Shapeshifter vs. Possessor

[DoubleDub]

I think that the shapeshifter is probably my favorite character, but I would suggest a compromise between the nerf and before the nerf. Maybe a shorter cooldown? Like 4 seconds instead of 10 maybe. Just a suggestion, say what you think! Also, the shapeshifter should be called "the Possessor" because it possesses the body of it's victim, but a shapeshifter would just become like a duplicate of that person, like Mystique from X-men does.

There could be the Posessor character, which is basically the current shapeshifter, and then there could be the shapeshifter character, which would be strange looking when not assuming the appearance of someone else. It could have a special ability for shape-shifting, where you would hold right-click and scroll, or right click to bring up a menu to change into the appearance of people you've been near, but it would not have their abilities or items, but would have their same relationship stats.

What do you think?

[Madguy]

I've been thinking about making the cooldown a bit shorter. A character that changes appearance is a possibility for sure, if I can find a way to implement it in a way that's interesting and different enough from the Shapeshifter while also being balanced.

[DoubleDub]

Hey, thanks for the input, Madguy! I really appreciate it when devs answer the community. Btw, I really love your game.

[S.A Blue Lighting of Zeus]

And for the possessor,i think the possesor should get the item from the possed people,like drug dealer,we should get what he own in the sell inventory when get control by the shapeshifter/possesor,i love your game too Madguy

[Middle Class]

Good point..

[Glenn from Discord]

Currently it seems that random characters you can posses don't really have much "Loot" on them, making the choices you shapeshift into dependent on what you can see, or know about their class. It would be awesome to have little surprises of items randomly generated to be on an individual once you posses. Maybe make it so any item you've onlocked through "rewards" could have a small chance to appear on the person you take control of. Where as a shapeshifter can just turn into random things rather then people. Like being able to turn into a car, and run people over, or turn into an ovan and shoot fire at people (would be really fun in the new industry maps). I agree with OP, that ShapeShifter doesnt really "Shapeshift" and given the right format, the seperation of the two could open up for a cool new character.

[Basil]

Some thoughts/suggestions:

• Possessed NPCs slowly, constantly lose health, thus placing a time limit on possession. Player will be booted from the NPC at ~10% health; the NPC will have the Unconscious status, and the player will have 30 seconds of Confused status. Any neutral NPCs in visual range either Panic or become hostile.
  
  There would be no ill effect to the player if they manually eject. Any NPC ejected from that have higher than 10% health will be Confused as they are in the current version.
  
  
• Possession becoming "remote control." The player becomes immobile at the point of possession, and can control the NPC as normal. But, the player's body is vulnerable, and also must "eject" from the possessed body to leave the level. This would make Event levels (riot, bombs, robot, radiation) particularly challenging.
  
  
• If Shapeshifter is split into a separate class, maybe they can only shift into a NPC that they have first killed.
  
  I'm not sure how the mechanic would work, but maybe have a secondary shifting ability, where the player can transform into an environmental object as well. So, imagine that they shift into a garbage can, wait for a gang member to walk past, then ambush them, shift into the now-dead gang member's form, etc.

[FlickerDitz]

Here's a rough idea for a new shape shifter. Making the shapeshifter take the form objects or at least gain some qualities from them could be interesting.

Example: became a safe? Maybe you're tank-like and damage resistant because you're metal but also slow and loud.

As for the base perks I don'trwally know where you would go for all of them but I'm sure scientists would love to get their hands on a weird shape shifting creature ;) .

[Settyness]

When I hear shapeshifter, I think one who can retain the appearance of arbitrary entities. Not necessarily anything specific.

Specifically retaining the appearance of an individual would classify you as a doppelganger. Then again, I could just be a pedant.

At any rate, this is a good thread, the shapeshifter is using its victims as hosts, not really changing itself physically. To this end, I recall someone having a good idea about making the Ghost playable class the "posessor" and basically reworking the shapeshifter, though that may be too much change too quickly.

[aksnv88]

@Madguy Thank you so much for lowering the cool-down time to 5 seconds. I think this is a pretty good balance for the shapeshifter.

[Grimoirian]

Considering the Shapeshifter and bugs, I'm not sure if it's intentional, and I haven't played since the new update, but there was an issue where if you levelled up when you were possessing someone that your host would get full health but you would still be at the same health you were. Thought I should mention it. Looking forward to sinking my teeth into this mini update when I get some time next week, keep up the good work Madguy!