First impressions of the "gray" alignments

Wow, thanks everyone.

On-topic:

I can see from a reward side how being 'gray' could be unbalanced. However, it's pretty neat that being gray allows the player to play with friends on either side of the game with the same characters. Not sure if that pro is enough to offset the reward imbalance that William is discussing. Time for me to read up on it!

Since the benefit of being a "tourist" (as the "grey" alignments are called by devs) is supposed to be access to the other side's content, they should probably actually have access to the content, and not have it locked away behind forced teaming. After all, not everyone can team all the time.

I made a suggestion a month or so ago to add content for the gray alignments to do in the tourist areas and got slammed pretty hard for it.

I think the reward is fine especially for rogues since the hero TF's are opened up but it would be nice if there were more solo/small team-friendly things for the gray alignments to do.

I'd personally like rogue/vigilante contacts but that was the least popular of my suggestions. The next best (and much easier) thing is to let us talk to the contacts we get introduced to via Bank missions. It would be fine if those contacts won't introduce us to more contacts... I don't mind running more Bank missions to open more content but I would like the option.

[Edit to add] Totally agree with Spitting Trashcan. Tips you find in the tourist area should include options to stay at your current alignment.

FWIW, I don't care about A-merits.
I stopped running tips/alignment missions right after I got my GA +3% def.

2 of my toons are near merits cap, with the rest holding between 2000-6000 merits each.

So I simply decided to keep one pure villain and one pure hero at any time, and switch my other heroes to vigilantes and villains to rogues.

I agree about this. The value of hero and villain merits enormously outweighs the marginal benefit of being able to team on either side.

Gray alignments are pretty pointless, really.

No A-Merits
No Rogue/Vigilante Content outside of Tip Missions
Tourists can't take missions from the 'other side', can only join teams.
Tourists therefore can't get story arcs and the merit rewards for them.
Tourists don't have access to the 'other side' Ouroboros, meaning a lack of content and the above.
Rogue/Vigilante Powers aren't really all that good compared to the Hero/Villain ones.
End up either repeating Rogue/Vigilante tips, or doing the issue 19 ones that lead to the 'fall' of your character.

Half baked like many ideas implemented into the game.

Examples:

Ouroboros - To quote Justice League Unlimited: "You invent a time machine and can't think of anything useful to do with it?" It could be a tool to explore the historical events, and far off futures with, a staple of hero comics, and instead it's just repeating the old story arcs, the incarnate story arc, and the original TF's.

Cimerora - Ancient Rome with no arena/colleseum type place to battle monsters of myth and legend, for rewards and badges? 1 TF, a couple of story arcs and some repeatable missions? Croatoa had more than that!

Shadow Shards - Nuff Said.

Most Hazard Zones - Nuff Said

Arenas - Some form of PC vs NPC fight system, even a tournament story arc/TF?

Before A-merits were introduced Ouroboros was the greatest friend of the solo only crowd. How else were you earning merits at a speed that could even compare to teaming and running task forces. I'm sure the gut response is you could earn merits doing story arcs normally, but once you completed a story arc you were locked out of it and couldn't repeat it.

Think about it, without Ouro taking your toon from 1 to 50 without teaming meant you were looking at a finite number of merits. Ouro allowed all those who for whatever reason didn't/couldn't team have access to same rewards teamers running taskforces were getting. I don't remember the exact numbers but I believe a bluesider was looking at a maximum of 20 random rolls.

My rogue villain can get on teams any time there's a TF/Sf forming, which lets her save up those merits. Once I get all the bluseside badges and merits I wish I can skip on back to the redside, flush with more than enough to purchase A-merits as I run tips to handily by the ultra-rares I want.

Alignments certainly aren't stagnant, you can go back and forth, so long as you don't hoard A-merits. (then bouncing back and forth is a bad idea, obviously.)

The ability to do any SF/TF anytime on a favorite character? To gain a bunch of new badges? To get the tons of easy exploration merits bluseside? It works for me, so the grey alignment is not so big a deal. I have alts that can get those 'easy' A-merit things, then e-mail them around.

There's the ticket. Not only do we need Rogue and Vigilante contacts, we also need Rogue and Vigilante NPC groups.

I can totally imagine TFs and arcs where a certain rogue group will help you in one instance, and turn against you in another, simply because they will do whatever is in their best interest (and whatever pays more!), and they are like this both for heroes and villains (and well, for vigilantes as well).

EDIT: As well, Rogue and Vigilante contacts should take advantage of the fact that those PCs can traverse between Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. At least in special instances, since I wouldn't want an arc that keeps you schlepping from Peregrine Island to Grandville and back again with each and every mission.

EDIT the second: Oh yes, and Nemesis himself should be an unlockable Rogue contact, located in some tucked away corner that's very hard to find. I just think that's very apropos.

EDIT the third: Striga Isle should be opened up to all factions, given its nature and the way characters get there, and should be a hub of activity for both mid-level Rogues and Vigilantes. It could also be used a way to travel between the Rogue Isles and Talos Island.

We don't really need more rogue/vigilante NPC groups, we just need to re-purpose some existing "grey" groups into proper grey ones.

1) Midnighters. They already have individual missions for both villain and hero alignments, so it's the most obvious candidate. Travel issues would be partially solved with a teleporter temp power similar to that of Ouroboros.
2) Ouroboros. They likewise have individual missions for both villain and hero alignments, but they aren't really a full-fledged group yet. Can possibly be further expanded. (and merging the hero/villain Ouroboros at the same time)
3) Vanguard/Lady Grey. Though technically above morality as opposed to being properly grey, they do have certain qualities which makes them appropriate, especially with their diversification of tasks to encompass more than just Rikti.
4) Wyvern would specifically be a vigilante group, for obvious reasons.

Trying to think of a group which would specifically be rogue though.

Wyvern and to some extent Legacy Chain could be Vigilante groups.

For Rogue... Goldbrickers, maybe some of the Paragon City gangs? (Tsoo, Family, Warriors etc.)? And in Praetoria: Syndicate.

I'm considering Malta actually, but there's just a little too much "going against everyone" to fit in. But is is the closest I can think of with sufficient spread and with a sufficiently close motive, to be rogue as opposed to villain.