eustace

Done and done.

My first 50 on live was AR/DEV blaster. One of my regulars now is AR/TA blaster. From my perspective, neither of these powers was or is "atrocious." Ignite became much less atrocious with TA, because I have holds (hold, burn), and I have Oil Slick. Putting a KB proc in Beanbag makes it KB bosses reliably. I like having the flexibility to do that, vs having to rely on a damage power to do that, or slot a damage power to do that. I suppose upping the KB chance on Sniper Rifle or Slug might balance it out. Also, if they're gonna replace Ignite with something, why another fire attack? If I wanted a fire blaster that had a single target fire attack and a cone fire attack, I'd roll a fire blaster. Make the existing, somewhat unique power more attractive or replace it with something else unique.

One of your first posts was comparing Blaster to Sentinel damage. Ok, focused on FA, but still seeming to (unless I'm misinterpreting something) suggest that the difference in damage was a disparity that needed to be addressed. The counter is that Sentinels dont need to do 1:1 damage with Blasters (or other AT's), because other advantages balance out their not having damage on par with the other AT's.

I don't get these posts stating that a disparity between Sentinel and Blaster damage is a problem, and that any solution needs to bend toward equalizing that disparity. So then Blasters would still be glass cannons and Sentinels would be steel cannons. Doesn't seem like a solution to me, certainly not any equitable one. On another hand, after playing my DP Blasters in a few Tinpex's lately, I feel like one of the best ways to increase the overall DPS in the set (for every AT) would be to speed up the animations. I feel like Dual Pistols is the worst one, as it's not just the delay in shot but then the delay in return to neutral stance that make the whole thing feel cludgy. And, apparently, long animation time is part of the complaint about Piercing Rounds, too. They already sped up the animation of Hail of Bullets, which was great. I love all the animations themselves. It's a key part of what makes the set great. But maybe just speed things up a bit so that getting attacks out is more fluid. Or else give the set an overall buff to further compensate for all that extra movement between shots.

As if everything else was equal. The Sentinel also gets a buttload of damage mitigation that a blaster can only scratch at with an epic pool power.

Fair enough. One of my favs is AR/TA, and I dont think she has damage problems. Maybe if I stood next to a fire blaster all day, I'd have more to complain about. Of course, I'm typically a fan of any buffs to my damage. Just keep the hands off my beanbag, please. 🙂

Sorry if this has already been suggested, but maybe, judging from the dialog here, these changes - at least the AR and DP ones - would work better as Sentinel-only adjustments. In short... Blasters, overall, are good with damage, but need survivability. Sentinels, by comparison, have survivability, but could use more damage. Instead of messing with Blasters and powers they need, just change Sentinels, swapping powers they don't need for ones they do. I'm not a hardcore number cruncher, so if anyone that is has the figures to dispute those claims, then that's cool.

So, perhaps a better "fix" would be increasing the radius, instead of replacing it with a more token single target shot. Or if everyone's day is really gonna be saved by replacing it, then maybe swap it with something that's another kind of "rifle shot" that AR doesn't have yet. All of the other attacks are representative of various rifle-like weapons - automatic rifle, sniper rifle, flame thrower, non-lethal (...at least for now). Maybe there's another type of gun that can be added to the AR's array of functionality, instead of just a generic "fire shot." And it could be another utility power - stun, hold, etc, or, even better, a power that can be slotted heavier on utility or on damage... kinda like the current Blaster flavor of DP's Suppressive Fire that everyone seems so keen on ruining.

I don't. Either present it as an option or find another way to help the perceived shortcomings of AR. I have at least three AR toons, and I find it to be an invaluable GTFO power (when slotted with Stupefy kb proc) when an enemy is closing for melee attacks. It's also 100%+ proc chance with no recharges in it. So, you have some options if you wanna try something creative on this or that alt. To me, replacing it (especially with Aim) is lame.

I think the point of my post is missed. Aside from the fact that I cant speak much to DP sentinels (as I only have one, and I've barely played it, while I have multiple DP blasters), I wasn't exclusively focusing on damage. I was focusing on the fact that lowering that power's recharge means that, even if you don't slot it with recharge, its proc chance (according to the google docs sheet available through proc monster posts on these forums) drops by more than half, to around 55%, whereas it is currently over 100% when no recharges are slotted. So, if you're looking at it from a pure damage perspective, the damage becomes wildly variable (any combination of 4-5 enhances proccing about half the time, vs all 4 or 5 proccing all the time). But my main issue is that it makes slotting other more utility-based procs (like Lockdown or Stupefy) equally unreliable. Again, I'm all for the continuation of that noble (even if eternal) quest to balance the AT's. But I'd prefer it be done in a way that doesn't sacrifice such a wide array of possibilities just for more damage, especially as if THAT adjustment will fix whatever legit gripes someone might have about DP's overall damage output.

This, too. Sometimes even just a quick patch of Ignite by itself serves as enough deterrent for at least a few would be melee attackers.

Regarding AR... For my blaster, Beanbag is a great power. It's invaluable when those Cimeroran ITF bosses are running up to kill me, and one of my options is just to send them flying. I have Ignite and I use it all the time. Even if it's not a killer power, it's good. I find it effective after I hold/imm/slow someone, to DoT them down. It's also a handy way to ignite Oil Slick for my AR/TA Blaster. And I've played AR blasters since live (my first main 50 hero), and continue to play them regularly on Homecoming, and I've never wished I had Aim. Not every blaster set needs to be Aim+Build based. Not every blaster set needs to be perfectly aligned with another. If you go AR/DEV, you don't get Aim or Build, but you get other kinds of utility. If you want one of those powers, go AR with some other secondary. Even Full Auto... Like ok if you wanna add a huge cone to the long range, I'll take it. But, classically, it was cool to have a blaster nuke that was unique with its long range and narrow cone. It informs that in-the-moment play strategy for how you use it. Changing it so that I can just face a direction and mow down practically everything in my field of vision just seems more like watering it down. Regarding DP... I find Suppressive Fire invaluable for similar reasons. I can't help but wonder if the recharge changes in some of these powers is specifically to remove the ability for them to reliably proc. Right now, Suppressive Fire has a huge range of possibilities because it can reliably proc. One or two of my toons slot for damage procs, but most of them add a knockback proc in addition to Lockdown, making it like a Beanbag power that also briefly holds. Not sure why anyone would want to remove that wealth of possibilities from a power. If there are real numerically provable deficiencies in these or any other power sets, I'm all for trying to make things more equitable. But these changes as they are don't seem focused on that, while also removing quality build and play options.

This sounds great... my brain is already working on new toons. It would be really, really great if, when I make the inevitably female /sonic dominator, she doesnt sound like a man every time she uses her powers. Any chance we can get scream sounds to automatically match the gender, or perhaps be selectable, like one of the choices in the power customization, or an accompanying selector? Even if it's reused screams - like from scrapper secondary activation sets, etc - just some way we can elect our female characters to sound like female characters. And, while I've got mug in hand... it would also be great to have such a change proliferate across the existing sonic ATs. And even if it cant make it in this patch, maybe on the roadmap for next patch, to compliment this one?

I would like to add my support for this idea, for two specific reasons. First, because, as pointed out by everyone else here, it would (hopefully) require very reasonable tweaks to add customization to sonic blasts to use the musical effects that already exist in game. Looks like there are at least a few of us excited at the prospect of musical themed characters. Second, it would be to finally be possible to make female sonic characters that don't make male yell and growl noises when using their powers. I feel like that second point should extend to a bit of a refactor, where even if you don't select music-based customization, female character models are still permanently changed to use female screams and shouts. At the very least, just reuse the existing female screams that have been in the game practically since the beginning.

Made it. Thanks to everyone at HC for all the hard work, and to the whole community.