Alchemystic

I like this It would also be nice if pressing the jump button while mezzed would cause the message to appear... people will probably spam it but at least you'd be able to see who's crying out for help, right?

Sorry to be the rain on your parade but I think Captain Powerhouse stated that he doesn't want to put more 'mutually exclusive' picks into powersets like he did with Sentinel's Super Reflexes. Still a pretty neat idea all the same though.

Homecoming dont even own the City of Heroes IP, so I dont think we're gonna get in any more trouble than we already are by posting these 🤣

Moving on from that tangent... Yeah, Rage could use some work. It's one of the relics of the old way of designing things, and one of the few ones that have remained untouched. Powers with archaic design choices need to be modernized, which so far has been the case for powers like Rooted and Dimension Shift, but tackling Rage is an entirely different beast. Having the power as a toggle might be a good way to go about it. Have it so while active you gain all of the normal benefits, but also suffer the debuff to resistance. I would also have it so that the endurance cost for maintaining it would be quite high, maybe with 50% of it being unenhanceable. That way there is no 'crash', and you can end the effects when things start to get dicey, but the penalty to your endurance and resistance would be somewhat the same.

As in; it was fleeting 17 years ago, as Castle himself said he could overturn it any time he deemed it necessary. So until we know what is and isn't necessary, the cottage rule is moot.

I believe that may just come down to Brute mains wanting to preserve the status quo, and getting quite uppity about anything that threatens change. Dunno of you saw the forum when Tankers were getting a buff to make them more competitive with Brutes, but... yikes.

Cottage rule shmottage rule I dont think we have to have to honor a fleeting design choice by a developer who isn't even part of the current team, heck, he wasn't even part of the old team for that long anyways.

While I agree that Blasters are the current AoE powerhouse, they're also the single target powerhouse, because no other archetype besides Corruptors can contest them. I think if you were to up the target cap on both Blasters and Sentinels, Blasters would find themselves overwhelmed, while Sentinels would be able to power through because of their secondary powers providing far more survivability. So with that in mind, giving Sentinels the opportunity to flourish with a higher target cap would make them the new AoE powerhouse, while Blasters would still retain their position as the single target powerhouse, rather than holding both titles.

That's fair. Could we maybe get a discussion going in the next patch in regards to the state of Kinetic Melee moving forward?

As @General Idiotsaid, theres plans to bring a real jetpack power to the game via the gadgetry power pool. But, I can see them perhaps adding more back options in the future, since we already have quite a few jetpack costume pieces.

I think I may have an idea for Sentinels to help them better compete with other ranged DPS archetypes, while also giving their secondary powersets a little more purpose, and finally giving the archetype a proper niche; Just like Tankers, we up their maximum target cap by 25%, which would help set them apart from other ranged archetypes, while also justifying the decrease to range they have. It would also mean that their secondary powers would come into play more, as they would inevitably draw more aggro. But that's not all, we should change the Inherent power in order to support this change. So instead of the standard effects of Opportunity dealing more damage, we instead do this; COLLATERAL: Sentinels excel at providing area damage, and many of their powers have a chance to deal extra damage to foes surrounding your primary target. Occasionally, your single target attacks will deal splash damage to nearby foes, dealing a percentage of the base damage in a close area of effect. Additionally, your standard suite of AoE attacks sometimes have higher chance ToHit. I think the above changes would help give Sentinel it's own identity besides just being the 'Ranged Scrapper' or 'Non-Squishy Blaster', we would give it a real niche to capitalise on; the AoE powerhouse. So here are the pros and cons of making such a change; Pros: More competitive AoE damage to compensate for lack of range and snipe powers Higher target cap, making it stand out from other ranged archetypes Less reliance on dealing extra damage through a small window of opportunity Armor powers have more value, as you will receive more aggro with a higher target cap No more need to withhold your first two attacks for the purpose of Opportunity Cons: The Sentinel is more likely to be overwhelmed without backup Less overall single target damage since Opportunity is removed Endurance cost of powers may need to be increased to compensate for higher target cap

Which one of you GMs took this from General Discussion and dumped it here in Suggestions? C'mon, fess up.

As I said, the main issue with Sentinels isn't their Resistance/Defence numbers. I don't think it's strictly up-front damage either, I think it mostly falls down to their Inherent Power (Opportunity) being a less effective version of Corruptor's 'Scourge'. In fact, I'd say the main reason why Scrappers and Stalkers have much higher damage as you say is because they can reliably deal out critical strikes, whereas Sentinels can only deal 'micro crits' in a manner of speaking when their inherent power briefly comes into play. Another reason Sentinels underperform is that they don't really have a niche to fill. which circles back to the idea that their Inherent power is flawed. Sentinels fall short compared to other Archetypes when it comes to the role they're supposed to fill, which is something of a ranged Scrapper, since Blasters and Corruptors outperform them in ranged damage, and all other Melee archetypes are better able to utilise their armor powersets. Pushing them towards filling an already existent role (ie. Tanking, ranged DPS) is likely not going to be enough. Redesigning the Sentinel's Inherent power to make the archetype more viable is probably the best way to go.

Hard pass. While I agree that Sentinels really need a performance boost, their secondary powersets actually perform quite well, sometimes better than the versions seen in other archetypes. Adding a single target taunt onto Sentinels is also very counterproductive, as many of their powers rely on AoE, so removing an enemy from a large mob would make it harder to position attacks properly. And why up the Resistance cap on Sentinels, but not Scrappers and Stalkers who would arguably need it more? Sentinels do not attract as much aggro as melee archetypes, so I see no reason for their Resistance numbers to be adjusted.

Taking the unique powers from Beast Mastery and turning them into a new support set is a fantastic idea! It'd be nice to see more 'natural' themed support sets included in the game. Theres probably plenty of unique FX tied to Beast Mastery alone, and probably even a few things that can be borrowed from Ghouls to help visualise it too, so I think it's definitely a set that can be recycled from assets already in the game quite easily. The addition of a stance mechanic is quite interesting too, it's certainly help set it apart from other support sets and play on the whole theme of being adaptive, so I'm all for it!

I'd like to see something like this implemented, but there has to be enough content in each zone in order to advance your levels that far. If the missions in each zone can take you from 1-10, 10-20 and so on then it won't be a problem, otherwise there may have to be more stuff added in to help pad it out so you can level through it all the old fashioned way.

Praetorian characters are a rarity these days, and one of the major reasons for that is that the whole Going Rogue chapter of the game came to a close. Making a new Praetorian character means reliving the events of the past, nothing you do is considered part of the present narrative anymore, and until Praetoria gets restored in the story (which I dont imagine happening soon), maybe an alternative start for Praetorian characters could help bring them into the present setting. So, how do we do this? I suggest we create a new second tutorial option for Praetorian characters (which can be skipped of course) where the character begins his career as a refugee on Primal Earth. You'll start in a slice of Khallisti Wharf where contacts will brief you on the events of the fall of Praetoria. You will have to visit each one in order to learn of the major events leading up to your displacement. Armed with this knowledge, you intervene in a fight that has broken out in the camp between former Loyalists and Resistance supporters, and depending on which side you defend will determine which one you will take as your alignment. You will be tasked with defeating X amount of Loyalist/Resistance extremists before returning to your contact once again. After which, you will then be approached by representatives of your new faction, each presenting an idea to leave the camp and make their own way in the world, each one declaring that they're either going to remain in Paragon and protect their new home, or leave for the Isles where they can take what is rightfully theirs. Once you've decided on your path, you will leave the camp, only to be ambushed by a boss who chose the other path, and you will need to defeat him before you progress into the open world. In addition to this new tutorial, Praetorian alignments will be tweaked so that they work much the same as standard ones, allowing you to retain your alignment and play it in Primal Earth and gain access to Alignment Powers, and later you can make the choice to take on traditional alignments (Null the Gull will allow you to swap back to Praetorian again after if you so choose). Below is what I think works as a 'best fit' conversion of Praetorian alignments; Resistance (Warden) = Vigilante Resistance (Crusader) = Villain Loyalist (Responsibility) = Hero Loyalist (Power) = Rogue Of course, this isn't to say you are locked into these choices, they are just representative of what Alignment Power and Zone access you will have until you change your alignment via tip missions or Null the Gull. It also means being able to retain use of the unique Praetorian titles that are otherwise lost when you proceed to Primal Earth. Once situated in Atlas Park or Mercy Island, you will be able to progress through the core game as normal, but your badges, titles and alignment will be that of a Praetorian character from then on. Of course, skipping the tutorials will prompt you with a choice of where you wish to start; Praetoria or Primal Earth, and you can enter the game right away with all the benefits listed above. In addition, when playing through Praetoria and reaching the point where you journey to Primal Earth, you will be able to keep your Praetorian alignment instead of being changed to hero/villain as you would before. There will be a new contact situated outside the starting area who will allow you to change to hero/villain right away, and also change you back to Praetorian alignments if you prefer. For Primal Earth characters, this character will not offer these choices to you, and neither will Null the Gull.

Its come up a few times and the main reason is game health and balance. Right now, the game is arguably too easy for most people, and a lot of that is down to the fact that they can create builds through clever use of pool powers in order to maximise their effectiveness. Having access to all pool powers without restriction would create a scenario where these kinds of builds are not only easier to create, but also far more powerful. And since the difficulty pacing of the game is at a standstill, there's going to be a lack of content that can challenge players enough to merit this kind of change, so we would effectively lose more than what we would gain.

I'd argue that the same can be said for CoH, for the most part. I've found that even if the traditional role of playing support for DPS/tanks starts to become less of a necessity in late game, support archetypes can still cooperate with each other to great effect, which debunks the whole 'supports need non-supports to fight their battles' argument.

That's how support characters work in literally every video game ever.

This "fix" seems more like a performance tweak for solo play. And considering support classes are supposed to... support, well this very much defeats the point. Your 'personal protection' so to speak is the teammates you empower, who are better able to deal damage or hold aggro than you are. You can increase your own survivability by simply picking any of the resist/defense powers in your ancillary, or other power pools. Playing a support who can defend himself just as much as his allies flies in the face of what a support is meant to be. If you want to play a class that can stand toe to toe with difficult mobs, and still provide a little support, then play Sentinel, Tanker or any of the Epic Archetypes. That, or come up with a build that focuses on maximising what protective powers are already available to you. So I dont think support classes "need help", they do the job they were made for very much as intended, and their ancillary/pool powers, incarnate abilities and enhancement sets help do the rest.

I think this may be an unintended FX bug, because if I remember right, the power is supposed to have similar visuals to Shadowy Presence, which isn't broken.

Any idea what day job power would be associated with it?

@Jimmy if 'Stealth' wins out, then does that mean that Illusion Control's 'Superior Invisibility' just becomes... Invisibility?

I had a similar idea some time ago when Mirror FX first came out, see what you think!