I like my nictus shield

I have a level 50 electric melee/shield defense scrapper, Sparks Fly. She has a nictus shield. It's very spiffy and cool looking. One of the cool things about it is that I had to earn it. I had to run ITF -- twice. Never mind that the ITF is a lot of fun and I've run it probably more than 20 times on this character alone.

You don't see level one characters running around with a nictus shield, and that is cool. In a game where you can look like almost anything you want to look like out of the box, I like having a shield that not everyone sees every day, that people may stop and think, "Wow, that looks cool, how do I get that for myself?"

I have a level 50 katana/regen scrapper, Mouse Police. She has a rularuu katana. It's awesome looking. I even wrote it into her backstory. One of the cool things about it is that not everyone has one. I had to earn it.

MMOs are all about finding ways to make your character better. In the vast majority of MMOs, that starts with having a cookie-cutter character with rather boring looks to start with. Then, as you gain new gear and stuff you get to look cooler, more powerful, less like the level one nobodies. The people that designed CoH rightly determined that even level one heroes are not meant to look like cookie-cutter boring clones, so they designed a game where what you looked like had virtually nothing to do with how tough or powerful you really were. Everyone can look cool at level one.

But! MMOs are all about finding ways to make yourself better. At launch, there were nearly no ways to do this, aside from leveling up to 40 and then eventually 50. But then along came hami-O's, badges and accolade rewards, and then invention IOs and new temporary powers, all kinds of things were added. Some of those things were special costume parts that had to be earned, through task forces, through raids. People have always complained about such "locked" costume pieces, but the fact is, they're still few and far between in CoH as compared to most other MMOs, and many players like having such rewards to look forward to.

Look, I have a brand new level 50 fire melee/shield defense scrapper. I created her about four, five weeks ago and managed to hit 50 on Saturday. I've only run an ITF with her once, so I need to do that again, because I'll get a cool nictus shield as a reward. I don't have Task Force Commander yet -- I still need the two Posi TFs. I'm still working on some of those other accolades -- I need to hunt Tsoo sorcerers, BP masks, and Circle of Thorn mages. I will probably go to the Shadow Shard at some point to earn my rularuu shield as well. And, of course, I've only just unlocked my alpha slot so I have a lot of incarnate stuff to do on this character.

I have things to look forward to for this character. I'm still finishing up her build. I'm working on earning 30 hero merits so I can buy a nice PvP IO (I'm at 19 a-merits at the moment). Each new thing I accomplish makes the character that much better, that much more complete.

As much as I like the combat system in this game, if I didn't have goals to achieve I would have probably gotten bored and quit long ago.

In point of fact, I did quit long ago, back before Issue 5 hit. There wasn't enough in the game to hold my interest back then.

Costume pieces as rewards are part of those goals, part of what keeps me playing, part of what keeps me interested in a character, one of the ways I can "improve" said character. I actually have multiple characters with such rewards -- not only my em/shield and katana/regen scrapper, but also a level 50 broadsword/shield scrapper with nictus, rularuu, and Vanguard weapons; a broadsword/regen scrapper with nictus and rularuu swords; various characters with Vanguard weapons and the costume change emote, all of which I unlocked well before I was able to earn the Vanguard pack.

Oh, that's right -- I have the Vanguard pack now, so even that wasn't locked off behind content forever.

So for all of the people that seem to think the world is coming to an end because a new set of armor is locked behind content, I say If every costume option in the game were available at level one, the game would be less interesting. That's right. I'd have fewer things to look forward to, fewer ways to advance my character, fewer things to work towards, and fewer ways to look, for want of a better word, "epic".

Maybe someday you'll be able to buy a nictus shield and broadsword with cash or reward points or whatever. I kind of hope not. But until that day comes, I'll feel cool walking around with mine on display, and I'll feel cool every time I draw my rularuu katana. I haven't earned/bought any of the new incarnate armor yet, but amazingly enough I think having one armor set that distinguishes you as an incarnate is a good thing. And no, I don't want to see a level one walking around in that armor. And yes, it looks really cool -- that's the whole point.

I do understand that all the costume customization available at level one is one of the strengths of this game. But it does not break the game to have this one armor set available to incarnates. Or at least, to level 50s who have at least one incarnate somewhere.

It gives me something new to work towards. ^_^

(I'm less convinced that the new auras also needed to be content-locked, but eh.)

I remember when I scored my first first costume unlock... it was the Council rifle. I wanted it so bad for my AR/Dev Blaster... I really would have wanted it at lvl 1 when I first made her, but I earned it. I purposely hunted down any Council I could to get it as soon as I could. I know that unlock is a minor one and really pretty easy to get, but it made it worth it to me for putting the effort forward to get it. I love my Council rifle.

So your solution to the problem of a character progression system based around having cookie-cutter characters who all look the same is to support a system that gives value to random objects, thus resulting in cookie-cutter costumes that all look the same? The mere fact that you'd mention using the Nictus shield on two different character is evidence enough for this, partly because I actually hate how the thing looks, and partly because you're supporting costumes that don't so much look "good" but rather look "exclusive."

Personally, I find that to be the very antithesis of everything the City of Heroes character editor stands for. The editor, as I see it, is a tool for creative expression. It doesn't reward exclusivity, it rewards artistic skill. Yes, a new player just logging into the game may see a Bright Nova or a Nictus Shield and be impressed, but that new player would be equally impressed, if not much more so, by a great, well-made costume even if it comprised entirely of stock parts. Because it's not the parts that make the costume, it's the skill of the maker behind the wheel.

Take one look at the "Best Costume Designs" thread and note what people there praise - not the Vanguard/Rularuu/Ascendant encrusted costumes (not frequently, anyway), but all too often the simpler Tights+Patterns designs, the more iconic creations, and often the purely bizarre oddities we come up with. That, to me, is how the system should work - give people as wide a creative toolkit as possible and then grade their performance, not their entitlement.

Achievements in the game will not give you a "better" costume, because what is "good" is entirely subjective. They may give you more options, but as is the case with capes, those options aren't always useful for every design. At the end of the day, what matters is what you do with said options, not which options you have. I sincerely hope that with the Freedom move, I'll have the option of voting with my wallet and broadening my creative toolkit AT CREATION.

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.

Doesn't seem terribly random to me (defeat Nictus AV, get Nictus-themed unlock). Nor does it strike me as terribly exclusive, beyond the fact that you have to do the ITF to get it.

You want broad creation options at the outset, and that's fine, I want that too. But I am also very okay with some things being unlocked through in-game achievement.

Later on,
Gate

What does the Nictus Shield look like? I can't find a picture of it on ParagonWiki.

Organica, Samuel your both right.

Organica your saying that after making a toon and later on earning an additional costume part you feel that that costume part is a bage of honor. it says "This is what I have experienced, look at me, my costume reflects this it says something about what I have survived."

Unlockable costume parts are great for this purpose when your story doesn't call for them.


That is Sams beef with unlocks. Some times you make a cool concept and costume and then you go to select your weapon only to have to use a stand in that looks like krap and pulls you out of the character every time you go to play it. this forces you to wait until level 35 or 45 before you can actually start to really enjoy your character the way you intended to.


The solution is simple. Allow us to buy vouchers for weapons. One Astral merit for a weapon you've unlocked on a different character.

For example my mercenaries/traps has unlocked the nemesis assault rifles however my assault rifle/devices blaster has not. so I log into my mercenaries/traps go to Oro pay a single Astral merit and get the voucher So that I can then log into my assault rifle blaster and unlock that weapon and update my steam punk costume for that character.

Or let's say I don't have a carnival mallett unlocked on any of my characters but I do have the badge for killing illusions so log in the character has that badge Go to Oro and boom one Astral merit for a voucher So that I can make a level one Warmace character login and get the Carnival mallet.

My point is that if you have the weapon unlocked or the badge that would unlock that weapon you should be able to get a voucher for a single astral merit to unlock that weapon on any other character.

My biggest problem with "earning" costume pieces like the Nictus shield, for example, is the fact that by the time they can be earned, there's no longer a point for me to want one for my characters. I know I'm in the minority, but even though I don't RP, all of my characters are just that: characters. They have a backstory and a theme and even what I'd imagine is their own little (if generally one-dimensional) personality. These characters come into being at level 1, not level 50, not even level 35. For me to use these "earned" parts, there needs to be a reason both why these characters would use the parts, as well as why they didn't before they were unlocked.

It seems like a lot of the people I've teamed with have just sort of an arbitrary "roman armor" costume that they use after completing the ITF, for example. I don't have a single character that uses those pieces, because the look is distinct enough that, really, if I wanted someone to look like a Roman, it's something I'd want to pick from the very beginning.

That said, I understand why the things locked behind the ITF, for example, are locked behind it. They are thematically appropriate to such. Locking the Ascension Armor behind a raid is similarly thematically appropriate. Granted, I, personally, wouldn't use that particular set even if it was free (it's not that it's poorly designed, it's just that personally, I find it kinda ugly in practical use), so that may be the only reason I'm "okay" with that.

The other unlockables are sort of a weird position for me. On the one hand, they sort of do eliminate the problematic contradiction of the ITF pieces. They're pieces that have been "earned", but they're also pieces that can be used as an original character concept. Honestly, I'd think this would bother a lot of the people that wear unlockables as a symbol of achievement, since the character wearing it isn't the character that unlocked it, but that might be me treating my characters like characters again. Similarly, while I understand why the pieces locked behind the ITF are where they are, most of the raid pieces (with the exception of Ascension) don't have anything to do with raiding. A PPD armor aura would make sense. Being slimy? Not so much.

Finally, a note on the way the new pieces are unlocked. I saw the various pieces on Beta, and my response on pretty much all of them was "these are nice, but not nice enough that they're worth grinding more raids for". In this particular case, it doesn't matter how big and juicy they make the carrot, really, because the stick is long and hard and it's covered in thorns. For me, personally, they're a failure as a bribe, in just the same way that I don't/won't farm for purples, or join PvP matches. I'll grit my teeth and bear it when I'm forced to do so for the sake of character progression. But my response to grinding these same raids for anything else...is not something appropriate to post in a family forum. If not for the Beta server, I would barely even be aware these pieces exist, would have no idea what they even looked like, and wouldn't care at all.

ITF for the Nictus shield: Sure
ITF for Entire Roman set.... ok... but there are a lot of generic pieces there.
Guardian Cathedral of Pain for the Rularuu weapons: Sure
Incarnate merits for the Ascension set: Sure

Incarnate merits for a faint emote, chest emblem or a generic aura: NO!

Gated "Unique" pieces I'm all in favour of.
Generic, useful pieces that have minimal alternates in the existing selection gated behind unrelated content, that is just poorly thought-out time sink

I wouldn't mind costume pieces being 'unlocked', account-wide, by your level 50, end-game clearing character.
Provided that they are available to further characters you create. At character creation.

Like another poster, I don't run around with the roman armor. In fact, I have a costume slot that is a roman costume, but I don't use it often. I only put it on when I run an ITF, in hopes that others do so too and we can have a thematic run. As you can call it, for shitz and giggles.
Other than that, my characters aren't romans. If they were, I'd want them to look like one from level 1.

I can somewhat understand on the weapon side of things, but even then, the generic customization requires a lot more options for me to fully support (aka not be against) this.

On a side note, when I join a group, I always look for the character with the costume that I like best and pick that one as my first target for Mystic Fortune. I also try and give them wakies or TP them first, if I can.
Think of it as an unwritten, unmentioned reward.

I'd really hate it if we all started with plain tights and had to unlock costume pieces as we grow in strength. (Just a thought, by the way. Not directed at any given post.)


All in all, the smaller the impact something has on a character's costume/outfit (think maybe a wristband or a small collar -hell, I would have made npc-related (think group) emblems and the likes drop like flies throughout the whole game), the more I am unaffected by how accessible it is from level 1 onwards. Things like Capes and Auras, I can understand, it also adds some sort of feeling of getting stronger (as well as fit in with the lore), but when you get into full sets of 'gears', I just can't help but be against it.