I'll agree with Stalk_obot here. My only ever problem with AR has been the gun itself and the drawing. OK, lethal damage is resisted well, and it is possibly the power set with the most droppable powers but on the whole it seems to have a decently melded attack chain and there are some powers that are worth sticking with the gun for.
My two cents worth.
"Pride is all well and good but a sausage is a sausage"
For Lent I gave up...
Hope
totally totally agree have AR/eng at lvl 35 myself and in a team he truely is awesome.
boost range as you say makes the cones bigger better and badder, i've played fire, ice and energy and no doubt in my opinion AR dishes out the most damage in a team Build up and cone things to death in every mob.
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Various comments of "I thought AR sucked?"
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Ditto, lock and load people, lock and load....
Good damage per endurance and has good recharge and so good in terms of dps and attacks to an end bar. My AR/dev is still on brink of not needing stamina but thats cos i play with 2 travel powers on at times.
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.
AR/En ftw. Got one at 29, already got a mini-nuke with BU-Flamethrower-M30-Buckshot, can't wait for full auto to really hit hard!
I am the Blaster, I have filled the role of Tank, Controller and Defender
Sometimes all at once.
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AR is a good set waiting to happen, it just suffers from not having aim, dealing mostly lethal damage and having monsterous animation times. IMO The fact that its often paired with devices for themeatic reasons (leaving you with no aim OR build up) leads to the whole 'AR sucks' thing. I always felt that it was devices that was letting me down on my AR/Dev. Oh, and waiting 9.5 seconds to use 2 powers.
Think the biggest problems I have with my AR/Ice these days are caused by the rooting animations combined with DoT. Nothing like clicking on Full Auto and realizing that no-one else actually has the aggro from the group. Otherwise it's a fun toon. Suffers a bit if dealing with teams that have large amount of KB going on, but that has more to do with the choise of secondary than primary to be honest 
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AR is a good set waiting to happen, it just suffers from not having aim, dealing mostly lethal damage and having monsterous animation times.
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Got to love those small bits of blatant irony lol
Teambased, AR is a very nice set to play with, since you can risk the delays of the draw/root/animating times. I'm playing a AR/ice set currently at nearly 38, quite enjoyable but stil with some drawbacks.
Main issue is the redraw whenever u use any other power outside the AR (Bu, medicine, any power of secondairy etc), this can be dangerous annoying. (imm/hold, burn, bu, burn, snipe). Solo i can play pretty safe, but its not one of the fast sets around (specialy compared to my ice/nrg). Next up is the animation times, Fullauto and flametrower are sometimes dangerous long if you miss a mob. (A rikti boss dont need 3 seconds to get near you, grab his surfboard and swoop you).
But its a Gun, a lovely gun with lovely sound and lovely powers. If you can cope with the drawbacks, team alot and dont be yalours at the 'big blasters' (this doesnt include nrg primairy...), AR is very nice to play.
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I love AR, it's the gun model used I hate. But the set counters that by being great fun to play
well i have to say... counter to what everyone else seems to agree on... I have all of 2 AR blasters.. which i REALLY tried to make work.. AR/Dev.. and AR/nrg... bottom line is.. it doesn't work.. AR is just not that good.. way too slow.. and not enough dmg to compinsate for it..
the only reason to pick AR... is roughly put.. the looks of it.. there is something quite enjoyable about laying down massive fire with a big bad gun! but game mechanics make AR one of the weaker blaster sets.. if not THE weakest..
true u can use ur BU/flamy/FA on every mob.. and that's great.. but using ONE nova to whipe out everything every OTHER mob is quite alright as well.. but god forbd a boss aggro's on you... even if u beanbag/stun/taser/whatever.. u will not do nearly enough dmg to kill before he's up... thanks to ur fantasticly slow attacks.. and when he IS out.. he will be in melee range after every single one of ur attacks.. cuz ur just standing there..
mildly put.. AR would be AMAZING.. if it were faster animations.. but as is.. it's just not worth it.. anything else would be better (with the exception of archery
that's my two cents
its not a solo set, its sucks for soloing as its all AOE, on a 8 man team and around lvl 35 an AR/EM will mob kill faster than anything other than a fire/fire in mental AOE spec.
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AR is not a bad set but you would of noticed that the nerfs hit harder on the AR/Devs blaster. While both sets are very good after ED the AR/DEV blaster got a kick to the balls that was just uncalled for on the damage stakes.
Infact the only reason I have not got rid of Sharp Shot is because he was my 1st toon to 50. But he now never gets played as he is just not as much fun as he used to be.
While pre-ed I could solo pretty fast and was a boon to teams for all me long range high Acc DPS with Debuffs. But after ED I found that my DPS shot down to laughable. And my main AEO attacks did nothing but make me number one target to every mob. While I still think ED was much needed I also still think that AR/DEV got shafted harder than any one else out there.
But saying that I think a little work on animation times of AR and maybe the inclusion of a AIM skill or maybe even a Build UP skill in devices would fix the set. 
It does lack agility. When duoing with a Fireblaster the conditions required for eachother to perform safely on Invincible were different. Its kind of hard to explain but the size and type of mobs that we faced was one where the fireblaster had it easier due the action times being short, they could AoE and move using movement and the environment for survival and be cutting down overall fight duration with a faster chain. AR needed a bit more forethought, it is a bit of a shame you cant move with it even after a tiny period of being immobilised. I believe it has the highest action time count of all blasters and its exaggerated even more by its great recharge time of autofire and flamethrower. With no controller or tanker i see this as a bit of a problem in PVE. In PVP i wouldnt use these powers anyway cos the damage per end wouldnt be worth it nor risk and the bread and butter attacks are usually better as people dont huddle.
The action times are probably due to aesthetics and then the set is balanced in other ways around it but whether or not the set is balanced for extra "immob to self" i dont know.
I haven't all of the AR powers to find the agility in it when needed but i doubt Ignite and M30 would change my thoughts much.
Being an AR/Dev isnt too bad due to caltrops though and possibly AR/ice with ice patch but I'd imagine the others being more difficult to combine and work well.
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.
Here experience from a 39 AR/ice.
As said earlier, you like AR or you dont. Its a huge (for some ugly) gun with lovely sounds and a insane "DODGE THIS" powers.
Each secondairy has some use to the AR set, but often only usefull in certain cases. Ice is great for solo, although slow, ice patch with nonstop ignite can even take down +4 bosses. Imho the true power of AR is 'watch, aim and kill'. I've been teaming the past 2 lvls with a PB called Dio., a very nice player and often in a full team. Having 2 kin's and a rad, we're talking big damage here.
Tank goes in, BU flametrower, walk back and Full Auto. Most cases only the bosses remain, or lowish health LT's followed up by a snipe to the boss. No need to run in, no need to be close. Overal my FullAuto is up at least 1 time per group, often it was up even 2 times. Burst and slug help alot for runners, beanbag awsome for a quick stun. Ice patch below you to keep possible aggro at range.
Solo, it just takes a bit longer. But compared to my nrg/ice, the AR/ice actualy can do it faster. Having ignite (OMG BURN!!!) makes the difference. Imm 1 mob, hit ignite and continue with the other mobs, most cases the mob goes down in 1 ignite. But, having a set like NRG or Elec will come in handy often, the huge damage they do makes it faster to whipe out maps solo. Adding the later Epic munition, giving a good AR hold and a ranged AoE snipe
But again, you like it or not. In a good team the damage is awsome, solo is quite doable but very depending on secondairy. (i havent tested /devs, but i asume the balance comes in the mines and that turret).
Overall, its stil the draw/rooting/redraw that makes AR less wanted. With /ice its very doable, ice patch helps alot and the hold power compensate alot (bit buggy). Its not the high-damage dealer like fire/ ice/ or elec, but its a lovely set to play with, this toon definiatly will reach 50.
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let me tell u why AR and Dev go best together imo... as powerful as AR can get dmg wise with BU... the problem with any other secondary set is that after u use a power u have to redraw ur AR... which is just an extreamly slow process (I hope they change that soon) BUT with dev (given u play it right) u plant the mines throw the smoke grande place the turret all b4 actually attacking... which means once the fight brakes out.. u never have to "redraw" the gun.. just keep it out there... and keep blasting and moving from mine to mine.. bosses are no truble either solo... do not try the imm ignite thing... just not worth the risk... rather place LOADS of mines, draw with snipe and make the boss step on em.. bye bye boss.. no risk to you...
Soloing with AR/dev is the safest way a blaster can go.. in teams ur dmg output is hurt badly by the lack of BU but timebomb is a riskless nuke if the team will let u place it.. smoke grenade/claok will let u get close enough most the time..
but all in all... I'd say AR is a weak set.. as all the above tactics would work even better with something like fire... or ice... or pretty much anything other than AR.. but if u must go AR... dev is a very valid secondary..
Dont pin me down on it, but isnt the /dev stun power (2nd tier?) already a 'redraw' power? I think the problem with both AR as Dev, once they buff up 1 of these sets, they might become overpowered when played with a different primairy or secondairy.
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AR is a very nicely rounded up set for PvE and while its not as powerful as some other sets the fact that you can dish out some nice BBQ's witht he flamethrower (Standard paragon issue flamethrower that toasts a sausage in under 15sec) and u can also tear down any local super market with Full Auto while yelling "NEXT TIME I WANT BEER WITH ALCOHOL B**CH!!" makes it insanely fun.Yes it can use Aim or BU or maybe some dmg buffing love.
For PvP well i wont go much into it but having made the trip to 400PvP reputation with an AR/Dev that doesnt do telemining pretty much says it all.Yes its not an ice/nrg or some other straight forward ownage blaster but can easily spread fear in the whole zone with the unmarked shots and unlogged damage and the 2 shoting of everything except Brutes.
A very nice set to play imho AR that is highly disregarded just based on rumours.
pah greek, your AR has no dmg enhances in it and is range/acc maxed out ;P
u go pve and ure p00ned beyond belief 
oh and the pvp rep, using defiance 100% hepls with that :P
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In a good team the damage is awsome, solo is quite doable but very depending on secondairy. (i havent tested /devs, but i asume the balance comes in the mines and that turret).
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AR's not bad, personally I don't think it works too well with the dev secondary. You get no build up or aim, you do get the targetting drone though which saves on accuracy slots if you want to risk it dropping when a sparrow farts in the field next door.
Mines are very useful, my AR/Dev blaster would be lost without them though it takes ages to lay a half decent minefield and teams don't usually want to wait...not a problem if you're soloing of course.
The turret I find completely useless - it's a stationary uncontrollable pet which can't be tp'd and does hardly any damage. Makes a reasonable distraction but no use to me.
and it takes 4 seconds to plant the autoturret as opposed to the insta turrets of the malta (which are significantly more durable)
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The problem I have with AR is the DoT. Because you don't kill your target straight away as you do with a nuke, you'll get a lot of aggro and take more damage for the mobs unless you have a great tank of course.
Essentially you can off all the minions and depending on the enemy group the lieutenants as well with a build up+flamethrower+full auto combo. It'll definitely get them all if you're buffed ina team and you can do this every mob not every so often like those other 'nova' blasters. The real skill is in positioning yourself and selecting the correct target so your cone covers the entire mob.
What AR/En does about bosses is something you have to learn and gets much easier once you can give up 'Stun' which has a painfully slow animation and just use Total Focus which is stun and massive damage. Any danger mobs you want to take out of the game like lethal resistant warwolves you hit with a beanbag and bosses are to be pummeled with /En punches to maintain a stun that lets you take them on with relative safety.
It also makes it possible to solo Elite Bosses quite comfortably with the right inspirations so I don't think that's so bad.
AR/Ice is my current blaster fave, currently at lvl 24.
I've taken ALL my attacks up to flamethrower so far..apart from Beanbag, which I plan on grabbing at 28. Ice...I've added buildup and icepatch to the mandatory immobilise.
Throw in stamina, health and quick from fitness, with hover and fly.
So far it's been extremely effective and fun....plenty of AOE for fast killing, plenty of KB for defence. Now I've got icepatch I'm even more lethal....pull with snipe....duck round corner and drop icepatch....bad guys run round and start doing flopsy....BU plus flamethrower and shotgun kills off the minions...LTs and boss still flopping...M30 should fininsh the LTs...may need Slug to finish one off...dop icepatch again and then snipe/slug and flamethrower again if needed on the boss.
All nice and safe and controlled.
Looking forward to lvl 26 and Ignite..or is that 28? No matter...26 and 28 will be beanbag and ignite in some order.
32 is obviously full-auto....making it a pretty full house on the attack powers .....I know somebody will advise against dropping some with a respec....but I really like the option of having exactly the right tool for any job.
So far nothing short of an AV has stopped me solo...elite bosses are fine...either cryo armour and wedding band..or more usually I just grab 5 purples when I know I have a mish with an EB.....I pop 3 for the start of the fight...and the other 2 near the end if I won't drop him before the original 3 wear off.
I figure icepatch will make it even easier now that I've picked that up. 
Gotta love the flamethrower
Been thinking about trying to work in aid other and aid self....but I'll see...I might drop burst and pick up aid other at a low level and aid self at 26/28 rather than beanbag.....decisions, decisions
The main issue for me is the terrible graphics of the AR gun itself...we need a cooler gun...something a bit more high-tech and streamlined....rather than the silly clunky cross between a tommy gun and a super soaker.
I unleashed Ranger Emily (AR/Dev 50)today for a bit of slice and dice action - and even with no Build Up, nothing shreds mobs of minions like the Full Auto -> Flamethrower -> Buckshot chain.
...unless you go for AR/En. Which makes you a classic two-fisted Natural hero, and gives you access to Build Up and Boost Range. Imagine what that could do...
Is it time for the dance of joy yet?
In a fit of nostalgia I decided to reroll my very 1st toon, an AR/EM I made on day one of US release, back when I had no clue about anything and AR (I learned later) was the bomb. Now my first toon still exists on one of my US accounts but I cant bring myself to respec it or even play it (still got 5th column missions)
Its no I0 AR but with a tank taking agro, a troller immobing the mob a quick BU+Flamethrower+Full Auto = everything dead, next mob just rinse and repeat and I have generally been fighting +4s. Various comments of "I thought AR sucked?" are quite frequent and it truely seems to be the best team based blaster I have come across with the exception of my fire/fire but that needed a lot of backup to prevent very frequent faceplanting.
Now AR got nerfed to the stone age and has never recovered but I only wanted a fun toon to play around on so made my duplicate and now its lvl 34 is absolutely insane fun
AR is usually lambasted as it generally just churns out great globs of heavily resisted lethal damage but the fact that full auto is up every 30 seconds and doesnt cause a crash probably makes it the most useful and damaging tier 9 in the game (yes rain of arrows is similar and is area based as opposed to cone). Flamethrower also throws out sick numbers of pure fire damage.
Throw boost range into the mix, which I will get half a bub, and it essentially widens the cones the further i stand back opening up the possibity of even more damage.
Yeah AR sucks in pvp and its largely undynamic due to weapon drawing and doesnt synergise particularly well with any secondary. Buckshot, M30 grenade, beanbag and sniper rifle are largely useless in a team environment.
However in spite of its flaws it throws out some truely sick damage numbers in teams and sadly I cant see a decent buff coming to this set past draw rooting getting fixed in the next patch
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