Psionic Melee and Armor

[CoeruleumBlue]

I had a discussion in-game where someone pointed out that Psionic Melee is not really very psionic-y. It's great for what it is but it might as well just be called Kinetic Melee or Pyrotechnic Melee or Symphony Melee or something based on similar powersets. We thought that Psi Melee is really more like the Mind Probe, Psionic Shockwave, and Telekinetic Thrust powers that exist. Psionic blades are used frequently in comics and other media, but usually it's more like a surgical knife or maybe a sword, not BAM! I have also frequently encountered people thinking the BAM! sound effect is not very psionic-y, but the set in general isn't really telepathy damage even if some of the telekinetic burst effects could probably be re-used since we already have something for that in say Mind Control and Gravity Control having basically some of the same telekinetic effects, or Mind Control, Illusion Control, and Symphony Control having some of the same telepathy-ish control powers in pretty much every way, sometimes even the same cosmetics if you color them since even the animations are the same. But just doing psionic damage, yeah, that doesn't really mean you're doing telepathy attacks since lots of power sets and enhancements do some psionic damage but aren't really telepathy damage. 

 

The Psionic Armor on the other hand only just has some minor weird issues with things like the end drain power being a cone instead of PBAoE like it is on other armor sets. However, I keep thinking why wasn't there a psionic dodge set? Maybe call it Time Armor or Precognitive Evasion or something. We already have a ton of resistance sets, and since yeah, psionic resist is a thing keeping the psionic resistance armor makes sense, but making a psionic dodge armor and also adding the Precognition passive, stealth effect, endurance drain, Aura of Insanity stuff but it's just a +Defense instead of +Resist would probably make more sense. Right now we have Shield Defense and Super Reflexes but Super Reflexes is basically the only other set besides Fiery Aura that's doomed to be weak against psionics no matter what you slot in and Shield Defense is for carrying a shield around, though if you make it a psionic shield that actually mostly works since most of the +DEF on it are at least +DEF(All) or +DEF(Melee) or +Def(Ranged, AoE,) though putting some Impervium Armor into the +DEF(All but Psionics) power won't make it so you can block that for your teammates sadly if that's your theme, just for yourself, despite the fact it's implying your shield is impervium armor now and also that your shield blocks attacks for your teammates.

 

But even if that were changed at all there's still the fact there really should be a psionic dodge-based set even if dodge-based sets are less popular and I would've done that before the psionic resistance set, we already have a ton of sets that resist psionics, the psionic resistance set is fun but I'm not sure it's really filling in any concept that didn't exist before, while even Ninjutsu is just another resistance set so it doesn't fill that gap either. Willpower seemed like it was kind of already a psionic resistance set but Psionic Armor does more damage and has psionic auras so I guess it's fair to just have a psionic damage set and it does less damage than Dark Armor to make up for psionic damage mostly being more obnoxious. But the only two dodge sets are one that's specifically Super Reflexes and you can't reflavor it to mind-reading or precognition dodging even if you want because it's one of the only two sets in the game that will basically always be super weak to psionics no matter what you take, and the one where you get a shield which is fun but super specific, so yeah. 

 

So yes, me running around with John Wyndham in my signature is definitely obsessed with psionics and this is my feedback about doing psionics on melee characters in this game which is it still seems somewhat awkward even though it can be plenty of fun despite that and these are things I would personally add. 

[Triumphant]

Well, to some of your comments, I'll offer the following different points of view:

 

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I had a discussion in-game where someone pointed out that Psionic Melee is not really very psionic-y. It's great for what it is but it might as well just be called Kinetic Melee

I don't disagree, but I think this would be most easily solved by renaming Psionic Melee to Telekinetic Melee.  TK is basically kinetic (smashing/lethal) dmg, after all.

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I keep thinking why wasn't there a psionic dodge set? Maybe call it Time Armor or Precognitive Evasion or something.

I prefer dodge-based sets to resistance-based sets, so I don't hate this idea.  However...

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Super Reflexes is basically the only other set besides Fiery Aura that's doomed to be weak against psionics

You know that positional defense sets that are hard or soft capped provide the same protection as typed defenses that are hard or soft capped, right?  What I'm saying is Super Reflexes is not "weak" to psionics in this sense,  unless you're talking about resistance.  And, of course, yes- any defense based set is going to have weak resistance to most attacks.

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there really should be a psionic dodge-based set even if dodge-based sets are less popular

I don't know that this is necessarily true, and I have a strong suspicion that it is actually not true at all.  I prefer defense-based sets to resist-based ones, and I know many players that share my  preference (that's anecdotal, I know.  Maybe we could do a poll on it in a different thread?  Could be interesting just as a curiosity satisfying excercise).
 

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we already have a ton of sets that resist psionics

Well, no.  Actually, what we have are a bunch of resistance sets with weaknesses to psionic damage.  That's why you hear players talking about patching the "Psi hole" in their builds, w/regard to resistance.

Anyways, that's my two cents worth. 🤷‍♂️

[Rudra]

Funny thing about Super Reflexes. Nothing in it says what origin it is. (It easily fits into any of the five origins as magic-based, tech-based, and so on.) And nothing in it says what theme it is. (It can reflect a character with superhuman perception reacting to attacks, a character with cybernetics amplifying their reaction time, a character with telepathy reading their enemies and avoiding their enemies' attacks, and so on.) You want a character that psionically dodges everything? Super Reflexes has you covered.

[Triumphant]

15 minutes ago, Rudra said:

Funny thing about Super Reflexes. Nothing in it says what origin it is. (It easily fits into any of the five origins as magic-based, tech-based, and so on.) And nothing in it says what theme it is. (It can reflect a character with superhuman perception reacting to attacks, a character with cybernetics amplifying their reaction time, a character with telepathy reading their enemies and avoiding their enemies' attacks, and so on.) You want a character that psionically dodges everything? Super Reflexes has you covered.

 

Yeah, that's true.  You can basically interpret it any way you want.