Alchemystic

Assault was actually being experimented with for another Archetype called 'Guardian', however, development speed came to a grinding halt as the archetype's unique 'composition' secondary (a mixture of armor and support powers) proved too difficult to work with. I think reusing existing powerset types is likely the best way to go. And yes, that includes pets! (Control/Pets maybe?)

they were too busy working on doomed archetypes like Primalist instead. That being said, it would sure make a change to the Melee/Support concept that pops up here every week or so, so I'm all for Assault (or Manipulation) being used in favor of Melee. I think Assault/Armor and Manipulation/Support are two concepts I would definitely like to see explored more.

I was also thinking a Minimal FX version of Fiery Aura and Ice Armor. Maybe a sort of faint heat glow for fire, and a slight chilling vapor for ice.

-Def debuff seems fitting, given that an axe as a weapon is intended to breach defenses and strip away reinforcements. 😃

what I'd like to see most of all is Psi Melee/Force of Will FX and animation for other psionic sets, give them the same modernisation as the Dark sets got! Other than that, maybe Force Field FX for Energy Aura and Nature Affinity FX for Plant Control? Oh, and we absolutely must have the unique Talons Siren FX for sonic sets and/or mind control!

The animations I had in mind were likely going to be similar to the 'Poison' and 'Dark Alt' animation sets, plenty of throwing and spitting, as if you were secreting the stuff 😀

Blast sets do indeed seem more formulaic than that of other powersets, which is why this powerset does look a lot like dark blast, because it was a good comparison to work with. However, I think this set has plenty to offer that sets it apart from dark; - Dual type damage that doesn't use lethal or smashing - A combo mechanic as seen in many modern powersets. - Healing and Regen Debuffs instead of ToHit debuffs. I'm open to using dark as a concept for many things (I have even used it as a toxic theme myself) but I'm not just thinking about it from a FX point of view,. I'm mostly taking into consideration the absence of certain damage types and creating something that works both mechanically and thematically, so players have more variety for builds, and there is less compromise for what could pass off a toxic blast set conceptually. I will admit, I usually opt for 'concept first, powers later' too, but I always have that nagging voice in my head saying "this would be better if X powerset existed". I spent some time figuring out what could pass for a poison themed primary; Dark Blast was a strong candidate, as was Dark FX theme Radiation Blast and Fire Control, and of course Water Blast was considered too. But having a powerset that fully realises a concept on it's own without any compromise is always great. I remember the amount of Thugs and Robotics Masterminds who just wanted Dual Pistols and Beam Rifles, and now we have them, so hopefully this little suggestion fills the conceptual gap a little more. As for just putting the FX on Dark Blast? I got told by a dev once that creating FX for powersets is a challenge, and at that point it could just as well go on a new powerset since most of the work is already done.

That's pretty nuts, I would have thought negative and toxic would have been the other way around for sure! Guess my impression was formed from how accessible those resistances are to players! (pre i25 that is).

I think its the way they interact with Scrapper damage modifiers as well as critical hits, they couldn't quite get them to balance out too well.

My mistake. Two lunatic trolls in this thread.

Awesome! I was going to double check it just to make sure I didn't make a fool out of myself before I made a point about it. I was going to suggest that the toxic damage be increased, since I noticed it was pretty high on dual pistols, and I dont think toxic resistance is as rare as the game makes it out to be. the lack of defense to it however might have to be accounted for.

The Shadow Shard is indeed in need of an overhaul. I think after the events in the story regarding Darrin Wade, I think there would definitely be more incentive for villains to get involved in keeping Rulaaru at bay, or perhaps trying to steal a fraction of his power for their own. Inviting them into the Shadow Shard would kill two birds with one stone; it helps recreate or reinvent the numerous hazard zones as the original dev team had planned, while also allowing for more villain content. I think the best way to do this would be to change all the soldiers there into Vanguard Sorcerers, and establishing a larger base of operations alike the one in the RWZ. After that, we open up a select number of arcs to villains, though we'll keep some of them hero only of course, and add villain specific ones too. Then its all a matter of adding a mothership raid style event to the zones, perhaps one that rotates throughout the 4 shadow shard zones, requiring you to battle it a number of 4 times to complete it.

Scrappers really need Stone Melee, Super Strength and Energy Melee, but I think it's a matter of balancing their values so they perform properly. if it works out, it wive people more incentive to play them instead of Brutes.

Out of curiosity, does anybody have that table that displays the most common NPC resistance/defense values throughout the game?

Lets just leave this thread alone. It's clearly posted to provoke people instead of inviting debate.

Troll post, move along folks.

Radiation melee actually inspired a lot of this set with its 'Contamination' mechanic. I think for control we could potentially work with the stuff in Radiation Manipulation to fully realise it into a proper control set. I made a little post about it in my other powers thread; https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/13484-eco-friendly-powerset-recycling/?do=findComment&comment=148404

Seems like the secondary sets that were planned for Guardians, the prototype Archetype that uses Assault sets as a primary, and a mix of Defense/Support as a secondary.

So! for a time I've been thinking what blast powersets we have at our disposal and how the damage types are a little disproportionate. So far we have five powersets that use Energy Damage: (Energy, Sonic, Radiation, Electric, Beam Rifle) four that use Smashing Damage: (Energy, Sonic, Ice, Water) four that use Lethal Damage (Assault Rifle, Archery, Dual Pistols, Ice) four that use Fire Damage (Fire, Water, Assault Rifle, Dual Pistols) three that use Cold Damage (Ice, Water, Dual Pistols) and only one each for Negative, Psychic and Toxic damage (Dark, Psychic, Dual Pistols). Now, since Psychic damage is supposed to be 'rare and exotic' so I can excuse that, it seems odd that Negative damage doesn't have many other powersets with access to it, especially blast powersets. I know that Toxic damage is supposed to be more rare than Psychic damage, but since the only way of accessing it is via the Ammo Swap power in Dual Pistols I think it could potentially be explored elsewhere. So, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and come up with a powerset that is focused on delivering both Dark damage and Toxic damage; Blight Blast. This powerset is designed specifically to utilise those two damage types, and pairs well with many other powersets to help conceptualise and explore different themes; Pair it with Poison or Ninja Training to focus on delivering deadly poisons. pair it with Bio Armor to make a putrid monstorsity, or maybe pair it with Nature Affinity or Plant Manipulation to send spores and natural toxins to your foes! You could even pair it with anything like Radiation or Dark to make all sorts of concepts! I think we have plenty in the way of existing assets that can be drawn from Poison, Radiation, Bio and Plant based powersets to amalgamate into a putrid looking FX theme, as well as a plethora of attack animations that could easily be used along with them. Blight Blast You are capable of withering away your foes with blasts of necrotic blight. Blight Blast focuses on delivering a mixture of Negative damage and Toxic damage as you wither away your enemies. Enemies subject to multiple attacks may become Blighted, and may spread this blight to their nearby allies, lowering their regeneration rate and healing received. - Putrid Bolt: (Ranged, Light Negative, Minor Toxic DoT) A quick blast of putrid essence, with a low chance of Blighting your target. - Atrophic Blast: (Ranged, Moderate Negative, Light Toxic DoT) A more powerful blast of atrophic rot, with a higher chance of Blighting your target. - Infection: (Ranged Chain, Moderate Negative/Toxic DoT) You release a deadly infection that chains between targets and deals good damage over time, but also can transfer Blight from one target to another. - Incubate: (Self +ToHit, +Special) Greatly increases your chance to hit of your attacks for a few seconds, and also increases the chances of attacks inflicting or spreading Blight. - Necrotic Lance: (Sniper Superior Negative, High Toxic DoT) An extremely long and accurate strike that creates a withering necrosis on your foe, devouring them with extreme damage over time. This power has a guaranteed chance of Blighting your target if this power is used as a sniper attack. Even if activated in combat, this power has a high chance of Blighting your target. - Miasma: (Targeted AoE, Sleep, Special) You create a cloud of petulant fumes that blankets a targeted area. Foes caught in the miasma may fall extremely ill and begin choking on the fumes, and have a higher chance of spreading Blight to other foes - Enervate: (Close, High Negative/Toxic DoT) You deliver a bolt of enervating toxin that greatly harms your foe, and has a high chance of Blighting your target. - Parasitic Drain (Ranged, Medium Negative/Toxic DoT, Self +Heal over Time) You infect your foe with a parasitic toxin, transferring their life essence to yourself to mend your wounds. If used on a blighted target, the healing you receive is greatly improved. - Virulence: (PBAoE, Extreme DoT Negative/Toxic, Hold) you unleash a deadly virulent shroud around yourself, spreading to all foes in a large area. Foes affected suffer extreme damage over time, and may become overcome by a foul sickness that has a chance to hold them and spread Blight to nearby allies.

Hopefully without the horrible shading/textures.

You mean besides Nictus? 😛 That being said, I wouldn't mind dark being used in other themes.

Yeah this did strike me as really weird, why have a suggestions board if you're just going to move major discussions to Discord, especially given how congested and difficult to track Discord servers can be? I too would appreciate discussions like this being moved here, where people can more easily access the discussion and where it can be properly moderated and tracked. I feel like many of us here would have been delighted to be part of these discussions, and feel a bit stung we are only finding about it now. Not to mention the plethora of submitted ideas and general debate that already exists here that could and should be used as discussion topics. I can appreciate the fact that @GM Miss has posted an invitation to the discussion, but I think most of us enjoy the idea of having discussions here in the most relevant and user-friendly platform to do so. Could we potentially get a sticky each week here on the forums too? That way everyone has equal opportunity to provide input.

In short, I dont think it can be done, not that the devs would want to. Back when bases were first a thing, they used a whole set of weird coding of their own, and the guy who originally created it eventually left the development team. After that, nobody really knew how to work with the coding behind bases at all so absolutely nothing could be done with them from then on. It's a miracle that the current development team have cracked it and found a way to improve on it in so many ways, allowing us to do a great many things we were simply unable to do (or do well at least). Back on live, every base was a set of box shaped rooms where you had to stack furniture to build walls or glitch floor tiles to elevate objects. There was no sky, or water, or scenery of any kind, and worst of all everything cost it's own currency called prestige which meant you had to grind to get a nice base. Nowadays we have proper tools for changing the positioning of objects any way we like, and so many different possibilities with landscape and scenery, not to mention having a much higher ceiling and the option for great and wide floor plans to do anything we want with. I just dont see any chance of redoing the base code because it is a tremendous effort to do so, especially when it's taken this long to reverse-engineer something that stumped the original devs for years. What you're asking for is to basically put a system as modular as The Sims in a game that could potentially explode if you so much as change which way a door opens. Hope that provides a bit of context for you. 😛

Do any of the suggestions here in the suggestions thread get considered or just stuff in the Discord channel?