megaericzero

Yup. I was speaking vaguely about progress as a whole. Leveling, badging, enhancing, incarnates. Completely severing effort from rewards will do the opposite of incentivizing engagement. The issue with your suggestion as posted is the complete lockout of merit earning outside of a daily handout. The part I quoted was to respond to the assertion that people would be upset largely or solely because of instant gratification. Oh, also: HC is free to sign up and play so people are just going to make infinite accounts and reap infinite merits under this proposed system.

Having agency over character progression is a sizeable chunk of the drive to play an RPG. Otherwise it's a trophy collection with extra steps. EDIT: or a sandbox.

Oh. I think I get it now. You want a popmenu like players get for emotes, but for henchmen? Sure. Someone could probably even whip-up a popmenu file so you can do exactly that with a macro as the game currently is. Now that I (think I) understand your suggestion, this part is an issue: Let's not allow people to automate chat spam anymore than they already can.

What Rudra said - seems too limited (or, conversely, too hand-wavey with how Arachnos Mu are if not limited) and you can already make an elec/elec and call it a Mu. It would be cool to get always-hovering as a stance option in power customization so you could make convincing Mu and Seer characters. As far as I can tell, that's how they're coded - to have it as a stance so they look like Hover is on even if you've applied -Fly to them.

No thanks. The melee sets aren't, as a whole, lacking for something that Taunt/Confront is depriving them of nor that making those powers inherent would fix. Tankers already get built-in Taunt with their attacks via their passive; all three get a hefty -Range built into their Taunt/Confront that forces enemies to close the gap for them without having to move. They're perfectly good as one-slot wonders.

The thread is too TLDR for me so my bad if this has been asked/suggested already: If this is the goal, why not make the Security Chiefs of each zone into repeatable street-sweeping contacts, then? Have them offer the same three "hunt [group]" missions per zone, give their phones on first conversation or first mission complete, and adjust the number of foes to defeat and the completion reward to whatever compensation per time you think is fair for street sweeping.

Boom. The feature was implemented before you even came up with the idea. Now that is customer service!

That's interesting. Is it because pets execute their commands when available rather than immediately, so if they get stuck on something they don't see themselves as available to be dismissed? /release_pets forcibly defeats your pets - henchmen or otherwise

I was going to suggest having the henchmen's own summon powers teleport them if they are still alive when used. Since the Mastermind can already just dismiss and re-summon them, this would give the option to act like they did but keep their upgrades and any lingering buffs with the trade-off of putting the powers on cooldown. Then I looked at COD and double-checked in game... When did the henchmen powers get buffed to 5-15s recharges with 5-13 endurance cost? Forget what I was going to say; just desummon and resummon them.

Henchman/pet customization is a suggestion that comes up pretty frequently. Here's the most recent thread related to it for visibility on what was recently discussed.

Bah. Beaten to the answer. Twice. Yeah, war wall surfing is more of a physics engine exploit than a power feature. EDIT: Which isn't to say it's bad. It's loads of fun; even on characters with travel powers. Hop on the wall, get the angle right, set autorun, and sail across the zone passively while you (the player) goof off.

The whole game could use a full pass for lexicon consistency. The other powers come with an additional effect called Combat Phase. Ironic, given the tooltip describes Speed Phase as phase whereas the other powers call themselves intangible, but it appears it's the reverse case for which term does what effect when you look at COD. EDIT: And then there's Dimension Shift which has a sub-effect called dimension_shift_ally which I assume is the added function to walk into the field and be able to act against the foes that the power phased. One of its effects is listed as "1.0 points of Designer Status."

"Speed Phase allows you to vibrate the atoms in your own body so quickly that you can pass straight through both allies and enemies. Whilst in this state you are unable to affect anyone but yourself, but can still be attacked by foes." EDIT: Note also that its power tooltip lists its effect as "Self Phase (Special)" whereas powers like Phase Shift, Quantum Flight, and Nebulous Form list themselves as "Self Intangible."

To the subject of Athletic Run and Super Speed: they did add a momentum mechanic where running for a bit gives you temporary jump height so you can clear minor barriers or get to slightly higher ground without having to go around them like back in the day.

To be fair, kelika did say to compensate Sudden Acceleration by giving its KB2KD something additional and then suggesting something that the proposed set doesn't have: -- What I'm trying to understand is why each enhancement has KB2KD. I'm guessing the purpose of the suggestion is to alleviate the slot tax by having KB2KD enhancements that also boost one aspect but not being beholden to which aspect so you can use them in powers with different needs (acc, dam, end, rech, etc.) without having to suggest separate sets.

Erm, what's the function of every enhancement in the set doing KB2KD?

My bad. I misread the part about energy. A weakness to energy/electricity is plausible. The phase shift sounds interesting. Alternating intervals of being unable to affect foes probably won't go over well with people, though. I also have reservations about changing it into a Hibernate clone for the same risk of inviting comparisons to Ice Armor. Maybe turning it into a crash-lite t9 like Strength of Will and keeping the no-collision Zork suggested (assuming you could separate that from normal intangibility)?

Great points, @ThatGuyCDude. More energy protection sounds good; psionics I'm not sure on but could probably work in. There were a couple different things I was trying to do so the set would stand out from other armors. I was avoiding making heat/cold resistance this set's specialty because then it becomes room-temperature Ice Armor. That said, Thermocline Armor was meant to be the thermal density property at work. The slow resistance wasn't that you move fast in liquid but rather that the liquid was insulating you from the slow-down that most cold powers inflict. As for movement, Hydrodynamic Body already does buff that. It's even listed as +Movement; I didn't write it out as +Speed or +Run/Jump/Fly. We already have multiple haze-type powers - Arctic Fog, Steamy Mist, and Shadow Fall; granted they're all in support sets. For liquid armor, I wanted to have the character absolutely drenched, pouring out fluids like they're a fountain (or at least a recent victim of a Gatorade dunk). The mez protection being themed as dissolving whatever's mezzing you was both because the set is doing double-duty as Chemical Armor (hence it's not called Water Armor directly and the only power describing water is Storm Drain, which refers to you taking someone else's) and because of water's nickname - the universal solvent. The tier 9 definitely leaves something to be desired, given it's a carbon copy of many other sets' t9. Which warshade power are you referring to that behaves like that (or is it an original take on their existing intangibility power)? And as for a teleport attack, that's already in the melee set via Jet Kick. It would seem redundant since the melee and armor set are already a thematic match; being able to double-up on that feels like a benefit of purposely mix-and-matching themes instead of doubling down (eg: Electrical Melee and Shield Defense being able to do it). Unless we wanted to make that the liquid-themed close-combat's specialty... 🤔

For what it's worth, I posted a suggestion recently for water-themed melee and armor sets as well as control and support. 👀

The funnier point to this is that cutscenes aren't pre-rendered - they're emoted in real time by the mobs while the game arrests control of your camera. (At least, if nothing's changed since the last time I checked.) Players have planted themselves next to where Arbiter Sands will spawn with his platoon during the first mission of the STF (back when it was the STF) for a "cheekie selfie" while the team is forced to wait out the dialogue. Imagine someone wanting to see the cutscene only to watch the carnage of seven Judgment powers and a slew of other AOEs wipe the mobs out before they're even done talking. Meanwhile this person is forced to watch in horror like they're tied to a chair.

Good feedback and ideas. I've incorporated a couple into the OP. Here I thought I'd get more responses to the armor and melee sets given they're less adventurous (read: copy-pasted) but I suppose when you stick so closely to an existing template, it already comes with the benefits and baggage of the thing you based it on so there's not much that needs to be said. @Rudra: yeah, the idea with Sinkhole is you washed the ground out beneath the foe to create it; I've renamed it. For Flood, there wasn't a good term for "knee-deep/waist-deep water" and I didn't want it to just be "Bigger Sinkhole" so fell back on flood. With Ink Burst, I thought to have Liquid Armor also have a minor tertiary theme of your character being some kind of water creature (hence Hydrodynamic Body) but it's too much in retrospect. Plus the power was filler until I added Hydrophobic Coating; I just kept it for Stalkers since it seemed like a fitting power (it is a Smoke Flash expy). I've removed it and put Hydrophobic Coating in its place. As for Storm Drain, the PBAOE scaling endurance drain powers (Power Sink, Energy Absorption, Energy Drain) seem - to me at least - to be about creating a conceptual low-point of energy so that electricity/heat/energy flows to you via osmosis. With that in mind, the visual I had was one of those street drains that's been flooded over and just-recently unblocked, creating a whirlpool. (see visual) I've also given my thoughts in Alchemystic's powerset-recycling thread that there's a fuzzy line between jokingly punning and genuis wordplay, so calling it Storm Drain to go with Energy Drain and Power Sink seemed fitting both as wordplay and because you are conceptually becoming a drain for the endurance to flow into. @ZorkNemesis: I love the Fluid State idea and have incorporated it as Stalkers' t9 with a focus on defense and the no-collision effect to contrast with Scraps/Tanks/Brutes' stand-your-ground t9 Overflow. I'm glad we had the same idea with Vortex; it reassures me that the name, theme, and effect together are a good match. @Videra: Good points. I'm more out-of-touch with support sets as I mostly solo. What would you suggest to replace the t8 in Water Affinity?

Here's something I wanted to suggest: the gamut of remaining water-themed power sets, save for henchmen. We're ignoring the Manipulation, Assault, and Mastery categories because they'd all basically be children of these sets. Why are you suggesting four power sets at once? In large part so that we can give each set one or two overarching themes without stepping on each other's toes. For instance, Sonic Manipulation has a power called Sound Barrier whose name would proliferate perfectly as the smashing-lethal shield to a "Sonic Aura" or "Sonic Armor" armor set... except that the actual effects it was given are not that of a smashing-lethal shield so now if we ever get a sonic armor its physical shield will have to use a different name. (Yes, I do actually think obsess about things like this.) If anyone reads the thread and thinks "hey, you should focus on quality over quantity", I did actually. I've been tweaking each of these back and forth for about six months. They've sort of reached as good as they're going to get just banging around in my own head without actually talking to other people about it (hence this thread). They're by no means perfect but I do think they're a decent springboard. As far as the themes, at a glance I'd go with... Water Control: the flow of water Water Affinity: small bodies of water and things dissolved in that water Water Melee: water pressure and release Liquid Armor: properties of water (and/or other chemicals) The themes aren't meant to be absolute; just give us a theme to play towards with most of the sets' powers rather than each set looking like "I asked chatGPT for water-related terms and just picked random ones." There'll still be some outliers in each set. Why do a lot of your power names overlap or downright sound like ones from the Eco-friendly Powerset Recycling Thread? I mean... all-in-all I'd like to say it's because of simultaneous invention. Rooting the powers in real-world concepts and terminology will do that. There's still plenty of room that I may have been "inspired" by the thread, consciously or unconsciously. I tried to make what I thought were sets that distilled the aforementioned themes, whether they overlap with sets suggested in that thread or not. My bad if I did steal anyone's work. I will admit Aqua Strike down in Water Melee is directly copied in name at least. Now onto the power sets. I'll hide the detailed power info in spoilers boxes since the whole post is already a huge block of text and so people who just want to scan the power tables at a glance can. Water Control (Controllers, Dominators) 1. Water Trap (Ranged) Foe Moderate Damage over Time (Smashing, Cold), Immobilize, -Jump, -Movement, -Recharge 2. Water Prison (Ranged) Foe Moderate Damage (Smashing, Cold), Hold, -Movement, -Fly, -Recharge 3. Flood (Ranged AOE) Foe Minor Damage over Time (Cold), Immobilize, -Movement, -Jump, -Recharge 4. Deluge (Location AOE) Foe -Movement, -Fly, -Jump, -Defense, Chance to Confuse 5. Rapids [Toggle] (PBAOE) Foe Chance to Knockdown 6. Decompression (Ranged AOE) Foe Minor Damage (Smashing), Disorient 7. Riptide (Location AOE) Foe Minor Damage over Time (Smashing, Cold), Draw-in 8. Waterfall (Ranged AOE) Foe Minor Damage over Time (Smashing, Cold), Hold, -Movement, -Recharge 9. Undine (Location) Summon Pet (Undine) Undine Resistance [Auto] Self +Resistance (Lethal, Cold, Negative), +Protection (Hold, Immobilize) Drench (Melee Cone) Foe Moderate Damage Over Time (Cold), -Defense Dehydrate (Ranged) Foe Moderate Damage (Smashing, Cold), Minor Damage over Time (Cold), -Movement, -Recharge, -Defense; Self Heal over Time Water Prison (Ranged) Foe Moderate Damage (Smashing, Cold), Hold, -Movement, -Fly, -Recharge Power details and random thoughts on Water Control: Water Affinity (Controllers, Defenders, Masterminds, Corruptors) 1. Hot Spring (PBAOE) Ally/Self Heal 2. Seafoam (Ranged Cone) Foe -Movement, -Resistance, -Fly, -Jump 3. Mineral Bath (Ranged) Ally Heal 4. Humidity [Toggle] (Ranged AOE) Foe -Resistance 5. Cleanse (Ranged) Ally +Protection (Confuse, Disorient, Fear, Hold, Immobilize, Sleep), +Perception 6. Breakwater [Toggle] (PBAOE) Ally/Self +Resistance (All but Toxic), +Protection (Disorient, Hold, Immobilize) 7. Halocline (Ranged AOE) Foe Sleep, -Defense 8. Tide Pools (Location AOE) Ally/Self +Regeneration, +Endurance Discount 9. Tsunami (Ranged Cone) Foe Knockback, Disorient, -Defense, -Resistance, -Movement, -Recharge Power details and random thoughts on Water Affinity: Water Melee (Scrappers, Tankers, Brutes, Stalkers) This first power table will be the Scrapper one. 1. Aqua Strike (Melee) Foe Moderate Damage (Smashing, Cold), Chance for Disorient; Self Build (Water Pressure) 2. Piston Punch (Melee) Foe High Damage (Smashing, Cold), Chance to Knockdown; Self Build (Water Pressure) 3. Drench (Melee Cone) Foe Moderate Damage Over Time (Cold), -Defense; Self Build (Water Pressure) 4. Build Pressure Self +Damage, +To Hit, Build (Water Pressure) 5. Jet Kick (Ranged, scales w/ Water Pressure) Foe Moderate Damage (Smashing, Cold), Chance to Knockdown; Self Teleport, Consume (Water Pressure) 6. Confront self-explanatory 7. Water Vortex (PBAOE) Foe Moderate Damage (Cold), Draw-in; Self Build (Water Pressure) 8. Pressure Cutter (Melee) Foe Extreme Damage (Lethal, Cold); Self Damage (scales w/ Water Pressure), Consume (Water Pressure) 9. Hydraulic Press (Melee) Foe Superior Damage (Smashing, Cold), Hold (scales w/ Water Pressure); Self Consume (Water Pressure) Here's the other archetypes' power tables with their differences highlighted. Tankers Brutes Stalkers 1. Aqua Strike Aqua Strike Aqua Strike 2. Piston Punch Piston Punch Piston Punch 3. Drench Drench Drench 4. Taunt Build Pressure Assassin's Jet 5. Tidal Kick Tidal Kick Build Up 6. Build Pressure Taunt Placate 7. Water Vortex Water Vortex Tidal Kick 8. Pressure Cutter Pressure Cutter Pressure Cutter 9. Hydraulic Press Hydraulic Press Hydraulic Press In the case of Stalkers I looked at sets like Street Justice and noticed they still have to trade for normal Build Up if it's not just a thematic rename, even though things like Combat Readiness are "Build Up but better" because they play to the set gimmick. Ah well. Power details and random thoughts on Water Melee: Liquid Armor (Scrappers, Tankers, Brutes, Stalkers, Sentinels) The reason this one's called Liquid Armor instead of Water Armor or Hydro Armor is so it can also cover as Chemical Armor or Acid Armor. This is the Scrapper/Tanker/Brute power table. 1. Drenching Aura [Toggle] (PBAOE) Foe Minor Damage over Time (Cold), Taunt 2. Fluid Shield [Toggle] Self +Resistance (Smashing, Lethal), +Protection (Knockback) 3. Rehydrate Self Heal, +Resistance (Toxic) 4. Solvent Armor [Toggle] Self +Protection (Disorient, Hold, Immobilize, Sleep), +Resistance (Toxic) 5. Hydrophobic Coating [Auto] Self +Resistance (Cold, Negative, Recharge) 6. Thermocline Armor [Toggle] Self +Resistance (Heat, Cold, Energy, Negative, Movement, Recharge) 7. Hydrodynamic Body [Auto] Self +Movement, +Recharge, +Resistance (Movement, Immobilize) 8. Storm Drain (PBAOE) Foe Minor Damage (Cold), -Endurance; Self +Endurance (per foe) 9. Overflow Self +Resistance (All), +Defense (All), +Resistance (Mez); [Delayed] Self -Health, -Endurance, -Recovery Here's the Stalker table with only the differences highlighted. 1. Hide self-explanatory 2. Fluid Shield same 3. Rehydrate same 4. Solvent Armor same 5. Hydrophobic Coating same 6. Thermocline Armor same 7. Hydrodynamic Body same 8. Storm Drain same 9. Fluid State Self +Defense (All), +Resistance (Defense, Mez), +Recovery, +Movement, +Phase (Special); [Delayed] Self -Endurance, -Recovery I haven't played Sentinels enough to internalize how their versions of armor sets differ. Sorry, Sentinels. I guess drop Drenching Aura/Hide, shift everything up, and tack Hydrophobic Coating/Ink Burst somewhere? Power details and random thoughts on Liquid Armor: And uh... I'm really bad at ending essays. These are just my thoughts on more water-related power sets. I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Oh! Okay. I misunderstood. I thought you were speaking in direct opposition to the addition of henchmen-only costume slots that don't touch the existing 10 slots that players have access to. I see what you're saying now. Got it. I incorrectly read into it as a very impassioned statement because of the numbers. My bad.

I get that it's hyperbole but why so riled-up about this in specific? I'm genuinely curious. If they're added with the express purpose of being for henchmen and don't encroach your existing costume slots, you're not losing anything. You are literally gaining something at no cost to you. If they implemented it like that mechanically under the hood but it was never visible to you as a player, you wouldn't even know that's how it was. Like is it actually a concern to you, as a player, that the server store these hypothetical pet costumes in a different section of your character's file even if it doesn't affect the result and that you explicitly know that's how it's programmed?

Maybe we don't have to. Just playing devil's advocate for a second: VEATs were able to accidentally acquire a sixth costume as far back as i12. Dunno how the excess alignment-swapped ones behaved but, for the VEAT one at the time, the game supported the sixth costume. The UI just wasn't programmed to display more than five so you couldn't edit #6 at the tailor; it still worked fine and could be accessed with /cc. That brings up the question of how much more costume data current character files can store. If there's sufficient room, perhaps allocating n more costume slots for henchmen could give us the best of both worlds. Add a new NPC at icon/facemaker locations whose UI only looks at those slots (so you can customize them) and disallow /cc or /cce from switching players to them. From the end user's perspective, they now have "player" costumes in the existing menus and "henchmen" costumes in a new menu. (That said, I do still feel the costume route is too clunky and scales badly even if it didn't eat the player's costume slots, for the reasons I gave three posts up.)