Ironik

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There have been some good suggestions for Faultline--a contact, maybe a fence of some sort, a hospital--but why not take it a step further? This would be difficult to implement, but I think a lot of players would find it appealing:
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Make Faultline the front line.
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It's clear that the villains have the upper hand in the zone; that's why there are no conveniences there. Give heroes an incentive to push them back, with real, tangible results. Track the total xp earned in the zone (to keep high-levels from gaming the system). If the total crosses a certain threshold, respawn the zone with footholds--safe areas with an infirmary (a hospital, but in a temp structure like a tent or Quonset hut), a field trainer who buys enhancements at a good price, and a contact who sells skittles and gives generic missions--and maybe even loans you "weapons" (temp powers) occasionally. As long as the xp total stays above the threshold each day, the conveniences stay in place. If the heroes let up, they go away and have to be re-established. Maybe even have some buildings restored or ramps added if the zone stays in the green for long periods of time.
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Like I said, it might be a pain to implement, but it would be cool. Haven't we all wished, at one point or another, that we could see a real effect we have on the city? We beat up a swarm of villains, only to have more appear moments later--a necessary game mechanic, but disheartening. Having a few places where there are signs that the war on crime can be won would be a great motivator.

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That's a very good idea.

Another that occurred to me is creating a contact in Faultline and Eden designed specifically for those levels where you run out of missions. I know there was one level in my mid-20s where my contacts all clammed up and I had to just street hunt and do the Task Force over and over in order to level up. Right now my Blaster is 37.7 and all of his contacts have dried up, telling him to come back when he's 39. That means the entirety of level 38 is going to have to be street hunts, TFs and respecs. I hate that. I so don't want to do Numina's TF again, nor am I interested in respec, as my guy already respec'ed once and he's now fine. And street hunting... yawn.

As much as I hate powerlevelling, I might just resort to that to keep down the tedium.

The Security Chief for Eden gave me one mission there when I was mid-36, which I knocked out solo. I wish he gave more, and considering how dangerous Eden is for 36-38s it would encourage grouping. It could be like a super-Hollows.

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Just for the record, making risk=reward is definitely one of our goals - we're trying to add spice and reward to bring people to the harder/underutilized zones.

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Putting a couple more monsters who give badges in those zones might help.

That's a great idea, except for one big drawback -- it seems to depend on a pyramid structure. You couldn't have 10,000 level 40 villains determined to do the same thing if they have to depend on 100 level 5 villains to do it. Well, you could, but by inverting the pyramid you take away the accolade (or infamy, in this case) for all but a small percentage of the higher-level villains. You'd actually also invert the power structure, as well, as those 100 low-levels would determine the fates of all those high-levels -- and if someone's name was attached to the mission, the level 5 villain could send the level 40 villain a tell saying, "I'll do this mission for you -- if you fork over 20 million influence."

I really like the idea, but given the constant flux of characters I'm not sure how feasible it is. As a supervillain you may want to insititute a scheme such as lowering property values, but if there aren't any low-level villains to accomplish that goal you'd be stuck.

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Even better, have two alts of your repeatedly butt heads!

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A missing "s" and suddenly that becomes quite funny...

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Heck - I'll do another....

Coralax.


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It never occurred to me that coral could get constipated, but I guess it isn't surprising someone would make a product for it.




...what?

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Yay! INTJs dancing in the streets!

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Heh. Hubby is wondering why I just sprayed Coke all over the monitor.

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INTJs secretly rule the world. Quietly, of course

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"No, not everyone will get it. But the right people will." -- Joel Hodgson, MST3K

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issue 3: sorry about issue 2, now your character can do everything, no need to even speak to another player

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Yay! INTJs dancing in the streets!



Oh, wait... you mean the defenses my Blaster is getting means that an AV will kill him in 3 shots instead of 2? Um... any healers around? Hello?

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For a Chaos villain, one contact may be Crystal Beth the eco-terrorist from Greedpeace, who sends you off to destroy the Elwood Blues Memorial Spraypaint Factory, and other eco-related capers.

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I just want to say that I love how you strung together twisted puns and pop culture references to make your point. Massive style points!

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Destruction: Someone who doesn't wish to rule the world, but rid the entire population. The ultimate evil. Someone who doesn't need minions, but has them because the unworthy underlings serve you in some dire hope that you won't destroy them as well.

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I think that this overlaps a heck of a lot with the OP's Chaos goal. Actually, I think Destruction is a better name, though - it covers a wider range of individual motivations.

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I feel rather the opposite -- Chaos can contain Destruction but not necessarily the other way around. A villain interested in Chaos might want to destroy everything, or he may just want things to be a little disorganized so that he can benefit from it. "Misdirection" as an aspect of Chaos.

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In thinking about consensual PvP, I got an idea.

Villian zones only villians can enter. Hero zones only heroes can enter. And Conflict zones that both can enter that is free PvP. It's consenual, because you have to enter the zone to make it so. Of course, you couldn't have zones like this that have contact missions, noone should be forced into such a zone. It's an idea... one of, I'm sure, many that are floating around.

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That exact idea, too. See my sig.

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Hmmm, I forgot that one....



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Careful, your secret identity is showing, Fishwa -- I mean, Lord Recluse.

That's a brilliant set of ideas, complete with cool names and everything. It makes me want to design a game and have you on my team! But first, you'll have to lower your level to 10 and prove you want to be on the team... mwa-ha-ha-ha!

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odd, when i checked that screenshot of the V.I.P badge it said something different to me.. or am i crazy

VIP BADGE

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Important: Your computer appears to be using older drivers for your videocard. In some cases, such as laptops, you may need to get the latest drivers from your computer manufacturer's site.

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odd, when i checked that screenshot of the V.I.P badge it said something different to me.. or am i crazy

VIP BADGE

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Now THAT is broken, unfair, and Im quiting the game if they don't change it...or give me pie too

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Nerf the pie!

[homer]Mmm... nerf pie... [/homer]

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VIP Badge does nothing.

It isn't an Accomplishment, so I couldn't put it there.
It isn't an Achievement, so I couldn't put it there.
It has nothing to do with Exploration, so I couldn't put it there.
It has nothing to do with History, so I couldn't put it there.

That left Accolade. I couldn't give it an effect, or the playerbase would be upset that we are "charging money to give some Heroes an advantage over others", and rightly so.

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You should change the wording on it, then. While it certainly can be read as not conferring anything, when I first read it my assumption was that it would unlock something at some point. Since some badges do convey increases in abilities, this might be considered misleading.

Here's a screenshot, to let others decide how they'd interpret the phrasing: VIP Badge

I would suggest something along these lines: "V.I.P. -- You are regarded with great esteem in Paragon City."

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Exelionbear heart power now!!!

*gves Mr. cranky a big hug*
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The Legendary Brave Exelion
Incarnation of Yin and Yang
Security Level 37 Dark Melee/Regeneration Scrapper
Virtue Server

"Dance in the light of my shadow"


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Crey Industries transported you to Paragon City from the Huckabee Planet, didn't they?

Save half the trees!

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I am crying FOUL now!!!

Even Statesman has said the Avg. is about 3 to 1 (Minion v/s Hero) If the Villians are scaring up the votes. Think about how skewed this election is going to be!!!!

I think Heros should get 3 votes on a number system like that. I will take this as high as the Council too!!!

VILLANS AND HEROS
Vote 4 Statesman!!! He is all for the better quality of life of all of us!!!

CAN"T WE ALL BE FRIENDS I mean look at it, he gave you all the Hazard Zones to do with as you please....
If you Vote Statesman He will provide Weed-eaters for all in Perez Park!!!

STATESMAN '04!!!

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Don't worry, we have been busy canvassing Dark Astoria -- we're getting out the ghost vote. Banished Pantheon isn't eligible as most are from another dimension. The Sixth Census -- I Count Dead People.

Those of you with Magical archetypes, don't forget to get killed today and do the reincarnation thing. Sure, it's an exploit of the system, but we must vanquish evil!

It'd be cool if we could choose what our heroes do, if they go that way. My android hero would be parked in his recharge cradle, for instance, while my villain would be practicing his kitten juggling. Mwa-ha-ha-ha!

Although I do prefer going the servants route, the more I think about it. Servants as pets (or even self-directed analogues to police drones) to help stave off attacks is just a better gameplay solution, to my mind.

To get around the vanity issue as well as aiding immersion, it would be cool if there were security monitors throughout HQs "monitoring" the actions of your SGmates, whether online or off. For heroes it could be called something like the "Trouble Monitor" while villains would refer to it as the "World Domination Tracker." Randomly cycle through various members -- they don't even have to actually have done whatever's being shown on the screen.

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There aren't status bars for the Halloween badges. I would imagine that this is because you would be stuck with them if you don't finish before the event is over.

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Bingo

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Where's the Bingo Hall and what badge does it give? Is it "The Biddy?"



/kidding

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Do you really want to come back on and find out your hero was defeated while you were away?

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Me? Absolutely. I have no problem with this at all. I would consider this to be a 'team-up' type of hero situation, where my guy was just a sidekick to the featured (online) hero (or a super-tough mentor type that the newbs in the SG come running to when some ambush is whipping them - kind of the HQ equivalent of Police Drones, only cooler and personalized! Hm!). Please, by all means, make me a full-fledged mob NPC when I am offline, whenever you want to. I realize, however, that this is probably a minority view, so unless there is a huge groundswell of support for, I agree that you should probably forget allowing offline characters to participate in fights. But see above and keep them in the HQs!

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That's an interesting idea -- player characters behave randomly when the user is offline, but turn into pets if the base is ambushed.

I've always assumed PvE base attacks would be similar to ambushes today -- the number of villains (or heroes invading the Brotherhood of Naughty Ne'er-do-wells' HQ) would spawn to match the number of members present. If every SG member is there, it would make for some wicked-cool epic battles.

Edit: The idea of disabling xp & debt for offline heroes is a tidy solution.

Rather than offline SGmates, how about having servants instead? That way no one gets confused, and there's no immersion-breaking stuff like fellow members not responding to a base attack.

Batman has Alfred, the Avengers have Jarvis, the Fantastic Four has that robo-receptionist... no villain servants come to mind, other than Doom's robotic doubles who did chores for him.

For CoV, a whole raft of NPC underlings could be created which are base-centric, but also hiring/taming/blackmailing existing villain underlings into service jobs would be cool, too. I for one want a Rikti Monkey scurrying around taking out the trash and stuff.

Definitely a stunned look (cross-eyed is good), with the villain toppling over backwards, with little birdies and tiny stars spinning around his head as he stares up at the sky.

This will be good for ignoble defeats, as well as for information overload. (Animators: for visual reference, simply videotape Lord Recluse when he reads this thread.)

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Ooh for female villains we need that "Hair Toss/Manical Laugh" emote...

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As well as the "Who, me? Whatever did I do?" emote.

Not to forget The Strut.

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Almost forgot, what villainous tirade would be complete without pantomiming the motion of holding the world in your gloved hand and then crushing it mercilessly?

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I was just about to suggest that one! Similarly, the double-handed fist clench where the villain raises he hands before him, clenches his fists while pulling them slightly toward himself. "Gotcha!"

Noogies to minions.

The tapping the finger thrice on the forehead or temple as if to say, "Think, McFly!"

Swirling the finger around in a circle while pointing at the temple to indicate "Nutso."

Very good ideas. (A couple of which I was going to suggest, too! Curses!)

Some others:

Pointing the index finger at someone, with the hand mimicking a gun. Can be either smarmy or threatening.

Thumbs down.

The villainous fist-over-heart salute, sometimes accompanied by a slight nod.

The arms-open shrug/head tilt as if to say, "Well, what did you expect?" A smirk would be nice, but probably not possible with the current graphical set-up.