Great stuff man. Very well planned out, and I like the ideas. Alot of what you've said are built into the Dominators build in CoV. Like Ice has a Ice sword Circle and a Greater Ice Sword. The BI on them is quite good. My only complaint about them is the heavy end usage. My Dominator is only lvl 13, so she hasn't gotten Stamina yet. I'll let you guys know more when I get her up another 11 levels. So far I love the dng out put I have so far. I went with Fire/Ice combo. Should be good for PvP I hope. What's not to like about Imp/Fire Holds, and Ice's dmg and slows? Just MO though
This is great stuff too guys. Keep it up
I personally enjoy a lot about how blasters currently play. I wish most of them played a little more similarly to my Ice/En. As in, they have a ranged chain, and can deal good damage from a distance, but can also close to melee and really put the hurt on. The control aspects of ice (freeze ray, BFR) and energy (disorients on attacks) are just about the right amount of controls my blaster needs. Once I7 hits, and Ice storm and Blizzard become buffable, I think Ice's AOE will be just fine as well.
I think every set combo needs options like these. They all need range damage, melee damage, and some controls. If they lack in 1 area (devices lacks in melee damage) the need to make up for it in another (gets better strategic soft controls than most sets)
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Charged Brawl Bring up to BI of Energy Punch. When people think damage they shouldn't just think Energy. Change requires changing some numbers and testing.
Havok Punch Bring up to BI of Bonesmasher. When people think damage they shouldn't just think Energy. Change requires changing some numbers.
Thunder Strike Bring up BI to a level between Bonesmasher and Total Focus. It shouldn't be Total Focus level because it comes earlier, can disorient and can do an AoE Knockback. When people think damage, they shouldn't just think Energy. Change requires changing some numbers and testing.
[/ QUOTE ]
Aren't these already done? I was under the assumption that:
Charged Brawl BI = Energy Punch BI
Havok Punch BI = Bonesmasher BI
Bonesmasher 7.2 BI / Thunder Strike 8.2 BI / Total Focus 8.9 BI
But I could be wrong. If so I blame Hero Planner.
[ QUOTE ]
Smoke Grenade Not broken anymore. Does a descent debuff I believe, no change.
[/ QUOTE ]
The only change I would like to see from Smoke Grenade is that it doesn't count as an attack. Make it funtion like a Fire Controller's Smoke. No Aggro from it.
Other than that, I completely and wholeheartedly agree with the changes you've proposed. I think these changes would go a long way in fixing a lot about blasters.
Would I like to see some of Pilcrow's changes? Sure. I just think in the idea of "Fewest possible moves" this would be quicker and easier for the devs. It uses existing powers and code, and just tweaks the spreadsheets a little.
A couple of things I would like to see in addition to yours:
I still like my idea of replacing Blazing Aura with Hot Feet, and adding Greater Fire Sword at 38. But we can't always get everything we want.
The electric primary needs some help. I have serious doubts about the end drain fix. Assuming that it isn't fixed to be at least as good as it was post ED. I would like for SC to become a ranged AOE with higher damage (think Firebreath) that's more frontloaded, maybe only 4 ticks of DOT instead of 8. Use the same animation as current, just center it around the bad guy instead of the player. Hell the player could still go through the 3 second animation as far as I'm concerned, just put the special effects around the enemy.
Regardless of the end drain fix, I would like to see VS be tweaked so that it targeted the casters target. Either that, or make it able to take damage and draw aggro to itself.
Neutra, your solution appears to be the copy-paste command for powers that work and powers that don't (Example: replace X power to equal BoneSmasher's BI). Before you begin to make global changes you really need to look at what each set offers, besides damage (holds, utility, etc.).
Off the top of my head I disagree with:
"Havok Punch Bring up to BI of Bonesmasher. When people think damage they shouldn't just think Energy. Change requires changing some numbers."
----------------
For the record Havok Punch is IDENTICAL to Bone Smasher...
Bone Smaher: 7.22 BI / 1.5 secs Activation / 13.5 endurance
Havok Punch: 7.22 BI / 1.5 secs Activation / 13.5 endurance
"Thunder Strike Bring up BI to a level between Bonesmasher and Total Focus. It shouldn't be Total Focus level because it comes earlier, can disorient and can do an AoE Knockback. When people think damage, they shouldn't just think Energy. Change requires changing some numbers and testing."
-----------------------
Thunderstrike is 7.11 BI of PURE ENERGY DAMAGE. This power is IDENTICAL to Total Focus but it doesn't have the additional 2.2 BI of Smashing Damage. This is more than fair because, Energy doesn't have the attack chain of Electricity. I've played both sets, and without an "external attack" from another powerset (and there aren't too many with 5+ BIs) Electricity can unload a SUPERIOR attack chain for DMG/DPS.
Here we go...
ENERGY
Total Focus 9.88 dmg / 3.3 secs
Bone Smasher 7.22 dmg / 1.5 secs
Energy Punch 5.44 dmg / 0.57 secs
Power Thrust 2.22 dmg / 1.00 secs
Totals: 24.76 dmg / 6.37 secs
ELECTRICITY
Thunder Strike 7.11 dmg / 3.3 secs
Shocking Grasp 4.99 dmg / 1.0 secs
Havok Punch 7.22 dmg / 1.5 secs
Charged Brawl 5.44 / 0.57 secs
Total: 24.76 dmg / 6.37 secs
Hmmm.... that appears to be awfully similar.... duh. In addition, Electricity has ANOTHER attack, Electric Fence, which offers a hold, end drain, 2.7 dmg, and 1.17 sec activation time. Furthermore, Electricity offers Stuns, Disorients, Toggle Dropping, Endurance Drains, nifty holds, etc throughout the lineup. Energy only offers some knock-back and disorient.
At the end of the day, Electricity is the melee king for secondaries. End of discussion. And if you wish to talk some more, please take a look at the incredible utility Electricity has to hold/contain a foe. Are both sets good? Yes. But Electricity can bring it harder than Energy when it comes to melee damage and have BETTER utility with holds/stuns/endo drain.
I don't even want to bother with the rest of your analysis since it is mostly biased opinion and nothing to do with data/stats.
Cheers,
SUN
That's an awful rude manner to correct somone's numbers.
Relax, take a deep breath, grab some coffee, eat some breakfast, and calm yourself. It'll be a long enough day without getting so worked up at 9am (CST).
First off, AR does not need a damage increase. I have one at 50. The problem isn't lack of damage, it's the high incidence of S/L resist. Simply increasing the damage would make it overpowered against enemies that don't have resistance. (Although Full Auto does need to be un-nerfed. 
) Which is why I strongly support carrying over the 30% unresistable damage.
I don't believe we need to "copy and paste" attributes of powers that work to make sets that underperform more attractive. Instead, I think we need to look at the strengths of each set, and make sure they excel at that aspect of damage mitigation. Not everyone wants to play a blapper, and your proposed changes lean heavily toward that playstyle.
For instance /Ice manipulation is "supposed" to be all about soft control, and yet Energy Punch and Bonesmasher provide better control than the /Ice melee attacks. I'd say rather than increasing the damage, increase the slow component of Frozen Fists and Ice Sword. To something like Infirgidate levels, but with a shorter duration. Also replace the Frozen Fists animation with the (shorter) Energy Punch/Charged Brawl animation. Blaster melees shouldn't have long animations unless the effect is truly spectacular (Total Focus, Thunder Strike)
Add -damage to Chilling Embrace, like the tank version. (As far as I know the blaster version doesn't have -damage)
As a control set, /Ice should keep a control as the 9-th tier power. Just a better one than it has now.
Fire Manipulation is supposed to be all damage, so it should do more damage to compensate for the complete and utter lack of damage mitigation. I want my Greater Fire Sword. Make Combustion frontloaded damage like Fireball. Or ditch it. Burn takes too long to activate to use as an "emergency keep away." Unfortunately since most of these powers are shared with tankers, shortening the activation times is not going to happen. In order for /Fire to be fixed, it needs to completely LOSE some of the powers that are direct copies of tanker power. Possibly replace them with similar powers but with effects and animation time appropriate to a blaster. Although a ranged Burn combined with a ranged Hot Feet would probably be considered overpowered. Especially when you combine them with Bonfires from the Fire EPP....then throw in a Firebreath/Fireball....yikes.
/rant on
Blazing Aura flat out does not belong on a blaster. Even if it is marginally useful in a very few cases in PvP, this is still predominantly a PvE game, all this power does is lead to "Looking for respec" spam in Broadcast. All the proposed changes (adding a fear component, etc) just seem painfully contrived. Stop trying to fix a broken bone with a bandaid, and gimme my Greater Fire Sword.
/rant off
I'm in full agreement of making some of the secondary powers ranged. Blaster melees should have an INSTANT noticeable impact. Anything that requires more than three seconds to be effective shouldn't require a blaster to be in melee.
(For the record, my 38+ blasters are /Fire, /Ice and /Energy. The /Fire has a LOT of pool powers.)
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
Well I don't know Electric's numbers and it's been mentioned a bunch of times that the planners aren't always right with the BIs, so all I was saying was that I would like for the numbers to be on par with Energy so that no one thinks of just Energy when they want strong Melee.
If Electricity already has those numbers then just ignore my suggestion to change them. Heck, that helps out my list by cutting it down. So thank you for the corrections. I never doubted that Electric had a lot of melee and that it hit hard, I've seen it in PvE and PvP. All I wanted was to be sure that it was doing the appropriate amount of damage when compared to Energy.
LOl let's just combine a scrapper and a blaster? Who wouldn't wanna see a Regen Blaster? Add the Boost range into ever blaster secondary and be done with it! LOL. Sorry just had to vent and be a lil crazy. I drank too much coffee today
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LOl let's just comkbin a scrapper and a blaster? Who wouldn't wanna see a Regen Blaster? Add the Boost range into ever blaster secondary and be done with it! LOL. Sorry just had to vent and be a lil crazy. I drank too much coffee today
[/ QUOTE ]
coffee and chocolate donuts for me.
heh heh ... wheeeeee!
Try it out. It works wonders when reading the Nerf Blappers thread and following it up with this Fix Blasters thread.
AR/Archery fix:
I said this some time ago when there was a similar discussion of how to "fix" blasters.
These both should have some kind of DoT component as the foe will be bleeding from the successful attacks. It also makes sense [logically]. Maybe that's why it's not in there, hmmmmm.
The only problem with that is some sets don't aloow for DoT. Elec, and Fire and the only ones I know of. Not sure about Ice. But it would be nice for energy. Say an attack like flares would be nice. I've seen Legacy Chain in CoV have "Light Blaster" Their NrG attacks are similar to Fire blasters. That would be a nice DoT to have. Maybe add it too Power Push? I still believe range=defense IMO. It's the best way for a blaster to survive. Give us a Range defense, kinda like acro, and you'd see the end of Blappers. IMO, wouldn't be a bad thing. After you hit 50, we all make PvP builds, and that's where we become blappers again. Especially NrG b/co the disorient factor. That and BS and TF stack in PvP. I dunno about PvE though. I'd imagine they do. Not everyone likes playing a blapper, but it's almost as if we're forced into it. I dunno, that's just my observation.
I've seen the posts about "Bleed" DoT damage before from Scrappers and other people. I don't know if the code to make such an attribute would be easy, which is why I didn't try offering it as a suggestion. It would be a nice idea though. Like I said in my long post, I'm not saying we don't have to try and come up with better, more creative ideas, but if you guys seriously want fixes sometime soon, and by that I mean in a couple of months, then try not to think of animation and/or major code changes that will take close to a year to finally churn out. In case you haven't noticed, Cryptic doesn't necessarily focus all of its workforce to balancing the ATs. There is no "AT Balance Team". They throw these things out when they get a chance. I would LOVE if they stopped with the content and went back to the beginning and started fixing all the little holes and other issues, like buffing our secondaries and adding newspaper style missions, and threw that out as an issue, but it won't happen.
Furthermore, I posted my ideas because that's all they were, ideas, not final solutions. I'm not trying to convince anyone that we should all vote for them. I wanted to just put them out so that if Castle passes through this thread again he'll have some other ideas to consider when trying to buff us.
So let me repeat this again, I would recommend thinking in terms of relatively small, easy changes that include existing animations and codes if you want fixes to come out fast.
Finally, in terms of carrying over the 30% unresistable damage, they'd have to take away our Defiance most likely to implement an idea like that. As much as many would cheer, I doubt they would do it. It's a chunk of code in the game that the Devs are happy with, and they would probably just rather not take the time to take it out. Also, are you wanting just AR and Archery to have this applied to them? Because if so, some people may be jealous if they don't understand why it is that only those sets get it and no one else. Plus, transfering the code from PvP and breaking it to apply to JUST two sets rather than all, as it currently exists, might pose a problem and take some time for the programmers to get right. So think about that.
P.S. We really should ask Castle what some of the basic design rules/guidelines that they follow are when they try to change already existing code within the game to help us out when we come up with ideas.
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Who wouldn't wanna see a Regen Blaster
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I've seen too many. You can't throw a Hellion in Atlas Park without hitting one.
Spines/Regin.
Best...blaster...ever. 
What the heck is this thread doing on page 3??? *punts it back to top*
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I've seen the posts about "Bleed" DoT damage before from Scrappers and other people. I don't know if the code to make such an attribute would be easy, which is why I didn't try offering it as a suggestion. It would be a nice idea though.
[/ QUOTE ]
There's plenty of powers that have DoT. Fire's DoT is a random hit, so it shouldn't be difficult to apply something similar for "lethal" attacks that involve weapon sets like archery and assault rifle.
[ QUOTE ]
So let me repeat this again, I would recommend thinking in terms of relatively small, easy changes that include existing animations and codes if you want fixes to come out fast.
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Yes, I definitely agree. Good suggestion. I think Pilcrow just wants to make sure he gives _Castle_ a good indication of what the "ideal" solution would be before we start negociating for easy-to-do stuff.
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Finally, in terms of carrying over the 30% unresistable damage, they'd have to take away our Defiance most likely to implement an idea like that.
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First off, I don't see why there's even a difference between PvE and PvP in the first place. PvP showed the GLARING effectiveness of a defense-minded build, and so the devs countered with irresistable damage. High level mobs enjoy the same kind of increases in defense/resists as high level players. So why not give Blasters a way to counter that ... especially seeing that Blasters are all about damage, and not about debuffs, buffs, or control.
And yeah ... I'll give up Defiance for that.
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As much as many would cheer, I doubt they would do it. It's a chunk of code in the game that the Devs are happy with, and they would probably just rather not take the time to take it out.
[/ QUOTE ]
The devs live in ignorant bliss concerning the lack of effectiveness of Defiance. Once they figure that out, they'll be more receptive to replacements.
[ QUOTE ]
Also, are you wanting just AR and Archery to have this applied to them?
[/ QUOTE ]
If I understand "this" ... "this" being "Pilcrow #5" which is the 30% irresistable damage code being copied to PvE from PvP....
If I understand Pilcrow #5, it is to be applied to all Blasters; not just Arch or AR.
The "Lethal DoT" idea was one suggested for Arch/AR. I'm not even sure if Pilcrow signed onto that.
[ QUOTE ]
P.S. We really should ask Castle what some of the basic design rules/guidelines that they follow are when they try to change already existing code within the game to help us out when we come up with ideas.
[/ QUOTE ]
He might give us general -- very very general -- guidelines; but I don't think he'll ever come up with cut-in-stone guidelines. The reason I say this is because game designers generally don't want to be limited within guidelines either. And unless there's an actual "game balance" committee, there won't be a list of guidelines on paper.
However, what we can consider is to look at it from a business standpoint:
How much will this change cost?
Will I need to pull a lot of resources to do it?
Can I test the changes easily?
Can I test it easily against other powersets or archetypes to determine balance?
Will alot of customers leave the game if no change occurs?
Will alot of customers leave the game if the change is perceived as unbalancing?
I threw those last two questions in because that is ultimately the question that an executive will consider. And the truth is that people will continue playing the game without changes (because they bought the game in the first place, and paid their subscription upfront in the second place, and spent time on their characters in the third place).
Any change to the game _can_ be viewed in a negative perspective because it changes the product that you've already paid for. So devs have to be very careful with what they change. (or at least ... they should be careful).
You know ... I would really love to find out how many accounts terminated when ED came out.
I can only comment on the elec/ice powerset for a blaster... and in that particular case, I completely disagree with the OP.
My lvl 50 elec/ice blaster is unbelievable.... I still marvel at how good he is. He deals sooo much damage and controls sooo well. The only problem I ever have is against CoT and carnies, but I think thats the same of any AT.
I wouldnt want the devs to change anything of those primaries or secondaries.
My elec/ice blaster uses mostly these:
- 2 holds which stack (Tesla Cage and Freezing Touch)... both are 2-slotted for accuracy. I hold bosses with them... very rarely miss either attack.
- A long-range attack (zapp) which I use to very effectively pull for my team... or to finish of +1/+2 lieutenants who have about 1/3 hp left.
- A great soft control (Ice patch) enables me to solo, or if on a team, enables me to act as controller on small mobs. Almost nothing will resist Ice patch, except those golden robotic arachnids and Elite Bosses/AVs.
- 1 great melee attack (Ice sword)
- 2 great ranged attacks (Charged bold/ Lightning bolt)
- A pet (voltaic sentinel)... a pain to maintain, but still a nice assistant with great dam:end cost ratio.
- Another soft hold (shiver) which is, I feel, overpowered, as the slow effect is crippling to large mobs.
Round all that off with the Force mastery for added toughness to your squishee blaster, and you'll be quite a formidable opponent.
The only ATs that outlive me on missions are Tanks.
But lets be fair... I would expect those to outlive all ATs.
The fact that I'm second in line sounds pretty good to me.
Things elec blasters are advised to do is get BU, Aim, and AoEs for extra damage and endurance drain.
I ignored ALL that... and went more for the damage/controller aspects... My first build had all the AoEs and I died A LOT.
This build controls small groups and kills quickly... but safely and one at a time. I can 2-shot even-lvled lieutenants, and one-shot minions.
And if you still run into a lot of aggro, pop Force Of Nature and you're a tank (well almost: 55% resist to all but psionics) for 2 minutes.
Or PFF (if you have time to pull it off) and run like heck.
The only 'fix' I would recommend, if the devs really wanted to do something, is change defiance.
I think the universal opinion on this is that it's worthless.
I've ignored it for 50 lvls, and Im happy to ignore it until I retire him.
Just not sure what you could replace it with, and to be honest, I've never needed anything to replace it.
But I wouldnt got through the trouble of changing anything for just that.
I say leave well enough alone.
But thats just my personal experience with my one blaster.
OK, I've had a few days, and here's some ideas I came up with.
General Primaries
- Standardize Range:
This would have all single target ranged attacks other than Snipe standardized at 60'. The goal would be to give Blasters the chance to attack from range regularly. As it stands, most sets have to start at the range of their longer attacks and move in, eventually to melee. The changing of some powers, such as Power Burst, would hopefully change this for some sets.
- Change all PBAoE to targeted AoE:
The purpose here would be to allow some sets to have better AoE chains, as well as help the Blaster that wished to stay at range do so. All nukes would be made like Thunderous Blast . This would also be an indirect buff to Electric, giving it more powerful ranged AoE, in the form of Short Circuit.
- Reduce animation times for single target attacks:
The reason Ice is so feared in PvP, other than its holds, is its very quick damage delivery. Speeding up animations, in my opinion, would increase the benefits of range by dealing with rooting, allowing the Blaster to stay on the move.
- Lower recharge of single target attacks:
This would be hand-in-hand with the animation time decrease. The goal would be to give the Blaster enough ranged attacks with short recharges to allow the chaining of blasts.
- Carry unresistable to PvE:
This would help AR/Archery considerably, as well as assisting Energy. The goal would be to help the Blaster sets that are highly resisted. If this were overpowered on other sets, this could applied to AR/Archery only as armor piercing rounds.
General Secondaries
- Replace the most useless power in each scondary with:
Burst
Duration - 15
Recharge - 60
Burst sends a jolt of energy through your system, freeing you from status effects and protecing you from them for a short time.
Basically a Break Free on a timer. Replace Burst/Energy with element/secondary specific terms.
- Move Build Up to be open at level 4 for all secondaries.
Fire:
- Make Blazing Aura a ranged enemy toggle. Raise endurance cost to compensate for the rise in utility. (Pilcrow)
- Add a single Fire Imp at level 35 or 38. Lower any control aspects it may have and raise its damage slighty to compensate. Put it on a 505/240 timer, so that it can be made permanant with six recharge enhancements under ED. (Pilcrow)
Devices:
- Add a small (>15%) -resistance to Caltrops. This would help raise the utility of the secondary many believe made weak by ED, as well as help its most common primaries, AR/Archery, greatly. This could be explained as the small needles injecting subtle toxins into the blood stream of enemies on the 'trops.
- Put Auto Turret on wheels. Lower its HP to compensate.
- Make CD better than stealth. Give it a larger -perception, making the user near invisible. Lower its recharge and endurance cost.
- Give Taser either range or a higher mag.
- Give targeting drone a small damage bonus (20% > 30%), hopefully making up for the lack of build-up.
- Make Time Bomb destructable before the timer finishes.
- Lower the animation and interrupt times for Time Bomb and Trip Mine.
Ice:
- Move Ice Sword to level 2, remove Forzen Fists, put Build Up at level 4, and add Greater Ice Sword in FF's place at a higher level.
- Make Ice Patch ranged, similar to Caltrops.
Energy:
-Leave as is, except perhaps adding Burst, the break free on a timer.
Electricity:
- Make Lightning Field a ranged enemy toggle. Raise endurance cost slightly to compensate for the rise in utility. (Pilcrow)
There you have it. Enjoy, and tell me what you think.
My fixes would be as follows
Assualt Rifle:
It either needs a damage increase, an unresisted component, or aim. I've love to see all 3 but I doubt that'll happen.
Electrical Blast:
End drain needs a rework.
Short Circut needs it's base end drain raised or needs to have it's damage, recharge, and end cost rescaled.
Voltaic Sentinel needs to either be turned into a Power Burst/Blaze/Bitter Ice Blast/Shout clone or turned into some type of Sapper attack.
Energy Blast:
I always looked at Energy as the base line to which other sets were measured.
About the only thing I'd change are the longer rooting animations but we all know the animations are here to stay.
Fire Blast:
I would consider this set to be the base line that other sets are compared to.
Rain of Fire needs a status effect other than DoT. Possibly -spd?
Ice Blast:
The king of PvP primaries.
The animation of Bitter Freeze Ray needs to be reduced or give it higher damage to compensate.
Blizzard... 1 of my 2 complaints is getting fixed with the ability to buff it. It still ends if you faceplant before it finishes.
Archery:
I don't know where to begin other than this set should have never been created.
Same fix as Assualt Rifle... a damage increase or an unresisted component.
Sonic Blast:
Similar to energy with long rooting animations which we know are here to stay.
Devices
Taser needs a rework. A chance for a Mag4 boss Stun or a base -25 End drain could be added. In PvP it should drop 1 toggle 100% of the time.
Cloaking Device was fine before all of the changes to stealth. It needs it's -Perception raised, end cost and recharge lowered.
Time Bomb should be targetable and destroyable.
Auto Turret need to have a slug and flame thrower attack added. When it's destroyed it should have a Trip Mineish explosion.
Electricity Manipulation
I would change only one thing
Make Lighting Field's -End Auto hit. It's damage should still require a ToHit check (ala HotFeet).
Energy Manipulation
Stun should get whatever new animation that it shares with Claws.
Fire Manipulation
I'd make it look like this...
Ring of Fire
Fire Sword
Build Up
HotFeet (Reduce it's End Cost)
Consume
Shocking Grasp Clone (Melee Hold)
Fire Sword Circle
Fire Imp (Pilcrow's Idea)
Greater Fire Sword
Ice Manipulation
Mine...
Frozen Fists
Ice Sword
Build Up
Chilling Embrace
Energy Absorption Autohit PBAoE +Recovery, Foe -Spd, -Rech
Ice Patch (make it ranged like Pilcrow's idea)
Shiver
Freezing Touch
Greater Ice Sword
Currently roleplaying, badgehunting, and laughing at the PvPers of CoX. lol, PvP.
Truedusk - Human Rogue
I have a very simple fix in mind:
Give all blasters a placate ability in their secondaries. Make it a new power.
I believe that an AoE placate power would fix all of my issues quite nicely.
--Mr. Strange
This thread keeps dropping to the second page... it seems like the replies are slowing down. Perhaps someone can start summarizing the discussion and posting a new thread with the conclusions, along with pro- and con- arguments??
[ QUOTE ]
My fixes would be as follows
Assualt Rifle:
It either needs a damage increase, an unresisted component, or aim. I've love to see all 3 but I doubt that'll happen.
[/ QUOTE ]
Pilcrow#5 will give ya unresisted damage. I seriously doubt we can suggest changes to primary powersets given that the Devs are only really concerned with our secondaries.
[ QUOTE ]
Electrical Blast:
End drain needs a rework.
Short Circut needs it's base end drain raised or needs to have it's damage, recharge, and end cost rescaled.
[/ QUOTE ]
Stateman/Castle have mentioned recently that they were taking a second look at endurance drain after they had done the tweaks with the bosses. I wish they told us that they were putting electric's effectiveness back to par.
[ QUOTE ]
Fire Blast:
I would consider this set to be the base line that other sets are compared to.
Rain of Fire needs a status effect other than DoT. Possibly -spd?
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure ... but it does have a very large radius. And when doing indoor missions, the mobs have a very hard time running away from it ... and so the mobs spend a lot of time running instead of attacking. I noticed that when a teammate used rain of fire in missions ... it was extremely effective in dealing damage and semi-preventing the mobs from attacking. A -spd would be nice to keep the chaos in control, but I don't see a reason for fire to make people move slower. Maybe a -def or a -acc is more appropriate.
[ QUOTE ]
Archery:
I don't know where to begin other than this set should have never been created.
[/ QUOTE ]
I think they need to standardize the range of the powers. It's irritating to have a slew of long range powers, and then you have to move in closer to use the short range powers. They also need to fix the animation/activation time. The archer aims so slow, you'd think they were high school students firing their first arrow. This is combat, not an olympic firing range.
[ QUOTE ]
I have a very simple fix in mind:
Give all blasters a placate ability in their secondaries. Make it a new power.
I believe that an AoE placate power would fix all of my issues quite nicely.
--Mr. Strange
[/ QUOTE ]
I agree! I'd love to see a placate type power put in here, but it would have to be a small AoE, like 10 feet radius. I could see the devs making it a Single Target, but not an AoE. And I hughly doubt the Devs would be up for that. But it would be very nice in theory. I am betting that they would perceive it as an overpowering, and something else would have to happen to get it.
pop to top. I couldn't find this post in the first few pages... I actually had to search my own posts just to find where it was. I was afraid it might have been deleted. phew!
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Energy Blast:
I always looked at Energy as the base line to which other sets were measured.
About the only thing I'd change are the longer rooting animations but we all know the animations are here to stay.
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Keeping it to what I have experience with. I rolled a new Archery/* and was amazed at how fast the recharge times for the attack were, for a energy/devices it is not easy to make a decent attack chain without hasten. When you could perma hasten this wasn't a problem, but since this isn't possible anymore the recharge times need to be dropped some.
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Devices
Taser needs a rework. A chance for a Mag4 boss Stun or a base -25 End drain could be added. In PvP it should drop 1 toggle 100% of the time.
Cloaking Device was fine before all of the changes to stealth. It needs it's -Perception raised, end cost and recharge lowered.
Time Bomb should be targetable and destroyable.
Auto Turret need to have a slug and flame thrower attack added. When it's destroyed it should have a Trip Mineish explosion.
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Targeting Drone - Adding a Damage bonus, my selfish side really likes this idea, I'm still not sure how much this is needed though.
Taser - I don't know about the Mag4 hold but give it range and the ability to drop toggles.
Trip Mines - Lower the interrupt time.
Auto Turret - Good ideas, I think part of the problem with making it move is that it doesn't fit in if you are using cloaking device. It will follow you cloaked and agro all the mobs you are trying to toe bomb. Now if it had it's own cloaking device that would be interesting.
I'm not saying it should be just for AR & Archery those are just the two that most logically should have a DoT affect. I'm sure it could be justified for the others as well.
I realize these are just ideas, but since DoT logic exists throughout the game, I would think it would not be that difficult to add to other powers. {I am by no means a professional programmer and defer to any actual programmers as to the ease of this type of change.}
The easiest fix would be an inherent that actually works, since I have never seen Defiance work at all. No I have not purposely run around with very few hit points as I consider that shear stupidity, but the few times that I have been barely alive with my blaster the Defiance bar has been barely active so therefore Defiance does not work in my opinion. If I'm down to 5 hp then my Defiance should be damn near full, not almost empty.
OOPS I'm ranting about defiance again. Sorry.
This was 70 threads deep.
No one cares anymore.
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AR and Archery need to do more damage.
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agreed. heck, they both have that draw-the-weapon delay too. Supposedly the tradeback for all the delays is more damage, but since they've held back ranged damage to "reward" melee damage, these weapon powersets are rather weak because they are both slow and commonly resisted.
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ENERGY
Power Thrust - No change. If an enemy gets into melee the power knocks them back, even moreso with Power Boost which is also in the set. Power fulfills its purpose of melee control.
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I like Pilcrow's (I think) modification to these "go away" melee powers ... make them extreme short range ... that way you can conceivably fire them BEFORE the foe gets to melee
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Conserve Power - Some would say this power isn't worth it because of the recharge time. I don't believe this power should be thought of in terms of taking the place of Stamina or something similar. Slot for Endurance or take Stamina if you have endurance issues. For what it was designed to do it works well. It is a TOOL that allows you to cut the endurance cost of all your powers by half, greatly increasing the amount of things you can activate during a period of time. No change.
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What's the base (unmodified) recharge on this power? I think I remember it lasting 90 seconds ... never bothered to time the recharge.
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Power Boost - Great tool for boosting holds or other effects that one is going to use. It lasts for a good bit and has a descent recharge. Some would argue that it should be permeable, but then we might be stepping into Controller territory. This kind of power should be used with planning before engaging into a fight. If you need to Total Focus a boss for a bit, use it. If you need to hold a Sapper at the beginning of a fight, use it. No change.
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My opinion is that there are not enough "secondary" effects for a blaster to Power Boost in the first place. And since this is in the Energy Manipulation secondary, it doesn't do much to affect the other "more controllery" secondaries ... I mean, I can't Power Boost a Chilblain.
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Boost Range - Great tool once again. Lasts for a few seconds so should generally be used, like Power Boost, with planning. Descent recharge. No change.
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I think the duration should be very slightly longer to allow for more stacked utilities (ie, aim, bu, power boost, boost range)
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Ice Sword Bring up to BI of Bonesmasher. When people thing damage, they shouldn't just think Energy. Change only requires changing numbers and testing.
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Correct me if I'm wrong ... but isn't there a delay in bringing the sword out like the AR and Archery? I definitely think -- higher animation / delay == more damage.
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Charged Brawl Bring up to BI of Energy Punch. When people think damage they shouldn't just think Energy. Change requires changing some numbers and testing.
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I don't think we need to up the BI. However, maybe we can change the recharge rate. It activates fast ... but recharges slow. Maybe 3 secs instead of 4.
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Lightning Field Pretty sure it has minor damage, if not then it needs it. I would also like to make it a Foe Immobilize if it hits. The reason being, if I get too close to someone with a huge field of lightning it should hurt me and the shock should be so great that I can't move for a bit becuase of the blow to my body. You could then have a chance to move back out of melee and retaliate, just like Chilling Embrace allows. Change requires adding some numbers and status effects to power, animation for electric immobilize, which is already ingame and testing.
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hmmm ... electric = immobilize instead of end drain. interesting.
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FIRE
Ring of Fire Standard Immobilize, no change.
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I'd ask for -acc. Sideeffect of "smoke"
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Combustion Bring up BI to a level slightly higher then BI of Fireball. You are in melee and should be doing more AoE damage then an attack which you have at range. Change requires changing some numbers and testing.
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It's either damage ... or more -acc (debuff due to smoke)
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Everyone must remember that this AT requires a LOT of planning at ALL times when playing. It's not EASY mode for CoH. This AT is one of, if not the hardest to learn to play and master.
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I think that's the reason why blasters are full of smart and tactical-minded people. We have to figure out how to survive without defenses.