VashNKnives

Storm/nin/cold blaster took my top spot since storm blast came out and only got better with age :) I look for a relaxing stride. I find that Storm blaster so relaxing to play solo +4×8, but if asked this in the past, some other signature characters would have been my signature at the time: Blaster: beam/en; arrow/fire Scrapper: mace/dark Stalker: staff/ice Sentinel: electric ×3 Def: Water/ta; traps/en; storm/dark; Mm: bots/ea troller: ill/dark Dom: fire×3 Many, many others... and even more from back during Live, but also many I should probably reclaim IOs from at this point.

Agreed, narrow cones on melee are a real buzz kill when you end up hitting like a quarter or less of a spawn. I don't see too many people taking the cone judgement attacks (vorpal? and cryonic?) over the others. I have done it for theme but it isn't cool always knowing that you are underperforming just because of aesthetics.

Aggressive. I/Os, combining inspirations, teleporters, reduced impact in failure... basically more fun in most instances because I like mowing down hundreds of mobs, but also I have had less epic team encounters because of how OP some of us make our characters for normal content. I remember several old school battles where we were on pick-up teams in normal content barely surviving or where someone leverages their powers to save from team wipes. Those seem fewer and further apart these days.

Has anyone considered adding cryo rounds or something to the gun drone pet? It seems weird having a pure gun on a control set. Would be cool if it rotated ammo on its own kind of randomly like a mini dual pistol swap ammo.

Exactly what I am suggesting as a hopefully feasible idea for an update to the game. I am very happy with the Homecoming devs' work on this game. They really have shown great care and talent. I hope this is something that they will consider as it almost feels the ancillary pools are incomplete with all the primary and secondary proliferation and new sets.

I spend a lot of time on my characters (build planning and then playing them), and theme always tops my priorities. It would be awesome if we had some additional proliferation of thematic blast powers to melee epic pools and vice versa. It takes something away from the build having to select generic powers because I can't justify the themes available. Also, I wouldn't expect any new animations, just less powerful versions of the existing primary/secondary thematic sets for other ATs to achieve as a ancillary pool pick.

The implications of damage typing is one reason I have enjoyed this game for so long. The strategic considerations this creates do provide positive feedback to those who are in the know as a small reward for digging a bit deeper in to the game mechanics. That said, if you find that you primarily like certain task forces and enemy groups, then I would consider damage resistances, defenses, and special powers of those groups. I play mostly for concept but have abandoned characters that felt too grindy or poor at what they are designed to do. And sometimes the game changes and you just have to keep in mind that it is an MMO with some very gracious and thoughtful developers. The shock and horror I felt testing my almost 50 invulnerability/street justice/dark tank as a fully I/O'd and incarnated juggernaut against the new harder mode of the Imperious Task Force on the test server... I paused that project for now.

I think it would be awesome if all buff-other powers got the same treatment that powers like stimulant received. It may be confusing to new players but playing a sonic resonance character or similar team buffer always feels a bit restrictive compared to sets that give you more tools to solo if you want. That doesn't mean that sets like sonic resonance would receive the full use of their team buffs, but they would have a use for the power picks solo.

I use the ice, energy, and electricity recovery powers almost as soon as recharged. I almost forget I have consume and dark consumption since I use them so little. They are almost like accolades with shorter recharges... That said, as a non-dev plebian, I would be in favor of halving the recharge and/or adjusting the endurance returned scaling to start with one target and decrease with subsequent targets hit. It is probably a designed disadvantage how these powers and the warshade buffs inhibit the associated sets in long one-vs-one fights. However, many of those penalties built in via old design choices have been reduced or removed for other powers (nuke end drain, travel power debuffs, toggle dropping, etc.) I know power-creep ... but is making these sets better in a one-vs-one boss fight that big of deal?

Agreed, cat5 does need more time to cook. Therefore, on teams I play aggressively like an electric/shield stalker looking for the next fresh group to nuke, just with more time to allow cat5 to do its thing before teammates arrive. It is easier b/c of shinobi + I/Os. Usually spawns are close enough that I can help the team and take out the majority of another spawn at the same time, given that I took 5 single target attacks as well as 4 AoEs (counting Ionic judgement). It is less systematic than tank and spank though and not really an option without heavy investment in survivability and something to keep the spawn from scattering. So, I agree the upfront damage of Cat5 (probably from lightning and wind burst) should atleast wipe the minions much quicker and without even needing storm cell.

As a multi-blaster main-er, I really enjoy my T4 incarnate storm/nin/cold blaster and solo fine at +4×8 in DA. It does require a bit of cognizance regarding what order you use what powers and when. It also necessitates forethought regarding what you'd do if something like an ambush happens. I felt I needed snow storm for cat 5, but I love hibernate and frozen armor on squishies anyway. I am still not a fan of having to recast storm cell, but overall the set is aesthetically and functionally pleasing to play when paired with some helper powers, I/Os, and accolades.

I like the masterminds but there are only so many times I want a generic bot, zombie, mercenary, thug etc.. group I'm assuming it was too much or there is some type of concern adding groups like: Praetorian resistance Arachnos Vanguard/Longbow/Kheldian Croatoan Freakshow etc.

My blaster plays very well at +4x8. The only group that gives it trouble is the PPD Kheldians (specifically that one mission in DA)... but that is cascade failure. Storm/Ninja View This Build In MRB

When on a team I am usually racing with or ahead of the front line b/c storm cell is non-aggro. Also damage over time powers don't require you to observe every damage tick (from the previous encounter). However, while I do agree storm cell is a bit of a drag, you have to remember it is only bonus and isn't required. So I lay the baddies out with or without storm cell deployed.... Now, I still stand by my opinion that the storm cell buff should have been an auto-inherit type power that builds as you normally use storm powers like tremors or whatever. Then we could have also had another awesome looking storm power 😀

Not every set is for everyone. After all these years I still haven't made a super-strength character. However I know SS matures to a powerful set especially with recharge. My experience with my storm/ninja blaster now incarnate is that it just needed a bit more debuff/control to really let that damage kick in. Once I got blinding dust, snow storm, extra defense, and some extra recharge it went from a bit chaotic to play to a regularly awesome mob-plow. My difficulty slider jumped at around 35-40 and hasn't looked back. As a reference, I have several blaster mains and have played them as mains since live, recreating them here years ago. This one, with a similarly expensive build, holds up nicely but plays differently. I think having that different experience is a big win for intra-archetype play. BTW, regarding jet stream, I am currently running through the 1st Croatoa arc via ouro and at +1×8 solo exemplared down to level 30 against hoards of roaming Tuantha... jet stream = safety + damage + force feedback proc. It's a 3-slot wonder power for me. Keeping those bosses on their bottoms is a big part of the build.

You could add some power pool attacks to flavor, such as that leap attack in jumping and maybe the chemical AOE in experimentation. Edit: combat teleport also really rocks at portraying that too quick for you type character, especially with binds Don't forget doms also have sets with knock down and confuses + /savage for weird attacks. Though I am not really clearly envisioning a friendly gremlin, I kind of see the pizza Hut noid or the electrical critter from the transformer cartoon

I really have been enjoying storm/nin blaster, but I wouldn't consider that an odd build. For an odd pair I really enjoyed thug/empathy mastermind with a heavy melee focus including the attacks from the fighting pool and full stacks of temp powers like baseball bats.

My trick arrow /water defender is one of my best offenders.

I find certain power combinations for corruptors and controllers worse to solo than defenders due to the weaker buff / debuffs. That said, I've felt earth/ and electric/ controllers drag without some form of added damage from the secondary and power pools.

I think it would be fun to see players risk their stars on PUGS/raids. Yeah, ultimate insps and uber rich builds... blah blah. It shouldn't bother other players if someone gets an ego boost and their adrenaline pumping from something like this. The dev time may be better spent elsewhere, but it would be an interesting add imo. I would go further and give some sort of bonus to these defeatless players that join risky TFs and Trials - maybe in combination with the difficulty slider. Something little like maybe extra merits or higher rare drop rates. Now... a big watch-out to me would be the stuffy, overly competitive types that will pitch tantrums if the game isn't played by others for their sake. There are some personalities that just can't stop themselves from trying to micromanage others. We may have to witness more drama from folks who suddenly care if they are defeated and there may be folks that get snobbish about who they allow in their teams.... It just means all the more respect to the player that doesn't act that way and still keeps their title. Again, dev time is precious and this isn't my personal pick for next issue but still not a bad idea imo.

Storm/ninja blaster at level 39ish. Really fun and so many attacks that I uncharacteristicly skipped hasten. Did not realize ninja has that nice critical damage boost. It really is cool seeing the slow lightning snipe come out of the sky and critical hit. Recently picked up snowstorm on my way to frozen armor and had not expected to actually use it, but man is it awesome to finally keep the baddies from running or flying out of the rains. It was epic against the croatoa mobs. Starting to consider build modifications to better slot snowstorm- was originally planning smashing/lethal/ranged soft cap w/ high for blaster regen and a smidgen of resistance for fairly cheap. Complaints... well if you want a picky answer, its a bit of an end-hog somehow and slow to animate some attacks. Also even with keybinds the storm cell and cat 5 powers sometimes need me to click and place the power manually. Overall, the set is totally going to be a repeater for me - maybe as a corruptor next but I am actually looking forward to reining in those pesky harpies and reigning over them with the rainy rains of storm blast post-50.

I know this may sound extreme, especially at this point in development, but I think it would have been cool if one of the buff pseudopets was a basically the inherent automatically created as you use your storm powers instead of needing to summon them intently. I think the having to keep up with the recharge of multiple buffing powers can be tedious, not that it is uncommon or unrectifiable with macros/programmable keyboards/mice. Thinking of what I would do with that extra power slot... well given the development direction that I am seeing, if we needed another power that would ramp up then I would enjoy seeing water spout with the cat 5 interaction that it would start to spawn up to two more of itself. So having three water spouts would not only look cool but assist in the minion trashing and defense debuffing. I also want to just be clear that for what it is worth - irrespective of my opinions - I really do enjoy what you've created here with storm blast and that I will likely play it with several ATs.

I'm in the camp that I'd vote for some more burst in Cat 5 - maybe a lot more awesome AoE lightning or something. Storm Summoning works well with the set - the added damage really helps also It is a very nice looking set in my opinion, though I can't really see Storm Cell (makes knowing where to keep the baddies difficult). I really like the animations Admittedly I used a non-incarnate storm/storm/mu defender (so lvl 50) to plow through the Infernal map of the prae arc... at +4x8... so it was bound to be slow. Wasn't defeated once - it was safe even without a self-heal with all the knockdowns, repels and slows (though I used one of my favorite tough defender builds to slot it - my storm/dark/mu defender). That is pretty impressive considering the massive amounts +4 baddies on the Infernal map.

Random is awesome. I can't have fun and force myself to act random and NPC are not capable either. People doing random things that force me to react is what brings out the best online experiences. I also get bored on steamroller teams and well-oiled farming. Although there is a line between random and annoying. Where annoying folks seem to particularly disregard all semblance of care for other players' time and patience.

I definitely incarnate my favorite characters but don't link the story to their background. The incarnate powers are a little cheesy other than alpha but I like to mow through large spawns solo and so I use them to the max benefit that I see but recolor them to suit the character's background and such if I can. For exemplaring, I don't worry about being reliant on incarnate crutches for 54 content because if I exemplar it is likely on a team with random buffs/debuffs that make things work + all those IO set bonuses I may have not had while leveling. However, most of us also know how to play our characters in hardship-mode anyway, using only helpful powers and toggles to reduce wasted endurance burn.