Auras: Feedback

starboardnacelle · November 2013

Let me start out by saying that this is quite possibly the best change made to the game since I started playing back in 2010. It really enables us to be what we want to be aesthetically without sacrificing anything when it comes to character building. You guys at Cryptic North have absolutely nailed it. However, there are some miscellaneous issues that I would like to see fixed before this gets pushed to live. If anyone has any bugs to add, I'll gladly edit it into this post.

System:

* There are concerns about engine optimization and slow downs with multiple auras. Please take this into consideration.
* You can't actually move auras into aura storage without having your inventory open.
* An intensity slider for the effects based on the old ranks would be a welcome post-release addition.
* The Questionite cost for auras is a bit disproportionate compared to other per-character unlocks.
* Please allow for a more expensive account-wide aura slot purchase option if you aren't planning on doing it already.
* Please consider tying additional free legacy auras into the veteran reward system to give greater incentive to subscribe.
* Please add an "on/off" button for persistent auras.
* Please add a preview function for Legacy Auras so that new players don't get confused.

Visual:

* Stacking multiple copies of the same passive doesn't have any visible results, even if the other copies are different colors.
* The visual effects from Inborn Tenacity, Emergency Orbital Howitzer, and Volcanic Potential should be added as auras.
* Please consider adding the "dripping water" and "on fire" debuff's visual effects as auras.

Audio:

* The sound effects for Krackle Aura, Fiery Form, Id Mastery, Ego Form, and Congress of Selves don't fade out over time.

Unknown · November 2013

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somebob · November 2013

starboardnacelle wrote: »

Since this update, I've been unable to swap to certain builds or costumes outside of a select few.

Long, long, long, long, long, LONG (long) time bug with PTS.

PTS is like 2 years out of date with Live. It has no idea how many costume slots you should own nor how many Build slots you have access to. Thus, it runs under the default number for a Gold member, or something with as far as how many costume slots you should've had based on sub time 2 years ago or something.

All I know is that generally only the first 6 or 8 costume slots 'work' on PTS. The rest are null and void. Yes, you can copy over with one of them active, but you can only switch to the first few.

aiqa · November 2013

gradii wrote: »

I'd prefer at least all the new auras to be silent ones. many people dislike the sound of stacked auras and god knows the combos people will make with the new stuff (a good thing but it shouldn't SOUND awful)

Well if the sound effects fit and are not really annoying (like the one on dark/light speed) I quite like them. I've always liked the sound on the fire passive.

malvou · November 2013

I like some Auras but a lot of them aren't very visible. The Wind form aura is barely noticeable. Some are just faint glows.

Shadow Form really messes with the current costumes. It made my jacket completely black.

aiqa · November 2013

malvou wrote: »

I like some Auras but a lot of them aren't very visible. The Wind form aura is barely noticeable. Some are just faint glows.

Shadow Form really messes with the current costumes. It made my jacket completely black.

That is just exactly how the slotted passives looked at r3. I don't think they should change those once some people might like them or have designed their costumes around them.

okitsunega · November 2013

Well the basic concept is very good. It's always been an issue when f.ex. you want ice form for it's affects but really want the look of fiery form for the concept. And being able to set the appearance to be always on is something I've wanted for a long time for some concepts.

But. There are issues.

There should be some kind of 'preview' system with aura store. For someone who's very familiar with game, it may be easy enough to pick the aura.. but for anyone who's just creating their first character, picking the one that looks good for the concept will be between difficult and impossible. This same issue applies to travel powers as well - even if they have still images available, it still doesn't accurately review the real thing. Perhaps arrange some kind of 'fitting room' in power house, where you can test auras / travel powers for free.

Also, auras are locked in place in their slots when main inventory is not open. With auras this should be tied to the aura storage page instead.

What happens when you make an ice based character, and spend your 'free ticket' to get the appropriate visuals.. then one day you retcon to fire based powerset?

What about characters that use dual passives - f.ex. I almost always build characters with one offensive and one defensive passive.

At the very least, I think a character should always have access to any 'auras' that correspond to the passive skill the character currently has. Perhaps give access to 'default' aura token for free from the store, and slotting it will always activate the aura that corresponds to your currently active passive?

I don't know if slotted auras will change based on your selected build (e.g. swapping to different build would swap auras like they swap equipment), but if not, they should. I couldn't test it, because for some reason I couldn't switch builds on PTS (I get message 'you cannot set your build for 0 more seconds.').

The prices in Q store are ridiculous. You'd need to spend a month's worth of Q grind (at 8000 refined per day) just to get a single aura for character. That's nowhere near reasonable.

In conclusion, while it's really nice to be able to set the aura effect permanently on, with the insane cost of the tokens, and the issues that arise if you decide for some reason to change your passive after picking up the 'freebie', I think I prefered the old system. I have about 30 characters, most of them with dual passives.. and there's no way in hell I'll grind about 6,000,000 Q just to get them the same visual options they already had... and then more every time I decide to retcon one of them.

aiqa wrote: »

That is just exactly how the slotted passives looked at r3. I don't think they should change those once some people might like them or have designed their costumes around them.

Agreed. It's always possible to create a different, more 'flashy' version and make it available, but don't touch the existing effects without a good reason. However, like I mentioned above, a 'preview' mode would be important to avoid disappointments resulting from picking an aura that turns out to look complitely different from what you expected.

-- edit --

Copied a second character to PTS, and this one was able to switch between builds. Apparently the aura slots are filled per-build which is a good thing, but when swapping between builds the displaced auras are dropped into inventory. They should instead go to aura storage.

kelplankton · November 2013

The biggest issue for me right now is that identical auras don't stack. As in, if you equip multiple Krackle Auras, each of them a different color, only the first one is displayed.

The interface lets you equip them all, but only the first one shows up.

This issue isn't present if you use different aura types (like Krackle Torso and Krackle Head work together fine).

tdits · November 2013

aiqa wrote: »

That is just exactly how the slotted passives looked at r3. I don't think they should change those once some people might like them or have designed their costumes around them.

I don't say this often, but I'm with Gradii on this one. A slider for which rank the aura is set to would be nice; not so nice that I think they should delay this patch to add it, but nice enough to be added onto the "stuff we seriously intend to do" list.

championshewolf · November 2013

somebob wrote: »

Long, long, long, long, long, LONG (long) time bug with PTS.

PTS is like 2 years out of date with Live. It has no idea how many costume slots you should own nor how many Build slots you have access to. Thus, it runs under the default number for a Gold member, or something with as far as how many costume slots you should've had based on sub time 2 years ago or something.

All I know is that generally only the first 6 or 8 costume slots 'work' on PTS. The rest are null and void. Yes, you can copy over with one of them active, but you can only switch to the first few.

*scratches head* Where in the world did you come up with this?

PTS isn't hooked up to the vet reward server, or the C-Store server, therefor any info about your account age, costumes, etc, is not accessible by the PTS. So if your build tries to access a costume that isn't using the default 4, you are kind of out of luck.

roughbearmattach · November 2013

If you get a new aura when a power is retconned, then the idea of selling Legacy auras is out the window, since folks would just retcon to get them all.

kenpojujitsu3 · November 2013

somebob wrote: »

Long, long, long, long, long, LONG (long) time bug with PTS.

PTS is like 2 years out of date with Live. It has no idea how many costume slots you should own nor how many Build slots you have access to. Thus, it runs under the default number for a Gold member, or something with as far as how many costume slots you should've had based on sub time 2 years ago or something.

All I know is that generally only the first 6 or 8 costume slots 'work' on PTS. The rest are null and void. Yes, you can copy over with one of them active, but you can only switch to the first few.

Pretty much, for me I have access to 6 costume slots on PTS out of my 12.

Anyway, feedback for the devs.

1) All ranks of the current passive auras need to be available not just the rank 3 versions. We discussed this with you in chat. Everyone on channel was in agreement and from browsing the forums it seems players not on channel would like this too. I hope that's enough support to make this happen.

2) Since the aura effect from Dark Aura is now being made an Aura slot item, aura effects from other items like Inborn Tenacity and Voltanic Potential should be as well.

3) In the event that you don't do number 2, will this system impede my ability to use Voltaic Potential, Inborn Tenacity and similar items as I already do? I'd hate to lose this ability as it's integral to some of my character concepts.

4) The "aura" we get from some certain effects in the game should be made into auras we can actually use. The "fire aura" we get when we're lit on fire is far superior to the fiery form aura. I'd like to be able to use that on fire characters. The "aura" we get put on us from Dark Illumination is one people including myself have requested before. There are others but you get the idea.

5) Pending anything else I think of.

Unknown · November 2013

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Unknown · November 2013

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benevon · November 2013

kelplankton wrote: »

The biggest issue for me right now is that identical auras don't stack. As in, if you equip multiple Krackle Auras, each of them a different color, only the first one is displayed.

The interface lets you equip them all, but only the first one shows up.

This issue isn't present if you use different aura types (like Krackle Torso and Krackle Head work together fine).

This makes sense to me. Having the same exact effect (even different colors) doesnt seem visually appealing, the colors would all blur together since the animation would all be the same. This seems intentional and not a bug.

theravenforce · November 2013

starboardnacelle wrote: »

Visual:

* Congress of Selves, Ego Form, and Id Mastery are too similar in appearance.

This is because Congress of Selves and a few other New Telepathy powers, still lack a number of things, namely unique icons, SFX etc.

CoS is basically a stripped down version of Ego Form, which is wholly disappointing.

I get the feeling not a lot of effort or time was available for CoS and ID Mastery, CoS moreso.

I haven't had a chance to fully test admittedly since I am meant to be doing an essay :eek:

I'll likely post again once I finish up.

bloodgambit · November 2013

starboardnacelle wrote: »

Visual:

* Congress of Selves, Ego Form, and Id Mastery are too similar in appearance.

I like them exactly as they are. They stack very nicely.

http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/450654096763925633/E6AA4C85AEB63042991BF155B29D4D987DE241AC/

That is all three of the 'ego' auras, with Kinetic Manipulation added on top. Each one adds a little more to the glow, and ends with a pretty awesome effect. Especially when used as an 'In Combat' aura. It flares up brightly when it initially starts. If I ever manage to obtain all of them on Ampula, I will be using them for this effect.

My primary concern is the obscene cost for the 'legacy' auras in general. At some potential market values, as I have seen Q go for 200 and less per 1 ZEN, that's 1,000 ZEN ($10 USD) per Aura. At the current market price (232 upon typing) it is admittedly a bit less at 863 ZEN or so, but that's still $8 for a single aura. We're already being charged a couple arms and legs and human sacrifices for the other questionite items (such as a similar amount for a SINGLE costume piece) and accumulating that amount normally would take a ridiculous amount of time and effort (if using a single character, 14 days straight of hitting the max amount will buy you a single aura). It is an obvious, and perhaps meant to be obvious(?) effort to squeeze money out of people. Auras should not cost more than a complete costume set or travel power. Especially not the Legacy ones.

I also feel that the Legacy ones should be free for Gold or at least LTS, but I don't feel as strongly for that as I do over the pricing. It's not important, but would be nice.

torsion · November 2013

It would be nice if the auras on toggle powers be optional, so as not to interfere with the look we choose.

Unknown · November 2013

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Unknown · November 2013

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kenpojujitsu3 · November 2013

gradii wrote: »

if its made free for anyone should be free for gold. LTS I think is getting enough as is.

That's fine. LTS gets it if it's free for gold anyway so no loss to them...though I doubt it'll end up free for anyone unfortunately.

outofworker · November 2013

kenpojujitsu3 wrote: »

1) All ranks of the current passive auras need to be available not just the rank 3 versions. We discussed this with you in chat. Everyone on channel was in agreement and from browsing the forums it seems players not on channel would like this too. I hope that's enough support to make this happen.

2) Since the aura effect from Dark Aura is now being made an Aura slot item, aura effects from other items like Inborn Tenacity and Voltanic Potential should be as well.

3) In the event that you don't do number 2, will this system impede my ability to use Voltaic Potential, Inborn Tenacity and similar items as I already do? I'd hate to lose this ability as it's integral to some of my character concepts.

4) The "aura" we get from some certain effects in the game should be made into auras we can actually use. The "fire aura" we get when we're lit on fire is far superior to the fiery form aura. I'd like to be able to use that on fire characters. The "aura" we get put on us from Dark Illumination is one people including myself have requested before. There are others but you get the idea.

all of this is said better than I could have said and therefore I agree.
Also The sound effects should be toggleable (is that even a word?) or swappable! That would be cool!

And as far as rank 1/2/3 etc, always more options = better

roughbearmattach · November 2013

The faint, colored sparkles from Vesperine Flight would be an aura that many toons would use.

Also, I agree with the others that want the dripping water effect as an aura.

zedulon · November 2013

1) I strongly agree that there need to be intensity sliders. In particular, I'd like to be able to stack the same aura at R1 when not in combat, but have it bump up to R3 (and maybe a brighter color) when in combat. That would, of course, also imply that in-combat auras would have to override out-of-combat ones when you are in combat.

2) If I want to have 2 toons with the same aura, it looks like I have to buy 2 copies of that aura, one for each toon. That, or I have to drag the auras back to storage before I log out, and then log back in and drag the auras out from storage to slot them on the toon I log in. I would really, really prefer it if we could unlock an aura once and then use it on as many toons as we like - the same way unlocking a travel power works right now.

3) Aura prices are ludicrously high for requiring one aura item per toon. If they were unlocks like travel powers, then the prices would be more reasonable.

4) Minor point - the current 'Aura of Radiant Protection' item on the PTS actually gives the 'Runic Glow' aura of the advantage from AoRP. The basic AoRP aura doesn't seem to exist on PTS.

claypigeon · November 2013

My first issue is with the cost also.

Right now it looks as though we only get one free legacy Aura per ACCOUNT rather than per character.

That is rather frustrating, since the auras are being removed from the powers themselves. So every hero will instantly become aura-less. with the option to restore one aura on one hero (and its not perfectly clear that it's not a selection per hero)

It might be nice to get awarded a legacy aura on each character based upon the first power in their stack. So if you bought Invulnerability and Regeneration, but selected Invulnerability first, you would get that legacy aura on that character. I would even appreciate going for 2 powers, since many of my characters have the offensive power from their power set, and then some defensive power.

I am seeing that legacy auras once purchased are BoP, and the slightest mistake in a choice where you can't preview the auras, is going to be extremely not fun since that hero is stuck with that purchase. Additionally, since they are BoP, where is the harm in awarding every character the auras that go with their current power set? I personally do NOT like losing every aura off my hero, and then being faced with the prospect of replacing them at a cost of 200,000 questonite per? Are you TRYING to upset me?

I understand the need to make money, and this is an AWESOME level of customization (It is a truly AWESOME addition to the game, seriously I really, really like it), but taking away auras on every character and replacing it with one single free aura on an account, is just not happy.

Now from a bug perspective.

The debugger guy will allow me to make multiple purchases on the free Legacy Aura token (he takes my money), but I can only have 1 Free Token on my account. Not sure if that's just a PTS thing, or if my account truly can not have more than 1 Free Token at a time.

Also I was not able to re-create it, but there seemed to be an odd issue where if I equip an aura, and select a color for it, I can swap in another aura and it retains the same color (this is a good thing), however, every so often is seemed that it would revert to the default color. Definitely a minor issue, but something I noticed nonetheless.

To Sum Up:
This is an excellent addiction to Champions, one that will surely bring more monetary expenditures from me as I begin to "Aura Up." Just please reconsider the allotment of Legacy Auras and the prices, so I don't actually feel ripped off in the process.

Keep up the good work!

claypigeon · November 2013

I also want to add to the request for sliders to control Ranked intensity.

Also, perhaps a button between the non-combat and the combat aura that "links" them, which causes a replacement of that aura during combat with the other. By default it could put the same non-combat aura in the combat slot, so that it can be just an intensity/color increase/change. Placing a different aura in that slot would cause a replacement.

This would allow me to place Invulnerability at high intensity out of combat, and then replace it with a high intensity fire-form once I engage in combat.

As a side note, some powers which have an active aura might be nice to have a 0 cost advantage to turn that aura back on. Right now the only exception that comes to mind is Regeneration, it would be nice to have that aura continue to be active while regeneration is active. Or even the ability to link auras to that 0 cost advantage, such that you could have an aura like ice-form become active while regeneration is proccing.

mensar · November 2013

starboardnacelle wrote: »

Let me start out by saying that this is quite possibly the best change made to the game since I started playing back in 2010. It really enables us to be what we want to be aesthetically without sacrificing anything when it comes to character building. You guys at Cryptic North have absolutely nailed it. However, there are some miscellaneous issues that I would like to see fixed before this gets pushed to live. If anyone has any bugs to add, I'll gladly edit it into this post.

System:

* You can't actually move auras into aura storage without having your inventory open.
* An intensity slider for the effects based on the old ranks would be a welcome post-release addition.

Visual:

* Congress of Selves, Ego Form, and Id Mastery are too similar in appearance.
* Stacking multiple copies of the same passive doesn't have any visible results, even if the other copies are different colors.

Audio:

* The sound effects for Krackle Aura, Fiery Form, Id Mastery, Ego Form, and Congress of Selves don't fade out over time like every other aura. It's really irritating.

ummmm... where is the official thread for commenting on the auras?

I ask because there is one thing nobody seems to have thought about before they started this madness:

People (talking LOTS of people, not just a couple) ALREADY complain about lagging from one or two people with dark aura active are standing around in RC. Imagine how they are going to react to 10 people with 4 auras each... lol.

Another not-so-well-thought-out addition to the game? I hope not. I'm sure they thought about optimization for people running older systems.... but just to be sure, I think we'd better ask.

Hence: Where is the "official" aura comment thread?

After all, if this is the best thing that has happened to the game (in recent memory of things added or changed in the game... I'm fairly sure anything positive or non-nerf would be)... then you can be sure it could also possibly be the worst as far as the player base and minimum requirements for playing the game are concerned.

Soo.. push for that optimization of the engine for folks with older systems or the playerbase will continue to shrink. Something none of us want.

mensar · November 2013

gradii wrote: »

if its made free for anyone should be free for gold. LTS I think is getting enough as is.

LTSers are getting all the same things golds are.

They are just getting it without having to wait. Which, everyone knows my opinion about that, dilutes the fact that they are "veteran" rewards.. but hey, lazy programming is lazy programming.

But.. the point was: They aren't getting anything gold isn't beyond a few costume unlocks, a title and a Foxbat action figure... not exactly game-breaking or overpowered items.

Unknown · November 2013

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benevon · November 2013

claypigeon wrote: »

My first issue is with the cost also.

Right now it looks as though we only get one free legacy Aura per ACCOUNT rather than per character.

That is rather frustrating, since the auras are being removed from the powers themselves. So every hero will instantly become aura-less. with the option to restore one aura on one hero (and its not perfectly clear that it's not a selection per hero)

It might be nice to get awarded a legacy aura on each character based upon the first power in their stack. So if you bought Invulnerability and Regeneration, but selected Invulnerability first, you would get that legacy aura on that character. I would even appreciate going for 2 powers, since many of my characters have the offensive power from their power set, and then some defensive power.

I am seeing that legacy auras once purchased are BoP, and the slightest mistake in a choice where you can't preview the auras, is going to be extremely not fun since that hero is stuck with that purchase. Additionally, since they are BoP, where is the harm in awarding every character the auras that go with their current power set? I personally do NOT like losing every aura off my hero, and then being faced with the prospect of replacing them at a cost of 200,000 questonite per? Are you TRYING to upset me?

I understand the need to make money, and this is an AWESOME level of customization (It is a truly AWESOME addition to the game, seriously I really, really like it), but taking away auras on every character and replacing it with one single free aura on an account, is just not happy.

Now from a bug perspective.

The debugger guy will allow me to make multiple purchases on the free Legacy Aura token (he takes my money), but I can only have 1 Free Token on my account. Not sure if that's just a PTS thing, or if my account truly can not have more than 1 Free Token at a time.

Also I was not able to re-create it, but there seemed to be an odd issue where if I equip an aura, and select a color for it, I can swap in another aura and it retains the same color (this is a good thing), however, every so often is seemed that it would revert to the default color. Definitely a minor issue, but something I noticed nonetheless.

To Sum Up:
This is an excellent addiction to Champions, one that will surely bring more monetary expenditures from me as I begin to "Aura Up." Just please reconsider the allotment of Legacy Auras and the prices, so I don't actually feel ripped off in the process.

Keep up the good work!

The patch notes state "all new and existing characters will receive a token". I think it just isn't implemented on PTS since you can buy more tokens from the debugger anyway, though you can only have 1 at a time. So use it, buy another from debugger then buy another aura.

It will most likely be that every character gets one on live.

kenpojujitsu3 · November 2013

benevon wrote: »

The patch notes state "all new and existing characters will receive a token". I think it just isn't implemented on PTS since you can buy more tokens from the debugger anyway, though you can only have 1 at a time. So use it, buy another from debugger then buy another aura.

It will most likely be that every character gets one on live.

It is already implemented on PTS. Every character I logged in on last night (5 total) got a separate token.

aiqa · November 2013

mensar wrote: »

Hence: Where is the "official" aura comment thread?

If you have concerns about auras why not use this FC.31.20131024.8 PTS Update.

Some dev asked to have aura suggestion in a seperate thread, and having a seperate discusion thread like the one we are posting in now seems like a good idea to keep the official thread a bit clean.
But reproducible performance concerns are something that seems to fit in the official PTS update thread.

mensar · November 2013

starboardnacelle wrote: »

Let me start out by saying that this is quite possibly the best change made to the game since I started playing back in 2010. It really enables us to be what we want to be aesthetically without sacrificing anything when it comes to character building. You guys at Cryptic North have absolutely nailed it. However, there are some miscellaneous issues that I would like to see fixed before this gets pushed to live. If anyone has any bugs to add, I'll gladly edit it into this post.

System:

* You can't actually move auras into aura storage without having your inventory open.
* An intensity slider for the effects based on the old ranks would be a welcome post-release addition.

Visual:

* Congress of Selves, Ego Form, and Id Mastery are too similar in appearance.
* Stacking multiple copies of the same passive doesn't have any visible results, even if the other copies are different colors.

Audio:

* The sound effects for Krackle Aura, Fiery Form, Id Mastery, Ego Form, and Congress of Selves don't fade out over time like every other aura. It's really irritating.

As far as my opinion on the auras themselves:

No sound effects please. At all. Or very very low volume or effects that fade over time. I find nothing more irritating than having to listen to someone's loud effects from their vehicle, travel power or even passive drone on and on and on...

The auras should NOT stay active during combat or they should be minimized/optimized while aggro is on. People get enough lag as it is during large-scale fights of 20 or more people.. without having to deal with 20 or more people with 4-10 auras on them at the same time.

I think at least some auras should be in lockboxes. This is for the good of the game and not necessarily for the happiness of the players. Which of you didn't expect that some of them would end up in lockboxes anyway? Yeah.. thought so.

Auras SHOULD NOT in any way mirror, look like or even cover the same areas as pre-order devices folks got back when the game first came out. This, of course, dilutes the fact that they received those devices during a time when they had to spend quite a bit of money to get them. We're talking head auras, arm auras and chest auras specifically. This is, once again, a veteran indicator and (I know I'm talking to a brick wall because nobody listened the last few times) it's going to really piss off people that have these devices that give them a sense of identity in the game. They were purchased with the knowledge that they were a limited-time item and only a few people would end up with them.

Let's not continue the war against your loyal long-time players.... mmkay?

benevon · November 2013

I agree, sounds need to be optional at the very least.

somebob · November 2013

mensar wrote: »

Auras SHOULD NOT in any way mirror, look like or even cover the same areas as pre-order devices folks got back when the game first came out. This, of course, dilutes the fact that they received those devices during a time when they had to spend quite a bit of money to get them. We're talking head auras, arm auras and chest auras specifically. This is, once again, a veteran indicator and (I know I'm talking to a brick wall because nobody listened the last few times) it's going to really piss off people that have these devices that give them a sense of identity in the game. They were purchased with the knowledge that they were a limited-time item and only a few people would end up with them.

Let's not continue the war against your loyal long-time players.... mmkay?

The game is 1400 days old now. Give or take. About FOUR YEARS OLD.

Do you have any IDEA how few people from back then are still actively playing CO? Yeah, I'm a poor person to ask as I'm still here from launch (basically), but that's not the point. :P

Open them up. Give the things to everyone. It's been WAY long enough for their little exclusive bonus.

spordelia · November 2013

Amazing! Thank You lots to all Devs involved.

Totally agree that it's quite possibly one of the best additions in a long time. So pumped by this. Empty character slots opening up like crazy, ones I thought would never happen!

Post-release notes/requests:

starboardnacelle wrote: »

* An intensity slider for the effects based on the old ranks would be a welcome post-release addition.

This. Just based on old ranks. I think, a lot of players would enjoy that.

Also:

* That animation/FX between costume changes, I've seen suggested many times on the forums? Would be like the cherry on top to this. And best timing, as well, I feel they go along. Possibilities, endless! :biggrin:

crosschan · November 2013

Originally Posted by mensar View Post
Auras SHOULD NOT in any way mirror, look like or even cover the same areas as pre-order devices folks got back when the game first came out. This, of course, dilutes the fact that they received those devices during a time when they had to spend quite a bit of money to get them. We're talking head auras, arm auras and chest auras specifically. This is, once again, a veteran indicator and (I know I'm talking to a brick wall because nobody listened the last few times) it's going to really piss off people that have these devices that give them a sense of identity in the game. They were purchased with the knowledge that they were a limited-time item and only a few people would end up with them.

Let's not continue the war against your loyal long-time players.... mmkay?

You mean like they did when they gave away the costume pre-order items for the launch of F2P and the streets ran red with rage? Oh wait, that last bit never happened. The 1st bit, however, most certainly did. At this stage in the game most of the vets are vets because people know who they are....not because their head glows(I have Inborn Tenacity too).

bwdares · November 2013

I wish they gave us the...cant remember...aura of primal majestry? The old bestial one that made you look like you had scales made of energy, it was perfect for one of my toons.

Or is it available and I just missed it?

kenpojujitsu3 · November 2013

crosschan wrote: »

You mean like they did when they gave away the costume pre-order items for the launch of F2P and the streets ran red with rage? Oh wait, that last bit never happened. The 1st bit, however, most certainly did. At this stage in the game most of the vets are vets because people know who they are....not because their head glows(I have Inborn Tenacity too).

Pre. Cisely. To date, I know of only one long time player against this and several for it. Who else is against opening up more auras for more people? Let them post themselves.

bloodgambit · November 2013

Oh also, I don't know if anyone mentioned it in one of the super-long posts, but the 'Regen' aura actually appears to be using a constant Resurgence visual, with the annoying constant 'glow'. Just want the cool lines thingy.

xydaxyda · November 2013

I probably won't be using any aura at all for most of my characters and I'm sure I'm not alone... so maybe fewer people using auras will actually reduce lag? Not everyone wants to run around glowing like a chirstmas tree you know

anyway, good job Devs *thumbs up*

benevon · November 2013

xydaxyda wrote: »

I probably won't be using any aura at all for most of my characters and I'm sure I'm not alone... so maybe fewer people using auras will actually reduce lag? Not everyone wants to run around glowing like a chirstmas tree you know

anyway, good job Devs *thumbs up*

This.
I know the auras are something a lot of people have asked for, but so has the "turning off auras". I myself have more toons that benefit from not having an aura attached to a passive than otherwise. Either way, devs are listening and the game is finally getting some love.

dowhatnow45 · November 2013

Im loving what i have seen so far, however there is one thing that concerns me, Some of the effects are pretty "heavy" like Fiery Form, epecially if stacked with other passive auras, if this goes live i feel like it will be difficult to act with all the characters with heavy effects running on them, is something going to be done to help those with slower computers that might be bogged down with all the effects or do i have to hope i dont get stuck on an alert with several people looking like christmas trees?

Also is there any chance of getting the cursed eye costume piece turned into a tintable aura?, maybe then i can finally have an eye aura with a face mask :P.

benevon · November 2013

dowhatnow45 wrote: »

Im loving what i have seen so far, however there is one thing that concerns me, Some of the effects are pretty "heavy" like Fiery Form, epecially if stacked with other passive auras, if this goes live i feel like it will be difficult to act with all the characters with heavy effects running on them, is something going to be done to help those with slower computers that might be bogged down with all the effects or do i have to hope i dont get stuck on an alert with several people looking like christmas trees?

Also is there any chance of getting the cursed eye costume piece turned into a tintable aura?, maybe then i can finally have an eye aura with a face mask :P.

You can already lower the FX of these things in the settings for the most part. I'll just be glad that I wont have to be in any more alerts with somebody using ebon destruction giving everyone those obnoxious pom poms.

okitsunega · November 2013

dowhatnow45 wrote: »

Im loving what i have seen so far, however there is one thing that concerns me, Some of the effects are pretty "heavy" like Fiery Form, epecially if stacked with other passive auras, if this goes live i feel like it will be difficult to act with all the characters with heavy effects running on them, is something going to be done to help those with slower computers that might be bogged down with all the effects or do i have to hope i dont get stuck on an alert with several people looking like christmas trees?

Also is there any chance of getting the cursed eye costume piece turned into a tintable aura?, maybe then i can finally have an eye aura with a face mask :P.

Easy solution would be a game setting 'disable all visual auras' in video settings.

starboardnacelle · November 2013

Okay, I've updated the original post with more requests and criticisms that were posted by other people.

mensar · November 2013

somebob wrote: »

The game is 1400 days old now. Give or take. About FOUR YEARS OLD.

Do you have any IDEA how few people from back then are still actively playing CO? Yeah, I'm a poor person to ask as I'm still here from launch (basically), but that's not the point. :P

Open them up. Give the things to everyone. It's been WAY long enough for their little exclusive bonus.

Somebob.. you have a good point.

I guess I'm being selfish. WHy would I expect anything from them that shows how long I've been in the game? Why would anyone even care that I've been here 1560 days? It counts for absolutely zero now.

So.. I'm changing my tune completely.. give it all away free. Might as well. People aren't going to pay for it anyway so they might as well just enjoy it.

mensar · November 2013

kenpojujitsu3 wrote: »

Pre. Cisely. To date, I know of only one long time player against this and several for it. Who else is against opening up more auras for more people? Let them post themselves.

Honestly.. the point I was making wasn't a selfish one.. it was one just showing that there's a trend where PWE is taking the things people work hard for and just basically giving them away.

Leaves a bit of a bad taste in your mouth if you farmed for 4 months to find a rare device and it ends up in a drifter salvage box and on the AH for 30g. Or buy a prototype jet and it gets nerfed because "it's not prototype anymore".. but then they make it prototype again.. the irony is just amazing. And then they nerf legacy devices across the board when they could have just addressed the eruption and pheremones issues. And then the "veteran" rewards that they made some of us wait 1,000 days for.. and now hand out like candy to anyone that pays for lifetime.

I'm seeing the trend, but I'm definitely in the minority. I don't even KNOW anyone that's still here that was here during closed beta.

So.. I'm going to shut up because I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing me complain. But, bear in mind.. the BS you put up with is the BS you will have to deal with.

I'm happy about the auras.. there are some issues with them that I will address in a post following this one. But the bottom line is: the trend is there... all it takes is for folks to remove the blinders and stop assuming I'm just complaining to complain.

rugrothrumbor · November 2013

So just a question, will buying aura slots be account wide or not? Currently the PTS you have to buy them separately for every character.

mensar · November 2013

First things first:
This is a troll's dream come true. You can equip all 8 of the legacy passive auras like pestilence, fire, electric and ego and glow like a Xmas tree from hell. That will, indeed, lag people to hell and back.

I recommend limiting the auras to 2 "legacy" auras (old passive auras) or making them unique. There is absolutely no reason someone would need more than one full-body legacy aura on them at a time. I'm not talking about things like ebon destruction. That's just hands (although the glow is Rank 3 so it's a bit much).

Also, when you color the multiple full-body legacy passives different colors, you get a jazzy color sequence... but it runs so fast it just looks like you're shimmering. I don't THINK there would be anyone in the game with a perpensity to have an epileptic attack.. but, by god, that would definitely cause it

All of the new "free" auras on the debugger are broken: Specifically they do not scale with supermag. In fact, you can't even see them except the shimmering skin one.

Another issue: The Combat based auras turn on and off so fast (which is great that they are so well regulated) but.. what's the point then? If they don't linger for a little bit after aggro is done. But that's just a personal complaint, not something broken. I'm actually impressed that they turn on and off so quickly.

Which brings me to my next issue:

How will the combat-only auras be optimized during large open-mission events? People will need some type of easy toggle to turn theirs off and some option to turn (specifically auras preferably) other people's auras off. And I know you can turn off ALL special effects, etc in the advanced settings. But that's kind of a dig for some people.. and those of us with mid-range systems haven't had issues with the auras in large fights up to now. But if everyone has 8 auras... you're likely to end up with anarchy as people get mad at other people because they keep disconnecting during events.

Last thing:

I love the NEW auras, you guys did a great job. Specifically because they are light on particle effects, light on processor stress, etc.

So, to recap:

Optimize the auras for combat
Add a way to turn off auras for yourself and other people with a button click
Make sure people can't equip more than one or two of the full-body legacy passive auras (personal opinion)
Change the "new" auras to scale with body size (supermag, etc)

And, please make sure you don't add auras that will step on the toes of folks that have preorder auras. I know there is little point in bringing that up, but there you have it.

Thanks again for working on this.

sagewithbubbles · November 2013

rugrothrumbor wrote: »

So just a question, will buying aura slots be account wide or not? Currently the PTS you have to buy them separately for every character.

At the moment, they've said bought Auras (like through Z-store) are account-wide, while additional aura slots (bought from Z-store) are character-bound.

I'd presume that dropped Auras will work like costume pieces (thus being Account-wide), since they said that the non-Legacy ones would be Account-wide, and that includes both dropped and Z-store ones.

And I disagree with mensar. Make the pre-order auras available through the Z-store. Pre-order-exclusive graphical bonuses are pretty much always a bad idea in a game so heavily based on visual customization, and they were a bad idea here. Then again, I'm also in favor of making the costume unlocks for vet rewards available from the Z-store.

Unavailable costume bits should only be limited to NPCs (like Dr. D or Defender or whatnot). People should like your costume because you did a good job designing it, not because you have an exclusive that they can't get.

And don't limit the number of auras you can use, besides the limits you already have in-place with the limitations on Aura slots. Though an intensity slider to use the different ranks of passives would be greatly appreciated.

Auras: Feedback

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