Looking at making a new blaster, best power set?

Back in the day it was fire/dev. Then that was nerfed. What do you guys think does the best DPS? Any good build guides?

If "Back in the day" means "four months in mid-2004" you are correct.

The main thing that makes a Blaster isn't really the build- as long as you have all the Build Up/Aim powers you can get, and you use them frequently, you should be fine. I'd recommend some sort of Stealth (Superspeed, IO, concealment pool, whatever) and a KB protection IO.

Mainly it's shooting the right things at the right time, and applying your other active defenses correctly.

Fire/Ice is a good combo of active defenses and firepower, in my opinion. Fire/Elec is all firepower and nearly no defenses, and I love it unreasonably.

There are also good arguments to be made for Archery and Assault Rifle as I understand it, but I don't have any high level blasters using those powersets so I am not the one to make them.

Best AoE DPS is Fire, Archery and Rad. Best secondary for AoE DPS is undoubtedly Mental.

Of course, this is ignoring all the other things other then damage that many of the other sets bring.

Fire does the best DPS. Single target, AoE... doesn't matter. Fire is best, especially with good recharge bonuses. As far as secondaries go, /Fire or /Mental is the best for AoE damage, /Electric is the best for single target melee + some AoE, and /Energy is the best for a pure ranged build (thanks to Boost Range).

The problem with Fire is that all it does is damage... there's no mitigation at all. Adding a secondary like /Mental or /Ice that has some mitigation helps, but Fire Blasters tend to die a lot regardless (though so does everything around them).

My suggestions for various types of Blaster:

Best AoE damage for large teams: Fire / Mental. You get excellent AoE potential without having to spend as much time in close as Fire / Fire does, so you take less AoE splash damage. Fire / Fire is marginally higher damage but Fire / Mental is safer and has a few nice tricks other than raw damage.

Best Blapper (melee Blaster): Fire / Electric. Extremely powerful melee attacks plus Blaze, and you get good AoEs to thin out a spawn. Incredibly powerful but also incredibly fragile. Ice / Electric gives up a bit of damage but gets a couple of holds and some slows for mitigation, making it a safer option that still hits hard.

Best pure ranged Blaster: Archery / Energy. Archery has three single target attacks with a full 80' range, which is enough for a seamless attack chain with moderate +recharge. It also has a slightly longer range on its cone attack. Add in perma-Boost Range and you can stay flying safely above your enemies while dishing out pretty good damage. And most importantly, Rain of Arrows is probably the best Blaster AoE in the game... it can wipe out every minion in a spawn and doesn't take that much +recharge to use it every fight. Assault Rifle / Energy is also good... it has more AoE power but requires getting a bit closer and Full Auto isn't as good as Rain of Arrows.

Safest Blaster: Ice / Ice. You're practically a Controller, but your damage is a bit low and mainly single target. You get a ton of slows and holds plus a KD patch and some AoE DoTs though, and Blizzard is insanely damaging if enemies stay in it the full duration (like if they're held and at the -speed floor)

Really, you need to try several Blasters and see what clicks for you... they have very different feels. Electric Blast is still under-performing and Dual Pistols (if you have the Going Rogue pre-purchase) is a bit gimped (looks great though). I'd also suggest trying Energy / Energy... it's not best at anything but it feels more "super" than most since you send mobs flying all over the place and can also pound them in melee. Just be careful of the knockback in teams... you can cause a lot of chaos if you aren't paying attention to where you knock things.

I Pre-ordered GR, I am assuming I won't have access to double pistols until I have the game in hand, correct?

What is the consensus on DP? Is it just the cone that is near-worthless or is bullet rain also garbage? I am assuming Castle and gang's thinking is that Hail of Bullets makes up for it...