Blasters and mez - Are we going about it wrong?

Not the answer I expected BUT I like your answer! You do acknowledge the AT's weakness and strenghts instead of blindly saying..."blasters are the number 1 for damage and that alone makes for all shortcomings!"

This is a reply to Electric Knight and the others who answered my question... I feel that currently blasters don't have enough edge to make them more desirable than a Corr or a Dom.

Why Play a blaster for just the thrill and the damage when you can get the same results damage wise and thrill wise with a Corruptor, Dominator or SoA?

I love Blasters as well (Especially Rad/Fire Blasters!) but currently I have several Doms who can give them a run for their money damage wise and mitigation wise and don't even get me started on a Crab SoA, Widow SoA or Fire/Time/Soul corr!

My question is, why on earth does a ranged damage AT have a boatload of melee attacks in it's secondary? There should be some punishing secondaries with all ranged powers, or perhaps ranged with light buff/debuff...

Wait, but that'd basically be a corruptor then wouldn't it? They get scourge too don't they? Hmm...

These are issues I currently have with the AT:
(1) Crashing T9's are worthless...literally...I can use a pyronic/ionic/void/vorpal judgement and do the same thing better and still spam AoEs after it...and I can do that with a Brute too!

(2) Snipes should do MEGA ST damage...and I mean something on the scale of like 2K damage...for all the fuss you put up with, and having to eek your way through mobs...for my money, if I have to wait 3 secs +/- for a power to load up from range and blast away at a hard target...I need that power to THUMP when it hits home.

(3) Secondaries are lots of melee...I know it's not called a blapper by the Devs, but many call that playstyle by it's more truer name. I roll blasters to BLAST from RANGE...if I wanted to walk up and punch the NPCs in the face, I would use one of my wealth of melee toons to do that and have WAY more fun doing it.

(4) Blasters could stand to be able to take 2 punches instead of one, how about some HP love...I am not asking for a lot...can we get to say...2000 +/- without having to burn the wick on both ends chasing accolades and slotting entirely for +HP bonuses that are not over the rule of 5?

(5) I feel that for the energy and effort put into these toons to be the "glass cannon"...there should never be a time that I get a barrage of crap thrown at me by MINION AND LT CLASS NPCs that HIT HARDER than I do from GREATER RANGE...where's the balance in that?

-my 2 cents.

Wow.

Just wow.

I skimmed over this thread a few days ago. I had actually written a good bit about my opinion on the matter of mez protection for blasters. But, I thought better of it, because I ended up in a mini-rant and felt nobody was going to benefit from my words.

Here's my more rational line of thought. I don't think blasters need mez protection any more. Before IOs, yes. After, no. With well thought out slotting, the duration of mez can be seriously reduced to the point that it's merely an annoyance. And really - that's what it is - the longer the duration, the more annoying. Way back in issue 4, it's what got me to roll a tank instead of another blaster.

Yet, the blaster AT has so much potential now with IOs.

Not take the fight pool? If you're going to solo to any large degree, I would question your experience in playing. If you're teaming, fine - take the teleport pool instead. Your teams buffs should cover those gaps, and likely over-shadow what the fight pool would do.

Numbers, numbers, numbers. I'm not that good with them, but with mids', I can certainly compare a higher number to a lower one.

And, I know this is unpopular, but if you are not making the effort to give your characters the best chance you can, then you're basically saying "It's my money, I'll make the toon how I want."

You know, that's fine. Do that. But guess what - you will find yourself on tfs that just can't quite get the job done sometimes. You may not be able to break through the mold wall av in the eden trial, because you wanted tp ally instead of the fight pool - and because you lacked defense - you got defeated. Repeatedly. So, your team stares at the mold wall. Because of you. Well, not just you. Your other teammates should be able to carry your weight. But - no. You're teaming with them because they're your friends and you all think the game should be fun. But, fun is different for many of us.

I might love to blast - but if I'm defeated, I'm not having any fun.

As for me, I come to the forums, I check out various builds and market like crazy so I can afford to make my toons as good as I can make them.

I want defense for my blasters so they'll live to blast. A defeated blaster is useless and not fun to play. Mez? pff. If I don't have a breakfree, I make one, combining insps.

Yeah, you go ahead and forget about defense. Build your toons with some entertaining theme and enjoy yourself. It is your sub after all. I don't pay it. For my money, I'm going to try and play as well as I can. Every time.

Me, I'll be the one who doesn't use an ambrosia against the titan, because I'll be at range, away from the crystal titans damage splash.

And you...

You still won't be past the first wall.

Defeated.

By a minion!

But hey, fun is different for all of us.

These theatrics were brought to you by an amused ice blaster who holds his foes before they mez him.

I don't think blasters need mez protection any more. Before IOs, yes. After, no.

We do need to remember that the game is balanced around SOs. And, though they may not be very common, there are people who don't feel the need or desire to IO every character.

And also remember that some of us do not drop every very often, despite not having any defense.