Proliferation - What do you want to see?

I think the next round of proliferation will have the following:

Blasters
Dark Blast
Martial Arts or Dark Manipulation (or nothing)

Brutes
Broadsword
Regeneration

Controllers
(no primary this round)
Traps

Corruptors
Psychic Blast
Force Fields

Defenders
Thermal Radiation
Fire Blast

Dominators
Illusion Control
(no secondary this round)

Masterminds
(no primary this round)
Cold Domination or Sonic Resonance? (This is the only one I'm really unsure of.)

Scrappers
Energy Melee
Energy Aura

Stalkers
Axe or Mace
Invulnerability

Tankers
Energy Aura (or else modified Super Reflexes; an all-defense Tank would either never get hit or get pounded into the dirt two seconds after the fight started)
Broadsword
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That's not to say that's exactly what I want to see, but it's what I expect. For instance, I'd really like to see Radiation Emission or Kinetics for a Mastermind, but it's just more likely that they'll get Cold and Sonic first. I am looking very forward to a future when I can make a Plant Control/Poison Controller, but I doubt that'll happen with this next round. I'll make due with my Energy Melee/Willpower Scrapper, though...

I think we can eventually expect a "Gun-Fu" Assault set for Dominators, that either combines Dual Pistols with Martial Arts or involves "pistol in one hand, sword in the other" attacks. I think we'll also eventually see a "Dark Control" set for Controllers and Dominators. But I don't think either of those will be coming along with the next round of proliferation, either.

Edit:
Ninjutsu for Scrappers requires a replacement for both Hide (which is easy--Stealth) and Caltrops. Energy Aura can be done as a straight port. That's why I believe it'll happen first.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

Chad Gulzow-Man: I agree with you on every point but one. Regeneration on a Brute could be a serious balance issue. Brutes' very high HP means that +regen is powerful on a Brute, and Regeneration has it in spades. I'd suspect that they might get both Broadsword and Katana as primaries, since they're so similar, but miss out on a secondary.

Also, I'm not entirely sure about Axe Stalkers, though you could do a nice urban-legend style "huge guy with an axe that you somehow never noticed" vibe with it. Probably Axe/Willpower.

Dark blast for blasters have character want make. Since only really play blasters currently gonna try it as corrupter.

Blasters - Dark Blast, with following changes:

-Tenebrous Tentacles replaced with Aim
-Dark Pit replaced with Dark Obliteration
-Drain Life damage buffed to not useless as an attack levels

WARNING: Night Fall conflicts with Soul Mastery. We warned you, but you didn't listen.

Blasters - Dark Manipulation - Punches, single target fears, the lot.

Controllers - Dark Miasma - Loses Fearsome Stare for... something. Don't know what. Uses MM numbers on Dark Servant. Fearsome Stare gets moved to Darkness Control.

Dominators - Urban Assault - A combination of Dual Pistols (the less flashy ones) and Martial Arts (withs pistols out!). Note that neither DP or MA has a good 15' PBAoE. Por ejemplo: Pistols, Dual Wield, Empty Clips, Executioner's Shot; Storm Kick, Cobra Kick, self-buff, two "other" powers.

While I've never been one to want to see Super Strength ported to Scrappers, due to a few powers not feeling the level of scrappers (all in my personal opinion of course)...like Footstomp and Hurl Boulder.

I've recently changed my mind on it.

I still see super strength scrappers being inthe levels of SpiderMan, where you don't see him ripping out pieces of the ground, or foot stomping and causing a mini earthquake, however, I'm thinking of letting it slide.

That said, I still don't think every set should be ported to every AT, just because they have those sets as possible options.

I think Stone Armor should remain Tanker/Brute. I think Ninjitsu should stay Stalkers and be ported to Scrappers.

For ports I'd like to see...

Force Fields & Psi Blast for Corrs.

Dark Miasma to Trollers, only after they come up with a Dark Control Primary, and thusly make any needed changes to Dark Miasma for Trollers, as to not have to much overlap.

Fire Blast/Thermal for Defenders.

Ninjitsu, Energy Aura, Energy Melee (even though I personally don't like to play it anymore) for Scrappers.

Ice Armor/Ice Melee for Stalkers.

Broadsword/Regen for Brutes, not that I would play the sets on Brutes, but Regen seems to fit any of the melee ATs.

Broadsword/Regen for Tankers. See above.

Dominators need a Dark Set.

Cold Domination for Master Minds.

Blasters need a Dark Set too. I'm actually surprised they havent gotten one yet, it seems like an easy Proliferation, but I could be wrong.

Regarding the 'illusion wouldn't benefit from domination' concern - while other sets may *technically* have more powers that benefit from domination, the real question is how many of those are *useful* powers or benefit in a meaningful way from dom.

For example, domination is nearly irrelevant for immobilizes. They already have very long durations relative to their recharge, and those same fast recharges mean that even mag 3 is plenty enough (and the ST ones are even mag 4). Similarly, the fact that salt crystals, flash freeze and spore burst benefit is not very meaningful, since none of those powers are especially useful or commonly taken.

So in terms of useful powers that benefit in a useful manner from domination, there's usually not more than 2 or 3 in a set *anyway*. Let's look at the list:

Earth: Fossilize, stalagmites
Fire: Char, flashfire, cinders
Gravity: Grav distortion, grav distortion field, wormhole
Ice: Block of ice, glacier
Mind: Mesmerize, dominate, confuse, mass hypnosis, telekinesis, total dom, terrify, mass confusion
Plant: Strangler, seeds, vines

Illusion: Blind, decieve, flash

Of the existing sets, only mind control has more than 3 useful powers that benefit strongly from domination. Illusion is on par with most of the existing sets in also having three useful powers that benefit from domination.

And benefiting from domination is not the be-all end-all of control sets. Look at earth - there are only two powers that benefit, but it's still a very strong control set. Even if phantom army and spectral terror wouldn't benefit from domination, they'd still be quite potent powers - invincible taunting tanks with 50% uptime on SOs that work against PTOD EBs and a perma-out-of-the-box AoE fear? Yeah, I'll take that.

So, in summary - gimme illusion!

On the contrary in one regard.

The way Domination works means you can immobilize a boss with just one application of an immobilize power, rather than needing to stack it in order for it to stick. I'd say the fact that Domination effectively doubles the mag of any control is more useful than the increased duration.

illusion dominator, one of the characters I want to make most is an illusionist, but contoller doesn't make any sense for him.

A form of ninjitsu for scrappers but without hide. Caltrops be nice so would shruikens i see enemies use all time. Would fit a theme I have but doubt would happen.

Whip for corr/defender/blaster?

Illusion on Controllers doesn't set up or benefit from containment very well; at least both it and Domination work best with high levels of recharge. If it did ever get proliferated intact you would probably see a good number of Ill/Psi/Ice Doms for the combination of PA with Drain Psyche's -regen and Sleet's -res.

I would definitely be a fan of Ninjitsu for Scrappers and Fire Blast for Defenders. I have been settling for a SR with Aid Self and a redeemed Fire/Rad Corrupter as substitutes (and, surprisingly, not bad subs, either).

Not sure how Katana would go over for Brutes, since it does not have the SMASHy feel, but neither does Dark Melee and they seem to get along fine. Dark Blast may need tweaked a little bit, but it would be nice to see Blasters get that (and what would a Dark Manipulation set look like). OH, and Dark Miasma/Control and Dark Assault Dominators! That, however, is venturing into the realm of new sets, so I guess I am done for now.