megaericzero

I figured they might be pre-baked, hence the parenthetical alternative. I quoted you and biostem as my two-cents about the taunt aura was in response to both of yours.

Self-plug for a version I suggested in the Eco-Friendly Powerset Recycling thread here that gave them a non-damaging taunt aura - themed as you moving so much foes are hesitant to throw a punch (-recharge) and when they do they have a chance to hit something else such as an object you put in the way or switch with like a log as seen in martial arts and ninja-related media (self +absorb), the latter scaling with each nearby foe as you exploit them getting in each other's way. The visual representation just being the afterimages like in Dual Pistols (with a min fx option), assuming those could be made to mimic your movements in real time (or made to take on different, unobtrusive dodge poses and fade away quickly during combat).

Given the pandora's box was recently reopened on mutually exclusive powers, maybe expanding the current mastermind sets to have either-or for each personal attack? This way they don't have to clone a whole archetype just for three powers each in seven sets to be different while everything else remains the same.

Heroside used to do that, to a small degree. Your starting contact in Atlas/Galaxy was a liaison from one of the FBSA branches matching your origin - DATA, SERAPH, ELITE, MAGI, or GIFT. That was the extent of it, though, and it was phased out when Galaxy was removed and Atlas was revamped. That and you had to do a mission for origin-specific contacts to be able to buy SOs starting at the .... Brickstown level range I think?

Animations and cast time are tied together because there's some issue where things break down if they mismatch. I'll let some other long-time forumite who is better at citing give the details. That said, I would assume any two powers who share the same cast time would thus be able to use each other's animations. For instance, Shadow Punch shares the same cast time (0.83s) with Thunder Kick and Storm kick according to CoD. Presumably that would mean any of those three powers could use any of the five collective animations between them without causing problems. Though, there does also appear to be a stat on CoD called Animation Time Before Effect which, if it's what I'm guessing, the hit react fx would still play too late/early because that does not match between Dark Melee and Martial Arts.

Please do not. Having eight of most every set would make it take 2-5 business days to pick one in the character creator. We might not see a new War Mace character before the heat death of the universe. -- No idea about balance but it might be funny to see someone try a gimmick combination like Fire Blast substitute toxic + Fire Manip sub psionic. "I do toxic damage. And my secondary effect is to do more toxic damage. Enemy group resistant to toxic? Doubt they have psi resist then, so try two psionic damage auras and psychic Burn."

Would you like to take a controller - any sets - and compare how often the CC affects an AV versus how often cycling Jab/Punch/Haymaker alone knocks regular enemies down? Rage is very easy to perma.

That was my point in mentioning the purple triangles. Underlings to bosses are whatever. Why would it be okay for a melee set to do more viable crowd control on AVs than an archetype dedicated to, and balanced around, crowd control?

Aside from balance concerns in isolation, it would also be unfair that controllers - an archetype with considerably less raw durability and heavy reliance on CC - have to deal with the PTOD while SS tankers recreate Vanden's forum avatar:

My own selfish asks would be... The older, thinner, less-flashy version of the character creator UI (which, IIRC, AE's custom NPC creator still uses elements of). Galaxy City back as a starting zone along with its contacts, as if the meteors didn't hit yet, until you outlevel the zone. -- To this chain of discussion: maybe the idea is that original content not offered elsewhere is worth more than parallel content, even if that means skipping low-hanging fruit?

As an option, definitely. I'm not opposed to it as long as I'm not forced into it. I just want to chime in as one of the (crazy?) people who uses the game behavior of your character turning to face their foe for AOEs as a feature, heavily.

Pulverize, Jawbreaker, Shatter... Who is wielding this wand? Mash Burnedead?

The change would have an impact on combat. Being able to anchor it to an ally means not having to re-anchor it every mob as long as you keep your endurance up, and your ally can reposition as requested. I don't personally think they'd need nerfing but, given the track record on power changes, it seems safe to assume the devs consider the current status quo precisely balanced and any improvement to efficacy or efficiency - no matter how minor - would be met with a trade-off on some other aspect.

That is an odd response to give. I didn't say anything about the code. If it's an immersion issue, allies also aren't debuffed by standing within those same debuffs' areas of effect. The same as not taking damage from friendly Fire Ball or Rain of Arrows; the same as not receiving negative effects when they're the anchor for location debuffs activated via /powexeclocation. My guess is the counterpoint will be that powers like Darkest Night need to physically pour out of the anchor's body from inside, thereby they can't evade the debuff.

Some questions: Where can that inf be used - stores, the market, traded/emailed, etc? What happens if someone deletes a character with an outstanding debt?