Steampunkette

Force of Will, Gadgetry, Experimentation, and Utility Belt all exist in the code as power pools with values for each of their powers... But no Animations. Right now you just stand there, gormlessly, while the power activates. Often rooting you to the spot while nothing happens and then suddenly someone gets buffed, debuffed, controlled, or hit. Unfortunately, the current Dev team is not made up primarily of artists and animators, so those sets are backburnered until the NCSoft talks finish and an art team can be acquired.

Simply reduce the Mastermind Pet's base damage for their attacks by 32% seems reasonable, to me. The point is to make sure they're able to land hits and survive marginally better than a -6 with 500hp. They'd still HAVE 500hp, but at least all damage against them wouldn't be multiplied by 166% (independent of buffs)

Personally I'd love to make a Crab Spider and recolor all her energy blasts as a sort of white-green then RP her as a spider-alien, so I'm all for this being a thing!

Active Defense and Practiced Brawler are the two mez protection clickies that are core powers (As compared to Rune of Protection) They're awesome, so long as you either have them set to recharge on cooldown (2 Recharge SOs) or use them just before Mez-Capable fights and don't use them when you're fighting enemies without mez. The reason they're cool is that they're not a constant drain on your Endurance. You can pop it before a fight, recover the end cost, then go into the fight with your mez up at no cost during the fighting. The reason they're great is that you can use them WHILE MEZZED. So if you hop into a fight where you're engaging a bunch of mezzers and get mezzed you can click it on and go "Phew. I should've clicked that before the fight!" and not die. Toggles can't be activated while you're mezzed. The reason they're -awesome- is because you can Stack Durations for periods of even greater Mez Protection. That said, there's a thread about this on the third page of the Suggestion forum, you should probably check to see whether a topic has been discussed, then add your opinions to that thread.

"Mobbed Debuff" Every enemy that swings at a player adds 1 stack of the "Mobbed" Debuff. This power does not stack from the same source, but can stack from multiple sources. Each stack adds an equal quantity of +Res and -Res, +Def and -Def, +Elusivity and -Elusivity, all of which are unresistable and ignore all buffs and debuffs. The Buff portion stacks up to 17 times, the Debuff portion has no maximum stacking. The Debuff is hidden from the player's bar, but shows in Real Numbers. You now have an implementation for your idea. Characters get +X-X to all their mitigation which stacks 17 times, and as soon as the 18th character lands a hit they only get the -X and start taking on penalties. Make the debuff last 10 seconds with each attack refreshing all stacks whether it hits or not. Then you just have to decide how many enemies you want players to be able to 'safely' aggro at a time (Able to keep their mitigation at a reasonable degree) and modify the values accordingly. Don't want players herding more than 30? Throw a 1% unresistable Defense Debuff and a 2% unresistable Res Debuff for every NPC over 17. At 30 that's -13% defense and -26% resistance (Enough to push a tank lower than Squishycap for Resistance if they were capped to begin with) Actually you may need to split this into 2 powers. The Mobbed Buff and the Mobbed Debuff. Same basic principle, though, with the Mobbed Buff only stacking 17 times while the Debuff stacks infinitely and all mobs applying both every time they swing, hit or miss.

Anything that lowers the barrier for PvP while not -requiring- PvP play is great for me. I'd love to see changes like this implemented, where quaternary improvements to character are adjusted for. We already adjust for primary and secondary characteristics, after all. For simplest implementation: Disable all Accolade Powers while within PvP Zones, Apply a Zone-Wide Buff equivalent to the Accolade Powers. That way it doesn't have to question whether or not someone HAS the Accolade power and then disable the ones they have, specifically. Just BOOP! All gone. And replaced with something similar. If you don't have 'em, you still get the zone-wide buff. Problem Solved.

... no idea why Entropic Aura had Recharges instead of End Reducers... So I went through and took the extra slot out of Entropic, then took the slots out of Combat Jumping and Energy Drain and spread them out. I threw all the Psionic Res, Global Res, and Scaling Res that I could into the build as-is. I know I could do another if I had tough but I like the powers I have selected, here, and don't want to shoehorn that set into the build. I also added 4 damage procs to my attacks. Both low-tier cones, Follow Through, and Rend Armor. Then I tossed on Musculature Radial and Preemptive Radial, but it looks like most of my attacks (Rend Armor, Titan Sweep, Defensive Sweep, Arc of Destruction, and Crushing Blow) don't get modified by Incarnate Powers? I feel like that's a Mids/Pine's glitch, but if anyone can confirm it I'd -really- appreciate it!

I'm home! Hero Plan by Hero Hero Designer 2.23 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Zerostar: Level 50 Science Brute Primary Power Set: Titan Weapons Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Defensive Sweep -- Mlt-Acc/Dmg(A), Mlt-Acc/EndRdx(3), Mlt-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mlt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Mlt-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5) Level 1: Kinetic Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(7), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(7), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(9), LucoftheG-Rchg+(9) Level 2: Crushing Blow -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(11), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(11), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13) Level 4: Titan Sweep -- Mlt-Acc/Dmg(A), Mlt-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Mlt-Acc/EndRdx(15), Mlt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17), Mlt-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17) Level 6: Power Shield -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(19), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(19), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(21), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(21) Level 8: Follow Through -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(23), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(23), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25) Level 10: Entropic Aura -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27) Level 12: Taunt -- PrfZng-Dam%(A) Level 14: Dampening Field -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), StdPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(43) Level 16: Energy Protection -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), GldArm-ResDam(43) Level 18: Rend Armor -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(27), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(29), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29), TchofDth-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31) Level 20: Build Momentum -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31) Level 22: Energy Cloak -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(40), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(40), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(42), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(42) Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31) Level 26: Whirling Smash -- SprUnrFur-Dmg/Rchg(A), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg(33), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), SprUnrFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), SprUnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End(46) Level 28: Energy Drain -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(34), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(34), PrfShf-Acc/Rchg(36), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(36) Level 30: Super Jump -- BlsoftheZ-Travel(A) Level 32: Arc of Destruction -- SprBrtFur-Dmg/Rchg(A), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg(36), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), SprBrtFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprBrtFur-Rech/Fury(46) Level 35: Energize -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(39), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(39), Prv-Heal/Rchg(39), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(40) Level 38: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(43), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(45), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(45), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(46) Level 41: Superior Conditioning -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(42) Level 44: Physical Perfection -- EndMod-I(A) Level 47: Energy Torrent -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/Rchg(48), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), PstBls-Dam%(48) Level 49: Spring Attack -- OvrFrc-Acc/Dmg(A), OvrFrc-Acc/Dmg/End(50), OvrFrc-Dmg/End/Rech(50), OvrFrc-Acc/Dmg/End/Rech(50) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Fury Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Empty(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(45) Level 1: Momentum ------------ Totals are: Defenses 53% S/L 41% En 31% Ne 40.1% F/C Resistances 44.% S/L 31.7% En 22.3% Ne 18.8% F/C 11.8% Toxic 0% Psi Healing: Recovery 166% (3.03/sec) Regen 248% (With Energize) Heal: 49.38% from Energize End Refill: 49.37%/target with Energy Drain Considering stripping Combat Jumping down to 1 slot for the LotG Recharge Global and slapping those other 5 slots into some Procs and/or Resistance Pieces for the two Autopowers...

I always prefer to use Attuned Sets rather than boosting my IOs, because I exemplar a ton. I didn't grab my laptop, like a FOOL. So I can't post the build 'til I get home. But yeah. To get my S/L defense high as heck I used Kinetic Combat 4 pieced (With a Touch of Death Acc/Dam/End) for that sexy 3.75% defense buff in my 3 ST attacks while the AoEs got... shit... I can't remember if it was Scirroco's or Multi-strike. I know it's red with a sword, but two swords or one? Can't remember. Defenses are slotted 5 pieces of Luck of the Gambler (With the Recharge IO) Hasten is 2 slotted, grabbed 2 slots for both Boundless Endurance and Stamina and slapped Endmod in both with the +End proc in Physical Perfection. I wound up using the full Brute's Fury and the other ATO set in Arc of Ruin and I think Rend Armor? I know my AoEs all have a Proc for added damage, though.

So I put together a build that I can't access at the -moment- because I left my laptop at home (I'll grab it at lunch) but here's the big thrust of it: Smashing/Lethal defense is at 50% (For a little padding on Debuffing) Energy is at 41% Everything else is, like, 35% or less. The character has around 40% Smash/Lethal/Energy Resistance. Because Titan is a bit of an end hog, I went for Recharge and Endurance Slotting after S/L maxed out, grabbed Spring Attack and Energy Torrent to be hilarious. This character will have obscene quantities of AoE. I know people will probably be annoyed, but I grabbed all the primary. ALL OF IT. So I can mess around with different attack chains in different situations. Worth noting: I'll be teaming every time with a Huntman, so 15% more Defense at all times (Possibly more if he grabs himself regular Leadership). So I might -actually- have Decent Psi Resistance! I'll post a follow-up with the proposed build so y'all can take a peek. But on general principles: How bad did I do? I didn't take the Energy Ult, either. But I did take all the secondary outside of it (Particularly Energize to fix all end problems forever)

So the reason you want the aggro cap lifted is because your group hasn't adapted to the aggro cap environment that existed for the majority of City of Heroes' lifetime? Jeepers.

Incarnating just means "I kept playing the character after hitting level 50" Doesn't matter what content you do, you'll get the XP to unlock the Alpha and all the others. No need to run the iTrials (Though they grant more stuff and all) Even exemplared you'll get Incarnate XP after 50. And when you hit level 51 (Well, Vet Level 1!) you'll get a ding and a bunch of incarnate materials to craft with.

Anything the Devs say can and will be taken as a promise by some people. Anything the Devs say can and will be taken as a rumor or unsubstantiated claim by others. Case in point: Leandro has said, repeatedly, that the base code entry slash command is going to go away. Now there's 3 threads about it one complaining that it's not gone, one offering an explicit replacement (By me no less) because that was commented on by a GM in the PvP thread, and a third "Brainstorming" thread on how to keep it. Meanwhile there are still people in the PvP thread (Or were last I checked) begging for the code to remain, to hell with PvP. The Devs have stated that the Aggro Cap can't be increase on an AT by AT Basis, others have repeated that statement, linked that statement, and explained 'til they're blue in the face why it can't be done. And in the Tanker/Brute thread there's still a "Just raise the Aggro cap for Tankers!" post every other page. This is already happening and will not stop. But at the very least it could be directed to a somewhat useful end by giving people an idea of what's -actually- being worked on and -how- it is being worked on so they can weigh in on that, learn a bit about the process, and get hyped over what's in the pipeline. There's a reason Blizzcon comes every year with big promises of what the "Next Expansion" holds. There's a reason they sell out the WoW and Overwatch Halls year after year after year. It's because generating hype is an important part of keeping people interested and -getting- people interested. If we get the nod from NCSoft, I think this would be the best way to try and grow the servers/userbase. Particularly while CoXG is pumping out promo videos of their stuff. If we can get the legal clearance, I'd also love to see us start creating promotional materials. Powerset Previews, Story Arc previews, New Enemies, Whatever.

Here's a way to do it through Windows, muting all sounds for the current active window, not just City of Heroes! https://superuser.com/questions/927966/keyboard-shortcut-to-change-specific-programs-volume-in-windows

Okay. So. Thought about it a little bit and I have a couple of suggestions! Gravity Pulse becomes a PBAoE Teleport and damage effect with a high chance to apply an Empowered Gravity Well. Empowered Gravity Well being a Mag 10 Immobilize (Big enough to lock down any boss in the game). It's a 30ft range PBAoE pulse that group-teleports all enemies hit (up to 10) to your current location. Meanwhile Gravitic Collapse can become a Wormhole-Adjacent Power. Similar to Shield Charge in use, you ground target AoE and it teleports all enemies currently around you (And yourself) to the targeted location, which creates a big damage hit. Not only would these two powers be -great- for controlling aggro, they'd be -amazing- for Repositioning, since you could drag the Dregs of one cluster of enemies into the next group you're attacking by teleporting them with you. ... also I hate Gravity Slingshot. I get what you're going for but unless it knocks them back it's not really a "Slingshot" it's more of a "Gravity Spin" and that is silly... A gravity Slingshot should probably be a Knockup power. Worth noting, though: This power set has 3 single-target attacks (the original proposal had 4, but one was a ranged pull which can't be done). So I think maybe Gravity Slingshot should be a Single Target High Damage attack while Singularity Strike should be the Superior Damage attack. Buuuut... I also wanted to offer up a thought? There's frankly a -lot- of Melee Sets that involve hitting the target with fists/claws/spines/sharp objects. There's only one that really embrace the "I'm not actually hitting you" style: Kinetic Melee. What if instead of Jabbing and Striking with "Gravity Fist" attacks, we make it all attacks that you don't actually -touch- your opponent, but manipulate gravity around them? Use more of the "Casting" animations from Blast/Control sets rather than punches. Could be interesting!

There is no way in the City of Heroes engine to do a "Pull" or "Knock Toward" effect. There is no "Relative Behind" function for a peudopet, either. Even if there was, Knock Magnitudes are set by the power, not the situation, so you'd probably fling them past yourself if this sort of thing could be done. Wormhole/Teleport would be the only way to do that sort of thing. That said I think there's a lot of merit to the powerset, we just need some alternatives for that effect.

Yeah. Same level, reduced damage and debuff values to compensate. Either that or at least an increased ToHit/Accuracy value to counter the Purple Patch. As it is there's more than a few Masterminds who have taken the "No tier 1 pets at 50" approach because they're largely worthless without significant buffing and healing far beyond the rest of the pets.

#1: City of Heroes existed for most of it's lifetime with the Aggro Cap. It's how most people who played the game existed in the game. To the point where most people don't realize that the aggro cap is hard-coded into the NPC AI and think it can somehow be altered on a character by character basis. Even though that was a hot bone of contention when the aggro cap was implemented. #2: The Server Code is out there. I'm not saying "Create your own game and play it, hosting your own thousands of players at a time". I'm saying "If that's an experience you want, you can have it on your own machine, then come back after 'cause there's no way the Devs, here, are gonna do that" #3: HILARIOUSLY people think this would increase challenge at -all-! As if a level 51 character with softcapped+ defenses, hardcapped resistances, enough regen and recharge to make the earliest scrappers drop their jaws because they six-slotted heal and have less is gonna be challenged by a larger than usual quantity of people who still can't hit them... Yeah. Ain't gonna happen. It wouldn't increase the challenge at all. You'd just be standing in a larger pile of enemies jumping over each other to try to find 6 square milimeters to stand in next to you while swinging or shooting fruitlessly at the armored god before them. Why yes, Defense is a matter of relative damage reduction which is why it's value increases exponentially as you approach 45% and 100 people swinging on you are gonna hit a lot more often than 16, that's a great point! But taking 5 hits every X Seconds isn't going to be significantly different than taking 1 hit every X.Y seconds (Where Y is a value correlating to 1/4 of X) You'll still have resistances, regen, and self-healing to offset the impact. Meanwhile unless the target caps are also rescinded (And target caps are a balancing point between melee and ranged classes and also between Sentinels and everyone else) you're just gonna be standing there for however long it'd take to kill all those groups, normally. You'd just do it in one place instead of while walking between groups. It's not significantly interesting. It's not engaging for all your teammates who have to wait while you herd up the entire map so they can shoot it when you bring it to the corner/dumpster/whatever. It's not going to make the Incarnate game "More Fun" in any meaningful way. ... also it would require us to get rid of the NPC Tether which is probably a hell of a lot harder than increasing the aggro cap from 16 to, say, 5,000. Otherwise the NPCs would just walk back to their spawnpoint. So yeah... it'd be nifty to see a nice dumpster pull for old time's sake, but it'd be more reasonably to do that in a private server environment than try to make it a serious change to the way City plays.

We could! But we shouldn't. And probably won't. But hey! The Server Code is out there. Just load up your own version, modify the AI scripts, and enjoy the experience all over again!

That is true. Hadn't considered that!

Could do an In-Game Voting NPC. Set up a P2W Vendor that sells two Temp Powers for free. If you buy one you can't buy the other, simple Yes/No question. Then after a week, Datamine how many times that vendor sold Yes and how many times it sold No.

How about a Base to Base portal Item? You place it in your base like any other portal, then enter the code to head to another base. That would solve the Base-to-Base travel issue pretty quickly. As for the Base Teleport power itself? Reduce the cooldown to 3 minutes, reduce the interrupt time to 3 seconds, reduce the volume of the power by 50%....

It's a different Archetype entirely. You go Fortunata 'cause you want the big Team Buffs and the Psi Damage and the Personal Safety. I've got a level 31 Fortunata I'm working on who survives melee combat better than the Electric/Shield scrapper I routinely team with. But when she's buffing him, he's unkillable by content of similar level.

Honestly do not know. Maybe turn Empathic to a fear rather than stun? I can't think of many other directions for it to go, other than KB centric. Intangible is both too rare and too hacky to easily swap into something else. I had wanted, initially to do an "Energy Admixture " power, where damage type swapping was a partial thing managed by preselected options. Like half of a Dark power becoming Psi for fear. Or 1/3rd of a bladed Lethal attack becoming Toxic for poisoning the edge. But such a power would have to essentially force a partial rewrite of EVERY attack power in the game.

Nope. It was just easiest, most likely, based on the way the engine they purchased managed art assets. The engine is probably closer to Quake than Modern Warfare, after all.