Laevateinn

I just want to make the observation that while people who hate the market have occasionally changed their mind and decided that the market is fun (or at least useful), I don't remember anyone ever going the other way and suddenly decide that the market is evil and immoral after having enjoyed playing it.

The simple, no-numbers explanation is that slotting 1 even-level accuracy SO gives you 95% hitchance against even-con enemies.

Slotting 2 accuracy SOs gives you 93% hitchance against +2 enemies. Since when sidekicked you are at -1 to the mission level (i.e. enemies are +1 level to you), and the game randomly spawns enemies at up to +1 to the mission level (i.e. enemies that are +2 levels to you) it's wise to slot 2 accuracy IOs to take care of most situations. For anything more severe you have Aim and Build Up.

I wouldn't worry too much about these people. Karma has a way of biting them in the rear. A few months ago, on Virtue, there was a conversation in VU2009 where one person bragged about how he griefed a sewer team with his Grav/FF controller, by phasing enemies so they couldn't get any XP. He was obviously a villain player, and claimed that he "played blueside just to grief". He also said that Grav/FF was the "best griefing build". I one-starred him and made a note.

Some time later I noticed the griefer did not appear on VU2009 for a few days. A short while after he did come back, he was complaining how one of his characters (basically an Islamic terrorist) was genericed for being offensive. Apparently, not only was he petitioned and temp banned for harassment, someone had reported his character as offensive and got it genericed. Coincidence? Revenge? I don't know, but he got his just deserts.

Also, I would ignore that advice about standing there and taking it and even being nice to the griefer. Unless you derive some sort of masochistic enjoyment from being harassed and abused, just petition and walk away. It's not your duty to be a doormat. If they chose to go harass another player, let them; the more people report the griefer the stronger the case against him or her will be.

One thing I'd really like is a short-ranged "tactical" teleport. No animation time (this is the key thing), 4s or 2s recharge, about 50ft range.

An "intercept" attack for flyers. Teleports you to the target, inflicts ST smashing damage and -Fly, can only be used while flying. This is what Air Superiority ought to be.

Ninja run as a slottable pool power.

I don't think 6-slotting Gaussian's on a ranged defense softcapped squishie is worth it. 6 slots of a set with lackluster recharge enhancement values is not worth 2.5% defense. Ever. It's a different story on melees who need to softcap all three positional defenses.

Direct merit purchases typically don't go through the market at all - so the effect will be minimal.

The dev team has wisely reduced the merit income from this year's event compared to last year's rampant WL farming. Considering you usually need two teams with some debuffage to kill Lord Winter and that fewer people will be doing the event as interest fades, I think it's safe to say there won't be any noticeable effect.

Where are people getting this notion that characters at 50 have reached the end of their careers and need to be retired? Characters are only ready to play after they're level 50, accoladed out and have a build complete with purples and PvP IOs. Getting there is just the trial period.

Lord Recluse = Super Hikikomori

He's definitely Japanese.

Blasters are high damage in general, but other ATs outdo them in a variety of scenarios. Stalkers can potentially output more burst single-target damage. Most Mastermings, Corruptors, Controllers and Defenders fare better against single hard targets because -Regen and -Resistance debuffs effectively grant them more damage. Some Scrapper, Brute, Tanker and Controller combinations can output more AoE damage (Scrapper - and I assume Tanker/Brutes too - APP blasts use their 1.125 melee modifer, which helps).

On paper, Defenders and other support classes contribute vastly more damage than "proper" DPS classes. In practice, the difference in offensive power between a team heavy in damage dealers and a team heavy in support ATs isn't all that significant and a lot less than the hypothetical numbers suggest (however, the latter tends to be much safer). Enemy HP is low enough that any team with enough Blasters on it is going to wipe out all the minions and Lts. in the opening AoE volley, whether or not there are any buffs or debuffs around, hence the debuffs only contribute to bosses and other hard targets, which are a smaller proportion of enemies in total.

Use LotG 7.5. Numina is especially bad - 250 merits and the crafted enhancement barely sells for 80m.

Blasters don't always have enough mitigation to go toe to toe with this sort of enemy, since they are resistant to most soft controls (and mez, if they have AV purple triangles as well), and resilient enough that it's hard to just kill them before they kill you. You depend on inspirations, your APP shield/godmode, immobilization + keeping them at range, temp powers, invention set bonuses and teammates. Mostly inspirations.

Honestly? At the risk of sounding snarky, my advice would be to just give up. Only Arachnos Soldiers really have good ranged damage and defense built-in, but they're not concept-friendly. With set bonuses, pool powers and an APP you can make a Blaster that's very tough (Blasters have soloed archvillains before). But this presumes a willingness to use the invention system, the ability to design and fund an effective build, and an acceptance of any compromises between concept and mechanical build goals. Even so you are back to square one if you meet enemies that ignore or debuff defense, or lose access to your set bonuses and mitigation powers through exemplaring. You may be better off just accepting that your concept isn't one that you can effectively represent in the game.

Incidentally, I tried your AE arc with my Blaster. Black Scorpion spawned as a +1 EB. I ate a medium purple and killed him; he never landed a scratch on me. I had GW as an ally by the time I got to him, though.

I'm looking for the following:

Lv10 Shield Breaker: Acc/End/Rech x3
Lv10 Shield Breaker: Chance for Lethal Damage x3

I'll pay you 150m for each recipe. This is on Virtue, blueside, but I have market bids up in case you are on another server.

I would consider a 5m/sale niche, especially redside, where I don't have as many resources to draw on. But the volume would have to be high to make it worth it - at least 10 per day - and the capital investment would have to be low (i.e. I'm not bothering with 5m profit on a 30m recipe).

Okay, I was misinterpreting your post. Sorry.

High market prices are good. They make IOs - especially top-tier IOs like purples and PvPIOs - less accessible to players and encourage playing a variety of content to earn Merits and AE tickets in order to afford stuff. They create a long-term goal for characters who are already at level 50, instead of leaving players with nothing to do except making hordes of no-name, throwaway characters. They provide entertainment in the form of whining and ranting by those unable to afford these prices, or who think they are unfair. Actually, the only downside I can think of to high prices is the influence cap. I'm always worried I'll misclick something while shuffling money around in bids to get exactly 2bn so I can buy that Gladiator's +3 def.

Don't 6-slot Apocalaypse; the 6th piece bonus isn't of much use. 5-slot it (all but the Dam: Superior) and use the 6th slot to round out the accuracy, endurance and recharge.

I'm not sure why you 5-slotted Devastation since the 5th piece bonus isn't useful. Consider 4 Devastation/2 Thunderstrike (for the recovery bonus) instead, or 5 Decimations (HP and recharge bonus).

Put an LotG +7.5 recharge in Combat Jumping if you can afford it instead.

Ranged shot doesn't need to be 6-slotted. You can take out the proc - it won't fire often since this is not a frequently used attack.

Rain of Arrows is badly overslotted for damage/accuracy. Note that like all Blaster nukes it has abnormally high base accuracy, so you can skimp on accuracy slotting. You also need a ton more recharge in it; it is your best AoE attack and the best of all Blaster nukes so you want it available as often as possible. I would slot it 5 Positron's Blast (all but the Acc/Dam) and 1 Lv50 Recharge common IO. Consider buying 5 Ragnaroks (all but the proc) if you can as a long-term upgrade, since it's pretty much superior in very way.

I'd change your frozen armor slotting to 5 Red Fortunes/1 LotG 7.5. You lose the regen bonus (which doesn't benefit you much) and gain 5% recharge bonus.

Hibernate doesn't need any slotting; I'd put just 1 recharge in it.

I'd try to pull some slots from elsewhere to 3-slot Hasten with recharges if at all possible, even if it costs you recharge bonuses elsewhere. You're already close to a perma-hasten build (176% global recharge with 3-slotted Hasten), so I'd shoot for that.

If you have endurance problems consider a Performance Shifter proc in Stamina, as well as Miracle and Numina's uniques in Health.

Your experience mirrors mine when I started playing about a year ago. PuGs were really hit-or-miss, with little in the way of tactics except for bullrushing and pulling, and a bad wipe or two would disband the team.

All I can say is that things will change for the better as you get higher in level. Low level teams don't always work well since people are still getting used to their characters, or simply may not be very experienced players. It's doubly worse for you since Tanks do not mature until fairly late in their progression, around the thirties. So there isn't much you can do for your team (or for yourself if your team fails to support you) until then.

Finally, don't be discouraged by a few deaths. Death in this game is a slap on the wrist at worst. As long as the team doesn't wipe, the occasional defeat doesn't mean anything.

/unbind f6