Steampunkette

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.

All attacks are designated "Melee" but have a 15ft reach. Tier 1) Corruption. Just take off the Ranged component. Tier 2) Lash Tier 3) Garrote (Hell on Earth Animation, functions as Assassin's Strike with a different name) Tier 4) Build Up Tier 5) Placate Tier 6) Crack Whip Tier 7) Burning Rage. Turns Lash and Corruption into Cones with 5 targets. Click that lasts 20 seconds. Tier 8: Hellfire. Passive. Causes Corruption and Lash to sometimes spawn a flame patch for ticking damage on your target, Crack Whip to become a PBAoE with a 10 target cap. Tier 9) Hellions. Click that causes next Garrote to spawn 5 flaming minions that have a damaging aura and follow you. Burning Rage uses the animation for Blazing Aura. Hellions uses the Seishinteki Kyoyo animation. Both add flames in the same style as Demon Summoning for particle effects.

Do what you want, Zac. And people don't always use the quote tool 'cause people don't always use any tools. Sometimes people might think it's fairly evident who they're talking to, or what they're talking about, and who else is involved in that particular aspect of the conversation. Sometimes that isn't always clear, but asking for clarity and getting it should probably be good enough in situations where confusion arises.

If the only thing in the thread that gets discussed is what is in the OP and all other topics or tangents are irrelevant, verboten, or otherwise not to be considered, why are you bothering to discuss what I've said in this thread? I know what the OP wanted. There is a reason I didn't quote the OP in the continuing discussion when I expressed the problems of just expanding the height slider. What else do you hope to come to understand or communicate with this line of inquiry?

Read more. FrozenSolid brought up the height slider. OP talked about it with FrozenSolid. I responded on that basis.

Changing the height scalar to go to smaller levels would function in PvP zones, however. And was suggested as an alternative to a new Mini Mode. It doesn't matter if you, personally, won't PvP with it. If it is an option, people will do it.

So there's three issues with this suggestion: 1) Hard limits on scaling. The game has 'em built in and it won't allow characters to exist above or below certain values. 2) Bounding box. No matter how big or small your character is, your bounding box is the same. You take up the same amount of space at 4ft tall as you take up at 8ft tall. So you couldn't pass through openings that look small enough for your character. 3) Targeting. While your bounding box remains 6ft tall, you can only be targeted by tabbing or clicking. Tiny player characters in PvP would be incredibly difficult to target. Especially if they headglitch behind cover while making ranged attacks, since you would be unable to target them in return.

For RP purposes, perks and flaws add character depth. For MMORPG Mechanics, perks and flaws wildly skew game balance unless carefully implemented and maintained. And every perk and flaw creates another layer of permutations on what a character can be and do in the end. "My character has the weakness to magic flaw. That's why I only run Council missions at high end so I get all my perks and none of my flaws" would be a really common sort of playstyle, too.

Nope. Sleep breaks entirely. Fear gives you a 1 second window after taking damage once every 3 seconds or so. And if you take damage 10 times inside those 3 seconds you don't get to act until the 1 second window is available. If you are asleep and get hit the sleep effect ends, completely. It's why most people skip using sleeps in any kind of team-content, and practically only use sleep in solo content to sneak past groups. https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Sleep https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Fear If you're asleep-awake-asleep it's because they put sleep on you a second time.

Disorients are Stuns. They're just two words for the same thing. Sleeps break too easily with additional damage. As far as Slows that's not really a control effect, but a debuff. The difference comes in the kind of mitigation you get. With a -Recharge or a -Damage debuff, or +Defense or +Resistance buff, you're gaining relative damage mitigation. Reduced incoming damage. But with a hard control, including Sleeps, you're getting -absolute- damage mitigation. Because no attacks are being made while the controls are in place. That said: Icy Assault actively applies slows and -recharge as a secondary mechanic as it stands. Martial Assault gets Caltrops, but also Knockdown from Spinning Kick and Dragon's Tail. Psionic Assault does no movent slow, but much -bigger- Recharge debuffs than Icy. Electrical Assault Saps. Energy Assault Knocks enemies back. Sonic debuffs Damage Resistance and some powers have a chance to hold the target... None of these things would be removed from the Assault Sets under the above suggestion.

While I definitely agree that it would be easier to make an Assault/Defense damage dealing character than a tank, I do think this would work as a concept. There would absolutely be some issues with the optimal play a lot of people strive for. Runners and patch-placement issues would take some effort to get around. However the game isn't designed to be played exclusively at the cutting edge. We have Knockback for a reason and while you -can- mitigate it with IOs, it isn't required to enjoy the game. Indeed, I think it's more fun -with- knockback, even if it isn't optimal. I feel like a ton of players would make a Skirmisher if it was made available. I don't think it would be anywhere near the most played Archetype, and certainly wouldn't -replace- Brute or Tanker... But the option for a new playstyle, and potentially shifts to the meta to accommodate new playstyles, could be interesting.