Warcry "Ask a Dev" Series Discussion

_Wolfen · 01-11-2007 07:25 AM

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Gotta agree with Lady S here. Why do we have to go to another site for this?

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QFT....w-t-f,charlie foxtrot, over

Lady Athyna · 01-11-2007 07:26 AM

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With Matt's quote I have been thinking is it possible that inventions will not be affected by ED. Could one of the reasons for ED was to make inventions possible?

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Whether it's possible to have inventions be exempt from ED, I don't know, but I do remember way back when ED hit Statesman said it was necessary for inventions to work, otherwise some characters would be sickenly overpowered.

ZadkielSalubri · 01-11-2007 09:55 AM

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I actually like the idea of having an invention give you XP. Each invention you make should give enough XP to actually make an "inventor" be a viable character type and level through just inventing if you wanted. In fact, could it be possible to make an epic archetype whose powers are geared toward making inventions?

An Inventor for Heroes and a Mad Scientist for Villains could have a primary that has powers that do things like increase the XP gained by creating inventions, increase the lifetime of inventions (if they are temporary), increase the potency of inventions, increase the chance of salvage drops, and increase the probability of success of inventions (If there is a chance of failure when inventing). As a secondary, the archetype could have a tiered set of temporary powers. Maybe every couple of levels or so, the power would be "Create Tier 1 Power", "Create Tier 2 Power", etc. Each tier would open up a set of powers that only this archetype could create for him or herself or for others. The beauty in this would be extreme customization for a character. Want to make a Tanker? Invent a bunch of defensive powers. Want to make a blaster? Make a bunch of ranged attacks. Want a Mastermind? Build some robots. Each tier could give you one power at that slot that could be respec'ed whenever you have enough salvage to change the power to the appropriate one you want.

It fits in the comic book world quite nicely, (Dr. Magnus, Hank Pym, The Terrible Tinkerer, Dr. Sivana), and would be quite appreciated on a Supergroup or Villain Group. The guys are out gathering salvage on missions while the inventor or scientist is back at the base crafting temporary powers that help the supergroup out (I think invented powers and enhancements for others should be temporary because the usefulness of an inventor would otherwise diminish over time). When the inventor gets bored, he can take his toys out for a spin.

Oh, and last secondary power should be a mech ;-)

Do you think an inventor/mad scientist archetype could be viable?

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While an inventor AT could be interesting, the invention system should not be a viable way to level from 1 to 50... the game is and always has been about going out and doing missions where you protect the innocent by incinerating bad guys or chopping them to bits, while pretending you're actually "arresting" them. If inventions give any xp, it'll likely be a small amount like another posted had mentioned... which would be fine. Otherwise, the system will be abused not by any new Inventor AT, but by all the other ATs. I'd rather not have inventions be the new way to PL.

As a side note, most comic book Inventor characters aren't a special AT; they're normal ATs that happen to also be inventors. Of the ones you mentioned, I know who Hank Pym is, and possibly the Tinkerer (if it's the same Tinkerer from the Spider-Man and Fantastic Four comics), but none of those others (I assume they're DC characters). Hank Pym (essentially a Tank in his heyday), Hank McCoy (Total Scrapper), Mr. Fantastic (Unique power, but still essentially a Scrapper), Iron Man (What many players want to play... a Tankmage)... for villains you can't forget Dr. Doom (Mastermind).

Super_Villain · 01-11-2007 10:14 AM

pwnt

Captain_Freak · 01-11-2007 05:39 PM

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Just to clarify:

Anything that is a reward "can" be made with the invention system.

This does not mean everything rewarded in the game is Inventable.

This means that, if we wanted to, we could have an Invention that gave out XP. Or Prestige. Or a Costume Piece. Or Infamy. Or a Badge. Or an Enhancement (we do a lot of Enhancements with the initial implementation of the system).

The invention system will not have all of this to start, but I am very excited with the sheer power of the system, as is Jack, which is why he touted it so positively in the earlier interview.

And also:

Start submitting your questions for me here. I am going to take a good sample of the more popular questions and answer them in a future update. After that, you will see other developers bios and a thread where you can ask them questions. The bios will help you ask appropriate questions of the appropriate developer. That way you don't ask Jay about what %'s Invented Enhancements give and you don't ask Castle why the Witch Hat has no hair.

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Um, youre the people that think doms are just right and keep adjusting domination......so in other words we will be inventing training enhancments and will cost way too much to justify the cost.......

Thanks for nothing

ZadkielSalubri · 01-11-2007 05:51 PM

Paragon City...

City of eternal optimism.

UnSub · 01-11-2007 06:37 PM

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Um, youre the people that think doms are just right and keep adjusting domination......so in other words we will be inventing training enhancments and will cost way too much to justify the cost.......

Thanks for nothing

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Inventions is ruined before it even starts! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

El_Frawg · 01-11-2007 10:19 PM

Eh, actually, there's quite a few villains and heroes that just sit back at the base and emerge less frequently. Dr. Magnus is from DC and is the inventor of the Metal Men. Dr. T.O. Morrow is the inventor of Red Tornado if I remember correctly. Hank Pym had a long time as just a scientist but could chug some Pym Particles to go fighting if he liked. The Mad Thinker, Microchip (Punisher's buddy), and Professor Utonium from Powerpuff Girls ;-) are all good Inventors or Mad Scientists. The case could be made for Mastermind in some cases, and in others the Mad Scientist theme could fit a little nicer.

If nothing else, it'd be a way to give the hero side a taste of the Masterminds, and both sides a character with lasting replay value if done right, even at endgame. It's the cure for altoholism ;-)

As for the alternative way to get to level 50, I wouldn't intend this to be a faster way to level up, just another way to do it. Some archetypes can level faster than others. I would propose that inventing should take just as long to level on average as it would to do so by missions.

Any way to add more ways to play the game is OK in my book.

DemonOutlaw · 01-12-2007 10:03 AM

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Start submitting your questions for me here. I am going to take a good sample of the more popular questions and answer them in a future update. After that, you will see other developers bios and a thread where you can ask them questions. The bios will help you ask appropriate questions of the appropriate developer. That way you don't ask Jay about what %'s Invented Enhancements give and you don't ask Castle why the Witch Hat has no hair.

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And we will not get specific answers on either until after said enhancement is put into the game for us to see for ourselves or the witch hat not having hair all of a sudden has hair.
From what I read in the interviews with any dev, we are just given the typical "no answer" answers we always get.

Interviewer: Could you tell us about the inventions system?

Dev: It allows you to invent things.

Interviewer: What kind of things?

Dev: We're not sure yet but it's going to revolutionize your character.

Interviewer: In what ways will my toon be revolutionized?

Dev: We're really excited about this.

Interviewer: So what else can we expect with the release of I9?

Dev: As always we have added new rewards and goals to the game such as badges and what not.

Interviewer:Ok thank you very much...informitive as always?

We're not asking for the entire cake...just to lick the spoon. Just an idea of what we will be getting, not what we "will" be getting. Throw us out some hard numbers on one enhancement, one costume piece, one idea that is definitely going to be in the game come I9. Like this.

Interviewer: Can you give me an example of what the inventions system will allow me to do?

Dev: Yes. By collecting salvage items A, B, and C and paying D in Influence/Infamy you will be able to create an enhancement with W, X and Y capabilities with Z % of increase to the power.

I'm not asking for a complete and accurate list of everything that the system is going to do. I'm asking that some blanks be filled in.

I'm reminded of Socrates when he said, "I drank what?"

Mr. Shane- lvl 50 eng/eng blaster (virtue)
Abatu- lvl 50 rad/therm corrupter (freedom)
Demon Outlaw- lvl 50 fire/eng blaster (virtue)

Shego · 01-12-2007 08:21 PM

Has anyone asked Castle yet, why the Witch Hat has no hair?

DoomMaster · 01-22-2007 08:30 AM

When is anyone going to answer on WarCry? It has been a while and Positron hasn't answered anything...

Dysmal · 01-22-2007 11:30 AM

I've been wondering that myself. If this series is going to hold anyone's attention, it needs to be updated on a fairly regular schedule.

Heroes
Dysmal
Lumynous
Sam Steele
Pluck
Wile
Slagheap
Pressure Wave
Rhiannon Bel
Verified
Stellaric
Syd Mallorn

Villains
Jotunheim Skald
Saer Maen
Jen Corbae
Illuminance
Venator Arawn
Taiga Dryad
Tarranos

Tuft__NA · 01-22-2007 03:47 PM

True, delays between questions and answers make interest drop rapidly...

Lady Athyna · 01-22-2007 03:51 PM

Wow. Hey folks, the first Ask a Dev series, I just cheked the dates. The Ask Statesman thread was started on 10/25/05 and the Statesman Answers thread was started on 12/04/05. Patience guys, it hasn't been that long yet.

Lighthouse_NA · 01-22-2007 04:10 PM

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When is anyone going to answer on WarCry? It has been a while and Positron hasn't answered anything...

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Positron has put together his answers internally and we are working on getting Statesman's bio and intro stuff together. Depending on how all that goes, the next installment with that information will likely make it up to Warcry next week.

Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager

If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.

Bystander · 01-22-2007 04:13 PM

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When is anyone going to answer on WarCry? It has been a while and Positron hasn't answered anything...

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Positron has put together his answers internally and we are working on getting Statesman's bio and intro stuff together. Depending on how all that goes, the next installment with that information will likely make it up to Warcry next week.

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Sweet. Thanks for the update!

DoomMaster · 01-23-2007 05:59 AM

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When is anyone going to answer on WarCry? It has been a while and Positron hasn't answered anything...

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Positron has put together his answers internally and we are working on getting Statesman's bio and intro stuff together. Depending on how all that goes, the next installment with that information will likely make it up to Warcry next week.

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Thanks for the fast response! The way the forum read it sounded like we would ask questions and the different DeVs would respond, thought it was going to be a daily thing for a short while. So we are going to get to ask Statesment questions? I really want to ask him a few things that he would be the best person to answer.

Tuft__NA · 02-01-2007 02:49 AM

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When is anyone going to answer on WarCry? It has been a while and Positron hasn't answered anything...

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Positron has put together his answers internally and we are working on getting Statesman's bio and intro stuff together. Depending on how all that goes, the next installment with that information will likely make it up to Warcry next week.

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Which now is "this week"?

Oceanborn · 02-01-2007 01:52 PM

So is the Q&A done yet or is it still in the works?

PowerCrisis · 02-01-2007 03:30 PM

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So is the Q&A done yet or is it still in the works?

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Hi guys, im from CoH WarCry. Assuming there are no hitches, you can expect it up by Friday. The person who would be posting it up is out of town at the moment and will be back on Friday, so I speculate that is when you'll see the new Ask a Dev.

I'm speculating a bit since I don't know for sure if Cryptic sent us back the material (since the guy is away, I cant confirm.)

Lady_Sadako · 02-01-2007 03:33 PM

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Hi guys, im from CoH WarCry. Assuming there are no hitches, you can expect it up by Friday.

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ooh, thank you very much for the update!

PowerCrisis · 02-01-2007 04:01 PM

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Hi guys, im from CoH WarCry. Assuming there are no hitches, you can expect it up by Friday.

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ooh, thank you very much for the update!

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No problem. But if for some reason it doesnt come Friday, don't kill me! :P

Lady Athyna · 02-01-2007 04:02 PM

No promises.

Bystander · 02-01-2007 04:08 PM

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No promises.

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*begins sharpening knives, just in case*

Lighthouse_NA · 02-01-2007 04:10 PM

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No problem. But if for some reason it doesnt come Friday, don't kill me! :P

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It won't make Friday. It's out to the following week now. The feature will likely make it to our French and German players and will need a spot of time for translation. At least, that's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it!

Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager

If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.