[Scrapper taunt - give buff based on rank of enemy taunted]

While it might require new animations for the 'taunt', I've been of the mindset of just turning the scrapper taunt into a ranged attack, a foe teleport, or gap closer/self-teleport. It gains some extra utility, a maybe minor to moderate damage, and catches the aggro of what it hits. Unfortunately, last time I shared this idea, people shot it down for being too wild or making scrapper taunt a 'must-have' than a skip power.

[If You Wrote The Lore]

Just a random discussion thread asking what folks might add, remove, change, clarify, etc. if they were writing the lore and background for City of Heroes, you can imagine either something for back during live, for a storyarc added here, or even imagine if it had been part of the game from the beginning and share thoughts and opinions on it. (also not sure if this should be here or Roleplaying, admittedly, feel free to move)

 

Anyway, getting the ball rolling, some of my own thoughts and ideas would include:

 

• After colonizing in America, not all of Oranbega chose to remain part of it, and thus were spared the worst of the war and were outside the demonic pact, instead choosing to live amongst the local Native American tribes. This has resulted in a Narrangansett reservation close to Paragon the Circle of Thorns inexplicably avoid, and the shamans of the tribe wielding familiar magic and myths of an ancient member of their own deities: Emett* The Traveling Wiseman
• Cimerora, despite being ostensibly Roman was an island inhabited by pre-Hellenic Greeks, and largely seen as a quirky and weird backwater spot though still good enough to pay their tithes and taxes to the Empire. Relatedly I'd retcon/establish Cimerora as existing in the 60sAD during the reign of Nero, and perhaps refer to, intriguingly, Rome itself being not wholly unlike Paragon in the number of exceptionally powerful oddballs. (how do you think Nero kept his power?)
• Part of what makes Terra Volta impressive (and important) is that in the alt-history of City of Heroes, Terra Volta was the first practical Fusion Reactor put into operation in the whole world, and in the post-Rikti War era supports much of the Eastern seaboard of North America and even the Maritime provinces of Canada to the north. Though technology has marched on and Councilman Alderman isn't wrong that a far better reactor can be built for much cheaper (thanks to Praetorians and Positron, anti-matter reactors are available), but transitioning the power grid, not to mention concerns about anti-matter reactor tech, stymies headway into such legislation.
• Gilgamesh of Uruk was the first Incarnate, already a demi-deity he found and drank from the Well of Furies and gained greater power which he shared later with Enkidu. The Well attempted to assert itself over Gilgamesh many a times but failed as his will was too powerful and even attempts to seduce him under false pretense of being an equal lover ended with it rebuked. So instead, the Well offered itself to a mighty bull which then rampaged through Uruk before being destroyed by Gilgamesh and his companion and finally, the Well exploited Enkidu's greater drawing from it to strike him down and withdraw enough of its support to make Gilgamesh mortal once more. In turn, Gilgamesh sealed Pandora's Box, and resigned himself and Enkidu being remembered in their deeds and works.
• The original pre-issue 18 Bobcat is 'still canon', Neuron simply grew tired of the half-feral, distrusting catgirl and threw her into the Underground with the Failed Experiments while he used blood samples to create a far more docile and sensual version.

[Base Style Poll]

probably praetorian office stuff since that had some chance of working for residential stuff.

[New Sky Raider bosses]

4 hours ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

I vote for Captain Castillo clones using stolen Prae Durray tech.

 

Who doesn't want more Castillo??

 

 

That feels like a recipe for the Gary Vault from FO3 happening in City. Which could be a funny mission arc in of itself, honestly.

1. Castillo thinks it'd be a great idea to use the Praetorian clone tech on him!
2. Duray says that's a horrible idea and Castillo pisses him off anyway
3. Castillo ignores Duray, takes the tech, and there's now a Skyraider sea base filled with Castillos.

[This is just a "fun" server now]

meanwhile, me, who has been faceplanting several times an arc on my blaster because doppelgängers get as much damage as players but more HP, or Metalshift being a goddamn Freakshow tank buffed to EB status, or fighting barracuda and dying, all while chugging lots of inspirations before these fights: yeah… this game is way too easy sometimes. Way way waaaay. Too easy. *proceeds to die more than in From Software games*

[New Sky Raider bosses]

@biostem

an earlier idea I had actually would have involved at least power armor components, namely the PPD shells so the could have integrated mini-guns on their arms to fit the “jet fighter dude” look. Though I opted for something that should hopefully be more easily feasible for the devs to make. A power armor overall could be cool but I feel like a fitting power armor might require some decent asset tweaks. (Or maybe I’m just too set on. “Jet power armor “ looking like a starscream suit)

 

@Turric

thanks, I thought an ace pilot would make a decent boss seeing as officers and captains are already Lieutenant rank enemies. Let this be a subversion of the trope “asskicking equals authority”, as Duray was a proper military man. Officers and captains lead because they’re good leaders and smart planners, aces are good as asskickers but their radical maverick stylings keep them in non-commissioned ranks.

[Putting the E Back in HEATs]

Oh, the “losing uniqueness “ with forms gives me an idea for a suggestion: nova and dwarf form customization which involve taking the forms of similar previous alien hosts to the Nova and Dwarf but distinct!

 

also on the note for forms, I kind of felt like forms got kind of boring and repetitive to specialize in which made me wish nova and dwarf could get one or two more powers. One idea being that certain powers selected for human form could carry over to the shifted forms for extra diversity. But I have not played any sort of kheldian in a long time and don’t feel like a good judge of the AT.

[New Sky Raider bosses]

This is a bit of an odd request, but after playing a Silver Mantis today, I was kind of reminded of how it feels a little underwhelming the only options Sky Raiders have for boss spawns are two flavors of Robots (jump and porter) which either have SMGs or a flamethrower, and a personal VTOL craft which, while cool, seems like it shouldn't be able to get indoors (given the smaller longbow chasers are restricted to purely outdoor spawns). So I was thinking maybe the team could consider adding in a new type of Sky Raider boss that's dude on foot? So, here's my pitch on specifics:

 

Sky Raider Ace:

Aces are the pride of the Sky Raiders and are hotshot fliers without peer in their ranks. While lacking the rank of officers their skills alone have earned them great respect of superior and subordinates alike, and with it the trust to have some leeway in how they carry out their own operations.

Powers

Ace Flying - (This basically rolling Fly/Afterburner with Hover in mechanical terms. So they'd fly faster than normal mobs even)

Inspire - PBAoE, toggle, Team +ToHit, +Perception, +Damage (Would have just used leadership but I feel like with engineers, Sky raiders have enough defense buffs)

Pulse Rifle Blast

Pulse Rifle Burst - (right outta robotics)

Full Auto Laser - (this would need to be adjusted from the robotics drone animation to work with a pulse rifle)

LRM Rocket - (Probably a version without interrupt, and would probably need a weapon that could believably shoot lasers and have an underslung rocket, otherwise not too different from the blaster munitions mastery pool)

 

Appearance wise, could take a normal Sky Raider officer and apply a unique color palette and some costume patterns similar to Castillo to denote being 'ace customized' looks. I also went with the robotics pulse rifle since we see them pick those up in market Crash but also felt it'd be a bit of a copout for this guy to be using more automatic firearms or a flamethrower.

 

So what do you guys think? Do you want to see a sky raiders boss that is a more normal dude than a dude in a jet or robot? Do you think the current boss selection is fine? If the former, what would be your suggestions for a boss if not this?

[(Yet) Another Mastermind idea]

@biostem Basically the latter. MM pet attacks are not necessarily 'free' attacks, especially since even a full squad of MM pets will spend a longer time wailing on a single minion far longer than most player characters who aren't a controller. On top of that, and in a case fairly specific to Robotics, they removed utility that had been with the pets to give to the MM's personal attacks.

[(Yet) Another Mastermind idea]

@biostem
But that makes no sense with their recent changes to make the attacks actually more important to grab and use. Especially Robotics since they lost the -regen assault bot used to have!

[Crey Clockwork]

You know, not to hijack the thread, but thinking about it, I think if any group grabbed up the baseline clockwork from Praetoria, I think it'd be the Sky Raiders. Sky Raiders have worked with the Praetorians and there was bound to be a price they asked. The Jump Bot description notes how Sky Raiders do suffer a bit in the numbers department, The Market Crash TF does suggest they're working on something (besides just giant robots), and as for things that could make the Sky Raider clockwork unique could include things like throwing on a jump/jet pack and using conventional arms with distribution across minion, lieutenant, and boss rank. As another plus it even sort of nods to the addition of UAVs in modern air forces/militaries.

[Crey Clockwork]

I feel like it might be a little bit better if we maybe gave the Crey Clockwork something unique from others. Specifically, maybe different powers, could be Crey found a way to cut costs even further, or realized they could add more functions (like maybe a cryo ray) for a minimal investment with much greater return.

 

so, yeah, while I’m not against praetorian clockwork proliferating into Paragon (and Rogue Isle) parties, mere palette swaps are painful for players and perchance these polymer peons should pick powers representing the people procuring them? (Couldn’t resist the alliteration once it started)

 

off on the side note, one of my characters who is a gang leader (hellion cell specifically) has a praetorian refugee who brought a clockwork with him they dubbed “roomba”, and I figured  if Roomba showed up in more than just RP text they’d be a rusted clockwork model with a giant, rusty fuel tank strapped to their back and basically using fire blast powers than actual plasma. Just as an example of how praetorian clockwork brought in could be customized.

[If you were to add a zone to Paragon City...]

On 11/6/2022 at 6:44 PM, tidge said:

Can we please have the "under-mountain" zone between Port Oakes and Cap Au Diable first?

Hell, just at least make it possible to travel from. Port Oakes to cap Au via the damn tunnel.

[Make the ghosts lore pets more detailed.]

4 hours ago, biostem said:

Heck, there are a bunch of groups that could stand to have lores made out of them...

 I’d love to have some Black Knight lore pets in my main.

[Custom defeat animations!]

I wouldn’t mind this. I actually think I suggested a similar thing back on live. Some of the other alt defeat animations I suggested were:

• character turns into a cartoon gravestone
• character runs away in a cowardly manner leaving a dusty after image behind.
• character just rag dolls because some of us like the hilarious contortionist positions.

[Tribal Masks when?]

Personally I’m kind of hoping those NPCs are being used as a test bed for players to have such masks.

[Genius Female Suggestion]

I’ll sign this if it means men can get female hair options because good freaking god, men are starved for decent hairs.

[Allow VEAT widows and soldiers to use each others costumes]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

Those could actually be pretty damn cool. Not much point to the beam rifles given their beam maces, but still.

 

Well, the rough concept was for an AE arc on live involving a sort of 'alt-future arachnos'. The Lancer Huntsmen were more meant to just have replaced the standard Wolf Spiders and minion tier Bane Spiders. And really it was a fondness for Bioshock 2's Lancer Big Daddies. The Psy Widows were basically the idea of Night Widow and Fortunata being merged into a single sort of psychic assassination group, and while not mentioned another idea that wasn't quite possible to realize was Mu Mystics all having the 'ghost effect' with the idea being that Arachnos had expanded on the service of the Mu to effectively force them to serve even in death.

 

Although if you want an in-universe reason for laser huntsmen? Maces have crappy ergonomics for firing ranged attacks so Arachnos opted to just give them a gun like normal goons than keep being special snowflakes and making their troops miss all the time.

[Allow VEAT widows and soldiers to use each others costumes]

I get why it won’t happen period, but I honestly wish we could just get VEAT costume stuff as part of regular costuming. Ironically not for my own characters but for AE. I’ve wanted to do arcs with variations of normal Arachnos like “Lancer Huntsmen” with Beam Rifles or “Psy Widows” that use Psionic melee.

[Sentinel Archtype Revamp]

eh, i'll take it. my love/desire for strong resistance debuffing is just lingering trauma from live on my katana scrapper where I felt stone walled because of how common and strong lethal resists are.

[Sentinel Archtype Revamp]

Oh, ho, the debuffs ignore level difference? Do they ignore resistances to them in general? Either way, that does make a difference.

[Sentinel Archtype Revamp]

Bleh, all the pity, honestly. I mean, don't get me wrong, the new vulnerability mechanic is nice, it's just that some of the debuff seems incredibly anemic in many places. (-15% regeneration? that wouldn't even do anything against a minion. don't get me started on a -15% debuff to control resistances) And the lackluster oomph to it would feel a bit more understandable if it could be piled on by at least a team of sentinels. Especially since the 'perma' thing isn't an issue for even one sentinel.

[Sentinel Archtype Revamp]

Does thje debuff stack from separate sources? I know from testing it out it doesn't stack from a single source. (which is a bit of a shame)

[Heroic Inspiration: an acting thread]

Not as sophisticated as the inspirationals you all posted, but I did throw this together based on a character inspiration chart from the FFXIV community.

 

 

And here's a blank version if anyone wants to mess with it themselves.

 

[Possible Improvement to the Void Sanction Arc]

Void Sanction Arc was the live devs' first attempt at Vigilante content not a tip mission, and honestly, I don't think it was too too bad, if a bit repetitive and uncreative. But there are some glaring flaws to it that could stand to be addressed, and some of them might be fairly simple.

• Remove the 'deliver the dead drop orders' mission, mostly because these make no sense at all as you're the one who is going to be going through those dead drop orders. If anything, maybe replace it with one where you put some unknown package at a dead drop site for another agent to pick up. (implication being that it confirms your acceptance into working with Void Sanction)
• Change the order of some of the door missions/sub chapters of the arc to something like this:

1. Wrong Number/Void Sanction: Spider
2. From Within/Void Sanction: Candlelight
3. Total Recall/Void Sanction: Washboard
4. No Witnesses/Void Sanction: Castle
5. I Love It When A Plan Comes Together/Void Sanction: Orders in the Clean
6. King of Pins/Void Sanction: Amendment

The idea of this order of missions is to basically have your hero do increasingly questionable actions, the confrontation with Holoman might need to be moved around as well, but by the end, you go from dealing with terrorists to executing a shopkeeper who, honestly, is little more than a petty crook than a death row inmate. All to leave the player to question if they did actually did the right thing or if Void Sanction manipulated them into murdering people. Naturally any followup would include a bit more of the same though the extremity of the actions taken and orders accepted would increase, presumably. But focusing on the here and now, I think those changes of mission order would help the flow of the arc significantly.