Leo_G

If I can't name a set 'Death Scythe' or 'Bloody Spear' when we've got sets called 'War Mace' and 'Battle Axe', then you can't make a set with the word 'tech' in it

...now I'll read the post....

Okay, I've been playing my Inv/KM tanker in Preatoria and loving it. So far, the animations for the attacks seem fitting for him (and I had the concept for my Kung Fu kineticist for years!). The only thing that is needed to make him a perfect simulation of what I imagined are a few animations (that and he needs a long braided ponytail that goes halfway down his back >_<):

1. Walk pose - Hands behind back. The way he stands, unless he's fighting, is he keeps his hands behind him all relaxed-like. The 'atease' emote works for that...but It would be awesome if he could 'walk' in that pose. And it's be the easiest thing in the world to add! Besides the 'hands behind back' walk pose, you can have a 'leg limp' and 'hold shoulder' walk pose to emulate being hurt, 'zombie shuffle' just 'cause and 'seething breath' walk pose which would be your standard "I'm pissed! And I'm coming toward you!...slowly!" pose.

2. Taunt - One arm behind back, other hand out motioning to come. That, and other emotes that would also be fitting. Maybe an emote that isn't so much a 'hey, I'm talkin' to you' type deal and more a 'holy crap! look at this bright shiny thing!' deal.

I would love you forever if you added those ^^ and if you give me a melee/support AT, I'd just die of delight

Not asking to be defended (I don't need to be, in this case, because I don't even play any Khelds...I don't have a-one on any of my servers). But the general uptightedness I've experienced in the past is why I generally keep my rping to forum threads. When people turn up their noses in disgust, it draw people *away* from RPing. I guess if you've got your little clique to play with, it doesn't really ever matter how it affects the reputation of such players as a whole.

And now I'm reminded...I don't have any characters on Virtue...well, I just rolled up an old character I thought up that used a Kinetic fighting style...now that we have it, I actually did roll him up on Virtue but now I'm pondering just transfering him somewhere else.

I hear a lot of requests for 2-handed Broadsword attacks.

How about 1-handed Katana too? An Iaijutsu style where the weapon stays at the hip, being quickly drawn to slice the enemy then just as quickly, returned back to the hip.

And a fencing style either added to BS, Katana or both! Anything, as long as you don't bother making *another* sword set. I love swords but I think 3 is a bit excessive.

Where is this 'RP pet peeves' thread? Sounds like an interesting read. But honestly, all the examples you posted are perfectly fine and are even supported by the game. You can color radiation in a number of ways to get different effects, or a human form PB (or just a shape-shifter that happens to have the honorary title of Peacebringer) and I'd hazard to say Nightwidows *are* ninjas...they just wear funky helmets and have butt-capes. My werewolf brute uses his sharp nails as claws, and colored the claws 'bone' to give it a better look. In those regard, I think the devs are working really really hard to try and broaden the scope of concepts they can cover. They *want* you to make up stuff and be creative. It's part of why they keep asking the community for input.

Hey, OP! I think your suggestion deserves discussion. Honestly, it's something that has been brought up before but its possible effects, implementation and such are still rather iffy. Actually, I would have sworn I read somewhere the devs were actually thinking of introducing a type of "non-combat attribute" or some such mechanic but ended up setting with Day jobs...

Now, proposal time!

First off, I'd be worried about having too much of this affecting combat directly (i.e. picking up objects and hitting people with them to deal damage) mainly because I wouldn't want there to be only 1 way people use the system and dubbing there only 1 right choice. That said, my idea (obviously taken from bits and pieces of things people have said thus far with some stuff of my own added) would be something called:

Power Skills and Attributes
What are power skills and attributes? Basically, options accessed through right-click menus. These options would become available after allocating points you naturally receive to a list of skills.

What are these list of skills? Exactly what it sounds like. From the ability to aid civilians by healing them to lifting obstructions out of the way so civilians can escape safely.

How does one obtain such skills? They'd be available to everyone, non-dependent on power choices although powers (and possibly origin) might help these skills come along sooner. All you have to do is choose to place the right amount of 'points' in the skill and the option would be available.

Which brings up the points itself. I'm not sure exactly how you'd get the points (either through experience acquisition, obtained by level similar to slots, missions, etc.) but you should actually have *more* points than you can spend (i.e., you can only spend x points freely every odd level).

An example: Inv/Super Strength Tanker, Ice/Empathy Controller and Dark/Psionic Defender.
-At level 1, each has 2 points (arbitrary number) to spend on a power skill. They can save them for another time/use for a specific skill, or use them. All 3 want the ability to have superior 'Applied Strength'. 'Applied Strength' is a power skill that gives you the ability to carry civilians to safety, hold up heavy objects or move them out of the way and such...so all 3 put their points in 'Applied Strength: Carry' (the 1st skill in that skill pool which gives them the ability to pick up kidnap victims and carry them to safety).
-At level 2, they are given 4 points...but you can only freely place the points on odd levels. The defender and controller cannot place any points in applied strength at this point but the tanker can allocate 2 points in 'Applied Strength: Carry+1' (while carry allows you to take a victim to the exit at your own pace, your speed will be reduced, but Carry+1 lets you move unimpeded) because he chose the power 'Jab' which is flagged for 'Applied Strength'. If the Tanker chooses another SS power at lvl 2, he can allocate his other 2 points in 'Applied Strength'!
-At level 3, they all get another 4 points. They all put 2 points in Applied Strength (Carry+1 for the defender/controller; Lift for the Tanker, which allows you to move obstructions to save trapped victims).
-Later in levels, the Tanker has probably maxed out 'Applied Strength' by around lvl 17 if he took enough SS powers and placed his points in only that skill. The defender, might get along a tad bit faster because, in Psychic Blast, the powers 'Telekinetic Blast', 'Psionic Tornado' and 'Subdue' are all flagged with 'Applied Strength' to give him the opportunity to allocate more points there. The Controller, however, would have a while to fully max out that power skill as no powers in Ice Control or Empathy are flagged as 'Applied Strength'.

Basically, certain powers will 'help' you with certain power skills, similarly like a Corruptor has the 'help' of having his blasts in his primary and can therefore get his blasts with slots in them sooner...but the Defender and Corruptor will both have the option to take any or all of their blasts and maximum slots in them.

How hard is it to get these skills? How many can I obtain on one character? I'd say, one character can generalize in many possible skills, from strength, to diplomacy and infiltration. However, there would be bonuses/extras for those that specialize in a few skills. It'd also cost more to get to the higher skill options like 'Applied Strength: Group Carry+1' and 'Elements: Construct Earth Obstacle+2'.

Well, how important are these 'Power Skills'? A bonus but never required to complete a mission. Like was stated in the thread earlier, perhaps bonus xp for each victim healed/saved from various situations or a piece of salvage from a terminal you short circuit or an inspiration drop from a kidnap victim. Possibly, having combat effects might work but I'd be weary about adding too many, like using the 'Elements: Construct Ice Obstacle' being able to create a wall of ice to slow down an ambush, forcing them to destroy the wall before proceeding.

Some ideas for possible skill pool for my idea are:
-'Elements' = This covers all the elements of fire, ice, earth and lightning. Such fields of specialty within this pool are 'Extinguish Flame', 'Cease Tremor', 'Construct Ice/Earth/Fire obstacle', 'Cold Mend/Heat Mend' and 'Generate Charge'.

-'Diplomacy' = I'd imagine this would aid in certain missions where a group of one enemy is fighting another on a map. You can use 'Negotiate' to turn one faction from enemy to ally, 'Persuade' which may coax certain enemies to help you within a mission or simply talk the enemy into turning himself in.

-'Infiltration' = Skills specifically aimed at disabling security systems and traps, turning off cameras or even shutting out the lights so a portion of the map is shrouded in an area of darkness that causes -perception in your enemies.

-'Tech Use' = Disabling/enabling certain machines might give you and your team certain advantages, like activating a Metabolism enhancing machines might cast Adrenaline boost on you and allies within range or stop a force field generator from buffing an enemy within a room.


Anyway, I got more ideas but I'm out of time. Thoughts?

So much flaming...from what I read of the OP, at least he wasn't acting like a d*** about the suggestion, which should lay down the base of a discussion...

That said, the idea of never missing? To always land a % chance of damage? No. I can't agree with that. Because, no matter how awesome a hero is, there will always be an awesomer enemy to face that can evade/block them. If there wasn't, then that hero is boring. Superman is bad enough, but at least he has kryptonite...and even without kryptonite, there are still enemies that can and will clean his clock or thwart his attacks.

The whole 'graze' mechanic? That's another story. I think there might be room, somewhere in the formulas, for a possibility that, instead of completely missing or completely hitting, the attack 'grazes' or 'partially penetrates' resulting in 0%-20% of the base damage of an attack.

Because, as is, it's not fair in my eyes that defense can simply circumvent attacks while resist *must* deal with it and all the baggage of the attack. And when I say baggage, I mean the controls/debuffs. Resist sets don't get to shrug off those extra effects as easily.

So having the possibility that, instead of an attack missing completely, it does 0 dmg but still applies its debuff seems totally fair, IMO. Balance that out by, occasionally, having attacks that *do* get past your defense to do a fraction of its normal damage.

Retrospectively thinking, I always thought Stalkers should have been the most accurate of the ATs. They're always looming unseen and wait for the enemy to have their pants down before blowing their torso apart (to assure the attack would land). Outside of snipes and purely accurate theme sets (thinking Archery, mainly), everyone shouldn't have had 95% chance to hit outside of extreme slotting and a couple of buffs...even on even-cons.

That is, with the exception of Stalkers. Of the ATs, it should have been the most inherently accurate...and that should actually matter. Coming out of hide, it'd have been nice to get a nice ToHit bonus (slottable of course) that suppresses with the defense as well as a higher mod for ToHit buffs than any of the melee/dmg ATs (kind of like how Scrappers get a 100% dmg buff from BU while the other melees get 80%, Stalker should have gotten a 25% ToHit buff while the others get 15%).

However, with seeing how little utility -def and +ToHit provide, it wouldn't really help the Stalker's case, at this point.

.......

Looking to the future, really, I don't see there being any danger in the longevity of Stalkers. Of all ATs, it fits the 'Thief' fantasy role better than any other AT (a stealthing brute or scrapper cannot do what a Stalker can, no...) and since there will always be fans of the 'thief/rogue/ninja', there will always be people playing the AT. But I could imagine, since there are so many concerned with the usefulness of the AT, some additions/tweeks to the AT to make it more attractive in team play.

Damage-
Honestly, people think that, since the AT is the least survivable, it should have the most damage. Well, the Rouge probably didn't outdamage all other classes but was most likely competitive, which is good enough for Stalkers. You can keep the damage mods, the scaling team crit radius, BU numbers where they're at. They get the job done, IMO. But if I wanted my damage improved, I'd look for bonus crit damage. That is, I want *my* crits to *hurt*. Along with the scaling +% crits with allies nearby, I think it'd be cool to have a +.05x crit damage per teammate stacking, at max, to 2.4x damage on a crit rather than the normal 2.0x damage on crit.

Utility-
Few people bother looking to add this to a Stalker when, IMO, it's what the AT needs. More damage just makes it *the* choice for damage over another damage AT which does no favors for the other damage dealers. I want to look at the Stalker like I do at the dominator. When I see a dom lft, I will grab them up. Their control is phenomenal and a great asset to a team (mostly because of the rarity of doms). Stalkers aren't that common either but, if it had something others couldn't get, I'd scoop them up just like I do doms, even if there is a better option for damage.

Debuffs: Demoralize is good. Can we get it to last longer? Can we not keep taking shots at the enemy's moral in some way? A mechanic to 'reactivate' the effect through specific yet natural progression of combat?
-Adding more debuffs to the AT and giving them better mods would be cool too.
Controls: Again, Demoralize helps a bit. Can we get something to make it better? To add to it using combat?
-Giving Stalkers naturally better controls than the other melees would give them a niche but would probably augment solo play too much.

Extras:
-Inquisition: Now that we've got the ability to see where the last enemies or objectives on the map are located, perhaps after a successful AS (at any point in the mission), the stalker gets a chance to reveal mission objectives, enemies on the map nearby, etc. No need to go exploring to find the stuff, the Stalker simply has the ability to drill that information from nearby enemies at the start.
-Flank Maneuver: Not sure how or what, but I always like the option to turn the tables on ambush and patrol mobs. Since they're both so prevalent in missions, giving Stalkers the ability to make them vulnerable would be an interesting mechanic and this or the above would be oh-so thematic.

I just feel like elaborating on the suggestions that I made so you kinda know where I'm coming from. By no means am I requesting all this exactly (as I'm just brainstorming without thinking of animation times too thoroughly)

Super Strength:
-When I say kick animations, I'm *really* looking for a 'punt' animation. I can imagine a basic mid/side kick on some of the basic stuff like Jab or Punch but what I *really* want is like a 'reel back foot...*PUNT!*' type attack for either Hurl (concrete soccer, anyone?) or in Knockout Blow.
-I guess fancy martial arts kicks could fit but, honestly, I think it's outside the scope of the 'feel' of that set...at least anything fancy like Crippling Axe Kick or Storm Kick would just be too much flash.

Martial Arts:
-Lots of people don't like Crippling Axe Kick. I do but I understand where people are coming from. So another good animation for that attack is essential for the set. The uppercut for Cobra Strike is *GREAT*...now we need something as good for CAK.
-Better punching animations, I know everyone wants and will agree. What *I* want is a couple of more acrobatic animations. An Aerial Axe Kick, a double-footed drop kick with handspring recover...more stuff like Eagle's Claw...

Sonic Blasts:
-Hmm, a lot of people want this to shoot from the hand. Can we just go with one-handed sonic shots since a lot of players are thinking of using a sonic device to create such blasts? I know I do.

Spines:
-Give yourself a reason to revisit this set! You know you want to! The secondary effects are more than a bit much, the animation times are painfully long and for a melee set, its AoE vs ST dmg is out of whack! So if you've got the freedom to adjust the set more drastically, perhaps a suggestion for a drastically different approach to the visuals of the set: Poisoned Blades.

Barrage- First of all, the option to eliminate the costume obstructing effect. Just doing that would be great! For Barrage, if you switch out the 'claw' spines for hand-held knives/swords, you can create a sort of 'One Thousand Cut's' style attack.

Lunge- Basic flick of the wrist, knife from the sleeve and stab.

Spine Burst- Lurch forward while reaching to your belt with your hands/arms crossed. Then throw a handful of knives/throwing stars at those around you as you extend your arms out. No writhing animation, just a smooth throw.

Impale- If we're keeping the baseball pitch, just add a part at the start where you reach up your sleeve or to your belt and produce a knife then throw it with a spin.

Quills- Would actually be easy. Just have the character take a stance where he keeps his hands close to his belt with an invisible aura. If anyone steps within range and you succeed your ToHit roll, a visual of a knife flinging (perhaps with a curved trajectory) hitting the target. More hits = more knives seen.

Ripper- Actually works better using knives than spines.

Fling Spines- Again, actually works better with knives.

Assassin's Impaler- Once again, actually works better with a knife stab.

Thorny Assault- Is the reason why I thought such a customization could work. If you couldn't see the thorns sprouting from the body, it'd basically be 'Blade Assault' save for the Thorn Burst animation.

I've heard suggestions for alternate animations for the breath attacks that don't come from the mouth. I'd also suggest alternate animations for the rest of the attacks that *do* come from the mouth (i.e. shooting a fireball from the mouth, a focused breath of cold that freezes the foe in a block of ice, etc).

It'd be useful for any mutant/dragon/Naruto ninja characters people might be interested in making (I have a dragon like that who can shoot stuff out of his mouth. thankfully, he's a brute and he can use the 2 cones in the Mako pool for that part of his concept).

Animated faces (that open their mouths for such attacks) would be nice as well but not holding my breath (*nudge*)

Sorry that I derailed the thread into animation discussion but if you're looking to get CAK changed, might want to suggest it in the thread Castle made today.

Just a heads up...

Sonic Blast! That emanate from the hands!

Super Strength animations with kicks!

Varied styled Martial Arts kicks!

Non-coming-out-of-the-body Spines/Thorns! Ideally, replacing the 'spines' with thrown weapons like knives!