Why choose single target over AOE?

The more I play this game, the more I feel like it focuses mostly, if not entirely, on AOE centered characters. It seems to me that it's far more rewarding to invest in a character that can wipe out huge groups all at once than a character with more of a single target focus. Almost everything I read on these boards seems agree with me. Heck, it might have even been the place where I got the idea from.

I'm really not trying to bash single target powersets or archetypes, but at the moment I just don't see why anyone would chose a build such as Dark Melee instead of fire or electric melee. Yes, dark melee does offer more control which helps with survivability, but if staying alive isn't a concern, would there be any other reason to chose dark melee over fire or electric?

It just seems that it's much more rewarding to have AOE characters. You can tear through huge groups in very short amounts of time, as opposed to killing targets one by one.
And yes, there are EB's and AV's that appear, but do they show up enough to really make having a single target build worth it?

Look at the FOTM of the month builds too. They're almost all AOE heavy. Fire/Dark Corruptors, electric/shield scrappers, ill/rad controllers, Robots masterminds. They all have huge amounts of AOE, group-destroying powers.

Maybe I'm missing something here (I assume I am), but every time I roll a character, I feel like I should make sure I have good AOE abilities before I go any further. If I don't I feel like it won't take me very far.

So, can anyone tell me what the advantages are to single target builds?

It depends on your goals. If your goals are to gain as much reward / time as possible, then yes, focus on AoE. If your goals are to have a good time and try different things, then don't worry about it. I tell you this as a relatively intense min/maxer. What I've learned is that this game is generally forgiving enough and easy enough that while the difference is technically significant, I can't find enough justification for it in practice to worry about it.

Less philosophically, some (though certainly not all) AoE-capable power sets do not then have strong single-target damage, and strong single-target damage can be useful against "hard targets" like bosses and EBs, or even AVs or GMs, if you're of a mind to try and take on challenges like that solo.

I'm personally much more interested in trying out different sets than in getting the 'best' one. Even if there was one powerset or combo that was obviously better than everything else in the game, I'd still make characters from every powerset. Also, most single target sets have an AoE in them, and all the AoE-oriented sets have lots of single target attacks in them.

I dunno. I obviously don't 'get it', and I know my opinion has no bearing on minmaxers and powergamers. But from where I'm sitting, there's not much of a problem.

Personally I love single target focused characters. My favorite Brute is Stone/WP. That power set combo will make you feel like a god. Does he wipe out whole spawns in the blink of an eye? Nope, a good farming toon he most certainly is not. But he's fun as all hell for me to play and that's all that matters. And on the occasion I'm in the mood for some AoE carnage, I break out my Spines/Fire Scrapper.

As others have said, if fun for you is single target, go for it. If you find it tedious, build an AoE character. What other people focus on really shouldn't matter. I doubt you'll be turned away by any groups for not having enough AoE. Usually when I see people advertise for spots on TF's they will say "need damage", not "need AoE damage".

Or you can have both.

Fire Blast and Fire Melee is pretty much the most epic combination of both ST and AoE dmg.

It is just a matter of preference, really. There is plenty for a single target character to help with in a team, although on a true stomp-smash team AoEs are indeed going to shine bright.

I generally prefer to play AoE characters (damage, debuff, and control). However, I have several single target specialists just because I like some variety every now and again.

I like teaming.

On a team, there will be enough AOEs to wipe out minions and lieuts within seconds, at which point the only thing left is one or two bosses, for which ST damage is good ; then there's the AVs/GMs, which show up a lot if most of what you do is high end content (and that's all I do).

I find I get bored playing pure ST damage alts or pure AoE damage alts, unless I'm just soloing AVs (with the former) or solo farming (with the latter). My ideal character is heavy on ST damage with some AoE damage on top.

Now I agree that AoE characters earn rewards faster than ST characters, but marketeers earn magnitudes more than either choice anyway, and leveling is fast enough to make the difference between AoE and ST irrelevant to me. As soon as I play the game instead of standing still looking at the market interface or using the latest AE exploit, I accept that whatever I am doing isn't the most efficient way to earn rewards and I just enjoy what I like to play.

I find I like single target more than AoE for soloing, because it makes it easier to deal with foes quickly and whittle them down so I'm not overwhelmed. This is particularly important for Blasters and Dominators, and even some Controllers. AoE is nice, but to me it's the choice between fighting for 10 seconds and then having everything drop dead at once, and fighting for 10 seconds and having something drop every second.

Is AoE more useful for teaming? Yeah, since you can usually avoid the consequences of using those AoEs. And if you're bumping up against the limit of +4/x8, you can't get any more performance by going single target. But I regularly go higher level with my single target characters and larger spawns with my AoE characters, and it balances out in terms of levelling speed.

Because AVs don't usually come in AoE variety.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

I have a fully kitted out EM/SD scrapper, which I pull out on occasion for fun AoE damage. But the scrappers that I've done the incarnate thing with so far are katana/regen and martial arts/willpower. I actually have 4 level 50 martial arts scrappers, 2 level 50 katana scrappers, and 1 level 50 broadsword scrapper. So I guess I enjoy massive single-target damage. ^_^ My MA scrappers are just tons of fun to play, end of story.

I will say this, when I first started out in this game back in Jan. 09', I built my first toon, a Blaster. She was very AoE oriented and can take on large mobs without any issues. My Nova was my buddy and I couldn't wait to use it. So now, after rolling a few more Blasters, a Controller, MM, Corruptor, Arachnos Widow, Dominator, Stalker and Warshade, I decided it was time to try my hand at a Scrapper. My first was a fire/fire Scrapper now level 50 and I loved it. My second build was a KM/SD Scrapper now a level 50. For someone who likes to run a lot of solo mish'es I have found that this toon was about the most solo'ish toon that I had. Meaning, I ended up raising my difficulty to +4/+1 because she could flat out dish it out. I now have a whole new appreciation for going "mano-a-mano" especially when it comes to taking down big bad bosses!

You pick ST because you want to be the guy to kill the AV/EB.

You pick AoE becuase you want to remove all the minions and Lieuts.

Whatever you like better.

ST based toons can solo with bosses turned on, no matter what archtype you choose.
AoE will probably turn bosses off solo. But it depends on your survivability.
An AoE scrapper or tank could probably leave bosses on. An AoE blaster, maybe not, but can run farm missions all day long. So there are plusses and minuses to any build you go for.

It's looking like it mostly boils down to just preferences. I guess it's hard for me to understand that if you want to min/max, then you should probably go for AoE. But I do agree with a lot of the points raised that it is just a play style.

And Jibikao, I completely agree with what you said about stalkers. They're what got me into thinking about this the most. There's no denying that they're meant for single target killing, and I just never understood what a stalker could do in a team that a scrapper or blaster couldn't do either.

Ill give you a classic.

Airhammer is built as a singke target blaster. While he has some AoE's he is best at taking out a single target and from ridiculously long range ( 2 damage range Hami-o's in every ranged attack ). On teams that I play with regularly I am the person that takes out that annoying target quickly. The Malta Sapper.. Mine.. The Avalanche Shaman.. mine.. The Death Mage... mine..

Thats one reason I believe its to be a single target.

To the OP; The advantage to good Single Target damage is SOLO against "Hard" targets. This has been mentioned already, but thought I would re-emphasize this.

When you actually make a large number of characters you will start to see some of the "balance" paradigm that the developers must use for powersets, and to elaborate I will give a couple of my observations;

In general, sets with very good single target damage are "lacking" in AoE damage

The reverse is generally true, sets which have good AoE damage, your single target attacks are noticeably lacking. Someone has already mentioned one set that "seems" to have both (Fire Melee), but you will find that set lacking in another area, which is "hard/soft" controls.

If you look at other ATs besides melee characters you will find alot of similar trade-offs. Controllers, for instance, seem to trade overall control for damage in their primaries (ex: Illusion, Gravity). Mind control would seem to be like Fire melee in that it has excellent control and some damage, but it is lacking in two areas that controllers of other persuasions can better leverage ; setting up containment, and immobilization

Bottom line is that as a player, you need to decide what you plan on doing with the character mostly.
Is he a "farmer", "team player", "PvP specialist, "Badger Hunter" etc...
Once you decide, its much easier to find the right choice that will satisfy you in the majority of your playing experience.

As an aside, that is easier said than done. I struggle constantly with finding the right "match" because my needs are to have a supportive team player that can solo fairly well too. Controllers seem to be the closest to what I like, but I HATE PETS. See the problem ?

Good Luck, but dont give up. Just keep trying different character concepts and something is bound to be exactly what you want, regardless of AoE or ST capabilities.

Maybe I've been playing differently than the OP, but why are people choosing one or the other? Doesn't everyone go for both?

To answer the question posed by the OP, it all depends on the play style/mood of the player. I prefer ST toons sometimes because I feel like taking on a tough boss or EB. Overall though, I have no preference one way or the other. I just love to play this game.

As for Stalkers, they rock at taking down tough targets. They are my second favorite melee AT.

Because it's nice to have somebody that can quickly take down a tough single target, such as a boss.. I cant count the number of times I'll be on aoe-centric team ,and the bosses are really quite a drag, especially ones like Freak Tanks. Times like that I'm wishing for a DM or something to eat them up.