FupDup

I definitely oppose raising the minimum system requirements, but it is possible to make the game in a new engine while still keeping it potato-friendly. A new engine is more about stuff like stability, performance, QOL, adding/changing stuff way easier/faster...it doesn't have to be about uber high-res graphics.

The ones that are already like 90+ degrees are easy enough to line up without wasting time/losing DPS on repositioning. The more narrow ones, like Fire Breath, on the other hand...ouch. A bigger issue is why cones in general (both ranged and melee alike) were given a lower target cap than other AOE types (PBAOE, TAOE) despite the added difficulty in aiming. One would logically expect the harder to aim powers to be given an advantage in exchange, or at the very least be on equal footing.

I only find runners to be a serious/substantial issue when using "rain patch" style powers that the devs deliberately designed to make enemies run away immediately, which is a problem that goes far beyond Sentinels.

Yup, it's in Black Scorpion's arc.

A lot of people put them in AOE powers because AOE powers tend to be less effective at proc bombing than ST powers. As someone who doesn't usually proc bomb, I tend to lean the same way you do with short/medium recharge ST powers because the choices for ST ranged damage sets are severely limited while ranged AOE has a wealth of good options (in terms of set bonuses). I wouldn't put them in melee powers because those tend to be in much smaller supply than ranged powers on a Sent, which makes them prime candidates for stuff like Hecatomb, Avalanche, etc. that can't go anywhere else.

We can look at LRM Rocket as an example of this in action, except unlike LRM, Hail of Bullets couldn't be given a "quick" mode since it doesn't have an interrupt time. The powers team could maybe get creative with animation sequencers to cut out a portion of the HOB animation and call it a "new" ability with different stats so it doesn't get giganerfed.

HOB would have to be nerfed pretty hard from its source material to fit into an epic pool, like imagine trying to get Inferno in Fire Mastery. Definitely find a different power to replace it with.

Psi has multiple attacks that hit 100ft baseline, but AR only has 1 (not counting snipes). Additionally, its snipe goes slightly further (175 vs 150). However, all of that is contradicted by Psi's nuke being melee. Seems like a weird design choice to give the longest base ranges to a set with melee in it but w/e.

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I don't think his argument was that Sents have great range (they don't of course), the argument is that they aren't as melee-reliant as the average Blaster. Sents really only need to melee for either a PBAOE that some primaries have or an epic pool melee attack if you opt for one. On the flipside, most Blaster secondaries come with multiple melee powers and they tend to have higher DPA than their so-called "primary" powers. Blasters can and do still choose to go without those melees of course, but comparatively speaking they "lose" more than a Sentinel who chooses not to pick up a singular level 35 epic melee. Excluding certain manip sets like Tac Arrow of course.

This is pretty much what Sentinels were created for, having an armor set as a secondary. Invulnerability or Energy Aura are good choices for a power armor theme. Invulnerability is more of a "wall of steel" heavy armor kind of vibe while Energy Aura is more like a forcefield generator vibe. EA takes a bit more investment to reach its defense caps while Invuln is a fair bit easier to build, especially if you stick to range (EA benefits from slotting melee sets that have smash/lethal defense, which are rare/nonexistent in ranged sets). For your primary, some thematic choices include Radiation Blast, Energy Blast, Assault Rifle, and Beam Rifle. A breakdown of each: *Energy Blast: Didn't translate to Sentinels very well (not unplayable but certainly below average), and it has one melee AOE attack (the nuke) *Radiation Blast: A solid set but it has two melee AOEs in it (if you mind that) *Assault Rifle: Good set, pure ranged, but it might give more of a "War Machine" kind of vibe than Iron Man *Beam Rifle: Good set, pure ranged, but you said you want the animations "contained within the suit" so holding a laser rifle might disqualify it Ultimately, you may need to compromise on either the animations (carry a Beam Rifle) or melee (use Rad Blast). The good news is that if you go with Rad, your armor secondary will make things fairly safe once you're built out. Now that I think about it, Electric Armor might be thematically workable for this (if you don't mind surging with electricity) and it's a good set too.

The most I could see is a badge and/or different color name title in-game and/or forums. No exclusive powers or extra leverage in affecting content/balancing or such. And as Lauci said there's also non-monetary ways to contribute. Hosting stuff like Hami Raids, MSRs, etc. is a legitimately valuable service to the community.

Entry Type: Weakest Attack Attack Name: Inherent Brawl AT: Defender Slotting: 1x Generic Accuracy IO Target: Rikti Pylon (common ST damage test target, uniform resists to all damage types) Damage: 5.49 Smashing This is for level 50 toons, right? And another thing, for max damage tests, would the Gaussian Proc slotted in Aim or Build Up be valid? It's technically RNG but it's extremely consistent/reliable (fires virtually every time).

For the Brute/Tanker variant, a cool/fun idea for it might be to have an altered Smoke Bomb that stealths all of your nearby allies but not the user, on the grounds that you're trying to make yourself the center of attention/aggro. Have it replace Blinding Powder I guess?

On the flipside, Scrapper Nin gains perma KB protection, greater resists to all damage, and a stealth crit mechanic that can give it a damage advantage over its close competitor of SR. Stalker Nin doesn't get any kind of crit or damage bonus compared to SR (all Stalkers get hide crits), in fact it does less damage because of lacking the global recharge buff. If that's not enough, I think it would be fair to reduce the strength of the heal/end effect to compensate for both being present on a single button. My opinion though is that Stalker Nin shouldn't have Caltrops (that's what the +End button should be replacing) because its goes against their purpose. They're a melee class, and Caltrops causes enemies to drop everything and run away outside of melee range immediately, which is kind of annoying for a class that requires enemies to be in melee in order to fulfill its function.

Typed defenses are often considered worse than Positionals because they can be harder to build for, but the big exception is Psi damage because there are some "unpositional" Psi attacks that cut straight through armors like SR and Shield and can only be blocked by typed Psi def. On the flipside, it can also sometimes be hard to build ranged defense on melee toons due to Mako's Bite 6 slots being the main source of it. And it is also a good point that Fire, Cold, Energy, and Negative tend to be bundled together in the same power for def/res in most other armors rather than split up (outside a few cases like Stone Armor).

I might be able to be persuaded on this if the def/res breakdown were changed to make it play/build a lot more differently from Energy Aura as it stands now. Ice Armor already being similar to Energy Aura only reinforces the need for more distinction here. Maybe this could be stronger typed defenses with weaker resists, go the other way with stronger resists but weaker typed defenses (too similar to Invuln then?), maybe go full potato and make the defenses positional instead. I also don't think it needs the Density Field debuff aura as it stands, not just to reduce overlap but also because Forcefields are normally associated with self-protection rather than offense (the Force Recoil aura can stay because that's more unique).

Not really? In terms of gameplay, WP was meant as a more balanced and passive version of Regen, but it fills an entirely different theme/concept. Regen is Wolverine or Deadpool, Willpower is Batman or Punisher. For Energy Aura vs Forcefield Armor, forcefields are pretty much a bubble of energy projected around the user. That Density Field power you suggested that slows enemy rech and spd is also a bit similar to Eng's Entrophic Aura power (which only provides -rech to enemies). And it's still a typed defense armor set with moderate resistance, which is again similar to Energy Aura. I'm not trying to poopoo on you or your ideas, I'm just saying that something we have now is very close to what you're asking for. If the HC team were to add bubbles as alternate FX to Energy Aura, it would fit the fantasy/theme of a Forcefield Armor set very accurately.

My opinion on a Forcefield Armor is that Energy Aura already fills a very similar theme. Just look at the power names it has: Dampening Field, Kinetic Shield, Power Shield...The only thing missing is alternate FX for bubbles. Add that option and we've got Forcefield Armor at home.

Most of the melee attacks offered are actually quite strong, but I don't like the design where a ranged AT feels pressured to pick up melee powers thus turning them into a melee AT instead (which we already have several of). In spite of the mathematic advantages to picking up some melee, I tend not to simply because I play a Sentinel specifically because I like shooting stuff (while wearing armor) rather than punching stuff. The mezz powers and support powers tend to be mediocre at best though. I wish Sents got Energy Mastery, specifically the Brute/Stalker version that lets you pick up Superior Conditioning at level 35 (replace the ranged attacks with melee I guess). It would make a quaint little filler pool that fits any character concept.

I came into this thread expecting complaints about actual leeching, like people who go AFK and set a T1 attack to auto-cast and auto-follow the tanker or something. Joining teams within the accepted level range, like level 35's joining an ITF, is not leeching. Admittedly a sub-50 might not be able to do much damage if the enemies are level 54, but that's not the same as purposefully not contributing.

That is indeed a summary of what he is trying to say.

Both ATs sit in the Ranged Damage category in the role diversity system and both have similar primaries. Sents were created for people who wanted a Blaster-like playstyle with armor instead of melee for their secondary. Blasters are most definitely supposed to deal more damage than Sents, but in the case of Ice Blast the gap is drastically wider between the two than it really should be. And even compared to other Sent primaries, Ice Blast is among the weakest despite being one of the strongest blast sets on the other 3 ATs who can choose it.

Captain Fab isn't being serious, he posts /powercreep in literally any and every kind of gameplay suggestion thread. He originally did it to try to parady people who do bring up power creep too often, but he ended up overdoing it pretty massively.

Yes, Radiation Blast does generally work okay without proc bombing. The gap between procs and no procs is a bit bigger on this set than most because of how many procs it can load up, but you can still play most content viably enough just using a defensive set-bonus build too. Some enemies with high energy resists like the new Council might take a little longer to put down however.