Alignment QOL and Equalization.

There are two issues here.

1. You're running missions that don't match your own alignment, hence you don't get progress towards your own alignment. Nothing needs to be done about this any more so than Vigilantes running villain missions with a team need to get villain story arc rewards. If you want to gain Vigilante progress, team with other vigilantes and run Vigilante content. That is not unfair.

2. Alignment Merits, whether we want to discuss them or not, are an issue. When the alignment system was being discussed, people asked Matt Miller "Why would I NOT want to be a Vigilante/Rogue? What kind of fool would stay pure Hero/Villain if that locked you to just one side. Matt's answer was Alignment Merits - these are only available to pure Heroes and Villains and represent a choice. You can either pick greater rewards NOW or greater flexibility and the potential of greater rewards via greater teaming opportunities.

Honestly, though, I keep wishing there were only ONE middle-of-the-road alignment.

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.

Why should you make Vigilante progress for doing something a Vigilante would never do (ala Hero missions)?

I saw the same argument a few months ago actually.

Another poster was complaining that they were not making progress toward their Hero merits when they ran Vigilante missions. Since your progress is based on your reputation as a Hero, why should you make progress as a Hero when you are doing things like letting people die so you can chase down the bad guy, or outright killing someone?

It's called consequences for your actions. If you could be whatever alignment you wanted and make progress in your own alignment for doing whatever you wanted, there would be ZERO consequences for any of the choices you made in regards to your alignment.

Now, if there were no consequences for switching your alignment, what would be the point of the choice even existing?

Quick Reply to the OP:

Asking for Vigilante credit for running Hero tips is like asking for credit towards Task Force Commander by running Moonfire, Hess, Statesman, Mender Silos, Lady Grey, and Imperious Task Forces. Yes, they're all Task Forces, but they're not the RIGHT Task Forces.

Want credit for doing a certain task, do that task. Don't do something else, and ask for credit for the thing you didn't do.

The more the OP posts the more it becomes obvious he has some serious entitlement issues.

Here's how Alignments should have been handled:

1) All Alignments can physically go anywhere
2) Contacts and Missions suitable for all Alignments exist in all zones.
3) Certain NPCs will attack certain 'opposed' Alignments on sight (ex: Longbow will attack any non-Hero)
4) Certain NPCs will be neutral (yellow reticle) to certain alignments (ex: Vahzilok won't automatically attack Villains, Goldbrickers won't automatically attack Rogues, and so on...)
5) Incredibly Potent NPCs will 'remove' you from certain locals, say if you're a Villain entering Atlas City Hall (think Drones zapping Baddies that get too close to the Market)
6) All Alignments get the same kind of 'Merit' for their Tip Missions

Alignment powers are fine as is.

Probably many other interesting things that could work: such as Alignment 'Events', something like Arachnos doing a 'Sweep' in a RI zone to take out dissidents (ie. Heroes/Vigilantes). These could be similiar to Rikti/Zombie raids (spawning, periodic), but they only go after certain Alignments.

The currents systems works, but wow it could have been so much better.

I find it a bit amusing that folks are loving my idea when it was at least partly motivated by a need for better parity between the alignments rather than a mere QoL change or the call for more alignment-specific content (though I want that too!). My actual idea was if you could get missions on both sides of the game (And why wouldn't Harcase work with my Vigilante? Nobody in Paragon will work with a Rogue when Hero Corps exists?), it means that you could potentially get reward merits from both sides' arcs, thereby making up for not being able to earn alignment merits.

I'm still irked that that the elite rewards were mis-advertised before GR came out. We were told that heroes and villains who never turned would get special benefits to make up for choosing not to participate in the system and tarnish their reputations. How the system actually works is that as long as you're hero or villain alignment, you're good enough to buddy up with the Phalanx or the Patrons and get the goodies.

I still don't see what the problem is. You (as a Vigilante) are choosing to do Heroic acts by voluntarily tagging along with Heroes for their Alignment Missions. When you do Heroic acts, whether you do them on your own, or help others do them, you are earning Heroic Fame. You are not killing the mass-murderer to guarantee he can't do it any more, you're arresting him so that he can be rehabilitated. You ARE choosing to do Heroic acts. If you don't want to be "penalized" for doing Hero Tips, then don't do Hero Tips. Or, as you keep saying, do your Vigilante ones first. Or roll a pure Hero and team with your friend on that character when they're doing Tips. Or form your own team to do Vigilante Tips.

As to the opposition? Your suggestion would break the alignment system. Say I'm a Vigilante, and want to go back to Hero. Under the current system, I can do Hero Tips for 2 days and switch back. Under your system, I have to go all the way through Villain and Rogue then back to Hero, because my Vigilante doing Hero Tips is no longer earning Hero Fame, but rather earning Vigilante Fame (albeit at half the rate). And the problem still wouldn't be fixed, because if you had a Rogue character teamed with those Heroes, they'd still earn Hero fame - unless your intention is to make it so that ALL tips give you Fame for your current Alignment, unless they're your own tips. And that would screw over people who want to switch sides as a team, or who want to help their side-switching friends.

You mean well with your suggestion, I'm sure. But it would make things MORE difficult for more people than the current system does.

It'd be nice if Vigilantes and Rogues got a little something extra. Maybe Vigilante/Rogue only vendors who sold temp powers? Buy tools of vengeance or gear to help facilitate the accumulation of profit and material things.

Extra nice would be Rogue-only Story Arcs in Paragon City/Vigilante-only Story Arcs in the Rogue Isles.

/unsigned

The alignment's are fine as is. I say this as someone who's main is Vigilante.

If you have problems with teaming with your friends and not getting your tips done, do your tips first Or don't join them in on theirs, solo yours, then team with them.

Vigilantes/Rogues don't need special merits/rewards either. Good/Evil get A Merits, Rogue/Vigilantes get access to both sides.

If anything, I'd support R/V's to get access to each sides Oruborus, but that's about it.

While I don't agree with the OP's solution, I do understand the problem. The alignment system limits you to 5 tips per day. If the convenience and real life mean running with your friends before you can do your tips, then you are out of luck for another day to accrue your 5 tips for your desired alignment.

A twist on the solution would be to prompt (or toggle on/off accrual) at the end of a mission. Do you want to receive credit for this mission toward your alighment for the day? Yes or no.

Does this fully address the OP's problem, no, but it lessens the "pain" of the system forcing you down a path.

And before someone says, you did a heroic act you should be a hero...when you finish a morality mission you aren't forced to that alignment...you do still have one last choice...so why not do the same for the individual missions themselves?

However, I see one fault in this that people could do tips indefinitely all day while saying no, but you can already do radio missions forever as well.