Lol, I've heard a lot of requests about Fire/Ice Melee having alternate animations so they didn't have to use a sword.
Supplementarily, give those sets all sword animations too so you all the attacks use a sword. Sounds perfect that, if the sword were more a focused streak of pure heat/cold when you swing, you can cover effects like Fire/Ice Breath's cone/DoT. I can just hear the *KRRINK!* of freezing the enemies into blocks of ice with a crescent swing of your cryo weapon 
If Combustion's sword animation were awesome (and you have plenty of animation time to work with >_>) I'd finally make a Fire Melee character and make him a tank!
So on the grounds of it having a different name I could do the following and be okay:
I make a short, squat character. He wears a yellow and black outfit and has claws jutting from his hands. He also heals rapidly and has bones laced with titanium. I decide to name this character "Badger" and start publishing comic books about his adventures.
According to your argument, because the name is different Marvel couldn't sue me for trademark infringement, even though everything else is very similar to one of their flagship characters.
And actually, WoW and Star Wars are different genres. One is science fiction, one is fantasy, there is enough difference there to matter.
They won't make this powerset not because Lucas WOULD sue, but because he MIGHT sue, and they can't afford a lawsuit with another popular franchise. It would basically mean that if Lucas did decide to sue because whatever they came up with was too similar to a lightsaber, then it would completely stall a powerset involving it until the court case was resolved, which could take more than a year.
It's not so much a matter of not giving the players what they want as it is them covering their butts.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
The set would be either really weak, or really overpowered anyway. -Resists on a melee charecter?
They would have to balance damage against the -res feature with the damage, which would make it the weakest damage set there is outside of teams, that goes against what scrappers were designed to do for one, and stalkers too. Tanker, possibly but its stepping into debuffing boundaries of other sets which isnt good.
The set on a whole would be no different than broadsword or katana to look at, with a shiny sword so why not save time and just make a costume option for one of those with a laser sword? its not much different than talsorian blades as it is.
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You are aware I said, and I quote myself:|
Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
So on the grounds of it having a different name I could do the following and be okay:
I make a short, squat character. He wears a yellow and black outfit and has claws jutting from his hands. He also heals rapidly and has bones laced with titanium. I decide to name this character "Badger" and start publishing comic books about his adventures. |
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| If it looks different and with a different name, how is Lucas going to sue? |
But you can have your argument about the devs covering their butt with regard to an Energy Blade set. If feeling right is what you want, you're welcome to it ^^
It's not even the powerset itself Lucasarts would sue over.
It would be the hundreds of Jedi characters that sprung up overnight when this set came out.
Think about it, how many Jedi do you see in the game NOW? Speaking for myself, I have seen a total of 3 in 4+ years of playing. Probably because there aren't a whole lot of options for making one currently. Introduce laser swords and all of a sudden you have hundreds (or even thousands) of Jedi ripoff characters. These would be created by the same people that made Iron Man and Captain America ripoffs.
The Marvel lawsuit was settled because it was determined that the developers could not control the actions of the players.
BUT...in this case it could be argued that all those cases of trademark infringement happened as a direct result of the developers' actions (introducing a powerset similar to a Jedi's signature weapon), making them able to be held accountable for them.
A case could be made that if a laser sword set had never been introduced, the infringing characters would never have existed in the first place, hence making it the developers' fault that they did.
The really funny thing about this whole argument: This whole thing started with something I said as a JOKE. Since George Lucas has been known to file lawsuits for anything even close to his franchise, I was joking that he'd sue over this. It wasn't until people started rebuttals that it occured to me that he actually might sue over it.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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Melee characters already have access to -res.|
Originally Posted by Predatoric
The set would be either really weak, or really overpowered anyway. -Resists on a melee charecter?
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Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
It's not even the powerset itself Lucasarts would sue over.
It would be the hundreds of Jedi characters that sprung up overnight when this set came out. ... The Marvel lawsuit was settled because it was determined that the developers could not control the actions of the players. BUT...in this case it could be argued that all those cases of trademark infringement happened as a direct result of the developers' actions (introducing a powerset similar to a Jedi's signature weapon), making them able to be held accountable for them. |
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
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My apologies, Claws, but "it would be" is the epitome of weak arguments. It's just not going to convince ANYONE, as it's an argument most easily answered with "not there won't be." Do not base arguments on that premise and, as a general rule of thumb, avoid that phrasing. It never does an argument any good.|
Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
It's not even the powerset itself Lucasarts would sue over.
It would be the hundreds of Jedi characters that sprung up overnight when this set came out. |
As far as Lucas suing over an energy blade, that's highly unlikely. Over lightsabres, yes. Over an energy blade, though? Well, we already HAVE an energy blade. Both the Talsorian/Vanguard Katana and Etc. Broadsword fit the bill, yet no-one's screaming JEDI! I mean, you probably could. Slap that together with Electric Armour for Force Lightning and you have a Sith in the making. Wait a while to grab whatever comes with Kinetic Melee (if anything) and go with a more traditional Jedi. The potential is there. Furthermore, if Lucas haven't sued Capcom over Zero and his spawn, they really don't have a case. Zero is about as close to a Jedi as I've seen without actually being called one. Zero is, in all but name, a Japanese General Grievous.
And, finally, this is an incredibly unconvincing sliding scale argument. If we add energy blades, the game will be flooded with Jedi? This is the EXACT SAME argument that always gets made with a new powerst! Archery was going to flood the game with Green Arrow and Legolas clones and it didn't, Trenchcoats were going to fill the city with Neo clones and they didn't, Dual Blades were going to fill the city with Drizzle clones and they didn't, Shield Defence was going to fill the city with Captain America clones and they mostly didn't, Dual Pistols were supposed to fill the city with Neo clones (again) as well as whatever those guys from Equilibrium were called and those haven't as of the last time I looked... This argument gets made every time, and it never comes true. Yet it consistently being proven wrong by actual events never seems to stop people from invoking it every time it's even tangentially relevant.
It won't happen, and it'll take more than just saying it will for me to believe otherwise.
Really, this whole thing keeps getting exaggerated. SILENT HILL had a point-for-point copy of a lightsabre and that didn't get them into trouble. There's no reason for City of Heroes to make actual replica lightsabres, and anything else really isn't applicable, not unless you expect Paragon Studios to be sued by Lucas Arts AND Capcom at the same time. 'Cause I'd be looking at Zero if THAT ever comes through.
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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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The only place I said it would happen was in my original post, where the lawsuit thing was intended as a joke. I didn't take it seriously until you guys did.
After that I was debating on the basis that it COULD happen. And pointing out lines of reasoning that could be used to support a case.
The Marvel suit set a precedent implying that suing NCSoft for trademark infringement probably will not be successful. But, people file lawsuits they won't win all the time. It was probably part of the agreement between Marvel and NCSoft that Marvel will not sue again, but that doesn't necessarily mean no one else can. (As far as I am aware the details of that case are not public knowledge, so that is just a guess)
And I didn't say the game would be flooded with Jedi. Several hundred out of a playerbase of around 100,000 is hardly flooding. But, the point remains that if there were laser swords there would definitely be more Jedi in the game than there are currently. Which is all I was really saying. There WERE clones of all those characters you mentioned, but not as many as people said there would be, as I am well aware. 300 characters out of 100,000 players does not a flood make, and 300 is enough to be considered hundreds, because all you need to make that statement true is 200 or more. Even 999 out of 100,000 wouldn't be considered an overwhelming number.
My use of the word "would" in this instance was simply intended to convey the hypothetical nature of what I was saying. (As in: IF laser swords were introduced, Lucasarts MIGHT sue.) I don't see how that is saying something will definitely happen.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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In that case, I shouldn't question your observation or semantics. It's just that your choice of expression implies more than just a statement, but rather a conclusion based on that observation. There would be more jedi if we had energy blades than there would be if we didn't. While technically true, stating it implies that this is a problem inherent within the powerset idea itself and is something that should count against it, when in actual fact I don't believe that's a fair assessment. However, I may have inadvertently walked into a straw man, as I notice I can't find where you actually state this, and I've been misquoted on ill-understood assertions enough times to be weary of doing it to others.|
Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
And I didn't say the game would be flooded with Jedi. Several hundred out of a playerbase of around 100,000 is hardly flooding. But, the point remains that if there were laser swords there would definitely be more Jedi in the game than there are currently. Which is all I was really saying. There WERE clones of all those characters you mentioned, but not as many as people said there would be, as I am well aware. 300 characters out of 100,000 players does not a flood make, and 300 is enough to be considered hundreds, because all you need to make that statement true is 200 or more. Even 999 out of 100,000 wouldn't be considered an overwhelming number.
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Let me rephrase like this, then - I agree that an energy blade powerset as a general concept would foster more jedi, but I don't believe this is reason enough to hold the powerset back, or indeed reason enough to seriously consider.
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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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Back on topic: I don't want an energy blade set anymore. I want Plasma Blade and Cryo Blade animations for Fire and Ice melee >_>
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Fair enough. |
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Let me rephrase like this, then - I agree that an energy blade powerset as a general concept would foster more jedi, but I don't believe this is reason enough to hold the powerset back, or indeed reason enough to seriously consider.
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I just don't like arguments against me being based on things I didn't actually say or mean to imply, that's all.
Still funny that the whole thing started from something I said as a joke. I was referencing the movie "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", in which there is a lightsaber battle and Chris Rock remarks that "George Lucas gonna sue somebody!"
Also back on topic: I still think the set outlined in the OP would be brokenly overpowered, potential lawsuit notwithstanding.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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Well, I did reply to that with TVtropes. That's only serious to the poor sap that clicks the link...and only serious in that it's a serious time-sink >_<
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Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Still funny that the whole thing started from something I said as a joke. I was referencing the movie "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", in which there is a lightsaber battle and Chris Rock remarks that "George Lucas gonna sue somebody!" |
If ever City of Heroes gets a beam sabre, a light sword, a laser blade or whatever incarnation you want, it HAS to have these kinds of effects. Not just a glowing phallus in your hand that sort of waves around with motion trails. I mean an actual weapon made out of effects that smears as it moves, that curves out of its projector, that forms these nice, thick, long blocks of pure energy. I can do without transparency on that AT ALL. Think MegaMan X4, NOT MegaMan X8.
In fact, I wouldn't call Zero's Z-Sabre a blade at all. It doesn't have a solid shaft of semi-matter, it basically curves around his swings and displaces off its vertical COMPLETELY. It's more a short-range energy projector than an actual blade. And that's actually a very good design. It allows him to do all those crazy swings that other weapons just can't pull off.