Splitting the Difference (For Freedom Update)

So of what little I know of the upcoming Freedom update, there's going to be a new starting mission that's similar to the tutorial, but in here you get to choose which side (hero/villain) you want them to be... so basically that's saying that everyone has the same access to every class?

This isn't too much of a new thing, as you'll see people switch from villain to rogue to hero, or hero to vigilante to villain. But the thing was: You had to work hard to switch over. I mean, even if you were a Praetorian you still had to go through several missions before you could get your typically villainous class onto the hero side.

/Start Rant (you don't have to read this):
Now people get to start off as however they wish? This... is problematic theme-wise.
We already see a gigantic amount of players on the blue-side. Giving the heroes access to villain classes without having to work to switch over seems a bit much when our classes are basically all that we villains had going for us.
And back when PVP in the smaller servers were still kicking greatly - the villains often were beaten by the teaming heroes. But a lone hero would easily be cut down by a solo villain. And a group of heroes would be repelled by a group of teaming villains, but it was just hard to encourage villains to work together. All in all this experience was VERY TRUE to the idea of villains and heroes...
But now... Mastermind Heroes?? Dominator Heroes?? Defender Villains?? Shouldn't those be kept to a minimum (they're the minority in comics)? Having them to work hard to switch sides was pretty good for a formula, but now this will just make the balance ridiculous thematically.
/End Rant

So I thought... how about making the class inherent skills to be only available to your morality?

As in, you get no inherent abilities for your class until you switch sides.

Example:
Controlling classes would be generic controlling classes with all their power choices, but once they switch over to Hero they earn their Containment inherent ability, or once they switch over to Villain they earn their Domination inherent ability?

Or perhaps specify these inherent skills even further?

As in, you get your inherent abilities from the beginning, but it'll be far more specialized once you switch sides.

Example:
Tankers and Brutes will still get to keep their inherent abilities Gauntlet and Fury in the beginning, but once they switch to hero or villain side their abilities become far more specialized. Gauntlet in villain side will offer a small percentage to Fear effects, and Fury will not fill as quickly in hero side but will increase as teammates are hurt.

And maybe have either of these changes affect you when switching to Rogue or Vigilante?
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I'm merely suggesting these because the differences between villains and heroes are starting to blur far beyond just an idea of specialization.
I want my hero to feel like a hero amongst a community of heroes, and a villain to feel like a villain amongst a community of villains.

This also gives us more purpose when sticking to being a vigilante or rogue, in my honest opinion. When we want to feel like a hero amongst villains, we go rogue. When we want to feel like a villain amongst heroes, we go vigilante.

To blur these changes and making us all basically be the same to one another will give us little to no purpose to choose a banner of heroics or villainy (most will go for heroics since they have more players).

So basically it sounds like you want to undo side-switching?

Um... no.

If you want a "side specific" ability, well, you already have one. Run your morality missions.

See my Guides and Tutorials

I would like to request you stop using giant blocks of ridiculously tiny text because while I am marginally interested in what you have to say, I cannot, in actuality, READ WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY. :/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

Awful idea. Sorry.

When I make a dominator and take it to hero side, it's not because I want to turn it into a controller. It's because I dislike redside. Your idea essentially forces people to STAY on X side just to keep their AT's inherent ability.

There are two other problems with this:

1) The balance issues. A Dominator gets a damage secondary. Giving them containment on top of this would mean that they would be doing absurd amounts of damage. At the same time, a Brute with Gauntlet instead of Fury (not like it doesn't have gauntlet light anyways) would be a low damage scrapper. And what would a villain Blaster get?

2) Most inherent effects aren't actually an inherent, they're tied into the powers based on your AT. A Tanker's attacks have to be modified when porting to Scrappers, to remove Gauntlet and add Criticals. How would this work if you changed sides? They'd have to give you new powers.

I would think that another flaw in this idea is that there is not a 1:1 correlation between the Blue and Red ATs.

What would you match a Corrupter (Scourge) against? Would it be a Blaster (Defiance) or a Defender (Vigilance)? What matches up against a MM?

Really, none of the Blue ATs has an exact 1:1 match in any of the Red ATs. Stalker matches to Scrapper, but so does Brute - all three are about massive melee damage. A Brute may or may not be built to take & hold aggro; she may be built to be a fast-moving destructive force.

So any mechanic that forces a 1:1 correlation inorder to add "flavor" to side switching won't work, sorry.

p.s. - I also have to agree with Aggie - please don't continue to post in the teeny-tiny font.

Are you trying to break the forums, Forbin?

Nice costumes, BTW.

I have a Praetorian Mastermind. If he'd been born on Primal Earth though, he'd be a heroic Mastermind. Not one that started off evil and went good. Just, heroic from the get go.

He is Doctor Zahir Rolando, and he was a fire support technician for the Praetorian Police Department. His robots are semi-autonomous, non-sapient battle units. Three act as fire support, two are defensive units, and one is a siege unit. His Traps are various devices he uses to protect those around him, enhance his robots performance, and damage the enemies will to fight.

There is nothing villainous about the powers he uses. He, as a person, has no intent towards villainy. He just wants to prevent a war between his homeworld and Primal Earth, where he's met nice people and even encountered his counterpart, markedly different are they though in terms of modes of operation.

If he was born on Primal Earth, he'd have likely followed the same life path to bring his expertise to the PPD, or maybe the U.N/NATO.

We know people aren't born evil. We know tools and innate skills have no inherent morality to them, only the way that they are used. We've even got a Latin phrase for it for our medical practitioners: 'Primum non nocere' which in English is 'Above all else, do no harm'. Because medical knowledge could be used to harm someone with incredible intensity and efficiency if used in a malign manner.

We've thankfully gotten Side Switching. And now, we'll have an option to start characters out without having the first 20 levels pre-determined for them based on what they can do, rather than who they are and what they may do. To step backwards would be a dark day in terms of players freedom for concept and character, and as has been mentioned before, mechanically difficult as well

I feel the new starting area is a good move. Though I do like the redside prison break, the change will bring a fresh start for an old tutorial. Most people skip the tutorial now as it is. Plus imagine you and a buddy are bashing badies but once you reach the end you part ways and become bitter rivals in pvp. So what if the hero turns out to be a mastermind. The alignment system will still work people are gonna want to switch sides for badges, tf's/sf's, and let's not forget villian bank missions are awesome. The real problem is making content pointless i.e. the alpha slot nolonger requiers doing the arc, capes and auras can be unlocked with reward merits, and vet rewards seem alot less prestiges. Those are the things that bother me. But then again what do I know.

I'm just curious if this new tutorial will kill off Praetoria.

Nothing wrong with the way your playing Sam.