Hex

Well someone clearly didn't get out of bed on the right side today. Right from the outset, you've been in attack mode for some unknown reason. According to the rules of this forum, it's okay for people to post idea. That's what this is: an idea: a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action. Not a meta discussion. Not a debate over damage numbers, which is the best tactic for HAMI, or even what the best damage type is. IT'S AN IDEA. Not every archetype was made to solo raid bosses or do 8x fire farms with AV's. If you bothered to read what I posted rather than skim read, you'd KNOW I was posting an IDEA not a complete perfectly balanced, ready to roll fact that should be implemented right this second. Yes, I've played MM's. Probably a little too much. I particularly like trying to keep ninja henchman alive. "Like Symphony Control? Electrical Affinity? Illusion for Dominators? Earth Manipulation? There's a bunch if you just look." It was a joke. Clearly you need this pointed out too. "You're of course free to post almost anything on these forums, but if you post something then aren't willing to really flesh it out, don't be surprised if others point out the shortcomings in your suggestions..." Nothing you've posted here has been a thoughtful response - just a knee-jerk criticism. As I said earlier - you're in attack mode for no reason. You didn't consider the idea of a new archetype, you just began picking things you considered to be a flaw in the design rather than "hey that's a neat idea" and then getting even more passive aggressive when I responded off the cuff with a joke. I mentioned in the original post that I wasn't going to talk numbers, because doing so is pointless when that's the developer's call to make - they have far more useful tools at their disposal when crafting and testing new archetypes, powers etcetera than people's experience playing. I had other primary powerset ideas for this archetype too - do you know what they were?! No?! Shocking. Did it occur to you that these are the more ranged damage oriented sets, and that MAYBE the other sets were more utility, but I was concerned that the post was already too long?! No?! What a surprise. The fact is I did flesh the IDEA out: I themed it, gave some powerset ideas, even a list of at what level powers become available which is far more effort than a random idea needs in an attempt to peak the dev's interest and promote some kind of easily implemented (relatively speaking) extra content into this great game. But for some reason you want me to do the express thing I said I wasn't going to do, which is to give out numbers. What, you want me to say what enhancements should be slottable in each power too?! For some reason you're here to argue. I'm here to post up an idea I thought was neat. I won't be responding to you in the future. You're not worth the effort.

They're about the equivalent to the "tier 2" MM pets (Spec Ops if you're running Mercs). They don't actually require much to keep alive compared to the "tier 1" pets, and I've always found that just running a couple of handy ancillary powers (notably Leadership) is just enough. That said, this is just an idea for an archetype so it's bound to have flaws or be changed anyway - plus we have to get them dev's making things other than more Blaster primaries somehow.

I don't know why I'm posting this up - it's not like it'll get implemented or whatever. I just like the idea, so I'm going to tell you all my archetype idea, the archetype's unique ability, and then a few primary powersets (I won't go into the secondaries - you'll see why) and let everyone treat it as they may. The archetype: Squad Leader. It's similar to mastermind, in that it's a pet class. However, it is intended to be a "mastermind-lite", using less pets and generally having less summon powers. So how is it different? Masterminds have 3 "pet powers" in their primaries, each summoning (at maximum) one minion less than the previous summon power - so you get 3 for the first, 2 for the second and 1 for the last summon power, for a total of 6 pets (not including anything the secondaries can do). Squad Leader only has 2 summon per power, and more over the summon powers are pretty similar, with the "second" minion summoned by each power having a quirk or loadout difference - so you end up with two minions out of the four that are the "standard", with the other two being a little more specialised in what they do. The mastermind archetype unique is Supremacy - it gives a passive %damage and tohit bonus to pets within raneg of the MM. Squad Leaders get Motivation. Motivation is similar to the Dominator unique skill Domination, in that it's a triggered ability to give that "extra oomph" when the Squad Leader calls for it. Let's say its a 30 second buff with a 200 second cooldown, boosting (as with the MM) tohit and damage percentages and rendering them immune to control effects such as stun, confuse etc for 10 seconds, breaking them free if they are under the effects. Squad Leaders are not quite as squishy as MM's, to offset the fact they have less minions "bodyguarding" if they choose to go that route. Here's the "numbers chart" that all archetypes have on creation: Survivability: 5 Melee Damage: 3* Ranged Damage: 7* Crowd Control: 5 Support : 5 Pets: 5 *While capable of having melee powers, the Squad Leader is usually behind their pets issuing orders, buffs, debuffs and damage powers, so naturally their ranged damage will be a little higher - both of these numbers are values are variable, mainly due to primary powerset diversity. As you can see, it's a more middle of the road "jack of all trades" group supporter/dps character rather than a solo machine the MM is known to be - yet still capable of doing so with work. So why am I not going into secondaries? My thinking for this archetype was along the lines of the Dominator class - in particular the secondary powersets they have access to. This is because with the mastermind, we already have an archetype that can "buff and heal" pretty well with their pseudo defender powers. The Dominator's secondaries are just asking to be re-used - and why shouldn't they be?! They're great versions to play, and different to the other classes adding variety to powersets you may already be getting tired of from playing an alt/main or whatever. So with all that out of the way, lets get stuck in to some primary sets (I won't talk percentages or numbers for them - the guys running development should have the final say in that - I'm just an idea guy, after all). Ex-PD: For whatever reason, your character is a former police officer and knows some other skilled officers that they can call on to get a job done. You rely on your squad and trusty specialist equipment to see the job through. (The best part is, this can all be done with in-game resources, as the skins, models, animations etcetera already exist!) LVL 1. Stun gun. you taze a nearby single target for a few seconds LVL 1. Call for Back-up. You call one of your buddies from the force (a police officer in riot gear). By default, the officer has a semi automatic pistol. At later levels, summons a second officer with a riot shield, that offers a minor defensive bonus to nearby allies (a really small one - it's not like a copy of the Shield powerset!) LVL 2. Baton. Hit an enemy in melee range with your baton. LVL 6. Requisition Order. Upgrades your summoned Back-up with tazers. Your Riot shield back-up has a smoke grenade and a flashbang, while your submachine gunner's weapon is replaced with a semi-automatic shotgun (their attacks are replaced with a slug shot and a rarely used cone attack). LVL 8. Tear gas. You throw a tear gas grenade at a targetted location. Enemies within the area of effect have -tohit and reduced movement speed. LVL 12. Call Veterans. (The name is just flavour to differentiate it from the earlier summon power. The first minion is identical to the first minion summoned by Call for Back-up). At later levels, the second summoned Veteran has a sub machine gun. LVL 18. Put them down. Fires a series of shots from your sidearm at a single target. LVL 26. Tracer rounds. Does a little damage, but marks an opponent for a few seconds so allied attacks against the target get a minor accuracy bonus. LVL 32. Tactical gear. Upgrades all summoned minions with their best weapons. Side arms are all replaced with sub machine guns. The second Back-up unit gets to use a shield bash. The second Veteran still gets their shotgun, but can also flashbang and smoke grenade. Alien Raider: You came to this planet as part of a conquering force, or are you a stranded scout from another world? Whatever the reason, these monkeys are hindering your progress! LVL 1.Ray gun. Fires a laser bolt from your energy-based sidearm. (Finally a reason to use those Sci-fi pistol skins!) LVL 1. Call Trooper. Summons an alien Trooper with an energy sidearm. At later levels, summons a Trooper with Tracker drone. The Tracker drone provides a minor bonus to hit with ranged attacks to allies nearby (a really small bonus!) and increases their stealth detection value. LVL 2. Flashbeam. Fires a short range cone of energy that deals very little damage, but disorients any enemy caught in it. LVL 6. Upgrade powercells. Increases the power out put on the summoned minions powersuits. Summoned Troopers all get a "haymaker" melee attack, that can send weaker enemies up in the air (its a knock-up attack for moderate damage). The second Trooper summoned by Call Trooper can use a Flashbeam attack. The second Combatant replaces their energy rifle with a plasma thrower (it's basically a flamethrower with a palette swap). LVL 8. Rapidfire. Fires a series of bolts from your energy pistol at a single target. LVL 12. Call Combatant. (Again, the name is for flavour to differentiate the powers). Summons an alien Trooper. At later levels, the second summoned Combatant has an energy rifle. LVL 18. Deathray. You fire a concentrated beam of sheer destructive power from your energy pistol. It does alot of damage, debuffs a target's energy resistance for a few seconds, and disorients and knocksdown weaker enemies. LVL 26: Advanced powersuits. Summoned Troopers now have personal forcefields that increase their ranged and aoe defense. LVL 32. Holographic Decoys. Summons three identical copies of yourself for 10 seconds. These copies taunt nearby enemies, but do no damage and are unkillable. They seem to make pistol shots similar to the powers listed above, and move around in random directions, but that's all. SWAT team: You were/are a member of an elite SWAT team, sent out to bring justice to the lawbreakers (or to get your own justice for being underpaid and under appreciated). LVL 1. Snap shot. You make an attack at range with your rifle. LVL 1. Call Officer. You call a fellow Officer to help you out. They have pump action shotguns. The 2nd summoned Officer has a sub machine gun. LVL 2. Breach and Clear. Instruct a targetted Officer to throw a flashbang at their nearest enemy and attempt to bring them down with gun fire. Other enemies near the target will also be disoriented/blinded. The next attack the Officer makes with their shotgun will be a cone attack with a high chance of knockdown. LVL 6. Specialised training. Officers replace their pump action shotguns with assault rifles (the 2nd Officers sub machine gun gets replaced with it too). Officers can now use "Bean bag round" that causes disorientation/knockdown. The 2nd officer can use Aimed shot (as per the AR primary - but for less damage). LVL 8. Focus fire. Instructs all Officers to attack the Squad Leader's target (provided they are able to). Officers doing so get a bonus tohit chance, with a chance to crit for 5 seconds. LVL 12. Call Marksmen. (Again, a flavour name - their stats are identical to the one summoned by Call Officers). At later levels, the 2nd Marksman has an assault rifle. LVL 18. Take the Shot. The nearest Marksman/Officer to you takes careful aim at your selected target. If it's the 2nd Marksman, it will be a Sniper shot. The shot has a high chance to critically hit. LVL 26. Superior Equipment. Replaces all Marksman and Officer weapons with assault rifles. All Marksmen and Officer can use their underslung grenade launchers to fire frag grenades. The second summoned Officer can also fire an incendiary grenade. The second Marksman's weapon is replaced with a high powered sniper rifle that has a base chance to crit. LVL 32. Snipe. You fire a high powered sniper shot from your rifle. Wizard: You and your apprentices love to waggle your wands at people, causing all kinds of magical mayhem! LVL 1. Levitate. Briefly lifts an opponent off the ground. They can still attack their opponents if they are within range, but cannot move. LVL 1. Summon Acolyte. Summons one of your students to help. They know a ranged attack incantation (it'll vary each time they use it in terms of damage type). The second summoned Acolyte will know a random support spell from either Heal Other, Siphon Power, Thermal Shield or Time Crawl. LVL 2. Metamorph. Briefly metamorphs a targetted enemy into a random small critter (like a rat, cat or rabbit). If the target can't be metamorphed (like they're a boss or AV or something), they'll suffer an attack speed and mvoement for a few seconds instead. LVL 6. Advanced Arcana. All Acolytes can now cast a random, more damaging spell in addition to the ones they already know from the following list: Lightning Bolt, Gloom, Power Burst or Freeze Ray. The 2nd summoned Acolyte can cast Wild Growth, Siphon Speed or Fearsome Stare. LVL 8. Propel. As per the Gravity Control powerset (its the "kitchen sink" attack) LVL 12. Summon Initiate. (Flavour name, blah blah!) The second summoned Initiate can cast a random damage spell from the following list: Frost Breath, Power Push (knockdown instead of knockback), Tenebrous Tentacles. LVL 18. Expert Arcana. Summoned Acolytes can now cast aoe spells from the following listL Fireball, Blizzard, Ball Lightning. The 2nd summoned Acolyte can now cast Time Stop, Forge AND Tar Patch in addition to their other spells. The 2nd summoned Initiate can now cast Moonbeam, Steam Spray, AND Psionic Tornado. LVL 26. Tornado. As per the Storm Summoning power. LVL 32. Chaos Field. Summons SIX random "things" at the targetted location - any summoned NPC is considered hostile to your enemies, and allied to your allies. They do not respond to any given orders and act as they see fit. List of "things": 1-6 basic "enemies" (skulls, hellions, clockwork, Lost - the points is they're the "bottom end" of the enemies list - the grunts you usually massacre by the dozen), a Fireball/Ball Lightning (as per the spell - it just detonates there), an Ice Patch (for falling down shenanigans), a Tornado (as per the Storm Summoning power), 1 - 3 demons (as per the mastermind power Summon Demons), an Oni (as per ther Mastermind power) a pool of Radiation (as per the power Irradiate in the Radiation Blast powerset), Lifegiving Spores (as per the Nature Affinity power). The "things" last no longer than 15 seconds, before magically returning to their place of origin. I had other ideas too like Warrior Monks, Clockwork (the praetorian ones, though the others would probably work too), Sentai Team (so you too can be the cool red one before he disputes his wages and loses his spot to the new guy in green), Bandits, Druids but the post is probably already too long 🙂

What?! No NEW assets?! It's too good to be true! Well, no actually. So I've had this idea rattling around my brain ever since I first experienced the MM class all those years ago. "MM's?! <groan>" Yeah yeah, hear me out. Anyways, a certain other MMO at the time had a class that was... lets say a mini MM. Let's call it... the ANTI-PALADIN. I'm sure some of you know which class I'm talking about, but I'll move on. The class in question could summon one whole combat pet when they reached a particular level. Now this wasn't exactly a pet class, it was more of a hybrid melee dps class, with the pet being more like a DoT spell that followed you around. I'm not saying that the "new" archetype is a carbon copy of the anti-paladin, far from it. I'm just explaining where I got inspired, so you can get the jist of what I'm trying to paint. The "new" archetype is: The Dynamic Deadly Duo! How it works: The class has for it's primaries several very different powersets, each for setting up your toon the way you want it to play:- 1. Long ranged sets for those that want to play it from a distance. 2. Melee for those that like it in their face. 3. Utility for those that like to do other stuff as well as smash skuls. At a particular point, (probably like level 6 or something) the character gets to pick their Sidekick power. Now, the sidekick power works differently depending on what the player wants it to be. They'll have the option of picking a long ranged assistant (a cut-down blaster of some fashion), a brawler (a cut-down scrapper of some fashion), or a more utility driven sidekick (<cough> defender <cough>) - but they'll have the option of picking Light or Dark. Light or Dark only affects the cosmetic choice - Light being of a more brightly coloured heroic costume theme, and dark being the more DC-style dark hero/villain costume style. Naturally, the colour schemes the Sidekick has is down to what the player actually chose at creation. (This is an ease of use thing, I'm sure there are a number of ways of allowing players a little more flexibility over how their sidekick pops out on use, but hey this is in it's idea stage.) As far as gender options go... there are ways I'll leave it up to the dev's. It's their choice if they want to use this idea or not. Now we all know each archetype has it's own "quirk", brutes have the fury bar for example. For the Deadly Duo, I thought a two-pronged assault would be interesting. First, the idea I came up with is called "teamwork" - and no, its nothing to do with the extra powersets. "Teamwork" (as well as making the dream work) grants both the character and their sidekick minion a mild (read as miniscule) damage and to hit bonus. However, If either the sidekick or the character "falls over" from having zero hitpoints, the secondary effect triggers. The secondary effect is that the remaining individual has a rapidly depleting dps buff that degrades over time (its like Vengeance but only affects them, and the longer it runs the weaker it gets until its countdown hits zero). I've also mentally toyed with the idea that the sidekick, when "summoned" sticks around even when dead. This means the player has to use a Wakie or some other resurrection effect on them. (For things like zone transitions, the corpse gets placed by their feet. What Boss would leave their trusty partner behind?!) This of course means it's the first archetype with minions that allows for resurrection effects... From what I've seen of the enemy creator in AE, and from what I've experienced playing an the arachnos epic archetypes, this is all doable. Sure, it may require some coding, but as far as new art and assets go - they're already in the game. I'm deliberately leaving the primary powersets vague, and what secondaries the archetype should have up in the air, as I'm primarily posting this as a discussion and a post our current hard working dev's can draw new ideas and inspiration from. Thanks for reading!

We could also get police minions too - what MM would be complete without the local law in their pocket? And I agree - just more. MOAR! powersets! The freaks/mutants/lab accidents? Totally doable too, but there'd have to be some sort of overarching theme: are they animal hybrids, ooze-based monstrosities, cyber racoons or living trees? I mean, that alone is technically 3 different powersets from just "lab accidents"!

Oh right. I was going to also suggest something along the lines of the xenomorph or chryssalid - instead of a pet summon power, they get a special attack that "zombifies" an enemy or "bursts" a minion from a corpse, but that can probably get out of hand really quickly with a small army of freshly hatched minions and would probably be considered "overpowered" by all the whiney non-MM classes that are just jealous of our awesomeness... 🙂

Now, don't get me wrong - I love me some MM action. I've played most of the combinations, but it's always felt sad that of all the archetypes, they've only got 7 primary power sets (I put the blame on the original creators as MM's were a Villain class originally, and we all know they hated the villain side of things). SO! I have a couple of primary (and a secondary) power sets that would be cool if they got made up. Before any comments like "dude, it takes ages to create and animate models for pets" etc, I'm pretty sure most MM players wouldn't mind if the powersets just had re-used assets like shrunk down rikti's or something - even as a stop gap measure until some real modelling and whatnot can get done. So here's the first: Aliens. Yep, we have most of the other bases covered with magical demons and necromancy, ninjas and bots, mercs and thugs, which only really leaves a few "thematic" options uncovered, one of which is our xeno (non)friends! How the set would work is to cut down the already existing Beam weapon powerset, like assault rifle was for mercs, so that there's some basic attacks in there for the MM's to fire off while hiding behind their minion meatshields. I won't lie - I was inspired by ufo/x-com when I thought of this powerset. I just thought it'd be cool to have like your own squad of mutons or sectoids doing their thing! Anyway during this creative process, I thought "those early pets, sure die alot. Perhaps a little too much." and I began thinking of ways to mitigate or slow down the minion bodycount, particularly for those early levels (oh medic, why'd you have to run in like that?!). The primary reason seems to me to be this whole "3-2-1" system the MM is built around - MM's are masters of minions, there's no real reason the first "blob" of summons they can do should be forced into the same mould. Why not summon only 2 that have more HP or even 1 if they're fun and themed properly without being pure dps monsters. So what am I getting at? My thought for this set was that each "tier" of summon only brings out 1 minion. - and that minion is "flavoured" (namely their powersets are determined by) by your alien "pick choice" - much like how dual pistols gets 3 different ammo types, except this is permanent (i thought about it for a while, but figured it'd probably be best if the MM couldn't chop and change pet types). The three different choices: 1. Alien Raiders - this is basically a bunch of cut-down scrappers with the high end guy either a sentinel or corruptor of some kind. 2. Alien Hunters - think "predator" and you'll know what this is - cut-down stalkers, with the last being a brute or tanker of some kind. 3. Alien explorers - okay I couldn't think of a proper name for them, they're similar to controllers/dominators - they have one or two single target control abilities, with maybe the last one either bringing out their own pets like some of the illusion powersets stuff, or just having an aoe. (This third group was the sectoids btw!) The second powerset idea was dinosaurs. This has probably already been suggested elsewhere, but my feelings on the matter was that the early "tier 1" summon being a single dilophosaur that spits toxic damage, who gets a chum at the level MM's tier one's get that 3rd guy, and the "tier 2" being the 3 person set - they get it a tad earlier to compensate for the only 1 dilophosaur, but it only creates 1 *VELOCIRAPTOR* at the beginning, upgrading a certain levels to add more raptors until they get 3 total. The "tier 3" summon being a bigger carnivore like a carnotaurus or something (again, i cant remember if there are dinosaurs in this game - i've played lots of MM's, but that doesn't mean I know every mission inside and out!). As far as MM attacks that go along with the theme? You can do some "big game hunter"-esque stuff with a rifle (the single shot stuff from assault rifle), or go primal with a bow or heck, you could even have a melee set for the MM's that love to live dangerously! Anyway, I mentioned a secondary set: Psychic. (Yep, those sectoids again!) As an MM player, I feel there should be some kind of psychic powerset option. We dominate our minions somehow, and when our overwhelming charisma fails? We MAKE them do it >:) So this is pretty much stacked with psychic shields, debuff removal, heals and a placate thrown in for good measure, with the higher tier powers dominating an enemy for a minute or two (AV's etc being immune (darn you plot armour!)) and the last one being a reanimation of sorts with Psychic Puppetry - you reanimate a fallen individual who fights like a brute for a couple minutes regardless of their powersets (some SS/street justice knockdown fun with a rage mechanic), in fact, why not have this affect living allies too? maybe they get some heavy damage buff or damage mitigation or something while its active. These are just a couple of suggestions. Those MM's need some options :) Thanks for reading!

OK I've had a quick scan through this, and apologies if it's on here already, but what I want in two words: Voice acting. This game's characters are much beloved by those that have played over the years, but it's always seemed a little sad to me that they're all silent. I'm aware that v.a.'ing all the spoken dialogue is a big ask, but it's not as expensive as some might think if you inquire with some of the big sound studio's. I remember (once upon a time) attempting to start my own game company, and looked into outsourcing both the sound tracks and v.a.'ing. While I can't remember the voice acting discussion, the soundtracks would've cost about 20k at the time and full orchestral was a bit more (hiring an orchestra for a session or two tends to boost the price). It's certainly worth looking at, and would definitely breath more life into the game, even if it's probably only an option if its crowd funded. Food for thought, at least.