Change default Enhancement placement behavior

Modify game behavior as follows: in the enhancement screen, player placement of an Enhancement into an power slot already occupied by an Enhancement causes the Enhancement being replaced to move to an unoccupied Enhancement inventory space.

Also, tangentially, double or triple the current number of Enhancement inventory slots (perhaps award additional slots commensurate with advances in character level, similar to the way the number of Inspiration slots increases).

Alternatively, create (as has been previously suggested*), one or more "mini-respecs". In one type of mini-respec, perhaps the overall slot placement is kept the same, but the player is given the option to replace currently placed enhancements with different ones without losing the originally placed enhancements.



*
https://boards.cityofheroes.com/show...page=&vc=1
http://de.boards.cityofheroes.com/sh...Number=1381433

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/unsigned and never gonna happen.

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[ QUOTE ]
Modify game behavior as follows: in the enhancement screen, player placement of an Enhancement into an power slot already occupied by an Enhancement causes the Enhancement being replaced to move to an unoccupied Enhancement inventory space.

Also, tangentially, double or triple the current number of Enhancement inventory slots (perhaps award additional slots commensurate with advances in character level, similar to the way the number of Inspiration slots increases).

Alternatively, create (as has been previously suggested*), one or more "mini-respecs". In one type of mini-respec, perhaps the overall slot placement is kept the same, but the player is given the option to replace currently placed enhancements with different ones without losing the originally placed enhancements.



*
https://boards.cityofheroes.com/show...page=&vc=1
http://de.boards.cityofheroes.com/sh...Number=1381433

[/ QUOTE ]

We already have numerous methods for respecing, including, free, vet, buyable, buildable, and earnable. Those methods sufficiently address your concern.

Buyable ones in particular are the most likely form of acquisition, assuming you have maximized your use of all the others.

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The only kind of mini-spec I would really want, now that I've hit my 60 month reward level, is to be able to say "I would like to switch out my tier 1 for that teir 2 travel power ONLY".

I will admit that the respec process needs to be examined and made more streamlined and able to remind us what we HAD compared to what we're taking.

But ... switching out enhancements like that? nope. Not gonna happen and there's really no need. There is pretty much an inexaustable supply of enhancements. If you want to preserve a purple IO or something, think REALLY HARD about where you're putting it before you change your mind.

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

Obtaining respecs isn't an issue. The issue (for me, anyway) is the exceeding tediousness of respeccing a level 50 character simply to replace a number of Enhancements without the penalty of losing the ones I'm replacing to the void.

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But that's what enhancements DO. They are transient. They are replaceable.

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

[ QUOTE ]
Obtaining respecs isn't an issue. The issue (for me, anyway) is the exceeding tediousness of respeccing a level 50 character simply to replace a number of Enhancements without the penalty of losing the ones I'm replacing to the void.

[/ QUOTE ]

Enhancements are an influence sink. They were meant to be replaced as you leveled up. They were never meant to be reused. The Devs have gone on record saying that the only reason you can keep up to ten removed Enhancements is because they were feeling generous.

If the Enhancements are that valuable, you will take the the time to do the Respec, and buy more if you need to. When you get to the point that the value of the remaining Enhancements isn't worth the price or effort of a Respec, then they obviously aren't worth fretting over, either.

The game has few enough influence sinks as it is. Unless they come up with a new influence sink, the Enhancement sink needs to remain.

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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)

I'm against all of these ideas.

There are ways to manipulate the enhances if you really want to.

It does involve a bit of work, but that's the point.
It isn't supposed to be easy.
And respecs aren't really supposed to be away of removing enhances from a character. It is meant to be for reselecting powers and slots.

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The ability to keep or re-use Enhancements I've already earned are worth the time to earn the respec needed to replace them without losing them. In the course of earning the respec, I'm playing the game by actively participating on a team, engaging enemies, etc. Having fun in general.

The Enhancements are getting to the point that (for me, anyway) they aren't worth the tediousness of going through the process of steps that completely respecs a level 50 character just for the purpose of non-destructive replacement of a few Enhancements. I find the act of respeccing itself to be tedious (are there some that enjoy it?).

How about this: when I go to use an earned or purchased respec, give me the option of doing : 1) the "normal" respec process (i.e. re-choosing ALL powers, ALL slots, etc.) or 2) the option of non-destructively replacing 10 enhancements without having to redo all the other steps involved in a respec.

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[ QUOTE ]
The ability to keep or re-use Enhancements I've already earned are worth the time to earn the respec needed to replace them without losing them. In the course of earning the respec, I'm playing the game by actively participating on a team, engaging enemies, etc. Having fun in general.

The Enhancements are getting to the point that (for me, anyway) they aren't worth the tediousness of going through the process of steps that completely respecs a level 50 character just for the purpose of non-destructive replacement of a few Enhancements. I find the act of respeccing itself to be tedious (are there some that enjoy it?).

[/ QUOTE ]

Then, since Enhancements were never meant to be reused, things are working as intended. If you have gotten to the point where the remaining enhancements are not worth the effort of doing the respec, then you are contributing to the influence sink as designed.

For the record, I'm not fond of the Respec process. At the very least, it should mirror the normal leveling process the way it does with changing Builds. I also would like it if the game told you which power you picked at which level, and where those slots were assigned at each level in the previous build. I know I can take a screen shot or work with Mids, but some folks don't alt+tab out as easily on their machines as I do.

[ QUOTE ]
How about this: when I go to use an earned or purchased respec, give me the option of doing : 1) the "normal" respec process (i.e. re-choosing ALL powers, ALL slots, etc.) or 2) the option of non-destructively replacing 10 enhancements without having to redo all the other steps involved in a respec.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure how the tech would work for this, but, since the end result is the same as going through the full respec, I don't see anything inherently flawed in the idea. It would be a Quality of Life fix that I would not object to, even if I rarely, or never, used it myself.

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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)

[ QUOTE ]
Then, since Enhancements were never meant to be reused, things are working as intended.

[/ QUOTE ]

This. Positron has said that letting us keep 10 enhancements from a Respec was being extremely generous. I don't see any reason why we should expect to be able to bring more out, much less make it simpler to do so. I will however sign on to an improvement to the system used for respecs. Unless you're using an external program like Mids, you're almost guaranteed to make mistakes.

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I don't really follow how being allowed to keep only a limited number of earned in-game items is being generous.

In other MMOs, when I replace earned in-game items with ones of higher quality, I can generally sell the originals or use them on alts.

If the reason for not wanting Enhancements to be re-useable has to do with some psychology of wanting players to have to re-earn stuff they've already earned once under the notion that this will keep them playing longer to re-earn such rewards and thus keep them subscribed longer, then I suppose I can understand it without really agreeing with how it's implemented.

(It seems to me that altism is a big enough time sink on its own that adding a game mechanism to facilitate non-destructive replacement of a few ehancements wouldn't really threaten how much overall time any player puts into the playing the game).

In any case, I wouldn't object to the requirement of performing some in-game task (like a respec trial) in exchange for the ability to non-destructively replace some Enhancements without having to go through the tedium of re-selecting all my powers and slots à la a regular respec.

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Enhancements are supposed to be permanent. There's a difference between them and putting on some shoes.



Now, having a variety of different methods to respec (that all use a token) is perfectly fine IMO.

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I'm curious, is the notion of the permanency of Enhancements from the CoH game bible, or a dev post from 2002, or Statesman's blog, or some other source?

Super heroes undergo changes to their powers on a semi-regular basis in the literature.

I'm failing to see how Enhancements are any different from a design and mechanistic perspective than any other in-game item from any other game, except that there seems to be an insistence that they're permanent by some kind of fiat (even though they're not in actual practice, since they are in fact replaceable).

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They keep supporting the market, they continue to be an influence sink, and yes - generous if you consider they didn't have to allow it *at all*.

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

[ QUOTE ]
I don't really follow how being allowed to keep only a limited number of earned in-game items is being generous.

In other MMOs, when I replace earned in-game items with ones of higher quality, I can generally sell the originals or use them on alts.

[/ QUOTE ]

How many of your Soulbound pieces of equipment do you get to pass off to your alts in WoW?

How many of your Customized pieces of equipment do you get to pass off to your alts in GW?

Let me answer that for you. Zero. At most, you can sell those special bits of equipment to vendors, for far, far less than you might have paid or that they'd be worth if they weren't locked to your character.

We have a much more lenient system already. With enough respecs, you can remove and sell or trade every enhancement on any given character, and receive as much as you paid, or as much as the market average, or potentially even more than you paid or would expect to receive based on the market average, or you can completely outfit a brand new character with 0 inf* to its namel. And if you don't want to make a trip to the market or a store, you don't even have to do that much because any enhancements you don't slot or store in the enhancement tray are automatically sold for you.

And you think this is too restrictive because you can't empty your entire character of enhancements and sell/trade them for full market value or hand them down to other characters, freely and without any restrictions whatsoever, including no "soulbound" or "customized for Character X" restrictions which would make those enhancements completely worthless for anyone else and thereby act as some small balance measure?

...

Would you like a pony, too?

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[ QUOTE ]

I don't really follow how being allowed to keep only a limited number of earned in-game items is being generous. I'm curious, is the notion of the permanency of Enhancements from the CoH game bible, or a dev post from 2002, or Statesman's blog, or some other source?


[/ QUOTE ]
I think the dev comments about respec being generous were made probably a long time ago in the pre-IO era when people were only using SO and HO. At that time, it was not really a big deal as there were nowhere to use inf except making each enh to level 50++ or making a new costumes. Enhancements being "permanent" is a design philosophy, which refers to the fact that you can't take them in and out freely.

[ QUOTE ]

If the reason for not wanting Enhancements to be re-useable has to do with some psychology of wanting players to have to re-earn stuff they've already earned once under the notion that this will keep them playing longer to re-earn such rewards and thus keep them subscribed longer, then I suppose I can understand it without really agreeing with how it's implemented.


[/ QUOTE ]
I guess this is probably the real reason behind. You know, the dev team has a family to support, and to pay their cars and house.

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I guess I am failing to see why this process should be made easier? So far, I have only gathered that you want it changed... because you want it changed.

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My original point has nothing to do with how many enhancements you can move given enough respecs. My point was that the current respec implementation is overly tedious to use if I all I really want to do is non-destructively replace some enhancements (the respec process itself is really not very user-friendly in general, regardless of exactly why you're respeccing, but that's a tangential issue).

I mention other in-game items because others keep mentioning this notion of the permanency of enhancements, or that they were never meant to be re-used, which I can accept, even if the CoH treatment of these items doesn't work like it did in other MMOs with which I'm familiar (at least before developers/designers implemented the idea of "bound to the character" items as a standard, rather than as an exception).

Perhaps this was the original intent for enhancements.

A non-tedious method of non-destructively replacing a few (not all) enhancements would be a nice QoL feature.

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[ QUOTE ]
In other MMOs, when I replace earned in-game items with ones of higher quality, I can generally sell the originals or use them on alts.

[/ QUOTE ]

Whereas in the "other" MMO, powerful items become soulbound to your character as soon as you equip them and cannot be traded even among your characters, while more powerful items still become soulbound as soon as you pick them up, ensuring they can never be bought from other players. Retaining any enhancements at all IS being generous, because the alternative is retaining nothing at all.

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[ QUOTE ]
A non-tedious method of non-destructively replacing a few (not all) enhancements would be a nice QoL feature.

[/ QUOTE ]
You mean that you don't want to have consequences to making "mistakes" and slotting the "wrong" enhancement? Wait, wouldn't that completely negate the whole idea of trial and error?!

I spent a 100 million INF on buying a certain IO-set and slotting it in a certain power just to realize that I cannot get that +5% recharge bonus I wanted because my build already contains 5 other IO-sets with the same +5% recharge bonus. That's 100 million INF (and I'm rounding down here, just so it'd be easy to understand) that I "lost".

And yet, since I have played games like Guild Wars and WoW with their restrictions on items, I can't really complain because CoX is much more forgiving.

I agree with you about how tedious respecs are, but even though this is a game after all, having absolutely no consequences to our "build-mistakes" will not better the game in the long run because people would stop caring about making mistakes and that will take whatever immersion you have in growing a character.

In short, yes to more streamlined respeccing concepts, no to having no consequences when we make "build-mistakes".

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I believe that a Kheldian Gold Standard should be based on SO's, and for anything above that... there's Platinum!

Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati

[ QUOTE ]

In short, yes to more streamlined respeccing concepts, no to having no consequences when we make "build-mistakes".

[/ QUOTE ]
/signed to this.

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Let me see if I get this straight: You are asking for a way to remove an enhancement (or 3) to [store/sell/send to an alt/slot in a different power] without having to do a respec?

If I'm correct, then think of Enhancements like gems in WoW. You can replace them, but not recover them.

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I have almost zero familiarity with WoW, and short of a gestalt shift in my perception or tastes, that trend will continue.

WoW design and mechanisms may be the de facto standard by which all others are now measured and compared, but I'm more familiar with (older) games whereby it was possible to move/sell/gift/re-use in-game items pretty much at will.

I think it would be great to replace every single Enhancement on a character without using a respec and without losing a single one.

Since that is extremely unlikely to happen, I think a mechanism in which I could replace and retain the same number of Enhancements that a respec permits, but without having to re-choose all my powers and slots, would be convenient.

Maybe the ability to do such an "Enhancement Respec" could be used as a Veteran Reward, if they're stumped for ideas.

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I don't really follow how being allowed to keep only a limited number of earned in-game items is being generous.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's generous when the devs in question have a preference that we couldn't keep any overflow at all. The generosity is that they are giving is something when their inclination is not to give us anything.

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Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA