f13.net

It has been a looming concern for me in CoH ever since it started, and while there is no sign of it yet when pvp emerges I fear:

Tiny little avatars in Black.

That's it.  No esthetics, no glows, no color.  Just small and hard to see.  Now pick your class.

If this Avatar model becomes "popular" it can detract from the game.

In shadowbane my bud used a variation of this - he played dwarves which tended to be smaller and harder to see.  Importantly he used daggers for ranged combat - which are hard to see on the battle field in tracing it back to who is attacking you.

Based on the generally dramatic power fx and the "target closest" ability, I don't see skinny 4-foot heroes being a huge problem for my scrapper.  

See where shot comes from, superspeed to its vicinity, target closest, /follow.  Blasters trying to return fire from a distance may have problems.  

Of course there may be more looming issues, like stealth/invis and (ironically) superspeed.  I foresee heroes zooming / jumping / flying / teleporting about like ping pong balls.  People will do whacked out things like 6-slotting travel powers, using air superiority, etc.

Imagine a hovering, stealthed energy blaster using build-up/snipe and then TPing away before going invisible.  Shit like that.  If stealth+SS is still "invisible" as it is in PvE, they'll be able to do that all day while still attacking.

EDIT:  I don't mean to derail from avatars to power abuse, I'm just suggesting that the devs really have their work cut out for them on many, many levels.  Its not hard to imagine PvP abuses for CoH.  Abusing thugs with obscene power combos is pretty much the whole game.  Hell, my scrapper is perma-invisible, perma-superspeeded, and perma-hastened.

Since you can just hit TAB to target players, I don't imagine I'm too worried about tiny little 0wnz0r shitheads in all black.

In group pvp - if the nearest avatar is a tank rather than the more distant healer...

I have not tested it but is there a range limit on the tab function?

...then we're dangerously close to a very organic PvP role for tankers.

The range is pretty damn long.  Like... clipping range and sometimes beyond.

Even with a long range on tab, people will tend to attack what they see first and if they see a tanker up in their grill, they may go for them. I say yay for tankers even though I don't play one.

Exactly.

Also, note that the design currently has taunt working in pvp (forcing you to attack someone who taunts you).

Clicking on the little black guy won't be the key problem.

Also note that in pvp your opponents are likely to have access to invisibility.

That's hilarious - they should do that in WoW.

Okay the Tab fact makes sense - but in group pvp can you easily toggle targets?  In Shadowbane you never just targeted the nearest opponent.  Group pvp typically involved killing the healers first <insert critical class here > so selectivity is important.

Just hit tab again until you've got the guy you want.  Personally, though, I'd click if at all possible.

And yeah, a lot of people probably will attack the first thing that tab selects for them.  My bet is that those people will lose a lot of fights until they learn better.

One more thing worth remembering is that CoH has the best assist system ever devised by mankind.

So only one person ever needs to handle targeting, everyone else just keeps locked on the 'Main Assist' or whatever the cool kids call it these days, and keeps on firing attack powers.

Assist is great for ranged attacks, not so hot for us scrappers and tankers.  If we target an ally, then that ally's target comes up as a secondary target - but /follow still sends you running to your ally.