JKPhage

I'm kind of hoping it's the Spring Fling going live and the Pocket D pack. It's more than likely the Roman pack going live, but I kind of want the Pocket D stuff more. I have a toon that will be getting a complete makeover once it does, upgrading his jeans and vest, and another character who I've been playing who basically looks like crap because I'm waiting on the punk hair to complete her look.

I'll second Anti_Proton on the origin based animation ideas, obviously NOT restricted by origin, just called that. I'd love to have a fire controller/dominator that draws a quick rune in the air with their hand that the blast/spell fires from to make it look like they're casting magic, not just slinging fireballs haphazardly. Same with ice/elec/dark stuff. Would also be nice to see alternate staff/gun animations for the blast sets. It was discussed very heavily a while back but I've noticed it kind of drop off/disappear lately. I know it'd take alot of work, but if it was scheduled as a major issue feature (like the original power customization was) then I don't see why it couldn't have time devoted to it. It would take alot of UI work to set it up so you can choose a weapon from either staff or gun so it's customizable, but beyond that it would just take some animation/fx tweaks to have the attacks originate from a magic staff for spellcasters or from a high-tech rifle, pistol for science/tech people. I don't think the actual tweaking to have the fx originate from these sources would be too much considering we see Midnighter and Circle of Thorns slinging staves all the time and it works just fine.

That's all rather complex though, so I'll admit I'd love to see some slightly flashier alternate animations for those younger/punker heroes, like for example: Fireball. Instead of just step forward and throw, maybe we could get something like a forward flip and toss like a trick throw in basketball. I could see a fire blaster doing that and then giving the enemy a little "And what?" gesture. Just make them look more cocky. Could also give us something more elegant styled like Sailor Neptune's turn to the side, back hand aloft, blast type attack.



There's all kinds of possibilities, but I'd just be happy for some alternates that don't just look like "stand still and shoot" but PLEASE Devs, if you're reading this, no more of those stupid looking "step forward and push with my hands while rocking on the balls of my feet" animations. They look so stupid I can't bring myself to even think about using them, and I've yet to actually see someone use them in game, which should really say something about how bad they look.

I'm gonna agree that, if nothing else, the Phalanx needs a makeover. All the Praetorians got new spiffy models and they make the Phalanx look like dog poo in comparison. Posi could use some newer, more modern looking armor, Citadel could use an upgrade so he doesn't look like a tin can compared to Siege, maybe Synapse could spruce up his look a bit, and heck, I'm sure Numina could just give herself something a bit more floaty and wispy, perhaps with some of those sybyll-esque cloth bits to make her look more ghostly. This is especially notable when seeing them all next to Penelope in her sleek, modern outfit.

As far as new Phalanx members? I fully agree with Faultline and Fusionette being inducted to a "new" Phalanx. They've more than earned their chops. I'd also love to see a Rikti or even a brand new alien species represented. I think a redeemed Rikti who perhaps proves themselves to be a real hero in some upcoming content would be nifty. I can imagine people saying on the street 'Hey, did you hear about that building that collapsed last week? They say a Rikti saved all the people by holding up the rubble with his powers!'. It would add some flavor to the bunch. I'd also put in a vote for something like an Arachnos defector, a rogue Widow or something so the team could have a darker edge to them with a trained assassin. Would make for some fun conflict with Manticore too as he's a darker hero with vigilante leanings and wouldn't like an ex-spider AT ALL, and they probably wouldn't like him because he'd be up in their grill 24/7. If not an ex-spider then at least something like a villain archetype, probably a Dominator or Stalker for maximum "you haven't seen this in the Phalanx before"

I... it... just...

Now imagining Recluse chasing after Liberty in her underwear singing "Planet Schmanet Janet". It will never leave my head.

I'm definitely intrigued by this, though I'll also express my concern over the future of that character. I wouldn't mind if it was something that we might have some say in (i.e. if my troller Magical Master was chosen, the devs would possibly correspond with me whenever content involving him was being made to see how he would react and what his actions would likely be. He's a hammy, over-the-top stage magician pastiche with a heart of gold so he's more likely to spout off cheesy one liners like "Stop right there, ruffian! Behold the magic of JUSTICE!", would that still be put into the game?) but if it's something that's going to remove the character from my ability to play and completely remove it from my influence I'd have concerns.

On the flip side, though, if I was allowed to keep the character I'd be interested to know if the dev team would possibly give them a signature makeover with a custom piece or two that's signature to them and allow me to keep playing that character with these unique pieces. THAT would be pretty sweet. I've got a few toons that I'd love to see make it into the Phalanx. One in particular that I really loved playing and that I've had innumerable compliments for on costume I ended up parking at 50 because I just moved on to other ATs and found it difficult to play her anymore. I'd love to see her move to the Phalanx as she's a very iconic-style character and would bring something new to the table. The question is, how is this character going to be chosen? Can't wait to hear more on the subject and get some more details!

I suppose I should also point out, as I don't know if my original post was clear in it's intention, that I'd prefer we be able to select each pet individually, so I could have a mixed squad of customized pets, say a male and female thug, a female arsonist, male and female enforcers, and a huge bruiser. Would make for a pretty good looking street gang in my opinion.

Honestly if we're going to be given customization I'd ideally like the ability to put each individual minion through a mini-costume creator with only select pieces available based on which set you picked. For example: If you pick Robotics then you can choose which body-type and scale then you'll be given a list of all the tech options available to build your minions, perhaps with a few special bits that don't work on player rigs like Victoria heads/faces and the like, but otherwise just have the tech options, robotic arms/legs, clockwork faces, etc. If you pick Thugs you'll have the option of street clothes and such, hopefully with an option for skirts and various bits for the females, but mostly including pants, tank tops, t-shirts, tattoos, chain/barbed wire pieces and all the others that can evoke thug imagery. You could make a classy looking gang of well-dressed gangsters, a pin-striped group of Family bruisers, or a down and dirty street mob. And so on with Mercenaries getting pieces to build military/stealth/spec-ops costumes (Possibly with costume options to make a Longbow or Arachnos squad?), Ninjas getting various ninja/samurai parts, maybe not the most accurate but this is City of Heroes, give us the ninja pack plus various eastern-styled pieces plus a few mask options for the Oni and we're good. Heck, they could even throw in just an option to select certain zombies from the Zombie Apocalypse for zombie masterminds.

Anyway, dreamtime over. I know options like that would be VERY complex and take a VERY long time to implement, but for all we know, they could be working on that as we speak and just keeping it secret since it will take so long. I'd imagine with restricted costume options based on the set you chose it would prevent people from making a squadron of samurai bikini hookers or whatever. As far as just having selectable minions, that I can definitely cook up some ideas for.

Zombies: First/Second tier could have options to select from the Banished Pantheon zombies and Apocalypse zombies tier one and two (Husks/Chambers and the basic Apocalypse zombies plus the larger fleshy-looking ones with no clothing/hair). The Lich could have an option for Nightmare from Apocalypse or possibly a Death Shaman from the Banished Pantheon. It would give people an option to basically be a BP mastermind without having to adjust powers or anything. Also it would give people who don't want to look like a medieval sorceror an option to look more like a mad scientist who unleashed a zombie plague with the Apocalypse zombies.

Thugs: Give us Family, Warriors, Skulls and Hellions to choose from (include a few new, pre-built female models), plus any other applicable low-level street-thug groups. Not only does it give you an option for a particular sell (Rogue or redeemed) of criminals, but it also could present the option to mix and match so you could have some sort of Suicide Squad of various redeemed criminals.

Mercenaries: Malta and Knives of Artemis options, mix and match obviously. One and done really, unless the devs feel generous and are willing to give us options from Vanguard, Longbow and Arachnos as well. And if we're REALLY lucky maybe the RIP and PPD (Primal and Praetorian versions). Any pre-existing, organized agency really. Malta and Knives are most fitting, but Vanguard and Longbow would be pretty good too. Arachnos would be absolutely AMAZING, but we'd have to have the option of female banes/huntsmen too.

Robotics: Obviously Clockwork (both Primal and Praetorian), Victorias, Warworks, Nemesis, perhaps some Rikti drones thrown in for good measure? Mostly the Vickys that would be nice to have so we could make a fembot assassination squad without them being sex objects.

Ninjas: Tsoo really, maybe Syndicate if we want something more Yakuza based? Not too much to run off of in game already. Those two groups would provide plenty of options, but some nice pre-built m/f/h models using the Ninja pack would be nice options to have as well.

Demons: They really would only work as is, unless the devs want to give us some COT options like hordelings, succubi, behemoths, blade princes and hellfrosts. I would be especially okay with a bunch of Hordelings, Succubi and a Blade Prince for this, but that's entirely up to them. I think they're kind of iconic as the bestial/non-gendered set that they are.

I can't speak for anyone else but I've NEVER been able to log in permanently. I can check that "keep me logged in" box until my finger bleeds and every time I close the browser window or navigate away for more than five minutes I have to log in again. If there was ever a solution mentioned I never heard about it or it never got back around to me. And yes, I have cookies enabled and everything. Some sites I've remained logged into without visiting them for MONTHS at a time, and in one case over a year without being logged out. Somehow this forum just will NOT keep me logged.

I never knew her, sadly, but seeing the outpouring of love and sympathy you can tell what a wonderful person she was. I'm one of those people who sheds tears for people I don't even know, so for what it's worth, know that someone out there cried for her. This community is full of wonderful people, and the touching gestures and warm wishes just make me sad that I never had the privelage of meeting her. All my best for your family, Thorgar, and I hope she's found peace.

Seconding the suggestion of two patterns available on tights. It would not only allow for more than two colors on any given part, but the layering of having an upper and lower pattern would, as mentioned, allow for some really interesting/unique effects, like using Diablo and a top layer and Sharp as a bottom layer in a different color. I could give the character a black shoulder/neck cowl on a white body with red arms if I wanted. Or the stripe pattern as a bottom layer with the emblem circle as a top layer to create a sort of Statesman-like effect with the chest detail inside, possibly with unique colors of it's own. This alone would open up SO MANY OPTIONS it would be ridiculous.

As far as your suggestions David, I'd vote for a little bit of all three. A retouch of the current tights (keeping the old version as you noted) to look more like actual clothing (and hopefully done in such a way that we could FINALLY have white tights with skin that don't look see-through.) and if you have the time/ability, an option to have the same type of texturing to match body tights on face masks/cowls. Different material types (latex/metal/leather/spandex) would also be FANTASTIC. A few loose tights options ala Alan Scott Green Lantern would be nice for Golden Age toons, but would require alot of extra options like high collars with tights and various other campy accessories that it might be better saved for a pack all it's own. The textured tights ala Marvel movies would be nice too if they come with the material options and mutli-pattern options. In the end I think the most versatile option would be A, with basic tights upgraded, various materials and multiple patterns. It would make for the most prolific customization with (what I would assume is) the least amount of effort.

I'm also going to reiterate my desire to have brooches from the cape options as forehead decorations and waist decorations/belt buckles. This would allow us to give our characters a sort of emblem without it being a huge, gaudy, glaring symbol on our chest, but rather something more understated, like a belt with a crescent moon buckle, or a skull sewn onto our tights at mid-waist without a belt for a more minimalist look. The best example I can think of for a forehead emblem is this:



It's not elaborate, but we have brooches like this, and I imagine something similar to the tiaras for female toons, but without the headband part (Perhaps an option of forhead emblem with or without band?) so that my toons could possibly just have a gem set into their forehead or something of the like. It would make a very useful piece for more ethnic or possibly alien character. If I could have a toon with two pattern overlays and a crescent moon belt I'd be in heaven.

Gonna have to take a run at this myself and see if there's anymore info that wasn't divulged here. This sounds really pivotal to the story progression if you ask me. Especially with the Merulina bit Basil pointed out, this could tie alot of plot threads together. I'd love to see something possibly indicating that Shiva and Merulina were both some sort of primordial cosmic goddesses or something like that. They both seem similar enough. Merulina came to Earth from space, knew SOMETHING about that meteor that crashed and the figure that came from it and destroyed her. Maybe that figure is the Dark Father? Or maybe the Dark Father is the leader of The Battalion? Or maybe both? Being an elder god on level with Shiva and Merulina and directing the coming storm at Earth would definitely make for one EPIC struggle to save the world.

And as a Lovecraft fan I'm always glad to see elder god/cosmic beings of god-like power make it into stories as monumental foes. Bring on the eldritch stuff, I look forward to seeing how awesome/horrifying they are.

I'd honestly like a touch of all three options you listed David. Yeah, Defense and Olympian cover the modern tights well but I'd also like a modern tights option that doesn't have extra details and seams so much as just a good textured look to it that we can match across the gloves and everything, ala Spiderman in the films. This should be an easy enough thing to not rule out other items as well.

The simple tights with some upgrades to texture, to make them resemble cloth/leather/latex would be lovely, again so we could make full-body tights that don't look painted on. As someone else mentioned, some new "emblem" patterns and simplified pattern options would be very useful so we could take the base tights and build up from there to create a unique look.

The domino mask, and a few variations on shape there-of, as well as options for those to have the lens/white-eye effect, would fill in SO many gaps it's not even funny. I'd also really like something similar to Manticore's cowl, maybe take a page from the animal pack and give us a simple base cowl with several options to build onto it? We could have a smooth basic cowl that could work well on it's own, add animal ears of a sort (fake ones ala Batman or Catwoman) so we could make animal-themed heroes that aren't anthropomorphic or have actual animal parts, perhaps some flared mask pieces (like what we have now under the full mask options but... well not crappy looking or flat), and there's always the option to add new pieces to it at a later date.

My own personal requests: If such a cowl is included (Or even if not hopefully this could be worked in) I would like to see something along the lines of the brooches from capes added as a Forehead detail. Think similar to the female tiara options that have the big chunky piece in the center with various emblems, but without the heandband part. It could allow for Star Sapphire style head jewelry. Imagine a character with a cowl piece on their head and the crescent moon brooch in the center of it. It would look very iconic and allow for some really classic looks. It'd be easy enough to add without requiring new UI interface stuff either. Just a "Headbrooch" option under details with the second menu being all the brooch options. I'd also love to see this option made available as a belt. Make a "with belt" and "without belt" option so we can have heroes with iconic belt buckles, just a simple solid belt, maybe a utility version as well with the option to set any of the brooches as a buckle. This would give us a moon belt, a saturn belt, a star belt, etc. Then if the option was available without a belt it would give those of us who like full-body tights an option to not just leave our waist bare (which looks a little silly) while not dividing up our tights with a belt that we might not be thrilled with. It wouldn't require alot of work really, just take the existing brooches and move them to a different part of the body. The only new art it would require would be a basic and utility belt with no buckle as the brooch would take the place of it. Give us both the forehead and belt version of this and we could make some VERY Golden Age looking toons.

Final mention as I saw the Silk Spectre pic and it reminded me of something else that is GLARINGLY missing. We need some long gloves/opera gloves. Not ones that have ridiculous details, buttons, laces or anything like that. Just some plain, cloth gloves that reach the upper arm. Witch gloves are nice but they're distinctly leather-looking and have that silly bit at the top. I have SEVERAL toons that would make use of a plain white opera glove. Once we have that, yes, feel free to give us some alternate versions like one with buttons up the side, or laced up, or even a lacey version, but the basic item is what I really want, preferably with the option to use patterns on it as well so we can use a simple, solid-colored glove, but if needed we could use the various tight textures to give them a little oomph.

Summed up: Better textured tights, masks with depth to them and white-eye options, long-gloves, and the option to use brooches as waist and forehead details and/or belt buckles.

EDIT - Forgot to second the option for simple trim on capes, as well as the option to make basic tights different materials. We need the option for pleather, leather, cotton, and metallic tights at the very least, and anything else you guys can think of to use as material. I'd love to be able to use a full-face metallic mask in whatever shade I wanted to create a (literally) copper-skinned character who wears no shirt and just a pair of pants or tights, ala The Thing, but metallic. Metallic tights alone would open so many doors, but giving us a leather/plastic/sleek/cloth version of just some good basic tights would open so many doors. And hopefully the old "body paint" tights could be given these options as well so we could create the illusion of characters with customizable metallic skin.

I'd roll a character with Illusion Control primary/Psi blast secondary (Blaster version) with Fury. My dream character. <3

Also just for badass points I'd roll a secret agent/assassin type character with DP primary/Martial Arts or Street Justice secondary and give it Scrappers Crit inherent. Where is your god now?

You guys, I am disappoint. Nobody has mentioned Gargoyles yet? Given, I'd love to just see the rest of season 2 released (Forget the pile of garbage that was The Goliath Chronicles, I'll take the SLG comics anyday), but an HD version of the first two seasons would be fantastic.

The best success and most fun I've EVER had with a duo, and also the longest-lived one since my buddy tended to get bored and want to roll another toon, was me playing an Illusion/Empathy controller and him a Claws/Regen scrapper. From the time we rolled we never died ONCE, and when we started one-shotting mobs we upped the diff again. Between his already stupid high damage and Regen/Recovery rate and my Phantoms/Phantasm plus almost constant Fortitude, Adrenaline Boost and Recovery/Regen auras (not to mention the defense boosts from Group and Superior Invisibility) we never even came CLOSE to dying, and we were absolutely destroying mobs. What he couldn't one-shot went down very quickly between him and my pets. I'd definitely recommend the combo if you want a good time and lots of power. Just bear in mind that an Ill/Emp is a very hands-on troller, with auras and buffs to keep up, plus pet and some light control management.