Search: Maps

[Ukase]

Short version: Allow the Echo: Dark Astoria (and the other Echo: maps) to be searched for other players. 
The longer version below: 
 

 

Spoiler

So, over the past month or so, I've been playing differently. No reason to go into the why, or in what way, but suffice it to say I've got a number of alts parked in Echo:DA to take advantage of the easy merits Adamastor has to offer. 

Sometimes, I'll log in to see he's ready to be summoned and no other players are near the platform. So, I'll do a recruiting call. For reasons of their own, a number of players may not want to team. And that's fine. But sometimes, I want to do a search to see if there are folks in the zone. 

But there's no way to do this that I know of; I can click on Find Members, and look under maps, but the only Echo available is Echo: plaza. 

It's certainly nothing mission critical, but it's a co-op zone and there are times when it's useful to see who else is in zone before summoning, so I can check in with those folks to see if they're wanting to participate. It can be difficult sometimes, traveling and typing. 
 

 

[Greycat]

/Whoall will do this. People *can* hide from it in their hide menu, but other than PVP zones, I rarely see people do that.

[Ukase]

I don't have to use /whoall in PI or Ouro or other zones. I think it would be nice to not have to type out a /command. Remember, there's a lot of players who don't know the command and don't visit the forums. 

Every zone should be searchable - and not just villains and rogues looking in red side zones. If I'm vigilante, I should be able to search The Abyss as well as The Hive. And Rogues should be able to also. 

This whole alignment deal is really old. We should make every zone co-op. 

[Greycat]

42 minutes ago, Ukase said:

This whole alignment deal is really old. We should make every zone co-op. 

 

No thanks.

[Rudra]

34 minutes ago, Ukase said:

I don't have to use /whoall in PI or Ouro or other zones. I think it would be nice to not have to type out a /command. Remember, there's a lot of players who don't know the command and don't visit the forums. 

Every zone should be searchable - and not just villains and rogues looking in red side zones. If I'm vigilante, I should be able to search The Abyss as well as The Hive. And Rogues should be able to also. 

This whole alignment deal is really old. We should make every zone co-op. 

Okay, to start, I don't understand what alignments have to do with zones being searchable. So if it factors in somehow, I would appreciate some enlightenment. My guess as to why the echoes aren't searchable is because they are considered removed from the game, so while players can still go there and gain xp, it isn't meant to be handled like other zones that are still considered active in the game. Bear in mind that I am not arguing against the OP as I don't care either way, but that is my best guess as to why the search function does not work there.

 

However, your last paragraph of this post I have issues with. Why would heroes go to the Rogue Isles and kidnap people for ransom, rob banks, shake down people, destroy property, threaten innocents for compliance, inflict injury on innocents intentionally, gather sacrifices, suppress attempts at liberty or education, or any other of the types of missions to be found red side? Why would villains go to Paragon City and rescue innocents for no gain, recover stolen/lost items and return them to their owners, aid in researching cures for diseases for no personal gain, rescue police officers in distress, or any other of the types of missions to be found blue side? Morally grey characters can already go between the sides and team up, but making every zone in CoX co-op makes no sense. It goes against the very idea of the game. Yes, this argument is a complete derailment of the OP's thread, but you, the author, made this derailment. So I think it is fair to have it responded to.

[Owl Girl]

3 hours ago, Rudra said:

Okay, to start, I don't understand what alignments have to do with zones being searchable. So if it factors in somehow, I would appreciate some enlightenment. My guess as to why the echoes aren't searchable is because they are considered removed from the game, so while players can still go there and gain xp, it isn't meant to be handled like other zones that are still considered active in the game. Bear in mind that I am not arguing against the OP as I don't care either way, but that is my best guess as to why the search function does not work there.

 

However, your last paragraph of this post I have issues with. Why would heroes go to the Rogue Isles and kidnap people for ransom, rob banks, shake down people, destroy property, threaten innocents for compliance, inflict injury on innocents intentionally, gather sacrifices, suppress attempts at liberty or education, or any other of the types of missions to be found red side? Why would villains go to Paragon City and rescue innocents for no gain, recover stolen/lost items and return them to their owners, aid in researching cures for diseases for no personal gain, rescue police officers in distress, or any other of the types of missions to be found blue side?

that's really none of your Bee's wax =P, suffice to say that whether or not my character calls themselves a Hero or a Villain is entirely up to me along with what sorts of behaviour that ought to entail. i've been "arresting" people by shooting them with a gun until they stop moving for decades and Ms. Liberty never chastised me yet. they still let me put the Blue HUD on after doing the LRSF.

 

i get if people want to keep the two sides distinct, but i don't think this line of argumentation works when there are so many easy responses already established in Cape culture.

[Rudra]

5 minutes ago, Owl Girl said:

that's really none of your Bee's wax =P, suffice to say that whether or not my character calls themselves a Hero or a Villain is entirely up to me along with what sorts of behaviour that ought to entail. i've been "arresting" people by shooting them with a gun until they stop moving for decades and Ms. Liberty never chastised me yet. they still let me put the Blue HUD on after doing the LRSF.

 

i get if people want to keep the two sides distinct, but i don't think this line of argumentation works when there are so many easy responses already established in Cape culture.

Heroes and Vigilantes both get the blue HUD. Vigilantes are morally grey though in this game and so are free to run around blue side or red side doing whichever missions they prefer on either side as long as they are able to at least join the teams, whereas Heroes are true blue. If you want to play a Hero that functions more like a Vigilante or Rogue? More power to you. However, a Hero (as in the alignment in the game) does not kidnap people, does not extort people, does not intentionally harm them or gather them to be sacrifices, or do any of the wide range of acts red side PCs engage in. A Hero (as in the alignment) does not run around suppressing people's freedoms or making sure they can't get a basic education because the tyrant ruling the region and his lieutenants want people uneducated and blind as to what the world has available for them. A Hero (as in the alignment) does not run around murdering other heroes for the sake of building their rep. You know, the missions and story arcs we play through on red side. City of Heroes/Villains is a super-character comic we play through, and Heroes don't engage in the acts the red side missions call for. So there is no reason for all the zones to go co-op, because while your character is free to be run however you want, the game's story has rules for how this comic game world works.

[Laucianna]

I would like all the zones to be searchable too on the drop down 💛 Would help make my life easier when I run Hamidon raids in the Abyss as a Vig, since I can't see how full the zone is until I go there myself and type /search

[Ukase]

9 hours ago, Rudra said:

Okay, to start, I don't understand what alignments have to do with zones being searchable. So if it factors in somehow, I would appreciate some enlightenment. My guess as to why the echoes aren't searchable is because they are considered removed from the game, so while players can still go there and gain xp, it isn't meant to be handled like other zones that are still considered active in the game. Bear in mind that I am not arguing against the OP as I don't care either way, but that is my best guess as to why the search function does not work there.

 

However, your last paragraph of this post I have issues with. Why would heroes go to the Rogue Isles and kidnap people for ransom, rob banks, shake down people, destroy property, threaten innocents for compliance, inflict injury on innocents intentionally, gather sacrifices, suppress attempts at liberty or education, or any other of the types of missions to be found red side? Why would villains go to Paragon City and rescue innocents for no gain, recover stolen/lost items and return them to their owners, aid in researching cures for diseases for no personal gain, rescue police officers in distress, or any other of the types of missions to be found blue side? Morally grey characters can already go between the sides and team up, but making every zone in CoX co-op makes no sense. It goes against the very idea of the game. Yes, this argument is a complete derailment of the OP's thread, but you, the author, made this derailment. So I think it is fair to have it responded to.

The derailment is my fault. But I was the OP, so it's all good by me. 
And you're correct, alignments and zones being searchable aren't strongly connected except this: 

I'm on vigilante, in the abyss. I notice I have a lot of enhancements and would like to sell. But the hami raid is about to start. Now, since I'm a vig, I pull up the /search window, and I don't see the abyss as a searchable zone. And again, the /whoall is suggested. We shouldn't need it. My alignment shouldn't matter. It's a map in the game, it should be searchable by anyone who wants to look. 

You ask the question why would a hero go do these various activities in the rogue isles, and vice-versa. Why do we have Null the Gull? To make it easier/faster, sure.  
I have never done a task force to be heroic. I do them for the merits and/or the badge. I have never done a strike force to be villainous. I do them for the merits and/or the badge. 

See, I'm lazy. While I'm grateful for Null letting me switch sides easily, and the other things Null does, I don't think any of us should have to see Null for that. Keep the alignment and morality content. It's great. But the actual roles of hero and villain, they no longer mean anything in game. But that's just me. 

I still want to be able to search any zone regardless of my alignment without having to use a slash command. 

[Rudra]

5 hours ago, Ukase said:

But the actual roles of hero and villain, they no longer mean anything in game. But that's just me. 

This is the key part of your statement. The alignments don't mean anything to you. They do mean something to the game. They set the parameters for what is available for characters to do. They set the expectations for what sort of content should be available in the different areas. They even set access for PvP zones. (Otherwise you could just pop in to Bloody Bay from the hero base, hunt Shivans for a while, and then go to the villain base and exit in Cap au Diable. In a zone being contested by Longbow and Arachnos, so heroes and villains are fighting each other. Do you really think Arachnos is going to be willing to let you use their portal out of Recluse's Victory into the very heart of Grandville after you finish handing the zone to the Freedom Phalanx?) You also don't see villainous missions/arcs in co-op zones. No bank robberies, murdering a superhero to establish rep, unleashing a plague or bio-weapon, or any of the other types of missions you see red side. The co-op zones are focused on the threat of that zone. Whether it be Hamidon or the Rikti or Mot and the Banished Pantheon or whatever. Even in Dark Astoria where you have villain/rogue only missions from that CoT contact, your missions are against Mot and those forces that serve him or are doing things that make fighting him more difficult for you or will actually empower Mot despite what those doing whatever in that mission are trying to.

 

(Edit: Well, you do in Striga Isle, but those are story arcs and I don't think those are co-op missions. Just like doing the TF/SF in Ouroboros. The zone is co-op, but only blue siders can do the TF and only red siders can do the SF. And the TF and SF oppose each other, so they self-neutralize.)

 

Edited October 18 by Rudra

[Ukase]

On 10/18/2024 at 12:31 PM, Rudra said:

Otherwise you could just pop in to Bloody Bay from the hero base, hunt Shivans for a while, and then go to the villain base and exit in Cap au Diable.

And this is something I wish we could do! I almost got killed grabbing explorations because I tried to exit through the wrong gate! It wouldn't bother me in the slightest if PvP zones became simply hazard zones with no pvp at all. But, again, that's me. Certainly not just me. But still, I certainly don't claim to speak for everyone. 

I have no idea what it would look like, and if it "made sense" doesn't really matter to me. I will always push for everyone to be one alignment so it's all one big giant collection of co-op zones. Even if 95% of you guys hate the idea, I'm always going to love it.