Alchemystic
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Posts posted by Alchemystic
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19 minutes ago, biostem said:
Do you mean like disintegrate for beam rifle, granite for stone armor, or several other powerset that have key defining powers? Illusion Control trades away key powers, like a ST and Cone/AoE immob, (which setup containment), for a finicky ST direct attack and PA. Would you take bio armor and skip adaptation, or skip the combo finishers in street justice? Illusion Control was before those sort of power interactions were implemented, so it instead had other powers removed or gutted, so as to get PA included in the set...
Beam Rifle, Bio Armor and Street Justice are examples of the combo mechanic I was talking about, where you are rewarded for picking multiple powers that effect/compliment one another. The point I'm making is that Phantom Army doesn't co-ordinate with the rest of the powerset, it makes them redundant, you could happily make an Illusion Controller with just Spectral Wounds, Phantom Army and Phantasm and just go pure damage, and that's the problem.
As for Granite? the reason its so defining is because it deactivates other powers, you are literally forced to rely on it, and believe me there are serval threads out there proposing that it gets reworked so other powers aren't redundant.
But this isn't really the purpose of this thread, we're here to discuss ideas of how to make Illusion Control work for Dominators, not debate the conflict in development choices, so lets shed the passive aggression and move on.
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1 hour ago, golstat2003 said:
Welcome to the City of Heroes forums. Also not only my opinion based on what I've read in this thread from others. The other options to keep PA I would be fine with as I've already said in the thread.
What you said didn't seem much like an opinion, seemed more like you were insisting something is a fact when it really aught not to be.
anyway...
To paraphrase Tony Stark; If you're nothing without Phantom Army then you shouldn't have it. 😉
If you have to rely on a single power from a powerset in order for it to be effective then what's the point? Just look at most of the new powersets with combo mechanics that reward you for picking different powers that compliment one another... Illusion is dated and needs to change, and one of these changes in my opinion needs to be Phantom Army.
At present it just about works for Controllers, it maintains a decent amount of crowd control, even if it has much higher damage than other control sets. But on a Dominator? It just isn't as viable in its current form, it trades reliable mez for higher damage, which doesn't translate so well for Dominators who already have damage based secondary powersets and require sustainable mez to build Domination.
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1 minute ago, golstat2003 said:
Then you might as well not port it. It's a set defining power. Just create another set, but don't call it Illusions, cause it wouldn't be.
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1 hour ago, golstat2003 said:
Removing Phantom Army pretty much means I'll never make an Illusion Dominator if they ever get ported that way. Phanton Army is one of the MAIN POINTS of Illusion. I'd rather they remove Spectral Wounds. An AoE debuff would also be an insta skip power on Illusion got me. I've never taken the smoke power on any AT that has it or similar. Pointless in the new game meta that focuses on uber damage and mobs lasting less than 20 seconds now.
Well to be fair Phantom Army is one of the main points its not been ported to Dominator at all.
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1 minute ago, speczero said:
If Damage is the problem I would rather remove the damage from PA and still allow them to keep the taunt and taking no damage.
If the game code would allow for it, then it might work, but again Dom's need mez to get as much Domination charge as they can, and Illusion really needs more mez to make that work.
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8 hours ago, Steampunkette said:
I wouldn't be opposed to altering the Projectile FX or the "On Character" FX... but changing the character animations themselves seems a bit much. I know it's -possible-, MA and SS both get alternate animations and there's various blast options, but I feel like it's a lot more work than needed to get the effect across.
Doing the TK Thrust arm-push with the "Psychic Power" headglow and the TK Fist appearing to blast the person through the air instead of the "Glowballhands" would probably be "Enough"
And it would avoid the "Speed Up/Slow Down" animation work required to get this option functional.
I wonder if there' a "Projectile Scale" function the Devs could mess with? Then just use the Project Will projectile for all kinds of psychic attacks but make it bigger or smaller to show relative power level.
Also Psionic Tornado should have the "Psychic Power" headglow as an option... Frankly even Mind Control Powers could use that as an option and it would be scrumptuous!
If speeding/slowing animations is an issue, there are few animations already present in Psychic Blast's 'Psi Assault' customisation that could potentially be used for this concept too. Though, I don't think its much of an issue anymore, with how Snipe got reworked.
With that said, I think it's entirely possible to separate the animations from the FX, as we have already seen with different powersets, but I think there are some certain powers that would look strange like this (Mind Probe and Telekinetic Thrust most of all). so it could be possible to use the older animations with new FX, and vice versa.
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33 minutes ago, MTeague said:
Rather than Geyser, I wonder if this should instead use the animation from the "Mighty" Judgement nuke. (which, is also PBAE, and also tosses foes into the air (or can, depending which version you have).
That could work!
I was looking around a little and noticed that 'Upheaval' is also the name of an unused Primalist attack power, so I wonder if there are any assets for it.
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On 1/1/2020 at 9:24 PM, oedipus_tex said:
I like your ideas and I agree.
I'd like to point out IMO the lowest hanging fruit in the game: Gravity Blast. How do we have a power as cool looking as Propel but no Gravity Blast? 🙂
1) Power Push
2) Lift
3) Repulsion Cone (cone with /kb/kd). Sonic has a suitable looking effect.
4) Propel
5) Aim
6) Mass Levitate (perhaps ranged?)
7) Anomaly - Teleport your selected enemy to a new location. When he arrives, an explosion occurs around him, injuring enemies within 12ft. Use Teleport Foe as base animation
😎 ?? -- lots of options for this one
9) Event Horizon - ranged nuke that teleports all enemies to the center point. use Wormhole as base animation.
I did a little looking into what FX could make a kinetic blast set work, and I kept going back to Force of Will and Psionic Melee for that 'Telekinetic' feel, but there just wasn't many options for blast powers. (I repurposed the idea into another thread for Psi Assault/Manipulation FX).
That being said, the idea of a Gravity Blast set might be a bit out there, since we only have two single target powers that fit (Propel and Lift), the powerset has very few projectile FX, unless you were to take FX from Kinetics and Kinetic Melee instead, which could possibly work.
It may be possible to build from what Propel offers, and have the character project all kinds of props, but that can be achieved with my Earth Blast suggestion.
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6 hours ago, GM Mathison said:
Weighing in on this there is certainly the opportunity when adding new content to look at groups and topics that haven't been covered in the past. Considering the events of Dark Astoria and now the Syndicate moving to Primal Earth there is a good story opportunity to focus on the Tsoo and the communities of citizens around them. In these situations I always look at opportunities of what haven't we seen. At the moment Paragon has two Tub Chis, Two Yins, and Two Penelope Yins. Also characters like Mirror Spirit and Foreshadow that haven't really been utilized as much.
I suppose that would mean potential for an official W.IS.D.O.M headquarters? It would be nice to see some sort of conflict between them and the Tsoo played out, even if it's just a story told by scenery and environment.
Though I think there is certainly more potential for story arcs if at all possible that pit the two against each other, but I suspect that may be quite an undertaking too.
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So! With the success of 'Soul Noir' FX being spread from Darkness Control to each and every other Dark powerset we have, perhaps we could take the more 'modern' FX and animations from Psionic Melee and Force of Will and apply it to some of the Psionic Powersets? Naturally this would be quite difficult to achieve for a blast set with what we have, so it will most likely work best for Mental Manipulation and Psionic Assault.
So! By looking at animations and range, I was pondering what stuff we can swap around in order to create a new 'Telekinetic' FX for these two powersets;
Shared Powers:
Subdue/Subdual - For this we can use a sped up version of Force of Will's 'Weaken Resolve' power. Mind Probe - For this we can use Psionic Melee's 'Mental Strike' power. Telekinetic Thrust - For this we can use Psionic Melee's 'Telekinetic Blow' power. Psychic Scream - For this we should use Force of Will's 'Wall of Force' Power. Drain Psyche - For this I propose we use Psionic Melee's 'Mass Levitate' Power. Psychic Shockwave - For this I propose we use Force of Will's 'Takeoff' Power. Mental Manipulation Powers:
Concentration - For this I propose we use Psionic Melee's version of 'Concentration'.
World of Confusion - For this I propose we use Force of Will's 'Unleash Potential' power, with the same bubble. Scare - For this we can re-use Force of Will's 'Weaken Resolve' Power. Psionic Assault Powers:
Psionic Dart - For this we can use a sped up version of Force of Will's 'Weaken Resolve' Power. Mental Blast - For this we can use a sped up version of Force of Will's 'Project Will' Power. Psionic Lance - For this I propose we can again use Force of Will's 'Project Will' Power, though perhaps with the alt FX animation that projects it from your hand -
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I know it isn't exactly what the subject is about, but I wouldn't mind more rustic or historical areas in Paragon City.
There are plenty in the Rogue Isles, like Mercy Island's belltower, or Port Oakes' fort, and a few things dotted around elsewhere too. (I know plenty of Paragon was destroyed by Rikti, but I would think some survived at least)
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8 hours ago, Zepp said:
@Tyrannical
Removing the set's signatures, PA & pseudo pet that fires sleep does not seem like the way to go. Control sets generally have a T1 damage and T2 damage+ST hold power. Given that this is a dom port, they don't actually need spectral wounds. As such, wouldn't it make more sense to remove spectral wounds rather than PA? Make that power a single target fear (with minor damage) to work with Spooky, and make sure that Spooky and the sleep pseudopets banefit from domination would work better and allow illusion doms to stack invisibility like trollers ... No need to change order unless you want to flip flash and Spooky...Phantom army *needs* to be removed on Dominators. Its unfortunate but that's how it is.
The fact is that with Phantom Army combined with Dominator assault powersets just results in an absurd amount of damage output, especially combined with Phantasm too, there is simply too much attack power. Removing PA reduces that damage output and provides room for more mez, which is what this powerset needs in order to fuel Domination, which should be the Dominators means of being powerful.
Spectral Wounds I will admit isn't necessary, as that too means you're stacking damage ontop of Assault powersets. It could be exchanged for a AoE debuff, perhaps something similar to 'Smoke' that reduces sight... I think that fits well for an Illusion theme.
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I figured Kinetic Melee had more uses left in it to support an Assault set too, with only 2 new powers brought into the fold to support it. (I'm probably gonna turn most melee sets into Assault/Manipulation sets I'm sure 😋)
Kinetic Assault
- Kinetic Dart: A new power that uses the animation for Quick Strike to project a small kinetic projectile
- Smashing Blow: Taken from Kinetic Melee, makes for the first melee attack.
- Repulsing Torrent: Taken from Kinetic Melee, works as a nice cone attack that doesn't need to change.
- Kinetic Blast: Another new power, using the animation of 'Hydro Blast' and FX of Focused Burst
- Power Boost: Token Power Boost power.
- Burst: Taken from Kinetic Melee, this serves as the iconic AoE attack.
- Concentrated Strike: Taken from Kinetic Melee, this serves as the high power melee attack.
- Power Siphon: Taken from Kinetic Melee, fits in nicely as a second boost power like Consume or Life Drain.
- Focused Burst: Taken from Kinetic Melee, this works as the capstone short range high damage ranged attack.
This is another highly experimental concept that reuses assets from Demon Summoning and Sorcery to improvise a sort of blast set. I avoid using the word 'Magic' so it wasn't too skewed in favor of one origin, even if powersets like Traps lean towards Tech and Science more.
Arcane Blast
- Mystic Missile: A light damage/quick recharge blast power that deals energy damage. Uses the 'Translocation' animation with the 'Corruption' projectile FX.
- Empowered Blast: A moderate damage blast power that deals energy damage. Uses the 'Arcane Bolt' animation and FX.
- Rune of Destruction: A simple Targeted AoE Energy Damage blast. Uses the 'Spirit Shield' animation, with an additional explosive FX.
- Enchant: A power much like 'Ammo Swap', giving the 'Spirit Enchantment' (Dark), 'Demonic Enchantment' (Fire) and 'Eldritch Enchantment' (Psionic) powers. Like ammo swap, these powers add a secondary damage effect. Uses the 'Translocation' animation again with a hand rune FX like the costume aura.
- Arcane Font: A Target AoE power that deals energy DoT. Uses a sped up version of the 'Summon Demon' animation and FX (without the lava/stone).
- Mystic Seal: A ranged hold power with moderate energy damage. Uses the 'Enflame' animation, but traps them with the 'Translocate' FX.
- Arcane Sigil: A trip mine like power that explodes, dealing superior AoE energy damage. Uses the 'Summon Demon' animation, but leaves the sigil on the floor, exploding into similar FX as 'Explosive Shuriken' after a while.
- Hex Bolt: A short range blast that does superior damage. Uses the 'Enchant Demon' animation and FX.
- Thaumaturgy: A ranged target AoE power with deals extreme energy DoT. Uses the 'Abyssal Empowerment' animation and FX, but with a much larger version of the 'Rune of Protection' FX as the AoE.
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If you move Spectral Wounds to be a T4 like Propel, and Flash to T8 like many AoE holds, things start to look a little more structured.
Then we remove an Invisibility power and Phantom Army to make room for some control that Dominator can benefit from (we can even make the player choose what Invisibility power they want, just like SR Sentinels). Removing the sleep effect from Blind and instead creating a single target and AoE target sleep power to fill in the gaps means we dont change too much as far as building for the set goes, and we effectively remove the issue that prevents it from being dominator friendly.
As for naming the new powers? Perhaps 'Dream' for the single target and 'Trance' for the AoE.
So to summarise;
Out: Phantom Army, One Invisibility Power (or choice).
In: Dream, Trance
Changed: Blind loses Sleep secondary effect.
The power set should look like this on Doms;
1 - Dream
2 - Blind
3 - Deceive
4 - Spectral Wounds
5 - Superior Invisibility OR Group Invisibility
6 - Trance
7 - Spectral Terror
8 - Flash
9 - Phantasm
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5 hours ago, oedipus_tex said:
I like your ideas and I agree.
I'd like to point out IMO the lowest hanging fruit in the game: Gravity Blast. How do we have a power as cool looking as Propel but no Gravity Blast? 🙂
1) Power Push
2) Lift
3) Repulsion Cone (cone with /kb/kd). Sonic has a suitable looking effect.
4) Propel
5) Aim
6) Mass Levitate (perhaps ranged?)
7) Anomaly - Teleport your selected enemy to a new location. When he arrives, an explosion occurs around him, injuring enemies within 12ft. Use Teleport Foe as base animation
😎 ?? -- lots of options for this one
9) Event Horizon - ranged nuke that teleports all enemies to the center point. use Wormhole as base animation.
a Kinetic/Gravity Blast set would be pretty cool!
Some stuff from Gravity Control could totally be used, but I think Force of Will/Psionic Melee might have stuff more befit a blast set.
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While it may not be 'Psi Armor', I did ponder if reusing some of Sonic Resonance's FX and themes could possibly make for a good defense set that gives a little resistance too, with an emphasis on energy and psionics.
Sonic Aura
You are capable of protecting yourself with shifting sonic fields, allowing you a great deal of defense, especially against the distruptive nature of energy and psionic damage.
- Sound Barrier: Same FX as Sonic Barrier, this ability grants Resistance to Smashing, Lethal and Energy.
- Harmony: A simple auto power that grants resistance to Smashing, Lethal and Psionic damage, and defense against -Res and resistance to -Perception effects
- Sonic Shield: Same FX as Sonic Haven, this ability grants Resistance to Energy, Negative, Cold and Fire.
- Clear Airwaves: Same FX as Clarity, this power grants resistance to mez effects and psionics.
- Echolocation: Same FX as Sonic Disruption, this power reduces enemy accuracy and ToHit, while boosting your own. it also gives a boost to Perception
- Static Shroud: An auto power that grants resistance to Energy and Psionics, and gives resistance to end-drain.
- Shift Wavelength: Same FX as the residual effect Sonic Blast powers have, this power grants stealth, Defense and a boost to movement speed.
- Signal Jammer: Same FX as Sonic Repulsion, this power Disorients nearby foes and deals special DoT to Robots and Machines.
- Boost Frequency: Same FX as Sonic Dispersion's single target aura, this single-click power grants a huge boost to damage, ToHit and resistance.
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6 hours ago, Super Atom said:
I'd like to see things like Psi armor and Radiation epic pools
Technically Willpower is Psi Armor, unless you were looking for a Defense Set instead of Resistance.
As for epic pools? I have a lot of ideas, Rad being one of them 😃
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17 minutes ago, Galaxy Brain said:
That's some goofball architecture if even the animations are incredibly baked in lmfao
believe me, I know all too well 😋
The reason I pitched this thread is cos of the restrictions the code presents, so it's much easier to recycle old powers/assets for reuse that create entirely new ones, but even then there are limitations.
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33 minutes ago, Galaxy Brain said:
Right, but cant we swap an animation out for another? Adding a weapon to a non-weapon animation is easy for most since you just attach a model to the appropriate bone, clipping be damned 😛
If you were to say, replace Whirling Sword's animation with Dragon's Tail from MA, if the sword is for whatever reason stuck to the model even with the swapped animation you could just hide it.
The issue is it might cause the arm (or arms) supposed to be holding the weapon to act strangely, looking like its frozen or snapping into place rapidly.
What's worse is each weapon has a different animation rig (with a few exceptions like Staff/Titan or Sword/Axe/Mace), which also limits what animations they can undertake.
I believe that this same issue is why we dont have Shield Defense on Sentinels yet, since it causes a lot of similar animation bugs (some of which you can see using Psi Melee with Shield too).
So just to be clear, the animation issues affect the whole body, not just the weapon 😋
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17 minutes ago, Galaxy Brain said:
@Tyrannical, if its a mater of the new animation still holding the weapon, then making it invisible would alleviate the issue.
it really wouldn't.
As I said above, having a weapon, even an invisible one, presents animation problems with animations not designed for weapons.
the easiest way to put it is weapon sets act as though you have an extra limb, if an animation does not take that limb into consideration, it causes major problems...
However, it does work the other way around, you can apply weapon animations to a non-weapon power. 😋
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12 minutes ago, Galaxy Brain said:
They cant like, import an animation and set the weapon to be invisible or something?
even if the weapon was invisible, it would still have the same issues with animations.
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Just now, Menelruin said:
Even simply replacing animation A with animation B, when B already exists and is used elsewhere?
Yeah, weapons are a very difficult thing to work with, which is why the new weapon using Blaster secondaries were riddled with animation bugs.
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2 hours ago, Menelruin said:
Another couple options I've suggested before is simply re-skinning Archery to be throwing knives, or Trick Arrow into throwing specialty grenades.
I think it's been discussed before that animation work on weapon sets is nigh impossible, which is why we still dont have any FX customisation at all for them.
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if my hunch is right, Savage Melee was potentially salvaged from the scrapped Primalist Archetype, so I'm hoping that there are indeed FX that can be used to build a defense powerset from.
if there isn't any FX for it, then I suspect that some of the FX from either Nature Affinity or Beast Mastery may be a good fit.
To set this apart numerically, i think there should be more emphasis on Cold and Toxic resistance, as I feel these are the sort of hazards a hardened survivalist would be able to endure.
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- Echolocation: Same FX as Sonic Disruption, this power reduces enemy accuracy and ToHit, while boosting your own. it also gives a boost to Perception
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- Shift Wavelength: Same FX as the residual effect Sonic Blast powers have, this power grants stealth, Defense and a boost to movement speed.
- Signal Jammer: Same FX as Sonic Repulsion, this power Disorients nearby foes and deals special DoT to Robots and Machines.
- Boost Frequency: Same FX as Sonic Dispersion's single target aura, this single-click power grants a huge boost to damage, ToHit and resistance.
Illusion powerset for Dominators please!!
in Suggestions & Feedback
Posted · Edited by Tyrannical
Defining doesn't exactly mean good.
The facilities at my local pub are defined by their complete lack of maintenance, but that doesn't mean I like it or want to use them. 😜