Give Ms. Liberty a Break

[biostem]

There's a strong Longbow presence in AP, especially around City Hall and the statue of Atlas.  No reason a Warden or 3 couldn't be placed at strategic locations to provide additional guidance to new(er) heroes...

[Player2]

3 minutes ago, biostem said:

There's a strong Longbow presence in AP, especially around City Hall and the statue of Atlas.  No reason a Warden or 3 couldn't be placed at strategic locations to provide additional guidance to new(er) heroes...

Warden where Back Alley Brawler currently is... another Warden in Fort Trident, and BAB can stand below Atlas.

[mbre2006]

Or we can use Back Alley Brawler since he is sitting in Atlas doing nothing and was a former trainer.

[Player2]

1 minute ago, mbre2006 said:

Or we can use Back Alley Brawler since he is sitting in Atlas doing nothing and was a former trainer.

I agree.  Just above your post, in fact.  Perhaps you missed it because I abbreviated his name to just BAB.

[mbre2006]

Just now, Player2 said:

I agree.  Just above your post, in fact.  Perhaps you missed it because I abbreviated his name to just BAB.

Nope, I missed it because I had the page loaded but forgot to reload.

[macskull]

Back Alley Brawler is still a trainer in AP, isn't he...?

 

EDIT: I am the dumb, nevermind. I misread the OP, or something like that.

Edited March 1, 2020 by macskull
i can't brain today, i has the dumb

[Sif]

Easy solution that everyone will like:

Dr. Vahzilok nabs Statesman's body, and reanimates it. Now you've got a zombified version shambling around, that will mumble zombified cliche heroic lines.

[Haijinx]

8 minutes ago, Sif said:

Easy solution that everyone will like:

Dr. Vahzilok nabs Statesman's body, and reanimates it. Now you've got a zombified version shambling around, that will mumble zombified cliche heroic lines.

Pretty sure that was a DLC in Saint's Row 3 

[VileTerror]

And here I was, Sif, thinking you were about to suggest that Dr. Vahzilok himself ends up being the trainer under Atlas.

[BrandX]

I was under the idea, that story wise, she's not there 24/7.  

[Player2]

27 minutes ago, BrandX said:

I was under the idea, that story wise, she's not there 24/7.  

The fact that she is there 24/7, as well as always in those other two locations at the same time, kinda blunts the story aspect.

 

Someone mentioned a rotating trainer.  If they could find a way to alternate who stands there, that would be pretty cool.

[EmmySky]

I tried breaking off a piece of that kitt-katt bar for her but she wouldnt take it.  Maybe shes a zombie.  😝

[VileTerror]

I mean, the tech is there, if they want to risk it imploding on itself.

 

An NPC can be toggled to be invisible/untargetable, as we can see with Dana Habashy in Atlas Park.  We can also see in Port Oakes with the Family that NPCs can be directed to exit from a door, follow a path, and enter another door.  And finally, we've seen tech added that turns Contacts -into- mission doors.

So, if we have a non-trainer version of Ms. Liberty (for example) step out of a door at x:00am and walk to her pedestal, triggering the hero trainer currently stationed there to go invisible and spawn a non-trainer version of themself, who then follows their path to a door (City Hall?), with non-trainer Ms. Liberty then despawning as trainer Ms. Liberty becomes visible . . .

 

So, it's convoluted, and could probably unravel like a poorly knit sweater in the paws of a feisty kitten . . . but from my understanding of the underlying tech, it's totally possible!

[Infinitum]

13 hours ago, Menelruin said:

Have it so "Marcus Cole" is resurrected, but the Well had already passed on his incarnate powers to someone else.  So now he's no longer able to play with the big boys himself, but he still REMEMBERS tips and tricks for up-and-coming supers, so is useful as a trainer.

 

Problem solved. 

I don't think Marcus Cole ever died - just was defeated and lost everything, perfect grounds for a redemption arc.

[BrandX]

1 hour ago, Player2 said:

The fact that she is there 24/7, as well as always in those other two locations at the same time, kinda blunts the story aspect.

 

Someone mentioned a rotating trainer.  If they could find a way to alternate who stands there, that would be pretty cool.

No it doesn't, because that's never been how CoH's story works.  You do stuff, it says, "Hey you saved this part of the city, time for the PPD to mop up."

 

Then of course, you go back and go "Whaaaat?  But I cleared this up!"  😛

 

Some parts of CoH's story means you have to ignore the meta aspects of the game.

 

After all, trainer going "Oh, you have slots on you.  Covered in badges.  Some badges make you harder to tire or kill."  Yeah.  That's all meta.  Just like them standing there going, "Hey, you've gotten some enhancement slots."

[Player2]

6 hours ago, BrandX said:

Some parts of CoH's story means you have to ignore the meta aspects of the game.

I have to ignore the meta aspects of the game, but what I'm telling you is that there's too much meta stuff happening to ignore.  I could accept if I talk to a contact somewhere and then that contact shows up in a mission and I'm left wondering how they got there ahead of me.  But if I see Ms. Liberty standing in front of the Atlas statue and then wander over to the Ft. Trident entrance and pop in, there she is again.  So, nope...  can't ignore that.

 

Someone says "getting team together next to Ms. Liberty" and I show up next to her in Independence Port and ask, where are you and where's the team?  "Oh, I'm standing next to the Ms. Liberty in AP."  Nope... can't ignore that.

 

Yes, some things you have to let slide, like stationary characters standing in place 24/7 to accommodate people who need them to be there.  But I don't think anyone needs to occupy 3 open map locations simultaneously.  Ms. Liberty has taken over the Statesman task force, great.  There is absolutely no reason that she needs to continue to stand in Atlas Park anymore.  Let her move on to do other things.

[Shadowsleuth]

Leave Ms. Liberty in Independence Port handling the Ms. Liberty Task Force; replace the Ms. Liberty in Atlas with (a newly cured) Hero 1.

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by Shadowsleuth

[Sif]

7 hours ago, Player2 said:

But if I see Ms. Liberty standing in front of the Atlas statue and then wander over to the Ft. Trident entrance and pop in, there she is again.  So, nope...  can't ignore that.

She's not the only one that's in both Fort Trident and out in the world handing out task forces. Also, teleporters.

 

I also completely forgot Fort Trident was a thing until this thread. It just feels so... badly done.

[GM Miss]

On 2/29/2020 at 3:39 PM, Giovanni Valia said:

...or even better, remove Ms. Liberty and have Lord Recluse take her place. Atlas Park should be perpetually engulfed in flames as well. Now THAT would be a very welcoming sight for new players!

Profile pic checks out.

[tidge]

Is Hero 1 really cured? Did Ms. Liberty ever give him his sword back? It feels like all my toons are recovering Hero 1's blood/letter/whatever or just beating him down.

[LordXenophon]

 

On ‎2‎/‎29‎/‎2020 at 6:37 PM, krj12 said:

I could see something like a rotation of trainers in  that spot - would be a very nice feature to see them relieving each other of duty, periodically.  Maybe a rotation of Ms Liberty,  BaB, and Coyote?

How about a couple of assistant trainers, so there isn't such a large crowd around her that you can't find a place to click?

[BrandX]

If you were going to move Ms Liberty, wouldn't the best replacement be Back Alley Brawler, who can say, "I'll meet you in Atlas!" when you leave Galaxy Tutorial?

[Chris24601]

On 2/29/2020 at 5:38 PM, Shadowsleuth said:

One question, we've seen Kheldians merge with ordinary humans, but in the game lore have we ever seen what happens when a Kheldian merges with someone who already has powers?

Theoretically, they should have both powers.

 

I’ve been meaning to post over on the Low-Hanging Fruit thread, that it’d be relatively straightforward to create several sets (armor, blast, melee, assault, manipulation, control) based on the PB/WS sets so you could mix and match them with other sets to specifically create heroes who had merged with a Kheld, provide another option for human-only Khelds to build (Kheld blaster, Kheld tank, Etc.), and let players refluff the abilities as desired (such as the Praetorian character who uses PB blasts that come from their power armor).

 

That said, not the right approach to Statesman returning IMHO. I’m in the either “leave him dead or if he returns make it mean something” camp; heavily slanted to “leave him dead” just because it was pretty clear in his death scene that he was a tired old man who’d never quite gotten over the death of his wife and was only pushing on out of a sense of duty. All he needed was the assurance that the world wouldn’t end without him and he died with a smile on his face.

 

Knowing that there’s a genuine afterlife in the CoH universe so he’s with his wife and daughter (who was canonically 72 when she died) would actually make yanking him out of Heaven rather cruel actually.

 

So if they were to bring him back you’d almost need it to be due to a villain resurrecting him in some scheme where he’s under their control and where States can’t be killed again (which is what he’d probably want) so the only remaining option to stopping the villain is to break their control and get mopey immortal States back.

 

I’m going to propose an even more radical answer to the Ms. Liberty issue though. Since CoH has always used real dates for historical events, most of the Freedom Phalanx is actually getting into Star Trek V territory and the members of the Vindicators “junior team” are in their late 30s at the youngest.

 

While some, like Numina, Citadel and Ms. Liberty, have functional immortality for one reason or another, Back Alley Brawler is 60, Position is 58, Synapse is 54 and Manticore is 52 as of 2020. Likewise, Mynx is 38. Penelope is the youngest; 18-19 in the Faultline arc and joins the Phalanx five years later in 2012 so 31-32.

 

My suggestion is that we should have even more changes made to the trainers/TF contacts; in some cases even swapping the TF giver with the trainer to reflect the former sidekick becoming a main hero and the Phalanx member stepping back into a Mentor role. In some cases it might make sense to outright replace the hero entirely (or at least give them a visual update).

 

For example; Manticore should either be decked out in a powered exoskeleton to compensate for all the beatings he’s taken like Batman in The Dark Knight Returns or Kingdom Come or he should be made the trainer a la a Batman Beyond-style badass mentor too beat up to keep fighting himself, but passing along his wisdom to the next generation).

 

In point of fact, pushing the “I’m too old for this” aspect would actually make a lot of the TFs more plausible. The older Phalanx members are symbols and have scores of contacts that help them coordinate responses to threats the city faces; but they’re getting too old to be anything but a liability in the field, which is why they’re relying on the players to save the day.

 

Perhaps that might be something to look at when (hopefully) the HC team eventually gets around to cleaning up the other TFs the way Posi and Yin were.

 

On 3/1/2020 at 12:06 AM, mbre2006 said:

Or we can use Back Alley Brawler since he is sitting in Atlas doing nothing and was a former trainer.

Hey! Back Alley Brawler plays a VERY useful role in Atlas. He’s right next to Aaron Thiery and so is the ideal trainer to hit after finishing the middle arc of the Atlas Park mission chain.

 

Between endurance issues and TOs not mattering much I often skip leveling in Atlas once I get my level 4 power just because I don’t wanna run all the way back to Ms. Liberty each time when the mission chain is designed to pretty smoothly move you from one mission/contact to the next with minimal backtracking.

 

But popping around the corner to BABs after you get Theiry as your third contact and you’ve got 2-4 level-ups stacked on you is super convenient.

 

If anything, BABs not only needs to stay where he is, he needs a vendor by him just because I routinely hit level 7 about then and that’s a good time to slot some acc TOs to make up for the slow reduction of your base to-hit number you’re starting to feel if you haven’t started slotting them by then.

Edited March 2, 2020 by Chris24601

[Rylas]

On 2/29/2020 at 2:42 PM, Solarverse said:

you are simply one confused individual and smoke tons of pot...

Whoa, whoa, whoa. There's no need to disparage cannabis like that.

 

What about a Statesman from an alternate timeline. I like the idea of the "original" staying dead, but having a slightly different one brought in through a compelling storyline. Could be a fun Incarnate level arc.

[Shadowsleuth]

Speaking of alternate versions of Statesman, in the NCSoft game MxM they had Emperor Cole (Tyrant) remorseful over his actions & the massive loss of life he has caused & was now traveling to other worlds looking for some way to redeem himself.

 

I wonder if the Homecoming devs will use that in any way.

 

Alternate timeline/parallel earth Statesman is a great idea, but before we introduce yet another version of Cole, I first would first like to see on one of these multitude of alternate earths someone who found Well long before Marcus Cole or Recluse.

 

It would be cool if its a woman; Ms. Liberty is powerful but nowhere near as powerful as either of them; & someone different other than a parallel version of Lady Grey would be a welcome addition.