gabrilend

Thank you for helping me flesh it out. It's much easier to work through problems in a discussion rather than a proposal, I find. Yes this is exactly what I was proposing. Pet's aren't necessarily glitchy! You just gotta handle them better. Which obviously is difficult, but that's part of the charm of being a Mastermind. This would be a class more similar to scrapper than defender, so it's okay that there aren't support abilities. How about this: instead of bodyguard mode, where pets in defensive mode share damage with the nearby Mastermind, instead there is "Assault mode", where each pet deals bonus damage to their target according to how much damage the Mastermind deals with their primary attacks. For example, if you swing your katana, each ninja will get a flat +damage boost only for their next attack which is exactly as much damage that you dealt with your katana. I think that should be enough to boost the "MM's own lackluster damage numbers" while also leaning into the idea that if you want survivability, you better turn on a toggle for it and spend endurance on it. Downside is that the MM's targets would die slower than the pet targets... So, how about making it go both ways - every time a pet attacks, it gives the player a buff which increases their damage for their next attack by a flat amount according to how much has been dealt by their pets in the past 10 seconds? Only when in aggressive stance! I do like the idea of reducing the total number of pets. The Mastermind should be the Master of pets, after all. How about two of the T2 pets at +1 level, and the training powers need to be applied individually again? Demons can use savage melee Undead can use broad sword Mercenaries can use dual blades Robots can use martial arts Thugs can use mace Ninjas can use katana Wolves can use super strength

see title.

Maybe it could be a regular power that turns into a toggle while it's on cooldown? I'm imagining a debuff applied to a single enemy, and a "pulsing" healing wave that triggers every half second or so. I quite like this idea btw. Toggle powers absolutely fit in line with the more regulated, measured, and predictable playstyle that I'm trying to implement. A toggle power which applies a debuff to a foe and gave a healing aura would be pretty nice. However you'd have to make it turn off if the enemy died, which would interrupt the healing unexpectedly. That's the only issue I can think of right now. I'm a big fan of toggles so I'm in favor 🥰 Hehe you're right, I can't imagine anyone who's savvy with video games having a problem with it. It's important to consider all angles of a problem however, and this technically would be a very minor concern. But we both agree, I don't think it's large enough to merit further discussion which is why I only mentioned it in passing. You're right, those are all immediate effects. But they all affect an enemy over time - just like a candle that is snuffed brings forth the dark with rapidity, so too are the effects are striking and immediate. But they take place over a long period of time. After all, very debuff has a duration, and during that duration the enemy is suppressed like a blanket of dark fog enveloped them. The debuffs are applied slowly, over their duration. For example, Tar Patch, an ability which places a swirling font of darkness on the ground that slows nearby enemies over time. Or Darkest Night, which shrouds an enemy in darkness, obscuring the attack capabilities of them and their nearby allies for a period of time. I think the "fastest" ability (whatever that means) would be Howling Twilight, which has no component applied over time. I think.

Yep, you're right, they both fit and can be justified thematically. We agree here. I like the candle better than the firework analogy to be honest. Well, the debuffs should ideally be up before the ally takes damage. But I get what you mean. The long animation wind-up plays a part in this as well. If Twilight Grasp was changed to a HoT instead of a flat direct heal, then it would emphasize the debuff aspect of the power. Right now, the power is primarily used as a heal, and the debuff is often an afterthought. If the heal was applied over time, then not only would the team be fortified with extra health, applied over time, but that health would be directly drawn from the enemy's strength, meaning the debuff is now the most important part of the ability. I do believe that is desired functionality. Well, that's a good suggestion, thanks for bringing it up. "Converting part of Twilight Grasp's direct heal into a HoT applied over the duration of the applied debuff" would be a middle-ground, but I'm not sure if the added complexity would be a good thing for such a low-level power. I'm sure seasoned players would have no problem with it, but to a new player it might be a little more difficult to grasp. New players aside, I think this middle ground would be a decent starting point, though I tend to prefer full measures over half-assing things because people can't agree. Since Dark Miasma is a debuff set primarily, I think it follows that the debuffs should be emphasized, while other supporting aspects like healing should be minimized in impact. The few buffing powers that Dark Miasma has tend to lean toward enveloping your allies in darkness, and that darkness is pervasive and consistent. I think this approach is mirrored in many of the other offensive powers as well - they are all applied over time. Except perhaps Black Hole? That one's a weird one. I don't believe there's anything wrong with a primarily debuff oriented powerset only having one heal, and I don't believe there's anything wrong with that one heal being a HoT.

Yes that is true! The windup is quite long. I personally am alright with it, I prefer animation windups to cast-times in other games. Feels more intentional, because in other games it's often easy to break a cast-time ability by moving. In CoH you literally can't move while casting, which I always thought was kind of nice. When considering the windup and the concerns raised by @Rudra above, I do believe that changing Twilight Grasp to be a HoT would increase the time before a critically wounded ally is brought to a stable state, which would be a nerf. However, I also believe that changing Twilight Grasp to be a HoT would decrease the impact of the windup animation by allowing a player to pre-emptively cast it, rather than being forced to cast an ability with a long animation time while under pressure.

That's an argument against HoTs in general. The inverse to this argument is that HoTs can be better if you expect your allies to take damage in the near future, but they aren't currently damaged. Both direct heals and HoTs have their uses. There are some similar sets which don't have any heals at all, and they work just fine. I think it's okay if Dark Miasma only has a single heal, and I don't see any difference between the value added by a direct heal or a HoT. To me they feel like they'd be used in 80% of the same circumstances, and generally be roughly as useful as one another. While it's true that characters are more likely to die while being healed by a HoT versus a direct heal, I'd offer a counter perspective and say that HoTs tend to be more efficient and deliver more healing throughput because they have a reduced risk of overhealing. The tradeoff between burst and efficiency has long been a balancing act for any MMO that has a healer class, and CoH is no different. I see your point about layering HoTs. Nature of course has a theme of growth and renewal, and HoTs fit in quite well with that. Shadows, by contract, have creeping gloom, and I think HoTs fit in well there, as well. In terms of layering HoTs to provide high amounts of healing in a short amount of time, I do think you're right that a HoT would not be as useful. However... I think that's alright. Twilight Grasp is the most important ability for Dark Miasma, and it's available at level 1. Not only does it debuff the enemy quite nicely, but it also tops up your allies / minions. I think by switching the ability to a HoT, you might be able to reduce the set's reliance on the ability by decreasing it's "punchiness" and sudden, burst impact power in favor of a more overpowering and oppressive approach. To me, the current approach is like the way the shadows advance after an explosion like a firework. If you look anywhere BUT the sky, you'll see the darkness creep forth with remarkable speed. In contrast, the proposed approach is more like the shadows of the trees growing longer and longer, forming great creeping fingers that siphon your strength and give it to the wolves and thieves who creep about searching for blood. Both evoke darkness, but in different ways. Do you have a defense other than "you just don't like it because you're you"? teehee it's my post, I'm on offense this time, you're the one defending the status quo after all 😉 and yes my argument has been presented, I can provide clarifications, answer questions, or address concerns as needed. Please reply if you have any.

Easy isn't always better! And I gave a reason why "slowly" fits thematically in the italics. Plus if the HoT was the same duration as the draining effect, it would make even more thematic sense because you're draining the life-force from an enemy and being drained actively hampers their combat abilities. Why? Why leave it alone? What's wrong with the idea? Do you enjoy the direct heal more than a HoT, and if so, can you please explain why? Is it more useful in battle or do you like it for thematic reasons? Are you concerned that the HoT would need to be increased in healing power in order to match the burst of direct healing that it currently has? Or are you worried that more HoTs will decrease the spikiness of the health bar "whack-a-mole" game that is healing in MMOs? Or are you just being contrarian like always

Twilight Grasp is an ability in the darkness support set. Currently the ability applies a debuff to a foe and heals allies around your character. The description for the ability is this: "You channel Negative Energy from the Netherworld through yourself to a targeted foe. Twilight Grasp drains the power from that target and slowly transfers it to you and all nearby allies. The targeted foe's chance to hit, damage and regeneration rate are reduced, while you and your nearby allies are healed." Darkness and shadows are all about subtlety. Not just because they hide your nocturnal activities from wary eyes, but also because they creep every so slowly over the landscape as darkness falls, their ever-advancing approach heralding the sunset before the last glimmers of our star wink out of sight beyond the mountain, the ocean, or the ground you stand upon. Because the description says "slowly" I do believe that changing Twilight Grasp to a +regen buff or perhaps a HoT (Heal over Time) could fit with the theme a bit better. And frankly there are quite a bit more direct heals than there are HoTs in CoH, so more diversity could be nice. The difference between those two options as I understand it is that +regen is based on the target's maximum HP, while a HoT is a flat number of health restored. In order to reduce the impact of this change, my opinion is that a HoT may be preferred.

Say you have 3 respites, currently if you combine them you can only turn them into one of a different type, and the same tier. However, I think it'd be neat if there was an option to combine them into the same type, but of a slightly higher tier. That way you can save space while still maintaining the types of your capabilities. separate, sorta related idea, but there could be an option menu option to automatically do so if you run out of space and have 3 of a kind.

Yes! I think this is a great idea. I'll make a separate post where we can discuss it.

If your inspiration tray is full, obvi

If your inspiration inventory is full, instead of wasting inspirations it should upgrade one that already exists. If one doesn't exist, then it's wasted boohoo oh well. But if it does exist, it should increase in a tier.

My favorite costume recently

You can see it by default. You have to turn off seeing it to not see it. I should probably have said "it gives the player more usable information".

Yes exactly! It's too difficult to do right now, so nobody does it. By increasing the ability to monitor the buff, the chance that a player might choose to monitor it increases. And I believe that's a good thing, because it gives the player more information. I'm mostly thinking a quick "okay I'm safe now - am I in range for supremacy? no, better move up a couple yards" type of check. Something that you're not paying a ton of attention to, but that you can more easily check if the information is available to you in a digestible way. Thank you for responding ❤️