20.
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why not just make the blaster melee powers equal that of a scrapper or maybe even a little more since they are risking more when they get in melee range.
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Blasters already have that and it is not enough.
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Combine too that since Blasters don't have to worry about doing anything other than damage, they slot their damage abilities well at low levels. A Scrapper who does that and ignores his defenses ends up in the hospital a lot. A Tanker may be focused on his defenses, but he does have to split time with his offense as well. Controllers and Defenders too have plenty of reason to be dividing things up.
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That is not entirely true.
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Well yes, it was a generalism.
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A regen scrapper can afford to spend alot more slots on his primary in the lower levels than most scrappers. Even so a scrapper does not need to slot his attacks and can afford to slot his defense unlike a blaster that HAS to slot his attacks or he is a dead man with nothing to fall back on.
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Can't say about Regen, I've only played Dark Armor, Invulnerability and Super Reflexes (character deleted), and on those you slot your defenses and you slot your offense because too little of either and you're dead, dead, dead. I do have a friend that I played up to 50 with who is Regen and I very clearly recall the jokes about how often he died at lower levels.
Under construction
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Blasters have gameplay issues though that need to be addressed, they have lost their role and the title of damage king.
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I was referring more to specific powersets. Force Field users are becoming few and far between because the other sets can all do more. Empathy and Storm could also use some tweaks. Maybe Mind and Earth controllers as well.
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That is not entirely true. A regen scrapper can afford to spend alot more slots on his primary in the lower levels than most scrappers. Even so a scrapper does not need to slot his attacks and can afford to slot his defense unlike a blaster that HAS to slot his attacks or he is a dead man with nothing to fall back on.
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My fastest-leveling scrapper at low levels was my regen scrapper. At 20-22, things got a bit more difficult as my only defenses were mez resistance and a self-heal. At 28, things started to change completely, and at 31, when I had IH six-slotted, it was a vastly different game.
Regen scrappers are certainly an exception that tests the rule, but I think it supports the sense that the early game is easier for blasters because they can focus on offense and don't need defense.
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Call me when you see an Empath Defender soloing an AV or herding.
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Yep I am calling! My empath can herd just fine. Provided I buff myself and heal myself while herding. I don't herd mezzers though without mez enhancements.
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I should have qualified. Yes, anyone can herd greens. Call me when you're out gathering most of a mission's mobs for a team where people want real experience, not what they could get on their own.
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Yes, SOs have ruined the game balance of this game and HOs have thrown it more out of whack in PvP. It is fairly obvious but this is not the place to argue about it.
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Argument by repitition is not considered valid, nor is argument by assertion. Try to refrain from both in the future.
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Scrappers do more damage than blasters because they are in melee and thus in a more dangerous situation-- then how come the archetype that dies 10 times more often is the blaster??
The Blaster is ALWAYS the first to fall and many times the only one cause he cant take a hit. one range stunning hit and they are all over him and at 35 + stunning hit happen alot.
So the logic is beyond insane.
SFC America Assault/Dev Blaster LVL 50
Cpt Patriot Inv/SS Tanker LVL 40+
Entropy MA/Inv Scrapper LVL 30+
Warbot En/En Blaster LVL 40 +
Blasters seem to get less attention because they are really popular and some of the powersets are excellent. Any primary/devices can kill just about any group in the game incredibly fast and with very little risk due to being able to take out a ton of the foes with the initial trip mine and an aoe.
But the other secondaries don't fair nearly as well, and some of the primaries are pretty bad too. The problems for blasters seem to be more powerset detailed.
Primaries:
Fire, Assault - Both deal superior damage and are good at aoe damage.
Ice - Good damage, fewer aoes, best status effects in the game (for blasters) as the set contains 2 single target holds that work well in normal play. This is more of a defender set than a blaster set in some ways. Really fairly well balanced as they deal very good damage and lower a group's risk. I'd always team with one.
Blizzard - their level 32 power (final primary set power) does excellent damage. . . but over a long period. It is a long-term DoT and just doesn't compare to Inferno (uber damage pbAoE) or the level 32 assault power (superior damage cone with a fast recharge - best level 32 power in the game IMO). I'd suggest changing this power to be a pB Hold power (freezes everything). The hold has a short duration compared to controller holds, but it would make the power much more of a great "Oh, no! I'll save us!" power instead of the current "Decent damage (but everything will be dead or run away by the time it deals it)" power.
Electricity - Not very good at PvE, but with a very nice PvP status effect in that they drain endurance. I'd like to see this set do more damage in PvE and PvP. The secondary effect is nice, but the set only has one aoe and the damage is altogether much too much lower than it's counterparts. Beef it up a bit and I think people will be happy.
Secondaries:
Devices - Very cool and very fun set. The devices all mesh with the way a blaster plays very well and combined use of them allows for some great gameplay. Most fun set for blasters IMO.
Every other set - Faaar too many melee powers and powers that are fairly mundane or do not compliment a blaster's style of play well at all. Having a fire sword is not blasting. Consider giving blasters some weak sauce defender and controller powers in these sets to make them able to be more versatile and still maintain their role as RANGED attackers.
2 primaries could use minor adjustments, but the secondaries are all kind of meh except for Devices.