Supporters of Emperor Cole are abandoned?

Just the way Tyrant wants you!

Pretty much they're telling us that this is no longer a game about options. Welcome to the anti-Cole Train railroad.

Not at all!

You have options! You just don't like reading them.

Now since this is more an RP issue than anything else (and really, I don't think Cole wants to give power to anyone he can't just rip it away from, so since he can to his Praetors, and not likely to you the player character...why would he...when in an RP perspective, while you may be loyal, Cole will never truely trust he can hold total control over you).

One could easily say they're loyal to Cole and just run all that content out of characterly. Had to do that myself to get access to electical powers for my main, a DB/WP/Mu Scrapper.

Dude can't even keep total control over Praetor friggin' Berry and you're saying he'll favor Berry but not any of our characters? Ridiculous.

Going off-toping for a moment: a dev (can't remember who, possibly Ghost Falcon) mentioned in an interview (or somewhere...) that the numbers are pretty much even. 49.5% of side switching goes red-side, the rest goes blue-side. No mention of how many stay rogue/vigilante. These numbers may of course have changed by now.

That was just the split between players choosing Resistance or loyalists - it was an almost even split - but the numbers for side switching were overwhelmingly red to blue, rather than blue to red.

And the reason for the even split between Resistance and loyalist was because, according to Ghost Falcon:

Just for clarity, perhaps you could tell us what those options are?

And it's not just an rp issue, it's poor storytelling. The Devs introduce an option for being a loyalist which is then forgotten about the moment you get dumped into Primal Earth.

I certainly hope that GG is right and that future issues show us what happens to those loyal to Cole.

I tried to stay out of this as much as I could, but there's something I have to say to this train of thought:

Just because meta-game limitations will not allow us to do certain actions, it doesn't mean that the game shouldn't let us at least ATTEMPT them, even if we all know they'll never succeed. It's a lot like Wardog's plan to nuke all of Nova Praetoria. From the very moment he suggested it, I knew it wouldn't work, because I knew we couldn't remove a zone from the game. So when the twist came to make sure he couldn't, I was not surprised, but I still appreciated the storyline.

One doesn't need to be allowed to destroy or rule the world, but one should at least be given the illusion of trying to do so, nevertheless.

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.

Fix't...

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

At best you can only go to that well once, otherwise you subject the PCs to a very bad weakening.

"I'll get you next time, Gadget!"...no, thank you.

Once towards the end of the game is enough, really, at least as far as I'm concerned. If you sprinkle in other people attempting to do the same and being foiled - either by you or others - you can at least make the world appear as though it's capable of these things, even if it practically isn't.

Then there's also the other side of the coin: So I tried to take over the world and failed, but perhaps I achieved something very impressive in return for said failure. I know you hate the Clone Factory storyline, but considering it ends in a total loss... It doesn't really end in a total loss. Sure, we have no use for Protean's money from a gameplay perspective, but the satisfaction that HE doesn't have it is usually enough for me to gain quite a bit of closure.

A lot of times, a decent villainous story doesn't need to end in success to be satisfying. I'm perfectly happy seeing my villains fail if they manage to make everyone else FAIL HARDER. Sure, I couldn't take over this Arachnos base for my own, but at least I set it on fire so now they can't have it, either. In this, I invoke the Nemesis principle - even when I lose, I still win, if for no reason other than because you lost even more.

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.

I agree. We should at least have the option.

One thing that occurred to me is the lack of foresight shown in the story telling. If you're a Loyalist, why would it be so impossible for Cole to send you off to Primal Earth with something like: That took me about 5 minutes to knock up (if that) and I'm sure somebody will pick holes in it because they can but it's a lot more satisfying personally than the "bugger off!" we get now, and doesn't even need any of the arcs to be rewritten

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

Longbow invaded Praetoria during that arc, remember? They were constantly muttering about how the PPD were equipped with non-lethal weaponry while Longbow themselves were equipped with flamethrowers, chainguns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers... (Great example of Shoot First, Ask Questions Later.)

I don't know if you're aware of how stuff like this works, but when one faction barges in on another faction's territory with lethal weaponry it's usually a declaration of war.

In all honesty, the invasion of Primal Earth is justified on Cole's end. Think about it; Longbow and Arachnos invade. Invade. Arachnos goes to great lengths to blow up one of the Keyes Island Reactors (which would literally wipe all of Praetoria--and more--off the map) and sides with the Resistance. Longbow show up on the shores of Praetoria and invade a lab or two, opening fire and holing up. Now you find out there are powered individuals in Primal Earth, where the main two factions BOTH came in to your world with guns blazing?

Look at it from a Loyalist's perspective: The two central factions of Primal Earth are violent, use deadly weaponry to "subdue" people, and have no regard for anything if their mission is set. You realize that there are super-powered individuals backing them up in Primal Earth with the same ideals and beliefs in their heads. As a Loyalist, Praetoria is your home, and most Loyalists want Praetoria preserved. An invasion is nowhere near out of the question after the events brought about by Primal Earth insurgents.

But we still get the "**** off and go away, you know too much for some reason" from Cole.

The Responsibility Loyalists work for a despotic regime that tortures and kills its citizens. The whole point of that path is to show you that you're working for an illegitimate government. That you have chosen tyranny for the illusion of safety.

I've never understood this need that people feel on these boards to defend this path.

At what point does a Responsibility Loyalist needlessly kill a citizen?

Christ alive, Geks, you'r esounding as self righteous and uptight as GG these days...

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Right, but they aren't in opposition to each other. More on that in a moment.

Those other followers (the Praetors) are his closest confidants. They've been with him since the Hamidon wars or are his blood relatives. He trusts them implicitly. Responsibility Loyalists who amass too much power are a threat to his regime. I don't care how loyal you think you are, but despots do not want to keep around potential rivals.

The thing you keep waving away is that Cole is an evil man. He is a tyrant. He is not the savior of the world. You might want to RP that your character believes that he is, but the character's writers (the devs) have said over and over and over than he is not. His story is a lie. You cannot continue to grow in power and influence but still believe the lie. That's bad RP on your part. You're willingly ignoring the cues the game master is giving you.

I had to cool down a bit before I responded to this. All I did was repeat what the story written by the devs. Why did you feel the need to say I was sounding "self-righteous and uptight?"

To be fair, you rather do.
To be even more fair, though, it's not your fault. As you say, you're just repeating what the devs have already said. Complaints should generally be lodged with the people responsible for writing the story that way, but sometimes it's easier to shoot the messenger, perhaps.

Well, there's the first morality mission at the end of that path. Summary executions without trial tend to fall into the bucket of "kill a citizen."

Who, Cleopatra? Did you forget that she had you bug the PPD so the Resistance could track their movements, then sent you to your death in a Resistance-filled tunnel? She wasn't a "citizen", she was a traitor and a saboteur who had Praetor White under her thumb.

You can't be a traitor without being a citizen. If you do something to attack a government when you're not a citizen, you're not a traitor, you're a spy or a combatant.

Only despotic regimes allow any individual cop to be judge, jury and executioner. As Major Decoy stated, she's not a traitor, she's a citizen of Praetoria. A high-ranking citizen at that. Your Responsibility Loyalist took it upon themselves to kill her without giving her a chance to defend herself before the authorities. Your character rationalized this murder by stating that she would have used her connections to Praetor White to save herself.

Your comment that she isn't a citizen is really frightening. Do you believe that it is proper for a police officer to take the law into his or her own hands?

Well, if you look at it;

Why do people ask for more villain choices? Why do people play redside? Why do people play Crusaders? Why does City of Villains even exist?

Just because you don't like it doesn't mean other people aren't going to, or aren't going to want to flesh out concepts they have.

And honestly, given the knotted mass that he end-game 'story' is becoming, I'm not sure what the Devs are aiming for anymore. Is Praetoria the Coming Storm? If so, what the hell was all that about the Shivans and Kheldian fuelled star ships? Doesn't that totally negate everything the mysterious letter writer said? Why would that link to the Pillar of Ice and Flame?

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.