Discussion of ideas

I was recently browsing through past suggestions and came upon two of mine that weren't used, but to which I can't reply  now with my reasoning and perspective; which, I think, can be constructive.

The first one was a suggestion to allow the choice of invisible cloak appearance both for custom and in-game items and your reply was that everyone will see the cloak when you equip it. Can't argue with that, but if I can make my arcane bulldozer of a character invisible permanently, and yet even an ordinary rug is out of reach, it's hardly convincing. I wouldn't think, with a playerbase we have, people would abuse this option, especially since some cloaks can look very cool.

The second one was  concerning selectability of demonspawn features. In this case I understand the point is to keep players in-character, but the way I see the idea is that the state of being of a demonspawn should affect their features. Yes, it's nice when it's random, but it also feels just that - random. Not chaotic or exciting. Demonic blood inspires to change attitudes and looks reflect that, but we can't really flow with that. Often, it actually takes away from immersion, making players feel like they need to submit to whims of the artificial system, not actual demonic nature. In that sense it feels more "lawful" than "chaotic". Also keep in mind from players' POV only a few seconds pass, so it feels even stranger to see them suddenly grow wings and makes for some RP implications that just don't feel very authentic. And again - cloaks...

It's also completely viable to roll all the time with features you prefer simply by carrying potions of slumber, but all that comes from this is tedium and a player feeling they're forced to play their character a particular way unless they restort to "cheating". An epic mage, having lived through 3 lives and capable of distorting time and space would probably undergo enough inner transformation to change his very nature. Ascended characters can levitate; why not give them the ability to overcome this mechanically insignificant quirk? That, coupled with the default option still being random and some people choosing to leave it that way, would still provide a great amount of demonspawns with uncontrollable features(and who would be crazy enough to take a "mrs. 30% XP penalty" through ascension, anyway? ).

I'm not even sure I'd use the first feature on any of my characters, as I've come to like cloaks, too, but having a choice is almost always good. I think most people would choose what's the most fitting for the particular character, and not "the new thing", because there is no reason to. Looks are a very important part of reflecting the personality, and spontaneously growing wings and ominous horns can mess with that, leaving the player with a bunch of associations that don't necessarily fit what they want to RP. Playing as a decent inhuman being in one form and a psychotic bitch in another one could be very immersive and exciting, but it's not viable like this.

My impression is that, at times, you want to force on people your idea of roleplay. While I wouldn't prefer
IC talk of McDonalds, I don't think that would happen here, so allowing more freedom of expression wouldn't hurt. Conversely, I think Aenea would benefit greatly from different perspectives, and, heck, human world is one of alternative planes in FR IIRC, so even porn coming up in a talk between two advanced mages wouldn't necessarily be strange. But limiting this crazy magey world full of ridiculous events too much can suffocate it. I'm not talking about anything in particular now, just sharing my perspective.

Cheers.

Invisible cloaks I am all for.  I accomplish it by making a cloak appearance to a mantle.... the model is actually a full length cloak, but it's texture can be made invisible via the "mirror" color.  Color all the parts mirror, and not just the full back goes invisible, but every other part as well.

However, it has the annoying side effect of hiding shoulder parts on the armor, which in several cases I'd like to keep visible.   If there was a knight's cloak that could be dyed mirror(invisile) that would rock.

As for demonspawn parts... yeah, I'd love to keep the horns/wings full time.  I'd even go for that as an option at Shae's XP store

Good tip, thanks man.

MannyJabrielle wrote:As for demonspawn parts... yeah, I'd love to keep the horns/wings full time.  I'd even go for that as an option at Shae's XP store

Same here. I'd make it an option to stabilize the form and give a power to toggle it(possibly with another buy), say once per day.

Lasombra wrote:Looks are a very important part of reflecting the personality, and spontaneously growing wings and ominous horns can mess with that, leaving the player with a bunch of associations that don't necessarily fit what they want to RP. Playing as a decent inhuman being in one form and a psychotic bitch in another one could be very immersive and exciting, but it's not viable like this.

Here's my vote for VC selectable demonspawn features.  I agree that playing a Jekyll-Hyde character is impossible if you can't control the appearance during RP.