It's all about me, me, me!

You know, in the past I've complained about GR and how I felt it was too restrictive and too much like mandatory service. I complained that I expected more choice - specifically the choice to work for myself - yet I got LESS choice because I always had to be someone's lackey. I would like to formally and officially announce that I was wrong. I'm in the process now of playing through the Praetorian Loyalist Power arcs, and I have to say one thing: The descriptions of the contacts from Marchand could not have been more misleading if they'd printed outright propaganda there. The Power arc is described as being the "bad" arc of the Loyalists, where only those egotistical bastards who want to backhand society go to, probably so that they can punch people in the street and be untouchable because of their position.

This is how I read it, and I was wrong. The Power arc is completely the opposite of this, and I forget who it was who said it, but you were right, good sir: If I pretend I'm not revelling in the publicity, the Loyalist Power arc is almost the most heroic part of the entire Praetorian campaign. And, yes, while the Resistance Warden arc is written as the typical goody two-shoes storyline, the Power arc gives it a SERIOUS run for its money.

On the subject of being wrong, I remember back when I was complaining that many people told me it was impossible to work for myself, that this wouldn't work in an MMO. What I was asking for was unrealistic and infeasible. I would like to formally and officially announce that you were wrong. Completely. Because, in a nutshell, this is exactly what the Power arc is - me gaming the system, me screwing over my enemies, me working for myself, gaining power and fame and gaining my own team of supers. How cool is that? More importantly, how much more self-serving this really get?

All of that is to say that the Resistance Power arc is much, much better than I expected it would be. It's the kind of arc I'd have LOVED to have in City of Villains. Even for a hero, it's the kind of arc that puts a big smile on my face once the news hits and everyone is cheering for my latest victories. It makes me giggle when I walk into an enemy stronghold and everyone goes "Oh, I know you!" It's just satisfying that, whenever someone threatens me publicly, the people are outraged and band together to show their support for my cause. They believe in me, they cheer for me. How much more self-serving can the game get before we admit that, yes, we CAN very much work for ourselves and can we have some more of that pretty please with sugar on top?

This, in a nutshell, is what I've always wanted. From the beginning of CoV, I've been posting about the "servant" contact, one who, instead of barking "Hey, scum, go do this for me and I MAY pay you!" would say "Good to see you, sir! How may I serve you?" This is what that is! Forget Dean McArthur, forget Time After Time. The Power arc is where people who don't want to serve under someone else should go. Yeah, it's only an illusion, sure. But it's so damn well written that I don't care it's not real. I want more!

I take back everything bad I've said about Praetoria's storyline and settings. This simply makes up for every problem I may have had before.

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.

Gotta be honest Sam, I have a hard time imagining you having time to play the game between writing these dissertations you call forum posts.

Pretty much. Rather than simply being heroic for heroics sake (Paragon) you're heroic for the personal gain, while that does lessen the heroism involved, you still did something good.

Thanks to the writing you can sum up the four lines like this:

Warden: Hero.
Power: Selfish hero.
Responsibility: Blind hero.
Crusader: Villain (sorry but I can't see the Crusaders as anything but villainous, they actually act WORSE than the designated 'bad guy' Power arc).

Or you can see them as this.

Warden: Naive.
Power: Ego stroking.
Responsibility: Blind.
Crusader: Psychopath.

Which is why I like GRs writing.

Lol yeah, you need an editor, Sam. To help trim your posts a bit

I haven't done the Loyalist Power arc yet, only the 2 Resistance and Loyalist Responsibility arcs but I suppose I'll give it a try eventually when I find a new character to make.

The Power Arcs are my absolute favorites. Reese is my nemesis...I hope he pops up in a Task Force or something.

I also like Marchand. He scares me sometimes with what he knows and doesn't, but he's a reliable contact unlike Scott who seems to essentially tell me to "wing it" when I phone home with a potential quandary.

I'll bring this back from a post I made during GR beta:

Heroes -> Lawful Good: A Lawful Good character typically acts with compassion, and always with honor and a sense of duty.

Vigilantes -> Neutral Good: A Neutral Good character is guided by his conscience and typically acts altruistically, without regard for or against Lawful precepts such as rules or tradition. A Neutral Good character has no problems with co-operating with lawful officials, but does not feel beholden to them.

Resistance/Warden -> Chaotic Good: A Chaotic Good character favors change for a greater good, disdains bureaucratic organizations that get in the way of social improvement, and places a high value on personal freedom, not only for oneself, but for others as well. They always intend to do the right thing, but their methods are generally disorganized and often out of alignment with the rest of society.

Loyalist/Responsibility -> Lawful Neutral: A Lawful Neutral character typically believes strongly in Lawful concepts such as honor, order, rules and tradition, and often follows a personal code. A Lawful Neutral society would typically enforce strict laws to maintain social order, and place a high value on traditions and historical precedent.

Civilian -> Neutral: This alignment represents Neutral on both axes, and tends not to feel strongly towards any alignment. A farmer whose primary overriding concern is to feed his family is of this alignment.

Resistance/Crusader -> Chaotic Neutral: A character of this alignment is an individualist who follows his or her own heart, and generally shirks rules and traditions. Although they promote the ideals of freedom, it is their own freedom that comes first.

Loyalist/Power -> Lawful Evil: Characters of this alignment see a well-ordered system as being easier to exploit, and show a combination of desirable and undesirable traits; while they usually obey their superiors and keep their word, they care nothing for the rights and freedoms of other individuals and are not averse to twisting the rules to work in their favor.

Rogue -> Neutral Evil: Characters of this alignment are typically selfish and have no qualms about turning on their allies-of-the-moment. They have no compunctions about harming others to get what they want, but neither will they go out of their way to cause carnage or mayhem when they see no direct benefit to it. They abide by laws for only as long as it is convenient for them.

Villain -> Chaotic Evil: Characters of this alignment tend to have no respect for rules, other people's lives, or anything but their own desires, which are typically selfish and cruel. They set a high value on personal freedom, but do not have any regard for the lives or freedom of other people.

@SpaceNut - My 50s, AE arcs and current projects at ParagonWiki

Yeap, the Power arc was the 2nd Preatorian run I did and though i've since done all the other permutations, the entire feeling I got off the arc was my favourite.

The end of the arc was ,imho, very epic and it's one of the few times, when I throw myself into a story, I actually felt something during different moments in the leadup to it's conclusion.

Yeah I think some of you guys have gotten too hung up on how the definitions of the terms "Loyalist" and "Resistance" apply to what "hero" and "villain" mean in the pre-GR City of Heroes. That's why I suggested you take a step back and realize the subtext what what'd being presented in Praetoria.

Emperor Cole is very much (in terms of classic D&D alignments) a Lawful Evil ruler. Now just because he's "evil" doesn't mean he's out to kill his people and/or be an openly big meany. From his point of view he is bringing order and control to his society. To him keeping everyone under his control and stamping out the Resistance is what will keep his people safe and secure. The "evil" part of it in this case comes from how the totalitarian grip of his hyper police state keeps freedom of thought and expression from having a legitimate place in his perfect utopia. His vision is the only "good" in his world, regardless of what anyone else thinks. Basically Cole is this game's version of an Anti-Christ, Emperor Palpatine or even Adolf Hitler for that matter. This is a classic example of what would happen if the "bad guys" and/or the "redside" ruled the world.

In the pre-GR world of Paragon City/Rogue Isles you have the heroes who represent the status quo of law and order. Heroes react to the actions of villains to keep their (from the heroes' point of view) "evil" schemes from overthrowing the shiny-happy world of Paragon City. Both groups, heroes and villains, see the other side as the "bad guys" and the only real difference is who's in charge so to speak. The heroes (Statesman) in this case are the faction in charge and the villains (Lord Recluse) is the faction in the shadows trying to take over.

So what happens if the roles of heroes and villains were reversed? It's not a question of good and evil because as Steampunkette points out there's really not a good/evil question in dispute here - it's all just shades of gray. What if what we called villains were in charge of the world and they had to work to keep the (from their point of view) "evil" schemes of the underdog heroes from overthrowing the shiny-happy world of Praetoria? You'd have the Praetoria of Going Rogue. Basically Praetoria shows us a world where the villains (called Loyalists) are having to fill the role that heroes played on Primal Earth and heroes (called Resistance) is having to play the roles that villains played. I still argue that if you accept that role-reversal that the purpose and nature of the GR arcs make perfect sense.

Obviously Praetoria is not a 100% exact mirror to Primal Earth and I never really meant to imply that it was.
But it's basic moral/societal structure does mirror Primal Earth in the most fundamental ways that matter.

P.S. Besides there's plenty of in-game evidence for what I'm saying. For example if you look at several badges like Agent of Praetoria and True to the Last you'll see there are two versions of each of those badges. Loyalists get the one that has the red "arachnos spider" villain symbol and the Resistance gets the one that has the "gold star" hero symbol. Obviously the Devs pretty much consider Loyalists to be the villains of Praetaria and the The Resistance to be the heroes of Praetoria.