StormyDarkness

It's okay, my posts get skipped all the time.

To (sort of) play Devil's Advocate, Fire Blast would be kind of silly for Defenders to have. Defenders have a buff on their blasts to their secondary effects. You know, Sonic's -res, Rad's -def, Dark's -to-hit, etc. So anyone really gunning for Fire Blast will always look at a Fire Blast Corruptor and go "Why the heck am I playing this AT when the other is better?" The same thing will go for when Corruptors get Archery and Going Rogue comes out. Why play an /Archery Defender when you can get the same to-hit buff secondary effect on a more damage Corruptor? Psi Blast will still be good for Defenders if moved over because it will have the -recharge increased still.

On the turn of that comment, if Defenders did have Thermal, they would be producing bigger green numbers, offering a higher +res from the shields, higher buff and debuff values for their Tier 7-9. Sure, if you couple it with Fire Blast, you'll have the equilibrium on the Corruptor because the lack of a debuffing secondary effect. For me, however, I dislike having those types of obvious couples, my closest being a Storm/Ice Defender, to which I've only started recently. I like the challenge of coming up with the RP reason for some fairly drastic different power sets, like my Dark/Elec defender. So having a Thermal/Sonic, Thermal/Rad, etc. will be more potent than the just damage dealing secondary of Fire Blast.

Sure, if you are considering that the enhanced buff/debuff values and getting some things at level 12 instead of 20, or 32 instead of 38 not worth it, that's your own deal. However, I'm also aware that there are people that do prefer to get their buff/debuffs earlier than some of their blasts. Also, so people prefer to have the larger buff/debuff values and that is their particular pull. Naturally, you being the player, you get to decide what is more important to you and how you go about things.

As far as lower damage mod, lower HP, lower damage cap, and lacks the double damage, those are just what Defenders have to sacrifice to get the better buff/debuff values. Otherwise, who'd want to play an AT that have equal HP, very slightly higher damage, very slightly higher damage cap, and can also deal double damage (however Defenders would be able to do that). We'd see the exact same stuff over in the Corruptor thread that Defenders would be taking over their job red side. Every AT must pay some price to get what they are better at. I don't want to play Average Joe AT who's only mediocre at everything, I want to be good at something. In order for me to be good at X, I must give up Y. That's simply how life works, including real life.

For giving up certain power sets, certain sets are getting nearly copy/pasted everywhere (Traps/AR for Defender, Archery/TA Corruptors, Rad/ Blasters), so it'll be only a matter of time until Corruptors get FF, Defenders get Thermal, and each AT have their own "heal" set (Pain and Empathy). I'll gladly take a Pain Defender over a Fire Blast Defender, so when we get to Thermal coming over, can I get Pain instead of Fire Blast?

In all honesty, as I've said and will always say, the AT you choose followed by the power sets you choose should work well with your play style. If you're like me and don't want a Fire Blast Defender (though I might make one... maybe), then don't do it. If you hate FF because you believe KB is a sin and the only real thing it offers is the shields, then that's your own bridge to cross. Play what you like, don't play what you don't. Other than Statesman and LR, I can't think of any TF or other challenge that requires a certain type of make up on team. A corruptor will offer a lot to the table, a defender will offer a lot to the table. They're not equal and it's up to you to decide which you like better and I strongly encourage you to play that. Some people might find they like the Defender version of their Corruptor and same with some people playing Defenders.

I'm always willing to give anyone suggestions to help out the teams. They just have to, you know, be willing to take a few pointers and then do them. That's my greatest distinction between a "good" Defender and a "bad" Defender. I'm willing to give suggestions on any power sets, and will gladly hear out suggestions when I'm playing a power set, since new tactics is always fun to me.

I'll take a inexperienced Storm who'll listen to suggestions over a bad empath who believe only heals is the way to go and won't listen to any suggestions to make themselves better any day of the week.

I stopped here and had to comment (and run to work). My favorite two ATs are Defenders and Dominators...

Evidently there's something drastically wrong with me and my mentality.

I've been complimented on my organized chaos ability.

As a side note, it's also fun to see another Oklahoman around the forums.

In my mind, no AT is needed. It's just a mind set change on tactics to fit the team make up. My version of support is making people better than they are normally. Thus Defenders being force multipliers in my book means support. I'm always happy to have a team of 8 decent players, because if you have the decent players, you'll be able to adapt to each other and figure out what needs to be done.

It's a slow trip up to get the idea that some people are just bad at the game. You can offer advice (if they want it) or just trying your best as a defender and if they keep splatting, there's not much you can do about it. People who do nothing is what irritates me. I'm fine if you're not good, but if you don't try you aren't going to get better.

I've been slowly attempting to raise my notoriety around Virtue as a good "Support" player. Since I play mostly Controllers, Defenders, and Corruptors, I tend to have a lot of characters to fill that role. Do every character gel with every group? No. Mostly because even though I'm playing support, I'm more than willing to be aggressive if people (usually the tank) is just standing around for no particular reason. If everyone is on the move to your location and are near it, why not go flying into the next group. I usually find it rare to find tankers that my Defenders can't keep up with. Those Tankers make me smile as I end up only being a few steps behind them.

Inactivity is the bane of my existence on CoH. I understand their are times that need strategy, etc. but not every mob needs to be carefully pulled and killed slowly or the like. If the rest of the group is 10 steps behind you, that's 10 steps worth of a Tanker being able to get the aggro of the mob going. Then again, that's just my dislike of standing around, especially when we go "everyone run together for buffs" and then stand around letting the buffs run out due to inactivity. Buff during battle I say, sure you're not contributing during that little bit, but to keep a team moving is well worth the bit of personal time of buffing during a battle.

I've had this mentality. It's called "'Stuff' Happens". You can do the best you can with Empathy to heal your teammates, but if they are doing suicide bombs and/or you're not using all your tools on your utility belt, then something needs to be monitored and adjusted. Force Fields also have more than just bubbling every 3-4 minutes. That's the difference between an average FF player and a good FF player. Nearly everyone gets the idea of bubble, but it's the rest of the powers at the FF's utility belt that cranks them up a notch. A Force Field character only using PFF, 2 Ally shields, and the PBAoE bubble is like a Empath that doesn't use Fort, RAs, and AB. The entire tool belt is useful, it's knowing how and when to use it that makes you a good or higher player.

I have 2 Sonic Defenders on Virtue now... level 29 Sonic/Dark and level 3 Sonic/Psi. The latter is for teaming with a friend, but as soon as his trail is up, I'll be leveling him like the rest of my characters.

One of the reasons I stay away from farms... Actually, most of these AE stories are exactly why I don't AE farm. At least in the old days of farming you had one person with the farm mission that was competent besides myself. Then again, that could just be me and my hopes of intelligence which most AE farms tend to miss.

It's one of the reason people hate Storm, there's so many bad ones, I'll stay away from the AE farms. I'll take the slower, funner, and generally more intelligent version of leveling.

By the by, I loves me some Storms.

Sonic = More Defense + Easier to kill mobs + Positioning.
Storm = Easier to kill mobs + positioning + a light heal.
FF = More Defense + Positioning.
Cold Dom = Easier to kill mobs + buffs + More defense.
Kins = Easier to kill mobs + buffs + positioning.
Dark = Easier to kill mobs + controls + a light heal.
Trick Arrow = Easier to kill mobs + Controls.
Radiation Em. = Easier to kill mobs + Controls + buff + a light heal.
Emapthy = A lot of healing + Health/Endurance buffs + a def/dmg/to-hit ST buff.

Honestly, if I have a good tanker, anything with more defense is an added bonus. Especially if it's a armor set that's either all +def or +res. Then look at what else they can do. Most Stone/ tankers don't really need the healing because of their Defense/Resistance, the +health buff takes away nearly all need for healing for a good Stone/, and both the Def, to-hit, and Dmg buff is better on other members of the team. Assuming the tanker is keeping the aggro from the enmies, only the to-hit and dmg really matters on any member of the team, thus low level characters and those with high damage should get the buff, not the tanker. Granted, this isn't always the case and I always say to alter your tactics to the team (as everyone should on the team so they actually gel), but with this general idea, you'll be well on your way most of the time. So why would a Stone/ tanker want an Empath when he can take another power set that offers something more to the team even more so in the easier to kill mobs version or the +def/res power sets for when the teammates happen to pull a bit of aggro from the tank?

Empathy, though useful, isn't really ever *needed* on a usual team nor task force.