MartyRallner

When you're on a team and someone faceplants while doing a mission or sewer run, how often do you hear/speak the words "... and pick up some wakies while you're out there!"? Personally, I hear it all the time. Having a little pharmacy nook or gift shop to sell you inspirations in hospitals would save a lot of time and effort. On more than a couple of occasions I've charged into a tough mission, open the inspiration tray, and find... two yellows, a purple, and a wake. Not exactly what you want with you while storming into a nest of irate Malta agents, yano? It'd be nice that when I inevitably faceplant I can fix my inspiration shortage without even leaving the hospital. And it also gives players a real reason to *enter* a hospital under their own power, which can't be a bad thing, right?

*excavates*

Alright, now that We Have The Technology to alter power animations, I figure now's the time to suggest something that's been on my mind for awhile: fingernail claws. The current claw animations are cast in the style of a certain over-exposed Canadian runt, but claw-tipped fingernails used in a scratching and clawing style are relatively common in comics, and fit certain character concepts better than the current variety. And no, I'm not suggesting hissy little catfight scratching motions; I'm thinking more like the Warwolves' big clawed swipe attacks among others.

The stumbling block here is that I don't know how easy it'd be for the art team to render small fingertip claws that are still fairly easy to see (though my blind guess would be "not very"). Still, it'd be yet another big addition to the already vast customization options, right?

Fromage? As in a cheesy homage? ;D

*sidesteps back into derailment territory* Personally I laugh when people -rep me. The post that earns such ire is invariably one where I raise a possibly unpopular facet of the discussion at hand. The hilarity comes from the fact that instead of arguing against my point/facet/idea openly in a civilized manner, the indignant party instead resorts to a private attack of "shut up moron" or "ignorant". It's the forum equivalent of the "YOUR MOM" comeback and it always brings a smile to my cold, cynical heart when someone is forced to use it.

*ambles back on track* Anyway Battle Wraith, Larissa's sketch looks bloody awesome. And have you read the dA note I sent you this morning? It's got a fresh batch of references for the character I had in mind.

はい

Another idea is to place more than one agent per zone. If an area can have 2-3 Merit Vendors (which is an issue for another day), it can have a few more difficulty changers.

But yeah, with the new system in place having easier access to difficulty changers would be vastly appreciated.

John is a great guy and waaaaaaaay too talented.

Yeah, I can get behind this, and I think so would anyone else who put effort into their stalker's design.

I'm all for this. Recently when I was trying to recruit for my SG I must have hit about five people who were all on trial accounts. Kinda awkward when you send them a /tell without realising they can't answer back. The idea of an auto-response akin to the AFK one is another good idea, too.

Another reason to halve Gangbuster is because it unlocks a contact. The Slot Machine (who apparently has issues with the Family, I guess) gives out one of the better-written story arcs in the game and is a lot of quirky fun. However, by the time I reached St. Martial I had to go back to Oakes for the badge, as there was no way I could take on the lvl 31-37 bosses in Martial and not outlevel the Slot Machine's arc (granted, we have the option to turn off XP now, which I <3, but it's still worth consideration).

I understand the desire to avoid making things *too* easy for players, but considering how MMORPGs are often seen as massive time wasters, the more a person can get done in a certain amount of time, the better.

Ok, looking at the opinions we've harvested so far, I think I can make some pretty conclusive points:

1. The fog. Don't $)*%&&$ touch it. As long as we make DA interesting, people will put up with it.

2. Multiple story arcs ending with a TF. Don't *&%^(&% do it. I agree that breaking the mold that the Hollows, Striga, and Croatoa are cast from is a good idea. Having a TF seperate from the arcs, where people can just walk in and participate, is a better idea.

3. Dark Astoria is supposed to be scary. So MAKE it scary. There's a lot of little things that could be added that could ramp up the terror factor in the zone and lead to a much more satisfying experience overall.

I missing anything?

And the airports, residential areas, malls... I better stop, because that's a new suggestion thread right there...

I heartily endorse this idea.

Forgive me for the double post, but I feel this is important enough to warrent it:

Devs, if you take us up on this idea and do add more female models, for the luvvagod, don't create any more "Longbow Barbie" types, with long hair that is gaurnteed to get in the way at a bad moment. Sure it'd work for the Lost or Outcasts, but it's hard to take an elite military organization seriously when it lets some of its members have potential obstacles growing out of their head (hells, even the women of GI Joe keep their hair to a short, managable length). If you really, really must, then at least use the Low Ponytail haircut instead of the high one so it doesn't look so out of place.

I know I'm splitting hairs (ba-dum PISH) on this one, but it's a personal gripe of mine I figured I'd voice.

Again, I know about the Thorns and Tsoo, but I claim their numbers are so small they hardly count for anything more than minor flavoring. Things like the Thorns wanting to stop the Pantheon as much as everyone else are nuggets of potential that have never been followed up on, which is what I'm trying to push here.

And yes, the more I look at it the more I believe the visibility frustrations can be overcome by improving other things to make up for it. Though who knows, maybe when someone completes the proposed TF the sun comes up and the place looks normal for five minutes before sinking back into fog-encrusted gloom, just to give players a sense that they *are* improving things, bit by bit.

The good Captain raises a point on which I'm torn. There are some zones that are just trickier than others due to their terrain, and I subscribe to the idea that sometimes things *should* be more difficult at times. Problem is, difficulty in navigating is one of the big contributors to Abandoned Zone Syndrome, which is what we're trying to fight here.

The best middle ground I can find is to make the fog interesting instead of just annoying. Strange, unexplained ambient sounds (groans, scuttles, creaks, whooshes, squishes, anything really) would combo nicely with the ghostly civilians and above-mentioned wandering zombies to generate a sense of paranoia and dread. First rule of fear: It's not the darkness itself that's scary, it's what could be in the dark that's scary.

I also agree with Nightshade Legree on the TF: have it so that people can work through the story arcs at their own leisure and come to a satisfying climax, while devoted TF runners can come in and get started right away. It'd be different than the setup in Eastgate, Striga, and Croatoa, which helps prevent things from being cookie-cutter. It also makes sense: the Legacy/Midnighter/MAGI coalition would likely have long-term projects (the story arcs), as well as immediate problems that need dealing with ASAP (the TF).

Bill's theory that the area has turned "dark" on and off again over the last century or so is a logical one. A juicy target like the ley line nexus in Moth Cemetary would constantly attract villains, but the city's hero population would be there to fight them off. Sometimes the bad guys occupy the area for an extended period of time, sometimes the heroes do an especially good job of keeping them out. Given the fallout of the Rikti War and the major drop in Paragon's available heroes, it's no wonder the Pantheon was able to entrench itself so thoroughly this time. Hero 1, are you listening?

*sees the Freakshow art*

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Ho-lee CRAP child, you're too damn talented. They seriously need to hire you to do Official Artwork for this game, you're too good to let slip by.

... while we're at it, maybe we can pin down the exact time in which the Pantheon took over the neighborhood. As I recall, one history plaque says it had been occupied for decades, yet one of the badges there marks the location of the communal tomb for heroes slain in the Rikti War. Call me kooky, but I doubt anyone would want to interr fallen heroes on property currently infested with necromancers and grave-robbers. So when did the Pantheon move in?

And I approve heartily the idea of patrolling zombies. It's much spookier to have badguys approaching out of the mist as opposed to spotting a shamble of zombies standing around, doing nothing, once you get close enough.

Forget pools, I want hot tubs.

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For purely theraputic reasons, of course.

(Personally, I'd just be happy if they just gave us water effects to place instead of relying on the Pain Field(?) to do it)

Going to chirp in with another idea I'm surprised hasn't been covered, specifically for The Family. Given how determined the Family seems to be to relive the glory days of Prohibition (like exclusively using drum-magazine Thompsons, probably manufactured and bought from small groups in the 3rd world, over readily-available AK-47s or M16s) I'm surprised there aren't any dames that have shown up. Dames, broads, molls, the Bonnie part of Bonnine & Clyde, they're a classic image of the 20s, and oftentimes depicted as the brains behind the brawn of their husbands and boyfriends. Create a "Capo Dame" lieutenant, armed with a pistol but possesing several Leadership powers, and maybe a few psionic powers too (Hey, the Consigs get gravity control, why not?).

Costume-wise this shouldn't be too hard to do: skirts from the Wedding Pack + heels and maybe fishnets + the bolero from the Witch set sans the cloak part, and badda bing, badda boom. Oh, and the cigar Detail 2 face option, gotta have that (or at least a cigarette; remember kids, only villains smoke tobacco!).

As for the rest, here's my 2 influence:

*5th Column: Cold and slightly creepy blonde Nazi babes? I'm in. They're a common element of the pulp-era; Watch Last Crusade or Hellboy for an example.
*Lost: We already have several models for scruffy/homeless women, toss some improvised armor on them and that "I'm going to enjoy hurting you" Hostile Face 2 and bang, you're done and it isn't even lunch yet.

*Sky Raiders: According to the Porter's description the Raiders are a relatively small outfit that has to be careful with its manpower. With that in mind I doubt Duray and co. would turn down a skilled, morally-unburdened potential recruit just because she's female.

*Malta: Same deal as the Sky Raiders. At the very least they'd need some women in a position of power in order to negotiate with the Knives when the latter are in one of their hyper-feminism moods.

*Banished Pantheon: Given their "We hate everything" attitude isn't conducive to training, the BP would be another group that wouldn't be picky as to who joins. No need for female zombies, though *shudder*

*Tsoo: Kunoichi. Yakuza babes. What more needs to be said, really?

*Luddites/Wyvern/Legacy Chain: Three groups that could use the attention and fleshing out. I honestly wonder sometimes if The Devs created them just as occasional alternatives to Longbow in the "Good guys to punch" category. Both Wyvern and the Chain refer to women in important positions in their backstories, and the Luddities would probably be desperate for members anyway.

*Scrapyarders: Three words: Rosie the Riveter. And hey, the group's led by Iron Widow to boot.


I could go on, and on, and on, but this is getting long enough as it is.