Tacopotamus Posted October 22, 2019 Posted October 22, 2019 I can’t help but notice a lot of hate on cones. I personally love them but I thought of one way that might make it more useful to players that feel a necessity to see how far and how narrow their cone may be while laying out the assault. My thought is: is it possible to see the area of effect if you held down the attack? Leaving this thought out there. Opinions? 3
Haijinx Posted October 23, 2019 Posted October 23, 2019 Is this even possible? I know a lot of newer games do this. But just seems like something that would have needed to be designed in early.
Hedgefund Posted October 23, 2019 Posted October 23, 2019 I wrote that request with my user hat on. Someone wearing a coder hat would have to answer whether it's feasible or possible.
Tacopotamus Posted October 23, 2019 Author Posted October 23, 2019 34 minutes ago, Haijinx said: Is this even possible? I know a lot of newer games do this. But just seems like something that would have needed to be designed in early. Good question. I’m unsure whether LoS can become visible but I can’t imagine it would be impossible to display.
biostem Posted October 23, 2019 Posted October 23, 2019 I wonder if something like this could be implemented: Imagine if every character got a selection of "free powers" - these actually don't deal any damage or attract aggro/break stealth in any way. All they do is project a graphical representation of the cone or PBAoE associated with each of these "free powers". It wouldn't be perfect, but it could assist you in lining up attacks... 1
FDR's Think Tank Posted October 23, 2019 Posted October 23, 2019 Or make cone powers have two clicks to activate. The first click would project the cone estimate. This way, someone who doesn't have time to really check their cone range can just unload it fairly quick. 2
biostem Posted October 23, 2019 Posted October 23, 2019 26 minutes ago, FDR's Think Tank said: Or make cone powers have two clicks to activate. The first click would project the cone estimate. This way, someone who doesn't have time to really check their cone range can just unload it fairly quick. Is this something that can be done? If so, that'd be awesome, (though it'd require reworking all cone/PBAoE powers in order to do so, whereas my idea would basically just require 1 power for each size of cone/PBAoE).
srmalloy Posted October 23, 2019 Posted October 23, 2019 22 hours ago, Hedgefund said: I wrote that request with my user hat on. Someone wearing a coder hat would have to answer whether it's feasible or possible. I am certain that it is technically feasible -- you already see a marker for a Location AoE, for example. Whether it is practical depends on how it gets implemented into the UI and around the existing code. Pressing and holding the key for the command already uses keyboard autorepeat to queue up that power to fire when it recharges. Pressing and holding the mouse button over the icon in the tray already 'picks up' the icon to drag it to another slot. Modifier keys like control, shift, and alt are already in use to activate powers in other trays. So using any of those means that you have a cascade of UI changes that have to be made, making everything more complex. Since there's already a marker for Location AoEs, though, the changes to make it show the AoE area should be much less than it would be for cones or targeted AoEs. But that last assumes that there is some rationality in the code that displays the location marker. 1
DougGraves Posted October 24, 2019 Posted October 24, 2019 There are 3 basic ways to do this. Have a setting that always displays an aoe. You could make it an aura - have AoE for burn always display. This should be easy. Have the aoe outline display before you trigger it like targeted aoe's do. This would make cones and such take multiple clicks to activate which might be annoying - so you'd have to make it optional somehow. Have the aoe outline show after it is used. It is not always clear how big an aoe is, so this would show you and train you. You wouldn't be able to line it up before you use it, but you would learn how big it is over time and use. 2
biostem Posted October 24, 2019 Posted October 24, 2019 58 minutes ago, DougGraves said: Have a setting that always displays an aoe. You could make it an aura - have AoE for burn always display. With how relatively easy it is to change costumes, plus all the "free" costume slots we're given, this might not be a bad idea.
Tacopotamus Posted October 24, 2019 Author Posted October 24, 2019 1 hour ago, DougGraves said: Have the aoe outline show after it is used. It is not always clear how big an aoe is, so this would show you and train you. You wouldn't be able to line it up before you use it, but you would learn how big it is over time and use. I like this one. Leaving an after trail and teaching the user seems practical to me. Almost like learning the trajectory in a game of pool. Great idea! 1
EmmySky Posted October 24, 2019 Posted October 24, 2019 This sounds like something more easily done (time and mechanics wise) by a mod. I think vidiotmaps replaces the image files entirely but we are 15 years later and someone with some Photoshop (for transparent layers) might be able to make a vidiotmaps-type mod that provides an overlay of power activation area of effect outlines(PBAoE, AoE, Targetted AoE, cone....all of them). Before anyone says it....not me...I suck at Photoshop. It would be too difficult to have it read game files and see your enhancements and change the outlines depending on if youve enhanced a powers range but a baseline outline might be doable. Of course this could be wildly inaccurate depending on your PoV (first person...third person) and how far you have the camera set from your character. I just think that with the spaghetti code and volunteer devs, this kind of QoL is going to go to a back burner whereas someone with some modding knowledge might be able to pull it off because they aren't dealing with spaghetti or with people demanding they fix actual broken stuff. Just my 2 cents. Happy hunting! ps...OP started out with 'people hate on cones'.....my first toon, and first 50, was storm/energy defender...imagine my chagrin when I bought range enhancements and they wouldn't go in the power because you had to specifically get cone range enhancements...thus was born my hate of cones. Although iirc they changed that so a range enh is a range enh is a range enh but by then it was too late....the distaste for cones is hard to get over...lol
Shadowsleuth Posted October 24, 2019 Posted October 24, 2019 11 hours ago, FDR's Think Tank said: Or make cone powers have two clicks to activate. The first click would project the cone estimate. This way, someone who doesn't have time to really check their cone range can just unload it fairly quick. A two click change would be an elegant solution. It could be similar to how teleport works, clicking the teleport button shows where you will end up (in this case it would project the cone or AoE), left mouse click activates the power; & if you don't want to fire off the power just press the "esc" key to stop the first click projection. New Costume Pieces Request Thread New Weapon & Shield Models Request Thread
Crysta Clear Posted October 24, 2019 Posted October 24, 2019 If that is added, make it an option please. I don't want to have to click twice when I've been doing just fine learning my cones without a marker.
Steampunkette Posted October 24, 2019 Posted October 24, 2019 It would not be Feasible to implement. Wildstar was designed from the beginning to show you the shape of a power when you hovered over it because it kind of needed to as a "Skillshot" game. City of Heroes wasn't designed with anything like that, in mind. Not only would you have to craft the templates, you'd have to create a power that causes the shadow to appear on your target, or on yourself, as a separate power distinct from other powers and let people fire it off. And it would require the creation of a Pseudopet because Cones and Fireballs are instantaneous effects. I think it would probably be easier to create a separate version of a given powerset called "Easymode Fire Blast" or whatever which added a massive green outline to the VFX of the power so that each time you used it, it created that big visual to make it easier to learn how to use it... Maybe make it a "Help Menu" clickable that decides whether you're using the Easymode power call or the Normal power call.
Tacopotamus Posted October 24, 2019 Author Posted October 24, 2019 51 minutes ago, Steampunkette said: And it would require the creation of a Pseudopet because Cones and Fireballs are instantaneous effects. Is this true?
Tacopotamus Posted October 24, 2019 Author Posted October 24, 2019 59 minutes ago, Steampunkette said: Maybe make it a "Help Menu" clickable that decides whether you're using the Easymode power call or the Normal power call. I could see this. A helper tool would do wonders for inexperienced players or people that just enjoy the visual. I totally get it.
Steampunkette Posted October 24, 2019 Posted October 24, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Tacopotamus said: Is this true? When you fire off a cone it just goes. Boom. Gone. It calculates area and then it's over. Same with Fireball type effects. If you wanted the cone to show up it would need to exist on the ground in a longer term thing. A pet could be a cone, basically, sticking out from the front of an invisible stick figure. Like the ultimate costume clipping error, facing the target. Edited October 24, 2019 by Steampunkette
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