Phasing Tech and Faction Nemesis
By
Arctic_Princess,
Posted on: 2011-08-17 11:02 in Suggestions and Ideas
I like it. /signed
Open Archetype Suggestion thread!, Kirsten's Epic Weapon Pools, Feudal Japan, Etc., Alignment specific Rularuu iTrials!
If Masterminds didn't suck, they'd be the most powerful AT in the game.
Flesh it out a bit more and see where it goes.
It's still a little too vague for me to say whether I like it, but I don't have anything against the idea so far.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
I think that's the big problem, Claws: It really is just a weird, vague idea in my head.
I'll have another think about it and see if I can come up with something more substantial.
I think it's a really good idea personally. This is the kind of in-game function that brings your character to life that CoH needs. Perhaps a consequence of this, after you complete your final mission, combat phasing causes the Tsoo to no longer spawn for you in a specific zone. It will seem as though you have driven them out completely.
Bad Voodoo by @Beyond Reach. Arc ID #373659. Level 20-24. Mr. Bocor has fallen victim to a group of hooded vigilantes who have been plaguing Port Oakes, interfering with illegal operations and pacifying villain's powers. He demands that revenge is taken on these miscreants and his powers are returned! You look like just the villain for the job. Challenging.
So I've had a few more ideas.
They are limiting at the moment, because story-wise I think they should be. YMMV.
In my idea for Faction Nemesis and Phasing, I am excluding the following game zones:
- Atlas Park
- Mercy Island
- Rikti War Zone
- Cimerora
- Croatoa
- First Ward
- Striga Isle
- Faultline
- Monster Island
- Shadow Shard
- Nova Praetoria
- Imperial City
- Neutropolis
My reasoning is that these zones already have 'stories'. Sure folks may think a couple of them could do with updating but personally, I think their stories are sound enough and, mechanically, some of them don't have 'easy' neighbourhoods in which to be 'ambushed' (Faultline being one of these, Striga another, let alone First Ward with its Shadowed Paths and faction-controlled areas: Besides this also has phasing depending on where you are in the story AND a gigantic monster!).
I am proposing that Faction Nemesis and Phasing Tech begins from level 10, even though I know the new training missions go up to 15-20 (I think it's 20 anyway).
TFs and SFs are a tricky one as they tend to have multiple factions (apart from Synapse) within them, and in the case of the Hunt missions for each faction in various TFs I think it would be confusing to allow Faction points for those hunts but not for any of the other missions within the TF.
However, I think Respec Trials should be fair game. Admittedly as a Villain you're only ever facing Thorns, but heck, at least they are the only faction in those trials. Makes things less complicated.
And obviously iTrials do not count.
So, now I've laid out the content restrictions I will go on to explain how the system would work for a level 10... Wish me luck.
Upon training at level 10, the trainer informs the player that they now have the choice of going after bad/good guys which could lead to rewards but at the price of that faction singling them (and their teammates if they are the leader - important to point this out especially for new players, let alone those of us who were previously unaware how Phasing tech worked!) out.
If the player has not already grabbed their newspaper / radio, at this point the trainer gives out a little 'go speak to a detective/broker' mission - Port Oakes for Villains, Kings Row for Heroes. The text for said contact is then updated to include an explanation of Faction Nemesis:
e.g.
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Possibly too vague? I am struggling again with the details.|
Hey $name! So you've been sent to me to help out the PPD and bag yourself a neat little radio, huh? Well here ya go. It's yours to listen into whenever you feel like helping out us little guys versus the various super-powered threats that like to cause trouble every day here, in Paragon City. A word of warning though, $name: You put too much heat on a particular gang for too long and you're likely to draw out their big hitters. I'm sure a powerful guy/gal like yourself is capable of taking them on though! Heck, the PPD's always grateful to get a good lead on taking down a major villain too! |
Now, the above flavour text would also play out if you go and grab your paper/radio earlier too. If that happens, the mission would not pop up once you train to level 10. Is that kind of thing possible?
So you open up your paper/turn on the radio: 'Lost in Kidnap of Senator's Daughter' catches your eye. Who are these mysterious Lost? What do they want with a Senator's daughter? Off you bumble to save the day/counter-kidnap her for money. At the Mission Complete, a pop-up appears:
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| You have just earned 1 point towards making The Lost your nemesis! If you continue to do missions versus the Lost, you will eventually face more powerful foes but, eventually, you will have the chance to earn rewards in the form of faction costume pieces, temp powers, and reward merits! |
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You received a hastily-scribbled note from a mysterious figure in dirty rags who ran off before you could speak to them: "Watch your back, $name! Better still, meet us in [assigned neighbourhood of zone depending on which zone you open the tip up in] and we'll discuss matters!" |
You might face a wave or two of ambushes, all of the Lost calling your name. Then when they are defeated you have to, for example, prevent them from firebombing a nearby building, then you get a powerful Boss (scaling to EB if the team is big enough) to defeat, followed by an admission from the group that you're too powerful for them!
So... so far that's what I got in terms of mechanics. Still fairly vague. Now for the rewards!
Based purely on my above example the Lost could provide the following benefits once 'subdued':
- Costume Pieces: Television Head detail, Traffic Cone Hat detail
- Temp Power: Energy Rifle, Rikti Sword, Summon Headman
- Faction Buff: +DMG versus Lost (not applicable to AE)
- Base Detail: Lost prisoner - a 'cute' Lost prisoner detail for your SG/VG base!
- Badge: Lost Cause
- Reward Merits: 2
I also picked the Lost because they are level-gated from 1-29 (after which they turn into... you know who). The same goes for the Family/Mooks (not the lv 40+ who exist in another dimension), the Warriors, The Banished Pantheon, the Tsoo.
At this point I could see the argument that some factions (Goldbrickers, Luddites, Coralax) lose out because there isn't much content for them as it stands - plus they're low level and a player could feasibly outlevel them very quickly and not gain a benefit from a Faction buff. Well, you know, for now I would exclude those lesser-used factions but, were a system similar to this ever introduced, it could be considered as leverage to have more content that involves them.
Also, we have the option to turn off XP whenever we feel like it.
I'm not going to bore people with longer lists of each faction and what I think they should provide rewards for, or every single mission/ambush phasing tech instance that would take place!
But I'm happy to keep an eye on this thread if people had a: What do you propose if x happens? question.
And I'm even happier if others want to put their ideas in to the pot, too!
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If this happened, it would have to be disabled whilst on a TF/SF otherwise there would be folks who can't see certain mobs that need to be defeated for a particular hunt!
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Originally Posted by BeyondReach
I think it's a really good idea personally. This is the kind of in-game function that brings your character to life that CoH needs. Perhaps a consequence of this, after you complete your final mission, combat phasing causes the Tsoo to no longer spawn for you in a specific zone. It will seem as though you have driven them out completely.
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phasing for a team is determined by the active player (leader or whoever's mission is up)|
Originally Posted by Arctic_Princess
If this happened, it would have to be disabled whilst on a TF/SF otherwise there would be folks who can't see certain mobs that need to be defeated for a particular hunt!
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IE, if the active player is in a phase where the Tsoo have not yet been obliterated, then the team would see Tsoo...if the active player has cleared the Tsoo than the Tsoo wouldn't appear
since that already exists, then it would be easy to put in a bit in the TF coding that says "Tsoo spawn for any TF group" for instance
also...if you accept a mission that is hunt Tsoo after clearing Tsoo then perhaps the mission will cause Tsoo to spawn as long as you have it...
in fact...I would support the world having more generic bad guys until we're on a mission where X group is causing trouble and thus starts replacing the generic baddies with a more specific enemy faction
Thrythlind's Deviant Art Page
"Notice at the end, there: Arcanaville did the math and KICKED IT INTO EXISTENCE." - Ironik on the power of Arcanaville's math
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Or at least that they're so scared of you they don't come out when your around.
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Originally Posted by BeyondReach
I think it's a really good idea personally. This is the kind of in-game function that brings your character to life that CoH needs. Perhaps a consequence of this, after you complete your final mission, combat phasing causes the Tsoo to no longer spawn for you in a specific zone. It will seem as though you have driven them out completely.
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So, any factions which would be good to include?
I can think of some Pros and Cons for the following (I'm going up to 50, even though technically we can fight +4s):
Circle of Thorns - Level Range 1-50
PRO: Because they are a persistent threat (See Council, Arachnos, Longbow below) then a benefit versus them as you continue to fight them would be handy.
CON: Because they are a persistent threat (!) it makes little sense to 'subdue' them and then continue to fight them.
Arachnos - Level Range 1-50
Same PROs and CONs as above, PLUS:
CON: If you're a Villain/Rogue taking a Patron, although you have proved 'Survival of the Fittest' I think it sort of jars with the Arachnos theme - "Yeah, thanks for killing most of my faction on your way to the top. Here, have access to the Powers of the Leviathan...". YMMV.
A very long and difficult to code way around this would be to take Arachnos by faction - Mako (Crab Spiders), Black Scorpion (Arachnobots), Ghost Widow (Widows), Scirocco (Mu), and Recluse (Banes). But seeing as current missions only very rarely restrict Arachnos to a particular faction, I think that would be verging on 'impossible' where impossible equals more work than benefit.
Longbow - Level Range 1-50
Same PROs and CONs as CoT.
Council (and to some extent, 5th Column) - Level Range 1-50
Same PROs and CONs as CoT.
So, perhaps for now, restrict those groups from Faction Nemesis, until an alternative way of doing things presents itself to me?
As it stands those groups feature heavily in arcs anyway, so you'd be fighting them in due course just by following story arcs and such as opposed to highlighting to the group that you are actively going after them.
Now, if anyone's following this, I have decided to put limits on factions and content etc with one particular reason in mind: Rather than blanket cover all factions, no matter how fleeting their presence in game, with the same cover-all system, I'd rather see something like this introduced slowly to see how it works.
For instance, say you're a F2P player, never been up against Crey, Freakshow and Nemesis before and suddenly, at level 30 and onwards, you're getting more heat from these groups because of a faction system that you have limited control over; it could be annoying and frustrating.
Veterans (no matter how long they've been playing) are likely to have some knowledge of these enemy groups and so would know to avoid/go for certain factions to make their lives easier.
I think I'm going to leave the idea here now, unless someone comes up with something really juicy and gets my brain going again. If anyone wants to add or detract then please do. It is a Suggestions and Ideas forum after all.
EDIT: And finally! I think the system, or something like it, should be implemented from level 10 upwards. I.e. start with factions such as the Outcasts, Trolls, Clockwork -> Warriors, Tsoo, Family, Freakshow -> Crey, Nemesis, Carnies -> Malta. In the utopia that is my head, story arcs would be written/rewritten on a faction-by-faction basis to include Faction Nemsis in it, rather than doing it all at once and getting more Story Bible rage.
Okay, the warning on this idea is that it is a phantom, buried in my hindbrain kind of idea. I haven't got a fully-formed idea, in translation!
So, Going Rogue brought phasing tech (contacts who appear/disappear depending on your choices - mainly disappear in this case)
Freedom/i21: Convergence has brought us 'in-zone phasing tech' which I happen to like (Others do not: You win some you lose some...).
So... what about a Faction Nemesis, that would change as you progress through the game - bearing in mind that some enemy factions only exist at certain parts of the game - depending on your actions against them?
As an example:
Centurion is a Hero who has vowed to keep Talos Island safe from the Tsoo. His hobbies include street sweeping and he has just been seen speaking to a contact in Indy port regarding a reported 'Tsoo Coup'. He favours hitting Tsoo on the head and responds to a lot of these incidents involving the group whenever he hears them over the police band radio.
As a result of each mission, a 'point' against the faction is gained and, say, for each 10 Tsoo in the gameworld (not in an instance) he defeats he gets another point, and for doing a story arc linked to the Tsoo he gets a bonus of 2 points. And perhaps for gaining the Tracer badge (100 Tsoo Sorcerers), he gets another 2 points.
There is no 'decay to this system, short of outlevelling the group.
Pretty soon (say after 5 points are accrued) more-powerful bosses begin appearing and will have a dialogue related to Centurion.
After 10 points are accrued (10's an easy number, and like I said this is by no means a fully-formed idea...), this opens up a special arc/mission involving Centurion's Faction Nemesis where he must fight an EB/Boss (not downgraded to a lt), and where the reward could be a badge, and/or a temp power, and/or a costume piece related to the group.
The idea behind phasing tech... almost forgot that! So our Hero is travelling around the city when he enters a neighbourhood and is 'ambushed' by his Nemesis Faction. He needs to fight off a couple of waves, maybe a few other objectives to get the Tsoo off his back, nothing too nasty.
As I made the excuse before, this is not a fully-formed idea in my head but it occurred to me t'other day as I passed a City Info Terminal in Beta, after doing some of the phasing tech starter missions in Atlas and Mercy.
Just thought I'd put the idea down here and see what kind of reaction it got. I can think of several downsides and some tenuous upsides to this. But it could be a fun mini-game if anything else. And most people like badges, right?