Minimal FX For All!

I assume this has been brought up before, but I see nothing, without going past the first few pages after a search.

Is there any particular reason that the Minimal FX option isn't available for all defensive powers?

I'd sure like to have the option for my Dark, Ice, Stone, etc. characters.

Because that wouldn't make sense?

Minimal FX are only options for the powers that having no visual marker makes sense for.

Invulnerability? So your skin is as tough as steel... why does it have to be double rainbow (oh my god!) shiny?

Willpower? So you're pretty stubborn about not dying... why are you glowing?

Super Reflexes? Dodging stuff makes you ripple? I dunno.


But Ice? That's all about coating yourself with protective layers of frozen water.

Stone? Protecting yourself with rocks.

That kinda stuff is pretty difficult to not see.

Still waiting for his Official BackAlleyBrawler No-Prize

I don't believe a "make sense" argument really works. Especially in this game.


Some auras are really bothersome to some people. They might like the rest of the set but that one power that has the aura.
Is it really so bad to give people the option to turn off or reduce the FX?

It isn't. Anyone arguing against it just wants to ***** about SOMETHING and don't really care what it is.

I would love a minimal FX option. I believe there are some ways to present ice armor without covering the whole body with ice. A minimal FX option for ice armor could be some magical ice floating around the body, for example.

I would like to see a nimbus of frost as an option for Ice Armour. It may be that your skin is frozen hard rather than having a thick coating of ice on it.

Dark Armor got a "no pulse effect" or whatever option added to some powers so that the character does not completely disappear into a murky blob when certain powers are used, so I could see a less "in your face" option for some of the others. But as others have said, if the theme of the powerset is an "aura" of that type, that "aura" needs to be visible and fairly prominent.

Now, toning them down a bit or making them "flare" only when in use, ie being attacked like the Praetorian PD "energy armor" seems to work, would not be a bad idea, unless the power has an additional effect(stealth, damage aura, etc) or specific description(Granite Armor, Power Surge). But non "inherent" armor types should have some visual effect fitting with the power concept.

I don't get the hate for minimal FX for elemental shield types. The reason it may not be visible as an armor is that sometimes it's that the character is made of the element. A blue ice dude doesn't have to be wrapped in a second ice sheet specifically. It's actually less silly than that a set like Willpower could tank alongside Invulnerability.

I can't think of many comic book heroes that look like Fire Armor, Ice Armor, Dark Armor, Stone Armor FX. If anything, supers using these kind of powers usually have a look that can be replicated with the costume creator ; so, the "it doesn't make sense" argument against minimal FX is pretty weak in my opinion.

I've always thought super-heated, but not bursting in flames, armor would be cool. So hot they melt incoming attacks and damage those who get too close; thus only objects they touch start on fire. The air would bend around the character similar to what you see when you open an oven (thermal shields already do this), and they'd leave burning footprints (the one part that is touching a solid), but otherwise they wouldn't be on fire. That would be acceptable as "minimal fx fire armor" to me.

The same could apply to ice armor. Just because an object is really cold, or perhaps made entirely of ice already, does not mean it needs to be encased in an additional several inches of ice.

Nerd rage is cool? You know the thing I like about "make believe" is there, no one is *****ing about something not "making sense" or "not the way things work." In my imagination, anything is possible and anything can happen. I think there is a reason why the devs decide some things and why they leave somethings up to us..... XD

You can keep you ugly ice armor spaceman, and I'll sit here with my ice armor that floats around me like planets around a sun, seemingly making attempts at trying to save me from hurtful attacks. Or perhaps my fire armor that only "Flares up" when something attempts to penetrate it, being flared up all the time would drain my body, and cause me to not have the energy to fight, now fighting when weaker than an 8o year old normal man doesn't make since... Unless the more you are drained infects a negative effect on you and actually makes you stronger... Make believe is FUN!

Nobody is arguing against a literal implementation of minimal FX for those sets, i.e. an actual minimal amount of FX that still convey the theme of the set.

If you read the OP, he is asking for the current implementation of the "Minimal FX option" which means "no FX unless in a PvP zone". People are saying this request is unlikely to happen, because as much freedom as the devs like us to have when making a character, they don't like us straying too far from the intended theme of the set. Why do you think our power customization colors are limited on any power that has anything to do with ice or earth?

Trickshooter's Characters | @Trickshooter @Brightside

I'm not saying we should get the same exact thing as the Minimal FX option, though that wouldn't kill me either.

If you read my second post, I'm saying something less obtrusive would be nice.

I don't think it would take a lot of work either. The models are mostly in place already, in the auras.

How much work would it take to transfer those to armor buffs?

(Let's not forget the buffs we receive from others. It would be nice if those weren't so prominent as well.)

Since we aren't getting Power Pool customization for while... how about a Minimal FX for that effects *ALL* Pool Powers... (Hasten, Hasten...) Just put a little Power Pool Min. FX toggle over there in right right corner of the Powers Color Screen.... Purty Please....

Thumbs up for this idea, I'd love Minimal FX For All!

The way I see it, sometimes we want to play a certain powerset but not be bound by its names and descriptions. For example, I have a Forcefield / Dual Pistols Defender that, for me at least, rather than a green soap bubbler is actually a gunslinger with precog powers that shouts out warnings to nearby teammates. I coloured the bubbles dark brown so as to make them almost invisible. Emphasis on the almost, though, if I could make them completely invisible in PvE, I would. Point being, sometimes I want the numbers and playstyle of a set but not be dragged by its concept.

Now, two things. First, there's a certain precedent for this in the alternative animations, like in martial arts where Storm Kick is actually a punch, or in Superstrenght where Jab is actually a low cross to the gut, so the idea is not outrageous.

Second, it's Minimal FX For All! but only in PvE. If I want to make an INVISIBLE STONE ARMOR and call it diamond form or something, what's it to you? Or extraplanar flames that don't burn visibly in this world? Or layers of pressurized air below 0 degrees instead of ice? Why are people actually arguing against this possibility? Does it really offend you to the point where you would deny everyone else the chance to be creative just out of spite?

P.S. The Cole Administration supports this idea

Characters with minimal Invuln FX usually create their costume to look invulnerable. They aren't forced to, but they do anyway, and even if they don't, it really doesn't break immersion.

Same would happen if minimal FX were given to Dark, Elec, Stone, Fire, Ice. Characters would have the freedom to display their powers as part of their costume (or aura) rather than as animated effects. Most would, some wouldn't, and it wouldn't bother me either way.

And how about invisible force fields and sonic shields, while we're at it?