More heroic heroes, please

Glanced over the first page, never saw it stated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arnabas I would have liked to have bokken under katana options, or escrima sticks under dual blades, but I am told the devs said they would never do that. I'm not sure why.

Because there are two types of physical damage, lethal and smashing. Blades are lethal. Turn the blade into a baton and it becomes smashing (thematically).

Purely for role playing purposes I tend to think of the medical transport as being more like what happens to the Cylons in BSG every time they get downloaded into a new body--meaning that it hurts like hell and each time you "die" it messes you up mentally leaving you with all kinds of emotional scars.

I'd even favor some kind of game mechanic that would kick in if you get revived too often within a given amount of time that would give players a temporary minor debuff to health and/or other stats just to make things a little more realistic. This would be in additon to debt which can so easily be mitigated these day that it's almost painless.

Let's not forget that the villains we fight are super, too. I mean, how many people do you know of that can be Disemboweled, and the only visibal effect it has on them is that they fly up into the air, land on their backs. They get back up, and continue to attempt to burn you.

I can't tell you how many times I've been fighting foes, either on a Hero or a Villain, and thought to myself, "Man, these guys are TOUGH! I just shot that Hellion with 3 different arrows, and he just got madder!".

We stab, shoot, and burn them because it's the only way we can keep them from stabbing, shooting, and burning us.

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Biggest Troll on the forums? I'll give you a hint:

Totally think we should have escrimas and nunchukas. My two cents there.
Also, staff melee would rock.

Dude! Then we could have all four of the Pre-adult Genetically Mutated Martial Artist Amphibians. Haha! Radical!

@OP, No your NOT alone, more non-"lethal" options would be fun. More weapon skins/options would nice too. When they released Dual Blades I said to myself, "This would be a blast with frying pans". Although I'd settle for the big plumbers wrenches they have in Mace, but I like the staff idea as well.

New skins I'd like to see for handheld weapons:
Frying Pans (oh yeah!)
Leg Bones
Tire wrench
2x4s
car axle

New power?:
Beast Controller
Summons insects, birds, cats, dogs etc..., as it's lvl32 permanent pet power you get lion, tiger, bear or some such sized animal that you could also ride

I look at it like this:

Our characters are equal in just about any practical way to a PPD officer. We have all the same police powers and a few perks the police don't have.

In real life, if a random gang member were runing around on the street with a submachine gun, you'd better believe the police would not hesitate to use lethal force on them. I view my characters in a similar fashion. The majority of them will not kill if they don't have to, but if it is necessary they will not hesitate.

Gang members toting machine guns and shotguns who have no qualms about opening fire into a crowd would not be going to prison in the real world, they would be shot and killed on the spot. The vilains in this game are lucky that the medical technology is as advanced as it is, or they would most likely all be dead by now.

Understandably, a street level hero (generally those with little or no power beyond human norms) whose life is in legitimate danger from the villans he is facing would be more willing to emply lethal force, after all, sometimes they will die themselves if they do not. It is good to remember that the medical teleporters don't work 100% of the time. A character that is defeated never knows if this is going to be the time they don't wake up.

Oh, I'll debate this one with you until pigs fly, Brawler...

I'm sorry, but with all the threats that the villains make towards civilians and each other (from last night: "Tsoo Sorcerer: I will remove your tongue if I have to."), it would stand to reason that many a "hero" would forget this simple code of ethics and smash said Sorcerer into next week. My secondary Tanker, coming from a much more violent version of Paragon City (think of Bishop), does this quite often, though her blades tend to leave a more permanent mark upon them. Said Tanker was on to of one of the tallest buildings in Founders Falls, and kicked a Crey sniper off of it. I counted it later as a 19 story drop. And you're going to tell me Mister Sharpshooter is going to be fine? I'll guarantee he's taking a desk job from now on if so, because of getting rung up with vertigo from the fall.

You're also going to tell me that a Boulder or Sardonyx (or other similar creatures) from Devouring Earth get smashed into a hundred pieces, yet they poof to the Soylent Green Medical Facility (or whatever the DE use), get a band-aid and a glass of water, and they're fine? That's a bit of a stretch.

Lasers from robotic MMs are non-lethal? I have yet to hear of a concussive laser.

At the same time, the fact that these thugs just keep reappearing, along with the Rikti and everything else, has probably led to more than one "hero" building up feelings of apathy. After all, if they just keep popping up, why even bother? Fighting against the Praetorian Earth people? You bet. Fighting against that Circle of Thorns mage outside? Eh, why bother? He'll just be back five minutes later with a big bruise on his face and even more ticked off than before, so why bother?

Just my rambling thoughts on the matter, I apologize. It's just a few things I've been thinking of.

I think the Punisher said something along the lines of "I often face metahumans, who can survive even direct gunfire. I would be a fool not to use whatever weapon it takes to even the odds."

I have a character that won't kill, but he doesn't feel it's much of a lesson if a criminal just gets slapped around a bit, and then teleported off to a nice ward where he will be taken care of and waited on hand and foot, before being taken to a nice comfortable taxpayer funded cell. He figures that if he wants to keep that criminal from wanting to go right back on the street when he gets out, he has to make their defeat memorable. Which is why when HE defeats a foe, he makes sure it hurts, a LOT. Not enough to activate the transporter, but enough to cause plenty of pain. Then once he makes his point, he lets them go.

In fact, I've often said that so-called Hit Points are not physical damage at all, but actually a combination of pain level, exhaustion, and the will to keep fighting. So instead of actually punching their foes, Controllers might just hold them long enough to be able to put some permanent restraints on them, and activate a Teleport Beacon. And Scrappers don't do more damage than Tankers because they're physically stronger, but because they're willing to cause more pain, and are more intimidating to be in a fight with. Tankers may actually be encouraging foes to keep fighting with them, because they're taunting them to keep their attention.

Anyway, the point is, it's up to you how powerful your attacks are. You could be an infinitely powerful being with enough strength to move the whole Earth in your little finger, at which time you would be pulling your punches. Or, you might be a gritty vigilante going up against foes that are much more powerful than you, using intimidation and dirty tricks to even the odds.

I just wanted to add this....

I have always thought this game world was a mix of comic books, video game, and a strong dose of the movie last action hero with arnold the govenator. If you have never seen it, it is sort of like this discussion. Arnold is a cop in a different universe, a place where you can get shot 5 or 6 times and "that stings", crash your car into a building at 50 mph and dust your self off and jump out and shoot at bad guys, that type of thing.

Then, a young boy finds his way into this universe at a movie theatre. adventures go on, until the villain finds the portal and goes to "the real world". Arnold and boy follow, and a harsh reality check happens. Towards the end, arnold is shot in the chest, and is basically done for. Boy gets him back to movie-land, and calls for help, medics rush over, and then laugh in his face about "just one bullet" and shortly after arnold is all smiles.

I see CoX as this type of place, but even more over the top because of the super powers. in that movie, arnold was "just a cop". In CoX players can throw fire, shoot electricity, mind control foes, etc. If we wanted to put reality into this game, that lvl 1 hellion with a shotgun should have a pretty darn good chance of killing your defensless blaster/troller/etc instantly. But we role play away from that, after all, it was just a shot gun right? pfft, now, if it was rikti with space lasers and teleport powers, we would be a little more concerned. concerned enough to restrict access to those foes until your character has proven to the registration organization you are capable of facing them.

In the end it is just a game, reality is only applicable as a metric to make it so we can relate to the game in some way. things like fall damage. why is it needed? not really any place in the game where it is strategically needed or applicable in battles. so why then? because it "makes sense" for our heroes and villains to get hurt when jumping off of that 25 story building. its something for us to relate to. if everything in the game was totally out of touch with the real world, we would lose interest on some level-become detached from characters more easily, etc.

thats my two inf. anyway.