Stealth_Bomber
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Posts
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Joined
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This combination is great in lower levels. You can go to Boomtown in your teens and use your PBAoEs to great effect and basically self-PL. That is really fun.
The problem is that a PBAoE attack chain becomes somewhat less effective in higher levels when your alpha strike can't take out some groups quickly enough. Some would try to build for S/L capped or melee Defense but that is a bit expensive.
My personal view was that if you really love the combo and the PBAoE approach, you can make it work, but it was not worth the effort IMHO. I just didn't like it enough, I guess. -
First, to the guy that wrote the definitive Ice/Eng guide and made MANY Blasters much more effective: welcome back!
Second, you will have to pick up the GR expansion to change sides, but its fun to do it.
Third, so much has changed since ED came out it will take you a while to take it all in. Make the trip to Faultline... remember when it was a ghost town you had to kill 10 Vahz in and never see again? Not any more. Positron's TF is now actually fun. Your Level 50 actually has much more to do than just transfer Influence to your lower level toons. Were Croatoa or Striga or the Rikti War Zone even active when you left? They are very different now.
Fitness is inherent now. It is possible for Blasters to get capped Range defense although it takes a LOT of effort.
Again welcome back, looking forward to seeing you on the Blaster boards BD! -
The new Mac Minis are released with no optical drive. Apple suggests you use the same approach that the Airs do. That's fine for making a notebook you carry around lighter, but I think it's strange for a desktop. At any rate, the new minis get a graphics update, and that can only be good for running CoH.
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A rose by any other name... Something like that!
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Quote:Was that before or after Snape was frozen in carbonite?Originally Posted by Coin
Oh totally, there was a scene on a long balcony bit, my fave line "No Harry.....*I* am your father!!"
Ok, I'm kidding
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Quote:Ok, then I want a zipline like Bats or Spidey. I don't care if it doesn't attach to anything in half the zones, I still want it!Originally Posted by Zombie Man
While that would be great if it was, it's also likely it's another travel power like Slide or Beast Run.
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Wishing I21 was already active. Want the VIP Priority Queue for stuff like this.
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Quote:Are you sure? That would imply that Energy Resistance would give resistance to Def Debuffs.Originally Posted by Beelzy
Just a note. -ToHit is not equivalent to defense.
At lower levels yes, but at higher levels you have to multiply by the resistance modifier...
Therefore, a boss with 30% dark resistance would see 10% -ToHit as 7% -ToHit -
There is a chance that this "blapper" set may be better than anything Blasters have had in the past, mainly due to the -ToHit in combination with Defense available. According to Arcanaville, -ToHit is essentially equal to +Defense, in other words 10% To Hit Debuff is essentially the same as 10% Defense.
And this would be non-positional, in that -ToHit applies whether the attack is Ranged, Melee or AoE. Based on the Night Fall power, I would assume that Blaster -ToHit will be 5% per attack. -ToHit is also protective against mez attacks landing, regardless of whether they are ranged or melee.
So, if you can layer a few -ToHit effects from range and have some baseline "all-position" Defense from Weave, Maneuvers, and a travel prereq power, melee range might be more survivable. And many of these attacks will have -ToHit as well, so you can keep that protection going. Let's say that you can overlap two AoE attacks reliably for -10%, it's like getting a Corruptor's unslotted FFG.
This set definitely has my attention. -
Good to know! Tested it with Full Auto and Ignite last night, and you are exactly right: Ignite would Scourge on various ticks but Full Auto would not unless it started off with the Scourge effect.
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I just tried this: web grenade + ignite, minion starts to drop HP. Hit with Burst, his HP is now lower, and Scourge appears to kick in from Ignite. Can anyone confirm this?
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One of the things that happens to Blasters in the level range has to do with what we get in our Secondary sets. At level 38, your Scrapper friend is getting probably MoG or something similar, and you get Total Focus. His power lets him survive tougher enemies, yours forces you into melee range for a single-target attack. TF used to be Mag 4, so it was worth being in melee range for the animation time.
There is good advice in is thread. Many times I have cleared most of a room using my snipe. Takes longer but it's safer. -
Quote:OK that's cool. But you have plenty of powersets, Blasters or otherwise, to do it with. Energy Blast gives lots of opportunity, and it's actually part of the theme of the set. The Dark Primary doesn't need it; the secondary effect of most Dark blasts is -ToHit. Now if you wanted to have it be a Stun, or a Fear, that would follow the Dark trend in other sets.Originally Posted by MajorPrankster
Again, you are talking about being efficient.
I am talking about having fun.
KB = Fun.
IMO, anyone that gets upset about KB is simply not someone that is playing to laugh and have fun.
I could not care less if my AoE only hit one target because it went off after a big KB power, be it mine or another players, because I am too busy laughing at the flying bad guys.
My friends and I compete with each other to send things flying. -
Quote:I took "done" to mean the Dark powerset port work for I21 is "done" not "we are done with Blasters forever".Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim
Well, I'm glad some people are excited. I don't really like shooting skulls, so I gave up on Dark Blast awhile ago. *sighs* And I guess I'll have to wait a little longer for a Martial Arts as a Secondary... at least they acknowledged it in the Ustream (along with saying Blasters are done for porting somehow... even though they still don't have many secondaries).
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Quote:It depends on how much ToHit Debuff the Blaster powers have. For Corruptors and Defenders, it's -7.5% in most of the blasts, but Night Fall for Blasters is -5%, while Soul Tentacles is 0%.Originally Posted by Le Blanc
Isn't Blackstar a PBAoE? If so, I would love if they made a targeted AoE for the nuke. I don't care if the secondary is blap, but PLEASE make the primary a ranged monster!
AND NO DAMN CONES!! (wishful thinking there I know)
Blackstar has -50% ToHit Debuff for support ATs. Even if that drops to 30-35% for us, that's a survivable PBAoE nuke. -
Here's my guess on Dark Blast:
1. Dark Blast
2. Gloom
3. Moonbeam
4. Something like Dark Detonation from Umbral Blast (Should be an AoE, but can't be Night Fall or Torrent or Tentacles)
5. Aim
6. Abyssal Gaze (DoT Hold)
7. Umbral Torrent (Night Fall/Torrent combo)
8. Life Drain
9. Blackstar
And Darkness Mastery:
1. Gravimetric Snare (Probably named differently but the power from Umbral Blast set)
2. Shadow Punch
3. Smite
4. Dark Pit (Mag 2 AoE Stun)
5. Build Up (or maybe Soul Drain)
6. Shadow Fall (maybe single target Stealth instead of PBAoE? Doubt it will have the Defender resists, so it might have a different name)
7. Shadow Maul
8. Touch of Fear
9. Midnight Grasp -
Quote:OK, I see knockback added to Night Fall as a gigantic fail, even if it does improve the cone shape/size. How do you see it as a win?Originally Posted by Midnight_Tempest
I hadn't yet read that they rolled Torrent and Night Fall together. If that means it's now just Energy Torrent gone darkside, then that's awesome.
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Quote:I see. I take it you haven't tried to play a high level Eng/Eng Blaster on a big team. The Warshade's that sets off Stygian Circle, the Dark Scrapper that sets off his heal, the Kinetics player that sets off Fulcrum Shift, the Tank that just herded a room, they all hate AoE KB because it screws up their best powers and/or tactics.Originally Posted by MajorPrankster
Please add tons of KB to it, thanks.
The only dissent will be from forum posters more interested in rewards per minute than having fun. KB haters are not a majority, just a vocal minority.
Thanks for all the new changes Paragon! -
Quote:Thank you. You said it much better than I ever could. Nice to see someone that understands Blaster gameplay.Originally Posted by Minotaur
Not true at all, I will not play the set if the new power has massive KB. I've used dark blast in the past using the two other AoEs and omitting torrent, but it's just not going to be a functional set without picking the new power. DB is not a set you use for rewards per minute, others pump out more damage, it's a control heavy blast set, and spreading mobs out in a control heavy set is a disaster particularly given that I suspect people will choose secondaries with it that will like the mobs close together.
I know VERY few decent players that regard AoE KB as more of a benefit than a hindrance in a general team setting (there are some niche situations where it's useful). It just tends to get people killed and frustrate people whose AoEs were aimed at 10-16 targets and only hit 3.
Solo it has its uses, but the big problem is that while making one of 3 AoEs in a set situational is not a huge problem, making one of 2 situational is. -
Quote:I worry that Umbral Torrent will be a giant knockback cone. Please don't do that. This set looks like it will only have two AoEs besides the nuke, and if the one that does good damage also does KB, there will be a lot of dissent.
We chose Dark Blast as it would be a fun control centric blast set for Blasters. The power set was changed slightly to make it a better fit for Blasters. Dark Pit was removed, Torrent and Nightfall were merged into a single power: Umbral Torrent, and then Aim and a new power Abyssal Gaze (a single target hold with a DoT component) were added to round out the set. -
Quote:Power Boost increases ToHit Debuffs. I'm just sayin'Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
I'm earmarking Dark Blast + Energy Manipulation as a popular combo.
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Yes! I've been wanting a Dark Blaster for a LONG time! Can't wait to see the details of the power list!
Let the speculation of powers begin! -
Dark Blast/Dark Manipulation for Blasters!!! Been waiting a LONG time for this one! I can't wait!
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Quote:Interesting ideas. It almost makes you wonder if you could make Kheldians have a branching level tree like EATs. Pick one branch, it is like they have always been, you can pick all forms like it is now. Pick the other, and your Human shields have mez protection but you can't pick Nova or Dwarf.Originally Posted by PC_guy
well i mean currently the biggest incentive to use dwarf is the mez prot and the hp bonus. I could see them increasing the hp cap for khelds and increase the amount of +HP given by dwarf.
if you couple that with a change that lets you use your shields in forms and make the shields defense based or a defense component, i'd prefer that over letting pool powers usable. i think not having pool powers usable is a fair trade off and limitation to sets.
but I also really liked the idea of making the forms toggles and use the respective powers in the human set while in forms. -
The problem with increased Recovery as an answer is that virtually every End drain enemy ALSO has a strong -Recovery power as well.