My annual new powerset speculation

Every year or two I get back into CoH for a few months--with only my ever-increasing pile of Vet badges to remind me how much money I've spent on hiatus--and since I've finally been busy getting into Alpha and beyond, it's about time again for one of my power speculation threads.

I've been quite successful in the past; I predicted willpower almost power-for-power, dual pistols and dual blades (but kudos on the cool combo system) were gimmes. But you don't care about that. So here's my list.

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RANGED sets:
Most likely to see: None. We "just" got one, in issue 17.

I'd like to see: Pulse Rifle, like the ones MMs use. I'd design it to be ST-heavy, good against AVs. Maybe the ability to swap between Energy (+Kb/disorient) and Negative Energy (-Acc or -Res). I threw around ideas for this and envisioned a Rage-like long damage buff with a crash: Overload.

Demon summoner's Lash would be silly but pretty sweet too.


BUFF sets:
Most likely to see/I'd like to see: Battle Orders, or something along those lines. We already see the Cimeroran bosses buffing up their allies and a "Super Leadership" buff set would be exceptionally cheap to produce--I bet they could re-use all of the animations needed. They could even re-use powers like Surveillance and copy paste Storm Walk and Steamy Mist--though I'd prefer an Infiltration power that did something cool like +Perception +Range. This set could also have a self-rez with built in Vengeance.

Time Manipulation could be an interesting one too, but probably hard to implement. I've spent hours brainstorming power lists for TM (usually as I fall asleep) and they never look the same when I'm done.


MELEE sets:
Most likely to see: None. I haven't even rolled up a Kinetic Melee alt--and that's a lot of animations.

I'd like to see: Some sort of "bestial rampage" set with brutal DoT and -Regen attacks--another solid choice for fighting AVs, as well as a thematic set for all those werewolf/Animal Pack characters. It would work well as a Street Fighting set for players that aren't interested in SS or MA. The Tier 5 soft control power (e.g. Hand Clap) could be a short Fear with -RES or -tohit to make it stack well with many secondaries.


CONTROL sets:
Most likely to see: This is a toughie. Probably some sort of Netherworld Binding (i.e. Dark Control) since the graphics would easily be pulled from other sets--though this is more likely if they decided to re-tune Dark Miasma as a secondary for controllers.

I'd like to see: Force Fields, a control-heavy powerset with real battlefield control (more Wormhole, less Propel); these guys could pull all the bad guys into a clump and create walls/balls of energy to physically block foes in hallways/corners. But maybe that'd be too boring?


DEFENSE sets:
We might see: Body Armor. A tech-themed set with nice S/L resist and moderate positional defense. It could have an endurance-draining aura toggle. And seeker drones. I'd make it weak to psionics and have cool, "laser grid"-style graphics.


Blaster SUPPORT sets:
Most likely: Void Manipulation (A.k.a. "Dark Manipulation). Lots of powers and animations can be re-used here. Dark Melee attacks and toned-down Dark Miasma-esque support powers would be nice. What blaster doesn't want Dark Fluffy or even Siphon Life? Once again, we're much more likely to see this one assuming they re-tune Dark Blast and proliferate it for Blasters.

What I'd like to see: Cybernetics. Cybernetics could combine Super Strength-style attacks with some interesting (primarily Melee) soft control and debuffs, along with +Stealth. They'd get Quick Reload, a short-duration major recharge buff.


Dominator ASSAULT sets:
Most Likely: I'm at a loss here. Hopefully something keyed as a cool secondary to a shiny new Control set. Again I'll suggest something along the lines of Dark Assault, acknowledging that Dark Everything seems pretty unlikely.

I'd like to see: A dominator-tweaked version of Cybernetics (see above). Sort of a stun-heavy Super Strength, or the Devices of Assault. I know "Cybernetics" doesn't scream "ranged attacks", but those could be replaced by hefty debuffs (e.g. Surveillance) and build up-/power boost-type self-buffs.


MM PETS:
Most likely: None. Demons are still pretty new...

I'd like to see: Duplicates. I'm not a hardcore MM player but I think this one is the one people have been clamoring for a while (as a MM set, as a control set, as a buff set, as a defense set...). Duplicates would be a great Melee Mastermind. It'd be super cool if instead of 3/2/1 pets they received 1/2/3, (or even 1/1/1) with more survivability than your typical tier 1/2 MM pet. Just imagine rushing up to a boss and helping three copies of yourself beat him down--that is a MM I would enjoy playing.

These are interesting ideas...especially Cybernetics and Pulse Rifle.

/signed.

I still don't understand 'body armor' powerset. How is it any different from just making a character have body armor and picking invulnerability or a powerset that matches what you'd be looking for in your armor? A name is just a name you know, you could pick Shield Defense and still call it Body Armor.

There are plenty of existing powersets that fit one origin over the others--e.g., Devices--and most players don't immediately go out and make five new characters, one of each origin, for each new powerset. Even if that was the case, there's no reason a magic-wielding (fire-melee) Tank, for example, couldn't be trucking around in some power armor he stole from Vanguard.

Add to that the fact that the Origin system has little-to-no impact on the game, and is essentially useless, and I'm inclined to "meh" the origin-based criticism.

Still the "what's the point?" argument is pretty strong--you could certainly make a robot-suit looking guy and give him SR (or WP or SD or...) and call it a day; Most players probably have at least one alt in medieval-looking armor, and so on.

Still, I think the concept is justified. First, there's room for another FX-light set, like Willpower, as long as it is distinctly different. To make a Body Armor powerset to be interesting, you'd have to design it with genre sensibilites. A guy in a suit of armor is still a guy, which means he's got vulnerabilities, but the suit can make up for that in clever ways.

As such, if I were designing a new, body armor/powered armor based set (I'd just call it Armor), I'd give it a mix of defenses: Thematically, it could be cool if it was a hybrid of defense and resistance (but hell to slot properly) but a more balanced approach would be to look at each damage type and think about how the armor would mitigate it (if at all).

E.g., Heavy Plating could offer high resistance to smashing damage, but less resistance to lethal damage (as it is more likely to pierce the suit), as well as reduce KB. Magnetic Shielding (another toggle) could offer defense versus lethal and energy, thematically deflecting them away--but the shots that get through HURT. Something along the lines of Insulation Mesh dramatically reduce cold and fire... Perhaps an Environmental Containment system could provide unparalleled defense vs. toxic damage but the set could be weak to Negative Energy and especially Psionic damage.

You never want your armor to run out of juice and it'd probably be toggle- and endurance-heavy. However that price is more than made up for the benefits it can provide--increased strength (+dmg), targeting (+tohit, perception), and mobility, perhaps. It would probably end up looking like a typed (instead of positional) version of SR, but I'm sure the devs could think of a really unique power or two.

What to do with the Taunt aura is my most troublesome design point. I really don't know; I like the idea of an end-draining aura, or more precisely, an endurance-cost-increasing one, but Armor might not be the set for it. Perhaps it could have some built-in defensive mobility, automatically adjusting for incoming attacks--i.e., a to-hit debuff aura (seen that a few times, however...). Maybe just add a taunt effect to the targeting/mez protection toggle and call it a day. I don't think every defense set needs an Invincibility/Rise to the Challenge/Against All Odds-type power.