What’s not coming to CoX any time soon

On an amusing tote board post of “Compiled List of what Positron may hint at…“ Positron himself posted on some things not likely to be seen any time soon.

Weather

Too much art for no add to gameplay. We may get into stuff like rain, but if the streets are not slick, it just wouldn’t fit. Plus if weather had gameplay (like fire powers reduced in rain, wind affecting Archery, etc.) while cool, I can’t see it as fun. People would just avoid weather when it didn’t sync with their powers.

Probably correct.  I have liked the yellow storm clouds around the Rikti invasion, but it’s not high up on my list.

On the other hand, if you had weather effects that benefited / detracted from powers in a more global basis, and they were (appropriately) city-wide effects, that might be an interesting random factor.  E.g., Dark powers being more powerful at night, less during the day (neutral under fluorescent interior lighting).  Lightning being stronger during storms, less so otherwise.  Etc.  Yes, players might only trot out their particular character during positive weather — but even if they were chronic altaholics, there would be times when it would be necessary to play a flame guy in the rain, a cold guy during a heat wave, etc. 

I think it coiuld work — but like I said, it’s not a big desire.

Powerset Respecs

While this may happen within your Archetype someday (i.e. a Fire/Devices Blaster becomes an Energy/Energy Blaster), don’t hold your breath. A lot of the thinking comes in the “we give you 8 (or 12) character slots per server”, which should be enough to create alts of whatever power combos you want, without destroying a character you invested time and effort into. Probably not the most popular answer.

Vaguely disappointing, but not critical.  Posi’s right about alting up a new power set (though that has some disadvantages, too — maybe that “you begin your new characer at Level 10” thing — and it begs the story line in the early zones if you’ve actually already met some of the mission contacts).

Positron TF redone

Yeah, it’s a lousy TF. It’s the first one we ever did, it’s due for a revamp, but that’s not coming anytime soon. For the time being there will still be reason to brag about having the “I endured Positron’s TF and all I got was this lousy badge” badge.

I think this is a mistake.  I think they could improve early game experience by revamping this guy.

Underwater Zones

We’d rather do Space Station Gagarin or the Armstrong Moon Base.

Given the choice, I agree.  Though I don’t know as it has to be an Either/Or.

Vehicles

We discussed this recently and couldn’t justify putting it in. Vehicles would either be really good (then it becomes City of Jet Bikes), or boring (my Jet Bike isn’t faster than Fly). The effort to put them in simply wouldn’t equate with what you got out of them. This is why wings took so long. When the effort DID equate with what you got out of them, they went in.

Yeah — this one is a moderate desire on my part.  I don’t know that Jet Bikes should be faster than Fly — it’s just another expression of the same power with “color.”

Of course, I’m still ticked that rocket boots and wings are invention items, so …

AI System Overhaul

Too risky of completely breaking the game in some obscure way. Tweaks sure, an overhaul, not likely.

Probably true — and a real shame.  I’d love more intelligent, less predictable (but more sensible) opponents. 

Ability to unslot enhancements without a respec

We like the Bind on Equip mentallity. The fact you can un-slot them during a respec is a conceit that this really isn’t “equipment” per se. Different power combinations take different Enhacements, so we could either screw you during the respec process (i.e. if you can’t slot it, you lose it) or let you keep some in your Inventory slots. We erred on the side of “nice” with this one.

Frankly, the implementaiton of the enhancment mechanic leaves me cold, from the arcane naming conventions to the idea that I really need a Barium Enema (or whateve it is) to give my Science character added accuracy to the whole concept of stores to buy/sell enhancements (and villains don’t attack these stores because…?).  The mechanic is fine — the implementation is non-heroic.

That said, I’ll also note that for a long-time player, the burden of respecs (and costume changes) have been nearly negated.  I have a ton of characters that have a ton of respecs/costume tokens from vet awards.  Almost makes me think it’s a whole mechanic that could be gotten rid of.

Fitness Pool becoming an inherent

We’ve tried to make Stamina less a required power with a lot of the things IO’s do. Any discussion on Stamina generally leads to the elimination of Endurance altogether (because a lot of the reason Staminia is so popular is that is lets you no longer worry about Endurance for the most part). i.e. Making Stamina an inherent means we might as well eliminate Endurance from the game.

And the problem here would be?

No, I mean, Endurance should be a problem at the end of a major, titanic struggle, or after a huge nova-like exertion.  Short of that, heroes just don’t get winded.  Bugs the heck out of me at early levels.

 Now … what didn’t Posi eliminate from the list?

1. Power Customization (Though I think this has been previously ruled out).
2. Tanker Shield Powerset (Meh)
3. Flashback (Doing old content you missed on the way up?  That’s what alts are for.)
4. New Epic Archetypes, i.e., Incarnates (Doesn’t seem likely, though there’s plenty of room for something post-50.)
5. Unlimited Respecs (Except that cheapens the Vet Rewards, unless you do it as part of a trial.)
6. Player Apartment/Personal Base (Can you say, “SG of 1”?  Not that difficult to do, I wouldn’t think.)
7. Influence Banks / Mail System (Meh.  The Invention system seems to have made money woes largely a thing of the past.)
8. Cross-Server Teaming (Not likely.)
9. Villain Stuff (Villain epic archetypes, switching allegiences between the Recluse’s lieutenants, etc.  Whatever.)
10. Return of the Fifth Column (Seems more and more likely.)
11. Jetpacks (As a permanent costume piece.  Seems likely, with all the other jetpack costuming now available.)
12. Hero to Villain Switch (Or vice-versa?  It may be the cooperative RWZ is a test for how this would potentially work.  I’d like it, frankly, though it would make CoV less “unique.”)
13. New Tanker/Scrapper Power Sets (Almost certain.)
14. Numbers on Powers (We keep edging closer and closer to this – might as well make it transparent.)
15. Offline Costume Creator (I think it’s very unlikely, both because of the possibility of hacking the system and because it takes people out of the online game.)
16. Supergroup System Revamp (Limit numbers to accounts, not characters.  Not high on my list, but it should be trivially doable.)
17. Defiance Change (Castle gathered together some faboo ideas — I’d like to see something implemented)
18. Picking Up and Throwing Things (A red name has previously indicated this is not doable in the game engine, alas.)
19. Interactive Environment (a la Mayhem Missoins.  We might see more of this, but I don’t see revamping the game with it, nor do I want to see a lot of dev time taken up on it.)