M_I_Abrahms

Those folks go right in the bin along with the Heroes who want to be more important than Statesman. In other words, the ones that want their own Statues and Task Forces.

Clearly you've never heard of the figure-head ploy. Leave someone weaker in charge, so THEY have to deal with harassment from the 'Hero' types that feel the need to force their ideals among others. They get to deal with the headaches, and you are left free to enjoy whatever it is about being a Villain that got you into this.

Not really, since not every Villain wants to take over the world. Hell, many don't even want Arachnos at all. Back when City of Villains was still in development and before Arachnos was ever announced the big speculation would be to join any of the existing Villain factions. Some people really wanted to be Freakshow, because they preferred anarchistic destruction. Some wanted to join the Council/5th because they would rather be Nazi style evil. Some wanted to be a part of the Family because they enjoyed the 'business' of Villainy.

Instead we get stuck with Arachnos, who actually fails at Villainy completely and we can't even be at all important. I remind you, that Recluses major in-game plans are "get someone else to defeat Statesman" and "use something someone else invented to force the time line so no matter what I do Statesman will lose"

And while this is very likely a waste of keystrokes on my part, since you seem to be ignoring the question, but I'm still going to try again: Do you think you would enjoy City of Heroes nearly as much if it insulted you, belittled your accomplishments, and in general treated you like a Hollywood-stile rent-a-cop throughout the game?

Ruling Heaven---Serving in Heaven---Ruling Hell---Serving in Hell.

You need to work on your definition of 'half-way'.

For me? YES! Can't stress it enough. The devs constant talks on 'balance' make it clear that Player Villains are supposed to be on about an even power level with Player Heroes, yet the treatment isn't even close.

NPC Heroes like Positron are respected around the world, while NPC Villains are seriously considered as a global threat to peace if not life itself. Player Heroes, can eventually reach the same level of respect, even getting a congratulations and thank you from Statesman himself. Meanwhile, Player Villains are never treated any differently than a Blood Brother Brawler.

This is where your willful ignorance shines. Since you have refused to step foot in Rogue Isles you aren't aware that the majority of the plots in City of Villains actually DO work. We do keep Council Vampyres out of Port Oaks. We do convert the young hero Pyriss to Villainy. We do fight and defeat all of the Vindicators AND the Freedom Phalanx, both separately and en-masse.

And after each grand task, we move on to the next person...who still treats us like common slime fresh out of the Zig. Player Character Villains are generally on the same level as Player Character Heroes. It's just as easy for Villains to steamroller over entire armies of enemies. Yet, we are never given even a fraction of the respect that Heroes get on their path. The contacts always have this nebulous power behind them that is often not even defined or named, just that everyone EVERYONE knows that the Player Villain is not, can not, and will never be a threat.

Tell me, would you be as staunch a defender of City of Heroes if it insulted your intelligence and abilities at every turn, and every level?

EDIT: Out of my examples, only one of them, fighting the Phalanx en-masse, has anything to do with Arachnos. And yet, it's still the Player being ordered like a low rent lackey.

That's like telling Heroes their "main quest" is making sure they meet their quote of parking tickets.

We have to accept the game set up, yes. We don't have to like it, and it's not a good way to make a game, just because that's how it was made.

That would be a nice step. It would also be nice to see a bit of respect for our Villain characters every now and then. If you count the new contacts, I think that brings us to about half a dozen contacts that actually acknowledge our accomplishments, and that we are a genuine power. For Heroes it would be like getting to 50 and the contacts still had you doing nothing bigger than stopping purse snatchers.

Honestly, I think that just a change of tone for many of the contacts would do wonders, and it would be a lot easier. We would just like a little more:

and a little less:

Exactly. It still had GRASS. Granted the lack of huge piles of trash everywhere may be more the Devouring Earth's doing rather than Arachnos, but it's STILL cleaner than most of the rest of the game.

A) You're still assuming everyone that wants City of Villains wants nothing more than to be an underling.

B) Even those few that ARE cool with the idea of working for Arachnos aren't playing this game to be a damn garbage man. Hell that's the reason why I refuse to play Terrance Dobbs even though that means I don't get access to the (in my opinion) much better contact Dr Forrester. Dobbs is a level 40 contact that is nothing more than Dale Gribble from King of the Hill. His only concern is killing bugs, and being the only one that's good at killing bugs (with the help of the player). Granted, the bugs are over seven feet tall and walk erect, but the slightest hint of intrigue and it's "Oop, better leave that be. Don't care what they are, as long as someone pays me to lay the bug traps.

Hell, the Abyss is still a vast improvement over most of CoV as far as cleanliness goes.

Actually, a good share of the trash in the zones is extra layers of texture over clean, and complete looking walls and sidewalks. We've seen that thanks to glitches from early in CoV's release. So, if anything, it would improve the look AND the performance to just remove some of the trash, where revamping Hero zones actually requires texture remodeling.

Again, you can do Grim and hopeless without having people live in a trash heap. Those that have seen the entire Paragon City know that there is considerably more to it than just what the AE has to offer, and those that have actually seen the entire Rogue Isles know that the same can be said for those maps. And yes, every zone, including just off screen of the Grandville tower map has the people in the Rogue Isles living in a landfill. Not over top a closed one, living amongst piles of trash on fire.

Grim and gritty doesn't have to mean filthy.

Maybe it's his reclusive lifestyle?

This is like saying seeing the Steel Canyon-esque maps in the AE gives someone a perfect idea of what Paragon City in it's entirety looks like.

Well of course Lord Recluse's home would look decent. But aside from the giant casino pyramid, it's really the only area. I know you can't stand the idea of playing the game, but I would seriously suggest you roll up a Stalker, skip the tutorial, and just look around Mercy with hide running. Then realize that the entire game looks like that.

EDIT: Heck, you yourself have promoted exploration in this very thread, so consider this your chance to explore something new. You don't have to take mission one, heck the Hide power is good enough you don't have to even engage in a fight, just take a look, and see what people are complaining about.

You know, you can still have 'dark and gritty' and still look good at it. Many incarnations of Gotham City pull that off well. It's dark, cramped, shadowy and menacing, but it still looks iconic, and impressive. The Rogue Islands looks like someone lit a landfill on fire.

Yeah, ain't gonna happen. This is Golden Girl after all, who won't do anything as evil as not tipping at a restaurant.

Only problem is, I believe a brand new character can only hold the one recipe, and about four pieces of invention salvage. Now, if you have a level 50 that's not been played for a while, you can clear that one out and use that.

Well, duh. Problem was, it was aborted before it reached it's own disastrous conclusion.