FDR's Think Tank

Would they add a vehicle based Archetype to the game? I mean... at the very least they could add in a "Bike Sprint" animation and seperately include a "Bike" weapon for Maces and Titan Weapons that the player could smack enemies with. This could be a BMX Bike or a Motorcycle too. Probably not a Scooter though.

One of the consistent complaints you hear about any "Light Based" powerset that people suggest is "We already have Radiation, Energy, and Fire... how is this different?" Angel Summoning faces a similar challenge in my mind, although the OP has clearly worked with existing damage types to construct the idea. However, a solution to this might be to make "Light Based" powers effective at damaging stealth and having a self buffing effect for accuracy. You could also make Light Based Powers multipurpose/wider target options. For instance, with mastermind, there are often "Equip" powers you can't really use on Allies. They are pet "ONLY". It would be nice, even if it's a weak effect, to be able to target allies. You could also make it so some of the Light-based attacks of the Angel Summoning set harm enemies, but buff allies perception and accuracy. Also, this is kinda inside baseball on Angel ranks... but Archangels rank below Cherubs. Archangels only rank above Angels and both belong to the lowest order of Angels with Principalities at the top of Lower Orders. You have Middle Orders and Higher Orders as well. Cherubs are actually under Seraphim in the Higher Orders, but above Ophanim. This is just going off the Christian classification. If you go off Hebrew, Islam, or Zoroastrianism, none of them really talk about Archangels and have a bunch of different classifications. I understand why you put Cherubs as the main summon, but I would probably not have the player summoning Seraphim (which are crazy powerful and probably too important for such matters.) You might... want to consider the route City of Heroes took with Demons, making their own classifications up, and then letting the players name them whatever they want. Then people who don't really care about the Angel Ranks or the meanings can arrange it however they like. A vague description is better than a highly descriptive one. You could use the Latin terms for Lower, Middle, and High if you want something fancy looking. (Inferiora, Medius, Summas) This also escapes the religious classifications and let's players do as they please while still satisfying the dominant cultural perspective on Angels for people who would be playing a Western Modern Mythology themed game. For visual effects, simplest for the Angels to look like standard winged humanoids, but with various MM upgrades, they might get some features that make them look like the more "Bibically Accurate" with the Rings and Eyes around their heads and adding more wing sets.

I guess if you WERE going to scrub the Incarnate Content from the game.... you'd bounce back to the most obvious move, which is raising the level cap. What that would mean for characters is a different question... -Do you allow more slots in powers after level 50? -Do you give players the ability to open a tertiary Power Set... or rely on Pool and Epic Pool Powers to fill the gaps? -Do you give players the ability to further modify existing powers outside of the slot system (because at a certain point, more powers isn't as important as developing existing abilities.) -What Zones do you open up to go beyond Level 50? Interesting idea, but it will NEVER be explored on Homecoming Servers. You would need to host your own server and mod it to taste using this mindset. Now, something that would be compatible with Incarnate might be that at level 50, you're able to access Alternate Universe versions of your character that exist as different Archetypes. Only one Archetype can be active at a time and it would function similar to how alternate builds/costumes function. You simply get the ability to build out every possible archetype using that same character name. This would be a very different version of endgame content, but also allows players to hunt down stories and missions they didn't complete with that character on their first (or following) runthrough(s). Then you pave the path for saying "We can have loads more content before Endgame, since the whole game is also endgame, in it's own manner." I realize that technically, this is what Ourobos is for... and you could still use it to do this.... but I think this version is more Elegant.

I hope we get some Interdimensional Post Office where we can make our transfers of goods to other characters/servers under our account. Brought to us by the Portal Corporation!

Or maybe having a tab seperated menu to list vanity pets in, instead of keeping the powers listed with the functional powers?

Since Controllers already really HAVE elemental Summons... it MIGHT be better to consider something Elemental in nature that would have more intelligence than your typical Elemental for a Mastermind Minion Set. For instance: Genie Mastermind: Summons Elemental Djinn to fight for him. You could make the "elemental swap" function work like some sort of "Limited Infinite Wishing" and have it so you can swap between three (Which leaves an "Aether" element for when none is selected) Elemental Sets for Djinn: 1. Storm Djinn -Basic Summons - Wind, Thunder, and Rain - Intermediate Summons - Blizzard and Sandstorm - Advanced Summon - Lightning 2. Inferno Djinn -Basic Summons - Smoke, Flame, and Burst - Intermediate Summons - Mirage and Magma - Advanced Summon - Nuclear 3. Moonlight Djinn -Basic Summons - Shade, Freeze, and Starlight - Intermediate Summons - Wax and Wane - Advanced Summon - Tidal Although... I really don't know where to go with the null selection "Aether" Djinn Set.

I've thought a bit more about the HEAT and VEAT that would really do a good job of representing Magic in City of Heroes and come up with a more solid game mechanic idea for each. HEAT - Legacy Chain Wizard (Or really many things, including Paladins, Priests, or whatever.) Focus - Blesses Area with Legacy Chain Glyphs (Sorta function like Shaman Totems from WoW). Glyphs can be used like this to create buff zones... but the player can complete different combinations of Glyphs, which then complete a "Ritual" and grant them a temporary buff and wipe out the Glyphs, while restoring part of the stamina cost for the Glyphs. Weakness - Glyphs can be targeted and knocked out, but also take time to set up. It can be difficult to complete Glyph Combos and the Legacy Chain Wizard often needs to taunt enemies to keep them away from their fragile glyphs. VEAT - Circle of Thorns Warlock (Or really any sort of evil zealot or spellcaster.) Focus - Summons Minions, but then sacrifices them for greater minions or to activate their high tier spells. This is a Magic System that is fueled by Sacrifices. Weakness - This class needs to carefully manage it's minions, constantly resummoning to replenish the reserves and maintain access to the high level spells. The Minions can attack, but can also be killed often and might be harder to keep out of trouble than Glyphs, since this class doesn't excel in taunting and holding foes in Melee combat. From there, I really feel like you could accomplish more of the Hodgepodge wizard with two distinct flavors that really make Epic Archetypes worth adding to the game. I suppose if there was going to be a Preatorian Epic Archetype (PEAT) to line up with these... it might be a Carnival of Light type character? This gets more into Carnival Magics, which for the Carnival of Light are heavily focused on Light. This one probably needs more thought to really flesh out it's mechanics. With Creatures and Terrain covered by the other two... Perhaps it's a matter of toying with stealth/detection mechanics in some way?

It would be very nice to be able to sort by Alignment, Super/Villain Group, Origin, and Archetype.... just because a fast tab to bring up what already have in those catagories would be a great QOL addition.

I would imagine that PEATs Storylines would focus on Zones where the survivors of Preatoria were resettled, in visiting the conquered areas of Goldside and pushing back... and it doesn't have to be incarnate, because we would, in effect, be talking about new content that follows what could be a major event that helps lay the ground work for following up on all of this. That's because any time you talk about adding new Archetypes or new Epic Archetypes, you also want to look at revamping starting areas and perhaps adding new starting Areas. The reason to do this would be to integrate Goldside with Prime, since we all know that's what ultimately has happened. You can redefine boundaries, update zones that are out of date, and open up new territory to explore. Goldside might not have the Resistance/Loyalist storylines here on Earth Prime... but they would have the nuance of navigating the politics between Paragon City and Rogue Islands. They might get new alternative PvP zones with Redside and Blueside that may explore different forms of competition and cooperation. You could make Goldside a haven for whatever their new Alignment is... and Rogues and Vigilantes. I mean... this thread may have been posted by someone being highly silly with "A.I." generated content... but if you cut through the nonsense, something good can still be derived from it. That's because City of Heroes has always had so much potential, even all these years later.

I realize that's what happened back then, but it's been over a decade and there was ALWAYS the concern of the Carnivals both merging... and the consequences of that. If the Carnival of Light joins the Prime Earth Carnival, what happens to the magical infrastructure that they maintain? It's an opportunity to revisit the the other areas of Preatoria and follow up on all of it. And.... as you point out.... tell us more about what the Drudges are up to! I mean... it's not like we have to go back to the old core Gold Side areas either. We could potentially see some of the mirror areas to zones of Earth Prime. Dark Astoria, Rogue Isles... what's going on over there? Is Hamidon still running amok? A Decade Later, many things could have changed. Hamidon could have evolved. There might be EAT for Goldside! I mean.... the possibilities are endless now that they have secured rights. It's very exciting.

This is CLEARLY Describing the mechanics of an Epic Archetype. The only thing this guy is lacking is the highly specific backstory that explains the Existence of the Epic Archetype. There are some mixed messages of course inside his descriptions of abilities, but only because he's desperately trying to mutilate the Standard Archetypes to get something that Epic Archetypes exist for. My recommendation here is to go back and modify two version of the EAT... a HEAT (Legacy Chain, has Medieval Melee/Armor Worked in) and a VEAT (Circle of Thorns, has minions and the ability to Sacrifice them for greater summons). This would satisfy all the objectives without arguing about the silly notion that anything the OP asked for belongs in standard Archetypes outside of what already exists or can be tightly constrained to the rules Powersets currently follow for each Archetype. He even brings up Lore and Theme, which Epic Archetypes specifically exist to tap into, Unlike Standard Archetypes, which are totally free form in Lore and theme. You could even have it that Legacy Chain, Midnighter's Club, and Circle of Thorns band together to form a Magical Academy to face off against a potent Magical threat that forces them to work together to face. The two EATs that come out of the Hybrid Academy are basically your traditional Wizard/Sorceror/Warlock/Witch/Etc. Spellcaster Classes. I would love seeing a new Night Ward Territory open up that maybe goes back and explores the Gold Side Areas after they fall and reclaims them? One of the Mystical Threats that could definitely be a possibility would be the Carnival of the Prime World finally crossing paths with the Carnival of Preatoria. Both Carnivals United would be a very dangerous threat, if it goes down the way most people expect it to. That being said, new Epic Archetypes are probably not the first thing on the list that Homecoming would get to. It's really more of a New Dawn/We Have Cake sort of thing. Maybe, once HC get's more animation and gameplay mechanic people working with them, they can draw some inspiration from what New Dawn has done with Epic Archetypes and flesh this out.

You already have Illusion Control, which is perfect for your standard magic set up. You can use pool powers to round out the concept of having a hodgepodge of unrelated powers. I'm not sure how doing new mystical animations for psychic wouldn't work perfectly. Some of them ALREADY EXIST with Circle of Thorns. Alt Animations are a load of artistic work and Homecoming is light on artists because until recently, they didn't feel secure enough to waste artists time on a project that was in the legal grey area. Now they are legit, but a PURE Magic Epic Archetype is probably what you want. You aren't going to get Primary/Secondary Arcane Powersets with the standard Archetypes. It makes no sense to do all that work and animate something that doesn't have any theme that binds it together beyond people loving the Sorcery Universal Power Pool. Otherwise, if you sincerely want magic powers with standard Archetypes, the superior option IS Arcane Animations for each existing Elemental/Energy Powerset. Including Psychic. Staff "Blast" could easily be added as an optional weapon that animations are channeled through. You don't REALLY need to make a unique set... but it could be neat to see something like that. But the theme wouldn't be MAGIC or Arcane. It would be "Staff Blast" which could possibly just have a variety of different elemental blasts. This would still not help people who want to have Hodgepodge Wizards as much as making an Epic Archetype would.

This is probably better as a suggestion that they give every existing powerset new alternate Animations... which include "Magic" based aesthetics. This could be done with every powerset and origin and would give animators plenty to do... if they actually had enough animators who wanted to do this.

There are many ways PvP could be repaired in this game. However, consider what a successful PvP game looks like. DOTA? PUBG? People understand that PvP would take time and effort to repair, but the pay off is inviting in competitive gameplayers into the community. They FEAR that community will be changed by the influx of people interested in functional PvP. I disagree with this fear: the idea that a competitive game community is toxic may have some truth to it... but the games people think of in that regard are PURELY competitive games. Game players have many faucets to them and depending on the circumstances will react very differently. It would probably be difficult to balance a PUBG type experience in this game.... but as battlewraith above pointed out, Battleborn (Ouch, what a rough example) did a MOBA like set up that would be highly effective in this game. I would go a step further in it: -2 Teams, Each with a Core Tower and possibly a series of smaller towers along the "routes". -Minions are spawned that do more damage to Towers than Players do. -Players do more damage to minions than they can to each other, but as they wipe out minions, they can upgrade their abilities against other players. -Towers do more damage to players than to minions, but strike the first target that appears, rather than aggro on threats like normal. This would would largely disincentivize "Jump Jousting" and other silly looking exploitive behaviors in PvP..... but only in this particular mode. People might still do it, but not enough to make people feel concerned.

In that vein, I really would like to see more "Elite Boss/Giant Monster/Wild Villain" Spawns in the Sewers. Obviously, Vahzilok uses the Sewer Network fairly extensively... but they aren't the only ones. It would be nice to see some unique rare spawns for all the Sewer factions. Lost rank up there pretty high with Vahzilok for potentially having unique spawns in the sewers. Although, since we are mentioning Sewer Factions... there was something I was pondering. The only time the Freedom Corps goes into the Sewer is when hunting the Hydra. The rest of the time... who has authority down there? Is there some sort of Paragon Sewage Authority that patrols and maintains the Sewer network? Does the Hero Corps do the dirty work for extra pay? Or is Wyvern training vigilantes down in the shadowy underground networks? As long as Villains aren't freeroaming the Paragon Sewers, it probably doesn't matter, but it would be a kinda nice bit of scenery to have friendlies down there. Especially if more big baddies are going to start spawning down there. You might have each of the areas divided by different groups who would handle the Sewer Patrols and escort Maintenance Engineers down there. Or you might have it so that there are "Yellow" spawns like in Rogue Isles where various criminal organizations have disguised thugs doing Maintenance work for the city. The Family would certainly be in charge of the Sewer Maintenance in Port Independence, if there were any sewers there. (And perhaps that is where the Sewage Treatment Facilities actually are, now that I think about it. From an infrastructure and city industrial planning standpoint, it makes good sense.)

Preatoria is just too strict with their licensing procedures for Day Jobs!

All these years, I've been imagining them reworking Perez Park, reworking Galaxy City, doing something to follow up and bring those areas up to date... and I always forgot about the Sewers under Galaxy. Considering that they haven't cured the Lost in all those years since then either, despite all the research, it makes me wonder if the Lost are using the sealed sections of the Galaxy City Sewer to keep things going. There could also, of course, other factions that operate in the Sewers involved. Circle of Thorns, Vahzilok, and even Hellion Smugglers could be down there. There is also the question of how the Hydra might have interactions with the Shivians. There are many possibilities. Even the Skulls may have survivors of Galaxy that were driven underground, since that was their main stomping ground. When you look at the map, you realize Perez Park is directly above "Underworld" sections of the Sewer and Galaxy City Sewers must be to the West of that, North of Kings Row. That makes the Atlas Park, Skyway City, and Steel Canyon Gates to Perez Park make sense. All of this does make me wonder one thing.... where is the central Water Treatment Facility for Paragon City located? When I think of each city zone, the only area that I can think of that has Water Treatment in Paragon would probably be in Faultline (Which isn't even connected to the main Sewers because of all the Underground Damage.) When I think of Water Treatment in Rogue Islands, many multiple facilities come to mind. The Infrastructure of Paragon is a tad more mysterious.

The Sewers of Paragon are like their own parallel World to Paragon City. I am surprised the Lost haven't build their own Society down there. It's been long enough! Did... they remove the Galaxy City Portions of the Sewers from the Sewer Map after the crisis?

If you do it as "DIRE PAWN" instead of "Dire Pawn" you can probably get "DIRE PAWN" "D1RE PAWN" and "DlRE PAWN" out of it. (That last one is a lower case L)

With Psychic Armor, I would focus on a few aspects: First off.... if it's strong to Psychic Damage, what is it's weakness? Hot/Cold Damage? Second off, I like what you did with Temple of the Mind... but this set should have more things like this. Psychic Armor should be potent and grabbing aggro, but also transforming aggro enemies into non-threats with fear/mind effects. (Since Aggro Caps exist, you need a way to surpass the cap and a Psychic Set, as a manipulator of the mind, is perfect opportunity.) Third: I can see you're working with some concepts of Willpower in there, but maybe Psychic should focus more on how the Psychic Tank is able to Psyche their opponents out. It's not just about fear, but possibly giving To-Hit Debuffs instead of relying on the normal Resist/Defense Buff mechanics. It would make this set stack really well with any pool powers that can boost traditional defensive options, since it would be harder to hit Defense/Resist caps when your powers basically ignore that aspect. Dimensional Armor sounds fun, but I have a questions: Phase Shift would probably work well for a Sentinel and Stalker as a Panic Button.... but for a Tank, a Brute, and a Scrapper.... what would the effect on Aggro Be? Are they still able to Taunt in Phased form? Will it even matter if NPC's can't target them? Phase Shift is tricky to balance. Either it's going to end up being totally useless for many builds... or it's going to become incredibly broken, especially since players can take Teleporter's Phase Shift and juggle between them. There are other things, such as Quantum Collapse that just seem tremendously broken. Warped Armor... does it grow based on other Dimensional Armor Powers active... or does it grow based on how many Gravity/Dimension attacks are being used in it's vicinity? Both seem a tad difficult to scale properly. Teleporting Enemies with Interdimensional Surge sounds a bit mystifying, sure, it would be very cool, but I question what the PURPOSE of it would be, since most of the time, teleporting is to either get into melee range or bring enemies into melee range. Is this something that teleports RANGED strikers into Melee range? Because it sounded like it would teleport melee strikers away. It's possible you don't quite understand the consequences of Phase Powers in the game mechanics, because typically, Phase implies the character cannot be targeted by enemies while phased. (They also can't target enemies) but what ends up happening for NPC's..... is they simply target something else. For a Tanker, Brute, and even Scrapper... this is REALLY REALLY Bad. You want your opponents close because your powers mostly require melee range, but also your job (To varying degrees and scale) is holding Aggro. You would need to make a special Phase Shift state that can be targeted, but is immune to attacks.... Which might actually be broken. But It would solve some of the issues with phase reliant powers while making the Teleporting Phase Shift distinct enough that most people wouldn't have reason to take both. Also... what's Dimensional Armor's key Defense Category and what's the built in weakness? Some of this reflects on how City of Heroes is built. You have to consider how the set functions at the role it's designed for. I know Stalker Builds would LOVE having an extra Phase Shift option for escaping consequences... but it just might be too potent, especially in PvP scenarios. You might say "But it's already Unbalanced" and my point is you don't want to turn it into a Dimensional Armor Stalker's private playground.

I was also thinking about it. Mastermind's work a bit like tanks, so long as their summons are alive, because they can shed damage to the summons. The flip side to this is that they need to use SUPPORT skills to keep their summons alive. This means buffs for their minions, debuffs for enemies. We can invert aspects of the Mastermind to come up with something quite interesting: As I was mentioning before... an Defensive Set that focuses on Parry/Counterstrike moves would be interesting. Rather than having "Armor" that's passive/toggle/time stacked.... A counterstrike Armor Set could be set that they give themselves layers. Each time a they are struck, a layer is removed. Depending on the set theme, the layer being removed may respond in different ways to different attack types. (You might have a counter-parry set that focuses on negate/strike back of Melee Attacks, another set might focus instead on reflecting ranged Strikes back at enemies. Still other sets might be geared to slamming enemies with debuffs.) But what about THE MINIONS? How do you keep them alive without "Support"? I was thinking it would be interesting if there were mechanics that toyed with Aggro manipulation. This Archetype, rather than shedding damage to his minions might siphon Aggro from his Minions instead. The Practical effect of this is that this new Archetypes Minions are basically stealthed. Only a High Perception can pick them up without being targeted. However, this Archetype isn't a spidery behind the scenes type who "sacrifices" his minions for his cause. Instead, he leads the charge. So there would need to be Archetype core mechanic abilities, probably in the Counterstrike Defensive set. I am thinking specifically of an ability that allows this commander to target his minion and seize the aggro of anyone targeting the minion. (This would work in PvP, but would have more restrictions. When successful, the target is force changed to the Archetype and the minion gains an unselectable buff for a short time.) The point is this: On it's own, having your defense/attacks locked into a set that requires you to get hit really really doesn't work... unless you have a method of forcing people to hit you. And having minions go around harvesting aggro for you seems really effective... if you can it off them before they are threatened. I think some of these alternative forms of aggro management could be used for other new Archetypes too. Commander is just one possibility, but a Jester Archetype is long overdue too. (Jester would be the Support version of Commander... using the Counterstrike Set with Support Powers instead of Pets.) Taunt and Placate have their place, but we all know their limits. They only create or erase Aggro. They don't move it around. Naturally, if the Archetype dies, the pets despawn.... but this Archetype avoids needing to constantly support their pet's health by managing their aggro instead.

Dominator reallly would work well with a combo of melee and ranged knives. Other bladed weapons for this catagory of throwing blades could include tomahawks, mini chainsaws, bladed throwing cards, and bladed rings. There really are so many possibilities.

This is why beauty game is never an accurate portrayal of the market. There are highly irrational sellers that will insist what they have is worth more than anyone will buy it for. People do this in the real world, even when they could really use the money... never mind in a video game where they can afford to hold out for eternity. The Price will rise and fall, but it's not gonna rise much when the supply is high enough that buyers can afford to wait. You can't CORNER a market on COH, but you can absolutely manipulate it. The thing is, Enhancement Boosters is not one of the markets that can be manipulated easily. OP can say they won't sell for less, and we can say we won't buy for more... but there are countless people that don't care what any of us post here. The Items in game are more likely to go up in value are are more easily inflated by an aggressive buy up. It's been done on WOW to such an massive extent that Devs panicked... but there really isn't any reason to. It just means sellers are getting more and the in house market fees are raking it in. People eventually get what they need, because this game has many paths to do so. I've seen this entire argument before, and I've heard it from the other side. Some people think if you're patient enough, you can get Enhancement Boosters off the market for 750k. There used to be people that would pipeline players on how to quickly cash in various rewards on the market for cheap because many new players are more concerned about having a pile of influence. The real question is... does OP actually NEED influence for something?

Even if they decide not to give Bio-Armor a "No FX" version, I think having a "Goo Armor" Bioarmor alternative might be highly appreciated. Make it like the Goo Teleport.

It might be time to unload your investments in Enhancement Boosters and try speculating in different markets on the Auction House. You COULD consider delving into more volatile markets, even. When people realize Enhancement Boosters are only going to keep dropping in price, they will be a mass sell off and a rapid drop.... but expect to see many other resources in City of Heroes leap up in price as people speculate on them.