FourSpeed

I'd certainly consider this to be in the "It's possible" category myself.

The guide I wrote way back when was 10M by Level 6. It was pretty easy.

If you're on a 30 min clock, and you skip the tutorial, you'll be starting
completely from scratch, so the initial startup is really the tricky part.

Speculating here, I'd guess you probably have to do a mission (for startup
capital), or at least a few kills.

At that point, you can typically buy a handful of SO's on the cheap (<100 each),
and from there, flip some salvage or recipes.


GL,
4

There are a number of good duos...

In addition to the pairs Dispari mentioned, some combos mesh well together.

BLUE

Blaster and Rad Defender - debuffs really help mitigate dmg and speed "arresting")
Blaster and Controller - Holds (and Pets)are great mitigation. Pets speed the battles)

Two Kheldians (either flavor) - Lots of damage and tools for the job.


RED

Two Widows - Overlapping defenses and more than enough DPS

Brutes & Corruptors - Damage, Buffs and Debuffs... (Edit: Ewpsie - Dispari covered this one )

Two Stalkers - Excellent first shot spikes and 2 Placates are better than one


The biggest key in my experience is to each play AT's that you like in
terms of playstyle. Typically, you can find synergies in most cases.


Regards,
4

@Fulmens

As an FYI, the links in your "Market" section mini-guide aren't working for me.
I'm guessing they may have gotten dinged in the forum switchover.

I'm not sure which posts "there", "plenty", "those" and "already" should point
to, or I'd update the links here - sorry.


Regards,
4

I wasn't able to join the Fire/Rad gala last night. Mondays are actually the
one night each week where I team with a friend of mine (the guy who conned
me into this game's beta way back when).

That said, I'm slowly chipping away with "Crimmie Crisper" solo when I get
the chance (along with my stalker on the VG side).

Currently, I'm around L8 or L9 on the toon. It's a pretty slow solo-er, so thank
goodness for Vet powers as those are about the only things that do real damage.
I've been spoiled with Stalkers, Blasters, and Khelds (which rock) at the
low levels comparatively.

That said, I'm looking forward to some teaming and tf's with the toon when
the chance arises...

Feel free to give me a shout if anything's going on other nights.


Cheers,
4


PS> The last time I ran a tf was back in I-4 days, so this should be amusing.

Well, I'd have done things somewhat differently, but it's your build,
so have at it.

That said, I'd really change the slotting on your AS - There's lots of
ways to go, but a simple starting point would be to throw in 4
Crushing Impacts (A/D, D/E, and the two triples) plus a Touch of Death
A/D and the % chance for Neg energy damage proc.

That gives you these numbers (with L30 IOs in there):
Acc: 60.90% Dmg: 95.01 (with ED) End: 39.15% Rch: 34.80%
in additon, you also get these bonuses.
~5% Mez resist, 1.13% more HP, and 7% Acc across the board.

I'd also tweak your Sha Heal... I'd toss in Heal/Recharge and a Heal from
Harmonized Healing, and the same from Miracle, keep one Rech Reduction
and put that 6th slot somewhere more useful.
That will cost you 3s in cast recharge (which won't matter in practical use)
and it will gain you 4% End Recovery boost and a slot you can put elsewhere.

Those two powers, at least to me, stood out.

The accuracy on Lunge is a bit low for my tastes, but given the Acc bonuses
in Impale, Ripper, and AS (if you go that route), it'll probably be ok...


Happy Hunting,
4

Funny you should mention Sun Tsu - I'm *sure* he was a Blaster based on
his approach to tactics... Musashi (of 5 Rings fame) thinks more like a
Stalker imho, but there is a LOT of synergy between a Stalker and a Blaster
in terms of tactics and mindset...

If you take some of their lessons to heart for your blaster, I'm sure you'll
be a lot more successful with him - ie. Pick your fights, manage the battle,
and remember that dead guys are the least dangerous and you'll be well
on your way to having fun with your blaster imho.

Since you're mentioning names, Kalinda was one I skipped. If I recall, I
was on a rescue mission, and she was in the way (thought she conned
as an EB to me, but it's nbd), so I dropped a Shivan on her to give her
something to do and I moseyed on by her...

I did enjoy the arcs - especially the stories. It was kinda fun dragging my
Blaster out of the market for a couple hours.

Thanks for your effort in putting them together.

GL & Happy Hunting,
4

-- Follow-Up --

Just as an FYI, I ran through both of your arcs with my L50 E3 blaster.

While I realize he's a different animal than the blaster you're running, I'm fairly
comfortable that "Blaster Thinking" can/will get you through the missions with
relative safety.

First, my E3 is more Single Target oriented with more than a handful of
"pocket Controller" holds. He is slotted with IOs and Frankenslotted sets,
but has no purples or HO's in his build. He's mostly a simple, old school Elec/Elec
(He was also my namesake character & very first toon in CoH beta).
He does have stealth, so he does get the first shot advantage most times.

Typically, my tactics for this guy usually revolve around aggro management.
He's a flyer, so where applicable, I followed the tried and true DFA (Death from Above)
approach to opening fights.

I played on standard difficulty settings, and in general, I opened with a max
Snipe (Aim -> BU -> Zapp) to take out a minion or with -> LB tacked on to take out
a Lt. The next two minions were typically held with Shocking Bolt and Tesla
Cage. Then, I'd finish them off at leisure (relatively speaking)

For Bosses, I dealt with any minions as above (Stealth + Range is a Good Thing).
By that time, it's me and the Boss, and he gets held with TC/SB, and if needed,
Shocking Grasp. I'm an E3 Blaster, so at that point, I drain him with Short
Circuit and Power Sink... From here on out, it's just a case of reapplying
holds and drains as necessary while shooting him to death.

EB's. As mentioned previously - I'm not proud ... I'm practical... In a couple
cases, killing the EB wasn't a requirement, so I bypassed them entirely...

In a couple more cases, "help" was available in the mission, and I made use
of that - they make good aggro magnets...

Finally, since the EB's conned Orange+ to me, I dropped a Shivan on their butt.
If there were minions and whatnot around, I uncorked my Nuke, popped a
CaB or two, and then did Power Sink to be back in the fight. Typically, the
Shivan keeps aggro, and I can fire damage and drains to win after that.

If necessary, chiclets were popped.

How did it go?

In each arc, I died once... I'll go over it generically (so as not to ruin the
stories for anybody else since they were quite interesting and I recommend running them).

Your first arc - the WWII story.

I died in the very first mission - purely my own rust and stupidity. I hadn't
run anything interesting on my E3 in months, so I was a bit slow on the
controls... Couple that with the stupidity of not seeing/noticing the very
first Boss, and DOH! Hospital trip... That one was on me...

The rest of it was pretty straightforward. The tactics above worked well.


2nd Arc - Your Dire/Recluse story.

You went more than a little EB crazy on this one, didn't you???

This arc went fine, and in fact, I was careful when it came to Scorpion time.
As it happens, he was a piece of cake - I had some "help" and a Shivan.
I don't think he even laid a glove on me...

In the last mission, Dire himself was a serious nasty... I had him a few millimeters
from defeat, but got outdone by the "horde" Drats!

That's the bad news - the really Good news was that occurred solo - I didn't
realize at that point that "help" was available ... DOH! Picking up my ally
turned it into a rout, and the rest of the mission went equally smoothly.

The keys for me were:

A> Remembering how to play the toon in the first place

B> Managing aggro

C> Making use of whatever "helpers" you can bring as front-line cannon fodder
for the nasties to beat on while you go about killing them...


In short - Standard Blaster Tactics ...


Fun Stuff - I hope you find equal success when you revisit the arcs.


Regards,
4

Some good advice in the thread already.

I'm curious about your arc and might try it with my E3 Blaster - I'll give feedback
if I do.

As others have mentioned, EB's and stronger can be pretty nasty since you
typically have neither the Def or the HP to go toe-2-toe with them.

Of course, as a devout follower of the 3B school of blasting, I agree with
the others about bringing and chewing as much candy as necessary, and
since I am a b*stard, I'm not the least bit shy about popping a Shivan on
his *ss, and or making the occasional strategic retreat (only to circle around
and nail him again when he least suspects it) whenever appropriate.

Typically the "mindset" of Scrappers and Tankers is to be all Manly and
Studly so they can boast how leet they are by dealing with a foe by
whatever arbitrary "rules" are in vogue that week (this is kidding, folks)

I, personally see us Blaster types as above the bloodlust of pure SMASH,
relying instead, on a more cerebral mix of tactics, guile and chicanery to
remove said foes....


GL and Cheers,
4

Interesting problem...

It highlights the reason(s) I'm a solo player.

1> I don't have to assess and evaluate everyone's builds

2> I don't have to lead the team

3> I don't have to deal with situations where poor builds, poor decisions,
and inexperience end up getting *me* killed...


I know that sounds weird in an MMO, but my playstyle is such that I hate
dying more than I enjoy killing, so if I die in a game, as annoying as that
would be to me, I also know that it was my own fault as a soloist and I
need to adjust/improve my approach for that situation...


If I absolutely had to be involved in that team, then I'd insist on some
level of timing... My E3 blaster would take out or cage the most dangerous
non-boss in co-ordination with the Stormy's FR / Hurricane, and the Tank
sharing aggro at that point. As a ranged Blaster, I'd then assess effectiveness
of the opening salvo and adjust from there.

That said, I'm 99% certain that the scenario doesn't occur for me.


Cheers,
4

All the hormones aside I'm gonna comment on the original "budget"
topic.

First and foremost I'd think about these points:

1> PvP is a knowledge-based skill proposition. By this, I mean simply:
Player > Build... I know guys that are viciously effective with nothing
more than SO's, and a few that can't fight their way out of a paper bag
with signs pointing to the exit. I've been surprised in some of those latter
cases to Info their build and see Accolades and "Ultimate" bonuses listed in
some of them. Go Figure.

2> That said, Build can matter and impact your success. In general, a
great build (read expensive) is more forgiving of your mistakes and will
also typically give you more survival/win options than a build with just SO's.

Personally, cheaper builds, to some degree, teach you how to play better,
although it is definitely the School of Hard Knocks diploma you'll be earning
if you go that route. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

3> Who are you? How do you play? Do you care if you get killed, or would
you avoid PvP entirely if you get killed? I can guarantee you two things in
PvP: 1> You *will* get killed 2> Unless you're a complete tardaloo, you
*will* get some kills too... No matter what you build.

How you want that ratio to go, should be a big factor in what you build
and how expensive you want to go with it considering points 2 & 3.

With SO's, you can literally build on a bare-bones, shoestring budget of 10
million or so. Decent sets, a few Procs (Kismet, Karma, Stealth etc.), and
a fully IO'd build (even if some are Commons) will run roughly 100-500 million
depending on what you're building. Purples, PvP sets, along with all the
bells and whistles can set you back 1-5 Billion or more.

The final thought I'll leave you with: It isn't the price of the build that dictates
your success or failure in PvP. It's what you learn and how you apply it.

However, your build will have a bearing on how easy/hard it is to gain that
knowledge and typically, how many hospital trips it takes to get to a ratio
you're happy with.

GL & Happy Hunting.


4


PS> While you can go ultra expensive on any build, Stalkers, Blasters, and Corrs
are a few that you can go pretty cheap on and still be effective... Doms, Trollers,
less so.

I'm in this camp too.

I wouldn't even consider making an Elec/Elec without Short Circuit, Power Sink,
and Tesla Cage and either Shocking Grasp (or Shocking Bolt if you go E3).

Early, SC can be slotted for decent damage and works well with Ball Lightning.

Later, it and Power Sink are a beautiful thing to behold for End Drain.

In the middle and thereafter, Tesla Cage is fabulous - By itself, nicely slotted,
it will keep a LT or less out of the entire fight. In conjunction with Shocking Grasp/Bolt,
it can lock down a Boss.

For me, Blasters are an exercise in aggro management. Sequence holding
the foes is a tactical blessing that Electrical Blasters excel at, and that's
not even considering the fun that is Drain (once you can make it work
consistently).


Regards,
4


PS> I too never once gave the Fighting Pool an instant's thought for my E3.

As a fellow Elec/Elec, I'm totally with Circuit Boy on his approach.

ZappKill a minion (don't even care all that much for which one), Cage the
Sorc and deal with the other...

Depending on whether I'm feeling adventurous, and what the particulars of
the scenario are (range, terain, stealth etc.), I might Zapp and LB the Sorc
first, then cage 1 minion and kill the other - and finally finish the last one.

That way, you avoid that boring finger-nail filing while waiting to kill the
Sorc that tp'd away while getting caged...

In scenario number 2, I take the Morti... I hate 'em with a passion so they
go first... The cadaver I can avoid... additionally, I'd have either Charged
Brawl or Havoc Punch, so there's the possibility that a hit sleeps the
Cadaver if he does get too close. As for the Eidolan, pop a luck and keep
at him from range...

Because I don't have Zapp or Cage, popping the Luck inspie is probably
item number one in that scenario before taking the Mort down.


Regards,
4

That's a very interesting idea.

However, I'd think since you're talking about a "what if" kind of program
to consider the "if" part to be any number of attributes.

ie.

Given these power choices, how could I slot them to maximise:

defense (as you've suggested) OR
resistance OR
recharge OR
Dmg/Sec, OR
Dmg/End

etc.

I'm not certain how you'd do it within Mid's, but I should think, given a
finite list of powers, slots and items that could be placed, some code
could be written that would find maxima in whatever categories the
user specified...

I'll be fascinated to see it when you get done writing it


Cheers,
4