Starhammer

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  1. I agree completely, lose the prompts. If there are still consequences for going to the "other side's" zones, like losing advancement on faction change or something like that, lose the consequences too. What you are should not be defined by where you are. For that matter, some of the stores (like the ICON tailors and Facemakers) could stand to be a little less snotty about characters being Rogue/vigilante. Ok, maybe Serge could be stuck up about helping a Rogue straighten his tie, but Facemakers should be more than happy to take a vigilante's money.
  2. This seems like it should be so obvious to do and yet it's still there. Personally, I think contacts need a complete overhaul... like a major aspect of an issue overhaul (Issue 26: First Contact, contacts overhauled and we meet a new alien race that's actually from outer space, rather than interdimensional refugees and mutated human explorers... shortly following Issue 25:To the Moon!) so that not only do they some get retired, and others get new/updated story arcs (old stuff saved in O-zone of course), but also incorporating the code used to make teams the right level for a task force when you enter a Story Arc mission, so that nobody ever has to worry about accidentally outleveling a certain contact. I know Orouboros does this, but this would feel more natural and appropriate... O-zone missions also don't alter your standing with a contact which would be important for the other change I'd make...

    Contact stores... How often does anyone actually buy enhancements from a contact, unless it's some RP exercise? How often do you go to the auction house to buy what's is ostensibly a piece of common salvage, but there's only 3 for sale, and they're all priced at 1 million inf or something similarly absurd (at least uncommon/rare salvage can be gotten with AE tix if WW is out). I propose dumping the enhancement inventory from contacts, and replacing it with context-appropriate invention salvage. After doing one story arc, you get access to common salvage associated with the theme of the arc (a clockwork arc gets you clockwork parts, etc), and after completing a second story arc, you get access to uncommon salvage associated with the arc. No rare salvage in contact stores, after all, it's rare. This way, even if you have to do a story arc or two to unlock it, there will always be a place you can go to dependably buy common and uncommon salvage at a set price, and contacts will be selling something that is relevant both to the game as a whole and to their specific content.

    Also, using the new phasing tech, you could even get improved contacts that could be available to you in multiple zones and that seem to have a clue what you've been up to and what seems important to you, based on recent focuses in trials, TFs, factions you've been picking on, recent respecs, and so forth. It would be interesting to have a personal handler or liaison in the game to function as your "go-to" contact for the important stuff, like cape missions (instead of pestering that poor City Rep) or introductions to PvP zones or TF contacts and such, especially if they'd recognize when you already know about something... Already have a badge from Bloody Bay? Hey your handler isn't going to insist that you go talk to the transport attendant about what PvP zones are, as if you just started playing this week.

    We're also already seeing some effects of having different choices available to you when you respond in contact dialogue, and consequences for your choices. That's a direction that I think could be safely expanded upon greatly.
  3. Starhammer

    More EBs Please

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Expeditor View Post
    I'd like to see more EBs in the open world, as a (potentially) soloable counterpart to giant monsters, using the same level-less code as GMs, raid critters etc.
    Yes, this please! I would love to see level conforming EBs, named and otherwise, randomly spawn around town.
  4. I agree wholeheartedly with the vast majority of this. I'm not completely sold on the idea of faction symbols on the backs, but I'd be cool with it if we had access to all (or at least most) of the chest symbols for our backpacks.

    Better yet, I'd love to see a crab-backpack that is not spider-themed, just for all those crabs that go independent or switch sides. Sure, still hardwired with cybertech (though I'd love to ignore my enforced origin and get something occult or skeletal there as well), just not spidertech. A PPD themed crab pack would be awesome.

    Of course, I wish there was a way to lose the pack alltogether. I'd be happy to skip the crab offensive powers and stick to my machinegun, and just get Crab Armor defenses if I could avoid the dang costume nerf. It's ironic that one of the things this game does better than anyone (keeping function and form separate) gets suspended for some of the coolest powers/powersets in the game, like VEATs, HEATs, and Stone Armor. They'd all be orders of magnitude more awesome if they were options (customizable options at that... I'd love to trick out a HEAT to be fire-themed in it's forms) instead of mandatory.

    And yeah, more guns please. I'd pay money for a variant of the "Chinese M1 L1 triple-pulse assault rifle" (the fake rotary assault weapon used extensively in Deep Rising) with a grenade launcher attachment for my VEAT (and my AR/BR toons).
  5. I also despise the war walls, at least in general usage. I would be fine with certain areas being walled off as higher security, but I'd love to see most of them come down eventually. Also, from an in game perspective, it would be great if we could tear down the trappings of a totalitarian fascist state run by The Statesman now that he's dead. Want to go from one suburb to another? We may not require that you show your papers (security level) anymore, but we can close these doors any time Blue Shield says so...

    In all seriousness, I think it's worth exploring the idea of getting the walls out of The Rogue Isles at least. If that works out well, we could move forward from there.
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha View Post
    2) Now, as then, it seems like something that will enforce people use it, and those who actually, le gasp, enjoy knockback will become some sort of pariah folk. NOT the point of this game.
    Biggest problem here is that KB users are already pariahs. Being "forced" to use a "Suspend KB" power in order to play on a team would still leave us a choice of whether we wanted to do that to get on a team, rather than having to listen to "Oh you're an Energy blaster (or PB)... I don't team with... blah, blah, blah, not my type, blah blah, it's not me it's you, blah, blah, if you wanted to play a blaster why didn't you just roll a Fire/* like anyone who's not a crazy person?"

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha View Post
    3) Super Heroes. No, really, just Super Heroes
    I generally agree here, since most of the time I spent forming opinions about Super Heroes was done playing Champions (Offline), where Knockback was awesome instead of usually being limited to being annoying unless I'm soloing or in an all-ranged team. I'd be all over support of Knockback in CoH if we could use it to put people through walls and cars and bookshelves and such.
  7. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    Exactly, and I'd be at the forefront. If I had my way, I'd expunge failable missions from the game entirely. I fail enough in real life. I pay good money to play games where reality is of no consequence and I can have all my positive reinforcement irrespective of whether I deserve it. We should not be failing more. We should be failing less.

    All of the types of missions mentioned - timed, NPC escorts, objective defences, the GOD DAMN Stop 30 Fir Bolg mission, all of those are pretty much the sum total of content I despise.
    While I don't really care for how CoH deals with failure in missions, the idea of just receiving positive reinforcement for taking part regardless of what I do seems to be a complete waste of time.

    To take the idea of being "unable to fail" to it's logical conclusion, we should also be unable to die, which we are in this game, as everyone is immortal. Next step is to be undefeatable, perhaps we could have less failure if everybody took no damage, kinda like most NPCs... except we have to be able to do things and defeat NPCs, so every time we attack we should automatically hit, and we should do damage that can't be mitigated to enemies that are all limited to one hit point.

    Now there's the problem of having to select the correct enemies to attack, so lets just lose the interface all together, and replace the entire screen with a giant "I Win!" button, which we press, and then receive positive reinforcement (Gratz! all around) for having accomplished the only thing that really mattered, logging in and collecting our gratz... [/sarcasm]

    Sorry, but that just doesn't appeal to me. I can shut the computer off and congratulate myself for imaginary success easily enough, and that would hold about as much value... possibly more because it doesn't require the expenditure of electricity.

    I'm not one to promote enforcing perma-death or anything, because it's just not practical in an MMO setting. But since it is an MMO setting, something in which I'm actively taking part, rather than just observing like if I watched TV instead, I want my choices to matter. There should be consequences for my actions, whether success or failure.

    Failing a mission should have some sort of consequence. The contact who was depending on you should be unwilling or unable to trust you with tasks that important again until you've proven yourself, or maybe not ever. Hitting the "Hosp" button should cost you more than the inconsequential XP debt (I never liked the mechanic of XP debt/loss, regardless of it's intensity) and having to take a minute to run back to the door. I'd much rather see recovery and recuperation rules (that take things like regeneration into account of course), and/or item degradation (increasing the potential value of items, or in this game - enhancements, that are immune to degradation). Either way, defeat should not mean moving backwards (as in XP loss), or be meaningless (as in like it is) but rather moving forward in a different direction.

    Personally I think it would be a vastly superior mechanic for factional adjustments... You fail a mission against The Family, and your contact wonders if you've been bought off so they don't give you any more missions against "important" members of The Family, but at the same time, there's "a guy who knows a guy" that can get you a job, in these times when people are questioning you, guarding a warehouse, or delivering a package... the beginning of building a new allegiance, or maybe even an opportunity to get close to one of these Bosses and turn them in, regaining your earlier position of trust and authority with the original contact.

    Failure doesn't mean the game ends, it just means this character gets a chance to do something that other characters didn't get to experience... or at least that's how I fervently believe it should be.
  8. Bought the Imperial Dynasty costume bundle last night. At least one of the items remained locked out after purchase. I'm hoping it was just one of those synch errors Z talked about, because I know if I have to deal with customer service, it doesn't matter what the issue is, they'll insist it has something to do with my video drivers rather than considering it might be a problem on their end

    Otherwise, cool looking pieces, but it does seem like an unfinished set... some body areas get a LOT of options in the set, while some seem to come up short. Hopefully those parts are what's coming Soon (TM).
  9. I like the idea for the power, and have suggested something similar, the salient difference being that rather than debuff Knockback intensity, it would place an artificial cap on Knockback so that no matter how much KB is buffed by secondary effects (or a target suffers increased effect from KB, meaning that Clockwork take KB from knockdown), the KB effect is capped at .75 or so, ensuring that if the toggle is active, that you never get KB, but still get Knockdown. This way you continue to receive the most important benefits of KB (which are balanced into the effectiveness of the powers) without ticking off the tank who has to chase them around like some Keystone Kop.
  10. There's also some Huge body boots/feet that look weirdly stubby, like thalidomide stubby... But none of the feet issues even come close to the shortcomings of female shoulders in this game. Compared to the vast majority of women I know, or even to comic art of female characters, the female shoulder frame seems freakishly petite. I would be fine with that if it actually changed when you raised the scale slider, but even at maximum, there's almost no breadth to the shoulders. It's what most commonly keeps me from making female characters, unless their costume calls for one of the all-to-few shoulder pieces that adds enough bulk to hide the fact that even ad max scale, the shoulders look nothing like a woman with even a hint of athleticism.
  11. I don't really care if CoH were ported to Vita, though if it were, I'd probably have a reason to buy a Vita. I'm just responding to the concept of playability via controller.

    Aside from the first couple months it was live, I've been playing CoH with an old XBOX (not 360) S-pad controller (The S-pad is the one where start and back are located to the left of the D-pad, instead of in the center) using an XBOX to USB converter, some almost impossible to find anymore drivers, and Joy2Mouse2, a program that allows me to easily redefine what joystick buttons do. I almost never have to reach for the keyboard or mouse. With a press and release of my A button, I can launch up to 4 attacks, and 4 different attacks with the next press and release. activating all my toggles only requires a couple twitches of my left index finger and often happens automatically as I move around in game. Some toggles only activate in combat, some only out of combat. The only thing I can't do through my controller is enter text into the chatbar (consequently, I don't talk much during TFs).

    I can get a small portion of this effectiveness in other games, like WoW or SWTOR, but nowhere near as much, or as fluidly, or as effectively. The CoH user interface in general, and the keybind system specifically, gives me the FREEDOM to play an MMO the way I want to, rather than being pigeonholed into playing it the way some developer or marketing guy things I should be content to settle for. The game adapts to me instead of making me adapt to it. It's one of the foremost reasons I've stayed with CoH since just a couple months after launch (would have been here sooner, but I didn't have a comp at the time).

    The Vita seems a little short on buttons for my taste, but if any MMO could be ported to it and remain FUNctional, it's CoH. (That "other" game might be ported easier, but I don't like how it works even on PC)
  12. For me, the solution isn't that we need more ranged sets (mostly... I would like to see a munitions based control set, using rocket and grenade launchers and such, and I'd love a martial arts or dual blades secondary on my blasters) but rather that we need more ways to use the ranged sets we have. Like a poster said earlier, people like weapons. If they could improve power customization yet again, and allow us to change out our existing animations and emission points on non-weapon ranged sets to use those same powers with a variety of guns and stuff (and the same for vice versa, for instance allowing Assault Rifle attacks to be shot from the "hands" and such), we could completely revitalize existing ranged sets into a whole new "feel" for character concepts. I'd love to use a pair of pistol flamethrowers for a Fire Blaster, or a bow that shoots Lightning Bolts (D&D cartoon anyone?), or take the Archery power effects and twist them 90 degrees and mount them to a crossbow using Assault Rifle animations (Actually I think the only one that would need to rotate would be Fistful of Arrows). Similarly I'd love to take my Dual Pistol attacks and attach them to Eyebeam attack animations and shoot flaming bullets out of my robotic eyes (Ghost Rider did something similar recently if people have seen the sequel, or even the commercial). I'd love to heft one of those gimungous Goldbricker sonic assault cannons to use for a high tech version of a psionic blast.

    There's only so many ways you can create some minor variation on a way to damage someone, and have the new mechanics be sufficiently different to qualify as "Unique" without becoming overly gimmicky. We don't need new powersets that have minimal functional difference in order to have a discernible difference in style or concept. Just look at Battle Axe & War Mace... Heck, those barely even qualify as having discernible style difference. If they hadn't both been released before Weapon Customization, they wouldn't even have needed to make them two different sets. There's only barely enough difference between them and Broadsword that you couldn't lump it into the same mix with minimal functional tweaking and just opening up the weapon customization options.

    Unfortunately, I'm afraid this level of customization will never happen. It's not something they can easily market as a purchasable upgrade in the store. It would more likely have to be a general change to the game as a whole, and there's no profit in that, or at least no added profit beyond the subscription fees they will continue to receive even if they don't do it
  13. These are awesome. I can't wait to get one
  14. I was never particularly fond of the "origins" as presented in Coh, as there is too much room for crossover to say that any character fits neatly into only one origin. The purpose of the origins leaves too much open to subjective interpretation for that. Where is the line really drawn between Science and Technology? (For me, I think it's whether the product/power in question can be mass produced without oversight by someone who has advanced specialized knowledge of the discovery). Does Someone who uses a "Laser Katana" qualify as Natural because of their training, Technology because it's a readily purchasable device in their home parsec, Science because it's not understandable or replicatable technology in our parsec, or Magic because they have covered their body in occult tattoos and chant stuff between attacks to focus their mind, body, and spirit?

    Anyway, Here's some folks I consider "Legends" of the real world, even if they might not always be "Natural"...

    I'll get Godwin's Law out of the way and start with Adolf Hitler... no matter what you think of his morality, he was certainly a legendary Leadership Mastermind. He assembled an army that may have conquered the entire world if things had gone somewhat differently. He was almost certainly of "Natural" bent, though there are enough occult legends flowing in his wake that one could through him in the Magic camp if they wanted. It certainly makes for good stories.

    One of my personal favorites, having grown up in Colorado Springs, would be Nikola Tesla, though I think he fits more neatly into the Science camp than almost any other historical figure of note.

    Again, blurring the line between Natural and Science and Technology (though I think he may fit most closely into Science if one must be chosen) is Dr Stanislaw Burzynski ( http://www.burzynskiclinic.com/ ) This guy has cured cancer (not in every patient, but in enough that it's amazing he's not a household name).

    George Lucas is another that comes easily to mind, along with a couple others in his field, like Michael Bay, James Cameron, or Joss Whedon. Whether or not you like the product these men and others have pushed through the traditional Hollywood sludge, these guys have made EPIC pieces of entertainment, and in cases like George, even redefining what was expected of the industry (for better or worse).

    We've got some Legendary folks among the United State's historical elected leadership, Davy Crockett and Theodore Roosevelt. Agree or disagree with their politics, they were real life adventurers who went out and really did some impressive things, that most of those among us who read these forums will never come close to.

    Professional Wrestling, for all that it's based more on Entertainment than Sport, has certainly created some legends. Most would seem natural, though some might fall into the "Science" of steroids or the "Technology" of tricky camera angles, but just to prove there's some Legendary Mutants out there worthy of our attention, I'm going to point out the late, great, Andre the Giant. This man was a true giant among men, able to flip cars with his bare hands and out drink entire sports teams. More impressive though was that for all his physical might, he was a kind and loving man, who truly enjoyed spreading happiness to his fans. Even when he played a villain, he was a legend of truly heroic proportion.

    In the field of musical entertainment, it's tough sometimes to tell who is really legendary, and who just ended up in the right place at the right time, but then, isn't that kind of luck something that defines legends of almost any background? A few differences in travel itineraries and Marcus Cole and Stephen Richter may never even have heard of the Well of the Furies, much less drank its waters. Now look back at some of the more notable crooners in our world, men like Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper, Tupac Shakur, Danny Elfman, and others of their ilk. They may not be gunslinger rock stars (ok, at least one of them is), but these are people that have had legends spring up around their actions, whether heroic, selfless, sleazy, or just plain weird...

    I think I'll finish out for now with another Icon of Entertainment. Many may not agree with every decision he's made, some probably even have some personal hard feelings about him. But one way or the other Jack Emmert was a driving force in the MMO industry, pushing more than one game into existence, each of which have shown more innovation than the vast majority of more popular games, and at least one of which still holds my attention to this day... Whether he was a force of Leadership that AOE buffed the people in his companies to great accomplishments or a Mastermind who rose to power on the toils of his followers, his name is a legendary part of MMO history.
  15. The value of success can only be measured by the consequences of failure.

    It's not enough that there just be more ways to fail. Anybody can crank up the dif to +5x8 and then take a pug of SK'd newbies out on a Maria Jenkins. What's important to remember is that the game is telling a story, and whether you succeed or fail, the story needs to move forward. Failure should not consist of throwing yourself at a wall of enemies, hoping to take one out before you die, then running back from the hosp to repeat until you clear the mission. That's not success, it's just tedium born of determination.

    The "new" phasing technology available in CoH allows for scenarios I've desired (and asked for, only to be told it would never be possible) such as having the perceived environment change based on the consequences of your actions. Imagine a mission or story arc where you must protect a building from being destroyed... If you succeed, the building remains, but if you fail, your "phase" for that part of the zone now has a bombed out husk of that building. You could also turn that around, and use it on a larger scale to have your character help rebuild Boomtown one ruined block at a time, maybe even finishing with a statue of your character (mirror image NPC with coloring modification to match cement or marble, maybe an increase in size, and just permanently standing on a pedestal unmoving, and untargetable).

    With success in certain story arcs, you could drastically alter the perceived spawn of local mob groups, for instance, actually cleaning up the Skulls in Kings Row, or kicking the Council out of Sharkhead. With failure in those same storyarcs, the spawn rate could change just as much, but down a different path, to show the consequences of failure... for instance the Skulls have solidified their powerbase in King's Row, meaning that they now spawn in larger groups, and in areas generally claimed by other factions in the zone... We've seen tiny hints of what this tech can do, killing a praetorian contact, or cleaning up the Hellions by the bank in Atlas.

    That's just the tip of the iceberg though. Imagine being able to cure the Lost on a large scale, or taking out a few key men and taking over The Family as it's new boss. Imagine turning Atlas Park into a haven for goodly NPCs safe from the dangers of purse snatchers and loiterers. Imagine screwing it all up and having Atlas taken over by hordes of Arachnos troops loyal to Lord Recluse (ironically also eliminating purse-snatchers and loitering Hellions)... All these things and more can be done, allowing your characters successes, failures, and choices to actually matter (at least in the world as he perceives it).

    None of these things would mean that the time you invested in trying to accomplish something was "wasted" if you happen to fail a world-changing mission... Quite the opposite in fact, it guarantees that succeed or fail, you made a difference. You may not be on the same path you were traveling before, but you're definitely further down the road than when you started, instead of merely being a little bit of XP closer to the next level.
  16. I'm already committed to working at a Renfaire that weekend, and even so I never seem to have enough expendable cash to afford a trip and hotel around that time of year (right between two SCA wars).

    So I'd really appreciate if someone who attends the powerset workshop would push for a munitions based control set (net guns and flash bang grenades and such, predominantly using existing NPC weapons like grenade and rocket launchers that aren't otherwise available to PCs) so that controllers can have something that doesn't always look so much like spellcasting.
  17. The costume looks nice, but I, like many others, won't even give you my 2ยข for a random anything. I don't even like the consumables the game gives as loot, much less the ones you want me to spend money on ON TOP OF the subscription I've maintained (except for a week here or there to adjust billing days) for over seven years. My money is worth a set amount, not a random gamble. These kind of shenanigans are why I quickly lost interest in Magic the gathering, even though it was an otherwise fun game. It's also one of the things that really pushed me away from Star Wars Galaxies, when I was expected to apply additional real money to purchase a random chance to gain highly desirable in game stuff. I don't mind throwing a few extra bucks at something I want, even if it's just a costume piece/bundle I may only use on one character... But the idea that I'm gonna keep blowing purchased points on usually getting stuff that I don't want is just absurd.

    Of course the thrifty and discretionary aren't really anyone's marketing demographic, are they?

    Go ahead and chalk this up to a bad experiment, and I'll forgive it, but if this is the direction you want to push this game, I'll move on. I don't have any interest in online gambling.
  18. I'd love to see Ninjitsu ported over (use the Caltrops in place of a taunt aura)
    Sonic Armor would be interesting (with a -resist aura)
    I'd also like to see a defensive set based on Gravity Manipulation or Telekinesis... something less like armor or force fields, and more like "I'm manipulating the environment to make your attacks useless"... Build with effectiveness on par with Ice, some defenses, some resists, and to top it all off, a taunt aura that causes negative knockback, where you center the power of a black hole on yourself and knock your enemies off their feet and pull them in closer to you like a little katamari ball. There's a herd power

    I'd also love to see more "Blapper" themed Blaster secondaries... all the ones they have aside from devices are all elemental-ish. I'd like to see some martial arts or dual blades themed blaster secondary sets.

    It's also about time for some new Mastermind sets. I'd love to see a Knights set making use of shields on the minions, maybe some "staff fighting" spearmen Lts. and a warhorse riding jouster boss now that they have a 4-legged rig... With crossbow attacks for the MM itself.

    I'd also love to see some MM sets using existing factions, like PPD, Arachnos, Longbow, IDF, Family, and so on...


    EDIT: I use the word "also" too much, but am momentarily too lazy to feel all that inclined to fix it.
  19. I love the general appearance of some of the weapons (I'm not a fan of Final Fantasy type "Buster Swords", but that's ok, I don't have a problem with others using them), but I really hate the dreadfully long windup of the powers which is only there to make the "Momentum" gimmick useful... especially on my tier 1 quick attack. I'd happily trade away the AOE side of that to get a "normal" animation time on it. I haven't come closer to getting my #$% handed to me by an even level lowbie minion group than I have with this set without going afk for a bathroom break. Heck, even then most of my other melee guys are more effective...

    I want the big double handed weapon, I love the numerous 120 degree cone AOEs... I just don't want to feel like nodding off or maybe changing the channel while my toon emulates a Dragonball powerup episode in order to trigger an attack with a 4 second recharge.
  20. Here's the thing about City of Heroes... We shouldn't have to choose between Damage (or lets just say effectiveness, since that often goes beyond just damage) and style. With relatively few exceptions, what your character looks like and how it functions are completely separate matters (those exceptions being weapon based powersets, and with things like ice shields and celestial pistols that look more like blasters, there's even some leeway there).

    Unfortunately, once you get past your costume and into your power selection, you're often stuck with the animations and power effects that someone else thought worked best with that power function. Don't get me wrong, in recent years, we've made vast strides in power customization... but there is still a great deal of room for improvement.

    Some examples:

    My primary Dual Pistols character is a fairly serious sort. the attack where he throws the gun up in the air and then fires after catching it is just too absurd for me to deal with watching in combat and still get the same enjoyment out of playing the character. I love the functionality of Piercing Shot, but every time I see it I'm reminded of the pic on the net of some guy shooting a pistol with thrusts of his crotch. I'm sure it's fine for some character concepts, but not mine. All it would take to fix it and make me very happy with the power would be an alternate animation to use the Executioner's Shot animation instead (takes about the same time), but since it's a "Weapon Set" it will be a long time before it gets alternate animations, if it ever does, because theoretically being able to change the gun being used is enough customization for somebody's tastes...

    Let's take it a step further... If we could alternate the animation we use on a weapon power, it would open up the possibility to use the Assault Rifle powerset with Energy Blast animations, and then put a "Gun Glove" on the hand so a character could have a gun built into him.

    There's other examples, like some Dual Blades attacks looking great for swashbuckly stuff, but lame for heavier blades. Or Claws (years of rants on this subject available by numerous posters elsewhere).

    My hope is that one day, we have "Total Power Customization", where we can build (or rebuild) our powers effectively from the ground up. Take the base functionality of the power from the archtype, powerset, and tier for what type of damage or effect it creates, but be able to increase or decrease damage (or effectiveness) by altering animation time, base recharge time, base endurance cost, and so on to get the unenhanced functionality we want for the power (within certain caps based on AT and Tier, so you don't have Tier 1 powers acting like finishing moves). Then, once we've finished building function, we build form... We choose whether the power uses a "Weapon" from your weapon set if applicable, we choose an activation animation and sound effect that fits within a range appropriate to the "animation time" chosen for function, as well as a set of reaction animations and effects and we choose a power effect and if applicable, emanation point.

    My vision for Total Power Customization is not about being able to twink out the performance of a power so it can be uber-l33t and pwn suckas. It's about loving the functionality and timing of the Claws powerset, but wanting to use it with a pair of axes in your hands, or wanting to take a fire blaster, and emanate all its attacks out of a flamethrower weapon held like a rifle, or taking a Force Field/Assault Rifle defender and emanating the attacks from beneath outstretched arms so I can wear my PPD Hardsuit costume all the time and appear to be using the forearm mounted rotary cannons... or being able to take energy melee and reduce both the damage and the recharge on the Tier 1 attack so it acts as a light, fast attack like it used to (Doing the same for Defensive Sweep in Titan Weapons, reducing effectiveness in trade for a quicker animation, would make that set much more palatable)

    If we'd been able to do something like this from the beginning, we wouldn't have so many powersets out there that so clearly overlap each other's functionality (like Axe and Mace... Aside from the costume piece, they're nearly identical). It's my dream to put as much control over the character, not just what it looks like, but how it works, into the hands of the players.

    There's a long way to go. I don't expect us to get there right away (Well, I'm actually pretty disappointed that "That other Super Hero MMO based on the tabletop game that all the devs used to play" didn't do this outright... it's what it should have been... grumble grumble grumble). But as long as our developers keep bringing us closer to the ideal in my vision, I'll hold on and keep playing (and probably keep nagging about what I think could be better)... As long as somebody else doesn't come along and offer exactly what I'm asking for, like some sorta GURPS Online or something...
  21. I kinda want it all the time... in this guys case, I specifically want a pair of them swirling just in front of his glasses And the power effect isn't quite what I'm thinking of anyway. I also have an Illusion Controller who I'd like to put this on, perhaps Right Hand - Combat Only, with some tie dye acid trip colors.
  22. Starhammer

    Change Origin?

    Personally I just find the entire Origin concept as it's applied in the game to be worse than useless, as it's only viable function originally was to force characters to go to different shops to gear up. Between IOs and high level vendors, we're past that for the most part now, at least once you grind up to 32. Now days there are a few tidbits of functionality that have been added to it, like incorporating some terminology, or even an extra dialogue page into a very small number of quests, an inherent ranged power that's handy for melee types below level 12 (it seems to burn a lot more end than it's worth though... for the damage those do, I mostly just use them as a RP aid in combat, rather than a combat effect... if they were at least slottable like Brawl, they'd mean something).

    For what it's worth, sure, I'd love to be able to change Origin, along with most other things. I have an Ice/Ice tanker than didn't get used for years until I completely rewrote his concept to something more appropriate to magic than the tech origin he originally had. I was able to change his name, change his body type, change his costume... but he's still stuck with an unfortunate tech origin. Ultimately it doesn't matter enough to reroll, since he has Anniversary badges, making him irreplaceable anyway.

    If they were to tear everything apart and rebuild enough to fix the baked in Origin fiasco however, I'd much rather see something more meaningful. I'd rather see your "Origin" be more like a bonus power that gives you strengths and weaknesses versus certain power types, like choosing "Robot" and getting damage resistance or defense vs Psionic but taking extra damage from energy (electrical)... any number of other "origins" could apply. It's almost guaranteed to never happen though, at least not in CoH, because of the amount of work it would be to change something that many people just say, "meh, whatever... If I take Natural it won't screw with my vet reward and my SO's will have names that actually say what power they affect."
  23. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man View Post
    Do keep in mind, though, that there is a subset of the playerbase who has issues with repetitive motions like the one in your request due to conditions like epilepsy or migraines.
    I actually happen to be a member of that subset. Part of the key is to make sure you're not letting the image you're viewing dominate you field of view... as an aura, something like this probably won't be taking up somebody's full screen unless they really want it to. Also, as for a repetitive moving pattern, it's really no worse than the stars that circle around you when you have the faction base emote (I forget their names), and frankly, not much different than the Sparkles aura is currently. I get more trouble from the menagerie of power effects stomping all over one another during a big fight than I do from the auras, which are pretty subtle in the grand scheme of things. Anyone significantly more sensitive to these effects than myself is probably struggling quite a bit just to play the game anyway.

    In relation to "just roll a Time Manipulation", aside from the fact that it hasn't been released yet, that doesn't really help much with my Mind Control Dominator does it?
  24. I like the idea in concept. I'm definitely in favor of all pools getting a 5th power, say at about level 30. (I also happen to be in favor of removing the requirement to purchase earlier powers to access later ones. The level gate is enough of a impediment. I'm sick of having to waste a power slot on Aid Other in medicine, which many of my guys will never find a practical use for, just to get Aid self, effectively making Aid Self cost 2 power slots.)

    I would love to have an Auto mez protection, like spider armor, though honestly I'd rather see that in a new Patron/Ancillary pool. I remember when shields were in early post development, there was some talk about making the mez clicky a break free effect (for all the advantages clicky mez prot has, some of us dislike it greatly). This would be an excellent place to experiment with something like that. Make the power (called Break Free of course) function much like hitting a small BF. Give it a 15 second duration and a recharge of about 75 seconds. You can't make it perma without being really dedicated to the idea, but it doesn't usually need to be either. It's not a game changer, since anyone could theoretically just keep BFs on hand, but it creates the option for those who want it built in to their character, like self rez vs wakie.
  25. I was tweaking my Dom's costume the other day and was looking through the auras and realized I really wished there was an aura available of that swirly effect they often associate with hypnosis. As a full body aura, I think it'd look better being set behind the character, but for more focused emanation points, like hands, eyes, head, and chest, it'd look good in front.

    For those that aren't familiar with what I'm talking about, here's a 2D example:

    Obviously I'm pretty sure our art folks can do better