Biospark

Medicine pool is the only standout for me as well regarding the removal of interupt completely, but everyone has access to green pills, so with the exception of certain types of activity (like AV soloing), medicine pool would not be any better than using Inspies in most fights. Heck it is even worse when you consider that you have to burn a power pick BEFORE you even get access to Aid Self. If the use of Medicine were too large of a concern, they could always up the activation time to 6+ seconds. There would still be folks using it, but consider what 6 seconds of non-dps time would do to their combat tactics.

This whole inter-exchange is the reason that I started a thread regarding "Interruptable" powers awhile back, and also the reason that I am STILL convinced that the whole interruptable mechanic is completely unnecessary. Simply having a LONG animation is more than enough of a drawback on ANY power to effect how often and when it gets used.

Blaster snipes 4+ seconds, Mecidine pool and Assassin Strike are all similar. Take away the Interrupt mechanic and these powers will STILL be used the way they are now, but they will make much more sense.

AS could not be interrupted, and presumably, if it was coded right, you will not lose any damage as long as you clicked it before some AoE dropped you out of hide. And if you were desperate for another single target attack, you could use it as such. Honestly, the animation should be LIKE a regular attack. Stalkers are not blasters, why would it take forever and a day to line up a strike against a target your standing right next to ? Doesnt make much sense really.

I am all for a couple of your ideas;

A) Access to APPs and PPPs : Yes Please

B) Special costume options on regular costumes : Yes Please


For the APPs though I would prefer to see them get the Controller/Dominator choices personally.


Finally, I want the Quantum vulnerability removed. VEATS don't have such a horible disadvantage, so why should HEATS. If you want them to take more energy damage, then simply don't let them have energy resistance or defense in any of their powers. Its not THAT hard to do. Look at sets like INV and SR. Are they at a disadvantage against certain mob types ? (Yes), Did they need to have extra encounter coding to accomplish this ? (Nope). Come on Devs ! I would play a PB or WS, but I cannot stand the whole Quantum thing. Its just plain annoying.

The best I have ever seen is Dark/Dark on a scrapper. But after thinking about Darkest Night, I agree with the previous poster that a Dark/Dark Brute would debuff more easily and consistently against more enemies than any other combination out there.

Fair Warning though: Dark Armor is NOT a great set on just SOs. This set really starts to shine once it starts taking on IO set bonuses. Once you have a fully IOed build, like Dechs says; "Dark Armor SUCKS!".

you CAN tank anything.

My Vote would be for ICE/RAD. As Tex mentioned, there are things about Ice that can ignore the "type" of enemies you are facing. Plus I just LOVE Confusion as a means of soloing tough encounters. My highest level controllers have been Mind, Illusion, Ice and now Plant. Yeah, Confusion is that good at helping you solo.

Another reason I would Go Ice/Rad is that the secondary effect of Earth control duplicates one of Rad's best debuffs (defense debuff). More is always better, but I just think Ice's -recharge secondary works well with Rad's other debuffs. Both sets offer good positional control, which helps with your debuff toggles, so no clear cut winner there.

Finally, I just like the sound of running Artic Air simultaneously with Chocking cloud (maybe colored a light misty blue) as a moving "hands-free" controller. The endurance issues would be enormous, but basically anything near you would be contained or confused. What's not to like.

I am not convinced that anything needs to be done regarding defense. It is readily available in IO sets, stacks nicely with other forms of mitigation to make you very tough in the regular game. But...

1) There are literally hordes of villains able to reduce that defense quickly.
2) As you pointed out, some of the toughest encounters can make even a "soft-capped" character scream for mercy (or their nearest defender)
3) Finally, on anyone that doesnt have DDR, if they also don't have status protection, it doesn't really provide the tools to avoid incoming damage without other powers to back up that "defense".

What bothers me about "Defense" is not actually defense at all.
It's the lack of available options through IO builds.

Can you "hard cap" resistance on a toon ?
Nope
Even if you could, would it be as good as "Soft-capped" Defense ?
Maybe on a "armored" AT, but certainly not on a "squishy"
Can you get the resistance or protection from status effects up to a comparable level of survival as "defense" ?
Nope
If you could, would the "Squishy" ATs be overpowered ?
Doubtful


This is where they should focus any new IO sets on; making additional "Options" for increasing survival in builds.

Nerf Defense ? Hello No!
If they thought alot of folks left the last time, just wait and see what a GDN2 would do.
But I think it is a pretty safe bet though that we will not be getting any "NEW" defense IOs.

Heck, I will be pretty surprised to see anything +DEF related with Incarnates. (I realize that the alpha slot can raise your defenses, but it only works off actual defense powers, so will help the characters that are designed around defense considerably more than the ones that are not.
I will also be really surprised to see ANY new IO sets because of all the Incarnates stuff that we should be seeing for the "foresee-able" future.

The following are my original 5 toons of each "classic" AT;

Forcefield/Radiation : Although, I have since learned to fully appreciate the FF set, I would not play this combination again. I have played FF/Nrg into the low 30s though and had a blast with it. ((First Def to 20 : Rad/Elec, First 50 : Emp/Elec))

Martial Arts/Super Reflexes : I really, really, wanted to like this combo (sorry, huge Spiderman fan), but it completely sucked in I1. Did not go back to MA OR SR for a long time, but my current #1 is a Martial Arts/Willpower. Willpower was a Home Run for the Devs. ((First Scrap to 20 : MA/WP))

Fire Armor/ Energy Melee : This combination was really fun for about 12 levels. Every issue that went by made me like it less and less. I prayed for Martial Arts fixes and watched as FA was nerfed instead. Don't think that I would try this one again, because of my favorite blaster being energy. My current favorite Tanker is Shield / Super Strength. ((First Tank to 20 : WP/Fire, First 50 : WP/Fire))

Energy Blast / Energy Manipulation : Loved this one the first time I played it, and STILL love everything about it. I have no idea why he is not level 50 yet. Hmmm, maybe because he is my testing toon. Defender, no wait Blaster, uhm, yeah Defender, darn it Blaster is more fun. ((First Blast to 20 : NRG/Dev))

Earth Control / Storm Summon : I really liked this combination (still do really), but the endurance drain is horrible and the lag it created back in the beginning was pretty bad too. I recently tried it again, but I am really enjoying my Plant/Storm many times better. ((First Con to 20 : ILL/RAD ))

So, only My Blaster and Defender are "Classic" combinations (Only the blaster remains as my original choice, but has been tried as a FF/Nrg a couple times as well). My Tanker, Scrapper and Controller all use newer sets, and my Tanker is a total departure from the original Tanker that I wanted to play.

I really like the Swap Weapon concept Leo.
Unfortunately, they would probably require seperate animations for each weapon style in order to look right.

You are right, the idea for the set WAS to have a hybrid, weapon/ranged/martial/tactics powerset. The only weapons that would allow this versatility AND use the same animations would be "fist-type" weapons. If you made your weapons Brass Knuckles, for instance, you would look almost totally martial art-sy, with Fury, Barrage, Shadow Step, CK, and DT. You could have claws, or punching daggers if that was your "thing" or my personal desire to have Bo Sticks. All these options for weapons would let you customize your Ninja's weapons without a "swap weapon" mechanic. They would just need to have custom animations to help tailor the combat better.

I am not sure if everyone is missing the tactics that are present or if I am just overstating their effectiveness. Ankle Chains plus Tow Line, means that you would have the bad-guys all bunched up taking damage but unable to beat on you while you take out the guy you "pulled" (literally) to you. Then there is the Crane Kick plus Tow Line combo; "Wait... get back here !". Combine in the powers from Ninjitsu like Smoke Bomb and you have some interesting ways to divide and conquer. And of course there is Shadow Step. This ONE power would be worth all the effort to create it. It may seem like the tactical advantages are small, but they are enough combined with the cool-factor of the animation, that I would love to have it.

As for making it a Dominator set. Well, I like dominators, and have been playing them alot lately, but Doms have one problem; their Primary. Seriously, they don't have enough choices. There are so very few controller primaries that I like and Doms don't even have all of the choices. When they add Dark Control and some form of Gadget Control (Crowd Control), THEN maybe a ninja assault would work great for them. Until then, I guess me and Mind Control are just gonna have to be happy together.

Moved thread to Suggestions forum. Thanks for your input

The following Stalker Primary powerset was inspired by several recent threads including an interesting one started by Leo_G here;

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=237766

With this powerset I am attempting to capture a Ninja assault set full of tactics and visually appealing animations. It would require new tech within the game, and may seem to be a hybrid Ranged/Melee set, but next to sets like Dark Armor and Ninjitsu, I think it would fit the bill as a versatile and unique "controllery" primary with many possibilities.

So, without further ado: NINJA ASSAULT

The following powers are not in order, but arranged simply for presentation. Consider how they would interact with each other and in-game playstyle tactics.

The basics:

This is a dual handed weapon set, but due to the nature of the animations, the weapons would be small "fist-style" weapons like ; Claws, Knuckle-dusters, Punching Daggers, Cestus, Reverse Grip Kamas (Mantis Blades), Bo-Sticks (with Baton-style grips), etc...

The Powers:

(1) Placate : Standard Stalker power

(2) Assassin Strike : Animation and effect just as Dual-Blade version. Another standard Stalker power

(3) Ninja Barrage : 1-2 Punch attack with good damage, recharge, and animation similar to Energy's Barrage power. Tier 1 or Tier 2. Since the powerset is light on melee single targets, this power should require a minimum of recharge bonus to tighten up an attack chain.

(4) Ninja Fury : A flurry of blows using either the Shadow Maul or 1K-Cuts animation. This long-ish animation should come with a very good DPA/DPE ratio and together with Ninja Barrage should form the core melee assault of the powerset. This should NOT be an AoE like Shadow Maul due to the other powers I am presenting here (which include 2 AoE powers).

(5) Crane Kick : Straight copy of the Martial Arts attack with great damage and knockback. Alternate animations should include the Storm Kick option to allow the player to better customize their assault style.

(6) Dragon's Tail : Straight copy of the Martial Arts attack with similar damage activation and effect. This is one of 2 AoE attacks, but due to the lower damage of the AoE powers would not make the set an AoE powerhouse, but simply add AoE capabilities that combine damage and mitigation. Refer to the next power for comparison.

(7) Ankle Chains : Using the ball lightning animation you throw several spinning ball-and-chains in a cone at your enemies lower legs. These should do damage similar to (or less than) the Dragon's tail attack above, but in a 90deg cone with a medium range 30-40 feet. The damage could be a dot or single hit and have high magnitude (Mag 3 min) immobilze as well as NO -KB protection (refer to the next power for the reason why).

(8) Tow Line : Using a two handed animation, you throw a line that wraps around the neck of your target and applies a reverse knock back effect. Normal KB attacks push the target away from the caster, but what I envision is that the target is knocked toward the caster. Where they land is un-important, but this power and Crane Kick are the reason that "Ankle-Chains" should not have a Knockback protection component. The damage could be anything from low to high depending on how much dps would be considered fair after taking all powers into consideration. My gut says this would hit like a Tier 2 attack, but have a long-ish recharge (14-20 sec). Consider the 1-2 effect of ; Ankle Chains + Tow Line, followed by : Barrage + Fury + Crane Kick. "Did that Hurt ? It sure looked like it hurt."

(9) Shadow Step : What is it ? The signature move of a true Ninja. You animate in a half-turn plus a fade-away/smoke-cloud effect, and reappear next to your target cmpleting the attack with the two-handed "ripping" attack from Claws/Thorns (minus the somersault). The range should be the same as Ankle Chains (30-40feet) and would involve some clever coding for line-of-sight and teleport options. Because of the combination of Half-turn+Fade to Grey+Eviscerate the animation would be rather longish so the damage and critical chance should be similar to Eagle's Claw. Your weapons would be visible in this attack.

***I tried to minimize the re-draw possibilities within the set by using 2 kicks combined with the 2-fisted melee attacks (Barrage, Fury, Shadow Step). Depending on how the attacks were animated, "Tow Line" and "Ankle Chains" would not necessarily cause the fist weapons to be put away. Additionally, my thoughts are that the basic weapon attacks should apply some consistent debuffs. Perhaps something like "Swap Ammo" could be applied here to simulate various toxins that the ninja has applied to their weapons. Slow Toxins, -Regen Toxins, -Def, -Dmg, etc...

Thoughts ??

The following Stalker Primary powerset was inspired by several recent threads including an interesting one started by Leo_G here;

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=237766

With this powerset I am attempting to capture a Ninja assault set full of tactics and visually appealing animations. It would require new tech within the game, and may seem to be a hybrid Ranged/Melee set, but next to sets like Dark Armor and Ninjitsu, I think it would fit the bill as a versatile and unique "controllery" primary with many possibilities.

So, without further ado: NINJA ASSAULT

The following powers are not in order, but arranged simply for presentation. Consider how they would interact with each other and in-game playstyle tactics.

The basics:

This is a dual handed weapon set, but due to the nature of the animations, the weapons would be small "fist-style" weapons like ; Claws, Knuckle-dusters, Punching Daggers, Cestus, Reverse Grip Kamas (Mantis Blades), Bo-Sticks (with Baton-style grips), etc...

The Powers:

(1) Placate : Standard Stalker power

(2) Assassin Strike : Animation and effect just as Dual-Blade version. Another standard Stalker power

(3) Ninja Barrage : 1-2 Punch attack with good damage, recharge, and animation similar to Energy's Barrage power. Tier 1 or Tier 2. Since the powerset is light on melee single targets, this power should require a minimum of recharge bonus to tighten up an attack chain.

(4) Ninja Fury : A flurry of blows using either the Shadow Maul or 1K-Cuts animation. This long-ish animation should come with a very good DPA/DPE ratio and together with Ninja Barrage should form the core melee assault of the powerset. This should NOT be an AoE like Shadow Maul due to the other powers I am presenting here (which include 2 AoE powers).

(5) Crane Kick : Straight copy of the Martial Arts attack with great damage and knockback. Alternate animations should include the Storm Kick option to allow the player to better customize their assault style.

(6) Dragon's Tail : Straight copy of the Martial Arts attack with similar damage activation and effect. This is one of 2 AoE attacks, but due to the lower damage of the AoE powers would not make the set an AoE powerhouse, but simply add AoE capabilities that combine damage and mitigation. Refer to the next power for comparison.

(7) Ankle Chains : Using the ball lightning animation you throw several spinning ball-and-chains in a cone at your enemies lower legs. These should do damage similar to (or less than) the Dragon's tail attack above, but in a 90deg cone with a medium range 30-40 feet. The damage could be a dot or single hit and have high magnitude (Mag 3 min) immobilze as well as NO -KB protection (refer to the next power for the reason why).

(8) Tow Line : Using a two handed animation, you throw a line that wraps around the neck of your target and applies a reverse knock back effect. Normal KB attacks push the target away from the caster, but what I envision is that the target is knocked toward the caster. Where they land is un-important, but this power and Crane Kick are the reason that "Ankle-Chains" should not have a Knockback protection component. Consider the 1-2 effect of ; Ankle Chains + Tow Line, followed by : Barrage + Fury + Crane Kick. "Did that Hurt ? It sure looked like it hurt." Placate + Assassin Strike/Shadow Step.

(9) Shadow Step : What is it ? The signature move of a true Ninja. You animate in a half-turn plus a fade-away/smoke-cloud effect, and reappear next to your target cmpleting the attack with the two-handed "ripping" attack from Claws/Thorns (minus the somersault). The range should be the same as Ankle Chains (30-40feet) and would involve some clever coding for line-of-sight and teleport options. Because of the combination of Half-turn+Fade to Grey+Eviscerate the animation would be rather longish so the damage and critical chance should be similar to Eagle's Claw. Your weapons would be visible in this attack.

Other stance names that occurred to me were ; Open Stance, Closed Stance and Balanced Stance. I believe these are used in some form of martial arts but not 100% certain.

Great idea for giving this powerset a unique flavor

I really like the concept. The variations are quite plentiful when you start thinking about it.

From a min-max perspective, this would work to promote it's usage with every Defense set if the stances were varied enough to assist in improving the set.

For example, Super Reflexes would "love" to have a "resistance-boosting" stance, while sets like Dark/Fire/Elec would like something that gave a small "defense" boost.

Staff melee seems a great way to offer something different than shields from a defensive minded playstyle. So my stances would be more like the following;

Earth Stance : Your knowledge of leverage and resistance allows you to reduce the impact of incoming attacks, but at the cost of speed on offensive attacks. ***grants a resistance boost with a slight -recharge penalty***

Cloud Stance : Your use of speed and movement allows you to easily move into attack positions of opportunity, but at the cost of lower damage. ***grants a boost to recharge and accuracy with a slight -dmg debuff***

Wave Stance : Your knowledge of combat movements allows you to move in and around your foes like water, never giving a clear target, but at the cost of attacks of opportunity. ***grants a +defense boost but with a slight -Acc penalty***

Fire Stance : Your relentless attacks combined with your knowledge of enemy weakness allow you to rain blows upon their heads, but at a defensive cost. ***grants a boost to damage, but at a small penalty to defense***