Unemployment hits Coh/Cov

I'll agree with one thing here, Dark Blast is one of the sets on the ever-growing list crying out for a bit of a rejig.


Pity our Powers team seem more focused on messing around with Leagues and super-overpowered-generic-well-powers instead.

Maybe it was because I went from CoH to a few months over at WoW, but when I played my priest, I did a discipline priest. Easiest thing I did from lowbie land to mid 50s. When I was playing "healer", I always got a kick out of tossing my shield on the tank that did a portion of the damage back on the attacker, throwing a healing dot (WoW's regen since it doesn't actually have a regen part when in a battle) and then just going and helping wand down the troublesome enemy. I sometimes even had a chance to cast offensive spells and use my mana for that.

Then again, I went from CoH to WoW and knew that buffing was under appreciated by most WoWites and knew what buffing could do in CoH and just crossed some tactics over. Discipline Priest soloing 5-7 equal to +5 level enemies solo? Easy. Just give me a jug of water afterwards.

Edit: This is what Empaths should be doing. Buff those who need it, give regen for the times people get hit, and blast away. Buffing depending on various factors.

I wonder what this crowd's reaction will be when Keyes is released and empaths (and regen, poor crippled regen) have a field day with it.

As a long time Empathy defender player, I can certainly say the set has had its ups and downs over time.

However, now, for me, is the best time to be an Empath.

Reasons?

Who else can cover the taunting tank on a BAF? Not every Brute/Tank/Scrap is hitting 60% def. That Fort buff, and AP/HO keep him/her alive while they pull. Shield defenders can't do much more than bubble. Dark/Rad/TA... To debuff Seige they have to get close and risk aggro from adds. I haven't seen a defender brave enough to try that yet! (not saying it hasn't been done!!)

Who else can stick close to the lead Brute/Tank in the "grab" phase of a Lambda? Make sure they get all those goodies without a scratch. Again, Fort, AB, Heals & Auras all help here. Those AOE debuffs just pull aggro.

In normal play - you now have new toys! Pets that do damage, and that you can buff, Judgement powers to do lots of damage! Perma-mez protection! My Empathy defender was promoted from "support" to "contributor" in my eyes with Incarnate abilities. Far from being dead, I feel this is now a viable set. I can do Carnie tip missions without a tray of break frees!!

There is a lot of high level content where a single AV/Boss can give a tank/brute trouble. And whilst a lot of toons are equipped to deal with it, not every toon is. And when they do bite off more than they can chew, I'm there to help. My Brute, for example, is only just plodding through the incarnate grind. He has no level shift, and against the 54 mobs in the trials, he dies. A lot. He's not IO'd to the max, and isn't very tough.

Yet the other day, he puled Siege successfully. And why? Because there was an Empath on his shoulder all the way. AB, Fort, and healing top up was invaluable.

And if the team is eating everything it can see? Then I get to blast too and not feel like I'm a third rate blaster. Once I have Fortitude on everyone that is

Don't give up on your Empath. We never had it so good. Just remember, not everyone is IO'd to the hilt. Not everyone has a purpled out 'shade. And not everyone knows when they've bitten off more than they can chew.

-H

I make judicious use of Dark Blast, Gloom, Moonbeam, Tentacles, and Life Drain. You're welcome to do the same, Dark Blast is a very fun secondary.

Heck, Empathy can actually afford to pick up Nightfall for a second AoE. I wish I could afford/fit it on my Stormie.

I love playing my Empathy/Sonic on iTrials. Fort on the Scrapper or Brute in my team, AB and Fort on Blaster, stand back while iXP rolls in. Rock the heal aura during AV scraps, and cycle my ST blasts for -Res, which is like +Dam for everyone in the League. Cast RAs in the middle of big groups - more of a constant bonus than the quickly-decaying Ageless/Rebirth Destiny!

You know... the OP is right to some extent. The more powerful individuals become, the less they need support. I'd say level 20-30 is really where this game shines as far as team play with a mix of power sets all contributing. Somewhere in the 30s people start to become more and more independent of each other, and eventually a well built anything can take on most of the game's challenging content without help. Instead of working hard to make it possible to succeed, it becomes a matter of how much you contibute to your team's speed of success. Because of this, in the end game, offensive buffs, debuffs, and damage seem to rule. If anyone becomes obsolete in the end game, I think it's the control focused builds and defensive buff sets.

To the OP... emp gives great offensive buffs. You're not obsolete.. you just can't see the results as clearly as you can with some other sets. And yet, to some extent you're also probably right. You may have more run playing another toon in the end game, or more fun playing your toon exemplared down.