A new purpose for Sidekicks

With Positrons recent announcement of the Super Sidekick option the dynamics of teaming have changed quite a bit. Now level issues are a thing of the past, but so are gaining the mentoring badges.

While this is a great step forward (imho) I feel that it takes away a bit from the idea of a “Sidekick” as you see it in comic books. The old style sidekick feature, for all its flaws, much better reflected this dynamic. To lose this option seems like a bit of a waste to me so I suggest it be given a new purpose.

My proposal is to change the function of the Sidekick feature. Instead of acting as a level modifier, the function now replaced by Super-Sidekick, it will act as a power modifier.

How it would work:

As a mentor you will have the option of selecting a power from your power sets to be the “Mentor” powers. You will start with the ability to pick one power from your Primary or Secondary but as you gain Mentor badges this will eventually increase to a maximum of three powers.

When you Sidekick a lower level player they will gain, as temporary powers, the Mentor Powers you selected. The power benefits will be at stock levels with no enhancements being counted. As long as the Sidekick stays in range the power will work and give some extra abilities.

Not all powers would be available for this option as some of them would really imbalance the game (Granite, I am looking at you!). Such imbalancing powers could be picked up and excluded in testing.


Why?

The idea comes from a simple and well known CoX fact. Combat level is only part of the equation for being effective on a team. Sure you can bump your level 7 up to level 45 but how much can you really contribute to the team with your limited powers? A mentor being able to grant you one of there powers is a small step but it would be some help.

It also allows for the mentoring badges to work as they do now, allowing one-on-one mentoring to matter. Gaining the ability to assign more powers as you increase your mentoring badges provides a tangible reward for the badges.

/signed, as long as the Mentor can from time to time — like we change builds — re-select the powers the Sidekick will gain access to.

I dislike the idea of badges being forced to use a game mechanic. If I choose not live with not having accolade powers, thats my choice. But a teaming mechanic that revolves around badges is not a step we should continue taking (We already do this with veteren rewards - some of the latest ones are game changing and some people will never see those)

I like the mechanic, but lets not tie it to a badge - maybe just to difference in level?
-Say the level difference between a mentor and the SK is 40 levels, then maybe 4 powers would be given to the SK to choose from, 30 levels would be 3 powers, 20 would be 2 and 10 levels or less would be 1.

A simpler alternative:

Whenever a character below a certain level (say 10, 20, and 30) is sidekicked, they gain a temp power version of some powers they'd already have access to.

So, for example, if a level 8 character were sidekicked up to level 22, he'd pass both the 10 and 20 mark and gain access to two extra powers; while if he was sidekicked up to level 45 he'd gain access to all three.

Level 10: Temp Power access to the normal Tier 6 Primary power (normally available at level 12)
Level 20: Temp power access to the normal Tier 6 Secondary power (normally available at level 20)
Level 30: Temporary access to the normal Tier 8 Primary power (normally available at level 28)

The players would start the game with access to these temporary powers, but the powers are unusable unless they're sidekicked past the viable level. Additionally, on leveling up to level 10, 20, and 30, these powers would be automatically removed from their power list and no longer accessible.

This would have to be tweaked a bit for each set, but would seem to be a simpler way to fulfill the original goal of the OP (after all, if a tanker sidekicks a blaster--why would that blaster have access to any of the tank's attack or defense powers?)

I can't say I could get behind the original suggestion, because it's far too open to really absurd combinations. For instance, a mentor could give his sidekick Build Up, and the Sidekick could already have access to, say, his own Build Up as well as Fiery Embrace. Or the Mentor could give the sidekick access to Nova when the sidekick already has, say, Inferno. You're also opening the door to people whining to their mentors about sharind this or that power, like a SR Scrapper being told to share Quickness or Practiced Brawler or some such.

It's also a fact that some powers don't really benefit from enhacements all that much, such as powers that don't have to hit or are self-targeted (Hasten, Smoke Grenade, Targeting Drone, etc.) which creates a bit of an unfair situation.

I liked the idea of giving a sidekick access to a power he will eventually have in the future, though. However, I'm not sure how it could be decided which power he "will" have. Going from primary or secondary is good, but only valid until level 38, and it ignores the fact that sometimes pool powers, or even Epic powers, are sometimes more useful. I suppose sidekicking could act something like Battlefield 2142's Field Upgrades, where being a sidekick could allow you to unlock your "next tier" of powers temorarily, potentially giving a sidekick one more primary power, one more secondary power, one more power in his current pools or a base-tier power from a new pool, by choice. Only temporarily, of course, but slots are once again an issue. Why pick an attack that won't hit or deal any meaningful damage when you can pick something that doesn't need slots?

*edit*
I suppose granting those powers not "effectively unslotted," but rather "effectively somewhat slotted for everything" or even giving you "phantom slots" and "phantom enhancements" to put in them might mitigate the slotting problems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

The concept of the Mentor granting powers to a Sidekick was drawn from the Batman and Robin relationship where the Sidekick is essentally using tools of the Mentor. The general idea is that the Mentor can teach you the ability as long as you are nearby.

Not all powers would be available and could be restricted to balance out the sharing a bit.

I do see the point of potential balance issue. The other option would be to move the selection mechanic to the Sidekick. On your enhancement screen you can pick three potential powers. Once sidekicked you will gain one or all of them depending on the level of the Mentor as he/she shares their wisgom with you and helps you learn more.

Not very keen on adding Power Pools or Epics into this however. We are nto trying to turn a lvl 7 into a fully functional 50. The goal, at least in my mind, is to make that level 7 a bit more useful while preserving the one-on-one mentor/sidekick mechanic that we currently have.