[Homecoming Code of Conduct Update - May 13th, 2021]

Time for some comfy base building streams to lo-fi music!

[Make Necromancy's Soul Extraction work on defeated enemies instead of minions]

Let’s not forget there’s launch powers with names like “decapitate” and “head splitter”.

 

Edit: correction, the tier 1 for battle axe is BEHEADER, also broadsword has both headsplitter and DISEMBOWEL, and we can't forget claws has Eviscerate. Yeah, and these were all powers given to heroes before it redside was much more than maybe discussion around the water cooler at the offices.

[Kallisti Wharf Level Range: Everyone]

I can agree with the OP idea, though I've also thought that to preserve the feel of Kallisti as now (namely a pretty cozy place), all mobs spawns should be something triggered as zone events or something like that? Basically, if you want to find trouble in Kallisti, you need to look a bit harder for it (this might also deter people from clocking into Kallisti and never checking anything else out), everything else is found through contacts and mission content. Though this could be insanely complicated as zone events have always been kind of sparse in City, so I'm guessing they might not have been something easy to code. Some rough ideas for some zone events could include:

 

1. A 'tug of war' between red and blueside events where when one side does something, it affects the otherside and visaversa, a sort of 'soft PVP' with villain actions inspiring crime on the heroside and heroic work freeing up law enforcement to crack down on the villain side.
2. Villainside getting an 'open zone bank heist'. All the fun of a mayhem mission now with even more chaos.
3. A "containment breach" at the Crey building has led to an out pouring of escaped experiments. Heroes must save civilians, contain the experiments, and investigate the cause!
4. A Council/UPA Zone event for both sides to team up against a common foe seeking to cement a headquarters in Kallisti! And while this next part might not be possible with our current team, a cool idea would be that this coop event gives special objectives based on your alignment, like Vigilantes hunt down some politicians/crooked cops who allowed this to happen, rogues steal tech and weapons for personal use or late sale, and so on.

[Deities and Demigods and where are they at?]

I think (at least back when the game was live) they were deliberately vague on such stuff to allow players room to mess with combined with a possible concern over Marvel (which has both Thor and Hercules as characters and already came after Cryptic/NCsoft once before) and DC throwing a tizzy. Heck, in a few AMAs it was even mentioned the whole 'Incarnate of Zeus' thing was literally just Statesman and Imperious' takeaway from their acquired powers and otherwise have little to do with actually being related to Zeus. (Recluse is a prime example, he calls himself the Incarnate of Tartarus but look up the mythology and tell me what all he has in common with it.)

 

Though for my part I always thought it would be a cool storyline to bring up Gilgamesh as a former Incarnate himself (though he was born a demi-god, drinking from the Well is what made him 'two thirds god' to 'one third man) who proved uncontrollable by the Well until it killed his companion Enkidu, giving the ancient Sumarian King a vendetta to aid players against the Well's influence. (Or possibly try to kill them)

[Wyvern and Legacy Chain Updates]

Seeing as the Warriors and Freakshow/Vazhilok have/are getting revamps, I'd like to suggest that, if possible, Wyvern and the Legacy chain could be next on the list. Appearance wise, they're overall fine, but as some of the rare 'hero organizations against villains', it's tragic they vanish before level 30 and just stop being relevant than being able to pop up and oppose villains from 1-50.

 

My own proposals for some changes in addition to level range expansion would include:

• Legacy chain branches do not vanish over levels. So you'll encounter the legacy of the sword and legacy of light alongside the legacies of earth and fire.
• Possible additional legacies could be added at higher levels such as The Legacy of Ice/water (we do have water blast now), Legacy of Wind/air/lightning (might be good if we get wind control), and Legacy of Shadows.
• Another possible change could be for the Legacy of Steel to start carrying shields with 'grant cover' and phalanx fighting to work with the idea of them protecting the mages.
• Wyvern might not need much besides powers that do more than just deal damage, and we have both Trick Archery and tactical arrow to draw from. Alongside this they could also pick up some stealth powers and even have some members use crossbows and add in some snipers.

 

A lot of my suggestions are mechanical upgrades as, I think aesthetically, they're mostly okay. If new elements of the Legacy Chain were to be added, there would be the challenge of designing a new helmet though that might be the only thing that'd need to change.

[Homecoming's 2nd Anniversary - Echo Plaza, Festivities & The Future]

You know what the Echo shard could also be used for? Giant Monster summoning parties. just like, a @#$% load of people fighting against a dozen giant monsters at once.

[Sally Problem.]

If I could change how sally works I’d make her immune to damage or something. To get the badge, you’d need to pick up a “camera” temp power and use it to snap a picture of her. We have the emote that could be used for the power animation.

 

that said I have a bigger idea that’s a bit more elaborate but I figure this is a hood start.

[A little respect for Back Alley Brawler]

Personally I always saw the deadlock thing as a hint that BAB would basically get a “respec” from invul/energy melee to the more thematically appropriate willpower and street justice. And maybe a bit of a new look to really distinguish him from Marauder.

 

Edit: I even have a bit of a mockup of how I think he could look updated. I might have gone a bit wild, but I sort of liked the idea of his age being shown/worn proudly (now has a relatively bigger beard, clear greying, more-dated looking sunglasses), and then gave him a leather jacket to make him look a little more 'civil' or something compared to Marauder being a 'barbarian' type. The rest admittedly, is just uses more recent 'versions' of the pieces he already wears. Club jeans for a proper denim look, motorcycle boots for stomping people and riding a hog, and a cybertech tanktop that shows off those hard earned muscles. Probably could stand to have his old gloves those. Or something close to them.

 

[Shotgun Powerset/Pool]

16 hours ago, gourdhead said:

Maybe replace "Speed Loading" with a dual pistols style "Swap Shells"?  Explosive/Incediary/Radioactive/etc?

 

Personally, I'd actually prefer not to just copy Dual Pistol's thing. If I were to come up with an 'gimmick' thing, my own idea would be a sort of two stance power: Full choke and Full Bore.

 

Full Choke would turn many of the cones into Single Target attacks, sacrificing AoE in exchange for range and accuracy. Full bore does the opposite and turns all Single Target attacks into cones, giving up accuracy and range for AoE Damage. The default stance basically gives the powerset a mix of AoE and ST

[Enemy Groups and Equality (Your Opinions and thoughts)]

Forewarning: this MIGHT be a bit of a hot button topic, so I apologize to both moderation and userbase in advance.

 

Basically spun off from the Warriors revamp talk with Piecemeal, more than a few people have suggested adding female warriors. Now, I myself am not against equality in my enemies, I'll punch anyone breaking the law regardless of gender, age*, race, but would the factions of the Rogue Isles, Praetoria, and Paragon see it the same way? So basically this thread is to ask: what groups do you see as being equal opportunity or racist/sexist and explain why, I'll share my own thoughts.

 

• Hellions/Skulls: Probably would be sexist but not really racist. Street gangs tend to often be about 'the boys' or 'the girls', but I can see them accepting some who prove exceptional or just force their way in. Might also vary from gang cell to gang cell.
• Tsoo: Canonically they're gender equal (these days), but it does seem weird since they are a mafia basically and those tend to focus on conservative values. That said, the Tsoo are also pan-Asian in lore (I recall the old lore file mentioning Tub Ci defeated the Yakuza, Triads, and other Asian gangs then said 'we're all Asian here, @#$% white people!' and united them under him), so there could be a bit taken from the Onnageibushi, and I'm not sure what the Hmong stance is on women in battle.
• The Family: Pretty likely racist and sexist as I understand they're spun from Sicillian mafia groups. Probably a few exceptions, especially if it breaks their mother's heart
• The Warriors: Probably sexist, probably not racist, mostly because outside of Sparta, I understand women were not regarded well in Ancient Greece or Rome*.
• Arachnos: Very very NOT sexist or racist. You got the power and the will? You're in. In fact, there's even concept art of female wolf spiders from development. Presumably Arachnos is mostly gender segregated due to development time constraints.
• Crey: Not racist or sexist either as that would ruin PR. That and being a major international corporation/conglomerate.
• Lost: Really should not be sexist and all that as I don't think their cultish practices would discriminate. (probably another development matter)
• Circle of Thorns: really unlikely to be sexist as they're an entire civilization of disembodied mages. Women were even added with the faction update and, again, probably higher ranks got cut due to development time.
• Council/Fifth Column: Uh, I don't think anything needs to be said about their views on gender equality and race. (though I have seen female council recruiters in Brickstown, maybe they're basically 'booth babes'?)

 

*Speaking of Rome, as an interesting side note: notice how Cimeroran traitors include female centurions but Imperious' Cimeroran loyalists do not? I kind of thought that was an interesting detail and possibly an intentional hint that while Romulus is Evil all in all, Imperious still represents societal status quo for better or worse.

[What fundamental structures, assumptions, etc should be reconsidered for CoX?]

1 hour ago, Coyote said:

1: nerf IO set bonuses for Defense only. They're so much more valuable than other set bonuses except +Recharge for specific builds (perma-Dom, perma-PA, etc).

 

I think +recharge is pretty important to about all characters and should be nerfed a bit. That said though, I'd also like to see Resistances and other such buffs get a bit of a boost (maybe like a 10-20% effectiveness boost) to encourage people to diversify their builds. Also, energy/negative energy resistance is surprisingly a rare bonus that I've noticed when trying to build an invul tank.

[Could you cut it in the big time?]

I'd say Gaia Redeemer could fight with heavyweights in other universes in terms of ability, mostly because said ability of his is "screw your supernatural protections, you now bleed like your average joe when I hit you" (probably would lead to some interesting slugouts when Brainiac is killed by pillow smothering). But attitude wise, I don't see him as being able to get along with most of the DCU, he believes in 'old justice' too much and thinks some people just need to die for the world to be better. Might be okay in the Marvel universe though and be helpful for stopping hulk rampages with a solid kick to the groin. Or kneecapping Galactus.

 

Now, Tuxedo Cat might have a bit of the opposite problem in many ways, as despite being a metahuman and superhero, he very much believes in following police procedure and would point out how many freaking laws someone like Batman violates, both federal and local. Though he also believes that it's okay to kill hostiles within reason. Ability wise though, he's super agile, super senses, etc. But he's far from bulletproof or able to fight heavyweights. That said he'd totally be curious if he has a shot with Selina Kyle.

[The Coming Storm]

I've personally thought that if we went through with The Coming Storm arc (and we probably will, way too many hint drops to cop out now) there'd need to be some big changes.

 

1. being that I think they should be a pure science/tech incarnate threat. Praetoria was a bit of a mix and Mot was pure magical, so let's focus in on some science fiction stuff, perhaps?

2. Maybe kind of clean things up so it's not 'a crapload of allied races' or whatever but just a handful of subjugated ones and a ringleader. Also, no spess vampires, the council ones are already those due to nictus implants.

3. Probably change who the traitor is on primal earth. Lady Grey doesn't make too much sense* and Steven Sheridan feels a little too much a 'who?' for anyone to care. I kind of propose malta since they're already against metahumans and operate in secrecy that they might not realize they've been compromised themselves.

*I could see Lady Grey as having come to earth as a Scout but ultimately defecting. She's been quietly preparing the Vanguard to combat The Battalion but has said nothing fearing some well-meaning hero or idiot Villain would rush in, alert the Battalion and hasten the invasion.

[Can we expect having more/new/NPC hairstyles, faces, and costume options anytime soonTM? I could use some ^^]

I would kill for a color tintable version of Maelstrom’s hair. Men in general are freaking starved for hairstyles.

[Lightning Rod is Amazing!]

There's about three other powers in this game that do what lightning rod does (to varying extents):

• Shield Charge from Shield Defense (as you can imagine, this led to a lot of electric/shield characters)
• Savage charge from Savage melee (works like a targeted AoE so you don't need to click the ground)
• Spring attack from the Leaping power pool (this can result in some builds going for electric/shield/leaping to launch an onslaught of teleport attacks)

[Remove Cap on Power Pools]

my personal thoughts would be to have origin pools either be a special pick that doesn't count towards the cap, simply make the 'mini tier-9' an exclusive pick across the power pools (so you can have sorcerery and force of will, but only have either Rune of Protection or Unleash potential), and or extend the pool cap to 5 or 6.

 

If I were really allowed to go nuts and the coding was possible, I'd suggest selecting a powerpool at character creation which becomes an 'inherent pool', and you automatically unlock the powers as you hit certain leveling points (like 6-10-14-18-22) and not count towards pool caps. As an aside possibility to this, perhaps the 'inherent pool' would be a slightly beefed up version of the normal pool (at least in certain areas) or just came with an extra open enhancement slot. Admittedly, a lot of people would just grab like speed or some other meta-viable power. I myself mostly wanted to easily have access to the full fighting pool to melee people on characters who aren't normally melee focused like sentinels.

[Shotgun Powerset or Pool]

Bah! I've actually been working out my own ideas for a Shotgun blast (or 'melee' set if we want to take Thunderspy's approach), just been too lazy to make my own posts. Some of my own ideas for powers included:

 

• Sabot Round: Single Target, lethal damage with -res
• Full Choke: Either a tier 1 or 2 ST damage attack or a replacement for buildup where all the cones become Single Targets and gain a boost in damage. range, and accuracy, but slower recharge and cost more End
• Rock Salt: low damage either cone or ST, deals a pulsing Mag 2 hold that causes enemies to use the ghoul tantrum animation (symbolizing the horrid pain of rocksalt in their bodies), toxic damage over time, deals bonus special damage to undead. (we have powers that deal bonus damage robots. so why not?)
• Dragon's Breath: Moderate fire damage cone with DoT. Special gimmick could be that the DoT comes from a 'grant power' on enemies which basically gives them a small chance to spread the DoT to eachother in a chain effect. (this might be really complex coding wise)
• Breaching Action: Either a tier 9 or a replacement for the Snipe, it's a long cast with interruptible component meant to be used at the start of a fight. You teleport to your target and in a PBAoE around you start blasting everything, your sudden appearance and attack also inflicts low magnitude/short duration fear and confusion as enemies try to muster themselves.

[Remind me: NPC animals?]

52 minutes ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Or the dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark, they shoot bees at you?

 

Because instead robotics got  Richard Simmons

 

[Tinder is a Hellion boss, what apps and sites are bosses for other groups?]

There's a Vazhilok surgeon probably called 'Grinder' who doesn't understand the snickering.

[One Wish Granted (COV/COH) (WWYW2021)]

There's soooo much I'd want to wish and ask for so it's really really really REALLY hard to pin down or even word broadly. So I'm going to cheat and technically make two wishes.

 

Total revamp of the PvE experience dealing with mobs and missions.

New powers, new looks, tidied up lore, improved story contacts, and new maps to battle them on. It wouldn't be easy, of course not since it's such a broad thing, but this area would give quite a new life to the game and bring back some of the challenge. Partly by, you know, giving Incarnates more to do than faceroll through content never made for them. Some ideas include:

• Related to the above 'Incarnate/Hard mode' of level 50 TFs/SFs. Admittedly it wouldn't be much of a change to the stories and missions (at least not stuff that wouldn't change the normal mode*) beyond just beefing up the enemies to Incarnate level and in a few exceptions maybe include throwing on some new powers to old AVs (try to tank Recluse just by hiding on the lamp posts? think again! he now has a foe teleport that doesn't require line of sight and autohits!).

*Probably sole exception would be trying to find SOME WAY to make an Incarnate level ITF involve fighting one of those giant mechmen because I'm tired of being teased of their existence!

• Your favorite mobs able to now scale to 50 so your street level hero can stay street level. (I mean, let's face it, right now Rikti Chief soldiers have two attack powers that have KB and stun while Fake Nemesis have three four powers, two of which are support abilities that don't do much, and they're both considered level 50 threats while Bone daddies and Damned posses a lot more abilities)
• New map types: Office buildings (that make sense!), Nemesis bases (in factory, airship, and seaship forms!), wild areas without war walls or Croatoa's obnoxious yellow glow!, more mansions and private residences in general, shopping mall interiors (yes, they're not really a thing these days but still), construction sites, hotels/apartment buildings, and more!

[The Warriors are boring - is that a problem?]

@Piecemeal
Kind of sad I know almost none of my own ideas could happen since they're require new assets. But I think in general you're able to start working on these things because they're common and old issues people have. I remember folks back on live complaining about the Warriors as just plain stupid.

[The Warriors are boring - is that a problem?]

@Rishidian

Now now, I don't think that's wholly accurate. They weren't really too interesting to begin with because they lacked a great deal of plot relevance to begin with. In that respect, that's why the whole 'They're a reference to a 1970s film, you can't change that!' argument is honestly awful. The Warriors blandness is partially because they existed purely as a referential joke on part of the live developers. It'd be like if I made a super hero game and made a mid level mob based off early 2010s 4chan, spouting memes as old as '08 and existing as a cheap mortar between other, more relevant groups like the Tsoo, Family, Trolls, Skulls, Hellions, CoT, and so on.

 

Now, that all being said, while I know Piecemeal is in the works on something, I'll just post my own thoughts on how I'd revamp the Warriors. Yes, they'd ultimately remain a quirky, street gang with an archaic theme. I'd just have them get a little less 'street gangy' as their ranks progress. Now this also is a pie-in-the-sky revamp idea as it would require new assets including animations and powers and such. So, don't old your breath.

• Warriors remain a Greek themed group, and part of that is they now have spear users in their ranks: the Hoplite.
• The minion tiers don't look much different than the Warriors we know now. Updated models, yes. More appropriate weapon customization that match Greek themes? Yes. But the minions pretty much stay the same with one exception: they ow have the phalanx fighting passive. They're taught to fight as a unit and watch eachother's backs, and this is how it shows.
• At the Lt. ranks, big changes come up, they start wielding elementally attuned weapons with fire, cold, and energy taking up a bit of the weapon's damage typing. These three elements appear in all four weapon types of the Warriors. Also at this point, Slashers and Hoplites begin to pair their weapons with shields. (using a proper Hoplon model). All Warriors also add on some appropriate Classical style greaves to their armor. Of course it would have to obviously look like they're still just slapping it over their street clothes.
• Now at the boss ranks, we have some changes with smashers and Hewers who being to instead use two-handed axes and maces, possibly with some one-handed animations thrown in. Hewer and smashes also have donned Corinthian helmets and the molded muscle breastplates to fully armor themselves out. In contrast, the Slashers and Hoplites, wear Chalcidian helms and going topless (possibly with a red over-the-shoulder cape) relying primarily on their shield for protection. Powers wise, the hoplites and slashers also grant the benefit of Grant Cover to their teammates. EDIT: Hewer and Crusher bosses, being the 'heavy hitters' could all have Assault as a power, buffing their allies with more damage and increasing their own.
• Throughout all this, the Warriors also ditch their usual archery for javelins like the Cimerorans.
• New member of their mob is a unique take on the sniper enemy class: the Crypteia. Based off the secret police of the Spartans, the Crypteia would basically use Redcap dagger attacks and rely on stealth, increased movement speed, and perception to close the gap on heroes. They'd be rare spawns out in the world and have sapper mob rarity in missions. They hit hard, but are lightly protected. Possibly could give them a 'rush' teleport power like savage leap, which can ironically mitigate their own effectiveness by meaning they'll leave their own allies behind making it easier to kill them.
• Edit: An additional possible member, and maybe giving two 'snipers' to the Warriors would be a formal Sagittarius. A dedicated archer in the group focusing on picking heroes (and villains) off from a distance. I suggest them as a sniper seeing as archers actually were not necessarily common Greek soldiers, they more commonly used javelins and slings (and while I was tempted to suggest them getting a 'sling shot' power, I felt that was going a little too far one way or the other. Either top heroes get taken down by balls of lead and rocks flung at them at sub sonic speeds or the warriors are such over zealous LARPers they'll use and pretty useless weapon to show their commitment to a gig, it'd be like Joker sooner letting himself be caught by batman than drive anything but a clown car)

[The Warriors are boring - is that a problem?]

Two (unfortunate) things to consider with a revamp to the warriors to make them interesting is that Greeks did not popularly use too many weapons (Javlins, slings, spears, shields, and swords.) and that this game is not really that great to represent nuanced fighting styles, nevermind our inability to have new animations. Made blander because the warriors use three weapons that share the exact same animations.

[Question concerning the W.I.S.D.O.M. super group]

40 minutes ago, Techwright said:

You make a good point.  I would merely add that as soon as players saw a functional sword/pistol dual wielder that howls would commence for it to be a playable option.

Yeah, and even after City of Villains launched and assaults became a thing, I imagine Devs would have been reluctant to add something like it mostly because the benefit of Assault sets was that they're supposed to be an 'easy' powerset recycled from a bunch of other powers. A swashbuckling assault would have been wholly unique, and might have felt like a waste with assault powers being restricted to a single AT.

 

As a sort of a side note: you might remember from live, and even now that when the ToV became a thing, so many people wanted Sorceress Serene's Autumnal Assault. Even if it was a fat chance it would ever happen. (for one thing the set's ultimately incomplete, then there's the whole thing where some of its attacks deal three types of damage)

[Question concerning the W.I.S.D.O.M. super group]

I'm not sure why Rose Star was never added as her costume and powers are pretty simple, but I think Spark Blade presented a number of technical challenges if they wanted to use him.

 

He existed before actual trenchcoats had been added, so they might not have known how to. He also wears a duster-type coat that has a mantle over the shoulders and looking at the chest underneath, they might not have felt he'd look good (no reason he couldn't be redesigned though like Foreshadow). But the biggest issue I'd see with Spark Blade is that he has a VERY unique powerset: he wields a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. A swashbuckler assault if you will, and I don't think the developers were interested in investing that kind of time into a semi-obscure NPC.