Powers that really don't make sense

First off, this ISN'T a call to change any powers. There's approximately zero-percent chance of that happening, and I'm not even sure if I'd want them changed anyway.

But, just for discussion purposes, what powers really bother you on a "this doesn't make any sense" level?

For me, the big ones are the "stealth" powers that should be doing just about anything other than providing stealth.

Steamy Mist, Cloak of Darkness, Smoke Grenade

When a big fog bank suddenly rolls through the office building or when everything goes completely dark or when a giant cloud of smoke suddenly fills the room, you'd think the enemy would be going "uh-oh, we've got company" rather than blithely standing there . . .

As a "well what would you do with these powers", I'd make Steamy Mist and Cloak of Darkness a PBAoE -ToHit DeBuff and also provide a +Defense Buff to you and teammates.

(You're hard to see/target so the +Def and anyone actually caught in the cloud has trouble seeing out/through it so the -ToHit)

For Smoke Grenade, I'd just to a bigger -ToHit DeBuff and drop the -Perception (SG's "stealth" effect) or even leave both, but drop the "no aggro" effect.

So, anyone else have any powers that just bother them on a gut level?

Concentrated strike.

*I'm waving my hands in a circle I'm waving my hands WHAM*
I see no concentration there :-|

I don't know, in the COH world, I can't see people getting any more worried about a cloud bank showing up inside a building than they would be about seeing a light drizzle outside. "It's one of those Storm defender types. Seriously, do they EVER think about the rest of us?"

That said, yeah, many of the powers you've already mentioned, some of my friends and I will end up joking about the NPCs just not caring. Or not reacting to one of their buddies running by on fire, or coated in ice, or with a giant arrow or spine sticking out of them.

Then there's Placate. "Oh, no, sorry, I didn't just stab you from behind.. no, really, I slipped. Big misunderstanding. We're good? Thanks, knew you'd be understanding about it." *stab again.*

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I agree with the logic! I also agree that they probably shouldn't be changed.

Practically all powers apply an excessive amount of force to be considered heroic (lucky villains). When I see arrows, or spines sticking out of an enemy that's still fighting, I chuckle. I can hack away at entry-level gang members with a gigantic sword, and they... keep... fighting!

Practically nothing makes sense in this game from reality's perspective. I think that's why some people just can't get into games in general. There are mechanics and tropes we all expect that normies just can't wrap their heads around.

I'd say they're just visible representations of powers for gaming purposes. Like for example, with hasten, your hands get covered with glowing energy, but I'd think thats just so the player can see hasten is activated, whereas enemies aren't actually seeing the glowing hands and thinking 'man that dude is fast, he's got glowie hands'.

Foot Stomp on an awning or an electrical wire or similarly insubstantial substrate.

Parry. If I parry this guy in front of me, those guys over there can't hit me with ranged lethal attacks....but if there's no one in front of me in melee, I can't get the bonus to ranged lethal attacks and those guys can hit me after all.

Aggro range in general. I can stand in plain view 80 feet away and set off a gun, a thunderclap, a sonic scream...even a Warburg nuclear missile strike and the guys don't notice me?

The unfortunate accident of design that Storm Summoning, generally speaking, works much better indoors.

My take on Steamy Mist, Smoke Grenade, and so forth, is that while you KNOW someone is in the area, generating a cloud, you don't know WHERE he is. So while the caster has given away his presence, he hasn't given away his location.

Logically, the enemies should be alerted, and should start looking around for the source of the cloudbank, but unfortunately, the game doesn't work that way. A foe cannot begin moving or taking action until he SEES you, and from that moment he will ALWAYS see you no matter how good your stealth is. So he can zero in on you from the other side of the room. There is no "look around and see if you can find the player".

There's a lot of other things the game doesn't support, for instance, when you dodge, you should flip and move around your target, and when you use Placate you should change position rather than just stand there. But the game never "forces" you to move, except through the Teleport function. And that's why Shield Charge has to be implemented as a Teleport.

Somewhat along the same lines, I've also always thought Jump Kick should actually be a jump kick, like Eagle's Claw, but jumping forward. And Air Superiority, it really doesn't make sense for it to have nothing to do with flying. I always thought it would be neat if you "flew at" the target, like a flying charge.

It's a game so I don't care about anything like this as long as I have fun playing the game.

... I can't believe I'm the first person to mention Healing Flames.

All that powers me less than the Pulling tactic.

"Hmmm, Bob's been shot! Eh, we'll let him deal with it on his own."

"Wow, now Marcus has been shot. I'm sure he can take care of it on his own."

"Hey Dave's been shot! You and you with me! Ummm...the rest of you continue to ignore all of us beeing shot!"

Blaster: "Damn, bad pull!"

Everything in Trick Arrow - You've been hit by a yard long pointy stick travelling at 300 feet per second. It should hurt.

Accelerate Metabolism - Why isn't anyone concerned over the effect speeding the metabolism up by 30% has on the aging process?

The aggro cap. Similar to what BrandX was saying.

OMG its SuperVillianDudeMan. Lets all get 'em.... Well execpt for you guys. No no its ok we got it. But if 4 of us drop then 4 and only 4 of you can start fighting. The rest of you just stand there and watch.

Cooldown on rest.

Ok I need to take a break...... Ok off to fighting...... Wow that was a draining fight. I need to rest again. Oh wait I am not quite ready yet to do nothing. Guess Ill have to sit here doing nothing while I wait to sit there and do nothing more efficently.

Any AOE attack. How the hell does that giant fierball know who is its friend or foe?

Sonic Resonance.

I would imagine if someone were screaming really loudly at me, it would bother me more than help me.

Mercenaries.

I love how all the mercs are holding huge guns and then decide, "hey, maybe I should run up and PUNCH this giant menacing robot/beast/sorcerer/etc... who needs a gun?"

The fact that Sonic Cage, and other enemy phase powers can't be shut off.

"Oh, sorry guys. I put this guy in a cage and I realize I control all aspects of sound and the manipulation of sound waves, but we just have to... ummm... wait for it to end."

The entire Dual Pistols powerset.

lol !

very funny all

Let the floodgates open

Focus and Shockwave. I have no idea how my claws character can knock people over from 40 feet away using his claws. They're great powers, but why this set gets ranged attacks is beyond me. This bugged me enough to start a thread on it once.

Kinetics - I still don't know what this powerset is meant to represent. Its partly power absorption (Siphons and Fulcrum Shift), partly superspeed (the only way to get unsupressed speed in combat), allows you to increase ally's density and heal them?
Transfusion's enemy-based AoE heal that can miss is probably the most mysterious. No idea what's going on when I use that.

Radiation Emission is kind of similar. Very useful set, but I've never explained it as a character using radioactivity to do all that. Reality altering like the Scarlet Witch of Mad Jim Jaspers maybe, but not radiation. This set also fits Element Lad style transmutation quite nicely if paired with Ice or Earth control.

I also agree that Sonic Resonance is a wierd set if you try to explain it as sound-based. "Solid sound" like Klaw from Marvel comics never really made sense much. Its a good set for matter manipulation of some kind like Firestorm from the JLA maybe.

Drain Psyche is a bit odd for a set that is almost all telepathy, but I guess the +Regen can be thought of as mentally easing pain rather than bullet holes closing up like Wolverine.

On a similar note, the defence powers that increase with enemies around you. Why do Invulnerable characters get more accurate? And why does Willpower make you heal more quickly? They're great game mechanics though, and your character doesn't have to be aware of it in a "Ha! These enemies are easing my wounds!" or "Finally! I can hit that Rikti Drone thanks to the other 9 guys piling on me!" way.

Controller and Dominator pets.

Also, 02 Burst.