Player2

With the addition of power customization to power pools, wouldn't it be possible to add each of the flight poses as alternate options in power customization screen?

I was going to start a headless costume piece suggestion thread as our options are pretty limited at the moment (no head, skull, and orb). I think The Lost TV helmet would work as an option here. I mean, it'd be nice to have it as an actual helmet, too... but I think it would be funny to see that head in a TV set floating over the body of a character.

The old Storm Kick was a slow animation, like the Flurry attack in the speed pool. Perhaps it could be brought back as an alternate animation for Flurry? The blaster secondary set also has a new Storm Kick option under Martial Combat that looks similar to the Martial Arts version of Storm Kick. I would love to see both animations as options for both powersets.

50 to 100 characters to start with... if you don't playing on multiple shards. Personally, I prefer to stick with one main shard, and an alternate in case that one goes down for any reason. I want my 50 to 100 characters where I know people who are playing so I can join them with whichever of my characters that I choose. And the alternate shard I'll keep 5 to 10 characters on hand for a little diversity. So no, I don't like your idea. Sorry. The current system is acceptable to me.

More powerset proliferation all around. Here's a few that have escaped, and I'd like to see proliferated. I'll bet we can figure out a few others that aren't coming to my mind at the moment. Brutes -> Ninjitsu Dominators -> Illusion Control Scrappers -> Energy Melee Scrappers -> Super Strength Stalkers -> Super Strength Stalkers -> Titan Weapons Tankers -> Energy Armor Tankers -> Ninjitsu

It was asked before when weapon customization was still shiny and new, but could we have the Ghost Slaying Axe as a full time weapon selection choice for the battle axe set so it wouldn't look like we're switching weapons when actually using the Ghost Slaying Axe power? I'm not asking for the benefit of the extra damage against undead, just the weapon look. While we're at it, could we also maybe get the Nemesis Staff as a weapon option for the titan weapon powerset? Would love to beat people over the head with that. Maybe also the Blackwand as an option for war mace?

That's not bad. Can't recall, was Illusion proliferated to Doms? Because if so I'd go Ill/Energy Dom. No illusion for doms, sadly.

We must have these. Someone get to work on it immediately.

Nope.

There is a workaround to getting what you want. When you use the cosmetic surgeon to change your body type, you still retain those pronoun references tied to your original body type. For example, I had a huge axe/willpower brute back in the day and I wasn't overly thrilled with the concept. Instead of deleting and rerolling, I took advantage of the newly introduced cosmetic surgeon option which allowed changing height and body type. Later, in game, I found that the new female character was referred to in that mission text still as a "he". So basically choose the gender with the pronoun you want at start, then visit the Icon cosmetic surgeon and change body types. You can be a masculine or huge body type referred to as "she" or a feminine type referred to as "he" to your heart's content.

Agreed. No hateful stuff, no blatant sexually explicit stuff. Double entendres are fine, and if you've been a parent and watched old cartoons with your kids, you know that even they occasionally managed to squeeze in some adult humor that would go over the young'uns heads. Clever is not only fine, it should be encouraged.

No limits. Options only, please.

The thing is that it's a pet that falls outside the pet powersets (Control and MM pets). So it is supposed to be inferior to those kinds of pets. And it is in both form and function. It does less damage and needs to be refreshed compared to controller or dominator pets which are fire and forget, which are definitely inferior to MM pets that can be actively controlled and given pet-specific upgrades in addition to standard buffs.

The problem is that the Arachnos VEATs don't really have holes to fill. They're advanced ATs with a little bit of everything.

Nope, nope, nope... because there will be certain options that male characters get that women aren't allowed... such as bare chest... bare chest with tattoos... bare chest smooth... bare chest with pierced nipples... So, no I guess we can't give all options to everyone. I do have a couple suggestions, though. One is that the costume pieces be alphabetized. It's a little daunting looking for some pieces now in the huge lists, and harder still because some things appear to be placed in a based on when they were added to the game while others seem to be randomly placed. And I feel like some pieces need to be renamed... for example, under female options, tops we have "Mod Sleeve" option but the matching bottom piece is called "Holes". Likewise, under tights for tops and bottoms for standard tights, it's just Tights or Tights Smooth, but for gloves it's "Full" and "Tights Sleek". Even the boots match the "Tights" and "Tights Sleek" naming convention, but not gloves. Also, I'd like to see the "Spectrum" option added to a few pieces... specifically the Flat boots option, but maybe some other boot options that have skin available should be allowed with Spectrum. For example, sneakers has bare legs and socks options; I'd like to see it expanded to socks, bare legs, and Spectrum. Also, maybe a couple of additional face options for Spectrum than just one featureless full covering. Something that has defined eyes of an offset color (or lack of color) with a generic expression similar to the Glowing Eyes face texture. Also, maybe a few masks that show some skin, indicating that the bright Spectrum overlay can be a layer of clothing with some humanity showing... perhaps a mask that covers around the eyes (like "Diamonds"), one that covers most of the face (like the "Demise" option) and one that covers the head except for the face (like "Triton"). Speaking of which, those options that have or don't have skin options should be expanded to allow for additional combinations... so the Small gloves which show a little forearm should also have Small Glove with Tights that cover the skin... or bracers over bare skin or tights... or the Retro sci-fi rings features available for gloves and boots should also have a bare option. You can have rings over bare skin on shoulders and upper arms, but if you want them at the lower arm or lower leg, it has with gloves and full boots only. I'd like to see those rings and all of these other options that are limited to either "with skin" or "no skin" options be expanded to options of "Skin", "Tights", and "Tights Sleek" at the very least.

Agreed. I have the name F-Bomb on a mercs/FF mastermind, and it's obvious connotation is as a reference to that most heinous of four-letter words starting with F, but it could also be short for Force-Bomb as their is a repulsion bomb power in the FF powerset. Clever is cool. Generally offensive, I believe should be handled by people being able to be mature enough to ignore the offensive individual(s) by refusing to team with them and/or blocking them so they can't be harassed. But blatantly offensive regarding sensitive issues should be handled more directly. I don't think we need people with names like The Sodomizer running around trying to force RP on others. I recall even Marvel getting daring occasionally, with a member of AIM (or was it Hydra) calling his invention the Penetrator because it allowed him to teleport into places. I think he had Penetrator armor. Seems suggestive but without actually referring to a sexual act. Back in the old days of COH, I had a spines stalker named The Penetrator because his whole thing was penetrating people's flesh... obviously. Sure, it's awfully suggestive. But I wasn't trying to play him as some sexual offender. The Homecoming code of conduct, however, is a bit vague in some regards and overly restrictive in others. For example... Okay, illegality is an important topic because not only do we get to be heroes but we can also be villains. While I'm all on board for keeping talk of child pornography out of the game... obscenity can be open to interpretation. Also, are we not allowed to make reference to gambling, piracy, or criminal activity? The CoC doesn't specify acceptable uses, just prohibited content. Second line involves young people again... no underage drinking. So if someone wanted to pay homage to that old Green Arrow & Speedy story where Speedy is a junkie? Making that kind of reference is right out because drugs are way worse than underage drinking. Terrorism? I'm pretty sure that Arachnos needs to be removed from the game now because they're pretty much terrorists. I believe the CoC is trying to establish parameters to prevent real world discussion of these topics, but it doesn't make the distinction. So technically you could have a hero with a gambling problem but you can't talk about it or reference it any way beyond saying "he's a gambler" or you're technically in violation of the CoC. You could create a villain whose sole purpose is the destruction of a peaceful way of life through violent acts... a terrorist. Don't talk about it, though, because you could be subject to the penalties for violating this CoC. No negative or hate speech directed at groups... "including" those listed in the CoC, but technically not limited to those. That means I don't want to see any heroes talking about how they hate Arachnos and or want to see criminal scum beaten down and locked away forever, because that can be construed as hate speech directed at people who belong to a group. Well, those are NPCs, they don't count? Don't they? Because those groups include players. That's fine, heroes shouldn't talk like that anyhow. Okay, so reverse it and have villain players saying how they think Longbow agents should be tortured or murdered. Well, players can access Longbow costume pieces and represent themselves as Longbow, police, or whatever other fictional group, too. Also, no heroes or villains who are now disembodied spirits in the land of the living as punishment for having committed suicide. You can say your character was murdered and you're stuck here, but your character cannot be the author of his own fate. Content showing or promoting animal abuse. By the loose definition of the CoC, any mastermind who sends their animal pets into combat and gets them killed is showing animal abuse. Any mastermind who openly talks about sacrificing their animal pets to save their own life is promoting animal abuse. And any player who attacks another player's mastermind animal pets in PvP is guilty of showing and promoting animal abuse. Okay, maybe you can do it in self defense, but don't talk about "I killed your wolf, ha ha, you're next!" I agree with restricting pornographic content. We don't need that. Sexual, provocative, and adult are more loosely defined and could be applied to a broader range of topics than intended. Where do babies come from? Geez, everyone knows this by now, right? But if you mention it, you could get punished. Well, why would you need or want to? "My character is the illegitimate son of Statesman." Okay, that implies that Statesman had sex with someone out of wedlock, violating sexual and adult content. "My mother was magically seduced by a demon and I have a half-demon heritage." Like Raven of the Teen Titans? Yeah? No, you're punished because that's rape and we'll have none of that talk no matter how nicely you try to phrase it. Controversial religious content... I think we should agree to not bring religion into anything, but you know we'll get there when someone makes a holy crusader of whatever religious figure and someone gets offended by it. Let's just ban all real-world religion that has not fallen into the category of ancient mythology... And I'm specifying that because there are some old pagan gods who are getting worship once again because of the modern view of religious freedom and people wanting to break away from traditional religious systems. It's one thing to claim you are a Pastafarian, because that's fictional. But what about the Thor and Odin worshippers out there in the real world? They may not like your interpretation of their gods or beliefs. Anything involving notorious people or organizations... I think this one needs to be specified as non-fictional, because otherwise we can't talk about any of the villain groups in the game. Anything involving sensitive events, current... sure. 9/11? Still too soon to see someone trying to pull off a "9/11 survivor out for justice/revenge" type of character. But what about the Crusades? No heroes involving any backstory connection dating back to that, right? It's historical but, given all the talk about what went on during the Crusades, it could be sensitive. Why? Because it was all driven by a faction of the Christian religion that is still active today, so that's just a taboo topic, right? My issue with these vague, ill-defined standards is that who makes the judgement calls? Because I'm guessing the GM staff and interpretation may vary from member to member of that staff. What one doesn't find offensive another may find extremely so. And is there an appeals process? What if a GM's interpretation of something is too far over the line?

I get what you mean. We now have invisible heads that allow for headless characters, or floating orbs or brains in place of heads. I too would like to see this concept expanded. Particularly, I would like an entire "ghost" lower body. Yeah, I'll be running around on invisible legs but all anyone will see from the waist down should be a vaporous cloud, pretty much like the Circle of Thorns spirits.

I would love to see an Explosive Blast powerset. (Think Nitro from Marvel Comics.) Does lethal damage, all powers do cone or AoE damage, with maybe a smaller radius for the low-level ones. Overall the set would have to do lower damage to account for all of the AoE. Then just use explosions and animations already within the game to assemble a collection of powers.

I have 113 characters on the Excelsior server. Several of those names I have duplicated on other servers, because when everything was first setting up I wasn't sure which server I was going to stick with. So let's say I probably have over 200 characters total. I am FINE with the naming policy. My highest level is 40, and I'm not certain when I'll get to 50. My next highest is 28, and it drops off to low 20s and mid teens after that, meaning that the bulk of the characters I have shown an interest in I will have to check in on them once every 90 days. Plenty of level 1 - 4, and we'll see if my interest in them grows before someone else claims one of their names. I am GLAD for this naming policy... even if it doesn't help me, I remember back in the old days passing on the Virtue server because a number of names I wanted were taken. And later on when server populations started to slack off a bit and more of my friends played primarily on Virtue, I found it highly irritating to log in their on a regular basis with all of those names I wanted put on my friends list and NEVER ONCE seeing them logged in. I suffered through character renames and also abandonment because I couldn't get the name I wanted where I wanted. So if the policy helps anyone on the SCORE servers avoid that frustration, then I'm happy for them. Side note: some people are not jerks about names. Once I settled on Excelsior, I had a very short list of character names that someone beat me to that I wanted. Three, actually. Using the /getglobalname feature, I got their names and contacted them via global chat and asked about trades. One was ignored, another was a simple no (and I left it alone), and the third was definite maybe. He had only just started playing and I had made a character with the name I wanted on Everlasting where he was currently playing, so I proposed a trade. He asked if I could wait a couple of days until his regular gaming group decided which server they would call home. I checked in a few days later, and sure enough they'd decided on Everlasting, so we set up the swap. I moved my character to Excelsior with a 1 after the name, logged in and let him know the slot was freed up on Everlasting. He logged out and moved over, then let me know so I could log out and change my name. I still say hey to him in the game now and again even though we're on different servers, and recently popped over to see what his take on our shared name was. Definitely pleased. It was a friendly and respectful exchange. And if it could work like that even a third of the time, then maybe the name reuse policy wouldn't be necessary. But, in the old days, it was just terribly frustrating that I couldn't play what I wanted where I wanted because very likely someone had moved on from the game and left the name camped indefinitely because just in case they might come back. Not that I ever saw any of them. So bravo to the SCORE team. It may not be the most popular decision that they've made, but I support and endorse it even though I know I'm going to lose some names I camped. If you are an active player, you should be able to login once every 90 days to keep your names reserved, so just do some missions and hit level 6. If you need longer than that, then might I recommend the Death From Below and Drowning in Blood trials. You can get to level 21 EASILY, and that will give you a whole YEAR to catch up on as many alts as you need to secure their names. And if you need more than a year to log in briefly on each character... then too bad. A line has to be drawn, and I commend the SCORE team for being bold enough to do so. Get to level 50 if you want your character named to be immortalized as your own.

Just want to give some props for a very informative post. Copyright and Trademark Law are about as clear as mud at times, and people's fears often give them more power than they have in actuality. So it's very nice to see someone break those down, I'm very familiar with copyright but not so much with trademark infringement. Keep up the good work, guy or gal. I had some earlier knowledge of Trademark law due to a rush of curiosity when I saw instances of Marvel and DC sort of using each other's stuff in published comics (when not part of official crossovers, such as Marvel's use of Clark Kent). However, I did a lot of research during the Marvel lawsuit to see just what Marvel was up to and what the actual concerns were for both the gamers and the game owners. You can see some of the highlights of the unofficial Marvel & DC crossovers here: https://io9.gizmodo.com/10-weird-times-marvel-and-dc-unofficially-crossed-over-5872936

Let's have a little legal lesson regarding trademark law and why Marvel HAD to sue City of Heroes. A significant piece of trademark law, as opposed to copyright, is that it must be actively defended or the owner can be considered to have abandoned it. For example, if someone made a Spider-Man clone in the old days, technically NCSoft was profitting off of Marvel's IP because they were collecting a monthly fee to play the game where said clone was created. These days, there is no profit being made here, so the chances of Marvel outright suing are a whole lot less likely. There's also chance they can make the game go away now because the code is in the wild and anyone can run it with the proper resources. What that means is that maybe Marvel spends money getting their lawyers to file a cease & desist order and/or possibly get this server shut down. But they'll know it's one server while many more could pop up at a moment's notice. Because no profit is being made, the need to defend the trademark is relaxed. If you're not using the trademark to make a profit, you're not challenging the owner of that IP on whether or not they want to fight to keep it. What constitutes a trademark infringement? This is a good one, because I recall people being absolutely fearful that Marvel's lawsuit would shut the game down and after it was dismissed that they (or DC or whoever else) would sue again ANY time there was a character that seemed to rip something off from somewhere else. As someone else pointed out earlier in this thread, pretty much everything is a ripoff of something else these days. While it can seem a little odd what constitutes an infringement, such as the time that the Fighting American character --a shield throwing Captain America ripoff-- lost the right to throw his shield. It was a thing that was fairly unique to Captain America. While the lawsuit also addressed the whole character of Fighting American as a ripoff, he was allowed to continue being published with no changes to his look or name, other than not being able to throw his shield as a weapon anymore. For a character to be trademarked, it must be legally distinct. Fighting American's costume, although patriotic, differed enough from Captain America's to set him apart as a unique character. As did the name Fighting American. If he were called Captain American, you can bet that would have been changed by court order. I remember seeing a COH character in the past called Firestorm, and people were flooding the broadcast channel with attacks and threats to report him because it would bring down the wrath of DC. However, the word "Firestorm" is a word in the dictionary and cannot be trademarked --not on it's own. To trademark a word or name, it must be unique. One way to do this is to create a unique spelling that makes it distinct from whatever it might be similar to. Another is to add additional words to create a title, such as Fury of Firestorm or Firestorm the Nuclear Man. And yet another way would be to trademark the appearance of the name, such as the uniquely designed fonts for comic book cover titles. As works of art, they are a visual representation of the word(s). The COH Firestorm example above would be exempt from a DC Comics lawsuit because the character looked nothing like DC's Firestorm character and did not claim to be a Nuclear Man. Actually, the character was rather unoriginally named after the chosen powersets of Fire Control and Storm Summoning, again setting it apart from the legal distinction of DC's character. You CANNOT trademark mythology... exactly. Marvel owns Thor? No... no they don't. What they own is a trademark on their likeness of Thor, as well as the various title designs, and some of the title he's most famous for in Marvel Comics: The Mighty Thor. Anyone could publish Thor in a comic, and in fact has. Image Comics had Supreme and at one point mirroring the Marvel Story where Beta Ray Bill took Mjolnir from Thor and Odin put the two through challenges to prove who was more worthy... in Supreme's comic, he defeated Thor and got to keep Mjolnir (and they were calling him Supreme God of Thunder for awhile). While the copying of the overall theme and various elements look like they could be a copyright infringement (but copyright isn't my specialty, so I'll avoid speaking to how they worked around that), Image published their own likeness of Thor, Mjolnir, Odin, and Asgard. Because the mythology exists in the public domain, like words such as Firestorm. You have to be careful of the specifics with using public domain stuff, but essentially knockoff characters can be valid as long as they are legally distinct. Side note: Parody Parody can be a tricky subject with regard to copyright and trademark law. There is indeed a fair use of such material under the heading of parody. However, NCSoft/Paragon Studios made the rules of the game and were ultimately liable for their customers' creations. Rather than risk lawsuits and/or trying to compel the offending customer(s) to testify with their explanation for how the parody should be allowed when a lawsuit from the IP owner comes, it was easier for them to simply issue a zero tolerance policy on anything that looked like trademarked properties to avoid lawsuits as best they could. So relax, Marvel isn't coming to shut this game down because no one is profiting off their intellectual properties. It's no different than if someone were to draw those trademarked characters for their own (or others') entertainment without asking for money or trying to publish them in any way. Adendum: Legally distinct does not necessarily cover specific characters' secret identities. Did you know that Clark Kent appeared in Marvel Comics? It was an issue of Thor, and it was a perfect likeness and he was a reporter on assignment with his partner Lois. The names "Clark" and "Kent" --even in that very well known combination-- are too common and cannot meet the legal definition of legally distinct. Likewise, the mild mannered reporter in glasses look was also too ordinary, even though every fan knows who he really is, to be legally distinct. Some things are just not able to be sued over. Others can. Did Lucasfilm sue a bunch of fan websites for infringing on their Star Wars IP? Yes. How well did that turn out? Yeah, it had some impact in the short term, but it didn't last. And with that as a precedent, you can be certain that lawyers would know that even if they shut down the Homecoming server, others will be out there and even this one could eventually return. The trademark isn't being challenged in a way that needs to be defended, and while Disney has the money to burn, that's all they'd be doing. Well, that and pissing off a number of comics fans, earning them more bad press.

Um, OK, but, why? Just for people to have something to show off to the 'lessers'? I just do not understand why people have to have something 'written in code' here. If they want to add things as their character progresses, they can do that. What is the point of restricting things in code like this other than to give people access to an e-peen variable? Why do people have this need to show others they are 'better' and 'been through more' content? Because unlocking things gives you a sense of progression. When you have to earn things they're more meaningful to you once you have them. You know what is the best only only sense of progression? Levels, and the powers they bring. Cosmetic changes that have to be earned are an irritant. You want to feel like you accomplished something? Deny yourself, then run the cape mission at level 20 and aura mission at level 30. They're still there. And you can feel a sense of accomplishment for completing them. If I have to earn capes again, I would lose interest in the game and respect for the homecoming team.

I remember back in the day I soloed the clone missions on villain side to earn the Army of Me badge. Tried today with all kinds of inspiration help, not to mention having prestige powers now that I didn't then. I barely survive the first mission against the zombies and the second mission they're kicking my ass before I can lock on target with telekinesis or a group hold. I hit the hospital, come back in armed with a full tray of Large inspirations (various combinations) and try to make a go of it, but again they're killing me before I can do anything.

Too soon? Don't care. :D

I honestly do not see a problem with the Winter Lord attacking in the summer. Actually, seems perfectly reasonable that such a villain might want to annex another season or attack when it thinks everyone is vulnerable or whatever. I'm less inclined to see Baby New Year rescues in the middle of the year or trick or treating outside of October... but alien invasions, zombie invasions, and so on should also be able to happen whenever. The frequency can be bumped up during Halloween, but no need to limit those to only Halloween.