Oedipus_Tex
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Posts
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Hmm. Suggestions:
Faultine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC-2_jqFZdA
Calvin Scott: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqxQmRMX8cU
[It is my assumption that everyone in CoH either listens to Italo Disco or 80s pop rock, just because all songs on the radios in game are so rave-circa-2002 sounding.]
If we were being more serious about the kind of game music I'd like for the "real" game, maybe something like the "No Choir" version of this song I briefly considered purchasing for use in one of my own projects: http://www.musicloops.com/music_down...-heroes-12018/ -
Quote:Originally Posted by EvilGeko
It takes away the feel of the grind. It provides an opportunity for surprise. If you always do the same thing with the same outcome that's boring as heck. Here, you have some potential of a random run giving you a very rare. Depending on what's going on that could make your day.
What's also "boring as heck" is playing over and over and over and over and not getting the random prize. That isn't exciting and most certainly does not "take away the feel of the grind." It's a system that rewards you weeks of character advancement based on dumb luck. The equivalent would be enemies randomly dropping "XP capsules" that gave your toon 10 levels on the spot. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Schismatrix
That's my take on it as well. To be honest i was always surprised that Illusion wasn't given to Dominators since in the genre that City of Heroes is based on illusions are used by villains far more often than heroes. When Earth was given to Dominators i was surprised that it wasn't Illusion instead both for genre reasons and because, as Tex mentions, Earth and Illusion benefit just about equally from Domination.
Yes--to sidetrack the argument again for a second, I think all of the control sets benefit from Domination. They all do it a bit differently though.
For example, some people see the power count totals for Domination and conclude Mind is "the best" Dominator, but that's not exactly correct. Other considerations are how much the character benefits from mezz protection (Ice, Fire, Electric: a lot), and how frequently a key power hard mezz is available (Plant, Earth, Fire: a lot). Then there are the benefits of just being part of the Dominator AT at all and getting a powerset devoted specifically to damage (esp. Ice, Electric, Earth).
In essence, all of the Control sets play very differently on Dominators than they do on Controllers. Illusion would be no different here. This isn't to say it should or should not be ported, only that there isn't a hard and fast argument for why it should or shouldn't happen.
[As a further offshoot I will add that it is somehat alarming to me that some people say that if a set is good on Dominators or good on Controllers, its worse on the other AT. I think Doms and Controllers are too different from each other to pair side by side; Dominators being an offshoot of Blasters, and Controllers an offshoot of Defenders. The two ATs have about as much in common as Tankers do with Stalkers. They do share a powerset but the nature of the two ATs diverges from there.] -
Quote:Originally Posted by EmperorSteele
In regards to Illusion on Doms: uh, why?
You have no control at all. You have virtually no powers that would benefit from Domination in any meaningful way.
This is really not the case. The reason you would want an Illusion Dominator is the same reason you'd want a Dominator of any of the other Controller sets. Dominators and Controllers bear a passing resemblance to each other but in actuality are very different beasts.
Here are the numbers of powers that benefit from Domination on the existing sets after removing the immobilize powers:
[EDIT: Forgot Fire and Grav]
Mind - 8
Earth - 3 (but one is a sleep very few use)
Ice - 3 (but one is a sleep very few use)
Electric - 1.5 (because Synaptic can only dominate the first target)
Plant - 2
Fire - 3
Gravity - 3
Illusion - 3
Now if we want to say that being able to Dominate on an immob you can spam anyway is a critical asset for Dominators, we can do that, but I think most people will disagree. The fact is though that compared to Ice or Electric Control, Illusion has exactly as much meaningful AoE Domination potential (1 power each after removing Ice's LOLSleep), and more single target (2 powers to their one).
Illusion Dominators would be powerful as heck. In fact, outside of AVs, Illusion/Fire would be damn near unkillable and still kill AVs fast enough to be worth the trade off (see: Mind/Fire Dominators). I'm not sure whether its powerful enough to be "overpowered" but I can definitely see why people would want one. -
I would prefer to drop the entire "random reward" system and move to a purely currency-based one. If they want to put a voluntary random roll at the vendors that is fine.* That is exactly how merit awards work, and the reason they were made that way is that getting to the end of a major event and then "winning" a Pacing of the Turtle is kind of insulting.
[*My question about all of this though is what exactly a random drop is supposed to achieve from a game design perspective. The way it's set up, it feels to me like "Congratulations! The game has randomly selected you to get to skip weeks of grueling trial repeats." It's like making level ups competely random. "Oh hey, it might take you 10 bars of XP to get to the next level.. or maybe we'll just randomly give you a level for no reason at all!" Having the best reward that takes a ton of effort to earn drop in a random table seems wrong to me above and beyond the overall issue with random drops.] -
Quote:Originally Posted by Local_Man
You can probably do it more easily now, but only the Alpha slot will help when you are in non-Incarnate content.
Good advice overall, but not sure what you mean here. The 4 incarnate powers work outside of incarnate content. Ageless, in particular, can help boost Recharge. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
Derp, I was only calculating AV resistance. Forgot to include purple patch for the AV. Lesse... should be about -721.15%, then.
Are you figuring the caster is level shifted? -
Quote:Originally Posted by Solo_One
reason I looked at ice is because it has a debuff aura that causes the run away reflex in mob ai adding some damage mitigation on top of the defense and minor mezz.
I do agree ice is generally kinda iffy, I have an ice/psi, now retired that i used to have for pvp but it wasnt the best in pve. i prefer not to go earth/earth because i have an earth/fire in the mid 30s already and find it kind of boring and asthetically ugly to look at.
IMO the way to look at Ice is you get an aura on you with no real opportunity cost. I kept noticing my other Dominators dying a lot and wasn't sure exactly why. I eventually figured out it was because powers like Seeds and Volcanic Gasses aren't worth casting when you're up against a small group, winding down through a few leftover enemies, or (with Seeds) waiting for a group to assemble into a shape where you catch most of them. Caves, in particular, give some of my characters fits. This isn't to say Ice is "better" than other sets but it's not exactly a lost cause either.
Anyway, the Ice Dom definitely did his share of dying but he was (and still is) among the most survivable "squishy" characters I've played. However, I should add that I don't play that character at "melee range"--I do it from what I'd call "pole range." Creative use Arctic Air with Frostbite will keep enemies from catching you, and they will stop flop on Ice Slick. Also, I when things get crazy I don't stand exactly in the "middle" of enemies, but rather about 12-15ft in front of them with Ice Slick under the core group and Arctic Air overlapping them by about 50% to form a kind of "figure 8." That way they all in the same direction (toward me), hit the edge of AA, try to run back, and clump there. -
To careen a little more off topic, I think Dark would be somewhat tameable if it looked like this:
1) Twilight Grasp
2) Tar Patch
4) Darkest Night
10) Howling Twilight
16) Shadow Fall
20) Cloak of Fear (12ft radius to match Defender/Corruptor APP Oppressive Gloom)
28) Petrifying Gaze
35) Black Hole
38) Dark Servant (using Mastermind recharge times of 500 seconds instead of Defender/Corruptor 240 seconds)
I think this would create an interesting brand of Controller, since Cloak of Fear sort of stacks with the Mind and Illusion Fear powers while requiring you to take some risks, and Fire, Ice, and Electric have a small synergy with their needing to be up close a lot. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Seldom
KB is mitigation, so it makes sense for a KB blast set to be in the hands of a defender. Again, all defender attack sets have mitigation and/or debuffs.
Yes, forcefield has tons of repel, KB, and even some damage. These are mitigation, but not debuffs. All corruptor secondaries have debuffs.
This is why I said these don't fit the archetype rules as they exist. I'm certain the devs could tweak them slightly to make them fit, though. But as is they don't yet qualify.
I think this a rule made up to explain the way things happen to be rather than how they have to be. -
Quote:
Corruptors don't get forcefields/empathy as they exist, as they have no weakening ('corrupting') element.
Small point on this--Defenders and Corruptors have Energy Blast (the "debuff" is knockback). 4 out of 9 Force Field powers are actually knockback or repel "debuffs" and 1 is a mezz. The set has a reputation for being a purely defensive set mainly because knockback, repel, and intangible kind of suck next to the debuffs and mezzes in other sets. But in terms of original design intent, Force Field actually has the same number of enemy-effecting powers as Cold Domination or Sonic and more than Pain. So the foundation is there, but the set lost out by gambling on knockback. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Arcanaville
I think the problem with power trees honestly is that the more complex you make a system, the more likely it is the power designers will just throw things on the wall to see what sticks.
But on a more technical level, we do have power trees in CoH: they are just very simple ones. Our tree has three decision points, and they all happen at once: choose archetype, and based on that choice you get a choice of primary set, and based on that choice you get a choice of secondary powerset (usually there's no dependency between primary and secondary, but sometimes there is: cf. Shields). Then we have four or five minor decision points as we pick power pools and ancillary pools.
I have always wondered if the four melee archetypes could have been a single branching tree, and the VEATs implement that very philosophy. In one sense, there are two VEATs, but in another sense there's six: two you start off being, and four you end up being.
There is a balance that has to be reached I believe to make power trees work, and it has to do with the consequences of your decisions. The choice of archetype forever limits some options and enhances others. The choice of powersets does the same thing. You cannot choose ice blast and then later make other choices that get you Fireball. The choice is meaningful because there are consequences, and that's not always true with power trees. As much as people complain about wanting a completely free choice system, I don't think its particularly a good idea. You want to provide as many thematic options as possible, but in terms of what you can and cannot do in-game, every choice - even if that choice is to be a jack of all trades - has to have consequences which make that choice good in some ways, and not as good as other choices in other ways.
I hear you. Personally though I don't think of powersets in CoH as a "tree." I prefer the term "swimlanes" because once you buy into them at character creation, they basically become your sub-archetype. In particular, I like that within your powersets there are no "prerequisite powers" to fiddle with (even if you do have those with the pool powers).
I personally think it is impossible to build a system based on prerequisites where you don't end up forcing a character to swallow a couple of powers he or she doesn't want or have a use for just to reach something better down the line. To an extent that happens with CoH powersets, but not to the degree that true tree systems tend to operate. This is related to my belief that a game where no powers suck is like a perfect circle; achievable in theory but no one has ever seen one. -
One other request from a "story" standpoint: no weird timeline jumping "story arcs" or "epic quests" that couldn't conceivably happen to more than one character or happen more than once. Pretty much all of our content (and almost every MMO out there) does this. To me, it defeats its own purpose and makes the game less immersive rather than more. To me it feels lifted out of a single player game, has no bearing on anything I would choose to roleplay, and ends up forcing me to either skip the text entirely or explain away such things as people who are already incarnates doing raids that turn them into incarnates.
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Moment of personal opinion masquerading as fact: CoH works for two basic reasons.
1) The powersets are designed "swim lane" style, which gives you incentive to replay the same archetype many times because you can't reach across lanes. Almost no other game does this.
2) The game is easy enough that all of the combos are basically workable. Specifically, because the game focuses on a "Gauntlet-style" combat where one character is often taking on many enemies, you run into no situation where a character can't compete at a minimum level by defeating at least a few enemies. Again, almost no other game does this.
This game's two super-competitors each dropped the ball on one or the other of these critical elements. Why play a new character up when the one I have already can just spec whatever power I want? Why play when I'm just fighting 1 or 2 enemies at a time and I can't work up the strength to even face one of them?
"Power Trees," in particular, tend to backfire. Their intent is to allow players to branch out and get a unique level of customization. Their result is, inevitably, "build specs" in which 2 or 3 optimal builds come to dominate. At that point, they might as well have been powerset swimlanes, as those would be much easier to balance if they were. -
Here is the thing on the pet recharge nerf: they made it so pets can't benefit from +Recharge. Ok, I understand why. But pets aren't immune to -Recharge. So if there is a problem with AI when a pets recharge changes, it still happens when their recharge gets lowered, and you can't slot anything or boost recharge with powers to prevent that from happening. So my first question about a misbehaving pet is whether there is some possibility it got hit with Psi or Ice powers.
On the plus side... characters with -Recharge in their arsenal can only benefit from this. I'm close to 100% sure -Recharge breaks the heck out of enemy combat decisions just as bad as it does pets, so at least Ice has that going for it. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Deacon_NA
Yeah that's what a temp power is, it lasts for a temporary period then goes away. Weird way to spin there.
No, it is a special flag assigned to some temp powers that makes sure they go away early and can't be held on to. All temp powers are not the same. I was wrong when I said that there are "no" temp powers. However, there are none that you can craft or have in inventory reliably. It's not an obstinate position of mine that such powers are withheld; I'd love to find one so I can abuse it. But there aren't any I can find. None of the powers listed in this thread is available enough for the dark intentions I have for it. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
Yeah... I have no idea why Oedipus_Tex said that. There certainly are immob temp powers, and Illusion has jack-all to do with their availability (or lack thereof.) Saying it would be the reason for that lack - I've *got* to hear this reasoning. It'll be amusing.
If there is a reliably available immobilize temp power please point me to it because I plan to abuse it for all it is worth. Having that power would increase the damage of several of my characters by an average of 30 to 50 percent, and change AV fighting strategies for Mind and Illusion Controllers as a whole. If such a power exists, most of these Controllers are settling for much less damage than they should be and should be made aware that, unless they are just doing it for bragging rights, double damage being just a temp power away. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA
Trick Arrow says Hi!
Oh, you mean the one in the set without the -Regen. The -Regen that combined with Containment would make Traps overpowered. But. Hi!
Quote:Also, to say there is no immob temp power is incorrect.
Technically you are right, it is incorrect. Realistically, it's not, because of this:
"Be careful, these powers can be lost when you speak to the contact from which you received them again. Even though they appear to have a certain number of uses remaining, the power will be lost and you cannot regain them!" -
IMO it is already overpowered. But yes Dominators would be even worse. Just maybe not as bad as Illusion/Traps, with its double damage from Containment against AVs.
[Ever wondered why we can't get an immobilize temp power? Look no further than the existence of Illusion Control. I'm not sure there is another set that can claim to have shut down an entire segment of power possibilities just by existing.] -
IMO all of that extra endurance can be put to work with a new build. Ice Control used to be really endurance heavy, and that limited your slotting. That is no longer really the case. Cardiac in particular lets you get away with stunt slotting you normally couldn't because you'd have to skip bonuses to slot endurance reduction (particularly in Arctic Air).
My approach would be a little different than some people's. I like Ranged defense for Ice Control more than Slash/Lethal. The major reason is that even with capped defense, you are still going to get hit. Because of that, I generally prefer a Resistance based armor over a Defense based one. Cardiac boosts Resistance even further.
Here is a sample of how I might build Ice/Storm/Psi. My incarnate picks would probably be Cardiac and Ageless. The build is capped to Ranged all of the time, near-capped to Psi most of the time, usually mezz protected (esp. with Ageless making buffing your recharge times), near perma hasten (perma with Ageless) and has 60% resistance to Slash/Lethal. If you get overwhelmed, Hurricane will floor the melee attacks of anything in close range, Ranged defense protects youu from of everything beyond that range, and you mostly can't be detoggled. Only AoE attacks from range are a potential issue, and luckily those usually don't hit as hard.
Possible changes you could make would be to drop Thunderclap, move all 6 of the slots to Boxing, and pick up Shiver (slotted with 1 accuracy). For the loss of 10% recharge you could also reslot Frostbite with procs. I don't use Frostbite this way with my Ice characters because I don't spam it, but I can see why Ice/Storm would.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.94
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Ice Control
Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Block of Ice -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(3), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(3), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(5), Dmg-I(5), HO:Perox(13)
Level 1: Gale -- Acc-I(A)
Level 2: Frostbite -- GravAnch-Immob/Rchg(A), GravAnch-Hold%(15), GravAnch-Acc/Immob/Rchg(43), GravAnch-Immob/EndRdx(43), GravAnch-Acc/Rchg(46)
Level 4: Chilblain -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(17), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(19)
Level 6: Arctic Air -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(7), CoPers-Conf%(7), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(9), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(9), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(11)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11), RechRdx-I(13)
Level 10: Steamy Mist -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(15), RedFtn-Def(19), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(23), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(25), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(25)
Level 12: Ice Slick -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Zephyr-ResKB(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(50)
Level 16: Freezing Rain -- RechRdx-I(A), Achilles-ResDeb%(17)
Level 18: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 20: Hurricane -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(21), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(21), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg(23)
Level 22: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 24: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 26: Glacier -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(27), Lock-%Hold(27), Lock-Acc/Rchg(34), Lock-Rchg/Hold(36), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(36)
Level 28: Thunder Clap -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(29), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(29), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(31), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(31), Stpfy-KB%(31)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(37), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(37), RedFtn-Def(37), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(40), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(43)
Level 32: Jack Frost -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(33), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(33), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(34), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34)
Level 35: Tornado -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(36)
Level 38: Lightning Storm -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(40), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40)
Level 41: Indomitable Will -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), RechRdx-I(42), RechRdx-I(42), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Mental Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(46), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46)
Level 47: Psionic Tornado -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dam%(50)
Level 49: Mind Over Body -- ResDam-I(A)
Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(50)
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Quote:Originally Posted by Obitus
The trials are designed to exploit builds' weaknesses, but also to emphasize their strengths. Passive mitigation (DEF/RES) is very heavily penalized by the turrets in BAF, the ridiculous self buffs of the 9CUS, and potentially by the overlapping buffs from Battle Orbs in Lambda (along with a preponderance of psi damage and the hilarious annoyance of PBAoE Drain Psyche flying all over the place). Also, the blue patches o' doom in Apex.
Control is favored heavily against the 9CUs and against just about everything in Lambda. It's penalized against the AVs and the escapees. By the same token, aggro control is penalized against the BAF AVs, and invalidated against the BAF escapees.
That's just the way the trials roll, and frankly I think it's a good thing. Mind Control is arguably the most heavily penalized control set in the escapee phase, for instance (you can harp on Mass Hypnosis all you want, but in a phase where your league is trying to kill everything as fast as possible, a sleep ain't exactly the most useful thing in the world) -- but it's also perhaps uniquely well-suited for the sabotage phase of Lambda. (Aggro-less control FTW.) Confusion is useless against the escapees, but hilarious against 9CUs or Battle Orbs.
Fear also works quite well, perhaps unusually well, in Lambda (because during the sabotage phase you're probably not going to be attacking the feared targets to allow them to retaliate).
I don't think the complaint in the OP is unreasonable or unreasoned. I do believe that it's unwarranted, though. Just about every character build has reason to complain that this-or-that segment of the trials marginalizes their schtick, whatever that schtick may be. The fact that the OP's complaint happens to center around what is probably the most infamously overpowered powerset combination in the entire game is fuel for the fire, but ultimately irrelevant.
(Whether Ill/Rad is overpowered in any meaningful way is another question; personally I don't think the ability to solo AVs is as important as it's often made out to be on the forums. And though Phantom Army is flat-out uber in certain situations, it's also far less efficient than a hard AoE control in most generic content. YMMV.)
Unfortunately throughout most of the BAF the enemy ambushes are all bosses. This, on top of the very low damage most Controllers do outside of Containment, puts most of them waaaaay behind Dominators in the control arena.* Ice and Earth probably do the best on Controllers but that isn't saying much.
[*EDIT: Assuming they are perma-doms. Normal Dominators could well end up even worse than a Controller, because you don't get a support secondary to make you more than just a gimp Blaster if Domination falters and the mobs are all bosses. Dominators who die a lot are kind of in the same position.]
Controller's still aren't useless, because of their buff secondary, but they are at a huge disadvantage relative to their normal power through most of the BAF. And Dominators absolutely destroy Controllers during the escapee phase because they can actually kill the leiutenants, in part because they aren't fighting at half normal damage capability due to lacking Containment. IMO, Illusion Control isn't even in the running for most disadvantaged sets. I'd give that award to Plant Control on Controllers, which is basically reduced to a creeper patch and some immob powers that can snag minions someone else could probably kill anyway.
[Plant Control on Dominators does a bit better if they are perma doms, although I am still curious how badly confusion impacts iXP. In the normal game I wouldn't care, but in this situation, it seems to matter a lot more.] -
Quote:
It is as if the devs have taken a boom stick to this particular set.
IMO not a big enough one. Illusion Control is still a cheese fest. I wish they'd just get on with nerfing the thing rather than have their hands tied in every new piece of content with having to deal with the invincible pet/control that ignores all limitations of both pets and controls, and has turned a subset of the "lowest damage AT" into one of the single best at killing big game enemies.
[You will note that all 7 of the other control sets were addressed very directly by having raid bosses simply be immune to controls.] -
Quote:Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Plus, some simple choices the game currently gives us simply *are* better than others. For example, both accuracy and damage enhancements simultaneously increase DPS and DPE, while recharge only affects DPS (and in a complex way) while endurance enhancements only increase DPE. And the DPS and DPE effect of accuracy enhancements is capped very low relative to the effect of damage enhancements. That's due to oversimplistic one-dimensional effects having obvious easy optimization angles. You'd have to get rid of that specific kind of simplicit in any system that attempts to do what I've suggested I would do.
I'm having a hard time picturing how that work. Most games basically tie stat boosts together in bundles that are then attached to equipment. For example, you might get a shirt of +Strength and +Stamina, meaning you're forgoing the +Wisdom or whatever else you might need. In City of Heroes you attach your equipment directly to your power, but its basically the same thing, especially with IO sets.
FWIW though I don't think in CoH it is particularly easy to optimize your character. The ability to combine a primary and secondary powerset creates unique advantages and vulnerabilities. It might be really obvious to some people on say, Scrappers, but on Controllers and Defenders it is much less so, especially because the numbers can't be whittled down to a number like DPS. Is a Fire/Trick Arrow better than Illusion/Thermal? At least part of this was unanswerable at the time these sets were developed because both of them have features that are unintentional (pets running off of lit oil slicks, and the ability to slot -tohit Hamis in a power that was supposed to be unenhanceable). That is just one of the things that has to be dealt with in a real game environment.
But the bigger issue is still that sets are not powerful of themselves. They are only powerful in the context of the game you place them in. To pick on something specific mentioned earlier, a damage boost versus undead, the immediate balance issues become how prevelant are undead? Are raid bosses affected? Are undead basically avoidable? Are enemies who are not undead basically unavoidable? Are undead typically a lot deadlier than other enemies? Do they tend to drop better or worse treasure? Are they mostly located in places that are inconvenient to get to? Do they stop showing up after a certain level? Has content released recently featured them? Does it work in PVP?
I don't mean to argue that game balance is not a worthy goal. I am just pointing out that the game world itself probably has more effect on whether a power is considered powerful than the power itself. Force Bubble and Heat Loss are nothing alike, for example, but most people probably feel one is far superior to the other in the current version of the game. -
Maybe in a few years, when the "tablet" is just back to being a "laptop computer" with a different kind of screen.
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I have always hoped for a Destiny/Luck/Fortune buff powerset, and that would go well with Time Control.
I also think it would be funny if the Time Control pet was yourself two levels ago, using the clone technology.