Phone Number to the Trainers

I've said it before. I'll say it again.

Contact numbers or /bind commands to contact a trainer without having to go see him/her. I know its not hard to find one - they're in every zone - but still, to be able to call a trainer while on the go or in a mission would be so convenient.

*tries to imagine the scenario*

Superflamemacguffin versus The Hellions!

SFMG and his plucky sidekick, Catgrrlerper, are busting a Hellion hideout

SFMG: Gadzooks! These Hellions are playing havoc with us, Cat!

Cat: We just need to believe in ourselves, sir!

SFMG immolates a Hellion lieutenant and suddenly becomes more powerful (i.e. 'dings to the next level')

SFMG: I feel so inspired! So much strength coursing through my veins! I feel I could escape from any restraint, my insight into our dire situation is uncanny, the righteous rage I'm feeling will surely win the day!

Cat: Well you've always been phenomenally lucky, sir. And robust to boot. Now that you've got your second wind we can push through with a resurgence to stop the Hellions and their plot to--

SFMG whips out a slightly-charred cellphone and dials a number

Cat: Sir, what are you DOING?! The Hellions! They're about to finish summoning the hell-spawned BOSS_NAME!

SFMG waves a hand dismissively at his scantily-clad-for-no-good-reason sidekick. He finishes the call then gives the woman a thumbs up

SFMG: Good news, I just called my trainer and now I can [Jump Kick] those Hellions into the next life!

Cat faceplams

End Scene

___

The trainers are not particularly far from most places. Yes, zones like Indy port can be annoying.

But I'd be up for more trainers in large zones (and hopefully a good reason as to why they're there - zone revamps anyone?) than having the option to 'call' a trainer to magically receive a new power.

Oh but do give those pesky villain brokers and detectives a cell, ja?

Well since they have MARTy now and lvling speed is capped maybe an ability to level inside missions would be ok. I don't know about a phone but maybe a temp level ability?

I understand the desire and I can see something that would make training easier, but also a little more RPG'ish immersive. I've always found "training" odd that someone standing there immediately shows you a new power while 20 other people are standing there doing the same, and no real training occurs other than pick a power.

Get rid of "trainers" altogether and click a level up icon on the UI that would make you be teleported (not requiring a load screen, just an in-game cutscene or background image of you being trained while you pick your power). This could be origin specific:

1. Science - your character is strapped into a chamber or device with scientists around looking at screens showing your new power level.
2. Mutation - your character standing in a chamber with a computer showing DNA strands showing that you have changed (similar to science)
3. Magic - you are surrounded by midnighters standing on a hexagram as your new power is imbued
4. Tech - you are in a tech lab surrounded by technicians and parts
5. Natural - you are in a dojo / shooting range type scene with an instructor carrying a clipboard

...And possibly as you click the power you want, you see the animation of it as you pick it. Give a real feel of having been trained.

Sorry if this hijacks the intent of the thread, but it did get me thinking and I do agree at a fundamental level to the OP's intent.

Touché

Personally, I've always thought the trainers were a pointless annoyance. I'd be perfectly happy to get rid of them altogether and click the flashing level-up arrow by your health bar to bring up the level-up interface.

Never really saw the need for trainers to begin with. Not sure why they are even there. . .

What does The Matrix Online has to do with the above scenario? (besides being from The Matrix movie).

Anyway, trainers in general, in this game but also in others always break the immersion for me, I guess it's a necessary evil so I really don't mind that much. If it could be dealt with a "phone call" or skip the whole "training" part by just having the UI I would welcome that.

I'm a little indifferent about this.

I'd want to keep the trainers around because they provide some more elements of lore into the game, characters who may or may not have more productive roles as NPCs or enemies in high-profile story arcs. As well as someone who takes their time to help you gain new insight on how to use your powers or give you the ability to make them more powerful.

Though on the other hand, it would be nice to be self-taught and not have to travel around just to know how to throw fireballs when you've already been shooting out flares. Or have someone tell you how and which of your powers is now capable of greater effects.

But since they are already in the game, and heroside already has trainers worth caring about, even just a little bit, I'd want them to stay.

/jranger

Oh, wait, I'd get banned if I left it at that. So I'm not leaving it like that:

/Play the game. It's fine like it is. Much like Real Life(tm), there are just some things you have to deal with, this is one of them.
//There are MANY other things they need to fix, this is NOT one of them.
///Like the things in my sig below, for example.
////And finishing the Bridge to Nowhere in Port Oaks.
/////And the construction in the NE corner of Steel Canyon.
//////And a Moon Base.
///////And a BRB.
////////should those last slashies be like /V V V/and V//?

Personally I think it would be nice not to have to stop at a trainer .5 miles away or more in the opposite direction of where my team is headed just to learn how to throw a punch.

I mean so many powers in this game are invention, mutation, magic, self trained etc. that you can easily explain learning on the spot. Everything really. "I just had an epiphany!! I know now why my FF generator prototype isn't working" *reverses the flux capacitor*. "EUREKA!!! I'm a genius."

Instead of "um, I'm a gadget inventor guy but I can't make this work, you do it and I'll claim to have developed it myself like everything else I use. Gee I'm sure a smart gadget inventor guy, I create...nothing *cries self to sleep*"

Not the inventor type? *cell phone rings* "Kinda busy right now, you just acquired WHAT for me? What do you mean you can't get it here? You have tons of flunkies, teleportation networks, helicopters, super powered people working for you, and countless inventions. You can't even figure out how to quickly get me my flamethrower attachment for my Assault Rifle TO HELP ME SAVE THE FRIGGEN WORLD??!! Your fired."

I don't think the trainers should be removed. I just think it would be nice to have a vet power that was (in keeping with the CoX Lore) a direct phone number to the contact of the zone you are in at the time.

I mean, if we've been around that long (again keeping with the Lore and the illusion), we should know the trainers pretty well by now, yes?

If you remove the need to actually travel anywhere, what is the point of the city zones even existing? What is the point of travel powers if you can do anything you need to do from right where you're standing? The removal of reasons to actually traverse the game world is one of the things I amleast happy with about the game's evolution.

If you can just make a phone call to do anything you can possibly do in the game, you might as well just take the next step and make the entire game a series of missions, all accessed by a single door in a white room.

The need to travel to a trainer is something that will get people exploring the game world. When I first started the game I found all kinds of cool stuff while I was figuring out how to reach the trainer from my randomly located door mission.

Removing the need to do that would make the game worse in my opinion. If new players never have to find their way to a trainer from random locations, they will never see even half of the cool out-of-the-way stuff that makes the game feel like it could be a real place.

I really don't want to see one more reason to actually interact with eth city zones removed.

I would rather not see this feature ever implemented.

I like how it is now.

I think some of you are missing the key idea: "Vet Power"

Removing trainers or making it where everyone can call the trainer would be fail.

I think it should have a 1 hour recharge as well.

Sorry, I just have an issue with the notion that "making the game better" should involve not having to travel anywhere in it. It goes from being a CITY of Heroes to "A Few Buildings That You Teleport Directly To of Heroes"

It just seems counterproductive to "improve" the game by adding features enabling players to avoid having to actually see any of the zones in the game that the devs spent the last 7 years building.

I've never understood why people want so badly to not spend the 45 seconds using a neat travel power like Super Jump or Fly (which are largely useless in mission maps) in order to get somewhere they need to be.

And yes, the addition of Long Range Teleport to the Teleport pool depressed me a little bit.

Keep adding ways to circumvent traveling anywhere and eventually new players will have no clue how big the game actually is because they just TP directly to wherever they're going. You'll start hearing "This game sucks, it's tiny and all the missions are the same", because they haven't ever gone anywhere and have no perspective of how large it is. You heard it a lot during the AE fiasco, I'd rather not start hearing it again.

There should remain things you still have to do in person instead of just opening a window to do it. Hell, you don't even have to travel outside Atlas Park to do any of the Signature TFs anymore if you're a VIP (the NPCs in Fort Trident will give you their TF from right there)