I wanted this 7 years ago lol

[Razia]

I am all for giving them more damage in a world where TW/Bio Scrappers exist. But then what about Blasters? I stopped playing them back on live because they were to squishy for me after all the nerfs. I do IO out all of my toons, but I wonder how super heroic a Blaster with SOs only will feel compared to all the other ATs?

[Rathulfr]

1 hour ago, Razia said:

I am all for giving them more damage in a world where TW/Bio Scrappers exist. But then what about Blasters? I stopped playing them back on live because they were to squishy for me after all the nerfs. I do IO out all of my toons, but I wonder how super heroic a Blaster with SOs only will feel compared to all the other ATs?

Blasters got a bit of a rework just before shutdown that helped quite a bit, and power set proliferation has definitely helped them, too.  Tactical Arrow, Temporal, and Atomic are amazing secondaries for Blasters. 

 

My Archery/TA Blaster is level 50 and equipped with only common IOs and the +3% defense and health/recovery IO procs (Steadfast Prot, Glad Armor, Miracle, Numina, and Panacea).  She's T3 incarnate, but I haven't yet bothered with any other IO sets, because I never intended to put in a full build.  Even so, she is quite super heroic, and I love that Rain of Arrows recharges so quickly I can spam it for almost every encounter.

 

[drbuzzard]

6 hours ago, Razia said:

I am all for giving them more damage in a world where TW/Bio Scrappers exist. But then what about Blasters? I stopped playing them back on live because they were to squishy for me after all the nerfs. I do IO out all of my toons, but I wonder how super heroic a Blaster with SOs only will feel compared to all the other ATs?

This is a very fair question. However the current gap between sentinels and blasters in damage is simply huge. Between a higher damage scale, more targets for AOEs, and Defiance, sentinels are simply not in the same area code as blasters for damage. Getting them up to a decent number would be nice. They certainly should not exceed blasters, but right now, I think the characterization of around 66% of blaster damage is probably pretty correct. This is far too low for a DPS class. Getting it to 75% or maybe 80% would be reasonable I think.

Edited January 17, 2020 by drbuzzard

[Razia]

7 minutes ago, drbuzzard said:

This is a very fair question. However the current gap between sentinels and blasters in damage is simple huge. Between a higher damage scale, more targets for AOEs, and Defiance, sentinels are simply not in the same area code as blasters for damage. Getting them up to a decent number would be nice. They certainly should not exceed blasters, but right now, I think the characterization of around 66% of blaster damage is probably pretty correct. This is far too low for a DPS class. Getting it to 75% or maybe 80% would be reasonable I think.

Yeah, as I said I am all for giving them more damage, I have a BR/EA, and while she is pretty unkillable, the damge feels lower than on all my corruptors. Might be because of the need to set up with Disintegrate though.

[DR_Mechano]

So far the only Sentinel I've tried was an AR/Invuln. Needless to say I think it made possibly the worst first impression on me that a Sentinel could have done. The lower target caps, lower damage AND smaller AoE cones hit AR really god damn hard on Sentinel and Ignite doesn't feel like a worthy trade off for all of that. Combine this with a secondary that is both end hungry and probably the worst pick out of all of them for Sentinel...yeah things went as well as you could expect and I've not touched the AT since because of that utterly terrible first impression. I know I picked probably the most awful combination but it has kind of colored my view on Sentinels.

[drbuzzard]

Actually I was skeptical of invulnerability on a sentinel before I made one, but they really are better than you expect. You probably suffered most of AR being a poor choice on sentinels. Durability slotted up gives you an 20% boost to your endurance, and that washes through everything and makes all the toggles quite manageable. Now I don't solo much, especially leveling up before a build is done, but I didn't really have much issue with my radiation/invulnerability sentinel. Now that the build is done, it has quote good performance, especially against lethal/smashing opponents.

[DR_Mechano]

1 hour ago, drbuzzard said:

Actually I was skeptical of invulnerability on a sentinel before I made one, but they really are better than you expect. You probably suffered most of AR being a poor choice on sentinels. Durability slotted up gives you an 20% boost to your endurance, and that washes through everything and makes all the toggles quite manageable. Now I don't solo much, especially leveling up before a build is done, but I didn't really have much issue with my radiation/invulnerability sentinel. Now that the build is done, it has quote good performance, especially against lethal/smashing opponents.

That is kind of the problem, I really liked the concept I had in mind for an AR/Invuln sentinel but the fact that AR just absolutely SUCKS on Sentinels (and it's not an amazing set on blasters lets be honest, they took what was probably the worst preforming blaster primary and actually made it worse) killed my mood for not only the concept but the AT as whole, ever since then every time I go to make a Sentinel I go "oh yeah...I remember that..." and then proceed to make literally any other AT.

[drbuzzard]

You should try beam rifle, it's actually better on sentinels than elsewhere. It might turn your view of the AT around.

[DocRadio]

On 1/15/2020 at 7:16 AM, Razia said:

How was the transition from Blasters to Sentinels for you? Did you miss the damage? Because I started a Beam/EA and it feels like my Corruptors are doing more damage.

Beam takes a bit of time to take off. It can deliver massive damage once you have the main attacks slotted and you know how to capitalize on disintegration. 

 

As to your original question.... did I miss the damage? The answer is no. Yes my fire blaster did sickening amounts of damage "in bursts". But anything that survived my alpha strike was a threat and I spent a lot of time running away so I could stay upright. My sentinel just steam rolls. He does less damage but his damage is sustained. Unimpeded by status effects or the need for advanced tactics to mitigate mob revenge. In the upper levels the differences in damage are narrowed by Incarnate abilities and the speed that my level 32 nuke recharges at. Trust me... going from glass cannon to brass cannon is worth the journey.

[DocRadio]

On 1/21/2020 at 6:54 AM, drbuzzard said:

You should try beam rifle, it's actually better on sentinels than elsewhere. It might turn your view of the AT around.

Fire is also quite good. Solid AoE potential and one of the best single target attacks in the game, Blaze.

It is heavy on endurance use though, but it sounds like invul has an endurance sustain. Which is neat. I took an MA/Invul scrapper to 50 and the endurance management was a bitch. Of course those were the old days. Heck I remember taking unstoppable... not for the protection, but for those times when I was gassed and out of endurance.

[DocRadio]

On 1/17/2020 at 1:59 AM, Razia said:

I am all for giving them more damage in a world where TW/Bio Scrappers exist. But then what about Blasters? I stopped playing them back on live because they were to squishy for me after all the nerfs. I do IO out all of my toons, but I wonder how super heroic a Blaster with SOs only will feel compared to all the other ATs?

I leveled 2 blasters to 50 back in the day. Before IO's. One 3 X Fire, the other 3 X elec. The difference in playstyle between the two was massive. The fire build was largely one dimensional until I got bonfire. If revolved around blitz attacks or sneaking in with inferno. And of course back then nukes crashed you. They were high risk. Despite this raw power I felt inadequate to other ATs. Especially when villains were released and corruptors were nipping at our heels for damage, while also bringing mitigation that blasters could only dream of to the table. The electrical blaster was slower. More methodical, but safer. I relied on tesla cage, shocking grasp, and even added shocking bolt when I could. I could lock down bosses, didn't need my nuke as much and I could control the pace of battle. The electrical blaster never felt inadequate. So the answer is... it depends. In the modern age blasters have access to more tools. They have better secondaries and sustain mechanics. I think they'd probably hold up pretty nicely.

Edited January 28, 2020 by DocRadio

[oldskool]

2 hours ago, DocRadio said:

In the upper levels the differences in damage are narrowed by Incarnate abilities and the speed that my level 32 nuke recharges at. 

This is such a good statement it is worth bolding, underlying, and making italic. 

Incarnates choices do make a world of a difference and help blur the lines on certain Sentinel builds.

[drbuzzard]

On 1/26/2020 at 2:28 AM, DocRadio said:

Fire is also quite good. Solid AoE potential and one of the best single target attacks in the game, Blaze.

It is heavy on endurance use though, but it sounds like invul has an endurance sustain. Which is neat. I took an MA/Invul scrapper to 50 and the endurance management was a bitch. Of course those were the old days. Heck I remember taking unstoppable... not for the protection, but for those times when I was gassed and out of endurance.

Yeah, have a fire/fire sentinel, and blaze is a great attack.

 

Though one should note that only sentinels got the fixes to defensive sets. Normal invulnerability on any other AT will still suck for endurance.