Xaphan

I can't recall the source at the moment, but I recall a comment related to this. It was something along the lines of that's how they tried it at first... but then they found that people had a hard time finding enemies for hunt missions or street sweeping. So, there was a conflict between realism and ease of gameplay... and the end result was putting more spawns in the streets. Or something like that, it's only a vague recollection.


Still, that was then, and this is now. It might be time to re-examine things. It was mentioned in the Herocon Panel that gave the ultramode demo that the Praetorian Clockwork only mess with you if you mess with them... I think that would be a great technology to bring to some of the other spawns as well (assuming it's actually new AI and not just making their aggro distance really really small, like with leaderless Vahz Zombies). For some of the outdoor spawns, anyway.

So, for example, you have your gang members in the back alleys and dark corners of the city. They're the ones doing the illegal stuff. Mugging people, trying to break into buildings, beating up innocents, etc.., and they'll react the same way they do now. They're doing something wrong, and they know it. If they notice you, they'll attack.

But the ones on the street act differently. They shouldn't do the overt crimes... if any. They just loiter around, talk to their girlfriends, maybe get a bit rowdy and yell at people passing by... but nothing that would really make a person stop and think "This is WRONG! I should stop them!". Their only real crime is wearing gang colors. So, they won't attack you unless you attack them first. If they can get away with standing around, they don't wanna start any trouble. Plus, gives good space for a few new lines about how the heroes in this city go around shooting fire at people who's only crime is standing around.


That's how I'd do it, anyway. Not sure how feasible it is to go back and redo the old spawns like that, though.

I noticed when you got the "site down" thing it sent you to a new URL for that page. So just refreshing that constantly would be refreshing the site down page, not the store page. ...assuming that's what you were doing.

There are a handful of other changes as well. Plus, letting people who don't frequent Test (or the forums in general) know what's up is always a good thing. With that said, they're usually a bit slow on the patch notes... so they'll be up eventually.

It's not so much a ripoff of the Justice Lords as it is a common cliche. The whole parallel world where the heroes are the bad guys have been done many, MANY times. The Justice Lords is far from the first, and if we were to consider it in such simple terms, they're surely just a ripoff of something else that came before them. (also, the Praetorians were introduced in the game with issue 1. They're only being fleshed out in Going Rogue).

There may be some homage in there, but it is far from a ripoff.

Don't forget the Blood of the Black Stream, which were mentioned as an Epic AT, and had one or two ingame references... and not much else.

Avilans, I believe. And that was canceled because their original purpose was to give access to the wings costume parts, which at the time the devs thought would only be possible with an entirely new AT (probably due to animations issues?). But eventually they worked out how to give wings to everyone, so that EAT was canned. (If I remember correctly)

Also, the Nictus EAT was at one point said to be coming to villains, as their answer to the Heroes' Kheldians. But they were scrapped in favor of the Arachnos soldiers.

At most I think (hope) it would be an inf reduction rather than a complete loss (losing 25% of it rather than 100%, for example). Because personally, it makes sense to me that a highly popular hero suddenly turning evil will suddenly have more street cred on the other side than some nameless guy that does the same. If Superman goes evil, the entire world cowers. If some random dude who no one's heard of follows the same path... then who cares?

Point being, it makes sense to me that at least some of that "street cred" can be transferred, even if not fully. And the only reason I can think of why it wouldn't is just as an inf sink mechanic... which would be useless, since people would just transfer all their inf to an alt before switching, if that were the case.


...Although, thinking about it, it might be neater if there was an inf cost (based on level) associated with switching sides, rather than just losing a percentage of what you have. Say, if you're doing some evil stuff as a hero, that doesn't AUTOMATICALLY give you access to the Rogue Isles... someone has to offer it to you. Give you the option to take the plunge, and change your loyalties. And if you do, you have to pay a set amount of inf to change sides, otherwise "a no-name like you isn't even worth the effort".

Doing it that way makes more sense to me... and would help prevent "accidental" side swaps, which is always good (especially if the devs tie some sort of reward to NOT switching sides).

Well, probably not that.



What my hope/rampant speculation is, is a shape-shifting group that takes the form what they're fighting (or what's around them). So, if you're fighting them, they might change into YOU and start using your powers. Or change into something else. ...It'd be pretty neat.

No idea what it may actually be other than my baseless idea, but my guess is new enemy group.

Re-read the first post. It will be. They just haven't decided the price yet (But I can pretty much guarantee it will be $10 or less).