Location, Location, Location

OK, here's one; why would anybody without superpowers choose to live in Paragon City? I mean, for all the supposed heroes running around, it's got a serious crime problem with muggings on every corner, tens of different groups of organised villains roaming the streets, whole areas of the city cordoned off as hazard zones and at least one alien invasion in progress.

If you're just a regular Joe, what's your reason to be there? If you're a good guy you're never going to achieve anything that outshines all the heroes and there's a good chance that if you do some villain will move in and have you killed and if you're of the criminal mindset then even the most audacious scheme is going to be easily foiled by any number of caped crusaders.

One could put forward the idea that *every* city is basically the same in the CoX universe so it doesn't really matter where you live, but for the sake of a decent argument, let us assume that Paragon is more or less unique in its ecosystem (besides, I'm betting most of those other cities don't have their own Hamidon).

Because all the "regular Joes" are immune to damage and can push aside a granite-form tank by walking into them.

You see, in my mind, the crime in Paragon isn't nearly as bad as what we see in the game.
It's just that way so everyone can get a chance to play as well as play through a bit differently.
No there's not a purse snatcher on every corner, that's just for the player running street sweeps and hunts. No, the world is not always doomed, your character's story is self-contained, anything you didn't do didn't happen.

At least that's how it seemed for the OLD OLD issue 1 and older.
With more recent designs, the devs have wised up and decided to streamline things so it is possible to do all the content in a level range, difficult but not impossible, and the storylines would go on without you, you apathetic jerk!

But I still don't think there's nearly as much crime or as many criminals as we see in game. Probably only an sixteenth to an eighth of the street crime in a realistic viewing, and the latter would probably be the hazard zones, and there'd probably be no mission with more than a hundred dudes inside, discounting things like robots and such.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.

Reporters would want to be the first to break awesome hero (or villain) news.

Scientists are in an environment with lots of weird phenomena and like-minded individuals.

Doctors, similarly, will probably be the first to discover new illnesses (or diagnose superpowers!) as well as possibly have access to (or a chance to help develop) state-of-the-art cures and medical procedures.

In fact, professors and students probably have similar motivations to the above: they get to be where the new discoveries are, the first people to teach or learn about something cutting-edge.

Some people might be politically motivated to support hero rights or try to reign them in, and thus pursue a political career in Paragon.

Others might want the prestige of running Statesman's favorite pizza place. Icon employees are no doubt proud of having had a hand in the costumes of various heroes.

And while it probably doesn't seem glamorous, it's probably a high-pressure, high-stakes business being in insurance in Paragon, no doubt with lots of interaction with government and hero organizations. Being the guy to do that might be seen as either a form of exile or some agents might request the assignment because they thrive on that kind of work.

And of course, there are the generations of people for whom Paragon is just home (perhaps even some grandparents who remember what Paragon was like before all that hero nonsense).

And to back up what AzureSkyCiel is saying about crime: the new phasing technology in Atlas Park lets you see the results of your heroics so that people aren't constantly being kidnapped/mugged/etc. on every street corner.

A lot of people still live in Gotham

So I see Paragon City as being kind of like Eureka, the town from the show , Eureka, on a bigger scale.

In Eureka, the city is almost always going to be blown to bits by some ones lab experiment gone wrong. People are getting killed by weird experiments often, and Henry admits at one point the towns mortality rate is twice the national average.

On the other hand, Eureka is a haven for scientists (saving them from other so they can get themselves off'ed) and Global Dynamics is an amazing company that gives people an incredible opportunity when they go to work for it. So yes people risk their lives going to live there but the chance to work at GD and be a part of something huge and exciting and major is a big enough draw to warrant it.


Paragon City is known as "The Birthplace of Tomorrow." The City has the Portal Corp, a company that is studying the use of interdimensional portals. Not to mention Crey, and probably dozens of other tech companies to make things like medical teleporters, those medical ressurection devices and studying rikti tech to make things like war walls and clean running mono rails...

Not to mention all the health and sociological work and research that can be done in a town teeming with heroes. Besides, it's not always about being the best or making a name for one's self. If you work in Paragon City, say your job is night watch at a warehouse in Atlas Park.. You're a regular joe, you don't have a gun you got a flashlight, a taser and a walkie talkie, yeah you may never do the good Statesman is gonna do, but the next time the Lost come in to the warehouse and take over, you can be the one to tip off Saturn-Guy who comes, in, takes the Lost down and finds a lead on the next big case...

So regular security guy, let's call him barney, So barney isn't going to get a medal or his name in the paper, but he get's to be part of the team.

Same to the people who sell food to supers, or clean up after them. I mean some one's gotta sew the costumes, some one's gotta fix the sewers or rebuild the builings after the big fights destroy things right?

So if there were a town like Paragon City, where you could go and work on some top secret career making stuff, or maybe you could go and run into super heroes and help out by cleaning up after them or selling them something they need, and be a part of the team of Heroes that makes up the City of heroes, wouldn't you do it?

I'd wait tables in Paragon City Happily if it meant feeding a Hungry super team after a long fight with Malta..

And Maybe, just maybe I'd get mugged on the way to work and get saved by Miss Liberty!

Or in the midst of the oldest, poshest district of the whole city (lookin' at you, Founders Falls).

Cheap rent?

Methinks someone should read Astro City v.2 #1, "Welcome to Astro City."

Also, magic is more powerful in Paragon than in most places since it's atop multiple ley lines; that attracts magic heroes & villains and is why Oranbega was founded on the same spot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zombieluvr Methinks someone should read Astro City v.2 #1, "Welcome to Astro City."

Mmmm, Astro City. Good stuff.

Not to mention the absurdly spacious sewers and extensive network of underground caverns. It is a wonder the city doesn't collapse in on itself, Also there is no way all of paragon city would even fit on Rhode Island.