Steampunkette

Which totally fits the oppressed population feel. They don't go out and thank the hero for saving them because it'll get them in trouble with some group that works against the hero.

Even in Mayhem Missions (which are -hard- to justify, though I've found a few ways) it's easy to explain the civvies running in terror! Do YOU want to stand there while two super-powered individual lob explosives at each other? Does it -really- make it any safer when one of the people throwing explosives is a Cop? Note you can sub in firing a gun, energy blasting, or grenades for "Lobbing Explosives" and it still works.

How do I justify Mayhems? I rewrite the mayhem as assaulting a mob-bank, basically. Recovering a few hundred thousands of dollars stolen from innocent civilians and then returning it to the oppressed businesses.

-Rachel-

Seriously? The 2012 thing was a joke about a crappy John Cusack movie that turns out to be nothing more than a Reboot of Noah's ark. Kind of literally... They just used the 2012 Doomsday thing as the explanation for the world-flood.

The reason I set in on 2012 is because everything that's going to be released in 2010 is proooooobably already on the drawing board for the Devs. And 2011 is before 2012 sooooo... i settled in on the John Cusack joke.

-Rachel-

=-3

Another point to consider is those who enjoy being Proactive.

Heroes, on the whole, are Reactionary. They attempt to maintain the status quo and uphold justice when the evil guy comes to town and starts ruining the apple pie lifestyle. Heroes in the Isles tend to be Proactive rather than Reactive. They're actively trying to change things for the better and, as such, have a more dynamic feel to their storyline.

Think of most Superhero Comics. bad guy appears, causes chaos. hero fights bad guy and sort of loses for a little bit in a bid at tension, then wins the fight. The "Sort of Loses" for a little bit creates tension and interest in the story.

Now think of a Superhero trying to make things better in a bad place. He's now antagonistic to society as it stands while being a heroic figure AND the protagonist. He's an active element who does more than react to changes inflicted by the enemy.

Sometimes I want some of column A. sometimes i want some of column B. i never want column C or D

Column C being the protagonist villain in Paragon city, inflicting change upon a "Good" society for her own ends.

And D being the Villain in a City of Villains not really changing anything or accomplishing -anything- because all she does is work for other people. She's not proactive but she's still the Villain? It doesn't really work for me.

So yes. I re-write. And it makes the characters mean more to me. =-3

-Rachel-

Psssst.... Snowglobe? Wrong on many counts.

I'm aware how labor intensive this idea is. I'm aware just how many translators would need to be applied to get the data stores compatible with a new engine design (or have a decent estimate). I'm aware that long time vets have put in a lot of effort and money into the game.

I'm not suggesting a new game. I'm not suggesting that Long Time Vets be forced to lose their Vet status or character rewards. I'm suggesting that, in response to all the "COH2!" threads and the Devs constant struggle against the constraints of the engine; NCSoft should drop the cash on CoH to create this new backwards compatible super-engine.

Graphical updates like Ultra-Mode are fantastic. System updates like power customization and the Mission Architect are wonderous! But because the Engine doesn't recognize the side of a building as anything but a Wall (i.E. it has no climbable or walkable value) we'll never be able to wall climb. Because Water doesn't have the appropriate variable strings attached to it, we'll never have running on water with Super Speed.

I'm suggesting this massive engine-swap be done as a courtesy to the players. A possible title change to "City of Heroes 2" or something similar, and a boxed game on the shelves. You'd retain your characters, your badges, your costumes, your AE arcs, etc. The change would be in how the engine itself reads and maintains data. Currently it very likely reads a wall, for example, as a non-clipping object with specific dimensions using a specific texture arrangement. This could, using a translator, be set into an engine which understands other values such as "Wall Climb" or "Wall Jump". Such a translator could be programmed to give all objects -without- this variable line a variable line with a modifier of 1.

Yes. It would be a huge undertaking. Yes. It would cost more money than NCSoft is likely willing to put into the game. Yes. It would require a whole other team to create this engine, test it's compatibility, transfer the data stores over, and a dozen other major tasks while the current dev team works on the current engine to continue content production. Yes. It is a Pipe Dream.

But don't say it's vaguely worded, impossible, or that I have no understanding of how these things are accomplished.

-Rachel-

Well. Firstly is, as you said, the current inability to make Corruptors, Brutes, Masterminds, and Dominators Heroside.

There's also the idea of being somewhat unique in your surroundings. There are dozens of heroes patrolling Steel Canyon at any time. But when I do it in Cap au Diable it creates a sense of tension as it's one person (or small group) against all the scum and villainy the isles have to offer.

With the AE it's easier than ever to make a Villainside Hero. Just like with Costume Slots it's easier to make multiple identities for a character.

There's also character concept. Like a mutant born in the Etoille, poor, and abused. Somehow rising above the obvious path of crime and becoming a good person. How does this character get to Paragon? Without money for a plane ticket or a boat-ride she's got little choice aside from Longbow doing it out of the good of their hearts. And to prove to them she's NOT some super-powered criminal she'd have to go out and fight crime, just like the two or three "Hero in the Isles" NPCs you wind up fighting Longbow over. One of them being an Infected. You really can't assume that he drank the sludge of mercy, smiled brightly, and walked over to Longbow for a cup of tea and biscuits, do you?

There are actually several character concepts which support this action. For example Arachnos Infiltration by heroes or Longbow Agents with falsified criminal records.Wealthy Billionaires flying to the other side of the world in their high-tech supersuits to fight crime. Heroes with a Vendetta against Arachnos working alongside Longbow, fighting the villainy in the streets. And more, I'm sure.

These character concepts just don't -work- heroside. So, yes, I think even after Going Rogue comes out you'll have people bending the storyline to fit their character better. However: So long as their continuity allows your continuity to exist, they're not Mary-Sueing themselves into positions of power, and aren't God moding, where's the real harm in making a story fit a character? Square Peg in a round hole aside (With power customization I've met dozens of "Dust" or "Sand" controllers dishing out fire damage, and "Light" blasters throwing off energy torrent) does it hurt your continuity for this to occur?

If Yes: Don't Roleplay with such characters. Ignore them and go about your business.
If No: Roleplay with such characters. And enjoy some interesting and possibly meaningful interaction involving opposite sides of the same fight.

-Rachel-

Ayup. That's about the end of it. Now you're blatantly trolling. G'bye!

-Rachel-

I like playing Heroes villainside. It's not perfect and I have to bend the stories a little to fit the characters, but it works well for me. The Chat window allows for the input of different ideas, stories, character roles, and even things the game doesn't normally allow.

With Going Rogue, however, I'll finally be able to have Heroes slipping between sides without a problem, fighting crime in the isles because it's the right thing to do.

Play your game. Don't make fun of people who play theirs. Lesson I learned the hard way.

-Rachel-

No alternate name slots. Even as Mild Mannered "Tim Daly of Jamestown" you still have "SuperDudeMan" floating over your head.

-Rachel-

Y'know. there's no Secret identities in the game, according to the code. So all of your heroes have no secret identities, right? Villains, too? Oh! Wait! It's the Statesman method of Secret identities, i bet! You log off to the real world and are the alter-ego of all your characters.

If you alter the story on how that works you're ignoring the canon, after all.... Right...?

Also! My Redside heroes don't Schmooze with villains. they fight them. USUALLY NPC villains, but when player villains get involved with my characters I do (on RARE occasion) go into PvP.

-Rachel-

So yeah. "Play the game like I think it should be played or don't play at all"

Not gonna happen, Hon. And looking down your nose at me for it just makes you look elitist.

-Rachel-

Say it is a PnP game. And the DM decides he wants to run an all Evil campaign. And I tell him I don't want to play in it because I'm not comfortable being an evil character. Either he'll back down from his idea because, as a friend, he doesn't want to exclude me from the game -or- he'll tell me not to show up for the next session.

Either way the analogy doesn't QUITE fit. Since the players I play with generally prefer the hero in the isles style as well. So it's really more like the Midnight campaign setting for 3rd edition. If you haven't heard of it you should look into it! It's a lot of fun in a strange, light in the darkness way.

And yes. Godmoding tends to be the "My character is immune to telepathy and also has *giant list of powers that even a level 50 doesn't normally have* And can make your character die instantly/fall in love with my character/other random BS." As opposed to playing the game as I like to play it.

Alternately you could cast me in the role of GM leading the party along through altered exposition, which I do a lot of. "Eh. I don't like the plot of this adventure. I'll spice it up for my group, though the encounters work perfectly".

-Rachel-

So, in your opinion, I should

A) Play the game and not enjoy it

or

B) Not play villainside whatsoever

Am i correct in this? Huh...

-Rachel-

Cop out...? Seriously? how, exactly, do you figure it's a "Cop out" that I don't enjoy playing villainous or evil characters and, instead, create heroes using the Villainous archetypes?

So my Nrg/Dark (Colored like Radiation) Brute gains more damage over continued fighting. Does that mean she's a villain? No! She's a scrapper with different damage and a different inherent. I roleplay her as Neutrino Girl, a heroside Radiation Blaster, as well.

In-character I ignore the Arbiters and Hero Trainers since it's actually a time-wasting measure meant to keep you playing for another 2-5 minutes to travel -to- the trainer and has no reasonable in-character explanation in a super game. "OH! I've gained a level! My new Fire-powers are almost ready to burst out of me! I'll go talk to a guy with no mutation whatsoever who uses big metal boxing gloves to teach me how to blow a stream of fire at my enemies!"

And no. I've never -ever- done that. I've never had a "I'm a hero! Really! MURDER KILL STEAL PLUNDER See? i saved a kitty from the bank vault, it's made out of jade and will go nicely on my shelf!" character. Nor does my one and only crossover character hide her identity in the Isles. She wears the same costume as normal and kicks butt six ways from Sunday.

Ultimately villainside gives me new content, new enemies, new zones, and a different playstyle. Sure I get to bend the stories a little bit (Kidnapping becomes Rescue missions, planting bombs becomes disarming them, etc) so that my characters are, still, heroic in the in-character story.

But how is it a Cop-out if i simply don't enjoy playing Villainous Characters? Should I ignore almost half of the game for the sake of enjoying Heroic characters...?

-Rachel-

OH! That?!

"I'm sorry, sir, but the heroes beat us up. According to Article 222 paragraph C subsection M They are free to go, aren't they, sir? You wouldn't want to go against Recluse's main and only law... Would you... Sir?"

-Rachel-

Well then the "Trial" involves a trial by combat against guys wearing outrageous suits of armor that Arbiter Fabulous refuses to call "Arachnos uniforms" and forbids even images of in his presence? >.>

-Rachel-

You did notice where I specifically put in the line (albeit in the second post) where I'd like to see NCSoft pay in the manhours for this endeavor so that Paragon Studios can continue pumping out the issues... right?

I wouldn't want a clone.

What I would want is for various people to stop complaining about "We need CoH2! We need X!" which can't be handled in the current engine.

As for the rewriting the game from scratch: you're mostly right. A huge portion of the data, however (maps, models, textures, and a few others) Aren't core to the engine and could be transferred over along with pretty much all of the dialogue assuming that the new engine had a compatible graphics engine, physics engine, and dialogue-delivery method.

Power attributes would definitely need to be redefined and other attributes added for wall-crawling or water-running. The combat system would likely be dragged over number-for-number, however.

So yes. It would be a HUGE reinvestment on NCSoft's part which would only pay off if they also put down the money to Advertise their game on TV or at least comics, magazines, and internet media.

So yes. it's a pipe dream. it would probably never happen. But I'd love it if it did!

-Rachel-

Not -quite-? >.>

Firstly: All at once engine overhaul.

Secondly: From what I understand, some things are, quite literally, impossible based on how the engine is structured and a replacement would be needed for that.

So yeah. Complete revamp paid for entirely by NCSoft with a whole new crew putting it together, to avoid losing any advances of content/powersets/etc.

-Rachel-

Almost all of my "Villain" characters are heroes who have either gone to the Isles to fight crime and send criminals out of the country where they can be properly tried (The Etoille has no extradition treaties) or were born in the Isles and got tired of seeing rampant crime.

The handful of exceptions include a thief who doesn't like to -hurt- people, much less kill them, and an Arachnos Soldier who, while loyal to Arachnos, acts more like a Cop than a psycopath and works for the Arbiters to bring enemies of the state in for trial.

-Rachel-