Visiting Praetoria after 13 years, Like Reading an Old Favorite

[FFFF]

tl;dr - Playing Going Rogue solo and reading all the dialogue was fun and memorable

 

So back when the game was live, I left around issue 19. That was well over a decade ago, so my mind is a bit fuzzy whether I remember inherent fitness and alpha slots being available before I left.

 

One of the things I really didn't explore back then was Praetoria. Sure, I took a character through it once, but I quickly reverted to playing heroes and the occasional villain. I wasn't really into stories back then and just clicked the missions, figured out what the objectives were and did just that. That was just easier to do as a hero. Further, if you teamed, mission dialogue was just something that faded into the background.

 

So over the last three weeks, an hour or two at a time, I took my Storm/Dark Corruptor, A Dark Stormy Night, from the tutorial to the portal leading to Talos Island. I played solo and took the time to read all the mission texts, the in-mission captions and watch the cut scenes. Wow, that experience was so fulfilling. It truly felt like reading a book with your character as the main character.

 

One of the things that Going Rogue got right were the memorable characters. Everyone from Tunnel Rat, Seer 1381 to Penelope Yin. I loved that I was invested in saving Tunnel Rat, freeing seers from the Seer Network and that the actions of both Loyalists and Resistance members left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

This is probably the experience that original devs intended. It's a bit of a shame that player expectations and the in-game experience both work against this. When teaming, everyone usually wants to beat all the baddies, click the glowies and move on. I understand that. Reading a big block of text for a mission dialogue isn't what a lot folks are into, especially on a team. Further, team members, apart from the leader, often don't even get to see the main mission dialogue text. It feels that there are a lot of implementation issues here and mission designs aren't team friendly from a story telling perspective.

 

Anyway, I really enjoyed the play through experiencing Praetoria. There are quite a few contacts and missions I missed, so I plan on playing as a Loyalist next play through, probably as a stalker (hopefully mitigate all the ambushes, which was surprisingly the hardest part of Gold side).

[Mister Mass]

Welcome to Goldside.  If you are willing to read the mission text, it is the most fulfilling low level experience in CoH.  I hope that you enjoy your additional runs through the material.  There is a lot of replayability built into Praetoria, so feel free to explore its many options!

Edited June 23, 2023 by Mister Mass

[Darmian]

Gold is fabulous.  This time when you hit 20, try going straight to First Ward instead of taking the Rift mission. More Praetoria!

[Mister Mass]

If you do intend to replay Praetoria, I suggest perusing @Redlynne's guide - Loyalist <-> Resistance ... switching alignments EVERY TIME for Praetorians - as there is some good advice in the original post (& in the subsequent posts from other players) about how to maximize your Goldside experience.

 

(I confess to enjoying betraying the extreme factions (Power & Crusader)  whenever I can. 😁)

[FFFF]

25 minutes ago, Darmian said:

Gold is fabulous.  This time when you hit 20, try going straight to First Ward instead of taking the Rift mission. More Praetoria!

 

Did not know we could do that. Mind blown.

[Darmian]

8 minutes ago, FFFF said:

 

Did not know we could do that. Mind blown.

Yeah, you can get to First Ward via the Imperial Underground.  Look for the Doorkeeper.

[Techwright]

7 hours ago, FFFF said:

 I plan on playing as a Loyalist next play through, probably as a stalker (hopefully mitigate all the ambushes, which was surprisingly the hardest part of Gold side).

 

I recently re-entered Praetoria after a long absence as well, so I asked the forums for insight for archetype choice for solo play gold side, and the dominant answer was "brute".  I now have a super strength/invulnerable brute working through the Loyalist story, and ambushes (so far) are not a threat.

[Darmian]

17 minutes ago, Techwright said:

 

I recently re-entered Praetoria after a long absence as well, so I asked the forums for insight for archetype choice for solo play gold side, and the dominant answer was "brute".  I now have a super strength/invulnerable brute working through the Loyalist story, and ambushes (so far) are not a threat.

I built effectively a Seer to get through.  Mind Control & Empathy.  Ok, I don't do a lot of damage, but I also don't die much.  You, Ghoul!  Attack your friends.  Infiltration on, I'll be over here clicking glowies.

[Go0gleplex]

I so much prefer Gold side for the low level play simply because I can skip KR entirely. I have a problem with 1st ward myself...or rather...the weird spatial tunnel things. Those are nausea inducing for me. The zone title image is so relevant too. Nova is all shiny gold...you're new...not really seeing the rot beneath. Imperial is a bit less shiny...starting to see the corruption and power plays...and then the rot & decay is all laid bare with Neutropolis and the character finds once and for all that good is completely subjective to whom has the power at the moment. 

 

I had left before Praetoria was unveiled...so coming back, I found it to be a nice change. Though I wonder why they have all those roads when there's no cars on them. 😉