New Power Pool Pitch: Elemental Attunement

CaptainMarvelous · March 10

Hello friends!

I've been stewing on this for a bit and wanted to try my hand at pitching a power pool. This will be a broad pitch with less focus on exact numbers and more in-line with the idea of adding something new and unique to the game. Please also bear in mind I am not the best player, so power pitches may be off!

Elemental Attunement Power Pool

Deepening your connection to the elements, you've gained access to a wide variety of elemental forces.

What is Elemental Attunement?

Elemental Attunement is a specialized power pool in the vein of Experimentation, Sorcery and Force of Will. It's design follows that suit of power pools by granting a travel power as well as a "grab-bag" of useful abilities.
Like other power sets of this type, it follows a similar structure of powers.
The goal of Elemental attunement is to grant a fun new power set, enhance a theme many players resonate with (elemental mastery) and to create new opportunities for players and characters.

What is the value of elemental attunement?

Thematically and "roleplay" wise, many players delve deeply into elemental themes when it comes to creations.
From a gameplay perspective, this set was designed to invoke new opprotunities and allow for further unique builds
When it comes to recycling abilities and "dev time", many elemental abilities already exist in the game that can be repurposed for this set to make it workload friendly.
Adding to power pools allows multiple players of multiple ATs to experience it without needing to completely reroll a character.

With those points out of the way, onto the core set! Please be aware that while I suggest these aspects, I am unaware if any potentially pitched ideas here would be impossible due to game code issues. Please also note that the same rules apply here as with other power sets: The level 14 and level 20 power require 2+ powers in the set to be taken.

Core Passive: Elemental Attunement

Elemental attunement abilities grow in power the more you take from the set, increasing a unique capability on each power.
Inspired by the "Fighting" power pool that encourages capability increases with the set.
Ideally powers can still be valuable on their own but shine the deeper you commit to elemental attunement.

Lv.4: Burning Fist

You wreath your fist in flames, striking a foe with a burning punch. Enemies struck by this ability have their defense lowered. For each elemental attunement power other than this that you take, applies a DoT.
(Melee, Light DMG(Fire), Foe -DEF, DoT (Conditional) )
Allows for additional close-quarters options for non-melee characters.
Adheres to fire-based effects based on other archetypes (-DEF, DoT damage)
Without other EA abilities, can be a one-point-wonder -DEF skill. With more, it can become a nasty DoT.

Lv.4: Shock Bolt

You send out an shocking jolt of electricity to an ally, granting them increased recharge as well as heightening their senses. For each elemental attunement power other than this that you take, restores a small amount of END.
(Ranged, Ally +Recharge, +DEF, +END (conditional) )
Supportive skill that is seen in most specialized pools, this time to buff ally recharge.
Thematically fits the "electricity" buffs often provided and gives a unique buff not generally found in power pools (END restore)
END restore encourages players to dip further into pool to support allies.

Lv.4: Water Glide/Geyser Jump

By using water, you can slide along the ground at extremely high speeds as well as gaining a small increase to jump height. While active, you can also use Geyser Jump
- Blast yourself sky high with a gout of water, launching yourself into the air.
Titular travel skill of the pool
Similar to the slide sprint power, but amped up
As with other power pools, doesn't give as high a movement boost compared to SS/SJ
Think Iceman's little ice slides he'd make for himself.

Lv.14: Glacial Storm

A small localized blizzard erupts around you. While this power is active, deal cold and smashing damage to nearby enemies as well as slowing them. For each elemental attunement power other than this that you take, increases the slow.
(PBAoE (Toggle), Minor DOT (Cold/Smashing), -Foe Speed )
Allows for a smidge of PBAOE and crowd control for those who wish to wade into the thick of the fray
Baseline slow is decent due to prior two powers being taken but can be improved even further.
Good payoff for those who wish to enhance their AoE prowess further at the cost of a toggle.

Lv.20: Crag Shield

Calling upon the earth, you guard yourself. You immediately heal for a large amount and gain a shield, with any overhealing converting to further shield. While the shield is active, gain a large amount of resistance. For each elemental attunement power other than this that you take, increases the resistances.
(Self Heal, +Absorb, +RES (all))
Follows the trend of the final tier of specialized power pools being a large self-buff.
In this case, provides a meaty heal/absorb to differentiate from other specialized pools
Res cannot be improved (Reliant on other powers taken)
Ideally long CD.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and feel free to leave feedback as you see fit! I hope you've enjoyed my game design attempt!

JasperStone · March 10

I feel the travel power should have a bit of drift, like Super Speed.

Laucianna · March 10

3 hours ago, CaptainMarvelous said:

Hello friends!

I've been stewing on this for a bit and wanted to try my hand at pitching a power pool. This will be a broad pitch with less focus on exact numbers and more in-line with the idea of adding something new and unique to the game. Please also bear in mind I am not the best player, so power pitches may be off!

Elemental Attunement Power Pool

Deepening your connection to the elements, you've gained access to a wide variety of elemental forces.

What is Elemental Attunement?

Elemental Attunement is a specialized power pool in the vein of Experimentation, Sorcery and Force of Will. It's design follows that suit of power pools by granting a travel power as well as a "grab-bag" of useful abilities.

Like other power sets of this type, it follows a similar structure of powers.

The goal of Elemental attunement is to grant a fun new power set, enhance a theme many players resonate with (elemental mastery) and to create new opportunities for players and characters.

What is the value of elemental attunement?

Thematically and "roleplay" wise, many players delve deeply into elemental themes when it comes to creations.

From a gameplay perspective, this set was designed to invoke new opprotunities and allow for further unique builds

When it comes to recycling abilities and "dev time", many elemental abilities already exist in the game that can be repurposed for this set to make it workload friendly.

Adding to power pools allows multiple players of multiple ATs to experience it without needing to completely reroll a character.

With those points out of the way, onto the core set! Please be aware that while I suggest these aspects, I am unaware if any potentially pitched ideas here would be impossible due to game code issues. Please also note that the same rules apply here as with other power sets: The level 14 and level 20 power require 2+ powers in the set to be taken.

Core Passive: Elemental Attunement

Elemental attunement abilities grow in power the more you take from the set, increasing a unique capability on each power.

Inspired by the "Fighting" power pool that encourages capability increases with the set.

Ideally powers can still be valuable on their own but shine the deeper you commit to elemental attunement.

Lv.4: Burning Fist

You wreath your fist in flames, striking a foe with a burning punch. Enemies struck by this ability have their defense lowered. For each elemental attunement power other than this that you take, applies a DoT.

(Melee, Light DMG(Fire), Foe -DEF, DoT (Conditional) )

Allows for additional close-quarters options for non-melee characters.

Adheres to fire-based effects based on other archetypes (-DEF, DoT damage)

Without other EA abilities, can be a one-point-wonder -DEF skill. With more, it can become a nasty DoT.

Lv.4: Shock Bolt

You send out an shocking jolt of electricity to an ally, granting them increased recharge as well as heightening their senses. For each elemental attunement power other than this that you take, restores a small amount of END.

(Ranged, Ally +Recharge, +DEF, +END (conditional) )

Supportive skill that is seen in most specialized pools, this time to buff ally recharge.

Thematically fits the "electricity" buffs often provided and gives a unique buff not generally found in power pools (END restore)

END restore encourages players to dip further into pool to support allies.

Lv.4: Water Glide/Geyser Jump

By using water, you can slide along the ground at extremely high speeds as well as gaining a small increase to jump height. While active, you can also use Geyser Jump
Blast yourself sky high with a gout of water, launching yourself into the air.

Titular travel skill of the pool

Similar to the slide sprint power, but amped up

As with other power pools, doesn't give as high a movement boost compared to SS/SJ

Think Iceman's little ice slides he'd make for himself.

Lv.14: Glacial Storm

A small localized blizzard erupts around you. While this power is active, deal cold and smashing damage to nearby enemies as well as slowing them. For each elemental attunement power other than this that you take, increases the slow.

(PBAoE (Toggle), Minor DOT (Cold/Smashing), -Foe Speed )

Allows for a smidge of PBAOE and crowd control for those who wish to wade into the thick of the fray

Baseline slow is decent due to prior two powers being taken but can be improved even further.

Good payoff for those who wish to enhance their AoE prowess further at the cost of a toggle.

Lv.20: Crag Shield

Calling upon the earth, you guard yourself. You immediately heal for a large amount and gain a shield, with any overhealing converting to further shield. While the shield is active, gain a large amount of resistance. For each elemental attunement power other than this that you take, increases the resistances.

(Self Heal, +Absorb, +RES (all))

Follows the trend of the final tier of specialized power pools being a large self-buff.

In this case, provides a meaty heal/absorb to differentiate from other specialized pools

Res cannot be improved (Reliant on other powers taken)

Ideally long CD.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and feel free to leave feedback as you see fit! I hope you've enjoyed my game design attempt!

I honestly really like these! They all suit the element they are representing and don't feel too overpowered, I feel a bunch of fire farmers will probably take Glacial storm to add even more AoE to their AoE 😄

- Lauci x

Sunsette · March 10

it's a neat idea.

thought:

what if taking one power in the pool granted additional powers similar to the travel power pop-ups -- these additional powers as toggles that change all of the powers to all become one element of your choice? It'd only be cosmetic for all but fire, but it would allow this pool to work for both Avatar concepts and more traditional mono-element users.

CaptainMarvelous · March 11

6 hours ago, Sunsette said:

it's a neat idea.

thought:

what if taking one power in the pool granted additional powers similar to the travel power pop-ups -- these additional powers as toggles that change all of the powers to all become one element of your choice? It'd only be cosmetic for all but fire, but it would allow this pool to work for both Avatar concepts and more traditional mono-element users.

This is a cool idea, but I feel it'd bloat the power set and essentially require a -ton- of work for one power to essentially be ~6 different powers to account for each element. Not to mention the visual problems of a electrical power set (Which is always related to END) suddenly switching to an ice bolt that restores (?) an ally.

CaptainMarvelous · March 12

On 3/10/2024 at 7:30 AM, JasperStone said:

I feel the travel power should have a bit of drift, like Super Speed.

Yeah, that was the initial idea! Super speed but with water-y effects and movement. I tried to replicate the water-jump for one of my characters via SJ but it didn't really have a visual effect that "fit" for water geysers. (Which also was part of why I slipped it in here, haha).

TheMoneyMaker · March 13

On 3/10/2024 at 8:33 PM, CaptainMarvelous said:

This is a cool idea, but I feel it'd bloat the power set and essentially require a -ton- of work for one power to essentially be ~6 different powers to account for each element. Not to mention the visual problems of a electrical power set (Which is always related to END) suddenly switching to an ice bolt that restores (?) an ally.

Might be better if we just had a pool for each element instead of trying to cram them all into one pool.

The water pool should be named Pool.

JasperStone · March 13

19 minutes ago, TheMoneyMaker said:

Might be better if we just had a pool for each element instead of trying to cram them all into one pool.

The water pool should be named Pool.

Ool

...

There is no p here ... lol

TheMoneyMaker · March 13

13 minutes ago, JasperStone said:

Ool

...

There is no p here ... lol

I just want a Pool pool.

Sunsette · March 13

55 minutes ago, TheMoneyMaker said:

Might be better if we just had a pool for each element instead of trying to cram them all into one pool.

I think the OP's goal is specifically to better enable multi-element characters

My suggestion was meant to piggyback on it to also work for mono or dual element characters without adding a *lot* of user-end clutter -- I don't think we could handle four new pools just for elements though.

CaptainMarvelous · March 14

9 hours ago, TheMoneyMaker said:

Might be better if we just had a pool for each element instead of trying to cram them all into one pool.

The water pool should be named Pool.

The goal was actually specifically to avoid this, as Sunsette said. Mono-elemental is the norm in CoX so I felt it'd be better to dip into a pool to allow multi-elemental power.

In addition, making EACH element its own pool bloats out the power pool list and further exacerbates the choices players have to make in terms of power selection. The worst case scenario would be each elemental pool having such good options you can't even get them all done.

TheMoneyMaker · March 14

2 hours ago, CaptainMarvelous said:

The goal was actually specifically to avoid this, as Sunsette said. Mono-elemental is the norm in CoX so I felt it'd be better to dip into a pool to allow multi-elemental power.

In addition, making EACH element its own pool bloats out the power pool list and further exacerbates the choices players have to make in terms of power selection. The worst case scenario would be each elemental pool having such good options you can't even get them all done.

The problem I see with how it's presented though is if I am playing a single element like stone/stone melee or earth/earth control and I want to maintain that single element flow of my powers, I would have to dip into other elements to get to Crag Shield. Or if I'm playing fire/fire, then I have one power in this pool and then nothing else that fits. I get that it's meant to be a multi element pool. That's what I'm criticizing.

Why limit it to elements? Why not a multi spectrum energy pool that lets your toon develop true mastery over all manner of energy with energy, dark, kinetic, radiation, and whatever shoots out of the beam rifle? Just wanting something does not justify it as was evidenced in that train wreck of a magic set discussion the other day.

Edited March 14 by TheMoneyMaker

CaptainMarvelous · March 14

2 hours ago, TheMoneyMaker said:

The problem I see with how it's presented though is if I am playing a single element like stone/stone melee or earth/earth control and I want to maintain that single element flow of my powers, I would have to dip into other elements to get to Crag Shield. Or if I'm playing fire/fire, then I have one power in this pool and then nothing else that fits. I get that it's meant to be a multi element pool. That's what I'm criticizing.

Why limit it to elements? Why not a multi spectrum energy pool that lets your toon develop true mastery over all manner of energy with energy, dark, kinetic, radiation, and whatever shoots out of the beam rifle? Just wanting something does not justify it as was evidenced in that train wreck of a magic set discussion the other day.

Because you already have two entire baseline power-sets devoted to enhancing the fantasy of being whole-on-stone, as well as a variety of options to customize it. Heck, with color customization options already present in the game, you could simply recolor and retool some of these ideas to better fit with your stone-mancer fantasy. However, very little exists in the way of enhancing a multi-elemental fantasy beyond minor recolors for some powers that borderline stretch.

As for the multi-spectrum energy pool, part of that is that those exist: The energy prestige power pool for example exists. On the other hand you can recolor every shot from your beam rifle and just -say- they're different energy. But if you want a truly varied elemental character? That doesn't really exist. Most you can get is 3, but sometimes people want more. Not to mention if you -really- wanted this, you could reflavor it in another way. The reason I chose elemental is:

Elemental effects are widely varied in CoH that can serve as a varied power pool.
There is a clear niche to have a varied pool with different elements
Power recoloruing and design can suite a variety of needs.

As a counter point: What's the downside of this set existing? What's the negative of having an elemental power set? Or what's the negative of simply not taking a set because you feel it doesn't fit your character's lore/flavor?

Sunsette · March 14

3 hours ago, TheMoneyMaker said:

Just wanting something does not justify it as was evidenced in that train wreck of a magic set discussion the other day.

Actually, just wanting something is a valid reason for suggesting it.

If a suggestion can have negative consequences directly, I believe that's a good time to speak against it. But if the only thing standing against a suggestion is that it might not be a justifiable expenditure of work to service a large enough slice of the population, I think we are better off leaving that to the council to decide since they're the ones who know best the scope of work such would entail and the resources at their disposal.

You listed issues you have with the idea; I don't agree with those issues, but those are objections and that's fair. But just wanting something does justify suggesting it.

Multi-elemental characters are a common conceit in the pop culture which superheroes draw on and contribute to -- there's both a variety there and a natural grouping, which is a strong basis for a power pool. While I myself prefer to play elemental specialists, it's not hard to see how multiple element characters struggle to be realized here; it's rare that anyone is interested in filling out most of their epic, so at best most characters can manage two elements and a tiny dash of a third. An elemental pool that covers utility options is a good way to expand this a bit.

I do think, despite complexity, some version of this that is not hard locked into covering these four elements would be the best of all worlds in helping realize elemental characters, though I don't at this moment have a better suggestion than my earlier.

Edited March 14 by Sunsette

temnix · March 14

I think attunement should involve specific toggles that relate to particular elements for both attack and defense.

CaptainMarvelous · March 19

On 3/13/2024 at 11:18 PM, temnix said:

I think attunement should involve specific toggles that relate to particular elements for both attack and defense.

That'd probably be a lot of work for just a power pool set. Not to mention it'd potentially double-up and bloat the trays.

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New Power Pool Pitch: Elemental Attunement

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