Big Suggestion for enhancing mission play and use of powers

Hi all,

I've only been playing the game for 6 months and this is one of my first posts so I'll beg your indulgence. Before I start - firstly: Awesome game. Love it. Best thing since sliced bread. Community and people I have played with also seem fantastic.

I have what might be a big suggestion but I really think it would enhance missions/arcs and actual game-play dramatically and I believe much of the essential framework is there in this game which would not require too much fundamental re-coding.

My credentials? Well I've created my own game and been writing for it for about 15 years now - old-school PnP but my friends play nothing else offline. Had interest from U.S. publishers etc. (I never wrote it to sell - just 'cos we weren't happy with what was on the market).

My main suggestion revolves around making more use of powers in more varied ways other than just for combat. This would give far greater breadth for creating different types of missions and also, I believe, give players a more immersive "hero" experience and more varied storylines whilst also highlighting the team-play element more. This would require more interaction with the environment in some cases which may be the biggest dev challenge - but looking around the game and noting things such as the burning building element much of what I'm suggesting seems doable. Villains powers would be a diametric reflection when they do evil missions.

I could go on for ages but i think the best way to get these thoughts across is through some examples - then I'll put up a short mish example which brings some of these thoughts together.

1. Strength/Telekinesis/Energy powers (assuming energy converts into strength here) used to hold up sections of a building/room or open a door whilst rest of team clear a room or get NPC's out. Endurance wears down whilst the power is used to do this.

2. Healing powers used to revive injured NPC's after a disaster - or cure sick NPC's.

3. Electricity/Energy powers needed to restart hospital generators or city power grids. certain lvl of power or endurance needed.

4. Radiation/Energy powers needed to contain or re-direct power plant leaks. Certain lvl of power or endurance needed.

5. Plant powers needed to revitalise areas which have suffered environmental damage

6. Ranged powers needed for cliff-hanger sniper shots - could be a timing element here if villain has to be stopped before doing something or someone has to be rescued.

7. Teleport/flight/speed powers needed to get trapped NPC's out of a deadly situation/collapsing building - again time-sensitivitiy could add to drama here.

8. Scrapper/melee powers needed for "callout" parts of a mission - example - bad guy has a hostage but is in a tight spot - hero can challenge the villain to one-on-one to free the hostage if hero wins etc.

So anyway - these are some examples. I'm sure every power could be used in some additional way other than for just enhancing combat with some thought. The key point is it would give an even greater sense of involvement, drama and dynamics to the missions and to team-play.

Next post I'll put up a quick example of a mission. Perhaps people would like to suggest how other powers could be used for hero/villain situations other than combat - or suggest creative mission types.

So,

A mission example:

Bad guy has taken over a power station to hold city to ransom to enhance his own resources for the story arc etc. But it's gone wrong and part of the power station has blown up causing casualties in a nearby building (maybe an NPC hospital) and damage to the building itself.

Mish broadly as follows:

1. First rescue NPC's in collapsing hospital - Strength type powers needed to hold up certain sections of building (maybe earth and ice powers could also do this) - whilst healers either heal NPC's so they can get out or travel powers are used to get NPC's out quickly.

2. Team then goes to power station and has to fight bad guys between 3 areas where electric/heat/energy powers (ranged or control) are needed to restart the power station.

Perhaps one of the reactors in the power station is also over-heating and ice or storm powers are needed to cool it down (or forcefield powers are needed to contain the explosion).

This mission would need at least one strength player, one player with energy powers and one with some sort of healing powers. Each of these players would feel even more valued in these missions and gameplay plus story potential could be enhanced dramatically.

Levels and strengths could be set for these tasks but lower level players could still achieve a "Hero goal" by combining. For example the reactor build-up in the previous situ is serious and at lvl 20 - so either one lvl 20 hero with right power and enough endurance could do it or 2 lvl 10's.

None of this would detract from story arcs, which are great - but it could add to them.

Anyway - that's my 2 pennies worth - please add your thoughts. To the devs - is any of this achievable?

required powers for teaming is not what this game is about. /unsigned

No but being a superhero is what it is about and this is more than just fighting.

And this does not enter into it either - not all missions need to be like this - just some - and there could be solo "Task-Based" missions as well as team-based ones.

Level based criteria are required for TF's. This is just another criteria in a more lateral dimension.

Maybe now that they have the tech to read what powersets your team has (since that's how it can make clones/shadow simulacrum of your character) they could do something like this but make sure a mission doesn't have something that would require a powerset that the team doesn't have. So if the team doesn't have any healers it would replace the "heal NPCs" objective with something else. You'd still have a problem if someone quits the team though.

I'd go for making non-combat use of powers optional. Advantageous, but not necessary to complete the mission.

E.g. electrical powers can be used to restart a teleporter to skip a nasty room, or security systems that fight the bad guys when you reactivate them.

Healing injured civilians so they can run to safety gives you a XP bonus, but isn't required, after all Paragon's world class hospital system can sort them out iof you can't.

That way, if you don't have Power X, you can still slug through it with brute force.

I did something similar in my Freedom Force mods - some characters had a SCIENTIST attribute that let them tinker with objects to gain an advantage, and it worked very nicely. It gave the player something cool to do with those characters, but the missions could always be completed without a scientist.

Thanks for the replies so far - I take the point about not completing a mish if someone quits - but wouldn't that happen on a TF if you went below required level of players?

Regardless - the general idea here is to stimulate a discussion about using powers more widely to enhance the hero experience - and to a degree the team experience as well.

I'm sure something can be done here.

Any more thoughts?

I rather like DrMike2000's rendition of the idea. I could kind of see it working like a dialogue option so long as you had the correct power or even power set. So long as there where missions enough where all combination had something they could contribute.

First off, why healing only civillians? It would be nice for an XP boost, but I'd rather assist some PPD officers and get a little backup in return.

I would love it if my Elec Corruptor could overload the bank's security system and stifle their flow of reinforcements. It's a real pain to have people shooting you in the back while you're trying to blow the vault at the 22nd National.

How about Ice wielders and Earth Assault/Control users being able to block off doorways? Spawn a solid wall of ice or rock with a taunt aura, forcing Mobs to break through if they want to get to you. HP of the wall can be scaled by your Max HP.

Psionic, Gravity, Kinetics, Super Strength, and maybe Storm should be able to hurl environmental objects. Damage can be scaled by object weight and user level, cars being unique by adding an AoE Fire/Smashing effect which can hit players, including the one who threw it.

Random side note: I think Teleportation needs more capabilities. I don't know how it would work, but it would be pretty sweet to TP through walls.

Anyhoo, that's just the random spiel scraped from the outer edges of my brain.

A couple of ideas that spring to mind are 'Hot Spots' and 'Mini-games'

For more objective-based instances of using your powers, there could be hotspot markers visible on the map that only glow brightly for the one whose powers can trigger it. Such as a sturdy, stuck door blocking a shortcut has a hotspot marker for anybody who has Super-Strength, Psi or what have you. If someone without the appropiate power stands on the marker, it will list the powers needed to interact with this spot.

If nobody has the power to use the hotspot, they can't use that shortcut/perk/reward.

As for minigames, I always thought it would be fun if there were 'day-jobs' you could play that become easier or more profitable by having certain powers. Maybe like working in the Mexican resturant where Fire powers may help you cook things faster, or a courier service that's easier to do when you have good travel powers.

And let's not forget the mission based minigames, like solving some puzzle on a computer to get some files off of it, think of it like breaking some password or encryption using a traditional style puzzle like moving pieces around into a specific order.

Also! There could be objects that when triggered or destroyed, cause other things to happen in the map. Maybe there's a static group of enemies underneath a crate suspended above, smash a control panel somewhere in view in the room and the crate falls, dealing high damage to whoever's under it.

Hey, OP! I think your suggestion deserves discussion. Honestly, it's something that has been brought up before but its possible effects, implementation and such are still rather iffy. Actually, I would have sworn I read somewhere the devs were actually thinking of introducing a type of "non-combat attribute" or some such mechanic but ended up setting with Day jobs...

Now, proposal time!

First off, I'd be worried about having too much of this affecting combat directly (i.e. picking up objects and hitting people with them to deal damage) mainly because I wouldn't want there to be only 1 way people use the system and dubbing there only 1 right choice. That said, my idea (obviously taken from bits and pieces of things people have said thus far with some stuff of my own added) would be something called:

Power Skills and Attributes
What are power skills and attributes? Basically, options accessed through right-click menus. These options would become available after allocating points you naturally receive to a list of skills.

What are these list of skills? Exactly what it sounds like. From the ability to aid civilians by healing them to lifting obstructions out of the way so civilians can escape safely.

How does one obtain such skills? They'd be available to everyone, non-dependent on power choices although powers (and possibly origin) might help these skills come along sooner. All you have to do is choose to place the right amount of 'points' in the skill and the option would be available.

Which brings up the points itself. I'm not sure exactly how you'd get the points (either through experience acquisition, obtained by level similar to slots, missions, etc.) but you should actually have *more* points than you can spend (i.e., you can only spend x points freely every odd level).

An example: Inv/Super Strength Tanker, Ice/Empathy Controller and Dark/Psionic Defender.
-At level 1, each has 2 points (arbitrary number) to spend on a power skill. They can save them for another time/use for a specific skill, or use them. All 3 want the ability to have superior 'Applied Strength'. 'Applied Strength' is a power skill that gives you the ability to carry civilians to safety, hold up heavy objects or move them out of the way and such...so all 3 put their points in 'Applied Strength: Carry' (the 1st skill in that skill pool which gives them the ability to pick up kidnap victims and carry them to safety).
-At level 2, they are given 4 points...but you can only freely place the points on odd levels. The defender and controller cannot place any points in applied strength at this point but the tanker can allocate 2 points in 'Applied Strength: Carry+1' (while carry allows you to take a victim to the exit at your own pace, your speed will be reduced, but Carry+1 lets you move unimpeded) because he chose the power 'Jab' which is flagged for 'Applied Strength'. If the Tanker chooses another SS power at lvl 2, he can allocate his other 2 points in 'Applied Strength'!
-At level 3, they all get another 4 points. They all put 2 points in Applied Strength (Carry+1 for the defender/controller; Lift for the Tanker, which allows you to move obstructions to save trapped victims).
-Later in levels, the Tanker has probably maxed out 'Applied Strength' by around lvl 17 if he took enough SS powers and placed his points in only that skill. The defender, might get along a tad bit faster because, in Psychic Blast, the powers 'Telekinetic Blast', 'Psionic Tornado' and 'Subdue' are all flagged with 'Applied Strength' to give him the opportunity to allocate more points there. The Controller, however, would have a while to fully max out that power skill as no powers in Ice Control or Empathy are flagged as 'Applied Strength'.

Basically, certain powers will 'help' you with certain power skills, similarly like a Corruptor has the 'help' of having his blasts in his primary and can therefore get his blasts with slots in them sooner...but the Defender and Corruptor will both have the option to take any or all of their blasts and maximum slots in them.

How hard is it to get these skills? How many can I obtain on one character? I'd say, one character can generalize in many possible skills, from strength, to diplomacy and infiltration. However, there would be bonuses/extras for those that specialize in a few skills. It'd also cost more to get to the higher skill options like 'Applied Strength: Group Carry+1' and 'Elements: Construct Earth Obstacle+2'.

Well, how important are these 'Power Skills'? A bonus but never required to complete a mission. Like was stated in the thread earlier, perhaps bonus xp for each victim healed/saved from various situations or a piece of salvage from a terminal you short circuit or an inspiration drop from a kidnap victim. Possibly, having combat effects might work but I'd be weary about adding too many, like using the 'Elements: Construct Ice Obstacle' being able to create a wall of ice to slow down an ambush, forcing them to destroy the wall before proceeding.

Some ideas for possible skill pool for my idea are:
-'Elements' = This covers all the elements of fire, ice, earth and lightning. Such fields of specialty within this pool are 'Extinguish Flame', 'Cease Tremor', 'Construct Ice/Earth/Fire obstacle', 'Cold Mend/Heat Mend' and 'Generate Charge'.

-'Diplomacy' = I'd imagine this would aid in certain missions where a group of one enemy is fighting another on a map. You can use 'Negotiate' to turn one faction from enemy to ally, 'Persuade' which may coax certain enemies to help you within a mission or simply talk the enemy into turning himself in.

-'Infiltration' = Skills specifically aimed at disabling security systems and traps, turning off cameras or even shutting out the lights so a portion of the map is shrouded in an area of darkness that causes -perception in your enemies.

-'Tech Use' = Disabling/enabling certain machines might give you and your team certain advantages, like activating a Metabolism enhancing machines might cast Adrenaline boost on you and allies within range or stop a force field generator from buffing an enemy within a room.


Anyway, I got more ideas but I'm out of time. Thoughts?