SlickRiptide

QFE

This is one of the big things about Galaxy City, and I don't mean the size of the statue. Galaxy Girl is MORE iconic than Statesman, to my mind. Moreover, she belongs to Galaxy City. She lived there. The people there loved her and they benefitted from her presence in many other ways than just by virtue of her crime-fighting.

The whole zone is themed this way. Orion Beltway and its associated statue honors the hero who saved the people living on that street and in that neighborhood. The history plaque commemorating Atlas vs Teal Serpent likewise honors his rescue of the people on that street. M1's statue commemorates a local hero made good and honored by his neighbors. There are other statues mentioned in the lore that don't actually exist, but that likewise honor "home town" heroes.

Galaxy City is a place where heroism is personal and the people appreciate their heroes.

Honestly, I agree with all that and I'm sure that NCSoft/Paragon Studios are always going to make decisions based on keeping people paying rather than pissing them off and alienating them.

I do think that there could be a creative way to write a story that's the tack of the Vahzilok plague or any similar story where your character is negatively impacted temporarily and then finds a way out.

Either that or they need to just need to explain why Lady Grey is such an authority on ways to cheat the "Well" out of its power and become a kind of cosmic parasite attached to its backside.

Well, maybe those budding incarnates out there would prefer to think of themselves as remoras going along for a free ride at the expense of the Well, though parasite or symbiote appears to more accurately describe the relationship.

Actually... They didn't attack Talos Island. It was the one part of the city they left mostly alone (well, I've always imagined that King's Row was something that even the Rikti didn't want). Presumably the big hill in the middle of town above the monorail has something magical within it (maybe Talos himself, maybe something to do with "Spanky" Rabinowitz) and their "allergy" to magic both here and emanating from nearby Astoria caused them to target other areas. They attack it now because they've become semi-resistant in the intervening years.

I hope that doesn't mess with your character concept too badly. Maybe your character was on the shore over in the direction where the current zone tunnels are and not on the Island proper? There wouldn't have been any war walls over there at that time, and very well could have been some residential neighborhoods that are now lost in the no-man's land between the war walls.

You might find this bit of lore interesting (specifically, second column, second paragraph and after) - http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Paragon_Times/20050323

Swan's a pretty foxy chick. *rimshot*

Well, I can see why the confusion. I do appreciate the help.

You keep saying "doesn't even exist in the game story any more" as if that matters to a time travel story.

I think you're being a little obtuse here, GG. You're taking your self-appointed content-police role a little too seriously.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I also don't see any particular reason why the devs could not or would not come up with a new Ourorboros story that involves time travel to a city zone in the past. I'd go so far as to suggest that it could be one of their intentions, even.

Due to the way that "time travel" works mechanically, the devs were never able to customize the city zones to truly be "in the past". This, for instance, is why the Calvin Scott task force was problemmatical to insert into Ouroboros for a long time. Calvin didn't exist in the "current time" city zone so there was no place to put him in the "past" either.

Now, they have a whole city zone that truly IS "in the past". If they want to fiddle around with it, or just layout a set of tasks that involves running around and doing a patrol mission or some other kind of zone-wide activity, they now have the ability to do it as long as they set it in Galaxy City. It's a city-sized Ouroboros playground instead of just a "dungeon instance" sized playground.

You can't categorically state "this is all it is and all it will ever be". The best you can say is "we don't know of any current plans to exploit the zone in that fashion". You can't prove a negative and features that were "never going to be implemented", like weapon and power customization, teach us that there are few absolutes. You should keep that in mind when you're pronouncing what is and isn't in the future of the game.

Sebastian Frost tells you, "Go ahead. Have a snort of 'Dyne. As long as you take it in small doses, you'll build up a tolerance and you won't turn into a mentally deficient Jolly Green Giant. It worked for me. Trust me."

What do you do?

I don't actually have a problem with Incarnation. I always kind of liked that idea, the way it was originally presented. The Well of the Furies I'm not so keen about, but as has been pointed out, it's akin to the Speed Force. If the Speed Force started walking and talking through him, though, I have to think that Barry Allen's first thought would be "How do I get this thing out of me?" In fact, I want to know what Statesman's reaction was to that little episode, because if it was me in his shoes, I'd be feeling pretty <insert moderation-safe epithet for emphasis> violated. Maybe enough to go to my buddy Positron and tell him "You gotta help me get rid of this thing."

And honestly - I think that you may be putting too much faith in game mechanics when you say "Well, there's no other way to reach this level of power in the game so it MUST be safe." You are putting a whole lot of faith in something based on metagame considerations. You're basically saying "Well, the devs never did follow through on that whole business about making Hamidon Enhancements alter the genetic structure of the users, so I believe that there will be no negative consequences of attaching my character's consciousness to the consciousness of an unimaginable cosmic entity that wants to subjugate the Multiverse."

That doesn't really seem like such a safe bet to me, especially when the battle with the Coming Storm finally comes (though I suspect that battle will only ever happen on the day the servers are closed and the game is shut down).

My biggest problem with the whole business is that it's turning into a rehash of _A Spell for Chameleon_. I wonder what would happen if someone walked up to the Well and said "I release you"?

I think that my in-game character shouldn't have to be aware of metagame mechanics in order to have a compelling, consistent and believable narrative. The current incarnate storyline would convince my signature hero that Incarnation is a whole load of bantha poodoo.

I see no evidence why I should trust Victoria/Elizabeth Grey, and I see evidence that she is a borderline villain herself. That no doubt serves her well in her capacity as chief of Vanguard but it doesn't inspire any confidence in her honesty or her motives. I find it much more likely that she is using my hero as a guinea pig to further her researches and theories than it is that she is giving me the straight scoop just as a thank you for helping her out.

As much as I enjoy bantering with GG, I have to agree with her here. I'm of the opinion that the only reason an "echo" is hanging around is that it means they don't have to relocate the badges and history plaques.

I don't see any new content going in there after this.

That only means that the other shoe hasn't dropped yet.

That seems to be a decent speculation but at the moment speculation is all it is. We'll undoubtedly hear more when they are closer to launching it.

*EDIT* -- Positron is a defender. Hmm... or has he been retconned into a radiation blaster now that we have that set available?

NPC's in the game lie whenever it suits their agenda.

Keep telling yourself that.