Steampunkette

Hmmm... This thread leads me to question a single important thing: What kinds of AT do we actually need? While the current setup doesn't follow the traditional "Holy Trinity" of MMOs (Adding in a Pet Spec and a Control Concept changes things a lot) there's still roles to be had on a given team. We basically have 2 'Tanks' in Tankers and Brutes. 2 Controllers in Dominators and Controllers. 4 Support in Defenders, Masterminds, Controllers, and Corrupters. 3 Melee DPS in Brutes, Stalkers, and Scrappers. 2 Ranged DPS in Corruptors and Blasters. And 1 Pet type (Arguably 2 if you count Controllers) in Masterminds. The Sentinel provides another Ranged Damage AT. So we've got 3 of those, now. But we also have the EATs, heroic and villainous, which both bridge over some roles to varying degrees. Both Arachnos ATs provide some support, some melee, some ranged, and some control. The Kheldians provide damage, support, and controls (to different degrees). What we really need isn't another Melee character or Support character. Support has 4 and Melee has 3. What we need is a new tank. ... Gonna need to write one up. And I already have a nifty way of doing it in mind. Instigator: Take Two!

I love the concept, I have a few suggestions. 1) Less chains. I LOVE the chain heal concept. I think it'll look amazing in play. But the sheer quantity of chains you have in this set is going to wear out the uniqueness -very- fast. 2) Less AoE. Most support sets have -some- Single Target support. Everything except the rez in this set is AoE. Whether it's a chain or a PBAoE effect. 3) Maybe have a dedicated debuff or two that you can throw off that just hits a group of enemies, rather than your only Debuffs also being Buffs depending on who gets hit. 4) I also love the idea of Defibrillate creating a PBAoE damage zone. Maybe only 7-10 feet, but give it a knockback component and you'll create a really nifty effect. Kill the +Rech/End for it if you do that, though!

Update! I'm level 41 and I've got 1 set and 2 LotG+Def IOs slotted (All attuned 'cause I like having my bonuses when I exemplar). I respecced at 41 to start shifting my slots around to be more balanced between primary and secondary. She deals SO MUCH MORE damage, now. And with 44% Smash/Lethal resistance (I don't have Tough or my Dark Embrace slotted seriously, yet) I survive a hell of a lot better. Feral Charge is ridiculous with it's fast recharge rate, I love it. She just bursts out of the shadows and appears right next to her enemies to tear them up with a 3-Stack Rending Flurry. I particularly love when I'm beyond max distance on my Charge and the NPC I'm targeting comes running at me 'cause when the power goes off I appear behind them like I'm in a Kurosawa film!

The rage crash only really becomes a problem when you're in incarnate trials. By that time you should have bubblers or at least one person out of the 24 who has barrier invocation. This problem is a non problem. If you really want to get fancy take barrier invocation yourself. You can get the recharge down real low.

VEATs get support AND DEFENSE in their secondary powerset. That's, really, the only way this thing could ever work. A Baseline Scaling defense value that gets improved by increasing levels and is then further improved by a Fury-Based mechanic on top of two separate full powersets is just way too much. Instead, maybe try combining a powerset like Radiation Emission with another powerset like Radiation Defense. The AT gets -some- defenses and -some- support and has to actually pay an opportunity cost for their abilities like all the other Archetypes.

In about 2 Hours the Redeemers will start running Redside Heroics for Purpleside Good Times! You can send a tell to @Steampunkette if you'd like to join in the fun, or start up your own Purple Team! See you in-game, Heroes!

For what it's worth, that's not entirely true. Kheldians get a scaling Resist buff depending on ally comp, and Masterminds also get an innate mitigation power. I don't think it's very well balanced in this case; having a higher melee damage multiplier than Tanker puts them in Corruptor damage territory, and having Scrapper-level defenses along with a Support set fairly easily positions them as one of the most survivable ATs in the game. (I don't think these problems are fixable with merely numerical changes, either. As-proposed, it's just too close to Defender to be anything but a better or worse version of its sibling AT.) But I don't think that having "some" innate Defense or Resist is inherently unworkable, either. Kheldians do get a scaling resistance buff based on team composition. Also damage. And Mez Protection. It's great! But it's also at least SOMEWHAT balanced. By making it based on team composition you add randomness to the levels you get out of it in a way that causes the character to fill missing roles better (DamRes gets high if there's no tank on the team, for example). But it's also straight resistance. So debuffs and stuff still hit rather than getting deflected. But it's not a level-based scaling Defense bonus. Even if it were .5% per level it would be utterly useless until about level 14 when it became marginally okay and become way too strong by the time the character got to level 30. Whether solo or not. Having a 25% defense at 50 plus weave for another 7% and Maneuvers for another 5% gives a great low-investment road to softcapping positionals. Much less a level based scaling Defense -and- Resistance bonus. This AT would be as defended as a tank (With Zeal scaling to increase defenses that are already really high with 0 investment), with 'Surpassing Defender' support abilities at max Zeal, and scrapper level (Read; Really Good) melee damage. It's just way too much.

Neither an option nor a good idea. I'm not trying to be insulting when I ask this: Do you understand how Defenses and Resistances work in City of Heroes? Like the ToHit check math, damage scaling by magnitudes, and such? Defense has an absolute value by percentage regardless of level with a scaling increase in value determined by how high your defense is. (+1% defense when you have 0 defense means nearly nothing, +1% defense when you have 44% defense means a -WHOLE LOT-) There's also the issue that no other AT in the game gets anything remotely like what you're suggesting. Tankers, Scrappers, Stalkers, everyone else has to take multiple power slot choices to get even 'decent' levels of survivability, and then has to spend their enhancement slots and inf to get those levels up. You're proposing a class get that for FREE. Massive imbalance off the bat.

What's the Theme of the single pistol set? It seems to lack any connecting idea except "I have a gun and I will shoot you." Dual Pistols goes for the big flashy momentum-manipulating bullet curving gun kata stuff. So how do we make Single Pistol interesting and engaging, unique, and enjoyable without stepping on Dual Pistols' toes? The answer? Change it up to a 'Gunslinger' style. Make it the Pistolero powerset. There's more than a few Cowboys in Comics, after all, so it gives us some thematic variety! Quick Draw: Already thematic in it's name, just make it animate as a swift-draw hip-shot. Steadied shot: Change it to Steady Shot and have the character, hands still as a surgeon's, blast the target. Covering Fire: How about changing it to "Fan the Hammer" and have the left arm reach across the body to slap the back end of the gun repeatedly at a hip-shot level? Could even have the animations of the attacks draw and holster the gun after every shot with a "No Redraw" model for powerset use (the gun just appears in your hand while you're animating the attack) I'm sure y'all could think of other styles to do.

... you can already do this. Make an SG on one character and build your personal base. Set it to open with a code and memorize it. All your character's can use that base by inputting the code. You can also /altinvite your own characters. Or make personal bases for each of them. Or talk to peeps on your server about base access codes. Everlasting has it's own Yellow Pages of bad ass bases to RP in. https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,4383.0.html How cool is that?

Nothing in game says they don't stack with themselves either in the descriptive text: Or the Game Stats:

Rebuilding her build from memory and I'm fairly certain it was -always- a hackjob! Defenses M/R/A: 17.5%/29.3%/24% Nrg/Neg: 28.7% Fire/Cold: 22.8% Resistance: S/L 63.9% Recharge: 135% (with hasten) Not -terrible-, right? But also not Softcap... Until you hit them with poisons. Weaken is slotted for 21% ToHitDebuff, which brings your effective defenses up to: M: 38% R: 50% A: 44% On the first stack. Yup. That's right. Throw it twice. Heck, throw it 4 times 'cause the recharge is down to 5.5 seconds and the duration is still 30 seconds. It also reduces incoming damage by 30% (per stack) so your 63% Smash/Lethal is more effective. Of course you could also throw on Power Build Up before you throw it out. Then it's 33% ToHitDebuff for up to 2 stacks, since PBU lasts 12 seconds, but it's up to you. And hey, if you're fighting a bunch of Praetos and get aggro, just throw on Force of Nature for your panic button. It'll reduce incoming exotics by 40% or so (Except Psi, obviously), stacking with the 30% damage debuff 'cause that thing is powerful. At high end, those two powers make the entire powerset RIDICULOUS. Combine Neurotoxic Breath to make your enemies attack less often (and you can get that one double-stacked for 130% recharge rate reduction) and you're taking another third to half of the enemy's damage away. For the record: This build has Poison Trap in it just 'cause I like to lead enemies to it on a corner and then whirlpool -on- that corner to really screw 'em up! As far as Alpha slotting goes: Either Musculature for more damage or Intuition for more debuffs and range. With a range of 104 you'll be able to start fights outside of enemy range, maybe hit 'em with a ToHit debuff before they can launch the alpha, then duck behind crates or a corner near your poison trap and drop whirlpool when they get near the trap to slow 'em down before you debuff them in a stack. Now, of course, AVs get 85% resistance to debuffs. So you're only throwing 3-4% Defense and ToHit debuffs against them. But you're still debuffing their Damage at full strength. 30%. 60%. 90%. Each stack makes them hit less and less powerfully. Pop a purple or two at the start of the fight, an orange if you're feeling nasty, and then drop their ability to hurt people or resist the damage they take into the floor. Yeah, Mako's got huge defenses and you can't debuff them which sucks, but that's what Yellows and Accuracy slotting are for. Pull on your big girl panties and deal with it, not every set is going to be great against every enemy. http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1506&c=680&a=1360&f=HEX&dc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his post is long enough, so here's the Homecoming 2.23 Hero Designer link. And just for you? I added some chance for damage procs to Envenom and Weaken. Poison is one of the strongest support sets out there if you build to it's strengths and change your tactics according to your situation. You can walk through the world essentially unkillable while turning all of your enemies into pudding. Or you can charge in like a madman, try to debuff a wide-spread group with a close-spread debuff, and eat pavement.

Twist my arm, why don'tcha! :) Most of my "heroic villain" characters are pretty low level at the moment, as I constantly come up with new concepts, make them, play them to like 6-7, then end up going "ooh, but what about THIS concept..." and run off to make another one. Would the interviews you were mentioning be IC, or OOC, or both? I have a couple of characters in mind I might wanna "try out" with. :) IC and brief! Dr. Woods is desperate for help.

1) Gather enemies on a tight corner. 2) Debuff the big stack of enemies. 3) AoE. 4) Repeat. Poison is the only set I've ever used that allowed me to solo AVs as a Corruptor. Gecko Girl, level 50 Water/Poison. It's not a grest solo leveling set, sure. But different powersets require different tactics. Play differently and Poison becomes really good.

This is why I say it wasn't a bad idea on it's face. It has merits. But the cost was too damned high in terms of time and manhours. Ultimately it was back burner ed forever.

I am surprised it was never done in the original game, especially with how money hungry they were at the end, could have made a fortune if they offered it! I'm not surprised it wasn't done, because it's a bad idea. It isn't a BAD idea... but it is impossible using the game's current system! To implement such a function would require the game to grant you a couple extra power sets (which it can do) and then shift the autoselect "first tier" secondary to a new powerset (which it can't do) and then make the replaced powerset invisible and unselectable (arguably it could, but the miles of code you'd have to go through are monstrous) all while increasing your character's datafile size. It's just not worthwhile. It was never done on Live because the cost investment was too dammed high compared to the small number of players who would use it. Alts, on the other hand were worthwhile! You played the game more and spend more time doing stuff while the monthly subscription date creeped closer and then the devs got paid for your interest.

Are you kidding me? They're evil in this dimension! It's a private army invading a sovereign Nation arms with flamethrowers which are banned by the Geneva convention and they're not terribly discriminant at who they're shooting at while in a civilian area. These guys are probably setting fire to Mercy island every 30 minutes. They're terrorists.

So here's my plan! The character I'm playing is meant to be a Fearmonster, essentially. I RP up all her Dark Powers as essentially kind of being Scarecrow like. Just shadowy fear and terror. My main goal with the character is to start a fight with a Fearsome Stare (to slow incoming damage) leap into melee range, and fling off Heart of Darkness to stun everyone. Then go to town with melee and ranged attacks. If something happens that slows her down, she's got her Shadow Field to fill the recharge-gap on Heart of Darkness. As soon as HoD recharges: Hit it again. Just keep killing things in melee while everything is stunned to bits. Umbral Beast and Haunts with near constant uptime supplement my damage, and the build is permadom with near permahasten. I know I won't have perfect accuracy or uptime, but that's why I've got 75% Smash/Lethal and 15ish% defenses. It isn't -great- but if I'm on a team with any kind of defense buff character I become largely unkillable. I -could- swap the Melee Hybrid over to the Assault Hybrid for more damage, but I'm not sure... I think using Melee could be a nice 50% uptime "Nothing seems to kill me" thing... What do y'all think? Hero Plan by Hero Hero Designer 2.23 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Necropunk: Level 50 Mutation Dominator Primary Power Set: Darkness Control Secondary Power Set: Savage Assault Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leaping Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Dark Grasp -- SprDmnGrs-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear(A), SprDmnGrs-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg(3), SprDmnGrs-EndRdx/Rchg(3), SprDmnGrs-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx(5), SprDmnGrs-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg(5) Level 1: Call Swarm -- Apc-Dam%(A), Apc-Dmg/Rchg(7), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Apc-Dmg(9) Level 2: Maiming Slash -- CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg(11), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx(13), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13) Level 4: Vicious Slash -- Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Hct-Dam%(15), Hct-Acc/Rchg(15), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(17) Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19), RechRdx-I(21) Level 8: Living Shadows -- SprAscoft-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg(A), SprAscoft-Rchg/+Dmg%(23), SprAscoft-EndRdx/Rchg(23), SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear(27), SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg(27) Level 10: Unkindness -- Rgn-Acc/Rchg(A), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(29), Rgn-Knock%(31), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(33) Level 12: Fearsome Stare -- GlmoftheA-Acc/Rchg(A), GlmoftheA-Fear/Rng(19), GlmoftheA-Acc/EndRdx(21), GlmoftheA-EndRdx/Fear(31), GlmoftheA-Acc/Fear/Rchg(34) Level 14: Heart of Darkness -- AbsAmz-Acc/Stun/Rchg(A), AbsAmz-Acc/Rchg(43), AbsAmz-Stun/Rchg(43) Level 16: Spot Prey -- RechRdx-I(A), GssSynFr--Build%(36) Level 18: Haunt -- ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(34), ExpRnf-Dmg/EndRdx(34), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(36) Level 20: Rending Flurry -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(37), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(37), Arm-Acc/Rchg(39) Level 22: Boxing -- Acc-I(A) Level 24: Tough -- Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(25), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Ags-ResDam(31), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(33) Level 26: Shadow Field -- UnbCns-EndRdx/Hold(A), UnbCns-Hold/Rchg(39), UnbCns-Acc/Rchg(39), UnbCns-Acc/Hold/Rchg(40), UnbCns-Hold(40) Level 28: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 30: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 32: Umbra Beast -- CaltoArm-Acc/Rchg(A), CaltoArm-Acc/Dmg(33), CaltoArm-Dmg/EndRdx(40), CaltoArm-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(42), CaltoArm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42) Level 35: Call Hawk -- Dcm-Acc/Dmg(A), Dcm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Dcm-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Dcm-Dmg/Rchg(46) Level 38: Feral Charge -- Obl-Acc/Rchg(A), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(42), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43) Level 41: Dark Consumption -- Acc-I(A) Level 44: Dark Embrace -- Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Ags-ResDam(45), Ags-Psi/Status(45), GldArm-3defTpProc(48) Level 47: Soul Drain -- Obl-%Dam(A), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Obl-Acc/Rchg(50), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(50) Level 49: Dark Obliteration -- Acc-I(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Domination 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: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), PrfShf-End%(48) Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany Level 50: Spectral Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Phantom Core Superior Ally Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon Level 50: Melee Radial Embodiment ------------

Join anyway! When I'm not working I'm on from morning to night. A lot of people are like that and those of us in the Service Industry or Freelancing or Housewifing or whatever also have erratic playtimes.

Echo of Galaxy City exists, still. Accessible through Oroborous (Beneath Silos on the back where the hospital is) But that won't help. Everyone goes to AP 'cause you just... it's what you do. You create a character and you go to AP to get on a DFB and get some fast levels any time day or night 'cause it's always got plenty of alts and newbs in it. Galaxy wouldn't have that. Neither does Mercy. It's not about zone variety, it's about population mass. People go where there's people to be around people.

Just made a Discord Server for Purpleside. Come join us! https://discord.gg/2MfHYQZ

... what if we made the travel power you're describing into a "Brutish Climbing" travel power...? Have the teleport emote only work on flat surfaces and take the form of your character moving their hands like they're grabbing a surface, planting their feet against it, and leaping like Hulk in the first Avengers movie? Sure it'd look dumb if you used the "Climb" while on the ground (You'd just be teleporting along the ground holding on to nothing like this is Thriller!) but it'd be a really neat way to have wall-climbing. Add a hover-delay with that pose and we could even "Cling" to walls, briefly.

The Demonic Hellfire attacks have a distinct graphic set from Fire Blast. You can KIND OF see it in this video: The best way I can think of to describe it is Liquid Flame. More like the fire that is -on- the whip than the fire blast particle-storm. More distinct flame shapes moving around inside each other. Like dropping Lighter Fluid through a blow-torch. I know what your talking about, but I think there may be a better way to get player access to that animation. I'd rather have it in the Hellfire Assault set so that it matches the whip...

While we're at it, how about a Minimal Effect Psychic Everything? That way I can do mind blasts that just have the sound traveling towards my target instead of the wibbly wobbly pink dart? It would definitely look more like mind-blasting if people got blasted back without the particle effects, and would definitely make the various Psionic Sets stand out a heck of a lot more. I'd actually -use- Psionic Melee that way!

I'm not certain Taunt multiplier can be applied at greater than 400%. Otherwise I figure there'd be at least a few mechanics where the real numbers show the magnitude as 500+% to show how much more "Taunty" they are. And based on that reasoning I think we have to go to the base numbers that are being multiplied. Which are damage and healing. But we can't really increase the Tanker's damage that much without risking other (larger) implications, so I figure adding in the secondary healing/damage is a good solid way to increase the 'Base' that the multiplier gets added to without changing the game's balance in any meaningful way. As to whether it can be done: Lightform (PB Tier 9 Defense) has a crash that heals you for 100% of your maximum hit points then immediately damages you for 50% of your maximum hit points. It's where I snaked the idea from! The only difference is using set and unresistable healing and damage values that are perfectly equal to ensure the target neither gains HP nor loses HP from the secondary effect. You COULD make the healing and damage equal to the baseline damage of the attack itself if you'd like Tankers to get flatly triple the amount of aggro that they normally do, but I wouldn't recommend it. Aiming for around 1/3rd of the attack's normal damage ensures you get around half the increased aggro. 150x4 = 600 (Main damage) 40 x 4 = 160 (Secondary Healing) 40 x 4 = 160 (Secondary Damage)