Adeon Hawkwood

Actually yes I expect GR to be limited to the 2 announced powersets. I would not be surprised if they release additional powersets around the same time (say I18 or I19) but I don't think they want to include to many powersets that are exclusive to the expansion. Sure GR included a larger number of new powersets but they were restricted to the villain ATs. I've seen a number of complaints about the fact that Demons and DP are GR exclusive and I doubt they want to make that worse. When it comes down to it GR is about content not powersets and I suspect the devs will keep it that way.

So, are you predicting new EATs or ATs that combine standard powersets in new and interesting ways? Also, while you're at it any suggestions on lottery numbers?

Well, consider that they are also working on a lot of new content for I17/Going Rogue. This almost certainly includes quite a few new NPCs (at the very least expect the Praetorian factions to get fleshed out) which in turn requires effort from Castle's team and BaB's team limiting the resources that they can bring to designing new player powersets.

STO = Star Trek Online

I doubt you'll find anyone willing to argue that it isn't an attempt to get more money. My view is that it's only slightly more transparent that most in the gaming industry. It's pretty much standard both to have a collectors edition and for the price of video games to go down some time after release and I see this as an extension of that.

They are effectively offering 3 different price points ($25 [after taking out the free month], $30 and $40 [assuming a $10 item pack]) depending on exactly what set of perks you want and when you want them.

Sonic has an AoE knockback, an AoE sleep and a single target Stun. Dark Blast has an AoE Knockback, an AoE Stun and an AoE immobilize. I wouldn't necessarily say it's overpowered but it's a lot more mez capability than any other Blaster primary.

The lack of Aim in Dark Blast doesn't really bother me, my main Blaster is AR and Aim tends to be one of the first powers I skip in my Blasters/Defenders. My concern with lack of damage is due to the structure of the powerset itself. The set is lacking in Single Target damage although it's still better than Assault Rifle. The problem is it's also a bit light in AoE damage. It's got three cones but Torrent is very low damage and Night Fall and Tenebrous Tentacles have very different profiles. This means that to get the entire group with both you need to frequently change range, Night Fall is a 20degree cone and needs to be used from as far away as possible while Tenebrous Tentacles has a range of 40feet so you need to get close to maximize the depth. I don't think it would be a bad set if ported as is; like Ice it would make for a Blaster that's a bit light on damage but rather tough. I just think that the devs will decide to make the set trade some of it's toughness for damage.

I'm not sure how practical this would be form an animation viewpoint. Take a look at the selection of in game bows (here). The wide variety of shapes and sizes would make a clubbing animation very difficult to do in a way that looks good with all of them. You'd need to have the character hold the bow at the same point and the only place that's the same on all of them is the grip. Trying to hit someone with a bow while holding it at the center would look very clumsy.

Personally I'd be more concerned about the AoE controls in Dark Blast than the -to hit. Sure the -to hit is nice but I don't think it's game breaking for a Blaster. That being said Dark Blast is a pretty low damage set for a blaster so either way I'm betting it won't get ported directly to blasters.

Interesting take on it, I take it the kicks are basically renamed Martial Art attacks with a new animation that does it while holding a bow? Personally I'd replace OSA with Glue Arrow, either way the power will need to be seriously nerfed from the original version and I think a nerfed Glue Arrow will be more useful to a Blaster than a nerfed OSA, plus it reinforces the "defensive debuffs plus melee attacks" theme that the set has going for it. I still don't like the idea of a set with Build Up and Focused Accuracy but I've already said that once this thread .

The primary problem with this set (which is the same for any TA based set trying to incorporate melee attacks). Is that it looks damn stupid for anyone who isn't an Archer. Hi, I'm going to run up to you, pull out a bow and then KICK YOU IN THE FACE! The optimal solution is to apply the Brawl approach and to make the kicks play different animations depending on stance but this means twice as many animations but the devs are normally reluctant to do that. The simple solution is to have the kick animations put the bow away before activating. Sure it's a bit annoying for Archers but it means that non-Archers look a lot more sensible (only pulling out the bow for powers that actually use it).

Huh?

Well we know I17 will have new content so a new zone isn't impossible.

Also, I reckon we'll get another round of powerset proliferation not to long after GR (probably I18 or I19).

Devices and Ice already have powers that allow a Blaster to prevent a spawn from getting into melee range so it wouldn't be something completely new for a Blaster set. Now I will admit that the Blaster version of Glue Arrow would probably need to be weakened beyond the basic changing of AT values but I think the concept is still fine. If I was doing it I'd probably decrease the radius from 25 feet to 10/15 feet and maybe decrease the time the debuff lingers for after leaving the patch as well. The devs did a similar thing with the difference between Ice Slick and Ice Patch.

You'll note I didn't suggest actually porting it over directly. I was suggesting making a new set based on Trick Arrow. Obviously porting the entire set over would be broken (for the same reason porting entire melee sets over would be broken) but there are some skills that could reasonably be ported over (Entangling Arrow, Glue Arrow, Ice Arrow, maybe Poison Gas Arrow) to form the skeleton of a set.

That is pretty much the point though. Marketeers make out profit by lowering the prices that the BUY IT NAO crowd pays for items. If they all decided to be patient in their buying practices then our ability to make a profit would be severely curtailed.

Yeah I thought it was a different url for the NC soft site as well but I just checked and it sends you to the correct store either way.

I see what you're getting at but we already have Devices so if the devs make a martial arts secondary I'd rather not have it copy powers from Devices/Traps. Besides, there is no way in hell the devs will give Blasters Acid Mortar or Poison Gas Trap.

That's pretty close to what I was thinking of. There are a few things I'd change (in bold):

1. Midnight Snare - Ranged, Single Target Immobolize (this would be a new power)
2. Smite - Melee, Moderate DMG(Smash/Negative), Foe -To Hit
3. Cloak of Darkness - Toggle: Self Stealth, +DEF(All), +Res(Immobilize), +Perception (probably shouldn't have the immobolize protection or at least reduce it to Cobat Jumping levels)
4. Shadow Maul - Melee (Cone), High DoT(Smash/Negative), Foe -To Hit
5. Soul Drain - Moderate DMG(Negative), Self +DMG +To Hit
6. Petrifying Gaze - Ranged, Single Target Hold
7. Dark Consumption - PBAoE Moderate DMG(Negative), Self +End
8. Cloak Of Fear - Toggle, PBAoE Foe Fear, -To Hit
9. Siphon Life - Melee, Superior DMG(Negative), Foe -To-Hit, Self Heal

I'm not sure if that would be balanced it would be but it would definitely be an interesting set to play with a mix of powers not available in other blaster sets.

I really, really doubt that it will get Focused Accuracy. Devices supposedly gets Targeting Drone to make up for not having Build Up and giving another set what is essentially Targeting Drone (even the nerfed Scrapper version) would make it even more obvious that Devices is a poorly designed set. Physical Perfection is might work though.

To some extent yes. But then consider that the same is true for the Trick Arrow set itself and that if you are Playing Archery that causes redraw with every other manipulation set. Redraw is always going to be an issue for some combinations and that does encourage making weapon-less sets but it shouldn't discourage the devs from making weapon sets just because they will cause redraw.

So are Assault Sets. When it comes down to it there are a limited number of set meta-concepts available and after that you're making sets that basically combine two or more meta-concepts. Hence we have Manipulation sets which are Melee/Control/Debuff sets and Assault sets which are Melee/Range.

So what? Every other AT (except Dominators) has a secondary that some other AT can do better. Blasters and Corruptors can blast better than Defenders. Defenders can buff/debuff better than Controllers, Corrutors and Masterminds. Tankers are tougher than Scrappers, Brutes and Stalkers. Scrappers, Brutes and Stalkers can deal melee damage better than Tankers.

Dominators and Blasters get combination secondaries that rather being direct copies of some other ATs primary draw their powers from several different primaries (Control, Buff, Melee, and Armor [with the latter being limited to damage powers in the armor set])

True, the main reason for putting a bit of recharge in is so that you can resummon it if it gets lost.

Well I assume that you mean you'd like manipulation sets based on those sets since the devs are not going to start giving Blasters melee sets (it was tried during the original alpha version fo the game and it didn't really work. The problem with the sets you suggest is that except for Martial Arts they are all weapon sets. Blasters who use melee attacks tend to dart in for one or two attacks then switch back to range so redraw is really going to limit the appeal of those sets for most people.

Some manipulation sets that are (IMHO) more realistic (the name is the set they are based off of in most cases):

Dark Manipulation: I think that between Dark Miasma, Dark Melee and Dark Armor there are almost enough powers to fill out a manipulation set. It would probably need one or two new powers (like a single target immobilize unless they make Touch of Fear the T1 skill). I figure that like Ice it'll be a a control/debuff focused set and having a scaling version of Build Up (Soul Drain) will give it an unusual twist for Blasters. I actually give this set high odds of being the next manipulation set. Back in I12 when the devs proliferated Psychic Blast to Blasters they made Mental Manipulation to go with it. The only blast set Blasters don't have is Dark Blast so it would make sense to proliferate that next time they do powerset proliferation and making Dark Manipulation at the same time would make sense if it can be done with minimal effort.

Martial Arts: I figure the devs will do this one eventually just because it's asked for so much. The problem is where to draw the powers from. Figure on a max of 4 melee attacks plus Focus Chi and Cobra Strike would be ok. Crane Kick would work for the Tier 1 skill although the damage would need to be reduced (basically make it a clone of Power Thrust). However that sill means you need a minimum of two powers from elsewhere. The obvious ones thematically are Caltrops and a reskinned version of Smoke Grenade from Devices. This would probably make a functional set but the problem is it doesn't really offer anything new, it's basically Energy Manipulation with Caltrops and Smoke Grenade instead of Boost Range and Power Boost. I hope the devs go a different route but the problem is making a set that feels different from Energy Manipulation and Devices without requiring a lot of extra effort in terms of animations.

Trick Arrow: Like Martial Arts this is one that would be popular with a lot of people and suffers from the question of where do you get the powers from since Trick Arrow has a max of 5 powers that I would consider suitable for a Blaster. My suggestion is actually to solve both problems at once and make a set that combines Trick Arrow debuffs with Martial Arts attacks but when I suggested it in the Suggestions Forum people seemed to really hate the idea. In any case unless the devs decide to go the Martial Arts route this set will require several new powers from somewhere and baring the unlikely event of Castle and BaB designing the set after getting really drunk and watching Avatar I'm not sure what they would be.

Yep, i was just reinforcing it since Biospark didn't believe you