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Okay, I know I'm gonna get flamed over this, but hey...I can't sit silently. I just spent the last hour inside the Midnighter Club slowly coming to the realization that I'm spending $14.99/month to get pissed off. So, rather than just sit and stew in my own juices, I'm going to go on a rant here on the forums! (In other words, feel free to skip this post and go read something else. I personally feel that these are serious issues, but I imagine most will disagree.)
#1: Multiple doors leading to the same place
Okay, so the Club is one of those "extradimensional spaces", like Pocket D. No problem, I can accept that; it's "bigger on the inside". Fine. Then you head back into the labyrinth area, and there are multiple doors. All of them, for no reason I can discern, head back into the library. There's no indication on any of the doors about where they lead. Hell, for all I knew, the big ominous-looking door at the back of the library led directly into Cimerora.
#2: Easy access to other zones--psych!
As per the "instructions" given to me by the NPC standing just inside the Club as I entered, you can access other zones through the Midnighter Club. How one is supposed to accomplish that feat remains a mystery to me. Actually, that's not quite true: I managed to enter in Steel Canyon and leave into Croatoa. I didn't mean to. Didn't want to be in Croatoa. No effing idea why that door took me there. No rhyme, no reason, and no directional signs. At least in Pocket D, if you can't learn what the different signs are at the ends of the halls, there are "bouncers" there to tell you where you're headed. Here, notsomuch.
#3: Ouroborous crystal--why?
I know, from metagame info, that the crystal /probably/ is the entrance to Cimerora. I don't know that for sure. The Aspect of the Pillar of Ice and Flame (too damn long--OB Crystal will do fine for our purposes here) in the Midnighter's Club looks just like the ones in Ouroborous...so does it do the same thing? It looks similar to the one you can place in your SG base--which serves for access to Flashback missions. So is this the same? Who knows? Again, no indication, no direction, nothing of value or use.
#4: Speaking of Cimerora...why?
As per the subtitle. Assuming one heads to Cimerora, there seems to be lacking a reason as to why, precisely, we'd be going there. There's no one in the Midnighter's Club that directs you. Nobody says, hey, we could really use your help with this time-travel thing we've gotten ourselves into. A serious lack of not only motivation, but INFORMATION. Gorramit, TELL THE PLAYERS SOMETHING.
#5: Scavenger hunt, aka "Pixel Hunter" game
Okay...we'll start with the clues. The first few were quite good. I had a real sense of accomplishment when I'd figured out each one, not unlike back when I played "Myst". Then things got unravelled about when the clue said something about the smell of salty air, and shipping. They want me to go to Independence Port?!? No...supposedly, it's referring me to another book on another table. (This is according to the friend I was teamed with; I myself remain absolutely effing clueless.) The connection there is...what, precisely? After that, the clues continued to devolve, and I wound up just running from room to room, slowly passing my mouse over each tiny little effing item, essentially playing "Pixel Hunter" like it's 1988 all over again. I think I found maybe 8 items. I gave up. The comparison to Myst evaporated almost instantly; the puzzles in /that/ game were at least logical.
#6: We need your help...but we're certainly not advertising!
The only way I even KNEW about the Midnight Squad was from reading stuff on the website. I read the GMOTD, and that made reference to it. Where was I supposed to go to get the mission? I overheard someone else say the Universities. Huh, okay...where in the University? That should've been my first clue (see above, RE: "Pixel Hunter"). This Montague character is perfectly content to talk to you and offer you missions, but you've got to find him. No "go see so-and-so" from your contacts. Nothing pops up onscreen like with the Xmas & Valentine's Events. In short, either the players will find it...or they won't. And the overall feeling I'm left with is that the devs basically don't give a f*** whether anyone does any of it.
And really, that last sentence wraps up my experience with the Midnight Squad. I'll reiterate it here: The devs don't seem to give a flying f*** about whether anyone finds and/or experiences the Midnight Squad content. If they did, there would be signposts. Markers. Indicators of...well, ANYTHING. I'm just a month or 2 away from my 4-year veteran's badge. That's 46-47 months of continuous play in City of Heroes. What about those people newer to the game? What about the ones who don't know about this stuff? Are they just screwed? I'm assuming they must be, because if I hadn't been actively searching for this new content, I'd never have found it. And again, the overall feeling I'm left with is that nobody in charge gives a good god's damn.
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What you've written is literally every gripe I have with it, as well.
