Pool (plus Ancillary & Patron) Power Customization (Yes and EATs as well)

After watching the Q&A portion of the NYCC Panel (where a player brought up Ancillary Pool Customization), I thought this might be worth bringing up!
The topic and priority level of Pool (plus Ancillary & Patron and) Power Customization (And EAT power customization as well, if wanted)

Now, I was thinking (with complete respect and understanding of the whirlwind tour for the Devs on the East Coast) that maybe Noble Savage was caught a bit off guard and didn't quite access his proper knowledge of the topic when it was asked about at the panel. Or maybe he really hasn't been on top of that stuff, as it was sort of prior to his transition (I think). Posi was the lead and, from my limited insight of things, Back Alley Brawler and his crew were largely responsible and in-the-know about the subject. I can easily see how, especially after all of the focus on Going Rogue, this may not be on the forefront for the people/devs that were on the panel.

Regardless, this is NO attack nor criticism of David or any of the developers, nor any kind of base for demands put onto them. They have limited resources to spread around for what they believe is best (including our feedback) and I'm happy as a lark with the game these days.

I simply hope to, at least, satisfy my own curiosity as to the general level of interest in Pool Power customization...
And, if anything more at all, honestly help the developers understand the degree of interest/priority it holds with players (If it at all differs from their current interpretation).


Also, as to the question of why it hasn't been done and what problems there are (Besides the obvious amount of work it takes to rewrite all of the powers and such in order to incorporate customization)... The main difference with the Pool, Ancillary and Patron Customization is that some new User Interface needs to be worked out on how to fit those on the screen and where to fit it in the context of the game. EATs may also suffer from the UI issue, as they have so many more powers (And differing branches/subcategories) to choose from.

The current Power Customization screen is based on the Primary and Secondary powers only. And, as such, the ability to customize them is available at character creation.
How and when the other powers you can choose later in the character's career should be shown is a design question that first needs to be answered and then needs to be created.

Perhaps just a new tab/subcategory within the Power Customization screen... you could switch to Pool Powers with the further collapse-able subcategories of each Pool. And then include Ancillary and Patron Pools on that screen or within another tab of its own.




I've seen Pool Power Customization brought up time and time again and that is why the reaction and response at the NYCC panel surprised me.
I've just assumed it was a major priority for the majority of players (But I could totally be wrong about that and hope to maybe find out -as best one can "find out" such things). Meanwhile, the general response right after Issue 16 was that Pool Powers and the like would likely have to wait until after Going Rogue.
Here we are (Although, I think the coding team is pretty occupied with Incarnate stuff) and those that are under the impression that Power Customization is lacking without the Pool Powers being included are perhaps wondering if, when, how, why this aspect will be taken care of.

So, maybe it is not so important to as large a percentage of players as I had surmised!
Let's see if we can find out!

I'm not sure this is the best way to go about it, but perhaps a 1-10 level of priority from the players' perspective (If they had the final say of developing decisions!).
Also, feel free to just discuss the topic of Power Pool, Ancillary, Patron, EAT Power Costumization

From 1-10 where does Pool (plus Ancillary & Patron & possibly EATs) Power Customization fit on your scale of priority?

1 being something like, "eventually we'd like to fulfill that, but there are so many other things of higher priority"
4 being roughly, "it's on the list but multiple things above it may put it off for quite a while"
6 being roughly, "it's on the list and, while other things will take priority before it, we'll try and start focusing on it sooner than later"
10 being something like, "Zones, Incarnates, Moon Bases? They can WAIT. This game needs Power Pools customizable ASAP!"

For the record, mine goes up to 11.

Lucky number 7. I want incarnates, but I hope pool and ancillary PC comes soon.

It would be nice, but certainly not top of the list.

0 - Don't really care.

8 or 9. I HATE having mismatched powers.

I'm going to say 6 for Epic Pools, 2 for Regular Pools and 0 for EATs.

To be honest I don't use power customization a whole lot (and when I do I tend to just apply a blanket theme to all powers) but I would like the ability to change the Epic pools to match the rest of my character's powers, particuarly in cases where I have a matching element between regular powersets and epic powersets (i.e. for an Earth/Whatever/Stone controller it would be nice to be able to give the Stone Mastery powers a similar appearance to that used for the Earth Control powers).

7.54

and $12.46 is your change sir, have a nice day.

I'm gonna go with a solid 4. I like the idea of Power Pool Customization, but I want the other stuff more. I would not mind seeing it pushed off "indefinitely".

8 or 9. The golden pom-poms of doom on characters with all their other powers carefully matched REALLY bothers me. Not to mention the pink psi-bubbles on my Widow D:

HOWEVER. I give power customization a 0 on Kheldians. They don't choose their powers, that's a specific species more than an AT. I think they should stay as they are.

I would say 8. Tricorder aid-self on a magic based character still feels strange to me. I would also love to have the option to remove or at least tint Hasten and SS.

9 for Regular Pools, 7 for Epic Pools and 1 for EATs.

I would say 9 for epic pools, and 8 for pool powers and 7 for epic ATs.

At the moment it's the clashing between blue fire and orange fire that's bugging me most, shortly followed by the eyesore that is hasten.

I'd like kheldians to have some form of power colouring, even if it's a vastly restricted pallette. Ideally, I'd like people to have whatever colour they like, but I'd be happy if Warshades were just restricted to blacks, greys, purples and blues. They may all be the same species, but I doubt that they are all exactly the same shade of purple. As humans, we are a race of many colours, and I wouldn't be suprised if you can find mid-blue warshades, and mid-grey peacebringers.

10. Endgame doen't really interest me that much.

My desire for this is pretty high - probably around 9 or so.

I've respecced out of a couple of Villain PPPs - even though the powers were great and effective, they didn't mesh with the look of my chosen primary/secondary. I couldn't handle looking at them, so off they went...

If Hasten were even a smidgen less useful, I wouldn't use it at all; I hate the fiery pompoms that much.

The day this is implemented there shall be much rejoicing...

8 or 9 for me. I REALLY hate the way hasten looks on all of my DM characters.

Between 1 and 4 for me

Probably about an 8 across the board.

Give Khelds a somewhat restricted pallette.

10 for me.
I'm an oddbal in that while I don't RP, I play the game for my characters. This may sound weird but if I had to choose only one of the game's big additions, (side switching, the mission architect, inventions, etc.) I'd go for the power customization. It's what lets me make some weird combos actually look right, and makes their powers stick out as something all their own.

Sadly, flight and superjump still have their dusty/misty tint, hasten/superspeed are ardently sparkly yellow, healing is done via a tricorder, soul powers are still darkity pinkity purple, mu powers are red, ancillary psi is pink, ancillary electric is its bluish purple, arachnos psi is pink, the scorpion shield is stuck on 'purple,' etc.

Even if we can't get crazy amounts of options as I'd like (fiery/dark/electric/glowie/icy/no fx version to all travel powers) I'd more than settle for simple coloration options.

About a 9 for me.

I would say 9. Maybe even 10. My characters are what's most important to me, so I want their powers to match, whether it be changing the colors of Pyre Mastery, Darkness Mastery, and etc. or the ability to use NoEffects for Combat Jumping and Hasten.

11.
I dont like power pools right now, and with fitness inherent Im in trouble. Speed, TP, Leaping, Fly, Combat, and Medicine need a revamp NAO.
Epics should get minor tweaks without jumping out of the lore too much.
And APP and PPP should appear in the character creator power screen once they unlocked. APP look exactly like existing powers, the only reason they not available yet is: they have to work on PPP custom as well, and thats more difficult since are powers that you learn from a signature villain.
I hate having mismatched powers.
Btw I dont see this ever happening... Thats sad

I give it about a 5. It's cool, and all, but after all the ooohs and aaaahs of a new costume or customized power wears off, I'm left with the same old game. It's cool, but it's enjoyment is short-lived, in my opinion.