Alchemystic

Hi all! Been a while since I've made a post here in this thread, but today would mark the 6th anniversary of Eco-Friendly Powerset Recycling! This project was semi-retired on it's 5th anniversary, after a shared journey that saw 200 powersets curated by myself and the community, an achievement myself and all contributors to the project should be proud of! After that, I felt like it was a good point to wrap things up, as there was very little material left to delve into (though I still had a few ideas that could have potential) While things have been dormant here, the development team have been hard at work this past year creating all new powersets in the form of Psionic Aura, Sonic Melee and Pyrotechnic Control, and I expect more to follow! The first two powersets we've seen explored here in the forums before, in this thread and elsewhere, but Pyrotechnic Control was something I never anticipated, and I think that's owed to how it's designed with a truly bespoke suite of FX. What that does mean is that after those 200+ powersets, we're seeing new material being engineered for the game, which means that there's more potential to exploit explore! So, I'm gonna shake off the rust after a year and see how we can expand the Pyrotechnics theme, and potentially see where things go in the future! Pyrotechnic Manipulation: Kicking things off, a Manipulation powerset derived from Pyrotechnic Control, which should be easy enough with the bulk of the work already being done with so many mez powers available to use. Melee powers should be easy enough, as they often just take the form of a hand aura over existing animations. - Sparkling Cage: Power taken directly from Pyrotechnic Control, fitting as the initial T1 immobilize power common to most Manipulation sets - Flourish: A new melee power that uses the standard Pyrotechnic Control fist FX, using the same animation as 'Quick Strike' from Kinetic Melee - Dazzle: Another power belonging to Pyrotechnic Control, working as a single target Hold seen in newer Manipulation sets - Volatile Build Up: A variant of Build Up that also increases chance for Blast Off - Rocket Twirl: A power belonging to the Catherine Wheel pet, using similar FX and the 'Whirling Fist' animation - Supercharge: A click power that increases recharge, recovery and regeneration for a short time. Uses similar FX to the 'Fireworks' costume aura - Incendiary Aura: Another Pyrotechnic Control power, working as a AoE debuff seen in some powersets - Bursting Barrage: A reworked version of Brilliant Barrage that works as a single AoE rather than having a second volley - Liftoff: A new melee power that uses a smaller version of Catherine Wheel FX on the fists and the 'Knockout Blow' animation, knocking them into the air Pyrotechnic Assault: Next up, we have a powerset designed to pair with Pyrotechnic Control directly, at least for Dominators. Thankfully, the Catherine Wheel pet has it's own suite of attacks that can be retooled into blast attacks to make up the bulk of the powerset. All these need are animations that work well with the player model. - Twinkling Bolt: A simple ranged attack power taken from Catherine Wheel. Uses the 'Fire Blast' animation - Flourish: Same as above - Dazzling Blast: A new power using the same FX as 'Dazzle', but deals more damage and has no Hold or Blast Off effect - Glitter Flare: Another power lifted from Catherine Wheel, working as a higher damage ranged blast and uses the 'Fire Ball' animation - Power Up: Standard Power Up ability seen in some sets - Rocket Twirl: Same as above - Supercharge: Same as above - Liftoff: Same as above - Vibrant Bolt: A Catherine Wheen blast power that deals heavier damage over time, using the 'Flares' animation to match the multiple projectiles

Good point! Upthrust would probably be better here. As for an AoE debuff the only thing I can think of is a power called 'Ash Fall' which is unique to the Earth themed enemies in Talons of Vengeance. I might also add that to Scrappers/Stalkers and swap out Entomb for Tombstone. Blasters get Quicksand, Masterminds get Beryl Crystals 🙂

As the title says, it would be great if we could get Earth Mastery expanded to other Archetypes. At present, the only Archetypes that have access to the Earth Mastery Ancillaries are Controller, Brute and Tanker, but we've had access to Seismic Blast and Earth Manipulation for some time now (as well as other material from the Talons of Vengeance that inspired these powersets), which should provide enough powers for other Archetypes to have access to an Earth Mastery power pool, while some can be achieved without it entirely. So basing this from other Archetypes, here's what we could do; Dominator - Ash Fall - Rock Shards - Rock Armor - Upthrust - Beryl Crystals Sentinel - Stone Cages - Seismic Smash - Fossilize - Tremor - Mud Pots Blaster/Mastermind - Stone Cages - Fossilize - Earth's Embrace - Rock Armor - Quicksand/Beryl Crystals Defender/Corruptor - Stone Cages - Rock Armor - Beryl Crystals - Fossilize - Seismic Smash Scrapper/Stalker - Stone Prison - Rock Shards - Fossilize - Tombstone - Ash Fall

I was once told by a former developer that 80-90% of the work creating a new powerset is the animations/FX, and the effort making alternative options for an existing powerset is hard to justify when they could just make something new. If that's still the case, a Force Blast powerset could be more likely to happen than alternative FX for Energy Blast, though it would have to be different mechanically too. EDIT: I also checked, and during the consolidation of ancillary powersets into singular themes, Energy and Force remained distinctly two different things, dispite sharing powers like Body/Energy mastery did, suggesting that they are not considered direct analogues. EDIT 2: Force Field doesn't actually contain any energy damage in it's attacks so that may be why there's a distinction. If that's the case I can see Force Blast working as a pure smashing damage powerset maybe?

Also considering doing this for Symphony Control. While it isn't a 'Sonic' set by name, it could use the same treatment. For this, I would likely suggest animations that fit a more conductor/maestro animation theme, a lot of hand movement and flair. The two things that come to mind are Kinetic Melee and the Sorcery power pool. Animation times are again a rough fit rather than an exact match, hopefully avoiding anything that looks too sped up or slowed down. Melodic Binding: Animation Time: 1.5 Seconds Suitable Alternative Animation: Quick Strike (Kinetic Melee) Hymm of Dissonance: Animation Time: 1.67 Seconds Suitable Alternative Animation: Hydro Blast (Water Blast) Aria of Stasis: Animation Time: 1.5 Seconds Suitable Alternative Animation: Body Blow (Kinetic Melee) Impassioned Seranade: Animation Time: 2.0 Seconds Suitable Alternative Animation: Enflame (Sorcery) Dreadful Discord: Animation Time: 2.17 Seconds Suitable Alternative Animation: Smashing Blow (Kinetic Melee) Enfeebling Lullaby: Animation Time: 2.67 Seconds Suitable Alternative Animation: Spirit Ward (Sorcery) Counfounding Chant: Animation Time: 2.33 Seconds Suitable Alternative Animation: Focused Burst (Kinetic Melee) Chords of Despair: Animation Time: 2.67 Seconds Suitable Alternative Animation: Concentrated Strike (Kinetic Melee) Reverberant: Animation Time: 2.03 Seconds Suitable Alternative Animation: Arcane Bolt (Sorcery)

So now that Sonic Melee has beeen released, I was hoping that there would be a secondary animation suite available with it like other Sonic powersets (listed as Sonic Assault for attack sets, and Sonic Crush for others). However, we have yet to receive those options for some powers in Sonic Melee, or Sonic Manipulation and Sonic Assault. So, I would like to suggest some alternative animations to give players access to two distinct 'themes'- one for vocal sonic attacks, and one for projected sonic attacks. Sonic Thrust: Animation Time: 1.0 Seconds - Default Animation Style: Projection Suitable Alternative Animation: Vocal - Shriek (Sonic Blast) Strident Echo: Animation Time: 1.67 Seconds - Default Animation Style: Projection Suitable Alternative Animation: Vocal - Mental Blast (Psychic Blast) Echo Chamber: Animation Time: 1.67 Seconds - Default Animation Style: Vocal Suitable Alternative Animation: Projection - Mental Blast Alternate (Psychic Blast Alternate) Attune: Animation Time: 1.0 Seconds - Default Animation Style: Vocal Suitable Alternative Animation: Projection - Shriek Alternate (Sonic Blast Alternate) Sonic Clap: Animation Time: 1.23 Seconds - Default Animation Style: Projection Suitable Alternative Animation: Vocal - Howl (Sonic Blast) Sandman's/Assassin's Whisper: Animation Time: 1.77/3.33 Seconds - Default Animation Style: Vocal Suitable Alternative Animation: Projection - Assassin's Strike (Kinetic Melee) Deafening Wave: Animation Time: 2.03 Seconds - Default Animation Style: Projection Suitable Alternative Animation: Vocal - Dreadful Wail (Sonic Blast) Sound Cannon: Animation Time: 1.5 Seconds - Default Animation Style: Vocal Suitable Alternative Animation: Projection - Clarity Alternate (Sonic Resonance Alternate) Earsplitter: Animation Time: 1.67 Seconds - Default Animation Style: Vocal Suitable Alternative Animation: Projection - Mind Probe (Mental Manipulation)

I'm in favor of the AoE solution. We already have Spines and Radiation Melee with a DoT aura, while it's uncommon it still has precedent. It would be far more user friendly to have something that can be activated once and affects enemies nearby, rather than selecting one enemy and re-toggling each time they are defeated or target priority changes. If it doesn't seem to work, keep Attune in your back pocket for Sonic Aura perhaps? If it's proving too difficult to balance or overcome current technical hurdles, you can always tweak the power to work as an AoE toggle for an aura powerset instead, in practicality it still would be a melee-focused ability.

I wouldn't mind seeing some alternative animations on this powerset to lean into that, as all other sonic powersets have a 2nd animation suite designed for projecting attacks from the hands instead of screaming.

I think given the amount of user issues Attune is having we really aught to just retire the power and go back to the drawing board. There has been no shortage of player feedback regarding poor experience, and a slew of technical problems crippling it's ability to overcome the pain points people are reporting. It seems that when the power is changed to suit the players, it breaks the code, and likewise when it is changed to fix the code, it no longer suits the players. It was a novel idea, and I respect the out of the box thinking, but it just doesn't seem to be viable in it's current form.

A shame, cos playing the new verison of Attune is definitely more user friendly than the previous iterations, but it seems to have no shortage of back-end issues. I appreciate changes were made to try and make the power feel less awkward to use, but it seems the awkwardness is happening on the technical side instead. If we had a powerset like Sonic Aura to match, I'd probably throw the Attune idea at that instead, and turning it into the powerset's AoE aura with similar mechanics. An AoE toggle that reduces enemy resistance, taunts foes, and gives your attack powers an energy DoT effect.

Still playing with this so I'll edit as I go. Attune seems as though it's in a very perculiar place, it's feels like a combination of Follow Up (Claws), Molten Embrace (Fiery Aura) and Power Siphon (Kinetic Melee), while also having to compete internally with Sound Booster as the means of increasing the damage output of the set (albiet one that is far more restrictive). Not only that, but it's another gimmick ontop of the already present 'Migriane' mechanic which should probably be the focus here instead, as it already was present in Sonic Assault and works just fine as is. I think a way forward here is to just drop Attune and give Migrianes a DoT element, or combine the functionality of Attune and Sound Booster into one power; a toggle that deals DoT to a target, with a (much higher) DoT boost from other attacks, and improves the chance of inducing Migraines. I feel this would definitely help refine the powerset to emphasise it's strongest points, removing the excess of conflicting and redundant mechanics, and ensuring that players are better able to utilize powers without several conditional factors complicating their use. It could look something like this; Attune: Melee Toggle, DoT(Energy), +Special, +Chance to Hold A high-intensity sound wave that matches the resonant frequency of your target. This power does not inflict much damage but can be sustained for continued damage over time that will be boosted if you strike the target with any of your Sonic Melee attacks. Each of these attacks will further increase the strength of the damage over time, and have an increased chance to induce Migraines. Stalkers, however, could just keep Build Up (or potentially Sound Booster) instead of Attune, as other powersets with similar unique variants (Staff, Dark, Claws, Kinetic) opt not to give them to Stalkers in order to fit more neatly into the archetype's playstyle. It just seems rather tedious trying to juggle your ability to hide and deliver stealth strikes ontop of a mechanic you need to lock into, which I imagine is why those other powersets dropped them entirely. As for the rest of the set? Most of it is set up well enough, the main drawback is how much of it has become convoluted trying to include both the Attune and Migraine mechanics when the best course of action would be to consolidate the two features into one, especially if it helps powers feel less situational and far more user-friendly. Whether Attune or Sound Booster are dropped, it probably means that there would be an opening for a new power to be added to the set, perhaps a ranged attack, narrow cone, or strong melee power? Making something new is probably a bit more hard work, so what about bringing over Howl or Shout from Sonic Attack? All in all, the rest of the powerset seems fine, it's just unfortunately burdened by being pulled in too many directions at once. I think if we want it to thrive, we need to focus attention on streamlining it, and that means getting rid of the dead weight.

Can we get some more texture options for the female long boots? I've seen it done on some other clients and for the most part it would be pretty easy, it's just a matter of curating from the list of options available on other boots and finding ones that work (eg. combat, matte, rough leather, etc)

Alternatively, there is a power available to some Demon Summoning pets called 'Ember Shield' which has a unique FX that is far less intensive and could work well!

Something I'm sure has been requested before, but I would love to see MinFX options for fire based auras since we now have MinFX for Ice and Stone. I'm sure this is something that could be easily implemented for some powers more than others, so I'd mostly like to focus the full body auras. These auras include; Fire Shield, Thermal Shield and both versions of Plasma Shield 🤔 I think an easy stand-in for these powers would be taking the FX from 'Molten Embrace', as it does not look intrusive and makes for good visual representation of heat without flame! In exchange, I'd also wanna give Molten Embrace the FX from 'Melt Armor' to create a stronger visual (sort of the inverse of what I'm suggesting 😅), with it's current customisation listed as MinFX to keep things consistent.

While not specifically the same costume items, the Mk-VI Victoria, BCU and War Walker all have functional parts that correspond to the female, male and huge body types, meaning that it at least has some precedent being ported to players with there being availability for all character models.

Might also be worth mentioning that Mace Mastery's version of Personal Force Field also has an Excelsion customization option.

Thank you so much for including this! So happy to see it added 🫶

I did at one point create a single-pistol style powerset based on what animations could work around the restriction of having just one firearm. There's definitely enough to work with, but the tricky part is making it stand out compared to Dual Pistols and other Lethal damage weapon options. Though, before I did this, I did suggest during one of the Weekly Discussions that a pistol based power pool would make a lot of sense too, as a sort of ranged lethal parallel to Fighting.

As of today, this project has reached it's 5th year, and also curated 200 powersets! Words can't express how grateful I am to the contributors here who have helped make these two milestones possible! It's been a great journey getting to this point, and it's been wonderful seeing people still taking an interest in this project 5 years later! Even during times where I had to step away, it was amazing seeing people carry on supporting the thread, and still finding the potential for new powersets even after I struggled to find inspiration myself. 200 powersets is no small amount, and we couldn't have reached that number without the community here, whether people who have been here from the early days to newcomers who have stumbled onto it recently. It's been an interesting 5 years, and seeing even some small amount of the works here make it into the game has been an amazing feeling, whether it was purely coincidental or not! So what does this mean for the thread moving forward? Surely after all this time there's little else to be done? Those observant amongst you may have noticed that we're nearing a point where we might not be so reliant on recycling old assets moving forward, with new content really pushing the boundaries of the game engine, and overcoming certain coding obstacles once thought impassible. However, I think regardless of that, we're still likely to see new powersets using current assets as it's likely the more efficient option, but it could mean that we could see newer material introduced in future, which in turn means more that could potentially be used here! So, here's to the future! Thank you again everybody!

So I've seen a lot of Mastermind powerset ideas recently, so I've been itching to try my hand at another. What I'd really like to see is an occult-themed powerset that featured humanoid henchmen instead of demons or zombies. Something I think we're missing in the Mastermind sphere is Cultists, with the Player leading them. This powerset uses a similar torch weapon to Luddite Torchbearers and Carnie Seneschals, which can be customized to have different colors, along with the colors of pet powers. Visually, these pets use alot of NPC costume parts borrowed from factions such as the Luddites and Shepherds so it's a little hard to visualize their appearance here, but it would use the assets available from those enemy groups to build unique outfits for the henchmen. Cultists - Fling Flames: Single Target ranged attack that uses the standard 'Wand Cast' animation to send out a projectile similar to 'Char' or 'Choking Powder' - Call Acolytes: Summons up to 3 Acolytes. Acolytes are equipped with a dagger and hand crossbow. Basic Powers: Dagger Stab (Melee Moderate Lethal), Hand Crossbow (Ranged Moderate Lethal) Equip Powers: Dagger Slash (Melee High Lethal), Aimed Shot (Ranged High Lethal) Upgrade Powers: Dagger Slice (Cone Moderate Lethal), Fire Bomb (AoE Moderate Fire DoT) - Spit Fire: Taken from the Seneschal Lore Pet, spitting a flame projectile at long range from the torch - Equip Cultists: First Upgrade for Henchmen, holds the torch aloft like the Mace Mastery summon animation - Fire Breath: A power taken from Luddites/Carnies, breathing fire in a cone from the held torch - Call Fanatics: Summon up to 2 Fanatics. They use crossbows with Archery/Trick Arrow powers Basic Powers: Brawl (Minor Smash), Aimed Shot (Ranged High Lethal), Blazing Arrow (Ranged High Lethal, Minor Fire Dot) Equip Powers: Weapon Butt (Melee Moderate Smash), Explosive Arrow (AoE Moderate Smash/Fire), Perfect Shot (Very High Lethal) Smoke Grenade (AoE -ToHit, -Per) Upgrade Powers: Oil Slick Arrow (AoE Knockdown, Special), Ranged Shot (Sniper, Extreme Lethal) - Brand: Strike an ally pet with your torch, dealing minor fire damage but increasing their Damage, Recharge, Recovery and Mez Protection. - Call Zealot: Summons a Zealot, who uses a torch like the player and counts as a Dominator. Melee powers use the torch as though it was a War Mace Basic Powers: Scorch (Melee Moderate Fire/Smash, Minor Fire DoT), Fling Flames (Ranged Moderate Fire DoT), Char (Ranged Hold, Minor Fire DoT) Equip Powers: Spit Fire (Ranged High Fire DoT), Bonfire (AoE Knockback, Minor Fire DoT), Cremate (Melee High Damage Fire) Upgrade Powers: Fire Breath (Cone Moderate Fire DoT), Cinders (AoE Hold), Incinerate (Melee High DoT Fire) - Upgrade Equipment: Second Upgrade for Henchmen, holds the torch aloft like the Mace Mastery summon animation

Any ideas what animations and FX specifically? 🤔

@LightMaster I like the ideas though this thread is a little more focused on the building blocks used to make the powers, not just the powers themselves. Do you have any thoughts on what sort of animations or visual effects could be used to construct these latest powersets? The idea behind this thread is recycling existing material after all, not so much the mechanical or numerical side of things.

@LightMaster you might like to check out this thread regarding spears/polearm melee, which also helped inspire the Polearm Melee powerset here!

@megaericzero you could potentially use the swamp monster costume parts to make a custom NPC for the T3 pet 😀

You might want to check out Carnival Masterminds by @ironjoe 😄