Pulse Rifle Powerset

I like the idea it has potential

would definately like to see the graphics if it played out.

If the nuke was a cone like full auto, it'd have to have this small charging period, then one big blast that actually does knockback on -your- character from the recoil. It'd be hilarious.

I did think of a charge-up period, though it might be annoying but I guess it probably wouldn't be as bad as Full Auto taking a while to do its damage.

Self knockback actually doesn't sound like that bad a tradeoff!

I would love for it to have self knockback!

Make it mag 20 or something, to get past -kb and acro for good measure.

... And make it enhanceable knockback just for the laughs.

I would totally roll my MM with the set as an alternative 'spec'. I was sad to drop the attacks with her since they were pointless past level 5.

I had a set hashed out on the old forums, I think it is deleted now. it was similar to the OP, minus a few powers. Important to note that anything resembling the current AR set should be thrown out, we dont need two cone heavy aoe gun sets. I had something like this- powers with stars I will describe below:

1. Pulse rifle burst (like the MM set blast)
2. Pulse rifle blast ( as above)
3. Photon grenade (as above)
4. Aim
5. Snipe
6. Pulse rifle barrage*
7. Concussive Blast*
8. Charged Pulse Blast*
9. Plasma Pack Detonation*

Ok, so the first 3 are available from the MM set, animations and all. Aim is Aim, Snipe could borrow the AR animation in part, but with different blast effects. That brings us to new ones:
Pulse Rifle Barrage: This would be the tier 3 blast, shorter range, but not just a single heavy blast, it would be 2 or 3 blasts in rapid succession. This could even just be a modification of the animation of the MM powers, modded for the additional blasts. it would be classified DoT, but it would only be 2 or 3 tics of dmg. Why its good- tier 3 blast is missing on AR so it differentiates this set, and of course the obligatory Pew Pew from multi blast. Multiple smaller blasts could be animated thematically faster then a "charged up" blast also.

Concussive Blast: Ranged(short range) Knockback power. Should animate relatively quickly, short range for defense uses. AR has stun, so we want to avoid that. ST knockback is a powerful soft mitigation tool, and we are working with energy blasts, so knockback or stun are on the menu, and one is already used in a gun set.

Charged Pulse Blast: This power would not resemble anything we have as a blast yet. It would be like a ranged Thunderstrike. A heavy charged blast, with a medium length animation as the rifle charges, then a heavy blast to a single target. This target takes the brunt of the damage, but the blast is so hard, there is splash damage to any foe in the targets immediate area. If you have ever played /elec for blasters or for a brute, imagine thunderstrike, but from 40 feet away. I would remove the knockback that thunderstrike has, because the mitigation should be dropped due to using it at range to keep balance.

Plasma Pack Detonation: Player removes Pulse Rifle Plasma ammo clip, pushes a button on pack, lobs pack like a grenade into the mob for a magnificent explosion with extreme energy/smash damage and high mag Knockback. No crash on endurance or anything for this power, but an "only affecting self" cool down instead. maybe 5 seconds or so. You just threw your ammo clip, you need to reload now. No endo crash, because why would there be- its a gun set. but you also cant just keep shooting, because you dont have an ammo pack. So here we would have a "sort of" crashless nuke, with nova type damage. The only affecting self fits thematically. Nova has a mass endo drain crash, fits because you just expended all your stores to nova. On the plus side, you can use a blue inspiration etc to keep going afterwards. With only affecting self, you can not "bypass" the crash, but you also get to keep your endo, so its a trade off that way.

This rifle set would give players that pew pew, without being a laser version of assault rifle. I cant stress this enough, it needs to be quite different so players dont call it "AR 2" or "the other AR". It offers new mechanics, and a wholly different play feel then any blast set we have now. Overall, the set is very ST oriented,(one cone, the other targeted aoe is heavily stacked on the one target with only minor splash dmg going to the rest) and should allow for fast-ish animation times to keep overall damage output on par with more aoe centric sets. Faster animations would also allow for more pew pew.

Plus, think how awsome this would look with I16 with players able to color the laser blasts any way they want. I vote: put this in for I17.

Anyway, thats my take on this. I have wanted a set like this since like I3. Pew Pew after all.

Gatling Laser Pistols please.

They also need under-mounted micro-missile launchers

I can't have my fun without explosions.

And the power to shoot missles from our...

...chests.

I want a pulse rifle set so badly that my text becomes bold and underlined when talking about it!

id love the set's extra feature (like NRG's Kb, or AR's extra acc) to be the ability to charge.

as in, somehow hold the attack button down and the attack gains a steady damage bonus, in return for longer animation.

Ok, so a crashing nuke on a weapon set is pretty silly, especially considering both of the other weapon sets don't crash.

Maybe it could "grey out" the other powers in the set for a few seconds to let the rifle cool down? What other interesting/new drawbacks can we come up with to balance out a nuke damage cone attack, all in one tick of damage?

Making it interruptable would be ... thematic ... but would almost completely negate it's usefulness.

A couple of suggestions:

Make the Snipe a narrow cone, so it hits everything in a straight line between you and your target. (that might be a good secondary effect for other powers too)

Final power could be 'Overload', where you press a few buttons and then throw your rifle to the ground and then it explodes (location AoE, big damage, some sort of crash, greys out the Rifle powers for X seconds)

Also, for a bitof variety, what about a heat ray? single target fire damage with a 10% chance to drop an ignite-style fire patch at the targets feet.