Melancton

Sam: You pretty much nailed the biggest plotholes and the worst writing and scripting in the arc.

As to the notion that the Freedom Phalanx has weaknesses that can be exploited by a careful plan: that is the hallmark of a great and thorough villain. My problem is that if the Freedom Phalanx is purportedly "the best," I would hate to see the worst. It is as though they were having a competiton to win "The Biggest Jerk" and were willing to even kill for it.

I have written in detail about some of the plot twists that I objected to in other threads, so I won't pile on the details here. But the whole notion of Warburg threatening the USA already had my "Suspension of Disbelief" meter near the redline. So 1) Statesman cannot go to Warburg 2) only Alexis will do, so do we send the rest of the FP? No, 3) we send ONLY MANTICORE, the least powerful of the lot. Alexis is murdered beyond our ability to affect it and Statesman and Liberty bicker and Statesman takes off, so as to be conveniently unavailable.

Sam again nails the many problems I have with Manticore's motivations, logic and behavior, and my Suspension of Disbelief meter exploded at that point. I would be gilding the lily to add further details to his excellent analysis.

Personally, I have never figured out why the whole bit with Malaise surrendering and dying was necessary. He had access to Psyche, and if the Dirge of Chaos was all that was needed to make the attack successful, why not just do the attack out of the blue and be done with it and escape? I am having a bit of a problem with Malaise doing an obvious suicide mission when it appears that he could have accomplished every goal, including having Manticore try to attack him and Liberty stick up for him, without having to be dead. But let me spot that one for the sake of the plot; although it may not make too much logical sense, if not for the many other problems, I could let it go.

My biggest objection to the writing in this arc remains that the "elite" FP falls apart like a cheap suit and bickers and pouts like a bunch of three year olds, which is an insult to three year olds. As I have alluded to before, Jack Bauer is likewise purportedly "the best of the best" and his organization is likewise "the pinnacle," and their procedures are so staggeringly STUPID in order to let people escape, die or destroy data for the increasingly ludicrous plots that I just could not watch it after a while. And THEY ARE "THE BEST!" Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry and his staff had better procedures.

Statesman, purportedly "the greatest hero," comes off likewise badly in so many different ways, but the "walking into an obvious trap" part is at the top of the list. We have seen him get his powers removed before, and GET KILLED WITH THEM REMOVED BEFORE, but he is supposed to still be so confident that he cannot be harmed that he arrogantly walks (and I do mean WALKS) into the trap while dialoging with the bad guy.

But there is another part of the atrocious writing that just sticks in my craw: Darrin Wade is draining Statesman's powers to take them and use them for evil against the whole world... and Statesman GIVES UP AND LETS HIM. Sure, his dead wife tells him to give it up and die. "Don't worry, honey, let someone else save the world for once. Oh, AND get justice for our daughter. Oh yeah, AND keep our granddaughter from being killed like you are now. Don't sweat it, lambkins, just go ahead and die."

SO HE DOES! IN RECORD TIME! He flops like a fish a couple of times and LIGHTS OUT!

We just saw a MASSIVE PSYCHIC ATTACK on Sister Psyche, as well as Manticore complaining that "so many illusions attacked us" in Warburg... could this be a psychic trick?? NAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

So "the greatest hero on Earth" takes the exhortation to die at face value and immediately dies. And then SMILES. *ripping out of hair*

That is so out of character with the self-sacrificial nature of Statesman's entire career. He knows that Wade is not just killing him, he is taking his tremendous powers to continue attacking, but he decides at this moment that he just does not care about that any longer. This, in addition to being an incompetent idiot in order to get killed. Well, to paraphrase Jessica Rabbit, "I'm not an incompetent idiot; I'm just written that way this time." It's what the Devs wanted, so that's what happened, and prior logic and experience be dashed.

I guess the Devs own stock in a company that produces medication for high blood pressure. I can skip the coffee this morning.

Sam, preach on, brother.

I also liked the Nance and Adair "clone arcs" very much, but I had to take points off for the extremely muddled writing at the very end of Adair's arc regarding the writer of the letter and the maddening usage of "Alright."

I did like the fact that your double is never explicitly identified, and thus could be from anywhere. Of course, now that I've said that, the insane sentient Well of Furies will get retconned into it.

I have expressed dismay at the writing in CoH in a few particulars; there is no need to revisit those.

In fact, I would like to ask what writing in CoH do you think is particularly GOOD?

What do you hold up as an example of "what works" when you think of writing you have enjoyed?

You may ignore the goals of the underlying missions in arcs or TFs if you desire. In other words, if you think the writing overall is good but all of the missions are Issue 1 Defeat Alls In Blue Cake Rooms, just note that aspect is being set aside and review the elements you enjoy.

Personally, I liked the Faultline revamp arcs a great deal. Fusionette was problematic for a while with her UltraAggro Ways, but I ultimately found her to be endearing overall.

So what springs to mind when you think of of "Good Writing in CoH"?

First in after a Declaration of Echo!

Wait, isn't it cool to do that??

We are all certainly being flip and irreverent about a eulogy, but a number of thoughts also struck me (and pretty hard, too! ) as I read it, so here is some color commentary on the eulogy, done with a wink and overall affection for Positron and CoH.


Some ***SPOILERS*** ahead for some things, so proceed accordingly.





"He was a beacon of strength, moral fiber, and inner will, a bastion of strength that protected Paragon City."

Of course, around Issue 4, he had to change that to being a CITADEL of strength, but we blame that on Marvel's lawyers.

"He led the Alpha Team of heroes, fighting off the Rikti from our side of the Rikti dimensional portals while Hero 1 led the Omega Team and sealed off the portals from the Rikti side. Thousands of heroes died in that battle, but Statesman's team, due to his bravery and unfailing mental and physical strength, came through relatively unscathed."

Yo, Positron, for someone so scientific, you sure are lousy at math. This is from the CoH official history:

"They then split into two teams, one led by Statesman, named Alpha Team, and one led by Hero 1, named Omega Team. Alpha Team was much larger, consisting of over 1000 heroes from across the globe. They launched a full frontal assault on the Rikti main troop concentrations, drawing as many alien troops into the fray as possible. This was a dangerous ploy, and it proved costly. In the ensuing titanic battle, 800 of 1000 heroes died, along with some 50,000 Rikti soldiers."

800 heroes is not "thousands," but 80% fatalities on the Alpha Team sure doesn't sound like "relatively unscathed," either. You sound like another armored guy, the Black Knight, talking about his "mere flesh wound."

"Maria enlisted a young, trustworthy, but experienced hero who looked up to Statesman. That hero uncovered a plot by Tyrant, a Statesman from an alternate Earth, to kidnap and steal our Statesman's power to augment his. It was only due to the valiant efforts of the hero Maria recruited that was Statesman was able to be with us in the years that followed"

Yeah, yeah, good ol' "What's His Name" saved Statesman, we are so grateful to "What's His Name," we will never forget the courage of "What's His Name," yadda yadda yadda. You are making me bloody well blush here. This is what I get for using Ascendant's agent, Uncle Saul.

"We may never know exactly how Statesman died."

Gee, thanks for blowing my report completely off, Positron. I was only there and saw the whole thing. How clearly do I have to I have to spell it out? Okay, here it is in "CLUE" terms: It was Darrin Wade, in the Cut Scene, with the Obvious Trap.

Positron, I keep telling you, bro, get Samuraiko to do this stuff for you!

/DaveBarry

Of course, "Sparkling Dog Butt" would be a great name for a rock band.

/DaveBarry

I agree that Fusionette would win. She packs some mega-knockback, and I just like her better.

Fusey is well-written, and despite seeking aggro like a Fire Imp on 'Dyne, she has proven to be rather endearing. (It did not hurt that Lady Jane showed up and made Fusey look positively cautious by comparison. )

Flambeaux probably deserves more pity than scorn, but I defer to Sister Flame, my favorite Fire Blaster:

...that the next person on Darrin Wade's hit list, Sister Psyche, is ALSO a Jack Emmert creation.

Then consider this quote:

"Killing off (Statesman) meant a lot of things to a lot of people, but for me it was the ultimate declaration that City of Heroes has grown up and left the nest from which it was born."-Matt "Positron" Miller
http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/n...r_issue_17.php

Discuss.

Wow. I sort of feel like DareDevil watching the Hulk and the Thing as they level a number of city blocks... I dunno if I should poke my face in this.

One thing that stands out about CoH is that the Devs take notice more than those in any other comparable venue, and they really try to do the right thing whenever they can. There are many wonderful things now in the game because of this, and a few things that got 86'd upon request as well. I am a piker as a Beta Tester or an RPer or an altoholic, so I am not up-to-the-second on lore or what is around the corner. I have watched with interest the reports Sylph has brought out from apparent developments in the lore that are now on the Beta server.

It appears that the Well may be taking a step back and becoming "A" source of power as opposed to "THE", and that it will be much like an automotive battery that absorbs power and supplies power at the same time to and from all the denizens of Earth, of whatever sort they are, native or alien, flesh or machine, etc. The Well may also be taking a step back from being fully sentient into being an intricately programmed sort of computer intelligence, as it were, that appears from its actions to have sentience because it responds to events as complexly as it does. It also appears that they are tossing Mender Ramiel under the proverbial bus and also making the Well "A" source of being "Incarnate" as opposed to "THE." Should that be the case, the Devs are doing a great thing, and sorry about that Mender Ramiel.

All of that is what I am deciphering from Sylph's reports, the remarks of others and the tremendous epic dialogue in progress with Samuel Tow. I could be mistaken. And what appears on the Live servers may not be the same when it gets there. But if true, this is Very Good News.

If this is all correct, I will spot the Devs a good measure of leeway to bring these changes about. A tremendous sticking point has been the Well's seizing of Statesman and making him talk like a sock puppet, combined with the Well's sentience and apparent insanity. While this is not quite "You said Darth Vader betrayed and murdered my father" territory, let's face it, Lucy, someone's got some 'splainin' to do. I am prepared to do a TREMENDOUS amount of winking if the Devs are fixing this and the crippling implications that have flowed from it. If I may indulge in an anaology in this regard: If the placque under the statue of Atlas needs to change how it reads yet again, I will happily be a good Orwellian and say that we have ALWAYS been at war with Oceania and the placque has always read as it now does.

And to come back full circle, if the Devs make the changes it seems they are, the Hulk and the Thing will realize they are now on the same side and will go off happily together to beat up the Kingpin and the Rhino.

My wife had an event early in the evening, so I went to scan the forums and saw the notice. I have a lvl 8 version of Melancton on Freedom, so off to Atlas Park I went. To my great delight, I got to team with Sister Flame afterward.

I knew would feel very badly if Sister Flame had been defeated, so I always ran in first to make sure I got the majority of aggro, and we were both fine during all of the missions. Sister Flame proved to be very adept with her powers, even though she lost most of them exemping down. She held her own and cycled her attacks as well as any other Fire Blaster I have played with (better if you count that she never aggro'd 5 spawns at once with Rain of Fire. ) As it turns out, we both had Wisp buff pets, but Sister Flame also had the dog, which I had never seen before at close range. I suppose should have seen that coming since she also has an alt named Takes Care of Pets, eh?

And yes, our first mission was against... Clockwork. I resisted the urge to refer to them by a nickname given long ago by a six year old; when I was 11, it was irksome to have adults tell me how cute I was half a lifetime ago, so I did not bring it up. But how cool is that when you get to fight those very baddies with Sister Flame?

The city is indeed in good, if very warm, hands with Sister Flame as a newly minted lvl 50! Grats to her and Lord Wyll.