Buffing Munitions Mastery

[AxerJ]

Made my first gun-themed character, an AR/MC sort of cyberpunk girl, very fun to play - and I was very excited to choose Munitions Mastery. But it's disappointing to find out MM is pretty terrible compared with the others - the others wouldn't make sense for her, but it's hard to choose objectively bad powers. The armor and LRM could really use some buffing, in particular. It'd be great to use this power pool!

 

Thanks so much for your work and help, very appreciated!

Edited May 29, 2020 by AxerJ

[Chance Jackson]

I also made a cyberpunk AR/MC blaster recently but I decided I'd go Mace Mastery for the Defense shield, & tech themed powers

Edited June 7, 2020 by Chance Jackson

[AxerJ]

I'd so much prefer to take Munitions Mastery =P I probably still will just for fun, but it sucks she'll be underpowered.

Edited May 29, 2020 by AxerJ

[MTeague]

Someone posted the same general idea regarding the [Body Armor] power.  At the time, I opposed the idea. 

 

On further review, I was wrong. 

 

Back in the day, I think this made sense for it to exist exactly as it was. 

• It was a lower dmg resist. 
• but it was still the two most common damage types
• and it was FREE, always on,
• could not even be detoggled by an enemy.
• And, for many many many issues, Blasters DID have to contend with Endurance issues. Nukes with Crashes, etc. 
• Body Armor was a nice alternative to an toggle with an END cost, at that point in history, 

Now?  With Blasters..... basicallly not having END issues anymore?  I suspect the vast bulk of the player base would gladly swap it out for a toggle that either also included another couple of damage types, OR, reamined Smashing/Lethal only, but with higher numbers for Smashing/Lethal.

 

Would everyone agree to that?  Probably not. There's always that one guy.  (and frequently, it's me 🙂 ). 

I suspect some, perhaps particularly in PvP-land, may appreciate that it's an Auto-Power and cannot be de-toggled.

 

But I think there's probably a good case to be made that this no longer cuts the mustard in a world where blasters have crashless nukes and end recovery toggles.

[Darkneblade]

Just slap some +absorb on Body Armor, it is fine since it is auto.

LRM Rocket ? Just remove interrupt and possible crazy idea slap some DoT effect when explosion went off.

[ImpousVileTerror]

I like the idea of Body Armour providing the Smashing and Lethal Resists as an Auto Power, BUT ALSO having a Click component which grants Absorb for a duration of time, with the trade-off being that you lose the Resists while the Power is on Cooldown.

[Naraka]

Who else gets the Body Armor power?  I think just adding +3 mag protection to Hold and Stun would make that power an attractive option for Blasters.  No other option in the Epic Pools give mez protection without some stipulation like a crash or only affecting self.

 

 

[Replacement]

@Darkneblade @ImpousVileTerror The Absorb is neat, but I still think slapping in a minor +max HP is easier and... It's just not a power that needs to be fancy. Also a click component would be kind of counter to the primary fiction.

 

@Naraka That would be pretty awesome. Even Mag 2 would make Acrobatics and Defiant Barrage (mez protection ATO) more appealing.

[Uun]

In keeping with the munitions theme, how about replacing Body Armor with Force Field Generator (scaled appropriately) and LRM with Seeker Drones. My feeling on LRM is that blasters don't need another ranged AoE attack. It should really be part of another set.

[AxerJ]

LRM is great thematically, it's just too underpowered. For a 6 second cast time with 4 min cooldown (and requiring two MM picks), I think it should have more damage and have some of that damage be fire. Or the damage could stay the same, but have a lower cooldown and cast time. I'd hate to see the rocket completely removed, as it's just so cool. But as this epic power pool stands, it's hardly ever used, and understandably so. It's too bad!

 

Or who knows, maybe another change that's more creative.

Edited May 31, 2020 by AxerJ

[Fortuneteller]

Maybe the damage for LRM could be altered a little. Instead of smash/lethal it could do lethal/energy? That might make it *slighty* more usable.

[Menelruin]

What if LRM just had a HUGE magnitude knock-UP, so it was also a hilarious crowd control?

[Sakura Tenshi]

I feel like lethal/fire is more fitting for most explosives. But I'm pretty sure that's not accurate to how explosives necessarily work in the modern era.

[Menelruin]

21 minutes ago, Sakura Tenshi said:

I feel like lethal/fire is more fitting for most explosives. But I'm pretty sure that's not accurate to how explosives necessarily work in the modern era.

Probably they'd be both lethal and smashing at the same time.

[Neogumbercules]

It's not even really the damage of LRM that's the issue. I made an AR/Dev/Mun Blaster on Test and IO'd the shit out of it and it's a very capable and fun combo. The problem with LRM is the massive interrupt and recharge. Blasters don't need an attack that they can't use in combat. It's also the cumulative effects of a bunch of bad to mediocre powers makes a bad to mediocre ancillary pool. The whole set needs buffing. 

[AxerJ]

Quite agree, a real fix would be to cut the cast in half or more.

 

Also - it'd be really wonderful if we could have the Council's shoulder rocket launcher as a graphic for LRM Rocket instead of our normal assault rifle. Or, at least, if we could switch the power graphic of LRM Rocket to another of the assault rifles we can choose in the costume creator. The one I normally use requires a lot of mindlore to justify a rocket =P

Edited June 7, 2020 by AxerJ