Umbral

Between SotW and GC, GC is actually the better attack considering DPA. It gets even better when you consider that, because it's faster, it allows for less down time between your higher DPA attacks and a greater contribution from procs.

Something else to consider is that, while +recharge is great, it's not really all that needed for either Katana or Willpower. The most recharge intensive power for the "optimum" Katana attack string (GC>GD>GC>SD) is Golden Dragonfly and it requires 249% +recharge (it only requires 89% in GC and 135% in SD). However, since you're more than likely to want to use DA in there with the a slightly less optimal attack string (DA>GC>GD>GC>SD>GC), you'd only need 102% +rech in GD and the same 89% in GC (SD drops to 42% and DA has none whatsoever). Since Willpower doesn't directly benefit from +recharge in any way (SoW isn't affected by recharge modifications), you're getting a lot of recharge that isn't particularly valuable.

The set bonuses you're better off aiming for are +hp and +defense (choose either typed or positional for best effect). You've already got loads of +regen so it contributes markedly less comparatively than it would for lower regen builds, but +hp multiplies the effect of your current regen, making your substantial hp/sec even more substantial. IO set bonuses for resistance are utterly pathetic (half the value of +def; they provide have the mitigation per point and aren't particularly diversified), so you're going to want to avoid those like the plague.

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NO MOAR S/L DAMAGE WEAPON SETS.

[/ QUOTE ]

The problem with saying "no more s/l damage sets" is that you're castrating the ability for the devs to actually create new sets. Remember, there are only 8 damage types. The set has to make sense within the confines of that. If a set does fire damage, it has to generate heat of some kind. If a set does cold damage, it has to leech heat in some way. To do smashing damage, you just have to bludgeon something. To do lethal damage, you have to cut or pierce something.

The problem with creating more melee sets without biting the bullet and simply using more smashing/lethal damage is that you're going to be getting increasingly specific in the design of the power set. Look at all of the people that get angry because Fire, Ice, and Stone Melee all use weapons rather than simply being purely elemental. Now consider an entire power set that generates all of those issues. Everyone would want to have a different weapon (though this wouldn't be as big of an issue if the set were designed with weapon customization in mind and allowed the player to use different weapons with the same static effect around the weapon). Once you create a set for a specific damage type, you generally prevent that same damage type from being used again. To maintain the suitably generic flavor of the sets, you need to figure out some new form of the damage type (energy got diversified into electricity, sonic, and generic energy). Too bad none of the other damage types are really generic enough (like "energy") to actually be expandable beyond their current forms.

It also creates the problem of players wanting to have different elements around their weapons. If it's possible to have a hammer surrounded by electricity, why can't we also have a hammer enveloped in fire, darkness, or cold? It opens a pointlessly huge pandora's box, especially when there are still other thematic weapons and damage types that could have taken the set's place without being as thematically restrictive.

Personally, I don't really care what type of damage the set deals as long as it makes sense. Sure, smashing and lethal are, on average, more resisted (which I kinda wish Castle would address somewhat by modifying the base damage of player powers according to damage type; Fire gets extra damage and less average resistance), but that's not going to prevent me from playing a set, especially if it's well designed. Katana was a great set to play, even compared to my Dark Melee. I'm pretty sure a Staff set will be just as fun to play, even if it is "hobbled" by the fact that its damage isn't exotic (though, for Scrappers, smashing is actually pretty rare: it's just DM and MA that do it for now and the smash in DM isn't particularly significant even in the early powers). Damage type does less to determine a set's general effectiveness than overall design does.

My big problem with you're blanket denial of all s/l damage weapon sets is that, while I'd much rather have Psychic Melee or Sonic Melee than new s/l weapon sets, I'd rather have Staff Melee, Spear Melee, and Streetfighting than Electrical Hammer, Flaming Sword, or Ice Axe. Those last three are simply too far out of bounds for me to make more than a single character functionality concept with.

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Post Deleted by Moderator_08

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Then prove it. Please. Come up with a legitimately valid idea.

You're on a public forum. You're going to get your idea torn apart. If you're idea is legitimately a quality one that had actually been thought out, it wouldn't get torn apart. You didn't think it out, much less actually form a full, useful suggestion, so it got torn apart.

Simple: don't do anything. Teleport's animation is fine the way it is. It's not a problem so it doesn't need to be fixed, and if you want to make the argument that a Mutant Teleporter should have a different animation than a Technology Teleporter, remember that Mutant Fire Blasters throw fire the exact same way as Technology Fire Blasters. Everyone in the game uses the same powers in the same way (with only a few exceptions).

If/when we actually get the ability to change our animations as we wish, then it might actually be an issue to address, but only if Teleport is actually unique in not getting animation options. Interestingly enough, it's in the same boat as nearly every other power in the game and those exceptions that do exist have been specifically mentioned as being incredibly code and process intensive making the actual likelihood of a similar mechanism being use highly unlikely.

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And, for the record, I didn't make the suggestion to change the animation for TP in the first place.

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Z_I readily admitted that it was a doubtful idea and, if it were implemented in a method to actually solve the problem you perceive, it would most likely be done in the described manner. The problem I had was that you posted your idea without any consideration for all of the factors that would actually need to be addressed and outright said it. If you don't know what would need to be done or what other problems your "improvement" would cause, then you shouldn't be making the suggestion in the first place, especially when it's a suggestion that is part and parcel of a larger issue that players have been asking for since the game started. There's even a stickied thread entitled "Consolidated Power and Weapon Customization Thread" within this very forum that this would fit within perfectly.

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Wow! Right, because I posted before considering every possible angle it must be that I know nothing about the game and how it works?

[/ QUOTE ]

It either demonstrates and inability or an unwillingness to do so, which, since you specifically mention that you never claimed it would easy or viable, demonstrates a lack of actual capability to deal with the issue of complex systems such as power interactions, the programming, and the balancing concerns. It was poorly thought out, by your own admission, which, if you want to be taken seriously, isn't a very smart move.

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BTW, why don't you lobby to have the Suggestions Forum closed, since many ideas have already been discussed?

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Considering the number of actual new ideas that get sent through the runner here, I'd rather this forum wasn't shut down, especially since all of the discussions that come here to die would instead find their way to other threads and forums where there isn't a similar level of concentration of information as here (though Archetypes and Powers General Discussion gets pretty close). I'd simple prefer people to actually have well thought out, quality ideas that haven't been repeatedly discussed elsewhere than rehashing of ideas that have already been discussed with numerous statements of "this is how animations actually work" and "this is how powers actually work".

[ QUOTE ]
Second, and not quite as important as the first is the general Broadsword compared to Katana animations. I realize that they are in effect, the same weapon, that is, the katana has nearly the same effect, just with less damage and is slightly faster, which is true. I think one or the other needs to be slightly diversified. Nothing huge like, but just a little more distinguish-y-ness. (If only because I recently unlocked the Tsoo Katana, and it's really seems.... odd.) And I realize I don't have any suggestions about what kind of animations to use instead, but I'm not that creative.

[/ QUOTE ]

They used to have the exact same animations. Katana got given new ones because a Katana and a Broadsword would not be used even remotely similarly. They've already had a very substantial animation change. They used to look identical. Now they actually look quite disparate. You've already got what you wanted.

[ QUOTE ]
Because I want a Spade to be a Spade.
I want an "Arch-Villain" to be an "Arch-Villain"
Because I want a "Hero" to be a "Hero"

[/ QUOTE ]

Then how come the bosses you make aren't actually the bosses of the group? Villain tags exist exclusively to assign a descriptor to the difficulty level of an enemy group. There is no difference between Archvillain and Hero. If there were a rank identical to minion called "Stooge", would you want to have access to that as well? What if the "Lieutenants" or "Bosses" in your custom group are actually controlled by the numerous "Minions" around them? Do you want to be able to change all of those names as well to something more suitable? It's the exact same argument. What name the rank has doesn't really matter.

[ QUOTE ]
Shhhhh with your logica and stuff. My suggestion was a spur of the moment one with no thought whatsoever to any of the factors you mentioned. I never claimed it would be easy or viable... simply a single way to implement the idea that had been suggested.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is why it's a bad idea. If you're incapable of actually taking into account all of the other obvious factors that would need to be addressed to include a change, you don't need to be making the suggestion. Learn the game before you start deciding that it needs to be improved, especially in way that have already been mentioned in the past.

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I don't think you can make an easy AV. Even if you made the AV with two standard level attack sets that are weak vs your armor (like FM/fire assult vs a */fire scrapper). They still have AV res and HP and high dmg output. If you don't have the build right, the best you can hope for is a draw.

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Actually, you can with relative ease. First off, they completely lack any form of resistance, which very few dev made AVs do (much less most of the ones that we actually talk about soloing) which makes them significantly easier to kill. Secondly, most of their AV tier damage is heavily mitigated by the fact that, in your example, a */fire Scrapper with SOs has 75% resistance to all of that damage, making it incredibly easy to be maintainable, especially within the native damage recovery of the set, not to mention that you're going to set the AV to standard/standard, which is rather paltry damage.

One of the primary problems with AV soloing is that it requires a certain amount of survivability. With custom made AVs, it's ridiculously easy to attain that level of survivability because you're building the AV to specifically cater to your strengths, moreso than any dev made AV in the game is. Those that lack decent levels of resistance generally have higher commensurate damage, self heals, or other non-damaging utility powers, which isn't going to happen with a stan/stan AV that only has the most basic attack powers from 2 sets that you survive easily.

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had been only playing a week. Got his first 50 in that time.

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Seriously. It has very little to do with the OP, but if you don't see something horribly wrong with this, you need to share what you're smoking.

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Agree with this. At the very least, I would've suggested to try leveling up a regular character (not an epic) using missions to at least 20 before he embarrassed himself further. While I've helped more new players than I can count, I dislike spoon feeding them.

[/ QUOTE ]

A few of my real life friends got CoX accounts and one of their primary complaints was that it was near to impossible to get a team together for running actual content or normal teams (re: non-AE farms). Both of them got a 50 in about 2 weeks (they teamed with me whenever I was on because I actually ran real teams), got bored and frustrated with the game because all they could ever find to do was AE farming, and left because of it. That's one of the big problems that I have with AE and the AE farming: new people never get exposed to the rest of the game which will actually keep them interested. At least with PI farming, stuff like this didn't happen until they'd run through the game to get to level 40 and gotten themselves to PI through normal advancement.

[ QUOTE ]
Unfortunately his build is pretty poor on end management.

He only has ~3.32 eps recov (adding Accolades), with only 2.07 eps left after toggles are taken into account. Speaking of which, of his three toggles (Tough, Weave, Maneuvers), only one has any end reduc at all (21.75%). The attack slotting (which burns far more than toggles, esp at that level of recharge) is exceptionally light; 33% in Hack/Headsplitter, 18.5% in Whirling Sword. (Parry and Disembowel are good, though.)

I expect it would have severe endurance issues in prolonged fights.

(For the foci of the build, though, it's exceptional.)

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It's actually 3.54 end/sec base recovery (thank you Perf Shifter proc!) and 3.91 if you include MoG contribution, which gives you 2.665 end/sec net recovery with toggles on. If you use the respectable Parry>Dis>Hack>HS attack string, you'll be using up 3.36 end/sec, which is a respectable 141 dps, without factoring in the AH proc contributions (which brings it up to ~155). That's a net loss of .695 end/sec, which means that, if you start with 110 endurance, you'll be out in ~159 seconds if you don't modulate your attack string. Personally, I think that's plenty long enough, especially if you switch out Hack for an extra Parry every once in a while.

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Where's the source of that info? Havent seen definitive proof that we're getting color customization...

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From Positron. Definitively.

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had been only playing a week. Got his first 50 in that time.

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Seriously. It has very little to do with the OP, but if you don't see something horribly wrong with this, you need to share what you're smoking.

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Heres my throw on BS/Regen.. any takes ?

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

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That's definitely not a build that is going to be worth the monetary expenditure. Like Santor already said, you're breaking the 10% +regen cap considering that you've got 9 of that set bonus, plus, you've got less regen, defense, and recharge than Santor's. The big problem you've got is that you're frankenslotting everything. Once you get to the point where you're fully IOing a toon, you're better off going to set bonuses than the diverse set frankenslotting you seem to be going for.

Some quick tips:
Get rid of the Analyze Weaknesses and replace them with the remainder of the melee damage sets.
Take the 6th slot out of Recon, Dull Pain and Instant Healing. Put the Numina Unique into something that you'll use more than once every 3 minutes, like Fast Healing.
If you're going with one purple set and a bunch of LotGs, you might as well go with all of those that will help you out. And don't spread them out over multiple powers or only use 1-2 of them. They're unique. You want as many of them in a single power as possible. What makes them really awesome is their set bonuses.
Achilles' Heel procs in your BS attacks. If it's not a 6 piece set bonus you're aiming for, give it an Achilles' Heel proc.
I wouldn't recommend slotting QR and Stamina that heavily, especially considering I doubt you'll need QR with nearly 3 end/sec net recovery excellent end redux slotting in all of your attacks (thanks to full set bonuses). Those slots and power choices could probably be used to make you substantially more survivable used elsewhere in your build.
Melee defense is a less important set bonus than ranged defense for you. Parry is more than capable of making up a deficit. As long as you've got 15% or more melee defense, you're pretty much set.

Here's one I've put together for you. It's got lower base regen but much better recharge and defense. I'm amazed that I actually managed to snag perma-Hasten with it. As always, the open slot on Resilience is for the Gladiators 3% +def IO. Without any Parry (which would provide an extra 17.4% +def to melee and easily capable of stacking twice), the build packs capped HP, 52.1 hp/sec from passive regen, 20.4% +def(melee), 29.8% +def(ranged), and 22.9% +def(AoE), not to mention how crazily fast the click powers recharge. IH has a better than 50% uptime percentage, and MoG has nearly 25%.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Regeneration
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Darkness Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(A), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(3), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Hectmb-Dam%(5), Achilles-ResDeb%(7)
Level 1: Fast Healing -- Heal-I(A)
Level 2: Reconstruction -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(7), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Dct'dW-Heal(9), Dct'dW-Rchg(11)
Level 4: Quick Recovery -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(11), EndMod-I(13)
Level 6: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13)
Level 8: Parry -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(15), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(17), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), LkGmblr-Rchg+(19)
Level 10: Dull Pain -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(21), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Dct'dW-Heal(23), Dct'dW-Rchg(23)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(15), Zephyr-ResKB(25)
Level 16: Integration -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(25), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(27)
Level 18: Whirling Sword -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(27), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(29), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Oblit-%Dam(31)
Level 20: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31), RechRdx-I(33)
Level 22: Boxing -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(33), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(33), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(34), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(34), Stpfy-KB%(34)
Level 24: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(36)
Level 26: Disembowel -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(36), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mako-Dam%(37)
Level 28: Instant Healing -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(39), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Dct'dW-Heal(39), Dct'dW-Rchg(40)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(40)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg(A), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(42), Armgdn-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Armgdn-Dam%(42), Achilles-ResDeb%(43)
Level 35: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(43)
Level 38: Moment of Glory -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(43), RechRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 41: Petrifying Gaze -- UbrkCons-Hold(A), UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg(45), UbrkCons-Acc/Hold/Rchg(46), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg(46), UbrkCons-Dam%(46)
Level 44: Dark Blast -- Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(A), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(48), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Apoc-Dam%(50)
Level 47: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(50), Zephyr-ResKB(50)
Level 49: Resilience -- Empty(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit

You'd have better luck asking for it to be a weapon customization option for War Mace. It would be an electrical variant of the weapon similar to how the Nictus Broadsword is a negative energy variant. Purely cosmetic, but I don't really think there needs to be a power set that specific to concept (Electricity + Hammer).

[ QUOTE ]
Clever. But I never wear pants when I'm playing.

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I never wear pants unless I'm required to because of a dress code.

I'm going to /sign this purely because I love the idea of my pantslessness being an excellent combat tactic!

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Did he take the box with him?

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Nah, he's getting a bigger one now. Gotta have space for the wife.

[/ QUOTE ]So... he's like a hermit crab?

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How else did you think he got around with his box on all the time?

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I look at sets like WP and SR and see that they are fine without IOs and extremely godly with IOs where as those other sets arent thats how I view it.

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Sets like WP and SR also have several passive powers. Passive powers cost nothing, which lowers their endurance cost. WP has Quick Recovery, Fast Healing, and High Pain Tolerance, all of which contribute to its survivability without adding any endurance cost but provide substantially less than they would with an endurance cost. The same applies for SR with Agile, Dodge, Quickness and Lucky. To get better performance, you're going to need to use more endurance. To get better endurance efficiency, you're going to need to sacrifice some survivability. That's how it works. It's just seems worse for DA because it's pretty heavy on the "more survivability, less efficiency" side, even though a number of its powers (re: OG and all 3 res toggles) are actually more efficient than they have any right to be as individual powers.

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I know the mindlink thing was an experiment but still all it does is push players to use IOs. If he didnt want it perma then it should have gotten the SoW treatment like other powers. Players are going to use IOs to get past the stupid design decisions they refuse to change.

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I don't view it as a stupid design decision. I view it as an incorporated design decision to increase the benefit of specific IO slotting. Personally, I would have done it differently, but I would have done most of the VEAT design differently. I think they're all a bit overpowered, but that was Castle's prerogative.

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For me I couldnt stomach DA at all till we got IOs. I refuse to take the leaping pool or fly because its not fair if your concept for your toon requires super speed or teleport. I have always felt that its every melee toons right to have some form of knockback protection while the squishies should stay vulnerable to it. Think about it we are the first line of defense for them so why do we have to be put on the same level as squishies in that regard? It makes no sense. I will continue to use IOs for knockback protection.

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I've always accepted the lack of KB protection in DA and FA with a grain of salt, but you're expanding the discussion to a completely different place. Lacking KB protection hasn't made the set itself underpowered. It was actually unique among the defensive sets in having Terrorize protection until WP and SD were added. It wasn't really a spectacular benefit considering that there aren't any devs made enemies that use Terrorize (most likely because it's everyone else's weakness), but it was still present. DA was also the only set with significant psy resist for a long time until WP was added. It had a number of other weird and funky benefits that it still has (but are less special now) that no other set had until recently.

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My other gripe is the endurance cost. Again I would never have been able to deal with it post stamina if I didnt have IOs. The drain is just too massive. Everyones excuse has been dont run all the toggles all the time, but my response has been if the other sets in the game can do it then why cant DA?There is no reason why DA cant run all of its damage mitigation/mez prevention toggles at the sametime. Thats why I feel the endurance costs need to be looked at.

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Yes there is, and it's a simple reason too. DA has 7 toggles. FA has 3. Invinc has 3. Regen has 1. SD has 4. SR has 3. WP has 4.

Let me repeat that for you, in case you missed it. DA has 7 toggles. The next highest have 4.

Being able to run all 7 toggles for the same cost that every other set runs 3-4 would be absolutely stupid. If you really think that it would be balanced for DA to have the same cost for running twice as many toggles, then you're obviously less intelligent than I give you credit for, which is bad considering how little that already is.

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Lastly stalkers dont even get the advantage of death shroud but still have to deal with end hog of CoF even though it disrupts their stealth.

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Wait? They don't have the option of running OG? Really? Since when? CoF is an option. Not a requirement. It's a bit more effective than OG if you've got the spare resources to run it, especially if you've also got some other Terrorize effects to stack up with it, but it costs more. Most people pick one of the two to run. Most people pick OG for good reason, but, if you can manage to build around the greater requirements for CoF, if can be quite potent.

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Congratulations! I'd say pics or it didn't happen but that might be a very, very bad idea

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Or a very, very good one?

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Have you seen what most code monkeys look like, much less nekkid or only recently coming out from underneath their box? Bad idea. Very bad idea.

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stuff

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Maybe it's just early, but...huh??? That didn't make much sense to me.

Let me put it another way. I don't know anything about old since I'm a noob, and I don't particularly care about how it USED to be. All I know is if my gun isn't drawn and I try to shoot it, it takes longer for the orange numbers to pop up than if it's already drawn. I'm not concerned about dps, I'm concerned about targets getting moved down and my shots (and cooldown, no matter how long) being wasted.

Anyhow, with my PBAoE guy, I have ridiculous animation times before most skills go off anyhow so it's not like it's any better. At least it's consistently slow tho.

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Considering the numbers for the sets were set for when the redraw was incorporated, you're not operating under your baseline performance whenever you cause redraw. What you're losing is the "bonus" performance that is allowed if you forgo using an attack string without redraw.

Here's the easy interpretation. It's not an animation penalty for causing redraw. It's an animation discount for not causing redraw.

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Look at Night Widows, you need IOs or HOs just to have mind link up perma or to even come back faster.

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Castle specifically stated that he didn't intend for it to be slottable for recharge with SOs but was willing to experiment to allow for the recharge to be enhanceable through other means. Allowing it to be enhanceable with enhancements also allows it to be modified by buffs and debuffs. All he did was prevent it from being a recharge time like with SoW and OwtS.

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Bane Spiders are squishie as hell compared to my stalkers, my bane didnt get good until I got close to the softcap.

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Bane Spiders were not meant to be as tough as Stalkers, especially considering that they've got actual ranged damage and significant support capabilities. They're supposed to have weaker defenses than a Stalker because they're more diverse than a Stalker.

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Shields was pretty much garbage and many folks agreed with that.

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Castle also designed the set to be comparable to Fiery Aura, which is also viewed as being rather mediocre, but decently balanced.

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Its like because they know we going to IO that set it was intentionally made weaker.

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Actually, considering the sets and cases that you mention, you're simply demonstrating how you don't actually get how Castle designs and balances the sets. You're assuming that IO sets are balanced and that all of the other sets are not. I challenge you to consider that IO sets are imbalanced and the rest of the sets are. Abandon any notions you've gotten from sets concerning how they behave with IOs. Remember that every function, not just personal survivability has to be factored in to balance. VEATs are squishier than Stalkers because they've got ranged damage and significantly greater utility. Shield Defense is considered mediocre without buffs or IOs because it is a defense based version of Fire (which would be equally good if resistance set bonuses were actually decent).

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Thats just how it feels to me. We might have had a better chance pre-issue 9 to get DA fixed but now it seems hopeless.

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DA is perfectly fine where it is now, with the minor exception of CoF, which needs to be reexamined. There is no systemic problem with the set. The endurance costs are appropriate for what the powers do. All of the resistance toggles are actually cheaper than they should be (.21 rather than the standard .26). Dark Regeneration gets what it pays for, and, because it does so much, it costs a lot. Oppressive Gloom is ridiculously good seeing as it allows you to ignore minions in melee for virtually no cost seeing as even the hit point loss is well below the basic regeneration threshold (3.13 v. 5.58). Soul Transfer, while being largely skipped by most people, is arguably the best self rez out there, rivaled only by Rise of the Phoenix. The only power that isn't ridiculously good is CoF, but that's mostly because of a series of nerfs similar to what happened to Instant Healing.

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He's decently fun to play but the redraw on the gun makes me kinda sad.

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Unless I am mistaken the activiation time is the same regardless of having to redraw your weapon. I thought that the "it takes longer because you have to redraw your weapon" was a myth.

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The skill begins recharging as soon as you trigger it. The attack doesn't FIRE until the gun draws. You don't lose DPS in the long term, but your target might be dead before you actually get the shot off.

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While you're partially right (recharge doesn't begin until animation is finished), you're wrong as to what you were quoting.

It used to be that redraw was an incorporated increase in the animation time of the power. Whether you were making the attack with your weapon out (no need to redraw) or without it out (need to redraw), it took the same amount of time to activate. This was accomplished by speeding up the animation of the attack if redraw was needed and leaving it alone if it wasn't.

A few issues back, at mass player request, BAB made it so that redraw was no longer an incorporated factor but sped up all weapon animations to their "non-redraw" speed if you excluded the portion of the animation consumed by redraw. This improved the DPS of weapon sets by a fair margin by making all of their attacks animate faster. However, for those that used redraw intensive attack strings, it didn't negatively affect them in any way, outside of making the competing attack strings better.

The simple explanation:
Old w/o Drawn = Old w/ Drawn
New w/o Drawn = Old w/o Drawn = Old w/o Drawn
New w/ Drawn = (Old w/o Drawn - Redraw) = (Old w/ Drawn - Redraw) = (New w/o Drawn - Redraw)

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KB from the opposite angle as the caster?

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Castle has actually said that it's impossible to do that without messing with the engine and creating an entirely new effect. KB and Repel can't be used because, in order to have it function in the opposite direction (re: move them towards the player), it would need to summon a pseudo-pet to generate the effect from a different location. The problem exists that it's impossible, if not simply unreliable, to generate a pseudo-pet anywhere except for at the feet of the target, not to mention what would happen if the target were moving in the slight delay between pseudo-pet summon and the pseudo-pet activating (minor movement would get magnified pretty intensely).

There is a reason that the effects that are supposed to have abilities similar to this (Omega Maneuver is the first that comes to mind) don't operate even remotely close to how you would think. Omega Maneuver accomplishes this by summoning an actual pet (re: targetable) that Taunts every nearby enemy and then self destructing shortly thereafter.

I could see a similar mechanic being used for a Blaster Nuke attempting the same effect. It would pretty much be Rain of Arrows with a Taunt effect attached (and different numbers, of course).

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Yeah, as far as we know the game can't do that.

What about a mass teleport foe AoE that lumps them all together and does big damage?

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That might be possible. Something like Wormhole from Gravity Control except that instead of stunning all targets in range after it teleports them, it simply deals damage to them. Of course, Wormhole still has its fair share of problems last I checked, mostly due to it being a teleporting attack.

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I'm having a hard time deliberating whether or not I want to change up a few slots for more recharge. I would gain 10% in recharge bonuses but I'd lose 2.5% defense to all positions and I'd lose 15% regeneration.

Can anyone shed some light on what losing that small amount would be?

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The 15% +regen is largely unnoticeable, but, then again, I view giving more +regen to */regen as being largely redundant. Once you get more than 400% static +regen, it's no longer worth it to pump it imo. It just doesn't add as much as it would to stack up more defense or resistance. 15% +regen is only going to be a matter of 1.6 hp/sec whenever you're already packing more than 70 hp/sec. Like I said, large unnoticeable, especially when you consider that */regen gets a bonus of ~33 hp/sec with Recon (only 20 hp/sec with SOs though).

The big problem is the losing of the positional defense, though, considering that it's not approaching softcap, it's only a bit more noticeable.

Personally, I think you'd be better off just getting better enhancement bonuses in your powers. MoG is only barely slotted for recharge and it's one of the more important powers in */regen if you ask me. I'd argue that you're slotting FH more than it actually needs, especially since you're also slotting Health pretty heavily too. Unless you're specifically gearing for a high regen build, you'd probably have more success slotting for recharge over regen and putting defense at a strong second. Keep in mind that enhancement benefit is generally more important than the set bonuses a power gets unless you're specifically muling a power.

You also want to remember to turn on your accolades. You're currently packing more than 14% of largely redundant +hp (~200 hp) from slots that could be used for more useful recharge and defense.

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Did he take the box with him?

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Nah, he's getting a bigger one now. Gotta have space for the wife.

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Call it gravity sink instead, all the enemies get pulled to a central spot and take massive smashing damage.

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Too bad there's not an effect in game that actually pulls enemies.