Why A Blaster?

Blasters benefit tremendously from IOs actually. Mainly because you can IO for massive Defense, but IOing for massive Damage pretty much does not work out.

I can certainly get behind the above. I have always said that shield defense on a scrapper is truly amazing for its ability to absorb all nearby inf and benefit from it. Its really no surprise that /shield builds are amongst the most expensive builds in the game but will actually pay back their cost in very reasonable time.

You can max out a blaster relatively cheaply, we are talking about around 1/3 the cost of a high end scrapper, but when you are done you wind up with much lower return on what you spent in inf and in time working it out. If its your main, and you are attached to it that's one thing but if you are talking performance its another.

Ya I chose to use shield as an example simply because it is so receptive to IO'ing and because so much of the conversation has focused on scrappers. While shield is a clear demonstration of the affect IO's can have it certainly isn't unique to that secondary among scrappers. With the addiiton of powers like shadow meld sets like fire, elec, and dark armor that typically have issues reaching high defense levels can now gain tremendous power through recharge. Recharge was always highly desirable for those secondaries due to the power of their heals and now they gain a huge advantage in survivability (if they so choose) without having to sacrifice any build parameters or refocus IO bonuses.

I could have just as easily picked something like dominators because when it comes to solo performance gained through IO's they stand head and shoulders above everyone else. Controllers are another example that tends to gain a lot more from them than blasters certainly (and most AT's for that matter).

IME the AT's that benefit most from IO's are ones that are very receptive to recharge (ie doms), the way IO's let you slot the equivalent of over 10 SO's into a single power (trollers), and the AT's that can easily reach high mitigation levels with minimal build sacrifice (scrappers, brutes). There are certainly specific combos within the other ATs that are also very receptive, but imo those 4 AT's seem to respond the best (across their entirety) when it comes to IO'ing.

While i do agree with the above statements, regarding blasters and IOs, in general, it depends on what exactly your aiming for.

While high defense, and high recharge are both main goals of most builds, there are other things to consider, that IOs can provide.

I've seem stalker builds getting as high as 50% global damage bonus, as well as high recharge, and defense. Granted, they were PvP builds, but it is possible.

Most anyone can easily hit 30% from normal slotting. And its unaffected by ED, so you can ED cap damage on an attack, then get 30%+ slotting on top of that. Really makes a difference in some builds.

IOs can benefit everybody-- arguing about who benefits more is kind of fruitless, as any AT can do much more than it could otherwise by using them. You can make slight arguments for ATs that have a lot of high recharge powers that can do good things (like Kheldians and Doms), but it's mostly just enhancing what is already there. Surprise, that!

For Scrappers and Blasters, IOs are capable of doing much the same thing: making them more survivable and able to do more damage. Arguably more than they should have without support (or even at all), but it's too late to make def caps be different depending on the AT, if that's the way Castle still thinks about it.

No matter what, they're still going to show what was there at the start. That Scrappers are good soloers and can survive more than Blasters, while Blasters have superior AOE and ranged capabilities.

I haven't played much with going for +damage from IO sets, as recharge and defense have always seemed like better goals. If people can get 30-50%, though... that's pretty darn good (and for a Blaster, Defiance would build on that all the time). Hmmmm. If the alpha slot remains anything like it was in the GR beta... an Incarnate Blaster could potentially shoot for a constant damage bonus 50-70% what ED allows them (if I'm doing the math right... 20% beyond the ED cap if you slot right for the Incarnate, plus IO bonuses). Not too shabby, considering that's half or more of what you can buff an attack to normally just from slotting.

I quite like IOing out for mez resistance. So long as a Blaster can keep moving, dealing damage, taking cover for Aid Self/insp combining, keeping out of melee.. They can survive almost anything. When making builds, I usually go for +hp to hit the 1500-1600 mark with Accolades, then build from that for recharge and mez res. Sure, building for defense is smart, but is it fun? Being a tankmage can be boring, no challenge (which is why I play Blasters).

I just stumbled across this thread and saw the last few posts so thought I'd add my thoughts on the subject, hope I'm not too late to the party!

Whatever you do don't give blasters better defence. I relish the galss cannon concept. Give them higher damage and LOWER their hit points. Make them paper cannons.

Eh, I think keeping their hitpoints the same, but allowing another tier of attacks to be used while mez'ed would go along way to helping the blaster. allow up to the tier 3 attacks in the primary, and tier 2 in the secondary. This will give some blasters an AoE to used while mez'ed, and a hard hitting melee attack.

Granted, i think blasters are fine the way they are now, but if your gonna do something, to them, do the above.