Origin Specific Powersets!!!!!


Ad Astra

 

Posted

I recently posted a thread called "Magic Wand & Wizard Staff Ranged Powersets". The discussion lead to the idea that it should be a new Unlockable Epic Archtype (EAT).

I am posting this thread because I want to see more ideas about other Origin Specific Powersets. Please read my Magic Wand & Wizard Staff Ranged Powersets post to fully understand what is going on here.

Think about the 5 different origins:
Magic
Mutant
Natural
Science
Technology

Think about what would be the coolest new powerset for heroes and villains of this origin. This would require a Primary and Secondary set, and possibly an additional Pool set. Think about ways that these powersets would be unlocked. Like completing new Origin Specific Storyarcs, or collecting new badges, or completing a combination of arcs by certain origin contacts.

These Origin Specific Powersets could be a very interesting addition to the COX world.

Lets throw some ideas around and let the Devs know what we want to see in the future for our Heroes and Villains!!!!!



Be sure to drink your

 

Posted

okay 19 people looked at this but no one said anything...doesnt anyone have an ideas about this!?!?!

I will toss a few ideas out off the top o me noggin.

Science - A power belt of testubes with concoctions in it that could do numerous buffs to self and grant temp powers. And an injection gun that will shoot debuff potions at enemies. A potion that has a jeckel/hyde effect, drinking it will grant you a few attack temp powers and makes you larger and gives you +damage to all attacks. When all of your temp powers are exhausted then your size returns to normal, and your +Damage ends. A formula that grants you temporary speed boost, +recharge +recovery.

Technology - Robotic Implants
This would give the hero or villain Super Strength attacks from mechanical hydraulics. It could also allow their arm to have little gadgets come out of it to shoot things. It should have a power called Backup Battery that will recharge 100% endurance that way they dont need stamina. An inherent travel where jetpack wings come out of their back would be cool. Cooler looking than the Raptor Pack though, nice shiney reflective metal looking ones. It could have a power that is always on and cost no endurance that would speed up the recharge time of attacks which would go well with the backup battery.



Be sure to drink your

 

Posted

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Why do you think the devs should constrain new content by origin?

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Well, technically though they're not "origin" (since they didn't invent whole new categories for them) the Kheldian arcs and I would think the VEATs have similar things too.

That said, I'm not resoundingly for this idea. I'm not terribly against it, but I think it would require a LOT of effort to balance out things, and be warned of the inevitable "but I am an alien whose abilities are natural not mutations!" problems.


Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed

 

Posted

See, this is the reason I'm against origin powersets. I looked at your ideas for the specific origins and immediately realised that they're pretty much miles apart from my own vision of what these origins represent.

Especially science. Your vision of it is a scientist, it seems, which aside from being at odds with the in-game definition of the origin, is actually nothing of the sort like what my own Science characters actually are. I have three, off the top of my head. One has been very heavily genetically modified and turned into the veritable super-soldier, one was born from a mother heavily mutated off Superadine (a Troll, to be clear) and one was disfigured into a fighting monster. That all three ended up fighting with swords is just a coincidence. Oh, and a soul inhabiting an artificially grown body (who also fights with swords, because I like them). Neither of them are scientists or would have much use of chemicals and concoctions.

Then there is technology. My actual "scientist" characters are all Technology, indulging in science to build and develop their suits of power armour, then using those to fight. It's actually been very disturbing to be that I had to implant 15 cyberhearts in my power armour scientist, and I'm glad I could move away from those and into the more generic Common Inventions. I do have a couple of robots and cyborgs, yes, but then I also have a man whose body is made up entirely of nanomachines, and I'm pretty close to having one who is never actually THERE, but instead uses a "hard light" hologram to project his presence while he remains safe in his hidden lab.

I'm not saying yours are inappropriate. Hell, they might actually fit some of my characters. But what origins cover is far, far, FAR too wide and loosely-defined to be constrained to one man's idea of what these origins should look and act like. By far the worst offender in this regard is Natural. Do we give Naturals a set that's about mental discipline, hard work, martial arts and street smarts? Or do we give them flight, laser beam eyes, super strength and super knitting? After all, Manticore may be Natural, but so is Sunstorm.

I don't think you can give one definition of what an origin should look and act like because there IS no one, single, universally-accepted definition. In fact, ideas of what they should represent are as varied as the people who hold them are many, and I have not seen any preference for one specific concept, or any dislike for one. That's why I've always been for generic powersets - they CAN fit everyone's idea.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

 

Posted

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See, this is the reason I'm against origin powersets. I looked at your ideas for the specific origins and immediately realised that they're pretty much miles apart from my own vision of what these origins represent.

Especially science. Your vision of it is a scientist, it seems, which aside from being at odds with the in-game definition of the origin, is actually nothing of the sort like what my own Science characters actually are. I have three, off the top of my head. One has been very heavily genetically modified and turned into the veritable super-soldier, one was born from a mother heavily mutated off Superadine (a Troll, to be clear) and one was disfigured into a fighting monster. That all three ended up fighting with swords is just a coincidence. Oh, and a soul inhabiting an artificially grown body (who also fights with swords, because I like them). Neither of them are scientists or would have much use of chemicals and concoctions.

Then there is technology. My actual "scientist" characters are all Technology, indulging in science to build and develop their suits of power armour, then using those to fight. It's actually been very disturbing to be that I had to implant 15 cyberhearts in my power armour scientist, and I'm glad I could move away from those and into the more generic Common Inventions. I do have a couple of robots and cyborgs, yes, but then I also have a man whose body is made up entirely of nanomachines, and I'm pretty close to having one who is never actually THERE, but instead uses a "hard light" hologram to project his presence while he remains safe in his hidden lab.

I'm not saying yours are inappropriate. Hell, they might actually fit some of my characters. But what origins cover is far, far, FAR too wide and loosely-defined to be constrained to one man's idea of what these origins should look and act like. By far the worst offender in this regard is Natural. Do we give Naturals a set that's about mental discipline, hard work, martial arts and street smarts? Or do we give them flight, laser beam eyes, super strength and super knitting? After all, Manticore may be Natural, but so is Sunstorm.

I don't think you can give one definition of what an origin should look and act like because there IS no one, single, universally-accepted definition. In fact, ideas of what they should represent are as varied as the people who hold them are many, and I have not seen any preference for one specific concept, or any dislike for one. That's why I've always been for generic powersets - they CAN fit everyone's idea.

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Emphatically THIS!

Plus in this game Origin means next to nothing, and probably for this very reason. Which is why I could accept Origin powersets, but would rather just see new powersets that I could creatively tweak in my own mind to make them work with whatever Origin I decide to give a character.

Pigeonholing a powerset to an Origin by uncreative minds have given rise (in the past) to arguments how my Magic-Origin MasterMind could not possibly have Robotic Henchmen unless he somehow used dark magics to call forth said Robotic henchmen. When in my worldview he is actually just a very techsavvy magic being who uses his Dark magics to aid his homebuilt robotic army to effect world domination.


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Posted

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Pigeonholing a powerset to an Origin by uncreative minds have given rise (in the past) to arguments how my Magic-Origin MasterMind could not possibly have Robotic Henchmen unless he somehow used dark magics to call forth said Robotic henchmen. When in my worldview he is actually just a very techsavvy magic being who uses his Dark magics to aid his homebuilt robotic army to effect world domination.

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On this note, I was actually considering making a Magic Robotics Masterming with a very simple explanation. She can create and control various kinds of golems and elementals, but it's all hard work. Controlling robots who can move themselves and only need to be directed is much, much less work as they only need to be controlled logically, not be physically moved limb by limb. So, robots for the most part, but powered by magic, hence magic.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

 

Posted

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I stopped reading at "Origin specific" because I have yet to see anything good following that phrase.

/unsigned.

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But if you stop reading right after, how can you know if this one is not the right one?


Sam's post is eloquently adequate, I totally agree with him, and Kusanagi too.

No suggestion to "improve" origins ever had any actual interest, only boring narrow minded cliches or thinly veiled min/maxing attempts.


"Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself." ~Midnight Flux's former boss.

There are usually two sides to every argument but no end.

Everything placed above this line is always IMHO, YMMV and quite certainly not to be taken too seriously....

 

Posted

If you want to try to come up with origin specific EATs I would support you. But this whole origin specific powersets thing is just rediculous. A powerset should be able to fit with all origins. An EAT on the other hand could be origin specific. I doubt we will see it though.


 

Posted

I am afraid I pretty much reject the notion of anything, anything at all, being exclusive to an Origin.


My scrapper doesn't need an AoE. She IS an AoE.

 

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Rightly so, in my opinion...every Origin-specific suggestion I've seen didn't survive first contact with people's character concepts.

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That's pretty much how it goes. If origins had been much more rigidly defined in meaning back at Launch, forcing people to conform to whatever they were meant to mean, it could have worked. Of course, that would have produced a game nowhere near as cool as the one we have now, but at least it would have allowed origins to mean something. But five years in, when people already have years and years of character backstory which such origin definition would outright deny? That just can't work.

Look back on the Origin of Powers arc and what a controversy it created. "What? So my character has powers because of an even that happened several thousand years ago in Earth's history? But he's an alien that's several MILLION years old! How does that work?" So they we had to argue that maybe the contacts were wrong (that Virgil and War Witch contradict each other helps) and that that's just one way to gain powers and others had powers from elsewhere and so forth. But when Positron (the one in Steel Canyon) starts talking about how all technologists are somehow connected... Yeah, not buying it. Not all technology characters are inventors! Of course, you have certain of these Origin of Powers "storytellers" using pretty heavy forum and meta-game lingo and sound like a player more so than a character, along with the appaling quality of the rest of the Midnighters stuff leads me to believe that this was a cheesy, cheap attempt to explain Powerset Proliferation (a term Positron the character uses exactly, bleh!) that actually falls flat. At least I like War Witch's story of Oranbega and how detailed and well-written it is. Unlike Synapse's story of Science. It's two paragraphs of basically nothing.

Ahem...

Simply put, making origins meaningful at this point is unworkable without burning the majority of people's concepts established thus far. I know I would suffer greatly, as my interpretations of origin tend to be somewhat non-conventional. Hence, my problem with it.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

 

Posted

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I am afraid I pretty much reject the notion of anything, anything at all, being exclusive to an Origin.

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QFT.

Very succinct and to the point, as always, BBhumeBB. You gave the shrort answer, Sam gave the longer extended, "here's a couple of "unintended" in-game effects reasons" answer. Both the position I would be taking and now don't have to expand upon.

EDIT spelling


Altoholic - but a Blaster at Heart!

Originally Posted by SpyralPegacyon

"You gave us a world where we could fly. I can't thank you enough for that."

 

Posted

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I am afraid I pretty much reject the notion of anything, anything at all, being exclusive to an Origin.

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QFT.

Very succinct and to the point, as always, BBhumeBB. You gave the shrort answer, Sam gave the longer extended, "here's a couple of "unintended" in-game effects reasons" answer. Both the position I would be taking and now don't have to expand upon.

EDIT spelling

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That's how it usually is with me too and why I'm not in the Cartel yet...

<.<

>.>

Not that there is a Cartel...

There's not...

At least that's what I've been told...

by the people in black coats and hats...


There I was between a rock and a hard place. Then I thought, "What am I doing on this side of the rock?"

 

Posted

OMG!!!!!!!!!!

We ALREADY HAVE ORIGIN SPECIFIC POWERSETS!

Natural Origin ONLY include: Peacebringers, Arachnos Soldiers and Arachnos Widows.

Science Origin Only includes Warshades.

How is, the idea I am suggesting ANY different than these? It isn't! Did all of you whiners complain when these four Archetypes were created? If you did then im sorry, go cry about it, they are here. Just because you dislike something, doesn't mean it should not be in the game. I only made this post because people were griping about my other magic post. You have the chance to post a better idea. And when you do, I hope a pack of rabid dogs like yourselves tear it to shreds.

Go ahead and sit back in your little comfort zone because this game WILL change, or it WILL die.



Be sure to drink your

 

Posted

Also note, just because this ONE power would exist in an origin, doesnt mean that it would effect anything that people have already done with their current toons, and their current backstories. This is, just an additional option, if you don't like it, then don't play it. You don't HAVE to conform to anything. Why you think this i have no idea, you can always do what you have always done.



Be sure to drink your

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
OMG!!!!!!!!!!

We ALREADY HAVE ORIGIN SPECIFIC POWERSETS!

Natural Origin ONLY include: Peacebringers, Arachnos Soldiers and Arachnos Widows.

Science Origin Only includes Warshades.

How is, the idea I am suggesting ANY different than these? It isn't! Did all of you whiners complain when these four Archetypes were created? If you did then im sorry, go cry about it, they are here. Just because you dislike something, doesn't mean it should not be in the game. I only made this post because people were griping about my other magic post. You have the chance to post a better idea. And when you do, I hope a pack of rabid dogs like yourselves tear it to shreds.

Go ahead and sit back in your little comfort zone because this game WILL change, or it WILL die.

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Peacebringer, warshade, arachnos soldier, and widow are not powersets. They are archtypes. Yes the game will have to evolve or die, but your idea will speed up that death because it is a bad idea.


 

Posted

Powersets, Archetypes, whatever, what I want lies somewhere between the definition of the 2. Who cares about all the technical jargin crud.

My main point is, if the Kheldian and Arachnos Archetypes have their own unique Powersets that are limited to one specific origin, then why can't we have a magic origin E.A.T. or a technology E.A.T.

It does not have to be the only one either. Natural origin E.A.T.s have 3 choices. Science has 1. Give Magic and the other origins a special E.A.T. as well.



Be sure to drink your

 

Posted

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Did all of you whiners complain when these four Archetypes were created? If you did then im sorry, go cry about it, they are here.

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I did complain, in fact, and I've never once agreed with the fact that we have ATs THAT specific in origin. And I'm sorry, but "go cry about it" does not cut it. You don't advertise a suggestion by telling people who don't like it to go to hell. Once again, you're posting this in a public forum and you're gonna' have to deal with how the public feels. Whether you deal with it or not, blowing up on us is not helping your case any. The people who disagreed with the idea will not be intimidated into agreeing with it or running away, and will in fact be motivated to post some more, whereas people who might have agreed with you will be turned off by your frankly very wrong approach.

If you can't work WITH the people, you're never going to get anything done.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

 

Posted

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Natural Origin ONLY include: Peacebringers, Arachnos Soldiers and Arachnos Widows.

Science Origin Only includes Warshades.

How is, the idea I am suggesting ANY different than these?

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These are epic archetypes, tied to an origin specifically because of the storyline behind them. Not powersets.

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Did all of you whiners complain when these four Archetypes were created? If you did then im sorry, go cry about it, they are here.

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Some people skills you have there, bucko. Surefire way to change peoples mind and get agreement, there. A winner are you - wait, not winner, the other thing.


 

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Powersets, Archetypes, whatever, what I want lies somewhere between the definition of the 2. Who cares about all the technical jargin crud.

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"Who cares" is not a convincing argument when people obviously care. If people are asking you for specific system details, then man up and say you don't know, or at the very least say that YOU don't care. But I care, and I'm very much going to parse it through how the system is designed before I agree or disagree.

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My main point is, if the Kheldian and Arachnos Archetypes have their own unique Powersets that are limited to one specific origin, then why can't we have a magic origin E.A.T. or a technology E.A.T.

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You're missing the point of what "Epic" stands for in Epic AT. It means it's an AT somehow tied deeply into the story and canon of the game. They are not defined by their powers, they are defined by the plot, and their powers are given to them by what the plot defines. Kheldians in general are derivative of the Nictus that came with I3 and have powers defined by their concept. Soldiers of Arachnos are derivative, quite obviously, of the various Arachnos soldier factions and given a story, however brief and crappy, to do with Arachnos and their interaction with it. Their powers, by extension, are those that the Arachnos NPCs you meet have.

I'm not a fan of having Epic ATs and I don't see an Epic AT that would make sense to work with a magic wand, or indeed with any specific origin powerset. I don't see it. Convince me. Don't tell me off, convince me.

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It does not have to be the only one either. Natural origin E.A.T.s have 3 choices. Science has 1. Give Magic and the other origins a special E.A.T. as well.

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This is where Standard Code Rant clearly applies. Have you any concept the amount of work an Epic AT is to create? The planning, the balance issues, the mode of unlocking, hero/villain-side considerations, to say nothing of making brand new powers and an entire new AT. And you're insisting we give each origin several? Are you aware this would come at the not at all insignificant cost of not having OTHER things? Other things, more specifically, that many more people would be able to use? If you want to push for this, convince me I should want it, or at least not mind if it were introduced.

You haven't done that. You've stated your idea and chastised everyone who has disagreed with you as being mean and non-constructive. Sooner or later you're going to have to either refine your idea, or concede that the community isn't very strongly for it. And I'm not saying that to be mean. That's just how it works.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
OMG!!!!!!!!!!

We ALREADY HAVE ORIGIN SPECIFIC POWERSETS!

Natural Origin ONLY include: Peacebringers, Arachnos Soldiers and Arachnos Widows.

Science Origin Only includes Warshades.

How is, the idea I am suggesting ANY different than these? It isn't! Did all of you whiners complain when these four Archetypes were created? If you did then im sorry, go cry about it, they are here. Just because you dislike something, doesn't mean it should not be in the game. I only made this post because people were griping about my other magic post. You have the chance to post a better idea. And when you do, I hope a pack of rabid dogs like yourselves tear it to shreds.

Go ahead and sit back in your little comfort zone because this game WILL change, or it WILL die.

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See, I gave your idea due consideration....until I read this.

Being a jerk to people when pitching an idea is never a good thing. Saying that anyone who is against your idea is a whiner and that they should go cry about it is just bad form and elicits the following response:

Blow it out your [censored] and complain to someone who cares.

Did it occur to you that maybe, just maybe people aren't bashing your idea just to bash an idea. Perhaps they are bashing it because it is either a bad idea (Not that YOU can come up with a bad idea, heaven forbid!) or at the very least an unpopular one?

"OMG, they disagreed with me, they must be idiots and can't see what a good thing it would be for the developers to spend time adding something to the game that only *I* seem to want!"

That's what I got out of the post I quoted.

It's called tact dude.

And your comment about the game changing or dying? How is adding an origin specific powerset adding anything life extending to the game? Origin is irrelevant for a reason. People don't like being told that their character they envisioned has to be a certain thing, whether they like it or not.

I have a cyborg character that is magic origin. Yes, it makes sense if you read his backstory.

Making a powerset only available to characters of a specific origin is too limiting. The Khelds and Arachnos are specific origin because they are part of the game's lore. There is a specific backstory that relates to characters of that type. If you are a Kheldian you got your powers by fusing with an extraterrestrial being. If you ar an Arachnos Soldier you got your powers through extensive (probably brutal) training.

Sorry, but I don't want it dictated to me that my magic origin character is a wizard or magician. I have a few magic origin characters and only ONE even comes close to that description. And then saying that only a wizard or magician can have a certain set of powers? No thanks.

EDIT: In the future, if someone criticizes your idea, take another look at the idea instead of just ASSUMING that they are just out to shoot you down. If I had posted this idea and gotten the responses to it you have I would have concluded that my idea was either not very good, or unpopular, and left it at that. What you did instead is fly off the handle and accuse people of griefing your idea. Don't take criticism so damn seriously. If people don't like it, maybe there's a good reason they don't.

I edited to explain my position a little better because I kinda come off as a jerk in the rest of my post, which wasn't my intention.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.

 

Posted

Well I only posted this thread for people who were complaining on my other thread "if your wand is magic origin only then why dont we have some EATs for other origins" So that is why this is here.

If you complained about the other EATs then there is no reason not to consider this idea. But I really do not care if other single origin EATs are created. I only care about my magic one. And yes I know what it takes to create an EAT because I am in the process of writing one. First draft was a little rough, some changes are being made, and I am producing drawings to go with my ideas for those visual people out there. I am doing a lot to make my wand idea as detailed as possible. So I know exactly what it takes tyvm.

I am sorry for being rude, my appologies for that (believe it or not I am not a total jerk). I just do not cater to the needs of people who like to complain but offer no solutions. But honestly, the Archetypes that are already single origin exist in game whether we like it or not. I am not saying this to be a jerk, it is just a fact, they are here. I was just going with the system already in place for EATs. If no one wants to post any ideas about this then I will basically consider this thread a lost cause and let it crawl off to die. Do with it what you will. I am going to spend more time on the threads I actually care about like my Magic Wand, and Halloween Event threads.

Sorry for stirring up such a rukus that was not my intention here.



Be sure to drink your

 

Posted

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Powersets, Archetypes, whatever, what I want lies somewhere between the definition of the 2. Who cares about all the technical jargin crud.

My main point is, if the Kheldian and Arachnos Archetypes have their own unique Powersets that are limited to one specific origin, then why can't we have a magic origin E.A.T. or a technology E.A.T.

It does not have to be the only one either. Natural origin E.A.T.s have 3 choices. Science has 1. Give Magic and the other origins a special E.A.T. as well.

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I'm not againts new Epic ATs. I'd love to see Branching Longbow and PPD Archetypes. I'd love to see what they were planning for the Blood of the Black Stream, and why they abandoned the idea. I'd love to see Incarnates someday. As the game gets older, I expect to see all of these things in due time. However, I don't think they should go out of their way to "balance" the EATs around the Origins. At some point, it will become obvious that Blood of the Black Stream is Science just because "Science was the last one that needed an EAT."

In the end, Origin is just fluff, and shouldn't have any meaningful effect on the gameplay. Even the origins that I'm forced to pick don't limit my ability to tell the backstory I want. I'm planning an Arachnos Soldier who is Tech, not Natural. My human form Peacebringer and Warshade both leave the canon behind completely. Lord Aquarian is "the Star Child," birthed when the Moon entered the seventh house, and Jupiter aligned with Mars, heralding the Age of Aquarius. Is that Magic, or Natural? The Penumbral Walker is a spirit of vengeance, and very magical in nature. Automaton Arachnos is an obvious Nemesis plant within Arachnos. Rather than destroy it and send it back to Nemesis, Arachnos decided to keep it around and observe it, hoping to get insight into the plans of Nemesis.


New story arcs coming soon (ARC IDs will be aded when I finish the arc):
So, you want to join the Hellions? (level 1-14 Villainous arc)
Sparks & Steel (level 5-20 Heroic arc)
and
So you want to join the Skulls? (level 1-14 Villainous arc)