My City of....wishlist 2011

Hello all!

As is my custom from time to time, I sit back and speculate about what features I've seen from other games or upgrades to ours could be in turn improved or added to the game to keep it viable and 'modern', for want of a better term. I know the very nature of MMO's mean that you can't always stay on parity with current technology, but let me put out my little wishlist and see what you think!

• Bases! I've had a long think about this one, and there are two outstanding models of what people seem to like regarding features like this (often just known as housing in most games). The major issue I see discussed by a lot of people are the bases' disconnection to the rest of the game world. They're in their own little pocket dimension and I think that's just one factor in why bases become and afterthought. The best solution I've seen to this problem is instanced 'neighbourhoods' or zones. Multiple instances of an existing bit of land or purpose-built zones with buildings in them. In this case, I think facades would work better, unless substantial effort were made to add external customisation to bases. I don't see that happening, but I do think instanced zones would add more of a housing feature to the game, and really, bases are more decorative in nature now than functional.
• Tied into that is how you decorate your base. I think it only deserves the barest mention that the current system of stacking and tweaking whilst vastly creative is also very limiting. The ability to take an item and put it anywhere you wanted to I think would be a must. Add to that an expanded range of housing items, and the move from 'bases' to 'houses' would give the creative base builders a new lease on life and the base system also.

• Graphics quality! Very much a vanity request on my part, but I continually fall in love with modern looking games and went so far as to seriously consider Aion for a short while because of how it looked (I said it was vain). Praetoria went a long, long way to addressing this for me, but I'd love to see this integrated into the game with perhaps less technical issues than the on/off system we have now. I have a reasonably high-end system and Praetoria can still crunch my framerate, whereas an offline game with comparable quality just shrugs and moves on.
• Hand in hand with this for me are costumes. Don't get me wrong, I think CoH has probably the best costume creation system out there. But. We saw from other games how preset textures, additional anchor points on the body (forearms, thighs, neck, etc) and a broad range of 3D objects over just patterns makes a difference. I've felt for a little while now that the costume creator could use an overhaul just to streamline itself and commit to some long-standing requests like backpacks and so on (though some hints from a certain Sexy One suggest this may be happening, yay!) and move away from things such as the constant 'flapping' animation for capes particularly. The natural flow and movement of cloth whilst tricky to do I think adds to costumes and it'd serve the game well here.

• Environmental combat! I mean...this is a staple of superhero stories, where a fight will break out and the combatants will do some breaking of their own. Modern game engines can employ physics effects, but I often felt what we saw in the Safeguard/Mayhem missions were wasted being on very specific instanced...well, instances. It's good to see Skulls beating on vehicles which will then catch on fire or even explode, but your super-strong types want to grab that fire hydrant/lampost/car/truck/object and whack someone with it! The same applies to any power really that could viably impact the environment around them. The whole city doesn't have to be like that, but like Hazard Zones, you could have 'in zone' Hazard Zones that say are having lots of problems with Skulls or something and in you go, knowing that the area is interactable. And honestly, why not expand the Safeguard/Mayhem tech to other missions? Combine these two things and you are really offering another layer to the already fun combat we have here.

• That ties in for me with the environment itself. Being a roleplayer, I like 'dressing seasonally' with my characters, and it's disappointing to have a Winter Event but no actual winter anywhere in the city except the Ski Chalet! War Witch said she'd want the weather to have some game effect, but beyond Fog of War for visibility, has anyone ever see it be anything other than cosmetic? Why not have the weather be in proportion to the city? Noone denies that Dark Astoria and Neutropolis's ambience benefits greatly from a really simple visual effect, so why not apply this elsewhere? Peregrine Island being a bit squally and prone to perhaps fog banks? Same with Independence Port? And as for actual seasonal weather, you don't really need rain to be impacting your character's avatar, do you? Just some animation of rain, some sound for thunder and lightning and off you go. It can be done on a system comparable for CoH and I've seen it done on a relatively modern game. If Praetoria can give us sunny days, then I'm having trouble seeing why Paragon City can't get some too.

The ability to invite your own characters into a supergroup without having to get someone else to help. Especially important for those of us with multiple one person SGs, like me.

Some great points. For me it's the usual:

ITF quality TFs/SFs. The story makes some sense. It flows decently with the missions. It isn't unnecessarily complicated. The big points: fairly unique maps for the missions and an enemy group not found in most areas of the game. It is a fairly unique adventure and they did a good job putting it together. Future TFs should be like that (no need for an entire zone, just the TF itself). Have these range different levels. Put them in a co-op zone. Have a couple new 15+ TFs in RWZ. Put one in Cim maybe. Maybe even a fun one in the D so ALL factions can jump in (Praetoria is definitely loosing it's shine and is starting to feel like a grind).

The old blue side TFs are pretty horrid (the new Posi is a nice change). I would rather see this instead of new arcs. I know the TFs are more work but look at the mileage they still get out of the ITF. That was added in i12. We have tons of arcs so adding those at a much reduced rate doesn't bother me.

I would also enjoy a revamped costume creator. It's still great but can be improved in so many ways. Also, if you're selling boosters...please...make them decent with more costume pieces. Several are really lacking and the last two were little more than a cash grab (I know some like them but not worth the $). That kind of value is somewhat...Cryptic

Lastly, some NEW innovations in our game play. Add some missions or whatever that are completely unique from what we have. There are several new twists you can put in there. The Praetoria stuff is cool but not much of a departure from what we have in the rest of the game. The talk to NPCs/decisions would be much better if our choices mattered when speaking with many of them (Prae and other missions as well). If our choices branched us in a different road then cool. As it stands now, the results are often the same.

I like some of what's on your list Oz, however if there's two things I hope they don't touch it's capes and adding destructible objects. While our devs seem to do everything better, having spent some time with CoH's younger siblings, I have to say we do capes the best and I'd hate to see that messed up by updating how loose cloth works in this game.

As far as destructible objects, I may be alone, but I actually get REALLY annoyed when beating the crap out of something in the other to games, and some container on the other side of the room suddenly explodes because I apparently have a 20ft arm span. Or those fights in really cluttered room where stuff is flying around all over the place due to all the punching/kicking/shooting/biting. It breaks my focus. If they add it in a minimal fashion, say cardboard boxes or garbage bags, then fine. I think anyone who's played here any amount of time has become annoyed at how their big, bad superhero/villain can be rendered immobile by a box.

Now on to my wishlist. This isn't necessarily things I expect for 2011, but things that would be nice in 2011 and beyond (including CoH2). In order of how they come to my head:

1) Nemesis/Arch-villain system: Yes, this would be one of those things the community of "that-other-game" would probably foam at the mouth over if we got one, but it's not a bad idea. At some point, I'd like to see one here. I just got that ability in TOG, and while I haven't really gotten to play with it just yet (been playing "that-other-other-game"), just the process of creating my nemesis was fun. Actually, over there I think you can create multiple nemesises-es-es-es. Now while I've heard it's more of a "nice gimmick" over there, as I said CoH devs seem to do things bigger and better.
My "vision" is something that works similar to tip missions. You beat up a few random bad guys and get a "lead" on your nemesis, which starts a short 2-3 mission arc. Another possibility would be adding Arch-villain missions to the police band (this could actually be a way starting an AV arc; do a police band AV mission, get a "lead" which then starts an AV arc). My third thought on this has to do with contacts. Sub-thought 1) while doing an older arc, your contacts currently give you Random Street Sweeping Mission "OR" the next mission in your arc. We could replace that random mission, with one about your AV(s). Sub-thought 2) place special contacts throughout the 3 worlds that just give you missions/arcs related to your AV(s).

2) Vehicles: Yes I did just open that can of worms. However, I had a couple of "new" thoughts, though by this point I'm sure they're not as new as I currently think they are. I could see them being implemented in one of two ways: 1) as a costume part like rocket boots, piston boots, etc., 2) as a sort of instant travel power like Ouro, Base porter, or WW porter.
Starting with the second option, I think it would make a neat vet reward in the future. Basically, when you activate it, a car pulls up, the same screen the monorail uses pops up, you choose your location, your toon then hops in the vehicle and drives away. Next, the usual loading screen comes up, and then next thing you know, you're standing at some preset location.
The first option, as I said would be a costume part like rocket/piston boots, or wings. You get an invention either from WW or as loot, create it, and then you get a new section called "Vehicles" at Icon/Facemaker/Whatever-the-Praetorian-equivalent-is. From there you basically would get to pick from a variety of types, body styles, looks, etc. And of course you can color it. At worst, it would only be for superspeeders (maybe flyers should they ever tear down the war walls). I realize devs have said vehicles are not possible, and some players say "not gonna happen/don't want it to happen", but keep in mind I said my list includes stuff I'd like to see in a CoH2. And since (as far as we know) all CoH2 is, at best, a rumor, I like to think anything is possible at this point (that would include no war walls ).

3) Personal Bases: Basically, it's just something nice I'd like to see for those of us who don't get involved in supergroups. Batman has the batcave, Spider-man has that new base at his job with Horizon Labs, Superman has that arctic base of his. A place to call home, an extra place to store salvage, create inventions, etc. Basically would work like current SG bases except you wouldn't have to be in an SG. At this point, I'll hand the mic back to Mr. Oz on how we personalize those bases.

Well, those are the top 3 things I can think of. Like I said, not all of them have to come this year. Some I know may never come, or will have to wait for CoH2. They're just things I've been thinking about lately that would be nice to have in the future (though that AV system would be nice to have this year ). Also, sorry for the novel.

What I want out of the game, in no particular order, includes:

1. More power customization, including pool and epic power customization so my red electricity dude can have a red electricity epic. Further additional animations for older powers, ideally allowing us to pick which hand to shoot blasts from FOR REAL THIS TIME, as well as adding customization to the powers that didn't have it already.

A. At least a couple of new generic ATs, such as an Assault/Defence one, a Melee/Control one or a Melee/Summon one. There are a fair few extra concepts that can still be accounted for, and it'd be a shame if it never happened. Really, combining Blast powers in some fashion with personal protection in some fashion that's not all the way one or all the way the other is probably the biggest thing I want to see, system-wise.

I. A muscular female texture that's worth its salt. I've already discussed this at length multiple times, but of all the things I want to see, this is THE BIGGEST ONE, by far. Getting more muscular arms as an option for Robotic Arms would be a good idea, as well. As an extension to this, more costume items in the categories often forgotten, like Monster Heads, Monster Feet, Robotic Arms, Tails, Armoured tops and bottoms, tights with skin, hats and so forth.

α. Incarnate content which doesn't require a team, and indeed allows us to "stretch our legs," as it were, and show off the power's we've gotten so far, making slower, steadier progress than in those punishingly hard TFs. In the same vein, Incarnate TFs which are hard not because they are cheap and cheating but because they require more coordination and communication.

* More powerset proliferation already! I want sword Brutes, Axe Scrappers, Ice Stalkers, Dark Blasters and so on and so forth. There is so much more that can be ported around.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville 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.

1. Cross-server teaming (and PvP).

2. Backpacks/jetpacks.

3. Base love. I'll take anything at this point. Go nuts, Devs.

4. Level 20-40 Praetorian content.

5. One hero zone revamp.

My wishlist:

New powers:
Whip/lash/chain for ranged archetypes, including dominator assault version.
Staff melee using combos like DB for all melee archetypes.
Magic energy control for control archetypes, with different buff/debuffs.

Power proliferation:
Martial secondary for blasters
Illusion for dominators
Mental blast for corruptors
Broadsword for tankers
Ice melee for brutes

Power customization 2.0:
APP/PPP Power customization
HEATs and VEATs Animation, weapon and power customization.
Power pools update and customization.

Character creator massive upgrade:
Animated fingers, faces and even a few hairstyles with animated hair.
Upgrade of the older pieces to something in high definition, new textures and more polygons.
Choices of different textures for pieces: cloth, metallic and leather...
Backpacks/jetpacks. NAO!
Asymetric options for shoulders, gloves and boots.

General characters upgrades:
All the important heroes from Paragon get a new improved look, like the Praetorians did with GR.
Switch all the old ugly citizens with new citizens made with current character creator.

QoL
Finally new loading screens for blue/red side.
Warwalls down!! Travel between zones same as in Praetoria, via train or via direct connection.
Supergroup rename option can be bought with prestige.
SG email invitation send to global names.
Switch to character screen with no 30 secs wait anymore.

New zones or missions
Moon zone lvl 50s
Cimerora expanded to Atlantis water zone lvls 35-50 a la RZW
Praetoria expanded lvls 40-50s

I want all this for I20 lol

The same thing I've wanted since I started playing this game in January '05: shiny/sleek tights options anywhere there are 'regular' tights options, ie. for masks, skirts, etc. They went part of the way when they added it for gloves and boots. So why not finish the job?

total Powerset proliferation,

anything that could be ported reasonably to get done, so that they can get on to making new stuff.

I desperately want Illusion on Doms, maybe it will under/over perform, but who cares, lots of things already do?

Quote:

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

1) Monkey Masterminds.
2) Boob animation.

One of those is more likely than the other

1. Costume pieces that I don't have to pay for. Some of the boosters are great but it seems like everything we get now is part of a booster pack.

2. New AT. Something like Melee/Debuff, Assault/Defense or something new.

3. 20+ content for Praetorian, and some TFs too.

My Characters Deviont Art page Currently-reading Me Skydiving

In order of personal Importance

Kheldians

-Kheldian sash
-Kheldian auras
-Removal of Shapeshift animation times
-Making Kheldian Inherant Zone range

Traps

-Something to replace time bomb
-Something to stop acid mortar from making enemies go berzerk and run around

Poison

-Just look at it, and bring it to a point where you stop laughing at it

Masterminds

-Fix the AI please

Stalkers

-Make the Inherant zone range

Arachnos solders

-Can we get the rest of their arms in the Arachnos uniform please

I'm sure I forgot something, but that would be a pretty good start.

Unfortunately, my wishlist would ultimately only benefit me, coz it all pertains to videomaking.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

New AT's:-
Scientist
Magician

New Powersets
Magnetism (controllers and dominators)
Staff (scrappers and stalkers)
Steel Armour (tankers and brutes)
Charged Blades (blasters and corruptors)
Plant (Masterminds)

The ability to invite own Chars to SG.

Increased Density and others with a short buff duration increased.

Being able to have more than 1 power on Auto.

Having my old Enhancement window back where I can read stuff without having a magnifying glass.

City Info Terminals working again (big wish that one).

Mastermind Pets given more controls (that work).

A place to gamble Inf (slot machines, blackjack, Texas Hold-em, Roulette etc.)

The list could go on but that will have to wait till 2012 I suppose.

Those asking for a Ranged or Assault Primary with a Defensive secondary might want to try a Bane Spider, because that's pretty much what they are.