The Root Problem.

I think perhaps Remus might be crazy. But I've seen a lot of crazy lately, so it might just be blowback. I don't see anything in recent writing that doesn't have our characters in the thick of things. Even the SSAs, which show the Phalanx failing time and again, and our characters doing their part perfectly.

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Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

I think it's amusing you're using the new DA to co plain about not feeling Super, when the DA content is IMO the most 'Check me out I'm BADASS!' content the game has ever given us.

The raids are rubbish for that IMO - I just feel like a grunt, nothing special about me personally, the NPCs don't even refer to me specifically.

But DA?

I fight an army. On my own. And then I go it alone against a God, with almost the whole pantheon of other Supers waiting for ME to save the world.

On my own.

Your problem can be avoided by clearing out your old missions by abandoning them, can't they?

Why didn't you finish them when you had them? You left contacts hoping you'd help and just wandered on to another set of villains? Not very hetoic, that, eh?

Sounds like you're doing a good job on your own of lessening the stature of your own toon.

Eco

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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow [The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."

Well, if you're not having fun, you're making the right decision. I can't wrap my head around the issue you're having, but that's not really important.

Some thoughts on the DA narrative, in particular the Personal 'Arcs'.

I don't feel the NPC's here are stealing the limelight. They aren't stealing my character's thunder or saving the day in their own right. These are little more than intermission vignettes between plot that give a little insight into the supporting cast.

It shows us something of how they came to be in a position to feed our characters information about the events unfolding in DA. They can provide a vehicle for demonstrating the effect our choices have on other inhabitants of the world once we've otherwise moved on.

As to the problem of storytelling...that's part of what any DM does. If one does not like participating in the stories the Paragon Studios collective DM is writing, there's always the AE.

But it's not reasonable to expect them not to tell a story in a storytelling medium.

Can they do more to involve us in that story? Yes. Are they?

Yes.

City of Heroes offers the player far more agency in determining the flow and outcome of stories than virtually any other MMORPG on the market. It's not Shakespeare or Fallout, or even a particularly robust CYOA novel, but there's a clear trend towards giving more responsibility to the player as a storytelling agent.

And if you don't like the stories they're telling, they've given us tools to tell our own...independently, or to others.

Claiming that they are forcing you to do something you choose to do comes across as somewhat disingenuous. The idea that we are forced to do the Personal Arcs if we choose to do DA is arguably the same as saying "I have to play Dark Astoria to play Dark Astoria."

You choose your own level of participation.