Alien Pistol (Ranged, Energy, Minor Damage, Disorient)
Available Level 1
Even though this is a Minor damage attack, the full Disorient is OP as a lvl 1 power - if it was a "chance for Disorient", maybe. Bumping the recharge up to balance the full effect would make the power less useful as a reasonable part of an attack chain. Also, to allow for customization (if that's something you're interested in), you can set the first power to a "low-power" shot and still have it come from the Rikti rifle.
Enlist Rikti (Summon 1 to 3 Rikti Conscripts and or Infantry to fight for you)
Available Level 1
Basic on its face
Alien Rifle (Ranged, Energy, High Damage, KD, Disorient)
Available Level 2
Like lvl 1 power and like my earlier comments, as a player power, it's OP to be High damage AND knockdown AND full Disorient, even with recharge balancing - take the Disorient down to "chance for" and it becomes more palatable.
Modify Alien (this power lets you upgrade an existing alien, to a more powerful alien of that type if available. I.E. Conscript/Infantry > Guardian (no communications officer)> Headman OR Headman Gunman OR Cheif Mentalist(Lieut)> Chief [soldier, blaster, mezmerist] > Magus, or Rularuu watcher> observer> overseer i.e. Rikti Monkey > Wild Rikti Monkey > Vicious Rikti Monkey > N/A [Yet! = Rikti Gorilla (need graphics)], Drone > Improved Drone > Advanced Drone> Heavy Suit, Shivan> Shivan Smasher > Shivan Destroyer > Shivan Decimator. Otherwise it buffs the alien +HP +Perception +Accuracy +Damge)
L6 - L11 this power grants a Temporary buff to the alien it is cast upon.
L12 - L25 this power can upgrade an individual alien to a max of 2 minion aliens to lieutenant. and a temp buff to any alien thereafter.
L26 + this power can upgrade the shivan to EB, and or any individual alien to a max of one other alien to it's highest tier, and a max of 2 other aliens to lieutenant. and a temp buff thereafter.
Available level 6
If this power modifies an alien to another tier (conscript>guardian I.E.), the effect is permanent till defeat and/or resummon, if cast on an alien which has no next teir, I.E Vicious Rikti Monkey, Heavy Assault Suit(Drone), or Magus, overseer etc. (end tier) then it'll be a temporary buff as specified (+HP, Perception acc dam)
There are still issues with this, comparative to standard MM powersets:
- It only perma-until-defeat (PUD) improves the pet if it can increase its tier to Lieutenant or above, while standard MM upgrades always give a PUD functional boost to even Minion-level pets.
- The casting only affects one pet at a time (but the buff can affect any of the MM's pets), while standard MM upgrades affect all of that MM's controllable pets within the AoE.
- You had a statement that the buff effect (vs. the tier upgrade) only lasts so long, such that even when Modify Aliens' Recharge is enhanced, you may only be able to have the buff in effect on 3 pets at a time. Normally an MM upgrade power has Medium recharge (4-10 seconds) - without any buffs, three full 10-second durations on the casting power would be no more than 30 seconds of effect. If the MM is having to enhance or otherwise buff recharge to get to three concurrent castings with a Medium recharge power, then the base effect would be shorter. Now if the power has a longer recharge, say Slow (10-60 seconds) and we'll go with the 60 second value, then a 100% buff to recharge knocks the cycle time to 40 seconds, or three in 2 minutes. Two minutes is equal to the duration of any of the individual-effect shields from Support sets (which affect ALL ALLIES in the AoE). If only three of your controllable pets get basically a shield, and nothing else beyond their stock-tier capabilities, they're going to be pretty weak. Even if the buff is strong enough to "balance" the lack of permanency, it still only effects three of the pets.
- If the recharge is set to Medium (full 10 seconds default), upgrading one pet at a time through the tiers would take 30 seconds for each Elite Boss (1 minute) and another 20 seconds for the two Lieutenants, so a little short of 1:20 for 8 castings. This compares to no more than about 10-12 seconds of casting time for two castings for a standard MM. God help you if the recharge on Modify Alien is Slow.
- I didn't see the thing from earlier where the power could affect other Alien Invasion MMs' pets - did you remove that? If you haven't, please explain why other AI MMs would want to just hand over their castings to this MM's pets rather than for their own.
Summon Rikti Battle Support (summon 1 Drone(minion) and upto 2 rikti monkies(minion) to aide you in battle)
Available Level 8
Because your lvl 12 power only summons one Rularuu, at least one of these pets is intended to be controllable, in order to get to the 2/2/2 grouping you discussed earlier. The bases for these pets don't have actual Lieutenant, Boss, or Elite Boss versions (hell, the Monkeys don't even have Minion versions), so would they be able to be upgraded with Modify Alien or are they only buff-capable? You also don't specify what the multi-summon schedule is for these - and with these, you're already at either 4 minions and 2 underlings, or 6 minions. Having both minions and underlings summoned from the same power would be weird on its own.
Summon Rularuu (Summon at random a Rularuu Watcher, Wisp, Natterling or Brute minion to aide you in combat)
Available Level 12
the fact these are upgradable to a more powerful tier when using Modify alien makes up for the loss in "at summon" power.
This power summons 1 random rularuu, if you use it again, it unsummons your last rularuu and replaces it with another random rularuu. This could be changed to be a multi summon summoning 2 at random but we alreayd have the drone and rikti monkeys as a second multi summon and those are actually early and usually thats where an attack would be.
This adds another minion, so now at either 5 minions and 2 underlings, or 7 minions in total.
Invasion Portal (Defeatable, Field at location, for X minutes this power will summon a max of 5 combat type pets you have access to at random from this location. If 5 are summoned this way and any are defeated while time remains on this field's cast; it will summon random replacements. Pets summoned this way will continue to exist even after the field has expired (until dismissed or defeated).
Available Level 18 - Rikti Communications Officers have a similar power (to summon conscripts and infantry)
Does not interfere with other summons, if you have rikti, drone, rikti monkey, rularuu, or shivan summon powers, this power can summon up to 5 extras, for multi summon type pets it only summons 1 additional pet to a max of 5 extras). Does not subtract from temp power combat pet usages(or temp power pets are not summoned by this power). modify alien will still be able to be used on the spawns for a temporary buff, upgrade to a higher tier alien via Modify alien is only possible if a normal summon alien has been defeated. Otherwise, these summons will not follow MM pet commands nor leave the general area of the portal.
This is still a nightmare of a power. At its most basic, it's a location power that auto-summons pets that are (initially) uncontrolled by the MM. It does this slowly (how slow? 10 seconds? more?) and can itself be defeated to stop the summoning. At this point not too problematic. But then we say that they can have their tier upgraded, assuming there is room among the 6 controlled and at the Lieutenant rank, making them a PUD controlled pet filling the gap from the earlier groups. The remaining uncontrolled pets summoned by the portal are also PUD, but stay at the summoning portal's location (or where it was when it was active). These pets can have Modify Alien cast on them just to buff them, but why would I waste that buff on pets that can't come with and don't follow the commands of my MM?
Summon Shivan (summon a Shivan (minion) to help you in battle)
Available Level 26
Finally at either 6 minions and 2 underlings, or 8 minions in total. Again, having to go through the upgrade process to get them to a Boss in the first place is baffling, never mind allowing them to reach EB status.
Alien Goo (Location AoE, Target: +Def, +Res, Full Heal, Clear effects, Heal and temporarily buff all aliens or allies in the impact area by throwing a slimey substance on them)
Available Level 32
And we're back to this thing - is there any powerset power in the game that even just provides a single-casting to fully heal and fully clear all negative status effects ALL ALLIES within the AoE? And on top of that it provides both a +Def (I'm assuming either all vectors and/or all damage types) and a +Res (again, all damage types) effect - do the clear status effects also offer Clear Mind-like status protection for the however-long duration of the +Def/+Res buffs? What is the longest recharge on any power in a powerset in the game? Because this one is taking over that top spot, by a bunch, making it almost totally non-existent except in the most epic of fights. Never mind that no other MM primary powerset offers a power that heals, removes debuffs from, or buffs anything other than their own pets.
and that looks more in line with the arguments.
If your MM enters a mission with no pets and needs to get them ready for the first fight, it will take many minutes while everyone else is champing at the bit or leaving you behind. Losing any pets, especially LTs or Bosses/EBs, and trying to re-summon them in a fight would be slow-motion suicide. You did add a 2nd attack power, so your MM isn't totally just a taxi for their pets, but it doesn't matter because they're going to be spending all of their time spamming Modify Alien to keep not even half of their pets buffed. If Modify Alien actually lasts any decent length of time and has a similarly long recharge, your insistence on it being a single-target buff will multiply your prep time considerably. That you can have two Bosses and upgrade them to Elite Bosses is by itself massively OP, and having the player pay for it by sitting through interminable delays in getting their pets ready is not a good balance mechanism.
I'm going to leave it here - it's not even close to being a reasonable suggestion, and it's clear I'm not going to be able to convince you to make it any closer really.
no you're finally being understood. I can now see the points you're making. I'll get around to a third revision. and post it here. again this was just a suggestion for the devs to balance. but balancing it with commentary is actually helpful, so.. I will edit this post with direct responses to your comments and then follow it with the third revision in the same post. for example when I put "disorient" I was just copying it from the wiki, of course player powers are different from critter powers so naturally this would be a "chance for" as you stated.
do remember each MM set has it's own playstyle, there are similarities but different play focuses. as the goal here was to include nearly all in game aliens (save dillo's bunch, grym's bunch, the council's bunch and nictus) summonning from the lowest state seemed reasonable allowing the player to pick which aliens should be minions, lieutenants, bosses and elite bosses (if possible). yes it take more time to set-up, but on a team you can summon as you go. team stops at first mob, summon, no time for the second summon? summon it at the second mob. etc. in a pinch because all your pets ded and the recharge is not finished on summon powers? = invasion portal modify alien. we'll modify alien goo a bit too. I see what you're saying.
yeah, your points on modify alien are understood.
1: yes most MM sets have an AoE PUD for all summons, but it comes later in the set (L32) and is only a single cast situation (it does not stack). this is a consideration. Making players wait longer to upgrade tiers permanently would be more in-line with other sets, where the L6 power is typically temporary and single target. the difference here is all the summons are a different type, in other sets each new summon is just an increased tier summon of the starter summon.
2: covered in 1, it's something to consider.
3: I made this weak on purpose, the idea was to balance the fact that some things in the set can become more powerful than normal. so the buff should be less viable. also it was based on my experience with the buff in beast mastery, I found that applying it to pets is slow, recharge time + cast time is over 7.6 seconds each (23.01 seconds+ for 3 casts counting the recharge from the first), and it seemed to wear off kinda fast to the point that I'd have to reapply it mid fight, and definitely before a new group. if it lasts half a minute (30) seconds, that means I Could maybe use it on 5 pets (Max) and have 0.99 seconds to attack before it falls off the first pet. basically as soon as you cast #5, #1 will fall.. so my rough estimate was 1 short. 4 max. where as enhanced -100%% rech you're talking 8 casts max? this was always an estimate of recharge time rather than a hard max number of targets.
if we make this set too close to a typical MM set it'll either drop alien summons, limit tiers to boss (no shivan decimator for you, that's EB (same as the temp power you can get in bloody bay)), otherwise the set will be too OP. so.. I can see how you are trying to conform this set to whats expected of an MM set traditionally. maybe the devs will? but in doing so you'll make it either too OP (which is probably why you keep saying it is OP, though there were trades, like you mention having to raise everything from minion is a flaw, a major weakness, balanced only by the fact you can raise 2 to EB. (This is the point in response to #4))
this was the basis of making the buff powers different (and in this case weaker).
Still, I'll attempt to equate it and alien goo in this revision. but I expect it'll make the set too OP.
4: answered in 3
5: It should still be included, only for the temp buff, it's a strategy; take a really mean alien such as a Shivan Decimator, Heavy Assualt Suit, or Magus etc., add +HP, +Accuracy(lets change this to +ToHit as it's more in-line with most powers), +Damage makes it even more powerful.
however lets say +ToHit is +10%, and +Damage is +20%, thats good and all, but a team of AI MMs could stack this on said "mean alien", +10% TH * caster(8 ) = +80%TH (with Max ToHitBuff enhancement(100%%) +160% MAX), +20% Damage * 8 = 160%, now you have a single alien that can pretty much bulldoze through almost anything even fight through AV regen add the +HP*8 and you can see how this tactic of turning a single alien into an alien monster is a distinct strategy. That's why they'd want to. but remember, at no enhancement you can keep 3 to 4 buffed almost permanently so you're talking a full team of AIMMs ("AIM" lol.) buffing 3 or 4 alien monstrosities.
For Rikti Battle Support, yeah the monkies basically don't get to class up. I mean there's "wild" and "vicious", but they have the same attacks. there is no such thing as a rikti Gorilla (maybe a rikti geurrilla, but that's an occupation - joke), so the drone is the only summon able to be up-tiered, the monkies stay underlings. This power is a bit strange, but then again we are talking about aliens here. You'd imagine they'd be a bit StrAyyynge. putting them together made room for another ranged power and lessened the summon overkill. the monkies are as described "Fodder" that comes out with the summon of 1 useful thing. we could make it that only the drone is controllable, and the monkies just follow the drone. (I don't know why, maybe we stuck a ripe banana inside it. "must protect the banana carrier!")
lets count the monkies separate. they'll be considered supplementary to the drone summon and not counted as a true minion nor summon. if the drone is defeated, maybe the monkies run? or just stop following you and your orders. Monkies - underling - non-controllable (follow's commands given to the drone while active)
this takes us to 4 minion
then we have rularuu
again, you are attempting to equate AI MMs to other MM sets. to make it fit a template. however here we get more summons (which would make it OP if you attempt to equate it), and it's likely people wouldn't like that their only boss is a shivan and their only lieutenants are a drone and a rularuu. they'll complain that rikti lieuts and Bosses would be better but then it'd just be a "rikti summoning MM set" rather than "alien" in general and even then would you place the drones or monkies as the first multi summon? and rikti later?.
It is clear to me that "Ayyy" demands a different template. we could make the first multi summon a random "Summon Rikti" then the lieutenants would be "Summon Rularuu" and the boss "Summon Shivan", where summon rikti would have a chance to get 3 conscript, or 3 infantry, or 3 drones, or 4 to 6 monkies (you got monkied around), or a mix of these. and summon rularuu could be any 2 random rularuu. it seems forced. now if they were all minions and you got to chose which became bosses etc. then. yeah better. oh wait now we're back to being "StrAyyynge"
Modify Alien or the ability to single target class-up a specific alien beyond a single time in some cases, is very different from any other MM set! as such it cannot be equated and given the same general powers as a normal MM set, if it were it'd be OP.
still to humor you I'll attempt to make this more like a traditional MM set. as much as possible without changing the core of Modify Alien and invasion portal. again, it's not OP so long as you don't make this a typical MM set template.
Invasion Portal: if you are asking questions about how it works, you've never fought rikti. it's slow around 10 seconds a summon and has a max number of summons at one time. Yes the portal can be defeated. Alternatively it has a time limit as well. Summons initiated by it teleport out when you resummon the portal and will then need to be resummoned slowly. I still don't get why you are arguing about the summons being uncontrollable but possibly controllable later if a normal summon of their type is defeated. it cannot raise the number of controllable aliens Ever. in example if a rikti conscript from the L1 summon dies, and the portal spawns rularuu and drones and monkies and a shivan but the random number generator just never lands on conscript nor infantry to upgrade in order to fill the ranks? then tough luck; gotta resummon your normal L1 summon.
What we could do, is to avoid a major weakness of the normal summon desummoning max tiered up aliens from a summon, I.E. lets say you have a Magus and a Chief Mentalist (Lieutenant) and a Headman, then the headman dies. next time you "Enlist Rikti" you'll keep the Magus and Mentalist and either a single conscript or infantry will be summoned. just filling the ranks. where as if no tier upgrades had been done, then all 3 would resummon as normal.
Last I'll be modifying alien Goo, maybe a full heal was a bit too much. maybe "clears all effects" is overpowered too. I was thinking "MoG for Pets" for the L32 power Ayyy style. remember other sets achieve this by doing a "Upgrades All Pets permanently", where as this set has that power on modify alien! so it's not here at all! just a buff. it's a trade. you know what, I had an interesting idea just now, why not make this power upgrade The Target Only to a new tier, whilst buffing all other aliens? maybe it upgrades the target to Boss automatically skipping lower tiers? this would solve some of the issues!
Well lets see what it comes to third revision for consideration:
Alien Pistol (Ranged, Energy, Minor Damage,
Chance for Disorient)
Available Level 1
Enlist Rikti (Summon 1 to 3 Rikti Conscripts
and or Infantry to fight for you)
Available Level 1
Alien Rifle (Ranged, Energy, High Damage, KD,
Chance for Disorient)
Available Level 2
Modify Alien (this power lets you upgrade an existing alien, to a more powerful alien of that type if available. I.E. Conscript/Infantry > Guardian (no communications officer)>
Headman OR Headman Gunman OR Cheif Mentalist(Lieut)> Chief [soldier, blaster, mezmerist] > Magus, or Rularuu watcher> observer> overseer i.e. Rikti Monkey >! N/A [Yet! = Rikti Gorilla (need graphics)], Drone
> Improved Drone > Advanced Drone> Heavy Suit,
Shivan> Shivan Smasher > Shivan Destroyer > Shivan Decimator. Otherwise it buffs the alien +HP +Perception +Accuracy +Damge)
L6 - L11 this power grants a Temporary buff to the alien it is cast upon.
L12 - L25 this power can upgrade an individual alien to a max of 2 minion aliens to lieutenant. and a temp buff to any alien thereafter.
L26 + this power can upgrade the shivan to EB, and or any individual alien to a max of one other alien to it's highest tier, and a max of 2 other aliens to lieutenant. and a temp buff thereafter.Available level 6
If this power modifies an alien to another tier (conscript>guardian I.E.), the effect is permanent till defeat and/or resummon, if cast on an alien which has no next teir, I.E Vicious Rikti Monkey, Heavy Assault Suit(Drone), or Magus, overseer etc. (end tier) then it'll be a temporary buff as specified (+HP, Perception acc dam)
Summon Rikti Battle Support (summon 1 Drone(minion) and upto 2 rikti monkies(Underling, Follows commands to drone if the drone is not defeated) to aide you in battle)
Available Level 8
Summon Rularuu (Summon at random a Rularuu Watcher, Wisp, Natterling or Brute minion to aide you in combat)
Available Level 12
the fact these are upgradable to a more powerful tier when using Modify alien makes up for the loss in "at summon" power.
This power summons 1 random rularuu, if you use it again, it unsummons your last rularuu and replaces it with another random rularuu. This could be changed to be a multi summon summoning 2 at random but we alreayd have the drone and rikti monkeys as a second multi summon and those are actually early and usually thats where an attack would be.
Invasion Portal (
Defeatable, Field at location, for X minutes this power will summon a max of 5 combat type pets you have access to at random from this location. If 5 are summoned this way and any are defeated while time remains on this field's cast; it will summon random replacements. Pets summoned this way will continue to exist even after the field has expired (until dismissed or defeated).
Available Level 18 -
Rikti Communications Officers have a similar power (to summon conscripts and infantry)Does not interfere with other summons, if you have rikti, drone, rikti monkey, rularuu, or shivan summon powers, this power can summon up to 5 extras, (for multi summon type pets it only summons 1 additional pet to a max of 5 extras). Does not subtract from temp power combat pet usages(or temp power pets are not summoned by this power). Pets summoned this way do not respond to Pet Commands, modify alien will still be able to be used on the spawns for a temporary buff, upgrade to a higher tier alien via Modify alien is only possible if a normal summon alien of the same type has been defeated. Otherwise, these summons will not follow MM pet commands nor leave the general area of the portal.
As such higher perception (modify alien) may be necessary if you summon the portal too far away from an enemy group.
Summon Shivan (summon a Shivan (minion)
to help you in battle)
Available Level 26
Alien Goo (Ranged, Target: To Boss. (Location AoE, Target(TAoE): +Def, +Res,
Moderate Heal, +perception-range, Status Protection Mag 5 (current debuffs may be cleared if they are lower magnitude, stacks with other pet status protection), Automatically permanently upgrade the main target to Boss (If you do not already have a boss, otherwise if it is already a boss it upgrades the main target Elite Boss, if you already have an Elite Boss and the target is a minion instead it upgrades to lieutenant if possible, otherwise Temp Buff), Heal and temporarily buff all aliens in the impact area by throwing a slimey substance on them).
Available Level 32
