So many classes, but doesn't have the one I want

[Doomguide2005]

As @Grouchybeastsays use any and all the ideas put forth here.  

Some of my thoughts:

      1)  getting defeated ... lol, an embarrassment essentially, a learning opportunity and potentially a weapon.  Rise of the Phoenix is a thing.   I hate getting defeated but the reality is it's mostly meaningless in this game.

      2) Solo, okay they look nasty so pull.   So if bad stuff does happen they'll eventually wander away and you can rez in relative safety.  This is true even if on a 'blapper' which while I haven't played it a /Atomic looks like it's intended to be played up close and personal looking at CoD v2.0

      3)  Elevators and the front door are your friends.  Pull them to you there.  If your getting chain mezzed ... well even if stunned and held you can still click the door and whoosh away you go.  My pre-50 BS/Regen scrapper resorted to this against Malta (pre-IO, practically pre ED).  Sappers kept ruining her day.  She could handle -def, -resist, etc., but -end then detoggled Integration and mezzed to hell and gone.  She also experimented with Teleport Foe to yank those annoying 'minions' away for a little individual playtime.  Should work even better from what I've read about the new Teleport pool.

     4)  there's a proc that generates mez protection put it in one of those "I can use even when mezzed" powers. For that matter I don't think I've seen Amplifiers mentioned.

     5) Be ready to use 'stuff' when being chain Slept in particular.  Players aren't the only ones whose allies wake up sleeping foes.  Their next attack may wake you briefly before the next Sleep hits.  Be ready.

     6)  For that matter planning ahead doesn't stop at pulling.  What will you do if your intended single pull brings the room?  Panicked by impending dooooom do you know which way, which twists and turns, ramps, etc., to take as you retreat.

[Wavicle]

Actually, the Defiant Barrage ATO proc is much more effective placed in a long recharge/use it on cooldown ability like your Sniper attack.

 

I also originally thought "I'll put it in my t1 so I can use it when mezzed to break out of mez" but in fact it works much better if you have it up in advance to prevent getting mezzed in the first place.

 

Putting it in, for example, Sniper Blast will make it so that you often have 2 or 3 stacks of the buff, whereas putting it in your t1 or t2 will make it so you rarely see the buff, if ever.

[Luminara]

51 minutes ago, skoryy said:

/e squints

 

I thought that n was an r for a couple of seconds.  Then I squinted, too.  With an n.

[Triumphant]

Quote

2) Solo, okay they look nasty so pull.   So if bad stuff does happen they'll eventually wander away and you can rez in relative safety.  This is true even if on a 'blapper' which while I haven't played it a /Atomic looks like it's intended to be played up close and personal looking at CoD v2.0

 

To follow up on what Doomguide said here, you can also grab the teleport target power, which has quite a good range.  Pluck one foe out from a group of them at a distance to thin the herd.  Rinse/repeat as much as desired.  Works pretty good for solo play, if you're not into team play. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by Triumphant

[Troyusrex]

Don’t forget defense amplifiers which you get either from the P2W vendors or super packs. While not impenetrable, they make a substantial difference. 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Troyusrex

[Seed22]

On 9/18/2021 at 9:03 AM, Hew said:

Sentinels are surprisingly good, but you have to consider that single target damage is not their forte. They get more mileage out of aoes (with some weird sort of distance-damage sliding scale thingy I believe), they can be tough as nails, and you wont get rickrolled like a blaster due to mez.

 

Or you can do atypical things like nature/whatever/darkness permasouldrain perma-ish overgrowth and just be at or nearly at damage cap _on a defender_ almost all the time. That is no small amount of damage! If you are REALLY worried about mez, you got elec/whatever/darkness defenders with a portable +res/mezprotect bubble for yourself and your team. CT into melee under stealth, pop your bubble, souldrain, pbaoe, profit.

 

 

 

Blasters do more AoE. Sents actually…they do something. Also NA maaay not be good for OP until they get IOs down pat

[Wavicle]

32 minutes ago, Seed22 said:

Blasters do more AoE. Sents actually…they do something. Also NA maaay not be good for OP until they get IOs down pat

 

I don't think they were trying to suggest that Sentinels are better at AoE than Blasters, just that they are better at AoE than they are at Single Target.

[Without_Pause]

1 hour ago, Wavicle said:

 

I don't think they were trying to suggest that Sentinels are better at AoE than Blasters, just that they are better at AoE than they are at Single Target.

Well, due to their AoE cap, they can't be that great at AoE. Fire will work on a Sent, and Beam has the ability to ignore the AoE cap due to how it works. But, a Blaster with mezz protection is a Stalker if the OP would have taken the time and effort to actually learn how to play one. Not like there is a guide to how to play the AT stickied in its forum or anything. Sents can be good for something. Once the devs know what that is, I can tell you. 

 

FYI, raise the range and AoE cap for a Sent. Get rid of the inherit being tied to both T1 and T2 attacks when many offensive sets don't take or later respec out of the T1. Tweak inherit as needed.

[Wavicle]

43 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

Well, due to their AoE cap, they can't be that great at AoE. Fire will work on a Sent, and Beam has the ability to ignore the AoE cap due to how it works. But, a Blaster with mezz protection is a Stalker if the OP would have taken the time and effort to actually learn how to play one. Not like there is a guide to how to play the AT stickied in its forum or anything. Sents can be good for something. Once the devs know what that is, I can tell you. 

 

FYI, raise the range and AoE cap for a Sent. Get rid of the inherit being tied to both T1 and T2 attacks when many offensive sets don't take or later respec out of the T1. Tweak inherit as needed.

Yea, there are guides about it and other threads to discuss possible changes, which I have participated in myself, but this is off topic for this thread.

[0th Power]

On 9/18/2021 at 5:02 AM, Grouchybeast said:

Your T1 and T2 attacks, which can be used while mezzed.  Slot them up and use them.

T1 secondary also

[0th Power]

2x post

Edited September 20, 2021 by 0th Power
2x post

[carroto]

On 9/18/2021 at 7:24 AM, Shred Monkey said:

staying out of melee.   If you get range defense up to 45% then most mez attacks will miss you 95% of the time.

 

This is the best starting place for a Blaster IMO.  Make a classic Hover-Blaster.  Take Hover, stay out of range of enemies' melee attacks, get ranged defense when you can.  Even if you get mezzed the meleers still can't reach you, which reduces the damage you take.  Just hover there above them and hammer them with your T1 and T2 attacks until the mez wears off.

 

Learn to recognize the mezzers and target them first.  If you start the fight with a Build Up + Snipe and unload damage, in my experience by the time the mez hits the mezzer is already significantly damaged and you can finish them off with your T1 and T2s while mezzed.  Then once it wears off you're good to go on the rest of them.

[Marshal_General]

Make dp/mc blaster. You will still get mezzed, but you will look too good to care.

 

Hey guys! Look what I can do while asleep!

[Sailboat]

Also, if absolutely everyone was immune to mezz effects, they might as well be removed from the game entirely.

 

If, on the other hand, at least some ATs should be vulnerable to mezz, certainly the highest-damage, mass-killing, long-ranged AT should be.

 

The ATs who do less damage or less AoE and have to get into melee to fight at all do get some mezz protection -- at the cost of not being the big hitters or having all the powerful controls, buffs and debuffs.

 

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by Sailboat

[Ukase]

Having played all manner of blaster powersets, there should be absolutely no issue with you getting held, or mezzed, or stunned! Did you not know you can use your t-2 and t-1 while mezzed? Did you not know you can carry a break free before you enter a mission by typing /ah and buying one of the many for 10-100 influence? 

Did you not know that if that is too tedious, you can buy a defensive amplifier at level 1?  8 hours worth will only cost you 8000 influence. Simply get Inner Inspiration from the p2w for free, use it and sell the inspirations you get after you get some start up cash by defeating one minion. What could be easier? 

8 hours later, when it expires, you can use the reward merits you earned to exchange for converters, sell for inf and then repurchase. And that's the easy way, really. As a blaster, in the higher levels, you are essentially in God mode. Nothing can seriously hurt you because you can kill them all before they can kill you. All you need to be prepared. Slot your powers intelligently. Observe what your shortcomings are as you fight. Need more endurance? Learn ways to mitigate the end usage. Need more recharge - learn ways to increase it. 

If you didn't have these obstacles to overcome, there'd be no real reason to play the game. It's already too easy for most of us. We have to find more ways to challenge ourselves. SO only builds, get defeated, get deleted challenges. Drop challenges. A fair sized list of challenges to make things harder because many of us simply have more experience than you do at this time. Stick with it - learn. Ask how you can overcome the problem. There have already been several tips on how to do so. 
 

 

[Ukase]

On 9/18/2021 at 5:33 AM, Diantane said:

Thanks for the quick replies. Gives me something to work for. The incarnate update would be ideal, May switch from doing missions at RWZ until then though 🙂 I'll also work on the inspirations (thanks for that helpful tip).

Ah, you will learn which npcs mez and which do not. I kind of envy your lack of experience right now. There's SOOO much more behind the figurative curtain, you'll be entertained for hundreds if not thousands of hours. 

[Industrious1]

Just fire while jumping backwards and animating your attack.  You will land out of range while your own attack hits like a homing missile.  You can hop in and out with combat jumping in this manner and avoid the lion's share of damage in most regular encounters.  Also handy for getting quickly in and out of melee.  

 

Takes some practice but its pretty easy once you get the hang of it.  

[RikOz]

On 9/18/2021 at 11:20 AM, Solarblaze4 said:

My main is a fire/fire blaster

Likewise, and it's the very definition of "the best defense is a good offense". Absolutely love being able to take out almost everything before it gets anywhere near me!

[UltraAlt]

On 9/18/2021 at 1:51 AM, Diantane said:

Put to sleep and then the foe kills me with no way to protect myself.

 

except for break-frees or enhancements that provide status protection like Aegis

 

On 9/18/2021 at 1:51 AM, Diantane said:

They need either provide mez protection for the blaster or beef up the sentinel (which I would prefer).

 

... and Clear Mind from Empathy defenders and there is a MedPool power that also offers mez protection to others.

 

If you are on a team and getting mezed too often, you are probably standing too close to the enemies, you have ranged attacks - use them at range.

 

Blasters also have ::

 

"Defiance
Blasters’ earliest abilities come so naturally to them, that they are accessible even in states that normally prevent them from using powers, such as being Held, Slept or Stunned. Additionally, each time the Blaster attacks with a primary or secondary power, they gain a stacking damage bonus for the next several seconds. The amount of the damage bonus and its duration is dependent on the exact power used, with single target abilities generally giving the largest bonus." - https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Inherent_Powers#Defiance

 

On 9/18/2021 at 1:51 AM, Diantane said:

Thought that the sentinel was the answer, but their damage level is so low it takes me three full uses of all of my attacks to kill anything.

 

They don't do as much damage as blasters because they have armor.

 

On 9/18/2021 at 1:51 AM, Diantane said:

The defender's even worse.

 

Defenders do more damage when solo.

When you have a good defender on a team the defender may not be doing much damage, but they are helping the team survive and take out enemies faster.

 

---

I'm kind of getting the feeling that you are nitpicking and don't really want to be playing a superhero game.

Are you playing this game because you want to be creating superheros to play or are you just playing it because it's a free MMORPG?

Edited September 25, 2021 by UltraAlt

[UltraAlt]

On 9/18/2021 at 6:33 AM, Diantane said:

Thanks for the quick replies. Gives me something to work for. The incarnate update would be ideal, May switch from doing missions at RWZ until then though 🙂 I'll also work on the inspirations (thanks for that helpful tip).

 

I'm wondering if you have played through the game or if you are getting power-leveled too quickly to have gone through the process of learning how the powers work (individually, in combinations with your other powers, and how the can be a multiplier for your teammates) and how to fight different enemy types. There is always a pivotal enemy type in an enemy group that is their ace-in-the-hole; if you take them out, the entire group is easier to deal with - it generally isn't the boss. Some groups, like the Devouring Earth have more than one.

 

This game has a lot of tactics that experienced players use that may not be obvious to newer players because there is a lot of run-and-gun/bull-in-the-china-shop/Hulk-smash going on in most groups these days.

[Wavicle]

6 hours ago, Ukase said:

Ah, you will learn which npcs mez and which do not.

 

This.

We played this game for years before IO builds and Incarnates were a thing and before Blasters were as powerful as they are now.

Learn which mobs are the problem and take them out ASAP, from a distance if possible and up close if necessary. Mez them, knock them down, defeat them swiftly.

[Ukase]

13 hours ago, Industrious1 said:

Just fire while jumping backwards and animating your attack.  You will land out of range while your own attack hits like a homing missile.  You can hop in and out with combat jumping in this manner and avoid the lion's share of damage in most regular encounters.  Also handy for getting quickly in and out of melee.  

 

Takes some practice but its pretty easy once you get the hang of it.  

Ah...this reminds me of one of the true heroes of CoH, @Nemu. This player taught me....gosh, I don't even know when..maybe issue 12? Or even issue 6 or something...I forget, but I learned to "joust" on my fire blaster in perez park. (That's where I learned to practice, anyway)

I would target the npc. I would literally hop in the midst of the mob, mash a nuke, hop out - but I'd do it so fast, the nuke didn't actually fire until I was already 50 yards away. 

Listen, young children! These are the skills you do not typically learn in AE. Go! Hunt! Joust! Kil Skulls!

[gamingglen]

On 9/18/2021 at 6:02 AM, Grouchybeast said:

(As you level up, turn off smaller insps to keep your tray tidy.)

 

Heck with that. I have a macro that converts most types into a red.

 

You could convert 3 into a purple (defense or break free).  

 

"Tidy".. pshaw. 

[arcane]

OP could also consider a /martial blaster, since it comes with a free break free 🙂

[Mopery]

12 hours ago, Wavicle said:

 

This.

We played this game for years before IO builds and Incarnates were a thing and before Blasters were as powerful as they are now.

Learn which mobs are the problem and take them out ASAP, from a distance if possible and up close if necessary. Mez them, knock them down, defeat them swiftly.

Wut? Y I got 2 lrn stuff 'n things?!?! 🤪

Edited September 25, 2021 by Mopery