Crazy Issue 20 Theories

Originally Posted by Goliath Bird Eater

Only if a Nipple Tweaking power is also added.

Melee, of course. Cannot be used on self.

Originally Posted by Goliath Bird Eater

Only if a Nipple Tweaking power is also added.

Melee, of course. Cannot be used on self.

Originally Posted by cursedsorcerer

I20 is a Nemesis Plot.

Originally Posted by MarkUrial

It's not all a Nemesis Plot.

Originally Posted by Savos

I think it's going to be a total revamp of the IO system have it make sense.

Rebalance sets and make it so there's an actual incentive to not slot "old" stuff like Kinetic Combat at 50.

Originally Posted by Golden Girl

Or is it?

Originally Posted by Mr_Grey

When Issue 20 comes out, we'll gain the ability to unleash the unstoppable power of kittens upon our enemies.

Just you wait! They will be unable to resist the adorable!

...

It is now my fervent hope that players will request-nay, DEMAND!-kitten controllers. RELEASE THE KITTIES!


I've gone quite mad.

Originally Posted by DeathSentry

Just saw something on Massively.com where a preview depicted a new hospital and new interiors for warehouses. The latter got a lot of flack as, and I agree, to add more sets for warehouses vs. something we've asked for like space stations, etc would be ludicrous unless budgets have been slashed so low that its all they can afford to do.

Would be pretty disappointing.

Originally Posted by Heroes_Creed

I really hope they add the ability for us to change our death animation, so we could explode or use a smoke bomb and vanish or we could teleport away. I'm getting bored of seeing the same death animation over and over again!

Originally Posted by Mr_Grey

When Issue 20 comes out, we'll gain the ability to unleash the unstoppable power of kittens upon our enemies.

Just you wait! They will be unable to resist the adorable!

...

It is now my fervent hope that players will request-nay, DEMAND!-kitten controllers. RELEASE THE KITTIES!


I've gone quite mad.

Originally Posted by Obsidius

Note: this thread is for discussion of I20 theories and is nothing more than speculation, plain and simple. This thread should not be used to break the I20 NDA. We can safely discuss theories around I20, so long as they don't purportedly break the NDA.

In past closed betas, NDAs have been inferred through the closed beta user agreement, whereas one agrees to an electronic NDA when logging in. For Issue 20, according to the PAX CoH panel, Issue 20 beta supposedly started last week underneath a physical, signed NDA (IIRC, the last time there was a signed NDA was for the first and second waves of closed beta for I14 - Architect, signed by HeroCon attendees).

What does that mean for Issue 20?

They're probably testing more than just content. Even the GR closed beta didn't require a signed NDA; it just used the standard digital NDA that most closed betas use.

Which means...?

It means they're probably working on a system, a big system; probably bigger than the Alignment System (which didn't require a signed NDA), but maybe something as big as the Architect System (which did require a signed NDA).

Something else to consider are teh red names who have cut down on their amount of posting (presumably because they're working their butts off): Back Alley Brawler (Animations), Castle (Powers), Pohsyb (Coding), and SexyJay (Art). (Sure, Noble Savage has been posting, but he might have more time to post than Jay. He's also been helping to run an art asset contest that's related to his department.)

What sort of "big systems"?

Obviously, no one who can post about it can tell us because of the NDA. But there are a few items that have come to mind, thanks to a previous thread.

Here are some possibilities:


Power Pool Customization:

Honestly, I don't think this one would require an NDA, unless it included some sweeping changes, like some serious travel power customization options. Low-hanging fruit (relatively speaking) would include alternate travel animations; more code intensive ideas would include vehicles (and coding when vehicles can and can't be used, like in buildings). Power Pool customization in itself is something the devs want to pursue, but the extent of the customization may determine the budget, resources, and level of testing security involved. It would also tie in with one of Castle's few recent posts about adding alternate animations to certain powers.

This project would involve Art, Coding, Powers, and Animation departments.


Separate Upper/ Lower Torso Animations:

PvP changes have been rumored ever since I13. There are many players who did not like the added handicaps of travel suppression, which was created to even out the problems with power rooting.

Because the game engine currently can't animate the upper and lower torso independently, attacks generally root characters, meaning that jousting in PvP is problematics, especially with travel powers like Super Speed or Super Jump; by the time a character can retaliate, the target may already be too far away, with the character rooted during the attack unable to return the joust.

However, if the game engine and animations were recoded to allow upper and lower torso animations separate of each other, players could attack and move simultaneously, in PvE or PvP. This would eliminate rooting, making travel suppression a moot point, and could rewrite the book on PvP. Of course, PvE enemies would enjoy the benefits too, making for more interesting encounters.

The level of such a change would be massive, and typically require a whole new game, because the game engine itself would require modification, not to mention about every animation in the game (including those for non-human frames, such as Jaegers, Arachnos spiders, Snakes, etc.). However, given enough time and resources, such a change could happen in an existing game, it would just require a lot of people and/ or a lot of man-hours. Considering I13 came out in 2008, they may have had a bit of time to work on this already, although Power Customization also took a big bite out of the Animation team's schedule.

This project would involve Art, Coding, Powers, and Animation departments.


Diminishing Returns in PvE (credit to Samuel_Tow & james_joyce):

Back when the Master of Statesman's Task Force badge was being put into the game, Clear Mind almost suffered a big nerf, in order to reduce effectiveness in stacking. Part of the reason was Ghost Widow. Even with a Mag 100 Hold (Soul Storm), stacked applications of Clear Mind made her hold all but a moot point. Castle's best solution, as he mentioned, would have been to apply diminishing returns to player buffs, whereas the first application applied at full strength, the second application less so, and so on until the nth application provided no benefit. Lacking the tech at the time, Castle reverted the changes to Clear Mind, and everyone was happy (except for Ghost Widow, who continued to get pwnd by teams loaded with CM).

As most PvPers can tell you, DR does exist in PvP. But applying this tech in PvE wouldn't be so much as a balancing issue as possibly opening the game up to more interesting encounters as well as creating a new path for character progression.

But why now? Mostly because of the Incarnate System. If DR were added to PvE, the devs would be able to create Incarnate-level enhancements that might bypass it (or part of it), similar to what the Alpha slot does by bypassing part of ED (at least the version seen in GR closed beta).

This would obviously be a mixed bag change similar to ED, the difference being that if it were rolled out with an Incarnate-level system that works with it, it would lessen the sting that some players would undoubtedly feel. It would also make some existing encounters more interesting, and allow the devs to buff some buffs, knowing that DR would even out multiple applications. It would also require a ton of shake-down by the devs to lessen player reception issues that were seen with ED and I13.

This project would involve the Coding and Powers departments, but probably not the Art or Animation departments.


What do you think? Do you have any of your own crazy theories about Issue 20 and what could be under the NDA? Consider this more of a brainstorming thread as opposed to "holding your breath" thread. Also, if you're under NDA, please don't get yourself in trouble by posting info under the NDA.

Originally Posted by Inazuma

That's the "icanhazcheezburger?" powerset.

Originally Posted by UberRod

Signed NDA agreements can only mean...fingers.

Originally Posted by Golden Girl

Haven't the devs already given us that with the Alpha slot arc and the 2 new TFs?

Originally Posted by Schismatrix

i like them quite a bit, yes, but fingers would be an actual change to the graphics and animation engine. Fingers would be remarkable because of the implications of their addition, not simply the addition of fingers themselves. Not nearly the same thing.

Originally Posted by Inazuma

That's the "icanhazcheezburger?" powerset.

Originally Posted by Steel_Shaman

Or "lolsummoning" masterminds?