Bluhman

Yes this title makes no sense. This is a very minor audio bug that got a good laugh out of me. Repro Steps: From login, create a new character. Choose an archetype that has access to a Control powerset (Dominator, Controller) and pick Arsenal Assault. Pick first level power choices. Go to the "Custom" power-customization tab and preview the final option for Arsenal Control, Tri-Cannon. No requirement for the animation to complete before moving onto the next step. Click on the other powerset category. OR, collapse the Arsenal control category. Expected Behavior: no sound heard. Observed Behavior: Tri-drone sound effects can be heard, firing its guns and hovering after clicking on the power category. The sound of its hover-jets will continue until you click on ANY other UI element on the power-appearance menu (including clicking on any power category).

Core Issue: Speed Pool's Flurry, even back in the old days of Issue 6/7 when I was playing this as a teen, was not seen as a good power - even before the numbers behind the powers became available to us, or the tangible impact of animation time could really be put into words by most players. Guides I read said as much, vastly favoring Haste over Flurry in basically every case. The factors that all weigh into this are both matters of objective balance and subjective experiences with the ability: Objectively speaking: the attack takes 3+ seconds to elapse, is single-target, and the overall DPA is outpaced by brawl. Only a single to-hit check is made at the very start of the attack, so you're either spending that time landing every punch, or uselessly whiffing, immobilized - even if this attack in its current state was immensely buffed in terms of DPS or effect, it'd still be a very risky and inflexible attack, incidentally making it nearly impossible to integrate to other powersets that rely on timing such as Titan Weapons or Street Brawling. Subjectively speaking: It is currently a terrible fit for the Super-Speedster style of play or combat. A moderately-damaging attack with a fast recharge and ridiculously long animation is probably the last thing a person with the Speed Pool would need when Haste is its pairing. Using it doesn't feel great at all either, given that it fully roots you in place. Tying back to the riskiness of the ability, it totally ruins the otherwise high amount of mobility or attack-cycling that other powers in the pool gravitate towards. My Suggestion: Much of this is going to focus entirely on making Flurry subjectively feel much better integrated with the idea of being a speedster, without fundamentally changing the use case of the ability as an attack - Note that's a big thing that probably should be preserved simply to avoid potential complications on player builds that took the ability and for whatever reason didn't have time/respecs to convert it to a different ability, the logistics of transferring or recharacterizing enhancements, etc - granted, since the move's had a terrible reputation for decades now that probably's an unfounded concern. Also it's for some consistency since Flight's Aerial Superiority or Jump's Leap Attack still stick around. So, here's what I propose we turn flurry into: Animation: Use something similar in length or pattern to SB's initial strike - just two swift punches, maybe if possible in different cycles or variants if there's more animations to use. This'll make sense later on, stick with me here. Activation: Back-end it should have minimal startup time (like 1 frame???), not root in place, and have the entire animation only take about 1 second tops. Heck if the animations don't entirely line up if you continue walking: there's plenty of other sets where the timing of the animation and the timing of the damage dealt aren't spot on (Momentum-Less Crushing Blow in TW), and gliding across the ground as you're throwing out hooks can be handwaved as like running too fast for the eye to see. Recharge/Mechanics: Here's the big twist - so while the Flurry power now might only consist of a single attack roll for two punches, it now will integrate similar mechanics as Speed of Sound's Jaunt or Teleport, where it can be activated multiple times in quick succession without recharge (probably to a maximum of like 5). This will give it a useful ancillary use for an attack rotation: if your other attacks are taking slightly too long to recharge you can just mash the flurry activation to fill in dead air for some rapid, light-damage attacks - and apply to taste as well. Either hitting the activation limit, running out of time, or using another attack will activate the cooldown proper. Should be noted that referring back to the Activation, the overall length of the ability shouldn't be too short, otherwise you get into key-mashing territory and we don't want people's Flurrying-key/Flurrying-finger to get too worn down. Raw Numbers: The overall DPS of the attack could remain the same for all I care, and some of its other utility features like Stun could be applied to the later attacks in the 'combo'. What I'm really getting across here is just to do with the tactical uses, feel, and application of Flurry - if you got fast hands and fast feet, you should be able to get an attack that's: Flexible Mobile Granular and most importantly, something you can sneak in between other cooldowns, attacks, or even movement.

I absolutely get that, that's the part I'm most leery about as well. The idea is that it would likely measure lots of elements, such as team HP levels, enemy statuses, attacks done - but given how the bar's been explicitly written to phase between low/med/high stages it might be a bit too strident when reacting to things happening and just get forced into the mid-stage too often. Granted the description's a bit vague here by design since I want to leave it up to experts in implementation to balance that out so eh. That doesn't surprise me - I tried that one out a little as Albion (MaA) but it generally did seem that each of the factions had a pretty wide gamut of melee/support styled class paths. The name's candidly a coincidence (actually from Champions Online's "class perk" trees, which have a great set of Superhero Class synonyms tbh: Avenger, Sentinel, Sentry, Vindicator, Warden, Guardian, etc...) I forget if Brute/Tanker Taunt limits mob range like Scrapper appears to in the detailed power window - if it doesn't, then yes I absolutely recommend making it Challenge instead since the chief use here would be to try and condense mobs into tighter areas.

Hi I'm a longtime player that's returning from like Issue 7 era obviously interspersed with a bunch of other games played like Champions, Pathfinder, Overwatch, Lancer, etc, other things you could fit in 1.5 decades. One thing I've noted is that there's a specific niche I believe CoH doesn't really address, and that's the Melee Support role - all support roles currently, with Defender, Controller, Corruptor, and Mastermind, are chiefly made to operate with ranged powersets for their attacks. Here's something that aims to try and get this role satisfied by an Archetype that fills that niche: The Warden Primary: Warding Secondary: Melee Inherent: Vindication The Warden is a versatile close-quarters combatant that leads the fight, capable of bolstering its allies while simultaneously dishing it out. While particularly competent both on their own and in groups, owing to their Warding powers providing buffs for both themselves and nearby allies, they are limited necessarily by distance - for their allies to get benefits, it needs to place itself centrally, and with that deal with all the dangers that poses! Stat Abstract: Survivability 7 Melee Damage 7 Ranged Damage 2 Crowd Control 4 Support 7 Pets 2 About Vindication: Wardens' capabilities are kept in check by their natural recognition of battle-wide morale and opportunity. When pushed to their limits, on the brink of destruction, their Vindication drive drops, improving their defensive and supportive potential - once aid is rendered, openings are created, and spirits are high, Vindication surges, and the strength and accuracy of a warden's attacks sharply rises, ready to deliver the decisive counterattack! Vindication works with an extra status bar, similar to Brute Fury - when outside of battle, this bar will stabilize around 50%, and the current level of Vindication can alter how certain abilities operate, signaled by the color it adapts: 0-33%: Merciful - Warding abilities offer defensive and restorative benefits, and the Warden's Mez resistance improves. 33-66%: Balanced - Ready for combat: the Warden and their nearby allies gain slight passive boosts to their damage output, defenses, accuracy, and movement speed. 66-100%: Vindictive - The opening is shown, as opponents lose their energy, fall victim to control statuses, or lose health - seize the opportunity! Sharp boosts are given to the Warden's damage output and accuracy, and Warding abilities now emphasize boosting offensive capabilities via recovery, accuracy, damage, etc. About Warding Powersets: The specialized Warding powerset choices offer a combined suite of personal defenses and specialized PBAoE support options - with powersets like a Force Field/Energy Aura combination, or an Empathy/Regeneration combo probably offering the most natural conversions. In general, they follow a framework that would look like this for each power granted per level: PBAoE burst (healing aura, tweaked repulsion field with some Vindication mechanics, etc) PBAoE aura toggle (Dispersion Bubble, Regeneration Aura) - a core defensive and support mechanic. etc - Personal defense toggle i.e. defensive sets etc Flexible PBAoE Support Burst - temporary buff PBAoE Panic Button option - Decrease Vindication on command. etc Targeted entry AoE - get to the center of combat as fast as possible (i.e. leap attack) Personal Defense Panic Button option (elude, moment of glory, etc.) As can be seen the Warding Powerset designation's necessary since it's really quite its own beast - a combined Support/Defense powerset. The core things to keep in mind on its design is that they're A - not designed with targeting allies in mind. You're going to see lots of that PBAoE delimiter tossed around in implementation of these sets - the core conceit is for the Warden to be able to provide this defense/support to things nearby itself, rather than having to target specific things. For reference think of the playstyle of a character such as Lucio (Overwatch) or Gunner (Deep Rock Galactic) - the class doesn't need time to choose what target to help, just that they're there, passively helping, and are an active combatant at the same time. B - context sensitive. Because it's very much its own beast (i.e. yes something that hasn't been done before ever in CoH) this gives it some opportunity to tie more closely into how the archetype's core mechanics operate. This is perhaps the main thing that might save the implementation of the powerset - most implementations will probably be stretched really thin because they're trying to shove two powersets into one, so then by necessity, the effects of some of the powers will be highly dependent on what level of Vindication is being used. Example Warding Powerset Drafts: Powerset/Abstract Regrowth - Emphasis on regeneration, recovery, healing, etc. Barriers - High defense, deflection, knockback of opponents Flame - it's element. That's kinda hot. Sensory - "Super Reflexes" as support, combined with lots of sight, accuracy, etc. Fervor - The "Warlord" angle; directly bolstering morale, leading the charge, etc. Faith - The "Paladin" angle; versatile "Willpower" support. Music - The "Bard" angle. Tier 1 (burst) Regenerative Burst (click heal/energy) Forcefield Burst (click knockdown/defense burst) Flame Wave (click damage/backdraft) Acuity (click stealth removal/defense debuff) Command (click fear/damage boost) Rally (click heal/resistance) Chorus (click regenerate/speed) Tier 2 (toggle aura) Regrowth Aura Area Forcefield Warmth Aura Spotter Leadership Stance Congregation Backing Tune Tier 3 (personal defense) Improved Regeneration Personal Forcefield Fiery Skin Heightened Senses Bolstered Armoring Shield of Faith Fancy Footwork Tier 4 Absorb Pain (wide area heavy heal, deal self damage) Hardened Energy (toggle self-slow for added resistance?) Blazing Aura Panopticon (area toggle that grants mez resist/stealth sight) Reprovision (Boosted damage output, redistribution of energy/health of teammates?) Blessing (pre-fight general buff, pbaoe) Encore (revive?) Tier 5 (temp context sensitive buff, reduce Vindication) Adaptive Health (several ticks of healing or energy, improved resistance) Power Drain (drain enemy power, grant allies either the energy, or improved attacks.) Consume (applied to multiple allies) Callout (targeted debuff that severely weakens the target's damage or defense - pointing out incoming attack or weakness) Bolster (restore own energy with nearby allies, or offer accuracy) Miracle (restore health, or reduce enemy resistances) Bridge (boost movement speed or regeneration) Tier 6 Undying (aoe revival) Enclave (self-immobilizing massive resistance boost) Smokeout (Creates massive cloud of smoke, blinding/choking enemies, reduce accuracy) Halflight (Massive defense boost for self and nearby allies.) Recoup (radiate an area of protection, mez resistance.) Untarnished (burst heal and mez removal) Crescendo (mez area) Tier 7 Speedy Recovery Aura Passive Bulwark Heat Aura Lucky Aura Inspiring Aura Sanctuary Aura Groovy Aura Tier 8 (targeted entry AoE) Vitality Rush Barrier Roll Firewalker Adrenaline Rush Lead the Charge Godspeed Power Slide (if the powerset actually uses a guitar, this'd be fun.) Tier 9 (personal panic button) Moment of Glory Overload Phoenix Rising Elude Battle Cry Strength of Will Finale About Melee Damage Powerset tweaks: Wardens, like Brutes and Tankers, get Taunt. Any abilities similar to Build Up will also be integrated into Vindication mechanics, manually Increasing Vindication for the Warden when activated.