To those who want an AT with Blast Primary and Defense Secondary:

Here's the thing. It doesn't matter whether or not your think it would be an OP tankmage. The devs have shown via the limitations they put on the Epic ATs THEY believe it would be an OP tankmage. Or they strongly suggest that.

That said:

Once upon a time I posted the build I was using on my Energy Blaster. It wasn't really a minmax build. Well, since then we have gotten Incarnate powers. I have respecced my energy blaster into a heavily minmaxed build.

She had to give up Tactics, Hasten, and some +Range slotting on Power Burst and Energy Torrent. But in exchange she now has softcapped ranged defense, ok defense to everything else, of course keeps Temp Invuln and Force of Nature, retains capped HP, and still has good regen and decent endurance. She has Conserve Power and Force of Nature if end becomes an issue. She also has perma mez protection from Clarion Destiny. Between set bonuses, Musculature Alpha and Assault her attacks do around +140% damage Before Aim/Build Up/Defiance (meaning she does slightly better damage overall than was possible before Enhancement Diminishing Returns were implemented).


I am not trying to say "we already have the range/defense archetype". I recognize that people want this at lvl 1 without huge investments of inf and time (I spent a lot of both on my blaster).

I'm just pointing out that if you are willing to wait and invest you can make a blaster nearly as tough as a scrapper without gimping its damage output.

But my initial point I believe cannot really be argued: that the Devs think range/defense is overpowered without Severe limitations (on damage type among other things) is demonstrated not only by the design of the Epic Archetypes but also by the fact that they have not yet made such an archetype. To make it and have it be Neither A) gimped Nor B) overpowered is a balance nightmare.

You can do the same thing with a Claws/SR/Pyre Scrapper or Brute and you have a tank mage.

You get Focus (single target - range 40), Shockwave (cone - range 30), Ring of Fire (single target - range 50), Char (single target - range 50 that applies a mag 3 hold), Fire Blast (single target - range 80), and Fire Ball (TAoE - range 80).

A cone and a TAoE is what most blaster sets get for AoE. The other powers are single target ranged attacks, maybe a single target mez power, and a bunch of melee attacks which is most of the blaster's secondary. The Claws/SR has faster activation times than most blaster sets on all those ranged powers, can have soft capped defenses to all positions, capped defense debuff resistance, has scaling resists, and permanent mez protection.

All of that WITH SOs ONLY. The brute and scrapper can add in IOs and build exclusively for recharge since more defense would be silly. Recharge is lots cheaper than trying to build for defense.

The Brute and Scrapper pull further ahead with incarnate powers. Judgement gets them a ranged crashless nuke. They aren't limited to Clarion for the Destiny slot.

Blasters are broken, especially in comparison. Most blasters don't take all their attacks because they would sit in the tray unused because they don't animate fast enough to use them all even slotting just SOs. If you slot a reasonable amount of recharge even more of your powers sit in your tray which is why most blaster players select pool powers to fill in the mitigation chasm. You aren't going to get to use another attack power, taking it would be silly, or it sits in your tray unused except as a mule for a set bonus.

The damage difference does not even come close to making up for the mitigation difference.

Having played both scrappers and blasters I have to disagree with both the devs and your assessment of the situation.

I am a Blaster at heart. Always have been, always will be.

I enjoy doing massive damage, burst damage specifically, while still having to be wary of my surroundings.

For years, I always knew my role on teams. Depending on the Blaster I was playing I was either a hard target assassin or a minion clearing AoE machine. I learned to control my KB around others. I learned how to target through the tank. I learned how to sacrifice myself to save the team with a valiant charge.

Then IO's came around and I slowly began to notice my contribution to the teams being tossed aside. Scrappers approached my level of damage and had extra defense to dish it out non-stop.
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I played Scrappers, my 2nd favorite AT, whenever I needed a break from the concentration of playing squishies.

Sometimes I enjoy being able to stand my ground while being swamped, taking them out little by little. I've been known to get scrapperlock with the best of em.

For years, I always knew my role on teams. Depending on the Scrapper I was playing I was either a Boss killer or Lt. specialist. I could deal out good damage, but only because I could cycle more attacks without my health vanishing. I learned how to protect the team from aggro. I learned how to stop punching the guy in my face, just long enough to run back to the controller getting swarmed and save them. I learned to not even look at my health bar.

Then IO's came around and I slowly started to notice my contribution to teams increasing! I could now approach Blaster levels of damage AND I could buff my considerable defenses even more! I started to see more and more of my melee brothers in arms and less of those squishy types.
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All that was before I-powers. The incarnate stuff just multiplies the issue.

Blasters need a buff to their overall damage.
It's what we're all about, or rather used to be. Being Damage kings. The Dev's used to say that Blasters wouldn't get mez protection or defenses because range is our mitigation, that scrappers get better defenses at the cost of damage ability. This held true then but no longer applies.

I recently rolled up a Mace/Shield scrapper and it disgusted me. He quickly became one of my favorite toons because of the massive amounts of burst damage I could deal right outta the box! I figured it would eventually taper off, so that at higher levels I'd be slightly below Blasters damage wise. What disgusted me was... that never happened. I only got stronger and stronger.

Out of curiosity, I rolled up 2 brand spanking new toons. 1 Energy/Energy Blaster and 1 Mace/Electric Scrapper. I sewer'd them to level 12 and stocked them to full with DO's.

I then ran the same mission on both, doing nothing but counting attacks. Not damage numbers or times mezzed or even time to complete. Just the number of attacks needed to get through the same amount and type of enemy. Not exactly scientific but it quenched my curiosity.
I'm at work and I don't recall the exact numbers for each, suffice it to say, the scrapper came out way ahead in the end.
The Blaster needed, on average, 3 1/2 attacks to arrest a minion.
The Scrapper needed on average 3.
Even though I wasn't taking note of the time, the scrapper did finish far faster, as I was able to keep moving, without needing to take any breaks for health or blue, which having to do every other spawn with the blaster...

Rip that apart for being non-scientific if you want. In the end all that matters is perception and the perception concerning this isn't just mine.

Give Blasters their crown back, please.

Buff the damage, not the defense.

The thing with this game is that with the advent of IOs and Incarnates you HAVE THE OPTION TO bastardize your AT into what you want it to be. Honestly, if you build a Blaster for recharge and tons of procs, acc, recov, and make a pure glass cannon who's only role is to do massive damage and sustain his own endurance, you will definitely contribute in a team scenario. You fulfill a roll better than the Scrapper does, DPS. Now when you people WANT to make a self sufficient Blaster and aim for Scrapper defenses, that's when you make comparisons like "My ******* Blaster that wants to be a Scrapper is not as good as a Scrapper in X way or Y way... buffs plz."

A game being balanced doesn't mean that every AT should be able to be turned into every other AT with exact equal efficiency, it never meant that. If anything, Blasters should embrace the fact that their builds can be varied so much and still be effective as silly "tankmages" or as pure glass cannons who rely on their team for survival. The poor Scrappers are the ones with no real build options or diversity, forced to min/max every defensive set virtually the same way because they HAVE NO CHOICE but to melee, and therefore require the defense oriented builds that are merely one of many options to a Blaster. That and Scrappers often share virtually identical builds with Brutes and Tanks, whereas Blasters only share builds with themselves.

Also if I was going to build what people are calling a "Tankmage" I'm pretty sure I'd just use a Defender (or Corruptor but Defender's get much better defensive stats from toggles) with Dark Miasma and whatever blast set I wanted, probly fire. Dark Miasma is ludicrously overpowered defensively, easy to herd mobs from around a corner with proper execution of Darkest Night, into a waiting Tar Patch that clumps them perfectly. Then you jump out and unleash a Fearsome Stare, and at that point you have already won, now it's just time to kill them all. Use whatever Blast set you like on your Blaster, solo for that 30% dmg buff, and if you don't do enough damage that's just cus you haven't T4'd your Interface and Judgement and Lore yet, which bring even a braindead monkey's damage up to Rikti Pylon soloing levels. That sounds like a Tankmage to me, a character who takes virtually no damage from mobs (tanks) and rips their foes to pieces with the ease a 50cal shooting through tissue paper, from a distance even (mage).

Could it be that the problem with IO (set bonus) for blasters is that they cannot effectively buff damage?

Recharge increase damage, but one quickly runs into the activation time limits and the result of super recharge is that you need only 2-3 attack powers. Direct (global) damage bonuses in sets are minor and rare. So instead of going glass cannon all the way, blasters are trying to max defense and loose their natural edge.

Blaster secondary should not be about defense. It should be a variable mixture of blaps (few!), power ups, and controls. There should be plenty of soft controls with a damage component in them - examples are caltrops and subdual. Lots of Slows, root+debuff and knocks, all of which do damage in addition to the status. The hard status effects should be the territory of Dom/Controllers.

Er yeah, it has better DPA than archery, which has reduced DPA to account for its reduced recharge and endurance costs (not a good trade if you ask me), and elec, a set that has deserved a buff for an unforunately large number of years. I assumed that you were using the actual crab powers because unlike the soldier powers those do not have redraw which you also have to factor into your DPS calculation. I don't know what ring of fire has to do with this. Much like sonic, beam rifle will also pull ahead due to its high DPA coupled with its debuffs.

Greetings my fellow blasters. I am from virtue where I bear the beastly burden of blasting away as Bentley berkeley, a lore based RP character of the magic origin using the psi/ment/force mastery sets.

Ive been an off and on player since year one, and played nearly every blaster combo prior to the release of psi ment at least into the upper 30s, many pre IOs which admittedly may effect my views compared to other more IOd up variations of those old comboes.

I say this so when I say each blaster, maybe more so then any other AT, is a unique individual who will succeed,falter, or fail based on the player and how they play and that alone.

I also have to mention that though imo anyone who tries to play a blaster using anothers build as posted on the forums will never be truly effective with a blaster.

Blasters can be just as diverse as any other AT if made and played right. My own blaster has frequently recieved tells in the middle of action from some of the best brutes,tanks, and scrappers ive ever seen on the server saying such compliments as Wow you outtank me. How do you outtank me, How do you manage to endure so mcuh aggro, how do you self heal so effectively without the heal pool. And frankly many others beyond count. I have taken other psi ments under my wing who I first met hearing them say how gimp thier combo was, and after running with me was desperate to learn my art with the powers.

Some sets are focussed heavily on dmg and imo that is why so many then end up feeling inferior. THere are caps in this game, and they exist for good reason. This is why when someone building a blaster focusses so heavily on the DMG aspect they end up feeling so weak end game.

Every AT is better when you take them out of the box and push beyond thier pre defined roles. THis is one of the biggest strengths of COX over other MMO. I also feel to many use builds that are only VIABLE at lvl 50 with perfect IOs. That is a major flaw also imo. If you need to tweek a build while leveling up or even major overhaul at 50 that is no sin nor shameful in the least. However when you do your respec you should be keeping exemping in mind and be ready to replay certain milestones of content at various level ranges to re test your new build IMO. A build that often seems flawless at 50 can be filled with many hidden ones or be alot less optimal end game then people actually think. A build that can tear through all content 1-50 is alot less likely to feel any real threat even at 50+.

Not to say my own blaster CANT die, its a very active playstyle build and if I lag, lose focus, or just am playing sloppy he drops in effectivness equally and that is infact one of the fun things about his playstyle. If I am not bringing my A game niether is my build.

So blasters find those blaster sets that are right for YOU and YOU ALONE! Experiment with them, ALL OF THEM, until you can really taste thier potential and power and decide for yourself. Do not let forum builds or fotm trends influence you even though they can be beneficial to study for observational purposes.

remember being a BLASTER is not just ranged DPS its about ending the threat of the enemy with all your tools. Blapping was something I once aspired to until I relized that made me just half a blaster. Now I am a real tank. I take a beating and deal dmg from afar or run right over the little guys in my way. thats right the real tank is a blaster or as i call them Point Blankers.

Dont hide behind a guy with a sword take on your foes POINT BLANK. No I dont have a character by that name on virtue but if there is one i want to murder him and assume that identity except i love being bentley berkeley and dont need to make another blaster after him

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever tried to focus on +dmg bonuses? How much can you get? Is it worth it better than recharge?