Mad Grim

Alrighty.

First of all, the changes to the T7 powers are not possible. Yes, it would be cool to have a beastly or ninja gang war, but the Cottage Rule would not allow it. Basically any power cannot have its base use changed. So rather you must improve the powers that already exist. Beast has a great T7, really, doesn't need changing. What they need is just a few more AoEs and some customization. Or rather, you could just change the Dire Wolf's PBAoE to be larger, stronger, and faster recharging to make up for the fact that it's the only good AoE they get.

Ninja T7 should just be made an AoE. Ninjas should also be given a minor Vengeance, so that the few ninjas you have the stronger they are. Also, currently their defense is more decoration than anything, it should be increased, especially on Genin. I can understand having no resistance, but they should have some defense to make up for it. Oh, and cusomization. I don't like the Oni's existence, it doesn't fit. However, you can't completely redo the powers hand in hand with customization, because that would create a link between alternate animations and stats which doesn't exist. Changing the animations in Mind Blast does not affect the powers, it would be similar for MMs if it ever happened. Most likely we'd wind up with an alternate "fire ninja", which I can tolerate. But before alternate forms, I'd like to be able to color them like Controllers can do with their pets.

Mercenaries need some help. The T7, Serum, is pretty lame. Making it an AoE and removing the crash would give Mercenaries the sort of defensive power that Beast has, but less sustainable and stronger. Make the Soldier's Full Auto a wider cone. Shorten the recharge on all of Spec Ops' support abilities by a ton. Take Flash Bang down to 35 seconds and increase the stun. Change Rifle Butt to the ranged stun in Assault Rifle so they run in less. Tear Gas should have a recharge of ~60 seconds and the damage debuff should last the same. Increase the damage on SCAR Snipe. Increase the Immob on Web Grenade so it can be perma without enhancements. If these guys are supposed to be the support then make them actually be support. Make their stealth actually useful, a strike from stealth should crit automatically and the run speed reduction should be removed entirely. Right now spec ops are pretty much lame.

Demons are fine, robots are fine, thugs are fine, necro is probably fine but reducing the recharge on the T7 wouldn't hurt.

As for robots getting treads... how would they jump? Rocket boosters? If the noise (and for demons too) really annoys you (doesn't bother me), I hear there are ways to remove sound files from the game so that you can't hear those specific sounds. A LOT of people did it for the Umbra Beast.

Right now I've not got the time, but later I'll try to do a reply that covers everything, and why quite a bit of it can't be done.

It has some synergy with Necro as well. Stacking -tohit is always nice.

The bonus staves aren't really vital anyhow. The original options weren't too limited, you had all the basic things you needed, as well as a few extras.

I can name my Oni Aku but I can't name my robot Borg. Its weird and random.

I really like most redside TFs and the ITF is great as well, but the victor has to be Mortimer Kal. It was also my very first TF. Which... kinda made all the other ones suck by comparison. Except ITF, that still wowed me the first time through.

Oh, yea, it might be auto-hit. I'm so used to Provoke, kind of forgot that some taunts auto-hit. In that case, a taunt duration would let you hold it a bit longer. With your global recharge the taunt is permanent, but with more duration you have a lot more wiggle room for not using it.

Yes, starting with fearsome stare, then following up with darkest night and tar patch will result in everything trembling in fear, and when they can move they won't actually be able to hit anything, and they themselves are getting hit with a lot more damage.

Can I ask what difficulty you play on?

Aha! So my KM/EA stalker is even more hax than I thought!

It'd be nigh impossible for a WoW killer to succeed unless WoW was already dead, in which case the MMO market would have been hit so severely that anyone trying to pitch a new one would be labeled insane.

Doesn't matter if other games are better, WoW is so ingrained that it'd take a pretty big chainsaw to remove it.

In the case of Antagonize, it doesn't really need anything, except maybe accuracy, when you have that level of recharge. You could probably just stick a common accuracy IO in there. You may not use it much, but when you do, you probably want it to hit.

Ageless does help endurance, yes, but... Clarion. Few things can ruin your day like a bad mez. You can do all sorts of things to avert it (enter with quantum flight, put in seekers first) but it'll still happen. I find mez to be far more infuriating than running out of endurance. Both render you unable to attack, but at least you can still flee with no endurance. So I'd say Clarion rather than Ageless.

He said he had a budget of 320mil, and also mentioned that he liked the survivability of the SO build. He doesn't appear to have taken Provoke, so that seems to rule out the want of a Tankermind.

I'd love to help with your build, but I'm not exactly a build guru. Especially when I don't know what to build for.

Have you considered that this system remains in place because it works?

Have you considered that your system could severely reduce the output of content?

There are many things to consider.

IO sets do make you more powerful, no one would deny that. You could build to give yourself massive amounts of recharge and ungodly amounts of defense.

Dehydrate is amazing. A self heal that also does good damage? Hard to skip. Mine is six slotted.

It is too bad that Wild Bastion's effects don't stick around for the duration of the buff. It'd make my mastermind look much more thematic.

Yes. Give me a Siberian Tiger. Now.

EDIT: as for female pets, that's easy for the ones with actual genders. Just make ninjas, thugs, and mercenaries act like Phantom Army: a chance for male or female, but for ninjas you should probably discount huge, because that wouldn't be stealthy.

My most exciting fight... that is a good question. Longest? Hardest? Those are easy. But most exciting? I'm afraid I'll have to think about this.

I'll get back to you in a few days.

I've got another one! Drink every time someone uses the word "strawman" to dismiss an entire argument.