Okay, how about some low-hanging fruit... Features that might actually stand a chance of being implemented by the devs.
We've already discussed extending existing power sets as one option. I won't go any further on that topic.
Being able to migrate characters between servers is something they've said -might- be possible down the road, but that they never have time to get to it. I don't know why not. They have a basic mechanism set up for migrating characters to Test... all they need to do is extend it. It would be of huge benefit to the entire player base for a lot of reasons, but most importantly:
1. I can move my favorite characters to the servers my friends play on most.
2. I can shift my less-used characters to a different server.
Now that could easily be abused in a lot of ways, so I would agree there needs to be a limiting factor. An extra fee, perhaps, or maybe something along the lines of a veteran reward so you can only move any given character so often. That last idea has a lot of potential and it's low-hanging fruit because the vet rewards system is already in place as is a basic mechanism for porting characters.
Something else I'd like to see is a Fast-Start system modeled after the respec system. The idea would be that a player with a certain amount of time playing the game (a la veteran rewards again) would have the ability to 'jump-start' a character to level 14, bypassing all of the bottom-level content he's seen over and over again. Using something like the respec UI, the player could build his character from the ground up and enter a zone (say Steel Canyon) with a few level and origin appropriate contacts and hit the streets right away. Whether it's a good idea or not is debatable, but all the basic functions needed to pull it off are already in the game or modeled in the game.
Skipping lowbie content is something that is brought up a lot, but it'll never, ever happen.
1) The annoying lowbie levels are where you learn the ins and outs of your character. If people are allowed to skip to 20, you'll have Talos swarming with the kind of retards who populate most Hollows missions-- no idea how to use their character, resulting in team wipes.
2) From a more practical point of view, if you jump to 20, that's, let's say, 20 hours of gameplay you've skipped. A MMO developer's #1 priority is to keep people playing as long as possible-- if the devs had their way, XP would be cut to 1/10th of its current level. It's not greed, it's just business. They make money when you play longer, so it's in their interest to prevent fast play wherever they can.
I'd like to see a character migration system too, but I believe it hasn't been implemented because of the way the character databases are currently set up. :S
Me? I want what Guilld Wars has; one time fee for more character slots. :P $5-10 a pop or something.
I'm a noob. There that is out of the way before I put in my 2 cents.
I agree with Spud. Character "jump starting" will not happen solely because of money. BUT what should happen is some new low level missions and contacts added to spice up the content. I haven't been bored with the missions so far but I have only been playing for a month and a half. People who have hung around for going on 3 years are probably sick to death of these missions. Add another zone, some new contacts maybe even some new baddies. That would go a long way in helping the boredom you old hats feel pre level 20.
Character migration should happen but like others have said it must be regulated. Maybe they can limit you to one move per character per every 15 days or so. The other solution is charging a fee per move.
Personally I would like to see more costume options. Yes CoH has a great creation tool but it seems that simple costume pieces or designs that I need to make some of my characters just aren't there. I've read through some of the costume thread on the official boards and most of what I need has been suggested multiple times. More pieces, more helmets, sheilds and stuff like that would make me even happier than I was before.
-MJB
Quote from: captainspud on February 23, 2007, 12:48:49 PM
Skipping lowbie content is something that is brought up a lot, but it'll never, ever happen.
1) The annoying lowbie levels are where you learn the ins and outs of your character. If people are allowed to skip to 20, you'll have Talos swarming with the kind of retards who populate most Hollows missions-- no idea how to use their character, resulting in team wipes.
2) From a more practical point of view, if you jump to 20, that's, let's say, 20 hours of gameplay you've skipped. A MMO developer's #1 priority is to keep people playing as long as possible-- if the devs had their way, XP would be cut to 1/10th of its current level. It's not greed, it's just business. They make money when you play longer, so it's in their interest to prevent fast play wherever they can.
Like I said, whether it's a good idea or not is debatable.
In response to #1, I would argue that limiting leveling to 14th level for someone who's been playing the game for a year or more won't result in increasing the sense-challenged player population much more than it already is. The benefit of starting at 14 is immediate access to travel powers. You still haven't outlevelled all of the low-end content, so there's still time to learn the character before getting into the higher content. An experienced player will have already learned much of what he needs to know to manage the character, so forcing that player to start over at square one is tedious beyond belief. Besides which, a Fast-Start character would start out with NO influence and NO enhancements... those would still have to be earned the old-fashioned way. So levelling past 14 given that challenge would be a case of diminishing returns anyway.
In response to #2, I would argue that Fast-Start would result in MORE gameplay, not less. The person most likely to quit, aside from those who just don't have the money to keep playing, is the person who's gotten tired of the grind and wants to move on to a newer game. In my case, I don't have enough time in to qualify for Fast-Start as I am proposing it. But if I did, starting a fresh character with the goal of reaching level 50 would get a lot more attractive. It would also encourage the alt-itis types (like me) to play around with different characters. I would more readily junk the characters I wasn't satisfied with and start over. For example, It's taken me this long to realize that Astragirl should have been a Grav/FF Controller instead of a Grav/Kin Controller, but I have no appetite for starting her over from scratch to do it.
If the devs cut XP to 1/10th of its' current level, as you suggest they'd like to do, more players would get discouraged and the attrition rate would get higher than it is now. I certainly wouldn't play it... my advancement is slow enough as it is given that I don't get a chance to team up much and good pickup teams are getting harder and harder to find. I'm never going to get any of my toons to 50 anyhow, but the slow pace of picking up powers is frustrating enough now.
Fast-Start would also make Veteran Rewards much, much stronger in terms of PR and Retention. Take Wings for an example... I probably would have deactivated my account again by now, but the promise of getting Wings as an option keeps me shelling out the bucks. If Fast-Start was a Veteran Reward, it would give me that much more incentive to keep grinding away and shelling out the cash. It would be a heck of a lot more useful and appealing than most of the Vet Rewards.
Quote from: MJB on February 23, 2007, 01:37:33 PM
BUT what should happen is some new low level missions and contacts added to spice up the content. I haven't been bored with the missions so far but I have only been playing for a month and a half. People who have hung around for going on 3 years are probably sick to death of these missions. Add another zone, some new contacts maybe even some new baddies. That would go a long way in helping the boredom you old hats feel pre level 20.
I agree they need more low-level content, but unless the devs start thinking outside the box in terms of mission types it won't help boredom all that much. You can put a pretty facade on 'go kill all the monsters in the dungeon' all you want but you can't make me enjoy 'the dungeon'. Even the Radio missions are nothing more than that, though they at least let you pretend that they're different. The fire-fighting was novel for awhile, but who wants to fight fires anymore? I lost my appetite for it the first time I got caught in an explosion and racked up way more debt than I should have. They have introduced some nice mission twists since I've been playing, and I hope they'll continue to innovate there, but there is absolutely nothing to like about playing pre-6th level over and over and over. I'm so sick of Outbreak I could scream.
Quote from: BlueBard on February 23, 2007, 02:04:59 PM
I'm so sick of Outbreak I could scream.
So... skip it? I haven't done the tutorial in over a year.
Quote from: BlueBard on February 23, 2007, 02:04:59 PMThey have introduced some nice mission twists since I've been playing, and I hope they'll continue to innovate there, but there is absolutely nothing to like about playing pre-6th level over and over and over.
I've got to dissagree. I always enjoy the lower levels.
Quote from: Alaric on February 23, 2007, 02:27:46 PM
Quote from: BlueBard on February 23, 2007, 02:04:59 PMThey have introduced some nice mission twists since I've been playing, and I hope they'll continue to innovate there, but there is absolutely nothing to like about playing pre-6th level over and over and over.
I've got to dissagree. I always enjoy the lower levels.
Clearly, Psychiatric intervention is necessary. ;)
Quote from: BlueBard on February 26, 2007, 10:13:04 AM
Quote from: Alaric on February 23, 2007, 02:27:46 PM
Quote from: BlueBard on February 23, 2007, 02:04:59 PMThey have introduced some nice mission twists since I've been playing, and I hope they'll continue to innovate there, but there is absolutely nothing to like about playing pre-6th level over and over and over.
I've got to dissagree. I always enjoy the lower levels.
Clearly, Psychiatric intervention is necessary. ;)
Al's not crazy! The voices in his head are. There is a difference!
After so many toons, I admit that by 10th level I'm pretty impatient for my travel power but other than that, I have no problem with the low levels. Well, there is one thing I don't like. Unless I crank up the difficulty right off the bat, I find that I've run all the beginning missions without hitting level 5. This means tedious hunting for half a level just so I can go to the Hollows or KR. Even as a casual player lvls 1 through 5 are over in a blink. I think part of the problem is that the missions from around level 8 until 14 aren't that exciting.
DK
Skipping the first (however many) levels would not help CoH/V whatsoever. It's an MMO - part of the appeal of an MMO is the fact that there are lots of other people around, and in Co* even moreso, because of all the cool costumes you see.
Let's estimate that 50% of the population would be able to skip lvls 1-15. That means when newbs log into Atlas Park or Galaxy City it would be 50% less "massively multiplayer". Said newb gets the feeling that the game is dead, said newb cancels his/her account.
Quote from: Tortuga on February 26, 2007, 11:13:27 AM
Skipping the first (however many) levels would not help CoH/V whatsoever. It's an MMO - part of the appeal of an MMO is the fact that there are lots of other people around, and in Co* even moreso, because of all the cool costumes you see.
Let's estimate that 50% of the population would be able to skip lvls 1-15. That means when newbs log into Atlas Park or Galaxy City it would be 50% less "massively multiplayer". Said newb gets the feeling that the game is dead, said newb cancels his/her account.
That's an excellent point. However, if it weren't for sewer runs I doubt you'd see much multiplayer at low levels at all. Plus, if you're a newb logging in for the first time and just happen to pick, say Infinity and Galaxy City, you're practically seeing a ghost town anyway.
DK
Quote from: Dweomer Knight on February 26, 2007, 11:11:14 AM
After so many toons, I admit that by 10th level I'm pretty impatient for my travel power but other than that, I have no problem with the low levels. Well, there is one thing I don't like. Unless I crank up the difficulty right off the bat, I find that I've run all the beginning missions without hitting level 5. This means tedious hunting for half a level just so I can go to the Hollows or KR. Even as a casual player lvls 1 through 5 are over in a blink. I think part of the problem is that the missions from around level 8 until 14 aren't that exciting.
DK
Try fighting all the enemies you encounter on the way to and from the missions. I find that helps a lot. Sometimes, even on Heroic, I hit 6th level on my first contact...
And don't be afraid to fight higher-level foes. At the very low levels, your hero is actually more powerful relative to his opponents than he'll be for a long time afterwards. A 2nd level hero has little trouble against a group of oranges, and can beat a group of reds or a single (low-level) purple (if using inspirations, at least).
Quote from: Dweomer Knight on February 26, 2007, 12:41:16 PM
Quote from: Tortuga on February 26, 2007, 11:13:27 AM
Skipping the first (however many) levels would not help CoH/V whatsoever. It's an MMO - part of the appeal of an MMO is the fact that there are lots of other people around, and in Co* even moreso, because of all the cool costumes you see.
Let's estimate that 50% of the population would be able to skip lvls 1-15. That means when newbs log into Atlas Park or Galaxy City it would be 50% less "massively multiplayer". Said newb gets the feeling that the game is dead, said newb cancels his/her account.
That's an excellent point. However, if it weren't for sewer runs I doubt you'd see much multiplayer at low levels at all. Plus, if you're a newb logging in for the first time and just happen to pick, say Infinity and Galaxy City, you're practically seeing a ghost town anyway.
DK
True dat. But then again if they're logging in at peak time they are -going- to see that Freedom and Virtue are at Medium Load. And unless they are total MMO newbs, they should realize that's where most of the people are.
On the other hand, my PC starts to lag badly in a zone full of everybody else on a Medium Load server. Traipsing past the statue of Atlas at peak time is an exercise in either A) Patience or B) Colorful Language.
Antisocial motherless cur that I am, all I care about is that there are a few players on to team with. And forcing players to run the gauntlet does insure that there are lowbies around to team with. Point taken.
Quote from: Alaric on February 26, 2007, 01:29:31 PM
Quote from: Dweomer Knight on February 26, 2007, 11:11:14 AM
After so many toons, I admit that by 10th level I'm pretty impatient for my travel power but other than that, I have no problem with the low levels. Well, there is one thing I don't like. Unless I crank up the difficulty right off the bat, I find that I've run all the beginning missions without hitting level 5. This means tedious hunting for half a level just so I can go to the Hollows or KR. Even as a casual player lvls 1 through 5 are over in a blink. I think part of the problem is that the missions from around level 8 until 14 aren't that exciting.
DK
Try fighting all the enemies you encounter on the way to and from the missions. I find that helps a lot. Sometimes, even on Heroic, I hit 6th level on my first contact...
And don't be afraid to fight higher-level foes. At the very low levels, your hero is actually more powerful relative to his opponents than he'll be for a long time afterwards. A 2nd level hero has little trouble against a group of oranges, and can beat a group of reds or a single (low-level) purple (if using inspirations, at least).
Don't try that with a squishy Controller. A group of Oranges is going to flatline the average low-level Controller. Scrappers, yes; Tankers, probably; Blasters, remotely possible but unlikely; Defenders and Controllers? Not likely.
On the other hand, there's no debt at that level. So as long as you don't mind trips to the hospital, you could rack up an Orange or Red here and there.
I'd like to see:
The toxic damage some Vahzilok do and the fact that Mortificators and Reapers can rez other Vahz makes the Vahzilok too powerful for a lot of heroes to solo. They need to either be reworked or moved to other zones and turned into villains who don't show up in missions until around lvl 15-20.
Shoulder pets\stuffed animals for male characters; we don't need the cat and panda, but we seriously need a parrot for pirate themed characters, and I'd like to see some sort of shoulder angel and devil.
And I've actually brought this up at the CoH board:
Wouldn't it make more sense for Scrappers, who actually fight up close and thus are supposed to be taking damage, to have the Defiance ability instead of Blasters?
Quote from: BlueBard on February 26, 2007, 02:38:17 PM
Quote from: Alaric on February 26, 2007, 01:29:31 PM
Quote from: Dweomer Knight on February 26, 2007, 11:11:14 AM
After so many toons, I admit that by 10th level I'm pretty impatient for my travel power but other than that, I have no problem with the low levels. Well, there is one thing I don't like. Unless I crank up the difficulty right off the bat, I find that I've run all the beginning missions without hitting level 5. This means tedious hunting for half a level just so I can go to the Hollows or KR. Even as a casual player lvls 1 through 5 are over in a blink. I think part of the problem is that the missions from around level 8 until 14 aren't that exciting.
DK
Try fighting all the enemies you encounter on the way to and from the missions. I find that helps a lot. Sometimes, even on Heroic, I hit 6th level on my first contact...
And don't be afraid to fight higher-level foes. At the very low levels, your hero is actually more powerful relative to his opponents than he'll be for a long time afterwards. A 2nd level hero has little trouble against a group of oranges, and can beat a group of reds or a single (low-level) purple (if using inspirations, at least).
Don't try that with a squishy Controller. A group of Oranges is going to flatline the average low-level Controller. Scrappers, yes; Tankers, probably; Blasters, remotely possible but unlikely; Defenders and Controllers? Not likely.
On the other hand, there's no debt at that level. So as long as you don't mind trips to the hospital, you could rack up an Orange or Red here and there.
At the extreme low levels, all the AT's do about the same damage. It's not until about level 6 or 7 that the AT's damage start diverging noticibly. Controllers may actually have the easiest time at the extreme low levels becuase a hold negates all incoming damage.
Quote from: GhostMachine on February 26, 2007, 04:11:08 PM
I'd like to see:
And I've actually brought this up at the CoH board:
Wouldn't it make more sense for Scrappers, who actually fight up close and thus are supposed to be taking damage, to have the Defiance ability instead of Blasters?
I disagree with you completely. There is only one, stress ONE, blaster secondary set not designed for melee. Defiance is as class defining as containment and gauntlet. Defiance Stats (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=Blaster&Number=7336717&Searchpage=1&Main=7336717&Words=%2Bdefiance+%2Bcalculations&topic=&Search=true#Post7336717) posted on CoH forums. Why would any blaster want to trade that in?
Quote from: BlueBard on February 26, 2007, 02:38:17 PM
Don't try that with a squishy Controller. A group of Oranges is going to flatline the average low-level Controller. Scrappers, yes; Tankers, probably; Blasters, remotely possible but unlikely; Defenders and Controllers? Not likely.
At very low levels, no ATs are squishy. In fact, at very low levels, Controllers and Defenders probably solo BETTER than other ATs.
I still want to be able to make a fat baby hero. With a diaper.
And possibly a poo-flinging powerset. Which of course I bet we'd see a Simian Justice re-roll then too. :P
I want to see new inspirations: one for Recharge (small increments, something like 10-15-20) and one that replicates the effect of Power Boost (in 50%-100%-150% increments)
Edit: Fixed. Thanks turtle. :)
Quote from: captainspud on February 26, 2007, 08:10:13 PM
I want to see new enhancements: one for Recharge (small increments, something like 10-15-20) and one that replicates the effect of Power Boost (in 50%-100%-150% increments)
Do you mean inspirations?
I'd like to see a 40-50 co-operative zone with complete story arcs versus a common threat. Utilize the little used Rikti Crash Site and create an epic co-op TF/SF to raid the downed Rikti ship and possibly a mothership.
I'd also like IO's disappear, and I haven't even seen them yet.... I'm OK with inventions for temporary powers. Hate the idea of enhancement set bonuses and inventing costume pieces.
Besides sharing power sets, here are four things that I think would improve the gameplay:
1. I think an easy way to improve combat would be to introduce more Interuptable powers. This would improve combat so much more, as you'd feel lucky/skilled to have timed that big punch in between the enemy's attacks. Likewise, you'd also have a greater sense of interacting with the enemy in combat, as a quick punch, blast or hold could prevent their big attack. Endurance cost could be changed so that some end is taken off when you activate the power, and the rest is taken if you manage to execute it.
2. Attacks are already categorized by magnitude: Minor, Moderate, High, Superior, Extreme... I'd like to see those become Ranges of damage, as opposed to a set number that is multiplied by enhancements. It could work like this:
Minor attack - No Enhancements - Damage ranges from 15-20
Minor attack - 1 dmg enhancement - Damage ranges from 20-30
Minor attack - 2 dmg enhancements - Damage ranges from 25-40
Minor attack - 3 dmg enhancements - Damage ranges from 35-50
The math and numbers aren't bang on, but that's the idea. I find it silly that I *know* that Attack A will do 138.2 dmg everytime. I'd like a little variety, plus just like in my first idea, when you'd randomly hit that top number there would be much rejoicing.
3. This stems from an idea FN had a while back about tankers/scrappers and defense/dmg resistance. I think melee ATs ought to have inherent resistance to their own power sets (primary for tanks, secondaries for scrappers/brutes). It bugs me to no end that a fire/fire brute takes as much dmg from a fire attack as an energy brute. I'm on fire! for Pete's sake. It doesn't have to be much resistence (maybe 10-20%), and it would be unenhanceable. If it's not inherent then at least the fire brute's Fire Resist power should at least have more fire resistence than another brute's fire resist.
4. Power choices within the sets. When Rick O'Shea got the M30 Grenade power I was really hoping he would toss a grenade. Unfortunately, it comes out of his Super Soaker instead. Let's say that each power set has at least 2 or 3 points at which you choose one of two powers. Once you've chosen one, you cannot choose the other at a later level up. So, at the level where an AR blaster can choose M30 Grenade, have the option to choose Toss Grenade instead. Same power, same animation as Smoke Grenade, same activation - but creates uniqueness between AR blasters.
Another example would be SS's Foot Stomp - you could choose between Foot Stomp and a Cone power with slightly more dmg, knockback in which the tanker swipes his arm out in front of him...kind of a clearing the pathway attack. These are 'new' powers, but would just require some new text, a little balancing and finding the right existing animation. It certainly would lead to a lot more variety, more personalization and less cookie-cutter characters.
Them's my thoughts!
Quote from: Tortuga on February 26, 2007, 10:27:25 PM4. Power choices within the sets. When Rick O'Shea got the M30 Grenade power I was really hoping he would toss a grenade. Unfortunately, it comes out of his Super Soaker instead. Let's say that each power set has at least 2 or 3 points at which you choose one of two powers. Once you've chosen one, you cannot choose the other at a later level up. So, at the level where an AR blaster can choose M30 Grenade, have the option to choose Toss Grenade instead. Same power, same animation as Smoke Grenade, same activation - but creates uniqueness between AR blasters.
Ditto. I hate hate hate hate HATE Acoustica pulling out a supersoaker to shoot a freeze ray or... an LRM. I want the Crey Freeze Rifle and the Council Rocket Launcher dammit! :P
Quote from: Midnight on February 26, 2007, 11:52:26 PM
Quote from: Tortuga on February 26, 2007, 10:27:25 PM4. Power choices within the sets. When Rick O'Shea got the M30 Grenade power I was really hoping he would toss a grenade. Unfortunately, it comes out of his Super Soaker instead. Let's say that each power set has at least 2 or 3 points at which you choose one of two powers. Once you've chosen one, you cannot choose the other at a later level up. So, at the level where an AR blaster can choose M30 Grenade, have the option to choose Toss Grenade instead. Same power, same animation as Smoke Grenade, same activation - but creates uniqueness between AR blasters.
Ditto. I hate hate hate hate HATE Acoustica pulling out a supersoaker to shoot a freeze ray or... an LRM. I want the Crey Freeze Rifle and the Council Rocket Launcher dammit! :P
Amen. I love Munitions Mastery, but with GhostMachine being Electric\Devices, I hate him whipping out the supersoaker when using the CFR or LRM.
Why do Mercs (and their henchmen) and Bots MMs get awesome looking guns, yet AR Blasters still have the oversize, ugly as sin watergun? I really wish they'd change that weapon's design. (I have an AR\Energy Blaster alt)
I'd love to be able to selectively turn off or modify visual and auditory effects of the game - make the pink pom-poms lavender, or turn Green Streak's lightening effects actually green. And please God let me turn off the sound effect for Unyielding - it's like fingernails on the blackboard to me!
I'd like it if, after choosing your AT, you could choose which of your two initial power sets was your primary and which was your secondary. For example, if you wanted, you could play a Defense/Melee Scrapper, or a Suport/Ranged Blaster. The "reversed" version of each AT would have a modified version of its usual special ability that made more sense which its new priamry- reversed Scrappers would have a chance of ignoring damage from each given attack, reversed Defenders would recover end faster when nearby enemies had more health, reversed Corruptors' buff/debuff powers would be more effective when used on individuals with lower health, etc. (I've thought of ideas for each AT, actually.) This would be a relatively easy way for the devs to effectively double the number of ATs.
I'd also like to see some way to easily change which costume is in which slot. Moving a costume to your first slot would not only allow you to see a different costume in the character selection window, it could make making new costumes easier- suppose the costume you want to make is very different from the one in your current number one slot, but similar to the costume in your number three slot, say.
I'd like to see an alternate respec process, for people who don't want to completely recreate their charcaters but just want to move a couple of slots around, or replace a single power. The reason why I've stopped using respecs is entirely because I hate feeling like I'm destroying my character and creating a new one every time I respec.
I'd like to see them add Hero-type epic power pools to the villain side, as an additional choice for players who don't want to use the patron pools. They could also simultaneously throw in heroic patron pools, as well.
The single change I'd most like to see, however, is that they'd get rid of those annoying visual effects from the temporary auto powers you get from mayhem missions/safeguard missions. Even though it's putrely visual and doesn't affect gameplay, that's the single thing that currently comes closest to ruining the game for me. It's annoying to spend time at the tailor coming up with exactly the right costume- including the right aura- and then have to see it constantly overwhelmed by a green glow, or to team with a bunch of similarly-leveled villains and have them all have the exact same special effects... At the very least, they should give us the option of turning off those pwoers when we want to or something...
Quote from: Uncle Yuan on February 27, 2007, 04:14:20 AM
I'd love to be able to selectively turn off or modify visual and auditory effects of the game - make the pink pom-poms lavender, or turn Green Streak's lightening effects actually green. And please God let me turn off the sound effect for Unyielding - it's like fingernails on the blackboard to me!
The Devs sound pretty firm on the 'no re-coloring' thing.
I like the reversed AT idea. Won't happen, but I like it. One place that paradigm would seem to break down is the Controller. It doesn't seem to make much sense for a Controller to have a primary support set over a secondary control set. I'm open to be convinced, though.
I also like the idea of being able to re-arrange costume slots easily. C'mon, how hard would it be to implement a drag n' drop?
They already reversed the ATs, its called CoV! :lol:
Quote from: Alaric on February 27, 2007, 05:26:48 AM
I'd like to see them add Hero-type epic power pools to the villain side, as an additional choice for players who don't want to use the patron pools. They could also simultaneously throw in heroic patron pools, as well.
Heroic patron powers and arcs would be a great way to solve the lvl 40+ tediousness. Since levelling Bravebird playing only TFs, trials, and special missions I've realized that I love having an alternate route throughout the game. CoV is really lacking in that department, especially once you hit St. Martial/Grandville.
For missions in which you need to find information from hunts, I'd love to have the chance to find the information earlier on. If the 20th Council minion that I defeat has the info on the base, why don't I just find him and defeat him right away? :) So I'd like hunt missions have an increasing chance of finding info earlier -- let's say that when I need to hunt 20 I have a 5% chance of finding info within the first 10 defeated, then a 15% chance for 11-15, a 30% chance for 16-19 and 100% chance on defeat #20. Mission bonus would remain the same.
Quote from: GhostMachine on February 27, 2007, 02:15:14 AM
Why do Mercs (and their henchmen) and Bots MMs get awesome looking guns, yet AR Blasters still have the oversize, ugly as sin watergun? I really wish they'd change that weapon's design. (I have an AR\Energy Blaster alt)
The AR rifle does a lot more than MM guns do. It's a shotgun-sniper rifle-flamethrower-grenade launcher-beanbag-automatic rifle-freeze gun-rocket launcher all in one. Design wise, it makes perfect sense to not just be a simple gun -- not saying it's not ugly -- but it at least makes sense.
Note: I'm a total noob when it comes to CoX. I've never leveled a toon past 30 and I've activated my account on and off over the years.
1. I would like to see more slots for missions. I feel that I'm very limited when it comes to deciding what to do when I log into the game. As it is now I basically have 2 options if I'm going to solo.
2. I would like the ability to set the difficulty of a mission at the beginning of a mission rather than finding a guy to up it for me. This way if I happen to have a mission that I got 3 levels ago, and I enter the mish with a team and they say, "Weak," that we can exit and up the difficulty. Most of the time we head to another mish and my missions become stale causing me to progress through story arcs extremely slow.
3. I'd like contacts to tell you where to go if they don't have something for you. If you're experienced in the game this isn't so much of a problem, but sometimes the contacts tell you nothing, and there's no direction from the game and you run around wondering - who do I talk to?
4. I'd like an option to turn on health bars for everyone in my party and have it displayed abover their heads with their party number along side. As an Empath I spend 99% of a mission staring at the party window. I'd love to be able to watch the battle and still see the health of my teammates.
5. More archetypes/powerpools. I think we can all agree that making toons in CoX is a lot of fun.
6. The ability to set keymapping for all my toons. As it stands now everytime I create a toon I have to redo all the mappings. As a keyboard player it's a tad annoying.
7. A comprehensive list on the CoH site of *ALL*, everysingle one, emotes.
8. Temporary powers attached to costume pieces. When you find one you can equip the power and the costume piece is auto attached to your toon. Similar in fashion to the jetpacks you get in the game. Not sure if I9 does this or not.
9. This won't happen I know, but combine the Yellow and Green train lines. I don't know how many times I've run to one train line only to realize I'm at the wrong one.
10. Add more incentives to things like PvP and base raids.
11. The ability to bring up a macro/keybind list of what I've created. I have one toon who has superjump. She has a keybind that auto presses the "jump" feature. That key combined with "run forward" is great because I can type to my team, etc and still be 'en route'. However, I can't remember the keybind I've set for her!
12. In game ability to mail "things" to other toons.
13. More soloability in the game. I have a controller and I would rather suffer through a root canal then solo with her. Even fighting grey mobs is beyond tedius. Not every mob in the game has to come in packs of 1 to 2 reds or 20 blues/greens. Since the player base of the game is significantly smaller then other mmos, sometimes I find it extremely difficult to group up. I've spent close to an hour trying to get in teams only to log off in frustration because I can't further my own toon.
14. A hospital in the Hollows - or at the least a clinic. Lowbie toons always die when trying to cross the hollows for missions only to find themselves rezoning and doing it all over again.
15. Server wide events. An alien invasion in all zones for example. Depending on the zone level, mobs of appropriate level/difficulty could spawn so everybody could participate in the event. An alien attack in Atlas Park would be awesome!
16. New cities! Paragon is a nice place and all, but The Avengers, X-Men, and JLA were world travellers. It would be really cool if these new cities were available at, let's say, 40+. And a new city actually combined players from across servers. So you'd still be "on your server" when in Paragon.
Quote from: MyndVizion on February 27, 2007, 11:54:28 AM13. More soloability in the game. I have a controller and I would rather suffer through a root canal then solo with her. Even fighting grey mobs is beyond tedius. Not every mob in the game has to come in packs of 1 to 2 reds or 20 blues/greens. Since the player base of the game is significantly smaller then other mmos, sometimes I find it extremely difficult to group up. I've spent close to an hour trying to get in teams only to log off in frustration because I can't further my own toon.
You know, it's funny- my Controller soloes very well, and has since I started playing him (he's level 33 now). In fact, I enjoy soloing all the aTs, although Defenders, as they increase in level, definitely become less fun (and less easy) to solo. I do agree that most of the heroic ATs should be a little more solo-able- the villain ATs are overall much easier to solo, which, in my opinion, is one of the major advantages CoV has over CoH. On the other side, I find the heroes are usually more fun on teams...
Quote from: MyndVizion on February 27, 2007, 11:54:28 AM
15. Server wide events. An alien invasion in all zones for example. Depending on the zone level, mobs of appropriate level/difficulty could spawn so everybody could participate in the event. An alien attack in Atlas Park would be awesome!
There have been game-wide events. The entire city's been invaded by snow creatures, for example, and then there was the war between the 5th Column and the Council... and the Rularru Invasion... and the Trick or Treat Event...
Quote4. I'd like an option to turn on health bars for everyone in my party and have it displayed abover their heads with their party number along side. As an Empath I spend 99% of a mission staring at the party window. I'd love to be able to watch the battle and still see the health of my teammates.
You can do half of that. Go in Options, in the first tab, and somewhere under Display there's a thing for "Display Teammate Health". I think it's On Mouse Over by default, just move it to "Always". No luck on the numbers, though. I agree, that would be really handy.
Quote6. The ability to set keymapping for all my toons. As it stands now everytime I create a toon I have to redo all the mappings. As a keyboard player it's a tad annoying.
You can do that. Go on the CoH boards and look up a tutorial on saving and loading a bind file. It lets you create a text file (which you can also do from scratch once you learn the Syntax) which you can load up to "snap" all your binds onto a toon.
Quote11. The ability to bring up a macro/keybind list of what I've created. I have one toon who has superjump. She has a keybind that auto presses the "jump" feature. That key combined with "run forward" is great because I can type to my team, etc and still be 'en route'. However, I can't remember the keybind I've set for her!
Two solutions here. First of all, the aforementioned Bind Dump will list all of your binds, so you can dig through and look for where you bound it.
Second solution is to always bind similar things in the same place. I always have Sprint on left shift, my main travel power on F, heals on T, Dull Pain or Recall Friend on P, etc. If I make a new toon and he has the same or similar powers to another toon, I always make an effort to put his powers where I'm used to them so I rarely "lose" a bind.
Quote12. In game ability to mail "things" to other toons.
That's coming. With Consignment Houses, you'll be able to put items up for sale with one toon, log out, log in another character, and go buy the item with the second character. There's a chance you'll be undercut by another bidder, but as long as what you're transferring is a common item (a random SO, for example) I doubt anybody will buy it.
Quote13. More soloability in the game. I have a controller and I would rather suffer through a root canal then solo with her. Even fighting grey mobs is beyond tedius. Not every mob in the game has to come in packs of 1 to 2 reds or 20 blues/greens. Since the player base of the game is significantly smaller then other mmos, sometimes I find it extremely difficult to group up. I've spent close to an hour trying to get in teams only to log off in frustration because I can't further my own toon.
Any toon can be made soloable. What's your AT/powerset? I can help you figure out a solo build.
Quote15. Server wide events. An alien invasion in all zones for example. Depending on the zone level, mobs of appropriate level/difficulty could spawn so everybody could participate in the event. An alien attack in Atlas Park would be awesome!
The stuff Alaric mentiones is good examples... plus, the exact alien invasion you're discussing was done at the end of Beta. Flying saucers appeared over all zones. You can find screenshots still if you dig around.
Quote from: Tortuga on February 27, 2007, 10:05:11 AM
Quote from: GhostMachine on February 27, 2007, 02:15:14 AM
Why do Mercs (and their henchmen) and Bots MMs get awesome looking guns, yet AR Blasters still have the oversize, ugly as sin watergun? I really wish they'd change that weapon's design. (I have an AR\Energy Blaster alt)
The AR rifle does a lot more than MM guns do. It's a shotgun-sniper rifle-flamethrower-grenade launcher-beanbag-automatic rifle-freeze gun-rocket launcher all in one. Design wise, it makes perfect sense to not just be a simple gun -- not saying it's not ugly -- but it at least makes sense.
Oh, I know it makes sense. I'm just saying I can't see why they don't re-design the AR to make it look cooler. As for multi-use guns, there are real assault rifles that are two weapons combined and look cool, such as an M-16 with a grenade launcher or shotgun attached. I don't see why they can't come up with something that looks more like a real world weapon or something high-tech instead of mismatched weapon made up of parts that look like they were cobbled from a junkyard.
I'd also argue that the AR uses the grenade launcher to fire the beanbags and that there are no visual representations of the CFR or LRM weapons, as they both seem to fire from the assault rifle's barrel, so there'd be no need to add those weapons to a new gun design.
So they really just need an assault rifle with a sniper scope, grenade launcher and flamethrower attached.
Good tips everyone! I'll have to look into some of the advice you guys mentioned.
On a related note, one thing I would like to see is a modification to when somebody gets disconnected. If you're in a team and somebody gets dc'd they immediately get dumped out of the team. It's very confusing, with the team typically wondering, "Who left?" not to mention 'why'. Were they dc'd, did they just decide to drop the team? Not only that, but if I get dc'd I'll be lucky enough to remember the exact name and spelling of one of the team members so I can ask for a reinvite. I would prefer to see the player still in the team with a symbol denoting they've lost connection. Other games have this implemented so it is feasible (of course the infrastructure must be in place).
Quote from: MyndVizion on February 27, 2007, 08:51:55 PM
Good tips everyone! I'll have to look into some of the advice you guys mentioned.
On a related note, one thing I would like to see is a modification to when somebody gets disconnected. If you're in a team and somebody gets dc'd they immediately get dumped out of the team. It's very confusing, with the team typically wondering, "Who left?" not to mention 'why'. Were they dc'd, did they just decide to drop the team? Not only that, but if I get dc'd I'll be lucky enough to remember the exact name and spelling of one of the team members so I can ask for a reinvite. I would prefer to see the player still in the team with a symbol denoting they've lost connection. Other games have this implemented so it is feasible (of course the infrastructure must be in place).
That's the best idea I've heard yet. The leader can still kick the player if need be, but it would be nice to be able to stay in a pickup team through a d/c.
Not very sexy, but one that might be very-low hanging fruit and (relatively) easily doable:
How about having the search window eliminate player names more logically when it has to truncate? I've noticed that when looking for players to fill out a team, the search window randomly cuts out available players and leaves in already-teammed players when the relevant "hits" are too many to list. A more systematic coding, like "grayed-out names truncate first" then "players not taking invites" etc. would make the recruiting time quicker and result in less thumb-twiddling for the team. Just a little quality-of-life kinda thing.
EC
Quote from: El Condor on February 28, 2007, 08:26:17 AM
Not very sexy, but one that might be very-low hanging fruit and (relatively) easily doable:
How about having the search window eliminate player names more logically when it has to truncate? I've noticed that when looking for players to fill out a team, the search window randomly cuts out available players and leaves in already-teammed players when the relevant "hits" are too many to list. A more systematic coding, like "grayed-out names truncate first" then "players not taking invites" etc. would make the recruiting time quicker and result in less thumb-twiddling for the team. Just a little quality-of-life kinda thing.
EC
I like that idea, too. I find the Search window fairly cumbersome to use and not as effective as it could be. There should be a filter (default on) that automatically excludes 'unavailable' players (not taking invites, already on a team, already in a mission). I'm constantly getting bugged 'in-mish' to join a pickup team. If the filter was on by default, I wouldn't get most of those. You should be able to turn the filter off to get a full search when you're looking for someone in particular, though.
Ooh almost forgot one idea I've had for awhile that REALLY needs to be added:
-Hostages/Rescued Citizens become temporary Pets - you know where they are, you can direct them when stuck; but can't do any attacking, etc.
Quote from: Tortuga on March 01, 2007, 11:33:14 AM
Ooh almost forgot one idea I've had for awhile that REALLY needs to be added:
-Hostages/Rescued Citizens become temporary Pets - you know where they are, you can direct them when stuck; but can't do any attacking, etc.
What? You don't like your rescuees getting in the way?
Regarding the issue of skipping through lvl 1-14s, how about that as a veteran award?
So someone who's had an active account for more than 2-3 years can auto level any of their below lvl 14 toons up to lvl 14? That seems fair enough.
Quote from: GhostMachine on February 27, 2007, 05:29:13 PM
Quote from: Tortuga on February 27, 2007, 10:05:11 AM
Quote from: GhostMachine on February 27, 2007, 02:15:14 AM
Why do Mercs (and their henchmen) and Bots MMs get awesome looking guns, yet AR Blasters still have the oversize, ugly as sin watergun? I really wish they'd change that weapon's design. (I have an AR\Energy Blaster alt)
The AR rifle does a lot more than MM guns do. It's a shotgun-sniper rifle-flamethrower-grenade launcher-beanbag-automatic rifle-freeze gun-rocket launcher all in one. Design wise, it makes perfect sense to not just be a simple gun -- not saying it's not ugly -- but it at least makes sense.
Oh, I know it makes sense. I'm just saying I can't see why they don't re-design the AR to make it look cooler. As for multi-use guns, there are real assault rifles that are two weapons combined and look cool, such as an M-16 with a grenade launcher or shotgun attached. I don't see why they can't come up with something that looks more like a real world weapon or something high-tech instead of mismatched weapon made up of parts that look like they were cobbled from a junkyard.
I'd also argue that the AR uses the grenade launcher to fire the beanbags and that there are no visual representations of the CFR or LRM weapons, as they both seem to fire from the assault rifle's barrel, so there'd be no need to add those weapons to a new gun design.
So they really just need an assault rifle with a sniper scope, grenade launcher and flamethrower attached.
Thanks to TJ my AR rifles show up as a nice gun metal black :D
But anyway, one thing I want to see, and what I think the damn 3 year reward should have been, was more slots per server. Atleast another 4. Those pets are cute and all, but 4 more slots would have been much more worth a 3 year committment.
Also, and it may have been mentioed here,I want a career based story arc where you design a villain or hero and he becomes your arch-nemesis from 1 to 50. Maybe setting it up as a 40-50 thing though. Do a TF at 40 that lets you earn an arch-enemy, then it sends you to power selection and costume creation and bingo, for the next 10 levels you can be randomly ambushed by him, have him show up in any missions you take on, excluding tf's of course, and when you reach 50 he contacts you for a final showdown with, say, the ability to pick one of the powers from his powersets or something if you whup him. Brings the 2 games together and adds a sense of immersion to the game that it can often lack in the doldrums of the last 10 levels.
Bloody hell I wanna play again! Aimee's halfway to and I can't manage stairs....
BLAST!!!
Quote from: Verfall on March 02, 2007, 01:35:02 AM
Also, and it may have been mentioed here,I want a career based story arc where you design a villain or hero and he becomes your arch-nemesis from 1 to 50. Maybe setting it up as a 40-50 thing though. Do a TF at 40 that lets you earn an arch-enemy, then it sends you to power selection and costume creation and bingo, for the next 10 levels you can be randomly ambushed by him, have him show up in any missions you take on, excluding tf's of course, and when you reach 50 he contacts you for a final showdown with, say, the ability to pick one of the powers from his powersets or something if you whup him. Brings the 2 games together and adds a sense of immersion to the game that it can often lack in the doldrums of the last 10 levels.
Bloody hell I wanna play again! Aimee's halfway to and I can't manage stairs....
BLAST!!!
Wow, Ver! Great idea! I vote you get a job as developer for this game. I love the idea of an arch-enemy.
QuoteThey already reversed the ATs, its called CoV!
not quite, but close. some of the ATs are already very close to "revearse" of certain other ATs.. revearsing tankers would be basicly creating heroic brutes, and reverseing scrappers would make them too similar to tankers to be worth it, i think..
Quote from: Lord Elcorion on March 02, 2007, 03:01:45 PMand reverseing scrappers would make them too similar to tankers to be worth it, i think..
I strongly disagree. Scrapeprs have entirely different power choices than Tankers (well, mostly different), and "reversed scrappers" would have a completely different special ability than Tankers. To me, at least, these sorts of changes would make them "feel" very different.
you may be right, since i'm largely looking at the fact the tankers are Def/melee and scrappers are Melee/def. i suppose with the right tweaking, you could make the revearse classes fairly different.. though i still think reversing tankers would end up most likely having a strong resemblance to heroic brutes.. not that that's nessicarilly a bad thing.. i just don't know if it'd achive the true diversification feel that you're looking for..
For a PI zone event, I'd love a Monster invasion of Portal Corp. Add some destructable objects to that gathering area that need to stay protected, or else just have Monsters from the northern island attack for the sake of attacking. The reason for the attack could be that a powerful and evil being takes over the monsters' will in an effort to stop heroes from doing their heroic thing in the alternate universes...blah blah blah.
Quote from: Verfall on March 02, 2007, 01:35:02 AMI want a career based story arc where you design a villain or hero and he becomes your arch-nemesis
What a sweet idea - love it! :thumbup:
EC
Quote from: El Condor on March 03, 2007, 05:22:54 AM
Quote from: Verfall on March 02, 2007, 01:35:02 AMI want a career based story arc where you design a villain or hero and he becomes your arch-nemesis
What a sweet idea - love it! :thumbup:
EC
I like it too, but consider...
If every toon has access to this arch-nemesis story arc, that's one extra 'character' that has to be stored on the server. It could get out of hand pretty quickly. Limiting it to high-level characters is one option. Another option is making it so that a player has to give up a regular slot to build their nemesis.
Then too, it opens up possibilities for abuse where a player designs a nemesis that they can easily beat and reap that much more XP and influence from.
It would probably be more effective to give players a stable of 'stock' nemeses (pl?) to choose from. The benefit of this would be that a nemesis could naturally have minions that already exist in the game, though not all of them would or should. The choice of nemesis could be evolved through a story line, perhaps a sort of personal Trial mission, and limited by factors such as AT and Origin. It would also open the door for recurring missions featuring the nemesis, rather than one who just shows up from time to time.
Quote from: Tortuga on March 02, 2007, 09:07:07 PM
For a PI zone event, I'd love a Monster invasion of Portal Corp. Add some destructable objects to that gathering area that need to stay protected, or else just have Monsters from the northern island attack for the sake of attacking. The reason for the attack could be that a powerful and evil being takes over the monsters' will in an effort to stop heroes from doing their heroic thing in the alternate universes...blah blah blah.
That does happen to help clean out the riff-raff of low-level PL-ers, when some heroes lead the giant monsters over to Portal Corp courtyard.
Another way to clear out the riff-raff would be to automatically spawn snipers and ambushers (say level 40 villains) to take out the lowest level hero in the zone, under level 40...i.e. so it would take the effort of higher level heroes to defeat the ambushers for that lower level hero (call them sponsors or mentors). 37-39 heroes may have a chance against them...but forget the lvl 1 toon who sits in Portal Corp courtyard b'casting for a PL. The storyline for that would be the villains are closely watching PI, looking for vulnerable heroes to prey on.
Quote from: BlueBard on March 05, 2007, 07:26:42 AM
Quote from: El Condor on March 03, 2007, 05:22:54 AM
Quote from: Verfall on March 02, 2007, 01:35:02 AMI want a career based story arc where you design a villain or hero and he becomes your arch-nemesis
What a sweet idea - love it! :thumbup:
EC
I like it too, but consider...
If every toon has access to this arch-nemesis story arc, that's one extra 'character' that has to be stored on the server. It could get out of hand pretty quickly. Limiting it to high-level characters is one option. Another option is making it so that a player has to give up a regular slot to build their nemesis.
Then too, it opens up possibilities for abuse where a player designs a nemesis that they can easily beat and reap that much more XP and influence from.
It would probably be more effective to give players a stable of 'stock' nemeses (pl?) to choose from. The benefit of this would be that a nemesis could naturally have minions that already exist in the game, though not all of them would or should. The choice of nemesis could be evolved through a story line, perhaps a sort of personal Trial mission, and limited by factors such as AT and Origin. It would also open the door for recurring missions featuring the nemesis, rather than one who just shows up from time to time.
It shouldn't be that big of a server problem. Hell, the idea alone could be an entire issue itself. And to compensate for the powersets somehow being setup to be "weaker", you just give them the boosts EB's and such get. Solo on a low difficulty the nemesis shows up as just a boss, as you go higher it can go up to EB and even AV depending on team makeup. I would limit it to the 40-50 range though. By that point you should be skilled enough and have the powers to handle one. Plus before that you're really not considered all that powerful storywise.
If space is a problem, the idea of using a villain of ones own is a possibility. Perhaps letting you select any villain/hero that you have on the server and that is atleast level 40 to be the nemesis. Lets the role players who have worked the arch enemy idea to actually use it within the game. Harold could annoy Gday, Spud could Harass Spood, it'd actually make playing both sides better.
Quote from: Verfall on March 05, 2007, 01:22:17 PM
Quote from: BlueBard on March 05, 2007, 07:26:42 AM
Quote from: El Condor on March 03, 2007, 05:22:54 AM
Quote from: Verfall on March 02, 2007, 01:35:02 AMI want a career based story arc where you design a villain or hero and he becomes your arch-nemesis
What a sweet idea - love it! :thumbup:
EC
I like it too, but consider...
If every toon has access to this arch-nemesis story arc, that's one extra 'character' that has to be stored on the server. It could get out of hand pretty quickly. Limiting it to high-level characters is one option. Another option is making it so that a player has to give up a regular slot to build their nemesis.
Then too, it opens up possibilities for abuse where a player designs a nemesis that they can easily beat and reap that much more XP and influence from.
It would probably be more effective to give players a stable of 'stock' nemeses (pl?) to choose from. The benefit of this would be that a nemesis could naturally have minions that already exist in the game, though not all of them would or should. The choice of nemesis could be evolved through a story line, perhaps a sort of personal Trial mission, and limited by factors such as AT and Origin. It would also open the door for recurring missions featuring the nemesis, rather than one who just shows up from time to time.
It shouldn't be that big of a server problem. Hell, the idea alone could be an entire issue itself. And to compensate for the powersets somehow being setup to be "weaker", you just give them the boosts EB's and such get. Solo on a low difficulty the nemesis shows up as just a boss, as you go higher it can go up to EB and even AV depending on team makeup. I would limit it to the 40-50 range though. By that point you should be skilled enough and have the powers to handle one. Plus before that you're really not considered all that powerful storywise.
If space is a problem, the idea of using a villain of ones own is a possibility. Perhaps letting you select any villain/hero that you have on the server and that is atleast level 40 to be the nemesis. Lets the role players who have worked the arch enemy idea to actually use it within the game. Harold could annoy Gday, Spud could Harass Spood, it'd actually make playing both sides better.
Personallyt, one thing I'd really like to see is NPC versions of actual player heroes/villains appearing somewhat randomly in missions as enemies for villains/heroes, but with a greater chance of encountering characters created by you or in-game teammates/friends/global friends. For example, I could enter a mission with crazy Kate and find myself having to fight an NPC version of Tortuga or something. Yeah, it would probably be very hard to implement, but it would be fun.
I myself have never put much effort into the game like my brother has, but I would still like to see them transfer some of the cool power sets from CoV to CoH and vice versa. Also They should add two new powers like Light-based for blasters and stuff, and Shield for defenders and tankers.
Quote from: Ganymede Zero on March 05, 2007, 04:38:03 PM
I myself have never put much effort into the game like my brother has, but I would still like to see them transfer some of the cool power sets from CoV to CoH and vice versa. Also They should add two new powers like Light-based for blasters and stuff, and Shield for defenders and tankers.
If you mean a shield like Captain America carries, I'm all for it. In fact, that's one of the powers I most wanted and was disappointed that it wasn't in the game when I first got CoH.
I'd like to see a Shield powerset that has maybe 3 different attacks and the rest of the powers are defensive. They could do maybe two different shield throws (one ranged, one an aoe or cone attack to simulate bouncing to hit multiple targets) and a bashing attack, with the throws doing knockback damage and the bash doing a stun. However, I'd rather see it as a Scrapper powerset than a Tanker powerset due to Scrappers getting critical hits.
Well, Positron listed both offensive and defensive shield sets among the ten powers he most wants to see in the game, so it wouldn't surprise me if eventually they're in there- probably as both Scrapper and Tanker sets (at least for the defensive version). However, a while back, one of the devs (can't remember who) posted that they were having some sort of serious problem implementing shields- I'm guessing that was specifically defensive shields, and that the problem had something to do with having a draw-able weopon that was defensive rather than offenive, but I could be wrong.
It honestly never occured to me that they would have the shield be drawable. I assumed the shield would always be out. Having, potentially, both a weapon and a shield as drawables would make for some pretty irritating animation times. First strikes will have already hit or miss while you're still drawing the shield; not to mention you're weapon.
My hope, assuming they come out with this set, would be to have the shield always out. And if you make a Shield based toon, the colors and symbols on the shield will be customizable in character creation (unlike current weapons). Unfortunately, that works fine defensively, but if you have something like Shield Throw it becomes more difficult.
DK
Quote from: Dweomer Knight on March 06, 2007, 07:59:32 AM
It honestly never occured to me that they would have the shield be drawable. I assumed the shield would always be out. Having, potentially, both a weapon and a shield as drawables would make for some pretty irritating animation times. First strikes will have already hit or miss while you're still drawing the shield; not to mention you're weapon.
My hope, assuming they come out with this set, would be to have the shield always out. And if you make a Shield based toon, the colors and symbols on the shield will be customizable in character creation (unlike current weapons). Unfortunately, that works fine defensively, but if you have something like Shield Throw it becomes more difficult.
DK
The problem with having the shield 'always on' is of course that it might interfere with certain animations. I'd imagine the worst problem would be with shield clipping. I bet there would be some really bizarre looking animations.
On the other hand, 'drawing' a shield seems like it would look pretty silly too.
And customizable shields is a really great idea, but if the devs won't pursue customized colors for powers I'm not sure they'll spend much time on custom shields either.
Does anyone remember what Posi said about the possibility of more Pistols powersets a while back? All I remember is, I was disappointed and he said they'd be villain-only powersets.
Someone seriously needs to set the developers down and make them watch a few of John Woo's Hong Kong movies (specifically, Hard-Boiled and The Killer - although, The Killer may be a bad choice since the protagonist is actually a bad guy, more or less) to see some examples of heroes packing heat. Because I want a hero, NOT A VILLAIN, who can dual wield pistols. If its the `guns are for killing' crap....a. They've obviously not put much thought into the idea of anti-heroes *, and b. they can always make the powerset akin to Trick Arrow, where you have specialized ammunition that has various effects but is an offensive powerset.
* Although....is it just me, or does CoV seem more like you're running a hero who just happens to rob banks instead of a real criminal most of the time? The only time I feel like I'm really playing a bad guy in CoV, aside from Mayhem missions, is if I'm doing a mission that involves Wyvern....
CoV-wise, I only want one thing: the ability to kill civilians during Mayhem missions.
The only thing I remember about hero pistol sets was something like this; "There will NEVER be a pistol scrapper set."
Quote from: Midnight on March 06, 2007, 12:35:55 PM
The only thing I remember about hero pistol sets was something like this; "There will NEVER be a pistol scrapper set."
Nor should there be (a pistol-packing scrapper).
I guess they'd have to be Blasters, or maybe Defenders.
I'd like to see an Avenger AT: Melee/Ranged, so you could have a pistol-packing street-fighter or even a Batman/Captain America type. The signature AT power could involve either:
- Damage resistance that increases with damage taken (they get tougher when the chips are down), OR
- +End/+Rechrg that increases with damage taken (they get more dangerous/frenzied as they grow more desperate), OR
- +End/+Rechrg that increases as teammates take damage (they get more dangerous/frenzied when others are in danger).
By making Ranged a secondary, you leave the possibility for opening shots but they'd switch to melee closer in. If they try to mix attacks, they have to deal with weapon-drawing animations that will slow them down. It would be a whole new dynamic.
Quote from: BlueBard on March 06, 2007, 11:34:48 AM
Quote from: Dweomer Knight on March 06, 2007, 07:59:32 AM
It honestly never occured to me that they would have the shield be drawable. I assumed the shield would always be out. Having, potentially, both a weapon and a shield as drawables would make for some pretty irritating animation times. First strikes will have already hit or miss while you're still drawing the shield; not to mention you're weapon.
My hope, assuming they come out with this set, would be to have the shield always out. And if you make a Shield based toon, the colors and symbols on the shield will be customizable in character creation (unlike current weapons). Unfortunately, that works fine defensively, but if you have something like Shield Throw it becomes more difficult.
DK
The problem with having the shield 'always on' is of course that it might interfere with certain animations. I'd imagine the worst problem would be with shield clipping. I bet there would be some really bizarre looking animations.
On the other hand, 'drawing' a shield seems like it would look pretty silly too.
And customizable shields is a really great idea, but if the devs won't pursue customized colors for powers I'm not sure they'll spend much time on custom shields either.
For shields I can see having a toggle like hide that turns the shield on and off, or just make the first defense toggle, usually the smashing/lethal one, have the shield drawn permanently. With a different defense set the offensive set suffers redraw, put them together and the shield goes away when the toggle gets turned off, leaving you free to attack with the toggle on, and suffer no redraw.
As for animations, currently having weapons drawn cuts off animations, so as long you have the shield out you'd experience the same problem. Turn the toggle off or wait till the attack animation wears off, much like current weapon users do, and you'd have no problem animation wise.
Unfortunately I doubt it'll be a customizeable shield. At best it might be a generic energy based shield with it's own color. Kinda like the one the USAgent carried back in the late 90's. Without power customization we won't see custom shields unfortunately. Apparently the crafting system noone wanted is more important than the power customization everyone wanted.
I remember way, way back Statesman saying that, for some reason, customizable weapons were more do-able than altering power colors.
I'd love to see shields as a costume piece. I don't really need a special power set - Invuln works well as a justification. And it would go very well with my BS/Invuln scrapper.
And if it hasn't been mentioned here yet, a jet pack and jump pack piece.
I understand what everyone is saying. However, a shield is more central to what a shield based toon looks like than claws or a katana. Having every shield be a flat round grey thing would be a big turnoff in my opinion.
DK
Quote from: Dweomer Knight on March 08, 2007, 01:03:52 PM
I understand what everyone is saying. However, a shield is more central to what a shield based toon looks like than claws or a katana. Having every shield be a flat round grey thing would be a big turnoff in my opinion.
DK
No argument here. I'd be as disappointed as the next guy if that were the case. Given some of the statements made by devs, it just sounds like it's not a slam-dunk feature they'll be able to implement easily.