You Realize, Of Course...

Wow, that's a whole lot of whinging.

Have you read the interviews with Matt, or the Intrepid Informer #17? He's the one saying that they couldn't come up with an appropriate way to do it. I'm not making it up and putting words in his mouth.

What's changed?

Policy, for one. If it wasn't already obvious, Matt has stated clearly in his latest interviews that one of their current goals is to create a game environment where there are no NPC's that are stronger than the PC's. Removing Statesman is part of the implementation of that policy.

Technology for another. The mission creation and cut-scene creation tools allow them to tell a deeper story now than they would have been able to tell six years ago or even two years ago. The death of your flagship character requires that you try to tell as deep a story as you can manage.

Motivation for a third. The launch of Freedom meant the whole game was being shaken down to its foundations. Considering the attitude displayed towards the Statesman character in the past, it would have been surprising if someone had NOT raised their hand at a meeting and asked "Why don't we REALLY shake things up?"

That's just off the top of my head. If you really want to know what changed, maybe you should ask Matt.

Beacuse, as far as I'm aware, they're not removing both characters from the game. Yes, our characters can beat them, but they're not being deleted from the game like Statesman is.

But... we beat him (and the rest of the phalanx, and Recluse and pals) up repeatedly, and/or save them without breaking a sweat *already.* Not at level 10, obviously, when they SHOULD be stronger than a newbie hero/villain, but by the time we're in the 40s we've done so repeatedly.

So it's a pretty hard sell to say they're "stronger than the PCs." Do the RV versions - if anyone ever bothers to spawn them - even challenge anyone any more, one on one?

... no comment.

But that's not the lore of the game. The lore is that Statesman is stronger than anyone. He could be stronger yet, except that he resists the call of the Well (which gets him direspected by every NPC that has anything to do with Incarnates). If he WANTED to, he could be a god. He just chooses to forgo that opportunity.

Game mechanics don't equate to story and lore. If they did, Recluse would be sweeping streets and your villain would be running Arachnos.

Statesman's not being deleted from the game either. At the very least he's going to continue being in the SSA.
I also suspect he'll remain in the tutorial, as that is definitely set before the SSAs.

Being removed from Independence Port is not the same as being deleted from the game.

I think the important point is that they finally did find a way to get rid of Statesman.
Just because it took a few years to do it doesn't mean they didn't -always- want to do it.

We all know it sometimes takes them years to get around to doing things (i.e. power customization).
I see nothing different with this as a long term goal they've had ever since Jack left. *shrugs*