Novel Idea for Power Choices

This is totally off the cuff so bear with me if it's rough.

We all like the idea of new power sets. We like making up new toons and trying to figure out the coolest way to defeat Lord Whoever with different combinations of powers and ATs.

Now how about the Devs scratch that creative itch we seem to have without having to create whole new sets or totally remaking old ones? What if they gave us more than one Power choice per tier?

Hear me out before reaching for the butterfly nets and torches. Let's say that I want to build a Fire/Fire Blaster but I prefer ST attacks. Fire/ is loaded with AoEs and I might be hard-pressed to fill all my Power choices with just ST attacks without gimping the character. So what if the Devs made up alternate choices for some of the even levels where we pick Powers?

For example: An alternate choice for Fire Ball might be Fire Burst, similar to Fire Blast but with more DoT or something. As I said, the idea is very rough. However, I like choices and this would give us a whole slew of new, possible combinations without who new sets needing to be invented.

It could probably be done. SoA's are forbidden from taking multiple copies of the same ability to prevent stacking, so the technology does seem to exist.

I had thought the same thing would be a good idea. It would also have the potential to reduce the suckiness of blaster Elec/ and Psi/ by giving some AoE choices that they lack now.

Additionally the devs could give us primary/secondary power selections in the places that none exist now (Level 24 and 30) also increasing the pool of choices. The caveat would be that the devs need to mention that players are no longer intended to take ALL powers from primary and secondary.

Oh, and Malta/Wild West animations for Dual Pistols......

I can handle that. Certainly there would have to be benefits to each choice but as I said if someone wanted to do ST versus AoE then they could do so.

The main reason I came up with this idea is that almost every build I see is 75% the same by 50. I mean you get 24 Power choices and even if you take EVERY Primary and Secondary (and many of us don't) then you have 6 choices left. Movement Power? Ok. five left. You like Hover too? Ok...4 left. Many people dip into the Pools at this point (I don't think I have a build without CJ). But many sets have 1, 2 or more powers deemed 'skippable' by many. Thus most of the ATs you see will be built the same. They HAVE to be because there aren't enough choices.

But this way you still get 24 Powers but now not everyone will be boxed into the SAME choices. If we had 4 more Primary Powers and four more Secondary Powers per set that would add so many new permutations it would almost be like having new sets without as much work.

I don't know, I'm worried that this might dilute player choice and lead to overall homogenization. I mean, the new things they'd be adding to the sets would probably be reskins of stuff from other sets, and the last thing I want is for power set choice to be essentially cosmetic.

there are two ways you can view powersets:
different power selections/mechanics that provide variety in play
different graphics

If you believe that the difference between fire and ice is that fire looks like fire and ice looks like ice - then allowing multiple power choices so that any set can be ST or AoE or whatever makes sense.

if you believe that different powersets should truly have different powers and mechanics than you are going to hate letting people choose their powers to make each set whatever they want.

Personally I think of powersets and choosing graphics. I hate when mechanics get in the way of enjoying a set I would like (dual blades).

Ideally for me you would choose a powerset type - controls
then each tier would present a balanced set of powers and you would just choose the one you wanted.

Earthquake/Ice Slick/Static Field/Flashfire, etc - choose the one you want

Personally, I'd *LOVE* to see the "pick 1 of 2 choices" system applied to Peacebringer powers that do Knockback. You can either choose the KnockBACK power, or the KnockDOWN power ... but not both versions of the same power. That means that legacy Peacebringer builds are "grandfathered" in as all using the KnockBACK versions of their powers, but upon respec can avail themselves of KnockDOWN versions of those powers instead.

Needless to say, the datamining available from making that sort of player choice available would make it pretty clear which way the winds are blowing as far as Conventional Wisdom is concerned with respect to Peacebringers and KnockABOUT in every meaningful power they have.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...