Shuriken_Blade

I don't know about anyone else, but one of the things I love the most about City of Heroes (from here on Villains fall under this) is the ability to make 'your own' hero, full with background and unique look. However, I think this is something that could be expanded on even further. For example:

Costume Descriptions
When a hero selects their costume (or their only costume) there will be a new tab in their Personal Info box, next to Description, called 'Costume'. In this tab there will be a box where you can write up to 1000 letters (or whatever), and a 'Save' button underneath. When saved, the box becomes unchangeable (like the Description tab) unless the 'Edit' button (replaces Save) is clicked, which makes it editable again.

This tab will be specific to each costume, depending on which is selected, and selecting a different costume will load that one's last saved description. By having this dynamic, players can write backstories on their heroes' costumes, perhaps explaining why they are currently robotic, or surging with electricity.

With such a small change on the developer's part, players that enjoy 'writing their characters to life' can feel their characters are explained that much better!

Pet Descriptions
This is mainly for Mastermind villains, but could also apply to Controller heroes.
Similar to the above idea: When you click on a pet's Info and the box with the pet type's description comes up, this would become tabbed under 'Description' with (something like) 'Personal Info' next to it. Using the same process as before, this box can be edited and is saved in the same way that pet names are, with each pet having its own unique description if desired.

Again, this will let players who enjoy broadening their characters write backstories for their pets and their motivation for following the player's character. It will be left blank for players who don't care, but again such a small change could make players feel more connected to their characters.

Hero Timeline
This would be completely different to anything previously seen in City of Heroes. Without wanting to make this sound like a stolen idea, this would be similar to the timeline found in Spore.
Essentially this would be on its own screen, somewhat like when you open the Architect window, and would be found in the Menu just under I.D. When opened you would be greeted with a timeline that began at Lv.1 on the left-handside, then progressing with a intersecting line at each day passed (this could be real days or game days, depending on how much self-gratification the designers think players need - I vote real). Within this graph there would be two main bars: one ever-increasing XP bar in purple, and one in blue or red for influence or infamy. There would also be a black one for debt and a yellow one for prestige, which can be toggled on and off.

For the XP bar, it would begin in the bottom-left (at Lv.1) and reach toward the top-right for the next level (eg. Lv.2). The angle of this would be determined by the speed at which XP was gained over the course of that day. When the next level is gained, the already-owned XP would be pushed down to make room for the new amount of XP needed, up to Lv.50 where the bar would finally reach the top-right and flat-line.
Similarly the Influence or Infamy bar would be more like a jagged line, going from bottom-left to top-right (with top-right being the most you've ever had at once), then dropping down to the bottom-right when you spend some (with the very bottom being 0).

To begin with this would all be on one page, then as days progress a scrollbar would appear to let you side to the right. There would also be options to view it as Daily, Monthly and Yearly.

The main appeal of this timeline would be that is marks any major achievements (or all achievements), such as badges awarded, respects completed, deaths, story arcs completed and new costumes made. These would be pointed out with icons around the XP bar, which show a little information when moused-over. Also, (and this is where some Spore influence might come in) when you save a new costume it should save a small .jpeg file on your computer - this way when you mouse over any costume changes in the timeline, you can see just what it was you looked like - even have nostalgic flashbacks to your first ever costume at Lv.1.

This timeline could even be brought into a person's Info, when right-clicked. Like, a small week-long timeline showing any recent badges or level-ups. Considering the inclusion of Ouroboros it would make an excellent addition to the whole idea of time in the City of Heroes universe.


Please, let me know what you think. I'd love to get some feedback on these ideas

I tend to post most of my stuff through the in-game mechanic, but what the heck? I want some feedback. And don't hate me if this has already been suggested: I tried a search and all the links 404'd.

So, tired of the same old four travel powers? How about:

Grappling Hooks
But not just any grappling hooks mind. Dual air-powered grappling hook guns. Now obviously this suggestion wouldn't be complete without some attempt of explaining the technicalities of it... so here goes.

This power would work much like Teleport, but with the key difference that a secondary power like hover (in most cases) would not be necessary. So, your hero/villain pulls out two handgun-sized grappling hook launchers and the cursor turns into same lovely glowing circles as all manual-targeting abilities. The cursor is red until you place it over a solid, stationary object, say the floor, or a wall. When you click, your hero/villain fires their hook into that area and is propelled towards it while taking a chunk of endurance. If the location of this shot is a wall, the character remains pinned to that area until the player presses any movement key or attack. This would give people the interesting opportunity to drop from on-high fully prepared, rather than worrying about things like endurance consumption from flying powers. If grappling from wall-to-wall the character would remain 'hooked' while aiming the second grappling gun.

Obviously this power will not work well in large open areas, instead being more of a tactical approach to travelling, both in- and outside. It gives players the same security as flying over dangerous areas, while offering slightly faster 'bust' travel.

If this had its own set, one of the lower-level powers could be a low-damage grappling hook weapon. I have no idea if the programming is possible, but it could pull the enemy towards the user, using the same rules as Teleport Foe. The 'pulling' version could be the 4th power, with an earlier one being simple low-damage. Also, the other of the lesser-powers could be a 'Grapple Drop'. Again, I don't know if this is possible, but using the same manual-aim with a much shorter range, it is red until you select a ledge of any object, where upon your character jumps off, hooking to the ledge as he/she descends and greatly reducing/nullifying any 'drop' damage when they land.

Flaws to this idea:
1.) Animation (While writing this my idea underwent a number of revisions: deleting paragraphs after fixing my own problems)
The character would fire their right-hand gun from the standing point, turning in whatever direction the player clicked the targeting reticle. The hook would fire and after being pulled through the air they would assume the 'hooked' animation against the wall (I imagine this looking like: gun-arms at 60 degrees holding the character up, legs at 60-degrees pushing against the wall, facing the wall)

When the character reaches their travel destination the 'latching-on' animation would have them fire their second gun into the same position as the first, seeming to need it to keep themselves up. This way when the player chooses which direction to go after this point, it works on a principle of two animations: if it's in their back left 60-degrees, remove the left hook and fire it, if it's in the back right, remove and fire that one. If they manage to choose perfect centre, the right could be the generic choice.

2.) Technical Difficulty
Having no knowledge of programming, animation or any game-making skills (besides imagination and an OCD-level of attention to detail), I have no idea if any of these ideas are feasibly possible to create. Whether they are or aren't, this would by far be the most technically difficult travel power of them all. Without wanting to sound like I am belittling the massive achievements this game's designers have slaved over and produced so well, I think the prospect of something so problematic would be a huge turn-off.

Pros and Cons
Pros
-A new, interesting Pool Power/Travel Power to liven things up!
-Technically difficult, to impress the players!
-A Travel Power for NATURAL Heroes/Villains. So far there is no way of travelling quickly, short of Sprint, that could be applicable to a hero or villain who has trained hard for their powers, rather than being 'super'. This gives those characters a legitimate way to travel, without having to think up some excuse for being able to fly or run super-fast. Personally I think this is the most important selling point

Cons
-A new Travel Power that isn't technically necessary, as things seem to be fine the way they are.
-Technically difficult, a big hassle for something that isn't that important.
-New models, textures, animations, sound effects and special effects. (A little puff of smoke as the hook is shot out the barrel would be cool )

Well, this took me a few hours to write up... I hope someone at least reads it :P Sorry it was so long! I'd really love to hear some feedback from anyone. Thanks for reading!