New Player - Soloing

Blasters are fun. It's nice that you can attack while mez'd. Not the best for going solo (for me at least).

I try to tell new players to get the Ninja Pack. Yeah, it's $9.99, but Ninja Run is so worth it. In the game you get your travel powers at level 14. With the Ninja booster pack you get a slightly watered down version at level 4 on all your toons. Well worth it. The other booster packs are skippable IMO.

To the OP: Welcome to the game! Don't feel that you're stuck with the first character you try. Many people [I'd say "most" but I have no real idea] have a lot of different characters. (We call this "Altitis". It's about as serious as Morton's Toe, but much more common. )

What blaster powersets did you pick? Most of them play "more or less the same" but there are outliers [/Devices, I'm looking at you] and subtleties [Ice and Energy seem fairly similar from just reading the descriptions... I play them very differently.]

Welcome to Paragon City!

Heres a few helpful links for your journey and remember, unlike other MMO's this one is more about the journey and less about the endgame.

Mids Hero Builder - This is a great tool to help plan out your builds. Also handy when coming to the boards for advice.

Paragonwiki.com - The #1 place to go for instant information. If it's in the game, chances are it's in the wiki!

COV contacts guide - For when you feel like being evil. This is the easiest to use guide I've found for redside. Haven't found a counterpart for Blue yet.

Congratulations on picking a Blaster! I'll echo what others have said. IMO it's the best class to start with as it teaches the fundamentals while still being fun. You'll learn how to manage aggro and when to attack much better from day one on a Blaster than you would on a Scrapper. Simply because you HAVE to.
One word of warning though. Once you do get used to being a Blaster it might be hard to switch AT's. Going to anything other than Scrapper is going to feel very weak comparatively and Scrappers can tend to feel like the game on easy mode, from a Blasters perspective anyways.

Shoot me your @Global name and I'll mail you a million or so in Influence.
So you won't need to worry about cash for sometime.
Just pay it forward when you can!

My advice is to join the legion of atoholics.

This game's classes "Archetypes" (ATs) all play very differently, and many powersets within them also play differently from one another. The game does not feel like the same game if you are playing a mastermind and than a blaster, or if you are playing a defender and then a tank.

I would advise you to try each AT to level 12 or so, just to get a feeling for them. Leveling early one goes by really really fast so saying to 12 isn't as long as it may sound to a new player.

Let me echo the welcome of others and throw in my 2 cents' worth of advice regarding solo blasters.

Think about your play style and how the various Power Pool choices will mesh with it. Play style can be the result of a conscious decision, it can evolve over time as you gain experience or it can be both. Power Pools are accessible at Level 6.

For example, I prefer Flight for my blasters' travel power and take Hover for my prerequisite. I do this primarily for safety. Hover allows you to stay out of melee range while still inflicting damage on your enemies. It also provides a bonus to your character's overall defense level, which can be increased with enhancements.

In addition, I find that Stealth also increases my blaster's effectiveness and survivability. It allows you to set up your shots in relative safety (i.e. lining up your cone attacks to encompass the most enemies, beefing up your character with inspirations or situational powers prior to tackling a tough foe, etc.) Stealth does impose a movement penalty, but if you're hovering out of melee range and attacking from a distance, I consider this an acceptable trade-off based on my preferred play style.

Just to offer an alternative view, some blasters enjoy using their secondary powers to engage in melee combat. They're called blappers (a combination of blaster and scrapper) and this play style has its own unique blend of challenges and tactics. (not my preference, but everybody has their own approach)

As a new player, however, I recommend that you take it slow and learn the basics of blasting with a blaster and the basics of melee with a scrapper before trying to combine the two.

The main thing to remember as a solo blaster (or any solo character for that matter) is that it's all about you. Healing, endurance management, offensive capability, protection, travel, etc. are all interrelated and will all be affected by your choices. Your tools include powers, inspirations, enhancements and tactics. One of the most engaging aspects of the game is figuring out how the tools all work individually and with each other, and then learning how to tailor them to deal with each situation.

It's highly addictive. Enjoy and good luck.