issue 27 Focused Feedback: Permanent NPC Costume Power Rewards

[The Curator]

Permanent NPC Costume Power Rewards

Prismatic Aether & Purchasing Costumes

• These are new reward offerings that are purchased using Prismatic Aether Particle salvage earned primarily through completing Advanced Difficulty content, but can also be obtained over time from first Weekly Strike Target completions on a max level character or purchased from other players.
• Previously, these costumes were only available as prizes from Homecoming contests or events.

• While those event prize costumes were granted to all characters on an account, all costume powers purchased with Prismatic Aether Particle salvage are only per-character.
• Otherwise, these purchasable costume powers are the exact same powers that were given out as prizes and let you change your appearance to match the look of an NPC!

BenevoLabs Hologram Vendors

• These costumes are sold from new 'BenevoLabs Hologram Vendor' NPCs found within Vault Reserve stores anywhere in the game.

The future is now!

• These new NPC vendors also explain how / where Prismatic Aether Particle salvage is obtained.

BenevoLabs huh? I'm sure they're not using these particles for anything nefarious.

Permanent Costume Power Specifics, Rarity Tiers, & Costs

• There are four tiers of permanent costume powers, Standard, Vintage, Deluxe, and Vanguard.
• Any costumes that have multiple looks depending on your body type or gender have been marked 'Mode Costumes'.
• Mode Costumes have a 50% Prismatic Aether Particle salvage cost increase relative to their respective tier (example: 10->15).
• All of these costumes have the same restrictions as previously existing costume powers.
• They are all listed under the category 'Prestige Costumes' in your power list.
• The naming format on all existing costume change powers has been standardized, and various inaccuracies of what the costume was have been fixed. Example: 'Freakshow Boss Costume' is now 'Costume: Freakshow Tank.'
• Nearly all costume change powers can now be used in PvP zones (they have always worked in Arena).
• All owned Prestige Costumes are now listed at the bottom of your Character Info window, visible to other players.

Tier 1 - Standard Costumes: 

• Standard Costume Powers are normal NPC appearances and cost 10/15 (normal/mode) Prismatic Aether Particle salvage each.
•  All currently existing permanent costume powers are Tier 1 and have had their icons updated.
• The Crey Agent, Olympian Guard, Paragon Protector, Vahzilok Eidolon, and Praetorian Clockwork costumes are now labeled as Mode Costumes.
• The Mode Costume: Praetorian Clockwork has been upgraded to include the combat-mode pop-out weapons, giving that costume more reason to exist when nearly all those parts are available as normal player costume pieces.
• Otherwise, as of Page 4's launch, the selection of costumes will match what has existed (linked) previously.
• Each week on Tuesday, there will be one new NPC costume added to the Tier 1 offerings automatically, this will continue every week until announced otherwise, and more will be included in future updates.
• These newly released costumes will also be added to the temporary power selection from Trick or Treating and the Halloween event vendors at the same time that the permanent versions become purchasable.
• The costumes in this tier are listed as Uncommon on the BenevoLabs vendors and should be reasonably accessible to most players who do the Weekly Strike Target often or try content at the lower Advanced Difficulty levels.

 Tier 2 - Vintage Costumes: 

• Vintage Costume Powers use retired NPC appearances that can't be found anywhere else in the game and cost 300/450 (normal/mode) Prismatic Aether Particle salvage each.
• The costumes in this tier are listed as Rare on the BenevoLabs vendors and are intended to be saved for over-time by players who play regularly and attempt content on the higher Advanced Difficulty levels.
• The Skulls Thug costume has been moved to the Vintage tier. If any Tier 1 costumes later become unused appearances they will be moved to Tier 2 and have their icon/purchase price updated.
• There are no mode costumes currently offered at this tier at the release of Page 4.

CLICK FOR PREVIEW OF VINTAGE TIER COSTUME OFFERINGS:

Spoiler

Anyone remember these guys? So retro!

(Previews in order of list below)

 

• The offering of Vintage Costume Powers will be available immediately to purchase:
  •  Costume: Legacy Circle of Thorns Guide
  •  Costume: Legacy Thorn Wielder
  •  Costume: Legacy Circle of Thorns Life Mage
  •  Costume: Legacy Circle of Thorns Ruin Mage
  •  Costume: Prototype Fake Nemesis
  •  Costume: Legacy Rikti Minion
  •  Costume: Legacy Rikti Gunman
  •  Costume: Legacy Rikti Lieutenant
  •  Costume: Legacy Rikti Boss
  •  Costume: Legacy Rikti Ambassador
  •  Costume: Legacy Skulls Thug
  •  Costume: Legacy Skulls Bone Daddy

 

Tier 3 - Deluxe Costumes: 

• Deluxe Costume Powers are very unusual or exotic appearances and cost 1000/1500 (normal/mode) Prismatic Aether Particle salvage each.
• The costumes in this tier are listed as Very Rare on the BenevoLabs vendors and are intended to serve as long-term prestige goals for extremely dedicated players who regularly complete Advanced Difficulty content on the highest levels and purchase the salvage from other players, while also serving as a market sink for the new currency.
• There are only mode costumes currently offered at this tier at the release of Page 4.

CLICK FOR PREVIEW OF DELUXE TIER COSTUME OFFERINGS:

Spoiler

These are certainly "unique" looks...

(Previews in order of list below)

 

• The offering of Deluxe Costume Powers will be available immediately to purchase:
  •  Mode Costume: Blobby - This costume will change to always match your current body type when used.
  •  Mode Costume: Mini - Cannot be used in PvP. This mode resizes your normal look to be small; Does not change your collision/hitboxes.

 

 Vanguard Tier - Uniform Costumes: 

• Vanguard Costume Powers are mode costume uniforms and cost 5000 Vanguard Merit salvage each.

• These uniform costumes will change to match your current body type and height when activated.
  •  Mode Costume: Vanguard Shield
  •  Mode Costume: Vanguard Sword

 

Now you don't have to dedicate a costume slot! (Unless you want a fancy, non-standard look)

• These are mode costumes and are listed as Very Rare and found on the Vanguard crafting tables in the Rikti War Zone under the 'Uniform' tab. These are intended to be a reward option for regular Rikti War Zone or LFG instanced Mothership raiders:

BL-22c Holographic Matrix System

• This is an accolade badge sold at the BenevoLabs vendors for 50 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage.
•  This purchase rewards the 'Hologram' badge and unlocks the 'Costume Matrix' pop-menu accolade macro from which you can access all permanent costume powers you own on that character from a single slot on your power tray.
• This also includes a power that will shut-off any active costume power.

That sure is convenient!

[Jaguaratron]

Really happy to see the classic COT costumes, I dont mind updating but I loathe wiping out the previous.

[dom9630]

5000 for 'an extra costume slot' essentially. No thank you.

Grinding 20+level 50 characters 24/7 for 600+days just so each of them can have ONE tier three NPC costume. No thank you.

The rewards time-out is a hurry up and wait system, which is far more frustrating and turns me off to the game than being compelled to run a specific TF/Incarnate trial.

 

I'm all for long term rewards, but some of us have already been playing this game for a life-time and have PAGES of level 50 alts. 

This feels more like a waste of time than a long-term reward. A lot of the justification seems to be 'so players don't feel compelled to grind a specific type of content.' This feels more like I am being compelled to hurry up and wait. This is the backwards point of view on what content is that is destroying modern day MMO's.

 

Please rethink the currency grind this creates.

Edited July 12, 2022 by dom9630

[AustinSmith]

2 hours ago, Jaguaratron said:

Really happy to see the classic COT costumes, I dont mind updating but I loathe wiping out the previous.

The existing CoT mob costumes aren't getting changed, this is exclusively a costume reward for players. Same goes for the Rikti and Skulls.

[Ruin Mage]

5000 is in Vanguard Merits for the record.

The Aether T3s are 1000/1500

[Jaguaratron]

1 minute ago, AustinSmith said:

The existing CoT mob costumes aren't getting changed, this is exclusively a costume reward for players. Same goes for the Rikti and Skulls.

Yeah, I can read, Im happy to see it as opposed to now where its no longer in game

[Sovera]

A 'per character' grind in City of Alts is a weird choice. Most of us change characters every couple weeks, even our mains and favorites. Re-chasing all the costumes? Weird. Though I guess it will be like badging and at most we will unlock that one costume we really like instead of having all to horse around with/in.

[Ruin Mage]

Yes. It's something optional and fun. You do not need to do it. These give no benefit except looking like an NPC.

[Vanden]

Anyone else think the Mini costume is too small? Like, I toggle on Super Speed and my character disappears into the speed sparks.

[Cobalt Arachne]

2 hours ago, dom9630 said:

5000 for 'an extra costume slot' essentially. No thank you.

Grinding 20+level 50 characters 24/7 for 600+days just so each of them can have ONE tier three NPC costume. No thank you.

The rewards time-out is a hurry up and wait system, which is far more frustrating and turns me off to the game than being compelled to run a specific TF/Incarnate trial.

 

I'm all for long term rewards, but some of us have already been playing this game for a life-time and have PAGES of level 50 alts. 

This feels more like a waste of time than a long-term reward. A lot of the justification seems to be 'so players don't feel compelled to grind a specific type of content.' This feels more like I am being compelled to hurry up and wait. This is the backwards point of view on what content is that is destroying modern day MMO's.

 

Please rethink the currency grind this creates.

5000 Vanguard Merits only equates to about 4-5 decently successful Mothership raids, it's not really that big a grind for something we see run daily, sometimes even multiple times daily on many servers.

Tier 1 costumes are extremely easy to get, most people should be able to buy many Tier 1 costumes by just doing low difficulty (1-2 star) TFs regularly and Incarnate Trials.
Tier 2 costumes are meant to be a little costly, but something most people can get fairly reasonably by saving and doing regular content that rewards Aether.
Tier 3 costumes are meant to be an 'oh wow' accomplishment, something somebody spent a lot of time grinding (or spending a lot of influence on the AH) to get, in a game where literally everything can be unlocked in hours on a new character if you've got a stockpile of resources.

Since the currency is unbound you can do content on various characters and move the Aether salvage to the characters you want certain costumes on.

Lots of people have mentioned having dozens of max level characters and wanted something to work towards with them in a game where getting to max level is nearly effortless with little-no max level things to do that give worthwhile rewards; this was something they can work towards as a goal if they really want it.

 

You really shouldn't feel like you need to get Tier 3 costumes for any reason unless you just like the way they look, they are just a vanity item, nothing more.

[insome1]

Path Aura: Cloud and Lightning, doesn't change sizes with the Mode Costume: Mini. Is this as intended?

[dom9630]

20 minutes ago, Cobalt Arachne said:

5000 Vanguard Merits only equates to about 4-5 decently successful Mothership raids, it's not really that big a grind for something we see run daily, sometimes even multiple times daily on many servers.

Tier 1 costumes are extremely easy to get, most people should be able to buy many Tier 1 costumes by just doing low difficulty (1-2 star) TFs regularly and Incarnate Trials.
Tier 2 costumes are meant to be a little costly, but something most people can get fairly reasonably by saving and doing regular content that rewards Aether.
Tier 3 costumes are meant to be an 'oh wow' accomplishment, something somebody spent a lot of time grinding (or spending a lot of money) to get, in a game where literally everything can be unlocked in hours on a new character if you've got a stockpile of resources.

Since the currency is unbound you can do content on various characters and move the Aether salvage to the characters you want certain costumes on.

Lots of people have mentioned having dozens of max level characters and wanted something to work towards with them in a game where getting to max level is nearly effortless with little-no max level things to grind; this was something they can work towards if they really want it.

 

You really shouldn't feel like you need to get Tier 3 costumes for any reason unless you just like the way they look, they are just a vanity item, nothing more.

 

I agree with all of the above.

 

But after doing the math, to get 1500 seems like a number thought up by Mr. Monopoly. That means for 20 characters, I would have to do specific content at specific difficulties to maximize the amount of AP (aether particles) every day for 600 days straight. I love this game and want the best for Homecoming, but who's to say it will even be around in 2 years? (Maybe this is game-closure PTSD speaking).

 

This seems contrary to the mission statement of 'we don't want people to feel compelled to do specific content.' 

 

AP being unbound is great, until it goes for 1-2 billion per salvage on the market for the first few months.

 

Point-o-facto for this is, Tiers 1-2 seems reasonable. Tier 3 does not seem to match the grind given. (I love mini mode and blobby mode but I don't love them that much that this motivates me to grind for them.)

 

Maybe this might help some clarity - is there a daily cap of how much one character can earn per day if they did all different tfs/trials? That would compel diversity without the timegating getting in the way.

 

Also, for the vanguard reward merits, as someone who absolutely hates doing MSRs, 5000 is a looooooong grind through rikti mission content.

Edited July 12, 2022 by dom9630

[Chrono-Bot]

 

(I put this in bug report initially, sorry about that)

 

Mini sinks below the surface when you use /e innertube

[Cobalt Arachne]

18 minutes ago, insome1 said:

Path Aura: Cloud and Lightning, doesn't change sizes with the Mode Costume: Mini. Is this as intended?

Most aura particles I've looked at are static size and don't scale with model size, so that is likely working normally.

[Cobalt Arachne]

8 minutes ago, dom9630 said:

That means for 20 characters,

This is not the kind of reward you should be aiming to get on 20 characters, it's meant to elicit an impressive response when somebody sees a person with one, if it was trivial to get on 20 characters it would not be that kind of reward anymore.

[aethereal]

The super-big head on the mini costume is a little egregious, any way we could tune it down a touch?

[dom9630]

1 minute ago, Cobalt Arachne said:

This is not the kind of reward you should be aiming to get on 20 characters, it's meant to elicit an impressive response when somebody sees a person with one, if it was trivial to get on 20 characters it would not be that kind of reward anymore.

 

Why not? Who should be able to tell me I shouldn't be going for it on 20 different character?

 

And there's a difference between an 'impressive response' and a 'dude you absolutely have no life' response.

 

Should the requirement be high? Absolutely. Should it take me maybe a few months of playing a lot of content (not every single hard mode tf in the game) to get it on a handful of characters, absolutely. 

 

The game is notoriously called 'city of alts' because of the diversity the game offers. What happens when I want to alt? I put in all that work for mini-mode on one character, but I won't get that 'impressive' response on my alt. 

[Cobalt Arachne]

6 minutes ago, dom9630 said:

Why not? Who should be able to tell me I shouldn't be going for it on 20 different character?

Not saying you can't, but you are going into that knowing the extreme grind you're in for and it's work you made for yourself.

I'll compare it to people who have 20+ characters with all 1500+ badges, and then complain every time we add any new badges that they now have to do that badge grind 20+ times in a row.

What I'm saying is I don't see it as a compelling reason to devalue the only high ticket vanity-only rewards in a game where literally everything else in the entire game is almost trivial to earn.

[Keen]

22 minutes ago, aethereal said:

The super-big head on the mini costume is a little egregious, any way we could tune it down a touch?

 

No.

[dom9630]

Just now, Cobalt Arachne said:

Not saying you can't, but you are going into that knowing the extreme grind you're in for and it's work you made for yourself.

I'll compare it to people who have 20+ characters with all 1500+ badges, and then complain every time we add any new badges that they now have to do that badge grind 20+ times in a row.

What I'm saying is I don't see it as a compelling reason to devalue the only high ticket vanity-only rewards in a game where literally everything else in the entire game is almost trivial to earn.

It's a different issue, but I've never agreed with badges in City of Heroes (Homecoming or live). Some of them (including most of the ones HC has added) should be character-unlocked. Some of the absolutely ridiculously grindy and boring badges should be account-unlocked.

 

The ask is not to devalue the high-ticket vanity item. But there's smarter ways of making something valuable and impressive without making the grind higher and higher on an exponential level in a game where people have tons and tons of alt. 

 

For example. The first time you buy blobby mode, it costs 2000 AP. Second time you buy it on a character, it only costs 1900 AP, with a minimum cost of 750 AP, etc.

[Mystic Fortune]

Capes do not appear to scale down with the mini mode costume power. In fact on the huge model, larger capes become almost like a huge tent.

 

[STiTcH]

Is it possible to have Granite armor scale down with the mini costume?

[STiTcH]

2 hours ago, Vanden said:

Anyone else think the Mini costume is too small? Like, I toggle on Super Speed and my character disappears into the speed sparks.

Personally opinion. I love it, I wouldn't mind if they made it smaller. But that is just an opinion.

[fitzsimmons]

2 hours ago, aethereal said:

The super-big head on the mini costume is a little egregious, any way we could tune it down a touch?

 

HUSH YOUR MOUTH!

[GM Kal]

2 hours ago, aethereal said:

The super-big head on the mini costume is a little egregious, any way we could tune it down a touch?

It is going to be extremely expensive, so you won't be seeing it much on live.