Tuesday, July 31, 2007

"Customizing" City of Heroes/Villains - and Proportional villains

One of the things I like about CoX are the detailed storylines. I love writing and reading stories, and it occurred to me, and probably to a bunch of others, that a little creative activity on one's part could customize a story arc. To that end I am now wondering if a more comprehensive customization might be possible. One possibility would be if CoX villain comments in-game are set up in their own files. If so, knowing the file name and format, one would write up their own dialog and overlay or substitute it for the generic dialog in a story are. This would allow for individual customization and a more 'personal story arc. A further possibility would be if the villain group/organization was a choosable option. Have an arc containing Malta rather than Council in a mission comes to mind as an example.

Another idea that I am really enamored with is the 'propotional enemy' that we are seeing in the Rikti during the invasion sequences. With the enemy being coded as a certain level to everyone and damage proportioned similarly, Level-1 characters can now team with level-50 and not be powerleveled, or left to feel helpless as the enemies are all the same level for eveyone. I am hoping personally that this is a trend that CoH is moving towards. The security levels I would keep, as enemies could have more and varied attacks as one gets higher in levels, much like the heroes, and the challenge would not be lost in the proportioning. This would also have a effect on lower levels, which could challenge the more 'experienced' villains, but would be at a disadvantage because of the villains ability to use a greater variance of attacks against the hero, making low security heroes at a distinct disadvantage against high security level villains.