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It's a tool at the end of the day and you will see much more of it, including in entertainment and gaming especially. I don't really agree with the idea that using AI doesn't help people learn (in some examples I seen RP crop up) I guarantee that if spellchecker was a function in the City of Heroes chatbox - it is a thing in some social MMOs - that people would use it, because that too is a tool. Buuuuuut using AI to fully substitute all of your creativity and RP defeats the purpose of having the hobby in the first place, no different to an actor hiring a robot to act their roles in movies for them, it's redundant and a silly concept to even entertain and you can harken this to modern CGI that feels 'soulless', it is very easy to spot bad CGI, and very difficult (and expensive) to hide it. I believe AI will end up eventually in the same place as Practical Effects > CGI does in cinema, the machine lacks soul, something instinctual that we can't quite explain but can feel when a design or idea is born, 'it has soul'. AI will one day very likely end up AGI which is an AI smarter than us, but not by magnitudes, countries across the world are racing toward that. Not to get conspiratorial but for all people know things could already be written, made, played by an AI blurring the lines so well you cannot tell at all, look at the 'Dead Internet Theory' and that kinda thing. Pulling back on topic... I really don't get people that would use AI to fully RP, their only actions being a copy and paste. Bizarre. At that point it's not a tool, you're not using the AI to help create something, you're allowing the AI to fully create it and practically removing yourself from the Roleplay. I mean, I've had RP where the characters write themselves which is weird to say considering I'm the one typing, but sometimes there is no thought process in a reply, it's just 'what the character would do' and for me, that's when RP hits right.

I used AI recently and it's been an immense help, got into Dungeons and Dragons last year, a setting that has 50+ years of lore. When you ask GPT4 to quote only canon quotes from certain editions (and link the sources it gets them from) you can very quickly learn habits, religious beliefs, magic, backstories, world stories for your character in 10 minutes oppose to 10 hours. For examples sake 'What sort of world history would be prevalent to my Tiefling in 5e? How old do Tieflings live for? What is their view of outsiders?' etc. It's a Google search that is faster, smarter and more apt at condensing exactly what you need, exactly why Google now has Gemini (their own AI) built-in to search. On the topic of artstyles it's a roundabout way of a Human way of thinking, almost all art is influenced by other art/ideas it goes deeper with writing. I know some models are trained on very specific styles, you can use multiple models to blend two (or more) styles together; thus creating a new style, I know you can do it with AI art (I've done it), seems likely it's been done with writing styles too. I think this is being overlooked, AI can actually generate it's own ideas using a mash-up of several models that are trained on several different artists, e.g. what do you get when you have 50% Picasso and 50% van Gogh, you get something 'new'. The best AI artworks still require human editing and input, many 'AI Artists' (I can feel the anti-AI crowd cringing at that term) use inpainting A LOT, this is a technique with AI to select an area that needs to be re-generated, but only that area. Even with that though, AI still doesn't capture the smaller details of YOUR character, it can capture the details of A character but not your specific idea. I don't think it ever will until it can perfectly read a character reference sheet like an artist can.

My view is that AI is a tool, it's like Adobe Photoshop, an Excel Spreadsheet, Google Docs, Spellchecker... Vidiot Maps, it isn't currently capable of outdoing a Human at any task, if it was it would be labelled an AGI (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligence) GPT4 is starting to blur the lines when it comes to writing, but it's a long ways off being an AGI. You can usually tell when something has been filtered through an AI it does follow a certain 'style' of writing because that's what it's algorithm does. People are often very quick to denounce 'new tools' and this is the first major one for a while; "Video Killed the Radio Star". What AI is fantastic at for Roleplay are a few things; Brainstorming Ideas - + If I've writers block or I'm really struggling with an idea AI can help get me out of it. It's exactly the same approach as googling to research things. + Very rarely is there an idea that hasn't been done before, AI usually has something to call back on. - Overuse can be soullessly generic. Crossing Language Barriers - + For flavour I often add some Korean for my Korean characters, AI is literally a Google Search in a more fluid format customised to me. - Translations might be clean and generic, AI veers away from anything controversial usually. Sketches/Decent Art - + With some clever prompts you can quickly add custom images to your blurbs or use it to brainstorm. + It's as easy as a button click on some websites. + No cost associated, no wait times. - Often struggles with details that are very distinct to your character. - Will never be as custom as a character commission. I disagree quite strongly on the idea of not using AI to enhance your ideas, if you treat AI as a tool to create you will have no problem, it's when you substitute your creativity for AI completely that it stands out. As with everything in modern society it's about access and convenience and AI is excellent at both. On the topic of AI art I probably offer a rarer perspective because I've worked with dozens of artists in the past and spent four figures on custom art. AI just isn't there yet when it comes to bespoke/custom pieces, but then the cost of commissions has skyrocketed since the days of 'MMOArt' (who often done many a piece for City of Heroes way back then). The same artpiece that cost $100 then would be $250-$600 now, as getting a commission of your character rose in popularity (on the quality of MMOArt), so did the price. It seemed inevitable to me - as someone that commissioned a lot of artists - that the bubble was going to burst at some point, however, well known popular artists still have client backlog and 6 month wait times to get a $250 art piece despite the arrival of AI art some of which even rips off their style.

It's key to consider that Homecoming is not City of Heroes when it was shut down, there is likely thousands of changes at this point, the actual issue 24 client (http://web.archive.org/web/20121025123119/http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/game_updates/issue_24/overview.php) is out there - with some digging - with only the microtransaction shop stuff changed. Though I think things might of changed mostly with the players, gaming changed a lot, people got better at it and 4 hour task forces are shrunk to like 30 minutes, some people know it off by heart. Some players are playing min/maxed characters, know the best powersets and stuff like that! If you want catalogued proof of player behaviour change look at World of Warcraft > Classic World of Warcraft, it was a radically different experience despite being 99.9% the exact same game, they'll be a handful of youtube vids discussing that sort of thing. Welcome back though! For me, the game is as good as it ever was

I don't play often, but when I do Veracor is always there doing runs that fill up fast. I've been on a handful and they were some of the games peak fun. I totally get it Veracor, hope you enjoy wherever you end up

Stat accolades get boring the 5th time doing it. I follow Blackhearts guide to get it done in a few hours solo but it's still a chore.

Don't think I've ever been in a situation where I couldn't see stuff because of someone's flashy particle effects unless I was playing in first person or something. In the case of Hover some builds revolve around using it else they're useless and die in a few hits. Actually one of my chars has the flame/fire effect that trails behind like 30ft looks so cool. When I'm flying I can't see shit, but it's worth it because it looks awesome, drip or drown.

Always in big teams, in-fact I wish that you could play x4x16 (instead of x4x8), the times when there is a ton of mobs on screen and it's just total chaos is when this game hits right, exactly like an ARPG.

In that vein I always find the 'cosmic-level' plots boring to take IC, sort of the same reason I do not have an Incarnate character (IC atleast) the idea of Godlike characters raises far too many implausible questions and aren't often earned or explained well. Going a bit offtopic here but those grounded plots on even street-tier or mid-level Heroism (or Villainy) are infinitely more engaging than the Incarnate Character ego measuring contests, easier to serve plots, broader scope of situations, more character focus, more difficulties, more accessible. You will often find these 'Incarnate Tier' Heroes/Villains as plot drivers in superhero media; Dr. Manhattan, Homelander, Superman to name a few, if an entire group is on that level it very quickly loses what makes it interesting, if they're not driving the plot they aren't serving a purpose. Not sure where I was going with this! But it helps make the world feel less static when you focus on the mid-level Heroics, because you cannot truly effect the persistent world and lay a claim to cosmic-level (server wide/lore wide) plot advancements.

It's probably easier to view this through the scope of the Hero oppose to the Villain, I think that's being overlooked and Heroes are seen as 'the winners' of Paragon? The entire game universe (even the actual universe/cross dimension) is one big tug of war, the Hero squishes one bug and two more pop up, the Villainous pc/npc/groups/corps/cosmic-beings never stop hitting, thus a Heroes job is never done there is always a new threat, be it re-emerging or novel. Try as the Heroes might Paragon City would never be safe, even if you disregard the idea that game mechanics take precedence (e.g. Perez Park has a gang problem, or Superadine is never off the streets because Troll raves are still a thing). In RP I've always dismissed the entire idea of other player-characters claiming to of 'defeated X' or 'dealt with Y' when it's related to ingame (non-custom) Villain groups, this actually goes for multiple games too, I recall in WoW some RP'ers claiming they killed the Lich King in WOTLK when they'd completed the raid, same thing. The world is persistent and shared, claiming you defeated Dr. Vahzilok at the Faultline Dam is equally as eye-rolling as saying you defeated the Lich King, I usually play these things off as my character assuming they defeated the Doc, or that Vahzilok narrowly got away etc. Point being is that threats aren't actually defeated unless it's part of a custom plot with custom character villains or heroes. Kings Row is still a dump full of Skulls and Superadine, the sewers are still filled with the Lost, Baumtown still hasn't been rebuilt, and you're dealing with the Rikti Mothership threat for the 45th time without ever 'stopping' it completely. The grand excuse for which is that neither Hero or Villain completely win, they suffer setbacks or are temporarily dealt with, but they're always back. Of course the lack of actual solid wins (actual definitive closure) might make Heroes - and Villains - jaded, the world needs to persist for the sake of others. I think that's why plot stuff and pc Hero, pc Villain works by far the best, especially if the fate of these characters is on the line.

I usually start off with a simple concept idea, like a trope the character fits into, then go through powersets to see what makes that work, then fiddle with the powerset aura colours to try and make something that looks cool, then the costume starts to form from that vein, sometimes the characters really click and even win costume contests, othertimes it falls flat and just doesn't work Some chars are inspired by niche comic OC's that take form from that with obvious differences but a similar vibe

Isn't it sort of easy for a character to be jaded about Heroes? Problems still persist in Paragon, they always have and always do else it wouldn't be a City of Heroes. Paragon City aka Smithport has been the in-lore epicentre for Heroism and such for centuries yet there are still the common problems most other Cities face. You've got ultra-corrupt Crey Corp propagandising Heroes, you've Heroes that are text book narcissists, Heroes that aren't quite Heroes but Vigilantes and so much more. Be a Heroes friend and you may be a target for a Villain, because of all the Heroes in Paragon Villains are attracted, all the problems of the City seem to be swept into the sewer systems just below your feet. You've horrors like the Vahzilok who are attracted to Paragon to carve up Heroes and make them Eidolons, you've the Skulls who's rite of initiation is to murder someone. You've War Walls around every district of the City 'for your safety', Superadine on the streets everywhere despite how many times Heroes tries to put it out, all whilst the latest caped crusader is getting a photo-op outside City Hall. Lets not mention the Brickstown Ziggurat being utterly pointless as jail breaks are constantly occurring. I love deep-diving into the specifics of Paragon like this and I play a Hero and a Villain that are on both opposite ends of the scale, the 'sponsored' Hero that's a good person but swiped up by the tornado of influence. The nefarious Villain that truly believes Heroes are a curse on the world than a benefit. As a civilian the City of Heroes would be a hellish place to live, exciting but worrisome. Saying that, playing as a civilian of some sort is very fun, I've done it a few times it's quite funny to get Hero reactions to some random on the street asking for an autograph.

Where you're going to struggle with solo stuff is probably AV's so -Regen of some sort is helpful, theres that temp throwing knife power I forget the name of that helps. But then you probably want a balanced character that can solo at quick speed, so something like an Ill/Cold Troller might deal with most AV's easily, but not be as quick as some other stuff for map clears. Idk, I'd probably go with a Scrapper ??/Bio Armor, you get a lot of utility with Bio and Absorb is very very strong, for primary I'm not sure.

I'm loving the game still, almost at the end with my friend after 70hours gameplay but we encountered a fresh swathe of bugs last night in Act III that made us both just throw our hands up. Elevators in a key moment of the game (Cazador) weren't working, we had to save-load three times before the dialogue progressed and allowed us to actually play, save files get big toward the ending and that took up fifteen minutes of frustration. The Mage Tower area in Baldur's Gate outright refused to load for my friend, we could not progress together, the save file got nuked we had to load a save 20 mins prior to that moment and we outright could not play co-op around the Mage Tower area; the game just said 'nope!' I had to do key fights and infiltration solo, it's the only way we could progress and it was beyond frustrating. I've been told Single Player doesn't have anywhere near the amount of issues, co-op has been an absolute mess. It's my first playthrough so my first impressions.

The game was great for the first few months, bustling RP community, engaging gameplay, amazing CC I'd even say it's way better of a CC than COH, oh and nemesis system was awesome. Than it just fell of a cliff.