AE: Deluxe! (A Neutral AE with some bonus content thrown in)

The Architect Buildings which have become a ubiquitous site all over Paragon City and the Rogue Isles have become one of the more popular features of each city zone. Each side has one AE that is particularly popular. (For Heroes it's Atlas. For Villains it's Cap.)

But for Cross Faction Team Ups, there's a problem... See, the AE building is located in the Rikti War Zone. There's no reason for this. It just... is...

This is fine for now, but when GR rolls around, Praetorians aren't going to have access to the RWZ until they can get to the dimension it's actually in. While other characters can, in theory, go to Praetoria and meet them their, the RWZ still stands as a somewhat sloppy solution to the problem of Cross Faction AE.

So, I offer an alternative solution: The AE Deluxe.

The AE Deluxe would be it's own, unique map, accessed via a portal in Pocket D (where it would be visible through the currently empty window) or through an AE Teleporter purchased from vendors in the lobby.

Making it it's own map prevents unnecessary load on Pocket D, but also opens us up to some interesting possibilities...

For one the AE Tower would be much, much larger than your average AE Building, and would feature a sort of meeting grounds area on the exterior to allow people who are LFG to team up without cluttering the "Immersion Sets" on the upper floors.

The Lobby would be similar to the traditional AE Lobby, if larger. Ticket Vendors would also be located on this floor.

After this however, the similarities end. Unlike the classic AE, which features a single "Gateway" room to the Arc Server, AE Deluxe features several "Immersion Sets", each themed to look as though you're meeting your contact in "real life". An Architect can state which Set they'd prefer players to use, but this is optional, and players can choose to ignore it at any time.

There can be multiple Immersion sets. (In addition, they don't have to actually exist within the physical tower. You can be teleported around to far flung portions of the map if needed.)

Classic: The Classic Arc Server Room, found in every AE Building.
City: Designed to look like a generic street corner, Contacts stand on various street corners. The Arc Server portal is made to look like a Truck.
Arcane: Heavily CoT/Midnighter Influenced, the Arc Server is made to look like a Circle of Thorns Portal.
Tech: Similar to a Tech Map, The Portal is made to look like a Base Telepad.
Portal Corp: A set designed to look like a Portal Corp Lab.
Ouroboros: A Set Designed to look like the Pillar Room in Ouroboros.
Studio B: A Power Suppressed Coffee Shop area where people can work on their arcs. No Arc Server portals.

These "Sets" are accessed through a special elevator that allows for immediate transport between sets.

The "Hospital" is much larger than the normal AE Hospitals, and features Inspiration Vendors in the room itself. It is treated as one of the "Sets", and can be accessed via any of the elevators.

What's the purpose of all of this? Several Reasons:

One: To Provide a widely accessible venue for Cross Faction AEing.

Two: To Provide Sets for AE RPing.

Three: Because it's cool.

...I dunno, it's 5 AM, I ramble alot...

I read up to "AE in Pocket D", which is something we've been asking for since we found out the "cross faction" AE was in the RWZ. At the time, the argument was that it maintained the "cross faction teaming only at lv35+", but with the removal of the level restriction on the RWZ, and GR on the way, that argument holds no water.

Architect Entertainment is designed for entertainment, and doesn't belong in the middle of a war zone. I can see the argument for entertaining the soldiers, but then it should be a partof the Vanguard compound, not a mile away. On the other hand, Pocket D is a night club, and excepting the Winter and Valentines events, is only there for charaacter entertainment. So why did Crey/Aeon build an AE in the middle of a war zone (a completely inappropriate spot for their dual business venture), and not next to the interdimensional night club?

Personally, the biggest thing I like from the suggestion is the introduction of custom contact meeting locations. Right now, this is probably the weakest, most immersion-breaking aspect of the Architect - you're speaking with a VERY obvious hologram, in triplicate, in the middle of a crowded public space. Ugh! It's like trying to watch a deep, engaging movie on your phone in the middle of Grand Central Station.

Being able to specify you want to meet your contact, say, on a street corner, and then entering a small door to a hologram room of a little obscure street corner would help fix that in a big way. If my contact is supposed to be a seedy mole in the underworld, it'd make sense for the setting to be a back alley in Kings Row somewhere, while if I'm speaking with a renowned scientist, it'd make sense to meet him in the university, or inside a laboratory. This even opens the opportunity for our contacts to move around. For instance, you can speak with a contact inside an office building, but he things he's being tapped, so he asks you to meet him somewhere else next time, just in case. Like on the sea shore out of the way somewhere.

Cross-faction teaming works well enough, even if I'd like to see the War Zone Architect building shot up and moved inside the Vanguard base, but the "settings" idea would really work well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I really like the idea! Especially the Sets. /signed

Yes, this is in fact a huge "Put the AE in Pocket D" suggestion. XD

Though the sets are something I've been wanting for a while.

I will be happy with just the Pocket D AE access. But those alternate sets do look like a nice idea.

I was already on board with putting AE in Pocket D, and I'm additionally on board with the expansions of that idea presented by the OP. Good work!