MadScientist

improvements to Speedboost aside (oh how I'd love that) the question still remains: how would clicking the power 2 minutes later improve over starting it now? I'm not seeing any difference.

[ QUOTE ]
<QR>
Instead of making empowerment buffs into inspirations, have them create a 1-shot temp power that has the same duration. That way, you can build the empowerments and activate them as you need them. The Devs could then increase the power of some of the buffs while reducing their duration to retain balance.

[/ QUOTE ]

A click buff still has the same problem as an inspiration. The buff would not persist thru the character's death.

and that is a problem because over 1 hour, in situations that are dangerous enough to need Empowerment in the first place, I would expect there to be death.

What you would need to get around the death problem are powers that generate an auto power, not a buff. The click power has to work like the Empowerment station currently does. However, I know of no powers in the game that generate other powers, so this is probably something they'd need to code. (Heck, if powers could generate powers, you could have Group Fly create a toggle for everyone in range instead of people asking you to turn it off.)

I'm not sure how easy that would be to code, but what would be the point? No one is really explaining the advantage that a delayed-activation Empowerment would give you. Saving 2 minutes of travel time before you activate it doesn't seem that big a deal, would the 2 extra minutes at the end matter?

[ QUOTE ]
Small point but the base raid telepad should only be required for raiding bases.

[/ QUOTE ]

why? because it has the word "Raid" in it? what if it was instead called the Advanced Telepad? what if part of the suggestion was to rename it to aid in the roleplay?

It's worth noting the difference between "For a Large SG" and "For a Large Team".
The so-called "SG Strikeforce" can be done with 1 SG member. (or even none after a certain point.) It's not really SG content, it's just in the base.

So the question is: do you bother enforcing the need for people to be in the same SG? If so, what's the reward? And do you create the opposite problem in a *multiplayer* game saying you can't team with certain people under certain circumstances?

That's why I think you want to encourage but not require SGs. You don't want to boot people off the team if you decide to do a SG Mission. and you can easily have your X-men/Defenders crossover storyline without worrying if they're coalitioned. I don't think the COP was successful in requiring a large SG roster, I know a number of smaller rosters who got pickup members to help them run it.




There may be a general desire for AV missions generated in an endless Newspaper style, that's worth looking in to. However, if you add in a reward based on SG participation it may be exploitable to turn them into EBs. (one person starts with an EB sized team, invite others to quicky beat him but get AV-team-size bonuses.) so I think it'd have to be one or the other - go with AVs like TFs do where they don't scale, or just go with EBs as enough of a team feature. maybe offer one of each on the mission list?
IMHO, AV content and large teams seem pretty easy to find, I can join TFs for those. Endlessly generated EB content that's a challenge to solo would be of interest to a number of my characters, whether the rest of the SG is logged on or not.


Making SG missions a notch above a normal mission's difficulty would certainly be an option for making something that encourages teaming. Kind of like how Hazard Zones have larger sized spawns to encourage using teams there.

[ QUOTE ]
and is the RWZ still considered a hazard zone? It sort of is and sort of isn't... It's the only zone open to villains with a lvl requirement, but I don't really consider it a hazard zone since it has a trainer, shops, tailer, contacts, etc...

[/ QUOTE ]

The Hollows and Striga have contacts. Striga also has a trainer. Dark Astoria has a Hospital, and the RCS had one, too. FBZ has stores.
The deciding factor for me is the level limit and the increased amount of baddies you see in each mob.

(and IMHO, the only reason to have Icon and Reputation Setters and a Trainer is because it was easier to drop them on the map than to deal with the inconvenience of having to leave the zone while on a mixed team. so I don't think they should dictate if it's "hazardous" or not.)

[ QUOTE ]
I would love to see some new missions added to that mission generator and a TF to get the stuff to make an improved telepad would be just perfect IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd like to see a new teleporter. I'd like to see a new TF. I do not, however, want to see [u]one dependent upon the other[u] because I don't want to have to wait for my teleporter until the Devs code the TF.

yup. but the question I asked that hasn't been answered was this...
Kora for large insps was "too easy". If large insps had a crafting cost, instead of simply harvesting them, would that no longer be "too easy"? Would they then be "fairly priced"?

however, would an Insp Crafting station be a worktable of its own? or another Medical Main? Would it be added to the Empowerment station at all?

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
I have no problems with requiring special salvage for it. I just have problems with require a specific task to get that salvage.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again why? If you want an IoP you have to do a special task to get it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Because it's insanely hard to balance such a requirement for both small groups and large groups. Gathering badge credit or gathering salvage can be done by any number of people over time, reqiuring 20 people for the COP is a huge pain for the smaller groups. If you make a 6-person trial for this teleporter, you're saying that 6 people in the SG is a requirement for it, and that will annoy groups of 2-5 people.

Now in theory, that requirement works in the COP's favor because you're supposed to defend your IOP in a scheduled raid. You only want large roster groups getting IOPs so that the raids are not lopsided. The large roster was supposed to be an additional requirement for an IOP. (we'll leave out analysis of how sucessful the design was at achieving that and just say "supposed to be", this is far enough of a tangent already, back to porters...)


I'd rather just balance this with the crafting cost. Put it on the Expert table, require 5 Alien Tech, 2 Hardware, 1 Software, and a couple of the advanced or basic components. You also have to consider the placement cost since having 1 less room saves you cash, that's probably worked into the price of this item.

I don't think this is something we need to unlock at all. We're talking about an ability that every SG has already, just making it more efficient. I don't think efficiency needs a huge prerequisite. Just like people talk about unlocking a Wentworth's terminal - seeing how easy it is to walk to Wents, it'd better be just as easy to get a base version, otherwise it's not worth the fuss. If you give the teleporter some challenging requirement people just won't upgrade and will write posts here asking why we got an item that's more annoying than useful.

[ QUOTE ]
Even giving hero teleporters 4 beacons would open up a lot of base building opportunities without sacrificing quite as much functionality.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's why I think a 3 or 4 destination Hazard Porter would should be the way to go - it wouldn't affect Villain balance at all.
Heroes have 9 Hazard Zones right now, requiring 5 porters. a 3-beacon Hazard porter removes 2 of them, that's a whole 2x2 room. (and there are 12 City zones, so that 9th beacon doesn't leave a porter with 1 beacon on it.)

[ QUOTE ]
Let's look at it another way...

How about being able to craft inspirations in addition to temp powers? I, for one, would definately be found assembling some XXL purples...

[/ QUOTE ]

Getting a new source of large insps would probably be good for the game. (Right now the only place to buy them is Sirens Call, right?) it's also be interesting to give them a crafting cost instead of just an Inf cost.
however, that still wouldn't do a thing to fix the uselessness of the recipes we currently have


I'm not opposed to Insps. I eat them like candy. I just don't see how changing the current enhancement powers into Insps would be an improvement.

That recurring idea of taking the buff with you as an inspiration and triggering when you really need it... I'm just not getting that.

We have a team, we face an AV. What are the possible matchups?
We kill the AV easily. OK, no buff needed. Who cares about empowerment either way?
We kill the AV, but it's tough. A few deaths, but we overcome. Still seem to do a good job without empowerment.
We're outmatched, we team wipe. OK, NOW we need empowerment. So we rez to the base, hit the station, get a buff, and use it to help take down the AV. Does the timing matter, though? We still don't buff until it's absolutely needed.


See, I don't think a lot of people would fill their insp tray with empowerments and pop them in combat. I think people are more inclined to go shopping only when it's absolutely needed. At which point there's no advantage to firing the inspiration right then instead of a minute earlier.

How often do you hear "ok, everyone rez and buy a tray full of purples so we can beat this guy" instead of seeing people who come equipped with a tray of purples already on them?



Then there's the whole issue that if you take an empowerment effect like Resistance to Lethal and make it operate like buying a Rugged, what's the difference? Do you make buying Insps as useless as buying SOs has become in the days of common IOs? but that's a different issue entirely.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
what if doing a Mayhem/Safeguard unlocked the recipe on the Empowerment Station so you could re-craft those temp travel powers?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, for one thing, many people would stop taking travel powers. Just continuously re-create that flying backpack.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't see people running around with the temp travel powers from Sirens Call.
Is that a result of the unprectable nature of the Sirens store? Or is that a sign that limiting the travel buff by in-game time instead of active time is a good way to preserve the benefit of the actual pool powers?

[ QUOTE ]
If it were up to me Empowerment Stations would:
[*]Create Special Inspirations rather than the buffs they do now.

[/ QUOTE ]

The advantage of the temp powers is that they will remain in effect on your character if you die.
Do you really think it's worth losing that benefit?

[ QUOTE ]
Not only do alot of my costumes not have the right parts in that screen (which may be more of a costume bug in general)

[/ QUOTE ]
Actualy, that's precisely what it is. You have costume parts that have been replaced by newer versions. The old ones don't show up correctly in the editor - probably because of how the SG color screen is tied to the regular costume editor. If you go to the tailor, you'll notice those same parts don't show up right there, either.
You should have a free costume change token from each time those updates were made, so you can repair your costume view by going to the tailor and reselecting all the appropriate parts.
Why the SG color selector doesn't show you the way you appear in the zone, instead, is a mystery.

[ QUOTE ]
, but there are some parts you can't change the colors on at all. Wings and kilts come to mind.

[/ QUOTE ]
good point. wish that had made it on the official summary list.
are trenchcoat interiors still buggy, too?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Personal housing is certainly an interesting idea, but I don't see how it would address the elitism problem.

[/ QUOTE ]

o.o in that it lets the non sg leaders use the base editor. It would no longer be restricted to the 'elite'.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't see why you later said "once again.. ???" because right there you seem to grasp the heart of my question.

Is the elitism problem a desire to use the editor? Or is the elitism problem a desire to contribute to the collective space used by the SG?

Apartments would indeed make the editor usable by all, but is that realy the goal when we talk about few people getting edit permission in the SG? Given the amount of criticism of the editor system, I don't think that's what people are focusing on.

what if doing a Mayhem/Safeguard unlocked the recipe on the Empowerment Station so you could re-craft those temp travel powers?
how do the other Mayhem powers like Run Speed and Recovery stack up against the Empowerment version?
Debt Protectoin off the Empowerment station would certainly be interesting.

[ QUOTE ]
The choice to flag your base for Tourism,

[/ QUOTE ]

If they fix the ability to get teammates into your base, how much difference would it make leaving your base always available? People don't seem to go wandering to the far reaches of Skyway if they don't have a mission there, would this be similar?

As for prestige from visitors... interesting. But I bet it'd be a lot of code to track which SGs my character has been to and awarded prestige to, and given broken things that badly need code and the amount of prestige suggested, would it be worth it? Still, the idea of some way to gain prestige from a non-SG member doing something based on your existence... hmm... gotta be something to that...

[ QUOTE ]
Slash commands.
Currently everything in the base editor is operated with the mouse. Providing slash commands could make editing easier for those dedicated to the idea. Slash commands could also be used to allow fine manipulation of objects if the developers wanted to include such. (/move_object 10, /rotate_object, ect.)

[/ QUOTE ]

or how about hotkeys? most other hotkeys would be useless in the editor (can't think of any besides calling up the chatbox) so why not set this all up thru a keybind interface? then you rotate with a single keystroke instead of 14 of them.

having key controls for moving the position of objects would probably help solve a lot of stacking troubles. and it would probably make it easier to position things on the ceiling.

[ QUOTE ]
(1) Many of the buffs are useful, but in specific situations. And when those situations come up, they’re nice to have available.

[/ QUOTE ]
in the case of Mez protection, I think the buffs are way too specific for the situations. The majority of enemies do mutliple types of Mez. For example, high level COT can Hold, Confuse and Stun. Protection against 1 is too situational, you need to stack them if your goal is to stay completely unmez'd, not to just prevent one type.
Resistances aren't even useful situationally. If you take 1 type, most mobs do 2. So 2.5% Lethal resist against Freaks means about 1.25% reduction in incoming damage since half their attacks are Energy instead. Now you again need to stack, and even than 2.5% is pretty low.

When I think about specific situations, I think about hitting my base and getting the *solution* to a specific situation, not a minor help with it. eg, if I'm getting ripped to shreds with Fire damage, I want to pretty much ignore Fire for the duration of the mission, not be buffed to the point where I live long enough to use my tray of Respites.

[ QUOTE ]
1st, they're designed currently for only the elite to really enjoy.. and by that, I don't mean the rich, but the high ups in an sg. Most users in an SG never get to play with the base editors at all (something personal housing would cure, but pls, >< not with prestige.. how about inf? non combat uses for the games main currency would be nice (yes, I know, costumes count for this currently too)).

[/ QUOTE ]

Personal housing is certainly an interesting idea, but I don't see how it would address the elitism problem.

"Why can't I play with the 30 million Prestige in our SG base if I've been contributing to the SG?" becomes "Cool, I have an apartment to edit. You have an apartment to edit. Why can't I play with the 30 million Prestige in our SG base if I've been contributing to the SG?"

Certainly the apartments would help ensure the base editor is not going unused. Would this all be to justify coding time put into the editor 2 years ago? Is the editor itself a kind of "content" that people feel they're missing?
In this aspect, apartments would be to bases like saying "a lot of pickup teams have a very hard time beating the Statesman Taskforce, so we're going to make some more story arcs at level 50 so those people will have content they *can* beat." Distracts from the issue, doesn't actually address it.

Clobbertime and I are both saying that public access is not a good cost to replace Prestige. Got any better ideas?

Look at it from the bottom-up, not from comparing what we have now.
You have someone who starts at 0, saves up enough for your proposed 8x12 public plot. Now they need to keep saving more to make that an 8x12 hidden plot. From their point of view, the game is imposing a rather large(*) cost just upgrade the base access to keep out the random vagabonds.
(* - it's gotta be "rather large" or the cost different you're proposing isn't worth making these new plots, right?)

You quoted but didn't respond to my suggestion of an 8x10 plot for 650k, 10k upkeep. That would also address the problem you stated of wanting cheaper plots, but would do so with a different cost balance - area instead of public access.

What other cost balances can you come up with since the public cost has the potential flaws that we mentioned?

it's different from power selections because in this case *most* are useless.

so what ideas do we have for bringing up the bad ones to the level of the good ones?



Let me make an observation that may answer that,
There hasn't been much talk of *cost*, it's all talk of *effect*. So maybe it'd be OK to buff up the weaker effects and also increase their costs? After all, like IOs, if people want something they often don't complain about what they have to pay.

[ QUOTE ]
It kind of goes without saying that I would welcome the decoy items (and I have been asking along with everyone else since the idea of decoys first appeared in this section as well).

As to allowing inactive items, I'm not going to go there as I wanted the least amount of coding needed to "get the job done". Far better (code wise) just to set the maximums to zero.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, I think "decoy" items is misleading. as is a phrase like "place this but have it not work".

If everyone wants a decorative Chain Gun they should make a decorative object using the Chain Gun artwork.
"Decoy" is then a potential use for it, just like people asking "what's this glowing techy thingy do?" and the answer depends on what the architect was thinking. or how you put other decorative objects to use in PVP by making a maze, but that spike thing isn't called a "Maze Wall" in the editor.



However, since it has a use (of a sort) as a decoy in raids, the cost may have to be appropriate. For that reason, I wonder if they shouldn't just make decorative sentry guns that look different. Architects get their goal - place a gun here for roleplay/design purposes - and it doesn't even enter into the raid question. Likewise, instead of a decorative version of the monitor bank, give us wall-mounted plasmascreens and I'll make a bank of them myself. Don't bother blurring the line between decorative and functional. It's like how you can have a Fire Aura but it doesn't look the same as the Fire Armor's aura, it serves the roleplay need just fine.

[ QUOTE ][*]Allow anyone of the group's faction to enter the base *(see note below).

[/ QUOTE ]

I dunno. Free reign for the type of person you find standing under Atlas to come stand in your base and do whatever it is they want to do?


Instead of a whole list of new plots, how about just 1 to address a certain problem for small groups....
8x10 plot for 650k, 10k upkeep.

(here I go on the Keep It Simple designs.)

[ QUOTE ]
I dont know that the rowed tabs will work without a certain level of complexity, but if it can great.

[/ QUOTE ]
If so, they could change the left-hand button from "Place Item" to "Decorative Items" and "Functional Items". That would make 2 shorter lists of tabs, instead of stacked.

If we get Functional tabs separate, there's probably no need to filter the few that don't apply. One extra Energy tab while sitting in a Control room is not going to be in the way if you've removed 8 Decorative tabs. This could mean less code to make a 2-row or 2-button interface.


They need to make a Storage tab. And maybe delete the Empowerment tab and move the Stations to the Workshop tab (since they only go in workshops).