Red_Addiction

Seems it has been down for over a month now! Did it completely shut down, or is it in hibernation for maintenence or something like that? Either way, I miss it.

Sweet job guys! I would have to vote for the Headless Horseman. The crow looked like it might be cool but I couldnt see the detail in the pic very well.

I tried a new technique for the first time this year. Carving the skin off the face of the pumpkin and leaving the "meat". It makes it easier to have pieces that float, and you can have 3 shades instead of just 2.

I did a spooky lookin tree in a graveyard, similar to the one I made for my signature pic.


What do ya think?

Thanks Ghoost, that is a pretty good suggestion, I know what you mean about the hours put into this. So maybe instead they should just work on it a little bit each year, and when it is ready, then load it in. I would much rather them not do it at all, than to do it "half-*****" for lack of a better word. Same goes for the event in general. Like I said earlier, either do it, and make it awesome, or just focus on the other stuff instead.

Putting the same house in 2 different zones, Blueside and Redside, would not be a good idea in my opinion because there would be no hero/villain interaction like there is in the winter event. That would render some of the co-op event ideas useless. I did think this thing out a little, there are good reasons for the suggestions I have made.

Thanks for the input though.

Yeah, I could see something like that in Croatoa, that is a very good idea. But how would they handle the House, Cathedral, Crypt, Graveyard and other content? Does it all just mysteriously appear for Halloween and then dissapear when it is all over? I would rather see this in a new zone, and don't really see a reason why it would be "out of the question". Being in Croatoa, the ambience of it all would kinda be interupted by the other content that is permanent there. Take the Ski Chalet for example, could you see that in any other zone?

Thank you Ghoost

Yeah well I sure would, and a lot of my friends in game would, but they don't like the forums. Like I said I know it is a lot of stuff to do, I have built 3d models in 3d studio max, so I really KNOW what models entail. I just never got into animating them. So I hear you and agree, but I still feel it would be worth it the effort.

First, I would like to get the pro's about this event out of the way because I have more negative feedback than positive. Kudos for doing something new with the event, I was dissapointed in last years "zombie invasion" because it just recycled dynamics of the Rikti invasion substituting zombies in place of Rikti. So 5 stars to making something new and different!

Now that is out of the way, I have weighed the Halloween event agaisnt the Christmas event and found the former to be quite lacking. I understand that Christmas is probably the most popular holiday, espescially as a kid getting presents. But I have always equally enjoyed Halloween. So here is some food for thought:

The Christmas event has its own special little zone with the Ski Chalet and the Father Time/Baby New Year missions, etc. It has it's own villain group, the Winter Horde, complete with GM. It has temp powers like Holiday Spirit and Holiday Cheer, Golden Rings and Renewal of Light, Build Snowbeast, Snowball, and Holiday Rocket Pack. Also, it has a number of permanant costume pieces that you can use all year around if you so choose, they include the following unlockables: Furry Boots, Furry Gloves, Ear Muffs and Stocking Cap.

The Halloween event pales in comparison with its lack of unique enemies, using recycled enemy groups instead. It has no zone or mission arc. Rewards are tier 1 inspirations (that is just terrible) and temp costumes that simply replace your character with a generic copy of an npc or enemy character. The only thing really worth playing for is the costume salvage. Which is only good if your characters havent already obtained their 5th costume slot from the previous years salvage that you can stockpile in your base or buy from Wentworth.

But do not lose hope because I have some golden ideas for you. On 5-30-2009 I posted a thread about the Halloween event, it fruitioned into a very positive, but small response from the forum community. This was too recent to expect any of these ideas implemented into this years event. But now you guys have a whole year, minus the time that you are taking to finish up Going Rogue and its expected bugs, to really make an awesome Halloween event next year. Here are some ideas for future Halloween events!

1. A completely new, Halloween themed co-op zone.
A place with an overall creepy vibe, like a town with some shady looking NPCs, a big haunted mansion, a foggy old cemetary with crypts and statues and an old gothic cathedral, and a town neighborhood to Trick or Treat in with houses that actually have scary Halloween decorations (oposed to office buildings and regular mission doors that have no decorations). NPCs in this zone could tell you about the history of the haunted mansion, or other mysterious things going on in the town. Also, there could be creepy random sounds like a howling wolf, maniacle laughter, spooky ghost noises, witch cackle, etc. For overall style think Tim Burton type of eerieness and gloom.

2. The Haunted Mansion Mystery.
Go inside the mansion, talk to NPCs, click on non-glowing clickable objects to find clues to the mystery and open secret passages. Put pieces of the puzzle together to help you figure out what the clickable objects are, and where to find them. Riddles and objects could be spread out across the entire town, clues could include NPCs spreading rumors, books, statues, and objects inside the mansion, gravestones in the cemetary, hidden objects inside the crypt, a carving on a really old creepy tree, etc. Use all of the clues to enter a final room and confront the ghost AV that is haunting the place. This mystery could even change each year (i know it probably wouldnt but its a thought). Also there could be good and bad ghosts inside the mansion, trying to help you, or stop you. A ghost might randomly appear by a wall to show you there is a hidden passage there. Or maybe some bloody footprints lead you into a certain room and you have to find something there. Bad ghosts could attack you, or hit you with a special power that makes some clues dissappear, or inacessable. Maybe a bad ghost AV is sealing a door and you have to defeat him to be able to go in the next room to get the next clue. Then once he respawns the door closes again. There are many things that could be done in this mansion so take what I have given you and build on that.

3. Some new activities
Mischeivous activities could be performed by the villains. They would be able to run around and TP houses, smash pumpkins, scare NPCs, knock over tombstones in the cemetary, etc. while heroes would have to run around and clean up the houses and set out new jack-o-lanterns, reverse the damage, etc. Villains are trying to do all this bad stuff, and heroes are trying to do good stuff, you get the idea. The entire time there would be tracking of statistics, how many bad things happened, vs how many good things happened. And at the end of the event a special award (a badge, or a temp power, or a token for a random recipe drop) could be given to the winners (heroes vs villains) but there would not be any combat. And perhaps even a runner up (less valueble) reward could be given to the side that loses.

Another activity for both heros and villains could be "bobbing for apples" to give you a special buff power that lasts for 30 min or an hour of game time. But the activity would have a random success/failure rate so that you do not get a buff everytime, you could try again a few minutes later.

Or a similar idea, a scary witch standing next to a big glowing cauldron to click on for a "witch's brew" temp power that would give you random positive or negative effects.

4. Halloween Candy.
You get candy from trick or treating, not costumes. ToT rewards could be special inspirations that could have numerous kinds of buffs and abilities similar to the winter event ones, but with interesting differences. Some candies could have 2 or 3 buffs (damage and accuracy) (heal and defense) etc. but the more buffs one insp. has the less percentage they help. Some may even have special effects that no other insp has, like a rare wakie that gives you full health without the stun. Or one that enhances range, (only good for ranged attacks obviously). The more candy you eat at once, raises a slider bar or a chance to make you sick and reverse the effects debuffing you slightly, emphasis on the slightly part. So if you pop one or two here and there, no biggy, but if you pop 5 or 10, then you have a chance of getting tummy ache.

Or a different candy idea would be new Halloween Salvage. In real life when you go trick or treating you always get something at each house. Maybe it is one piece of candy, maybe it is a handfull, maybe it is a bag of kettle corn or a caramel apple. So my other idea is introduce a new event salvage, Halloween Candy, and you can use this salvage to purchase things the same way that candy canes work for winter event. Then you could use this salvage on random rolls like Costume Salvage pieces (the four salvage pieces from the old halloween events), recipes, enhancements, permanent Halloween costume pieces, etc. But since you get one or more pieces at every door, it takes a lot of candy to purchase things.

5. New enemies.
With the winter event we got the Winter Horde enemies. Why cant we get some kind of new enemies like living scarecrows, goblins, or some kind of monster that we do not currently have in the pre-existing enemy arsenal. Gargoyles that spawn on an old cathedral, mummys (zombies with wrap), or even something like masked enemies running around with a machete or ax. Take a note from any horror movie ever made in existence and build from them. On that note, some of the time old classic movie monsters like Dracula, Frankensteins Monster, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Mummy, The Werewolf, could all be unique AVs or GMs in this zone. Just please stay away from the recycled Council/5th vampires and werewolves, Cabal witches, and Fir Bolg. While I agree these are good characters for a halloween event, we could really use a genuine Halloween only enemy group. (I can fight Council, Cabal, and Fir Bolg anytime.)

6. A Costume Party.
After a certain hour people could gather inside the creepy old gothic cathedral. There could be a bunch of NPCs wearing costumes (just not current enemy costumes, get creative). It would just be a cool looking place to go hang out. If that is too much work just throw some decorations in Pocket D to make it spooktacular. Complete with our permanent costume pieces that we unlock from the event. Right now all we have is the enormously oversized jack-o-lantern head. Give us some scary halloween masks, props, emotes, these are common knowledge so I shouldnt need to elaborate further. Please nix the recycled costume temp powers that we have now, and replace it with some new quality costume pieces that we can keep.

7. Temp Powers
Now that we have permanent halloween costume pieces, we do not need the costume temp powers. To replace 'em, I have a few ideas for you to build on.

In the spirit of the Snowball temp power, a "friendly" ranged power, it would be fun to throw a tp roll, eggs, or something of a non-damage nature at your buddies.

For a ranged attack temp, throw a flaming jack-o-lantern would be fun.

The above mentioned Apple Bobbing, or Witches Brew buffs.

And a fear power vs. enemies. This would be a prank to scare them. It would work like a proximity trap, being triggered when the enemy gets near, just like the trip mine from the Traps set. This could be a number of random things that would all have the same effect, to induce fear on the enemies in range. Such pranks could be anything from a hand popping out of the ground, to a ghost swooping out. Any kind of scary encounter will work.

There are some other notable ideas on the original thread also if you are interested in reading them. http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=134027

I know that this is a lot to do, so prioritize for the first year, then add things to it each following year, you know. Most important in my opinion would be the new zone and the Haunted Mansion Mystery, or some other type of new mission arc.

War Witch, if you come back and read this, I really hope that you like it, in part at least. I hope other people like these ideas as well. I used to like the old halloween events when they first launched but now after one day of playing them I am already bored. If any of these new ideas can be done, espescially the new zone, then I think that would be an event worth while.

Have a frightfully fun holiday everyone!

Not bad, a couple suggestions:

More padding space on the left and right sides for design comfort. Espescially on the Desdemona side, looks like 3-5 pixels between her and the edge of the graphic. The other side has some space, but could use a bit more.

Also, the base of the skyline is not even all the way across. On the left side it drops aout 5-10 piels and on the right side it is completely absent. Consistency is a bit of an issue here.

Other than that, not a bad job at all considering you just put three pre-designed graphics together.

P.S. I am not God.

Yeah I am anticipating the pre-order date. If anyone finds out any info on the pre-order release I would like to know when this is supposed to happen to plan accordingly.

And one thing about the package design, they can work on the box and collateral material while the programmers and developers are working on the game itself. They already have 3 Main characters to put on the package. They have released bios and media about 2 of the 3 already. It isnt hard to take some extra hi-res images for the package. Throw a twist on the current style of package layout and "voila!". Now that I mention it, that would be a fun little project for me to work on for funsies.

There are certainly a number of other things that need to be done after the expansion is finished, like printing and recording of the discs. But a lot of things can be done during the development process.

So yeah, if anyone gets a date on the pre-order, PM me with an official link please.

Yeah ZBrush is the industry standard of Awesomeficationizability! I would check out the free trial but I wasn't very good at self learning 3d studio max. So I will leave that to the 3d people and stick with my 2d-mazement.

Anyone find any cool ZBrush Models out there?

Yeah I wanted it to be some sort of smart*** retort to those who said my previous sig was too big, while at the same time being funny, and having inuendo. I think it works well but it could be better. Like if I made the guy have a naughty smile, his tounge sticking out, biting lip, or naughty expression of some sort. But I didnt want to do all that, I just kept it simple.

Thanks.

ZBrush is a high detail 3D Modeling program. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZBrush

Check out this forum for some cool examples like the one I posted:
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/index.php

Meh, it was kinda fun, but I got bored fast. Would help if we could choose our attacks, or had a few choices per turn. like Block, Attack, Dodge etc.

1. Post an IMG of a ZBrush model.

2. +Rep for the ones you like.

3. GO!

I tried looking for some superhero type models, and I wasn't really liking the ones I found. The models were well done, and of good quality. Just not my flavor.

I did think of COH when I saw this though, they should buy character concepts from this guy! http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/sho...highlight=hero

You could barely read "Red Scorch" at that size, also little details I enhanced on his face are pretty much lost. Like the definition in his lips, and the shadow under his mask. I have a new pic now. It isnt as cool as the old one, but hey it is the right size. If people dont like it, that is just too effin bad.

Thanks for the support man, but some of these greifing crybabies reported me to the Mods. So I am am just fed up with the b.s. "Your sig is too big" crap. So I just made this one to poke fun.

Nah I am just gonna make something else. Something crappy lookin, but hey, it will be the right size at least. It might look like a hydra on a bad hair day, but it will be the right size. I wouldn't look forward to anything too spectacular. I will probably just revert back to a simple rectangle img. I don't have time to spend on a well masked .png just for people to hate on it again. Live n learn I guess.

Wow, I am such an IDIOT! I never thought of simply just shrinking my image in the middle! How could I overlook such a simple and obvious solution. *Evil stare*

The reason I did not do this is because it loses image detail. I am aware of ALL ways to shrink an image. I have a BFA thank you for your suggestion, but I got it covered.

Yeah mods are cracking down on sizes, or someone got mad that I was breaking the rules and reported me. Either way my pic is gone never to return again. In its place I will create something new, but much less interesting.

I assumed people would think it is too big. I am sorry about that, but until the mods modrh8 it then I am going to leave it up there. Sorry shrinking via scale is not an option with a mask of a full torso pic.

Yeah on these kinds of threads I usually keep my posts short n sweet. I have other posts that are very lengthly. My Magic Wand & Wizard Staff thread is full of long posts, same goes for my New Halloween Event thread.

So I appologize about the size, I shrunk it as much as I could already, it isnt getting any smaller. I am aware that people think it is still too big so you can quit rep griefing me about it. Thanks.

I trimmed off some bits in the top and bottom. This is as small as I can make it without loosing type legibility on the side stats. If you like it thats awesome, if it is still too big I am sorry, just adblock it or turn off your images or signature option.

Personally, I like that some of the defeat badges, Zookeeper, Illusionist, etc. are a little bit difficult. It makes me feel more accomplished for having them. So many things have been a lot easier to achieve lately. Since AE getting a 50 is as easy as getting an ITF formed.

If they make everything so easy that anyone can get it, then the fun of a challenge decays.

As for the epic badges, Damage, Money etc. I do not think they need tweeked at all, cuz if you get them then it shows how good or dedicated you are to the game.

Just my worthless opinion there, like it or not, w/e.

I apologize about my feistiness, I have been dealing with a LOAD of bad rep griefers, some from this thread, bust mostly from the Explain the Rollback thread. I don't mean for any of my statements to be targeted at anyone who was not involved in this.

I am a target on many of my posts in threads, and am rarely given the props that I think I deserve for my effort and creativity. Maybe I am wrong and I do not deserve them. I honestly just think that certain people are being immature. Giving bad rep and nasty comments over silly things like typos.

My current signature is just telling those immature people that I don't care about the rep. But it does make me mad that I get these anonymous ridiculous comments with rude statements and swears that I cannot retaliate against in any way other than to just announce it to everyone.

So I am sorry about the fit.

I have been getting a lot of negative comments and bad rep from this thread. Which is fine, no problem there. But to retort to your comments. I do not care if COH is hiring, because like I previously stated, and openly admitted, I am not a game programmer. I am just a professional person with high standards because I went to school with a lot of animation and game majors. I know what is capable by witnessing it with my own eyes. So I state my opinion not to criticize and put down the developers, but to strive for growth.

I put it well while discussing my opinion on Champions Online:

BAH GRUMBLE GRUMBLE, you griefers and your rules. I vow that one day I shall disobey you ALL! HAHAHAHA!

...or not...i dunno.

Lol, well effin sonuva, I spent a good deal of time on that pic, like a couple hours at least. I expected a little more "hey cool pic" but instead I got an inbox full of tells saying "OMG! that pic is ENORMOUS!" 600x150 is a pretty unusual, and difficult proportion considering that people (including our heroes) are ideally proportioned by a 3:8 ratio. 150 is like enough room for a head, maybe part of a neck. /rantificationizability

Fiiiiiiine, when I get time I will make a new sig pic that everybody doesnt whine about *sad puppy eyes*. In the meantime I will just take this one down completely *cries*.

Well my apologies then. Didn't know I was talkin to a bunch of code monkeys ready to go bananas. I can surely understand that it is difficult, not as easy as "making a paper airplane" . . . DUH. So um . . . my bad, sorreh! I just hope the bugs get better before they get worse.