Redletter

I see your X2 and raise you [Burst of Speed]

Have you met our lord and savior, Combat Teleport?

A sand blade. Checkmate.

Cyclops comes to mind as a character you'd think we should be able to make, but can't. Like, we have TONS of beam based powersets, there's even a few powers that shoot lasers from your eyes! But... there's no "eye cast" alt animations for the beams we get? I know i'd ADORE ditching the laser gun from beam rifles, and replace it with eye casts. We have enough animations that sort of originate from the head/face where you'd think this would definitely be something we could do? And it's weird because like, a lot of the powers that COME as eye beams have alt animations to make them NOT eye beams! You could totally make him aesthetically though. But power wise? No "eye blast" powersets to be found.

/Weapon Mastery stalker (or scrapper if youre feeling spicy) offers you ranged weapons that mimic batarangs decently, though, they lack the ABSOLUTE utility of batarangs - you can cheat those utilities back in with procs that do some CC or debuffs. That's like, literally what I flavor them as on my "wealthy billonaire who dresses like a psycho and beats on people they dont like" character, who is definitely NOT Batman™️ or Ironman™️ or Manticore™️ Shuiken Devastation: Chance for Hold Winter's Bite: Chance for -Speed, -Rech Tempest: Chance for Endurance Drain Decimation: Chance for Build-Up Entropic Chaos: Chance for self heal Explosive Shuriken Frozen Blast: Change for Immobolize Annilation: Chance for -res Ragnarock: Chance for knockdown Now, that's not as cool as your average batarang? But it's there. I don't have Web Grenade on me, but assumedly it can take Immobilize sets? So means it can take a chance for disorient AND a chance for hold, so thats another way to simulate batarangs in terms of like, flash bombs or anything that could restrain a thug entirely. I do personally think it should be WIDE area web grenade, because single target web grenades are much, MUCH lamer and especially lame for an ancilaary power set you need to wait for OVER half the leveling life of a character to get... but I digress. They arent even bad powers, like, theyre not godly but peppering them in rarely hurts your strings, since their animations arent even all that slow.

The biggest, baddest minion I can see

I was refering to the same magnitude (Overpower not withstanding), since the length of a control is sometimes irrelevant, depending on the control. Like, I dont really care if an immobolize is 6secs long, or 60000secs long (as long as im not the one being mez'd) since all that does is mean whatever is immobolized will have to use their obligatory ranged attack options.

I'd argue perma isnt mandatory for Doms to be effective. They get the same controls Controllers get, they just get a much more dangerous secondary that relies on them landing their controls to really capitalize on (in general). It's hard to have the assault sets on such a squishy body, and Domination doesnt make THAT aspect of Dominators any better.

Most of the ones I night have mentioned were already mentioned. So... Illusion Control Ive said before that Illusion seems kinda... weird. You get TWO stealth powers... TWO of them. Why would you EVER need two? Either give the team stealth, or the personal stealth. I know for a fact there's a lot of things the set is missing as a *CONTROL* set that I'd like? Ya know, like a hold that doesnt take fucking forever to come back? Like, Blind is ok when it WORKS, but sometimes it DOESNT. I *dont* like this. You could solve BOTH problems in ONE swing by trading out one of the stealths for a hold, OR! Maybe something like Dimension Shift? A single target dimension shift you could apply to an ally or an enemy? It'd bring it in line with the Carnies the set mimics and it'd also mean Gravity is no longer the ONLY SET THAT CAN DO THIS. Mind Control So, there's nothing wrong with Mind inherently? But it has to try and contend with Nature and Elec, which both do what Mind does, but just objectively better? I wouldnt say the whole set needs a change, but I'd like... I dont know. Bigger mags on it? Since it's supposed to be *THE* mind control set. Or like... a -def or -to hit on it's moves? Since the ONLY thing mind is doing is CC. Nature and elec are popping off with all sorts of extra goodies, but mind is just like "yeah i uh... I do psi damage tho". Psi melee This thing needs a revisit. Boggle is dumb. Mass levitate comes out of nowhere and feels totally against the set? Then there's insight, which is probably the dumbest gimmick. Tidal Power, Combo Meter, Blood Frenzy, Perfection... hell even with Contaminated and Energy Focus and Dual Blades' attack chain? They all function. You use your moves, you get your gimmick, you use a bigger move and your gimmick buffs it. Rinse/repeat. But Insight? ooooh boy, Insight is just *tooooo* cool for that! Nono, Insight says "I got a random chance to apply, and like, the only reliable way to get me is to use your terrible and out of place Confuse and to ATTACK THE ENEMY YOUVE CONFUSED THUS DEFEATING THE POINT OF HAVING A CONFUSED ENEMY. Then, and only then, will I come to you with any regularity. And once we're together, I will add like, 4 ticks of psi damage to mass levitate or I can make Greater Psi Blade's mostly meaningless Hold last 3 seconds longer. It's your choice, because you only get to use me once until you're COMPLETELY locked out of getting me back for several seconds..." I don't think the devs NEED to do anything about it? It's not pressing. But, I do think it's the worst gimmick in any melee set, and the set could afford to have a touch up... ya know. Just so that way we dont need an entire thread to break down the statical likelihood of your chances of gaining insight in the first place...

Hmmm... I dont know really. Like, Ive mentioned my Merc/Emp character, who is a career mercenary commander of a group of soldiers she has cloned. These are (see: were) people she once knew, real human beings she shared good memories and times with... who she now just throws away, she doesnt even see them as people. When OTHER people comment on it she's just like "yeah, cloning is expensive but it's cheaper than trying to field a private army" combine this with all the steroids and things, for men who are loyal (at least two of whom have feelings for her) and dedicated selflessly to her cause... it's like... I play it all for laughs? But like, she has this opinion about a lot of people. Nameless vanguard soldiers? Longbow peons? They aren't "people" to her, theyre cogs in the ever-churning warmachine that is the conflicts of the world. She even kinda values *actual* warmachines more than soldiers in some instances and like... my real compunctions about all this flagrant disregard for human life is that's it's shockingly accurate to real life and while I could play her for hours, people ENGAGING with her more deeply than the "haha funny merc lady is angy at her goons for dying cuz now shes gotta spend munz on cloning them lol" tends to make me less and less happy to play her (though I do have BIG GATOR who's the total opposite, he loves his goon squad). Recently though, there's some of my goldside characters Ive been giving more love to. I made a bio/spine tanker for a crusader run, after having done a responsibility loyalist (who picked up some power sidequests here and there), and while loyalist has its moments of like "oh that's kinda fucked" Im finding more and more of the resistence contacts *arent* good people, especially those *IN* the resistence proper. Like, for every Jessica Flores you get two or more people like *THIS* fuckin' guy... Like... the LAST time I heard something like this, it was palpatine telling anakin why killing kids is totally fine. Now, I don't know how human the ghouls are? Ive done the event in Neuropolis where you go into the sewers and hunt a whole bunch and the way some of them speak and the info provided by reading the "info" section on them implies most ghouls were made to replace PPD officers and that theyre functionally more like the prime earth's trolls than vailok's zombies. I digress. My point is, this guy is talking about finding the humanity in ghouls and rather than bringing that out to rehabilitate them, or to offer them a chance at happiness despite their condition... he's legit talking about GROOMING people. Like... Cole does this too, amongst much more. But the resistance is also bombing hospitals. You know. Where regular people are recovering? Where doctors are helping bring new children into the world? People who have NO idea what's really going on, people who are far more negatively effected by the resistance's actions than the terrifying authoritarian regime theyre living under. There's another contact, I dont have the screenshots anymore, but he's a politician? And he's found out that some crusaders in the resistance have joined forces with the destroyers. And his task for you isnt "find out what theyre doing and stop them" it's "find out where theyre keeping all the evidence we're involved with the destroyers and destroy it so we dont look bad". What Im getting at is that playing a character who's totally complicit in all this and actively pushing for not only this, but even MORE extremes is VERY hard for me. Like, my character here is unambigously named for their bone powers which I play as extremely painful to them to use. Being conscripted into powers division, the constant pain has driven them somewhat over the edge. Playing her is very hard. One part due to the discomfort I feel when im basically typing her screaming everytime she redraws her bone spines, or everytime she uses thorn burst (I usually dont bother if im going solo) and of course, just undertaking these missions and seeing my character's responses to some of these things and it's like "wow Im kinda actually a psycho."

Can you... not punch out fires? Are you really that weak?

This is all goos to know, as I had NO idea fury benefited AoE damage auras while criticals did not (I mean, even if they did, I think id still prefer fury's benefits overall for THIS particular application). Ive read that thread! It's really mechanical but... My experiments on the beta server show MS-TKB-GPB looks ok! It actually looks like a more natural chain than the psiblade powers, and throwing in a cheeky Laser Beam Eyes set with an Achilles as a starter, and/or just before the GPB, feels real nice (though not for THIS character, since sand men dont have laser eyes). So! Fun thing that'll be hard to tell since these are still images... Mimicking sand with Ice looks like this Mimicking sand with Dark looks like this like I said, theyre both REALLY close, like dark's LIGHTING is what really hurts the effect, messing around with the colors helps to curb it, but there's no way to really change the core way dark armor's vfx work, because SOMETIMES the color is SPOT on right? But then, dark armor will do it's "dark" vfx setting thing and suddenly fade to impermeable black, or the source of the lighting and how it blooms will make things seem a little off? I'll likely do DA anyhow though, since in my testing it SEEMS to be the "better" set overall. both mechanically, and for what Im trying to accomplish. "Sand Melee"'s GPB

I really should just say "everything in goldside we dont have" at this point, but... This Gears of War lookin' punk ass has so many glowybits we dont get. Full body jackets that arent just "trenchcoat" The resistence backpack

Paintable Praetorian Police parts, please

Literally never happens to me, the fucking goblin in my brain sells all my good names to people at a premium, so whenever I go to use them, theyre taken. Who the fuck took "Sluggerella" anyway...

So I was messing around, trying to make a "Sand Manipulation" toon. Something like Sandman from Spiderman, or Mr.0 from One Piece. I was actually surprised how solidly you can do that, and oddly enough, you dont want to touch the Earth/Stone sets at all. For me, the choice that worked best was Psi Melee. The scintillating effect on the psi blades and the "phantom fist" when colored properly both pass for "sand" with remarkable accuracy. So, that immediately set me on the path of a melee character. As for armor sets, I found that, at least visually, Ice Armor and Dark Armor worked stupendously well (SR also works, if the goal is just say "my body is sand so your attack does nothing). So... now I'm left with a dilema I've never had before. Since i've never played there armor sets before, and I dont know what their strengths are. Moreover, I've only played Psi Melee on a stalker, and while I love the stalker, I would rather not have yet another one. So. It's Tanker, right? I love tankers, and being able to sandbag fools is the whole point of being a sand fool. But I also hate leveling a tanker. Like, truly, the experience is abysmal for me. Yet, I have quite a few of them, and once theyre leveled I adore them... but! I havent tried Brutes much, and this could be a fun opportunity for that, especially since I want to actually kick out respectable damage. But... at that rate why wouldnt I just be a Stalker? They have better class IOs, I dont have too many of them and the fact both DA and IA have self heals makes me more optimistic about surviving with them. But... I also dont know how these armor sets preform at ALL. Like, it could be that DA on a Scrapper is just a total waste of DA's potential. Maybe IA on Tanker is so much overkill that you'd never need to be that tanky and slapping it on a scapper gives you the best of both worlds! I really have no idea. So, I guess im just looking for insight here. Thanks in advance.

Please keep me posted! I'd love to know if I was right and his hairy back fills out a shoulder slot...

One day...

Why either of these? Why not SS? I very easy picture cap as a SD/SS Tanker, especially with the alt animations putting your left arm to use (the one your shield will be on). Just skip the ground pound and the clap, and either pretend the rock is you shrowing your shield, or just dont take it. Like... Yeah, I get SS is more for "Hulk" or "Superman" but Cap's fights tend to be "I bopped you with the shield, now youre are beateded". Like, take Jab (as Bright Jab), Punch (as Bright Cross), Haymaker (as Bright), Knockout Blow (as Bright Double-fisted Strike), Rage, Taunt, and now you're smacking fools stupid with your shield ALL the time. You can take Handclap (Bright) and Footstop (bright ground punch) if you can make an excuse for them (handclap can we as simple as your shield having some technohohicky, or magic spell or something). I dont know. Between the two you picked? Street Justice. It's cooler, and Jab has the two hits, one will be with the shield and I think the cross you get will also be with the shield arm. MA is nice, and a few of the alt animations work, but a LOT of it is kicks, and while Cap can kick just fine, the point of the shield is that he ALSO uses THAT to smack people, which is why the shield is cooler than just a regular plank of wood (it's also painted America flavored, so, that adds style points too). Plus! As a SD/SS tanker, the only thing that'll kill you is a sniper a mile off Crowd Control

WAIT THERES POWERS AND BADGES?!

"Is combat teleport dead?" No the code is just spaghetti and sometimes the devs have to replace all the old, crusty, dried out noodles with fresh ones, and sometimes, instead of spaghetti, they have to use linguini, or on rare occasions, fettucine. So, in short, you wanted spaghetti, you got rigatoni, but it'll taste fine with the right sauce regardless. My recipe is /macro it me "powerexec_location Target Combat Teleport" This means, when I press tab to target the nearest enemy, i can teleport right on them whenever I press the number it me is on my tray. Or, if I hit capslock to target a friendly, i do the same to them.

I like how hard psi melee hits, and the fact its a way to get Psi damage without being a ranged fighter is really nice? But insight is such a weird mechanic and I think it could use a little cleaning up. Savage Melee, Street Justice, and Water Blast all have very simple mechanical gimmicks, and the fact insight is basically "you have a random chance to get this thing that'll bump the damage some moves youve got, but you also get locked out of your gimmick from time to time too? Because having a thing that just works is for sets that DONT also basically force you to take this random Confuse with a buttfuck long animation time to reliably get your gimmick..." But it's really very stylish, so in the end, the mechanical stupidity of Boggle, Insight, and random presence of Mass Levitate are, quite plainly and obviously, absolutely dwarfed by the style of the set. As God intended.

Im not sure if it's been said, but Laser Beam Eyes is a -def right? Can it take an Achilles? If it can take an achilles, you should slap an achilles into it. And Torrent i know for a fact can take annilation. Honestly, I think the first few posts covered everyhting? I know my elec/elec tanker doesnt really need oranges, purples, yellows, or blues? So I just stockpile reds and greens? You should be fine without greens, so you could just hoard reds. Also. Nobody seems to have suggested "bring a stalker" yet, so, maybe have a little pocket DPS character you can deploy on command?

I like how the Mort is standing there like "Liiiinda! not again!"

Is it? I was told otherwise. I won't sweat it though.