More power pools, please

Okay, so I highly doubt that we will ever be able to go to a freeform model of power selection, much like that Certain Other superhero MMORPG enjoys, although it is an attractive feature. So what I would like to suggest is an expansion of the power pools that would allow us to expand on our character's powers.
What I envision is additional pools that would give our characters extra powers, sometimes powers that were never intended to be wielded by our selected archetype. For instance, a Weapons Power Pool that would give your characters access to shields or swords or maces, or a Psionic Power Pool that would give your melee character access to psychic blasts or telekinetic bursts.
I am not advocating letting toons get more pools than they are currently limited to, but rather just more powers to choose from to help make your character more unique, or that closer to what we envision. That way if we envision a staff-wielding telepath, we can create a Staff scrapper and use the power pools to give them a limited amount of psionic power. Or conversely, if we envision a Psychic blaster who also carries a sword, we bring that creation to life. An ice blaster who is also a fire blaster could be doable by selecting one of these new power pools.
It would also allow us access to powers that don't (yet) or may never have a full powerset devoted to them, such as the Demon Mastermind's whip attacks, or the upcoming Beast Mastery's Birds and Bee "blasts."
I hope you consider this feature, as I think it would really help up the ante in allowing us to achieve our ideal heroes ... barring fully customizable, freeform heroes, that is.
Thanks for your time, and your efforts in making this game so much fun to play.

Once upon a time I would have said I like the idea, but that it wouldn't be a good idea.

However, the primary argument against some of what you're saying is that some ATs would now have access to ranged attacks that they wouldn't otherwise have.

This could have been considered a balance breaker until recently.

I say until recently.

Spring Break has broken the unspoken melee only trend of Power Pool attacks

and the argument that you'd be providing Controllers, Scrappers, Tankers and the like with attacks is made invalid because such ATs already have access to ranged attacks via Revolver, Plasmic Taser, Hand Grenade and Envenomed Dagger...all readily available for rather low costs compared to their effectiveness (though some of the rare ingredients make this expensive)

For a more permanent source of ranged attack, everyone has access to Blackwand and Nemesis Staff eventually, both respectable ranged attacks

That said, this functionality is already somewhat provided by APPs, so you'd have to be careful. They've already allowed APPs to be accessed at the mid 30s. Personally, I don't think the game would suffer if APPs were available from level 2 onward, but I can see where the devs would want to avoid that headache.

Granted some of us think the APPs are what the Power Pools should have been and that the Incarnates are what the APPs were going to be when they were first billed as "Epic Power Pools"

A Power Pool ranged attack would have to be less efficient than the equivalent Blast attacks, and the upper powers would be less attacks and more utility. This is relatively easy to accomplish. Defenders have a ranged damage scale of .65 compared to Stalkers ranged damage scale of .6 and all three other melees at .5.

Having a smaller damage scale than a defender instantly makes a ranged attack less than balance breaking.

Speaking of which, Defenders badly need a damage scale boost. They're supposed to deal moderate damage and yet they're the lowest damage dealers currently out there.

As it stands, you can reason some of the existing Power Pools as psychic abilities (Presence, Concealment and Leadership) but there is no elemental or other exotic damage in any of them.

Most of the ideas you've mentioned seem better to me as epic pools than normal pools, but otherwise yeah, this would be cool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison Close. The one where everyone either has the same build or is terribly gimped.

Well, actually...

...oh, I should know by now not to defend an MMO on another MMO's forums. Suffice it to say that, although their freeform building has its problems, One Build to Rule Them All isn't really among them.

If such sets were added, it'd need to be done in as little ways as possible to not throw too much information at the player while still having as many options as possible. Below are my thoughts of what powers would be available and in what way. Damage and effects would have to be 20-30% lower than their powerset variation, or select powers be unavailable if you've already got it available in your set/epic (though I've tried not to make ones which'd clash):

Power One - Level 14
Power Two - Level 14
Power Three - Level 22
Power Four - Level 22
Power Five - Level 30

Munitions:
Single Shot - Single Pistol
Burst - Assault Rifle
Buckshot - Assault Rifle
Dual Wield - Dual Pistols
Bunker Buster - Pull out a rocket launcher, low-moderate damage Smashing/Lethal ranged AoE with knockback

Fire:
Flares - Fire Blast
Scorch - Fire Melee
Hot Feet - Fire Control
Combustion - Fire Manipulation
Blaze - Fire Blast, 20s+ recharge

Ice:
Ice Bolt - Ice Blast
Frozen Fists - Ice Melee
Frost - Ice Melee
Ice Sword - Ice Melee
Bitter Freeze Ray - Ice Blast

Energy:
Power Bolt - Energy Blast
Energy Punch - Energy Melee
Power Push - Energy Blast
Stun - Energy Melee
Power Burst - Energy Blast, 20s+ recharge

Negative Energy:
Shadow Punch - Dark Melee
Nightfall - Dark Blast
Touch of Fear - Dark Melee, no tohit debuff, half fear duration, 20+s recharge (with slotting, it's a ST perma-fear)
Shadow Maul - Dark Melee, double recharge (16s)
Siphon Life - Dark Melee, 20s+ recharge, increases your regeneration rather than a flat heal

Weather:
Charged Bolts - Elec. Blast
Snow Storm - Storm Summoning, only -speed -recharge
Voltaic Sentinel - Elec. Blast
Lightning Field - Elec. Manipulation
Thunder Clap - Storm Summoning, 3/4 duration, 5ft smaller radius, 60 second recharge (from 45)

Earth:
Propel Rocks - Legacy Chain NPC attack
Stone Fist - Stone Melee
Stone Spears - Earth Assault
Mud Pots - Stone Armour
Rooted - Stone Armour, no mez protection, only +regen -speed -jump +mez resistance

Hand-To-Hand:
Initial Strike - Street Justice
Throwing Knife - Various AE enemies
Haymaker - Super Strength
Storm Kick - Martial Arts
Rib Cracker - Street Justice, no -res -dam

Martial Weapon, Battle Axe/Katana/Broadsword/Warmace models available:
Gambler's Cut - Katana, uses Broadsword's Parry animation
Dodge - Super Reflexes, half defense numbers, no defense debuff resistance
Hack - Broadsword, double recharge, no tohit bonus, 20s+ recharge
Jawbreaker - War Mace, no tohit bonus, 20s+ recharge
Grant Cover - Shield Defense, grants the customisation of a shield, defense/endurance numbers of Maneuvers, no defense debuff resistance

Sonics:
Shriek - Sonic Attacks, no -res
Shockwave - Sonic Attacks, no -res
Sonic Clap - Super Strength Hand Clap, alternate effect
Screech - Sonic Attacks, no -res
Sonic Siphon - Sonic Resonance, 30s+ recharge

I would note that none of these match the current trend of power pool set ups

as it stands, none of the power pools should really have more than two attacks with the bulk being utility powers

example:

Pistol:

Hip Shot - quick, light damage attack....or quick, low-accuracy, moderate damage attack
Double Tap - moderate recharge moderate DoT
Marksmanship - toggle -rec +tohit, taking your time to hit
Reload - click +10 End, unenhanceable 1 min recharge, essentially taking a moment to breath and refocus

Improvised Weapons: (every time a new weapon has to be drawn, it's a random one)

Quick Strike - quick, light damage
Heavy Strike - slow, moderate damage
Wild - toggle, -tohit, +rec
Amateur - +Def(all)...knows so little about what they're doing, they're unpredictable

Heat:
Embers - quick ranged damage, less efficient than fire blast or flares
Body Heat - click +fire damage to all melee attacks (harder than it sounds given that the way fiery embrace does this is because it seems to be programmed individually into each attack that can be altered by it...as such this power would require recoding all melee attacks)
Tolerance - toggle +res heat/cold
Ash Cloud - single target -tohit, Placate


etc


the problem is that there aren't that many utility powers that aren't already covered somewhere

I like the idea of new power pools. In 7.5 years the power pools have expanded by...4 powers. And those 4 powers took 7 years to be introduced. Not even new pools, just 4 powers.

My theory is it becomes a balancing issue with the fact that every AT can take a power pool. On the other hand, you'd think the devs would get the biggest bang for their buck putting out sets that will be available to every AT.

I'd still like to have more "well-rounded" heroes instead of what seems to be 2 or 3 of the same formula of power pool combinations. Some pools even for concept aren't appealing.

Hmmm...I believe I had a suggestion similar to this, but it only applied to weapons. If you wish to read it, it resides in my sig.