World of Heroes... a sales pitch

(The following is assuming I win the mega-lottery in excess of 4 or 5 million a year annuity. I would go to the Paragon Studios offices and make them an offer to come work for me to create MY vision of the next Super Hero MMO…)

World of Heroes

The World

Players could select where they start out; each choice having its own merits and drawbacks. Players are NOT required to remain in their starting locations. They can come and go as they like. However, as I will explain, their starting points will suffer/thrive depending on their actions.

Rural – Think the outlying areas of Croatoa. Lots of farm land and deep dark forests, with a central “main street” area for commerce and public gatherings. Enemies can include paranoid militia, aliens looking for hicks to probe (they never do seem to visit big cities, do they?), Stephen King-esque forest spirits/creatures, mutated Animal Farm creatures (beware the pigs!), etc. Missions on instanced maps of outdoor settings for the most part.

Small Town/Sleeper Community – Mostly suburban area with shopping malls and parks. Some larger structures at “city center”, but not too many and not of skyscraper status. Industrial area just outside of town that employs most of the populace. Enemies include undead (zombies just looooove suburbia for some reason), pod people (Janet? How DID you get your hair to stand out straight like that? You look fabulous!), serial killers (they look like everyone else), dark magic cults, etc. Missions on instanced maps include some outdoor settings, but a lot of ones inside people’s homes, schools and that industrial park just outside town.

Small City – There is a definite “down-town” area to this choice, with tall office buildings and all the usual businesses. There is also a fringe of outlying suburban areas. Enemies include gangs (like Skellions and Hulls), underground “mole” societies, corporate mafia types, etc. Missions are more like those seen in CoH now, with instanced warehouses and office buildings, with cave missions for our underground friends thrown in for variety.

Big City – We’re talking New York, Chicago, London, Sydney, Tokyo, etc. Everything goes in this zone. More on the Big City later.

Your choice of where to start is more than just size. If you choose Rural, Small Town or Small City, then you start out alone. That’s right… You are the ONLY hero of your particular zone. Its fate rests entirely on your actions and deeds.

Sort of.

Say you have just created the Ballistic Bumpkin, a yokel with a howitzer from East Fumbuck, Maine. Your Rural zone will appear with three zones (no war walls) for you to explore; Main Street, Farm Lands and Dark Forest. Right now everything is tranquil but soon enough evil begins to fester and it’s up to you to fight it! The local Militia, having moved there to escape the ever-staring eyes of the evil federal thought police, are flexing their muscles and it’s up to you to stop them.

You can do this alone… or you can invite in help.

While you will be playing in your starting zone alone, you will still be hooked into the internet. Chat channels will be completely available. Your character and town info is stored on the servers. Think of your starting zone like a Super Group base in CoH. You can grant other players access to it if you want. You can also set parameters as to whether or not these other players can access the town when you’re not there and if their actions actually affect the town’s timeline. (In other words… “Nah… issue 48 of Ballistic Bumpkin where he was out of town and his 2nd cousin Gun Totin’ Guy came in and shot the Mayor wasn’t canon… yeah… retcon…”)

The timeline of your town is important. What you do MATTERS in your town. One of the things I REALLY want to happen in World of Heroes is there to be an actual difference in the outcome and appearance of the world/story line depending on whether you succeed or fail in a mission.

So, the Militia have decided the town council are getting too cozy with the Federal Government and decide they have to be eliminated before Uncle Sam plants his conspiratorial roots into Fumbuck. Your job is to stop them. The mission is to save the council members before they are executed. It takes place in town hall which is a combination outdoor/indoor map. You are warned that making a huge racket outside the hall may result in early termination of the hostages. This is a stealth mission.

If you succeed in the mission, the Council thanks you sincerely. You have saved ALL their lives and they are grateful. They acknowledge you as the town’s protector and all become contacts for possible future missions. The general populace is very supportive of you.

You are partially successful. One or two of the Council members didn’t make it before you were able to rescue the others. The remaining Council thank you, but a pall settles over the town. You now have detractors and supporters. Some think of you as a hero for doing what you could, others as a vigilante who should have left it to the sheriff’s department.

You totally failed. All the Council members are dead and the Militia stands in temporary control of the town. Now you have to face a series of missions to wrest that control back to the forces of democracy again. Problem is, no one wants to help you since many blame you for things being the way they are. If that weren’t bad enough, there are some locals who actually think you ARE a member of the Militia since your actions led to their victory.

The concept of a Town Timeline is a big factor as well. As you have more and more successes, the town will become prouder of you. After a few years of consistently saving the day you may see the Ballistic Bumpkin memorial Library, the Annual Ballistic Bumpkin Day Turkey Shoot or even a statue erected in the town square. Negatively, the town hall may be reduced to smoldering ashes and slowly rebuilt, Widow Hawkins may NEVER be a fan of yours no matter what you do, and Billy Handerson of Handerson Pork Products may never be able to see a pig again without screaming.

Not only do your actions matter… they last.

The BIG CITY (patent pending, some assembly required, batteries not included) is where you go for BIG CONTENT. It is also where you go to spend time with everyone else logged in. Ideally, I would like there to be several different big cities. And not all in America, this IS World of Heroes after all. Each of these cities have their own enemies and problems.

Think this is unreasonable and too big? Paragon City, Rogue Isles, Praetoria… there’s three right there. I don’t think having several Big Cities set around the world is too much to ask. I also think our foreign market might inflate just a tad if our non-American brethren and … er… sistren… were given their own sandboxes to play in.

Keep in mind that it’s ALL open. When it comes to the Big Cities there are no restrictions to access. Ballistic Bumpkin can go to New York, Japan, Sydney… wherever he wants. And the Global (see what I did there?) Chat channel allows for inter-city communication so you’ll know instantly if Tokyo needs help because Zodgilla is rampaging through their streets.

The only thing about Big Cities, other than having to deal with other heroes, is your actions have much less (if any) of an impact as an individual. In the Big Cities, the things that have impacts will be zone events and massive co-op ventures. Think of the Rikti Invasions of CoH. In WoH, if the heroes repel the Rikti Invasion then everything is good and life continues on happily. If not enough heroes show up, however, the craters remain in the streets, the buildings still smoke. Eventually work crews appear, set up a work site and repair all the damage, but that reminder of failure is there until they do.

The individual zone story lines are very linear and very personal. The Big City story lines are much more diverse and might make you a few NPC friends, but the City itself won’t really notice you as an individual.

Eventually your efforts in your starting zone can change the zone itself and cause it to grow. Maybe the lower crime of the area attracts a new mega-corporation to open an office there (perhaps with sinister intentions). Fumbuck is a hot topic in Maine thanks to Ballistic Bumpkin, attracting property development investors to the area. Any and all things are possible.

Powers and Attributes

I would like to keep the concept of Power Sets more or less the same. I may want to give more choices within the power sets so players can get a clearer character concept, but for the most part I like the system as-is.

What I want to over-haul is the Archetype system.

Upon character creation you do NOT select an Archetype as they are currently defined in CoH. Instead, you select a Primary Power Archetype and a Secondary Power Archetype.

The Power Archetype’s are as follows:

Melee Damage Dealer – Scrapper Primary, Brute Primary, Tank Secondary
Ranged Damage Dealer – Blaster Primary, Corrupter Primary, Defender Secondary
Team Support – Defender Primary, Corrupter Secondary, Controller Secondary
Control – Controller Primary, Dominator Primary
Armor/Defense – Tank Primary, Brute Secondary, Scrapper Secondary
Legions – Mastermind Primary (more pet upgrades, no weapons like Ninja bow, Demon whip, etc)

One thing I adamantly refuse to do is protect players from themselves. If you want to make an invulnerable Asimov robot who is dedicated to protecting humans but could never harm one due to the First Law, then fine… make a Team Support Primary with Armor/Defense Secondary. Just pray there’s a team around for you to support otherwise that bank is going to get robbed while you stand there buffing the bank teller.

Within each Power Archetype there exists the usual set choices. So if you take Ranged Damage Dealer you have Energy Blast, Fire Blast, etc.

The thing to keep in mind is there is a significant difference between Primary and Secondary. If I had my way, Ranged Damage Dealer as a Primary would (on average) do about twice the damage as it would as a Secondary power. So choose very carefully which you want your Primary to be.

All characters get their travel power as a free inherent at first level.

There will also be a series of generic powers like the current Power Pool system that are available to ALL characters with which they can shore up weaknesses or flesh out character concept. There are a few significant differences between the Power Pool system and WoH’s version however:

• Some things that we might consider temp powers like Revolver, Taser, Loogeyville Schluggers and so on are powers here. They are about ½ the power of the nearest applicable Secondary Power Archetype but may provide a fall-back attack for those who didn’t take an attack Primary or Secondary.
• While there are categories (attacks, concealment, medicine, etc) there are no restrictions within those categories requiring you to “buy A if you want to later buy B”. Certain, more powerful, selections may require a minimum experience level before they become available, but otherwise everything is open.
• There is NO Fitness category at all… but that’s because I’ve come up with a different idea.

WoH will have Attributes. The Attributes are as follows:

Strength – Pure raw physical power. Strength adds a percentage bonus to any attack that involves physically landing a blow or throwing an object. Higher levels of strength (eg- Hulk, Superman, etc) provide a percentage reduction to the duration of enemy hold and immobilization effects.

Endurance – Blue bar in CoH basically. Increasing this Attribute not only increases your maximum Endurance but the recovery rate of lost endurance as well. Higher levels of Endurance provides resistance to attacks that drain endurance.

Fortitude – Basic damage resistance. In characters with no other damage resistance granting powers this Attribute provides a very low level reduction of most damaging effects. In players who have powers that already provide Damage Resistance, this Attribute provides a blanket bonus to those powers. The Fortitude bonus is applied DIRECTLY to the Base Resistance of the power rather than just adding to it. So a Fortitude bonus of +10% would make a 30% resistance 33% while a 50% resistance power would elevate to 55%. Fortitude at higher levels will reduce the duration of effects like Stun and Sleep.

Agility – For those with Defense (avoid ALL damage) type powers this provides a blanket buff much like the one described in Fortitude. Players without such powers can get a basic dodge/avoidance chance that increases with the Agility score. Agility also grants a blanket bonus to any and all travel powers the higher it gets.

Intellect - Increases the damage output of any Ranged Damage with a technology based attack. Examples: rifles, missiles, ray guns, etc. Intellect provides a blanket bonus to perception and any related powers/effects. At higher levels Intellect reduces the cost of developing new technology. Intellect also determines the “click time” of certain object interactions… higher Intellect scores reduce the chance of such interactions being interrupted.

Willpower – Increases damage output of Ranged Damage with magic or psychic based attacks. Higher Willpower scores provide duration reduction of confusion effects. Willpower also grants a bonus to the character’s Last Stand percentage. Last Stand status is usually reached when the player is at 5% total hit points or less. In this state the player’s gets a defense bonus to avoid attacks and a buff to their to hit and damage output. In Last Stand mode the character is also highly resistant to all mezz states and can spontaneously break free if already in one when the Last Stand point is reached. Higher Willpower scores can raise this Last Stand percentage from 5% to as much as 10%.

Charisma – Provides a blanket bonus to all Taunts. At higher levels Charisma can increase the buff effects the player grants to team mates. Also, on a slightly less combat related note, Charisma plays a part in the speed with which a character is accepted and later idolized while in their starting zones. In Big Cities Charisma grants a higher chance of getting new contacts or mission drops from people.

When a character levels up in WoH, they get the option of taking a new power OR getting Skill Points.

Taking powers is pretty much straight forward. It works like CoH in that stronger powers have a minimum experience level that must be reached before they are available. Primary powers become available at an earlier level than their Secondary counterparts. When you receive a power it arrives at a its base model with no frills.

Skill Points are the way by which you improve your character’s Attributes and Powers. They are also a means by which you can customize your powers to better fit a concept, shore up a weakness, or make your character a general bad-****. When applying Skill Points to an Attribute, the Attribute in question simply increases as a whole (eg- your Strength goes from a 10 to an 11) and all the things that Attribute affects are improved. When applying Skill Points to a Power you get to select which aspect of that power to improve.

For example… You have a Fire Ball power and some Skill Points to spend. You can increase the Fire Ball’s accuracy, damage, area of effect, recharge speed, endurance cost, range or chance for continuing burn damage. Customize to your heart’s content!

So you ask… “But if I’m running the Inevitable Bulk… who has nothing but melee damage attacks… why would I want to increase damage in the individual attacks when I could just improve my Strength and get a damage bonus to everything at once?”

The answer is cost and effect… no… not cause and effect… COST and effect… Raising an Attribute is never cheap, even at lower levels. After you select you’ve divvied up your Attribute Points at character creation it takes quite a bit of effort to raise them higher. Also, because the Attributes provide a blanket bonus, they tend to be a much SMALLER bonus than those provided by improving the individual powers.

Now I’m going to mention a few words to make older players cringe and reach for the pitchforks and torches… Enhancement Diversification and Diminishing Returns. Before you lynch me, this is how WoH achieves those goals… The higher you boost any given stat, whether it be a Fire Ball – damage or Intellect, the more Skill Points it costs to boost it further.

That’s it.

You only get a certain amount of points each time you advance. If you improve a specific aspect of a power enough times, you won’t be able to do it on a single level up. You’ll have to bank those points and wait until you level again (or a few more dings) before you can improve it. Also, keep in mind that there are maximums to how much any given power aspect can be improved… so you’ll probably never be able to increase the Area of Effect of your Fire Ball power to have it encompass ALL of the Florida coast line. Sorry.

To begin with the game will have only the basic powers and Attributes; this will improve and expand in later “Issues” as things similar to Incarnate Powers, Epic Power Pools and so on are introduced.

Loot

So now you farmers and looters are up in arms because Skill Points seem to take away the need for Salvage, Tickets, Reward Merits, Recipes and all the things the CoH Invention System introduced.

Well, yes… but I am as much a loot monger as anyone else. Nothing is quite so thrilling as seeing a drop notification float up in purple letters and have it NOT be an Enhancement Catalyst.

In WoH, there will be something similar to Invention Salvage in CoH. You collect various objects as you go which you can combine to make fabulous items. These items will either give you Temp Power Charges or Items of Power.

WoH Temp Powers are much different from those in CoH. For one thing, they are much more powerful. The minor temp powers like Revolver, Envenomed Dagger and the like are relegated to the power pool section. They are just normal powers available to everyone. Temp Powers are more like Shivan Shard or Stephanie Peebles’ ring. They are potent and can provide a battle-outcome-changing benefit for their player. They also run on charges… when a Temp Power’s charges run out the power is gone. Crafting a Temp Power takes specific salvage drops, money and a minimum level to create. Money (not necessarily dollars, but some in-game currency like Influence) costs can be reduced by the character’s Intellect score. Intellect can also (if high enough) reduce the minimum level requirement of an item so you can get it sooner. You can stockpile charges in this manner. There is no maximum limit to charges “stored” in any given temp power.

Items of Power vary according to your character’s Origin (yeah, I’m keeping that) but all do the same basic thing. These Items take the place of Accolade and Set Enhancement bonuses in the game. They ARE Origin specific however (much like SO’s and DO’s) and you can end up crafting an Item of Power you can’t use. Let’s say one of the Item’s of Power has an effect of increasing Maximum Health by +1.1%. The Natural Origin version might be a Forbidden Training Manual. Technology might be called Nanites of Cellular Restoration, while Magic Origin get Cleelstaw’s Incantation of Resilience.

They all do the exact same thing, but take different ingredients to make and can only be used by characters of the proper Origin.

Like the current salvage system, WoH salvage comes in varying degrees of rarity. The more powerful the Temp Power Charge or the Item of Power… the more ingredients… the rarer the ingredients and the more expensive it will be to craft.

I never really understood the concept of Recipes in CoH. It didn’t make much sense to me that an Accuracy enhancement only had two ingredients… but I couldn’t remember how to make it unless I had the recipe right in front of me… or I’d done it a LOT of times. WoH doesn’t have recipes. You’ll just have to figure out for yourself what makes what via trial and error… oh… you should know that combining things in an effort to create something consumes all the ingredients whether you got the mix right or not… including the cash…

Ah, who am I kidding? You’re all just going to go read the Wiki page on it anyway.

One last thing about Loot. For the ultra powerful items… the best of the best in either Temp or Item of Power… you have to get Ultra Rare items. These loot items are only available through specific missions to get them. Some Loot items are not mission specific, but enemy-specific. These items drop randomly but only from a specific kind of enemy. That should make you farmers happy.

All Loot is able to be sold and traded on the Market. Without doubt, they’ll probably be priced appropriately.

That's all I thought up in my first sitting at Word. If I think up more I'll post it here.

Title reminds me too much of that slow fighting game series...




Also - a sequel might be a good place to generate the often-missed melee/support class.

Sounds too much like World of Warcraft as well. Change the title, maybe something like Paragons.

ok you covered the heroes but, what about the VILLAINS!??! lol

Well, I love the ideas for The World.
Love the home town idea. It's almost like a personal housing, but its a sims city of NPC town locals that evolve according to your actions and such. Very fun, endearing concept there.

Of course I love the concept of the different area types and of three (or more) of the Big Cities.

All of that gets my thumbs up of approval, so no worries about my mega-million winnings countering your efforts there!


I see you made a typo and left out Blaster Secondaries in your Powers section though.......
<.<
>.>

Re: The Name... World Of Heroes.
This has been my choice for a sequel as well. I like it fine.
If you had to chose another name, perhaps Home Of Heroes, due to the fantastic element of starter area home towns, obviously.

Lastly...
Bow before Zodgilla!

And can we have a mutant pig Legions powerset?

World of Heroes?

Or World of Heroes?

Or perhaps World of Heroes?

I prefer City of Heroes.

Sheesh, it's just the musings that he, and others, do regardless of the current situation. It's not like Steelclaw is pining for CoH to get scrapped so that his idea can become reality (although, I'm sure he'd like the second half to come true, hehehe).

And since NCSoft owns the name, it would have to be changed.

I like the idea of comic book hometowns. This makes thematic sense to me. In reality, I would think of it more like a character's personal comic book, with the ability to invite other players over for crossovers. In this line of thought, the Big City area would be the Justice League, composed of the stories of many heroes, while the smaller areas would be more like Superboy.

I don't like the way you've proposed stats and loot, because to me that game already exists in many forms. Champions Online has basically every you've suggested, for instance, regarding stats. I don't think stats are thematic to superheroes, at least not in the way proposed. How much Strength does Superman have? What about the Hulk? Spiderman? A more structured game without those stats is both simpler and far more balanced (see early CO). I'm not going to argue about the specific examples, though I do feel that the proposed (1.1% MaxHealth) are basicaly insignificant.

I also don't really like forcing origin-specific loot on players. Why can't a magical enchantment help Spiderman? Why would the Green Lantern be unable to use a technological device? I also would rather have loot work similar to most enhancements in CoH. However, instead of requiring salvage, I would make them just cost in-game money, because I don't feel that crafting usually makes sense. Why does a level 15 Pulverizing Fisticuffs require a Boresight, a Spiritual Essence, an Unearthed Relic, and a Psionically Charged Brass? Leave the creation to the imagination of the player. Maybe they make it through the accumulated magical knowledge they've collected, or maybe they use their amazing tech skills from the future, or maybe they just naturally have a knack for it. One thing though: Simple items would not require recipes. You shouldn't need a guide to build a level 35 Damage IO, but it makes more sense to need one for a level 50 Armageddon Dam/Acc piece, for example.

I do like increased usage of temporary powers. I think temp powers are perhaps one of the most thematic parts of a superhero game. How many comics have a story like: Person X gets Power Y? I would emphasize them more than CoH did.