Steampunkette

Simple version: Because superheroes never ever fight supervillains on the streets of Paragon City. The number of supergroups I've seen over the years of Blue-siders RPing as Supervillains and hanging out under Atlas Statue or wherever else while twirling their moustaches and talking about how "Evil" they are is high. And I, myself, have lead a couple of "Covert Hero Teams" in the Rogue Isles. Why? 'Cause it's fun RP. But the Orbweavers and Black Hand Society are free to roam around every Paragon City Zone on Everlasting without ever being stopped by a superhero. Whatever reason you might give your character to not punch them in the face in Steel Canyon is the same explanation for why you won't punch them in Kallisti Wharf. As far as the "Why don't the Cops": It's because BWI are corrupt corpo-cops who don't actually care. That's why their EBs attack heroes, vigilantes, rogues, and villains alike. You're dressed vaguely funny so they get to pound your face into the dirt. And 99% of the rest of them won't mess with you no matter who you are. The real question is why the UPA, Skulls, and Freaklok are totally cool with you hanging out...

Deep sleep has a damage lockout, @Shin Magmus. I think it's 0.25 or .35 seconds. But if the Deep Sleep takes damage from 20 sources within the .25 seconds it only counts as one 'Instance of Damage' for the purpose of reducing the duration of sleep. Minions stay asleep in Rain of Fire/Sleet Storm/Category 5 for a good 2-3 seconds off a Mass Hypnosis. Follow it with another deep sleep AoE and you can keep them there 'til they die.

You're still looking at a situation where we'd see practically no new content in the pipeline due to the massive quantity of work required for several years. Powers would be working on it. Backend would be working on it. They'd need to find and bring on animators and 3d Modelers to get the animations created. The sheer quantity of work required is just not worth it for the relatively small benefit, which even you acknowledge would be limited to specific characters. That's just too much work for too little gain. That's tearing down a mountain to put it back in the same spot but with the mountain's peak slightly further south so sun falls on the valley 2 minutes earlier every day.

See my above post. The amount of underlying code and design work would be an incredibly massive undertaking for a very minor benefit that only a handful of characters would enjoy. It's just not worth it from a cost/benefit perspective.

Oh, nah. That was all of them, really. Just way too big an investment for way too little benefit. There's still Champions Online, out there, for people who want to chuck trucks, too! It was built into that game from day 1.

Damn! You're right. Same with Shield Charge. However, Savage Leap, at least, has an interesting interaction with target of target!

Very True! However I think ground target area of effect can bypass the door, too. It's been a -long- time since I've been in that situation. Oh. You know what? I bet teleport-attacks would still work, too? Shield Charge, Lightning Rod, Burst of Speed, Savage Leap... So long as your buddy is targeting the bad guy, still, after he goes through the door, target your teammate and do the teleport attack -to- them, and hit the guy behind the door!

Check the color channels. I learned the hard way that only one of them makes the glow actually happen. And the Tailor keeps defaulting various pieces on costume edit. Notably holstered dual pistols, some trench coat options, etc.

The game doesn't have a real distinction between "Wall" and "Floor". It's all just surfaces. Put a floor tile so it's vertical and you can't walk on it 'cause there's only so steep an angle you can be on. There's also no "Collision" code in the game, for similar reasons, which is why when you hit someone with repel when they're pressed against a wall they keep doing the arm flail animation while floating there before falling. And so it's an unreasonable suggestion? Like. What? You want them to put all additional powers/mechanics/etc on hold for the next 2-4 years and focus their attention on cracking a walnut so big that a paid staff of 200 employees was like "Hah! No."?

The cars you see parked in parking lots in CoH are not interactable objects, they're part of the map. Sure, they're "Objects" in the map design sense, but so are sections of the War Walls and buildings and the hills. Even if there were an easy way to flag them "Throwable" you'd then need to move onto the second hard part... Telling the game engine what that means. City of Heroes is built on a game engine over 30 years old that wasn't designed for destructible environments. In point of fact, I don't think there were any games at that time that sought to have malleable environments. So you'd need to build up a massive code base within the spaghetti that is CoH to tell it "This is what a throwable object is". We're talking "Expansion Territory" levels of new code. Then, someone will have to go through every map in the game, including mission maps with cars and any other object that the devs want to be throwable and delete every object on those maps only to replace them with the new Throwable version of the object. Then we'd need an animator to go in and design an animation for lifting objects. An animation for carrying an object while walking. An animation for carrying an object while running. Eight more animations for carrying an object while running forward-right, right, backward right, backward, backward left, left, and forward left. Then more for jumping while carrying an object. Then at least ten more for flying while carrying an object. Then another two for Teleporting while carrying an object. Then another nine for swimming while carrying an object. And then triple it since there's 3 body types that all need the animations. And then animations for throwing an object while standing, jumping, or flying. Then they have to go into the super strength powerset and figure out where to put the "Can now interact with throwable objects" tag on the powers. Then they have to go through the various possible thrown objects and determine how much damage they do, how much of an area they hit, how many targets, etc. And create an individual power for every thrown object in the game to trigger when it gets 'Thrown'. And then create throwing animations for every object. ALL of this, just so Superstrength Characters can ignore their powerset to instead run around the area grabbing every item they can find to chuck them at enemies instead of bothering with things like "Recharge Times" or "Endurance Costs" or other balancing metrics. It would certainly be cool. But the amount of effort involved is flatly insane for the benefit of only a handful of characters within a handful of archetypes. Heck, I'd posit the effort would be insane for any game not designed from the ground up to allow for it even if -everyone- got the power to throw any object on the map.

While I recognize it would make attack powers in these sets HYPER ATTRACTIVE powers for certain ATs (Tankers, Corruptors, Etc) they'd still be limited use abilities with cooldowns and endurance costs and the like. That said, I didn't consider the case of Brutes, specifically, and their huge damage bonus generating abilities. So it's certainly worth considering. I suppose, in the end, the main issue is, of course, the sheer workload OPP would have on the dev team if they needed to have a unique, or semi-unique, list of powers for each archetype. So I'm definitely willing to bend on the Scale 1 power across the board. Though I definitely feel like the powers would still need a significant value equal to or above the value of the archetype's primary/secondary powerset choices as otherwise you'd simply never take them. Still. That's really a matter tied to the individual archetypes. However I was also referring to Scale 1 Armor, Support, and Control powers, by which I meant "Tanker/Defender/Controller" level for increase and duration of control. Anyway, yeah. I agree. It'd have to go through some balancing and wind up just as 'over' as other Epic Pools related to individual powers. After all, if a Scrapper EPP snipe was built exclusively off their ranged damage scale to be in line with their archetype, no one would take it and make it part of their core rotation. (Scale .5) So thank you for your input, @LightMaster! I agree. I would like to now take a moment to talk about the cooler part of this concept: Exploring the story a bit more. The Police storyline could be one of those stories about corrupt cops, sure. Or it could lean a bit more Punisher. That your Vigilante signs on with the police and immediately starts eliminating rather than arresting threats. Cue the captain trying to come down on you, hard, for your recklessness, and the rest of the department rallying on your behalf. Really good options for a storyline, or two, there! Wyvern could explore Manticore's continued journey toward becoming a villain through Wyvern's perspective. Having the player join Wyvern to hunt down criminals and deal with some of them becoming uneasy with how aggressive Manticore is becoming with supervillains. Yeah, Wyvern is there to kill Arachnos soldiers and particularly powerful threats, but Manticore could be more violent or cruel with it. Could even get ousted in a coup and become a target -of- Wyvern which would be a cool conceit. Talons of Vengeance could have the vigilante working with the Fates to punish oathbreakers, liars, and betrayers! A much more mystical path for the Vigilantes, gaining magical powers in order to hunt down and deal with some of the worst criminals there are. At least, what's how the story would read. You could even hunt down members of the other organizations listed here in order to gain your OPP! Bringing down cops who failed to protect people, or Wyvern agents who suffered attacks of conscience! And then the Midnight Club would be the closest to 'Hero' there is for the Vigilantes. The storyline focuses on recovering magical items or fighting magical threats. The vigilante part is in what you -do- with them once you get them. Killing of threats, destruction of artifacts! Unless it's too strong to destroy, then you contain it in the Midnight Club's library and stuff. For Crey it's all about getting them FAT STACKS! Rather than fighting you, Countess Crey offers you cash to work for her company as an in the field asset so you'll stop destroying and stealing her shit. The whole thing is stealing from other companies, covering up messes various scientists made, and doing corporate sabotage on other groups while getting paid! Aeon's kind of the same, but less scrupulous. He treats you as intellectually deficient and mostly just sends you in to -wreck- other people's stuff. You're muscle, nothing more. Only eventually you give that nerd the wedgie he deserves and get better treatment by the organization, and better pay. And also assignments far away from Aeon who is now afraid of you. Gold Brickers would be all about amassing power and wealth in a much more personal and direct way. Less getting ordered around by Princess Zoe or the Golden Roller, more getting 'opportunities' to go out and get rich. Where the Police arc is kinda traditionally radio missions where you kill people, until the Captain turns on you, the Gold Brickers arc is more paper missions where you -don't- kill people... Except you haven't been kicking back a cut to Langston Corp, and have instead been skimming. And you have to deal with the consequences of that while maintaining your position. And then the Midnight Club is really similar to the Vigilante version... Only you're specifically -not- killing the threats but getting rid of them by sending them to the Isles or something. And instead of destroying or returning artifacts, you sell them off and report them destroyed. 'Cause you gotta get that money! The arc ends with you being kicked out of the Midnighters like Darrin Wade was, but you walk away wealthier and with magic you stole along the way!

Heroes get Epic Power Pools themed after specific abilities. Villains get Patron Power Pools themed after specific Arachnos Leaders. So how about Rogues and Vigilantes get some epic pools tied to the lore of specific groups? Vigilante: PPD or Blackwing (Kallisti Wharf has their headquarters, looks like they're cops?) Wyvern Knives of Vengeance Rogue: Crey Biotech Aeon Industries Gold Brickers Both: Midnight Club The Police could grant some of the cool blast powers from the Praetorian PD, Force Nets, and the like. Also things like Acid Mortars and Flashbangs and other stuff the PPD SWAT gets. Summon a Hardsuit for the capstone. Wyvern could do a lot of archery, sure. But also some martial arts and maybe a "Jetpack" power which gives you a fast fly speed with hover precision and no dropoff in combat. Add in some Katana stuff to represent the Praetorian side of things, too. Knives of Vengeance for cool big flashy elemental powers and stuff! Crey could be an EPP based around chemicals and snippets of bio armor and stuff. Add in some Spines style attacks while you're at it for ranged/melee options to let players modify their genetics. Aeon could be all gadgety but, like, FREAKY gadgets. Like throwing a taunt pet tornado out, or a portal that spits out minions that don't do much damage but swarm enemies. Plus Beam Rifle type stuff, too! Could have the Capstone be summoning a copy of yourself (Using Phantom Army Tech) that only uses powers from the Aeon power pool and/or Beam Rifle options. Gold Brickers all about the Sonic Power and the ability to harden up your skin for the explanation of their protective powers. Maybe even include the ability to D-Rift in some backup! And then the Midnight Club exists specifically to be an Epic Magic pool. Could summon the sentient spells from Praetoria as a capstone... And then here's the big trick that separates this power pool type from other power pools: There's only ONE for each of the different groups. And the powers ignore AT Modifiers. They're all, always, Scale 1. There's no Controller-specific Midnight Club power pool, no Mastermind-specific Aeon power pool. What they give, they give everyone, and it doesn't get better or worse based on your AT. That does mean some OPPs could wind up 'Better' for some archetypes than others. Also means they could wind up being worse if they've got a bunch of ranged attacks and you're on a Blaster. So. Include power-choices at a couple of points to allow -some- customization of the OPP to a given character.

I actually really like the concept, whether it's force bubbles or some other visual/narrative mechanic. It's a neat concept for a defensive set that I find very interesting. I also like that it provides +Resistance to Hold/Immob/Knockdown, not protection like some people in the thread are saying. That said, it's still an unusual take at best. Focused Shields, however, does not work within the CoH Engine. The power cannot check all nearby enemies to see if any of them have Vulnerability on them, then increase defense against that single target. Consider, instead, a stacking Absorb shield, something like what Sorcery pulls with Spirit Ward. A toggle which provides stacks of +Absorb every second or so, capping out at 10 stacks or something. It would definitely fit into the themes of force-fields as ablative protection, rather than perfect shields. Phase Modulation, in particular, is a -very- cool concept! However, you cannot enhance a power for both Defense and Resistance. So if you had Softcap defense from slotting and toggles, swapping to a different Phase Modulation would result in your Resistances being equivalent to an unslotted version of the powers. Granted, you could make the Resistance levels very high to offset that, but then what's to stop me from skimping slots in my defenses and just leaving Phase Modulation on, forever, to have high Resistance with no investment? There's just no clean way to swap between the two modes. I also feel like the S/L/M toggle would be very easy for a Sentinel to ignore. Just grab the Ranged/AoE/Fire/Cold/Nrg/Neg toggle, slot it to heck and back, and take fly or hover. Preferably both. You've stacked this power way too hard. Let's try something a little different: 1: Focused Shields Gain an Absorb shield equal to 2% of Max HP every 1.5 seconds, stacks up to 10 times, oldest stack is lost when new stack is gained. 2: Deflection Shield S/L/R Defense. Let's say 13.88% S/L, 8% Ranged. Toggle. 3: Insulation Shield F/C/M Defense. Again, 13.88% for typed, 8% Melee. Toggle. 4: Damping Core Resistance to ToHit, Recharge, Slow, End Drain. Passive. 5: Phase Modulation Mez Protection, Grants 2 stacks of Focused Shields. Click. 6: Repulsion Field N/E/AoE Defense at 8%, Repel at the cost of 1 end per target per tick. Toggle. 7: Dispersion Core Defense All 3% and +Res Hold/Immob/Stun. Passive 8: Pulse Feedback Matrix PBAoE Repel+KB, Grants 2 stacks of Focused Shield. Click. 9: Force Overload Resistance (All but Psionic) Mez Protection, Grants 10 stacks of Focused Shield. When it runs out, -50% Max HP Debuff and -50% Max Endurance Debuff for 15 seconds. Click. Now we have a set where people have a choice on Set Bonuses to go for Typed at a reasonable level or Vector at a slightly harder to achieve value. Where Ablation is a core function of the set's identity and overall survivability through click+Absorb, and where the click +Absorb functions tie into a capped system mechanic making it possible to 'waste' clicks if your absorb is already capped, encouraging active maintenance of +Absorb effects. But. We have the narrative issue of it being "Too similar" to Energy Aura in conceit if not function. So let's shift up some names. 1: Ablative Pattern (Animation: Wrist Keypad Tapping) 2: Deflection Matrix (Animation: Leadership Chestthump) 3: Insulating Aegis (Animation: Aim/Build Up alternate animation "Charge") 4: Damping Core 5: Phase Modulation (Animation: Tough "Flex") 6: Repulsor Field (Animation: Fire Shield arms up head back) 7: Dispersion Core 8: Pulse Feedback Matrix (Animation: Stalker EA Disrupt) 9: Overdrive (Animation: Power Surge, Overload "Clench Fist") And then let's call it "Integrated Defense". For particle effects we can do translucent floating shields anchored to the forearms, legs, back, and chest. With the power customization option of having those fields rotating rings of runes or more technological in appearance. That way people get to choose which one better fits their Magic/Mutant/Natural/Science/Tech character.

You can also buy these badges in Oroborous.

Would also be nice to have some of the Praetorian signs up. Like the coffee shop. Makes an area feel more... fulsome.