Jade_Dragon

It's unique to them only because no one else has it. It's a circular argument. You're saying only Stalkers should have Ninjitsu because it is unique to them, and Ninjitsu is unique to Stalkers because only they have it.

Speaking of Seeds of Confusion, would you say that it was designed with Dominators in mind? At the time it was created, only Dominators had it. Would you say that Chain Induction was designed with Brutes in mind? At the time it was created, only Brutes had it. Would you say that Hibernate was designed with Tankers in mind? At the time it was created, only Tankers had it. Would you say that Dark Miasma was designed with Defenders in mind? At the time it was created, only Defenders had it.

Dark Melee has a -tohit in every attack, and Dark Armor has -tohit in Cloak of Fear, plus stealth in Cloak of Darkness. So there's certainly nothing wrong with Scrappers getting -tohit or -perception. Electric Melee has a sleep in every attack, plus Scrappers get access to even stronger mez effects, like stun and hold. So there's nothing wrong with sleep, either.

The only thing Scrappers do NOT currently get is confuse; and usually, non-control ATs that DO get confuse only get it in one Power Set anyway. World of Confusion is found in only one Blaster Secondary, and only in Psychic Mastery for Defenders. It seems to me it is not Blinding Powder that is unique, it is the confuse effect. And perhaps if Scrappers do not have a confuse effect yet, they should have one.

This wouldn't even be an issue if Scrappers had some sort of psychic APP with Confuse in it, because I'd then be able to point to it and say, "That's already available as well". Sure, there isn't one power, other than Blinding Powder, that combines all those effects. But can you really say that a CONTROL power, which is supposed to be the speciality of Controllers and Dominators, is intended specifically for Stalkers? Especially when Ninjitsu doesn't even HAVE that many control powers in it. The majority of the powers are defensive, as you would expect for the Stalker concept.

Kick causes redraw, the same as Boxing. Only Brawl avoids causing redraw.

I like this suggestion. Especially since the concept was introduced with Electric Melee and is not otherwise present in any of the blast sets. It also makes sense if the VS is a charge of electrical potential you have built up and is "firing" as it discharges into foes when they come near enough for the charge to arc to them. The jump would merely be that charge continuing to arc between potential grounds.

I personally view it as a damage aura that is cast as a click power instead of a toggle. The damage may be low, but it is damage over time, and as mentioned, you get up to 10 shots from that power without having to actually interrupt your attack chain. I find that VS really helps the damage my Corruptor does, previously to VS I had to take an extra attack (a Temp Power) to supplement my damage.

It might not be necessary for a Blaster, which does plenty of damage without it, but I'd definately recommend it for a Corruptor or Defender, since it can be dealing damage while they're using buffs and debuffs.

I don't see why you wouldn't say that a hold that, say, makes a target choke does not mean the same animation cannot be used on another hold.

Sure if the CAST TIME of the two powers were different, of course the same cast animation could not be used. But we are not talking about the cast animation. We are talking about the sustaining power graphic on a toggle.

We know that sustaining effects can be customized, the sustaining effect of Unstoppable or Temp Invulnerability can be customized to a different color. The only reason it couldn't be changed is if the "darkening" effect of Shadowy Presense was a unique effect, like a costume change. But if it's just a normal graphic effect, then it can be used the same as the new alternate animations in I19.

I find this hilarious.

I find his second post to be something like a compliment sandwich. First, I say something bad about the people who have replied. Then I say something good about roleplayers. Then I say something bad about roleplayers, making it sound like I mean it to be good. Then I say something good about powergamers, and say something bad about them, making it sound like its good.

And in replying, I'm sure I've walked right into his trap. Eh, fine, at least it's entertaining.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Blaster Cloaking Device is NOT the same as SoA Cloaking Device.

First of all, all ATs have different capabilities when using the same power. Blasters have the lowest Defense modifiers of all the ATs. They get only 3.5% with Cloaking Device, half of which suppresses when you attack. Fully slotted, this is 5.6%. (But it is a waste to slot a power with that low a Defense value for Defense, it's more productive to pick up another power like Combat Jumping or Weave. Or add some IOs)

Just as another example, Combat Jumping adds 1.75% Defense to a Blaster, unslotted. It is 1.875% to a Scrapper, 2.125% to a Corruptor, 2.25% to a Controller, and 2.5% to a Tanker, Defender or SoA. From that you can see that overall SoA get way more Defense than a Blaster, even with the same power. They get as much Defense as a Tanker, although they don't get as many actual Defense powers...

Second, Cloaking Device for SoA has even higher numbers than that. It is 7.5% Defense, while the Blaster version would be 5% if an SoA had it. (Twice what CJ gives you) Cloaking Device also allows you to Critical, like a Stalker, while the Blaster version obviously doesn't. (Of course, this is an Inherent ability, but it is built into the power)

So yeah, you're going to be getting WAY more out of this power than a Blaster would. It's much more like a Stalker's Hide.

This is the reason I tend to turn Ninja Run off a second before I come to a halt. Like the run animation, can't stand the idle animation. Whether I have a weapon out or not.

It is kind of cool with a bow. But that hunched over stance is just too different from the normal stances, I feel like I need to straighten up or my own back will start hurting.

I've also had henchmen "forget" to attack because my Defense was so high all the foes' attacks were missing me. Henchmen will also not aggro on foes that attack your teammates, so Bodyguard can cause issues there, too. In such a case you will either want to use Provoke (the Tankermind strategy) or send a henchman in Aggressive to gather aggro.

To clarify, this is when you first issue the Defensive Follow command. To be precise, it's when you issue the Follow command, you can hit Defensive all you want, and as long as the henchman currently isn't carrying out an Attack order, he will go into Bodyguard immediately.

Attack also lasts until the foe targetted is dead, at which time it reverts back to Stay. I think, possibly it reverts back to the last non-Attack command given. I always issue a Follow command after a battle is over, though, so I'm not really sure what it reverts to. The important thing is, as long as your command was Attack Defensive and not Aggressive, the henchman should go back into Bodyguard mode even if he starts to deal with other targets. Only if you issue another Attack command will you lose Bodyguard again.

I agree with this. I don't think it's gameplay issues that are the problem. A broken power here and there, as long as it gets fixed, is fine. But as far as I've been able to gather, this has the potential to PERMANENTLY break any Kheldian currently on live. As in, the character will be unplayable from now until infinity and will have to be deleted.

If the devs are delaying the release because of the possibility of this happening, then I say more power to them. It does look at a casual glance as if the problem can be resolved with a respec. But apparently not in every case. And corrupting character data is pretty much the one big no-no in an MMORPG.

I honestly think it would be trivial. The necessary changes to the interface would be more time consuming, and possibily introduce more bugs effecting everyone else in the game.

I'll be completely honest, though, I think that if Repulsion Field added a +15% Def to all, giving FF Defenders exactly the same Defense as they granted to their teammates, it would not imbalance them in any way. They still would have no offensive boosts capable of raising their damage above the 0.65 base, and the End cost of Repulsion Field, not to mention the cost of having foes slamming into it, would more than pay for the higher resiliance.

I honestly don't think that's the best change that could be made to Force Field, but I think it demonstrates clearly that making a buffer able to buff himself would not automatically lead to an "I win" button. It depends a lot on the buff itself, and how it's balanced to its effect vs how often you can use it.

Yeah, but note also that Kinetics has a strong debuff component, in that it reduces the damage of foes, (with Siphon Power and particularly Fulcrum Shift) thus protecting the caster and the team.

If the whole thing were to be scrapped and started over, I would call this the solution, to make the Buff/Debuff sets a balance BETWEEN buffs and debuffs, with all sets having powers that apply to the caster, to a targetted ally, to a group of allies, and to foes. But it is a bit late for that.

As it is, notice that a lot of the improvements in Pain Domination, and even in Thermal and Cold Domination, were brought about by adding debuffing powers to a primarily buff set. This may suggest a solution for the remaining pure buffing sets, as long as you can get around the Cottage Rule (i.e., add debuffing effects to existing powers instead of adding new ones)

BTW, you left out Thermal, although you did say you were listing Defenders, but I would call it a buff/team set along with Cold anyway. Pain, too.

[edit] Actually, back in the old days I used to group them in three categories:

Primarily Debuff

Dark Miasma
Storm Summoing
Trick Arrow
Traps

Balanced

Radiation Emission
Kinetics
Sonic Resonance
Cold Domination

Primarily Buff

Force Field
Empathy
Pain Domination
Thermal

Back in those days, though, it was just the first two on each list. And the dividing line between the categories is up for discussion, I mainly put Cold Dom where it is because of Sleet and Snow Storm. (I also decided to move Traps up to Primarily Debuff when I moved Sonic. It only has two buffs, but then so does Dark)

Note also that Dark Miasma, Storm Summoning, and Trick Arrow, which I put in the same category, also tend to have very strong control characteristics. This may balance their relative lack of ally buffs. Likewise, Force Field is both famous and infamous for its powerful (but often unwanted) control effects.

Also, if I were to categorize them in terms of offense and defense, that would be a completely different list.

Just to note the extremes, Trick Arrow has no buffs. (You still cannot heal someone by shooting them with an arrow, sorry ) Force Field and Empathy are both the purely buff sets with no debuffs.

I firmly believe that the reason why ally buffs cannot be used on yourself has absolutely nothing to do with balance. Rather, it's because of game mechanics.

It is impossible to target yourself. You cannot do it, you are not a clickable object in the game window, and clicking on your name in the team list has no effect. (Except to say that you cannot target yourself) Thus, no targettable power can be applied to yourself.

To that end, there are three types of buffs in the game:

1) Self buffs. These have no target and are fired the moment you click them. In the case of toggles, they effect you from the moment they are turned on.

2) Single target buffs. These must be targetted on an ally (if they were targetted on a foe, it would be debuff) and thus cannot effect you. Many powers are balanced this way because it can be more useful in some cases to make a single ally extremely powerful than to give all your allies a global buff. Also, some buffs such as heals and mez protection, are situational and more useful when used when an ally specifically needs it.

3) PBAoE buffs. These are centered on the caster, and effect all allies and the caster. Obviously, such powers are just as useful to a buffer when he is all by himself. "Good" buff sets tend to have a lot of these. In some cases, the effect on the caster may be different (less) than the effected allies, but if there are such powers, they are rare. I cannot think of any examples off the top of my head. I believe that due to the way the game engine works, an AoE power cannot effect only allies and not the caster, unless the caster is not in the radius of the AoE. So in fact, you really could only make a PBAoE power STRONGER for the caster than for everyone else. (It would apply a Self Buff in addition to the PBAoE)

Now, it should be obvious that while the powers in category 2) cannot be used on the caster, and thus make the caster weaker than his teammates, the powers in category 1) cannot be used on the team, and thus make the caster stronger. By definition, self buff sets like Defense sets only effect the caster, and thus are entirely powers that make that AT very strong compared to other ATs. While buffers tend to have fewer such powers, they do have them. (Such as Personal Force Field in FF, Siphon Speed in Kin, or the damage boost powers in Pain Domination, although they need an ally to allow them to be activated)

Another important point is that sometimes (as with Pain Domination) a power can be multiple things at the same time. Siphon Power is both a debuff to the targetted foe and an PBAoE to the team. (including the caster) So you kind of have to keep that in mind when analyzing the usefulness to the caster. In a perfect world, a buffer would have self counterparts to his ally buffs that bring him to a comparable level.

My personal opinion is that all buff oriented sets should be this way, as debuff oriented sets by definition have an equal effect on both the caster and his team. Since it is the foe that is debuffed, anyone attacking him gains the advantage of that debuff. The idea that "buffers need to be weaker than their teammates" in order to be balanced seems incorrect to me, because no one is claiming that debuffers must ALSO be weaker than their teammates in order to be balance. So either buffs are more valuable than debuffs (which they may well be) or there should be an equivalent self buff to every ally only buff in a set.

The problem is, sometimes these self buffs are not so equivalent. It can be argued, for instance (there have dev posts that have argued this) that Personal Force Field is intended to be the counterpart to the ally buffs of Deflection and Insulation Shield. With PFF, in fact, a Force Fielder is far BETTER protected than anyone on his team. The problem, however, is that in practice the equivalency is not as close as that would seem to claim. PFF is a situational power, which cannot be used at all times (certainly as long as the Force Fielder wishes to contribute any of his powers to the team) while the ally shields are constant buffs that are available at all times.

The only solution to this is to tweak the buffs that are available so they are more equal across the board. But the devs are reluctant to do this because of the Cottage Rule. So it's a more complicated issue than just "let us use our targetted powers on ourselves". You would also need to somehow be able to use your self powers on allies. (While not letting other non-buffing ATs do the same) And you would need to balance that buffs can be potentially more powerful than debuffs, because they cannot be applied solo. This would take as much work as tweaking the sets in the first place, and Cottage Rule aside, I think this is the better solution.

I'll also add that while you CAN build for Fly being constantly available, you are wasting Endurance you could be using for attacks if you were using Hover. I mean, all perception of your End cost aside, even three slotted you're still spending as much End as if you were running two shield toggles. That's a heck of a lot of End that could be used elsewhere, even if your blue bar isn't even moving.