i24 Blaster Changes

Did you take /Men just so you could have the pink bubble (no judgement, I took WoC just because of that)? Because aesthetically Psychic Shockwave looks like a good fit for what you showed of your build, unless you mostly just wanted the pink bubble.

It is one charge of Aim and it is possible they might change it to one charge of Build Up. So yay?

Well, Captain Atom for sure has some pretty impressive mitigation properties.

Storm can melt bullets and other objects before they reach him (which is why I was thinking resistance or absorb for /Fire, but cauterizing wounds ala Healing Flames works conceptually as well) and cure himself of poison.

And really, all comic book heroes can take a beating, and then, often during the evil soliloquy, recover enough to win the day!

World of confusion's entire purpose is to make you look Fabulous!

and becomes quite potent with the purple proc in it. as my fire/mental/flame can attest but yes, it is pwetty

Originally Posted by Forbin_Project Then it's time for them to get off the cross, use the wood to build a bridge, and get over it.

I took it because CONFUSE IS THE BEST MEZ.

I felt that World of Confusion in conjunction with Hail of Bullets really did exemplify the 'gun kata' aesthetic I wanted (because Equilibrium is just that awesome and I'm not at all ashamed to admit I was aiming for it).

Conceptually, I can figure that the Confuse effect is just my character's positioning and movement causes enemies to attack at the wrong direction and time, and hit their allies by accident, or simply fail to make an effective attack at all due to too many changes in the local combat circumstance. (Similarly, I conceptually slant Drain Psyche as less 'draining from enemies' and more 'taking advantage of the increased local chaos to expend less personal energy and to overall take fewer serious blows')

Aside from that, the particular tinting of WoC with the subtractive blending mixes amazingly well with Scorpion Shield, as well. They look like they belong together.

That said, for some reason I always forgot about Psychic Shockwave. It's a mix of things..

For one, I don't like weapon redraw once I've engaged in the fight. It's a pet peeve of mine I can't really defend beyond "I just Really Don't Like My Weapons Going Away".
For two, my concept of my character doesn't involve actually dealing damage to enemies via psi. Like I said, I only have Mind Probe because it can carry a Kinetic Combat; if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have the power, despite the potential uses against some enemy types.
Third, I am really really really tight on power picks.

It would fit my playstyle, there's no real doubt of that, but I really wouldn't be happy with it.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Softcapping an Invuln is fantastic. Softcapping a Willpower is amazing. Softcapping SR is kissing your sister.

I'm certainly glad the devs made the changes they did however, it still won't change much for blasters. I understand not wanting to do too much and monitor changes, but defenders and corrputors made out much better with snipe changes than blasters.

This won't make blasters "kings of damage" as too many others do too much. Never mind the fact that any AT (at level 50 with judgement) can have a "nuke" with a 90 second recharge with no crash.

Based on the past, this is not good, as it will be a long time before things will be "looked at" again. To which I ask, "Is this all?" Thus, the reason to campaign for as much as possible while that window is still open.

I understand your point. I guess what I'm trying to communicate is that when you built a Scrapper the archetype really fulfilled the vision of a superhero game.

Not so much with a Blaster. With the way mezzes work in this game, Blasters are always at a disadvantage compared to every other archetype. Seriously, Dominators get a break free power and anti-mezz while Blasters now have /regen. Big whoo. That does nothing when you're shut down by Thorn mage bosses and then repeatedly blown to smithereens.

We all know that feeling. It's been a running joke about face-planting since the beginning of this game. I remember when all the Blaster players on the forums rose in mock revolt with the "I'm A Blaster..." posts.

Again, if the devs really want to make this game _more_ popular being small-minded about Blaster changes won't help at all. It's what frustrates new players. Believe me. I try to get so many friends to play. And when they fire up a Blaster and get completely flustered playing their character they get frustrated. Then they roll a Scrapper. The way Blasters play is an antithesis to the vision of Blasters by new players.

The Paragon Studios team, for better or for worse, believes very strongly in incremental development. They'll want to see just how game changing their current marks are before they go further... Hopefully, they'll see the information they need in beta and will be able to work from that. If not, they've already committed to continuing to work on the matter if they need to.

If you feel you can't trust that, then there probably isn't anything at all they can say that will give you more confidence.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Softcapping an Invuln is fantastic. Softcapping a Willpower is amazing. Softcapping SR is kissing your sister.

I'm just making my thoughts known. I know the devs are good people. But you have to post strongly to get their attention. You can't just sit and wait. I'm not angry or going to go forum postal. In fact, I've been pretty zen about Blasters since when I gave up hope after seeing Defiance 2.0.

But seriously. I've been playing since 2004. My first character was a Blaster. My first 50 was a Blaster. I was the designated Blaster on my team of four via my old D&D buddies. I died and died and died and died and then face-planted some more. It was a running joke that the Blaster was the redshirt on the team no matter what we did.

I've been waiting for 8 years. The increments have been fractional. Compared to the improvements Dominators/Scrappers went through.

Ooh! I know this one!

... oh, wait, that was a rhetorical question, right? Crud.

How is it not very large? Devices gets it with no work while other sets have to work a lot to get it (slot kismet, invest in Tactics, etc.). I guess you could have a different definition of large than me, but... ease versus work seems large to me.

I think the snipes have a lot more similarity to Assassin's Strike than Placate, which is why I keep comparing those. Bringing in the others makes for comparisons that aren't as apt... to the point where it doesn't make sense to bring it up like you are. I also brought up the recent sets with combos, which are all attack set related as well. Every example meshes nicely with the attack set, without requiring extra power picks or insp use, which the current Snipe proposal does.

Part of the issue is I don't know or understand where the devs want this new snipe potential to be. They're not against giving it perma to Devices, but they want to limit it for other sets.

Aim isn't up that frequently, is my point. Between Build Up and Aim (if you have both) it wouldn't be that bad, I know, but discussing these just brings me back to what I have been saying a lot: inconsistency between sets, the to hit requirement not being "accessible" like similar powers or other powersets with combos, etc.

I've seen plenty of ideas for stacks via Defiance with To Hit, combos, etc., all of which are more universally accessible and balanced between the sets.

I can see them thinking that, but at the same time, I'd rather keep emphasizing and showing why the nuke changes are needed so they don't forget or under-prioritize it. While what we have on the table is nice, crashing nukes at least do still have issues and need help. The I24 changes are an issue behind what I was hoping for (given past comments from the dev team), and now the nukes are even further beyond that.

I'm not saying we should belabor the point and annoy Synapse or Hawk (though for all I know, he hates my guts after all my agitating for more Peacebringer changes ), just keep it out there that the changes are still needed.

The damage output difference between a perma-fast snipe build and one that only fast snipes occasionally is not that large when measured over the course of a mission. The variance in kill speed and time through a mission just isn't gonna be a lot.

I agree your example supports your point well. I disagree my examples do not apply. Sometimes things are not the same across all sets. My examples are all I need to make me feel good about that assertion.

I don't think this is part of the issue, I think this is the crux of your issue. If A can make it perma easy, B, C, D, and E should be able to as well. That is not an entirely unreasonable position, but I also do not think it needs to be true.

Almost every idea I see along that vein is ending up at the point of just having perma-fast snipes for all. At which point you should get rid of the mechanic and just make the snipes fast. Getting enough +to-hit to be perma is not supposed to be universally accessible and balanced between the sets and I don't think it needs to be.

My feeling is that it varies by primary. For a set like Fire Blast, this is very likely true. For Electric Blast, my gut feeling is that a perma-snipe would be a very noticeable increase in ST target damage. In the end, it would balance out too, because everyone would have to trade a power to get snipes into their build. Well, unless they already have it in their build. But that is probably the exception, rather than the rule.


Yep ! For me, this is absolutely the sticking point.

I like how you think. Perma-snipe for all !! No ?

Seriously though, Strat, you have said yourself that the increase would not be that great between perma-snipe and situational snipe. Why not just make it more accessible ? Those that need it (Electric / AR ) make out better than those that dont (Fire / Energy ). Sounds fine to me.

I've always been disappointed in the fact that the /Dark AoE buff powers didn't have a -ToHit component to them. Maybe it's something they should consider, as a minor step, to help shore up some of the negative perception about applicable /Dark secondaries.

Or they can make a ranged version; a TAoE like Poison's Evenom or Weaken (small radius; buff front-loaded off the primary target)?

There are a lot of reasons to make it work as Hawk has designed it. For example:

It does apply a limit, this way it will not be perma for all.

It allowed Hawk to give a modest bonus to a set that could use it.

It gives players something to build for. The build meta-game is actually a very important aspect of playing (and designing) MMOs.

In that build meta-game it provides reasonable competing choices.

The fact that to-hit debuffs exist is a feature. I know some have complained, but I LOVE that I could craft a build to have perma-snipe but a spawn could negate that. This is the perfect type of non-binary negative that should be targeted in design. Rather than being held or totally shut down, we just lose access to a damage increase. We can even still use the snipe if we want, it will just be slow.

It is thematically appropriate. This is very important and an oft overlooked commitment CoH devs have made (and one that I have occasionally criticized when I think gameplay concerns are more important (crashing nukes is a solid example), but I love them for this commitment despite my occasional disagreement).

Everything you have said here makes good sense. I can even agree with it from a purely logical perspective. Unfortunately for me, this one change is more elemental. Especially after the absolute WIN that they performed on Stalkers Assassin Strike.
I am very let-down by this attempt. Because you see, I PLAY Blaster-types, but do not play Stalker types.

Yes, Yes, It is a case of "I wants sum too". Cannot help it.

Besides, Hawk practically, almost, somewhat admitted that he chose 22% out of pure "evil-ness".
If I could reach my hand thru my computer, I would "b^ch-S_ap" that boy and ask him how it felt. They should lower that number to 15%, then I would be more appeased. You could "build" for it, or decide not to, but the sacrifice to "build for it" would not be so ridiculous.

I spent hours on MIDS after the Twitch broadcast before arriving at my opinion too. It is not a "purely emotional" position.

P.S. Nothing like a Blaster set of changes to bring out the StratoNexus in you

It may not be "purely" emotional, but it's driven strongly by "I should have this even if..."

Personally, I think that snipes could have had a more interesting tweak for the game, but given this is what they've aimed for, a hard build/tactical decision in order to get the full benefit of the snipe is sensible.

I think if they correct the fact that blasters have a notably higher gap to cross than defenders and corruptors, it should be fine.

Outside of that, I'm just waiting for them to inevitably see that the sustain changes aren't enough, and realize that they'll have to do something more for blasters.

Also, nukes. (Not that this will likely affect me; I don't play any characters with access to a crashing nuke right now)

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Softcapping an Invuln is fantastic. Softcapping a Willpower is amazing. Softcapping SR is kissing your sister.

I think its simpler than that. I think its basically this:

1. Arbiter Hawk wanted to make it insta with Aim, and perma with TD.

2. He could have just flagged those two powers to redirect snipe to insta-versions. The end.

3. He realized if he made it based on tohit buff rather than locked to just those two powers, it would be *better* because there would be more opportunities for players to get the bonus.

4. But he set the limit to 22% so that while Aim worked and TD worked, it wasn't trivially easy to make most other options work.

5. Defender and Corruptor tactics are a bit easier than they probably should be, but that was a compromise and AH probably didn't think those two possibilities were really that critical so as to invalidate the entire exercise.

6. Tohit debuffs also make this meta game more tricky, but that was the price for making it more accessible.

Just as a general thought on the issue of Defenders/Corruptors and the meta-game. While Defenders and Corruptors have it easier to perma with Tactics they are also much less likely to have room in their build for Aim. Defenders and Corruptors tend to need to dedicate more powers and slots to their non-blast set than Blasters do and Aim is often one of the casualties of that.

If some of the blaster changes were intended to bring up blasters, this won't help matters much unless you already have /dev and buffing up dps for all def/cor with this change makes it less likely people will play blasters.

I agree with this, /dark needs to help out a little more defensively, and maybe pick a different power for the +regen, touch of fear just doesnt feel right to me for some reason.

[Nevermind, lets not complicate or risk a nerf of DP]

another thing... i never understood why Dominator DP was stronger than blasters. Can anyone explain this? (the +regen AND the -regen)

Some people were complaining that they took /MM for psy scream and felt gimped that all the other sets could get regen from range.