That Dark Astoria storyline tho

[DrPippy]

So a couple weeks ago I hit level 50 for the first time since Live, and so I had several new contacts blowing up my phone.  One of them was this random detective in Peregrine who wanted some help with what seemed like a pretty pedestrian case involving suspicious suicides and the like, but I figured what the heck, let's see how this goes.  Pretty soon I'm embroiled in a twilight struggle against ancient death cults (more than one), arcane assassins with modern tech, evil space Romans from an earlier millennium, and of course, an eldritch cosmic horror.

 

I just finished the story arcs last night and... holy wow, the whole thing was one of the best video gaming experiences I've had!  On the off chance that any of the original CoH devs are on this board and happen across this message—thank you thank you thank you!  After 10+ years away from the game, I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed flying around Paragon City doing battle with the forces of evil.  And the Astoria arc is just about the best storyline I've gotten to play; the writers really outdid themselves with that one!

 

And to the Homecoming developers: so much gratitude for you all as well.  Thanks for bringing CoH back, and for all the little and not-so-little tweaks you've made to improve the game.

 

And while I'm in Oscar-speech-mode... I'm also pretty darn grateful for the folks I've gotten to team up with over the past couple months on here.  I remember pick-up groups on Live were kind of a gamble, with the usual outcome being moderately amusing awfulness.  But since coming back on here, I've yet to be part of a team that was anything less than pure awesome.

 

So to the original developers, the new developers who've so ably picked up the torch, and to the community here... Thanks for everything, you guys rock.

[Lazarillo]

I liked it until the end.  The raid mentality that the original devs had at the time it came out meant we have a big climactic finale and then "well, nope, guess not".

[Abraxus]

There is so much to love about this game that so many might not see, because they typically don't do the mission content.  It's pretty obvious that these missions, which were some of the last ones on the original run of the game, showed that the writers still loved the game too.  It makes one wonder what could have been accomplished if it had not been so suddenly shut down.  While I'd love to think that this new iteration of the game could provide some of that answer, it's probably unrealistic to expect entire zone refurbish, and accompanying contacts/story arcs on an all volunteer crew.  But, I'd love to be proven wrong on that point. 😎

 

[Heraclea]

There have always been good stories in this game.  If you don't mind fighting Malta, Crimson's World Wide Red arc from i1 remains something everyone should try once.  It has the flaws of the older game, of course: there are many defeat-alls, and it sends you to random zones for no obvious reason.  Ernesto Hess's task force is also a fairly well told story.  

 

I really enjoy the new Kings Row Skulls arcs with their new Skull AVs as well.  Tougher characters should check them out.  Alas, after Eagle Eye the story kind of peters out, but I suspect that sequels were in the making. 

 

 

[Chance Jackson]

The new DA arc is excellent, when the game was live i only ever played it from villain side, i got a chance to replay it & I soloed it on my time/sonic/soul who is temporarily a rogue. i have no idea how to get into that arc as a hero even now lol.

 

Is it just me or is there a strong Berserk influence through out the whole new DA arc? I only first noticed it when I replayed the DD iTrial for the first time since live & it gave me some Slan & Eclipse vibes, that feeling was re-enforced when I replayed the DA arc for the first time since the game was live. 

 

It made me think:

Isn't the incarnate story line a cosmic horror story? The Well will gleefully empower evil & morally compromised figures for a price that can include loss of free will. Rularu, mot & battalion are all cosmic horrors themselves eventually we're supposed to fight against Prometheus & the angels too.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Chance Jackson

[Shred Monkey]

The whole instanced-dungeon-crawl mission system of this game goes overlooked, imho as to one of the things that make this game great.  Some games have 2-3 endgame dungeons to crawl though with a team.  This game has dozens if not hundreds. 

 

And I fully agree.. DA is epic.  

[VV]

I've been playing through the DA missions for the first time, and I agree, they are very interesting. I'm doing it as a hero, and teaming up with Tsoo and Council and all those other bad guys has been appropriately frustrating. I mean, I know we are fighting a common enemy, but taking orders from a Mu really hacks my character off.

9 hours ago, Chance Jackson said:

It made me think:

Isn't the incarnate story line a cosmic horror story? The Well will gleefully empower evil & morally compromised figures for a price that can include loss of free will. Rularu, mot & battalion are all cosmic horrors themselves eventually we're supposed to fight against Prometheus & the angels too.

They more I do incarnate content, the more I really think that The Well is just pure evil.

[egoprovince]

2 hours ago, VV said:

I've been playing through the DA missions for the first time, and I agree, they are very interesting. I'm doing it as a hero, and teaming up with Tsoo and Council and all those other bad guys has been appropriately frustrating. I mean, I know we are fighting a common enemy, but taking orders from a Mu really hacks my character off.

They more I do incarnate content, the more I really think that The Well is just pure evil.

The Well strikes me as more of a narrative Neutral Party.  Doesn't care who gets power.  Sure, looks evil from over here, giving power to malicious beings who want only to destroy.  But hey, that's the curse of a shallow perspective.  From down here it -would- look evil and malicious.

 

[Lazarillo]

The Well itself is simply the origin of Origins.  It's no more "evil" than the gene that makes mutants into mutants, for example.  Bad people can end up with genes that let them electrocute people, too.

It's thrown into a little bit of a problem because there's also some sort of voice/will guiding it, and given that that voice says things like "GO!  KILL!  KILL TRAPDOOR YOU FOOL!", yeah, that entity is probably evil.  But it's also indicated by Prometheus that having something like that throwing things into chaos is not the natural state of things.

[Piyerus]

We get quite a bit of info on the Well and the future of the incarnate storyline in some of the Lore AMAs. One of the longer answers in the 2014 AMA explains a lot about the nature of the Well, as well as Prometheus and the conflict between the two of them.

 

Quote

Q) Prometheus at one point brings up “Ascended” wells and renegade Ascended, using Rularuu as an example. Was there more intended for this concept of ascending into that kind of power in it’s own right, either for NPCs or as a further stage of Incarnate abilities waaaaay down the line? Further, who were some of these others who either ascended by circumvention or went renegade? (@Twi) 

 

[Q) The Dimensionless created the Wells, but it also seems like people / beings can contribute power to Wells, or even become Wells themselves. Additionally, it seems like beings of great power can have their power transferred in whole to a new being (Zeus -> Statesman, Merulina -> Leviathan) rather than just having it reabsorbed into a Well. Can you explain more about this? (Felderburg)]

 

A) Chris Behrens (Baryonyx) - There isn’t really a good way to answer this without tackling the second question first, so here goes.

 

The “Wells” were created by vastly more powerful entities than the Dimensionless. We tentatively called them the Primordials, but never settled on a player-facing name because they wouldn’t really be a factor until Issue 32 or after. The Dimensionless were the collective name for the dimension-spanning armies of each Primordial, and were charged with supervising the sapient species and their “Wells” in order to protect the first Primordial, who was bonded to the font of existence, which we internally called the Source.

 

“Wells” were individuals chosen by the Primordials to provide a buffer between the font of existence and the sapient species to which a “Well” was tied. Essentially, once a species became sapient, its deeper potential and creativity could leverage the energy of the Source to achieve amazing feats. “Wells” were trusted to serve as control valves helping the sapients grow their potential while keeping the power-mad from coming too close to the first Primordial/Source and threatening existence. The “Wells” would be influenced by and grow with their species, and in return the species was helped to freely develop their powers and abilities as they saw fit, but without risking everything to do it.

 

 

This is why rogue “Ascended” like Rularuu are considered extremely dangerous: by effectively becoming their own link to the Source, an Ascended could potentially gather enough power to challenge the Primordials themselves and change the nature of existence. Those chosen for it must be trusted; rogues are anything but.

 

 

Each “Well” had a watchman from the Dimensionless, who would be a check on the “Well” to ensure it didn’t get any ideas of its own, and serve as a balance to the “Well” helping the species along. Rogues generally didn’t accept such oversight willingly, making them doubly dangerous. This oversight was Prometheus’ job, though he aggressively took the approach that the Well was a tool meant to be used by the “multiverse of humanity” to shape their destiny, while the “Well” thought its role was to shape and influence the species to grow in directions where “humanity” became his tools against other “Wells”.

 

 

This conflict between the two first came to a head with the Flames of Prometheus. Zeus, one of the Well’s first champions, punished Prometheus for attempting to awaken the species’ latent ability to manipulate the Well with the Flames. Prometheus’ resentment over his punishment has festered for millennia, and he has gone from hating Zeus to hating the Well and distrusting the Dimensionless for their lack of intervention.

 

 

A second factor influencing Prometheus is the success of Battalion. He sees their continual expansion across the universe as a sign that his philosophy of “Wells are tools” is correct. Combined with his resentment of the Well and his own self-importance, Battalion’s success has inspired him to the belief that he could lead humanity to shake off the Well’s control and build a better Battalion. In this sense, he denies the player the chance to become Ascended not so much because of the threat they pose to existence, but because it would obviate his role as our guide. He would once again be surpassed by those he believes owe their success to him, as Zeus had done. He would lose to those he should control. He would once again beaten by a Well. This result was something he simply would not tolerate, and we intended for this to boil over near the end of the war with Battalion. Prometheus would have eventually become a traitor to his cause (and you) as you came closer to ascension.

 

 

Sometime in Issue 25/26, we planned to introduce a “Third Way” NPC, who would be a Dimensionless sent by the first Primordial to guide the players through the path between the Well and Prometheus. This is because the Dimensionless are aware that the defeat of Battalion means that those Wells they consumed would need to be taken over to save the lives of trillions, and the players would be in a position to ascend to do this. You could be a villainous Ascended, and rule like a tyrant, or a heroic Ascended, and rule like a paragon. Once this started, however, both Prometheus and the Well would personally take issue with it, and they would need to be dealt with. We never got far into designing this stage, however, since it would have happened around Issue 30-32.

 

 

So, with all that out of the way, DJ Zero was one of the other Ascended. There were some others, though I cannot find those notes at the moment. The Praetorian Hamidon was certainly on its way there, though.

 

 

For movement of suites of powers, this was going to be covered in the Pandora’s Box arc more thoroughly. Essentially, the Box provided a way for a “build” to be preserved separate from the “Well”, rather than be reabsorbed and redistributed. Zeus and Tartarus had done this long ago. There were many other items of great power out there that would facilitate the same thing, some of which had already been mentioned in game, and some of which we were developing. An interesting direction we planned on taking this is how these items (and the builds therein) might interact with the player, and how they could be used to assist in the war against Battalion, Prometheus and the Well.

 

 

[VV]

Wut

 

EDIT: Wow, that was a lot more than I expected. Gonna take a bit to absorb all of it.

Edited October 19, 2019 by VV

[VV]

I do have a question, though. I did what I think are all the missions and I never got to skunk Mot! WTF is up with that? I did Heather and then MuVorkie. Done the Ephram stuff like twice before I realized it was repeatables. So, when do I get to thump Mot???

[Piyerus]

30 minutes ago, VV said:

I do have a question, though. I did what I think are all the missions and I never got to skunk Mot! WTF is up with that? I did Heather and then MuVorkie. Done the Ephram stuff like twice before I realized it was repeatables. So, when do I get to thump Mot???

The story arc progression for Dark Astoria is:

 

- Heather Townshend

- Mu'Vorkan

- Max (phone only)

- Praetor Duncan (phone only)

- Sister Solaris (in Cimerora) 

- Dream Doctor (phone only)

 

If you've only done Heather and Mu'Vorkan, you've only done 1/3rd of the zone story.

[VV]

20 minutes ago, Piyerus said:

The story arc progression for Dark Astoria is:

 

- Heather Townshend

- Mu'Vorkan

- Max (phone only)

- Praetor Duncan (phone only)

- Sister Solaris (in Cimerora) 

- Dream Doctor (phone only)

 

If you've only done Heather and Mu'Vorkan, you've only done 1/3rd of the zone story.

Oh cool! Thanks for the info. No wonder I was confused.

[merrypessimist]

45 minutes ago, VV said:

Is Number Six part of the series?

 

Also, whenever I try to call Max, he gives me a, " You try to call Max, but all you receive is a message informing you that the line has been disconnected." And his mission line is not complete.

Number Six is not part of the DA story arc.  As for Max, he's not a story arc, but rather four missions that are interlinked, insofar as doing the first three makes the last one easier.  If you skip to the end and do the "end the talons" mission before doing the rest of his missions he's still over and done.

[VV]

Wow, that Praetor Duncan is kind of a nasty...

[DrPippy]

On 10/18/2019 at 9:35 PM, Piyerus said:

We get quite a bit of info on the Well and the future of the incarnate storyline in some of the Lore AMAs. One of the longer answers in the 2014 AMA explains a lot about the nature of the Well, as well as Prometheus and the conflict between the two of them.

 

 

Wow, I wish we'd gotten to see all that.  Maybe in CoX 2...

[ThrillMill]

Is the DA Mot Arc available via Oroborus? 

[Twisted Toon]

Should be. I know I've run the first arc from the Pillar of Ice and Flame several times. I figure, if that one is in there, so are the rest.

[Shred Monkey]

Yes, DA arc is in Oro.... and it's broke up into chapters so you don't have to complete it all at once... and it gives Incarnate rewards for completing as well.