Meta’s Verse: Paragon Studio’s Loregasm AMA
By Meticulous Meta, OnRPG Paragon Reporter
Yesterday City of Heroes players got some valuable information that they had been waiting some time to see. No, not answers about why City of Heroes is being closed. I don’t think we will ever get that. What we did get was information about refunds and other account billing details. Not long after that information was posted by Andy Belford (aka Zwillinger) on behalf of NCSoft we got the long awaited Lore Ask me Anything event from Positron and the writers.
One of the biggest questions has been about VIP status. Anyone who was a VIP as of September 1st will remain VIP through to the end. Accounts that we’re VIP cannot be flagged as such. Refunds are being given for people who meet two conditions:
Anyone with an outstanding subscription balance as of September 1st. Anyone who purchased Paragon Points after August 24th
These will be paid back automatically through the original payment method that the purchase was made through. Customers who paid via time cards are told to contact support and leave your name, City of Heroes account name and phone number. Support will then call when they can to get your bank details to wire transfer the remaining balance of the time card. If you cannot do a wire transfer then a check can be mailed instead. The time card refunds should see them reach their account in 14 days once they are approved.
In addition to all of that Zwillinger said that during the closing several popular events will be held. But there are no details on it just yet as they haven’t quite worked them all out yet. But we hope to see them announced soon.
Just moments after Zwillinger posted the details of getting refunds and announced that we would have our favorite events elsewhere on the forums Matt “Positron” Miller posted the lore AMA answers. It is 33 pages long and though I’ve now read it several times I feel like there are still a million more questions to be asked. In particular I think none of the questions I gathered on my Google document got answered. Hopefully though someone will take notice and answer them. But what questions were answered are fantastic, and the answers make me wish we could have City of Heroes forever. I’m looking at you moonbase plans! The loregasm as everyone is calling it had a lot of fantastic reveals that I never saw coming. So, here is where I tell you to look away if you don’t want spoilers because I’m posting some of my favorite questions, answers and my thoughts on them.
Were there actual plans for a moonbase?
Matt Miller: I approved art dailies from it on the last day of the studio. 🙁 Issue 28.
Meta’s thoughts: Auuuuugh! We were so close to getting a moonbase finally! When I read this first I frowned then I realized that this is the true reason City of Heroes is closing. Moonbases are just too awesome. It had to be stopped.
Who was the Toymaker (as he was hinted as someone from the heroes past but never expanded on)?
Matt Miller: Not sure, probably Lord Nemesis.
Meta’s thoughts: Of course it was Nemesis. Everything is a Nemesis plot. But really, it made me smile to see that some more light hearted questions got in. I knew it would be hard for everything to be thought of so it pleased me to see this question.
Can you publish the entire lore bible you apparently had for Kheldians, pretty please?
Matt Miller: Sorry no. Spoiler alert: They all end up as fuel for Battalion, except for one. The End.
Sean McCann(Dr. Aeon): Matt has a grim ending but that probably would’ve been prevented. Look at me, the guy trying to not kill off people.
Meta’s Thoughts: I had always hoped that Kheldians would somehow get saved. I may have had a hard time playing them but I loved the unique story. A story that cannot continue anywhere else but in the City of Heroes universe.
Mender Silos is Lord Nemesis. Where were you going with that story? A sinister plot spanning all of time, or was it a genuine redemption? Was Ouroboros really bad all along? Were they going to turn on us at any point?
Matt Miller: Genuine redemption, but given the reaction he got from everyone who learned his secret, he started thinking like the Old Nemesis again.
Ryan Greene(Viridian): We had a lot of meetings on just this topic. The angle I had been gunning for was that Mender Silos would be an ex-member of Battalion, who saw the end result of their empire and chose to use time travel to oppose them. Others suggested that he had become Time Incarnate itself. Whatever the end result was, he was definitely going to figure pretty heavily in the Battalion and post-Battalion storylines.
John Hegner (Protean): The exciting thing about Silos is that he has seen every time stream that didn’t end up with Battalion defeated, so traveling down the time stream where they were defeated (i.e. the one players are playing in) would have been just as much an adventure to him as it was to the players. Once Battalion was defeated, however, who knows what Silos might do.
Meta’s Thoughts: I was always secretly hoping that Silos and Ouroboros would turn out to be the bad guys. But at the same time I approve of genuine redemption. My heroes have always looked at Silos with a bit of caution, even more so once they actually learn that he’s Nemesis.
Speaking of Lady Grey, how about her full background?
Matt Miller: First attempt by the Well of the Furies to create a champion in over 100 years. She refused the power, keeping just the immortality. OR Battalion sleeper agent, placed on this planet in the mid 1800’s during an advance scouting mission.
Meta’s Thoughts: Her being a Battalion sleeper agent is completely out of nowhere and I imagine hard to get people to believe. Though I would have loved to see how they would have gone about it. Or there’s the sort of Incarnate state, which is much easier to believe.
What are the other 11 methods of time travel besides Dreaming and the Pillar of Ice and Flame?
Matt Miller: 3) Flux Capacitor 4) Call Box/Phone Booth 5) Steampunk machine 6) Black Hole 7) Time Tunnel 8) Magic 9) Divine Intervention 10) “Body Jumping” 11) The Method You Came up with for Your Character.
Meta’s Thoughts: While awesome to have answers, I’m….torn. It feels like a bit of a cheat, but at the same time I approve. I’ve had several time travelling characters but they’ve all either used the pillar, a steampunk machine, or magic.
Those are just a few of the tons of questions in the AMA document. To see them all go to the main City of Heroes forums by clicking here.
This week’s events from the campaign to save City of Heroes will still be taking place. I’ll be attending both of the events, my global is @Maressa and I mostly play on Virtue. If you want to come along we’re always happy to have more. Keep an eye out on OnRPG throughout the week for the latest information about City of Heroes, the save City of Heroes campaign and anything else that pops up.
