Menelruin

True, but if you only go by nukes, sets aren't balanced anyway: Some do more damage, some have shorter cooldowns, etc. Same for the secondaries. And it wouldn't be reduced damage from baseline, it would just be LESS of a bonus from standing near melees than standing back with blasters.

Sounds like you might want something with the blaster's secondary sets as a primary, maybe?

The "guarding squishies" bit gives me another idea. What if their damage just goes up from standing near to allies, but that bonus is partially negated by standing CLOSE to enemies? So they do more damage by hanging out with the blasters and defenders, but not if they just stand next to the mobs with the melees.

More body SHAPES! What if I want my character to be rotund?

An idea I had was for shapeshifting melee, which might be easier to implement; just copy various weapon images from other sets, as if your char is turning his hands into claws, hammers, whips, etc.

Yep! So that'd make a good Clockwork killer.

Yeah, but most endgame mobs don't have notable weaknesses.

So my alt-itis has struck again, with a new goal: For every gang in the city that has a most common damage type they use, and are weak to, I'm trying to create a character with the ideal AT and sets to take them on. My anti-Freakshow character, for example, is an Elec-Elec Sentinel, since it looks like their most common vulnerability is Energy, and they typically either attack with energy or physical, and Electric Aura resists both. Any suggestions on other types? So far I've got: FreakBreaker: Elec/Elec Sentinel Skul Breaker: Energy/Dark Scrapper Devil Breaker: Fire/Ice Tanker PsiBreaker (may have to redo this one, or use him for something else, was meant to fight Psychic mobs, but looks like they typically are more weak to Lethal), Psi/Dark Scrapper

THANK YOU! I've been wanting something JUST like this for my DP sentinel, so I could gauge which ammo type would do the most DPS versus various enemies!

Can we also have an animation option for Orbital where it instead causes a meteor shower to slam into enemies?

I would love this, as well. Make it so you can have a rifle that shoots Energy/Fire/Whatever blast, or that you shoot bullets/beams from your hand. Also, I would love love LOVE if shoulder cannons were an option for beam/assault rifle sets.

I have an NRG/NRG Brute who I visualized as something akin to Cannonball from X-Men: He can "fake" super strength just in that he hits hard and can put up short-term barriers to tank hits, but can't pick up cars or break the edge of a knife with his bare skin. NRG/NRG was what seemed to fit that concept best, and Brute and Stalker are the only classes that get BOTH those sets. But anyways. Due to this, I'd like to also offer support for the idea of just crushing, ST damage WITHOUT gimmicks. As others have suggested, why not shorten the animation time for TF and ET, and increase the recharge time? One of the most obnoxious things is that those powers always feel....wasted. If I walk up to an LT at near full HP, by the time it LANDS the mob is either dead or almost dead from allies. For AoE, why not just shorten the recharge time for Whirling Hands? Do you NEED more AoE powers if you can just spam one? For Stun, how powerful of a Stun is it? Can it stun AVs? I heard it sucks and skipped it. If you want a stacking mechanic of some sort, make it so that if a mob is already disoriented from another attack, Stun upgrades to a Hold, maybe? The changes to Dom attacks show that they CAN take a given animation and just speed it up or slow it down as needed, so they don't HAVE to change the specific animation in order to change how it takes to complete. Alternatively, maybe just allow those shorten-interrupt enhancements in TF and ET?

A couple similar points I've been raising: 1: Can we have a version of Archery that swaps the animations for throwing knives, shuriken, etc? 2: Can we have a version of Trick/Tactical Arrow that swaps the animation to throwing specialized grenades? 3: Swap the Archery animation for beam rifle or assault rifle, then reskin the weapon into one of the CoT crossbows. 4: Is it possible to have shoulder-cannon weapons for beam/assault rifle?

Sentinel isn't really durable enough to be a tank, it's more in line with a scrapper. If you really wanted to maximize durability, options for offense are ice (slows), psychic (slowed recharge), or dark blast (lower mob acc.). The last would pair best with super reflexes, for further boosted dodging, assuming you aren't already capped. Dual Pistols also has ammo options to slow enemies or lower their attack power. Defensive, Bio is fun because you can toggle between an attack or defensive mode. I hear good things about Rad, also.

YES! Finally I can make a stomp-jump-earthquake character that DOESN'T suck!

A suggestion for Utility Belt that I made elsewhere: If you could make a power "grappling hook" that works like Teleport, with 3 changes: 1: It's much shorter range. 2: It's much MUCH faster. 3: It MUST target either a surface (wall, ceiling, ground) OR a mob. It can't yoink you into empty space. You could also have it be the "alt-power" of the special run, like how translocation is the alt-power of Mystic Flight.

How about this: Remove the T1-T2 aspect of opportunity, and the self buffs. Instead it's another bar/button mechanic like Domination, but instead it becomes "rend defenses." Instead of triggering an attack on ONE mob, lowering their resistance and triggering a self-buff....ALL attacks from the Sentinel for the duration of Opportunity have a short-lived but STACKING -Res debuff on EVERYTHING they hit. So you no longer need to worry about wasting it with the wrong attack, or triggering it on an almost-dead mob....you just click it when you're ready, spray-and-pray on whatever your party wants to be vulnerable....then move on to the next target when it dies.

What if I get permission from the owner/creator of a copyrighted character?

RE: Dual Pistols and Incarnate, what do you guys recommend for the Interface slot? I've been running the Reactive one for lowering mob damage resistance, but do you think it would work better with the damage proc?

Hmm, a Sentinel is meant to stand watch over one area....what if we take a cue from Bastion in Overwatch? Take one of the powers from their secondary (like Stalkers do) and change it to become "guardian mode," where movement speed is drastically reduced, but ranged and damage are increased? Or even better than increasing damage straight up, is to have their attacks all apply a small -res, thus giving teams a reason to want them. EDIT: You know what? You could also VASTLY increase their range in this mode, beyond that of Blasters.

You know how there's a tutorial mini quest for crafting? Maybe something similar for set IOs. Clones/doubles as a power set for Masterminds. It would allow characters like Multiple Man, AND enable customization of your minions. Throwing knives as a reskin for Archery. Let us play someone like Bullseye. Throwing specialty grenades as a reskin for Trick Arrow. I want to make a bomber character! Also, a ranged attack set based on throwing explosives would be awesome, but I'm not sure tactically how it would be different from either EB (KB) or Fire (AoE). Shapeshifting melee as a power set (turning your hands into claws, knives, etc). Let's go T-1000 or Alex Mercer on the baddies. Some sort of speed-based melee set, maybe with lots of gap-closing and/or AoE abilities as its schtick. Right now there isn't a good offensive set if you want to make a speedster character like Flash or Quicksilver, though defense is covered nicely by SR. An AT with Assault as its primary. The mix of close and long range attacks gives a nice "elemental bender" feel. Hell, just give Earth Assault to Sentinel and I'll be ecstatic. Travel power pool, "climbing." Has a toggle that lets you stick to walls, and a fast but short-range teleport that can only work if it impacts a surface....the visual effect is a grapple line that yoinks you over to the point you target. Also can have "teleport foe" with the same effect. I'm assuming Cox's engine is too old to work in a good swinging mechanic. A Flight visual option where you're standing on something (like the rocket board, but letting us still fight while on it).

Thank you so much!

Hi mighty peoples! Just got back into the game a month or so ago, and have finally staved off my alt-itis long enough to achieve 50 on one character! I'm afraid that back when I played before Shutdown, I only unlocked the Invention system shortly before the game, well, shut down. As such, I don't really have a point of reference on sets, etc. I toughed it out to 50 on standard IOs, but would like to up my game a bit so I can contribute more. I figure my main concerns are accuracy and damage, as Sentinels aren't really invited for support or tanking. Does anyone have a cheap build they can recommend for me to get the ball rolling? (Someone on FB already linked me to an expensive, "final goal" build for later). My char was styled after Mega Man (I figure the ammo change and stance changes are akin to swapping weapons and armor/adaptors), so my initial pools were Teleport and Electric Mastery, but those aren't 100% vital if they suck and don't really mesh well with a solid build. Thank you in advance!