Thoughts on Team 3.0

I’m not a planner. I haven’t really planned out characters, either RP or straight game-play. Maybe that’s why I’ve deleted so many?

I haven’t sat and planned directions for Fyre, ever. Yeah, I’ve had some vague ideas. Some, I’ve used. More, I’ve thrown out, because the “plot” just didn’t go in that direction. I have a couple of vague ideas of what might happen next from where we are now, but since I don’t know what everyone else is planning, and it’s apparent that there are Plans, I don’t know how Fyre will react. And, Fyre often has ideas of her own, and doesn’t bother sharing them with me until the last possible moment.

All this means that I have no concrete ideas for “Team 3.0.” That is, if Fyre exists for Team 3.0. E’s said that there won’t be an E3. (And then two minutes later, he pitches ideas to me of what E might evolve into for Team 3.0. Way to firm up those plans! ;) )

I have a very hard time imagining Fyre without some kind of fire related powers. In CoH, that pretty much limits me to a fire controller, or a fire tank. The idea of Fyre as a tank, or a fire tank in general, doesn’t excite me at all. That leaves a fire controller. I could do that. I’ve had various alts with the Kinetic powerset, but I’ve never managed to get them very far, so I still have interests there. I also see the Empathy powerset as a possibility. But, can I think of a reason why Fyre would suddenly have “empathy?” Not really.

I think, though, that Team 3.0 is leaning much more heavily toward CoV. Talking to E, I had said that Fyre doesn’t have the capacity for sustained villainy. And, I still don’t think she does. Fyre could kill someone in a fit of rage. Accidentally, or purposely. She could kill someone to protect herself or someone she cared about. Could she sit and plan out the death of, or a crime against, a disinterested third party? No. If there is a villain-Fyre, she’s going to have to be A) coerced, B) possessed.

E and I had vaguely kicked around the idea of Fyre being a type of guardian for Jen in the Rogue Isles. I have problems with this because, if Fyre’s in her right mind, there’s no possible way that she’s going to let Jen roam around the Rogue Isles, or even be there in the first place. If she’s not in her right mind, then there’s no way Jen is going to be safe around her.

I had an idea of Fyre being possessed by Katherine, either part of the time, or totally. I don’t think I could play “Katherine” for long, so that leaves a part-time possession. Either back and forth, or starting as Katherine, and then Fyre regaining control and finding herself stuck in the Rogue Isles. Also, Katherine does not play well with others. Except maybe like how a cat plays with a dead mouse. Unless someone has a way to control her, she’s only interested in destruction.

If somehow the character makes it to the red-side, there’s a fire brute, a fire dominator, or a fire/thermal corruptor. Katherine could be (and briefly was) a fire brute. Fyre? Well…maybe not. A fire dominator would work. A fire/thermal corruptor would totally work. Absolutely perfect… BUT. I have a level 41 fire/thermal corruptor. I think I could do it again, though. It’s been a long time since I’ve played the other, and I could switch up powers and slotting enough that it would be interesting. Maybe. And… Fyre’s suddenly healing people? That might take some explaining, and I can’t exactly think of an explanation.

And we run into another thing to think about here. If Team 3.0 is anything like the original team or Team Angst, this is going to be something that I’m going to play just about every day, and something I’m going to want to play AT LEAST to level 50. I don’t want to get stuck with an uninteresting or frustrating AT, or, worse, character. On good days, Fyre is interesting, to me, among her other qualities. Is she going to continue to be interesting? Well, I think that’s one of those things that’s impossible to predict, because it depends on too many variables.

Another big stumbling block that’s been brought up is keeping a team of villains together. Why would “bad guys” hang out together for long periods of time? How can they continue to relate to each other without causing each other grievous bodily harm? We’ve had a hard time doing that with heroes, much less “villains.”