Maelwys

To be fair, it didn't "arise" as much as... "Bounce Back" 🏀 💥 🥁

I don't often Necro (even on a MM!) but a recent thread about people enjoying/not enjoying knockback got me thinking about the viability of the "Big Red Ball" idea; or at least the potential effort involved in implementing it on Homecoming. AFAIK no new code would need to be created; aside from creating a new character model for the ball itself they could just reuse existing tech. Within First Ward, there is a mob called the Seed of Hamidon. Whenever you approach it, you get granted a Temporary Power (Buoyant Membrane - effectively "Group Fly"). In fact there are a few other instances where merely being in the vicinity of something grants you a temporary power (like the First Ward/Night Ward "Shunts"). And Temporary powers don't have to be "clicky" abilities; or even toggles. They can be completely passive "autos" that in turn grant other powers and set bonuses. So... (i) Make a new Big Red spherical critter. (ii) Give that critter Mag 100 immobilize; immunity to all damage and -10000% resistance to Knockback and Repel; plus a passive large-radius PBAoE ability that only affects players (and their pets if you like). This passive ability grants any target affected by it a Temporary passive auto power; which in turn adds a 100% chance for Knockback (or repel) to all their attacks - exactly the same way as Interface Incarnate ability status effects and the the Stupefy: Chance for Knockback IO currently functions. However this Knockback effect will only kick in if the target of an attack is the Big Red Ball (using the same mob-specific targeting code as other powers like Thug Enforcer Maneuvers ).

OK. Can we have a Big Red Ball yet? ⚽ 🦶 ❔ ❔ ❔ (https://forumarchive.cityofheroes.dev/topic/114967 for anyone that doesn't get the reference...)

I've always liked the Vanguard Katana as a Lightsaber; despite the fact they've since added "proper laser swords". Unfortunately I think the only way you can get access to it on a non-melee AT is via the Ninja Training Blaster secondary or the Weapon Mastery Sentinel Epic pool.

...and just like in the movie, it's imaginary food! 😹 AFAIK there are definitely some build combos and some situations where Stalkers will be sitting on a higher average ST damage than Scrappers. Team size boosting crit rate and specific powersets (like Energy Melee and Staff Melee) really benefitting from Assassin's Strike; for example. An "average" Stalker versus an "average" Scrapper however is tougher to call. So I'm going with "it depends (tm)" Can we get back to Brutes now? Poor guy's currently face down in a trifle.

I did wonder if an effect that reverses radial knockback might be viable... so that instead of being hurled away from the central point of an AoE mobs would instead get pulled towards it. The revamped Battleaxe PBAoE has something similar (Axe Cyclone - essentially "knockback plus inverted repel") even if it was recently nerfed. There's probably a Spaceballs meme in there somewhere...

Pretty much. The main difference is that there'll be a (small!) chance for procs to kick in twice in a row without running up against the typical pseudopet 10s lockout window. Binomial Distribution suggests a 30.92% likelihood of a 3.5PPM proc kicking in "at least once" over 11.264 seconds... but a 2.85% chance of it kicking in twice. And in the (admittedly unlikely!) event that happens; an Achilles Heel Proc will refresh its own duration and a damage proc will just deal damage again. It's one of those very minor differences that most people will never notice or care about but my OCD demands that I highlight with a "well, technically..." 😛

/Rad Dominator? It's not traditionally seen as a high-end set, but an Arsenal/Rad can be hilarious. Big melee blapps that proc well; regular self-heal, nigh-unkillable tankpet. There are a few threads extolling the virtues of Domi /Rad out there - found this with a cursory look. A Radiation Blast/Atomic Manipulation Blaster (essentially "Rad/Rad rebranded") is another option... Force Mastery for Force Bomb + FF Proc shenanigans? 😂

FWIW, I distinctly recall multiple occasions where our SG/Coalition teams refused to let certain characters join because they were simply too annoying for the rest of the (admittedly mostly melee) squad to deal with. And that was despite everyone being very fond of the player behind said character. A certain Energy Blaster springs to mind... 🙊 These days? Admittedly I don't see that sort of bias vocalized anywhere near as often; but then I don't get the chance to actually play anywhere near as often as I used to. I will say though that I've never ever seen a player get denied access to a team or kicked for spamming KnockDOWN powers. The weirdest related kick I've seen was for a KnockUP power - a Waterspout user who was apparently intentionally trolling on a MLTF. 🤷‍♂️

Bad Players are bad. Bad Players plus knockback powers consistently result in ongoing annoyance to other players (who may or may not also be Bad). AFAIK it's the only power secondary effect that can be actively harmful. The only other abilities I've ever seen generate more annoyance than a badly utilized AoE Knockback ability is a badly utilized "Phase Shift" power like Sonic Cage... and at least then the bad (very bad! no cookies for you!) player is leveraging that ability's primary effect! The first toon I played that had substantial Knockback was a Peacebringer; back in issue 7 or so. In those days we didn't have any KB>KD IOs and you had to learn "good positioning" - flying above things so that they ragdoll into the floor instead of away from the tank; rotating around the combat encounter using unsuppressed movement to knock things inwards instead of outwards, etc. etc. I'm keenly aware that it's certainly possible to use KB-laden abilities without setting the rest of the team's heads on fire with sheer rage. And I appreciate the addition of individual KB>KD IOs... but I still get annoyed by the notion that players can't just choose to globally convert their own KB into KD without paying an "enhancement tax" in every power. As @Ukase mentions; many builds unfortunately just don't have that much slotting leeway. Meh.

^^ Case in point! 🙈 We could flip that around: "Knockback lovers have small, underdeveloped frontal lobes. They love imposing their sub-standard playstyle choices on others and especially enjoy trolling teams that were previously blissfully steamrolling through content without having their targets unceremoniously punted away from their melee attacks, PBAoEs and debuff patches." 😛 More seriously; it's true that some specific players are quite capable of leveraging knockback to clump rather than disperse enemies. And the introduction of Combat Teleport (and the addition of Knockback Resistance to most AoE Immobilise powers) has somewhat lessened the negative impact of 'uncontrolled' teammate-induced Knockback. However a bad knockback player can still be a major PITA on a team; and mechanically speaking KnockDOWN provides almost as much mitigation as KnockBACK but without all the hate and vitriol. So I personally will almost always choose to convert KB>KD - as a courtesy to my teammates even if it doesn't make much difference to my own toon. And whilst I haven't personally ever booted anyone off a team I'm leading for using Knockback badly (even back in the old days), I have used several of them as "Vengeance Bait".

Bear in mind that not only is it calculated for each creature individually... but it's each creature individually per copy of the mortar. It's not uncommon to have 2-3 mortars out; each of them getting a separate chance to apply the proc. AFAIK it works out at a 16.886% chance per mortar every 5.632 seconds; since Acid Mortar isn't a regular pseudopet but a proper pet with its own "Acid Mortar" subpower (which is a "clicky" AoE attack with 8ft radius and a Target Cap of 16).

FWIW I fired up an old laptop (an ancient HP with a crappy built-in GPU that just about runs Win10 with 8GB RAM). CoH was using ~2300MB in Kallisti Wharf. Atlas Park was ~2125MB, Dark Astoria and Talos Island were both about ~1940MB. Ouroboros was ~1700MB. The Chanty (despite the size!) was ~1720MB. Zoning into Kallisti did take a bit longer than the others (and the FPS was a smidge lower) but from what I can tell it's not using a huge amount more RAM. I'm still pretty sure this game could run on a Toaster if you plugged it into a dial-up modem.

Freeze Ray and Bitter Ice Blast are your best attacks and should be treated as such - proc them up and get as much global recharge as possible (Sleet and Benumb also want lots of Global Recharge anyway). Infrigidate should be Procbombed and used as your other main attack. There are also a few Epic Set ranged attacks that are proc-friendly (like Dominate and Char). Ice Bolt and Ice Blast have much lower proc activation rate and Damage Per Activation so are relegated to being "fillers". Aim should ideally have a Gaussian Build Up Proc in it and up to ~70% local recharge aspect. The other thing to point out is Ice Storm and Blizzard and Sleet... as "Rain" powers these do not proc well; but interact extremely well with Scourge; so IMO they're each a good place to put a Purple Set or 3x Superior Scourging Blast ATOs. Incarnatewise... Musculature Core is the obvious Alpha, whilst Intuition Radial improves Slows you'll already have everything at the -movement cap and the additional Hold Duration IMO isn't worth the damage reduction. Reactive Interface for most content, Degenerative vs AVs/GMs. Banished Pantheon (likely Radial) Lore. Assault (likely Radial) Hybrid. Whatever Judgement you like (Pyro is probably best for raw Ranged damage). Clarion Core Destiny for mez protection (unless the team lead is demanding you help with the Barrier rotation in 4-star "hard mode" content runs!). I intentionally don't play an Ice/Cold Corr (because I hate chasing the "meta") but I do have a Water/Cold in case you'd like a second opinion for the buff/debuff slotting (mine does slot + use the allied buffs!) - Corruptor - Water_Cold (HydroBlast).mbd

/Ice is certainly safe; but I'm not sure it's all that ranged-friendly. Ice Patch, Frozen Aura and Freezing Touch are genrally regarded as the set's best powers and they're Melee or PBAoE. Shiver might help a bit for mitigation I guess. IMO /Tactical Arrow is the best Ranged secondary, but if that's off the table: + /Energy (Boost Range, and also for setting Power Thrust on Autofire to punt away anything that gets too close) + /Martial Combat (Reach for the Limit and Inner Will; plus Ki Push for sticking on Autofire. And maybe Throw Sand and Burst of Speed too) + /Mental (It has a few ranged cones; even if their animation time is a bit long. Its Ranged Immobilise and TK Thrust can help keep stuff away) + /Plant (Vines and Entangle are decent. Strangler and Spore Cloud are OK-ish) + /Atomic (Electron Shackles and Positron Cell are Ranged. Metabolic Acceleration increases your recharge rate) + /Temporal (Time Wall, Time Stop, Time Shift are all ranged. Time Lord increases your recharge rate) If it was me I'd likely go /Temporal, /Martial or /Atomic. /Martial will be safest but /Temporal and /Atomic's +recharge buff will help your Ice Blast attack chain more since it wants a lot of global recharge. Atomic would also provide a filler attack or two that can take the Achilles' Heel -res proc (e.g. if you're not using Weaken Resolve). Specific Corruptor combos are very powerful (and you'd not be working against your own Secondary by avoiding the highest DPA melee abilities!) Ice/Cold Corr is the obvious standout that's good for everything. If it didn't have the "Ice Blast + no weaponry" caveats I'd be recommending a few Sentinel builds (Elec Blast and Beam Rifle are both very decent).

The addition of Blaster "sustains" (like Frigid Protection and Energize) and the removal of the Nuke crash in issue 24 drastically improved things compared to Live. My Fire/Ice Blaster (who is built almost entirely for offense, not defense) now has roughly the same passive mitigation as my Regen Scrapper did on live. ~17.729 Absorb/Sec from Frigid Protection + ~27.733 HP/Sec average from their regular stats plus 2x Power Transfer and 1x Panacea Proc = ~45.462 HP/Sec. Plus ~30.7% S/L Resistance and ~7.5% Ranged Defense and other on-demand damage reduction powers like Ice Patch and Shiver. Back on Live my old Regen Scrapper had no defense or resistance to speak of and ~55 HP/Sec (with their original SO build) and ~71 HP/Sec (with IOs in i19). It's perfectly viable to build a soloing Blaster that only relies on their Sustain + Clarion Core Destiny for Mex Protection. And if you're not level 50 yet; some limited mez protection can be had by picking specific secondary powersets (like Martial Combat) or you can cheese it by putting the "Defiant Barrage" proc into one of your T1/T2 blast powers (so that you can use it whilst mezzed and give yourself protection to that mez). You definitely do not need to build for the 45% S/L or Ranged defense softcap on a Blaster... although I've done both in my time. I appreciate that not having enough funds to fully kit yourself out in IOs makes things trickier; but there are a few specific IOs that IMO give a Blaster a big benefit whilst levelling up (a Panacea proc in Health; Power Transfer procs in Stamina and your sustain, a Blessing of the Zephyr Knockback Protection global in a Travel power and a Stealth IO in Sprint would provide the biggest survivability benefits IMO... and a Gaussian Proc in either Aim or Build Up plus a few LoTG +Rechs help with offense!) and you definitely do not need to be a marketeer to afford them. Merely collecting a few Exploration Badges and running a few regular contact mission arcs for Merits (to swap for Boosters/Converters) and Prismatic Aethers will provide you with more than enough inf for them. Most of my new alts get transferred a little starter cash for START powers; but they're typically all "self-financing" by the time they hit level 7-10. It's their endgame builds that need at least half a billion (and even then, the new alt typically contributes at least half of it).

Short version: Yes; it's still hated by a large portion (if not the vast majority) of the playerbase. Longer version: And it's also apparently loved by an extremely passionate minority of the playerbase. (Some of them even believe they're "helping" - in much the same manner that a 2 year old with a tub of red paint might make surprise contributions to your home decor...) Even adding an option (via Null or a Special IO) to globally make KnockBACK into KnockDOWN keeps getting vetoed.

The Malta Plasma Blast seems to be resisting by Duration, not by Magnitude. It always applies the same % debuff regardless of whether you're vastly higher level than it and whether or not you have Ageless Radial running. It just wears off faster. I actually tested this yesterday afternoon because I was intrigued by their CoDv2 entry after @BasiliskXVIII pointed it out: street-sweeping in PI I managed to find a -6 Hercules LT (had to toggle on "Rest" so they could hit me!) and their Plasma Cannon inflicted exactly the same regeneration debuff values on me as a +3 version of the same mob inside a Crimson mission. And popping Ageless Radial beforehand made zero difference to the displayed value. However the debuff from the -6 version wore off in only a few seconds - it often wasn't even around long enough for my combat stats to actually display a visible reduction in my regeneration rate total. The HardMode Rikti Assault Suits on the other hand certainly do inflict a lot of -damage resistance... but their debuffs don't appear to be flagged as "ignores resistance". So AFAIK if you have 100% Damage Resistance (before the cap!) those debuffs will end up being completely resisted and will do bugger all.

It's not too bad with TF's improved Critical range (TF Crits don't care about critter rank, it's got a flat 10% base rate vs everything) plus the ATOS (+6% +50%). Admittedly that's once the above chain gets going though - getting it to *BEGIN* critting at the start of the fight is why you pick /Ninjitsu... 💥 👊 A bit more seriously though: EM is stupendous for Single Target damage but is very much let down by horrible AoE damage potential. At least Scrappers get one semi-reliable AoE in Whirling Hands. The only EM toon I actually enjoy teaming with is a EM/Rad Scrapper for that reason - procced Ground Zero and Radiation Therapy solve a lot of issues!

Not really. Fast Healing grants +20%. Ailment Resistance grants +20%. Reactive Regeneration grants +5.5% for each time you get hit; stacking with itself up to 10 times (e.g. +55% maximum). That's 95% total Regeneration debuff resistance, which is just 5% shy of the cap; even before Ageless Radial.

Energy Melee is typically best on a Stalker (because the chain is missing a good filler whenever you're chaining TF + "Quick" Energy Transfer). It can be made to work on a Scrapper; but you need an Epic Snipe and a lot of recharge and global recharge. The basic attack chain is: Total Focus > Energy Transfer > Bonesmasher > Moonbeam/Zapp > Energy Transfer > Bonesmasher. (You'll need to get the recharge times down to at least 2.76s for Bonesmasher, 8.05s for the Snipe, 3.03s for Energy Transfer and 6.86s for Total Focus!) Stick the "Superior Critical Strikes" ATO proc into Energy Transfer. Everything except the two "Energy Transfers" will fall into the Critical Hit buff window; so once the chain gets going Total Focus will often gain +50% chance to Crit (which grants 2x Energy Focus stacks making both Energy Transfers "Quick" - improving DPA and making the second Energy Transfer fall into the Critical Hit buff window as well!)

Last time I poked at one this is what the result was: zMastermind - Robots - Traps.mbd (It's still a powerful combo, even if I personally prefer Time and Marine!)

Also it was Elec Armor in general that was changed, not just on Brutes...