Heartsick (*SPOILERS FOR BELLADONNA VETRANO*)

Uh huh. I thought so.

Ah, there we go. But here's the problem with that assessment... Incarnates are post-50 content, so they happen AFTER you've done everything else. So, they still strictly follow the leveling timeline, as is displayed in the continuation of storylines from basic content in Dark Astoria.

That's not quite correct - because of the Alpha slot requirement, the Apex and Tin Mage Incarnate TF could quite easily end up being played after DA and the non-Alpha required Trials - Belladonna's arc, which takes palce just hours before the fall of the loyalist dictatorship, can also be played before the loyalists even invade Primal Earth - which is why the Incarnate storyline follows a release date = time passing system.

The order of release for the Incarnate content so far has been:


Issue 19 - Mender Ramiel, Apex TF, Tin Mage TF.

Issue 20 - BAF, Lambda Sector.

Issue 20.5 - Keyes Island.

Issue 21 - Underground.

Issue 21.5 - TPN, MoM.

Issue 22 - Dark Astoria, DD.

Issue 23 - Belladonna Vetrano, Magisterium.


So while these are all a mix of slotted Alpha required, Alpha required, and plain 50 access, the storyline follows a consistent timeline of release date = story progression, which is reinforced by the neat little system of lore updates given out by Prometheus as each new Trial is completed.

Wrong.

Apex and Tin Mage can be played without the Alpha unlocked; you're just debuffed 4 levels without it (or unslotted). Dark Astoria and Belladonna Vetrano both require the Alpha unlocked to appear on your contacts list.

The only thing you were correct about were the iTrials which can be played with or without the Alpha unlocked.

That's a required Alpha

Both can be played without Alpha unlocked.

Softest requirement I've ever seen.

Nope. Wrong. I have five level 50s as you can see in my signature. Three have their Alpha slots, two do not. Guess which three BV and the DA intro arc popped up on under the Contacts tab.

Plenty of TF leaders just be soft then

Captain Nolan can be spoken to by a plain 50.

Proof?

I ran it with a plain 50 on beta - all my other 50s already have Alpha unlocked on the live servers.

Then I call that a bug from Beta, because it doesn't work like that now.

Heather was also available to plain 50s on beta - you could skip Nolan and just go through the DA portal on PI, then speak to her and she'd give you her arc.
VIP-only betas make it hard to test stuff from a non-VIP angle

Yeah, that was a bug... on Beta, no less. It doesn't work like that anymore.

Either way, it still doesn't really change the release date = time passing sytem used by the Incarnate storyline.

The SSA timeline only follows the episode numbers - levels are only used to change the challenge level for the players, or to cover some enemy groups that don''t go above or below a certain level.
For example, Statesman's death, Sister Psyche's death, and Darrin Wade's arrest all happen in the 40-50 range - but SSA2 starts off in the 30-40 bracket which makes sense in the SSA episodes = time passing system, but zero sense in the levels = time pasisng system in the normal 1-50 content.
The big difference between the Incarate storyline and the SSAs compared to the 1-50 storyline is that the 1-50 one is constantly being retconned in one way or another, even if it doesn't involve changing any of the old content - new content still affects the progress of an avatar on the way to 50 by giving new choices and bits of lore that weren't there before.

I was told that all 50s have alpha automatically unlocked on beta? I was all 'wtf, why is my alpha unlocked!' on my scrapper one day.

Sorry, no, you have to have unlocked your Alpha slot to run Apex and Tin Mage. You don't have to have anything slotted in it, but if it's not unlocked, you can't run it.

And, again, sorry, no. Beta had Alpha automatically unlocked for 50s since before Dark Astoria was being tested. To run any content that gives incarnate rewards as the principal mission holder, you must (in my understanding) have Alpha unlocked.

Like I said, the SSAs are slightly detatched form the normal 1-50 leveling timeline, and seem to eb designed to cover important events that change the whole game world - for example, SSA2 apparently focuses on Villains setting up an new organization to rival Arachnos - which could mean that they're going to add a new villain group to the game - but once SSA2 was completed, not matter what level the final arc was, a new villain group could start appearing at all levels, as SSA2 sould have updated the whoel game world in the same way that SSA1 did.

What am I getting at with those?

First, I'm pointing out the cheekiness of Primals claiming the moral highground in this war when their bestest most amazingliest awesomest and all-around red & blue *kisses&hugs* Paragon City can be as corrupt as Praetoria - without even the excuse of having an evil giant goo monster hanging over their heads. And that's in Paragon City, the atrocities happening in the Rogue Isles are ten times worse than whatever's happening in Praetoria, and yet here we are in typical me against my brother, me and my brother against my cousin, signing truces with Recluse because Cole's the real bad guy. There goes your multi-culturalism... Why aren't we attacking Praetorian Hamidon instead? If Cole and his goons still want to oppress Praetoria *after* that happens, then sure, off with their heads!

Second, j'accuse! When blatant corruption happens in Primal Earth, you're perfectly happy to chalk it up to anomalies in a free society, and yet when it happens in Praetoria, you call it systemic behavior in a fascist society and brand all Loyalists as evil! Why aren't you demanding we take down all Primal Loyalists as well, when Primal leadership is *clearly* working for Malta and Nemesis and trying to enslave us all? You don't do it because you acknowledge that western society is inherently good and refuse to blame it for the crimes of a few unscrupulous individuals, no matter how high up the power ladder they are. Responsibility (and to a lesser extent, Power) Loyalists are also trying to do the right thing. Theys detect corruption and authority abuse, they deal with it. Just like heroes in Primal Earth. Why the differential treatment?

Third, it's an answer to Fista and Venture's childish insinuation that I wasn't able to back up my words with facts. There are only two biological responses to a perceived threat, fight or flight. I chose the former, sorry for being human...

Are they? One evil dictatorship is much the same as another.

There are 2 monsters threatening the Praetorians - Tyrant and the Hamidon - we dealt with the loyalists first because they were the biggest threat to everyone.

Well, as we haven't found any torture rooms under any Primal police buildings, but in Praetoria there's one under every police building, that looks like it's government policy rather than a rogue Praetoria PD commander getting inventive.
The presence of the Seers on every street corner is seems to indicate that Mother Mayhem's throught police program has govenerment approval too, and the enslavement of the psychics to serve the dictatoship is very systematic.
Drugging the water supply is also sytematic and government approved.
The mass-murder, torture, skavery, brianwashing and drugging that goes on in Praetoria isn't the result of rogue elements in the government - it's the foundation of the government's existence - from the lowest PPD grunt all the way up to Tyrant, the dictatorship carries out crimes against humanity 24/7.

When crimes are committed on Primal Earth, heroes bring the criminals to justice - this can't be done in Praetoria, as the government are the criminals - which is why outside help was needed to take the whole dictatorship down.

I must have missed the loyalist arcs where players shut down the PPD torture chambers, released all the Seers from slavery, put a stop to the drugging of the water supply, and arrested Tyrant and the Praetors for crimes against humanity.

Flight would be hard without a leg to stand on, and fighting with a stiff arm is difficult - so either way, like Tyrant and his loyalist thugs, you're doomed to defeat.

Sorry, was too busy stopping the Crusaders from killing everyone in the Magesterium with reprogrammed Clockwork, disarming bombs planted around the hospital,and stopping a plot to overload the Neutropolis reactors and killing everyone.

Funny, I seem to recall accounts of basic 50s being invited into Apex/Tin Mage teams but being subjected to the -4 level debuff.

Did that take up all your time 1-20?

Well, tell you what. Tin Mage is the WTF... this week, I think? We'll get a team together and you can find someone with an unlocked 50, and we'll see what happens.

If it works, we'll tell the Wiki to update, and then ask the devs if we should /bug it.

Well there was the incident with the serial killer and Metronome's rampage.

To be honest it's been a while since I've run a character through Praetoria, but those are the story lines I remember. I know there was more along the same lines but I don't remember it very well. Haven't run through Praetoria since GR launched.