Rudra

The advantage of boosting your end game enhancements is you wring out what little efficiency is left in them. At the cost of losing those enhancements' benefits when you exemplar to more than 3 levels below them. The advantage of catalyzing enhancements is they remain viable, granting full set bonuses, for their full normal range of level availability so you can exemplar down and do non-50 arcs and TFs/SFs without losing effectiveness. So no, any set worth having at end game is not best boosted to +5 unless you never plan on doing any lower level content again. (Or unless you're willing to fork out the money to have a catalyzed build and a boosted build to swap between.)

The PvP sets aren't themes. PvP and PvE use different rule sets. So the PvP IOs grant PvP bonuses. They also grant PvE bonuses because it is assumed that PvP players won't be PvP'ing 100% of the time, and losing their bonuses when they go PvE would really suck. (And now we have Temporal Warriors that are stuck doing only PvP 100% of the time....) A new set for like Halloween could be interesting, but that boosts guns power sets, or fire damage, and so on? Unless the devs released a set that was like that for absolutely every theme at the same time, no. How would they even be classified? PvP sets are PvP sets. (Edit: And are still divided into the base categories every other set is.) Winter sets are broken up into Melee, PBAoE, Ranged, and Ranged AoE. Not cold damage. Even ATOs aren't just guns, or fire, or cold, or whatever. Any offensive power that AT has can slot the ATOs. A fire damage set though? Would it be ranged, ranged AoE, melee, melee AoE, or would a whole new category need to be created? Or would it need to be created as say ranged, and then be duplicated for ranged AoE, melee, and melee AoE for fairness? If people want new sets, I'm for it as long as they aren't asking for god tier enhancement bonuses and/or set bonuses. Themed sets though? Let's not. (Edit: I haven't forgotten that Overwhelming Force is a universal damage set. It is a universal damage set. It boosts every possible power it can be slotted into equally, with no specialized benefits like PvP sets. Anyone can choose to go do PvP whenever they want, even if they choose to never do so. An Ice/Electric/Dark character can't choose to go Fire whenever they want.)

That is a matter of opinion, highly dependent on what you are looking for. (Edit: Conveniently, it also serves to show that there are low level sets that players should be happy to slot. It all depends on what they are looking for.)

So... basically... we already have premier low level sets, so there isn't a problem to fix? (Edit: Or is the statement that the uncommon low level sets need to be competitive with what are considered rare and very rare sets? Or that sets that can be slotted multiple times should be competitive with unique sets?)

This is true and it partially solves the problem, but the enhancement values themselves are still weak at those lower levels. Granted, but from my personal experience, playing without any enhancements whatsoever until level 20 has never been difficult in the slightest except for very specific missions. (Specifically the Shining Stars mission where you fight the five Praetorians with your Shining Stars allies since the Shining Stars like to die amazingly fast leaving you alone against the 5 bosses most times.) Aside from that one specific mission though? I routinely play without any enhancements until after level 20. So having attuned IOs that scale down to 10 just makes the game less problematic. At higher levels? Where mobs seem absolutely certain to maul and maim you while ignoring your feeble attempts to hurt them if you're still without enhancements? Yeah, the IO bonuses are much more important. Now please bear in mind, I'm not against the OP per se. I'm just wondering why IO bonuses need to be improved at the low levels where they are far less important. (Edit: The biggest problem I saw with TOs, and why I have no qualms about them having gone away now, is because too many contacts only sold players TOs when the game had progressed to DO default, and even at SO levels, you would routinely get TOs. And they were very much not helpful at those levels.) (Edit again: So I guess another reason why players may not be using low level IOs is because they don't really need them.)

There is also the option to use attuned IOs. Since most low-level IO sets are 10-25 or 15-30, you still get to the cut off point you mentioned. At lower levels, the boosts you get from IOs are not as needed to remain competitive or even have an advantage over the mobs you face. And if the IOs are attuned, they will increase in potency as you level.

Like @TheZag said, I'm not a fan of patrol xp. I understand why it was added, and I'm fine with that. It just annoys the hell out of me that the Live devs never once thought there might be players that would want nothing to do with it, and so never gave us a means of killing it, I mean, turning it off.

I get the impression it is more a response to having necro'ed the thread.

... things never work that way. When a thread is made, the forum community debates it, goes off into tangents from it, goes back to the original for more debate, and keep going until everyone has had their say. Take it as a compliment. You brought up a subject that people are interested in.

I think they were designed to be intentionally hard to play. They were. When the Kheldians were introduced as (the only) epic ATs, they weren't designed to be god-tier ATs. Just like when Praetoria was added in Going Rogue, Kheldians were meant to be a challenge for those players that beat the game (got to level 50) and wanted something more difficult to play. So they had enemies introduced that solely hunted them (but would only stop plaguing the team after the Kheldian left if they disbanded) that were an extreme threat to them. So they also had a massive array of powers to choose from and slot, that got even more difficult to manage for slots if you picked the right powers. Their entire purpose was to be a challenge for players.

From my understanding of how MM pets work, that would be just as difficult to implement as the pet customization. Previous threads have requested female pets, the use of similar NPC models for pets, and other options that just exchanges current pet models instead of the full player customized pets that is usually asked for. MM pets don't seem to be that simple though.

Here's a random thought I had today: Can patrol xp be disabled if our characters are dead when we log off? If a character dies, the player can easily click "Go to base" or "Go to hospital" while the timer counts down without disrupting the counter. It takes less than a second to do that. However, can I at least have the option of no patrol xp while my characters are dead? After all, how are they running around doing patrols while logged off if they are dead?

Power Creep. Power Creep. Does whatever a Power Creep does. If he can, he'll take it all. Answering, the Power Creep call. Here comes the Power Creep! (Edit: Maybe a Mind Control/Traps Controller? Or Mind Control/Poison?)

You're right. I missed that. Apologies. They give up the Innocuous Strikes cone for the Assassin's Staff attack.

Very good point about the Build Up. Just checked to verify, and there are exactly two differences between Stalker Staff Fighting and Scrapper/Tanker/Brute Staff Fighting. Stalkers give up the taunt for Placate, and more importantly, they give up Staff Mastery for Build Up. That's it. The powers available are the exact same otherwise. (Edit: It's also telling that the author says Scrapper Staff Fighting is the worst of them all while Stalker is the best of them all, when Scrapper Staff Fighting does more damage by itself than Stalker Staff Fighting. For instance, Sky Splitter has a base starting damage before adding in the attack's later damage or the chance to inflict damage of 76.7421 damage on a Stalker, but 86.3349 damage on a Scrapper. And the Scrapper's add on damage, both guaranteed and chance for, are higher than the Stalker's.)

Actually, I'm not. I'm being snide. Almost every level 50 character I have or have made back on Live had a gapless attack rotation. And those rotations were dependent on my having a good enough recharge. So for my EM/WP Brute for instance. My attack chain is T1, T5, T2, T9, T1, T7, T5, T2, T9, T1, T7 ad infinitum. So the recharge of those powers is most definitely affecting their DPS.

Then I guess everyone can stop slotting recharge and screaming they need Hasten in their builds.

I'll let @Ston handle figuring out attack chain DPS. I'm not inclined to tackle something that complex. However, this still discounts what other things those powers do. Without any of the form stances factored in, which is an additional complication I am disinclined to factor in, just the basic abilities of each of Staff Fighting's attacks, you have a constant stream of knockups, knockdowns, stuns, defense reductions, personal defense buff, movement buff for all movement types, chance for bonus damage to pets, minions, swarms, and small mobs; a ranged attack, and immobilize; while still maintaining comparable DPS per power to War Mace. (Better even on 4 powers. 5 if you factor that Serpent's Reach is a ranged attack being compared to a melee attack, and still does nearly the same DPS.) I don't look at pylon times. I don't look at Trapdoor times. I'm not sure about the Trapdoor test, but pylons only look at the character's ability to inflict massive amounts of damage in as little time as possible. It does not look at anything else the character can do. Get yourself a pocket Empath to hang nearby and keep you alive while you wail on the pylon. (Or make a Tanker and just tank it while you wail on it.) That is just straight damage. Staff Fighting is a solid set. It may not be the highest damage set, but they can't all be the highest damage set. It may even be the lowest damage set, I don't know. I am not inclined to go through all the power sets across Tankers, Brutes, and Scrappers to see if it is. That doesn't make it a bad set. That doesn't even make it a weak set. The more any given power does, the less damage it will do. That is by design. And Staff Fighting does a lot. The only reason I don't much play Staff Fighting characters? Is because I tend to get bored playing my staff characters. If Staff Fighting is under-powered, not looking at just DPS here, looking at set performance overall, then the devs will address it. However, I don't see anything wrong with Staff Fighting's DPS. (Edit: There is also the consideration, at least in my book, that players are using Form of the Mind and the proposal would take that away to replace it with a different power. Especially since Perfection of the Mind already grants +51.8009 psi damage to Sky Splitter and Guarded Spin isn't a finisher, but is a charge builder.)

I have no comment on Kheldians since they are already a massive pile of powers beyond any other AT's power sets, but as far as the Master Brawler/Practiced Brawler bit? The devs have already said that given how much of a headache coding that was, they will not be doing that again. (Edit: Though me being me, I feel the need to point out that throwing a Peacebringer together in Mids to check power availability, I filled every available power slot without ever once touching any pool powers and still skipping the shapeshifting powers. And I still had 1 non-shapeshifting power left from the Peacebringer tree to replace any of the others I grabbed. So you can definitely make a human form only Kheldian.)

Fine. So let's apply some recharge reduction enhancements to these. They have had their recharge reduced to half. (Obviously, the cast times are not affected.) We get the following results: Mercurial Blow: 21.02068 dps Bash: 18.78724 dps Winner: Staff Fighting Precise Strike: 20.706799 dps Pulverize: 18.65471 dps Winner: Staff Fighting Guarded Spin: 12.43182 dps Jawbreaker: 17.56741 dps Winner: War Mace Eye of the Storm: 8.35934 dps Whirling Mace: 7.246 dps Winner: Staff Fighting Serpent's Reach: 17.96024 dps Clobber: 19.79194 dps Winner: War Mace Innocuous Strikes: 12.3116 dps Shatter: 17.12367 dps Winner: War Mace Sky Splitter: 15.8796 dps Crowd Control: 12.5905 dps Winner: Staff Fighting. Totals: 4 powers with higher DPS in Staff Fighting and 3 powers with higher DPS in War Mace. Just as before. Same powers even. And that is still completely ignoring absolutely anything else any of these powers do. (Edit: Like the fact Serpent's Reach is a 40 feet range attack, and Clobber is not because War Mace has no range attacks on a Scrapper other than Confront.)

You mean Athletic Run? Edit: Nevermind, I get what you are saying. I don't think players will use it if the cartwheels are triggered randomly while moving, but a Cartwheel Run power where you cartwheel all over the place may be doable.

The ability to animate in a single player game is much simpler to do than a MMO. (Edit: At least from my understanding of gaming animations.) And there is still the problem of conflicting animations. Say the devs create a means of tethering your character to a target, like the Follow command. So now we have a Follow that works for us on our enemies. Most likely doable. However, depending on what animation is occurring and what the orientation is of the character to the target for the dodging animation, there is still the problem of needing to disrupt that animation to place the character into the default position/stance to start the attack animation. Jumping around the target using our movement inputs works because the game can quickly and easily disrupt the animation while maintaining our jump as it starts the attack animation. If you watch what happens when you jump towards or away from an enemy and trigger an attack in mid-air, your character takes the time to shift into a standing stance as if on the ground, and then launch into their attack. That is also why if you attempt to jump and attack at the same time or nearly the same time, your character is grounded and immobile, no jumping occurs, as the attack animation starts. (Edit: There is also the problem that the character can be moved outside the assigned tether by player input, which would then either break the tether or force the game to seize control of the character to get back in range.)

Correct. I am taking the attack's damage and dividing it by the cast time + the recharge time. Because the damage may be applied during or at the end of the cast time, but the recharge time determines when you can use that attack again. Which affects your DPS. Edit: Let's put it this way. The time it takes to cast/animate the attack and the time it takes the attack to recharge is effectively the actual time period over which the attack's damage is applied. Because you cannot use the attack before it is available to use. So the damage is effectively spread out over the combined time. Edit again: For example, you have two attacks. One does 1,000,000 damage, but you can't use it except for once per month. The other attack does 100 damage, but you can use it once every 10 seconds. There is 0 cast time for this comparison. That 1,000,000 damage attack is doing 0.3858 damage per second, but that 100 damage attack is doing 10 damage per second. Another way to look at it? That 1,000,000 damage attack did 1,000,000 damage that month using it as fast as you could, while the 100 damage attack did 25,920,000 damage over the same amount of time. So cast time plus recharge is your actual DPS. (Edit yet again: Yes, you will be using other attacks as part of your attack chain, so your overall DPS will increase from the cumulative attacks. However, that does not change that how fast a power recharges has a major impact on how much overall damage it does in combat. Because you still cannot use any attack until it has recharged.)

The problem with doing that is sustained animations would need to be added to Super Reflexes, and that causes problems with the animations for the attacks. Since the SR animation would need to be disrupted, the character set to basic/standard stance, and then the attack animation can start. The game would also need to check for in combat as opposed to out of combat to see if the added animations should even activate, which the game can do already, or SR characters would always be dodging even when sitting still talking to someone. Edit: There is also the option I've seen several of my friends employ for their SR characters. And just keep moving around the target(s) as they fight. (One even managed to land on a mob and claw it to death. Was amazing to watch.) Edit again: So given how game animations work as compared to comic drawings or TV/movie fight choreography, as long as the player was hitting attacks, the new dodge animations wouldn't be able to trigger, returning everyone to square one, except for all the work put into the animations no one sees in combat anyway.

The damage doesn't look bad to me. Comparing to War Mace you get the following: Tier 1: Mercurial Blow: 52.5517 damage, -7.5% DEF (100% chance), 1 second cast, 3 second recharge. (13.138 dps) Bash: 62.5615 damage, Mag 2 Stun (10% chance), 1.33 second cast, 4 second recharge. (11.738 dps) Tier 2: Precise Strike: 85.5812 damage, Mag 2 Stun (20% chance), 1.133 second cast, 6 second recharge. (11.998 dps) Pulverize: 102.6009 damage, Mag 2 Stun (20% chance), 1.5 second cast, 8 second recharge. (10.8 dps) Tier 3: Guarded Spin: 72.4775 damage, +11.25% DEF (Melee/Lethal), 1.83 second cast, 8 second recharge. (7.373 dps) Jawbreaker: 122.6205 damage, Mag 4.154 Knockup (75% chance), 1.98 second cast, 10 second recharge. (10.235 dps) Tier 4/5: Eye of the Storm: 92.5379 damage, -7.5% DEF (100% chance), Mag .67 KU (40% chance), +76.9506 damage (minions, pets, swarms, and small. 10% chance), 2.57 cast, 17 second recharge. (4.73 dps/8.66 dps [10% chance]) Clobber: 182.6796 damage, Mag 3 Stun, 1.23 second cast, 16 second recharge. (10.6 dps) Tier 7: Serpent's Reach: 112.6107 damage, +112.6107 damage (minions, pets, swarms, and small. 10% chance), Mag .67 KB (80% chance), 1.77 cast, 9 second recharge. (10.52 dps/20.92 dps [10% chance]) Whirling Mace: 70.0689 damage, Mag 2 Stun (30% chance), +70.0689 damage (minions, pets, swarms, and small. 5% chance), 2.67 cast, 14 second recharge. (4.20 dps/8.41 dps [5% chance]) Tier 8: Innocuous Strikes: 88.2742 damage, +103.8521 damage (minions, pets, swarms, and small. 5% chance), Mag 3 immobilize (60% chance), +movement (Self: All), 2.17 second cast, 10 second recharge. (7.25 dps/15.79 dps [5% chance]) Shatter: 142.6402 damage, Mag .67 KB, +142.6402 damage (minions, pets, swarms, and small. 5% chance, 2.33 second cast, 12 second recharge. (9.95 dps/19.9 dps [5% chance]) Tier 9: Sky Splitter: 164.03631 damage, Mag 5,96 Stun, Mag .67 KU, 2.83 second cast, 15 second recharge. (9.2 dps) Crowd Control: 100.724 damage, Mag .67 KB, +100.724 damage (minions, pets, swarms, and small. 5% chance), 2 second cast, 12 second recharge. (7.19 dps/14.39 dps [5% chance]) If you shift Whirling Mace and Eye of the Storm to match each other and Serpent's Reach to Clobber (edit: since Whirling Mace and Eye of the Storm are the PBAoEs), you get the following for DPS: Staff: War Mace: 13.138 11.738 11.998 10.8 7.373 10.235 4.73 4.2 10.52 10.6 7.25 9.95 9.2 7.19 It out damages War Mace on 4 attacks and is out damaged by War Mace on 3 attacks. That is not a weak set. Edit: Also, please note that no forms were used for those calculations. That is just the basic forms of Staff Fighting's attacks, so no bonuses added.