Rare power sets that used to be popular.

[carroto]

Way back in the early days Radiation Emission was very popular.  Some people refused to run hard content without one on the team.  I don't recall seeing a single one on HC.  Regen Scrappers were popular too.  I think I might have seen one since the game returned.  I'm curious what power sets are like that for you.  Those that seemed popular once but have fallen out of favor.  Also please share any thoughts you might have on why you think things changed.

 

For Regen as a set I wonder if Arcanaville might have had something to do with it.  As we came to a better understanding of damage mitigation and other game mechanics I think some of the shortcomings of the set became clearer.  I'm sure that's not the only explanation though.  There are plenty of people who don't know or don't care about game mechanics when they make their choices.

 

Probably another factor is simply that there are more sets to choose from these days, so it's only natural that we'd see less of any specific one of them.  Plus many of the new sets are strong and offer things the older ones don't.

[SeraphimKensai]

I have a Rad/Sonic Defender,  and a Dark/Rad Controller. They are both useful for large raid like encounters but the nature of the game damage is King.

 

I do also run a Regen Brute and Regen Sentinel.

[Obus Form]

22 minutes ago, carroto said:

Way back in the early days Radiation Emission was very popular.  Some people refused to run hard content without one on the team.  I don't recall seeing a single one on HC.  Regen Scrappers were popular too.  I think I might have seen one since the game returned.  I'm curious what power sets are like that for you.  Those that seemed popular once but have fallen out of favor.  Also please share any thoughts you might have on why you think things changed.

 

For Regen as a set I wonder if Arcanaville might have had something to do with it.  As we came to a better understanding of damage mitigation and other game mechanics I think some of the shortcomings of the set became clearer.  I'm sure that's not the only explanation though.  There are plenty of people who don't know or don't care about game mechanics when they make their choices.

 

Probably another factor is simply that there are more sets to choose from these days, so it's only natural that we'd see less of any specific one of them.  Plus many of the new sets are strong and offer things the older ones don't.

Regen's Instant Regeneration used to be a nice toggle, being the true power making Instant Regeneration viable.  It got changed to a click because Devs decided that it was too powerful.

 

Radiation Emission, before everyone could reach defense cap and before all Armor (brute/tank/scrapper/sentinel) sets had self heals, was the only powerset that had heals, -resistance, -damage, and a (what was "good" back then) AOE team wide buff.  It had everything in a support set.  New powersets and IOs meant the AOE buff became useless, the -damage was not needed since all were at defense cap, and healing was only sometimes needed.  The only real positive was -resistance, thus gradually replaced with Kinetics for team damage and the occasional heal.

[Apparition]

Force Field.  With IO sets, the Barrier Destiny, and other newer power sets like Time Manipulation and Cold Domination, all of the +defense that Force Field provides is mostly wasted.  The other key part of Force Field, knockback, is simply not wanted by the vast majority of teams.

[carroto]

1 minute ago, Apparition said:

Force Field.  With IO sets, the Barrier Destiny, and other newer power sets like Time Manipulation and Cold Domination, all of the +defense that Force Field provides is mostly wasted.  The other key part of Force Field, knockback, is simply not wanted by the vast majority of teams.

I do occasionally see a Bots/FF Mastermind.  Had one on a mid-level team not that long ago and the +def was a huge boon.  I'd move around to stay inside the big bubble.

[Uun]

5 minutes ago, Obus Form said:

Radiation Emission, before everyone could reach defense cap and before all Armor (brute/tank/scrapper/sentinel) sets had self heals, was the only powerset that had heals, -resistance, -damage, and a (what was "good" back then) AOE team wide buff.  It had everything in a support set.  New powersets and IOs meant the AOE buff became useless, the -damage was not needed since all were at defense cap, and healing was only sometimes needed.  The only real positive was -resistance, thus gradually replaced with Kinetics for team damage and the occasional heal.

I still see plenty of rads. Granted the debuffs become less valuable when you get to the end game. While the -res is nice, the real positive is -regen. I believe it still has the biggest regen debuff (-500%) in the game. The heal has always been meh.  

[DR_Mechano]

25 minutes ago, Uun said:

I still see plenty of rads. Granted the debuffs become less valuable when you get to the end game. While the -res is nice, the real positive is -regen. I believe it still has the biggest regen debuff (-500%) in the game. The heal has always been meh.  

It's tied with Howling Twilight BUT it is outdone by one single power. Poison Trap from Traps which gives -1000% regen. ill/Rad is still one of the AV killing kings for Controllers. Others may be able to challenge it these days but /Rad is putting up a solid fight. Plus AM is a +30% recharge buff. Also unlike a lot of other powersets all your 'big hitters' don't require heavy slotting AND you get them by level 20.

Edited March 8, 2020 by DR_Mechano

[Heraclea]

There was a brief time on old live when AV and GM class enemies had so much HP and regeneration that they became all but unkillable without Radiation debuffs.  Dozens of Radiation characters were made back then because they were needed. 

[Frosticus]

30 minutes ago, Heraclea said:

There was a brief time on old live when AV and GM class enemies had so much HP and regeneration that they became all but unkillable without Radiation debuffs.  Dozens of Radiation characters were made back then because they were needed. 

Exactly. And lots of sets with good -regen didn't even exist hero side like /cold and /traps.

Plus dps used to be WAY lower so -regen was of good value in just about every AV fight.

Plus I think lingering radiation was unresistable for quite some time, which was bugged and far more effective than intended.

 

It is still a top 3 set for corrs, defs, and trollers.

2 hours ago, carroto said:

For Regen as a set I wonder if Arcanaville might have had something to do with it.  As we came to a better understanding of damage mitigation and other game mechanics I think some of the shortcomings of the set became clearer.  I'm sure that's not the only explanation though.  There are plenty of people who don't know or don't care about game mechanics when they make their choices.

 

That's a stretch to say the least. And a failed campaign. More likely, is that everyone and their dog has played regen and according to the stats...continues to.

It is a middle of the pack popularity for stalkers and brutes. And top 2 for scraps and sentinels at lvl 50. 

Sooo....

[Abraxus]

My SG mates and I are running a team of ALL Radiation Emission characters!  We used to do the same with a team of 8 on the Live server, and it was almost unstoppable.  We layered on the Accelerated Metabolism, and stacked the debuffs until the opposition, even Giant Mosters, just melted.  There was still a risk.  If we weren't coordinated, or paying attention to our own heath, and got killed, it almost always turned into a team wipe.  But, that risk for a bunch of squishies was what made it fun.  We are doing this again on HC, with a team of 4, and while we can't turn the difficulty up to maximum like we used to, it's still set high enough to be challenging if we don't work as a team.

[carroto]

1 minute ago, Abraxus said:

My SG mates and I are running a team of ALL Radiation Emission characters!  We used to do the same with a team of 8 on the Live server, and it was almost unstoppable.  We layered on the Accelerated Metabolism, and stacked the debuffs until the opposition, even Giant Mosters, just melted.  There was still a risk.  If we weren't coordinated, or paying attention to our own heath, and got killed, it almost always turned into a team wipe.  But, that risk for a bunch of squishies was what made it fun.  We are doing this again on HC, with a team of 4, and while we can't turn the difficulty up to maximum like we used to, it's still set high enough to be challenging if we don't work as a team.

Yeah I did a Rad super-team back in the day and stacked AM is amazing.  With enough on the team you can have it perma even at a very low level.  Gobs of recharge and endless endurance at low levels like that is something everyone should experience.

[Haijinx]

Spines used to be way more popular

 

So did fire and ice armors

[carroto]

3 minutes ago, Haijinx said:

Spines used to be way more popular

 

So did fire and ice armors

Not sure if serious, or only talking about non-farmers.

[Haijinx]

9 minutes ago, carroto said:

Not sure if serious, or only talking about non-farmers.

Yeah non farmers

 

On normal pug teams 

[Apparition]

3 hours ago, carroto said:

I do occasionally see a Bots/FF Mastermind.  Had one on a mid-level team not that long ago and the +def was a huge boon.  I'd move around to stay inside the big bubble.

 

Yeah, you'll see an occasional Robots/FF MM for concept reasons, and they're okie on a mid-level team, but at level 50 with everyone IOed and Incarnated out?  Forget it.

[Haijinx]

7 minutes ago, Apparition said:

 

Yeah, you'll see an occasional Robots/FF MM for concept reasons, and they're okie on a mid-level team, but at level 50 with everyone IOed and Incarnated out?  Forget it.

More on Everlasting since RP

 

But yeah FF is pretty redundant at level 50

[Ironblade]

7 hours ago, carroto said:

Way back in the early days Radiation Emission was very popular.  Some people refused to run hard content without one on the team.  I don't recall seeing a single one on HC.  Regen Scrappers were popular too.  I think I might have seen one since the game returned.

Do you actually play these sets?  I'm wondering if this is like when you buy a particular model car, you suddenly notice how many are on the streets.

My main is a regen scrapper and I have an earth/rad controller and I've definitely seen other regen and rad players running around.

[carroto]

28 minutes ago, Ironblade said:

Do you actually play these sets?  I'm wondering if this is like when you buy a particular model car, you suddenly notice how many are on the streets.

My main is a regen scrapper and I have an earth/rad controller and I've definitely seen other regen and rad players running around.

Well you might be right, maybe I just don't notice.  I'd expect Regen's clicks and Rad's toggles to be pretty noticeable, but if most people are recoloring them it may be that I'm mistaking them for other things.

[Without_Pause]

Per recent data, Regen is still popular. If nothing else, it is popular for PvP.

[THEDarkTyger]

17 hours ago, Obus Form said:

Regen's Instant Regeneration used to be a nice toggle, being the true power making Instant Regeneration viable.  It got changed to a click because Devs decided that it was too powerful.

Honestly, it was very much so. But it got over-corrected IMO.

[Uun]

18 hours ago, Obus Form said:

Regen's Instant Regeneration used to be a nice toggle, being the true power making Instant Regeneration viable.  It got changed to a click because Devs decided that it was too powerful.

Instant Healing was changed in August 2005. Folks need to get over it already. I played regen for many years after the change and it was fine. Moment of Glory was changed in February 2008. Most consider that change an improvement, but nobody talks about that.

[roleki]

19 hours ago, Apparition said:

Force Field.  With IO sets, the Barrier Destiny, and other newer power sets like Time Manipulation and Cold Domination, all of the +defense that Force Field provides is mostly wasted.  The other key part of Force Field, knockback, is simply not wanted by the vast majority of teams.

I almost feel bad for FF.  Nobody needs +Def or -Mez anymore, and the two things it does for mitigation (KB, Intangible) are vastly underappreciated by most.  

 

At this point, the "great" thing about /FF as a secondary is that it has so many skippable powers and the few you do take, don't need much slotting.  

 

I wish there was time/inclination for devs to revisit this set, maybe combine the functionality of the two +Def bubbles into one, and convert the unused one to an Ally +Absorb or a critter -Res debuff of some sort.  It needs SOMETHING.

[Without_Pause]

My namesake here was a Claws/regen scrapper on Live. I thought it was more than fine 1-40. 40-50 was a bit of a chore, but this was on common IOs. If I had dumped currency into the build and gone Incarnate, I see no reason for that build to not work rather well at least for what I wanted out of it. 

[Apparition]

50 minutes ago, roleki said:

I almost feel bad for FF.  Nobody needs +Def or -Mez anymore, and the two things it does for mitigation (KB, Intangible) are vastly underappreciated by most.  

 

At this point, the "great" thing about /FF as a secondary is that it has so many skippable powers and the few you do take, don't need much slotting.  

 

I wish there was time/inclination for devs to revisit this set, maybe combine the functionality of the two +Def bubbles into one, and convert the unused one to an Ally +Absorb or a critter -Res debuff of some sort.  It needs SOMETHING.

 

IMO, Force Field needs a complete overhaul, cottage rule be damned.  Remove the +def from Dispersion Bubble, and add +Absorb and Sleep status protection.  Make Repulsion Bomb an actually decent attack by halving the activation time and upping the damage by at least a third.  Add -Res to Force Bolt and change the knockback to a knockdown or knockup.

[Heraclea]

51 minutes ago, Uun said:

Instant Healing was changed in August 2005. Folks need to get over it already. I played regen for many years after the change and it was fine. Moment of Glory was changed in February 2008. Most consider that change an improvement, but nobody talks about that.

It remains the case that the set needs serious help, especially, as you note, in the 40+ game.  There has also been a longstanding desire to make Regen a tanker primary.  I rolled an experimental /Regen brute about a month and a half ago to see if such a character could be made sturdy enough to tank for teams.  With HEAVY investment in set bonuses and incarnates geared only towards survival, I was able to get the character to a place where a Willpower character would be on generic enhancements.  Instant death is a major problem.  So are click heals that don't work immediately when clicked.  It will not work as a tanker primary in its current state,