StratoNexus
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:All of the tier 3 blasts except Blaze and arguably Shout have something significant attached.Originally Posted by Terrycloth
I think they really need to give all the T3 single target damage powers blaze-like activation times. Or at least all the ones that don't also have a huge stun or something attached. -
Quote:Soon. Soon. I had recently leveled up some armored toons and wanted to wait for Staff. I'll start my scrapper Tuesday.Originally Posted by Fulmens
and StratoNexus? Do you have a scrapper in this test too?
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Quote:They said something about them being where they wanted them. But then they changed vigilance anyway. While that was modestly useful, I still think it missed the mark and I still do not see lots of defenders (nor corruptors) when I do searches for allies.Originally Posted by JayboH
Didn't the devs say a long time ago that defenders are the one AT they are the most happy with in the entire game?
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Quote:Too bad we can't customize the look of the powers and remove fading so tha...Originally Posted by Johnny_Butane
I rolled a TW/DA Scrapper once.
Then I deleted it when I stopped being able to even tell what attack set it had, let alone what the character even looked like.
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Quote:I like avoiding the Vet powers in a test like this. I do however use Ninja Run, but that power may cost me time rather than save it, because I will spend inordinate amounts of time leaping and flipping around town.Originally Posted by Diellan_
I think I'll try out this Blaster vs Stalker test. Should I try one without vet powers?
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Quote:I wouldn't hold my breath for a buff, but DP/MM does plenty of damage, both AoE and single target. You certainly can't go wrong IOing that combo.Originally Posted by HiddenJackal
I'm considering DP, while Fire I believe obviously has better damage, I have to admit there's a sort of guilty pleasure to DP. Hmm.
Wasn't there word/rumors on a possible DP buff? -
Quote:Vigilance...Originally Posted by Another_Fan
Can you construct a performance improvement that helps soloing, doesn't help teaming and is actually active and behaving the same way both solo and teamed ?
I can't think how anyone would manage it.
You could increase the damage of AoE immobs by 30%.
Increase Trip Mine damage by 25%.
Create Stalkers as originally implemented... -
Quote:That was me, yes. I do not understand your scrapper query, but I want to know what it is you want to know.Originally Posted by Fulmens
... in other news, I'm DYING to know how StratoNexus is finding a scrapper. It was you, right, first winner of the Blaster RWZ challenge?
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Quote:That is kind of what I was getting at actually. Not vengeance bait, but their fragility. The need to be protected by others. No other AT is truly as weak as a blaster while also generating large amounts of aggro.Originally Posted by Oliin
Ok, so my first joke thought is that blaster's are great at being vengeance bait. I'm drawing somewhat of a blank as to what you really mean though.
Obviously on a team everyone should be watching each other, but blasters just have that heightened sense of need. Whenever I play a tank or buff/debuff set I default to watching the blasters more (although HEATs also get some extra attention). When I play a blaster, I seem to see many people pay extra attention to me (or they don't and I get in trouble a lot).
Since I enjoy the interplay of teammates, I actually quite enjoy this aspect of the AT, both when I play a blaster and when I play with blasters. That doesn't mean I am opposed to changes or buffs, just that I am content with the current situation. -
Quote:Of course, blasters do have something that is pretty unique in team play. Not everyone likes that thing and it may cause some issues in reward metrics, but it does exist. And it is not even all negative, IMO.Originally Posted by Eldagore
however, there should be some "thing" that makes each AT notably different on a team. And that is the part of team balance that blasters fail. it is a tricky buisness maintaining the interchangeable vs uniqueness AT balance. In this case though, blasters need a little bit of a nudge away from interchangeable and towards unique.
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Quote:The +defense combined with the chance for KD in Hail of Bullets may be better. It is also hard to discount the fact that Rain of Arrows can often be cast outside LoS (and with a bit of range slotting, outside of attack range). I do love Spring Attack on my Fire/Dark blaster though, helps keep them in the Rain of Fire (I just wish Spring Attack did less damage while recharging MUCH faster).Originally Posted by Another_Fan
Spring attack also has a 2/3 chance of knock down, thats right KNOCK DOWN not Knock Back. This means it has better mitigation than almost all the crashing nukes and absolutely all the non crashing nukes.
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Quote:Nah. The blaster community was pretty quiet I7 to I10. Data-mining showed blasters underperformed, so Castle came to the community to brainstorm.Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
Blaster players said they were under-performing. Datamining showed they were right and the Devs installed Defiance 2.0
I would be honestly surprised if that were true. If you include time spent outside missions, I could see it though (crafting, marketing, respeccing, tailoring, etc. all take significant game time and are most often done solo).Quote:Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Depending on what you mean by "anywhere near" I believe its extremely likely that solo play is about as common as teamed play, on a player-hour basis.
That is a good point. Significant resources are put into place to allow for soloing (and I mean the fighting part of the game). I never meant to say soloing was rare, or even uncommon, but I figured teaming hours were likely to be at least twice what soloing hours were (for in-combat time). That is a large gap, but I'll likely never know the truth.Quote:Originally Posted by Arcanaville
It cannot be exceptionally uncommon, that much I'm certain of, or certain things would not be true that are true about the way the devs manage and balance the game. -
/Fire Manipulation
Katana/
If only I could play Katana/Fire... -
Quote:I think it is extraordinarily unlikely that solo play is anywhere near as common as team play. I also do not think what we see in this thread (or the forums in general) would be a good way to draw conclusions about that sort of thing.Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
From what we've seen on this thread (and others) I think it' safe to say that solo play is at least as common as team play if not more. If team play were the standard then I think we'd be seeing more 'My Blaster doesn't contribute to the team' threads.
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I'd always go with whichever is more fun for you. /Mental is likely the better high end secondary for soloing, while /Fire can be better for AoE destruction (and therefore general teaming). /Mental's regen debuff, Drain Psyche, is handy vs. AVs and other big game. Hot Feet is my favorite power in the game and amazingly strong. Ring of Fire is a great tier 1 secondary power, Subdual is meh.
I am always biased towards /Fire, but I enjoyed /Mental enough to play it with various primaries and write a guide for it. -
Quote:I am as well.Originally Posted by Fulmens
I have vague plans to do a similar, but far less detailed, analysis. Report every 5 levels or so (after the first 10 or 15) by clicking an "M"-name NPC: hours patrolling, debt incurred (measured by badges).
I'm watching this one eagerly!
I have started my own blaster project. Level 7 so far. I hope to hit level 12 tonight. -
Quote:You are not alone.Originally Posted by Bionut911
I'm not saying that the new defiance is bad, it's helpful. I'm just wondering if anyone else out there misses the old one.
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Quote:Corruptor Rain of Fire is more broken than Rain of Arrows and is on the same recharge. Assuming maxed out builds for both AND fighting up level enemies, a strong Corruptor build will easily surpass the strongest blaster builds in damage output AND survivability (and team utility).Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy
Oh yeah, I know Corruptors can be awesome.. I'm not saying they can't, but they definitely can't reach Blaster AOE potential assuming maxed builds and optimal sets for both.
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Quote:Cold Day in Hell sounds like a good name for a Fire/Cold Controller or Corruptor!Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy
Sure, debuffers might be better at soloing Giant Monsters, but Blasters can still do it. I'd like to see those debuffers pump out the AOE my Blaster pumps out though.. It'll be a cold day in hell.
There are several debuffer builds that will be excellent at GM killing as well as AoE damage output, using a variety of primary and secondary combinations. -
Quote:Scream is a longer AoE than Torrent, so it can nicely still hit the things you KB generally. I prefer ET, EB, then PsyScream; the two KB powers at the beginning mitigate better and generally clump better, and it makes the long animation of PS easier to deal with (plus, later on, you can ET, EB, and jump in for DS/Shockwave). I just wish EB came earlier in the build. I blame early Build Up!Originally Posted by Fulmens
Hmm. En/Mental. KB cone, -rech cone, KB burst. I like it.
(Is there a better way to do that? Experimentation is needed!)
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Quote:Since all the other ATs are, it seems a reasonable goal...Originally Posted by Darth_Khasei
So do a lot of people of late it appears.
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I like blasters too, but I team more than solo.
I do think blasters are significantly weaker overall than the other damage dealers (even /Men). -
Quote:Ironically (amazingly, shockingly, you-have-to-be-kidding-me), it is the Dominator who gets that description. Dominators have the lowest survivability score of all the ATs and their description suggests having teammates to protect them (like the old blaster description used to). Blasters, Defenders, Controllers (!!!), and Corruptors all get the 4 rating. Even Controllers 'depend upon their teammates for protection' while blasters are just "somewhat fragile compared to other heroes" (and it still annoys me that they did not fix the AT descriptions, before Freedom launched, to eliminate references to heroicness and villainy).Originally Posted by Another_Fan
If you put that in the description people saw when creating blaster there wouldn't be a problem with them because almost no one would ever bother to roll them. It's really not right to ask people to deal with an AT that is in that position when that is not what is being sold them
I do not agree. I would be saddened by the loss of ATs that are team reliant, however not terribly so. I do not mind that there may be an AT or four that really gets a lot out of a team. My favorite ATs are, in fact, Defenders, Blasters, and Tankers, likely the most team reliant ATs (and notably the basis of the trinity of DPS/Tank/Buff-Debuff). I think I have been discussing this topic too long though.Quote:Originally Posted by Another_Fan
There is just no place in this game for an AT that must have team support.
Quote:Originally Posted by StratoNexus
I think it is fine that some sets are more team/particular AT dependent to get the maximum use out of them. I think it is wrong that you have little to no way to know what those sets are ahead of time, but it is nice to have the variety.Quote:Originally Posted by StratoNexus
Blasters can indeed be limited by the rest of the team. They can also be liberated by the team.
I guess I just don't care about any disparity since it is easily glossed over on teams and I find my blasters solo well enough to keep me happy. There was a time when I kind of wanted blasters to be what the VEATs are (although I never imagined quite as much mitigation). I like the VEATs, but I'd prefer a more varied bunch of effects, especially elemental type effects (fire, ice, electric, earth).Quote:Originally Posted by StratoNexus
Not everyone values being team dependent. Not everyone values being a piece of glass. Not everyone values their (and often their team's) tactical choices to matter as much as they do on a blaster. But does that mean those things are valueless? Is there a large enough segment of the playerbase that values those things enough to actively engage the "weakness" of the AT head on?
People approach the survivability factor from the standpoint that of course everyone will want to play the class/AT that is more survivable. That does not seem to be the case, so maybe game designers should feel OK if a class ends up being mechanically weaker, and yet ridiculously popular. Obviously, you don't want certain aspects to be too far out of whack (leveling and item acquisition,for instance), but perhaps the 'weak' class has its place, if it is done right.
The blaster AT was not designed to be weaker than other ATs, but it ended up there in the effort to improve tankers and scrappers in I2 and I3 (and really even before that, it just became more apparent as time went on). In I5 they upped the survivability slightly and added more damage, to help counter those facts. That didn't stop blasters from dying in droves (nor did it stop people from playing them in droves). They had another chance to stop them from dying so much in I11. They chose instead another path (maybe one they hoped would help lower the death rate, while still retaining the squishy feel (a steep challenge indeed)). Then they made death nearly irrelevant (the real blaster 'fix', and one which was also suggested by the playerbase).
Then they released VEATs, which had all the features many had asked for blasters. Some status protection, but less than scrappers. Range and melee attacks. Maybe some more control. Possibly some debuff. How about a little bit of defense? Real pets could help blasters, maybe make Voltaic Sentinel and Auto Turret more like real pets? Nah, how about you take Spider bots instead?
For everyone who wanted to play a blaster, but wanted it to be more like a scrapper, they made VEATs. IMO, it was a conscious and brilliant choice (although it has taken a long time for me to feel that way). Having both ATs is likely a good idea (and I think they are both very popular ATs). The only drawback for me is I can't play a Fire, Ice, Punch, or Elec version. VEATs have solid projectiles, Nrg blasts, mace, claws, poison, crab legs, and Psi powers covered though. -
Quote:Recharge still too long. End drain resists are useful. Recovery buff is very minor. Huge radius and cheap activation are very nice.Originally Posted by Hopeling
Consume was changed, in fact, long after this thread first appeared, but long before you necro'ed it. It got the recovery buff and the endurance drain resistance, and still has a huge radius and costs far less to activate than Power Sink.
And yeah, necroooooooooooo