Shapeshifting: Vague overhaul idea

A slightly half formed idea that is, to say the least, somewhat radical. I know even before I type it up what it will probably get a lot of 'hell no wtf' ing, which I can understand. It is, after all, just an idea.

Basically, the main hoo-ha people seem to have, myself included, with the Kheldians and shapeshifting is how its hard to slot both forms and human form powers effectively (if going Triform)
Human forms avoid this problem altogether, while sacrificing the the utility (and mez protection of dwarf form)
Twin-forms will partly avoid the slotting problem, while Tri-forms suffer the most from it.

Now, the idea itself.
Scrap shapeshifting as it is now. That is to say, do away with the 'shapeshift only' powers. Dwarf and Nova attacks.

Instead of that, allow both forms access to the standard attacks. Im...not sure about the secondary set. Although it would lock off such things as heals, buffs etc, stacking the forms on top of shields and such would be...well, as it is now it would be broken. But if this would be a whole overhaul...Dwarf form I see being the easiest, making the number smaller, so that it stacks like Crab Spiders Fortification does with the auto-armour...
(Note, Im not trying to make it a Veat-Heat thing, its just the only example I can think of off the top of my head)

Animation wise, this would indeed be shed loads of work. There would need to be new Nova and Dwarf form versions of each attack. Yes, Nova's cant punch, etc. They do, however, have a rather large, sharp looking mouth, and a whiplash tail. They fire energy from both ends, so using either to attack seems plausible. As for AoEs, simply a blast from the middle seems to work.

This is a very sketchy idea, at present. Number wise, it would require a lot of rebalancing, animation wise a lot of work, and I get the feeling it would create a lot of aggro amongst current users.
Still, just an idea. I do still feel the HEATs need work, in one way or another. At the very least, give them a freaking endurance balance, pre-stamina levels are crippling. Amongst other things.

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Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I've suggested similiar to this several times - seems nobody much cared for it

I think this would have been the best way to to have constructed the AT when first implemented, but now, everybody kowtows to the sacred 'Cottage Rule' and this idea blows the doors of it.

Whatever! /Signed

Heck, I might be more seriously interested in shapeshifting were it this way.

The biggest problem I see with the forms just being toggles and not effecting powers is teaming, and CoX is balanced around teaming.

Why would you want anything other than the damage 'form' when you have a team who can take care of your survivability?

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Originally Posted by Aggelakis PrincessDarkstar: "RAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH SOMEONE IS *WRONG* ON THE INTERNET!"

I'd prefer to leave shapeshifting as it is. This suggestion seems more akin to a "pseudo shifting" mechanic. I prefer the current system because it constitutes what I think of as "true shifting". Different forms, different stats, different powers. Just plain different.

However, I do agree that the mechanics are in need of some work. The 3s animation time is rather long. It's understandable that those times are intended to prevent shifting on the fly and thereby enabling Khelds to leverage their versatility unfairly. Still, I'd like to see a reduction to 1.5s. That's enough time to prevent the insta-shifting of WoW Druids and force Kheldian players to continue to think before going to another form without creating the current instant death scenario if you shift at the wrong time.

Simple solutions to observable, provable problems.

There are lots of ways I wish Kheldians work, but those are not options on the table. I do believe it's wise to have the shapeshifting animations sped up. I do believe it's wise to consider adding IO options (though I'd hate to rebalance them based on that). I do believe it's wise to ease the play of the peacebringer, nudging it up a bit more until it stands closer, shoulder to shoulder, with its much more powerful brother.

But full-blown AT overhauls, no matter how clever the idea is, aren't realistic changes in this paradigm. Working a lot of mental effort over it is the kind of thing that should be on the 'For Fun' forum because it's not really useful to a serious discussion of things that could be proposed to the developers.

Heroes, Villains ♦ Reviews ♦ Retrospect

If you can get whoever has my name taken on Infinity to change their name, I'll make a Kheld to join that SG...

"Alien"

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Originally Posted by Infernus_Hades The way you play changes your IO slotting..