Column= Controversial?

"The retirement of the 5th Column has been somewhat controversial, as it is widely speculated that this was done to avoid issues with depicting Nazi propaganda in the European release of City of Heroes, but this has been repeatedly denied by the developers and is merely speculation. With the release of Issue 11, the 5th Column has returned to the game within certain Ouroboros missions. "

This isa direct quote from Wiki, so if it was that bad a couple years ago, then why are they bringing them back? I think there an awesome group, and im happy there back, but anyone have speculations on how their able to bring back the Column?

Actually, I'm sure the conspiracy theorists have their own explanation as to why the Fifth are throughout the game, now. Never expect rationality or actual data to be an efficient counter-measure to unfounded hysteria.

Well believe it or not the wiki is primarily edited by human beings, and that quote was reporting a prevalent rumor rather than any official statement by NC Soft. In fact you should note that it includes the fact that the developers denied that being the case at the time.

I'll clean up the wording on the wiki to make this clearer.

In fact, the Fifth Column can now be seen duking it out with the Council on the streets of Steel Canyon, and Independence Port. I suspect they can also be found anywhere you usually find the Council, except for Striga.

The history of the 5th Column in and out and in the game:

• I3 - Council takes over 5th Column. In a sloppy cut-and-paste frenzy, nearly all mentions of the 5th gets replaced in-game by Council. The 5th remain in the game's historical backstory, though, outside of the game.
• 2nd Anniversary (right before I7) - 5th Column Gladiator unlockable
• I11 - 5th Column in Ouroboros Pseudo-Strask Forces
• I12 - 5th Column in Imperious Strask Force
• I14 - 5th Column available for Architect missions
• I15 - 5th Column Task and Strike Forces
• I16 - 5th Column in the streets and outdoor zones

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/5th_Column_Controversy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

I think it may have started when the devs realized that the 5th Column is really overpowered at lower levels. For instance, some of their troops in the level 1-15 range get Martial Arts attacks(status effects included), grenade or rocket launchers with knockback, rifles that can reduce recharge speed, or area of effect attacks in general(even minions). The Mek Men have Energy Melee attacks that disorient(which includes a point-blank area of effect attack and Stun), and Vampyr Mesmerists have a hold power(even worse, both units are minions).
Then, before they could get to work toning down their abilities, somebody in Legal misunderstood the German laws against portraying Nazis. Everyone overreacted and decided to instead create a whole new villain group to replace them, and worked on removing every reference to the 5th Column, even changing the game's backstory in places like having Atlas die fighting off the Council in the 50's instead of the 5th Column/German forces in 1941. They can't honestly deny it, because we're still seeing variations on "that group that got their butts kicked by the Council".

As a side effect, the 5th Column are STILL friggin' overpowered in the lower level ranges! They seriously need to be nerfed!

I for one am glad they are back,reason being is I like beaten the snot out of them.My grandpa was in WW2 and used to tell me stories of what it was like and the horror of that time.
In a way I believe if my grandpa was alive today he would get a kick out of people constantly destroying them.

It's controversial because beating up 'Nazis' is bad...


Wait, what?

I remember a lot of people running around in issues 1-2 with their "We're the SIXTH column! We're cool because we're like them but, you know, not really" BS. With names like Obergruppenfuhrer Bob or whatever.

I usually opened with the Girlfriend/Thanksgiving story. I had it down to a couple of sentences- I'm out of practice now- but basically, one of my ex-girlfriends didn't really celebrate Thanksgiving. It's a time to get together with extended family... and her parents were each the only survivor in their families of the holocaust.

Yeah, I'm quite sure [they were] not like THOSE nazis, but you see how people could get the impression that [they] were Aryan Nations holocaust-denying stupid scumbags... I wouldn't feel right putting on anything associated with those guys, but go ahead. Free country. As long as the 5th column doesn't win, that is.