StratoNexus

Possibly. However, the current cap seems high enough for that purpose and I am doubtful that even 200% more cap room will actually have much impact. I am not opposed to a cap increase for the psychological benefit, but I can't see it having a lot of benefit even in your narrow case (granted, I generally stick to fighting +1s and +2s solo, perhaps if I engaged +3s more often I would think differently).

A blaster's kill speed is already high enough that they generally get more benefit from 2 to 4 purples than they will out of 6 to 12 reds (although I admit that assessment is based on Fire/Fire specifically, I am not sure I'd say the same about my Nrg/Devices and Sonic/Nrg (but they get gobs of control, it is possible they could really benefit from reds, since they need less purples), but my Ice/Electric is close enough to the Fire/Fires, IME).

I think it sounds like you want to stay mostly at range. If you want to stay mostly at range, I think you are making the correct choice.

If you were to keep either Irradiate or Psychic Shockwave, I would choose Irradiate, I prefer the larger AoE and shorter cast time to the -recharge and chance for stun.

Ironically, in the specific case of Concealment, it could be argued that the tier 3 is the worst of the 4 powers (I view it as the least useful myself). Based on the following quote however, I think your actual question is: Why should we be forced to take a power we do not want just to get another power we do want?

In this case it is a build cost specifically designed to make you sometimes skip a power you may otherwise want. You can disagree that the cost is necessary, but I hope that you can at least understand that there is a specific and thought out reason for the restriction. It certainly could be argued that limiting people to 4 power pools is enough of a limit and that requiring certain powers in the pools in order to access "higher tier" pool powers is overly restrictive. OTOH, I am a fan of systems that give me meaningful choices, and having meaningful choices often means that I have to leave valuable stuff on the table because I can't have it all.

The real problem with pool powers is not that removing the restrictions would just let everyone easily take Tough, Weave, and maybe Aid Self, but rather that everyone WANTS to take Tough, Weave, and maybe Aid Self over other pool powers because they are just that much better.

Indeed. I think I am merely responding because I am having a brain-glitch over some of the self-righteous posts people are making. I understand many are just reacting negatively due to JBs post and tone, but I also do not like the implication that the original information was wild speculation and hearsay.

Obviously, stuff in beta is subject to change. But at the stage where they open up beta to the public, most stuff is likely not to change much. It is unreasonable at that point for me to disbelieve, despite the acknowledgement that nothing is ever final in an MMO.

Well, I have more info than that. Not much more, but still one less level of hearsay.
Why are you using quotes? You are not quoting anyone. You literally made up a statement on your own and then put it in quotes so that you could argue against that statement as if someone else said it.

There are countless other little details that we have only learned about by information people learned at the SDCC. I think it is much more reasonable to believe the information gleaned from the SDCC (until it is changed) rather than live in suspicion that almost everything the devs showed at the SDCC is likely to turn out to be false promises and vain hope. They generally follow through on what they show us, so why would I choose to believe the opposite?

While I am not emotionally committed to this change I am not sure how much more confirmation I could expect to have beyond, "the game engine works this way," and a Paragon employee confirmed, 'the game engine works this way currently on purpose right now'. Was I supposed to expect a developer to sign a blood contract?

Until something goes live, I don't become attached. If something goes live that seems off to me, I still do not become attached, and even stuff that is live is subject to change (and I may or may not be attached, for example I am attached to the heal in Energy Drain and its removal has me modestly annoyed or I was attached to the old kin playstyle where you had single target buffs, making them AoE made me modestly annoyed). But I do believe that after the SDCC it was reasonable to believe this change was likely coming, since it was not just a proposed change, but one that actually made it into the beta build. I understand that it was beta and could change, but all evidence we had pointed in the direction that the tier 3s would be available at level 4 without any need for a pre-req.

It is odd to call it an assumption or interpretation when the game was actually working that way.

I am glad Zwillinger came and gave out what I hope is correct information (flu ridden OCR guy giving out information from home about what is in closed beta that directly contradicts what was seen at a convention and commented on by someone at the convention does not have me 100% convinced (90% though )). However, this is definitely more than just something said at a convention. The game build on the floor existed that way. I'll admit I am a bit surprised they reverted it, but not shocked.

For further clarification, are the tier 4 powers still available at lvl 14 or are they back to level 20?

Gah! Now that Zwillinger has stated I will still need to take Stimulant to get Aid Self, I am concerned once again.

8/30/11

Indeed, in the future tangents will cost 200 PP. But they are account wide.

Indeed. Come Freedom, everyone will be able to choose any of the first 3 powers of any pool at level 4. Aid Self? Yep. Tough? Sure thing. Fly? You bet. Any at level 4.

I still think everyone should be allowed to choose one travel power at creation. Of course, I think the travel powers should be costume options. Combat powers like Combat Jumping and Hover should be the advanced versions available through the pools. Speed of travel is not the advanced factor, control is.

It is so very good. I wish we could have flaming effects due to this. I'd love the warhammer my WP/Mace uses to have flames coming off it.

It should be noted that the Hami jelly already has an effect like this. I can certainly see asking for it to be more pronounced, but it affects your speed and also gives those in it bonus jumping skills (which I assume is supposed to represent that you can swim in it a little bit, but the fluid is still less dense than you are, so gravity pulls you back down).

Welcome back. I have a few comments and ideas for you to toss around in your mind.

1) The speed of leveling to the 20s has been improved dramatically over the past 2 years. If you really find yourself turned off by /Fire Manip, starting fresh is not a huge chore (you can always keep the Fire/Fire in case you decide to pick it up later). /Mental is a good choice for a ranger as is /Nrg. /Ice or /Devices can be used as well to a lesser extent (well, devices is great for a ranger, but it has certain unique properties that you can either love or hate).

2) While /Fire Manip is best played as a meleer, it is actually not a terrible choice for a ranger. Ring of Fire is the best ranged attack in any of the blaster secondaries. I have a Fire/Fire blaster who just chose Ring of Fire, Fire Sword, Build Up, and Consume. It is a great ranger build. You hit Aim or Build Up, then Fire Breath followed by Fire Ball (I also took Rain of Fire for when I fight up-level enemies). Single target attacks to finish survivors (Blaze, of course, but Fire Sword is also very handy here, then you can follow with your lesser attacks).

3) Some people find that they start dying less when they use the melee attacks. Fire Sword is a great way to speed elimination of a Lt. who is causing issues. Fire Sword Circle is a great help in quickly shrinking enemy numbers. The key is movement. Blasters are best when they move around during most fights and this is key to survive using melee attacks. I have a Fire/Fire blaster who took all but Combustion and Burn from /Manip and only has 4 primary powers (Flares, Ball, Aim, Blaze). Living in near melee range but wiggling around inside the spawn keeps me able to use my melee powers while most enemies end up using range attacks anyway.

4) Teaming is awesome. Having a tanker/brute/MM get enemy attention first greatly frees up a blaster. Having a controller/defender/corruptor/dominator to cripple enemies or empower you is very helpful. Even just a duo, Blaster + aggro control or Blaster + buffer is very potent and can free a blaster to really pump out damage.

5) Blazing Bolt is a fine choice for solo play. I do not personally like snipes, but hitting a target before the fight starts with a big shot of damage is not a bad tactical choice.

Handled with care, possibly. The auras around the blue mitos already remind me a bit of this. However, this can easily become trite or overdone. I'd much rather have the smooth, purple Hami pulse more (or maybe ripple) than have it grow feelers. The mitos and the other DE are its feelers, it is perfect in its simplicity. Having tendrils or tentacles come up out of the ground might be cool though.

This is game mechanics (yes art would need to support it, but the premise is a game mechanic change). I kind of figure the mito blooms were somewhat trying to represent this. Would I prefer a more visual bloom? Sure. Would I prefer the trial to have multiple mechanics instead of one repeated 3 times? Hell, yes. Still, not really an art issue until the mechanic itself is chosen to be altered. However, splitting cells and/or cells that moved a bit was one of the reasons for feeling that a bigger Hami might be needed.

I'd like that personally. You would have to be cautious, because that could distort our vision too much, but it is a cool idea.

Hmm. Not sure I like this idea. The lack of texture is a feature in some ways. I feel the same about this as I do about the Cilia. I think it could be easy to make Hami too visually complicated.

Thess could work. Some of my hesitation on cluttering up the Hami exists here, but this is more of a landscape/scenery change. Also, when I mentioned making Hami bigger, extra scenery was one of the reasons.

Hit effects would be good, but I also have a decent computer. People make me not use my Clarion when on Hami raids to lower graphics issues for many people. Personally, I would love Cytoplasm Bursts, especially if it would be something that might only display on better graphic settings (that way people with slower comps are not negatively impacted).

Actually, the DoT has a stack limit as well. I am pretty sure the limit is 6, but my testing was not definitive enough to rule out the possibility of the limit being 5. It is actually pretty easy to test if you can get multiple people to attack the same target (the dummies in the RWZ are good for this).

Get 3 or 4 people with reactive to non-stop attack a dummy. Then make an attack yourself. Unless you attack just as one stack goes away, your DoT will not fire off. And all the Reactive DoTs are treated as the same power for this purpose. This means a bunch of people with the 25% chance DoT Reactive can prevent the much better 75% chance DoT from applying. It is kind of an odd situation.

Here is a link to my post regarding the tests I did.

Hamidon is pretty cool because he is colorful and large AND because he is a bunch of separate giant single cells. I actually like the auras around each cell that were added. Is he too static? I would say yes. That is not an art issue though, but instead a game mechanic concern.

Would it be cooler if the Mitos moved around the central cell? Absolutely. Is that feasible? I see lots of problems with it both from the developer PoV and also from the PoV of a raider trying to fight the thing. Would I want Hami made smaller to solve that issue? Nope. Maybe larger though...

I think you missed that he was talking about how much he liked it as is!

You have already received good advice on the better ranged sets, so I will not rehash that. However, I can offer some advice which may help you better keep your overview even in melee (you may play a melee character again sometime). Pull your camera out. It can take some getting used to the wider view and being farther away from your character, but it is well worth the learning curve to gain better situational awareness long-term.