Why I wish for a new defensive powerset

Currently, there are 18 melee powersets. (If you distinguish between Katana and Ninja Blade, there are 19.) As of next tuesday, Titan Weapons will be added to the mix. Also, Staff Fighting already has been announced, and I'd bet that there will be more in the future.

Players obviously enjoy playing melee charas. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but every scrapper, tanker, brute, and stalker also needs another, defensive powerset... of which we currently have just 12 (with no new announcements for the near future).

No other playstyle has such a large imbalance between the number of available primary and secondary powersets. So, I'd really like to get another defensive powerset to go along with all the new melee weapons. (Call it character diversification, if you like. )

The newest defensive powerset is Shields, which was added back in i13. What do you think... is it too much to hope for at least one new defensive powerset, say, ten issues later? There were player suggestions for a radiation or toxic armor, for example...

10joy

Now, you see, I had a different idea of what a 'defensive powerset' is.

I was thinking that you wanted a different 'defender style' powerset. You know, more support/buff/debuff. I could get behind that.

As far as another variation of armor, meh. I suppose it would be nice but I don't see it as necessary. But, if we could get some kind of purchaseable 'temporary armor' (say, the kind of thing you get with the 'wedding ring' or 'cryonic armor' temp powers) that i might be interested in.

I would love more armor sets. I'm the type of person that doesn't like to duplicate powersets, so the fact that there are more melee sets than armor sets can get frustrating for me. I think first, however, I'd rather see some more Blaster secondaries or some more Dominator love.

Wild Streak - Lv. 50(+3) Beast Mastery/Sonic Resonance Mastermind, Amnesty - Lv. 50 Staff Fighting/Dark Armor Stalker

I like new shinies for sure. Also, I'm still at the stage of play where I am not retrying powerset choices and I am running out of secondaries for the number of primaries (and this is with skipping the largely duplicated powersets like Broadsword/Katana or War Mace/Battle Axe) so personally more secondaries would make me much happier than new primaries, but I recognize that as a largely selfish position. I'd like to see everything proliferate and a little more of a balance between new set choices (From GR, 4 new melee sets, 2 control, 1 blast, 1 pet, 1 support, 1 assault). I know melee is popular and it's probably slightly easier to develope for but I'd like to see other ATs get some love too (poor doms). Of course, I'm really happy with the shear ammount of content the team is developing versus what was put out over the past year of playing, which truthfully has been a pretty dang awesome year in terms of releases. In other words, it's a pretty exciting time in Paragon City/the Rogue Isles.

While it technically wouldn't be "new", I for one would LOVE to see Ninjitsu proliferated to Scrappers. I know there has previously been talk of Radiation or Psychic Armor sets which might also be cool, but I for one just want to make a /Ninjitsu Scrapper.

There is actually a powerset me and my friends came up with I wanna see as a defensive powerset.

The idea is your character powers up runes and wards to reduce numbers of damage, not a %. For example, you can throw up a ward for 200 points of damage. It lasts for 5 seconds. A monster can hit you for up to 200 points of damage and you will take 0 damage and have some left over. However, the set is very end heavy and recharge heavy and only blocks agaisnt specific damage, so you have to know what type of damage you are taking, keep popping blues, etc. And it works out the same over all in the % it blocks and doesn't block psionic, but I think it would be fun to have and play with.

I know this is not the perfect idea, just a base idea I have been drumming around with and no numbers attached at all. It was an idea I had on a natural fighting defense set that comes from pure battle instinct, from being in the midst of battle and using what you learn to survive to aid you. It is not as much supernaturally based as it is just being battle ready.

Go with the blow: The character will roll with the punches literally causing less overall damage, and less a chance that a critical spot would be hit. (some resistance based number) and some reduction in a critical chance hit on the character.

Keen eye: an enemy will often give away where he will attack by the movements in his body see them and move in advanced with it. +defense melee /range

Take cover: when all else fails diving away from that big explosion is always a safe bet, remember if the fire ball is bigger then your index finger your standing too close + resistance to any attack with a aoe vector type

Human shield: sometimes using the cover of your enemy is the best thing you can do to take some of the impact. (if more then one enemy is within range minor dot to all enemies ) + resistance for every enemy around you.)

Battle hardened: you have a presence of mind from years of combative training, + perception +resistance to status effects.

Last ditch effort: You know when the chips are down you need to face your foes as it's only you and them, nothing in between, your attacks become fiercer, and are able to pull out those most needed attacks when you need them, as well as have truly a second wind that won't die: As your health degenerates after a point, gain a damage bonus proportional, as well as + recharge + endurance recovery

I'm not down yet: When your enemies think they have you, you show them it's not over till the singing: (self rez) minor damage boost increased regen for a short period of time

Warriors spirit: Through fierce conditioning and an intimidate knowledge of how the the body behaves in battle you can strike fear in those opponents who are less trained then you are while causing their attacks to merely graze you, though it may appear to them they hit dead on. ( +resistance to damage, - to hit to enemies)

tier 9 The warrior's heart: Through all your training and all the battle scars and moments of triumph you can cease those few moments in a battle where everything around you just seems to slow down to an utter crawl and you can see through all attacks. It is on pure instinct alone you act, knowing when to dodge and when to strike and strike hard ( + defense to All ) + To hit + chance for crital chance

Sonic Armor.

Also - I would think the OP would be concerned about mastermind primaries vs secondaries, no?

Not that this is a new powerset, but the "human shield" power here reminded me of it.

I think super reflexes should have a damage aura that kicks in the more enemies that are around you. With you dodging that many attacks, they're bound to hit each other. Plus it'd make SR a more worthwhile set.

*nods* I sort of just thought of it, and yes I know it's sort of a mix of existing ones so it's not fully brand new. It was just an idea built around something that is of that idea of layered resistance /defense with a bit of something different, also something like that imho would really pair well with SJ , that was sort of where i went with it when I thought of it, something that could mesh well with SJ, or even titan weapons/ or any of the sword /mace/axe sets, that was a bit more "natural" based though in a super hero game it's hard to be "normal" in that respect

I'd really prefer that the expand the number of powersets available to the ATs that don't already have an assload of them.

Melee and Defense powersets are already two of the largest categories of set type in the game. The fact that ALL melee ATs have both Melee and Defense sets means that Melee ATs already have some of the largest selections of powersets to chose from in the game. How about spreading the love a little bit?


Melee sets: 18 (soon to be 20)(19, soon to be 21 with Katana/Ninja Blade separate)
Support (buff/debuff) sets: 14 (15 if you count the soon to be Darkness Affinity as unique from Dark Miasma, same as if you split Katana/Ninja Blade))
Defensive sets: 12
Ranged sets: 12
Control sets: 8 (soon to be 9 with Darkness Control)
Assault sets: 7 (soon to be 8 with Dark Assault)
Manipulation (Blaster secondary) sets: 7
Summon sets: 6



That's not to say I wouldn't like a new Defense or even melee power set. I'd just prefer a bit more for the underprivileged archetypes.

@Oathbound & @Oathbound Too

Next time the devs design a new set for the melee archetypes, I sorta hope it's a defensive set. I also hope that's not for a while, because as Oathbound points out, we melee types already have way more than everybody else, and I'm already in a melee rut lately.

While I'm not a big proponent of adding more melee character options to a system that already has more of that than anything else, the one thing I've aways wanted was a "reflective" defense set, one that harms enemies that attack you with melee attacks. No idea how one would implement such a thing, but it is my only lasting desire regarding melee defense sets.

I think a Chi Armor set with vector-based resistances would be a cool addendum and a refreshing change from the other resistance-based sets.

Through meditation ,training and effort, you have attuned your body to the flow of universal energies. This grants you hightened senses and lasting power, as well as toughen your body against incoming blows. You have no protection against attacks you can't see coming though, such as direct attacks on your psyche. Your training has also taught you to weather blows, not dodge them, and so you feel every hit, even if they don't hit as hard.

Harmonious Cloak : Your training allows you to smootht he flow of internal and external energies in your body, spreading and defusing the force of melee hits (+resist against melee)

No-mind Focus : You are now capable of perceiving the Chi flows and disturbances caused by your foes' aggressive thoughts. By following those flows, you enhance your accuracy and perception (Passive +ToHit, +perception bonus)

Yang drain : By absorbing the Yang energies of your foes, you can both focus their aggression on you and boost your own health (Taunt aura with a +regen bonus per enemy around - maybe a diminishing return)

Unseen swat : You control has improved to the point where you can deflect incoming ranged attacks with a focused spike of Chi, lessening the impact (+resist against ranged)

One with Nature : Balancing your energies with that of your surrounding, you harmonize your inner self and protect it against disturbances (Mez protection)

Karma Shroud : Nearing the mastery of Chi control, you surround yourself with a shroud of Chi which cushions you from blasts, explosions and area-based attacks (+resist against AoE)

Yin absorbtion : you have attuned your own energies to the point that you can replenish your endurance faster by absorbing the ambient energies (Passive +recovery boost)

Precotious Reincarnation : in a last-ditch manipulation of the Karmic Wheel, you can return your departing spirit to your mortal shell. Such a transfer requires energy that you drain from your surrounding foes, leaving them tired (self-rez with a very long recharge, stuns, slows and recharge-debuffs the enemies around)

Karmic Avatar : Drawing massively upon the surrounding energies, you infuse yourself with Chi. Your recovery, resistances and Regeneration are all massively improved for a time. Such an desperate effort in exhausting though, and once the rush passes, you'll be left drained and unable to recover for a while (+Melee, Ranged, AoE resist, +Recovery, +Regen god mode with the usual End-crash and a recovery AND REGEN debuff)

I think the reason they don't make more secondaries is that secondaries really just aren't exciting. If you look at the most popular defense sets they're the ones where people don't have to use them. Ever. Just toggle on your Willpower, Invuln, Shield, or SR powers and go to work. People like primaries that are busy and interesting. People like secondaries they don't have to think about. Creating a new set people won't have to think about isn't very exciting.

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Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

I'd rather see more Blaster manipulation sets first. A Martial Arts/Ninjitsu based set is at the top of my list for a more natural human character, and Stone, Radiation, Power Armour-esque tech and plants in no particular order.

Why isn't there "armor" armor set? that is quite an obvious option and one that natural and technology origins can use in concept (magic and science can as well of course). It could be geared more towards the technology origin if it included many "powered armor" powers.

There are 2 reasons to make a new set - theme, and effect. Theme is just wanting to have a set for X, which can often be covered just by coloring at least looks - make a dark character, color it yellow and call it radiation.

Effects are what really makes a set different.

Defensive sets generally fall into 4 types of defense: resistance, defense, healing, regen
They have utility effects: damage aura, damage buff, to hit buff, fear, +recharge, endurance recovery, stealth

I can see defensive sets for:
Sonic: -res aura, instead of a damage aura. It would up everyone's damage on a team
Psionic: cloak of confusion, instead of cloak of fear from dark, minor confuse (minions only)
Radiation: aura of -to hit, aura of -regen, aura of -strength, make it a weak def/res set with a bunch of aura's that debuff instead. Great in melee, bad at range

I think it would be fairly easy to come up with some sets that play differently. A big issue would be balance - tankers with defender style debuffs on teams could be overpowered.

I vote for the martial arts blaster secondary too... I think that's been shown over and over to be a very popular request. I know I for one would make another DP blaster in a heartbeat. ^_^

I always wanted a Cloning set a la Jamie Maddrox/Multiple Man as an armor.

(I don't particularly want it on a Mastermind, because it doesn't significantly change MM gameplay to have pets. A self-cloning melee character, though, would have clones with different attacks based on your primary, which I would love. They wouldn't get all of your attacks, just work the way the existing cloning tech does.)

Basically, I see it based somewhat on the Regen set mixed with Fire Armor (in terms of being an attack based set). Instead of a self-heal it gets a self-clone power. Your clone splits off from you and you regain a portion of your HP. A cloning character would be limited to a max of 3 clones at a time.

You can also re-absorb a clone, which is another way to heal yourself. Basically the balance of the set is deciding between damage and self healing.

The major tradeoffs would be similar to Regeneration and the fact that unlike Fire's damage powers, clones can die.