Newly Arrived From Praetoria

I took my character through all of Praetoria (Robot/Poison MM) and was given a nice send-off by several of my surviving contacts there. I stepped through the Rift and---- found myself in an empty parking lot in Talos Island.

--kind of a big let-down--

I thought there'd be some kind of welcoming committee or something, greeting me to the "new world". Instead, my character was just standing there looking around. Also, I didn't take a travel power on this alt yet (didn't really need one in Praetoria), so he was left with no way of getting around. I've played CoH enough to know that I needed to go to the Shadow Shard to buy a jetpack, but new players wouldn't know this. Also, that run through Talos, then through Peregrine, to get to the SS is tough for a level 20 character!

My suggestion is that Steve Sheridan (or someone) be on hand to greet new players; maybe have some NPCs with confetti or something; also, information about travel needs in Paragon City, and, okay, why not, move the jetpack vendor to Talos, too. All characters arriving from Praetoria have just completed a monumental series of missions. Walking into an empty parking lot with nothing to do and no one to talk to is depressing.

Greet us, Primals!!!! lol

This is why we won't greet you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLni3wbndls

I agree on the unceremoniousness, disagree on the Jetpack Vendor. It's really not the devs' fault if you decided to skip out on a travel power.

Agree with the greeting.
Disagree about the need for the jetpack. New players can't wait to get their travel powers. In fact one of the first questions I keep getting asked is about when they can get travel powers and why do some players have them at level 6.

If they ever do move the Jetpack Vendor it should be to Atlas Park or put it on sale at the Market under fixed prices.

I got a welcoming committee. I came out in the middle of a Rikti Invasion, and emerged from the warehouse literally two feet away from the sad end of a Rikti Dropship's main gun. Needless to say it waved hi back very vigorously.

I think it's entirely appropriate and in-genre for you to make your incursion into this dimension in a vacant alley or parking lot. The only way to make it better would be adding some lightning FX and the new costume-change power that makes a spherical pit in the pavement under you.

Personally, I kind of liked the empty warehouse and nobody on the other side. It felt like it was saying "Welcome to Primal Earth. You're on your own now."

It's a very personalised character thing, really. Some want fanfare, some don't. There's no way to turn existing fanfare off, so the people who do have to find some.

It wouldn't really make that much sense to have you attacked instantly when you left by a group that knows you, because your covertness about being from Praetoria is the reason you don't have the Freedom Phalanx personally cruising up to give you a very exciting fist-based welcome. As far as nearly everyone's concerned, Praetoria is another one of those silly bizzaro-land planets, and everyone in it is either completely powerless and helpless of phenomenally powerful and psychotic.

Actually, I think the best thing to do would be to put a contact just outside the exit who calls you over Vanguard Rep style. No missions, or anything, just a dialogue tree to the effect that 'We know you're here. We're watching you. Try any funny business and you'll regret it.'

Put one of those each side, and it would let players weaken that disjunction when you step out of the portal and BAM, Praetoria never mattered.

I found it kind of weird when I'd go up and talk to contacts and they'd be all like "I've heard about all the good you've done for the city..." or "while you've been here doing good, another you has been doing evil." ...except that I just got here!

What I'd like to see is a short arc which introduces you to the "Praetorian Underground" where you continue to do secret missions for Cole/The Resistance while you gain levels as a hero/villain in paragon. You could maybe choose between being an overt agent (you're "out" as a Pratorian, here to show the primals you guys are a-okay) or covert agent (nobody knows you're praetorian.)

So we'd need eight short (2-3 mission) arcs:

Covert Loyalist Heroes (forge documents to make you appear to be a primal)
Overt Loyalist Heroes (stage then stop a crime, for example)
Covert Resistance Heroes (see Covert Loyalist Heroes)
Overt Resistance Heroes (publicly reveal a Loyalist Underground plot)
Covert Loyalist Villains (Out of ideas, but you get the picture)
Overt Loyalist Villains
Covert Resistance Villains
Overt Resistance Villains

And then a spattering of arcs as you level, maybe at 23, 28, 33, 38, 43 and 48.

It'd take some work, but it would improve the "Praetorians in Primal Earth" experience alot.

Neat idea, Dementor. I hope it'll get some dev attention.

What really gets me is the heroside doppelganger arcs. Do them on a hero you made in Paragon, or a villain who swapped sides, and it's at the very least implied that the good doppelganger who you meet is the praetorian you. And if you do it on a praetorian... it's implied that the good doppelganger you meet is the praetorian you.

Wait... what?

I kind of got my own idea earlier about something to help by introducing two new contacts and some new story arcs.
Basically, you arrive from Praetoria and get contacted by- Well, the contact in a somewhat cryptic way and you have to meet them not far from where you arrive, or maybe they're even waiting for you right there in a "Holy Zen! Where did YOU come from?!" moment.
The contact would basically explain that they know where your from and want to help you out, they do this by explaining some of the differences between Praetoria and earth Primal (this will likely be a snooze fest for veteran players), and then they give you a short series of missions you help you establish yourself, and (I'm not sure if this would be possible) they give you your newspaper/radio, as well as a selection of contacts you can pick from.
Maybe at level 25. they contact you again and give you another series of missions to help you establish/learn something about the situation back in Praetoria and even a possible way back...
The contact then reveals: "Yeah, sorry, you've probably figured it by now, but I'm actually praetorian myself. Sorry, but I'm taking this portal back because I have something that will stop Emperor Cole." or something like that, cue use of disappearing contact tech.

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.