Evolving vs Static Timeline
By
Col_Blitzkrieger,
Posted on: 2009-01-27 14:10 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Mix them up a bit. After all, we have the wonderful function that is Oroborous now.
Relegate old missions that have outlived there days and stick them in Oroborous. Or even introduce a Museum of Heroism or something, where young Heroes could learn about past exploits, and even take simulations to see if they could do the same. For Villains, maybe have an Arachnos Megacomputer with historical notes, etc, or Ghost Widows holo-library, for example.
Then we can have some new, up-to-date missions and arcs, that will be new to new players anyway, and refreshing to Veterans. Yes, it would be a lot of work, but having things stay the same for so long does wax thin after a while.
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
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Totally agree with this. We need an update - and the Ourboros / Mega Computer Idea is an excellent way to keep the old content for people to enjoy iof they want
Speaking of Ouroboros, I'm surprised that the Calvin Scott TF, 'A Mind in Danger' hasn't reappared.
Excellent idea 
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[ QUOTE ]
Mix them up a bit. After all, we have the wonderful function that is Oroborous now.
Relegate old missions that have outlived there days and stick them in Oroborous. Or even introduce a Museum of Heroism or something, where young Heroes could learn about past exploits, and even take simulations to see if they could do the same. For Villains, maybe have an Arachnos Megacomputer with historical notes, etc, or Ghost Widows holo-library, for example.
Then we can have some new, up-to-date missions and arcs, that will be new to new players anyway, and refreshing to Veterans. Yes, it would be a lot of work, but having things stay the same for so long does wax thin after a while.
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I like this idea. It should be something easily accessible for new players. Perhaps a special contact who can send them through training scenarios? A mix between ourobouros and the MA but then to be found inside the city hall or one of the universities.
Anybody else got some feelings about this subject?
I like Techbot_Alpha's idea a lot actually. I think the timeline should be expanding so that we can have things like the Rikti invasion in cannon with the rest of the world. I think it is important to keep as much of the game for new players as possible but, at the same time, making this more of a living world.
[ QUOTE ]
Mix them up a bit. After all, we have the wonderful function that is Oroborous now.
Relegate old missions that have outlived there days and stick them in Oroborous. Or even introduce a Museum of Heroism or something, where young Heroes could learn about past exploits, and even take simulations to see if they could do the same. For Villains, maybe have an Arachnos Megacomputer with historical notes, etc, or Ghost Widows holo-library, for example.
Then we can have some new, up-to-date missions and arcs, that will be new to new players anyway, and refreshing to Veterans. Yes, it would be a lot of work, but having things stay the same for so long does wax thin after a while.
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Ooh, I like this idea very much
Sadly, a lot of work indeed 
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@Lyrik
Nice idea, I just kinda wondering if they have the resources to do it nowadays...
Things which come to mind as sticking out temporally like a sore thumb:
Outbreak is still Outbreak, coming up to 5 years on. The city hasn't been able to help or contain the Contaminated?
Sam Wincott is still missing, 4 years on.
The Hellions are a 'new' gang on the street, according to the contacts. 5 years on.
Any contacts refering to things x years ago from the time of the contact being written. Rare, but I think it turns up.
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Outbreak is still Outbreak, coming up to 5 years on. The city hasn't been able to help or contain the Contaminated?
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Of course not. You just have to look at the counter-story from the Villain-side to explain why.
Us dastardly types keep infectin' you all!
It hasn't updated to reflect this. Heck, perhaps there could be a mission in there that instead of helping Flower Knight, you help her fight off some villains supplying it instead.
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Things which come to mind as sticking out temporally like a sore thumb:
Outbreak is still Outbreak, coming up to 5 years on. The city hasn't been able to help or contain the Contaminated?
Sam Wincott is still missing, 4 years on.
The Hellions are a 'new' gang on the street, according to the contacts. 5 years on.
Any contacts refering to things x years ago from the time of the contact being written. Rare, but I think it turns up.
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Well rewrititng everything would be a bit to much effort to be worth it. THe things that needs updating most is those parts where the story clearly is progressing. A good example is of course the Rikti invasions or a revamp of at least parts of the Hollow Arcs to reflect that the zone is about to get less volatile and the gangwar is nearly extinguished compared to what it used to be.
Some things never actually do change much. There always be new gangs appearing out of nowhere. Might as well keep the Hellions as there is no ongoing background story about them. Sure you can change their looks and powers and names but what would basicly be the point? And considering the various villains willing to contaminate people. Outbreak doesn't need to change at all. Also remember that the only reason you go to outbreak nowadays is to get that badge right?
I think the smart way to do this is for the Devs to consider which arc they want to advence in the timeline and then do that arc. Everything at once would be nice but not practical.
There's a perfectly good in-game reason for Outbreak remaining as it is.
As for the rest, Ouroboros certainly would provide a convenient way to keep the old arcs around while forwarding the "present" story.
I have to say, the suggestions here are incredibly valid. I feel that one of the reasons all of this 'old content' is kept in the game, is so that everyone has a chance to 'experience the same stories' - but you all make such valid points - there is no feeling of progress. Many years have passed since this 'story' started, and the issues are meant to 'progress' the story, but still 'old' content remains. Take a look at Faultline, however. That 'changed' dramatically. The Paragon Dance Party is no more - it's now Pocket D. The Rikti Crash site is now a 'War Zone'. There is progression, for 'zones', but not for 'content', and it's clear that old content DOES need to be removed for the story to make sense.
Many of us are 'veterans' and have progressed through missions, made discoveries and foiled plots. How often can we do this? Granted, 'new' content can't come out every week - but how many times can we uncover the 'truth' about who the Rikti *really* are, or discover how the Sky Raiders came into being? This has to become part of the game's "history", explorable through Flashbacks (exploring the past so that heroes can be involved in historic events and get badges / enjoy contest) but surely not used as 'current' missions.
I understand the flipside, though. We can't 'shift' a load of missions into Flashbacks without something to fill the gap. So although I'm all for moving the game story forward, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen
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Evolving vs Static Timeline.
This came up during the capes at level 1 discussion and I thought it would be an interesting subject to discuss about.
Most of us have leveled a few characters up to 50. Most of us have learned a lot of secrets. We have stopped numerous wicked plots and helped out quite a few more or less deserving persons. Then we go alting and what happens? We have to redo the whole background story again. We smirk and say things like stupid contactname don't you know that xxx is a traitor or you cannot trust yyy? But in the end we don't bother to read the sometimes excellent missions briefings and get on with 'arresting' things. It's as if we are living in a giant Groundhog day episode. Of course a few things have changed. Like the Rikti invasion for example whch makes some stories utterly redundant. You say that there are Rikti hiding down in the sewers? Well guess what, they are dropping bombs on us right now so excuse me for not caring about those not bothering to kill me right now.
The question is what to do with this?
1. Nothing, the arcs are for the newbies in this game to enjoy and wonder about. It would be nice if some new arcs would appear so the timeloop would expand a bit.
2. The majority of the game are veterans and it is about time that the timeline starts moving ahead. That mean that some missions have to be scrapped and new arcs to be written to represent the new timeline.
What do you think?