Instead of Aim/BuildUp...another option?
As a debuff, it's likely to be significantly weaker than Aim/BU. Probably a bit better than Surveillance if it's in a primary. So like 15-20% -res/defense.
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
Let's say that a new set were implemented that had this instead of Aim.
For the sake of What-If, this set is mostly single-target, with a mixture of Lethal and Oh, I don't know....Energy damage. With the right damage numbers for the other attacks, would anyone miss Aim on this blast set? There are already attack sets that skip it. Dual Pistols comes to mind.
Claws has Follow-up instead of Build Up.
And then you fight Rikti Drones and Mako
Yeah, most builds I've played have performed poorly against something.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
Or if it's untyped/nonpositional.
"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."
It could even be autohit and generate no aggro.
That would make sense using the Surveillance animation (which is no autohit but is aggro free)
Numerically, you wouldn't need a lot of -Res to help out a solo Blaster.
With Enhancements and Build up they're at 295% base damage roughly, adding in Aim makes that 360%. So you'd only need a -25% Res or less or so to do eqivalent alpha damage on your target.
I think it would be a very viable alternative, even at 20%. Being able to soften up a boss for your Stalker buddy would be a big bonus, although like you say it doesn't help out an AoE blaster so much.
-Resistance, while good, wouldn't be too useful I don't think for a Blaster to replace Aim or Build Up. The way I see those powers is that they're meant for a moment of awesome in which the character can really let loose, and by replacing it with what I'd expect to be a relatively weak ST debuff (Blasters numbers are low for those, afterall) I don't think it'd give the right oomph needed for them.
I'd rather have some sort of really high damage attack, like an ST nuke on the same recharge as Aim/BU (or a little longer). Rather than charging up so all your next attacks are better, you charge up and throw all your attacks into one big hit.. Infact, it'd be nice to have alternatives to Aim, or Build Up as personally I find them a little dull, no matter how infinately useful they may be.
Hadouken-like attack for Energy with huge knockback
Column/tornado of fire and debris for Fire Blast (or perhaps summon a meteor?), with excessive DoT afterwards
Giant ice spike for Ice with a high mag hold
Long, controlled shock of lightning for Electricity complete with a high end drain (at least 50%)
Head explosion for Psi.. Okay, how about raising them up with telekinesis and crushing them? With a high mag stun
Prolonged scream for Sonics, chance for high mag knockback or stun, plus the usual -res
Controlled explosion under the target for Radiation, complete with knock-up and large -def
ST Empty Clips for Dual Pistols, just a huge barrage of shots against the one enemy
Something with the flamethrower for AR.. Setting the enemy on fire with a very high damaging DoT
Taking multiple arrows in one shot at a single enemy for Archery, maybe even multiple Blazing or Explosive arrows for a good visual indication of the higher damage
Engulfing the target with darkness, like the new Shadowy Presence power, with the giant ghost skull floating above and massive DoT for Dark Blast.. With -tohit.
Make them use up 20-30 endurance with some -recovery, so they are effectively a brief glimpse of a true nuke, and I'd really enjoy that.
I am the Blaster, I have filled the role of Tank, Controller and Defender
Sometimes all at once.
Union EU player! Pip pip, tally ho, top hats and tea etc etc
I think it would have to be auto-hit, and the set it is in would have to be mostly single target to get most benefit from it, but it is a good idea.
The main problem I see is that even bosses don't last 10 seconds against a determined blaster so it would be much weaker than aim/build-up unless you are fighting an EB/AV.
It might be a good twist to add some kind of small AoE explosion or AoE debuff if you manage to take your target down within the duration of the power. That way it becomes more useful against lesser mobs.
British by act of union, English by grace of God, Northern by pure good fortune!
So, I was looking at some of the Blast sets, and was wondering if this option would work for a new, yet-to-be-determined set.
{Tracking Dart: Foe -Def, -DamRes, -Stealth. Damage: minor. Single-target.}
Instead of Aim, which grants a +Acc/+Dam to the caster, weakening the target to grant the Blaster (Or Corruptor or Defender, etc.) more damage.
Tradeoffs:
Pros: Teammates would benefit from the DeBuff, allowing them to hit harder as well.
Cons: Being a Single-Target DeBuff, this doesn't help out your AoE powers that much.
Would this be a viable alternative to Aim in a Blast set? What kind of numbers should it have?