Poison: Allow for Additional Customization Options

[xColdxFusionx]

I'd like to preface this thread with a bit of a story.

I rolled up a Mind Control/Poison Controller a few weeks ago. The concept was that she was a river spirit, who was able to generate and manipulate mystical waters in combat. I chose Poison specifically because I wanted to differentiate her from my /Water Blast Defender, and thought recoloring Poison to look like enchanted water would be a good way to go about capturing the "wily trickster" persona since it would make her less about direct damage and overpowering foes, and more of disabling them for her friends to clean up. ...In the course of setting up her default power customizations, however, I noticed a few... strange things about the way that Poison is set up in the power editor.

 

...On that front, I have three suggestions I would like to make in order to help the game more readily handle not only this concept, but a variety of other concepts that currently require some finagling:

 

Suggestion 1: Allow Elixir Of Life's color scheme to be fully customizable.

As currently implemented, Elixir Of Life only applies its palette to the particle effect spawned on the target; the poison globule that appears around the caster's hand is always the same shade of green. This strange inconsistency in how the power's effects are handled makes it somewhat more difficult to realize more out-of-the-box concepts like the above without an elevated level of Suspension of Disbelief. Please make this glob in "Elixir of Life" recolorable as per the particle effect.

 

Suggestion 2: Add an alternate model for Poison Trap

Poison Trap's current default model is... an explosive charge. A very high-tech explosive charge. Not only does this clash with quite a few character concepts that would theoretically use the Poison set, but it also clashes with several Poison powers that show the user breathing or spitting poison. An alternative model that fits for more Mutant, Magic, and Natural characters who naturally secrete poisons would be appreciated; perhaps one of bubbles or whirlpools from the Hydra fight in Death From Below could be used as a basis, or perhaps there's some other model or effect that could be used...?

 

Suggestion 3: Add alternative casting animations to Poison powers

We've got a few power sets with alternative casting animations that show characters either spitting fire or releasing it from their hands. As it currently stands, Poison has only one option for each power; many of these animations are even at odds with each other, with characters spitting out clouds of toxic gas in one animation and firing bolts from a wrist-mounted launcher in the next. Alternate animations for these powers would be greatly appreciated for those of us who want to have a more Technology-based character who creates his toxins in a vat on his back and sprays them out of his hands, or a more primal character who has mastered the art of spitting poisons from his venom glands.

 

I realize that City of Heroes is a plate of spaghetti in the vague shape of a video game, and that some of these suggestions might be difficult or even not feasible with the way the engine currently functions. Regardless, I wished to pitch these ideas in the name of Making Cool Stuff, on the off chance that the dev team would be willing and able to spend a few cycles looking into these requests.