Free Form Archetypes

What might help get a more free form feel is just a new AT.

Assault/Defense AT with Epics that have One Buff (like AM, or Thermal Shields wrapped in one power but with a smaller number)/AOE or ST Debuff (not as good as Corrs/MMs/Defs/Trollers, but alot better than the Scrappers/Tanks/Blasters get for numbers in the epics)/ST Hold/ST Immobilze/and a Pet.

I was not suggesting the ability to choose from any powerset across archetype but only within them. Many powersets have similiar powers within the same archetypes which they could limit by locking out similar power options if you chose one of that type. The tricky thing would be on some of archetypes with powersets that have a wide variety of powers within them, like controllers, which could allow for overpowered characters.

It would be crazy if you could choose all AE holds or all AE blasts or all pets so some interlocking would be neccessary. I am just wondering if its been addressed and while I admit there are some people out there who's min/maxing ways would exploit it, I have always been a themed character creator and that is why it appeals to me. I currently play 2 superhero MMOs right now as neither one allows me to create all the characters I dream up.

I suppose the work involved in figuring out which powers would have to be locked out when choosing certain other powers would be too much and it would break the tradition of forcing players to level up each powerset combo singley and therefore bypass too much of the traditional time sinks for a game of this sort. Still I dream of characters that aren't limited to only 2 aspects of power, though I supposed to be fair you have to say 3 aspects of power for those high level players that can access the patron/epic powersets.

there is a similar suggestion to this in the suggestions and ideas forums. basically to make this work, it would require that when you choose a power from a tier it locks out all other powers from that tier. and this would be limited to attack sets only. primary for some at's, secondary for others. yes it would require that all powers of each tier act pretty much the same damage wise but would work balance wise.

this though, is not an idea to be implemented into this version of CoX but a new idea to take on for CoX2.

Not too very long ago I made a suggestion similar to this in the ideas forum (for Fun).

Not knowing the game engine as well as some, it could be that many of these ideas are simply unworkable, even if they could be implemented in a balanced way.

One Idea I had which is probably doable is to add more ATs which are variations on existing powersets.

For Example; Take Defender Primaries and Match them with Tanker secondaries.
The damage scaling would have to be adjusted for balance, but it creates a new set of opportunities that currently dont exist (Dominators probably are the closest).

Melee-Fender anyone? I would role one up in a heartbeat.

And I bet they could introduce these new ATs in pairs (one Villainous and one Hero-side).

I love it when people still bring this up, when they already tried this in the Alpha and it turned out to be a terrible idea for reasons already posted.

Especially since not a lot of people realise that City of Heroes was originally meant to basically be a Champions MMO with the serial numbers filed off. Champions Online is actually closer to Jack Emmert's original vision... and others have said plenty about that.

This game is already easy and has incredible character freedom compared to most other MMOs on the market. It doesn't need to be broken.

And just to drive a nail into the coffin of 'it's just for RP reasons', I'll use one hated example: the Mission Architect. An RPers wet dream, and what was it first used for? Farming and exploiting on an unprecedented scale, and it had to be violently and repeatedly nerfed to stamp it out. Even RP freaks will succumb to exploiting if it's easy enough.

Oh my, a quick look at mids and some basic addition yields these total numbers for that.

-regen 50%
-to hit 43.85%
-damage 75%
-resist 145%
-speed ~270%
-rech 350%
-def 55%

fear mag 3
2 kd patches

unenhanced damage 250+25

Plus a self aoe heal

Granted, this is ignoring durations and recharge. It's also the unenhanced numbers. The only thing is the -regen is kind of low, but it can be spammed and with the other debuffs would likely be unnecessary anyway.

With the ability to color our attacks (and even change the animations in some cases), any RP justification for this idea gains a little less strength. Granted, you still can't throw a fireball after a lightningbolt followed by a megaton punch, but mweh.

I'd rather see a signature power or something if you're looking to make yourself even MORE unique, but that's about as far as I'd go with that.

I still think adding one power at some level between say thirty-five and fifty by doing a signature power could add a lot more possibilities without being as broken as the ops suggestion. I also think it would be a great way to breathe life into high level characters. Possibly haaving to do even more special missions or arcs to add slots.