Fleeting Whisper

Wait, real people with real problems: good
Hero struggling with alcoholism: bad


bwuh?

So Black Scorpion is allowed to use the technology of his power suit and this gives us a storyline reason for him to give you the technology of the Arachnos mace (and yet somehow none of the other patrons can hand you a mace or an access code to the armory, and you're certainly not going to the guy who invented the thing, since BS is an utter moron)...

... but Manticore isn't allowed to show you how he hacked into the medical teleport system to make his teleporting arrow (this is exactly how it was explained in the CoH comic)?


Edit: Of course, now a single patron arc unlocks all of the patron pools, so you certainly could pass it off as Mako handing you his keycard to the armory. But then that doesn't explain how paling around with Black Scorpion teaches you how to rip a soul out of someone's body like Ghost Widow.

Marchand. And not president in Praetoria.

You also encounter him in Mender Tesseract's TF, where you have to kill him off in the past to ensure that Lord Recluse becomes ruler of the Etoile Islands.

(Interestingly, Marchand was elected to office in 1937 and he was already pretty old. Then one of the alternate timeline Paragon Times articles has a bit on his 70th year in office. The guy must be at least 100 in Praetoria. The Emperor has good healthcare.)

Just wait until you've got all those sprints and you respec at 50! Huh? Huh? Who's glad to have so many powers now?!





/cleartray

Because Scrappers are insane cuisinarts who like to do things like soloing pylons?

The best you can do is -75% recharge (recharge floor for players and critters), which results in 1/4 speed, not 1/10 speed. Your target would need to have at least a 250% recharge buff in order for you to bring him down to 10% of what he was.

For player powersets, the rule is: AoEs have a 16-target cap (I believe a few powers have a smaller cap), Ranged Cones have a 10 target cap (Piercing Rounds has a 3 target cap), and Melee Cones have a 5 target cap. Non-player powers can work outside these rules (Warburg nukes have a 20 target cap, and the Arsonist's Fire Bomb used to have no target cap), but no standard powers can hit more than 16 targets.

10 seconds isn't particularly impressive for an AoE stun, either. A standard control set AoE stun (as above, 16 targets, not 20) lasts 14.9s, before getting enhancements (enhancements can approximately double the duration).

300% recharge buff gives you a 60s recharge Mass Confusion. The recharge buff cap is 400% (48s for a capped Mass Confusion). Sure, 300% is difficult to achieve, but the odds aren't zero. (Of course, I realize you're trying to drive home the point about the rate differential between the two powers.)

Hmm? The only hard control power it's really missing is an AoE stun. It gets its AoE hold power earlier than Earth and Ice, too (and the only set with an AoE hold earlier is Illusion).

By level 18 (which I would consider the cutoff for 'early levels' for a primary set), you've got all the hard control you're going to have, and only Earth, Fire, Gravity, and Mind will have more hard control by 32. That count puts Electric solidly in the middle as far as hard control go.

My one problem with the set would be having both Jolting Chain and Conductive Aura available before Paralyzing Blast. 3 AoE damage powers (adding in Chain Fences for a 3rd) on a squishy at level 8 with no AoE hard control is a spell for trouble. Low-level Fire/Kins run into the same problem when they're trying to play as if they're already a level 50 farmer (Fire Cages + Hotfeet).


But now the thread has devolved into a discussion on the merits of Electric Control. The original question is which mechanic is the most unique. Of the three presented, I agree with macskull's reasoning, placing Dual Pistols as most unique set. However, I would like to add Dual Blades to the ring, sporting its own special mechanic of combos.

What, that's not how your company runs things? I've been doing that with my corner lemonade stand business for the past decade, at least.

But Water Spout is just a gussied up Tornado. Your words, not mine.

So far, your only argument against Hero PPPs is that the Villain PPP powers are explained in canon, while powers displayed by signature heroes are just modifications to existing player powers.

...

Let's go over the points one by one:

1. Arachnos lieutenants exhibit modifications of existing player powers.
2. Arachnos lieutenants grant access to additonal powers (many of which are not powers used by the lieutenant himself).
3. These powers have some explanation in the game story, which is generally tied somehow to the lieutenant in question.
4. The in-game explanation is sometimes a bit weak, because the mechanics and balance are more important than the story.

1. Signature heroes exihibit modifications of existing player powers.
2. We have a suggestion that signature heroes grant access to additional powers (many of which would not be powers used by the hero himself).
3. This is a bad suggestion, because the signature heroes' powers are just modified versions of player powers.
4. ... ... ... what, I don't even...

Sell your <furniture item> on craigslist, buy a <furniture item> at Walmart, and spend the difference on a copy of GR.

The shadow of the microphone in that video makes it look like she's got a gotee.

I see you complaining about what would be the most unpopular of the four I listed, and yet no attempt to rebut Teleport Arrow. Hammer of Justice and Zeus' Lightning may be more powerful and visually stunning, but even now Teleport Arrow is far more unique than either of them, being one of three similar powers in the game (teleport+damage, vs. a simple AoE).

Pretend the PPPs don't exist. What's special about Spirit Shark or Water Spout other than the fact that we can't actually grab them? We already have ranged attacks which deal lethal damage and knockdown, and we already have Tornado! (And, more generally, pets which we can't control and which do knockback.)

So tell me, what does Knockout Blow have to do with either Mako (the Patron) or the Leviathan (the pool's namesake)? Heck, Black Scorpion doesn't even have a single power from Mace Mastery.

On the other hand, Black Scorpion does have a bunch of Super Strength powers, which is where Knockout Blow comes from...

My best guess is that he wants Mids' ED colors (white: no ED scaling; green: tier 1 [10% loss]; yellow: tier 2 [30% loss]; red: tier 3 [85% loss])

Positron has Overcharge (Positron's power is like EA's Overload, but instead of having a crash it includes +Rech and +Dam[Smashing/Energy]).
Back Alley Brawler has Back Alley Power Punch (Similar to Whirling Hands, but with KB instead of stun).
Manticore has Teleport Arrow (teleport + damage, like Shield Charge and Lightning Rod).
Synapse has Synaptic Strike (I believe this is Flurry with Smash/Energy instead of just Smash).

The other members of the Freedom Phalanx, besides Statesman, don't have powers unavailable to players. I think the only power used by the Vindicators which isn't either available to players or is just a renamed/recolored player power is Woodsman's Stump Toss.

Memphis Bill also suggested an alternative of Hero organizations earlier (Vanguard, Ouroboros, and Midnighters in his post, but it could be expanded). The Midnighters are basically just reskinned Circle of Thorns, and we've really only seen one Mender of Ouroboros fight (SS/Inv, though I think we can assume what Twilight's Son is capable of)... but Vanguard has a bunch of stuff to offer.


Remember too, that the PPPs aren't all unique powers:

• Blaster/Mastermind Leviathan Mastery: Knockout Blow
• Controller/Dominator/Corruptor/Defender/Scrapper/Stalker Leviathan Mastery: Hibernate
• Blaster/Scrapper/Stalker Mace Mastery: Summon Spiderlings
• Corruptor/Defender Mace Mastery: Summon Disruptor (1 Disruptor; Training and Gadgets > Call Reinforcements summons 2 Disruptors)
• Brute/Tanker/Corruptor/Defender Mace Mastery: Focused Accuracy
• Mastermind Mace Mastery: Power Boost
• Arachnos Soldier/Arachnos Widow/Brute/Tanker/Blaster/Mastermind Mu Mastery: Electrifying Fences (AoE Electric Fence)
• Arachnos Soldier/Arachnos Widow/Brute/Tanker/Controller/Dominator/Scarpper/Stalker Mu Mastery: Ball Lightning
• Blaster/Controller/Dominator/Corruptor/Defender/Mastermind Mu Mastery: Charged Armor
• Controller/Dominator/Corruptor/Defender Mu Mastery: Power Sink
• Corruptor/Defender Mu Mastery: Conserve Power
• Mastermind Mu Mastery: Thunder Strike
• Scrapper/Stalker Mu Mastery: Mu Bolts (Lightning Bolt)
• Scrapper/Stalker Mu Mastery: Zapp
• Arachnos Soldier/Arachnos Widow/Brute/Tanker Soul Mastery: Gloom
• Arachnos Soldier/Arachnos Widow/Brute/Tanker/Blaster/Mastermind Soul Mastery: Soul Tentacles (Tenebrous Tentacles)
• Arachnos Soldier/Arachnos Widow/Brute/Tanker Soul Mastery: Darkest Night
• Blaster/Mastermind Soul Mastery: Night Fall
• Blaster/Mastermind/Controller/Dominator/Corruptor/Defender Soul Mastery: Dark Embrace
• Blaster/Mastermind Soul Mastery: Oppressive Gloom
• Controller/Dominator Soul Mastery: Dark Consumption
• Controller/Dominator/Corruptor/Defender Soul Mastery: Soul Drain
• Corruptor/Defender Soul Mastery: Power Boost
• Scrapper/Stalker Soul Mastery: Dark Blast
• Scrapper/Stalker Soul Mastery: Moonbeam

*raises hand*

Well, if I could log in to a character without having to use safe mode... (*kicks computer*)

And then there's 4 more classes for you to unlock later. *evil grin*

(And those four are almost split into further classes as you make power selections)