If You Had War Witch's Job and Unlimited Resources ..

Add more SFs, new zones for the redside, update the story line every other issues, re do an empty hero zone every even issues from now on, and roll back the I13 PvP changes. Then I would push Position on getting out the High lvl content to keep my players. And while on that, I would make sure the content for each issues add to the upper lvl content starting with I18.

Have a mind-computer interface designed, hire a military force to rival that of the rest of the world, take it over, and create one global City of X hivemind.

Of course, this would require expanding the server size. As well as the zones. Removal of the war walls and adding zones for the rest of the world would be necessary. It'd probably be a good idea to add more villain and hero groups as well, since I don't think the entire world wants to be foiling Nemesis plots all day long. Customization should be increased as well, with more every day clothing as well as some more fantastical parts, all unisex. A graphics update would be required as well.

The AI would further need to be heavily updated, especially those of the civilians. They should act more 'real' and less like incredibly stupid roombas. They should at least be capable of conversations on par to the average well built chat bot.

You did say 'unlimited resources'. :P

Unlimited resources?

Buy out Blizzard, shut down the WoW servers, and transfer existing WoW subscriptions to City of Heroes. If we retain even a third of those numbers, I call it a win.

New Powersets - Piracy for MMs, Scythe Melee for Stalkers, Staff Melee for all Melee ATs, and actually figure out how to implement Dual Archery, Quad Blades, Quad Pistols, and Carp Melee.

Hire more costume designers to make more Anthro stuff. That way we get Anthro parts and Jay doesn't have to make them.

Make two instances of each PVP zone, one for PVP and one for PVE. PVEers will no longer complain about PVE stuff in a PVP zone and PVPers will no longer complain about PVEers in their PVP zones.

I'd also give players the option to attempt a TF/SF solo.

Some ideas already promulgated look good:

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Originally Posted by Dark_Respite Easy. I'd fire the entire Marketing Department and staff it with people who would promote the hell out of the game on websites, print, video ads, etc. I'd restart the comic line, doing storylines from in-game, but running a constant set of contests for players to be featured doing the various storylines.

Even outside of a Perfect World, surely there could be some better marketing.

Reviving the comic: This I like a lot. Putting Troy Hickman and David Nakayama on it is my slant to it. Pay them handsomely. I like using player character "guest stars" as well. Hickman is already skilled at anthology-style comics; this could set new parameters for comics. And it could be done ONLINE if expenses for print were too high, although if our resources are unlimited, it might not matter.

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Originally Posted by BlueBattler To try to spice up Giant Monsters and zone events, I would have Recluse's lieutenants and the Freedom Phalanx respond and actually show up to do battle-- but only after a preset time limit to give people who wanted to fight and win the badge for themselves the chance to do so. And for completing a TF offered by a member of the Freedom Phalanx (or villainous equivalent) you get a one time only temp power that lets you call on them for assistance. This power could NOT be regained through repeating the TF, so you'd have to make sure you really wanted their help the time you called them. I would also the the Signature Characters appear in Pocket D From time to time ... so in addition to War Witch you can see Synapse feeding lines to Desperate Guy while Dominatrix is dancing on the bar at one table while Recluse and Statesman are having an arm wrestling contest at a third ...

Those sound like fun additions as well.

I would for SURE like better search functions for teaming. Have the option to have teams LOOKING FOR MORE. Be able to exclude players ALREADY ON A TEAM in your search and NOT have a TRUNCATED LIST. Have a reminder pop up when you log on as to your PREFERRED SETTING, ie, do not want to team, always looking, etc. A better field for comments, such as listing desirable TFs, AVs and the like.

To say that better search options for AE would be needed simply does not do it justice. As it stands, finding good stuff among the farms, nonsense and lousy quality stuff is nigh well impossible without word of mouth.

It would also be cool if NPCs could interact with your character along the lines of whatever amount of background information you would want to supply. If your character had a bone to pick with a certain villain faction, or routinely worked with another player hero, or hailed from a particular place. Sure, in the Perfect Unlimited Resources Scenario we wind up with the Holodeck, but if the Rikti War Zone used to be the residence of your hero's family, it would be cool if that could be worked in via mission assignment or flavor text at the minimum.

I suppose that more content, costumes, powersets and AE tools being desirable are a given.

Short of CoH becoming the Holodeck, I would like to see the above happen. The Hickman/Nakayama CoH comic would be Simply Epic as well.

Have dance emotes like Guild Wars made

Add Vehicles

More costume stuff

More animations

More powers

Actual size all of the buildings and vehicles in the game.

Shorten all of the civilians in the game, or increase the height slider for the players.

Make it so all of the buildings in the game have enter able interiors.

More Zones (outer space, and water zones)

Add a 5 power to all of the travel pools that takes you instantly to a location or zone (not just teleport)

More costume stuff.

More power animations

* I would scrap heroes and villains and have everything go via a perpetually shifting alignment meter which tracks how people react to you, which contacts trust you with missions or force you to prove yourself first... that sort of thing.

* Hazard Zones featuring destroyed buildings like The Hollows and Boomtown would all be turned into Rebuilding Zones. Similar to Faultline they would include efforts to slowly rebuild the zone to its former glory. A work crew appears during each day-cycle and works on a building or street, etc. However... HOW-EHV-AH... All such zones are now destructible, so when you fling a fireball and it hits a building, the building takes damage. When you knockback that Freakshow into a wall the wall falls apart. The roads react to footstomps, etc. Then the tried and true work crew comes out the next day... sighs in exasperation... and begins to rebuild again.

* All contacts would have voice actors reading their mission info. You would have the option of turning this feature off or interupting it with a mouse click. In addition to this all contact dialog would be re-written to take into account speech quirks to individualize them more.

* Specialty maps... I would start moving beyond the City concept and have missions take heroes and villains a bit more far afield. Perhaps a battle to keep the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel Tower from being blown up. Want a REAL Safeguard or Mayhem mission? Try Fort Knox! It's time for the heroes to move beyond the City.

* I would create an on-line animated series. I would hire Dark_Respite to do all the animation (and PAY her to do so!) and get that hack Steelclaw to write the scripts (he doesn't get paid... but it will come off his community service time). The series would be an amusing (hopefully) situation comedy about the major characters of Paragon City. Contests would be held periodically for real players to get cameo roles here and there.

Allocate half of the infinite resources to the Dev Team and put War Witch back in charge as lead developer of City of... And then I'd help with starting City of Heroes 2.

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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.

with unlimited resources? hire an assistant to do my job while im out flying around in my custom jet with a retractable stripper pole and hot stewardesses. making sure to write the jet off as "a business expense".

Desing some kind of random instance map generator, so we won't know the layouts by heart.

Unlimited resources?

Completely revamp blueside zones and contacts. Exceptions being Faultline and any content introduced after I8. The newbie missions in particular should have been revamped long ago.

Create a new Player's Guide and put it online. Keep it up to date, and make sure it covers every aspect of gameplay. Keep a link to it in the page that is displayed in the Updater when you first launch the game.

Hire a swath of editors to review all mission text for grammatical and spelling errors. Chain them to their desks until their work was complete.

Put a pharmacist inside every hospital that dispenses inspirations at the standard cost. He won't buy them, but he'll sell them. Create badges that you can earn that allow you to purchase larger inspirations from the pharmacist, or to purchase all inspirations at reduced cost (Paragon City/Rogue Isles HMO). These badges could be awarded based on how many times you've rezzed in the hospital, how many inspirations you've purchased through the pharmacist, or something like that. The idea here is to eliminate excess travel time when you rez in the hospital and need to get back to the mission quickly.

Vastly improve frightened citizen IQ. Especially indoors. Teach them how to use an Exit sign.

Vastly improve hostile mob animations. When they're standing guard, they should be carefully scanning the area. When patrolling, they should be following predefined routes, turning around, and going back the other way. Rinse, repeat. None of this silly crouching creeping emote. It breaks immersion just for the lulz. You want me to take the Council or the 5th seriously when an Adjutant is creeping around like a cat about to pounce on a stuffed mouse full of catnip? o.O

Change the nature of debris scattered about indoor maps. A chair laying on its side in the middle of the floor of an indoor map should not impede my movement; rather, it should tumble out of my way when I plow into it.

Revamp every contact to ensure that you were awarded a cellphone after completing the first mission.

Move every introductory contact for a zone out of red neigborhoods and into green neighborhoods, preferably close to the tram. Suitable examples include Justin Green and Amanda Loomis in Independance Port.

Give cell numbers to detectives.

Fix it so that zoning doesn't redirect you to a detective, even though you have a different contact selected when you start zoning.

Create so many new maps with new textures that it's mind-boggling. Create new tilesets for things like mausoleums, museums, shopping malls, university campuses (ours is way too small), executive office suites, biochemical labs, automotive factories, broadcasting stations, theaters, cafes, bookstores, software companies, game design studios, and so on.

Put an end to magical mystery doors. Warehouse missions should always go to warehouses. Office missions should always go to offices. Cave missions should always go to caves.

Fix hazard zone guards so so that you can click anywhere on them to gain entrance. As it stands, it's a guessing game as to where you have to click on them to gain entrance, and the blue gropy hand frequently insists that you click them in their naughty place. I'm sure the guards like it, but come on. Really? We can't fix this?

Add a Drop Contact feature. Somtimes, I just don't want to do your stupid darned story arc, no matter how peachy keen you think it is.

Rewrite any contact's arc that offers, as its first mission, a task that requires a team.

Eliminate missions that require you to click multiple items at the same time. (Forced teaming. In some cases, this is the only mission the contact will offer, and if it's a story arc, the player can't continue.)

Significantly reduce the number of Defeat X missions. Specifically reduce the number of Defeat X missions in hazard zones, as they put soloists at significant risk of great bodily harm. These missions don't really move a plot line forward. They just kill time.

Seamless exploration... no loading screens. You just run from Atlas Park over to Steel Canyon seamlessly. That is what I would do -- and it would require a lot of money and probably a complete overhaul of the servers to accomplish this...

I've always found it silly that heroes have to take the train.

That was one of the things that disappointed me when Cryptic had another shot at a Hero game... and they kept the loading screens!?

WoW and LoTRO are great at seamless exploration (they still have a couple loading screens here and there, but it's rare) -- I would love to see that here...