Wind Control! By ME!

Well, sorta of. Kinda. Somewhat.

I am sure many people have seen the power info for Wind, on the wiki site (http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Wind_Control) and it does indeed look awesome. And very sad that we will never get it.
However, in my capacity as MS WordPad game dev and power set maker..I thought that I would produce some more detailed descriptions and info. I will be changing and adding to powers a bit, but mostly..it is how I would want the set to have appeared.

Just some thoughts on the info itself..ALL smashing damage. Hmm..not great. A lot of the other control sets are elemental/smash or /lethal damage, especially for immobs. Obviously Grav is pure smashing..and look how much the damage was moaned about. So we don’t want that to happen..BUT..I do think smashing makes more sense for a wind set. It could have cold and hot gusts I guess..but that would stray about into the new territory that Water Blast has.

Wind Control.

Almost complete mastery of the wind is yours. You can use the power of the air itself to control, confound and constrain foes, leaving them helpless and floundering before your elemental presence. Prolonged and sustained usage of Wind powers will build Pressure, as wave of force build around you, strengthening your control and improving damage.

Using Wind powers on a foe builds Pressure. These stacks are applied by powers tagged Pressure Builders, and each one provides a small (5% say?) damage buff, and additional Lethal dot, which stacks. Other powers are Pressure Consumers, which remove all current pressure stacks in order to gain benefits when the power is cast. Keening Winds and Downdraft are Pressure Users, meaning their effects will change depending on the number of stacks, but NOT consume them.

Each stack lasts 15 seconds, and additional stacks past 3 WILL refresh.

Powers:

Updraft.
Using the most basic power of the Wind, you cause a localised powerful gust to target a foe, knocking them to the ground in they are in flight and knocking them up into the air, if they were on the ground. Pressure Stacks will improve this powers damage and add Lethal dot, each stack extending the duration of the dot.
Ranged, Moderate DMG (Smashing), Knockup (Foe), -Fly (Foe), Pressure Builder (Self)

(I HATE the animation for Levitate. With a passion. Not sure why. But I would not have wanted it for this. I picture you extending your hand palm down to the foe, flicking your wrist up then down, as the gust flips them up and smashes them down.)

Downdraft.
The staple of Wind Control. You cause a strong current on air to fall down around a target, trapping them in waves of force and leaving them unable to take any action. Flying foes will be pulled earth wards. Pressure Stacks will improve this powers damage and add Lethal dot, each stack extending the duration of the dot, while adding minor duration to the Hold.
Ranged, Hold (Foe), -Movement (Foe), -Rech (Foe), -Fly (Foe), Pressure Builder (Self)

(Again, don't want the two handed Block of Ice type animation. I picture two hands out in front of you, gathering the draft, before dropping them down and outwards, pulling the wind currents around the foe. The pressure using would help the hold duration in a small way, nothing to remove it from similar powers, but enough to be handy.)

Breathless.
We all need air to survive, and when that is taken away, it is hard to take any action let alone move. By wrapping multiple foes in constricting winds, you can rob them of breath itself, leaving them gasping and immobile. Pressure Stacks will improve this powers damage and add Lethal dot, each stack extending the duration of the dot and slightly increasing the -dam portion of the power.
Ranged (Targeted AoE), Minor DMG (Lethal), Immobilize (Foe), -DMG (Foe, All), +EndCost (Foe), Consumes Pressure

(I see the animation for this as starting with hands palm forward, at your sides, then moving them up and forward, crossing over. I love the +end cost. Really neat. I removed the 'PvP' only flag here, it is silly not to have it, even if NPCs do cheat when it comes to end use.)

Wind Shear
Mastery of the Wind extends to personal protection, as well as control of others. By enveloping yourself in constantly shifting currents, you can work against nearby foes constantly, reducing ability to react. Pressure stacks have no effect.
PBAoE (Toggle), -Speed (Foe, All), -Fly (Foe), -ToHit (Foe), -DMG (Foe, All)

(Animation of moving your hands down your body, wind appearing as you go. Something like steamy mist, but without the stealthy fade, swirls of 'air' going both ways around your body. I'd imagine this power had some fairly low numbers, or it could be crazy.)

Thundergust
The energy and power of a thunderstorm can be harnessed, causing a powerful gust of air to knockdown any foes in front of you. Pressure Stacks will improve this powers damage and add Lethal dot, each stack extending the duration of the dot.
Ranged (Cone), Minor DMG (Smashing), Knockdown (Foe), -ToHit (Foe), Pressure Builder (Self)

(Mmm..we don't want to reuse the gale animation. I think something more like Fire Breath, leaning forward a bit, turning your head side to side, as you blow out the huge gust of wind in a cone. OMG, are they kidding us? This is a BAD joke if so. A cone kb power..that is not actually kb, but knockdown instead? Amazing. But I foresee serious moaning if this went unchanged and Gale was left as Storm's tier 1. This, or Gale..not contest at all.)

Microburst
Calling forth mighty gusts and blasts of wind, you can manipulate their natural movement itself, drawing them down in a funnel before expanding at ground level, creating disorder over a wind area. Pressure Stacks will improve this powers damage by a significant amount and add Lethal dot, each stack extending the duration of the dot. Regardless of when used, Microburst will consume ALL stacks, but if used with 3, all foes will have a -Def effect applied and a much greater -Rech.
Ranged (Targeted AoE), Minor DMG (Smashing), Stun (Foe), -Speed (Foe, All), -Fly (Foe), -Rech (Foe), Chance for -DEF (Foe, All), Consumes Pressure

(Something like the Ion judgment animation, but instead of lightning, you are pulling down currents of air, and sending them crashing over a mob in a funnel, with expanding gusts at ground level. I'll be honest..I had to look up what a Microbust was..this power could have looked awesome.)

Keening Winds
Wind can be used to confound and distract opponents, when used correctly. By sending a cutting and focused push of wind at foes, you can assault their senses, causing confusion and chaos. This is a Pressure Using power, meaning it will not consume stacks, but gain extra benefit. The magnitude of the confuse is low, mag 2, but stack 2 and 3 add a high chance for added magnitude, as well as increasing the -end.
Ranged (Targeted AoE), Confuse (Foe), End Drain (Foe), +End (Self)

(Hmm..cutting wind, that's apparently what this is. So..hands together in front of you, then tilting them towards the mob in a cutting motion, before pulling them apart, as you summon the Winds. Obviously I have NO idea about how this power would work, and doubtful it WOULD have only been a mag 2 confuse. I am more thinking in terms of the entire set, not just making the power 'bad'. The set would already have a hold, aoe immob, st KU, cone KU, aoe stun, aoe hold AND a defensive toggle. That is pretty darn crazy. Leaving aside how broken SoC is..mind's confuse is st, or looong rech, elec's confuse is chain and can easily miss the first person. From that perspective, a mag 2 aoe confuse..is not bad. Not when the stacks can ramp it up to Mag 4.)

Vacuum
The pinnacle of Wind Control. The wind is yours to command, no one else’s, and you can take away the very air itself around foes, leaving them choking and helpless, slowly suffocating at your mercy. Pressure Stacks will improve this powers damage by a significant amount and add Lethal dot, each stack extending the duration of the dot. Regardless of when used, Vacuum will consume ALL stacks, but if used with 3, all foes will take much greater damage, -regen as well as a change for +magnitude hold. If your Vortex pet comes near to the vacuum affected foes, It siphons extra power for them, buffing his damage.
Ranged (Targeted AoE), Hold (Foe), Moderate DoT (Lethal), -Movement (Foe), -Rech (Foe), -ToHit (Foe), -Regen (Foe) Chance for +Mag, Special (Pet), Pressure Consumer (Self)

(Another breathy type animation I think, looking side to side as you use your hands to 'pull' the air into your mouth, sucking it all away. This power sounds really cool and I am wondering if it would have been a One shot aoe hold, or a patch hold, like dark. I added the -regen as 3Stack, since I see that as some way aoe single shot holds could be made much better. The +mag is a bonus, and obviously helps a troller more, as it should. No idea if the Special Pet bit was meant to be there, but it fits, sorta.)

Vortex
So great is your control of the wind, you can actually summon and mold it as you desire, granting it some semblance of Life. A powerful Vortex can be created, capable of using an array of Wind powers to aid you and hinder your foes. Pressure stacks have no effect.

A Pet, naturally. With..

Updraft. The same as yours, but with moderately improved damage, and lethal dot built in.

Winded. A single target version of Breathless, with extra damage and dot, again.

Air Burst. A smashing damage aoe, say 5 target max, looking like an air fireball.

Air Blast. A single target smashing attack, chance of knockdown, good damage.

Dust Devils. A long rech power, working like the Phantasms clone, that summons 2 dust devils, minion class, who also have a version of Air Blast and a cutdown, 3 target version of Wind Shear.

Sold..I'd have paid for this set.

I get dibs on the character name: Breaking Wind.

Cool ideas. My 2c:

You've almost replicated Hurricane and Gale there with Windshear and Thundergust.
A lot of people would probably pair this with Storm for thematic reasons, which means a bit too much duplication?

I'd replace these with something else - maybe a static location like Hurricane? Repel and knockup, call it Convection cell?


Plus, with either Storm or Time, you can have two -To Hit auras with this set, which could get too powerful. Having a Controller softcapped by the time they hit SO's is stepping into Defender territory a bit.

I'm not too keen on the breath-sucking motif for the powers, partly because we opften fight robots, zombies and other non-breathers. ( I know Fire Control already does this already, but making Nemesis teakettles cough doesnt look or sound right )
I'd prefer the immobilises to be vortexes around the effected characters. Maybe have the holds act like a faster version of Soul Storm, the Ghost Widow hold? I'm not sure if that could be done in a way that looked right?

QUOTE=Dr Harmony;4397372]Cool ideas. My 2c:

Doc..these is NOT my ideas, you know that right? (Well, the power descriptions are) Not being rude..but when you say 'you replicated...' it sounds like you are saying I did it. I realise you may not have intended to sound that way..just how I read it. And while I DO agree that those 2 powers do step heavily on the toes on Gale and Hurri..well, that is what which dev who drafted the set came up with.

I just went with what was listed. But..regarding the obvious pairing with storm...Gale is..not to mince words, shite. You CAN get good use from it, with a wall handy, but mostly it just annoys people and the damage is trash. The problem is its the t1 power..which sucks. But if it was swapped with O2..then the set has the same problem of poison..you HAVE to take a crappy st heal. But how do we fix that without changing an exisiting powerset, without annoying those people who LOVE gale?

We can't. So Shear and TG get left as they are. And overlap exists, in the same way that you get combos with holds in both, or heals, or whatever. I'd argue Shear sounds far superior to Hurricane..atm. Unless the -tohit was tiny (O have a feeling it would be), the added -dam and -speed would be FAR better than -range (not that great) and the repel, that can reaaally annoy people. Also, thundergust, being just knockdown, would be your main pressure builder, and damage source, as well as good mitigation. I dont think many people would skip it either.

Also agree about the possibilty of 2 -tohit auras busting the game. Another argument that Shear would have been only say..10%, enhanced. As opposed to 40ish in Hurricane.

Not saying those powers would have HAD to stay of course. Your convection cell sounds interesting..but how would repel mesh with KU? They fly in the air then backwards? It would be a lil to much like bonfire without the -KB proc..and just as hated.

I like your vortex idea for immobs, and an 'air ghost widow' (sponsored by Nike) for the hold..gives me more ideas. Those animations were just as I saw the powers..who knows what cool stuff they would have done?

As for the names..a friend was saying she would have made a Nyte Wynd, to match her naming conventions. I mentioned it made me think of Midnight flatulence.

Sorry. I didn't realise that this was the would-have-been-live set. I thought this was your variation on the set presented on the Wiki. My mistake there.


As for the Repel and Knockup in Convection Cell - I was seeing this as a slow repel like Hurricane with a chance for knock up on regular ticks. This way, targets within the cell would not get perma-knocked up but moved out after a couple of bounces, to prevent it from becoming too pwerful a control.
On the other hand, it would expire, and its in a control set, so a knock-up zone without the repel wouldn't be to bad - Wind's version of Ice Slick/Earthquake.


You can already get "double Gale" on a Storm/Sonic defender, but the big differences are that Shockwave does decent damage, and Gale can be skipped. Like you say, Storm has a bit of a problem for Controllers by having two below-par starter powers.

Hi guys,

Please keep in mind stuff that is "dived" from i24 beta, i.e. not actively being tested or even available, was currently in development and was not to be released for some time. If you're using some methods to find it in the game, you're looking at things that are placeholder, ranging from animations to damage numbers to damage types. Please keep this in mind and try to avoid criticizing content that's dived for this reason; we were working on a lot of things for many issues out, and there could have been months of iteration time on anything in there.

Am I alone in thinking that vortex might as well have been tornado?

I totally see what you are saying Dr Aeon..but..

I did say the set, and this post, was just based on what was on the WIki. I never claimed to have found the info and posted it there. Or have found it on Beta. Or if it was even on Beta.

Also, it is pretty obvious, at least to me, that the info was..as you say..Placeholder, a very ROUGH idea you guys had of how the set might come about...which again..I did say.

As for criticizing this 'content'...well. I am trying to think of a way to say this without seeming like an ***. But.

WHY does it matter? really? It isnt content..its a pile of text that (as I just tested, is NOT linkeable on Beta. So technically..it isn't even placeholding there. I have no idea ta all where the info came from, and if by linking it, and expanding on it, I somehow crossed a line, I am truly sorry.

But be serious...we are all rooting for the game to keep going. If it does, super! If not, again, why would having a discussion about some potential powers, that aren't even in the game, that would almost certainly be changed..matter?

The boards are full of people saying bad things about exisiting powers in the game right now..ones that, being IN game, you guys must have signed off on. Yet..they still make us scratch our heads sometime. If we can do that, without offending you guys (which I'd say is NOT the intention in 99% of those cases..unless the case is Energy Transfer..the dev responsible for that should be horsewhipped)...why would a few ideas based on such a rough draft...matter?

Again, I am really sorry if this stepped on any toes and stuff. I was just excited at the prospect of the set, and felt it sounded promising enough (hardly being a critic) to deserve the small and ultimately pointless amount of extra attention I can give it.

I hope so! I was not trying to claim credit for the basic set, or simple draw attention to it to pick it apart and bash the designer.
Just wanted us to have an idea (according to myself) of how it could have been.

Wow. I'd have played the hell out of Wind Control.