MetaVileTerror

This isn't about the limitations of the engine; but entirely about the specific use of language in the Dr. Graves arc. Yes, there are issues with finding ways to grant players the power to make meaningful decisions about their characters when the mission architecture is built the way it is. I won't call out "bad writing" when there's something in the gameplay limiting choice. I call out "bad writing" because the /writing/ takes away agency.

Quickest way to add chat channels for your various characters is to get one character just the way you like it, and then: /chat_save_file Default.chat and then on all subsequent characters: /chat_load_file Default.chat

How about her catsuit as an option for everyone?

I mean . . . I've been toying with the idea of proposing some rewrites of Red-Side content to A) Give a brief warming of the content in an arc as part of the "Ask About This Contact" text, and B) Each mission offering a pip on the appropriate Morality Alignment tracker.

Except Dr. Graves arc really does go beyond simply telling the player "you did the mission." There's a big gap between the author stating that your character accepts the payment from the Slot Machine using language which doesn't assume the emotional state or motivation of your character, and the author of Dr. Graves arc explicitly using language which demonstrates the player-character as being dumb, emotionally-stunted, and completely ignorant of the rules which govern the Etoile Isles. Add to that, the Graves arc is internally inconsistent on some of that as well, with your character's dialogue flip-flopping on just how ignorant they are between a few of the mission. And I see no signs of it having been intentional insinuation of something cunning or secret; the writing is flat tropes. This is the same problem I have with Fallout 4, especially after Fallout New Vegas demonstrated to Bethesda what Fallout 3 did wrong. With Emil Pagliarulo doubling-down on his hole-laden plot, I would have been willing to forgive . . . but they also made a voiced protagonist. I call "Fallout 4 the best Mass Effect game" for that reason. I am starting to feel like I'm robbing the word of its meaning, but agency really is that important for writing in the context of a setting where the player is meant to have the authority to define their character.

Slot Machine doesn't ever tell you what your character is feeling or what their motivation is; at least not any more than any of the other content already established at that point in the game. It also has the saving grace of actually being well-written and internally consistent, as well as touching, funny, and even rewarding in the context of gameplay rewards. As far as I'm concerned, that marks Slot Machine as particularly good. Granted, I remember /someone/ in the OOC/RP channel complaining about it for some reason . . . can't quite recall . . .

It's a frequent concern, and certainly one with some justification. I've expressed in other threads just how crucial customization is to the core philosophy which makes City of Heroes the amazing game it is, but perhaps a priority investment may be to examine the possibility of the option to personally "Generic" other player-characters and their powers if you set them to "Ignore." As far as that player would be aware, they're still running around with their questionably-appropriate colouration, but other players would have the option to not be forced to see "that" for longer than it takes to right-click and then left-click the appropriate option from the menu. I don't imagine this would be a small task, but I think it would be very rewarding; granting everyone the freedom to explore customization options in greater depth, despite what the "bad apples" do with those options.

Thank you for the assurance, Cipher. That's very good to hear.

Going to say that Zodai's done an excellent job here. I may have something more substantial to add later, after giving it some thought, but for now Zod's breakdown really covered all the majorly important stuff that I can think of. But I will say, you'll also want to consider: /chanjoin OOC /chanjoin RP In this case, yes: Out-of-character is held in a separate channel from roleplay, but these channels are not mandatory. They're just another potential avenue to finding other roleplayers and interacting with them.

Another method for getting your NPC Heroes and NPC Villains (and the method I used) is get a low level character their first Mayhem/Safeguard at level 5, and then leave it alone while you do a DFB or level up that character some other way. Get them to about level 12 or so, then have your main rince-repeat jumping in to the mission and bopping the one named NPC while leaving the rest of their ambush mob alone so that the mission doesn't complete. Exit, change mission, repeat. NOTE: For Mayhem missions, you need to keep the timer above 15 minutes to reset the Mayhem, so be sure to smash a fire hydrant, mail box, bus shelter, and a couple of cars each time. And hey! That'll also help you toward your Vandal Badge. Handy!

Rather unlikely, unless you've in Southern Ontario. My work hasn't spread beyond my local area, as far as I'm aware. My biggest success, though, is also ironically a joke of a game which I made as a palette cleanser from more complex stuff: Soviet Space Commies from Outer Space IN SPACE! I personally felt it was dumb and reductionist, but everyone always seems to love it.

Actually . . . that kind of gives me another idea of how to implement this: Complete a zone event or story arc, and get a Temporary, Refillable Summon Power, like the Shivan Shard. But have it summon a customized ally, created in an AE-style UI.

That's what I'm saying. They should be adjusted so they /aren't/ utterly, stupidly unrealistic values to achieve the badges.

I don't usually do this, but I'm going to call out that I am really starting to think that this is a prolonged effort to troll. OTHER MMOs are notoriously bad for roleplay. City of Heroes is the exception. The main reason: Player Agency. The fundamental writing for the central conceit of City of Heroes' lore is almost carte blanc for players to proudly state "THIS IS MY CHARACTER." If you are actively ignoring the explicitly written content in these Story Arcs to justify your characters' involvement in these missions, then that is proof-positive that it is poorly written. Near the beginning of Dr. Graves arc, your character is forced to interact with a terminal and the author of the arc has your character make all manner of very specific, very characterizing statements: All of which imply that your character is dull-witted. The entire "mental time-bomb" segment of Dr. Graves arc establishes the player-character as a complete idiot. The only way to avoid these characterizations is to ignore what is explicitly written. That is what makes it Bad Writing.

Farming in general isn't "hard," but I also don't think its preferential. It's a hard-learned lesson, but a lot of developers learnt too late that Achievements/Badges/Trophies/whatever-you-call-'ems shouldn't be easier to acquire by an automated process in a game: They should happen for doing things tantamount to the gameplay experience itself. By making a Badge easier to farm than to get through healthy play validates the farming as more rewarding than playing.

The character which "fits" in Dr. Graves' arcs is an idiot lackey with delusions of grandeur. And even then, the writing falters at times with consistency issues. And once you start a Story Arc, the only way to get rid of it is to finish it (or ask a GM to purge it from your character's inventory). Even if you abandon it or refuse to take up any more missions in an arc, that Story Arc flag is still triggered, and it will sit there and take up a slot for potential future Story Arcs. I don't think we should have to do research in advance to determine that some content in the game will be as railroady as that. And really; what sin IS worse than robbing players of agency of their own character when it comes to roleplay writing? I mean, there are certainly worse sins in other situations. Plenty of worse things. But I mean in the specific context of writing narratively for a roleplay setting, and not just writing in general. Want a GREAT villain-side arc? https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Bane_Spider_Ruben It's not perfect, but it IS fantastic. Or want one without any branching dialogue as an example? https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Peter_Themari Again, not perfect, but sets an excellent example. Peter has personality, and may start off expressing utter disdain and assuming your character's intent and desires, but that's Peter Themari making those assumptions: Not the author. On top of that, the author plays with the concept of mission failure for the Three Cheers arc. You actually get a "better" ending for Peter if you fail the last mission, which demonstrates that there is actually some poignant player-choice to be had. Which ending does your character actually care more for? While the game mechanic says "failure," the /writing/ says "but maybe you prefer it this way. We won't make that choice for you." The writing can be more flexible. The writing /should/ be more flexible. The onus is not on the player when the author tells them "I know your character better than you do."

I mean, if we get Mastermind Henchpet Customization to work, then you're at least halfway to your dream . . . assuming that the powers of a particular set of Henchpets matches your alt characters', at least.

While not phrased quite the same way as that . . . I will echo: More low and mid-range content would be great. Endgame is what endgame does, but if you give people more reasons NOT to grind to level cap as quickly as possible, then I think we'll have a healthier game overall.

Speak to the Contact. It should be listed as an option there. NOTE: Not all missions can be Auto-Completed. Usually missions which reward a Badge are excluded, as are most timed missions or missions with Fail conditions.

Sex and sociology. And when I say "sex," I don't just mean the various activities, but also the study and examination of sexuality as it impacts the world and the systems we've established through societies, cultures, and communities. It's truly fascinating stuff, for me. But I'll also echo the whole "gaming, but that other gaming" thing which I've seen quite a few people mention. Most of my successful game design projects are tabletop or LARP. Just comes down to my interest in interactive social exchanges through a conceived system, I guess. . . . so I guess I only have one passion, all things considered. Huh. Never really dawned on me before now.

Counterpoint: What about a Daggerstorm Assault Set? We already have throwing knife geometry assets, animations, and sound effects thanks to the Snakes, and we have the Dual Blades set for players and the animations from the Red Caps. What if we tweak your proposal slightly to be a wombo-combo set like Dual Blades, but for Dominators?

While we're at it; how about readjusting all the BIG NUMBER Achievement Badges to not reflect level 50 only. I get it that most people are just farming up to 50 in a matter of a day or two on average, but the game /does/ keep track of things like Level relative to these values, doesn't it? I mean, I can get Patroller/Criminal at level 1, technically, and it would take roughly the same amount of work as for a level 50, no? (And before anyone mentions that Criminal and Patroller are Day Jobs, they're actually unique in that they don't count days offline, but instead count Patrol Experience relative to current level to determine their award conditions.) Let's see . . . just some slapdash math here, to see what some other options might look like . . . 1 million Damage for a Level 50, assuming a sloppy average total HP of 1,177, would take roughly 850 defeats from 100% health. 850 defeats for a level 1 would amount to roughly 86,500 Damage. Let's err on the side of making it slightly more difficult for lower level characters to earn these badges, and make that a solid 100,000 points of Damage. Any time the player-character's Combat Level changes, the value of Damage necessary would adjust, but the percentage completed toward the Badge would remain the same. Now, I could see that as potentially having some holes in it which could result in a little potential exploitation, and so we might have to introduce a "grace period" when changing Combat Levels where no damage will count toward the badge progress. That would suck a little, but I don't think it's terribly unreasonable from a player standpoint. The real concern there becomes "how do you even program something like that in to the spaghetti without the risk of it unwinding all the time?" Likewise for the Damage Dealt Badges that were introduced, although I've found them to be slightly less of a pain to get. On the other hand, the Inf Badges and Debt Badges should be a bit easier to program for, since that is based on your True Level, not your Combat Level or Trained Security/Threat Level. And considering the Inf Badges were ramped up, I think it would be especially fair to implement something like this to compensate for that. It's my personal belief that we do not want to be providing any additional incentivization to "reaching level cap." That has never been City of Heroes' strength. I believe we should be rewarding players for taking their time and enjoying the wide variety of content the game has to offer. There should be additional perks for playing "the long way" if we really feel that power-levelling is a problem (as I've seen many people adamantly declare).

In defense of generic, hollow missions: At least they don't usually entirely mischaracterize my characters. Seriously. You don't even need to get in to the branching dialogue trees to avoid writing material which robs the player of agency; which is pretty much the worst offense in writing for a roleplaying game. The Twinshot arcs aren't nearly as bad for that as the Dr. Graves arcs, but they're certainly not innocent either. On the other side: Weak, tropey characterization for NPCs is . . . well, bleh . . . but I'm more forgiving of that. I certainly found Twinshot to be demeaning and condescending FAR more than ever "fun and adventurous." But when I got to the end of the Galaxy City mission, I actually started to find her rather more interesting and I was prepared to forgive the bland characterization. My character so blitheringly holding on to the Idiot Ball with both hands, however . . . no thank you.

I mean, all things considered, I found Dr. Graves arcs to be FAR more awful. The writing robs the player of any agency of motivation or emotion, and casts your character as an idiot thug with anger issues. Who even wrote that?

How large is the Manifest file? Could we have "Manifest-32dflt" and "Manifest-64dflt" which players could choose from?