Standard boardthug advice: if it sounds fun, try it.
I have a strong opinion on the topic. I have deleted one character over level 20, I think, ever. It was a L29 fire/dev blaster.
My other fire/* blasters are fire/ice at 35 and 19, fire/elec at 50, fire/en at 50 . So it's not the primary.
A blaster generally does about 50% more damage (when free to go postal at any time for no reason) than a scrapper using their primary and secondary combined. This is based on almost 150 levels of Force Field defender.
A blaster using their primary ONLY can do, maybe, 10% more damage than a Scrapper. The rest comes from melee attacks, Build Up, etc. - none of which Devices has.
Devices mostly has Trip Mines and Time Bombs, for damage. These take a high-damage-per-second class and add a lot of seconds sitting around doing no damage.
It is possible that two /Dev blasters can get good results by setting one Time Bomb each, in the same way that two Elec/ Blasters can get good results by both using Short Circuit at the same time.
But I didn't stick around to try it.
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
It depends on what you consider painful.
/Devices is excellent both for safety and utility while solo. The trade off is it takes a little longer.
So if your idea of winning is an ADHD + Scrapperlock play style with arriving at level 50 in 2 weeks with all the debt badges then yeah /Devices is painful.
If your idea of winning is precision + skill and arriving at 50 with no debt badges, while enjoying the content on the way, then /Devices is golden.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
"I have deleted one character over level 20, I think, ever."
That's IT?
No wonder I've only got two 50's.
i should have clarified. i'm debating b/w /devices & /mental.
most recent 50 - psy/mm blaster
so far at lvl 26 sonic/devices is pretty decent, but i'm stuck waiting on servers til i can hit 28 and get trip mines!
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It depends on what you consider painful.
/Devices is excellent both for safety and utility while solo. The trade off is it takes a little longer.
So if your idea of winning is an ADHD + Scrapperlock play style with arriving at level 50 in 2 weeks with all the debt badges then yeah /Devices is painful.
If your idea of winning is precision + skill and arriving at 50 with no debt badges, while enjoying the content on the way, then /Devices is golden.
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If I wanted to get to 50 slowly, with no debt badges, I'd solo a tanker.
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
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i'm pondering trying out an assault rifle/devices blaster
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If you've already played the other blaster secondaries, devices offers something different. It manages to keep me interested because of this.
If you're new to blasters, I'd stick to the others for the first taste. Devices will still be there if you ever feel burned out and need something unique to keep you interested.
The Bacon Compels You.
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It depends on what you consider painful.
/Devices is excellent both for safety and utility while solo. The trade off is it takes a little longer.
So if your idea of winning is an ADHD + Scrapperlock play style with arriving at level 50 in 2 weeks with all the debt badges then yeah /Devices is painful.
If your idea of winning is precision + skill and arriving at 50 with no debt badges, while enjoying the content on the way, then /Devices is golden.
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If I wanted to get to 50 slowly, with no debt badges, I'd solo a tanker.
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It's not THAT slow. I figure compared to my fire/fire that it took about the same amount of time to level. The extra time I spent setting up traps or toe bombing was about the same amount of average time that I spent returning to the mission from the hospital after a defeat.
Farming DA with my Arch/Dev it averaged over the career to 35 minutes to fill up the salvage bag. My Fire/EM averages 30 minutes and my Fire/Fire averages 28 minutes. The key with devices is knowing how much damage from the secondary it takes to defeat the spawn in front of you and not wasting a bunch of time being over catious.
Sure a stack of 4 trip mines will blow up an entire spawn, boss included, if you can make sure that you get them all to that spot at the same time.
You can do the same thing with 1 maybe 2 trip mines (depending on the mob's damage resistance and whether you get a critical mine detonation) and your AoEs.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
If you plan on teaming a lot, skip Devices. Many of its powers (Trip Mine, Time Bomb, Gun Drone) are not very good for teaming.
Solo, it's slightly different, but if you wanted a Blaster that solos safely, I'd still suggest /Ice over Devices.
Sonic/Devices is good. I deleted a Fire/Devices and remade it Fire/Electric. That's the only experience I have with it.
The Fire/Devices was deleted in the mid 20's because it just didn't feel right compared to my fire/fire. The Sonic/Devices on the other hand was my second of 4 50's and is still regularly played. It's also my main PvP toon.
I go entire missions without ever taking damage. I solo a little slower than a Sonic/EM, but much safer.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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Devices = no build up.
That is an enormous loss in sustained damage for a blaster. In the old days, before ED, devices made up for this by allowing blasters to 6 slot for damage with targeting drone. Because that is no longer a viable strategy, you sacrifice build up and get very little in return. Yes, devices has some neat powers like cloak and the mines, but overall I'd say it's lacking.
As in all things ever, YMMV.
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Devices = no build up.
That is an enormous loss in sustained damage for a blaster. In the old days, before ED, devices made up for this by allowing blasters to 6 slot for damage with targeting drone. Because that is no longer a viable strategy, you sacrifice build up and get very little in return. Yes, devices has some neat powers like cloak and the mines, but overall I'd say it's lacking.
As in all things ever, YMMV.
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I wouldn't call it an "enormous" loss. Buildup was only good for 10 seconds out of, if you slotted it very well, 30 or 40 seconds. It boosted overall damage while it was active by what, 50%? In reality, if you used it every time it was up, your overall damage output would be increased by 10 to 15 percent. It's not a make-or-break power choice.
Arc ID#30821, A Clean Break
The only problem with defeating the Tsoo is that an hour later, you want to defeat them again!
"Life is just better boosted!" -- LadyMage
"I'm a big believer in Personal Force Field on a blaster. ... It's your happy place." -- Fulmens
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Devices = no build up.
That is an enormous loss in sustained damage for a blaster. In the old days, before ED, devices made up for this by allowing blasters to 6 slot for damage with targeting drone. Because that is no longer a viable strategy, you sacrifice build up and get very little in return. Yes, devices has some neat powers like cloak and the mines, but overall I'd say it's lacking.
As in all things ever, YMMV.
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I wouldn't call it an "enormous" loss. Buildup was only good for 10 seconds out of, if you slotted it very well, 30 or 40 seconds. It boosted overall damage while it was active by what, 50%? In reality, if you used it every time it was up, your overall damage output would be increased by 10 to 15 percent. It's not a make-or-break power choice.
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Build up gives +100% damage for 10s every 90s.
If you take those numbers in a pre-ED build with permahasten, and 6-slot Build Up, you can get +100% damage for 10s about every 25s. +40% damage.
In a post-ED IO build, you need +125% recharge to get it up every 40s, which isn't hard if you're slotting for a few recharge bonuses. In that case, it's overall a 25% damage buff.
And if you're using it well, you're using your high-impact attacks when it goes off and using low-impact attacks while it recharges, so the numbers are probably slightly better than that anyways.
Even without hasten, and only using 2 slots, it's pretty close to 50s recharge. Which would be a 20% damage buff.
Build Up's better than you think it is.
It is possible that MiA custom critters will boost the value of caltrops even higher than they are now. When +1 con Marital Arts bosses can AoE Dragon Tail for 1400+ damage, making sure you never (not even for a second) get into melee rises in value.
Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
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If you plan on teaming a lot, skip Devices. Many of its powers (Trip Mine, Time Bomb, Gun Drone) are not very good for teaming.
Solo, it's slightly different, but if you wanted a Blaster that solos safely, I'd still suggest /Ice over Devices.
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Gun Drone is fairly team friendly, it was less so when it was stationary, and even LESS when we couldn't teleport it, but now that it follows us, it's not too bad - and it sticks around for a fair amount of time. If everyone else on the team is keeping aggro off you - take 5 seconds, summon it, and enjoy the extra DPS. Honestly my only complaint is that I've wasted endurance because my drone killed something before my snipe finished animating.
"My inner mind has become a reality-cracking overgod. He torments me! Help!"
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Devices = no build up.
That is an enormous loss in sustained damage for a blaster. In the old days, before ED, devices made up for this by allowing blasters to 6 slot for damage with targeting drone. Because that is no longer a viable strategy, you sacrifice build up and get very little in return. Yes, devices has some neat powers like cloak and the mines, but overall I'd say it's lacking.
As in all things ever, YMMV.
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I wouldn't call it an "enormous" loss. Buildup was only good for 10 seconds out of, if you slotted it very well, 30 or 40 seconds. It boosted overall damage while it was active by what, 50%? In reality, if you used it every time it was up, your overall damage output would be increased by 10 to 15 percent. It's not a make-or-break power choice.
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Build up gives +100% damage for 10s every 90s.
If you take those numbers in a pre-ED build with permahasten, and 6-slot Build Up, you can get +100% damage for 10s about every 25s. +40% damage.
In a post-ED IO build, you need +125% recharge to get it up every 40s, which isn't hard if you're slotting for a few recharge bonuses. In that case, it's overall a 25% damage buff.
And if you're using it well, you're using your high-impact attacks when it goes off and using low-impact attacks while it recharges, so the numbers are probably slightly better than that anyways.
Even without hasten, and only using 2 slots, it's pretty close to 50s recharge. Which would be a 20% damage buff.
Build Up's better than you think it is.
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The catch though is that it's a 100% damage buff off of base damage. Since most people will have their damage already increased by close to 100% through slotting, the overall increase in damage is 50%, not 100%.
Example: An attack does 100 points of damage. Increase it by 100% through slotting, and the damage is now 200 points. Use Build-Up to increase it by another 100% off of base, and you're adding another 100 points of damage, bringing it to 300 points. Build-Up's increase from 200 to 300 is a 50% percent increase in overall damage output, not 100%. If you can maintain that 1/4 of the time, that's a 12.5% increase in damage.
Significant, but not enormous.
Some people will still find that 12.5% to be the deciding factor, but others may be willing to sacrifice it for other tools in the set. Targeting drone and cloaking device are two pretty unique powers for blasters as no other secondary comes to mind with something comparable. I know that every time I wind up in a map with Arachnos agents and their blinding grenades, I wish I had the targeting drone.
Arc ID#30821, A Clean Break
The only problem with defeating the Tsoo is that an hour later, you want to defeat them again!
"Life is just better boosted!" -- LadyMage
"I'm a big believer in Personal Force Field on a blaster. ... It's your happy place." -- Fulmens
I've got strong opinions on the thrice-damned powerset, but that's only because I've got longtime (read: post-SG fix) experience with /Devices. If you don't, you might find it a fun set. AR/Dev gives you a pair of (now) ranged Stuns in Beanbag and Taser, so you can stack stun bosses. It gives you a pair of what I call "Access Control" powers in Ignite and Caltrops. Very handy. The rest of Devices, I've personally gotten disgusted with. But that's only due to the devs. I remember when Tripmines were, you know, boobytraps. I remember when you could 'port your Auto Turret. I remember all sorts of things. You, not knowing about all that stuff, might have fun with it, so go nuts, baby.
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Devices = no build up.
That is an enormous loss in sustained damage for a blaster. In the old days, before ED, devices made up for this by allowing blasters to 6 slot for damage with targeting drone. Because that is no longer a viable strategy, you sacrifice build up and get very little in return. Yes, devices has some neat powers like cloak and the mines, but overall I'd say it's lacking.
As in all things ever, YMMV.
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I wouldn't call it an "enormous" loss. Buildup was only good for 10 seconds out of, if you slotted it very well, 30 or 40 seconds. It boosted overall damage while it was active by what, 50%? In reality, if you used it every time it was up, your overall damage output would be increased by 10 to 15 percent. It's not a make-or-break power choice.
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Build up gives +100% damage for 10s every 90s.
If you take those numbers in a pre-ED build with permahasten, and 6-slot Build Up, you can get +100% damage for 10s about every 25s. +40% damage.
In a post-ED IO build, you need +125% recharge to get it up every 40s, which isn't hard if you're slotting for a few recharge bonuses. In that case, it's overall a 25% damage buff.
And if you're using it well, you're using your high-impact attacks when it goes off and using low-impact attacks while it recharges, so the numbers are probably slightly better than that anyways.
Even without hasten, and only using 2 slots, it's pretty close to 50s recharge. Which would be a 20% damage buff.
Build Up's better than you think it is.
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The catch though is that it's a 100% damage buff off of base damage. Since most people will have their damage already increased by close to 100% through slotting, the overall increase in damage is 50%, not 100%.
Example: An attack does 100 points of damage. Increase it by 100% through slotting, and the damage is now 200 points. Increase it by another 100% off of base, and you're adding another 100 points of damage, bringing it to 300 points. The increase from 200 to 300 is a 50% percent increase. If you can maintain that 1/4 of the time, that's a 12.5% increase in damage.
Significant, but not enormous.
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We appear to be quibbling over the semantics of "enormous."
At the end of the day, you get a hefty increase to burst damage, and if managed properly, as has been pointed out above, this increase is applied to your heavy hitters. No one puts BU on auto, after all.
A statistically significant (and frequent) increase to burst damage with no 'down time' involved over the course to your entire session adds up to something I am not willing to sacrifice for my blasters.
Again, to each his own.
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Devices = no build up.
That is an enormous loss in sustained damage for a blaster. In the old days, before ED, devices made up for this by allowing blasters to 6 slot for damage with targeting drone. Because that is no longer a viable strategy, you sacrifice build up and get very little in return. Yes, devices has some neat powers like cloak and the mines, but overall I'd say it's lacking.
As in all things ever, YMMV.
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I wouldn't call it an "enormous" loss. Buildup was only good for 10 seconds out of, if you slotted it very well, 30 or 40 seconds. It boosted overall damage while it was active by what, 50%? In reality, if you used it every time it was up, your overall damage output would be increased by 10 to 15 percent. It's not a make-or-break power choice.
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Build up gives +100% damage for 10s every 90s.
If you take those numbers in a pre-ED build with permahasten, and 6-slot Build Up, you can get +100% damage for 10s about every 25s. +40% damage.
In a post-ED IO build, you need +125% recharge to get it up every 40s, which isn't hard if you're slotting for a few recharge bonuses. In that case, it's overall a 25% damage buff.
And if you're using it well, you're using your high-impact attacks when it goes off and using low-impact attacks while it recharges, so the numbers are probably slightly better than that anyways.
Even without hasten, and only using 2 slots, it's pretty close to 50s recharge. Which would be a 20% damage buff.
Build Up's better than you think it is.
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The catch though is that it's a 100% damage buff off of base damage. Since most people will have their damage already increased by close to 100% through slotting, the overall increase in damage is 50%, not 100%.
Example: An attack does 100 points of damage. Increase it by 100% through slotting, and the damage is now 200 points. Increase it by another 100% off of base, and you're adding another 100 points of damage, bringing it to 300 points. The increase from 200 to 300 is a 50% percent increase. If you can maintain that 1/4 of the time, that's a 12.5% increase in damage.
Significant, but not enormous.
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We appear to be quibbling over the semantics of "enormous."
At the end of the day, you get a hefty increase to burst damage, and if managed properly, as has been pointed out above, this increase is applied to your heavy hitters. No one puts BU on auto, after all.
A statistically significant (and frequent) increase to burst damage with no 'down time' involved over the course to your entire session adds up to something I am not willing to sacrifice for my blasters.
Again, to each his own.
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And that's perfectly fine and very understandable. Build Up gives you a good damage boost. It all comes down to personal desire, which can be said about anything in the game. I was just pointing out a problem in the math which was incorrect. If you're posting numbers for min/maxing, the difference between 50% and 100% is ... enormous. 
Arc ID#30821, A Clean Break
The only problem with defeating the Tsoo is that an hour later, you want to defeat them again!
"Life is just better boosted!" -- LadyMage
"I'm a big believer in Personal Force Field on a blaster. ... It's your happy place." -- Fulmens
My advice is Archery/Devices or AR/NRG. AR becomes very good support for teams with Build-Up and Boost Range despite mostly Lethal Damage while Archery does well with some traps, trops, and super accuracy from TD.
I'd go AR/Dev only for RP reasons based on your toon. No Aim, no BU, no Boost Range for your Cone damage and lethal damage is gimpy.
AR/Dev remains a casualty of the Enhancement Diversification nerf Issue. TD should give a Damage Bonus to all AR powers.
Quixotik
"I did not say this. I am not here." -Guild Navigator
I'd like to see TD give a damage boost too. The reasoning could be that with TD, you're able to more accurately place your attacks for maximum damage. A 20% damage boost should be good. While it sounds a bit high, it's really only a 20% boost on base damage, bringing it up to about a 10% boost overall if you slot your attacks in the typical fashion of hitting the ED caps for roughly another 95% damage.
I guess it could be scaled back a little since it does give a significant boost to accuracy, which could let you scale back on accuracy a bit and substitute recharge, increasing your damage output. Also, the perception boost is something that can't be ignored. It doesn't happen often, but when you do come up against foes like Arachnos with their blinding grenades, you can often be crippled during a battle since you can't see your opponents. Yes, you could pop a yellow, but when you're in those missions where those mobs appear, they appear with great regularity, often making you need to pop a yellow very few minutes.
Like I mentioned, one thing about devices is that it does have powers that aren't replicated in the other secondaries. TD is one, the stealth suit is another. Smoke Grenade is slightly unique in that it gives a To-Hit debuff, though not large. If slotted, it could make a noticeable difference if you have defense bonuses from IO sets and the bit of defense from the stealth suit.
Arc ID#30821, A Clean Break
The only problem with defeating the Tsoo is that an hour later, you want to defeat them again!
"Life is just better boosted!" -- LadyMage
"I'm a big believer in Personal Force Field on a blaster. ... It's your happy place." -- Fulmens
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A blaster generally does about 50% more damage (when free to go postal at any time for no reason) than a scrapper using their primary and secondary combined. This is based on almost 150 levels of Force Field defender.
A blaster using their primary ONLY can do, maybe, 10% more damage than a Scrapper. The rest comes from melee attacks, Build Up, etc. - none of which Devices has.
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This is insane. Almost every single blaster secondary attack has a lower DPS than almost every single blaster primary attack. Yes, they provide good burst ST damage (or in Fire's case some early extra AoE), but having them will not increase your DPS by 73%.
As far as ST goes, a Scrapper can out damage a blaster anyway. This is assuming the scrappers lives and doesn't manage to kill his team by proxy (thereby severely hurting damage output!).
If you have Mid's, hit Ctrl+C and you can compare the DPS of various sets.
I agree with some previous remarks, /Devices is very good for soloing. It's a little underwhelming on teams. I love the set anyway. I have only hit 50 on 3 blasters (fire/ice, arch/dev, energy/energy) and the /dev was the most fun, easily.
@Gilia1
I play heroes on Champion.
I play villains on Virtue.
i'm pondering trying out an assault rifle/devices blaster, but i've read both good & bad things about /devices.. should i go for it, or save myself some pain & choose a different secondary?
most recent 50 - psy/mm blaster