StratoNexus
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Based on my experiences in the trial, I think it is important to have each team's tank remain under each team's cube. This ensures that the new spawns stay tightly packed for quick killing, so that you can get back to beating on the aspect asap (which is also useful on the cubes protecting the obelisks). It would be good to suggest setting the tanker on your team as your waypoint, that can help make heading back to your team's cube faster.
Having everyone just spam any long recharge -regen is also probably to be avoided. A few people should be trying to make sure they use something just before the shield goes back up (Howling Twilgiht, LR, and EM Pulse are nice long lasting ones). Obviously you want to hit several -regen powers at the start of the fight and then throughout, but some people should be designated to make sure they have something at about the 40 second mark, so you can get a few -regen powers off just before the shield goes back up.
When first entering the Cathedral, it is important to mention staying close to the wall in order to avoid aggro. It is also important for team leaders to move to their team's cube asap (which means they should know which is theirs before the trial even starts), as the rest of the team is likely to be looking for where the leader is going.
If something goes wrong and the Aspect is back at full health anyway, regrouping should be called quickly. If the Aspect is at full health anyway, there is no reason to try to salvage a bad situation. Have everyone exit the cathedral quickly, let the spawns reset, and then start over from a calmer situation. Obviously, if the Aspect's health is down a good deal and something goes wrong, you will want to try to salvage without a retreat. However, when trying to do that, an eye should be kept on the Aspects health. If it gets back up to full or near full and the room is still in bad shape, call the regroup.
Based on what I have seen, a solid but not exceptional group can take the Aspect down in 4 or 5 respawns, which should take about 5 to 8 minutes. As long as you have more time than that still on the clock, there is no reason to feel rushed. Regrouping will save time more often than not, so it should be used often, until more people are comfortable with the trial. -
Quote:I am pretty sure the damage level of MMs would be much lower without their debuffs, so they do not really have peak end damage. The debuffs work that way so that entire teams can benefit from them. This has long been the balance struggle with Rad, and has expanded as other debuff sets have been improved (Dark Miasma) or added (Traps, TA). In order to make sure the debuffs are useful to a team, they tend to allow one to do nifty things solo.Originally Posted by Another_Fan
Masterminds are more survivable than just about anything else in the game because they can simply not be the target. If they decide to be the target they have more hitpoints and regeneration than just about anything else in the game. Bodyguard mode + Ability to resummon pets + Self heal.
To couple that with peak end single target damage and very good AoE damage well it does explain the non explanation of game balance from the developer QA, and Castle's rush to cover the non explanation.
IME though, they do not overshadow others on a team. Those debuffs amplify scrapper, brute, dominator, stalker, and blaster damage as well as the pet's.
I believe you can do it with just SOs, but the build requires skipping Stamina. After I19, that will not be a concern.Quote:Originally Posted by Another_Fan
You can actually cap without any IOs other than a steadfast. I believe someone made the claim awhile
If you don't take combat jumping you have to find ~3% defense from IO slotting, I really don't know how much more minimal it could be.
Buff/debuff teams require constant attention by the buff/debuffers no matter who you add. That is not a drawback of adding a blaster, that is just how those teams work. You are constantly buffing, debuffing, and attacking. Except when one forms by accident, you normally run a team like that for non-stop carnage, which means you are likely buffing on the run. If you are keeping the buffs up, then no one on the team has any extra attention requirements above anyone else.Quote:Originally Posted by Another_Fan
On a mixed buff debuff team its almost always better to add another buffer/debuffer than it is to add a blaster. The only times its not are when the team has already maxed out on a quantity +def,+dam,-res etc and adding an additional buffer/debuffer of type x adds nothing.
At the above point you can ask the question what is better to have ? Control, aggro management, flexibility or additional damage that requires constant attention from the buff debuff team.
I am also not sold on the fact that it is always better to add more buff/debuff. There comes a time when just having people on the team whose sole purpose is to press attack buttons seems valuable. And I believe that happens long before all the +damage and -resist caps are reached. Against only AVs, it is likely that more buff/debuff is always better. Outside of that, it is probably faster to have people who don't bother with any setup and just charge in shooting/hacking. -
Quote:I am interested in why you think controllers only function well in very specific cases? IME, it is the other way around. Controllers do very well in most of the game, but in rare, specific cases, things can go south quickly.Originally Posted by Arbegla
Controllers are in the same boat as Masterminds. In very specific cases they can out damage and out survive anything, but Take them out of those very specific cases, and things just go south quickly. Illusion control is able to completely DPS within the safety of phantom army, which itself is able to out damage it's own heal component and deal massive DPS.
I think blasters work great on teams. I love playing them solo as well. I still think blasters will perish more than all the other ATs, as that is a design principle of the AT. -
Quote:The I18 changes have made it so that your first statement is normally true, although with Fury a Brute can pull ahead in some very rare cases. The I18 changes have made you second statement untrue. Buffed scrappers now out damage buffed Brutes, which makes sense since buffed Brutes have more survivability than buffed scrappers.Originally Posted by Winza
Using the same powers, un-buffed, no insps or anything: Scrapper does more damage.
Same powers, buffed, all in: Brutes do more damage. -
Quote:Mid/Fire Dom and killing things leisurely seem like antitheses. You have too much killing power to bother taking your time, IMO.Originally Posted by Metatron_NA
However, to BBQ things at my leisure - my BBQ tools will be AoEs: Fireball, Firebreath, RoF - therefor Sleep would not seem ot be the best method for locking them down while I AoE flambeau them, right?
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Quote:Another little piece of me just died. I am crying now.Originally Posted by Arbegla
I play my blasters from range, and have little issue with them. I know that if I venture into melee, with my lack of standard defenses, that I will face plant, as I'm not designed to stand toe to toe with melee mobs. The description for a blaster specifically states its a Ranged damage toon.
I hope you are happy!
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Quote:You are honestly proposing that any level of defense under 45% is overly under-performing? What does that even mean, overly under-performing?Originally Posted by Cyber_naut
The devs clearly feel capped defenses are too powerful, while ignoring the fact defense is overly underperforming before soft cap,
The full-time part is not as concerning to me as the entire faction part (and the combination of the two is concerning). OTOH, DE were always hard on defense, thanks to quartzes, so this is not particularly new (although I was never a huge fan of how strong quartzes were, but it sure does make you want to target them fast). Of course, with quartzes, there were actions you could take to help yourself, which made that type of thing more interesting than just increasing the base to-hit.Quote:Originally Posted by UberGuy
having it apply to an entire faction of mobs full-time is overly severe, IMO. Having powers that grant it temporarily or conditionally (like build-up) I am more OK with.
Is there anything we can glean from the fact that it is 64%? Is it significant that it is a power of 2? Is the 14% higher than 50% meaningful? -
Quote:I think you are missing my point. You have the habit of saving Build Up for the next spawn, because you never had a choice before. With good slotting Build Up takes 40 seconds to recharge. Most spawns do not last that long.Originally Posted by Jibikao
I just have the habit of saving Build Up for next spawn.
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Quote:Heh. I very much want my dominators to play like a blaster. My Mind/Fire and my Fire/Earth are designed primarily as damage output, with some extra control, if I need it. I will frequently forgo the control if I can get away with just using my pure damage powers.Originally Posted by Rieze
You seem to be looking for a fire/MM/fire or fire/ice/fire blaster.
I love that dominators allow for such a breadth of playstyles. -
Quote:I'd have to agree with that sentiment as well as reiterate that my experience with people's opinions in game and then on the forums are very much not the same. Eeveryone in my SG who has tried it, love sit. Everyone I have every played with that had Dual Pistols and commented on it, has had positive things to say. By contrast, I have seen some of the very same complaints in game as I have on the forums about Kinetic Melee (another set I think is absolutely fantastic).Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim
I still think some of the grumpiness we've seen about Dual Pistols is because it wasn't better than everything else, but middle of the road. Because I'm finding it to work as well as the other Blast sets I've tried out.
Even before the buff to HoB, Dual Pistols was very good AoE damage, with respectable single target output on top of that. The buff to HoB makes the set a no-brainer when it comes to dishing out AoE. I don't even think anything of switching between my Fire/Fire and my DP/Fire. Both are extremely good. -
Quote:IMO, it is OK to give certain mobs uniform +tohit, because it is OK that certain mobs are more difficult for various types of mitigation strategies. It was NOT OK when every Lt, Boss, or higher level mob in the game had that property.Originally Posted by UberGuy
The problem with giving any mobs uniform +toHit is that it causes them to be disproportionally harder against characters who have +defense than against those who have other methods of mitigation, such as resistance, debuffs, control, or +regen/heals. A mob with (using a round number for examples only) +12.5% toHit deals 125% as much average damage as it would with no +toHit against people with no defense. But if you pick someone who has 25% defense, that mob starts dealing 150% as much average damage than it did before. This is, IMO, a balance nightmare, where how challenging these mobs are becomes a function of how much defense each character has and how heavily it depends on that defense to survive.
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Quote:It is not possible for the -recharge of Cold to even matter. After all, the whole reason I kicked the FF defender off my team to invite the Cold was because the Cold makes me kill stuff so fast the enemies don't get a 2nd volley anyway. Right? Right?Originally Posted by Thinkso
Also when I say 'short term' it has to essentially be capped at the initial volley (ie however many attacks the foe(s) have before needing to repeat attacks) from the foes because the -rech of cold will kick in. Cold very easily -rech caps +1's with its 'every spawn' powers of just sleet and snowstorm. Aside from that both sets are both good at breaking up the flow of attacks with sleet and Rbomb+Fbubble respectively.
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Quote:Well, before KM, we only used Build Up once in a spawn because it doesn't recharge fast enough to use it more often. There are also plenty of times where after killing spawn A, it is not recharged yet for spawn B.Originally Posted by Jibikao
I don't know about you but how many Build Up do you normally use in a spawn? I normally only use once and then save it for next spawn. To me, this feature doesn't matter to me at all. It may matter when I am facing a Hero but the chance is still only 20% and Kin's build up has the longest activation at 1.9s?
They are fixing the KM Build Up so that it has the same cast time as all the others. -
Quote:But, but... you called a Fire/SR part of a squishy duo?Originally Posted by mauk2
MALTA at +2x8? With a squishy duo?
LOL, that's simple enough to fix:
I think that may be one of my new favorite missions. I was running my Fire/Rad/Earth controller with a SG mate's Fire/Kin/Fire controller and my wife's Rad/Fire/Flame blaster. Needles to say we run on +2 / x8 a lot, because it is a potent trio.
I had no idea how that mission worked, it was the first time I had done it. Of course we talk to the longbow guy, rescue Frostfire, and click the glowy. I am not sure if you can do it less insane if you hold back on performing one of those things, but it was awesome.
Vengeances and Fallouts and Rises of the Phoenix. Missles and bullets and Plasma Blasts. Titans and more Titans and TPing bosses. And what a great map choice. You have terrain and tactical options galore in there. So beautiful. -
Quote:I would guess that most players do not actually have problems with how blasters play. We on the forums may gripe or debate the situation, but I don't see this kind of issue in game. I frequently see people wanting to switch to their blaster or already on blasters when I do searches.Originally Posted by Shubbie
Players view balance as how do you compare with something else.
Do blasters get enough in return for their complete lack of doing anything other than damage, no
Blasters get a lot in return for their squishiness. The big problem is, you can never get "enough" to compensate the fact that you are squishy (because getting "enough", by its very nature, will make you not squishy). If we premise the AT on the fact that what they do is dangerous and will get them killed without outside help, then we have to accept that they WILL get killed more than other ATs.
That leaves two questions (three really, but two are related):
Do they fall within the acceptable reward generation range?
Are they fun? Do people play them?
They will never be "as good" as any other AT on SOs. As good as you can make some select sets with IOs, there will always be more and more varied sets in other ATs that will be "even more good" with IOs. -
Storm, Dark, FF
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Quote:Doesn't handle adds as well...Originally Posted by Talen Lee
Safety is for Mind/ and Plant/. Fire is riskier, doesn't handle adds as well, but does a ton of damage.
You don't really need Smoke or Bonfire, Ring of Fire is skippable until the late game when you have regular encounters with AVs.
You don't really need Smoke or Bonfire...
The former conclusion is likely based on the latter belief.
Let me make it known that on both my Fire controller and my Fire dominator, I have skipped both Smoke and Bonfire. But Smoke prevents adds unbelievably well, IME, and Bonfire is very useful vs. ambushes or adds (I may skip them, but I know and play with others who have not). I don't mind playing it riskier, but it is not due to a lack of good stuff in the set, it's just a lack of me taking that good stuff. -
Quote:At that slotting, vs +2s, the fear will last ~33 seconds. Are spawns generally lasting that long?Originally Posted by Metatron_NA
Terrify winds up with the following numbers:
- 12 second recharge
- 41 second duration (important if it is suposed to hold the confused folk in place, Mass Confusion lasts 53 sec.)
- 68% Damage
- 103.6% Accuracy.
I'd consider dropping one of the Fear IOs and slotting a Detonation or Air Burst Acc/Dam. That will reduce the Fear Duration to 32 seconds, which drops down to 25 seconds vs. +2s. After 25 seconds, most of what had been Terrified should be dead anyway. Not that it matters all that much since all of these slots are coming as you retire the character anyway. -
Quote:Exactly. I love team synergy like that. Armored toons jump in and start on the bosses. Controls and debuffs get layed down nearly simultaneously. Blasters/defenders/corruptors/dominators kill off minions and lts with their generally larger sized AoEs. In our idealized world, the bosses are now either dead or very close, which the blaster can take care of while the armoreds and controllers/dominators are charging forward into the next group looking for bosses with full hitpoints and aggro control to lay down.Originally Posted by Another_Fan
The melee can start with the hard targets.
I love steamrolling teams. -
Quote:I included Arctic Fog's defense. When it comes to damage I was not speaking of FB, but Repulsion Bomb. I agree RB could stand some improvement, I mentioned that is not a ton of damage, but it is also not insignificant.Originally Posted by Rockmar
As I have said before, yes the mez protection is nice, but to sacrificie all the debuffs and the non defense buffs from cold for something that can be covered by a break free doesn't seem terribly practical to me. Saying the 5% defense wasn't a misdirection, I said the value was unenhanced, and I am not in a position to check the numbers, but did you include the 5% defense from Arctic Fog in that equation? And I didn't count Force Bolt as damage because the damage is quite literally negligible unless you slotted it out with procs and repulsion bomb isn't a significant source of damage and really shouldn't be treated as such. And when not properly directed knockback can often be more detrimental to a team than helpful, although many people know how to use it to its best effect, many more do not.
If you can cover the mez hole with a breakfree, I can increase my damage with a red. Yes, its still not as awesome as Sleet and Benumb, but I might also need some purples with the Cold defender in order to make up the gap to the cap or maybe a few extra greens since I might take more damage.
Meh. Colds are awesome, especially once you throw AVs into the equation. I'd have to think that on most teams, especially in a TF, a Cold is likely the "better" option. Better enough to matter on most teams? Probably not. I think terribly overshadowed is an exaggeration, but then again, you can never have too much Freezing Rain (or Sleet).Quote:Originally Posted by Rockmar
And lastly, again, I am not opposed to FF, I feel its being terribly overshadowed by cold. I have FFs, I play them and I play with them, but its frustrating when colds can do so much more, and are just a better boon to a team in my experience. -
Quote:The OP was a joke, right? I thought it was joke (and probably a troll). I mean I love Caltrops and it probably would be huge boon if all Stalkers had it, but concept-wise it is kind of ham-handed.Originally Posted by Leo_G
Conceptually, no, caltrops is not general enough to fit as an inherent. In a pool, perhaps.
I just prefer to look at the OP as I do a good political cartoon. The interesting meaning to me is that a few, big AoE, debuff/control powers would go a long way for the AT. -
Quote:When your argument is based on DPAs and damage generated over time and the premise that scrappers can deal as much damage as blasters in a set amount of time, then the area of the AoEs DOES matter.Originally Posted by Another_Fan
You need to re-read. The Area of an aoe only matters when you cant pack your enemies into the space where it will hit. It doesn't matter if ignite or burn has a small radius if you can fit everyone in it before you fire.
Sure, I can collapse the spawn with my Kat/Inv or Kat/Fire scrapper and be likely to survive the extra hits I take in order to spend the time doing so. My AR/Men blaster just runs up, picks something in the back and starts shooting. The enormous size of the AoEs saves time, allowing me to put out more damage, quicker, because I don't need to spend time packing my enemies into a tight space.
There is a reason the more popular melee farmers have AoEs that are bigger (Spines, SS, Shield, Electric). Bigger AoEs save time, because you can start attacking sooner. -
Quote:Mez protection is big, IME. It is hard to quantify its value, but you don't generally see builds that can have mez protection skip it.Originally Posted by Rockmar
Lately I can't find a single worthwhile reason to take FF over Cold, and that makes me sad. Cold seems to bring so much more to the table; Defense, Awesome Debuff, +HP, Stealth, Knockdown, and +Recov. Whereas FF only brings 5% more defence than cold unenhanced (defender numbers), mez protection, and repel/knockback.
Saying that FF only brings 5% more defense is a bit of a misnomer (or possibly a purposeful distortion). Slotted Cold is bringing 31.6% D vs. slotted FF bringing 39.5% D. Adding slotted Maneuvers to both brings Cold up to 37.1% D and brings FF up to 45%. Those are large swings in mitigation.
FF also brings direct damage. It is not a ton. It certainly does not match what Sleet will do for a team. But it exists and should be listed.
All in all, Cold is an excellent set. If you prefer it, I recommend sticking to it and feel free to ignore players of FF. That way I can invite them to my team.
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I want to echo your own sentiment on global damage. I find it is a great thing to have after you have taken your recharge to already high levels.
Without regard to using Melt Armor as a mule, Melt Armor is a terrible power. I did not bother saying anything earlier, because you took it at 49 and I knew you would use it twice and then shelve the character.
IMO, you would be better off taking anything else at 47. I mean anything. Flurry, Jump Kick, and Blazing Bolt are all better choices. Of course you could also take good things like Tactics, Maneuvers (and get your LotG back, even if you never turn Maneuvers on), Fire Shield sooner, maybe phase shift (if you like oh crap buttons). -
What Muon said. I want to emphasize Blaze. Its Blaze. Blaze at 18. It is better than good, its Blaze.