Suggestions for major dev alterations if CoH relaunches

[Ravynwynd]

I think I've said it before, but its probably worth saying again; Pet customisation. Seriously. Twould indeed be awesome.

I SUPPORT THIS QUOTE!!

VOTE YES

[Sinistar]

Change the teleportation power in the PB/WS Dwarf forms to "Teleport Charge" and make it like the Shield Charge power from the shield set

[Aggelakis]

Change the teleportation power in the PB/WS Dwarf forms to "Teleport Charge" and make it like the Shield Charge power from the shield set

That's one I could totally get behind. It would require a recharge to match the Shield power, instead of the instant-recharge of a travel power. But I'd totally give that up. PB has flight naturally and can get TP from the pool power, and WS has TP naturally.

[ryuplaneswalker]

Suggestions for minor dev alterations if CoH relaunches

Black Scorpion needs to smile more.

Arbiter Hawk should get a hair cut.

Synapse needs better shoes.

Black Pebble should clean the inside of his car.


Suggestions for major dev alterations if CoH relaunches

Dr. Aeon should be taller.

War Witch should become less Canadian.

Second Measure should dye himself green and livestream visits to abusive players where he throws their furniture around and growls "puny troll!" and "Nate smash!"

May I add one?

The Drones summoned by Arbiter Sands have Espresso makers attached to them, so that he never need go get a cup of coffee away from his station.

[Mageman]

When CoH was being designed, they wanted to make power sets, not character types. When you started your character, you would select your Primary and Secondary power sets. No classes (Blaster, Defender, Corruptor, etc.).

I think that implementing something like this might be nice. Now that there are inherent powers with each class, you'd have to select your class, which would then force you to choose from the existing Primary Power sets. However, you could choose ANY power set for your Secondary. You could come up with some strange power matchups - I'm thinking something like an all pet mastermind like: Demon Summoning/Necromancy. No way to buff your pets, just lots of them!

[Angel Phoenix77]

I would like to see the master mind pets such as zombies, mercs, and ninja get a bump up in all stats. These three were woefully underpowered when compared to the newer sets such as thugs.

[Sinistar]

That's one I could totally get behind. It would require a recharge to match the Shield power, instead of the instant-recharge of a travel power. But I'd totally give that up. PB has flight naturally and can get TP from the pool power, and WS has TP naturally.

Thanks.  I'd also update Khelds and their Lore to indicate that both PB and WS have been learning how to channel their energies with the results that their travel powers have altered.

Now when you make a PB or WS you can choose either the Kheld flight or teleport power.  Can't have both, only way to change is to respec.

[Drauger9]

I can't believe no one's said this...... base raids! I don't like pvp in CoH, I don't like the pvp zone or arenas. But base raids where so fun to me for some reason. I guess it was because it was a smaller area then a pvp zone and a larger area then arenas?

Either way, I only had the chance to do two of them before they took them away and always missed them ever since. :(

I third the ability to customize your MM pets as well.

[Mageman]

I think the most important alteration for CoX would be to make it so you can play in single-player or LAN mode instead of contacting the servers if the servers ever get shut down again!

[Sinistar]

I think the most important alteration for CoX would be to make it so you can play in single-player or LAN mode instead of contacting the servers if the servers ever get shut down again!

One way may to alter the AE to work in single player mode, then create mission files that recreate/emulate the missions in the game.

[Sinistar]

I can't believe no one's said this...... base raids! I don't like pvp in CoH, I don't like the pvp zone or arenas. But base raids where so fun to me for some reason. I guess it was because it was a smaller area then a pvp zone and a larger area then arenas?

Either way, I only had the chance to do two of them before they took them away and always missed them ever since. :(

I third the ability to customize your MM pets as well.

As I recall, the arena wasn't subjected to the Issue 13 PVP Changes so that was still a good thing.

As to Base Raids,  I would put that on the list titled "Complete overhaul and reconstruction of super base system, including base editing and construction."

I'd also have to consider altering what items cause rent to be charged.  I was never too keen on base storage bins being a cause for rent.

However power generators and computers and all computer items that attach to said computer to boost control....now those need maintenance and upkeep.  So remove rent cost from storage bins and change it to power generators and computer systems.  Also possibly the weapons systems one can install for base raids. Those should also require maintenance/upkeep costs.

Also I would consider altering it so that if you don't pay the first month your base power and control cuts by half then if you don't pay the second month plus the previous then the base shuts down.

[Arcana]

Also I would consider altering it so that if you don't pay the first month your base power and control cuts by half then if you don't pay the second month plus the previous then the base shuts down.

Personally, I always thought base rent was one of City of Heroes' dumber ideas.  It didn't serve a useful gameplay purpose.  The argument was that it was a necessary currency sink but that's a diffuse justification.  I could make the same case for forcing players to pay rent to keep their character slots active.  As a currency sink base rent was practically immaterial and thus useless for that purpose.  It was also a worthless base configuration gate because for large enough supergroups it was trivially low.  The only thing base rent did was make it difficult for small or limited activity supergroups to maintain large bases.  There's no design purpose to inflicting that upon players that I can think of.

In design language, base rent was a form of gameplay friction.  Given the limited usefulness of bases and the lack of priority the devs placed on improving bases and fixing base raids, applying friction to what was primarily a convenience and cosmetic supergroup activity seemed to me to be illogical.

[Vee]

Personally, I always thought base rent was one of City of Heroes' dumber ideas.  It didn't serve a useful gameplay purpose.  The argument was that it was a necessary currency sink but that's a diffuse justification.  I could make the same case for forcing players to pay rent to keep their character slots active.  As a currency sink base rent was practically immaterial and thus useless for that purpose.  It was also a worthless base configuration gate because for large enough supergroups it was trivially low.  The only thing base rent did was make it difficult for small or limited activity supergroups to maintain large bases.  There's no design purpose to inflicting that upon players that I can think of.

In design language, base rent was a form of gameplay friction.  Given the limited usefulness of bases and the lack of priority the devs placed on improving bases and fixing base raids, applying friction to what was primarily a convenience and cosmetic supergroup activity seemed to me to be illogical.

Harrumph!

[LuxunS]

As I recall, the arena wasn't subjected to the Issue 13 PVP Changes so that was still a good thing.

The arena was still subject to the i13 rules, you could just turn some of them off.  There were options for Heal Decay, Travel Suppression, and Diminished Returns iirc.  However, things like power damage being tied to animation time could not be changed.

[Sinistar]

Personally, I always thought base rent was one of City of Heroes' dumber ideas.  It didn't serve a useful gameplay purpose.  The argument was that it was a necessary currency sink but that's a diffuse justification.  I could make the same case for forcing players to pay rent to keep their character slots active.  As a currency sink base rent was practically immaterial and thus useless for that purpose.  It was also a worthless base configuration gate because for large enough supergroups it was trivially low.  The only thing base rent did was make it difficult for small or limited activity supergroups to maintain large bases.  There's no design purpose to inflicting that upon players that I can think of.

In design language, base rent was a form of gameplay friction.  Given the limited usefulness of bases and the lack of priority the devs placed on improving bases and fixing base raids, applying friction to what was primarily a convenience and cosmetic supergroup activity seemed to me to be illogical.

You make valid points about the base rent and frankly I was never a huge fan of it either. That being said, having power generators and computer/control equipment and base weapons be the cause for upkeep money for the base would make the most sense. After all shouldn't the Fusion Generator have a costly upkeep? Or the Autonomous Expert System which was the best for base control?  I just never saw the big point in making storage containers cost rent, basically we were paying for the ability to store items in our own bases.

Of course if bases can be revamped and rent done away with altogether......that's even better. :)

[Sinistar]

The arena was still subject to the i13 rules, you could just turn some of them off.  There were options for Heal Decay, Travel Suppression, and Diminished Returns iirc.  However, things like power damage being tied to animation time could not be changed.

That is still an improvement over the PVP zones after ish 13.  PVP diminishing returns is something else I would look at if I could. Either mitigate or removal. 

Hmm,  or just turn all PVP zones into echoes and let the arena be the main PVP source....

PVP wasn't all that popular after issue 13, one could almost make the case for turning all PVP zones into Echoes that can be accessed only by the Ouroborus zone.    Enter the echo zone and get the map badges and plaques and other pvp zone badges.    Even Warburg could become an Echo as it was free fire zone so you could still go there and farm characters from the same faction as you to obtain the rep points for the badge and gladiator and wins for the fusion generator badge......

.....or perhaps leave Warburg as the sole surviving PVP zone and the rest become Echoes....

Granted some wouldn't like this, but you can't please everyone all the time. Especially when making changes to an MMORPG. :)

[Todogut]

Personally, I always thought base rent was one of City of Heroes' dumber ideas.  It didn't serve a useful gameplay purpose.  The argument was that it was a necessary currency sink but that's a diffuse justification.  I could make the same case for forcing players to pay rent to keep their character slots active.  As a currency sink base rent was practically immaterial and thus useless for that purpose.

Paying rent for property that you own seems a fairly fitting roleplaying rationale. After all, in the real world, even Donald Trump pays fair taxes for the properties that he owns... hm, maybe not the best example. Still, the point is, paying rent makes the play experience seem more "realistic".

It was also a worthless base configuration gate because for large enough supergroups it was trivially low.  The only thing base rent did was make it difficult for small or limited activity supergroups to maintain large bases.  There's no design purpose to inflicting that upon players that I can think of.

The design purpose was old-school and perhaps naive or ill-conceived. In a gamasutra interview "SGS Keynote: Jack Emmert On Designing MMO Behaviors", Jack talked about lessons learned from City:

"Players don't ever want to be in a situation when they're forced to group." He contended bases were "probably the best designed game element ever." And "We spent more time developing [bases] than any other feature in City of Heroes or City of Villains." However, "What happened was players hated it. It's the most underused facet of the game. It received almost no coverage in the press."

Jack concluded, "People don't like contributing money to a group to express individuality." And "At its heart, these MMOs are individual game experiences in front of a computer terminal."

As Jack described, bases were intended to motivate players to join supergroups; but, there was a disconnect concerning the base-building rewards. Although all members could contribute to the group prestige pool, actual base building could only be done by one person at a time. Hence, the rewards for creative expression were primarily enjoyed by an individual... the rest of the group just looked on--not particularly fun for them.

In design language, base rent was a form of gameplay friction.  Given the limited usefulness of bases and the lack of priority the devs placed on improving bases and fixing base raids, applying friction to what was primarily a convenience and cosmetic supergroup activity seemed to me to be illogical.

Yeah, the original design for bases--with the Cathedral of Pain trial, Items of Power, and base raids--almost immediately fell by the wayside due to technical difficulties. Afterward, as you noted, bases provided convenience and cosmetic appeal--but, not much essential value.

Paying monthly rent was a drudgery duty, and if neglected, your base lost all power--the lights went out, teleporters didn't work, you couldn't access storage, etc. Still, it was a less penalizing system than owning a house or ship in the pioneering MMO Ultima Online... there, if you didn't click on your property to "refresh" it, the house or ship would decay and eventually disappear altogether.

When large houses or castles would decay in UO, players would camp out, waiting for the structure to disappear. (Usually the owner had quit the game.) After a big home disappeared, all the items inside remained on the ground available for plundering. Once, on the Lake Superior shard, I helped my guild carry off an amazing amount of items that had been hoarded inside a fallen house. After the ground was cleared, players scrambled to place a new house. Prime housing locations were highly valued.

In CoX, if you didn't pay your rent, at least your base didn't disappear. You could just speak to the Super Group Registrar, pay up, and turn the lights back on. So, in that sense, CoX's base rent system was an improvement in MMO game design.

[Vee]

The VIP wall to pay rent was a bit of a dick move. It went from minor annoyance to major annoyance for me for a while.

[Sinistar]

For Khelds, did the devs ever state why the Tier 3/Pool powers were shut off when transformed?

Did they somehow make the alt forms too strong or was there a technical problem?

[Paragon Avenger]

The base rent system does need an overhaul.
The idea of rent is to make sure that the base is still active.
Maybe some other system could be developed for base maintenance that wouldn't require the base high-levels to login, travel to AP and interact with an NPC.
I always gave "pay rent" permission to all the levels; that way, no matter which character of mine that was in the SG I was running at the time could pay the frigging rent.

Also, the rent provided another drain on resources for the base, even after the base was exactly how you wanted it, you still had to generate prestige for the rent.