Lazarillo

You could have just not allowed it on the Discord altogether. I'm in quite a few servers where that's their stance towards art posts. In light of that, allowing it at all does indeed come off as implicit support.

I have a fair number of characters I don't play as much because they're more team-oriented, and when I jump into the game to just play a 50, I rarely have a plan, and, relatedly, don't have much interest in starting and/or finding a team. But even once I'm on and I see something forming, it's "too late" and I'm already playing whatever else was more solo friendly, even if/when I end up joining what I see. Mostly these are (non-Mastermind) support ATs and other squishies. Most notably, I have an Ice/Martial Dominator who I made as sort of P&P game tribute to CoH during the dark years, and was one of the first characters I made in the game when it went public again. But Dominators can feel like such a slog to play outside of specific setups that she never gets the attention I'd like to give her.

The focus should probably be a matter of making it work at all (or honorably admitting defeat and rolling it back), especially since Dimensional Warder progress is effectively missing from the game right now, before they start looking into how to add more bells and whistles to something doesn't even serve its base functionality.

Hmmm, on that note, feels like maybe there should be a "foot entrance" to KW from IP. There isn't, though, AFAIK, or am I wrong?

In fairness, one of the most notable "Hexing" superheroes out in the comics world is of the Mutant origin (when they don't randomly retcon that from time to time, at least, I guess). That said, perhaps "Entropics" would work. It's a neat set, regardless, though I think a lot of the OP's idea of using "stacks" from powers to produce effects should just, like, be power effects, instead, should such a thing be produced.

It is, as someone pointed out to me, basically the same base duration as the other mid-tier hard controls from other sets. Stuff like Stalagmites, Confounding Chant, Synaptic Overload, or Heart of Darkness, all last about as long as Seeds does now. Honestly, this seems relatively like parity, to me. And its Recharge, even when at the max that the Adaptive Recharge gives it, is still slightly less than many of those comparable powers. It's honestly a pretty fair change, better than a lot of the alternative, and rather than what the far-more-gutted versions of the power looked like, this pretty much puts it in parity, which is what sets should generally kinda strive for.

Any server is this, if you choose to play it this way.

This was originally going to be a complaint specifically about Psi Armor, but I went to confirm that it was the only set that didn't have No FX for Hide and it turns out it's not quite. Bio Armor, Electric Armor, Energy Aura, Fiery Aura, Psionic Armor and Radiation Armor all lack a no/minimal FX option. For none of these sets is there anything actually thematic in the power appearance. All of them use the default squiggly lines that look like a mess, particularly over a character that's already invisible. So it's clearly not the case that these are meaningfully tied to the powersets themselves in any way. Every set should be able to eschew the squiggles. Give the same minimal/no FX option that every other Stalker gets, that turns the character transparent while hidden without using the same VFX that's default to the other sets, but which the other sets can opt out of.

Yeah, that's kinda what it seemed but it was also looking, or maybe I'm just hoping, that with other changes this Page, and the existing of Hypnotizing Lights, it might be less of a loss. But thanks, I do appreciate the insight.

I mostly ignored the set in Beta, but looking again, this Pyro/Time combo seems pretty keen. Question as far as skipping powers goes...particularly with the "Deep Sleep" addition, how badly is it of a self-handicap to take Hypnotizing Lights but skip Brilliant Barrage? I suspect this is would be considered kind of a bad idea but the latter power just seems kinda janky to use, and I worry that it'd be too easy to "waste" by applying both statuses to multiple targets, or something.

Sounds like you should just skip the middle man and wreck both groups yourself. HC's track record with original arcs, honestly, has pretty much turned me off to making further attempts. The very first two (I think it was the first, the level 25 Rogue and Vigilante arcs) were good and all the rest have been overcomplicated, letdowns, or overcomplicated letdowns. And the kinda feeble reassurance on this one doesn't really make it sound better.

I mean, look at Magneto and the Joker and we've seen what villains do to nazis, but devs seemed to think being the 5th Column's obedient toady was acceptable for redsiders of any and all stripes, so having people in the blueside spectrum thinking that working with them is okay is just the next step in the "no, guys, you should really think these guys are cool" approach that the writers seem to want to be taking lately.

I rolled my new /Regen Stalker with Energy/, just 'cause it felt like the best combination conceptually, and there's no animation jank with AS (if not for that latter problem, I could see Spines working rather well conceptually, too).

Does it? Or should that not be counted as an inherent leg up that all Tankers get that not all Scrappers have access to?

That honestly sounds about right based on them to me, just with the caveat that having played winged characters and thus noted how low the theshold is for what the game engine considers to be repeatedly hopping up and down really is. In practice, the changes to Grounded's KB protection are not going to be meaningful from Live. This isn't inherently a bad thing. IMO, Electric Armor was already in a pretty decent spot and now it's getting buffed? I ain't complaining. But I'm also not gonna change my habit of sticking a -KB IO on my Elec Armor characters as the only really meaningful way to handle "drive by" KB when they're in transit. (One generally being enough, cause the big stuff mostly only comes when I'm toe to toe with something and not moving anyway. But if you're really curious, I guess, maybe actually try testing the effect on a winged character, specifically, so you can bear in mind that when wings are moving Grounded protection is probably not kicking on.

The skippable power got changed to another power that's still gettin' skipped. But really no "Minimal FX" options, even for Hide, still?

While we're on the subject of this, anything that can maybe be done for that one building that's been burning ever since I did the intro to Mercy Isle arc back in 2019?

I get that's the argument. The counterpoint is "not everything has to be an offensive boost for overall parity to exist". Ninjutsu is much the same. It's pretty disingenuous to call it a lesser version of /SR for Stalkers just because it doesn't have the extra damage Scrappers and Sentinels get, when Ninjutsu also gets a frackton of active mitigation tools that can combine with things like set bonuses and the like to do what /SR can and more, in a lot of cases, as a defensive set. Stalker Hide gets things that Scrapper Mask Presence does not. The idea that inherently must also give an additional offensive buff, specifically, in that or some other power is missing the point that the sets remain equitable for their respective ATs.

In that case, if you're looking for something that the Stalker power does that the Scrapper power doesn't, it's the "you (mostly) can't get hit while stealthed" that the Stalker gets and the Scrapper doesn't.

In the AT's inherent. A guaranteed crit (or an Assassin Strike) is still hella more damage than what Scrappers get. And if you want additional effects in general, Stalkers' version, like other sets versions of Hide, gets the "AoEs whiff past you on anything other than a Nat.20" Defense buff.

In light of changes to Memento Mori, I'm gonna repeat a bit on what I posted last night: I'm not trying to knock that it can be used even when not defeated, but...why use it when not defeated? The heal is piddly and the control barely lasts. And then you need a 5-minute Recharge to use it again? I almost feel like maybe it shouldn't be usable when standing, because it feels kinda like a trap that you could waste by hitting the wrong button. That, or it needs hella more healing. I'm also gonna once again note that Devour Psyche is pretty underwhelming, and on Scraps/Stalks should probably trade an unnecessarily large AoE for some moderate (similar to a other melee cones) damage.

The "scale" in Seeds means the Duration, yes? So in exchange for a (potentially) longer Recharge, and a much shorter duration, it keeps the range and target cap it has on live? Am I getting that correct? (Seems like a worthy compromise to me, if so.)

Likely. "Attempt to nerf farming indirectly in a way that doesn't really do anything about farming but nerfs normal/'intended-use' gameplay more" is kinda the HC mantra. We'll see anything and everything except just turning MARTy back on, for whatever reason.

Did some playing around on a Stalker. Didn't turn things all the way up, just my normal of +2/x4 against a quickly setted-out character. Paired the set with Ice Melee, skipped Devour Psyche (more on that in a sec) and Aura of Insanity and hit a few paper missions. Notes: Survivability at this level of play is...fine. Even against Malta and their Lethal smacks, I didn't have any problems staying on my feet. That said, if the joke is gonna be that there's supposed to be a hole to Lethal, then commit to the bit and bump up the elemental resist just a point or two, so that they aren't also a "hole"...and the Psi resist! This is Psi armor, I should be able to easily cap that on an AT that has a max of 75%! As noted, I skipped Devour Psyche. This was a terrible mistake, because I've never felt so challenged when it came to maintaining my blue bar. There's some hunger, here! That said, I feel like (admittedly having not used it), DP needs something to add to the appeal, still, because there's already a Psychokinetic Barrier needing a the proactive clicking. Not to mention I feel like I should want to take the power for a benefit rather than just to feel like I'm built wrong without it. Maybe shorten/narrow the cone for it for the melee types (it's weird given how it's Sentinel sized...) and give some decent damage, on par with primary melee cones; the debuffs don't really seem meaningful in normal combat. Speaking of needing something, Memento Mori is cool (odd name choice, sounds neat, sure, but not very reflective of what the power seems to be doing? Maybe something more like "Death Resonance" would be more appropriate?), and I'm not trying to knock that it can be used even when not defeated, but...why use it when not defeated? The heal is so piddly, the control barely lasts, and the damage is something I feel like I shouldn't even be mentioning because why does it even do damage if it's gonna be that nonexistent? I don't know if this is possible, but my thought would be to significantly reduce the effects of the Adaptive Recharge, significantly, if used when standing. EDIT: Doing a little more playing with this, I just realized after numerous missions that I was fighting with Athletic Run active, which might explain the Endurance hunger. I still wouldn't mind Devour Psyche being more appealing, though.

I'd just note that even if your character is not from Earth originally, they're currently at least running a dual-citizenship in some form or another at a minimum. So it prolly still counts.