Miladys_Knight

I think that if it doesn't happen the Rogue Islands will be mostly abandonded by the player base. Only the hardcore villian only folks will remain there long term.

[ QUOTE ]
Sonic primary, pick a secondary. Joust like mad to get from cone range to pbaoe/melee range and back again.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't you spend so much of your time jousting that you aren't dealing as much damage as you might otherwise be doing.

Thanks

Eh, I did it on my FF/dark/dark on my first attempt. It took me 30 minutes. This was prior to the toggle drop changes but I never thought it was all that big a deal. Much easier now that toggles don't drop.

My main is an energy/energy/force blapper. I use the AoE KBs in the primary for control and then wail away on the stuff that's still in my face.

Fire/energy or fire/elec is a good solid blapper combo. Lots of damage it's a kill them before they kill you build though or takes some IOs to give some mitigation to allow you to last long enough to deliver all your damage against tougher foes.

Ice/elec or Ice/energy is a nice solid blapper build too. Decent control in the primary with blaps to take the slowed/held stuff out. Blizzard + Power sink is really fun.

Elec/energy is a good Sapper Blapper combo. It comes into it's own once you get Power Boost and can drain all the end out of a spawn with Short circuit + Ball lightning.

What would fix the blaster AT for most "new to blaster" players and folks that don't wish to rely on insps and positional awareness are things the devs simply aren't going to do.

The entire defiance mechanic could have been entirely negated by either doing the dominator trick with domination (ie: making defiance a click power that could be used while mezzed and provided mez protection) or by making the blaster a "boss mob" with mag 4 mez protection. Both of these things were discussed in the closed beta of I11 and both of them were rejected by the devs and most of the testers. The testers didn't want another click and the devs didn't want to duplicate domination.

Mag 4 mez protection was discarded as being too powerful.

As far as the other solution goes, that would be to redesign the blaster as an AT. Most blasters survive pretty well once they hit the 40s and pick up their epic powers but this is the very end of their leveling career rather than the middle part like most other ATs.

The solution would be to move powers that are in some of the secondaries into epics and move the epics into the secondaries where they probably "should" have been all along.

Since this is, in essence, creating a new AT the devs would be more likely to create a new AT with these characteristics and leave blasters as is.

Other than a few tweaks here and there I don't see the devs changing much more for blasters any time soon if at all.

Edit - and I'm not at all certain that any other changes are really needed. A blaster in competent hands is a sight to behold. There are more than enough tools in game to make blasters awesome.

[ QUOTE ]
I've had it happen to me a couple of times. I've always been able to solve it by moving my power room. It seems that sometimes it just looses its connection to the rest of the base, and moving it attaches the power connections to the base. *shrugs*

Don't know if it will help you, but it always seems to work for me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sometimes you can solve the problem by just deleteing and replacing the power unit. You won't want to do this, however, if the power unit is a crafted one like a Dimesional Vortex.

This is my pre-purple build for my Fire/TA/Ice.

With Smoke and Flash arrow stacked on top of my other defenses I run 43% defense to Smashing and Lethal and 28% to Ranged and AoE. That's more than enough to bounce the majority of any alpha strike.

Hasten isn't quite perma. Flashfires is usually up each mob but on occasion it's not and that's when I lead off with cinders. I tend to keep EMP Arrow in reserve for either tough fights or as a panic button.

After the opening mez I use Fire Cages to keep the spawn from wandering. I then throw in Ice arrow followed by char on the boss. Then I follow up with Disruption arrow, move into Hot Feet range and then Oil Slick arrow if it is recharged. Fire cages again to hold the spawn, ignites Oil Slick, and then bonfire into the center of the spawn.

I then concentrate on the boss using Ice arrow to maintain containment, Acid Arrow for seasoning, Char for ST damage, and Fire Cages to keep the spawn where it is until it's all burnt up. Imps, Hot Feet and Char finish off the boss.

Glue Arrow gives no containment and does no damage. I don't need the slow since Hot Feet does better at that and the afraid and slow components in Hot Feet will keep a boss off me until I have him controlled. I also have tools available to control multiple bosses when needed.

PGA does no damage and doesn't set containment either. The 20% damage debuff is only useful against EBs and AVs. Everything else is controlled or dies so quickly that the damage debuff is superflous and against Cimeroran EBs I can eventually get them locked down using both Char and Ice Arrow. AVs that are downgraded to EBs are a different story but I'm not basing my build around a single type of mob that I will run up against only rarely.

If I had room in the build for it I'd take Ring of Fire for another ST damage power to use on bosses but I get by with Sands and Nem Staff until I hit level 32 and get the imps.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Fire TA: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Fire Control
Secondary Power Set: Trick Arrow
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Char -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(42), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Lock-%Hold(43)
Level 1: Entangling Arrow -- HO:Endo(A)
Level 2: Fire Cages -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(3), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(3), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(40), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(42), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(42)
Level 4: Flash Arrow -- Cloud-ToHitDeb(A), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb(40)
Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(7), RechRdx-I(7)
Level 8: Hot Feet -- P'ngTtl-Acc/EndRdx(A), P'ngTtl-Dmg/Slow(9), TmpRdns-Dmg/Slow(9), TmpRdns-Acc/EndRdx(11), CtlSpd-Acc/EndRdx(11), CtlSpd-Dmg/Slow(40)
Level 10: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 12: Flashfire -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(13), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(13), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(17), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(37)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(15), Zephyr-ResKB(15)
Level 16: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(17)
Level 18: Cinders -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(19), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(19), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(34)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), P'Shift-EndMod(21), P'Shift-End%(21)
Level 22: Acid Arrow -- ShldBrk-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(A), ShldBrk-Acc/DefDeb(23), ShldBrk-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(23), ShldBrk-Acc/Rchg(34), ShldBrk-%Dam(50), Achilles-ResDeb%(50)
Level 24: Ice Arrow -- BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(A), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(25), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(25), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(34)
Level 26: Bonfire -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(27), Posi-Dmg/Rng(29), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29)
Level 28: Disruption Arrow -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 30: Smoke -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg(31), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(31), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(31)
Level 32: Fire Imps -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(A), BldM'dt-Dmg/EndRdx(33), BldM'dt-Acc/EndRdx(33), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), BldM'dt-Acc(46), BldM'dt-Dmg(46)
Level 35: Oil Slick Arrow -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(36), Posi-Dmg/Rng(36), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), Achilles-ResDeb%(37)
Level 38: EMP Arrow -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(39), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(39), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39)
Level 41: Hibernate -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Frozen Armor -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(45), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(45), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 47: Frost Breath -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Dmg/Rng(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment



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QR

Got a Numina's End/Rech today on a lowbie ITF (level 37)

Ice arrow is a ST hold. I wouldn't give it up as it is up much more often than your AoE controls.

You don't need PGA for the very reason you site for skipping Ice Arrow. The mobs will be awoken immediately from one of your AoEs and the -damage is wasted on a mob that is stunned or held. PGA does nothing to help with containment either.

For a controller the PGA is only going to be useful on things that resist holds and stuns like EBs and AVs (its different with a Defender that has no AoE hard controls)

Same deal with glue arrow the -rech in glue is minor and the slow is negated by fire cages. Glue doesn't assist with containment either.

[ QUOTE ]
There seems to be a majority of agreement

And if you say things like
1) inspirations ftw
2) build with IOs
3) lower your difficulty
then you are in agreement

So where do we go from here?

I doubt raising damage will help- there are already some monster builds out there
Adding defensive powers would take away from the original intent of the design
Changing pool power values seems to be a good idea to expand upon
There was quite a bit of dialogue already about the inherent leading to the change, and while attacking when mezzed helped immeasurably, the damage bonus is lacking (what I meant when I said I wouldn't miss it)

Be nice to see some more positive input

[/ QUOTE ]

You also can't make your comparisons in the dark. Who is playing these other ATs you mention? My Energy/Energy/Force blapper out performs and out survives most of the people I team with except for a few stone tanks. That blaster has a full set of IOs (none of which add defense or resistance) but do the rest of the players? What is their experience level?

When defiance 2.0 was getting tested several of the things you bring up were mentioned. The biggest blaster killer was determined to be mez. The devs "cured" this by allowing the blaster to use 3 attacks while mezzed.

Inspirations are called blaster candy for good reason. One of the other things sited by the players in defiance 2.0 testing was a blaster's defense is the inspiration tray but we never had the right mix of insps dropping. Shortly after the release of I11 we got combining 3 like insps to make a different one. I don't think that was for tanks or scrappers do you? It did spill over onto the other ATs but "most" of my other non-blaster toons rarely need to use insps.

No toggle drop on mez was also mainly for the blaster (and because Castle hated toggle drops but hadn't found the code to prevent them prior to that) blasters that spent their time defeated or retoggling couldn't do their jobs properly which was dealing damage. Another change mainly for blasters that spilled over onto other ATs.

The last round of debt nerfs probably was another thing to solve blaster problems since the goal of defiance 2.0 was to allow blasters to accumulate rewards as fast as other ATs, not to make them less squishy. The one thing the devs didn't do was make them any less squishy and I believe that was one of their goals with the changes they did make.

XP smoothing was also probably a blaster buff that spilled over onto other ATs as well.

The devs went where they did because they thought that more would be overpowered and, except for a bit here or there, they would be. Once you learn positional awareness on a blaster if you translate that to any other AT you are vastly overperforming compared to say a leroy scrapper.

A blaster's defense is positional awareness and not standing still. When that fails it time to use blaster candy. Use a skittle (or more) every mob you'll be doing enough AoE damage that your tray will fill right back up.

If you play your fire/fire as a pre-emptive ADHD like I play mine your tray will always be about 1/2 empty but you will have as many as 15 active insp icons. My personal record is 22 and just constantly be steam rolling the mobs.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
of course, by nerf you mean bug fix...

and it still works just fine, I keep it up just as often as I did before.

[/ QUOTE ]

By nerf I mean going overboard the other direction, which is pretty typical of our devs when they are applying "bug fixes."

The numbers "say" that it should be cost effective but in actual practice when you look at combat logs, it isn't.

[/ QUOTE ]

the devs did exactly what they initially intended it to do, a chance to proc, but up no more than 50% of the time.

considering the benefit it provides, I don't see anything wrong with this, as I can still have it up 45-50% of the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is exactly why I said what I said prior to your post. The numbers don't say 45-50% and it works out to be quite a bit lower than that.

[ QUOTE ]
Hello all!

I've been looking thru the boards, but haven't seen this combination discussed really. Looking at the powersets, I'm thinking they look like they'd be good together.

Anyone tried this/ have any opinions about it?
Any suggestions for powers to take or not take in these sets (especially together), or ideas about Pools or Anscillary powers?

Thanks very much for the input!


[/ QUOTE ]

As always it depends on what you plan to do.

Solo? Team? Single target focus? AoE focus?

Narrowing the parameters down is always helpful.

[ QUOTE ]
of course, by nerf you mean bug fix...

and it still works just fine, I keep it up just as often as I did before.

[/ QUOTE ]

By nerf I mean going overboard the other direction, which is pretty typical of our devs when they are applying "bug fixes."

The numbers "say" that it should be cost effective but in actual practice when you look at combat logs, it isn't.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The nerf on the force feedback proc makes it not worth slotting at all. The only exception to that is if you are attempting to get the AoE defense from 6 slotting the set.

[/ QUOTE ]

keep telling people that so that I can buy them up nice and cheap.

[/ QUOTE ]

Go right ahead. There's a good reason they were expensive pre-nerf and are cheap post-nerf.

The nerf on the force feedback proc makes it not worth slotting at all. The only exception to that is if you are attempting to get the AoE defense from 6 slotting the set.

I agree with Luminara on everything except the won't be killing things fast part.

Take ring of fire. Slot it for damage.

Slot Char for damage.

Take Hot feet and slot it for accuracy and endurance reduction first then add damage and some slow in when you can. (Frakenslotting from slow sets works quite well for this).

Slot Fire cages for accuracy, end reduction and recharge. Immob duration isn't needed.

Slot Flashfires for Accuracy, Stun duration and Recharge.

Take Bonfire and use it as an attack. Fire cages gives -KB to the mobs for 10 seconds. As long as you refresh it every 10 seconds Bonfire won't throw the mobs aross the map. If you refresh it every 5 seconds only the mobs that you miss twice in a row will go sailing out of Bonfire.

If you want an idea of how well and how fast fire can do this even prior to imps check the photos in This Post .

That's a fire/storm but /TA gets disruption arrow which means that you wind up doing all most as much damage all most as fast. You are much safer as the defense provided by stacking Smoke and Flash Arrow reduces incoming damage and helps to prevent mez (which detoggles Hot Feet) by making more of them miss.

3 points of KB protection isn't quite enough for all the run of the mill KB you will encounter. If you dislike KB in general than Lightening Clap is where you will most likely want this set.

If you are a KBphile like my Energy/Elec is you'll want it in Energy Torrent, Explosive Blast, Lightening Clap, and Thunderstrike. Just because that toon likes the KB so much I picked up the fire epic and slotted it into Bonfire as well.

Earth/TA/Primal. Anyone that tells you something else is either doing so because they haven't played an Earth/TA or they have a particular bias or favortism of the other primary in question.

Slot it for damage. It's a short ranged targetted AoE with a 15 foot radius. It does 60% more damage than ring of fire or char.

It has a 50% chance of a mag 2 stun so it's not really worth slotting for stun. If you have a decent amount of global recharge and you have siphon speed stacked decently you should be able to easily double stack the stun durations with say 5 slotted Posi (all but the proc) and the 6th slot used for an acc/stun/rech.

You'll have about a 25% chance to stun a boss with 2 applications of Fissures and roughly 75% chance to stun a boss with flashfires and 2 applications of Fissures.

Those or Hamis depending on your budget.

A great deal depends on how you intend to play. Some powers are better solo than teamed.

IMO the best pairing with Sonic is /energy (Blaps, Boost range and Power Boost), /Ice (stacking sleep and slows), or /MM (Shockwave into a corner, Sirens, walk in and Drain Psyche with impunity).

Sonic/Elec can be a very KB heavy set depending on how you play it. You can actively use KB as mitigation by taking Shockwave, Lightening Clap, and Thunderstrike. These tools will allow you to keep a spawn on it's keester the entire fight.

Sirens is an excellent tool when solo or if you are teamed with players that know what they are doing when it comes to sleeps. One of my favorite tactics is shockwaving mobs into a corner (thus mitigating the Alpha Strike) and then following up with Sirens before they regain their feet. Lightening field will be bad in this case as it will wake up the mobs as soon as you close.

You won't get too much use out of power sink. Sonic's animation times are pretty longish. It's one of the primaries where it's fairly easy to get away with out having either hasten or stamina just because the animation times don't play well with recharge. Slotting too much recharge just means you have attacks sitting in your tray that are seldom used.

[ QUOTE ]
According to Mids, Rise of the Phoenix doesn't take accuracy enhancements. Yet, when I check City of Data, it appears to summon a pseudopet (the Phoenix) which does its attack at base accuracy. I'm not seeing anything that suggests that it's an autohit attack. So,

1. Is it, in fact, an autohit attack?
2. If it isn't, does slotting say, an Acc/Dam set IO help the Phoenix's accuracy?

[/ QUOTE ]

1) No.
2) Yes.

[ QUOTE ]
I dunno, I am squishy on my 39 warmace/shield brute and I run out of end very quickly even with a single end cost in every attack and toggle, without grant cover and NO pool toggles other than combat jumping.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well I had to switch my standard slotting a bit prior to frankenslotting. My BS attacks got 1 acc, 2 dam, 2 end, 1 rech. AAO made up enough for the loss of the 3rd damage SO that I was still comfortable with my pre-IO attack chain for damage and recharge.

I did as I always do though. Conserve end by lining up targets for slice, headsplitter, and sands to maximize DPE.

Mitigation was always the problem from level 1 until I had enough defense set bonuses slotted to compensate for shield's (too) low numbers.