What should the blaster role be?

We have several camps that can't agree on what blasters need to fix them so let's take another approach and first determine what we think the blaster role should be. If we can come up with a consensus then we should be able to determine what work needs to be done to the blaster AT to bring it out of the release "Dark Ages" and into the modern game.

When interest in the thread dies down I'll go back and tally up our thoughts and probably start another thread looking for ideas to implement that especially if there are some unique ideas.

The rules:

I'm looking for thoughts on blaster roles. I am completely uninterested in what the AT can do with IOs, incarnate powers, pool powers, and inspirations because everyone gets those. The discussion (and your thought processes) should revolve completely around how the AT should fit in a team, and how it should solo, on SOs only.

Posts of the nature "blasters shouldn't have/be X because they can get Y through IOs/incarnate powers/inspirations/pool powers" will be omitted from the tally at the end.

Here are my thoughts:

Our primary role (and therefore the powers in our primary power set) should be to be kings of single target and AoE ranged damage.

To me that means that all blaster primaries should be able to seemlessly chain either AoE or single target damage (using 2 SOs worth of recharge) and be able to switch back and forth at will. Blaster primary powers should mesh together, the single target powers should all be at least 80', cone powers within a primary power set should all have the same base width and range and that should be 80', TAoE powers and rains within a primary power set should have the same radius and range and that range should be at least 80'. PvE mobs should never be able to out range the blaster.

Blaster primary powers should be on the average 20-25% more damaging than primary damage powers of all other ATs including factoring things in like average additional damage from criticals, containment, brusing etc.

Blaster primary powers should animate (and travel) quickly. Our DPA should be on the average 20-25% better than all other damage dealing ATs.

Blaster primary powers should cost less in terms of endurance use since that is our primary responsibility. It should cost us 20-25% less endurance to do the same amount of damage as all other damage dealing ATs.

Blaster primary powers that have a mez affect like power push, stunning shot, beanbag, tesla cage, freeze ray, sirens song, shock wave, tenebrous tentacles, umbral torrent, etc. should deal the damage scale that their recharge and end cost formulas dictate rather than virtually nothing in the case of the single target attacks and lower damage in the case of the AoEs.

Damage over time powers should be front loaded and/or tick quickly.


Our secondary role (and therefore our secondary power set) should compliment our primary role. It should include things that assist us with range, damage, and personal survivability (especially when targets enter melee range which we should still be somewhat vulnerable to).

As primary damage dealers we should be twice as vulnerable to mez as tanks, scrappers, brutes, but only half as vulnerable as controllers and defenders.

Ideas here would be to include one or more of the following:

• A thematic version of boost range and conserve power (or something similar such as a click power that increases recovery rather than conserving endurance) to all secondary power sets.
• Single target powers that provide a status effect should do normal damage and could provide a reduced duration status effect in an 8'-10' radius from the target. ie: Stun would do normal damage based on recharge and end cost and do it's normal duration of mag 3 stun to the target. It would also inflict a half duration mag 3 stun on up to 5 nearby targets. Chill blain would do normal damage and immob to the target and would apply a 1/2 duration immob on up to 5 nearby targets. Power thrust would damage only 1 target but would KB up to 5 more.
• Since hitpoint recovery during/after a fight is also problematic adding a minor self heal to powers like combustion and sirens song could be helpful.

If text is too graphic for you, I'd suggest not reading the blaster boards at all.

Oh, and nice contribution to the thread.

what makes a blaster fun for me is effective ranged damage.

I don't get hung up on numbers- every blaster I've ever played did enough damage, that wasn't the problem.

what makes them not fun is spending a substantial % of my playtime stunned, held, on my rear or at the hospital.

The only two blasters who've survived my various server purges and achieved a high level are my ar/dev and my fire/ice, two secondaries that substantially improve said blaster's survivability.


To that end I'd say you can 'fix' the AT by improving their survivability, however that is accomplished.

I think you missed the question, Goat.

The question was "What should blaster's role be?" not "How to fix blasters?"

That is to say, if you think they should have an ulterior or additional role besides doing damage, if they should be focused only on (or in part) range or if they are to have better survival, to what ends.

Removing targets as quickly as possible. Waylaying targets that are on squishies. Pulling powerful targets toward the group. Destroying EVERYTHING if that's the only way to go (Nuclear option).

Blaster role... to deal out damage. And, for the most part; they do this quite well:


High base damage
Two BU powers
Stacking Defiance damage buffs


Being that their damage is primarily ranged, I think any mods to the AT should enforce that:


Higher base range

Either a higher base movement rate (all) or a built in resistance to slow effects.

A 'panic' mechanism that activates for each target that gets within defined radius points (ie. a minor bonus to recharge and/or damage at each defined radii? or chance of Repel)

Their focus should be damage. They should do awesome damage on their own and even more awesome damage in a group. When in a group, something about how they function should amplify both their and their teamate's damage. When by themselves, that is only increased.

I'd like to see something like the opposite of absorb placed on enemies when hit by your attacks. All of your attacks do more damage as things go on.

Their secondaries should be used as the active defense concept. Heping you stay alive so they can do more damage. Basically, they would be the inverse of Doms, Damage first, control of the battlefield second.(yes yes, Doms do good damage themselves, corruptors have decent buffs as well, not the point) The secondaries should promote personal survival by way of having more of an effect on the enemy, better debuffs, better holds/immobs e.t.c., and some way for them to weaken the enemy's ability to hurt you.

I think ranged/AoE damage is a specialization for blasters. Obviously they shouldn't be able to one shot everything, but they should provide team/self mitigation via fast enemy defeats and in a few cases soft controls/utility powers.

They should provide consistent AoE damage, consistent single target damage, and burst damage via nukes and snipes. (In my opinion, the latter should be done without disadvantage, as that is part of the blaster role, not a 'perk.') While other classes could approach blasters performance via IO's, buffs, debuffs, a blaster should be guaranteed to supply a single target damage from afar, a steady stream of AoE attacks, bursts of very high AoE/ST damage, and quick death or mitigation against any foe that gets close.

Blasters' primaries should outperform in Ranged Damage all other ATs with exceptions being made for damage outliers (Debuffs, Criticals, Containment, etc.). AoE and ST should be significant and sustainable (recharge and END).

Their secondary should provide mitigation, nowhere near the level of Controller or Dominator primaries or even support sets, but enough that through adequately leveraging their secondaries, they can better perform their primary role of damaging things at range. Some of those secondaries should allow players to stay in melee range, with good melee attacks and melee based mitigation. Some should support a more ranged playstyle. All should be more or less balanced. This is the area I see needing the most dev attention with an eye to seriously bending the cottage rule to make the sets that are outliers in their performance perhaps toned down a little and the rest of the underperforming sets brought up more in line with the overachievers.

Of course, I'm pretty limited in my Blaster experience since they are such a pain to play (one 50 Blaster [DP/MM] and one stalled out in the mid 20s [Fire/Ice]) but the lack of mitigation makes me instead choose to play another Ranged AT, and that's with two of the arguably most mitigating secondaries offered. The secondaries need some real help. Perhaps the primaries could stand to have their numbers tuned up a little bit, but the secondaries are really sucking wind imo.

Also, all my opinions are based on play with SOs. IOs should turn the game up to 11 (like they do). Balance should be around SO numbers and play (one of the reasons I don't see anything wrong with Drain Psyche is because without +recharge you can't have it anywhere near perma or even 50% up time).

EDIT - Forgot to add one thing to Primary discussion. I really feel like Nukes ought to be crashless across the board, but especially so Blaster nukes. They really ought to be able to nuke and keep on kicking butt.

Blasters should have a primary goal of causing ranged damage (80' across all powersets), they should have good ST damage equal to stalkers (Just ahead of scrappers and brutes) and be ahead of everything in AoE damage with a crashless nuke. No powers should have long cast times and everything should be an attack.

They should have a secondary where they manipulate their powers to keep enemies away from them, walls of fire the enemy won't pass through, repels, knockbacks, self tp's etc (No proper controls, not even immob). And to increase their damage via build ups etc.

They should not punch anything in the face!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aggelakis PrincessDarkstar: "RAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH SOMEONE IS *WRONG* ON THE INTERNET!"

I'm glad the OP made this thread. I think it's overdue. Just from the few posts already the Blaster fans are obviously not all on the same page.

1) Blasters should do ranged damage. I know the Blappers will cry but hear me out. They have THREE other ATs (Brutes, Scrappers and Stalkers) that do Melee damage (Tanks also but for them it's a Secondary). There are NO ATs dedicated to inflicting ranged damage on the enemy as a primary goal except Blasters. IMHO having the Blaster Secondary do largely Melee damage steps on the toes of the Melee-centric toons who have very limited ranged abilities if any.

2) Blasters should do better AoE than any other AT for the same reason as 1 above. There are several ATs that do good single-target damage. Blasters should do more AoE damage than anyone else...period.

3) Blasters need to have a solo mechanic similar to what Defenders have. In a team I think Blasters have less need to be the macho independent types. The idea of a team is to be a TEAM...to help and support each other. However when solo Blasters should have something that gives them a small edge because they understand that they're alone and vulnerable.

4) Raw damage is the only area left for Blasters. Everyone else is covering defenses, controls and fancy special effects (Sleep etc). All that's left for Blasters is pure, unrestricted damage.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...apocalypse.jpg

I want Blasters that can do this...

I dont think its that easy to define the role of any AT in this game and I think thats one of the best things about it. There are guidelines but then the player ultimately the one who decides the role of what they play.

Airhammer my Nrg/Nrg Blaster plays as am extreme ranged damage toon. He used hover and has several damage range HO's in every attack and uses Boost Range consistently. I can out distance almost every attacker in the game.

However Taser my E3 Blaster Can blast from range but is also efficient at draining the endurance of his foes and keeping it at zero, and with three single target holds he can easily hold bosses and even stack holds on an AV. So he can play like a controller as well.

However I think overall the blaster doesnt need to be the KING of damage. I think the blaster should have the best selection and modifier for ranged single target and AoE attacks.. I think that the complete crashes from nukes should be removed and all timers should be reduced to match Hail of Bullets, or Rain of Arrow... This will allow the blaster to do what it is supposed to do best.. blast..

Vengeance bait.