The New Look for Circle of Thorns
By
A Musing Mage,
Posted on: 2011-08-08 10:57 in Developers' Corner
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Thank you. Thank you. This covers it nicely. It's everything I wanted to say (but just couldn't dredge up the required energy) and more. /e salute.
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Originally Posted by Casual_Player
OK,
We've improved from 'Gawdawful Abomination' to 'Meh'. These costumes are still pointless ostentation for the sake of ostentation, but they're no longer screamingly abhorrent and do somewhat echo the previous look. I'd just as soon see the abandonment of the ridiculous amounts of layers, pads and spikiness that every costume option we've seen in the past couple of months has been burdened with, but apparently that's not going to happen. Welcome to the Circle of Liefeld. It's a fairly deep circle of hell, close by the one set aside for multiple covers, issue Zeroes, and Wizard Magazine. My only question is this: what are the Carnival of Shadows going to say/do when they discover that the Circle of Thorns, a dark and secretive cult, is now more shiny and colorful than they are? |
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DITTO BUT I love the shoulders the best!!!!!!
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Originally Posted by Zyphoid
I want the long skirt option, and the belt, and shoulders, and back, and gloves... well really I want ALL of it.
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There doesn't need to be a story for this. It's a retcon. The circle have always been like this. *hand wave*|
Originally Posted by Grae Knight
That is far from a small change.
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The need to explain things ingame that need no explanation ingame gave us dumb things like the 'lore' on the invention system and powerset proliferation and incohesive stuff like the origins of power arcs.
On the new CoT looks:
These looks do indeed fit more closely with their original looks. I like em a lot. Think I like the energy mage the most.
I kinda liked the half hoods for the minions that were on the original redesign, (even though they across more assassin than mage i.m.o.) and I hope they end up in the costume creator at one point.
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You know, I understand what you're saying here...|
Originally Posted by Zyphoid
Makes one wonder how many members of the art team are thinking "&#^$ you guys!" right now.
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But I think that angle is totally missing the bigger picture.
There was a ridiculous amount of unique/individual customers in agreement about the initial glimpses.
Those bald guys with goatees, wearing the Sexy Flanders thorns outfits weren't an optical illusion of low-grade cell phone photography.
I think everyone should focus on how awesome it is for the product that we enjoy to have such a large fandom. That is a wonderful thing.
The existing game has a legacy and the continuing product has a community of fans that care!!
That is absolutely &#^$ing awesome. And to be a part of that continuing product, as an artist, designer, writer, programmer, coffee-make, etc. is a &#^$ing pretty cool thing.
I think everyone should be happy (except those who don't like the latest changes, of course).
Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone misses the mark and/or underestimates the values of certain things...
Not everyone has a vocal, loyal, passionate fan-base that lets them know about it...
And not every continuing product has a team that listens and responds in kind.
I say thumbs up to the community and to Paragon Studios.
And praise to City Of Heroes for being a 7 year old franchise with historical legacy and a vibrant future.
Yep... I'm drinkin' the cool aid today and it tastes GOOOOOD.
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Wow that a while other extreme from what the look like now
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I'm now going to have to join Michelle and leave off the soda. THAT is pure awesome!|
Originally Posted by Angerdog
I'm afraid I could not resist a quick sojourn into Photoshop.
Live from japan, it's the circle of ROCK!!!! You can purchase your pope hats at the door. |
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Also: Six years of casual play begins to look an awful lot like one year of hardcore play.
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Ok while I much prefer the new design over the one we saw at the SDC...I can't help but laugh at that.|
Originally Posted by Angerdog
I'm afraid I could not resist a quick sojourn into Photoshop.
Live from japan, it's the circle of ROCK!!!! You can purchase your pope hats at the door. |
Now it's got me wondering what kind of Rock/Metal they would play.
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Ok, haven't read the thread yet and trying to be positive here, it's more of a tweak than I expected and now it is obvious at least what faction it is supposed to be with the hats, dark faces and more 'robey' appearance. Unfortunately, the look that the devs are in love with is one I have a hard time with in general and now it's cranked up to eleven. They look like a parody of themselves but I'm just going to write this off as a difference in taste and at least be content the remind me of the CoT.
I'll probably grow to love to to hate them anyway. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the designs, especially if the ghosts and beasts are being remade also.
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So this is how the C.o.T are getting sonic based powers...
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Originally Posted by Angerdog
I'm afraid I could not resist a quick sojourn into Photoshop.
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I tire of hearing complaints over this. I'm evoking this card in attack mode:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...easableFanbase
First the costumes were "too spandex".
Now they're "too fantasy". I guess we can't have that for the spell, dagger and crossbow wielding arcane ghost cult who live in a magical underground city with their demon pals.
And since I've played Unpleasable Fanbase while under the Sarcasm spell, I get to put another card on the field in defense mode:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...edItNowItSucks
Heaven forbid we update the 9 year old models of crude low polygon brown robes that don't react with proper physics with anything other than slightly higher polygon count brown robes that still wouldn't react with proper physics.
.
These changes look awesome (and I liked the first round)!
Now I am going to be choosing CoT to fight a whole lot more!
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umm...Death Metal?
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Originally Posted by Dr_MechanoEU
Now it's got me wondering what kind of Rock/Metal they would play.
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This is much, much better than the first take on them. Especially the choices of|
Originally Posted by El Topo
Howdee friends,
*snip*  |
color. I'd probably shade the Minions a little bit darker, but they look good.
The lts(Energy and Life mage)... I'm still down on these myself, I'm sorry. They look
like refugees from a WH40K Craftworld. The armor layer looks too thick and heavy,
particularly on the torso and arms.
The bosses I guess are alright now. I'd take those dumb wings off the back of the Death
Mage, but if they absolutely have to be made in the generic character creator,
rather than as unique NPC assets, they'll do OK overall. I wish to all holy whatever
that the art team wasn't so ThatOtherMMO about the direction of the design, but,
y'know. Whatever. Clearly this is a non-arguable part of the decision at this point.
I'm not completely happy with them still, but I'm sure I could learn to live with them. The
main problem I'm having with them right now, is I'm visualizing these guys in place of the
current CoT, in the various pre-set "spawn vignettes" in Perez Park and Steel Canyon,
and it's a tough nut to swallow. I think it's going to look incredibly out of place. Maybe
you guys already took that into account with new activities for them?
Probably no worse than seeing armless Hordelings reading books and attending
philosophical lectures in Cap though. I just hope you guys didn't mess up the ghosts
and succubi too much.
Somehow I completely blocked out the Casters in my critique the first go. I
think that's telling on how I felt about them - same problem as with the lts,
except their hats are OK. I can live with them, but for especially for minions,
they look too tooled-up and busy.
I don't see how 'looking like a fantasy MMO' makes these outfits 'a more modern take' at all....what was wrong with mysterious robed cultists? Ascension armor, this....what, is Aion designing CoH now? I think it looks positively silly but I suppose I can just avoid them and hope this trend dies before it afflicts the rest of the game. Meh.
Daaaaayum, I like!
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Not as much as you might think.|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
2. There doesn't seem to be enough distance between the thorn caster minions and the bosses. The original group had a visual progression of formless robes for the minions, the robes with exposed head for the LTs, and the spiky robes with head dress for the bosses. Here the minion looks kinda close to the LTs, but the caster minions look really close to the bosses. I think that is an important visual cue that will be lost in combat. The casters should probably get shorter, less impressive head gear than the bosses to visually distinguish them.
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Thorn Caster:
Death Mage:
Currently, the differences between Thorn Casters and Boss class Mages are color scheme and shoulder/face accessories. That hasn't really changed with this revamp. Well, the hats on the Mages are currently a bit taller, too, so maybe a shorter hat is in order to keep the silhouette balance of power.
"I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes."
I'll add my voices to the chorus; much better than the first try.
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Actually it reminds me of the kind of guys who showed up in Doctor Strange comics. Impractically fancy outfits with multiple layers and parts sticking out all over.
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Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
The generic "spiked 'n' stacked" look still looks entirely too reminiscent of contemporary fantasy gaming art - from pen and paper RPGs to video games - and not something suitable to a comic book superhero atmosphere.
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+1 with awesome sauce!
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Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
I'm torn between what I can't wait to do more:
Fight these guys... ...or dress up like them?  |
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"Highway to Hell".
| Now it's got me wondering what kind of Rock/Metal they would play. |
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Please read the thread.|
Originally Posted by Johnny_Butane
I tire of hearing complaints over this. I'm evoking this card in attack mode:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...easableFanbase First the costumes were "too spandex". Now they're "too fantasy". I guess we can't have that for the spell, dagger and crossbow wielding arcane ghost cult who live in a magical underground city with their demon pals. |
Most of the comments so far have been positive and to the effect that the developers listened to the players and made changes that most of the players like.
There is a major difference between the oh hell no, not that from the original thread and the I love it / You Are Much Closer / Needs a few more tweaks that this thread is generating.
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And since I've played Unpleasable Fanbase while under the Sarcasm spell, I get to put another card on the field in defense mode: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...edItNowItSucks Heaven forbid we update the 9 year old models of crude low polygon brown robes that don't react with proper physics with anything other than slightly higher polygon count brown robes that still wouldn't react with proper physics. |
One of the earlier posters on the subject of "why" also had the following to say:
Post asking why: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...9&postcount=58
Post explaining why: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...3&postcount=68
Original Poster's final comment: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...6&postcount=77
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| Sorry couldn't resist, you make highly valid points, thank you for the response. |
I've gotta say the art department has done a fricken phenomenal job on the second revamp for the CoT costumes. Those look simply amazing. And of course now everybody's going to complain that the rest of the villain groups look plain, dull, and boring. I hope you understand what a can of worms you guys have opened up now....
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Well, the differences are kind of exactly as much as I think, because I double-checked in-game first before posting. Those two are easily distinguishable because the boss hats are much taller and only the bosses have the exaggerated spikes. The difference now is very minimal for every boss except the Death Mage. In my opinion the Bosses should look different from the minions in at least one or two overt visual ways beyond just color scheme.
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Originally Posted by Ms. Mesmer
Not as much as you might think.
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Love it.
But will we still have female Oranbegans?
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My only question is this: what are the Carnival of Shadows going to say/do when they discover that the Circle of Thorns, a dark and secretive cult, is now more shiny and colorful than they are?