NightErrant

Even I was on a Melee Humanform PB, I didn't have much trouble.

I just popped a few blues.

...Just dance emotes?

...Well, I mean, that's fine, a lot of work goes into them and all...

There had just better be enough of them to justify the cost.

I'd go with Vigilante, personally.

Vigilantes in this game aren't concerned with personal gain. They're concerned with getting the job done.

You can't be a hero because heroes in this game actively prevent people from dying.
You can't be a villain because you lack malice.
And you can't be a Rogue because death cannot be swayed by filthy lucre.

Vigilantes simply do what they believe they must. Even if that means occasionally reaping an innocent.

Also, Reapers don't have to be murderers. They can also be psychopomps, tasked with guiding souls to the next world.

Another take on the reaper is less of a "taker of souls" and more of a "Death Enforcer". From this perspective, every soul has a predestined "Time of Death". In this case, your Reaper actually doubles as a guardian angel type figure. Your job is to ensure people pass when their time has come. Not a moment before, and not a second later.

So... for example, if their was an attack on a building, you would use your reaper powers to see which victims are meant to survive. You would rescue those victims, and then reap the rest.

If someone violated their ToD (by becoming undead, for example), then you would have to hunt them down and kill them in order to maintain spiritual equilibrium.

I think it would be an interesting way to justify being a Vigilante.

As for powers, I would look into Dark Themed Powers (for obvious reasons), or Pain Domination/Empathy, depending on what AT you choose.

Hell, I have /me Praetorian Salute macroed on my Loyalist (Investigator Blake). I do it every time I walk up to a Praetor.

However, I'm on Virtue.

Standard Code Rant Applies

It's a good thing to keep in mind for the future though.

In Praetoria, certain contacts vanish after certain story events have been completed. This is not a new technology. It's the same tech that allows Stalkers to sneak up behind you and sink pointy things in your back, and it's been available for years.

The MMO-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named refers to this system as "Phasing". And unless The-Company-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named copyrighted that phase, that's what I'm going to refer to this as.

...If it is copyrighted, forgive me. Please don't send your death eaters after me, Company-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named.


Anyway, the cool thing about Phasing is that it allows you to drastically modify the world's appearance, depending on the events your character takes part in. With the advent of Praetoria, I think this would be a wonderful addition to the game, for new and old zones alike. Here are a few examples:

-Billbored: Paragon City, Praetoria, and the Rogue Isles are covered in Billboards. In Atlas Park, these advertisements offer an interesting glimpse into the mindset of the people of Atlas at the start of gameplay. You see lots of Vanguard Advertisements and Anti-Alien propaganda, for instance.
You also see a lot of advertisements for Crey, and other companies.

Using Atlas Park as an example, these billboards could be modified after certain missions. For example, when you complete Crey Missions, the billboards for Crey could be vandalized, and then eventually replaced.

Completing missions that improve Rikti - Human Relations could cause the number of Earth for Humans billboards to drop as well.

-NPCs: The game is full of incidental NPCs. As your character completes missions, the nature of these NPCs could change to reflect the status of the world. Some examples...

• Crey NPCs could serve in low level zones as Guard NPCs until they've been outed as evil. They could be replaced with PPD NPCs upon returning to those zones.
• Rikti Traditionalists could take a larger role in society as characters work through the Vanguard Missions. First in Vanguard Bases, then at Portal Corp or D.A.T.A., and so on. By the time you complete the Dark Watcher's arc, you might even see a "Rikti Traditionalist" Pedestrian roaming the streets! (This would be perfect if you ever release a Rikti AT by the way. <_< ))
• As players complete missions with Praetorian Content (and as more Praetorians become Expatriots) the worlds could change to reflect each other. Clockwork could appear in Paragon City, for instance.

Basically, the world changes to reflect your story. If you choose to fight for Rikti-Human peace, then the world will change to reflect that. If you choose to ignore Crey's evils, then that aspect of the world will remain static.

The items are available in a super booster in the NC Soft Store.

When my chummer gave the fourty that tunneltalk more of a Mochire than a Webster, I could Parlez-vous like a real slammer!

The Tick Tocks are just wonka though.

I have never wanted to murder a contact before I played Hatchet's arc.

...Well, I've never been able to bring myself to play Phipps. So that probably has something to do with it.


But Hatchet is just cruel. Cruel. Especially after finding out...

SPOILER



That the ghouls are Neuron's experiments, and that it's possible to restore their human intelligence. You hook bombs up to them! You make one murder his brother! It's -horrible-!



END SPOILER

Wardens are good though.

Warden is Idealistic (It's a hard fight, but we can make it one step at a time). Responsibility is Realistic (We can't win every fight... and sometimes the killer gets away. But we've got to try our hardest to keep this city safe)
Crusader is either psychotic (LET'S BURN THESE <expletive> DOWN!) or Extremist (I'd rather see this city burn than have the people lived enslaved for one more day.)
Power is Opportunistic (Did you get my good side?)

I've done Nova Crusader, Nova Warden, Imperial Responsibility, Imperial Warden, and parts of Nova Responsibly, Imperial Crusader, and Imperial Power.

"My Robot Butler: The Murderer" made me cringe when I realized that these civilians were dying because of what I did.

Hatchet was reviling.

I didn't have that much of a problem with Mr. G or Transmuter because I wasn't actually being evil. Using your position to gain power is immoral. But blowing up ghouls when you could be curing them? Horrific.

This is something that occurred to me last night.

As a Hero, becoming a Vigilante means ignoring the welfare of civilians in the pursuit of justice.

In Paragon City, all tips have a Hero and a Vigilante Option. Vigilante options are less altruistic than Heroic options, and it's no stretch of the imagination to see how following the path of the Vigilante too far could lead to a drop into villainy.

...Then you go the the Rogue Isles, and all that is available are Villain Tips.

Again, it's no stretch of the imagination to see someone descend into villainy. You can easily see how that would work.

The problem is that Paragon City and the Rogue Isles seem to have some sort of magical alignment enforcing field that immediately pulls people toward the city's "core" alignment. Rogues going to Paragon City immediately begin doing Pro Bono work. Vigilantes going to the Rogue Isles immediately begin doing stuff for the Evulz.

The problem isn't that these options exist. They make perfect sense. The issue is a lack of a moderate option.

What I would (ideally) like to see, someday, is the addition of tips that fit with the general idea of your new alignment.

I understand the flaw, of course. Rogues and Vigilantes cannot share their respective tips with one another, nor can they share tips with the opposite "core" faction. That means a Rogue who wishes to do Rogue Missions in Paragon City is forced to do so on a team consisting only of Rogues.

Still... it would be a nice option.

They've added a new "Citizen" Praetorian Epic Archetype.

You walk around and wave at people and talk about how great life is.

And sometimes you have to tell the time.

It's awesome.

Influence represents your character's pull in negotiating for equipment.
I.E.: "Serge, remember when I saved your store? And your other store? And your third store? ...Look, don't bring up the fact I auto completed those missions. I saved your store. Mind fixing my costume?"

Infamy represents your character's ability to intimidate someone into giving you what you want. I.E.: "If I don't fix this guy's costume, he'll rip my shop out of the ground and toss it into a war wall..."

Information represents valuable pieces of knowledge your character can use to force negotiation in their favor. I.E.: "Serge, I happen to know where Crey's new shipment of unstable molecules is being kept. If you fix up this old costume, I can tell you where they are so one of your guys can "liberate" them for you."


Of the three, Information is the one it makes the most sense to trade. Influence you can trade by vouching for someone else, but running out of influence means you've either asked for too much stuff recently, or vouched for too many people.

Infamy you can trade by... um...

...I'll get back to that.

But information is something that could actually function as a psuedo currency, in theory.

It's written in Lorem Ipsum, a special psuedo-language that basically consists of random tetr formatted to look like latin words.

It usually looks something like this:

Everyone seems to shift alignment semi regularly.

Blast Furnace is a Rogue in one mission and a Vigilante in others. If you put the missions in order, characters like Frostfire and Miss Thystle ascend and Polar Shift decends. But really? It seems like everyone is shuffling all over the place.

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Spark_Blade

That coat.

...I want it. D:

I'd love a Paragon City rebuild. The Imperial City is amazing. The buildings, the billboards, the layout...

Plus the first time I climbed Cole Tower, and looked out over all of Praetoria... my graphics aren't high enough to render Neuron's Reach, but I could see all of the Imperial City, and it was amazing.

*ahem*

Sorry.

The Single Player only arcs are Morality missions. They're that way because they're designed to be a moral choice. If a team went in, then they'd have to decide who gets to make that moral choice, and how to deal with the teams alignment, and it would be a huge mess.

Each enemy group isn't too difficult on their own.

But against certain powersets, they can be brutal.
Clockwork kill regen. Destroyers can shrug off mez. Seers are all psychic...

Teaming helps you cover all your bases though. ...Though Ghouls are tough on teams.

All characters must have a connection to something within the game lore, no matter how distant the connection is.

Back in my day, there wasn't no such thing as "Ninja Run". You had to sprint!

And Raid Teleporters didn't do a thing!

And Tyrant and Dominatrix were... *cough*.

...Forget that last one!