Master Buff Wishlist Compilation Pt1 - Ranged, Melee, Armor, Pets

[AustinSmith]

Alright kiddos, this has been done a hundred times in the forum already, but buckle up cause I'm going to throw my own two cents in the ring anyway because my brain is unbelievably big and my heart swells with love for this game. I present to you, a long ass post going over the top sets of each category, after cultivating through the forums, hours of napkin math, and my own opinions, that deserve to be buffed. Maybe not to steroid levels, but maybe they won't be consuming questionable foodstuffs at the bottom of the dumpster.

 

IMPORTANT: This is an opinion wishlist and is in no way a directive for the devs to 'get on it', plus the changes I am proposing are only my ideas. BUT, based on the criteria I will be laying out forthwith, I confidently believe the following sets deserve the most scrutiny and candidacy for buffness. Cool? Cool.

 

PREFACE: THE CRITERIA

 

So, turns out there's a lot of power choices in Homecoming that do a lot of different things, at varying power levels and niches. Huh. It's almost like personal customization and diversity is a huge appeal to the game or something. So, how do we narrow down which sets need the help? Basically, the set had to fit the following description:

 

"Not only is my set underperforming from a numbers standpoint, in which other sets beat me on a mechanical level, but I'm also relatively unappealing/unfun to play."

 

Therefore, I will be excluding reasonably powerful sets that are unpopular (Ice Armor was a candidate in this vein, but because I couldn't find any evidence that the set is BAD, just kinda meh, I skipped it), or popular sets that are relatively underpowered (sorry, Regeneration diehards). However, unpopularity isn't the best indicator of power level and this is first and foremost a power level suggestion post. So, if you feel like Regeneration absolutely needs to be looked at by the devs before my armor choice, please, respond in the thread!

 

There are existing threads in the forums that go over the nitty gritty numbers for these sets, and while I will try to cite MOST of them, my suggestions are going to be more general than numbers charts. I determined set popularity by going over the Flavor of the Month posts Cipher compiled and looked over sets that were consistently low-picked among archetypes, fairly straightforward.

 

Another important note; my buff suggestions, and especially my suggestions to REPLACE powers, must keep in line with the perceived strength or focus of the set. (example; Regeneration is, you guessed it, a health and regeneration focused set. Swapping out one or more powers to say, buff defense, is outside the intention of the set, even if it would make it more powerful)

 

Now that we've established criteria, OP should get around to his damn point someday. Well, look no further.

 

CATEGORY 1: RANGED SET

Category Winner: Assault Rifle

 

Assault Rifle is one of the original blast sets in City of Heroes, and its age shows. Old ass animations that give me the nostalgia butterflies, simplistic attacks with at most one secondary effect, no fancy combo system or flashiness. And really, AR should be that; it's a gun that should deal solid damage with nothing too fancy.

 

But, it kinda sucks in modern times. Not only is it consistently one of the least-picked ranged sets among 50s per the FOTM post, it's kinda known the raw effectiveness of the set is lacking, and the lack of good secondary effects these days kinda kills it, nevermind the fact its base damage type is one of the worst (although lethal as a damage type is a whole other balancing discussion).

 

In buffing Assault Rifle, some of the set's big points to stick to:

 

• Lack of a true Build Up power. Yeah, it'd be nice if it had one, but let's keep this constraint, even if we're gonna bend it a little.
• It's an AoE machine. Over half the powers in the set are cones or TAoEs, let's focus on that strength.
• Secondary effects should be few, focus should be on pushing damage.

 

With that, the proposed changes:

 

Burst - fine, keep as is.

--

Slug - fine, keep as is for the most part.

Suggestions:

Add -Res(Smashing,Lethal)

Reasoning:

This would emulate an armor-piercing round and shore up one of the set's biggest drawbacks (primary Lethal damage).

--

Buckshot - fine, keep as is.

--

M30 Grenade - fine, keep as is.

--

Beanbag - Needs a rework, low damage output and a light mez aren't useful.

Suggestions:

1) Replace with Calibrated Shot

Ranged, Moderate Dmg(Lethal), Self +Dmg, Self +ToHit

Reasoning:

Assault Rifle maybe shouldn't have a Build Up power, but what if we did a Claws and added a Follow Up-style power to the attack chain? This would greatly help Assault Rifle's damage output while technically maintaining true to the set's design.

2) Replace with FMJ Round

Ranged, Moderate Dmg(Lethal), -Res(All), -Def(All)

Reasoning:

Alright, let's say Assault Rifle shouldn't get a buildup power of any kind, and if Beanbag should be replaced, let's replace it with a like power; an offensive debuff tool. This type of power would provide a meaningful type of debuff that's kind of the inverse of Calibrated Shot (-Res equivalent to +Dmg, -Def equivalent to +ToHit).

--

Sniper Rifle - Pretty good power, but could use some extra oomph.

Suggestions:

Add -Res(Smashing,Lethal)

Reasoning:

Even more so than Slug, a high caliber bullet should probably be armor piercing.

--

Flamethrower - Long ass animation, slow DoT, and no secondary effect.

Suggestions:

Replace with Plasma Flamethrower

Ranged (Cone), Extreme DoT(Fire), -Regen

Reduce the number of DoT ticks by one half to one fourth, while boosting the damage of the ticks so overall damage output stays the same

Reasoning:

You know those robotic dudes in Praetoria that are super annoying for lower level characters to deal with? Clockwork Sweepers have that cone attack which is the inspiration of what I want here. Regeneration debuff is a good tool to have, and reducing the number of ticks helps how the damage is actually dealt with this power.

--

Ignite - Always been considered bad. Need to preserve the theme of the power while buffing it.

Suggestions:

Replace with Incendiary Grenade

Ranged (Location AoE), Moderate Dmg(Lethal/Fire), Moderate DoT (Fire), Foe Knockdown

Reasoning:

Inspired by the Destroyer Blast Master/Scrapyarder Demolitionist and Assault Bot incendiary swarm missiles, this would keep the "burn patch" intention of the power, but adds extra frontloaded damage and additional utility with the knockdown.

--

Full Auto - Just needs a couple improvements to get it in line with other nukes.

Suggestions:

Increase cone arc from 20 to 30 degrees, increase target cap from 10 to 16

Reasoning:

Word on the street is this power was overlooked when the endurance crash was removed from blaster nukes. If AR is going to be an AoE machine, its best power should probably have a cone equivalent to Soldiers of Arachnos Heavy Burst, and have a target cap equivalent to other nukes.

 

That about wraps up my proposed changes for Assault Rifle. Keeps what I believe is the spirit of the set while providing the tools it needs to become viable.

 

CATEGORY 2: MELEE SET

Category Winner: Battle Axe

 

Another set from the beginning of time, Battle Axe is part of the infamous trio of weapons sets that constantly get compared to one another in an endless quest to definitively show off how great War Mace is. If anything, If anything, Battle Axe should probably FEEL like the heaviest hitter between the three; you're not cracking skulls and breaking bones like mace, and you're not elegantly dueling your foes with swordplay, you've heroically taken up a giant heavy meat cutter designed to dismantle body parts in ways the Vahzilok surgeons think about in their wet dreams.

 

Unfortunately, it suffers from a crippling case of being meh. The lumbering animations don't really have a powerful payoff, and it has the unfortunate combination of one of the weakest damage types coupled with the most polarizing secondary effect, leading to a lackluster set.

 

Points to stick to:

 

• Knockback and knockdown should still be integral to the set in some way, it's currently the big defining trait of Battle Axe.
• Battle Axe should be utilizing the other weapons sets as a reference, NOT Titan Weapons. TW is its own beast, even if it is a "modern" weapons set. Also, it goes against the original design of the set.

 

There was a pretty great forum post I came across that highlighted the average DPA of Battle Axe and gave me some numbers to work with, but I disagreed with that OP's solution of making most of Battle Axe's attacks cones. To me, the way to improve Battle Axe is to incorporate Resistance Debuff into its attacks, shared with Knockback, much like War Mace shares disorient and knockback. Plus, it makes Battle Axe a nice mirror to Broad Sword's defense debuff theme.

 

Beheader - Needs secondary effect port and increased DPA

Suggestions:

Add -Res(Smashing,Lethal), remove knockdown, reduce cast time

Reasoning:

Resistance debuff conveys that your big ass axe is actually hacking away at your opponent's armor (aka what axes do), and leads to better damage in follow-up attacks, conveying that Battle Axe hits hard.

--

Chop - Needs secondary effect port

Suggestions:

Add -Res(Smashing,Lethal) remove knockdown

--

Gash - Needs secondary effect port

Suggestions:

Add -Res(Smashing,Lethal), remove knockdown

--

Build Up - fine, keep as is

--

Swoop - fine, keep as is

--

Taunt/Confront - fine, keep as is

--

Whirling Axe - Needs secondary effect port and increased DPA

Suggestions:

Add High -Res(Smashing,Lethal), remove knockdown, reduce cast time

Reasoning:

Opening a big mob with PBAoE and setting up mobs for taking increased damage over your next attacks would be a great way to boost this rather underwhelming power.

--

Cleave - Needs the Shatter buff that allows it to actually hit multiple targets

Suggestions:

Increase cone arc from 20 to 45 degrees

Reasoning:

This gets the power in line with the gold standard of this power in the weapon sets, Shatter.

--

Pendulum - fine, keep as is

 

The above buffs technically violate the cottage rule by removing knockdown from a few powers, so if necessary to compromise, the knockdown chance could be reduced to make room for the resistance debuffs. Someone better than me would have to run numbers, but that suggestion sounded like TOO strong of a buff to the set.

 

For additional information on Battle Axe numbers, please refer to the handy dandy spreadsheet in this post:

 

Will be working on the proposals for Armor and Pets soon, for now I'm going to play the game. Later, a separate proposal will be made for the other categories; Assault/Manipulation, Control and Support.

 

Thanks for listening to some nostalgic, overly passionate dude venting about how great certain powers in the game could be!

 

[twospirited]

lots of great recommendations, to add, i'd request a despawn timer on objects from gravity's propel ability. since it's got a moderate cast time, they can build up real fast. and range from size of propane cylinder to full sized garbage dumpster to a street light. w/o despawning, the clutter could make some maps feel a bit more claustrophobic for some.

 

and for pets, giving the the singularity on controllers, and maybe even dom's, a bit longer attack range. right now they're like bad dogs if you know what i mean. considering they're using same abilities., could they be set to attack players target on first cast? and go from there afterwards?

Edited April 8, 2020 by twospirited
add more to request.

[Razor Cure]

5 hours ago, AustinSmith said:

unappealing/unfun to play.

Super, super subjective. What is fun for others is totally awesome sauce for someone. That said, the bad sets, from a numbers point of view, are often the unfun ones..cause they just dont do enough.

5 hours ago, AustinSmith said:

Assault Rifle

You forgot the biggest (to me) issue..all those cones having different ranges and arcs. ANd sure, Buckshot SHOULD technically have a shorter range than a bullet..but if logic comes into it, how it one gun firing bullets, buckshot, slugs, grenades AND a fkamethrower?

Beanbag should get the Sentinel Tesla treatment, and be a decent attack. Every other set (bar elec) has a 3 power TS attack chain. Perhaps with a -end/revocery, since beanbags literally wing you so bad you cant move.

 

5 hours ago, AustinSmith said:

Beheader - Needs secondary effect port and increased DPA

Why does this NOT have a lethal Dot bleed effect? Same with Gash. More, in that case.

[Naraka]

Why is it always -res?  Can't think of anything more unique?

[AustinSmith]

12 hours ago, Razor Cure said:

Super, super subjective. What is fun for others is totally awesome sauce for someone. That said, the bad sets, from a numbers point of view, are often the unfun ones..cause they just dont do enough.

You're absolutely right that unfun is completely subjective; I have an incarnate AR/Devices blaster, and I personally love to play that character. However, unpopularity is NOT subjective if you have the numbers. And thanks to the FOTM data that's been collected, we can look at the numbers and pretty solidly conclude that Assault Rifle and Battle Axe are unpopular:

From the March post, Assault Rifle is CONSISTENTLY the ranged set least taken to 50 for ALL archetypes except for blaster, where it's third lowest. The numbers are very similar to his previous FOTM post as well. That's pretty much what would define "unpopular".

13 hours ago, Razor Cure said:

You forgot the biggest (to me) issue..all those cones having different ranges and arcs. ANd sure, Buckshot SHOULD technically have a shorter range than a bullet..but if logic comes into it, how it one gun firing bullets, buckshot, slugs, grenades AND a fkamethrower?

Beanbag should get the Sentinel Tesla treatment, and be a decent attack. Every other set (bar elec) has a 3 power TS attack chain. Perhaps with a -end/revocery, since beanbags literally wing you so bad you cant move.

Standardizing the cones from AR could very well be a valid improvement to the set. From my limited playing experience of AR though, once you open into a mob with Sniper Rifle and get that range boost, I rarely have to walk up closer to get my cones to hit mobs. Arc sizes I don't have numbers for.

 

I shied away from the idea of "Beanbug but with more damage", since I'm following the design assumption that AR is first and foremost an AoE machine, and is allowed to lack in a ST attack chain in favor of constantly rotating its AoEs. That's of course just an inference, but I'm a believer in that constraints breed creativity, which would help AR find its niche. Also I don't think tagging a recovery debuff on Beanbag would be an improvement to the power in any way; endurance debuffs are pretty much useless unless you're building a sapper type character, which AR is not.

13 hours ago, Razor Cure said:

Why does this NOT have a lethal Dot bleed effect? Same with Gash. More, in that case.

 

7 hours ago, Naraka said:

Why is it always -res?  Can't think of anything more unique?

Lethal DoT could very well convey the fact that Axe is causing you to bleed from deep gash wounds, but since lethal DoT is already Savage Melee's thing, and they already share a damage type, it seemed too similar to suggest.

 

On the contrary, I think adding resistance debuff would ADD uniqueness to these sets. Currently there are zero melee sets that leverage resistance debuff as part of their core abilities (Street Justice and Titan Weapons each have ONE attack that does resistance debuff), which carves (lol) a nice place for Battle Axe. In terms of ranged sets, Sonic is the only set with resistance debuffs, but it has two other damage types, and the resistance debuffs I'd be suggesting for AR wouldn't DEFINE the set, but just provide it with the additional tools it needs to be deadlier.