[Suggestion] Inherent Utility auto-power, for slotting IOs like Expert Marksman

[Marstead]

In this Beta, the Homecoming devs have landed on a clever solution to address some balance and mechanics issues. They utilize the design space of Set IOs with unique procs. Players who don't like Knockback can slot Sudden Acceleration to convert it to Knockdown on some powers and on the Beta there's an Experienced Marksman IO for making snipes instant cast.

 

This solution is very clever, but the design space for power slots & sets is stretched pretty thin already. Some classes like Mastermind/Robotics have knockback on multiple powers, so if you want to convert it to Knockdown, you need to "waste" a slot on all of them.

 

I think an elegant solution here would be to add a new Inherent power called something like Innovation. This is an Auto power that does nothing by itself, but it starts with 1 slot and can be expanded up to 6 slots like any other power.

 

The purpose of this power is for slotting these special mechanics-altering IOs like Sudden Acceleration; those changes are then applied to all of that character's powers. So if you put Sudden Acceleration: Knockback to Knockdown into this power, *all* of your Knockback powers now deal Knockdown. If you slot the new Beta Expert Marksman IO in Innovation, then all of your powers are Instant-Snipe.

 

This would open up the Homecoming devs to continue to explore this "QOL IO" design space without worrying about intruding on the IO Set ecosystem. And requiring players to invest slots in the power would still create some (small) cost for players choosing to change a bunch of mechanics.

 

*****

 

Since this concept of an Auto power that does nothing until slotted with special IOs would add a lot of unnecessary complexity for newer players, it might be smart to gate this power behind the P2W Vendor. Even if the unlock is free, that would make sure new players don't get confused by this power until they understand enough about the game to know how to use the P2W vendor.

[senseichen]

They could also just add "Make my Knockback Knockdown" and "Decline Slow Snipes" to Null the Gull.

[Novacat]

One potential issue with that might be if you want most but not ALL your powers to be KD converted. For example you might want to keep Power-Push but have the rest knockdown.

[praxidicae]

One potential issue with that might be if you want most but not ALL your powers to be KD converted. For example you might want to keep Power-Push but have the rest knockdown.

 

Not really a problem, if you really want to keep a couple of powers with their original formatting there is still the option of slotting the relevant IOs into individual powers instead.

 

This could be an interesting idea and would potentially allow a great deal of customisation to characters. There might be some balance concerns that would need to be ironed out (slotting all of the -Res or the +Build Up procs to this power could potentially be rather unbalanced for example) but I think it might be a nice way to allow people to spec out their characters in interesting ways (e.g. if my Claws/ Scrapper has the background fluff of being a victim of an experiment to combine human and lizard DNA it might make sense for him to have 'poisonous claws', slotting the Sting of the Manticore +Toxic proc into this proposed slot would allow him to have a mechanical benefit that matches his backstory).

 

Of course all of this would need to be balanced against how difficult it would be to make such a change to the character 'template', and vet the various procs that are available.

[Solvernia]

I don't seem to have any problem cramming procs into my builds. What the heck are you guys doing where you can't make room for a single proc in your sniper power?

[Marstead]

I don't seem to have any problem cramming procs into my builds. What the heck are you guys doing where you can't make room for a single proc in your sniper power?

 

I think if you have one power to modify, that works fine, but the issue crops up when you need to use these unique procs for multiple powers. I cite Robotics/Sonic as an example, where if I want to get rid of knockback I need to slot Sudden Acceleration into 4 separate powers, losing the 6-set bonus on all of those powers.

 

The main thing here is that this looks to be an area of design space that the Homecoming devs are hoping to exploit to make QOL/balance changes in the future, but if they go too far with that we'll be sacrificing too many main power slots for these sort of QOL IOs. So I think getting in front of that (and making it easier for the devs to add more IOs like this in the future) seems like a good idea.

 

One potential issue with that might be if you want most but not ALL your powers to be KD converted. For example you might want to keep Power-Push but have the rest knockdown.

 

Not really a problem, if you really want to keep a couple of powers with their original formatting there is still the option of slotting the relevant IOs into individual powers instead.

 

This could be an interesting idea and would potentially allow a great deal of customisation to characters. There might be some balance concerns that would need to be ironed out (slotting all of the -Res or the +Build Up procs to this power could potentially be rather unbalanced for example) but I think it might be a nice way to allow people to spec out their characters in interesting ways (e.g. if my Claws/ Scrapper has the background fluff of being a victim of an experiment to combine human and lizard DNA it might make sense for him to have 'poisonous claws', slotting the Sting of the Manticore +Toxic proc into this proposed slot would allow him to have a mechanical benefit that matches his backstory).

 

Of course all of this would need to be balanced against how difficult it would be to make such a change to the character 'template', and vet the various procs that are available.

 

Right, exactly -- in this model the existing slotting method for these IOs would still work (So you could just slot it to one power if you wanted). To your point about balance concerns, I think you could restrict which procs would work in this new inherent power. I was thinking pretty much just these brand new mechanics procs the devs are coming up with would work in the power, but I suppose some other QOL powers could go in there (like Performance Shifter, Numina, etc -- powers with a guaranteed proc chance)

[Marstead]

A list of some other mechanics-modifying QOL IOs I could envision fitting into this power. Some of these could be balanced by adding a downside to each of them, so they are not just instant-takes by everyone. If datamining suggests most of the playerbase is slotting a particular IO, it might be correct to go ahead and implement that mechanic as a global change. This would let them do an extended beta test on QOL features in Production.

 

"Instant Enrage": Automatically consume any Enrage inspirations received as drops from enemies. The effectiveness of Enrage inspirations increases by 10%.

(And variations for other inspirations, including one to auto-consume all inspirations received as drops)

 

"Bodyguard": Your mastermind pets automatically switch to Defensive/Follow stance whenever you are below 50% hit points, but are always in Aggressive status otherwise.

 

"Fast Minions": Your mastermind pets no longer use their tier 1 abilities, but now benefit from recharge and endurance reduction bonuses.

"Rapid Deployment": Your mastermind pets are summoned with the Equip & Upgrade effects already in place, if you've taken those powers. Summoning powers cost double endurance. Does not function in PVP areas.

 

"Replace Minions": If you cast a pet summoning ability while you already have pets of that type active, your active pets are healed to full and gain a brief 3-second invulnerability buff. Your pet summoning abilities have double recharge time.

 

"Aggro": Your global aggro cap is increased by X enemies, but your resistance cap is reduced by X%.

 

"Wallclimb": If you are moving at max run speed into a surface, you begin to rise upward until you stop moving or are blocked by a ceiling.

 

"Improved Reveal": When using the Reveal power, you also reveal the locations of clickable objectives and enemies, as normally happens when only a few objectives/enemies remain.

 

"Group Buff": Your single target buff powers now affect all allies within X yards of the target, but have double recharge time.

 

"Group Debuff": Your single target debuff powers now affect all enemies within X yards of the target, but have double recharge time.

 

"Wider Auras": The effect radius of your toggle powers is doubled, but so is their upkeep/endurance cost.

 

"Bounce Back": When consuming resurrection inspirations, you are affected as if by the Phase Shift power for 30 seconds (You can only use abilities that target yourself). Disabled in PVP.

 

"Retoggle:" Your toggles which do not put you in "Only Affecting Self" status automatically activate if you have >50% endurance and activating them will not cause your Endurance Consumption to exceed your Endurance Recovery.  Disabled in PVP.

[Chaos Ex Machina]

They could also just add "Make my Knockback Knockdown" and "Decline Slow Snipes" to Null the Gull.

 

Better if they can

[Neogumbercules]

I mean at this point we're closing in on total power customization. I like the idea, but instead of a global, I'd rather see check boxes in character creation on powers with knockback/knockdown where you just select which effect you want, assuming that's even technically possible and not game breaking.

 

It really is a playground now, it's just a matter of what direction the homecoming people want to go. I'm sure there will be other private servers that totally break all rules (I am thinking of Ragnarok Online public servers that had 50,000x XP rate and increased the max level to like 500, etc). Homecoming seems to be aiming for an authentic direction so we'll have to see how willing they are to allow stuff like what's be suggested.

[Orivon]

I don't think we should try to change the game mechanics too much. Just make some small adjustments but for the most part, leave the game as it was at shutdown. KB was designed into the game and if you don't like powers that have that, make a choice to either not use them or learn to use them and direct the chaos.

[Sailboat]

So you want to be able to convert knockback to knockdown globally for one slot because as currently implemented, slotting individual powers leaves you "stretched thin" and, presumably, slightly less effective than other characters because of multiple slots occupied by the proc IO.

 

But then you're fine with other players who don't want the global effect being "stretched thin" and, presumably, slightly less effective than other characters because of multiple slots occupied by the proc IO.

 

I think the idea needs more work so it isn't solving only some players' desires.

[jack_nomind]

Expanded somewhat, these could make interesting options for a new Incarnate Slot.

[Logansan]

One thing to keep in mind is that not everyone is level 50 with full IO Sets. Playing around with IO Sets cannot be the solution to everything. I'm not saying anything against any suggestions like this one, just that I see a trend starting where players are only looking at level 50 fully slotted characters.

[Rambolazer]

Its incredible that they have given us the function of converting powers that KB to KD via enhancements. This is absolutely something you should need to build for if you choose to do so. Not a fan of this idea.