Tachstar

"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't -- ow! What the hell, Dave! All right, all right, I'll do it! Jiminy Effing Cricket!"

How about a 'Dynamic Duo' archetype? With a main character (the player) and a sidekick (a pet). Kinda like a Mastermind, but without the whole Hee Haw gang. Think Batman and Robin. Captain America and Bucky. Wolverine and Kitty Pryde, or Jubilee, or whoever. Bamf. Maybe even do it something along the lines of -- Primary Power Set: powers/attacks for the main character. Secondary Power Set: powers/attacks for the sidekick. I don't know. Just a thought.

In one hand, this is easily solvable by making Aim and Build Up trigger the "in combat" flag. On the other, if you use Aim+BU with a slow snipe it really should hit like a truck. While the Aim text says it "slightly" increases damage, it actually increases damage by +62.5%, which is definitely not "slightly". Question is, do you ever use the slow snipe? If not, try the Fast Snipe proc in there and see how that "feels". And remember that Aim is not just ToHit. Okay, did some more testing, jumping back and forth between beta and live with my lvl 32 electric/martial blaster. Compare and contrast. He has a few partial IO sets on live, but just SOs on beta. I mostly solo with him. Here's how I typically run him. If there's a single bad guy, I'll pop any reds I have, hit Aim, and snipe him. If there's a couple of bad guys, say, guarding a prisoner, I'll usually snipe one, then blast the other one or move into melee range, often with Voltaic Sentinel assisting. If there's a group, I'll hit Aim, then port into their midst with Burst of Speed, followed by Dragon's Tail, Spring Attack if it's up, then Ball Lightning, and if necessary, Short Circuit. If somebody survives all that, I might hit him with an insta-snipe if it's available, or hit him with Storm Kick and Ki Push -- and if he survives that, while he's drifting gracefully away, I've got plenty of time for a non-instant snipe. I've got a pretty good rhythm going with that, provided I don't miss-click something. Burst of Speed seems a little finicky at times. On live, I played a defeat all vs Freakshow -- smooth sailing. In one room with a lot of guys wandering around, I used snipe (with Aim and without) several times, and if the target didn't die, following up with Lightning Bolt would do the trick. Most of the rest of the time it was the combo platter described above. On beta, I played a rescue mission vs Crey. I tried to play just as I would on live, but something felt off. Seemed like the insta-snipe was often there when I didn't need it, but if I used it, it wouldn't be there when I did need it. A few times I found myself ready to use it, like when a target was drifting away after a Ki Push, but had to wait for it. I think I'd adjust eventually if I played it like this for a while, but again it seems perfectly fine to me on live just as it is right now. This is from a blaster point of view, of course. I've got a fire/martial dom in the low 20s, but no snipe there, so I don't know what issues dominators may be having with it. D'oh! -- I forgot to try that Fast Snipe IO.

I'm not good with detailed specifics and crunchy numbers, so maybe I'm not the best beta tester, but after reading about this I wanted to try it out for myself. I rolled up an archery/devices blaster. I don't have one leveled up on live currently, but I did back in the old days. Leveled this one up to 25, loaded up with SOs, and hit Talos Island for some street sweeping and a Tip mission. It felt off not getting the insta-snipe instantly upon clicking Aim, which is what I do on live when I want to snipe, whether from a distance or up close. Logged out with a feeling of vague discontent. Which I'm sure is very helpful feedback. Next, I recreated my highest level live character, a level 32 electric/martial blaster, and tried playing him. Same deal -- some street sweeping, then a Tip mission. Totally subjective and unscientific impressions: Ugh. This just feels off, somehow. Feels like Aim is pointless. Sure, the insta-snipe was up more often when I was in a fight, but in a weird way it was more of a distraction than anything else, since trying to use it at every opportunity kind of threw me off my rhythm. Or something, I don't know. I guess I really don't see the point of the changes. Anyway. I much prefer the way it is on live. Maybe just because that's what I'm used to.