Quote:
yeah, The stalker/scrapper PPP will also gets the buff.
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Originally Posted by Oliin
Nope, LRM was specifically excluded in the chat/interview. Possibly the first thing said after mentioning all snipes were getting the buff.
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NeoSaturn-L50 Kat/Regen Scrapper
Paragon Family Swift
NeoSaturn's Deviations
From Arcanaville's analysis in my Survivability thread:
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And they're aiming for 1.0% /sec . In my head that means they have room for more damage mitigation. +240% regen on a 180% (Health) base is 2.3x recovery. So they could get another, like, 20% tougher without ANY fear of overpowering. | So that suggests blasters have to somehow mitigate about 0.9%/sec to 1.6%/sec of damage to reach that very rough goal. That implies reducing incoming damage by about 60%, or doubling to tripling blaster health recovery, or some combination of the two. |
20% Resist would help nicely with my Freak Tank issue. Three +3 minions do about the same damage as, hrm, four or five +1 minions? Which should be about the damage of a +1 boss. So a +1 Freak Tank is a valid test. If it drops you fast and hard EVERY time that's still problematic.
Am I pushing too hard? Maybe. But a Regen fix feels like a handshake with good eye contact.
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So you think you're a hero, huh.
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Personally I think they are just polishing a turd. How many Brutes, Scrappers or Tanks do you see without their T9 attack. None. Why should it be any different for Blasters. Yet they refuse to fix the problem and address other "issues".
Fix it all the first time guys.
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I am sorry I can't see having my attack chain require inspirations to run as a good thing. |
Originally Posted by EvilGeko
I disagree. The Kismet IO + Tactics will get you close enough that a small yellow inspiration will keep you there for a minute at a time. The Regen buff is better than Regeneration's Integration. It may not be enough, but it is going to be significant.
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It's especially bad when you consider what it means to your build. Its 2 power pics so you can improve your attack chain with a power that wont be available 100% of the time and isn't usable while mezed. Comparing the new powers to integration seems a little off, as integration also provides mez protection.
Edit: I also don't buy their argument about drain psyche being overpowered, to use it you have to surround yourself enemies at melee range, suicide for all but very well built blasters or those able to chug inspirations like they are going out of style.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Zombie Man
Why 22%?
Because on a Defender, Tactics six-slotted with 50+5 ToHit is 21.96% ToHit.  |
They could just increase it to 32% for defenders.
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
Quote:
That would be my concern that it doesn't quite do *enough* and by virtue of getting a buff, go to the end of the buff line.
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Originally Posted by Xprom
Personally I think they are just polishing a turd. How many Brutes, Scrappers or Tanks do you see without their T9 attack. None. Why should it be any different for Blasters. Yet they refuse to fix the problem and address other "issues".
Fix it all the first time guys. |
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
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I thought a blaster's dependence on inspirations was sorta the thing that made them unique...
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Originally Posted by Another_Fan
I am sorry I can't see having my attack chain require inspirations to run as a good thing.
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Quote:
To repeat what Z said in the cast, the changes made aren't to make Blasters 'the king of [insert something]' or to make them compete with other ATs. The changes made were to make the AT fun.|
Originally Posted by graystar_blaster
No the AT matching the description would. More dmg is what i want not more farmability. If a blaster could do massive dmg single target as the description says i would be impressed. A stop-gap mesure to just do some tid-bit to the at is not going to make me happy. I still will play my blasters no doubt. However not because of the changes but i love the at.
However my other toons still do massive massive massive amounts more dmg. More surviveable. better at playing and more dmg. did i say more dmg. |
People felt the variant ranges of the blasts weren't fun so they're changing it.
People felt the interruptible snipes weren't fun so they're making changes to make them more fun.
People didn't like the downtime of Blasters due to lack of survivability so they're implementing changes to help.
They also mentioned these were not the only changes they were planning to make. AFAWK, they could be brainstorming stuff *now* so that by the time these changes hit beta, they've already got the next batch of code ready for the beta build 1.1. It's likely more changes, like to nukes, won't be addressed until a later issue but they've expressed they are and still will be looking into Blasters beyond these changes, for one to gauge any balance shifts between snipe and non-snipe sets, for two to gauge the usability of the new sustain mechanics across the sets and for three because they expressly mentioned changes to Dual Pistols.
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I take build up and Aim which are two powers not available all the time and not usable when mezzed just to improve my damage.|
Originally Posted by Another_Fan
I am sorry I can't see having my attack chain require inspirations to run as a good thing.
It's especially bad when you consider what it means to your build. Its 2 power pics so you can improve your attack chain with a power that wont be available 100% of the time and isn't usable while mezed. Comparing the new powers to integration seems a little off, as integration also provides mez protection. |
Quote:
| Edit: I also don't buy their argument about drain psyche being overpowered |
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I like some of the proposed changes more than others. Here are a few assorted thoughts. Sorry if it seems to critical--low on time to type a response.
I don't like +ToHit as a demarker. It is much easier to get always-on +ToHit as a Defender or Corruptor than as a Blaster. As has been pointed out, the primary source of always-on ToHit is the Tactics power in the Leadership pool. This really seems to force the hand of most players into taking Tactics.
Adding range to some sets hurts others by comparison. The extra range in Defender and Corruptor Psychic Blast is its only real draw next to much more damaging, faster casting-powers in other sets. Previously Psi Blast had a 60ft range lead over Fire and Ice when firing its best standard blasts; that's now dropped to just 20ft. Archery is matched 1 for 1. That's a really harsh change and I doubt if I will be continuing my Psi Blast Corruptor, who was rolled precisely because he got extra range. Archery might survive on the strength of Rain of Arrows.
This isn't to say they shouldn't still give other sets range, but this doesn't improve Psi's (or Archery's) standing. It does mean you could maybe use the insane 160ft or whatever snipe more freely, but you're basically back where you were before with other sets, able to shoot from far away but not actually follow through with an attack chain or real purpose.
Giving Defenders a reason to pick something other than Sonic Attack is a good outcome of the changes. It's probably a good thing that Sonic Attack on Defenders (and maybe Corruptors) gets less of a boost, considering how one Defender blast set is far superior to the actual buff and debuff sets at delivering one of the most desirable debuffs in the game, on a class that specializes in buffs and debuffs.
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I'm sure they will buff blaster sonic blast because of how rare it is. Not sure about blaster ice blast, but blaster blizzard is a joke since the corruptor version does more thanks to scourge and the defender one does the same damage.
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Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
Giving Defenders a reason to pick something other than Sonic Attack is a good outcome of the changes. It's probably a good thing that Sonic Attack on Defenders (and maybe Corruptors) gets less of a boost, considering how one Defender blast set is far superior to the actual buff and debuff sets at delivering one of the most desirable debuffs in the game, on a class that specializes in buffs and debuffs.
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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
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So, your plan is, after Tactics and Kismet, make Blasters find 4% more +ToHit, have Corruptors hit the sweet spot, and make Defenders find 10% more +ToHit.|
Originally Posted by newchemicals
They could just increase it to 32% for defenders.
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So, basically, your plan is to continue to have Defenders never take the Snipe power.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
I don't like +ToHit as a demarker. It is much easier to get always-on +ToHit as a Defender or Corruptor than as a Blaster. As has been pointed out, the primary source of always-on ToHit is the Tactics power in the Leadership pool. This really seems to force the hand of most players into taking Tactics.
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Fairly cool changes. Certainly interesting.
~ I love the tier 3's being boosted to 80. I love it with Archery, and I think it will improve the blaster experience. I wonder if Archery will get love since that was a perk on the set. Will it be changed in Assault sets? I am curious if Doms will see the ranged increase.
~ The changes to Snipes are... interesting. It certainly in an interesting addition to Devices. Being able to work Snipes into a reliable rotation is a nice boost for that set. Although it seems to me to be a bigger boost for Defenders and Corruptors who can hit the 22% with Tactics and Kismet than for Blasters. The design will tend to create a situation of haves and have nots - the blasters who can use Snipes reliably in their rotations and the blasters who still won't take them. I doubt I would waste the power choice and slots for a Snipe I could only use during Build Up and with Inspirations.
~ Adding a big regen and recovery boost to specific secondary powers is nice, but that wouldn't save me from the times I face plant. Those tend to come fast, and usually involve my defense dropping due to toggle suppression from beng mez'd. When I need a heal I need it immediately. I'd rather have a self heal than a boost to regen. It will speed up, I think, the process of running content at my current settings but it won't allow my to boost my settings much if at all.
As people have pointed out, Dual Pistols has no Snipe and thus misses out on a big chunk of the boost to blasters. Thank goodness I am not running Dual Pistols/Devices where I can't leverage the implied boost to /Devices.
I am glad, if I understand what was said correctly, that the set is getting animation love. Yay! Will they will bring Dual Pistols in line with other sets only to have it immediately fall behind again because it doesn't have a snipe? Let's hope not.
Moonlighter
50s include MA/SD, MA/SR, DP/Elec, Claw/Inv, Kat/Dark, Kat/Fire, Spine/Regen, Dark/SD
First Arc: Tequila Sunrise, #168563
Quote:
I approve this message.
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Originally Posted by Zombie Man
They could always change Tactics for Blaster to 10%, like for Corruptors. This way, Blasters can have the Snipes always 'speedy' like Corruptors and Defenders without resorting to a second power.
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Quote:
Its true, the changes cover blasters, stalkers, dominators, Defenders and corruptors. They have to find a happy medium. (its not actually my plan, just a /sarcastic remark since its "too easy" for corruptors and defenders to "perma" snipe attacks)|
Originally Posted by Zombie Man
So, your plan is, after Tactics and Kismet, make Blasters find 4% more +ToHit, have Corruptors hit the sweet spot, and make Defenders find 10% more +ToHit.
So, basically, your plan is to continue to have Defenders never take the Snipe power. They could always change Tactics for Blaster to 10%, like for Corruptors. This way, Blasters can have the Snipes always 'speedy' like Corruptors and Defenders without resorting to a second power. |
Blaster Aim is enough, but not all sets have it. The preference would be for snipe attacks to be perma "insta" and never have to think about it. The changes would be "forcing" blasters to take tactics which isn't good.
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
Quote:
I would think that a good balancing act would be to require everyone to do two things to get to (nearly) perma SpeedSnipe. So, pick two of the following:|
Originally Posted by newchemicals
Its true, the changes cover blasters, stalkers, dominators, Defenders and corruptors. They have to find a happy medium. (its not actually my plan, just a /sarcastic remark since its "too easy" for corruptors and defenders to "perma" snipe attacks)
Blaster Aim is enough, but not all sets have it. The preference would be for snipe attacks to be perma "insta" and never have to think about it. The changes would be "forcing" blasters to take tactics which isn't good. |
1. Tactics
2. Kismet
3. Build-up
4. Aim
5. Some other ToHit buff in you primary, secondary, or pool powers.
6. Some new ATO or Proc or Universal IO Set that has +ToHit.
If Blasters' Tactics were bumped to 10%, then everyone would be in the same boat. Although, Devices gets off easy since they'd only need one thing: Targeting Drone.
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Quote:
|
Originally Posted by newchemicals
Its true, the changes cover blasters, stalkers, dominators, Defenders and corruptors. They have to find a happy medium. (its not actually my plan, just a /sarcastic remark since its "too easy" for corruptors and defenders to "perma" snipe attacks)
Blaster Aim is enough, but not all sets have it. The preference would be for snipe attacks to be perma "insta" and never have to think about it. The changes would be "forcing" blasters to take tactics which isn't good. |
Maybe the blast set without aim but with snipe (like blasters AR , or Defenders Dark and psi blast) could get a to hit buff bonus when using the snipe or maybe require less to hit to work.
NeoSaturn-L50 Kat/Regen Scrapper
Paragon Family Swift
NeoSaturn's Deviations
Quote:
As i Recall, Gravity changes didn't get a freespec.
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Originally Posted by Fulmens
I've never seen them make a major change to powers and not give a freespec.
I will admit I haven't looked all that closely, having a ridiculous number of vetspecs anyway. |
I don't suffer from altitis, I enjoy every minute of it.
Thank you Devs & Community people for a great game.
So sad to be ending ):
Quote:
I like this idea.|
Originally Posted by Zombie Man
They could always change Tactics for Blaster to 10%, like for Corruptors. This way, Blasters can have the Snipes always 'speedy' like Corruptors and Defenders without resorting to a second power.
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~
The changes with blasts seem to benefit defenders/cors/others as much as blasters. My defenders will love the changes far more than my blasters.
Annoying that I'll have to respec a lot of blasters to include the surviabilty power picks. (Annoying to me - not saying its a bad choice by the Devs to use those powers.)
Lightening clap is going to have to be pretty damn special for +regen to make me pick it though.
Nuke changes would make more impact to me. But not going to turn my nose up on these buffs.
I don't suffer from altitis, I enjoy every minute of it.
Thank you Devs & Community people for a great game.
So sad to be ending ):
In terms of the snipes, I just feel like there are too many problems being fixed in one glut.
We're trying to buff Blasters, make snipes desirable to all ATs, make Defenders appear to have a reason to exist, and make Devices have a purpose, all in one move. But it seems to me like the changes are really mainly buffing Fire Blast Corruptors and whatever sets were already the best. I think some of it needs to be untangled.
The To-Hit bonus trigger is what is particularly troubling to me. It actually reminds of how perma-Domination works, where the with and without states are really binary and very build dependant.
On a sidenote, I think we also need just to finally admit the Defender AT is in a state that is easily as desperate as Blasters--or perhaps more accurately, Stalkers relative to Scrappers prior to their buff. Their problem isn't "performance" or an inability to perform, it's that the AT has a direct but mostly superior clone AT in Corruptors. I'm not really concerned with whether the Defender AT has a reason to pick snipes because in my mind the Defender AT could be deleted with almost no repercussions to the game. I only bring this up because I think a slightly easier time making snipes perma-uninteruptable via ToHit is as equally a dubious bonus as the mild +defense and other values that supposedly justify this ATs existence.
The nutshell of that paragraph above is that I don't really care whether this change benefits Defenders a whole lot, because the Defender AT isn't that great at defending or even really existing, and should be getting their own versions of some powers to correct that rather than trying to shoehorn them in with a global change.
My main since I started playing in '05 is Lightslinger, an Energy/Energy Blaster.
I'm definitely thankful for the buffs, but I am concerned the devs will stop here and I'm fairly certain these adjustments alone will not bring Lightslinger in line with other ATs.
The range increase for tier 3s is huge and I will be highly appreciative of that, good move.
The snipe change is exactly what I wanted, but why require the +tohit? It seems odd that Stalkers simply got an AS that worked different in combat, why require Blasters to take additional powers, slot a Kismet, and use other powers in order to use the new Snipe? Seems like a great change, but the punitive measures that are taken in order for it to work weigh it down. If the devs intended this new attack to only be useable some of the time; why?
The secondary power changes for survivability I'm not sure about. I'll definitely test them as best I can as soon as possible, but I'm not seeing how this will increase Lightslinger's survival that much. Blasters are such a low HP AT we will not see the most benefit possible from Regen.
Overall I see these changes as benefiting other ATs MUCH more than they'll benefit Blasters. These changes will pull Blasters even further behind other ranged archetypes.
If this is Phase 1 of Blaster buffs, I'm very, very excited by these changes and look forward to what's coming next. Lets get some real Blaster focused buffs.
Unfortunately I've seen this dev team drop a lot of projects over the years and I fear Blasters may be the next project to go to the backburner, prove me wrong.
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I kind of feel like the ideas planned aren't fixing what people were seeing with Blasters either. I also don't like that a certain kind of fix is being added wholesale, to be honest. Slapping regen on powers (some of which are more or less desirable... Lightning Clap is a pretty crummy power even with the regen slapped on) feels like shoehorning a one size fits all approach to feet that are more diverse than that (sorry for the belabored analogy). I could go further as well... Cloaking Device is a no-brainer for any Devices player, but things like Chilling Embrace and Blazing Aura haven't been. I don't know that it's a good thing to suddenly make those powers required to get the "boost" to Blasters. |
Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
In terms of the snipes, I just feel like there are too many problems being fixed in one glut.
We're trying to buff Blasters, make snipes desirable to all ATs, make Defenders appear to have a reason to exist, and make Devices have a purpose, all in one move. But it seems to me like the changes are really mainly buffing Fire Blast Corruptors and whatever sets were already the best. I think some of it needs to be untangled. The To-Hit bonus trigger is what is particularly troubling to me. It actually reminds of how perma-Domination works, where the with and without states are really binary and very build dependant. On a sidenote, I think we also need just to finally admit the Defender AT is in a state that is easily as desperate as Blasters--or perhaps more accurately, Stalkers relative to Scrappers prior to their buff. Their problem isn't "performance" or an inability to perform, it's that the AT has a direct but mostly superior clone AT in Corruptors. I'm not really concerned with whether the Defender AT has a reason to pick snipes because in my mind the Defender AT could be deleted with almost no repercussions to the game. I only bring this up because I think a slightly easier time making snipes perma-uninteruptable via ToHit is as equally a dubious bonus as the mild +defense and other values that supposedly justify this ATs existence. The nutshell of that paragraph above is that I don't really care whether this change benefits Defenders a whole lot, because the Defender AT isn't that great at defending or even really existing, and should be getting their own versions of some powers to correct that rather than trying to shoehorn them in with a global change. |
I'd also say that something to help Blasters that keys in with our offense would have been more fun and thematic. I still really liked the idea for some kind of mitigation via our attacks that was in the huge Blaster thread in the AT forum, but maybe that's just personal preference. Still seems more thematic to an offensive AT than Regen for all. Also would make it easier for all Blasters to access these, rather than requiring taking just ONE power (as noted at the end of the previous paragraph).
Last but not least, while I like an improvement to snipes, I really dislike the to hit requirement. As has been mentioned, it requires everyone to build in certain ways to get more out of it (like domination used to be), rather than being accessible to all builds that have a snipe, like the changes to Assassin's Strike were for all Stalker players. Sure, the devs didn't have the hid mechanic to work with there, but something more accessible would have been much better. I don't really have a great suggestion for what to do instead (and I hate to only critique), other than perhaps locking it into range somehow? I thought that was suggested by Arcanaville or someone else (sorry if that's incorrect) as a possibility, and if feasible, that seems much better and more accessible. If you're in 80 feet, uninterruptible. Over, you have the ranged advantage and it's interruptible.
The Tier 3 blast changes work fine for me. Maybe some re-jiggering will be necessary for a few weaker sets because of that, but not being locked into close range for those will be a real boon for ranged players.
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The Regen change is large, maybe larger than I realize, but I don't think it works right.
Arcanaville came to the Regen-equivalent number by looking at smoothly applying damage over time; if you are smoothly applying damage over time Assault is better than Build Up and Aim combined. My memory's not what it was, but has anyone argued that, ever? I think some amount of "burst stopper" is important.
When players worry about Blasters becoming overpowered, I just hear the song from Oliver.
I'm happy that we're getting improvements, but ... please, sir, could I have some more?
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
However my other toons still do massive massive massive amounts more dmg.
More surviveable.
better at playing and
more dmg. did i say more dmg.