Move most starting costume slots to P2W

[Replacement]

No seriously, this is a QoL buff.

 

I would love if, instead of all costume slots unlocked for free, we started with 1-3 costume slots unlocked, and all the rest were redeemed for free from the P2W.  I would expect this to only apply to new characters moving forward.

 

But why..?

 

Because some of us (and so probably many of us) often make tweaks after character creation and would like them to propagate through to the other slots.  I'm to the point where if I notice my Scales are off, I'm more likely to delete and remake the toon than go through and ensure I keep them consistent across all slots.

 

Aside from Scales, I think the other big area we see this is Power Customization.  Forgetting to update a power's colors or set a no redraw, fixing it at level 2, then forgetting about the other billion slots until level 30 when I make my... I dunno, Croatoan Farmer Theme outfit - gets old.

 

Functionality tip for context (tested just before typing this): costume slots are copied from slot 0 at the time of costume slot unlock.  This means you can save yourself work by making any "affects all slots" type adjustments to your slot 0 costume before running your unlock missions.  And ideally, before obtaining them via p2w.

 

Thread title edit for clarity: costumes -> costume slots.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Replacement

[BrandX]

You could just go in, change the slots.  Save the costume.  Go to the other slot.  Load up the changed slots.  Then change the costume itself.

 

I've had to do this multiple times as I figure out where I want those sliders.

[Rathulfr]

No, thank you.  I just load saved costumes into the other slots, anyway, so there's no point in changing game mechanics for that.

 

[arthurh35353]

Actually, it does make sense as a Quality of Life change. Sometime it takes a while to figure out the 'base' figure that you then make changes off of. And could end up saving millions of INF later on.

[Grindingsucks]

Most of my characters, I pay zero (or very little) for costume designs.  It depends on whether our character is a fashion fanatic that likes to have lots of different outfits to wear (mine aren't, and typically are able to make use of the free tailor tokens that you get throughout the game).

 

Having said that, I don't really see the point of charging for cosmetic changes, at all.  That's an artifact of live-game revenue source and no longer needed (IMO).  I feel the same way about the player market, generally, but people get their panties in a knot if you try to make that argument.

 

Let's see how I long it takes people to go bonkers at my suggestion that we don't need to pay for costumes, because it will somehow "destroy the game".  😃

[arthurh35353]

The Devs love having an INF sink. They are not going to get rid of it fully.

[Replacement]

7 hours ago, BrandX said:

You could just go in, change the slots.  Save the costume.  Go to the other slot.  Load up the changed slots.  Then change the costume itself.

 

I've had to do this multiple times as I figure out where I want those sliders.

Yes, you have described how the game currently functions.  What I am suggesting is an improvement to this flow.  It would cost you about 4 clicks on a new character while you're already there picking up your other p2w goodies, but it would save me a great deal of irritation.

7 hours ago, Rathulfr said:

No, thank you.  I just load saved costumes into the other slots, anyway, so there's no point in changing game mechanics for that.

 

Just so I'm clear, your opposition is coming from a perspective of "there are better things for the devs to do with their time"?

[TemporalVileTerror]

OOH!  Whoops.  I totally misunderstood what was being proposed here.  Apologies for that.

I see . . . hmm . . . it's a bit of an odd hassle with the way you're proposing, no?  I mean, not everyone uses the P2W Vendors, and I'm not sure I fully understand your intent, @Replacement.  

Maybe instead we could look in to adding an option to "Copy-Overwrite" a costume with a single command or add that to the P2W Vendor?

 

Alternatively, as I posted before I (think I) understood what you were proposing; would you be happy with 5 Costume Slots available as P2W Vendor purchases -in addition to- the existing Costume Slots? 

 

 

Original text:

I'm all for additional alternative means to unlocks.

The only potential problem, however, is how will this look in the code?  As it stands, based on my rudimentary understanding of the costume unlock code, it's "slot agnostic."  That is, you can do the costume unlock missions in any order (assuming you meet the level requirements), and it'll just up and unlock the next slot for you.

 

I mean, unless we're adding another 5 costume slots (which, frankly, I am very much FOR as well), and these P2W Costume Slots are in addition to the standard missions, then I see no real problems.

 

Or is that "in addition to, if" rather than "unless?"

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by TemporalVileTerror
Fundamental reading comprehension failure.

[Rathulfr]

18 hours ago, Replacement said:

Just so I'm clear, your opposition is coming from a perspective of "there are better things for the devs to do with their time"?

 

No, there are better things for me to do with my time.  I don't want to bother with the P2W vendor for this.

 

[Six-Six]

You know you can save a) your costume specs b) your scales and c) your power customisation colours--even until incarnates and load them up through a surgeon. 

If we were going to request for a substantial change to costume management, I would recommend scale sliders with numeric values so you can remember/copy the exact scale changes to your toon.

[arthurh35353]

3 hours ago, Six-Six said:

You know you can save a) your costume specs b) your scales and c) your power customisation colours--even until incarnates and load them up through a surgeon. 

If we were going to request for a substantial change to costume management, I would recommend scale sliders with numeric values so you can remember/copy the exact scale changes to your toon.

Can't you basically do that by saving the costume slot, opening the text? You can even change a different costume slot to match the numbers?

[TemporalVileTerror]

Would be nice to get the same level of fidelity we can achieve with .costume file edits directly in the game itself.

[Six-Six]

9 hours ago, arthurh35353 said:

Can't you basically do that by saving the costume slot, opening the text? You can even change a different costume slot to match the numbers?

I heard you can. but being a total tool with those type of things, I would prefer a UI version... but I've done fine just eye-balling it. 😃  no complaints

[Greycat]

Chewed on this a bit. I think if this were added to the game, I'd pick it up at or after level 4-6 and picking up a travel power, since it's an annoyance to have to go in to each one and set it to noFX (or whatever.)

 

I'd personally rather have a UI element - just a checkbox that says "propagate across all costumes" for specific changes. But I'd probably use this. *shrug*

[Calamity Cain]

On 1/26/2021 at 3:44 PM, Grindingsucks said:

Most of my characters, I pay zero (or very little) for costume designs.  It depends on whether our character is a fashion fanatic that likes to have lots of different outfits to wear (mine aren't, and typically are able to make use of the free tailor tokens that you get throughout the game).

 

Having said that, I don't really see the point of charging for cosmetic changes, at all.  That's an artifact of live-game revenue source and no longer needed (IMO).  I feel the same way about the player market, generally, but people get their panties in a knot if you try to make that argument.

 

Let's see how I long it takes people to go bonkers at my suggestion that we don't need to pay for costumes, because it will somehow "destroy the game".  😃

Well keep in mind that there IS an economy at work here, however wonky it might be or whether you might dismiss such a thing. I would really like to hear devs or seasoned traders weigh in on this point. But then, it's also a bit off topic and definitely a whole thread in itself.

 

More to the point for the OP: I'm not following. Surely simply saving and reloading costumes isn't such a hassle that you need to reroll an entire character for minor adjustments? I don't see the structural problem with the game here, only a problem with your choice of solution. 

 

I err on the side of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" and "spend your time working on things with better value added for more players".

[Replacement]

On 1/27/2021 at 12:54 PM, Six-Six said:

You know you can save a) your costume specs b) your scales and c) your power customisation colours--even until incarnates and load them up through a surgeon. 

If we were going to request for a substantial change to costume management, I would recommend scale sliders with numeric values so you can remember/copy the exact scale changes to your toon.

Yes, you have described how the game currently functions.  What I am suggesting is an improvement to this flow. 

 

I suggested this change specifically because it seemed of lesser scale (these were costume slots that used to not exist, so I presume there is already a lever to set this up without tremendous development cost).

 

I would indeed like slider values (I have a thread on that too), though that wouldn't save me from having to edit Tough to "Flex" 7 times.

15 hours ago, Greycat said:

Chewed on this a bit. I think if this were added to the game, I'd pick it up at or after level 4-6 and picking up a travel power, since it's an annoyance to have to go in to each one and set it to noFX (or whatever.)

 

I'd personally rather have a UI element - just a checkbox that says "propagate across all costumes" for specific changes. But I'd probably use this. *shrug*

Certainly would prefer this.  As above, that just felt a little out-of-scope-y.

[arthurh35353]

5 hours ago, Replacement said:

I suggested this change specifically because it seemed of lesser scale (these were costume slots that used to not exist, so I presume there is already a lever to set this up without tremendous development cost).

No, these were vet reward costume slots, IIRC. So you had to go in and redeem them, which could be annoying, but I did tend to redeem the costume slots a bit later and after I had more stabilized my base look.

 

(Double checking, it looks like it was the every 12 month award. So you could unlock 5 of them when Live shut down.)

[dangeraaron10]

I'd rather go for an option that "propogates for all costume slots" feature that Greycat said.  Feels like a less roundabout way of fixing the admittedly annoying problem of having to adjust all your stances and pool powers in every individual coustume post character creation.  

 

If your change was implemented at least I could wait to pick up costumes until after I picked up a travel power to do minFX and save it.

 

Edit:  Not trying to poo poo on your idea or anything but I think a propogate costume part button is a more elegant solution.  And that is a big part of how HC devs do new features.  Ease of implementation is one thing but they care just as much if not much more so about an elegant implementation.  Can't have all your new game features held together with the code equivalents of duct tape and bubblegum!

Edited January 29, 2021 by dangeraaron10

[golstat2003]

I'm for any and all suggestions that improve how we deal with costumes in COH. Including all the ones posted in this thread, including the OPs. QOL stuff is great. 😀

[arthurh35353]

7 hours ago, dangeraaron10 said:

Edit:  Not trying to poo poo on your idea or anything but I think a propogate costume part button is a more elegant solution.  And that is a big part of how HC devs do new features.  Ease of implementation is one thing but they care just as much if not much more so about an elegant implementation.  Can't have all your new game features held together with the code equivalents of duct tape and bubblegum!

It sounds like we may need more of a save stances/inherents options for the costume creator then.