15 People

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In the early days of the game, (which you apparently weren't around for), Scrappers couldn't even level as fast as Blasters, because they had no way to stop Runners. Blasters would be standing half a block away, getting kills without moving, and Scrappers would be scrambling around like roaches on a hotplate trying desperately to get in a Killing Blow on a mob that was sprinting across Galaxy City at right around Mach Ten.

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Actually, I've been with the game since a month after release. I joined some time before I1. I never saw this problem with runners. Ever. First of all, unlike now, I don't recall enemies running away almost at all. One per spawn may take off if I were street hunting, but inside missions? Never used to happen on its own, or at the very least so rarely that I have no memory of it. And as far as "means to stop runners," killing them always worked for me. If you're referring to the inability to hit runners in the back, yes, that was annoying. Running just slightly ahead of them, however, allowed me to hit them just fine.

I don't know what the deal was with Blasters. Maybe they were all Hoversniping or something, but I played a Blaster up to 34 before I2, subsequently abandoning him for a full two years after the Smoke Grenade bug got fixed. He's 50 now, after the Defiance changes. I never, not ever, felt like that Blasted did a lot of damage. As a matter of fact, I had to drop my recharge enhancements so that I could pump more damage still into my attacks just so I wouldn't be sucking wind against anything above a minion. The only way, practically, that I could play this guy was to abuse the ridiculous to-hit debuff Smoke Grenade provided.

I haven't been playing Blasters in the time between I2 and I9. I didn't think I liked the AT, and the abovementioned Blaster was the only thing that convinced me to even try. And even then, I couldn't play the, AT ALL past level 40 until the Defiance changes. Were those I10 or I11? Just the same. I have since gotten my only other 50 hero - a Blaster, to sit idly next to my 50 Scrapper.

Far be it from to claim I should know better because I have "a 50." But if my experience going up was any indication, my Scrapper was a smooth ride all the way to 50, and with the possible exception of the crap that were the numerous AV missions back in I2 and I3 that PI contacts, which my Blaster missed, it was easy mode all the way. Even the Soldiers of Rularuu were doable against Super Reflexes, which people vehemently insist cannot be possible. My Blaster, on the other hand, was a trudge through hell, and even the easy patches were an exercise in walking on eggshells. One false move and if I'm not dead right there, I'm already losing fast. I remember an old adage:

When a Scrapper bumps into a boss, the Scrapper goes: "I wonder what's shooting at me. Oh, look, a boss. Guess I'll have to fight longer." When a Blaster bumps into a Boss, the Blaster goes: "Oh my God! What just hit me? Oh, crap! It's a boss! Gotta' act fast!" From everything I've seen, that is precisely how the situation is. On my Scrappers, I can fall asleep on my keyboard and I still won't suffer much. On my Blasters, one slip and I'm in trouble. Just yesterday, for instance, I Alt-Tabbed to check something in City of Data and logged back in to a few Green Ink Men pounding on my Regen Scrapper. I was away for quite a while, so lord knows how long they'd been pounding, but they weren't making any progress. At the push of a few buttons, they went down like a comet.

I honestly don't know where the idea that Blasters are so much better than Scrappers comes from, when for the longest time they actually did LESS damage, even overall. I guess maybe if you spend 1-50 rolling with big, organised teams that can cover for your weakness, then a Blaster will do better, but I've never seen Blasters as a support AT, and as such never believed they should be relegated to being good only on teams. Because outside of teams, my Scrappers move faster, get hurt less and level up more than any Blaster I've ever had, including such using Energy Manipulation.

That's just been my experience.

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

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Last time I checked, though, Blasters were at the rock bottom of performance, which is why they needed the Defiance changes. What happened to make them kings of the world that I missed? Surely it cannot have been the Defiance changes just by themselves. They weren't making my Blasters any more survivable than my Scrappers last time I checked.

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The only problem blasters had was getting slept/held/etc.
Filling your tray with break frees before every mission worked, but it wasn't fun.

Great on teams, but they could just be a pain to solo (unless you had a controller-y secondary like ice).

Regarding Newfiance, being able to peck away at somebody who's got you held is infinitely less frustrating than just sitting there dying.

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Regarding Newfiance, being able to peck away at somebody who's got you held is infinitely less frustrating than just sitting there dying.

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That spoiled me so bad... I was levelling up a new Scrapper recently, and when one of our friendly neighbourhood Anathema slapped a hold and a sleep on me, I kept pressing my attack buttons. "No, wait. I can't do that. Darn!" In theory, cycling weak attacks isn't anything too heart-breaking, but you sure get used to sticking it to the NPCs through their own holds, I gotta' say

I'm also really happy that Blasters have almost Scrapper health these days. They really do need it, and it really does make them feel a lot more like fighters than squishies.

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

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My scrappers barely do any damage when compared to blasters, we're talking like... with the same buffs and everything, a good 200 damage less on an attack chain. Factor in that I rolled EM, so I have access to two excellent melee attacks in Bonesmasher and Total Focus...

Excuse for "damage is less" is that they can't be mezzed as easily. Which is true. It's still pretty sad to find out that, the undisputed "king" of melee damage Hero-side gets outdamaged by Blasters who pick EM.

Kinda understand why I feel gimped whenever I play my Scrappers now, and probably why I've pretty much given up on bothering to IO out my MA. Especially since I primarily play in teams, where a Tanker would take damage better than I would, and a Blaster outdamages me like hell.

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Such absurd exaggeration doesn’t help your point. “Barely do any damage?” feh.

FYI, tanks are supposed to take damage better than anyone else. And blasters are supposed to do more damage than anyone else. Scrappers are supposed to fall in the middle. Working as intended. Except that often it doesn’t, and well-built scrapper at the hands of a good player will become Death, Destroyer of Mobs.

Sure, a good blaster player who knows how to manage their own agro and pick which targets to kill first is going to do just fine and not die a lot. I know, because I’m a good blaster player. But so what? A good scrapper player is still going to be much more effective in melee than a blapper. Unless maybe you’re comparing the best melee blaster AT played by a good blaster player to the worst melee scrapper AT played by a poor scrapper player. And even then I’m going to call “shenanigan” on “barely do any damage.” Feh again I say.

And for crying out loud, if you haven’t IO’d out a scrapper and you compare him to a fully IO’d blaster… well now seriously…

I’m not trying to be snarky here, but really… maybe it’s just you? Maybe you just don’t know how to run the scrapper AT? How to build them, what primaries and secondaries go well together. How to slot them, what enhancements to use. Etc. Honestly, I’m no scrapper expert. I don’t know how to build them or run them. I tried one once and didn’t like it. So by saying “you might not know how to run a scrapper” I’m not attacking you personally, because that statement applies to me too. But there is one thing I do know… and that is that a well-run scrapper can be a screaming, whirling dervish of hot flying death. Because I’ve played with many over the years.