I was thinking about posting a thread to discuss whether or not "chained" ranged attacks are similar enough to ranged area of effect attacks so as to make them pointless to even make. This caused me to back off and think about the different attack types we had in CoX and which, if any, would or would not make the cut.
The list, as far as I can remember:
Melee single target
Melee point blank AoE (PBAoE so short ranged that you only can use it on melee ranged targets)
Standard PBAoE (large enough radius that it hits stuff you couldn't hit with Brawl)
Ranged accurate single target (meaning requires a to-hit roll)
Ranged non-accurate single target (always hits, no roll)
PBAoE aura (meaning toggle on/off, so persistent, not just click to fire)
Ranged AoE
Cone
Chained multi-target (one of the Incarnate powers had this, like chain-lightning)
Ranged AoE aura (anchored buff/debuff, target is center of aura that either debuffs him and nearby foes or helps nearby friendlies somehow).
Inherent (no endo cost to use, not a toggle, like Health or Stamina, or certain tanker +Resist powers)
Toggle (e.g. Granite Armor, Fly, Stealth)
Pet summon
I don't know if I missed anything, but I find myself wondering if we really need cone and chained attacks at all when we already have ranged AoE and PBAoE. I also wonder how easy or hard any of this is to code up.
I like cone for flavor reasons. Nothing says "Frost Breath" or "Fire Breath" like a cone attack. I think most chained attacked either hit pretty much the whole mob (assuming the were grouped together) or got a disappointingly small number of targets. If they had to be, or could be given Augments/Refinements for "probability of chaining" that might make them more interesting and give the devs more ability to craft them for desired power level, etc.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
Chained attacks had the possibility of going around corners. Also, their effective maximum range is dependent on target distribution while a cone isn't.
I don't see why the need for three PBAoEs when they're only differentiated by radius and click vs. toggle.
I'd use "auto-hit" instead of "non-accurate" for things that don't need to-hit rolls.
The term "targeted AoE" was usually used instead of "ranged AoE".
Ranged AoE aura isn't really different from either a temporary PBAoE applied to the target (if sticky) or a pet with a PBAoE (if not-sticky, e.g. oil slick).
Anyway, yes we need cone because it makes sense for some attacks, and it's even better if it can align itself to player direction and not target direction, because it's often a PITA to select the center-most target before something else jumbles them.
That said, something that could be interesting (especially on NPCs) is cone plus pet summon with PBAoE. For example, Fire Breath that burns everything between halitosis anchor point and target, and leaves behind a burning patch of ground.
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
I seem to remember CoX using the term "Accurate {blank}" to describe attacks that required a roll to hit, so I went with that. I'll admit it sounds counterintuitive when you have two versions of a thing, and the one that has a chance of missing is called "Accurate" but that's what they did, to my memory. The reason being that "Accurate" menat simply that the attack relied on accuracy in some way and could probably be enhanced for accuracy, whereas the auto-hit ones didn't.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
The use of "accurate" was OK, which is why I didn't mention it. We just called the others "auto-hit", not "non-accurate".
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
I always thought Howling Twilight was an auto-hit cone with a pet summon.
Howling Twilight was one of the complex ones. https://tomax.cohtitan.com/data/powers/power.php?id=Defender_Buff.Dark_Miasma.Howling_Twilight
Like many Dark Miasma powers, the enemy targeting portion was not auto-hit, but applied an AoE debuff and damage, then summoned a caster-centered 'pet-object' which cast the secondary effect.
Be Well!
Fireheart
Cool. Always seemed auto-hit in PVP. WAYYY to many opponents found that out at the height ceiling in SC. And that was with the acc debuff from group fly running with my MM. Good times!
(Oh and the pet summon part was actually intended as a joke referring to teammates.)