Sorry if this thread is kind of a mess, I'm primarily copy/pasting this from a thread on another forum I had posted this to that I sadly didn't get a lot of feedback on.
A long time back (Like... 2016) I toyed with the idea of a natural themed support set. We may have Traps and Trick Arrow, but those are still themed more towards someone using gadgets. Most of the other support sets theme themselves towards some kind of power, though I know with some creativity you could make most of them fit into a natural theme, too. (Maybe your Poison Corruptor is throwing vials of poison instead of hacking globs of icky substance at them.) I was thinking it might be interesting to create a set with the same mindset as Willpower, it doesn't have any clear design leaning towards some kind of power, meant to imply it's just a normal person surpassing their limits.
"But Phe, how can you buff/debuff without a gadget or power?"
Simple, hypothetical me, with your words. We've all seen movies, or heard stories, or lived through a drill sergeant barking orders, hurling insults, etc. etc. to encourage their trainees to push themselves harder. This set idea basically plays off of that thought.
For animations/effects, I think a lot could just be borrowed from the sonic sets for animations, or maybe borrow some emotes (if possible), with subdued particle effects. Sounds would likely be along the lines of the Taunt noise, nondescript grunts that fit the gender/model of your character. Wouldn't be very flashy, but then that's kind of the point.
Another thought for how the coordination gimmick could work. Perhaps it can provide stacks of debuff resistance, similar to Ageless Radial in the Destiny Incarnate powers. I think either way could work. The Power Boost effect idea is pushing your allies to perform better, but a debuff resistance could be helping your allies overcome weakness. I think having both effects at once could be a bit overpowered, though. Any thoughts on one or the other? I think given the choice I'd lean more towards the power boost, but far as I'm aware, I can't think of a support set that provides a general resistance to debuffs.
Some ideas on uses for this powerset:
Some of my thoughts that have gone into designing the set:
1. I wanted a much more Natural origin themed support set than anything else we have in the game. Traps feel more Technology, and Trick Arrow still feels a little too specific for it to work for many character types. I have a Beast/Pain Mastermind who is intended to be very much simply a woman more in tune with nature, no actual powers to speak of, but I went with Pain Domination as her secondary because a. I needed something to keep the Beasts alive in a fight, and b. we didn't have anything else that could possibly fit the theme.
2. I looked at Willpower for some inspiration. Willpower was styled as a natural defense set. No flashy powers, you're not invulnerable, regrowing limbs, or dodging a hail of gunfire. No gadgets. Just your natural talents keeping you alive. I want something similar for a support set. You're not healing peoples' wounds, or encasing them in shields. You're pushing them to be better, to fight harder, using your talents as a leader to make your team tougher, while also draining the will to fight from your enemies by simply shouting at them, making them hesitate in battle and thus easier to deal with.
3. Willpower also had this idea of being a set that was a "Jack of all trades, master of none." It's a really strong set, but it's not the best at any one thing. Super Reflexes has better defense, Regeneration has better healing, Invulnerability has better resistances, but Willpower has a little bit of it all. That fueled some of the ideas for the effects of these powers. It has a little bit of everything, but doesn't focus very well on any one thing. Call to Action may seem like it combines Recovery Aura and Regeneration Aura, but the numbers will be weaker than those two individual powers. It has no direct healing (except the rez), only some Absorb shields and that little bit of Regen. Even Turn the Tide, which I plan to be mechanically similar to Fulcrum Shift but targeting allies instead of enemies, since it's typically harder to bunch up a large number of players than it is a large number of enemies will likely be weaker than its Kinetics inspiration. The only mez protection the set gives is tied to the rez power.
There has been quite a bit of expansion on powerset variety on Homecoming so far. We even got a Natural/Technology themed Control set (Arsenal Control) but we *still* don't have a truly Natural support set.
