AE mode in Ouroboros
It's always bugged me that Ouroboros had the TF restrictions on them. Since my group often tends to play fairly disparate characters level-wise, Ouroboros largely goes unused by us, and we're even that rare breed that enjoys most of the older content.
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Well, part of the reason that Ouro has the TF restrictions, of not being able to add teammates throughout the arc is so, one person doesn't start the arc, play all the way through to the last mission, invite seven friends, and then they all get merits/badges.
Also, I think it would be too confusing having Ouro use two different systems like what you propose. I understand what you're saying/getting at, but I just don't think it will work.
So let me try to rephrase the situation for my comprehension.
There's basically two options when it comes to multi-mission teaming and rewards.
TF mode: everybody must be there at the start, and everybody gets the rewards at the end.
Arc mode: anyone can join at any time, but only the arc holder gets the rewards at the end.
TFs and Trials only offer TF mode; AE missions only offer arc mode (and don't have any special rewards at the end); most other content can be done once in arc mode and then any number of times through Ouroboros in TF mode. What you're asking for is the option to start Ouroboros missions in arc mode.
If that is an accurate assessment of the request, then I'd say this is potentially desirable, and probably not exploitable (due to the reward restriction on arc mode), and I'm not terribly concerned by increased complexity on the player side. But I don't know how technically feasible it is.
(One thing does stick out for me in the OP: the claim that there are "no rewards" for Flashbacks. In fact, there are merit rewards for the whole team for completing a Flashback arc, which can be substantial! That's why arc mode rewards would have to be implemented alongside arc mode teaming.)
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Yep, that's pretty much the gist of it. Also, you have a point about the merit rewards, but those {for the leader} would only work if one wouldn't be able to pass the leadership from one player to another under any circumstances. So, under AE mode, a player could solo stealth most of a difficult arc and. At the last mission, invite a friend to the team and then quits - since the leader quit, the star passes on to the next person in team, making them the leader and therefore eligible for the merit rewards, essentially feeding merits from one player to another. Unless a system could be designed to prevent that, it might be a tolerable sacrifice to just remove the merit rewards from arc flashbacks entirely.
Depends on how flashbacks are coded. Normal arcs always have an owner, who is the only one who gets the final rewards, regardless of team leader. Presumably if they switched over to "arc mode" it would work the same, or be tweaked to do so.
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Let's be honest here - almost nobody ever runs flashbacks anymore. They saw a brief surge back when Ouroboros was new and shiny, but nowadays, and indeed, nowayears, the floating platform has been a brass equivalent of Skyway City - a place people travel through, but never to.
Flashbacks themselves are a useful feature - in theory. While the ability to go back and revisit content was lauded during the time when the amount of content was recovering from coming at a premium, the number of things to do for both fun and profit has increased long past the point where revisiting the old is necessary.
Might revisiting old content be fun, though? Certainly - in theory. However, flashbacks come with their own set of caveats, which can essentially be summarized as task forces with all the limitations, and none of the rewards. Oh certainly, there are badges, but no less at the expense of entertainment.
Thus, to alleviate the inherent conflict between flashback limitations and casual playing that City of Heroes has cultivated so well thus far, I propose this - if removing the limitations outright isn't possible, then make them available in the Arcthitect flavor - with no level requirements {save for the availability of arcs to choose from} and with ability to change teammates after the start.
And of course, for those that do wish to run flashbacks for the badges, retain that option as well - as a suggestion, have the large pillar dispense the "classic" flashbacks, with the restrictions, challenges and badges, while the smaller pillars surrounding it dispense the casual, less restrictive versions with no challenge options or badge rewards.