We need a Hero Patron Power Pool

[Naraka]

I think the funny thing is, I'm sure I've heard plenty of players criticize the patron pools, saying they're weak and the pets are underpowered, but there still needs to be equality.

 

Most have boiled the patron pools as either niche, mediocre or a failed effort outside of certain powers like Gloom/Ball Lightning on Brute/Tanker but I guess any possibility of "unfairness" should be rectified, even if the unfairness is having a pile of meh, everyone should have a pile of meh....but I have a sneaking suspicion that any suggestion for a Hero Patron pool will be "adjusted" to fix some of the meh-ness of the Patron Pools.

[Player2]

I would really like to see hero patron pools, but rather than individual patrons use organizations...  PPD and Longbow are solid choices, and thematically make sense for pet summon powers as you would be calling in backup from your preferred group.  Can even work on villains, just assume those are corrupt cops and renegade Longbow.  I'm sure a couple others could be worked out to provide sets comparable to the villain patron pools.

 

And then maybe add two more patron pool sets... a Midnighter set with an arcane theme and a Vanguard set... both accessible through a new patron mission available through the Midnight Club (both hero and villain side) and in RWZ (also open to both).  Heck, with the Temporal power sets (Defender/Corruptor/Blasters), maybe some additional new powers of a time theme could be worked out and create a new Mender patron pool accessible via mission in Ouroboros.

 

Over time, they could open up lots of different NPC group options that, even if there would be a lot of similar sets, they would offer a greater diversity of thematic approaches.  Could be fun to have your villain show up on scene and then call for Freakshow or Warriors backup because he earned the loyalty of a few members, for example.

[Greycat]

Chewing on it a bit (and I see a few echoes of thoughts in some other posts) -

 

Go to patron pools... not 2.0. I'm not even sure it's a 1.5. Maybe a 1.3.

 

Villainside - sure, add red widow. Or generic "Arachnos."

Heroside - FBSA pools. The arcs themselves are themed. Not going to go into "what the  powers are," since - well, lots of balancing and rebalancing would need to be done anyway.

Grey - For those who don't want to swear fealty to a patron, or tie themselves to heroside city hall. Midnighters, perhaps put Arachnos here, Longbow, Hammers, NPs... or whichever other groups.

 

Drop the unlock to 33 instead of 35. Why? It means you finish out your primary through T9, while getting the arc to unlock late enough you're not wondering why it's not available... while having it available at 35.

 

And since Patrons are RP-flavorful - expand arcs on all of them. Do more jobs. Primarily for replay value.

 

Also, a 2-mission "switch patron/organization" arc, for those who'd like to switch the badge/patron, given it's an expansion on preexisting content.

[Alchemystic]

I know this is a thread promoting hero patrons, but I think we should definitely look at more villain options too. To that end, I've been looking through possible patron figures on either side that could help achieve this, and did my best to try and balance the scales according to the size of the hero group considered.

 

So let's see...

 

FBSA - Team of 5

• ELITE
• DATA
• SERAPH
• MAGI
• GIFT

Villain Counterbalance:

• Red Widow

---

 

Freedom Phalanx - Team of 6

• Positron
• Manticore
• Synapse
• Numina
• Citadel
• Penelope Yin

Villain Counterbalance:

• Red Widow
• Lord Recluse

---

 

Vindicators - Team of 9 (or 10)

• Ms Liberty
• Valkyrie
• Infernal
• Swan
• Luminary
• Malaise
• Mynx 
• Woodsman
• Aurora Borealis 
• Back Alley Brawler (Possibly)

Villain Counterbalance:

• Red Widow
• Ice Mistral
• Silver Mantis
• Barracuda 
• Wretch 
• Lord Recluse (Possibly)

[LQT]

20 hours ago, TraumaTrain said:

 

"Positron's balls!" just became my new exclamation.

 

 

Sounds slightly familiar 

[Golden Azrael]

I'd like the option to pick the 'CoV' Patrons without doing the Patron missions.

There are some 'good' Patron power pick choices.  That Scorpion Shield for starters.  The Dark Patron set is another juicy set.

 

Azrael.

[krj12]

I think the biggest argument for this is the fact that you have to switch to redside to acquire the villain power pools.

 

An alternative would be to have hero side arcs where you work AGAINST the same villains,  and as a result of defeating the villain

you take their powers.   Probably a bit less work than having to create new arcs + new pools.

 

 

[carroto]

One of the biggest advantages the patron pools have over epics (for me) is that they typically require one fewer prerequisite to get to the power(s) I really want.  In a tight build that can change everything.  Epics might not even be on the table for those builds.  I'd rather see parity there, or just more epics that are structured in the same way as the patron pools.

[Player2]

5 hours ago, LQT said:

Sounds slightly familiar 

[Eldyem]

On 6/21/2021 at 5:52 AM, Tyrannical said:

Hero Patron Pools have been discussed in the past, they were even one of the HC Weekly Discussions back when those were a regular thing, so it's definitely something that's on HC's radar.

 

I'd love to see some HPPs, but the question is who are the best candidates for the role? Freedom Phalanx? Vindicators? The New Praetorians?

 

I suppose any could work really, but regardless of what group is picked, they would likely outnumber the villain patrons. Do we stick to just 4 heroes, or do we also expand on the villain side of things to compensate?

 

I think the Vindicators are some really good picks because some of them are very underdeveloped as in-game characters, but have Praetorian counterparts - and also because there's quite a few ways to develop pools for them that don't step on *any* existing pool's toes. I think the best use of Hero Patrons would be to use them to introduce new sets that are both "lore-friendly" in that they develop the associated characters, and are unique enough that people who don't actually consider their character to be "borrowing" patron powers to be able to explore their themes further with them.

 

Swan? - Between Kinetic Melee and Kinetics-inspired moves, I think there's a lot of places to go with this. Could get a Smash/Lethal shield via the Energy Aura connection, or Mind Over Body via her Psychic Blast connection; concept-friendly to "energy" or "psychic" heroes.

Woodsman? - I've wanted a nature epic pool very badly for a long time. Not *too* much to say here; there's enough nature-esque powers to form a coherent pool, especially if Spore Cloud was turned directly into a Darkest Night clone. He even has the obvious Tuatha summons.

 

And so on.

[archgemini24]

And now I am wondering what a Light or Umbral Mastery pool would look like with Sunstorm and Shadowstar as Patrons (and Light/Umbral Mastery APPs, or are those covered under Energy and Dark?). Which AT would the pools most resemble, if any?

 

Or do Kheldians get something entirely different as a bone thrown to them? I would certainly not be opposed to a few buffs or tweaks to current powers and the Inherent in lieu of not getting a pool (Conserve Power can become an Energize clone anytime, for example).

[srmalloy]

On 6/20/2021 at 10:12 PM, stevencoe77 said:

This is one of those thing that been bothering me for a very long time. Why is the villain have patron power pool and the epic don't have none. 

It's become pretty obsolete by this point, but the original premise was that, as a potential challenger for Lord Recluse, your character worked their way up the 'food chain' of villainy under the loose observation of Arachnos, lackeying to more and more powerful thugs as you gained levels, until you reached a point where you could choose to ally yourself with one of Recluse's more-or-less-trusted lieutenants. Because this was intended to be a defining choice for the character (originally, picking a patron was a one-and-done decision that couldn't be changed), the patron pools for an AT were deliberately built to be grossly similar to make the choice of patron a role-playing decision rather than a min-max 'flavor of the month' pick.