When you think of new ATs, what do you think of?

A new AT? People are being cheap if they think anything under 1200 is fair.

Adding my support to this preference:

Something "rehashed" like Melee/Support or Assault (or Ranged)/Defense [Note: I want these so very badly!]: 1200 PPs

Something "New" like Shapeshifter, Rikti, Power Armor, Vanguard Assault, etc.: 1600 PPs

Also, I'd rather have Melee/Debuff and Assault (or ranged)/Defense first over any "new" ones.

I'm torn on this actually. If we're talking EATs then I honestly would make them something that you have to unlock in game, because that was kind of "the thing" for EATs for a very long time. If we absolutely MUST purchase them then I would want it to be a purchase that included some sort of (mildly epic) story arc to introduce the reason this EAT is going to be around now, and perhaps not allow the player to make one of these EATS until they've completed the story arc at least once, just like a player couldn't make a Kheldian or SoA without getting to level 50/20.

From the examples above, i.e.: Vanguard Mech AT would feature an arc about a new interdimensional threat looming (The Coming Storm?) and Vanguard needing to step up their game with new technology and the best of the best using it, perhaps having existing heroes obtain a temporary costume/character model and the beta temp power tray to allow them to use some of the powers of the new AT as a sort of beta test for the mech armor squad. Then when completed you can make a character that was selected from the Vanguard ranks to utilize it and is set to train with it in the city as a hero before seeing higher level field work.

Midnighter Archmage AT could involve searching for some ancient artifact/relic/book for the Midnighters to boost their power because they can sense the Coming Storm and know that they need to be prepared. They send you off with a piece of/page from the relic/book that gives you a temp power tray allowing you to use a few of the powers from the AT and story-wise allows you to magically track it down. Possibly involves a big showdown between all the magical/sorcerous factions like the Tsoo, Circle, Pantheon, etc. Then when you bring it back it allows you to make a new character from the Midnight Squad that has been empowered by the artifact.

Rikti AT would be pretty basic with the idea of a story arc detailing a peace treaty negotiation with at least one of the Rikti factions to explain it. Standard fair there.

As far as new AT's go I'd actually be really behind the idea of these three, especially with branching power choices. Vanguard Mech AT could have a Heavy style (Tank-like resistance with a mix of ranged and melee), an Infiltrator style (Stalker-like stealth with ranged attacks and maybe a couple of weak support drone pets), and a Striker style (Fast recharging ranged attacks with some debuffs along the lines of chemical agent missles and smoke screens).

Archmage could benefit from independent primary and secondary branching with some basic spells at base level of blasts and some light control/debuffs (possibly with the damage type switch mentioned to turn them into fire, ice or dark blasts, or just leave them as energy) then the primary could branch into heavy control powers, debuffs or pet summons (possibly a mastermind style, I for one would ADORE this), and the secondary could branch into ranged speciality, or an assault-like mix of melee and ranged. (Personally, I love the idea of having a set of arcane MM pets, like golems or energy-based spirits, with an assault set secondary capable of switching damage types. It'd have huge potential for things to get hairy with no defensive toggles but also have the potential to crank out ridiculous damage. Kind of an AT that fires the entire artillery at the enemy ship and hopes that the one huge blast sinks it before they can return fire.)

Rikti is pretty obvious choices, Chief Soldier, Rikti Magus, Rikti Mentalist. Traditional gun/sword with some defensive toggles, Mixed and matched buff, debuff and assault powers, and Something I'd like to imagine would be a mashup of/cross between a dominator and a defender with some defensive toggles to account for the battle armor.

Anyway, if we're talking a pack like this that would include an introductory story arc to unlock them and a signature arc for the EAT to follow when playing as them (And one would hope some new costume pieces to allow us to look the part) then I would gladly pay 1200+ for them. The current ATs that are purchasable launched with their respective titles and don't have signature stuff to them, so they can get away with being cheaper. This kind of thing would be very similar to a "content pack" rather than just a new AT. It would be story arcs, the new EAT, plus EAT costume pieces. I wouldn't go overboard and charge 2000, maybe about 1800 tops. I would gladly pay that for the ability to customize and pilot my own mech, especially if there was a second costume slot that allowed for a REALLY custom mech, like slot 1 is your standard issue vanguard mech, but your slot 2 could be used to make a Longbow, Arachnos or independent mech with color customization and various mix and match parts. If you guys put the effort in to make something like this and really give us something new and fun to play with then I would gladly pay 1800.

Without knowing the capabilities or variety of the new AT i would ballpark it at 1200-1600 points.

it would be awesome to have a cherry pick AT where you could pick any powerset as the primary, which would then determine the options available for an inherent to avoid something too OP and determine your hp/dmg potential, etc, and then choose a second powerset from all the others with the exceptions of powersets that have overlap like fire blast /fire assault could not happen, but fire blast / fire control could happen.

course, this might make epic pools a nightmare haha but again, you could sort of pick the pools preselected to match up with primaries.

/e shrug

A few thoughts of my own.

From my point of view, the different ATs and powers are the real replayable content of the game and new powersets or AT has a bigger impact on my desire to play the game than a new zone or set of missions (not that I mind those). Add in the meta-game of build management, inventions, and the like, a new powerset or AT leads to much more in-game time for me than a set of missions.

So to make a wild assumption that everyone is like me, launching a new AT would be a no-brainer, but others may have a different opinion on that.

Price wise, I would probably easily shell out $20 USD for a new fully realized AT like assault/shield with 4-5 choices for both primary and secondary and the knowledge that the AT would be considered with others for powerset proliferation.

I believe the current price of masterminds and controllers can't really be considered when pricing a new AT as based on earlier dev comments, that price point is based more on server impact instead of development time.

The different suggestions for a new EAT similar to Khelds or SoA have been interesting, but I personally prefer a more open concept AT than one limited to a branching power tree and a concept that might not appeal to a majority of players.

To the OP: I think o' a Mech Pilot.

800-1600pp AT which reuses existing powersets in a different combo (ranged/defense, pets/control)

1600-2400 AT which mostly reuses existing powersets but has an inherent (like Hide) that significantly changes how it plays.

1600-2400 EAT like Khelds or SoA, which provides 3 possible builds

As a VIP, 400pts is one month of points. I can easily see 6 months worth of points being spent on an AT if I am interested in it.

I'm not sure what to call them but I get your idea... In the DA arcs we see the Dream Doctor using a combination of Staff Weapons (melee attacks normallly reserved for Tanks, Brutes, Scrappers or Stalkers) with Illusion Control. As a side note this was also an incredible TEASE for those of us still waiting on the arrival of staff weapons..NAUGHTY BAD BAD Devs lol

Currently I am working my Beast Mistress toward 50 and the thought occurred that a perfect alternate secondary for her would be Plant Control.. Giving her the ability to control both plants and animals! The same would hold true for Earth Control, Storm Summoning, etc.


Players have been drooling over the possibility of a Blaster with defense as a secondary instead of short range or melee attacks for years so your idea for a shields blaster would certainly be greeted warmly.. Not sure if the Devs would ever allow it though... I think they purposely leave Blasters vulnerable to keep them from being too powerful.

As for something completely new I think a new sort of Hybrid AT similar to the Soldier of Arachnos would do well. In my opinion they did an outstanding job with SOAs giving us the option to develope our character in multiple ways.. an SOA can be set to be a Melee or Ranged attacker or even a combination of both. They can have, with Patron powers included, as many pets as most Masterminds or they can't stealth like a stalker. Something along those lines would go over quite well again I am sure

I'd have it cost the same as ATs do now. 1000-1200 points.

Depending on how many power sets you get, it could be a bargain.

I do wish I could grab it for free, but economics are economics. :P