A Staff as a melee powerset has been suggested before, a bit back, and I do like that idea. There's one issue in the animations. With the varied amount of techniques among staff users IRL, getting a well put together and appealing version to people is straight up hard. Also, animating stuff like spinning staffs and the more 'flowery' techniques would be a lot to ask out of the devs animation crew.
As for a ranged set, I assume we're talking about a wizard staff that casts lightning bolt, flare, other elemental types? If so, I think it's a little too specialized in the magic origin to be a real option.
/sign melee set if they can get the animations right. Though we have enough weapon sets already D:
/unsign ranged set. Bit restrictive in theme. (if you expand the idea further here, maybe a workable version can be reached. But doubtful)
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/sign melee set if they can get the animations right. Though we have enough weapon sets already D:
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There are a lot of weapon sets, but then again weapons are a huge part of the world of combat. I thought of the staff as a weapon because, off the top of my head, the only weapon choices in the game boil down to guns, bows, or swords, all of which deal lethal damage, if I'm not mistaken. The staff would actually give the mace some company in the smashing damage department. I can understand the difficulty in making the animations, but the game would never have gotten nearly as far as it has with its huge variety of power set choices had the devs simply skipped over ideas because they felt they were too hard to implement.
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/unsign ranged set. Bit restrictive in theme. (if you expand the idea further here, maybe a workable version can be reached. But doubtful)
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Yeah, I hadn't thought about the different elemental themes it could have. What I had in mind was something more neutral, along the lines of peacebringer blasts, which would deal energy damage. As far as the set favoring magic users... I believe certain sets already exist that cater to a specific origin. Examples include force fields (science/technology), illusion (magic), assault rifle and traps (technology/natural), dual blades (natural), etc. Obviously, many of these, when paired with another set, could have the origin modified for RP purposes. Long story short, making the set seem magic friendly shouldn't really be a restricting factor, as it really depends on what the player wants to do with it.
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As for a ranged set, I assume we're talking about a wizard staff that casts lightning bolt, flare, other elemental types? If so, I think it's a little too specialized in the magic origin to be a real option.
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Using weapon customization you could have a variety of staffs, some mystic, and some tech.
Examples:
Staff 1
Staff 2
Staff 3
Staff 4
Staff 5
Staff 6
A Rularuu staff would also look cool.
Some of those would be sweet.
The problem I see with a ranged wand set is how to make it unique and interesting, rather than just a powerset made up of pre-existing powers. It'd be a waste of time, IMO, to have a set that's nothing but "Fire Blast...but it comes out of a wand!!".
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BABs has already said that he has no plans, simply because it's a very complexly-animated system. Having to make 6 different sets of the same animation doesn't sound like the easiest thing to do.
What I would suggest (for a ranged set) would be a mixture of attacks from existing sets, but with different damage types.
For a "Magic-y" feel in almost no particular order:
Fire Blast (ST) (Fire Damage)
Fire Ball (AoE) (Fire Damage)
Ice Blast (ST) (Cold Damage, -rech)
Lightning Bolt or Charged Bolts (ST) (Energy Damage, minor End Drain)
Chain Lightning (Energy Damage, see Brute's Electric Melee)
Mystic Bolt (renamed Energy Blast) (Energy/Smashing, low magnitude KB)
Aim (Yeah, Aim. Just because. 
)
Gale (Cone, Very minor smashing damage, high KB.)
Blizzard.
.....and so on.
It wouldn't exactly be the same as any other set.
Weaknesses:
*Unable to fully take advantage of a foe that's weak against a specific damage type.
*Unable to stack secondary effects.
Strengths:
*Never fully shut down against a foe that's highly resistant to a specific damage type.
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What I would suggest (for a ranged set) would be a mixture of attacks from existing sets, but with different damage types.
For a "Magic-y" feel in almost no particular order:
Fire Blast (ST) (Fire Damage)
Fire Ball (AoE) (Fire Damage)
Ice Blast (ST) (Cold Damage, -rech)
Lightning Bolt or Charged Bolts (ST) (Energy Damage, minor End Drain)
Chain Lightning (Energy Damage, see Brute's Electric Melee)
Mystic Bolt (renamed Energy Blast) (Energy/Smashing, low magnitude KB)
Aim (Yeah, Aim. Just because. )
Gale (Cone, Very minor smashing damage, high KB.)
Blizzard.
.....and so on.
It wouldn't exactly be the same as any other set.
Weaknesses:
*Unable to fully take advantage of a foe that's weak against a specific damage type.
*Unable to stack secondary effects.
Strengths:
*Never fully shut down against a foe that's highly resistant to a specific damage type.
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Thats a very good idea, but to keep it balanced, it should have the following limitations.
No more than 2 powers from each of the following damage types (energy, fire, Ice, electrical).
No Aim.
No Nuke.
No AoEs, the set should only have single target & cone attacks, and 1 hold (Ice) power.
The set would be a Jack of all Trades but master of none.
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The problem I see with a ranged wand set is how to make it unique and interesting, rather than just a powerset made up of pre-existing powers. It'd be a waste of time, IMO, to have a set that's nothing but "Fire Blast...but it comes out of a wand!!".
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Because it would be a stunningly poor showing by the devs, and would basically be nothing more than glorified power customization.
Never surrender! Never give up!
Help keep Paragon City alive with the unofficial City of Heroes Tabletop Role Playing Game!
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What I would suggest (for a ranged set) would be a mixture of attacks from existing sets, but with different damage types.
For a "Magic-y" feel in almost no particular order:
Fire Blast (ST) (Fire Damage)
Fire Ball (AoE) (Fire Damage)
Ice Blast (ST) (Cold Damage, -rech)
Lightning Bolt or Charged Bolts (ST) (Energy Damage, minor End Drain)
Chain Lightning (Energy Damage, see Brute's Electric Melee)
Mystic Bolt (renamed Energy Blast) (Energy/Smashing, low magnitude KB)
Aim (Yeah, Aim. Just because. )
Gale (Cone, Very minor smashing damage, high KB.)
Blizzard.
.....and so on.
It wouldn't exactly be the same as any other set.
Weaknesses:
*Unable to fully take advantage of a foe that's weak against a specific damage type.
*Unable to stack secondary effects.
*No Snipe
Strengths:
*Never fully shut down against a foe that's highly resistant to a specific damage type.
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Thats a very good idea, but to keep it balanced, it should have the following limitations.
No more than 2 powers from each of the following damage types (energy, fire, Ice, electrical).
No Aim.
No Nuke.
No AoEs, the set should only have single target & cone attacks, and 1 hold (Ice) power.
The set would be a Jack of all Trades but master of none.
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I agree with the "No more than two of any damage type", and "Only 1 hold (ice)".
The rest of those limitations might be a bit much. I wouldn't want it to be overpowered, yet I wouldn't want it to stink, either.
No Aim, Nukes or AoE's, but allow more than 1 cone? I don't know. I'd go with 1 non-nuke AoE (Fire Ball) and 1 cone. (I went with Gale, just becuase it fit with an elemental theme and had very little damage. Our only other KB was a ST attack lifted from Energy Blast.)
I did skip having a Snipe though. 
I think it needs a Snipe. Maybe Blazing Bolt or Zapp?
to 
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What I would suggest (for a ranged set) would be a mixture of attacks from existing sets, but with different damage types.
For a "Magic-y" feel in almost no particular order:
Fire Blast (ST) (Fire Damage)
Fire Ball (AoE) (Fire Damage)
Ice Blast (ST) (Cold Damage, -rech)
Lightning Bolt or Charged Bolts (ST) (Energy Damage, minor End Drain)
Chain Lightning (Energy Damage, see Brute's Electric Melee)
Mystic Bolt (renamed Energy Blast) (Energy/Smashing, low magnitude KB)
Aim (Yeah, Aim. Just because. )
Gale (Cone, Very minor smashing damage, high KB.)
Blizzard.
.....and so on.
It wouldn't exactly be the same as any other set.
Weaknesses:
*Unable to fully take advantage of a foe that's weak against a specific damage type.
*Unable to stack secondary effects.
Strengths:
*Never fully shut down against a foe that's highly resistant to a specific damage type.
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Again, what I had in mind was a more neutral energy style. Think of the blast animations looking a lot like an energy blaster/peacebringer's attacks. Instead of coming out of their hands, it's coming from a staff. 
This will somewhat limit the work needed on the devs part, while at the same time leaving room to make a more balanced ranged set, complete with a sniper attack, aim, a nuke, etc.
Combine this neutral idea with the staff option idea that Hero_of_Steel presented, and we've got options that any origin can use.
My Virtue Projects
AE: 38959 - Invasion of the Dark Realm
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What I would suggest (for a ranged set) would be a mixture of attacks from existing sets, but with different damage types.
For a "Magic-y" feel in almost no particular order:
Fire Blast (ST) (Fire Damage)
Fire Ball (AoE) (Fire Damage)
Ice Blast (ST) (Cold Damage, -rech)
Lightning Bolt or Charged Bolts (ST) (Energy Damage, minor End Drain)
Chain Lightning (Energy Damage, see Brute's Electric Melee)
Mystic Bolt (renamed Energy Blast) (Energy/Smashing, low magnitude KB)
Aim (Yeah, Aim. Just because. )
Gale (Cone, Very minor smashing damage, high KB.)
Blizzard.
.....and so on.
It wouldn't exactly be the same as any other set.
Weaknesses:
*Unable to fully take advantage of a foe that's weak against a specific damage type.
*Unable to stack secondary effects.
Strengths:
*Never fully shut down against a foe that's highly resistant to a specific damage type.
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Again, what I had in mind was a more neutral energy style. Think of the blast animations looking a lot like an energy blaster/peacebringer's attacks. Instead of coming out of their hands, it's coming from a staff. This will somewhat limit the work needed on the devs part, while at the same time leaving room to make a more balanced ranged set, complete with a sniper attack, aim, a nuke, etc.
Combine this neutral idea with the staff option idea that Hero_of_Steel presented, and we've got options that any origin can use.
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Kinda sounds like what you are asking for, then is "Energy Blast - but it comes from a STAFF!" - what someone else upthread already pointed out (except he used Fire Blast).
That would essentially make it Power Customization of an existing powerset - not a new powerset at all. And we have had a bajillion previous discussions about how cool it would be to customize powers to make then look different - but BaB posted a FAQ on the topic that indicates it is unlikely to happen.
Also upthread, when someone opined that a staff set would seem to be limited because it indicates Magic Oirgin, you stated that other powersets already indicate specific origins. You used FF as being Tech and Dual Blades as being Natural, among others. My Force Fields are bubbles of magic shielding bthat protect my allies; my Dual Blades are magical blades, which adds to their awesome speed and damage. Also, my Radiation Blasts and Radiation Emission are magical blasts and hexes - because I wanted to see it that way. You have limited yourself if you can't visualize different origins for powersets instead of going with your first impression.
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Originally Posted by SpyralPegacyon
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That would essentially make it Power Customization of an existing powerset - not a new powerset at all. And we have had a bajillion previous discussions about how cool it would be to customize powers to make then look different - but BaB posted a FAQ on the topic that indicates it is unlikely to happen.
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Well, if it's already been discussed and shot down I see no reason to continue this, then.
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Also upthread, when someone opined that a staff set would seem to be limited because it indicates Magic Oirgin, you stated that other powersets already indicate specific origins. You used FF as being Tech and Dual Blades as being Natural, among others. My Force Fields are bubbles of magic shielding bthat protect my allies; my Dual Blades are magical blades, which adds to their awesome speed and damage. Also, my Radiation Blasts and Radiation Emission are magical blasts and hexes - because I wanted to see it that way. You have limited yourself if you can't visualize different origins for powersets instead of going with your first impression.
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I was pointing out that if a set seemed too #insert_origin, there were other sets that could appear that way as well, so that argument didn't have much weight on it. If you're assuming I'm incapable of visualizing outside the box, then I don't know what to tell you, other than I already pointed out that RP and primary/secondary sets play an important role in deciding what origin to choose.
My Virtue Projects
AE: 38959 - Invasion of the Dark Realm
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BABs has already said that he has no plans, simply because it's a very complexly-animated system. Having to make 6 different sets of the same animation doesn't sound like the easiest thing to do.
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That's too bad, though I understand BAB's concerns.
I was just thinking melee staff could "easily" have another skin as a spear. Since we already have Valkyrie, a spear wielder, as part of the lore, it would make a certain sense to add it.
Not wild about a "wizard staff" set. A staff that has some kind of ranged powers, sure - but up to the player whether it is a magic staff, a tech loaded superweapon, etc. etc.
Two-handed poleweapon/staff melee has been on the "this would be nice list" for awhile, but is not a priority. A weapon based energy set with a staff-like weapon has less general appeal (nor do I think it likely to be as easy to avoid the issue of redraw, but leave that aside - I have never considered redraw a compelling game issue in any case).
But a hackneyed trope like "wizard's staff?" Really outside the realm of the necessary in a modern setting superhero game.
My scrapper doesn't need an AoE. She IS an AoE.
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A Staff as a melee powerset has been suggested before, a bit back, and I do like that idea. There's one issue in the animations. With the varied amount of techniques among staff users IRL, getting a well put together and appealing version to people is straight up hard. Also, animating stuff like spinning staffs and the more 'flowery' techniques would be a lot to ask out of the devs animation crew.
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This was a perennial point of discussion (or complaint) for martial arts and broadsword (katana too until they revised the animations to be more like chanbara-flavored kenjutsu). Yes, any style of hand to hand that looks like THIS will by the same token not look like THAT. Karate Kid, Judo Master, Remo Williams, done in CoH, all look the same. Conan and Zorro too (or Zorro and Cyrano, if you fudge it with Dual Blades). A hack and slash broadsword and a rapier style and a broadsword that actually looks like broadsword, etc. would all be great, as would a tae kwon do AND jujutsu AND classical wu shu AND modern wu shu AND aikido choices for the barehanded crowd.
But it will probably be one-size-fits-all for the existing sets, and one-size-fits-all for any new ones that come down the pike. I don't see that as a showstopper. It will, if nothing else, keep the forums active ;-)
My scrapper doesn't need an AoE. She IS an AoE.
IIRC, the issue with the animations had to do with character hands. Doing a spinny whirry thing isn't that hard -- we've got helicoptors and rotor blades all over the place. But making it look convincing with a toon's hands, that's another ball game. Stick game. Stick...ball... game.
I would absolutely love a staff or other polearm based powerset.
However, I think it could wait until we get a new ranged blast or two, as just about all the recent new sets have been melee focused.
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I like the idea of two powers from each power type, (fire, cold, energy, neg energy); however I think to keep it balanced (with other blasters) you'd need to have a nuke/nova like power. I can see it not having a sniper attack ,(no way to really aim down your staff without sights), and perhaps no buff/aim ability ( because you didn't specialize in any specific field.).. But you need a nova-like power to keep the damage equivalent to other blasters... don't think RPing concept would be enough draw to keep people interested if you dropped it. Also, without getting into a lot of cinematic issues, a couple power trees have some very close up/short range attacks, it might be interesting to have a melee attack or two thrown in... perhaps limit to fire, ice and energy attacks with a pummel and round-house style attack (could even take the graphics from one of the martial art moves, but super-impose the staff into it.)
I'm not sure if my opinion means anything but.. Staff power?! you mean like mages and wizards type staff powers? or staff power set like Martial Arts or Javalin kind of staff power?! it's not that I don't understand the meaning of having staff power considering we who has vet's got the Nemesis Staff or Staff of Warding, but a good understanding would be surfice..
Out side of that if it goes great with the AT's than I'm all for it.
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I'm not sure if my opinion means anything but.. Staff power?! you mean like mages and wizards type staff powers? or staff power set like Martial Arts or Javalin kind of staff power?! it's not that I don't understand the meaning of having staff power considering we who has vet's got the Nemesis Staff or Staff of Warding, but a good understanding would be surfice..
Out side of that if it goes great with the AT's than I'm all for it.
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The melee set would be martial arts based, yes. The ranged set would depend on many things really. As already discussed in this thread, the ideas for the ranged set are pretty limited and spread out. It could perhaps shape into a solid magic or tech staff, similar to the Nemesis or Black Wand staves. Or it could just become something unique on its own, without being based around something already in-game.
I'm really interested in a melee staff set, and I can imagine all kinds of different options for the potential look of it (staves, spears, pikes, polearms, etc.). As for the ranged set, I initially had magic users in mind, but as of this moment I'm kind of 'meh' about the whole thing.
Definitely still wanting a staff melee set, though.
My Virtue Projects
AE: 38959 - Invasion of the Dark Realm
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I'm not sure if my opinion means anything but.. Staff power?! you mean like mages and wizards type staff powers? or staff power set like Martial Arts or Javalin kind of staff power?! it's not that I don't understand the meaning of having staff power considering we who has vet's got the Nemesis Staff or Staff of Warding, but a good understanding would be surfice..
Out side of that if it goes great with the AT's than I'm all for it.
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The melee set would be martial arts based, yes. The ranged set would depend on many things really. As already discussed in this thread, the ideas for the ranged set are pretty limited and spread out. It could perhaps shape into a solid magic or tech staff, similar to the Nemesis or Black Wand staves. Or it could just become something unique on its own, without being based around something already in-game.
I'm really interested in a melee staff set, and I can imagine all kinds of different options for the potential look of it (staves, spears, pikes, polearms, etc.). As for the ranged set, I initially had magic users in mind, but as of this moment I'm kind of 'meh' about the whole thing.
Definitely still wanting a staff melee set, though.
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So like Robin from Teen Titans? or Gambit from X-Men? cause if thats' so might wanna throw up a sample power set for that so we don't step on any trademarking or copyright fringment.
Forgive me if this has already been suggested, but I think it would be a great idea and make for extremely versatile power sets: the Staff. Actually, I could see the staff being split into two power sets, one melee and one ranged. Melee could be martial arts themed, and the ranged set could be magic themed (which would please those who'd like to make a modern day sorceror or wizard).
Obviously, if both sets were to be made, they could be used together on a blaster (swapping powers the devs feel comfortable using so as not to over/under-power them). This would be perfect for those players that dislike weapon redraw. Meanwhile, the melee set could be offered to scrappers and stalkers, while the ranged set could be offered to corruptors and defenders.
I'll leave it like that for now, but I'll offer more insight and suggestions if I see a lot of interest in this.
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AE: 38959 - Invasion of the Dark Realm