SSA #6 Story Discussion ** SPOILERS **

I've only run it the once and I was on a racing team so dind't get the whole story - but I was like "WTF" at the cutscene - and I won't deny it choked me a little to see it. I was totally gobsmacked and I must admit the Devs caught me on this one.

It was poignant at first sight - though I've not yet been able to critique the story . My first and immediate response was to have a big, surprised sad.

Now I've realised is they've just turned Manticore into a clone of Batman - a badass psychotic out to avenge his nearest and dearest. Playboy millionaire loses his next of kin - Devs, be very careful how you proceed because your critics won't be afraid to pan the subsequent story if it fails to pass muster. That's not a threat in any way it's just the reality of having so many passionate fans who've bought into the whole CoH thing.

Of course, the reverse of that is, who else could they have killed to give this the same impact? And frankly I cannot think of anyone. But huge Kudos to the Devs on making this happen to coincide with the Valentines event and of course the Wedding mission, making it extra poignant.

I'm very interested in seeing how this pans out - and a little sad. But I guess the Calvin Scott TF gets back into the main game now.

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

I read this thread because I've just given up on these arcs, and I don't considering anything inside them to be "spoiled." I play the arcs for the unique maps and experiences, and not for the story, which I've given up on.

For me, the high point of this arc installment will be the removal of SP.

I'm just a little disappointed that this came right after the fall of one of the nation's greatest heroes, THE Statesman. Hardly anything in the arc actually dealt with his demise. Life just went on for everyone else as we blissfully ignore the fact he died not too long ago. I only ran this as a villain, but you'd think that your character's street cred would soar, considering A. you're at the scene of the crime, and B. I doubt Darrin Wade came out to the public and said "I did it! I killed him!"

I was kind of hoping this arc would go in a different direction, with the Phalanx hunting your villain down to bring them to justice, all sorts of common villains flocking to you to bank on your status and suck up to you, and Recluse trying to bring you in for questioning. All the while you're trying to seek vengeance against Wade and Wade's using the chaos to continue with his plans. But this story just kind of fell flat. It was all about you gaining a new minion that promises they won't backstab you, and fighting some random villains as I think I lured Psyche into a trap? I didn't even really know, considering you don't bump into her at all until the very end, when she's already trapped.

Since switching bodies is pretty much Psyche's "thing", I'm guessing she still exists in some form. It would be funny if she was actually mind-riding inside your character without you knowing it. "Lately, you find yourself strangely attracted to Manticore, for reasons you can't explain..."

While it doesnt have anything to do with the writing i think the game mechanics use is below par. How does this take a month to make when other companies churn out weekly content with less staff and have more innovative missions.

I had this issue with the First Ward as well where the only thing remotely cool was when you summon the ghost council.

Ok I am missing something, I did run all the arcs when they came out, and with a little bit of Aurora still being in Sister Psyche, why didn't they just try to put that little bit back in Aurora? Aurora is still around isn't she, it's not like she died or anything I don't get it? Also what will happen to Aurora it's not like having a piece of her still inside Psyche affected her before. Seriously am I missing something, did something bad happen to Aurora too, like she died and we just don't know about it, or did she die in one of the SSAs and I am just not remembering it?

1. I have to agree with others that thought the gameplay itself seemed to be too simplified and repetitive, and appeared to be mostly busy work, not integrated into the actual story.

2. When people complained that Paragon "spoiled" the entire SSA arc since we now knew "who would die" I did point out that someone else already died, and the "who" in "who will die" didn't have to be singular. I suspected with two chapters to go there would be at least another tragic death, and so I was a little suspicious. Even moreso because of the "does the unthinkable" thing. Whereas I thought the Statesman reveal might have had some higher purpose to building momentum for the arc, honestly I thought that sort of thing gave away the only thing this chapter was meant to do. That's actually the sort of thing you say when there's a twist to it that isn't expected, so Manticore's actions might be anticipated, but the twist creates the surprise. There's no such twist here, and no additional details beyond the spoiler.

3. Given the structure of how SSA6 ends, I'm concerned there's no way SSA7 can be long enough or involved enough to wrap this all up satisfactorilly. So I believe the entire arc might be one of those to be continued things, and I don't think that was the best idea for the first purchasable arc. If the entire arc was really just a lead-in to make dramatic changes elsewhere, and the real story continues in other places, something about that seems wrong to me. *Especially* when the gameplay was pretty simplistic in some areas, which makes the story itself all the more important as the selling point of the storyline.

4. I want Penny's powersets.

Yeah given this kind of set up it feels a lot less like Wade is just going to get punched out at the end of this so much as he's set up to be one of the major big bads ala Emperor Cole. Only you know, not as long and drawn out and requiring near a half dozen trials to get rid of.

I could see them bringing back Psyche in some form down the line. She definitely wasn't accepting of her death like Statesman was. And she was just mind screaming into several hundred's of thousands if not millions of people's heads, I think it'd be interesting if they play that as an element later on.

And yes, Penny's powers were pretty rad. Was her pet just one of the void storms from the Minds of Mayhem trial?

From a villain's perspective...

Is it possible that Psyche put a piece of herself inside the piece of Aurora that was in her mind, and is planning on taking over the Aurora that is now in control of Tyrka?