Why don't we have Water Powers?

Yes, I know I could probably put this in Lady Jay's Thread.. but its grown to enourmous size, and I don't think many folks pay much attention to it anyways. But this is more of a discussion as to why we don't have these powers than a suggestion as to what the power set would entail, anyways. (Lord knows Its probably been stated once or twice in Lady jay's already.)

To begin, we got all sorts of powers for our heroes or villains to pick from.. but the vast majority seem rather.. UN-heroic.

How do I mean, you might ask? We only have a few damage based power sets that by all intents and purposes would not utterly kill or maim an otherwise human villain with even their most benign attacks. Fire Blast, for example, is extremely likely to catch the target on fire... and since when have you've seen a person wearing anything but flame gel come out of being on fire mostly unharmed? A Taser works so much better. (note, I'm letting controllers get away with this because they tend to make rings of fire /around/ thier targets... not set them on fire directly.)

Now in that example.. when would a hero willingly use that sort of attack on a mostly human subject, unless they had no choice? Pretty much never, actually. Most comic heroes with flame powers generally attack the environment around their target if the target is human... more reminiscent of how a flame controller would handle the situation. Villains get off the hook, since they can be evil and sadistic, and generally can be evil no matter what powers you give them.. well almost.

Yet it doesn't end there. We got Assault Rifles, Pistols, Swords, Maces, Claws, Radiation, and arrows being used with deadly force... on low level, mostly human, villains. Now.. how "heroic" is that?

We get these powers (and yes.. I know the pistols haven't been released yet hero side.) Which make sense for pulp heroes in some cases, but we get realitively few powers that you would see being used against human types in a normal comic book.

Which brings me to the title of this "rant." Water based powers (no, Ice doesn't count... its handled differently.)

Why don't we have them? They fit the niche of a hero that wouldn't want to permanently harm others, while still providing a force to be reckoned with. Not to mention, such powers could still be considered effective against armored non humans as we currently use high pressure water jets to cut metal in certain fabrication processes. And we can never forget what happens when you get electronics wet!

So it still manages to be a first rate power and still be "heroic" in its application, because setting fire to homeless people just isn't nice.

Thoughts? Comments?

---

Apparently, the devs have said it's hard to get the water to look like water - like splashing and so on.

---

@Golden Girl

City of Heroes comics and artwork

Their first attempt at water powers? Look at the Energy Blast set. It's *those* graphics.

---

The usual explaination for using Guns in the comics is, Heroes have special "Mercy bullets" or rubber bullets that don't cause permanent harm. The Punisher has occasionally used those.

Water's a very tough effect to render realistically, particularly in real time. What I'd like to know is, when are they going to implement underwater environments so we can play "Aquaman" type characters?

---

The Optimist says the glass is half full.
The Pessimist says the glass is half empty.
While they argue about it, the Opportunist comes along, drinks what's left, and removes all doubt. - Redwood

Alvays remember, schmot guy...any plan vere you lose you hat...is a BAD PLAN!

We do have water powers, haven't you ever thrown sharks?

---

---

Click here to find all the All Things Art Threads!

Yes.. Villain only and a patron power.. I'm talking about as a base power pool.

---

Water is a difficult effect to make in video games, particularly moving or splashing water.

---

Doesn't Thermal Radiation have 'shimmer' effects from the heat coming off the ally buffed? Think it's possible to take that 'shimmer' visual, tint it a little but enough to make it see-through, shove it in a invisible particle stream with perhaps some white foamy parts, and call that water?

What is that 'heat shimmer' effect anyway? Is that attached to those thermal powers? Is it some kind of aura?

---

---

Well, if you can attach such an effect to a power, then it'd be possible to put it in a projectile, right?

---

---

On the water powers, I think the "We can't do it good enough" reasoning is really long past. My new Aquaman/Sub-Mariner hybrid character would kill for Mako's patron powers. What is tougher is creating an entire underwater zone, although the proof of concept is already in-game.

---

"Samual_Tow - Be disappointed all you want, people. You just don't appreciate the miracles that are taking place here."