OminousVoice
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:Ok, I love this. My heartiest commendations to the art team. We wants it, we wants it nao, precious!Originally Posted by El Topo
Howdee friends,
I wanted to take a moment and follow up on Positrons post regarding the Circle of Thorns new look. We are very excited to introduce this modern take on an enemy group near and dear to your hearts. The Art team has worked very hard to update the look while still echoing the original theme. For example, the thorny look you see on the new pieces is based on the spiky elements in the first incarnation of Circle of Thorns. As Positron mentioned, there were some valid points made by you, our players, regarding the re-vamp and we have incorporated much of this feedback into the final look for this enemy group. More importantly though, I wanted to make sure you had a chance to see an assortment of costumes in all their glory. There are literally over 70 costumes associated with this re-vamp so we cant show all of them in one image, but we have picked out ten and put together the line-up for you below. For those of you that want to try this look on your character, some of these costume pieces will be available in the Paragon Market later this year. Here is a list of the changes we are incorporating into this enemy group in an upcoming beta build:
- Long garments have been given to all members of this group including the minions.
- Faces have been obscured across the entire group.
- Some costume colors have been tweaked and toned down to be closer to the original costumes, but with others we have taken creative liberties.
- Eye auras have been tweaked to be green on several costumes.
*pic of liquid awesome* -
Quote:I haven't seen that word used in a long time. Happy memories.Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
...goits...
Personally I don't see selling levelling speed as selling power. It's no different to an intensive powerlevelling session. It's little more than a convenience, albeit a possible detrimental one as you'd out-level content faster, but YMMV.
A possible (and I hope never to be implemented) example of CoH selling power would be if they introduced some form of super enhancement, unattainable in game, which boosted 3-4 stats to ridiculous levels and was unaffected by ED. -
It is an inconvenient bug, but it does force me to actually look at my powers tab. I then see all the lovely vet and booster shinys an go "Oooooh, yummy!" The Nemesis Staff/Blackwand and Sands of Mu really are a boon to lowbie trollers.
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Quote:I figured as much. Too much Tron. I guess less is more.Originally Posted by Ironik
My mileage varied a lot. Just say no to neon.
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I'd let things carry on as they are until such time as all out nuclear war is only seconds away from annihilating everything. At the last second I'd stop everything, appear as a big floating head in the sky and say;
"Today is your lucky day." -
Quote:I'm liking the direction you're going here. It adds to the theme without being too OTT.Originally Posted by Antoinette
Oh I'm so sorry if I was not clear, I mentioned on my earlier post that my photoshop skills are not that good. I did this in like 1 minute to show the concept I have in mind. Thank you so much for the feedback, I appologize if it looks aweful, again nothing final on these just concept.
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Regarding dear Valkyrie, I've been tinkering with photoshop and came up with a couple of concepts attempting to nail the myth-tech look. The first one is one of my old designs with added glow patterns. The second is a combination of the Metallic underlay with the Valkyrie motif, with added glow lines. YMMV with the glow designs, but these are just ideas.
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Quote:I stand corrected. Though Valkyries are often referred to as Odin's battle maidens in literature (not sure about the Eddas themselves though), I suppose the word I was looking for is analogous.Originally Posted by Arilou
They aren't synonyms. "Valkyrie" means "Chooser of the slain" (where "val" refers to the dead and "kyrja" is a cognate of "choose" going through a couple of mutations)
Battle-Maiden OTOH is of french origin and means well, battle-maiden. -
Quote:Agreed, though it's more likely both. The viking culture comes with its own mythology. I got the inference of myth from the names Valkyrie and Battle Maiden which are synonyms for each other.Originally Posted by BrandX
Or a culture that is influenced by ancient vikings, rather than actual Norse myth. Lots of what ifs.
Vikings on War Earth's past, went out and conquered, and the Viking lifestyle continued to live on till modern day on War Earth, no nessasarily the Norse Myths.
Personally I'd love for Manticore (if he's still around) to chime in with a bit more info on War Earth. -
Quote:Exceeeeeeeeept that her bio says otherwise.Originally Posted by BrandX
You know...she could of just chosen the name Valkyrie, because of no other reason than she liked it.
She's a hero. She chose a name. Valkyrie was available! :O She's a female warrior type hero!
Doesn't have to have anything that relates to Norse mythology at all.
Which basically means she took on a new persona, "Valkyrie", because the nanites in the spear, and given this info...Quote:Originally Posted by ParagonWikiValerie Kellum was an up-and-coming archaeologist exploring Scandinavia when she discovered what she first took for an ancient spear. A more careful examination led to the realization that the spear had a technological component. She travelled around Europe looking for ideas about its origin and ended up in a local Crey facility. When a Crey security team tried to take the weapon from her it activated and injected Valerie with advanced nanites that transformed her into Valkyrie, an extraordinary warrior with a completely different personality. She broke free and travelled to Paragon City where Positron is helping her come to terms with her new identity.
...we see that Battle Maiden hails from the same place as Valkyries spear. Battle Maiden's minions have a very Viking like aesthetic to them. Therefore it is logical to assume that Valkyries name wasn't some arbitrary "because-it was-available" choice, rather it was the result of a culture highly influenced by Norse myth.Quote:Originally Posted by Manticore
The spear that started Valerie Kellums career as a hero is an artifact from the violent alternate world of War Earth, which also happens to be the homeworld of the Praetorian known as Battle Maiden. Its very possible that there are more such weapons hidden on Primal Earth waiting to be uncovered. -
Quote:I would have to agree with you on Nemesis. I suppose the reasoning behind killing them off is because they're potentially powerful characters. If left alive they'd probably rival Cole in terms of influence and power. It would leave too many complications for the story.Originally Posted by Texas Justice
Well, they also told us that Nemesis died a simple toymaker. I'd say Nemesis is at least as much a major character as Lord Recluse.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
In this case the cigar is probably just a cigar, but it's fun to make up possible scenarios wherein the cigar is a Nemesis plot wrapped in a tobacco leaf. -
Here's a very quick sketch with some halfarsed photoshopping of how I see a Valkyrie redesign. Granted this image is full of flaws, overdone and underdone bits, but it gives an idea of the direction I'm going.
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This game is like a fully interactive comicbook. There are thousands of stories just waiting to be played out. Ones where you are the hero, or indeed the villain. Your actions determine the fate of the city. It's an epic journey which can see you rise from a fresh hero discovering their potential, to a mighty force of justice with a touch of godhood itself.
It's not about the exp... it's about the experience.
Man, that didn't sound like a sales pitch at all. -
Quote:I think she needs a unique underlay, perhaps a modified version of the current Valkyrie set but with tech/cyber muscle contours rather than the scalemail. Perhaps even the Valk armour could get a custom job too, maybe with glowing parts. The headband wings can be a hi res Valkyried version of the current headband wings (but available to players also, coz I wants it, precious!). That way her unique parts would be the Cyber-Valkyrie underlay and her spear.Originally Posted by Noble Savage
This sums it up quite nicely to me. She can be tech-y and somewhat mythic at the some time. It's tech with a decorative overlay. Were we to update this model, that's the balance I'd like to strike.
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Quote:Nor did I say it did. Allow me to quote myself:Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
None of which has ANYTHING, bar name, to do with Valkyrie. She's NEVER exhibited any affiliation with Norse mythos, Valhalla, or even anything semi-mythic/mystic in any way, shape or form.
She's a TECH hero, who's the Sidekick of Positron. Ergo, 'mythic' and anything like it has literally 0% to do with her.
Wanna know where I got the inference of Norse influenced culture? Her NAME. It's the same with Battle Maiden. A name says a lot about a character. If the devs wanted a purely tech sidekick for Posi then why bother with the Norse mythology schtick at all? They might as well have have called her Generic Techy Gal and have done with it. But no, they decided to give her some flavour. She's the product of a civilisation of high tech and Norse mythological stylings. It's called adding depth to concept.Quote:Originally posted by OminousVoice
[The] weapons come from War/Warrior Earth where a Viking inspired warrior culture is prevalent. To ignore that would be ignore an entire aspect of their characters. The Valkyrie pieces are the perfect representation of that Norse influence. So what if the armour doesn't look techy. It doesn't have to, it's nanite armour, it can look like whatever it wants.
The armour should say something about the place it came from. It needs to reflect the cultural influence. In this case War Earth (or Warrior Earth). Seriously, take away the headband wings and what you have left is boring generic low-res tech armour which says NOTHING.
You can keep saying "She's tech so she must look techy" all you want. All it serves to do is to reduce her character to a one-dimensional stereotype. -
Quote:...or is he?Originally Posted by Xzero45
I thought it was Word of God, aka the Devs, that said Stefan is dead?
Dun dun DUUUUUUUN!!
I'd like to think that Lord Recluse is too major a character to have his Praetorian counterpart simply killed off. I know the devs said he's dead, but that may be a red herring to keep us quiet.
/em tinfoil hat
Perhaps while Cole was busy guzzling the Wells waters, a few drops landed on Richters corpse/mortally wounded body. Cole /em evillaughs and demolishes the island. However those drops of godjuice had revived Richter. He survived the islands destruction and was floating about in the sea. He picked up by the lackey mentioned in Recluses bio on the CoH website. Rather than kill the lackey, he thanks him and warns that Cole has gone loopy. Since then Richter has watched Cole rise to power, beat Hami, and essentially conquer the (now much smaller) world, and is now biding his time, waiting for the right moment to strike. I think Richter may yet have a part to play in Coles downfall. -
Quote:Unfortunately that's not "used properly". It's a horrid mess of conflicting styles that just doesn't work.Originally Posted by FlashToo
Valkyrie armor and Tech-based are not mutually exclusive, used properly...
*image*
Now just imagine she has her signature spear and chest strap instead of the Ring Strap, and there you have it.
As I said in the other thread, the tech pieces look horrible not just for Val, but in general. Unfortunately there isn't anything that really suits Val in the CC. I used the Alpha pieces for my Valk redesign, but I'm not entirely happy with them. What she needs really is an entirely new set for a base underlay, with the Valk armour pieces for accentuation. -
Captain Epic Moment: Using Self Destruct on a mob when you're only a few xp from levelling up. The result is a dead mob and you rising from the ashes like phoenix because of the ding related wakie cast. (Extra epic points if it's the last mob of a defeat all mission)
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Quote:I never said they look like Norse stuff. I said they represent Norse influence, specifically the mythological influence, insofar as they evoke the image of one of Odins battle maidens who go out and choose those among the slain who go to Valhalla.Originally Posted by Arilou
Uh... Actually, the Valkyrie pieces looks nothing whatsoever like norse stuff. Even teched-up norse stuff.
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Quote:The problem lies with the original pieces. They don't say "nanite infused armour", they say "cheap halloween costume".Originally Posted by FlashToo
Crosspost from a different thread, where I posted a counterpoint to someone's explaining that Valkyrie should not use any Valkyrie armor parts because they don't look techy enough:
*image*
(Just pretend she has the correct chest detail and her spear, I didn't feel like shopping them in and I subsituted the Ring Strap).
If both she and Battle Maiden could look more like this instead of like the ICON advertizement for the Valkyrie items that Battle Maiden is now, that'd be supercool. Also, removing the back-of-neck shield from Valkyrie's helmet as I put it together here would help it look sleek and techy. I just wanted to have the cheek guards represented, because they look good and Valkyrie has them now.
A few people here seem to get hung up on the tech origin to the exclusion of all other aspects of the characters.
"But she's tech origin so she must look techy"
No.
So what if she's tech origin? Ghost Widow's magic origin, does she look like a wizard? Of course she doesn't.
Both Valkyrie and Battle Maiden get their powers from their weapons. That is the tech aspect of the characters. They both wear them on their backs. That is all that's needed.
Also while we're on the subject, those weapons come from War/Warrior Earth where a Viking inspired warrior culture is prevalent. To ignore that would be ignore an entire aspect of their characters. The Valkyrie pieces are the perfect representation of that Norse influence. So what if the armour dosen't look techy. It doesn't have to, it's nanite armour, it can look like whatever it wants.
EDIT: Changed Statesman analogy. Incorrect example. -
At first glance it looks ok, but upon closer inspection I'm not a fan of the suits texture. The same goes for the S shield. I don't mind it being a separate piece, but there's no need for it to be so bumpy.
The lack of trunks bothers me, not because of the trunk-over-tights thing, but because there's no red/yellow to break the blue. A suitable compromise would be the yellow belt with a strip of red beneath it, perhaps accentuated with a downward peak in the centre, so as evoke the original without actual trunks. -
Quote:Except that they're not. The Archetype specific IOs are just that; archetype specific, plus they are unique so only one set per character. They are also account locked, so no trading outside of your own characters. Any advantage you have with them is diminished as you level up and the rest of your enhancements catch up in effectiveness.Originally Posted by Giant2005
Pay to win is also my concern.
The class specific paid for IOs they have already released the details of are already significantly more powerful than what is currently available.
Sadly I think it is already obvious that pay to win is what they are going for.
I also suspect that any other paid for recipes (including versions the regular IO sets we have now) will be account locked to prevent essentially paying for inf. -
I stumbled across this during an image search. Looks pretty good.
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Quote:True, she should reflect her origin and look techy, but there's hi-tech, lo-tech and then there's the current Valkyrie which looks more like a cheap halloween costume than battle armour.Originally Posted by Liquid
While I can see your point about mismatched parts, honestly, I prefer Techbot's version. I know nanites mean the armor could be smooth, but Valkyrie has always looked techy, and she should continue to look that way. It's part of her identity. Overuse of the valkyrie parts just make her look like a generic valkyrie.
Perhaps she can keep the Valk armour mesh, but have custom textures with extra details, maybe even some glowing parts. -
Quote:As much as I can appreciate what Techbot was going for, to me his redesign is a bit too cluttered with bulky, stylistically mismatched parts. Plus the "Iron beard" look is really unbecoming of Valkyrie.Originally Posted by Noble Savage
In some cases, I don't think it's a problem to make signature characters out of CC parts. Valkyrie's a good example--her concept is that she's an armor-clad warrior with a mythical flavor, and you've done an excellent job showing how it could be done using "off the shelf" parts. And as new options (like Ascension and Celestial Armor for example) continue to come online, it's increasingly doable. I'd use the highres wings instead, but otherwise, I dig what you've done here.
But if a character's core concept requires something we simply COULDN'T make in the CC, then yes--of course it should be built from scratch. As with everything, it's always a question of resources. Where is the team's time better spent: on a signature character or on a new costume set for you guys? In general, I think fans are happier when we go with the latter more often than not, but obviously we're still making plenty of from-scratch signatures too. It's just a matter of finding the perfect ratio.
Val has nanite powered armour, which implies that the subcomponents can be constructed at the atomic level, therefore negating the need for blocky, more angular parts in favour of a sleeker and perhaps more practical design. My redesign brings her more in line with Battle Maiden in terms of appearance, yet keeps her signature golden hue. The Alpha pieces imply a hi-tech underlay for the Norse inspired Valk armour. I used the old headband wings as they (as their name implies) have the headband.
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Quote:O rly?Originally Posted by Icy_J
I noticed this too. The contact version of Marauder is about the same height as BAB in his trainer version.
*BAB image brightened as it was taken at night.