Fanbushes and Protesters and Paparazzi

Just some thoughts I've been having recently about how our game doesn't have much fun and funny things happening sometimes.

Having NPCs walk by and say things related to your character is cool, but a bit stale and outdated. There's also a few times when the things coming from their mouths are wildly inappropriate (hello, Cimerora).

What I thought of is a way to kick up the NPC interactions a notch or two.

When it comes to ambush technology, the game has gotten a lot better over the years. The days of lvl 49 orphan mobs standing around Talos pwning lvl 21s are long gone. The conditions and behaviors of ambushes are even a little more elaborate.

So what I'm thinking is, it would be cool to have some little events that make our heroes or villains feel like they're part of the community. Maybe non combat Arachnos could salute when high level agents of different Patrons are on a mission (or when a VEAT player goes by).

Maybe if you spend a little time standing around chatting or shopping or what have you, a small group of civilians could either stop and gawk and snap pictures, or a full on Fanbush of adoring groupies could rush you. In the Rogue Isles maybe people who are fed up with your crimes could have a Flash Mob that comes and tosses rotten tomatoes (snowball power with a red effect) until a small fleet of Arbiter drones swoops in and teleports them to holding cells or they get scared off (terror inspired by a PBAoE?).

As for what triggers these events, I don't know. It should be a little more complicated than finishing a regular mission. Maybe completing an arc or TF?


A far more technical thought hit me as well. We have PPD camera drones, and the arena has Cam Bots for Observer mode. I imagine that TV News would make use of a similar device to get footage. I wonder if it would be possible to use an object/entity like that and combine it with the dynamic reflections we're getting in Ultra mode, or some kind of server side screenshot tech, and have the camera bots transmit an image that appears on screens elsewhere.

It would be cool if Atlas park blimp got a jumbo tron, or there were "we are watching you" screens all over Grandville. Or even just security rooms in bases or in indoor maps that showed actual images. It would be really cool to step into a Longbow observeration post and see your teammate as he is ghosting to the end or fighting some other foes. Come to think of it, it wouldn't be terribly different than cutscene technology. just a tiny image of a distant viewpoint instead of one that eats our whole screen and keeps us from moving.

There was an idea like this a while back, and I give full support both then and now, but I would like to add that one needs to remember how crazy fandom can be.
So I say villains too can get swarms of twisted and crazed adoring fans who love your character BECAUSE he or she is a villain.

On the flipside, heroes too can get ambushed by protest mobs, angry for locking up their "Beloved Captain Castillo" or harming their "bishie Nossie-kun." because some people root for villains, plus, news media/tabloids probably love to smear heroes since heroes are less likely to come kill them than villains.

As a side note: Arbiter drones don't teleport people off to prison, they just vaporizes them.

As a side note: a new walk emote should come with this, like a fly emote but for the walk power, and it would basically involve your character strutting as the angry mobs descend so that your PC, without words, may say "Haters gonna hate"

Quote:

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.

This reminds me of Fable 2. It was a cool and fun idea but it quickly became irritating. Then again, it happened all the time and this proposed idea would have a small chance of happening.

Yeah, I'd like to reiterate that I envision this as not happening to any particular character that often. Unless of course, they make a system that works such that if someone wants it to happen to their character (for RP reasons) then they can do certain things to make it more frequent. Even then I see them as short duration events (5minutes at most, if you stay in the same spot). If you take off, then the group would quickly disperse so they don't bother other players.

Interesting idea, and it would make some of my villains feel more like bad guys than lackeys if a random civvie or two yelled, "Aaah! It's $character! We're all gonna die!" and ran off.

My question would be what would happen in areas where players tend to congregate and idle, such as the markets or Atlas Park? Having a crowd of gabby NPCs huddling around could be distracting or even lag-inducing. Perhaps the fans/haters should disperse a bit sooner than five minutes and have a long timer before they'd reappear.

Overall, I like it

Well as I said above, I don't think it would happen often enough or last long enough to cause big problems. Unless a group of people specifically did something together known to give an event later, and then stood around together until it popped, I don't see it being a big issue.

Maybe it could work like the Turrets in Bloody Bay. Every X minutes it checks to see if anyone eligible is in the area, and if there isn't already an event in existence. If both conditions are met, then it spawns one.

I could so get behind this.

Imagine if after finishing a major TF, you guys exit the last mission, and there's Amanda Vimes and a cameraman asking, "So, Task Force [whoever], tell our viewers how it feels to [insert last mission objective]?"

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I like the idea of papparazzi. Hero side could have a special pose emote and villain side could smack em in the face.

I think it'd be fun if random NPCs would stop and take out a cellphone to take your picture, with a small flash and a camera clicking noise.

I actually like this idea.

I always felt the NPCs were too "meh". I mean, my 7-foot giant with a massive boradsword and shield gets pushed aside as if I'm not important. I was always wishing they'd at least stop and take a picture or something. Just a little thing to make me feel more heroic.

I recall reading an article about CoH in a PC magazine before the game came out. The writer described how NPC's would stop and point at the character as he flew overhead. Whether or not this actually existed in alpha, I don't know. But I was disappointed when I didn't see it in game.

So I'd support the idea of paparazzi and protesters and such.

Yeah I'm not sure npcs ever engaged in emotes, except the ones you rescued, but it would be neat.

For the people worried about added lag, I'd amend the suggestion to say that maybe the devs could look into revamping the entire civilian system. As it stands, at least in certain zones, we have a metric ton of models simply walking around with little or no purpose (construction workers carrying lumber into the tram?). Strip out 75-90% of the pointless walking, and put in systems that give people purpose. Even if they didn't use the rest of my suggestion above, it would make the city seem more alive.

Does this mean we agree Sam? I'm not sure i know how to respond to that.

Hmm... Have all civilians in a certain radius do /emote clap when a group defeats a GM or other Zone Event?

My girlfriend demands car-surfing in addition to the things above. That is all.