Update Radio/Paper missions

I love the current radio/paper mish system but I would like to see some actual story arcs that you would randomly stumble upon. In the comics most great arcs start by the the hero doing their normal routine patroling but that everyday crime turns into a huge plot line. So what I am proposing is that the devs create a few radio arcs that everytime you complete a radio/paper mish you have a chance of activating.

The reason why this change is needed is the lack of immersion experienced by the player completing meaningless mishs in order to get a new contact. This could also be used as an excellent vehicle for the implementation of a nemesis system that has been suggested numerous times before.

Why not just run missions instead? If you're doing paper/radio missions, don't expect "immersion" they were intended only as a break from arcs to fill in the gaps in leveling.

And if you've run most if not all the Missions given by contacts, well they are giving us new ones....they will be in Praetoria, until then, create some actual story arcs in the MA/AE and invite your friends to run them.

Then what happens when you fill up your Broker/Detective's progress bar and you are stopped in the middle of your Radio/Paper arc to do a Safeguard/Mayhem?

Radio/Paper missions are meant to be used as filler and to unlock Safeguards/Mayhems and to gain introductions to contacts. I can't see how adding arcs to them could be done (where would the little book appear?) or why it would need to be. We need new contacts with more Story Arcs. We need Hazard and Story zones for villains. We need more content throughout the game, not limited to a few extra missions in one system.

And yes, the Radio/Paper missions could easily be used for a Nemesis type system, throwing in a mission involving your nemesis now and then. Those shouldn't be story arcs though. The devs don't know the background of my nemesis and therefor cannot be expected to write an arc involving him. That's the kind of thing the AE is actually meant for.

The point is to add some randomness to the gameplay. Presently the same contact gives the same mishs always there no variety. I would like to see a seemingly routine hero/villain activity turn into a full blown arc. Also you don't start out with all your contacts for a zone you have to run radio/papers to unlock them. This would serve as a great way to make those 3 or more mishs ALOT more fun. This in no way shape or form is to replace contacts.

Just because something is created as filler does not mean it has to remain that way. I just think so much more could be done with radio/papers than what the devs have put into the game.

I would love to run AE mishs but currently AE is a mess there are very few people willing to run AE mishs that aren't farms.

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The point is to add some randomness to the gameplay. Presently the same contact gives the same mishs always there no variety. I would like to see a seemingly routine hero/villain activity turn into a full blown arc.


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Even with your suggested improvement, it's just a matter of time for people to try out all the possible newspaper story arcs. Eventually, the newspaper missions end up with no varieties also.

Actually, the problem that you mentioned about the contact is not an issue of variety, but because the content is static. The contact story arcs have a lot of varieties, but after you played them all with a few characters, you feel that you're going through the same thing all over again.

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Also you don't start out with all your contacts for a zone you have to run radio/papers to unlock them. This would serve as a great way to make those 3 or more mishs ALOT more fun.


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I think this is specific for villains. For heroes, a contact will introduce other contacts. Maybe, the villain contacts should introduce other contacts such that you don't need to do newspaper missions again.

Yeah it's a completely different system since there were already plenty of contact trees in place on Hero side before Villains came out.

I like the progression of contacts better in Hero, but I really, really prefer the 'stay in one zone' of Villains.

Don't a few of the villian contacts introduce you straight to other contacts?
I could have sworn that Mr. Bocor introduces you to The Radio.

Oh well, I'll do newspapers to do contacts if it'll save me the hassle of those multi-zone-for no-reason hero arcs.

One or two seem to have, but by and large it's "do that short arc and head back to the paper".

How 'bout this ?

HMMMM.

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Don't a few of the villian contacts introduce you straight to other contacts?
I could have sworn that Mr. Bocor introduces you to The Radio.

Oh well, I'll do newspapers to do contacts if it'll save me the hassle of those multi-zone-for no-reason hero arcs.

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Yes, there are also contact chains in villains. However, the chain of contacts isn't ever more than 3 introductions long (Shelly Percy > Marshall Brass > Operative Wellman) before you have to move on to a new zone and start doing Paper missions to work up a new contact list, whereas with heroes the contact chain continues throughout their career from zone to zone.

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whereas with heroes the contact chain continues throughout their career from zone to zone to zone to zone to zone and back to the other zone and then another zone.



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Fixed that up for ya.

Personally, I wish they make Radio/Newspaper missions 'global' once you reach 50. By that I mean simply that a level 50 can do a radio/paper mish from any zone, Atlas to PI, Mercy to Grandville. Peregine does get old after a while...

Storywise, 50's are the powerbrokers of the city/isles. There are times I'd like to visit old stomping ground on my 50s, such as Steel Canyon or King's Row, and take care of things there that only one of my power can do.

Well the problem with that is the occasional paper/radio ambush missions. If you're hanging out in Atlas on a 50, it cannot spawn an ambush because there's a program in place to prevent it. However, take that same 50 to Kings Row, and you WILL get a level 50 ambush there. There is a pretty good reason for the paper missions to be zone-friendly.

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Well the problem with that is the occasional paper/radio ambush missions. If you're hanging out in Atlas on a 50, it cannot spawn an ambush because there's a program in place to prevent it. However, take that same 50 to Kings Row, and you WILL get a level 50 ambush there. There is a pretty good reason for the paper missions to be zone-friendly.

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I've had 50's ambush me in lower level zones already via regular missions there (Talos, Bricks). Heck, I've had the Kronos Titan GM ambush me in FF! So this isn't unprecedented.

Even so, how difficult would it be to simply have 'global' missions (available to 50s only) to simply have no ambushes?

I simply don't see why this would be problematic, and it would get 50s moving around the city a bit more...

Um, the titan spawns in FF. That's where it's supposed to, since that's where the mission is.

Low level zones =/= talos and ff. Low level = Galaxy, Atlas. Those two zones have blocks in place. Others do not, which is why we've been able, on Protector, nearly once a year, to do the "Robot Rampage" event with upwards of 20+ mixed monsters (titans, babbages from the tf, and pallys when we can get them), in Kings Row.

The "problematic" bit is that radio and paper missions are *random*. So ... what you want is to take the one thing that they have going for them, out.

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Um, the titan spawns in FF. That's where it's supposed to, since that's where the mission is.

Low level zones =/= talos and ff. Low level = Galaxy, Atlas. Those two zones have blocks in place. Others do not, which is why we've been able, on Protector, nearly once a year, to do the "Robot Rampage" event with upwards of 20+ mixed monsters (titans, babbages from the tf, and pallys when we can get them), in Kings Row.

The "problematic" bit is that radio and paper missions are *random*. So ... what you want is to take the one thing that they have going for them, out.

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So, the Kronos GM is supposed to ambush me after I leave the mish door in FF? Okay, I guess I didn't know that... Anyway.

But you got me to thinking... I can't recall ever experiencing an ambush after leaving a Radio mission (and I've done *alot* of them the last 1.5 years). All the ambushes I recall occured after arc missions. I'm not saying they don't occur in radios, but they do seem to be rare. Rare enough to make your worries a non-issue, IMO.

Bottom line is I'm thinking of global radio missions for 50s would be of a slightly different nature than normal radio missions, and I don't see why for these only there simply couldn't be ambushes. It's not a game-breaker

I have, plenty of times. However, if you're too quick for them, you might miss them entirely.

Plus, since they are level specific and Radio missions are level specific to the Zone.... they aren't a problem *now*.