Sentinel opposite: The Instigator (new AT idea)

[davpa]

SCoRE’s AT creation, the Sentinel, needs a villainous choice to balance out the AT choices. I suggest flipping the Sentinel by having the Primary powers be defensive style (Tankish) while the Secondaries being ranged offensive.

 

The Sentinel basically made the Blapper into an official AT, the Instigator will officially make the “Tank Mage” into an official AT.

 

One suggestion for the special inherent power could be a form of Taunt, which could be called Berserker. It could be a taunt/confusion AoE centered on the Instigator once the rage bar fills up.

 

Anyway, that was my thought to give villains a little love with a new AT.

[mattwo]

Great, another unoriginal villain AT because apparently corruptor and brute weren't enough...

 

Also tank mages would be OP. The entire point of a DPS mage is to be a glass cannon.

[Super Homer]

I would imagine, such a thing, if it existed, would have lower damage and be at least slightly more frail than actual Tankers.

 

With some work this game already kinda allows some tank-maging. Between Epic Pool blasts, AoE blasts, AoE holds (that do decent damage,) Nemesis Staff and Sorcery Pool, it's not impossible for a tank to be built with a ranged attack chain (their damage would suffer, though.)

[davpa]

Well, we didn’t need Sentinels but there they are.

[Disruptor]

SCORE had multiple new ATs in the works that all got cancelled, one was called Guardian and I believe it was a Melee Sets combined with Buff/Healing/Debuff sets.

[Scow2]

I'd prefer a Melee/Support archetype instead.

[n00baka]

I'd prefer a Melee/Support archetype instead.

 

Agreed. I want a Titan Weapon / Storm! There are plenty of combinations I’d rather see over Defense / Ranged Dmg.

[kelly Rocket]

I'd prefer a Melee/Support archetype instead.

I want this just so I can play something like Martial Arts/Time and be a tank even without a defense set :D

[Rylas]

I think a more tank-mage appropriate combo would be Defensive/Control-melee. Think scrapper defense numbers (blaster HP cap), and slightly increased damage on the control powers (shorter durations) with 2-3 melee attacks (moderate damage at most) tossed in - no taunt.

 

Just swapping the sentinel primary/secondary doesn't seem like it would really offer anything new to the game. I can't see them changing the defensive or offensive multipliers on the suggested AT because you're already competing with Sentinels and you can't edge out Tanks or Brutes by approaching their survival levels or taunt capabilities.

[davpa]

Melee/support would be a lot more fun.

[n00baka]

I think a more tank-mage appropriate combo would be Defensive/Control-melee. Think scrapper defense numbers (blaster HP cap), and slightly increased damage on the control powers (shorter durations) with 2-3 melee attacks (moderate damage at most) tossed in - no taunt.

 

Now this I also like a lot. I'm envisioning the secondary as a bit of a mix between Blaster Secondaries and Controller Primaries. A couple higher damaging Melee range control, some PBAoE, and any ranged control powers with a shorter range (think just inside the standard mob's aggro range, so to control effectively, you have to be close to the fight). This would put the player in enough danger to justify the Defensive Primary, while still allowing slotting for a safer play style. I'd probably want any targeted AoE style control to be PBAoE, and Cones would have a shorter, but wider, variation.

 

The Inherent is something I'm torn on for this potential AT. My first instinct is something like a Fury bar that builds up based on the number of controlled enemies. The more enemies you have controlled, the higher your damage. But being a Defensive Primary, I'd almost want something that boosts the survival of the AT, but I'm not particularly fond of that. As far as mental exercises go, I rather like this "what if I made an AT" game.

[Rylas]

Now this I also like a lot. I'm envisioning the secondary as a bit of a mix between Blaster Secondaries and Controller Primaries. A couple higher damaging Melee range control, some PBAoE, and any ranged control powers with a shorter range (think just inside the standard mob's aggro range, so to control effectively, you have to be close to the fight). This would put the player in enough danger to justify the Defensive Primary, while still allowing slotting for a safer play style. I'd probably want any targeted AoE style control to be PBAoE, and Cones would have a shorter, but wider, variation.

 

The Inherent is something I'm torn on for this potential AT. My first instinct is something like a Fury bar that builds up based on the number of controlled enemies. The more enemies you have controlled, the higher your damage. But being a Defensive Primary, I'd almost want something that boosts the survival of the AT, but I'm not particularly fond of that. As far as mental exercises go, I rather like this "what if I made an AT" game.

 

The thing to keep in mind is balance. As defense/control, the player would be pretty durable. I figured slightly higher control damage makes soloing bearable, but reduce the duration numbers to keep things spicy. As for an inherent, I'm not sure how balanced more damage or more defense would be. Maybe it's something that helps with endurance costs?

[n00baka]

Would a focus on "softer" control be a better option? Knockback, Fear, Immobilize. I agree that a shorter duration is a great idea, especially with AoE effects. Alternatively, making the damaging abilities separate from the controlling ones, or at least making the soft control abilities the only source of damage. I love the idea of an Endurance reduction Inherent.

[Rylas]

I think it would just have to depend from set to set and how they're themed. For example, you could turn static field from Electric Control into an aura, but with a lower max target cap; but take a power like Jolting Chain and make it a melee attack (think Chain Induction from Elec Melee with a KD effect). But I would be wary of KB powers only because we're talking about a melee range AT.

[hastened]

You could just proliferate the ranged damage sets to tanks if you want a defense primary/ranged secondary.  Its not like that would be overpowered, you would probably actually have to slightly buff the tanker ranged damage coefficient slightly to make it not just clearly worse than the melee sets in pretty much every way.  There is probably a good sweet spot there to enable high defense ranged attacker concepts without messing with game balance or being awful.

 

That was my suggestion when asked for what I would have liked to see added or changed to CoH when I interviewed at Paragon, actually.  They seemed mildly receptive to the idea at the time.

[davpa]

The Inherent is something I'm torn on for this potential AT. My first instinct is something like a Fury bar that builds up based on the number of controlled enemies. The more enemies you have controlled, the higher your damage. But being a Defensive Primary, I'd almost want something that boosts the survival of the AT, but I'm not particularly fond of that. As far as mental exercises go, I rather like this "what if I made an AT" game.

That is where I was going with the idea of a Taunt/Confusion AoE (I was calling the Berserker power) you can fire off. You instigate them and they’ll attack whom ever is near them, friend or foe. It would be a soft form of crowd control but wouldn’t be OP as some of the berserker foes will still probably Aggro on you...unless you TP in, hit Berserker and the TP out of there...oh, the possibilities!

[Henchman 21]

SCoRE’s AT creation, the Sentinel, needs a villainous choice to balance out the AT choices.

 

Are Sentinels unable to start as villains?  I admit I haven't made one yet but nothing about them seemed dependent enough on certain aspects of the story to justify the kind of restrictions placed on Agents of Arachnos and the like.

[Super Homer]

I think the thought was that the game had 5 City of Heroes ATs, 5 City of Villains ATs, and 2 EATs for each "side".

 

Sentinels are floating out there, you could say they are the 6th Hero AT, but then what about a 6th villain AT?

 

Personally, I like to think Sentinel is the first Praetorian AT (and patiently wait for the next 4  8) )

[Rylas]

Considering you can start any AT on any side these days, it doesn't really make sense to look at Sentinels as either hero or villain. All the more reason to not try to confine ourselves trying to make its "opposite" but instead focus on creating all-new original ATs.