Glad to be back!

Hello all. Glad to be back. Havnt played since 2006. Excited to find out what has changed. I really only have one question thats teasing my brain. Has my Empath Defender been rended obsolete? secondary is Psy "Eh". Any updates on the healing aspect since 2006? "Yes I have been researching." Just want my fellow defenders input.

Welcome back!

Obsolete? *wanders off puzzled*

Gosh I hope not I have something like 6 of the level 50 buggers wandering around.

Maybe Obsolete was a harsh term. I would just like to know if my Empath is still a viable healer. Before I left people were leaning toward rad for the h-o-t. didnt know if that was still the case. Sorry. I know the the solution is to log on and find out....Kinda at work

Rad doesn't have any heal over time... It just has a small pbaoe heal similar to healing aura in empathy.

As for empaths being obsolete... No, there is nothing wrong with empathy. Having said that, this game has very few situations where there is a need for a 'healer'. Empathy is a good set, not because of the 3 heal powers it has. It's because of all the other powers in the Empathy set. Once you get up to higher levels, the most important buffs that you will be casting are Fortitude, Adrenalin Boost, Recovery Aura and Regeneration Aura, and Clear Mind. These buffs are far more useful in keeping your team alive than the healing powers because they can keep your team from taking damage.

Also, just a forewarning... The term 'Healer' on the defender board is almost like a 4 letter word since we've all seen the idiot team leaders who won't start a mission until they have a healer, even though it just isn't necessary for 95% of this game. Most of us here just avoid those teams like the plague...

Eh, Noted. Ah yes. I have a 50 emp/psy def. I know those buffs well.

Empathy is still the primary healing set in the game. If you play with people who don't have expensive IO set builds and take a lot of damage, you will be the person who keeps the team from falling apart. If you play with people who have good builds and play well, they may take very little damage, leaving you bored or even giving you time to attack things. Even then, your buffs will be very useful.

I overreact at times to the heal vs. defense argument between forcefields and empathy. That said, Fortitude, Recovery Aura and Adrenalin Boost can make the team a juggernaut. ToHit is of greater value especially in the new 50+ content because the base defense of +4s is over 60%. Recovery aura is stupid good because it is AoE. Adrenalin Boost is kick-butt as ever for MOAR damage.

More has changed in slotting due to ED and IOs vs. anything else. If Emp was good for you back then, it works now. Emp is still the number one in demand set in terms of the common player base(in vast part due to "healers" being the ideal).

From my own personal stand point, only the end game stuff could be considered hard and that's vastly because it's new. Anything outside of that has been dumbed down to where you really have to have some major malfunction to go on for a team to fail. TFs at least had the potential to be hard. Now, it's "Let's do this as fast as possible while facing even level mobs." Yes, I miss the days of starting a Posi TF and being actually level 10, or being on teams while facing +4s and it not being a farm. It's like the devs think the player base needs it's hand held from 1-50. And yes, if you get on one of my teams the diff setting gets bumped as high as the team can handle. I get far more compliments on the exp than complaints about how difficult the missions are. I do believe I ran a team at +4 that was under level 20, so nobody was even using SOs and that was a gloriously fun team to be on.

Here's some of what you missed since 2006.

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Issue 8: The police scanner gives access to randomly generated missions. These missions are short, guaranteed to be in the same zone as you, and tend to be on the easy side, good for PuGging and casual play.

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Issue 9: The Hamidon raid has been changed. Empathy's regeneration buffs are crucial to the new strategy. You'll make many friends at Hamidon raids.

The Statesman Task Force (STF), located in Independence Port, has become popular endgame content.

The invention system, also added this issue, opens up some new slotting opportunities. Healing enhancement recipes tend to be expensive, but you can often get control and debuff enhancement recipes for about the same cost as SOs. Check Admissions Officer Lenk in Steel Canyon to begin the invention shstem tutorial.

For example, random pieces of the Enfeebled Operation and Ruin sets can add more versatility to your Subdue blast without costing you much inf or sacrificing damage.

When you become wealthier, then you can start matching the more expensive sets like Doctored Wounds to build up recharge bonuses.

Speaking of wealth, you can buy and sell your goodies at Wentworth's Consignment House (WW) with locations in various spots around the city. WW operates on an auction-like system, so there are some good deals to be made.

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Issue 10: The Lady Grey Task Force (LGTF), located in the revamped Rikti War Zone, has become popular endgame content.

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Issue 11: Both Ouroboros and the invention system provide more opportunities to acquire temporary powers. As a /Psi defender, this gives you more options for dealing with robots and zombies solo, so check them out. The way to unlock Ouroboros is a secret, but maybe if you do a little time traveling....

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Between issues 11 and 12: A change to the blaster inherent power Defiance resulted in some defender blast animation times being sped up. You should notice Mental Blast fires off much more quickly now than it used to.

You can now see the "real numbers" of powers by right-clicking on their icon. You can also track the total values of buffs affecting you through the Combat Attributes window. Now you can see more clearly than ever how oober your defender-strength buffs and debuffs are.

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Issue 12: The Imperious Task Force (ITF), in the new zone of Cimerora, has become popular endgame content. You'll need to do a mission arc for Montague Castanella in Steel Canyon to access Cimerora.

Three identical inspirations can now be converted into a single inspiration of the same level but different type. Many players use this to make Awakens on the fly, so Resurrection is a little less important than it used to be.

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Issue 13: Merit Rewards are earned for completing certain tasks, like defeating a Giant Monster or finishing a Task Force. Merit Rewards can be traded to Merit Vendors throughout the city for goodies.

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Issue 14: The Mission Architect system (MA) allows you to build or run player-created missions. Visit an Architect Entertainment building (AE) to get started. See the Architect Studio Manager in Atlas Park to do the tutorial.

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Issue 15: You didn't miss a thing, darlin'.

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Issue 16: Super sidekicking sets everyone on a team to the same level. Before, a common Empathy metagame strategy (Force Fields too) would be to beg onto a higher level team, since buffs and heals aren't impacted by level differences, and level very quickly fighting purples.

In the new teaming environment, with all team members at the same level, I'd say it's more important than ever for defenders to have balanced builds. Debuffs, controls, and blasts are on more even footing with buffs and heals.

Along with the new auto-sidekicking system, the level restrictions on most hazard and trial zones have been removed. So you can go to the Rikti War Zone at any level now.

Additionally, when you exemplar down to level N, you now keep powers you obtained at or before level N+5. This means you can bring, for example, Recovery Aura (18) and Will Domination (20) to a Positron Task Force (15), Regeneration Aura (26) and Psionic Tornado (28) to a Sister Psyche Task Force (25), etc., assuming you got those powers at the earliest level available.

The issue also expands the difficulty tweaking system. By visiting a Hero Corps Field Analyst you can change not just the relative level of enemies inside your missions, but also the effective size of your team. For example, a duo on +2/x6 will fight lots of +2 enemies as though they were a team of six.

Also, if you don't like the color of your blasts, stop by a tailor and check out the new power customization added in this issue. You can change those hot pink bubbles into whatever color your prefer.

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Issue 17: The Positron Task Force is now split into two segments. It's still relatively hard for its level, but not nearly as long.

You may now have more missions and arcs active at once. Additionally, you may abandon missions you don't feel like doing.

If you were on a global channel before, it might have changed names. Before Issue 17, global channels sometimes got full with no way to kick off inactive users, so changing the channel's name was the only way to open back up again. Check around to see what the new channel names are.

Issue 17 gave the Defender inherent ability Vigilance a second effect. It still reduces the endurance cost of your powers if you're near hurt teammates. It now also gives you a small damage bonus if you're on a small team or solo.

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Issue 18: You can now change alignments and become a villainous Defender if you so choose. You can even take a villain patron power pool instead of an APP, if you switch sides and unlock them. Look for Tip missions to drop. You are also no longer restricted to trading items and inf cross-faction.

Tankers now have 10% more base health. Don't be alarmed when you try to heal them and their life bar doesn't budge much.

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Issue 19: The Fitness power pool is now inherent for all characters. This makes Recovery Aura a bit less important. AB is still fantastic for its regen and recharge buffs.

Your old defender can now enter and explore the Going Rogue Praetorian zones, if you have the Going Rogue expansion.

All the train stations are now connected. You can travel from Atlas Park to Founders Falls in one click.

You may now choose alternate animations at the tailor for most of your Psychic Blast powers.

You can now earn an Alpha Slot, the first part of the Incarnate system. You must be level 50, have the Going Rogue expansion, and have access to Ouroboros to do this.

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Issue 19.5 (Strike Pack): Each week, a certain task force now gives extra bonuses when you complete that task force. Which task force is the strike target of the week is pre-announced. The current target hero-side is Numina's Task Force.

@Rigel_Kent

You my friend...are a myriad of information as well as a time saver. Thank you.

Super Sidekicking doesn't put everyone at the same level. It puts people at or above the mission owner's (or team leader when no mission is set) level to the level of the mission owner. People below the mission owner's level are set one level below the mission owner.

Had my first group last night in 5 years. Joined a great helpful SG that is helping me shake the rust off. Felt the same. Got a few Woots for my buffs. However I did notice that really after the initial first big pull I hit the tanker with Heal Other 1 time. Then I actually found myself using my Psy damage "Or lack there of :P...I seriously gotta slot for some damage there" Basically just maintained my RA's and the occasional fort and AR. yay for stress free!

Welcome back. As has already been mentioned, the Empathy powerset is as strong as it ever was, although players now respect its buffs more than its heals.

You might find that your /Psy secondary is much better than it used to be. Psy really, really sucked when the game was released. Since then they've improved both the casting times and its damage, and it's on par with the other defender attack sets now.

Yeah, regarding /psi, I'd definitely suggest picking up a goodly chunk of the set. At the very least, you'll probably want TK blast, will dom, and one of the AoEs.

The AoEs in particular bring something that, as an empathy defender, you don't otherwise have - some offensive mitigation. Specifically, psi tornado has a hefty recharge debuff and also inflicts knockup on some of the foes, while psi scream has no knock effects but has *twice* the recharge debuff. Toss out one of those at the beginning of a fight and you've mitigated a decent chunk of damage for your team.

Will dom and TK, meanwhile, are just nice, solid ST blasts. TK has knockback and isn't all psi damage (nice for robots) and will dom carries a good chance to sleep, and they both have reasonably quick casting times and do nice chunks of damage.

And since you can't increase -recharge by slotting, there's no competition for damage slots. While as a defender you don't have a *huge* damage scale, and /psi lacks aim, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't contribute what you can. You can still lay out enough AoE to save the blasters/scrappers a hit, or eliminate a troublesome LT or two (and keep him relatively harmless while doing so), and you should.