Steampunkette

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I think creating a foe/Nemesis would be a great addition to the game. In addition, to the story arcs perhaps having those foes appear randomly in radio/newspaper encounters would add to it.

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This is a fantastic addendum. Though I'd prefer it be used to tie into the chosen plotline of the level range. So if you're fighting the demon in the example mission above pulling a CoT Paper mission might result in having the Demon as an additional spawn in the mish, working against you -for- the Circle and railing against it the whole time.

-Rachel-

After searching for my old Nemesis/Foe system suggestion I found it had been purged in one of the great purges of late... >.>

I found out when I went to this post and found the link broken.

This makes me a -sad- Rachel. =-(

So I'm going to redo the entire thing from start to finish. Everyone ready?

Foe System, as suggested by Rachel

Before logging in all the way and choosing between either Liberty or Brawler, Kalinda or Burke, a player would have the option of working on the Foe system. This system would allow them to have a dedicated enemy who chases them for their entire career.

When creating a foe you are presented with several different Personality archetypes.

Brute (Simpleminded and strong, like Wretch)
Manipulative (Intelligent, calculating, and charismatic)
Evil Incarnate (No emotions whatsoever beyond hatred)
Misguided (Trying to do great things which fail)
Ruthless (Willing to do anything to succeed)
And More

You then choose a specific motivation.

Emotional Pain (Death of a loved on, familial abuse, etc)
Substance Abuse (Drug addiction, or magic, or any number of others)
In The Blood (Evil for Evil's sake)
Madness (Severe case of the crazies)
And More

You then choose one (or several) specific outcomes.

Wealth (Stealing all the money in the world!)
Power (Increasing personal ability)
Fame (Being the most well known at something)
World Domination ( What it says on the tin )
World Destruction ( What it says on the tin )
And More

You then can choose whether or not to flavor the character by origin. There are six options

Natural (The Foe can use Tech, Magic, and innate power arcs)
Mutant ( The Foe can use Magic, Science, and Mutant-centric arcs)
Magic (The Foe can use Natural, Mutant, or Magic-oriented Arcs)
Science (The Foe can use Mutant, Tech, or Scientific arcs.
Tech (The foe can use Natural Science or Technological arcs)
None (The Foe uses a randomly chosen arcc type at each level range)

You then build the Foe itself. Choosing powersets and it's appearance.

Once you're done with that the game's engine assigns specific storyarcs that open in each of the level ranges, allowing you to oppose your personal Foe.

An Example plotline for Brute > Substance Abuse > Wealth and/or Power > Magic

An ancient Demon, Azazel uses his Firey magics to wreak havoc in an endless search for gaining more power and wealth among the demons of his home plane. His latest activity involves fighting against control spells the Circle of Thorns have tried to leash him with. As a Hero it's your job to break the spells and defeat the beast, hopefully returning him to his own plane, or binding him in a gem that you've searched for.

So yeah... This would create completely unique missions that could never be played except by creating dozens of characters with foes of dozens of variations of personality, motivation, outcome, and origin.

The only -real- downside would be players creating Foes who are catering to the player's strengths. For example Fire/Fire enemies for a Fire/Fire Hero. This could be mitigated by removing powers from the options list based on the powers you've chosen...

So yeah. That's the basic suggestion. Thanks for reading!

-Rachel-

Y'know. I was in the middle of making a massive pros and cons list for heroes versus villains. But y'know what?

It's pointless. The argument will rage on no matter what I say, and you'll just use the things I put in the list to key off into a new and wholly stupid argument.

Heroes and Villains are COMPARABLE. There may be more empty space heroside, but they're comparable.

-Rachel-

I could definitely see people doing that.... Yeah. Players setting their AV foe up as being Fire/Invuln while they're Fire/Fire?

Or even Fire Blast/Fire Melee, so they can't defend themselves.

Though, alternatively, the Devs -could- set up a blocking system so that you -can't- make a foe especially weak to your own abilities. Like locking out fire sets to Nemeses of Fire Armor/Fire Melee characters?

It'd limit their abilities a bit, but it would still open the door to -tons- of new, interesting, and challenging content.

-Rachel-

For a Nemesis System.

I'd prefer having several different personality archetypes to choose from, as well as several different goals.

Sure. You do upp the costume on the character. You pick the powers. But you also pick his or her agenda and basic personality. Once you've got that in place the game assigns the two functions to a grid of possible choices and loads the Nemesis with a certain career path.

As you level through the game so, too, does your Nemesis. At specific levels you have Nemesis arcs open up. Each of these arcs is unique to the combination of personality and goal, with your villains powers and character model taking the place of the 'Boss' at the end.

Therefor the only way to experience this totally unique content is to either create every possible combination of personality archetype to every possible motivation/end goal or to team with people who have different nemeses at every level of the game.

The Devs could release a new personality archetype or motivation once in a while, which expands the whole feature exponentially.

Opinions?
-Rachel-

*Edit* It should also be noted that this would basically ensure EVERY character you create has a totally new play experience as you go through unique missions that you had no opportunity to go through otherwise.

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Could have the one with the shortest remaining duration on top, counting down? That way you see when that one will end, then it cascades to the next shortest duration when the first runs out.

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... the problem with that, of course, being not knowing WHO (on a team with multiple buffers) has their buffs running out. >.> Other than, say, "I just applied that 10 seconds ago."

Of course, I think the OP is thinking more along the lines of self-buffs/tier9s like Elude as opposed to FF bubbles, FS and such.

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Well even if you don't know -who- applied the buff. You know you've got 10 seconds before Vengeance drops, or your force-bubbles. that's enough to know that you won't be able to tank the AV for much longer, since when they drop you become squooshy.

It's not -as- important as when your Tier 9 is going to collapse, but it's still awesome info to have.

-Rachel-

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Because the knife isn't yours, Bill. It's tampering with evidence and stealing.


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So have them just drop villainside. >.>

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*gigglefits* Yeah. That would work.... Let them drop villainside to get made from recipes, and heroside have them purchaseable from the store?

What? You've gotta maintain Balance Can't give the Villains something the heroes can't have! =-3

-Rachel-

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Eh.

I know you have it set up above where you can adjust the frequency - but I can see far too many people learning about this and *not doing so* because their little phrase is "lulz kool." I already see that, fortunately rarely, with binds.

Personally, I'll keep my characters personality in my hands via RP. Putting in an in-game system, I think, would turn most "personalities" into simply "annoying." (Yes, I *do* see where you can "just ignore their banter" or "ignore the banter channel" - I think within a week it'd be shut off on all my characters second only to Depth of Field.)

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This. I was once teamed with a VERY flimsy imitation of Hank McCoy once. My friends and I RP as we go through combat (requires a team that knows what to do when someone is typing and a high keystroke per minute count) And though we'd attempt to engage him in social intercourse he just kept hitting macroed binds and keybinds with long-winded prose about various philosophers and how their field of expertise coincides with his pummeling of evil-doers.

It was -exceptionally- annoying.

-Rachel-

Because the knife isn't yours, Bill. It's tampering with evidence and stealing.

Even if he is a criminal, that gang member has rights. And ownership of Property doesn't vanish.

It's bad enough we get invention salvage and recipes off of them which we can then sell to stores and each other.

-Rachel-

Could have the one with the shortest remaining duration on top, counting down? That way you see when that one will end, then it cascades to the next shortest duration when the first runs out.

Though personally I'd love to have a countdown timer on the powers in my trays, too. I'd only ever -really- use it on long recharge powers (Tier 9s, Accolade powers, Mission or Pocket D Teleporter) but it'd be a nice QoL to know when I can use the power again.

-Rachel-

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It'll be a nice day when people regard individuals as just that instead of representatives of some larger group that they may be a part of.

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The problem occurs, Reiraku, when only a few individuals who are part of the larger group seem to be different than the greater majority.

Whether it -is- a majority of PvPers or not, the vocal ones have smeared their effluvium all over the PvP community. And it's a heck of a lot of stink for the handful of vocal -good- PvPers to wash off with words.

-You- and several others are good sports and helpful mentors to would be PvPers. But the amount of bad ones has, historically, been either higher or more omnipresent.

-Rachel-

You'd be multiplying the number of sets by 5.

Or will Tech characters use a wand? Gun? Then they'd need totally different animations.

How will I use my wand to perform my Superstrength Attacks? War Mace?

No.
-Rachel-

I hope so, too, Bill...

That would be freakin' sweet! =-3

-Rachel-

/signed For big red ninja ball that not only bounces: it randomlly stealths and then teleports short distances.

-Rachel-

*laughs*

Bad ideas.

-Rachel-

I wouldn't be against giving Defenders a global .02 damage mod... Maybe even .03!

But this? No. It's just too drastic. =-(

-Rachel-

Oh, I fully agree, Siggy! I'm just pointing out that such an Archetype could and WOULD be useful and Soloable!

Though such an archetype should not be able to pick up Devices... As that would make a crappy primary. :P

-Rachel-

Oooo! Moving enhancers WITHIN a power would be SWEEEEEEET!

=-3
-Rachel-

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Spy:
Primary Set: Manipulation/Assault(similar to blaster and dominator secondaries, a mix of control and ranged)
Secondary Set: Stealth/Defense
Description: The rogue, or trickster, the spy is all about sneaking into enemy territory and mixing things up.

They should have defender level damage and tank level defense and scrapper level health, they use tactical powers to control the battle field and are very hard to kill, lots of soft control like kb and slows, unlike the existing assault/manipulation sets they will mostly have ranged attacks..

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Honestly? Give them the Control numbers of a Controller (All they'll ever get is single target Controls from the Manipulation sets) Full Magnitude on what -little- they can do. Hand them Scrapper mods for ranged damage, blaster mods for Melee damage, and give them scrapper defenses.

Now you've got a scrapper with a few ranged attacks that deals less damage than a blaster at range, less damage than a scrapper in melee, has strong (though very limited) controls, and can survive fairly well.

Bear in mind both the Manipulation AND the Assault sets are riddled with attacks. This means that SOME "Spy" AT characters wouldn't even -have- control powers (Firey Assault Spies, for example)

So not only does this give them the widest possible array of powers of any class (with a few sets actually overlapping Fire Manip and Fire assault, for example) you'd wind up with Elec Manip Spies imobilizing foes at a distance, then hitting melee exclusively for the combat itself (no ranged attacks in Elec Melee)

So yeah. With a Little Tweaking of Numbers you get a new class that, while perfectly capable of soloing, also has some really interesting team-play uses, which makes each combination of powersets a totally unique play-experience.

-Rachel-

Of all those options my favorite is the Assault (or Manipulation) and Defense Archetype. Playing a Thorns/Regen would be just as awesome, if not more, than a Spines/Regen.

Incidentally, I think that's why it's not likely to happen.

-Rache-

/thread didn't work the first time! >_<

-Rachel-

Issue 16 will have side-switching.

End of Thread.

-Rachel-

Going Rogue is the new CoH Expansion currently slated for issue 16 release.

In it you'll be able to swap sides as ANY Archetype.

This was confirmed by Castle over in the CoH/V Discussion forum

/end thread
-Rachel-

What E-mail...?

-Rachel-

Aett's got the best suggestion. Let them have a few hours making and playing characters. Answer questions but don't tell them what they need to do or backseat drive. Show them all sorts of awesome things in the game.

Perhaps even give them access to a high level character for a while on your account. Show them what a high level tanker can do!

Or take a level 30+ troller to AP and use Wormhole to send Mobs flying gracefully through the air, ragdolling on walls, trees, and railings. =-3

-Rachel-