Booster Pack Idea: Ultimus's Signature Power Customisation Idea

I've been reading Ultimus's thread on the special power customisation found here:http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=117674

Perhaps this could be another Booster Pack?

Here's how I'd go about it:

The Booster Pack gives access to a power creator, either located in a University or in the costume/power window during creation/redesign.

The options available would depend initially on the Archetype of the character. This is where the basic coding lies: in other words, a Blaster cannot suddenly create a shield with Tanker level defense/resistance values. A Controller cannot create a buff with Defender level values. And so on.

The next part is the power type.

Ranged, Melee, PBAoE, Targeted AoE, Cone, Self Click, Toggle

Then its the turn of the power effects. Multiple effects can be chosen but there is a points system which precludes picking everything!

Damage: Front Loaded / Damage Over Time

Damage Type: Fire, Cold, Psionic, Toxic, Smashing, Lethal, Energy, Negative Energy

Secondary Effects: Simple Buffs*: +Range, +Endurance Recovery, +Regeneration, +ToHit, Phase, +Max HP, Heal HP, Heal Endurance, Resurrect

Secondary Effects: Simple Debuffs*: Taunt, Sleep, Disorient, Confuse, Hold, Immobilise, Fear, Defense Debuff, -Endurance Recovery, -Regeneration, Slow, ToHit Debuff, Phase

Secondary Effects: Intermediate Buffs**: +Damage, +Recharge, +Perception, +Resist Defense Debuff, +Resist Resistance Debuff, +Resist Endurance Recovery Debuff, +Resist Regeneration Debuff, +Resist Movement Rate Debuff, +Resist ToHit Debuff, Invisibility, Stealth

Secondary Effects: Intermediate Debuffs**: -Resistance, -Typed Damage, -Recharge, -Damage, -Perception, Regeneration Prevention, Endurance Recovery Prevention

Secondary Effects: Complex Buffs***: +Defense, +Resistance, +Movement Speed, +Resist Mez, +Mez Protection

Secondary Effects: Complex Debuffs***: -Movement Speed, -Mez Resistance, -Mez Protection

* Simple Buffs/Debuffs are those which do exactly what they say on the tin: They boost/hamper the properties stated in the list, and in the case of debuffs may apply one or multiple mez states.
** Intermediate Buffs/Debuffs are those which are usually unslottable and/or unstackable (i.e. there is no way to increase damage through a regular power like Fulcrum Shift, similarly the recharge rate is not slottable for Speed Boost or Hasten, and -Resist is also not slottable, etc.)
*** Complex Buffs are those which can relate to a variety of buffs (so Defense buffs can be against typed or positional attacks, resistance can relate to different typed damage, Movement Speeds can relate to different types of movement (Run, Jump, Fly, Teleport Range)).

EXAMPLE POWERS:

Self Click, Endurance Recovery Buff, Regeneration Recovery Buff
Ranged, Psionic Damage Over Time
PBAoE, +Defense (Melee), +Resist (Smashing, Lethal)
Cone, Hold
Toggle, +Resist, +Max HP
Targetted AoE, Smashing Damage (Front Loaded), Knockdown, -Resist

Special States: Placate, Capture, Only Affecting Self

These states are special because they do something 'special' to mobs/players.

They also present a problem in that the griefer could decide to create a PBAoE that inflicts Only Affect Self on allies. So I would propose that each special case have very specific uses in a craftable power.

Placate is a powerful tool, especially for Stalkers. A Placate that does damage would, naturally, take the affected mob(s) out of Placate status and be worthless. Therefore damage is not an option. A Placate that has a -Def (plus every other debuff) would be too powerful so Placate itself would have a high cost as an effect.

EXAMPLE POWER: Ranged, Placate, -Def - fine in terms of power cost because it's a single target power that happens to make the mob avoid the character whilst debuffing it.

EXAMPLE POWER: Cone, Placate, -Def, -Resist, -Regen, -End Recovery - NOT fine - far too powerful. The costs associated with this power would disallow the player to create such a power.

Capture is one of those special states that might actually benefit from a customisation system. It could also be the least popular choice as obviously having a Capture power that does psionic damage over time threatens the risk vs reward ratio, and would likely be disallowed. And teams may be annoyed by a PBAoE Capture power.

Only Affecting Self is used in Personal Force Field and Hibernate. It could be seen as a way of discounting a power (as you're no longer able to contribute to a team), OR quite a powerful panic mode. Again the cost would depend on what buffs/debuffs are used in conjunction with this state.

Discounting the cost of customisation

Self Debuffs are also a proposed feature of this system. They are a way of debuffing the player, if they so choose, and are optional (so that, for example, a melee character with no access to ranged powers can create a moderate damage blast and be done with it).

EXAMPLE POWER:

Self Click, +Defense (Melee, Ranged, AoE), +Max HP, (-End, -Regen after 2 minutes)

Toggle, +Mez Protection (Hold, Sleep), -Resist (Self)

Again there needs to be a way to avoid team buffs which are so awesome that the only way they can be allowed is to have counter measure massive debuffs attached to them.

So that's the first part of the idea for the Booster Pack. The next part will involve the aesthetic parts!

So you've worked your way through the power creation screen, now to give your power a presence in the game world.

I envisage several elements to the aesthetic side of this system:

Power Icon - what does the icon look like in the power tray, or in the buff window?

Naming the power - what's it called?

Player effects: Does the power do something visual on the player's side?

Enemy effects: Does the power do something visual to the mob?

Environment effects: Does the power cause screen shake, or place a pseudo-pet on the ground, or actually create a pet? (NOTE: I'm not sure a pet creation power would be a) a good idea, or b) in any way viable ).


Now animations do factor into a power's, um, power level. It would be game-breaking to have a mini-nuke that allows the player character to continue moving and with an animation/power activation time of 0.01 seconds! Also, I am not proposing a 'create-your-own' animation program. Awesome as it would be, it'd be a pig of a thing to implement.

So there would need to be variables based on animation and whether a power roots or not.

I propose that set animations (already existing within the game) are selectable. This brings another problem: what if someone wanted to create a weapon power? Ack! That means Weapon Customisation. ALL Weapons

However, considering that the booster pack would allow a signature power per character on an account then that's still a lot of usage (36 per server), ergo justification for developing, testing and making available the system to players. But I'm not assuming this would be an easy feat. Not by any means.

Then there's the choice of where the power comes from: Eyes, Hands, Feet, Weapon, Torso. Again, just using the predetermined places where powers are designed to emanate from.

Enemy animations are, possibly, an easier thing to handle (in that there aren't as many animations for being hit by powers as there are for using them - PLEASE correct me on that if I'm wrong).

The visual effects are then chosen as per the current power customisation system.

Finally the sound effects: again, I would suggest a selection of existing SFX for powers.

The more I explore this suggestion, the more I'm thinking it would be better off (if it was ever implemented) as a whole issue to itself! But nevertheless, I'll leave it as a Booster Pack suggestion.


ALSO - Ultimus, I hope you don't mind me taking your signature power idea and putting it through the wrangler to come up with this parallel suggestion. If you do object then please contact me and I'll take it down.

I am very much in favor of some form of signature power creation. If signature characters can have signature powers, so should player characters.

I am sorry to bump such an old thread, but I was thinking of this myself, and didn't feel like creating another thread for a similar topic.

Something like this seem's feesible then it did, say, before power customization came out. When we first asked the Dev's about changing the color and animation effect's of power's they told us it would be VERY difficult for many different reason's, and would probabbly not happen. Asking for a power creator back then would have been silly. Now, I think something like this could be possible, with some heavy work. Say, possibly after issue 23? A big addition like this would definently be a draw for people. You could even make it a paid booster pack, like for 20 dollars or something (I would TOTALLY pay for something like this, even if it was that pricey)

If someone didn't want to buy this, they could still go with the standard powerset's that come with the archtypes. It would also take away from the Dev Load; they wouldn't need to create new powerset's! Just new animations, and other small addition's they could add to it. Hell, they could make Power Maker Packs, or for a fancy acronym, "PMP"s, (Yes. I changed Creator to Maker for the obvious reason on how it would change the Acronym into something that was just plain silly.) that could be sold. Unlike the Costume Pack's, these don't need a theme.


Something like this, even with all the improvement's that have been made over the years, would take a LONG time, and need a LOT of work. However, I feel it would be easier to make and implement then say, 4 years ago.

A lot of this sounds like it might be coming in the Incarnate system.

Here's a thread that has screen grabs of all the Judgement slot information that can be found in the game.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=244153

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=241813

Sheeple man. They need to open their peepers and smell the goldy looking grease paint.
Too Enriched for the twigging, though...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.