Outback

I have considerable concerns about the renaming of Paralytic Blast to Tesla Coil instead of renaming Tesla Cage to Tesla Coil and making a new name for Paralyzing Blast. First - there is no such thing as a Tesla Cage. You’re thinking of a Faraday Cage, which is already been used in Electrical Affinity Second - The Powerset already has Tesla Coil. Could we really not think of anything better than another power with the word Tesla in it? Especially one that doesn’t even exist? I can think of a dozen alternatives off the top of my head. They might not be the best names, but they’d certain be better. People like to use jargon, and “Tesla” is already what folks called Tesla Coil. Plus. Let’s be honest. We don’t have to make up a named object. We can do better. Here are some good resources: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_electrical_and_electronics_engineering https://electricalschool.org/glossary/ https://relatedwords.org https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus https://www.google.com/ I’m serious. Please don’t repeat something like Tesla twice in the same Powerset when we have a chance to be creative with 100s of other options. We don’t need a repeat of Fire Blast (Rain of FIRE, FIRE Breath, FIRE Blast, FIRE Ball, the original developers sure took 5 minutes on these didn’t they)

Malta units have tell-tale signs of who does what, and Malta doesn’t have 10+ different debuffs and threats you need to manage. Not a fair comparison.

This is a great direction, yes! Very reminiscent of Crey Power Tanks! I think the changes to the Phantoms and Commanders are the best so far. The Phantoms, especially, perfect change. If anything, I would look into the following: Would making the blue pauldrons of the commander similar to, but not necessarily exact as, the more cyan tones of the hexagon tech? By themselves it might look better but in a group it might not. Could blend in and defeat the purpose. Try that out, see what you think? Do you think the yellow of the Ballister is necessary? The wing and flying along are pretty tell tale, but I do like the intent there. Having assigned rank colors is good though, I like it. Can the glowing of the teleport packs of the Medics also be red? If not, well, I think that change is better than before! The giant pack on the Neutralizers are definitely going to be a good visual aid. If I miss those then that’s a me problem.

First off, I think you need to focus on color recognition by theme, not mechanical difficulty. BWI already seem to have been designed for difficulty of mechanics first, the theme second. Secondly, when considering color recognition, you should also take different lights and backgrounds into account. But, to answer your question: The Medic has their teleport backpack, which is a visual recognition. It glows blue, which matches all the glowing blue goggles and hexes, and they are wearing dark red. Studies have shown that in the dark, red is the hardest color to see at a distance. It is called scotopic vision, with our eyes seeing bright greens, whites, and blues first. Up close, these guys stand out, but from a distance… such as the distance you want us to be when pulling these enemies for aggro… if you’re in a darker map or against a darker background, you won’t see these dark red wearing, blue glowing dot backed Medics until you are mid-fight. The Wharf, especially the hero side, has huge areas where the ground is bright white. When the ground and background go darker and the light is darker, things change. But do you pick another color? Maybe. Or – don’t be afraid to go a shade or two brighter. Or better yet, go a shade or two brighter on certain aspects. Perhaps their gloves? Or change the glowing backpacks to a distinctive color, like… red? It doesn’t have to be everything. Give them something, one thing, that POPS from render distance. A story that was shared with me once was a CIA training experiment in which agents were tasked with entering a room, talking to people, leaving, and not to have their appearance remembered. The best result was a man who looked plain, acted plain, and wore plain clothing except for a pair of white Converse sneakers he painted purple. All that could be remembered of him was his shoes, because people looked down at them and less at his face more often than others. Give the Medics, or all the key critters, something to help people remember, quickly, from a distance. Even if it’s that one thing. ESPECIALLY if it’s that one thing. You aren’t going to get as many different silhouettes like you did with the Freakloks. The Phantom has a similar issue. The dark purple shows up great against the white backgrounds of the Crey Towers area, but it’s metallic sheen makes the angle matter too. I mean, sure, they’re invisible, but perhaps they can have their goggles glow more purple? The purple has the same issue as the red for the Medics, it turns black at specific angles and environments. Maybe a purple laser sword? I am always one for laser swords. The Commanders have the bigger shoulder pauldrons, but they’re still black on black on black. Make them a badge of rank – blue, gold, gold-rimmed, or silver! Silver, polished metal, looks high tech – and if they’re the leaders, they’re going to need to be the ones most easily seen in a fight. Make those pauldron’s stand out! Special Forces officers sometimes wear radically different colored berets, like maroon against army greens. Having the Engineer hidden amongst the others is… asking too much. We’re already going 0-60 here when it comes to difficulty and what you’re asking us to do compared to other minion groups. There is no need to make it go 0-100. Give them a marker. A backpack. Something! Lastly, maybe most importantly, I love the fact that many of the minions for BWI wear shirts and not armor. Sunglasses, not goggles. I noticed that even some of the minions have debuffs, -heal debuffs right? Well, they are the ones that also wear the same glowing blue goggles that make them blend in with the others. Maybe you could make it more of a greenish blue glow? Or render those toxic firing guns with greenish tints? For those minions, in particular. In the light, our eyes see green better than any colors at an average range (orange overtakes it at a distance). In the dark, that preference switches to yellow. I really think the -heal debuffers should have a more clear indicator. Even if they are minions. Or especially if they’re minions. However, I get the sense you are going from a red to blue shift for the color scheme, with purples in-between. The Coordinators are a good starting point at least. Their tech stands out. Which is good, because psionic damage has always been tricky for many builds. I get the sense you were going for a colder color pallet, from reds to purples to blues? The pink fits. Overall, the pieces are there, but I think with THIS MANY DIFFERENT CRITICAL DEBUFFS AND TARGETS, you’re going to have to sacrifice absolute cohesiveness for making them more recognizable. The -heal, -def, and -res debuffs in particular are brutal. - @Monster Truck (Main) / @Outback

As long as it doesn’t look too sunshine and rainbows. Maybe a range from teal to dark blue? A few distinctive armor sets? Choosing black as and primary AND secondary color really makes things merge together. Which works well when you’re trying to look cohesive but is easy to overdo.

Feedback on BWI: Setting aside opinions about their powers and debuffs and mechanics here. It has been made clear that the goal from the GMs for BWI is to harken to old school WoW tactics. Pull the mobs, select your targets based off what they do and how it affects your team comps. If that is the goal, then they need to be more visually identifiable and be able to be IDed quickly. It’s obvious the team knows this and have tried to do this. I think it was a good attempt but needs further work. The guys with the wings? Great. Those are obvious. The others? Not so much. At a glance, while fighting them, they all look like black armor wearing humanoids with blue or sometimes purple glowing energy. Some have guns. Some have swords. But in a team comp with all our own busy effects? It’s been tricky. The minions add to the clutter. I have experience working for an athletic clothing and equipment company where they trained us on color visualization and recognition. Not the same exact thing here, but it’s similar enough to be able to say this confidently. I think the different units of the BWI could be given cohesive looks while still giving specific enemies visual markers one can recognize at a glance. Yes, one could memorize all the names, and change their settings to have enemy name tags always on instead of hovering (like I do most of the time, to save clutter on my screen). Heck, we could all use targeting macros like people used to do (and still do) with Malta Sappers. However… Research has shown that color identification helps many people with memorization. On top of that, this is City of Heroes. Not WoW. Writing macros like that is asking a bit much. I plan on capturing screenshots to help showcase my point when I can. Is anyone else feeling similarly about this? - @Outback / @Monster Truck (Main)

Group Name: The Society Alignment: Heroic Roleplay: Medium to Heavy RP, RP Only Shard: Everlasting Recruitment Officer: Global @Outback (Dr. Warlock) Recruitment Message: The Society is a classic comicbook superhero group with magical, paranormal, supernatural, and interdimensional themes. Led by Dr. Warlock and headquartered in the Chateau, a sentient magical sanctum, the Society reflects the ideals of Golden and Silver Age comics while bringing together powers beyond the laws of physics. Mages of all specialities, spirits and other magical entities, wielders of magic artifacts, the cursed, the blessed, and everything in between, all have come together within The Society to fight threats such as: CURSED, a cross between a 6 origanized crime gangs and a cult; The Archfey and his mischevous dealings in the criminal underworld; The Ectoblaster and his vast supply of haunted ectoplasmic entities; The Oxymoron and his strange paradoxical fusion of science and the arcane; Eldritch horrors from beyond space-time itself; and more! Every week, like an episode of your favorite superhero cartoon show, the Society meets and combats a wide array of villainy and mishaps that try to bring down Paragon City and beyond. Sometimes, we have on-going arcs against especially nasty villains such as the Prelate and his cult of CURSED criminals. When we're lucky, we get to relax and hold a Soiree in the Chalet or a Costume Contest! Join us, and together, the Society shall stand fast against villainy and show the world at large that magic isn't always something to fear! Sidenote: We are approaching our one year anniversary soon!

Tonight (4/3/21) at 5:30 PM Pacific - THE SOCIETY will be hosting a costume contest in Kallisti Wharf. The theme is Magical Superheroes and Supervillains, to match our supergroup's own theme (although we're including villains so redside players can come too). The prize pool is 600,000,000! Hope to see you there!

Okay. One of the runner-ups on Everlasting was in a full set of retro sci-fi. That isn’t a player designed costume. I know these things are opinions but you don’t need an opinion to spot originality. Or lack of it. These events keep on getting more disappointing. I love that they’re held, but it seems that not much discussion is had amongst the GMs before the events are held. Maybe I’m wrong, but the results don’t quite show it all the time. Awarding a win to a glitched costume. Outfits that are most busy than a Jackson Pollock. Miscommunication on judging and theme (Animals, for example). Pre-Made costumes being finalists. City of Heroes has one of the best costume generators out there. Period. These CCs deserve a bit more... I don’t know.... more! Right?

Can't help but notice how extremely busy all these costumes are, and not a single one looks like it came out of a superhero comic book. Extreme modernism and vague attachment to the theme of the game. Is that just me? The costumes are GOOD, even GREAT, but are they really how City of Heroes is represented now?

Thing to note: As far as I am aware, Granite Armor does not affect proc damage. So, if you're looking to bring back the good old days of Granite Armor - play a Proc Monster! The example I have attached is with Spines - two Damage Auras help the slowness. Actually Good Granite - Tanker (Stone Armor).mxd

As someone who played two 50 Stone Armor tanks, seeing this brings back a lot of nostalgia. This build ROCKS! Well done!

Heya heroes and villains! It's been ages since I've played a tank (had stone/stone and stone/kinetic 50s back on live) and recently decided to roll up a Bio/Ice tank yesterday. It feels fantastic, but I was hoping for some feedback on Bio Armor. On a brute, it makes more sense - mostly use Offensive Adaptation, switch to Defensive when the going gets tough, switch to Efficient when you're fighting jerks like Malta. Does this apply to Tankers as well? Any other advice folks might have? I'm fairly sold on the set, I tried Dark/Ice for a bit and it didn't seem quite as good. Thanks!

I guess this turned into "Horror Monster" or "Hideous Creature" theme instead of Mutation theme. The winners looked great, but not what I would have expected given the theme. At least, given that a majority of the winners were like that.

Also on this list: Stone/Spines Stone/Staff Stone/Martial Arts