Replacement

In a strange turnabout, I kept campaigning to fix a Targeting Drone bug and when it finally appeared in the patch notes... I'm pretty sure you guys then had to hotfix because it was dismantling the servers? So the bug fix broke the world, and that's probably why I don't have a Bug Hunter badge.

My understanding is that most of them have AT modifiers, but I think some of them like Slow effects are just eyeballed in. I think it's very likely that an inherent overhaul will bring with it some supportive elements. It already has a bit with the -res effects. It's actually what got me thinking down this path. At the end of the day, this feels to me like a way to color in the AT without reducing everything to dps comparisons. Tapping into an element of the Blast sets that largely goes unnoticed is just an interesting (to me) design space.

There's no scale for it, but you could increase the Knock chances across Energy. Sets like Archery or AR already have Sentinel-unique powers. I think adding additional effects to those would make the most sense.

It's not glamorous, it doesn't appeal to everyone's focus on DPS. But I suggest... Buff their Secondary effects. Let's be clear: I think they need some small improvements elsewhere as well, like a large usability overhaul to Opportunity and a minor overall damage increase. But you want to make them more interesting? Give them better secondary effects. I'd suggest going as high as Defenders. By contrast, right now they are at Blaster level (and sometimes below even that). Consider: right now, Defender secondary effects from their blasts are about 33-50% stronger than Blaster equivalents. However, those numbers tend to be overshadowed by their Support sets. While Corruptors experience an interesting divide on this as well, they again have an entire Support set that skews the impact of their Blasts' secondary effects. If you gave this treatment to Sentinels, you would be giving their blasts an interesting use: "the blast set where you care about the damage and the effects." It would also be an interesting way to lean into the notion of Sentinels providing a bit of everything without truly reaching "tankmage" status. This won't help Fire Blast on Sentinels any more than it does on Defenders so I'm choosing not to focus on that set.

@Zepp I was going to suggest one of each of your three sets, which is essentially what @Chris24601 suggested -- I quite like the notion of adding new patrons that are intentionally diverse in the content they're obtained from. Mender Silos with temporal mastery (or just call it straight-up Time Travel) Red Widow Poison Mastery from @Tyrannical's list, intentionally separate from the patron arcs in design Sunstorm providing a Cosmic mastery Someone providing Vanguard mastery (Lady Grey?) I would suggest someone new for Midnighter mastery. For such a large organization, we have remarkably few faces. (EDIT: Sigil could work) A single member of the Freedom Phalanx - I suggest Positron with a split between devices and radiation. I like the idea of a couple of Praetorian options but tbh, most either aren't iconic enough or don't offer anything new (by design, if you think about it). Vanessa DeVore is the coolest character, but we already have a lot of psychics. One final thing: New patrons should still require quests, but I think they should be 1 hard(ish) mission, or equivalently few short missions. Mission 1: click on plaques to learn why X is important. Mission 2: mission designed to tap your own potential or gain knowledge. Not being gifted the power of your "patron."

Just want to mention: I really like Wyverness and Lustful's costumes. Those are extremely well put-together. On a related note: Excelsior is the unofficial "CoT skirt" server? 3/5 finalists have it (and they all look winner-worthy). Oh, and the actual Excelsior winner has some CoT pieces too!

#1 EM buffs #2 Regen buffs #3 TW nerfs (sorry, the sooner the band-aid is pulled off, the better) #4 Epic normalization - fixing all the incorrect recharges and effect scales in Epics #5 Trick Arrow buffs #6 low-hanging fruit pass - several sets like Traps can be made a lot better (or just more SO-friendly) with very simple tweaks. I'd love to see a portion of a page dedicated to finding them #7 New Epics (This is why #4 is on this list, since it will happen first) #8 New Control sets #9 New Blast sets #10 Melee|Manipulation/Support AT EDIT: wow, there's so much I want renovated I completely blanked Stone Armor and Armor tier 9s.

No. Regen needs buffs. That is not the same as saying it needs to be god mode. I don't think it's productive to turn this thread into a debate about Regen's overall performance, or - worse yet - a discussion on how much teaming needs to be a requirement. All armor sets should have different strengths and weaknesses, but overall, perform on a similar footing. Full stop.

I don't think they have the tech for that... I've been digging through RubyRed's data tool and, while I haven't specifically looked into Defiance' mez-ignoring, I've noticed some stuff in the structure in powers makes it look like there are simple flags for whether or not a power is enabled for cast through mez. Short version: I'm 90% sure it's all-or-nothing for a power to cast through mez. So instead, something like giving them 1 attack and 1 other power that straight up defy mez? I assume in place of purple triangles?

First off, overall take: I like the idea of the OP, but I feel like it could actually go further. Up the %s some, but I realize I have not stopped to think through the repercussions of multi-controller effects. That said, I find myself wondering if Protection can be debuffed. I think this would be tricky since, iirc, that's what mez already is (example: if an enemy has 3 points of Hold Protection and I hit them with a Mag 3 hold, that's actually a -3 debuff to their Hold protection. Presumably, some separate aspect of the engine is watching for players to register any Protections of 0 or lower to apply status effects to). But, if it could be done, I think it would simply be neat if Overpower was changed to a global proc that made attacks also add a long duration -1 protection. EDIT: I guess an easier take on my thought there is simply changing Overpower's additional +1 mags to be much longer duration. Right now, it's about half the primary mez duration, but I think double would be better. That's a 44 second-ish Hold. yes, that's scary. No, I do not think that's an issue at Mag 1.

I like that you've tried to be very subtle with your changes instead of revolutionary. It's good stuff, though I'll echo that it likely needs a bit more. The only thing I disagree with, which everyone will learn to hate me for, is that I do not like adding more Toggles to Regen. I think 1 makes it interesting, and also the best at in-fight recovery (Revive gives you some pretty crazy buffs already to cover toggle recovery, but it's really nice that you can reintegrate and then get back to fighting). That above paragraph is obviously a bit more personal preference than objective "need" but here's a much hotter take: Instant Healing needs to stay a long-recharge Click. Regeneration has a Binary problem: survival means being at perfect health. They have no sense of attrition like other sets can find themselves in. The few exceptions to this pay in other ways. To the original designers' credit, they recognized this. The reason Regen juggles Clicks is because that is their attrition. Simply roiding out their numbers and making IH a toggle just removes balance levers. tl;dr: I like the set changes in the OP, and Instant Healing needs to stay a long-recharge Click.

I would like to see more patrons/epics-in-general bend ATs in new and interesting ways instead of hitting particular, identical marks per set. I don't really have precise powers but as an example: Ms Liberty - Command Mastery: A pool composed mostly of location aoe buffs/debuffs and enemy target debuffs that leave a visible mark on the target. Basically, this is what Leadership should have been, where your player leadership (calling out where to herd enemies and gather players, who to target next) affects the flow of battle, with real benefits to following those orders. You could also rationalize Ms Liberty giving some ATs Martial Mastery instead.

Did you mean to have Deafening Wave in your quote? Earsplitter isn't the aoe. Notice the +resist is smashing and not lethal. I bet that's intentional (and it'll be hell to mod for with 3 set categories to choose from)

If you need a cone, you can make it a cone. If you need a melee, you can make it long-range melee. If you need a ranged attack, you can make it a short-ranged attack. If you need long-range mez, you can make it a long-range mez. Blasters frequently have 3 of these. Scrappers frequently have 3 of these. Sentinels frequently have 3 of these. Mix and match as appropriate, get whip options for several ATs using only a few animations. But this is not a whip thread. I just wanted to toss in that whip-themed epics could be a good use for something that lacks enough animations to fuel a full 9-power set.

I guess I thought the lashes had longer range than 20. Still nearly triple standard melee range (7'), but it would certainly be nice if they could be longer range on the blaster version.

But Scrappers would also be useless if they didn't bring top-tier damage. That's their party role. If sentinels brought less damage than a defender... yeah, they would be useless.

The issue here is you're kind of completely ignoring party role. Sentinels don't have a taunt or anything, so their survival doesn't provide anything to a party. So if their damage is lower than a character that also has a Support set... what's the Sentinel really bringing to the table?

Almost all of Trick Arrow. You can look at TA and imagine how it was probably initially a Control set, changed to Support just so it could work with Archery: Entangling Arrow - ST immob Ice Arrow - ST Hold Glue Arrow - AoE immob Poison Gas Arrow - recurring Sleep patch Flash Arrow - Smoke clone Oil Slick Arrow - AoE Knockdown EMP Arrow - AoE Hold Glue Arrow is the only one in that pack that has an added effect (changing out from aoe slow to aoe immobilize, which is already on theme for the power). Disruption Arrow probably would've been an aoe confuse and function in place of a pet, with only Acid Arrow really needing dumped for something unique. I put those powers roughly in the order you would typically see them for a Control set. I would absolutely be fine with Dev taking these powers, removing and/or drastically reducing their secondary attributes and throwing on new power names to create some sort of "Tactical Quiver" control set.

Good stuff as always. Critique: You won't succeed at getting a t2 blast have an aoe component without some sort of gimmick (like contaminate). It's also a lot of aoe. Looks like every attack except the t1. The next issue is stun grenade. There isn't much precedent for (good) aoe control in a blast set. So some Replacement thoughts: -a sort of bottle rocket attack could be fun, if a bit counter to the thread's original intent. I'm imagining something like a pistol shot animation but without a pistol (you're just holding the charge in your hand, where it fires from). -likewise, something like a flare gun would be better than stun grenade, with an ST stun. -"Remote Charge" could be a really fun sniper attack if you wanted one. Literally just play an animation that looks like you're activating a switch (I'm sure there's something) and someone in the distance blows up. No one knows when or how you snuck the charge to them... And on that final note, it's not really compatible with your pyrotechnics set, but I think it would be neat to see a set like this but very low on aoe, and a special feature where everyone you hit gains a non-stacking, long duration debuff. It doesn't do anything by itself, except activating the Aim equivalent detonates the charges you planted on everyone you've struck.

Still pushing for Psi Lash to fill the missing psy Epics. That's 3 powers pulled from Aurora Penna (itself just a recolor of the hellfire attacks, I'm sure) plus 2 powers of your choice, relevant to your AT.

Back by zero demand: Condense all primary and secondary sets down to 5 most interesting powers. For the remaining 4, some will get dissolved into the 5 chosen powers, other particularly noteworthy powers will be set aside. Make new pools out of those set-aside powers. Deactivate epics (necessary to prevent overlap), remove the limit on number of power pools. Obviously, some other stuff would need to change. Removing the accuracy check on Provoke replaces all Taunts. Attacks (especially melee) would need Recharge reductions. I would aim to have the new t1 attack always be high on dps while the t2 is high on utility (so Parry and Siphon Life are good example t2s). Result: AT and party role is still a thing. Still matters. Just more opportunity to blur the lines as you level, more build choice.

Vileterror is going to start holding threads where only they respond to themselves. I just got too meta, didn't I?

I abandon a lot of characters (but never delete) if I'm not enthused with the fiction. The real issue is like what the OP discusses, where I like the fiction and power set themes, but not how the character actually plays. Pulp Noir, my StJ/DA scrapper, is my greatest letdown. I love how well the name, theme, and powers flow together. But he is not fun to play. Every time I see him in my list, I get sad. I don't want to give up on him, but I sure as hell ain't logging in with him.

This is what I read.

Completely remove set IOs and convert enhancements from a Skinner Box progression system to a character customization system All enhancements are attuned at crafted IO strength. Resist powers would have something like aegis for every damage type. Example: Dark embrace. You could choose to slot +resist to improve S/L and N, or choose to pick up a 5% cold resist because it fits your character better. Ditto defense. Attacks are similar. Your choice how much you want to improve the base damage vs add specific typed damage. Added damage is a scaled portion of damage, 100% of the time. Accuracy enhancements add a chance to crit, reduced chance by enemy defense. Ranged attacks all have very low range (probably 25', 50' for snipes) but +range enhancements would add like +70-100% each. And then enhancement vendors would be reimagined as a different type of training. ... You said radical.