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Well, I respecced my emp last night and played a bit in RV. I can confirm that good emps can still make a big difference, especially when teamed with other buffer(s). 
Phase does seem to be enough to survive. I went with PB, like some here suggested. Don't think I died a single time...although the heroes were kinda camping the vils in their base.
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And we have a winner 
See, buffers still do fine, especially in zones. You just have to "realize" the new pvp rules, and build to your advantage. Yes, you'll have to "re-learn" a few things, but I don't think that that is beyond anyone's capacity here guys.
I think it's a bit of a leap to say "buffers still do just fine" simply because an empath can do okay and make a difference. Of course you can "make a difference" if one side has an empath and the other side doesn't have any healers. Empathy buffs are +damage, +regen, and +recovery, along with their heals. The impact of DR on those buffs isn't as noticeable. The only thing that's really impacted is their healing, but if you're using absorb pain, you can still hit people with big heals a couple times. However, what about all the other sets, who DON'T have access to something like AP?
Now try the same thing with a thermal. Or a cold dom. Or a FF character.
Then say "oh, it's just fine, my buffs made a big difference".
One set doing okay does NOT make up for all the others being crushed under DR. If every OFFENSIVE set except for one were sucking wind in PvP, would it be just fine, because everyone could just use that one set and still be effective? Would you say "damage-dealers are just fine, look at this one set"? I don't think so.
The Mastermind Project
Leveling every primary/secondary to 50!
50: Bot/FF, Bot/Dark, Ninja/Trap, Merc/Pain, Necro/Dark, Thug/Dark
Works in Progress: Thug/TA, Merc/Poison, Thug/Pain, Ninja/Pain, Thug/Storm
There's another thing worth noting - most complaints about buffers aren't complaining about the nerfing of offensive buffing (+dam, +tohit, +rech, +percep). Instead, they're complaining about the nerfing of defensive buffs (debuff resistances, mez protection, +def, +res). I'll always be grateful when I get Forge, or Painbringer, or Fortitude, because I know those powers are helping me do more damage against whatever I'm attacking. When I see Cold or Therm shields on me, I just shrug and say "meh" because I know those powers are having a negligible impact on my survivability.
People who say Emps/Pains are worthless are seriously underselling those powersets. Any set with access to +tohit and +dam that also has Absorb Pain (or Share Pain, in the case of PD) can make a significant contribution because it provides offensive buffing as well as a massive heal which can be used to partially overcome heal decay when it's at its worst.
@macskull, @Not Mac | XBL: macskull | Steam: macskull | Skype: macskull
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
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I think it's a bit of a leap to say "buffers still do just fine" simply because an empath can do okay and make a difference. Of course you can "make a difference" if one side has an empath and the other side doesn't have any healers. Empathy buffs are +damage, +regen, and +recovery, along with their heals. The impact of DR on those buffs isn't as noticeable. The only thing that's really impacted is their healing, but if you're using absorb pain, you can still hit people with big heals a couple times. However, what about all the other sets, who DON'T have access to something like AP?
Now try the same thing with a thermal. Or a cold dom. Or a FF character.
Then say "oh, it's just fine, my buffs made a big difference".
One set doing okay does NOT make up for all the others being crushed under DR. If every OFFENSIVE set except for one were sucking wind in PvP, would it be just fine, because everyone could just use that one set and still be effective? Would you say "damage-dealers are just fine, look at this one set"? I don't think so.
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The only "buff set" that I think was somewhat seriously hurt/crippled in the new pvp system is Sonic. Simply because, now Sonic Resonance brings very very little to a team, outside of a dependable single target -res debuff.
All other sets, to include FF, are fine. Sure, some of their toys aren't as useful anymore, but they have other VERY useful toys that they can still fall back on, so it's not a wash at all.
Dahjee does PvP a lot and has for a long time. I'm not really interested in this argument, but I can confirm that at least.
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I think it's a bit of a leap to say "buffers still do just fine" simply because an empath can do okay and make a difference. Of course you can "make a difference" if one side has an empath and the other side doesn't have any healers. Empathy buffs are +damage, +regen, and +recovery, along with their heals. The impact of DR on those buffs isn't as noticeable. The only thing that's really impacted is their healing, but if you're using absorb pain, you can still hit people with big heals a couple times. However, what about all the other sets, who DON'T have access to something like AP?
Now try the same thing with a thermal. Or a cold dom. Or a FF character.
Then say "oh, it's just fine, my buffs made a big difference".
One set doing okay does NOT make up for all the others being crushed under DR. If every OFFENSIVE set except for one were sucking wind in PvP, would it be just fine, because everyone could just use that one set and still be effective? Would you say "damage-dealers are just fine, look at this one set"? I don't think so.
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The only "buff set" that I think was somewhat seriously hurt/crippled in the new pvp system is Sonic. Simply because, now Sonic Resonance brings very very little to a team, outside of a dependable single target -res debuff.
All other sets, to include FF, are fine. Sure, some of their toys aren't as useful anymore, but they have other VERY useful toys that they can still fall back on, so it's not a wash at all.
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Kinetics? Suppression overriding Inertial Reduction and Speed Boost, DR hitting recharge rate, ID not providing mez protection and ID's damage resist giving just a tiny percentage.
Yeah, kin is doing JUST FINE out there in the zones and arenas.
Seriously. Kinetics, Sonic, Therm (no AP, shields don't do anything, HE is barely noticeable on my toons--when the toon is support, not a duelist, and Melt Armor is much to easy to avoid having it impact you), FF has Force Bubble--that's it.
22 50's in Bio
@Siphonic
RIP PX, GMW, and the game that used to be fun.
Still playing for reasons unknown.
Well, I respecced my emp last night and played a bit in RV. I can confirm that good emps can still make a big difference, especially when teamed with other buffer(s).
Phase does seem to be enough to survive. I went with PB, like some here suggested. Don't think I died a single time...although the heroes were kinda camping the vils in their base.