oedipus_tex

I've recently taken to leading tip missions on teams and found them really fun, a good break from radios or task forces. I'll need to try out the villain ones.

I just had a look at Hurricane. It appear to pulse at a rate of about 4 times per second. Given a 5% chance to kb each pulse, an individual enemy has about a 19% chance to be knocked back at least once each second. In a crowd of 16, that's about 3 enemies per second. Not quite Ice Slick levels, but pretty frequent.

Electric's confusion power has some idiosyncracies that I think justify its 60 recharge. Most notably, no matter how good your Accuracy is, there is 1 in 20 chance for the power to fail that can't be removed. The failure happens often enough to really put pressure on you. Synaptic on Dominators is also IMO broken. It doesn't Dominate anything past the first target. This screws Electric Dominators, and not just because of it not mezzing bosses. Domination mode extends the duration of controls on minions and lieutenants by 50%. That doesn't happen with Synaptic. Seeds meanwhile not only mezzes bosses, it mezzes minions and lieutenants for an eternity. The same thing happens to Arctic Air, the most cursed of the AoE Confuse powers on Dominators. Arctic Air on Dominators is paradoxically worse than it is on Controllers, even on permadoms, because Dominators have subpar mezz tables compared to Controllers and only make up for that with Domination's extended Scale. Arctic Air not being able to enter Domination mode leaves gaps in the Confuse durations that make Ice Control Dominators less effective than they "should" be. It translates into Ice Dominators having big gaps in coverage another set wouldn't experience.

You can take a look at what I just wrote up about the Force Field/Sonic iTrial build for some pointers: Fire plays differently than Sonic; there's fewer skippables. There are a few accessory powers you can dip out of to get those powers back. Especially Blaze and the rain power. I do happen to think Power Boost is the way to go for most Force Field builds simply because that's how you become the star of iTrials. If you never run that content it's less important.

Hey there, it wasn't until assisting with the tests with Trick Arrow that I realized this, but you actually don't need to lead with Acid Arrow. The effect of debuffs is recalulcated against the critter's current Resistance every server pulse, so it doesn't matter if you open with Acid or follow with it. Based on that, I'd generally recommend opening with Flash Arrow if you can, since it won't alert enemies. Also, I forget exactly how the math works out, but just in general the -ToHit resistance in Acid isn't very effective against most enemies. It has something to do with lower caps on -ToHit and the way resistance works. I forget the specifics and would need a power analyzer to see the math again. IIRC Acid is good at lowering enemy resist to -Recharge and -End Mod though because the resistance cap is more favorable to those.

Thank you for the compliment. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "rework" though. Inspirations are temporary powers with definitions similar to the powers you can cast normally. The only difference is that they are activated by the button in the Inspiration tray, which then deletes itself. You can edit the effects of an inspiration using the same process you would use to edit a power. You shouldn't need to do a rework of core code, just add attribmods that check archetype/mode.

Here are a few: Proc Ice Arrow out with damage procs. It can take 6. Given its longish recharge and relatively fast cast speed, you can cycle it in as an attack without losing too much (in some cases any) DPS. Just make sure you have enough Accuracy to hit targets. Less of an issue if you pair it with Aim. Acid Arrow is similarly proccable; this is especially attractive on archetypes with few AoEs, like Controllers and Masterminds. -ToHit (in Flash Arrow) is a Schedule B enhancement. But Power Boost and powers like it affect all attributes equally regardless of schedule. Hitting enemies with Power Boosted Flash Arrow does roughly double the debuff of regular Flash Arrow. This will last the full 60sec duration of the debuff. Resistance debuff is retroactive; it doesn't matter if you cast Acid Arrow first and then another debuff, the Resistance stripped away will retroactively apply and magnify any debuffs already on the enemy (from you or teammates). Although this isn't unique to Trick Arrow, its more applicable now than before; ground-cast powers do not enforce line of sight. If you can manipulate the camera so that you can click the ground, you can shoot through/around the wall. Particularly useful with powers that are controls because enemies cannot fire back.

FWIW the kind of mission that should exist a lot more on Red side is reverse-door missions: you are the schemer stealing or breaking in or whatever and then your task is interupted by pesky heroes showing up to try to stop you. It's a subtle difference versus the dungeon-run style of blue side but I wish red had a lot more of that. It would help, too, if Red side involved any stakes. Being arrested and waking up in the hospital rather than you know... jail will always feel like a missed opportuntity to me. Even just one high risk zone where the law is more than dungeon orcs ready to be cut down would feel great.

In all of my years playing this game, I don't think I've read the full description of a single mission, but I share your aversion to red side. If I had to explain it, I'd say: The door-mission style dungeon format doesn't feel particularly villainous The zones themselves are unappealing and have aged worse (IMO) than the cleaner blues and greens of Blue side Moreover, being a "villain" who stays only in safe "villain zones" just overall doesn't feel great to me. On blue side it's justified by the need to protect the city, it's a huge stretch red side and I could just never get into it.

Kind of a short and sweet idea here. When I think of the role Sentinels are supposed to play, I think they're intended to be opportunists able to switch tactics based on the situation. The game system I closely associate with that is Inspirations. I'd like to see the archetype interact with Inspirations in an unusual way. Basically, I think when in "Defensive Opportunity" or "Offensive Opportunity" mode, Inspirations should be more effective Offensive: Red or Yellow are increased in power Defense: Purple, Blue, Green, or Orange are increased in power What does "increased in power mean"? Good question. I don't have exact values in mind. In fact, it's not even necessary that we insist Purples always boost Defense, etc. You could have something like: Offensive; Eating any Yellow or Red inspiration also provides some +Recharge Defensive: When you eat a Purple, you also get 50% of an Orange, and vice versa You could also do something like: When under the effects of a Yellow or Red inspiration, you have a chance for Crit damage. How technically feasible is this? Based on what I know about how inspirations are coded. adding a hook to see if the player is in the correct mode should be doable. However, I confess to not being an expert on the specifics of Sentinel modes. I'm open to discussion about what the specific benefits of inspirations should be and how strong/the nature of the bonuses.

Hi all, One of my favorite things to do is read powers and powerset suggestions in the Suggestions forum. We have some very creative players who've come up with some fantastic stuff. This post is intended to provide some technical parameters to help folks who are writing suggestions. Keep in mind I am writing this not as a member of the Homecoming development team but rather as an independent player who has explored the CoX code in some detail. The intent of this write up is merely to help folks understand at a very high level how powersets are coded under the hood, which techniques can be used to modify them, and allow them to grasp some high level developer lingo so that they can communicate their visions in more detail. Throughout this post, I will refer to the designer as a "Power Storyboarder" to hopefully clarify the role. Part 1: Anatomy of a Category and Powerset Everything starts with two basic concepts: a Category and a Powerset. Category: The Category file lists all of the powersets available to the archetype that has access to that category. For example "Controller Control" would contain Mind Control, Electric Control, Plant Control, Ice Control, etc. As a Suggestion Storyboarder, there isn't a lot for you to worry about with the Category. However, it may simply be helpful to be aware it exists, because this topic will come up again later when we look at pets and pseudo pets. Powerset: The Powerset mainly defines the order of powers in the set. It is technically possible to have powers unlock at arbitrary levels. However, most unlocks follow a pattern depending on the "tier" of the power. There is no limit on the number of powers a Powerset must contain. The standard is nine, but there can be more or fewer powers. Here is a screenshot of an unmodified Defender Buff Category file, and the Defender Buff Powerset file that the developer, should they decide to implement your suggestion, would be editing: With some frequency, especially in newer powersets, there are also powers that are associated with a powerset that aren't technically part of that powerset. Usually these fall into one of two categories: Temporary Powers Powerset: This is a master list of all the Temporary Powers in the game. If your Suggestion contains a combo mechanic similar to Water Blast, for example, probably there's a Temporary Power involved. Inherent Powers Powerset: It's theoretically possible to provide a power to a player inherently, without them picking anything. Usually this is done based on archetype. The more than you need to know portion (skip if not relevant to you): EVERY power in the game must be in a category and a powerset. This includes not just player powers, but temp powers, enemy powers, inspirations (which are actually powers that delete themselves when you click them), and so on. Matter of fact, pets and pseudo pets often get a whole powerset all to themselves. For example, Ice Slick the Ice Control power has a powerset called Pets_IceSlick that contains one power, the pulse that knocks enemies down. The more you know. Key takeaway: As a Powers Storyboarder, you probably don't need to know too much about this part of the implementation. Just know that creating new powersets is possible, and it is theoretically possible to have powers unlock in an arbitrary order Part 2: Power Files, PFX, and FX The Powers file itself The Powers file defines each of the powers in the powerset. This part probably requires the least explanation, because its where you are defining your suggestion. However, if you would like to read about the technical side of this in detail, there's an excellent write up for i24 and previous here: https://wiki.ourodev.com/view/Power Homecoming uses a slightly different engine than some other servers or than the write up above, which I believe mainly involves the inclusion of "Effect Groups" that make it possible to chain two or more effects together so that they roll their Chance at the same time rather than independently. The above guide should still mainly apply though, I have added a copy of a full .powers file (issue 24 publicly available version of Defender Fire Blast) to this post. We do need to talk about some characteristics of the individual power though, discussed below. PFX: Within each power definition, a power can point to a PFX file that further defines the look and feel of the power. At a high level, PFX files define a power's animation and its particles. I've included a visual reference to a portion of a PFX file for the Fireball power below to illustrate the concept. Animation Power animations are handled by setting variables called "bits." Essentially, when the power is activated, bits are applied to the caster and (potentially) any targets. The creature model is then responsible for performing any animation associated with those bits, taking into account all the various bits that are currently active. In other words, as a Powers designer you are suggesting to the creature model what animation to play. However, based on the sum total of bits that currently exist on the model, it may or may not actually do the animation. For example, it won't animate if the creature is currently being knocked back or dead. It's common for powers to set multiple bits. Powers that use weapons for example usually at a minimum set both a bit for the actual animation, and another bit that tells the model its holding a Sword or whatever. As a Storyboarder, the main thing you should know is that if you identify a power with a cool animation, you can usually reuse it for other powers, as long as the cast time is the same. FX The FX portions of the PFX file define the particle effects to play when various aspects of the power are triggered. Triggered particle effects can be custom to the power, or they can be generic. For example, most Confusion powers don't define their own ConditionalFX, they just re-use the generic Confusion particles. Some useful categories to know about are: ActivationFX: FX associated with activating the power. This is often used with toggle powers. AttackFX: The FX file to play when the attack is performed. Used by most clickables (actual attacks and also buff powers). HitFX: The FX file to play if the target is hit. For powers that are not autohit, these FX will not play if the Accuracy roll fails. ConditionalFX: The FX file to play conditionally if the target's Mezz Protection is exceeded. For some mezzes, this is also associated with a bit being set. ContinuingFX: The FX file to play continually on targets hit by the power for the duration of effect. Think of the dark haze that hangs on enemies hit by Dark powers, for example. FAQs for PFX and FX Files: Can a dev use an animation from one power with a completely different particle effect from another? Yes this is very possible. There is no direct linkage between animation bits and particles. The FX I want to use aren't currently on a player power, but they are on an enemy who exists in game. Is it possible to reuse those effects? Generally yes, with some time investment. Most enemy powers aren't coded to accept particle reshading, but with some work it is possible to convert the particles so they work properly. Can a dev make a totally new, completely custom animation? I think the answer to this is yes, but this is an extreme level of difficulty. I am not sure if any modder has succesfully accomplished it. It would involve creating the animation, correctly setting up the sequencers and bits, and is generally a lot of work. In general I would recommend that Storyboarders stick to existing animations. Can a dev create totally new particle FX? Yes and no. The tools available make it possible to create effects, but they can be hard to visualize while you are designing. Probably the best bet is for the dev team to copy aspects of existing FX and modify them. With a lot of patience a dedicated dev team could make the effects happen, but your idea probably has a higher chance of being implemented if it reuses portions of other powers. Can a dev combine FX from two existing powers into one FX file? For example, my idea would use both aspects of Fire and Ice. Yes, this is possible from a technical standpoint. I have a question you didn't list here. Please feel free to ask in the comments below. Part Three: Power Text and Combat Messages How far you want to take the messaging in your Suggestion is up to you, but for the sake of understanding I've included a writeup of all All the text in a powerset/power (and the game generally) is stored in what are called Message Store (ms) files. I've pasted an example below. Messaging is IMO an area where even a non-coder has a lot of room for adding value. Speaking personally, I find creating these files time consuming, mainly because I'm just not that creative when it comes to writing combat text. The code at the start of each message is called a "pstring." These are generated using "CRC32" encoding. If you decide to go the extra mile and create PString messaging for your suggestion, you can generate CRC32 encoded pstrings using tools like this one: https://www.meridianoutpost.com/resources/etools/php-functions/php-crc32.php Every pstring number has to be unique. As a protip, it might be helpful to include a calling card in the text to ensure there are no message store collisions from powers with identical descriptions. E.g. if your text is "Stuns the target," which is super generic, you could pstring it as "OEDIPUS_TEXStuns the target" to ensure it will be unique. At the end of the day I don't think it's critical that the final CRC generated number match up to the text, just that every pstring is unique. I've included a MS file attachment to this post. Part Four: Power Icons Creation of new power icons is possible and encouraged. If you want to design your Suggestion with icons, I suggest using the power-icon-template.psd document (attached to this post). I wish could credit the person who created this document, but I am not sure who the author is. This write up will not include a full explanation of how to use Photoshop or GIMP. However, it may be helpful to know that the final icon is exported as a Targa (TGA file) and then undergoes some internal conversion by the developers. You create the icon using a combo of alpha and color/adjustment layers. Part Five: Advanced Topics: Pets and Pseudo Pets I'm leaving this spot open for future write up. Player_Defender_Buff.ms power-icon-template.psd Defender_Ranged_Fire_Blast.powers

Thank you for a well written and thoughtful post. I'll +1 your sentiments. The revamped Trick Arrow is incredibly well designed and landed in a perfect sweet spot. It "feels" like an archer armed with a set of improbable gadgets. The stroke of genius, I think, was having a few powers with multiple utilities, so that no effect is extremely powerful on its own, but taken together they provide a lot of unusual options. The T9 power creating an anti-mezz field for a long duration, perfect for AV fights--that's really clever and unlike anything in game. Electric Affinity is also an exciting set. It feels like it could have been part of the OG game. I'm excited to see what new stuff might be on the horizon. I'm also eager to see this team's approach to some other legacy sets that could use some fresh paint.

Electrical Affinity is a very well designed set. You can see where serious thought went into how to fit the pieces together. It falls exactly where it should IMO. I agree that Mastermind or Controller are probably ideal for this set. In a lot of ways it plays similar to Kinetics in terms of busy-ness. A secondary set that is hands-free helps calm things a bit. It also helps a lot IMO to have a pet that's around 24-7 to consistently be able to bounce chains off of.

Sonic Blast (called "Sonic Attack for some reason) Defender is probably the best showing. Pair it with a secondary with more debuff or with damage to double down. Storm, Trick Arrow, Poison, etc. Or go with Cold Domination for the ultimate debuff teammate. Play the first four levels of a Sonic Attack Defender and listen to the sound effects of Shriek, Scream, and Howl. You'll be hearing those sounds for the next 46 levels. They are... unique, to say the least. I think a lot of people avoid the set just because of those sounds. You'll soon see (hear?) why.

Well I will agree with you that when it is actually available Mass Confusion is a decent power. Its downfall is its ratio to its recharge, which we can see when we compare it to uptime ratio of other powers. Flashfire: scale 8 / 90 recharge (8.8% uptime ratio) Seeds of Confusion: scale 20 / 60 recharge (33% uptime ratio) Mass Confusion: scale 20 / 240 recharge (8.3% uptime ratio) Beyond Seeds being an outllier here, what we can also see is that Mass Confusion has lower uptime ratio than the 90-second-Stun series of powers. Scaled properly for its Recharge, and assuming Confusion powers are supposed to last about 60% longer than other mezzes, Mass Confusion should be a Scale 32 Confuse. That high of a Scale is probably not useful in the overall, so it makes more sense to lower its Recharge. 120 Recharge it would put it almost exactly where it needs to be. If the developers think it's too good, reducing the Confuse to Scale to 15 would still be pretty decent spot to land in. RE: Fearsome Stare vs Terrify, Terrify is allegedly a blast power. But it doesn't set Containment, so unless you are getting that from somewhere, it does damage roughly on par with one of the weaker AoE Immobilizes. DPAs in Arcanatime; Terrify: 30.59 / 2.24 = 13.65 (with Containment: 27.3) Chain Fences: 9.18 / 1.32 = 6.9 (with Containment: 13.08) If you've ever played a Mind Controller and felt like you were plinking at enemies this is basically why. You'd be better off spamming a random Immobilize than trying to kill anything with Terrify. When I used to play Mind Controllers I would use Power Boosted Total Domination for this, but it was a lot of work for the results it provided. Beyond this, the damage done by Terrify causes enemies you've already Fear'ed to shoot at you or run. Fearsome Stare does not do this. The only thing Terrify allegedly has over Fearsome Stare is the cone width, but I can't say I've ever struggled to hit things with Fearsome. Fearsome is a power I can hurl into any group and not worry too much about dying as a result. I can't say that about Terrify. Especially on Controllers. If Mass Confusion were up more often I could use Terrify to prompt enemies into shooting each other, but as it currently is it often needs to be fired into a spawn.

IMO the set closest to Mind Control isn't actually Plant, it's Dark Control. Compared to Mind, Dark Control has: An always-up Fear cone similar to Terrify that provides significant -ToHit A PBAoE Stun with 90 Recharge, 8 Scale Stun, the same schedule as Flashfire/Wormhole/Stalagmites An AoE Hold with Scale 8 Hold (with pet tables though) with a 45 second -ToHit effect I would take any of the powers in Dark over Mind's version. Mass Confusion is the only thing really going for Mind. I don't think correcting its recharge schedule would lead to an overpowered Mind Control, it would mainly lead to less standing around. At 120 recharge, it would be available about twice as often as it is now, so basically function the same, but you would be able to use Total Domination as your fallback power (or your source of Containment... oh wow this set struggles on Controllers) instead of having to toggle back and forth.

Not to push back too hard, but every set has a version of Total Domination, it's a standard low-accuracy 240 second AoE Hold. The fact that folks are saying they need to rotate between it and Mass Confusion points to the problem IMO. No other set has to rotate between its core controls and its AoE Hold. Those AoE Holds are so poor a lot of other set users skip them entirely until they IO for the endgame, because the Accuracy is too nerfed to hit anything with it before accumulating Global Accuracy from set bonuses.

Making Telekinesis the "every spawn" hard control does have some merit. The 60 second recharge is right in line with Seeds of Confusion. Telekinesis in no way currently compares to that class of power though. I would gladly trade the autohit portion of it for raising the target cap to 16, raising the radius and including an Accuracy roll on the Hold portion. Would have to do something with the Repel though. Reverse-Repel in the style of the Gravity pet isn't a bad idea. The other nice thing about TK rolling for Accuracy is then you could actually slot it with sets. It currently doesn't accept any, because neither Hold nor Accuracy have any meaning for this power.

What you'll want to do is consult DPA calcs for this pairing to see which powers are worth investment in animation time. In the case of Grav/Savage we have this: I believe Lift and Propel are including extra damage from Impact in there. I don't know if Call Hawk is including its extra damage. Anyway you can see that Lift does insane DPA, as much as some melee attacks. It's also got 100% chance to knockup. So I would just cast it point blank. You might even find you don't need Call Hawk at all, kind of depends on your comfort.

I find Gravity Doms sort of overwhelming. Gravity has the Impact mechanic, which deals extra damage when you hit an enemy you recently hit with Grav Distortion, but that extra damage only applies to Grav Control powers. I wish it was a proc that applied to any attack, because that would make it more approachable and suitable for a class that has a secondary devoted to attack powers. On Controllers this is straightforward. Grav Distortion isn't a very damaging attack, but it's still probably one of the better attacks available to you, so it's natural to hit Grav Distortion > Lift. Lift animates in about 1 second and, with Containment, hits like a train. Propel isn't a terrible way to follow that up, although it does have lower DPA than Lift. Optionally a Controller could skip Propel and go with Arcane Bolt. I haven't mathed that out but I feel like with some secondaries you'd do well with that trade, considering how attractive unlocking Sorcery can be. On Dominators things are awkward because Grav Distortion is not a great attack option. You can proc out Grav Distortion to make it okay (again I haven't done exact math here) but procs do identical damage on Controller or Dominator. and a Dominator really doesn't have a lot of latitude for procs due to being so reliant on chasing +Recharge. What I'm getting to is that on Dominators generally I would take Lift, skip Propel, and only half count on bothering with Impact. Your pet does set it up for you so it will happen occasionally. Still I've got an uneasy eye on that Controller. I just can't help but notice that a Controller with Lift and Propel who wanders into the Earth APP comes extremely close to Dominator damage while retaining the huge advantages of a Buff secondary, really on trading away mezz protection and (maybe) the ability to control bosses. You can't even really say the Earth APP requiring close range is a negative, because that's generally true of the entire Dominator archetype. TLDR for Grav/Savage specifically, for single target attacks I'd probably take: Lift Vicious Slash Call Hawk Feral Leap (not really single target but I tend to think of it like one) Without Impact Propel has a DPA almost identical to Call Swarm, your T1 attack so I'd be skipping that.

There's been no specific mention of a buff, but I agree with you Mind Control deserves one.

You could do a gender flipped version of the Clue character. "Mister Scarlet" looks like it's available on most servers.

Wound systems. To this day I have seen that work well in only two games. Gemstone III/IV Dragonrealms Both of these games are ancient text based games created by the Simutronics corporaton (and oddly enough both are still around). Both were at their most popular in the late 90s and very early 2000s as part of AOL subscription services. Dragonrealms is an indirect sequel to Gemstone, and builds on the wound system created for that game. In these games, although you have hit points, when you take damage, it's to a hand, leg, arm, or somewhere else. Take too much damage on a vital body part? Well, you're insta-dead. This system ties into an elaborate healing and resurrection system that is far more complex than any graphical MMO. Healers (called "Empaths") cannot heal you directly with a spell, instead they must transfer your wounds to themselves and then use magic to heal themselves. Part of the art of playing an Empath is transferring wounds safely so you don't take too much damage on a vital body part and literally die from overhealing. I don't know that that could ever work in a graphical game. I'm not sure it entirely works in Gemstoneor or Dragonrealms for that matter. But those game's entire combat experience is built around that, and critical-ly hitting your opponents without being critical-ed back.

It's true Plant doesn't have a lot of versatility. The proc damage in Carrion Creepers stands out as a "must fix" to me though. The obviously broken double damage in the AoE immobilize probably needs to be fixed too. More important to me than nerfing Seeds is correcting the fact that on Dominators, neither Arctic Air (on any target) or Synaptic Overload (on any target other than the first) Dominate enemies. Sometimes Arctic Air is described as an "auto hit Confuse" but IMO that oversells it a bit. A better description of both of these powers is "Confusion powers that no amount of added Accuracy will ever make reliable." They should Dominate. Especially Synaptic--Dominating only the first target is something no other power is coded to do and to me feels like an oversight or bug rather than a feature.

Don't forget that Synaptic Overload is also an AoE Confuse on a 60 second recharge. That power has some weird characteristics (like the fact that the first link in the chain can miss) but it still recharges x4 faster than Mass Confusion. For some reason it also has 25% shorter confuse duration than Seeds. I've always felt the correct Recharge for Mass Confusion in a game that has Seeds and Synaptic should be 120. As for Seeds of Confusion, what seems most overpowered to me is the Scale of its Confuse (ie the duration). It's Scale 20, which is the same as Mass Confusion, and very high for a power with 60 Recharge. Flashfire/Wormhole/Stalagmites/Heart of Darkness are Scale 8 Stuns with 90 Recharge. Based on that, Seeds probably should be a Scale 12 Confuse. Or at least not be higher than Scale 15, which is the duration of Synaptic.