Umbral

Short answer, no, it wouldn't be better.

Long answer, no, it wouldn't be better because the chance for BU is only a 5% chance. That amounts to a 5% increase in damage for the next 3-5 attacks after you use it which definitely does not offset the fact that you're not giving Follow Up, which is actually one of your better attacks, any damage slotting. If you really wanted to go with the Gauss proc in FU, I'd probably go without the Gaussian's 6 piece (whoop-de-do, 2.5% +def to all positions... now you just gotta grab another ToD/Oblit and 3 slot a trans power) and just give FU a nice 5 piece IO set (Crushing Impact or Hecatomb) and the Gauss proc.

No. They're capitalizing on an exploit that the devs will, hopefully, nix quite soon.

I think that's probably one of the biggest votes of confidence I've gotten concerning one of my builds in a good, long while.

I don't have a Fire/Regen toon, but I've got a Fire/Regen build that people have done quite well with. It's not perma-DP because I wasn't going gangbusters for +rech since it's substantially harder to get without purple IOs unless you're willing to set mule (which I am loathe to). It does, however, manage 35.8% +def(melee) and the Incin>Scorch>Cremate>Scorch attack string for potent ST damage.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

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Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Fiery Melee
Secondary Power Set: Regeneration
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Scorch -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), T'Death-Dam%(7)
Level 1: Fast Healing -- Heal-I(A)
Level 2: Cremate -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(7), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(9), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), T'Death-Dam%(11)
Level 4: Quick Recovery -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(13), EndMod-I(13)
Level 6: Reconstruction -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(15), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Dct'dW-Heal(17), Dct'dW-Rchg(17)
Level 8: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(50), Winter-ResSlow(50)
Level 10: Dull Pain -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(19), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Dct'dW-Heal(21), Dct'dW-Rchg(21)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(48)
Level 16: Integration -- RgnTis-Regen+(A), Numna-Heal(25), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(25), Heal-I(27)
Level 18: Fire Sword Circle -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(27), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(29), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Oblit-%Dam(31)
Level 20: Build Up -- AdjTgt-Rchg(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(31)
Level 22: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(33), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 26: Incinerate -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(33), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(34), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), T'Death-Dam%(36)
Level 28: Instant Healing -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(36), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Dct'dW-Heal(37), Dct'dW-Rchg(37)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(37), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 32: Greater Fire Sword -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(39), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(39), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), T'Death-Dam%(42)
Level 35: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(40), LkGmblr-Def(42)
Level 38: Moment of Glory -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(42), RechRdx-I(43), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 41: Focused Accuracy -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(43), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(45), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(45), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(45), GSFC-Build%(46)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(46), P'Shift-End%(46), P'Shift-EndMod(48), EndMod-I(50)
Level 47: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(48)
Level 49: Resilience -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run

Fitness.

I wouldn't make it based on the thumbtack since the thumbtack doesn't give you a nice, reliable z-axis (or is it y-axis for vert). I've had thumbtacks that were suspended in mid-air or disappeared into the ground.

I'm not entirely sure it's possible, but, then again, I'm not entirely sure it isn't possible. As a power, it probably wouldn't work because you'd need to have a target or targeted location that you pick at the time of the teleport. As a function that can be ingrained in a power, it would probably work because you just store a location variable in the same way that the mission teleporter grabs your mission's door location and teleport to that zone and location upon use. It might require a pair of powers (one to store the location and another to teleport there), or, conversely, it might just require one (first activation stores current location, second teleports to location and deletes stored location, repeat).

Maximum regen is not an issue for you. You cannot reach the maximum regen on your own. Maximum regen is 3000%. What changing that slotting will do is give you a roughly 40% more +regen than your previous build was.

I generally aim for 30% melee and 20-25% ranged and AoE. Recharge is still very important (you has clickies! +rech makes your clickies happy! happy clickies are good */Regen!), however, so don't dump your +rech too much.

Keep in mind that, if you only ever plan on farming groups that deal with a single damage type, going for that damage type will be substantially better for you. Smash/lethal is quite easy to get a hold and will do much more for you because you're only having to focus on a single damage type that will do the work of all three positionals (in those situations). If you want more universal survivability, positional is the way to go, but, if you know what you'll be fighting, typed is probably more cost and slot effective.

I can't imagine why you would need anything other than Power Sink, honestly. When you're getting back all of your endurance every 30 seconds, is there really anything else you need?

I consider 1.32 seconds long considering (1) it doesn't deal any damage and (2) if I want to get any decent benefit from it against a hard target that would actually necessitate the use of it against (i.e. an AV), I have to spam the crap out of it, which means using up more animation time. It's for the same reason that I think any mez/debuff that needs substantial reapplication but takes longer than half a second to animate takes too long to animate.

In my calculations, I fully factored in Voltaic Sentinel into my calculations and I go nowhere near the same level as you did. In fact, I found Elec Blast to be pretty much where player experience has found it to perform in single target blasting. As to using the Snipe in mid-combat, there is no decent reason to use the Snipe in mid-combat: the animation takes so long that you'd actually do more damage just waiting for your other powers to recharge or using an AoE to get a little bit of damage on that target, even if you have to waste a little bit of endurance. The fact that it's interruptible so that you can actually lose out on the animation time "investment" makes it even less valuable. Snipes are largely useless powers where actual ST damage is concerned because they simply take too long to deal too little damage with too much risk of not getting anything out of it. They're a nice way to get some single target alpha, but, once the fur starts flying, snipes should, almost universally, be left untouched.

I'm still curious about how exactly you got those numbers. I know that both you and Arcanaville both use PeakDR systems (a system that I don't have even the remotest trust in thanks to assumptions that ignore fundamental elements of attack string design), but I've never actually seen any math or calculations along the way that allow anyone to check your calculations. While I can respect wanting to keep your work to yourself, I'm not entirely sure I can trust what is touted as accurate and valuable information when it's actually in rather stark contrast to other calculations as well as widely gained player experience.

Yeah, I've always touted PR as a powerful tool for single target damage, but I've never considered it of much use for AoE. I've talked to a number of DP players in game that think that DP is supposed to be better at AoE damage than almost any other set because it has "4 AoEs". PR isn't an AoE. Its thin arc and limited number of targets, coupled with the long recharge time, prevent it from being treated like Fireball or Empty Clips. As far as I'm concerned, it's a single target attack that can get some "free" secondary targets, just like Headsplitter and Golden Dragonfly.

There's a reason I don't count Piercing Rounds or it's -res in an AoE context. It's a good deal easier than it was early in beta, but it's still not particularly reliable.

The big thing is that Drain Psyche has already shown that the devs don't really care about Blasters getting incredible levels of damage recovery. It probably helps that, thanks to lower blaster hp and hp caps, it's not like Blasters are especially capable of capitalizing on self heals and other forms of damage recovery because they've got no native damage mitigation to make it useful.

That's really some questionable design. It's pretty much top competitive with Fire on the sheer damage capability when you think about it. You're giving it 3 ST attacks, 3 AoE attacks, Aim, a Snipe, and a nuke. That's the exact layout of Fire Blast, except that it's better because one of the AoE you gave is also an incredibly powerful mez power (Tenebrous Tents). That design makes almost no sense when you consider that Dark is supposed to be a utility "element", not a pure damage AoE element (which makes even less sense when you consider how no Dark Damage set is actually an AoE damage powerhouse).

In order to make it "fit", it would probably need to have an AoE power removed (most likely Tenebrous Tents) and replaced with either an ST attack or an ST mez effect (or have Torrent put back in as the mez power).

Manipulation sets are not intended to be ranged damage sets. There is no precedent for putting in a decent damage, full strength, ranged mez attack power into a manipulation set, much less one that is supposed to be an in-game character's Special Attack (which is why only Soul Mastery gets it and why the only enemy in game that uses it is GW). Arguing that the set would be better because you're providing a "ranged tier 3" in the manipulation set is even worse because you shouldn't have to pair a thematic set together just to get it to work. The closest precedent you get for ranged hard control effects is Scare, which is a rather weak mez effect (fear) and deals no damage.

Oppressive Gloom is also pretty unlikely because it pretty much lets you waltz into melee and knock out every minion in existence. There is a reason I provided a modified melee AoE stun rather than a toggle AoE stun in my version: Oppressive Gloom is friggin' powerful and there isn't really a given precedent for adding something like that to a manipulation set. If that power was in there, SO grade blasters would have no problem soloing +1-2/x8 with no bosses because you'd just knock out everything in existence just by closing with it. The fact that you'd be able to bring this to bear with a set like Fire or Archery would simply make it worse. OG has about the same likelihood of showing up in a Blaster Manipulation set as a god mode or a self-rez.

I really don't think that Midnight Grasp would show up. The only Manipulation set that has an ST attack as the culminating power is Energy Manipulation, which isn't much of a precedent. It's much more likely to see some AoE style attack or control power of some kind, especially when dealing with what is supposed to be a "utility" element rather than a damage focused element.

I'm always like this. It's part of my indelible charm.

Devices doesn't.

Except that they're not. Look at Psi Blast for Defenders and Blasters. Please learn what you're talking about first.

Except that they also changed the order around.

Those are hilarious because they're completely and totally untrue! Hilarious!

That's pretty much blatantly false. Good job looking at what has happened with actual proliferations.

One of the other possibilities would be to simply create a second BABs or a third War Witch that act as regular contacts rather than trainers. Each individual contact node is different and what skin the model is wearing doesn't really matter, much less the name that the contact node has. I haven't ever seen a problem with allowing contacts to have multiple nodes at once. Hell, Statesman is supposed to be kidnapped for the entirety of the Hero's Hero arc and he's still just standing there in IP. If multiple incarnations in multiple places mattered, you wouldn't be able to take part in an STF until you had finished the arc and rescued him.

I specifically brought up that issue in the post Sam quoted. Even in foes that are resistant to fire and weak to cold, the comparative damage advantage of the weakness compared to the resistance is completely mitigated by the bonus DoT offered by Incendiary Ammunition.

The problem with counting on the secondary effects to accomplish much is that you need to stack them very heavily to see much benefit from either. Unless you're talking about beating down on single hard targets like bosses, EBs, AVs, and GMs, the secondary effects of Dual Pistols aren't going to generate much of an effect: Chem Rounds' -dam needs to be stacked heavily in order to generate a substantive survival benefit and Cryo Rounds' -rech doesn't really accomplish much for pretty much the same reason (and the fact that it doesn't do much to decrease the damage capability of NPCs thanks to purple patch and enemies attacking often even with substantial slow effects). The only secondary effects that are going to have a meaningful effect over a vast majority of solo and group play with Dual Pistols are the chance for KB/KD in Standard Ammo and the always useful bonus DoT with Incendiary Ammo. The -dam is only effective when you're stacking it with other -dam effects and, even then, only against hard targets wherein you actually have the time to stack the debuff up.

Post your build (or your math), and we'll check your numbers out. The only possible reason I can see that you're even close to competing with his DPS is that you're operating under the assumption of max +dam while he wasn't.

By the way, what attack string are you using in order to generate your numbers?