Taveena

Something like that would seem pretty perfect, yeah! Maybe if you wanted to view all storylines pertaining to Penny Yin, or Praetoria. I don't /think/ it'd be that hard to work in, relatively speaking (though the logistics of adding a second order to Ouroboros would probably be the most difficult part?), but being able to play through the Rikti storyline /in order/ would make up for that, I think.

Low-to-high isn't chronological order. The destruction of Galaxy City happens a damn long time after Wu Yin is kidnapped in Faultline. Shining Stars takes place after the events of level 1-20 in Praetoria. The Portal Corp arcs happen before Praetoria, too - and the catch is, a new player misses out on the opportunity to experience it as a proper story. It's THERE, you can visit it through Ouroboros, but how the hell are you supposed to know what order stuff happens in? The levels are no use! They USED to be, but now it's out of order and a confusing MESS. The time travel is /irrelevant/ - I just want to be able to play through the game in the right order, and Ouroboros already has a system which could be modified to fit it. But it isn't there yet.

I don't want new content - I want the old content organized. I want to play through the game as a story, not a disconnected series of events.

There are two big problems with the story of CoH right now. The first is that it's a disordered chronological mess - most new players will experience Drowning in Blood before meeting Penny Yin in Faultline or seeing her interact with the Clockwork King. The second is how much of it is unavailable when solo - a rather large problem when people have no interest in doing the older content.

To fix these problems, and allow people to experience the full CoH story and immersion, I propose a 'story mode'.

It's not a huge change, hopefully - basically just an arrangement of missions via Ouroboros to avoid spoilers and actually travel through the timeline of CoH in the right order. As for the Task Forces and Strike Forces, the ideal solution would be a reduced difficulty version - or, rather, one which scales to the player's difficulty, rather than balancing for a group. These wouldn't have anywhere near the rewards, but would simply allow for the story to continue for those who would otherwise need to spend a week finding group members.

With the world of CoH changing so much lately, older content is being altered to fit - which is actually a bit disappointing for some people who would like the opportunity to experience how it was. If things were actually retconned, like Tyrant and Dominatrix, then it doesn't need to be included. But something like Anti-Matter and Neutron's original rivalry? I want to see that happen. I want to see the rescuing of the two sisters from the Rikti Homeworld, find out what the deal with the Lost is, save the city from Vahzilokh. Not just come in and find that it's all been done.

City of Heroes has some of the best writing I've seen in any game I've played. Please, don't let it go to waste.

Yes, we can switch sides to do it.

Four days to unlock something Villains can do in an hour. This isn't balanced, this is just... stupid. Give us functional equivalents or SOMETHING - and anyone complaining about heroes having arachnos maces or whatever... What about Heroic Crab Spiders and Bane Spiders? We've been subverting the hell out of that since Going Rogue! C'mon, guys.

EDIT: Also, there's a bit of a difference between optional costume pieces and FOUR POWER POOLS. Not that I object to Villains getting those pieces, but... the only one I can find restricted to side at all is the Witch's Hat, which is unlockable via KHTF... or by getting the Meticulous badge, which is available to both sides.

EDIT THE SECOND: My second point was the idea of a different patron unlocking the same - or functionally EXACTLY the same - pools. Perhaps Valkyrie helps you get a mace from War Earth (and eventually summon a fighter from there), perhaps Numina allows you to summon helpful spirits, maybe Woodsman lets you use the spirit of the Bear to bite down and hold villains in place, and, oh... Synapse gives you gadgets to shoot lightning. I'm not saying Heroes should get it for less effort, I'm saying they should get it for the SAME.

Yes, but the POINT is that currently Villains have more options. A Villain can either take an APP or do a patron arc and unlock that. A Hero can only take an APP.

The thing is, a lot of my builds DO need PPPs. I need Shadow Meld for my /regen Scrapper, because nothing else is going to give me that +def. I want Scorpion Shield for my blasters because Ice Armor is obnoxious and ruins my theme. Darkest Night isn't available any other way for a tanker... Hell, I'm still annoyed I had to go Villain - again - because my Heroic Widow changed before she could unlock the pools! It's infuriating and unfair to heroes. If it's an attempt to bring more people to Redside, well, the problem is they're not going to stay. It's frustrating, easily fixed, and shouldn't be a problem. This isn't a new engine change or even a new powerset - it's just a simple story arc to let the HEROES unlock it too.

Personally, I think (for balance reasons), hero archetypes should open up the same Patron Power Pools, though through a different storyline. Perhaps Positron is trying to reclaim Black Scorpion's research, or Numina is trying to free the souls of Ghost Widow's victims, or Woodsman attempting to calm the Leviathan. It doesn't seem that far-fetched that they'd reverse-engineer their devices and magic, and in a world filled with Vigilantes and Rogues, grey moralities, soul-draining heroes and villains wielding the bright Kheldian energies... there isn't exactly much of a moral reason, either.