biostem

Here's yet another idea: Earth control, fire assault, leviathan dominator - earth control, besides its namesake powers, gets quicksand (water) and volcanic gasses (fire). Fire assault obviously gets fire powers, and leviathan master gets water spout and bile spray, which both can also approximate water and wind. You also get a mix of ranged and melee attacks built into the secondary that way. You can also take hibernate for more water/ice, and you get a thematic armor toggle if you wanted... Another thought - sonic assault has various screams/screeches, which could be wind/air, and you still get the melee attacks...

Well, tankers get granite instead of geode, which is a very good power, but you can't get the waterspout power from their version of leviathan mastery. That being said, tanker earth mastery gets quicksand, which I rather like. Their pyre mastery is rather good, though. If you interpret kinetic melee as air & water, then the armor as earth/water/fire, then the ancillary/power pool to fill in where needed, you should be fine. The question is simply how much imagination you want to employ with the character vs how much of the powers' effects are obviously one element or another...

What if, once cast, the storm cell power becomes an "eye of the storm" power, which simply allows you to place a beacon, which the storm cell naturally moves toward, (with you being the secondary target if no such beacon has been placed).

Here's another idea: Kinetic Melee/Stone Armor/Mu Mastery Scrapper Kinetic Melee is very "flowie" and feels kind of like water or air, stone armor has a "watery" power via mud pots, a fire -like power via brimstone armor, then you get electricity via mu mastery, (though you could get more fire effects from blaze mastery or more water stuff via Leviathan mastery - you can get a water spout via the latter).

Alternatively, if you didn't want to wait, you could create a storm summoning/seismic blast (which is earth), defender, then take the flame mastery ancillary power pool, to get a similar effect...

The question is, though - how does that compare to something like carrion creepers? I'm not arguing that it is slow - it clearly is, but is that mobility more of an added feature as opposed to a core part of the power's intended use? A part of me would have rather seen storm cell function like either a location-based toggle or one centered around you, with a longish recharge to compensate.

Wait for storm blast to be released; It encompasses air, ice, and lightning. Then you can go with something like a storm blast/earth sentinel, then take the fire ancillary power pool, and you've pretty much covered all 4 elements.... You could pretty much accomplish the same with a blaster, defender, or corruptor.

A better option would be to have the default graphic simply show the Vanguard 'V' logo superimposed over the character, like the Patron armors do, (with an option to not display it, of course). You could use a variant of that unlockable costume change emote as the activation animation, though...

Exactly - we don't see Arachnos troops running around with the various patron armors on them - it's an effect that was added after the fact...

I literally listed on in my OP. I see no reason, though, that you couldn't offer a defense version, a la Scorpion Shield, though...

I think we're past the point of making it into a sort of "mantle" a la James Bond. That being said, (and I loathe to bring up the concept of prequels), but there's the time period between Young Indy and Raiders that could be explored by a younger actor...

Sorry I missed that. Yeah, that'd do it.

Some sets, namely Thugs and the updated Necromancy, kind of go the opposite direction, so I see no reason why not. I wonder how difficult it would be to omit the 3rd pet power, and instead add another upgrade power that further bolsters the tier 1 & 2 pets...

Like Symphony Control? Electrical Affinity? Illusion for Dominators? Earth Manipulation? There's a bunch if you just look. Then you and I have vastly different experiences with Masterminds, or play content at much different difficulty levels. You're of course free to post almost anything on these forums, but if you post something then aren't willing to really flesh it out, don't be surprised if others point out the shortcomings in your suggestions...

Then he'd have to get a mission that doesn't complete within the instance, and doesn't involve having to defeat any enemies. If the OP doesn't have all the exploration badges in AP, those give some XP, which might do the trick. Is it possible to get a giant monster to spawn in AP? Could fight them in front of the general area of Ms. Liberty...

One level 50 enemy should net you 5000 XP easily. You could go to Dark Astoria and knock out a couple enemies for that amount...

Since there are less minions, would they individually be tougher or do more damage than their MM equivalents? The sample sets don't seem to have the tools to keep the minions alive. If you're going to use assault sets as the secondary, why not remove the attacks from the proposed primaries and put thematic support and control abilities in their place? EDIT: Maybe someone could trigger a level 50-ish ambush in AP and let the OP fight them off...

They probably differentiate "AoE" from cones and longish T9s...

So I did a little more testing, this time on both a different build on that sb/nin sentinel and a sb/dev blaster. The 2nd build on the sentinel omitted cloudburst, and after fighting a few largish groups, the missing DPS was noticeable. I guess because it is a DoT, it's not quite as readily obvious. In playing this 2nd build, I did find myself using jet stream a lot less for some reason, relying instead on chain lighting more often. For the blaster, the set had a different feel, as the Rikti I was testing against threw around a lot of mez effects, so I had to rely more on picking off individual enemies more often, though once I was able to get my AoEs off, they melted rather quickly. One downside I noticed is that the enemies tended to scatter a lot more on the blaster. As blasters are a less-played AT for me, I can't say if this scattering is blaster-specific, or a result of something storm cell or category five are doing, (or some other storm blast power)... All in all, I think gust, hailstones, and direct strike/lightning strike are the real standouts of the set. Chain lightning has a nice visual, but isn't as reliable when it comes to targeting which enemies get hit, and it's just a bit annoying to try and get enemies within your storm cell/know which enemies are in its AoE, to reliably get the KD from jet stream. Cloudburst, after some testing, does provide a significant amount of damage, (albeit over time), but I frankly couldn't care less about its secondary effects while an enemy is in the storm cell. I just wish storm cell had some more "oomph". It feels more like a set mechanic than a fun power you'd want to use in its own right. Now that I understand the special effect from intensify, it is something I look forward to triggering before using the other powers. Other thoughts: Would it be too good to give storm cell an immobilize or strong slow effect? It needs a bolder/clearer visual, either way.

I think the power would have to be renamed if it was turned into a mini tornado-type power that drew enemies in. That being said, (and depending upon your AT, secondary, and APP/PPP), there are ways to mitigate the repel and/or keep enemies within your storm cell. I also think having what you described as a rank 3 power would be too good...

A few of my thoughts:

So after doing a bunch of testing w/ a storm/ninjitsu sentinel on the Beta server, here are my thoughst: I'm comparing the performance to a similar sentinel I have on live, only they're dark/sr instead. The damage with storm feels a bit lower than dark. I was fighting 54 Rikti in the RWZ, so perhaps they naturally resist the smashing/cold/energy a lot more than the negative energy of dark blast. I love love love lightning strike - it just feels very powerful. Coudburst, even though it's a higher-tier power, seems weaker, in contrast. Maybe this is because it's a DoT vs the upfront damage of lightning strike, but I feel it could benefit from a defense or resistance debuff. When hailstones procs the "big stone", it is quite entertaining. Storm cell, being a key power to the set, could really use a more obvious graphical effect signifying where it is actually affecting. Since I'm cycling through my entire attack chain, pretty much as quickly as possible, most enemies don't live long enough for me to take advantage of Category Five's fully ramped-up effect, which feels like a waste, and the delay between tossing up the ball of lighting for chain lightning, and it's subsequent effect, feels like some wasted time as well. Jetstream's repel effect, when outside of a storm cell, actually isn't too bad, though with the sentinel's shorter range, can knock enemies out of range. Can anyone clarify what is meant by "increase your storm strength" from the text of Intensify? Anyway, it's a fun set, and I will definitely give it a try once it goes live. Cheers!

That did the trick, thank you so much! I'm not sure why it wasn't there in the chat menu...

Yes I did, and it's not there. The bottommost item is "Set Alignment - Pocket D", even though I'm in AP ATM...

I downloaded the Beta files, created a character there, was able to create a new character using the storm blast set, but the freebies menu isn't present for me, even though others in the help channel can confirm it is there for me. Any ideas? Thanks!