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This is the most New England thing about Paragon (outside of the tunnels and cults and pushy pedestrians). Just Paragon has Mexican restaurants everywhere instead of Dunkin's Donuts like Boston does.
And because this thread is missing something...
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Thing is, Infernal is described as Lilitu's son. Lilitu is summoned on Primal Earth, but Infernal's from his own world. So either he is Lilitu's kid, or as far as the magic is concerned, he's her kid. That or some of the magic stuff and higher level magical entities like Lilitu operate on their own set of rules regarding dimensions.
As for where's Infernal? I figure since a good chunk of Praetoria is covered with DE monsters, he decided to just walk the Earth, killing any monsters he wanders across. -
A note on the KB proc: by the looks of it, you can only have one. So it's not "buy 9 of them for your energy blaster." It's just put it in one that's always really annoyed you. Heck, I see the addition of Knockdown to a power without Knockbacks as a bigger deal. Why? Because I might just go and throw it, say, in Caltrops.
And sit back and watch the hilarity.
But really, to me? The proc is just gravy. I don't have any plans to use it on my Plant/Storm controller to knock down Tornado's KB. Why? Because I took the set for the knockback, and I'm gonna damn well get it!
Might throw it in my Tanker's Laser Beam Eyes though. -
Lesse, off the top of my head on Virtue:
Nemesister
Engiseer
Spear Maiden
Expendable Lass
Cluckwork
Some others. Still surprised I got these. -
It's a massively heavy hitting set, but it's not for everyone. It does give an amazing feeling of SMASH, and just feel strong. Lot of AoEs, lot of knockdowns, and when Momentum is up you can probably throw out a half dozen massive attacks in five seconds.
I love my titan/elec brute.
But it has it's costs. The Momentum mechanic is something you learn to keep an eye on, as it sucks when you mistime an attack and get some very ponderous attack. Also, it devours end like your blue bar is made of delicious Girl Scout cookies. Even with electric armor and Power Sink, I'm finding myself seriously looking at switching my Alpha from Resilient to Cardiac just because I'm having to hit Power Sink at least once every mob, and that's with it recharging every 18 seconds. It's actually cutting into my attacks, and kind of annoying.
You also have to be careful when teaming. The big slow attacks can make you fall behind sometimes if you time it wrong. You learn to use that Build Momentum power a lot as an opener.
Still, it's a fun set. It's got a solid meaty feel to it, and you can downright juggle enemies with all the knockdown and knockup you've got to play with, and it's awesome at shredding big hordes or big slugging matches with AVs. Everything I mentioned here are quirks of the set and have to be considered tactically, but I don't really see as drawbacks. Titan Weapons is probably my favorite melee set since Dual Blades. -
To be perfectly honest, I'd be fine with empty holsters/sheathes/quivers/etc. Pistol grips are generic enough you could have them there instead, at least for classic hip holsters. That's totally okay. It's just having the holsters or sheathes or whatever there, where the weapon would go... except we're busy pointing it at evil, which is most of the time.
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I think a big part of what sold the Hulk better than the others is a combination of how absolutely unafraid of everyone Banner seemed to be in contrast with how terrified everyone else is of him. Banner raises his voice a notch and the super-spies with ice in their veins reach for their weapons with an expression similar to the one people have when they realize they're trapped in a room with a tiger. Fury is scared of Banner, so was Widow, and they did a good job selling that. The look of horror on their faces when he explained he once tried to put a bullet in his head... and Hulk just spat it back out. To the assassins and spies, that's chilling, because I read that as their backup plan: shoot Banner before he hulks out. And they've just learned that won't work.
So many fun little details too. That was something I enjoyed, the film's attention to detail. When Thor is confronting Loki, two ravens fly by (Hugin and Munin, perhaps?). Thor spinning his hammer to fly. Cap's treatment of fifteen or twenty foot jumps or drops as simple. The Iron Maiden t-shirt. Amadeus Cho being one of the people in the TV news montage at the end. Cap reflecting Iron Man's laser blast into a bunch of Chitari.
Heck, they made SHIELD generally come across as pretty competent. SHIELD's the good guys and they're good at their jobs. They're not necessarily nice people, since they are spies after all, but in general they're on the side of the angels. They're just way, WAY out of their weight class against Loki or the Chitari or superhumans, and Fury is scared and desperate. Which is also something I liked: they did a good job showing how scared Fury is without decreasing his coolness or levelheadedness at all. The look on his face when he sees Loki tear through a dozen men in as many seconds, bullets doing as much damage as raindrops, and turn and subvert his top agents and scientists?
But yes. Puny God had the audience cackling like madmen. Also? Cap giving orders.
Cap: "And Hulk? Smash."
Hulk: *grins* -
Quote:They allow easier movement of the hip and thighs while riding a horse while at the same time, reinforcing on the inside helps protect the inner calf and knee against rubbing. Being able to move around without causing chafing is a real issue if you spend a fair amount of time on horseback. You have to remember that back then, they didn't have a lot of the fabrics we have no. Modern riding breaches are skintight because modern fabrics can flex and stretch in ways that early 20th century materials couldn't begin to match.What in the hell is the need for all that poofy fabric above the knee? What purpose does it serve? If it was on the inside of the leg, then at least we men could say it was there for when we needed to dress left or right!
They're based off an ancient Indian style of trouser, so there are some Eastern influences in the design. But the simpliest reason? They were in fashion with adventuring sorts both real and fictional during the first half of the 20th century. A lot of this is because, well, horse riding used to be an important skill to have in that line of work. Fashion is a fickle thing. -
Jodhpurs. Jodhpurs went out of fashion about fifty or sixty years ago with the invention of modern fabrics that flex a whole lot better, with most riding pants today being nearly skin-tight breaches. However, many classic heroes, and indeed, Doc Savage is typical depicted in jodhpurs. It's part of a whole look from the 1920s, 30s and 40s adventurer.
Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze. Had a Fortress of Solitude in Antarctica. Went through more shirts than Captain Kirk. First published: 1933. Doc Savage and the Shadow are two of the most influential pulp characters. How big? Well... Superman and Batman steal most of their shticks from them, for starters.
Fashion moved on since then, of course, when superheroes started basing their costumes after the outfits worn by circus performers (Superman's is based on circus strongman outfits, for instance).
But the tucked in pants in game look poofy. The Resistance pants are stitched together. We have the Retro Jacket... which hovers three inches over your chest and shoulders and is ancient. I'd like better looking pieces, and some variety in them. Bomber jackets, bib front shirts, barnstormers, better trench coats, Resistance pants that don't look like they were made by hobos. Maybe a tights version of barnstormers or bib front shirt patterns, that'd be awesome. -
And done. Hope you guys find this information useful.
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Yeah, you have to remember that from conception to release a costume set may be in the works for six or ten months or more. Powers take even longer. These things take long time to make. What they showed was some concept designs of some tights and tight bases patterns that Posi said he'd only gotten about a week ago, and they were more ideas they were playing with for new patterns, tights, etc.
They may, according to Posi, look absolutely nothing like this. They make a ton of these things as they're coming up with concepts. -
Their words, not mine. Basically, what they were asking was are the Batallion going to show up after all this buildup to be be utterly curbstomped by us in an issue or two... or are we in for a whoopin'.
The devs said they were going with the one that makes things more interesting. -
Congrats on the little one, Alex! I know this is a tiny detail, but I adore PyroMindi's evil goggles there.
If you're still doing these, I'd like to submit The Crimson Wisp/aka Molly Tain, my pulpy fae private eye. Hers starts as the standard changeling story: a fae child left in place of a human one. A private detective managed to rescue the kid, but found himself stuck with a changeling child nobody really wanted. Raising her himself, Molly has grown into a full street pounding private eye in her own right, using her skills and training as a detective and investigator as well as her inherent talent for magic to investigate the supernatural, unexplained and simply too weird for authorities to handle as the Crimson Wisp.
Details on her: She is a heroic dark/time controller. Under her hood and goggles, she has pointed ears (she is a fae, after all), as well as fox-like pointed teeth and orange slitted eyes. She stands about 6'1". I was really going for a two-fisted, supernatural private eye vibe on her.
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Quote:I didn't hear about this. What'd he say on the base code? Or how those missions were designed? Want to hear this.I listened to Black Scorpion describe just how weirdly built the code for bases was and how adding/changing any functionality was always scary to do. (Black Scorpion is apparently the the official(?) code archeologist at Paragon. Also fascinating was hearing how Safeguard/Bank missions were designed.)
Oh yeah, and yeah, the devs do love them some giant robots. -
Not really, I'm afraid. I've got some basic ones, but I was getting tired by that point. The audio on the UStream was giving me a headache. And most of the lore questions were regarding the Battalion... which the devs wouldn't go into much detail on. I logged off about halfway through that. Might rewatch the video later when I get to it.
Here's the notes I got on that:
Lore and Endgame Panel
Dr. Aeon, Protean, Arbiter Hawk, Posi
Big questions from the November Panel:
"How does Requiem feel about Reichsman?"
"What's Darren Wade been up to?"
"What's going on with Katie Douglas?"
This time!
What do you expect out of the Battalion?
"Earth go boom?" "Hey, if you don't want to fight the Battalion..."
Posi: The Battalion is better known as the Coming Storm. It is something destined to destroy the Earth.
Q: "I'm not saying endgame content... but aliens."
Q: Will they be Incarnate only?
Posi: Every army has it's shock troops.
Q: Will Mender Silos be helping us to escape to the universe with fingers and facial hair?
A: Not sure if serious.
(note: there were a few questions like this, with people asking if the story and Battalion invasion was really a set up for transitioning to CoH2 or some major game upgrade/revamp. The devs never seemed to answer that one)
Q: Will we be pushed to the edge of utter despair for 3 or 4 issues or will it be just "Heh, spike!"
A: We're going with the one that makes the better story.
Q: Will we be seeing the side picking like in GR?
Didn't catch the answer to that one.
Q: Can we fight the Batallion in space?
Posi: We like space.
Q: Will it be so earthshatering, the moon rises in the East and sets in the West?
A: ...We know, our moon is broken.
Devs on big changes to the game caused by player actions: You can't change geometry (like buildings) with phasing. We kind of have to lag by an issue when we do a big change, vis. Statesman.
This is a big cosmic level conflict.
Q: What if we use this to blow up our world and lead into a new world with CoH2?
Posi: But this is where I keep all my stuff...
Q: If the Shivans are the Shock Troops, who are the spies and collaberators?
A: That's an interesting question. I like how you think. But there are authority figures you can trust, we don't want this to turn into City of Anti-Authoritorians. But if there was a group that might be working with them... why, we'd have had to start laying subtle groundwork for them years ago, now wouldn't we?
Devs: We like to know our players goals and ambitions... so we can crush them. But seriously, what makes you feel epic? We know players want to be awesome.
Players: Saving lives. Firing off Judgement. Herding a whole map into one dumpster and burning them down. Saving the world (or ruling the world and crushing them beneath your boot). etc.
Pollyanna Matronic: Hi, my name is Pollyanna Matronic, I play red side and what makes me feel epic is killing lots and lots of people. Especially innocent people! ^_^
I admit, that made me giggle for a while.
This went on for a while. I was getting a headache and pretty tired, so I left as the "what makes you feel epic" thing went on. I'm not sure if there was anything else there.
EDIT: As always, pictures are courtesy of @PollyMatronic's Twitter. Thanks, Polly! (please don't kill me) -
Quote:That was my preference too, though I liked the idea of Air Control too. Boomerangs, shurikens, etc. Curious as to how that'd animate too, if it'd be a returning throwing weapon or what. Still, more my style.Thrown Weapons blast set? That sounds incredibly interesting and something that we could always use.
I can understand why people went with Radiation Armor though. It's been, what, two years since Shield Defense came out? Even with Bio Armor on the docket, it's been quite an area that's not gotten a lot of attention. I'm rather curious as to how they animate Radiation Armor, as it sounded like Honey Badger had some ideas that he was mulling around with but wasn't ready to really talk about quite yet.
Did like some of the ideas for set gimmicks. The one in particular was the boost where you get at 100% health a small regen buff and larger recovery buff. As your HP decreases, the regen buff goes up while the recovery buff decreases accordingly. Or something along those lines.
The other neat one is the self-rez. Synapse said that because he plans on making it usable when you're still alive, just making it there the big explosion, he'd be decreasing the damage... as well as the recharge time. Kinda wish they could go back and do that with the other self-rezzes. Like being able to use Rise of the Phoenix as a pocket nuke, or Soul Extraction as a heal/AoE Stun, or Resurgance as a major self-heal and self-buff. It'd make them a lot more versatile. Heck, I wish they'd do the same to regular rez powers. Use it on a dead teammate, they rez. Use it on a non-dead one, it's a major heal and buff.
Just makes rezzes and self-rezzes more interesting. Though I imagine they're going to have to balance the hell out of Ground Zero to keep it from being like Shield Charge was at release. A strong AoE blast with major debuffs as well as major self-buffs that rezzes and/or heals you? Going to be interesting to see how they do that. Maybe the self-buffs only kick in if you're rezzing, or the blast, buffs and debuff strength are inversely proportional to your HP. If you're dead, it's strongest. If you're at 100% HP, much weaker. Could lead to some very interesting tactical situations where you're playing chicken with your HP bar, trying to get it lower in order to make the blast stronger.
Also interesting was the comment by Synapse that if/when they produce Radiation Armor, they'll probably go ahead and create a Radiation Melee set to go along with it.
As for Bio Armor, they didn't say much about the visual style, only that it was kind of a product of discussions regarding the Brain Slug idea for the Retro Sci-Fi pack. They also mentioned that tentacles make the animators' heads explode, which could just mean that they really find animating tentacles frustrating... or that they've been recently frustrated in working on more tentacle animations. -
Make Your Case Zone Revamp!
Introductions. World Artist whose name I didn't catch, the "Whedonesque" Protean, Dr. Aeon (Zwil suggests renaming "Body Count" or "Refrigerator"), World designer who built the Summer Event, Think Tank, and Positron.
Ground Rules! With picture of Phoenix Wright.
1) No complete zone revamps
2) Maximum of three villain groups (maaaaybe four)
3) Six arcs per zone
4) Keep the physical alteration to a minimum
He lays out some details. What is the focus of the zone (Like Mot Cemetary in DA), What is the story arc (in 3 sentences), some others.
The idea I liked of those proposed was the Clockwork Fortress in Boomtown.
But they went with Independence Port. They're not promising anything, but they think out of those proposed this was the most intreguing. Trying to involve Lusca more as a Crey experiment, the Family/Tsoo war, the Column/Council War.
I really couldn't take notes on this one.
Also, they mentioned several times that this isn't a "We'll revamp IP!" or anything. They promise nothing. This is more like a thought experiment, really. -
Oh I imagine so. Personally, I would've preferred Pulp, and out of the top three probably would've preferred Aquatic. More my own style. But I'd be content if they gave us a chainsaw.
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The final choice of which to go with was not made by the devs, but by crowd voice vote. They also did say that they're going to hold onto these suggestions for later, even the costume ideas they didn't use today. So we may see some of this stuff later on anyways.
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My notes on the Costume Workshop:
Costume Workshop
They pick the submissions they like, and make people do 60 second elevator pitches
Zwil: Arcanaville, you're insane.
Queen of Eels: Aquatic Life. Stuff in it: Lobster Claws, Eyes on Stalks, Crab Claws. Wants more Fish Heads and Tails. Crustacean Aura. Wet Aura. Tentacle Arms.
*animators' heads explode at mentions of Tentacles*
Impish Cat: Polynesian/Aztec Costume Set. Grass skirts, feathered headdressess, elaborate/ceremonial, Aztecky weapons? Like Banished Pantheon's stuff. Tiki guys and flowers in hairs or lai. Yeah.
*David doodles a Superman S on a dude, writes "Copywrite Infrengement Power Set!"*
Samuraiko: Mayantek: More serpentine/animalistic. Savage, lot of angles. Furs, skins, turquoise. Pectoral chest pieces/Mesoamerican look. Angular/rough. Hewn obsidian. Stone. Bronze.
Alferetta: Pirates! Yarr! "We need pirates!" Floppy hats, floppy shirts for guys. Errol Flynn for guys. Cutlasses. Sash for guys. Pirate swashbuckler look. Monkey/pirate shoulder pet.
*David doodles more: gives the male model a Miss Paragon Sash and a pirate cap*
Introduces other folks. Some of the artists and animators.
???: Pulp Hero and Detective. Pulp heroes are freaking awesome. We need Doc Savage, Sky Captain. Longer skirts for girl detectives. Smoking jackets. Cthulhu! Tentacles!
Arbiter Fabulous: Post-Apocalyptic. "Considering we just took Radiation Armor"... also with the fall of Praetoria. Gas masks for the shoulder, not just a shredded outfit or robe. Leather armor torn to hell, metal bits bolted on. Sounds very Road Warrior.
*David colors models pink*
Jeff: Knives of Artemis, expanded into Paramilitary. They've got a really cool costume set (Knives). Arm crossbows. Night vision goggles, cool weapons strapped to their bodies.
*David doodles giant guns on models, erases their feet*
Alan Duncan: Death. "I don't see enough long robes." Circle of Thorns. Dark gothic death theme. Scythes.
*David draws a Reaper with a happy hat*
Sultry Siren: *applause to Siren for running Real World Hero charity from crowd* Film Noir. Similar to Pulp. The whole Detective thing, with Bogart and Hephburn. Nicer hair, more 1930s style! Hats. People cut their hair more than that.
Firehart: Celtic Knot. Your generic fantasy Renaissance thing. A shirt with a skirt? Half gloves/half boots. Hat with feather. Quiver.
*David draws a Quiver*
Zwil doesn't have screenshots he promised. Boooooo
Questions about the Brainslug. "Liked the idea but felt it could expanded into it's own set. Whole parasitical entity thing." Probably where Bioarmor came from.
David: Mechanical stuff is harder to draw than, y'know, a shirt.
*David tries to doodle a dead fish emblem, gets a dead carrot*
Devs: Just because we don't pick it today doesn't mean we won't hold on to it for later.
The devs settle on three: Acquatic, Paramilitary, Post-Apoc
Zwil's Ustream breaks. They go with Post-Apoc.
They discuss ideas and inspirations. Mad Max, obviously. Someone mentions the Lord Humongous mask. The Lost. Stop sign armor or shields. Melting face. Scrap metal cludge armor. Stitched metal and leather. Motorcycle chain sash or belt. Anything from a Bruce Campbell film.
Groovy.
Motorcycle helmets with the mowhawk, tattoos, etc. A new skin for the Arachnos backpack... with chainsaws. Dead tire armor. Fishnet tops. Titan Weapons baseball bat.
Someone suggests Chainsaw Titan Weapons. (YEEESSS)
Female tattooes. Snake Plisskin haircut for men. Ragged military uniforms. Double barreled shotgun (boomstick!). Polyeister Leasure suits. Updated eye patches. Ripped jeans. Twinkie throwing power (twinkies can survive anything!). Tank Girl.
Tank as a vanity pet.
Ragged texture to costumes.
Devs: Asymetrical costumes are hard. It might throw off existing patterns.
Skull bandoliers.
Giant cockroach vanity pet. Jury rigged gun. Cockroach path aura (Zwil: Could it crunch as you walk?). Someone suggests rusty chainmail and armor. Katana's rusty blade for other sets, chained on cinerblock (rat on a stick) for War Mace. Makeshift bandana. Someone suggests Book of Eli for reference. Radiation suit. Distressed poncho.
Devs discuss the process of turning a concept into a costume. Takes a bit.
Someone suggests Hazmat suit. Broken glasses. Six String Samurai, Buckaroo Banzai. More gas masks and goggles. Different kinds of hair. Five o'clock shadow. Someone brings up zombie apoc: so blood splatter. Machetes. Geiger counter. Old AIM style buckethead hazmat suit. Actual trenchcoats. Wearable computer: PIP Boy (aka "Thing from another company's game" "I'll give you a hint: it's not a lightsaber. Excuse me, Laser Sword). Wrist computer. Tusken raider style headwrap.
Satchel or medpack. Chunk of rebar as weapon. Dynamite bandolier. "Paint Splatter" (T for Teen, folks! If it happens to be red, not our fault!). Throwing circular saws for Shurikens ("Can we do that?" "If we had throwing weapons."). Brain without the jar. Second head. Cooking pot hat. Tattoos, bar codes.
Devs: Getting the sense of tattoos and bar codes.
Golf bag backpack. Rusty cyborg bits. Stump hand. Bandage covered head with one eye visible. Football helmets. Muscular female skin texture. Short bomber jackets. Third arm back detail. Tanktop that doesn't stop at midriff.
Titan weapon suggestions: large statue arm, helicopter blade.
Zwil: Blades are made first as Titan Weapons, then scaled down to others. Same with others. Titan Weapons are easy, because of their large handles.
Fabulous sunglasses (Devs: only if we can break one of the lens). Incan style war mace: a cricket bat with rocks in it. A nailbat. Tire tread kilt. Bundle o' junk Titan Weapon. Tire shoulder armor. Barbed wire wraped sticks. Barbed wire wrapped chainsaws. Nine iron. Cow skull mask.
Devs: improvised weapons built from scrap to hurt things.
Someone suggests Dual Pistol Nailguns.
Devs: Probably.
Leaking, beat up plasma gun.
Devs: Haven't heard many backpack costumes.
Crowd: Quiver!
Devs: I think I heard a Q.
David: I think this boils down to ruining other things and combined with makeshift stuff.
Protean: Backpack of canned goods. Power armor with belt o' car batteries.
Spam bandolier. Stack full of twinkies.
Zwil: There you have it. The beginnings of further exploration into the Post-Apocalyptic Costume Set.
And break time for costume workshop. Next up is Make Your Case for Zone Revamp.
The complete set for Post-Apocalyptic:
Thanks to @PollyMatronic for taking those pictures. -
Just posting all my notes. I haven't cleaned them up or anything, so it's a bit jumbled near the end, but here you all go!
Design a Powerset Panel
With Synapse and Honey Badger and others
Always a possibility they might revisit the unused powerset ideas later for their own stuff.
Six people with ideas they liked get to make an elevator pitch for their stuff. 90 second pitch.
Pollyanna Matronic gets to make her pitch: Air Control
Idea is for air based powers that don't make our teammates hate us (like Gale). Holds like Whirlwind hold.
"When I think about my life and how air has impacted me personally..."
Wrangle: Radiation Armor.
I don't get to hear about Radiation Armor because Ustream sucks and threw me to an ad. Saddest of pandas.
Figurehead: Psi Armor.
He's pitching an idea that is strong against Psi. Weak to Smash/Lethal. Focus on control and positioning, almost a light crowd control set.
Name for next one was scratched out. Doesn't get to go!
Scott Artphobia: Power/Tech Arm.
Kind of like a multi-arm thing... eh, kind of all over the place more like a concept/costume/animation bit.
New Jacks Wain: Weapon Assault/Manipulation.
Basically porting over weapons sets to Dominators and Blasters.
Brian Simmons: Air Blast
"I didn't really think this through!"
Posi: It isn't easy, is it?
The group comes up with "Buffet" mechanic. The guy choked. It happens.
Miss Volkenkautz(sp?): Throwing Weapons (blast set)
"Title says it all." Knives/shurikens/boomerangs/etc. Pick your weapon!
Magnitism Control! But the guy gets stage fright.
Guy: We don't have it yet, cosmic force rings or pieces of metal.
Someone brings up Radiation Melee.
War Boss gets to pitch Radiation Melee.
War Boss: "It's radiation." Tanks don't really have a debuffing set or a pure energy damage set.
Shows the Ground Rules:
No Mastermind Powersets - MM powersets take exponentially more resources and time to make
No Whips - Booooooo
No Stretching Powers - Physics
No Growth or Shrinking Powers - Animations/physics
No Ranged Weapons/Melee Weapons Combinations - They've tried a few times, it doesn't really work as well as you'd think.
No Goofy/Joke Powersets: no Hamster Launching, Clown Summoning, Bazooka Punching, Carp Melee
Posi: I don't want to get sued by DC.
Devs Top Three: They picked four
Air Blast
Radiation Armor
Radiation Melee
Throwing Weapons
Comes down to voice vote, with tie between Radiation Armor and Throwing Weapons
They decide to do Radiation Armor.
Devs talk with players about what they want from the set, as Synapse compiles notes and sketches this out
"What do you expect to get out of Radiation Armor?" "Cancer!"
Player Suggestions:
Absorb Mechanic
Toggles, not clicks!
Mutation as a Self Rez
At least one PBAoE Debuff (TOGGLE)
Choking Cloud?
Maybe a Stygian Circle type thing?
They introduce Honey Badger, who designs power animations
Maybe a low pulsing glow
Some kind of Tier 9 Meltdown godmode (not a fan of those, personally)
Synapse: If we're making a Radiation defense set, we'll probably make an attack set
Synapse: Absorb does not work on a timer. It's an absolute value.
Devs: The more UI changes or things that come in, the more we hate it.
Positron makes a bad joke. Gets challenged to karaoke.
Synapse: Because of limited time, this is pretty rough. But wants to Absorb mechanic. Absorb and Toggles don't mix. Debuff aura or two. Or a debuff aura that also buffs you. Maybe a tier 8 self-rez/fallout, that can also be used to buff you. Maybe a power where your recovery and regen bonus increases as your HP goes down. Maybe a debuff heal. Meltdown with crash.
Had a bit of trouble seeing the screen, so I can't quite keep up.
First Power: Damage Resistance Toggle: Half Life. Standard Resistance toggle.
Synapse struggles with the Excel spreadsheet.
Second Power: Second Resistance Toggle: Toxic/Energy/???
Ad eats my ustream again! >
The Regen/Recovery Special toggle
Put Psionic in the Status armor
Proton Armor
Someone suggests for a power name "Fallout Shelter".
Radiation Therapy: A Heal: Self: +HP Foe: -Regen (-something)
Cackling from crowd.
Debuff Aura: Beta Decay: Toggle: Foe Taunt/-Damage Self: +Recharge
Synapse: Absorb and MaxHP are actually pretty different, since MaxHP is temporary. Absorb is forever until it's gone.
Some kind of Self-Rez that combines Mutation and Fallout. Ground Zero is name? Can be used while still alive too. Brings the damage down
T9: Meltdown: Fit a damage aura into it. Buffs Resistance, stuff, debuffs other guys ToHit.
Zwil: let's not get into the minutea. That's what Phil (Synapse) and Beta are for.
Honey Badge: Stuff like auras and eye auras are problematic.
They ask a producer: Next steps are sell it to the producers, Synapse puts in placeholder animations and numbers where internal testers work on it while animation and sound guys work on it, then pitch it to the testers.
I got hit with ads when Synapse was reading off most of the power ideas, so I missed some of it.
Okay, managed to grab a listing from @PollyMatronic's Twitter feed.
Radiation Armor power names: Half Life, Gamma Boost, Proton Armor, Fallout Shelter, Radiation Therapy, Beta Decay, Particle Shielding, Ground Zero, Meltdown
Half Life: Toggle: self +Res(Smash/Lethal/Energy?)
Gamma Boost: Auto: +Regen/+Recovery (Special): Has a base boost to Recovery and Regen. As you take more damage, the Regen buff increases as the Recovery buff decreases.
Proton Armor: Toggle: Self +Res(Energy/Fire/Cold/Negative)
Fallout Shelter: Toggle: Self +Res(Status/Psi/Toxic)
Radiation Therapy: Self: +HP Foe: -Regen
Beta Decay: Toggle: Foe Taunt, -DMG / Self +Recharge(?)
(these last three I couldn't quite see on her Twitter, so I'm going from memory of their effects)
Particle Shielding: Something similar to Stygian Circle by the sound of it, I think.
Ground Zero: A self-rez that combines Mutation and Fallout, and can also be used while awake.
Meltdown: Some kind of Tier 9 supermode.
Zwil: Coming eventually to a market near you!
Next is Costume Workshop! -
These are all my notes on the Keynote Speech:
Pummit Keynote
They're posting player surveys after the summit to help the devs make decisions on future direction
Zwill measures the caffiene in the room with the loudness of the yays at the start.
Zwill introduces speakers for keynote: Ross "Giant Monster" Borden (VP), Studio General Manager Brian "Crosscheck" Clayton (big Sharks fan, apparently), Protean, War Witch, Positron
There are Reveals coming at the summit and fun panels. Zwil talks about the success of the Design a Costume Set Workshop. He shows off the Retro Sci-Fi set (which I can't see).
Zwill talks schedule, accidently labels "Paragon Market Panel" "Paragon Marketing Panel." Apparently will have spreadsheets and graphs!
One of the panels is "Make Your Case for Zone Revamp." Also Design a Costume and Design a Power Set panels.
Can't see the Studio Update speech because of stupid Ustream ad spam. Sad pandas.
Okay, didn't miss much. Crosscheck gives general upbeat speach. "We've made great strides, especially in the last few years." *takes a shot* Talks about the art team and praises the leader of the art team and design team, their new tech director. It's a general backpatting speech bosses make.
Implemented a new policy: if you've been on the team 10 years, you get to become producer.
lolEVE.
Freedom Update from Giant Monster - Ross Borden is a behind the scenes guy who's been there 7 years. Since they were prepping for CoV. Talks about HeroClix.
Talks about Paragon Rewards Program.
So much reverb! Someone messed up the audio settings.
Shows off the Mecha armor costume set for the T9 reward coming with i23.
The giant beam laser sword.
Super Packs - "Really really interesting." "We saw that you guys have a few concerns." "We learned a lot from you guys." - they made quite a bit of money off them - they sold over 3 million cards (600,000 packs). So they're moving to the next Super-Pack 2: Rogues and Vigilantes.
They'll talk more about those at the Paragon Market Panel.
"Preview" of a mystery costume set. Looks like a space pirate.
Just a goofy silhouette.
Nate (Second Measure) is working on a new exciting project. They won't tell us.
War Witch: Every time I do one of these, Matt throws me under the bus. He's like the little brother I never wanted.
War Witch talks about Issue 23.
Hybrid Slot for Incarnates: Boosts core abilities or shore up weaker areas.
New Magisteream Trial to confront Tyrant.
Ad eats her speech on that, but in the trial Nova Praetoria gets all shot up.
Leather Armor and Chainmail Armor - both underarmor for the Black Knights. Free to us! (for VIPs)
TUNNEL System - transit system to get around from Praetorian zones, Paragon, Rogue Isles.
Pandora's Box - new sig arc coming with Issue 23. The first half of it anyways.
Protean talks about Night Ward.
Night Ward is continuation of the Praetoria story, starts up right where First Ward ends.
First thing you do: rescue Katie Douglas, and carries you over into the shadow realm between the world of the living and the dead.
Night Ward is kind of a byproduct of the universe trying to figure out what to do with the Apparitions.
Paths of light and dark.
A more magical zone, with spirit lanterns and stuff.
Ideas, thoughts, dreams blur over into there. It's also where the Praetorian Midnighters were hiding, who relocated their mansion there thinking they'd be safe.
Animus Arcana enemy group - living spells and objects.
Drudges - actual denizens of the netherworld. They dig up the souls of the dead and carry them over to the other side... where ever that is.
Some of them dress as bobby cops.
Black Knights - who come to Night Ward to persue a particular evil soul, and they govern the Eternal Prison.
Talons of Vengeance have also arrived, persistant devils they are.
Conctacts: Katie Douglas reappears, also living spells, a talking coyote with a very annoying sound (coyotes are annoying), rogue Black Knights.
Positron's speech is titled "Soon(tm)".
Talks about other upcoming stuff!
Power Sets!
Zwil: I want you guys to pretend to act surprised, or Something Awful might happen.
No animations yet, so just descriptions.
Power Sets: Nature Affinity! Put stacks of Bloom on Allies that boosts your Healing. Heal Over Time and Debuff set.
Bio Armor. New defense set! New damage absorbtion mechanic. Probably broken in some ways, so they're gonna be testing that one for a while.
Water Blast! Yay! Posi: I trust you will professional about the colors you use (or use appropriate names, please!).
Upcoming Market Items. Amlifiers, more enhancement trays.
Costumes!
Very early stuff, still in concept art.
Cyberpunk! Concept art, with robot arm and new DUSTER COAT.
Cool robot arm.
New Tights! Tights, patterns, textures. More bases for costumes and stuff. Showed some concept ideas for stuff they're playing with.
New Annual Event!
Summer Blockbuster Double Feature! So "you can be in the movies in City of Heroes."
Two new movies. Two parter.
Time Gladiator and Casino Heist.
Built brand new theater lobby map.
Contest winners: Acsension, others. Missed by ad!
Casino Heist. You and your three companions take on a different role in the story. Hitter, Hacker, Grifter and Thief. You perform the heist in the movie.
Brand new casino map!
Thief steals stuff from the boss's office, Hitter takes out generator, Grifter distracts staff, Hacker installs outdated OS with wrong date. Laser grid!
Time Gladiator! Colleseum map! Fight enemies from across space and time! Minotaur and Handmaidens!
Ninja intermission! Kill enough rikti monkeys, get Ninja Monkey badge!
Two mecha robots. WIP.
Fight the God Champion Himself if you do well enough!
Q&A
Devs: Majority of players want us to return to Primal Earth, put a bow on Praetoria. So they're refocusing more on Primal stuff.
Q about Absorbtion. Devs: It's like temporary HP over your regular HP
Q on Praetoria in Ouro. Devs: Turns out there's some stick spots in coding the GR content into Ouro. Working on it, no promises.
Q on asymetrical shoulder armor. When will we be seeing that. Devs: Mecha has some.
Q: When will we get a cat vanity pet. Devs: Stay tooned.
Q: Why not release the sig arcs in Beta before release? Devs: With Pandora's Box, will be. Few little bugs they're hammering out, but they're releasing Episode One on Beta in the next couple weeks.
Q: About mid-level TF's, like Warrior's TF. Devs: "I'd love to. I just need War Witch to point the gun at me and tell me to do it." Zwil: "And that's what we call passing the buck."
Q: Porting CoH to Android. Devs: *drag up their chief engineer* Engineer: No.
Q: Why is Recluse dead in every single universe but Primal Earth? Devs: He's an interesting character... and writing several Recluses would make my head explode. Hard enough writing multiple Statesmen. ... but he's dead.
Q: About getting new stuff into AE and stuff lagging behind. Devs: Not been a priority in the short term. Tried to add new maps and enemies. Regarding powersets, they kind of fell behind. They try to lag it one issue behind. New villain groups in i23, new power sets are generally going in in i24. -
Oh I've seen it, I like those guys. Very creepy.
-
I do vaguely recall reading years ago something mentioning Requiem and saying that his group was Revelation, which was supposed to be top tier big bads. Maybe they merged that in with the 5th Column.
I also remembering a somewhat wider number of origins, like Gadgets and stuff.
Or I'm misremembering.
Still, would be kind of cool if at some point they reused the names or ideas in some way.
Though I admit, Twilight Men makes imagine a cross between MIBs and Slenderman stuff. Creepy tall pale guys in suits that look human... from a distance. -
I'm reading the 8 year anniversary article and watching the video back from when CoH was still in demo, and I start noticing things that never made it into the final game. The two ones that stand out, besides an energy blaster throwing a roundhouse that catches multiple dudes (heck, I still want that) were the listings of powers and enemy groups.
With powers, I see things like the demo guy picking Air Control, Cold Control, Core Powers, and Fire Control, with room for a bunch more. Listed on the menu are powers that we got, or eventually did (like Plant Control and Poisons), but also things like Super Personality, Super Willpower, and Density Control.
Then when it's showing the enemy groups, I see familiar names but also ones we've never seen like Revelation, Killing Crew, Fear Factor, Twilight Men and Seraphim.
This isn't a criticism by any means, as given the technology available at the time and simply limited available resources it's understandable why some ideas were cut or found to be impractical. I remember reading the preview articles of CoH back in 2003 and thinking "This sounds awfully ambitious."
But I'm really curious as to some of the stuff there. Like who were Revelation? Or the Twilight Men? And what the heck was Super Personality?