PancakeGnome

I think the endgame should be PVPVE..... player created content for players through the architect system. A progression to live out a top villain or hero designing missions for other players to go on that will level them up for interesting rewards and give the other players rewards too. The architect system was such a great first step towards opening up a ton of content for players. But they were scared of people leveling too fast (lol) or farming (lol) and getting other rewards from it..... in the end, none of that mattered. Now you can farm and level up and all the rest doing all sorts of things just as easy.

Is this still the run speed cap?? I was outsped after slotting super speed by someone in a foot race.... makes me think the cap is higher...

I'm sure he had a really fun time and really enjoyed it though. Just because you get defeated and go to the hospital doesn't mean you are having a bad time. It's super easy to just get up and keep going and learn. Compare that with an MMO like everquest....where if you die you de-level, you lose your body somewhere, and respawn naked and have to go figure out where your corpse and stuff is.... lol

Yea, that's all we actually want. Like arcane bolt is a long ranged 1.73 cast time 45 damage ability with knockdown.... great ability! Toxic dart is 1.07s activation, long range, 30.12 damage ability. Not shabby!! Fast! Flurry is 7 foot range.... 3.07 activation time....34.99 damage...... so 1/3rd as good as toxic dart (on damage to activation ALONE....let alone it being short ranged)). So we just want flurry to be brought up to other power pools. 1 second cast time long range attack (like a dash??). Or some other mix of damage / area effect / cast time, and so on and so on. It's just a very very early power that was left behind in terms of balancing. It needs to be updated.

1) Never talked about incarnate abilities... I don't know why you are talking about judgement slotting.... 2) Yea, I think any power a player takes should be useful for the entire characters life. I think powers that are just "early game filler" that take up a power spot are bad and need to be reworked. You get a limited number of powers and there are a lot of good / situational options you can take over something that you use for a few levels then abandon..... In speed especially, take hasten .... take superspeed....take burnout.... take whirlwind .... all amazingly great abilities. ((Superspeed alone is a one stop shop great invis for any character with a stealth IO in it)). There is no reason to ever take furry outside of just for fun / RP / or are new and don't understand the limits or other options. (((No one is saying it's wrong to take things for fun!!! Have fun and take neat looking powers!!! BUT, it would also be cool if the power had a place gameplay wise and was balanced with other powers.... even with other powers from other power pools.....)) I'm not sure why people are against making powers fun / useful??? It is such a weird thing to be arguing "no no, I want the power to remain worse than brawl!!!". ....like, ok, sure.... that's one view I guess..... but I don't understand it at all.

Sure, basically it happens once you slot it up with IO's that proc. First, put in sudden acceleration (knockback to knockdown), this makes it less troublesome for groups. Then 4 damage proc IO's (on average, this turns your 3.06 damage power....into a 64.42 damage power!!! in a cone, that also knocks everyone down, not shabby). And then with the last slot it depends what you want. Recharge maybe? Or accuracy (if you don't get it from somewhere else). Or maybe -res proc? Or even a recharge proc. That's why some powers can really shine late game when they are ablet o hold more types of IO's that let you take them further than they are originally. I've done it with air superiority before even on a build. But usually the key with procs is a fast animation time, so you can get it off and move on. That's why even with some damage procs in furry..... it isn't very good, the 3.0 animation time is a really heavy price to pay for the low single target damage it does with limited proc potential.

Another possible fix is just lowering the cast time a lot. Give it a 0.5 second cast time and I'd take it on every character haha.

I really didn't mean it as an insult. Everyone plays in different ways, I'm just trying to understand why you guys don't know about attack chains. Some people have a lot of alts and stick to early game, nothing wrong with that. But I'm talking more about the mid / late game. Not how flurry is very early on. It would be like talking to someone that was like "brawl? yea, pretty good, I use it on my blaster". Sure, I use brawl on my blasters too.... at level 4..... There is just some big big disconnect from where we are both speaking from. It's ok if you use these things (I do too!), just the game is very different once you have more powers.... and things like flurry or brawl just don't make sense anymore..... they don't have the ability to keep up with anyones other options.....

????????????????????????????? You have 4 attacks on 8 second cooldowns that are WAYYYY better than flurry. Block of ice, frostbite, ice blast, and gale..... and that's ONLY those, you also have your AE / status to throw in. And only if you don't slot any of them with any sort of recharge ((why wouldn't you???). AND you skipped chilblain to get flurry instead? Chilblain is a 4s recharge ,1.17s cast.... but 80 foot range with a 30.59 damage (flurry has 34.99, but, again it's 3.07 cast time.... so wayyyyy worse in terms of DPS), and, again, you can slot the heck out of it for some nice effect and it does immobilize and slows..... there is nooooo mechanics reason why you would ever use flurry with your powersets.... What the heck power chain are you doing that you use flurry with those powersets?!?!? Even just using air superiority instead is FAR superior. Or using your nemesis staff. At 50, you would have no reason to use flurry....... unless you just wanted to because you thought it looked cool. Like gale alone FAR outshines flurry, since you can slot it with some nice procs and make it do knockdown instead of knockback (making it a useful damage / control ability). And it's a cone from a distance... so pretty useful. I don't understand why you are saying you use flurry???? This is bananas haha.

.... nobody factors in activation and recharge time.... Uhhh, like, what? Haha, I feel like I am taking crazy pills. Have you guys leveled up past 10 before??? Eventually you get a lot of powers, and you have more than enough to choose from. In fact so many that you have to pick which ones you use in what we call a "attack chain". Usually filling out a series of attacks before the first one is recharged already. So let's say you have 10 attack powers. But if the best first 3 fill your attack chain and the first one is recharged by the end of the 3rd attack.... then you don't need more attacks. That's why at level 50, you don't use brawl anymore. VERY EARLY in levels, yea, you might throw a brawl in there, because you have nothing better to do. But every class has plenty of powers by the time they are even just 30 or so for them not to need to throw in brawl anymore...... This entire conversation is like debating what happens in the very very very early game, where you are focusing on a recharge time (????) of a 3 second long cast power...... that isn't really how the game plays past the low levels......

... yea, but... what if.... there were more power options that weren't supposed to be sucky? And people actually wanted to take? And use? ..... What was your powerset / build that you did that on? I can't picture a single powerset combo that would use flurry (unless just did it for RP).

Yea, I agree. Them just standing in the middle of a mob cycling their attack chain without moving wouldn't be very speedstery. That's why the powers of the set are more about actually moving the character around a mob of enemies and dashing around more. It should be a more active set that makes the player want to run from mob to mob and just generally stay moving to keep the movement speed bonus from vanishing. The mechanics for this are already in the game. Since superspeed uses this "while moving an increasing bonus is applied" ((for superspeed it's a bonus to jump)), only instead of resetting the bonus when you stop for a second (like superspeed does), the inertia would let a speedster set keep going and pick up where they left off to keep fighting. So mechanically everything is in the game already. It's just using it in a way that lets a player actually play a speedster zipping around a battle and not standing still.

Here is my attempt to come up with a speedster powerset.... the entire idea is to encourage an interesting new type of play.... MOVEMENT!!!!!! The speedster should be moving around the battlefield and their powers should reflect this!! Imagine a speedster during the middle of a battle just taking off down the street....... then a second later coming zooming back with an infinite mass attack!!! They have a few powers that are used while actively moving around a battlefield for best effect. Such as "Electric Surge" which creates a damaging trail. Or Quantum Dash to go into a group for the alpha strike and cause confusion before the team gets there. So their playstyle would be a lot more active and running around, while also being basically everywhere at once with their mirages they keep spawning. Basically, a huge distraction and just causes havoc to enemies. But then harder to do in tight spaces and take full advantage of their high speed. Especially since their best moves depend on their current movement speed stat, and they are encouraged to keep moving around to keep it up. Offensive Powers: Dynamic Velocity Assault ((Passive Inertia - As you move you slowly increase in movement speed. When you stop moving, your movement speed value continues for 5 seconds) Speed Strike: A basic, fast melee attack with moderate damage, increased by movement speed. Dash Strike: Short-range, high-speed dash attack which increases movement speed for a short time Mach Punch: A powerful punch that deals more damage based on movement speed. Electric Surge: You accelerate to extreme speeds! Your movement speed increases significantly and for a short time you leave behind an electric trail which damages foes who step in it. Mirage Strike: Create an afterimage at target enemy which last a short period and will strike at the enemy several times before vanishing. The afterimage has very low health. Whirlwind Charge: A charging attack that creates a damaging vortex around the character, hitting multiple enemies and increases movement speed for a short time. Full Out Assault: Close range target toggle. You go full out on an enemy and unleash a barrage of punches while the toggle is on!!! High endurance cost. Speed Mirage Assault: Rapidly attack multiple enemies in an area, leaving afterimages that continue to fight for 10 seconds! The images have very little life. Infinite Mass Smash: Ultimate power, a devastating high-speed strike that deals massive damage to an area around the target enemy. Scales based on your movement speed. Defensive Powers: Speedster's Vigilance Speedster's Vitality: A passive power that continuously enhances health regeneration, endurance recovery, and overall movement speed. Whirling Defense: A toggle power where the character automatically throws out rapid, short-range punches at nearby enemies periodically, representing their fast reflexes. Speed Awareness: A toggle power that allows the speedster to keep a watch on their allies at all time, increasing defense for all nearby allies and granting the speedster resistance to control effects. Speed Embrace: A toggle ability that regenerates health and endurance faster the longer the character keeps moving. Reactive Movements: Reduces incoming damage when moving, particularly effective against ranged attacks. Hyperspeed Defense: A protective aura that deflects attacks and increases with speed. Quantum Dash: This power is a significant upgrade to the standard super speed ability. When activated, the speedster momentarily taps into quantum energies, enabling them to move at incredible speeds that transcend normal physical limits. For a brief period, the character becomes a blur, able to pass through enemies and obstacles, causing confusion and disorientation in foes while avoiding all damage. Vortex Barrier: Creates a swirling wind barrier while moving over a certain movement speed, knocking back close-range attackers. Hyper Velocity: Become one with speed itself. Drastically increases movement speed, evasion, and increase regeneration and recovery.

Lol yea, I don't know why people are against making a power actually usable... especially for what should be for speedsters. Instead we get this INSANELY low DPS power with a huge animation time.... that no one uses (outside of a random lvl 10 who takes it for flavor before abandoning their character a few days later). It's like "yea, punching with a super fast flurry of attacks!!" sounds really cool for a speedster. THEMATICALLY it's a cool power. But MECHANICALLY in the game it's beyond bad. ((For those that don't know, recharge time isn't what is really important with a power, instead it's the animation time that really makes something usable or not)). Like.... this is a game.... where you could do literally anything with a power..... and people just want to keep it the same really bad original design for nostalgia reasons I guess? There are SOOOO many ways you could turn this power into something cool / neat for a speedster to take. Something people WANTED to take over hasten. Like, what if it were a toggle that would throw out an extra punch at an enemy now and then?! Just a passive super speed punch aura? 😮 That would be neat. Or..... a dash punch. Or..... a flurry area attack... or.... like.... anything...... But single target low damage with 3+ second cast time? It's just a power made to not be taken.... which is silly. Yea, original design philosophy was that. BUT WHY? Why intentionally make some powers just horrible compared to anything else you have access to.... so much that there is 0 reason to take it or use it??? There is no reason on any character why you would ever take flurry on a basis of mechanics. It's worse than anything else you could do on ANY class. Even grabbing the P2W power and using that instead is WAY better than getting flurry. I don't get why people WANT this power to stay this way.....

It's about power creep...and evolving philosophies with the game. Some powers just got left behind as they were designed very cautiously out of fear of power balance. So attack powers in power pools ended up being largely useless after early levels. Instead of being a strong power in a characters build. Later on some powers (like from sorcery) started to become somewhat useful... but still rather scaled back. The thing is now we can look back and realize power pool attacks having some capability isn't actually game breaking. We have incarnate powers and IO's and attempts to keep players from growing too strong were largely abandoned later in the games life. I was running a +4 ITF where the controller was face tanking every group..... while dishing out massive damage..... would them having an actually useful flurry ability change anything? Nope..... So I think we need to look at the role of attacks in power pools again, and make them actually useful for a character. Instead of just early level flavoring and a pre-requisite to get later tier power pools..... ((like no one would take kick or boxing if it weren't for needing one for weave / toughness). What if these powers actually were worth taking and slotting up??

Sure, thematically... but mechanically the power is way behind (and then a copy of it that is better is available to everyone at lvl 1 for free....). Maybe boost the power then? Make it do the damage in an area or something? But currently I would guess the rate of anyone taking the power outside of RP reasons is basically 0.

Speed was one of the first powerpools.... and now aday, it is really showing its age. Flurry especially, a 3.07 second execute time power?? Light damage?? Single target?!?! And in SUPER SPEED power pool of all things!! Instead, what if superspeed was given a dash punch type ability? Functions similar to the combat teleport, and has a small area effect punch when you get to where you are going, and maybe a small damage boost (instead of accuracy increase?). I think this would really help super speed to feel more like superspeed.....

Leveling up and grabbing a few IO bonuses is something most people will have done while running task forces. So throwing in +3 defense and +res and even a tanker archetype +res into stuff is very easy and achievable for anyone by the time they are 30-40. And once you have the main ones, you are sitting at a nice bump to defense and res and most tankers will be pretty dang beefy. I guess someone completely new that doesn't know anything will have more trouble. But anyone that has a grasp of what is available will be up to speed pretty quickly.....

Yea, I been playing so long I start to just see numbers and how something can be slotted and how it will play later. It's about finding that sweet middle spot.... with a character that can be slotted in fun ways with lots of utility, but isn't a walking god. I think maybe my new illusion / traps might be it. I play illusion a lot, I like how even with the phantom army, it still has weakness and you need to be aware. And then traps adds a lot of interesting strategic options (so I COULD kill a huge group of elite bosses by chokepointing, but it would be nailbiting!!).

Basically, thematically it's like a zombie that can't die or something. They run into the hulk and instantly get torn in half and the audience thinks "welp, that was underwhelming".... but then the pieces come back together again and they laugh and a long battle of stamina begins. Eventually they win, because they are unkillable. Works the same in the game, you can run into a group of enemies and really hurt them before you go down. Then you get up with all your stuff recharged and 15 seconds of invulnerability and finish them off (or at least kill enough so you can regen off the rest of the damage). But the problem with diverse powers like this is that the untouchable superman tanks have set the bar for power. So the end game is about completely stomping everything as fast as possible without touching an inspiration or revive power..... a group of enemies lasts about 2 seconds as everyone tries to get their big AE's off first before they bunny hop to the next haha. If you can't hang with that pace you are considered weak...

Yea, me too. Phantasm doesn't fit with a lot of character concepts.... if they just gave it the phantom army treatment, then it would be perfect.

I keep running into this problem with characters where I want to play something interesting / challenging / dynamic.... but then end up thinking about high end play and going against +4 +8 stuff, and it being just a game mechanic of alpha strikes and needing to survive heavy damage. So it's either "play something that relies on someone ELSE being the superman tank that can't die...... or be it yourself" ? And, sure, there are other builds that you can get close to unkillable too. Doesn't have to be a tank, just they are the easiest to do with massive damage. Just at the end of the day the math all ends up being the same on builds , high defense to mitigate whatever is incoming.... and then dish out the DPS..... Single target characters are pointless, because in normal play bosses just die as a side effect of all the area damage being thrown around. I don't know, I guess I'm struggling with so many different characters because it's hard to find one that strikes a balance between fun and challenging to play, without feeling dependent on those god-characters or becoming one yourself. Because, at least for me, playing a god character can be kind of boring. I get to a level where I know I'm not in any real danger most of the time... and it just becomes a frenzy of how fast I can jump from group to group stomping them......

Uhh, regen is literally immortal..... they have a 120 second cooldown self revive, as just a power they can rotate in. AND when they get up they are immune to damage for 15 seconds. AND they have moment of glory on also about a 2 minute cooldown. ANDDDDD you can get a 2nd revive with a 6 minute cooldown if you really wanted (but kind of overkill IMO). They CAN'T be defeated. No matter what happens, no matter how bad it gets, a regen scrapper gets up and fights. It just takes a different way of thinking about death. For other characters it means they failed. For a regen scrapper it's just part of their power rotation lol.

So, I don't know the details of the license.....but I'd love for the game to get more financial resources to scale up the dev team and go full-time (instead of relying on just volunteer work). Going subscription would be one way, but I think the goal of the server is to remain free. Instead, what about allowing players to create and sell new costume pieces? With some sort of rev split between the homecoming staff and the creator of the item? This would accomplish a few goals. 1) More money for development!!! 2) More costume pieces!! 3) Keeps everything free to play as is, and just adds a bunch of optional stuff. Keep the prices per cosmetic item low, or let the creator set the price (10 cents? 50 cents?). And suddenly you have a new way to generate a lot of extra revenue without it being heavy handed. This is what I do for work on another platform, so I know this sort of model can really expand the types of options available. Start it off small with people who apply and an approval process for items.... with requirements on vert counts and texture sizes to keep everything performance focused. But then just do weekly or monthly updates with new item packs. ((Maybe also give creators the option to make some for free, so new item pack releases have some free ones too)). Anyhow, not sure if the license would allow something like this, but getting more money flowing would be a great thing on the project for longer term growth and longevity 🙂

Maybe a way to buff other people with the empowering station? That would make a team leader / base leader be able to buff everyone a LOOOOOOT easier than handing out salvage to everyone. Like make the empowering station fire off an AE of each of the buffs for higher salvage cost or something. I could see myself luring people back to my base before a task force to get "properly buffed up". Especially recovery buff for the early game when doing synapse and fighting clockworks.