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A good idea when searching for team is to "advitice" a little... Just include your "key powers" into the search message...
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I tried that on my defender. I typed in: TA/Archery Defender. Always eager to help. I then played for two hours straight and not a single blind or even a /t (I had the box checked for "Looking for Mission Team" the entire time as well).
I then did some false marketing, and edited my search comment to: Superhealer, yeah, lol, right... and it took less than five until I get a team invite.
So obviously that little trick works.
Although, I can certainly understand why some Empaths have trouble finding a team, 9/10 defenders seem to have Empathy as a primary. I see a lot of concept build ruined by the belief that Empathy is the only Defender set worth taking, just because it can heal a tad bit more (not necessarily better) than the rest.
If you want to talk Lost Defenders, talk about Storm or Trick Arrow.
Dunno, on my empath defender which i recently made i'm finding it quite easy to get teams, athough he is only 16 atm, maybe it gets harder later in life 
thx for the kind words camio.
been following this thread rather closely - as i have recently returned to my empath.
I esp.ly like the 'brown stuff' hitting the swirling thingy device reference. - cos i feel that is compeltely accurate. In a gd team - a healer is more or less icing on a cake rather than, well, flour or sugar or eggs (ie essential ingredients).
I am beginning to see the whole diff - ie healing to buffing change in the game. The 1st 10 lvls are really hard going. Esp.ly with the ever growing tribes of 'wot is debt' noobs. Lvl 10 - lvl 25 - very gd time, but your primary duty is mostly healing, and boy do they need it.
At 30 and above - I am constantly CMing, Forting, ABing and RAing. Now - for every1 who has had the nice blue stuff - aint it gd? I guess the prob is - when an empath is doign his job right - well - results arent spectacular, just less people die. The effects are mostly in the backgrd.
I am hoping there is much more left for the empath to do, as I am now on the cusps of lvl 40! And hav rediscovered the joy of empathising 
Is the empath necessary? prob not. But then again - can u say any AT is truly necessary? The empath adds a nice boost to a team. Think of us as high octane fuel. It keeps your car running more efficiently and smoother. Nice for your car; but not ultimately necessary all the time.
Now here is my plug - I am mostly a reasonable healer (except when I occasionaly, accidently invis the team tank - oops 
) all invites apprecaited - as I am (finally) trying to go for a 50!
See u in game folk.
Pwock pwock pwock!
Cpt Chicken
Indeed i have started playing an empath, because we may not be completly needed in a team, but with an empath you will die less, so get less debt and level faster, but also complete the mission faster and get more xp per minute, also as soon as we have heal other we are already wanted by teams, so it is much easier to find a higher level team and get the xp rolling in, or at least, that is how i see empaths
Not sure about that... Empaths make you die less often... maybe, but any less often than force fielders, sonic defenders, or anyone else?
Make enemies die faster? maybe... they have a few buffs, but kinetics would completely outshine them for damage buffs, and rad/dark would certainly make the enemies die faster than empaths...
So I would have to disagree if you meant empaths do all of the above better than other defenders, IMO... at low levels empaths really do shine, maybe because heals are more needed, maybe because teams are less skilled. You will have no argument from me that empaths are the most valuable defender ever on bad teams 
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Indeed i have started playing an empath, because we may not be completly needed in a team, but with an empath you will die less, so get less debt and level faster, but also complete the mission faster and get more xp per minute, also as soon as we have heal other we are already wanted by teams, so it is much easier to find a higher level team and get the xp rolling in, or at least, that is how i see empaths
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lol!
Way to try and pimp empaths as being able to get you more xp per minute.
In a decent high lvl team empaths aren't nearly as good as other defender primaries, CoV has helped towards showing this by the lack of the powerset completely and yet people survive just fine.
If an empath isn't healing, he's forting and RAing. Other than that there isn't much to do.
Other defender primarys buff/debuff and most have a backup heal to throw in as well.
Amen to that.
At around lvl 35+, I only really want an empath for clear mind to be honest. Id rather have any other defender in team. At this point, if a team need a lot of healing, it simply isnt a good team. Again, all IMHO.
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Amen to that.
At around lvl 35+, I only really want an empath for clear mind to be honest. Id rather have any other defender in team. At this point, if a team need a lot of healing, it simply isnt a good team. Again, all IMHO.
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at level 50 i'd rather have an empath over other defenders hands down unless its a specific player. in my experience an empath isn't too hard to play, whereas other defense primaries need to be mastered to be effective
Hmm... quite different to me, I'd rather have any defender but an empath... maybe maybe empaths are easy to play... but seening that in the typical 3+ empath teams (there are more of those out there than you think) it is still impossible to get clear mind on a somewhat regular basis the empaths I meet usually (with very few exceptions) aren't very useful for the team.
Nore so since 90% of the empaths don't have any attacks either and are sidekicked 20 levels higher than they really are.
I can see people skipping most of the attacks if they really want to keep up all the different auras and buffs but if people don't use them it fast becomes just a bad excuse to get experience with minimal effort...
(Sorry for the rant... Just ticks me off sometimes...)
Id agree that in bad teams empaths outshine nearly anything. I just dont want to play in bad teams tho...
Just from first prinicples, empaths are worse in big teams... if you go for the principle that AoE > Single target in big teams, (and of course single target > AoE in small teams), Empath has the most single target effects of any defender group - IIRC only one AoE in the whole set. Compare that to radation, with only two single target effects (Mutate and fallout)... With this principle, in a good team, of larger size, empaths will always be less valuable.
I personally if looking for a defender just need someone who has a shield next to their name, whose priorities are not being a second rate blaster and nothing else because any would do. If people are deliberately not having an empath in the team for any reason or specifically looking for an empath for any reason i am just going to find that weird or put it down to how stonetankers with kinetic defenders are all the fashion atm.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
Hmmm... don't get me wrong there, the only time I'd not take a defender with empathy is when there are already like 2 in the team (mainly because most don't really have attacks and add very little to the team at that time)
Defenders are always welcome, empath or not.
Whats this against defenders blasting tho? If I have spare end, the tank is grabbing aggro (so I'm not going to go down in a blaze of fire), and my debuff toggles are up, what is stopping me firing off a few shots? It may be only 66% of blaster damage, but better than than nothing surely?
I cant see a problem with defenders attacking under certain circumstances. Perhpas empaths need to be more alert, but playing my rad, if the debuff toggles are up, its blast / hold / sap time (if end >50% and im not gonna get aggro).
Im actually realising that although I like storiy arcs and such Im missing them all as my emp. This sucks but I kinda give up on it now. He is behind now with leveling or maybe I would have tried harder to get a 50 froend to help me.
I often wondered why my defender friends especially empaths didnt get mmuch of their missions done. I think I know why. It does appear to be harder.
my opinion, if ur gonna do an empath u have all empath powers. if ya dont ur not an empath lol
all the powers r neeeded.
@Flange
Defiants one and only flange
232 badges
Lui - lvl 50 energy/energy blaster
AuroraPB - lvl 50...PB
Amoeba - lvl 35 Granite/Fire
Zombie Russel - lvl 30 Katana/Invul
Kamigawa - lvl 25 Katana/Super reflexes
Salizar - Fire/Rad ( in the making )
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my opinion, if ur gonna do an empath u have all empath powers. if ya dont ur not an empath lol
all the powers r neeeded.
@Flange
Defiants one and only flange
232 badges
Lui - lvl 50 energy/energy blaster
AuroraPB - lvl 50...PB
Amoeba - lvl 35 Granite/Fire
Zombie Russel - lvl 30 Katana/Invul
Kamigawa - lvl 25 Katana/Super reflexes
Salizar - Fire/Rad ( in the making )
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Absorb Pain and Regeneration Aura aren't essential.
And please sort out your sig.
newsflash. They are not all needed and as to which ones are depend entirely on players tastes and styles. The now legendary Absorb Pain debate is a great example. I dont like it and couldnt conceive of using it. Yet some players love it and use it to great effect.
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my opinion, if ur gonna do an empath u have all empath powers. if ya dont ur not an empath lol
all the powers r neeeded.
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Actually, you can make do with minimal powers from empathy, even healing aura (ZOMG spam heal!) is actually pretty pointless. (imo anyway)
I find that;
Heal other, fortitude, Clear mind, Recovery aura and adrenaline boost are the only powers 'needed' in empathy, the rest are just nice additions to your repertoire. You could even scap all that and say that with recovery and regen aura the other powers are a tad redundant.
*shrug*
Empathy has had it's day, and people are finding that, shockingly, the other defender primaries are actually alot more effective, and alot more useful. Empathy is still amazing, but it can't compare with kinetics, rad or dark for all round usefulness, or storm for all round flashyness/defending ability.
Empathy has to wait for the team to recieve damage before it can come into full swing, as it's buffs are on a fairly long recharge, and can't be counted as part of a 'chain', unlike kinetics, for example, which is always busy at all times with buffs/debuffs, control, attack.
..maybe i'm just bitter and bored with my empath tonight >_>
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my opinion, if ur gonna do an empath u have all empath powers. if ya dont ur not an empath lol
all the powers r neeeded.
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Actually, you can make do with minimal powers from empathy, even healing aura (ZOMG spam heal!) is actually pretty pointless. (imo anyway)
I find that;
Heal other, fortitude, Clear mind, Recovery aura and adrenaline boost are the only powers 'needed' in empathy, the rest are just nice additions to your repertoire. You could even scap all that and say that with recovery and regen aura the other powers are a tad redundant.
*shrug*
Empathy has had it's day, and people are finding that, shockingly, the other defender primaries are actually alot more effective, and alot more useful. Empathy is still amazing, but it can't compare with kinetics, rad or dark for all round usefulness, or storm for all round flashyness/defending ability.
Empathy has to wait for the team to recieve damage before it can come into full swing, as it's buffs are on a fairly long recharge, and can't be counted as part of a 'chain', unlike kinetics, for example, which is always busy at all times with buffs/debuffs, control, attack.
..maybe i'm just bitter and bored with my empath tonight >_>
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No I wouldnt say empathy has had its day. Just that people woke up that its not a must which is good. Although Im finding an increasing amount of layers not picking them in teams to prove a point. That is what bothers me.
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my opinion, if ur gonna do an empath u have all empath powers. if ya dont ur not an empath lol
all the powers r neeeded.
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In my opinion:
1) FIX YOUR SIG cause is getting annoying to have to delete from quoting all the time.
2) Empath can be made a switch build easily by remonving healing powers and using only buffs past level 32-35,or retain empathy and focus to heavy buffing which is what most people do. It all depends on what you want.
Whoever says you need all powers to be an empath obviously doesnt have a clue about empathy. I dont have all Empathy powers You cant seriously claim i am not an empath
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No I wouldnt say empathy has had its day. Just that people woke up that its not a must which is good. Although Im finding an increasing amount of layers not picking them in teams to prove a point. That is what bothers me.
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To be honest, all defenders have always been, and always will be, a useful addition to a team, even trick arrow has its uses. Empathy has always been a funny powerset with me, we have such a love/hate relationship!
I first played a dark/dark defender, but, after 100's of 'heal' being shouted at me and 'are you a heal0r!11" /tells, gave up in the early days in favour of empathy.
I'm finding that these days, as you say, alot of players are turning down empathy in favour of other power sets to prove a point (we dont *need* an empath etc) and it's all swings and round abouts, maybe empathy isnt very fashionable these days, but it still is amazing, as I said, but, it isnt the big green gem it used to be, especially post ED.
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my opinion, if ur gonna do an empath u have all empath powers. if ya dont ur not an empath lol
all the powers r neeeded.
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Actually, you can make do with minimal powers from empathy, even healing aura (ZOMG spam heal!) is actually pretty pointless. (imo anyway)
I find that;
Heal other, fortitude, Clear mind, Recovery aura and adrenaline boost are the only powers 'needed' in empathy, the rest are just nice additions to your repertoire. You could even scap all that and say that with recovery and regen aura the other powers are a tad redundant.
*shrug*
Empathy has had it's day, and people are finding that, shockingly, the other defender primaries are actually alot more effective, and alot more useful. Empathy is still amazing, but it can't compare with kinetics, rad or dark for all round usefulness, or storm for all round flashyness/defending ability.
Empathy has to wait for the team to recieve damage before it can come into full swing, as it's buffs are on a fairly long recharge, and can't be counted as part of a 'chain', unlike kinetics, for example, which is always busy at all times with buffs/debuffs, control, attack.
..maybe i'm just bitter and bored with my empath tonight >_>
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mmmm where to begin....maybe power boost+fort, clear mind RAs? not much mroe to say really 
i cant be bothered putting up a real argument, empathy rocks and will always will
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my opinion, if ur gonna do an empath u have all empath powers. if ya dont ur not an empath lol
all the powers r neeeded.
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In my opinion:
1) FIX YOUR SIG cause is getting annoying to have to delete from quoting all the time.
2) Empath can be made a switch build easily by remonving healing powers and using only buffs past level 32-35,or retain empathy and focus to heavy buffing which is what most people do. It all depends on what you want.
Whoever says you need all powers to be an empath obviously doesnt have a clue about empathy. I dont have all Empathy powers You cant seriously claim i am not an empath
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very true, but all the powers are nice im even considering....shock horror...dropping ressurect but thats just cos i only pvp with my empath
All defenders (in fact all toons, except maybe rad/energy defenders *shudder*) rock... its whether empaths rock more than other empaths...
I dont think they do at all
mmmmm Leadership pool on defenders
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Stacked leadership pool
Just look at MM heavy teams in CoV where they all take leadership pools (and this is less effective than defenders IIRC)... ripping through mobs....