Captain-Electric

Paragon Studios, you are the best MMO studio. That's not just me being nice. It's me being honest. Over the years, I've seen the good and the bad. Now, in your studio, I've seen the best.

Now, I'm rolling up my sleeves.

You dudes who are upset about this (even though we have two body types to choose from instead of one ) probably don't realize how fracking limited and homogeneous the game would become if the devs all woke up one day and decided to see things your way. You're not even really complaining about you getting less. You're complaining about them getting more. And that is nothing but pure unbridled childishness. Welcome to real life, by the way (those who grew up with sisters know what I'm talking about ).

Say whatever you want. Your credibility is shot.

I got a good chunk of the Elemental Order costume, three pieces, with my first buck.

I bought several packs. In my opinion, they're worth it, as an occasional treat. Just don't go overboard, if you know you shouldn't. Spend responsibly.

If you have a lack of emotional investment in the story, your lack of emotional investment in the story has no bearing on my abundance of emotional investment into the story. I play here too. I pay my VIP fee and Market purchases every month. I realize that some of you have been around Paragon City since school was uphill both ways, but I just did the Crey reveal story arcs last year. Peripheral knowledge (such as that mentioned by Golden Girl) is bad enough, but it's unavoidable, and it's no excuse to out Countess Crey's real name before the 40s.

Loosely handled tidbits of information do matter. Much of the newer NPC chatter around Atlas espouses Crey as a wonderful maker of new technology. This is the intended public sentiment. Billboards reflect this. If there is a writer who misunderstands this, or who is just being lazy about it, then I want Positron to ask them to straighten up. Samuel Tow is only asking for writing that doesn't place page 189 before page 24 in the novel, so to speak. It's important to get it right the first time, because it does no good to bring it up now, beyond simple emotional venting. That isn't the way the development process works. They can fix game-breaking bugs. They can't fix story-breaking bugs. They can't return to the writing once it's in the game.

Anyone who's played Fate (the precursor to Torchlight) will recognize the music (link) for the Eleusis sector on Talos Island, along the eastern War Wall, just north of the Dark Astoria gate where the Devouring Earth are roaming.

The ancient city that I want to visit most is Oranbega, before it sank beneath the Earth.

Possible plot lines could include the Oranbegan-Mu war, or possibly events leading up to it. One of my characters is written as an ancient Oranbegan "resistance member", whose now-forgotten sect fiercely opposed the contract between Demons and the original Circle of Thorns, when they were losing the war.

A round of mission maps in this area of history might include some of the following.

- Majestic Oranbega, a sprawling city that thrived for thousands of years before retreating underground from Hequat's assaults. A place where magic may have advanced to the point of obsoleting the need to ever pursue a technologically advanced civilization. I can imagine parts of the city on the surface, and parts of it suspended in the sky. And in my mind, ancient Oranbega could make an Asgardian god blush.

- The island civilization of Mu.

- The War.

- Battles on ships, at sea, and over sea. Some in the water, some on Mu airships, en route to bombard Oranbega with magical assaults.

- The option to take a side in the war. Four possible sides could be the Oranbegans, the Demons, the Mu, or my Oranbegan Resistance idea.

- Conflicts between the allied Oranbegan and Demon armies, and the Mu.

- Conflicts between the Oranbegans and Demons, when the Oranbegans hesitated to let the Demons completely wipe the Mu off the face of the Earth, as per their contract.

- Resistance Oranbegans fighting Oranbegans and Demons, to help save the remaining Mu. I have a character that really needs this mission.

- The Tower to the Stars.

- "Pre-demonic contract", the botched attempt by the Oranbegans to reach Ermeeth; ergo, a visit to the realm of Hequat. (Though I have no idea how nice a place it is to visit. Few Oranbegans returned, and not with their sanity intact.)

- The original Library of Souls.

- Face off against Hequat. Incarnates, you should bring a league for this. Trust me.

- A big battlefield map. Huge. You're in the middle of the War. Lots of NPCs fighting. Demons flying around, Oranbegan warriors and sorcerers clashing with the Mu, bodies everywhere, sounds of explosions.

- A handful of new NPC factions could come from this. New costume pieces.

- New Midnight Squad arcs (don't tell me THEY wouldn't be involved).

What am I forgetting?

Skip to the bold yellow text if you're in a hurry.

The positive responses are a pleasant surprise. I rarely click the New Thread button and I don't view it as my personal soapbox. I hoped this topic would matter to you. Well, there isn't a single negative reply or derail. Maybe it's because you know as well as I do where the core of your gameplay takes place. Instanced missions.

Two of you have wondered aloud why we can't just have both. In describing their struggles and conflicts over allocation of resources, I feel the devs have done a pretty good job of explaining this problem. My either/or angle is a reflection of the impression I've received over the last several months, in discussions like the gunslinger debacle, the superhero tights debates, and the spacesuit polls. An impression which hints at tight development schedules and resources. When the communication lines are open, we are always asked to choose, or given explanations for why the devs have always had to choose.

In summary, in framing my question to ya'll, I parroted Noble Savage. I know that doesn't answer your question to me ("Why can't we have both?"), but at least it describes my motives, which are aimed at historically accurate expectations.

But it's more than that. The next time you're on a team, inside a mission, ask the people you're with how badly the game needs a greater variety of environments in mission maps. Following that, ask the next team. And again, and again. Watch the number of people who say 'yes' skyrocket. Give them some of my examples above, if not your own. Sometimes you have to whet peoples appetites before they go "Hmm." THIS is why I do not even WANT to talk about outside zones. We are sitting on a gold mine over here!

Museums, mansions, manufacturing plants? There are some fracking awesome ideas here (and 1930s era Paragon seems to be a hit). Otherworldly surfaces? Space stations overlooking other worlds, or stars? You know what *I* think the devs hate? WINDOWS!!!

How about a couple of more maps designed specifically for small or medium-sized teams, like for Halloween? How about maps designed around non-combat-oriented goals, such as solving puzzles?

What other kinds of environments can we dream up in this thread?

Push the envelope, this is a comic book universe! Please help think of some great new environments, and possibly the kinds of plot lines or enemy groups they could serve. Please do not derail the discussion by arguing over specific 'bad' ideas, just be sure to give a thumbs up to other peoples ideas when you like them!

A moon zone isn't the right idea. Let me ask you this. Would you rather have one moon base zone, or a pile of new mission maps featuring space station environments (maybe with giant windows overlooking Earth or Jupiter perhaps), visiting other planetary surfaces, time traveling to wild west towns, 1930s era Paragon, and ancient eastern cities? How would you like to overlook Earth from orbit, or to beam down onto some faraway mountaintop, or desert, or jungle? How would you like to do it all in one evening, fighting bad guys the whole way through?

How are you going to like it when your mission on the Coveted Moon zone sends you to another "tech lab" map, Praetorian lab, or...warehouse? How can we even be THINKING about new zones, with our dire lack of variety in mission maps? You might think you want a moon zone, but the truth is, after people have flown or ran around it a few times, most players won't think twice about it unless it's got a Wentworth's or some other necessity. But then, they won't be going there for the moon zone, will they? "No, a hazard zone," you say? Riiiight. Because we need another one of those SO much more than new mission maps (<-- Sarcasm, for the uninitiated). "Shiny" becomes "last week" quickly in this crowd.

A moon zone isn't as desirable when you consider all the fun that takes place in instances.

What this game needs is more mission maps that take us to a greater variety of environments. Let your imagination run wild here. Be as epic as you want. Because no matter what you can think of (within reason), your idea could be implemented in mission maps--those places you go to for the real action--for a far greater return on the devs investment.

We need to get Paragon Studios excited about making new mission maps, so that we can DO stuff.

And no one needs to point out that this isn't the most sane and reasonable interpretation of the whole game universe, or that I might have overstated Positron's position. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't.

However, this is the ONLY option for anyone whose characters live in a universe based not just on canon lore, but their own lore and that of their fellow RPers. I accepted a long time ago that I could not separate these facets without completely invalidating my own experiences and the experiences of my in-game friends. And that's not fun.

The only solution is to live in a truly whacky universe. The water's fine over here. Really.

Identity crises happen occasionally in the comics, but they're not lurking around every corner. In the game, I can walk into the strangest situations without worrying about it, if the current plot (or my current plot) doesn't have an identity crisis on tap that evening.

At the end of the day, for most RPers, these are just stories we're telling. You go with the method that best tells the story. In comics especially, don't let those pesky little details stop you. I love the comics because I've taught myself not to take them too seriously.

Most importantly, of course, we know about our own stories and explanations, even when they fly in the face of all these established "facts". I believe firmly that the lore is not established on facts, but on facts that seem necessary at the time, in each instance of the universe, experienced by each player character. This is our lead designer's own belief about the way his team should approach established facts, and it fits a comic book universe that is host to many thousands of writers, if you include us and our stories. This is our world too. When we create our characters and their stories, we help create the world. Our bios don't exist in a vacuum, and in that sense our separate experiences aren't islands, but neither do we have to seek approval for our creations.

I posted that today in response to an RP thread, where the OP doesn't quite have the delivery possessed by Venture, and is under fire for informing other players exactly what sort of game world they all live in. Here is an example of what I mean by "under fire."

Animal uplifts, mutations, and A.I.s with some thought put into their origins can be really fun creations to RP with. Some good brain food in those links.

Mutations are seen as a wide-open field in City of Heroes, but they actually have some reference points in some of the game's arcs and NPC groups. We know what caused the Mutant origin as we know it today (the Atomic Age), and yet we also know that some mutants existed beforehand. That might not be as controversial as it sounds, though, since some mutations are bound to occur in any species naturally; and unlike more mundane universes, we know the Mother Nature of Primal Earth actually has a personality of sorts. We can also guess what has exacerbated their rise in number (a consequence of Pandora's Box, and the influence of the Well).

Most importantly, of course, we know about our own stories and explanations, even when they fly in the face of all these established "facts". I believe firmly that the lore is not established on facts, but on facts that seem necessary at the time, in each instance of the universe, experienced by each player character. This is our lead designer's own belief about the way his team should approach established facts, and it fits a comic book universe that is host to many thousands of writers, if you include us and our stories. This is our world too. When we create our characters and their stories, we help create the world. Our bios don't exist in a vacuum, and in that sense our separate experiences aren't islands, but neither do we have to seek approval for our creations.

Damion, I enjoy this kind of discussion immensely. But like the others, I have some words of advice regarding your approach. First, I will present you with the magic key. Whenever I've written guides on roleplaying aspects of the game, I've always been careful never to use this word: "You." Sure, I might use it in my initial writing. But before posting, I will go through and replace all instances of that nasty word with "me", "I", "myself", and so on (I have broken my rule in this one instance, let's see what happens!). The results are magical. People will reply to tell you that you may as well have been talking about them. And you were, of course. But when you're explicit about this fact, your audience will only respond to tell you how much they hate you. This has never happened to me personally, but I know what I'm talking about. I learned from watching threads like this.

My other piece of advice is to be kind and respectful to your audience, even when they insult you. Doing so elevates you, not only in your own mind, but in your audience's minds, whether they ever admit it or not.

Well, in defense of insignificance (), that is like pointing out that there are billions more possible phone numbers than there are phones on Earth. Those possibilities haven't occurred and don't exist, while all the atoms of the universe do exist. And you're probably discounting quantum particles, which may outnumber themselves many times over (no, that's not a typo, it's weird science [Edit: I'm being silly here, but I wouldn't be surprised if some physicists might say this was a valid enough way of looking at it]).

You hold the Universe at a disadvantage when you make a contest between possible outcomes, and outcomes that actually exist. That's not a fair contest! For example, the number of possible connections in existing human brains is hugely dwarfed by the number of atoms that could have formed out of various energy-to-matter reactions that were quite possible, but didn't occur.

P.S. Unless they did occur, somewhere else, and unless all of those possible neural synaptic connections do exist, somewhere out there; in which case our entire Universe might be insignificant!

There are many other Powers of Ten websites out there, but this one may have just become my favorite. Thank you.

I have been deeply interested in Cosmology for years. Since the first night I managed, after several hours, to focus a cheap telescope on Jupiter, and then, later, Saturn. I can't remember what possessed me to do that; I think I had come home early from a party and was bored. I had always imagined the giant planet Jupiter to be turning very slowly. Seeing those wide bands of clouds turn and turn so quickly was a surprise. There wasn't much color, because of all the light being reflected off the clouds, but I was seeing this other world for real, with my own eyes, from my parents driveway. Then, the best part happened. I saw a small round black spot appear on one of the bands. It was a shadow, followed by the small moon casting it, slowly revolving across my view. This really affected me, because for the first time, I was no longer just living in the world; I was living in the Universe.

Probably that same month, I laid on my car hood and for the first time just let it all sink in. That "Space is big..." truism. Space, the universe, my tiny mind, swallowed up by all those stars and inky blackness. Surprisingly, it was one of the most calming feelings I had ever experienced. All of my problems shrank into small specks, almost nothingness. The great thing is that it wasn't just a feeling, but was also an entirely scientific observation.

A few years later I was using programs like Celestia, and a better telescope, to look at planets, stars, and galaxies. But unlike so many other firsts in life, those original sensations are still with me. The more I learn about the Universe, the more expansive it becomes. I feel like I have a pretty nice command of the English language, but simply can't explain to you how big the Universe feels to me. The more I've learned about it, the less I've been able to wrap my mind around it.

What's cool is, without that wall of text, I wouldn't be playing City of Heroes. Astronomy and cosmology got me interested in a sub-genre of science fiction called hard science fiction, often written by scientists themselves, to help explain how colonization of other worlds might really happen. Eventually, you know, I needed some lighter reading. At that point, I was really only a couple of years and a few steps away from comic books, but I would have called you nuts if you said it.

*Looks up at long rambling post.*

Well, I couldn't sleep.

I didn't want to have to do this....

That is more like what is eyes looked like in his Gwen Stacey days.

His eyes didn't grow wider until the first time he saw M.J.

Hawkeye bows to the audience.

Sorry for the double post. Eva Destruction (punny name thar) does have a point, in that sometimes I think you should employ stylized realism for the sake of consistency with the rest of your models. But I just want to say, "stylized" does not mean quite the same thing as exaggeration in the way I'm using it, which is what turns me off about certain other super hero games (Saturday morning cartoon exaggeration). A lot of City of Heroes is stylized realism, and it looks awesome to my eyes. I'm not sure if reading that will make a lot of sense, but I do think Noble Savage could read this and know what I'm getting at.

I still read comics here in 2012, including Amazing Spider-Man. There's a reason why they titled this movie after the mainline Marvel universe Spidey. The trailers are shaping him up to be just that, or very similar.

1. Peter might be shy. But Spidey never shuts up. Seriously. Wisecracking doesn't fully describe it. He could exasperate the Joker. At the same time, he takes his sense of Right and Wrong very seriously, perhaps more seriously than anything else in the world. He is a lot like Captain America, extremely genuine, but without Cap's well-trained discipline and focus. At the same time, his personality in the comics sometimes reminds me of Mulder's extreme sensibilities, from the X-Files. Mulder was an intensely introspective and honest person, but in the depths of his crusade, we sometimes questioned his sanity. Anyone remember that issue where the Chameleon stole Peter's identity for a day? Peter seems so disorganized on the surface, but below all of that, you have this crusader who has actually reorganized (and in many ways sacrificed) his entire life for the sake of his crusade. You have to read the comics to understand just how much depth this character has, why he wears the suit, why he does what he does. The previous movies were good, but that wasn't the Amazing Spider-Man from the comics.

2. He's not just "into" science. He's a super genius, even before his accident of origin. It's one of the reasons why he and Tony Stark used to hang out so much, up until Civil War. The only difference between them is Peter's difficulty with maintaining priorities in his personal life, and difficulty working with others (this last part has improved in the past couple of years). Anyone remember the comic where Dr. Octopus takes over all the machines in New York, and Spidey returns everything to normal purely through his genius problem-solving ability?

3. Anyone who thinks Peter Parker couldn't make the new suit on his own, needs to get to know the real Peter Parker (not Tobey Maguire).

4. Web fluid. Peter invented that. Nuff said.

Honestly, I'm optimistic, but will be very surprised to see someone outside of Marvel Studios or Christopher Nolan getting a super hero right.