No doubt, Barata, life is pretty good for the opportunistic, hovering Blaster.
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What? You're comparing scrappers to blasters?
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I can make comparisons to other ats that was the one that came to mind. The original point here was do blasters have a mid/late game slump. The only way to answer that is with a relative comparison.
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let's say you didn't hold the boss at first and he held you. It shouldn't be a problem. You still have up to three attacks you can use. Also, even if you don't hold the boss,
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Uhmm yes you do have 3 attacks thats what I used to generate my numbers.
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Shivered him or layed down an ice patch, both of which would greatly cut back on how much damage he outputs. Chillblain would cut that back even further because if its -recharge
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If you shiver first on a spawn its boss + and or (minions and lts). If you lead with it you take the alpha, and have to deal with more enemies which undoes much of the mitigation from shiver. Icepatch certainly will help with the minions, but given the duration and the duration of the boss battle its something of a push. You don't have to deal with them while fighting with the boss,but have to deal with them immediately after.
If you go into hover mode you have the mitigation of only ranged attacks hitting but that is offset by having the non boss enemies pelt you with their ranged attacks.
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I was the Empath on an 8 man PUG recently and one Blaster constantly kept rushing into melle range and faceplanting. Aparently she had a couple of close range attacks she considered her best. Problem was we were tackling mobs on INV and even the minions were conning purple so I couldn't heal her fast enough to prevent her defeats.. at least not without letting the entire rest of the team die. Funny part was she never complained, never grumbled, or anything else. It was as if that was HER way of playing and she accepted constant dying as a part of it.
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I played with a blaster just like that once. I said something about it (I was playing on another blaster, so it was no skin off my nose, I was just curious.) He told me that as far as he was concerned he was always going to die anyway, so there was no point in worrying about it. He'd just do as much damage as he could before it happened.
He seemed to be okay with that, not really interested in learning anything to keep from dying so much. He was convinced it was impossible. (Even though I wasn't dying frequently.)
It was stuff like that, actually--I saw stuff like that a few times--that convinced me that, against all forum wisdom, blasters really were underperforming before the Defiance change. Haven't seen it in a while, but I haven't been playing all that much in a while either (until the last week or so.)
Anyway, Blasters do seem to start out really strong compared to other AT's, to me. More attacks, and the differences in defenses haven't really come into play yet. I've always thought that up to level, I don't know, 25 or so, Blasters are actually a little overpowered compared to others.
But then yes, that does change. The other AT's catch up, they start getting more attacks and damage themselves, while blaster damage isn't increasing as fast. They get their defenses and such slotted up. So there's a relative decrease in power compared to where the balance was in lower levels. In my experience.
But that doesn't mean blasters completely crap out or something. They're still powerful. They're still more fun. Scrappers? Meh. Boring.
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I know there are certain tactics that will keep ablaster alive longer, but when you compare apples to apples as far as surviveability, dont the other AT's do much better as most have a higher form of protection/defense against damage types?
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Other AT's, especially the melee AT's, do have a lot more survivability at the higher levels. Especially if what you're talking about is "automatic" or "passive" survivability. That's part of what you sign on for when you play a blaster.
But Blasters have enough survivability to do the job. You might have to work a little harder at it, that's all. Again, part of the deal.
I solo blasters all the time, at all levels. I find it more enjoyable than scrappers or tankers, and it's probably because of the relative fragility that I do. Not that I'm an uber player, because I'm not at all. But even a schlub like me can take a scrapper and just barrel through missions without even thinking about it, and live through it most of the time. I have to work at it a little with my blaster. I like the sense of danger, I guess. Or something.
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He seemed to be okay with that, not really interested in learning anything to keep from dying so much. He was convinced it was impossible. (Even though I wasn't dying frequently.)
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I hate this attitude. PArt of it's the I1-I4 culture (when you're 300 times more fragile than the tank you will die often and for no reason) and part of it's the learned response to the midlife crisis.
When you all of a sudden do the same thing you always did and you die fifteen times in a row, you get the Fear. One response to the Fear is to stop playing that character. One response is to get very, very cautious. And one response is to go into battle assuming yourself dead, like a samurai. It's hard to get "just cautious enough" and "just crazy enough" in the right blend.
I started my Force Field defenders to give Blasters a break from the Fear.
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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What? You're comparing scrappers to blasters?
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I can make comparisons to other ats that was the one that came to mind. The original point here was do blasters have a mid/late game slump. The only way to answer that is with a relative comparison.
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let's say you didn't hold the boss at first and he held you. It shouldn't be a problem. You still have up to three attacks you can use. Also, even if you don't hold the boss,
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Uhmm yes you do have 3 attacks thats what I used to generate my numbers.
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Shivered him or layed down an ice patch, both of which would greatly cut back on how much damage he outputs. Chillblain would cut that back even further because if its -recharge
[/ QUOTE ]
If you shiver first on a spawn its boss + and or (minions and lts). If you lead with it you take the alpha, and have to deal with more enemies which undoes much of the mitigation from shiver. Icepatch certainly will help with the minions, but given the duration and the duration of the boss battle its something of a push. You don't have to deal with them while fighting with the boss,but have to deal with them immediately after.
If you go into hover mode you have the mitigation of only ranged attacks hitting but that is offset by having the non boss enemies pelt you with their ranged attacks.
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Fighting crime is never easy. 
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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Post deleted by cybrstorm
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Why the heck do people keep doing this?!?!? 
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The thing to remember is when mezzed its only your tier 1 and 2 on the primary, and tier 1 on the secondary
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Yeah, I'm "stuck" with Ice Blast, Chilblain, and Ice Bolt, so please mezz me.
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"it's really not that bad."
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It's actually pretty damn good, if you ask me.
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That'll play havoc on a mob's recharge rate. If you're hovering, you'll stay hovered even while mezzed, which means you're away from melee damage. A hovering blaster, with a -fly power like Chillblain, has it pretty nice.
I was bringing up a new sonic/ice blaster and my mission was against crey. I was hovering and got hit by those Cryo Tanks. They have those little 1-second sleeps that would normally make me drop to the ground, at which point the Voltaic Tank would run up and do their two heavy-hitting melee attacks, killing me. That was when I discovered that the changes to toggle powers let me continue hovering. Even when slept, I kept hovering out of their range, hitting them with sonic attacks and chillblain, debuffing their resistance and recharge rate.
It was almost too easy. What a big change from a couple years ago.
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