Blaster ATO

Can I get someone that knows the facts in here to look a this? My problem is in understanding the ATO and the time gate thing.

I understand that the ATO proc will fire everytime in a power that has a base recharge of (is it 12 or 15 seconds, I have seen both posted). This is the base, so even if brought down to 4-7 seconds it will still proc everytime? unless its an AoE in which case it is still good, but no guarantee of anything?

I am looking at slotting it in Bitter Ice Blast which is exactly 12 seconds base, so if the verbage is "over 12 seconds" base, or if it is "15 second base" I have to rethink the concept a bit. Anyways, does anyone know specifically the rule?

It perplexes me as to how exactly these procs work. I'm under the impression that the power's recharge time changes the percent chance to fire. It's unclear if a fast recharge power will proc less or more often.

Also keep in mind that a 15 second base recharge aoe won't fire 100% of the time against every enemy it hits. The formula for aoes isn't known right now, just that the higher a power's target cap is, the less of a chance it has of activating the proc.

The point of the procs isn't that you *have* to put them into long recharging powers, just that they don't lose effectiveness if you do. The scaling is supposedly balanced so that you are getting 'equalish' benefit no matter what power you put it into. It's very similar to the new 'Assassins' Focus' mechanic that Stalkers are using, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's exactly the same formula.

Also note it's an average proc rate. It's not hard capped at Xprocs/minute.

What bothers me is I am perceiving an unfairness to the designs of the ATOs. I may be incorrect, based on my not understanding the mechanics. Dominators get a global stackable damage buff. Brutes get a Fury generator that translates into a Global stacking damage buff. Blasters get a proc, that is better than normal procs in ST, and worse than normal Procs in AoEs? WTF? Blasters are advertised as Ranged Damage funtime. Yet the Devs make constant decisions giving other Archtypes bonuses to damage in a half dozen ways to equal Blaster damage (while still keeping defenses, armor, mez protection, mezz ability, holds, buffs, etc) and pointedly give Blasters as little as they can without actively depriving Blasters of an ATO at all. I am unsure what the overall game design strategy is with Blasters (or if there is one), but the more I explore Blasting the more I see examples of these atrocious imbalances working against this Archetype.

Hopefully this won't derail the thread too far (there's a thread about it over in the Stalker forums, if anyone wants to discuss that), but the chance to proc Assassin's Focus appears to be set by hand for each power, and isn't simply linear with recharge the way the PPM procs seem to be. Most of the chances seem to be "nice" numbers (multiples of 5%), too, which again kinda implies they're chosen by hand rather than a formula.
For instance, Body Blow has a 75% proc chance and a cycle (recharge + cast) time of just over 6.07 seconds; Smashing Blow has an 8.2 second cycle time, which would lead us to expect a 100% proc chance from the same formula, but it only has 85%. Focused Burst has a 10-second cycle time and a 90% chance. Meanwhile Burst is a 10-target AoE, and guarantees a stack of Focus.

So, back on topic, the ATO proc doesn't have to have a 100% proc chance to be good. The best power to put it in isn't just the one where it will have the highest proc chance - if that were true, we'd all be putting it in nukes. Rather, it's best in a power where it has the chance to go off most often, and a 64% proc chance in Lightning Bolt is not much different over time than an 87% proc chance in Bitter Ice Blast.