Steampunkette

You've definitely got some good points, there, Jack. *sighs*

Still. I'd hope they at least structure the backwards compatibility for saved costumes on the hard drive. That would be awesome! =-3

And Sermon.... Nothing, really. I wouldn't want them to cut anything. My favorite vision of CoH2 is a complete update of textures and game engine function while maintaining the current archetype system, rooting effects, etc.

I love City of Heroes for what it is. But not everyone does. So I'm asking what people would want to add to the game which would, likely, require a new engine at this point. Since the current engine can't make people superspeed on water, for example. Or let players run with costume layering.

If I truly had my Druthers I'd see all the storyline content from CoH1 moved to CoH2, new cities/zones added in with wholly new content, and so forth. But having Paragon be the center of the game's universe.

CoH would still run on the servers we have now, and would probably continue to advance. But the CoH2 engine would support all the original maps and models with better graphical detail and new options, in this perfect world.

So a backwards compatible character entering CoH2 would just be a character that reached 50 in the Isles or in Paragon. Doesn't stop him from heading to Kyoto, Paris, or San Fransisco in CoH2.

Which DOES lead my to an idea that works well with Jack's power customization idea...

If the powers are kept in Suites (if not Sets) and Archetypes can basically construct any suite of powers (Dark Melee mixed with Fire Melee and a secondary of Regen/Invuln powers on a scrapper for example) but are still limited by class roles (Melee/Defense for Scrappers. Blast/Support for Corruptors) then level 50 backwards compatible characters would be able to be constructed in the new game without being a 'you're 50 in the new game. It's over. You're done' situation. =-3

-Rachel-

Two things, Jack?

I'd prefer a combination of multiple 'skins' for faces and the slider idea. Different people have different texture to their skin, and colors. And I think having different available options for the faces really helps with that.

The Backwards compatibility issue would be something no other MMO has ever done, and might drag old players to the new game where it otherwise wouldn't. Even with complete power customization (as you suggested the point buy system) could be programmed to 'accept' older powersets and convert them into the new-cost system.

-Rachel-

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But by removing rooting for Blasters, Defenders, Controllers, Dominators, Corruptors, and Masterminds while instead keeping it in place for MANY melee attacks that require 'gravity' you're creating a schism in thought.

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Ehh? I said pretty much just the opposite -- melee power animations should be reworked if the current visual conception is disadvantageous to the sets mechanically. Mobility for melee PBAoEs isn't very relevant to PvP... and I did also specify that summons would still root, so things like Rain of Fire aren't going to be cast on the go.

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Okay... So let's compare two of the iconic sets.

Super-Strength for Tankers
Fire Blast for Blasters

Fire Blast rooting powers would be... Rain of Fire, Maybe Inferno, and the Snipe Blazing Bolt. Would Breath of Fire root you?

Meanwhile you'd wind up rooted by Knockout Blow, Hand Clap, Foot Stomp, Hurl, and Haymaker.

So Five rooting powers in Superstrength, 3, MAYBE 4 in Fire Blaster. Pretty close...

I guess what it would really do is create Root-heavy powersets (which would be mostly on melee classes with PBAoEs and PBCones) and a few control sets (Earth Springs to mind with it's 4 'pet' powers, Stalagmites, and stone cages)

I still don't like the idea of removing rooting in most cases. But if the animations could be altered to retain the 'power' behind them, I'd probably be fine with it. But if you lose the force, the gravity, then don't do it.

-Rachel-

Hehehehe!

But by removing rooting for Blasters, Defenders, Controllers, Dominators, Corruptors, and Masterminds while instead keeping it in place for MANY melee attacks that require 'gravity' you're creating a schism in thought.

And how would it balance in PvP? A Blaster keeps running while firing off ranged attacks, the brute must keep rooting between attacks (losing ground on the ranged character) while trying desperately to play catch-up.

Glitches in the way the system currently works is not an excuse to throw out the whole system.

-Rachel-

Twice, now, a certain poster has opened up a thread on the idea of City of Heroes 2. I'm not going to go into what was said, but I'd actually like to see this discussion run without the negativity instilled in the other threads!

SO! What would you all like to see in a new CoH?

Personally? I'd love to see:

*New powersets and archetypes

*New parts of the World (as opposed to Paragon/Rogue Isles)

*Asymmetrical Costume options

*Costume Layering

*The Moon Zone

*SOME (but not many) of the Villain Groups ported over (Rikti, Council, Family)

*Swinging, Burrowing, Wall Crawling, and Acrobatics as travel powers.

*The ability for superspeeders to run on Water and -short- distances up walls.

*More variety of each type of powerset with more room for overlap (Superstrength/Streetfighting, Gravity/Time)

*Officially Designated RP and PvP servers

*Heroes and Villains in the Same zones through instanced versions. Villains on one side, heroes on another, PvP and Co-Op on a third and fourth version of EVERY zone. (Like Atlas Park 1 or 2 with different gameplay rules in 2)

*Backwards compatibility for Character Costume files.

*Backwards compatibility with CoH characters.

Now the last two sound just about impossible to do, but I think it's feasible... By having updated versions of all the costume bits and current powersets you could, in essence, create a 'translator' for earlier-created characters.

Sure! It would let people who've already played CoH to death walk into CoH2 with powerful characters but they'll miss out on a lot of story. I think it'll be a nice draw to returning customers who've burnt out on CoH1 to transfer over a character, though. People who wouldn't come back if the Devs promised punch and pie might be tempted if they felt they could 'cheat' to 50.

How about you guys? Anything -you'd- like to see in CoH2?

-Rachel-

This is a bad idea.

Having Seen the 'other game' in action I've come to the conclusion that rooting is almost required for gravity, especially for the melee sets.

Take a look at Air Superiority. Double Fisted overhead downward strike. The character braces their feet and then WHAM! If they're flying they shift their body-weight and move their legs dramatically to maintain equillibrium and positioning.

Remove that and make it a 'move while in use power'.

Now you've got an attack that looks like it has no real weight. no POWER to it. Same thing with Haymaker.

One of my favorite things about City is the feeling that superstrong characters are, in fact, -strong-. When a guy is running sideways mid-punch the power of the punch (which comes from the torque of his body) is lost because his -feet- aren't planted. He can't bring his body around fast enough.

And of course the Martial Arts set would look -patently- ridiculous without rooting.

How about the Claws set? Double slash while running past someone. First slash hits, second slash goes off 4 feet behind the guy.

This suggestion would be an amazing amount of work for, ultimately, the dilution of the powers.

-Rachel-

I've had a Magical character run around wiht Pistols. She was a thugs/Dark Mastermind.

Her pistols weren't her 'Powers' and her minions were people who worked for her. her only real powers were her dark miasma spells.

-Rachel-

Why hasn't this thread been stickied, yet? =-3

-Rachel-

You're still opening up the World PvP can of worms with that idea, Samson.

By allowing people the three options (work with, ignore, apprehend/kill) you're right back to PvP. And frankly that's now unacceptable on a TECHNOLOGICAL level.

The Devs have altered the way PvP works so that while in PvP active areas your powers function in a different manner. You would need to code EACH AND EVERY ZONE for PvP OR PvE, based on a trigger controlled by the players.

Now I'll break this down from the beginning to the end.

Firstly: By giving the three choices you're back to the World PvP concept, which is not acceptable and the REASON I started this thread. To take from your idea the parts where I saw the most merit and develop a system by which the concepts would be fair and balanced.

Secondly: Assuming you brought up an options menu for the Non-Vigilante looking at the Vigilante you're opening up room for Griefing. Either through /duel requests being spammed at the Vigilante repeatedly as he atempts to go about his normal business OR by level 50 characters simply clicking 'apprehend' on any level 1 Vigilante they might find, assuming the Vigilante gets no choice in the matter.

Three: Based on the new method of determining PvP versus PvE zones all city and hazard zones would have to be both PvP AND PvE with specific 'triggers' to enable the PvP functionality. This could cause two problems that I can see immediately.
3a) Glitching between PvP and PvE might cause players who AREN'T Vigilantes to be struck by AoE effects or even targetable.
3b) NPCs spawning under PvP rules being far more capable than PvE enemies normally are.


So no. Enabling PvP for Vigilantes or the Heroes and Villains they work with is unacceptable as it leads to griefing, glitches, and OPEN WORLD PVP which is -precisely- what this suggestion was meant to excise.

-Rachel-

That's a rather Silly statement, Munki. That the market rises after each fall. That's like saying the sun rises.


Unless the market collapses completely (Sun goes Supernova, same difference) the market will always rise (and the sun will always rise, too)

If even with the controls our government has on the market (which are far too lax if you ask me. Billions of dollars of embezzled funds and tax write offs, bonuses for individuals of multiple millions at a time, etc) we can't keep it stable. How is a Free market (ruled only by greed and limitless resources) supposed to avoid an eventual crash or eventually become so bloated with monies as to be pointless...?

The MA will help, I think. So do the merits (on Supply at least) but unless we can drain the cash from the market it'll stay nice and bloated.

-Rachel-

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to add to this, use the SEARCH. it is your friend and will not bite you i promise.

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I think it bit me once, but i got ticked off at it and bit it back

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A Search Function once bit my Sister. >.>

-Rachel-

I have to disagree with your last Paragraph, POrk.

ALL Ideas are met with criticisms. Good bad or indifferent. Why? Because an idea can almost always be improved in some manner to include another aspect the progenitor of the idea/suggestion did not take into account.

Thus making the idea Better, on most accounts. As evidence: Look into my Vigilantes as a Third Designation discussion to see how a bad idea (open world PvP) can be altered into an acceptable suggestion (specific ATs that start neither in the Rogue Isles Or Paragon but whom may travel to both), and finally become a more widely accepted suggestion through discussion and addition to the core concept.

The Forums work best when multiple views come together without pointless dissent.

-Rachel-

Please take a look at the past 30 years on the free market and where our economy currently stands based on an uncontrolled market.

-Rachel-

/e Partyfavor
/e popper
/e noisemaker (3 varieties, all annoying!)
/e armpunch (for the partmembers)
/e spank (for the partymembers)

/e GiveGift
/e GetGift
/3 ShakeGift
/e OpenGift (Several different emotes for pulling out sweaters, toys, and jewelry)

-Rachel-

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Wow. I make a suggestion and recieve nothing but bile laced smarmy response. How underwhelming. Hey Im willing to bet you all go nuts whenever someone you see has just got a haircut. Ripe pickings in the land of cool huh?

Right now Virtue and Freedom are the only flush servers. If there were only six servers or five then the "quiet" would be maintained minus the desolation factor. Seriously today on Protector nobody was on Perigrine Island. Ghost town.

I understand y'all have 20 50's and can speak COH abbreviation like a military linguistics operator, but being a spazzy tool is hard to hide. Chill out folks. The idea has some merit, and I wouldnt be surprised theres always a long whine fest whenever someone suggests something out of the norm.

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Then feel free to read most of the posts on this forum.

Fact is your suggestion would cause more trouble than it's worth. Transferring SGs and Characters from one server to another complete with free name change tokens where two characters share the same name, for example?

Who gets to keep their name and who has to change it? Or do they both get genericed with a free token to rename themself?

What happens when the servers ALL start hitting Yellow or Red/Grey from overactivity? People on low-end machines just SOL because you wanted a team-server and now they can't connect without timing out from too much activity on screen?

How about the people that want to just play casually on a low-population server, enjoying the feeling that they are one of a handful of heroes patrolling the streets?

Are they all screwed because you couldn't get a team on Protector?

My suggestion: Make an Alt on Freedom or Transfer a character over. But don't ruin the fun of a large portion of the (spread out) playerbase just because you want easier teaming.

-Rachel-

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well, it is kind of possible...since I have had some powers skip the rooted part of its animation, allowing me to move while the animation goes off, the only problem is that your legs do not animate running...

so, that means that they would need to be coded for just the upper body...and that is a problem.

/e ponders

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I think the main issue would be having the animation track appropriately. If it does then either your character turns independent of the camera or the arms bend at odd angles THROUGH the torso to keep aiming at the right place.

Or they aim straight forward while you shoot the guys behind you.

-Rachel-

This sounds strange, but I believe it to be true.

A Stalker using Hide should have a wider stealth radius while not hidden. This would mean Stalkers can Assassin Strike a group that is NEAR to another group without fear of additional aggro, since the other group doesn't perceive them, yet.

This wouldn't be a terribly LARGE change, but it would make Stalkers the best AT at body-pulls.

-Rachel-

Storm wasn't saying that your response was an opinion, Stormbird. She was correcting you. The initial statement (Fly is the Best Travel Power' was an opinion.

-Rachel-

I think he means the same arc from two different perspectives, Bill. Heroes talk to one contact and head into the storyarc on the Good Guy side. Villains head in with the Bad Guys. Like a mish with Recluse and Statesman in it: Pick your side.

-Rachel-

That's not totally true, Jack.

I'd be okay with something minor, like a Base transporter that would work like the Mac Edition Mission porter. Something that doesn't give a numerical advantage in combat but might make things easier.

I'd LOVE Craftable Base items that are non-functional but awesome. I'd really enjoy having a ton of new costume options that require influence to get initially.

Ooo! How about Day-passes to the Ski Lodge in the D? =-3

-Rachel-

Not quite, Forbin...

I meant what I said. It's been Westernized to the point of being culturally 'cleansed'. Say what you will but we'll still have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which are about as Japanese as their names.

As for most of the items on that list you're pointing to Western Cultures (or Americanized items). Many of which are predominant portions of our genetic makeup. Irish, Scottish, German, Native American (1/16th, here!). English. Only a handful are African/Middle Eastern. And the items that ARE from the Middle East or Africa are weapons (Khopesh and Scimitar) or symbols of a religion noone follows anymore (Eye of Horus and the Ankh).

Meanwhile if we put turbans in the game you can stake money on how many 'Terror1st' characters will spring up JUST so they can offend someone.

Hell! How many Santa Clauses do you see every year? Now add in cultural bias, hatred, religious fervor, and a symbol of modern pain.

Sure. Let's put turbans in the game right next to little Hitler moustaches and swastikas. YES I'm comparing it to Nazism. Give Godwin's law another tick mark.

But Terrorists are this generations nazi germany. It's the group we can look down on and despise and feel superior to.

Give people the tools to make those characters in the game and you'll see them running around, pissing people off, and reminding them of the reality that they play this game to escape from.

-Rachel-

The problem underlying everything I've talked about recently is the amount of influence/infamy flooding the system.

By flooding the market with a pile of low-cost salvage and recipes the Devs would be removing the influence used to purchase them. It would be gone. For good. out of the system forever.

Same thing here. It's a way to get rid of in game currency.

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I'm sick and tired of this. I've got 5 people sending me PMs over how the farming situation isn't contributing to inflation, how inflation has nothing to do with the amount of money in the system, that the money entering the system is totally stable, just like the amount of recipes...

I'm sick of it.

Someone who will remain nameless sent me a PM about the market price fluctuations and we got into it over the casual gamer versus the hardcore gamer... So here's a nice money sink.

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This is the preamble to the other thread. Emphasis (and original post) mine.

-Rachel-

And then people could go to that building and talk to him.... Which does nothing.

Since the TF is through Oroborous you'd have to be linked to him somehow. he wouldn't give his missions out to just 'anyone' and could be programmed to just ask people to kindly leave, so he can get back to work.

-Rachel-

Ninja are technically ethnic....

However the Ninja pieces in the game look NOTHING like what real ninja would wear.

Closer to a real ninja would be a terrorist blowing up a building by dressing up like someone who would GO to that building.

The mystique and black catsuits in the night are a bastardization of what ninja really were. The closes thing to 'all black' a real ninja might wear would be during a play.

In Japanese theatre 'special effects' were implemented early on. People wearing head to toe black would move about on the stage waving fans, moving objects, and other things while being contextually ignored by the audience. It's possible that some ninja infiltrated a theatre troupe and used that 'role' to assassinate someone.

The Ninja that we know of in modern times have been westernized to the point of not being Japanese at all, in many cases. They've become as much a part of western cultures as Zombies. Which most people don't attribute to Houdoun traditions.

Ninja aren't 'Japanese' anymore. They're just 'ninja'

-Rachel-

Yes, Ozzie. It is possible. In fact I'd say it's highly likely and almost assured that SOMEONE would want to use them properly.

However I'm sure plenty of people would use them -inappropriately-.

And ninjas and pirates are neither ethnic or national, thanks to the modern bastardization of the former and the romanticization of the latter.

-Rachel-