Ultimo

Ah, I think I see. I hadn't considered sets and set bonuses, just basic enhancements. You're right, that also would need to be addressed. I suppose it could easily be done by making duplicates of the enhancements, so there would be identical damage and knockback options. My thinking is that if there are powers you want to actually knock foes away... you slot them for knockback. I don't know how you've slotted your cone power, but if you replaced the damage enhancements with knockback enhancements that did the same thing as the damage enhancement, but additionally made the power do knockback... I'm not seeing how it's any different that if it already did the knockback and you just put the damage enhancements in it. I mean: Power does knockback by default. You add damage enhancements, it does additional damage and knockback. This is how it is now. Power does knockdown by default. You add knockback enhancements, it does additional damage and knockback. I'm not seeing how this is any different. Power does knockdown by default. You add damage enhancements, it does additional damage, but only knocks foes down. This is the only thing that's different, and it's something you would CHOOSE. The idea here was to give people the choice.

Or Repulsion Field. I agree. Perhaps exceptions could be made for those kinds of powers. In either case, knockback should do a bit of damage, based on the distance knocked (even if the target doesn't travel the full distance), so it's a bit more desirable to have (and more in keeping with what we see in the comics). Any power you have is going to be slotted. Since I'm referring to attack powers, you're likely going to be slotting them for damage. So, if you don't want the knockback, you use damage enhancers. If you do want the knockback, you use knockback enhancers. If done as I suggest, the damage would be the same, you would lose nothing, and gain the choice of having knockback or knockdown. As it is, if I have no control over whether I have knockback or not. If I use knockback enhancers now, they take up slots that might have had other things in them. My idea simply allows you to have the choice and not use up the slots you might have used for damage filled with knockback enhancers that don't actually benefit you. I'm not seeing how you lose anything with this.

But that's why I suggested that knockback enhancers should also serve as damage enhancers. That way you can have knockback but not lose a damage slot.

I could see that... but Doom prefers not to get involved himself. He sends his bots out to do his menial tasks. Of course, when the heroes DO come up against Doom himself, he's a beast. Creating a character based on Doom is therefore troublesome. Yes, making him a Dominator could make him a beast, but he would have no minions to send off to do the work for him. Making him a Mastermind gives him the minions, but he himself is a fragile joke. It's hard to call. I'm actually stuck in this quandry with another of my Masterminds. He's supposed to be a former Nazi, turned sorceror corrupted by darkness. He would command soldiers to do his bidding, then when confronted personally, be a terrifying foe.... but he's not. He's squishy and flimsy and does practically no damage with anything. So, I considered making him a Dominator or Controller... but he just "feels" wrong, doing everything for himself. So hard to satisfy the concept (though I suppose fully doing so would be kind of OP).

My idea was to convert all knockback to knockdown. That would actually be HELPFUL on teams. Only those that specifically slotted to knock foes back would do so.

I agree, Super Strength is kind of THE superhero power, that's why I feel it should perform better, and more like the character is actually STRONG. The point I was making about knockback is that it IS problematic for many players. Slotting Knockback enhancers does nothing but take up slots I needed for other things. That's why I suggested knockback enhancers should ALSO enhance damage, so you could have the knockback without sacrificing your damage output. I also suggested that knockback should do a bit of additional damage so that it's more desirable. As you say, right now, people often don't WANT knockback, so it needed something to make people want it. The stun on Hand Clap is still very short when slotted... but that's kind of beside the point. The thing is, it does no damage at all, and it really should (it does when Hulk does it... it even does it when Statesman does it). Super Strength was indeed one of the first power sets created for the game, which is why it probably should be reevaluated. Compared to newer sets, it's kind of underperforming... but in my mind, the real issue is that it doesn't act like the character has STRENGTH.

I'm not sure quite what you're saying there... I think you're not quite getting what I mean for knockback? Essentially, a lot of people don't like it, because it knocks foes out of aoe range/melee range. For this reason, people don't really WANT knockback, and favour knockdown powers instead. However, there are some people (like me) who like knockback because it's more in character for the power set, as we see super strength regularly knocking foes around a lot. So, I was hoping to provide a mechanism to allow everyone to have what they want. By changing all knockback in the game into knockdown, people who don't want knockback can have it the way they like. Making knockback enhancers change the knockdown to knockback allows people who DO want knockback to have it. However, this does put people using knockback enhancers at something of a disadvantage. First, the knockback enhancers are taking up slots that would have been used by other kinds of enhancers. So, I suggested they also boost damage the way damage enhancers do, so that they can be slotted without hindering damage output. Second, critics of knockback are correct, knocking foes away can be very inconvenient, especially for melee characters. So, to compensate for this, I thought it appropriate to add a little damage to knockback. So, for example, one character using damage enhancers would do say... 50 damage with a punch that knocks his foe down. If he used knockback enhancers, he would do 50 damage, plus perhaps 10 more when the foe he's knocked back hits the ground (wall, car, whatever). This would benefit other power sets too, as they could avoid knockback. For example, my Electric Control/Force Field Controller has a lot of trouble because Jolting Chain and Force Bolt knock foes out of his area effect sleep power, or just out of range, allowing them to recover and attack him. My suggestion would allow him to just knock then DOWN instead with no loss of damage. I hope that's clearer.

I love it. My biggest complaint about Masterminds has been that the Mastermind himself is so weak. I mean, think about the kinds of characters we see in the comics who would be Masterminds... Dr. Doom, Red Skull, Nick Fury... They rely mainly on their minions, but are themselves forces to be reckoned with. Once you get past Doom's bots, Doom himself is VERY dangerous. Not here. Here, Doom is impossibly flimsy and has only one or two piddly attacks that exhaust him in seconds. So, I'm all for anything that might help the Masterminds... though I'd still like to see some love for the Mastermind himself, some boost to his personal attacks, and a reduction on endurance (which I'd honestly like to see for all ATs).

I don't like the Super Strength set... it just doesn't seem very STRONG. Now, I'm not referring to damage, I'm saying it does very little that requires STRENGTH. Sure we can punch things, but anyone can punch things. Sure, the punches can knock down, even knock back things... but LOTS of heroes without superhuman strength can do that. The problem is there's very little in the set that shows off great STRENGTH. Think about what we see super strong characters doing in the comics, films and so on. They lift heavy objects, stop runaway trains, break chains and smash through walls. Their battles are titanic, doing massive collateral damage to their surroundings, knocking their foes vast distances. The Super Strength set does very little of this. We get one heavy object to lift as part of Hurl, but even that is small compared to the boulder from Stone Melee or some of the objects Propel conjures up. Still, it's better than nothing. Hand Clap does look strong, but even that is hampered by the fact that it does no damage at all, and the stun it causes is very short. Finally we get Foot Stomp which does look and feel pretty strong... but it's really the only thing that does. To see how Super Strength should work, watch the Justice League Unlimited episode entitled "Clash," where Superman and Captain Marvel fight one another. They exchange punches, but doing so shatters windows and cracks the ground and walls around them, and each blow sends the target flying, often right through walls. They grab large objects, like a bus or a whole bank vault, and the smack each other with them. Or... watch this AWESOME video... Of course, the game engine doesn't allow us to interact with the environment, so we can't lift up cars or hit each other with trees or streetsigns. However, there has to be more we could do with the set to let it at least LOOK like the character possesses great strength. I envision three changes, ranging from the merely cosmetic to actually changing gameplay. First the easy one, there should be more environmental effects; cracks on the ground and walls, debris flying around, dust and rubble. It's simple and merely cosmetic, but would go a LONG way to improving the presentation of the set. Second, all knockback in the game should be changed to knockDOWN. Using a knockback enhancer would then convert knockdown to knockBACK. Further, knockback enhancers should also increase damage the way damage enhancers do (so you could use either for the same effect, the only difference being that knockback enhancers would add knockback). Since knockback is often seen as undesirable, something needs to be done to MAKE it desirable. Making knockback do a bit of additional damage, relative to the amount of knockback done (even if something stops them, like a wall, or if they're immune), would do this. These changes would allow people who don't WANT knockback to slot damage enhancers and leave it as knockdown, while those that do want knockback can have it and get a minor benefit from it. With knockback thus altered, all Super Strength attacks should do significant knockback when enhanced, in keeping with what's in the comics. Third, Super Strength attacks should do MUCH more damage to inanimate objects, like doors or vehicles. We see this in the media all the time, doors and walls being easily crushed or broken, vehicles smashed and tossed around. We don't want to take it TOO far, but super strong characters should be better at this than others. This might include semi-animate things, such as Clockwork, Pumicites and other animated creatures. Fourth, the set itself should be revamped. Many of the current powers are either useless, do nothing to denote strength, or both. The goal would be to reduce the number of punching powers and add more strength feats, including more AOE. Consider that a normal strength hero will usually hit one enemy at a time, but a superhumanly strong one might sweep several foes away at once. I'd set it up something like this... Punch - A basic single target punch, it should be more or less like the current Punch power. Animation either one or two hand smash. Haymaker - A basic AOE cone punch, it should function like Cross Punch. Hurl - The only lifting power in the set, it needs to come earlier. It should be the same as it is now, EXCEPT it should be an AOE. It's a big rock, after all. Taunt - As it is now, but a better animation? Rage - As it is now, but a different name? Perhaps as a toggle, that increases endurance costs as well? Hand Clap - As it is now, but in addition targets in a forward cone take moderate damage. Smash - This replaces KO Blow, does titanic damage and a LOT of knockback to the target, knocks down nearby foes. LONG recharge. Shockwave - Foot Stomp renamed. Super Strength is the single most common superhuman power in comic books... even in ancient mythology. It's ICONIC, and needs to be done right. It needs to be highly desirable and effective. I think the adjustments I've outlined above are fairly balanced, but some tweaking might be necessary. I think the idea is clear, though. Here's the scene from Clash, because it is also awesome...

Ya, my Mastermind based on Doom has that. The thing is, there's very little kind of personal defense. I envisioned the character having a globe around himself more or less all the time. I suppose I could put an aura on him and just define his having things like Weave and Leadership as being his personal shields...

So... Got the character to L19 now, Electric Control/Force Fields. However, I'm pondering the possiblity of switching to Electric Control/Electric Manipulation. Anyone know how that set performs? I also started a Peacebringer version of the character. I've never played a Peacebringer, but I kind of liked the fact he gets force fields for HIMSELF that the Force Fields set lacks. I mean, that he can actually use in combat. PFF isn't really much use in that regard. I find I'm missing the ability to support the team, though. One of the things the Lantern can do is project force fields around others (either to contain them or shield them), or use them to carry/manipulate others. The Peacebringer really doesn't have that. Obviously, no power sets are going to perfectly emulate the kinds of things the Lantern can do, but I'm still trying to find something that hits enough of the right notes to make it work for me. The Controller is pretty decent, but his damage and personal defenses are VERY weak. The Peacebringer does decent damage (so far, only L10), and has decent defenses, but has no real support ability. I thought of making him a Defender... but I really dislike them, their damage output is abysmal considering the endurance cost, and again with Force Fields, there's no personal defenses. Any thoughts?

ya, Jolting Chain is one of those powers that looks like a normal blast... but does next to no damage. In fact, there seems to be only ONE power, and single target at that, that does even halfway decent damage, and that's Tesla Cage. I think if they doubled the damage output on Jolting Chain, it would be pretty good. Still lower damage than Tesla Cage, but at least SOMETHING reasonable. Right now, my Tesla Cage does around 16 damage (twice with Containment) while Jolting Chain does 5. My enemies are routinely hitting me for 50+. A Werewolf from a door knock threw a boulder at me that did 188 damage (I have 255 health). That's rather a drastic discrepancy, especially when I have only ONE power capable of actually HOLDING him so he can't attack... and being single target, it leaves the Sorceress that appears with him free to zap me for around 80 damage. Oh, I was damaging her with my Chain Cages (or whatever it's called), but that does 5 damage to her 80... And heaven help you when facing anything that can't be held. A Troll (Jutal, I think), was slaughtering me in a bank mission because he was immune to my holds. I managed to immobilize him, but he threw a boulder that did 2/3 of my health in one shot. Hard to compete when you have no defense and no offense...

Hrm. Damage on the Electric/Force Fields is really low... And I don't even get to use Force Fields on myself. That's always been really disappointing. There are SO many heroes in the comics who use force fields for SELF protection, beginning with the likes of Green Lantern, but also Invisible Girl, Dr. Strange, Dr. Doom, Guardian (from Alpha Flight), Magneto, and on and on. It's too bad there's no Controller set that gives the Controller some sort of PERSONAL defense. The only one I do get is the PFF, which isn't really of much use, as it prevents me doing anything but being a bubble.

Actually, I'm rather enjoying the Electric Controls for the character... except the damage is REALLY anemic... and Force Fields isn't going to do anything to address that... I think just ONE decent damage dealer would be very welcome. Perhaps if they doubled the damage of Jolting Chain? It looks like a standard blast power, but it does practically no damage...

Costume slot for pets? You can change the appearance of your pets?

I have a Sorceror character that uses... excuse me, USED it. I found it rather underwhelming, overly reliant on invisibility and the Phantom Army. I've been blasting away with Electric Control, up to L10 now, and it's pretty decent. Some GREAT area effects with a nice look (though the sound is a bit meh), and even a blast power that will knock foes down in bunches. Here's what I've planned at first blush... Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.7.2.10 https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Stellar Ranger: Level 50 Technology Controller Primary Power Set: Electric Control Secondary Power Set: Force Field Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Primal Forces Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Tesla Cage -- EndRdx(A), Acc(37), Dmg(37), Dmg(37), Dmg(40), Range(48) Level 1: Personal Force Field -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(34), DefBuff(34) Level 2: Chain Fences -- EndRdx(A), Acc(17), Dmg(19), Dmg(34), Dmg(40), Range(48) Level 4: Fly -- Flight(A) Level 6: Jolting Chain -- EndRdx(A), Acc(7), Dmg(7), Dmg(15), Dmg(40), Range(46) Level 8: Conductive Aura -- Acc(A), EndMod(9), EndMod(9), Heal(13), Heal(43), Heal(46) Level 10: Hover -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(11), DefBuff(11) Level 12: Static Field -- EndRdx(A), Acc(13) Level 14: Force Bolt -- EndRdx(A), Acc(15), Range(50) Level 16: Boxing -- EndRdx(A), Acc(17), Dmg(50) Level 18: Paralyzing Blast -- EndRdx(A), Acc(19) Level 20: Dispersion Bubble -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(21), DefBuff(21), DefBuff(29) Level 22: Tough -- EndRdx(A), ResDam(23), ResDam(23), ResDam(29) Level 24: Weave -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(25), DefBuff(25), DefBuff(27) Level 26: Synaptic Overload -- EndRdx(A), Acc(27) Level 28: Repulsion Field -- EndRdx(A) Level 30: Maneuvers -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(31), DefBuff(31), DefBuff(31) Level 32: Gremlins -- Acc(A), Dmg(33), Dmg(33), Dmg(33) Level 35: Power Blast -- EndRdx(A), Acc(36), Dmg(36), Dmg(36), Dmg(43) Level 38: Repulsion Bomb -- EndRdx(A), Acc(39), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), Dmg(43) Level 41: Temp Invulnerability -- EndRdx(A), ResDam(42), ResDam(42), ResDam(42) Level 44: Energy Torrent -- EndRdx(A), Acc(45), Dmg(45), Dmg(45), Dmg(46) Level 47: Cross Punch -- EndRdx(A), Acc(48), Dmg(50) Level 49: Group Fly -- EndRdx(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A) Level 1: Containment Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Jump(A) Level 2: Rest -- IntRdx(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Flight(A) Level 2: Health -- Heal(A), Heal(5), Heal(5) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump(A) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(3), EndMod(3) ------------

I looked at that, but it was too... earthy, if that makes sense? It didn't look like energy constructs. I thought about Ice, though. I could explain that it's not actually ice, but force field constructs.

As some may have already gleaned, many of my characters are not so loosely based on existing comic characters that I grew up with, sometimes combinations of characters. The Canadian Shield, for example, is based on Captain America (for his origin) and Superman (for his powers). My current project is the Stellar Ranger, based on Green Lantern. But, he's proving to be a bit of a problem. My first instinct was to make him a Defender, Force Fields and... something. It's the something that's the issue. When I was growing up, Green Lantern really didn't do a lot of just blasting things, he created constructs of energy and used them for various purposes, from bashing enemies, to trapping them, to tossing them about and so on. That left me wondering what OTHER Archetypes might be better suited to the character, and that's brought me here for opinions. The only real requirement is that he have a Force Field (or globe of similar appearance). Right now, I'm tinkering with him as a Controller, Electric controls and Force Fields... But what do you all think?

Thanks, good info.

I usually build characters in Mids using just SOs (in part because it creates a more generic, simpler result that's consistent across characters, in part because I generally can't afford anything fancy). I usually play at more or less standard difficulty. For some characters, I'll increase the number of foes, but decrease the effective level (so it should be about the same difficulty, but with more foes to beat up). My Dominators do use the Assault powers for damage, but the damage the do is pretty anemic. For my mez powers, at least at lower level, I'll usually slot 2 accuracy. I rarely have less than 95% chance to hit (but still miss something like 8 of every 10 attacks). A generous soul gifted me with four attuned Stamina Modification enhancements (Performance Shifter), but they simply don't help much. I'd kind of like to transfer them to the Blaster, is that possible?

So I think I'm giving up on the Dominator version of the character. He does pathetic damage... when he hits things, which is rare. He's squishy as heck, can't do damage and isn't protected by his controls... so what good is he? I considered the Controller, Fire Control and Thermal... but it just didn't quite seem in character. I considered the Tanker, Fire Aura and Fire Melee... but that's not in character either. I considered the Sentinel, Fire Blast and Fire Aura... but I already have so many Sentinels, I wanted something different. So, I went to the Blaster. BOY I'd forgotten how squishy Blasters are... but at least he can DO damage. The Dominator wasn't any more durable, but couldn't do any damage either. What do you guys think...? How would you arrange a Human Torch-type character as a Blaster... or would you do something else I've not considered?

The idea is to prevent the enemy attacking you. A -recharge would still let him attack, and because controllers have no other defense, even one attack could be fatal. So, it's necessary that the control provide the defense. If it's not going to actually hold the enemy, it needs to reduce the chances that he's going to attack the player with a devestating attack (either via reduced accuracy or reduced damage). Different effects might cause different debuffs. Immobilize = recharge debuff or slowed Sleep = accuracy debuff (disoriented when waking up) Hold = damage debuff (can't hit as hard because of slight paralysis) Or something like that...

My thought was that foes who are immune to controls should suffer a big debuff to their offense... either a big tohit penalty or damage debuff. That way, controllers would still be getting some defensive effect from their controls.

Controls in Champions Online are pretty well nonexistent. Beyond the fact that most of the time there's SOMEONE who has built a character capable of so much DPS that every thing is dead in less than 3 seconds, any damage done to an enemy reduces the amount of time they spend controlled. So, if you put an enemy into a hold of some sort, and then someone damages them, they will usually be freed from the hold. Of course, most AVs are basically immune to holds, both here and there. The big difference is that here, our holds still do damage. The real issue for me is that for Controllers and Dominators, they have pretty well no defense if they can't control the enemy. Fighting bosses and above, you're basically left defenseless.

Ya, he's lower level, so I have no damage slots in it. I've kind of gone back to Grav/Time for now... but I'm certainly not deleting anything. I think I've given up on the Electric/Time version. it's ok... but the sound effects are annoying me, so I just won't enjoy it.