StratoNexus
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:Well, teamed, that ability is a bit more useful even on SOs. Sure, you might get hit with some AoE splash, but generally you can be run in an Drain fine when someone else is eating Alphas and taking aggro or otherwise controlling the enemies (yes, you don't always need that extra survivability for those same reasons, but it is still often useful).Originally Posted by Another_Fan
In the second case yes you are more survivable but do you really want to be in the middle of a spawn when one stun will kill you ?
Oooh, I have one of those (/Elec armor). She is nifty! Poor thing languishing in the late 40s, but one day I'll get back to her. Very fun combo and I highly recommend it (although I am not a big fan of /Elec, but this character needed those effects).Quote:Originally Posted by Another_Fan
claws/xxx/pyre scrapper. -
Quote:You should be able to do it easily with Cardiac. I use my Musculature primarily, because on teams I can usually get some end help, but I made the Cardiac first due to the high end costs I endured. With the Cardiac, I was even able to run Hybrid with no end issues. My build runs both HF and BA, Acro, CJ, Tough, Weave, and Fire Shield. I do lack significant recharge though, so my attack sequences may be lighter on end use than others who can get more FSC and Blaze in.Originally Posted by DreadShinobi
I've always wanted to make a fire/fire blaster. Considering I've played Fire/Dev, Fire/EM, Fire/Elec (x2), and Fire/MM, it's almost surprising I never did a Fire/Fire. Main reason being how enormously end heavy a fire/fire can be. Cause of the heavy end requirements, I was never able to make a build that I was happy with for it.
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Quote:True story, yo. My Nrg/Fire blaster didn't die due to mezzing from level 1 to 12. My Staff/Invuln scrapper died at least once where mez was a significant contributor.Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
What does the blaster get? They get to play as if they were level 2 and die in a high mez environment, while 95% or more of all mez launched at other ATs has absolutely no deleterious effect on them.
<.> >.>
Hey, you were the one that brought up level 2!
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Quote:I think the communication error occurs here. Perhaps your terminology is a bit on the strong side? Psi blast can't compete with Archery in AoE damage. Fire, on the other hand, runs a solid race. If it were a decathlon of AoE damage events, Archery likely would win 6 or 7 events and Fire would take 3 or 4 (and that assumes very good builds, which I would take as understood in an Ultimate blaster thread; but for completeness (and because of my Fire/ bias) I will add that at lower levels of build investment, Fire's AoE will surpass Archery).Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy
Fire's AoE is good, I'm not saying it's bad- But it can't compete with Archery.
I think they compete fine.
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Quote:Both are ridiculously awesome. In some cases Fire is much better due to the speed of delivery; sure its only a second or two, but I have seen plenty of arrows land on things teammates have already made dead and I have seen plenty of Archers (including my own) compensate by moving ahead and taking the next spawn and playing leap frog with the team.Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy
Ageless won't do anything to help Fire catch up to Archery's AoE, and until hybrid comes out Clarion is basically mandatory for Blasters, especially for a set that thrives on melee play like Mental.
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Quote:This has been a discussion point since the beginning of time. "City of Blasters", reducing the scrapper values of resistances, controller vs. defender, GDN, the ITF, and many more examples over the years. GR added more examples, but the concept/problem/issue is nothing new.Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
None of this was a problem before GR came out. Each side had distinctive ATs with distinctive roles and that was that. Then with GR you have heroic Brutes and MMs and villianous Tanks and the lines got very blurry.
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Quote:Trouble's brewing.Originally Posted by Black Pebble
And yet, I still can't convince anyone here that cannibalism is a viable Power Set. I can only imagine the chaos we would see if a seafood restaurant ever showed up in game.
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Quote:I think Psi/Dev is a solid choice for your goals. You are going to be safe, but it will be slow. Tankers with their old release mods were very, very safe, but I do not think many would say they were not weak. Defenders are another great example of how that worked out. Safety is not the only thing to consider when determining the strength of a combination.Originally Posted by EvilGeko
Look the alt is only level 6. I'm willing to be convinced I made a mistake. Among the alternatives, which do you think is the weakest?
That said, considering the impact debt and hospital runs can have on leveling, the turtle may be the winner. But I bet the feeling is more important in this case than the results. -
The extra range is sweet and very helpful. It will be even nicer when I get to mid levels and can herd more things. The melee cone is large. Getting your best AoEs early is wonderful. So far Staff Mastery is underwhelming (I have only tried the +rech and +dam forms at this point, I have not had any end issues, so I have not needed to turn that one on yet).
The control is helpful, if not reliable. I have had zero issues up to level 10 and from looking at the numbers it looks like it will have mid-low ST DPS, mid-high AoE damage, solid utility. We will have to see how Staff Mastery pans out in the higher levels, that is my only concern at this point. -
Quote:Rifle just has too much sick AoE to ever be considered for a weakest combo, even with /Devices or a secondary that lacks synergy, it is just too strong, IMO.Originally Posted by Zeh_Masteh
I'd cast my vote for AR/Dark: AR wants you to be in cone range and lacks melee, while dark wants you to be in PBAoE range and lacks range. Also, redraw sucks.
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Quote:Back before Archery was cool, I was on a big team and after 3 groups of enemies in a row where I used RoA, the tanker asked me how often my nuke was up. I said, "Always." (We had a Kin and a Rad defender, I was perma-hasten and mostly damage capped with their buffs, it was so good).Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Archery is a below average primary in my opinion, until you get to the non-crashing tier 9 with the recharge that looks like a typo.
Dumping Rain of Arrows onto a spawn that isn't in the same zip code as you are must be interesting. -
Quote:Oh no! Corruptors should have a 0.9 damage mod and Blaster level HPs (with the Stalker cap). It is in the link in my sig.Originally Posted by OneWhoBinds
...any other suggestions? Like maybe removing Corruptors from the game entirly? 'cause let me assure you, Scourge will not make up for the Defenders having a higher base damage AND more hit points...
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Quote:That could be more difficult. Weak in defense: all blasters are relative to other ATs, but just looking inside the AT, there are some decent tradeoffs. The weaker offensive sets are stronger defensively. /Dev would have to be avoided entirely; it is slow, but way too safe for your goals.Originally Posted by EvilGeko
Don't hear much about */Ice. I would guess Energy/Ice would be truly atrocious synergy, but too safe for my tastes. I'm looking for weak in offense and defense.
I would lean /Dark, middle of the road offense and defense.
Then take a primary that loves range and prefers cones and has little mitigation. Psi, IME, has too much mitigation. Beam seems best here to me. A case could be made for Rad, but Soul Drain + Irradiate is too much synergy for me. -
Quote:Part of the reason why I thought Defenders should have a 0.8 damage mod and Scrapper HPs. Noticeable increases, but still a different feel from controllers and masterminds.Originally Posted by dugfromthearth
1. Controllers do get OMG more damage when they get epic pools with AoE damage that gets containment. AoE immobilize, fiery rain, and fireball is incredibly different from what controllers have at lower levels.
2. And controllers do function as defenders on teams. Unless you have AoE at low levels damage your damage output does not really matter much. So a defender's damage over a controller just is not very important on teams. Whereas a controller's controls are very useful and noticeable. Defender buff/debuff numbers are invisible, so you don't really see that a defender's thermal shield is better than a controller's. -
Beam/Dark
Elec/Dev
Sonic/Fire -
Quote:Is it really most? Battle Axe, Stone, Broadsword, Spines, Electric? Is staff going to fall into the middle area around Katana? The numbers I am seeing do not make me think Staff is an outlier on the low end, rather it falls nicely into average territory. Certainly not the set to go to for best single target DPS, but it also does not seem like it will be getting eaten alive by most other choices.Originally Posted by DreadShinobi
Most other sets are still going to be eating staff alive in dps.
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I'll drop a note in here about my Energy/Fire blaster, since come Tuesday I'll likely be starting my Staff/(I am leaning towards DA or Invuln) scrapper.
Pretty smooth run so far. I had one death pre-10 in a safeguard mission on the bank robbing boss and a bunch of close calls. Ran the new Atlas content up to level 8, then did some scanners and the safeguard in KR to hit lvl 9. I ran a DFB with XP turned off, but netted a few useful SOs and the end recovery power (unfortunately my FRAPs freaked out and I couldn't record much of this).
Leveled from 9-10 doing the Negotiator badge mission and one or two other Tony Kord missions (started running with a MM after Negotiator, worked well letting them mostly take the alphas). Went from 10-11 running the first two missions of the Midnighter arc with that MM. Soloed the next two missions to go from 11-12.
At level 12 I enhanced up with DOs; I had made plenty of money off the market selling salvages and recipes cheap. Then I ran Posi (part 1 and 2) with XP turned off. Solid team, fun run.
Ran some scanners to get from 12-13 and then joined a MM from the Posi run for a couple of their missions which got me from 13-14. Things are definitely quicker and easier when teamed. Ran a scanner vs CoT at 14 and got whacked once; I tried to rush into a spawn before my inspires ran out and I didn't make it. Hit level 15 on a scanner vs. Vahz where I made the same mistake and tried to rush a boss spawn hoping to have 2 purples up, but ended up only have 1. Insta-splat; restocked on inspires at the hospital and won (although it was still close because I was conservative in the use of my inspires early in the fight).
Easy scanner vs. Outcasts and then the KR safeguard got me to 16 (sadly the skulls cap at level 14, so they were too easy). Got a team of 3 blasters and 1 controller together for Who Will Die part 1, nearly died on the run out of mission 1. Near team wipe during the ambushes of mission 2, the controller DCd right in the middle of them, but one of the blasters leveled at that time and then the other two of us used Return to Battle to finish the mission. It was highly entertaining. Mission 3 went OK, the blaster who lived through mission 2 ended up as the ambush target here and joined us in defeat, but by then the enemy was mostly gone and the other three of us finished it fine. I dinged 17 in that last fight.
Since I had a good team, I suggested we run Synapse, the others agreed and I found a few more to join. At this point I caved and chose to leave XP on; if I am going to kill all clocks, kill all clocks, kill all clocks, kill all clocks, I am getting the full rewards! Fabulous run, we had two 50s (tanker and stalker), at the start I was 17, we had a 19 controller, a 16 defender, and a mid 20s dominator. I ended up at 21 when we finished.
Before I level anymore, I am considering running a 15-20 arc through Ouro and then I may run Peebles and the 20-25 warrior arc. I have been keeping up on my DOs, I don't keep them all maxed out, but I did make them level 16 and they are now level 21. I have kept my diff on base, except I turned bosses on around level 7 or 8. There are just too many close calls as I am running to feel comfortable turning it up yet. When I get SOs I expect to change my diff to +1 / x2 and see how it works. -
Quote:Well, I am a Power Push fan, so when I need guaranteed KB, I'll lower my damage output and use that, which is obviously something Rad/ doesn't have to do since it can get the stun out of CB. However, usually KB works on bosses better than that stun. OTOH, I have chosen to use PB when I, in hindsight, should have used PP and gotten killed for my hubris.Originally Posted by Diellan_
The woes of being an Energy Blaster.
I am still not sure where I fall on PBs ranking amongst the tier 3s. I usually think of them as pretty equal, with the exception of Shout, and Sonic has a lot of other things going for it. Again, I wouldn't argue against increasing the KB and/or KB chance in PB, I just do not find it lacking. -
Quote:Hmmm. I am not sure I agree. I love Cosmic Burst, but Blazing Arrow's 80 foot range actually comes in handy in many situations and I would say I find it to be at least equal in benefit to the stun. I'll give you Power Burst. The chance for KB is not as useful as the stun. However, it is still very useful.Originally Posted by Diellan_
But neither of those are nearly as significant as the guaranteed stun that Rad provides, which was all that I meant. As ArcanaVille pointed out, Power Burst is a very minor power increase over Power Bolt and Power Blast, and those powers can be used while mezzed.
Blaze... hmmm. I have always said Blaze is like a mez in that, used right, it kills fast enough to eliminate a target just like a mez would. There are times however that the mez would be nicer than just the damage, but the long cast time of PB combined with the fact that it is not guaranteed KB, does make it less awesome (though it does have that great woo woo woosh-bam). -
Quote:I disagree. While I could argue that it deserves more KB, I find its KB to be very significant.Originally Posted by Diellan_
For varying levels of significant... again, Power Burst need not apply. By that I mean it has a 60% chance of mag 3.3 KB, which is a bit better than Power Blast's 30% chance of mag 1.6 KB, but isn't exactly a significant increase.
BA has 80 foot range, which I also find significant. Our opinions differ here and I am pretty sure neither of us will convince the other.Quote:Originally Posted by Diellan_
Blazing Arrow is in the same category as Blaze as just having extra damage. -
Quote:You listed 5 items, 4 of them say exactly the same thing. That is kind of an odd way to talk. I simplified your list to the two points you made.Originally Posted by B_L_Angel
- Fighting entirely from range is mitigation. The vast majority of enemies have melee range attacks that they can't use if you are too far away
- The scrapper and the blaster both have access to other forms of mitigation. Your position is far to one sided.
If I am going to lower my damage output that much, I might as well play something with passive mitigation as opposed to someone who has to spend time keeping out of melee and/or using lower damage attacks to mez enemies.
Have you considered the possibility that the reason you can play with a regen scrapper without much issue is that he is outdamaging you. I've stripped aggro off Invuln scrappers and have had blasters strip aggro off my Invuln. A blaster who is bringing the pain is tough to keep alive when a scrapper is your teammate and you are not IOing out, IME.
*twitch, twitch*Quote:Originally Posted by B_L_Angel
Are you saying that people who don't play their characters to their best potential should do as well as people who do ?
If you want to play a blaster like a scrapper, just play a scrapper. Don't go complaining that a blaster isn't as good a scrapper as a scrapper. -
Quote:Range softcapped blaster compared to a scrapper softcapped to all three positions who also has significant other mitigation? You are trying to demonstrate that "its no harder to build a blaster for defense than it is a scrapper." But that is only true if you narrow your focus significantly AND exclude several scrapper secondaries.Originally Posted by B_L_Angel
I have no trouble making range softcapped blaster builds with less compromise at each price point.
Your original statement is odd and too broad. You have clarified it since then, but the original words and even the sentiment behind them should be altered, because they are, simply, wrong. -
Quote:One might say that in order to participate in balance discussions, you have to have the mental flexibility to understand that your own personal experiences and abilities do not necessarily reflect how most other players function on an AT. You need the ability to step back and analyze its abilities and honestly compare them to other ATs at various levels of investment (DOs, SOs, IOs, Incarnate, but also the difference between those players who push through various limitations and weaknesses vs. those who just decide to play something that has different limitations and weaknesses).Originally Posted by Mister Gerald
You have to have the mental flexibility to accept ATs and powersets as they are, with all their attendant limitations and weaknesses, and be able to switch between melee and ranged mindsets. If you can't do that, no amount of advice is going to be of use. Blasters will just suck for you.
So often the need for mental flexibility comes up with blasters; the need to work within the limits and weaknesses of the AT. That advice rarely is given for other ATs (but I have seen it for all ATs at one point or another, just most often for blasters). -
Quote:This has been driving me insane for months. It isn't always an issue; I'd even say most of the time queuing works correctly. But it bugs out often enough to be truly annoying.Originally Posted by HwaRang
For quite some time, have game mechanics been changed so that "queing" powers instantaneously will not work? I noticed this recently, but never really thought much of it until today...
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Quote:Originally Posted by B_L_Angel
Stuff
I mean... It's just that... I have some defense built blasters. But scrappers. I mean scrappers...
I don't know where to begin.