Movement Revisited

I suggest that movement is underdeveloped compared with other game aspects. Since there are a number of topics, I think the best approach is to post each separately.
First some definitions: What are the ‘Stop’ powers? They are a sub-group of what most players call mez powers. They reduce your ability to maneuver, not your combat status (and thus are not truly ‘mez’ powers). Specifically they are: Slow(movement), Hold, Immobilize, Knock(back, down, up), Cage, and Repel.
What are the ‘Go’ powers? Powers that provide movement – specifically: Sprint, Superspeed, Combat Jump, Super Leap, Hover, Flight, Group Flight, Recall Teammate, Teleport, and Team Teleport. Swift, Hurdle, Swiftness, and similar powers improve the values but do not themselves cause motion so they are not movement powers.
Go powers are often labeled as being Combat (Sprint, Combat Jump, Hover) or Travel (Superspeed, Super Leap, Flight, Recall Teammate, Teleport). But such labels are inaccurate, and these are the definitions I’m using in this discussion.
Travel powers are the Trains, Ferries, Helicopters and the various Teleporters (Pocket D, Oroboros, Supergroup, and Hospital). These are the true Travel powers because they have no combat application, and hence won’t be discussed here.
Speed powers are: Recall Friend, Teleport, Super Leap, Flight, Super Speed, and Group Teleport. These powers may you fast (more than 40 mph).
Mobility powers are: Sprint, Hover, Combat Leap, and Group Flight. These powers won’t make you fast, but do make you agile.

Topic 1) New Movement Options
A common complaint is that movement powers are not fast enough. This complaint is not about using the powers ‘in mission’; but rather that it takes too long to get from door to door, having to cross multiple zones, etc. These players see ‘playing-the-game’ as the individual missions of a story arc/task force. For them, getting from door to door is ‘behind-the-scenes’ and therefore not part of the playing experience. They don’t see themselves as ‘patrolling the skies of Paragon City’, they are just moving to the next act in the story. For this group, the reality is that no amount of improvement short of a button that drops them at the next door will be satisfactory.
Movement powers are for combat, not for travel. Yes, the Speed powers make getting around quicker than walking, but they are not Travel powers. Still, what’s wrong with allowing non-combat movement to be much faster? The idea of a stance or pose is fairly common in other games.
Travel (toggle): You concentrate every fiber of your being into speed. This is an inherent power, so you cannot enhance it. While toggled, all non-movement powers which are also not auto powers are disabled. All movement powers gain a +200% movement bonus (range for Teleport powers). You also gain a +25% base defense bonus (you are a speeding bullet), and a -50% sensory radius (your attention is focused on your destination). It costs zero endurance and requires 1 minute to recharge. When Travel is un-toggled, all your disabled powers recycle as if they had just been used. That is, they begin to recharge from the moment Travel was un-toggled.
This last bit prevents you from dropping out of travel mode and directly into combat. You will be vulnerable and unable to attack for at least a few seconds as your other powers cycle up.
And what about the opposite of Travel:
Stationary (toggle): You stand firm, bracing against enemy attacks and aiming your own with confidence. This is an inherent power, so you cannot enhance it. While toggled, all movement powers are disabled and movement commands are ignored. This power gives a 20% activation time debuff, a +5% damage resistance, and a +100% to your non-movement based Stop Protection and Resistance. It costs zero endurance and requires 15 seconds to recharge.
The recharge time is somewhat long to prevent players from going stationary to attack, moving off, and going stationary again. With recharge this long, it is better to use the stance when you can make multiple attacks before shifting back to movement.

There is no impact in CoX (charge, tackle, rush, overrun, call it what you will). How many great comic book characters rely on exactly that? What invulnerable character has not at some point bet on his/her defensive powers for protection and simply slammed into a menacing opponent / building /vehicle /asteroid? What would Charging entail?
Charge: is a movement option, similar to Follow. Like Follow, Charge will move you within a few feet of your target. You may attack and be attacked during the charge move, which may have a negative effect on the charge (or even negate it). When you reach your target, you make a targeted melee smashing attack. If you miss, you keep moving (Follow switches to Run). If you hit: you do smashing damage to the target and yourself, you and your target may suffer Knock(down), you and your target may suffer Stun.
The smash attack does a base 20 points modified by your active movement bonus. The chance for Knock(down) and/or Stun should be around 25%. The starting magnitude of the effect is 1.6 and is also modified by your active movement bonus.
Teleportation cannot be used to charge since it does not contain the necessary velocity element.

I suggest that movement is underdeveloped compared with other game aspects. Since there are a number of topics, I think the best approach is to post each separately.
First some definitions: What are the ‘Stop’ powers? They are a sub-group of what most players call mez powers. They reduce your ability to maneuver, not your combat status (and thus are not truly ‘mez’ powers). Specifically they are: Slow(movement), Hold, Immobilize, Knock(back, down, up), Cage, and Repel.
What are the ‘Go’ powers? Powers that provide movement – specifically: Sprint, Superspeed, Combat Jump, Super Leap, Hover, Flight, Group Flight, Recall Teammate, Teleport, and Team Teleport. Swift, Hurdle, Swiftness, and similar powers improve the values but do not themselves cause motion so they are not movement powers.
Go powers are often labeled as being Combat (Sprint, Combat Jump, Hover) or Travel (Superspeed, Super Leap, Flight, Recall Teammate, Teleport). But such labels are inaccurate, and these are the definitions I’m using in this discussion.
Travel powers are the Trains, Ferries, Helicopters and the various Teleporters (Pocket D, Oroboros, Supergroup, and Hospital). These are the true Travel powers because they have no combat application, and hence won’t be discussed here.
Speed powers are: Recall Friend, Teleport, Super Leap, Flight, Super Speed, and Group Teleport. These powers may you fast (more than 40 mph).
Mobility powers are: Sprint, Hover, Combat Leap, and Group Flight. These powers won’t make you fast, but do make you agile.

Topic 2) Upgrading Motion
Sprint (and other prestige runs) behaves oddly. Hover and Combat Jump both un-toggle when Flight or Super Leap is toggled. However, Sprint (et al) simply adds to your overall speed along with Superspeed. This behavior needs to change to make running the same as flying and leaping.

The record for the 100 meter dash is 9.69 seconds – 23.19 mph. The base ground speed in game is now 14.32 mph, increasing to 28.64 with Sprint activated and no enhancements slotted, which is soon to be 19.33 mph and 33.65 mph (w/I19). Agreed that Superheroes/villains should be at the pinnacle of physical excellence, but jogging a 3-minute mile? As the minimum?!? Why not stop tossing free movement bonuses at us and rework the numbers?
Make the basic movement (jogging) value 10.6 mph. At level 2, Swift (with no Run enhancements) will boost it back to 14.31, which is where we are right now. To get to the old Sprint value of 21.46 means Sprint should offer +100% rather than +50%. So using the current method, that’s +100% and +100% enhanceable for Sprint, plus 35% enhanceable from Swift (at level 2). So at level 1, the minimum Sprint would become 31.8 mph and at level 2 jumps up to 35.51 mph. Slotting a SO of your own level into both Sprint and Swift cranks jogging up to 15.54 mph (a 4-minute mile – which is at least believable) and Sprinting up to 40.27 mph. And if you don’t think that’s fast enough, then add a slot to Sprint and use a second SO Run, and your Sprint goes to 43.79 mph. Of course, this resetting of the base speed and reworking the bonus would need to apply to all the other movement powers as well. Interestingly enough, as you increase the basic movement bonus of each power, you increase the value of enhancement slotting making higher speeds (i.e. the thing “everybody” wants) easier to achieve.
Actually, why Sprint should get an additional unenhanceable boost where Hover and Combat Leap do not is a mystery to me. If the Travel stance (from topic 1) works out, then remove this extra boost.

The water environment behaves oddly. Standing in or treading water is not dangerous to human beings but does slow movement. Swimming in water is not particularly dangerous to humans but does slow motion (the record for the 100 meter freestyle swim is 47.05 seconds or 4.77 mph). Being submerged in water is dangerous to human beings as we cannot breathe, and slows our motion even more. I’m using the word motion because I mean not simply movement, but also action times. None of this occurs in the game. The game can distinguish when we come “in contact” with water, so it should be apply a water condition; which debuffs movement, buffs activation time, and produces some damage over time (at the submerged level). And how exactly does a person Rest when submerged in water and unable to breathe (which is possible right now)?
Much as I personally favor a new movement class for swimming, giving water this “environmental condition” immediately allows for a Super Swimming power which could ignore/resist the water environment and permit the use of Rest.

I suggest that movement is underdeveloped compared with other game aspects. Since there are a number of topics, I think the best approach is to post each separately.
First some definitions: What are the ‘Stop’ powers? They are a sub-group of what most players call mez powers. They reduce your ability to maneuver, not your combat status (and thus are not truly ‘mez’ powers). Specifically they are: Slow(movement), Hold, Immobilize, Knock(back, down, up), Cage, and Repel.
What are the ‘Go’ powers? Powers that provide movement – specifically: Sprint, Superspeed, Combat Jump, Super Leap, Hover, Flight, Group Flight, Recall Teammate, Teleport, and Team Teleport. Swift, Hurdle, Swiftness, and similar powers improve the values but do not themselves cause motion so they are not movement powers.
Go powers are often labeled as being Combat (Sprint, Combat Jump, Hover) or Travel (Superspeed, Super Leap, Flight, Recall Teammate, Teleport). But such labels are inaccurate, and these are the definitions I’m using in this discussion.
Travel powers are the Trains, Ferries, Helicopters and the various Teleporters (Pocket D, Oroboros, Supergroup, and Hospital). These are the true Travel powers because they have no combat application, and hence won’t be discussed here.
Speed powers are: Recall Friend, Teleport, Super Leap, Flight, Super Speed, and Group Teleport. These powers may you fast (more than 40 mph).
Mobility powers are: Sprint, Hover, Combat Leap, and Group Flight. These powers won’t make you fast, but do make you agile.

Topic 3) Enhancing Movement
Movement power benefits increase as the character levels up. Example: Flight, at level 14 the base speed enhancement is +276.65%; by level 50 it is +350%. This means a level 14 character with 3 slots devoted to flight enhancement (and losing some bonus due to repeat slotting) is doing about the same speed as a level 50 with 1.5 slots devoted. So a speedster will devote more slots early in the career and then respec to reclaim a few slots later on when the level bonus makes it practical. Also the maximum flight rate is fairly close to what a level 50 with 2 CO’s can achieve. Why not simply eliminate the level based component? This puts the cap further out of reach and requires careful character building strategies to achieve.
Yes this would make everyone slower, exactly the opposite of what people are crying about. I have already outlined a response to this in Topic 1. Consider this, achieving huge offense or defense requires a player to slot carefully and take IO’s that build toward the goal. The same rational needs to hold for building a character towards speed. If you want to be fast, then slot those movement powers and live with a little less offense or defense. If you are not willing to devote the slots then take the train. The Devs need to stand tough about this.

A body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest tends to stay at rest. This is inertia – think of it as resistance to Stop powers. All the Mobility powers need to offer Resistance to the duration of Stop powers, which can be enhanced by slotting Damage Resistance (not sets). Why? Because you have already volunteered to move at less than maximum speed. Seriously. The Speed powers are all about moving fast where the Mobility powers turn that same motive power into agility. You give up raw speed for maneuverability. Example: Caltrops - the reality of caltrops is that they do the most damage to things moving through them fast. A slower moving object is able to more carefully maneuver through the field and so takes less damage.

The actual motion of a body is the sum of all forces acting on it. This is acceleration – think of it as protection to Stop powers. All the Speed powers need to offer Protection to the magnitude of Stop powers, which can be enhanced by slotting Defense (not sets). Again why? Well for Cage, Hold and Immobilize it’s a matter of forming your snare around a high speed target quickly enough; the faster the target, the harder it is. For Knock(any) and Repel it’s a simple matter of force. A 200 lb. superhero flying at 50 MPH requires an applied force of 455 lbs or so. If you can generate more force, then your power defeats the flight power and sends the target reeling.

None of these concepts apply to Teleportation powers. There is no inertia or acceleration imparted by the instantaneous movement of an object from one location to another, and so Teleportation powers are neither a movement nor a non-movement power. Teleportation powers actually should behave like a Breakie. If your teleport power can overcome the magnitude of a Stop effect, then you escape. So all Teleport powers should have higher base Protection and can also slot Defense. Team Teleport can also uses its defense component to protect against the magnitude of enemy teleportation effects in a radius around you.

Acceleration does not exist in the game. Toggle Flight, press the ‘W’ key, and you are instantly moving at top speed. This behavior needs to be corrected. Activate any Mobility power and there should be a 1 second interrupt phase before it applies. Activate any Speed power and there should be two one second interrupt phases before it applies. However, if you already have an equivalent Mobility power toggled, then the Speed power only cycles through one interrupt phase before activating. This interrupt phase applies to all Teleport powers, and is two seconds long. Slotting Interrupt reduction reduces the length of these periods; and in effect, introduces variable acceleration to the game.

What I’m suggesting here is that the Go powers themselves should be the primary counter to the Stop powers. There are numerous powers that offer protection/resistance, but right now, the bulk of them come from defensive sets. This is like saying that Tankers fly ‘harder’ than Defenders.
For the most part only players who would want to use the movement powers as part of combat will find this extra slotting attractive. And sure, this still won’t make a player think that 6-slotting a movement power just isn’t enough. The real purpose behind an interrupt phase will be discussed in Topic 6.

I suggest that movement is underdeveloped compared with other game aspects. Since there are a number of topics, I think the best approach is to post each separately.
First some definitions: What are the ‘Stop’ powers? They are a sub-group of what most players call mez powers. They reduce your ability to maneuver, not your combat status (and thus are not truly ‘mez’ powers). Specifically they are: Slow(movement), Hold, Immobilize, Knock(back, down, up), Cage, and Repel.
What are the ‘Go’ powers? Powers that provide movement – specifically: Sprint, Superspeed, Combat Jump, Super Leap, Hover, Flight, Group Flight, Recall Teammate, Teleport, and Team Teleport. Swift, Hurdle, Swiftness, and similar powers improve the values but do not themselves cause motion so they are not movement powers.
Go powers are often labeled as being Combat (Sprint, Combat Jump, Hover) or Travel (Superspeed, Super Leap, Flight, Recall Teammate, Teleport). But such labels are inaccurate, and these are the definitions I’m using in this discussion.
Travel powers are the Trains, Ferries, Helicopters and the various Teleporters (Pocket D, Oroboros, Supergroup, and Hospital). These are the true Travel powers because they have no combat application, and hence won’t be discussed here.
Speed powers are: Recall Friend, Teleport, Super Leap, Flight, Super Speed, and Group Teleport. These powers may you fast (more than 40 mph).
Mobility powers are: Sprint, Hover, Combat Leap, and Group Flight. These powers won’t make you fast, but do make you agile.

Topic 4) Revisiting the Movement Pools
Speed Pool (and Sprint)
Sprint: add one second interrupt phase and 25% resistance to Slow(movement), Hold, Immobilize, and Cage and allow the power to slot: Resistance and Interrupt reduction.
Superspeed: add the complex interrupt* and 4 pts. protection from Hold, Immobilize, Cage, Knock(any), Repel and allow the power to slot: Defense and Interrupt reduction. Remove the speed increase per level.
Whirlwind: add +10% AoE defense (since the vortex is presumably pushing caltrops, burning hail, and freezing rain away from you), +4 points protection from Immobilize and allow the power to slot: Defense. This power is not a movement power (cannot use with Travel can use with Stationary).
Leaping
All the energy of a leap comes from the initial burst, so it is less effective against Knock(any) and Repel, but more effective against slow fields than other movement powers. Also, the running broad jump is more effective than the standing, so Sprint is an equivalent Mobility power.
Combat Jump: add one second interrupt phase, 30% resistance to Slow(movement), 20% resistance to Hold, Immobilize, and Cage. Allow the power to slot: Resistance and Interrupt reduction. If triggered with Sprint active, there is no interruption phase and the leap gets a +20% speed (but not height) boost.
Super Leap: add the complex interrupt*, 4 pts. protection from Hold, Immobilize, Cage, and 2 pts. protection from Knock(any), Repel and allow the power to slot: Defense and Interrupt reduction. Remove the speed increase per level. If triggered with Sprint active, there is no interruption phase and the leap gets a +20% speed (but not height) boost.
Acrobatics: This power is not a movement power (cannot use with Travel can use with Stationary).
Flight
Hover: add one second interrupt phase, 25% resistance to Slow(movement) , Hold, Immobilize, and Cage and allow the power to slot: Resistance and Interrupt reduction. Remove the defensive component.
Grant Flight (target & click): This power grants 1 teammate the ability to fly for 4 minutes (they will receive a temporary power that they can utilize). This is a Speed power but not as fast as Flight. It does not buff any flying power, and it does not stack. Enhancements: endurance, flight, range, recharge. Available at level 6.
Fly: add the complex interrupt*, 4 pts. protection from Hold, Immobilize, Cage, Knock(any), Repel and allow the power to slot: Defense and Interrupt reduction. Remove the speed increase per level.
Group Fly: add a one second interrupt phase, 10% accuracy debuff 30’ radius, 25% resistance to Slow(movement) , Hold, Immobilize, and Cage 30’ radius and allow the power to slot: Resistance and Interrupt reduction. Reduce the endurance cost and apply it ‘per teammate’. Double the speed but debuff it ‘per teammate’. When activated, send a warning (like teleport) to teammates allowing them to opt out (of ALL the effects).
Group Fly a team of 8 and it uses a lot of endurance and is slow, but to group fly only 1 or 2 additional characters makes it more effective.
Teleportation
The servers make no attempt to calculate line-of-site for porting critters – they simply pick any valid spot within range, often behind walls – a feat that players cannot replicate. So, Teleport and Team Teleport enable an additional ‘stick-pin’ on the player’s map feature. Players can use it to set their target point as well as using the targeting reticule. When using the map, you cannot set a target point obscured by ‘the-fog-of-war’ (so you cannot teleport to a spot you’ve never seen).
Teleportation is useless against Knock(any) and Repel – though you could teleport inside a Repel field and hope to get off an attack before it affects you.
Recall Friend: add a two second interrupt phase, 6 pts. protection from Hold, Immobilize, Cage and allow the power to slot: Defense and Interrupt reduction.
Grant Teleport (target & click): This power grants 1 teammate the ability to teleport for 4 minutes (they will receive a temporary power that they can utilize). This is a Speed power but not as long ranged as Teleport, it does not buff any teleporting power, and it does not stack. Enhancements: endurance, range, recharge. Available at level 6.
Teleport: add a two second interrupt phase, 6 pts. protection from Hold, Immobilize, Cage and allow the power to slot: Defense and Interrupt reduction.
Team Teleport: add a one second interrupt phase, 10% accuracy debuff to affected characters, 4 pts. protection from Hold, Immobilize, Cage, Teleport Foe and allow the power to slot: Defense and Interrupt reduction. Reduce the endurance cost and apply it ‘per teammate’. This power also protects you and teammates against enemy teleportation in a 30’ radius.
Note that Team Teleport has a shorter interrupt time and shorter range than Teleport, which allows it to be used as a kind of combat teleport when solo.

* the complex interrupt goes like this:
a) If equivalent Mobility power is not active, then perform a one-second unenhanceable interrupt phase.
b) Then perform a one-second enhanceable interrupt phase.
c) Then apply power values.

I suggest that movement is underdeveloped compared with other game aspects. Since there are a number of topics, I think the best approach is to post each separately.
First some definitions: What are the ‘Stop’ powers? They are a sub-group of what most players call mez powers. They reduce your ability to maneuver, not your combat status (and thus are not truly ‘mez’ powers). Specifically they are: Slow(movement), Hold, Immobilize, Knock(back, down, up), Cage, and Repel.
What are the ‘Go’ powers? Powers that provide movement – specifically: Sprint, Superspeed, Combat Jump, Super Leap, Hover, Flight, Group Flight, Recall Teammate, Teleport, and Team Teleport. Swift, Hurdle, Swiftness, and similar powers improve the values but do not themselves cause motion so they are not movement powers.
Go powers are often labeled as being Combat (Sprint, Combat Jump, Hover) or Travel (Superspeed, Super Leap, Flight, Recall Teammate, Teleport). But such labels are inaccurate, and these are the definitions I’m using in this discussion.
Travel powers are the Trains, Ferries, Helicopters and the various Teleporters (Pocket D, Oroboros, Supergroup, and Hospital). These are the true Travel powers because they have no combat application, and hence won’t be discussed here.
Speed powers are: Recall Friend, Teleport, Super Leap, Flight, Super Speed, and Group Teleport. These powers may you fast (more than 40 mph).
Mobility powers are: Sprint, Hover, Combat Leap, and Group Flight. These powers won’t make you fast, but do make you agile.

Topic 5) Powers that interact with Movement Powers
The effects of certain movement affecting powers:
1) Self-slowing powers (ex. Granite Armor) disable (thus preventing) the use of certain movement powers (usually the Speed powers), as given in the power.
2) Stealth (and set powers providing a Stealth radius) does not debuff movement, movement debuffs Stealth. All Mobility powers debuff the Stealth radius by 20% and all Speed powers debuff the radius by 50%. Going Stationary buffs Stealth radius +30%. Activating Travel disables Stealth (as it is not a movement power).
3) Invisibility and Phase Shift are neither movement nor non-movement powers (can use with Travel or Stationary).
4) Hide is debuffed 10% by all Mobility powers and 20% by all Speed powers, and would be disabled by Travel (as it is also not a movement power).
This power is very nebulously defined – is it a ninja-like maneuvering in shadows and blind spots, the use of disguises or chameleon-like abilities, light-bending invisibility? So I make this suggestion by placing it somewhere between Stealth and Invisibility.
5) Disorient and Sleep powers un-toggle your movement powers and Travel/Stationary stances.
7) Fear and Confuse powers can randomly toggle or un-toggle any movement power and stance.
8) Powers from Defensive sets (not pools) which Protect against or Resist the Stop powers are reduced to about half of their current effectiveness.

And what posting by me would be complete without yet another irrational attempt at a few new pools:

Amphibious Pool {Snicker - Swimming Pool}
Gills (self & auto) – You can breathe underwater. You do not take damage from the underwater environment, and you may activate Rest while underwater. You also swim slightly faster. Enhancements: swim
Grant Water Breathing (target & click) - You can enable another character to breathe underwater for a few minutes. Enhancements: endurance, recharge, range
Super Swim (self & toggle) - You can swim at incredible speeds and are remarkably agile in the water, making you a hard target to hit. This is a Speed power, so you have 4 points of protection from Hold, Immobilize, Cage, Knock(any), and Repel. Enhancements: defense, endurance, swim. You must be level 14 and have 1 other Amphibious power.
Water Affinity (self & auto) - You regenerate and recover faster when in contact with water. Enhancements: heal, modification, swim. You must be level 20 and have 2 other Amphibious powers.

Notes: It would be interesting (of course) to introduce Swim Enhancements, but you could make due with Running. If they were introduced, I would argue that the super reflex power Quickness be allowed to slot it as well as Hurdle (I would pick Hurdle both to even out the number of powers Swift and Hurdle modify and because swimming requires a whole body coordination like leaping. This also brings up the question of an inherent Mobility power for swimming or simply allowing Sprint (and related prestige powers) to slot the swimming enhancement as well.

Daredevil/Xtreme Power Pool
Boards (self & toggle) – You have a board (skate, surf, anti-grav, magic carpet) that enhances your movement speed. If you are successfully attacked by a Slow(move) power, then the Board un-toggles and throws you clear of the effect. It takes as long to recharge as the Slow duration, but leaves you free (it gets stuck, not you). It can even improve your Teleport range. It does not enable you to fly but can augment your flying speed. Enhancements: endurance, fly, leap, range, run/(swim)
I’d love to see Board recipes to exchange the basic model for a surf- or boogie- board model, or man-hole covers, flying carpets, etc.
Gliding (self & toggle) – Using a chute, sail, or wings, you manipulate the effects of gravity so that you fall much slower and are able to move horizontally as well. Enhancements: endurance, fly.
Wall Walking (self & toggle) – You can walk on walls (or even ceilings) like someone in an Escher drawing. While this power is active, gravity does not affect you so you can walk on any surface. You are also protected from Knock(any) and Repel powers [6 pts] Enhancements: defense, endurance. You must be level 14 and have 1 other Daredevil power.
Most people want to see wall walking like Spiderman does it, but that involves a ton of animation work for hunched up figures. Besides, the ‘skin’ of each toon is somewhat nebulous. This is why toons can partially disappear through walls – the ‘bones’ are solid and won’t pass through the wall but the’ skin’ is just animated from there – so it partially ‘disappears’. This is least apparent at the feet, which is why I suggest the Escher approach. The question is, can the game apply ‘gravity’ to vertical and upside-down surfaces?
Fearless (self & activate) - You take a deep breathe and focus or your task, not the peril you are in. For a short while, you are protected from Confusion, Fear and Taunt powers, and your accuracy is slightly improved. Enhancements: accuracy, defense, endurance, recharge. You must be level 20 and have 2 other Daredevil powers.

why would they go and totaly change all of the travel powers? also, to address some of the things about them that you dont' know, the have capped speeds for a reason. ss is capped where it is because the game itself can only render objects so fast and keep track of you so fast.

sj is capped where it is because it is a semi dangerless travel power meaning you wont get into trouble if you dont land next to/in a mob.

flight is capped where it is at because it involves no danger what so ever.

tp is where it is at because it is less dangerous then sj but not as much as flight.

First: standard code rant.

Second, a nit pick. Slows are a debuff, not a mez.

Third: Travel toggle would not function for Super Speed. Super Speed already is very close to the hardcap for movement speed, unenhanced, at level 50. It takes one level 50 IO (maybe less) to hard cap your movement speed via Super Speed. The reason for this is that going any faster would cause the server to lose track of where you're at. I suspect the lesser effects of that would include massive rubberbanding. Now, with this in mind, 200% enhancement would probably hardcap Flight, Super Jump, and even Ninja Run. Why would we need Super Speed then? Heck, if Ninja Run hardcapped, why need Super Jump either? Teleport would work just fine with this, at least until it hit the range hardcap (not sure what it is or how close the power "Boost Range" gets you to it).

Also, causing all of your powers to start recharging would make the longer-recharge situation powers even more useless. For example, Mission Transporter takes two hours to recharge. Accolades take twenty-five minutes. Self-Destruct takes a hour. Several defense set tier 9's take sixteen minutes. Force all those to recharge from scratch? Yeah, I don't see that being popular.

Third: Stantionary. Just ask how much people liked the old Rooted, Unyielding, etc. that prevented you from moving at all. Just ask. Not worth 5% resistance.

Also, 20% activation time debuff? Like, your powers animate 20% slower? Should I even say how unpopular this would be? I'm not even going to touch if the engine could do that. 20% recharge debuff would also be equally loathed. Not worth 5% resistance.


Finally: Charge. The closest you're going to get with the engine's current capabilities is Shield Charge and Lightning Rod.

I suggest that movement is underdeveloped compared with other game aspects. Since there are a number of topics, I think the best approach is to post each separately.
First some definitions: What are the ‘Stop’ powers? They are a sub-group of what most players call mez powers. They reduce your ability to maneuver, not your combat status (and thus are not truly ‘mez’ powers). Specifically they are: Slow(movement), Hold, Immobilize, Knock(back, down, up), Cage, and Repel.
What are the ‘Go’ powers? Powers that provide movement – specifically: Sprint, Superspeed, Combat Jump, Super Leap, Hover, Flight, Group Flight, Recall Teammate, Teleport, and Team Teleport. Swift, Hurdle, Swiftness, and similar powers improve the values but do not themselves cause motion so they are not movement powers.
Go powers are often labeled as being Combat (Sprint, Combat Jump, Hover) or Travel (Superspeed, Super Leap, Flight, Recall Teammate, Teleport). But such labels are inaccurate, and these are the definitions I’m using in this discussion.
Travel powers are the Trains, Ferries, Helicopters and the various Teleporters (Pocket D, Oroboros, Supergroup, and Hospital). These are the true Travel powers because they have no combat application, and hence won’t be discussed here.
Speed powers are: Recall Friend, Teleport, Super Leap, Flight, Super Speed, and Group Teleport. These powers may you fast (more than 40 mph).
Mobility powers are: Sprint, Hover, Combat Leap, and Group Flight. These powers won’t make you fast, but do make you agile.

Topic 6) Breakies, Counter Powers, and Suppression
Break Free Inspirations: The inspiration is known as a Breakie because it boosts your protection value. Suddenly you have more protection that the power has grip, and you ‘break free’. No other inspiration works this way. Can you take a green (or purple or orange) after you’ve been defeated? Not at all. It’s a game mechanic that has no ‘fix’; or does it?
a) The inspiration provides say 10% or 25% of its current effectiveness all the time.
b) The remaining effectiveness is based on situation. If you are NOT currently subject to the effects of a Stop or Mez power then:
i) the remaining effectiveness is added 100% of the time, otherwise
ii) there is a 50% / 75% / 90% (depending on size) chance the remaining effectiveness is added.
The result: if you want to guarantee full effectiveness, use it before you get caught, not after.

Counter-Powers: So I’m an Earth Controller and you’re an Earth Dominator and you trying sticking me with Quicksand. You honestly feel that using my own powers against me is going to work? My suggestion for all Controllers, Defenders, Dominators, and Corrupters is that each of their set powers provides Protection and Resistance equal to their own Magnitude and Duration against any power bearing the same name.

Suppression: Suppression could be replaced with interruption and disabling of the movement powers. By combining all the ideas presented in the preceding topics, here are the resulting effects:
Offensively, each attack you make reduces your concentration from movement. Make an attack and any Speed power immediately drops to the matching Mobility power (or simply un-toggles if you don’t have it). Make another attack within 2 seconds and any Mobility power also un-toggles. Essentially, the faster you make attacks, the more your motion simply grinds to a halt. You must be constantly refocusing on (reactivating) your movement powers if you want to keep using it.
Defensively, any attack that activates faster than your interruption phase will un-toggle your movement power. Any power with a successful Stop component will disable/debuff all your movement powers. Knock(any), and Repel simply un-toggle your movement powers. Cage, Hold and Immobilize disable for their duration. Slow(move) debuffs your overall speed.

By comparing attack activation time to the interruption time of the movement powers, you quickly correct an imbalance in combat. All the Speed powers have an interrupt time of over 1 second (1 unenhanceable second, plus one enhanceable second) and are thus relatively easily to interrupt using the powers from the low end of the offensive power sets. This makes the lightweight offensive powers an important tool in the combat locker, allowing you to put and keep your opponent off balance. All the Maneuver powers have an interrupt time of one second or less, so they are harder to interrupt. This makes them valuable for more than just enabling you to purchase a Speed power.

So that's everything. Take it all in, think it over, and start picking away.

So, you're wanting to nerf players for "realism" sake. That's what I'm gathering at lease. This is a game, in a comic book universe no less. So what if we can all Sprint faster than the current world recond, it's a game, and a super-hero one no less. So what if water doesn't slow us down.

Besides, would you really want to swim to one of those far out islands in Talos or Nerva with a 70% move speed debuff or whatever in water? Heck no. This idea seems to fly in the face of your first one that was all about getting rid of the "travel takes too long" complaint.

Also, why would anyone take a new "super swimming" when A) It'd only exist because of this water debuff, B) It'd be useless out of water and C), You could just fly over water?

First, no to mez protection in any sort of movement power, "Go" power or not. That's unbalanced. There's a reason why most native mez protection is only available to melee characters.

Second, how does my ability to run faster help me escape a mental illusion? Being encased in ice? Put to sleep? Held above the surface by gravity? Blinded by light? Punched in the face so hard I'm horribly disoriented? Having my soul being torn from my body? I mean, if you're going to try to bring realism into this...

Again, no debuff resistances/mez protections are ever going to be added to travel/movement powers. Melee characters get it for a reason. Squishies are stuck with either Acrobatics, some APP/PPPs, or Dispersion Bubble/Sonic Dispersion/Force Field Generator for a reason. Not only would making these changes seriously hurt the game's balance, but you'd also be making major changes to all the travel powers, which almost everyone uses. That's going to tick off A LOT of people.

Also, you made Super Jump, a level 14 power, STRONGER than Acrobatics, a level 20 power in the same pool.

Why didn't you just make one long post?

Anyway...

Putting debuffs to stealth on players would make enemies aggro them from farther away. Even if they have no inherent stealth. Also, it'd completely negate Super Speed's stealth effect.

Nerfing Hide? I dare you to post that suggestion on the Stalker boards. The AT's gimmick hinges on that power. Nerfing Hide nerfs the entire AT. An AT a number of people agree needs some love as is.

Jacking with player's toggles would be a reversal of the earlier "toggle suppression" change. Used to, any and all mezzes would detoggle all toggles a player had. Now they just shut off offensive toggles. You might as well go and do something like yank the 5th powers in epic power pools.

Nerfing all existing mez protection? You'd be nerfing FOUR ATs. Have you ever tried to play, say a Scrapper, at, say level 30, with little to no mez protection? It's about as pleasant as gouging out your eyes with a needle.


For the power pools you suggested...

Gills and Grant Water Breathing would be entirely useless. Players never go underwater in this game with the exception of one tiny spot in Grandville that's simply an easter egg. And even then it's not mechanically truly underwater. Super Swimming and Water Affinity would be entirely useless in about 95% of the game. It'd only be useful while swimming. Which is mostly what you do in between missions. Or fighting Lusca. That's about it. All but one power in the set is not possible with the current engine. Fearless, the one power that would work, actually isn't a bad idea.

/unsigned.

Break-frees: There used to be inspirations that were basically what you're suggesting. If you're lucky, you might find one of em on the market for a few hundred million inf (they're named like Iron Will and such). I don't little of their history, but I'm told they were exchanged because they weren't very useful. If you managed to pre-empt the hold, great! If not, you were basically screwed. Especially if the enemy in question was capable of perma-mezzing you, in which you'd be stuck twiddling your thumbs for two minutes while your health was slowly wittled or died (in an extreme, but possible, example). Let's be honest, that's not fun.

Counter-powers: Not possible. Interesting and makes sense, but not possible. Resembled currently in-game with elemental defense sets. Firery Aura resists fire well. Ice Armor handles ice well. Dark lols as dark. Electric Armor and Energy Aura shrugs off energy.

Suppression: No. You'd either have to waste time retoggling a power between EVERY attack, which would really be nothing but annoying, let's not even try to figure out how far it is from fun, or just deal with never having any power that grants mobility toggled on. Ever. People aim for gapless attack chains in this game. They'd be kicked out of all of their movement powers before they even cycled the chain once. Or you'd be force to slow your power usage WAY down, which while great for endurance management, would suck for pacing. Besides, if you need to manage endurance, why are you running Super Speed in combat anyway?

This change would also completely devastate how PvP is played right now, where you NEED extreme mobility. Or it'd make PvP even MORE DIFFERENT from PvE, which is an equally bad change.


Ok, now that I'm done reading and replying to your six topics (tell me again why you made all these seperate?), I really don't see how any of this would improve the game. Maybe it'd make it slightly more realistic in some fashion, sure, but at the same time the damage to game balance would be severe (nerfing Hide and melee mez protection? giving everyone mez protection in travel powers?) and, in my opinion, the damage to the fun factor would be even worse. A lot of these suggestions would add only frustration to the game (make one attack and you lose your travel power and (your suggested) mez protection and make more than one every two seconds and you'd lose stuff like Combat Jumping's and Hover's defense bonus... srsly wut?) by debuffing you or shutting off your abilities for no real good reason. Another large chunk of your ideas aren't possible either (including, unfortunately, a lot of your better ones). That's more forgivable since I'm sure everyone's done it.

I'd want to say more, but I'm not sure how to word it without coming off like a troll. So, instead, I'll just ask you a serious question. The changes your proposing would take A LOT of work and A LOT of testing. They'd serious alter many, many of the current gameplay mechanics, probably more than you and I can think of at the moment. So, in a succinct response, what would be the justification for going through with something like this and what would be the benefit to the player base as a whole?

... okay. Creating 6 different threads on the same subject is... SPAMMING THE FORUMS.

Deliberately and intentionally spamming the forums, and even indicating that you are spamming the forums by posting revision numbers in your titles is against the forum rules.

Ergo, I am going to say what is on my mind when I saw these suddenly appear: These threads need to be deleted and you need to be banned from these forums until you get the idea that spamming is bad.

I'd say TwilightPhoenix covered it pretty well. (Edit: in all six.)

I'd also send anyone complaining about travel time in this game to go play Aion for a month, where you either have to pay to get where you're going or jog across the sand/through the forest/etc for 10-15 minutes.

Even then, if anyone's *dissatisfied* with that, there are so many ways to get around the zones and between the zones it's just silly. Base teleporters, CH teleporters, the Mission teleporter temps, Pocket D, Ouroboros.... the only time I've heard someone complain is in the older arcs where you do 3-4 fedex missions in a row.

Just an overall "I don't agree with any of this."

See my Guides and Tutorials

Look at the buildings. Look at you. (No, this does not end with "I'm on a horse.") This *is not the real world.* Super-beings aside, this is a game, and one that deals with travel MUCH better than most other games I've run across (*jog jog jog jog jog jog jog.*)

If YOU want to move slower for "realism," there's a power that lets you do just that. it's called Walk. Everyone has it, free. Use that. Don't nerf everyone else and add to their irritation.

/unsigned.

See my Guides and Tutorials

Ok... so yeah, spamming the board with six posts when it could have all gone into one was unnecessary. If what you typed up wouldn't all fit in one post, then you reply to the original, starting one thread, with six posts in it.

Secondly.. I read the first couple... then skimmed that last four. So overall tl;dr!

For what I did read, it is all way waaaay too complicated. I've been playing this game for years, and I find there's stuff I'm still learning about it. One thing that's always made sense... travel powers! If I take Super Jump, it means I get to jump really far, really fast. And you're wanting to turn that inside out upside down, and add in so much more crap to it that it just doesn't make sense anymore.

I'm honestly surprised that you could have come up with all this stuff when you don't even realize that there is no "Underwater" in the game. I could forgive that you didn't know that the Super Speed cap is at that level because the technical limitations, but c'mon... underwater? Where?! There are two.. two instances of where you're capable of actually going underwater in the game. In of the the Cimerora cave maps, and the easter egg in Grandville already mentioned. Not enough to warrant added powers, and drowning capabilities.

Granted BaBs is no longer with us, but he did say once that as long as he had any say in it, there would never be an underwater zone. Since he's gone, who knows? But I'm betting it's still no where on the horizon.

Overall it seems you're wanting to add extra dimensions to what we have, to make it all seem more realistic... yes, it's more difficult to move through water, than it is through air. Could they make it so you were slowed down when moving through water? Possibly. Had it been part of the game at inception, then fine, but adding it in after 6 years? It doesn't make sense, and it detracts from fun.

When I read that Angel from the X-Men has hollow bones, and can breath in low oxygen/high altitude climates, it made sense to me, and I liked that for the realism it brought. He's a guy with wings that can fly, but there's more to it than that. I mention this to show that I understand where you're coming from with thoughts like this, but it changes the game way too much to be practical. These elements can be explained easily with RP, or your characters other abilities. Your speedster should have some damage resistance? Use IO set bonuses, or pick up Tough.

Lastly.. it's obvious you gave this a lot of thought. Had some ideas, and tried to make a viable solution for what you see as holes. I applaud you for that... I think you should continue to try and think of ways that improve the game. Just.. do it all on one thread, and remember, in the end it's a game and supposed to be fun.

/unsigned for reasons stated above.

Dude boil down your 6 posts in to one post and a more cohesive argument. I am not (nor alot of other people I'd imagine) going to read 6 different rants. Also while I don't understand most things about programing, but I do know that when a gaming engine is built it has limits and at some point you reach those limits and cannot make certain things happen in a game. Further more they are not going to rewrite the engine of this game. If they are going to write a whole new engine they may as well make a whole new game.