I was in basically the same boat as you, and got a ton of good advice in this thread.
The IO road hasn't gotten him back to his pre-ED prime, but it's definitely made him a lot more fun to play.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
The first toon I played CoH with was one of my favs, though I started back in I2, and before it got to 50, ED hit. This toon just so happened to be an AR/Dev, and I never got around to finishing it on account of how HORRIBLE it seemed after ED (having seen it before). Well, I've played a while and I keep trying to come back to the poor blaster but she's just not something I even understand anymore. I love doing builds but I can't seem to wrap my head around just what it is that an AR/Dev is supposed to be GOOD at!
I like to team, and plan on doing that a majority of the time (at least when I'm playing a blaster). I like the idea of trip mine but it always seems to have limited use in teams. I WANT to like gun drone... not sure it's that great though. And my oddest quirk is that I LOVE sniper rifle with this particular toon. Usually not a sniper, but I love the sound, and do it frequently.
I guess my question is... what's worth building for? Ranged defense? Recharge? I need some sort of direction but I can't figure out quite where to take this one. And after all this time, I'd really like to finish it.
Edit-Next time I'll read down further... disregard! Thanks Nethergoat.