Raith

Since hearing of CoX shutting down the music of Babylon 5 has been running through my head along with the scene where they destroy the station.

This video gives me that same vibe.

Great work 'Ko.

- Raith

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This is horrible...

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In the last decade City of Heroes has been such a fixture in my life. I have met a lot of people via this game many of whom are now rl friends.

To the developers I would like to say a big thankyou. I was here almost from the beginning and played in most of the testing since beta. Its been a fantastic ride and this game has been one of the few things that has get me going since my families losses last year.

Thankyou. It's been great to be a Hero, I dont think any other game will ever compare.

I hope that you can now tell us all the secrets and stories we will miss out on as thats what I will miss most... this is worse than a Comic line being cancelled.

- Raith

I'd be up for thise but with one caveat.

That a change like this is just a catalyst for Recluse to return more empowered and dedicated than ever to retake the isles and actually build his ideal country.

I've always though his attempts to control things where very chaotic, were-as they should have been like the praetorian ideal. Peace with an iron fist.

- Raith

About 3 years ago i started doing a comprehensive version of CoX using the Feng Shui RPG system, archetypes, origins, Unique Schticks for the inherent powers and adapting its Fu-chain system of r use with the power sets.

This was after having thought about Mutants and Masterminds and Hero/Champions as well as about half a dozen other options (Oh and lets not forget the Buffy System City of Heroes game, that actually had a starter put out). But the more I worked on it the more I wanted to play a different sort of game, the more I researched the more I wanted things not available in this game.

Out of hundred of individual "super" powers I came up with a list of 79 specific types, I have about 20 specific attributes and a similar number of disadvantages, I have archetypes (which are very familiar) and distinctions between Heroes and fodder as well as several ideas about what is a staple of super-hero action (knockback anyone?).

The end result? About a year after starting I had so much info on making a CoH game that wasn't actually from the MMO I decided to scrap my plans and go for the big time.

I am now 2 years into writing out my own Super-hero game with the first plans on several subsequent books, I've talked to artists and designers, discussed things with publishers about getting it out an about and hopefully in the not to distant future I will be able to get it all together.

I also have ideas for several "Child" systems using what I have come up with.

Maybe sometime I might get back to the original CoH premise...

- Raith

#1 for my vote but...

...yeah like others, less Penelope please.

- Raith

Finally og to one of these in KR and... well... for a Nemesis plot I was underwhelmed, I was at least hoping to see some sort of temporary staging base appear in a zone with a Brass-Fortress/Giant-Mole-Machine appearing with lots of nemesis goons around it.

The Rikti style group invasion spawn attack thing is nice but very straight forward for Nemesis...

...having said that as a distraction to a greater plot... Good thing the Nemesis meme sells itself.

Addendum.

Just worked out what I want this "Fallen Thunder:" to be about.

A. Nemesis plans to steal Statesman's Corpse and resurrect it into a Nemesis-Steam-Powered-Zombie-Statesman-Cyborg.

B. Nemesis takes the body for his own implanting his brain into the corpse thus the reason why Mendor Silos has an actual body.

- Raith

Hey Dink,

No pictures for this really but I will try to be descriptive.

First a... question/request. Think you could take a look at the way "boots" work with females, specifically those boots with knee pads and other protuberances they always seem over-sized whenever I try to use them on most females as if the lower portion of the leg is much larger than the thigh in circumference.

Request...

Could we see some love put to hoods, Outside of the one from the magic-bundle most hoods have 2 colours but the secondary isn't used. Anyway I am getting tired of my characters being bald when wearing a hood (hood 1 and 2). Would it be possible to add some geo inside the hood (especially for females) that simulates long hair behind tucked back inside the hood? it could then use the second unused colour to colour the hair. I use for reference the pic of the Magdalenia from earlier.

Straps/Webbing, loose hanging belts, bandoliers with pouches around the thighs and upper arms. The stealth chest detail is a good start but I would like to see more holsters in other places.

One thing I have wanted for a while now have been more top-with-skin options that shows off my characters belly, sure its not the best for defence, but this is a comic universe and if I have a character with some sort of supernatural defence, what do i care about an exposed midrift. What im thinking of are pieces/themes that cover the top half of my characters body, we have all these options showing off bare shoulders, chests and neck but little in the reverse. Think old versions of the witchblade armour.

I also agree with the earlier post that we could use some more "cross" symbols in the game for costumes, just because Greek is the theme of the day with CoX doesn't mean other religious symbolism needs to vanish. Magdalenea, Avengalyne, Spawn, Artifacts: Rapture, Hellraizer... there are lots of comics ranging from "real-world" through to angel-and-demons-walk-among-us that could serve as inspiration.

I would also ask for the classics, more tops-with-skin metal variations, sybil style loin cloths and other "waist-capes" hair for hats that rather than removing the entire hair geo just take away a potion so the hat fits and conversely bald options for some hats so bald people don't suddenly grow hair when they put there cover on. How about "trimmed" detail options for all those costume pieces that don't have a second colour option like for Eden or V deep top.

Anyway I could go on but I'm sure others will cover what i forget.. Thanks for reading.

- Raith

Thought I might post something to summarize my thoughts on this episode and the Arc in general.

I enjoyed playing this particular piece but I felt that as a whole the plot was a bit all over the place almost as though the writer was having a hard time coming up with a way to deliver on certain twists and unfortunately end in the end just saying: "And then this happened" rather than giving us a convincing reason for the outcome.

At times it felt as though the missions in this arc were written one after the next until the end conclusion was reached rather than creating the story you want to tell with a path from beginning to end in mind and then figuring out the 7 parts to deliver it too us.

It seemed almost as thought there were two shorter stories being mashed together. I would have prefer ed the "kill of some Phalanx members" story to have been separate from teh Wade v Statesman story. In fact I really feel that Wade's hate just came from nowhere and I would have preferred a few episodes being used to build that hatred some more before going on to the destroyer of worlds bit.

I think it was the choice of cutscenes that really gave this feeling that at some points, knowledge was just being given to the players because it needed to be, than because it could have been otherwise earned by the participant.

Some cutscenes I liked, mostly these were the "side-flash" (Lady Grey/Wade was cool, gave a good in game idea on Lady Grey having very questionable moral standards) to an event going on that a player would have no reason to experience. But others like the final exposition of what all the secondary characters did after I felt was very contrived and could have been handled better through the press conference scene.

The information on the Phalanx lineup really felt out of place to me. Frankly, I was expecting at least an offer to join the Phalanx, regardless of whether I would accept it or not, and regardless of if it would do anything or just be some fluff. As a summary I felt it was a waste, a previous cutscene clearly showed Posi in charge and it seemed such a huge step to go from Penny the Kid to Penny the Sister Psyche replacement so quickly.

Overall I would have preferred to see cutscenes for a few different things, the launched Nukes hitting Wades shield and my character at a memorial for States and Psyche.

On the positive thought I did enjoy the unique locations the missions took you to. The missions inside Psyches, psyche was my favorite part and I loved the visuals for part 7 with the naval vessels and the orbiting Island, that felt suitably epic for a concluding part to the story.

What I hope is that in future that the plot line for a SSA is a lot tighter with each part released carefully and compellingly adding to a bigger and bigger picture as the story unfolds.

- Raith

4 days left, surely they must be able to start spoiling things properly now.

- Raith

I would really like to see an update to the old Dark Powers, the FX looks really dated alongside the new Controller Power. Not quite as distinct as the difference between Fire and the Incarnate stuff but close.

To my eyes they are less dark and more Smokey.

Even if you called them the Netherworld Sets I think they could use a bit of sprucing.

If going to do all of them is out of the question could we at least get a new look for Petrifying Gaze? two smokey blobs, that arc left/right from your line of sight and hit a target? never made sense as some sort of "Gaze" to me, unless my character all have lazy eyes. I would love to see something that actually Pertify's my opponent giving them a rocky/statue like appearance, maybe with a pulse of darkness glowing out from my characters eyes but not travelling across to the target would be great.

- Raith

I was disappointed when I kicked his *** so much in that mission. I was completely prepared to start crying like a little child when he rocked up.

- Raith

Every attack power in game defaults to Brawl or Throw Rock and associated damage, Players and Villains alike.

- Raith

I was just thinking, a few people want that sort of cracked earth/buckled ground look when they "land" from a super-jump. Wouldn't this be more for any jump over a certain height? Maybe it could be an option to turn on and off if its a graphically intense thing.

I know a couple of times I've had Invulnerable characters fall from a great height and I would have loved to see them land in a crouch and smash up the ground a bit

- Raith

Here's some ideas I would like to see...

Emotes -

1. How about a variation of the floatbooks emote but for tech, floating transparent screens of information appearing around the character, maybe they can interactw ith the screens sliding them about a little for the idle animation.

2. Character places a small projector device on the ground and it projects a grainy holographic image of a generic body-type in the air that slowly rotates as the character studies it. Alternatively they hold the projector in the flat of there hand.

Costume Change -

1. Some sort of more tech based effects such as a "transform" version where parts of the character flip out and around and settle back in to the new costume. I figure if you did something like the fractal "Transformer Pretender" skin change from Revenge of the Fallen you should be able to avoid the issue of not being able to replicate all the personalized costume pieces breaking up.

2. Much easier than the last a sort of "beamed in" effect. The character taps a wrist control and a glow appears at say chest height it spreads out to include the entire body then fades and your in the new outfit. There's a few variations you could do for this like the character sticking there hands in the air and the glow moving down over them etc

3. Similar to the above but a bit more complex. A crate falls from the sky and deploys a little pad the character steps on then there is an effect like the Vanguard magic circle that raises up over the character and in a flash your stepping back off the platform in a new outfit.

4. Some sort of "armoured up" deal where a series of robot arms pop up from the ground and enclose the character in a tube/sarcophagus/iron maiden of some kind when the fall away you're in the new outfit.

Aura's -

1. As mentioned in a post above how about a full body holographic aura similar to a hybrid of Victorian Decor and ACCHUD. but persistent without the fading motion. Combat and out of combat versions of course.

2. More chest only options. I was looking through all the auras for some sort of "there's a hole-in-my-chest" aura to use and aside from Alpha I couldn't see any. Plenty of body aura type but none that are chest only, please all in some more options to this.

3. Flight path aura's or at least some sort of trigger on fly effect like the rocket boots jets so we can use a similar effect for things like the Enforcer and Imperial Defense sets, the both look like they have rocket ports on the bottom of the parts.

And finally whats the go with the flypose emotes whose department do they fall under for seeing some variations?

- Raith

Recently an idea has been rattling around in my head, its an idea I like enough to actually put something up here about, normally I either can not be bothered or think it best just to go with the way things are. Now before I get into anything yes, there's plenty of cool new things that could be done or bugs to squash or whatever but this is just about my idea and hopefully what others would like to suggest in a similar line.

Anyways... onwards!

When CoH began the powers were all pretty straight forward, target enemy get an effect. They all basically fell into two categories, melee or ranged. Over time though as new powersets have appeared more functions that highlight themes for sets have been added to the game, Dual blades got the combo system, Guns the different ammo's, Demon Summoning the whip etc etc. Somethings are just a flashy animation others an actual mechanic and even though we now have the ability to colour powers or choose alternate attack stances some powers are starting to show their age compared to the "new coolness".

In the last few issues we've seen the addition of a fifth power to some of the ancillary pools like Afterburner for Fly and similar additional to the Villain Power Pools. All very cool ideas (though i don't think Afterburner goes fast enough really)

What if as a way to bring some excitement back into the older primary and secondary power pools something similar occurred. How about adding a 10th power to the pools, add it in to the level curve in the mid to late 20's or so to either add a new feature with a cool gimmick/appearance/cliche effect.

I think there are several benefits to this idea, first you save a lot of time, rather than make an entire new set of powers you could go back an add in individual abilities. With the cross pollination of primary and secondary sets your also seeing a lot of powers appear in several places at once.

Use of time is a really big thing for development in terms of asset expenditure and one of the most commonly cited reason I see on the forums for why things cant be done or need to be put off. I figure just like power proliferation something like this could be released in a few waves over a couple of issues with a nice spread across the Archetypes.

Second your also adding a bit more variety into the sets, not everyone will have the exact same powers, especially if no more "slots" are opened for a character to select (i.e. you can still only choose 9 powers from a set even if there is 10 possibilities)'.

Thirdly I think the addition of some new powers could really help to round out many of the sets. Sure secondary abilities often have a alternative attack method or they do with the Epic Pools but there have been many times I've been fighting the Hamidon in LGTF or doing a new trial where I have though, gee wouldn't another ranged attack be good for my Scrapper or the opposite for a blaster. I don't think the "ÿou should group to cover that lack" excuse is particularly applicable to this game, people group or don't well enough as is, it just might be nice to broaden some horizons.

Finally adding on something like this might help to distinguish some of the older sets that use the same animations Broadsword/Axe/Mace comes to mind if this power is made as unique as possible.

Here are some suggestions for what I'm getting at, its only a tiny fraction of possible additions to the existing sets and I'm sure others can suggest many more that are far more awesome, but here goes...

War Mace - Throw Mace: A short range power where the character throws there Mace at a target and it quickly boomerangs back. Doesn't have to do much damage but how about it causes knockdown.

Energy Blast - Overload: Works just like Nova, uses all your remaining endurance in exchange for a single target damage conversion that leaves you exhausted for a bit.

Assault Rifle - HEAP Clip: the next three attacks made using Burst, Slug or Sniper Rifle fire a bullet that penetrates armour lowering the targets defense against that round.

Darkness Manipulation - Swallowed by Shadows: Shadows burst up from the ground and the target vanishes by some kind of intangible effect moving them into the ground for a short duration before spitting them out again..

I'm sure that there are many reasons not to do this sort of thing but I think it would breath new life into many of the older powersets which can only be a good thing.

So what do people think and what if any ideas for powers would you add?

- Raith

Well while I found the death of Statesman a touching cutscene I did think it could have been handled better, especially for a Villain, it just didn't have that epic feel I was expecting from CoH's Superman Death Scene but theirs still more to come...

...what I really wanted to see was maybe a cut-scene of your villain taking the new to Recluse.

I never felt that Statesman stood in the way of my character, he's always been on a different path and of a different caliber for the player heroes (unless we somehow get the ability to actually fly at mach speeds and smash through Rikti Motherships) so I think his death was pretty pointless, however if they follow proper comic book theory then they will have to bring him back and it will be his resurrection thats the import part, why he comes back for what major reason will be more important than him just dying.

Anyway for Malaise, I thought it possible that the one in this arc was the Praetorian version who had kidnapped the original scanned his mind and was impersonating him while Primal is locked away somewhere.

Ah well, whatever the outcome of this story its been entertaining so far and its given me an idea for a piece of art...

I'm looking forward to what happens next.

- Raith