Perma Death? Power respec? The "memorial slot"! :D

So, I was looking at the thread asking for a "power respec" (which we all know isn't going to happen).

Also I had been thinking of a way of making the world a little more "alive" with epic permanent deaths of heroes (obvious problems). Afterall, during the game we continually come across heroes who have fallen in their attempts to save the world.... but our characters can never "make the ultimate sacrifice" (other than just deleting them heh).

So, how about combining the 2?

Give us a level 50 epic battle arc which your character can go through (with LOTS of warnings that this arc is leading to the PERMANENT deletion of your character) and lead up to a "last stand" battle. Obviously, this is going to be a lot like just logging out and hitting the delete button... but stick with me.

After the last mission *note, you can bring a group with you, but only the person who has run the very very heavy warning arc up till then will be actually perma dead after everyone dies" (waves and waves of increasingly hard mobs... basically the game throwing "lets see how long till you die, bwaa ha ha" scenario at the player), your character gets taken to a cut scene of a funerial for your character (heroes remembering or villains honoring). And then you are taken back to the login screen.

(maybe the last epic battle is against the coming storm? whoever that is? it seems like the game is leading up to a "huge epic event"... it only seems fit that a few heroes are going to fall in it... and all the deaths will be 100 percent consentual and welcomed).
Now, in place of that character, you unlock a gold "Memorial Slot".

Any character made on this slot now recieved +50 percent EXP (or some other amount, decided by the devs... but a decent enough amount to make it worth the sacrifice, even if the character has probably been stripped of his IO's already :P).

In addition, the character made in this slot recieves a very long recharge power of "Guardian Spirit", in which a spirit form of their old character is summoned to help them for a short period of time (so, a pretty kewl little power and RP spirit mentor... and a nice bonus to exp, making the death of your old mothballed 50 pretty worth it).

You could also add in a plaque somewhere in the game to remember fallen heroes, and players perma dead characters could be listed there (for another little bonus).

I really like the concept of it all, but it just seems like too much work for a glorified "Delete Button."

And besides, if the devs wanted people to gain extra XP all the time then they would just let the exploits that happen in AE go on.

It's more of an understanding towards those who go through all the work to get 50 but end up (for whatever reason) deciding the character just isn't what they want anymore.

The +50 percent exp isn't for all the characters on the account, just that one character slot.

If they just delete the character... it is like tossing out tonsss of grinding and missions and everything that went into the character out the window. So, most people just leave the character sitting there neglected.


Also, the "epic end" mission could be made open to everyone (so it is opening up this content to the entire game). The only people who get the "alternate ending" would be those who have done all the consent steps beforehand.

The epic end mission would be designed to push a team to death. Which, would be pretty fun (reguardless of the perma death and memorial slot unlock).

Going into a mission knowing that you aren't going to survive? Seeing how long you can hold off an increasingly tough wave after wave of relentless mobs? Maybe throw in a couple badges of "survived the storm!" or "faced the storm!".

Basically, it solves a few problems.

1) added epic really challenging content for level 50's (fun fun!)

2) giving a little bit in the entire sittuation of "dead alive 50's" that are all over

3) gives a little ground on the "I want power respec!!", throwing this to the players and going "fine, you make it to 50.. we will let you delete and relevel a bit faster, it isn't a power respec...but it is the best you are going to get". And honestly a lot of people (me included) would be happy with that.

4) added epicness to the world of COH. Finally having heroes really fall in epic turns of the game (after 6 years!) would be a nice touch. Something big is coming, make it really seem big... instead of "oh, rikti are attacking again *yawn*"

5) It is fun! Brings in more immersion and connection to the game. Being able to summon your dead hero's spirit on your memorial character? It is just kewl Even if you don't RP, it is still something that would really be fun and make playing that memorial character a lot more enjoyable.

The trouble with bonus XP for your memorial slot is that it only goes so far, and that is until the character hits 50.

Then your stuck with the whole deal relying on exactly how over/underpowered your guardian spirit temp power is.

Though to be honest, its a pretty neat idea as your new character could be an "incarnate" of the old character or some such too.

The only reason I would use this (and lts be fair, many others too) would be to fuel my altitis more easily with 50s I have no intention of playing again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VoodooGirl [*]Watching out for the Spinning Disco Portal of D00M!*

hehe i would use it for an alt too...but the thing with my alts, is after they reach over 30ish...i don't delete them so.... arrg

Cool idea.
/signed.

Huge problem with it.

There are a LOT of players who never read a single word of the windows that pop up when tey are talking to a contact. No matter how many warnings you put in it informing them that their character will be deleted at the end of the arc, there would be a huge number of people monumentally pissed that their character got deleted because they failed to actually read anything.

Yes, it would be their own fault, but do you really want the forums to be deluged with the nerdrage of players who screwed themselves and got mad about it?

Devil's advocate: "Why should I have to risk my character's existence to experience this content? This is unfair to less skilled players who might die more often than more skilled players."

People are already complaining about the Alpha Slot for similar reasons (it takes more time for a casual player to craft for it, which you would think would be okay with a casual player, but apparently not).

OK. Problems.

1. Suppose this had been made before the Incarnate slot. Or raids. Or inventions. Or PVP. All content to "breathe new life" into 50s. And remember, we're getting MORE content, something that those 50s might be *great* for.

But they're deleted because of "perma death."

Chapter 3, "How to get annoyed customers," paragraph 7-15, I'd call it.

2. Plaque - Sorry, but given the names and such on some of these characters... Not to mention if a copyrighted character manages to get through to 50. I'd hate to see this as a doorway to another lawsuit.

3. "XP bonus on that slot!" *store goes down, slots vanish.*

4. And yes, I have to agree with DarkGob. I *like* seeing content, I like running my characters through it. Knowing I'd *not be able to do so again* because I wanted to see this? No thanks. No amount of XP bonus, etc, etc, etc. makes up for that to me.

See my Guides and Tutorials

/Unsigned. That is all.

Imagine all the work NCSoft suport will have to do as soon as the bugs come out with this. Again, /unsinged for all the reasons stated.

Your suggestion is heavily predicated on the idea that people actually read any of the text in this game. Which, lol.

Ok, let me put it this way. It would be to much work for something that very few people would even think about using. It is not a good idea. At all.

I'm still lobbying to get the EU server list merged with the NA server list so everyone can have 15 servers. That'll give everyone up to 540 slots per account.