DR_Mechano

I see your main point but the devs cannot and should not balance around major high end play. Saying that Electrical Affinity (just noticed it got a name change, my bad on the previous post, but mistakes are mistakes so I'll let it stand). However I do agree that Electrical Affinity currently stands as a meh power set. It's moved from a poor mans Trick Arrow (oh trick arrow...you poor maligned beast) to a poor man's nature affinity (so we're seeing progress!). However I will also point out that Rad and Cold are not the only viable support sets. Dark affinity, Time Manipulation and Thermal emissions are all considered, by and large, top end support sets. Dark can do everything Rad can do (literally it has the same tool sets -res and -def in Tar Patch, a large -Regen debuff in Howling Twilight, -to hit in numerous powers and a large +def buff in Fade). Time manipulation is considered a top end because it provides a wide range of buffs and debuffs not to mention is a very easy path of making your Defender/Controller sturdy AF and having a crap ton of recharge with perma-Chrono shift (Chrono + Hasten is +120% recharge on their own). Thermal I have very little experience in but I have seen a large chunk of people suggest it as one of the top ends. Also you're looking at it purely from a 'support' standpoint and not the offshoot builds like Proc Monster. My Fire/Dark proc monster controller actually hits hard enough with all the procs firing off to deal more damage than a Sentinel ever could (though that personally says a lot more about the state of Sentinels than anything else) and it provides support too. I will admit there are a number of support sets that really could use some love, Trick arrow being my number 1 pick for buffs. Literally every other debuffing set does what it does but a lot better. I will also admit that Energy Melee needs to be bought up to the single target monster it was before they nerfed it into oblivion and it currently sits near bottom of the barrel power wise. Assault Rifle on both Blasters and ESPECIALLY Sentinels could do with a major boost in power. However right now we have a tiny dev team that can't hire more people due to 'the talks' (and I have my own opinions on 'the talks' that I won't get in to here) so this is what we've got.

To be fair we did see an example of this with the discussion over the name of Shock Therapy as we had one dev who clearly loved the name and I'm assuming it was their baby of a design project come out and say how shock therapy was misunderstood and so on. Which, since they are a professional in the field, is understandable BUT it had to be covered by GM coming in and quickly providing context and also saying that said dev doesn't speak for the entire HC team. Now my own personal problem with the set aside (I literally have zero interest in playing it, elec powers suffer the problem of end drain being a non-issue for most NPCs so it's a very lacking secondary effect and the name DEFINITELY needs changing as it doesn't fit the theme of all the other power names. Shock Therapy sounds like it should be a power name, not a set name) you can clearly see it is someones pet project and that's what we're going to be seeing from the devs. They're a very small group that for reasons like NDAs on the talks etc. cannot or will not bring new people on to the project so instead we're going to be seeing more pet project style of development and this makes sense. You're doing this for free, you're not going to donate your time to work on something you don't like. I mean I question the choice of Electrical Control. I honestly didn't see massive callouts for it but that's just me and as such I get WHY Electrical control was developed I can just go 'ok...fair enough' since me saying I personally don't want it isn't going to magically get all that time suddenly invested in to something else and I'm sure there are people out there who DO want Electrical control.

Dr Edward Johnson aka Doctor Mechano, adjusted his tie. This scruffy, elderly, grey skinned man with a wild beard and a pony tail that looked it had come from the 60s and one clearly cybernetic arm that was far from...well it looked functional. He looked out of place in a suit and tie, much preferring his labcoat, a comfortable pair of slacks and his thinking slippers. Looking directly ahead at the camera as his mechanical assistant Grunhilda waved him in, starting a silent count down for yet another take. This was the fourth take he'd done of this blasted advert, the 'studio' lights were far too hot and bothersome, the green screen kept falling down, at one point a snake had burst out of the hole he had boarded up and effectively ruined, what had been a previously, an almost perfect take. It had taken him a VERY long time to finally get a lab up and running of this magnitude, one fit for both his genius and fit for business purposes. It wasn't quite the full factory he had bought in Sharkshead back in the original dimension but it would have to do. He nodded his head, counting down, 3, 2 and... On TV sets throughout the isles and some ungodly hour of the morning (which is the only time slot he could afford to run his adverts). The black and white symbol of a Skull surrounded by a Cog flickered onto the screen with the words 'a Necrotech industries infomercial' appearing along the bottom. Then there he was, suited and booted but still looking like someone had stuffed a hobo into a tuxedo without any other prep. Standing in front of a clearly green screened tourist shot of Aeon City. "Hello my fellow independent Islanders, most of you will have no idea who I am, so allow me to introduce myself," the green screen changed to a stock image of a 'lab', probably taken off Shutterstock or some other such website, the picture just a little bit too fuzzy to make out a watermark. "I am Doctor Mechano, once one of the foremost scientists in another dimension, now I'm here to bring both my high work ethic, attention to detail AND competitive prices on all things science related to you, the consumer. What I'm here to offer you, today, are some new and exciting products as well as some news on products in the pipe-line!" The green screen pulled away to reveal a...decent looking lab, full of vats, tanks, all sorts of beakers...if someone said 'mad scientist lab' this is exactly what most people would picture. Electrical Tesla generators arcing lighting between each other, green goo bubbling away, the whole works. "Firstly I'll announce the product that is going to go on pre-order soon. The Model HH1. A marvel of bio-engineering and cybernetics. This 'hero hunter' unit is relentless once programmed with a target, killing anything and everything that gets in its way. Highly resistance to most basic forms of a attack and, with an engineered high regeneration factor, able to survive almost catastrophic damage. Equipped with my patented Plasma cutting claws means that nothing will stop it. Vault doors, people, police cars, nothing would hold this killing machine back. Now this is currently in the finale open beta stage of testing in the Isles so once the testing phase is done I'll be opening up the phone line for orders. Priced at a very low one hundred thousand dollars per unit this puts this killer app at well below the price of any other dedicated anti-meta Bio Organic Weapon and into the affordability range of the common bank robbing criminal." He gestures to one of the currently empty tanks, rebreathing equipment floating in it. "Of course if that is out of your price range I do have lower cost options, the NewU program can give anyone meta-human powers on the cheap or even if you just want a completely new look. Currently I can enhance strength, endurance, toughness and reaction speed, elemental powers aren't available yet but I do have them on the roadmap for this year. Currently the prices start at just ten thousand dollars per power enhanced, that's only thirty thousand dollars for increased Strength, Endurance and Toughness to level that will allow you to throw around police cars with your bare hands." He moves to bring a whiteboard in to shot, drawn on it is a very detailed roadmap of when he plans to roll out new features of the NewU program, though the actual dates are all TBC. "Of course if you're desperate for powers and can't afford those options I'm glad to announce an 'early access' buy-in for the NewU program, where for only ten thousand dollars you can trial the latest but untested advances we have. This is what I like to call a Surprise Mechanic of super powers, you come in, pay your fee and you have no idea what you could end up with but there is a chance in having all the above traits very highly advanced. No matter what you get, you'll be leaving with a new you," he winks and finger guns at the camera. "Now for my last announcement I'm opening up what once was a very old favorite of mine. The Dream partner program, a tailored made lover specific to your ideals and designs, these can be metahumans or just regular humans. Unlike REAL people these will always be loyal...unless you mistreat them and then they'll rip your face off with genetically engineered enhanced strength...which comes as a mandatory but free baseline enhancement. Remain loyal to them and they'll remain loyal to you, a happy, loving partner that is both an excellent cook AND a bodyguard for your children in these trying times. Prices do vary a lot on this product depending on what you desire." Cutting back to the Doctor in front the green screen which is now slightly wrinkled, making the returning stock tourist photo of Aeon city look a little warped and..off.. "So if any of these products interest you, call the number flashing at the bottom of the screen now. I'm Doctor Mechano, owner of Necrotech industries and..." A Cobra, one of the many Rogue Isles snakes, appears to slither, looking rather confused in to shot, staring at the camera. The Doctor flew into a rage, "God damn it, I told you all before stay out of here...that's what the boards are for! Get outta here!" The Advert cut short over the sound of laser fire, yelling and hissing. It was his best take...it would have to do. Now let us see if people were actually interested. ((if you're VG or SG has any plans that I can further forward with any of these products, meant as story hooks, please let me know via PM)).

This was the original idea IIRC along with the Battalion storyline. Both the Council and Malta have gotten hold of Praetorian tech to 'up their game' as it were and become a threat to Incarnate level foes. Malta would clearly use Battle Maiden and her female warriors as replacements for the now destroyed Knives of Artemis (since the Knives of Vengeance basically took over, killing any who didn't convert and then we wiped them out completely in Max's story arc and then wiped out the Talon's of Vengeance later in the DA story arcs) plus they have access to her nanite technology. I mean they're whole gig is 'anti-meta', you'd think they would realize their outclassed by a wide margin with regards Incarnates at this point and invest in more to get their groove back. The Council were clearly gearing up for a second war against the 5th Column (and the 5th Column were doing the same) and I suspect this was to make the two groups more distinct. With Nosferatu and Vandal joining the 5th Column effectively taking their Mekmen, Warwolves and Vampyri for the classic 'Nazis with jetpacks' group and the Council with Arkhan and Maestro bringing more Nictus based units to the fore to replace the loss of the Warwolves and Vampyri with the newly gained Praetorian tech with adding their own versions of the ACU to replace the Mekmen. I imagine both would bring out new anti-Incarnate focused tech to both combat each other AND any heroes/villains that got in their way. Plus more time related shennanigans with the 5th Column since Cimeroria was just 'one of many' temporal strongholds which gives them free reign to go ham on what they can include (and I suspect was the devs way of giving themselves free reign to introduce more 'in the past' zones by having the 5th Column doing a problem in that era). With the Carnival of Light now having completely evacuated Praetoria I imagine we'd see a battle of wills between the two versions of Vanessa (Primal and the Praetorian one mind riding with Desdemona's body) over who controls the Carnival. On the whole I'd like to see a lot of groups that are above street thug level start making use of looted Praetorian tech. I imagine there's a rather large black market industry for selling things like Super Serums (which could have been 'liberated' from many of Berry's labs), Reprogrammed War Work (we see this with Arachnos, Longbow and the PPD already making copies of the Praetorian War Work and putting them into combat) and generally the more advanced cybertechnology that was kicking around (I imagine the Freakshow would LOVE to get their hands on shiny new upgrades 'liberated' from Praetoria).

Seeing Assault Rifle as bottom of the barrel on Sentinels just kind of proves what everybody has been saying. The set is complete Garbage on Sentinels. I know that Sentinels are currently in 'the pipeline' for a rework but oof. Shorter cones, lower target caps and lower damage turn a set that is, in my opinion, fairly mediocre on Blasters into just terrible on Sentinels.

Thanks, will take a look at it soon 😄

No worries, as you can see in the above post I tweaked it a little for claws...still not sure if it's any good though...also 2 Winter IO sets in my claws variant there which puts it in the just above 'middle cost' in my opinion but that's just me.

Well that's definitely something to mull over, will have to see how it translates to claws. Thanks! Will take it into mids and do some tweaking. I mean I made a purely defense focused build but I get the feeling that really isn't the way to go with Willpower. I also made a Claws variant on the suggested build..maybe this is the way to go *shrugs*

Just general tankability not looking for anything extreme...like I said I've got no idea how to build willpower, do I focus on buffing defense or do I focus on buffing regen...like I'm a complete novice when it comes to Willpower.

ATOs are fine maybe like 1 purple set and 1 Winter IO Set.

Looking for a build that's not uber expensive for my WP/Claws tanker...I've got no idea how to build for willpower. Invuln, typed defense, Stone, more recharge pls, Bio I've got nailed since I have 3 characters with it but WP just eludes me.

I mean I was kind of surprised they didn't already have the alternate animations considering they're literally just minor clones of the melee AT version..

Could the various Martial Combat moves that are shared with Martial Arts get the option to use their alternate Punch animations (especially Eagle's Claw) please?

Yup agreed. Don't see why not.

IN THE TIME OF THE FIRST AGE... And she's specifically a homage to a specific ID software character (who is herself is a canon rule 63 version of the Doom Marine).

Well we have the tech for no redraw options so I imagine this set would basically be a No Redraw on all of it's attacks.

I wouldn't say no to 3 options honestly. I mean we can't straight up remove AR and replace it. It is here to stay. So yeah maybe three powersets one current Frankengun AR, one Doom style 1 man arsenal and one more realistic style AR combat.

Yes this is a Necro of massive proportions BUT having talked about this in Sentinel AR thread. It just hit me...there is actually a set which reuses War Mace....Bane Spider. A large portion of its attacks are literally clones of the War Mace version. Bash, Pulverize, Shatter and Crowd Control are all clones of War Mace versions with Mace Beam, Mace Beam Volley and Poisonous Ray. If one only took the melee powers you'd basically be playing a War Mace Stalker. So there IS an example of another power set using attacks from other sets.

My own personal take would be to split the set into a FPS (think Doom more than CoD) style set. Pistols, shotguns (lumping together bucketshot and slug to make a VERY hard hitting cone power for example as a double barreled shotgun analogy), Plasma rifle, LRM and so on with Model options for each attack (which is possible with the tech we have) with no redraw and reusing a lot of animations from both AR and BR. This would be about high AoE with the option for burst single target, lacking a snipe more akin to the Sentinel version but very focused on AoE. You would be a classic FPS style character that carries around 10 different guns and blasts their way through hordes of foes. It would drop the Full Auto and be replaced with something similar to Overcharge (like a BFG). The second split would be like you mentioned a more modern military grounded style, closer somewhat to VEAT Soldier design. In fact if you take out the wackier outliers in Wide Area Web Grenade and Venom Grenade and put Sniper Shot (rename of Sniper Rifle) in place of WAWG and Full Auto would replace Venom Grenade, pretty much Job Done for a more realistic CoD style character.

AR/Invuln Sentinel. A set combo SO crap that it actually made me swear off making another Sentinel ever again. It doesn't help that Assault rifle isn't an uber amazing set on Blasters so the lower target caps, shorter cones AND lower damage on Sentinels just makes Assault Rifle (and already mediocre set) into something that feels awful to play. Shame because I loved the concept I had for it too but well..nope...never touching Sentinel again...

As the OP I honestly think Assault Rifle could use some love on blasters and especially Sentinels. As I've mentioned elsewhere AR/Invuln was my first sentinel and it actually gave me such a horrible first impression of the AT that I've basically not made one since...I'm sure if I'd have made Beam/Bio or something it might have swayed me more but...oof...that first impression was a real killer for me especially when combined with the wonky Inherent.

Not really the Gaussian proc fires 1 per minute IIRC and I've found that, unless I'm running stupidly high recharge builds, that it will fire off every time, it's only when it creeps into the sub 30 seconds that it won't fire off every time. I personally always slap in the Gaussian proc and 1 50+5 Recharge IO.

I will point out it wasn't Positron who killed off Statesman. It was the writer at the time Dr Aeon who killed off Statesman and he HATED any and all of Jack's characters with a passion. It's why both Statesman AND Sister Psyche are killed off during the SSA (both were Jack's characters). His response in a post sunset AMA when Positron mentioned the possibility of bringing him back was to act very annoyed at the idea since he spent 'all that time killing him off'. I personally felt like it was handled poorly at the time and you can tell that Statesman was the key focus of Dr Aeons hatred because Sister P still got her TF added to Ouro...but the original LRSF with States in it never did (the only reason a Hero's Hero arc (that was replaced by a Hero's epic) was put into Ouro is because it actually tied in to the background lore for Going Rogue since the original arc was the first 'Praetorian incursion' with the replacement arc being the second).

Yeah I'm less hung up on the name having a stigma and more hung up on the name just not fitting the standard naming convention since Shock Treatment sounds like, as others have said, it should be a power within the set, not the name of the set PLUS we already have a villainess named Shock Treatment https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Shock_Treatment

Yeah Doms don't get shift in to gear until you really get Perma-Dom on them...which can be quite the expense but, apparently, once they hit perma-dom they're basically death dealing machines so I'm told. Admittedly the highest I've got a Dom is level 7...