Weekly Discussion 45: Favorite and Least Favorite Story Lines

[Li_Sensei]

Not a full arc, but the one that's stuck with me a long time, is a 'mini arc' from Crimson.  'A Titan Called Joe'.

 

Read the clues, read the briefings, read the in mission chat.

 

I don't know exactly what it is about that arc that stuck with me, but it has.

[tidge]

21 hours ago, Greycat said:

I enjoy the Kheld arcs enough to keep running them.

Veats, I run to 10 for the cosutme slot and never touch the arcs again.

IIRC, one of the VEAT arcs (pretty sure it is one way below lvl 40) awards the Shady/Shrouded badge (for the particular map). All my VEATs get that badge much earlier than any other toon. I don't think this is advertised in any of the wiki, but it has never failed for me.

[tidge]

2 hours ago, Li_Sensei said:

Not a full arc, but the one that's stuck with me a long time, is a 'mini arc' from Crimson.  'A Titan Called Joe'.

 

Read the clues, read the briefings, read the in mission chat.

 

I don't know exactly what it is about that arc that stuck with me, but it has.

Malta are cold, cold bastiches.

[tidge]

In general, I find the redside content to be written much better. I realize that there is a vocal contingent of players who express dislike for 'being a lacky', but I don't feel that way. Later missions when you are going after the Freedom Phalanx and/or beating down Patrons certainly feel villainous enough to me. Most of the Grandville missions have villainy to spare. For contrast, I don't why the blue-side should feel any better about being heroes, as the streets of Atlas Park are still filled with villains and I can't imagine why anyone still lives in Founder's Falls!

 

I also want to shout out to the TIP missions. They are always fun, and it is great to always have a choice of approaches and results.

 

Classic Blue: I always though Madeleine Casey's "To Save a Soul" was a fun concept, and I run that one just to read her dialogue.

 

More Blue-side Nostalgia:  I like that the Icon Tailors, City Representative and Brickstown/Founder's Falls/PI vendors still give out missions. I wish I could run Ghost Falcon's mission through Ouroboros, because it is a straightforward map to collect Rikti defeats.

 

Cross-over fun: I like seeing the connection between the Devouring Earth missions Blue Side with Vernon Von Grun redside. I especially like that Von Grun share temp powers with you, unlike many other contacts! Getting rewarded with temp powers, especially for the mission (rather than after), was always a favorite feature of missions for me.

 

I haven't gone back to Goldside to start characters since live (because of the later restrictions those toons will face) but I appreciate the content there. About 10% of my characters try to run the First Ward arcs; I like that the story there is rather circular... if you run the entire arc you can almost understand why it is ready to be run again with another character.

 

I have mixed feelings about the (blue-side) newer zone-contained arcs (Striga, Hollows, Croatoa, Faultline). I think they are pretty good, and good for the game. My only caveat is that in our current era, unless XP is turned off I find it hard to run the complete arcs in the low level zones. I like the story progression, but I always feel like I'm missing out on content. I use Ouroboros for these, but it isn't the same as finding a PUG like in the old days. I will admit that I get bored by the 'defeat all villains on the ship' missions in Striga. The revamped Rikti War Zone missions bore me, although I like the challenge of Vanguard.

 

Blueside, I am very thankful for the lvl 45-50+ arcs like Unai Kemen's "To Save a Thousand Worlds" and Heather Townsend's "Burden of the Past". I run these to farm without using AE.

 

Suggestions, hopes and wishes: 

 

Hazard Zones: I've always been a little peeved that the Hazard Zones (Perez Park, Boomtown, Eden) don't have any sort of mission arc. I completely understand why they exist historically (and quite frankly I am glad the Perez Park revamp never occurred) but aside from odd one-offs and GMs (blue side) or some instanced missions (red side) they feel weirdly devoid of meaning. Now that travel is wide-open to more players (and earlier than ever) even a simple arc explaining what some of the groups in these zones are doing could be fun.

 

Alternate enemies: I'd like to have some contacts (also available though Ouroboros) that expose some of the enemy groups that are otherwise limited in their appearances. I always like seeing the high-level family, I think they only appear in a Johnny Sonata SSA and in some extra-dimensional missions. I'd like to see Hydra in a mission that didn't explicitly include Rikti (or the Sewer Zones). I'm curious what high-level Vahzilok (maybe using Paragon Protector corpses?) would look like.

 

[DR_Mechano]

On 4/5/2020 at 9:57 PM, ArchVileTerror said:

Windmill slam Dr. Graves for worst!
https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/9949-the-twinshot-trap/

 

One of the best mission start blurbs, though, was for a Mr. Bocor mission:
"The sweet smell of cinnamon mingles disturbing with the stink of sulphur."

It's atmospheric, descriptive, and (most importantly) provides sensory information without stealing agency from the player to define their character!

Dr. Graves and Twinshot, despite being some of the newest introduced story arcs...are probably the two I'd vote as most crap especially because their level ranges and what they set out to do (especially the first 5-10 arc) means that unless you PL'd yourself to level 5, never leveled up at Ms Liberty, never did any of the tutorials, THEN they'd be useful...

[Galaxy Brain]

12 hours ago, ArchVileTerror said:

Hard compared to Blueside and Redside:  Absolutely.  It's all about relativity.

I mean I guess, there is no DFB in goldside sure but the enemy types are relatively similar in what you'd see on either side

[Lockpick]

6 hours ago, tidge said:

 

I haven't gone back to Goldside to start characters since live (because of the later restrictions those toons will face) but I appreciate the content there. About 10% of my characters try to run the First Ward arcs; I like that the story there is rather circular... if you run the entire arc you can almost understand why it is ready to be run again with another character.

What restrictions are those?

 

On another note, I had a suggestion in another thread to add story arcs to the game.

 

My idea of AE rewards would be to allow AE authors to write their story arcs and if they are selected as Dev Choice the story arc would be propagated to Live content with standard rewards and be eligible for flashback.  The author could be rewarded with badges or merits for getting their arcs published to Live content.  You might have to put restrictions on the content to prevent farms from being propagated to Live and the Dev team would make the decision whether the arc fits their expectation of what should be Live content.

 

Players that are running the missions could be rewarded with the AE rewards and badges for running different AE missions.  Maybe as they get higher badge counts they could also get merits for playing the AE content.

 

My thought was more about new content for people to enjoy, but the response was around AE rewards.  I would love to see some of the lore friendly AE story arcs propogated to Live content.  It would be cool and give players an opportunity to showcase their talent.

Edited April 7, 2020 by Lockpick
Added AE comments

[tidge]

23 minutes ago, Lockpick said:

What restrictions are those?

I am completely unfamiliar with the code and the databases, but at some point in the last year there was talk that if characters started "Gold", that there were limited circumstances (Khallisti Wharf costume contests?) that they could not join. I never heard anything more than that, but from memory it had something to do with the fact that the character never officially started as a hero or a villain.

 

The game keeps track of certain choices and behaviors (for example, the questions that come up at the end of SSA1 depend on alignment during earlier missions, and in NPC reactions in DA arcs) but I don't know if this is related.

[justicebeliever]

8 minutes ago, tidge said:

I am completely unfamiliar with the code and the databases, but at some point in the last year there was talk that if characters started "Gold", that there were limited circumstances (Khallisti Wharf costume contests?) that they could not join. I never heard anything more than that, but from memory it had something to do with the fact that the character never officially started as a hero or a villain.

 

The game keeps track of certain choices and behaviors (for example, the questions that come up at the end of SSA1 depend on alignment during earlier missions, and in NPC reactions in DA arcs) but I don't know if this is related.

Going to  the Wharf for Costume Contests would be about the only restriction in place.  That of course only lasts until lvl 20 and you move out of Praeratoria.  I can't think of any others myself.

[eknudson]

2 hours ago, Lockpick said:

My idea of AE rewards would be to allow AE authors to write their story arcs and if they are selected as Dev Choice the story arc would be propagated to Live content with standard rewards and be eligible for flashback.

 

I think this is a great idea-- there was an earlier comment that some zones were underutilized and needed a reason to visit them. Can we crowdsource a couple good arcs for Boomtown, Crey's, and Kallisti? 

[Chris24601]

One of the things that REALLY shows in a lot of the last year of live content was the shift of focus from “story arc as story” to “story arc as advertising.”

 

You all know what I’m talking about; story arcs where whole sections are centered on an overbuffed mob (sometimes even a boss when you have bosses turned off) who gets to show off one of the power sets or costumes that could only be accessed by spending real money/Paragon Points.

 

Regardless of what you thought the theme of those arcs was, their actual message was painfully transparent; “Look how tough it was to take on the guy with Staff-Fighting/Titan Weapons/Beam Rifle... you could have this power too, for the right price.”

 

In retrospect, it’s just NOT a pretty look.

 

Some, like the Laura Lockhart arc (particularly with the Oroboros chaser) are good enough on their own to overcome it. Others, particularly the “Justice Hammers” and “Void Sanction” arcs need a complete revamp to add some real personality and depth to them (in those two cases though I am willing to chalk some of it up to it being beta content SCoRE pushed live “as is” and so, had it not been shuttered would have been better developed so that each mission wasn’t six repetitions of “meet X, then defeat Y with overpowered version of featured powerset Z.”).

 

* * * *

 

I’m not really going to discuss Blueside much just because it IS so much easier to write for. As reactive forces the specifics of a heroes’ inner life and motives aren’t as relevant to mission design. To quote Batman Begins, “It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.”

 

The only two points I’ll mention about Blueside are;

 

A) Vigilante tip missions require way too much idiotball holding. You are always either massively overreacting to or outright ignoring evil schemes in order to rack up a body count.

 

Vigilante tips are so bad that even Arrow in season one (i.e. the season that practically defines vigilante and didn’t shy away from the negative aspects) would have to choose the hero tips because even though his focus was putting down bad guys permanently, he didn’t endanger innocents to do it.

 

B) Each of the Twinshot/Graves tutorial arcs need to be dropped by 5 levels and made intro contacts alongside the post Galaxy ones.

 

Twinshot’s arc could use a little dialogue cleanup and perhaps a little more obvious reference to its various members not just representing certain power origins, but also lampooning particular PLAYER types common at the time (ex. Grym is that tabletop RPG player who rolled up his toon from that game on Virtue and always speaks in character... Vampire LARPers were a HUGE part of the Virtue RP scene back in the day). Their dialogue and certain actions are a lot more bearable when you can recognize what they’re meant to parody.

 

Grave’s arc just needs any reference to your interior motivations scrubbed. The fact that you are a complete newbie level 1 villain and therefore unknown and underestimated takes care of a lot of the other problems, though a few scare quotes to indicate your character understands more than they’re letting on at times (ex. using ‘mind bomb’ instead of mind bomb implies you suspect what’s really going on but have decided to play along for your own reasons... you may act the dolt, as you do with the arbiters who talk to you about leveling up, but ‘act’ is the operative word).

 

* * * *

 

Now to Redside.

 

The worst missions for me are redside arcs that don’t give sufficient clues to the need for really heinous villainy to complete them or lack means of otherwise undermining said villainy by deliberate failure (ex. Kelly Uqua’s final mission).

 

I’ll play a rogue. Longbow’s just shady enough in its methods I can send them on a trip through the mediporter system pretty guilt free, but I preferred the days of invulnerable civilians on Mayhem Missions (which means it actually takes work to avoid civilian casualties if you’re playing in the rogue-ish “tries to avoid unnecessary violence” style).

 

I can’t stomach the outright villainous though so I HATE it when I only discover the arc is going to require more than robbing some rich person/organization of their money/doodad AFTER that little book has locked you into the mission chain.

 

Someone previously mentioned attaching the Rogue and Villain alignment terms to various contacts based one what they have you do. I wholeheartedly approve of this.

 

In that vein, I’d also like to see a tweak to the Lt. Harris arc that closes out the revamped Mercy Island content. It requires just a little too much idiotball holding to not have figured out what’s really going on with him before the final mission even begins and being forced to side against a woman being revenge stalked and murdered by a psychopath is too dark for even a lot of villains (and pretty much anyone who’s planning to go Rogue at the earliest opportunity).

 

So an option to instead fight Lt. Harris instead and then send the wounded Lt. Page and the rest of Longbow packing (“Mission Accomplished for Arachnos. Does it really matter HOW I did it?”) would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

In terms of top-notch missions I think redside the Dean and Leonard clone arcs are some of my favorites simply because they don’t presume a particular motivation and also because there’s a real degree of choice involved in how it ends up.

 

I remembered liking them on live, but started to cringe when the “kidnap scientists” mission came up as to whether I’d just remembered it wrong. I the actually stopped and breathed a sigh of relief when the first scientist I reached responded with “Ooh, a science project! I want in!” Willing minions work regardless of your particular level of misanthropy so it was an excellent choice to allow maximum possible character motivation interpretation.

 

Then there’s your choices of what to do about your clone (whether to save them at all, whether to let them go live their own life... with options ranging from sadistic to selfish to almost heroic) and whether or not to actually rob bank (admittedly it’s funnier if you DO, but that doesn’t fit every concept) that made it feel like it was your choice throughout.

 

I also want to give high marks to the HC exclusive Rogue arc for its multiple paths and outcomes and, depending on how you play it you can range from a misanthrope to a gentleman thief (up to and including that you can “beat” the main threat by paying attention to a few clues and then striking a win-win deal with them).

 

It is often remarked that Redside is vastly less populated than Blueside and the default solution I’ve always heard echoed is “create more truly villainous content.”

 

My comment there is that that’s a load of bunk.

 

There’s a simple fact of storytelling that they teach everyone going into Screenwriting 101... and that’s that 90% of mankind only enjoys classic plot structure (this is not to discourage other types of plot structure, but to teach you to manage expectations and budgets accordingly).

 

Outright unrepentant villainous motivations alienate general audiences. Hurting others because you enjoy tormenting them is seen as sick. The hard villainous content that is asked for holds appeal to only that small 10% who flies in the face of classic plots because one of the hallmarks of classic plot is “protagonists generally get what they deserve.”

 

Imagine a movie where we follow a senator who plots his wife’s murder, frames his intern for it and the movie ends with his intern’s execution for the crime while the senator sips martinis with the mistress he’d been cheating on his wife with and is adored by the public for having the strength to carry on after the betrayal of his intern and the tragic murder of his wife.

 

That’s a CoV Villainous arc in a nutshell. You do horrible things for wicked reasons, often to those weaker than yourself and are rewarded for it. The end. It takes classical construction and turns it on it’s head. A movie with that plot would also flop outside of the indie film scene.

 

By contrast, successful films with villain protagonists; ex. Ocean’s 11, John Wyck, Deadpool; set the villain up as having relatable motivations (ex. revenge, crushing debt, saving a loved one directly or indirectly) for their actions and those actions are directed at someone more powerful and/or more wicked (ex. the ones who wronged him, some faceless institution seen as screwing over little guys in general; multi-national corporations/banks and governments being common legitimate targets) such that the target being hurt feels like its earned that hurt as payback.

 

One reason the Dean and Leonard arcs work really well in this regard is they set up a similar dynamic. It stats with a relatable motivation; make some cash on a basic jewelry heist and trying to knock a rampaging superhero down a peg. Only you run into a double of yourself who’s already committed the robbery and the hero actually IS indestructible. You now have very personal motivations... you’re going to be blamed and you don’t even get the money for it (more wicked) and you still need to knock the invulnerable guy down a peg (more powerful).

 

Dean gets more sympathetic when you learn how the system in Paragon wronged him and his family. The clone angle leads to punching literal nazis to gain a cloning facility for yourself. You eventually work out a solution to knock the invulnerable hero out of the picture and make everyone’s life easier.

 

The Leonard half of the arc gives you a Big Bad in Protean who wrecks your original plans (whatever they might be) for the cloning facility, a chance to be a little heroic or not in rescuing your clone. Twist the knife on the guy who wrecked things, possibly settle things with your clone... oh, and possibly finally getting around to robbing a place because comedic sociopathy is always an option.

 

You’re rewarded for your efforts that punished someone more wicked and the scales of karma feel properly weighed to most people.

 

The point is... the good villain content doesn’t just set a crime in motion, it sets up WHY the target deserves what it gets (and therefore why you deserve to profit from it).

 

 

[ArchVileTerror]

"Someone previously mentioned attaching the Rogue and Villain alignment terms to various contacts based one what they have you do. I wholeheartedly approve of this."

Pretty sure that was me.

If I didn't say it, I -meant- to say it!

I think all missions should probably receive keyword tags, similar to the ones seen in AE.  I just think it would help players select missions and arcs which will allow them to appropriately define their character without reading ParagonWiki for full spoilers.

[Razor Cure]

The DA arcs are all really cool. There is also a LOT redside I really like, some new, some old.

The 20ish one where you become a prophet for the Luddites is great, so is Westin Phipps arc is GV,

Worst..easily Unai Kemen. His missions are just a complete load of shite. No variation, just 'click 20 ruptures' again and again and again!

[tidge]

6 hours ago, Chris24601 said:

Imagine a movie where we follow a senator who plots his wife’s murder, frames his intern for it and the movie ends with his intern’s execution for the crime while the senator sips martinis with the mistress he’d been cheating on his wife with and is adored by the public for having the strength to carry on after the betrayal of his intern and the tragic murder of his wife.

Not a senator, but

 

Spoiler

Wild Things

 

[Chris24601]

48 minutes ago, tidge said:

Not a senator, but

 

  Hide contents

Wild Things

 

The film was #45 the year it was released; falling behind the Parent Trap remake (44) and the widely panned Matthew Brodderick Godzilla (43).

 

It likely only got that high off its reputation for some very steamy sex scenes (relative to what else was available with an R rating at the time).

 

Also, as a caveat, all the people killed and framed in the film were actually co-conspirators... which puts their deaths more into the “just desserts” category than my example (innocent wife and intern killed).

 

I think It almost proves my point; the number of stories that can successfully pull off “the unrepentant villain gets away with it” is vanishingly small.

 

By contrast, heist and similar films where the criminals are sympathetic and the target is deserving of a comeuppance are reasonably common.

 

In CoV terms, a story where you work with some Scrapyarders to rob Cage Consortium and everyone walks away with a share (even if your own share is “most of it”) is one I suspect would be broadly popular.

 

It should be noted that the popular Dean and Leonard arcs mostly involve stealing from the Nazis/5th Column... the epitome of “acceptable targets.”

 

Bane Spider Reuben; another popular red-side arc; involves Longbow using mind control on villains to try and take over the Rogue Isles and ends with you setting the villains loose on a roaring rampage of revenge against those who used them.

 

I think the biggest mistake made in terms of setting up City of Villains to capture a larger portion of the market was to not realize the difference between villains as they appear in superhero stories (often unrepentant complete monsters) with how villains are portrayed when given their own titles/mini-series (nuanced with better justifications for their actions against more acceptable targets).

 

The best CoV content captures the villain as protagonist of their own story. The worst has them act as complete monsters for no reason other than “for the evulz.” The worst of the worst is where it isn’t even your own plan... you’re just the hired thug of some guy doing it “for the evulz.”

 

Frankly, Westin Phipps is the sorta worst of the worst scumbag a traditional “villain as protagonist” story would use as its antagonist; the guy who’s so much worse than you that when you burn down his house, steal his ill-gotten gains for yourself and organize the homeless to beat him to death in the street you STILL look like a good guy administering some brand of justice despite having just committed arson, grand theat and conspiracy to commit first degree murder.

 

Instead CoV has you work FOR him and do his dirty work ruining other people’s lives just because he gets off on crushing the hopes and dreams of others. And the original devs wondered why redside never took off?

 

Side-bar: If there was ever a Rogue mission put in that let you do that to Westin Phipps, half my heroes would go rogue just to play it. I rarely experience such a level of vitriolic hatred for a fictional character... but that man seriously needs to die in a manner where he gets to realize that all his work crushing hopes is being undone... like a post-script where it’s revealed that his brain and eyes were saved and he is forced to watch unblinking from a secret compartment as acts of mercy and kindness improve the lives of those he’s hurt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Troo]

Lots already covered by others. There are some interesting AE entries. Can't wait to see more Dev Choice selections.

 

The COV patron stories are decent and challenging.

 

Does Twinshot count? for worst.. run, drama, run, more drama.. eesh.

 

Maze like elements in maps = worst.  (If it is supposed to be a maze, just give us a maze)

 

 

[johnnysc]

I just ran through and really enjoyed the Shauna Stockwell (The Superadine Ring) and Eagle Eye (Lords of Death) Skulls story arcs in Kings Row.   Paragon Wiki indicates that these were I24 arcs and this was the first time I've run through them.  The antagonists are more than simple generic bad guys and they make effective use of the mission features that they were using more in the late game.

 

The Skulls story line is not finished with these arcs, with a number of threads still to be resolved.  I'd be interested in seeing this story finished up.  I figure at least one more story arc and a new task force could be created, assuming that the content would stay in the under level 20 range.  

[tidge]

1 hour ago, Chris24601 said:

The film was #45 the year it was released; falling behind the Parent Trap remake (44) and the widely panned Matthew Brodderick Godzilla (43).

Perhaps, but

 

Spoiler

Wild Things

 

[johnnysc]

An older arc I like is The Terra Conspiracy.  It tells an interesting story that progresses with each mission and gives more details about an enemy group.  I think if it was polished up with a better character model for end-boss Terra and adding a few of the newer mission mechanics to spice things up it would be a go-to arc people would enjoy playing. 

 

Adding mission content that showed Terra's transformation in stages instead of off-screen mission text would add a nice touch of body horror to the arc.

[Coyotedancer]

9 hours ago, Razor Cure said:

Worst..easily Unai Kemen. His missions are just a complete load of shite. No variation, just 'click 20 ruptures' again and again and again!

 

Yeah... Parts of Unai's stuff are a total slog. But I kind-of love that "Put the Scientists back Together" set of missions. Boats on banana paper, forever! XD

 

Otherwise blue-side, I'm fond of the Library of Souls and Envoy of Shadows arcs. I love the majority of the content in Striga and Croatoa. I like all three of the newer Talos arcs. Freak Olympics is good fun, I'll never get tried of Saving the World for Dark Watcher, and some of the hero tip missions definitely have their moments. Titan Called Joe always makes me sad, no matter who I run it on. I also imagine that my rogue Oranbegan characters get a kick out of visiting their pacifist counterparts no matter who sends them to that world or why... even if that means "*sigh* Here we are. Having to save our hapless cousins YET AGAIN from Malta/the Pantheon/the Rikti/Etc".

 

What don't I like in Hero-land? Hunts. I pretty much hate street-hunts in the middle of arcs. I'm also not fond of "fed-ex" runs that send me to the far end of nowhere and back purely to waste time. Those, alas, aren't confined to any one arc. They're everywhere. Even in the middle of arcs that I otherwise have a great time running. I'm not a fan of Twin Shot and her missions, but it's more on the 'avoid 'em' level than the 'hate knows no limit' thing.

 

On the red side, it's easier to point out the few arcs I just can't stand. By and large, I like almost everything else... But Dr. Graves is just AWFUL and Lt. Harris basically makes my skin crawl. Phipps? He's slimy, sure, but I don't end up hating his arc on principle, even though I rarely run it with any of my own crew. (I tend to play rogues rather than real villains, so the kinds of things he gets up to are pretty out-of-character for many of them-) 

 

Particular favorites red-side? Punking the Luddites is excellent fun.... Dealing with Johnny Sonata's soul makes me grin... Nalor and his portals are entertaining... Scir's patron arcs, likewise (Plus that includes a trip to my favorite map in the entire game. Big, Ornabegan floating islands map; the Crossroads). The Rogue tips are fun, I absolutely adore Vernon, Dean's arc is fabulous silliness (So. Many. Clones. 0_o)… Cage's security guy trying to keep Crash out of trouble, Psimon and his headaches, the Mage Hunter having trouble with her ex (Who happens to be a Death Mage. XD) And then there's "Oh Wreched Man". I ❤️ Paolo, too... All fun stuff. And much better written than most of the small arcs blue-side. 

 

In the "Not red or blue" category, I'm a big fan of Dark Astoria's arcs, the gold-side Responsibility storyline and pretty much everything in First Ward and Night Ward. The Praetorian Crusader storyline was the only one I found myself unable to finish. I ended up taking Morgan on the Warden path in the end. Those arcs aren't badly-written, mind. They're more like Phipps' arc. 'Just a bit more "let's be awful" than I was willing to be with one of the gang.

 

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Coyotedancer

[siolfir]

On 4/7/2020 at 8:33 AM, tidge said:

IIRC, one of the VEAT arcs (pretty sure it is one way below lvl 40) awards the Shady/Shrouded badge (for the particular map). All my VEATs get that badge much earlier than any other toon. I don't think this is advertised in any of the wiki, but it has never failed for me.

Fortunata Hamilton (level 10-14) has the mission you're talking about.

 

Of course, a lot of villains got it from Television before VEATs were ever a thing, and despite being a level 45-50 contact the agricultural nature of all of the missions in that arc led to a lot of low level characters being on them. Television also has a lot of fun - but dated - call outs in the mission text.

[Peacemoon]

I recently ran the Crimson story arc with the Malta over several nights, and loved the story. There were some really cool parts to the story, e.g. the shapeshifter impersonating powerful people, lots of political/espionage vibes to the missions which made them feel quite serious and which I enjoyed. The way Crimson and Indigo treat you as your handlers I really liked - enough respect that you felt you knew what you were doing, did it willingly and could trust them, but also an air of mystique to keep you knowing there was a bit more going on. It felt like mutual respect.

 

Spoiler alert:

Spoiler

Not only that but the ambush from the Kronos Class Titan was super fun. I was glad I was geared enough to survive his onslaught, and got a lot of my shard to come to FF to help me defeat him. 
It ends with a final confrontation with a second Kronos, which also felt super epic.

 

There aren’t many negatives, but I guess I would say that the merit rewards felt a little low for the time invested.

Large outdoor missions which are defeat all should be avoided if poss. Have enough objectives that you only need to take out 20% of the map with the rest as optional.

Director 17 and Moment should have been an AV/EB for sure. 
Maybe a little too much Malta? Ha! The Freakshow got a hearing, but always nice to have a diversion where you have to deal with some of the more thug-like gangs who have been allowed to go in a rampage due to the main villain group’s shenanigans. Otherwise more unique maps are always fun. There are a lot of labs in Paragon City that look the same...

 

Anyway if you haven’t already, try Crimson’s World War Red arc, and watch out for sappers! 😉

Edited April 9, 2020 by Peacemoon

[Peacemoon]

On 4/5/2020 at 11:08 PM, Lines said:

For stories I'd love to see:

I'd love to see the hazard zones given story arcs of their own. Especially Crey's folly. That place is so cool!

 

I may be wrong, but there doesn't seem to be a story for the Zigursky prison. You'd think it would be teeming with narrative.

 

Absolutely with you on this Lines.

 

Crey's Folly is one of my favourite zones. I think I said in the other thread that is has a great theme of rogue corporation experiments, toxic waste and alien presence.

 

The Zig is such an imposing struture. I think it would be an amazing setting for a TF, or maybe even better, a Trial! 

[KC4800]

I tend to favor missions vs. Skulls-Tsoo-Freaks-Crey-Carnies-Malta. Just sick of Council, Rikti, Nemesis.

 

The new TF that starts in Kallisti Wharf was great until I got to the end and realized I forgot to turn off Solo AVs. Capt Castillo as AV just silly soloing.

 

I like the DE as a  foe. The missions really need revamped. Those caves, after caves, after caves. Yeesh. Yes some are made of rocks, but some are plants that need sun, don't they? Outside, hint!

 

Harvey M. and Indigo/Crimson I try to do their missions on every character.

RWZ arc are so tedious. Except for Number 6.

 

I have one character that like to do the FBZ missions and the Kora Fruit caves. My Ill/TA Controller has the tools to Battle the Rularuu.

[Drakwatch]

22 hours ago, johnnysc said:

I just ran through and really enjoyed the Shauna Stockwell (The Superadine Ring) and Eagle Eye (Lords of Death) Skulls story arcs in Kings Row.   Paragon Wiki indicates that these were I24 arcs and this was the first time I've run through them.  The antagonists are more than simple generic bad guys and they make effective use of the mission features that they were using more in the late game.

 

The Skulls story line is not finished with these arcs, with a number of threads still to be resolved.  I'd be interested in seeing this story finished up.  I figure at least one more story arc and a new task force could be created, assuming that the content would stay in the under level 20 range.  

I think this would be the perfect opportunity for a Back Alley Brawler TF. He's still in recovery and can't go after Deadlock himself, so he starts up Task Force Regulators to combat the remaining Skull leadership who have now teamed up with the Trolls. It would be a nice finish to the story threads, BABs would get his revenge on Deadlock, and we could have a sweet AV battle with him at the end.

 

On the flipside, it would also be a good opportunity for a new redside TF. The Trolls and Skulls start hiring Rogue Isle villains as shock troops in Paragon? They need some muscle to keep the 'Dyne flowing, and they need Back Alley Brawler off their back. 

 

Any new TFs for under lvl 20 would be awesome and give some much needed team content variety for lower level characters. The Kings Row story arcs are wide open and well written enough to make them a good jumping off point for new content.