SilverAgeFan

In some ways, perhaps a next generation game--not the current competition but a CoH2 or CoH3 era game really--should include battle damage customization in the character creator. i.e. toggle if your character's tights can get shredded (not in cheesy ero fanfic ways but more like what the OP has posted), or if your character is made of metal and will get scratches and dings (ala cars in GTA IV), will get bruised or burned, etc. etc.

This take on the thread is might be a little left field. And I realize for a population that's still asking for things like animated fingers, MM customization, more power animations, animated hair, dresses, other dynamic cloth items, dynamic battle damage for characters is a bit to dreamy. But I don't think it would be an out of question innovation for something that is truly next or next-next generation.

Hear that, secret CoH2 pre-alpha team?

I attended two different events: Triumph and Virtue. It was sort of fun. Best part was one player ALREADY sporting a few beast parts thanks to a twitter code win.

But once I saw that pocket D on triumph was filled to capacity and there was a D2, figured, yeah, don't expect free stuff.

May be better to say that the costume packs will be given away *randomly* in the future, not outline any costume them contest. Because the costumes that won didn't really fit the theme at all in some cases. Player run costume contests, themed or not, with everyone lined up and judges coming down the line and narrowing it down to semi-finalists convey much better and longer consideration than I think you all can on a whirlwind tour of 40+ different zones in a few hours. At least there you can get a good idea as a participant to the tastes of the judges. Where as these in game swag gatherings are much more akin to a t-shirt toss.

Cool and all. But probably better not to advertise it as a costume contest!

Regardless, was neat to see enthusiasm so high that virtue had 7+ pocket D's running. Also was neat to see a few folks on live with the costume bits early. Love some aspects of this pack and looking forward to getting it myself next week.

Hope somewhere along the way, at least one more costume slot is included.








What?

Personally, I'm tired of them. They are dated, ugly and stale. They were a device to keep poly counts low and one of the first of many in this particular game where any and all game mechanics are explained within the context of game world lore.

I get that philosophy. I get technically why they were needed back around release. I get why they haven't come down yet.

Sort of like revamping blueside legacy mission content, it's something that the devs have not deemed worthy of resource prioritization yet. Personally though, I'd love to see the only new content that blueside gets bet a wave of revampage--both missions and zones. Expand red. Expand yellow. But blue has plenty of volume 7 years in. Just give the original stuff, zones included, a new pass. At least IP is getting a battleship. That makes me happy.

Sounds like you're after a golden age name. Typical recipe:

Mix 1 part:

• Captain _____
• Mister _____
• Mr. _____
• _____ Man
• _____man
• _____ Avenger
• _____ Mask
• _____ Savior
• _____ Angel
• _____ Prism
• _____ Avatar
• _____ Knight

with 1 part:

• Vigilant
• Amazing
• Prismatic
• Masked
• Fantastic
• Miraculous
• Meteoric
• Cosmic
• Super
• Crimson
• Ivory
• Silver
• Shining
• Honor/Honorable
• Virtue
• Moon
• Sun
• Galaxy
• Solar
• Emerald
• Azure
• Amethyst
• Golden/Gold
• Indomitable
• Upright
• Steadfast
• Bulwark
• Titanium
• Iron
• Plutonium
• Steel
• etc. etc.

Tweak as necessary. i.e. Virtue Mask sounds better as Virtue's Mask. Play with this list and see if anything strikes you. Then see if it is available. Alliterations are fairly golden age. Something like Mister Meteor works. But the most iconic names seem to buck alliterations, i.e. your inspiration Captain Marvel.

But stay away from joke names like Queso Rojo. That's just... cheesy.

A few tweaks to the pack on test center. Mostly in beast run. And mostly audio. But worth checking out.

seeing yet another patch today. going to log in and check beast run out. see if it has indeed been smoothed out. I did spend some time looking closely at it when it first went live.

Edit:

The changes I think I'm catching on beast run:

• The backwards and straight jumps are now more vertical.
• The generic jump male "nhuh" grunt has been removed from the animation entirely (this was present on females as well at first) EDIT: removed from the backwards and straight vertical jumps. The correctly gendered sound is now in place for forward jumps.
• New audio syncing up with clunky boot fall sounds when back feet hit and padded sounds for front feet

Can't tell if any inter frame animations have been redone. Still think that the turn around animation should have a scramble of feet with a different audio to it (i.e the link I provided to a youtube clip of a lion starting and turning around--beasts don't turn their backs stereotypically on threats until some distance is made AND it would help add an agile scrambling on the feet feel)

Left and right turns from standing feel better but not sure if this is new or just the audio helping.

to be clear, the new audio for beast run helps the power immensely. Kudos to the sound designer.

Edit 2: still not seeing animal patterns showing up in capes or animal fur texture showing up on flat feet. if ANY changes make it to live from our testing, these SIMPLE requests should be the ones to get included. c'mon art department you've already done 80%+ of the work. help make the pack just that more useful to people. it's good business!

Edit 3: playing more with beast run--there is definitely a new slightly longer transition from running to standing. it's accentuated by a couple distinct boot fall audio clips. you slowly bring one knee up and place a foot as you go from running on all fours to resuming the idle pose.

Edit 4: all cce slash commands are working fine for me now. there is new audio added to the ccfurburst with a nice low growl at the end. that additional audio makes the cce feel stronger. no new audio on ccfurspin though.

Edit 5: One last edit to be clear on my suggestion for a different beast run turn around sequence The current animation for the transition from changing directions works FINE if going from the idle to running on all fours. BUT if the game can detect if a character is already in the run cycle in one direction, the backing up on paws for about one second then going into the turn around of the torso would really add a ton to the feel and quality of this animation. This might work quite well changing from forward to backward motion, vice versa and even side to side. Or as an alternative, perhaps a small slide with a dust cloud when changing directions when running?

For additional inspiration, take a good look at the exaggerated scrambling used in Kung Fu Panda, particularly on Tai Lung's movements. During this fight, around Tai Lung does a nice slide around 2:20 to change directions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mavtn...eature=related


To other testers: have not tried beast run with any weapons characters as I don't have any on test at the moment.

Just checked my training room client after not logging in since this first went to test. Looks like a several meg patch is applying.

Any of this update related to the animal pack? Anything more we should be testing and looking over?

Edit to add: version number according to updater is: 1950.201102100129.1

Anyone else misread the title of this thread as:

"Reichsman and the Dimensional Groundhog Day"?

Isn't there something in the lore about IP being the site of a big Pearl Harbor type event involving Nemesis during that dimension's version of WWII?

Anyways, agree that it's nice to see IP getting at least a few new features that help differentiate the zone.

Subjective Feedback:

After sleeping on it, Beast Run still feels very unfinished to me. One thing it seems to be missing is a darty, agile feeling. I notice there is no significant "turn around" sequence--like there is for the warm up to run backwards in [ninja run] where the arms fold in and the torso turns 180.

I think getting in a sequence that feels like breaking, moving backwards on the paws then turning around will add some of the agility that the animations currently lack as well as some variety to movements overall. Right now it feels like you sort of just glide around on the ground in the animation instead of really making contact--especially when changing directions.

For reference:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yVDU...eature=related
(starting at 31 seconds)

This goes part way in confirming my suspicions as to why Senior Environment Artist, Ryan Roth, has been included on the PAX panel in March...

...just don't want my hopes to get up too high!

Said this on the test feedback thread, but since this thread is evolving into comments about usage of the parts:

pencil skirt + leopard pattern = very nice

Moar Subjective Feedback:

Realized I hadn't checked skirts to see if the any of the new patterns are there (still really want these in basic capes dang it!). And they are. And they look FANTASTIC!

Pencil Skirt + Leopard Pattern is vampy trampy and perfect. Very happy about this one in particular.

Not sure if this is a bug:

Is there meant to be a Panther body pattern to match the Panther head pattern? If so, not seeing it in any combination.

Good to see you can make a plain cow. Or a longhorn. Or something shorter than that. And the ring is entirely optional.

The Beastly Rage aura is kinda meh overall--but the breath component as opposed to glowing eyes is really really awesome. May even work for some ice characters!

Subjective Feedback:

The Good:

• Beastly Rage aura reduced down to just the breath effect is awesome. Never realized how long over due an effect like that was for our characters! Great job.
• The Minotaur Tail looks great. One of the best animated tails in game.
• The three beak options are good
• The feathers in the /cce's are gorgeous
• The /e savage emote is awesome, the others are pretty good too
• The Minotaur Head overall is quite good in its range of customization except... leading into the bad

The Bad:

• That same Minotaur head has weird divots where the horns were when trying to make a plain cow
• Disappointed that none of the new patterns, Leopard especially, didn't make it onto any of the standard capes
• Disappointed that there are no additional patterns for the bird heads
• The fur /cce's seem pretty lackluster IMO
• [Beast Run] though welcome is no where near as smooth and sharp as [Ninja Run]. Kind of let down on this one. The idle is great. But the transition animations feel rough. Was anticipating some sort of unique backward movement or at least the backward jump after the great touches in NR