Blackfeather

If it's anything, it does seem like the Origin power pools were made a bit special on purpose, hence why only one of them can be picked per character, I think.

The mention of power creep when it comes to teleportation and the like is certainly a bit concerning - I actually did write up a whole support powerset that does involve a lot of abilities based around repositioning enemies and allies alike in the form of Space Manipulation. One big question in mind while I was making that was definitely asking myself how much overlap it had with the Teleportation pool; I sort of figured that it has some obvious supportive holes (mass player buffs, healing), having a little bit of overlap was fine, even if its T1 ability Displace is basically Teleport Target But Better (lack of interrupt, picking where the target ends up, knocking enemies down). I kind of liken it to the way that Medicine's Aid Other isn't really meant to be a dedicated heal, but moreso supplement characters that don't usually come with those sorts of abilities. Basically, there's some opportunity cost involved (or at least, I was trying for an opportunity cost, still not sure if I got the balance quite right)...but needless to say, while the suggestion's well intentioned, there's probably more optimal solutions out there to help solve the issue of mobs half phasing into walls and suchlike than just granting people the power to teleport mobs for free.

Hi, and thanks for your in-depth thoughts! I definitely tried to keep Space Manipulation deliberately modest power wise - I'm aware of power creep and the like, so that's something I wanted to curtail from the get go, even while making it cool and unique. I figured that it'd be easier to add in additional effects than to take things away and keep the feel of the set. I may have succeeded a little too much! 😅 Focal Point and Warp Shield Indeed, these two powers (glad you liked the toggle buff aspect!) were designed together with two other team members in mind. The interaction works kind of like a single target Bodyguard mode, except instead of a fraction of damage being transferred, all of it is. I figured that the additional resistances granted from T2: Focal Point would help to mitigate this damage transfer somewhat. Something to keep in mind is that there's nothing stopping both T2: Focal Point and T4: Warp Shield from being applied to the same character: they'd benefit from both an increase to their chance to dodge things as well as higher resistances. With both toggles applied to them, damage is calculated as normal, since it's not being transferred anywhere else. I did want to try avoiding flat out AoE buffs, mostly to avoid stepping on the toes of the other support sets, especially given that to my knowledge, there isn't yet one that gives both defence and resistances to all types of damage. I do like your suggestion of granting additional defence to players in between these two toggles though, and it'd certainly make things more conditional! Perhaps T2: Focal Point could even have an added clause saying that its pull effect is cancelled out if Warp Shield is also applied to the same character? This'd be primarily be for smaller teams that lack a tank, so it'd make sense to cancel out any pulling effect, and would render both abilities just flat out buffs. Given that Warp Shield is purely defensive, I don't think it'd be a problem just not to have it up when, say, partnering up with a tank, and just keeping Focal Point active. The Soloing Experience of a Space Manipulator Oddly enough, I actually imagined this power set as being fairly effective alone! At the very least, on par with the likes of Thermal Manipulation, Force Field, or Sonic Resonance. While it is true that two if its buffs are single target ally toggles, it has an excellent way to debuff enemies in the form of T3: Expand Distance, which is basically a patch version of Time's Juncture, lowering foes' chance to hit, movement speed, and damage. I figured that the potential to overlap these patches alongside it not costing endurance besides the initial cast were fine upsides to have, given that Space Manipulation doesn't have anything in the way of boosting personal defences. I also imagine T5: Dimension Veil to be a useful ability even alone - I've had good experiences using Force Field's similar power Detention Field on tougher foes when not worrying too much about clear time on some of my more support oriented characters, mitigating a large source of potential damage. T6: Repulsion Zone also basically grabs the status protection and general shape/behaviour of Electrical Affinity's Faraday Cage (though without the resistance boost) with a side of repel from Storm Summoning's Hurricane. Having a source of early mez protection's been quite useful for support oriented in my experience, especially solo, and I do notice its absence. At the higher levels, Space Manipulation also gets access to a nice range increase, that should allow them to attack a little more from a distance via T9: Compress Space, alongside a crippling resistance debuff in the form of T8: Twist Matter. The Question of Griefing Hmm...I suppose transferring damage does potentially have some downsides to it if not used correctly. As surmised, the most effective use of this is to transfer damage away from a fragile character to a more durable one, but it's true that most durable characters do generally have ways of encouraging foes to attack them in the first place by way of taunting and the like (that also being said, this isn't always a guarantee). How much help do you think the previous tweak to T2: Focal Point would help alleviate these concerns? If push comes to shove, it basically turns the two toggles into a potent single target buff. I kind of saw T5: Dimension Veil as a way of rescuing allies in danger - making them untargetable while under fire and giving them time to retreat/recover, or temporarily phase out a strong foe that's focusing down a squishier character. But I could definitely see how that could potentially be misused, either intentionally or by accident. I generally like to think that the latter is more common than the former, and hoped that by making it a toggle, cancelling out the ability would be easier to do than, say, Sonic Cage or Detention Field. In situations where allies end up being phased, a team message asking to take it down would hopefully be enough. That being said, it wouldn't be too difficult to take out that team-targeting aspect...or maybe even alter it somewhat. Perhaps Dimension Veil could cause a continuous placate to occur on an ally when it targets them? It'd have much the same effect, redirecting aggro away from the team member in question (so long as they don't continue attacking of course) - I could even flavour it similarly, since the character would seem out of phase, making it more difficult for foes to target them. Buffing Displace Oh, that's an easy one! I definitely undertuned T1: Displace a little, figuring that it was already better than the pool power Teleport Target (which I figured to be fine, given that pool powers are generally gap fillers and tend to be less potent), especially since it can choose where an enemy or ally ends up as opposed to just bringing it to the user. Adding some damage similar to maybe Force Bolt would be a fair enough addition, I think, especially since it isn't as spammable given its higher recharge time. Though I also figured that the potential to drop enemies from one place to another also constituted as a roundabout way of damaging them (e.g. grouping foes up together for better AoE). Thanks again for your thoughts, you've definitely given me a lot to mull over!

It does sound useful to have something like that! Something that might help in the meantime is checking the portals in build mode, and seeing what teleportation points are attached to them - at least in my experience that does help with keeping track of things a bit. Combined with an arrangement that separates things a bit, like Uun's said.

Hi again, everyone! I got some time to think about other potential homebrew powers recently, and since my writeup on Light Control actually started off as a support set, I figured that creating a proper one was long overdue. In this case, I decided to go for a counterpart to Time Manipulation – a power set revolving around manipulating space in different ways. Design Rationale A lot of Space Manipulation’s abilities revolve around the concept of “support through repositioning”, shifting space in a more advantageous way for your allies. This comes in a variety of forms, from moving dangerous enemies away from more vulnerable targets, to phasing allies taking too much heat, enhancing the distance that allies can attack from, and even causing attacks to strike another, more durable ally instead of their intended target. As such, one intentional weakness of the set is a lack of any healing options. Space Manipulation excels in the field of damage prevention, kind of like Force Field, albeit mitigating damage through more indirect means. With proper use of its abilities, health recovery should hopefully be unnecessary in the first place! I also purposefully tried to avoid the more ’creative’ aspects of manipulating space (portal slicing, turning enemies into spaghetti, and so on); many of Space Manipulation’s powers are much more subtle and indirect in nature, save for a single ability that reduces foes’ resistances. I wanted Space Manipulation to feel a bit like playing a game of chess, repositioning allies and foes alike to provide tactical advantages for the team. Questions to the Forums (Other Questions/Comments Welcome!) Is this proposed set something you’d be interested in playing? What kinds of use cases can you see for it? Does it fill a niche that other power sets already provide, or is even strictly better than them? If so, what adjustments would you make to resolve this overlap? Space Manipulation was meant to perform about in line with existing support sets – how do you think it ranks performance wise compared to them? Are there any discrepancies that need clearing up about the powers on display/elaboration on why some powers were made as written? What powers could you see yourself taking or skipping? Would your answers change depending on the content you’re running? (E.g. simple PUG, hard mode ASF?) As always, I’d love to hear everyone’s feedback on this! Space Manipulation Power Table Power Level (Primary|Secondary) Effect Displace 1 1 Ranged, Minor DMG(Smash), Teleport Teammate or Foe, Foe Knockdown Focal Point 1 2 Toggle: Ranged Ally (Targeted AoE), Ally +Res(All DMG, Knockback), Foe Attract Expand Distance 2 4 Location (Ranged AoE), Foe -ToHit, -DMG, -SPD Warp Shield 6 10 Toggle: Ranged Ally, Ally +DEF(All), +RES(DEF Debuff), Special Dimension Veil 8 16 Toggle: Ranged Ally or Foe, Ally Intangible, Foe Intangible, -Regen, +Prot(Repel, Teleport) Repulsion Zone 12 20 Location (PBAoE), Team +Res(Status), Ally -Intangible, Foe -Intangible, Repel Dispersal 18 28 PBAoE, Minor DMG(Smash), Foe Teleport, Knockback, Chance to Disorient Twist Matter 26 35 Ranged (Targeted AoE), Foe -Res(All), -Special Compress Space 32 38 PBAoE, Team +Range, +SPD, +Res(Slow), +ToHit Powers T1: Displace You teleport a single foe or ally to another location of your choice. A successful hit must be made in order to Displace a foe, and if so, may knock them down and deal some smashing damage from the sudden change in location. Damage Minor (Smashing) Recharge Slow (15s) Minimum Level 1 (Controller) 1 (Corruptor) 1 (Defender) 1 (Mastermind) Effects Ranged (Foe Only) Teleport Teammate or Foe Foe Knockdown Enhancements Enhance Accuracy Enhance Damage Reduce Endurance Cost Enhance Knockback Distance Enhance Range Increase Attack Rate Set Categories Ranged Damage Knockback Teleport Universal Damage Universal Travel T2: Focal Point You cause additional space to gather around an ally, pulling in nearby foes and providing your target with some resistance to damage and knockback effects. Focal Point will not pull in nearby foes if Warp Shield is also active on the selected ally. Endurance 0.26/s Recharge Slow (10s) Duration 2.25s Radius 30 ft Minimum Level 2 (Controller) 2 (Corruptor) 1 (Defender) 2 (Mastermind) Effects Toggle: Ranged Ally (Targeted Area of Effect) Ally +Resistance(All Damage, Knockback) Foe Attract Enhancements Reduce Endurance Cost Enhance Range Increase Attack Rate Enhance Damage Resistance Set Categories Resist Damage T3: Expand Distance You create a localised space distortion where things are much further away than they appear, causing foes inside to move slower and miss their attacks more often. Attacks that do hit will have their damage reduced due to their longer travel time. Recharge Long (90s) Duration 45s Radius 25 ft Minimum Level 4 (Controller) 4 (Corruptor) 2 (Defender) 4 (Mastermind) Effects Ranged (Location Area of Effect) Foe -Damage, -Speed, -ToHit Enhancements Reduce Endurance Cost Enhance Range Increase Attack Rate Enhance Slow Enhance ToHit Debuff Set Categories Slow Movement ToHit Debuff T4: Warp Shield You surround an ally in a protective spatial anomaly, making any attacks directed against them less likely to hit as well as increasing their resistance to Defense Debuffs. Any damage that would still affect them will instead be inflicted on the target of your Focal Point if it is currently active. Endurance 0.26/s Recharge Slow (10s) Duration 2.25s Minimum Level 10 (Controller) 10 (Corruptor) 6 (Defender) 10 (Mastermind) Effects Toggle: Ranged Ally Ally +Defense(All), +Resistance(Defense Debuffs), Special (Redirect) Enhancements Enhance Defense Buffs Reduce Endurance Cost Enhance Range Increase Attack Rate Set Categories Defense T5: Dimension Veil You cause a target of your choice to phase into a sympathetic dimension for as long as this toggle is active, turning them intangible and unable to affect or be affected by others in normal space. Targeted allies are able to move freely, but foes will find the dimension hostile, severely reducing their regeneration rate and anchoring them in place, immobilizing most foes and preventing them from teleporting or being forcefully moved. Maintaining this veil is taxing on the user, and cannot be kept active for more than 30 seconds. Endurance 0.52/s Recharge Slow (60s) Duration 30s Minimum Level 16 (Controller) 16 (Corruptor) 8 (Defender) 16 (Mastermind) Effects Toggle: Ranged Ally or Foe Ally Intangible Foe Immobilize (Mag 10), Intangible, -Regen, +Protect(Repel, Teleport) Enhancements Reduce Endurance Cost Enhance Immobilization Duration Enhance Range Increase Attack Rate Set Categories Immobilize T6: Repulsion Zone You create a protective space at your location that pushes status effects away from your allies. This effect extends to many foes as well, who will be forced out of this area. Casting this power again will move this space to your location. Targets affected by Dimension Veil will phase back into reality while inside your Repulsion Zone. Recharge Slow (10s) Duration 240s Radius 25 ft Minimum Level 20 (Controller) 20 (Corruptor) 12 (Defender) 20 (Mastermind) Effects Location (Point Blank Area of Effect) Team +Resistance(Status) Ally -Intangible Foe -Intangible, Repel Enhancements Reduce Endurance Cost Increase Attack Rate Set Categories None T7: Dispersal You cause the space around you to rupture outwards, violently teleporting nearby foes away to random locations before dealing a minor amount of damage and throwing them off their feet. The process can even cause them to become disoriented. If you have Focal Point active, Dispersed enemies will teleport to your targeted ally instead. Damage Minor (Smashing) Recharge Slow (45s) Radius 9 ft Minimum Level 28 (Controller) 28 (Corruptor) 18 (Defender) 28 (Mastermind) Effects Point Blank Area of Effect Foe Teleport, Knockback, Chance of Disorient (Mag 2, 40%) Enhancements Enhance Accuracy Enhance Damage Reduce Endurance Cost Enhance Knockback Distance Enhance Range Increase Attack Rate Enhance Disorient Duration Set Categories Melee AoE Damage Knockback Stuns Teleport Universal Damage Universal Travel T8: Twist Matter You violently twist the space your foes inhabit for a short period of time, debilitating their damage resistances and weakening their secondary power effects. The targets power effects like Heals, Defense Buffs, Endurance Drains, Disorients, Holds, Immobilizes, Knockbacks and more, are all weakened. Recharge Long (150s) Duration 40s Radius 15 ft Minimum Level 35 (Controller) 35 (Corruptor) 26 (Defender) 35 (Mastermind) Effects Ranged (Targeted Area of Effect) Foe -Resistance(All), -Special Enhancements Enhance Accuracy Reduce Endurance Cost Enhance Range Increase Attack Rate Set Categories None T9: Compress Space You cause things to become much closer than they appear for nearby allies, increasing the range of their attacks and their chance to hit. These compressed distances also provide a boost to movement speed and some resistance to slow effects. Recharge Very Long (360s) Duration 90s Radius 25 ft Minimum Level 38 (Controller) 38 (Corruptor) 32 (Defender) 38 (Mastermind) Effects Point Blank Area of Effect Team Range Increase, +Speed, +ToHit, +Resistance(Slow) Enhancements Reduce Endurance Cost Increase Attack Rate Enhance Running Speed Enhance ToHit Buff Set Categories To Hit Buff Running & Sprints Universal Travel

I did notice that the Metallic 2 gloves option isn't available for Male body types when the Suit torso option is selected, even though it is an option when Tights torso option is selected - could that be something constituting a bug, given that the piece already exists on the same body type?

I think I mentioned it some time back, but making Telekinesis have a pull/push/pause toggle option would be neat! Give it some flexibility by letting it keep enemies in place or easily move them around - upping the target cap would be nice too.

Yup, only the sleep component of those powers is autohit, I think. So the damage part still rolls for accuracy.

Maybe this?

I want this prototyped colour picker done one day!

Thanks for the clarifications! That's quite neat for sure.

I have! But I don't recall things changing - I was a little occupied with surviving at the time. 😅

Out of curiosity, what is meant by dynamic geometry?

Mmhm - I don't think having enemies get up from that kind of Sleep would fit. Also consider ticking Sleep powers like Static Field; they don't need additional forms of lockdown. So I think it's better to go through them on a case by case basis. For Sleep powers that trap enemies in fragile structures, I'd say having enemies 'break out' of said structures after awakening would be the way to go.

I'd probably only let that work for Sleeps that actually put enemies to sleep flavour wise myself (Mass Hypnosis, Mesmerize). For something like Salt Crystals that traps enemies in a structure, I could see fragile pets forming around each enemy that they'd need to break, similar to Scrapper's Stone Armour T9, Geode, except self targeted.

If Final Fantasy can get away with it, I think it's fine: https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Meteor_(ability)

Looks like exciting news! Definitely going to be trying out that new content.

Also going to give @5099y_74c05 a ping - would definitely be happy to hear your thoughts on this new powerset I thought up, hope you like it!

Going to give @Hew another ping over here - hey there! Got another powerset drafted up for Controllers/Dominators. If you're interested, would be glad to hear your thoughts on it. 🙂

Might ping @Galaxy Brain as well! Kind of curious on your thoughts on this set, if it's in a decent place balance wise, and if it's something that could be feasibly implement. Hope it's a good read!

Going to give @Mezmera a wave as well - hello again! I remember you having some excellent thoughts in my Light Control proposal. Would definitely be interested in hearing your view on Barrier Control too. 😄

Thank you! Glad you do like the overall feel of the powerset. I actually did initially have T9: Barrier Implosion inflict a stronger Stun effect depending on the amount of barriers it destroys. Eventually, I figured that since damage was the main focus of the power, it wouldn't be on theme - plus its energy barriers provide quite the strong way of hindering enemies already. My initial implementation had it at a Mag 3 Stun, with an additional 1 for every additional barrier stacked (making it a maximum of 5). These sorts of things do make me wish I could directly test these powersets sometimes, see how over/under-powered such changes might be. Thanks again for reading through this proposal! 😅

@Replacement, I've gone through the powerset and gotten rid of the chance in T2: Razor Bubble to create an energy barrier. There should be a pretty firm limit on these summons now, and in a way that encourages taking more powers in the set: T1: Explosive Sphere, T2: Razor Bubble, and T3: Detain will all create an energy barrier on their next use after T7: Barrier Empowerment is activated. This gives three 'charges' if all three powers are picked, which should hopefully make them more reliable while also more limited. I think that'd tone it down a bit while also still having some relative upsides!

Hereby christened Bowel Control! 😛

Alternate thought that comes to mind: assuming that the T2 would no longer have a chance to generate barriers outright, what if T7: Barrier Empowerment granted T1: Explosive Sphere, T2: Razor Bubble, and T3: Detain a single charge of an Energy Barrier upon use? That'd be a pretty hard limit, while also encouraging the take up of those three powers as well. It'd also make the case for bumping up the health of those barriers.