CapnGeist

As far as back items, few things I'd want to see...

-Backpacks
-Quivers
-Scabbards
-Animated Jet Packs (functioning like wings, they trigger whenever you're in the air)
-A monkey

NO Caltrops. It's part of Devices.

Or, you know, they don't want to have to get all their friends and their friends friends and their friends friends friends to move to the new server.

I don't know about your social network on Pinnacle, but mine's pretty heavily entwined with a bunch of other people. Getting up and leaving the server really wouldn't be viable if they didn't all do the same, and that's just not feasible.

Solid idea. Needs a lot of expanding on, but a great starting point.

I like the idea of roaming AVs. Put some AVs at the deepest point and have a badge for them...

-The most important factor of this set is that most of its attacks not cause redraw. This means focus on kicks over punches, and if an attack is a punch, set it up to punch with a pistol, a bow, or an assault rifle in hand.

-This is a set that needs to exist. Absolutely.

-It should still try and follow most of the 'basic' Manipulation setup. Start with an Immobilize, then some melee attacks including an AoE, Build Up at 5th tier, an AoE toggle at some point in there, etc. I mostly like what Twelfth did with it.

The number of powers that can't be diversified is small enough that most people aren't going to wind up with piles of extra slots by only 3 slotting them. On top of that, with enough money, you can six slot health without worrying about diversification (2x Health, Numina Proc, Miracle Proc, Panacea Proc, Regenerative Tissue Proc) and I 4 slot Stamina constantly (4 pieces of Performance Shifter).

But with things like Hasten... I LIKE the idea of powers that can't use more than 3 slots. It makes it easier on the rest of my powers that I can have a full-power Hasten without six-slotting it.

The issue I have with your suggestion is that Signature Powers already exist, and they're nothing like what you're suggesting.

"What's that, Cap'n? There's no signature powers in the game! You're silly!"

But lad, there ARE, they're just not player accessible. I know full well of a power in a secret power pool...

The Power Pool called Synapse, and the power called Synaptic Strike! And it's not one of his normal powers!

"So what DOES the Cap'n want for signature powers?"

Something that works like this

Power Pool: Charactername
Power: Whatever you want... On a 30 minute timer.
You plug in what you want it to do... Range or melee, area, any secondary effects, and then you pick an animation from ANY power set (even weapon sets: Munitions Mastery shows this works) that matches the delivery type and recolor it to your specifications. As far as damage, well, just set up the formula so that Melee Lethal Single Target does the most, and every special effect or delivery modifier you want decreases the damage a bit. So, as an example, for my signature powers...


Power Pool: Cap'n Geist
Power: Plunge Me Hook Into Ya
Animation: Super Strength Punch (Cross, Left Handed)
Single Target
Melee
Lethal
Secondary Effect: Mag 100 Disorient [Mag 6 in PVP zones] (Slight damage debuff)
Secondary Effect: Defense Debuff (Slight damage debuff)
Modifier: Mastermind, x0.55 melee damage, x0.1 defense debuff, x1.49 Stun Duration


"But Cap'n, why a 30 minute recharge?"

Because the only way this power can be silly good every time you use it is if the recharge is through the roof! Besides, this isn't a straight attack, this is the signature power, this be what you do when it's time to WIN. Look at this as your Sweet Chin Music, your Tombstone Piledriver, your, as said earlier, Stone Cold Stunner.

This is the power you fire off once an episode that almost always wins. And then your fans go "if it always wins, why don't you use it earlier?" to which you have to point out "If I used it when he was still at full HP I wouldn't have won with it!"

"Wait, Mag 100 Disorient?"

If I only get one shot of this every 10 minutes even when purpled out the wazoo, it better be able to punch through purple triangles!

Trim it for PVP zones to prevent silly long durations. Or disable it in PVP entirely.

"What are those modifiers at the end for Masterminds?"

Well, every AT's better at some things and worse than others. Masterminds do about half the damage of a blaster on all attacks (Blaster melee is x1) , but our Defense Debuffs are bigger (Blaster is x0.07) and our stuns last longer (Blaster is 1.192). Sure, your signature power can be anything you want it to be... But if a Scrapper asks for the same melee attack as an MM, it's gonna do the scrapper better... That's the price you pay for diversification.

"How does this interact with different ATs?"

Well, every AT's got their special, so let's run down the list...
Blasters: You can use your Signature Attack while Mezzed. It's your ultimate attack, which also means it's your ultimate escape. On top of that, it gives a bigger damage bonus for a longer duration than most of your attacks.
Controller: If your signature attack mezzes, increase the duration by 20% on top of normal controller modifier. Your signature attack ALWAYS reads "Overpower" when delivered.
Defender: Vigilance works as normal with your signature attack.
Scrapper: Your signature attack can crit.
Tanker: Your signature attack includes a long duration taunt on all nearby targets.


Brute: Your Signature Attack is affected by Fury. Don't waste it when your fury is low.
Corruptor: Your Signature Attack can Scourge. This makes it doubly amazing to try and finish off giant monsters and AVs.
Dominator: If your signature attack mezzes, then while you have Domination up, instead of doubling the magnitude (as it's already Mag 100), double the duration.
Mastermind: Any buffs you would gain from your signature attack are added to all your minions as well. You should consider maxing out the self-buffs in your attack.
Stalker: Your signature attack deals 3x damage on a crit instead of 2x. If you sneak up on someone and then deliver your signature attack, they're pretty much boned.

"What about EATs?"

I'm skipping EATs for now. This is half because I have no idea what Kheldians or Spiders even do (I know Widows well enough, but meh) and half because you get the point, and these are just rough ideas anyway. Mmm... eats... I'm kind of hungry.

Discuss. I'm gonna fix that. The hungry thing.

There are a few powers I think this would be seriously problematic with. Quite a few of them are in the Dark power sets, and though they're all over the place, Dark is what I know best, so...

Twilight Grasp targets a foe and is a PBAOE. If I set it to all allies, only the foe will probably get set on fire due to the pseudopet status of the PBAOE, but it's worth noting. Howling Twilight is similar.

Soul Drain, Dark Consumption, and other similar powers (like Fire's Consumption), on the other hand, don't use such Psuedopet Mechanics. These powers are notable in that they've a tendency to confuse procs. I'm fairly certain this was dealt with, but I'm not exactly sure how or what the initial problem was, so they might similarly get confused by new methods.

As Golden Girl said, I'm fairly sure this will be part of Going Rogue. Table the request for now, and if it's NOT part of GR, then bring it up again.

Pinnacle had a 3-man-team tournament within the past year. I'm no sure where you're getting your "over a year" numbers.

Alright, I'll bite.

What's this a reference to?

Seems like a lot of work for an effect that no too many really care about. I'd like the effect, sure, but no if it came at the expense of, say, Electrical Control or new base items.

I often go into the PVP zones of my Pinnacle and goof off. I'll often hit Siren's Call and help Arachnos win the zone or hit Bloody Bay because I've gotten into the habit of throwing Shivans at everything and restock a lot. I'd say 75% of the time I do this there's no Heroes in the zone, and most of the heroes that do come in get mad at me when I attack them because they're only there for the Shivans or the badges or something crazy like that.

I'm not leaving Pinancle because I'm not primarily a PVPer, and I don't want to have to have my best toon leave the server where all my friends are so I can get some solid PVP... But if I had the option to PVP with him regularly without leaving Pinnacle? I'd certainly take it.


So I vote Yes for moving the PVP zones on a separate server and using special titles for server to deal with the shared name issue. PVP's small because it's flawed and unpopular, yes, but the fact that it's so hard to find PVP on some servers is keeping it unpopular.

I actually like seeing it in broadcast. It's no as bad villainside as it is heroside, because Cap Au Diable isn't nearly as... populace... as Atlas... but if I'll often see a message while I'm poking at the market and decide "sure, why not?" And if I don't want to hear it, I use another market...


And if I REALLY don't want to hear it, I shut off Broadcast.

Heh, now I've got you all thinking about it early. But yeah, the point is... I'm sure we're gonna want it as soon as Demon Summoning hits test.

Okay, once again, TIME OUT!

Is Uruare's point here that if we want purples and PVP IOs to come down to a reasonable price we need to not buy them and not buy inf from sellers?

I've never spent more than 100M on a purple (My purpled out character's an MM, so he doesn't use any of the really expensive ones), I've never bought a PVP IO and I've never bought infamy from infamy farmers.

The market's not fixed yet.

What am I doing wrong?

On that matter, you're clearly following your own guidelines. What are you doing wrong? You've long since decided that this is something the players can fix, so if you and I can fix it, why isn't it fixed?

Is it because I'm not really committed? Or is it because your idea hinges on a hundred thousand players all being committed to this idea, and even if it's viable, it only works if everybody agrees, works together, and understands your thought process?

I accept all your suggestions except getting rid of the confuse. Mag 3 Confuse on Robotic Targets only is what makes the power cool. Because I've got a high-tech gun and I'm taking over your robot.

Or even not in there, I'd really like SOME sort of power that was a Confuse that only hit Robots. It doesn't even have to be in this set, it just has to exist. Maybe as a temp power...

Okay, I admit, this probably isn't the best place for it, it was just an awesome idea I had and I threw it in the set as something to add a bit of uniqueness and coolitude. Coolitude's a word now, you know.

I'm just going to get this out of the way now and say "We'll want it eventually."

What does it do? Whatever fire whip does, but with 9 powers instead of 3. I don't have to know anything about the set other than that we've been told there's a fire whip in order to know that people will find it cool and they will want it, and they will be vocal about it.

So yes, the devs might as well start preparing to give in now, because people are going to be demanding it.

And on a side note, Uruare... If you really think this argument should be taken on moral grounds and not just a question of what would make prices work most effectively... I'll be happy to put my five years of philosophical and religious studies to work while playing Ghost Pirate's Advocate and happily explaining that your morals and ethics really have no place here. We're talking game balance, not goodness of soul.


The only way to fix the market is Infamy Sinks and a Gold Standard of a valuable commodity. The only absolute costs for Infamy are Trainings, DOs, and SOs, and those sell for a fraction of what they cost to buy... And anybody really hardcore into SOs is going to be running STF or LRSF over and over to get 53s, which aren't available from vendors.


Long story short, your thought process is bad and you should feel bad.