Power Customization

Overview

Blue Fire Dominator

Purple Fire Controller

Power Customization is the ability to alter the colors of the particle effects emitted by powers, allowing for thematic and aesthetic customization of a character's powers (such as wielding blue fire or yellow energy).

This feature was consistently requested by the player base over the history of the game, but as it required a tremendous amount of work to implement due to the previous structure of the power code, there was no ETA for its implementation until June 19, 2009 when Positron posted two images that confirmed it as an Issue 16 feature. It was announced officially and explicitly on July 15, 2009 when the Issue 16 Overview page was added to the Official Game Update Overview.

It should be noted that Weapon Customization required significantly different modifications than Power Customization did, which explains its significantly earlier implementation (in Issue 11).

Color Tables

Power Name(s)	Bright/Dark	Dark	Ice	Earth	Lava/Crystal	NoFX	Standard Palette
Dark: Dark Armor, Dark Blast, Dark Melee, Dark Miasma, Necromancy**	no	yes	no	no	no	no	no
Earth: Earth Assault, Earth Control, Stone Melee, Stone Armor**	no	no	no	yes	yes	no	no
Electric: Electric Armor, Electricity Assault, Electrical Blast, Electricity Manipulation, Electric Melee	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no
Empathy	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no
Energy: Energy Aura, Energy Assault, Energy Blast, Energy Manipulation, Energy Melee	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no
Fire: Fiery Aura, Fiery Assault, Fire Blast, Fire Control, Fire Manipulation, Fire Melee	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no
Force Field	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Gravity Control	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no
Ice: Cold Domination, Ice Armor, Icy Assault, Ice Blast, Ice Control, Ice Manipulation, Ice Melee	no	no	yes	no	yes	no	no
Illusion Control	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no
Invulnerability	yes	no	no	no	no	yes	no
Kinetics	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Martial Arts*	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Ninjitsu	yes	no	no	no	no	yes	no
Pain Domination	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Plant Control	no	no	no	no	yes	no	no
Poison	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Psi: Mental Manipulation, Mind Control, Psionic Assault, Psychic Blast	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no
Radiation: Radiation Blast, Radiation Emission	yes	no	no	no	no	no	no
Regeneration	yes	no	no	no	no	yes	no
Sonic: Sonic Blast, Sonic Resonance	yes	no	no	no	no	yes	no
Storm Summoning	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Spines	no	no	no	yes	yes	no	yes
Super Reflexes	yes	no	no	no	no	yes	no
Super Strength*	yes	no	no	no	no	no	yes
Thermal Radiation	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Thorny Assault	no	no	no	yes	yes	no	yes
Traps	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Willpower	yes	no	no	no	no	yes	no

* Includes Animation Customization.
** Limited Customization.

Note that in-game, Bright/Dark is referred to as either Bright or Dark. In some cases, not every power in a set will accept a given palette.

Historical Information

This section contains information that no longer applies to the current version of City of Heroes/Villains. It is provided for historical purposes.

Back Alley Brawler confirmed on the official forum that at least three sets which were not initially listed (Pain Domination, Poison, and Traps/Devices) will actually feature Power Customization, though Traps/Devices may be delayed.

The following quotes depict the previous attitude of the developers towards Power Customization and reflect a design decision that has (obviously) been reconsidered.

"As much as I would love to have a purple energy blast or green fire, I don’t see it happening anytime soon. The problem stems from both the way the powers were made, and the sheer amount of powers we have, some of which are obviously un-colorable. We did some internal experimentation with power colorization back before City of Villains launched, and while pleased with the results, it in reality proved to us that undertaking the task of adding this to the game was going to be monumental. Time and money would simply be better spent making content for the game that actually meant something to the power of your character as opposed to something purely cosmetic." -- Positron, February 2nd 2007

"We've basically made the decision that it's not going to happen. [...] Of course, if one of our genius engineers figures out a way we could do it and still get you 3 updates a year, you can guarentee it will be back on the schedule and I'll be the first to tell you." -- Positron, February 2nd 2007

"Extending the ability to customize your avatar through the costume editor would probably be universally applauded if it were applied to FX and animations. We know this. Trust us." -- Back Alley Brawler, April 18th 2007

"Geometry particles can't be tinted on the fly[...], which is another one of those stumbling blocks for power FX customization." -- Back Alley Brawler, May 31st, 2007

"I really can't stress this enough, there's nothing insurmountably difficult about power color customization, it's just a tremendous amount of time to pull it off." -- Back Alley Brawler, September 4th 2007

"It would completely dominate some of the artists' time for multiple issues. That would prevent any content from being developed that required any animation or FX. [...] I couldn't even begin to tell you the things programming would have to do to make this happen, but it's significant enough to cut into other features, bug fixes, or performance/stability improvements." -- Back Alley Brawler, September 4th 2007

The following link is a forum post by Back Alley Brawler that provides details on the Power Customization feature, and the reasoning that, for a long time, it was considered a hopeless request.

Power Customization F.A.Q.

See Also

• Animation Customization
• Shield Customization
• Weapon Customization