Praetorian Incursion Zone Events

Here's something I thought of as I was brainstorming ways to make the Incarnate trials have a more tangible effect on the gameworld. Unfortunately I don't think this way would work for that goal due to technical restrictions and due to the way the system is already built, but I like the core idea anyway.

So far we've traveled into Praetoria to strike crucial targets in our war with Cole, but aside from a few TFs and a special event, we haven't visibly seen all that much back and forth between the two worlds. Here's something to bring the war a little more into focus.

Within every zone in the game (within reason - the Shadow Shard and some Hazard Zones would be excluded), there would be locations that would be subjected to Praetorian Incursions on a semi-regular basis. Some of these locations already exist - the Fab in Grandville is a good example. Or the Crey facility in the RWZ. Others would have to be added in - the Paragon Times building in Steel Canyon, say.

During these Incursions, players would get a hotspot on their map like other zone events and Siren's Call battles. Praetorians would spill out from portals and threaten whatever their target was. Different kinds of IDF and different waves could spawn, adding to the variety a bit. All Seers or all Warwalkers would be quite the sight. These IDF would be event-style mobs with no level. And if we're really going all out, there could be slightly different objectives for each event as well.

All participating characters who have the Alpha slot unlocked will earn Threads. There would be badges for helping fight back the Incursions, similar to the WST ones. These badges would work like the Promethean badge and offer a free component of rising rarity assuming the character is level 50. How many Incursions it should take to earn each badge I'm not solid on, but something around 5 / 15 / 30 is a good rough number. Completing each individual Incursion would earn you one Astral merit.

Some notes, to clarify things:

- This would offer a possible solo Incarnate path, but I definitely don't think it should be the only one.

- These zone events would only last for 10-15 minutes at a time at the most, in order to prevent them from being abandoned and thereby lingering in the zone, causing lag and generally being a nuisance. If nobody contests the IDF, they secure their objective and promptly leave.

- Obviously there may be some issue with spawning IDF in low level zones, since they could block mission doors or such. Solution A is to make these event areas empty of mission doors, Solution B is to make the event IDF yellow-reticuled. Either way, they should be tethered if possible.

- Yes, I know this won't be pleasing to those who dislike the ongoing plot or Praetoria in general. Personally for me, I dislike the plot but like fighting the IDF. I'd also rather see the plot at least move somewhere rather than stagnate while the Incarnate Trials are currently the focus.

- Yes, I already know this would be a hell of a lot of work. But I wanna save the Paragon Times building. And actually see it in-game.

Just a little nitpick: Who is to say that Mother Mayhem and Malaise wouldn't make an attempt to control another aspect of Rularuu?

Other than that this is a great suggestion. Especially love the bit on the Paragon Times.

me likes. I've always been a fan of zone events that arent too disruptive for players that dont want to take part. the yellow reticled idea is a good one and I definitely like the idea of the targets being different.

I would also either have the event triggered by a player action (perhaps 3 successful Lambdas sparks an counter incursion?) or have it on a random timer to add to the chaos

Travel issues (Red Side fairness aside) would be minor if the zone event was centered inside Firebase Zulu. That would also give an incentive to make those Soldiers stop firing blanks at those hallucinations they're always chasing.


For example: the protective shield of Firebase Zulu would be breached or at least have holes punched in it with portals filling up those holes.

I would go into theory and such, but I'm pretty sure Mother Mayhem and Malaise would have their own reasons to want control of the Shadow Shard. A sleeping god that lies sleeping has his treasures stolen by lesser beings, or so they say.

But I digress. I'm taking up space at this point. The original idea is fine.