Proposal: Hybrid Archetype

This is a Proposal for the Hybrid (Trinity AT, read a few post below) Archetype.

Q: Why?
A: Because! I have a Gas/Electric Car also!

Q: What is it?
A: It's basically a way to mix and match powersets in a certain archetype.

Q: How many powersets for an AT?
A: Well, sorta like VEAT's... lets say Blasters, can pick from only 2 Primary powersets, and 1 Secondary powerset.

Q: Wont this make some blasters/scrappers/brutes toooo powerful!?
A: Yes.. and thats where the 1st and the 2nd Primaries will change for a Hybrid.
Extreme damage powers...AoE's, Single Target, Cones... can be lessened to superior. etc... until a balanced mix is reached.

Q: Cool.. So.. If i have a Katanna Scrapper and want Claws too.. can that mix?
A: Yea why not!? If you dont mind the animation time it takes to draw your sword.. sure!

Q: So.. 2 Superior tier 9 powers? Thats still too powerfull, isnt it!?
A: Well, a little... but the recharge time can be increased for those powers to make it more balanced.

Q: Can Anyone get this new Hybrid AT?
A: Nah... this should be reserved for paying members.. and somehow unlockable. Maybe 140 Empyrian Merits? :/ Plus, this will keep bored long time playes busy for a bit longer with CoH. And something for new or Free 2 Play players wanting to strive for. Think of it like trying to get ur 1st toon to 50 so that you can unlock Kheldians.

Q: Wouldnt it make more sense to just have the 2nd Primary as an extra Power Pool?
A: Hmmm... interesting! *ponders a bit* Nah... players would eventually start to complain about being able to pick from only 3 or 4 powers. VEAT's have a better way, no complains yet.. well that I heard of.

Q: How about a Damage Meter for the powersets?
A: Thats not a bad idea! Would need some tweaking i think, but would meet the 'BALANCE' requirement.

Q: If we have a Damage Meter, why not allow for More Primaries!?
A: Ewwwww! :/ Ahhh.. Yea.. Possible.. Just not sure what kind of Mutt you'ld be! ;D
I dont like it.. only because this isnt Dr. Frankenstein.. its a HERO! And anyways, car companies only have Gas/Electric cause they know people will like it. I havent head of a car company selling a Gas/Poop bio diesel/Nitrogen mix car.. yet!?

Q: Why not just make Ancillary/Epic Pools available sooner.. 20 ish?
A: hmmm... nah. Because, those powers are there to help with late game content, to smooth out an already rough build.
Anyways, early levels most of the Primary powers in a powerset are mostly weak, so.. having Knockbacks and Knockdown, etc.. from 2 Primaries make it more survivable in the tweens. And i can stop taking Air Superiority!

Q: But, what about Healers and other support AT's? If they dont need to heal as much, wont they get bored!?
A: Ahhh... thats a fine fine point! Answer is YES! If Done Right! A Hybrid AT is more versatile and can handle itself better! Think of it like joining the Marines! U'd expect a Marine to outdo a common street Cop right!?!? Healers will never dissapear, just morph! Less Healing more Buff/DeBuff and Damage!

Q: What about MasterMinds? 2 Different pets!?!?
A: Hehe.. No. In this case... 1 Primary and 2 Secondaries! Did you forget about the 'BALANCE'?


Did I forget anything? :P

Thanks,
D-Man.

Have you really tried building a few characters like this? It seems fun for a scrapper or blaster, but that's not where it gets overpowered. The buff/debuff characters are the ones that are going to turn into demigods like this unless you just utterly gut the powers. Then all you end up with is Peacebringers.

Aren't all villains Hybrids to start with?

Brute: Scrapper/Tank
Stalker: Scrapper/Blaster
Corr: Defender/Blaster
Dominator: Controller/Blaster
Mastermind: Controller (pet focus)/Defender

Introducing the Hybrid Archetype:

SOLDIERS OF ARACHNOS
KHELDIANS

...

Hmmm.. the more replies i read the more i think Hybrid is not the right word for this AT.
Its Still a Blaster.. its Still a Corruptor... just have a few more power options from the Adjacent primary power pool in the same archetype!

No.. Brutes wouldnt be able to get Radiation Infection! > Thats Silly!
Before you say anything, think about all the Incarnate powers a brute can now have! :/

Well.. to be honest, when i first saw a Troller with Melee (Dominator) I laughed too! Ehhh, but people play it! :P

Nrgghhhh this is okay but at the same time...I don't know. It looks good on paper I guess?

My Hybrid AT:

Primary: (Ranged Blaster damage mods, Melee Scrapper damage mods, Brute damage cap)
Winning Blast Melee
T1) Incinerate
T2) Blaze
T3) Fire Ball
T4) Greater Fire Sword
T5) Soul Drain
T6) Rain of Fire
T7) Seeds of Confusion
T8) Foot Stomp
T9) Psychic Shockwave

Secondary: (Defender buff mods)
Winning Manipulation
T1) Transfusion
T2) Speed Bosst
T3) Time's Juncture
T4) Indomitable Will
T5) Lingering Radiation
T6) Farsight
T7) Sleet
T8) Heat Loss
T9) Fulcrum Shift

Instead of calling it the Hybrid AT, maybe we can call it the Trinity AT. (meaning.. Three In One)

Talen's right. It would be a lot of work for very little gain. Balance would be almost impossible without stupidly heavy nerfage or restrictions - and if you're going to heavily nerf/restrict it, why put the system in?

All brutes would do well to splash superstrength for rage and footstomp, (or katana/broadsword for parry).
All defenders would do well to splash traps for Forcefield generator.
All controllers would do well to spash illusion for phantom army.
All blasters would do well to splash ice for Blizzard.
All scrappers would do well to reroll as brutes, so they can splash Rage and Footstomp.
All tankers would do well to reroll as brutes, so they can splash Rage and Footstomp. After all, they're the only AT being denied the ability to take two of their primary.
All masterminds would do well to grab one of the level 18 pseudo-pets (gang war, etc).

Slapping a buff/debuff meter or damage meter into the system would force the devs to quantify powers. How do they figure out what is worth what? Rage on any melee is worth any price of admission - how can it be compared with Chain Induction (another same tier power)?

I had something like this in mind a while ago, but never posted it, not quite sure of the 'balance' issues and whatnot, it went something like exchanging powers for powers, here's what I wrote (modified for post-inherent fitness):

Power set diversification. I’d like to think this is an acceptable alternate to Proliferation. It works on the concept of ‘tags’ and ‘exchange points’.
The best way to describe the system; is to do so by example, so, let’s start out by creating a new character. We’ll make our new character like we normally do, costume, power selection, ECT… when we’re done our new toon will be set up:

Mucho-Kin
Fire/Kin Controller
- Fire Control Set
- Char
- Kinetics Set
- Transfusion

Now, we play Much-Kin normally for 20 levels, (please note, that lvl20 is, were we can start to earn hero points – if you have GR). And, he’ll look something like this:
Mucho-Kin
Fire/Kin Controller
- Fire Control Set
- Char
- Fire Cages
- Hot Feet
- Cinders

- Kinetics Set
- Transfusion
- Siphon Power
- Siphon Speed
- Speed Boost

- Super Speed Set
- Hasten


Now, Mucho-Kin’s player isn’t too fond of the way things are shaping up. He’s getting in deep with the tanks and feeling a lack of oomph while standing there toe to toe with the bad-guys. So, Mucho-Kin, partakes on some Hero Tip missions, enough to gain himself a handful of hero points (say, 5 or 10 or 30 or whatever)… and he heads off to get himself a ‘exchange point’ from Fort Trident.

Now, the way ‘Exchange Points’ work is fairly straight forward, one point, allows you to exchange one power for another, like a mini /respec. But, the kicker here is, it will allow you to do exchange one power for another across archetypes and power sets, as long as the ‘power tags’ match.
Power Tags, another simple concept. Power Tags group powers, like, Kinetics would be tagged, Kinetic. As would Kinetic Melee. Fire Control would be tagged Fire, as would, Fiery Assault, Fire Armor, Fire Melee, and Fire Blast. True, there are some powers that are unique, such as radiation and illusion… but, one would have to take that into consideration at character creation time. (Please note, only primary and secondary powers have tags… the ancillary sets and epics do not). Each Character only has access to a maximum of two tag groups, (again, primary and secondary) so, once a fire/kin always a fire/kin ...

So, when Mucho-Kin, opens up his ‘power exchange dialogue box’ it would show something like this:

Exchange points: 1 Available power sets: 2 (Fire/Kinetic)
Current Sets: 2
- Fire Control
- Kinetics

Available Power Sets: 5
- Fiery Melee
- Fiery Blast
- Kinetic Melee
- Fiery Assault
- Fiery Armor

Because he’s on the front lines, Mucho-Kin’s player feels like getting in some damage, so he opts to select Kinetic Melee. Under kinetic Melee, he can only pick the level one power (it is a pre-requisite). And, he chooses to exchange his Fire Cages power for the Kinetic Melee level one Body Blow power. Since Kinetics is his secondary power set, any and all Kinetic powers he chooses would be treated as a secondary power in game. His statistics would now look like:
Mucho-Kin
Fire/Kin Controller
- Fire Control Set
- Char
- Hot Feet
- Cinders

- Kinetics Set
- Transfusion
- Siphon Power
- Siphon Speed
- Speed Boost

- Kinetic Melee Set
- Body Blow

- Super Speed Set
- Haste

There is nothing saying that at level 22 Mucho-kin couldn’t re-select the Fire Cages power, and he probably would, considering that is one of the fire kintroller’s mainstays.
Also, we should talk about pre-requisites. Each power set has, prerequisites (that’d be the level one powers we –have- to take now). These cannot be traded off for other powers. Also, just because a power crosses Archetypes, doesn’t mean that the toon will be massively uber. Mucho-kin here; is still a Controller. Melee attacks from a controller are –not- something to be feared. I’d also like to consider a limiter, something like once you choose a ‘tag’ to start trading on, you cannot choose the other. In essence, that would leave you with a primary super power, a secondary, a tertiary and finally, your ancillary power sets.

(Sorry, didn't mean to steal the post... now back to our regular posting... feel free to chop it to bits)

BT

Did Zwill amalgamate suggestions and archetypes and not leave a memo?