Leo_G

Because I'm right and you're only occasionally right?

But I think it's because we're just both behind the new set. I'm...interested, too.

(not going to say excited because then it might get my hopes up)


I'm with ya. Why can't people just be happy to get new things? I love weapon sets but I was really happy when Kinetic Melee came out because I had the concept for such a martial-artist force manipulator/Invulnerable tanker a good while before they ever announced it.

And if you don't know, I don't make characters with repeat sets, so only 1 katana, 1 super reflex, 1 storm summoner, 1 fire melee...but these new sets are breaking that since their concepts are pretty versatile. I actually have 3 kinetic melees and 3 shield defense and I'll have 2 DP when Time Manipulation comes out (Hmmm, DP/TM/Psi corruptor or TM/DP/Psi defender...).

Keep your expectations low. I expect the animations to be goofy, none the less

Another aside, animations. As is, actual character animations seem to be hit and miss. Some people love the intense movements of certain weapon sets while others hate them and think they're too showy or flowery. Even the new non-weapon melee set people feel the animations are too much. So if we can't rely on animations to sell the set to more people, you have to work those power FX. And a big weapon counts as an FX here.

Which makes me wonder what carrying a huge crossing sign will look like with Ninja Run going...

Do costume parts get sound effects? If not, then we'd need it...

And? Did we not just get a non-weapon set? Kinetic Melee. And it fits lots of themes. So get your panties out of that twist. Sheesh.

Fire melee has attacks that do fire/smashing or fire/lethal. There is no set or powers, AFAIK, whose thematic damage mix is smashing/lethal. The only ones are M30 grenade and trip mine. I think LRM does too. Basically, an explosive trauma damage type.

But that doesn't quite matter since everything else you suggested have copied damage types as well.

First of all, NO ONE KNOWS WHAT DAMAGE TYPE THE SET DOES!

That out of the way, it wouldn't be farfetched for the set to do a mix of smashing and lethal damage as such a big weapon with its jagged/sharp points/edges could both crush and cut. And if an object is swung with enough force/speed, it doesn't matter how blunt it is, it can most likely pierce armor.

Thankfully, I still have characters I need to catch up on in the meantime. But I have 2, one a recreated/possessed version of my Shadow Stalker that is using a giant scythe instead of his normal throwing weapons. And then the other half of the Gemini Twins combo, one being a dual blades ninja and the other being a Titanic Weapon warrior who both compliment each other's power and strength. I'll just get the Stalker up in the meantime (lvl 38).

And if you thought the harping on about how slow Kinetic Melee is was bad, then a tier 9 that slow would be sunk by the complaints, especially by me. If my Katana swordmaster can't do that, someone with a retardidly heavy weapon *CANNOT* either.

I'd personally vote for a "non-chainable" tier 9 like Electrical Melee. Something like Claw's Focus crossed with Shield Charge. Heft up the weapon and smash it on the ground, creating a shockwave at your target that travels along the ground. Upon impact, it explodes into a PBAoE around the target. So Focus on <target> + Shield Charge on and around <target>.

That would seem to work with blunt weapons too. The other powers -2 would basically be your attack chain...but that's just my speculation

Arctic Air isn't affected by domination. It is a mag 3 confuse/slow/afraid toggle. So youre left with Chillblain, Block of Ice, Frostbite (which negates your biggest soft control), Flash Freeze (which negates your other big soft control) and Glacier.

I'd really call it 4.5 on the domination scale...4 if you consider the fact that Chillblain is a mag 4 immobilize and can immobilize bosses without help yet will cancel Ice Slick.

I don't really count the same issues for Earth Control since the AoE immobilize synergizes so well with the AoE stun.

Well firstly, Doms have primaries *AND* secondaries. With the changes to Energy Assault and the addition of Earth Assault, there are secondary controls that are affected by Domination too. But are we complaining that sets like Fiery Assault isn't affected by Domination while Earth basically gets an "I Win" with Seismic Smash.

Secondly, not all primaries are greatly affected by Domination either. Look at Ice Control. Your main soft control is Arctic Air and Ice Slick. What about the powers that are affected by domination? Looking at mainly the AoE sleep and Immobilize which negates your soft control.

Illusion might only have a hold, AoE hold and confuse that are affected by domination but it has more soft control that isn't negated by any of it. In fact, you'd almost consider it the 'Fiery Assault' of Dom primaries...but way more defensive.

Why ask for Illusion for Doms? Because I want a character that uses Illusions *AND* attacks.

First of all, this 'Titan Weapon' set isn't a 'sword set', it's a weapon set that could include smashy type attacks or bulky swords too. As for uniqueness in damage type, AFAIK, no set currently does both smashing and lethal damage. It's either or, not both, except for specific powers like Grenades and trip mines so that could be something new. Anyway, so why say 'four sword sets' when it's still only 3?

Secondly, I believe the devs are stepping away from the generic and doing more specific themes primarily because you can't do much with generic. An 'Earth support' set or a 'Psi Melee' set would have to fulfill a specific criteria to be such and adding anything new might affect the 'theme' such elements would bring along with them.

So forget about Earth Blast, Plant Melee, Illusion Support, so on and so forth. In the same vein as Kinetic Melee (which can be just as good for Psi Melee, Wind Melee, heck, even Illusion Melee), look for something like 'Dust Blast', 'Whip Assault', or something unlike what would 'fit' with basic themes. Why? Because when theses powers can encapsulate strange effects, they're more interesting and when they are thematically vague, that leaves the player room to come up with their own theme/explanation for the effects provided. Basically, you can have generic specific 'Earth Blast' or make something like 'Dust Blast' which could work for wind type abilities, sand type abilities, illusion type abilities, smoke type abilities, and any other stuff that would work with the visuals.

It's more about what you can do with the visuals rather than filling out a theme of related powersets.

Nope, it should be the character circling it by the wrist (one handed) for momentum then smashing down (using both hands) with some screen-shake.

Just to make a point, I've been wanting it way longer. He's just made more 5 page posts talking about it.

And if Stalkers get shafted for this option, I will be peeved. I need a big honking scythe, damn it!

Well, the idea I proposed was just that: an idea. And it was an idea, *specifically* conceived to *not* be a rez "like those other sets". You tell me where I said give Regen Fire Aura's rez, because I know I didn't. I simply pointed to the data of how lacking Regen's rez is by comparison. And for what purpose does it lag behind? So I propose something different, a *short* untargetable phase and your clicks back, to fit the motif better (IMO) than just 15sec of untouchable.

I can see the idea being quite powerful. But more powerful than the other rezzes within the context of their set? It's certainly not an EB stunner or a nuke with a phase of not being able to die...so I think, perhaps limiting the insta-recharge to just Dull Pain and Reconstruction or maybe just MoG...

That said, the way the tier 9 rezzes seem to be represented by yourself really seems to downplay the advantages of the sets. FA can be built to have some solid resists, a fast heal and a near-broken AoE that makes the set ideal for farming and fast kills. Dark Armor doesn't *need* a tier 9 to be practically unkillable. They get the rezzes *on top* of their already solid performance and it's definitely not a drawback or anything.

Looking at regen and there might be room for improvement over all, and not just the rez, which simply is a mediocre/subpar ability compared to even the *TEMP POWER* Resuscitation.

Who said anything about trading it in for something else?

...with a set whose tier 9 last 15 seconds.

Well, looking at the numbers (Scrapper):

Soul Transfer = 20% HP per target (I think), 30% END per target returned and a *MAG 30* 12sec stun on top of 15 sec of untouchability. You can probably enhance that to a 20sec stun if you want.

Rise of the Phoenix = 50% HP and 50% END returned, a mag 4 15 sec stun, mag 8 KB, 15 sec of untouchability and 333 fire dmg! Base! For reference, Lightning Rod/SC do 290 dmg base....and RotP has a bigger radius.

Resurgence = 80% HP and 50% END returned as well as a 28% dmg buff, +21% ToHit, +200% recovery and +100% rech for 90sec.

The thing about self-rezzes are, they usually have a bit of overpoweredness to them because they require you to die. But they fulfill the set's theme very well. Even with just untouchability added to Revive, I'd still find it underpowered compared to the others. If I died on my Regen, it's most likely because I didn't have any clicks left so 10-15sec of untouchability would basically amount to 'Toggle Ninja Run > Get out of there!' which I guess is much better than what we have but it still sux compared to Rise of the Phoenix or even Resurgence.

Seriously, I'm wondering if my idea is balanced. You know, the one with revive that basically recharges all your regen clicks.

The way I see it, Revive wouldn't make you untouchable (because then you'd still be able to attack) but rather 'untargetable' and/or 'phased' in an 'Only Affecting Self' period for 3-5 seconds. The enemies would basically be able to turn and watch you get up, but merely witness the revival. This gives you just enough time to activate Integration and then queue up a click. Not only that but, if you fought to the last click but still died, now all your clicks would be available again for round two. No longer would you have to stop and wait for one of your clicks to recharge before pressing Revive.

If the contact was Flower Knight, I'd make sense. Just sayin'

Right. Now turn that accusation of not reading around and look back at the suggestion of turning off those informative contact aids based on vet rewards and leaving half of the parental/guardian situation in the dark.

See?

Well I never made the argument Regen couldn't regenerate faster than the other sets with 0 endurance, that was you that brought the part of "well do any armor sets function thematically with no endurance?" which wasn't really my point.

Then it kind of ignores that Regen most likely wants near topped off HP before starting a fight, which is kind of the function of that quick downtime reduction. One doesn't need to always start a fight at full when you're WP, SR, Dark, Elec, etc.

But then if Regen's theme isn't lower downtime (that's the only way I rationalize Regen's lackluster mitigation on a Stalker with its low HP/HP cap that tends to slash Dull Pain at the kneecaps then stabs and twists the knife with regards to the regen buffs the set touts as a whole), what is it? To just heal fast? Well I can say, without inspirations and set bonuses, it doesn't heal fast enough (or the healing powers don't recharge fast enough) to compete with regular builds that can take on higher than normal difficulty content.

Or am I off base there? I can easily run certain characters (Dark, Electric, SR, Energy) at at least +1/x3 without popping inspirations constantly and just basic 30/35 IOs. Regen is a lot different. Hit and run tend to be his defense (or hiding behind obstacles), inspirations are his blood and anything that stops him from running and debuffs his endurance tend to screw him completely. If I'm glued or slowed, I can't slow damage enough and those slows tend to come with recharge debuffs.

Maybe I'm just not building him right. As an Elec/Regen stalker, my tactics can usually compensate, but it's still particularly harder compared to, say, my DM/WP or my Spines/DA who are simply too hard to take down or disrupt enemy attacks. For the regen, it's basically hit hard and, if you're not completely dead, click something and keep going. If you *are* dead, hopefully you were on your toes and now around a corner for Revive.

But I've gone on a tangent...I was meaning to link back to my previous argument. As is, slows, -rech, -regen and pretty much every debuff that un-does my inspirations neuters my /Regen. For my /DA, it's mainly just -ToHit and for my WP...hmm, I just don't recall being bothered too much by debuffs...even dying isn't so bad for him...

Well, you can either cope or not play it. Because this most likely won't change.

A more complete answer would need to delve into the mechanics of the set itself.

Scrapper Dark Armor running its costlier toggles (not slotted for end redux) = Dark Embrace (.208 end/sec) + Death Shroud (.52 end/sec) + Murky Cloud (.208 end/sec) + Obsidian Shield (.208 end/sec) + Cloak of Darkness (.26 end/sec) + Cloak of Fear (.52 end/sec) = 1.92 end/sec.

Stalker DA doesn't run most of those = Hide (0 end/sec) + Dark Embrace + Murky Cloud + Obsidian Shield + Cloak of Fear = 1.14 end/sec. It's much cheaper.

Compared to Super Reflexes = Hide + Focused Fighting (.26 end/sec) + Focused Senses (same) + Evasion (same) + Practiced Brawler (endurance/duration = 10.4/120 = .086 end/sec if you don't stack it) = .87 end/sec.

Just toggle-wise, DA isn't that expensive (it could be even cheaper if you choose Oppressive gloom instead of CoF; .7 end/sec vs the above 1.14 end/sec) compared to other armors. What is actually the culprit for DA's endurance-hog title is Dark regeneration which costs 33 endurance (or 1/3 of your endurance bar). So you just need to overcome Dark Regeneration's costs.

If you choose Cloak of Fear (I recommend it, it works nicely and debuffs) frankenslotting it for accuracy, endurance and either fear or ToHit debuff and it easily pays for itself. Overcoming Dark Regen's cost is more difficult. The theft of essence +end proc can offset the cost of using it (maybe even get you a bit of endurance back if you reduce the cost enough) but what you really need to do is make it so you simply use it less. I found on my Spines/DA stalker that it pained me to need to use this power constantly when it recharged. Things hit you, you heal it back and repeat. The fear and -ToHit of CoF will stop minions from pounding on your and debuff bosses so they hit you less. Couple this with defense bonuses and the +end proc, and his problems were solved. I never have to calculate if using dark regen will slow me down too much because I only need to use it when my HP dips which isn't constantly.

Yes you can use the +recovery uniques but you still need to offset DR's use otherwise you'll still need to be clicking it and constantly draining your endurance. If you choose a primary with stuns (MA, Kinetic, EM, Elec) Oppressive Gloom will slow down damage. Dark Melee has a fear/-ToHit power to stack with CoF and if you have neither fear or stun, there's always the Presence pool. The ST fear + CoF will keep a boss + minions busy after you take out the Lt. Slap some defense on that and you can practically take any spawn with minimal cost.