The Incarnate Path

<Spoiler: this post reveals nothing about anything that may or may not be in beta, merely plays around with ideas that could be used for future expansions of the incarnate system>

So we know that there are two new TF's coming with I19 and the first slot. This is great every hero/villain/other (H/V/O) takes a big step when they first realize that they may be more than they thought they were. A huge challenge is a great place for that. So what's next? For me it's the H/V/O learning more about how far their power can go, it's about self discovery, taking on challenges that stress the mind as much as their new potential.

With that in mind I think that the next slot should be story based. An arc of twisting paths, choices, good, evil, and simply leaving yourself in a place where each path is (un)appealing but only one can be traveled. To travel a path to great power is traveling alone, so this arc would have to be somewhere with low foot traffic. It's part of setting the mood. FBZ may be a good place. Expanding on Cimm. could also be a good place to travel the path. If we are only talking about existing locales.

My initial idea for this path was something totally foreign something that touched on aspects of culture that didn't already exist in the game. My thoughts wandered to "journey to the west" A forbidden kingdom that exists high in the sky far out of reach of mortals, but because of your new potential you can begin to access it and interact with the unique and powerful beings that exist there. With a potential access point through Mirror Spirit and story tie-ins with the Tsoo (we'll ignore the fact that those are 3 wholly different cultures C K & J) but that's a lot of work for something that is by definition going to be a little barren.

As I write about story lines that takes the character upward and to high places, I feel a story line taking them low both literally and perhaps physically to a darker more hellish place would be a fitting dichotomy. The seeds of this idea only just planted so I don't have much to say about that.

Thoughts, ideas, and suggestions on the incarnate path? Please keep in mind this is not the CBT board and any information related to what may or may not exist should be left out until someone says it's ok.

I'm not sure what you're suggesting here.

If you're suggesting the basic desire to have further slots unlocked via story arcs, rather than large-scale TFs, then you have my full support. I've never been a fan of "From now on, you MUST team!" end game mechanics, and this scares me a great deal to think about.

If you're looking for a specific story to tell around the Incarnate system, however, I don't think you have a very high chance of getting that through. The developers already have their storyline plans, likely tying into existing lore. They have, historically, never really taken PLOT from players, at least none that I've seen. And on top of that, I'm not sure I want more of that "Are you good or are you evil?" duality that we saw in Going Rogue. It's good for that side of the game, but I'd rather not force designated heroes and designated villains into these situations. Not unless I chose to make them Praetorians, at least.

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.

Here's the thing:
Look at everyone who's upset that if they want to play the Heroic Epic Archetype, they have to play them by the Official Kheldian Backstory, or get tarted at by others for "doing it wrong."
Multiply that by everyone who wants to use the new Incarnate system, ever.

Sure, the non-roleplayers won't care. But they wouldn't care about your "story paths" suggestion, either. So for purposes of this discussion, they don't exist.
That leaves all the people who do care about story... and who probably want to tell their own, about their character, not have you or the Devs or anyone else dictate it to them. You cannot possibly satisfy all of them, and so I strongly advise you not to even try.

I see your points. I guess my suggestion is more simple than I imagined. Content beyond TF's for incarnates. Whether these are linear stories or branching ones doesn't matter.

With regards to existing Dev content, each of my characters has followed different paths through it. I pick my arcs carefully and make sure to do some and avoid others, depending on the character. (Naturally, I have to explain or ignore why Dr. Vahzilok or the Tsoo are at it again, but that sort of thing comes with a static world.) Sometimes my characters will have reactions to the scripted events which go beyond what's assumed in the briefing and debriefing text. Some parts, I ignore completely because I think they're poorly written and/or stupid (e.g., the Origin of Power arc, the canon justification for Architect Entertainment, etc). And there are some things that I've written into their stories that aren't and can't be supported by the game engine, like keeping the whole city Vahzilok-free for just one day, or retiring to become a resistance fighter in another dimension.

Any new content added to the game, if it's to be taken seriously and integrated into characters' stories, is going to have to meet a very high standard. It has to cover a wide range of choices and respect them all. It also has to be "epic", something which no two people seem to be able to agree on. In all honesty, I don't know if the current writing team is capable of managing this; and so, rather than do it badly and forcing me to ignore and/or rewrite it for my characters, I'd rather they just leave it up to us and not try.

If I'm given four choices and none of them happen to fit my character, what can I do? Either I don't do the arc or I ignore what's there and substitute my own choice. Either way, the story content "you" put in might as well not exist.

As an aside, most of my characters are going to be sitting out the new endgame entirely because they aren't archetypical embodiments of some concept or whatever. All of them are "super" in some way, but only a few (out of over a dozen) have the potential to take that next step beyond.