megaericzero

*shrug* I was responding just in case Rudra was conflating this Commander thread with past threads where the same name is suggested for an archetype that does use henchmen. Not that I don't trust Rudra's memory; just that we've had a lot of duplicate topics in close proximity to one another lately, either by coincidence or one leading to another.

I mean... technically the thread was "Tank primary & Controller secondary powers [...] or Controller primary and Sentinel secondary" (however you want to interpret that) per the OP and just got steered to MM-related stuff. 👀

Gonna give Papias the BOTD that they meant to say Armor for primary and Control for secondary but listed the archetypes instead of their respective primary set categories. (Or they could actually be insane and suggesting an Armor/Support archetype. It's funny picturing how impossibly slow-but-safe it would be, sporting combos like Stone Armor/Radiation Emission.)

Dunno that I'd want this change applied to their current fights - we've seen the backlash updating enemies in existing content can have and it's not like those fights have a reputation of underperforming - but overall the suggestion sounds good. Could even be used to refresh their powerscaling by having them transform during a newer, harder encounter with a much-expected "I was always holding back!"

Having the tier 7 be a Swap Ammo-style power that also applies to the henchmen could work. Instead of picking branched options, you could hot-swap your henchmen's element at will. Granted, most people would probably pick fire or whichever ammo gets used most often on Dual Pistols and run that 99% of the time. (Mechanically, I'm thinking the henchmen have transparent models and apply their visuals via a passive power that changes with your current element; similar to how Jack Frost and Spectral Terror are, just not hard-baked to which VFX are used. The element toggles themselves would be similar to Dual Pistols' ammo options with an additional pbaoe component that flags henchmen. Henchmen would, of course, have default elements as well; probably a mixed bag with some of the better effects as a tradeoff for not mono-focusing an element.)

Based on my understanding of what's on COD, powers can be made to redirect based on given criteria. For instance, snipes and assassin's strikes redirect to snipe_normal/snipe_quick or assassin_strike_stealth/assassin_strike_quick based on a check that the power button in your tray performs when activated, with the redirected version of the power being the one that actually does something. You could, theoretically, add an option to Null the Gull that - based on how people have described him granting invisible powers that add flags to your character - tags you as "stayHumanoid" and then update the nova and dwarf powers (both the toggles and their attacks) into redirects that go to nova_power_classic/nova_power_human and dwarf_power_classic/dwarf_power_human. Heck, the dwarf attacks don't seem to even need redirects; just the two toggles and the four nova animations. (This is assuming "remain human" is the only option. I can't speak on custom forms, which would significantly complicate things, so I'm writing under the assumption that those are not an option and only classic vs "minimal" exist.) Yeah, sure, this further divorces the implementation from power customization but I'm honestly not worried; it still retains the heart of the idea. SCR goes both ways. We don't know how hard or easy something could be unless we're told by someone who knows better.

Wut? (To my understanding) this thread has always been a purely cosmetic request; everything would still function the exact same except for the model swap.

Not sure if the engine is capable of it but you could try using the same flag combat-only auras do.

You're definitely not the only one. Alchemystic and I have posted our own take on the power sets before, and surely others have before us as well.

That's still apples to oranges. Heracles is a single, signature figure. There are multiple Kheldians. You even work for one of them when you are a Kheldian yourself. I also haven't seen anyone mention avoiding playing the storyarcs but it's neither here nor there; the concerns with the arcs is finding where they explicitly outline how the forms work and look. Because people keep saying it's in the lore and others are sifting through the lore for where. In regards to your screenshot: I already posted how game UI flavor text is already directly contradicted by power customization options. It got hand-waived as not as important for any other powers even though it was multiple, direct examples.

I've no opposition at the repetition itself; I'd just ignore it if someone was shouting it to the sky on repeat about another topic. It's that that one reason is used to blanket-hand-waive every additional point made when that paradigm was already shifted thrice: EATS used to be locked into Natural (PB, AS, AW) or Science (WS) origin, that changed; Kheldians used to be locked out of the Flight and Teleportation pools, that changed; Kheldians didn't have access to power customization, that changed. (And Soldiers now have access to regular rifles, though widows still seem to be restricted on claws.) You're still not Heracles in that case. In the following section of your post, you mention the player designs the host, so you're still only inhabited by Heracles. That also further divorces the forms from being Heracles as well because now you're not channeling Heracles while in a non-human form - you're channeling his Zeus heritage or something else that's incorporated as a part of him but not purely him.

You're not playing as Heracles, though; you're playing as your own character that has a space parasite that used to be inside Heracles. You can draw upon the essence of Heracles. How that manifests doesn't have to be as strict as being the 1:1 flesh-and-blood person. Hot dog, it was both; I should buy a scratcher.

And no one suggested changing the default form VFX, so you don't have to use them on your own characters. How someone else presents their character doesn't impede on your playthrough of the EAT story arcs. The pro side can address concerns from any angle people want; they already know the anti side will dismiss it whether it holds water or not, or move the goal post. For instance: even if the COH universe explicitly states how the forms look in writing and with absolute authority down to the last detail, power proliferation was written as an in-universe event of a guy messing around in his lab and whoops he literally altered the fabric of reality so new powers became available. Before that point, Blasters couldn't be psions and Stalkers couldn't project electricity but suddenly they can. (I've said before that I think it was egregious for the Paragon devs to explain power proliferation in-universe. The takeaway from this is meant to be that the game lore can has been re/written for new options but I suppose the next response to quote this post will completely ignore that and clap back with "that only explains how existing power sets were spread around!" Or it could just circle back to saying that EATs are exempt from everything because their starting contacts have missions past level 5. Bit of a coin toss which one; maybe both.)

I feel like the heart of it is that the pro-form-customization crowd can suggest infinitely many ways that any of the different levels of not-fully-seafood can be explained and fit in with established lore but the opposing crowd will dismiss it as "it's not explicitly written into Sunstorm's dialogue so it can't possibly exist." Like the hero epic archetypes are this divine child that is divorced from the entire rest of the game in every single aspect and dictated by some grand plan left by the old live devs that lays out the movement of every hair follicle from birth to death with zero wiggle room. Even their redside counterparts don't get this level of hardline pushback - at least not as far as I've seen on the S&F forum.

If you want to draw a line and say that is in its own category of customization, and then draw a parallel to this, then sure. I already do think henchmen customization should 100% be a thing on this server. My concerns with both are purely in implementation. If someone wants to take Necromancy and dress their zombies up as cute anime girls, that's no more a concern to me than having someone "wear" their dwarf form like a cosplay or have their nova float behind them as a Jojo reference. The previous thread(s) on HEAT form customization have already addressed how a shapeshift that involves staying human - or the player model staying visible - can remain lore-friendly while still allowing that customization; everything from improper/incomplete transformation to absolute mastery over their form allowing two bodies at once. EDIT: (Thought about this after I hit submit.) If you're concerned that I don't care about the lore... I guess that's true? Not in the way it sounds, though. I think the game/NPCs can tell you things like where to go, who to beat up, what other people (NPCs) think about you, or recount what they think you did on a mission; I don't believe they can tell you who you are, where you came from, how you feel, or how you work with absolute finality. To you specifically, Rudra - who has mentioned before that you'll begrudgingly do a distasteful mission in-character, bring a piece of salvage, and delete it at the end to roleplay that you are dropping it off to actively undo your own villainy - I would imagine can see how much room there is for things like form customization even in an archetype that you and greycat believe is as predefined from head to toe as Peacebringers and Warshades are.

If you're using the power descriptions as justification, then I need to retake Anatomy 101. Power customization has existed for a long time now that openly contradicts the established descriptions of powers. Allowing the human model to at least show up in some fashion while in nova/dwarf form is no more egregious than these examples, if not allowing more human-than-alien shapeshifting (eg: parts of the alien showing up as ghostly armor rather than it being the main body).

So what's wrong with having an option with visuals like this? (If there's concerns with clipping or the human imitating the nova, let's say your model is curled up in fetal position the whole time while "encased" in the form.)

You keep coming back to the Crab Spider backpack. I don't think it's as strong a counterpoint as you do. That only takes up the cape/backpack slot on your costume and people have asked for alternatives for it as well - Arachnoid arms, Meat Doctor backpacks, etc. (As well as generic claws, maces, and rifles for the rest of the SOA.) The backpack's concern is that not many (any?) "extra arms" models use its skeleton/rigging.

I'd imagine you still have the tendril aura that comes with using PB/WS powers since we're talking minimal FX and not "No FX (except PVP)." Plus flight animations in nova, of course.

Oh, 100%. At least, if you ask me. I wouldn't dream of taking away current options; just adding more alternatives. Can't speak for others but I'd be happy with the other power effects as-is - lockouts, animation times, suppression/detoggles, etc - just changing the visuals to keep the character model in some fashion.

Based on some of the alternate FX suggestions in the previous recent thread on the topic, there's some other perspectives like: being able to see your human(oid) self inside the translucent body like Hisako Ichiki / Armor; having only some of the pieces of the forms appear either with attacks or while "transformed", representative of partial/temporary transformations; having the energy form appear separately, offset behind you like a Stand / guardian spirit; etc. EDIT: Granted, those would presumably require more work than a "no transformation" option, especially the middle one.

Based on previous threads about expanding/reworking incarnates, I'm more a fan of making the slots freeform - allowing the player to pick any six incarnates at a time as more ability categories are added - but can see how that could leave a bad taste as people figure out the six meta picks and only ever go with those, or let them sextuple-up on something (eg: buffs) and take them to insane levels. Personally, I'm not keen on the idea of having an option be an extreme buff to a power instead of a standard ability. It feels like it would be moot both mechanically and conceptually - similar to above, I'm afraid people would run the numbers and always, or never, pick the stat-boost alternative over the separate ability and it doesn't seem like it would add enough value to character concepts that isn't already covered by taking the existing thematic match and writing it off as "this is my power, not the well's." As for the groupings, I think they should be more uniform if they're not freeform - for instance, putting Genesis with Destiny rather than Judgment (which your posts lead me to believe is the suggestion but I could be misreading). Judgment itself could have the big CC mentioned as a tradeoff for raw damage, and perhaps another alternative that has major single-target damage instead of AOE; hybrid could potentially get the "boost one stat at the expense of another" idea that was listed in the old dev AMAs about what other slots might have done. (EDIT: Erm, these are listed by the slot that they'd be mutually exclusive with but, of course, would have their own name to differentiate them.) Seems too niche to be useful as-is and could be better served as a powerful (generic) confuse in a larger CC-focused category like the one that greycat suggested, I think.

Alignment probably didn't exist as a character flag before Rogue and Vigilante were added; the game likely just checked your archetype to determine if you should be treated as a hero or a villain, as those were side-specific at the time. Tacking those on to the existing character structure would be much easier than trying to change something as fundamental as the live devs alluded to those other things being.

Because I have incurable altitis and no wherewithal to micro-manage my enhancements on the way to 50.

"I shall call him... Mini Me."