MonkeySpirit

The Lost Curing Wand disappears and is lost forever as soon as you finish the Montague Castanella arc, even though the wand will usually have a whole lot of charges left.

Why? It's one of the coolest-looking temp powers and looks amazingly well on magic-origin characters who aren't yet allowed to weild other wands than the Blackwand.

My suggestion is to let us keep the temp power after the mission is over. I for one wouldn't even use it to get rid of Lost, but just redraw it constantly without any target just for the coolness factor.

Is this possible? C'mon Midnighters, gimme back my wand! I worked so hard to craft it!

Also, let us have a Lost Depowering Wand redside!

I'm surprised noone has pointed towards Granado Espada's Musketeers and their Bloody Overdrive finisher. Perfect dual-pistol nova right there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBO8qQ_mE0s

I read through your Air Control thread and wasn't all that impressed.

My grav/storm is supposed to be air/storm. I just explain the transparent ripples as controlling air pressure to crush and immobilize the foes. I have your "Updraft" power in Lift and I call my Wormhole "Air Funnel". I don't really need we need that one.

Just give us an Awesome Button. A click power that isn't affected by recharge and only comes up every ten minutes. When you use it, your Defender starts shining with a PBAoE buff that's a team rez, frees from mezzes, grants Personal Force Field level defense and provides the equivalent of Power Build Up for the team. For a duration of ten seconds. Just enough to save the team whatever's happened. Call it "Inner Strength" or something.

Also, keep Vigilance and add the Defender's own HP to the equation.

I couple of months ago I suggested a Whip Control powerset:

Ouch, I'm trying to bend my mind around the concept of taking Superspeed on my Empath. Metempsyche has this shamanistic mojo going on, and the ability to levitate really fits the character. He would also look horrible with the raptor pack on his back whenever there's a wall. I'll consider it if it really is The Only Way™, though. Can't I just drop Mass Hypnosis and push everything back instead? I'd be getting Stamina my level 38 that way.

By the way, what's a defebcer? I've seen the term thrown around, but I may not have lurked enough.

I like AP, too, it's the only healing that has any noticeable effect on tankers. It also cost barely any endurance, so I can use it when I make a mistake and stop paying attention to my endurance for a second. Playing my PainDom MM has taught me the wonders of +regen when you can't heal yourself, which I can give myself with the other RA.

Thanks for the answers!

I wanted to discuss the need for Stamina on Empaths, since they basically carry an endurance fountain in their pockets.

There was a similar thread on the need for Stamina on Kineticists, but it came to the conclusion that Stamina lowers downtime for them, since they often find themselves out of endurance by the time the fight's over and there are no enemies around to steal from.

I currently have an Emp/Psi at level 32. After coming to the conclusion that Empathy was basically "Health Blast" in the lower levels (two ST attacks and an AoE, green numbers instead of orange), I decided the character's gameplay felt very fast-paced and aggressive and decided to load up on the offensive.

This means that, while everyone was spending their teens getting muted powers out of the Fitness pool, I got and spammed Psychic Scream (dropping recharge on whole mobs) and had my own version of Stamina, Recovery Aura, by level 18, followed by Hasten to speed up its recharge, and TK Blast (so much fun to just push stuff away from my poor squishies). I also started taking pride in not being a "Pure Empath" or a "Healer", since I really did a lot of stuff besides healing and have to date never put Healing Aura on auto.

Now at level 32, though, I notice my playstyle has become very conditioned by RecAura. While the Fortify Cycle reigns supreme (why don't other emps keep 3 people fort'ed at all times?), I find myself with a character that feels a lot like a Dominator with their Jeckyll'n'Hyde syndrome: I'll open fights with Psi Tornado and Psi Scream and force myself to focus on support, but whenever RA is up, I'll start singing "It's Blasting Time!" (Flight of the Conchords), and use my single target chain like there's no tomorrow.

Trouble is, I'm not satisfied. Knowing the fun that I get from blasting, I want to be doing it all the time, and not just when the Awesome Button is up. Another problem is the high endurance cost of RA, which I'm going to be reducing by slotting, that often prevents actual use of the Awesome Button when I want to.

Seeing as how next level I'm getting Swift from the Fitness pool, since it's such a great utility power, it's very tempting to just sacrifice two powers and go over to the lazy side of the force instead of using a power out of my primary like it's meant to be used. So I thought I'd ask you guys about your opinions and input.

Anyway, here's my planned build. Thanks a lot in advance!

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Metempsyche: Level 48 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Empathy
Secondary Power Set: Psychic Blast
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Psychic Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Healing Aura -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Mental Blast -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Heal Other -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Absorb Pain -- Empty(A)
Level 6: Resurrect -- Empty(A)
Level 8: Hover -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Psychic Scream -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Fortitude -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Fly -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Clear Mind -- Empty(A)
Level 18: Recovery Aura -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Hasten -- Empty(A)
Level 22: Telekinetic Blast -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Will Domination -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Regeneration Aura -- Empty(A)
Level 28: Psionic Tornado -- Empty(A)
Level 30: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 32: Adrenalin Boost -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Scramble Thoughts -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Assault -- Empty(A)
Level 41: Dominate -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Mass Hypnosis -- Empty(A)
Level 47: Psychic Wail -- Empty(A)
Level 49: Mind Over Body -- Empty(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance

Hey guys. I was wondering: am I the only one who has trouble seeing his Tornado most of the time? It's small and transparent and among all the damage ticks my grav/storm does, I can barely tell where the dust devil is.

Could we please get a graphical update for it? Just use the Water Spout or Scirocco's cute little sand storms in a different color. It would make the power all that more impressive!

I have exactly this same issue. It's resulted in a tendency to be unable to grab the enhancement I need.

So I should focus on using it on Controllers and other Defenders, with the odd Scrapper thrown in?

Is there any place where I can find this information?

But does it work well on defenders? I wasn't overwhelmed by the speed duration as a Dominator. It sure does seem to have more utility than Siren's Song, but you get the Song at 28, as opposed to 41.

I had another question: Heals are calculated using the caster's max hp. Does that mean that by using Frostwork on an Empath, I am buffing his heals?

But the thing is, the founder of the Carnival was not a mutant, she was a psionic. Dimitri Krylov says there are no mutants before 1938 and Sister Psyche says psionics are something different from mutants and have always existed. It fits.

And as to the blood of Mu, it's true that magic wasn't locked up in the Well. But it also seems that there were no significant magical going-ons until the Well opened, apart from the first contact with the Circle of Thorns. The Midnight Squad didn't form until 1920, two years after Statesman opened the Well, at the same time that the Circle of Thorns took the streets and started doing rituals again.

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/unsigned.

It's [censored] to lose your powers when you are crowd controlled, let alone have them backfiring at you.

While I would endorse traps and the ability for you to lose powers in specific zones or parts of zones, I believe this is too much particularly for PvP. I also believe it would be a nightmare to balance in PvE with all the existing NPCs villain/hero powers.

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But you never actually lose your powers. The mechanics of the powerset as I've described them are basically a set of resistance buffs. There are some direct debuffs to damage that only cover two elements at once at most, and there is a debuff to secondray effects, which could be balanced by giving it a short duration. The only truly new mechanic is the Backfiring, and that's meant to be a on a long recharge timer, meant to be used on difficult AVs to turn the tide. In the end it has the same effect as a confuse, but can be used when there's only one enemy left. What's difficult to balance?

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Rename to to Nullifier and its gets my seal of approval. 'Anti' has to my mind a rather negative aspect to it. Anti-Paladin, Anti-Christ... etc

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Perfectly fine by me, I just want the idea to be toyed about.

So can I join this SG/team, whatever it is? I sure would like to level one of my Union characters.

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you are forgetting one very important fact, not all naturals are human.
there are plenty of naturals who have there power by race them self, so this anti-power has no effect on them.

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This actually brings up a good point. The Well of Furies seems to be the source for all superpowered humans, be they powerful Mu-descendants, psionics, these new mutants, or fighters that have made use of the extra potential granted by the Well. However, Kheldians for example have been superpowered energy beings for millennia without any connection to the Well. Extraterrestrials would truly be exempt from the Well, unless there are other Wells on other planets...

Loving this discussion.

Have you done the Ashley McKnight "Origin of Power" arc villainside? Or looked into Aeon's research on power proliferation? Inside the canon, the storytellers are going out of their way to say that yes, both Tech and Natural are both as valid Origins as the others and that all powers have a common source.

Your normal character still has the Charles Atlas Superpower, the power to improve oneself through training up to unimagined levels. This power, in the game canon, proably comes from the Well of Furies. The scientist who created the Tech device that gives your your Technology powers got the flash of inspiration thanks to the Well of Furies, since the Well raised the speed at which science develops.

On the case of Tech Origins, the technology your hero wields most of the time are things that would be outright impossible in real life. Anti-power extends an aura of normalcy that only allows possible things to happen.

They also don't live in the CoH universe. All the Well did was raise the level cap of humanity, so to speak. Regular humans stayed the same level, but suddenly had the ability to go farther if the tried. Most humans don't try and stay at hapless citizen level. Your natural origin character starts training and enters the new power space provided by the Well.

What do you mean with "people whose grandfathers weren't born yet"? People right now are still getting superpowers because the Well of Furies is still unlocked. The Well is the fountain of all power, and is not really considered "magic". Magic-users in the game are people who have inherited the blood of Mu and the ability to practise the magic arts discovered by the Entities long ago.

I'm guessing the Well provides inspiration to scientists for super-technology and gives humans the extra 'oomph' and badassness they need to endure the training they submit themselves to in order to master martial arts or one of the weapon powersets.

Spoilers ahead:


Doesn't the in-game canon kind of say that Natural and Tech origin superpowers are also mystically related to the other origins? All superpowers were unlocked when the Well of Furies was opened by Statesman and Recluse, including superhuman self-training and super-technological breakthroughs. Magic was suddenly strong again, Mutants all started being born at the same time and people started surviving freak scientific experiments rather than dying instead.

After the Age of Greek Heores was over and the Well was selaed, there were only weak magicians and the odd psionicist. The CoX universe has made psi-powers inherent to Natural origin, with the inclusion of Fortunatas, the PPD Psi-Division and the explanation of Sister Psyche during the "Origin" arc. It seems her only mutation is the mind-riding, the rest of psi-powers are inherent to any human who is willing to train.

Anti-Power is just that, the power to cut reduce the inflow of power from your Origin.



End spoilers.


As to the graphic animations, I'd like to see solid colored rings that clearly mark the extent of the anti-powers:

A psionic-pink ring orbiting around the heads for Inner Balance, a white ring around the chest for Outer Normalcy, for example. Or two huge rings in orange and blue with some fire and ice effects for Stabilize Temperature, like the ice and fire are trying to get in but can't. Large black and white rings with eclectric sparks in both colors for Equalize Energies... Something classy and easy to see but simple, since anti-power is supposed to be an absence of power.

I got the idea for this one after doing the Midnighter Arc for the umpteenth time. I was thinking how unfair it is that they take the pretty wand away from us despite the remaining charges and how neat it was to be able to remove the evil superopowers from the Lost. And then I remembered that boy in the X-Men 3 movie who could nullify others' powers and hey, presto! The Anti-Power support powerset for Defenders, Controllers, Corruptors and/or Masterminds was born:

You have the ability to negate the superpowers of those around. Whatever their origin, your anti-power can give your foes the taste of weakness and frailty of their victims!

Tier 1: Outer Normalcy - You can watch over your teammates and reduce any outside force that would wish them harm.

An ally buff with fast recharge like the FF bubbles. Decent Resistance and some Defense against Smashing and Lethal.

Tier 2: Prevent Escape - You can nullify any travel powers used by the enemy and prevent their escape.

An anchored debuff like Darkest Night. Enemies around the anchor get -recharge, -speed, -jump, -fly, -teleport and may be immobilized for a short time.

Tier 3: Inner Balance - You can protect the bodies and minds of your teammates from any inside threats.

The second ally buff. This gives Resistance against Psionics and Toxic damage, and provides mez resistance. The difference with other Clear Mind clones is that it lasts for the same 2 minutes as a regular buff.

Tier 4: Equalize Energies - You can project an aura of normality around you that protects the fabric of reality. Enemies will find it very hard to exercise control over energy and negative energy powers, and incoming attacks will see their effectiveness reduced. Cannot be used with "Stabilize Temperature" (see below).

A PBAoE toggle aura, like Dispersion Bubble. Allies in the field get Resistance to Energy and Negative Energy, and at the same time, enemies inside the aura get -damage to energy attacks.

Tier 5: Stabilize Temperature - Your mere presence has a soothing effect on nature, whose forces become much harder to harness. Enemies will find it very hard to alter temperature and use fire and cold powers, and incoming attacks will see their effectiveness reduced. Cannot be used with "Equalize Energies" (see above).

The other big toggle PBAoE. Works like the other one and you can only have one active at the same time.

Tier 6: Ignore Defenses - You can give enemies around you a taste of vulnerability by defusing their superpowered defense mechanisms.

A PBAoE debuff to defense, resistance and regeneration. Think of Anguishing cry with -regen tacked on.

Tier 7: Seal Powers - By focussing your anti-powers on a single enemy, you can completely remove anything "super" around him. He won't be able to affect you, but the effects of your allies' powers on him will also be cancelled.

A cage power, basically. I'm starting to think this may be a tinge similar to sonic resonance.

Tier 8: Reduce Threat - You have learned to use anti-power in its broadest sense. You can severely reduce all the effects of your enemies' attacks by focussing your attention on them.

An anti-Power Boost, providing the same -special effects on heals/controls/buffs etc that benumb does but cast in a cone AoE.

Tier 9: Backfire - By mastering anti-power, you have learned how to cut off an enemy from controlling his powers and effectively turn his powers back on him.

The jewel of the set. Makes it so that all powers use by the victim will automatically target him. Like confuse, only he hits himself instead of his buddies.



So, what do you guys think? Would this be plausible?

I'm still wondering how the effect animations would look.

I took dominate. The pose where they're clutching their heads is very fitting. It's what you'd do if you'd heard a terrible noise, too.