All Things Art - FX Edition

Oil Strike emote - Black = Water Spout emote.

For Gravity Control..

Have Crush and Crushing Field add a cracked ground effect under the effected target. This would provide a nice contrast between something under the effects of increased gravity verses something under the effects of decreased gravity that the Gravity Displacement and Gravity Displacement Field produces.

Dim Shift.. perhaps use the dark shadowy clone effect from the positron TF on the mobs effected. So rather then being paler they would be all dark and shadowy..

Not sure if its covered by FX exactly.. but I would like to see animation times on some PBAOE attacks standardized/reduced. Irradiate has like a 1 second cast time. Short Circuit, and Combust have 3 second cast times. All of which do DoT damage. This would be a huge quality of life change, especially for blasters.

Dense effects

There's something I want to say that I feel quite strongly: The visual effects of our powers - at least in my eyes - look best when they're dense, opaque and obvious. One of my longstanding problems with 3D graphics is that all sprite effects are always very transparent, because... They can be? I honestly don't get why they are. But the problem is that this takes things that would have looked amazing in 3D, like a thick, dense beam of energy, and render them as amorphous, transparent almost ignorable sprites that aren't nearly as interesting. Fire loses a lot of its apparent power when you can see through it clear as day.

Here's the thing - fire shouldn't be transparent. Fire typically emits far more light than the surrounding terrain can reflect through it, so when you look into a fire, you see a fire. You don't see a cloud of slow-moving yellowish gas that's transparent to everything behind it. You see fire. Same with energy - if it glows, it probably glows harder than what that tree behind it can reflect. I get that effects need to be transparent at least somewhat so that they blend with the background seamlessly, but when I get shot with what's supposed to be an energy blast actually looks like a flashlight with a blue lens... I cry foul. This doesn't look cool, it looks fake.

Interestingly, the Judgement powers seem to have the right effect. I've only really seen Pyronic judgement up close and with enough warning to observe it, but the effects on that were really cool. With Pyronic, you bathe an area in fire, and that's SERIOUS fire. Not the sparse dancing gas of Fireball or the... Really not much of anything at all of Inferno. This is is serious fire that, when it burns, it consumes and engulfs everything in it. It's exactly the kind of effect I've always wanted to see from large-scale Fire powers.

Inferno, by contrast, looks so poor it actually looks bugged. The power itself has barely any effect at all, save for the screen shake, and what effects show up on affected critters is minor, at best. Inferno should be a big deal. It should be the one to produce a massive, impressive fireball or a dense pillar of fire, ore a tangible explosion, it should be the one to leave everything covered in fire. Instead, it's only slightly more visually impressive than Explosive Arrow.

Effects need to be dense, opaque and obvious. There should never be a large power fired where I go "Wait... Did something just happen?" and only figure out what exactly happened by looking at which Blaster is sporting an empty end bar.

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.

An idea I've always had for an alternate animation for Hurl and similar powers (Hurl Boulder, etc) is while keeping the "pick up thing and throw it" is to combine it with the appeal of Propel from the Gravity Control set. Propel is a very slow firing power, but I've always liked it because it let me hit people in the face with forklifts. So the idea is that you maybe use a sideways grab, like Hurl with Shield Defense, but instead of grabbing a chunk of pavement or rock, you grab a random object like in Propel and hurl that at the target, with the associated detritus that tends to follow gravity controllers about. One of the common complaints about Superstrength is that you can't actually hit people with stuff (like cars), and this would give you something to that effect.

Also lets you Litter for Justice.

I'm not sure how this other idea works with which power sets, and if it's better as an alternate animation for certain sets or an aura or what, but I really like the aura on Praetorian Police when they take hits and they get that honeycomb energy field effect. Really gets across that they've got energy shields without being distracting, and it looks cool. I'd love the ability for something like this on characters, auras or effects that trigger when you take hits or do certain actions. What I'm not sure on is if it'd work better as something to go in the Aura slot or an alternate power animation or what, and if it was in as an alternate power animation, not sure which sets it would go with.

I'd like the Tornado in Storm Control to be more like Water Spout or Sirocco's dust storms. I've always felt Tornado looked like someone stepped on it.

Fire armor could really use a serious update. My Elec/Fire brute (whose powers are all tinted pale yellow/pale red) currently looks as though he's been dipped in a cotton candy machine when he's all armored up. Not very flamey at all.

I might be in the minority of wanting fewer effects in general. I prefer to have the effects of what matters really show up, vs. a lot of visual clutter. And some things just makes no sense at all to me. Here are the things I would love to see changed:

-Hasten. Why do you get your hands encased in fire because you have a high metabolism? If someone had this high metabolism, why is only their hands burning off all those calories? For in-game playing terms, why would other players need to see it... ever? Who cares? All my toons have hasten. I would love to see their gloves some day.

-Superspeed. Why are my feet encased in a fiery aura even if I'm standing still? I think it looks pretty nifty on toons who actually ARE running around - love to see those little comets of fire behind them (the operative term being "behind them"). But standing still? Why? How about a bit of a cloud of smoke behind you when you run as an alternative, like the arctic air effect?

-Fly. I know, it's subtle, but when I notice it, it's annoying. Why do I look vaguely fuzzy? Why on earth would there be any effect at all from flying, unless some mechanism were involved, like the wonderful rocket boots? I mean.. isn't the fact that I'm airborne proof enough that I'm using flight powers?

-Would like to see customization of epic powers, as well, so they integrate with one's powers and the color palette you're using.

-Ice armor and worse, Stone Armor, are really dreadful. I have toons who have gone all the way to Grandville and back to get not-ugly armor? (Their Mace Armor is attractive, too, I have to say!)
I am female in RL, so this stuff leaves me puzzled. What female super hero went to the armor store and said "YES! That's IT! The Poo Man pet is my fashion icon! WOO HOO!"
Yes, the ice armor is clunky and obscures the costume. Yes, I am reminded of the fly in the ice cube joke toy when I see myself in it. But nothing in this game is as dreadful looking as that poo yoke. Nothing!

-Would love to see items that cause the effects, rather than a power coming off the hand, head or body. A beam weapon or lazer for high tech toons' blasts. It just seems illogical to have a tech origin, yet lack ability to show any technology being used which creates these powers! A wand for magic users which has the blast powers would be amazing. Are all our magic origin characters chanting, or reciting incantations for each and every power they use? How are these powers occuring?

That's all I can think of for now. Thank you, Tunnel Rat, for taking the time to read and respond in this thread! Love reading everyone's comments, ideas and suggestions, and enjoy the thread a lot.

PS you and Noble Savage were my favorite NPC's in Praetoria. Am only mildly embarrassed to admit both of you made me tear up a time or two. Coincidence? I think not!

Another request/idea. Not sure if this goes under an effect or a power... but I'd really like access to something like the Macross-style missile swarms the Malta Titans, pre-i20 IDF Heavy Support Infantry missile guys had, the Rikti Pylons shoot, Assault Robots have, etc. Big swarm of missiles, blowing stuff up. I'd really love the ability to fire those missile swarms, either from the hands or shoulders or chest or whatever. It could work as an epic level power or maybe a Judgement power. A lot of tech characters could use something like that.

Also, the Clockwork chest beam cannon rocks.

Adding a cracked ground effect for powers such as Lift/Levitate that are simple "what goes up, flops back down" style knockup powers would probably be a good idea ... so as to "sell" the Hits The Ground part of the power.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

Recent reveals have me a bit troubled, concerning Power customization. Sets like Kinetic melee, Titan Weapons, Street Justice, Powers like the hoverboard, as well as Path Auras. All of them look like they are going to be (or ARE) excellent, but all of them seem like they could have just as well been Customization options for Energy Melee, Larger Weapons for various weapon sets (Warmace, Battle Axe. Broad Sword, and Katana, to be exact) Animation Customization for Martial Arts, and Full-on Travel Power Customization for pools respectively

What I'd really like to hear is that someone, some how, somewhere in Paragon Studios is doing something involving power customization. Not just listening to player requests, and ideas, but actually doing something. Would it be at all possible to receive any word in that regard? I don't need to know, what they're doing, how they're doing it, who they are, what they had for breakfast, what their mother's maiden name is, or anything else like that. I just want to know something is getting done in that department. I would hate to find out, (or worse, be in the dark forever and continue to hope for something that won't be) that it was decided to be a dead end and the new mentality is "Make a new power-set/power/aura for that" When it comes to greater customization in the realm of powers.


As for what I'd like to see? I feel like customization of basic themes for standard sets to fit as wide a variety as possible is the way to go. Allowing the regular players to, in theory, make anything a VIP player or Premium can make, but not as cool, not as detailed, not as close to their true idea. Right now with Martial Arts I can make a non-kung-fu character easily. I can't make something as cool and detailed and full of new flash as Street Justice, but I can make my idea come to life. Even better new and fancier animations don't have to be added to "Premium" sets as those would be one of the primary appeals to them, in addition to new and exciting game-play features

Let's start with what I'd like to call

"Customization Proliferation"
With the second round of Power customization you added the ability to have powers that had traditionally fired from the head/eyes/mouth fire from the hands instead, freeing up quite a lot of powers for new concepts. Unfortunately the reverse couldn't be said. Quite a lot of dragons were very sad on that day.

Super strength and martial arts received new striking animations, with punches and kicks added. The elemental sets? not so much.
Two words:


I think a first good step(And I know this isn't particularly an effects issue, but I know some effects would have to be modified to allow for these ideas) would be to get a selection of "Standard" animations into the wide range of elemental Powers, Kicks from Martial Arts, Punches from Energy Melee(and others) and Super Strength, Breath attacks from Sonic, "Mind" attacks from Mental and PSI sets, and of course "Eye blast" animations and effects to the various "elemental" sets they would be appropriate to.

The Closest thing now would be taking Super Strength, MA, or Energy melee and putting in the appropriate combat aura, which often isn't available until level thirty for the vast majority of players, and in the case of kicks, really isn't a proper option.

I'd like to see Martial Arts Kick(as well as Fighting, Brawl and Even Foot-stomp where appropriate) Animations for:

1. Energy Melee
2. Electric Melee
3. Dark Melee
4. Fiery Melee
5. Ice Melee
6. Earth Melee
7. Energy Manipulation
8. Ice Manipulation
9. Fire Manipulation
10. Electricity Manipulation
11. Mental Manipulation
12. (Upcoming) Darkness Manipulation
13. Earth Assault
14. Fiery Assault
15. Icy Assault
16. Electricity Assault
17. Energy Assault
18. Psionic Assault

1. Electric Melee
2. Dark Melee
3. Fiery Melee
4. Ice Melee
5. Earth Melee
6. Ice Manipulation
7. Fire Manipulation
8. Electricity Manipulation
9. Mental Manipulation
10. (Upcoming) Darkness Manipulation
11. Earth Assault
12. Fiery Assault
13. Icy Assault
14. Psionic Assault

1. Fire Blast
2. Electrical Blast
3. Dark Blast
4. Energy Blast
5. Ice Blast
6. Radiation Blast
7. Psychic Blast
8. Earth Assault
9. Fiery Assault
10. Icy Assault
11. Electricity Assault
12. Energy Assault
13. Psionic Assault

1. Fire Blast
2. Electrical Blast
3. Dark Blast
4. Energy Blast
5. Ice Blast
6. Radiation Blast
7. Psychic Blast
8. Earth Assault
9. Fiery Assault
10. Icy Assault
11. Electricity Assault
12. Energy Assault
13. Psionic Assault

1. Fire Blast
2. Electrical Blast
3. Dark Blast
4. Energy Blast
5. Ice Blast
6. Radiation Blast
7. Psychic Blast
8. Earth Assault
9. Fiery Assault
10. Icy Assault
11. Electricity Assault
12. Energy Assault
13. Psionic Assault

1. Fire Blast
2. Electrical Blast
3. Dark Blast
4. Energy Blast
5. Ice Blast
6. Radiation Blast
7. Psychic Blast
8. Earth Assault
9. Fiery Assault
10. Icy Assault
11. Electricity Assault
12. Energy Assault
13. Psionic Assault

1. Reactive Defense for all Defense sets: As mentioned earlier in this thread, Reactive Defense is a concept where the effects of a Defensive Toggle Power can only be seen when the character using it is either Attacked or Protected from attack(by said Defensive toggle, of course) and then (visually) turns off
2. Ultra-mode effects: New effects for all Power sets taking advantage of Ultra-mode graphics capability(somehow)
3. MOAR TENTACLES! I like the dark, mysterious Tentacles found in some dark power sets, as well as Soul Mastery It reminds me of Characters Like Venom, the Lovecraft Mythos, The Darkness(obviously) Floormasters The Boogie man, and all other manner of Spookity-Ookiness. I'd like to be able to make a dark character(any kind, Range, defense, melee, debuff, something)using nothing but those tentacles or something like them if possible.
4. Elemental weapons: Sets like Fire, Ice, and Earth Use elemental weapons that many people love, many people hate, and many people want for other powersets allowing plalyers to choose to use or not use those weapons completely for their elemental melee/Assault/Manipulation sets would be a great advancement. Even more, Adding weapon concepts to the other elemental sets as well, Darkness Talons, Lightning "Rods", Psychic blades. I'm sure it would make a lot of people happy.
5. More variety. Just more new stuff in terms of effects so my fire blast doesn't look exactly like everyone Else's except for a different color

I wish we could turn off FX for travel powers in I21, specially with those new Tier 5 powers for travel powers.
Pretty please?

What would you say to the idea of Sonic animations that are less screams and more as if they were sung?

I sent Tunnel Rat a PM with a suggestion the other day. Since her response had relevant info beyond "post it in the thread", here's the whole discussion:

Opacity (Transparency/Intensity) Slider for powers available in the Costume Creator. Some powers obscure visibility over large enough area to cause issues; especially when certain colors are used (like Hurricane).

Uh oh, Coolio's got another idea...

Glow Tech Chest Emblems, similar to the flat plain ones but with glow FX,
some could potentially be animated too as per the Victoriana aura.

They could possibly use the pre-existing dual color patterns for the flat chest emblems too.

I'd like to see powersets that only have "color tintable" options also have "bright" and "dark" options.

For example: Dark Blast and Dark Miasma only have "color tintable" as an option but it doesn't look very good. The colors are so flat and dull. a "bright" option could turn these "misty/murky" powers into something very visually stunning... imagine a dark blast Gloom (which has that neat floaty skull visual) as an ethereal looking glowy green instead of the very flat and dull green we can access now.

Another example: Pain Domination... the "color tintable" is really just "dark" and you can barely see or appreciate the visual effects. I'd much rather have the OPTION of an alternative that was bright like Empathy has. Let ME decide how to color my powers for my theme and not hold me to subjective decisions as to what is a "good" and "evil" look for a power.

Active/"Motion" gradient effect option for power and aura colors (possibly even glow-tech costume pieces)...

For example, an Ice Blast that starts of as Blue/White but cycles into Purple/Green at some point beyond the powers point of origin.

Armor (and other) toggles and Auras that cycle through a players choice of colors