Problem/Strange Powers

Trick Arrows: Acid Arrow

I understand a move with both -Resist and -Defense debuffs involved is a great move, but I still don't see the reason to make it's radius so small. Acid Arrow tends to only hit two or three enemies, and they have to be practically humping each others' legs for this to be the case. It's radius is 8 ft. It already has a hit check, unlike most TA moves, and I'm ok with that, but giving it the hit check AND the blast radius of a firecracker is really overdoing it, lol. Glue Arrow, Poison Gas Arrow, and Disruption Arrow all have radii of 25 ft and have equally effective debuffs, and they can't even miss. Since this one can miss, I say make the radius bigger and keep the hit check. The damage is already minimal too, and that doesn't have to change. It's a support set anyway.

Now who's becoming hostile? Saying I can't comprehend what I read, I'm delusional with no grasp on reality and I'm outright trashing you when really I'm just posting my opposing opinion to whomever decides to reply to me. If you don't want to discuss further then just stop replying to me.

As to the early AT difficulties, the devs didn't have them unique enough, hence the add in of inherents and modifier tweaks.

They really should have come in with only three basic types: Melee, Ranged, Support, but they were stuck on the traditional 5-party team that D&D established as norm:

main warrior, skirmish warrior, rogue, divine and arcane

However, that party scenario was not based on team job so much as fictional archetype.

In addition, the utility tasks mostly carried out by arcane and rogue types (trap disarming, language reading, detecting strange things, looking for secret doors, etc) are replaced by the "click a glowy" system giving everybody those abilities (and anybody can get Stealth or Invis to be a scout).

Splitting things up by team task you have, as I said before: melee, ranged and support

If they were to split the ATs up that way then I'd look at designing them this way:

Melee: Sets: Melee/Defense, perhaps with Talent Tree type things to go either damage dealer or tanker or inbetween.

Ranged: Sets: Ranged/Self-Support - Pretty much what we have now, though less "encourage the wimpy blaster to get into melee range" powers and more "keep enemies out of melee range with the wimpy blaster" powers.

Support: Sets: Control/Buff - Pretty much the controller AT that we have.

A possible Fourth and Fifth AT would be: Skirmish (ranged/melee attacks) and Pet (ie, mastermind)

However, the system as it currently stands has had MOST of the problems ironed out.

The only lingering problem is Defender.

First problem, they're not well defined, they do...everything, a very little bit. They deal damage, they debuff, they buff(which includes healing), they control, they summon pets.

This is the primary reason that their inherent is vigilance.

Scrapper inherent? Easy, they're Single-Target Killers, give them Critical Strike to make their damage potential huge (a max buffed Scrapper hitting with a Critical Strike is dealing +1000% damage as compared to a maxed out Brute at +850%, Stalkers are probably comparable to scrapper in damage potential).

Tanker inherent? Easy, they're aggro machines, give them Gauntlet.

Controller inherent? That was a little more difficult, but the combination of Overpower and Containment emphasizing their main task: control eventually came clear.

Blasters? Relatively easy, but couldn't make it Critical Strike without stepping on scrappers. The original Defiance was a clever idea that I actually liked, but did encourage unusual behavior, the new Defiance, which finally gives Blasters some Status Mediation, is almost a stroke of genius.

The villain ATs, made after the original difficulties of the heroics had been mostly ironed out, where relatively easy. Bodyguard, Domination, Fury, Scourge and Assassination all are useful and fitting to the AT's position in the team.

But Defenders?

What do you do?

It's something like two-five ATs stuffed into one skin.

Critical Buff/Debuffs? That would seem to be the obvious answer, but they're already butting their heads into the buff/debuff caps as it is and they're well beyond the useful limits of what they can do (as in they already debuff and buff things to hell and back). An extra 100% buff past killing machine or below sick puppy is barely noticeable. Besides, some defenders are actually more characterized by controls and pets than buffs and debuffs.

Basic enhanced Buff/Debuffs? Their modifiers already give them that, WELL beyond what is practically useful. Adding more would be something like dropping a nuke on an anthill.

Enhance Damage? Not every defender focuses much on doing damage.

Enhance Defense? Ideally, the defender isn't going to be taking attacks.

Break Debuff Resistance? And that helps Force Field or Empathy, how? Not to mention a few other sets that focus more on buffing.

Critical Enhanced Effect Duration? Doesn't help every set equally enough to be a good inherent.

Recharge boosts have the same problems as Enhanced Duration.

There's nothing really that equally benefits all types of Defenders.

The only thing that equally effects all Defenders is endurance: hence Vigilance.

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The second problem with defenders is that they're really somewhat...extra.

Like I said, they butt their heads against the HARD Limits and step hard past the Useful Increases.

Controller buffing/debuffing ALONE steps hard past the Useful Increases. Heck, controller buffs take me to max in several categories. Defender buffs send me 30-60% past the light-blue level, wasted effort, effectively meaning there's no difference between a Defender buff and a Controller buff.

Not to mention the fact that some of the Defender primaries are somewhat...less than active and less than useful as a solo player. It's the only AT that has so much primary space spent on things that can't help itself. Empathy and Force Field are good controller secondaries, more than good, excellent, but they're....rather boring primaries. (unless you team with people that make a habit out of dying hideously in Empathy's case).

All that said, I like playing defenders, they're fun.

They just weren't well planned.

Personally I think it would be a great idea to move stealth out of a tanker's primary set into the pool version for those classes. This would cause melee class stealth moves the same functionality they already have without limiting the scope of the power set. An Energy Aura brute could easily take Concealment: Stealth and replace his Energy Cloak with a duplicate version. A DA tank could easily grab Stealth too, and get his +perception and immobilize protection from another power in his current set, like his other two mez protection toggles.

This would not only leave the same options open to current builds of Brutes/Scrappers/Tankers, but would also provide a replacement power much more suited to tanking. Sure stealth without suppression helps you limit your aggro, but to say its better is to assume that every other person playing the game with you is competent enough not to charge in when you are still trying to herd. Sometimes, no matter how many times you ask people to "wait here", there's always that one who doesn't. Plus, a good tank doesn't need to limit his aggro radius. Although it doesn't directly create problems, it merely leaves the door open to potential aggro on the other members of the team without you being the primary target, and no tank wants that. Even if you feel "they earned it", it's still a tank's job to not let it happen in the first place, even if the other person is inexperienced or just doesn't listen, lol. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Energy Aura could easily be given a move that gathers aggro from nearby enemies, like Invuln: Invincible and WP: RttC. It would obviously have to be thematically relevant, but it could be managed. Tanker: Dark Armor, on the other hand, is lacking in overall hardness compared to other tank sets. Granted, tanking is possible with it, but it just doesn't compare. A move with +HP or +Defense, or even more -Acc, would help solidify a Dark Tank to be on par with the others. Sure DA has it's controller-ish benefits, but they still only work if they work. Resistance, HP, and Defense toggles don't just "not work" sometimes. Their benefit is far more reliable, predictable, and toughening. A -Acc -Rech AoE toggle or a +Def +End Recovery auto power could even do the trick here.

Granted, the only issue would be builds with 4 pools already, but with 4 pools being so important to making a build effective, I think that's already a sure sign that the primary or secondary sets chosen are already missing something. Why would a DA scrapper need Acrobatics if he was offered a tad more in his mez protection (knockback)? Why would an EA brute need Maneuvers with another survivability move accessible? A lot of the reasons to delve into so many pools could be alleviated with this change. Most people get a travel set (1), Fitness (2), possibly survival methods like Fighting (3), and then some choose to take a fourth pool to cap stats or to make optional personal choices outside their travel choice, like stealth/maneuvers/medicine/hasten/TP Foe/Recall Friend/Hover to mesh with TP or to get distance with a blaster, etc. (4).

Still, when it all comes down to it, a tank not being seen opens doors for danger to a team that is being seen. Stealth for potential tank sets should be moved to the personalizing options that are pool powers.

On the contrary of making every set a tanking set, I suggest having variety within armor sets. While each may provide alternate combinations of mitigation and alternate versions of tier 9s, you'll run out of combos to use for your themes. Seriously, only so many sets can have resist to smashing/lethal, defense and a +HP/heal and not be Invulnerability or Stone Armor. In a similar vein, Brute SR didn't need a taunt aura in one of its toggles because then you have no choice. As a SR brute, you can't *not* taunt without losing a huge chunk of your mitigation and yet you get nothing from it like WP, Inv or any other set with a proper taunt aura. It was changed to appease a non-mandatory ideal that each set should function exactly the same. And it really harms the non-tanking ATs, those being primarily Stalker and secondarily Brute and Scrapper.

But rather than suggest changing sets right under players for no reason, I propose applying this to new armor sets so they needn't be required to conform to the general tanking formula. A prime example would be here, an armor set built *not* to be a living fortress but to consider death an inevitability and going so far as to use death as a means to another end.

More sets like that, and some more that use misdirection and distraction (similar to Ninjutsu) or even team aid sets(Shields has a touch of this), would be a welcomed addition to all melee ATs because the option would be there. Having varied effects and playstyles within an AT offers many new and unexplored synergies with primaries and secondaries.

I knowhow to settle this debate.

Lower the end cost of Cloak of Shadows!

Then while we're at it, make Cloak of Fear better!

YAY!