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So, we should be allowed to Assassin's Strike anyone we choose, even those who are trying to help us out, but we should question when our heroes arrest a thug trying to mug someone? What kind of bleeding heart liberal weenie crap is that?

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Dude, you have truly bamboozled me...

This is not a type of discussion I expected to see on the COH/V Forum, but it sure did reel me in.

I’d like to offer my take on the whole thing. Being a COV-only player, I don’t exactly know how things work in the COH world. Honestly, I don’t much wonder. I bought COV because I don’t want to be bound to moral and administrative restrictions. I just want to wreak my own brand of havoc, crush my enemies, hear the lamentation of their women, etc.; I did, and I still do. I’ve spent time flying among the highest rooftops of Aeon City, just to ragdoll some poor sucker 1000 yards below. In a busy square, I ungraciously assaulted a Crey PR Specialist, just because a NPC was taking his picture. I confused a pair of patrolling Longbow in engaged in friendly conversation, and stayed around to make sure they burned themselves fully to death. Now that’s not all I do, but it’s a part of it (believe it or not, I actually felt guilty once or twice for some of the more “vicious” attacks, especially against the Lost, who really seem to want to be left alone).

But guess what? As a villain, I can’t target NPCs. As a villain, I can ONLY target other villains. Crey, Tsoo, Lost – heroes and villains are fighting the same enemies, more or less, and probably with very limited exception (Longbow, Wyvren, what have you). You’d think a villain would have absolute free reign – enough at least to bonesmash a contact giving you [censored] missions on the far corner of the map… Really, how hard would it be to make all “un-interactible” NPC’s one-shot punching bags with say, 10 HP, and amplified ragdoll physics? So, no, COV is not truly “free”. It’s no GTA3, for sure. And as I villain, I seem to be spending a lot of time rescuing people, and doing helpful things for other factions.

Dr. Percy (Contact): “So, you go in, rescue the Rikti experimentation captives and recover the data disk? Kapeesh? Get to it then!”

- Accept this mission.
- Ask about this contact.
- Ask what else is going on.
- Placate, Buildup and Assasin-Strike Dr. Percy in her eye and take her purse.


There is a great amount of safety built in to the COX universe. I’d be willing to bet that COH is primarily marketed towards individuals that really, at the core of everything, just want to spectacularly pummel enemies with a character they can customize and identify with. And, if they chose COH over COV, they want their violence morally justified. But you still have use your own imagination. That’s why the moral justification is kept ambiguous in nature, and for the most part, inconspicuous. Because, as the original poster stated, it’s a fine, fine line between hero and villain. In fact, heroes, that Hellion you just upper-cutted 30 feet into the cool blue sky had a long time girlfriend and newborn baby-boy. Yeah, he’d made some bad choices, but he’s had a hard life (and he’s only 19!). He had a name too, but now he’s tomato-sauce on 35th and Main. Poor kid. See - that much personal knowledge makes it kinda hard to serve conscience-free headsplitters daily. It detracts from the game’s (basic) marketed purpose. I bet the developers like amorphousness, and the majority of subscribers have probably never questioned it. While the original poster’s point is valid, and true, it looks too deeply into the issue for the game to remain fun as intended (I think, at least).