New Power Set: Spell Warding (Tanker Primary)

[AgentForest]

Some Dungeons and Dragons fans might recognize a lot of inspiration in this set, but I wanted a more magical armor set for front-line fighters.  The Sorcery pool offers a lot of fun utility and supportive effects, but not many of those powers were useful on someone who fights on the front-line.  I wanted to bring that aesthetic to the melee role.

 

I picture a lot of these powers having their effects mapped to cylinders around you, a ring of runes and magic words written on the surface of that cylinder, with different spell wards hovering at different distances from you, creating layers of magical defense.  Blade Ward, as a temporary effect, would be one of the brighter and more obvious auras, as it's temporary and needs to be well-telegraphed to opponents and teammates.  Aura of Vitality could be a ring at a wider distance, and Glyph of Invisibility could show a larger, faint magic circle could denote the max range.  Mage Armor could be mapped to the existing Victorian aura's locations, causing glowing armor plates hovering a short distance from your body.  Various layers of protection each occupying different physical space to show all the spells you're currently maintaining.

 

Spell Warding

(Tanker Primary, Scrapper/Brute/Stalker/Sentinel Secondary)

 

Baseline Mechanics: This set provides moderate defense to all damage types, but mostly resistances.  The defense provided comes in small but strong bursts now and then as needed.  You also gain several ways to assist nearby allies, much like Shield Defense, but with a more magical flavor.  Mez protection would focus more on mental and dimensional effects, so protection against forced teleportation, fear, confuse, taunt, placate, repel, and knockback would take precedent over effects like defense debuff resistance (granted temporarily by Blade Ward) or immobilize (granted temporarily by Mana Tap).  This set also has a few ways to gain additional damage, as magic isn't just defensive in nature, and you will after all have an offensive power set too.  Draining mana can empower your attacks for a few seconds, while attackers take damage in retaliation.  I toyed with the idea of giving Elemental Absorption some damage for each nearby enemy debuffed, but it seemed to just make it a superior version of Against All Odds, and I didn't want to step on that set's toes too much, so I opted to make it purely defensive in nature.  This would be the third defensive power set that places a great deal of emphasis on positioning, like Shield Defense and Dark Armor, but with a more supportive aesthetic, even if it may not be nearly as sturdy as some other sets out there, from a purely tanking perspective.  This positional and supportive nature allows it to still mesh well enough with the Sorcery power pool.

 

1. Mage Armor: Toggle +Resistance (Smashing/Lethal).  Glowing, translucent armor plates hover a short distance from your form, dampening hits from physical attacks.  This armor could be mapped similarly to the Victorian aura.
2. Blade Ward: Click short duration +Defense (Melee/Smashing/Lethal), +Resist (Defense Debuffs).  Activating this move gives you brief high deflection chance on physical attacks and any melee strikes.  I felt there weren't too many moves like this outside of Parry, so it would be a fun mechanic to have in a defensive set.
3. Elemental Absorption: Toggle +Resistance (Fire/Cold/Energy, Endurance Drain).  This also has an area taunt effect like AAO and RttC, as it lowers the damage of nearby foes slightly.  Each foe debuffed in this way increases this resistance slightly.  You also gain resistance to endurance draining effects while this ward is active.  [For Sentinels and Stalkers, this would simply be a flat resistance boost, higher base but without getting stronger for each nearby enemy, nor debuffing them, in order to mesh better with stealthy or ranged gameplay.]
4. Mind Warding: Toggle Resistance(Status Effects, Psionic/Negative Energy).  This provides protection and resistance to mez effects while also protecting you against mental assaults from psionic or dark forces.
5. Glyph of Invsibility: Toggle PBAoE Stealth +Def (all).  You apply a glowing glyph to your chest, that causes yourself and nearby allies to become difficult to see.  Your stealth suppresses in combat, but the stealth of others is only broken if they engage in active combat or if they leave the radius.  The defense buff applied to you remains at all times, and this amount is not suppressed by breaking stealth.  This non-suppressing bonus is applied to all people in range.  Allies receive a greater effect on top of this that IS suppressed in combat.  For example, maybe 5% defense is applied at all times to you and allies, but allies still hidden gain an additional 5%.  [For Stalkers, this would be replaced by Hide.]
6. Aura of Vitality: Toggle PBAoE +Regeneration, Self +Resist (Toxic).  You grant a regeneration aura in an area.  This area is small, but nearby allies can benefit from it.  This provides a greater regenerative effect to yourself though.  The toxic resistance is specifically for yourself though.
7. Mana Tap: PBAoE endurance drain, +Protection/Resist (Immobilize).  You draw magic from your surroundings, invigorating you.  You break free of immobilizes and gain resistance to them, while healing your endurance and increasing your recovery for each nearby foe drained.  Each enemy drained also gives you a damage boost to your next few attacks.  The recovery bonus lasts longer than the damage bonus, as the damage is more a perk than the entire point of the ability.
8. Reflective Shield: Toggle +Absorb over time, minor Energy Damage to attackers.  If an enemy strikes this shield, they take a small burst of energy damage.  This damage is stronger than persistent damage auras like Blazing Aura, but only occurs when struck instead of at regular intervals, and can affect targets at a range (still useful for a Sentinel).  If you aren't being attacked, you likely won't get much benefit from this, but that's true of any absorb power, honestly, so it encourages aggressive gameplay and holding aggro.
9. Sigil of Sanctuary: Click small PBAoE Self and Ally +Def (all), +Resist (all), +Healing.  You create a small but powerful ring of protection over an area around yourself.  Any allies in very close proximity (melee range) can benefit from this effect too, though doing so does lower their damage slightly.  This area moves with you, and provides massive defense and resistance buffs while active.  It only lasts a short time, about 10-15 seconds, but isn't on as long of a cooldown as other T9 defensive powers.  Anyone in this shield receives increased healing and regeneration.  Your own damage isn't lowered by this power, only allies, as you can weave the incantation to allow your own attacks to pass through it, but can't micromanage the barrier for others.  Basically, this is your defensive panic move, but allies in a pinch can be guarded by it if they're okay with giving up a chunk of their damage for the relative safety of your presence.

Edited February 23, 2022 by AgentForest
(Edited for clarity)

[Naraka]

Interesting concept. A bit limited on the execution. I have ideas that could spice it up but it's less "move this power to this slot" or "make that power into a toggle instead of a click" and more like "here is a complete unique mechanic for this set" lol

 

I'll see what others want to say about it.

 

 

[AgentForest]

16 minutes ago, Naraka said:

Interesting concept. A bit limited on the execution. I have ideas that could spice it up but it's less "move this power to this slot" or "make that power into a toggle instead of a click" and more like "here is a complete unique mechanic for this set" lol

 

I'll see what others want to say about it.

 

Totally fair.  I know magic is a complex and vague theme that could go so many ways, so I tried to grab the different concepts I've found that fit the theme, and incorporate them into one overarching set.  Most of the spells I could think of fit better with resistance, but I wanted some sort of deflection spell too, and figured why not have a sort of "build up" for physical/melee defense?  Sure, there isn't much precedent for that, but it could make for a fun move instead of having heals always be the burst survival mechanic.  It would buy time for the Aura of Vitality spell to do its job.

But there are so many alternative types of magic that could be used for such a set, and my suggestion may not be how others envisioned it.  Blade Ward and Glyph of Invisibility are easily the most up for debate though.  Some people don't like stealth in their armor sets unless they're a Stalker, and a temporary defensive boost may not be what people look for in their tanks.  Still, it was fun to try to come up with new ways of performing the role with a more wizardly approach.  I imagine many fans of spellswords loving the set though.  🙂

[Naraka]

Well I gave it a bit of time and I had thought of an idea when I first responded so I'll go ahead and add my more in-depth critique and suggestions for such a set. I'll preface this by saying I'm not a vet of DnD or know much about its inner mechanic or references. 

 

 

On 2/23/2022 at 10:18 AM, AgentForest said:

 

Spell Warding

(Tanker Primary, Scrapper/Brute/Stalker/Sentinel Secondary)

 

Baseline Mechanics: This set provides moderate defense to all damage types, but mostly resistances.  The defense provided comes in small but strong bursts now and then as needed.  You also gain several ways to assist nearby allies, much like Shield Defense, but with a more magical flavor.  Mez protection would focus more on mental and dimensional effects, so protection against forced teleportation, fear, confuse, taunt, placate, repel, and knockback would take precedent over effects like defense debuff resistance (granted temporarily by Blade Ward) or immobilize (granted temporarily by Mana Tap).  This set also has a few ways to gain additional damage, as magic isn't just defensive in nature, and you will after all have an offensive power set too.  Draining mana can empower your attacks for a few seconds, while attackers take damage in retaliation.  I toyed with the idea of giving Elemental Absorption some damage for each nearby enemy debuffed, but it seemed to just make it a superior version of Against All Odds, and I didn't want to step on that set's toes too much, so I opted to make it purely defensive in nature.  This would be the third defensive power set that places a great deal of emphasis on positioning, like Shield Defense and Dark Armor, but with a more supportive aesthetic, even if it may not be nearly as sturdy as some other sets out there, from a purely tanking perspective.  This positional and supportive nature allows it to still mesh well enough with the Sorcery power pool.

 

 

Firstly, I think it's important to decide the gimmick of the set first (after you've decided a general concept, of course) then outline how you want that gimmick to affect play or how it differs from similar gimmicks or sets in its category. To just be blunt, the whole "aura to buff teammates" is played out.  Granted, not many sets use it, but some sets use it (Rad and Shield) and there *could* be other options with their own bounty and limitations.  The one I chose for this concept I will call the "Glyph" mechanic.

 

"Glyphs" are unique from any other armor set because it relies on the pet summoning mechanics of the game.  These glyphs wouldn't be literal pets but rather "autonomous pets" that have one simple function: to seek its target and then cast its effect on/around that target.  Also, these "glyph" pets are stationary.  They cannot move on their own. Conceptually, you would be placing runes/enchantments/incantations/circles/what-have-you at a given location and they activate once the requirements for it are met.  Mechanically, these pets have a perception radius they will eventually detect a target at then execute their effect.  I outline this because that is a part of the mechanic as well.

 

On 2/23/2022 at 10:18 AM, AgentForest said:

 

 

1. Mage Armor: Toggle +Resistance (Smashing/Lethal).  Glowing, translucent armor plates hover a short distance from your form, dampening hits from physical attacks.  This armor could be mapped similarly to the Victorian aura.
2. Blade Ward: Click short duration +Defense (Melee/Smashing/Lethal), +Resist (Defense Debuffs).  Activating this move gives you brief high deflection chance on physical attacks and any melee strikes.  I felt there weren't too many moves like this outside of Parry, so it would be a fun mechanic to have in a defensive set.
3. Elemental Absorption: Toggle +Resistance (Fire/Cold/Energy, Endurance Drain).  This also has an area taunt effect like AAO and RttC, as it lowers the damage of nearby foes slightly.  Each foe debuffed in this way increases this resistance slightly.  You also gain resistance to endurance draining effects while this ward is active.  [For Sentinels and Stalkers, this would simply be a flat resistance boost, higher base but without getting stronger for each nearby enemy, nor debuffing them, in order to mesh better with stealthy or ranged gameplay.]
4. Mind Warding: Toggle Resistance(Status Effects, Psionic/Negative Energy).  This provides protection and resistance to mez effects while also protecting you against mental assaults from psionic or dark forces.

 

These powers, I have no real issue with. They form the basis of the set and the concept you built off of.  I'd probably add a bit of special interaction with some of these powers for spice purposes, though.  My suggestions:

 

Mage Armor - Firstly, I'd rename this to Mage's Ward.  Secondly, I'd add a moderate chance (basically a +Special tag in the description of it) that when struck, you gain a little extra power called something referential (Magic Fleece or something cool) that merely speeds up the cooldown of Blade Ward while in effect.  This effect wouldn't stack, just refresh. So getting hit in the face makes Blade Ward recharge a bit faster.  Of course, if there is a moderate animation to this, it's only going to insure your insurance...you don't want to have to be clicking Blade Ward super constantly *BUT* that is an option if built out for it.

 

Blade Ward - I'd probably add in Energy Defense, if only to round it out a bit.  Melee, smashing and lethal do cover a lot but taking into consideration the other changes further down this post, making these 4 base powers a solidly functioning foundation is crucial.

 

Elemental Absorption - I'm a bit of a stickler when it comes to variation naming. I don't like making everything super obvious with names primarily because few people look at the names to describe what it's actual use is.  They just look at the numbers or enhancement values.  I'd rename this to Electrum Ward primarily because I want a naming convention in the set: Ward = user is defended; Glyph = set a delayed effect in the environment; Tap = activate an effect right now.  Also, for this power, I'd add an interaction with Blade Ward that slightly increased its Energy resistance. So there'd be a special tag to this power where, while Blade Ward is active, Electrum Ward has an extra bump in energy resistance. 

 

Mind Warding - No changes.  Maybe consider adding a unique hole to the set just for flavor's sake. Like maybe Sleep.

 

On 2/23/2022 at 10:18 AM, AgentForest said:

 

Glyph of Invsibility: Toggle PBAoE Stealth +Def (all).  You apply a glowing glyph to your chest, that causes yourself and nearby allies to become difficult to see.  Your stealth suppresses in combat, but the stealth of others is only broken if they engage in active combat or if they leave the radius.  The defense buff applied to you remains at all times, and this amount is not suppressed by breaking stealth.  This non-suppressing bonus is applied to all people in range.  Allies receive a greater effect on top of this that IS suppressed in combat.  For example, maybe 5% defense is applied at all times to you and allies, but allies still hidden gain an additional 5%.  [For Stalkers, this would be replaced by Hide.]

 

Now we're getting into the drastic changes. This, IMO, has been done (the PBAoE buff thing) and splashing the team with +def has limited utility because defense is so prevalent.  But this is where the Glyph mechanic starts. Renamed:

 

Glyph of Future-sight (or Glyph of Scrying or something else cooler or referential): Click Self -perception (8sec)/+perception (after an 8sec delay); Summons 1 Glyph of Meditation, 1 Glyph of Scrutiny and 1 Glyph of Inspiration randomly in a 35ft radius that persist for 2min. Gaining a glyph effect replaces another.  User is granted a stack of Ward Death when a glyph is activated. The amount of -perception would overpower any possible +perception and this effect is also applied to all your Glyphs, making them have a delay on when they will activate. When an ally or yourself is within 10ft of any of these Glyphs, it activates it's power and boosts the target and 5 allies in a 15ft range of them. Its effect lasts 60sec.

 

• Glyph of Meditation (target ally; perception 10ft; range 15ft; Targeted AoE ally +Perception, +ToHit, +rech) 
• Glyph of Scrutiny (target ally; perception 10ft; range 15ft; Targeted AoE ally +Perception, +ToHit, +dmg) 
• Glyph of Inspiration (target ally; perception 10ft; range 15ft; Targeted AoE ally +Perception, +ToHit, +regen) 

 

Ward Death: Passive Self +Regen; Special Self +Absorb, +Regen, +res(-rech, -def, -regen). Ward Death is a passive ability that gives a slight increase to regen and applies up to 5 stacks and replaces the oldest stack. The extra stacks would be granted by this power once one of the 'pet' glyphs self-terminates. 

 

CLARIFICATION: This means the Tanker that uses Glyph of Future-sight would summon these 3 glyphs that an ally or themselves could move toward to "collect" its buff; collecting multiple just replaces the oldest effect with the newest effect plus, whether or not the Tanker that summoned them is in range, will apply a stack of Ward Death to said Tanker. The Glyphs from Glyph of Future-sight are not the only glyphs that cast grant these Ward Death stacks on said Tanker.

 

On 2/23/2022 at 10:18 AM, AgentForest said:

 

Mana Tap: PBAoE endurance drain, +Protection/Resist (Immobilize).  You draw magic from your surroundings, invigorating you.  You break free of immobilizes and gain resistance to them, while healing your endurance and increasing your recovery for each nearby foe drained.  Each enemy drained also gives you a damage boost to your next few attacks.  The recovery bonus lasts longer than the damage bonus, as the damage is more a perk than the entire point of the ability.

 

Really, nothing much changed here except perhaps changing this from a PBAoE to a short-ranged Targeted AoE like Shield Charge but without the teleport. Only reason I would suggest this is to continue with the "mage" feel of the set casting effects at things instead of just exploding. You can also add a unique attribute to this power that provides a small (8ft) splash of +END from the glyph in the next power if executed within the effect of this power.

 

Also, this would be the power replaced on Stalkers for Hide.

 

On 2/23/2022 at 10:18 AM, AgentForest said:

 

Reflective Shield: Toggle +Absorb over time, minor Energy Damage to attackers.  If an enemy strikes this shield, they take a small burst of energy damage.  This damage is stronger than persistent damage auras like Blazing Aura, but only occurs when struck instead of at regular intervals, and can affect targets at a range (still useful for a Sentinel).  If you aren't being attacked, you likely won't get much benefit from this, but that's true of any absorb power, honestly, so it encourages aggressive gameplay and holding aggro.

 

Altered to:

 

Reflective Glyph: Toggle, summon Glyph of Warding periodically (up to 3 present at a time) within 15ft of the user.  This toggle also has an auto-hit taunt effect 8ft (Brute/Scrapper) or 10ft (Tanker) around the user. The period to create a new glyph is likely something that requires a moderate amount of consideration but I'll just say look to Radiation Armor's damage toggle for a similar prospect for now. Overall, it's dropping 1 of these every handful of seconds.

 

• Glyph of Warding: Foe moderate Energy/Negative, minor Knock-up. When an enemy is within 10ft of the Glyph of Warding, it moves toward its target and detonates, causing energy/negative energy damage.  This explosion has a 7ft radius(10ft for Tanker), 3 target cap (5 targets for Tanker) and has a minor chance of Knock-up. 

 

Also, Stalkers and Sentinels do not get the above power but rather the one that follows:

 

Greater Glyph of Warding: Ranged summon Glyph of Warding. This is a power that can summon a glyph from up to 60ft away. The summoned Glyph will only activate if the Stalker is unhidden and in combat (or just in combat for the Sentinel) and does not notify enemies.  Only 1 of these can be active at once but when it detonates, it acts as 2 of the regular glyphs of warding, doing more damage, having a wider radius (12ft), bigger target cap (5 targets), a higher chance of Knock-up and grants 2 stacks of Ward Death upon detonation.  It does, however, require a moderate cast time to place.

 

On 2/23/2022 at 10:18 AM, AgentForest said:

 

Sigil of Sanctuary: Click small PBAoE Self and Ally +Def (all), +Resist (all), +Healing.  You create a small but powerful ring of protection over an area around yourself.  Any allies in very close proximity (melee range) can benefit from this effect too, though doing so does lower their damage slightly.  This area moves with you, and provides massive defense and resistance buffs while active.  It only lasts a short time, about 10-15 seconds, but isn't on as long of a cooldown as other T9 defensive powers.  Anyone in this shield receives increased healing and regeneration.  Your own damage isn't lowered by this power, only allies, as you can weave the incantation to allow your own attacks to pass through it, but can't micromanage the barrier for others.  Basically, this is your defensive panic move, but allies in a pinch can be guarded by it if they're okay with giving up a chunk of their damage for the relative safety of your presence.

 

And this is likely the most complicated and yet simple Tier 9 you'll probably encounter.  Changes:

 

Sigil of Sanctuary: Click summon Sigil of Sanctuary. This does nothing but impart the glyph buffs an ally has onto nearby allies up to 15ft away.  The buffs only last for a short time (like 2-3sec) so stepping out of range (outside of the circle). It also imparts Ward Death effects onto nearby allies from the user onto allies, applying +Absorb, regen and +debuff resists to nearby allies when a glyph self-terminates but you have to be inside the circle.  All in all, this is *not* a tier 9 meant to save you (your best bet there is Blade Ward) but rather to bolster your contributions as a team. Might say adding a self-rez feature to this too (if dead, that is) would make this a possible power choice without making the whole set too strong AND this being a required power.

 

NOTES & CONCLUSIONS: Although the mechanics sound complicated, that's mainly because it's not a common power concept mechanically, particularly for an armor set.  But for the most part, it just means you have 2 powers that create pets that cast effects, 1 on allies and 1 on enemies. You have a 3rd power that grants the caster buffs when those pets act.  You also have a tier 9 that just grants the pet effects in an AoE while within its radius.

 

The set as a whole can be pretty straight forward: armor toggles for resist, +regen/absorb from your damage glyph, blade ward to help absorb alphas; skip Glyph of Future-sight and Sigil of Sanctuary, maybe pick-up Mana Tap if you care about the +END. If delving into the intricacies of the set, you can help buff a team a bit if close, time the setting of your glyphs for a burst, and use movement and placement to gain more stat buffs to keep you going. Part of me also wanted to make Mana Tap a debuff + an attack if the foes are completely drained but that might be a bit too powerful.  

 

If I were putting it a bit more bluntly, it's very similar to your original set...but with more steps...and extra perks.  Instead of just "get close to me for your buffs" it's "are you gonna eat that glyph? cause I need the absorb" and repositioning to get those effects.

[Naraka]

Something else I forgot to pontificate on this set's concept is, if I were attempting to implement it, I'd likely look into various other cosmetics that borrow some of the effects in the game, namely the ones in the Arcane Power Pool.

 

Having "floating" glyphs as well as "grounded" glyphs would be an obvious kind of cosmetic options.  So giving the option to have effects like the upright symbols/circles of Translocation or the blast attacks (forgot the name) would be one option while having the spinning circle of magic from Rune of Protection (slightly lowered to hover on the ground) would be the other option.

 

Finally, the 3rd option would use the doppleganger tech, basically leaving a transparent shadowy verion of your character at the location of the glyph that would then cast its effect when it got its target.  Conceptually, this could fit a lot of concepts besides just a magic character and visually, it's just a cool option if you can diversify the effects.  All in all, I think the concept for the set you've imagined is fun and interesting, I just think you have to justify the work to add it in so it'd have to be not only cool but different.

[AgentForest]

I'm definitely down with renaming the various powers.  They were almost all pulled directly from Dungeons and Dragons, with some minor tweaks, lol.  Spells in that game are often given very bread-and-butter, simple, conceptual names, and leave the flavor up to the players and DM.

Blade Ward literally just wards you against physical weapons for a bit.  Technically it's because you drew sigils in the air that deflect incoming weapons, but you could just as easily flavor it as a bunch of spectral blades or kite shield appearing to parry enemy weapons.

Absorb Elements is exactly what it sounds like.  You can use your reaction to absorb magical damage of the various elemental magic types (fire, cold, acid, thunder, lightning) halving damage from the triggering damage type until the start of your next turn.  Your next melee attack adds some of that damage to the hit.  This part wasn't something easy to implement here, so I worked that damage boost into Mana Tap instead (a move I borrowed from WoW because DnD doesn't have an endurance/mana system).

 

I had to change Reflective Shield's name because Armor of Agathys would have been an obvious copyright infringement, lol.  But it was heavily based on that power.  Temp HP (absorb shield) that if struck hurts the attacker.  Every so often, DnD tends to name a power something super lore-specific, instead of vaguely left to players to flavor.  The only other reflective shield in the game was Fire Shield, and we have a whole set for that sort of thing already.

[AgentForest]

On 2/25/2022 at 11:54 PM, Naraka said:

All in all, I think the concept for the set you've imagined is fun and interesting, I just think you have to justify the work to add it in so it'd have to be not only cool but different.

 

I think what makes it different is that it leans into support like a normal armor set doesn't.

I know Shield Defense gets a single toggle that buffs others, but that's only to encourage them to use their much more selfish passive, Phalanx Fighting.  A shield tanker isn't a support, and shouldn't pretend to be.  Radiation Armor gets an AoE that heals allies, but that's just fluff.  The move is meant to harm enemies.  It's a DoT and defense Debuff that just so happens to also heal allies a little.  If that's support, then do we call Dark Armor a support set just because it has fear/stun auras?

The concept behind this set was magic circles.  You create concentric rings of power around yourself, and the closer an ally gets to you, the more they'll benefit from the different effects.  A wide ring that hides them from view, a smaller one that helps them heal, and at times they create another smaller one inside that making you really hard to hurt.  This could help change the way other players play around their tank in ways we don't currently see.  It could make a Sentinel that sort of acts as the safe haven of the back line.  A stalker who assassinates anyone who strays from the tank to attack the back line.

The Sorcery pool has a lot of great and original ideas, half of which rely on having teammates for maximum effectiveness, as they aren't castable on yourself.  So I felt expanding on that with a tank set that, while not having the raw durability of Shield Defense or Invulnerability, creates safe zones extending beyond themselves.

[Naraka]

1 hour ago, AgentForest said:

 

I think what makes it different is that it leans into support like a normal armor set doesn't.

I know Shield Defense gets a single toggle that buffs others, but that's only to encourage them to use their much more selfish passive, Phalanx Fighting.  A shield tanker isn't a support, and shouldn't pretend to be.  Radiation Armor gets an AoE that heals allies, but that's just fluff.  The move is meant to harm enemies.  It's a DoT and defense Debuff that just so happens to also heal allies a little.  If that's support, then do we call Dark Armor a support set just because it has fear/stun auras?
 

 

Well, conceptually, shield defense give a buffing aura to simulate using the physical shield to defend others. It is, indeed, an armor set meant to buff a team.

 

All in all, I understand where you're coming from with the set mechanic, I just think it's going to have limited capacity as outlined by the sets you mentioned. Yeah, much of the buffing those sets provide is leaning toward flavor rather than the mechanical differentiation compared to other sets which makes me believe that an armor set is only going to ever get a similar level of buffing capacity without making the set's main function pay for that capability. Basically, if the buffs you want in the aura are anything decent, I'd foresee having to pay by limiting the effective mitigation the set can accomplish.

 

Part of the reason I suggested the pet summoning "glyph" mechanic is because it requires more interaction to obtain that team buff, possibly giving a bit of breathing room to make the buffs a tiny bit better because they aren't as straight forward or guaranteed.

 

Lastly, I just don't think a team stealth aura is all that useful for a melee character. Unless it also has some feature to lower aggro of those team members, it would be relying on visual flare to make interesting.

 

But those are just my thoughts along with me throwing around ideas to keep discussion going.

[AgentForest]

25 minutes ago, Naraka said:

Lastly, I just don't think a team stealth aura is all that useful for a melee character. Unless it also has some feature to lower aggro of those team members, it would be relying on visual flare to make interesting.

 

That's something I thought about, but then I remember that Tankers and Brutes get access to stealth moves of their own in Dark Armor and Energy Aura.  These serve almost no purpose aside from flavor and a mild defense buff (most of it gone because your role constantly breaks stealth).  I never understood these being in the game at all.

But Invisibility is a pretty common defensive measure used by magic users.  So I figured I could use that as a jumping off point for making one of those Tanker/Brute stealth powers actually useful.  Grant the stealth to the rest of the team as well, and make the defense you get from it no longer suppress in combat so it's worth taking as a front-liner.  But your team, before a fight, doesn't aggro as easily, buying you time to actually close the distance and start combat.  It would still provide a similar use as Grant Cover, but with stealth built in for when you aren't in combat yet.  Like if Steamy Mist was in an armor set.  It's more important, as a front-liner, for your teammates around you to be stealthed than for you to be.  Perhaps make the stealth aura smaller for a Sentinel as they aren't supposed to be super supportive.

But yeah, lowering threat levels of allies in the effect could also be a neat mechanic for the aura.  Something that could really help if you go to protect the back line as a Scrapper or Stalker.

[AgentForest]

I do like the Glyph idea, but my main worry is locking down your survivability with location drops.  Champions Online had some similar tank mechanics for magic users, and it often severely limited your movement.  Placing sigils, magic circles on the ground, and other things that didn't move with your character was fun, but it made you one of the worse tanks out there.  Enemies could more easily kite you, and if you followed, you gave up a lot of your durability.  The magic powers in that game worked great for supportive and blasty characters, but made tanking really awkward.  Fun, but not exactly useful unless you're holding your ground against incoming waves.

[Naraka]

On 3/2/2022 at 3:27 PM, AgentForest said:

I do like the Glyph idea, but my main worry is locking down your survivability with location drops.  Champions Online had some similar tank mechanics for magic users, and it often severely limited your movement.  Placing sigils, magic circles on the ground, and other things that didn't move with your character was fun, but it made you one of the worse tanks out there.  Enemies could more easily kite you, and if you followed, you gave up a lot of your durability.  The magic powers in that game worked great for supportive and blasty characters, but made tanking really awkward.  Fun, but not exactly useful unless you're holding your ground against incoming waves.

I haven't played Champions Online but it's interesting to know I had a similar thought process as someone out there.

 

I did consider that being a problem (locking survival to location based drops) which is why I limited it to team support being a part of that aspect. It certainly would be limiting if a chunk of your survival made you move to a certain place. Here, however, the only location based buff that increases survival is Glyph of Inspiration. The main source of Ward Death is going to be the pseudo-damage aura that drops the little trip mine glyphs.

 

I outlined toward the end of the write up that the team buff powers would likely be skipped and I sort of built the mechanic with that in mind. But that was just my idea. I'd like to hear more about how you would balance and use your suggested powers. Like, when I was talking about the stealth aura power, I may have been rather harsh but maybe I just see armor stealth powers outside of Stalker as extremely niche. The aura buff toggles are accessible tho but might be rather flashy if always visible. Not much else I'd say except the overall concept for a Mage Armor with a short duration powerful click defensive tool is a good basis for another set... Just needs flavor, IMO.

Edited March 3, 2022 by Naraka

[Rudra]

On 3/2/2022 at 1:27 PM, AgentForest said:

I do like the Glyph idea, but my main worry is locking down your survivability with location drops.  Champions Online had some similar tank mechanics for magic users, and it often severely limited your movement.  Placing sigils, magic circles on the ground, and other things that didn't move with your character was fun, but it made you one of the worse tanks out there.  Enemies could more easily kite you, and if you followed, you gave up a lot of your durability.  The magic powers in that game worked great for supportive and blasty characters, but made tanking really awkward.  Fun, but not exactly useful unless you're holding your ground against incoming waves.

And to top it off, there were several enemies that could and would knock you out of your placed sigil. I very rarely saw anyone with a sigil power because of that. So now let's bring it to CoX so we can be knocked out of our defensive glyphs here too! (That last part was sarcasm, just to be clear.)

[Menelruin]

23 hours ago, Rudra said:

And to top it off, there were several enemies that could and would knock you out of your placed sigil. I very rarely saw anyone with a sigil power because of that. So now let's bring it to CoX so we can be knocked out of our defensive glyphs here too! (That last part was sarcasm, just to be clear.)

Hmm, horrible idea:  What if the glyphs were pets that followed you and boosted your durability? 

[Rudra]

A mobile glyph/sigil would work. That would make it an aura, but the name and appearance would still be whichever you prefer.