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.
Choose the answer that suits you best:
A) Yes
B) No
C) Maybe
Congratulations. You have now reached a correct answer.
Head of TRICK, the all Trick Arrow and Traps SG
Part of the Repeat Offenders
Still waiting for his Official BackAlleyBrawler No-Prize
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I'm going to go with D) It Depends.
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Originally Posted by Rush_Bolt
Choose the answer that suits you best:
A) Yes B) No C) Maybe Congratulations. You have now reached a correct answer. |
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Originally Posted by StratoNexus
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thanks, that helped alot
I'm a Mac user, no Mid's for me
I've got 63 months in this game and zero purples slotted.
On the other hand, I've only soloed one AV. In some circumstances, for some goals, purples are the way to go. I don't play that way, but you could if you wanted.
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
I have ONE purple set slotted on my Rad/Sonic defender. It's the sleep set. I slotted it in Siren's Song for the recovery accuracy and recharge bonuses.
I could probably live without it, but the bonuses I get help out when I go to solo an AV.
As far as being worth it or not, it depends entirely on how much you need those set bonuses to achieve what you're trying to do with the character. If you can do it without them, its basically a waste of money, but if they are necessary it's money well spent.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
My opinion for Blasters is that for the most part they aren't worth it. The primary draw of Purples is the large Recharge bonuses for 5-slotting them however most Blasters do not have much in the way of long recharge powers and those that they do have are generally not game changing (Build Up is close, but recharge is still only 90sec).
That's not to say that Blasters don't benefit from Purples, for example in Targeted AoEs Positron is the best choice for most blasters and Ragnarok is a clear upgrade over it. Ranged Damage sets have a lot more options though and Apocalypse is not always optimal (personally I like Thunderstrikes).
Several of the purple procs are very useful to Blasters though. In particular the Ragnarok proc is nice for mitigation and the purple damage procs are far superior to regular damage procs.
I want to get as much Recharge into my Archery as possible. With all the AoE sets that grant a Recharge bonus I'm going to run into diminishing returns and think putting a Ragnarok into either Breath of Arrows (I know its Fist, I just wanna call it that) or Rain of Arrows. And Posi in the others.
I'm a Mac user, no Mid's for me
That's pretty much what I did with both my AR/Dev blaster and my TA/A Defender. For the Positron's I'd recommend leaving out the Dam/Range and either use the slot you saved in another power or put a generic IO in the 6th slot (End Redux or Recharge for any of them, for Fistful of Arrows a Range or the Ragnarok Proc are also good).
I'd recommend putting the Ragnarok set in Rain of Arrows rather than Fistful, Positron is a bit light on recharge whereas Ragnarok has plenty. As with the Positron you really only need to 5-slot it since that will ED cap Damage and almost ED cap Recharge. The Dam/End is a good candidate to leave out since you won't use RoA enough for End use to really be an issue although as mentioned above you may want to keep the Dam/End in RoA for set bonuses and move the Knockdown proc to Fistful since it'll provide more use there. If you want to six slot RoA the proc for Positron is probably the best way to increase the damage you deal with it.
In my experience with number crunching my AR/Dev I didn't really see much effective improvement past about 50% global recharge unless I wanted to go all out and stick in Hasten and some mule powers to try and hit 150% or so.
Coercive persuasion, always worth it. Its wonderful cheap, excellent bonuses and can even make world of confusion useful*
*Did I mention I sell them crafted 
I have to go with a big vote for D) It depends.
Certain purple sets are just phenomenally useful and cost-effective, and can radically transform the powers they go in. The classic example is Coercive Persuasion (esp. the proc, but also the set bonuses) in World of Confusion (and Arctic Air (and Seeds or any of the AoE confuses, really)) which turns an otherwise useless power into a pretty reliable AoE lockdown power, and lets powers that are already reasonably effective lock down even bosses. Since confusion powers are so rarely taken, demand for it is low enough to keep the price within reason. Fortunata Hypnosis is less gamechanging, but it's still fairly cheap for awesome set bonuses on any character with a sleep. The Apocalypse proc in tier 1 blasts (especially Shriek for Sonics or Neutrino Blast for non-blaster rads) can provide a significant increase in dps once slotted.
Ragnarok is very expensive, but a direct upgrade from Positron's Blast; my archer has a set because he got 3 as drops, and it was only ~20M for the other two. Re: DSlice and Adeon, I would put Rag in Fistful since the proc can make a respectable increase in survivability when it's in the constantly-spammed Fistful but not so much in the slower RoA. I suppose if you were going to shell out the inf for all 6 pieces you could put the proc in Fistful and the other 5 in RoA, but while the proc is still cheap (for purples) the rest are still way up there. Also, in my experience, having RoA recharge in sync with BU/Aim is more helpful than having it at max recharge. Low rech in RoA (like a Posi set would yield) means you use your highest damage and DPA attack less, but if you have it synced with BU and Aim, when you use it, it drops everything. If you were arch/dev and had only Aim to pair it with, the full-rech approach that Rag would lend itself to would look more promising.
Loading up your character with a LOT of purples (say, 5 sets of 5) only makes sense in certain circumstances. If you plan on using your character to exemplar down on a regular basis, for a dedicated Positron TF speedrunner or equivalent task, then purples make sense as they keep their powerful set bonuses at any level. If you are going for the bleeding-edge of performance to solo AVs and want to try and pull off the best possible attack chain that requires incredibly high rech then it may be worth it to accomplish the goals you have set for yourself. Getting certain high-power, long rech powers up permanently (or close to it), like Soul Drain, Phantom Army, or Domination may require the extra oomph from purples' 5-slot bonus (or allow the rest of your build to be less tightly wound around recharge bonuses and more focused on actually enhancing the powers).
If you are wondering if having purples on just any old character is worth it, because purples are shiny and better than nonpurples, then the answer is probably no.
Rule number six of an empathy defender is NEVER underestimate a blaster's ability to die. I don't care if he has CM, Fort, both RAs, bubbles (both FF and Sonic), and is fighting next to a Storm defender with hurricane on. If there is a way to die in that situation, the blaster will find it.
I do think I am going to put a Ragnarok into Breath(Fistful) of Arrows. How would the RagProc work in RoA? Would it have the 20% change on every enemy hit? How many hits would get the 20% change? I havent really looked into the mechanics of any aspect of the game yet.
I'm a Mac user, no Mid's for me
Yeah the proc has a 20% chance on every enemy hit. I'd say the Ragnarok is a waste in Fistful since the uber recharge doesn't help as much as in RoA but go with what you want 
Are they worth it? sure they are
Are they horribly overpriced (especially on redside)? sure they are
Can you live without them and still be good? sure you can
My Blaster has no purples slotted, and she does just fine 
None of my characters have ever slotted a purple anywhere. I can obviously see places where it would be an upgrade, should I happen to find the whole set of crafted enhancements sitting on the sidewalk. Nothing I've ever felt like I had to have.
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Most purples have the same few bonuses: recharge, recovery, accuracy, a couple more. It's a pretty limited set.|
Originally Posted by DSlice
I have been playing for just under a year and have not yet had the opportunity to acquire a purple set, is it really worth it?
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Many people use IO set bonuses to get things that their characters can't normally get. For example, soft-capping ranged defense, or S/L defense. Only one purple recipe offers any defense bonus. So if you're soft-capping your Invulnerability tanker's defense, or your Storm Defender's ranged defense, purples don't help.
You can get slightly lesser versions of the purple bonuses in many rare and uncommon sets. Rare bonuses are typically 65% to 75% of the purple bonus values. So, yeah, Ragnarok gives a higher recharge bonus. But is that tiny 3.5% overall increase in global recharge worth the 100 to 1000-fold price differential over Positron's Blast worth it? To make a real difference in recharge you have to slot several purple sets or LotGs.
The last thing about purples is that the bonuses work at any level. If you don't exemp, or you have IOs that are lower than the level you're exemped to, that feature won't matter to you.
I have several purple sets, but only one is expensive (the PBAoE melee set, Armageddon). The rest are sleep, immobilize, stun, etc. The tanker I have Armageddon on has dual builds. And honestly, the performance difference between the two builds is insignificant. One purple set doesn't make that much difference, and getting lots of purple sets take more Sitzfleisch than I have.
I'd suggest getting Mids and looking harder at the Set Bonus Finder window to find alternatives to purples.
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In RoA, the proc would roll once against every enemy that gets hit. Note that procs placed in longe r-duration powers like damage auras and rains only roll for proc damage when you activate them, and every 10 seconds thereafter (regardless of whether there are any valid targets in the area at the time). So, in RoA, which technically summons a pseudopet that does a few ticks of damage in under a second, every enemy that is hit by the first damage tick has a separate 20% roll to get knocked down. If it got a chance to KD on every damage tick, then I would think more favorably of proccing RoA, but as is, the only advantage to having the Rag proc in RoA instead of Fistful is that technically RoA could roll for knockdown on 16 targets instead of 10, although it would do so only once every 30-45 seconds instead of every 4-6.|
Originally Posted by DSlice
I do think I am going to put a Ragnarok into Breath(Fistful) of Arrows. How would the RagProc work in RoA? Would it have the 20% change on every enemy hit? How many hits would get the 20% change? I havent really looked into the mechanics of any aspect of the game yet.
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Procs are allowed to fire more often than once per 10 seconds if they are in click powers with shorter recharges (say, Fistful of Arrows), or in a pet power that fires separate powers, like MM henchmen or Acid Mortar.
Rule number six of an empathy defender is NEVER underestimate a blaster's ability to die. I don't care if he has CM, Fort, both RAs, bubbles (both FF and Sonic), and is fighting next to a Storm defender with hurricane on. If there is a way to die in that situation, the blaster will find it.
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I'm on a Mac and don't have access to Mids, I've tried Suckerpunch but I dont care for it at all.|
Originally Posted by Rodion
I'd suggest getting Mids and looking harder at the Set Bonus Finder window to find alternatives to purples.
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And I think I will get the proc for Fistfull
I'm a Mac user, no Mid's for me
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There is one other advantage to purples that you're neglecting, the actual enhancement bonuses are notably higher. The procs have a stronger effect and a higher change of proccing (generally 33% rather than 20%) and the purple set will generally max two aspects of the power rather than one.|
Originally Posted by Rodion
You can get slightly lesser versions of the purple bonuses in many rare and uncommon sets. Rare bonuses are typically 65% to 75% of the purple bonus values. So, yeah, Ragnarok gives a higher recharge bonus. But is that tiny 3.5% overall increase in global recharge worth the 100 to 1000-fold price differential over Positron's Blast worth it? To make a real difference in recharge you have to slot several purple sets or LotGs.
The last thing about purples is that the bonuses work at any level. If you don't exemp, or you have IOs that are lower than the level you're exemped to, that feature won't matter to you. |
For example, comparing Ragnarok and Positron before ED:
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Aspect Ragnarok Positron Damage 145.7 127.2 Recharge 92.7 26.5 Accuracy 59.6 47.7 End Redux 33.1 47.7 Range 0 26.5
On my TA/A I put the Ragnarok proc in Fistful of Arrows since the mitigation is more useful there, BUT I put the rest of the set in Rain of Arrows since I want that power to recharge as fast as possible.
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Ahhhh, you're approaching it from a defender standpoint. In that case, yes, you do want as much recharge in RoA itself as humanly possible. On a TA/A you likely wouldn't open the battle with RoA, you would bust it out after laying down some debuffs to cripple the spawn and boost your damage, and it's far and away your best attack. On a blaster, at least in my experience, it's much more effective to wait for Build Up and Aim to recharge, and pop both before unloading RoA / Fistful / Explosive, because it packs enough burst damage that way to kill almost everything it hits unless you're against +3s or +4s. In that case, you don't need as much recharge in RoA itself, as its own recharge is no longer the limiting factor in its use.
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Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
On my TA/A I put the Ragnarok proc in Fistful of Arrows since the mitigation is more useful there, BUT I put the rest of the set in Rain of Arrows since I want that power to recharge as fast as possible.
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Rule number six of an empathy defender is NEVER underestimate a blaster's ability to die. I don't care if he has CM, Fort, both RAs, bubbles (both FF and Sonic), and is fighting next to a Storm defender with hurricane on. If there is a way to die in that situation, the blaster will find it.
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Fair enough, as you say for a defender it's different. It probably doesn't help that my only Blaster is an AR/Dev either |
Originally Posted by Doctor_Kumquat
Ahhhh, you're approaching it from a defender standpoint. In that case, yes, you do want as much recharge in RoA itself as humanly possible. On a TA/A you likely wouldn't open the battle with RoA, you would bust it out after laying down some debuffs to cripple the spawn and boost your damage, and it's far and away your best attack. On a blaster, at least in my experience, it's much more effective to wait for Build Up and Aim to recharge, and pop both before unloading RoA / Fistful / Explosive, because it packs enough burst damage that way to kill almost everything it hits unless you're against +3s or +4s. In that case, you don't need as much recharge in RoA itself, as its own recharge is no longer the limiting factor in its use.
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Originally Posted by DSlice
I have been playing for just under a year and have not yet had the opportunity to acquire a purple set, is it really worth it?
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if u can afford the purps and pvpios YES it is if your a blaster if its one fo 20 alts dunno, but if its a main then of course
If you PVP, or farm in any of the PVP zones, purp's make a huge difference.When you come up against a living player in a pvp zone like Recluse Victory,having as many high end enhancements and greater ability for bonuses for attack and defense is what is primary.Simply put..."whoever has the best purps and bonus sets, 9 times out of 10 that person is the winner."
Like Han Solo said "good against remotes is one thing..good against the living...well that is another matter."
Point being that you really dont know the true power or nature of your build until you fine toon it under fire from the living.Being able to kill a npc is nothing compared to the challeges a live adversary will bring to the table.Or a whole gang of live foes for that matter.You dont know until trial by fire.
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Untrue. Even in the trainwreck that is the current implementation of PvP, skill > build > enhancements. Your argument only holds true if you're talking about two players of equivalent skill and builds. Purples help yes, but do they determine the winner 9 times out of 10? No way.
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Originally Posted by TheStarhawk
If you PVP, or farm in any of the PVP zones, purp's make a huge difference.When you come up against a living player in a pvp zone like Recluse Victory,having as many high end enhancements and greater ability for bonuses for attack and defense is what is primary.Simply put..."whoever has the best purps and bonus sets, 9 times out of 10 that person is the winner."
Like Han Solo said "good against remotes is one thing..good against the living...well that is another matter." Point being that you really dont know the true power or nature of your build until you fine toon it under fire from the living.Being able to kill a npc is nothing compared to the challeges a live adversary will bring to the table.Or a whole gang of live foes for that matter.You dont know until trial by fire. |
I have been playing for just under a year and have not yet had the opportunity to acquire a purple set, is it really worth it?
I'm a Mac user, no Mid's for me