Vidoc on MMorpg

That's why states just aint epic

If that's your definition of 'epic' I feel very, very sorry for you

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

If you don't think keeping a scream going for more then 30 minutes plus turning your hair gold is epic I feel sorry for you

If you go through all that without mentioning the role of Production, then I can confidently say that you know absolutely nothing about Paragon Studios.

Matt can make Posi into an uber-Mary Sue the same way Tim Geithner can put his picture on the dollar bill.

In that 30 minutes I've done far more epic things than scream and go blonde

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

My nickname for DBZ was Cosmic Constipation Theatre.

I agree with your post, the point about over-correction especially, but I'm not so sure about the paragraph quoted above. I think you're right in saying the AT system is hypercritical when looking at the Freedom Phalanx. ("Come play city of heroes! be a hero! But not one that your familiar with! We've already got all those roles covered!Superman? Check! Ironman? Check! Flash? Check! Hey don't worry, you can be Booster Gold!") But I don't think this is the source of the problem though. Although it is certainly something the source of the problems makes all the more apparent.

The source of the problem is, in my mind, that Matt Miller calls Positron his character. That's a warning bell straight away because it's attaching one man's ego to the lore of the game. As much as we like to think we can be impartial; when it comes to our vanity characters, we try to get away with as much as possible. We make this plot point focus on them, we give them this little bit of power, we stretch what they can do. All these little changes reach a tipping point when we realise that our vanity characters have become more powerful than everyone else for no apparent reason. It doesn't benefit the plot, or enhance the story to have Positron suddenly become this massively important/powerful hero. (If anything, it detracts from it.) It is something that is happening literally because Matt Miller is the lead designer. Everything we hear about Positron only mentions his good attributes. How boring.

And because he is being upsold with such gusto, the fact that the AT rules have been broken is his favour becomes all the more apparent. Him being overpowered in a game mechanical sense feeds into the rediculous lore surrounding him. Not the other way around. That's why I agree with you in part, although I differ to the route cause of the problem.

Positron right now is not a particularly well written character. He's a well designed character don't get me wrong. I've always liked the concept. And the progression through on of the comics I thought was awesome. But all this nonsense about him being the "heart" of the freedom Phalanx, a more important hero than Statesman, a hero I can "tag along" with, and all the rest, really just smacks of wish fulfilment. And let's be honest here; hyping Positron up as el supremo lessens the impact Statesman's death will no doubt have. It runs directly counter to the affect the game's story is going for.

How would I improve Positron's in-game portrayal?

I'd focus on Positron's weaknesses. I don't mean give him badass-qualities-disguised-as-weaknesses. No-one wants to hear about him being "sworn to be alone, but tougher because of it" or "He's lonely, but only because he's super duper smart!". A flawless character going through hardship is one no-one care about. Have him show insecurity at looking like a chemo patient, yet constantly amazed and excited about being human again. He could be "haunted" by memories of his past-self as a collection of energy particles to the point of mental trauma. He could be intensely sexually frustrated due to his powers not allowing him intimacy with anyone. (An excellent shoe-in for Numina, the ghost.) He could be a genuinely bad leader, a man more used to following orders than giving them. He could be agorophobic due to all the time he spent trapped in the armour. He could accidentally give his parents cancer. He might be a fantastic scientist, but utterly broken with aspergers or autism when it comes to social interaction. He might be scared of things. He might love certain things. He might hate certain things. And all of these things might be abnormal.

As for his role in the game world? By all means make him the new #1 hero. Just make him really bad at it. Bad enough, that he needs the player's help. This upsells the player, upsells Statesman ("I don't know how he managed to keep all these governmental bodies in check...they won't listen to me!), and makes Positron relatable.

No.

Your main is a space arsonist?

It depends on what you mean by "being" character X. Do you mean this in respect to their standing in position in the world? In that respect, I agree. They've got their premier flying brick already. And the brilliant gadgeteer. And the fastest man on Earth.

Our characters are relegated to third stringers, but at the same time, this is something the devs claim they're trying to address. Getting Statesman out of the way could very well be part of that, and I forget where, but I seem to recall them saying as much.

But, there are other causes that contribute to (what I see as) the same problem that are completely separate from wringing.

Can you *be* Booster Gold? Well, no. Not in my opinion. But it's not the writing, but the system, the mechanics. Booster has hand to hand abilities, ranged attacks and a respectable force field that protects him from most damage. Our system doesn't allow for this very well in my opinion.

Yes, you can put a PFF force field on a Blaster or go Defender, but they'll still spend most of their time on their face. And they'll be waiting until way down the line just to even get that sturdy. Booster *isn't* a glass cannon, so trying to hack a glass cannon into him doesn't fly with me.

Same with a character like Deadpool or Iron Man. You can get a crappy sword temp and put in on a DP Blaster, but that's a poor approximation. And I'm sorry but Energy Blaster/Defender/Corr doesn't fit Tony any better. It's all fudging something we shouldn't have to fudge. Like when the only way do to a character with handguns was a petless MM.

The fact that the devs can realize their characters however they want to, and we all have to look at them, is just twisting the knife. And even if they kill off Statesman, Positron and whoever else, that doesn't make MY Tankers, Defenders or other characters any closer to what they are in my head or better approximating comic heroes any better.

I don't disagree with any of this.

Or this.


My sticking point, is that when that same concept is attempted by a player, it has to be hacked, or handwaved or fudged. And there are TOO MAN concepts like that. It's very much a case that the rather than being something that helps us facilitate 'perfectly reasonable' character concepts, the power/AT system has, in my eyes, instead turned into a straight jacket that continually wags its finger at us if you dare think someone could possibly learn how to fire a gun and use a sword in one lifetime.



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That did seem to be the mission of this Signature Story Arc in the beginning, but that's obviously not the turn it took. The reason? I don't want to get in trouble here, but I'm saying it, poor writing.

I'm not asking for multiple layers of depth and symbolism or anything like that. I'm just asking for an understanding of plot, characters, genres, and how to make the player feel number one. Also, for them to basically understand what makes the most sense.

The SSAs started with that question of Who Will Die? And it sent us to help Synapse.

The first SSA, in my opinion, was a trainwreck writing-wise. In an arc that is supposed to center on Synapse, we fight the Lost and the Minions of Igneous. Two villain groups so randomly plucked from nowhere that do not at all mesh with Synapse's story. He's a science hero, created by science and Crey Industries. He's having his powers sucked out...by an obelisk. A magic obelisk can suck out science powers? It is just lazy writing. If you want to create depth for your signature characters, so we care about saving them, working with them, and feeling on par with them, bring us into their story. Synapse is captured by Crey and the original doctor who experimented on him is trying to steal his powers back using some kind of device. It is in the same genre, it makes (comic-logic) sense, and it brings us into Synapse's story. Fighting the original Crey specialist who gave Synapse his powers would've been much more interesting than fighting through "random lost minions, circle of thorns, and bird-poo monsters" to get to an end goal and have Synapse say thumbs up to you.

Also, giving us Synapse's powers, while fun, annoys players like me who don't understand why the run speed cap for my speedster is so low.

The second SSA, we must help the quintessential magic heroine, Numina! Wow! Magic? Sounds like a good place to implement the Circle of Thorns, the Banished Pantheon, or any magic-driven villain group. OH WAIT NO. Let's just put in RULU-SHIN. Rularuu Ninjas. WHY!? That arc just becomes a mission to retrieve some dead guy's skull from a Rularuu-Ninja. You do it. Numina shows up and says "what's up, you found my dad's skull, thanks." If you want us to feel on-par with the Freedom Phalanx, have us fight WITH THEM, have us RESCUE THEM, or have us fight their ARCHENEMY. Fighting these random Rulu-Shin tells me nothing about Numina's story and is annoying because Rulu-Shin look like somebody hit random in the costume creator.

The third SSA, we're supposed to help someone, I think? I don't know. Manticore? He's in this one, we'll say this is his. But, we're no longer saving them, huh? We're just...I don't know, doing something unrelated to everything else. So we go to Warburg and fight Rogue Arachnos and stuff for some reason and then Statesman's daughter dies. Alright. What? Like...WHY put Rogue Arachnos into this at all!? If we're trying to explore Manticore's backstory in this while killing off Statesman's daughter, Arachnos is the obvious choice. Statesman and Recluse have a rivalry, Manticore has a history with them. Instead they use Rogue Arachnos and set it in Warburg for some reason. We find out one of the people behind this plot is Malaise (who is now dressed in a steampunk vest and pants as if to hammer home that superheroes and supervillains will no longer be in this game.) Seeing as the Calvin Scott TF's been gone for a while, might be a decent idea to explain who he is...

The fourth SSA, we're literally a gopher. We just run everywhere while the Freedom Phalanx argues. We're forced to say Posi is the heart of the Phalanx, we're forced to watch a scene in which Posi calls us tag-alongs even though we just saved Sister Psyche's mind.

The point is, the writing in this could've been done in a way that actually made the player feel like a hero. If that's what the objective was then they failed because of just plain old bad writing.

Also, as a final note. How many think these would've been better if we had one of the Freedom Phalanx as a contact? That in itself would make you feel on-par with them rather than a lackey for the Lost, or the f***in Luddites, or some random Longbow spec ops soldier, or some ghost, or some rogue fortunata, or some stupid red-brick faced dude in a suit.

There, yeah, the mechanics are part of the problem. But its also the writing. Don't be afraid to say it, ya'll.

Johnny Turbo | Phanto
THE CHALLENGERS: Challenge Accepted
HONORARY MEMBER: WARE.gov (Said I couldn't officially join because I'm too good at PvP)

Shhh, you're my minion. Minions don't talk back, they mutter senselessly under their breath.

That's probably because Sean McCann's handle is Dr. Aeon - Synapse is used by Phil Zeleski.

Agreed. Completely.

Heh. Interesting points.

It is a conundrum of sorts. The writing is, in many places, VERY problematic for me, and I have said so.

On the other hand, saying, "This is bad writing" is simple enough, but I really don't like to just be "complaining" and not offering some "constructive criticism" to address a preferred alternative. Suggesting a Freedom Phalanx contact, as you have, falls into that positive category.

I am harder-pressed to address how to correct the more strategic missteps I see being made in the plot and the writing. I don't like retcons, for example. When a "stealth retcon" of the Insane, Sentient Well of Furies being the source of all superpowers, period, showed up... how can that be fixed? Retcon the retcon? Short of having Bill and Ted or The Doctor head back in time and stop it, I dunno how to fix something that ought not to have been done in the first place in my view. Which leaves me in a posture of negative reaction to various things without being able to suggest a positive alternative, and that is frustrating.

If it is, then someone's turned off his glowing lights to look like Anti-matter

Shots from the Diabolique trial show the Phalanx with magical symbols around their heads, possibly meaning they're under her control. This silhouette has what could be the same aura.

So, I'm leaning towards it being him, and...oh look, he's fighting off eight or more Incarnates at once.




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