Alchemystic

Easiest thing to do would be to swap the Granite Armor model for the Animate Stone pet. That way you have the same 3 customisation themes; Stone, Lava and Crystal.

The data is there, but unfortunately the visual/animation assets are not. WeHaveCake/Thunderspy have a semi-functioning version, but it's not exactly... pretty. I think it was another in a long line of demo projects that showcased the possibilities, but never really delivered the goods.

I was considering working on a way to do Wind Control's visuals in my thread, but I don't think it'd really be the place. But, since the opportunity has come up, I'll share what I have here instead! - Updraft: This one is fairly easy, we simply use the 'armor up' FX of Ice Armor, with the swirling winds rising up, and adding in some dust/cloud FX over it. - Downdraft: The above, but reversed - Breathless: A little more difficult, we re-use the 'Shadow Field' FX from Dark Control (with more dust particles), and have a similar swirling field over each foes' head. Again, more dust/cloud FX to help separate it from dark. - Wind Shear: Similar to breathless, but centred on the player, with the Hurricane FX swirling around your feet. - Thundergust: We can do this using a smaller verison of the 'Gust' FX from Storm Summoning. - Microburst: For this one, we use a faster version of Dark Control's 'Heart of Darkness' with a brief Hurricane FX bursting out along with it. - Keening Winds: Similar to Beathless, only with a heavy cloud in the middle. - Vacuum: We can probably do this by making a wide version of the Tornado FX, and having each foe suspended in the air with the Updraft FX. - Vortex: This is a little harder, we could probably make a floating orb that uses a combination of the Shadow Field and Hurricane FX, but much smaller.

if its on the beta, that means they are interested in feedback. That's the whole point.

Its a problem because it was never intended for player use. But the HC team didn't want to remove it outright, they wanted to make a suitable replacement first. So you could be thankful for that.

Going through some of the 'Pain' stuff I did, I figured there miiiight just be enough material to put together a working Control powerset. So once again I'm using The Awakened NPC group as base to work from, while adding in stuff from other fitting sources too. I know, I know, we already have Mind Control (and Illusion Control) that fits into that 'psionic control' role, but its always good to have variety! Not too sure what to call this one, I'm leaning towards 'Pain Control' to make it more consistent with the other powersets, but 'Psionic Control' is also on the table. Pain Control You have the power to project painful waves of psionic energy, causing your foes to writhe in agony or be subject to battering telekinetic force. - Subdual: A power a lot of The Awakened possess, as well as being available in other psionic powersets. Ideal for the T1 immobilize power. - Telekinetic Lift: Another power from The Awakened, lifts a target into the air much like... well, Lift. - Psionic Prison: A unique hold power from The Awakened, fits into the set nicely. - Telekinetic Blast: A ranged attack power from Psychic Blast/Fortunata Training with good knockback. Fills a similar role to Propel, Spectral Wounds and Jolting Chain. - Mass Subdual: A new power, working as an AoE version of Subdue. - Mass Levitate: Similar enough to the Psionic Melee power of the same name, knocking all surrounding foes high into the air. - Imprisoning Hold: Another new power, working as an AoE of Psionic Prison, without the damage. - Psionic Drift: A unique power belonging to Penelope Mayhem/Yin, randomly inflicting stun, sleep, or confuse on foes in its AoE. - Psionic Nexus: Another unique power from Penelope Mayhem/Yin, summoning her unique pet that has access to a few ranged blast powers.

So it is! My mind sorta skipped past the T9 part... 😅 I have a few things to say about T9s at least! Time Bomb needs to have its deployment time reduced, or even made into a ranged power. Force Bubble is just... it's funny, but it's not exactly effective. maybe some sort of click power that grants a big chunk of Absorb to foes would do better, while merging the utility of this power with Repulsion Field seems fitting. Lightning Storm needs more damage I think, it's not great Venomous Gas is good, it just really drains too much damn endurance!

Nah, just Pain has more goodies.

because in addition to matching Empathy's healing, it also benefits from having a series of secondary buffs that increase its versatility, and possesses much more reliable healing delivery. Share Pain has a +DMG buff, whereas Absorb pain does not. Conduit of Pain has a whole assortment of buffs, while Resurrect gets nothing. Enforced Morale has way more benefits than that of Clear Mind. Soothing Aura/Supress Pain simply just outperforms Regeneration Aura World of Pain is an AoE version of Fortitude, just without the +DEF. and finally Painbringer is just a more favourable version of Adrenaline Boost. In addition to giving Empathy slightly more healing so it can keep up, I would also suggest rolling Recovery Aura and Regeneration Aura into a single power, and creating an entirely new power that grants more buffs to allies, or maybe debuffs foes.

I think from personal experience healing is an extremely competitive factor between powersets, and it should perhaps be levelled out a little more. healing-focused powersets tend not to be as favorable as powersets that have a good mix of healing and support, like Thermal Radiation and Nature Affinity, whereas powers with very little healing like Poison and Storm Summoning tend to perform so poorly that the healing powers are often skipped. Empathy: The healing potential of this powerset is entirely lacklustre when measured against Pain Domination and Nature Affinity, a way to fix this would be to give it much more healing power across the board, help it perform better. Dark Miasma/Affinity: Twilight Grasp is annoying at times, because the chance to miss can make it a let down, especially after such a long animation. Having is so that if it misses it only deals a reduced amount of healing would be nice. Kinetics: Transfusion has the same problem as Twilight Grasp, too reliant on accuracy. I propose a similar fix for this power too. Poison: Single target heals are fine when you can shore it up with other sources, but in the case of Poison, Alkaloid is just too weak, and has an extremely long animation and projectile speed. I would suggest making this power a 'splash' AoE, where nearby targets are healed for a lesser amount to help balance this out. Storm Summoning: Same issue as Poison, O2 boost just isn't that great, but it at least gets delivered much faster. I would suggest the same fix, giving it a smaller healing effect to allies within it's radius. Traps: I know, I know, technically this one isn't healing, it's regeneration. But I still think that it could do with a buff. Triage beacon's immobile patch of regeneration isn't ideal when you compare it to Supress Pain or Lifegiving Spores. I would suggest making this a toggle instead, so you can redeploy it when and where you need it. Other powersets with healing, like Pain Domination, Thermal Radiation, Nature Affinity and Time Manipulation all perform adequately enough, so they aren't really in dire need of improvements as far as their healing effectiveness goes.

doors

Go trick or tricking at night like a normal person then

Step 1: Go to the P2W vendor Step 2: Purchase the Base Transporter power Step 3: Activate the power

So I was thinking of a few more 'generic' style pools that don't really have much of a theme behind them besides being accessible to just about any character concept, like the ones we have now (besides origin power pools of course!) I made these pools to sort of 'fill in the gaps' in utility that the current ones are lacking in; ranged damage, self buff, control and mez. I also opted to use some of the more esoteric effects are extremely rare, like boosting range or offering endurance discount, or even revealing a map or showing NPC data. They follow the same rules as the other normal pools powers, not limiting what other pools you can pick, and only having the first two powers accessible right away instead of three like travel pools. Personality Your strength of personality allows you to increase your ability to resist mental distractions, while asserting your influence over others. - Challenge: A single target taunt power that also placates foes around the target, creating a '1v1' effect. - Charisma: A toggle power that grants you resistance to Placate, Taunt and Confusion, as well as Perception and Damage debuffs. - Confidence: A toggle power that grants you resistance to Fear and Sleep, as well as Defense and ToHit debuffs. - Charm: A click power that causes a single target to become Confused, with a low chance of confusing nearby foes too. - Prowess: A click power that acts as a weaker version of Power Build up This power pool is intended to serve as a decent means of shoring up mez protection that currently isn't offered in other standard pool powers, while also offering similar aggro mitigating powers to Presence, topped off with a handy boost power. This pool is inspired by the cliche bluster and bravado of heroes and villains, playing on their ability to constantly make quips or speeches even in the midst of battle. Intellect Your amazing intellect imbues you with higher thought processes that allow you greater focus and forsight. - Analyze: A click power that reveals an NPCs data much like the Power Analyzer temp power, and also gives a small boost to ToHit. - Quick Thinking: A click power that grants extra endurance and a slight boost to recharge. - Mental Barrier: A toggle power that increases psychic resistance and defense. - Insight: A click power that buffs an ally and increases the effectiveness of their archetype inherent power. - Genius: A click power that grants extra Mez chance and magnitude for a short time. Intellect is intended as a pool power that improves the overall performance of a character and his allies, with access to a handy psionic toggle power as slight bump to resistance/defense values. This pool plays on the archetypical 'smart guy' of the team, a person with such a brain that's capable of going turbo, allowing them to perceive every angle and hypothesize every outcome. Self Defense You are trained in the arts of self defense, allowing you to control your enemies through special attacks. - Throw: A melee click power that deals light smashing damage repels a single target similar to Ki Push. - Trip: A melee click power delivers light smashing damage and knocks down enemies in a cone. - Grapple: A toggle power that can only be activated/maintained in melee range. Holds a single target and deals no damage. - Counterattack: A melee click power that works much like Parry, delivering moderate smashing damage and significantly boosting Melee Defense for a short time. - Disengage: A click power that placates all nearby foes and teleports you to the targeted location Self Defense is a diet control set, which works a little differently. All powers are melee focused instead of range, allowing you a little more mez in close quarters combat. This pool fits into that character trope of knowing judo or wrestling to subdue an enemy, where you toss goons aside and lock down the big boss. Survival You have incredible instincts and physical fortitude that improve your chances of survival. - Awareness: A click power that reveals the map, and grants a small boost to perception and range. - Constitution: A toggle power that increases resistance to toxic damage, and increases regeneration. - Acclimate: A toggle power that increases resistance to fire and cold damage. - Preparedness: A click power that grants absorb and a slight endurance discount. - Escape: A click power that can only be activated when Mezzed, breaking you free and increasing movement speed for a short time. Survival is a small pool dedicated to increasing... well, survival. A few resistance powers and buffs to healing are core to this, as well as abilities that help perceive or avoid danger. Themes for this set were the lone wolf, the grizzled survivor, somebody who can endure the worst and come out on top because he knows how to stay alive through the worst. Sidearm You possess a small caliber sidearm that you can use as a backup weapon, allowing you to fire on enemies at range. - Single Shot: A single target ranged attack that deals moderate lethal damage. - Covering Fire: A single target ranged attack that deals light lethal damage and reduces the target's recharge and speed. - Ricochet: A chaining power that ricochets a bullet between multiple foes dealing moderate lethal damage. - Point Blank Shot: A close range power that deals high lethal damage and knocks the target back. - Rapid Reload: A click power that instantly recharges all of your Sidearm powers, and grants them an endurance discount for a short duration. The inclusion of a dedicated mini-blast set seemed apt, since we have Fighting as a mini-melee set. Ranged damage is key, and just like Fighting, an abundant damage type was chosen; Lethal. Who doesn't want a handgun? Okay, maybe a few people, but for characters that have few options to attack at range, a sidearm like this is perfect, it works for a nice thematic piece for edgy broody types, or for those who want a simple option for defending themselves.

I actually forgot to do this one for the longest time, I even mentioned it in my original post and I just spaced on it completely 😅 This is another Manipulation powerset, loosely based off Martial Combat, but isn't a complete copy at least! Street Combat Your ability to fight dirty allows you to deliver crushing blows and devastating strikes, while also using your streetwise savvy to disable your foes and catch them unaware. - Shove: A new power that is functionally identical to Power Thrust, even using the same animation, but with a Street justice FX. - Heavy Blow: A power taken from Street Justice, works as a good starter melee power. - Build Up: Standard build up power. - Rib Cracker: Another Street Justice power, works as a nice high damage melee attack. - Skulk: A power with identical functionality to Field operative from Devices, concealing the player and granting regen and recovery - Spinning Strike: A good AoE melee power taken from Street Justice, though lacking the combo mechanic. - Menace: A power similar to Scare, threatening a target and causing fear, using the 'threaten' NPC emote. - Throw Sand: Taken from Martial Combat, I figured the power would work nicely here too. - Shin Breaker: A good melee power from Street Justice that works nicely as the T9.

Would you accept that Serum is justified in breaking this rule?

To my understanding, the cottage rule was intended to preserve the core functionality of a power. As you've stated, the new functionality has eclipsed the old, ergo breaking the cottage rule. The examples aren't limited to Blaster, however. Powers like Dimension Shift, Disrupt and Pacify are all examples that had their functionality completely changed from the original powers that came before them.

Its called "staying on topic", and it's fairly common practice

The cottage rule is a change in the core functionality, is it not? Several powers have had their functionality changed, deviating from their original purpose, which is most evident in Blasters. Castle was quite adamant that a powers remain the same, but may have their performance adjusted... what's happened to Blasters is far more than a simple adjustment.

Pretty much every Blaster secondary at this point

Cottage rule left with Castle, in the two years after he retired from Paragon Studios we saw a great many changes that challenged his rule and made the game what it is today. I'm all in favor of Serum having a complete change in functionality, or even a replacement power with better performance.

I see you too opted to use the unique earth powers from the Talons of Vengeance! They're a really good fit for an earth blast set like this 😄

Having a plaque dedicated to fallen players in ouroboros is a very good way of doing this, and wouldn't be too hard to set up.