Rolled/Changed alignment to a Hero instead of a Villain because 'nobody plays villains?'
Honestly, although I was impressed with the artistic value of Praetoria; I was miffed that they put all of that energy into creating a "World 3" when there were still population issues between Red/Blue (ie. reference discussions made when the market system first came out) and between servers.
And in retrospect, it seemed to be a bad move to go with such a segregate, black-and-white stance when it came to the intro of morality (CoV) when a more integrative approach would've made more sense. I understand there may have been tech limitations at the time but that's not an excuse any more.
Apparently, I play "City of Shakespeare"
*Arc #95278-Gathering the Four Winds -3 step arc; challenging - 5 Ratings/3 Stars (still working out the kinks)
*Arc #177826-Lights, Camera, Scream! - 3 step arc, camp horror; try out in 1st person POV - 35 Ratings/4 Stars
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Ehhh, none of those costume pieces necessarily mean villains as I could name games with the protagonists (heroic individuals) who wear those costumes and are heroes. If folks wanted play villains more there would be more villains.
I don't think there is enough resources or will to do the type of Rogue Isles revamp that you envision that would bring up the population of redside to the point where you think it will. It would require an expansion type effort, which I don't think we'll be seeing anything soon. The best they can do is try to play with the rewards and change the content of those zones one zone at a time. I don't seriously think any of that will make much a difference, especially since you can play any of the villain ATs from level 1 on ANY side, you can be a hero and still run villain missions by becoming a vigilante, and the highest content of the game--Incarnates--is co-op. In addition they just tired another new "side" with Praetoria. How much is that area of the game being used today? |
1) They both contain a closed-environment system with a singular story to tell (dictator rises to power; player fights to keep dictator in check or possibly overthrow)
2) They both are centered around an exclusive, one-man dictatorship.
Once you overthrow the dictator, the stories for those worlds are over. No reason to go back unless you want to relive the glory of overthrowing the dictator again (via alt or Ouroborous).
As a result, red/gold side gameplay ends when the dictator is overthrown - and the players move on to blue side. Granted, red side is BIGGER and has a more diverse choice of enemies to fight (albeit they're all villains already available on blue side which is a significant design mistake - cause why are you going to fight the same villains in a depressing, slummy environment when you can engage them in a cheery, more upscale, bright and modern setting?).
Praetoria is a dystopean society but design-wise it might as well be a zone in Paragon City. And when the player realizes that, coupled with the fact that Praetoria requires them to make a hard decision at lvl 20 (ie, hero or villain") then what's the point of playing in Praetoria at all if you're only going to be there for only 20 levels?
Blue side works differently:
1) It's an open-environment system with no mainstream story arc
2) There is no one exclusive enemy figure/one-man dictatorship to fight against
As a result, blue side gameplay is a completely open-ended story that the player makes up as they go along - and they never have to leave or end it. Fight Crey, fight Hellions, fight the Cabal, fight whoever you want - its entirely up to you. There's no "one" overarcing story, and society teaches us that heroes *always* have a role to play -- so why should we believe there's an end to the blue side storyline? Villains however always end up in jail... Or do they?! As for the oppressed - well, they are always looking to escape from their oppressor... Or are they?!
Regardless of whether one believes in heroes or villains, the fact remains that only one of these three systems employs open-ended gameplay that keeps the story going forever and that's blue side - which is why blue side is still so very popular with the player base. If the Devs want to reinvigorate the gameplay experience in the Rogue Isles and Praetoria, then they need to topple the current one-man dicatorships that exist (which they're doing) and avoid introducing future one-man dictatorships because they're muting/interfering with the player's personal story as it continually unfolds in CoH.
Me personally, I'd rather see open-environments for all three worlds (Paragon City, Praetoria and the Rogue Isles) with tons of unique, side exclusive enemy groups for the player to engage -- but with certain caveats:
1) Blue side is for PvE/Team XP bonuses with blue side-exclusive drops/craftable items
2) Red side is for PvE/Team Inf bonuses with red side-exclusive drops/craftable items
3) Gold side becomes an open-world PvPvE realm with Team merit/prestige bonuses and gold side-exclusive drops/craftable items
These realms should complement each other and provide an exclusive gameplay experience rather than overlap each other and provide the same or lesser gameplay experience as they do now (which is another reason why most folks always play/stay on blue side; there is absolutely no incentive to go play in those other worlds for achievements and rewards that you can't already get on blue side).
But I digress... Red side rules!
![Smile](images/smilies/smile.gif)
Me personally, I'd rather see open-environments for all three worlds (Paragon City, Praetoria and the Rogue Isles) with tons of unique, side exclusive enemy groups for the player to engage -- but with certain caveats: 1) Blue side is for PvE/Team XP bonuses with blue side-exclusive drops/craftable items 2) Red side is for PvE/Team Inf bonuses with red side-exclusive drops/craftable items 3) Gold side becomes an open-world PvPvE realm with Team merit/prestige bonuses and gold side-exclusive drops/craftable items These realms should complement each other and provide an exclusive gameplay experience rather than overlap each other and provide the same or lesser gameplay experience as they do now (which is another reason why most folks always play/stay on blue side; there is absolutely no incentive to go play in those other worlds for achievements and rewards that you can't already get on blue side). But I digress... Red side rules! ![]() |
Because if you can trade them on the market you run right smack into the same issue as before: what's the point of playing any side if I can just get the same rewards by staying blue and getting the gold and red stuff on the unified market?
I don't see them adding pvp to Gold side though.
Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
![Big Grin](images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
1) "Dubai-ify"or glitz up red side zones. Villains don't steal from the rich just to live in slums.
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I'd have liked to see a Nemesis island, too, which would be a perfect utopia where everyone is genuinely happy and content and with good reason - their benevolent master provides for them and asks for nothing in return. No Praetorian façade totalitatian state, an honest-to-god perfect island with which Nemesis can demonstrate the argument he's always making - that he's better at ruling the world than anybody else.
So, yeah, I agree with this. I'd honestly prefer to see the Rogue Isles as the perfect tourist destination - beautiful nature, lots of expensive resorts, clean and neat cities, with all the evil hidden away where the dumb tourists won't go to look for it. Being a bad guy in a good place is far more satisfying than being a bad guy in a rat hole, but City of Villains wasn't intended to be satisfying. It was intended to be depressing.
You forgot 5) people in general prefer playing heroes instead of villains. Nothing the devs can do will ever change that. Doesn't mean they shouldn't try though.
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City of Villains was originally envisioned to be like, to quote the Ultimate Warrior, "**** dribbling down your throat for all eternity. It was designed to be grotesque, revolting and unpleasant because that's what someone thought evil was. And while that IS how evil generally is in the fictional world, what someone forgot to account for is that whether people play villains or heroes, they want to have fun, they want to leave satisfied and they want an experience which makes them happier for having played it than they would have been if they hadn't. Hence, the above.
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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I've often felt that the omnipresent overlord which is Arachnos was always a mistake. As far as I'm concerned, every island should have had its own independent governor and faction ruling it. I could see both Mercy and Grandville being Arachnos land, but the rest? I'd rather see Port Oaks as the crime-ridden port town with a glitzy villa area for the rich mobsters, Aeon City as the beautiful city of the future built over the tomb of a demon and run by a mad but actually INTELLIGENT scientist, Sharkhead as the small mining town of poor people and dirty jobs, Nerva as the independent peaceful state and St. Martial Island as the perfect, gleaming city of the rich where the poor undercity is invisible unless you know to look for it.
I'd have liked to see a Nemesis island, too, which would be a perfect utopia where everyone is genuinely happy and content and with good reason - their benevolent master provides for them and asks for nothing in return. No Praetorian façade totalitatian state, an honest-to-god perfect island with which Nemesis can demonstrate the argument he's always making - that he's better at ruling the world than anybody else. |
Why is that idea so perfect
and the isles so ******?
Seriously, I understand why all the blue-side zones have to be similarish. Because it's all different sections of one city. But the Isles are a whole chain of islands. Why do they all look exactly the same.
...or because 'red side is dead?'
Congratulations, you're the cause of the complaint. |
![Cool](images/smilies/cool.gif)
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
Woah woah woah! I never said they should lie. However, galavanting around proclaiming they are moving to blue doesn't fix anything though, which is what I was saying they shouldn't do.
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Also, if everyone who ever left redside due to population stayed... it wouldn't be as big of an issue either. Which is sorta the point of the thread. |
Now if they were all from the same server I'd believe people would notice their absence.
I don't want to be too condescending... but to me this thread is like a manager at Waffle House being angry that enough hot people aren't willing to hang out there so it can be made into a pickup joint of higher calibre, even though they keep complaining about being hungry and single.
Time is short and I don't want to spend it waiting on a full team to form.
I don't mind going solo (which I've done for a good chunk of my time here; on redside) but I have been spoiled rotten by iTrial and sewer teaming and I don't have to sacrifice AT selection now to play into my current pro-team preference.
I used to despise how Blueside made you run all over 20 maps to complete one mission but now, between the Sewer trials, Hazard zones and Tips... that's not really an issue anymore.
By the time I'm at 50; it becomes irrelevant to me... being that most of the content I'm interested in is co-op.
Blueside is definitely where the big party is. Redside is where the Patron Pools are.
[And I have options blueside; street-sweeping is better, boss hunting is better, hazard zone hunting, safeguards are cake, etc]
And what about Goldside?
Apparently, I play "City of Shakespeare"
*Arc #95278-Gathering the Four Winds -3 step arc; challenging - 5 Ratings/3 Stars (still working out the kinks)
*Arc #177826-Lights, Camera, Scream! - 3 step arc, camp horror; try out in 1st person POV - 35 Ratings/4 Stars