Remove Security Chief missions and make them contacts!
By
Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2009-12-24 14:39 in Suggestions and Ideas
Makes sense. In theory, they coud even be redesigned to hold 2-3 mission mini arcs for some zones. This would be a great way to spruce up Dark Astoria and Perez Park since both are atmospheric but lack dedicated storylines.
This gets my vote
Well the primary purpose of the Security chiefs isn't for missions. They're there to provide information about the zone to players (I believe they do this even if you don't have the mission). The extremely annoying mission and hunt are just there to help guid players to them.
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They don't provide info without a mission, further more their job has been taken over by recon officers.|
Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
Well the primary purpose of the Security chiefs isn't for missions. They're there to provide information about the zone to players (I believe they do this even if you don't have the mission). The extremely annoying mission and hunt are just there to help guid players to them.
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I support this, though another nice idea might be letting them give out mini-Task forces like Ouroboros contacts to further bring flavor to a zone.
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.
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I like this.
My idea for some years has been to remove all the superfluous hunt missions from contacts on blueside and to instead give hunt missions to the Security Chiefs. The Sec Chiefs would be open contacts who can send you to hunt for specific foe types in specific districts of their zone. After say 3 hunts on a foe there should be a zone ambush on the player. Following the 5th hunt, there should be a door mission that is something like a scanner mission, featuring a named boss of that same group, and completion of the mission gives an arc bonus.
The rationale behind this is that many players simply don't want to do hunts. They'd rather do door missions with preferably no hunts and no errands. So remove the onerous and unfun hunts from the regular contacts.
Other players have toons that are fully capable of street sweeping, and it may also fit their character's theme. So give them the ability to street sweep with the additions of a little bit of story, a mission bonus, and an arc bonus, through the use of the zone Security Chiefs.
I like this.
But if the Security Chiefs get Hunt missions, cap the size to 20-25 foes per hunt. Anything more than that is a waste of time.
/Signed
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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.
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I've always wanted the Security Chiefs to have a little more purpose without your contacts sending you all across the city. This sounds like a great way to do that.
Also, ditto on BBQ Pork's suggestion.
A few more thoughts on this ...
The number of foes to defeat could increase based upon the number of players in the team (or virtual teammates, as set by the analyst).
The player (or team) will be auto-exemped to the proper level for the missions.
The Sec Chiefs could have some variety on their hunts, depending on the flexibility of the game's programming. Players could be sent to:
- defeat X foes in a district (regardless of foe group)
- defeat X of a foe group in a district (say, Trolls in The Fuse, or Council in Powderkeg)
- defeat X of a specific foe type in a district (like Skull Bone Daddies in The Boneyard)
I think it may even be possible to target foes doing a particular default animation, like "stop 10 Hellion purse snatchings in Downside," or "arrest X Troll Dyne peddlars in the Astral district." The goal here would be to defeat all of the members of that particular encounter. With this sort of objective the number of encounters to target would be the same regardless of team size.
Also, I would move hazard zone Sec Chiefs across the gate and into their proper zone. Players should encounter them right after they pass the gate guards, as in the case of the PvP zone contacts.
Oh, and I'd also make sure the Sec Chief gives out his cellphone number right away. No point in traveling to the furthest district of Boomtown and then having to return just to find out you need 10 more Trolls from the same place.
Oh, one more thing that is probably obvious ... the Sec Chief missions should be designed - where possible - in a way that lends itself to completion of Defeat badges.
So if you do all the Hellion hunts (in Atlas, Galaxy, and Perez), you should reasonably expect to come away from it with Hellspawned. If you complete the Skulls hunts (KR, Perez, Steel), you should expect to get Bonecrusher and possibly Kill Skulz as well.
You must defeat 500 Skulls for Kill Skulz, which sounds like a lot, but if you think of 3 arcs made up of 5 hunts + 1 door mission, and if you assume 10 Skulls per hunt, that's 3 x 5 x 10 = 150, plus three ambushes per arc (3 x 3 x 3), plus about 20 foes per door mission (totalling 60), that's 237 Skulls for a single person running all 3 hunt arcs. A team of 3 would spawn all the Skulls needed for this badge, if you do all 3 arcs, or a full team would do it in just one arc.
(Assuming my math is anywhere close to reality. lol)
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I disagree for one small reason--hazard zone spawn sizes. I think it could be argued that it could be feasible to go up to 35 depending on the mission. However, I have one interesting concept. What if instead of pure numbers, it was a point/percentage system? With this, bosses would count for more "worth" (taking out the leaders if you will) and thus this would work well for powersets with ST specialization instead of AOE.
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Originally Posted by BBQ_Pork
But if the Security Chiefs get Hunt missions, cap the size to 20-25 foes per hunt.
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To be more specific, can we please get rid of the "Talk to Security Chief in Kings Row" mission you get, oh, around the time you've jetted on to Steel Canyon...where you're told about the difficulty settings?
I would *hope* you knew about them by then.
At the very least, make it a mission you get while you're still OF level in Kings Row. Make it the first mission you get from your radio contact before you take radio missions or something. Or better yet, give it to Blue Steel when you pop into zone, since the contact in question is right behind him anyway.
I LOVE the idea of tying the Chiefs into defeat badges. I would so go for that!
Currently playing:
The Domestic: Broom/WP
Shadowhex: Dark Control/Dark Affinity
Defenestration Lass: Grav/Kin
"See, this is what happens when you have to shove all this stuff into your pockets: it's easy to misplace a suborbital warhead." -Arcanaville, on how crowded our power trays are getting lately
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Yes, missions should always be in the same zone as the contact, unless there is a story-wise reason for it.|
Originally Posted by Alexandria2000
To be more specific, can we please get rid of the "Talk to Security Chief in Kings Row" mission you get, oh, around the time you've jetted on to Steel Canyon...where you're told about the difficulty settings?
I would *hope* you knew about them by then. At the very least, make it a mission you get while you're still OF level in Kings Row. Make it the first mission you get from your radio contact before you take radio missions or something. Or better yet, give it to Blue Steel when you pop into zone, since the contact in question is right behind him anyway. |
The mission to discuss difficulty settings is one where there is no reason for it to be any Security Chief other than the closest one.
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| BBQ_Pork: But if the Security Chiefs get Hunt missions, cap the size to 20-25 foes per hunt. Anything more than that is a waste of time. |
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Originally Posted by Zamuel
I disagree for one small reason--hazard zone spawn sizes. I think it could be argued that it could be feasible to go up to 35 depending on the mission. However, I have one interesting concept. What if instead of pure numbers, it was a point/percentage system? With this, bosses would count for more "worth" (taking out the leaders if you will) and thus this would work well for powersets with ST specialization instead of AOE.
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LT's and Bosses being "worth" more (for the purposes of Hunts) would passify me, particularly for those stupid "Hunt 50 <$Faction> in P.I." missions where only those encountered outdoors count.
And it would certainly be interesting if Bosses and LT's counted as more than a minion towards Defeat Badges as well, although I'd never expect that to happen.
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That should be an ATLAS mission. The first diff person is *there*!
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Originally Posted by BBQ_Pork
Yes, missions should always be in the same zone as the contact, unless there is a story-wise reason for it.
The mission to discuss difficulty settings is one where there is no reason for it to be any Security Chief other than the closest one. |
Currently playing:
The Domestic: Broom/WP
Shadowhex: Dark Control/Dark Affinity
Defenestration Lass: Grav/Kin
"See, this is what happens when you have to shove all this stuff into your pockets: it's easy to misplace a suborbital warhead." -Arcanaville, on how crowded our power trays are getting lately
Even if they just turned them into copies of Meg Mason, I would love to see them get a makeover. They would become the hazard zone version of the radio. Totally optional, but something different then the arcs we've all done over and over. Adding an unlockable mini-TF/trial after a number of missions (like the safeguards) would make them even better.
�Let there be truth, happiness, and waffles�
-Vagabond, Dark Lord & Avatar of Gnarr
The Justiciars
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It's best not to mess with difficulty settings this early in the game, especially for a new player. Back then, it's far too easy to make the game too hard for yourself without realising it, so it's best left for later in the game when you have a few more powers at your disposal.
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Originally Posted by Alexandria2000
That should be an ATLAS mission. The first diff person is *there*!
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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.
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I support this fully. Excising Security Chief missions from contact mission queues would mean one less type of mission I drop on sight, and it would mean giving me the ability to hunt WHAT I want, WHEN I want it by giving me a contact who offers these missions all the time.
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Originally Posted by DocArcus
Even if they just turned them into copies of Meg Mason, I would love to see them get a makeover. They would become the hazard zone version of the radio. Totally optional, but something different then the arcs we've all done over and over. Adding an unlockable mini-TF/trial after a number of missions (like the safeguards) would make them even better.
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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.
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Some excellent ideas here. A big yes to turning the security chiefs into something useful. Even better, if the security chief can give you new contacts in that zone. Like it is done in the Hollows.
And if the GM's don;t have the time. We have some excellent writers amongst us and the tools to create missions. They could turn it into a contest.
I like this idea.
Mini TFs/Safeguard-esque missions also get the thumbs up.
May I add something? I'd quite like to see some of the contacts blueside paired down (so instead of a potential 2/3 contacts who give out exactly the same missions, reduce the number to those similar in the Rogue Isles).
Tony Kord, for instance, isn't a character that is returned to later (whereas Steve Sheridan is as is Justin Greene and others) through other missions.
Hmm, had some more thoughts about certain contacts. Think I will collate them and post separately about those!
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Actually, I'd like to see new content be placed under the superfluous contacts.|
Originally Posted by Arctic_Princess
May I add something? I'd quite like to see some of the contacts blueside paired down (so instead of a potential 2/3 contacts who give out exactly the same missions, reduce the number to those similar in the Rogue Isles).
Tony Kord, for instance, isn't a character that is returned to later (whereas Steve Sheridan is as is Justin Greene and others) through other missions. |
When I look at CoH, my impression is that the original idea was to have branches of content based on origin. So a hero starts in Atlas or Galaxy, meets up with their first contact, and goes on from there.
However, I think the devs decided they needed to cut plans for content to get the game out on time, so they gave most of the contacts duplicate mission lists.
It seems to me that it is quite possible the CoH "bible" may actually contain notes for unique content for all of those contacts.
Right now, the Security Chiefs in the zones are useless. They give out one hunt and then just stand there the rest of the game.
I propose removing the hunt mission from the regular contacts and turning the Security Chiefs into radio-like contacts. You can get hunts or door missions in their appropriate zones, dealing with the groups that inhabit that zone.
That way, if people really want to do hunts, they can, and people who don't like hunts won't get stuck with them from normal contacts quite as often...