Trike

I've got a couple of those punny ones.

I've been in a superhero mood lately, for the most part. Like 90% of the part. Here are some of my latest. (Currently have 444 alts.) (deleted blanks)

Awesome & hilarious! Excellent work. 😎

New book, this time the All-Out Avengers. (I don’t think it’s a gay reference.) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B3SCMWWD?ref_=dbs_m_cmx_wit_calw_tkin_0&storeType=ebooks This is page one of issue one, so it’s not a spoiler. No idea what’s going on here, as we start deep in media res. it’s pretty amusing, though. https://ibb.co/sVj5zp9 https://ibb.co/H2BKM9p

It’s already 3/4 awesome. I have faith in you! 😎 Many years ago when I worked at a plaque-making company I would ask the designer for all kinds of stuff and he would go, “I can’t do that,” and I would say it should be doable, to which he would respond, “Yes, but *I* can’t do it!” 😆 …and then he’d figure out how to do the thing. So all these decades later, I’m still consistent.

Sounds good, as long as the regular progression is still there. I like the fact that Spider-Man progressed from fighting robbers to the Vulture to alien invaders to Thanos. Street to World to Cosmic. But I get wanting to start out as Silver Surfer or Green Lantern, and it’s definitely something I’d do with my undoubted hundreds of alts. (It better keep the ability to make dozens of alts. That’s a must-have for and CoH sequel.)

Can you animate mine? Roll in, fire off lasers or missiles, roll out? Or the low-key version: just roll in, pause, roll out. Doing a wheelie! 😎

I was watching a video about mods added to Cyberpunk 2077 (https://youtu.be/p9wykaic6IU) and it reminded me that I’ve always wanted to use the vending machines or go into the various restaurants in order to eat and/or drink. This would grant you a small stat bonus, akin to inspirations, except tiny. Like 1% or something, but longer-lasting, like 30 minutes. In some superhero comics like The Flash or Spider-Man, the characters often talk about needing to consume copious quantities of comestibles to fuel their increased metabolism. Perhaps higher calorie content or better quality food could give a longer-lasting boost? (Sneakily reinforcing that eating veggies is better for you than eating fast food.) Of course, that only applies to human characters. Robots could go to a car parts store and drink oil or eat rocks or whatever. Or maybe they’re just given the 1% bonus for being robots. Aliens eat weird stuff. Demons eat… I don’t know, fire maybe? Souls? Souls on fire? I have several characters that are animated statues/rocks or ghosts or zombies or vampires, so it might get unwieldy to account for them all. Just a random thought.

I am a bit baffled by PUG leaders trying to be all macho with the +4 nonsense after they’ve opened up the team to any level. That level 16 whatever and my level 22 fill-in-the-blank aren’t going to even have enhancements in most powers, nevermind purpled up. So don’t get all ranty that we’re whiffing against mobs that are five levels above us and protected by overlapping force fields. Or that we’re faceplanting every other encounter. And stop being surprised when people quit because it’s not fun. It’s gotten to the point where I mostly join teams and TFs only if I’m significantly higher level than they are.

I’m not proposing anything, I just thought the artwork resembled Bio Armor. Torch is generally considered a Fire Blaster, so I thought it was interesting to contemplate a Fire Blaster using Bio Armor. In other words, effectively a Tank Mage.

Just straight up Bio powers for a Fire Blaster. Basically a supernova tank. It’s the only way to rule the Negative Zone.

I play the match-3 game Marvel Puzzle Quest (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/marvel-puzzle-quest-hero-rpg/id618349779) as a pleasant diversion (no ads other than their constant pop-ups peddling stuff, but no biggie), and today they added a Human Torch variant. https://ibb.co/tHB0dcc It looks like he’s wielding Bio Armor, which is pretty cool. I did a brief search and it apparently this is part of a Negative Zone story arc from 10 years ago when Johnny gets cut off from the FF and has to take on Annihilus, and gets killed. (He gets better. Like they do.) A Fire/Bio Blaster sounds fun. Probably over-powered… which also sounds fun. 😛 Anyway, I thought it was interesting. https://ibb.co/cQN8q2f https://ibb.co/YhGpHR1

Six of one, half-dozen of the other.

I got bugs too! https://ibb.co/nz06X8B https://ibb.co/6WVyPgy https://ibb.co/mSzXBFT

I can attest to Scutt’s gameography - his captures are so high-end that when I tried to emulate them by mimicking his settings my PC sounded like it was preparing to launch into orbit. He also knows all the best spots to take photos!

Character name: Brain Storm. ….of which every possible combination will be taken on every server. Psiclone? Stormirage? Mindwind? Weather Wit?

I think most of them probably fall into the mentor/apprentice category, but with various police/detective examples, there are plenty of equal partners listed. Certainly with duos like Luke Cage and Iron Fist, or Green Arrow/Black Canary, Colleen Wing/Misty Knight, Cloak & Dagger, Archer & Armstrong, we have teams of peers who are differently-powered but equal. And then there are duos like Hawkman and Hawkgirl or Clint Barton and Kate Bishop (Hawkeye & Hawkeye, I’m seeing a specific bird trend here) who are effectively the same character. I think in terms of gameplay, however, the sidekick/pet should always be lesser-than so we players always feel the most super. So if you went with a clone of your Scrapper it would have your character’s abilities, just fewer of them. Less hit points, too. So something like Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson. She’s incredibly good at Judging, but he’s flat-out the best.

Captain America is punching Hitler in the face in his very first appearance in 1941. One of Superman’s first foes in 1938 is an abusive husband that he slaps around. Soon after he takes on a mayor who won’t approve of proper drivers licensing, which is getting people killed. He then goes after capitalists and greedy landlords, which have created slums that foster gangs… as “woke” a message as one will ever find, and this from young guys writing superhero stories in the late 1930s. Superman is, quite literally, a social justice warrior, and always has been. In the 1960s The X-Men were literally conceived as a diverse group, but it didn’t go far enough, so the 1975 reboot doubled down on the multicultural, multinational, all-inclusive aspect, becoming a monster hit that’s still going strong. The multiple instances of billion-dollar box office earnings of MCU films show how ridiculous the “go woke go broke” conservative talking point is. Social consciousness has been baked into the genre from the jump — most of these characters created, it should be noted, by Jewish writers and artists.

That works. I think both Marvel and DC have done versions of this sort of thing. Certainly the “Captain Universe” and “Phoenix Force” storylines in Marvel had otherwise street-level heroes attain godlike powers, albeit temporarily. That’s one model to emulate. Fire Blast becoming more cosmic or quantum or whatever as you level up, so you can punch Galactus in the nose.

One thing I’d like to see in CoH2 is a full-on Sidekick System, meaning that you get a permanent pet of your choice and design. Make a Tank to go with your Blaster. Create an exact duplicate of your character. The Sidekick can literally be anyone or anything, and there are literally hundreds of duos from comics and movies we can model them on. Batman and Robin spring immediately to mind, but comics and movies are replete with duos: Cap & Bucky The Wonder Twins Flash & Kid Flash Green Arrow & Speedy Luke Cage & Iron Fist Misty Knight & Colleen Wing Ant-Man & the Wasp Yellowjacket & the Wasp Hawk & Dove Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy They don’t need to be human, either: Ka-Zar & Zabu Moongirl & Devil Dinosaur Crystal & Lockjaw Superman & Krypto Shadowcat & Lockheed Rocket & Groot Gert & Old Lace Falcon & Redwing Squirrel Girl & Tippy-Toe Big Guy & Rusty Or even superheroes for that matter. We can do clones, or “guy in the chair”, siblings, alternate universe doppelgängers, whatever. Or just friends. Holmes & Watson Butch & Sundance Luke & R2D2 Christian Walker & Deena Pilgrim Starsky & Hutch Cagney & Lacey Hadrian & Royce Legolas & Gimli Ralph & Vanellope Din Djarin & Grogu This might be something for endgame content, to give players something to work toward, or maybe late-game, as missions become harder. It would be tricky to balance against Masterminds, but if the distinction is between “permanent companion you can fully design” and “temporary default pet”, I think it’s an easy sell. Just need to make sure MMs don’t then become overpowered.

But we’re talking about a sequel game, so anything left in/taken out can just be handwaved away as being in a different universe. In CoH2, there is no Well - supers just are. As for endgame content, there’s no reason 50 has to be the max level. Make it 80 or 100, or even open-ended. (Okay, open-ended is a terrible idea. Make it 100.) But once we get to that level, have some incentives, and build in a parallel game to keep folks playing. A version of the flashback system, where you can play missions you missed, and emulate comics and movies by leveling up to epic stuff. Jumping directly into Avengers: Endgame is bad storytelling, a lesson DC didn’t learn - we need to ramp up. I remember the memes after Captain America: Civil War where people compared the airport fight between two groups of 6 heroes with the splash pages of hundreds of heroes fighting, with snarky “movie v. comics” commentary*, but Marvel was patient and knew what they were building to. Once we got the hundreds of heroes versus hundreds of aliens battle in Endgame, it was earned. And every theatre in the world exploded. So after you save the city, you need to save the country, then the world, then the galaxy. Just go bigger and harder (don’t say it) with each iteration. The original design of CoH knew this, which is why we fight street punks at first and face increasingly difficult mobs until we’re fighting gods and demons. It’s gotten kind of muddy over time, but that basic idea is sound - level up everything as the player characters level up. The specific mechanism of Incarnate stuff doesn’t matter as much as just being able to experience things on a more epic scale. * https://images.app.goo.gl/fgcAq8pnZYUKZoF2A https://images.app.goo.gl/W8J9sF2hkCTcyWhx5

As I was soloing redside last night, it occurred to me that, along with selecting mob size/difficulty, it would be nice to select map size. I had to do 3 missions back-to-back on the biggest maps in the game and good lord it was *tedious*. Two of them were the warehouse map, which didn’t help. I’d take lower/fewer rewards for a more reasonably sized map. Just as the current game adjusts mob density automatically for team size, CoH2 should do the same for map size, which you can override if you choose. Because maybe every once in a while you’d like to just park yourself in a section of the city and spend an hour whacking away at baddies.

Oh yes, that’s definitely something CoH2 should have: the ability to be properly superheroic. Picking up a nearby car would be amazing. Hurl in the Super Strength set does a decent job of emulating this, by tearing up some asphalt and throwing it. I’m sure it was a limitation of the game engine. But rooting… ugh, yeah, that’s the worst. I could understand it for snipes, but games without it just feel more fluid. Similarly, I definitely would *not* like a block mechanic. They always use rooting for that, but latency often gets me and keeps the block from working. On the other hand, the three-dimensional design of the game designed around flight and super jump is pretty unique. I never get tired of flying around, or leaping off a building just to hit fly right before you auger in. I do know a few new players are surprised that when you make a fire-based character, say, you aren’t fire-resistant. That didn’t occur to me, but I’ve seen it enough to think it must be part of other games. Might be something to consider in a new version.

I haven’t seen anyone PvPing on any server. I saw a broadcast once talking about it, but there were no takers. That was the same during Live after the initial newness wore off. We gave it a decent try, but it wasn’t fun. Perma-holds and jousting just made it aggravating. That was something I mentioned at the time: in order for PvP to be fair and fun, everyone has to have the same basic damage and hitpoints, which is a non-starter in a game like this. Some wag remarked, “The definition of eternity: two tankers PvPing.” As for the inherent nastiness that comes along with PvP, that’s just part of the competitive impetus that is part and parcel of such things. We saw it here, a lot, and it’s carried through to today - look at the reaction I got to this same opinion last year. And there was that guy who went into PvP just being absolutely nasty to other players, then wrote a hit-piece about CoH’s community. Proving it literally only takes one bad apple to ruin the experience for everyone else.

One thing I’d like to see is More Than One Solution. Currently the game is 95% “punch things till they fall down”, with a few minor non-combat things sprinkled throughout. Not only can you kick down a door, you should be able to pick the lock. Kick = 10 points; pick = 10 points. Either solution is valid, giving the same rewards. Propagate this through the entire game. Defeat everyone on the map, get 25 points per defeat, with 100 points completion bonus. Stealth past everyone, get 25 points for everyone you sneak past, 100 points for completion. I’d also like to see a combination of bespoke maps and procedurally generated ones. We know every twist and turn of the warehouse and office maps, but it’d be nice to be surprised when we go in. Not just layouts altering, but also color. It’s always a shock to me to see the blue caves rendered in brown. Exact same map, entirely different feel. Imagine that with a full color palette chosen at semi-random (we don’t want lime green walls and chartreuse carpet with yellow furniture), with rooms and hallways likewise randomized. Storywise, I’d want to see things evolve. Positron has gone to Space. Synapse died. Foreshadow retired. Etc. But mostly, moving beyond the city. World of Heroes. Super Planet. Whatever. Just more variety. Deserts, arctic tundra, tropical islands, and so on. CoH came out years before the MCU debuted and long before the live service model of games became a thing, but CoH2 can certainly take advantage of ideas from those things. A story like Thanos’ — Nemesis, perhaps — where it runs for a while and then it’s done. I like that the original intent of CoH seemed to be that levels = time, but that kind of fell by the wayside. It could still be part of it, but the idea that there’s some Big Bad coming in that heroes have to defeat and then the villain is vanquished, never more to return, would kind of scratch the same itch we get from single-player games. As a business model, it keeps people engaged because they want to see how it unfolds. Barring that, it’d be cool if different villain groups behaved really differently. The Council and Malta are soldiers, so they should be more disciplined, moving like trained military units. Street gangs would be more prone to just taking off, and their attacks are uncoordinated. It’s a small thing, but it would really give different mobs a unique feel. Other games use leveling to further specialize characters. By utilizing a branching system, you can really differentiate characters even if they have the same basic powers. I recently played Gears Tactics, the XCOM-like version of Gears of War, so it’s fresh in my mind, but that 4-direction specialization definitely changes how characters play. For instance, this: https://images.app.goo.gl/2EN8AQXkLcXVFPVg8 versus this: https://images.app.goo.gl/7M9QxMcje7SUg2m3A If we wanted to keep IOs because that’s a flavor unique to CoH, have them behave the same way, but you’d have to choose between, say, 10% Damage increase/2% Accuracy increase and 10% Acc/2% Dam. You get a guy who can KO you if he hits you in one scenario versus a guy who can wear you down with multiple hits. Or 10% Stealth Bonus/2% Health Bonus versus 10% Health/2% Stealth. Are you a sneaky thief or a tricky stalker? That sort of thing. All of this done in Unreal 5.