= Radical Ideas= Extreme ideas for changes I wouldn't actually suggest for the existing [i]City of Heroes[/i] game but might make for interesting buffs/changes for a "COH 2" instead. (The changes are listed in patch note style, written as if they are already implemented instead of theoretical.) __TOC__ == Game Mechanics == * All archetypes are now able to [b]Critical Hit[/b] for 1.5x damage at a rate of 5%. ** The effects of several inherent powers were retroactively included as critical hit effects.[br](See the Powers section for more information.) * All archetypes are now able to [b]Stealth Strike[/b] for 1.2x damage when attacking while invisible. ** The "Hidden" note now appears beneath the status bar for all archetypes when properly concealed. ** In cases where a stealth strike would critical hit, it crits instead. ** Additional attributes have been added to the Combat Attributes window relating to stealth status: *** [b]Stealth Level[/b] displays a text description based on character visibility: **** "None" when no stealth increases are being applied. **** "Stealth" when invisible outside of melee. **** "Invisible" when invisible regardless of range. **** "Suppressed" when any amount of stealth is being suppressed while in combat. *** [b]Stealth Status[/b] displays a text description based on whether or not a character can currently Stealth Strike. **** "Visible" when a character has attacked or been attacked too recently. **** "Hidden" when a character has not yet engaged in combat, not attacked, and not been attacked recently. * Hide has now been given a higher tier of stealth in the game code. ** Stalkers with Hide active should no longer be visible to mobs like Rikti Drones, ambushes, etc. that normally see through stealth unless those enemies have additional perception buffs. == Archetypes == === Epic Archetype Consolidation === * Peacebringer and Warshade have been merged into one archetype called Kheldian. ** Selecting a primary set locks the secondary set choice to its thematic match and vice-versa. ** The search window still has options to search for Peacebringers and Warshades separately. ** The archetype's inherent and tier 1 secondary powers have been swapped: *** Incandescence is now the archetype inherent. (It and Absorption were functionally the same power.) *** Cosmic Balance is now Luminous Aura's tier 1 power; Dark Sustenance is now Umbral Aura's tier 1 power. *** On the backend, Cosmic Balance and Dark Sustenance are how the game will know which additional inherent powers (Energy Flight, Shadow Step, etc.) to grant. *** A new Kheldian liaison greets characters on arrival to Atlas Park and introduces them to their epic archetype contact - Sunstorm or Shadowstar. (On the backend, this is so the liaison can see their power sets like Null the Gull does in order to know which contact to segue them to.) ** Alignment restrictions for Kheldians have been removed. They are, however, still reststricted to Primal Earth. *** New contacts for Kheldians who start as villains have been added. (See the Story Arcs section for more information.) ** New ancillary power pools have been added for Kheldians. These are also thematically locked based on primary/secondary choices. * Arachnos Soldier and Arachnos Widow have been merged into one archetyped called Arachnos Soldier. ** Selecting a primary set locks the secondary set and branch choices to their thematic matches and vice-versa. ** The search window still has options to search for Arachnos Soldiers and Arachnos Widows separately. ** The archetype's inherent power has been updated to Arachnos Conditioning and now provides minor Psionic and mez resistance in addition to its original effects. ** Secondary set names have been tweaked to free them for use as other sets. (See the Powers section for more details.) **** Training and Gadgets is now Arachnos Armor, branching to Crab Spider Armor and Bane Spider Armor. **** Teamwork is now Arachnos Training, branching to Fortunata Training and Night Widow Training. ** Alignment restrictions for Arachnos Soldiers have been removed. They are, however, still reststricted to Primal Earth. *** New contacts have been added for Arachnos Soldiers who start as heroes. (See the Story Arcs section for more information.) == Powers == === Inherent Powers === Inherent powers have been updated and, in many cases, incorporated into critical hit mechanics. * Blasters > Defiance ** Blasters can now use the tier 1 and 2 powers from both their primary [u]and[/u] secondary while mezzed. ** The damage bonus portion of Defiance is now a bar, like Brutes. The bar builds and decays much faster based on outgoing attack attempts. ** The additional damage portion of Blaster critical hits ignores damage resistance. * Controllers > Containment ** Controllers' chance to do additional mez magnitude is now considered their critical hit instead of additional damage. ** Controllers continue to do double damage to targets that are already disoriented, held, immobilized, or slept. * Defenders > Vigilance ** Defenders continue to receive an endurance discount based on the team's missing HP and a damage bonus for teams smaller than 4. ** Defender critical hits use the full damage buff value from Vigilance regardless of team size. * Scrappers > Critical Strike ** Scrappers remain unchanged. Critical hits doing double damage and their chance scaling with enemy rank is what separates them from other archetypes' critical hits. * Tankers > Gauntlet ** Tankers continue to cause AOE taunt with every attack. ** Bruising is now the effect of Tanker criticals, in tandem with the additional damage, rather than being the effect of their tier 1 power. (It still does [u]not[/u] stack from the same caster, even via different powers.) * Brutes > Fury ** Brutes continue to receive a damage bonus based on a bar that builds from incoming/outgoing attack attempts. ** Brute criticals build a larger amount of Fury bar in addition to bonus damage. * Stalkers > Hide ** Assassination has been replaced with Hide. *** Nothing functionally changes as Assassination's effects were baked into Stalkers' powers. *** Hide's description incorporates Assassination's description. *** Hide can still be slotted. *** See the Stalker subsection for what powers have replaced Hide in each secondary set. ** Stalker stealth strikes are still considered automatic critical hits and still do double damage. Note that the extreme bonus damage from assassin strike attacks is not considered a critical hit and cannot critical hit during an assassin strike (the mechanic), though the power can crit outside of stealth. * Masterminds > Supremacy ** In addition to its original effects, Supremacy also allows henchmen in range to crit for 1.2x damage at a 2% chance. * Dominators > Domination ** The domination bar has been removed. Domination is no longer affected by recharge buff/debuffs. ** Dominator criticals from primary set powers reduce the remaining recharge time of Domination in addition to bonus damage. ** Dominator critical hits outside of Domination also still provide the additional magnitude/duration effects of Domination. ** Activating Domination still provides mez protection and fully recovers endurance. * Corruptors > Scourge ** Scourge is functionally identical. Its effects are retroactively considered a crit chance that scales with enemy missing HP and do 2.0x damage. === Stalkers === * Because Hide is now the Stalker inherent power, each set has received a power to replace it at varying tiers and all preceding powers have been moved up one tier. ** Bio Armor has received Genomic Evolution (with the effects of Defensive Adaptation baked in) at tier 7 ** Dark Armor has received Tenebrous Regeneration at tier 6 ** Electric Armor has received Lightning Clap at tier 8 ** Energy Aura has received Repelling Force at tier 6 ** Fiery Aura has received Smoke Stack (a PBAOE version of Smoke) at tier 6 ** Ice Armor has received Rime (a PBAOE version of Frostbite) at tier 8 ** Invulnerability has received Durability at tier 4 ** Ninjitsu has received Bo Ryaku at tier 6 ** Radiation Armor has received Particle Acceleration at tier 6 ** Regeneration has received Quick Recovery at tier 3 ** Shield Defense has received Advanced Cover (a non-scaling version of Phalanx Fighting) at tier 6 ** Stone Armor has received Sand Trap (a PBAOE version of Quicksand) at tier 7 ** Super Reflexes has received Bullet Time (from Urban Combat) at tier 7 ** Willpower has received Quick Recovery at tier 6 == Enhancements == === New Invention Sets === * [b]Pile Bunker[/b] for melee damage. * [b]Supernova[/b] for melee AOE damage. * [b]Railgun[/b] for ranged damage. * [b]Missile Barrage[/b] for ranged AOE damage. * [b]Orbital Strike[/b] for sniping damage. * [b]Firing Squad[/b] for pet damage. * [b]Bullet Storm[/b] for recharge-intensive pet damage. == Story Arcs == === Heroes === * An epic story contact has been added for Arachnos Soldiers that start as heroes. === Villains === * An epic story contact has been added for Kheldians that start out as villains.