Well he did mention Snipe Changes MIGHT happen during I24 but he said changes to anything else or Nukes for that matter will probably be I25+...he also told us to be patient and that changes are a comin'! I think it's his way of saying that the Ranged ATs will be balanced eventually but it will take a few issues.
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Been going on 4 years now, I can wait a little longer if it gets done right.
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Originally Posted by Tater Todd
Well he did mention Snipe Changes MIGHT happen during I24 but he said changes to anything else or Nukes for that matter will probably be I25...he told us to be patient and that changes are a comin'! I think it's his way of saying that the Ranged ATs will be balanced eventually but it will take a few issues.
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An idea that Synapse may not *do* but that I think would he should: The Demolition button. |
The only question is what should they get, and what are they likely to get. On your mark. Get set. Speculate! It amuses Synapse. |
My wife and I just worked this out in our own little "what's wrong with Blasters" discussion. [She's had a fire/fire blaster since July 2004.] The idea is that, much like Dominators have the big shiny button, Blasters should get one too. If the Demolition bar is all the way full when they press it, Blasters get (details can be changed) 30 seconds of limited mez protection (mag 3 or 4 maybe) and 30 seconds of +50% damage. If it's half full, they get 15 seconds of the same mez proection and +25% damage. It takes maybe 120 seconds of full on shooting to fill the button.
So you can have mez protection, low mag, a quarter of the time, and extra damage as well, a quarter of the time. But YOU get to choose which quarter of the time. I wouldn't add Break Free capability- this way it's a tactical decision and not a get out of mez card- but it's not like the game would go to hell if they DID add Break Free capacity.
Maybe it would have some resistance or absorb or something in there as well, so it's a MoG style alpha eater. Darwin knows we wouldn't exactly be overpowered with 25% more survivability, 25% of the time.
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I disagree.|
Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
It occurred to me last night while playing that one of the problems with Blasters might be in the perception. Yes, they level slower solo. Yes, they faceplant more often. But in a real furball of a fight when all the powers are flashing around you don't often SEE the results of a Blaster.
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Working on getting my Fire/Energy Melee blaster to Incarnate level, so joined a bunch of folks on Victory over the weekend. They were farming the Psychic Clockwork that's part of Tina McIntyre's first mission.
Watching the fight, I saw a lot of 'DOMINATION' and 'SCOURGE' and other text, but watching the combat detail scroll told another story:
You have defeated Cannon Knight
...
You have defeated Line Oscillator
You have defeated Line Oscillator
...
You have defeated Assembler Duke
...
X has defeated Gear
You have defeated Gear
You have defeated Gear
You have defeated Gear
...
OK, I'm exaggerating, but just a little. I probably got credit for about a third to a half of the mobs in each group that we fought, which I consider pretty decent for a team of 7.
Part of it might just be experience -- I see lots of corruptors leading off fights with their AoE attacks, and I'm guessing that they do so because they can, and because their damage isn't so high that they pull excessive aggro for it. I can't do that on my blaster -- if I lead with Fireball, I get pummeled into the ground, so I lead with something else and, after the tanker has had a chance to work his magic, then launch the Fireball and Flame Breath. (Rain of Fire is such a provoker of curb-stomps by red and purple mobs that I've dropped it from my build.)
Now before you respond angrily that all I'm doing is telling people to play blasters smarter, I get that there are folks in this thread who know what they're talking about, and that some tweaking to the blaster archetype is probably warranted. It'll be interesting to see what those changes are, even if they're only a change that causes blasters to have as many pop-up messages in the middle of combat as a controller or stalker.
--
Pauper
We were also told last issue that there were most definitely changes to Snipe powers in the works.
The only *huge* change to blaster powers that I can think of as being really excited about, but with very little chance of happening, is the removal of rooting.
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So... what you are implying is that there may be a set of changes for all blast sets... and then blasters will get a bit more?|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Those aren't mutually exclusive actions.
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Hmm... But no Defiance 3.0... But speculating is fun....
Hmmm...
Blast wise... I dislike the range inconsistency on blaster attacks... their DPAS (IMO) never justifies the range penalty some attacks get. This is an universal blast grudge with me.
Sniper blasts are an issue... I know there was an experiment with Dominator's snipe a long time ago during their rebalance but I didnt like that result. (hopefully any snipe tweak will also revisit those dominator snipes.)
Hopefully the "no defiance 3.0" means that blasters are getting more than just a damage increase. Attacks build "fury" that grants mez/resist perhaps? Your splash mez mechanic?
If we are to speculate crazy... blasters get SR scaling resistances as an inherent?
In the clan of "Blaters are fine" here, but if I had a wishlist:
1)Give them the highest damage mods. If a melee class like Scrappers has a higher damage mod then even Blasters with that but the "Kings of Damage" should be Kings and not knaves;
2)Some small mez protection but extremely leery of this as then Defenders, Corruptors, Kheldians, Controllers, non-Dominating Dominators will want same. This should definitely be tied to attacking and should last a very short period;
3)More damage vs. boss/AV/Hero/Monster/Giant Monster class enemies. Since damage is all they have then might as well make them useful.
Fulmens' idea is pretty nice too.
Can't wait to see the changes, dread being the Dev stepping into this potential minefield.
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Quote:
Maybe.
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Originally Posted by Starsman
So... what you are implying is that there may be a set of changes for all blast sets... and then blasters will get a bit more?
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Quote:
They can die, and I would be fine with the devs nerfing that ability.|
Originally Posted by Zul_Vakirol
but really, there's little else a Blaster can do aside from damage, and they need more of it
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Quote:
| */Devices especially. |
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Issue 24 Patch Notes
Blasters
The Blaster Archetype has been removed. All existing Blasters will be converted to Scrappers with the following powerset equivalencies.
Primary Powersets
Archery -> Katana
Assault Rifle -> Broadsword
Beam Rifle -> Staff Melee (this will need to be purchased from the store before the character can be played)
Dark Blast -> Dark Melee
Dual Pistols -> Dual Blades
Electrical Blast -> Electrical Melee
Energy Blast -> Energy Melee (this is being proliferated to Scrappers as part of I24 powerset proliferation)
Fire Blast -> Fiery Melee
Ice Blast -> Ice Melee (this is being proliferated to Scrappers as part of I24 powerset proliferation)
Psychic Blast -> Martial Arts
Radiation Blast -> Spines
Sonic Attack -> Kinetic Melee (this will need to be purchased from the store before the character can be played)
Secondary Powersets
Darkness Manipulation -> Dark Armor
Devices -> Shield Defense
Electricity Manipulation -> Electric Armor
Energy Manipulation -> Energy Aura
Fire Manipulation -> Fiery Aura
Ice Manipulation -> Ice Armor (this is being proliferated to Scrappers as part of I24 powerset proliferation)
Mental Manipulation -> Regeneration
Of course the general forum reaction would be a complaint that Dominators aren't getting any new proliferation while Scrappers get three new sets. I kid, I kid (mostly).
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IMHO it's got everything it needs to be unique, but a re-think of several powers is in order. Targeting Drone is really cool and thematic, but much of its thunder was stolen by inventions. Gun Drone *should* be an awesome source of damage & mitigation by drawing aggro, but instead does comical damage & charges into melee resulting in nearly instantaneous destruction- combined with its annoyingly long cast time & measly duration, it's nothing but a set mule. Trip Mines should be tweaked so they benefit from your drone & don't take 500 years to set up.|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
They can theoretically deal a lot of damage, but not in the same conventional way as other blasters. Perhaps if there was something relatively unique about /devices that could be made to mesh with normal blasting, that would give it a little bit of the kick it needs.
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(Just had an idea that would make Trip Mines appealing to me- have them work like Caltrops, in that you just chuck out a whole field of them at once. Maybe a random number, so it's sometimes more or less effective. I like them except for the setup time, if I could just lay them out all at once and get on with things that would be great, even if they didn't deliver quite the same BOOM as one of those meticulously constructed minefields that take ten minutes to set up.)
Anyway..../dev is still thematically strong and works okay, but needs some tweaks to make it really fun again.
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Give Trip Mines the Stalker Assassin's Strike "fix". Maybe even the same with Time Bomb.
When you're "Cloaked" it's a longer set up that does more dmg. When you're not "Cloaked" you can drop a less damaging, faster dropping version...
Throwing darts at the board to see if something sticks.....
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Originally Posted by PapaSlade
Rangle's right....this is fun.
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I don't know if you've tried it recently but they fixed the cast time a few issues back and it now has a one second cast time. This doesn't solve the other issues but it does at least mean you can recast frequently.
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
Gun Drone *should* be an awesome source of damage & mitigation by drawing aggro, but instead does comical damage & charges into melee resulting in nearly instantaneous destruction- combined with its annoyingly long cast time & measly duration, it's nothing but a set mule.
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And the short cast version should totally use the flying disc animation.
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Originally Posted by Rangle M. Down
Give Trip Mines the Stalker Assassin's Strike "fix". Maybe even the same with Time Bomb.
When you're "Cloaked" it's a longer set up that does more dmg. When you're not "Cloaked" you can drop a less damaging, faster dropping version... |
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
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That's a useful improvement I wasn't aware of- if the Defiance bump stayed the same it's at least worth throwing out before attacking a spawn.
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Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
I don't know if you've tried it recently but they fixed the cast time a few issues back and it now has a one second cast time. This doesn't solve the other issues but it does at least mean you can recast frequently.
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My City Was Gone
Quote:
Nah, they reduced the defiance buff to match the new cast time.
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
That's a useful improvement I wasn't aware of- if the Defiance bump stayed the same it's at least worth throwing out before attacking a spawn.
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Quote:
Ok, so still not worth keeping in your tray. |
Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
Nah, they reduced the defiance buff to match the new cast time.
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The defiance boost was the *only* useful thing it did.
although, given its predilection for rushing into melee it might be decent at taking an alpha now, sort of a poor man's seeker drone.
I'll log in my ar/dev tonight and mess around with it...
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My City Was Gone
Quote:
Hey. I like Gun Drone. I just wish it was a perma pet. It draws aggro, does decent damage, and I like its sound effect and look.
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
Ok, so still not worth keeping in your tray.
The defiance boost was the *only* useful thing it did. |
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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before the AI went nuts and made it immediately rush into HTH I'd throw it out before a tough spawn. I didn't make much of a difference, but every little bit helps. But the cast time + short duration meant I mostly ignored it. |
Originally Posted by StratoNexus
Hey. I like Gun Drone. I just wish it was a perma pet. It draws aggro, does decent damage, and I like its sound effect and look.
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A fast cast might be a more helpful change than I think- I'll mess with it tonight and see how it plays.
Agree it should be perma.
Either that or a whole heck of a lot better than it is...
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My City Was Gone
Quote:
While I can get two out for a bit with one build, I would gladly give that up for it to be perma. I guess I could be satisfied if it were buffed and left castable. I used to constantly summon sings and I still have to manage Dark Extraction, so continuing to manage gun Drone is workable if it were better than it currently is.
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
Agree it should be perma.
Either that or a whole heck of a lot better than it is... |
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.
Quote:
Are you proposing the ability to set up your trip/proximity bombs anywhere and use your primary to kick-blast them into the enemy? |
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
They can theoretically deal a lot of damage, but not in the same conventional way as other blasters. Perhaps if there was something relatively unique about /devices that could be made to mesh with normal blasting, that would give it a little bit of the kick it needs.
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Quote:
That would be cool, but I'm not proposing that specifically. |
Originally Posted by Starsman
Are you proposing the ability to set up your trip/proximity bombs anywhere and use your primary to kick-blast them into the enemy?
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Technically I'm not proposing anything specifically in this thread, just pointing out that the devs are suggesting that they are giving Blasters some attention in Issue 24, and it doesn't specifically involve nukes.
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Its been lingering for awhile. About the only thing I got from the meet and greet was a hint that blaster tweaks were being worked on.
I hope whatever they do change, its as good as what they did with stalkers.
Until I see the changes on beta 
H: Blaster 50, Defender 50, Tank 50, Scrapper 50, Controller 50, PB 50, WS 50
V: Brute 50, Corruptor 50, MM 50, Dominator 50, Stalker 50, AW 50, AS 50
Top 4: Controller, Brute, Scrapper, Corruptor
Bottom 4: (Peacebringer) way below everything else, Mastermind, Dominator, Blaster
CoH in WQHD
I24 Blaster Inherit: reverse debt, makes them level FASTER instead of slower. And an inherit self destruct power. :P
The Bacon Compels You.
Anyone who reads the boards had to have realized it was already a done deal before you started lobbying for it. The same way inherent fitness was when you started your "Endurance as the limiting constraint thread".
That said its nice to see something will be happening. I just hope its better than the farce that was defiance 2.0.