Biospark

Well, one of the Key differences to me on leveling up a Tanker versus a Defender is actually building a "decent" attack chain. Defenders have a harder time in the early stages of the game, and there are "Vet" powers and "pool" powers that can "skew" this issue considerably. For the Most part, building a Tanker (melee concept AT) and adding in AS or Boxing, or even Sands of Mu, will be a very good benefit to an attack chain as well as staying within a concept build. Defenders OTH can also take some melee attacks to assist in building an early attack chain, but what if you prefer to stay "out of melee" or have a preferred concept to avoid these attacks.

When I soloed my Empath, my earliest attack chain was Charged Bolts, Lightning Bolt, Air Superiority and Boxing. They chained together well and allowed me to eliminate threats at a speed which helped while solo. I later respecced out of this chain, because simply, it sucked. But your options on defenders are limited at the early stages. AoEs are way too costly to be part of your chain and you dont have enough ST choices to avoid "wait" periods during solo combat. Those "dead" times between attacks are often punctuated with hospital trips. Hehe

I am in total agreement with you on this one. I think the larger concern is the wide range of solo performance between Defender primaries. This is something that has been my argument for a long time. Considering that after 6 years, Empathy has not been changed (in a positive way) tells me that they (Devs) consider this set properly balanced. The same can be said about Forcefields, but that powerset has seen some small tweaks, which were probably more in response to the MAJOR impact that GDN had on the set. Much the same way SR recieved some small amount of attention after GDN.

We probably disagree mostly on the "definition" of Soloing "well". That's all.
I have played Dark/Electric and Rad/Electric and even though these sets handled missions relatively well (solo), they still were considerably slower than even the "worst" Tanker I have played. And Tanks are MUCH MUCH safer. So thats why you will see me often bring Tankers into the discussion when talking solo speed. Tanker solo speed seems (to me) a perfectly balanced AT. Slower but safer, providing a great group benefit but at the expense of reaching the top DPS heights of the damage dealing ATs. Defenders do not have the incredible "safety" and "durability" that tankers enjoy due to their "increased" group benefit. But should they also suffer in the "kill speed" area as well?? For me, I cannot prove that there is an imbalance, It just "feels" like Defenders pay a pretty large price for their "team awesomeness". Not to mention that when they are in their "awesome mode", it can feel more like "work" than "fun".

Sorry for the rambling

Many tart responses came to mind reading this Frosticus, but I decided that you are entitled to your own opinion of the situation.

So all I will say is... Ouch !

Even if I wasn't such a fan of the Defender AT, I think that I would be happy that the Devs took some interest in our needs and gave us something. If Corruptors need something as well (And I have heard many say that they do) then (if it was me), I would be "squeaking" on the Corruptor Boards. But Thats just me.

This is it exactly. If you play Rad, Dark, Storm etc... that all have ways to increase your damage, its probably still slow, but not painfully slow. Try ForceFields or Empathy and then try a +3 Boss. Its Reeaaaallllllyyy Sloooooowwww. Thats why My Empath pretty much had Bosses turned off the whole way to 50.

Will my Empath still solo worse than a Rad/Sonic? Heck Yeah. But having been on test recently and running some radio missions in Peregrine, I am pleased with the boost. I still have all my same weaknesses and strengths, it just takes alot less time to do missions. Still testing how hard I can bump the settings with Bosses turned on, but at least it will not be "base settings" on a fully IOed Empath.

Agreed !

I had to think about Masterminds a little longer than some of the ATs.
Please remember that those are generalizations, but here is my reasoning.

PETS! These are powers that exist "at range" and can deal damage "at range" from the Mastermind. Calling Pets a "Ranged" effect is, again, a generalization, but not far off base.
If I made a mistake, I am sure its in the "additional capabilities" for Masterminds.


Edit::: Just looked it over again. I am sorry Eiko, gonna have to stand by my original definition of Ranged.

Didn't Castle (or BaB maybe) say not long ago that they had a potential fix that would eliminate redraw? Just curious, really. I remember reading it, then nothing more about it since.

I so wanted to "Love" Shields. I even reserved a good name on my account before Shields was live (as soon as it was announced actually). I have witnessed some pretty amazing things done with IO'ed out Shields characters, but not my own.

When push came to shove, I went back to Super Reflexes. It doesn't get a Damage boost or a HP boost or a nifty attack, but instead you have a set that actually solo's well prior to IO's (better than shields anyway). And that softcap mark will not require me to slot nearly as many IO sets for defense. One SR build I have worked up is able to hit 400% regen with all the extra IOs I could chase.

So, to answer your question, nope, I have even decided I will not play it despite the fact it can softcap.

Yep, Exactly what I did Dr.Mike.
Used "Dark" choice in the customization and made them a very deep midnight blue. Its much more understated this way and intrudes less on the Pistol Primary.

Yeah, I had to think about it for awhile, because I do think the "element" of risk would be higher with a shorter range. But I think that if you made the effort to keep everything at range and "prop-up" your range defense, the results would still be the same.

amen !

From a solo perspective and a damage dealing point of view, I completely agree with you Predatoric. However,

I played a Fire/Energy Tank back at launch. My SG lead played an Invuln/SS Tanker.
When I reached the point of gaining access to WH, the amount of damage it did, even back then was disappointing, but thats not why I eventually dropped the character.

My belief, take it or leave it, is that Tanks need at least one "stellar" AoE power in their arsenal for taunt purposes. It doesnt have to be massive damage, but it should get some attention (so good Radius is more important than damage). Many Tanker AoEs fit this bill, like Fire Sword Circle, Footstomp etc... Back before "Gauntlet" I NEVER went into the "Presence" pool for help. It kinda "irked" me, in fact, that to make my Tank better at doing his "job" I needed a pool power.

So how about increasing the area of effect of Whirling Hands ? More damage would be gravy, but from a "tanking" point of view, the current radius is less than optimal.

In one of my posts I categorized Buffs/Debuffs as one sub-division called "Support", and did not give Blasters any credit for having this in their "additional capabilties".
My definition of "Support" powers is anything that benefits others as well as yourself.
With that in mind, there are powers already available to Blasters that would fall under this category, such as "Shiver" or "Hot Feet". But they are not predominant.

What I guess that I am saying is that any powerset or group of powersets that the Devs would come up with would have select powers which will "break" the rules. If current Blasters are Ranged with Control and Melee thrown in, thats a generalization that takes all sets into consideration. If you change this to Ranged with Support powers and Melee thrown in (as a generalization again), then you have a similar but different AT altogether.

Having a significant number of "support" type powers in the secondary though would force the Ranged AND Melee components to be adjusted down to Corruptor/Tanker levels of damage for balance. This may not be what you envisioned, however.

As far as reduced range. I dont think it would make much difference. My favorite Blast set is Energy and Power Burst has a reduced Range. Bottom Line, hovering at 40ft or 60ft plays the same. The melee baddies cannot reach me, but I can touch them.

How about "Avenger"

Couple other possibilities "Protector", "Guardian" (Hehe sounds like server-specific unlockable ATs now)

How about taking the Defender Inherent but make the Damage scale up as the team gets hurt.

I see no reason why your idea cannot co-exist with the ones being presented here.
New Base ATs and new "Un-lockable" ATs can both be introduced into the game.

Regarding EATS, I can only comment on Hero-side Kheldians (not having played Villain side much at all) these ATs may exist in the game, but I really do not like them. IF they were functionally the same but without "Forms" and major "Achilles' Heels" of Quantum damage then I would probably love these ATs.
Since they are not, you will continue to see me lobby for new base ATs

Your Probably Right, Tanker survivability on a low hp platform might as well be Scrapper survivability on a med Hp platform.

And one thing I feel very strongly about is that the Developers should start on the low-side of the scale and improve it as needed. For example LOW HPs, Scrapper Defense, Defender Damage. Start there, if its too weak, boost the Defense and/or HPs as needed till it falls in place.