First Ward First Impression (Possible Spoilers)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

First Ward works best story-wise as a Warden or a Primal Hero - just like all Praetorian content

First Ward is easily some of the worst writing we have in CoX.

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.