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I prefer having a chance before hitting the level cap, thx.
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Originally Posted by DrGemini
The developers intend for the 50+ game to be a point at which you need to be allowed to have more defenses in order to have a chance.
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The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
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Blasters are the only AT that don't have access to Mez Protection, ignoring incarnate powers. |
Originally Posted by Antigonus
I think the important question here is what purpose mez serves in game balance. Giving straight mez protection to Blasters most likely wouldn't in itself unbalance the game, but then the question has to be asked, why not give it to the other 5 ATs that don't have it. Why even have mez at all? And if mez does serve an important function, why should Blasters be the only squishy AT that doesn't have to worry about it?
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Defenders - Force Fields, Sonic Resonance, and Traps.
Controllers - Force Fields, Sonic Resonance, and Psionic Mastery.
Corruptors - Sonic Resonance and Traps.
Masterminds - Force Fields, Sonic Resonance, and Traps.
Dominators - Domination, which can be made permanent.
The AT's not only have access to Mez Protection, but their sets that provide it also provide them Defense, Resistance, Regeneration, Heals, DeBuffs, etc.
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Comparing them to a VEAT is an utterly false comparison because VEATS are supposed to be that way. They are epic ATs for a reason.|
Originally Posted by Fulmens
Ah yes, good old dungeons and dragons. I remember it well, DrGemini.
How were fighters and paladins balanced in second edition? Or, give an actual specific explanation of the mechanism by which Blasters are balanced against, say, Crab Spiders with three ranged AOEs, mez protection, Defense and Resistance built right into the class. Because I can't disprove any of the following assertions: |
In fact, trying to compare any AT to the others only goes so far. Yes, many ATs can cross over and do things others can do. But, ultimately, Blasters are their own unique breed.
Perhaps you would better understand Blasters by asking "What are Blasters supposed to do? What is the role of that AT (both solo and on teams)?"
If you want to fix Blasters, simply giving them more "protection" is not the answer.
And, let me give you some perspective...
I run a Dual Pistols/Devices blaster. I very rarely get "mezzed." I don't use Clarion either. If I get mezzed it either doesn't last long enough to matter or I am usually smart enough to keep a few Break Frees in my tray to deal with that situation.
Do I die? Absolutely. But, I've learned that playing rambo in every situation doesn't work. I've got to make use of *all* my tools. I still die. But, by making good use of pulling and positioning most enemies are dead before they can be much of a threat.
What would I like? I'd prefer my blaster did more damage out of the box with my primary. Mezzes are an annoyance that I believe would be better dealt with if the mob was dead before they could hit me. And, if I'm going into a situation where I expect more mezzes... I make sure to keep my inspiration tray well-stocked.
Anyways... blasters don't need mez protection because you are trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist.
@ Dr Gemini
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| �If we would come together and be great role models, it would be amazing to see how the next generation turns out.� |
I find the idea of modifying the minion-level mobs to eliminate (or drastically weaken, if somehow that is going too far) their mez to be very intriguing. If the number of opponents throwing mez around gets smaller, especially the extremely annoying Sapper, then I can go back to playing "smarter" and concentrate on taking out the mezzing boss or Lt if my concern is to avoid mez.
I also like the idea of reducing the range of NPCs as a way of making range a better defense. It gives the blaster back the "advantage" we were supposedly given back at the inception of the game.
And the other potential solution of using up three power picks to take Acro, not to mentin the enhancement slots to make it worthwhile? Lame.
Or struggling through 49 levels and then enough Incarnate content to get up to the level of getting Clarion (and never being able to choose anything else instead)? Even Lamer.
Altoholic - but a Blaster at Heart!
Originally Posted by SpyralPegacyon
"You gave us a world where we could fly. I can't thank you enough for that."
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Maybe it's just me but I've never had a tough time pre-50. I honestly have to ask what everyone else is doing that I'm not doing... I just do not see Blasters as that hard to play aside from the troubles everyone has before 50.
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
I prefer having a chance before hitting the level cap, thx.
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@ Dr Gemini
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| �If we would come together and be great role models, it would be amazing to see how the next generation turns out.� |
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I think it depends on your Primary as well. My Arch/Energy and my Arch/MM didn't have that many problems compared to my Elec/Dark, Rad/Fire or anything that didn't use the /Energy or /Devices secondary.
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Originally Posted by DrGemini
Maybe it's just me but I've never had a tough time pre-50. I honestly have to ask what everyone else is doing that I'm not doing... I just do not see Blasters as that hard to play aside from the troubles everyone has before 50.
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I'm looking at blasters based on the value of the tools and not on the ability for a small segment of the player population to overcome discrepancies in those tools.|
Originally Posted by DrGemini
Maybe it's just me but I've never had a tough time pre-50. I honestly have to ask what everyone else is doing that I'm not doing.
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That blasters singularly underperformed everyone else on average is a historical fact. Asking why is an interesting intellectual exercise that is neither necessary nor sufficient for improving them. Not being able to think up a reason does not call that fact into question.
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I enjoyed my ice/ice dom back when CoV first launched, doms objectively stunk & ice/ice in particular was pretty crummy- dps stunk, Jack Frost's lame AI made him just this side of worthless, etc etc.|
Originally Posted by DrGemini
Maybe it's just me but I've never had a tough time pre-50. I honestly have to ask what everyone else is doing that I'm not doing... I just do not see Blasters as that hard to play aside from the troubles everyone has before 50.
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But I liked the character and got her to the mid 40's before inventions and successive waves of dominator buffs made them "good".
That didn't stop the collective 'everyone' from turning up their noses at the whole AT until it was "fixed".
The point being, some players will enjoy anything.
That doesn't mean it's fine, it just means some people either don't mind being gimped or have figured out ways around it.
I like blasters as a concept, but playing them is a different matter. I've deleted more blasters than probably any other AT. I do have two 50s- one of them I enjoyed getting there (fire/ice), the other, my AR/Dev, I dragged there bodily as an experiment to see if dumping billions of inf into an IO uber-build would make him worth playing again (it did, although just barely).
It's not coincidence that both secondaries largely ameliorate blaster's mez hole. Ice in particular is very controller-y, dev has the excellent Caltrops plus the aggro-drawing Gun Drone (which isn't much use these days, as it just charges into HTH and gets obliterated).
The game is easy enough that anyone can get anything to 50 without a terrific struggle. Whether the journey is fun or not is another thing, and that should be the design goal.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
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Pfft, this is the internet. Strongly worded opinions hold sway in this land.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
I'm looking at blasters based on the value of the tools and not on the ability for a small segment of the player population to overcome discrepancies in those tools.
That blasters singularly underperformed everyone else on average is a historical fact. Asking why is an interesting intellectual exercise that is neither necessary nor sufficient for improving them. Not being able to think up a reason does not call that fact into question. |
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Softcapping an Invuln is fantastic. Softcapping a Willpower is amazing. Softcapping SR is kissing your sister.
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Well that does explain Arcanavile.
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Originally Posted by Void_Huntress
Pfft, this is the internet. Strongly worded opinions hold sway in this land.
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I would have to strongly disagree with this assertion since the game has morphed dramatically since release. Typically each and every negative change that has been introduced has affected blasters more than the other ATs the stacks of those differences now add up to put the blaster notably out of balance especially compared to other ATs.|
Originally Posted by DrGemini
The reason it would throw off the balance is because of the way the developers designed Blasters to begin with.
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Originally Posted by DrGemini
Also, the reason it would unbalance the scales is because of the mechanics that run in the background for all games similar to CoH. You just simply cannot give Blasters mez protection and/or greater survival without making them overpowered to the point that they infringe upon other classes far too much.
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Originally Posted by DrGemini
The mechanics of games like this tend to make the higher DPS and more powerful characters have a lower level of survivability. This is something that harkens all the way back to good old Dungeons and Dragons. If you've never played that game, I suggest you take a serious look at it and the mechanics behind it. You will notice that in D&D and all other games like it that the Wizards and Sorcerers of D&D may have lower health... but, those spell-casters wield some serious power.
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Originally Posted by DrGemini
So, if you want to make Blasters better, giving them mez protection is the wrong way to go. The solution is to give them more firepower so that the opening salvo makes any sane opponent pray they aren't the target. And then, give them secondary powers that allows a Blaster to take full advantage of all that ranged damage. Don't just give us secondary powers that are melee attacks that we shouldn't even be using.
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Originally Posted by DrGemini
The problem with this attitude is the failure to understand why the Incarnates are a totally different game than everything else. The developers intend for the 50+ game to be a point at which you need to be allowed to have more defenses in order to have a chance. But, Clarion doesn't entirely fix the squishiness of Blasters by itself. You may be mez-free but the mobs can still hit you like a truck.
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Originally Posted by DrGemini
Anyways... I hope I am making sense. I understand why people want mez protection but I don't think you understand what it would do to the pre-50 game.
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Just carry breakfrees (no other AT has to carry that many break frees), Just take Clarion (no other AT is locked into taking Clarion), Just take acrobatics, just take hover, just take the fighting pool, just take combat jumping, just take the medicine pool, just take Scorpion Shield. Know what? I have a better idea. Lets just fix blasters so that we don't have to take acrobatics, hover, fighting, combat jumping, medicine, and scorpion shield unless we want them and they fit our concept. If you are taking all that crap that is telling me that the AT is broken somewhere because too many of your primary and secondary powers don't do their job if you have to pool it.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
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Except that we know that it does exist. That is why we were given defiance in the first place. The problem is that as the devs add mez and range to the mobs, the kludge that is defiance is no longer adequate.|
Originally Posted by DrGemini
Anyways... blasters don't need mez protection because you are trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist.
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Looking at my time mezzed/hours logged ratio I know that my blasters spend 2-3 times more time mezzed than all my other squishies. The blaster that has the highest time mezzed was created post defiance 2.0 which may tell us (and it may not) that defiance is keeping me alive while mezzed longer but at the same time it is telling me that I am locked out of all but 3 of my powers much longer and/or more often which is a sucky and unfun way to "not play" the game.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
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Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
I would once again have to strongly disagree since what has actually happened is that over time ALL other ATs have encroached upon the blaster role.
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I think this is ultimately the core of the problem. It is time for the devs to take another look at exactly what role they want Blasters to play and how best to go about that. I hope they do not abandon the original concept of the glass canon, but it seems clear people do not feel that Blasters fit that definition anymore. If they feel that inherent mez protection is part of that, then so be it. I do not feel that inherent mez protection will be the panacea that many think it will be as mez is only one part of the problem, and in my opinion the smallest part.
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That I agree with. Some of my blasters really want mez protection, on others, it just isn't vital. All of my blasters can take too much incoming damage even unmezzed without outside help (and I mean really outside, even inspires, destiny, lore, judgement, etc. aren't always enough).|
Originally Posted by Antigonus
If they feel that inherent mez protection is part of that, then so be it. I do not feel that inherent mez protection will be the panacea that many think it will be as mez is only one part of the problem
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I wouldn't complain if they added mez protection to blasters, but I would be a little sad (then I'd get over it and enjoy the new feature, to be honest).
Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
Another idea I'll toss out there. I don't know if it's been suggested before. What if Defiance had a Status Resistance element added to it, so that the resistance increased, and the amount of time you spend mezzed dropped, as your Defiance goes up? Blasters with their Health at full would get little extra resistance, but those whose Health is very low would get almost 100% Resistance and spend very little time mezzed. That would also tie into the "defiance" aspect of the ability.
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The health bar tie-in with defiance has been gone since Issue 11. I think it is very unlikely we will see that return in any form. |
Originally Posted by LordDynamo_NA
Another idea I'll toss out there. I don't know if it's been suggested before. What if Defiance had a Status Resistance element added to it, so that the resistance increased, and the amount of time you spend mezzed dropped, as your Defiance goes up? Blasters with their Health at full would get little extra resistance, but those whose Health is very low would get almost 100% Resistance and spend very little time mezzed. That would also tie into the "defiance" aspect of the ability.
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Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
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That's not a reason. I'm aware of the full history of blaster design. This statement implies that the way blasters were designed explicitly requires a lack of mez protection in the first place, which it does not.|
Originally Posted by DrGemini
The reason it would throw off the balance is because of the way the developers designed Blasters to begin with.
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Also, there is no "the balance." As I'm often pointing out, balance is a relationship between two or more things. It is not a singular thing. If giving blasters mez protection "throws off the balance" it must damage the balance relationship between blasters and something else: blasters and the PvE environment, blasters and other archetypes. We know for a fact that the blaster relationship with the PvE environment and with other archetypes was already invalid when D2.0 was implemented, and D2.0 has mez deferral within it. As that did not significantly break balance in blasters' favor, that's basically tantamount to saying that at least some of the deleterious effects of mez for blasters were provably unnecessary to preserve game balance, and in fact were acting to damage it in the opposite direction.
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| Also, the reason it would unbalance the scales is because of the mechanics that run in the background for all games similar to CoH. You just simply cannot give Blasters mez protection and/or greater survival without making them overpowered to the point that they infringe upon other classes far too much. |
This is a matter of degree. The principle you claim here doesn't exist. You can in fact give blasters all kinds of things if they are underperforming. And if they are for the average player, they are period, because that's who we balance the game for. Not you or I. The fact you have no problems with them is completely irrelevant to game balance. The question is what the tools do when put in the hands of the entire playerbase. And we know from datamining that the judgment of the playerbase as a whole is those tools are lesser tools, because blasters underperformed dramatically.
And being concerned about infringement is missing the point, because the other archetypes by dev fiat already infringe upon blasters in an almost fatal manner if you actually care about game balance in a game design sense. Being concerned about the "design of blasters" as it pertains to survivability is meaningless outside the context of the fact that blasters were designed to have by far the best offense. In no sense of those words is that true.
When you look at damage output at present and its evolution over time there is an unimpeachable trend towards damage increasing over time, far into the range that blasters were supposed to dominate in. The tanker damage mod was originally 0.6, its not 0.8 with bruising. That's 71% of the blaster mod. Controllers have double damage containment. The biggest indictment of blaster damage being credibly balanced against survivability is dominator damage mods: 1.05 and 0.95. Those are damage dealer modifiers for an archetype with significant control and significant ranged output.
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The mechanics of games like this tend to make the higher DPS and more powerful characters have a lower level of survivability. This is something that harkens all the way back to good old Dungeons and Dragons. If you've never played that game, I suggest you take a serious look at it and the mechanics behind it. You will notice that in D&D and all other games like it that the Wizards and Sorcerers of D&D may have lower health... but, those spell-casters wield some serious power. So, if you want to make Blasters better, giving them mez protection is the wrong way to go. The solution is to give them more firepower so that the opening salvo makes any sane opponent pray they aren't the target. And then, give them secondary powers that allows a Blaster to take full advantage of all that ranged damage. Don't just give us secondary powers that are melee attacks that we shouldn't even be using. I don't know if I am explaining this very well. But, there are mechanics here that we should not be messing with lightly. |
The offensive window for balancing is extremely narrow, and offense itself doesn't directly balance or translate into survivability either which is why balancing survivability through offensive output has never worked in the history of the game.
You seem to be confused into thinking that because blaster survivability ought to be lower than things with less damage, it cannot be higher than it is now. But there's an entire range of "lower" and its not all correct. There is "lower but too high", "lower but way too low", and "lower, and at just the right value." If blasters are underperforming on average then its too low by definition. Because in this game, that's how balance is defined literally.
The general principles need to be applied to the specifics of the game, something you are not doing. When you say blaster survivability can't be buffed because its supposed to be lower than other archetypes, that says nothing. Because just because its supposed to be lower, that doesn't mean the level its currently at is the correct value just because its lower. Why not set it even lower then?
Mez protection doesn't actually make blasters significantly more survivable than any other archetype, so it doesn't change the survivability relationship order of the archetypes. To prove it would be unbalancing, you'd have to prove that adding it would then make blasters outperform on average most of the other archetypes, or that it would infringe upon a design rule to a worse degree than blaster damage is currently being infringed upon by everything else. You'd have to prove that in the face of the fact that prior to D2.0, Blasters *heavily* underperformed *everyone* else.
That would be an interesting hurdle to attempt to overcome.
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Kind of skimmed through the thread but i'm one of those people who think blasters should get some kind of mez prot, not in the form of IOs or icontent. Honestly, i don't see the harm it would do to give blasters mez prot in weak form. They would still be squishy with no natural defense and no natural resistance. A blaster, with a small amount of mez prot (not sure of the mag, but not as much as scrappers/stalkers) who wanted to AoE or aggro huge mobs with no back up will still be defeated. Might not be mezzed, but will still go down nearly as fast.
Balanced around pure SOs, I really don't understand how it could make such a huge difference, though someone might have addressed this earlier. Adding a little bit of mez prot wont change the fact that blasters are squishy, imo.
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Its pretty clear at this point that every archetype has, as either its primary or secondary set of roles, the role of staying alive and dealing damage. Except for blasters, there is no archetype that can claim to have not been either originally designed or altered after release to fit that description except blasters. I think that says the "glass cannon" concept has already been critically damaged, because "cannon" is no longer a unique aspect of blasters. Take away cannon, and you're left with "glass."|
Originally Posted by Antigonus
I think this is ultimately the core of the problem. It is time for the devs to take another look at exactly what role they want Blasters to play and how best to go about that. I hope they do not abandon the original concept of the glass canon, but it seems clear people do not feel that Blasters fit that definition anymore. If they feel that inherent mez protection is part of that, then so be it. I do not feel that inherent mez protection will be the panacea that many think it will be as mez is only one part of the problem, and in my opinion the smallest part.
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I think the thing that has to be discarded is the notion that part of the blaster concept is that it dies. No other archetype is defined that way. I think what has to happen is that concept has to shift from "blasters have no survivability" to "blasters survive in a unique way." Tankers survive by just being highly resistant to attack. Controllers survive by incapacitating the enemy with long duration controls. Blasters have to carve out their own means of staying alive, which means their own way of dealing with damage, dealing with mez, and dealing with other threats to survival.
The *obvious* concept is "offense is defense." Except its not, not intrinsically, because this game's mechanics don't really allow for damage to do that in a way that's balanceable. But we can make that statement work if "offense" isn't just damage. In a sense, controllers implement "offense is defense" as well - their offense includes control.
That's why I suggested, in another thread, that the blaster "offense is defense" concept be extended to counter-mez. Add short duration mez pulses to blaster attacks so that blasters can partially neutralize targets they are shooting at but only while actively shooting at them. That carves a specific kind of mez away from Controllers, leaving controllers the kings of long-duration controls: basically the fire and forget controls.
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I still stand by the idea of adding on both sides of Offense and Defense.
I don't know that solid mez protection is the way to go (it may be, but I'm certainly not convinced).
- Some increase in the damage modifiers (both range and melee).
- A change to Snipes to make them something that can provide a significant amount of damage into regular combat (I've really begun to think that the attack type setup for Blasters is a major culprit... The Melee ATs' offense include big hitters as they level up, but the Blaster doesn't really get that sort of progression. Making Snipes into something like the Stalker's Assassin Strike could be good, possibly?
- Change Nukes to either crashless or bigger and badder (and keep the crash). I, personally, very much like the flavbor of the crashing nukes, but it seems to me that the damage numbers are vastly beneath what they should be for the costs/crash. Shore those numbers up and that again may contribute to a more powerful cannon, to help against the nature of being glass-like.
- Small increase(s) in defensive survivability... possibly just an increase in Health. Possibly some for of mez protection.
- Possibly add a few more attacks into the Blaster's ability to fight while mez'd.
I do understand that the offensive side can only be increased so much before it is ludicrous... but I think we should travel toward that edge.
Hopefully that and some minor defensive adjustments can bring about a semblance of them being... maybe not a Glass Cannon, but... since we have a bunch of cannons running around in the form of other ATs... maybe a Fiberglass Cannon.
I concede that, if we want to reach true balance with the other ATs, the glass may have to be pretty much undone. However, I very much would like to see as much of a boost to Blaster offense as we can before we balance the rest out (even if the rest is included with the entire balancing pass. I just mean that I want it to lean on the offensive side as much as possible).
@Zethustra
"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
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Very interesting. And I agree with the idea of coming up with a different way to make offense defense, beyond damage.|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
The *obvious* concept is "offense is defense." Except its not, not intrinsically, because this game's mechanics don't really allow for damage to do that in a way that's balanceable. But we can make that statement work if "offense" isn't just damage. In a sense, controllers implement "offense is defense" as well - their offense includes control.
That's why I suggested, in another thread, that the blaster "offense is defense" concept be extended to counter-mez. Add short duration mez pulses to blaster attacks so that blasters can partially neutralize targets they are shooting at but only while actively shooting at them. That carves a specific kind of mez away from Controllers, leaving controllers the kings of long-duration controls: basically the fire and forget controls. |
The counter-mez is a very interesting idea... I like that concept a lot.
Could that possibly be applied to break out of a mez as well? If we blast the enemy responsible for mez'ing us, we break it. Maybe one for immobs and two for holds. I'm not sure if that is feasible at all, but I just thought I'd mention it.
I very much like the idea of filling in more of the gap between our glass-ness and the other ATs defenses through the Blaster's offensive abilities... and adding in extra effects beyond damage seems necessary (as damage alone would require way too significant an increase... as has been said repeatedly, hehe).
@Zethustra
"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
Quote:
Pretty neat idea.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
That's why I suggested, in another thread, that the blaster "offense is defense" concept be extended to counter-mez. Add short duration mez pulses to blaster attacks so that blasters can partially neutralize targets they are shooting at but only while actively shooting at them.
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The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
The main point I am making is this...
Simply giving more mez protection to blasters is not going to solve the problem(s) that Blasters have. And, giving it to them via their Inherent is not going to solve the problem either.
If Blasters need better survival tools, why not make that available to them in their secondary powers? Maybe looking at the way Masterminds have a secondary that helps to support their henchmen is a clue for what can be done with blasters?
But, again, simply throwing mez protection on a blaster is not a sufficient solution. That would be like throwing a wet blanket on a fire you know isn't sufficient to put it out.
And, to my point about D&D and such... the point is that each AT has (or should have) a distinctness all their own. Yes, overlap and flexibility is great. But, there is still a need for Blasters to maintain a distinct role-- whatever the devs intend that to be.
@ Dr Gemini
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| �If we would come together and be great role models, it would be amazing to see how the next generation turns out.� |
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This is the direction I would like any Blaster modifications to travel. I have spoke out against such things as defensive increases and mez protection because I feel that the Blaster should keep its title of "offensive juggernaut." I totally agree that Blasters need to be able to survive long enough to be the offensive juggernaut, but I think they should to that by doing offensive things better, rather than increasing their defenses.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
...Blasters have to carve out their own means of staying alive, which means their own way of dealing with damage, dealing with mez, and dealing with other threats to survival.
The *obvious* concept is "offense is defense." Except its not, not intrinsically, because this game's mechanics don't really allow for damage to do that in a way that's balanceable. But we can make that statement work if "offense" isn't just damage. In a sense, controllers implement "offense is defense" as well - their offense includes control. That's why I suggested, in another thread, that the blaster "offense is defense" concept be extended to counter-mez. Add short duration mez pulses to blaster attacks so that blasters can partially neutralize targets they are shooting at but only while actively shooting at them. That carves a specific kind of mez away from Controllers, leaving controllers the kings of long-duration controls: basically the fire and forget controls. |
@Winter. Because I'm Winter. Period.
I am a blaster first, and an alt-oholic second.
I was reading through this thread, and a lot of what is being discussed about tank mages went through my head quite some time ago, so I came up with this:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=278037
I think some of you have seen it already, but I think a few of you have had some time to stew on the blaster situation a bit more in the time between this post and that thread. While my suggestion is not really a fix for blasters themselves, it would fill a lot of holes in player's concept desires. It would also relieve pressure on the blaster AT in the sense that if a player can make a concept in this new AT, it isnt required that the blaster AT is manipulated to do it. With that, the fix for the blaster AT could be more focused on the traditional role of the blaster: do dmg, a lot, to a lot of foes, all the time. A glass cannon AT is fine so long as there is a "not glass cannon" AT to go alongside it.
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