Lycantropus

I would hope this turns into the launch point of the 30-40 Praetorian content, playing those Loyalist and Resistance characters having to put aside their differences and come together to rebuild and help protect a now much weaker Praetoria. I'd like to see them develop 'choice' missions to accept or reject the help of Primals in that process, much like the DA arcs have changes to them based on choices you make as the story progresses.

40-50 would be more about gearing up to face the Hamidon now that it's aware the city isn't as protected as it once was, leading up to the Praetorian iTrial that is focused on stopping the Hamidon once and for all, again much like the DA arcs are all about gearing up to take out Mot and facing down Diabolique in her trial.

I have a number of 'native' Praetorians that are eagerly awaiting the next installment to their story. I also wouldn't mind them creating Loyalist and Resistance tip missions either, for native Praetorians that want to 'come home' and reinstate their allegiance, and for those that have never left.

And wouldn't it be cool if at 50, you can keep your Loyalist or Resistance status, while still being able to travel to Paragon or the Rogue Isles, Basically like a Rogue or Vigilante?

That's what I'd like to see anyway...

I kind of took the "RP" view with my namesake when it came to badges. He's also my 'badge hunter' character and when Going Rogue came out, I had to make a hard decision. Was I going to 'go rouge' and get the villainside badges on him?

I decided I wouldn't. He's a werewolf. If he gave in to the beast to do evil, even just a little, that'd be a downward spiral for him that he probably could never recover from. The whole point of him being a hero is avoiding that temptation to embrace his beastial nature, with the badges there's now an actual temptation to resist making this choice more important for him, if that makes any sense.

My villain? Oh he's all about doing whatever he wants to suit his ends, and doesn't care if people see him as a villain or hero in the end, in fact he revels in being mysterious like that. He's working on both sets of badges.

Hi, my name's Chip! I'm sure you know the other guy...

I'd like to throw in my vote in agreeance with the OP. I don't read Wonder Woman, but I find that 'darkity grit dark' creeping into my comics for quite a while now. Part of the reason I enjoyed reading superhero stories when I was a kid is that ultimately good triumphs over evil no matter how diabolical the villain. I like Watchmen, I liked the original run of The Authority I like Ghost Rider, and a couple of the Vertigo titles. These books have their place too in the halls of comicdom. However, I don't read Captain America to see him struggle painfully while questioning the morality of his actions. I don't read the Avengers to have other heroes trying to put them down because 'they cause more problems than they solve in this "modern world"'.

I read Captain America to see him sock the bad guy in the jaw. Struggle sure, but overcome adversity because he believes in what he stands for, and what America means to him, and what he knows it can aspire to be as a country. This is so simple and at the same time so complex, I doubt few writers could handle it (though Brubaker has had his moments). I want to read the Avengers and see a group of powerful (and sometimes disparate) individuals come together and set aside differences to face a more powerful foe, and overcome it because they're the heroes, and because that's what they do. Lately I've enjoyed the movies and Animated series more than the comics.

And it's funny, to me DC's getting the animated thing down pat but not so good with the movies, and Marvel's getting the movies spot on and until the current Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, they haven't been very strong on the animated front. The Justice League/JLU animated series hit the DC heroes spot on for what I enjoy seeing, and for whatever complaints I've been seeing about the Marvel movies (not the ones from other studios, I just mean the Marvel ones specifically- I'm really leery of the new Spider Man film Sony's putting out) I've really, really, liked them.

So WTF are both companies doing to most of their comics, and why??? If I wanted to see everything suck and be gritty, only to suck some more, I'd turn on the news.

Instead, lately, my comics have been piling up instead of being read, and spend the time I would have been reading them playing City of Sadly, as funny as it sounds, it's a true story. I've been having a harder and harder time being excited to see what happens next because of the seemingly non-stop stuggle our heroes have been having lately. I'd really like to see them have a solid 'win' for a change. Even Spider Man back in the day got that often enough to keep me interested, and he was supposed to be the 'down on his luck' hero.

Basically, to use a COH term, the game is bugged and they need more inspiration drops if you ask me...

I like them in concept, and use them off and on, especially if it fits a particular character.

In fact, if it weren't for Stun Grenades, there's at least one Lady Grey TF I can recall would have ended in failure. Now I save them and craft them for whatever character I'm on before doing a Lady Grey.

They're only failing point is that short of the bat, they don't stack, which means they turn into useless junk I either have to delete (not worth taking the time to sell) or shuffle around and store them as best I can if I really want to keep them.

If they fixed them all to stack, I bet they'd see a lot more use. I know I would use them a lot more, and buy them for some characters, like my PPD cop turned cyborg hero would look really good with his old police revolver in his hands for something other than show.

Well making a new character answered that for me. I do the tutorial. Wether it's from the old 'Statesman Sez' or a sense of completion, I do it. It's an easy level, and is different enough from the rest of the game to make it worth the visit.

Having made as many characters as I have, that says something (at least, to me). The original was good for a badge, the new one isn't but I play it anyway for the vocals, and, to be honest, the ease of reaching level 2. The vocals are a nice touch, and enough to drive me back to it when I decide to make a new character, since it doesn't exist at any other point in game, which can be considered a shame really.

I'd still do it if they added it (such vocalization) other places, however, would it make it more of a consideration? I don't know... I'd probably still play it for the easy level.

If it's any consolation, I'd hoped for more verbosity in the DA arcs, for what that's worth.

Hm, good question. I can think of three off the top of my head:

Prince of Darkness This one is very creepy and has rather disturbing imagery in parts. Very 'in your head' type of horror

In the Mouth of Madness Not a ton of blood and gore, very Lovecraftian style horror film.

Nightbreed This one is hard to describe. It's not super horror-ish... it's just kind of cool.

I know at least a half-dozen or so others, but it's been a while since I've been through my horror collection.

Okay, after going over the feedback I've recieved, and I've realized what attention to detail folks expect, and I'm both pleased and challenged at the levels I'm expected to achieve in these 33 arcs. I do NOT plan to stop, and expect myself to build upon each critique while keeping to the standards I expect of myself (which is to say I'm more about a "'clean' and 'fun' story" based off the original arc, while acknowledging my own pratfalls as a writer). If the plot points suck, I can't take responsibility for that. I try to stay as true to the orignial writing as I can, while portraying the original information it gleans. This is the most important aspect to me. Being a 'fun' read, while giving the same, or more detailed, information about the game's lore than the origial arc provided.

Which, for me, is the ultimate purpose of the Freedom Style series. It's easy to say "Yeah, I knew about the Midnighter's before they were actually introduced" but how many could tell you which arc to take to learn about them? (that's not a test ) In my experience on help and other channels, not as many as one would hope, and that's my quest. This game is AWESOME, and there's a LOT of lore in it, but the missions that give it are hidden behind so many new contacts and PvP zone contacts that most folks don't even know its there.

I know this will probably increase this lore's interest by fractions of a percent, but I come forth now when DA's history is starting to make sense, when folks are actually asking questions that a basic understanding of the Paragonwiki (THANK YOU TONYV) will give... Having the opportunity to KNOW the background behind this game AND its Signature Characters (and with the way I'm writing it, knowledge of the Freedom Phalanx to care enough about them for the SSA's that I've seen so many complain about) I really want to 'give back' to this game so much that it has given to me because I've looked, read, and forgave, the limitations of past development to know what they've been trying to tell us. This game is AWESOME if we only dare look under the surface.

I can only HOPE to scratch the surface of that with these story arcs. It's worth $100 for me to try (what it will cost to unlock the AE slots I'll need to publish them all at the end of the day).

I can only hope I do enough service to the lore to warrant the expenditure of the slots.

Yaknow, it was the funniest thing, but running through it reminded me of this story arc in particular. I've run a number of AE arcs, but this one stuck with me because I like DA and this was a great companion to it, especially if you knew about the radio tower and its associated badge from back in the day.

I also think whomever wrote the new DA arc ran though this at least once.

SPOILER ALERT TO THE NEW DA ARC!!





















Especially when you get hold of the statue holding Mot during the Sister Solaris arc. Similar treatement played into the broadcast from the radio, particularly near the end.

And the 'lost souls' of the Detective and your 'fellow incarnate' you run into thoughout the arcs.

I won't go into all the details obviously, but there's definitely a nod in there somewhere

Yeah, I checked it earlier today, and it let me do it. Weirdest thing, I don't know why it didn't let me do it last night. Thanks for the info though!

Thanks for starting this thread!

Well, to start, you guys have already honestly started getting really creative with some of the boss encounters lately. A lot of these new things have helped make them come across as way more challenging/epic than a big bag of hp with high regen. I'm really glad you're moving away from that model.

Some of my favorites have been:

Boss gains levels as you fight them, making them progressively more dangerous/harder to damage. Tub-Ci does this in one of the DA missions (neat effect attached to it too). Some Redcaps also kind of do this.

Boss cannot be harmed until X obstacle is overcome (destroy a blinky or defeat their guards, for example). This is also Tub-Ci in DA, and a Vhaz Eidolon in the new Atlas Park stories.

Bosses that regain full hp at certain points along their hp scale. This keeps them from having to need huge resistances while still making them feel challenging and dynamic. Not like a heal power, just restored to full. Night Widow Nocturne has this in a morality mission.

Bosses that teleport/disappear and come back healed or even with different powers in the same fight. The 'Tik-tok' man does this in the Mercedes Sheldon arc as well as Captain Castillo in the Medi-porter arc.

Boss that has a set number of of inturruptable high regen points. Anti-Matter in the Keyes arc has this. Makes for a very dynamic and pro-active fight.

The things I like the least:

Big bags of Hit Points. Feels like slogging through mud. Unlike the 'heal to full' mentioned above, progress seems slow and frustrating. Far less dynamic.

High Regen one has to be able to do enough damage to overcome. Makes it impossible and frustrating for some characters (and even teams!) who would otherwise be able to defeat them. This is the worst at the end of a TF and the like, where if you can't do it, you just cant' do it- no inviting more folks to help or changing out characters to get more damage.

Unstoppable/Elude/Moment of Glory. I HATE this. At best it's a power that tells me to ignore them and let them beat on me 'til it wears off while I fight other things. At worst it's an excersise in futility on my part that just gives them two minutes or so of free reign to try and kill me.

High damage for the sake of being 'dangrous'. Anything that can one-shot a character, or unless something is done will absolutely kill the character (like Anti-Matter's Disintegration) I'm still torqued that Spectral Daemon Lords, as lt's, get a high damage tier-9 attack power (Midnight Grasp) starting at level 14 or so, in addition to the massive debuffs they have. Doesn't one-shot most things, but comes close.

Things I'd like to see:

'Evolving' Bosses. Like the Council/5th Column bosses that turn into Warwolves before you defeat them. This is a highly underused mechanic. I can see a boss having as many as 3-4 transformation stages, and have it be awesome! I was kind of hoping the "Avatar of Mot" was going to do something like that after seeing Tub-Ci draw souls to get more powerful.

'Staged' Bosses. Defeating a particular boss type that takes place in stages. Kind of like Anti-Matter's healing cycle in the Keyes, but this could include having to face down waves of guards, or having to destroy the mechanisms that are keeping the Boss from being damaged/attacked at various points.

'Gimmicked' Bosses. What if Countess Crey, for example, had waves of guards you had to fight while she gloated, and was protected by an impenetrable force field whose generators you'd have to destroy while facing down said squads of guards? All the while she's tossing psy attacks and confuse through the force field if you get too close to her. You defeat all the guards and destroy the generators... The fight ends, and she surrenders before you get to land a punch knowing her lawyers will get her free eventually. They never fight her directly, but if it's done right, the players would feel they really had an amazing boss fight.

'Destructive' Bosses. Quick! A monster's loose in the city, take it down before it destroys everything in the city! The reverse of a Mayhem, the goal isn't to "fight" the boss, but to stop it before it destroys everything. Mindlessly rampaging, It never takes a swing at you (except for those few AoE's you might get caught in ). Needless to say debuffs, holds, and immobilizes would be just as valuable as damage for these bosses. This one could easily get overused quickly, or very frustrating to players if it's not balanced well, but I think having one or two such encounters in the game would be fun.

Thanks again for giving us a chance for constructive feedback!