Underused set pieces

I just realized today that, with the new low-level missions replacing Azuria and the gang, the whole FBSA (MAGI, GIFT, SERAPH, DATA, and ELITE,) are pretty much unused. A few old missions have you swing by to ask them for favors occasionally, but that's about it. Which is kinda a shame, since a government agency for the monitoring and containing of superpowered threats should theoretically be a huge deal to heroes and villains of all levels.

Similarly, Hero Corps. A company of for-profit heroes...! which apparently has nothing better to do than tweak your reputation for free. Also there's Colleen Saramago, a Hero Corps agent who gives you work and never even mentions paying you. Cheapskate.

Also! Rikti spies! They could be anyone. Except, more commonly, they're not. There is, I think, one one-off hero mission dealing with them, plus Kelly Uqua. Seems like the billboards scattered all over the city were kind of a waste if they're that rare. Or maybe they're just so good at hiding that we never noticed them.

So, what other cool bits of the setting are just kinda hanging out, nearly unused?

you should be able to do freelance work for Hero Corps. It'd be like paper missions, maybe a bit harder, but with a bunch of influence as a reward.

Architect Entertainment, that is, in-game AE. It's got a solid backstory and a lot of unanswered questions. Is it Dr. Aeon's revenge on Television? Is it Aeon Corp.'s scheme to offset the problematic Power Transference System or follow up the commercial success of NutriPaste? Is Dr. Aeon's rivalry with Professor Echo somehow involved? Is Positron content to merely monitor its usage, or will he start actively investigating its purposes, especially with Crey Corp.'s involvement?

Besides, having the Architect Studio Manager bug new characters to visit then never have any other missions for them seems like a waste of an NPC.

Unused potential: Dark Astoria and Boomtown.

Dark Astoria is both awesome and creepy, but also pretty much ignored outside of the occasional mission. They could make some really great zone events and mission arcs with the Faultline treatment.

I love Boomtown's post-apocalyptic atmosphere and music. I really wish they'd included some unique groups, particularly some survivor 'types' perhaps trying to set up their own community in an area abandoned for an entire decade. Apparently they're doing work on it, but it's been so long. Once again, the Faultline treatment would be great here.

Both zones have a unique feel to them, as well as GM's, but unfortunately exist in level ranges that already possess a ton of content, so it's not likely high on the list.

I'd love to see an issue go through and re-tool all the missions hinting at future stuff, which are particularly noticeable in CoV. When CoV came out, the Devs had a lot of ideas for the future. Some of them are happening or are still being hinted at, some of them have been taken off the table. For example, there's lots of references in the lowbie levels redside to the Blood of the Black Stream, which was once going to be part of the Incarnate System and is now gone away. Marshall Brass gives the Echo down the Aeons arc, which deals with time travel and a man who has discovered a way to control Shivans. That's practicaly tailor-made for a Coming Storm tie-in, but all we get is the hints that Aeon and Echo are the same man (see: MA backstory). Also in this arc, they mention Dr. Brainstorm, the man who started powerset proliferation and is now simply "in hiding". Then, of course, there's all the stuff pointing to Rularuu (Darrin Wade) and that goes nowhere.

I also agree that there's very little on the FBSA and what they do. The only thing we've seen them do is respond to Galaxy's attack, really. That and lose powerful magical artifacts. There's a cool framework there, as in the Shadow Shard, and it just isn't being used.

The spectral pirates in Port Oakes are very underused - appearing in only one arc (from a contact who has to be unlocked to begin with) and one mission as the Sea Witch's flunkies, and being relegated to an obscure corner of the zone which I suspect a lot of people never ever see since nothing points you there.

Gadzul Oil. A shady foreign oil company with mystical connections. They could be cool - like the Syndicate crossed with the Circle of Thorns. Again, there's barely a mention of them.

I also think the Luddites and Goldbrickers are pretty underdeveloped. Sure, they show up in some missions and they add a lot of background uniqueness to Cap au Diable, but they don't seem to actually do much overall.

Oh yeah, and those Spetznaz commandos who appear in exactly one arc redside and are never heard from again...

The positive side of Crey Corporation

The "reveal" that Crey is evil has little to no weight since you don't get to see them in a positive light beforehand. I think there's a single mission somewhere that you rescue a Paragon Protector who was in the process of helping some people and that's it. Oh, and the old tutorial had a Crey security guard. In fact, it's interesting that redside gives Crey a chance to look positive since they are giving tours of their facilities in Nerva. The better the devs can make Crey look in the low level game, the stronger the revelation of their actions becomes.

I think the best idea I heard for Crey was having a Paragon Protector helping out in the tutorial.

I'd like to see more about the origins, as revealed in the origins of power arc. Maybe origin specific missions or something?

Lots of good stuff in this thread!

Some are these are also story ideas from ex-devs like Jack and Manticore, which mightn't be on the top of the priroity list for the current story and lore devs, who have their own ideas and stories they want to tell.