Eco-Friendly Powerset Recycling!

[Alchemystic]

So! Like I said in a previous post, I've been planning a little something. As of today, we have a few things to celebrate!

 - One Year Anniversary!
 - 50 Recycled Powersets!
 - 10 Fantastic Community Contributions!

(I also reached 1000 community rep which is nice too)

 

---

 

It's been an amazing year for this thread, and it couldn't be possible without the help of the community here!

 

When I first created this thread it was just a simple experiment inspired by the hard work of the Homecoming team when it comes to creating new powersets. I decided I would challenge myself to create a handful of powersets by placing the same limitations on myself; use only the assets we have. After a few of my half-baked ideas went up on the forums I was really surprised to see just how many people in the community enjoyed the idea, so I dedicated time to providing more concepts just to show what could be done.

 

It wasn't long until other people started contributing too! With the help of so many others, new powersets were brainstormed and conceptualised until eventually the thread was showcased in the weekly discussions, and interest soared even higher! I had no idea that this thread would last a year, I wasn't even sure it would last a week at most, what an amazing turnout! So here we are now, at a major milestone for the thread, and it wouldn't have happened without you guys!

 

---

 

First up, I would like to thank the contributors on this thread for their welcome additions to the project!

• @GenesisMan
• @ninja surprise
• @Dinictus
• @Naraka
• @oedipus_tex
• @Player2
• @Night
• @BrandX
• @AgentForest
• @AerialAssault

 

I would also like to thank the many frequent followers of this thread for helping shape it moving forward, you guys rock!

• @Lines
• @Galaxy Brain
• @Replacement
• @Haijinx
• @Menelruin
• @Vanden
• @ArchVileTerror
• @Sakura Tenshi
• @Aberrant
• @biostem

 

And lastly, I would like to thank @GM Miss for sharing this thread throughout the weekly discussions and showcasing the project!

 

---

 

Does this mean that the thread has come to a close? Of course not! In fact, in anticipation for this event I've been planning Phase 2 of the thread; Ancillary Powers

You may have already noticed that the original post in this thread has been cleaned up and organised so that powersets are easier to navigate, and this wasn't just to help the post look tidy, it was to help categorise things in anticipation of Phase 2.

 

I know a few contributors have pitched the idea of doing ancillary powers in the past, so now we've reached this milestone I would like to open up the thread to the creation of new ancillary power pools, using the powersets we have in the game, and the powersets created in this thread. This doesn't mean that the thread isn't still open to traditional powersets, but with 60 already made it's going to be a little more difficult.

 

People are welcome to contribute whatever they wish, whether they want to put forward whole new powersets or ancillary powers. We'll use the same formatting as we already have, and the same rules apply; Recycle and Reuse!

 

---

 

So! Now we're onto Phase 2, I'll kick things off by levelling the playing field a little; Stone Mastery for Dominators, and Munitions Mastery for Masterminds!

 

Stone Mastery - Dominator

 - Ash Storm: Taken from Talons of Vengeance, this power functions much like Snow Storm, and provides some good debuff for the set

 

 - Lava Blast: A blast power taken from the Minions of Igneous, since Hurl Boulder is already available in Earth Assault

 

 - Stone Armor: Already present in the Controller version, and no changes are needed.

 

 - Basalt Bomb: A blast power taken from the Minions of Igneous, this one is an AoE meant to mirror Fissure in the Controller version, which is already available in Earth Assault.

 

 - Earth's Embrace: Already present in the Controller version, and no changes are needed.

 

 

Munitions Mastery - Mastermind

 - Buckshot: Taken from Assault Rifle, fits in nicely as a ranged power like Static Discharge in Charge Mastery (Since MMs have debuffs already, Surveillance is out)

 

 - Sleep Grenade: A ranged Sleep Power much like Chill Mastery, so that works well here

 

 - Body Armor: A self buff power. Some MM ancillaries have armor powers, some don't, but since we already have one in the Blaster version it works nicely here

 

 - Cryo Freeze Ray: A ranged hold ability. Not uncommon for MM ancillaries so it should be fine as a straight port

 

 - Incinerator: Another Assault Rifle power, with a little higher damage and shorter range, so I think it could work well here (LRM Rocket seemed a bit OP on MM)

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by Tyrannical

[xl8]

On 12/19/2019 at 8:31 PM, Tyrannical said:

I have some ideas about an Assault and Manipulation set based off Street Justice, as well as some vague concepts for a possible Radiation and Ninjitsu themed Control sets too. I may post them soon once I have them properly figured out.

Look at what cake evo has done with tanks, trollers and new archs. Plenty of inspiration there.

[Alchemystic]

1 minute ago, xl8 said:

Look at what cake evo has done with tanks, trollers and new archs. Plenty of inspiration there.

I'm not too familiar with cake evo, is that another server?

[xl8]

On 12/20/2020 at 10:05 AM, Tyrannical said:

I'm not too familiar with cake evo, is that another server?

Yes. https://wehavecake.net/

They tend to rush out content that can look a little rough around the edges graphically and they don't have the player base to test changes like HC, but there is certainly a high degree of creativity. They have a very good player created archetype called the Synergist and offer a glimpse of the potential that CoH could be developed towards.

[Alchemystic]

@xl8 I think I've seen similar stuff over on other servers, they may even be direct copies if they run on OuroDev i24.

 

Some of the ideas there seem to have a design philosophy that's a little... detached? They seem to pull inspiration from various outside sources instead of focusing on CoH materials, so I dont think it would be a good fit for this particular project.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2020 by Tyrannical

[Replacement]

On 12/20/2020 at 8:43 AM, Tyrannical said:

Stone Mastery - Dominator

 - Ash Storm: Taken from Talons of Vengeance, this power functions much like Snow Storm, and provides some good debuff for the set

 

 - Lava Blast: A blast power taken from the Minions of Igneous, since Hurl Boulder is already available in Earth Assault

 

 - Stone Armor: Already present in the Controller version, and no changes are needed.

 

 - Basalt Bomb: A blast power taken from the Minions of Igneous, this one is an AoE meant to mirror Fissure in the Controller version, which is already available in Earth Assault.

 

 - Earth's Embrace: Already present in the Controller version, and no changes are needed.

I like the idea of leaning into volcanic rock.  My following suggestion is far from necessary, since this is essentially a proliferation from Controller, but one could really imagine embracing this and calling it "Brimstone Mastery" instead.

 

On 12/20/2020 at 8:43 AM, Tyrannical said:

Munitions Mastery - Mastermind

I feel real dumb for having not noticed MMs were missing this.  Would love to see this become a thing coinciding with improving the Blaster version.

[Alchemystic]

15 minutes ago, Replacement said:

I like the idea of leaning into volcanic rock. 

I did a quick rewrite of my original post a while back with an updated version of Earth Blast/Earth Manipulation, using recycled materials from the Minions of Igneous instead of having to create whole new powers.

I actually went back to test to see if the Lava guys actually had unique powers that weren't just renamed fire blast stuff, and turns out they do! So I wanted to include that because the powers actually look pretty awesome.

[Alchemystic]

Speaking of levelling the playing field; I noticed that a few archetypes were missing some damage variation in their Ancillary Powersets, neither Defenders/Corruptors or Scrappers/Stalkers have access to cold damage powers, and Blasters/Masterminds and all melee based Archetypes have no access to any psionic powers. (Some don't have access to energy/dark, but with Mu/Soul available from Patrons I'll hold off on that for now).

 

Frost Mastery - Defender/Corruptor

 

 - Flash Freeze: An AoE sleep power, not too uncommon for Defenders/Corruptors

 

 - Block of Ice: A single target hold, a nice fit, if a little less common

 

 - Frozen Armor: An iconic armor toggle as seen in many other ancillary sets

 

 - Hoarfrost: A nice self buff power that's a little less common, but still viable

 

 - Hibernate: Leviathan Mastery has access to this power, so I figured it would work nicely here too

 

---

 

Frigid Mastery - Scrapper/Stalker

 

 - Chillblain: As this is a direct copy of Arctic Mastery available to Brutes/Tankers, not much needs to be said.

 

 - Block of Ice: ^

 

 - Ice Blast: ^

 

 - Shiver: ^

 

 - Ice Storm: ^

 

---

 

Mental Mastery - Blaster/Mastermind

 

 - Mass Hypnosis/ - Mental Blast: An AoE sleep power for Blasters, and a ranged blast power for masterminds, as you might expect

 

 - Mind Over Body: Both Archetypes can benefit from an armor toggle like this, and it's present in all other psychic ancillaries

 

 - Indomitable Will: Another traditional psychic ancillary power, and seems to work well for either archetype

 

 - Dominate: A single target hold power, which seems fairly common for both Blasters and Masterminds

 

 - Telekinesis/ - World of Confusion: Telekinesis for Blasters seems to be a good fit, while World of Confusion is a nice thematic addition for Masterminds

 

---

 

Will Mastery - Tanker/Brute/Scrapper/Stalker

 

 - Subdue: A ranged immobilize power, quite common for melee archetypes

 

 - Dominate: A single target hold power, also quite common for melee archetypes

 

 - Mental Blast: A ranged attack power, most melee Ancillaries tend to have at least one

 

 - Psionic Tornado: A ranged AoE, with a little bit of mez, which fits in nicely here

 

 - Terrify: With few psionic based debuffs available, I think Terrify could work well, since area mez isn't too uncommon for melee archetypes.

 

 

Edited December 29, 2020 by Tyrannical

[OmnibusOmnh]

On 12/25/2019 at 4:48 PM, Tyrannical said:

Kinetic Manipulation

 

 - Momentum Shift: a copy of 'Ki Push', using the same animation/FX as 'quick strike'

 

 - Body Blow: taken from Kinetic Melee, this is the first melee attack power.

 

 - Power Siphon: again from Kinetic Melee, this power works as an interesting 'build up' variant.

 

 - Burst: another from Kinetic Melee, a much needed AoE attack.

 

 - Kinetic Absorption: a new power that grants absorption depending on how many foes are near while reducing their damage.

 

 - Repulsing Torrent: taken from Kinetic Melee, a nice cone attack with high knockback to mix in a little crowd control.

 

 - Transference: taken from Kinetics, this works well as a suitable debuff power

 

 - Repel: Same power from Kinetics, provides a nice area control power.

 

 - Concentrated Strike: and once again a Kinetic Melee power, fitting nicely as the capstone melee attack.

Absolutely enjoy the idea of kinetic manipulation and how you merged kinetics and energy aura with kinetic melee, by using existing powers to create something unique while not feeling like a simple mashup of powers. You truly utilized the blasters format whilst finding icon themes.

[Alchemystic]

46 minutes ago, OmnibusOmnh said:

Absolutely enjoy the idea of kinetic manipulation and how you merged kinetics and energy aura with kinetic melee, by using existing powers to create something unique while not feeling like a simple mashup of powers. You truly utilized the blasters format whilst finding icon themes.

 

Manipulation and Assault sets are probably the easiest things to make, that's why we have so many new ones, and why there are so many conceptualised in this thread 🙂

[Player2]

I'd love to see an ancillary shield pool for the non melee types.  I'm not going to try my hand at it because I don't have as good a feel for how the ancillary pools fit together for each different AT... but obviously it would need to be locked out for weapon sets like archery, assault rifle, and dual pistols.  As far as using other powers & animations with a shield on the arm, I don't really see an issue.  Just animate those powers normally with the shield on the arm.  It shouldn't look any more unusual than seeing other powers like Sands of Mu or any powers swinging the shield around.

[Alchemystic]

10 hours ago, Player2 said:

I'd love to see an ancillary shield pool for the non melee types.  I'm not going to try my hand at it because I don't have as good a feel for how the ancillary pools fit together for each different AT... but obviously it would need to be locked out for weapon sets like archery, assault rifle, and dual pistols.  As far as using other powers & animations with a shield on the arm, I don't really see an issue.  Just animate those powers normally with the shield on the arm.  It shouldn't look any more unusual than seeing other powers like Sands of Mu or any powers swinging the shield around.

Shield might be a bit tough because its positional defense instead of typed defense like most ancillaries. You might have to have two armor toggles instead of just one just to cover all the bases.

 

Not that it's a huge issue, there are a handful of ancillaries that have more than one buff power, but most tend to be click activated or autopowers.

[BrandX]

3 hours ago, Tyrannical said:

Shield might be a bit tough because its positional defense instead of typed defense like most ancillaries. You might have to have two armor toggles instead of just one just to cover all the bases.

 

Not that it's a huge issue, there are a handful of ancillaries that have more than one buff power, but most tend to be click activated or autopowers.

 

Yeah, but that would be more in line with a set with a Toggle Shield and then a Click Mind Link.  Is there really any other Epic with dual shields like that?  The other multiple buff powers are basically "Buff Stamina" on the melees.

[Alchemystic]

3 hours ago, BrandX said:

 

Yeah, but that would be more in line with a set with a Toggle Shield and then a Click Mind Link.  Is there really any other Epic with dual shields like that?  The other multiple buff powers are basically "Buff Stamina" on the melees.

 

Psionic based ones have both Mind Over Body and Indomitable Will, though the latter is a click-activated power. It could be argued that Hibernate from Ice or Leviathan epics could be considered a second armor buff, as could Personal Force Field and Force of Nature in the Force themed epics.

[BrandX]

2 hours ago, Tyrannical said:

 

Psionic based ones have both Mind Over Body and Indomitable Will, though the latter is a click-activated power. It could be argued that Hibernate from Ice or Leviathan epics could be considered a second armor buff, as could Personal Force Field and Force of Nature in the Force themed epics.

Personal FF you can't attack with.  Force of Nature has the crash.

 

Indomitable Will is mez protection with defense to psionics.  I don't recall if it can be made perma.

 

Hiberante you can't attack or move.

 

Which is why I'm not so sure how Shield Epic would go.

 

Though...

 

Toggle Defense (3-5% All Positions...more ground covered than S/L but less % is my thought)

Grant Cover (passive defense for team, none for hero, but gives defense debuff resist)

*something else here*

Shield Charge

Hibernate Clone w/ Shield

[Player2]

On 12/29/2020 at 7:57 AM, Tyrannical said:

Shield might be a bit tough because its positional defense instead of typed defense like most ancillaries. You might have to have two armor toggles instead of just one just to cover all the bases.

 

Not that it's a huge issue, there are a handful of ancillaries that have more than one buff power, but most tend to be click activated or autopowers.

It doesn't (and probably shouldn't) cover all the bases in the way you're describing.  It's an ancillary pool, not a full melee primary/secondary set.  One toggle for defense, maybe one for a +Health/+Resist auto, a click version (with long recharge time) of Grant Cover, and a lesser (moderate Damage) version of Shield Charge attack... and maybe add in the middle a single target Shield Slam attack using some left-handed melee attack animation.  Obviously this would need to be varied for the different ATs to suit each each one's needs, but it's about filling in some holes for non-melee types and not making the full Shield Defense powerset obsolete.

[Alchemystic]

5 hours ago, Player2 said:

It doesn't (and probably shouldn't) cover all the bases in the way you're describing.  It's an ancillary pool, not a full melee primary/secondary set.  One toggle for defense, maybe one for a +Health/+Resist auto, a click version (with long recharge time) of Grant Cover, and a lesser (moderate Damage) version of Shield Charge attack... and maybe add in the middle a single target Shield Slam attack using some left-handed melee attack animation.  Obviously this would need to be varied for the different ATs to suit each each one's needs, but it's about filling in some holes for non-melee types and not making the full Shield Defense powerset obsolete.

My idea was to make sure they had at least the basics; defense to melee, ranged and AoE, and adjust the numbers so it's suitable for non-melee archetypes.

[Player2]

4 minutes ago, Tyrannical said:

My idea was to make sure they had at least the basics; defense to melee, ranged and AoE, and adjust the numbers so it's suitable for non-melee archetypes.

Easy peasy:  make one Defense toggle akin to Weave of the Fighting pool...  +Defense (ALL).

Edited December 30, 2020 by Player2

[BrandX]

1 hour ago, Player2 said:

Easy peasy:  make one Defense toggle akin to Weave of the Fighting pool...  +Defense (ALL).

That's what I suggested above.

 

Toggle Defense (3-5% All Positions...more ground covered than S/L but less % is my thought)

Grant Cover (passive defense for team, none for hero, but gives defense debuff resist)

*something else here*

Shield Charge (spring jump level likely)

Hibernate Clone, but with shield using animation.

[CrudeVileTerror]

"*something else here*" .  .  .

The coveted "Shield Throw," perhaps?

And I had some thoughts on how to pull it off visually, since apparently that's been a sticking point in its development . . . 

The Power would summon a full Doppleganger model of the player-character, but apply transparency to the entirety of the model other than the Shield.  Said model could then strike an awkward pose to give the appearance of the Shield being thrown through the air as the model moves to the target destination.  Apply additional visual effects for launch, travel, and impact as appropriate.

Such a Power would also disable all other Shield Ancillary Pool Powers for a few seconds (5?) to represent that the player-character literally just threw their protection away.

[GM Miss]

Some amazing ideas here. 🙂

[Alchemystic]

Looking at what Archetype would best suit a shield Ancillary, I think Blaster/Mastermind is probably the safest option, since Ancillaries like Force, Electric and Cold have quite a few protective abilities, and Shield powers suit the roles of these Archetypes well. So with that in mind I tried to create a reasonable set reusing as many powers as I could;

 

Shield Mastery - Blaster/Mastermind

 

 - Deflection: A standard toggle power that provides melee defense

 

 - Battle Agility: Another toggle power that provides ranged/AoE defense

 

 - Phalanx Fighting: A power more suited to Masterminds, but could still prove beneficial for Blasters too.

 

 - Shield Charge: A highly damaging power that mimics similar function to LRM Rocket or the hard-hitting melee powers from Mastermind Ancillaries/Patrons

 

 - One with the Shield: A T9 power from shield defense, I think this works since many other Blaster/Mastermind sets use T9 powers already

Edited January 1, 2021 by Tyrannical

[Replacement]

On 11/17/2020 at 7:22 PM, Tyrannical said:

Since I went ahead and made a new control powerset that just so happens to have a suitable support set to match up with it, I figured I would go ahead and make another Manipulation powerset

 

Toxin Manipulation

 

 - Sleep Toxin: Taken from Toxin Control, a bit unusual for a T1 but I think it could work here.

 

 - Caustic Slick: A tweaked version of Toxin Control's Acid Slick power, functioning much like Caltrops, delaing minor toxic DoT and slowing down enemies.

 

 - Toxins: A copy of the 'Toxins' power from Plant Manipulation, granting a Build Up effect and adding toxic damage to most attacks.

 

 - Toxic Gas: A new PBAoE damage aura that uses the Venomous Gas FX, simply deals Toxic DoT to foes nearby.

 

 - Envenom: Another Poison power, a little debuff is nice to have, much like Trick Archery.

 

 - Inoculation: A new toggle power that grants recovery, regeneration, and resistance to Toxic damage and -Heal effects. Looks visually similar to the Alkaloid target FX

 

 - Neurotoxic Breath: Another Poison power, fulfils a similar function to Shiver in Ice manipulation.

 

 - Weaken: A second poison debuff, placed a little higher as not to make the powerset too front heavy.

 

 - Paralytic Poison: Taken from Poison, a strong single target hold with no damage is a nice capstone ability similar to other Manipulation sets.

 

I like this set, but it doesn't have enough close-range.  I get that not all sets are designed to blap, but there is supposed to be a trade-off between safety and performance.  I think you would see something like Caustic Slick set up to cast at your own feet (like the ice melee patch), and/or swapping out one of the later powers for a melee.  I would also not expect Envenom to make it, since -resist on a blaster is scary (and since it's also -defense, it can take an Achilles to boot).

 

Most likely version would be something like moving Breath into Envenom's place; adding a melee attack or pbaoe mez in a later spot.  Perhaps a rename of /atomic's Radiactive Cloud.

 

Also, about the Kinetic Manipulation: I don't think the Power Siphon would work without a lot of effort.  I'm pretty sure the +damage portion is actually hard-wired into KM's attacks, flagged not to grant to user unless Power Siphon=true.  Since you wouldn't want to have to add this line to every single Blast, and it wouldn't play well if only the /manip powers granted it, I think it'd need a new implementation (such as a global proc).  Not a show-stopper, but makes it much less of a low-hanging fruit to implement.

[Alchemystic]

2 hours ago, Replacement said:

I like this set, but it doesn't have enough close-range.  I get that not all sets are designed to blap, but there is supposed to be a trade-off between safety and performance.  I think you would see something like Caustic Slick set up to cast at your own feet (like the ice melee patch), and/or swapping out one of the later powers for a melee.  I would also not expect Envenom to make it, since -resist on a blaster is scary (and since it's also -defense, it can take an Achilles to boot).

I was mainly modelling this powerset after the less melee-heavy ones like Tactical Arrow and Devices, but if Envenom is a problem then maybe borrowing another power from the Toxin Control set I came up with could serve as a good substitute? I know the newer manipulation sets are a bit of a balance problem when it comes to mez, but we could bump Paralytic Poison down a few tiers and then put Choking Smog as the new Tier 9?

 

Edited January 1, 2021 by Tyrannical

[Alchemystic]

Working on another Control powerset, it'll be a totally new one with no existing powers in game, but the assets that could create it are present all the same. I put a lot of effort into making sure stone/earth powers had options in other archetypes, so now I wanna focus on water powers just as @oedipus_texdid in his Water Assault powerset. So, I have something that will pair nicely with it; Water Control.

 

Water Control

 

 - Sink: A single target immobilize power, deals smashing/cold DoT. Forms a smaller version of the 'Whirpoool' FX on the target's legs.

 

 - Pressure Burst: A knockup power that deals high smashing/cold damage. Essentially a single target version of 'Geyser' (imagine one of the Guysers bursting instead of several)

 

 - Submerge: Suspends a foe in a bubble of water, dealing high smashing/cold DoT. Foes are held in the same (albeit larger) water bubble FX created by 'Hydro Blast'

 

 - Undertow: An AoE version of 'Sink' above.

 

 - Mist Cloud: This power is functionally identical to 'Smoke' from Fire Control, but creates an aura of mist rather than smoke on each foes' head.

 

 - Overflow: A power that deals minor smashing/cold damage and sends foes flying back. Similar FX to the 'wake,' path aura, travelling towards foes before exploding much like 'water burst'

 

 - Aqua Globe: Creates a much larger water bubble. Targets in the bubble (including allies) will hover, but with the swimming animation. Foes will be slowed with reduced maneuverability and defense

 

 - Waterfall: An AoE hold power. Creates a heavy deluge of water that keeps foes pinned. Uses the FX of the waterfall fire/ice back items.

 

 - Water Sprites: Creates 3 pets much like Fire Imps. Water Sprites look like floating balls of water, and have access to the 'Aqua Bolt' power. They are resistant to lethal, psionic and fire damage, but vulnerable to energy.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Tyrannical