Revamping NPCs

Some of the more well-known NPCs could do with some updating, either in appearance or in powers. So, figured I would list ones which could do with make-overs, haha. Feel free to add to the list if you think of anything.

• Sister Psyche - she's made of default costume parts all over. Give her a unique hairstyle based on all the CG artwork we see of her so she has at least one unique part.
• Ms. Liberty - as there isn't any NPCs which use Street Justice yet, how about changing her power sets to use Street Justice? It would actually fit her pretty well, and a good alternative to Martial Arts. Let her keep her usual Electric moves Thunder Strike and Lightning Bolt, and give her a weak version of Ion Judgement (renamed) as a nice surprise, haha.
• Back Street Brawler - I was actually going to suggest that he gets Street Justice, but how about changing him into Willpower? Let Marauder keep Invulnerability since he's probably all steroid'd up and wouldn't turn his nose as enhancement drugs, but Brawler seems more of a 'natural' guy using special tech gloves to do enhanced damage and energy melee attacks.
• Manticore - I was going to suggest giving him Teleport since he is lacking any travel powers, but that might actually make his AI go wonky when he teleports due to suffering from a fear attack or something, gets lost, and can't return to the player. Would it be possible to maybe give him a NPC unsuppressed version of Ninja Run or something? Could do the same for Chimera as well.
• Lady Jane - Remove her Mastermind pistol attacks, and either give her the proper Dual Pistols attacks (basically like Twinshot), or give her a copy of Malta Gunslinger attacks (traditional shooting animations), and remove the teleport power.
• Maelstrom - Either change his melee attacks to energy like it says in his official bio, or alter his bio to reflect his martial arts ingame instead.
• Dominatrix - remove her "No Melee Attacks", and give her the three Demon Mastermind whip attacks recoloured or with a natural whip. It's pretty obvious, haha.
• Neuron - the 'normal' version of him (not the trial version), give him unsuppressed superspeed like Synapse to reflect his superspeed. It feels weird seeing him jog up to me when he sees me during Tina's arc. Also, for the trial version of Neuron, give him some fancy trail aura like Synapse's when he runs about, not the player super speed graphic.

Sounds good.

Oh, and its Back Alley Brawler

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

No Backstreet Brawler is the NPC MM that summons a boyband and breaks into dance and song.

I have no idea why I called him that. XD

Playing the SSA #4, and ironically, they used my suggestion for Dominatrix but for another character, haha.

Make Back Alley Brawler use Street Justice while you're at it.

SS was the closest fit of the original CoH powersets, but now that cool cat that went around beating up drug dealers in King's Row can use dirtier tactics like knee to the groin and shin breakers.

(also, some of the old factions could get fancy new powersets. I remember thinking how cool Freakshow Tankers looked using StJ during Halloween)

So, I decided to take a crack at redesigning two NPCs and weighed pros and cons in my head: First up we have Back Alley Brawler



Among the first things is that I gave him a bit of grey hair since he'd be the first to say he's getting on in his years, another thing I did was gave him a vest and such to try to distinguish him from Marauder's appearance. In my mind, Marauder's look conveys wasteland savagery, Back Alley Brawler's should convey street wisdom/savvy/justice. I also kind of used the "camo" pants and work boots to echo a bit with paragon's street gangs. He wasn't one of them, but probably could have easily been mistaken for one.

The draw back of this is that I think even if I could have given him his piston gloves THIS DOES NOT LOOK LIKE BACK ALLEY BRAWLER AT ALL. The only similarities I see in this are: huge black dude with sunglasses and it stops there.

And next we have my (Poor) attempt at redesigning Sister Psyche



I felt that given she's a crime fighter in New England, she might wanna dress a bit more weather appropriately, I gave her tights but couldn't keep the pattern partly because it didn't feel very "psychic" to me. Unfortunately, what we have as examples of psychics are Mother Mayhem, Aurora, Seers, Fortunata, Syndicate, Carnival, Clockwork, Malaise, Penelope Yin and classic Sister Psyche. The fashion choices of each one is incredibly broad, and the best I could see was some flowing article of clothing. I also added a sort of blinder with a 'psychic power' colored aura to the eyes. She's supposed to be the world's most powerful psychic, so I kind of thought the idea of giving her something that suggests that such power is only barely contained (even if her actual control is pretty damn strong)

The problems with this is that I was apparently schizophrenic with the design, unable to settle between a golden age outfit and more modern one, and like Back Alley Brawler, this really looks nothing like the actual character we have besides a few passing traits. This also doesn't fix her lack of any unique pieces.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.

Standard rant:
Every signature NPC that uses non-player-available powers or costume parts is a failure of those parts. If the devs can't design heroes and villains to their own satisfaction with the tools available to players, then we need better tools. (I'm not mad or anything, I just think that should be something to aim towards.. So give us a Martial secondary on blasters already)

-------------

That aside, I'd love if the NPC costume parts were made more defined and hi-res, as long as the PC costume parts were done to match. Even Swan might look fine if her outfit wasn't so painted-on looking.

@AzureSkyCiel I'm liking that Back Alley Brawler though. He looks tough.

Except Valkyrie. Those colours are just godawful.

Please do update powers though, to help showcase them to players.

Back Alley Brawler: Street Justice/Willpower
Battle Maiden: Titan Weapons/Invulnerability
Valkyrie: Staff Melee (using spear)/Regen

Good ideas.
Keep Miss Lib as MA though, I think it suits her 'honor?' maybe, to be a martial artist, not a street fighter.
BaB's as Street Justice for sure.
Battle Maiden with Titan Weapons.
Maybe give Duray beam rifle.
Update Citadel from being em/invul to em/energy aura
FIX Valkyries WoG (Week of glory, that still has NO psi hole)
Oh and the big one..make Johnny Sonata in the SSA a damn SONIC. Seriously..do they not even read their own background?

Two I think need revamping: Bobcat and Desdemona. When ANY of my characters stand next to Bobcat in Studio 55 or next to Desdemona in a mish, I always think how low-rez and undetailed they look. I mean look at Mirror Spirit and then at Bobcat - Bobcat is so 'un-surfaced' compared to Mirror. Desdemona is` supposed to be a main character, but she is so uninteresting compared to her art in the previews or concept art. Fix them please!