While CoT is under a No (Cosmetic) Gear policy, a way of enhancing or upgrading powers is still necessary.
CoH did well in this category and so far as I've heard, CoT is following closely but not exactly in their predecessor's footsteps with enhancements called Boosts.
But I'm under the impression that Boosts will have similar or the same effects as enhancements in CoH: Accuracy, Damage, Recharge Reduction, Heal Strength, Endurance Reduction, Endurance Modification, Range Increase etc., but do not cover things like AoE Range, Cone Widen, Knockback Addition, Mez Addition, or any other form of adding effects to powers.
As such, I propose the following: how about we have two forms of enhancement, Boosts that modify fundamental stats of a power, and Upgrades that add or change other effects of a power.
In CoH, a bit more than every other level gave more enhancement slots.
In CoT, we could have two uses for such slots. One, as in CoH, adding slots for Boosts (to a max), and Two, Upgrading a power.
Upgrading a power could be done once or twice, but not as many as Boost slots. These Upgrades would have some effects as listen above. For example*:
Fire Breath/Flamethrower: Upgrade 1: Widens cone by x degrees, increases DoT time, and (maybe) leaves burning spots of the ground (similar to Bonfire).
Buckshot: Upgrade 1: Widens Cone, Adds DoT
Fire Ball: Upgrade 1: Widens AoE radius*, Increase DoT time, Adds (minor) Knockback
Upgrade 2: Adds secondary fireballs with less damage, AoE, DoT, etc.
Roundhouse Kick: Upgrade 1: Adds Secondary Kick (Same animation time, secondary kick may affect the same target or another within range)
Snapshot (Archery): Upgrade 1: Adds Secondary shot (of maybe lesser damage, in same animation time)
Pistol Shot: Upgrade 1: Adds Pierce (Round may go through one target and damage another at lesser damage)
Stone Prison: Adds Piercing Crystals (adds lethal damage and DoT)
More General Ones:
[Heal power]:Upgrade 1: Adds Regen Bonus
Upgrade 2: Adds Recovery Bonus, Adds Total Hit Point bonus
[Ally Resistance Buff]: Upgrade 1: Adds another resistance type.
[Pet Summon power]: Upgrade 1: Adds HP to pet, gives new powers.
Upgrade (1 or) 2: Adds more powerful new powers.
This is especially important for Operators/masters (MMs) who, in CoH, were bogged down with two upgrade powers.
[Self Res/Def Toggle]: Upgrade 1: Adds resistance/defense type, adds DMG bonus
Upgrade 2: Adds Mez resistance type.
Maybe these upgrades should be less common, maybe two per power set.
Thoughts?
UPDATE: I read in a thread, I don't remember which, where Doctor Tyche mentions allowing holding the click to have alternative effects. His example was KB, if the power was just clicked, no KB, if held, KB would occur. He qualified this by saying it was very much in the works and they want to avoid twitch combat (I'm unsure what this is).
In response, how do you think such a thing could compare to Upgrades?
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Avatar by MikeNovember
Enhancements/boosts may not be gear in the traditional sense of 'put it on and see it on your character', but I think it is unwise to claim that it is not gear. Especially since there will be a crafting system associated with them.
For my part, I wouldn't wish two separate progression systems on any developer. Especially when one of them is as encompassing as boosts are likely to be. Then again, perhaps predicting the interactions and balancing such a thing is easier than I anticipate it would be.
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I quite like adding a secondary effect on a power, it would really make the character stand out, even if it was a percentile chance of fire damage from a punch or a debuff from a lightning strike...it all helps in the end.
But I'd certainly limit them though to about two at launch though, but you could open another slot or two at some point if you decided to raise the level cap.
The only thing I'd say is make the choice as wide as possible, from cheap ones to the finest purple drops you can dream of...oh and one thing, no binding enhancements to character, whoever came up with that idea needs their head looked at.
I would even put this as a "infrastructure only" segment here. And still, things like "Widen Cone" and "Splash Range" could be their own Boosts. But the MM and fireball-like slots are my more wanted.
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Avatar by MikeNovember
I was quite happy with CoH's enhancements, the only point being there weren't enough of them; however, I wouldn't mind a secondary slot that added a different (if lesser)damage, debuffed or as you say boosts the area of effect.
It's not just the fact that it would make the character a bit stronger, it would make it stand out in a sea of blasters that all have the same power.
I love the idea of , for the lack of a better term, gear that can change an aspect of your character. CoX had a limited version of this. Remember the 'Set bonuses' or enhancments that just flat out gave you character wide buffs.
The only thing I would prefer is to not have them part of an individual powers 'boosts'.
What about a separate slot that was a character 'boost' that could do these things over any power it would benefit.
Maybe get one slot every so many levels. It can represent training upgrades whatever you decide.
However it would be implemented I love the idea of it.
I liked the way CoH handled it with regular enhancements and invention enhancements. I would hope that CoT does something similar to this as well. This way people who like to craft things can still have something to craft to make their character perform better and those that do not like crafting can still have their character perform as well. Some people just want to put an enhancement in their power and then just go on playing the game while others enjoy tinkering around for hours building their enhancements to do specifically what they want their character to do.
It will also allow for more money sinks in the game if we port over the invention enhancements as well, so there is something else to consider. It will allow for more customization of a character if there are different benefits tied in with the inventions too. I also liked the way CoH had recipes for costume options as well. My favorite were the jump boots. So I also hope that somehow costume creation gets added in with this idea as well. Plus it is also a form of time sink. I just don't want the look of my character to change depending upon what enhancements I'm wearing or that I can't do certain things unless I'm wearing certain enhancements in order to participate in it.
I got chills! They're multiplyin'. And I'm losin' control. Cuz the power, I'm supplyin'. Why it's ELECTRIFYIN'!!
Very good point!
Spurn all ye kindle.
I think that the idea of two different ways to improve a power is too much. It seems like the upgrades that increase aspects and not stats would be to hard to balance, and also I don't like the idea of adding effects to powers. I don't really want my fire tank to all of a sudden freeze some guy lol it just seems like a bit too much. I'm all for a system similar to the enhancements in COX where you just slot for what you want. My dad had a katana regen scrapper and he just kept on piling on regen set bonuses. Build for exactly what you want is what I like. Plus that gives greater differentiation between characters instead of everyone's powers getting the same upgrades.
Although I will say that I think upgrading powers specifically and not your overarching stats with general gear is much better. It makes each character much more unique.
As others have said the CoH ENH system worked great and I loved it over the other MMO style of wearable gear.
I also like the idea of slotting a Boost that Increases AoE (cone, circle, column, etc), etc.
However in terms of Balance an idea is to simply keep the same number of Max Slots per power (lets say 6 like in CoH for arguments sake) and each slot can hold either a Boost or an 'Adjustment' (for lack of a better term).
Or each power can only hold 1 'Adj' but that means no 6 Slotting Boosts or Boost Sets - so its your choice do you add an extra slot for an 'Adj', Frankenslot for total boost numbers or Set Slot for the Set Bonuses? Its my choice for my build.
If I want my Fireball to have a much larger radius at the cost of slower recharge, more End, less acc or damage then that's my choice. As I said above the devs need to balance how many 'Adj' slots can each power have but Im sure they are up to the task :)
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Instead of relying on 2 lvl 50 IO's to give you close to 100% bonus, maybe we could just keep Upgrading that One IO to be close to 100% bonus. So.. if you normally needed Accuracy + Endurance Reduction + Damage... you only waste 3 slots.
Not like CoH, where if you wanted to double your Accuracy you would use 2 Slots for IO's... (Of course SO's would have taken up 3 slots).
There has to be a way to make Enhancements work with just 1 Slots for a particular bonus that you can enhance as you level. :/
[In response to my own question in the update]
I feel like click options are better suited for things that are optional, that one wouldn't want to use all the time. Like in KB, sometimes it's good/cool, others it's very annoying; there is no obvious answer. This contrasts with Upgrades in that the upgrade (as exemplified in the OP) is clearly better than the non-upgraded option, but simply may not be worth the slot or the slot on this particular power.
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Avatar by MikeNovember