Blaster Defiance Tweak.

Okay, first off, the idea I'm presenting here is something I have been opposed to in the past, but I've since reconsidered.

That idea is: Add a small amount of mez protection to each stack of Defiance, but leave it otherwise unchanged.

Each attack would add mag .5 protection to Holds and Stuns, and it would stack up to a maximum of 7 times (so up to mag 3.5 protection). If you stack more than 7, you would still get the damage bonus, but the mez protection would cap at 7. And it would continue stacking while mezzed, so if you get Held or Stunned you can fire your first 3 attacks and break the mez when you get up to 7 fired (assuming the magnitude of the mez is below 3.5)

It's mez protection with a catch: You must be constantly attacking in order for it to be effective. And since it maxes out at 3.5, it will not protect you much from stacked mezzes.

Combat Jumping covers Immobilizes nicely and isn't much of a stretch to fit into a build, so I wasn't including that. And Sleeps break upon being damaged, so protection isn't really necessary there. KB Protection is available elsewhere as well, either through Acrobatics or IOs, so it is unnecessary as well.

Doesn't seem too overpowered on the surface I don't think.

Opinions?

Hm... I couldn't say anything about the numbers, but the idea looks good.

Add sleep in. I know that it can be broken with heals/damage/knockdown, but it will still cause any armors to suppress, and any toggles that affect the enemy to drop completely. For some blasters, this may not affect much, for others it could mean life or death (or at least a lot of annoyance).

You'd still have holes for fears, immobs, and confuse, so it's not like you're giving them complete mez protection, just enough to keep their toggles working for a bit.

I like this idea. It's almost like a battle focus. If they were to do something like this, I'm sure we'd lose the free to fire when mezzed tier one and two powers we have now. I'm fine with that, though.

I'm torn about this one. On the one hand, I don't like the idea of straight up giving Blasters mez protection. On the other, it really goes with the "offense is defense" theme, which I like. Mark me as a /signed for now.

/Signed. Right now Blasters just feel...eh. They don't feel like they are actually delivering equally to other ATs. Maybe it's just me...

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Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I had an idea like that for an Inherent power in that "Blapper-like" new AT thread a while back.

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Originally Posted by Vitality Alright...this is my somewhat serious attempt at what a Ranged/Defense AT could look like. Blapper HP Base: 1017.4 HP Max: 1606.4 Damage Scale: .700 Range Scale?: assuming blasters are 1.00...blappers would be .75 (meaning that if a blasters attack has a 100' range, the blappers attack would have a 75' range) "defense" scale: .5 (Tankers are 1.00 and Scrappers are .75) (Regen and WP would have to be looked at more closely) No knockback protection. No Mez Protection Toggles. (armor set toggles or clicks that currently have mez protection now grant a bonus to the Blappers Inherent ability) Toggles will be dropped if mezzed. (not just surpressed...except for current mez protection toggles-see inherent ability) Inherent Power: Blapping All attacks executed on an enemy within the melee damage range of 7' or less adds .5 mez protection (hold, stun, sleep) that lasts for 5s. Stackable. 3 points of protection max. Each additional attack restarts the 5s timer. Current armor toggles that offer mez protection offer the Blapper a bonus to Blapping. All attacks executed with in the melee damage range of 7' or less now adds 1 mez protection that lasts for 5s. (so instead of taking 6 attacks to get to the 3 point max...it only takes 3.

Striaght up defence, resistance or mez protection is going against the theme of the blaster. The Blaster is meant to be a volatile creature that is all about the punishment rather than the durability. If blasters were to get something like added defence or mez then it needs to be apart of some system that is encouraging blasters to not only chain attacks, but also to be agile and move around.

My playstyle with blasters has always been to move them around as much as possible, stick to range but jump in close now and then to deliver some powerful melee hits because blaster melee attacks are brutal.

While I am for a bit of added survivability, It needs to be part of a system that actually rewards tactile and skilled behaviour rather than equally benefiting those that stand in the middle of a group of mobs, derping around with attacks then whining because they died.

Unfortunately though The_Static_Man, Blasters aren't exactly designed to be pure ranged characters, as you recognize. They can be successfully played as melee range characters. Skilled behavior can include standing in the middle of a mob and firing off attacks. Certainly, players ought to realize that they won't ever be able to take the damage that a tank/ brute can, but that doesn't mean that they should be substantially less durable.

As someone who started with a blaster and still plays blasters, I would love to see some improvements to blasters and would support what ClawsandEffect is proposing. I don't like that ClawsandEffect is limiting it so that there isn't stacked Mez Resistance, but it ultimately makes sense to me since the Blaster is supposed to continuously deal damage, which would mean that it's also continuously defeating enemies and thereby reducing/ preventing the stacking of Mezzes. (Although the first two chosen attacks may not be that good at killing enemies, but that's a tangent of this discussion .)

Idea seems good but at the risk of the Devs shooting down anything that has to do with actual protection, I would opt for including mez resistance to Defiance building attacks.

This way, you're constantly building "mez reduction credits". When you do get hit by a mez; the initial duration has already been shortened and your 3 mez-proof attacks allow you to shorten it further.

And/Or:

Integrating a chance to 'break free' to a Blaster's 3 mez-proof attacks. It would work just like popping a Level 1 Break Free inspiration.

As generally happy as I am with blasters (IE, overall I think they're in pretty good shape, little tweaks might work - specifically snipes and nukes, some sets could use tweaking,) I could go for this. Since it does require you to keep attacking.

See my Guides and Tutorials

I'm for anything to make blasters better. My main is a blaster and he's been a badbutt blapper for years and he's gotten badbutt-er with all the incarnate stuff, but I feel like he's been left behind with all the buffs and changes the other ATs have gotten over the past few years.