Frozen Burn

Neither and both. They both have pros and cons. I would say, since you are familiar with /Ice already.... try something new and play /Atomic. It's a solid set and cant' really go wrong with it.

Just wanna say this right here for anyone interested in blasting.... This is the key to being a successful blaster. Well said, @Nemu. Be adaptive, and play/build to your style, not to a specific given build. Knowing the game and how mechanics work - this includes other ATs - is how you will survive as a blaster - especially a glass cannon. Many will pick a powerset combo and someone's build, and then fight the mechanics of the powers that they have available and not know how to play the game, the powers, or even live to their potential - and thusly die a lot or deal so little DPS they say it's a crap build. Every blaster plays different. ...which is why i love them so. Not saying you're doing/thinking this @Resjr, just wanting to highlight some sage words from @Nemu for anyone. However, @Resjr, be ready to steal aggro from your tanker and be ready to hit your inspirations and anything you have to stay alive. I love Fire/Fire/Fire blasting. (I love Ice/Fire/Fire even more, tough 😛) Glass cannons are just that - hard hitters that will steal aggro and then die, if not careful. Good luck and have fun!

Great movie! Been a long time since i've seen it - i'll have to rewatch. DP/Psy is a great combo and can be a PBAOE beast. It's one of my favorite blasters. I went an original concept instead of an homage. But again, the combo is really awesome and fun to play. Kiska Nikolaevna Yekaterina Nikolaevna Pushkareva (aka Kiska) was born in a small Russian town and showed great mental abilities as a child. The FSB took Kiska and put her in an old KGB program named “Psy-Knife,” which develops assets for espionage, counterintelligence, and military applications. Russia now secretly uses the program to also combat threats of meta-humans, aliens, and the paranormal. Psy-Kife subjected Kiska to extreme conditions to grow her psychic and parapsychological abilities and rigorously trained her in martial arts, all manner of weapons, and espionage. She was a top pupil, but secretly hated her government for ripping her away from her family and vowed vengeance. At age 16 on her first mission, Kiska glimpsed into the near future and found her opening to escape. With the enraged FSB constantly on her trail, she eventually became a mercenary for hire, but only taking jobs against those who threaten innocents. The Knives of Artemis even tried to have Kiska join their ranks, but Kiska refused and they have taken the contract to eliminate her instead. Still on the run and using her psychic abilities to stay steps ahead of her pursuers, Kiska enacts revenge on her Russian captors while dealing her own sense of justice to anyone who oppresses others.

I quite often get 2-3 foes in one hit. I love it! It takes practice to line them up in the narrow cone, but when you get your rhythm, it's great! I think the power is fine the way it is and should definitely not be changed.

The ambushes spawn from defeating the patrol and rescuing the hostage up top. If you go too fast, you'll trigger both at same time. Also, sometimes, the hostage will spawn up front near the mob in the upper room, so it can be difficult to not engage them all at once. As for Doc Buzzsaw, all you need is her entire spawn. The problem can be when she spawns on the second or top level, then part of her spawn will also be split between the levels. Sometimes, a zombie or two will hide behind the stairs and since they're vahz, they can be dumb and not aggro and you not know they're there. So, just check around. Also, Vahz like to wander, so be careful to not let any wander out the room as that can definitely be a pain in the butt to track down a lumbering zombie.

All Hail Necromancy!! Raising a dead thread from 4 years ago! 💀 ☠️

That is total BS - Ice Armor is a great set and there isn't any content I haven't been able to succeed at with it just as well as my other tankers. In fact, I prefer my ice tanker over others! So, PBBBLT! 😛 to the others. 😄

I would not suggest any of those for AR as they aren't very synergetic - all 3 of those lend you to be in melee range for the PBAOES, which is counter-intuitive for AR's cones. But I certainly would do any of these if it was for a specific concept you were going for. Range support secondaries are best with AR: Energy (especially with boost range to ensure getting more in your cones), Devices, and Trick Arrow are your top choices, imo.

Back on live, you could buy more slots through the Paragon Market - the market that uses real money to buy points so you could purchase unlocks in the game (like things at the P2W vendor). If you were a subscriber, you got X amount of points per month that would add up and one of the things you could get were more AE slots, Now, just send an in-game petition/support ticket and a GM will award you 3 more slots. You can get as many as you want.

@Tobogon Doing the Shard TFs is like opening up a time capsule - you're seeing/experiencing the history of the game. The Shard TFs/Zones are the original game's endgame content. Additionally, back in the early issues, the XP curve was also set very high in that it was damn difficult to get to 50 and the shard TFs were there to help - and to give a little story to the unique zones. Many people would run out of content in PI and still not be lvl 50. (That's why there was also a lot of PL farms too.) Being "endgame content," it was also supposed to take multiple sessions or one lengthy one - as others have stated above. Now, the XP curve was fixed, we have new endgame content, so the TF does seem outdated. But also with the new travel system and being able to port from zone to zone without manually going there, the TF can be done in under 2 hours - even solo. My best time solo is 1:37 on my blaster. I love when Dr. Q is the WST because I can solo it and rake in the merits for roughly 1:45 of time and not need a team, unlike most other TFs for the WST.

Yes, and the tongue out emoji ( 😛 ) I gave at end of mine means I caught your facetious tone - but your "Seriously though" comment echoed your joke, which also meant you weren't kidding. so again... 😛 🙂 And, I do play tanks a lot. (And Scrappers, and Brutes, and all the other ATs too (except Sentinels - the filthy buggars, but I still have one)). As a tank, I have no issues with others being in melee - including an entire team or league, even if they push or shove me around. My movement keys work just fine and Taunt is a wonderful ranged power. Moving and adjusting to foes and teammates is part of the game and frankly, keeps it from being monotonous by just standing still all the time. I actually welcome the chaos - bring on the knock back too! But thinking a blaster is only a ranged AT is pure naivety when most of the secondaries have many powers that require you to be in melee range. Since day 1 of the Live game, the Devs gave Blasters ST melee and PBAOE powers - so it is intended for them to be in melee range. Additionally, Blasters have been doing top damage out of all the ATs for a long time, well before the game shut down. The AT isn't broken, they're just naked offensive juggernauts with no shield secondaries - their offense IS their defense and being coupled with many melee powers in their secondaries, that's why they get the highest modifier. Again, not broken, just balanced with the other ATs. High risk = high reward. That's why Sentinels get a much lower modifier: all ranged and a shield set. (With scrappers and brutes are in between.) You may not like any of this - blasters being in melee range or that they do top damage - but that's okay and is your opinion. And I respect that. 👍 But it isn't a flaw in the design of the AT. The Devs made Blasters to be this way - they are as intended. And many of us like playing them to their full potential. 🙂

I should also state.... "Once you Blap, you'll never go back!" 😄

Not sure sure if you were going for it or not, but.... Very Voltron-esque! I like!

Blappers Always & Forever! Blasters have higher damage scale. They don't have to chase down foes as they try to run (if they survived) - just shoot them! Not having a shield set makes it more fun and challenging - best defense is a strong offense! ....and other Rah Rah Rah! Yippees! and Banner waving! 😄

On a team, they aren't your mobs - they are the entire team's. On a team, the tank's role is one of control - keep the mobs from looking at your teammates. Gathering/herding can be a part of this to leverage gauntlet and your ranged taunt to make foes look at you easier - but again, that is your role to control the mobs in that way, so your teammates can do their part, - defeat them, buff/debuff, add further control, etc. If you want them to be "your" mob only - then solo. 😛

Yep, I know this is what people do and I know some can get the badge - but also, I know from first hand experience that you also may not, despite how many attempts you do. Statistically, you'll get it eventually, but just how long is the question. For me, the RNG seems to hate me and it took over 40 tries (120 GMs), and that's only on my main badger so far. I have many alts still need several that they just can't seem to get. There is a theory/rumor - and as far as I know it's only a theory/rumor - that the trial scans the league member's defeat badges and "pulls a nightmare" GM from that list of badges. So for instance, if no one on the league has defeated Deathsurge and has that badge, then there is no possible way for Deathsurge to spawn in the trial as a nightmare - so you would need members of the league that collectively have defeated all of the required GMs for a chance to get them all. I don't know if that is true or not (would be nice if someone could confirm/deny) - but it would be cool if so, as it fits with the story! But if not, then it truly is a crap shoot on getting all 16 of them.

Ah, yeah, thought you meant leading a team. You are correct. But some have a hard time getting the mentoring badges because they hate/refuse to lead a team, so that is where I brain went and made the suggestions. 🙂

When I was playing consistently, it would be several months before I would see a purple drop. 😞 The RNG hates me.

There are occasional farms of just the first part on Torchbearer too. I've seen 20+ runs happen and not everyone get the badge and people give up because as you say, it's tedious and people can't stand to continue doing it after too long. Then they wait for the next attempt and pray Lady Luck is on their side as they dive into tedium once more. lol I think it took my main badger 40+ attempts to get the badge. I have 30+ other alts that still have not gotten it. 😞

I lump that in my statements: "some of the iTrials badges are the most difficult to get as it takes an entire league to be coordinated and on their game. There are strategies for all of them." 😄 Most definitely, The Really Hard Way is among the toughest, so are Avoids the Green Stuff, Avatar Assassin, Preservation Specialist, and even Loves a Challenge can be tough as it relies on very fast healers to overcome Anti-Matter's disintegration quickly. But if we're talking hardest to get, I still stand by my statement of Dreamwalker / Dreamkiller being toughest as it's pure luck to get. 🙂

The most particularly nastiest badges to get are the ones that rely on a team, or especially an entire league, to do something to earn it. While yes, the traditional TF "master of" badges can be tricky... PVP badges that require many people can also be difficult because people rarely set them up. But I think some of the iTrial badges are the most difficult as it takes an entire league to be coordinated and on their game. There are strategies for all of them, but there is one in particular that is extremely difficult and it is really like winning the lottery if you get it: Dreamwalker / Dreamkiller - Defeat all of Malaise's possible nightmares at least once during the Minds of Mayhem Trial. There are 16 of the buggars and you only get 3 per trial. Duplicates don't count and there is no guarantee you'll get one that you haven't already defeated in a previous trial. You can do 100 attempts still may not get the nightmares you need for the badge. Again, truly like winning the lottery with this one.

It doesn't just have to be farms or +4 ITFs... All you need is one other person or even easier, an alt account and invite them. So if you're just hanging out working on something in game (costume, building an AE arc/mission, crafting, marketing, etc) or just hanging out in Pocket D dancing with DJ Zero - invite an alt account and start building up time. 🙂 You can also invite your alt account, set an ouro mission so you don't auto-log, then walk away and go eat dinner, watch TV, go to bed, wake up the next morning with your badges. 😄

I would say my Ice/Fire/Fire blaster has tons of devasting AOEs. And if you're talking square footage coverage as well, with 2 rains (and one being your nuke) and bonfire (w/KB>KD proc) - I can affect a great area or devastate a small one. Also, my DP/Mental has devastating AOEs - built it to be a PBAOE juggernaut.

Ice/Fire blaster was my first ever blaster when the game first came out and has been my Main and Namesake ever since. Blasters are my favorite AT and I like all the sets and combos thereof. But Ice/Fire is one of the most fun and survivable combos you can have. Lots of damage and AOEs and plenty of control for survivability. I solo and farm at +4x8, including incarnate content. I took Fire Mastery as well. With Freeze Ray, Bitter Freeze Ray, and Char, you can perma hold an EB or 2 bosses simultaneously and burn them down. But most people hate Bitter Freeze Ray because of the animation - it's improved a lot over the years and is not as bad as it once was. Ice blast has a lot single target damage and of course, your holds for control. Fire Manipulation begs for you to be in melee range and that's where you get most of your AOEs. So, I hope you're ok with fighting in close range. Just build up your defenses as best you can - you don't need to be capped. With the control and damage you have between the sets, you'll be very survivable. I see a lot people take /Fire and do not want to be in melee range and they deal very little damage comparatively - it's such a waste and you might as well have chosen another secondary that leans towards staying at range. So... triple thumbs up - do it! It's a BLAST! (pun intended) 😄

Just the Celerity +Stealth IO is not enough to get you completely invisible. That IO + Shadow Fall stack to make you completely invisible. Shadow Fall also provides some Def and Resists and then is of course, great for set bonuses, if you want. But it's also a great mule for the Def/Res specials: DEF Karma = KB Protection Kismet = +ACC Gift of the Ancients = Def/+Runspeed Reactive Def = Scaling Resist Bonus Luck of the Gambler = Def/+Global Rech Shield Wall = TP Prot/+5% Res (All) RES Steadfast Prot = KB Protection Steadfast Prot = REs/+3% Def Impervious Skin = Status Res/Regen Impervium Armor = Psi Res Unbreakable Guard = +Max HP Aegis = Status/Psi Res Gladiator's Armor = TP Prot/+3% Def(All)