What are the content paths for CoX in rough outline?

[DougGraves]

Imagine you are making alts to level up to 50.  You want to go through different content paths, no just doing all of the content in the game on a single character like a crazy person.

 

So what rough paths (or put in all the specifics if you want) can you think of?

 

Gold side has 4 paths: loyalist and traitor and gentle or mean versions of each.

 

Redside has its contacts.  Is there enough special story arc content to level separate from the standard contacts?

 

Blue has:

1. Old, old, old school leveling by street sweeping
2. Old, old school Outbreak and using the original contacts.  You could even do contacts by origin, for 5 different paths.
3. Old school.  Hollows, Faultline, Striga, Croatoa... Cimerora?
4. New school.  King's Row and the signature contacts, Who Will Die, etc.

 

Not sure where first ward, night ward, and dark astoria fit in - goldside?

 

And is the shadow shard its own path separate from FF and PI?

[Snarky]

2 hours ago, DougGraves said:

Imagine you are making alts to level up to 50.  You want to go through different content paths, no just doing all of the content in the game on a single character like a crazy person.

 

First, it is impolite to call people names. While I have completed all content that must be done pre 50 on my "all content character" I have been on a story arc break for a month or so. Will probably start finishing up all the rest of the story arcs soon.  But seriously, name calling?  I would never do something like suggest people are lazy untalented losers with no zest for life because they are incapable of doing a task.  That is because I am the better person....the more Snarky (TM, pat. pend.) person.

 

Seriously though. I have soloed Redside enough to know that there is a LOT of content and you need to turn off experience if you want to experience it all.  What do you call "special?"  Just the unlockable ones?  THen probably not.  I have been toying with the idea of leveling a Redsider just doing my favorite arcs, and not turning off experience, well, not much.  This would be a "tailored theme run" and I would pick out the story arcs that fit well into the characters personal backstory.  

[DougGraves]

Do redside contacts fit into themes?  Like working with Arachnos or working against them?

[Greycat]

22 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

Do redside contacts fit into themes?  Like working with Arachnos or working against them?

 

Mostly "Lackey" or "Sucker." Side of "Sociopath" with a few contacts.

[Snarky]

1 hour ago, DougGraves said:

Do redside contacts fit into themes?  Like working with Arachnos or working against them?

THe two main themes for pro Arachnos / Anti Arachnos go right to the start: 

 

Kalinda "You're showing me something about yourself. You're showing me your power, but also your willingness to do what it takes to maximize that power. I sense fantastic potential within you, Character. You could well be one of those special people we seek.

Of course, Arachnos is full of people with potential, but not all of those people can survive the brutal politicking and backstabbing that make life within this organization such a unique challenge. Only the Arbiters are immune from such troubles. For lesser lights such as you and I, the best we can do is keep on our guard."

 

Matthew Burke: "I can tell one thing about you already: you're nobody's puppet. That's why you're here with me instead of toadying up to Kalinda. I can get you some jobs and help you make your way in the Rogue Isles. Just remember: you have to decide how much to deal with Arachnos. Don't let them decide for you."

 

After that you just run missions that may or may not be "pro Arachnos"  Most often it is a faction of Arachnos you are ...sort of....working for.  The Redside story lines have a lot of fluidity in how you read what you are doing.  You can act as muscle, a time biding backstabber, a happy opportunist, or a loyal soldier.  All in the same arc.  Depends on your mindset.  

 

There are some story arcs that are very "gangland" as well.  You could easily take a Grav Dom ( Family Boss gone rogue) stealing their origin story (special batches of Superadine create Consigliere)

 

There are many subtle threads you can follow through Redside if you wanted to.  Pick a villain group, make a splinter group or just be a one person rogue from that group....or a loyal member!   Then run Redside content and arcs that fit your nefarious plans.

[The_Warpact]

28 minutes ago, Snarky said:

THe two main themes for pro Arachnos / Anti Arachnos go right to the start: 

You forgot the third choice. Fooling Arachnos into believing you're a destined one.

The VEATS arc, Alan Desslock, Brick Johnson (good porn name btw).

While its not a "main" you can go all the way to 50 on it.

[dtjunkie]

Other bluepath: DFB, DFB, Posi I, Posi II, Penny Yin (Heck yea skip Synapse), Moonfire (Atlas Medallion!),

[Terenos]

There are definitely enough stories Redside to do several different playthroughs. One difficulty in terms of accepting the story arcs Villains have access to versus heroes is that, within fiction, there are very few popular stories of Villains progressing in power or influence. For heroes, it's a common trope, and so the hero storylines that people play through don't really have to make up a reason why you're helping them - that's just what heroes do.

 

Since villains tend to appear in opposition to heroes, they only enter the story when they are a credible threat to the hero (or enter immediately as a threat that needs to be stopped). If they do do work for someone else, they're acting in a weaker/subordinate role and rarely emerge from the conflict unscathed. It's also part of the reason why many of the villain arcs have to be small wins or outcomes that seem trivial when you want to initially imagine your character as a world-endangering threat.

 

Back to the point of the thread, Redside story arcs mostly falls into the category of gathering power/allies for you villain that align with whatever goal or theme you've made up for your villain. You will never, in the acknowledged fiction of the game, achieve that goal, but that's a limitation of the game in general (the same is true if you have a hero that has a goal that's outside the scope of the game's storytelling).

 

Looking mostly at the early game, as others have noted, the two distinct paths you can take are: working with Arachnos or working around Arachnos. This makes sense within the game's story, you're a small fish in a big pond of sharks, and the only thing saving you is that for some reason you're a small fish that's been declared useful by the biggest shark and you've got a useful skillset to everyone who cares to notice you. It's not until towards the end-game where RP and story choices allow your character to feel like they have agency. Again, this is also an issue with the hero-side story arcs, it's just less pronounced there since it's generally accepted that heroes help people in trouble, not to further their own selfish goals.

 

If you want to set the tone for your character, here's how I generally view (at its most basic) Villain arcs:

Working With Arachnos:

Mercy: Kalinda, Mongoose

Port Oakes: Veluta Lunata

Cap au Diable: Seer Marino (technically Mercy, but is in Cap level range), Marshall Brass, Operative Wellman, Bane Spider Ruben

Sharkhead: Operative Vargas, Operative Kirkland

 

Working Around Arachnos:

Mercy: Matthew Burke, Doctor Creed

Beyond: pretty much anyone else. Port Oakes and early Cap have a few contacts you may miss out on simply because it's really easy to out-level that area very quickly.

 

You've also got he New Mercy contacts, as well as the SSAs.

 

There is also one path that opens up when you get past Port Oakes, which is the monstrous contacts. These are ones I make a point to avoid because they're frankly malicious and a little/lot over the line for what I want in a story. The first one kind of straddles that line, but the second one is absolutely on my no-fly list of stories (I played through him once on Live and that's how long I've remembered him).

Cap Au Diable: Peter Themari

Grandville: Westin Phipps

 

Other than those two, however, I've found that the majority of villain side content is fun and, as long as you go into it with the idea that your villain is a work in progress, doesn't have to fall into the pattern of lackey/sucker/sociopath unless you want to view them through that lens (and "professional lackey" is not the worst idea for a villain ever). Consider it gathering power/allies for your eventual rise to true power.

[Darmian]

15 hours ago, DougGraves said:

Not sure where first ward, night ward, and dark astoria fit in - goldside?

 

First Ward and Night Ward are Praetorian, but Praetorian that can call for help from Primal. So instead of leaving Praetoria at level 20 you can head straight to First Ward via Imperial Underground and progress there; OR leave and later come back.

 

Dark Astoria content overlaps the Praetorian War, starting just before it and I think wrapping around the end.

 

After that you're looking at Mr. G and Provost Marchand' Primal arcs.  And them existing at 35 makes mechanical progression just weird, though narratively having post War content that is sub 50 is actually fine.  You just need to know about them in advance (!) and decide when you want to do them.  Though that I believe is mentioned when the contacts pop up, that the events happen post issue so and so.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Darmian

[Shred Monkey]

Unless I'm intentionally running a specific content arc solo, I find I usually out level a contact before the arc is over.  What I usually end up doing instead is solo tip missions in between task forces with an occasional radio team thrown in.  (I also do a lot of street sweeping, but that was mentioned in the OP).

[OmegaOne]

On 4/5/2022 at 12:05 AM, dtjunkie said:

Other bluepath: DFB, DFB, Posi I, Posi II, Penny Yin (Heck yea skip Synapse), Moonfire (Atlas Medallion!),

Skip Synapse? Not if you want Task Force Commander.

[Apparition]

4 minutes ago, OmegaOne said:

Skip Synapse? Not if you want Task Force Commander.

 

You can get Task Force Commander in about 45 minutes.  Spend about 20 - 25 minutes doing the Brickstown SSA, then about 20 minutes doing Invader.  Done.

[pyrocumulus]

On 4/5/2022 at 11:30 AM, Terenos said:

The first one kind of straddles that line, but the second one is absolutely on my no-fly list of stories (I played through him once on Live and that's how long I've remembered him).

Cap Au Diable: Peter Themari

Grandville: Westin Phipps

 

Several of my more malicious villains have done Westin Phipps' arc. There are actually multiple resolutions to it; you can deliberately choose to fail the last mission, with a unique Souvenir for doing it (Miss Francine writes you a letter).

 

I'd also add Dr Creed to the 'I am really quite evil' list, personally: https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Doctor_Creed#Kidnap_homeless_people_for_medical_experimentation

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by pyrocumulus