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Ideas for Vehicle Customization; The Garage/Hanger!
iamrune
Posts: 965 Arc User
Alright. I think a lot of people 'in the know' understand that not having design and color customization on vehicles is a marketing and monetization issue, rather than a technical one.
So, I've been thinking about this hurdle, and I think I have a way.
My idea, is "Paint Jobs", akin to Dyes in NW and other MMOs.
Basically, Vehicles should be marketed by their "Power" alone, the number of slots and combat proficiency [and perhaps attached weapon mods] they come with, or upgrade potential, if not yet rank 2. Perhaps the perceived value of attached Design and Paint job can be included in this evaluation for price. See below!
Like Hideouts, each vehicle would come with a base design and minor customization options [which I'll get too].
But now a new set of items, akin to costume parts and dyes called Designs and Paint jobs could be sold and found in other ways in the game [ostensibly cheaper than base vehicles themselves, as these paint jobs and dyes are purely cosmetic in nature.]
My proposal would include turning the Vehicle showcase area in the north Ren Cen building into a "Hanger / Garage" that is the vehicles equivalent of the Tailor.
Gameflow would be;
A: player acquires Vehicle as current, purchase, lockbox drop, earned in game, whatever.
B: players build up the "game play power" of a vehicle as currently also, using Weapon mods, vehicle mods and so on.
C: players may now also get "Designs" from various methods, and a design is like an all over "skin wrap" on existing vehicles, giving them a different bump mapping and other minor detail changes. Methods of gain could be C store and Q store purchase, recognition vendors, perks and even boss drops.*
players may now also acquire Paint Jobs which are sets of color or individual color dyes that are account bound [like Dyes in Guild Wars 2 are Account Unlocked for a player once any of his alts has unlocked a particular color] and gained in similar manners.**
E: players would then visit the Garage / Hanger to kit out and customize their vehicles, via a special tailoring screen that is accessible only while in this new location, and opened by Right clicking a vehicle in the player's inventory while there. There would be no sliders, and the design and Paint job would be attached to the Item itself, so if/when it is traded between alts, it's look and hues would remain as customized until altered again.
This means a player can only customize one vehicle at a time, and it must be in their possession at the moment when done, with costs for the customization either covered once for free, and then with level basic in-game costs similar to Costume customization.
*Designs could be tied to all these unlocking methods in order to promote game play methods, encourage specific spending habits, and so on.. and Designs themselves could also be Bind on Use if not C and Z store items, so those gained in play could be traded and sold to work in the games economy. If it were up to me, these could even be crafted.
**Popular colors everyone wants like Black, Silver, Gold and such can be C store exclusives, other popular [but not overwhelmingly so] secondary shades can be Z store and specific cool faction colors can be locked to a Faction kill perk, [like the "Kill 5000 Viper perk to get "Viper Greens" as an example, or Purples unlocked by getting 5000 Purple gang]. Finally, the basic colors anyone may want but not necessarily need such as shades of blue, red, yellow and so on, can be uncommon drops in various content.
I don't think Dyes should also be tradeable, instead being a more universal and easy to get set of items in general, while Designs would be the thing players may go after, in a manner of "Dressing up" their vehicle and fitting it's look to a certain character, perhaps.
Challenges.
Obviously the challenges with such a system include a new UI for the Vehicle Tailor screen, new functionality for the game areas and UI tooltip additions on vehicles that only show up in these areas.
Of course the Designs would need to be added, and the first ones could be as simple as tradable bumpmaps for vehicles of the same design to exchange looks with one another.
As an example, the Copperhead, Wasp, Diamondback and Widow all share the same basic design. create "Design" item that allowed a Diamondback owner, to make his vehicle forever look like a Widow, should he wish it.
The Broadhead and the Arrowhead, on the other hand, are the EXACT same design as one another already, but with differing Paint Jobs. Early paint job items could just be ones that allow a player to change from one to the other, or mix and match, such as the red of the Broadhead with the White secondary color of the Arrowhead. Or the green of Arrowhead with Black trim of Broadhead.. or all new combinations. I'd prefer to allow players to mix and match just as with Costumes now, but colors are locked until unlocked to account via the Paint Job "Dye" items.
The Minor Customization players would have at start, would basically be the "Dye" Paint Schemes that are unlocked "For free" by buying a particular Vehicle, each would basically include it's own "design" and "Paint Job" already on it, and these would immediately unlock to a player when that player binds that vehicle to their account. This would allow players who acquire multiple vehicles, those who aggressively collect them across alts or whatever, to reap a benefit of addition designs and paint jobs to use on all their collected vehicles as an added value to do so.
Thoughts?
So, I've been thinking about this hurdle, and I think I have a way.
My idea, is "Paint Jobs", akin to Dyes in NW and other MMOs.
Basically, Vehicles should be marketed by their "Power" alone, the number of slots and combat proficiency [and perhaps attached weapon mods] they come with, or upgrade potential, if not yet rank 2. Perhaps the perceived value of attached Design and Paint job can be included in this evaluation for price. See below!
Like Hideouts, each vehicle would come with a base design and minor customization options [which I'll get too].
But now a new set of items, akin to costume parts and dyes called Designs and Paint jobs could be sold and found in other ways in the game [ostensibly cheaper than base vehicles themselves, as these paint jobs and dyes are purely cosmetic in nature.]
My proposal would include turning the Vehicle showcase area in the north Ren Cen building into a "Hanger / Garage" that is the vehicles equivalent of the Tailor.
Gameflow would be;
A: player acquires Vehicle as current, purchase, lockbox drop, earned in game, whatever.
B: players build up the "game play power" of a vehicle as currently also, using Weapon mods, vehicle mods and so on.
C: players may now also get "Designs" from various methods, and a design is like an all over "skin wrap" on existing vehicles, giving them a different bump mapping and other minor detail changes. Methods of gain could be C store and Q store purchase, recognition vendors, perks and even boss drops.*
players may now also acquire Paint Jobs which are sets of color or individual color dyes that are account bound [like Dyes in Guild Wars 2 are Account Unlocked for a player once any of his alts has unlocked a particular color] and gained in similar manners.**E: players would then visit the Garage / Hanger to kit out and customize their vehicles, via a special tailoring screen that is accessible only while in this new location, and opened by Right clicking a vehicle in the player's inventory while there. There would be no sliders, and the design and Paint job would be attached to the Item itself, so if/when it is traded between alts, it's look and hues would remain as customized until altered again.
This means a player can only customize one vehicle at a time, and it must be in their possession at the moment when done, with costs for the customization either covered once for free, and then with level basic in-game costs similar to Costume customization.
*Designs could be tied to all these unlocking methods in order to promote game play methods, encourage specific spending habits, and so on.. and Designs themselves could also be Bind on Use if not C and Z store items, so those gained in play could be traded and sold to work in the games economy. If it were up to me, these could even be crafted.
**Popular colors everyone wants like Black, Silver, Gold and such can be C store exclusives, other popular [but not overwhelmingly so] secondary shades can be Z store and specific cool faction colors can be locked to a Faction kill perk, [like the "Kill 5000 Viper perk to get "Viper Greens" as an example, or Purples unlocked by getting 5000 Purple gang]. Finally, the basic colors anyone may want but not necessarily need such as shades of blue, red, yellow and so on, can be uncommon drops in various content.
I don't think Dyes should also be tradeable, instead being a more universal and easy to get set of items in general, while Designs would be the thing players may go after, in a manner of "Dressing up" their vehicle and fitting it's look to a certain character, perhaps.
Challenges.
Obviously the challenges with such a system include a new UI for the Vehicle Tailor screen, new functionality for the game areas and UI tooltip additions on vehicles that only show up in these areas.
Of course the Designs would need to be added, and the first ones could be as simple as tradable bumpmaps for vehicles of the same design to exchange looks with one another.
As an example, the Copperhead, Wasp, Diamondback and Widow all share the same basic design. create "Design" item that allowed a Diamondback owner, to make his vehicle forever look like a Widow, should he wish it.
The Broadhead and the Arrowhead, on the other hand, are the EXACT same design as one another already, but with differing Paint Jobs. Early paint job items could just be ones that allow a player to change from one to the other, or mix and match, such as the red of the Broadhead with the White secondary color of the Arrowhead. Or the green of Arrowhead with Black trim of Broadhead.. or all new combinations. I'd prefer to allow players to mix and match just as with Costumes now, but colors are locked until unlocked to account via the Paint Job "Dye" items.
The Minor Customization players would have at start, would basically be the "Dye" Paint Schemes that are unlocked "For free" by buying a particular Vehicle, each would basically include it's own "design" and "Paint Job" already on it, and these would immediately unlock to a player when that player binds that vehicle to their account. This would allow players who acquire multiple vehicles, those who aggressively collect them across alts or whatever, to reap a benefit of addition designs and paint jobs to use on all their collected vehicles as an added value to do so.
Thoughts?
Post edited by Unknown User on
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in fact suggested something similar (but not as detailed) some time ago
@Liath | My PRIMUS Page | Altaholics | New Vehicle Models | New Emblems | Flag Tights
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Otherwise I think this is great.
If I gave the impression I thought that should change, I didn't mean too. Only that the designs and paint jobs applied to a vehicle were more or less permanent on that vehicle regardless of the alt that was currently using it.
Unless changed again, of course.
With Cryptic's track record, this isn't happening ever.
I don't think so. Perfection isn't required or no game would ever get out and be successful.
I'm not talking about the renaissance of the game here, or even a complete overhaul of vehicles...
Just a way to monetize the customization on vehicles that we all want, in a way that shows we are willing to pay for it, and to reward those who have been paying for it by getting a lot of vehicles with starter designs and colors that those who haven't bought in will have to collect.
I'm envisioning the colors or paint job hues as being individually fairly cheap. Cheap enough that getting two hues free with a particular vehicle along with it's "design" all unlocked would be a freebie like all the customization bits with each Hideout.
Hell now that I think about it, just having a premium purchase unlockable that allowed players to place EMBLEMS on their vehicles would be extremely popular, I imagine. I bet people would be willing to go as high as $10 a pop on that if it was an account wide unlocked ability.
If it was a per vehicle, one time upgrade [can't be per alt since the customization would be tied to the vehicles] maybe make it $1-2. More than that would be gouging.
Hell, as an alternate [and much simpler system] maybe this could just be like Character changes in Neverwinter. a $3 token paid once to enter the hanger and change whatever the hell you want about a vehicle, then locked in place on that ride til the token is purchased again.