Well yeah, full auto should be a couple points lower and hail should be a couple points higher, but might as well err on the side of modesty for dp.
I'm not sure why anyone would switch ammo types for a ten second -13% resistance effect when simply leaving inferno rounds on results in, as I recall, 30 extra base fire damage to the stuff that is hit? It takes more time to turn off and then turn back on inferno rounds than it does to line up two or three targets, doubling or tripling the already substantial damage (and increasing the chance of a posi's proc, no less).
I like DP. There are people in my VG who constantly complain about animation times, but it doesn't bother me. I know for sure it's not the top performing set, but it does have things going for it. For my Blaster I can do fire to do more damage. On my Corr I can do chem to stack debuffs (she's Dark so she can stack -DMG). Or if the situation changes I can do something else. Like using cryo for fire enemies. Plus, it's still a pretty good AoE set
Of all things I find it just fun to watch and play. It's flashy, and it does the job. It may not be as potent as Fire Blast or Archery, and it doesn't min/max as well as other sets, but it's a solid set.
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Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.
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I disagree, turning off the ammo toggle is a free action (I have it macroed with PR) and turning it back on only takes 0.64 seconds. I have it bound to my move keys so my rotation is basically: Fire PR -> Fire another power -> Tap a movement key.|
Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
I'm not sure why anyone would switch ammo types for a ten second -13% resistance effect when simply leaving inferno rounds on results in, as I recall, 30 extra base fire damage to the stuff that is hit? It takes more time to turn off and then turn back on inferno rounds than it does to line up two or three targets, doubling or tripling the already substantial damage (and increasing the chance of a posi's proc, no less).
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Solo, it's generally not hugely important, especially when running Fire Ammo (it's more important if you're running Toxic or Cold) but in teams it is a lot more useful since the -res increases everyone's damage.
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
Well yeah, full auto should be a couple points lower and hail should be a couple points higher, but might as well err on the side of modesty for dp.
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Full Auto is really hard to rate. It recharges twice as fast as Hail of Bullets, but hits 6 fewer enemies and (I think) animates longer. There is also no mitigation built into Full Auto. But it's range is enhanceable. It comes down to what you're shooting at, how many of them there are, where they are standing, and how often you need to repeat the action.
Recharge time itself is also challenging to rate because a Recharge time that is "twice as long" as another power drops in significance by approximately one half with lvl 50 Recharge IOs, and further with global Recharge IOs. That is, unslotted HoB vs Full Auto is a difference of 60 seconds, but with IOs its 30 seconds, and the numbers compress more and more with added Recharge. If either set ever hits a usefulness saturation point where it becomes more effective to hold off using the power a second time against a single group because saving it for the next group is a better option, the recharge numbers become even harder to compare.
Full Auto, and other large cones in general, have the added risk of accidentally aggroing enemies behind the intended victims, or bypassing intended targets altogether.
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To be fair, Energy Manipulation can turn just about any Primary blast set into a (comparatively) long-range damage dealer. For that very reason, I've actually spent a good deal of time going back and forth about whether to ditch my Fire/Mental in favor of the Fire/EM I rolled way back when Devices was the flavor of the month. |
Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
If one person who would otherwise have been dissuaded by the non-stop hatefest on the forums tries and enjoys dual pistols, I'm satisfied. I was kind of tired of blasters myself before rolling up my own dp/em, but I've found it offers a long range, high aoe playstyle that other sets don't have in the same way, with hail of bullets always a tantalizing excuse to get personal for a moment.
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As for whether Fire is penalized with respect to range, I confess I don't find your argument terribly convincing. Playstyles do differ and preferences vary, but I wonder: If Executioner's Shot were a carbon copy of Blaze, would you take it and use it every chance you get? I'm betting you would. So whether Dual Pistols is actually better suited to a long-range playstyle or not depends on how you choose to spin it. From where I'm sitting, the lack of a good tier-3, 40' attack isn't an advantage.
Personally, I think the whole concept of 40' attacks is out-moded, a relic of a time when the devs actually thought that range was such a massive defensive advantage that it outweighed (or at least compared with) the defenses and mez protection offered to other ATs. Actually, IIRC, powers like Blaze used to have a 20' range -- so 40' is a big improvement from Launch day, but I'm still left to wonder why the ability to camp out at 80' on a Blaster would be a major balance issue given that Blaster ranged DPS is far from the best thing going. It's actually rather anemic to my eyes (subjectively). There's not a whole lot of cannon in the glass cannon unless you specialize in burst AoE (which is admittedly very nice but usually requires a closer range at least some of the time), or unless you blap. Preferably both.
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| There certainly is, and at this point I'm a little tired of fire blast bashing, so I'm happy to admit that I do in fact find it to be an excellent set that has no trouble doing aoe damage. I also find it extremely boring to play, for many of the same reasons I can't bring myself to even start a shield defense character. In a more perfect world than this, people would be able to look beyond the sets with obvious, lopsided strengths and discover that intelligent play can create unique, equally useful strengths in more nuanced sets, such as dual pistols. |
So my view may be skewed a bit, but Fire is a rare (in this game) example of the min in min/max. What it does well, it does very very well. What it doesn't do is, well, everything else. At least until you get into IOs.
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| Good points both but if I have an extra slot in an attack, a proc is going in there. Not that gladiator's javelin is cheap either, but... As for hover, it'd be a lot more appealing if it didn't preclude jumping around like an imbecile with cj. |
Hover is more of a judgment call, but I can't imagine rolling a ranged-DEF build without it. Doesn't mean you have to use it all the time; the point was that even at Hover speeds I don't find Blaze's range unworkable. The other point that occurs to me now is that Hover helps to prevent Fire Breath's activation time from forcing you into melee with angry mobs (as you noted earlier). Hover blasting is another thing that's made more comfortable by Energy Manipulation, too (Power Boost does, or at least used to, boost fly speed considerably.)
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| Yeah, I know aim is technically worth using in most cases, and I do have it on my fire blaster, I just don't like it. |
Then again, my Dom has no +ToHit available to her natively, which can be pain in the buttocks on occasion.
You're absolutely right that Aim offers not a whole lot to your damage over time (DPS). Once you factor in the time spent activating the power, you're barely coming out ahead for using it on average. But Aim does help with burst damage out of the gate, and that's why you almost have to take it.
It's sorta like the Blaze/Executioner comparison above. Having to take Aim and feeling like you have to use it as often as possible may be considered burdensome. On the other hand, lacking the option to take it isn't exactly an advantage. Tomato, tomahto.
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| Take it or leave it, really, but anyone who just looks at the values in mids and says "this sucks! fire or bust!" is missing out on the most unique set available to blasters. |
I'll give it a shot, though it may have to wait for the half dozen other alts I've in mind.
Apologies for the sequel novel.
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Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze
Nice build
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I have been loving my DP/MM blaster. I've found him more versatile than my fire blaster and he does more damage than my ice blaster.
I mostly solo. Even so, I default to incendiary ammo until I'm facing something that's really giving me trouble. On my runs back from the hospital I ruminate on what would help me with whatever just got me.
Regarding EBs, I soloed all the praetoria EBs in one or the other of the Resistance storylines. It was not trivial, but it wasn't terrible, either. And I'm *not* one of those players that made a habit of soloing EBs on anything other than my tanker.
DP makes my other blasters feel a little like one-trick-ponies. They're fun to ride and really good at what they do, but when I come up against something that's especially hard for them, I'm stuck. When I'm playing my DP blaster I just need to strategize differently and I seem to be able to (eventually) make my way through anything.
on topic reply, I've got a low level DP/Cold corrupter that I like quite a bit.
I agree with those saying it's a jack of all trades set. While the aoe is anemic compared to my fire blaster, it looks great and the set thus far has a nice mix of single target and aoe.
It's a concept character, I got a fun idea and ran with it so number crunching didn't figure in. I have plenty of 'efficient' characters for when I'm in that kind of mood- this guy has been enjoyable on his own merits.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
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Full auto has the advantage of being able to start behind an object, jump high enough to begin the animation and then drop back down behind the object so the targets can't even get an Alpha strike launched before they are dead.|
Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
Full Auto, and other large cones in general, have the added risk of accidentally aggroing enemies behind the intended victims, or bypassing intended targets altogether.
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Some of the folks here have been comparing IOd versions but the slotting that should be telling is standard SO slotting since the devs constantly remind us that the game is designed around SO use and was not made harder because of the introduction of inventions.
I played a DP/EM/Force to level 50 (now deleted) my level 47 AR/EM/Ice is all ready far superior in every measurable/meaningful way.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
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How can a power that only hits 10 targets eliminate 16 targets before there is an alpha?|
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Full auto has the advantage of being able to start behind an object, jump high enough to begin the animation and then drop back down behind the object so the targets can't even get an Alpha.
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| Some of the folks here have been comparing IOd versions but the slotting that should be telling is standard SO slotting since the devs constantly remind us that the game is designed around SO use and was not made harder because of the introduction of inventions. |
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I want set balance. That's always been my goal. I'd support a nerf if a set warranted it, and I want to buff under performing sets. Dual Pistols under performs. I'd like to see a set of reasonable buffs to bring it up to par, and I outlined a set of tweaks earlier. I don't want to make it uber. I am not asking for Executioner's Shot to be made into Blaze.|
Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
There you go, looks like we all agree whether you're willing to admit it or not.
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A lot of people have spoken up in this thread and believe that Dual Pistols under performs. From what I read, you are actually in the minority. Maybe you should ask yourself why so many people have spoken up about their disappointments with the set before you try to acuse my of some bizarre made up secret agenda.
I laid out numbers right there on the screen to try to compare the set. I acknowledged what I felt were the set's strengths. I laid out that I thought the AoE was average for a blaster set and that other areas need tweaks. Your claim that I am somehow trying to trick anyone into unwarranted buffs is puzzling to me. Seriously? That's your approach to the discussion? A tin foil hat?
Moonlighter
50s include MA/SD, MA/SR, DP/Elec, Claw/Inv, Kat/Dark, Kat/Fire, Spine/Regen, Dark/SD
First Arc: Tequila Sunrise, #168563
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I agree with this. It is a nice summary how sometimes the game's ad hoc balancing of animation times causes balance issues in the game.
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Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
Believe it or not but very few people truly want all powers to use the same animation times. Instead what we want is for the devs to admit that animation time IS a part of power balance and account for it when they balance powers. Currently the damage and endurance costs of attacks are balanced based the number of targets (based on area if it's an AoE), the recharge time and whether it's melee or ranged.
This is only really balanced if two conditions are met: 1. You have time between attacks where you are waiting for powers to recharge 2. You are only concerned with sustained damage as opposed to burst damage Neither of these are really true in the game today. With various recharge bonuses making a solid attack chain is possible. Additionally for Blasters burst damage IS important, Blasters generally have low defenses and rely on killing their opponents before they get killed. As such the ability to attack faster than your opponent IS an advantage. Dual Pistols is fun now and I don't mind the gun-fu animations (although they would not have been my first choice) but except for the first two powers and Suppressive Fire the animations are longer than the equivalent powers in other sets. Dual Pistols is not by itself the problem it is simply the case where the devs' method of balance becomes noticeably problematic. |
Moonlighter
50s include MA/SD, MA/SR, DP/Elec, Claw/Inv, Kat/Dark, Kat/Fire, Spine/Regen, Dark/SD
First Arc: Tequila Sunrise, #168563
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I agree here, not having a snipe isn't really a disadvantage to the set.
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Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
Then there is the fact that Pistols sidesteps having a snipe power and replaces it with a power you might actually want to use. For some reason some people count this against Pistols. My opinion if we don't discredit Fire and Archery for the blasts that kind of suck, its unfair to do that to DP for a power that is actually somewhat viable.
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Moonlighter
50s include MA/SD, MA/SR, DP/Elec, Claw/Inv, Kat/Dark, Kat/Fire, Spine/Regen, Dark/SD
First Arc: Tequila Sunrise, #168563
I count the lack of a snipe as a weakness, because snipes are useful to me in a couple of contexts. One of those is cases where I'd like to open a fight from outside retaliation range.
However, since I'm dp/dev, with a stealth I/O, I'm covered; I use Time Bomb for that.
I quite like piercing rounds, even without the toggle to get the -res debuff automatically. If I macroed it to always get the -res debuff from it, I might like it even more, as I frequently get a couple more good hits in on something, and a substantial -res debuff would more than make up for the slight damage loss.
... And again, I say: This set would be amazing if you could set ammo type per-power. So I could, say, set piercing rounds to lethal ammo for the res debuff, hail of bullets to cold for use as a slow in an opener, etcetera.
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If you look again you'll see that is not a claim that I made. I merely point out that Full Auto can be used from cover and entirely eliminate an Alpha without a single +def set bonus.|
Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
How can a power that only hits 10 targets eliminate 16 targets before there is an alpha?
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| We do that because that is how the set performs in reality. How the devs built it is actually irrelevant. I'd agree that looking at how the set performs in a variety of situations is paramount. But discarding experiences because it's not what the devs envisioned for the set is not something I'd want to do. |
You might have the "perception" that a power set is adequate once enhanced but in 99% of situations the set that starts out as higher performing will still end up as higher performing as long as identical enhancements are being done.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
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Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
That's not entirely accurate either. If you compare Apples to Apples a set that has higher base performance will still have higher net performance when equally enhanced with set bonuses. The only notable exceptions are when you hit hard performance caps.
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The problem is it is impossible to enhance two different sets equally with set bonuses because they are not apples and apples. Even if you could, how the set performs under IOs would still be relevant discussion. It IS worth knowing, IMO, that if Assault Rifle and Dual Pistols are IOed with the same amounts of Recharge, AR's nuke's lead gets smaller as the Recharge gets bigger. (This fact is for some reason not generally well known but affects all powers on long recharges. People still tend to quote base recharge values, perhaps for dramatic impact.) Add to this the fact that some IO benefits are indirect. Radiation Blast, for example, benefits tremendously from the slotting Defense of some kind due to its inherent risky nature.
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Rain of Arrows is a true "rain" type power. Each tick makes a separate attack against every target in range, so any given tick fails to hit a target if: 1) the hit roll misses or 2) the target is no longer in range. Most of the time the third tick misses because the enemy started running toward you when the first tick hit and has moved out of the rain's area, but 5% of the time (assuming capped hit chance) you just miss. It's entirely possible (but rare) for two ticks to miss or even all three.|
Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
No argument with most of the above but I'd like to note that hail of bullets is actually the hardest hitting of the crashless nukes the majority of the time. It's possible to get unlucky and fail to kill a minion but you'd be unwise to bet on that happening on any given saturated use of the power. The average damages are: 180 for full auto, somewhere between 150 and 225 for rain of arrows, not sure because I'm not sure what triggers the third tick failing, and 250 for hail of bullets.
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Hail of Bullets and Full Auto, on the other hand, are DoTs. They make one attack per target and the damage continues even if the target leaves the area. HoB's ticks only have a 60% chance each to go off, but it still only rolls once per target to see if they are hit.
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| How can a power that only hits 10 targets eliminate 16 targets before there is an alpha? |
Oh, and regarding AoEs, remember that in most situations (certain TFs are the exception) there are not large numbers of tough enemies or huge hordes. You don't usually need an AoE attack chain, you just need enough burst AoE damage to clear out the minions so you can finish off the badly wounded Lts (and any bosses if applicable) with single target blasts. Playing on x8 probably will give enough Lts that you'll want more AoE to handle them too, but most Blasters don't solo on x8. Likewise, on teams there are generally multiple sources of AoE damage so you only need two or three AoE attacks to clear the non-bosses and then you'll probably want to use your single target chain. There are Blaster builds that can generate continuous AoE damage, but there is rarely any need for that since once you get down to bosses you'll kill them faster using your heavy hitting shots than you will spamming AoEs. (Unless there are a lot of bosses, but again, you only see that on large teams where there's probably a Scrapper or Brute killing bosses while you AoE minions.)
The real concern solo is how many seconds it takes you to dish out enough AoE damage to kill a minion, because that's how many seconds you have to survive the whole spawn attacking you. That's why people like Fire for AoE... sure Fire Breath is slow, but Fire Breath plus Fireball combined take under 4 seconds and can kill minions by themselves with Aim or Build Up. Empty Clips plus Bullet Rain takes almost 5 seconds and does less damage, meaning you take more return fire before the minions are gone. To a low to moderate defense Blaster running on something like +0/x6/no bosses difficulty the minions are the main threat due to sheer numbers... so the best AoE damage set is one that kills those minions while allowing the least return fire.
DP is fine in groups where it doesn't matter if you need a few extra seconds to unload all your AoE damage. But solo the lack of heavy burst AoE hurts it, as does the lack of any real mitigation beyond a single target stun/hold. Of course that only matters if you try to solo medium to large spawns... if you just want to solo on base difficulty and mainly play on teams DP is fine. Still slightly below average, but over all not too bad... and at least you don't have people yelling at you about KB.
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
The Instant Lair Delivery Service: 206636
"It's not the Build, it's the Player."
You can sit and argue about what is "good" and what is "bad" all day. Fact of the matter is that a good player can take a weak power-set and excel at it, pushing it to the limit and out performing stronger sets, and visa versa any bad player can take an awesome power-set and make it very UNextraordinary at best.
Stop looking at the numbers and instead look at the knowledge and skill of the person at the keyboard, because that right there is where it's at.
Space reserved for a super awesome Signature, someday...
That's where it's at in terms of which players you want to invite. If you want to decide what to roll, though, set balance becomes more important, because you're comparing sets with the same person at the keyboard -- you.
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I do have boost range but I hardly ever use it except on tfs or to kill an especially obnoxious boss. It's great for soloing generals on Stop Romulus or killing the pylons on apex (and then on the battle maiden fight, it's phenomenal) but unless you actually need that kind of distance it's annoying in the same way aim is.
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Originally Posted by Obitus
To be fair, Energy Manipulation can turn just about any Primary blast set into a (comparatively) long-range damage dealer.
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| As for whether Fire is penalized with respect to range, I confess I don't find your argument terribly convincing. Playstyles do differ and preferences vary, but I wonder: If Executioner's Shot were a carbon copy of Blaze, would you take it and use it every chance you get? I'm betting you would. So whether Dual Pistols is actually better suited to a long-range playstyle or not depends on how you choose to spin it. From where I'm sitting, the lack of a good tier-3, 40' attack isn't an advantage. |
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| There's not a whole lot of cannon in the glass cannon unless you specialize in burst AoE (which is admittedly very nice but usually requires a closer range at least some of the time), or unless you blap. Preferably both. |
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| Hover is more of a judgment call, but I can't imagine rolling a ranged-DEF build without it. Doesn't mean you have to use it all the time; the point was that even at Hover speeds I don't find Blaze's range unworkable. The other point that occurs to me now is that Hover helps to prevent Fire Breath's activation time from forcing you into melee with angry mobs (as you noted earlier). Hover blasting is another thing that's made more comfortable by Energy Manipulation, too (Power Boost does, or at least used to, boost fly speed considerably.) |
None of that has anything to do with dual pistols, but I find hoverblasting to be a baffling enough concept that I had to address it.
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I agree. But that is an "if" statement that has to be made. In a discussion about damage we simply cannot gloss over the fact that Hail of Bullets hits 16 enemies and Full Auto hits 10 within a 20ft x 80ft cone. I like both of these powers, but comparing them side by side directly requires us to know what we're firing at. Builders of spreadsheets tend to ignore this distinction, which IMO is actually bigger than any issues of recharge, animation time, or other things builders tend to evaluate. The question of which is "better" is extremely complicated and impossible to resolve without knowing the circumstances of the fight. Meanwhile, that Assault Rifle neglects to include a Tier 3 blast at all makes direct set comparisons even more hazardous. Throw one difficult boss in the mix, or add a team, or spread the enemies out more, and the big picture becomes harder and harder to evaluate.| Why does it need to eliminate 16 targets? If you are playing on something other than x7 or x8 difficulty (or on a large team) there are probably not more than 10 targets per spawn. |
[EDIT: I agree about the soloing part. On a large team of 7 or 8 you are virtually guaranteed to have more than 10 enemies per standard spawn.]
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while I agree BUILD POWA isn't the be-all end-all, I don't buy the 'good player' argument either. |
Originally Posted by _Force_
"It's not the Build, it's the Player."
You can sit and argue about what is "good" and what is "bad" all day. Fact of the matter is that a good player can take a weak power-set and excel at it, pushing it to the limit and out performing stronger sets, and visa versa any bad player can take an awesome power-set and make it very UNextraordinary at best. Stop looking at the numbers and instead look at the knowledge and skill of the person at the keyboard, because that right there is where it's at. |
The game isn't hard enough for either of those variables to matter much. Nearly any build played by any player can accomplish most feats in the game. Power level and skill have a major impact on efficiency, but most things can be brute forced with even the weakest tools.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
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Part of the "knowledge and skill" is how to make good builds as well. That starts w/the power choices, as well as how to best maximize them. And an equally skilled player will of course do better with better powers/builds.
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Originally Posted by _Force_
"It's not the Build, it's the Player."
You can sit and argue about what is "good" and what is "bad" all day. Fact of the matter is that a good player can take a weak power-set and excel at it, pushing it to the limit and out performing stronger sets, and visa versa any bad player can take an awesome power-set and make it very UNextraordinary at best. Stop looking at the numbers and instead look at the knowledge and skill of the person at the keyboard, because that right there is where it's at. |
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
It IS about the player in this case.
When I originally posted this it was with uncertainty about the Dual Pistols primary. Now I'm nearing 30 and I'm quite certain it is good. Not awesome, but a firm 'good'.
Someone contacted me ingame and said they agreed it was a fine set, and had wanted to tell me why they thought so but this person confessed they do not participate on the forums because of the min/max types that will bombard the issue with negative Hero-math. I'd say he's pretty bang on.
A lot of people chiming in on this topic have been around a long time. And you have someone like PleaseRecycle who is actually positive about the power set, and sure enough the nay sayers have him beat.
Those of you saying 'more people are saying they don't like than do like it' are barking up the wrong tree. Negativity always finds its way to these forums before a positive influence does. That's fine. It's human nature. But maybe PleaseRecycle has a point in suggesting some of you are trying to con the Devs into pumping the power set up? Perhaps this describes some of the absurd (not all but some) posting?
Someone actually chimed in and said you can't farm, or participate in a farm 'type' of environment? Huh? What are you smoking?
I decided to test that theory for about... half an hour:
There we are. Two of us. Me and a Brute.
I had no issue with cycling powers and I'm not I/O'd through the whazoo. If I had to wait on anything, while the fire dot ticked, I focused on LT's and Bosses (which were + 4 to me).
The brute enjoyed the assistance, and actually said the minion clean up was nice, but the assistance on bosses was most helpful since that actually slows the process most. Dual Pistols has a VERY nice combo of both minion clean up, and single target hitting.
In single player mode, I've been solo'ing my own missions. I can take on some Elite, bosses, but not all. I confess having issues with knockback (I don't really want fly/hover) so I do have a knockback proc. This is HUGE for my build, but other than that, I'm saving my coin for end game so my experience is based on max level SO's ONLY. I don't care to blow the influence at this level, so aside from the proc, ANYONE can do what I'm doing.
Does it take intelligence to know when to pull, and when to run and gun? Yea, so what?
Some of you are arguing against the DP set with your favourite build, and that's fine. Everyone has a favourite. Personally I got sick of Energy's 'sounds', and it's knockback. I got sick of the repetitive fart-whiff noises of Fire. Assault rifle... wow no thanks (I tried that one 3 times. My hat's off to anyone who went all the way with that one.) Arrows WAS fun but I quit it before they shrunk the animation times.
At this point in my wall of text, I am writing this for anyone checking out the power set and reading all the negativity. It IS a GOOD set. Any negativity thrown at Dual Pistols is usually easily defend-able by some other aspect of it that other blasters don't have.
Here are my most prevalent, honest, thoughts on the set:
-The Utility of the set lends to a flexibilty MOST blasters just don't have.
- While I said I think the swap ammo power should be inherent it is continually omitted from arguing against DP. The ability to engage knockback for soloing is big. (A main reason I did not like my Fire blaster personally).
- Swapping to fire in groups helps. Yes the other two round types need something more.
- Someone else mentioned this but it is worth repeating: the unusual combination of attack types allows for a nice combination of slotting possibilities.
- If I were to change one thing so far? I'd probably speed some of the animations that seem to root you too long, though I still prefer the ability to use a long animated cone that has knockback, compared to something like: Fire Breath.
The rest of my positives are mostly personal so I can't really justify them to someone. I, for instance, still love the animations. I can't look at something that bores me for 50 levels. I don't care about how efficient it is. I'm NOT saying DP is the best on any one level, but I do think highly of it when I consider ALL of the reasons I quit my past blasters.
We'll see about me putting my money where my mouth is. I intend to make this my first blaster to 50. If I do, it will probably speak volumes about my sincerity of enjoying the set more than the others. If I don't go all the way, I'll be the first to confess why.
Nekron: Beam Rifle / Poison Corruptor and Slayer of Evil!! (Exalted)
Intergalaktic: Fire / Time Corruptor (Exalted)
All I have to add to that is that I hope you enjoy mass carnage, being a mere two levels away from my favorite power in the set and one of my favorites in the game.
I tried one up to about 30 when the set first came out, and gave up on it.
I loved the way it looked, but I hated the way it felt to play. The animations were way too long, and the redraw of DP/MM bugged the crap out of me. The damage felt mediocre at best, and the secondary effects were underwhelming.
If some people like it, that's great for them. It's not for me though.