The Half-serious suggestions thread

qynn411 · March 2013

Here's how this works: first you post a joke suggestion in this thread, then follow it with a valid one. I'll start.

Joke: A random chair by James Harmon IV should be a LVL 40 cosmic that attacks if you target it. There will be a sign saying "Dont to hit the chairs," and if the chair beats you, there is a perk named "You hit the chair, didn't you?"

Serious: Every travel power should have a corresponding combat power. For example, Light speed's could be you circle someone in forcefields, rooting them. Tornado flight could pull enemies towards you, etc.

prankenstein · March 2013

Joke: "PWE should actually bother with rewards for PvP."

Actual: No, like, really. You guys are killing off veterans when you have nothing for them to do but create 70 max levels.

gerberatetra · March 2013

In the spirit of the thread..

Joke- Foxbat should be the focus of the next adventure/event/thing..

Real- RP should be supported, more emotes, more rp locations and an RP community rep

bioshrike · March 2013

Joke: There should *always* be one Ao'Quephoth Alert up.

Serious: There should *always* be one of each primary Alert type, up - One Smash, Grab, and Burst.

bluhman · March 2013

Here's my joke suggestion:

Nightmare City - October 2013

Intro: The Drifter has noticed an influx of horrors coming in from seemingly spontaneous Qliphothic rifts all around Millennium City. With such monstrous creatures showing up in the limits, the entirety of the city's populous is in considerable danger. Fortunately, Drifter has found out a way to stop the crisis; with a bit of energy from each of the rifts, along with a bit of cleanup work, he can hopefully get scientists at UNTIL to manufacture a counter-portal device to seal the rifts!

The truth: Drifter, for this event, is not the drifter at all! No! He's the Inquisitor of the Mind; Demonflame's first boss. And after you've given him the energy from the rifts, he will imprison you in your nightmares, sending you to... Nightmare City.

So Nightmare City is basically a nightmarish version of Millennium City's downtown. The landscape is dominated by towering, rectangular towers, some of them spotted with defects and vines, driving cracks through their surface. Some towers even have large, tumorous growths on them that look like gigantic pumpkins. Streets run between the buildings, forming traditional traffic grids, with 3 main streets dominating the city's layout. Above the streets run traditional railways, some with broken supports, where the lone rails either hang precariously over the break or simply drop off to the street below. The black sky, covered in crimson streams, churns overhead in a large vortex, with infrequent white wisps and lightning flashes spiral into the epicenter. Within the city are other landmarks of considerable chaos, including a hospital towards the east end (featuring interior corridors quite similar to the asylum sub-area in Demonflame), an industrial quarter teeming with literal deluges of green, luminescent toxic waste, and the tallest tower; a round tower where, atop, the Inquisitor reigns supreme over the collective nightmare he has wrought. In some directions, the area's map just trails off, either into a tapering spiral of twisted ground and buildings or simply dropping off into a nebulous abyss below. Overall, the city's color scheme is consistent of largely reds, blacks, deep purples, oranges, and greens (in the industrial area), and is meant to evoke a combined sense of terror and mania; in some ways it is actually quite bright and even festive, but at the same time eerie, unnerving, and in no way even remotely realistic. It is a nightmare, after all.

General layout and areas:

This zone is an all-level zone; every enemy in here is a skull-type enemy that automatically scales numbers to proper levels.
Center city: The general city, where buildings stand tall and form the skyline, and gigantic tumor-like jack-o-lantern growths grow along the buildings' walls. Railways run above the streets, sometimes with gaping holes in the tracks, and some sections of the buildings even open up to allow players to climb them and explore bridges that run both above and below street level.

Enemies:
Qliphothic Horrors - Typical, Trey-king like horrors.

Manic Horrors - These guys take the guise of rather whimsical looking Halloween creatures, and include things such as walking skeletons wearing various degrees of dressy clothing, Jack-fool like clowns with heavy weaponry, and towering jack-o-lantern men that strike slowly, but powerfully. They aren't very aggressive, and won't attack if you don't target them or hit them with an AoE (With one exception when entering the zone initially).

Ruined Spirits - These guys emphasize the less manic part of the city and more the 'oh god what the hell is going on' part of it. Basically, these are zombies, but they are generally a bit stranger than that, being abstract flesh-and-bone figures that are partially decayed. Many do not have visible hands or feet, might be missing their heads, and some might even have limbs floating or cross-sections of their limbs missing. Canonically, they could be explained as normal people who got captured by the nightmare and turned into horrors; they attack slowly, and have a tendency to self-destruct and surprise attack by suddenly emerging from the ground in areas.
Ruined Spirits might also include a subset of ranged ghosts; afar and before combat, they look like normal civilians (albeit transparent), but up close, they turn into legless, hooded apparitions that fling dark bolts at you.
Ruined Spirits can drop costume pieces pertaining to their faction.

Bedlam Asylum - Towards the east end of town, a clearing forms just before the ground begins to drop off into abyss: Bedlam Asylum consists of a graveyard floating in various islands before approaching the institute proper. Its doors hanging open, the interior of the institute features winding corridors with padded rooms, operation rooms, many enemies, and a special effect that prevents people inside from utilizing their travel abilities.

Enemies:
Ruined Spirits - Have a tendency to be in the graveyard, and hanging out inside cells within the institute.

Wrath Projections - These are the same 'prisoner' enemies you fought in Demonflame. Much like their counterparts, Wrath Projections are always classified as weak, but usually come in huge waves. They usually are seen running free in the halls of the lower levels of the asylum.

Superego Institutionalist - Dressed up as doctors, nurses, and morticians, Institutionalists slowly patrol the halls of the asylum, and are usually the most powerful of the enemies inside. They, however, are also very slow moving in patrol and have a tiny aggro-range. In order to have one attack you, you either have to hit it first, or get right up next to it. They treat both Wrath Projections and Ruined Spirits as enemies, and frequently get in fights with the inmates.
Superego Institutionalists drop costume parts; largely mad scientist/medic gear, which can conveniently be colored both in bloody and clean styles. Also drop a Silhouette aura device.

Longleg Industrial - This southern end of town is a veritable maze of tanks, tubes, and tracks. Many of the rails from center-city lead to and from this corner of town, with similar railways hanging above this part of the city as well. These rails weave inbetween the main skyline of this part of town; huge, spherical tanks. These tanks are often interconnected by tubes leading from one another, some even leading into vats where green fumes fly upwards and poison the air. A network of lattice walkways run between the vats, above the bare grounds of the factory where acidic piles of sludge wait to burn anyone foolish enough to walk into them. Large machines exist in corners of the area, creating zones where the ground and walkways above are periodically electrocuted. A tall fence forms the boundary between Longleg and the city, with only one proper entrance; a large concrete building with a rickety, corrugated roof. The road runs through the building, making it a veritable gatehouse for the industrial field, and a large glowing electric sign hangs up on top, brightly displaying the industries' name.

Enemies:
Horrors - They exist here as well, and are the most common enemies that show up. They tend to stay to railways and platforms that run between the vats, as anywhere else and they'd easily succumb to the damage dealt by the (not so) natural elements in the area.

Longleg personnel - These people appear as large, strangely-proportioned men in heavy suits and armor. Various portholes and lights on them glow green, and their general silhouettes have a very geometric character. LL Personnel are immune to many of the effects around the industry, and are free to wade through the toxic waste inside vats and in pools on the ground, as well as immune to the electric shocks that run through parts of the floor. They treat the Horrors passively, but are very defensive against nosy heroes. Some LL personnel are snipers, and have 120 ft. attack ranges along with large aggro areas. Others are medics, who can use up to 2 resurrection serums to bring enemies back to life. Generally, LL Personnel are very tactical, and can be tougher to deal with if they form a good team.
They can drop costume unlocks pertaining to their blocky armor.

Aphasia - A giant monster that exists only in Longleg industries, Aphasia is a gigantic tentacle which pops up from the pools of sludge below to whallop any nearby heroes. He will spend most time traveling from pool to pool by default, but if he is aggroed by a player character, he will stay put until either he or the enemy dies.
He has a tendency to drop higher-rank mods, as well as unique mods for boosting toxic and particle damage.

Inquisitor Square
At the very northern end of the city, right before the entire world tapers off into a spiral, is Inquisitor Square; a corruption of a traditional urban plaza, consisting of an advanced complex of garish stores and lights in a ramped clearing (think like the mall in Downtown MC). This clearing is surrounded by 3 buildings, the one at the far end being the Inquisitor's round tower; the tallest building in the entire city. A doorway at the base of his tower contains an elevator that can take you up. The very top of the Inquisitor's tower has a large, windowed atrium with a high ceiling, containing a banquet table and various chairs, where good ol' inquisitor waits for any heroes to challenge him.

Enemies:
Horrors - Same old horrors.

Manic Horrors - Very common on the various bridges and platforms of the plaza.

Ruined Spirits - Unlike in other areas, these guys have a tendency to crawl out of the walls instead of the ground.

Inquisitor of the Mind - The lone enemy who dwells at the top of the tower, This guy is a legendary who specializes in single-target holds that can crush the life out of his targets, and knockback AoE bursts, which can send his foes flying out the windows of his banquet room. Every 1/6th of his health, he will call objects in the room to life, sending chairs, plates, knives, and even the table flying around in formations in the room that can damage stray targets in the way. Inquisitor's most powerful attack is a charged beam he can use to deal powerful, unblockable damage and knock his target straight off the tower (he cannot re-aim his beam while charging, however.)
Inquisitor of the Mind must be defeated at least once to complete Drifter's mission, and he drops questionite on his defeat (similar pattern of diminishing returns as Gravitar).

SO WHAT HAPPENS HERE!?

Well, first off, the initial way to get to this zone is that you first need to have helped the disguised Inquisitor of the Mind use qliphothic energy to take over your brain and send you to your nightmares. Upon first arriving, you must go through a few trials before really exploring the nightmare city proper. Think of it as a semi-crisis, semi-rampage. In order to get into the initial missions of Nightmare City, you have to queue for it like a rampage alert.

You initially spawn in the city as a ghost, stuck inside a stadium at the city's west end. This area serves as a place to prepare yourself for a city-wide event; the parade of horrors, where huge monsters and creatures run down the main streets of the city. You will wait in this atrium until there are enough fellow ghosts (7-10). In the meantime, though, you must make a decision on what monster to spawn as. There are 6 choices:

1. Qliphothic Horror - Behemoth. The 4-armed bipedal monster specializes in stomps and rock tosses that slow down your opponents and knock them out of the way. Behemoth is by far the slowest of the choices, but the best for causing damage.
2. Q Horror - Maw. Appearing as a quadrupedal beast with a gaping maw for a head and large, horn like protrusions on the back, Maws can use their abilities to swiftly charge forward and knock targets out of the way. Their charge doesn't require a target to be executed and causes it to move forward at a set speed, but can also stun you if you happen to run into a target who is blocking or a solid object. A very fast and powerful choice, but also a bit hard to control.
3. Manic Horror - Big Jack - A towering figure with a jack-o-lantern head and vine limbs, Big Jack can cause damage just by walking through enemies, and can keep up a decent pace while laying waste with explosive seeds and fire breath from afar. He's rather flimsy for his size, though, and needs to watch out if knocked around by other, more hardy members of the race.
4. M Horror - Bozocopter - You take the form of a dirty, toothy clown flying a helicopter. The copter flies fast, but has loose handling (a la hoverdisc) and has limited altitude. Bozocopter can drop bombs directly below, creating slowing patches of fire and dealing disastrous damage to bystanders. Bozocopter is very fast and evasive, capable of staying out of the way of melee fighters quite effectively, but gets bogged down easily by slowing effects and taking damage, and is one of the most fragile of all the choices.
5. Ruined Spirit - Legion - This form causes you to become a huge rolling ball of bodies. Like Big Jack, you can cause damage just by bumping into enemies, but your initial contact damage is low, and your initial speed is also slow. You also lack any other attacks other than contact, but as you kill more targets, you will gain more speed and do more damage. Taking damage, however, can cause you to shrink if you're hit hard enough. If well played, a legion can be running solo down the streets in the lead, crushing anything in its path and adding to its mass.
6. Ruined Spirit - Geist - Maintaining a ghostly form, Geist is the smallest and most fragile of all the contenders. However, Geist is also quite fast and easy to control. Not only that, but geist also can stay hidden easily if it gets a large enough lead, and specializes in laying down traps and snares, which can force the parade to take alternate, more destructive routes down side-streets. Not a very destructive choice in itself, but in terms of speed and racing, you can't get better than this.

After players have chosen what horrible abomination to spawn as, the parade begins! The central contenders are accompanied by an appropriate number of henchmen and villains to march along (roughly 20 extra enemies per player, minimum of 100.) Friendly fire is ON and highly encouraged, because the goal of this parade is to score the highest! This can be done in one of three ways:

A: Get to the finish line first. This is done by stopping by the 2 checkpoints at the corners of the main streets and making your way (however possible) to the base of the Inquisitor's tower. Those who make it in first, second, and third get a hefty bonus to their score, increasing the chances of getting a good prize. However, this bonus decreases if the other contenders followed closely behind. So, it might be a good idea to:
B: Cause carnage! The more damage you do to ANYTHING, the better. Kill several henchmen and villains parading along with you? Great! Flatten heroes on the 2nd bend? Excellent! Try and get first by bombing the everloving crap out of your opponents? More points for you, AND it increases your chance of getting to the end first. Keep in mind, however, that carnage isn't everything, and taking too long can deduct a bit from your score, so...
C: Get to the finish line fast. The faster you can get to the finish line, the better. Going slow (+8 minutes) can deduct heavily from your score. Take longer than 13 minutes and you'll get disqualified (more for being AFK than being a slowpoke). Fast finishing (below 5 minutes) can net you a rather hefty multiplier to your score. However, that doesn't matter much if you either don't get in a leading place or cause that much damage, so make sure to strive for your maximum potential while also going fast!

Other specifics to clear up about the parade:
Dying is impossible for the player contenders; if they run out of health, they automatically enter a zombie-powder like state where they will lie down on the ground and rapidly restore their health. During this state, though, they're also immune and deal out a powerful AoE effect upon recovery, so they don't get stunlocked by pesky heroes or other contenders.
Speaking of heroes, yes, standard heroes can and probably will get caught in the crossfire. They will probably die, too, considering how powerful and crafty these contenders can be.
Contending in the race has a chance to drop questionite, tokens, and even unique mods if one gets a top score.

So after the parade is over and everyone has collected their prizes, the Inquisitor congratulates you and reverts you back to your heroic form. At this point, Inquisitor's Square becomes a veritable warzone as you now must fend off horrors until the door to his tower unlocks. This acts like an open mission for 10 people, and has some strange traits:
The trial lasts for 6 minutes, and places a special curse on the main characters involved.
This curse reduces their healing power for self-targeted heals to 0%. No Conviction/Bioshield cheesing here; to get through this, you've either got to be stocked up on healing or defense devices, or paired up with a nice healer.
In any case, enemies in this survival challenge drop nothing but healing boosts. The boosts are a little infrequent, but players always will get one every 2 minutes.
Characters can back off to remote corners of the arena using their travel powers in order to naturally recover health as well. However, they cannot actually leave the combat area themselves, and will be relentlessly targeted by enemies if they are the closest target available.
Dying in this challenge and recovering locks you out in a cage dangling over the square.
If all people involved in the survival challenge die, they will be shown a failure cutscene and teleported back to Millennium City.
Other heroes can enter the combat area freely, without suffering any effects from any curses or limitations. However, if they die here, they will be sent to the same lockout area other fighters are sent to, unable to leave until the survival period is over.
Surviving this, the heroes are lead to the very last challenge of Nightmare City: the top of the Inquisitor's Tower.

The Inquisitor gives you a speech about how he has planned to sip the delicious tears from your fears and transform the citizens of the city into his mental slaves and yadda yadda I cant come up with a good plot hook for this okay this is just cool halloween stuff shut up ANYWAY then you fight him. His combat style is detailed above, but there are a few distinctions to make: Namely, you can't actually fail the battle against him since there's no time limit and people who die or fall off the tower just have to use the front door again (though it takes a good 10 seconds to get back up).

Once he's been killed, a last cutscene plays, and (on the player-end of the engine), the sky clears up from the strange, red and black vortex to a grey, cloudy sky with a bit of rain. After picking up their reward from Inquisitor, they can be teleported back to MC to get their experience and a major salvage cache from the Real Drifter, who, up until you defeating Inquisitor, had been mentally imprisoned by him. Now, you're free to visit the City again at any time by speaking to the Drifter, and can leave freely by exiting through a doorway in the stadium the parade of horrors comes from.

After that adventure, you can accept his secondary daily mission: Trekking into Nightmare City again (without having to go through Inquisitor's silly parade or anything) and collecting mental pieces from any mobs within the twisted city limits. Aside from the different zone, Drifter's new mission operates just like any other daily.

Exploring the nightmare city can also uncover other, secret open missions and standard missions, which can be used to get stat-appropriate gear, tokens, devices, and unlocks.

This was made back when I thought my detailed ideas actually mattered.

Seriously: Do a downtown revamp and/or add another low level zone with its own early-game storyline.

theravenforce · March 2013

Joke - Martial Arts and certain powers like Ebon Ruin need high end buffs as they are seriously underpowered.

Real - Focus on previous projects and get them out of the way, like The Telepathy Pass and Crowd Control Review, should have happened half a year ago...wat r u doing Cryptic?

qynn411 · March 2013

theravenforce wrote: »

Real - Focus on previous projects and get them out of the way, like The Telepathy Pass and Crowd Control Review, should have happened half a year ago...wat r u doing Cryptic?

Definitely a good serious, just look at the hideouts, all they have to do is open 2 doors

smoochan · March 2013

They should implement rewards for pvp that lure people into the hero games.

They should do a power pass for the entire freeform system.

They should remove the hero games and dueling from the game.

They should lock boxes.

dynamech · March 2013

Joke: Please start putting meaningful content in boxes, such as all new costume pieces, emotes, powersets, and even adventure packs. The Zen and Questionite stores each have too many things in them, and the Drifter with his salvage? Pfft. I'd rather have random chance decide what I'm spending money on.

Real: Add an option to charge and / or maintain powers that allows you to pay two advantage points to place them in a powered-armor slot scheme so you could potentially, say, have an armor that can shoot fire or electricity with its other attack capability.

beldin · March 2013

Joke : i never wanted Vehicles
serious : we really don't need any more Vehicles

rokurocaris · March 2013

Joke: Keep ignoring the state of the game today, and focusing only on tomorrow.

Serious: Clean up the mess left from On Alert already! Those old bugs and design flaws make the game look bad, no matter how awesome the new events, avehicles and auras would be!

thearkady · March 2013

Joke: We urgently need more costume pieces that can only be used with other ones from the exact same set or about three things some dev forgot to lock away from combining with them!

Seriously: We need to be able to actually combine existing costume pieces more freely, without hearing lame excuses about clipping when a) half the thing we can do clip anyways and b) half the cominations we're locked out of surely wouldn't.

isometry · March 2013

Pay two CO devs to work on making costumes full-time and let everyone else go work on other games.

nextnametaken · March 2013

Joke: Put me in charge
Serious: Put me in charge

revanantmorituri · March 2013

Joke: Add a clown mastery T, including the ability to summon and control multiple clown minions.

Serious: Hire a game industry programmer to rework the pet AI.

The Half-serious suggestions thread

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