Captain-Electric

If I came off like that AT ALL in any of my posts, apologies to anyone who got ticked off, but dude, I think I've tried to make it pretty clear I've got no problems with any of the other stuff. As far as that's concerned, I came into City of Heroes seeing it as an all-encompassing universe, and that was one of the biggest draws. I may be a big Marvel fan, but my favorite authors include Cory Doctorow, Kurt Vonnegut, Dan Simmons, Tolkien, I've read most of the Battlestar Galactica remake comics and X-Files comics, I've read almost every story on Orionsarm.com and written a few myself. If it's a massive universe inside of a consistent and self-contained continuum, my mind is open, and I say bring it. But there are a few things that the classic types could use, like seamed tights with patterns utilizing newer tech, masks that are real objects with full white eyes, and quivers. There are multiple threads with laundry lists.

If I wanted it solely my way, I'd actually be asking for contemporary super hero costume pieces inspired by modern-era comics and super hero movies, like seamed and ribbed non-spandex fabrics, masks with glowing colorable "whites," slim musculature-emulating armored suit pieces, and animated costume pieces like retractable body armor or hoods that can be pulled on. I think it would be a lonely fight for all of these things, so I've focused instead on something I can get behind that I like and that a significant number of others like too--the Silver Age (I'm not actually partial to the Golden Age, but like you say, variety is great).

Felt grindy after the first press.

I see what you did there.

Again, I see a big fat straw man here. And yes, I'm using the term correctly. You people are misrepresenting my (and a few others) position, and then turning around and arguing against that misrepresentation rather than arguing against my position. Why? Who knows. But I would venture to guess it's because my position is not actually that arguable: which is that I love everything we have and that we're getting and that we're slated to get, but I'm disappointed that so much work went into something else that is not on the table and not on the schedule at all, meaning not in the pipeline and not being developed. They've got to work on something after everything else is said and done, right?

You keep telling me I'm comparing the value of these recent offerings, and I keep reminding you that I'm just as anxious for them and would have no interest in seeing the devs restructure their existing development schedule around a portion of the community's desire for classic super hero costume pieces. I keep reminding you people that lots of people spoke up for themselves in Savage's and Xanatos's threads, and you keep accusing me of speaking up for them, and I keep re-reminding you that no, they spoke for themselves.

Yes, the thousand suns line was cheesy, but it was off the cuff. All I meant was, the super hero comic book fans really want some more super hero comic book stuff. Not now. Not tomorrow. Day after tomorrow is fine. I don't hear too many people turning into the Hulk over this, but to hear it from you folks, you'd think we were. If you don't say what you want, you know what you might get? You might get something else.

All of the big disagreements I've ever had on these forums have revolved around accusations that I'm a blind fan boy. A few warts along the way have never soured me on the bigger picture--which is that City of Heroes is the best MMO and best "interactive comic book" ever made. If I'm entitled to anything, and I suspect I'm not, then I'm entitled to having one disagreement every couple of years or so without having it seemingly cancel out everything good I always have to say about the game. Is that too much to ask from you folks? Come on. Really? For folks who like to dress up in tights and do the right thing, you sure come off harsh. Villains get a pass, I guess. But the rest of you? I'm not that sensitive of a guy, but no one likes to be under the dog pile and threads like this make me wish I didn't post. It's just not right.

The thing that really frustrates me is that I know Zwillinger understood my message loud and clear, but I can't seem to get the message through to the rest of you folks that a strong desire to see our cooperative work lead to something substantial does not represent a contest between other themes in my mind, and never has. You keep bringing all of this other crap up that I absolutely love, and telling me that I'm angry that we're getting it. I keep saying "hey, apples," and keep hearing, "YOU can't oranges at US." Is that how it has to be around here? Black or white, right or wrong, apples or oranges? That's just not what the world looks like to me.

I would really like to have a normal conversation about a hot topic on these forums one day, without feeling like I am speaking through a babelfish on acid. I drop in to read the big threads even when I'm not posting, and I like a lot of you folks that are throwing rotten tomatoes at me today.

I just want to add to what I said above and assure you that this isn't me stamping my foot. This isn't some unrealistic demand for the schedule to be realigned after the fact. What this is, I believe, is a collective trumpet call. I don't care how far out it is on the schedule. What disappoints me, given the name and scope of the game, is discovering today that it's not on the schedule at all.

I am surprised, and confused, and disappointed. I'm not exaggerating. I'm not typing out bait, I'm not part of the forum's peanut throwing gallery. I'm really one of your biggest fans.

One of my biggest wishful thoughts about the comic book world is that I wish Batman was a Marvel character. I wish DC would just lose their marbles momentarily and sell Batman to Marvel. So that I could have all of my favorite comic book heroes in one place, which includes dozens of Marvel characters, and one DC character. Batman.

He's actually met Spidey a couple of times, you know. Spidey really liked Batman. I don't think it was completely mutual, but that's what made it funny to read.

The Dark Freitag Rises.

This is slightly unrelated, but it's a cool tidbit. It's also not a knock on the SSAs. Me and my super friends loved SSA1, we loved 2.1 and we're all looking forward to the next. Personally, I think a dev would love to read what I'm about to say.

For the first time ever, I realized a couple of weeks ago, I feel more honest-to-goodness anticipation for a bit of player-made content, a trilogy of story arcs that one of my favorite Mission Architect authors has in their pipeline. From what I hear, it's finished and in testing. I'm not going to tell you what it is because that's beside the point. But I'm looking forward to it--even more than I am to SSA 2.2.

And I think that is a fracking amazing thing to realize. Not simply because of what it says to me about player-made content in this specific instance, but because of what it says about us, the players, and what it hints at for the future. I know it's not often fair to compare things like this, but it happened naturally in the back of my mind. Speaking only for myself, the fact that I even made the comparison represents a milestone for Mission Architect and player made content.

PEOPLE! I HAVE A REQUEST!

Got your attention? Okay I know not everyone has time to read everything in a thread. But can ya'll please click back to page one and read my very short suggestion, and give me your feedback? It's one of the first posts.

Don't just tell me if you like it or hate it; tell me if you could tweak it just a bit to make it work for you, how would you do that?

Go read the details, but keep in mind the point is to give a player character more choices without giving them any significant advantage.

I agree that it would be a case of the devs cutting their own throats, but I'm all for a less-treacherous suggestion, such as allowing a character to pick a different secondary power set on a secondary build, IF AND ONLY IF that power set had to be leveled up independently--i.e. you would have to earn XP toward its progression while it was active. And you couldn't pick it until at least level 30, and you would have to go on a story arc to unlock your new alternate secondary, and you would be stuck with your choice forever after making it. Consequently, it would be at a lower level than your character's combat or security levels (i.e. it would have its own 1-50 level scale independent of your primary/original secondary scale), because in fairness, your character is learning to use that power set now. Along with the current 30-minute cool-down on switching builds, I see this as a fair thing.

In short, my suggestion makes a character earn an alternative secondary power set, along with a few compromises that balance it fairly (i.e. a zero sum gain) against the cost in time of starting a brand new character.

In fact, the biggest gain might simply be conceptual (imagine a power armor character who has a Mk. II suit with different secondary abilities), but isn't that what half the game is about?

Of course, I doubt that any of that is possible inside the game engine.