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Praetorian Earth was pretty much doomed when Hamidon went out of control. As Hamidon is opposed to technology and civilization on principle, the only choices Praetorians had were "become animals/savages on a Hamidon earth" or "leave the planet". The content in i23 suggests the second, but those who live outside Praetoria or keep fighting the Carnival will probably end up with the first. Could make for some cool mob models.
But at least Praetorian Hamidon (and probably other versions) only wants to "purify" its Earth. It does not care about Mars, or any other Earths.


Cole made two mistakes:
1. He appointed Praetors to rule and control society but did not put nearly enough effort into ruling and controlling the Praetors themselves. His answer to "who will watch the watchmen" was "I will". And then he didn't.
2. When other realities, notably Primal, were discovered he tried to conquer them instead of simply moving to one. I think the dealbreaker was that it would have put him and the people under the rule of whoever was already living on the world they moved to. And on an empty Earth there would be no threat to justify his absolute rule. The hardest part of having power is giving it up. Cole failed.

Cross game promotions is something that NCSoft generally does not do. This sets them apart from many (most?) other MMO game companies.
I guess it is because there are separate and largely independent developer studios - Paragon, Arenanet, Carbine and so on.

Still, I think a more active role in advertising their full offerings to the players of any one game, as well as special cross game deals and such would help. Especially since all the games are B2P or F2P so there is less chance of internal competition over subscriptions.

My 2 inf.

I think Tanker improvements should be aimed at the low end. In high end, team/trial content - either there is so much damage that mobs melt before individual damage contributions become really noticeable OR there are enemies tough enough that aggro control matters.

The Tanker AT mechanic: helps the AT perform their role, but does not reward for doing so.
Possible improvement: gauntlet and taunt grant their targets a short duration PBAoE damage buff that only affects Tankers.
Purpose: Tankers will be rewarded for building aggro and being "in the thick of it".

Tankers in teams: bruising was added to make multiple Tankers useful in teams but it is only really useful on tough single targets. When a team can blow up spawns easily, Tankers become unneeded.
Possible improvement: increase tanker AoE caps and area, add some -range to Tanker AoEs.
Purpose: Tankers become best at making spawns get close together so they can be blown up. And higher AoE area/cap translates into higher overall damage.

Also, I like the previously mentioned idea of reducing end costs. But I think it should be on the primary powerset side. If anything, Tankers should be encouraged to keep their toggles, especially the aggro/damage ones, running.

I think the TO -> DO -> SO progression is valid in itself, even if most people dont bother with TOs beyond those they pick up. But the "origin" part of the D/SOs does not really add any interesting complexity. It just makes finding stores and buying enhancements more annoying.
And the "lore" part does not hold up when generic IOs are mixed in anyway.

So I would suggest to have Training/Practice/Master Origin enhancements, with straightforward names, available to all origins.


And since you are a VIP, you could also do the first redside SSA as that is 10-20. You will not be able to choose the V-merit from it if you have not done a morality mission however.

This will be long. A lot of questions too.

First: what is this thread for, exactly ? As I understand, it is for player character costume models and textures, but not auras or power customizations which are covered by Tunnel Rat and Honey Badger. Is this correct ? What about costume pieces that contain particle effects ? What about costume pieces that interact with powers like rocket boots and piston boots ?

Second: that is an impressive list of things you cannot do at this time. "At this time" - released within next 6 months, I guess ?

Third: So what ARE you working on ? I understand not telling us about things that may never be released. But that is mostly applicable to tech, powers and concept art. Once the 3d art time is approved and first pass 3d model made, I really do not see how a player targeted costume set/part could never go live. And simply telling us what is in the pipeline, with no sneak peaks, would result in a) far better targeted suggestions b) aligned expectations, reducing post release drama.

Fourth: It seems inevitable that Monstrous will never get all the stuff normal legs have - shorts/skirts, new pieces to match new sets like Biolum, Mecha. Much less custom animations.
So let us approach this from the other side. Port the Monstrous feet to normal legs. The ankle joint is immobile anyway so just make the shin area closer to vertical. For example the insect claws already have both normal and monstrous versions.
Bonus: the new versions, being close to vertical will work with most pants AND will not look unbalanced in out of combat poses.

Fifth: new 3d effects on costume pieces: distortion effects, translucency shaders, flat textures drawn behind/inside models. "Not possible", "not now" or "shifty eyes" ?

Sixth: wings are not cape rigs and should not be mutually exclusive with them. Full body capes would probably clip too much but all waist capes should be allowed.

Seventh: new UI option "disable cape rigs" with settings "off", "all except player", "all". Purpose - allow multiple cape rigs on players without causing unavoidable performance impact when many players are in one place. Would also help people who have performance issues with the current "one cape rig per player" limit.

Finally: various costume suggestions in no particular order.

- Big tails. The tails we have so far, while nice, are all small.




- Animal Fur texture that is not Monstrous Fur with a different palette. Fluffy geo, while perfect, is probably not feasible. But even a plain fur texture with no skin showing would do.

- Reptile skin texture that uses two colors from costume palette instead of inheriting skin color. A version with scales everywhere would be great - the current reptilian option is naked in the belt area.

- Silhouette: full body tights that do not have a texture, do not take patterns and use the "glow" effect to prevent shading. One, changeable color. In itself, it would work as a "mysterious silhouette" and "energy being" with dark and light colors respectively. And it would provide a blank base for use with other costume pieces to simulate them being empty. Should be relatively easy to paint, yes ?

- "None" option for ears, especially for full masks.

- Cat feet (under monstrous) that do not have claws out. Because cat, seriously. And a scaled up version - bipeds need bigger feet than quadrupeds.

- Animal heads with their mouths closed. Because the hard part is already done.

- Ankle length boots and (more) shoes. Because existing pieces are few and limited, especially on males.

- Mantle back piece. Like High Collar but without the collar.

- A scarf that wraps around neck. With optional "trailing ends" cape rig - single rig with transparent space like the Scarf cape that already exists.

- Rularuu Staff. So we can go to Shadow Shard and poke the big eyes in the eye with an eye.

- Rularuu themed costume pack. Take the gloves and chest details from Rulu-Shin, add more stuff. Secondary versions where the eyes are textured as simple (glowing?) orbs, for mix-and-matching.

So the Revamp panel was more about a storyline update than an architecture rebuild. More Mercy than Atlas. Understandable, but the guidelines should have been given in advance of the Pummit so people could prepare accordingly. That also explains why the discussion was around blueside zones - the content redside is more or less OK, if lacking in quantity.

Regarding powersets, I would have suggested Gravity Blast, but the game is in need of new Defense sets. Wonder how it will look, considering atomic and glow(s) already exist as auras.

And those complaining about ignoring PvP would have (more of) a case if there had been panels for Inventions, Market, AE, Bases and so on. And in general I see little point in having dev/player discussion about PvP until/unless Paragon has committed/planned resources to actually do something with it.
Besides, open zone PvP is the least suitable version of PvP for the game that CityOf has become, not much to work with there. Arenas at least have some potential but they really need cross server tech. If that is implemented (probably for PvE first) that would be a good starting point for a discussion.

General:
Co-op zones is OK. Co-op content, we have more than enough. Instead of one "zone arc" have two - heroic and villainous, with possible "betrayal" transitions for rogues/vigilantes.

More zone events. Add them to old zones too. Ideally zone events should replace street sweeping, which also means taking out all the old "hunt X of Y" missions, especially blueside.

Blueside:
Shadow shard, 'nuff said (and now I want to make an alt named Nuff, heh)

Redside:
Not a single zone, but a number of subzones.
- Villa Montrose, Villa Requin, St Martial casino area - make then nice(r). Sunny weather. Colorful, decorated. Trash out of sight. Reason: this is where the rich and powerful live, will draw powerful contrast to the slums.
- Aeon City - this is supposed to be a futuristic city designed by a mad scientist. So make it look like one. Lots of glass and holograms/glows, as opposed to the bare metal and smog of Grandville. Metal bits are fine, but make them bright/shiny.
- Nerva - add a small Arachnos base on Primeva, move north Black Helicopter there. Reason: Arachnos Flyer in Longbow base doesn't make sense.
- Crucible - change theme from, whatever it currently is supposed to be, to a "villain lounge". An exclusive place where the big and bad can enjoy their crime paying. Some Arachnos tech bits, rich furniture, a gambling area, under-dressed waiters (one of whom would be the new V merit vendor), a shooting gallery with the hero mannequins from Icon.

Zwillinger,

I understand the point about priorities but I must disagree because you omitted skill sets.

Take the thread title literally. Hire a proofreader/writer, someone to check/fix text errors and write some dialogue/descriptions if/when there is time. Entry level job, only computer skill requirement would be text editing and english majors are not exactly hard to find

BTW, "writing on the side" is how War Witch got into game development and look how well that has worked.

What I would like to see in SSA2:

Mechanics:
Stay with the approach that SSAs change the world. So I23 is "world after SSA1", I24/25 is "world after SSA2" and so on. This way there is an ongoing storyline that everyone sees, as the world itself changes. But only VIPs/buyers get to play a part in how it happens.
It also lets writers run wild, for example, Manticore being in Phalanx in the aftermath of SSA1 does not prevent him from "falling into darkness" during SSA2.

Story:
Overall theme: "Who will rise?"
Plot threads:
- Statesmans death left a hole not only in the phalanx. He was the symbol, the face of Paragon Heroes. Even if devs let the player be that, many others still try to claim this mantle. Most of them unqualified, some hilariously so (Flambeaux! Dominatrix! Dreck!?).
- Penny Yin joins the Phalanx, tries to fit in and earn her place, with varying success. Players get to impart some Valuable Life Lessons instead of being her sidekicks.
- Redemption of Scirocco. Ice Mistral may go along or go rogue. One of the Mu guys replace him as patron. (Adding/Removing a patron is hard because it requires messing with the pools. Doing a text/model replace Scirocco->Mu'Mooo seems doable to me, especially if aiming for I25 timeframe. And having the First of Mu mystics give out Mu Mastery patron pool makes more sense than the current setup)
- Mynx joins Sands, Catgirl Mastery is added as 5th Patron Pool. Okay, not really.
- Recluse and Arachnos refocus on advancing their power, technology and influence instead of being obsessed with attacking Paragon. Join the fight against Praetoria/Battalion. But do not abandon their extreme darwinist ideology or ruthless approach.
- Ms. Liberty tries to reach out to Recluse. It fails, and causes a split between her and Longbow. A new, hardline leader rises to lead Longbow (Manticore?)

Regarding "more EBs in larger teams". Internet, correct me if I'm wrong but CityOf already has that. The mission where Westin Phipps sends the player against Civic Squad. There are 2-3 bosses (possibly downscaled to LTs) for a solo player and up to 6 (I think) for a team.
Perhaps this is something to look at, how it was done and can the technique be reused ?

The 'Moon' is in fact a large paper disc with the moon-like image painted on, in low earth orbit. It has been there since the real thing was destroyed in an alien invasion in 1973. Its purpose is to allow all the heroes who have moon-related powers to keep fighting crime.
It is not really a secret and the transparency is fairly obvious, but no one mentions it out of consideration for the previously mentioned supers.


I'd love a more accurate sky and longer day-night cycle in CityOf, but that is never going to get priority and I accept that.

Late to the party, I know. Sorry!

My comments:

Blueside:
- my first thought after finishing it: who betrayed us, Greer, DeVore or Akarist ? A true mastermind does not plan, they control. The overloader was hidden beforehand and heroes were guided to it. Greer was the one who started the whole mess, DeVore steered Player towards the Thorns, but only Akarist could have known which ritual he would suggest (as the CoT know a vast number of them).
- mission 3 would have made much more sense if Manti and Psyche went into Oranbega recklessly and Player was sent after them to control the situation. And an Ominous Sign when the assassin appears that explains why Players have to go back after them.
- the new Valentines arcs need some more text that Amber Widow is a very important part of the ritual, severely limiting the people it could work on.

Redside:
- Tyrka was ex-CoT, which means she got thrown out of her body and just needs to find another vessel, then she'll be good as new. This will need to be accounted for.

In regards to SSA, I expect Recluse to go after Wade. Manipulating heroes into helping him whenever possible, perhaps even a "teamup" gesture. And a betrayal when the cost/benefit analysis calls for it.
But not to kill Wade, to use him. To find out exactly how one steals incarnate powers and what the consequences are. This could advance project: FURY by decades. And if it takes a few vivisections.. that just makes it fun.

In a more general sense, I expect Lord Recluse to concentrate on "building" the future he has planned for primal earth, now that the one he considered his greatest obstacle is gone. He does have an ideal after all. A world where one is only limited by their power and willingness to use it. A world consisting of mini-kingdoms and wastelands ruled by superpowered persons with Arachnos maintaining a nominal peace. A world that will force its inhabitants to evolve or be destroyed by those who do. A world no one sane would want to invade. A world destroying or conquering every other it encounters, just because they can. Glorious.

Some aura suggestions:
- Alternate versions of Victorian decor: geometric patterns, mystic sigils, honeycomb forcefields, etc
- Hand auras that only show on hands instead of the whole arm like many existing auras.
- Tail auras: small fire at the tip is most obvious, but also electricity, sparklies, glows, etc
- Outline auras: where part of whole of the character has a glowing outline. We already have this with "glowing aura" but versions with different effects could be added. Such as the lines/circles that seem to connect the character to she space around them that were mentioned some posts back. Or one those CoL swirling portals, set to always face camera and draw behind character geometry, with a smaller "head" version.
- Inanimate companions: small crystals, cards, spoons, holographic screens, hightech bits that hover around the character. Different from magnetic/tarot in that they are static relative to character instead of orbiting around it. The HUD and winter halos are examples but so much more could be done here.

Regarding powersets, I would very much like a new "rays of light" alternative to the current "globs of stuff" effects on Radiation blast. Something similar could work for energy blast as well.


And on a more general note. I guess this might not be for your department, but then you can carry the message to the Static box in the tunnels that you.. mrm... rat ?
Some time ago players asked for new(er) shader model 3 effects on powers - most notably "real" distortion effects. Back then the reply was that the game only allowed one effect "package" and devs could not create power effects that would look good both with and without SM3.
Now, we do have tech for alternate animations/FX. And the definition of "low end" and "average" hardware has shifted. Could this thought be revisited ?

YES SIR!

Bonus points if we get an epic battle where the heroes are making a big push into RI and various villains come together to say "If this place is hell then we're the devils. GET. OUT."

I think a major in-game reason for Rogue Isles not being invaded by UN/US is that if you break it - you own it. And no one sane wants to own RI.
I can see it now:
"General X: Mr President, you want us to neutralize Arachnos, because they have supported and committed terrorist attacks on our territory. Our armed forces can defeat them in open battle. We can take over Rogue Isles. But then we would have to keep them, secure them. Our boys trying to keep peace in a land where a significant part of the population consists of super powered psychopaths. It may not end well."

And that was probably Recluse's plan all along. Gathering Destined Ones and letting them become Villains. Those that Arachnos can use or control, they will. The rest are still going to hate heroes more. And they will certainly resist anyone trying to bring actual justice to the Isles.

Cannot remember all the details but it was a Silver Mantis SF. We could not get a full team, someone left, someone dropped... at the end there were three of us. I was on a DP/Kin corruptor. We slowly cleared the platform and got to the top. Not easy, not too bad. Then the AV spawned, with his boss friends and we wiped.
So back to hospital and stealth through the cargo ship.
Apparently he spawns at the other, burning ship because that is where we found and fought him. Just three of us, at a burning wreck with the platform and masses of flying Sky Raiders in the distant background. I was using the kin heal whenever it was up, redrawing pistols all the time.
And it worked.

Chest detail: giant zipper.
For when we want to suggest that the costume is, in fact, a costume.
Many and varied possible uses, from a do-it-yourself hero outfit to something more.