Rudra

This is also a ridiculous comparison. Because an area the size of a single character is occupied, you can't RP?

@Doc_Scorpion is right, There is even room to RP at the area where she is. Lots of open space. However, @Wravis is complaining about that one little spot she is in. Not to mention all the other spaces in Pocket D that are available. Like the chalet. The zones Null can send you to. Studio 55 accessible right there in Pocket D. Nope. That one little space occupied by a single contact is the only space available for RP in Pocket D.

Right, because my comment is all about making other players miserable. I mean, look at how much space there isn't available to use because of that one NPC. Darn her. It's just so impossible to RP in that little space she leaves players. What ever was I thinking? (I'm being sarcastic, by the way.)

That still leaves 49 weeks where she isn't there and you can use that spot freely. Think of it as when your favorite place to go with friends is rented out by a large group for a while, is under renovation, or is temporarily closed for holidays or other reasons. It's just a few weeks. And Pocket D has lots of available space to use in the interim. So it isn't even as bad as if your favorite place to go with friends is not available. You just don't get your favorite booth or spot for a little while. Edit: Hells, you can even RP she is part of your group chatting it up, taking a break to guide potential supers into doing a favor for her.

I RP. And as an RP'er, my response is move somewhere else to do your RP until the event passes. It's only a couple weeks. Unless you RP a bully that tries to intimidate Ms. Liberty into moving out of her chosen lounging spot? (Edit: First come, first served. And she is already there. Be considerate and grant her her brief time at the spot.) Edit again: Besides, when you get down to it, she isn't there to converse. She is there looking for supers to do a task for her. Not catch up with a heroine she may or may not personally know. Edit x3: Also, from an RP perspective, it doesn't make sense to move her to have a conversation with someone else. Do you routinely welcome others walking up to you and disturbing your conversation to pester you for information and a possible job? Or if you are supposed to be someplace recruiting for a specific task, does it help you to spend your time shooting the breeze with someone who has nothing to do with what you need done and won't do the task, only for potential workers to come up and divulge your task in front of that other person who may be opposed to what you are trying to do? Leave her be. She's fine where and as she is.

I have to say, I'm against pretty much everything in your post.

A great many of the bulky armors are available as patterns on the Tights menu.

I guess my previous comment came off as rude. My apologies.

Nope.

I'm avoiding putting the armor into the inherent because then there is no variability in defensive postures between power sets. And I would rather not wait until the ancillaries because the proposed AT doesn't have the Blaster's ability to keep fighting even while mezzed. Which would be bad for a melee focused AT. So with that in mind, something like this? Striker Inherent: Onslaught: Using ranged attacks grants +2% accuracy for 15 seconds while melee attacks grant +2% (defense/resist depending on set) for 15 seconds. Stackable 5 times each. Critical Capable: No. Melee Damage: 110-120% Scrapper damage. Ranged Damage: 90-95% Blaster damage. (Focus is still melee.) Armor Values: 85% Scrapper base value. Base HP: Moderate. (As Scrapper, as recommended. Lesser armor should be sufficient to differentiate and keep on toes.) Primary Power Pool: Melee T1: Light damage melee attack (fast/very fast recharge) T2: Moderate damage melee attack (fast/moderate recharge) T3: Special power depending on set (Examples include perception increasing toggle/click power [including +ACC or +ToHit] or ToHit debuff attack) T4: Cone moderate damage melee attack (moderate recharge) T5: Mez Protection T6: Special power depending on set (Another self buff or enemy debuff attack) T7: High damage melee attack (moderate recharge) T8: Cone high damage or moderate damage+special melee attack depending on set (moderate-long recharge) T9: PBAoE severe to extreme damage melee attack (long recharge) Secondary Power Pool: "Range" T1: Light damage or minor damage+special ranged attack (moderate recharge) T2: Melee defense, typed defense, or damage resist power depending on set* (Dropped regeneration as option given recent changes) T3: Moderate damage ranged attack or light damage+special ranged attack depending on set (moderate recharge) T4: Ranged defense, typed defense, or damage resist power depending on set* (Dropped regeneration as option given recent changes) T5: AoE defense, typed defense, or damage resist power depending on set* (Dropped as option given recent changes) T6: Self heal or Aim depending on set T7: PBAoE utility (enemy debuff) power (toggle or moderate recharge click) T8: Cone or TAoE moderate damage ranged attack depending on set T9: Panic button power (Maybe an uber PBAoE debuff for some sets instead of just armor boosts for all?) Ancillary Power Pools: As Mastermind (A few more ranged attacks couldn't hurt, but the addition of controls may be critical later.) *- Relevant combinations of defenses or resists as per the reference Scrapper armor sets. For instance, fire attack secondary pool would tap the Fiery Aura Scrapper secondary for relevant data, ranged blade (vacuum wave) secondary pool would tap Super Reflexes for relevant data, and so forth. Edit: Also, please keep in mind, this is just the template. Actual power positions in the power sets are subject to variance. Just like any other AT.

I would rather keep the armors in the primary/secondary pools rather than an ancillary pool. Because the core concept of this AT is melee with ranged options, I'm rather fond of the armors as they give more survivability than the array of debuffs I had tried on the second version. However, I was considering swapping out the Scrapper ancillary pools for the Mastermind ancillary pools. That would give the AT the control options you are talking about. Also, bear in mind I did include some (unidentified) utility (debuff) powers to augment the AT's survival in close. Soooooo... ... let's try this: Striker Inherent: Onslaught: Attacking foes builds onslaught meter, may be triggered for 10-15 seconds of +x% increased damage. Moderate/long recharge (not affected by recharge changes). -or- Feedback Loop: Using ranged attacks grants +2% accuracy for 15 seconds while melee attacks grant +2% (defense/resist depending on set) for 15 seconds. Stackable 5 times each. Critical Capable: No. Melee Damage: 110-120% Scrapper damage. Ranged Damage: 90-95% Blaster damage. (Focus is still melee.) Armor Values: 90% Scrapper base value. (Just a little something to buy time to drop the enemy. May get boosts from final inherent choice, if choice is Feedback Loop.) Base HP: Moderate. (Blaster levels? Controller levels? In between levels?) Primary Power Pool: Melee T1: Light damage melee attack (fast/very fast recharge) T2: Moderate damage melee attack (fast/moderate recharge) T3: Special power depending on set (Examples include perception increasing toggle/click power [including +ACC or +ToHit] or ToHit debuff attack) T4: Cone moderate damage melee attack (moderate recharge) T5: Mez Protection T6: Special power depending on set (Another self buff or enemy debuff attack) T7: High damage melee attack (moderate recharge) T8: Cone high damage or moderate damage+special melee attack depending on set (moderate-long recharge) T9: PBAoE severe to extreme damage melee attack (long recharge) Secondary Power Pool: "Range" T1: Light damage or minor damage+special ranged attack (moderate recharge) T2: Melee defense, typed defense, damage resist, or regeneration power depending on set* T3: Moderate damage ranged attack or light damage+special ranged attack depending on set (moderate recharge) T4: Ranged defense, typed defense, damage resist, or regeneration power depending on set* T5: AoE defense, typed defense, damage resist, or regeneration power depending on set* T6: Self heal or Aim depending on set (Dropped Build Up in favor of Aim due to the set being ranged as opposed to melee.) T7: PBAoE utility (enemy debuff) power (toggle or moderate recharge click) T8: Cone or TAoE moderate damage ranged attack depending on set T9: Panic button power Ancillary Power Pools: As Mastermind (A few more ranged attacks couldn't hurt, but the addition of controls may be critical later.) *- Relevant combinations of defenses or resists as per the reference Scrapper armor sets. For instance, fire attack secondary pool would tap the Fiery Aura Scrapper secondary for relevant data, ranged blade (vacuum wave) secondary pool would tap Super Reflexes for relevant data, and so forth. Sooooooo... ... how is that? And which inherent?

That was what @srmalloy said. Thank you for the feedback though.

Something that would be nice but is not likely to ever happen because it would require a complete revamp of the stealth system? Is if the NPC you are escorting auto-suppressed the stealth effects of powers of the character (s)he is currently following without requiring the player to turn them off. That way a Stalker or other stealth character can at least maintain their defense. Though I do admit, aside from the ambushes, the need for stealth power defense benefits is greatly mitigated by simply murdering everything on the map.

Well, this is the right place to ask. Not sure they would be willing to make armor that was a direct port from Mass Effect, but doesn't hurt to ask.

It's basically like when Twilight's Grasp rezzes you. If the timing is right, or wrong depending on your point of view, Twilight's Grasp rezzes you because of its timing. Pretty much the same thing with hitting a rezzing Freakshow with Shadow Maul when attacking another Freakshow.

Just like any NPC can for no apparent reason run back literally two or three rooms to find their spot for pathing, immediately losing "sight" of the player leading the NPC, combat NPCs can also aggro beyond their ability to track the NPC. The point of combat versus non-combat NPCs is that with very few exceptions, combat NPCs have sufficient perception to track the player even through stealth and follow at a long distance. (And most likely because of that perception, they see mobs the next continent over and aggro on them.) I've had Wretch just run off and aggro on mobs not even on the opposite side of the large sewer room we were in, but aggro on mobs down the hall that was across the large room we were in. And then come trotting back over when he was done. So combat NPCs have a much better ability to follow PCs because of their massive perception. As opposed to non-combat NPCs that can lose track of you at a corner with you standing with clear line of sight to them. Or the pathing problems on the Shadow Shard maps where non-combat and even some combat NPCs will just stop at an invisible obstruction and complain that they can't see you with you standing in their face.

I get that. Hence: However, so far this has just been you and me going back and forth over the AT. While this does make the proposed AT a collaboration, I would like additional feedback from others.

I'm not an animator. Single pistol animations already exist in the game. And given the pistol models also available in the game, a rapid-fire cone from a single pistol is already feasible.

We already have them. They're called Super Packs.

I've turned on Walk and still lost them. Surprisingly often, at a corner we are both at. Yeah, I know to advance, wait for them to get next to me again, advance, wait for them to reach me again, rinse, repeat all the way to the mission exit. That doesn't count the number of times the NPC following me would stop, run back two or three rooms to find their bearing again, and immediately be lost because they backtracked beyond tracking distance. So even advance and wait approaches don't always work. However, my comment was giving the explanation for why it was happening as requested in the OP. (Also, just for clarification, I don't use Sprint or any other travel power in a mission. Just my defensive powers. [And anything even remotely stealth-like gets turned off the moment the NPC is free.] There was no way for you to know that, but it means I don't have to turn off Sprint to try to avoid losing non-combat NPCs since it is never on.)

The difference is combat versus non-combat NPC. Combat NPCs see through stealth and follow even through wide separation. As far as I can tell, so they can find you again after they run off to aggro on something nowhere near them. Non-combat NPCs lack the perception of combat NPCs and get lost, unable to find you if they blink or sneeze.

That's fair. I was looking at the more or less standard skill progression for these kinds of characters. They learn to defend in close first, then progressively apply it to ranged, with AoEs often being the only way to hit some of them until they figure out how to evade those too. It doesn't make sense for a progression scale to me to switch range and AoE defenses, but I'm fine with doing so for mechanics. Any other opinions on the matter? Anyone else think AoE defense should be before range defense or at least moved to T5?

And a not insignificant portion of those 50s are fully slotted incarnates with passive debuffs such as -Max HP (which seems to be the favorite) triggering on all their attacks at a minimum. I agree with @Doc_Scorpion. GMs have been getting easier and easier to deal with. Even back on Live. Once upon a time, GMs all had levels. Those levels were removed and GMs made the way they are now because players would hunt down and solo all the GMs. Which players are doing now. Sounds like it's time for GMs to get another buff to make them a threat again. I am aware this has nothing to do with the OP. I apologize, but the thread has already derailed. Back on the OP? I am against "fun options" 1, 3, and 4. 1 because GMs are already plenty easy to trigger in zone as @Krimson said. 3 because when TFs that trigger zone invasions are the WST, I find street sweeping including as part of my current contact's arc to be more than tedious. And often, that is the only contact I have available on that character and that is the character I want to play on a contact I want to progress. 4 because of the hard limit of costume slots already being so easy to reach. I'm okay with 2 because it won't impact anyone outside the SG base, but it does require the devs to re-enable NPC movement in bases. And I have no idea how much work that would entail.

Okay, given the lack of feedback on whether the secondary T9 should be a panic button or attack power, I'm going to stick with the panic button and look at specific scales and APPs. So the proposed AT is currently as follows: Striker Inherent: Unstoppable: When HP drops to 25% or less, gain +10% regen and +10% speed (recharge and movement) until above 25% HP. Critical Capable: No. Melee Damage: 100-110% Scrapper damage? (Base damage values to be equal to or slightly higher than Scrappers due to lack of crits). Ranged Damage: 80-85% Blaster damage? (Focus is melee. Let the Blasters and Corruptors rule ranged combat.) Armor Values: 90% Scrapper base value? (Needs to be lower than Scrappers given the advantage of being able to engage either at range or melee at will.) Primary Power Pool: Melee T1: Light damage melee attack (fast/very fast recharge) T2: Moderate damage melee attack (fast/moderate recharge) T3: Special power depending on set (Examples include perception increasing toggle/click power [including +ACC or +ToHit] or ToHit debuff attack) T4: Cone moderate damage melee attack (moderate recharge) T5: Mez Protection T6: Confront T7: High damage melee attack (moderate recharge) T8: Cone high damage or moderate damage+special melee attack depending on set (moderate-long recharge) T9: PBAoE severe to extreme damage melee attack (long recharge) Secondary Power Pool: "Range" T1: Light damage or minor damage+special ranged attack (moderate recharge) T2: Melee defense, typed defense, damage resist, or regeneration power depending on set* T3: Moderate damage ranged attack or light damage+special ranged attack depending on set (moderate recharge) T4: Ranged defense, typed defense, damage resist, or regeneration power depending on set* T5: Self heal or Aim depending on set (Dropped Build Up in favor of Aim due to the set being ranged as opposed to melee.) T6: AoE defense, typed defense, damage resist, or regeneration power depending on set* T7: PBAoE utility (enemy debuff) power (toggle or moderate recharge click) T8: Cone or TAoE moderate damage ranged attack depending on set T9: Panic button power Ancillary Power Pools: As Scrapper? *- Relevant combinations of defenses or resists as per the reference Scrapper armor sets. For instance, fire attack secondary pool would tap the Fiery Aura Scrapper secondary for relevant data, ranged blade (vacuum wave) secondary pool would tap Super Reflexes for relevant data, and so forth.

The original process of turning off xp and getting double xp was already an opt-in. You had to select to get 0 xp. I would much rather that system was restored. It never made any sense to me why they disabled that. However, if the devs are opposed to restoring the system to how it was, then yes, I support the OP. Double inf' for 0 xp as a P2W buff would be fair.