Get Rid of the Arbiters

Where City of Heroes differs from City of Villains so much in my mind is that the Rogue Isles has so few memorable villains. You've got Dr. Aeon who is sorta-kinda a villain, Bat'Zul, Longbow, etc, but you never really hear about them, and most of the time, you never even SEE them!

I'd like to propose that the devs and the CoH community work together in order to create the newest forces of Arachnos; new villains who will replace the Arbiters and lend the Isles a bit of personality, so we don't have to stare at the same faces as before.

Please; get rid of these faceless people in favor of some character and personality! Give us... People!

Another solution would be to give the Arbiters some personality. Right now they are just nearly identical people with different names. Make them more interesting. It wouldn't hurt to show us why we must fear them too. Show, don't tell, as the old saying goes.

Boosting the Arbiters sounds like a better idea. You already have Sands, who is quite a good example; cold, calculating, logical. Maybe different aspects that all mesh together.

Also, have you looked at the SIZE of them, at least the guys? They're as tall as a Council Cor Leonis, so I'd expect them to have quite an ammount of punch behind them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Something I've thought recently is that one of the upcoming issues will probably be an uncivil war in the Rogue Isles pitting Recluse against the arbiters. Consider this tidbit from Manticore: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...29&postcount=6

How much personallity can we really breathe into the Arbiters when the first thing we do is go straight into the training screen, take our power/slots, then run off?
We could change the flavor text a bit, but with identical uniforms and most people unlikely to click on "ask about this contact", there's not much.

Replacing the Arbiters with new and upcoming Destined Ones? Is Arachnos losing it's touch and needing to outsource? Sign of weakness. Send in more Longbow, it's invasion time.

Just like the OP I was of course talking about the Arbiters who are trainers, not the Arbiters who are contacts or NPCs already.

Easiest solution? Take off the Arbiters' helmets and give them faces. As Fleeting Whisper said, Leery, Daos, and Sands already go without helmets, so it's not like there's no precedent. Maybe even if villains ever get a new zone, toss us a female Arbiter as a trainer? There's nonspeaking female Arbiters as "scenery NPCs" in Grandville and at Fort Darwin, so we know they aren't all Fateweavers.

Taking the helmets off of the Arbiter trainers would also make them differentiable at a glance from Quartermasters, which would be kinda nice as a convenience for new players sometimes when an Arbiter and a Quartermaster are standing in the same vicinity. I've been here for years and even I sometimes head to the Quartermaster in Grandville when I really want to train.

I agree with fleshing out the Arbiters a bit more, stick some more of them in missions. Sands is a fun character, I like him showing up, and maybe a few other unmasked Arbiters could be good for both hero and villain missions. Either that, or if they do change from using Arbiters as trainers, give us a bit more of some of the other Arachnos characters, who're not quite as well regarded as to be hanging out in Recluse's VIP Party Room.

edit: I wouldn't just get rid of the Arbiters in a patch with no story related to it though...give us an Arachnos Civil War, or at the very least some good reason for reallocation of forces...maybe an invasion of another country/dimension/time/planet

Also, maybe have each other trainer arbiters in different emotes besides just standing around going through the idle animations.
Maybe one is always found with a clipboard in hand, or another is always seated at a small table drinking tea, and another drinking coffee.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.

I want to go get training off an off-duty Arbiter in his bermuda shorts sitting outside the Golden Giza!

edit: actually maybe that'd make a better idea for a contact. We should get contacts and trainers and the rest of the NPC's actually doing stuff while they're stuck waiting for us to come up to them. At the very least let the dude in The Hollows shoot off a few rounds with his men from time to time.

MOAR Jenkins antics!!! Change his first name to Leroy, too. It would be appropriate.

They had the perfect opportunity to make Arbiters more interesting with the introduction of the VEATs. We could have got our special VEAT story arcs from the Arbiters, one or two complete story arcs in each zone to match the Kheldians, where we actually do work for Arachnos instead of trying to weasel our way on some list of Destined Losers. Too bad they went with the current arcs instead.

I definitely agree the VEAT arcs are total weaksauce, especially when you compare them to the Kheld arcs. Whatever your opinion on the Khelds as characters, their story arcs are much better than what the VEATs got shafted with.

Dunno, I always liked the attitude Arbiter Sands has. He should be a villain side contact for something. I don't think I've seen him anywhere but hero side.

I think the problem with the Arbiters is that, unlike their Hero counterparts, they are the administrators and judges of Recluse's territory.

They are supposed to be impartial to the goings on in the Rogue Isles and are not fazed by having to pull apart the big 4 and their factions should the need arise.

Giving them more personality, I think, would take away from the personalities of the contacts (including Recluse and the Patrons and their Lackeys) already in the Rogue Isles. Let's face it, even with the introduction of the newer contacts blueside, redside has far more interesting characters (Doc Buzzsaw, Gregor Thingamybob, Vernon Von Grun, Becky the Tarantula Mistress (yes she's not a contact but she's ACE!) to name but a few) - heck even the Mayhem Brokers have more personality than, say, Christine Lansdale or Linda Summers.

I quite like that the 'trainers' in the Rogue Isles are the grey faces of bureaucracy.

It makes Sands, Daos and Leery stand out all the more for it. Actually, Leery is still pretty bland, he just has an interesting arc. In my humble opinion, of course

*cracks knuckles and wades in*

I agree that the various trainer-Arbiters need spicing up. Remove their helmets & give them faces, slot in a few women (either using the Fateweaver model or a female version of the Huntsman armor), let them use different emotes as they stand there, anything.

My best suggestion, however, would be the addition of an "About this trainer" option in the menu, and give each and every one of them a story. This would have applications elsewhere, too: when I first started I had to piece together the story behind Valkyrie, Mynx, BAB, and the rest of the blueside trainers from outside info. Having a brief bio available for the trainers would help newbies wade into the game lore.

And while we're at it, why does Vanguard have a generic, faceless soldier handle the training of its super-powered members? There's a perfect chance to slip another unique character into the game just sitting there.

Back to the Arbiters, another thing that'd add some color is to stop using them for quartermasters, too. Perhaps it's time we see what Arachnos techie division, the Orb Weavers, look like.

I wonder if there should be a subtle reverse. Leave the trainers the same...and remove the helmets from the Quartermasters. The origin based ones already have emotes so that's a start. Also, give the higher level ones singular missions like the higher level origin salesmen blueside.