QoL request: Unlockable costume items to be account wide.

So, there's been some discussion on the Open beta forums, and .. a lot of us have been thinking, unlockable costume items (Taslorian blades, Tommy gun, etc), should be made account wide.

Why you ask? Well, first and formost, it would make a lot of people very happy. But there's also a little something more..

They are constantly making changes to "Eliminate aberrant player behavior" (or however they put it), and in the most recent bout of changes there were a lot to eliminate excessive farming, by making certain badges easier to get.

Well tell me, is it any more aberrant to sit in a farm for hours on end trying to plink the last few Illusionist Decoys, than it is for a high level player to hold a mission and never actually complete it, and then let people farm it in order to get X badge? (Something we actually see villain side, with the Overseer badge.)

As such, I propose that unlocked costume items become account wide, rather than just character.

If it's not possible to make a given item availible at creation, only if a certain requirement has been met, then make the costume items basically badges of their own, something like how Gladiators work (how certain times you get X badge, followed by Y gladiator badge), and the 'costume item' badges would be account wide, just like vet badges, the VIP badge, certain AE badges, etc.

(>.> Might be cool if Gladiators were account wide, too. )

And yet, in the game world, you can't possibly come up with a REASON why your first character got that doodad, and then subsequent ones also have it. Anything that goes on a character like that should be earned individually. We get better perks like vet powers account wide.

I do agree about the gladiators however, that doesn't seem to make much sense since "you" aren't really playing - it's a pokemon tournament lol.

We still get those same powers temporarily by earning them in the game though.

I think it's fair to use the examples of "Valentines day" and such, as why costumery and such should still be per-character. The character earned the temp power of the nemi staff. *I* earned the vet reward. I know, it's weak. But I'm still just a fan of having things that in-character, you'd earn apart from all your others. I mean - I will never USE the roman stuff on most of my toons - if I have a good idea, I'll get that character up in levels and get the reward for them. That my others have it already doesn't really matter to me - but I do see the point. I just like earning them separately.

No, I've only been role playing for going on 25 years tabletop and have written plenty of fanfic of my own characters from this game.

I don't actually see ANY connection between the restrictions and your being bothered at farming, really - costume equipment is hardly ever something that I know is heavily "farmed for". I've helped one friend gather eyeballs for the Rularuu weapons, and that was *fun*.

Costumes are what make most characters unique.

And like I said: I *undersand* your opinion. I don't *share* it.

I still feel these should be unlocked account-wise. Years ago I might have agreed with you, Zekiran, but after having seen the many costume packs we've had and how they've impacted my ability to conceive of new characters, I have to say I'm all FOR earning these things account-wise. The idea that I'd make a character who wouldn't be cool enough or concept-correct enough and get him to 35 (something which takes me WEEKS and ends up taking months because I get bored of characters before then) just so that he could BEGIN to resemble what I had in mind is simply not something that works for me.

The simple fact is that if I NEED an unlockable piece, the character isn't getting made, and if I GET an unlockable costume piece, it's inevitably on a character who doesn't really need it. And the Vanguard stuff is the WORST. I don't have a SINGLE character who has access to more than about three or four pieces of it. I'm never going to see a full Vanguard suit, because I need upwards of 1000 merits on a single character to do so, and there aren't enough Rikti arcs in the game to grant me that. And this is ignoring the Vanguard temporary powers.

I'm not against earning these things, but lacking them at creation and, above all, having to go through hell and high water to get them, simply devalues these pieces SIGNIFICANTLY. I've rarely felt a sense of "Oh, cool! I want that!" when I earned a new custom wepaon. It's always "So, what? I killed 100 Overseers for THAT? I was ripped off!" The weapon is cool, mind you. It's just not worth it.

And that's ignoring the fact that not having these things at character creation prevents certain ideas from even FORMING. I've lost count of the times I've been tabbing through the options, tabbed through one and it immediately clicked in my head "Wow! That option looks really cool! You know, I could design a really nice costume around it!" That doesn't work if the option isn't there. Either the design will never get made, or a different design which won't look as good with it will be made.

Really, I don't see why such simple things Roman Armour, say, need to be locked. I alwaus start out with simpler costumes and upgrade them for each slot, anyway. So why lack certain items?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville 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.

personally i can see an arguemtn for and against both sides of this debate.

Unlockable weapons and costume parts should have to be earned. its a reward from playing. I feel that they should not be account wide, however, I do also agree with the sentiment that by having them locked, you are restricting costume options at character creation

sooo,

make a version of roman armour available to all characters and have specific variants unlockable:

roman segmented armour = all

roman ornate breastplate = those that complete ITF

and so on for all unlockables (rularuus blade should remain unlockable but a "eye in crosspiece" design should be available as a weapon option for all blades)

Account wide would be nice, but it really shouldn't be necessary.

Simply put; These badges shouldn't be so damn hard to get.
I'm speaking mainly about things like the Tommy, Nemesis and Crey guns redside. The enemies that you need are SO damn rare. And yeah, thats not even mentioning the Rularuu weapons, where you HAVE to either get in line for Naylors arcs or use Scirroco's missions if you want any hope of getting them.

Blueside, the majority of these are far, far easier to come by. Nemesis? Spawns all over Peregrine Island. Redcaps? HUNDREDS of the little gnats in Croatoa. Overseers? Shadow Shard, nice and simple.
Redside? Dear oh lord your in trouble...

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.

This is a tough one to pick a side too...

I feel both ways about it, really. I mean, I want to make a toon that BEGINS the game in Roman Armor, but I can't do that until that toon is at the right lvl to run the TF... Why cane he have just <RP> been in suspended animation in ice until recently still in his ancient armor???

But still, earning that right (among others) IS kind of the point... I think.

IDK, I'm just on the fence about it. Both sides have valid points to me.

Account-wide, please. Right now, if I want to make a rogue Family AR corruptor with a tommygun, I have to find some way to kill a bajillion Family to unlock it if I want my whole costume at level 1. Heck, my Brute, who is from the Shadow Shard and worships Rularuu, still doesn't have a Rularuu weapon at level 50 because it's such a hassle.

Apart from the Rularuu stuff, there really isn't much in the unlockable weapons that couldn't easily be explained by 'he used to belong to X enemy faction but then left to become a hero/villain, and he took a weapon with him.' Some of them, like the various rifles and gladius, don't really require any explanation at all--they're just swords and rifles. If they're similar to the ones enemies have, well, hey, that's an interesting coincidence. They must have gotten theirs from the same store that was handing out identical Frankenrifles to everybody for years. Leave it up to the players to decide where and how their characters got their weapons.

About the one argument against making them account-wide that I can see the devs holding to is that it would discourage people trying for those badges, but... they seem to be moving away from that sort of thing anyway.

Banking unlocks...I like that idea.

Though, being the originator of the thread mentioned in the OP, I'll repeat that Vanguard costume piece costs need to be significantly reduced either way.

Account-wide unlocks would be good.
Earnable redeemable unlocks would be good.
Having triggers that currently unlock costumes instead drop costume recipes would be good.
Basically, anything that would give me access to more costume bits earlier on a character would be good.

This is not a game where you show what awesome things a character has done by waving around flashy gear. The badges speak for themselves, and they are completely sufficient as per-character markers of accomplishment. If a level 1 character has Roman armor, he has Roman armor for some reason. If a level 50 character has the Temporal Strife badge, he beat up Romulus. It's that simple.