Two minds about First Ward

He's not meant to be. He's actually a pretty horrific figure, in the proper sense of the word. An idiot kid with far too much power for his own good, treating people like they're part of some game he's playing? Particularly when you realise who he is.

First Ward is cracking stuff, ambushes and all. First time in a long while this game's story has actually interested me, and the more stuff like this and the less 'go to 4 identical offices in a row and fight a bunch of chaps waiting about pounding their fists' the better.

In my humble opinion.

He's written as laughable, though, and he also crashes into the plot with the subtlety of a train after what might have otherwise been a tense scene, killing any chance of making Serene into an object of mystique. Instead she just kind of comes out of nowhere, then you kill her, and go home, without worrying too much about it.

Hugh Jackman loves First Ward...TWO SIDES!!!

Wow. After finally finishing the FW arcs, I have to say that however well they started, the ending is absolutely horrible. Just like in Twinshot's arcs, the story is abandoned in the final act for a set of pointless action movie set pieces.

By now I expect the poor play balance and wall-to-wall ambushes, but somehow the stories keep getting worse. With all the resources thrown at these arcs, how can the writing be this bad?

-D

yeah, the final stories did end a bit abruptly...Master Midnight is the guy who took over the Midnighters and just...gets taken out so easily. I would have liked more development for Serene...they established she was a pretty big threat to Diabolique easily enough...then the finish just petered out.

overall though, I found First Ward to be nice to play through.

He acts like one

a college frat boy

Most of the First Ward arc was really, really good. The end was somewhat anticlimactic after the buildup, but overall I enjoyed it. I do hope they give us a way to get Katie back out of the seer network. I felt like a heel putting her back after getting her out in the first place. It's not suitably heroic to leave her there. The other thing I want is a way to beat the ever-loving bejeezus out of Mother. She, more than any Praetor, needs a really good beatdown... Writing that can evoke emotion (*spoilers*) is good writing. That said, I don't intend to run First Ward much except for certain character themes and maybe to change things up.

Annoyance: Yes, the ambushes while trying to read as have been stated... Protean, there is such a thing as too many ambushes. Please use sparingly to further the story, not just because you can.

Overall, I give a thumbs up.

Mr. Captain Man, I can address at least one of your points from the first page: I suspect the chat spam from people you're supposed to talk to is specifically an attempt to fix one of the biggest complaints people have had when trying to run story content on a team, which is that only the leader/mission owner gets to see most of it. YMMV as to whether this "solution" is any better...

I got through First Ward mostly okay, mechanically, but then I was playing a (heroic) Brute. Story-wise, there was a point where I would not have been able to continue, not as a hero (and especially not as that specific hero, who basically has a psych lim regarding Seers). My character would have either stormed out, tried to find another option, had a Heroic BSOD and/or fallen to Vengeance.

I'd like to note that there is an "NPC dialogue" tab in your chat, much easier than following the speech bubbles.

On a related note, I21.5 has just been announced, with 2 more Trials - one of them a follow-up to the Underground Trial:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avatea As a continuation to the Underground Incarnate Trial, you will be able to infiltrate the TPN Campus and battle against a mighty adversary whom you will want to keep an eye on: Maelstrom will certainly make you work for it! A second Incarnate Trial will also become available as part of Issue 21 Special Update: Media Blitz but it will come at a later date. We'll tell you more about it closer to its launch!

So it looks like we'll be trying to get the news of Tyrant's deal with the Hamidon out to the people of Praetoria, while Malestrom and the loyalists try and stop us breaking into the TPN building.