oedipus_tex

How do folks feel about a Psi Melee/Shield Defense Stalker? I could possibly make the shield one of the more "elemental" looking ones. I noticed Psi Melee loses its cone attack on Stalkers which is why I stayed away initially, But I like the "zoom" of Shield Charge. My only question is whether the animations on Psi/Shield will look too stiff. Any thoughts? FWIW I rolled Psi Melee/Energy Aura to start and happened upon a farm that got the character to level 27. It's not terrible. I might stick with it if not for the character model constantly being hidden. That's an issue for Stalkers too though I guess.

By the way, an oddball character that can do some of the things you're looking for would be any of the armored classes that can take Psionic Melee paired with a self healing armor. Psi Melee gives you Boggle, a power identical to Deceive/Confuse/Possess. The Range and Duration are shorter, but the effect is the same. Dark Armor in particular is known for its control auras and self heal. It's quite a different experience than a true Controller but also extremely capable of soloing. Probably much more so than the average Controller to be honest. I'm always stunned by how easily Scrappers down mobs whenever I take a break to play them.

Hello experienced Scrappers, I recently got an itch to recreate an old Dungeons and Dragons character in City of Heroes. While I usually stick to playing more "punny" characters, this time I'm being (slightly) more serious by importing this character. His original backstory is he was a Monk who always wanted to be a Sorceror, so he "decorated" his attacks with elements like Fire, Electricity and so on in order to be flashy. Over time, his "magical' side grew in power and he took on a more and more mystical feel, ultimately resulting in a deal with a djinni for more power, which also resulted in a streak of his black hair turning fiery red. Here's his recreation in CoX: His basic aesthetic is: Martial arts type powers, particularly involving fists or feet of fire/electricty The ability to dodge rather than absorb damage (tho I could be flexible on this) High mobility--particularly the ability to teleport, rush or hide I'm looking at the options in City of Heroes and am unsure what archetype and powersets to pick. My basic thoughts at the moment: Armor: Fire Armor is out. While I can see it working conceptually, I am just tired of it after playing it so many times. Ninjitsu is cool, but maybe not elemental enough? Tried Energy Armor but am somewhat put off by no control over the fact that the powers hide your character model Melee: I like the leap in Savage I like the overall powers in Psi Melee I like Martial Arts but the lack of AoE and mobility put me off a little I'm really put off by the clunky animation in Fire and Electric Melee, so they are out. What are your suggestions?

For whatever else it is, Psionic Melee has a mezz that can rival and even beat Controllers in the single target mezz game. Boggle mimics Confuse/Decieve/Possess, a power available to only 3 Control sets. Because Confusion (for Confusing reasons deep in the game's history) has a longer base duration than other mezzes, on a Scrapper the Confuse mezz effect (15 seconds) is only 3 seconds shorter than a Controller's Hold (18 seconds). Now, some will argue that at top levels you should simply be charging into every spawn and leveling them in one go, and there's some validity to that. But for being able to slice and dice any enemy group, Psionic Melee deserves recognition, because there is no reason for it fear Sappers or other troublesome mobs. Thus, while Psi Melee may not be super attractive to traditional melee players, its one of the rare melee sets that may be attractive to people who normally play Controllers or Dominators. One minor set back for Boogle is its Range- 40 ft. Picking up some Stealth more or less removes this consideration. And Stalkers naturally have Stealth, so nothing to worry about there. One other nice plus is the set bonus for Confusion powers provides the maximum Ranged Defense possible from a set, at +5. The rest of the bonuses ain't shabby either (particularly +10 Recharge).

This wouldn't be a bad update. A different change that I always wanted was an update to enemy AI so that they are less likely to use any powers when their endurance bars are low. Basically, if their bar is below 50%, giving them a chance to do nothing instead of attacking. That way, even if you didn't totally deplete the bar, draining them would have meaning.

For solo play with a self heal, I would go with Gravity/Dark. You'll get decent attacks right away, as well as a debuff patch with -Resist. Other Control sets will do well later on, but often take a while to get decent, while Gravity leaves the gate able to solo due to high damage in Lift and Propel. If you're flexible on the heal requirement, Gravity/Storm is another amazing solo option.

An interesting idea for this powerset would be to give it a toggle it can place on a teammate that functions similar to Against All Odds and similar powers that grant bonuses based on the number of enemies nearby. Basically an ally-buff version of a power that otherwise is only available for melee ATs to cast on themselves.

This is usually easiest to do with a single target Confuse. Either Mind or Dark Control can pull it off with some time invested. Confuse won't alert the enemy so you can stack it until ready to attack.

There are two main hassles. The first is you are facing foward and the enemy either moves, teleports, or gets knocked back, causing your character to spin around rapidly and fire the cone in the wrong direction. Sometimes it's just annoying. With Gale, it so infuriating that I don't cast it. But more than anything it's just a convenience thing. Often the target I want to hit with single target mezz is different from the one at the center point. If the cone simply fired forward, you could target the intended victim in preparation and launch your cones without changing targets.

I am... not. After 15 years. LOL. With Gale especially. The dead worst is decidingto actually use Gale (which happens incredibly rarely to begin with) only for the enemy to get knocked back, causing my character to cast Gale in the wrong direction and blow enemies everywhere. Perhaps just that power, and Shiver, deserve the treatment. I admit I have fewer problems with Fearsome Stare and Terrify.

I feel like Kinetics is quite different from what Seraphim is proposing.

Nice concept. Thanks for sharing! One of the primary effects of a set like this I think would be +Range. You could copy a note out of Nature Affinity and have some powers apply -Heal Resistance. Negative heal resistance has the effect of amplifying any healing received. I'm unsure about a toggle version of Power Boost. You could do the reverse though. An aura of some kind that lowers the resistance of enemies to mezz effects, so any mezzes that hit them are increased in duration.

There are a handful of cone powers introduced very late in the game's original development that are cones that require no target. Nature Affinity: Regrowth Martial Assault: Spinning Kick I love how these powers feel in comparison to the older cone powers. You just aim your character's body in the right direction and launch the power. It's glorious and results in far fewer mistakes. I'd love to see this mechanic applied to some older powers that have large cone widths. Specifically: Dark Miasma/Dark Control: Fearsome Stare Mind Control: Terrify Ice Control: Shiver Storm Summoning: Gale There are probably other cones that could qualify, but these 4 stand out due to a combo of huge size and/or the amount of strategizing that goes into calculating their direction. Gale is the smallest radius (80 degree arc) while Shiver is especially huge (135 degree arc). I probably wouldn't want this as much for cones with a width less than 80. Do others feel differently?

Semi off topic, but perhaps not, I wonder how some of the animations in Staff Melee would look without a staff, paired with the right particle effects. It may not match up great with Martial Arts classic, but it may be enough to come up with some really over the top Street Fighter 2 type stuff for a new set (which I love and would play the heck out of).

Where did the 1.07 second animation for the Dominator Martial Assault power Spinning Kick come from? I assumed it was a Martial Arts power but I don't see a matching animation for it. Anyway, the Dominator version of Martial Arts (ish), Martial Assault, has two PBAoEs. Dragon's Tail and Spinning Kick. So if they ever decide to convert a power in MA to an AoE there's an animation out there that fits naturally.

I will say I personally dislike "combos," on any of the archetypes they've appeared. The only set where I think it works in an interesting way is Nature Affinity, where you can mostly ignore it. That's not to say those sets are bad, I'd just prefer existing sets not get those features. That's just my opinion though. The teleport-attack in Savage Assault on the other hand I personally really, really enjoy. It makes Savage Assault feel reactive and like there is no break in the action. For all its flipping around and leaping into the air Martial Arts (and also the Super Reflexes set) feel tied to one spot. To me, it feels incongruous with comic books, where in most of the panels the character is performing flying kicks and punches with forward momentum. But again that may just be me.

I think the folks who dislike teleportation attacks should try Feral Leap before judging. Feral Leap doesn't require targeting the ground. You target an enemy, and when you execute the attack, teleport instantly in front of them. It allows for a very Scrapper-locky style. If you ever lose sight of a target you can leap to them instantly. Martial Arts is a set that I think should have high mobility like that.

I just generally think that by top levels most other players have already sorted out their mezz protection and since the Heal sets generally require you to take most of the powers, the mezz protection is the most natural power to skip. Maybe if the duration was 4 - 8 minutes I could see taking them.

At top levels of play any of the various sets with a Clear Mind type power are usually best served by skipping it and just taking Clarion for the Destiny slot instead. Most of those builds are just too tight to spend a whole slot on an anti-mezz when you can get an AoE one that also affects you.

Check out the power Feral Charge in the Dominator Savage Assault set. It does exactly the teleport-to-enemy-and-then-attack thing, except as an AoE instead of a single target (however it still takes single target sets, which is interesting.) Here's a video of how Feral Charge works. Honestly a power like this makes so much sense in Martial Arts because of the knockback kick. You could kick them backwards then chase them down.

I appreciate the desire to avoid excessive nerfs, but Time would be a top set without the ability to Power Boost Farsight. Time without Farsight provides more personal Defense to the caster than all sets except Traps. It is also the only set besides Controller Dark Affinity (see: Fade) that provides both strong Defense and a self heal. The only other set that provides both is Dark Miasma on Defenders, which gets a measely (in comparison)+5 Defense from Shadowfall and a heal that can miss. Also remember that Power Boost boosts both Farsight's Defense and ToHit. The power's base ToHit is identical to Tactics. When you Power Boost it, you get double Tactics. Then you can just ignore Accuracy except for a few global bonuses fro sets and a Kismet, and slot only procs.

Do it. DO IT. Honestly this is the best idea ever. There is a power like this in Savage Melee, and it is so much fun. Would love it in MA.

Turned out I still had Torchlight 2 installed so I was able to grab a video of a Physics build. I'm headed way off topic but there might some ideas here that could work Atrophy Melee. Been a long time since I played so I struggled with some of the fight mechanics. The idea behind this set is that Polearms are trash in TL2, so I made this build all about them. The rules are you have some limited ability to conjure projectiles, and when one hits, it temporarily gives you a status (the little cross gear icon above the characters head) with 5 seconds to hit any enemy with a normal attack with your Polearm. If you do this you get an Absorb shield on you for a period of time. The lightning aura around the character works similar to Arctic Air (but stun). The character has a power called Magnetic Sermon that attempts to pull enemies to her side, and debuffs their Resistance, plus pulling them into range of very high hitting close range attacks + the aura.

Would you be willing to consider a switch to Electric Control/Force Field Controller? Electric Blast leaves much to be desired as a set. Electric Control and Force Field however complement each other nicely. Proc out Jolting Chain for damage. The pets can be shielded and help you deal damage, while your big bubble prevents your aura from detoggling due to mezz.

It may interest you to hear that during the time when City of Heroes was gone, I longed for it so much that I wrote a mod for the game Torchlight 2 that was highly inspired by some of my favorite powers in CoX, and some powers I always wanted to suggest. The mod added a character class called a "Theolentist" which a mix of Theology + Science, with each power blending concepts from religious belief and scientific theory. The class had three branches: Cosmic/Astrology - mostly featuring ranged builds Electric/Atomic - mostly featuring melee-ish builds Biology/Poison - mostly featuring pet builds The Electric/Atomic branch was highly inspired by CoX Dominator gameplay, and featured in it a power called Magnetic Sermon that pulled enemies toward the caster, and then a power called Electron Halo that stunned enemies nearby, very similar to Arctic Air (with stuns instead of Confusion). The Astrology branch may have been somewhat similar to your concept. I very very very very much want some "Cosmic" sets in CoX. if I can reinstall Torchlight 2 and get some videos I can post here for inspiration. I love modding powers and hope to do it for CoX one day, if I can ever get the sourcecode to work. (Unfortunately I've trouble figuring out the install). Even if they never make it live I'd like to be able to show other dev teams what they could do and let them take code freely. The mod eventually got downloaded about 30k times. There are a couple of player videos out there other players posted. Here's one showing an Astrology build: And I think here a Biology build with a couple of Astrology powers. I'm particulary proud of the particle effects on the giant "planet-shaped" projectiles, and the power that summons the Anaerobic Acolytes (the little green jelly fish floating around the player, which are being summoned by quasi-blasts).