Storyline and Arcs!

[khy]

I played a ton of CoH back in the day. Love the game, love the community. But recently I've introduced a few new people to the game and the discussion came up of stories, storylines, arcs, and Lore. Now obviously one can easily go to the Wiki to get lots of the plot and storylines, but why do that when they're in game?

 

So I'm curious - approaching the game from a perspective of 'I don't know any of these groups!', what storylines are worth doing in what order to introduce a new player who isn't interested in just farming XP and hitting 50 ASAP to check out.

 

Now obviously Villain-side is going to be easy - it's all linear! But hero side is much more spread out. There's a multitude of zones and I never know which contain fun and engaging storylines, and which are just sort of filler-ish. Are there good questlines in specific trial zones like the Hollows? How important are zones like Faultline?

 

Are there good storylines that introduce major factions, like Praetorian Earth, the Carnival of Light, and the Banished Pantheon? What storylines should one do to experience major events like the big ones regarding Stateman? What order should 'Signature Arcs' be done in?

 

Obviously this is a huge open-ended question but I'm trying to approach the game from a fresh perspective.

Edited July 23 by khy

[Techwright]

The Hollows has a couple of storylines capped off with some good last missions.  If you seen someone "yell" for teammates for the Frostfire mission, that's one of them, it's the culmination of one introducing the Outcasts, and its a fan favorite.  The other would be the Atta cave mission, which is the culmination of a storyline dealing with the Trolls faction.  It's been a long while since I did the Hollows but I believe they both start with the missions given by the officer just next to the gate to Atlas Park.

 

@Snarky I'm guessing would have a good list for you.  The old bat has played through all the missions, I believe in all three sides. 

 

Crimson, whose missions are up in the 40s blue side, has a good one focused on Malta.  Bring a team.  Their sappers are no joke.

 

Faultline does have a good arc explaining what happened in the zone, and setting the stage for the second hero to carry the name Faultline, who factors in to the Rikti War Zone missions starting around level 35.  I believe Levantera in the RWZ base kicks those off, though it moves through several mission givers.

[Scarlet Shocker]

Play the game and (re)discover for yourself

 

If you struggle, pray to St Joan. She's the patron saint of Arcs.

 

If you want engaging story lines start with the Hollows and run it from David Wincott through to Atta.

Faultline is also very good, being one of the first "Hazard zone revamps"

 

If you want to explore engaging stories try Goldshide* - there are 4 real paths you can take there and all are rewarding but it would be remiss of me to neglect the caveat that the content is typically tougher than you have have experienced previously

 

Enjoy!

 

_{*/em Connery}

[Scarlet Shocker]

4 minutes ago, Techwright said:

It's been a long while since I did the Hollows but I believe they both start with the missions given by the officer just next to the gate to Atlas Park.

 

 

David Wincott. He's the start and finish of the zone, effectively.

 

Meg Mason also offers repeatable Hollows missions but you will outlevel the zone just doing regular content so you will almost certainly need to turn off XP

[Snarky]

1 hour ago, Techwright said:

The Hollows has a couple of storylines capped off with some good last missions.  If you seen someone "yell" for teammates for the Frostfire mission, that's one of them, it's the culmination of one introducing the Outcasts, and its a fan favorite.  The other would be the Atta cave mission, which is the culmination of a storyline dealing with the Trolls faction.  It's been a long while since I did the Hollows but I believe they both start with the missions given by the officer just next to the gate to Atlas Park.

 

@Snarky I'm guessing would have a good list for you.  The old bat has played through all the missions, I believe in all three sides. 

 

Crimson, whose missions are up in the 40s blue side, has a good one focused on Malta.  Bring a team.  Their sappers are no joke.

 

Faultline does have a good arc explaining what happened in the zone, and setting the stage for the second hero to carry the name Faultline, who factors in to the Rikti War Zone missions starting around level 35.  I believe Levantera in the RWZ base kicks those off, though it moves through several mission givers.

way to put a guy on the spot lol.  I am way more familiar with Red than Blue.  A standout low level Red storylines are "The Radio"  The Doc Buzzsaw arcs added by Homecoming team are great. 

 

many of the badge mission arcs on both sides seem better to me.  better writing.  standout zones to concentrate. Mercy, the Hollows, Striga, Croatoa, Peregrine, Sharkhead, Nerva, Grandville, then at incarnate Cimerora and Dark Astoria

[khy]

I suppose I'm just a bit overwhelmed with all the options on Blue. On Red, I've done so many of the great mission arcs - Television, Radio, Tons of really fun and interesting arcs are out there. But it's contained within a very specific set of zones and I don't have to worry about out-levelling if I don't want to.

 

On the flip side you have COH. Where there's multiple overlapping similar-level zones like IP, Croatoa, Brickstown, etc. How do I know which arcs in which zones are the good ones that are fun and have interesting content vs how many are just busywork to help someone level? The well-written stuff vs the boring dreck?

[Snarky]

28 minutes ago, khy said:

I suppose I'm just a bit overwhelmed with all the options on Blue. On Red, I've done so many of the great mission arcs - Television, Radio, Tons of really fun and interesting arcs are out there. But it's contained within a very specific set of zones and I don't have to worry about out-levelling if I don't want to.

 

On the flip side you have COH. Where there's multiple overlapping similar-level zones like IP, Croatoa, Brickstown, etc. How do I know which arcs in which zones are the good ones that are fun and have interesting content vs how many are just busywork to help someone level? The well-written stuff vs the boring dreck?

You cannot.  To make if stranger there are multiple contacts in each level zone that are clones.  You will randomly get one of them.  To give you the arc.  So it makes it harder to remember the progression on the next run through.  

[SeraphimKensai]

Blue side I enjoy....story arcs from:

Hollows, Faultline, Striga Isle, Croatoa, First Ward, Night Ward. The Who Will Die arcs, Freaklympics, Shining Stars, the Ouros arcs and TFs, Cimerora story arcs, and also Vanguard stuff.

 

Red side, I actually dig all the patron arcs.

 

Goldside, I like the diverging branches of the story lines there as well. I feel people don't play them enough to be honest.