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/signed.
I like it. Needs a little tweaking, but it is a very good start. I do agree with Empress on the fact that these selections should be outside the realm of power pools, since they are not really "power", but are defining qualities about your character and they help to influence your abilities as a hero/villain.
Once the inventions systems goes live with I9 this idea will start to fit more into the game I think. There are more back grounds that could be selected (ie: Scientist, Engineer, Laywer, etc, etc...) that could work with the new system.
~ Infinity Heroes ~
Dark Voltage - 50 NRG/NRG/EM Blaster
Shure Shot - 50 Arch/NRG/MM Blaster
Silent Shadow Blade - 50 Katana/SR/BM Scrapper
Uphir - 50 Fire/Fire/Fire Blaster
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Once the inventions systems goes live with I9 this idea will start to fit more into the game I think. There are more back grounds that could be selected (ie: Scientist, Engineer, Laywer, etc, etc...) that could work with the new system.
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I just wanted to state that, while I am very grateful for your support, this is a specific path I would not want this idea to take.
When you start saying things like "engineer, lawyer...". you are pinning them down into real world Earth perspectives. When I wrote Merchant, I had in mind the CEO of the Media company for which I work.
The issue is that CoX takes place in a fantasy world. People don't really flinch when otherworldly things happen. It did not seem weird when a teammate of mine was playing an "angel from another realm". If that angel serves under his divine master, he could be called a student.
To put it another way, you have the right idea, but I would like the names of the Pools to be more generic, representing general character traits. When you use terms like "Lone Wolf", you scoop up Wolverine, Daredevil, Batman, and any given member of The Outsiders (which is a team somehow). When you say "Lawyer", you get Daredevil.
So, that's my concern.
Still, if the Devs agreed with you, or most other people did, I would probably concede very easily. As has been noted many times here, the idea is liked, but there are a lot of rough edges. 
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Yeah, I agree these shouldn't be selectable/slottable powers. They should be little inherent auto powers earned automatically as you lvl.
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just to clarify... the CHOICE should be earned.... never the powers themselves.
this isnt like accolades where "sell 500 training enhancements" gets you the Haggle power.... that, frankly, sucks [censored].
I see no real problem with making them power pools... except then you HAVE to make them viable alternatives to other power pools.... i.e. you are making background options(i.e. fun, creative, and/or unique ) into game mechanic risk/reward options....
that, I dont like.... And personally, I think the desire to make them power pools stems from the community's general desire for more powerpools.
I think they need to be like titles.... at the very best, have a mission from your inital contact along the lines of a cape or respec mission (preferably the cape missions) that gives you a good shot of in game "story"... while at the same time, giving the player the sense that they are "moving up in the world" because people want to know more about them (sorry, I really like the idea of aquiring history pools because, in game, people are trying to find out more about your past.)
the mission could be selected at level 10 by going back and talking to your original contact, who's just thrilled that you're well on your way to making a difference(hero), proving your worth to arachnos (Kalinda)/not taking arachnos' crap (burke)
it would add a sense that your inital contacts "care" about whats happening to you (villain side, of course.. you reflect upon them.. and heroside they just like to know they did their job) forming a bond that could translate into Origin story archs (mentioned in another thread around here) for heroes, and gives you a more solid foundation for returning to your inital villain contacts beyond "I have to"
Yeah, I see what you mean. Lawyer was probably a little too specific and scientist as well. Maybe if they were pools like Genius or Debator.
Debator could encompass poeple that are lawyers, politicians, business men, etc, etc... Just depends on how the power would work out, Merchant could, however, cover these as well in some cases. Of course there could be some cross over between BGPPs that makes it little harder for a player to decide how they want to flesh out their character. Or another possibility could be to allow players to select multiple sets, maybe up to 2 and they can advance. who knows... I like this idea. It could work out very well, plus we need more non-combat, roleplaying mechanics IMO.
~ Infinity Heroes ~
Dark Voltage - 50 NRG/NRG/EM Blaster
Shure Shot - 50 Arch/NRG/MM Blaster
Silent Shadow Blade - 50 Katana/SR/BM Scrapper
Uphir - 50 Fire/Fire/Fire Blaster
Empress, I don't want to copy/paste your entire post, as I have a pet peeve about excessive copy/pasting, but I wanted to tell you that is the best interpretation of this idea so far, in my opinion.
What we would need now are two things:
1) A balance that allows people to get as many as are right for their character without allowing others to abuse it and just take them all.
2) Compensation for those that don't want it. Making these options "flat out" better seems like punishing those that don't like the idea.
Thoughts?
the balance comes in two fold... availability and gravity.
if we make the powers available every 5 levels, starting at 10, that gives players the oprotunity to aquire 9 powers. if we deepen each History Pool to 6 powers, that would mean you could max out one pool and get up to the 4th power on another.
if growth works for these as it does for power pools, then they would look something like this:
Power one/ power two (pick one)
Power one/ power two/ power three (pick two)
Power one/ power two/ power three/ power four (pick three)
Power one/ power two/ power three/ power four/ power five (pick four)
Power one/ power two/ power three/ power four/ power five/ power 6 (pick 5)
Power one/ power two/ power three/ power four/ power five/ power six (chose 6)
so, if you wanted to invest in three of these pools evenly, you'd be able to get the 4th power on each of them, but not be able to aquire the 5th or 6th powers.
now, by "gravity", what I mean is that, like the current pools, the later abilities are usually the better abilities. So, what I would suggest, is that the 4th, 5th and 6th powers in a pool be a "tangable benifit" to the character. essentually though the first three powers in the pool would give some minor bonuses, in essence they would be perogative/IC choices. However, if a character chose to "specialize" (i.e. not try and take everything) they could aquire abilities that would have a tangable benifit to their gaming experence (i.e. Soloing is what I do, and I do it damned well)
so, if you want to "mini-max" the history pool... you're either getting a max of 3 minor/moderately benifitial abilities from three seperate pools (over the course of the WHOLE game, mind you)
or you could get 3-4 (one minor, 2-3 moderate/good) by "specializing" (in game terms, being very skilled at one aspect of life, before becoming a hero)
your second question is a stickler... let me think on it a little bit.
you know.... the more i think about it....
how many people dont do the second costume slot mission... or the Cape mission?
even if they NEVER put a cape on, or never make a second costume (though, how many players dont do that, either?)
what Im getting at.... is if you make it "Free" (have a capetype mission ever ten levels or something to "increase your fan-base" or something)
and there isnt anything to lose by doing it....
why would you need to compensate those who choose not to? you dont get anything in compensation for not doing the cape mission....
you dont get anything to compensate for not choosing a title....
theres no compensation for people who choose NOT to take power pool powers (not really, anyway)
theres no compensation for players who choose not to hunt badges to aquire accolades....
I dont think we need to find a way to "compensate" players who choose not to use this feature....
It needs to be a compelling feature (i.e. have something intrinsically benificial) without feeling like it NEEDS to be taken (just look at fitness :-/)
if it "costs nothing" to do, then people will do it, if they feel like it, or they feel it benifits them...
Hell, if all you do is play Duo's with your roomate 90% of the time.... why WOULDNT you pick up the Dynamic Duo history pool....even if it had almost no benifit... if it had some, you'd get it...
same with soloers, same with people with no epic patron handing out Inf....
I dont think we need to "compensate" people who dont want to do it.... I think we need only balance the concept, so that it isnt "required" to do.
(btw, you need an "Olympic Athlete" history pool too...)
A frightefully good point. As a matter of fact, as soon as I posted that message I thought "Capes Missions!"
Then I thought that, since you have so far been a good mind on this, I'd wait to hear what you had to say.
Since we agree, that's a good sign, right?
agreeing with me is always good for ones health 
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(btw, you need an "Olympic Athlete" history pool too...)
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Like I said in the original post, there were several ideas that I had not posted previously, as I just wanted to get the point across and not quibble over a specific power.
Those ideas were: Survivalist, Immortal, Divine, Mentor, Genius.. others that I left not at my workdesk. Olympic Athlete is a good one, though. ^_^
I like the idea!!
Having the pools be inherent like the Kheldians get, would be awesome! A power every so many lvls. You pick one when you create a toon - just like the origin.
And to Blackdream, the lone wolf xp bonus would not be what you think, since you would have to do all your mishes solo, so xp would be significantly lower per mish than someone on a team.
/signed
/re-signed, 'cause I like it that much
in-game @Gibraltar
Karatena - MA/Regen (50 #1)
26 more 50's - 9 scraps, 3 tanks, 4 trollers, 4 fenders, 3 blasters, 1 WS, 1 corr, 1 SoA
...and lowbies everywhere!
Not just like origin, Lime...... EXACTLY like it....
think about it..... what if Origins were part of the history pools?
basically, choosing your origin at the begining of the game, automatically gives you the first history pool power in the Magic Origin Pool or the Mutant Origin pool....
what this would mean (apart from giving origins potential for more depth in the game) is that your origin would mean something....
Not "mean so much" that people would choose one origin over another.... but because you already had one power in that history pool.... at level ten when you got to choose your "first" history pool power.... you could get either the first/second power in any of the history pools OR get either the second/third power from from your origin's pool
basically, you'd be able to progress along your chosen origin at a slightly accelerated rate, because its your origin.
BUT, because all origin sets are there to be had by anyone... if you want a particular bonus that a particular origin has (i would hope that none of these History pools would have something a character would "need" to have, outside of personal biography needs.)
...all you have to do, is choose that history pool at ten...
so, we have a way of encorporating backstory into the game... AND we could do what people have been trying to do since beta.... make Origin's "Mean something" without having them be "important"
after all, getting the level one history pool ability for your origin wouldnt count against your 9 total history pool power choices, nor would the history pool abilities be so good that players would feel compelled to choose a particular origin to get a jumstart on a particular list of abilities...
That is different than my original theory, but I think both ideas can coexist.
Personally, mixing the origins and the Backstories feels uncomfortable to me, because I cannot imagine people NOT min/max'ing that up the wazoo.
I do like starting with it, but the origins, in my opinion, are fine as they are.
how would they be mini-maxing it? all the same rules apply...
if the system is balanced.... what is there to mini-max (more to the point, how would encorporating origins create that problem, where without them it wouldnt exist?)
If your going to have a system that "storywise" revolves around a character defining his/her own BACKSTORY.... the characters "Origin" should play some part in that system...
I agree in some respects... I dont want origins to matter too much..
fire is fire, right? doesnt matter if its magic or a flame thrower...
but I DO think that origins should be encorporated into the game in a meaningful way (not just an excuse for the Devs to time-sink us running around to a specific store to buy or sell something.)
how can you have a "Backstory Powers Pool" without the origins?
More than that, though... encorporating the origins allows all those Magically awakened Robot Ninjas out there the chance to truely flesh out thier origin in game (after all... was it the magic, the technology, or the martial arts training that made our Robot Ninja-mage the hero he is today?)
I think if it made it easier to start on a specific pool, that could work.
You mean something along the lines of "One free 'Genius' for Technology, one free 'Long Wolf' for Mutant"?
nope.... I was really shooting for:
Backstory powerpools:
Lonewolf
Merchant
Mutant
Rogue/theif
Magic
Science
Technology
Olympic athelete
.....etc
obviously there would be a dozen or so of these background sets... (5 origin, plus 6-7 "occupation".. occupation is a bad word... "calling" might be a little better)
so, at level one, you'd have the first power in the Mutant backstory pool which... if it really was a "bother"... could simply be the inherant power we already get.
when you reach level ten, you do a quick mission, and afterwards, your contact wants to know a little bit more about you...
so, you can pick up a new Backstory power pool (either the first or the second power) or you could spend that power choice on the Mutant power pool (which would let you choose the second or the third power in that pool)
so, you would, essentually, have a headstart towards growth in the Mutant power pool... because you ARE a mutant origin.
however, someone who was, say a Cyborg (tech origin) would still be able to grow in the Mutant power pool if he/she wanted to (after all, maybe they were a mutant before, but being a cyborg is what made them a hero/villain)
So, even though your chosen origin gives you a little headstart, it doesnt limit you in any way
(also, due to the nature of the system, you actually arent losing any time "growth wise", because of your origin choice, and you wont be able to diversify all that much more, if you build up your origin set (one extra power one way or the other))
Making them "earn-able" is good too, but obviously they have to work like PPP's, where you only get access to one set and that's it. I was thinking if they where "inherent" it would be something you selected at character creation along with your AT and origin... Either way, I like them...
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Making them "earn-able" is good too, but obviously they have to work like PPP's, where you only get access to one set and that's it. I was thinking if they where "inherent" it would be something you selected at character creation along with your AT and origin... Either way, I like them...
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I believe they would be better offered/selected in the general area of level 12-20, and have them be inherent-pool (wherein they do not take a pool selection, but they work like inherent powers, brawl, sprint etc).
A new player may select Lone Wolf, and end up teaming. A veteran player may think "hey, this guy is going to be mostly solo" then end up with a team most of the time for whatever reason...
I figure in the 'teen' levels, you have a pretty good understanding of the character...
and there should be more of them.
Finally, I believe that you should be locked into them, as your backstory, or origin, or just basic training if thats how you think of it, it would not change.
Cat Bot v 1.36 : NRG/elec Blaster : Level 50
"I thought so." - Hank_Rearden
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[and there should be more of them.
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Like I said in the original post, there were several ideas that I had not posted previously, as I just wanted to get the point across and not quibble over a specific power.
Those ideas were: Survivalist, Immortal, Divine, Mentor, Genius.. others that I left not at my workdesk.
I would love tons of them! That would, however, be for the devs to decide, assuming they like this idea in the first place.
It is interesting to me that people have been picking out "Lone Wolf" as the one most openly discussed. I am most fascinated with "Student" and "Rogue". If these are implemented, my main would get "Merchant" that day to celebrate.
Did you send this to one of the red names? I'd very much like to see these implimented into the game, as it seems like there wouldn't be alot of balancing issue's, unless they work different from AT to AT.
@Van De Graff-X, Liberty
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Did you send this to one of the red names? I'd very much like to see these implimented into the game, as it seems like there wouldn't be alot of balancing issue's, unless they work different from AT to AT.
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Is it appropriate to send it to the Devs? I'm relatively new to good ideas, and I don't know the etiquette for informing them. It was my impression that I'm to wait here patiently for attention.
you GOT attention, remember?
just make it look professional, and send it along to one of the redtags (preferably of the Dev variety ;P)
I've sent this issue to both Posi and _Castle_. I will update in that vein when the time comes. ^_^
heres hoping dude.... to be sure, ive never seen anyone's direct idea get encorporated into the game.... but I'd love to at least see something LIKE this idea make it.
Neat,
...but I kind'already use my Origin Temp power for this.