Darmian

That seems far more reasonable then.

So you think one big server is going to work the same way the shards do now? That wasn't obvious from your statement.

Because I play on Reunion and don't want to play at 4 am, because I'm damn sure the "big shard" won't default to a time zone I can live with, because I'm not 20 anymore and I work, because I don't want to lose my favourite game again because some people think this is a good idea. IF, tentative IF, due to dwindling numbers and funds shards had to be merged, that's a different thing and I'd have to be pragmatic, otherwise no thanks.

Well, that's exactly what I meant, YOU (the player) put it in YOUR bio. But before you even consider that follow these to the letter and spirit! In full agreement! Absolutely! Yep yep yep. My suggestion was, apologies for not providing clarity, a FURTHER set of belt and braces if you absolutely, positively want it known that you're not interested in that.

Yep.

That would need names sorting out, or one giant shard. And frankly the former would be a pain in the butt and the latter I never want to see.

See, what we have here is a situation where Lord Recluse is, to paraphrase ...ahem...the hero that Paragon needs, not the one it wants, but he can take it. A Dark Knight, a watchful guardian, a beacon of hope against the Battalion. (Goes and has a lie down)

But have you heard of the exciting world of Day Jobs?

Tap pastiche! Who killed Firemullet's drummer? (Again).

It's thanks to you that somewhere, some time, somewhen, I want to have Firemullet show up in an AE of mine. Even if it's just them being all Spinal Tap and running around mindlessly!

That's a tad embarrassing!

Well, I've been damn impressed with your output so far, so for this player that's a good sign. Caveat! I still think the things rambled about in the old AMAs are crap. So..no pressure!

I'm not a PVPer by nature, but yes, this was a pain in the ass just badging. And I'm on Reunion, chances of PVP are slim to nothing.

Well, I wanted a "science guy" who wasn't important enough to get nabbed initially, but ended up causing the villains some trouble. But he IS there for a reason too! OH! I try to add "The Story so Far..." at certain key points. Again, whether people read them (I know you do, @DougGraves) is another thing entirely!

Stick in your own bio "ERP not welcome."

There's one other thing that I do to a small extent, and it stems from years of running TT RPGS, and that's to have the odd cameo here and there of "crossing groups" or "crossing individuals". Now, that's to give the world a fuller feel. I completely 100 per cent disagree with the notion that if a thing is in the mission it must be related to what you are doing right now. Sometimes Crey have MORE THAN ONE EXPERIMENT IN A HUGE LAB...you know? So you HAVE to keep it to a minimum, but while solo, you're not the only person in the world! Are you robbing a bank? Oh, Hellions are robbing it too, but for their own reasons, nothing to do with your plot. Did you run into the PPD? How did they know it was you? They didn't! They've been chasing Hellions! We're all reasonably intelligent here. Yes to clarity, yes to not willfully deceiving the player, but I draw the line at hand holding.

Nope. I have a connected set of Praetorian AEs (see my sig) and they're all neutral too, because unfortunately those options aren't there. I suppose if they were then there would have to be two more AE Badges added, one for Loyalist and one for Resistance, like the Heroic et cetera badges for Primal AE efforts.

Addendum. I label all mine as "Neutral" for morality. So any alignment can fit in, though a hero might find themselves being a bit greyer than usual, or a villain a bit more heroic than you'd expect. And it's a necessity for Praetoria based AEs. And apart from one I can't add it to, if needed I've marked arcs with "Not suitable for low level characters."

Echoing @cranebump, as someone who tries to write a story, hoping against hope that it's half decent, I've honed my style, for want of a better word, to several things: (1) I always use large text (dating from a player with weak eyesight complaining). (2) I format to leave readable chunks rather than the blank wall of text you sometimes get. (3) Color coding text so that pertinent information pops at you, plus color coding who is speaking also helps. (4) If I have to use an outdoor map I will but indoor ones are preferable. Outdoor spawn points are heinous. I tested this with a tiny outdoor map that allowed 5 collectibles. I had 5, and nope, you can't force them to appear in the order you wish, so you literally can't give a hint to a player to help them with a runaround. (5) Nav bar aid. I like to have objectives delineated where necessary as "Defuse Bomb [Third Floor]". So if you're on the first floor you know you can speed through the second floor. (6) My initial work doesn't have it but later ones do (might go back and do it) but I've taken to numbering all clues and giving an X to a clue that comes from a non essential glowie. And for clues from each mission to be assigned a different color. So all Mission 1 clues are yellow, all Mission 2 are blue, et cetera, (7) It's my aim (I don't always succeed) that each boss/clue/encounter met in a mission builds on the story. (8) I like Easter Eggs! My stuff is riddled with snippets of CO* lore, from the game/comics/novels. So if you spot them and get them, cool. If you spot them and don't, well that's how Easter eggs work TBH. (9) I have yet to get the hang of writing souvenirs! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a player I look for playability, readability, story and consistency. And if I start running into things like constant fire damage mobs I will just quit. If I wanted to play a fire farm I would. Other stuff? I think much of what I look for has already been said, save my initial test: If your contact just has the standard AE program data then you're off to a bad start! Repetition. No issues with that. Essentially all arcs are sleight of hand to hide the fact that you need to defeat a boss/click a thing, but if you write a 5 mission arc and every single one is "Rescue the person", then I'll probably not play another of yours. And then there are the arcs I play where I think "I wish I'd thought of that!" Sadly those are few, because once you have a reasonable grasp on the tools you have an idea of what can or can't be done.

Laughable? Well maybe, but it was cringe then, and it would have probably have been cringe in 2004. For my money's worth it's not even cringe, it's actually crap. You're absolutely right that if pursued this would involve a lot of work on new material/models/maps, possibly powers, who knows, and we're simply not in a situation where that's viable now, or for the foreseeable future. HC right now, blessings in disguise perhaps, are in a position to forge a different path away from the constant "Bigger/Faster/More" sequelitis that plagues many a thing, because obviously "The Coming Storm" would have to have been "Bigger/Faster/More" than the Praetorian War, blah blah. Just another cycle of painting yourself into a corner and then hoping the room magically gets bigger. We shall see.

Well, personally I'd prefer revamps to be things like the upgrade Atlas got rather than the complete change DA got.

You COULD retain both aspects of Perez Park, the original Hazard Zone feel, and add the floating thing, with an application of the First Ward/Night Ward light paths. Simply put, Anything in there simply isn't part of the original. So don't go in! Now how you'd implement that is another thing entirely!

I love when that happens. Ok, you don't get XP perhaps, but JUSTICE!

And added this in M1 of Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part Two. Intro Accept text: When you find Burgh he says:

It can happen though. It's just different than the other two sides, well at least on Reunion. That's partly due to a dedicated Praetorians SG that will help out any Gold (when we're on obviously) that needs it. So while I hardly ever see 8 member teams there I do see 3, 4 and 5 member teams reasonably regularly. Plus part of the SG supports those mad enough to want to get a Gold to 50 (there's a few of us!) and that helps with teaming in First Ward and Night Ward. So, possible but needs particular circumstances.