Naraka

I never overlook details. I just have to retroactively realign the character concept to make it a concept build.

Well, "elements concepts" tend to come with not only a damage typing/typing combo but secondary effect and it's that combination that describes the element. I think Radiation is fine because it's unique in dealing purely Energy damage combined with -def. I know most players don't care about -def but that doesn't make the effect null...it's just the current meta de-emphasizes hit chance to such a degree that 95% is the default...shifting metas, IMO, should be something the devs should shoot for....but yeah, Rad blasts have the power of debuffing def into the -100%...on a Blaster! Same with Elec blast. It's combination of energy, -END/-recovery AND the "shock" damage at low END is now the set's elemental concept. I don't think it needs fire damage although that could be the design for a different set. Although I do have an idea that could just copy the Energy Blast set but change some things (like the knockback), I don't feel like outlining a whole set but I think a cool mechanic for the set could borrow from Beam Rifle's Disintegrate mechanic combined with Rad Melee's Contaminate mechanic, making it a kind of "Heat Ray" set that does less damage (only energy) but will tag target as a 'Heat Conduit' that will start to take fire DoT when you keep blasting it enough but also apply fire AoEs around that target if you keep the heat up. AoEs like Energy Torrent and Explosive Blasts could be capable of marking multiple targets with 'Heat Conduit' for a brief moment (like 3 seconds), allowing all targets to be able to give off fire AoEs for that small window. Nova would be the one I'd suggest the most drastic change to though, making its activation *much* longer and making it a DoT that holds and provides the user +absorb to around half their HP while it casts (kind of to give it the Dual Pistols vibe) since that would be the only defensive tool the set has. It would be a mechanics-based Fire Blast with the look of Energy Blast, basically. The other idea would be a DoT version of Energy Blast with a toxic addition. Its elemental concept would be a niche "corrosive energy" elemental concept that melts physical objects into goo rather than split them apart on a molecular level (like Beam Rifle). It wouldn't have all the Knockback but I'd still have some defensive utility in its range because it would apply -movement and also have a mechanic also borrowed from Beam Rifle's Disintegrate mechanic that tags a target with your various blasts to then summon caltrop-like 5ft patches that drastically slow enemies that get caught in them. Every blast has a short "Dissolve" trigger on them that will not only cause them to possibly drop an "acid patch" but also cause your follow up attacks to cause some minor-to-moderate toxic DoT. It will look like Energy Blast but it has -movement as its core defense and requires more constant energy flinging to keep its damage up. It's nuke would be its main source of Burst as I'd give it a big energy damage PBAoE + a large acid patch that does high AoE damage for a short period after the blast.

I haven't played Champions Online but it's interesting to know I had a similar thought process as someone out there. I did consider that being a problem (locking survival to location based drops) which is why I limited it to team support being a part of that aspect. It certainly would be limiting if a chunk of your survival made you move to a certain place. Here, however, the only location based buff that increases survival is Glyph of Inspiration. The main source of Ward Death is going to be the pseudo-damage aura that drops the little trip mine glyphs. I outlined toward the end of the write up that the team buff powers would likely be skipped and I sort of built the mechanic with that in mind. But that was just my idea. I'd like to hear more about how you would balance and use your suggested powers. Like, when I was talking about the stealth aura power, I may have been rather harsh but maybe I just see armor stealth powers outside of Stalker as extremely niche. The aura buff toggles are accessible tho but might be rather flashy if always visible. Not much else I'd say except the overall concept for a Mage Armor with a short duration powerful click defensive tool is a good basis for another set... Just needs flavor, IMO.

Not exactly. They do have different purposes and using them interchangeably will cause more confusion. Again, to functionally decrease damage, the subject is going to be the point of comparison... But it doesn't do what you're talking about (no part of Vigilance decreases damage). While effectively, the subject is either not distinct or the cumulative perspective is what is being described. It gives the perception of an outcome or effect so the point of comparison is going to be the situation of teamed vs solo and not vigilance itself. But even then, you're not really having your damage decreased, just not increased... But it could be perceived that way if you solo more often than you team with your Defenders... Which is why I initially used the word "perceptually" since it's more accurate but not as effective of a term when you're trying to debate... Which is why I'd suggest you use effectively because it is harder to dispose your arguing point as false.

The word you're looking for is "effectively", not functionally.

It was interesting when they were trying changes for Tanker, one of which was increasing their base Endurance by, I think, 15 points. I think that would be a nice and unique QoL change for Defender that not only effectively reduces endurance costs to a degree but also increases the effects of +recovery.

Unfortunately, you're incorrect. For it to be a functional damage drop, it would apply -dmg when teamed. Just because Build Up has a 10sec duration of +dmg does not make it a functional damage drop outside of those 10sec.

Well, conceptually, shield defense give a buffing aura to simulate using the physical shield to defend others. It is, indeed, an armor set meant to buff a team. All in all, I understand where you're coming from with the set mechanic, I just think it's going to have limited capacity as outlined by the sets you mentioned. Yeah, much of the buffing those sets provide is leaning toward flavor rather than the mechanical differentiation compared to other sets which makes me believe that an armor set is only going to ever get a similar level of buffing capacity without making the set's main function pay for that capability. Basically, if the buffs you want in the aura are anything decent, I'd foresee having to pay by limiting the effective mitigation the set can accomplish. Part of the reason I suggested the pet summoning "glyph" mechanic is because it requires more interaction to obtain that team buff, possibly giving a bit of breathing room to make the buffs a tiny bit better because they aren't as straight forward or guaranteed. Lastly, I just don't think a team stealth aura is all that useful for a melee character. Unless it also has some feature to lower aggro of those team members, it would be relying on visual flare to make interesting. But those are just my thoughts along with me throwing around ideas to keep discussion going.

Not functionally. Perceptually.

I wouldn't be against it. The main benefactors of a low min chance to hit are those that soft cap most of the time so those hit hardest would likely be them... ...but then Force Field probably wouldn't be the only set reaping the benefits of turning the hard floor to a soft floor.

I think debuffs that don't aggro is a feature to some powers. There could be more (one I can think of are Flash Arrow) but certainly not all of them. That's just too easy lol

That's the thing. I *CAN* think of *ACTUAL* concepts that literally take the visuals of Energy Blast but gives them a purpose to exist besides not wanting to slot KB to KD IOs. I already thought of 2 different ones and you've got nothing.

The reason I think this is boring is because this serves no conceptual use. It's purely mechanical and can be completely duplicated with slotting. The thing is, you *can* create a unique concept with an interesting mechanic but you chose not to, leaving only an empty agenda laying out for everyone to see. I'd almost think this was a joke post rather than a serious suggestion. Is the next suggestion going to be splitting Storm Summoning into 2 sets too? Or just come up with an actual set idea. It wouldn't be the first post to reuse an existing set but with a different design/concept.

Boring.

Make sure to push those mobs into the insta-death spikes and pits. Make Storm Eagle proud.

Storm Summoning is *better* than other support sets, overall. And before you pick cherries, yes, sets like Time are better, but sets like Thermal, Empathy, Sonic, ect don't touch its level of offense and personal safety.

Well, if you're used to steak and caviar, a bbq sandwich isn't going to be as fancy lol

Lol well apparently I already attempted to hijack the thread. If you're planning to do a set write up in another thread and you want some feedback, you can ping me. I spend entirely too much time talking about random ideas. As for your ideas, Force Field does provide debuff resistance but only to defense debuffs and endurance drain. As for resistance to resistance debuffs, that technically exists with resistance buffs...i.e. a +res to smashing damage will resist smashing resistance debuffs. There is no other way to resist resistance debuffs.

To your main question about Force Bubble, I have no idea... There could be other ways to approximate such an effect but the premise I had in mind would be "It doesn't actually protect you but it delays the enemy". Just making -rech or something is rather bland tho. As for the re-name, I thought Hard Light was a cool name lol. Maybe it's just my short time in Photoshop filters or something. There's still room for a 3rd mode but no idea what that might be (or even if it's necessary).

Maybe Stalkers/Scrappers could get the old version while Brutes/Tankers get the new version? But I'm not versed in the set. Haven't played the new version.

Because I'm a radical, I always try to think of crazy ideas. Even if they are used for something else... There is a certain mechanic I'd dub as "3-mode" mechanics. The only sets that utilize it are Dual Pistols, Staff Melee and Bio Armor. So a blast set, a melee set and an armor set. I'm curious what shinanigans a Staff/Bio or Bio/Staff character deals with having 6 toggles and their combinations of modes. Anyway, I think Force field itself is a rather broad concept that might lend well to the mechanic because of its limited range. So what if we were outlining FF to get a similar mechanic? I think it wouldn't be too tough. Just take Repulsion Field, remove it and replace it with this particular mechanic and call the new power Barrier Type. Now Barrier Type could give you several concepts for a force field set as toggles that would then alter the effects of the other powers. It doesn't necessarily have to be 3 but let's just say that's the limit. Base FF without a Barrier Type: Mostly, just current FF. It adds shields for +def, a PBAoE +def/mez protection barrier and it has some KB/repel from Force Bolt and Force Bubble. FF with Light Shield Type: Light Shield FF is a defensive setting for a FF user. It makes more use of personal defense and turns Personal Force Field into a self-defense setting that you can still attack from. It doesn't provide any defense, but still provides a sizable amount of resistance. Further still, Dispersion Bubble no longer provides AoE defense but instead periodic +absorb to allies and yourself. Using either Deflection Shield or Insulation Shield merely provides a moderate amount of +absorb to the target (no AoE buff here). Unique mechanic is, when using the absorb shields, the cooldown on those skills increases greatly. FF with Hard Light Type: Hard Light FF is the offensive setting. For a FF user, it turns PFF into a PBAoE attack that holds enemies and does high damage after sustaining a certain amount of attacks. It also turns Deflection and Insulation Shields into ST effects that do the same as PFF but for allies, absorbing a small amount of damage before exploding and holding foes. This alters the cooldown of the shields tho...Also, if there was a way to create obstructions randomly around you using Force Bubble, so instead of pushing foes away, it just make using ranged difficult...basically summoning a Force Wall that foes would have to walk around to get LoS to attack you.

...goals in the context of the game. ...I swear, people want clarification for everything...

If we're talking about activation times, then I don't think you're correct regarding PvP. For NPCs, that sort of outlines my point. *IF* their versions of powers got affected with faster activations, it might be a change to help players but it has consequences therefore not a simple power creep change. Because it won't, then it's just power creep since the change has no consequence or fulfills any particular necessity.

I think you're conflating your personal goals with everyone else's. Unfortunately, we don't all have/use Ukase's build to determine what we should all care about. If DB's combo gives Weaken, you can ignore it but that doesn't suddenly mean it doesn't exist thus should be masked by some obscure knowledge in the game. No, highlight the damned combo so a newb can see *this* is the power that grants the extra bonus Weaken effects lol

I'd say it depends. Early game crucially uses tactics because it actually matters. Using Tarpatch around a corner saves lives. Casting Darkest Night while the melee's move in makes its use have no consequences or effort in planning. Fearsome Stare is the tool to save yourself when other tactics are not available or not as fruitful. It's not about when you get the power determining its frequency, but rather what you are capable of accomplishing with those powers and applying it to the situation. Also, Petrifying Gaze is just mediocre lol...I dunno, do people proc this? All that aside, I really think one has to start considering the entire pallet a set has. Ultimately, Dark Miasma is an extremely safe (for the user) set. What do you gain by making Darkest Night faster that Fearsome Stare didn't already accomplish? Give you the option to skip Fearsome Stare or something?