Question: What powers do you want Alternate animations for?

Desperately need alternatives to the skulls in Dark Blast/Dark Miasma, I love both sets but cringe every time my 'hero' flings a skull...though I guess the sets are kinda 'evil' in themselves, the skulls are definitely too cheesey-evil for me. Talking specifically about Gloom and Fearsome Stare here.

Eyebeams bigger, like Cyclops as opposed to Superman.

Dual Pistols redraw to be looked at and hopefully eliminated or at least reduced where possible and thematically appropriate (does Kinetics really require my hands to be empty with every cast?)

Broadsword. Right now it's a snoozefest.

This game also needs more mystic circles. =) Alternate anims, or a new control set, or something, but moarplzthx. =)

Know what I want an alternate animation for?

REST

That's right. Rest. The power. You know that semi-cool kneeling animation? Wouldn't it be cool if we had options? Like, say:

*Sprawled on the ground, huffing and puffing, exhausted. I mean, when I run out of breath, I tend to collapse, not just kind of kneel.

*Upright and posing. A more "dignified" way to rest. Think the current /em stancevillain2.

*Yoga on the ground, eating out of a picnic basket, or out of a duffel bag. Eating like a slob is optional. That's just how some people recover their energy.

*Floating in the air with swirling mystical energies. Some people need to meditate to regain their energies, after all.

*Hunched over, hands on knees, gasping for breath. You know what out-of-shape people look like when they run a mile? Like that.

And that's just off the top of my head.

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.

Off the top of my head, some powers I'd like to have alternates for:

Rain of Fire/Ice Storm - I never really liked the "hands up" animation on these, not sure atm what i'd like in their place though.

Breath powers (all of them) - a LOT of my characters just seem out of place shooting things out of their mouth... this could go for things like Bile Spray in the Patron pools and entire sets like Sonic blast/Sonic Resonance too, pretty much any power that spews forth anything from the mouth I'd like something different for... PLEASE, and thank you

Psionic powers - using your mind to shoot bolts of death is pretty cool, and it suits a good number of alts, but my blasters all hate it... just doesn't feel... blasty... to me. would love to see animations where you can see the power accumulate around the head and then the character uses their arms or something to focus and direct the psychic energy into a blast. aside from that, I think telekinetic thrust needs an animation where the force of will from your mind repels enemies without a hand push.

Energy Melee - I'm actually kinda ok with the animations, but those pom-poms... ugh... it would be nice if we could change the glow to something like a subtle glowing second-skin instead of a big ball of light, or even get rid of it all together for natural-looking attacks.

Fiery Aura - I'd like to have the option for a character that wasn't literally on-fire... like for a tech/science/natural character whose skin or armor is coated with some kind of plasma or something and isn't actually manifesting flames from his poors. this goes for the APP fire armors too.

and that's about it for now.

I'd like alternate 2-handed attacks for weapons sets (for non-shield users). Wielding a gigantic battle axe or war mace one-handed is cool and all, but two-handed clobbering SMASH is awesome. This is something I've wanted for a very long time.

Also, dual pistols. Something more calculating, and less "jump around like a moron shooting everywhere except what you're aiming at".

Probably been mentioned but for most of the ray gun/rifle type powers I'd love to see some type of weaponized gauntlet used instead. I love the robotics pool but I hate seeing my mm pull out a ray gun and fire it.

TA is sorely in need of alternatives to the distinctly technological animations.

I would also go with Dual Pistols I love the set and yes I enjoy Gun-fu. Just not all the time a bit less fancy gun slinging would be nice.

Another Idea I had was Mirrored Animation for all weapons. SO if I wanted a LEFT handed Axe or a Right handed Ninja I can have it.

I would really love the option of having no or minimal animation for Rage. The fast pulsing of the animation eventually starts to bother me even after trying different colors.

All non weapon blast/ranged powers having a choice of origin points... eyes, chest, double arm, single arm, head, etc.

All device type powers (Medecine Pool, Traps, Devices) having non tech options/graphics... a mystical/mutant web spell, a floating eye(observer?) or energy sphere for targeting drones, a syringe or magic wand for aid self/other, etc.

A non gun fu pistol set...

I'd like an option for either Siphon Life or Midnight Grasp to be a punch, or at least something that looks a little more aggressive. With those being the two most damaging single target attacks in DM, I'd love it if they looked like I was doing something a little more dangerous than conducting a symphony.

I know it's a new animation but: Concentrated Strike. Right now it's 'Swirl your hands like a cheerleader and PUUUSHHHHHhhhh'... ugh, makes the whole set untouchable for me as it stands.

I wouldn't mind seeing more options for Martial Arts, especially given the exceptional, fluid animations that Kinetic Melee and Dual Pistols have shown. It used to be one of the prettiest sets animationwise, and of the old sets it still is impressive, but it's lost a bit wowness with those two standing nearby.

It'd be good to be able to minimise the FX for it as well. Just kicking someone in the head without the flashing would be nice.

The main reason I'm posting though is Martial Arts' Assassin's Strike. It could use more options, in particular one that comes all the way from Pro Wrestling.

Shawn Michaels had an impressive finisher where he built up the crowd for a few seconds, lined himself up, and kicked his opponent in the head. This tapping anxiously, checking the angle/line and firing off a kick to the head would make for a neat AS for MA.

A relevant example.

It's got the build-up to the strike, the strike itself is impressive and it suits Martial Arts perfectly.

A new Rest animation would be nice. I was thinking a panting, hands on knees, bent over like a marathon runner would do after a race. Make the breathing look labored. Youtube any runner and fast forward to after a race to get an idea. Make sure our characters are staring out into space as they are doing this. (Edit: Didn't even notice other people are in agreement here. I think this would be a welcome change to the kneeling down. If replaced the kneel animation would make for a great emote.)

I think the Dark series of attacks and defenses, specifically Dark Melee and Dark Blast. These are some of the oldest sets in City Of Heroes and are in serious need of an update. The tentacles for instance look like some of the oldest graphics in game.

For that matter, if I were in the animation department, I'd aim to update the oldest and choppiest looking power sets (both graphically and animation wise). User feedback is nice, but I'm sure you guys already have an idea of what exactly needs updating. A list would be (and I don't even play these A.T.'s, they're just the worst graphically in my opinion and need an update):

Universal one handed or stylized animations for all blast sets. These are some of the most robotic in the game. I agree with the user who suggested changes to Psychic Blast. Just make new arm animations or give the character a more aggressive look while performing moves. This would be one of the easiest to give new animations too.
Dark Melee
Dark Blast
Mercenaries (The entire set for Masterminds. Very poor character design here. Doubtful this will get done because it is a complicated set.)
Broad Sword, Mace, and Axe power sets (They need differentiation. Two handing axes and maces would be nice. I was surprised when I tried Axe out that it shared the same animations from two other power sets.)
Katana
Assault Rifle (Possibly, but I don't know how you'd go about it. This set has some of the most lackluster animations out there.)

Finally, the thing I would want most would be a real comic book inspired change to Energy Blast. I'm talking Marvel's Havoc inspired plasma blasts that look like a single beam of energy, somewhat like what is out there for the Robots power set.

Energy Melee for that matter could use more of a "bleeding energy" effect in lieu of the "pom poms". Kind of like how Iron Fist had in the nineties. Looks somewhat like flames, but not. Think how sometimes Cable's eye glow is depicted as streaking energy instead of glowing, but for fists.

Assault Rifle is a versatile set with many different weapons: a semi-automatic rifle, a fully automatic rifle, a single-shot rifle, flamethrowers, a shotgun, a bean bag launcher, and even a long range missile launcher if you dip into Munitions Mastery. It's the swiss army knife of the blasting sets. It should thus have more versatile animations than other sets. Here are some suggestions:

1.) Shooting from a wrist-mounted device. The Praetorian clockwork have animations where they shoot things from their wrist, like their flamethrower. I haven't fought Marauder yet, but he looks like he's got a little cannon as well. Also, Boba Fett.
2.) Shooting from a device that is mounted on the body, ala the Praetorian Clockwork or the Crab Spider path for soldiers. Also, War Machine.
3.) This could free up the stigma of using your minigun (Or other device) to shoot bean bags and flames and stuff, I guess? More weapon models are always nice.

Not sure how plausible this all is, but man it'd be sweet.

You know, it just occurred to me too, to placate those who keep wanting more and more Martial Arts animations, you could always take directly from real martial arts.

I'd say give them two complete and most importantly, authentic, martial arts disciplines for each power and I doubt you'll ever be hounded about it again. I think what people are complaining about is that the Martial Arts set lacks any distinction as any real, existing martial art.

Seriously, just Youtube different disciplines and list the new animations under whatever style it is. In my opinion there are three commonly seen martial arts styles seen in movies:

Kung Fu (flashy)
Taekwondo (kick based) The game Fatal Fury has a character named Kim Kaphwan who practices Taekwondo. I'd suggest you check out his moves for some ideas here.

Goju-ryu (very basic and direct)

You may have never heard of Goju, but it is a Japanese form of martial arts that is the basis for the martial arts training of soldiers in America and the foundation of many new fighting systems in use today. When you see soldiers in movies attacking someone with "karate", it is usually some form of Goju. Goju is said to be one of the most practical forms of martial arts out there. It is not flashy like other martial arts because it is a form that is meant to do one thing only: injure somebody. I took this for a few years when I was a kid and I loved it. I've actually been thinking of going back to Goju if I have time.

Seriously, just take the animations directly from a source and work them into every power. Make sure Taekwondo has heavy kick based animations, Kung Fu has flashy attacks, and make Goju very straightforward and exacting. I'd suggest a rename of some powers and descriptions (make them generic and somewhat more ambiguous sounding) to allow for the new animations.

Again, make sure you use authentic moves this time around. The current animations are very generic and are not distinctive of any one style.

I think all of the ones I want have been mentioned (but add another "me too" for more traditional Dual Pistols animations).

One thing I would like is more options for "No FX" across the board. I like that I can turn off aura effects from sets like invuln and regen, but being able to turn off the bright effects of Super Strength or the dark clouds from Dark Melee would make traditional strong/brawler concepts easier to swallow.

In other words, glowing punches work for Iron Fist. Not so much for Luke Cage, y'know?

Last night we were doing missions with Ghouls in them. They are pretty cool and scary looking. I like the way they run and die.

This makes me think, is it possible to have more character model in the future? All the human models are the same. T_T I would like to make an animal/undead creature that actually walks like Ghouls/Zombies.

Just suggesting.