[Power pools adjustments]

If I'm to be perfectly honest: I'd rather buff some of the 'less desirable' pool powers to actually feel like you're making a good choice and not just using it as a stepping stone to get to something better. Let people be EXCITED to pick up boxing and kick and really WANT to get cross punch as much as they want Weave and Tough. Players should actually have to think if they really want Hasten or would rather pick up Flurry, jumpkick should feel just as tempting a choice as combat jumping, and so on. Those might be exaggerations, but you probably get my point, Sorcery and Force of Will actually have a lot of good power picks in the whole pool or at least something that doesn't feel like you're wasting a power pick just to get something better, so it seems even the live devs were hoping to improve power pool picks to feel less like a set mule at best and a chore at worst and more like something that would actually be part of your character's playstyle.

 

Here's a possible suggestion for Flurry, kind of power-creepy, but this is more for thematics: Flurry gains a recharge bonus with each other super speed power you pick, and not small ones either, say, +25% recharge bonus for each pick. Maybe have flurry itself also gain a limited (like, two to three more targets within melee range of the original) chaining damage. (sort of like you're rapidly moving between opponents to smack them too)

[Make Lethal damage.... lethal?]

I can agree with this. Unarmored foes like the hellions, skulls, non-brick outcasts, tsoo (who should probably rely more on defense for mitigation), Circle of Thorns, etc.

 

Similarly, I'd also like to suggest some enemy factions actually have a weakness to psionic damage besides clockwork. For a damage type the live devs felt was 'too strong and exotic', nothing besides is really weak to it, but a lot more resist it. My own logic for what should be weak to psychic damage would be to look at enemies with a compromised will and state of mind. So Carnies would be hit hard because they've surrendered much of their will to the amusement of Vanessa DeVore, Paragon Protectors have had their minds messed with beyond recognition even as clone servants, trolls and freakshow have willingly imbibed drugs that mess with their brains, so these kinds of foes just have weak wills and are easily victims to psionic assault.

[Mastermind Primary Powers]

I actually did a write up way back on live for an alternate tier 3 pet for ninjas in the form of the Kunoichi. Admittedly, she was still pretty mystically aligned but not quite as blatant as going from a bunch of trained assassins to a fire demon. rough idea was:

 

Base powers - Quick Strike*, Body Blow, Focused Burst (Or masterful throw) Defenses (jounin level defenses versus Melee, Ranged, and AoE)

Upgrade 1 - Smashing Blow, Alkaloid

Upgrade 2 - Burst, Weaken, Shadow Fade**

 

In my mind the Kunoichi was meant to be both support and attack, using alkaloid to heal, Shadowfade to give both her MM and fellow ninjas stealth and much needed additional defense, her attacks could debilitate incoming damage, and ultimately weaken would be used to give an indirect mez resistance to the ninjas and further reduce incoming damage. I think these days I might consider giving her Street Justice instead and let her ranged attacks be the cooler shuriken attacks and rely more on poison for support.

 

*The Kunoichi's version of kinetic melee attacks always deals -damage debuff

**Basically it's Shadowfall but as a 60 second long click buff with a 180 second long recharge.

[Mastermind Primary Powers]

Please, no more cramming blatant magical entities into what would otherwise be a perfectly decent natural origin MM primary? I still hate ninjas because you have perfectly good, badass ninjas and then suddenly a freaking 'demon' in a damn tokusatsu mask. (He's also not even a warrior of 'wind and fire' just fire!)

[Mastermind Primary Powers]

I've only got a rough concept at the moment and I'm starting out with how the powers will look fully upgraded.

 

Tier 1 pet: The Levy

Levies are the backbone of a feudal war machine, lacking in armor and the strength of a dedicated warrior, they must work together and with their comrades to win the day. Armed with a Shield for defense and a warmace which will break even the toughest armors, they are not to be underestimated.

Levy powers - Bash (modified for higher chance to disorient), Crowd Control, Shatter Armor (damage reduced, modified from Banespider), Phalanx Fighting, Grant Cover, Gambison (minor +res v. smash, lethal, fire, cold)

The idea here is that The Levies are actually the source of support for a knights MM. On their own they're pretty laughable, but but with the ability to stun, knockdown groups, debuff res, and buff the defenses of eachother, they make for a crucial part of any attack.

 

Tier 2 Pet: Man-at-arms

You can summon a pair of Men-at-arms to fight for you in battle, they're armored in sturdy chainmail shirts, kettle helms (wide brimmed steel hats, possibly with a mail curtain around the back), articulated plate gauntlets and greaves. As their main weapon they carry the Halberd, a reliable and versatile weapon capable of hacking, stabbing, and hooking opponents and their weapons, and for those who escape the reach of their halberd, they keep a powerful longbow to pick off runners.

Man-at-arms powers: Mercurial Blow, Precise Strike, Innocuous Strikes, Sky Splitter, Aimed Shot, Snap Shot, Blazing Arrow, Mail Armor (Moderate Res vs. Smashinng, Lethal, Fire, and Cold)

The Man at Arms are meant to be sort of all-arounders and the primary source of ranged damage, though ultimately prefer melee. I'm not 100% happy with this though, as Halberds would handle a bit differently from staffs and there's only so many options in the attacks. Also not sure if the archery should be swapped out instead for a crossbow, either as an upgrade or just straight out.

 

tier 3 pet: The Champion

Your champion is your strongest servant, a one-man-army on the battlefield and a hero to your lesser knights. Clad in fullplate armor and armed with a greatsword, they are a shining beacon to your army, and a nightmare to your foes. (uses excalibur or black knights titan weapon, his version of titan weapon attacks deal lethal damage)

Champion Powers: Charge! (targetted AoE Shield charge attack, teleporting the champion to an enemy), Defensive Sweep, Titan Sweep, Follow Through, Whirling Smash, Rise to the Challenge, High Pain Tolerance, Knight's Armor (Moderate Resistance vs. Smash, lethal, Cold, Fire, and Psionic. minor defense vs. Melee, Ranged, and AoE)

To put it simply, the Champion is the powerhouse of the group, he sacrifices ranged damage means for a charge attack, and making him a greater beast would be a permanent momentum buff on his attacks, allowing him to cleave through mobs while keeping them on their backs.

 

This is, all very roughshod, and admittedly I don't know what gimmick it should have like Demons' diversity, Thugs' stacking buffs/sheer numbers, and Beast's pack mentality.

[Mastermind Primary Powers]

3 minutes ago, Menelruin said:

Hey, you know how Dual Pistols can change its damage type?  Do you think it would be too powerful to have an Elementals set where your minions all started out as a neutral homunculus or golem or something, then your first "upgrade" skill imbued them with an element, changing their stats and abilities?  You could also have your blasts start out as basic energy or smashing or something, then shift to whatever the last element you imbued a minion with was.

Maybe not overpowered, but it might be interesting if a Mastermind primary had a gimmick where they could change the elemental affinities of their pets on the fly to either probe for less-resisted damage in offense or setting their minions up to be more resilient against an enemy's attacks.

 

Slightly off the subject, but I was a little weirded out/annoyed when demon summoning's 'third damage type' was 'hellfire' (which was just fire/toxic) instead of negative energy.

 

Also, with so many interesting suggestions a 'knights' MM primary, would anyone object if I took my own crack at it? Asking since I'd rather not seem like I'm trying to override already good ideas to blow my own horns.

[Kheldians. General Improvements and Null Gull Option]

Weighing in on this topic just a bit:

There's no doubt Kheldians can be strong on their own. But let me ask if they can be strong WITHOUT inventionsets and/or heavily specialization? Because no matter what some people think. I'm pretty sure the homecoming devs are still balancing this game around SOs per-the live devs (thus, also why so many things can become an easy faceroll). And the disparity between Kheldians and SoAs are pretty massive if you do some power values comparison. From what I can see, SoAs have melee on par with stalkers, ranged on par with corruptors, armor on par with tanks, and buffs/debuffs on par with defenders, and SoAs similarly were built with a 'jack of all trades' role in mind with a permanent specialization at level 24 (which can even be completely ignored), and their means of doing are much more favorable in the forms of team buff auras that also help the SoA's own survivability, all on top of SoAs lacking a special weakness like Kheldian ATs (you want balance? call me when Arachnos pays an independent contractor to flip a very big middle finger to SoAs to 'keep them in line and remember who their boss is')

 

Now, enough fist shaking at SoAs, some of my own thoughts on how to improve Kheldian ATs...

 

First thing that might help is adding a second debuff to their attacks, -tohit for PBs and -Dam for Warshades. Conceptually, a PB's blinding light striking foes leaves their senses too dazzled to accurately retaliate, and a Warshade's former life as an essence draining parasite means all their attacks still siphon strength from foes. Mechanically, this means Kheldians have improved survivability by reducing incoming damage, further, this makes them a stronger team player, with their large number of attacks (and especially if we could extend the timer on just how long their debuffs last) PBs could utterly destroy an enemy's ability to evade or hit back, while Warshades would neuter enemies that might run as well as their ability to even hurt opponents with now anemic attacks.

 

Second idea, which could be used in conjunction with the first, is to take a page out of the fighting pool and have Kheldian powers possess synergy with one another. Have certain power picks strengthen Dwarf and Nova forms while picking Dwarf and Nova could provide strong benefits back to human form, I'm hazy on numbers or details, but this could encourage more taking up forms a bit more.

 

Admittedly, the detoggle is another problem that needs to be addressed, and I really don't think "lol, learn to macro" should be the only solution to make it manageable. Because, once more, it sort of pushes Kheldian players into needing go increasingly out of the base game just to be enjoyable as other ATs.

 

Also, as a side, besides their lethality to specific teammate(s), I've always been fine with the extra spawns of void hunters. Better than fine in some cases, they will spawn beyond the spawn limit, and that means more EXP and loot! Why would anyone complain about that? Well, besides the kheld players themselves who would be understandably PO'd from getting smacked in the face by a powerful attack (that some people say they want to be irresistable) they have no means to reliably take out of the picture. Combine with being a Kheldian running a malta mission, you're basically boned as even a warshade can only use their hold on the sapper or void hunter.

[Mastermind Primary Powers]

sort of related to this topic, but one thing that might be cool for Masterminds would be to make "branching options" for their attacks. Basically, a thugs MM could instead pick assault rifle for their attacks, or pulse rifle, or a archery, and so on. One they picked one of the three attacks, it locks them to that ranged attack trio. (so you can't have a pulse rifle for your basic, pistols for your second, and your AoE attack being the demons whip)

 

This is meant to mostly let people embrace a more free concept with their MMs, and I can imagine many of the hurdles (for example, beast MMs' attacks are meant to build pack mentality to support their pets, and the -res from the infernal whip is (allegedly) a very strong attack, but I'm sure workarounds could be done, just the question being if it's worth it. Especially since it's rare for an MM to use their own attacks anyway once they're built out.

[Share Mission Maps You Want Added Here!]

Basically what the title says. We spend a lot of time in instanced missions, so it might be nice to see some more diversity to these familiar environments. But for a bit of extra challenge, perhaps we should also figure out how we might best go about building these maps, whether using existing assets or just what assets might be needed for something to be made.

My own big suggestions, and possibly the easiest ones would be more transitioning maps like follows:

 

-Caves, sewers, and tunnels into any types of tech map tiles (such as praetorian power, biological, or normal tech, abandoned tech lab, normal tech lab, etc.) by connecting these with a simple door, it can be used to give a sense of going from an out-of-the-way spot into some hero or villains lair. You could also probably include things like warehouses and offices with 'hidden doors' that transition into those and things like Arachnos, Fifth Column, council, and Longbow bases

 

-another type of map that might be nice to see with a minimal change would be various outdoor maps such as ruined city and the three forest maps sans the war walls. These would greatly increase their flexibility to be many other places in the world. Similarly, perhaps Croatoa outdoor maps without the gold filter.

 

Those are the big ones that come to my mind. Actually have a few more but they'd take longer to post details for.