Dark Miasma...why not?

Why is it that controllers do not have Dark Miasma as a secondary yet?

It would be great for concept. pairing with fire for some nice evil fire and dark demonic theme.

I always dream of fire imps with a dark fluffy and with incarnates coming soon, maybe there is a way to get some demon summoning in there...i know, that is Villian but with Going Rogue there might be a possibility.

Just imagine. You have fire control and blasts augmented with a few whip melee attacks and you have your demons blasting away with your fire monkeys clawing your target and your dark fluffy healing and CCing the debuffed (from DM) enemy.

That sounds so nice to me and it maintains a hellish/nightmare theme with all the fire/dark and demon stuff!

Sounds like crap

The more things change the more they stay the same it seems. This question has been asked for years and so far the developers have simply stated that because of the controller-ish nature of Miasma it has a lot of potential to be too much control and far too powerful. They have said it would only appear for controllers if it is heavily modified.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=217534

There was a recent discussion of this issue in the thread above.

The devs talked about it before, not just Dark Miasma, but everything the Controller can get. The original Power Proliferation idea was give everything to everyone that was possible. THEN they figured out the amount of work to do that. So we get it in drips and drabs. We are due for more Proliferation, but with Going Rogue being on the front burner, it will take awhile.

I think the particular trick is that a Dark Control set would probably be expected to go with Dark Miasma. Designing new sets take even longer than Proliferating them. As we're getting 4 new sets in GR; "Dark Control" is a ways off and so is Dark Miasma.

This sums it up pretty nicely

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunstorm [ QUOTE ] We're all losing focus on the important issue here. Convincing someone in NCSoft to write up the full proposal for the Dark Manipulation secondary for blasters. 1) Gravimetric Snare (it needs a name change) 2) Shadow Punch 3) Smite 4) Soul Drain 5) Dark Consumption 6) Shadow Maul 7) Midnight Grasp 8) Cloak of Darkness 9) Fearsome Stare Go Sunstorm! Go Castle! Go someone else! [/ QUOTE ] Actually Synapse and I have been puzzling over the dark sets. Just for fun, I'll shed some light on the subject. So, lets start this with a riddle, since the explanation is just as incomprehensible. Why does Dark Miasma overlapping Dark Control powers make a straight port of Dark Manipulation problematic? The explanation is, there are a couple powersets that would be sharing an interesting combination of powers. For example, Controllers want Dark Control and Dark Miasma, except Dark Miasma is already a very control heavy set which would supply a lot of Dark Controls powers. Combining Dark/Dark this way could lead to a lot of overalap. Dominators would want Dark Control and Dark Assault, so Dark Assault would have to be careful not to include control powers from Dark Blast or Dark melee. Blasters are easier, however the powers that go to blasters would likely be included in Dark Assault, which goes opposite dark control. Then there are the general AT wide no-no's. Such as: giving armor powers to non-armored classes, or overlapping powers alread in patron pools. So in the end, it's not designing one powerset. It's designing 3 different powersets: Dark Control/Dark Miasma for Controllers Dark Control/Dark Assault for Dominators Dark Blast/Dark Manipulation for Blasters Well, that's enough "dark" for several posts. And no, nothing is in the works yet.

IF we ever see Dark in controllers set list, I have always figured it will be a primary, not a secondary.

That being said, I hope we never get it cause I enjoy seeing these posts pop up once and a while....keeps the keel level.

Psst everyone....Nightowl317 posted the dev quote already about their reasons. Look up.

I'm not sure we're disagreeing much here - a Dark secondary with Mastermind numbers would indeed be nerfing it for balance reasons. I do notice, however, that the Devs don't seem to operate this way - they don't give a set the numbers from another class as a means of balance, unless I'm missing something. Dark as a primary would be interesting - wouldn't mind seeing it.

Just give me a Dark/Dark Blaster and you can have Dark Miasma for a controller....lol

Honestly, I think it more likely that the Dark Servant would be moved from Dark Miasma to Dark Control (and given some damage) instead of Dark Control having no pets. That would cause a problem for Dark Control in combination with other Secondaries. Gravity was the last Control set to have neither a pet not a Confuse power, and it gained Wormhole for that very reason. It's extremely unlikely that a new Control set would not have a pet.

One idea that has occured to me, though, is a combination of Illusion and Dark Control, called Dark Illusions. The pet could then be skipped for a Decieve/Mass Decieve, which would be an interesting supplement to Dark's Fear. This would obviously be a Dominator set, though, not a Controller set, and their version of Illusion, not necessarily a counterpart to Dark Miasma or Dark Assault. And there's no real reason for the Dom not to get the pet, since it doesn't get Dark Miasma.

I honestly think that the pet and the potential for overlap is the problem, not balance reasons. The MM balancing basically IS the pet, the nerfs are that and the radius of Twilight Grasp, and the recharge on Dark Servant is I think the bigger nerf. Honestly, if the CoV devs had already taken the step of creating a unique Dark Miasma (i.e., with different powers) for Masterminds it probably would port better.

Just give Dark Control the Minor Shadow that Black Swan uses as the lvl 32 pet.

Minor Shadow (minion)

Minor Shadows are powerful enemies despite their small sizeThese small shadowy beings serve Black Swan loyally. They seem to have no desires or motivations of their own. Some people say that after they encounter them they experience a chill for up to several weeks. They can channel dark energy into focused blasts.

Levels: 45-54

Powers

Dark Blast (Ranged, Negative, Damage over Time, Negative) Foe -Accuracy
A long range blast of dark energy. Deals moderate damage and reduces the target's chance to hit.

Gloom (Ranged) Damage over Time, Negative, Foe -Accuracy
Gloom slowly drains a target of life and reduces his chances to hit. Slower than Dark Blast, but deals more Damage over Time.

Shadow Punch Melee, Smash/Negative, Low Damage, Foe -Accuracy
A basic punch draws power from the netherworld. Shadow Punch deals moderate damage and reduces the target´s accuracy.

Shadow Maul Melee, Smash/Negative, High Damage over Time, Foe -Accuracy
This deadly attack unleashes a flurry of shadow punches pummeling your foe with focuses negative energy. Shadow Maul deals a lot of damage over a short period of time. Like most Shadow Punches, Shadow Maul can reduce the target´s accuracy.

Resistance Auto, Self +Res( E--30 N50 )
Black Swan's minions are resistant to Negative Energy, but vulnerable to Energy.

I spent a few mins. thinking about how Dark Miasma might be proliferated to Controllers in the very near future.

So here's what I came up with:

• Dark Miasma (controller secondary set)
• Twilight Grasp: corruptor version, 20% heal
• Tar Patch: unchanged any version
• Darkest Night: -25%dmg, -20% to hit
• Howling Twilight: corruptor version
• Shadow Fall: corruptor version
• Wave of Negativity(cone aoe, night fall anim. perhaps?):
  Unleash a cone of negative particles at your enemies. The negative particles will interact with the victims at a sub-atomic level, wreaking havoc on the speed at which they recharge powers as well as reducing endurance recovery
  
  end.cost: 18.2, acc.: 75%, rech.: 60s, dur.: 30s, range: 70ft, arc: 45`, cast: 2.03s, -40%rech to targets, -40% to target's movement, -100% recovery to targets
  
• Tortured Soul(animation: Dark Blast's Gloom is a good fit):
  You summon a negative presence that will invade a single target. Your enemy's ability to fight off and survive attacks will be reduced.
  end.: 15.6, acc.: 75%, rech.: 90s, dur.: 30s, range: 70ft, -30% def. to target, -30 res. to target
• Black Hole: corruptor version, single target only.
• Dark Spectre (targeted aoe, howling twilight animation perhaps?, CoT Spectral Daemon critter costume or new?):
  You use all your might to tap deep into the underworld to conjure an extremely powerful entity. Upon entering this dimension, the Dark Spectre will immediately hold all enemies with the radius of it's power in addition to using it's enemies own endurance to power it's aura of negativity. As well as being held(acc. check), all enemies within the Dark Spectre's immense negative aura will suffer numerous effects. After summoning the Dark Spectre, the Controller will lose the ability to recover endurance for a while.
  
  end.: 20.8, acc: 75%, rech.: 300s, dur.: 27.9s, cast: 2.93s, radius: 60ft, mag 3 hold, -1000% rec. to self for 15s, -40% endurance loss for targets, -500% recovery to targets for 15s