If you could design the next expansion?...

With the new ‘Going Rogue’ expansion on it’s way to us later this year it got me thinking about other possible expansions we might possibly see in the future. So I was thinking that a ‘If you could design the next expansion?…’ thread might be fun. Who knows maybe one of the Devs might draw some inspiration from our ideas.


So of the top of my head and to start us of I give you…

Factions

In this expansion we give your characters the opportunity to ally themselves with the various factions present in the CoX universe and gain costume pieces, and powers related to that faction as an alternative to ‘Pool‘ powers.

Similar to CoV’s ‘Patrons’ you would be required to complete a faction specific story arc to unlock the costume pieces as well as to gain access to that factions powers. Faction power sets would be available from level 6 just like the current power pools and count towards the number of power pool sets your character can have. Also certain faction sets would only become available once your character enters the level range for the particular group (ie Carnies, Sky Raiders, etc)

Some of the factions and benefits available on launch would include…

Vahzilok (Villains)

Costume pieces include skull caps, bloodied aprons, explosive back packs, stitched skin body pattern, and bloodied meat cleaver for weapon customisation.

Amongst the Faction Powers would be a debuffing vomit attack.

PPD (Heroes)

Costume pieces would include a variation of the veterans PPD emblem, SWAT flack vest, Hardsuit cossie pieces, and pump action shotgun for weapon customisation.

Within this group’s Faction Powers would be Shotgun, and Tear Gas.

Sky Raiders (Villains)

Costume pieces would include Raider helmets, gloves, Porter backpack, harness chest piece, Raptor jetpack, and machete for weapon customisation.

Faction Powers in this would be flight (via Raptor pack), and short range teleportation (via Porter pack).

Longbow (Heroes)

Costume pieces include the Freedom Corps emblem, Eagle jetpack, Longbow chest and leg harnesses.

Amongst the Faction Powers would be Flight (via the Eagle pack), and Sonic Grenade.

Carnival of Shadows (Villains)

Costume pieces include the hard Carnie mask (finally!), Strongman helmet and shoulder pieces, sashes, leggings, back flags, and the flaming torch for weapon customisation.

Faction powers would include a ring toss attack, torch attack, and Psionic resistance power!

…and so on.

What do you reckon? Post up some more ideas.

Personally, I'd just add these to the Defeat Badges as rewards...

Well for me new zones are important.I want totally new designs, perhaps some very different kinds of spawns and events from those we have now. Conditions our heroes and villains are not used to dealing with, eg underwater. The zones should also have well thought out story arcs and lore and as it is GR I want arcs where morale choices effect my toons journey.

If I could design an issue or expansion, first of all I would look over and possibly over-haul all the current zones Seriously, I think Positron lost a screw somewhere when he said they were not going to revamp the older zones. Some of them (yes, Im looking at you, Boomtown and Dark Astoria) are in dire need of some work. The general structure of Paragon too, like the trains and where they link to. For example, Faultlin is STILL a horror to get to, so that would be getting its much needed Greenline station.

I would detail more things but, hey, thats a whole new plot

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Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Hmmmm things I would do if i was in charge.


I think I would give DA a well deserved revamp. rework it into that horror film inspired zone that its always should have been and it would get a big old abandoned Moth cathedral, It would also get a couple of full story arcs one centred around the BP and there attempts to bring back there gods. and another that delved more deeply into the history of the area.

Also as some what of a pipe dream i would look at opening up the power selections so you were no longer restricted by Power set and AT.

I think part of the problem is the moaning and criticism that would happen if they revamped the old zones without adding any missions to them. People will complain about new content >old content revamped, although Faultline revmap is excellent and Hollows is pretty good now too.

CoH: United powers

Think of it like this, both our factions have fallen and 2 new factions have arrisen and taken their place. Now players get to chose their powers [no more hero/villain sets] before setting out on their new path.
Majority of the zones are in ruins and are now basically hazard type zones [can use ouroboros to flashback to certain deleted missions] , however there are obviously new zones too which can be travelled to [jungle/new more in depth city zones/a mirror world/zoo/airport etc] in which you try and find out if the original factions did truely fall or whether they are just in hiding waiting for the call for them to rise again.

More work on supergroup advertisement.
Arena npc battles against foes you have defeated.
More power sets. For example water fury and mirrored powers.
More colour options on characters.
An animation creator in which you get to create a short 4 second animation.

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Seriously, I think Positron lost a screw somewhere when he said they were not going to revamp the older zones.

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When did he say that? He didn't say that in the anniversary EU pocket D event, as I'm guessing you think he did.

Couple of notes:

1. The EU pocket D exchange about zone revamps/new zones actually went:

Golden Girl1: Positron, are there any plans to give older zones a Faultline-style makeover, like Boomtown, for example, or would you rather add new zones to the game first?
Positron: Right now, we'd rather add zones
Positron: since a revamp takes almost as much time

Notice that, to paraphrase, he said 'at this point in time we'd prefer to create new zones'. That is not the same as saying that now or in the future they will not do any zone revamps. It doesn't even say that they don't have any future ones planned. They may even have some being done now, as there is an overwhelming reason to revamp a zone, even though they'd 'prefer' not to.

2. What counts as a zone revamp???

At the EU pocket D event, Posi stated that they'd done 2 zone revamps:

Positron: So we've done two "revamps" to zones so far.
Positron: So we have a good metric on how much time it takes
Positron: And for a smidge more time, we can make a brand new zone.

But in recent years we've seen revamps to RCS, Faultline and Hollows haven't we? Now it's possible that he misremembered or miscounted, but I doubt it.

It appears RCS/RWZ and Faultline were both revamps in the devs eyes - they both had a good range of zone story arcs and contacts added, and saw changes to the zones architecture/geometry.

The changes made to the Hollows were far less intensive and seem to not count as a revamp in the devs eyes. But we did see a reasonable shake up in the zone spawns, a new contact for repeatable missions and some new facilities (involving minor architecture/geometry changes).

If that's how the devs do see it then of course what they refer to as a zone revamp will be nearly as much work as creating a new zone. Practically half of FL was redesigned - with the rebuild and dam area being added. RWZ has quite a few new areas, not least of all the vanguard base itself. And both had at least 3 zone story arcs added.

It makes me wonder exactly where a zone revamp starts. Maybe adding a single zone arc contact and a repeatable contact to DA, but leaving the architecture untouched wouldn't count as a revamp. If that's the case then it's possible that DA and Boom could see some more use without being given the full dev-qualifying 'revamp' treatment.

So even if the devs aren't planning what they class as a zone revamp it is still possible that they are planning what the playerbase would see as a zone revamp.

Hmm, hope your right Dave.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

And don't forget that I15 isn't actually the full return of the 5th Column - they're not back out on the streets yet, so the Issue where they decide to unleash them fully might see a Boomtown revamp.

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And don't forget that I15 isn't actually the full return of the 5th Column - they're not back out on the streets yet, so the Issue where they decide to unleash them fully might see a Boomtown revamp.

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We can only hope.

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I think I would give DA a well deserved revamp. rework it into that horror film inspired zone that its always should have been and it would get a big old abandoned Moth cathedral

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And crypts and vaults beneath DA, like the tunnels beneath new-Faultline (_not_ a separate zone like the Tunnels of the Trolls). The art and suchlike could be used in a few other places - obviously if there was a BP arc some of its missions would happen in mausoleums, and a quick skim of existing content would reveal other missions that could be moved to the new tileset (off the top of my head, one of the Hansens has a mission where the fluff text says "mausoleum" but it actually looks suspiciously like a normal cave). If the zone map showed the tunnels and entrances helpfully and they weren't stocked with rock-hard monsters they could provide a useful alternative to super jumping into buildings in the fog.

DA obviously _does_ have vast crypts beneath it. They should be modelled. :-)

AI overhaul so they don't just stand there 10 feet away from where you're beating up their friend and then act shocked and say stuff like "I wasn't expecting you!" when you then go and attack them.

More ways to generate random missions like the police radio, only most of them would have a full storyline attached, examples include finding clues on bad guys and a contact randomly calling you instead of the other way round.

More character creator options, and new body types such as bestial and four armed male and female categories.

Revamp of Croatoa, Boomtown and both starter areas to make them feel more dynamic, including more content.

Steal the idea behind CO's Nemesis system.

Access to Moon base area through Boomtown's new space shuttle feature.

Add in a randomly generated map feature to all randomly generated missions.

Add high level randomly generated missions to Portal Corp and the space shuttle so you can visit alternate realities and alien worlds.

Add 'rescue' missions, like catching falling airplanes, rescuing cats from trees, saving people from burning buildings by picking them up like an object, not the rubbish /follow thing they do now.

Oh yeah, speaking of that, I'd add a feature so you could pick the person you're supposed to be escorting to safety up instead of having to wait for them to follow you to the exit.

At least 20 new factions including more non-humanoid creatures and aliens.

At level 50, as you do more missions the world around you starts to reflect your popularity so that the signs currently used for ads will show your character advertising something or just in a pose. People would shout out "Look, it's heroname! Isn't he/she great?" Big name villains would try to hunt you down ending up with fights in the streets or in missions.

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a contact randomly calling you instead of the other way round.


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This I really like, adding immersion into a 'living' breathing world, in which events happen on their own instead of only whenever the player acts as a stimulus to something/someone. Even if it is just after a mission (you know about the time you get the "Your notoriety in the area has grown" business (which I think might be bugged anyway lol)) one of your contacts gives you a call and has a "Come quick!" mission which you can either rush to save the day or make sad faced apologies for not attending.

and

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Oh yeah, speaking of that, I'd add a feature so you could pick the person you're supposed to be escorting to safety up instead of having to wait for them to follow you to the exit.


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Oh dear god yes. A sweet piggy back animation would do just the trick here methinks. To the clipping be damned! (though probably would have to change to a sit on neck thing for granites and Huge peepz, with optional shackles for forced escorts... I'm asking for way too much aren't I? :/)

My next patch if i was working there, and i was uber clever with computers, would be


1: The ability to get Married in game: A mission available to those 30+, after completing the mission you have the option to marry another hero (who has completed it). There will then be some slight benfits if you team with this person

1.1: XP and Inf modifier allowing you to recieve 1.25 of the current inf/xp whilst teamed with that hero
1.2: The ability to set "Married To $Heroname" as the badge title
1.3: A Badge


2: New Badges to collect

2.1: Giant Monster Basher - Killing 20 GMs
2.2: True Hero - 1000 hours of play on that charactor
2.3: Going Alone - 200 hours of solo play
2.4: Backed Up - 200 hours of teaming (2+)
2.5: Fed The World - Defeating Hamindon (something in description about it being jelly)
2.6: Trailist - Completely all Trials
2.7: Undecided - Completeing the respec TF 3 times


3: A new story arc only available once reaching level 50

4: Allowing charactors to have 5 pools instead of 4

5: Increase global friends limit

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My next patch if i was working there, and i was uber clever with computers, would be


1: The ability to get Married in game: A mission available to those 30+, after completing the mission you have the option to marry another hero (who has completed it). There will then be some slight benfits if you team with this person

1.1: XP and Inf modifier allowing you to recieve 1.25 of the current inf/xp whilst teamed with that hero
1.2: The ability to set "Married To $Heroname" as the badge title
1.3: A Badge


2: New Badges to collect

2.1: Giant Monster Basher - Killing 20 GMs
2.2: True Hero - 1000 hours of play on that charactor
2.3: Going Alone - 200 hours of solo play
2.4: Backed Up - 200 hours of teaming (2+)
2.5: Fed The World - Defeating Hamindon (something in description about it being jelly)
2.6: Trailist - Completely all Trials
2.7: Undecided - Completeing the respec TF 3 times


3: A new story arc only available once reaching level 50

4: Allowing charactors to have 5 pools instead of 4

5: Increase global friends limit

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So, a badge update? I think the devs learned that mistake from MA, at least. Thankfully.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Apart from the time played badges (just a much longer version of those already there)

These badges require some form of skill, and nearly all of them require a team. Its not like MA where they can be totally abused.

Technically, you already do get badges for doing all 3 Respecs, and all the TFs. One of them is even an accolade.
Anyway, OT again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I'd do a lot of what has already been said but I think, to make a theme of it, I'd create an expansion called "The World bites back"

1. contacts: arcs branch conditional on whether you completed a mission successfully or not. Fail to stop the bank robbery, well now you have to go and track down the thieves and steal back the super secret plans before you can move on to tackling the base of the person that sent them.

2. Random events that may or may not have an actual purpose. These would happen all around the game world. this would encourage player interaction and lore as players compare notes on what they've seen and try to make sense of it (I posted on this before ages ago so might be gone with forum tidies etc.).

eg: two balls of red light zip through Atlas Park during the night.
- a mysterious ball of amber light randomly hits a toon and encases him/her for a few seconds then releases the toon and zips off into the sky
- a strange corpse is found looking like some sort of lizard man but not fully formed.
- Portal Corp powers down completely for ten minutes as a wall of translucent white light sweeps across Peregrine Island

-- all together these give a clue to something coming but individually or spread out they are a mystery and will get players talking (especially if they are timed so that they happen when players are online and are spaced apart so they are not obviously connected and also, they dont repeat too often).

3. interactive terrain : fighting Lusca? watch out for small boats that get slapped by her tentacles. Use terrain around you. if its not nailed down pick it up and lob it! if you have super strength, tear it up and lob it! Have bad guys do it too! Makes a giant robot in a car park a lot more dangerous than it was!

4. Interactive elements: the fun bit...
20 thugs up against you? Troller hits 'em with Ice, blaster uses a fire attack which, although it cancels the Ice hold, it creates steam obscuring vision and stopping ranged attacks through it (increased miss chance), the defender then steps up and electrifies the steam cloud causing minimal damage but having the secondary stun effect spread to all within the cloud. Storm troller then blows away the steam and the scrapper rolls in.

Make hero/villain powers interact with one another. have them cancel each other out or supplement one another. Have them leave artifacts that can be used or will have an effect on the battle. Force players to use tactics and be rewarded with unforeseen effects, or discover a better way to do things.

Expand this into environmental variables: Ice caves, lava pits, mud flats, swamps, lakes, etc. and then portal corp can open up on some very interesting missions

5. More zone events / GM attacks

6. consequences: as posted before: have consequences that are a direct result of the players choice. stop crime in an area, the area gets better, ignore it and it will get worse and worse until it spawns a new Arch Villain that has to be stopped. Have named lieutenants rise and have their career evolve.

basically not a huge amount of new material for players to actually go and DO but a lot of new stuff for players to experience and to have happen to them.

oh, and busses... and traffic (proper traffic) that has peak times...

More Interesting boss fights
Currently a boss fight in this game is just tank 'n' spank and tends to put that nasty villain to shame whenever a team beats the living daylights out of them without taking so much as a casualty.
How about spicing them up a bit?
-The boss runs at "X"% HP and you have to fight through another part of the map to reach him/her.
-(not so sure about this one) The boss uses a PBAoE that holds about two-thirds of the team and can only be freed by the remaining teammates.
-Have a certain amount of "chances" for boss fights so it isn't just a hosp run after a team-wipe.
-The boss has different "phases". I.E: One round there are a load of waves and the boss is healing until "X"% HP, another the boss is an offensive powerhouse, then another phase where the boss is more defensive.
-The boss dies, and ressurrects but is stronger, like a backwards Rom fight.
-A boss that has a PBAoE (stronger than your average one) and a power that's the opposite of repel and pulls you in closer, with some decent ranged temps for the melee classes to use.

Zone Revamps
One flaw in the Dev's logic of "We could make new zones in the same amount of time as a revamp" is; it makes the game feel less like an MMO and more empty.
There could be longer arcs and maybe some new TF's for these zones?

More dynamic zone events
These would be the universal ones like the Rikti Invasions. At the moment they're very like every other zone event and their dog. How about something along these lines, a giant floating fortress crawling with Sky Raiders, or Arachnos or whatever faction that you want, invades Paragon City. The heroes must get onto it, destroy the generators and take out the commander. While it is present the zone has spawns of (or increased spawns) of that mob (Scaled like the Rikti during invasions) and occasion there would be a random bombing run. If you can think of any other effects that could happen to the zone feel free to add it on. Players enter through a teleporter that's set up(?) Also there would be fights between the invading mob and the Freedom Phalanx happening.
Variations could be:
-For Council/5th Column (when the return ) a giant Mech Man waltzing around the zone. Same rules apply as in the others except the Mech Man attacks buildings creating the Steel Canyon burning building event. Players enter through a hatch in it's foot, the Mech Man also attacks nearby players so it's dangerous getting there.
-A Doomsday Device is set up in a hidden location. Players are given a time limit for which this can be completed (Three hours?) which appears in their missions list but doesn't count towards the total three mish limit. During this time there is a slight increase in that mob's numbers for the zone, all of which are scaled. These are used to beat the answers of the location out of. When this is done players can then enter the zone in which it is hidden and proceed to a building where a similar routine to the others applies. During this time there are more enemy mobs in general taking advantage of the terror. Players can be given a choice to either pay a ransom or not. (This bit is a bit iffy) Players can go to a contact to pay the ransom, a petition is then sent out to all players in the zone whether to pay it or not. If it is payed there is an increase of the mob in the zone for 12hrs(?), if it is not payed and the timer reaches zero, then there is a debuff in the zone; Fallout (The Fallout from the Doomsday Device has lowered your crime-fighting ability. This leaves you with a debuff to resistance and defence. This could apply in mission instances as an insentive for players to do this.
Badges would be awarded for these and experience.

More Ouro Content
I'd add content focusing on the important milestones in the history of the game. Things like; Brass Monday, The First Rikti War etc. They'd be there for players who are interested in the games lore and who are looking for some fun. I'd also award badges since no other Ouro Tf awards them

Post deleted by Grouchybeast

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p.s. I am joking. Kind of.

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I really hope so. Because it's not really that amusing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

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1: The ability to get Married in game: A mission available to those 30+, after completing the mission you have the option to marry another hero (who has completed it). There will then be some slight benfits if you team with this person

1.1: XP and Inf modifier allowing you to recieve 1.25 of the current inf/xp whil st teamed with that hero
1.2: The ability to set "Married To $Heroname" as the badge title
1.3: A Badge

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There should...
...p.s. I am joking. Kind of.

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That took it a bit too far.


Edit: Removed content that could be deemed offensive by some forum members.

My apologies. I didn't mean to offend. I've deleted the post.

Pity someone went and quoted it...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.