Whitest Light

Reading through this thread, it touches on a lot of things that I are forgotten about Kheldians, namely they were meant to be a "Hard Mode" AT only available after you got a toon to 50 (back in Issue 3). Essentially, you had to have the fundamentals of the game down before even attempting them and they were intended to be much weaker solo. However, you started with travel powers (when you really didn't get any until Level 14) and had access to forms that outclassed other ATs at the time they were available. All of this was before Epic/Patron Power Pools, IOs/Set bonuses, Incarnate powers, etc. In short, Kheldians have basically stayed the same since Issue 3 (outside of universal changes to all ATs) and the game passed them by. The original intent for HEATs was team play. Kheldians could solo but would give up a ton of bonuses to do so. Cosmic Balance and Dark Sustenance made them extremely strong when on large teams, especially early on when +30-40% damage meant you were out-damaging Blasters and Scrappers at the same level. Likewise, PBs morphed into whatever the team lacked so they could fill in as a Tank or damage-dealer if the team lacked them. WSs doubled-down on the team's strengths. All of this was well and good until every other AT had access to shore up their weaknesses. Epic Power Pools and Incarnate powers made squishy characters much less squishy and non-offensive characters much more damage. Versatility, the Kheldian's bread-and-butter, became available to everyone over the years. When CoV came around and introduced VEATs, you can tell the Devs learned their lesson. They're much more offensive, less reliant on gimmicks and are still team-friendly without giving up solo'ing ability. The only difference is that their specialization comes as a irrevocable choice as you level up rather than having access to forms like the Kheldians. What we're left with now is are a pair of ATs that are simply outmoded. That isn't to say they can't be fun to play. I still think my PB is the most fun I've had in CoH, but the amount of work I have to put into it (both with power planning/slotting and actual tactics in-game) and still get passed by many other ATs doesn't feel "fair." Personally, I think the Epic ATs should have the highest ceiling of all ATs, if played right. If you have to switch forms, get good positioning, and utilize all the myriad of powers that they have, they should do things that no other AT can boast. As it stands, they're poorer versions of existing ATs, especially in the damage department. The changeling exploit is the only thing keeping them competitive but it is both divisive and was never the original intent of the AT. With the history lesson out of the way, I'm of the opinion that Kheldians need a clearer identity. Their original purpose and design intent just doesn't mesh well with the current game, or to put it another way, they were designed with a totally different game in mind. Gone are the days where the first 20 levels were a slog and Go. Hunt. Kill Skulls. was the way to power through the early part of the game. Travel powers at level 1 isn't special anymore. Not having access to Epic Power Pools isn't necessarily a good thing. Forms requiring their own slotting is archaic. Some of the original complaints about form-switching have been addressed, like toggles staying on, but not having access to click powers in forms has been a perennial issue. Personally, I think the revamp should incentivize form switching in a way that makes Kheldians more competitive than their counterparts. More a high-risk, high-reward situation. They're "Epic" for a reason. I can only speak from the Peacebringer side of the house with any eloquence but here are my specific suggestions: Cosmic Balance/Dark Sustenance: The original intent of these Inherents was a good idea but it doesn't scale into endgame well. As soon as you get Dwarf or Light Form, your resistances (except for Psi) are going to be capped so teaming with certain ATs does you almost no good. Getting more damage is nice but unless you specifically tailor a team to your liking, it will likely never be more more than +40-60%. Finally the mez protection is needed but you can't guarantee you'll get the right teammates to trigger it (a stopgap for one of the shields is listed below). Instead of needing specific ATs, just make every teammate provide a small buff to core stats that Kheldians tend to lack: +1 Mag Mez Protection and +3.5% Defense. Next, make the Inherent incentivize form switching as core gameplay mechanic for these ATs, just not in a Changling sort of way. I'll outline how I see it for each AT: Peacebringers: Prefer to stay in a single form for longer durations. Attacks on enemies generate a Fury-like damage bonus that increases the longer you're in a given form (Human, Nova, Dwarf). Each form has its own independent damage bonus based on how many teammates you have. Solo, it is capped at 25% per form (total of +75% damage). So, Human Form has a +25% modifier, Nova has a +25% modifier, and Dwarf has a +25% modifier that add to the total damage modifier affecting your character. Each team member raises this by 5% per form and raises bonus generation by commensurate level, meaning that an 8-person team can raise the max damage of a PB by 180% (if the PB uses the forms correctly). PBs need anywhere between 5-10 attacks (stronger attacks generate more) in a given form to cap it and the bonus lasts 15 seconds from the last attack in that form unless the bonus reaches its the cap for that form, which causes that capped amount to be "locked in" regardless of form for 30 seconds. Once capped, moving onto the next form and attacking, pauses this timer, however, and allows you to stack the next form's bonus on top. If all 3 forms max out their respective bonus, it locks the max bonus for 1 minute regardless of form before needing to be repeated. Not using all three forms limits both the max damage and the duration of the bonus. (Note that the bonus damage does not trigger on non-enemy attacks or enemies that wouldn't give you XP/Inf. You can't just do a bunch of attacks to pre-game the mechanic and then go in. You have to hit stuff. Also, the bonus damage generated by this Inherent can go beyond the normal damage cap.) Warshades: Prefer to switch forms frequently. Like PBs, attacks generate a damage bonus but each attack generates more. It only takes 3-4 attacks in a given form before it no longer generates more. Switching to any other form and attacking pauses the 10 second timer and allows additional bonus damage to generate. Warshades do not have form-specific caps but instead simply have a max cap of 75% (solo) and 180% (8-player team) that lasts 1 minute once achieved. Each attack also generates more bonus damage than an equivalent PB. They can more easily "Bi-Form" since the bonus isn't tied to any form in particular. In general, they generate this bonus quicker than PBs but can also lose it more easily if they run out of enemies to attack. If all that seems convoluted, I get it but the point is to highlight the shapeshifting nature of the AT. The more you use this core feature, the more damage you do. It also incentivizes being on a team. The specifics can change, of course, but I see this as an answer to the Changling exploit in a better, more refined way that fits the design premise of the AT. It also addresses one of the chief complaints of these ATs, namely lack of damage in the endgame. These changes would require HEAT players to manage their forms more and have a deeper understanding of their AT than just point-and-click but it raises the ceilings on the ATs if you're willing to put in the work and orchestrate the dance of death it requires. Nova/Dwarf: I don't even know if this is technically possible (from a coding perspective) but forcing an AT to slot/enhance the same power across two forms is archaic. Here is my thought, though somewhat radical: make Nova and Dwarf Inherent powers, unlocked at 6 and 20 respectively. It saves two power slots and makes all Kheldians "Tri-Form" by default so and it's easier to balance around since it's baked into the AT. Next, consolidate duplicate powers. Human Proton Scatter and Nova Scatter have different stats but why? Make them the same power and if you choose Proton Scatter as a Human, the Nova power is what is used in Human Form (at the Human Form modifier). In general, if a form power and a human power overlap, take the stronger of the two and apply it to both forms. There's just no reason to be forced to double-up on enhancements. (In the case of Warshade Mires, I know there is a benefit to the doubling but I'll let WS players weigh-in on that.) Light Form, Inner Light, Conserve Energy, Essence Boost, and Reform Essence should be should also be available regardless of form. Dwarf Sublimation and Reform Essence should also be rolled into a single power on the same cooldown. Pool Power click powers (namely Hasten) could also be made available but I'd understand if that was left out. Incandescent Strike: 3.3 second animation time is entirely too long. Total Focus was reduced to 2.5. Please update the animation speed. Photon Seekers: Spawns two Seekers with 120 second lifespan and 300 second recharge. Default behavior is stay near the player and shoot Gleaming/Nova Bolts and Luminous/Nova Blast attacks. In the last 15 seconds of their life, they will seek out the nearest enemy and explode in a small AoE, dealing Energy damage (50% more per Seeker than current). This suicidal behavior can also be triggered early by placing them in Attack mode. If they successfully detonate (not merely killed) in the first 30 seconds of their life, they do double damage. The point of this change is to make PB pets more like actual pets while also increasing single-target damage. It also gives the player a choice: a sudden instant damage on par with a nuke or greater damage over time by allowing them to attack per normal. Quantum/Twilight Shield: Adds the same level of Mez Protection as Light Form (just over Mag 3). Enough to get by but not nearly on par with proper status protection powers. Gives Human Form earlier access to Mez Protection prior to Dwarf and Light Form/Eclipse.

Changeling is an exploit. I don't judge people who use it but balance decisions shouldn't be based off of its existence. I'd much rather have the base form of the class get buffed/changed and changeling not be seen as necessary to keep PBs competitive.

It's been awhile, but having played a smidge the past few days, the only thing I wish I could do with my PB is output more damage. AoE still feels good between all the nukes, Flares, and Nova blasts but single-target is woefully anemic. Incandescent Strike having such a long animation doesn't help but even if the animation changed to a quicker strike, I feel there needs to be another melee attack in the chain. This is likely way too much work but if I were to suggest a change, it would be to add a melee attack. We don't need 3 ranged attacks back-to-back-to-back. Personally, I would get rid of Gleaming Bolt and make a melee strike with nearly identical stats to Dwarf Strike/Glinting Eye: about half as powerful as Radiant Strike but with a 4 second cooldown. A modified Gleaming Blast would carry over to Dwarf form to replace Gleaming Bolt (Glinting Eye would remain a Nova attack). This new "Gleaming Punch" (or whatever it's called) would allow PBs to quickly cycle between Punch/Strike against single-targets. I also would love to see I-Strike get a faster animation. 3.3 seconds is insane. It hits hard but it kills DPS. Total Focus (which is what I-Strike was originally a re-skin of) is now considerably faster at 2.53 seconds. I've never tried Changeling and never will, so if it goes away, I'm cool with that. PBs need more damage though.

Lucianna posted in the suggestion forum some suggestions for a Kheldian revamp but, unfortunately it got locked after things got a little chippy. Since that will probably be lost to time, I thought I'd post a suggestion I made there for altering the Kheldian Inherent (slightly modified since I've given it more thought). Background: Cosmic Balance/Dark Sustenance are inherents from all the way back of I3 when Kheldians were introduced. Back then, Kheldians were Post-50 ATs aimed at folks who had a solid understanding of the game and wanted a little more challenge. Likewise, Kheldians were supposed to be team-oriented and work best while on a team. As such, the inherent gives some fairly significant boosts to damage, resistance, mez protection, and debuff resistance if you're part of a full (and varied) team. There's nothing wrong with that in and of itself but these inherents have gone untouched after major changes of the game have occurred . A well-built PB or WS can self-cap resists and has mez protection, meaning teaming with half of the ATs available has no real benefit. In short, the inherents are antiquated: made for a age long-past and a meta that no longer exists. They need a refresh. Suggestion: PBs are jack-of-all-trades and WS's are chaotic clouds of death but both have at their disposal the ability to become mini-Blasters or mini-Tanks with the press of a button. Human-only playstyles do exist for those that don't want to engage in the frenetic back-and-forth of Bi-Form or Tri-Form but on the whole, I think shapeshifting is what sets Kheldians apart from all other ATs. The inherent should lean into that. Like... hard. My proposal is to revamp the inherent into a mechanic with two primary design goals: 1.) Incentivize shapeshifting as the hallmark of the AT. The more you do it, the more powerful you become. 2.) Incentivize playing as part of a team. Kheldians should thrive when teamed up. 1.) Kheldian Shift I've dubbed this "Kheldian Shift" but the name is can be anything. This is where Kheldians could really shine as shapeshifters. Switching forms and attacking causes a Kheldian to gain Shift utilizing a bar like Fury. Attacks immediately following a form switch generate Shift as function of the base endurance costs of attacks. 1 Endurance spent equals 1 Shift generated with stronger attacks naturally generating more. However, Shift generation from attacks drop in effectiveness the longer you stay in one form: -10%/sec, all the way to 0 after 10 seconds That is to say, a Radiant Strike 3 seconds after coming off of Nova didn't generate 10 Shift, it only generated 7. Also note that the overall Shift bar decays rapidly at 10%/sec. (If this seems punishing, it is! But read on...!) As Shift builds, the Kheldian enjoys improved attributes (depending on what form they're in) at a 1:1 ratio of percentage. That is, at 25% Shift, you'll get 25% improvement in a given attribute. See below. In Human Form, they gain +Recharge and Recovery. Human Form powers have the least amount of damage but at high Shift levels, they can use them more often and without worrying too much about Endurance. Being in Human Form also "fuels" the Recharge of long click powers like Light Form and Eclipse. I would like to think of Human Form as the foundation, and the most versatile, but definitely the weakest in combat. In Nova Form, they gain +Damage and Accuracy. This is essentially doubling-down on what Nova already provides. With high Shift levels and good slotting, Nova form should easily double the damage of equivalent Human Form powers. However, staying in Nova Form for too long will cause Shift levels to drop so you can't deal high damage forever. Likewise, Nova doesn't have access to heals or other click powers. in Dwarf Form, they gain +Regeneration and Damage, albeit at a 2:1 for Regen and 1:1/2 for Damage. That is to say, at 100% Shift, Dwarf has +200% Regeneration and +50% Damage. Dwarf in Melee hits harder than Human and due to Regeneration, has more lasting power than Human Form even with Light Form/Eclipse. However, it is melee only and has a limited attack chain. 2.) Team Dynamics The above appears to make Kheldians able to buff themselves at-will so who needs a team? This is where the second design goal comes in and where the difference between PBs and WSs becomes more apparent. Gone are the AT-specific buffs of Cosmic Balance/Dark Sustenance and instead it's simplified to just the total number of teammates. For every additional teammate: Peacebringer Shift decay is reduced by 10% (minimum 3%/sec) Warshade Shift generation is increased by 10% (maxed +70%) Maximum Shift is increased by 5% (maxed at 135%) So on a team, PBs gain Shift normally but decay at a much slower rate. Warshades are on the opposite end, rapidly gaining Shift but decaying at normal speed. Two different approaches but roughly the same outcome while in battle. PBs are better at sustaining high Shift but Warshades are better at getting it high to begin with. Playing solo, a Kheldian would have to frantically switch forms every few attacks to to keep the bar topped off but as a part of a team, you'll have a significantly easier time keeping Shift going. Not only that, but your maximum is higher even if you have a perfect build. Teaming up is still the "intended" way to play Kheldians. ...but wait, there's more! If you go above 100% Shift, the portion over 100% spills over to your teammates. They get 50% of the Shift bonuses from any "overflow", so on a full team, you could theoretically buff all of them +17.5% Damage, Accuracy, Recharge, Recovery, etc. depending on what form you're in. Alas, Shift overflow only stacks one additional time from multiple Kheldians (sorry all-Kheld teams). Just by the nature of how Shift works for PBs vs. WSs, PBs will be the "steadier" of the two for team buffs but Warshades will bury the needle once they get going. I think that's about par for the course, anyway. However, this makes teaming with a Kheldian a much more positive experience. They're naturally giving off a lot of useful buffs just by being themselves! Summary: The more you switch, attack and switch, the more Shift you build. Kheldians would be known for getting stronger as they fight while also helping nearby teammates. +Recharge in the inherent also mitigates the necessity for high global recharge (which lowers build variety). With Shift in place, the need for such high global recharge is diminished and less-than-perfect slotting can still achieve high-end survivability. The extra damage in Nova/Dwarf also makes them more attractive overall. If this all this seems like we're going into OP territory, don't forget that Kheldians are having to team up or perform a whirling dervish in order get to high Shift levels (especially solo). If they're slightly over-tuned, it's because they have to work for it. It's my hope something like this would make playing a Kheldian a unique but fun experience but also have something to show for all the work you do. Let me know what you think and any suggestions!

I can't get Mids to export due to a bunch of unhandled exceptions... I'll just put the .mbd file below 🙂 Whitest Light MAX.mbd

I wasn't clear on the duplicate thing: If you pick Luminous Detonation as Human, it carries over to Nova. You don't pick Nova Detonation (it's not even a pick!). Basically, ranged attacks picked as Human carry over to Nova, melee attacks you pick carry over to Dwarf. Any you skip as Human aren't available in Nova/Dwarf. The upside is you only slot one power. Yes, Warshades would be hurt not being able to double Mire which is a valid concern. To be frank, only PBs have so much overlap between forms so maybe this doesn't apply to Warshades at all. I understand the "2" is from character creation but according to that, all ATs are 2 except for Controllers/Doms/Crabs at "5" and Masterminds at "10". Warshades are considered 5s, but I don't consider Dark Extraction on par with Controller/Dominator semi-permanent pets. Personally, I think PBs should be 3s and Warshades 4s - i.e. access to pets beyond Epic Pools but nothing to write home about (with WS being better). For Knockback: just let Null the Gull give you the option to turn your KB to KD if you want. 😄

To elaborate (I didn't want to make a huge post) on a few things: 1B is in response to something no other AT has to deal with: duplicate powers. If I get Luminous Detonation as Human and get Nova form, I now have two identical powers that are begging for slots. The rub is that Nova form Detonation is literally twice as strong out-of-the-box which means I get way more bang-for-the-buck slotting it over the Human form. But it begs the question Why am I being asked to slot both in the first place? They're the same power! Perhaps cutting the Gordian Knot is to make Nova and Dwarf less of an "mini-AT-unto-themselves" and more of extension of the Human form powers. Imagine Nova and Dwarf not having their own inherent attacks at all but carry over ranged and melee attacks, respectively, from Human form. So, if you want Nova to have Detonation and Scatter, you have to pick them as Human. The upside is that the powers carry over into the forms so you're only slotting one. Nova provides the better damage modifier, extra range, and free flight however, you lose access to heals and shields. Dwarf provides superior resistance, access to Taunt/Punchvoke, and Mez protection but you lose ranged attacks. Human is weaker than both but is the most versatile. This would also kill the changeling exploit because the recharges on the powers would carry over from each form. (Again, coming from a PB perspective. WS rely on Double Mire a lot and both Dwarf and Nova have attacks not represented in Human Form. These might just have to carry over) 2 - I say Mez protection because up until Level 20, you don't have any while most Tankers/Brutes/Scrappers have something by then. Light Form is also weak Mez protection (for all practical purposes, Mag 4) which is good enough for most things but I do occasionally get Mezzed. I'm not against Debuff Protection. If I really had it my way, shields would be pure Defense but that makes PBs very layered in survivability. 5 - "They want us to be a 2 on pets" - Do they? Even if Photon Seekers lingered a bit longer and did light damage, I don't see them being much more than an annoyance. However, their current iteration is just a second Nuke. I'm not against that per se, but they're not pets: they're an attack. Compared to Dark Extraction, they're far inferior, even if they did have their own attacks. 6 - Agreed. I should have replaced Bolt, not Eye. 7 - Pulsar as a toggle might make it worth it. Carried over into Dwarf would be cool! Inherent Idea - Yes, I also thought of Form-specific benefits but didn't want to get super-complicated initially. However, I thought almost exactly as you did! Nova gets +Damage/Acc, Dwarf gets +Regen/Damage (half as much damage bonus as Nova, though), Human gets +Recharge/Recovery. I wanted to give both forms +Damage because I think that's ultimately what motivates players. Nova basically does twice the damage of the other forms but is the squishiest, Dwarf is a slow bruiser, Human is the weakest but can spam attacks and "fuel" the recharge reduction in the long click powers. However, you'll want to switch between them frequently to keep Shift topped off. Also, not mentioned in the OP or anywhere else: Knockback to Knockdown. If nothing else: THIS.

As a PB player, I guess I'd want to start with "What is the intended role of a PB?" When they were first introduced on Live, they were supposed to be "the ultimate teammate" but I don't believe the meta suits that in any capacity now. The OP's points are good. I especially like some of the base modifier tweaks, especially concerning damage. PB single-target damage feels very low, not necessarily because the powers are bad but you have long animations, knockback that forces you to chase enemies, etc. Personally, I couldn't care less about having access to Epic Pool Powers or having Pool Powers available while shapeshifted. I have enough powers to manage as-is. My personal vision for Kheldians is to really lean into form-switching. That's what makes them unique compared to other ATs, rather than poorer versions of other existing ATs. To that end, regarding PBs: (this is a re-post in another thread): #1a. Make both Nova and Dwarf forms inherent powers at 4 and 20, respectively. That means every Kheldian is Tri-Form now and you can balance around it. It also saves 2 power picks. #1b. All duplicate powers (or near-duplicates) share a single slotting between Human and shapeshifted forms. Gleaming/Nova Bolt, Proton/Nova Scatter, Luminous/Nova Detonation, Gleaming/Nova Blast, Radiant/Dwarf Strike, Incandescent/Dwarf Smite, Reform Essence/Dwarf Sublimation, etc. That saves a ton of slots and makes it so the powers/forms never get "left behind" because you can't afford to slot them. If you don't pick up, say, Proton Scatter in Human Form you don't get the power just because Nova Form has it but if you do pick it up, you don't have to slot Nova Form. #2. The Human Shields need to add incomplete Mez protection of some kind. Shining might offer knockback and immobilization. Thermal offers hold, sleep. Quantum adds stun, terrorize, etc. If you get all three, you get full protection, though maybe only Mag 3 like Light Form. The point being, you shouldn't have to rely on Dwarf for mez protection nor have to wait until Light Form. It also makes the shields more valuable early and possibly worthwhile to use even when Light Form comes around. #4. Inner Light and Light Form (maybe Essence Boost?) should be accessible from all forms. I'm ok with toggles and other click powers staying Human-only but these click powers are Kheldian-specific and carry over anyway so dropping to Human just to click them feels unnecessary. #5. Make Photon Seekers "true" albeit short-lived pets. For 55 out of 60 seconds, they are non-suicidal light balls that shoot Gleaming Bolts. In the last 5 seconds, they operate as they currently do. The player can manually activate their suicidal approach by setting them to Aggressive. #6. Replace Glinting Eye for the equivalent of a light melee attack like Barrage from Energy Melee. The choice between a melee and ranged attack at the beginning communicates that the PB mixes it up at range and melee. Second, the single-target chain for PBs in melee is lacking a "light" attack filler between Radiant Strike and I Strike. This Barrage-like ability could replace the current "Dwarf Bolt" attack somewhat shoehorned in. The loser in this exchange is Nova, where Glinting Eye was actually pretty strong but it has two ST blasts as it is and if 1b occurs, Nova Bolt might be slotted. #7. Pulsar needs help. Redesign, make it available in Nova form (?), I don't know. I know I've never used it and I can't recall seeing anyone else use it either. Finally, the inherent. Renamed: "Kheldian Shift." This is where Kheldians could really shine as shapeshifters. Switching forms and attacking causes a Kheldian to gain Shift utilizing a bar like Fury. Attacks immediately following a form switch generate their full Shift values but have rapid diminishing returns. If you stay in one form long enough (~10 seconds), or don't attack, the returns are too low to sustain the bar level. As Shift builds, the Kheldian enjoys improved Recharge, Damage, and Recovery up to 100% (1% per Shift %). Shift does not accrue or decay as quickly as Fury and is primarily based on the relative endurance costs of attacks (stronger attacks generate more). At Shift levels above 50%, Kheldians impart 20% of their total Shift bonus to nearby teammates. I.e. a PB has 50% Shift - the PB gets +50% Recharge/Damage/Recovery and all teammates have +10% of the same. The logic here is to incentivize switching forms. It can be back and forth between two forms or utilize all three. The more you switch, attack and switch, the more Shift you build. Kheldians would be known for getting stronger as they fight while also helping nearby teammates. Also, the inherent cuts down on the absolute need for Hasten/Global Recharge to sustain Perma-Lightform, Eclipse, Hasten, etc. Shift wouldn't be terribly difficult to sustain in a mission setting so you can count on roughly +70% Recharge. The damage boost also puts Kheldians on more level footing with other ATs (the damage cap increasing to 500% would be needed). If this seems "a little much", don't forget that Kheldians are having to jump through a lot of hoops and perform a whirling dervish in order get to this point. If they're slightly over-tuned, it's because they have to work for it. At present, I think playing a Kheldian is a lot of work for only good-not-great reward.

As a much-delayed update, here is my current "goal" build for my PB. I've gotten all but a few of the purple sets (Armageddon and Apocalypse). Featuring: 85% Resist to all but Psi (70%) ~21% Melee/Ranged/Psi Defense, everything else between 16-18% 125% Global Recharge (195% with Hasten) Almost never runs out of endurance All attacks 6-slotted in Human and Nova Knockback-to-Knockdown in the 3 worst offenders. If I ignored this, I'd have more defense and Psi resistance but, alas... Perma-Hasten, -Light Form, -Inner Light and -Essence Boost Nuke every 37 seconds, Photon Seekers every 53, Solar Flare every 5, endlessly cycle Nova Blast and Glinting Eye or the Nova AoEs 3 significant heals every 16, 20, and 90 seconds, respectively. Self-rez every 90 seconds. 50% uptime for Conserve Energy (50% endurance discount) MidsReborn chunk:

The KB to KD suggestion is probably my #1 "simplest-but-most-effective" change I'd make to Khelds. If we want to go hog-wild on ideas (this is from a PB perspective): #1a. Make both Nova and Dwarf forms inherent at 4 and 20, respectively. That means every Kheldian is Tri-Form now and you can balance around it. It also saves 2 power picks. #1b. All duplicate powers (or near-duplicates) share a single slotting between Human and shapeshifted forms. Gleaming/Nova Bolt, Proton/Nova Scatter, Luminous/Nova Detonation, Gleaming/Nova Blast, Radiant/Dwarf Strike, Incandescent/Dwarf Smite. That saves a ton of slots and makes it so the powers/forms never get "left behind" because you can't afford to slot them. If you don't pick up, say, Proton Scatter in Human form you don't get the power just because Nova Form has it but if you do pick it up, you don't have to slot Nova form. #2. The Human Shields need to add incomplete Mez protection of some kind. Shining might offer knockback and immobilization. Thermal offers hold, sleep. Quantum adds stun, terrorize, etc. If you get all three, you get full protection, though maybe only Mag 3 like Light Form. The point being, you shouldn't have to rely on Dwarf for mez protection nor have to wait until Light Form. #4. Inner Light and Light Form (maybe Essence Boost?) should be accessible from all forms. I'm ok with toggles and other click powers staying Human-only but these click powers are Kheldian-specific and carry over anyway so dropping to Human just to click them feels unnecessary. #5. Make Photon Seekers "true" albeit short-lived pets. For 55 out of 60 seconds, they are non-suicidal light balls that shoot Gleaming Bolts. In the last 5 seconds, they operate as current (death-seeking grenades). The player can manually activate their suicidal approach by setting them to Aggressive. #6. Replace Glinting Eye for the equivalent of Barrage from Energy Melee. The choice between melee and ranged at the beginning communicates that the PB is not a ranged AT. Second, the single-target chain for PBs in melee is lacking a "light" attack filler between Radiant Strike and I Strike. This Barrage-like ability could replace the current "Dwarf Bolt" attack. The loser in this exchange is Nova, where Glinting Eye was actually pretty strong but it has two ST blasts as it is and if 1b occurs, its Nova Bolt might be slotted. #7. Pulsar needs help. Redesign, make it available in Nova form (?), I don't know. I know I've never used it and I can't recall seeing anyone else use it either.

I've been away a little bit but my biggest gripe is the "Knockback tax" in most of the PB powers requiring Sudden Acceleration. I have 4-5 slots devoted to it because Knockback actively hurts the rest of my AoEs. I'm not even talking about team play others complaining. If all PB powers turned into Knockdown, I would gain a ton of slots back (which are a premium for all Khelds) or be able to slot them better. Second, Cosmic Balance is mostly useless at the endgame. I'm already capped on resistances, damage is a drop in the bucket, mez protection is sort of nice but I manage just fine without it, etc. I know what it was intended to do back in the day when it was first introduced but it's completely lackluster compared to some of the others that have been revamped. I don't mind it being tied to teammates but the bonuses need to be relevant. +Defense, +Recharge, +Endurance, etc. would be far more productive. Lastly, only thing I feel my PB really lacks is single-target damage. There's just not a great attack chain for ST when I-Strike has a long animation and there's no "filler" after Radiant Strike. I'd kill for an additional melee attack in lieu of Gleaming Bolt (that also transfers into Dwarf). I end up using Dawn Strike and Photon Seekers in my attack chain because they're the only things that seem to do chunk damage. Beating an AV or other hard target is an exercise in endurance more than anything.

I hopped on today for the first time in...(let's not talk about that!)... and found some interesting changes. I still have Quantum Acceleration also have Quantum Maneuvers? Did it get replaced or something? I'm also enjoying Leadership toggles cycling back on after form switches, though they still sometimes turn off. Are all toggles this way now? Ran some random missions and can confirm I was having a blast. Still virtually unkillable, Dawn Strike/Photon Seekrs/Solar Flare combo still owns bones, and dropping back to blast fools with Nova still felt good. I wish the single-target damage was higher (I struggled even hurting an AV) but for everything else, I'm still quite happy with my build. It warms my little Kheldian heart that so many folks have said this old guide convinced them to give PBs a try. We're still pretty rare, though! I had a team yesterday say that I was the only level 50 PB they'd ever seen. A few went so far to say they had never encountered a PB, though plenty of Warshades. I feel like a bit of a unicorn but I hope that's a temporary condition. GD PBs all the way!

Thanks! I haven't been on in ages but I noticed the guide was still sort of lingering in the PB/WS forum so I took a gander. Since they changed when powers are available, I suppose the guide would need an overhaul (which I'm not willing to do) but hopefully the mentality of PBs stay the same!

I'd be all for the Incandescent Strike animation reduction. PBs really don't have a good attack chain and IS is part of the problem because it's 3 seconds of no DPS. As for the Photon Seekers, I'd much prefer they just float around and shoot Gleaming Bolts for their duration. The player would also have the option of using them to kamikaze but this wouldn't be their default behavior until their timer runs out and then they seek out enemies as before. Likewise, if they take enough damage to die, they explode per usual. Overall, this would improve PB single-target damage (especially if all 3 are attacking the same target) while not taking anything away because the player can elect to detonate them should they choose.

Of all the major holes in a PB (I can't speak much for Shades), the only one I feel I can't do anything about is Endurance Drain. Defense just isn't part of the set and though I can achieve a fair bit of defense via set bonuses, I know those are accessory and not built-in to the actual Primary/Secondary. Recharge Debuff Resistance can also be added via sets so while that is a major concern for PBs/WSs, there are options available, even if they're expensive or have other opportunity costs attached. Endurance Drain, though, that's a big hole against certain enemy types. But, to be fair, a lot of ATs struggle against Sappers, Mu, etc. They were intentionally designed to be a threat to high level toons. So while I would greatly enjoy having some Endurance Drain Resistance somewhere on my PB, I also understand that we can't have everything. If I could bake in some Drain Resistance, it should probably be attached to Dwarf Form as the "tankiest" form shouldn't get detoggled due to endurance draining attacks. That being said, Light Form is candidate since it has Recovery attached to it and it would stand to reason that it would resist your Recovery being negatively effected. Alternatively, and I'm not a big fan of this because I'd have to totally rebuild my character, you could put some Endurance Drain Resistance in the Human Shields. While we're talking about weaknesses, let me ask a question: If Human Shields also offered decent Mez Protection (on par with other melee classes), how would that affect your builds? Would it make Dwarf less appealing? Would it make Light Form/Eclipse less mandatory? An additional question, if Human Shields re-toggled after form switching, would that drastically affect your build?