Frozen Burn

Well... technically, there are exploration badges you can get in a sewer run which you cannot get in the DFB. 😛 ...but yes, still far better to to run a DFB a couple times and THEN meander lazily and easily through the sewers to get those badges. 😄

Yes, it does that. Those beacons can receive other player AOE buffs as well. It's quite hilarious to me! 😄

My Dark blaster, is Dark/Dark/Soul. I open with cones for debuffing, but spend most of my time in melee range to leverage PBAOEs and melee powers. And occasionally use Mystic Flight's TP power to pop back out for more cone usage as necessary. Quite a fun Blaster to play! (Despite /Dark not being as synergetic with Dark Blast as most would like.) "We are the souls of the men, women, and children who perished at the hands of Nemesis in his 1893 march through New England. We come together as one. We will have our revenge. We are... The Spectral Legion."

Scenes from a failing graphics card (from back on live).... I played like this for 2-3 months until I could save enough for a new graphics card. The slow decline over time was hilarious! 😄

People just love hanging around Paragon City and the Rogue Isles....

Miss Cheetah caught dinner!

Skyraiders flying in tight formation. ...Or they're all trying to kiss their lieutenant. 😄

Nemesis has been around since at least the late 1800s, so he would be around for WWII, and probably pulling some strings behind it. 😄

@CellyEl, I agree with @cranebump in that forcing the player to fail to get the really cool result of being kicked off the map with big bright red MISSION FAILURE floating across the screen, is not ideal. Players will wonder "what did I do wrong?" even though it is explained away in the story. There will be people will go crazy trying to run that mish "successfully," even though they are doing what you want them to. 😄 We are just too ingrained to never see those dreadful red words float across our screen! And what if by some chance, they run it again and have teammates camp the object spawn point and kill all the mobs and save it? That would ruin what you're trying to do as well, and you'd have to come up with alternate exit text/story for that too. As an alternative, perhaps, after the player completes their objective on the map, have "Alarms ring" and lots of ambushes and make the player "Find Exit before shields go up and trap them inside!" - make them run to the beginning of the map to leave and fight through ambushes/spawns. This creates a more positive exit experience (they can fight/stealth through as they choose). Of course, there should be light mobs/patrols on map before completing objective, so that the spawns and ambushes are heavier when trying to escape. ....just a thought.

If you really want to play a Blaster, then I say, play a Blaster! 🙂 And don't be skittish... lean into it. Your offense is your defense! Mobs will rush you to punch, slash, stab you - so use your controls, like that T1 immob, a hold, stun, slows, etc to keep as many off you that you can. Hit them hard with blasts and finish them off with that melee attack when they rush you. Switch up targets - control one or several, and then get the others that aren't controlled. Target the most annoying one and eliminate it first, whether it's a minion, lt, or boss. Stay nimble - Kite, joust - if you have lots of aggro, lead them to your tank/brute if you have one - even a scrapper can sometimes do. Don't run away from your defenders/controllers/buffers/debuffers. Basically, if you get overwhelmed (and you will), don't run away from your team - run towards them. And yes... take hover or even just Fly to get up in the air, if you need it. USE YOUR INSPIRATIONS! Many people think it's weak to rely on these - absolutely not!! You will die - it just happens, but learn why you did and don't do that again. 🙂 Again - USE YOUR INSPIRATIONS! As Tidge suggested, Dark Blast may play slower due to the heavier DoT (as compared to Fire that has more upfront damage with a little DoT). So you may want to pick something with more upfront damage - again, your offense is your defense - so the sooner they die, the better. This isn't saying Dark is bad - it's just different - and fun. And if you're nervous about playing the AT, then try something else first and come back to Dark when you're feeling more comfortable/confident. (Or lean into it and go for it!) 😄 Ice Blast would be a great option for you, i think. It's a great hitter, has a quick hold that does really good damage and a 2nd longer animation hold that also does heavy damage, and your nuke is a ranged AoE with Knock DOWN. Most skip the 2nd longer hold (Bitter Freeze Ray), but I do not - you can stack it with your other hold to keep that boss from hitting you (and then if you get a hold in your epic (like Char) you can hold an EB). The longer animation of Bitter Freeze Ray has been shortened so it's not as bad as it was, but if you use that as an opener on your boss, you can follow up with Freeze Ray quickly to hold them, and then deal with the trash mobs while throwing an occasional stacking Freeze Ray on the boss to keep them locked down. It's very useful and handy, especially for someone new to the AT. ....something to consider anyway. Archery/Trick Arrow might be a good combo for you too. While Archery is lethal damage and is resisted a lot, it is fast and you can really make up for it and still deal lots of damage overall. Paired with /TA, you won't have pesky redraw issues or a magic bow that just appears in your hand when you use your secondary. It's just a fun combo. 🙂 /TA has lots of control and debuffs and Archery's Nuke is fast recharging and also a ranged AoE. There are no melee attacks in these sets, so if you want to hover-blast, it's very compatible with that playstyle. ....just a couple quick suggestions that you might like. Good luck and let us know what you decide to play! 🙂

Earth/Nature/Stone is a beast and fun to play. I've tanked many TFs with the build. SO much AOE control to lock things down, it's crazy good. 🙂 Additionally, Ice/Cold is very good as well. And now that it's winter event, I'm sure you can come up with a theme. 😄

First, Blasters should not stand still in melee anyway - unless you specifically build for that and can handle the pressure. Generally, Blasters should be moving, kiting, jousting, etc. If you don't mind popping in and out of melee range, then you could still take melee attacks and be successful in using them. It's called jousting... after shooting, pop into melee range to hit one or two times, pop out of melee range and shoot again... you can also queue up your melee attack as you run by - you'll animate and hit doing the damage, but your toon will keep running/jumping to the other side to safety , where you can shoot more if need be. These are tried and true blaster techniques that will allow you to use your hard hitting melee powers and still keep you safe. The key to this is your ranged defense (which you would want anyway if you're making a hover-blaster). Beefing up your ranged defense will also help you not get mezzed as most mezzes are "ranged" attacks (so the type doesn't matter). Additionally, as a blaster, you have defiance and your primary T1 & T2 + secondary T1 powers still work for the few times you might get mezzed - I can't tell you how many times that has saved my Blaster's life. But many people skip those low tier powers - but I don't just for that reason. Your control powers are also there to keep you safe, but many skip those as well to their own detriment. There are ways to build and play your blaster (whether hovering or not) and stay alive and stay un-mezzed (or minimally). But comparing the two really does depend on the player and the build, imo. Hover-blasting is a specific playstyle and build of the Blaster AT... so, you do need to consider build options. A well built hover-blaster will be better than a Sentinel. And if you hover-blast and pick a secondary where you DON'T utilize most of the powers, you are gimping yourself and damage output-wise, you'll be about equal to a Sent - maybe even less (I'm not a number cruncher and just generalizing from playing these 2 ATs and witnessing others). Taking a secondary like Devices or Trick Arrow (or even the others I mentioned) - you will out perform the Sentinel while hover-blasting. If you're looking for toe-to-toe blast set vs. blast set and the trade off you get from having that armor on your Sent.... Again, Blasters have higher target caps and higher damage modifier.... so the hover-blaster primary will dish out more damage to more foes vs. the Sent's primary. ...and you can do it at a longer range, too. It really comes down to playstyle and comfortability. You can min/max a blaster to highest of heights - but how you play it is a factor too. You can have the best build in the world, but if you don't play it to its potential, it's all wasted. To me, Sentinels are easier to play - they're like the "plug-in-play" AT. 🙂 So again, go with your playstyle and comfortability. I hope at least some this helps?

First off, Martial Combat is not the secondary to pick for hover-blasting. You'll be skipping more powers than taking. If you really just want the quick port into and out of melee, you can pick up Combat Teleport from the Teleportation pool, and then pick a secondary that is suited more to being at range: /Trick Arrow, /Devices, and even /Energy for the boost powers, and /Ninja has plenty of ranged tricks too. As for Sentinels, you have shorter range and lower target caps on AOEs compared to blasters, and lower damage scaler still. Many of the Sent armors give buffs/debuffs when in melee, so staying at pure range on a Sent - to me - has no real benefit other than to just sit back and lazily mash buttons. That's a little boring for me, but that is just my opinion... many like that - and that's okay. I would say, a hover blaster is still better than a Sentinel. But I'm biased towards Blasters over everything. 😄 If you want to try hover blasting, I would suggest leaning towards /TA or /Dev as they give you good control - especially for those times when you you're in a cave and can't hover. With /Dev, Caltrops can really save you there and with enough recharge, you can also have 2 gun drones perma that hover with you and follow you around (and take some aggro off you too). /TA has a lot of control and debuff too.

No worries. Clearly this is misunderstanding all around. Sorry, you took mine the wrong way too. While I was a teen in the '80s, your opening post made it seem like your "Wham" reference was more about the ambush. You stated: "WHAM! Next thing I know I'm in a hospital... Uncalled for!" Yes, you make the song reference/pun in there (clever! - I love a good pun!), but the overall tone and intent of what you wrote was more about not liking the ambush. So, it was easy to take your comment that way versus the '80s group and their song. And asking "Really? No comment on Wham? /smh" IS asking for an opinion. And in an open forum like this, comments are for everyone to weigh in on - otherwise, there is a Direct Messaging system for private messages. And it didn't make sense to me that you would ask more about why someone didn't comment about the '80s group and their song versus the ambush... so, that is why I offered my opinion about the ambush. Again... sorry you didn't like any of that. But there was also nothing damaging or hurtful in my post. You gave me a "sad' emoji, and could have left it at that and nothing further needed to be said. But... Asking/stating: "Sigh, How old are you? Bet you're under thirty" IS belittling and rude. Sure, you may not have meant it that way, but that's how it came across. You clearly could see I didn't catch your meaning, so all you had to do was instead say, "Oh, I meant the '80s group and their song" and all this misunderstanding could have been cleared up immediately, and we could have had a laugh much sooner. Sorry I misinterpreted your meaning. And again, sorry you took mine in the wrong way too. I meant no ill intent either. A sincere, Happy Holidays to you! 🙂

"Damn punks are ruining the neighborhood!"

I post yellow salvage for 1000 each... so thank you for the extra money! 😄

HA! That's the concept for my AR/Energy Blaster... old dude tired of all the gangs messing up his neighborhood. He picks up a gun and pulled a pair of Crey energy gauntlets off some gang members and is now out being a vigilante. 😄

First mission offered Blue side is always a hunt - take the second option which is typically a door mish and where story arcs are. Part of the arcs may be a hunt, and sometimes before/after an arc you might get "go see security chief" for a hunt/clean up of a zone... but it's a one and done thing (until you get to the next contact level). 🙂 These hunts are old offerings/content from the beginning days when door content was not as robust. Also, there were a lot of people who didn't want to do story content and just wanted to street-sweep, but this gave them a way to get bonus mission-completion XP too. Yes, they are a pain in the rear-end and I get annoyed too. But I also get nostalgic and remember fondly back to the early days of the game. Mixed emotions! 😄

For all the characters that you still need to save, you will need to "edit" them, click through to the end to save them. You may need to also on the "register" / "save" screen, click on the "Show Save Path" button on the lower left corner to be sure you're putting them in a folder / naming them appropriately. It's pretty simple, but tedious. But should solve your issue.

I like your reasoning for a Tank. However, Cap wouldn't go up against the Hulk like Thor would. But Cap did go toe to toe with Thanos - Cap got whooped, tired, and torn, but held his ground... so, I'm thinking Cap is more of a Brute who is focused on Tanking and pulling aggro while dishing out the damage - not quite a Tank, but more than a Scrapper. And Taunt is a must - "I can do this all day!" 😄 As for your other MA Cap.... maybe make him one of the guys from the Captain America Corps? Or the Cap from the alternate Earth where he believed Hydra was good and righteous (make him a Rogue or Villain)? Make him into one of the Marvel Zombie Avengers! Turn into a Guardian homage? Patriot from the Young Avengers? Or Red Guardian for more Vigilante/Rogue/Villain goodness Or heck - Bucky Barnes who used more extreme measures as his version of Cap

Personally, I feel Street justice is more Cap's style. MA is mostly kicks and Cap punches, knees, and swings his shield around more, which you get that more with Street Justice than you do with MA. But I'm no expert. I think both MA and SJ have merits to be Cap. ....and glad to hear you're not deleting and just rebranding one. 🙂

Knock DOWN is just very low mag Knock Back. The KD>KB procs will convert the power's higher mag of KB to 0.67 mag of "KB" which then makes them fall down, instead of backwards. So, as Nemu stated, Footstomp does 0.67 mag of KB already - which knocks them down. So, your proc in it is useless and you can safely put something else in it. I am sure it is confusing as Footstomp's power description probably states "Knock Back" even though it's low mag and foes actually KD. So, you have to be careful about power's descriptions and look at the actual mag of KB they do. I find it's really only some of the powers in the newer powersets that start adding in the description of "Knock Down" - powers from older sets seem to still cling to the KB description even if they in fact KD. (Confused yet?) 😄 And yes, with Footstomp, lower level (conning blue, green, or grey) or even pets, underlings, and such - and Primal Clockwork (including even-con minions and LTs) - will Knock BACK with foot stomp because they don't have any resistance at all or enough to overcome the 0.67 mag. But all other foes should Knock DOWN with Footstomp.

I joined the Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) beta with my former SG-mates and then we played live for years, until life just got in the way of gaming. I then mostly solo'd in SWTOR for a few years after, until they kept increasing levels and making a new grind for top gear - that got old. But man, i loved the content! I still pop in every now and then.

I have never liked the animations or sounds for Sonic Blast. When the Talons of Vengeance were released with their lyrical singing powers and animations of notes flying through the air - that is what I always thought Sonic Blast should/could be. THANK YOU for giving those animations and sounds with Symphony Control! Is it possible to proliferate those animations and sounds and apply them as options for Sonic Blast and anything relevant/similar in Sonic Manipulation, or even in Sonic Resonance for that matter? Even if not all the powers can be adapted for this alternate animation and sound, perhaps at least some?

This is the big issue right here. Anyone who picks this power set has to continually purchase - spend Inf - on new temp powers to have half of their powersets work. That's unfair. It is also possible for someone to use up an entire temp power before a mission or even Task Force or Trial is over and you can't refill. Not all temp powers are available at the P2W vendor either. Additionally, new toons - and especially new players to the game - who do not have Inf to spend at the P2W vendor are out of luck. I get your idea and see why you would want this. It does seem like a nifty idea to have something to boost temp powers. But NOT for a primary set of an AT or even as a secondary set. And you are sorely mistaken if you think Blasters need a hand. Or any other AT for that matter. If anything, this would need to be a Pool Power set open to all. You only need 5 powers in a Pool set and you've outlined them (so then there is no need to come up with anything for powers 6-9).