Screw Rad blast

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There's definitely no design rule that says blast sets can't have utility, and I don't think a self-heal is a particularly special form of utility. Heck, corruptors got to keep it.

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I won't be upset if blasters get to keep it, I'll just be very surprised if the devs allow it.

Corruptors get to keep it because they have a buff/debuff secondary, making them a sort of reverse defender.

Why strip the heal out of a primary set in an AT that has a heal in more than half it's secondaries?

Blasters are not known for healing ability (self or otherwise) without dipping into the Medicine pool. It can be safely assumed that since they never have gotten a self heal power built into a set before, that they were never intended to get one.

I will be even MORE surprised if they give Life Drain the Siphon Life treatment.

Also, it is my opinion, based on the layout of the powers, that Rad Blast was intended to be a blaster set in the first place.
My reasoning:

1) It has Aim. Not a strong indication in and of itself, but it adds weight to my case.

2) Set up with 3 ST attacks, one of which is very powerful and short range.

3) A cone attack, in this case a decently damaging one that does knockback.

4) Targeted AoE. A staple of every blast set except Sonic and Dark.

5) A PBAoE. Not a common attack in a blast set, but it has precedent in Electric.

6) A snipe that comes much later in the set. If you look at the 2 sets that seem intended to be Defender-only in the beginning(Dark and Psi), you will notice that both of them get their snipe very early. Rad Blast gets it's snipe much later.

Radiation Blast looks (in power layout) more like Energy or Fire Blast than it does Psi or Dark (which I believe were supposed to be Defender-exclusive)

So why didn't blasters get Radiation Blast from the beginning?

I theorize that, given the way the game was being designed at that point, blasters didn't get Rad Blast because they had no thematic pairing for it in a manipulation set.

Lets look at blaster pairings at launch:

Fire Blast/Fire Manipulation
Ice Blast/Ice Manipulation
Electric Blast/Electric Manipulation
Energy Blast/Energy Manipulation
Assault Rifle/Devices

Sonic and Archery didn't exist at launch, and I think blasters probably only got them so they wouldn't scream that defenders got something they didn't. The lack of thematically paired secondaries lends weight to that as well.

The devs really seem to like pairing powersets up by element, in cases where there is an elemental component. Obviously weapons don't count toward any particular element. Any time there is a pair of sets that share an element within a specific AT, and that set is ported, BOTH sets get ported instead of just a primary or secondary. Fire Melee/Fiery Aura, Dark/Dark, TA/A, etc.

Since they never made a Radiation Manipulation set blasters got screwed out of the set at the beginning because the devs at the time didn't want a set in an AT that didn't have an elemental match.

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Blasters are not known for healing ability (self or otherwise) without dipping into the Medicine pool. It can be safely assumed that since they never have gotten a self heal power built into a set before, that they were never intended to get one.

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First, assuming an AT will never learn a new trick is not a safe assumption. It's equally irrational to say that blasters will never have a mag 3 cone sleep, or psi damage type, or a damage cone in a secondary set, because they didn't have any of those at launch.

Second, I get the feeling blaster is the only AT that some would feel isn't allowed a new trick. Lucky us. All the built-up FUD from PvP stalkers must be gaining a foothold for us to be wringing our hands over the possibility of a 10% self-heal that requires an enemy and a to-hit check. Either that or we're getting confused with World of Warcraft mages again.

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You seem to have missed the part where I said I wouldn't be upset if blasters got the heal. You're trying to argue with someone who is not taking that different of a position than you.

I don't CARE whether or not blasters get a 10% heal that requires a to-hit check.

I'm just saying that based on past history they are unlikely to get it. That's all.

I never once said that a self heal alone would make a blaster overpowered. What I said was that a self heal in combination with other factors has the potential to make a blaster overpowered.

You seem to think I'm against them getting it, when I'm just making the point that it seems improbable that they will.

Edit: I also never took PvP into consideration with any of my posts. It is at most 5% of the game, I was looking at the other 95%.

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I'm really, really freakin' excited about Radiation Blasters. I always thought it was cool on Defenders and have tried several concepts, but they've all failed.

I'm working on my concept now and trolling the Virtue Name Watch for name ideas.

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I have my name already. I'm not going to mention it because I don't have the space to placehold it.

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I hope to see many "Up and Atom!" battle cries, maybe even bonus points for "Up and at them!"

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I dont see the point in rad blast aside from that cool star trek photon torpedo sound effect the snipe power makes. Any kind of debuffs are going to small and not really matter in the big scheme of things once you can start slotting accuracy SOs. Dark wont be good because I know they will make us give up the heal for sure on that one. I could careless about dark pit as the duration to recharge is pitiful already so it would be skipped by me anyways. I think blasters should get some kind of spines/thorns sets with range spikes that do massive toxic damage. That pretty much the only damage type we really need at the moment, I dont count dark because I know they are going to butcher it like they did psi.

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Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator

Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!

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I dont count dark because I know they are going to butcher it like they did psi.

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The only way it will get butchered is if they decide to do a secondary too. You're probably right on losing the heal, but that's about all that's glaringly obvious. Dark Pit might go away so you can't use it with TT for a de-facto (minion level) hold. I REALLY hope they don't pull TT because it's pretty much a set-defining power.

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So this is what it comes down to i think. Powerset Proliferation will continue untill every set that can be ported to an archtype has been. So eventually blasters will see dark blast. That being said, the devs are not going to allow any power that makes dark a game breaker. Ultimately that is decided by the devs. My bet is that most of darks de-facto holds/heals/imob/stun will be removed, or gimped to the point of worthlessness. That is just my guess, like i said before, it will be up to the devs in the end. How much dark changes is going to depend on how the devs view blasters role in coh, and how dark would change that roll.

That being said, i had hoped dark would be ported over this round, allthough I am a little disapointed, i am excited to see how rad fits into the blaster role. I for one am looking foreward to I16 and the changes it will bring ....

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Death Wolf-50 Blaster- Energy/Engery/Force
Gabriel Delane-38 Scrapper- Dual Blades/Willpower

Hidden Shadow-50 Stalker- Katana/Regen/Soul
Lucian Nightwolf-50 Brute- Energy/Electric/Soul

Hero Super Group- Paragon City Maltia

Villian Super Group- Arachnos Legal Division

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You're trying to argue with someone who is not taking that different of a position than you.... I'm just saying that based on past history they are unlikely to get it.

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Well, let me be more clear about my position. I'm saying that based on past history there's no reason to believe blasters are unlikely to get a straight port of the 10% Life Drain. It's not overpowered by any stretch of the imagination.

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Its funny how much speculation there is on this set. The devs have to be VERY careful how they deal with this set as it is likely the most anticipated port for blasters of all of them. I dont think there is any one power they could tweak or remove without making people t'd.

As for the self heal, doesnt anyone play scrappers here? siphon life just got its damage upped tremendously to the point of making it one of the star powers in that set. It got transformed into a power used for damage with a bonus of periodical heal as the cherry on top, vs a heal power that did some damage too. If that power isnt too over the top for the devs, why would it be so out of the question to have something similar on blasters? they could tweak the heal portion and use blaster AT modifier as the reasoning and I doubt people would bawk much. people will bawk if they remove it and leave the set with a tier one and a tier 2 that does DoT and no other ST at all. At least I would, IMO we dont need another elec blast set.

I would think a cone Immob would raise more eyebrows on the dev team then a self heal would. aoe Immob is pretty hard control for a blaster. but here again, WORMS!!! is a star power in this set, and the uproar of its removal would be deafening. So I doubt it would go. I expect the immob duration to be butchered though, but then again I am not sure how the FX would work out- if the immob is brief, the worms wouldnt hang around and that is sorta the point of keeping the power in the first place in the set. I suppose the FX could persist and the immob not if they wanted, lol, imagine a whole mob running around or super leaping onto a roof top or powerlines etc with the worms all around them.

I could see the set not getting aim. assault rifle skips it, and it works fine. not sure what they would give a dark/devices to compensate for no aim/build up though, unless they do the snipe bonus again. I would prefer it not get aim if it would help to preserve its current form.

As for dark obliteration, I could see them putting this in, eighther as compensation for removing the worms (players lose the worms, but gain an easy to use targeted aoe) or possibly instead of dark pit. I do not think they would do that however, unless a power is yanked out to put in a secondary. I am of the opinion we will see a dark secondary, as it wouldnt be such a stretch to make one after creating a dark assault for doms. 3 punches, soul drain, dark consumption, death shroud. that leaves three powers. maybe they will swipe dark pit, or worms, but the first candidate i think would be torrent. I could see them putting cloak of fear in there too, especially if they put death shroud in.

so, i see it like this. powers getting removed is unlikely, but if they do it would be torrent, dark pit, TT, in that order to avoid deafening uproar. so,

dark blast
gloom
dark obliteration(or torrent on dev whim)
moonbeam
aim(or torrent or dark pit depending on dev whim)
night fall
life drain
TT
blackstar

That leaves a good bit in the air, but it really depends on how they come up with a dark secondary. there are no dark single target immob or knockback powers. there is a good possibility the beloved TT maybe become a ST immob to serve as a tier one in a dark manipulation set. so,

1.)TT( as a ST immob, this would remove it from dark blast to be replaced by torrent or dark pit)
2.)shadow punch
3.)smite
4.)build up(if they cop out, otherwise soul drain)
5.)death shroud
6.)this one is up in the air. dark pit, torrent, petrifying gaze, siphon life
7.)dark consumption
8.)cloak of fear
9.)midnight grasp


of course, its all IMO. I just dont see them repeating the catastrophy that was psi blast. people still make threads about its dissapointment. some of this also depends heavily on what they come up with for a dark control set if they make such a thing,(imagine a dominator with dark control and dark assault...try not to overlap to many soft controls there) and also on dark assault for doms. i would not be surprised to see a dark assault set developed first and then a dark manip set from that, with the changes to dark blast thrid with the needed changes made to accomodate balance of the first two sets. in this way they can mess around with balancing a mixxed blast/punch/soft control set with dark assault and dark manipulation to get them right. if something from dark blast gets yoinked to make the dark manip set work, they will do it, and stuff aim or dark obliteration in its place.

the more i think about it, the more I am certain TT will be made into a ST immob for a tier one secondary power. it will be a shame, and cause outrage, but will also cut off a lot of balance issues for the primary, and its easy to replace with dark obliteration. to compensate, torrent will get a minor dmg uppage, when combined with AT modifyer it will be put in line with energy torrent. that way the cones of doom will still exist, to a point. not what people have their dreams based on, but not a total hack job like psi blast was.

in any case, its all speculation for a long while yet. we still have the next round of proliferation to come out before we even get into this one I am going to stop day dreaming about this and go to bed

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Liberty server
Eldagore lvl 50 Inv/ss, co-founder of The Legion of Smash
3.5 servers of alts....I need help.

May the rawk be with you.

Arc #'s
107020 Uberbots!
93496 A Pawn in Time

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I'm saying that based on past history there's no reason to believe blasters are unlikely to get a straight port of the 10% Life Drain. It's not overpowered by any stretch of the imagination.

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Overpowered has little to do with it, IMO. Life Drain is not Blastery. That isn't a death knell for it, every set has something odd about it. I want Aim and I hope the Devs believe in its near necessity as well; the logical sacrifices would be Dark Pit and Life Drain. I'd like to see them both removed and Dark Obliteration and Aim added, but I could see keeping either Pit or Life Drain and just adding Aim.

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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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but I could see keeping either Pit or Life Drain and just adding Aim.

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If they axe Life Drain like I'm thinking they probably will, I'd still like to see it replaced with a ranged version of Follow Up. It would work nicely with the heavy DoT nature of Dark Blast. A constant lesser to-hit and damage boost would fit the set better than the spikyness of Aim. If coupled with a to-hit debuff it would even fit the theme of Dark sapping from your enemy to buff yourself.

Maybe a 12.5% to-hit debuff for 10 seconds on a 14 second recharge that buffs your to-hit by 12.5% and damage by 37.5%. I think that's pretty close to what Follow Up does (minus the to-hit debuff of course)

I'd like to see Dark Pit replaced with Dark Obliteration as well.

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Dark blast is ugly. It's like you are shooting hairy spiders

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wth is wrong with that? Spider Blast/Spider Manipulation. bwahahahaha

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Lord Recluse will be so jealous!

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"I want Johnny Sonata to open his Moon Casino so we can have some damn Wailers on the Moon." - Johnny_Butane

"The vet reward for 1200 months of play is we move the servers into your house." - BackAlleyBrawler

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Dark blast is ugly. It's like you are shooting hairy spiders

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wth is wrong with that? Spider Blast/Spider Manipulation. bwahahahaha

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Lord Recluse will be so jealous!

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Barking Spider Blast!!!

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