Suggestion: pay points for alternate power animations/models/sound effects

This idea was first brought up by MM players as a way to obtain alternate pets; however it could be expanded to many other powersets.

How it might work: a player pays Paragon Points for the ability to choose a specific set of alternate animations for a specific powerset. These alternate animations would be chosen through the tailors' Power Customization interface, and could be chosen per power or for the entire set as normal.

I would suggest using 400 as the number of Paragon Points. The reasons are that:

1. We're used to this price point for costume options.
2. This is an add-on to a powerset. If we're already paying 800 PP for a powerset (which we are in some cases), we might not be willing to pay another 800 for an alternate animation for that powerset.

1. Female MM minions. As Redlynne and others have passionately (and I judge conclusively) argued, it is actually sexist not to allow this. All fears of domination/subjugation issues have been shown to be pratically irrelevant, as these issues already exist in other areas (between characters), or are being used against male minion models already.
2. Alternate beasts for Beast Mastery. (Though not "perfect," I think the first alternate should be one that uses T1 bobcats; T2 wolves; T3 Siberian Tiger - this way Beast players could choose all felines or all wolves through Power Customization.)
3. An alternate Umbral Beast.
4. An alternate Jack Frost.
5. Laser/blaster shots (animations and sound effects) for Dual Pistols.
6. Updated Dark Affinity animations for Dark Miasma (and vice versa).
7. Alternate looks for Ice Armor and Stone Armor.

The 1st word of the title screams that this should be in the suggestion page/forum... bit that's just IMO.

But... good suggestion.

Yeah, I'd do that. Points, money... I'd shell out a hundred bucks to be allowed to play Shield Defense without having to wear a shield or use alternate animations. Just give me the option to give you my money already!

Also, if it's technically possible... yeah, I'd go for this.

Forum moderators, if you would, please move this thread to the Suggestions forum - thank you.

Mea culpa! I looked under the Development section for a Suggestions forum, never thinking it would be under the "For Fun" section. Yeah, I shoulda used the Search function to find it, but oh well...

Yes. Give me a Siberian Tiger. Now.

EDIT: as for female pets, that's easy for the ones with actual genders. Just make ninjas, thugs, and mercenaries act like Phantom Army: a chance for male or female, but for ninjas you should probably discount huge, because that wouldn't be stealthy.

One thing I'd like to put as "out of scope" for this suggestion: any power effect changes.

For example, any alternate T3 Beast pets would still use exactly same powers with exactly the same effects as the current Dire Wolf. They might just use a different skeleton/skin with different animations/sounds.

For an alternate Granite Armor, I could see a bubble aura having many small floating pieces of flat granite joined by a translucent field. In the Power Customization interface, the primary color would be the adjustable color of the flat granite rocks; the secondary color would be the translucent field. It would still obscure the character's costume somewhat, but would not be a complete model replacement. Other powers in the Stone Armor set could be revamped similarly.

An alternate Ice Armor could be less obscuring - essentially transparent, with more of a mirror/shimmer effect using updated planes/polygons. Just make the vertices much more transparent than currently. An update of Icicles would also be very welcome.

Shield Defense? This set could be envisioned through a force shield which doesn't require the use of a physical device on an arm. Looking over Shield Defense's powers, this wouldn't even break the cottage rule. Yeah, just have the alternate shield model be a floating force (or even physical - you know, floating magic) shield. Hmm, the disallowed melee powerset pairings would still likely be in effect, unless certain powerset combinations could lock out certain powerset animations - in other words, if you choose Shield Defense/Titan Weapons, you could not choose the original Shield Defense animations.

I want the knives of vengeance sirens sonic blast animations.

As much as I'd hate to do it....yes. I would pay to get my peacebringer's old foot stomp animation back for solar flare.

HATE the fact it was changed. Didn't use combat flight on my humanform kheld in combat anyway. Besides, the flavor text in the power itself leads one to believe it's a meant to be grounded power anyway. Plenty of those already in game. Copy/paste from flavor text of power:

You channel the might of your Kheldian energy into the very Earth itself. The ground erupts and cracks with luminous energy, blasting all nearby foes, knocking them back and reducing their Defense. Damage: High, Recharge: Slow

See???

*sigh* yes, I'll pay for alternate animations for kheldians.

Not a bad suggestion, one I can certainly get behind.

sure, why not!

/signed

Energy transfer and dual blades' thousand cuts. I'd pay money for those changes. Dual blades is such a great set outside its tier 9. Ice and granite changes would be nice too.

I'd definitely pay for alternate sound effects for some sets.

Street Justice could use a bit more "Oomph".

I'm considering using pink coloured Sonic Blast again for a telepathic character - being able to tweak the sound effects would be a nice bonus.

Beam Rifle gets a bit annoying sometimes.