Lore: What story would you have had for AE's disappearance from Atlas Park (and Mercy)?

[Zhym]

AE just sort of disappeared from Atlas Park and Mercy Island without any in-game explanation.  Aside from whatever confusion that's causing players who don't read the forums (or the patch notes), it seems to me that there was a missed opportunity to add some story around the change.  So: if you were writing the story, how would you have removed AE from Atlas Park and Mercy Island?

 

(I'm not asking whether AE should have been removed; I'd appreciate it if people would leave debate about that for other threads.)

 

For my part, I think "destroyed by a supervillain" is a classic, at least for the one in AP—especially if an event could have been tied to it.  But maybe instead of it being destroyed, Aeon decides to shut them down?  Maybe the one in AP is busy and profitable, but the margins aren't what they're looking for (there might be some room for pointed satire of the Live shutdown in this version of the story).

 

Are there any good story lines you can think of that would remove the Atlas Park and Mercy Island AE locations and replace them with something else?

Edited August 24, 2022 by Zhym

[The_Warpact]

9 minutes ago, Zhym said:

 But maybe instead of it being destroyed, Aeon decides to shut them down? 

With inflation, supply, and staffing issues these days its no wonder.

[momentarygrace]

Someone botched a time fix via Ouroboros. Poof! Missing building replaced by other building. Write an AE mission that explains how hundreds of heroes were killed when the Shivan meteor was redirected and struck there while said dead heroes were inside. In the course of trying to save the heroes who were using the AE, the only way they could be saved was to replace the building. 

 

AE in Mercy? just go with the existing story. 

[ZemX]

1 minute ago, momentarygrace said:

Someone botched a time fix via Ouroboros. Poof!

 

I swear I was just trying to get the Isolator badge!

[KC4800]

Jake Emmert came back one night, and blew it up.

[Thrones]

2 minutes ago, KC4800 said:

Jake Emmert came back one night, and blew it up.

Emmert'ent Domain?

[Zhym]

1 hour ago, momentarygrace said:

AE in Mercy? just go with the existing story.

What's the existing story for the AE in Mercy?

 

ETA: Never mind.  I finally read the fine patch notes.

Edited August 24, 2022 by Zhym

[KC4800]

8 minutes ago, Thrones said:

Emmert'ent Domain?

Not a bad idea. His 100% Narcissism made him feel like only HE could fix what was "wrong" with AE. So he removed it without even asking one expert.

[High_Beam]

If one was to look at it from a pure business standpoint, it was market oversaturation in as many areas as it was (11 in Paragon including location in two Hazard zones).  I mean the fiscal expenditure of maintaining those buildings from a pure infrastructure standpoint had to be crippling and then there is services consumption (electric, water, sewer).  Story-wise the logical thread would be aggressive fiscal rightsizing and since Aeon is EBIL, all those employees just got their pink slips without warning and no severance benefits (Paragon is a work at will city).

 

Now if I was writing it I would do a whole arc where players discover that AE is an elaborate scheme by Aeon to document in finite detail the powers and capabilities of as many metahumans as possible in order to develop countermeasures against them or ways to remove their powers or copy them (akin to the Revenant Hero Project).  The players stumble on it and it becomes a grand adventure to reveal the truth to the masses.  The players could face enemies that are powerful amalgams of themselves or other "signature" heroes who used AE, or super "AE Bosses".  Or the players are trapped in a deep AE Cyber world (with reality distorting fun).  Either way the end result would have to yield to simultaneous endings; the destruction of one or more AE buildings (there should be two or three max because really, have you ever been to the one in Skyway or Brickstown or Faultline for that matter?) and yet also the maintenance of the status quo (lack of acceptance of the "conspiracy" of AE) so that only the supers and those truly in the know understand the depth of Aeons EBIL!!!!.

 

The Other Aeon Task Force

Architect of Evil Task Force . . . oh that one is secksi, I have to write that down somewhere . . . oh wait . . . Architect Entertainment used for something other than creating the perfect farm.  What a story 🙂

 

 

[biostem]

2 hours ago, Zhym said:

if you were writing the story, how would you have removed AE from Atlas Park and Mercy Island?

Crime in the starting areas was on the rise, and all evidence pointed to too many of the new heroes/villains opting to instead play around on the holodeck, I mean AE...

[El D]

As much as I think the explanations in the patch notes are all that's needed for the removal of the two buildings (during the Live days, these sorts of explanations and lore-posts for events got pushed pretty often after all <.<), if this had involved something active in-game I would have gone for something small and simple; a 'Personal Story Arc' where you play as Dr. Aeon getting absolutely destroyed in a short legal trial after having been caught using AE to spy on countless heroes. Once the verdict is reached (guilty, obviously) have another organization come in and take over the AE buildings in Paragon, while the Rogue Isles ones remain under Aeon's influence because Rogue Isles/jurisdiction issues.

 

Why Paragon City allowed a corporation run by one of Arachnos' top scientists and globally known key associates (not to mention also funded by Crey) to continually record and analyze the fighting abilities of its heroes is beyond me. IMO, the Blueside version should have been run by Hero Corps from the get-go - their whole schtick since launch was assessing and promoting the capabilities of heroes and vigilantes. Bonus points, it'd give their organization actual substance in-game, which they've lacked ever since we got the ability to adjust Notoriety Levels from the chat window (seriously, when's the last time anyone ever spoken to a Field Analyst?).

Edited August 24, 2022 by El D

[biostem]

4 minutes ago, El D said:

it'd give their organization actual substance in-game

It'd be interesting to see some sort of event or faction that used portable holographic emitters to reproduce some of the AE content in other areas, (either for good or ill).  You could have a small number of "real" faction members, which control the holo-emitters, and a larger number of generated members - defeating one of them would also disrupt/delete some of the holograms under their control...

[cranebump]

I would steal from Frankenstein. The holograms in the A.P. and Mercy locations have developed full sentience. Or some of them anyway. But the question of whether they have actual self-determination is debatable because their sentience is based on programming. Rather than deal with the consequences of their creation, the Creators shut the building down and destroy all evidence of their existence. So sort of a combination of Frankenstein and the Star Trek episodes dealing with whether or not Data (and the holo-doc from Voyager) is a “person.”

Edited August 24, 2022 by cranebump

[Black Zot]

Rikti got bored and stole them.

[biostem]

6 minutes ago, cranebump said:

I would steal from Frankenstein. The holograms in the A.P. and Mercy locations have developed full sentience. Or some of them anyway. But the question of whether they have actual self-determination is debatable because their sentience is based on programming. Rather than deal with the consequences of their creation, the Creators shut the building down and destroy all evidence of their existence. So sort of a combination of Frankenstein and the Star Trek episodes dealing with whether or not data is a person as well as the holographic doctor.

Aren't all AE buildings linked, as you can load up any AE content in any AE building - the only thing it can't do is teleport people from different AE buildings into the same instance...

[Zhym]

1 minute ago, biostem said:

Aren't all AE buildings linked, as you can load up any AE content in any AE building - the only thing it can't do is teleport people from different AE buildings into the same instance...

Maybe it was a localized phenomenon that only happened in the Atlas Park AE.  No one could explain why for certain, but the theory that got the most traction was that it was related to the sheer number of people running simulations in that location.

 

Of course, then you'd need to put a cap on the maximum number of people who could use the AE in Pocket D, since it usually seems pretty busy too.

[Aracknight]

After an entire generation of the City's newest heroes had become hopelessly addicted to the holographic entertainment that was AE, Freedom Corps had no choice but to step in.  Some heroes had become so addicted that they could not function outside the artificial environment, becoming lost easily and unable to find their ways to hotspots of trouble or even perform basic patrol missions.  After a number of solutions were debated on, the decision was made to nuke the site from orbit.

 

They say it was the only way to be sure.

[Zhym]

Here's another one: Ms. Liberty actually has super hearing, and the whine of all those server cooling fans from the AE building was driving her crazy, so she had the Atlas Park branch shut down.

Edited August 24, 2022 by Zhym

[cranebump]

19 minutes ago, biostem said:

Aren't all AE buildings linked, as you can load up any AE content in any AE building - the only thing it can't do is teleport people from different AE buildings into the same instance...

Maybe so. But I’m sure a good storyteller could come up with some sort of work around. :-)

[Sakura Tenshi]

For Mercy, I think I’d just give the gag story that someone turned off safeties for their fire farm in hopes of increasing rewards before changes to the “Architect Achievement Awards Program”. The end result was the simulation burned down the building.

 

for Atlas, I feel like the reason they gave was well enough: Freedom Corps bought the building from Architect entertainment who were trying to recoup some financial losses from the “mysterious” destruction of the Rikti War Zone, Salamanca, and Mercy AE buildings.

[MoonSheep]

[PLVRIZR]

Enterprise NC-1701-D stole the equipment for the holodeck refit.

[The_Warpact]

New dimensional enemy faction will use the hologram tech to create an army to invade Paragon. They hit Mercy first and in the ensuing battle with Arachnos the building was destroyed. 

Instead of repeating the same mistake they just opened a rift and take the whole building from Atlas. Recluse in his arrogance didn't warn the heroes.

 

I got the holograms as an army idea from New Vegas when you side with Elijah and use the holograms to conquer the Mojave.

[Lines]

The Atlas Park AE did not achieve nearly the footfall needed to keep up the rent on such an expensive business. One day, the branch simply went under and was bought the next day by Freedom Corps.

 

The Mercy Island AE, by contrast overwhelmed by sheer popularity, could not structurally load the enormous quantities of users, and on the same day the steel structures gave way under the mass of players.

[tidge]

14 hours ago, El D said:

 (seriously, when's the last time anyone ever spoken to a Field Analyst?).

 

Positron 2 TF, ya slowpoke!