Have the Ability to "Buy" Pets Temporarily

A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking about this after I just purchased my Vanguard HVAS for 250 Merits & 5k of influence to help me in the "Rescue Baby New Year" mish. After clicking on "more info" on my HVAS, I was surprised to see he was an Elite Boss. Needless to say, we mopped up the whole mish very easily. My HVAS was like a big brother watching over me,..hehe. Also to my surprise, he lasted the whole mish, unlike the Werewolfs you get from Stephanie Pebbles in Striga which I think only last for about 4 or 5 minutes and cannot go up elevators or to different zones.

So, this is what I am suggesting. What not have it to where you can purchase certain pets for a certain amount of influence (not Vanguard Merits or Merits) but influence. For example, if I new I was going to go into a serious battle and needed some heavies to help me out I could "rent" certain pets to help me for either 1-3 mishes, or maybe for a short period to time before they vanish. It would probably look something like this:

(1) Vanguard HVAS: Cost to rent = $400,000 influence
Pet Timeline = 20 minutes of in game play or 4 mishes
whichever comes first.

(1) Werewolf: Cost to rent = $200,000 influence
Pet Timeline = 15 minutes of in game play or 3 mishes
whichever comes first.

(1) Arbiter Sands: Cost to Rent = $300,000 influence
Pet Timeline = 20 minutes of in game play or 3 mishes
whichever comes first.

You can kind of get the picture. You can even add how many hits points they can take, what their powers and any special attributes they may have. I would say the easier a pet dies, the cheaper they will be in influence. Thus, the HVAS is more expensive because he is harder to kill. The number "(1)" in front of them represents the number of pets you will be getting. So, lets say you're feeling greedy, you can buy a max number of 7 pets to help you in battle. Think about it, you and 7 HVAS's waltzing down the aisle to take out a Giant Monster or any touch AV who thinks they can walk on water,..hehe.

Yes, there are lots of ways you could tweak this, for example, lets say you wanted to start your own TF and you know you need about 8 so, maybe also have a "special" TF Pet purchase that will allow the pets to last the entire TF before they vaporize. Now if they die during the TF, you can still purchase another without being penalized. Now, ahem...I have not thought about how this would work on an 8 member team if everyone got 7 pets,...lol. It would be like a circus out there. Lets see 7 x 8 = 56. Yeah the graphics might get boggy so, something would have to be worked out on a cap level before this could happen.

Any other things you guys might think would work on this or any additional suggestions, please throw in your two cents, as I would like to hear them.

Well, first off, I'm not sure how difficult it would be to add in a mechanic to expire a 'rental' after X number of missions. Secondly, at least with the temp powers you suggested, there may be some trouble justifying their 'rental' in canon. We're either talking about sentient or at least semi-sentient beings, or making top of the line military gear available to, essentially, the public for a price.

I highly doubt Sands would have gotten his position in the Arbiters if he was willing to sell his services to the highest bidder. Granted, there's some back and forth among Arachnos, but if you're going to get that high in the ranks you have to at least partially believe in the ideals.

The reason the Warwolves have such a short timer in their current version is that they are being forced to aid you against their will. It's like using a dog whistle to make a wild bear do tricks. (I believe this whistle is magically enforced to boot, but I'm not 100% sure)

And the current HVAS is given out as a reward for proven works against the Rikti assault. Offering them for influence would be like selling tanks (the ones with treads) and fighter jets on EBay.


EDIT: None of this is saying I'm against the idea, just that it needs some justification for whatever the back up may be. Also, some of these are as strong as they are because they are either difficult to get, or even one-time-only rewards. If this is made an option, I don't doubt that they will be much weaker than the examples given.

Well, the whole rental justification is kinda in trouble since you can "rent" them for arena matches. I'm not so sure about the gameplay ramifications, though.

An open letter to NCsoft

I'll approve any idea that lets me get more pets.

/unsigned

If they'll be selling pets, I'd rather it be some more-tame pets: Outcast Leads, Bone Daddies, Damneds, Malta Gunslingers, Carnival Mistresses, Sky Raider Jump Bots, Boomers, etc.

Small-time criminal gangs who wouldn't be above renting themselves out to the highest bidder. Yes, some of them are higher-ups, but mercenaries nonetheless. Nothing like HVAS, or things that are already available for other means of currency.

It sould still be worse. They could all be thugs/dark MMs with Snowbeasts!

There's no possibility for contagious confusion in there, is there?

Alright, I've thought about this a lot before, so here's how you fix it and make it work...


Craftable Recipes that give a temp power for summons.

Have them drop as Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Purple recipes. Like most temp powers, you cannot have more than one of a specific summon at a time. Recipes would contain 3 charges. Why 3? Because a purple recipe to win 1 fight seems way too costly, considering Shivans.

Bronze summons are pet class summons on power levels similar to the Patron Power Pools pets, albeit enhanced. They would NOT check to see if you are a hero or villain. It can be assumed if you've obtained these recipes, you have managed to coerce the character into working for you if they are unfriendly.

Silver class summons would be Boss class. Gold would be EBs. Gold class recipes are hard to get, so gold class summons would be better. Finally, purple recipes would give AVs. Perhaps you're a hero and Ms. Liberty likes you enough to help you for a short period of time. Perhaps you're a villain and you're just awesome enough to force her to fight for you (If she doesn't, you'll blow up a bus full of nuns, but after the 3rd fight, she saves the nun-bus while you're distracted by nachos.)

In addition to these, have Pet-Class summon temp powers that you can buy at stores. These would be equivalent power to the bronze summons, but would only contain 1 charge each. They'd also have different options per side. For example, while Heroes could buy Longbow, Wyvern, and Legacy Chain, villains would be able to buy Knives of Artemis, Arachnos and Circle of Thorns Demons. Vanguard would sell Vanguard members to both sides.


Once again, the point here is...
-Anyone can purchase weak, one-use pets. They'd have a short lifespan, perhaps 4-10 minutes, and be easily killed.
-Stronger pets would be available in recipes. Rarer recipes give better pets.
-A level 50 villain with enough infamy can force Statesman to fight Ms. Liberty for his amusement, just like comic book villains do, while a level 50 hero with enough influence can force Captain Mako to turn on Lord Recluse... Not that he wasn't planning to betray eventually anyway.

Add in a few of the Arachnos [Lord Recluse, Ghost Widow, Black Scorpion, Mako, Sci] and than than [wretch, silver mantis, Kelinda, Ice Mistral,] and than add in the Freedom Phalanx [Statesman, SP, Manti, Synapse, Posi, B.A.B., Numnia, Swan, Citdel, Ms. Liberty, War Witch, and a few others] and I'll be happy to have them as a temporary pet...

So what's wrong with too many pets anyway? I remember when we fought Reichsman the first time, we threw at him a number of HVAS, Shivans, Imps, Zombies, Bees, and used a variety of temporary powers. Having too many pets at once isn't an issue as long as they cost a fair amount of Inf. If you're willing to spend a billion Inf on pets, you should be able to put together an army that can take out Reichsman. It's just, you know... a billion is a lot of Inf.