City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

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

Adeon Hawkwood

By Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2010-10-14 11:48 in CoH and CoV General Discussions

 

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Quote:
Originally Posted by flashrains View Post
8 or 9. I HATE having mismatched powers.
this.

 

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One option for Kheldians is to restrict only the secondary color as selectable. Even if primary Warshade is purple, being able to tint that with red, green, black or white would be a dramatic improvement in my eyes.

 

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Originally Posted by Electric-Knight View Post
For the record, mine goes up to 11.
I'll say a 9 or 10. IF we include Domination. I so want to customize the Domination build up/activation/after effect to be something like how Aim looks - you can pick electricity, earth, fire, etc. as a theme for the build up/activation/after effect of Domination. Give me that - no more rainbow/sparkles please (unless it fits the character concept!).

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7-8 for me.

I'm largely happy with the dev development priorities to date, but I'd get a LOT more out of customizing all my characters than playing even solo incarnate stuff with my few 50's (the task forces? I've never done one, so I'm sure not gonna start with the high level ones when I do!)

 

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No or minimal effect Hasten - 17. The rest about an 8.

 

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9. I don't really consider Power Customization done until we can customize pools and epics.

 

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Originally Posted by Kyasubaru View Post
9. I don't really consider Power Customization done until we can customize pools and epics.
That's my take.

And I'm sorry when I said it I deflated BAB's pride in what he had done, which was truly outstanding. But to wait more than one Issue for the Pools to be customized means that Power Customization is, IMO, a failure.

What good is it if I can turn my red primary powers green and my blue secondary powers green but can't turn my overwhelming Speed Pool powers from that hideous yellow to my thematic green?

More people take the Power Pools than any Primary or Secondary and thus, in a way, they become even more Primary. Or they should be prioritized as such.

Until Pool Powers are customizable, what has been done is a unfinished job. And if there was a definite timetable, I could be patient. But because it's unfinished with no definite plan to be finished... sorry to say it... it's just unprofessional.

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Originally Posted by Feycat View Post
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.
Boo to 0!

Give them *alternate forms* to change into. Instead of lobster and squid, something like giant space hamster and bat.

 

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I'd say about a 7 for normal Pools and APPs. Patron Powers and Epic ATs I rate around a 4 or so, as they do have specific reasons for thier looks, though it would still be nice to be able to customize them.

 

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Originally Posted by Eisenzahn View Post
My unfulfilled craving for New Villain Content takes priority. If not for that, custom power pools would get an 8 or 9 from me. As is, it gets a 2. Any developer work that's not on New Villain Content (or at least delivered at the same time as a big beautiful heap of New Villain Content) is a painful disappointment.
Well, you're getting one new arc plus some more Tips in I19 - so some of the devs must be working on new red side stuff

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10

Power Customization feels like an incomplete addition to the game without all power pools being customizeable. PC is a big deal and a huge addition to the game, it doesn't deserve to be left unfinished.

 

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Originally Posted by Kyasubaru View Post
9. I don't really consider Power Customization done until we can customize pools and epics.
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Originally Posted by Zombie Man View Post
That's my take.

And I'm sorry when I said it I deflated BAB's pride in what he had done, which was truly outstanding. But to wait more than one Issue for the Pools to be customized means that Power Customization is, IMO, a failure.

What good is it if I can turn my red primary powers green and my blue secondary powers green but can't turn my overwhelming Speed Pool powers from that hideous yellow to my thematic green?

More people take the Power Pools than any Primary or Secondary and thus, in a way, they become even more Primary. Or they should be prioritized as such.

Until Pool Powers are customizable, what has been done is a unfinished job. And if there was a definite timetable, I could be patient. But because it's unfinished with no definite plan to be finished... sorry to say it... it's just unprofessional.
This is pretty much my take as well.

d

 

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Originally Posted by Lightslinger View Post
Power Customization feels like an incomplete addition to the game without all power pools being customizeable. PC is a big deal and a huge addition to the game, it doesn't deserve to be left unfinished.
Agree with this sentiment altho would still put the priority at 7-8, I want power customization finished but not at the expense of completely dropping everything else to make it happen.

Triggering the blue Personal Force Field on my reddish-black energy blaster is incredibly jarring.


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9 the mastery/ Patron

5 power pools

1 for EAT

 

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Originally Posted by Zombie Man View Post
Until Pool Powers are customizable, what has been done is a unfinished job. And if there was a definite timetable, I could be patient. But because it's unfinished with no definite plan to be finished... sorry to say it... it's just unprofessional.
I very much agree with the Zombie. Power pools and Epic pools (at the VERY LEAST) are quintessential to power customization. I can understand why they wouldn't want to handle the whole package all in one issue, but to put it off for two now, and likely more is... Unsatisfying. Every Blaster I have ever made - and I've made quite a few with no less than three at 50 - requires Epic pool customization. Without a fail. That's because every Blaster I've made has taken a pool which matches his or her powersets. So I have Fire/Fire/Pyre, Energy/Energy/Fore, Ice/Ice/Cold and so forth. I don't want green fire with green fire with orange fire. It doesn't work.

So far, my solution has been to just not customize these characters' powers, but you know what? "Just don't use it" is not a solution to the problem of "that don' work right." It's not a question of preference in that I don't like how it customizes. It DOESN'T customize, and if I can't keep all powers consistent when custom, I'll keep them consistent when not. Which makes the system inapplicable in far too many instances.

I will give power customization a 10 out of 10. This is the game's single most powerful feature and the one thing we have that NO other MMO out there has anything even remotely of the sort, including Champions Online. I want this more than end game content, more than more missions, more zones and even more than more costumes. This has to happen.

Now, I will give them the benefit of a doubt. They ARE working on power customization. It may not be for pools and epics, but they're working on it. We're getting a bunch of new animations for Blast sets, right? That ought to let me customize a few of my "default-power" Blasters. So they're doing SOMETHING, and I can respect that. Even if it's not necessarily for pools, I will be satisfied with that power customization. For now. Eventually we'll have to get it, but if we get other kinds of power customization (as long as it's not a token nod), then I can wait rather a bit more.

---

On the notion of Epic AT customization... Well, I would definitely want to see customization for Soldiers of Arachnos, because a lot of their powers are doubles of existing player powers, Psi especially. Let them customize their stuff. They already wear non-standard pink uniforms. And if we let Soldiers of Arachnos have some degree of customization, it only makes sense to allow Kheldians some degree, as well. How much, I don't know. And for that matter, I don't care. The AT just doesn't work for me, and from the looks of it never will.

So I give this 10 out of 10.

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
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.

 

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Power Pools and APP/PPP - 9
VEAT and HEAT - 7 (Khelds get limited pallet)

With the exception of Integration (and other boob thumping powers) I can't think of anything more jarringly inappropriate than the effects choices for travel powers and/or mismatched epic powers.

Lets just hope the delay means not only will we be able to customize the color but the animations as well.

 

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Originally Posted by Utopia View Post
No or minimal effect Hasten - 17. The rest about an 8.
My sentiments, exactly.

 

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Originally Posted by Zombie Man View Post
That's my take.

And I'm sorry when I said it I deflated BAB's pride in what he had done, which was truly outstanding. But to wait more than one Issue for the Pools to be customized means that Power Customization is, IMO, a failure.

What good is it if I can turn my red primary powers green and my blue secondary powers green but can't turn my overwhelming Speed Pool powers from that hideous yellow to my thematic green?

More people take the Power Pools than any Primary or Secondary and thus, in a way, they become even more Primary. Or they should be prioritized as such.

Until Pool Powers are customizable, what has been done is a unfinished job. And if there was a definite timetable, I could be patient. But because it's unfinished with no definite plan to be finished... sorry to say it... it's just unprofessional.
This.

It might not matter to some players, but it matters to me. A character is the total package: Costume, Powers, Look of Powers (In addition to all that RP stuff.)

Nachtbrecher uses Black and Red for his Dark Melee/Dark Armour powers. This means that his Midnight Grasp is black tentacles with bright red 'rune-like' patterns running up them. I'd love for Dark Mastery > Tenebrous Tentacles to have the same effect, but until EPP Customization, it just won't match the rest of his outfit.

Cindersnap uses a golden coloured fire, but none of his Fire Mastery powers, including his shield, match. I'd love to have the Brute Firey Aura type shield in gold for him, and to tune Hasten to this effect as well.

Quickfrost could never take Hasten, because the glowing orange pom poms would just clash horribly with his cold based powers.

Zortel's Force Mastery just doesn't match with the colour scheme of her blast and EM powers, which go with the various auras and design of her power armour.

Fusebox's electric blasts look different to the ones from her EPP. Why would this be the case?

Sadly though there is somewhat of a precedent for things being left unfinished:

Bases (Last bit of love was... i13 with the change to mask some of the editor's crazy rules of what you can place? And don't even change the Can't Unstack Item prevention that has ruined rooms for me due to a simple mistake?)

Ouroboros (You invent a time machine but don't even utilize it for the myriad of possibilities from CoH's past? First Rikti Invasion, Brass Monday, Sealing of Rulaaru into the Shadow Shard, Opening of Portal Corp, founding of the Freedom Phalanx, and the list goes on.)

Cimerora (A case in point for my opinion of revamped zones over old. The devs in the past have professed a preference for 'new and shiny content' but there's not much content here to begin with. Vastly underused and underdeveloped.)

 

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Utopia View Post
No or minimal effect Hasten - 17. The rest about an 8.
My sentiments, exactly.

On another note, I suspect that pool customization is largely complicated by when we get our first pool powers: level 6. It's that 6-level delay that makes it impossible for you to customize them when you create the character, so you'd *have* to visit a tailor to do so. If memory serves, there are no tailors currently located in really easy to reach locations for level 6 characters.

(Some might argue that the tailor in IP is easy to reach, since you can reach it through Kings Row, but I would argue that the level 20 Family outside the Icon store there pose a significant risk of character death that would put you in the IP hospital. Not a desirable situation. I can't speak to the Rogue Isles, as it's been a while since I played there.)

Back on point, the question for me has been "How will the devs design an interface that allows me to customize my pool powers immediately after selecting them?" Will I have to live with their default state until I can visit a tailor? Will they put new tailors in lower-level zones? Or will they change the default animations, possibly offending players who like them the way they are?

 

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Originally Posted by TyrantMikey View Post
My sentiments, exactly.

On another note, I suspect that pool customization is largely complicated by when we get our first pool powers: level 6. It's that 6-level delay that makes it impossible for you to customize them when you create the character, so you'd *have* to visit a tailor to do so. If memory serves, there are no tailors currently located in really easy to reach locations for level 6 characters.
Atlas Park > Vanguard Base, tailor for use in there, now that the level restriction of access has been lifted.

 

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Originally Posted by Zortel View Post
Atlas Park > Vanguard Base, tailor for use in there, now that the level restriction of access has been lifted.
No kidding! I never hang out in there. That's awesome. I'll have to let mom know. (She plays, too.) It'll save her a ton of time.

(And thanks for the tip!)

 

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As an aside to this question, many folks posting here put this very high. Not surprising given the self-selection inherent in board posting. But a question for you all:

Many of you have said that pool customization is extremely important, for some of you, the most important thing they can do. What about the game? What is the use of having pretty and matching blasts if you're dumped into a game that's doesn't get improvements because the coders are spending time trying to get pool customization right and the content designers can't get time on their schedule?

I guess for me, the looks is nice, but when it's all said and done, this is a game. The gameplay has to take precedence or why not just create a standalone "hero-creator" with a few offline missions and sell it for $50 bucks.

My two inf.

The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.

 

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To me it's by now fairly straightforward, I'll just not use Hasten and Superspeed on my newer characters. I even respecced one character out of Hasten.

One character has had her powers refitted to actually MATCH Hasten and Superspeed.

I'm for the customization of APP's and PPP's though, but leave the HEAT's as they are. If not, just make variations on the current schemes possible.

So for me, while power customizing happens on all characters, I can make do with what has been given, so in the priority scales... it would sit at maybe 4 or 5. No need to rush it anyway.

[CENTER][B]Radix malorum est cupiditas[/B][/CENTER]

 

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7 for both epic and pool powers.
I'd really like this, but I'd like some end game content and everything attached to that first.

1 for EAT
If this never happens then so be it.

@True Metal
Co-leader of Callous Crew SG. Based on Union server.