Steampunkette

April 13, 2021

As to the "Knockback" or "Repel" options: Both are entirely directional.

Knockback is based on where you are in relation to the NPC knocking you away. Repel functions the same way. You'd need to create an NPC that somehow perfectly tracks player movement and stays directly under them for it to function as a "Lift" mechanic.

You could "Spawn a pseudopet and have it fire" but thanks to the inherent timing system of the game, it would either fire while inside your body as you fell into the pseudopet, or from a horizontal direction relative to you, as you glided past it.

Knockup and Knockback are also not good options because they both have a loss of control effect tied into the design of the effect. If you were knocked up into the air while gliding you would stop moving forward and perform a "Flip" animation ('Cause that's how knockup works on flying characters) and then go back to gliding. If it didn't treat you as flying, you'd do a pratfall in mid air, plummet toward the ground, and then kip up out of the pratfall and start gliding, again, for just long enough for it to happen again.

Gravity Alteration is really the only way to do it, and a way the game isn't designed to function.

April 13, 2021

39 minutes ago, Grindingsucks said:

@Steampunkette On, no- your logic is sound. 🙂👍

I also grappled with the choice of whether or not to put weapons racks in the security station outside the detention area. In real prisons, you typically only arm guards in perimeter towers (those running the cell blocks are not often armed, for fear of prisoners wresting away the guns). I finally decided that 1) A lot of prisoners are going to be super villains, and will have built in weapons anyway, so I might as well stick them in there. Also- it just spruced the place up a bit and made it look more ah... security-like to me.

I do plan to add a separate teleport pad (similar to TemporalVileTerror's suggestion) in the area that I have the trainers at presently (which is the security room), to represent a means to safely transport prisoners in and out of the facility. I just hadn't got to finishing that part of the base yet. I'll need to move the trainers to a different area before I do that, of course. The same teleport pad would be used to deposit and remove prisoners from the base facility, so they would be well isolated.

While the base has relatively strong defenses (though I haven't mentioned it, the Vault is so well protected that IC'ly, our current group hasn't even been able to figure out how to breach it (the base is an old one, inherited from a now-deceased SG) since occupying the base). Prisoners escaping and accessing the parts storage area or wreaking havoc by damaging essential base-functions IS a possible risk, and will probably happen (by design) as part of some RP event down the road. Part of the fun will be letting the heroes handle the emergency.

I will also confess that my base building is more commonly intuitive, than logical. I start with the largest area plot. Then I decide if the base will be above ground, below ground, or a combination of the two. Then I block out "rooms" by raising floor/ceiling. Once I have rooms blocked out, I'll snip tool a picture of the blank map and add labels as seems good to me (more often based on the size of the rooms and aesthetic, than sound logic- although I do make some attempt to consider logic when placing rooms). Then I add essential functions, then whatever greebles I think will make it look cool.

I will also skip around a lot, when I get bored of working on one area, and switch to something new for variety- which is why I get some partially completed areas.

Anyway, thank you for the thoughtful and constructive feedback. It's always useful to hear advice from someone good at thinking about these things. 😁

If it's not too late, then?

Why not move the rooms for Security, Generators, and Detention to the other side of the huge room that you've blocked out for different sub-rooms?

With it on the opposite side of the Vehicle Garage, you wouldn't need to do the extra teleporters, and the backup generators could be right there next to the hospital in case of power loss.

Alternatively, you could nix the "Doorway" between the Parts/Vault hallway, slap on a Teleporter Aleph with a Door over it, and have it narratively connect to a door that you place in the Vehicle Garage and claim is "Downstairs" or "Upstairs" from the garage. Like a Door in the Security room with a portal to Alpeh and a door in the Garage with a portal to whatever the B one is.

Like there'd still be room for Mayhem and RP thereof. But it might make more narrative sense for placement.

April 13, 2021

Oh, no. I understand the premise just fine. And I don't think the "Granted Powerset" is OP or anything. Just worried about how to make it work.

I think the Mystic Fortune is an interesting way to go for it? But with so many powers triggering it, you'd have players who pretty much perpetually have a pop up right in the middle of their screen while they're trying to fight since almost every power in the set grants a power. And then having to drag it onto the bar from the power window seems clunky, and reduces it's usefulness in the current fight. That could be a little troubling.

As to redirect: It cannot work. It's not just that it lacks the functions to "Properly Enact it". It lacks the functions to enact it in any way, whatsoever. People have gone back and forth in multiple threads with Dev involvement with "Okay but what about X?" "X Won't work because Y" "Oh, well what about Q?" "Q interacts with Y so it can't do it, either."

Unless the Devs spend a boatload of time creating a whole call mechanic affecting every character in the game to make this one power function exist... it just... can't.

You could make it into a PBAoE Damage/Repel effect so that enemies who get close to you get damaged and pushed away, but then you'd have "Spiritualists" just slotting it with a bunch of damage procs and rushing into a fight.

Heck... even if the devs did spend however long it takes to make the retributive damage effect function, people would slot it for Damage Procs and do more damage to those who hurt them which really isn't very Enlightened.

April 13, 2021

1 hour ago, siolfir said:

I agree with the big problem being that the tier 9s do something that the rest of the set already does, and would prefer to flip them. Currently they really only provide an "Oh S***" button for heavy debuffs (on resistance sets), cascade failure (for Nin), or high +tohit mobs (SR). I even said that in my posts.

But if someone is building on a budget and doesn't stack their build to soft-capped defense and capped resistance, then these powers have a use because the resistance sets will be pushed to caps on everything, Electric Armor also gets all of its Toxic resistance in Power Surge and suddenly has the highest magnitude KB protection in the game, and when it wears off the EMP has -regen and -recovery on the targets; the defense sets get less out of it because it's easier to softcap those but even there Nin and EA get some extra DDR, EA also gets a lot of +hp which isn't available in the rest of the set, there are recovery and movement bonuses... it's not that they provide strictly nothing, it's that the extra things they provide aren't worth the crash. A mid-range build that would want to take these powers to shore up holes can suddenly take them without worrying about having to deal with the toggle drop (and possible hp drop) at the end. A high-end build that's soft-and-hard-capped across the board still won't take them because they don't need them, but they become a viable patch which they currently are not.

I was going for a minimal changes approach, because those are a) more likely to occur; and b) far less likely to create backlash from people who like the system how it is. All you have to do is look at the first several pages on the Fly buffs and how people were outraged that Afterburner's +maxspeed was rolled into Fly and another popup tray power was added to see how people will complain about anything even if it's a straight buff.

You're at least largely right on the mid-range build thing, yeah. Hadn't really considered the "Mostly SO" Character, in honesty.

But even for such players, isn't it still largely useless? You use Unstoppable as your "Oh, Shit!" button and it lasts for a long period of time during which you're unstoppable... and then you get into the next fight and the one after that and the one after that and it crashes without "Crashing" if you catch my drift and you're in the middle of a big fight with a bunch of enemies who are now hitting you -without- Unstoppable on, putting you right back where you were when you hit the button to begin with, only now it's on recharge.

I dunno... I feel like they just need to either be redesigned, probably with a shorter duration/cooldown cycle so they maintain similar uptime but don't die right as you're taking Alpha from the fourth pack down the hallway... and become more of a real "Oh Shit!" button? Which would royally suck for PvPers, so we shouldn't -do- that.

I feel like especially with the Afterburner, yeah, we need alternate T9s...

April 13, 2021

20 minutes ago, America's Angel said:

1) Build diversity wouldn't come just through power selection, but also through IO slotting.

2) Just because you can't figure out a way to use it, doesn't mean other players won't be able to.

3) You're basing this judgement on...?

4) So you don't want a change to a power you don't use in a game mode you don't play.

Great feedback.

5) Yeah I like those ideas.

6) Nice to hear from someone who actually plays the sets/uses the T9s.

1) Nope. I'm accounting for that. If you don't take Temp Invulnerability to instead take Unstoppable you're still slotting Resistance Sets. And according to you, you -need- all the secondary functions of the rest of the powers. Which are Resistance-based. So you still have to slot them for Resistance. Which means the same sets they're already using. And, heck, Temp Invuln also provides Resistance to Resistance Debuffing so why not take and use it, too? Soooo... >.> Still useless.

2) Pointless Insult noted.

3) You say they're Essential in PvP. That's -your- term. Your word choice. If it's already Essential why does it need a buff? If it's already something good enough that you -have- to use it, why give it a buff? That's like saying Hasten is Essential so let's make it an Autopower at it's current level of buff. Why? Because it would be stronger and then people wouldn't have to slot for more recharge so they can slot for other stuff! Except they would still be slotting for more recharge 'cause Permahasten's great but you can still go harder to get Permadom or Permalightform or Permawhateverelse. Or just shave off another 5 seconds of self-heal or nuke cooldown or whatever else to increase your overall DPS/HPS/WhateverPS.

4) Nah. It's not that I don't PvP. It's that you're being intentionally obfuscatory in that statement. You've made this big long post about how much it'll improve gameplay for PvE when it really doesn't and what you actually want is to make a handful of "Essential Powers" even stronger in a Nice Game Mode. That's just stacking the Meta to stack the Meta, at that point. Why bother? Glad you like the Feedback, though!

5) Yup. You would... It just makes the "Essential PvP Powers" flatly stronger, stacking the meta in the way you like it rather than, y'know... making any kind of substantial change.

6) Hey, look, another pointless insult!

I get it. You want them buffed for PvP because that's the game you like to play and these are the sets you like to play in that game. Cool Beans. I just don't think it's worth the Dev Time required to further stack your preferred powersets in a niche playstyle. The niche of a niche, if you will.

April 13, 2021

3 minutes ago, siolfir said:

With IOs, you don't need any of these powers. And that's a build choice that everyone can make for themselves. Just like you could take the nukes - which did more damage than they do now when they had crashes - but people were skipping them because they didn't like being useless right after using them.

It would make the powers more attractive for less expensive builds or those that focus on other bonuses than +def, +res, and +recharge, and the way the sets are designed (with defense sets getting +def tier 9s and resistance sets getting +res tier 9s) means that you would have to flip the effects to get layered mitigation out of them - which I would prefer - but that still wouldn't make you need them, a concept that I am against in the first place.

The only way to make them needed is to nerf the hell out of the sets that they are in.

I mean, granted, you still wouldn't -need- them without the nerfing.

What I mean is: You're not actually giving people an alternative in the long run. Unless every one of the T9s can be made Perma through Recharge Slotting and Hasten and such, you're building a Tanker, Brute, Scrapper, Stalker, or Sentinel who loses the ability to defend themself for X amount of time every Y amount of time if they're built around using the T9 power as something they actually -use- for Survivability.

Taking these new and crashless Tier 9s would be largely pointless. I mean -maybe- you really need another +Def power to slot that last LotG into, but grab Maneuvers instead and you can also help a team of other players a little bit, at least, rather than just taking Elude to have it.

That's the big difference between a Nuke and a T9 Defensive Power. The Nuke only has to be useful once every minute or two to justify taking it because it'll do massive damage to a group. For a Tier 9 to be useful it either needs to replace a bunch of lower tier powers (Freeing up Slots and Power Choices) since it mimics their abilities, or it needs to provide something those other powers do not provide.

And a Tier 9 with downtime can do neither of those things, in the end. It's why I love Lightform on my PB. You can make it have no downtime, even if it has a crash, and no longer need all your other toggles to survive.

April 13, 2021

17 minutes ago, siolfir said:

Honestly, I would rather see some of them flipped around - the extra defense rarely helps SR, the extra resistance doesn't help Electric Armor - but that's likely off the table.

In that case, I'd say these changes would boost them without changing a huge amount:

Eliminate all hit point crashes (Unstoppable, Power Surge)

Powers with a full endurance crash will only crash 50% instead (this is what Strength of Will currently has).

Remove -recovery from all that have it.
Optional: Power Surge can keep the (self) -recovery because it crashes with an EMP, which has a recovery crash in Radiation Emission.

Note that I'd rather see the (self) -recovery removed from all forms of EMP.

Get rid of the endurance crashes in One with the Shield and Strength of Will, or cut them in half (to 30% and 25% respectively) if you have to keep them.

This way the uptime and effect of the powers is not diminished, but the crash becomes easier to deal with and, for Unstoppable, isn't practically a death sentence (I'd include Power Surge there too, but the EMP during the crash has saved me back in issue 8 when I had it on an SO build and hit Build Up just before it dropped).

But you still don't -need- Unstoppable.

Even without a crash, you'd still be taking the other powers in your set and using them and set bonuses to essentially become a slab of unstoppable meat before the Unstoppable Power comes into play. You've gotten rid of the penalty for using the power, but haven't made it any more attractive to actually take.

April 13, 2021

So... let me make sure I understand this...

This is a powerset which essentially "Grants" a second powerset to another player (Or group of players) as you use your abilities, and that powerset is:

1 Melee Attack

1 Energy Drain

1 Cone Attack

1 Defense Debuff

1 Perception Debuff

1 Lifesteal (Autofire)

1 Superior Damage Melee Attack

1 Damage Debuff (Autofire)

And this is on top of two single target heals, large quantities of Psionic Resistance as well as Debuff and Mez Resistance and Mez Protection?

It's definitely -unusual-. And it seems like it would heavily rely on a pop up tray setup for the power-granting effects which it would absolutely need to be a useful support set during the leveling process since there's very little Psionic Damage pre-40 and almost half the archetypes get mez protection to some degree or another. It would be pretty great at high end, with the ability to provide heaping helpings of resistance to something many people have as a "Hole" in their builds, for sure, and all the Debuff Resistance would be great.

I am worried that the reliance on pop up tray functionality would put off a large portion of the game's population who already use Null the Gull to turn off their pop ups. Though if it granted them as standard Temp Powers into their bar it could be just as effective without being as bothersome, but likely more confusing as people tend to set up their trays to certain orders and having a temp power pop up in the first empty slot could make it largely ignored and/or annoying should someone fat-finger 5 and hit 4 and suddenly instead of healing themself they're stuck in an animation for Spirit Blade.

I would like to note that Redirect as a concept has been brought up, before, many times. Unfortunately CoH doesn't keep track of which enemy made which attack beyond keeping the name for a ToHit Check, so it doesn't have the capability of sending damage back to the target. It also can't "Price Match" damage on the fly to equal out values or anything. There's also no "If I get Hit do X" logic circuit in the engine, so retributive PBAoE damage or hitting the buff-caster while applying an equal-magnitude heal to the person with the effect on them is right out, as well.

Redirect will have to be replaced, unfortunately. But I'm eager to see people's ideas on how to avoid the minor issues I've presented on displaying the new powers the targets are granted!

April 13, 2021

T9s can't be additive but we could increase build variety by getting players to drop other powers in their builds?

But you also purport that you NEED all the other powers in your build to survive even with the Unstoppable. MAYBE you could do without a couple of powers, but you'd need the rest... Well except maybe Temporary Invulnerability. Which is a Resistance Power. So Resistance Slotted. Exactly like Unstoppable is. And also only be effective during that 66% Uptime (Unless you used Sets to make the Uptime irrelevant in which case we're back to square one). So no -actual- build variety, you're just choosing which of two powers to slot a Resistance Set into, and one of them stops working for 33% of gameplay...

So.. uh... Useless?

Thunderspy is That Way, you say? Cool Beans. Don't care.

If you're suggesting some kind of "Fix" for Tier 9s that doesn't -actually- fix anything, what the hell is the point? Make it more useful for PvP? It's already useful for PvP and probably doesn't need an extra buff for a Niche Playstyle.

If you're not looking for alternative suggestions to fix T9s then there's just no purpose to this discussion, really. 'Cause it just doesn't -do- anything outside of buffing a few sets at high end for PvP only. And if that's your real suggestion with a bunch of "We could make PvE Different, too!" thrown on top of it in the hopes of obfuscating?

No thanks.

April 13, 2021

On 4/10/2021 at 8:29 AM, Grindingsucks said:

A little update on our base. As before, green labels represent completed areas. I've also added an orange label representing partially completed areas (the portal room is the only area in a partial stage of completion right now. It's usable, but I still need to add the various greebles to spruce it up). Still a fair bit to do, but I feel I've made quite a bit of progress:

It seems odd to me that if you were to bring in criminals to put into a Detention cell you'd march them through your portal network (Easy Escape), Reactor Room (Lots of options for Chaos), and Parts Storage (Tools to engineer an escape)

Alternatively, Portal, Reactor, Hall of Heroes, Rec Room, Security, Detention.

Similarly, in the event you're using Teleporters to put people directly into Detention: When you -release- your prisoners they get to walk through areas where they could cause trouble.

... is that weird or am I just crazy?

April 13, 2021

I would be hard pressed to disagree...

There is, however, another direction we could take them, rather than the Willpower or One With the Shield direction:

Team Buffs/Enemy Debuffs. Keep the current T9s for PvP, or even give 'em the 66% uptime change, then do up different options for the rest.

Radiation's got Ground Zero, Shield has Grant Cover. We could go for similar mechanics for Energy, Invuln, Electric, SR, and Ninja. Could also sprinkle in some Control effect.

Invuln Alt T9: Meat Shield. PBAoE Toggle, nearby allies gain an Absorb shield.

Energy Alt T9: Pulsewave. PBAoE Debuff-Nuke that applies -Dam, -Res (All), -End to all enemies in the immediate area.

Electric Alt T9: Corruscating Charge. Chain Ally Heal/+Recovery.

Ninjitsu Alt T9: Ninja Vanish. Targeted AoE (Ally) Placate. Throw a Smoke Bomb and your target and all allies in the area Placate nearby enemies and gain Stealth.

SR Alt T9: No idea, but there could be -something-.

Most of these options are largely useless to the person using them (With the exception of Pulsewave) if they're Solo, or not really a 'team player' character. So most players wouldn't feel -pressed- to Respec. But for new characters you'd have some interesting options to pull out at high level that could also play into your Epic Pool Choices for more build variety.

April 13, 2021

31 minutes ago, America's Angel said:

Have you played Invuln, Elec Armour, SR, EA, or Ninjitsu at 50? Because that's the topic.

They are needed. Especially versus enemies that do -deff, -recovery, and -end attacks. Such as:

-The kheldian ambush in the ITF doing -def attacks.

-Cimerorans doing -def

-PPD doing -def attacks

-Lord Recluse's -recovery and -enddrain attacks

-Carnies (with their death endurance attacks)

To use you as an example - Kheldians don't get DDR. So versus a +4/8 mob that is spamming you with -def, you'll be at the -def floor. The DPS of a +4/8 Kheld ambush or Cim mob is ~2000. So your 85% res perma lightform peacebringer, assuming 200% regen and your two heals firing off, is lasting around 13-14 seconds.

This is why DDR matters. An Invuln can stack the DDR from ageless with its native DDR to survive those spawns for much longer. Due to peacebringers having no native DDR, Ageless does much less for you in these situations.

What are you talking about? My Invuln tank ALREADY has 100% uptime of 90% resistance to everything, INCLUDING psy.

So the thing you're saying is "too powerful" at 66% uptime, is something I -ALREADY- have at 100% uptime.

Again, here are my invuln tanker's numbers:

This is WITHOUT unstoppable or any incarnates.

So what you're saying makes absolutely no sense. My invuln right now, using all the toggles in the set, is MORE powerful than an Invuln using just unstoppable.

Hardcastle. Level 50 SS/Inv Brute.

Didn't bother with Unstoppable, 'cause like you I wound up unkillable without it using IOs. Didn't need it. Would've been an utter waste to bother with it.

If I had grabbed it? I could've turned off all my toggles and -still- been unkillable thanks to Unstoppable -and- the Set Bonuses.

Saying "It wouldn't be stupidly powerful 'cause I can be stupidly powerful without it using Set Bonuses!" does not make it any less stupidly powerful.

And you're right. My PB didn't solo the ITF or otherwise rush headlong into hyperdifficult content without support of friends. Didn't need to do that, either. But standard run of the mill stuff? No problem outside of Carnies, and even then it was only the Psychic ones that really messed me up (The rest do a bunch of Energy/Fire/Lethal/Smashing.).

Well. That and Quantums, but that's a whole other story.

The Reason I used PB as an example was because with 5% -Less- Damage Resistance and 0 DDR/Slow Resistance/Etc I was -still- a honking badass tearing through all the standard content without getting winded for more than a crash's duration. I.E. Unstoppable with none of the secondary effects you cited as the reason an Invuln character should absolutely run all their other abilities while Unstoppable is up.

And, again, I need you to remember that I'm Agreeing with you that these Tier 9s are freaking useless in PvE 99% of the time. I just think your particular brand of fix "Give 'em no crash and 66% Uptime" doesn't actually fix the problem in PvE because they just do what the rest of the damned set does by themselves as regards the primary benefit of the powers in the set.

If you've got 90% Resist to everything and 60% Defense to almost everything: Why bother clicking Unstoppable in PvE content? "It can have a 66% Uptime and No Crash" doesn't actually DO anything for you 'cause you're -already- maxed out on everything. The Recovery Buff? So just replace their Tier 9 with a Recovery Buff and toddle on your merry way if that's the only actual benefit PvE Players are getting from the power.

Which is -why- I suggested the Absorb Shield as an Alternate Tier 9. @PeregrineFalcon -absolutely- gets it. If your Tier 9 doesn't do anything you can't already do -and- comes with any kind of penalty: Why the hell bother? For PvP this fix makes flawless sense thanks to the different way stuff is calculated for PvP Combat. For PvE?

Your suggestion doesn't actually -do- anything.

April 13, 2021

1 hour ago, TemporalVileTerror said:

Yeah, we're definitely not on the same page.

Sorry, I'm not sure how else to try and explain what I have in mind.

What you have in mind is "++Hop" where "Hop" is "+up" for 0.1 seconds every 0.5 seconds so the character slowly loses height.

I get it.

But there is no ++Hop. There's no +Hop. The game engine does not have the capability to understand a ++Hop command as a repeating signal rather than a continuous entry.

... but you -did- make me think of something that -could- work. It would just -royally- suck.

Have the player use ++up while gliding, and have the Glider Power put a "Jump Height" Cap of 3ft on with double-jump capability, but pulse Jumpheight caps of 0ft every .5 seconds for .4 seconds.

It would suck. But it would work.

April 13, 2021

50 minutes ago, America's Angel said:

All of those things are hugely needed on an invuln. It's how the set is balanced.

Being able to cap res via unstoppable rather than temp invuln + unyielding doesn't suddenly make Invuln not need DDR, end drain resist, or defense.

Yup. Like it said in my OP.

As someone who has played a Peacebringer at level 50 for Perma Light Form: I vehemently disagree.

Yeah. The set is balanced around those other effects, but they're not -needed-. With 85% Resistance to everything but Psionic Damage and a self heal I could tank +4x8 indefinitely. The only groups that could give me a challenge were those that were Psi heavy. Even Knives with their -recharge Caltrops couldn't stop me and I had practically no -rech resistance at all.

During that 66% Uptime with 90% Resistance to everything but Psi, Invuln would be stupid powerful, even without all the other toggles in the set.

April 12, 2021

13 minutes ago, America's Angel said:

Resist Physical Damage provides DDR.

Dull Pain provides +HP and a heal.

Resist Elements provides slow resist.

Resist Energies provides end drain/-recovery resist.

Invincibility provides defense and tohit.

Tough Hide provides defense and DDR

...why wouldn't you use these with Unstoppable? It provides none of these benefits.

The only power you wouldn't need outside of the downtime is Temporary Invulnerability. (And possibly Unyielding.)

And if all that wasn't true, I'm not sure I agree with the idea of adding absorb. I don't think Invulnerability needs a buff in PVE. It's already really good.

I definitely agree that Invulnerability doesn't need a buff. But it does kinda need a Tier 9 that isn't largely useless in PvE while being essential for PvP.

As to your other points: Eh. Once you're able to 3 slot Resistance SOs into Unstoppable as a 66% Uptime power, those things all become significantly less -needed- with the possible exception of Dull Pain. Mainly because everything you've listed is a secondary or tertiary effect of those powers and doesn't provide comprehensive protection against those aspects.

The idea of the Absorb Power is just a rough cut for an alternate (Mutually Exclusive) tier 9. Something else could just as easily take it's place.

Of course, any Tier 9 that Invuln can actually -use- in PvE without being a largely useless pick is going to be a buff for the set (Much like doing the same for all the other sets with t9s that crash after just doing what the set already does but bigger and in one power)

April 12, 2021

If you type ++Up while Flying you'll hit the ceiling of the zone. Just like if you put ++Forward you'll eventually crash into a wall.

The only reason Jump -seems- to put in multiple inputs is that your character has a maximum jump height. On reaching it, your character falls, reaches the ground, and is able to go "Up" again.

Even when you're falling from that jump, though, the game has logged a "Continue Up" function and will continue to send your character in that direction, so you jump again because without Flying "Up" is synonymous with "Jump".

Hit the max height, fall, lather, rinse, repeat.

The command ++Up is the same between jumping and flying. Secondary limitations installed on your character make them behave differently on the player-interaction scale.

For a visual confirmation of this, toggle on any power which increases your maximum jump height and tap space bar (Or whatever key you have +Up or "Jump" bound to). You won't reach the maximum height. Input ++Up and you will achieve that maximum height indefinitely until to put in a new command which counters the ++Up (generally +Up or +Down). Similarly, hold the spacebar (or other bound key) to jump indefinitely and toggle on fly or hover or one of the game's other flying options and watch your character jump into a flight and keep going straight up to the ceiling. Then do the same thing by jumping with ++Up and toggling on a flight power.

April 12, 2021

++Forward, ++Up, ++Left, ++Right, ++Down. All of them function because the game's engine reads them as "Continue until input".

When you hit the Autorun key it isn't repeatedly sending a signal to the game saying "Run forward another 2 seconds". It sends a single signal and the game understands that as "Go until told to stop"

++Hop couldn't work because it's not a continuous direction, it's a matter of refreshing information. Specifically "Jump again after 0.x seconds"

It's not a matter of Messiness, it's just a matter of being incredibly simple and combining both text input and movement input through the same device, a keyboard, as the default.

If the game had been developed for 3 handed mutants or aliens so that mouse, keyboard, and joystick were all simultaneously used for game input there might have been more room for autofiring inputs like that which don't default to keyboard input and thus don't interfere with text input to the chat window... But it would have been more complex -anyway- and thus more likely to have not been the baseline and simplistic default.

Slowing Gravity is really the only "Way" that I can imagine we could reasonably make Gliding work.

It's part of why the Cryptic Engine that they built for Champions Online had the ability specifically added for "Gliding" functions to slow a character's descent or even recognize whether a player were flying up or down. Just so they could have Ice Slide and Glide as power concepts that function in the engine from Launch.

April 12, 2021

I don't think "Buff the t9s to the point that you don't need the rest of your eight tiers of powers for 66% of playtime and they are all essentially homogenous complete protection" is any more reasonable a direction to go than "Completely revamp/replace the t9s"

If the t9 powers are already "Essential" for PvP and effective during their uptime, I don't really see a reason to significantly alter that gameplay avenue from where it is, currently, as it would just upset the meta for the sake of upsetting the meta.

I don't feel like it's a "Bad" idea, on it's face. As changing to static uptimes could be an interesting way to go with it. Perhaps even causing "Toggle Suppression" as a core function, especially with a Toggle Cost Reduction during the power's duration to make it so you don't have to take the time to retoggle as soon as the power crashes, allowing your character to maintain survivability outside of those "Power Modes"

I just don't feel like making them flatly numerically stronger by closing holes and removing the crash is automatically the right answer, either.

How about we create a compromise with an "Alternate t9" setup?

One in which the current version of the t9 is largely swapped out for your version. 66% uptime, Ignore Recharge, Drastically lowered crash. Not -nothing- but not 100%, either. Maybe you lose 80% of your current stamina but your recovery remains the same? I dunno. Make it not -terrible- to come down.

And then the alternate t9 is a straight up -alternate-. Instead of Unstoppable you can get Unbreakable, which grants a massive Absorb Shield that recharges a small amount every 2 seconds for a while, making it something that works -with- your Resistance-Focused powerset, offsets some of the Psi hole without plugging it (Psi would rip through the Absorb a lot better than Smashing/Lethal would, after all), and has a different type of crash at the end. Like maybe Unbreakable turns your muscles to Jello and you wind up with an 80% Damage Debuff for 10 seconds like a reverse Build Up. Still a 66% uptime, ignoring recharge. Just different.

I feel like that would create a ton more build variety, and see more people using their t9 in PvE and PvP.

April 12, 2021

Those up commands would interfere with everything else involving text or character inputs. Like right now, if you're holding the W key and use the drop-down from your Friend's List to invite someone you know, the W input bleeds over and the game registers the name as having at least one W in it, somewhere, and registers a response of "That character does not exist or is not online at the moment".

You actively have to stand still to do an invite, or otherwise stop all keyboard input to do so.

Can you imagine trying to type a message mid-glide and the chat-entry getting slammed back to the left every time the Up input happens? Meanwhile, you're falling 'cause the up commands aren't going into the game, they're entering the chat window.

April 12, 2021

I'd love to see a power like this. Especially if rather than a P2W power it was part of the Gadgeteering Travel Power (If and When that is ever completed and released)

However: There is no "Slow Fall" function. Falling is a global speed value that isn't specific to any given character. So I don't think it could be modified without either decoupling it from the global structure of the game's engine and making it a function of individual characters... which I think -might- be impossible orrrr....

Creating a character based value which somehow interacts with the game's idea of gravity as "Magnitude 1" Gravity. And then allows characters to have .75 Gravity or .33 Gravity Magnitudes (Thus reducing fall speed by 25% and 66% respectively).

And if they did -that-... they could create high Gravity Magnitudes to forcibly hurl characters at the ground at 10 times normal speed. WOOF.

April 12, 2021

The number of people who claim someone else's imagination is "Limited" in a passive aggressive manner and then claim it isn't an insult amuses me. Even tossed in the winky face for additional condescension.

That's one piece of valid feedback, though. It does have a pair of "Leadership" style toggles (with only 2/3rds of the range of either Leadership or the Spiders).

However that's 2 powers out of 9 and a secondary mechanic that is ignored... So I don't sincerely feel like it should carry -too- much weight. Though maybe to "Change it Up" we could make them Targeted Toggles with a leash.

Put the Defensive Maneuvers on the Tank and the Offensive Maneuvers on the Blaster to create two separate zones of influence with the Support Character standing between the front and back line throwing orders? Seems reasonable to me.

April 12, 2021

I daresay this is not a discussion of the powerset and I'd prefer we stay on-topic. If you have suggestions to improve the proposed set or some specific reasons you think it needs redesign, feel free to describe them. But if your intent is to level a blanket insult please find yourself absent.

April 12, 2021

We really do need more Natural Hero options in the game. Don't get me wrong, I think Devices and Trick Arrow are pretty great for Naturals, though they come off a bit on the "Gadgeteering" side for some characters. Very "Techy". So here's a set for the Battlefield Commander type character. The Drill Sergeant. The Paladin and the Pop Icon.

Aura of Authority

Tier 1: Walk it Off: Single Target Heal, on a fairly quick recharge. Removes up to 2 stacks of Inspired to grant a small AoE Heal and +End component.

Tier 2: Focus Fire: Single Target -Def, -Res on foe with a fairly quick recharge.

Tier 3: Defensive Maneuvers: 40ft radius Toggle, +Def All.

Tier 4: Marching Orders: PBAoE (20ft) click on a long recharge. +Fly Speed, +Run Speed, +Jump Speed, +15% Recharge. Grants all targets 1 stack of Inspired.

Tier 5: Offensive Maneuvers: 40ft radius Toggle. +Dam, +Acc, +Perception.

Tier 6: Rallying Cry: Targeted AoE +Absorb, -Inspired. Grants target and nearby allies a large Absorb shield and removes up to 3 stacks of Inspired from all targets. Each stack of Inspired removed grants a +Dam, +Acc, +Mez Resistance component.

Tier 7: Fire Free: Targeted AoE -Res, -Def, PBAoE +Inspired. Grants 1 stack of Inspired to all targets near the Caster.

Tier 8: Sleep When You're Dead: Targeted AoE Rez, +Mez Protection, +Inspired. Applied to all allies near the target, targets any ally whether defeated or not. Grants 2 stacks of Inspire. Very long duration and recharge.

Tier 9: Inspiring Speech: PBAoE +Regen, +Recovery, +Dam, +Def, +Inspired. Grants all targets in the area a massive buff which wears off in stages. Grants 5 stacks of Inspired. Very long duration and recharge. Ignores recharge rate changes.

Inspired (Buff): While Inspired you gain a small stacking bonus to Regeneration, Recovery, Accuracy, and Damage. Each stack provides 8% Regen and Recovery, and +3% Accuracy and Damage, stacking up to 5 times. Certain powers remove one or more stacks of Inspired in exchange for additional effects. The Inspired Buff lasts for 1 minute, and additional applications of this buff do not extend the duration.

Yes. It is a Gimmicky Set that manipulates stacks of a flat bonus that last for a long time for shorter-term effects. It should also be worth noting I intended to make "Inspiring Speech" Permanent out of the box, but at the minimum values of the power. So you get your 20 seconds of big defensive power and damage bonus, but it swiftly fades over the course of 3 minutes so you wind up with a decently valuable smaller value for just over a minute that is just falling off as you recast it.

April 10, 2021

My personal take on improving Mind Control:

1) Telekinesis creates a pop-up tray with a -repel toggle for 0 end. Turn it on to make Telekinesis drag enemies towards you instead of slowly pushing them away.

2) Taking Telekinesis or Total Domination causes Levitate to become an AoE. Secondary targets take a smaller amount of Smashing damage.

3) Confused NPCs treat the Mind Control Character as their "Leash" point. Rather than returning to where they spawned, they follow the controller/dominator until the Confuse breaks. Then they return to attacking the controller/dominator.

These changes would make Telekinesis a -vastly- more attractive power, allow Mind Control characters to do slightly more damage, and give Mind Control characters a reason to keep using Confuse on a single target, out of combat, to bring them along as an uncontrolled "Pet".

The third one would be far more difficult to implement than the first two. But none of these changes would significantly change the Mind Control Playstyle while increasing it's overall usefulness both for single player and group play. Further, no one who skipped TK would feel like they "Had" to change their spec to take it, because they'd have Total Domination in their build, anyhow, and get the Lift upgrade.

Modest changes, direct improvement, no forced respecs. Win/Win.

April 10, 2021

3 hours ago, FiveDiamondJack said:

Do you have a build handy? Mine is older and I'd love to see your plan.

Sure thing!

Doppelganger - Blaster (Dual Pistols).mxd

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