Caf-Esque Alternative to Pocket D

And so I bravely step forward to create a topic on these forums.

Anywho. For a while now, I’ve been wandering purposelessly through Pocket D on Virtue, enjoying a bit of role-playing and chatting with my fellow villains and heroes; all the while thinking, “Where else could I be doing this?”

Now don’t get me wrong, Pocket D is a groovy place, but there are times when its atmosphere just doesn’t sit well with my current mood. Sometimes I want to feel like a hero, just finished saving some damsel in distress, and rewarding themselves with a stop in a coffee shop--encountering a fellow heroic do-gooder, and cheerfully chatting about the goings on in Paragon. At other times, perhaps I am feeling akin to a recently bedraggled villain, and wish to take shelter in a dark, cozy saloon where I might share my dark endeavors with a fellow rogue.

Pocket D does fulfill such desires to a point. After all, there are the hidden dimensional portals that allow such heroes and villains quick seclusion from the tribulations of their day--and let’s face it, grinding those pesky bad guys gets boring after a while. So it’s nice to stop by Pocket D and chill out. However, what if there was an alternate place to do so? Somewhere a little more in-the-city, that made you feel you weren’t abandoning Earth in favor of an alternate dimension--somewhere where any vigilante or henchman could stop in for a brief respite?

Two paragraphs in and I have yet to really display my mission-statement, so here it is:

“What do you think of having a Café in certain zones?”

My reasons for bringing it up are mostly stated--I feel a small Café type place would invite players to a central location in primary zones (other than the Markets and Universities!). It could provide a different role-playing atmosphere for players who are into such things, and it could even be purposeful for a non-role-player, with the addition of an Inspiration-selling NPC or some such thing.

There are of course, many arguments against the implementation of such a place: Going Rogue is soon to be released, thus rendering such minor diversions moot in the grand scheme of things; why do we need such a place when we already have Contacts for inspirations, and Supergroup Bases and other such locations for role-playing…

I don’t really have any counter argument to them--I’m not trying to come up with one, as this entire topic’s premise is based on a thought I have, that’s all. But every team I’ve joined recently, I’ve asked the question, “Would you like a Café in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles?” and so far, I haven’t had a single “No” from anyone; most seem to agree it’s a nice thought.

So now I bring the question to all you folks here on the forums, and ask for your opinions, thoughts, and general beliefs on whether such a place would, should, or could be implemented.

I’ll leave you on this note, and provide two images I created purely as a matter of self-indulgence. Cheers!


“Paragon Café / The Rogue’s Saloon” Concept Designs
By Bernard the Beast
Café Created Using GTK Radiant 1.4.0
Click an Icon Below to View Full Version

Very nice mockup. I guess it would be kind of cool to see a small cafe one can enter somewhere in Atlas Park.

That's an...interesting location you've chosen for something like that.

Clearly it needs to be called Common Grounds. (or Holey Crullers)

You've presented an interesting idea here.

Granted, something like this would mainly be in-faction functionality, but it has possibilities. Like reworking the donuts shop in Faultline.

Thank you for the time...

@Travlr (Main) / @Tymers Realm (Test)

I'd love something like this, really. It might result in some emptiness from time to time, but it'd still be nice to say "Hey, after the mission, why don't you and go out for dinner somewhere?" and actually be able to go somewhere other than a dingy old base or an inter-dimensional nightclub.

Still, they'd be almost entirely an RP addition unless there were insp sellers or something in them, wouldn't it? Not that I have any problems with that.

I already mentioned something like this over in DN's All Thing Art: Building Edition thread. Glad to see others think the same, No mockups, but I'd like to see some places like these in the game.

Can we get some nice restaurants/pubs. Every time I'm wonder around Nerva, I see some really nice outdoor seating. Yet the only 'social' indoor atmosphere (leaving certain aspects aside,) are the bars Pocket D which have all the atmosphere of a college town dance club the morning after a weekend party. The Tiki Club is nice, but it is not accessible to everyone.

Seating is lacking or unusable, the place is never clean and most of the bar stools have been stolen.

It'd be nice if there were several locations throughout the zones that are restaurants on the outside, and if you click on the door, you enter someplace like this...


or


or


or

(Actually, I'd like to see a poorly lit, dingy version of this one for the Mermaid Tavern on Striga.)

I think that, every once in a while, a bunch of level 1 Hellions should run in and yell "This is a stickup! Everybody put your hands... oh crap."

Nice mock-up and good location for a blue-side-only location. However, I'd find the way to face the windows to the park. More picturesque. And hey, look! Its practically next door to the Atlas Park bank. It could be another challenge for villains to attack the coffee shop in the mayhem mission, with the possibility of multiple heroes inside.

The pub picture made me think a pub set in the village at Croatoa would be nice.

I would like to add to this by suggesting one or more locations be placed in some of the lesser populated zones. Breath a little life back into them.

Yes, yes, yes, please yes. Also, awesome mock-ups.

Years ago I floated the idea that the various food establishments become like Origin Stores, where food and beverage items would be the equivalent to Inspirations. This idea would dovetail nicely with that.

Terrific mock-ups, Grant. Well done!

Sounds like a great idea. Possibly one for steel canyon or aeon city we could have an observatory floor looking out over the city with a restaurant inside.

Awesome stuff here everyone--don't quite get the "Troy Hickman" thing myself though--but I'm glad to see ideas that everyone has! I certainly rate City of Heroes as one of the best video games I've played, due to it's community's creativity, and the tools available to turn that creativity into a tangible (though digital!) creation. And thanks for the compliments, Street Wolf, Rodoan, Ian The M1, Ironik--I'm rather proud of them myself, though they could be a little better...

Anyway, thanks to all of you for responding--keep throwing out ideas though! The concept of making such a place a Mayhem hot-spot or designing it as a pub rather than a coffee shop are groovy thoughts among them in my opinion.

When I created those mockups, I tried to design the building based on architecture seen in City of Heroes. Typically you'll have simple architecture, accented by detail objects, which is why the building and interior don't look too fancy. If I were to have spent more than two hours working on it, I would have added coffee machines, equipment, plants, decorations, and other things to liven the place up to where it would be if it were implemented in-game. But I also think about the architecture complexity, and tools that the CoX developers have at their disposal to create worldspawn materials--I doubt GTK Radiant is as complex as whatever they use, heh. My thoughts are on the pub images though--those images represent places that are slightly more complex in terms of architectural design...but I suppose it's beside the point. The developers will do what they do with the tools they have, and there are plenty of ways to make neat things--as they've already shown they can! So I guess I've been digressing for an entire paragraph, heh.

Case in point, thank you everyone for the replies, and keep them coming!

Grant, if my girlfriend doesn't get me, I can't expect you to...

If you do ever "get Hickman" I'd suggest an intense round of antibiotics and a soothing balm.

I'm all for more places to hang out that don't have people throwing up in the corners. Especially if some of them aren't cross-faction.