Golden Girl

So doesn't the failuire of Arachnos make your success at killing, kidnapping, robbing a destroying look even better? Like you're the only competent villain in town?

I wouldn't really care - villains are the ego maniacs - real heroes just do what needs to be done, regardless of any praise they get

Any player who has an "I want to rule the world" villain?

But then if you're that much more powerful than him, why wouldn't you go and take over Paragon City? or leave the Rogue Isles and carve out your own evil territory? It's still coming back to the problem of the game telling you you're the most powerful villain in the world, but then telling you you have to stay in the Rogue Isles and watch a pathetic no-mark like Recluse rule them.

If the devs would use the new gender recogniton tech to make Recluse call male villains by a different girl's name each time he talked to you, that would be awesome beyond words - whistling to get your attention would be an added bonus

But wouldn't that still make villains feel like second rankers? Like they'd be called Recluse's equal, but the game would still stop them from trying to replace him. Reclsue took over Arachnos, so why can't the player villains try taking it over from him?
Or is there a really, really good in-game lore reason we could maybe come up with here to explain away the restriction?

For some reason, I've suddenly started picturing player Villains as JD to Recluse's Dr. Cox

But more seriously, I think the whole Villain set up means that you'll never be treated the same as Heroes - because while Statesman wouldn't have a problem with anyone else being called his equal, Recluse would most likely view anyone caled his equal as a major threat to him - it's back to the problem of villains not being good at working together, and putting the player villains into a position where they can ask "if I'm the equal of Relcuse, why can't I try and overthrow him?".

Serving in hell sounds like a nice halfway point then

But is the only problem the way the contacts talk to you? Like if they said "please", "thank you" and called you "sir", would that make villains feel better?

But what you're asking for is for your own constant failure and imcompetence - if villains can't affect the game world, then their schemes will always have to end in total failure - your plan to take over the world, or build a moon laser to wipe out Paragon Ciity, or empty the vaults at Fort Knox will always end in 100% failure, because success would mean the game world would have to change, and failure would keep the game world as it is.
Right now, the game lets you successfully kill, kidnap, rob and destroy while working for Arachnos - you're given various evil tasks, and you carry them out with 100% success.
Would it really be more fun to swap you career of successful evil for one of failed evil just because Recluse won't say "please" or "thank you" or invite you round for a beer to watch the game?

I thought Mayhem missions already had that as the basic goal in them?

It burns - but does it burn big? I really think we need to know.

Are they making life hell for you?

Asking "how high?" when Relcuse says "jump"

Yes - and that's the limit of it - do the arc where you beat Recluse, then come back to real world and see what difference it's made - you're back to being just another villains, and Recluse and Arachnos are still in power.

That Dr. V and his faction will still be in the game - that defeating and arresting him has no imapact on the game world - because MMOs can't allow one player to affect the experience of all the other players.
You can arrest Countess Crey, but zone directly to Brickstown after you've done it, and you'll find the place crawling with Crey, and the general public being unaware of how corrupt the corporation is.
Pass through IP on your way to PI to rescue Statesman, and you'll see him standing on the deck of a ship - take down Reichsman, and you'll see the 5th Column successfully continuing their comeback on the streets.

Nothing the players do affects the game - the game only progresses when the devs move it forwards - missions are like sone shot "what if" and "elseworld" stories - the real world - the "continuity" and "canon" - is static - like a photo, rather than a movie.
Dr. V. will always be carving people up, Countess Crey will always be running her company, Statesman will always be a prisoner of Tyrant while still handing out a TF, Cimerora will always be threatened by Romulus, Frostfire will always be lurking in his lair, Recluse and Arachnos will always be ruling the Rogue Isles and threatening Paragon City - until the devs decide to change the game world.

The only people who are "in sync" are players who've done all the content at leats once, and band new plauyers who've just enters Outbreak - everyone in between is at different stages of playing through the game, so the game has to be set up to allow for all of those different stages - it has to allow for a team of 8 fighting Hero 1 while somone in Skyway is wondering who the Lost really are - it has to allow you sell your newest HO at WW while a few hundred yards away someone's just gone "wow" seeing the Atlas globe for the first time, and discovered that the blonde girl in blue and red is called Ms. Liberty - it has to allow you to defeat Recluse and Arachnos while a new Destined One has just been busted out of the Zig by Arachnos - it has to allow for every stage of every player's experience of the playing through the game.

I think as far as dev plans go, villain lairs, like hero apartments, are covered by bases - we're way more likely to see an improvement to an already existing system than a whole enw system that would overlap the existing one.

But that can still only be a "side quest" in the game - the actual game world has to be designed to stop villains from doing that, because while there can be limitless instances, there's only one real game world, and players have to share that space, so it's impossible to let any single person affect the world.
They can do all kinds of cool stuff with portals and time travel, but no matter what they do in those instances, when they return to the normal zones, they're back in the real world, and back to being just one among thousands and thousands of villains.
MMOs are based around the idea of co-operation and sharing a common space - vilalins are about domination and conquest - it's really very hard to put them together.
There has to be a limit on just what villains are capable of, otherwise, the game couldn't work.

If you play the game, you have a right to post - it's as simple as that - even trial accounts can post, and they don't pay subs at all
There's no special initiation ceremony or entrance exam to pass

And how would the game show that? Like What sort of system could it use to tell players that although they'd hit 50, tehy still coundn't take over the Rogue Isles? And wouldn't that be exactly the same as the current CoV set up anyway?

Your boss is the exception to the rule then

Arachnos are my favorite enemy group - they'd just so totally over the top insanely moustache twirlingly evil - they really give off an evil Empire vibe, which makes beating them up really awesome

And what happens when you out-level Nerva? Where do you go, and what do you do with your increased power? And what's stopping you from starting to make a move to dominate all the other Villains in the Rogue Isles before one of them tries to seize power for themselves?

I think you'd then be entitled to an eyepatch too.

I though an eyepatch would be the female version of the evil goatee?