The reason I don't think I'll be playing a villain for long

[temnix]

Gloom. The gray, drab, neverchanging weather over the Rogue Isles. Everywhere I go, anything I do, it's under that overcast sky. It works as an illustration of the oppression of tyranny, but it also oppresses players' senses. I feel both sleepy and irritated. And everything melds together up ahead - the villains, the streets... Arachnos troops stop looking cut and intimidating and become indifferent very quickly, for all the color red they belabor. I simply don't care about anything that happens here - and there is no sense that anything does happen.

 

This was not a good decision on the part of Cryptic or Paragon. They should have made a city as vibrant as Paragon City, but, despite that, gripped in the iron fist of energetic villanous groups wringing their use from this enslaved energy. They should have been whipping up the economy and the culture, for their own advantage and for villanous vanity. Instead it's a lethargic place, even the Arena where gambling supposedly takes place. And it doesn't look like it is ruled by Lord Recluse, or why wouldn't he put street sweeps everywhere - in remote-controlled shock collars, if need be? Some master. And no powers I can pick can compensate for this feeling. I'm just not interested. So change that weather. Introduce enormous thunderstorms that rage overhead, pour rain and clear the skies for a short while, and the sun shines, before gloom closes in again. As an archipelago by the eastern coast of North America they should be getting plenty of precipitation. Flashing lightning is better than this pea soup.

Edited February 20 by temnix

[Lockely]

Gosh, tell me you hate Seattle, Pittsburgh, and London without telling me you hate those cities.

[Frozen Burn]

52 minutes ago, temnix said:

Gloom. The gray, drab, neverchanging weather over the Rogue Isles. Everywhere I go, anything I do, it's under that overcast sky. It works as an illustration of the oppression of tyranny, but it also oppresses players' senses. I feel both sleepy and irritated. And everything melds together up ahead - the villains, the streets... Arachnos troops stop looking cut and intimidating and become indifferent very quickly, for all the color red they belabor. I simply don't care about anything that happens here - and there is no sense that anything does happen.

 

This was not a good decision on the part of Cryptic or Paragon. They should have made a city as vibrant as Paragon City, but, despite that, gripped in the iron fist of energetic villanous groups wringing their use from this enslaved energy. They should have been whipping up the economy and the culture, for their own advantage and for villanous vanity. Instead it's a lethargic place, even the Arena where gambling supposedly takes place. And it doesn't look like it is ruled by Lord Recluse, or why wouldn't he put street sweeps everywhere - in remote-controlled shock collars, if need be? Some master. And no powers I can pick can compensate for this feeling. I'm just not interested. So change that weather. Introduce enormous thunderstorms that rage overhead, pour rain and clear the skies for a short while, and the sun shines, before gloom closes in again. As an archipelago by the eastern coast of North America they should be getting plenty of precipitation. Flashing lightning is better than this pea soup.

 

Many share your sentiments - like me.  I don't mind playing there for a bit, but I always need to take a break after a while,  

 

There a long thread about CoV / Red-side you should take a look at:  

 

[Fira]

Dunno. Personally actually prefer redside because it's less "dumb concrete city", stereotypical and overplayed that Paragon tends to be.

 

My only gripes are Sharkhead going too far off the "overpolluted grim industry" vibe, and Grandville being somewhat "too much" but i think that one is just intended.

 

Is this supposed to be in Feedback forum?

[Troo]

1 hour ago, temnix said:

This was not a good decision on the part of Cryptic or Paragon.

 

or the best decision ever.. opinions vary.

[Six-Six]

I have the exact opposite reaction. After 3 years or so, I decide to play blue again. Couldn't stand it. everything was too bright: the atmosphere, the lighting, the attitude of the players and even some NPCs. Anyone who regained consciousness in a red side hospital should understand the importance of atmosphere.

Gold side, I don't mind as much. It's just as bright, but there's a hint of tyranny oppression and fascism to even things out. Red side is still the best side for me. And until they release an Oranbega expansion with all the zones as endless Circle of Thorns temples (stoopid torches!!!) that's where I'll live out my days.

[c0]

Disagree. Love Red Side, love the Rogue Isles aesthetic, love the complex interplay between "well, it's a haven for villains, but not everything is really pure villainy, some just wanna be left alone"  It's another interpretation of "freedom" from Paragon's heavily security-oriented outlook.  Might look excessively negative from the heroic outlook, but not always necessarily right or wrong (bank robbery aside).  Lots of interesting storylines that explore ideas that just wouldn't fit right in the goody-goody spandex world of Paragon City.  While parts of the Isles like the Pit can be drab, I love the gloomy atmosphere and "old world" style of the architecture.  There's some more character and uniqueness to the individual zones and their specific problems and interplay between the various factions.  And most of all, I'm perfectly fine with the fact red population is only 10-20% that of blue.  Let the lone wolves enjoy their space.

 

Quote

 And it doesn't look like it is ruled by Lord Recluse, or why wouldn't he put street sweeps everywhere - in remote-controlled shock collars, if need be?

It's explicitly made clear that that's not his style.  Recluse enjoys his men fighting amongst each other, and the powered populace in general in a winner-take-all darwinian brawl.  There are different kinds of villainy, not every archvillain is the "I must micromanage the actions of every living thing".  In fact there are more than a few "heroic" types that lean towards that way of thinking...

 

Quote

This was not a good decision on the part of Cryptic or Paragon. 

Big nah to this.  CoV was a great addition to the game and I wouldn't have changed a thing, except maybe added a way to get those filthy Longbow invaders out of our borders.  Every time with the regime change...

 

Quote

Introduce enormous thunderstorms that rage overhead, pour rain

No argument here.  Would love to see widespread precipitation effects.  I recall some rudimentary rain "in tech" in one of the last Praetorian arcs when you exit out onto the roof of a build, and of course there's snowy Atlas park, but would definitely be cool to see some thunderstorms engulf the Rogue Isles.

[Rudra]

4 hours ago, temnix said:

Introduce enormous thunderstorms that rage overhead, pour rain

 

2 hours ago, c0 said:

No argument here.  Would love to see widespread precipitation effects.  I recall some rudimentary rain "in tech" in one of the last Praetorian arcs when you exit out onto the roof of a build, and of course there's snowy Atlas park, but would definitely be cool to see some thunderstorms engulf the Rogue Isles.

I'm not sure how the snow works in Atlas Park, but I'm pretty sure it's an aura applied to your character. The sky I believe is also just a texture map, based on how the sky works in SG bases. So changing the sky to a thunderstorm won't affect zone lighting. (Though an effect like the banners Halloween event could be added to do so.) For rain to puddle on the ground though requires a new map to be made for the zone(s) in question, and then have those maps applied for the duration of the storm. Which would require the game to be patched to load those rain maps, and then be patched again to load the original zone map after the storm has passed.

[Oubliette_Red]

My villains get to see plenty of daylight/clear skies when cleaning up Paragon City streets, the money in the vault is payment for services rendered.

 

[Rudra]

1 hour ago, Oubliette_Red said:

My villains get to see plenty of daylight/clear skies when cleaning up Paragon City streets, the money in the vault is payment for services rendered.

 

Don't we also have clear, bright skies in St. Martial? And Nerva Archipelago? (Servers currently down, so can't log on to verify.)

[Oubliette_Red]

1 minute ago, Rudra said:

Don't we also have clear, bright skies in St. Martial? And Nerva Archipelago? (Servers currently down, so can't log on to verify.)

 

We do.

[Luminara]

[GenomeX]

7 hours ago, Lockely said:

Gosh, tell me you hate Seattle, Pittsburgh, and London without telling me you hate those cities.

 

Tell me you've never been to Glasgow without...

[Herotu]

7 hours ago, Lockely said:

Gosh, tell me you hate Seattle, Pittsburgh, and London without telling me you hate those cities.

London is nice. Try Manchester!

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/

Edited February 20 by Herotu

[DukeGude]

5 hours ago, Six-Six said:

I have the exact opposite reaction. After 3 years or so, I decide to play blue again. Couldn't stand it. everything was too bright: the atmosphere, the lighting, the attitude of the players and even some NPCs. Anyone who regained consciousness in a red side hospital should understand the importance of atmosphere.

When I first entered the Grandville headquarters area to check out the patron plaques, this was when I knew I belonged to red side. I still haven't scoured all the nooks and crannies yet but the awe of the spiderweb architecture outside and the big lobby with giant statues indoors - what an impression. This was the equivalent of that hit of inspiration when you visit Anor Londo in Dark Souls for the first time for me.

 

"Terminal is closed." Also there is something weirdly comforting about getting to see queues of people, very close to home yet hilarious to see. 

[biostem]

For me, there are 2 main reasons I dislike villain-side:

 

1. Most people play heroes, so finding a team is much easier there, (barring end-game stuff which is mostly co-op).

 

2. This is a little more nuanced, but to put it simply, IMHO villains are proactive, whereas heroes react.  Our villains cannot truly pursue their own goals and schemes, and are little more than glorified lackeys for someone else.

[Haijinx]

I always preferred Gotham to Metropolis.