City of Dungeons and Dragons

[Shattergod]

The City of Heroes franchise has carved a niche in the gaming world in part because of little to no competitin in the world of comic book based MMOs. It has carved a niche in part because of its relatively addictive gameplay. It has carved a niche because of its casual friendly style of play. Yet above all else City of Heroes has found success because of one thing: Customization. That is what the game City of Heroes has thrived upon, customization.

With roughly 7 quadrillion (and counting) different possible characters, the player is given a plethora of options in defining who their characters are, and some would say more importantly, what their character looks like.

The Developers of DDO have expressed an interest in going forward with the title and attracting new customers. To that end I suggest we heed the mantra that there is no second chance to make a first impression, and the very first thing any visitor to stormreach does is create a character. I contend that the current options for character appearance creation, though better than most, are simply too limiting. Avatar appearance is a major factor in how satisfied someone is with their character. They want it to "look cool", their definition of cool.

I propose three things.


First: Physical Appearance Scaling for faces and bodies. Allow us to shape and contort to some degree our characters appearance. Allow us to make our dwarves slightly taller, or shorter. Allow us to create human male rogues with lithe figures, human female warriors with musculature. Dungeons and Dragons is, first and foremost, a fantasy game. Although the Developers have "taken the high road" in terms of character anatomy, I believe the title would be best served by playing out to the fantasy genre in its fullest. Hulking conan -esque figures beside valkyrie maiden women, or even the converse, the short skulking rogue. Character scaling would allow this.

Second: Character Outfit Definition. Though I've heard it mentioned, outfit definition would effectively be the appearance of your character that is not based on the avatar you create at its birth. Effectively the appearance of your equipment. Allow players to adjust the patterns and colors of their weaponry, and armor.

Third: Revisit Character Avatar Skins and Animation. As has been mentioned recently in these forums, certain characters simply are not attractive, and certain animations are clunky. From the clipping issues of elven women with bows, to the bizarre way humans walk, to the questionable gender of dwarven women.

[GrayOldDruid]

/Signed

One of the best written proposals I've seen here.

[debo]

You definitely hit it on the head. Agree with everything. /signed.

Would love to customize my character more and make him more unique.

[Sue_Dark]

nice idea, too bad it won't happen without a massive overhaul of the game itself.

Besides, who says dorf girls dont look like girls! They are just stouter and to the dorf eye are rather handsome. However, the halfling in me says everyone taller than four feet is a freak.

[Mistinarperadnacles]

Absolutely positively SIGNED.

I STILL play CoH purely becaus it had the best character generation and customisation around. (the gameplay grows a little old after a while, but its still fun and making things look awesome is a big thing to me.

I have characters in DDO that are at a distinct disadvantage because I choose for them to look better than have the best gear. One of my Clerics wears +1 Full Plate because every single set (without exception) that she's put on since I got this one way back a t level 3 has looked awful in comparison.

largely its because of the seemingly random colour pallette assigned on item creation.


See here too:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=140435

[MrCow]

While I agree it would be nice to see more graphical variety... I'm like a cheap date when it comes to graphics. I'm not picky.

However, the halfling in me says everyone taller than four feet is a freak.

I like being a freak.

[feynman]

/signed

I would also like to see a "City of Villains" type addition to DDO, allowing us to play evil characters

[Butkus]

I, too would like to see more flexibility in body appearance. We have little choice there, but can spend a great deal of time getting the desired look with faces and hair, only to slap trog skull helms on them by the time we reach 2nd level.

[ENGRAV0]

LoL, /Signed.

Since AoC, I have seen posts like this in various threads concerning DDO, and NOT just in the DDO Forums. Is kinda funny, everyone seems to be bringing this to the front page now, maybe an AoC type crafting system too. DDO is fun, but isnt what it used to be. Too much silence here, but, Turbine suckered me out of 2 6 month subs, so, I suppose I will just enjoy them while they last. When the end nears for them, will see which direction to head off into.

[Stonebread]

However, the halfling in me says everyone taller than four feet is a freak.

Funny, the Halfling in me says "Let me out!"

[winsom]

Lord of the Rings Online has the right idea. Allow characters to wear different sets of cosmetic-only clothing. If you chose to wear a cosmetic outfit that art will be visible rather than the art from your actual gear. You can mix and match by body location, chosing which cosmetic item you want to show off.

LOTRO also has more advanced character models and model-behavior than DDO. I wonder if it would be possible to upgrade DDO to use that technology ?

[DasLurch]

The City of Heroes franchise has carved a niche in the gaming world in part because of little to no competitin in the world of comic book based MMOs. It has carved a niche in part because of its relatively addictive gameplay. It has carved a niche because of its casual friendly style of play. Yet above all else City of Heroes has found success because of one thing: Customization. That is what the game City of Heroes has thrived upon, customization.

With roughly 7 quadrillion (and counting) different possible characters, the player is given a plethora of options in defining who their characters are, and some would say more importantly, what their character looks like.

The Developers of DDO have expressed an interest in going forward with the title and attracting new customers. To that end I suggest we heed the mantra that there is no second chance to make a first impression, and the very first thing any visitor to stormreach does is create a character. I contend that the current options for character appearance creation, though better than most, are simply too limiting. Avatar appearance is a major factor in how satisfied someone is with their character. They want it to "look cool", their definition of cool.

I propose three things.


First: Physical Appearance Scaling for faces and bodies. Allow us to shape and contort to some degree our characters appearance. Allow us to make our dwarves slightly taller, or shorter. Allow us to create human male rogues with lithe figures, human female warriors with musculature. Dungeons and Dragons is, first and foremost, a fantasy game. Although the Developers have "taken the high road" in terms of character anatomy, I believe the title would be best served by playing out to the fantasy genre in its fullest. Hulking conan -esque figures beside valkyrie maiden women, or even the converse, the short skulking rogue. Character scaling would allow this.

Second: Character Outfit Definition. Though I've heard it mentioned, outfit definition would effectively be the appearance of your character that is not based on the avatar you create at its birth. Effectively the appearance of your equipment. Allow players to adjust the patterns and colors of their weaponry, and armor.

Third: Revisit Character Avatar Skins and Animation. As has been mentioned recently in these forums, certain characters simply are not attractive, and certain animations are clunky. From the clipping issues of elven women with bows, to the bizarre way humans walk, to the questionable gender of dwarven women.

/EXTRA SIGNED !!!!!!

I want a FAT dwarf!!!

In all seriousness, one of the reasons I played CoH for so long (over 2 years) was the way that you could play with your appearance. I left that gane to play D&D, and must admit, but I found that my first look was a bit sad compared to CoH because I had so few options as to make my character look the way I wanted it to. I soon got over the disappointment because the gameplay here is sooooo much better. I still miss the idea of making my characters look as radically different from each other as I can though. Body scaling would be so fantastic in this subscriber's opinion.

[Inspire]

/Signed

[redoubt]

Sounds good to me.

[GlassCannon]

None of these propositions in the Original Post would affect actual gameplay.

Instead, these would affect a person's immersive experience.

[salmag]

/agreed

More options are always better

[TheGreatEye]

/signed

Would love to have more customization of my characters appearance!

[Xalted_Vol]

Signed but can this really happen someone ask Jerry to ask this question to the Dev's on ddocast next episode.

[Feylina]

imo customization is all that game has. once i got past the hours upon hours of cool character design the gameplay was a repetitive grind fest. same old situations over and over again infinitum for 50 lvls. would rather play a korean game. at least they honest about their "pack a lunch it may take a while to get to the next level"

[reefhut]

/SIGNED ...in blood