Leo_G

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Would be nice to have Staves eventually, but it's yet-another Smethal set for the melee ATs... I'd personally like to see some exotic damage sets for Melee ATs before then.

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You know, I feel the same way about a Street Fighting/Brawling set. I'm sure it' be great fun if done well but yeah, it'd be another smashing/lethal set for melee ATs. Worse yet, it'd most likely be single target focused, have a couple of mixed effects like Martial Arts and most likely be brushed off as mediocre after the 'new set shine' wears off. And the kicker, IMO, is that you can already make a brawler/punchy guy by taking certain powers and pools and mixing them with Super Strength or Martial Arts.

PS: Even if Staff melee would be another smashing/lethal set, at least you could customize the weapon. It'd probably open the door for other cool 2-handed sets like spear, halberd, Big F#%!ing Sword and SCYTHE!!!

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May I suggest Dark/Sonic?

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QFT.

You tank. You control. You kill.

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EM is fine for a boss killer in PvE teams

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What kind of well-built PvE team is not capable killing bosses? I prefer having more AoE's, b/c it was faster timewise to get rid of +4 bosses.

There was no reason for me to get a strong ST such as EM/ over a decent AoE.

If you still don't get it, then don't try replying.

It's more of a difference between preference of yours and of mine.

Novella// I am, too, still a big fan of EM/. It's just that EM/ doesn't match with my preference when I'm building a PvE team.

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You're giving AoE stalkers a bad image. Know your place and learn to team. AoE sets aren't better just more versatile by trading hard ST damage. And if you're teaming right (IMO, inviting anyone until the team is full) then everything always balances out, you just have to know how to work with the team rather than just doing what you want.

Where's A_C? He's usually making this argument

I'd go for it, sure.

But then where do we draw the line here? Just attack sets? Only elemental? Control sets too? What about Force Fields?

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because of the fact that 4 of the primaries can't use it.

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THEN GIVE US OUR ICE (and fire) MELEE DANG IT!!

Axe would be interesting too =P

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You mean like the stalker INHERENT scaling critical ability?

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Hmm, a replacement for Against All Odds could be Changing the Odds, a toggle that improves crit chance that scale with team size...not sure what else it do...perhaps improves defense to m/r/a too.

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I voted for Energy Blade and Dual Blades in the poll, as we were allowed two choices.

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Heh, well that's one person I can direct all the forum "We didn't need more sword cutty sets!" hate toward if I ever run into it again =P

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And Dual Blades aren't just "swords that cut" (ignoring the fact that they're the only sword set which STABS), because they're not just Broadsword, but with two weapons. They have their very own style and feel, one of speed even greater than that of Katana, and of a smooth flow of attacks, rather than the hit/pause/hit/pause of most other sets. It's not inherent in having two blades, obviously, but this is what has become the trademark of Dual Blades.

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The main problem I have is, the concept of the set is so narrow, I cannot make as many characters using Dual Blades as I could Katana or War Mace or Broad Sword. I mean, I've tried. I've had 3 dual bladers (a tanker, a scrapper and a stalker) but the way I create characters, their stories usually intertwine or they may actually meet in some way or form and if my dual bladers ever met it'd be like "Wow, you're sooo copying me" instead of the epic meeting of the two swordsmen. I think it's the combos...Anyway, I'm down to 1 dual blader (a stalker), changed the tanker to an axe and deleted the scrapper.

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Say we give Martial Arts heavier, more sturdy hits, and we give Super Strength faster, more agile attacks under the pretence that a super strong character needn't be slow or unwieldy. It's pretty easy to get to a point where the sets are visually identical apart from a power or two, and differ only in name and body glow.

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Funny you should say that. When I was typing up the OP I originally had the thought of a sort of 'webbed system' like other MMOs have a branch system. The thought that you could create an Eye beam energy dmg set that is available to both Energy Blast + Radiation Blast. So Super Strength and Martial Arts could access the Brawling set (or you could think about it like Brawling is linking the two concepts together). It's not about changing the theme of a current set, it's adding, expanding or generalizing that theme and making it more than just energy dmg with -def debuffs or smashing dmg with controls.

But I still think new sets is the only way to introduce some concepts (I'd want a staff set and a scythe set or you could some how mix them so you don't need a set for each individual way to use a pole weapon). That is to say I've never liked the idea of the Street Fighting/Brawling set and I'm glad it lost that poll by a distant 3rd The idea in the OP was spawned for the very reason that there will never be such a stand-alone set.

I agree with most of what you said, especially the part about the current themes of SS and MA but...

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No matter what you do with Martial Arts, it will remain a set of fast, accurate hits that has you prancing around and going "Hai-yah!" It's what the theme demands.

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I do not see anywhere where it says that or that the status quo is set in stone and set themes are clearly defined as being just one thing and will only ever be one thing. That's just not how the game works and new changes will move further from that with power color customization.

Another argument I present to you:

Did you actually want dual blades? I didn't vote for it, I wanted energy blade (Jedis, son!) and psionic weaponry. Too late now and we have it and it's cool so it's alright...but I really would have wanted psionic weaponry because I could make more concepts vs a person that just uses 2 weapons.

Now if they make a Brawling set, it's alright and I'm sure it be cool but it's in the same category as dual blades, IMO. A niche set that does what current sets do (i.e. swords that cut and pummeling strikes with the body). So why not endorse other similar sets like magic wand (energy projectiles), utility belt manipulation (grab bag of gadgets), flying surfboard pool (flight), etc.

I'll just say this: For current powersets, it can be lots of different things with imagination and power choices. It's not entirely easy but you can. If my suggestion where done, then it'd be easier especially for sets like Super Strength, Martial Arts and the like as well as greater concept control compared to just adding a Brawler set to fit in between them.

Thanks, much appreciated.

And I also finally noticed something. The title of the thread says 'new' powersets which would imply taking old powers to create new sets.

What I actually meant is new 'powersets' which would imply new powers that aren't actually sets themselves.

Woops

I missed your post Sam...

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We need new powersets because new themes deserve their own powerset.

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Of course, and I agree. There are structures for powers that will not fit into the structures/concepts of powersets we already have. But there is leeway in powersets to fit powers that go in a specific direction. For example, someone suggested a grenade blast set that was AoE focused on these boards probably a few pages back. But lookie, Assault Rifle blast already has a grenade in it. What's stopping the conceptual transition from an assault rifle that fires bullets and an assault rifle that launches grenades?

But yes, I totally agree and I fear my idea is completely worthless BECAUSE the devs wouldn't bother working on new powers UNLESS it was a new theme deserving of an entire powerset.

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The reason people want a Street Fighting set is because brawling/boxing is very much the default for any hero not specifically going for another theme, such as super martial arts, energy fists, turning to stone and so forth.

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I'm sorry, you have to explain that one to me. I don't understand. What do you mean by default? When they run out of powers and have nothing left they use their fist?

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Most people want a Brawling/Street Fighting set because it is the single most common ability used in every comic book known to exist.

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Right. And common abilities are usually available to everyone, like in pool powers. You list a bunch of heroes that punch people down but for some that isn't particularly their primary abilities (Cyclops? He's a blaster >.> if he punches stuff is because he took boxing and stuff from pools).

I believe the devs were flawed when they made martial arts and filled it with kicks but what is done is done. Should they make a punching equivalent for all the examples you listed? It'd be nice but I forsee the same problem. People will be like "This set only has punches, why not throw a kick every now and then?"

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Not to mention, it works a lot better for 'yeah, I just started regenerating one day and decided to fight crime!' type characters a lot more than martial arts.

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Nit pick.

If you started regenerating one day and decided to go out and bust heads, do you think you'll be better at it than a guy who trained in fighting for his whole life? Go pick up some pool powers =P

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I want completely new powersets not some half-arsed sets cobbled together from already existing powers.

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You must have read the tl;dr section. To clarify, I am not suggesting half-arsed sets cobbled together from already existing powers. I'm suggesting completely new powers that could be a new set but only 4-6 powers instead of 9 be attached to existing sets. Read the first example (Street Fighting Set).

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On the contrary, while new sets would be nice and they should add more full sets, this would be a decent way to please several people's demands with fewer needed resources.

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Exactly. New sets are still needed (I've been waiting on a Staff Melee set) but there are powers that may never even be on the drawing board because of the 9-powers requirement of sets.

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I think as the next step after changing the colors of our powers they should let us change animations, they could just have multiple animations the same length for different power, for example they could give all the martial arts powers alternate punch animations instead of kicks, they would all be the same animation length to keep the powers the same.

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That's kind of what I'm suggesting but one step further. This also incorporates a kind of playstyle customization too. A thread on this board is talking about an alternative power to Dark Armor's tier9 rez. Not replacing it but giving you the option because some like the rez while others might like something else.

So if they added a punch tier9 to martial arts, perhaps it can be quick animating just for those that don't like the slow matrix kick from current martial arts. To balance it, maybe it does slightly less damage and looses its extra chance to crit.

*Warning: Long Post*

I can’t remember if I suggested this in the past because I tend to play games in ‘spurts’ over time and it’s been a while since I was on here.

Tl;dr ver: Instead of making new powersets with 9 powers, add the core of the set to an existing powerset.

There have been suggestions for more powersets, pool powers and the like since forever. However, some powerset/pool ideas seem too specialized (not general enough concept) or difficult to stretch across 9 whole powers for a complete set. That isn’t to say we don’t need new sets like Growing/Shrinking, Dual Pistols and Psionic Weaponry but we can get by without whole sets for Pulse Rifle, Street Fighting and Kinetic Armor. So now that we have VEATs and expanded epic pools with color customization on the horizon, why not expand the current sets we have with the new powerset ideas. Prime example:

Street Fighting/Brawling Set- I never thought this idea was very good for a powerset. Players just want the set because they want a punching version of Martial Arts. I know it’s been suggested before but it should now be possible to amend Martial arts with punching powers that are mutually exclusive to similar kick powers. Ex example:

Lightning Jab (tier1 low dmg/fast rech punch; chance of disorient)
Hurricane Combo (tier 2 moderate dmg/fast rech 1-2-3-punch; higher chance to crit)
Bone Crush (tier3 high dmg/moderate rech elbow; foe immobilize/slow)
Backhand ( tier8 high dmg/long rech cone backhand fist; foe knockdown)
Phoenix Uppercut (tier 9 extreme dmg/long rech fast animating uppercut; higher chance to crit; foe knockup)

You don’t need another taunt, you don’t need another build up and you don’t need another utility control (Cobra Strike), so instead of making a new set with 9 powers, you can get away with just creating 4-6 new powers and adding it to Martial arts. For those with the concept of a punchy brawler, there are 5 powers here + taunt/buildup + Cobra Strike. For the kickers, Martial Arts is still full of them. For those that want to use hands and feet, they can mix and match what attacks they want, taking Lightning Jab, Storm Kick, Crippling Axe Kick, Dragon Tail and Phoenix Uppercut. However you couldn’t choose Lightning Jab and Thunder Kick or Bone Crush and Crippling Axe Kick or Phoenix Uppercut and Eagles Claw. Picking one greys out the other.


To further discuss the idea, you can create niche powers that are too specialized a concept to warrant a new set. Example:

I’ve seen suggestions for grenade blast and requests for pulse rifle sets. Instead of making 18 powers for those 2 sets, you can shave that down to 10 by adding the powers as branching amendments to Assault Rifle. Ex example:

Grenade Blast = (weak ST blast, moderate AoE, strong AoE, nuke)
Pulse Rifle = (weak ST blast, medium ST blast, moderate Cone, snipe, strong ST blast, nuke)

Assault Rifle has a grenade attack already and pulse rifle already has 3 of those attacks from MM.

Anyone who picks assault rifle set can now create a grenadier using the 5 grenade powers + beanbag + burn + flamethrower (if they desire), a pulse rifler with the 6 PR powers + burn + flamethrower or create a mix bag of a little of all of each. Several things would come of this:

-More concepts fulfilled
-Varied damage (no complaints of lethal dmg if the options are there)
-Greater customization (now you can choose out of different animations)
-Customized Playstyle (maybe you don’t like the cone nuke of Full Auto so you can pick grenade’s ranged targeted nuke Plasma Detonator)


Lastly, the powers that are too specialized to possible stretch over 9 powers. Example:

So many people bagged on the Optic Blast set suggested a while back because of this. The set didn’t seem so bad to me but it was stretching the concept a bit, if you ask me. You could create replacements for the 1st 3 tier attacks, a strong mid tier attack and some kind of nuke (4-5 powers) and attach it to energy blast.

There are other examples I remembered as I was typing this, like similar sets (2-handed big freakin’ sword set attached to Broadsword), sets with similar concepts but different effects (Iaido katana set with sword drawing attacks) or sets with similar animations but perhaps different effect and perhaps 1-3 attacks with unique animations (staff, spear, pike/halberd, scythe have some similar movements but different ways of handling them as well as different dmg types but could all be 1 set with multi-branches). Oh, and I’ve always wanted a frickin lazer beam attack that fries anyone in its path (only 1 power and stick it on Radiation blast).

This idea works so well, the only problem I can possible see with this is there may be difficulties with balancing…but Castle & co have been normalizing a lot of the sets currently so this could be worked on too.

((Okay, last OOC only post for me: What's ridiculous? Are you implying the character I created has ridiculous levels of power? Or that her powers are downright silly? I hope it's nothing offensive. And no, I have no characters that are ridiculously powerful...not even close compared to some of the other characters I've seen RP'ed, I see no room to complain.

Everything else is just some cake metaphor unless you're commenting on her facing 2 opponents at once. It's not about fighting hard but fighting smart. Maybe I want her to use up a good chunk of her powers? Maybe I want to exhaust her? Who knows? Maybe we'd find out if we actually tried RP'ing the stuff out .))

((But that isn't her style. Besides, there was an underlying tactic involved in separating those involved. To counter the whole 'whoa, why'd you do that?' I say: why not?))

((Wait, what? Here's what happened:

a. Ports Danny into cage with the others but she's still outside
b. Tries to port Gunner and Silk out, trying to leave 2 others, 3 including Danny, inside
c. throws ice at Gunner and Silk

You can vote on it if you want but I don't see a reason for it. If Silk and Gunner don't want to be ported out, then just escape it somehow or *gasp* open the cage and walk back in. It's not like she's porting them to a far off island you know.))

((Essentially, yeah, except she was only trying to draw out 2 of the fighters inside the cage.

As for just asking to join, I never try going about something the easy way when a possibly more fun option is available.))

((Yeah, when she first creates the portal under their feet, it's implying that a portal at that angle isn't just a cartoony 'throw a black circle under them and they fall in' but a more escapeable quicksand-like effect. However, she does increase the size soon after to speed up the sinking effect. It's escapeable but not THAT escapeable. I'm trying to subdue someone here, after all.

If you reread what was after that description, it's obvious I made no assumptions that the targets, fewer of the intended targets or more targets than she had intended were drawn in. Also, when she was speaking to the targets, there was no mention if they were inside or outside the cage.

As for sprinkling implying words like 'attempt', I found if you use too many of those, everyone figures its a free pass to dodge, overpower or outright ignore the effect. I use those but try to hold them back until I know what kind of RP'ers I'm dealing with. Besides, I want to give the impression that Miranda is no joke when it comes to sorcery.))

((I consider myself a good non-godmoder. If you really read what I wrote, I didn't move ANYTHING....besides Danny which I already talked to him a bit about it. I only stated what powers she used and what affects they could have. Even if she couldn't manage to draw her targets out of the cage, she'll still be throwing shards of ice at them.

So, what's the problem again?))

((Chaos time...))

“Great,” Miranda said as she rose from her chair. She turned to Danny, with a serious expression, “Now remember, charm and charisma are great tools to use, especially on your enemies. No matter how much you want to banish your foe to a lifeless void of a dimension for all eternity, respect offered is respect gained. Use it and a shot at what you want might…” Her words froze when she looked at Danny only to assume her words fell on deaf ears. “Bah, whatever…” she huffed then stretched her left palm toward Danny’s face.

A symbol of light began to outline itself on the palm of her hand. When it was complete, a wind began to blow, coming from behind Danny. No, it wasn’t a wind, it was a vacuum of air being pulled into her palm. It was only a split second more before Danny felt himself forcibly sucked into her hand where she quickly balled the hand into a fist, as if holding him in her clasped hand. With her other hand, she traced in the air the same symbol that was just in her palm. The light from the symbol spread, forming a circle of magical energy which she walked through and disappeared.

Another circle of energy appeared by the cage-side bar, Miranda emerging from it. The fight had already started, it appeared, so Miranda wasted no time. “Time to…work some magic,” the last part she said with fiercely glowing eyes and a sadistic smile. A faint blue glow enveloped her entire form and she breathed in then exhaled to prepare herself for the level of power she was about to summon. She thrust her right palm toward the cage, and a swirling vortex of energy appeared inside the cage and spat Danny out. “Gate Glyph!” she called, thrusting her right hand toward the cage this time. Another vortex, underneath Gunner and Silk, appeared drawing them in like quicksand. She didn’t wait for them to be drawn in and simply increased the size of the portal to swallow them up instead.

Miranda turned and thrust her left hand across her right which created the exit portal outside the cage that would spew out whatever was drawn in. Now with her hands held behind her and a casual smile, Miranda spoke to the intended targets of her spell. “My apologies for the intrusion. You may call me Miranda and you’ll be my opponents now. You don’t have a problem with a friendly battle with no intents of causing death, right? Just a friendly spar.” She didn’t wait for an answer and quickly condensed the air in front of her, creating a thick boulder of ice at least twice her height then swung her arm at it. A single and simple symbol shot from the hand and into the ice and so the boulder shattered into sharp shards of ice and became speeding spears hurdling toward her two targets.

While Shioh was getting her hotdogs, the cat was sitting infront of the long buffet table, at the section with the fish and sushi. It eagerly licked its wiskers as its tail curiously coiled in the air.

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Shioh heard the cat's meow and knelt down in front of it, looking it in the eyes for a few seconds.
"Do you know how to get to the hot dogs, kitty?" she asked it.

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Answering with a quiet meow, the white feline immediately trotted back down the hall. It scurried up a flight of stairs then squeezed through a pair of doors that were cracked open. Then there, the luau was in full force just below the balcony the cat was now perched on.

Miranda smiled and rested her hand under her chin. “I’m glad you asked. It so happens there’s an arena downstairs ((it was downstairs, right?)) where sanctioned fights between willing patrons on the ship take place. The character you were having the civilized conversation with earlier is down there right now…” She said nothing more but smiled, however when the silence between them stayed...well, silent…Miranda spoke up, “Look, with my help, you can get inside the cage with him so you can force answers out of him. That’s what you wanted, right?”

“You surely haven’t remembered a word I told you,” echoed a voice around Danny. Even through the clatter of the games around the casino, the voice reverberated around him from all directions. “There’s a time and place to discuss things like mature adults,” the familiar voice echoed, “and then there’s a time and place to FLAIL AROUND A WEAPON LIKE A DAFT FOOL LIKE YOU JUST DID!” The last part, of course, was much louder and so seemed to come from a specific direction rather than from all directions at once. It was Miranda, for all intents and purposes, shouting through a megaphone.

She walked in and sat at the table, resting her megaphone on the floor. “Honestly, you are the absolute worst choice to tap for information. Not only are you a clueless kid, but a clueless individual entirely.” She reclined back into the chair and crossed her legs as if preparing for a riveting interview. “Well well, Danny, still craving to be the center of attention I see….oh the megaphone? I won it in skeet ball upstairs. No, I didn’t cheat or anything. Anyways, you seem like your blood is boiling. You want to burn off some frustration? I have a proposition for you, you might even be able to get back at some of the thugs that got away from you.” The last part she said with a smirk, apparently she knew something he didn’t.

~~

The cat looked up toward Shioh with a tender Mrrrooow, then looking in the direction of the luau. It was really ready to get some of the sushi it smelled earlier.

Now trapped inside the field of energy, the effects of its lightning chain on the protector bot evaporated and each link dissolved and the crackling energy disappeared.

Inside, the cat licked its paws and patted down the fur on its head. On its forehead, an arrow head shapped stripe had appeared where once all its body was pure white. But it was also completely unharmed from the ordeal.

Having spun to scrap the cat off and spun again to turn upright, the protector bot aimed to project a detention field around the cat who was sitting, staring back at the bot. Its tail wriggled through the air, curling around it, and was the cat smiling?

Before the bot could aim its attack, a chain that crackled and glowed with magenta energy was wrapped around it's frame and arm which slowed its ability to aim. The chain was embedded into the robot’s back and connected to the halogen light socket on the ceiling. The robot’s spin only got him further tangled in it. It seemed the cat’s wagging tail made the chain tighten a sizzle louder.