CBeet

I don't like their risk vs reward. For lower damage which you get at slower levels, you can make fights last longer by having enemies almost useless in combat, or make your allies so powerful that your own contribute to damage is neglible at best, all while having sub-par personal protection, low health and being weak to mezzes (depending on primary).

It's not usually my kind of fun.

Energy Melee, Electrical Blast, Devices, Battle Axe, Mercenaries, Force Field, Assault Rifle.

Energy Melee: When you look at the raw numbers, it is still one of the highest ST DPS sets you can take while having one of if not the lowest of AoE capabilities. The problem stands with how unwieldy the animations are, especially in a team environment. It is almost always better for an enemy to be defeated sooner than later and when there are other characters throwing around fast animating, high damaging attacks, an Energy Melee character can be seen just punching at the air.

My proposed change is for Energy Transfer's animation to my effectively reverse. You immediately strike your enemy with both hands for incredible damage, but you reel back and catch your breath from the self damage. The animation time does not have to change, but the damage needs to be out there sooner. Stun can also do with a similar change to Warmace's Clobber and have moderate-high damage added to it, but the stun half of the power changed to a chance, thus heightening this set's niche even more.

Electrical Blast: As brought up, the issue with this set is that it's damage has been effectively traded for 'superior' control and/or debuff potential. While good on paper (I'm looking at you, Ice Melee) and sometimes practise, the debuff and control offered in this set is weak at best when put into practise. This leads to a powerset lacking in damage and also needing to be paired with a select few sets to maximise the Endurance Drain potential so that it can be considered useful.

It needs damage. There is no way to get around this, buff the damage of Lightning Bolt, make Ball Lightning's DoT front-loaded, make Short Circuit do worthwhile damage to support being in melee range and, my personal favourite idea; Tesla Cage would add a marked proc effect against a target, so long as Tesla Cage is in effect (doesn't have to hold), then Charged Bolts and Lightning Bolt will cause a minor damage AoE chain effect from the enemy, this includes from Voltaic Sentinel and any other Electrical Blast users.

Devices: This set has a special place in my heart, but that doesn't jade me in the fact it needs to be looked at. Only available to Blasters, the supposed damage kings of the ATs, Devices is very lackluster for what damage or even support it can bring to a fight while keeping numbers which have been reserved to Power Pools. Targetting Drone vs Tactics; Targetting Drone offers the user slightly more tohit for a slightly lower endurance cost, Tactics however is a team wide buff. Smoke Grenade offers a reasonable tohit debuff in an AoE for a set (and AT as a whole) which offers next to no in-combat defense, the -perception only useful for stealthing a mission, something which I find wrong for a damage-centric AT. Don't get me started on Time Bomb.

First, Targetting Drone needs it's endurance drain/sec reduced from 0.31/s to 0.21/s to be more in line to a defensive toggle. Smoke Grenade needs to have -defense added, allowing for greater combat usefulness, plus a chance to slot in an Achilles Heel -resistance proc, increasing the usefulness of the set from early to very late game. Cloaking Device, like Targetting Drone, needs it's endurance drain/sec reduced from 0.26/s to 0.21/s. Trip Mine's animation and interrupt time need to be reduced by 1 or 2 seconds each, the way most people use Trip Mine is to be fully invisible and drop it at an enemy's feet, all that the long animation/interrupt do is make this slower since there is no risk of it being interrupted, it'll also allow us to quickly blow up a nice little cottage because..

Time Bomb and Gun Drone. From what I understand, the cottage rule would have to be broken to do the following; Swap their levels and make Time Bomb an effective clone of Omega Maneuver, allowing reliable (read: fun) use and support to the Blaster by having a temporary distraction and stun.

Battle Axe: Since the Warmace changes, Battle Axe has been left behind slightly. It's not specifically underpowered, but I believe it needs some love to be Warmace's effective brother once more.

Give the following powers additional lethal DoT: Chop, Gash and Cleave. This is a thematic increase to overall DPS.
Increase the knockdown chance of Whirling Axe from 50% to 80%, add -defense.

Mercenaries: Technically this should be an overpowered set, with reliable AoE DPS and powerful AoE mezzes, but because of the AI it falls behind by wasting powers on single targets, or using all of the long cooldown powers at the same time, while also having a pet support which overall doesn't really help.

This can be fixed by a change to the pet support power at level 18, Serum. The new Serum, on use, would add a small resistance, tohit and recovery buff to all summoned Mercenaries, thus letting it have the same IOs slotted. What this would also do is trigger or allow the use of the long cooldown powers for a short period of time, putting more control of these fight-changing powers in the hands of the player.

Force Field: While this set is great for adding defense and offering some cover for range characters, it is a very passive one-trick-pony set in need of some more active powers which aren't potential griefing tools like Force Bubble and Repulsion Field.

Combine Repulsion Field and Force Bubble, set it at level 35. It would have two PBAoE effects, enemies within 14ft would be knocked back and enemies within 9ft would be repelled.
Force Bolt should have a -def debuff added, plus a chance to stun, giving it greater use beyond "Outta my face!"
Similarly, Repulsion Bomb should have a -def debuff added, again adding greater utility.
The new level 38 power would be an ally Forcefield toggle, giving the defense/resistance of Personal Forcefield to a single ally with a 30 second timer on a 120 second recharge.

Assault Rifle: Having leveled an Assault Rifle Blaster to 50 and teamed with some many times, I found it clear that while they do have some respectable damage, upon coming across an enemy strong against Lethal damage, the likes of Flamethrower and Ignite are either too heavy or unreliable to use.

Flamethrower needs to have it's endurance lowered. According to Mids, at level 50 it's 121.1 damage over 7.1 seconds to enemies in a 45 degree 40ft cone, it's a 20 second recharge and costs 23.92 endurance. So, for nearly a quarter of your endurance bar, you can deal a little less damage than a Scrapper's Fire Sword Circle in a zone in front of you, but it takes 7 seconds for this to happen. Fire Sword Circle costs roughly the endurance amount of the power Fire Blast less than Flamethrower, so I think it would be okay to lower Flamethrower's cost to 18.51 (the cost of FSC).
Ignite can use a change too, I feel. As learnt from the changes to Burn, it's a lot shinier to have a true attack than a fear patch, so I suggest that Ignite be turned into a short range ST attack, dealing average damage for a Blast set's short range hard hitter, but also putting down a very low DoT fear patch to allow it to be used for CC still.

Faultline and Fusionette are Mutants and take a heavy part of the Faultline and Vanguard storylines. Frostfire's also a Mutant, leader of the Mutant villain group Outcasts even, and he's been turning up all over in tips and some of the newer arcs, plus let's not forget Penelope Yin. I think the closest we've had to a mutant-themed zone would be the Faultline remake but that was back in Issue 8 (Holy carp it was that long ago!?), I think it would be fair to say some more Mutant love'd be welcome.

Perhaps a new leader for the Outcasts showing Heroes the true meaning of pain while making a power play in the Isles against Arachnos ("You got an army of soldiers? I got an army of metas!").

The PvP zones. I think it's accepted that PvP has been crippled in this game, but I believe there is still a lot of story to be found in the zones.

With the events of the Praetorian war, Longbow have managed to capture Bloody Bay and have begun giving aid to it's inhabitants, but the Praetorians have taken interest in the original Shivan meteorites and some Arachnos cells still exist to cause trouble. The Shivan temp power is now gained by completing a repeatable mission, only available once every 20 hours. Other rewards include a random Temp power (charges stack!) from the Siren's Call bounty board, an inf bonus or an XP bonus. Zone level range 25-35 (repeatables 25-50)

Meanwhile Arachnos have gained Siren's Call as their foot hold, a stronghold of power for Lord Recluse against the city, but with Statesman's death, orders have been coming in sounding quite.. Merciful? Are these orders real or is something else going on here? Bounty board temps still available by completing a repeatable mission and choosing the Temporary Power option, one shall be selected at random but charges will stack. Other rewards include the Shivan temp power (We have a source, we plan to use these to lay seige on the War Wall door!), an inf bonus or an XP bonus. Zone level range 25-35 (repeatables 25-50)

With Marshal Blitz in hiding, Warburg is under so much chaos that any help is needed from both sides, opening the zone to level 25-50. Characters under level 40 will gain a small buff to all stats to try and level the playing field between the IOd crowd and those still getting to grips with the war. The zone is still free for all with Warburg nuke codes now also having a high (50%+) chance to drop by defeating enemy players with the usual drop-chance cooldown in play, or a lower (20-40%) chance to drop from NPCs.

Warburg isn't the only place in trouble. After so much meddling with the time stream plus alternate-realities and so many world-changing events occuring, Recluse's Victory has been seeing many strange faces, new and old! Reports of high ranking Vanguard getting involved on their own terms to stop the fighting with a healthy Hero 1, the Arachnos Patron's lackies trying to gain favour in Arachnos and even the likes of Nemesis have been seen attack by mole machine during times of stalemate, wielding his disintegration beam! Heroes and Villains have been called in to help stabalise or take advantage of the situation. The level of the zone has been altered to 25-50 with the same buff rules as Warburg.



This keeps a free for all zone and a Hero v Villain zone, PvPers are less spread out and the PvE players get two new zones with story, plus easier ways to get the temp powers. They can also have fun putting in details in Recluse's Victory, maybe have Lusca occasionally spawn in the lake, classic Recluse and Statesman (30s/40s/50s) battling it out, the Jade Spider going for a walk.. Melissa and Mike from the Faultline easter egg room just standing around drinking coffee near the globe.

Good job, thank you.

I've been playing around with the idea of a Dark/Staff, see what you think of this;

Agreed, I've a couple characters who need a proper fanboy costume.

..I'll be in my bunk.

If memory serves, apart from some rogue sects, I think we've kinda made peace with them by the endgame.

An Incarnate trial putting an end to the Rikti 'threat' by going into the Mothership would be nice though.

A few made-up realities I've toyed over for a while:

Stefan and Marcus never opened the Well, it was Back Alley Brawler and the original Manticore! With their new found power, they defeated criminals world-wide as an unstoppable duo. However, with what is the closest that can be found to world-peace, it left very few Heroes, and even fewer who are experience in fighting 'Super Villains'.. Well, it's a world ripe for the picking for any would-be scoundrel who are willing to share (until you don't want to, anyway) with Arachnos.

The Hamidon's experiments lead in a different direction, creating a zombie-like plague which in ineffective against mutants or those with tampered genetics/aren't human. The remainder of the world has been taken to the fortified Grandville after most of the Freedom Phalanx (And friends!) were torn down in the initial fights. A new team of Recluse, Statesman, Mako, Synapse, Mynx, Sister Psyche, Luminary, Frostfire, The Center, Ghost Widow and Positron (still trapped in suit). Center, Recluse and Statesman are working on tactics, Synapse and Dark Watcher finding survivors, Ghost Widow and Sister Psyche helping by scrying/psychically communitating with Synapse/Dark Watcher, Mako and Frostfire working on defending the island (Giant ice walls?) and Mynx helping Luminary and Positron keep Grandville running while trying to rebuild Citadel using parts from what used to be Black Scorpion. Your character is immune because of wibbly-wobbly reality-wality stuff.

In his early days, Positron's suit was breached and he destroyed a city, killing millions. This lead to a world-wide enforced ban of Heroes and the imprisonment of most of the Freedom Phalanx due to them withholding information on Positron's condition. The few who don't escape to the Rogue Isles where those with powers are praised end up as Vigilantes or go rogue under the pressure. With the Rogue Isles a bastion of Heroics and organised crime and viglanteism on the rise all over the world, they need help of another reality to show those in charge that It's Okay To Be Super!

Lord Recluse, in all his power, has taken over this reality. In a world of kill or be killed, it takes someone of uninmaginable power to bring justice!.. Or to take advantage of the situation. The Circle of Thorns, with help of the Midnight Sqaud and the Petrovic brothers have opened portals to Paragon for help. Our Recluse, on the other hand, is now in contact with his more successful self in hopes of setting a truce. When the alternate Recluse laughed and killed the messenger, our Recluse now wishes to take his place and is willing to hire anyone who wants to help.

I would pay for another page, two pages or however many would be added. I'm constantly having new character ideas and like Zortel, I've no slots and no wish to delete existing characters since I'm only comfortable playing on one server with the same account.. It's my gaming baby

A sudden thought, if the jet packs will animation/have effects during flight, can they also have effects with Super Jump? Just got the Zero G Pack from a Kings Row mayhem and it's jump effect would be great for many characters, power-suited scientists who are too heavy to fly for example.

I would like to see new animations, especially for the weapon sets.

Battle Axe/Warmace: More acrobatic movements
Broadsword: Treating the weapon more like a foil
Katana: More brutal or over-the-top movements
Assault Rifle: Wrist-mounted guns like PPD hard suits
Dual Pistols: Less acrobatic, more like a typical western gunslinger, it doesn't matter if it's all the same or seen as boring, it would be nice to have the option
Claws: More savage, like a bladed Super Strength/Street Justice, doesn't matter if you reuse the animations
Archery/Trick Arrow: Crossbow.
Beam Rifle: Dual Beam Pistols

Elemental swords/hammers: Replace with SS/StJ/MA elemental attacks, for the purely unarmed fighter, conversly add elemental weapon animations/effects to the other powers so that you can have a fire sword melee etc, also a bigger punch for Dark Melee's T9 for those who don't want tentacles.

On a barely unrelated note, I'd quite like it if unlocking Patron powers also unlocked Arachnos maces for Warmace, which can then be used seamlessly with Scorpion's Patron Pool.

I can see my reality from here.

The only thing I've learnt from that list is Kill It With Fire™

If Barb Swipe was given the Barrage treatment and maybe Lunge's animation sped up a bit (I always feel the animation goes 'I stab you!.. Uhm.. Uhm.. Now I'll do.. Something.. This!' with the short wait between animations) I would certainly play my Spines Scrapper more. Currently he's sitting pretty in the mid 30s giving bosses the evil eye.

But as it is, I'd rather they look at sets like Energy Melee, Trick Arrow and Force Fields before Spines. The AoE makes up for the lacking ST and can be a boon in teams, while other sets are falling behind somewhat, or their one trick pony isn't doing it's trick as well as the new llama they've added to the game.

Gizmos and gadgets, rockets and things which go freem are all staples of super-science, but short of being a trap artist or creator of a robotic army there're no real definitive way to make someone with tricks up their sleeves and enough explosives on their back to start a small war.

I propose a Munitions control set and a Power Armour assault and manipulation set, allowing for a full or partial super-tech or super-science wielder and, well, it'd just be plain cool


Munitions: It's not just superior firepower you're wielding, but superior tactics as well. By strategic use of payloads and devices you can control your enemies.
Pros: Self support, good hard control, multiple mez types
Cons: Long recharges, no real pet, negligible damage

*Web Grenade
*High Energy Taser (From wrist-mounted gun) - Ranged hold, moderate energy DoT
*Rubber Slug (From wrist-mounted gun) - Ranged knockback, minor smashing damage, very fast recharge
*Wide Area Web Grenade
*Distraction (Mob of holographic people running in all directions) - Targetted AoE confuse
*Emergency Cloak - Self invisibility, PBAoE placate, very long recharge
*Expanding Foam Grenade (From wrist-mounted gun) - Targetted AoE hold
*Emergency Flares (Activate from holographic wrist-computer, fire flares from back 360 around you which pop and fizzle after 20ft) - PBAoE foe -damage, -tohit, fear
*Distracting Payload (Summons a character in a random default costume who taunts) - Summon NPC taunt-bot who taunts all enemies within 25ft, applies -range before detonating for an AoE stun


Power Armour: No matter the origin, you cannot deny arming yourself from head to toe is a bad thing to do in a combat situation. A Power Armour user has the unique ability to unleash attacks in quick succession in emergency situations.
Pros: High potential burst damage, reliable DPS, high number of AoEs
Cons: Majority Smashing/Lethal damage, high endurance costs, relies on power spam which leaves little room for the primary or epic powers and means extended rooting in animations

*Wrist Burst (Burst fire from wrist-mounted gun) - Ranged minor lethal damage, -def
*Wrist Slug (A quick punch to the air while firing the wrist-mounted gun) - Ranged high lethal damage, -def, chance to stun
*Charged Knuckle (A simple left or right hook with a sleek armour-like forcefield gauntlet around the hand) - Melee high smashing damage
*Power Pulse (Sped up Nova build-up and release of forcefield-like waves) - PBAoE moderate smashing damage, chance for knockdown
*Unleash (Button-pressing on wrist-mounted holographic keyboard) - Self +damage, decreases all animation times of Power Armour attacks to 0.5-1 second for 6 seconds, moderate recharge, self -recovery for 20 seconds
*Bunker Busters (Fire rockets from both wrist-mounted guns) - Targetted very small AoE, high smashing/fire damage, knockback
*Supressive Fire (Spray bullets in a wide cone from wrist-mounted guns) - Cone minor lethal DoT, -def, high chance for fear
*Triage Beacon
*Missile Barrage (Alternate Integration animation followed by a swarm of small missiles firing from the character to a target) - Targetted minor lethal DoT AoE, large radius, very fast recharge, chance for immobilize


Thanks for reading, any and all feedback is appreciated.

Statesman's Hammer of Justice
Marauder's Nova Fist
An air strike from the Sutter TF
Orbital death laz0r
Super-sized Stalagmites stone-stomp
Mass gravity-effect lift/levitate
Massive tornado with thunder/lightning knocking people randomly up, down and around
A single powerful straight energy beam from the hands, thick long-range cone like Penetrating Shot
Summon a massive swarm of untouchable, high-damage short-duration zombies/ghosts
Dual-wielding Assault Rifle full auto
Satchel charge/s, can use the same animations as the Thugs upgrade and MM Traps Detonate
Actually, just an explosion randomly at your target after doing the MM Traps Detonate animation