First Ward First Impression (Possible Spoilers)
I just finished running First Ward my first time last night. The events specifically follow what happens during the story arcs in the other Praetorian zones, and it's all chronological: Nova Praetoria, Imperial City, Neuropolis (they spelled it wrong in-game), First Ward then Night Ward. That said, for the most part, it at least picks up fairly well except for those (like me) who didn't encounter Noble Savage earlier in the game due to sticking with the Loyalist arcs.
First Ward is just where people go who aren't actively in the Resistance but also not welcome in Praetoria proper. I can respect that. First you find out what's gone bonkers at the survivor compound, then you make some allies, and then OH CRAP GHOSTS. The latter half of the First Ward arcs go over what's up with the Apparitions, and as soon as we find out what's controlling them, the Talons of Vengeance become involved. Once THAT is taken care of, Night Ward picks up.
Doing these through Ouroboros, the only thing that was really unclear to me is: who is Blind Makwa, and why am I talking to him? You just go straight from Katie Douglas to him, with no apparent connection or any connecting text.
There are two major problems with First Ward:
1) It is too tailored to hero characters. This has come up before, and I always just figured people were exaggerating. I mean, in Dark Astoria, villains say "I'm here to save the day," but at least it's all sarcastic and insincere. But First Ward? "When the inevitable happens, I would like us to be friends beyond even the grave. You will always be in my thoughts and in my prayers"? Yeah, try again Mr. Writer Person. Villains have absolutely no reason to go to First Ward, they just get an ultimatum by some wizard when they hit level 20. "A town in ruins? No thanks."
2) It is too tailored to Praetorian characters. This is the lesser offense, but... How in the world did my character know Calvin Scott escaped from the Asylum? Not an hour earlier I was beating up Goldbrickers and stepped through a portal. Mr. Writer Person was really sucking it up that day. We'll see if Night Ward makes more sense.
So far, I'm absolutely lost. While the writing is stylistically similar to what happened in Praetoria, I'm finding myself feeling like there's a 5 year in-game gap between what happened at the end of the GR storyline and what starts in FW. Major plot points concerning Calvin Scott and the Resistance (as well at the events involving the change of Noble Savage and a lot of the Ghouls) are handed to you as if they're a side dish and not important at all.
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Katie (last name escapes me, former seer/teleporter) and Noble Savage completely forget they even knew you.
It is as if the first zones in Praetoria never happened(probably to save time after making the "you came from primal earth" version) when you do go there.
They also remove practically all choice that you would expect after going through the under level 20 Praetorian content.
It's really not a cohesive story.
Also, "Neuropolis" sounds a bit "Neurotic". Neuron wouldn't want that.
And FYI, First Ward doesn't properly follow the other Praetorian arcs, especially if you went Loyalist undercover in the Warden arcs.
You turned Noble Savage into an undercover agent for the Loyalists in those arcs while seriously angering Katie by betraying her when she was about to free the seers.
That path was completely ignored.
2) It is too tailored to Praetorian characters. This is the lesser offense, but... How in the world did my character know Calvin Scott escaped from the Asylum? Not an hour earlier I was beating up Goldbrickers and stepped through a portal. Mr. Writer Person was really sucking it up that day. We'll see if Night Ward makes more sense.
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TL;DR sloppy writing and a somewhat ill-conceived notion of enforcing a chronological storyline on a game where each character experiences the story separately
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
The truth about Calvin Scott was revealed a couple issues ago in the Underground Trial. From the writer's perspective, it happens before the events in First Ward. But from your character's perspective, it hasn't happened yet.
TL;DR sloppy writing and a somewhat ill-conceived notion of enforcing a chronological storyline on a game where each character experiences the story separately |
![Stick Out Tongue](images/smilies/tongue.gif)
Yeah, I try to avoid FW and NW like the plague.
Doing a pretty good job so far. It's a shame the content sucks, though, 'cause the zone looks great.
I don't know, I see the FW/NW arcs differently. In my fevered imagination, this is a miniseries in the Paragon universe. It references the ongoing Praetorian War storyline in the continuing titles, but is off on the side, doing its own thing with less popular characters. It did end up with a lead-in to the finale of the big crossover storyline, but the people who only play the mainstream Paragon arcs didn't see it, so they were confused, too.
And Trilogy is an Ambush Bug one-shot.
@Glass Goblin - Writer, brainstormer, storyteller, hero
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be heroes, just for one day
I just started First Ward myself. While admittedly I can easily spot the typos, the hastily done in media res, and the lack of truly villainous options, I'm actually enjoying the ride. My brute's had a couple good moments breaking necks and massacring prison staff, and it just amuses him to no end that he can leave a trail of bodies to make Sam Peckinpah jealous and these people adore him. Maybe its also because the leveling experience is so much smoother. Street sweeping in between missions doesn't seem so tedious.
my problem with FW is the same problem they have in every zone. The arcs don't really go together. And I usually like the first story more than the last.
I liked the survivors in FW vs the DUST rangers. Trying to deal with the ghouls, etc.
I wanted more of that.
But that ended and there was this completely different story about ghosts and carnival and such that I didn't really care about.
I liked First Ward. I was about to do the first Night Ward contact and wasn't really sure what they were talking about in relation to past events. So, I went back to First Ward and ran all 8 arcs in order this past week.
Best zone content ever? No.
Did I like it better than the Hollows and Striga? Definitely.
Better than Croatoa and Rikti War Zone? Slightly.
So, overall, I thought it was pretty good.
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
I love First Ward and Night Ward, but they definitely do suffer from some discontinuity and excessive plot. By which, I mean that:
a) the stories don't strictly follow your actions as either a Loyalist or Resistance character in some areas, and some parts of the story seem to require your knowledge of what is going on in the Incarnate Trials (even though your character isn't yet an Incarnate; hasn't even necessarily left Praetoria, for that matter). I really wish they'd have been able to find a way to bring the throughlines of Resistance/Loyalist alignment stories into FW and NW, and while I understand why they didn't, I feel the zones would have been much richer for it.
b) As the OP notes, there are a lot of instances of "We need to get to the bottom of this" in both FW and NW, and the plot ends of taking the character in so many places, that some problems either are never fully explored, or else are wrapped up haphazardly right at the end with little actual problem solving involved. First Ward is really great, up until the third act (so to speak) when everything gets so rushed, it feels like it is all kind of thrown at the wall and left hanging. Some of that gets cleared up in NW, but even there, the final act feels so rushed that at least one of the problems that you first encounter there (the incursion of NW into both Praetoria and the Spirit World) just gets handwaved at the end. All better.
All said, though, I still love both zones and think they are some of the strongest content in the game. I have requested a couple of times to get an underground lab and black market in FW to make it a more independently sustainable zone, because I think it is just awesome.
I doubt it will ever happen, but I hope that they eventually provide some more story arcs in those two zones (they are certainly large enough, and rich enough in background to provide a lot of grist for the mill.) At the very least, I hope FW stuff makes it into AE so that I can do some stories there.
I liked First Ward. I was about to do the first Night Ward contact and wasn't really sure what they were talking about in relation to past events. So, I went back to First Ward and ran all 8 arcs in order this past week.
Best zone content ever? No. Did I like it better than the Hollows and Striga? Definitely. Better than Croatoa and Rikti War Zone? Slightly. So, overall, I thought it was pretty good. |
1) Striga
2) RWZ
3) New DA
4) Night Ward
5) First Ward
6) Hollows
7) Croatoa
I really should do something about this signature.
First Ward works best story-wise as a Warden or a Primal Hero - just like all Praetorian content
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
First Ward works best story-wise as a Warden or a Primal Hero - just like all Praetorian content
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That's as far as I can tell from running the Warden arcs undercover anyway.
First Ward is easily some of the worst writing we have in CoX.
Shows how much it's a matter of taste. I would rate those, from best to worst:
1) Striga 2) RWZ 3) New DA 4) Night Ward 5) First Ward 6) Hollows 7) Croatoa |
1) First Ward
2) New DA
3) Night Ward
4) Rikti War Zone
5) Striga Isle
6) Croatoa
7) Hollows
I did First Ward with a Primal hero, so take that with as much salt as you need to -- I thought the story was very engaging (and it led to an interesting RP moment in my supergroup as the Praetorian Warden who originally rescued Katie Douglas from the Seer Network found out I'd locked her back in it). There's a lot of information in the mission briefing/debriefing screens, so if you're in the habit of clicking through those quickly to get to the action/rewards, I can see where you'd think the story isn't as coherent as I thought it was.
The new DA was also very engaging, though I'm not sure how excited I am to try re-running the entire zone through Ouroboros just to farm it for Incarnate Threads -- though I may not have a choice until Magesterium-obsession begins to die down once people have tier 4'ed their Hybrid slot.
Night Ward isn't as engaging to me as First Ward was, since the stories seem largely disconnected (despite having obvious connections -- the stuff in the Midnight Mansion was triggered by Master Midnight's actions in the First Ward storyline, for instance). The zone is saved largely by the presence of the Animus Arcana, which are a group of 'enemies' unlike any other in the game. In a game that's gone very hard toward the graphic novel style of dark story lines, a bunch of living spells is a breath of fresh air.
RWZ is nice for the few missions that break the traditional mold (in other words, those missions that differ from the ones you get at Firebase Zulu -- 'go to this cave and beat up bad guys!' 'OK, sir!'), and for the amenities built into the zone (having a crafting table in the main quest-giver room is probably one of the best QoL ideas a zone builder has ever had).
I recently re-ran Striga on a former Praetorian toon and was reminded why the traditional opinion of Striga is 'I run it until I get the Wedding Band, then stop'. I wouldn't mind getting a group together for the strike force, just for old time's sake, but I've completely lost interest in the rest of the zone content, since there's so much else to do in that level range. (Which in a way is odd, because you'd think 'fighting Nazi werewolves and vampires' would never get old.)
I'm also in the process of re-running Croatoa with a toon who's been on my bench for some time, and the difference in story structure between Croatoa and the new Dark Astoria, despite them both being 'eldritch suspense/horror' themed, is as good an example as exists for the serious upgrade in story content that seems to have entered the game starting around Issue 19. DA has a number of factions, for which you slowly learn why those factions exist and how they're using/being used by the other factions. Croatoa is more like 'go fight these dudes, then go fight these other dudes, then find out that there's yet another group of dudes that are the real bad guys, even though it's not really clear why except that they're bad guys'. It's easy to see that the early Croatoa missions were an attempt to use the 'don't assume certain groups are evil just because they're ugly' trope, but aside from a couple of interesting mission fights, the overall plot is just kinda flat. Sorry, but I've got no better term to describe it.
Hollows? Meh. I'd rather re-run the Shining Stars arc for the fifteenth time than go Troll-hunting for David Wincott again.
Just my $0.02US.
--
Pauper
I rate Nova Praetoria, Imperial City and Neutropolis stories above all else in the game.
They were just cool.
After that....maybe the Alpha Arc, Cimerora, Ouroboros, RWZ, Grandville, the Dark Mirror arcs(clones) in that order.
I generally agree. That's basically why, personally, I got so annoyed at First Ward (and why I'm utterly uninterested now in even trying Night Ward), too. Four different, separate arcs, separate viewpoints to see Praetoria. Then First Ward comes with one, that ties into none of them.
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@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
It ties into the Warden path - helping the Resistance fight the loyalists, but without blowing up stuf that doesn't need to be blown up.
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First Ward breaks from all 4 paths because you have the Resistance turning on you and you're set against Cole's forces from the get go. Certain story paths are revealed to be canon but it doesn't pick up where it left from. The First Warders are sort of Resistance by association, but as someone said they're more like the people that are against Cole but don't want to go in with the Resistance. Especially after the regime change, since the Hetman and his men were the main vestige of Resistance membership. Afterward I'd call it neutral and more closely aligned with the Carnival of Light than anything.
It ties into the Warden path - helping the Resistance fight the loyalists, but without blowing up stuf that doesn't need to be blown up.
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Yes, they are like the Wardens, but they pretty much forget you are one of their Warden buddies.
So since I've been kind of bleh on Live, I decided to run my Water/Poison Corruptor around on Beta. I also decided to run First Ward, since I've never done it before.
So far, I'm absolutely lost. While the writing is stylistically similar to what happened in Praetoria, I'm finding myself feeling like there's a 5 year in-game gap between what happened at the end of the GR storyline and what starts in FW. Major plot points concerning Calvin Scott and the Resistance (as well at the events involving the change of Noble Savage and a lot of the Ghouls) are handed to you as if they're a side dish and not important at all.
I felt as if I entered the zone and was told "WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S HAPPENING GO FIND OUT" and then I never get to find out. Crazy Monarch guy, Palatine, Hetman BAD, Noble Savage GOOD, OMG GHOSTS, crazy people, oh crap the Resistance is evil, go to Night Ward.
... what?
Also, I'm really frustrated that upon entering the zone, every other dialogue option with the Compound NPCs was "[Resistance Slang]? What does that mean?" I miss the lingo of the Resistance being somewhat decipherable but still kind of out-there. To me, it subtracted from the experience and immersion when you could just ask every NPC what they were talking about like they were a walking Resistance-To-English dictionary.
I can see the main storyline here, but I feel it's been fluffed up and scrambled a bit by side-plots and writing that feels very rushed. Hell, I'm still wondering just how important Mistress Nadia is, since all she did was help me find Anna and then I had to bail her out in the last mission of the arc. It was kind of nice to see the captured Carnival of Light members show up too, but like Mistress Nadia, they get their own moment of fame that sets them up for a major role and pushes them to the bottom rung at the last minute.
And then, before I realize it's started, it's over and I'm left looking toward Night Ward wondering what the hell I just played through and if the characters I just helped will make an appearance again.
Now, granted, several people have told me to get my head around the Master Midnight arc, so I'll be doing that shortly. But so far, I'm confused as hell and just barely grasping the main plot that I think is there.
My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
"Dark Armor is a complete waste as a tanking set."