Options for Characters to Be Non-Stupid

I'd like to see some of the newer missions revised so that there's an option for my characters to be other than dumb as rocks, please.

CAUTION: Spoilers for one of the early Praetorian arcs, unlikely though it is that anyone reading the Suggestions board is going to be unfamiliar with those.


Here is an example: The mission where Cleopatra sends you into the Underground to deal with... something, I forget what the excuse is, and you find yourself in a giant subway-station-type room. Which is utterly and completely empty except for a mysterious glowy crate at the far end.

Now, in this example, I already suspect that something hinky is going on with this contact, and the theme of the character I'm playing is that she's a former police detective who's been grabbed by Powers Division because it's come to the attention of the bureaucracy that she has superpowers. She has "Detective" in her name. She is not exactly the Rhino.

At moments like this, I would like for there to be some way for the not utterly stupid character to recognize that this is obviously the hell a trap, GTFO without springing it, and report to Cleopatra's office on her own initiative to Sort Some Stuff Out. Cue the cutscene and Moral Choice as before. Fewer XP traded for less of a sense that I've just been compelled to be an imbecile.

You don't have to be stupid to spring the trap. I just got done re-watching Batman: TAS, there were several episodes where Batman springs traps knowing full well that it's a trap because he's prepared to handle the consequences.

The whole idea of that arc is to follow it no matter how stupid it seems to you, Your trying to catch her out so you have no choice but to follow it

Trap Is The Only Option

I would also argue that the entire canon explanation for Architect Entertainment falls into this category.

Cleo's arc is nothing compared to Willy Wheeler for head banging stupidity. Any villain with half a brain would either bail on him or push him off a cliff before completing some of his missions.

To quote the Hiimdaisy Persona 4 comics: "You wanted to say that, but you didn't have enough COMMON SENSE."

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.

The only way the mission design and story arcs are going to please everyone is if they let you type your response in and the story arc adjusts to it on the fly.

That would require ridiculous amounts of computing power in an MMO, so it's probably never going to happen.

You want one more option, what about the other 4,500 people who might want a different option than yours? See where the problem is? There are so many different characters that would do so many different things that writing story arcs to actually fit ALL of their personalities is quite literally completely impossible.

This is why I love my brute. Because his personality was completely inspired by the Rhino.

To be frank, there are alot of times when the missions I'm playing make no sense for the character. Like every time my anchient Djinn with the lofty goal of human extinction finds himself ripping off a piece of hardware for pawning. Or when the world-renowned chemist Dr. December is treated like a complete moron. Or when my rambunctious, rebellious, nigh-invulnerable teenager has to act like she really give a rat's rectum what Cole's orders are. It's just another point where you have to realize this game won't always cater to your persona, so just choose to ignore the "non-canon" parts.

I agree that sometimes the game makes things happen that you'd not do, but there is way worse.

Like, you defeat that Resistance guy on the roof. "... you killed him ... " - SAYS WHO? Whatever happened to 'defeating' All this time I defeat and arrest, but suddenly, I killed? Wasn't this new content all about CHOICES?
Right! You get a choice later! Betray and KILL your contact A, or betray any KILL your contact B.
(I hope this got fixed by now. Given the content was pretty new back then. I would have loved Defeat A or Defeat B or have both attack you, and when you defeat one the option to Kill or Not Kill - the latter resulting in the other attacking you. Or doing the killing and it is too fast for you to stop it.)