Zamuel

I think the mission probably works well enough. One suggestion if you want to change map is to use an abandoned office. It could potentially be useful in portraying a feeling of being trapped and claustrophobic.

Your research on the real life comparisons to some things certainly shows. Merely pointing out points others might comment on concerning "Why didn't any other heroes show up?" You might even be able to handwave some concerns simply by putting a quick note in the popup text that the area is quarantined to all--supers included.

Without red text, I sort of gloss over mentions of time as storyline/role play as opposed to gameplay. Quite sure most others do as well. It seems like you give plenty of time but it's best to err on the side of caution with that.

Do Not Autospawn might have been buggy.

It only happened once, then I...erm, logged out. However, I'm quite sure it was having an aggro cap worth of minions shooting at once and they all chose to alpha with the same move. Beanbag is mag 3 right?

16 x 3 = 48 mag stun. With the exception of a few things like stacking resistance on top of status protection, no one is getting out of that. I will note it being a fluke of sorts since that particular spawn lacked bosses/LTs but that happens sometimes. There's a reason player made AE guides suggest you not give minions status effects unless it's a massively varied group.

You probably only need one more minion. If one is Burst/Slug/Beanbag, you can just have another as Burst/Slug/Buckshot and you should be fine since it was odd that higher ranks weren't in that spawn. I'd also like to note that I was set to +1 and that section of the map was spawning +1 so I was fighting +2 with my Alpha unequipped. So part of this may be my own fault but sometimes mistakes help you catch things.

Ah, now I know...
AND KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE!

For all my issues with the pic, I certainly wouldn't compare it to Greg Land. Bare minimum, it doesn't look like a photocopy.

While I seriously doubt they did it on purpose and I figure it's more accident/Unfortunate Implications, I'll point out that Fort Trident is supposed to be the Freedom Phalanx but BAB was left out in favor of Ms Liberty as the trainer.

I think the bolded part is what most of our request is. Shifting the scale less from "Oh my goodness gracious" and more to "Let's get dangerous". I think the main issues (NOT A PROFESSIONAL ARTIST - TAKE WITH GRAIN OF SALT) are that the shading/lighting makes her eyes look too sunken and that her mouth is open so wide.

Speaking of States, isn't that a silhouette of Statesman and Positron in the background. You know, actually helping out?

I dunno, I don't think Old Posi was truly bad. Don't get me wrong, it was tedious and in need of adjustments but it could be fun on a smaller team. Citadel is downright bad. Old Posi had a lot of issues stemming from it's placement as far as the level range (tons of travel without travel powers). I'll fully admit to having a skewed opinion since I'm newer than most.

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Er, back on topic. Anyone know if the zone wide damage ignores phasing? Also, AntiMatter is resistant to move speed debuffs but is he vulnerable to heal rate debuffs like those in /Poison?

I gotta figure out some way to work that comment into an AE arc.

Yeah, the skin tone change and the "O" face might need another pass. I'm surprised Psyche bugs me more due to the implications of it that Blue Rabbit touched on.

The Archon's New Clothes

Story and structure

The Mission 1 intro seemed rather short. It really feels like it could stand to be lengthened. Though that comes onto the thought that Mission 1 and 2 should be fused into one. Mission 1 seems almost filler though an initial starter can be good. Found it a little funny that the files were required while the civilians were not. This oddity plus the filler feel would be greatly alleviated with a merge. Have only one or two computers, an Icon secretary, a Tailor, Carson, and the surprise "hostage". Mixes it up a bit with appearances and dialog. I particularly liked Carson's seemingly callous remark about his employees safety.

I find the Defeat All in Mission 3 rather unneeded. Doubly so, you have patrols.

"Find the clue" in Mission 3 is too...overt. Spicing it up would be nice.

Enemy design

Forgivable for the time created but the EB/AV in Mission 3 is a bit strong. Mainly Build Up and the Shield Defense tier 9. Probably fine with everything else. The canon AV surprise in Mission 4 is fine.

Spelling and grammar

Clue - Facemaker's files

You found several folders full of low-quality photocopies of hand-written documents. It looks like Facemaker works on location and cash-only, so she doesn't have detailed like Serge does. She's still collected a lot of personal info on her clients though, and it looks like it's all here.

should probably be

You found several folders full of low-quality photocopies of hand-written documents. It looks like Facemaker works on location and cash-only, so she doesn't have detailed info like Serge does. She's still collected a lot of personal info on her clients though, and it looks like it's all here.

NPC Chat

Vandal: Pitiful insects! Is that your best?

To take into account soloists should probably be

Vandal: Pitiful insect! Is that your best?

See, this is the type of optimism we need about now. Turning radioactive fallout into sun tanning booths. Quite fitting.


Story and structure

Generic 1-54 complaint for the second and third mission. Since this is obviously a Malta arc, capping things at 41+ is best. A lvl 1 would NOT want to go through this (more on that later).

Your arc works best if someone played the previous but it seems to work well enough if a player comes in blind. Always a good trait for a sequel, especially since they default to fewer plays.

I find it odd that "warning: grim" might have actually desensitized me a tad to the third mission. Then again, it might just be coming into it in a really analytical mindset. Plus, red Atlas gets used often enough that no matter how good the arc, I "meh" on reflex. I'd say it probably works for what you're going for but I'd make two key tweaks.

First would be to set the map to Empty and then add some spawns in and then your battles. Would keep the enemies in your map but having few makes it feel more desolate.

Second would be to have a generic superhero as an ally. While Malta has a rather covert ops feel and this arc reflects that, this is still a universe of superheroes. You have a rather government sanctioned themed rescue team in there. While Hero ABC may be deader than calls for a Shadow Shard pug on a Tuesday morning, Hero DEF would likely come from another part of the city to assist. Due to the theme/feel of the arc, it might be best to make them a captive with some sort of fighting emote with surrounding enemies, then when you "rescue" them they can run off with some sort of "I'll go look for others!" comment. You could possibly even make the hero Blue Steel since someone more street level may fit the arc better plus he's a legally sanctioned member of the PPD so he might have better clearance from some of the government types.

Failure text on mission 2 seemed good though I need to go back through and check the success text. However, you don't give the timer warning until after the mission is accepted. You should try to note that before.

That dark purple text in Mission 4 is really hard to read. I'd advice checking SupaFreak's thread and picking something slightly lighter in shade: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=261466

One rather interesting map thought crossed my mind. You used a Council cave in Mission 2. Since North Korea has red in their flag, perhaps a 5th Column cave would do better visually.



Enemy design

Mission 1 is Malta and Mission 4 is Malta + customs. Fair enough. I might argue that you can give the Directors different looks since Tin Mage TF establishes that they can look different than the standard. Also found it interesting that one ran while another had a stupid huge ambush. Theseus 001 shows up twice. Not sure if this was intentional since the bio makes it seem like a unique agent rather than a ranking...or twins.

The enemies in Mission 3 seem a little on the strong side but that can be mitigated by dragging them into the rescue squad. Plus, this IS a challenge arc.

The real concern comes from Mission 2 and I'm gonna start this with a funny story.

I like Test Mode. I get to do some fun stuff with invincibility and such. Due to this, I had myself on +1 x6 to see what some enemies would look like in a cluster. I sorta forgot to turn that back off. Make note that this is a Claws/Willpower Stalker who isn't really aoe optimized. I also had temporarily unequipped my Alpha slot. So I waltz in and see a surprisingly large cluster of enemies. Uh oh. I figured I'd roll with it and Assassin's Strike one. I get shot. A lot. Remember kids, always check your difficulty settings before you saunter your way into an arc. I made the...um, designer decision to bow out and run down the timer to watch the failure text.

Alrighty, the concern comes from your minions. It could be argued that a 3/2/1 or 2/3/1 division of minions/LTs/bosses is best for an arc with even more variance being better. It feels like you got 1/2/1. This is bad due to your minion powerset. As best as I can guess, they all have Beanbag. Getting killed didn't bother me since that was my own foolish mistake. What bothered me was getting stunned straight through my status protection. Soloists may not need to worry but in the event of a team, resistance based sets are gonna get screwed over hard. Even if they keep the same look, mixing in some with a different division of Assault Rifle powers or perhaps some Dual Blade (commando knife?) or Martial Arts minions would lessen the stackage. Also remember that you can use MM Thugs without the henchmen in order to get Dual Pistols in a non flashy style.



Spelling and grammar

Mission 3 objective

2 Find anyone you can!
An interesting problem due to the forced numbering. Might be better as:
2 Possible survivors to find!



Mission 4 intro

$name. I am sorry, but it always had to be this way. Malta is too amorphous for any two men to beat it, no matter how mighty. I had to force the governments of the world to drive them out, and turn against them. A nuclear attack on a high-profile civilian target, leaving thousands dead and the world screaming for action, was the most likely way to do so No nation, no matter how insular, wants to weather the knee-jerk attacks of a government desperate for a course of action to salve their citizens' fury.

Taking into account both genders, should probably be

$name. I am sorry, but it always had to be this way. Malta is too amorphous for any two people to beat it, no matter how mighty. I had to force the governments of the world to drive them out and turn against them. A nuclear attack on a high-profile civilian target, leaving thousands dead and the world screaming for action, was the most likely way to do so. No nation, no matter how insular, wants to weather the knee-jerk attacks of a government desperate for a course of action to salve their citizens' fury.



Clue - A complex sketch

A sketch of a large and badly-damaged building has been scribbled onto the paper, clearly in considerable haste. It shows one of the countless ruined office buildings of Faultline, and how Malta has subtly and comprehensively fortified the entire structure as a final holdout. The other page lists men and materiel in the building

should be

A sketch of a large and badly-damaged building has been scribbled onto the paper, clearly in considerable haste. It shows one of the countless ruined office buildings of Faultline, and how Malta has subtly and comprehensively fortified the entire structure as a final holdout. The other page lists men and material in the building

...Abandoned Sewer Trial? Also, (the post I12 version) is one of the few truly non soloable TFs in the game.

Used properly, I think unresistable damage can be a good thing. I guess the main issues are the situations and the amounts.

This is my experience. Sure there's skilled people running the trials but that's of little weight if I can't even get in. I may luck out and get to run some on campus tomorrow (which is how I got my prior batch of Astrals hoarded) but I refuse to let myself get stressed out by it. Got too many other things I could be doing in-game. I will admit to being incredibly annoyed at non-Incarnate themed costume pieces being locked behind the system.

Not sure on that. This is opinion and all but I personally think MM primaries are "built wrong". Range focused sets were given defense and resistance while melee focused sets are left lacking and it really should have been the other way around.

1. I prefer keeping this up each week. Also, I'd actually want to continue visiting every server. While some servers may be more active than others, I'd argue that smaller turnouts should just mean shorter run that day rather than not showing up at all. We could periodically take breaks though.
   
2. While "Triumph has our stuff", I'm fine elsewhere. The beauty of this format is the flexibility.
   
3. I think that should be on a per server basis based upon suggestions. That way we can try to plan for bigger groups. Default time can stay the same.
   
4. It would be nice if optional. Plus, it's a nice way to level for the week.

Congrats! I'm seeing a few color shifts here and there with the most obvious being Christy keeping the original pink hair.

Bug:

The Under option is listed twice under Chest Details.

Just 26? I'd argue that you should err on the side of making it go up to at least 30. Level 26 seems limiting, especially since so many newer storylines have been added in the 20-30 range while the 30-40 range seems limited in newer content.