Pool (plus Ancillary & Patron) Power Customization (Yes and EATs as well)
By
Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2010-10-14 11:48 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
On the subject of the OP, my answer is:
For Power Pools, I would set the priority to 10, but only for certain powers. Hasten, Super Speed, Stealth (I want the same "shadow" effect from Shadowy Presence) and the Medicine powers are high priority. But the devs don't have to do the whole Pool at once.
For Ancillary Pools, again, priority of 10. I don't regard them as any different from the Primary and Secondary powers, personally.
For Patron Pools, however, now that Ancillary Pools exist for Villains, I think the need for customization is lower. And I think the customization should be more limited. There should be some freedom to interpret the powers as you see fit, but they should still reflect the Patrons. The Mu lightning, for instance, might be limited to shades of red, and Ghost Widow's powers would still retain their unique "souls" look. They could be left as they are for now, and returned to later, as long as Ancillary pools are editable.
As for Kheldians, as you might guess from above, I want at least color customization, priority of 10. But again, I'm not opposed to limiting the selection, and I think it should be limited. I want a gold color scheme for one of my Peacebringers, REALLY badly (and green for the other) but it should be a bright, Peacebringer-shade of gold. Likewise, my Warshade may go a little redder to reflect his descent into villainy, but he will pretty much stay with his dark purple. This isn't unusual, though, Ice has limited color options, and so does Stone, and that didn't delay them getting options.
SoA, there's the issue with customizing both the weapons and the blasts they make. But then again, customizing Kheldian forms will be an issue, too. Granite and the Kheldian forms are stuck with the same problem, they can't currently be customized as implemented. So if the devs can manage to resolve that issue, maybe they can resolve letting you customize both your weapon and the fx of the powers that use that weapon.
So 10 for color customization of Kheldians, 10 for new Widow blade options and Soldier rifle options, but maybe 6 for Kheldian form customization and Fortunata blasts. The latter will take much more work.
Epp: 8
pp: 5
eat: 1
Quote:
My apologies for only quoting one tiny bit of your post, but...|
Originally Posted by Jade_Dragon
...
For Ancillary Pools, again, priority of 10. I don't regard them as any different from the Primary and Secondary powers, personally. ... |
That's a great way to word it and I feel the same way.
My ancillary armor power and some of the attacks get used every single encounter. As an Electric/Electric/Electric Blaster... not having power customization for one of those power groups may as well mean none for any of them. I don't view my Shocking Bolts any different than my other Electric blasts.
As for your comments about the Patron Pools... I agree with it up to the point of now that we have ancillary pools villainside, Patron Powers can wait... But I'd still rather not see something like Mu Lightning limited to red. I get the thematics of it (Although, why it is red, I don't know [some friends and I came up with releasing gases with the electricity to match that color when going to the Rogue Isles under cover), I'd rather see it opened up for individual spins for whatever concept players want.
Still, at least giving Villains Ancillary Pools allows for Patron Pools not getting love until a later time (if ever) without it being a low blow to villains.
And... I hope to see the weapon customization means no power customization defeated some day by the clever developers and all.
I hope it is something they see benefit in overcoming and is actually something they can accomplish, eventually.
Hopefully that is not too great an amount of wishful thinking on my part!
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Quote:
Well, reddISH. Orange, maybe even orangish yellow, purplish, and so on. Normal Electric blast, BTW, is not blue as you might think, but actually a very pale violet. I found this out myself when I tried to make my Electric/Fire Blaster's "plasma" match her electricity. |
Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
But I'd still rather not see something like Mu Lightning limited to red. I get the thematics of it (Although, why it is red, I don't know [some friends and I came up with releasing gases with the electricity to match that color when going to the Rogue Isles under cover), I'd rather see it opened up for individual spins for whatever concept players want.
|
One important thing to note, though, is that Electrical powers are available as Ancillary Pools for villains. And they are in many cases nearly identical to their Patron counterparts. So there are options for those who want a wider variety of color choices, like into the green and deep blue.
I'll also add that one thing I find far more immersion breaking than yellow or cyan lightning bolts, is heroic Brutes or Masterminds coming over to Paragon City, running missions to save the world, and summoning a Blood Widow or an Arachnobot to fight for them. I can understand you keeping the powers, but how are you retaining the loyalty of an Arachnos soldier if you switch sides? I'd like to see the option to change that to something more "civilian", or the addition of new Patrons that are a closer match to the hero side. (Possibly, the summon itself could be changed, as with the Summon Reinforcements Temp Power which results in a different "pet" based on your alignment)
Quote:
Not all Patron powers have an equivalent in ancillary pools. Only 3 archetypes can access electricity mastery. Only 3 can access darkness ancillary pools. Mace and leviathan are their own animals in many cases.|
Originally Posted by Jade_Dragon
.....Well, reddISH. Orange, maybe even orangish yellow, purplish, and so on. Normal Electric blast, BTW, is not blue as you might think, but actually a very pale violet. I found this out myself when I tried to make my Electric/Fire Blaster's "plasma" match her electricity.
One important thing to note, though, is that Electrical powers are available as Ancillary Pools for villains. And they are in many cases nearly identical to their Patron counterparts. So there are options for those who want a wider variety of color choices, like into the green and deep blue.... |
In any case- the patrons allow us to learn new tricks to get their pool abilities, but I can't logically accept that the powers don't loose that connection once the powers gets into our hands. Why? I've killed Ghost Widow with her powers. I've kept her powers after betraying her. If it were her power, don't you think she'd take it back? I've slotted soul powers with my enhancements, made them work in new ways with Io procs.
Patron powers are gained through patrons, but they don't belong to them. My personal view is this: If we can enhance it, we should eventually be able to color it too. Because at that point, it's our character's power.
It's training--not something they can just take away.
I think this is one of those sooner rather than later topics. It's just too easy to plow on ahead and leave things half implemented.
Enabling customization of primary and secondary powers to the exclsuion of ancillary and pool powers seemed quite short sighted, and it appeared from posts that the developers had intended to expand this feature asap. Well, power customization is already several upgrades in the past and I think it would be a shame to not complete what was started.
9 - Ancillary Powers
7 - Pool Powers
9 - EATS
8 - Mastermind Pets
I think that the appeal of Kheldians is held back largely because they restrict toon concepts too rigidly. I have three PB and two WS, and have stretched their concepts as much as possible. But I'm creative, and half of my concept goes on in my own head anyway. Since without a significant amount of work (as I understand it), Nova and Dwarf forms will remain as they are, and not everyone wants to look like a flying squid or steroidal bedbug, the ability to customize Kheldian powers just like any other power sets would go such a long way to expanding the horizons for this AT. Imagine Khelds in all colours of the palette, and how much more fun those toons could become!
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The issue with Pools is we are not locked into them, and they are not taken at startup - there are /coding/ issues to deal with.
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Likewise, the energy isn't always going to resonate at exactly the same frequency. Yes, I like the idea of "light for PB and dark for WS". But that doesn't mean every Kheldian has to be the EXACT same shade of blue/purple. And I'd like to see gold, green, or red options as well.
I agree, though, Widows need more options. And BOTH need options that are applicable to their "civilian" costumes. I want to see Widows get the same options as Claws, and Soldiers to get all the Assault Rifle choices. In fact, I think it's ironic that Claws gets access to the Widow Claws, when Soldier Rifles and Maces are supposed to be exclusive to the VEATs and the Patron Pool. Why are Widow Claws not exclusive to Widows? Can we add some that are?
Ultimately, though, this does come down to a technical issue. As long as you can color Widow Claws (and with only one option this seems like a weak customization option) we CAN'T color Fortunata blasts. Or at least, that's how I understand the system works, Weapon Customization and Power Customization are mutually exclusive.