ClawsandEffect

Pretty much this.

My Spines/Fire build has Barb Swipe for PvP, but I avoid it like the PLAGUE on my PvE build, the damage just sucks in PvE for the amount of time it roots you.

Closest comparison I can think of is Shout from Sonic Attack, but there's a big difference: On a blaster Shout is worth taking to end your chain with because it hits like a truck with a decent Defiance bonus and the -res from the rest of your chain applied. (Mine routinely tops 400 damage at level 50, which is better than my Fire blaster's Blaze will do. It hits harder than a non-crit Head Splitter or Eagle's Claw)

Barb Swipe has none of those advantages.

In an average week I solo most of the time due to my strange schedule (I play in the early afternoon when most people are still at work, and overseas people are either just waking up or just going to bed)

When I do team I generally duo with my wife, or fill the team from global friends and global channels. I almost never PuG beyond level 10 or so.

So the answer to 1-6 for me personally is "Almost never" for all of them.

True, but the question was "What is a soft cap?"

I was just trying to answer it without confusing the issue by adding all sorts of extenuating circumstances.

A soft cap is a term used to describe defense.

As you are no doubt aware, a "Cap" is an absolute limit, you can't go any higher than that.

A "Soft" cap, on the other hand, is a practical limit, meaning you don't gain any additional benefit from going higher than that.

The soft cap for defense is 45%. This is because an even con enemy has a base 50% chance to hit you, and the game will not allow it's chance to hit to go below 5%. So, since the chance to hit can't get below 5%, 45% is your practial limit on defense. It doesn't matter if you have 45% defense or 145% defense, the enemy's to-hit will never get below 5%, making 45% the soft cap, because you gain no benefit for going over it.

There are only 2 secondaries that have a "real" damage aura. Fire, and Electric.

World of Confusion just sucks. I haven't seen anyone yet that actually LIKES that power, andmost everyone that talks about mentions that the proc from the purple confuse set is better than the whole power. It ticks at half the rate of other damage auras, and has a really small range.

Of the two other damage auras, Lightning Field is quite a bit better than Blazing Aura.

My reasons:

Lightning Field has a 20 foot radius - Blazing Aura is 8 feet (I think)

Lightning Field has a (somewhat) useful secondary effect, if you slot it for end drain it can actually provide some mitigation by helping to slow down your enemy's attack rate. This is assuming you take and use Power Sink, which is available later in the same set. Blazing Aura just does damage, and nothing else.

Lightning Field looks a lot cooler. This is just my opinion here, but the electricity around your feet appeals to me a lot more than Blazing Aura's foof---foof---foof---foof effect.

I specced out of Blazing Aura a long time ago on my FIre/Fire and haven't missed it.

On the opposite side, I plan on taking Lightning Field with my Ice/Electric blapper after I get Stamina to offset the extra end drain. I will have 3 holds when my build matures, so I can stack a couple on a boss to take him out of the fight while I clear out the minions. WHen the minions have been cleared I can focus on the boss, who has been held and might even be drained of endurance by the time I get to him. If not, my Electric melee attacks will make sure of it.

Ice doesn't have a damage aura, but it does have a slow aura.

Energy and Devices are completely auraless.

A damage aura being run by a blaster won't overpower the taunt effect of a damage aura being run by a tanker. Any reasonably competent tank should be able to keep agro off you whether you are running an aura or not.

There are two entire ATs that are designed that way.

Look at how many powers in Defender primaries are completely useless while solo. 2/3rds of Empathy is useless to a soloer, large chunks of Cold, FF, and Sonic are as well.

Tanks have an inherent that is pointless while solo. If there's no one else on the map wth you, does it really MATTER if everything is on you or not?

Controller secondaries are the same as Defender primaries, only most of them get pets that their powers will work on. But a Mind/Emp has 6 powers in their secondary that are useless when they're alone.

Really, scrappers are the only hero AT that was designed from the beginning to be able to solo.

Blaster secondaries were (probably) designed to be used in a teaming situation to get the most mileage out of them. When you have a tank keeping things' attention you can spend as much time in melee as you like. Same when you have a defender buffing or healing you, or a controller locking stuff down.

The difference between blasters and defenders is that defenders have powers they CAN'T use while solo, while blasters just have powers that they don't get as much use out of.

(I apologize if my previous post came off as being a dick, that wasn't my intention)

The /cleartray command works wonders in that situation.

It strips ALL the powers out of your trays and lets you drag things to where you want them, instead of playing Tetris with your powers.

This I can pretty much guarantee is NEVER going to happen. For essentially the same reason you can't port a character to test and back to live after tweaking it.

The devs will never allow something to be loaded into a third party program and then be loaded back into the live game. Mid's is much easier to hack than the live game, and you would run into a problem of people using Mid's to give themselves enhancements they don't actually possess. Since you can change the parameters of just about everything in Mid's if you dig deep enough into it you would have to install a series of safeguards to ensure that players aren't introducing bugs into the game.

Example of possible shenanigans: Load your character into Mid's and switch it over to PvP mode while you are in a PvE zone, load back to live and ow your powers all have PvP values all the time. You'd end up with blasters having tanker level resistance to everything because of the way Epic shields work in PvP and the fact that Mid's doesn't account for Diminished Returns.

Basically, this would introduce so many headaches for the GMs and would probably require it's own staff to monitor that it really wouldn't be worth the time and effort it would take to implement.

And again, there is the point that the devs are NEVER going to allow a third party program to load information directly onto their servers. (Your powers and enhancements are all stored server-side, because they are factors that determine how your character interacts with the environment)

There's a very simple solution here for you Sam.


STOP PLAYING BLASTERS IF YOU DON'T LIKE THEIR SECONDARIES.

They aren't going to change them to do what you think they should be just because you don't like them. So, either deal with what blaster secondaries ARE and stop *****ing about them, or stop playing blasters altogether.

I get that you seldom team, and I get that you flatly refuse to use IO sets. Given those 2 points, has it occurred to you that maybe blasters aren't the best AT for you?

Going by what a guide or an extremely outdated manual has to say about an archetype and holding it up as the holy grail of knowedge is just foolish.

The game has changed since then. Remember why the agro cap was implemented? It was capped at 17 because no tanker could handle more than that. That may have been true back in the day, but it's not even CLOSE to true now. I have seen tanks that could easily handle 2 or 3 times that number.

They also said you need to get a team to fight an AV because no single character can defeat one by itself. I'm sure you've read the scrapper boards enough to that isn't true anymore either. Hell, there are DEFENDERS that solo Giant Monsters.

Accept that the game has changed. You can still do just fine on SOs, but the game that is balanced around SOs is also balanced around teaming. In order to get the level of solo performance you seem to be expecting out of a blaster you pretty much need to use IOs. Did you notice what kept popping up in just about every one of the references you quoted in your own posts about what to do as a blaster when you get in trouble? In almost every one of them it made a mention about relying on your team to cover the holes in your abilities. The game was originally designed around SO level enhancements and it was expected that most people would be on a team most of the time.

So, instead of complaining that your blaster can't do the things that an IOed blaster can do (i.e. stay in melee range more or less indefinitely), accept that they aren't supposed to be doing that. Scrappers aren't supposed to be soloing AVs either, and Defenders sure as hell aren't supposed to be soloing Giant Monsters. The people that are doing crazy things with their characters are above and beyond what is expcted of them. The devs aren't going to listen to someone saying that blasters need to be fixed because they can't stay in melee all day without IOs anymore than they are going to listen to someone saying defenders need to be fixed because their Empathy/Psi can't solo Jurrasik.

Blaster melee abilities were intended in the first place to be used on teams where you have a tank to keep agro off you and a defender or controller to keep you alive.

Saying that you can't hang out in melee all the time on a blaster is like saying your Honda Civic can't run a 9 second quarter mile. Sure, some Civics CAN run a 9 second quarter mile.....but they are not factory parts running on pump gas either.

No problem at all!

It's one of the many things I'm here for.

Okay that makes.....


....lemme think here.....


.....ONE time I've heard about of it not going off after the fight had already moved well away from where it was placed.

Seriously, I kept trying to use mine on teams and it ended up wasting endurance and time every time I did, because it blew up after everything was already dead. It takes 21 seconds to plant and explode, on any decent team anything but an AV fight is over by then.

The one that made the most sense to ME is as follows:

Corruptor = Defender (They have the exact same powersets with minor variations, only reversed)
Controller = Dominator (Control primary is the only real similarity, they play quite differently)
Scrapper = Brute (Jump in and hit things, that's what both of these do, and do it well)
Tanker = Mastermind (A well built mastermind in bodyguard mode is even harder to kill than some tanks, take Provoke from the Presence pool and you can serve as a decent tank if you need to)
Blaster = Stalker (Stalkers play like melee range blasters, in that both of them specialize in overwhelming alpha strikes, but tend to get overwhelmed themselves if they take on too much for them)

Yes. Defenders get the most benefit from Leadership powers, while tankers get the most benefit from the Fighting pool toggles.

Just to give you an idea of how powerful leadership powers can be when multiple people are running them, look at a team of blasters (who get the lowest values from them)

Blasters get a 10.5% buff (clarify please, working from memory here ) from Assault.

Multiply that by 8 and you end up with a team of damage dealers with a permanent 84% buff to all damage as long as all members of the team are in range.

While I see your point, how often are you going to go for more than 2 minutes before you hit something with Divine Avalanche again?

The first attack of the first fight of a given mission is the only one that won't have the bonus on it, and you can always pop a couple yellows if you really want that first attack to land.

For my BS/DA my slotting won't change, I need the defense bonus from Mako's too much to take it out of Parry. But for a /Regen that will probably be making use of at least one Crushing Impact set anyway for the recharge bonus? Maybe the Kismet in the 6th slot isn't definitively the best place for it, but it's not a bad place to put it either. I can't think of too many situations where having that IO slotted in DA or Parry would really hurt you.

Kind of my point actually.

Dark Regeneration can be used any time you have a target in range of it. So....you CAN use it in an AV or GM fight. Mine is slotted to give me a 812 HP heal from a single target, which is nearly half my health and a better heal than everything but Dull Pain (and it's many clones). AND it's available more often than anything except Healing Flames.

Stygian Circle becomes completely useless in AV and GM fights because there aren't any dead enemies to fuel it.

So, both heals can take you from .01 HP to full, but the fact that Dark Regen can be fueled by a single live target makes it more versatile than Stygian Circle, which requires dead targets.

I agree with most of this, except it occurs to me that in a build that will be using Divine Avalanche extensively to get melee defense, putting the Kismet in it actually does make sense.

The Kismet +6% Acc is a proc, when it is activated you get +6% To-Hit for 2 minutes. That proc will stack at least twice (you can confirm this by zoning in-game with the proc in a toggle power. I did, that's how I know it's true). I don't know if it will stack more than that, but I do know for an absolute fact that it will at least double stack. Putting it in a power that is used as often as Divine Avalanche will ensure that you will pretty much have it permanently double stacked.

I can't believe that never occurred to me before. Looking at it logically, Divine Avalanche is actually the BEST place to put that IO, because it is the only place in this build that will consistently double stack it. And if it WILL stack more than twice......every time you hit with Divine Avalanche you're getting 6% to-hit on top of the defense from it, and you can use Divine Avalanche a LOT of times in 2 minutes (I kind of doubt it will stack more than 2 or 3 times though, the devs probably already saw that loophole and closed it)

With that revelation, my slotting for DA would be 5 Crushing Impact and the Kismet proc.

Irony:

It took an atrocious build to point out something we've ALL been doing wrong all this time

How so? It's not like you were locked into Archery before those sets were proliferated. You could be Trick Arrow/Ice or Trick Arrow/Sonic before then. The main reason people paired it with Archery was to lessen the amount of redraw they had to deal with.

Yes, Shield Melee/Invulnerability WOULD be ridiculous. You smack someone with a shield and then you just let them hit you back?

You carry around this thing designed to protect you from harm and only use it as a weapon? That's like hitting someone with a football helmet instead of putting it on your head. It makes no sense at all.

I can explain Trick Arrow/Assault Rifle or Dual Pistols pretty easily. Any of the Trick Arrows could just as easily be a grenade. If you put that grenade on a stick you can shoot it with a bow farther than you could throw it. It makes logical sense that you could use a tool to give a thrown object more range. In this case the bow is less an offensive weapon and more a delivery system. It makes much less sense to use an object designed to protect you as a weapon and completely ignore it's intended purpose.

But doesn't Stygian Circle require DEAD enemies?

And here OP, I just did a build for a guy that was asking about the same powerset combo, so I'll give it to you too.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.704
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dual Blades
Secondary Power Set: Dark Armor
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Power Slice -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46)
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam(5), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(13)
Level 2: Ablating Strike -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46)
Level 4: Murky Cloud -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam(5), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(13)
Level 6: Typhoon's Edge -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(7), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(7), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(34), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 8: Blinding Feint -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(9), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(9), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46)
Level 10: Obsidian Shield -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam(11), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 12: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(15)
Level 16: Dark Regeneration -- Theft-+End%(A), Theft-Acc/EndRdx/Heal(17), Theft-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Theft-Acc/Heal(37), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx(50)
Level 18: Vengeful Slice -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(19), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(19), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(21), P'Shift-End%(37)
Level 22: Cloak of Darkness -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(23), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(23), LkGmblr-Rchg+(37)
Level 24: Death Shroud -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(25), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(25), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31)
Level 26: Sweeping Strike -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(27), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(27), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(48), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 28: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 30: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 32: One Thousand Cuts -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(33), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(33), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(34), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(34)
Level 35: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36), LkGmblr-Rchg+(36)
Level 38: Oppressive Gloom -- Stgr-Acc/EndRdx(A), Stgr-EndRdx/Stun(39), Stgr-Stun/Rng(43)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), EndMod-I(45), P'Shift-EndMod(45), P'Shift-End%(45)
Level 47: Combat Jumping -- Krma-ResKB(A)
Level 49: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-ResKB(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 6: Ninja Run

Because a shield is a defensive implement first and foremost.

"Axes and other weapons that make repetitive attacks" explains itself in the sentence.

They are WEAPONS. A shield is not a weapon. Some cultures had offensive uses for it, but the reason they carried them in the first place was to protect themselves from attack.

I'm sorry if you disagree with my opinion, but carrying a shield just to hit people with and not using it to protect yourself is just plain stupid.

The devs placing Shield Offense in the same category as Dual Archery and Assault Rifle Defense would seem to indicate that they agree with me.

I would actually consider a respec to take it earlier so you have it for lower level TFs and such.

With SSK and keeping powers 5 levels higher a Dark Armor scrapper gets to keep Dark Regen on Positron, which is a HUGE help.