Dracses

ACH Helmet seems to be out-of-place in the Half Helmets section. Unlike the Beret, Terra, Warrior, or any of the other parts the ACH Helmet doesn't have any additional pieces that would come in the half-helmets exclusive section. It actually seems to be at a net loss for options considering things like Black Knight 1/2 are only available under Helmets. And the vast majority of the Half-Helmets options are polar opposite styles-clash or just clip horrendously like the Half-helmet exclusive visors. It's a small thing, but I feel like the ACH would be better placed in the regular Helmets category rather than where it is now.

100% Agree. Warburg alone deserves it for the Arachnos vs Rogue Arachnos story. I'll bet a good number of people didn't even know who Marshal Blitz even was when he popped up during the signature arcs.

The appeal of a villain in a story is that they are often the driving force of whatever story is currently unfolding. They are proactive. Heroes are more born out of a response to a villain, which makes them reactive. This proactive/reactive dichotomy is what makes "Villain Protagonists" such a hard thing to accomplish in any form of media. Even in video games, a Villain Protagonist more-often faces off against an even bigger Villain rather than consistently against the forces of Good. City of Villains has this same "problem" in the vast majority of its content, though it fits the setting of the Rogue Isles as a Social-Darwinism society to weed out weaker villains. The newspaper missions, the HC introduced arc involving the diamond (I can't remember the name, but it had Arc Flash in it), and only a handful of others are where you play a proactive role in achieving your villainous goals. Most arcs will treat your Villain as a henchman to whoever contact you work for, while others are more befitting something like a mission-broker offering a quest to mercenaries. Mr. G's arc, is a good example of using a contact to support the player character as a proactive force, but even still it is Mr. G's plan. Not yours. I don't have any technical "fix" for creating interest in CoV, but focusing on content that really drives home the themes of scheming, greedy, vengeful, violent, and maniacal villainy will give you a totally different tone to look forward than in City of Heroes' content. Content that sees you as a driving force, forming your own plans and schemes, and ultimately executing them. This begs the question of how you would maintain the status quo of your character who might want to conquer the world? That's a question with an answer for a different discussion though, for when content like that eventually may come.

Writing: I solo'd the SF to completion as well, and I tend to agree with those that are bringing up the sheer immensity of dialogue and reading material available to you. I think for future content releases it would be wise to keep the "writer's flex" in check. I'm a (aspiring) writer myself and know how it feels to want to "wow" people with my work but this is also a fairly fast-paced game where you casually walk into a building and stampede over 300 enemies. For people that want to enjoy the writing, they're gonna get left behind in pugs to which leaves you to having to do it with friends only or even alone if you don't have any friends. I'm not saying a huge re-write is in order, it's sort've fine where it is I guess, but things could be about 50% more concise. Look to the other arcs in the game (I do not count Praetoria arcs, since they are written like a single player RPG) to see how the original writers conveyed the story they wanted in tandem with what you experienced mid-mission, via clues or enemy dialogue or more! It's no masterclass in writing by any means but it won't leave people feeling confused or bewildered by the sheer volume of text thrown the players away. Just my two cents. edit: Forgot to mention this take: The writing works completely fine if it was a regular story arc and not a Strike Force. But as it is, those two things are very different.

They are, they're in the 15-19 range actually. I did a test to see if it was the SF or natural leveling that caused the phase issue as well. I leveled from 1 to 35 (which I believe is the minimum for Aeon SF?) and they remained, then leveled all the way to 50 and then remained. It's purely running the SF itself that causes this phase to the player. It's a pedantic thing on my part, I've been a fan of the Gold Brickers since I was 10, they were one of the things I remembered most when I had to quit playing forever and ever ago so I just want my boys to keep their physical rep up in the game world! I understand the "player actions" thing, especially when it comes to Roller's car. The question becomes "If you destroyed his car, how does he get a new one?" I have no answer for that! But even if this doesn't get changed, I can still bring em' back with Oro trickery. Honestly with Rodney and Roller getting the upgrades they got, plus the new additions and the Brickers getting a 50+ makeover, I could see some new arcs revolving around them and the aftermath of the Aeon SF. If the new Brickers get ported AE I know I sure as hell am gonna use them that's for sure.

Cap Au Diable phasing: - So there is a minor thing, but upon acceptance of the "Attack Langston Corp HQ" mission of the SF, Mr. Rodney and Golden Roller understandably disappear from the game world. I know why considering their role in the strike force, but after the strike force's completion there is no player state update to add Rodney/Roller back into the game world. The only way to get them back is to run one of their arcs from Ouroboros which makes the phase persist at least until you run Dr. Aeon SF again. Like I said, it's a minor thing but having the NPCs disappear from the game world takes away some of the atmosphere even in the lightest of ways is just not ideal in my eyes. It's fixable, yes, but in a roundabout way. I don't know how these things are coded in the slightest but would it be too much to implement a phase updater on the completion of the SF so that it adds them back to Cap Au Diable?