Hi! I'm about as new of a player to City of Heroes as it gets. I never heard of the game, nor any of its lore, until I first joined in October of 2020. When I first logged in and began playing, I was immediately fascinated by how rich and vast the world's lore was. While I was somewhat lost as far as the narrative goes, I had a great time being a superhero. But now, a few years down the line, I'm finding that I have a hard time getting a proper timeline in my head for the game's stories.
The various story arcs themselves are not presented to me in chronological order, but rather the most convenient order at the time the original game ended. For example, one of the first story arcs I ever played was the Shining Stars, and it was through that story arc I was introduced to Praetoria. It wasn't until well into the game, when I played through the New Praetorians story arc and the Portal Corps story arcs, that I discovered that there was apparently a whole backlog of lore related to Praetoria I was just completely oblivious to.
Since I wasn't around when the game's original release cycle was underway, I couldn't follow along with the stories in chronological order. And now, I have a hard time telling apart what's from 2004 and what's from 2012. For the sake of better understanding the game's story, it would be really helpful if each story arc had a little tagline that shows when it was canonically supposed to take place.
Using the Shining Stars as an example, it seems that they were first added to the game in August-September 2011, via Issue 21. So, when you first speak to Twinshot at level 5 in Atlas Park, a subtitle could be added which says something along the lines of:
This story arc took place in: Fall 2011 (Issue 21)
It would just be really helpful for us new players to catch up with the experienced players in piecing together when the game's many story arcs took place, so that we're not left lost and confused when we meet an NPC for the first time, after we've canonically already met them.
Thanks for your consideration! 😄
