Steampunkette

Carpenters hit their own thumbs when hammering nails, occasionally. And sometimes when you swing at an object, you might hit it, but the hit glances off, not actually harming the thing you're swinging at beyond light paint chipping. And sometimes when you swing at an -unsecured- object, you're just gonna push it around rather than doing any serious damage. Different stuff happening. But I doubt you've ever punched your bedroom door so hard it exploded into dangerous shrapnel and knocked everyone within 12 feet on their butts.

Sure. But what combos -would- be broken in this design (assuming standard and no damage and same-role exclusivity is in place)? What could this archetype do that would be 'broken' compared to any other archetype doing anything similar? The only thing I could imagine would be Support/Control, assuming all powersets were made available for both primary and secondary. Because that would result in Defender-Level buffing while still having Controller Level -power- in the Controls, but not duration. Even that doesn't seem particularly strong, all things considered... We'd have to make it, though, so that Pet powersets (Both MM and Illusion) would need to be Primary-Exclusive. There's no character-function we can apply to reduce the power of pets, which are NPCs with their own statistics determined by their level independent of the player.

I think we'd actually be in option 3 territory. 3) Because it's damage values are lower than a Scrappers (at Scale 1 instead of 1.12) and it doesn't have Brute Fury, if you want a TW/Bio character there are better choices out there. The "Top Performing" set combos for this thing would be pretty much the same as any other archetype, but not actually -THAT- good because it would lack the inherent support to increase damage output or the HP levels of a brute/tank that allow it to survive extended periods in melee. What combos, really, would be outliers beyond the outliers that already exist in the game? (Melee)/Kinetics? Okay, but you're going into melee with no defenses beyond Tough/Weave/Combat Jumping/Maneuvers... Ultimately the AT would let you play with combos that don't exist elsewhere in the game. Like Assault or Manipulation as a primary powerset. But any combo you create is going to have some weaknesses compared to all the other archetypes. An Assault/Defense character would get some ranged, some melee, and thus have a slightly higher survival chance than your average Scrapper in a given fight but lack Alpha potential due to not having the big "Superior" and/or "Extreme" damage attack that Scrappers get in their sets. And you -could- try to build a Magetank by doing Defense/Ranged... but you'd lack a taunt, would have mediocre aggro-generation based on damage output, and wouldn't have the HP of an actual Tanker or Brute. So you'd get more survival than a Defense/Melee Incarnate, but you still wouldn't -really- be a Tank.

Inherents can't be tied to what powersets you choose. Inherents are part of the AT itself. As to bringing up HP: Where are the AT's Caps? If they're set to the default, like I suggest, a +HP Toggle that gives you brute/tanker HP would render things like Dull Pain completely moot because you'd be basically at the HP Cap with just the toggle. I really think the AT's core functions should be very generic and broadly useful, to allow the powerset choice combinations to be what shines. Also Support and Defense sets would need to be made mutually exclusive. A Willpower/Empath would have no ability to deal damage outside of Brawl (and any temp powers picked up, but still). Support/Defense, Melee/Melee, Defense/Defense, Support/Support, Control/Control, etc. All duplicates would need to be cut off at the knees. It would also be an AT that couldn't have access to Ancillary Power Pools of any kind, 'cause it would have access to literally every power in the game. There'd be no way to make the Patron Power Pools all available because of naming issues, I think? So better to just nix it altogether.

Two big things: 1) If someone playing this AT wanted Mez Protections they could choose a defensive powerset and get mez protection. No reason to tie it to the inherent. 2) Stance toggles are neat and all, but there's no player-function that applies to pets. It would also probably be a swift path to "Replacing" all other characters if the Archetype can fulfill any role at full power. The AT's weakness could be it's strength if the scalars are set to 1. It'd be all around solid, rather than "Good at X when toggle Y is active"

I mean... does it really matter? HEATs and VEATs were both based on hitting 50, right? You could get PLed to 50 pretty damned fast back in i4. Who cares how people reach the hoop they've gotta jump through when any hoop we create is going to be entirely arbitrary, anyway?

ToHit checks are hard coded to have a 5% automiss and a 5% autohit. The target is irrelevant.

Electric Support:

No. The macro/keybind methodology follows a very strict setup. What you -could- do, though is bind ` with "Near" and leave Tab with "Next" Then just always ` target first and tab-target after you've got the one you want. Me? I typically mouse-select my first target, then tab-target from there. I don't always want the closest or the farthest, often I go for middle of the pack. But that's just me.

That's how it works by default. If it's not functioning that way, for you, it's a glitch.

Using the keybind makes it always jump to the closest target, rather than cycling to the farthest. Target_Enemy_Next goes from Near to Far based on your current target, even defeated targets. Target_Enemy_Near targets the nearest enemy. Invariably. You're targeting a dude on you and hit tab with Near instead of Next? Nothing happens. You're already targeting the nearest enemy. It doesn't cycle. It doesn't progress up the chain. It's "Whoever is closest" Pretty much useful only to Melee Characters.

If you almost never get the nearest enemy when tab-targeting with no enemy selected then there's a Glitch.

Oh, absolutely. I get the "Vet level 100" angle, totally. Personally I'd play the everloving stuffing out of an "Incarnate" AT which is just "Pick any primary and secondary and have scale 1 damage" I'd immediately make an Assault/Sentinel Defense character and be nigh-orgasmically happy. Grab an EPP with some more melee or ranged attacks in it, possibly some support... Sure I wouldn't have a Nuke or big Burst damage from Aim and Build Up, together, but I'd be able to fight in melee and at ranged without issue. And thanks to the new Power Build Up changes... hoooo boy!

It functions in a sensible manner. You want it to function in a different way. A method exists to make it work how you want it to work so just do that instead of increasing the dev workload on a QoL change that would probably only affect a very small portion of the playerbase.

I don't think the -concept- is bad. I need to stress that. It's just the implementation that doesn't work well, through no specific fault of your own. Having an AT that can select any powerset as it's primary and any powerset as it's secondary with exclusivity in play -could- be done. My suggestion would be to give it a scale of "1" on all of it's AT Scalars. From Hit Points and Threat Levels to Defensive Values and Damage Scalars. Even Control Durations. Make it's inherents things that everyone benefits from, regardless of powerset choices, like a 15% Recharge Rate increase, baseline. And then the whole "Let's create a new AT" thread caravan might go out the window outside of archetypes built around things that don't exist (Like the Duo AT with it's new powerset type).

Cool. We can probably make a Badge for that and have the badge create an account-wide unlock. No sweat. Cannot be done. Diminishing Returns are a function of Enhancements, not character stats. Either everyone gets diminishing returns or no one does. The Secondary Inherent is not plausible. Inherents are tied to the archetype, not a powerset choice. Do make it "Tied to the Powerset" they'd need to make a new copy of every single powerset and cause the first 2 powers in that powerset to give mutually exclusive autopowers mimicing the inherent of a different archetype. (And for Controllers, Scrappers, and Stalkers that means hard-coding the 'crit chance' into every power in the powerset) And you could not do Fury or Domination. Both of those inherents are actually something like 5-6 different "Powers" working in conjunction behind the scenes. Cannot be done. You could create an archetype which functionally has access to any powersets in it's primary or secondary, and even cause some of them to be mutually exclusive (No Bio Armor/Shield Defense Incarnates, for example). But HP, Inherents, Threat Mods, Damage Caps, Damage Scalars, and everything else are functions of Archetypes, not powersets. To even attempt it you'd need to rewrite how the game understands character templates, inherents, and powersets. At that point you'd just be making a new game. Cannot be done. Respecs don't work that way. To make them work that way would require an amount of work similar to rewriting how the game understands character templates. It's too late to /jranger 'cause I spent all this time writing why it wouldn't work... but I still feel pretty /jranger in my heart of hearts!

Or nix the Sci-Fi specific angle and use the Beam Rifle Blasts out of the tip of whatever sword gets set up for the powers. Choose the Sci-Fi swords for laser-awesome or go with, like, the Fantasy Swords and wield a magic blade that shoots energy beams.

Those were typically guns on the end of a broad-headed boar-hunting spear. You did NOT want to get into Sword/Dagger range with a boar! You used Spears and Horses to keep your sensitive fleshy bits away from the goring tusks. And, again, it was "Stab, then pull the cord to fire the gun"

Yup yup! A Single barrel along the blade was the typical "Gunblade" method. Though, generally, it was more common on Daggers than swords. Mainly because the flex in a given blade could cause problems in trajectory. The intention of the weapon was not to have a ranged weapon while holding a melee weapon, after all. No, thanks to the short barrel and relatively high inaccuracy of your average lead ball, the intent was to stab someone with the blade and then pull the trigger.

What about keeping the pistols at the angles they are (The gunblades you refer to) and giving the set Claw Melee attacks? The punchy style attacks would work well enough as "Katar Punches" That said... I'd vastly prefer to see the "Gun and Sword" powerset given it's own unique powers with unique animations that keep both weapons out. Compete with it's own "Draw" animations, but also a Fencing style. Things like a Lunge attack for a melee ST or Cone where you stab through several people in a big dramatic forward motion with increased range over typical melee attacks. Or a Stab and Shot power where you stab them AND shoot them in the same animation, point blank type stuff. I just think it'd be more interesting.

Change the weapon to the Vanguard Laser Katana and it's still a Katana. Change the name from "The Lotus Drops" to "Jumpy Spin Strike" and it's still very clearly the same stylized motion. There's also the issue of a Two handed Rifle and a Two handed Sword. Pistol/Sword works in a dynamic combat 'cause you can dual-wield them, one-handed each. But for the Katana, even with no redraw, you're conceptually dropping or slinging the big bulky laser gun to pull out the two-handed sword, then sheathing the two-handed sword to pull out the big bulky laser gun. It just seems too cumbersome, visually, even if we can avoid the mechanical lag. I'd much rather see a Sword/Pistol or even a Laser-Pistol/Sword set, I think. Even with the massive animation barrier.

Sure...? Could even do a "Jumpshot" where your character charges up a big burst attack and then aims it at their feet, leaps into the air, and fires downward to make the blast corruscate across the ground to zap nearby enemies. There's lots of options. I'm just saying there are better options than trying to thematically shoehorn in a katana.

Sword and Pistol would be great for a ton of concepts... but would require an entire suite of animations. That said... I really dislike the "Beam Rifle + Katana" style. It doesn't make any sense because there's no conceptual link between Sci-Fi Laser Rifle and Feudal Japanese Sword. I really feel like Bayonet attacks make a lot more sense. Possibly with a "Charged up" FX around the barrel of the weapon like it's 'about' to fire off an attack but it's just a ball of energy you're stabbing into people.

Disagree: We need MOAR. Change it to add MOAR. MOAR HALLOWEEN Like... Maybe set up alternative turn-ins for Costume Salvage. Or add some new "Person in a Halloween Costume" NPCs to the Trick or Treating. It'd be awesome if we hit a door to ToT and a kid came out the door as an ally and was under attack by the monsters and we had to save the kid! Or, like, spawns of randomly wandering children in costumes just patrolling around Kallisti Wharf. Is there any way to make a TINY DOPPLEGANGER? I'd -love- to do a Halloween Tip Mission where you rescue a kid dressed up like your character from bullies or supervillains using them as bait to lure you into a deathtrap? Could call the kid "Biggest Fan"

You can't keep the 3 attacks in the secondary in part because they're part of the thematic assault sets. E.G. Beast Mastery's Swarm, Ravens, and Eagle are all part of the Savage Assault set. If you do Assault/Pets they'll have to go. So... Bodyguard Mode with a full compliment of pets is about equivalent to having 75% Damage Resistance to all types at all times. Assuming you maintain the aggro. Rather than putting Armors into the secondary, might I suggest Support and/or Controls? Or perhaps the Mez Protection, Taunt, and Build Up? Regardless of what is chosen, this character's damage modifiers for Melee and Range would have to be pretty darned low. The NPCs summoned by the Pet Sets have their own internal values that don't change based on any Scalar tied to the Player Character.