klokwerkaos

My two cents. I am a dedicated redside main, so I know a lot about the issues concerning villains. I do play heroes just for experiencing the content, but I'm always a villain at heart, gotta love em. Reasons people don't do villains as much: They lack access to lots of story content and cool zones heroes get that is the primary focus of the narrative. A lot of the enemies suck to fight on villain side playthroughs. Grandville isn't really much fun to navigate if you don't take fly. The city scapes are dirty/dingy. Nobody else plays villains so it perpetuates that nobody plays villains because getting teams is impossible unless it's peak time on the weekend (so the rest of the week you have to go to Null and flip just to make any decent progress). Some people just like heroes and think playing a villain is not fun for them. Adding infamy and xp bonuses is grossly unbalanced and I'm not for it because not only is it horribly unbalanced as a game mechanic, but there's also no excuse story wise that this should happen which means it's also lore breaking and even if there was it would be terribly unbalanced. Adding content is a nice idea, but strictly speaking, it's much easier to write one narrative, make 2 maps, change a few minor details and call it a day from a creator perspective, meaning it's much better to create for both than 1 whenever possible and that means it's functionally a waste to create for 1 side only, or worse, only create for villainside since most players won't experience it. Since PVP is not the main focus of the game as it's primarily PVE by design and player numbers, this means the best way to get people to play more villains is to introduce your friends to the game and encourage them to join your supergroup and help them along the way. They still might end up preferring heroes, but at least you gave it a shot. Since the game is PVE mostly and also completely free, over time the user base will grow and villains finding teams will be less of an issue, and since that's the case, there's really no incentive to seek to balance the populations especially since it wouldn't work very well since people just like playing what they want to play.

Except for point one (not in my plan) this covers most of my pitch, although not exactly as described in several instances, usually with broader implications. The only other thing is, personalities can't be a specific choice per se. I've thought long and hard on this, and the way to manage this is to create mission types that are relevant to a specific type of character, but once you get down to writing 30 sets of dialog for a simple mission to cover just the most basic personalities, it's a huge amount of work, especially for an all volunteer staff, for minimal payoff. That huge amount of work only has any potential impact on the player the first time they play through it, too. Better to craft lots of missions and let players select what is appropriate for them. Plus, if we're honest, while some great writing does exist in the game, it's no stranger to bad dialog and players are used to hand-waving that. It's not ideal, but it's the feasible solution. In an ideal world this would be different, but, when getting that specific, AE is a better alternative. Current trick is to create the MVP first, and then build and add to it.

Easiest way to implement this: Delete your character if you die.

Pretty sure when it comes to costume options, almost all players want more options. Build it, rig it, send it to devs. If it works right and looks good, I'm guessing they will be happy for the donation.

If you want to see a particular costume piece put in game, my best advice is to model and rig it, and then send it to the development team. If it works and doesn't have issues, as I understand, adding costume pieces is always wanted by more players, so, build it, then send it and if it's of quality, they may just add it to the roster.

Great Idea on paper only. In execution this is a terrible idea imho even though we all might think it was cool. Result: Immediately someone has the most meta build up that can do everything possible and smokes all content solo. Then over half the population plays that build and nothing else almost exclusively over night. So my thoughts are a big fat NO as others stated above. Balance is the problem. My vote is absolutely not, no, not now, likely not ever. New archetypes shouldn't exist unless they specifically carve out a new niche that is not presently existing, and that's a tall order to fill since some of them are already pretty redundant.

In my ideal system, an arch-nemesis is a way of showing off your creativity to other players. It would, of course, be purely optional. For players who do it, that player would design their AN like a Mission Architect enemy -- giving them a costume, powers, and writing their standard dialogue/taunts/monologues. They'd also assign the AN an Arcane or Science 'type,' like salvage. When fighting enemies of the appropriate type, the AN would have a chance to spawn, and would always chatbubble taunt when 1) any player from the group got near or 2) when the player themselves got near, with a 30s lockout timer to prevent double-ups. This precludes voicework, but I'm fine with that; that sounds expensive and prone to difficulties maintaining. The AN could only replace a Boss or EB spawn (although it'd be cool if there were a mission arc where they could be fought as an AV). I don't know if I care about players making cheesable ANs (e.g., a FA/ tanker making an enemy that only does fire damage). But a brute-force way of avoiding that is making a database that assigns one or more fixed powers to every AN based on their PC's power combination. This could be assigned by default per archetype (so for example, Tankers' ANs would have a psychic-damage spell or gadget) and manually overwritten by the developers for specific sets or combinations (so a DA/ Tanker's AN would have an Energy + Knockback spell or gadget instead of a Psychic one). A system to vote on other players' ANs, with friends' ANs, 'favorited' ANs, or highly-rated ANs showing up in the AN spawn slot occasionally. I think this is basically MA and already exists in game. The current system is theorized to revolve around tips creation through the mission computer. It would be possible to share your Arch with others through grouping, but it's also YOUR arch, not theirs. They design their own arches to meet their own desires. Cheesing it isn't really much of a concern, since it's designed in such a way that players control difficulty to a large extent, so the key is that rewards are standard, cosmetic only, and badges, not new game breaking enhancements and such. Players can, in a sense, abuse it, but not really because it's far more efficient just to 8 man group if you want the most advancement you can get, the fastest you can get it. Since it is an optional system, it's up to the player exactly how their arch works, and they may have specific RP reasons why they want it built a certain way, whether that's easier or harder, regardless.

Sorry...9 out of 10 times I always check the OP to see if it's the same, and 9 out of 10 times it isn't. Figures the one time I don't check, is the one time it's the same....What'r the odds? 1 out of 100? (Someone will correct me) Anyhow I love the Arch Nemesis stuff in that other thread... +1 All I can say is stay tuned. The full scope of what I have is much larger and much more awesome. Should definitely scratch an itch. The only real thing I've had trouble with in any of the design so far was the stuff mentioned above about motivations/dialog. In theory it would be nice to pick a personality and voice, but the requirements for that from the writers is astronomical... you're probably looking at maybe 15 Archetypes for heroes and villains each at a minimum for 30 voices per mission, and that means 30 sets of unique dialog per mission, and that's just too much. As it is, each dialog will have it's own voice/motivation and you can decide to run it or not with your arch and/or coterie in play if you feel it's appropriate. The other option is preferred, but just not doable to scale.

that was my thread ;) It was the reason I started putting the system together. I've already incorporated all that feedback. Just looking for anything I haven't thought of yet for proposal. Mostly ideas that would be super awesome, and included as best as possible within the current tech constraints which are lessening with passing days. That said, is good to crowd source in case one person comes up with something super awesome I just didn't think of. Though I have tried to include everything possible within scope of the game, it's possible and likely some people just have fresh ideas that didn't occur to me.

What I have so far accounts for different mission types to select as appropriate for your arch/coterie, since it's not just villains, villains have arch heroes... but the personality thing is a challenge at the moment. Motivation is more or less however you justify your story set up for yourself... but the personality is tough because it requires all different sets of dialog on either a per mission basis, or that 20 sets of dialog be written for every mission and both are problematic do to infinite workload. Right now I have them with a custom player input battlecry as the closest thing to being possible, and it being Per mission dialog, meaning one set of dialog written per mission, select which ones fit your arch best.

Play a Mastermind. Make some friends. Talk to them about doing a "dynamic duo" setup, and playing those characters together. Alternately, maybe a Power Pool, with a summon and two or three upgrade powers, sort of an "MM-Lite" approach. Possibly several Pools, to give some variety in Sidekick choice. Basically crib the system from CO. Something for SG bases. Essentially, more trophies as placeable objects - something gained at the end of each story arc (I think we already get a Clue sort of thing, yes?). I covered the first three things in my suggested design so far... the last though... I sorta have in there... it's an SG terminal, specific rewards are on the table, but the system is customizable to include difficulty settings so, rewards have to be proportional... if you were going to design a thing in that context, what kind of thing would you want? Maybe a custom display of some kind?

What features are Must have for your ideal version of these systems if they were to be implemented in game? Mercenaries Personal Sidekick/Lackey Arch Nemesis Gallery of Rogues/Coterie Please note, this is YOUR ideal version, so exact definitions of what they are, are left to your imagination.

Not every superhero fits into the nice clean ATs the game provides. As to why ATs were implemented in the first place... meh? The game has changed so much since then that Dominator can have permadom and great defenses and Tankers can wipe out a whole enemy spawn with a giant fireball with more damage than a Blaster's Tier 9. We also created a Ranged/Defense AT that essentially functions like a tough to kill Corruptor who forgot to take any of his support powers. I earnestly don't want "Freeform" character design. What I would like is new ways to play this old game we all love. All the "Main Roles" for team-based MMO combat are covered twice over at this point by "Secondary Roles" that can step over any gap they might have keeping them away. The only new ways we can approach the game are to expand the powersets that exist (Adding more, which requires shitloads of art and time) or mix and match powerset types on new ATs like the powersets are Legos and we're pulling apart the house to build a spaceship. Does it mean we're ignoring the "MMORPG Team Design" dynamic? Sure. But who cares? Once you get above 5 people on a team it doesn't matter what the new people are so long as they add more damage/heals/controls/whatever unless there's something your specifically lacking. Take a team of 7 characters of randomly selected ATs and it doesn't matter what the 8th one who joins is 9 times out of 10. I feel this. More powers, less archetypes. Powers Ideas are the future. What isn't covered?

Just a thought on this: I doubt anyone disagrees this is desirable as a potential feature because more options is more win. That said, the initial intent of the art direction was to make it feel like the comic books of that era. Art direction, as I understand it is very limited in scope at the moment in what it can and can't do. So far I've only heard about static objects being doable from the notes I've seen and nothing about new costume pieces. Additionally this requires all meshes and rigs for female toons to be updated which is a pretty big job. I think the best way to get it to happen would be to know how to do it yourself and volunteer for the project. So far any art I've seen come in came from people that are volunteering their skills and time.

I like the idea, but I see technical problems with it. Many many base builders are building with clipped walls and that presents huge issues for any AI, like, with pathing and collission and pretty much all the problems. Static statue imports might be doable, but that's a big ask for custom imports for all players like that when it's a completely free game. Additionally can create issues with clutter and rending for busy super group hideouts, particularly ones with lots of custom effects layered in.

Seems like this might be a good plan, especially since these were offered for cash previously. This is especially important if the devs aren't giving out respecs any time changes to a build might occur.

Currently I have to bounce back and forth to sharkhead isle and first ward in order to complete story missions. Putting a tunnel in each map to first ward would help cut back on extra loading screens as a QoL. It's not anything useful to have to use extra loading screens, I get that the ferry is wanted to be relavent, but you can do that by simply having those portals only go to first ward rather than new locations, granted they could still get there from first ward, but they can do that from mercy island at the start of the game, so it's not exactly helping anything to have the extra loading screens. I assume the situation is similar on hero side.

https://snag.gy/alMEK6.jpg texture circled in red is really bad, not transparent at all. Would recommend a pass on it, was in a praetoria mission "recover magic relic for the midnight carnival.

I checked the music files listed and I couldn't find the metal riff that plays when we get off the ferry at cap au diable, can we make that available? would very much like to use that. If I'm just an idiot and missed something, please point out the correct track.

I don't like the idea that a nemesis would be tied to a sidekick out of necessity. It could be, but I don't think it should be. For example, batman has robin as a sidekick and joker as an arch nemesis and in most cases they are not the same person ever (I think there was one arc where this wasn't the case, but I wasn't a huge batman reader, just using the obvious example). I also think some limitations for sidekicks beyond just for solo: summonable, -10% (or so, would have to balance it right) to xp pool, starts with one secondary power set and one power pool to start, can auto level up or manually, always has 2 less enhancement slots than the player. I think this would ensure the sidekicks are always avoiding overshadowing the main hero, and would also make it so that teaming up with actual heroes is generally preferred.

This is already in the game if... you are a roleplayer and use your imagination, which is kinda like a basic skill. I'd rather development be spent on other stuff like arch nemesis and sidekick systems.

To respond to a few things here: Renaming is an obvious need since nemesis is a faction, but I'm pretty sure we can all google "thesaurus" and find something fitting. The key challenge for the naming is that it would have to be neutral since players can flip factions, and in theory, your nemesis should too, when you do. I'm not keen on the sidekick notion, and this is why: players are designed already to be sidekicks and x-efactors. I think doing this would encourage more solo rather than team play and also would absolutely be abused by team play to add even more stress to the system, though keeping it to just solo would be reasonably lore friendly (since you don't see robin with batman while he's doing justice league stuff, etc). Additionally, giving players a sidekick before level 25 seems kinda silly since... why would they have one if they aren't very powerful themselves? What would be cool I think though, is for team play is that multiple nemesi could spawn together in a team up to take the heroes down, which would be cool AF. I do think giving player choice here would be good. IE, should your nemesis be "more powerful, on par, or less powerful" than your character/team. If they spawn in a mission without other nemesi, perhaps adding extra mobs of whatever the board faction is ties to their aggro trigger would be good, as if they are presently working with whatever faction to try and bring down the hero/villain. Either way, short of the naming convention, I'm all for this stuff, hoping someone can implement it at some point since this really goes a long way to make your character feel more involved in the world as a personal experience, rather than being "just another hero/villain" in the sea.

Something I forgot was in a different game but totoally should be importaed here: https://championsonline.fandom.com/wiki/Nemesis_System the system allows you to create a foil arch nemesis that can spawn. I know right now development is focused on stuff like stability, but I'd love to see a project that includes something like that. Even if it's just a random % spawn chance on a mission. This added a lot to make the character feel like they had their own storyline apart from the game. If there's any interest, I can't code, but I'm good with systems design if there's any will from the powers that be to see something like this. I know it's from champions, but they don't own the concept of an arch nemesis, and it's very much a comics flavor thing.