We need to talk about HeroCorp

[Lines]

Accountability? We don't need no stinkin' accountability.

 

Can't help but feel like Vigilantes will have their hands full in the future.

Edited September 23, 2022 by Lines

[Glacier Peak]

Above the law, for the right price, if justice is blind!

[Greycat]

*Points to Hero Corpse arc in AE* >.>

[Lazarillo]

Whelp, having the difficult slider available to change at any time was nice, but I guess we're going back to the old contacts.🙃

[Six-Six]

4 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

Above the law, for the right price, if justice is blind!

Justice isn't blind... just blindfolded.



Also apparently a broadsword/stone armour brute or scrapper... or considering how much damage she doesn't do... a tanker.

[Sovera]

47 minutes ago, Six-Six said:

Justice isn't blind... just blindfolded.



Also apparently a broadsword/stone armour brute or scrapper... or considering how much damage she doesn't do... a tanker.

 

One of those off-the-meta builds slotted for taunt or CC instead of damage.

[Snarky]

The first rule of HeroCorp is do not talk about HeroCorp.

[dtjunkie]

I am standing by, ready to punch the things.

[Seed22]

If it's what I'm thinking this is, HeroCorps is about to have a bit more of an identity soon within Paragon. Good thing I'm already a Rogue and am more than willing to sell out

Edited September 23, 2022 by Seed22

[Black Zot]

If you believe this will go any better than Crey's usual shenanigans, I have a bridge to sell you.  Corporate interests NEVER line up well with hero work, even when the corporation claims to be all about heroes.

 

You'll be accountable all right - to a bean counter in a nice safe corporate office in another city who only looks at algorithms and metrics and doesn't care about the actual situation on the ground.

[BurtHutt]

I saw that post and I'm curious what it's all about. Does anyone know what exactly is going on with that? 

 

I will guess they are bringing back a revamped Galaxy zone. I really hope I'm wrong. I am hoping this is actually the AE idea myself and others have been going on about for 2 years. Fingers crossed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Harl]

Hordes of rampaging blue collar workers.  OP dinner Ladies.  Fungal fuelled Hedge Designers.  Pop Star / Clergy Masterminds (Evils Priestly,  you guys can have that one).  Tofu fire breathing Amazon delivery agents,  Human Resource Personal wielding Battle Clipboards while impaling the Hoi Polloi on oversized HBB pencils.  Hero Corps, you guys will have your work cut out.

 

 

[MistressOhm]

 

[Six-Six]

2 hours ago, BurtHutt said:

saw that post and I'm curious what it's all about.

This is from a few months ago:

So at the very least, we can expect to see new NPCs with new story arcs. Other than that, they didn't really give any details. Hopefully some will fall redside or (one can only hope) goldside.

Edited September 23, 2022 by Six-Six

[The Caretaker]

Hero Corps will be relaunching in Paragon City with a presence that does not **exclude** the field analysts from work - they are happily employed right where they are.

 

But they will be called on in a pinch for delicate political situations when a regular hero might be a liability to go off script or bungle the optics.

 

And yes, each costume that I could work with in the costume contest was minorly adjusted, given a brand new name and backstory, and being added to the roster.

[Sovera]

2 hours ago, The Caretaker said:

Hero Corps will be relaunching in Paragon City with a presence that does not **exclude** the field analysts from work - they are happily employed right where they are.

 

But they will be called on in a pinch for delicate political situations when a regular hero might be a liability to go off script or bungle the optics.

 

And yes, each costume that I could work with in the costume contest was minorly adjusted, given a brand new name and backstory, and being added to the roster.

 

But what does it mean. Mason?

[Coyotedancer]

When Longbow just isn't quite morally questionable enough for your purposes,,,

[Lines]

6 hours ago, The Caretaker said:

they will be called on in a pinch for delicate political situations when a regular hero might be a liability to go off script or bungle the optics.

 

I'm gonna give the PR department a hernia every time I log in.

Edited September 25, 2022 by Lines

[Glacier Peak]

6 hours ago, The Caretaker said:

Hero Corps will be relaunching in Paragon City with a presence that does not **exclude** the field analysts from work - they are happily employed right where they are.

 

But they will be called on in a pinch for delicate political situations when a regular hero might be a liability to go off script or bungle the optics.

 

And yes, each costume that I could work with in the costume contest was minorly adjusted, given a brand new name and backstory, and being added to the roster.

This is like that company from "The Boys" right?

[El D]

As easy as the 'corrupt corporation' angle is to run with (especially if Crey is still involved) I do hope there's at least some Hero Corps-involved content that isn't like that. Have some of the agents actually be heroic folks who earnestly want to protect people and just happen to do it as a full-time job (like actual emergency personnel/security services, just with superpowers). Keep the vigilante/The Boys-type stuff with the Void Sanction, since that slice of Hero Corps is already established specifically for that kind of stuff.

 

Frankly, blueside groups having 'morally questionable/anti-hero' interior factions is getting a bit stale, but at least as far as Hero Corps goes that vigilante aspect has been in-game for a long time.

Edited September 25, 2022 by El D

[Sovera]

31 minutes ago, El D said:

As easy as the 'corrupt corporation' angle is to run with (especially if Crey is still involved) I do hope there's at least some Hero Corps-involved content that isn't like that. Have some of the agents actually be heroic folks who earnestly want to protect people and just happen to do it as a full-time job (like actual emergency personnel/security services, just with superpowers). Keep the vigilante/The Boys-type stuff with the Void Sanction, since that slice of Hero Corps is already established specifically for that kind of stuff.

 

Frankly, blueside groups having 'morally questionable/anti-hero' interior factions is getting a bit stale, but at least as far as Hero Corps goes that vigilante aspect has been in-game for a long time.

 

As someone who likes heroes I do dislike the easy glib way of assuming the worst. I would rather think when there are corrupt Longbow they are ousted,

[Lines]

1 hour ago, El D said:

I do hope there's at least some Hero Corps-involved content that isn't like that. Have some of the agents actually be heroic folks who earnestly want to protect people and just happen to do it as a full-time job (like actual emergency personnel/security services, just with superpowers).

 

Speaking as a redsider, I hope there's some of that too. 😈

[Black Zot]

11 hours ago, El D said:

As easy as the 'corrupt corporation' angle is to run with (especially if Crey is still involved) I do hope there's at least some Hero Corps-involved content that isn't like that. Have some of the agents actually be heroic folks who earnestly want to protect people and just happen to do it as a full-time job (like actual emergency personnel/security services, just with superpowers). Keep the vigilante/The Boys-type stuff with the Void Sanction, since that slice of Hero Corps is already established specifically for that kind of stuff.

 

Frankly, blueside groups having 'morally questionable/anti-hero' interior factions is getting a bit stale, but at least as far as Hero Corps goes that vigilante aspect has been in-game for a long time.

 

1. The corrupt corporation angle exists because by the nature of the entity there's no such thing as a NON-corrupt corporation.

 

2. Sub-units like Void Sanction can only exist if someone at the top of the food chain signed off on it.  In other words, what you see in a VS arc is what Hero Corp actually is when you remove the shiny PR finish.

 

That doesn't preclude ground-level grunts being ordinary joes picking up a paycheck.  Even in the worst outfits the lower rungs tend to be mostly punch-clock types.  But the people making the decisions absolutely ARE rotten.  Neither Longbow's active invasion of the Rogue Isles nor Void Sanction in general would have happened if the people in the boardrooms were clean and upstanding.

Edited September 25, 2022 by Black Zot

[srmalloy]

12 hours ago, El D said:

As easy as the 'corrupt corporation' angle is to run with (especially if Crey is still involved) I do hope there's at least some Hero Corps-involved content that isn't like that.

They're going to have a big uphill PR road ahead of them -- the Disciple history badge is for collecting the plaques marking the history of Hero Corps in Paragon City, with the plaque in Boomtown partially buried in rubble loosely in the middle of the zone (-686, 272, 3123) stating "After the destruction of Hero Corp's first Paragon City office, the company planned to rebuild their headquarters here. But public sentiment could not have been more firmly set against them. Despite the patronage of Countess Crey, this site remained vacant, and in October 1999 Hero Corps was forced to move on to another city."

[El D]

1 hour ago, Black Zot said:

 

1. The corrupt corporation angle exists because by the nature of the entity there's no such thing as a NON-corrupt corporation.

 

2. Sub-units like Void Sanction can only exist if someone at the top of the food chain signed off on it.  In other words, what you see in a VS arc is what Hero Corp actually is when you remove the shiny PR finish.

 

 

As far as Hero Corps goes, that's only if they're written that way. It's a comic book setting built on narrative and idealism, with time travel, parallel dimensions, literal magic, and people who run around in spandex shooting lasers out of their eyes. 'Corporations are always Neutral Evil' being the one bit of forced realism - as much as I completely understand the IRL basis for it - is a boring restraint, story-wise. Plus, we don't know the framework of the upper echelons of Hero Corps yet. They could be a deliberate counter to Crey, with Rebecca Foss actually unaware of the Void Sanction. Or, the version I'd prefer, perhaps she's got a Discworld-esque Lord Vetinari angle of 'well, if amoral vigilantes are going to exist we might as well keep track of them and give them practical direction.'

 

In the context of CoH CEOs, if Countess Crey is the setting's Lex Luthor and Dr. Aeon is its Evil Hank Pym, Rebecca Foss could be its David Xanatos. That'd at least be different.

 

9 minutes ago, srmalloy said:

They're going to have a big uphill PR road ahead of them -- the Disciple history badge is for collecting the plaques marking the history of Hero Corps in Paragon City, with the plaque in Boomtown partially buried in rubble loosely in the middle of the zone (-686, 272, 3123) stating "After the destruction of Hero Corp's first Paragon City office, the company planned to rebuild their headquarters here. But public sentiment could not have been more firmly set against them. Despite the patronage of Countess Crey, this site remained vacant, and in October 1999 Hero Corps was forced to move on to another city."

 

No arguments there. This definitely should address the changes in public sentiment and the issues Hero Corps has faced in getting fully established in Paragon City. Though, it has also been over 20 years since then so public opinion has likely changed - plus with the advent of the Praetorian War I'd say they've got some solid arguments to make. If Paragon City can accept Marauder and some of the other Praetorians as 'helping out' now, Hero Corps does not seem like nearly as much of a stretch.

Edited September 25, 2022 by El D