A Very Villainous Weekend

Considering the typical lack of players trotting out their villains, comparative to those on hero characters, on any given day, I would like to suggest that the Devs put together a weekend (or entire week, even), where there's a reason to be a villain. Whether it's events that only are taking place in villain zones (new or repeats), Double Rewards in the same areas, or new content to draw more interest to the dark side of the CoX - you could run this opposite of the standard Double Rewards weekends or during an open period where no other weekly events are taking place. Oh, and make it something that actually makes me feel like a bad guy, not a reluctant anti-hero.

I'm not against this idea, however, do you think it will work? I find most people like playing on heroside because either they feel redside is to bleak looking (and I've known some with older computers who keep crashing in GV), and many who'd rather play the hero.

I wonder if they have the tech to allow 2XP only in red or blue areas. I think it's a good idea. Also if people are opposed to vills, maybe get that vigilante thing going on. Red side has a better design but some areas are just too bleak...the devs kinda went overboard in that area IMO.

This is fairly close to the dilemma I've run into recently.

I'm a big fan of playing and RPing villains. But for whatever reason, I find taking a hero and having them permanently spiral down into villainy to be more appealing, and have been on a kick to do that for a while now. So while I'm working on that, it struck me that I'd like to have a, I don't know what you'd call it, a "true" villain to play all the new Villain content with.

Now I like playing story arcs. Especially arcs that will carry you through the levels. (Praetoria is FANTASTIC for this.) Then I remembered that I hate 98% of the Graves arc (that's intended to be the bridge from Mercy into the rest of the Isles). It's written for a very particular kind of character, like a pre-set character for a single player home console RPG. The only thing I do actually like about the arc is the twist at the end, which finally takes the attention away from how Graves treats the PC.

So anyway, back to my dilemma of how to start a new villain to take advantage of all the recent villainous content. To get the most bang for my storyarc buck, I'm going to start in Praetoria and play a Loyalist or Crusader (haven't decided yet.) and then go to the Isles. Now I personally find this a little limiting in that it's outright silly to take a character with an evil name through ANY Praetoria arc due to the whole undercover aspect of the place.
"Oh, hello there. You're the new Powers Division recruit. What was your codename again?"
"Demon Deathdealer."
"...uh-huh. And you're here to aid the populace in the fight against the Resistance?"
"I sure am!"
"...right." *frantically reaches for the hidden security alarm*

But that's so much better than playing the Graves arc again, or trudging through the teens solo to make it to the 20's and any redside areas where one might actually find other players to team with. And yeah, I know I could just run DFB a couple times and be done with it, but imho, that completely defeats the purpose of what I want to do.

good luck D.B.B.

This is a terrible idea. If people like playing heroes better than villains, why should the devs try to force them to play villains instead? Let people play what they want.

I much prefer playing villains just because I'm better at coming up with origin stories for them. So I think this is a good idea.

Yea I'm usually a villain, but the huge lack of teams and players makes it rather depressing at times, not the content.

What if they made more villain Strike Forces? Kinda like a comparative to the Freedom phalanx Task Forces with the roman numeral badges, though there is already a similar accholade.

And what of the two islands south of Mercy and Cap Au Diable, the ones that are uncharted. Might be something to expand upon for the villains.


Picture from Paragon Wiki

Either way though, I agree for some more love of the Red.

But what happens when that weekend (or week) is over and anyone who rolled up a villain to take advantage of the event leaves? Doesn't that leave redside in the same state?

This seems like an extremely temporary "solution".

If people don't want to play redside (and my own character ratio is about 75% Paragon City, 24% Rogue Isles, 1% Praetoria) because they don't like the look or feel of the zones or the stories there, tempting some of them to play there for a short period of time probably won't change their desire to play there permanently.

Depends. Some players don't play redside because they genuinely hate being a villain. Some players don't like the zones or the quests. And then there are some who don't play villains because finding a team prior to the coop zones is like pulling teeth. A 2XP weekend for villains would help the third category tremendously, and possibly have a cascading effect as more villains make their way into the endgame and become available for SF's and Trials.