Global Unlocks for Costume Pieces, Weapons, and Shields

This has most likely been suggested before, but I was unable to find a thread about it, so here it is.

One of the things that annoys me the most about CoX is this: If I want to create a Roman Gladiator, I can. But he has to hit at least level 35 and complete a Task Force before I can make him look like a Roman Galdiator. If I want to make a Nemesis Soldier, I can. But he has to hit at least level 40 (or be SK'ed up to that level) and defeat 100 Fake Nemesis before he can get his Nemesis Rifle. I'd go on, but I think you get the idea.

What I'm suggesting is make it so when one character on an account unlocks a costume bit, weapon, or shield all other characters on the account get it as well. It sounds simple, but I'm not a programmer so I have no idea how simple or complex this would be.

There are a few problem areas with this though, so I'll try and solve as many of them as I can now. For starters, this would NOT effect Invention costume pieces. If these were made global unlocks the prices would drop so low you wouldn't be able to give them away and it would make the recipes useless. Also, with the ability to mail items to yourself in I17, it's very easy to get the Recipes and salvage to the right character.

The second problem is with Vanguard pieces and weapons. They are "bought" with in-game "currency" but since the currency is un-tradable, I don't see a problem with making them global unlocks. The prices may need adjusting, but IMO they are high enough as it is.

Third problem is the Epaulets. They are Hero-exclusive and I don't know if costume pieces can be flagged as Hero-only. But would giving them to Villains really be a problem?

I have a feeling that the biggest complaints about this will be from the "I worked hard for my [insert unlockable bit here] on all my characters, so everyone else should too!" crowd, but that is why I'm suggesting it like this. You still have to unlock the bits, but only once. I could have saved a lot of time by suggesting this idea as a Veteran Reward or Booster Pack.

And here's a list of what this idea would effect:

Cotumes: Witch's Hat, Stocking Cap, Victory Laurel, Pumpkin Head, Ear Muffs, Toga, Epaulets, Santa Gloves, Santa Boots, Hellenic Sandals, Naughty Halo, Nice Halo, Hearts pattern, Vanguard costume set, and Roman Armor set.

Weapons and Shields: All unlockable weapons and shields.

I support this idea. The work has been done by the player, and tying specific costume options to specific characters just doesn't seem to fit either the theme or the nature of this game. Character creation options, for the most part, should not be limited by level.

Yes, this comes up from time to time. The question boils down to whether per-character costume unlocks or account-wide costume unlocks are a better fit for this game. And for this game, where the ability to make your character look just like you envision them from the very beginning is a major selling point, the means to give a new character any existing costume part should be present. That doesn't necessarily mean account-wide permanent unlocks, but it could mean account-level unlock credits that can be used on new or existing characters, or unlockable costumes as transferable recipes, or any number of other potential solutions.

Of course, this is all completely irrelevant next to the overriding importance that the mechanics of obtaining costume items should support only the in-character interpretation that some people prefer, because the whole point of the game rules is to make you roleplay correctly.

The only costume pieces I can think of that are worth getting, you have to do a TF or get enough merits--It would considerably cheapen the rewards if you could do it once and be good to go for the rest of your characters. Even if you have a character concept in mind, you shoud have to work to the reward. Basic carrot and stick situation.

Now WEAPON unlocks, on the other hand... Those are just annoying. Every time I want a rularuu weapon on a character, I have to wait until 45+ and head down to the SS for a couple hours of hunting. No thanks >_>

I find myself agreeing with Alpha on this one.

Locking costume pieces permanently behind task forces and defeat badges works... But it's not particularly -fun-.

I made a steampunk blaster about a year ago AR/Devices. She was the engineer of an airship. So I grabbed my fiance and a friend of ours, capped my XP, and went to Peregrine to farm Fake Nemeses. Why did I cap my XP? Well i -wanted- the gun, but I didn't want to outlevel the semi-static team I'd made the character for.

Meanwhile if global unlocks were to occur I could have had the gun from level 1 and not wasted so much time standing around while other people did the heavy lifting. It wasn't fun for anyone involved and we all looked at it as if it were a chore. The two alternatives would be "Make due with the other guns" or "Wait 'til you're in the 40's to hunt Fake Nemeses" and neither alternative fit my character concept.

Unlocking Costume-bits on a per-account basis would solve that problem for all newbie characters, everywhere. At the very -least- let us unlock them on a per-side basis.

-Rachel-

I wouldn't care so much about these unlocks if there were something similar in game to replace it with at character creation. For instance, a basic roman armour set available to everyone at character creation, and the ITF unlocks a "deluxe" version. This way, at least, you're not gating character concepts behind tasks that may well come in at the very end of a character's 1-50 journey.

This is one of the reasons I'm less likely to make another sheild toon.

If I can come up with a concept for Raluu, sure...but my favorite shield to make concepts for is the Talasorian Shield (I consider it the best shield in game). I dont want to work another 35 levels for a concept, and then hope to get the vanguard merits for it.

thats the thing. it would be a compromise by giving generic pieces instead of the unlockable ones. the only ones i am against giving full access to are the unlockable ones.

The costume piece unlocking system in this game is pretty silly, all things considered. Making the unlocks account-centric rather than character-centric would make the system a great deal more sensible.

I see no problem with this except for capes and vanguard pieces. RWZ needs to be more attractive as it is. Its a barely used zone for most servers and the cape.... It might seem tedious but that new story arc where you learn about hero one always has seemed like something important.

I'm all for global unlocks for costume pieces... you did the work. You buy a jacket, you should get to wear it over and over again.

I'm not all for global unlocked for temp powers and such... you bought the car, but occasionally you have to gas it up.

/signed

It's 106 miles to Grandville, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing faceless helmets

... Hit it ...

I will always /sign this suggestion until we are granted it by the devs.
Let me have my roman armor for my angelic characters!

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.

I'm going to just take my heat and say it - the way we unlock costume pieces in this game sucks more *** than those vacuum toilets they have on the space shuttle. But because it seems some people still seem to like them, let's see if we can't find a compromise. What system could there be that would allow me to use these unlockable costume pieces at character creation, but would still suck hard? Well, there are a few options.

1. The already-mentioned system of costume unlock tokens. When one character unlocks a task-specific costume set, that character gets a token tradable only within the same account. So I can unlock, say, the Roman Axe with one character, then trade that token to another character. One unlock for one costume set. Seems fair. If I want the costume set on another character, I have to unlock it again, just not necessarily with the same character.

2. Crappy global unlocks. We have character-specific unlocks tied to specific badges. Kill 100 Overseers, get a spiffy sword, but only on THAT character. So how about we create an extra tier of badges that unlock these pieces... Globally. If 100 Overseers on one character gets me a cool sword, could, say, 1000 Overseers between ALL my characters not unlock it for everyone? An ITF earns me an armour set for all characters. Two earn me Nictus weapons. Could, then, 10 and 20, respectively, not earn this for ALL characters? It would still suck, and in fact it would such WORSE, but it would only have to be done once, and not necessarily on the same one character. This allows us to have longer-standing goals in the game, to boot.

That's about all I can think of right now.

Quote:

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.