gabrilend

Yep, I use BASH which is the Linux version of Powershell. Also DWM is the program that lets me put the album-art on-top of the game like that. There exists a cloud of sentient bloodmist named Seleo who is in service to Lord Recluse, perhaps unwillingly. This cloud can manifest the forms of powerful warriors that dance in the panopticon that is Grandville. The unceasing observation of the cameras and towers watch as the villain-to-be faces threat after threat, showcasing her potential to her ever-watchful master. Really though, it's a video meant to get people interested in the game. Like "wow that looks fun, look at how tactical she's being and those are some neat environments and world-building, somehow generic enough to project your own fantasy upon it yet also iconic in a way that screams it's themes across the decades since it's conception"

Ah yes that's what I meant, thanks for clarifying : )

There are text chat lines that the NPCs standing on the walls sometimes make about how dangerous it is to fall into the gutter, but if they are knocked back off the wall they just pick themselves up and find an elevator, ignoring any of the reasons why that place might be dangerous. It would be nice if the NPCs that stand on top of the wall (not the ones who spawn down in the Gutter) were made hostile to the Arachnoids down below, to increase the sense of danger. However there are the same unit types that spawn in the Gutter itself, and they typically have roles like scanning a piece of wall or surrounding an Arachnoid. These units should not be altered, as their spawning arrangement is already suited to their environment.

Currently, when casting "Train Ninjas" on the Jounin (tier 2) pets, they immediately go invisible. Which is a little sad, because I never get to see them with their shoulderpads and double swords! Mechanically they could still receive the effects of being invisible, perhaps even with a color-tintable "glow" or "aura" that denotes their "hidden presence" - however, if they are completely transparent it feels like you always have 2 fewer minions than you actually do. In addition, it would be nice to be able to customize their idle stance. On live, they had the normal idle stance that most NPCs and PCs have, but on Homecoming they default to the ninja stance as soon as they're upgraded. It would be nice if that functionality could be turned off, or enabled only during combat. Perhaps even customized to use other stances, though I'm not sure which would fit. This is a purely cosmetic change.

heh wrong crowd I guess 🫠

hehe I mostly play villains, if you couldn't tell xD xD The wind does seem to be blowing in that direction, so I think you have nothing to fear. There are quite a few challenges to the implementation of this archetype, and perhaps they are insurmountable. Alas. Thank you for discussing it everyone, unless anyone has any positive solutions to the presented issues I don't think there's much hope for the idea as suggested. Oh well : )

That makes sense to me! Such a scenario should be made impossible. The suggested idea was to make it so the Rebel's minions can only target enemy units and the player character, however another possible design would be that they can only target members of the player's team. That way if someone's being a goofball and summoning a bunch of units right next to the low-health allied characters, the team can say "hey don't do that" or even "we don't want to play with you anymore" which honestly cuts pretty deep. They'd learn, eventually, not to step on other people's toes, I think. ... though I'm not sure if something like that is technically feasible, as we don't have any examples of powers that only target teammates (or do we?).

If that is a requirement, then perhaps it could work with the design. I see no reason why not, aside from the added technical complexity beyond just throwing a "confused" state on them and calling it a day. If they can program that kind of functionality then it could work, though I'm picturing a scenario where a Rebel summons some minions and dashes away, leaving them to fight the enemies alone with no chance of getting hurt themselves. ... though now that I think about it, maybe that's not such a bad thing. If the EXP is proportionally reduced compared to the amount of damage they deal, then they won't be contributing any rewards to the fight if the Rebel doesn't stick around to subdue them.

True - maybe the summon powers have a short range, so their first target is likely to be the Rebel? Or perhaps these summoned foes run away if nobody attacks them for ~5-10 seconds, because "Hey I just got here and I don't know what this is about but there's a lot of fighting going on so I'm gonna run away"

Good point! I don't have specific powerset ideas because the theming depends on which type of monsters you'd like. Though I am partial to the Devouring Earth and Coralax Hybrid factions. If you want it to fit thematically, make them entities that could theoretically spawn anywhere - there's no reason a Hellion would suddenly show up in the hideout of a bunch of Skulls, but maybe that office desk turns into a treant when animated with powerful magic or scientific technology. Here's a skeletal structure of what the archetype would look like. This is a first draft: 1 -> light melee 2 -> heavy melee 3 -> summon 1 minion 4 -> utility 5 -> summon 2 minions 6 -> crowd control 7 -> short-range aura 8 -> summon 3 minions 9 -> unique power This class would be melee both to contrast with the mastermind, but also to encourage the placement of the player character next to the minions they are attempting to subdue. This will provide a subtle context clue to other players that they shouldn't kill that particular minion. There are no AoE powers, to emphasis the role of the player in focusing down their minions one by one. The summons would be reversed in quantity when compared to Masterminds, such that the tier 2 power summons 1 minion, the tier 5 power summons 2, and the tier 8 power summons 3 minions. This is to ensure the Mastermind can address their new "foes" as competently as possible - a low level hero is likely to possess fewer attacks which could be used against multiple targets, while a higher level one is likely to have more tools in their toolbox for it. The power-per-quantity value should remain the same as Masterminds. You'll notice there are no training powers, and that's by design. The focus is a bit less on the pets, and more on the positioning. Correct me if I'm wrong, but confused targets will attack the nearest target, whether or not it's friend or foe, yes? If so, then the "Rebel" would be encouraged to place their minions on the opposite side of the fight, "behind enemy lines", if you will, such that their minions will either attack the Rebel, or the backside of the enemy units. For secondary powersets, I think the best option would probably be a defensive set (tuned like a Stalker, with the abilities of a Scrapper secondary). This would give the Rebel a bit of survivability when in tough situations. However this does mean the defensive design space gets a bit more crowded, and with the Sentinel (love that class) there's already been an archetype added with defensive powers. In addition, having a more "personal" secondary powerset when compared to the Mastermind will help differentiate them more.

Yes exactly! You get it. 🥰

Hence why I suggested a new archetype that is not a Mastermind, but uses Mastermind style minions. : )

Hi, I think there's been a misunderstanding. You don't need an extra power to tame your pets, all you need to do is deal enough damage to them that they're "low hp" and then start targetting someone else. Could be implemented like this: upon reaching 30% hp (or whatever feels right) they get a buff that does nothing but renew itself every time it's master deals damage to it. However it expires in 3-5 seconds, and if it does the pet then becomes friendly and non-confused. This is just as much a problem with Mastermind, and in fact they have training powers which increase the amount of time spent "not contributing to the fight" - however, Masterminds are still useful, even if they don't have 100% uptime. Ah, alas, the critical strike. Well if the idea is that bad then it shouldn't be implemented. Not all ideas are good, and it's up to the discussion to decide whether or not they hold merit. If people like them, they could be prototyped by the devs, who then test it out and decide "yeah this sucks" or "wow this is actually kinda fun", at which point they'd ask the community "hey do you want us to add this thing? We tried it and it's actually pretty fun" and then the community says "NO DON'T CHANGE OUR GAME" and ah, well, save it for the sequel I guess.

Music by this person I met on Mastodon named Avaelin starts at 4:43 - check out her other stuff if you dig it EDIT: updated link to skip the intro.

Mechanically it'd act as a Mastermind style class that increases damage taken by allies. Sorta like a "reverse leadership" buff. That's not a reason at all - confusion deducts EXP in proportion to the amount of damage dealt by the confused unit. Therefore nothing is lost when you confuse an enemy, and in fact confusing an enemy will take one out of the fight for a moment which is valuable CC! However with this idea you wouldn't necessarily be confusing foes, but instead your own minions. Who then might attack your allies until you "tame" them. To balance this correctly, you need to find a mechanical way to differentiate them from Mastermind pets. Perhaps they are much stronger, but regenerate END slower, causing you to need to re-summon them during longer fights? Thus resetting the confuse status. Or perhaps something else that I haven't thought of because I'm not exactly the best at balancing a game for all different playstyles (that I don't play) -> though I'm pretty decent at balancing for *my* playstyle, I always must keep in mind that *my* playstyle is remarkably... strange, I find, when compared to the others of this game. hehe I disagree, that sounds like a nice idea but it's far from the best possible one. Heck I haven't even thought of the best one! It's out there, lying undisturbed, in the idea-space that none have yet plumbed and charted. Or perhaps not, perhaps it was dreamed up by a 12 year old playing this game with her eldest brother in 2009, and consequently forgotten moments or days later. What a tragedy, what a shame, that such beauty would go unmade! Alas...

Currently, allied players health is red and endurance is blue. And when you're engaged in a tough fight, sometimes it's important to be able to pay attention to people's relative health and position. To make it easier for buffs and heals to be applied, or perhaps to know where to reinforce or crowd control. If the health bars that display above enemy targets were a different color, it'd be easier at a glance to know where to position your forces (masterminds) or where your AoE slow is gonna go. Not only would it give the semblance of a "front-line" (split into multiple battling spots) but in addition you'd know when your team is losing hope. I think it'd be a neat alternative to the current "floating health bar above character model" system would be one where the healthbars did not stack one-on-top of another, but instead were displaced ever-so-slightly when overlapping with another. As long as they moved very slowly, essentially prioritizing the location on the screen where they were spawned. Then, draw a small, 1-pixel line from the closest point on the edge that points directly to the feet of the unit in question. Thus sorta giving you a picture of the whole field, cast upon the semi-transparent background of the backside of the health-bar. see picture for example of non-overlapping nameplates.

I think this would make indoor missions feel less claustrophobic.

They just arrived, they don't know who to fight. But if there's no enemies remaining, they realize whose team they're supposed to be on and lose their confused status. In addition, if you take them to low hp and then target someone else, they'll join your team. Call it... the "rebel" - give it summons of common enemy types who might have reason to be swayed to work with a hero/villain. Then we can roleplay as champions of a part of a particular faction, gang, category of monster, whatever. A faction that might decide to rebel from their masters and join (heroes or villains)? Could add a new tutorial type that's only available for that class, one for each powerset. Then it could give a very simple and generic story about how the super-hero/villain came to be.

I didn't know you could upgrade them like that! Neat! The reason you slot things at all is because it allows you to customize your character. Basically giving you semi-permanent choices about how you'd like your character to play and how it should feel. It seems like there already exists the tools to accomplish my desired goals. Thank you for commenting everyone!

I see... Well, in that case, I'd like to alter the suggestion to be: "add training origin enhancements to the SG vendor from level 21-50" and also "add a training origin enhancement vendor to the world - Pocket D? In Hospitals? It doesn't matter where, as long as it's accessible"

hmmmm, I suppose those work. However they require you to have a supergroup or use Architect Entertainment, which... is not ideal for all playstyles. Each of those options provides the same content (training origin enhancements), however it does not allow for the same playstyle (akin to ironman mode from 2007scape). So unfortunately those solutions, while providing access to the requested material, do not provide a solution which allows for the suggested playstyle to be a viable option. Thank you for responding, though. It's good to know they still exist somewhere in the game, even if their presence does not have the same effect it once did.

Some of us just like to play the game on hard mode. 2007scape (the modern version of Runescape) has an "ironman" mode where you can't trade with other players. I think it'd be neat if that style of play was catered to a bit in City of Heroes/Villains. Currently, the player is expected to use the auction house. If they don't, they won't be able to save up enough infamy to buy all their enhancements, as the only ones available at the store are single or dual origin. Very expensive for a noob with no dollars! This problem could be solved if the old, iconic, training origin enhancements were added back in. The ones with a gray border, that aren't locked to a particular character origin. They were very cheap and you could fully equip a character just from the infamy you gained while levelling up. Unfortunately that's not quite true with the current vendors, who only offer very expensive (and powerful) single and dual origin enhancements. In addition, utilizing the training origin enhancements increases the difficulty of the game. Using inventions and origin enhancements introduces power-creep, causing the player to deal massive amounts of damage and be able to defeat foes that they should have no business taking on - back on live, if you were poor and levelling for the first time, it was generally a bad idea to set your mission difficulty to higher than the baseline, or rather if you did, you knew what you were getting into. And yet fighting hordes of red and purple foes is generally considered normal now. Some of us like to play on hard mode. Giving us the tools to "up the difficulty" without necessarily increasing the reward is the essence of what "ironman mode" from 2007scape exemplifies - adding a vendor that sells training origin enhancements could be a step toward accommodating that type of gameplay in CoX. SOURCE: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Enhancements#Training_Enhancements

as long as they aren't those models specifically. don't want to get confused when facing that type of enemy.

That's not true, Rudra. The content has been overwritten and replaced with Longbow spawns. In addition, the "home base" has been changed to be in the center of the zone. This makes the island feel smaller. Also, the fantasy has been altered. The original fantasy was better designed.

If you want additional discussion on this topic, check out this post I made two years ago: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/39551-i-miss-the-old-mercy-island/