megaericzero

TLDR: The secondary should probably be a modified armor set instead of an offensive one. -- Changing the henchmen to not be the damage dealers would make them anywhere from annoying to insufferable. Damage is damage and can be dispensed indiscriminately; if they're changed to support or CC, they won't use the right de/buffs when you want or on who you want unless they are watered-down to buff totems. If you've played Kingdom Hearts or at least heard of Donald Duck's reputation, you know exactly what I'm talking about. As Crusader points out, you'd need to be the one supporting your henchmen's survivability more directly or else you'll just be constantly re-summoning. Heck, MMs have trouble with that already so project that onto henchmen with little to no support and you have a firing squad that consistently dies after their opening salvo. Hence the suggestion for the secondary to be a tweaked armor set. Give the archetype an inherent and rework their power sets to be more frontline-focused to go with it. For instance, perhaps an inherent that's a hybrid reverse-bodyguard/fury with a meter that builds as you absorb hits for your henchmen and "inspires" them with +DMG. From there, tweak the sets for balance, flavor, and synergy. For instance: swap the ranged attack powers with melee powers instead; reduce the number of powers granted with upgrades, potentially even drop one or both and give you more personal attacks; rework some armor powers into AOEs that benefit both you and your henchmen (just spitballing: maybe change the self-heal most armor sets get into a PBAOE heal - so Healing Flames becomes a cross between it and Warmth that is both your self heal but also brings your henchmen's health back up as well; maybe trade a power in each armor set for a Grant Cover-style protection for your henchmen). This isn't as all-in on offense as the original suggestion but I think it still has the spirit you're looking for.

Finally - Enhancement Homogenization. 🧪🥽 😛

Oh, I wasn't talking in context of the thread topic; just mentioning that it bothers me that Rise of the Phoenix Phoenix Rising now conditionally redirects to an icon in a different palette - and one that's part of another power set so I can't just swap icons without impacting that set.

I'd imagine this still entails new backend code as the commands in a macro aren't constantly firing off whereas looking at a power-in-question would require the hypothetical new command to be doing exactly that. You could try getting around this by having the command fire only once when the macro is activated and read the target power's net cooldown time then put the macro button itself on a fake cooldown for the same duration but that would get desynced if any de/buffs get mixed in after. Plus similar sync issues if you also try to have it imitate the blue "I'm a toggle and I'm active" ring as suggested in the OP. On an unrelated note: Can that please get its own icon in the same palette as its power set instead of redirecting to Inferno's icon?

Signed!

Headless is already currently an option.

Wait. Is the formula not resistance = baseValue * ( 1 + [enh+alpha]ED + alphanonED ) + setBonus ? (Set bonuses on the outside at a flat value.) EDIT: Er, for a single power and ignoring buffs/debuffs. Aren't set bonuses tacked-on as a flat value after all your powers go through ED/alpha, not as a part of the enhancement (and alpha) calculations?

I thought resistance only reduces mezzes' duration, whereas it reduces potency for damage and debuffs?

There have been consistent efforts to improve the existing game/engine on the part of both the Paragon and HC devs. Usually subtle, backend stuff.

On the one hand, that's a lot of incarnate carbs to work off; on the other hand, incarnate vodka...

I post power set ideas as their own threads when I don't think a set is recycled enough to be in this one. 😢 (In terms of existing powers, animations, etc.) I did post my own take on Energy Affinity here; feel free to take any ideas. It ended up being a Frankenstein's monster of Empathy, Kinetics, and Force Field.

That's one of the biggest undertakings you could do in COH. In the current engine, each shared costume piece has to have a separate copy programmed for every body type it appears on. Adding a fourth player model would require surgery on every single costume piece available just to start. I'm not opposed to the idea, though.

This is petty but I think a number of the icons leave a bit to be desired. Power icons have always had a strong language to them - not without their mistakes, shortcomings, or differing views on edge cases - but repurposing the symbols for such disparate meanings than what they originally had based solely on redefining the visual's interpretation rubs me the wrong way. (For instance, Shadow Slip flipping the "summon 4 / summon lots" upside down to assert it being "drops 4/lots of entities out of a portal"). I'm not too concerned as I can just replace the icons myself. I do want to give my honest feedback, though, as it's been bugging me with some of the new power icons produced. No shade to the HC team's art person(s). Brine and Whitecap seem to have actual mistakes. Brine presumably used to do -DMG and was changed after its icon was made. If Whitecap requires a target, doesn't have the player click where to place it, and affects an area of foes, it should really use the targeted-AOE ring instead; both easy fixes. The next three are just nitpicks/preference. Tidepool's frenzy icon I wouldn't have done a different color to the rest of the set and Toroidal bubble I wouldn't have gone with a modified buff-recovery symbol over the standard one. Also I think placed powers that affect an AOE with a pseudopet should have the summon AOE ring but I understand the precedent is to not do that with powers like Bonfire, Ice Storm, etc. Wellspring and Power of the Depths... The former recycles one of the henchmen upgrade icons - I assume because it looks like somethings splashing out of a fountain - and the latter overlays the droplet icon on the glow from the mega-buff icon but notably not even with the upward-arc to denote it's a buff. Creative but seeing the symbol that goes with what the power actually does mechanically is more important if you ask me. The rest are fine; they're standard symbols whose powers do what they say on the tin. I will add to the headcount of people who think Barrier Reef is a far better name for Wellspring.

I dabbled in that a little. The human-focused options give a base damage bump to the human form; the nova-focused options give a base defense buff to the nova form; and the dwarf-focused options both give passive taunt auras as well as extra armor-esque passives that benefit both dwarf and human. All-in-all, though, I was too afraid to make every power just "this passively makes this form/power better." The other powers are also intended to trend towards making a "fuller" version of the forms, presuming human to be controller-esque, novas to be blasters with their epics CCs, and dwarves to be tankers with their epic debuffs. I tried to offset having more click powers to slot by making them usable in both human and shapeshifted forms (depending on which version of the ancillary you took) rather than having different versions for each.

Thanks for answering. A follow-up question: is it not a problem then that Vigilance's endurance discount is exclusively for having teammates - and scales to higher values faster with more - when larger teams are the same factor that makes it less likely to be relevant? Sure most other inherents get drowned out too but the other teammate-reliant ones add potency directly in combat attributes in most cases.

Are teams usually hurting for want of a Defender(s)'s endurance? Genuine question; I solo and don't play Defenders. Like mid-ish level range I guess because of the (lack of) end management options but at the extremes ...? (EDIT: Which is to say I would assume the answer is "no" because low levels just don't have enough things to drain their endurance unless you're clicking literally every power you have at that point and high levels have enough endurance management that they're firing off everything from cooldown without worrying about endurance, but that's why I ask.)

Update the nav with new objectives as they become relevant (or once all others are completed), especially in the case of missions that the wikis list with the "it doesn't say but this is secretly a defeat all" disclaimer. Even if it's as general as "further question mooks," "arrest remaining wrongdoers," or "leave no witnesses."

A power effect that unique could be the inherent for an archetype unto itself. So it doesn't step on Tankers' toes, maybe a single-target bodyguard to personally protect someone? Call it... like... Defender... Sentinel... Guardian?

I'm generally inclined to agree with you on any of these threads calling for a magic staff or spellcasting blasts to be a set instead of power customization. This eldritch blast, though, (assuming its visuals aren't spellcasting circles by default or some other shenanigans) seems no worse than Dark Blast already is. DB mentions several times in its power descriptions that you are connecting to the Netherworld and using its power for your attacks. For instance, Tenebrous Tentacles: "You can create a cone shaped rift to the Netherworld that allows its native creatures to slip their oily tentacles into our reality. These creatures will snare all foes within range, Immobilizing them while the tentacles drain their life and reduce their chance to hit." Still not as neutral-sounding as Chaotic Blast or other names that were suggesting in response to Cedd's other threads/posts but neutral enough compared to Magic or Sorcery, I think, given DB has existed since launch.

Non-epic-archetype primary/secondary sets generally only have 9 powers; additional ones are usually sub-powers of something else (eg: Swap Ammo). This one seems fine, thematically, if only because visuals are not listed. Other than the tier 1 power stating "moderate magic damage", the set as a whole could be drawing on eldritch energy through tech like Doom 2016, or mutation. The bigger question is: what does this bring to the table besides being Dark Blast 2.0?

Some more icon replacements: This one changes the Staff Mastery toggles' icons (Form of the Body/Mind/Soul) to the standard "damage buff", "recharge buff," and "recovery buff" (since there is no "endurance discount") symbols. It also color-codes them red for damage, violet-ish for recharge, and blue for endurance. The pack includes their 1-2-3 stack icons, with chunky text that has the same color-coding. staff-form-icons.zip Similarly, this pack replaces Bio Armor's Adaptations with the normal "defense buff", "recovery buff", and "damage buff" icons with similar color-coding to Staff Mastery's icons. I wouldn't normally color powers' symbols differently from the rest of their set but I think the mutual exclusivity and special, integrated nature of these toggles (as well as Dual Pistols' Swap Ammo) merit a sparing exception. bio-armor-adaptation-icons.zip Since Fiery Embrace adds fire damage to attacks, I've appropriated Dual Pistols' Incendiary Ammo icon as an "adds fire" icon. And since Fiery Assault's Embrace of Fire used to be the same power, I've included a replacement for it as well, though its effects aren't actually the same. fiery-embrace-incendiary-icon.zip Just as well, this will give the Envenomed Blades power in Martial Assault the Chemical Ammunition icon from Dual Pistols. The gold icon should replace the actual power that goes into your tray. I saw in the files that there's one with a green droplet but I don't have a Martial Assault Dominator so, being unsure of when/why that is used, I've included a green-tinted version of the biohazard symbol for it. envenomed-blades-toxic.zip This one changes the Assassin's Focus icon to have the inherent palette and the "buff" arch overlaid (underlaid?) on the Assassin's Strike symbol. assassin-focus-strike-icon.zip And for anyone who photoshops their own icons, here's rips of the "ammo", "incendiary", "cryo", "chemical", and "poison/blood" symbols. They're not perfect but they should get the job done when overlaid on a clean power button; just shift their hue to match the power set you're applying them to. (They're red so that their hue value is 0°; there are 1x1 black pixels in the corners to help align them properly.)

FWIW you can target allies through enemies and vice-versa. When there's a mismatch between your target and who the power can effect (trying to attack an ally or buff an enemy), if their target is valid, you will activate the power on that entity instead. So if your demon prince is aggroed to the AV and you target the prince to buff them, you can actually queue attacks and debuffs while still targeting the prince and your character will use them on the AV instead. It's also useful in the reverse if you want to buff/heal whatever teammate a boss is attacking.

Uun said "add Taunt plus you have to add taunt aura" then listed dropping Blinding Powder for Taunt but also adding a taunt aura to another power, which read to me as them thinking armor sets have both Taunt and a taunt aura. My mistake if I'm misreading their post.

Taunt goes in melee sets, not armor.

No, no; you're good. Don't be sorry. The discussion and flow of ideas is good.