Vic Raiden

Real talk, an ability to play a hero or vigilante outside of the FBSA and Freedom Corps' bureaucracy chains would be dope. And regarding Longbow itself, like I said, they really need some touch-up. Making them just unsympathetic enough to let redsiders have no remorse fighting them is one thing, but that whole stunt with trying to dismantle the Vanguard really ruins what little heroism they have. And even where they're actually doing proper peacekeeping, it kinda falls flat when you consider Longbow was literally created to hate Arachnos above all else... and that seems to leak into hating the Rogue Isles' denizens as a whole, going by their dialogue (other than random moments of kindness towards civilians in Nerva). I mean, I get humanity is complex, but why can't we have a genuinely well-meaning major force of good in this setting? But I digress and may not even make sense.

The idea of lifting the zone alignment locks is 100% gonna get you a /rudra, but I personally like it. Could shake things up a little, I suppose. Also, 100% on the Longbow fix. I get that they're supposed to be just unlikable enough for redside players to not feel guilty fighting them, but come on, it's just too corrupt for what's supposed to be the primary large force of good. Right now its job is better done by the Vanguard, you know, an alignment-neutral faction.

Operative Stickmann belongs to @owt. The draconic humanoid and the Eastern-robed man belong to @Juan Pablo. The characters were all used with their owners' permission.

Chapter 1: The Breakout Twenty years. Twenty God-forsaken years. Deep in the bowels of the Zigursky Correctional Facility, in the sector reserved only for the most notorious superpowered criminals in history, Axel Shade was shaking in frustration as his thoughts drifted to the past again. Just two decades ago, the world knew him as Emperor Stahleon Hephaestian, a fearsome cybernetic warlord who had almost brought the world to its knees with his innumerable legions of mechanical soldiers. But now? He was just another prisoner, another number on the list, another fallen star of supervillainy. For twenty years now, he had been held in the highest-security prison on the planet, trapped in a weakened and severely disarmed body and suspended in electromagnetic shackles designed just for him. Just how much longer am I to remain here? It feels like I would need a miracle to leave... Just then, with perhaps coincidental timing, Axel could hear a loud rumble paired with the cell around him shaking violently. Then another one, now accompanied by alarm sirens blaring. And suddenly, everything around him went dark. THUD! The disgraced archvillain's body dropped to the floor with a loud noise as the electromagnetic shackles suspending him in mid-air went out. He slowly got back on his feet, taking a moment to dust himself off and get used to being able to move again, before approaching the cell door and knocking it open with a well-placed punch. By the time the Zig's emergency power generators went online, he was already gone. As he made his way through the prison complex's halls, Shade would notice he wasn't the only one taking advantage of whatever just happened. Countless criminals of all kinds have likewise used the sudden blackout to break free from their cells, and were already in the middle of a rush to get outside before the compound's security guards catch up. In the midst of all this, Axel wound up bumping into one individual who, curiously enough, was resting calmly against a wall, apparently not even interested in escaping. It was a man appearing to be in his thirties, with his blonde hair in a buzzcut, sporting a neatly-trimmed beard and a pair of heavy goggles on his eyes. "Hey, watch your step!", exclaimed the prisoner when he got crashed into. "You get out of my--", the cyborg was about to reply before noticing who he was talking to. "Hard Time? Do you have any idea what is going on?" "I'm not sure. There was some kinda big explosion that shook loose a bunch of the cells. Most of the cons made a break for it and ran out into the Yard, only to be recaptured by security." "That much I do know. Tell me something I do not." "Lots of people are saying Arachnos is involved, that they're trying to break out some sort of special people." Hard Time paused for a second. "Could even be you, I guess." "Arachnos, you say... About time they remembered about me." Axel deliberately left out the part where he used to be a formidable competitor to the spider-branded organization. "Heh. They must think you're pretty important to them if they're willing to raise this kind of ruckus to break you out. But I'd watch myself if I were you. Just because they think you're special doesn't mean they'll give you a free ride. You'll have to prove you've got what it takes." "What is there to prove? I have been in their business for fifteen years, I think that is proof enough." Shade was about to rush off and continue his escape, but stopped in his tracks after a few steps and returned to Hard Time. "I just remembered that all my weapons were stripped off of me when I was imprisoned here", he muttered in mild embarrassment. "Do you have any clue where to look for them?" "I know everything about this place", the goggled prisoner replied. "There's a whole vault of confiscated gear up on the top floor." "Thank you." The ex-archvillain was about to depart again, but turned back upon seeing his interlocutor hadn't joined in the mass breakout. "Are you not coming along?" "Nah, I choose to stay. I'd rather serve my sentence to the end than risk prolonging it." "As you wish. Farewell, then." With these words, Axel left the sector, this time for real. On his way up to the vault, he passed by a scene of several dozen inmates charging the Zig's main gate, getting into a brutal fight with the guards gathered there. Taking advantage of the commotion, he continued his journey, eventually reaching a massive, secure door - the last thing standing between him and his weapons. It was obviously tough enough to withstand direct melee attacks, even ones reinforced with cybernetics. Luckily, a solution to the problem had soon presented itself in the form of a lone guard, who had been tasked with overseeing the vault no matter what and who had just noticed Axel's intrusion. "S-S-Stand back!", the guard exclaimed while drawing his sidearm with obvious hestitation. "Make me", Shade responded while advancing closer to the man. "F-Fine!" A couple bullets were fired - the first merely grazed the cyborg's head, while the following two hit his chest without denting it. Sure, Axel may have been deprived of means of offense, but his armor was still made of the same highly-durable alloy as all those years ago. He responded to this pitiful attempt at stopping him by catching the guard by the collar and slamming him face-first against the retinal scanner holding the door closed. The device read the unfortunate sap's eye and promptly turned green, unlocking the heavy door. With nothing more standing in his path, Shade stepped in and, after a few minutes of searching, reached a locker labeled with his name and prisoner ID. It didn't take long before he unlocked it, refitted himself with his old gear, and tore off his orange prisoner jumpsuit for good measure. With that out of the way, he hurriedly made his way back to the prison's ground level, where he could see that the brawl at the gates had died down, while one of the floor grates was lifted enough for people to pass through. Stranger still, he could hear a raspy, almost gravely voice shouting "OVER HERE!" from below. Naturally, it attracted the mechanized villain's attention and led him down to the Ziggurat's sewage system - and a platoon of Arachnos soldiers, all clad in unmistakable jet-black body armor with eight-eyed helmets and silver harnesses patterned after spiders. One of them in particular stood out, with very lanky body proportions evocative of a stick figure and mild signs of decomposition on his exposed lower face drawing even more attention than the collar and cape present over his uniform, denoting him as commander of this squad. "AXEL HERBERT SHADE, IS IT?", the stick-like officer spoke, revealing himself to be the source of that voice from before. "That is indeed me. Who is asking?" "ARACHNOS OPERATIVE STICKMANN, AT YOUR SERVICE." He backed his words with an Arachnos salute: hands crossed on the chest, palms outwards, with fingers curled to resemble a spider's legs. "I could already tell you are of Arachnos. Now, what business do you have with me?" "SHHHHH... THIS AIN'T THE BEST PLACE TO DISCUSS THAT. FOLLOW ME." With those words, Stickmann turned to go deeper into the sewers, with his soldiers (and Axel) following. Before long, they emerged outside, in the complex's outer yard. It was a veritable battlefield at the moment: escaped prisoners and Arachnos soldiers on one side, security officers and Longbow guardians on the other. But none of that was of major concern to anyone in this little group as they advanced towards a futuristic black helicopter which seemed ready to take off. Operative Stickmann entered first... before emerging from it with a frustrated look on what little of his face was visible. "DRAT. THE DEMOLITION GUYS DIDN'T DO THEIR JOB RIGHT AND THE RADARS ARE STILL UP. TYPICAL." "What happened?", asked Shade. "I SENT MY CO-PILOT JENKINS TO ONE OF THE RADAR BUNKERS WITH A BOMB TO FINISH THE JOB, BUT HE HASN'T RETURNED YET. IF YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE, SOMEONE'S GONNA HAVE TO BITE THE BULLET AND GO CHECK UP ON HIM." After the Arachnos officer, two more figures emerged from the aircraft: a man in dark Eastern-style robes, and a black-scaled draconic humanoid in a purple bodysuit. "Another Destined One, eh?", asked the latter upon seeing Axel. "Can't wait until we all make it out of here... There's so much I want to do over in the Isles!" "Destined One? What even is the meaning of that?" The cyborg villain really couldn't stand being out of the loop at this point. "That Stickmann guy didn't tell you? Lord Recluse is looking for powerful villains who could help him take over the world." "Let it be known that I am not interested in furthering the goals of anyone but myself. Especially if said goals pertain to world domination." "HEY!" Stickmann saw fit to interject. "YOU CAN ALWAYS STAY HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO ESCAPE. LORD RECLUSE IS OFFERING YOU MERCY, I'D ACCEPT IT IF I WERE YOU." Axel let out a defeated sigh. "Fine. I will take your offer, then." "SO, AS I WAS SAYING... I NEED SOMEONE TO GO INTO THAT BUNKER, RESCUE JENKINS, GET THE BOMB HE HAS AND MAKE SURE IT GETS PLANTED IN THE RIGHT SPOT. WHO VOLUNTEERS?" The man-dragon and the Eastern-looking mage started arguing, each trying to push the other into the task, while the Arachnos troopers cowered away. "Okay, I volunteer", said Shade after a while of that frustrating impasse. "GOOD. THE ENTRANCE'S OVER THERE." Stickmann pointed towards one of the short tower-like buildings surrounding the prison's perimeter. "AND TAKE OUT ANYONE WHO GETS IN THE WAY, OKAY? THEY'LL ONLY SCREW THINGS UP FOR THE REST OF US." "Can do." Upon crossing the radar bunker's door, Shade would bear witness to a scene of an Arachnos soldier standing against a wall, interrogated by two agents clad in tight white-and-red bodysuits with unmistakable Freedom Corps patterns on them. "FREEZE!", shouted one of them. "Hands against the wall!" "Who are you guys supposed to be?", replied the spider-man. "We are the ones asking questions here. Who is Arachnos busting out? I want names, and I want them now!" "I'm a trained Arachnos soldier, you won't get me to spill the names of--" Before the captive could finish, his oppressors both felt a nasty electric shock on their backs. The one who was asking questions thus far turned around to see the person responsible. "Stahleon? B-but..." "Good to see somebody remembers me." With these words, he punched the Longbowman squarely in the face, before firing an energy bolt from his gauntlet towards the other one's chest. Both of them dropped to the ground, unable to fight back. Seeing that, the Arachnos operative recoiled in fear before turning to face his savior. "Whoa... Emperor Stahleon himself... And I thought we were here to rescue YOU!" "Cut the small talk, Jenkins. Where is the bomb?" "R-right h-here, sir." Jenkins handed over a bundle of dynamite sticks with a digital detonator strapped on one side. "W-was supposed to put it at the mast's base, b-but then these guys showed up and--!" "Irrelevant. Just stick by me and watch how a professional villain does it." Axel and Jenkins went deeper into the bunker, knocking out several more guards and Longbowmen along the way before reaching the central chamber: a small octagonal room with a pillar in the center and computer terminals lining the walls. "This is it", said the soldier. "We just need to plant this bomb at the pillar and we're golden!" "Not so fast!" The two villains stopped and looked behind themselves to see themselves cornered by a Warden - a high-ranking Longbow officer, distinguished by his cape and helmet. "You are not going to take this station down. Not while I stand!" "Well then, go ahead and try to stop us." Shade put the bomb back in Jenkins' hands and tackled the officer of justice. They went on to exchange a few punches and kicks, taking the fight back and forth between the control room and the corridor leading up to it while the Arachnos soldier planted the explosive. Eventually, it would let out a beeping noise indicating that it has been armed, attracting the attention of both combatants. "I did it, sir!", shouted Jenkins with satisfaction. "Oh, you little--!" The Warden broke away from the struggle in a bid to disarm the bomb while it's still ticking, only to find himself snagged by the cape and flung against a wall by Shade, who then proceeded to maul him with a burst of rocket-assisted punches and then electrify him in the face. With the last of his strength, the Longbow officer tried to reach out and stop Shade and Jenkins from escaping, but to no avail. The duo managed to leave in the nick of time, with the radar station bursting into flames behind them. Operative Stickmann and the two other Destined Ones were still waiting for them. "I SHOULD LEAVE YOU HERE FOR YOUR STUPIDITY", said Stickmann to Jenkins while bonking him on the forehead, only to get interrupted by another explosion. "ANYWAY, IT'S TIME TO GO. I HEARD THAT THE FREEDOM PHALANX ARE ON THE WAY TO BUTTON UP THIS BREAKOUT, SO WE'D BEST BE LEAVING QUICK." Without much further ado, everyone gathered climbed aboard the helicopter, which would promptly take to the skies and - along with several others - departed from Paragon City's airspace, directing its movement towards the far-off Rogue Isles, the eponymous City of Villains.

Also got a bit of soft spot for Dollface's mansion from the final Dr. Graves arc. And Manticore's from Twinshot arcs, just because it blends three tilesets in a fun way. Really wish there were more mansion and abandoned mansion maps tho.

Sounds interesting. Kinda like Devices, but primary-- hold on, if this is a ranged powerset, which I doubt will be a Defender exclusive forever, wouldn't that allow one to have a double Taser attack?

As it currently stands, the jetpack is part of a shoulder detail, which is pretty weird if you ask me. But yeah, Wyvern costume pieces in general would be great to have.

Here's what I got for Nemesis: Are you racist? If so, how much do you show that online? Are you into steampunk? Do you mind wearing a goofy GLORIOUS Prussian-inspired uniform? Are you smart enough to keep track of complex multi-layered gambits AND know how to operate an overly ornate gun? Are you okay with being potentially stuffed into a giant robot forever when you inevitably die for our lord's sake? Can you tell if I'm an automaton?

Uuuuuuuhhhhhhhh... What?

Yeah, and the redside routine-ness of that is quite a problem. I get that evil doesn't cooperate well with evil, but come on!

Okay, sure, blueside toons start small as well... but do you ever feel bossed around, taken advantage of, or otherwise disrespected by blueside contacts? I, personally, don't. Maybe it's just a different mindset, where you're just helping people in need because it's the right thing to do.

You got me there. I guess it's just kinda less annoying because you're still doing hero work like you signed up for?

Well... Sure, the highest levels do let one do a lot of epic stuff and be respected for it by the NPCs, but there's quite a lot of leveling to be done before that - you're indeed mostly a lackey/mercenary throughout the first three zones. And I suspect that progression could be turning away some of those who'd be interested in playing a villain, because let's face it, few people would include rising from a lone newbie villain to a world-class (but still one) supervillain in their fantasy. Most, admittedly myself included, would probably rather already start at the desired threat level, without common folks telling them what to do.

For me, it's gonna be: The entire "Council giant mech base" series That one Praetorian bio-tech lab whose layout kinda lines up with the Praetorian hospital model if you entered it through the "EMERGENCY" door Arbiter Sands' getaway submarine dock Pretty much any one of the Longbow bases, but especially the one labeled as "Large 22" in the Mission Architect Dr. Vahzilok's lab in the sewers Small Circle of Thorns map #10, because it's just about the only one where that cool temple room's main entrance is actually the entrance Medium 20 and Large 19 from the Tech Standard set (the former reminds me of a space station)

Spent a longer while browsing the various old threads about thinking of ways to make redside more engaging... I really vibe with the idea of letting redside players stir up invasions and other events for bluesiders to deal with. Ideally, it could be something both sides can benefit from.

Still, Arachnos overdose may be a problem for some people. There's just no challenging them in a meaningful way, almost every other mission is all about either furthering their interests at the cost of other forces of evil, or sabotaging them in some way that can still be argued to be beneficial to Arachnos because social darwinism. And no matter what you do, you're doomed to being another one of Lord Recluse's personal lackeys at most, with zero opportunities to be your own master. It's just so far removed from an average supervillain fantasy that it's not even funny. Sorry if I'm starting to sound like a broken record, by the way.

Looking at the old Prima guide reminded me that Arachnos apparently didn't even use to exist prior to CoV's launch, and apparently was only made so that redside players could have some overarching master/support network like blueside's Freedom Corps. Except it kinda falls flat because not only are Arachnos troops valid enemies everywhere except overworld Mercy, but the content is kind of schizophrenic about whether you're supposed to be working for, alongside, or against Arachnos - and even at the highest levels, your actions mean almost nothing beyond clapping some redside-exclusive competing villain forces. And even apparentlier, some old plan for CoV was that you'd be able to join one of the pre-established forces of evil depending on your character's origin. All I can say here is I wish that indeed came to pass...

See, this is a whole other can of worms... Back in the day, being a superhero used to actually mean something. You were special, somebody the common folk would look up to and place their faith in. Nowadays? Supers are a dime a dozen, so much so that there exists a whole dedicated government bureau specifically for categorizing and monitoring them, and all the specialness of being one is just GONE. Now literally EVERYONE can be a superhero because sources of superpowers are being sold in publicly accessible shops.

I don't know what to view that as. Either the authorities have cracked down so hard on crime that they send literally everyone to the maximum-security prison regardless of committed crimes or posed threat, or it's literally the only prison around designed specifically for as wide a variety of inmates as possible. Either way, the logic of superhero settings is wack.

...on the other hand, we're talking about a world where even mundane weapons and martial arts are somehow considered superpowers, which does muddle things more than a bit, if you ask me.

CoV wouldn't really let you play a Lex Luthor character anyway. What many large-scale supervillains like him do just isn't very compatible with the MMORPG gameplay loop of running around and doing quests for NPCs. As far as commanding legions of minions go, the Mastermind archetype is the closest thing and it doesn't even let you have any more than six minions at a time barring the Thugs primary's Gang War attack. And even then you're stuck running errands for random questgivers.

Right, thanks for clarifying. I really don't know what to add to this thread anymore without rehashing previous points, such as the inconsistently-characterized-lackey-for-hire syndrome the bulk of content suffers from. From what I've seen, many people avoid redside either because they'd rather play hero, because playing a villain doesn't feel as satisfying as expected, or because blueside has more content/more players/whatever. Not even sure how much could be done, much less in short term, given CoX's current state...

Yeah, I don't deny that. It's every bit as much of a pipe dream as either getting the option to backstab every contact one doesn't like, or having a tailor-made tip-like mission chain for personal ambition... Just a matter of letting the player feel more in control of their own villainy, or at least not as a fall guy to some random fellas. Once again, that's what I like about the dedicated rogue arcs: the open-endedness in giving multiple ways of going about them.

You know... One thing I just thought of, perhaps best applied to all sides and not just redside, is to add an option for a player to select their character's in-universe experience level. Mostly because it's kind of frustrating to always be treated as a noob by the lower-level contacts and missions. Also because, looking back at the Breakout tutorial, it's kind of stupid that every random newbie criminal would be put straight in the Zig, a prison supposedly built for the biggest deals in the world of villainy.

A few other things I'd like to see added, particularly as far as custom enemies go: - The ability to rename an enemy group after making it. This one's self-explanatory, having to delete the entire group file and rebuild it from scratch just because I changed my mind about its name is a needlessly frustrating experience. - Related, the ability to set an enemy group's display name separately from the name it's saved as. It's doable when making individual boss details, but it's annoying that I can't make a big umbrella-term faction with several subfactions in the vein of Arachnos or the Council. - NPC dialogue details. A lot of missions give you a friendly NPC (character or destructible object) you need to talk to before triggering some other event, like an enemy ambush or a door unlock, it'd be fun to be able to do that as well. - On that note, conditionally locked doors which don't open until you complete a prior objective. Again, another staple of pre-made missions, I don't think making it doable by players would be that difficult.