As a counterpoint to the Realm-wide Giant Monster thread, I'd like to ask whether anyone else would like to see more of the day-to-day type heroics. I'd like to see more one-off incidents that don't show on your map until you're right on top of them, or have some kind of audible component that tells you you're near them.
It would be nice if these could scale rewards to the level of whoever did them, or just contribute to "rep" or something (without a solid game context from the Devs, I'm not bothering to design my own.) I'd like them to be worthwhile for anyone to stop. Mainly, because I dislike the idea of helping anyone to be "beneath" a hero.
These would be quick, 2-3 minute things that may or may not require combat, but should challenge the hero somehow. I'd like it to be more involved than foiling the purse-snatcher, perhaps mini-instances? Maybe have some puzzle aspect, or surprising twist that turns "Rescue my Kitty" into "Subdue Feral WIldcat".
Here are some Ideas: (along with the above, which I think would be a riot)
- Rescue someone trapped by small fire/chemical explosion/etc > Find and turn on fire suppression, then lead out victim
- "My yoyo went downa sewer!" > Kid's lost yoyo down sewer. Unfortunately, it's been swallowed by a crocodile.
- Pull someone out of wrecked, burning car > maybe timed before it explodes?
- Store owner being shaken down for protection > stop the goons
- Escort Little Old Lady while shopping > Turns out she's the target of Tong assassins. Who'da guessed?
- Save School Bus/Commuter Train from going over Bridge/Cliff > this could be a pseudo-"Quick-time" event.
- Stop Runaway Tanker Truck
- Chase drug dealers out of school yard
This kind of thing I see as a hero's "daily fare." They wouldn't take too much time out of your hectic hero day, but are a worthwhile diversion and could occasionally yield some unique rewards.
I like this idea. Most appropriate for new heroes, but higher-level heroes should also be able to stumble upon these small incidents and profit.
Be Well!
Fireheart
Don't know why but this idea made me think of Dom DeLuise's classic [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Chaos]Captain Chaos[/url]...
[img=350x300]http://cdn.motinetwork.net/motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/1206/dun-dun-daaaaaaaaaaa-cannonball-dom-captain-ciaos-demotivational-posters-1339548651.jpg[/img]
But otherwise it's a good idea to add a little extra "life" to the otherwise static cityscape.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
CoH had stuff akin to this. Atlas Park had gangs breaking into cars in some ares and purse snatchings, etc. The victim would often reward you with an Inso or something. Steel Canyon had Council/5th staging rallies, or up on soap boxes spouting bile, etc. Clockwork stealing metal to make stuff, like the Clockwork Pally, Circle of Thorns doing rituals on the rooftops or in secluded areas of Perez Park.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
Yeah CoH sort of tried to do this kind of thing, but mostly it just managed to have static animations that really didn't amount to anything as soon as you attacked the MOB. I think the OP's idea involves the MOBs doing a bit more in the way of scripted actions that would amount to "mini-instanced missions" as opposed to just acting out fixed emotes while waiting to be attacked.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Yes, that's what I'm talking about. Something between what CoH had and what Champions does with a random citizen walking up to you and asking "Can you help me with this problem located at X."
The idea being that you're not sought out for a random mission, but through exploration you might trigger any one of several mini-missions. These could be as generic as I'd listed in the OP, but could be specific to your Origin (if we have such a thing,) or something else more personal, from time to time.
In addition to how it fits the genre, I just thought this might encourage exploration. This would also be a great way to plug in some player-created content. I hadn't thought of that til just now.
And it always bothered me that there was nothing other than role-playing to encourage you to be heroic except in zones where you would get XP for the mobs you defeated; I thought that there should be some kind of award, no matter how trivial in [b]gameplay[/b] terms, when you acted in character for your chosen role. For example, defeating a spawn of level-1 mobs in Atlas Park who are menacing a civilian; you're not going to get any XP, but that's a visible demonstration of a heroic action, solidifying your perception by the public (showing that, even though you're a powerful hero now, you haven't become isolated from the perils of the common man). Something like getting a single point of prestige for resuing a citizen even if you've outleveled the mobs you defeated. It needs to be something that doesn't affect the character state -- i.e., it shouldn't be XP or influence -- but there should be some public-perception effect, or you wind up with situations like this:
[img]http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pvponlinenew/img/comic/2004/06/pvp20040613.gif[/img]
From the various updates that the CoT team has put out, it looks as if there's going to be just such a perception scheme in place that would be able to incorporate something like this.
If I had my way all the game would be one level (using something like the CO "Skull" system) with increasing difficulty and no level restrictions to story. Storyline progression would be gated based on the content you've completed for a smooth storytelling experience.
Crowd Control Enthusiast
This is why I prefer the notion of having Foe NPC levels be a variable determined by their interactions with Players, rather than be a variable controlled by the Zone they spawn in and determined at the time that they spawn. That way you don't wind up with the Lvl 1 thug being ignored by the Lvl 10-12 heroes just passing on through, who exhibit the "all grey to me" attitude.
Essentially what would happen is that the Foe NPCs [i]wouldn't have a level assigned to them [b]until they are attacked[/b][/i] ... at which point their Level would get assigned to them as a relative number determined by referencing [i]who attacked them[/i]. This could then be modified by the reputation level (if any) of the attacker.
So in the PVPOnline comic example the outcome would be different. The +0 (reputation) Level 10 Hero would fight a Level 10 Thug, not a Level 1. The +0 Level 12 Hero would fight a Level 12 Thug, not a Level 1. A +1 Level 10 Hero would fight a Level 11 Thug, not a Level 1. A -1 Level 3 Hero would fight a Level 2 Thug, not a Level 1. A +3 Level 30 Hero would fight a Level 33 Thug, not a Level 1. Same Thug and civilian setup in all cases, but the challenge would automagically scale to the Player(s) involving themselves in the situation.
The important point being that by making every Foe NPC in the PvE World "work" on a basis of relative scaling like that, you never wind up with an "all grey to me" situation barring deliberate "self-gimping" through the reputation system. Thus, the environment remains "relevant" at ALL Levels, not just within a narrow range.
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
That's an interesting idea, though I think NPC levels ought to be influenced by both zone and player.
One issue might be the lazy player who just street-sweeps the lowbie zone until there's nothing left for the new kids to play with. Also, the idea of a 'typical thug' suddenly scaled up to fight a high-level hero just doesn't seem right. There really Ought to be a point of diminishing returns, there. And a point where the hero simply one-shots the thug.
The idea of dynamic mini-encounters that can be 'discovered' randomly, is exciting to me. Perhaps the passing hero triggers a spawn of unusual NPC(s) which leads to an instance, on defeat/investigation. These encounters would certainly be scaled to the hero.
One issue with this may be the triggered, but unresolved encounter, where we now have OP NPCs in the zone, ready to squish the unsuspecting. I recall an ambush of L35 Malta that traumatized me in Kings Row, as a child. Also, there's the situation of high-levels zipping in and opening doors during Trick-or-Treating, triggering a spawn of kiddie-crushing monsters.
I almost expect the 'aura' of the high-level PC passing through a low-level zone to push back crime. "Hey, man, leave the Purse, don't you see Uber-Dude? He's coming this way! Run for the hills!" Perhaps this is a function of Reputation rather than plain Level?
Be Well!
Fireheart
This was my first thought on this idea of having baddies scale to the PC. I think this invites the inevitability of high lvl PC's coming along to 'AP' and turning low level NPC's to high level land-mines for the low lvl PC's.
Also, the reality of scaled difficulty of villains has been mentioned. Batman shrugs off common thugs. I want even my "natural origin" toon to be able to do the same thing. If I, a powerful hero, can engage with relative challenge a thug wielding a Louisville Slugger and a backwards cap, then something doesn't feel right.
I like the "small heroics" that WarBird mentions in the OP. A hero should not shy away from helping to fetch a cat, or a yoyo, or save a single life. However, there is the point at which a person who wields power must choose between two goods and also therefore choose between two evils. The goal is to try to choose the greater good e.g. in Man of Steel (sorry, its just on my mind) Superman saw that he would have to kill Zod to save (essentially) humanity. He was distraught to have to kill Zod and effectively deny his past, but he saw that the greater good required the end of Zod.
I don't really know how this sort of moral choice could be acted out in the game, but it does sound very interesting to me. If I as a player was faced with choices that cause me to face my own morality, that is pretty interesting. How could this be done in the game effectively? I have no idea. The only beginnings I know is that the player must be invested into the game, whether it is the world, the individual NPC citizens or whatever. I think at this level, the game becomes very immersive.
Actually, the easiest thing to do would be to set up these "small heroics" as being one of the paths to acquiring Mission Clues, which then lead into the actual "Missions" your character(s) wind up getting involved in. Yeah, sure, Timmy's dog fell down the well again and needs to be saved (again) ... but while you were doing that, you noticed something that might fit together with some other things you know about in that neighborhood ...
See where I'm going with that?
Essentially you could make use of the "small heroics" as a way to generate the Mission Clues that can be traded on the open market ... meaning that there will be both a Sink and a Source for that particular "currency" to enable characters to embark on Story Arcs. All you need to do is assemble the right collection of Mission Clues from whatever source(s) you can get them from, turn them in (poof!) ... and then follow the Lead to the Mission Door that those Mission Clues were pointing at, which then *could* begin a Story Arc ...
Everyone follow the trail of breadcrumbs so far?
/em futilely shoos away the pigeons that fly down to steal the breadcrumbs
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
Titan City is going to be one zone. Could be that all the street level enemies are around level 1-10 (these being the small time crooks) with there being less 1-10 missions, and during these levels you go about street sweeping.
Then when you're a certain level above them, they stop dropping XP and start dropping chances at other things (tips, costume drops, certain boosts that can only be obtained by street sweeping...etc)?
Then when higher level you start using contacts and tips to do more serious work.
Same thing can work for Villains, except they're robbing/killing cops/civilians and when they get past a certain level start doing bigger jobs!
This doesn't count the Giant Monster level threats and any possible higher level minions they may have (If any).
I like that idea a lot. These people that you do 'small heroics' for become part of your larger network of loose contacts and funnel more clues in your direction. They're vectors, not nexuses. The nexuses are your more formal contacts.
Be Well!
Fireheart
Obligatory...
[url=http://textsfromsuperheroes.com/post/66918333306/submitted-by-rachel][img]http://24.media.tumblr.com/dea1ae585da99fee50e3f36ab4351643/tumblr_mw89bvQUYG1rvya9ro1_500.jpg[/img][/url]
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
*snerk* Small heroics, indeed.
Be Well!
Fireheart