For the love of Ancillary Power Pools

Way back in issue 3, when the ancillary power pools were added, we could see them as a natural extension of our characters' powers. Our ninja guy could of course throw shurikens, and naturally our fire tanker was able to blast fire at our foes, if only the game would let us. APPs came along, and now we could.

But these days, APPs have been getting the short end of the stick. More and more power sets get added to ATs, with thematically matched primaries and secondaries. They don't, however, get a matching APP. I would say something like half of the themes represented in primaries and secondaries of the archetypes today aren't represented in the same archetypes' APPs. There's no way for your electric Scrapper to shoot lightning at his foes from a distance, or for your stone Dominator to shield himself in a suit of rock armor.

I find this a real impediment to creating characters. To me, the choice of APP is every bit as important to a character as primary or secondary. And I'm not alone; you can see this on the forums when people include APP choice in the shorthand for their builds! Phrases like "SS/FA/Pyre Brute" or "Fire/Fire/Mace Blaster" are proof that people consider them character-defining. These characters undoubtedly have other power pools (it's literally impossible to build to 50 without taking at least two pools), yet it's the APP that warrants mention alongside the primary and secondary.

So if you're like me, I implore you: let the devs know that you consider APPs just as important to characters as primary and secondary. Either here in this thread, or PMs, or when you meet them in-game, anywhere! This is not a petition; it's a call to arms. Go, and let it be known: we want more APPs!

I support not only more APP variety (especially since villains can now utilize them, further increasing their utility) but also Power Customization for APPs (no small task, but another thing that would increase their ability to fit a character's theme).

Yep can't agree enough and have voiced my opinion on this matter before. I have to admit I am someone who only creates themed characters and I always find the APP's as very important to that and also very restrictive. Example my latest character is a Grav/Rad Controller and while I would LOVE to give him a Radiation APP coupled with X-Ray eyes and Neutron Bomb, I cannot. I find a lot of my controllers relying a lot on Primal Forces as it is somewhat neutral.. ;-)

Even worse for Villains though before i18. PPP's were a big factor in preventing my from being able to enjoy redside. At least they have APP's now but it is a shame they are so copy/paste. Mastermind's in particular could have been much more awesome with Dark (for Necro/Demon), Ninjitsu (For Ninja) and Munition (Mercs, Thugs and perhaps Bots) type sets.

Oh bacon yes!! We really do need more APPs, AND they need to thematically match the existing powersets. TriElec Tankers, TriPistols Defenders, TriSpines Scrapp... wait... that one might be kinda silly... who cares?

Yes, more thematic APPs would be wonderful.

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Yes, more thematic APPs would be wonderful.[/QUOTE]


i brought this up in GR Beta, and I brought it up during power proliferation, and everytme i heard "not until they fix villain Patrons!"

So nice to see more support come out for this, and said way better than i ever could.

/protest more APPs

Every time someone complains about PPP customization or access to more APPs, a Kheldian somewhere dies a little inside.

"Alien"

Quote:

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

My thoughts:

If an AT has an 'elemental' power set, then they should get a corresponding APP. Thus:

Electric Mastery for Scrappers
Dark and Electric Mastery for Tanks
Electric Mastery for Dominators (Elec/Elec and no Charged Armour? Heresy!)

And so on.

Power customization is also a big thing in this regard, to make them better fit with customized primaries/secondaries.

Now that Villains have APP access and Heroes PPP (if they go Rogue), there's no reason why more APP's shouldn't grace our characters.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'd love to see a pistols APP for those natural scrappers who don't want to fling shurikens at the bad guys.

I've been wanting new Power Pools and APP's for years, and hope eventually the Devs get to it. I see no reason to think they eventually won't, so I'm just biding my time. Ooh, and Power Customization of course. No as for Khelds, I'm not so sure they'll ever get Power Customization, but I certainly hope so.