[Rename Suggestions Forum and/or Increase Developer Feedback]

On 7/17/2025 at 9:35 PM, Vanden said:

Hold on, are some people under the impression that the "Feedback" part of the Suggestions & Feedback forum is meant to refer to feedback on the actual suggestions, from the dev team?

 

Yes, which to me was a ALWAYS a strange assumption for a volunteer team of HCs size. Some folks must assume that HC is 300 people working on the team. LMAO.

[Has anyone at Homecoming talked about incorporating AI voices into the game?]

28 minutes ago, VVonder said:

 

I didn't see this thread, happy to answer any questions.

 

I have a gender from the game database for most NPCs, it picks a base voice at random and applies a random twist to basic knobs (like speaking rate).  Then the only trick is making sure that character always gets those same parameters.  You _can_ modify them to sound better/different.

 

(and some comments unrelated to Steampunkette)
 

It's hilarious that people are worried about SAG.  There is no money here.  There never will be.  The voices are either built into Windows where Microsoft paid a few shovels of cash to voice actors to develop them or other commercial companies (amazon, google, elevenlabs, openai, etc..) did similarly.  As much as I would have enjoyed sampling a certain someone for Aeon I didn't.

 

Do you want human voices?  Not a problem.  sidekick responds to chat log messages by playing wav files, the AI bit only comes in if the wav file doesn't exist.  Go ahead and record all the dialog you want.  I'd even be happy to try and make that process easier.  The only serious challenge are the dialogs that include the names of your character or the team name of a taskforce.

 

Sidekick is entirely client side.  That means no one gets voices unless they choose to.  It is based on reading the chat stream, so it induces no delays in gameplay; totally non-blocking.  For most of the cutscenes the timing is fairly decent.  It also does things like tell you which badge you just got and which level you just reached.  Things the vanilla UI doesn't do a very good job with.

 

If you don't like it that is totally up to you.  It is opt in, and as far as I'm aware that is not changing.  I enjoy playing with voices.  In my opinion it makes the game a richer experience.  All you have to do is not install it and you'll never hear a syllable of it (or do install it, odds of it not working correctly are quite a bit higher than 0%)

 

Again, happy to answer any questions.  The code is all on github.  It has been a fun project to build and while I do hope other people enjoy it I made it for myself.  I write software for a living but it is backend linux stuff, this multi-process, multi-threaded windows app in python is a nice stretch outside my comfort zone.  Even if no one uses it my goals have already been accomplished.

 

 

Sidekick sounds great, but that is not at all what I think the OP was referring to. Or what is traditionally thought of when talking about using AI voices.

 

EDIT: Had the OP specifically talked about using SideKick I think the responses and conversation would have gone differently.

[(Future) Echo: Founder's Falls]

This sounds fine. Now that the OP made it clear that the original FF would not go away (I didn't think that was what they meant originally) I see no issue with this suggestions happening when the team has time.

[The Idea Police]

5 hours ago, Player-1 said:

 

People are free to discuss how hard something would be to implement. At the end of the day though they aren't the ones who need to tackle the implementation. 

 

Thanks for saying this. It's been said multiple times in the thread, but seeing an actual dev say this is good.

[(Future) Echo: Founder's Falls]

38 minutes ago, tidge said:

I suggest reworking this idea, considering:

• Making such a zone as co-op
• Finding a Lore-related reason why an entire zone might exist....
• ... and figure out a way to make it so the existing zone doesn't go away / fulfills its current purpose.

FF is kinda important, as is, with the stores, contacts, etc.

I like this refinement to the suggestion

[Bartender Inspiration Vendor]

I’d actually like this to be a thing for the bartenders in pocket D also

[Civilian Tip Missions]

28 minutes ago, Rudra said:

Incorrect. Tips drop after defeating mobs in a zone after the character has reached level 20. The mobs do not need to be appropriate level. I've repeatedly gone after tips by going into any grey con zone to defeat mobs to get the tips. And I get them just fine.

Interesting. Good to know this the next time I am Tip hunting.

[Civilian Tip Missions]

1 hour ago, Krimson said:

What if once in a while when you click on a civilian, it opens a dialog box and offers you a tip mission? Maybe the civilian could drop a clue by saying Psst or something as they walk by? It could be another way to obtain tips or missions without having to fight things. 

This is a cool idea. I believe Champions Online has something very similar.

[The Idea Police]

28 minutes ago, battlewraith said:

 

If you have a situation where 99% of the suggestions will fail and the ones that don't take years to implement--what is the purpose of the forum?

Does the benefit it brings to the development team outweigh the aggravation of people who think they might be heard but instead get thrown into the feasibility shredder?

 

The dev team has already said it brings them benefit. That’s really the only opinion that matters on whether this sub forum is valuable. They have stated it’s valuable in multiple threads and on discord.

[The Idea Police]

2 hours ago, GM_GooglyMoogly said:

 

I went to look and decided to start at the very end of the list, thinking that maybe something discussed long ago had filtered it's way up.  When I saw that we had 381 pages of suggestion topics, I gave up that endeavor.   However, allow me to flip the question on the group and ask you to take a look at the list of changes made in Issues 26, 27, and 28. (https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Issues)  I think you will find in those lists things that have been requested by players over the last few years, as well as things no one asked for.

 

But I've been giving this some thought and maybe there could be a "Brainstorm" subforum.  Under traditional brainstorm rules you just state an idea with no commentary or critique.  That may not be feasible with our forum tech because it would have to automatically lock the thread after the first post.  No edits, no comments, no emojis.  

I think this is an excellent idea!

[The Idea Police]

4 hours ago, Ghost said:

Who takes responsibility for turning it into something tedious?

 

Post your suggestion and then move on.  Don’t get involved in the back and forth.

If it’s a good suggestion, I’m sure it will be taken into consideration.  If it’s bad, it will most likely be ignored.

The feeling of tediousness and being beaten down comes with trying to go back and forth with people who don’t like the idea.  Why do that?

also this is a very very good point. If you think your suggestion is solid gold with no flaws (it usually isn’t) just post and move on.

 

neither you or the people responding to your post have zero ability to decide if a change is made or not

 

the devs had said this repeatedly in the forums and in closed and open beta. Post it and if they like it they’ll implement it . . . Sometimes in the far future.

 

if the devs don’t think it’ll be good for the game then it won’t go in no matter whatever the back and forth is.

[The Idea Police]

5 hours ago, battlewraith said:

I'd like to see an example of a thread in the suggestions forum that was a success. Someone showed up with a full blown feasibility study of an idea, it survived the review of the forum regulars that hang out here, and then it went on to be somehow implemented in the game. 

 

Looking at the success rate of posts , imo, says a lot about the legitimacy of this "process". 

 

 

The success rate does not include the suggestion being put live. They ane under no obligation to put every great suggestion in game. They don’t have the manpower for that. It’s not a paid dev team. That’s an unrealistic expectation.

 

If that’s what we are counting as success of a suggestion then we might as well just say now that 99% of them will fail. 
 

Want to reverse that, then maybe we suggest how the team can get more volunteers?

[See character info before logging in?]

Anything that gives more info on a character before I log into them would be great. Vet Levels and inf on the character would help at least.

[Brooches/Shields as Belt Buckles]

More costumes are always nice. Good idea!

[Sakura's Shotgun ranged set: Shotgunnery]

4 hours ago, Sakura Tenshi said:

Bit of a foreword

As the title says, this is a bit of a conceptualization for my idea of a Shotgun based ranged powerset for Blasters, Corruptors, Defenders, Sentinels, and even a modified version for Dominator Assault. I confess that aside from increased character conceptual freedom, there's not too many big positives immediately obvious for such a set with Assault Rifle, Dual Pistols, and Arachnos soldier already in game for ranged lethal sets, the only big positive, which might be a negative to some, is that it shouldn't need any new animations. I also want to note that while I didn't want to use names which would imply the type of shotgun used, as this would likely use the same weapon customization options as Assault Rifle and other such set, I opted to just go 'we ball', also, I can see this as a VERY AoE heavy ranged set.

 

Blaster, Corruptor, Sentinel, and Defender version

1. Snakeshot: (Ranged, DMG Minor Lethal, Foe Knockdown, Rech: 3.5 sec, Special) - A modified cartridge meant to dispatch with pests and vermin than people dealing minor damage, Underling tier enemies are hit for double damage.
2. Sabot Round: (Ranged, DMG Moderate lethal, -Def, Rech: 6.5 sec) - A shaped slug inside of a shell, it possesses greater range and accuracy though lack the pure stopping power of other shotgun round.
3. Slug: (Ranged, DMG high Lethal, Foe Knockback, Rech: 8 sec) - Fires a single Slug at a targeted foe. Firing a single Slug is slower than firing a Burst, but it deals more damage, is longer range, and can knock down foes. (pretty much taken from assault rifle)
4. Buckshot: (Ranged (Cone), DMG moderate Lethal, Foe Knockback. Rech: 8 sec, Special) - Fires a cone of Buckshot pellets and can knock some foes down. Deals bonus damage to targets within 15-feet.
5. Rock Salt: (Ranged (Cone), DMG minor lethal/toxic, Foe Sleep, Rech: 10 sec, Special) - You blast your enemies with a shell of rock salt, dealing little damage but causing them to writhe on the ground in pain. Rock salt shot is also extremely effective against true undead. (The 'sleep' animation for this would be the Ghoul Tantrum emote on a loop until hit,. figured it'd be sleep than hold since I felt once reminded they're in a fight most enemies would start to power through it. Also thought it'd be interesting to have a power besides ghost slaying axe that dealt extra damage to true undead since we have attacks that deal bonus damage to robots)
6. Aim: +Damage +ToHit (I kind of panicked on ideas here)
7. Flak Shot: (Ranged (Targeted AoE), DMG moderate Fire/Lethal, Foe -fly, -jump, knockdown, Rech: 16 sec) - You fire off a round with a shrapnel explosive that forces aerial foes to ground.
8. Dragon's Breath: (Ranged (Cone), DMG high DoT Fire, Foe Fear, Special, Rech 20 sec) - A special shotgun shell that unleashes a single gout of flame that engulfs and ignites opponents, burning them over a long period and sending them into a panic. Further, enemies on fire have a chance to inflict minor fire damage overtime to additional foes they stand too close too. (Based a bit on real dragon's breath rounds and a meme thread (Warning, NSFW language.)
9. Slam Fire: (Ranged (cone), DMG Superior DoT Lethal, Foe, -damage, -accuracy, -recharge, knockdown, Rech: 75 sec) - Unload eight consecutive shots from your shotgun in quick succession over a wide cone. The volume of flying lead shot knocks enemies down and disrupts their aim and fire reducing their accuracy and damage.

Dominator Shotgun Assault

1. Snakeshot: (Ranged, DMG Minor Lethal, Foe Knockdown, Rech: 3.5 sec, Special) - A modified cartridge meant to dispatch with pests and vermin than people dealing minor damage, minion tier enemies are hit for double damage.
2. Buttstroke: (Melee, DMG moderate Smash, Foe Disorient,) - A smash with the butt of your shotgun with a high chance of disorienting.
3. Both Barrels: (Melee, Damage High, lethal/fire, foe Knockback, Rech: 8 sec) - Unleash two shots in quick succession at point blank range)
4. Flechette Shot: (Ranged Cone, DMG high DoT Lethal, Foe -def, Rech 10 sec) - You fire a shell loaded with sharp razors, slicing up foes and inflicting high lethal damage over time.
5. Power Up
6. Spinning Strike: (Melee (Targeted AoE), Heavy DMG(Smash), Foe Knockdown) You execute a spinning attack that first strikes with your fist and finally your heel hitting your foe and all enemies immediately nearby. Spinning Strike deals Heavy Smashing damage and has a high chance to knockdown foes.
7. Skeet Shot: (Sniper, DMG extreme Lethal, Foe Knockback): Using a specially shaped slug, you take aim with a long distance shot with your gun. Like most sniper attacks, you must take your time to aim, so this attack can be interrupted. If you are engaged in battle this attack becomes instant-cast. If you are not engaged, it will do bonus damage.
8. No Mercy: (Melee, DMG superior smash/lethal, foe Knockdown, Rech: 24 sec) - With a sweep of your shotgun you knock your foe to the ground and unload your shotgun while they're prone on the ground. (Animation wise, I imagined sort of a trimmed down version of the buttstroke that just has the forward sweep, followed with the DP executioner shot)
9. 12 Gauge: (Ranged Cone, DMG Superior, lethal/fire, foe knockback, Rech: 16 sec) - You fire a shotgun shell mixed with burning phosphorus, setting them ablaze.

I admit, I'm not a theorycrafter, so damage and recharge could us adjustment. And to be honest, the original idea for a Shotgun blast set would have involved a toggle that switches between full bore and full choke, changing some single target attacks into cones, but as I wrote out more, there didn't seem to be enough Single Target attacks to exactly justify it, and I kind of panicked. Though the main blast set itself does contain a number of powers I think are kind of interesting for some of their niche specialties like anti-air, anti-undead, and anti-underling tier.

 

This sounds pretty neat. 

[The Idea Police]

1 hour ago, GM_GooglyMoogly said:

I just went through all the non-sticky posts on page one of Suggestions & Feedback subforum.  It's better than I thought it was going to be.  Some agreed with suggestions, some disagreed, some offered explanations, some offered alternatives, a few people joked, very few were insulting.

 

Maybe the "Idea Police" are more prevalent on older threads.

 

Kinda what I was trying to say earlier. I'm not seeing this rash of "idea police" that is rampantly destroying this section of the forums. Glad to see I was not the only one. /shrug.

[The Idea Police]

2 hours ago, Forager said:

 

The irony of your post aside...

 

I'm complaining about people taking part in a way that is counterproductive. I'm saying that what they are doing hurts that process.

 

 

 

And many folks disagree and say that it's not counter productive. /shurg

[Enemy Difficulty through the Ages]

On 7/14/2025 at 4:04 AM, MoonSheep said:

it’s an unpopular opinion but i feel it’s true: IOs broke the game

IMO IOs gave the game a layer of complexity and variety it was sorely lacking prior to them existing. We agree to disagree.

[The Idea Police]

1 minute ago, Forager said:

 

Lol... this is a weird non sequitur, but it is my opinion. It is my opinion that the discussions here could be better with guidance.

 

The fact that there are threads is just... evidence that there are threads. What would you even compare to draw this conclusion? That's rhetorical, btw.

 

Yes. I'm saying my opinion. I'm saying there's a problem. I'm saying I don't like it. I don't get the preoccupation with "that's your opinion!" anymore than the "I'm allowed!" stance.

 

Ok?

Okay cool we can agree to disagree that it’s a problem on the forums. You think it is. Some folks agree, some disagree. Moving on on that point.

[The Idea Police]

2 minutes ago, Forager said:

 

I'm sure... but we're not employees in that field and we're not defending our ideas against people with knowledge or experience.

 

No but if you can defend your suggestion, It may help a dev in the future who reads it to consider that it is an actual good idea, or think of a way to implement it while taking out the negative parts that folks who initially disagreed don’t like.

 

Discussion both negative and positive has made things the devs implement better and better in Closed Beta for instance.

[Make Taunt Reliable for TINPEX]

1 hour ago, DrRocket said:

I understand, the folks are working as intended, what I am asking is to remove the "as intended" or have the intended not work so well and consistently

 

Regards

And I’d argue the mechanic is working just fine. So I disagree.

[The Idea Police]

41 minutes ago, Forager said:

 

Dang... sorry. You think I'm talking about them irking me? I'm not. They don't. They're irrelevant to me personally. This type is fairly easy to dispute, argue against or dismiss.

 

They are preventing lively, productive discussion because of their effect on the forum... on the other posters who might not have the ability or tools to do that.

As to the bolded, the intelligent discussion going on now for 3 pages makes me strongly disagree with this opinion. And it sure as hell is an opinion not a fact.

 

The multiple suggestions threads still being opened daily by new and old posters are like is also evidence that this is just your opinion, not a fact.

[The Idea Police]

1 hour ago, GM_GooglyMoogly said:

If someone is being toxic, report them.  We do hand out warnings and timeouts when people step out of line.  

 

But mere disagreement is not toxicity.  You can accept or ignore the criticism.  You can mount a defense to the criticism. . . or not.

 

I understand that there are a handful of people that have problems with most suggestions. 

 

If you think their critique is invalid, ignore it.  But maybe your idea is not as great as you think it is if you cannot overcome the criticism.

The bolded. So very much the bolded.

 

As someone working in IT for the past 20 years, I can tell you that in that field you better be prepared to defend and explain why you idea is a good one.

 

Maybe I’ve just gotten used to that type of feedback loop.

[The Idea Police]

2 hours ago, battlewraith said:

 

Why even have it then? Don't let players come on to the forums and get burned when they ask for something when it's unlikely that anything discussed there will happen.

You have it because they want the feedback. Them wanting and having the player feedback has absolutely nothing to do with them having the resources (they don’t) to implement even 1 percent of 1 percent of what’s in the suggestions forums.

 

Also some suggestions they read may give them an idea how to do something else, how to morph that idea into something THEY (the devs) may actually want to do.

 

There is never anything wrong with getting feedback or leaving the door open to get that feedback. That in no way shape or form is an unspoken contract that that feedback will be acted on.

[Want better discussions on these forums? Disable "reactions."]

9 hours ago, battlewraith said:

 

Because they aren't communication, they're just signaling. Like when you watch a reaction video and people drop in memes as a lazy shorthand to indicate that something's funny, stupid, boring, whatever. 

orrrrrr aka Welcome to the Internet.

 

😝