The STORY of City of Heroes/Villains

[Ultimo]

Many times now, I've heard reference to issue this or issue that... and I am made to wonder, is there an actual STORY arc going on in this game?  I've never really noticed one, just going from random one-off mission to mission.

 

Many (even most) MMOs have some kind of story as a main plot, with numerous isolated stories scattered about that don't or only peripherally affect the main plot.  Is that what we have here?  If so, where does the main story begin?  What missions are part of it, and in what order should they be played?

[Greycat]

There's ... a few ways to answer that.

Originally it kind of felt like "making your way," eventually getting to the point where you're rescuing Statesman (and no, Posi doesn't have that same impact.) It wasn't really a single, guided storyline, more like a theme.

 

There are plenty of sub-arcs, both in groups and in ... problems (Supradyne, for instance, which goes through several levels as well as various clues from plaques and such. Such as, did you know in a *very* small percentage of users, they can see across dimensions? Also drives them insane.)

 

There are - let's call them "story zones," such as the Hollows, Faultline, Striga and Croatoa, with most everything self contained.

 

And there are Epic ATs, which are called Epic because they are tied to a specific, 1-50 storyline - for Kheldians, the Kheldian war, for VEATs... something destined one something something blah. Those are probably the only things that *do* have a storyline going 1-50. THough it's more a dive into a specific facet of the story, rather than "the game's" 1-50 arc.

 

The game, of course, has its own history - but also due to the nature of it being an MMO, time gets kind of wibbly-wobbly, too. *shrug*

 

Praetoria... sort of does, though it's more your choices than "this is the story of praetoria."

 

TLDR version? Other MMOs have "This is the game storyline, and you are a participant." COH is more "This is your storyline, and the game is the medium to tell it. Choose which way you want to go."

[tidge]

My 2 Inf: The game suffers at (almost) every point where some sort of over-arching narrative was added. The game is at its best when it sticks with the pre-1980s age comic book sensibility that there really are no lasting changes to the world, it's simply a "never-ending battle".

 

I like(d) the original payoffs of the Lost arcs; and I get a kick out of some of the (original, added) level 40-50 blue content... but in general I find all the assorted 'forced lore' to leave a sour taste in my mouth, even if I find some of the missions to be fun. Some examples:

• The Council / 5th Column changes, in-game, always struck me as clumsy. The ultimate result is that we have all sorts of forced exposition in all sorts of odd places.
• The Midnighters / Cimerora / Shadow Shard connections, not to mention the odd ties to the RWZ and Dark Astoria incarnate content, almost literally "come out of nowhere"
• SSA1 "Who will die?" always strikes me as more like "Who cares who dies?" Oh, and BTW, the Hollows is full of lava.
• The destruction of Galaxy City felt like a needlessly cruel loss. It was quite telling that zone content (badges, mob spawns) weren't originally considered for things like accolades or TFs (Numina, Vahz hunt in Faultline) when major changes were first made to the city.
• Lord Nemesis... sigh. I get some serious "Davros" vibes everytime he worms his way into a story.
• I have no real complaints about Goldside, except that the original team felt the need to "end the story", despite there being lots of great content using Praetoria!

The only 'revamp' that I really like is the Faultline makeover. YMMV.

 

IMO Redside (despite the Mercy Island redo, and the "destined ones" Time Travel shenanigans) has a much more coherent set of stories. There are the peculiar links to the Midnighters and Vanguard, but I find it pretty easy to sidestep that content.

[Snarky]

I am running every contact red/blue/gold right now on a single character.  I have done this pure redside a few times over the years.  As has been said upthread, yes and no.  There are story arcs, plotlines, things to be discovered. There are themes and over acrching plots that tie things together.  And break things apart.

 

While not as complex as the 'real' world there is enough volume and depth for CoH/V to beyond any one culture or plotline.  Or many.  Each Event, Zone, Story Arc and contact is it's own thing, and usually borrowing and expending on other Events, Zones, Story Arcs and contacts.

 

 

[Vulpoid]

There were also a line of comic books and two novels that provide stories within the world of COH/V/X

https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Novels

https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/City_of_Heroes_(Comic_Book)

[wjrasmussen]

5 hours ago, Ultimo said:

Many times now, I've heard reference to issue this or issue that... and I am made to wonder, is there an actual STORY arc going on in this game?  I've never really noticed one, just going from random one-off mission to mission.

 

Many (even most) MMOs have some kind of story as a main plot, with numerous isolated stories scattered about that don't or only peripherally affect the main plot.  Is that what we have here?  If so, where does the main story begin?  What missions are part of it, and in what order should they be played?

it is all  part of the nemesis plot.

[tidge]

1 hour ago, tidge said:

• Lord Nemesis... sigh. I get some serious "Davros" vibes everytime he worms his way into a story.

 

37 minutes ago, wjrasmussen said:

it is all  part of the nemesis plot.

 

[Six-Six]

I've got a different take on it. In broad strokes, I have an idea of the in game history (i.e. Reichsman, Statesman, the Phalanx, Rikti, etc.) and how they loosely tie in to each other. Now against that backdrop of loose lore, I make my own story. 

For example, my spanking new toon sees an opportunity and breaks out of the Zig (...or is mutated during the attack on Galaxy). He lands in Mercy and as a referral from one of the contacts from the Zig, he hooks up with Kalinda. As he does odd jobs for Kalinda here and there, his network of contacts grow (i.e. bumps into Kuzmin, Mongoose and Burke hear about his snake jobs, etc.). This goes on... albeit in my head... for each progressive zone. So while the contacts and missions are the same, the order in which a toon does them, and I suppose the context, is somewhat unique. I don't think any of my 40+ incarnates have the exact same story.

So I don't mind that the arcs are not related linearly as it gives me more wiggle room to craft my current toon's personal story. 😃

[Lunglescrops]

8 hours ago, Ultimo said:

Many times now, I've heard reference to issue this or issue that... and I am made to wonder, is there an actual STORY arc going on in this game?  I've never really noticed one, just going from random one-off mission to mission.

 

Many (even most) MMOs have some kind of story as a main plot, with numerous isolated stories scattered about that don't or only peripherally affect the main plot.  Is that what we have here?  If so, where does the main story begin?  What missions are part of it, and in what order should they be played?

 

If you want some guidance on how to follow and experience the central story of each "side" (hero and villain), I highly recommend checking out @Gulbasaur's guides:

The Good Missions Guide: A Heroic Levelling Journey through Story Arcs

and

The Mean Missions Guide: A Villainous Levelling Journey through Story Arcs

They are a great way to enjoy a lot of the main story in a way that is coherent and makes the grindier aspects of the game feel rewarding.

 

I hope that helps!
 

[Gulbasaur]

Thanks for the shout out, @Annwn Un Rama

 

One day, I may even finish the villain task force stuff!

Edited December 1, 2021 by Gulbasaur

[cranebump]

The only thing that sometimes ravels out as “story” for me is with individual characters developing their own personal nemesis group, by virtue of contact selection partly, and partly by what “feels right.” For example, my staff/Ninj scrapper running Crimson arc, with an origin as a “former Black Ops who got out and made off with some high tech gear”, felt perfect with Malta as his nemesis. KR Devil will always be a Skull buster, due to gun toting and vigilante BG. Of course, this is all just me storytellIing in my head. Story in this game seems to be what one makes it.

[TheZag]

Often players referring to issue # are talking about a pervious patch in the game.  Major content patches were called issues and minor content patches were called pages.

 

There is story that has moved forward during the game so certain missions that say something like 'these events take place before issue 23'  means ignore the fact that whatever happened in that update happened while running this mission.

[Shred Monkey]

The issues and pages are just the version releases/patches/updates of the game.... they used that nomenclature to mimic a comic book.

 

That said, when I read your question, I immediately thought of the comics that came with the subscription to the original game (I still have mine).   Also the signature arcs in the game tell a specific story that explains some changes to the NPCs who give missions and task forces.   Some zone changes and additions have mini stories behind them as well.