NRG/NRG - Can it be done w/o being loathed?

I don't think it was mentioned, but you can create 2 builds for every character you have.

What I suggest is that you could create a "kb extreme" build that has extra slots and enh for KB and maybe even a few other powers. I would probably use this as a default build, but then have a "team friendly" build, even if it has most of the same powers, your slotting might be different. As a plus, you can always consider a few more team friendly powers in the team build, like Assault or Recall Friend.

As for criticism on teams, I used to play a Nrg/Fire that I liked a lot. Never got complaints for teams that the KB was annoying.

Good luck and have fun!

It really can be done without being loathed. My oldest alt from issue...2? Three? Is an eng/eng blaster. She sat on the shelf for a bit, mostly because I fell in love with controllers. Since I dusted her off a bit ago, I've been having a ton of fun.

Yes, you can control the KB. As mentioned, walls are great. You can also KB a baddie back into melee range of the tank or scrapper if it runs out for some reason. I frequently duo with a tank, and we have the herding and blasting down to an art. We were feeling sorry for the Rikti at one point.

Don't worry so much about those who say "you must play this way, you must only play the AT in this fashion, with these powersets". He's off having fun his way, you have fun yours. If you are ever on Victory, look me up. I have lots of alts who would be more than happy to team with your eng/eng.

lol. There are about 30 posts in this thread that all say the exact same thing, so I'll make it 31 as my first and favorite toon has always been my Energy/Energy blaster.

I've been kicked for my knockback depending on the team makeup, and over the years I've perfected my use and I don't really hear any complaints. People don't care if they don't notice that you're scattering the mobs. So just don't scatter them. Use your knockback to make the groups tighter, or wait for the troller to hold em.

Every once in a while I'll get somebody who says "No knockback attacks guys!!" to which I always respond "You play your class, and I'll play mine. I'm an Energy Blaster, 4 out of every 5 of my attacks do knockback. Find a 'troller or shut it."

It's a great powerset, if you want to play it, you do it. There are more people who don't care about your knockback then there are people who would spaz. And if you get kicked off a team for your knockback, then that just means you got to avoid one of those spazs and can find someone who appreciates the fact that most of the baddies spend their time on their backs.

All of these posts explain it just fine. Fact is, Knockback is your friend. On an Energy/Energy, just be sure to clean up your messes. KB a couple targets? THen move into melee and finish them quickly. I will admit that I think Energy blast deserves a small overall damage boost, but it's a good set overall. Everything else was well stated by everyone else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BackAlleyBrawler you *******!!!!

Heh. Adding another one to the pile...

There are actually two problems I see people having with knockback (especially of the AoE type) primarily: controlling where they send the enemies and chaining AoE on the entire group. The first is a simple matter of experience and range; the farther you are from the group, the tighter the angle is on the enemies on the edge of the group on the knockback. You can easily keep an entire group of enemies in one large bunch, and move the whole bunch about, if you practice at it. Hell, if you're fast enough, you can move to the other side of the group in an open area and bounce them back to the original spot with your next wave of attacks.

As for chaining your AoE: if you queue an attack on an enemy or group of enemies before they are knocked back, even if they are scattered out of the normal radius of your attack, the queued attack will consider the positions they were in when you queued it, not where they are when the attack fires. This allows you to easily chain Energy Torrent > Explosive Blast, and that'll wipe entire spawns of minions out as easily as most "AoE" sets by itself while providing mitigation against the LTs and Bosses at the same time. Try doing that with a Fire blaster.

I use to group with a blaster who did tons of KB while playing my tanker, most of the time he would blast them to me and i would pick em up which made me happy to no end. If you can control where you do you knock back and how you do it you will be a great asset to any group. Only people who have no idea that KB can be GOOD boot them out. Most of the time I have more problems with MM's robots than I would a blasters KB. Normally i give them a chance, but if they DO keep blasting my groups every which way and aggroing the next group constantly I will boot them.

One way to make knockback team friendly I find is is to keep an eye on any squishy types, A scrapper won't like it if you knock his target away; but a Defender or Controller generally won't mind if you knock away the unmezzed Boss that's aggroed on him.

So after all of these replies the answer is yes. Or, more importantly, who cares. try it out and have fun. Since I started this game on of my favorite time killing past times is getting to a rooftop with baddies in range. TP Foe + Power Thrust = good times.

Keys to knockback on a team:

- Use it well (from above, into walls, etc.), and
- Form your own teams. Your star, your rules...and you might even be able to use the opportunity to convert a few nonbelievers.

At one point I had a Storm/Energy Defender (thinking of rerolling it now) who relied on the KB to solo since damage output was lacking for many levels. That character used Gale liberally solo but on teams it was used only if I had a handy corner to blast them into since as one who mainly plays Tanks I know all too well how a melee character feels when someone gets careless with AoE KB (or AoE Immobs for that matter, but that's a different thread).

I also have a 50 PB, almost all of whose attacks do KB, and when teaming with him I have to be careful to hover over the pile on the Tank while in squid mode so I don't blast them all over the map. Said character has almost never gotten a KB complaint, although that may be at least partially due to the fact he's a tri-former and will swap to Dwarf to pull mobs off the squishies on the team.

With Energy Manipulation having the secondary effect of "Foe Disorient" for some powers, how about this for an idea.

Power Bolt (chance of Foe Disorient)
Power Blast (chance of KD)
Energy Torrent (chance of Foe Disorient)
Power Bolt (chance of KB)
Sniper Blast (chance of KB & Foe Disorient)
Power Push (chance of KB)
Exsplosive Blast (chance of KD or Foe Disorient)
Nova (KB and Foe Disorient)

I feel this here would help with the resists found late game and add a bit more control over powers and give it a bit of mitigation without losing its roots. Take into consideration with long casting times and not hitting the hardest I feel above would work wonders for EB

OR even a better yet, Have the KB do bounus Damage! Depending on the range and if they fell off a cliff or hit a wall

I've read through the first page of this thread and IMO it seems that most pple are referring to farming teams. I could very well be wrong though. Reason I say this is it seems like everybody wants to kill fast and get things over with quickly. My playstyle flys in the face of all this. I enjoy a LONG fight with a baddie or mobs. My eng/eng blaster knocks pple all over the place and I use it like there is no tommorrow. I've been kicked from teams before because of this, but I've also been thanked for doing this just as many times. So it all really depends on who ur teaming with, also it helps to let the team leader know about ur playstyle as soon as u get on a team. That way he can decide before starting anything if ur playstyle is gonna click with the rest of the team or what there going to be doing. Farming teams don't usually like knockback, but real mish teams mostly appreciate it.

I also have a lvl 47 PB who has some killer KB. I recently had a lil spat with the leader of a ITF team due to my constant use of KB. He/she starting cussing and "yelling" at me because everytime he/she got aggro I would "take it away". IMO.... if u can't deal with KB then u shouldn't invite a toon onto a team whose has KB on a majority of their powers. Everybody knows that PB's in general produce a major amount of KB. (We also put on one hell of a light show......can't wait for issue 16 to go live LOL). I know this thread isn't about PB's, but it seems to have turned in the direction of KB in general so I feel PB's are revelant here. Eng/Eng blasters along with PB's can be a nuisance if used improperly,BUT if used in the right way (according to the mission) they can be the teams greatest asset.

I love KB when my hero has it.

I hate it when I'm on a melee hero and someone on the team is constantly knocking my targets out of range. When this happens, I don't chase the knocked away target. If they want it away from me, they can deal with it. Pretty simple philosophy and avoids confrontation.

I don't chase after knock backed mobs. It is your mess, clean it up.