Dersk

I think there are several changes that can and should be made to brutes and tanks, but exaggerating the differences to the point where they no longer look like the same game only detracts from the problems and fights to make change more difficult.

For just three enhancements, endurance modification only is the most effective option.

The idea is to put it in stamina as a 4th slot where enhancement diversification causes additional endurance modification to have limited effect.

Even better is have the first three slots filled with other pieces of the performance shifter set that enhance endurance modification, so that the character gets a four-set bonus for even more endurance benefits.

I was lamenting the lack of pros and cons for powers in City of Heroes, despite the overall greater depth of the character customizations compared to the ugly options most other games have. EverQuest2 gave me smallpox the characters were so ugly. The only common downside to anything is an endurance cost, which is so widely used it's hardly surprising endurance recovery is the most villified aspect of gameplay.

I had, once, suggested that energy transfer would be better suited by allowing the self-damage to be enhancable, rather than see the animation time changed to something that looks rather silly. The 1st part and 2nd part of the animation don't flow. It's EQ2-ugly. Allow 95% enhancement, and to fire off twice in one build-up for significantly more self-damage than what you'd see in normal gameplay. Or, use it more sparingly without killing yourself. Needs work, but the I like the idea.

Then, I remembered how some enhancements affect multiple effects, like damage enhancements increase damage, resistance, and resistance debuffs unless powers are specifically told otherwise. So, what if powers like Unstoppable were altered so both the buff and the crash were enhancable?

For example: New unstoppable has 70% resistance, and at the crash hits the player for 70% of his/her max hp (ignore mechanics issues for the time being). The tanker can choose to enhance unstoppable's resistance to 90%, but that also enhances the self-damage to 90% of his/her max hp. A tradeoff. Now, do something similar to the endurance recovery and the endurance crash. Cut the recovery in half (or 1/4, whatever), but also cut the endurance crash in half. Enhance the buff, enhance the crash.

People that want a 'pick-me-up' of sorts but don't want to risk the chance of sudden death when the power crashes don't have to enhance the power. Those that want a power that overcomes the harderst fights in a win-fast-or-die-fast fashion can throw in a few enhancements.

Spreading that idea out to powers like nukes or elude doesn't work so clearly, but I'm curious if such a change would be both interesting from a gameplay perspective, as well as make unstoppable something more appealing to everyone that has access to it as a means of balance.

A secondary, and quite intentional, effect of this would be players, like me, who skip on resist passives but enhance unstoppable to cap res. anyway would have a more compelling reason to find another way to reach the resistance caps.

The cake is a lie.

I don't see how the new difficulty settings, which allow me to pursue and achieve more rewards, is socialistic. I can't think of anything that has recently been added that strikes me as particularly socialistic. It's possible to kill a game without enforcing any economic morals upon others, so I don't see the logical step here.

Now, the whiners in the market forum, they would certainly applaud.