Just for giggles: What would you like to see in CoH2 ?

@Golden: Fortunata Dijhal resents that remark. >:C

:P

*shrug*
I support both Equal Opportunity and Villainy, so I would support EOV as well.
Unlike some folks.

Depending on the costume, Fortunata Dijhal wears a hot pink breast plate, a skirt, or heels.

I had to improvise. :P

funny thing, in morrowind, first thing i did with bonemold armor was whip on an exquisite skirt on my male argonian, it just looked cool.

anyhow, my big changes for me would be(to no surprise for anyone)
Grappling, Grappling into throwing, and the ability to weaponize background items as well as jsut throw them. co gets close, but just lifting something and whomping people on the head isnt the same as weaponizing, think the cop car boxing gloves from the hulk. plus the interruptability made it unusable in mid-fight, which is how a lot of cool superhero fights work. also grappling could be used to emphasize the "linebacker" quality of tankers, make them able to hold and toss enemies out of harms way, it makes more sense than a robot breaking off a fight with a defender it is going to win because a massive brick of unhurtability insulted it's mother.

out of combat skills. Yes, im going to get shot by the mission designers, but having different skills that would affect the general flow of missions could be nice. it always struck me as funny that Rian, a silly trigun-ish priest is able to hack computers, disarm bombs and regularly disable doomsday devices...is there an advanced electronic course in his seminary? It might be a good way to make the character themes work out to have different actions affect the general flow of arcs. You wouldnt get the same missions each time, but your skills could generally decide which missions you got in the flow of the arc.

combos for all scrappers. this presumes that the at's will be the same or will exist at all(i'd be ok without them really), but one way to diversify melee types would be to make their combat have a unique way to deal damage, maybe even add new animations if they chain together longer combos, as a payoff for perhaps a lower dps chain. really id prefer for there to be no tanks or scrapps, id prefer for stances to allow more flexability, offensive stance would make a scrapp or blaster, defensive may make a defender/tanker. Ats' are really a relic of the past, co didnt do it that well, and we dont know how dcou is going to pull it off, but the future seems to be getting rid of classes, and i'm thrilled with that.It does feel more comicy to have more fluid roles for players.

vehicles. no, not as travel powers, for reasons already described, but as a kind of instanced side game, it could be really cool.

and pvp, i dont like it, and wont do it, but they pay the same as i do, and designing it from the ground up with the game will probably work a lot better than the way it was attached t coh. Id youa re going to commit resources, may as well do it correctly.

oh, and one cool thing that arcanaville mentioned a while ago, travel power based combat, flying punches, teleporting strikes, that sort of thing, find some way of using co's "lunge" powers to sit on top of attacks, and we could get a lot closer to some iconic superheroes, like speedsters and fyling combat specialists. add a risk to it, maybe you get hit harder because you are basically throwing yoruself at the enemys counter strike, but the more kinetic fighting style would be more heroic.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Advanced combat featuring grabbing and throwing.
Lifting debris to rescue civilians trapped underneath.
Voices and voice customization
Running on water with Super Speed.
Running in air as a travel power
Digging/Tunneling as a travel power

METAL ARMOR AND METAL MELEE as new Power Sets!

<QR> Don't know if it has been mentioned, but...

Two new powersets: Poetry and glue.

Okay, seriously...

One thing I'd like to see is a lot more tilesets and a lot more mission types. Right now, almost all missions are so ho hum. Just about every building looks the same to me. More signage and artwork would go a long way. I don't even think it would technically be that hard. Just have the client periodically check a repository for updated tilesets, and swap them in and out now and then.

I'd love to see smarter enemies. Enemies that lay traps, enemies that actually can defeat a reasonably competent group of heroes. Nobody promised us that we'll never be defeated, but these days, it's really hard to, unless you're just totally not paying attention or trying to.

I'd like to see a bunch of minigames added. See that pinball machine in Pocket D? How about for 25 influence, you actually get to play? Let us actually place bets on those monkey fights, maybe even letting us give them inspirations or something from outside the cage. Give out little token prizes for medalling on the ski runs.

I'd like for missions to vary according to the character I'm playing and the choices I make in the game. It's my understand that Going Rogue is actually implementing this to some degree, but I'd like, for example, consequences to screwing up. If I take a mission to rescue someone and blow it off for a day or two, that mission should be dropped from my contact, and maybe I don't have access to some other missions they have to give out. Maybe if you fail a mission, you don't get some sweet "bonus missions" from that contact, thus you have an incentive to actually try hard not to.

I'd like to see some puzzles in the game. In the back of my mind, I seem to recall one of the devs saying at one point that they didn't want puzzles in the game. (It might have been Statesman, who also said he didn't want user-generated content in the game.) Hopefully they'll change their mind at some point. I'm not talking about a chess match (although, that would be an interesting mini-game), but some things that you can't just run in, kill everything, and be wildly successful at. A simple example: You get assigned a reconnaissance mission where you actually have to avoid enemies. If one spots you (or god forbid, you attack one outright), you fail! Did I mention they can see through invisibility? Just stuff like that would be nice.

Graphically, I'd like for all of the characters to be updated. Right now, on a high resolution display, everything is kind of blocky. The polygons are painfully obvious. I know that Ultra Mode will fix some of that, but I've seen screenshots of it, and it looks like the improvements are marginal at best.

If I can reach for the pie in the sky dream, I'd like for them to release a Linux CoH client. They're already working with TransGaming, the company that provides the Cider layer that City of Heroes works on the Mac with. The same company makes a product called Cedega, based on WINE, but geared specifically towards making games work. And believe it or not, City of Heroes already works on that platform albeit without some of the graphical goodness we get in Windows. I'd like to see it become an officially supported platform.

Let's see, what else? Oh, I did see this already mentioned, but I want a City Vault so bad that it hurts me to even talk about it. I'd like a lot more out-of-game/in-game interaction. I'd love some kind of gateway where I could send people messages in the game from outside, or even vice versa for those who opt into it. I'd love an offline costume creator, and even an offline Architect Entertainment mission/critter editor. I'd love an officially supported version of the Ouroboros Portal, where we could create character and supergroup pages, and they are automatically updated with information from the game. (Pie in the sky dream would be some officially-supported API where fan sites could interact with that data!) To be bluntly honest, having worked with the Titan Network for a while, I'd love to get a call from Matt Miller or someone else from the Studio and collaborate with them on these tools. We'd sign an NDA and other various legal documents, and we get limited access to a database containing copies of player's publicly-accessible-in-game information to build stuff from.

Those are just a few thoughts to get me started...

Edit: Ooh, just read the post above mine, and it reminded me of something I desperately want to see...vastly improved sound! I want persistent and contextual music. Not just a few bars here and there, but an ambient soundtrack that changes based on what's going on around you. When you engage in battle, it turns exciting and builds to a crescendo. When you stroll past City Hall, it gets all formal. As you go into the seedier parts of town, it gets grungy. When you're walking through Perez Park at midnight, it gets creepy. And I'd love some voice work thrown in, too! Have the contacts actually tell us what the missions are!

Running on all surfaces, tossing objects and enemies, Environment themes for SG bases.... walls with glass showing outside world of your choosing (paragon streets, space station, underwater, alt dimension like PD), and left/right options for shoulders,arms,hands,legs and options for "back" gear and armor, and a "Feral" travel power where you'd travel the landscape all beast like and climb/cling to all types of surfaces kinda like a Hulk/Wolf man thing.

if anything, GIVE ME BLOOD.

I would like to see fingers, actual fingers, on player characters.

I WOULD NOT, want to see character import, unless they started at lvl 1. But you kept the same look & what not, I would be fine with that.


JJ

PvP

I've actually put a lot of thought to this after being dissapointed with the Champions Online and after now returning to CoX and remembering again what I liked and what I dislike. Power section is modified from a post I wrote in a CO beta and the fire manipulation I give as an example is just that - it's lacking powers but the idea is there.

ARCHETYPES AND POWERS

Artchetypes should grant a bonus to types of powers instead of actually limiting which powers you can pick. For example tankers should get a boost to any self defense powers, blasters should get a boost to any ranged damage power, scrappers to melee damage, defenders to buff an debuff powers, controllers to control powers and so on. Expand this slightly to include specialities so for example stalkers get a bonus to striking from stealth like they currently do.

Tiered powersets. Instead of having primary and secondary powersets all thematic powers should be rolled into one set and tiered. First tiers should mostly include new powers where as later tiers should enhance existing powers but should also contain some new powers! So there are powers you can pick only if you have reached certain level (i.e. 20) but once you have met that restriction you can pick any powers within the tier. Powersets should still exist though.

Power Pool should take place of your current secondary powerset. You should be able to build your own pool by picking powers from the other sets. Since openers and finishers are not powerset specific this should work just fine (see power chains below).

Power chains is a system that concists of openers and finishers. If all greater powers were controlled merely by endurance, we would have a CO like situation where people just spam same powers. I suggest powers called "openers" that both build endurance and unlock more powerful attacks called finishers. There could be even bridge powers.

Combo powers as openers would be ideal. This is actually one of the good things about: You can tap certain powers which alternates between animations and then usually finishes with slightly more powerful strike. This reduces the unnecessary power bloat where we have basically identical powers, only the other one is slightly more powerful.

Freedom of movement for powers you use often. Basically this is openers and perhaps finishers. Heavy hitters could again easily root you.

Freedom from timers for powers you are using often. Basically this is openers and finishers. There certainly should be powers with timers: these are the nukes, build up powers, rezzes and other powers that don't depend on openers.

Endurance as booster rather than as a limiting factor. I feel endurance should only apply to finishers and heavy hitters, and in a manner that it only adds on top of base effectiveness. Use timers and chains as limiting factor.

Diminishing returns for powers so you can have higher base values.

Power Customisation for not only colors but also for emitter points.


SAMPLE POWERSET

Below is a sample powerset. It's in no way meant to be complete but serves to illustrate my point by using CoX powers... of which some I altered.

Basically the idea is that lower tiers have more active powers where as higher tiers have more powers that buff lower tier powers, and highest tier has nukes and other long timer situational powers (all which are rather badly presented in the sample I admit).

Each powerset should also have something it does well - a trait. For fire it's DoT as part of offensive powers, and you can get "smoke" upgrade to debuff perception and accuracy. Fire is also best at providing protection against cold and fire. If you wish to have a tank you are most likely going to mix fire shield with invulnerability to get also physical protection.

Fire Manipulation
Fire Trait: all non DoT fire powers have a chance to inflict DoT effect

Tier 1 powers (levels 1-20)

• Fire Bolts (ranged damage, opener, +end, combo3): three tap combo power where after first two taps you can either use a finisher or tap third time which has X% chance for a small targetted AoE blast. Basic ranged attack.
• Fire Sword (melee damage, opener, +end, combo3): three tap combo power where after first two taps you can either use a finisher or tap third time which has X% chance for critical hit. Basic melee attack.
• Heatstroke (ranged debuff, opener, +end, combo3): three tap combo that drains target's endurance, inhibits regeneration and recovery, and reduces damage. Third tap has chance to disorient foe. Basic ranged debuff power.
• Ring of Fire (ranged control, opener, +end): surround target with fiery cage that immobilizes it and deals fire damage over time. Basic ranged control power.
• Cauterize (ranged heal, opener, +end): heal target including yourself and grant resistance to cold damage. Basic heal.
• Fire Ball (ranged AoE, finisher, -end, minor charge): guaranteed AoE fire damage. Damage scales by endurance and consumes all built endurance.
• Fire Sword Circle (PBAoE damage, finisher, -end, instant): guaranteed PBAoE fire damage and DoT.
• Fire Cages (ranged AoE control, finisher, -end, instant): encases multiple targets within fiery cages immobilizing them. The more targets affected, the more endurance it consumes.
• Warmth (ranged AoE heal, finisher, -end, instant): all allies around target are cauterized with the amount of healing scaling with the amount of endurance. Consumes all endurance.
• Breath of Fire (cone AoE damage, -end, maintained, recharge): inflict fire damage within cone area of effect. Damage scales with consumed endurance (really, this should have both hands and heads as emitter points).
• Fire Shield (toggle): +good resistance vs fire, moderate vs cold, and minor resistance vs smashing and lethal. Inflicts minor fire damage to enemies within small PBAoE. Fire toggle should specialize in resistance vs fire... you should be able to get other protections from other powersets. I.e. Combine this with invulnerability if you want a true tank.
• Temperature Protection (passive): Improves your cold and fire resistance as well as resistance to slows

• Incinerate (melee damage, finisher, -end): contagious melee DoT and fear
• Blazing Bolt (ranged damage, finisher, -end): high damaging ranged fire attack
• Char (ranged control, finisher, -end): hold target instead of merely immobilizing it
• Rain of Fire (maintained ranged AoE, -end, recharge): maintained ranged area of effect power which damage improves the longer you maintain it.
• Combustion (maintained PBAoE, -end, recharge): maintained PBAoE power which damage improves the longer you maintain it.
• Fiery Embrace (build up, recharge): increases damage of all fire powers
• Power of the Phoenix (ranged rez with damage, -end, recharge): revives target ally and blasts nearby foes with fire damage. Damage and healing scales with endurance. Consumes all endurance.
• Rise of the Phoenix (self rez with damage, -end, recharge): revive yourself and blast nearby foes with fire damage. Damage and healing scales with endurance. Consumes all endurance.
• Smoke (passive): all fire powers have chance to add accuracy and perception debuff
• Blazing Aura (passive): improves damage and radius of fire shield's damaging aura.
• Thaw (passive): cauterize also provides mez resistance (not protection)

• Flashfire (Ranged AoE control, -end, recharge): targetted area of effect disorient
• Inferno (PBAoE damage, -end, recharge): massive fire damage that inhibits your endurance recovery
• Consume (PBAoE damage, +end, recharge): damages enemies and restores your endurance
• Greater Fire Sword (passive): replaces your regular fire sword with a more damaging one

PART 2

Missions in CoX are currently rather bland and the primary reason why I have hard time to muster will to stay. Even task forces rarely require you to do anything else but focus on slaying everything on sight. My greatest hope is for interactive missions which adjust themselves to character's strengths and weaknesses, and subgoal driven missions where you can complete the mission without doing any of the subgoals but doing so would be very difficult, and would reduce from the overall reward.

Zone events are also of great interest for me but should include more than just killing some critter that spawned there. In fact I think most open world missions should be centered on zones similar to current PvP zones where you can earn additional zone wide benefits by doing tasks within the zone. I'd love to see missions with goals that work towards triggering some zone event.

Story arcs and other ”personal” missions should be instanced. I mean one of the things in CO I hate are missions where you are sent to fetch a clicky, then a few moments later it pops back for another hero to pick it up. At least in CoX I can pretend it was just me doing the mission.

Lame enemies are also something that kill CO for me. I mean I don't mind humor in my games and I think Foxbat is a funny character and fits well to the game. However when I'm facing a group of literal clowns (maniacs in CO), men in bad hairdo and purple suits (purple gang) and these actually pose a challenge... something is wrong there. This is yet again one of the primary reasons I don't play CO – every time I try I immediatelly lose my will to fight stupid battles.

Mob smashing is also where CoX beats CO. Bashing huge amount of mobs is fun. This alone makes you feel like a superpowered being (even if it's not quite enough to feel like a superhero). This is also something I'd like to see in CoX2.


If I had to name four things that keep me playing a superhero mmo they would be:

• Good looking graphics (none of that CO cartoon crap, please! Albeit STO has nice graphics)
• Fast paced battles where you don't have to stand idle because all your powers are recharging
• Subgoal driven mission system applied to both personalized story arcs and zone missions
• Tiered power system where all powers have use through all levels

Chainsaw powerset.

Then four years later have a Dual Wield Chainsaws powerset introduced.

- the missions evolve to be more than just what we have now...so I echo the idea of saving a crashing plane or things of that nature...

- Mayhem/Safe Guard missions have the option of having the AV/Hero you fight be a random player who is doing the opposite mish on the opposite side....be a fun twist...

- Apartments for heroes/villains who do not associate with a sg/vg...I know with bases we can make this happen but why not have a choice between zones to have your "home"...Store influence, recipes, salvage and of course inspirations and enhancements...

- To kind of tie in to the previous item...have the character have the option to have a secret identity...have them "flag" as not being targetable or able to target enemies until you find some place safe to change into your costume...like during a zone event...if NPCs or players have you in LOS...you receive a message saying your identity would be compromised...