Power "Groups" and Low hanging fruit(discussion)

"Power Groups" is something I use to distinguish power-sets built on a particular common idea.

Generally speaking, a Power Group is any collection of Power-sets that could effectively described as "The same thing but different"

This mostly boils down to elemental and weapon-based sets

Nothing to concern anybody really, just a way for me to look at the game.

But it does create an interesting problem(for me) Some Power Groups are available for every archetype or, in some cases, it's closest relative, in some way, Mostly the Basic Fire, Electricity, Ice, and Stone, groups.

Some are almost available for every type of character with some very obvious glaring holes, oftentimes bordering on being more a case of Proliferation than necessarily creating a new set*. These classify, to me, as low hanging fruit.
The man examples of these Power Groups are:

Darkness:

The "Dark" Power Group is available as a Debuff/Buff Set, a Blast set, A Melee set and a Defense set. The only thing missing is a Control set, from these five an assault and Manipulation set can be crafted, thus making Dark available for every type of Power Set in-game and thus open to the greater group of Players.

Taking into account Powers already available amongst them such as Fearsome Stare, Petrifying Gaze, Tenebreous Tentacles,Black Hole, Touch of Fear, Midnight grasp, and Oppressive Gloom there's already something of a base to Construct a Dark Control Set and most definitely enough to craft a Dark Manipulation set.1

Energy:

The "Energy" Power Group is available as a Blast, Manipulation, Assault, Melee, and Defensive set. It, unfortunately is not available as a Buff/Debuff or Control set. Powers Like Radiation, Kinetics, Force Field and Gravity are often used as close facsimiles but Radiation and Kinetics2 are represented as their own power group by virtue of having a pair in other sets,And if Force-field is to be considered the "energy" buff set, it would most likely need some customization options that match the look and feel of the energy sets. Gravity is of course, visually and functionally distinct from the Energy Power-sets, thus leaving the game with potentially half an "energy" Buff set and No Energy Control set.

Weapons and Gadgets:
Any set visually and functionally based in the use of items and weapons as opposed to powers, Magic, super-duper mysterious human training, or Sufficiently advanced technology falls into this classification, There are "Weapon and Gadget"based sets for almost every archetype in the game with the exception of Control, and Assault.

Similar to Darkness, the presence of powers like
Web Grenade, Caltrops, Taser, Sleep Grenade, Cryo Freeze Ray, Wide-Area Web Grenade, provide something of a working base to create a "Utility belt full of tricks" Control Set,1 while any melee weapon set and a ranged weapon set of choice could allow for the existence of a Weapon-based assault set.
Alternatively, following the Example of Arachnos Soldiers and Widows, you could take a ranged weapon set, such as assault rifle, or dual pistols and add some melee powers to it, or a melee weapon set, such as claws, and add more ranged powers.

Earth:
Earth is Available as a Melee, Defensive, Assault, and Control Set, but lacks the presence of a Blast, Manipulation, and Buff/Debuff set.

The idea of a Ranged set, built mostly out of powers like Stone Spears and Fissure is intriguing, ranged offensive powers that instead of traveling the distance to strike their enemy, simply pop up underneath them, with a few Hurl Boulder type Powers to overcome the "Must be on ground" problem from over-taking the whole set, it'd be a welcome addition to the game, I think, and would perfectly capture the type of big, loud, destructive force earth-Based characters are known for.

Further, a Buff set, built on being able to give players various forms of the Stone Armor defensive powers could be interesting and would probably give Force Field some competition in the Defense-based Buff set arena. The ability to cast rooted on an enemy with none of the benefits sounds like a fun prospect, with powers like Salt Crystals or Quicksand to back it up 1
1:Note, I don't necessarily believe that these powers would make a good set, but they are examples of the necessary powers to create other sets that already exist in the power group in question
2: I can accept Kinetics as different "Flavors" of the energy Power Group, but that doesn't really change the lack of an Energy Control Set
* Standard code rant more than likely applies to this statement, but that's why this is a discussion and not a real suggestion

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Anyone Who wants to argue about my usual foolishness can find me here.
https://twitter.com/Premmytwit
I'll miss you all.

Wow.

You did no research on this what-so-ever did you.

Here's something from Sunstorm back in 2009: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...&postcount=213

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Anyone Who wants to argue about my usual foolishness can find me here.
https://twitter.com/Premmytwit
I'll miss you all.