Snarky

I am discovering how well I do on Blasters and liking it. I ran an AR/Dev Blaster all day yesterday. Posi 1, 2, Synapse, Yin. Various odd jobs in between. The Synapse was where it really coalesced into a describable situation. I run the TFs in order on a Build I don't know, for playtesting. I needed a Synapse, and I don't start TFs. An ad goes up. Synapse, RP, send tell. I threw brackets around (lf Synapse) and decided to shut up for 2 hours. I was a little shocked when we started with 6... Its a freaking Synapse. A Brute, a troller, 3 fenders, and my little blaster self. After 3 missions, I shit you not, the troller leaves because its taking too long. I really want this badge. Already the rythym of the team is getting established. These folks (I think they are long term RP team) have not run a Synapse since live. They got no idea. I have all the maps memorized because I do this on every toon and we had Synapse week a month ago, 8 runs that week. I get to a mob, usually before the Brute but right before he hits. If I expect crap I get close and drop 'trops. Then I smoke bomb and unleash hell. THe team stayed tight, I give them that. 2:04 was final time. Dropped Babbage with Help from Global channel recruits. I was really useful. Hover blasting and burning down team problems. 3 Blasters and a cranked team on Yin with a diff group, that was a hoot. I think as I develop my playstyle Blasting may be my new niche. I like the focus of one thing. Freaking burn it down. I am already thinking about the maps, the layouts, the PvE mob composition, what I normally do on a Brute. I just like taking a hammer to the bad guys. Or a rifle in this case. Only a few times does the BGs "Staying Alive" pop through my head as a situation goes FUBAR. Now I need to find the right powersets. AR is prime real estate. All ranged. I will not do a PB Nuke. I love dark, all those cones. but no ranged nuke. I am dropping caltrops for 2 reasons. 1) close close range. 2) Area targeting. Okay, area targeting deserves a special place in FU land. It works simply and great. Until you are in a multilevel terrain with 30 mobs and 16 people firing every special effect in the world. Cant see the floor reticle. cant find my mouse cursor. cant land the damn power. so, DPS goes to zero while trying to straighten that all out. Why I cant play ICE. love the set, cant land the powers correctly. So, ranged only, ranged nuke, no Area targeting AoE. You see my problems here right. Was actually looking at Elelectric. THen there is a thread up top right now about how much that stinks. So, AR...Beam? Or play Dark as a generally Nukeless playstyle? Dark has a ton of AoE, I LOVE cones, and it is least resisted of all damage types on PvE mobs. Dark/Mental would give yet another cone. But put me always jousting in for End Drain power. course, once in you have End drain, shockwave, and Blackstar. Then race to the hills, no melee. …..Danged, I just talked myself into an alt. Sigh. Will keep you posted. Any thoughts on Blasting to fit the modern game are definitely appreciated. Coming off Brutes and Tanks so I literally have no idea how good/bad some sets and combos are. Everyones playstyle is different. I try to play ranged stalker. I will go in if I have too, sometimes they come to you lol. But I try to stay out there. Burning down the house.

You threw out a real softball there Bill. You just checking the oil? Of course you are right. Not only do you have years watching this stuff, but, you are right. More interesting question? How many peeps will go sideways trying to disagree in some fashion. Although I do not think you are trolling, so, again, still trying to figure out. Or. In Char, Snarky my Brute. "What? You guys are planning this out? Okay, I can help. So you do the controlly thing over here, then you set up your minions and stuff here. Wait. I don't give a crap what you do. I am charging that large group over there with the EBs and AVs in it. When you figure out a plan send me a letter."

I really enjoy the incarnate system. It is one if the only reasons i run high level content. I like being on a character who can bring a crapton of power to a team. If i am one of the only two incarnates running in 8 person team i know my teammates appreciate it. If there are 8 of us who are incarnated and i/o’d it takes ROFLSTOMP to the next level. There is a competition to clean a spawn with style. this power is “free” but it also takes some time investment. So not completely free. You either need to know how to build or know how to find a good build. You need to gather all the parts of the build through grinding marketeering or crafting. You need to 50 and incarnate grind. Then, and only then, can you walk up to a regular content 50 spawn and give that particularly satisfying whooomph which makes them all disappear. Then blending that toon with a team so everyone is working together on the same goals and it is the finest i will be the first to admit i get lost, i get scrapperlock, i think we are clearing on speed runs or think we are stealthing a mission on a clear all. So, even with all that power i still only do what i am supposed to about 2/3 of the time lol. i enjoy the system the way it is. I have never loved pets but i try to get my Lore pets out at least sometimes. Took me a while to get used to using Hybrid as well. Pets and click powers are either things that come natural or not. I am firmly in the camp of wanting a constant small buff rather than an all or nothing. If i could take SS/Invul and smooth SS the way Invul was smoothed into Willpower, then choose all powers to do that style of constant i would. Anathema to the giant power for a tiny amount of time that is the standard game design but that is just me (and a few others) i would love to see more incarnate powers. I know those were originally going to be rolled out along with content that could challenge players running such incarnated beasts. i would love to see an incarnate tree that gave upgraded Travel Powers, extra Enhancer slots (builders gone wild!) or a power set that was built by Player to define the character concept more. (Which we already have a wealth of). Maybe even a second Alpha slot. The Beta. For when one extremely crazy powerful buff is just not enough lol. Just allow all same chiices from Alpha excluding the Alpha chosen and go mad dog on Lord Recluse

I was there for the evolution. So I really do not need a history lesson in getting travel powers earlier and faster and easier. Let us look at where we are now. Okay, I do want to go back after all. For me it started when I found I could go to FBZ at level 1 and buy a jetpack. PITA trip, but wow was that worth it. But now? P2W gives perma temp fly. /macro zone teleporters are better and faster that the Long Range Teleport power from the pool. In fact uyou have /macro zone TP, and Ouro, and Mission/group/assemble the team powers from P2W I am not saying this is bad, hear me out. We need this kind of speed to keep the populace racing to missions and grinding TF and content. So, I like where these are, however odd the walk (teleport?) was to get here. What I am saying is the Travel Power pools. Ooof. Do they look like a house that has not been painted in 50 years or what? For the investment of power picks you get very little back. Glad it is there for customizable powers and niche players. But by and large? not much good on ROFLSTOMP teams except as mules. okay, hover is good for hoverblasting. sort of by definition. similarly CJ. but when you can look at 10-11? 12? pools and name a handful of powers that are 'good' and the rest are like. hrm….why do you take that? oh really? and that works for you? No, still don't want it, GL. I realize how much the Homecoming Team is working on. And I do appreciate it. Stuff like the recent Tanker/Brute changes are moving the game forward. But the Travel Pools... Take Long range Teleport. The first time I saw this I took it immediately. Thinking I would pick the exact spot in the zone I would TP to... okay, funny now. But how about just modifying this to mission teleporter if your door is in that zone? Because you zone into Nerva and find the door is still 1.5 miles away and you die a little inside lol. There are probably a dozen little 'hacks' like this that could be quick and dirty patched onto the Travel Powers that would bring new relevancy to them. Because as the game has moved forward (thank you all) our Travel Powers have stayed in the same spot.

Thanks. This is a Task Force and Incarnate toon. So, (please?) ROFLSTOMP tactics. When things go bad I think I will just turn on sprint w/ stealth proc and see if the melees can figure it out lol I will use Caltrops and Ignite for a while. Prob drop 'trops in late game respect. Now I am curious about ignite. That much damage? hmmm. I would have thought time bomb would be the skippable one on fast teams over trip mine., because trying to get the thing to go off at the right time. hmmm. I may try both , then respect out of one I appreciate the insight. and yes munitions is clunky. But going for ranged nuke madness and hiding behind the melees lol

I am putting together my first "serious" AR and was hoping for some insight into some folks who have run this. Into the ground. Literally, for a Blaster lol. I am going for and have achieved softcap range, and will be attempting to stay the farthest back of any character engaged with targets. Not always easy I know. Which is why I am asking fort help. I am running out of power choices and way short on slots. Chasing ranged defense is ...you know lol. Still, I am not unhappy with the build. What are some skippable powers? I am specifically looking at Ignite, Trip Mine, Time Bomb and Gun Drone. Are any of these true Gold, other than very situationally? Caltrops....great power. But...useful at 50...in iTrials? I will be using munitions for Epic. I really want that LRM lol Thanks for the input.

I use the old "at a certain level technology and science are indistinguishable from a fungus....or magic for that matter" to explain various mashups. Like the Brain in the jar on a robot body with ice powers created by a time lord using science so advanced it is basically magic.

I can confirm the 200-250 million for “better purples”. Also PvP i/o were more than two billion at the end of the game. It was brutal

I have a gew tropes i run with endlessly. Robots and undead and can slam almost any AT and powerset into them right now i am creating an AR / devices Blaster. I decided to go magic ghost to explain the disappearing weapons and endless ammi. It is inspired by the Sarge in Frighteners. what are sime of your favorite tropes and solutions?

This is interesting. Redside being deadside is a self fulfilling prophecy. People who want to group go where the groups are. That means Blueside. you want to run 4 quick DFBs and maybe get a Posi in all under two hours. Or jump on a free high level PL team. Blueside try getting 4 DFBs and a Tarikoss Redside. If you manage to do it and do it quickly you will feel like you just ran a 38 min Synapse.

I normally run brutes and tanks. Who even has snipers? This is usually just “moderate environmental damage” i tend to ignore while chasing toward sappers, medics, and ruin mages also is the devices buff on AR sniper rifle Still as sweet as it was or did that get modified?

I don't think I can make this.

full invis? really?

I run a lot of posi 1 2 and synapse. having the four DFB buffs perfectly positions the character for starting the signature TFs great buffs to collect if you are shutting off experience to do storylines also. if you are powerleveling to 35 and beyond? ya, fughedaboutit

You are a bad person. Very very bad.

Er my SS/invul main takes Hurl. And uses it. It is a very hard hitting ranged attack. Haymaker is lackluster? Ok the build i use is by Hyperstrike. It is posted in the Brute forum as a response to my request for a ss/invul build. I have played ss/invul Brutes since i got into tbe game about issue 7? Or so. This is a incredibly strong iteration. It uses the stuff you say You do not need i will agree that Handclap properly slotted is a wonderful power. On a Tank. Where crowd control and AoE taunt is mire important than pure DPS

I read in another thread there is a problem with Brute taunt aura? Is that true?

Brutes came to Blueside and caused problems? Says who? Fughedaboutit

I still do not have a Farmer. I like Farming better than marketing. And i love new alts. sooooo. With the changes to Tanker what is the current powersets that give the most Farm fun?

I enjoy stealth blasting Who doesnt? Way better than assassins strike. Popping a Lt from extreme range. The rest of his posse are dead before they get halfway across the gap My current blaster project is a mid 30s redside Energy Time. with stealth and invisibility. I really enjoy invisibility for cruising to the end of a map i know there are some oddities to the inherent Devices stealth power. I think it works slightly different than normal stealth powers? Does not stack and/or is somehow incompatible? i am wondering because i am considering trying AR/Devices (again). Some things i love. Some not so much any tips are appreciated

Also, in a full Purple set you have maxed (and crushed0 the damage enhancement on a power. So the Proc damage on top of that is really nice.

I am morally superior. I build my characters by concept and run them as i believe they would live on the city thus leaves me broke. Could you guys email me some cash?

I have serious issues with all weapons in the game because of the disappearing nature. That include "permanent" weapons like TW or war mace, that disappear if you use another out of set attack. but not always....it is a tough walk to figure out which powers work with which powersets and have smooth animations. Weapons that are created on the fly, like Ice weapons and fire weapons, are especially irritating to me. You either have a sword of ice (so why use your fist the next second) or you don't. I can see creating an ice sword out of nothing. That is all over the comics. Okay. where did you put it? Did you lose it? Did you lose your ice sword? in combat? tsk.

I incarnated a Invul / Kinetic Tank. It was strange, good, and surprisingly ranged. Like a Sentinel more than a melee, not even kidding. Because Taunt, which is ranged, a heavy hitting (short ranged ST), a ranged cone, then add a ranged cone from epic. Since super high damage was not a priority and knocking down opponents and taunting them was I just worked at about 40. which took the martial arts feel away and made him a mage tank, which I made him magic and tricked out to look that way anyways. But not (quite) melee.

This is why we can’t have nice things. 🎭