Normalizing Old ATs Power sets with new AT power sets

Hi:

While the old ATs have an old classic flavor and feel to their power sets, when compared with the new power sets. Yet the new power sets have some very capable abilities that the oldies simply don't have. I would like to see, the old AT power sets, maybe be relooked at and perhaps some of their new abilities incorporated.

For example, look at the Scrapper Martial Arts set. While a flashy fun set, it has serious shortfalls to it. For one, you need to buy lots of powers tog et basic coverage and AOE type attack defense, really comes late in the game for MA users. Perhaps in the begining of CoH AOE attacks were not envisioned as being common in the low level game play and it would steadely increase so by the time AOE protection became available the power would be in place "just in time"; sadly the use of AOEs by mobs seems pretty consistent at all levels as the game as evolved to what it is today. Also note that all of the new defensive sets have an area taunt/debuff capability that also buffs the user, MA does not have it. The new defensive sets for Scrappers to tend to include a self rez, which i snot available either for the old MA power set.

What I would suggest for MA for instance, is that passive and active AOE defense powers be eliminated from MA and be integrated to the Range passive and AOE power set accordingly. With the 2 new slots introduce the PBAOE debuff/buff/taunt and self rez.

There are many other defensive power sets that needs to be re-looked at such as fireshield for tankers and what not; so if you all have power sets out there that needs to be re-looked at and have suggestions, why not post them below?

Hugs

Sue

Wondering if the OP meant SR...

Anyhow, I have to ask, but just how do you start approaching normalizing with such diversity?

Sticking with scrappers, how is SR related to WP? What about WP and DA? Fire to regen? And so forth.

There are def sets, there are res sets, there are mixed sets with def/res.

The OP mentions buying lots of powers. I assume the OP means buying IO sets with bonuses to cover gaps in a build. That is how you normalize the power sets. Trying to make the sets work the same/equivalent via changing the game doesn't seem a wise way or practical way to go.

i'm just gonna say no to this.

Super Reflexes is flashy?

Old sets: Fire Armor, Regen has a self-rez, SR does not.
New Sets: WP has a self-rez, Electric Armor does not.

I'm not sure about the having to buy lots of powers to complete the set" being restricted to only the old defensive sets, as I usually feel the need to take 8 of 9 on all four that I mentioned above.

All I can say is;

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I do stand corrected, I meant Super Reflexes...

Stormy

Yeah. Cottage Rule. The devs are not going to combine powers in existing sets and add new ones to them. That's what new sets are for. (i.e., that's how Ninjitsu came to be)

And you will see many people who prefer SR over Ninjitsu. While Ninjitsu has more utility powers and a self heal, SR has higher Defense and the scaling Resistance, which Ninjitsu lacks. Because of the nature of Defense, the higher your Defense, the more each % of Defense counts. If you have 40% Defense, just 5% more Def cuts your damage in half. So that 9% Def for the passives actually is quite powerful at high levels.

As for self rez:

Defenses at release of CoH:

Dark Armor - Self rez
Fiery Armor - Self rez
Ice Armor - No self rez
Invulnerability - No self rez
Regeneration - Self rez
Super Reflexes - No self rez
Stone Armor - No self rez

New Defenses (CoV and additional Defense sets):

Electric Armor - No self rez
Shield Defense - No self rez
Willpower - Self rez
Ninjitsu - No self rez

So of all the "new defensive sets", only one out of the four (three if you want to skip Ninjitsu, as only Stalkers get it) has a self rez, and that's actually lower than the overall Defense sets, which is about 36% have self rez if you count them overall, or 43% if you count the sets at release.

I'm guessing what you mean by "the new defensive sets for Scrappers" is Firey Aura, but Firey Aura has ALWAYS had Rise of the Phoenix, and has been available for Tankers and Brutes all along. Scrappers just got it because of Power Set Proliferation, and they will continue to get the different Defense Sets until they have all of them. So there is no "Scrappers have lots of sets with self rez in them", theoretically, they will eventually have 36% Defense sets with a self rez, just like everyone else. (And right now they have exactly 50% with a self rez. So I see no need to add a self rez, if anything the next set should NOT have it)

Since this is actually about SR and since the powerset will not be drastically changed with new powers, may I suggest here some changes in the powerset?
Namely that Focused fighting grants confuse resistance, Focused senses gives +perception, and for brutes, Evasion gives a taunt aura (This is sometimes fairly annoying when you're trying to get around, while most taunt auras are not needed to be toggled on Evasion can be quite important to keep on), but otherwise, evasion for Scrappers and stalkers only gives additional +def debuff resistance.

Further more, as the OP points out, Evasion comes discouragingly late into the game when you've already been fighting enemies like Nemesis, even the Hellion boss is a terrible AoE monster, meanwhile; Shield Defense and Ninjutsu gain their AoE protection with their ranged at an early level. (Though slightly excusable form stalkers due to hide's AoE defense bonus)

Also, the point of SR is supposed to be it's high defense rate, but for every other powerset it becomes possible to soft cap your defenses with little effort, and while IOs are not meant to be considered in balance issues, this may be a case where they honestly should.

Now as for what I would like to suggest be done for it:
*Raise the defense value on all SR powers by 1-1.5% perhaps? This could make a big difference, especially once slotting with SOs.

*Allow the slotting of resistance into the passives maybe? Most armor sets tend to have more than one attribute to them, even Electrical armor has a self heal, Dark armor has soft controls and a heal, Ninjutsu has a heal, some soft controls, and a slottable resistance power, and the list goes on. The closest I can think of is regeneration, but even that has resillience, though, admittedly that's not very good either. (But the subject is SR)

*Reduce End Consumption, if fair? In my my mind, while actually dodging attacks might be extensive on the body, having oneself prepared to evade such attacks should not, or at least not nearly be as intensive. So perhaps reduce SR's end consumption by 20%?

*Give Evasion a little something extra to be worth the wait? I'm not sure what this would be, honestly.

But there you have, my own 2 inf, two more than you ever wanted or asked for.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.

Are you *asking* for Focused Senses to give +Perception, or stating it does? Because if you're asking - it already does.

See my Guides and Tutorials

I actually prefer the sets to be quite different from each other, as it gives me a reason to actually play different sets. If they were ALLL normalized, There would'nt be much incentive beyond aesthetics to pick them, eh?

I think it's possible to inject new things into old power sets, for example adding scaling resistance to super reflexes, and changing conserve power to energize. For the first case, a new ability is simply added on top of the set. For the second one, the original functionality of the power is kept while new thematic abilities are added. Quite a lot of things can be done in these two ways without replacing existing powers by something completely different.