Naraka

Defense Debuffs are a thing too. I suppose, since they aren't meta, they are wholly overlooked in the grand scheme of things over something like +ToHit when they are actually the same overall value (foe resistances withstanding). It's one of the fun aspects of my FF/rad defender, making it so foes are super easy to hit while making my allies harder to hit. Irradiate does a hefty -25% or so defense without slotting for 20sec (same as its rech). My earth/earth dom didn't slot for accuracy until nearly level 30 since Quicksand is -25% def and is auto-hit as well as Earthquake being -10% def. Ever consider how much -def are in Peacebringer attacks? 1 volley of a few attacks is putting around -30% def on foes in an AoE. Even smaller amounts of -def stacked can add up when a team is throwing around a few -def powers as well. So I'd say, it's not that the settings need to cater to specific meta-building strategies, it's just you need to think outside of the box if you're going the non-meta route. You've got +ToHit, extra accuracy slotting or defense debuffing as your options...or just lower the difficulty. I feel that's fair. Making it so foes just don't require those effects just invalidates the need for those effects which I don't think is fair. EDIT: I just looked it up, but Irradiate says it is -37.5% def on Defender? Is that right? On Blasters it's -21%def so 1 slot of -def in it pushes it to -28% or so and -50% def on Defender. And that's just attacks, they have a slew of other powers that can floor def. Blasters also have Atomic Manipulation or Plant Manipulation. Thorn Burst also does -21%def. Stack that with Irradiate and you're at -42%def.

Sure sure. The main reason I pointed it out was no one else bothered. Funnily enough, I suffer the same mistakes at times, replying to a post and stating it as such that it's directed at a particular side of the argument but not clearly affirming it's not at the quoted individual because I didn't realize fully the stance of the quoted individual didn't completely align with the OP or their side of the argument. But so long as no one actually points that out, I don't have to always admit that mistake.

Not clearly at all. The person you quoted didn't ask for advice or provided a response that would validate feedback, much less the feedback you provided. Which convinces me you didn't realize you were responding to a unique individual who was making a jab not at what you responded to the OP with but how you went about it (big words). Asking such a responder to give you what you want then being perplexed by their lack of cooperation is what convinces me.

I think there could be more variations than just that though, like rather than just standard "debuffs", why not a grant power ability that then infuses enemy skills with buffs that apply effects to you and your allies? Sort of different from just standard debuffs or aura powers that just benefit the user. Or another idea I had a long while back: an armor set made mostly out of passive abilities that created different bonuses depending on effects you are under. I don't mind low-hanging fruit either. I think my issue is partly that as I make more characters, I'm noticing the similarities more than the differences and a lot of the suggested changes is pushing for more of that sameness. I think that was covered by the smart prioritizing of the chain skills moving to players before pets. At worst, it wouldn't be support not wanting to play with MMs because their chain skills would get diluted but rather MM players not wanting to team because they'd have trouble buffing all their pets since the buffs would skip over them and jump to players instead. I think the set worked, it just didn't conform to the meta and now the set performs notably similar to a standard AoE buff set.

You do realize you aren't replying to the OP, right?

Firstly, a basic rule of combat aid is to not put yourself in the same situation as your casualty while trying to save them. In the context of this game, you have to assess your own survival just like everyone else with perhaps the exception of the tank who is more or less putting part of their trust in the efficacy of their team...but a tank understands their job is to faceplant before those they are protecting, not the other way around. If you're unable to summon your pets mid combat for some reason, you then assess if you currently need all your pets and to what capacity. Maybe just summoning them is enough for the current situation and you can upgrade them when things die down, or maybe you aren't in danger at all so you can just focus on the powers that are of the most aid to the situation. But ultimately, if you and your pets are having trouble surviving and the team's survival hinges on your support, then it's the tanks job to make sure you *don't* die. If that isn't happening then *you* escape and come back to pick up the pieces (preferably with your pets in tow). If a PUG is marching forward without you and those that fell, then the likely situation you are in is as follows: YOU ARE BEING CARRIED! If you're in a team that you're being carried by, you need to take into consideration that likely your contributions are minimal and your best bet is to make sure you don't hinder the others' efforts. Falling back to keep yourself upright would be considered "not being a hinderance". The rest of your hypothetical really doesn't make all that much sense to me. If people are struggling, then they aren't pressing the movement forward through the mission so you won't be left behind. If people are pressing the movement forward in the mission, then likely your support is only supplementary and not critical. If your support is critical then *you* control the pace of forward movement. If people are dying and struggling, you certainly *DO* have time to tell the team you need to resummon and to slow down. If they don't slow down but don't die then that is your window to restock your pets thus the hypothetical dichotomous situation really isn't as clutch as you're making it out as.

Something else I thought of while reading some of the posts: I hear a lot of requests to reduce END costs and what not and it made me think of the changes to Tankers during Beta that was repealed, i.e. the +10 MaxEND (or was it +20?). Thinking about patterns and such, who has the highest HP modifier? Tankers. Who has the lowest HP modifier? Wouldn't it make sense for the AT with the lowest HP to have the highest base END? And having the highest END isn't really going to enable them to outpace other ATs since they generally aren't needing to monitor their END consumption to stay upright (they just need to have some pets around). I suggest this because it actually synergizes with both END redux slotting and +recovery.

That effect is called Demoralized. It is a, I want to say 20ft radius -ToHit that cannot be resisted so even on AVs, it's -5% ToHit. Not major but stacked with defense or other debuffs, it can soften an alpha strike a bit. The fear chance I think is 25% and the mag is high enough to affect Lts. Can't recall the durations off the top of my head. I think this is also exclusive from the team +crit chance. Basically, you get +crit chance to NPCs when allies are around and +crit chance to Players when they are affected by certain mez. I could be misremembering though, but there's a lot of things to remember.

Small Thrown = Projectile Blades Large Thrown = Trajectile Weapons Kind of synonyms but Projectile is focused on the "missile" as described as being a blade while Trajectile is in context of the trajectory of an object flying through the air which, if mechanically supported, changes after striking a target.

Yeah, or try walking up to a KoA boss using hide. You'll quickly have your throat lodged with caltrops.

Seems like "havoc" just has multiple meanings here.

Instead of having 3 AoEs (2 being Targeted AoEs at that) I would ditch one of them and likely 1 of the ST powers (probably Throwing Daggers) to add a combination of new mechanics to it. I realize the conceived set is meant to require the least amount of work to implement, but that doesn't always present an interesting product. In those 2 spot's place (and also replacing Aim, so 3 extra powers), I'd introduce "Preparation" clicks and the "Throwing Stance" toggle. Preparations would merely be 2 self-buff powers, one from Martial Assault called Envenomed Blades (so a standard +Toxic Damage to your attacks) and Tranquilizers which increases your damage and triggers debilitating debuffs to your attacks depending on the attack (like Trick Shot could have -movement, Masterful Throw a high mag sleep and -rech, etc) and Throwing Stance would be a toggle that further altered the secondary effects. With it off, your attacks would have knockback and do standard damage but with it on, it lowers your damage, removes the knockback and grants you a def bonus to ranged.

What do you think of really unique powerset mechanics? Just curious since I've been reading through some of the old powerset suggestions and a lot of them tend to stick to strict formulas. Like melee sets tend to run the gamut of 3-5 ST attacks of varying power levels and/or secondary effects and 2-4 AoEs of varying varieties. Some have ranged attacks too but the sets that stand out are Spines, Radiation and Staff Fighting which have self-anchor toggles that either change your powers or affect foes and Electric Melee which has a target placed AoE. But what if a melee set had a foe-anchored toggle? Or a blast set having multiple interruptible snipes? Looking at buff sets, that is a really wild frontier with some sets having only buffs, some having only debuffs, some having foe anchored toggles, some having placed AoE debuffs, some having placed AoE buffs, and practically every mechanic available under the sun. I guess it's still missing a Dual Pistols/Staff Fighting/Bio Armor-esque multi-mode set up to change what your buff powers are doing (imagine that in a buff set where you can choose to improve team efficiency or assist primarily to stay alive or a selfish-mode that's more aimed to keep you maybe a select single other teammate safe at the expense of stronger team-wide effects). Or a control set that uses combos (I don't recall any control sets that utilize combo sequences or combo points)? I was thinking of a concept for a blast set that had 1 extra interruptible attack and a "toggle" nuke that moreso triggered extra damage when struck by one of your other powers. It's just you don't ever hear those kinds of suggestions ever which makes me assume people are just more interested in the well-worn and paved paths than things that are exploratory. I liked the chaining effects of Shock Therapy, for example, but I think they pandered a bit too hard when they vastly increase the chain amount to make it "feel" like just any old AoE buff set. Having to prioritize targets and sometimes use the same power multiple times to get every target you intended to should have been the direction to make the set feel truly unique.

Seems the activation times are the same so I can see either animation being proliferated to the other set.

So you're saying Stalkers, a non-epic AT, should get a free slot then. As for options for selecting tier 2 powers for the secondary, there is a whole other issue that messes up the game buried in the code. That seems like a whole other can of worms than asking to make Hide inherent. And as for the missing +recovery in sets like Regen or Willpower, I feel that could be resolved by just adding that effect to an already existing power in the set Fast Healing and High Pain Tolerance. But as is, there are already nearly no skippable powers in the early tiers of armor sets so I don't see how inherent Hide helps that except giving more freebies to an AT that is arguably one of the better melees in the bunch.

Some question: 1. What armor set powers have a tier 1 you want to entirely skip? And why? 2. What AT inherent power has an enhancement slot or is slottable with more? 3. What do you have slotted in Hide and would you be okay losing that? But that first question is really the kicker. I cannot think of *any* armor powerset that wishes to skip the tier 1 and would rather the choice of picking the tier 2 at the start that this suggestion would fix. The 2nd question really is more pointing out how good Hide is. To just add it as a consolation to the AT and with a free slot in it with no END cost and enhanceable defense with a sizable buff to AoE def when not suppressed is *very* good. And the last question, proposing losing that option to slot this power in exchange would upset more builds than it helps. There are so many defense unique IOs that fit nicely in that slot or just putting a defense enhancement for non-def sets to not get knocked out of hide.

I like this line of thinking, myself. I'm pretty noob at MMs as I only recently started playing them to any capacity so my knowledge of the AT is overall lacking but I do have ideas and said ideas are kind of free of the direction of meta-game variants of MMs which can be bad since I don't know personally how the AT functions in late game builds (I've got 1 MM in the 30s and 1 in the 40s). It could be a good thing when coming up with ideas outside the box though. I made this post after getting my 1st MM into the 30s: It's a suggestion for a Mastermind primary that uses Animus Arcanum as pets but I went a little off the beaten path by exchanging the 2 upgrade powers for something unique. Instead of upgrade powers you cast on your pets, you get a passive that randomly pushes out a *short term* upgrade to some of your pets. Of course, the pets are meant to be balanced so they function without the upgrade (just adding attacks/summons to them for a time) but also, those pets buff your attacks. It's a far reach from your standard idea of a Mastermind primary with it's fluctuating style. You occasionally boost your pets with extra attacks, your pets upgrade your personal attacks from the set, you using your upgraded attacks increases the chance you boost your pets. Or at least that was the intent behind the idea. It would be a unique flow of combat compared to other primaries. That all said, I think it would have been cool if all of the primaries had unique flows of combat, relying on the different pieces of the primary (pets, pet upgrades, personal attacks and utility effect power) to more varied degrees than they are now. Probably too late for that now but would have been cool.

I'm sorry? Just because the tier 9 is a melee ranged debuff doesn't mean you're safe to use it without some sort of consideration of how you're using it. It's the same thing with Force Bubble, you don't just go waltzing around with it on, you're just going to spread foes out and get ranged down. You don't go waltzing up to a spawn and Fulcrum Shift them either unless you want those buffs to quickly disappear once you soak up the alpha. Or try walking up to a group and casting Lightning Storm and see what happens. Basically, you have to actually *think* when you're playing these types of characters. Use tactics. Combine your powers. And if that's a problem for you, there are IOs so you can get around this limitation. I didn't ignore this fact when I decided to make a Poison/Dark Blast Defender. The very reason that its debuff is melee range is why I maximized Blackstar to recharge as often as possible. FYI, Blackstar is the Dark Blast nuke that is PBAoE, 25ft radius with 20sec of -60% ToHit. Since Defender isn't big on damage, I decided to slot it for rech moreso than to defeat foes but Venomous Gas does help by debuffing ToHit, Res, Def and damage to make it slightly safer to cast but it still requires tactics and teamwork to use. That's why I picked up other powers like Phase Shift, stealth, and Oppressive Gloom to stack with my other effects. I also have Life Drain to help a bit with HP. If you're so concerned with alpha strikes, then pull. As a ranged character, you're not designed to run into a group and absorb alpha strikes. If you want to do that, play a /poison Controller. Then you have nothing to complain about there. That's really all I can help you with there. Blasters, Defenders and Corruptors are *NOT* meant to absorb alpha strikes. The End. If that's what you want, you can create a build that maximizes your survivability. I'll reiterate that: Ranged ATs are not meant to absorb alpha strikes. There are plenty of support sets that protect the user far less than the team. There's Force Field, Sonic Resonance, Empathy, Pain Domination, Cold Domination, etc etc. Like I said before, Poison is relatively safer to solo and on teams primarily because you benefit nearly as much from your powers as your team. You get the benefit of reducing the target's ToHit, dmg, def, resistance as well as controlling them. You only have to really focus on debuffing the harder targets because Poison Trap can mitigate the weaker ones. You can also stack Poison Trap if you slot it for recharge. Rad's and Nature's holds require you stick around while Poison Trap can technically have multiples set up and foes drawn into them if you really want to absorb alpha strikes. I think what you're highlighting here is the differences between the sets. You just haven't embraced any of those differences but instead hold that against the set without highlighting the advantages the set has. For example, what happens when you get mezzed while playing Radiation Emission? Bye bye to your debuffs. If you get mezzed on Poison? If you cast them, your debuffs are still there...and the mez doesn't last as long either.

Not entirely on topic but an observation I noticed when I was running my DA/EM Tanker through Croatoa: Fir Bolg do not move while stunned. They all just politely stand in my Oppressive Gloom and never wonder away or even stagger around.

If you're fighting mobs of higher difficulty, then your team must be prepared to face higher difficulty mobs. If you are getting destroyed because your build isn't situated to handle higher difficulty mobs then *lower the difficulty*. The devs didn't put in a difficulty slider for show. As for faceplanting on a given set-up or not, that's anecdotal. I'm sure there are plenty who have played on certain builds or ATs that seemingly shouldn't be capable but managed regardless, that doesn't mean said AT/set-up is fine just like you faceplanting doesn't mean said setup is broken. I personally have a Poison/Dark defender who also has the capacity to faceplant if not careful, but she can also reduce mobs to uselessness with a combo of stacked effects and control thanks to both powersets. Dealing with alpha strikes isn't something a build is suppose to inherently be able to deal with. That is purely on the player. Want to help deal with an alpha strike on your Poison character? Pick up some stealth and drop a poison trap in the center of a group. Boom. All the minions are pretty much controlled and the effect will persist for some time. If you want complete safety, there's also Phase Shift or IOs. EDIT: Also, if I'm not mistaken, Poison also has a debuff that decreases the amount that foes can resist their debuffs. Weaken pretty much nerfs high difficulty foes from resisting your effects like controls, debuffs and their own buffs. So there's also that...

There have been various suggestions about improving Poison. I think a lot would aim to give the set's "splash" mechanic to some more of its powers but overall keep the same radius, namely because if it just had 10-15ft radius AoE debuffs that remained as strong as they are, it would be a very easy set to maneuver around, especially with how fast the debuffs recharge. Giving Alkaloid, Antidote and Elixir a small AoE splash that had reduced effect would really aid in it's team support. Here's the thread for reference: As for your suggestions... Poison is actually a very safe support set to solo. Even on teams, you're mostly chilling dropping traps and spitting poison under the radar. It can easily stack -30%ToHit and -50% damage, coupled with the slow, mobs just don't have the opportunity to put pressure on you unless they have mez. I don't really mind this as I don't feel like babysitting people with heals anyway if I'm playing a debuffer. Sure, Dark Miasma has a nice heal but it's finnicky and requires you stand next to the one you're healing. I like DM but I also like Poison and one aspect of that is it doesn't have a "real" heal. If I had a real heal on my Poison character, people would expect me to use it lol. Just use your debuffs to turn the foes into runny nosed toddlers instead. This is true, but I feel the short radius is the cost for the potency. Speaking in terms of debuff radius, stuff like Melt Armor and the various toggle debuffs have radii around 15ft but they come with their own penalties (Melt Armor is on a long recharge, the toggles can be dropped and can only be applied once at a time). A power like Envenom is extremely potent and versatile and its shortcoming (small radius) can be overcome by slotting a rech in it so you can apply it to more targets. Could be right. I do like Neurotoxic Breath myself, which is why I'd like to see a bit added to this power as is. My personal suggestion for the set along with the splash effect on the buffs, would be like an "incubation" mechanic that basically resets the duration of the effect of Envenom and Weaken if they are already affected by it. Put a chance to reset their durations in Neurotoxic Breath and Poison Trap and give a 100% chance to reset the duration of Envenom/Weaken in Paralytic Poison.

Why not? I'd assume we all have some ideas of our own or opinions on what some ideas might be for such powers. Was thinking of posting a few more ideas but I'll just hold off to give others a chance. I think the only exception I'd give is to Stalkers. I think BU works perfectly for them. You could give some alternate effects for their AS from Hide instead.

@malonkey1 beat you by 4 months.

You're talking about sounds, not animations. The animations for Shock Therapy aren't all "seizure" animations. In fact, it's only Energizing Circuit that actually causes that animation and you're likely only using it in combat since it's such a short-lived buff. The other powers use a more generic "pop an inspiration" animation. If anything, a better argument for changing the animation is that all the other powers in Shock Therapy are "inoffensive" except that *ONE* power so why not change it?

I wouldn't be against altering some melee self-buffs to be more thematic but I'd also caveat that to aim the direct of said change to keep the buff "in set". Powers like Combat Readiness works in this regard, giving you Combo lvl 3 upon clicking it which is an in-set bonus. If Energy Melee gets the changes that Energy Assault got, it's BU could be changed to give it a lower +dmg buff but a constant "Charged" effect for its duration. What that charged effect does will mostly depend on what the powers within the set are changed to do. The OP's Iaijutsu change to Katana's BU I'd likely limit to only Katana Powers rather than a generic +dmg buff or +crit chance buff. This is thematic since you can't perform Iaijutsu with a Mace (mace mastery) or a fire blast or some such. Making it so, for example, Golden Dragonfly has a wider arc but no +dmg or adding +lethal damage to your next Katana attack would be a good consolation if the damage bonus was tone back some and the majority of the buff was centered only around your main attacks.