Bored with the whole Praetoria schtick

So is anyone else bored of the new obsession with Praetoria?

I admit, it's a great addition to the game, adding a third place to create your characters, and the 1-20 content there is excellent, if a bit stressful given that you can't form SGs and feel constantly hounded to leave the source of this new content. Then you're not even given the choice to stay (yes, I know you technically CAN stay, if you want to accept never getting your own missions again, and survive off of lvl 20 teams which bring you along as you grind to 50 just for a badge).

However, why the hell is Praetoria the source of all the new Incarnate content? What makes Cole so powerful that he can CONTROL the Well of the Furies? Why can't Statesman or Recluse do that?

Praetoria is a great side-plot, but the writers are trying hard to turn it into the only plot, and quite frankly, it's not interesting enough and certainly not broad-scoped enough to support every single level 50 character's story (those who bought the expansion pack, at least).

Apex and Tin Mage were great. They're fun TFs with a VERY epic feel, especially the climactic battle against that @%#$& Battle Maiden. The difficult battles I suffered through when we were still learning how to handle her makes it extremely viscerally satisfying to kick her butt into next week now that we've gotten a bit better.

But we do NOT need more Praetorian-based Incarnate content this soon. Please, make i21 and i22 about Hamidon or Rularuu or a brand-new threat, or ANYTHING but Praetoria. Return to Praetoria once there's more going on than just a really boring "durr, I be evil tyrant" villain with more power than makes sense. Cole doesn't even inspire fear like Recluse does, he's just... prim and proper and inexplicably more powerful than the most powerful cosmic force in the universe.

The final thing I want to say is "Where the heck is the motivation for my villains to help save a world that they don't even LIVE IN!?" Villains are SELFISH. They are EVIL. They are NOT altruistic and they are NOT self-sacrificing. Yes, exceptions can exist.

But WHY does the game expect that my villains will head into Praetoria to save its people, when I shouldn't have to care a bit about their lives or well-being?



TL;DR:
Give us more varied content. Praetoria is being over-used right now.

Another thing I forgot to mention: Praetoria first appealed to me because it offered a moral "gray area" and you could create heroic Loyalists and villainous Resistance just as easily as you could make an evil Loyalist and a noble, good Resistance.

Of course, that got thrown utterly out the window when Cole stopped being "questionable" and "Machiavellian" and was established as utterly and completely evil, and the main antagonist of two universes. His motivations originally were "create a utopia for the good of all, at the cost of some of their freedoms" which, while twisted, is something we actually see to a lesser extent in real life, and it's a good debate point. Is it right to sacrifice some rights (like in the Patriot Act and the privacy debate about the TSA) to protect our lives?

But now his motivations are "slaughter own citizens, kill everyone with powers in Primal Earth, rule all universes." All debate is gone, and he just ceased to be an interesting antagonist.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Spad_EU I don't think it's a case of him controlling it, more that he doesn't care about (or is willing to accept, at least temporarily) the well controlling *him*, whereas States and Recluse have both gone out of their way to try and reduce the amount of influence the well has over them.

I could buy that. Unfortunately, the writers tell us nothing of this, so it's purely fans rationalizing the lack of information we get to find a way of fitting it into what's already established for the game.

Bored after two and a half issues with the same story arc?

You know if each issue had it's own 'Big Bad' there would be complaints about the villain-of-the-issue and the lack of a story arc between issues.

Well, I'm not bored with Praetoria, and I've been been dealing with the place since it was introduced in i1 >.>

And Praetoria isn't really the source of the new Incarnate content. Technically, that is still what its always been (The Well/Water of the Furies). Praetoria is the place where all this stuff takes place though, because Praetoria always has been one of the big End-game level 50 threats (like Hami, Rularuu, the Rikti) but unlike those others actually has the main big bad with a major connection to the Well (and a lust for absolute control). Plus, with all the new renovations and environments, why not show them off more?

As for your villains not wanting to save Praetoria's citizens, I can understand that (and agree with it. My villains wouldn't want to help them either). However, that isn't really the main goal for them, is it? They just want to keep Cole and his water-logged forces on their side of the dimensional fence (thusly leaving Primal Earth to the villain's own diabolical clutches) and if that happens to help a few powerless mooks in the process, eh, not much they can do to stop that.

Isnt the praetorian invasion leading us up to a bigger threat? An enemy more powerfull than any enemy we've faced and the only way to defend ourselves is by becoming an incarnate?

Question: is anybody else bored with all the new players to the game who weren't around when Cryptic had their multi-year love-fest with Arachnos complaining about Paragon Studios spending less than a third of that time on Praetorians?

I must say, that of all the villains we've been presented with, Cole is one of the Top villains in the game to make me viscerally angry at them. I guess I have a thing against guys who rob people of their free will without even their own knowledge of said theft. And feeling 'entitled' to do so, and relying on blind loyalty to one cause or another to maintain 'order'. And there are a couple more contacts in some of the Praetorian arcs that make me feel similarly angry towards them

So I am not at all bored with Praetoria or the enemies it presents us.