Samuel_Tow

I tend to see Gun Drone as a damage aura that doesn't require the Blaster to actually be in melee range. It adds a not insignificant amount of damage, and it's a pretty tough bugger, too. Yeah, it can't really serve as a tank, but it can help out.

More than anything, though, look at something like Regen's T9 power. Moment of Glory is a very strong buff, but it only lasts 20 seconds. "Defence Build Up," they call it. If the power had a 1000 second recharge, cost 50 points to activate and needed 7 seconds of interruptible animation, that power would be complete garbage. Instead, it costs 2.6 points of endurance and recharges in just 240 seconds. It's not something that will make you an unstoppable god capable of outlasting an AV, but its cost is low enough to where it doesn't matter, and you can still use it anyway.

Or look at your typical Blaster conundrum between proper nukes and mini-nukes. You have fans for both sides, but there's no denying that mini-nukes are popular and that they see a LOT more use. People don't feel cheated because they got Full Auto or Rain of Arrows or Hail of Bullets, because those are solid powers at not too great a cost. Gun Drone could be that kind of power - not very amazing, but pretty cheap, too.

"Too awesome to use" applies to powers with a situational use or a long recharge, as well. Take your typical defence T9 god mode power. It's on a 17+ minute recharge, so even people who take it usually don't use it, because "What if I need it later and it's not recharged?" Blaster Nukes are a similar example. They're amazing powers, no doubt, but a lot of the time a Blaster will consciously opt not to use the power as it comes with SEVERE drawbacks and dangers. A power whose basic design makes people NOT WANT to use it is not a well-designed power, in my opinion.

How this applies to Gun Drone is that, at the current stats of the actual gun drone, it's a pretty solid power. You have a strong pet with consistent damage. Hell, if I could, I'd keep one out all the time. But I can't. I can't because the Drone costs a hell of a lot more to summon than it's actually worth, I can't because the thing dies way too fast, I can't because I'm afraid of being interrupted and wasting my endurance, as for some strange reason the game drains endurance BEFORE the power activates. Making the Gun Drone have an opportunity cost of 0, or at the very least having a much lower opportunity cost altogether, would make it a very solid power that I don't have a laundry list of reasons for not using.

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With all of that said, I'm not against improving the drone. Far from it. However, I'd be much happier with a decrease in the power's cost, rather than an increase in the power's performance.

That's a common misconception. When BABs explained why some powers got customization options and why some didn't, he said that weapon sets didn't get power customization in an effort to lighten the massive workload. The logic was that since you can already customize your weapon, having custom animations on top of that wasn't a pressing priority, and they could instead focus on the powers which had no customization at all.

All of this is to say that, as far as we know, it's not technically impossible, and there should be no reason why we can't, and indeed shouldn't keep suggesting it.

Technicalities aside, I should probably have included this in the the original post, as well. Glowing tights could make for some very cool designs, especially if they come without much shading, as glowing bits on costume pieces tend to. We could pass them off as "pure energy," so to speak, and make our divine characters even better.

The reason I focus on hair is because actual glowing hair (and not just glow-in-the-dark) tends to give people a very unreal, supernatural feel in a way that glowing bodies don't often manage to accomplish. We tend to perceive people through their faces - and hair is part of a face's appearance - and when you mess with these, the effects can be quite powerful... When they're not quite disturbing.

I don't know. That IS one of the things that crossed my mind, but their hair doesn't really glow, so much as turn blond. When I say glowing hair, I mean something more like the better examples I found after some searching:



Both of those are from Oban: Star Racers, yes, and both of them do a fairly good job of presenting a divine-looking being in pretty stark, if stylised imagery. THAT is kind of like what I want. Notice how none of the light has any shading on it. Because it's light. Light doesn't reflect light any more so than fire casts a shadow... Wait, what?

Huh... Odd, then it must be something else producing these ping times. I wasn't aware of this change of location. I still don't intend to play on Freedom or Virtue, however, unless they did something big to prevent prime time high ping times.

Yeah, provided you actually drop the old car inside the new engine, rather than the other way around

Here's the thing with a sequel: It HAS to be a reset and a large change in almost everything, otherwise you don't need a sequel. If you're going to keep the powers system, the powerset frameworks, the existing visuals, pieces and effects, the exact same contacts structure, the same enemy ranking and mission framework and so on and so on... You're not making a sequel. You're making the same game twice.

If you ever see an out-and-out sequel to this game, it will be a different game altogether. Sure, there may be rough equivalents, but nothing of the sort that would allow you to copy an existing character from one game to the other. Which means starting over, which means trouble for an established fan base, especially when the changes might not always go over well. For instance, suppose the ability to make any meaningful progress in the game were seen as a bug (like it's seen in every other MMO ever made) and this were fixed. I wouldn't play that "better" game.

MMO sequels are problematic, and I don't think City of Heroes would do well with a straight sequel.

They sound slow when I describe them, but you have to remember that the current Teleport animation is 2 seconds long as it is, so it's more a question of timing than anything else. A lot of the time, you can even reuse the same "chest thrust" animation as regular Teleport, just with a different effect, though I would REALLY like to have a better one. The chest thrust is kind of goofy.

OK, let's take a crack at it, then. I keep saying "ideas are easy, work is hard," but let's see how easy it is to come up with a few ideas.

*Bugs: You should already have the artwork available in the form of Necromancy Mastermind upgrades. Those leave a trail of worms, beetles and maggots as they travel from the Mastermind to the henchman. Could that be wrapped into an aura?

*Flaming footprints: As discussed before, but with a bit of extra explanation. I'm pretty sure those can't tell what boots we're using to leave sole-appropriate footprints, but I'd be happy with just little puddles of fire, like a mini-Ignite in a trail behind us. Might be challenging to arrange them as footprints if characters are strafing in weird directions.

*Flowers in your wake: Again as discussed before, as the character moves, flowers and grass grow behind him, linger for a few seconds, then wilt and die. Or they could fade in and then fade out if that's simpler. I wouldn't be too put off for lack of a growing and wilting animation.

*Elemental trail: Simple enough to explain. As you walk, you leave a trail of ice, fire, mud, crackling electricity and so forth. Super Speed already kind of sort of does that, but it disappears way too fast, possibly because of the movement speed of the power.

*Cracks in the ground: Is it possible to leave a trail of cracked concrete in our wake to simulate the great bulk of a character? Would it look awkward when walking on catwalks or metal?

It seems that I'm sleepy, so my head's drawing a blank from here on out.

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On another note, as long as I'm listing ideas, we may as well retread travel powers.

Flight:

*Fire flight - You are enveloped by fire similar to the Fiery Aura shields, and you leave a looong flame trail as you fly. This would free up an aura slot and not necessitate having actual fire shields to accomplish, allowing us to have a Beastly Rage breath power on a character who nevertheless has fire flight.

*Ice flight - A trail of ice forms behind you, extending a good distance. Said trail doesn't have to be attached to anything, you're flying, after all. Use the Prestige Power Slide effect for movement animations and use ground attack animations for aerial combat. Alternatively, have us slide around on a chunk of rock.

*Rock flight - Similar concept, but with a floating rock, or possibly a trail of rock forming for the character to slide along. Or possibly even run along, if you choose to go with a trail instead of a floating rock.

*Flying platform flight - Similar to the previous two, but your ride a platform that's made airborne in some way - jet engine, propeller, weird alien energy, the more variety the better. The character is standing on this platform and riding it around, using ground animations for combat.

*Flying on a cloud - Hey, it worked for Son Goku! Baiscally, the character stands on a small cloud and uses that in the abovementioned way.

*The "believe it or not, I'm walking on air" - Literally. Just have regular flight mechanics, but allow our characters to RUN on air.

*Magic carpet flight - Sometimes you fly on a disc of futuristic technologies, sometimes you opt for the classic Persian rug. Should probably include a few different designs

Jump:

*The earth propels me - As you jump, a pillar of rock shoots through the ground, flinging you into the air, whereupon the power proceeds to work like regular jump.

*Combustion Man jumping - As you jump, a fiery explosion erupts under your feet, throwing you into the air, whereupon the power proceeds to work like regular jump.

*Energy jump - As you jump into the air, you appear to eject a ground shockwave of energy around you, as though fired an energy blast behind you to launch yourself.

*Fat man landing - When you fall to the earth from a great height, the massive bulk of your body cracks the ground and produces a force explosion, camera shake and a loud-ish sound effect, while you land on one knee and one fist.

*Ninja landing - Regardless of how high the drop, you always land in a crouch, never making a sound. Your soft landing belies dexterity and agility.

*Energy landing - You always land on your feet, and as lightly as though you had stepped off a street curb. However, every time you do, a shockwave of energy shoots along the ground in all direction as though a great force cushioned your fall and was expelled outwards.

Super Speed and regular Run:

*Booster pack animations: The ability to use Beast Run, Ninja Run and Prestige Power Slide animations BUT NOT the buffs they provide without needing to run the powers. I should be able to run like a ninja at super speeds and I can't because Super Speed disables ninja run.

*Ice Slide "running" - you freeze the ground under your feet and (Prestige Power) slide along the icy trail. If you jump, the trail follows you through the air, forming a ramp which melts in a second or two.

*Fire sliding - Same as above, but with fire.

*Mud sliding - Same as above but with earth/mud.

Teleportation:

*Ink teleport - You disappear and reappear with a tendrils animation similar to a drop of ink landing in water. Somewhat similar to Black Dwarf Shadowstep, but without the gaudy portal thing.

*Explosion of light - A burst of bright light distracts your opponents for just a moment, and when they look twice, you're already gone, and probably behind them.

*Fire teleport - You burst into flames and appear to burn into dust, only for another burst of flame to occur elsewhere on the map and for you to reappear in it.

*Anime speed teleport - You don't teleport at all. You're just so gosh-dang quick that they just can't see you moving. With a whoosh and some speed lines, you disappear, only to reappear behind your enemy as he nervously looks all around and never behind.

*Portal to hell teleport - A portal of mysterious energy appears underneath you and you sink into it, cross-armed and self-assured, only to emerge elsewhere on the map.

*Smoke Flash teleport - A smoke bomb blinds your enemies, allowing you to escape unseen and reappear from the shadows somewhere else.

*Fade-out - No fancy effects, no tricks, no gaudy energy. You simply disappear where you stood and reappear somewhere else. You don't so much teleport as simply decide to be somewhere else, too important for petty theatrics.

*Wrist tap teleport - Magic and eldritch powers are for the birds. You have a teleport device. A quick tap on your wrist keyboard causes you to get beamed into a satellite in low orbit via a very obvious pillar of energy, only to be beamed back somewhere else in a similar fashion.

*The magician teleport - You explode into a shower of confetti and other props, leaving people scratching their heads in bewilderment. Only you know how you were able to reappear in a completely different place.

*The ninja log teleport - Ever notice how every time a ninja gets stabbed, it turns out he moved out of the way and put a log in his place? Well, now you can do that, too! You dash out in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a random prop to taunt your enemies. Any of the Propel items will do.

*Ninja leap teleport - This one is simple. You leap high into the air and land somewhere completely different. How... When did you... What happened?

That's all I can think of.

Well, you learn something new every day

Personally, one of the big reasons I stayed with the game was the direct communication we had with the developers, which both allowed us to make our voices heard and gave us an inside ear into both the workings of the game and life around the company. Then BABs and Castle left. David Nakayama made an effort, but he's had one or two posts in the last month. And now we have Tunnel Rat, and we'll see how much that one will last communicating with us. They always start with enthusiasm and great hope, and spend a great deal of time speaking with the community for about four or five pages of one thread, then drop off the face of the planet for months.

I mean no offence when I see this, but I have no interest in communicating with "representatives." Even when they're doing their job perfectly, it's not a direct line of communication. Trump that on top of my growing concern that my voice is being soundly ignored... Well, never mind. Suffice it to say that the loss of communication and the more or less stagnation death of the Dev Digest is not a good thing for my morale, at least.

I invite you to take a look at what's in the pigg files and see if you can make more sense of it. We shouldn't be discussing that either way. It's against the forum rules.

Well, "as best I've been able to find." Though I try to hide it, English isn't my first language and there are still words I don't know

The problem with making patterns glow is with how glows appear to be coded. A "glowing" area of a texture is actually baked into the base texture, itself, something that colour patterns can't do. If you look at the separate textures for, say, Organic Armour (and you shouldn't, since that's against the rules), you'll see that it has an entirely separate texture overlay with just the glowy bits on it.

What all of the above means is that while we can have costume items with glowing bits on them, or indeed costume items that glow all over, we can't actually swap the areas that glow in real time. I assume that's what's kept us from getting "glowing colours," as I call them. One solution to this is what they've been using so far - only institute textures with SOME glowing parts and lock that glow to the secondary colour, but all that does is prevent you from using patterns.

In the case of hair, I'm suggesting just a full texture swap for a glowing one, so nothing will actually be left for the players to customize on the glow. The whole hair glows, you just pick the mesh, so WHERE it glows is predictable and can be written into the hair's base texture.

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The same can actually be applied to skin. I'd suggest glowing skin in much the same way, but this will first require a tech swap to allow us to pick our base skin texture, which is what I believe is what David alluded to when he talked about "technical difficulties" with adding a muscular skin texture for women.

This does not, however, negate the existence of glowing tights, provided the ENTIRE tights glow irrespective of pattern. All colour patterns will be able to do is introduce areas of different-coloured glow. But that might still be enough.

I haven't counted, but I think I'm at the same level, as well. I do have random characters scattered about the servers I don't play, but those may as well be empty spots, since their slots are not held in any way. If I need the slot of a throwaway character, that character gets deleted.