Cptn_Courageous

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For reasons listed above: specifically costume parts should be available to the masses not based on time played.

However, how about these for veteran's rewards:

1. A wide cone Roundhouse Kick to go with Sands of Mu?
2. A self heal power--slow recharge-- equivalent to a small green?
3. Boost to Brawl to Moderate damage along the lines of Air Superiority (damage wise).
4. Cryonite Armor toggle -- or some other defensive armor/shield.

The only reason to go to a new engine is because they are going to a new game: Universe of Heroes... or UoX...whatever.

Something that would allow a larger scale than the current CoX--from earth to outer space, vehicles, covering the globe and beyond!! (Where's Buzz Lightyear when you need him?)

Example: you could have areas in all the continents, various environments (deserts, jungles, forests, underwater, the Moon, Mars, the Asteroids, Planet Exxon (or whatever), plus all the alternate dimensions, time travel, etc...

Oh wait isn't that was Heroes Online was supposed to be doing... but sucked.

I'm happy with what they're doing with Praetorian Earth, but I'd like more...

Lots of the early content in the game was really really shallow. The much of the Paragon City content needs a revamp. Comment was from the Dev's that they were going to concentrate on moving forward not on fixing the old stuff...but...

Gee something really needs to be done with Boomtown. Striga is nearly deserted most of the time more needs to be done with it. The PvP zones are mostly desterted there's no real pressing reason to be there... They need more zones for 40's level heroes, Paragrine Island is way too small, and portal missions get boring after a while--it's like doing train missions over and over. There needs to be more going on in Eden and Crey's Folly. Something could be done in the way of underwater adventures with Talos.

In essence there's a lot that could be done with the current engine that hasn't been yet. I'm not unhappy with the current engine, it's ok I can live with the current graphics, I just want more... MORE!? YOU WANT MORE!? Yes Sir, Can I please have some more...

Dismissive posters aside (as in being dismissed)...

I don't really see a problem with doing a primary or secondary power respec as a concept under the following rules.

1. You get one primary or secondary power respect in your character's life.
2. You can get the respec at level 10 or level 20 by doing a trial. You can do it once, and never again.
3. You can't change your AT.

Why? Because
1) by the time you get to 10 or 20 you know whether or not you hate the powerset you're stuck with.

My wife gets to level 8-10 and knows whether she's going to love or hate her character based on how the powers play (can't convince her that things will get better later). Ok so we're always in a leveling pact... all the time, every character pair (this is a husband-wife thing--part of having a wife who loves playing COH with me.). So when she hits level 10... and I've got a character that I'm really getting into, and she hates hers... Well, there we go... we sell off everything mail the INF to ourselves and start over. A little frustrating sometimes--but happy wife, happy life... If she could just change that one powerset, and it's usually the primary or the secondary and not both or the AT... well things would be a lot easier for both of us. So I've had to restart umpteen characters because of this.

2) By 10 to 20 nobody's had a chance to level to the 'Good' bits of their character development, avoid the hard stuff, and exploit the system.

3) There's still plenty of time to learn your new powerset before you hit 50 so you don't act like a newb with it on a TF.

I read all the previous posts so you can save any comments intended for my edification on why it's not going to happen.

My wife and I were speculating on the nature of the clockwork when Going Rogue first came out.

I had remembered seeing this episode of "Sliders" where they went to a world where there were all these supposedly "robotic" servants who did all the menial service in that world. Turned out that they were actually human beings (of a race/class undesired by the authorities) that had been converted into these things. These "robots" were called "Edees" were blue skined and had no mouthes. It was discovered that these things were really processed humans when the 'Sliders' broke into a processing facillity and found the mother of a young man they met half converted to into one of these things. (She was supposedly Hispanic... so lots of social comentary was implied).

Additionally came to mind the episodes from Dr. Who where average people are captured by the Cybermen and turned into other Cybermen-- Borg like mechanical robo-cyborgs (their brains were implanted into the mechanical shell and were controled by the head cyberman). Also think Robocop.

I was sorta suspecting that the Clockwork were really going to be disidents who Cole had converted into cyberslaves. After all that would be one way of handling the disident problem. Without actually "killing" them, you turn them into useful members of society. I'm sure that would appeal to Emperor Cole... Of course that sort of conversion was hinted at with the Clockwork Seers, although the transfer was just their psychic entity rather than "wetware". And of course the conversion of the Ghouls... although they are actually Loyalists... makes one wonder if their induction into that program was entirely voluntary (certainly it could not be informed).

Transformation is of course a theme throughout COH and Sci-fi in general: warwolves, vamprires, Vazilok, Lost, etc. Even among Hero's and Villians: Kheldians, Spiders, etc. and of course the Incarnate system. Of course with the costume creator you can have different appearances to your character and simulate a transformation either to machine, or something biological. Occasionally a character can go through a transformation as part of a mission: the Vazilok Patient Zero arc comes to mind as does the Infiltration of the Freaks (via a Freak Disguise), or Aracnos (as in the Agent G missions), and of course my favorite... the secondary mutation malfunction (hey hey we're the Monkey's). Of course I think you should have melee and psychic abilities in that form so you're not totally useless.

It would be interesting to have more of that sort of thing going on...

Perhaps a story arc where you are turned into a clockwork and have to find your body and get restored to it. (The body could be preserved in Praetor Barrie's Lab somewhere). Or turned into a Ghoul--again having to find the means to undo what's been done to you.

The same could happen with the Rikti War Zone (single player mission possibilities)...think District 9. This could be a very cool way of getting into the Rikti Mother Ship and finding more out about the Rikti from a lore standpoint. We know we have a cure...

There are lots of possibilities.

Closing Doors

I think that it would be neat if you could not only open doors inside missions, but also close them after you. I know that there are some with this property in Praetoria in the sewers, but I'm refering to doors inside missions in Paragon City.

It seems to me that those sliding doors in warehouses and labs should both open and shut.

E.g. you open a huge door. You and 20 goons stare at each other for a very pregnant pause, you close the door before they start shooting the poagies out of you... I've wanted to, I know you have too.

I know there's been some movement that way but I'm hoping for more.

I also don't see why said goons couldn't open said door, might take them a couple of moments, and pursue you.

Opening Doors

I would like to see some more mini-game activity around doors and alarms.

E.g. you could have a box appear on the screen with several wires in it and some connections. Using a testing device on the conncections could help you determine how to move the wires to new connections to 1) disable the alarm, 2) unlock the door, 3) lock the door so your pursuers can't follow.

I think there should be three ways to open a door 1) unlock it (with a key--or lock pick it) 2) Bust it down--already have some of that in the game 3) just click on it to open (because it's already unlocked). Busting down doors should attract attention--like proximity bombs.

Finding a key by defeating bad guys as currently set up is not quite interactive enough for my tastes. I don't want to just be told I've found a key, I want to see it and use it. If you find a key you ought to have a window for keys, then be able to use the key on something (drag and drop or click on the key then on the lock). Maybe some keys would be clues to some other mission-- e.g. key goes to the car parked outside the mission where there's eveidence of another crime leading you to another mission.

Wall safes and combo-locks should have a way to ***** the lock (mini-game) maybe have tumblers which you can use your mouse to move back and forth and listen to the sound. Maybe there would be a visual clue like there would be three ligths which would light up as you rotate the combination.

I'm a great fan of stealth missions--they should have some where you go in and plant a bug and get out without being caught... or go in photograph some evidence and get out without alerting the bad guys. You could use the camera emote.

Your best defense is hover + stealth. I usually get both before level 10. Hover keeps you out of melee range (melee hurts blasters--we're exceptionally squishy) and Stealth gets you into position for alpha strikes without getting shot to bits before you get into range...at least most of the time. Getting a Freebird Stealth in hover will greatly help in that regard. Hover + Stealth does not equal invulnerability however.

General Rule: don't "blap" unless you have a good tank to draw the agro. Hotfeet + Burn+ Combustion + Fire-sword circle = many many bodies very fast. Aim + Build up + fireball + Flaming Breath + Rain of Fire also = many many bodies very fast. The former needs a tank, the latter does not and you can hover while doing it.

I've found medicine to be invaluable: 2 healing enh + a recharge enh = 307 points healed per activation... this greatly reduces down time.

I find Fire/Fire blasters to be reasonably good at surviving as long as you keep the general rule in in mind (don't melee unless you have a tank to take the agro). Hover Blast.

Fire/Fire Blasters can dish out insane amounts of damage, even so they are glass cannons and if you have a group of ranged opponents they can give you an opportunity to inspect the floor very quickly. So be careful.

It's been 5 years since the introduction of this idea. I've even introduced similar concepts myself in other posts. Do you really think they'll ever do anything with this?

I would say IF you're going to start some new Archetypes, they should be sets that people open after 50... I.e. new epics.

How about this:

Epic Elemental Hero: Ice, Electricity, or Fire
Primary set Attack--: player could choose any melee, ranged or PBAOE power related to their element in whatever combination they wish, any 9 mix and match. If it does damage they can choose it. They can be grouped according to level.

Secondary set--: any control, buff or debuff power related to their element. This includes heals, build-ups, buffs, debuffs, armors, auras. Any 9 mix and match.

Special Movement Power:
Ice: ice slide like the bonus slider (run) power but at super speed and can fly.
Electricity: electric bolt--super jump+ss (player turns into a lighting bolt)
Fire: flaming fly (player has a flaming aura and flies at super speed).

I see you read my previous post and heavily borrowed from it.

How about:

1. More options for Art work-- allow some of the nice landscapes etc. from Praetorian buildings to be in bases. The number and style of the base wall decorations is a bit limited.

2. Take off the storage limits on the smaller bases. Let people stack up as much storage as they like up to the room's limitations. The same goes for energy and control. Let people cram as much as they want into spaces if they have the room.

3. Recipe files--store unused recipes in the files. (Sometimes I don't have enough cash to make up a recipe, I don't want to carry it around, and I don't want it cluttering up my Wentworths account until I can actually afford to make it... also sometimes I can't use that recipe, and I want to store it for another character who can use it).

4. There needs to be more useful items you can make with the workshop work benches. Like temporary powers: grenades, healing kits, inspirations, etc.

5. The bases are somewhat restricted architecturally: Give them more vertical space. Let bases have several levels, give us the tools to make galleries, arcades, balconies, stairwells, etc. Give each size of base a certain number of blocks, allow the designer to place those blocks in a number of configurations: squaty rectangular, long and thin, tall retangular, L shaped, etc.

6. Allow us to put decor & defense in hallways.

7. Give us the tools to put doorways at the end of halls so you can enter a room through a door.

8. Allow us to up-grade base healing pods to heal 100% just like a hospital.

9. Allow us to make big rooms with multiple zones: Medical, Workshop, Control, Energy. Give us the tools to divide up big rooms with walls and platforms. That would also posit the need for more stair and ramp options.

I think that perhaps putting an extra sound effects option might be a bit much...

However, I suppose sound effects might be linked to custom pistol model representation:

I.e. if a pistol model has a silencer on it it would play the silenced pistol sound effect, UZI's would play a short auto burst effect, etc. That would be nice.

Personally I would like to have some sort of energy / beam weapon model option-- especially something from the golden age (like a Buck Rodgers / Flash Gordon syle art deco rocket pistol). Doesn't have to be a full beam like x-ray eyes from the radiation set, could be just another rendition of the resistance tracer fire: red-orange for fire, green for toxic, white for cold, energy-blue for normal. An energy bolt with circles around it would look nice and period appropriate.

A rail/ring gun option would be nice: could have a p'zing--thawp! sound effect.

The change to Dimensional Shift sounds interesting what about this?

1. Creates a big Dimensional shift patch on the ground (about the size of a control ice slick or vocanic gasses).
2. Allies and enemies can enter and exit both would be phased.
3. Phased can attack/affect phased within the patch.
4. Enemies in the patch are slowed making it difficult for them to exit.
5. Duration about the same as ice slick or volcanic gasses.

This might have some interesting interactions with repulsion bubble, hurricane, or bonfire... i.e. foes attempting to enter the bubble would be repulsed/thrown out essentially rendering the allies inside invulnerable for the duration of the shift.

I like the idea of turning Lift into an AOE. You could even lower the damage from Moderate to Minor. Just keep the recharge time fairly short so by the time they're getting up again you can hit them again with it. I'm not sure the developers would buy into this, considering that Wormhole is essentially a group "Lift" with stun.

I like the the idea of turning propel into an AOE. However, I'd suggest that it be more like a grenade than a cone. Object hits the target and explodes doing damage to the target and a small radius around them knocking them down. The object exploding would also get rid of the 'foam' bouncy objects cluttering the landscape (which really sorta dispells the feeling that the target was hit by a 'heavy' object when it goes skittering away from you the instant you bump into it).

I agree about animation times. Many powers in this game have animation times that are very very long and really slow things down. I realize that the slowing down may be part of the design, but mostly they're really annoying to play in the heat of battle. Hit a button, the animation time so slow that your opponent kills you before the animation finishes. By the same token just remember that shortening the animation time for Powers like Propel will also shorten them for the MOBs that use them (like Family Bosses). I'm good with that though, because the over all affect will help our performance as players. I'd really encourage the developers to review the activation and animation times on those powers in the gravity set with long delays, and see if something couldn't be done to shorten them a bit.

One thing that this powerset could really use is an AOE slow. I mean really, this is gravity! You ought to be able to establish a patch of high gravity that would make your opponent's feet really heavy slowing them down...and of course moving slowly under intense gravity would tire you out (thus my suggestion for -endurance). That seems to me an obvious choice for a power in this set.

Dimensional shift... well not so much. I mean I get the whole black hole thing where you distort time and space. I guess that happen to foes shot through the worm hole or near a black hole. Would seem to me that it would make sense for the foes exiting the wormhole to be disoriented and temporarily phased. (I'm speaking here from a concept stance--people shot through wormholes might possibly go through a dimensional shift in the process--I'm probably wierd but I think that powers should have a justifiable explaination for the resulting effect). Dimensional Shift is in the catagory of "Which of these things is not like the others". It's a power that, to me, seems a little odd in this set. Perhaps there needs to be a dimensional control set. That could be fun, but that's another topic.

I could see taking the group imobilize and turn it into a group slow + endurance drain, and then put some damage in the group hold and make it come up faster. Group imobilize usually gets me shot to pieces anyway...

In terms of rearranging powers...

I'd take Wormhole and trade its position with Propel (up the damage, make it AOE, and reduce the animation time). That would give more control in the early part of the power set, and it would give gravity controllers a higher damage AOE power in the later game.

Hmm,

Well, again I go back to the idea that at least in part the set is at least minorly broken because there's actually not enough control in the control. I.e. most of what you have to work with is suicidal vs. groups at lower levels.

There's not much there to keep people off your back vs. groups at under 20, and lots to make them hate you big time.

That's why I suggested Gravity Sink. That would work thematically and provide the extra control that would keep you from getting over-run by angry mobs. Right now they just eat your head after one or two attacks.

I'd rather have some of the following powers in Gravity control than a few of the less useful powers currently there.

Gravity Sink: creates an AOE which slows movement and drains endurance to critters moving through it. Would bring down flyers. Moving though a field like that should tire someone out.

Group Levitate would be awesome: throw the whole group up in the air with anti-gravity and then smash them to the earth by sucking them back down... minor damage + knock-up

Wormhole: should have a stun factor to it. If you're sucked through a worm hole and spit out the other end shouldn't you be disoriented?

I like Propel, but it's not really needed in Grav for a Dominator. Dominators already have a lot of damage in their secondary.

The way in which the developers could address the concerns of the whiners on a change in Origins actually making a difference, is to create respec's that allow people to change their origin.

This could be done through a mission-- call it a trial -- something like a respec mission.

Each Origin could have it's own 'trial'... I.e. if you want to become a Science origin and you were something else you could do the 'Science Trial', etc.

The whole idea behind making Origins more significant in the way they affect characters is to make each character more unique and differentiated.

I realize that scares some people. Some people don't like the idea that someone else is going to get something they don't have:: *#&@ if he's got a cherry on the top of his chocolate cake then #@(&*&$*! I need to have that on my carrot cake too...doesn't matter if I'm actually going to eat it or not! People will whine about all sorts of insignificant stuff.

Even if the developers decided to make Origins more significant and meaningful, it wouldn't break the game. They know what they're doing and it would actually enhance it (whatever it was they came up with).

It's wasn't a matter of wisdom on the part of the developers that they didn't make Origins more significant it was a matter of priorities. They were just working on other features that were more important to them.

Could the whole issue of Origins be reworked and integrated into the game at this point? Maybe. It would be a lot of work. I doubt if they'll do much of anything at this point in that regard, they have other directions they're headed and other priorities.

Personally I would have liked to see the different origins aquire and enhance their powers in different ways.

Magic= collect/create spells, and artifacts.
Mutation = go through progressive mutations/gene splicing-therapy
Science = create formulas, implants, & experimental exposures
Technology = invent/create gadgets and devices.
Natural = aquire special equipment, training

It would have been interesting to have tasks to complete for each level by fighting your Origin's special villian group. (There used to be villian groups especially keyed for each origin).

It would have been interesting to have other activities besides just clicking and killing... such as the once proposed skills system....(computer hacking, wire tapping, lock picking, bomb disposal, sluething, etc.) which would have given this game more depth.

The skill system could have been origin oriented... we can see a brief ghost of what that might have developed into in the Praetorian massive bomb mission where, depending on your origin, it gives you a different method of disarming the big pile of explosives.

The original game design was simplified and dumbed down because the original designers thought we were too stupid to 'get it' in a more open powers system. Water under the bridge. We live with a simplified game system, I like the game...it could use some more depth. Shrug.

There are those people who like to access the lore aspects of the game through wiki or other sources outside the game... but...

Wouldn't it be cool if the game allowed you to access general lore knowledge through an in game resource... Namely a Library or number of libraries.

What if the University Library actually contained shelves with books on them that allowed you to read the history of Paragon City? What if the Midnight Club Library had information on various magic villian groups that you could browse through in game?

There could also be an in game Paragon City Library with all sorts of Lore information.

The book mechanic could be fairly easy to make: Click on the book, a window appears with the text and illustration (if any). Long passages could be on multiple "pages" just click the arrow to move to the next page.---system's already in place with the clue windows---

Anyway it could be nice to have background on various villian groups and past events accessible through the game.

I concur with many of the observations made.

All opinions are subjective... so here are my subjective opinions.

1. Master Mind pet sounds are a bit loud and can be annoying... especially the demons (the scream is irritating) and clanking of the robots. This can be especially annoying in shops and Wentworths.

2. The sounds of Kinetics Melee are OK, but it could be more subtle; and it would be nice to have the option of a more wooshy wind sort of sound acompanied by an impact, instead of the mechanical whine (reminds me of those wind-up flashlights only lower). The execution time of those powers are also a bit slow due to the wind up... damage is not overwhelming for the lower powers so: slow execution + slow recharage+ weak damage = very slow fights.

3. Sonic powers sounds have been an issue for me...Ever since they came out, I've never been able to get one of those characters very far along because of the annoying sounds. The factory whistle sound, and other harsh noises seem wrong for the sort of characters I make: Merfolk, Opera Singers, etc. Also, they should do something different graphically for the sonic buffs. Sphere's are too much like FF. I find FF bubble annoying and sonic are worse because of the wave pattern...makes it hard to see outside the bubble. Perhaps a sonic wave hula-hoop or three.

I would love to see a more musical rendition of the powers... also, male and female sonic sounds should be different. It's wierd to see the same sound come out of both genders, especially some of the harsher sounds.

Personal preference:

Mace: sounds far too squishy /liquidy to me... like dropping a bowling ball into a bottomless vat of peeled tomatos. I would like to hear a more robust sound...like a thiiiiWHAP! or krrrCRUNCH! or vaaABOOOM! when it hits.

Lastly, maybe we could have some sort of volume supression system in Wentworths so we don't have to listen to noisy pets and toggle powers. The ones I fine really annoying are spines continuously firing off, fire pulses, mud pots, screaming demons, and clanking robots.

OK, for all the nay-sayers here's a disclaimer: "I'm sure the developers...being bright intelligent people...know what their engine is capable of and how much time and effort it would take to integrate this suggestion into the game. We all know they'll do whatever is possible within their goals for the game, and what's not or is beyond their resources won't get done."

Now for the person who pulled the "Reality" card out and laid it on the table... Are you sure you really want to do that in regard to a game where people fly around shooting bolts of "whatever" out of some body part?... i.e. this isn't reality.

The proper question is: Can a reasonable story line be constructed for the appearance of said beasties.

The answer is: sure, any writer worth their salt can think up a nearly infinite number of scenarios why one or more beasties should be roaming around Paragon City on the loose.

Question: Should the developers stop what they're currently working on in terms of power sets or other sets to work on this?

Answer: That's a wierd question. They'll work on what they think is important. More content is just as important as more power sets...and IMHO more important. More content = more to explore, more story lines, more interesting situations to experience. I'm pretty sure they're not going to completely abandon one for the other. It's a balance.

The addition of animal forms though represents a huge leap forward in content potential for this game. Not just for mobs but for player content as well. There are all sorts of possiblilities from pets to player costumes (think transformation...i.e. a player could tranform into a wolf, panther, tiger, or bear).

Transformation (a completely different issue) would have it's issues of course> animations for scrappers, tanks, brutes, and stalkers. Most of these could be fairly common among the different types (swipes/slashes, single & two claw/paw). Shooting animations for blasters, controllers, defenders, corruptors and dominators, could eminate from the eyes or mouth. Some powers would obviously not be suited for all animal types... like throwing boulders, an alternative would have to be found.

The work for doing all these animations would obviously not be trivial... but it might be a good job for some summer interns hoping to impress Paragon Studios.