Awilix

The title is as far as you have to read, seriously, but to expound: I do not know where the conversation on additional costume slots was left off, whether or not it was simply unfollowed due to technical restraints, disinterest or some design idea, but recent developments in the game's mechanics made it come to mind. I noticed that the prismatic aether character-bound costume system added another reason that single characters are important to maintain over just making an alt for new costumes and, explicitly relevant, it also designed a perfect player-facing system for gaining new costume slots. If it were possible to increase the number of costume slots in the costume selector, presumably accessed through some scrolling bar on the window, there is now a system in place for players to slowly gain special merits (and additional ones on Halloween through badges, fittingly!) from the tasks they do that could make a great currency for 'buying' costume slots. It would increase opinion and engagement of the aether system overnight if players could suddenly spend ten prismatic aethers on an extra slot, as well as increase engagement with other systems if players could actually gain costume slots from all the costume missions already in game, from VEAT missions to tailor missions to halloween salvage, without them quickly going over the maximum. Even just doubling the current maximum to 20 would be awe-worthy. Obviously, this is a lot of putting the cart before the horse, but I can just see the entire system already in the UI aside from a scrolling bar and a 'buy costume' button. I don't know what technical issues are actually in place for extra costume slots; I assume we'd already have them if it was easy or cheap on resources. I am specifically curious about any feedback on that side of the issue.

In my case, I used AE to summon Mirror Spirit as an enemy and an ally and watched her use her old-fashioned souped-up goop teleport while fighting herself. She has a really unique, fascinating powerset because of some weird stuff about the Korean release of City of Heroes that looks as good as modern released powersets despite her age. Which is why I imagine someone wanted to take her cool teleport for us to use! But that's unrelated! Actual feedback: I noticed that the goop animation didn't seem to play sometimes. It was unhelpfully hard to predictably recreate. More concrete: the increased height of the goop effect just seems to have it blorp up overtop your head without solving any of the issues in my original post. It still just seems to happen adjacent to your character, who remains visible for the effect and awkwardly poofs to the teleport target. It covers slightly more of you, but the particular pose of your character in the teleport animation at minimum shows off your feet and head and it's even worse if you have wings or a cape or any other meaningful protrusion. I experimented with the other teleports to see if these were common problems and aside from combat teleport maybe being too fast for the Rikti Portal FX too, it was not an issue. These more shapeless FXes like a smoke poof or a billion crows more easily incorporate your character, whereas trying to use an actual physical object to 'move' you (the goop) seems noticeably more difficult to implement. Maybe a quicker, total translucency would help make it look like you slorp into the goop; it'd look just as good if it was stuck to the other special teleport animations too if you can only implement all-or-nothing. And I'm not sure anyone would miss the weird chest pump physical pose if it was less visible. I can confirm that the tinting on the other teleports look great through that testing. It would appear the combat-teleport version of tintable smokebomb is not tintable. It remains unchanging standard white color. Though the normal teleport version will change when you adjust colors.

Shoal Rush feels a little more satisfying to use now that it causes the little crazy fish freakout in tide pool. It's a step closer to making me feel like I have more 'active' abilities, though the randomness of the effect makes it hard to intelligently use in any way. The slow seems effective, though even with some explicitly focused experimentation I couldn't find a place where it had a measurable effect compared to Tide Pool's autohit non-aggroing giant patch. It was either one or the other and Tide Pool was always the better choice; it seems like unnecessary double dipping for a debuff that doesn't meaningfully stack when some more active mez-or-adjacent effect might be good here. That said, the frenzy burst is that effect, so it seems like fair design. Whitecap has the same improvement and complaint, but! The reduction in recharge actually seems to have a far greater effect on moment to moment play. Whenever I need something to do to break up an unexpected group or danger, Whitecap is often recharged and allows me to boop them and fleetingly knock them over for another second of safety. Brine surely has some mechanical differences if you're comparing numbers for fighting AVs, but it 'feels' as underwhelming to use as it did before. It could use a little tide bool frenzy burst itself. Shifting Tides seems to stack a little higher and have a more measurable effect, making more inclined to actually use the power. It seems like the range could be increased; I tested on a crey map and it was extremely noticeable that shifting tides turned off every time I used one of the excessive elevators. It seems like a struggle to keep this power actually active. Speaking of: Barrier Reef is a much less annoying little buddy. The design notes make the power's FFG structure 'make sense' more to me, but they also highlight how equally annoying the generator that it is inspired by functions. I still don't see why (both) of these powers can't be permanently summoned considering their low recharge, but it is at least consistently annoying with other design in the game. Though unlike the force field generator, this is often a good place to put shifting tides which only increases the 'set up' when it expires and you have to fiddle with both powers. Playing with him as my main source of shifting tides on that crey map, losing the toggle every time he dropped or went through an elevator, was constantly irking. Power of the Depths still feels bad to use. I recognize that this is a nebulous complaint, but clicking on that big fancy tier nine and watching my endurance go down (because my maximum increased) and no other noticeable effect happen has very unsatisfying 'game feel.' The set feels a little bit more active and responsive, but the additional effects are very 'random.' It's now more possible for me to react to unexpected aggro or attention but it's a coin flip as to whether or or not it actually does anything. I still seem to be constantly immobilized or harder mezzed, but very slightly less often with the defensive buff, my ability to spam whitecap, and being able to randomly spurt frenzy knockdown. The tide pool effect feels a lot more like an annoying necessity I have to struggle with trying to use to defend myself than a fun little bonus like storm cell. As the set is already so close to 'feeling' good, I'd only suggest either giving Shoal Rush some active effect or really embracing the frenzy idea. Give Brine a frenzy pop and maybe give Depths a giant 'churn' effect that causes a super frenzy that guarantees lots of knockdown. Depths would feel more satisfying to use inside combat and would synergize with the out-of-place melee-centric whitecap ability. Considering that frenzy is already easy but unpredictable to activate in groups and Shoal's low recharge with frenzy burst, this might not(?) meaningfully change the balance of the set. But it will feel a lot more satisfying and like I am 'in control' to be able to intentionally inflict this attempted KD or watch something happen when I play Depths and it dramatically churns up the pool. Unlike Storm Cell, the Tide Pool power is in a support set, so it feels fair to expect more predictable support. Especially considering the very active and dangerous playstyle of the set.

I absolutely love the goop customization option, but it appears to have minute issues. In combat teleport, the goop effect activates so late that it just sort of lingers behind you after you do a teleport. It looks very strange. In both versions, the fact that the goop does not completely cover your character when you disappear or reappear also looks strange. You just blink in and out of existence displaced behind where the goop spawns. The goop seems like it either needs to be scaled up bigger, better centered (the teleport animation moves your character backward outside of their normal hitbox like /e kneel or other similar animations, which in this case takes you outside the goop effect) or alternatively your character needs to totally vanish when you use it with some variety of transparency (moreso than the usual teleport animation). Edit: additional thoughts I went on the painful search to find mirror spirit and force her to use her teleport power (she does not want to) to explore what I thought was the origin of the animation/fx. Looks correct! When she uses it, she instead uses the ninja hand gesture animation, centering her character to disappear inside the goop. She also disappears before the goop does. The goop on her version is also scaled much larger than her, allowing her to disappear completely inside of it. Her version also has some extra flair specific to her backstory, but that's neither here nor there. Any one of those changes sounds near impossible to implement on an alternate-animation player power, but they make the power visually work!

I played with the set some more! I (finally) noticed that Shifting Tides can also be targeted on allies, which made it more constant and useful, but that brought up another observation. Wellspring has a relatively short recharge, especially once enhanced, making the fact that it despawns after a while a lot more of an annoyance than an obvious cost of a power. Is there any 'value' to making it despawn instead of keeping around indefinitely like many pets do? Especially considering its negative threat, it was extremely rare for the thing to ever die. The only effect appeared to be instant annoyance with having to retoggle shifting tides. Shoal Rush still feels like it could be replaced with some unique, water based gale equivalent. A knockdown while they're in the tide pool patch or using the various Leviathan Ancillery visuals to give it random immobilizes or holds or et cetera. There were situations even one +0/1* difficulty where I would get mezzed by single mobs, something that none of my powers could prevent aside from one second of mitigating knockdown from Whitecap. While I was mezzed, the great mix but low maximum defenses of either the bubble and/or depths caused me to take a lot of damage. And then once I recovered from my mez, the only recovery I had was spamming my generic support set heal. Other sets that have this issue, like Kinetics, can bring entire teams up to damage cap. Other nonactive sets like Nature or Thermal have exceptional resistances either for yourself or/and your team, so while squishy (moreso in thermal's case), you add a load of value. All of the active effects of this set appear to be built to the theme of Dark Miasma or Storm Summoning, but this set is noticeably missing any ability to actually mitigate damage aside from a middling amount of resistance and a long recharge, minor maximum health buff. Whereas those other sets could be dropped in as a weird controller primary. It feels like it's missing something. One active mitigating power or an extra mechanic.

EDIT: Oh no. I was having trouble submitting. Um, ignore those first two posts unless I can somehow delete them Here's a lot more thoughts to dump onto the pile. I was experimenting on a water/water Cor. Shoal Rush The core design of the power is confusing. Some amount of its strength was attributed to removing stealth effects, but it is a power that requires a target. So if you see an enemy, you are able to remove the stealth on them, which seems to be an impossible situation. You can at best hope that it might hit something you assume is there. On top of that, stacking movement speed debuffs in a set always seems to compel you/me into using the best possible one, making it rare for me to actually use this power once I had tide pool. Tide pool seemed to max out the debuff or near to it and I could use it without causing aggro, causing shoal rush to once again have no measurable effect in the fight. That only leaves the defensive debuff ability, but being a targetted power, it requires you to hit the enemy to make the enemy easier to hit. While not as egregious as the -stealth component, all of this effects of its designed combined that I could not find a -single- situation while missioning to use this power despite honestly trying. Other powers in the set did all of these things much better. It didn't feel just like a skippable power with a strange but potentially useful effect, it felt absolutely dead in the water. Soothing Wave - The basic support set heal power. Adding that -damage into the cone effect makes it feel a lot more satisfying to use than the Nature heal cone version that sometimes just felt like a more awkward version of the sterotypical PBAOE heal. I like this one. Toroidal Bubble - It's a very odd feeling power in a positive way. An unusual collection of very useful buffs; even the jump is handy. The small resistance buff that isn't stacked anywhere is the set feels like start of a problem I noticed while playing the set; it felt like there was extremely little I could 'do' when there was a problem. Whitecap- This power seems as though it was good, but it was very frustrating to have to get into the mindset of awkwardly targeting an enemy with it like I was a melee character prepared to jump in despite having literally zero other powers that made use of that except arguably Tides. Tide Pool- The nonaggro slow patch seems pretty effective. It reminds me of a group Storm Cell, but the movement debuff seemed much stronger. The -damage effect wasn't noticeable, but that might be due to the very nonreactive nature of the set. Like a lot of the set, it seems like it'd be effective in raids or teaming environments. Brine - This power feels like a very old-style design. It looks almost exclusively useful on AVs. And hopefully ones without high defense due to its tohit-requirement. Shifting Tides - Much like tide pool and a lot of this set, this seems like an ability that built for raiding-level encounters that has a more muted effect when you're playing by yourself or in small groups. That said, it was very satisfying to watch those little buffs build up and give you free +tohit that once again made Shoal Rush feel increasingly useless. But at the same time, it didn't really feel like anything different was happening when I had it on or off which combined with it being as awkward to use as powers like Darkest Night (except powers like the one mentioned often had a significant, noticeable immediate effect of saving your bacon or casting a dominating debuff.) Wellspring - What a weird little guy; I love him. Once again, like a lot of the set, it feels like a diminutive buff that's built to function in raids, the core issue with that being that /any/ AOE buff will function well in that setting, making all of these powers feel collectively very meek in comparison to other sets. Power of the Depths - The range buff is very satisfying. And on the broken record, the buff effects seem like exceptionally good minor bonuses to some full raid experience, but have a very muted effect in actual play. It's nice that it's one of those sets that mostly solves your endurance problems between this and the bubble. It seems similar to Chrono Shift, but that set has several active mezes and defensive debuffs that make that power feel a better tier nine. And chrono shift also actively healed you. Observations: The set seems to have an issue with activity. It looks like it has good offensive potential once you get all the stacking effects going; that makes it a bit slow, but not outrageously so. The personal buffs are all very strange and subtle, never reaching significant numbers on anything, but they are all individually welcome. But with the lack of meaningful 'defensive' debuffs, the fact that Soothing Wave is the only active defensive power that you have (aside from one long recharge knockdown in Whitecap), the fact that the buffs are focused around resistance but the set utterly lacks mez protection all creates one of the squishest experiences I've ever felt with an 'active' set. It has the structural feeling of playing something like the Fire support set, but the buffs won't keep anyone alive nearly as well and it's as active as playing something like Dark Miasma or Kinetics without their immediate power. It looks like it'd be absolutely bonkers to play on a Mastermind, though. Suggestions: In the very least, Shoal Rush should be untargeted like Soothing so that the stealth component can be intentionally used. But I would lean into the offensive nature of the set and turn it into some kind of power like Storm Summoning's Gale. It could lean into its multiple effects and roll between knock down, immobilize and something else. Maybe lean in to Tide Pool's storm cell similarity and make it activate all effects when within the pool. Whitecap might almost remove the teleport and make it like Tar Patch, but teleport is fun. In the very least, it seems like it'd less unnecessarily frustrating if it was a click target (as mentioned in other posts). It could also some kind of lingering defensive effect like -tohit or a buff or something as one optional place to make you feel more sturdy in the set. Otherwise, it feels suicidal to use. Tide Pool appears like it wants to be a short recharge toggle or something; the click and sit for four minutes feels strange. It's another place you could try to solve the arguable activity problem, but the power is pretty fun as is. Maybe Brine could have some special activation effect; like, you cast it on someone inside tide pool and it automatically activates the 'brief frenzy effect' from tide pool regardless of if it hits. Some special effect to make it feel more modern and satisfying to use without needing to adjust its power meaningfully. Wellspring's defensive buff is so minor and out of place in this set with no other defense or -tohit that it seems better to remove it and add a stronger absorb, a minor heal or, my personal favorite, allowing him to cast mez protection on mezzed friendly targets. Give the little guy a short recharge breakfree he can cast on you or your friends with O2 Boost's animation, which would solve a core problem with the set in how little you can do to 'save' a situation which makes being mezzed feel absolutely damning. The fatal flaw of this set feels exceptionally egregious in Power of The Depths; a gigantic tier nine ability that I cast and nothing obvious happens. It feels like it could use a heal effect. Or use that badass animation and set consistency with Soothing Wave to give it some multi-faceted offensive capability. Keep its buffs as high as you can while also doing some negative effect to the enemy. Some basic -dmg or -tohit or a short-lived, powerful repeating knockdown aura to represent the tentacles or the tumult of the waves. Or for the insane, too much effort solution, make the tentacles that it summons into something like short-lived Carrion Creepers and make them slap foes around and knock them down or attract aggro so you can roleplay as being Lusca. Kudos to anyone that read this far. I had the urge to write down every single thought, because the interesting set design and fun visuals make me very excited, but actually playing the set had some awkward components.

This picture appears to have a candy cauldron that looks taken from the halloween event as a base item. Which is pretty cool. But that item doesn't seem to be available in beta base editor or in the patch notes? I've gone crazy looking for it in the editor even without the (new) tag and I don't see it.

I'm not sure if I'm making a request or pointing out an accidently locked piece, but: In detail 2 in hats, there's an extremely cool little hood used as a section of the Plague Doctor collective ensemble. But that hood by itself is an excellent costume piece I can see a *lot* of additional uses for from hoodies to ninja looks to etc. Is it possible to proliferate it to the other Head Slots like Standard or Full Masks? I don't think it needs any adjustment, it just looks like it was missed or chosen not to appear in those head types.