airhead

You might like to try arc 190069, "Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces the Great Face". Pro Payne may well be the perfect foil for Captain Dynamic. "Regular MA player being a hero", meets "regular MA architect being a hero" [yes, yes, of course Captain Dynamic is real]. The arc has recently been set to level 30+. Hopefully you don't mind seeing the Captain Dynamic videos that set this arc up (if you haven't seen them already).

A recent player called the arc "demented", I hope you enjoy it too.

Arcs by genre. This thread differs to the CoHmatoes thread as it links to authors' information (sometimes posters!) instead of reviews. Also, some of these genres are not superceded yet by the MA search keywords. But the links were a mess, formats varied, and some arcs no longer exist. So I tried to clean it up a bit. If it says post ID "@Someone" (a broken link) instead of a proper link, then the author should find their old thread and update the link. All internal forum links were broken in the forum migration.

Bullets colored for heroic/neutral/villainous. Non-existent arcs removed. Lists alphabetized. Arc IDs updated.

AE System

• 15+ Min TUTORIAL = Knowledge is Power: Architect Entertainment & YOU! (I15) #28470
  
• 5th Anniversary Flashback Smackdown #126896
  
• 'Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces the Great Face' - Tryouts #190069
  
• Death for Dollars #1050
  
• Signal to Noise #67277
  
• Welcome to Architect Entertainment #1004

Character/Supergroup Origins

• A Hero is made, Not Born #20863
  
• A Mother's Nightmare #6955
  
• A Rose's Thorns #113224
  
• Birth of a Fossil #18632
  
• Jumping in Feet First #1345
  
• Midnight Bells Toll #?
  
• New Flame Rising #161066
  
• Noah Reborn [post=lost]#2370[/post]
  
• Polar Emergence Neutral Government User Interface Network (PENGUIN) #29205
  
• Secret Origins(Tech) The Snake Women of Epsilon V [post=lost]#42221[/post]
  
• The Amazing Rat Race #1144

Classic Super-Hero/Super-Villain

• A Crusher Crimewave #1 : Crisis at The Citadel #179354
  
• A Crusher Crimewave #2 : Escape from The Zig! #83458
  
• A Crusher Crimewave #3 : The Fall of Mocker #123613
  
• A Show to Die For! [post=@Thalomarre]#30645[/post]
  
• Check... and Mate #15095
  
• In The Shadow of Statesman [post=@Decaying Rose]#1160[/post]
  
• Marketing Opportunity #83747
  
• Paradox Paradox #69221
  
• Sidekicks Can Be A Pain In The Cape #28430
  
• Teen Phalanx Forever! #67335
  
• This Life Immortal #5756
  
• 'Tis Nobler in the Mind [post=@LaserJesus]#257226[/post]
  
• To Save A Single World #83744

Comedy

• A Translator is the Wind or the Thunder in Turns #2936
  
• City of Norms #132944
  
• Daytime Divas #94504
  
• Death to Disco! #84420
  
• Doctor Nadir and the Hellion Heist #49661
  
• Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662
  
• Gnomish Madness #30204
  
• Hail to the King [post=@Antigonus]34640[/post]
  
• Invasion on Earth BX1132! 98943
  
• Jerk Hackers! [post=@Heraclea]#162482[/post]
  
• Laugh? I Thought I'd DIE! [post=@Decorum]#68429[/post]
  
• MacGuffin Delivery Service 1567
  
• Martian Chimpanzees and the Cyborg Cheerleaders of DOOM! #69947
  
• Mean People. #16690
  
• None More Black, Dude! [post=@]#86312[/post]
  
• ParaCon [post=@Vanden]#1684[/post]
  
• Rise of the Drakule [post=@LaserJesus]#51357[/post]
  
• Return of the Revenge of the Son of Drakule Part 2: First Blood [post=@LaserJesus]#84543[/post]
  
• Shirley You Jest [post=@Leather Doll]#25474[/post]
  
• Shortbow #143566
  
• The Extadine Lab [post=@Vanden]#2595[/post]
  
• The Fire Bunnies #10377
  
• The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076
  
• The Invasion of the Bikini Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! #61013
  
• The new and improved Lord Recluse Strike Force #7901
  
• The P.U.G. Strike force #35585
  
• The string thief. #15726
  
• Too Many Bunnygirls! [post=@Clave Dark 5]#101165[/post]
  
• Trademark Infringement #2220
  
• Walk On the Wild Side [post=@Fireforged]#3580[/post]
  
• What's in a Name? [post=@]#?[/post]
  
• You Say It's Your Birthday! [post=@Witty Librarian]3630[/post]

Comedy/Drama

• Cause of How Some Silly Stealed My Wings [post=@Paula]#1481[/post]
  
• Death by Snoo-Snoo! #247372
  
• Dr. Duplicate's Dastardly Dare -- Neutral #?
  
• Fashion Apocalypse [post=@Vinique]#14840[/post]
  
• Females for Hire #110723
  
• Fishing for Fame with Red Herring [post=@Igniitus]#66861[/post]
  
• Freaks, Geeks and Men in Black #161629
  
• Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids! #2019
  
• How to Survive a Robot Uprising #12669
  
• It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding [post=@]#9059[/post]
  
• Kidnapping an Idol [post=@Ryo Takenoko]#136188[/post]
  
• Putting Out Fires: A Corporate Satire [post=@Cannonfodder]#20100[/post]
  
• Rum Runners of Bloody Bay [post=@Witty Librarian]#3691[/post]
  
• The Cat's in the Cradle [post=@Ulli Lad]#8776[/post]
  
• The Running of the Bulls [post=@Zubelnelgenubi]#29973[/post]
  
• TURG FICTION: Ghost in the Machine, Act I #1013
  
• The Toypcalypse! [post=@McNum]#49280[/post]

Crime/Gangs

• A Little RnR [post=@Thornster]#17523[/post] click for Promotional Poster
  
• Battlin' Tom's Murder Extravaganza! #99803
  
• Bricked Electronics #2180
  
• Fatale Attraction - Part 1 of 3 #181264
  
• Fatale Deception - Part 2 of 3 #227466
  
• Fatale Corruption - Part 3 of 3 #232783
  
• Females for Hire #110723
  
• Mechanical Mayhem [post=@Devcon]#76721[/post]
  
• Meet the Demon Spawn [post=@Alari Azure]#151099[/post]
  
• Slash DeMento and the Stolen Weapons [post=@Alari Azure]#100045[/post]
  
• Plastic Pistol Peril [post=@Palette]#1135[/post]
  
• The Bravuran Jobs #16809
  
• The Internet is for Crime #53385
  
• The Superadine Revolution #262739
  
• Whitehawks #113811
  
• [ZQ] Power Play #187269

Drama

• 7662 - The Fan Club [post=@Rush Bolt]#5898[/post]
  
• A Flame the Burns Bright #112548
  
• Clonus, Parts 1 & 2 #21499 & # 21290
  
• Digital Love [post=@Aoide Muse]#3571[/post]
  
• Matchstick Women [post=@Bubbawheat]#3369[/post]
  
• Of Mentors and Legacy #1589
  
• The Conciliators: Simone [post=@Haterade]#4010[/post]

Global Domination / Destruction

• Axis and Allies #1379
  
• The Twilight of this Blue Orb [post=@Ulli Lad]#98529[/post]

Heist

• Celebrity Kidnapping [post=@PW]#1388[/post]
  
• Easy Money [post=@Basilisk]#31490[/post]
  
• The Great Diamond Heist [post=@Se7enFall]#96169[/post]

Historical (Realistic)

• A Wrinkle in Time #266880

Historical (CoH Lore)

• The Consequences of War #227331 and 241496
  
• The War on Superadine [post=@Obsidius]#151088[/post]
  
• [ZQ] The Once and Future King [post=@Sumerian]#71601[/post]

Holiday

• Battle of 15 April #72140
  
• City of Ho Ho Ho, or A Claus in Paragon #18775
  
• Hectic Holidays #36999
  
• Santa's Missing List [post=@Red Zero]#34961[/post]
  
• Santa's Workshop of Misfit Toys #134140

Horror

• Astoria in D Minor #41565
  
• Creepy Crawlers #82553
  
• Dark Dreams [post=@Dumok]#3615[/post]
  
• Die Count Daddy Macula Die! [post=@Spiral Architect]#10619[/post]
  
• Don't Play With The Dead #260107
  
• Duality [post=@DK242-B]#84105[/post]
  
• Hunting the Hunters [post=@MistressOfMagic]#93362[/post]
  
• I Will Dance On Your Grave #92630
  
• Lights, Camera, Scream! #177826
  
• Project: Perilous - Into the Chthonian Pit #3586
  
• Small Fears #12285
  
• Something Comes to Yarmouth [post=@Oliin]#58812[/post]
  
• The Amulet of J'gara #1709
  
• The Children of Astoria 217499
  
• The Zombie Apocalypse Task Force: Something wicked this way comes. [post=Ozmosis]#91456[/post]

Large-Scale Crisis

• Akhdar Blood [post=@MM3 Squints]#247198[/post]
  
• Alpha and Omega [post=@dramacus]#60015[/post]
  
• Bleed the Freak [post=@Grimlek]#6919[/post]
  
• Flight of the Valkyries - Precursor [post=@Leather Doll]#20272[/post]
  
• Is it Live or is it Memory-X #70210
  
• The All-Seeing Eye #57352
  
• The Clockwork War [post=@Basilisk]#18672[/post]
  
• This Is War, Part I - the Revenge of Hro'Dtohz -- Neutral 1356
  
• War of the Worlds - The Anakim Invasion - Part 1 [post=@DeathSentry]#15006[/post]
  
• War of the Worlds - The Anakim Invasion - Part 2, The Terran Revolt [post=@DeathSentry]#46711[/post]
  
• Win the Past, Own the Future
  #1429
  

Magic

• A Deal with Destiny [post=@ObsidianDevil]#61748[/post]
  
• A Dream of Awakenings #132616
  
• Chains of Blood #4829
  
• Croatoa's Great War: The Parfait Family Reunion [post=@Kay Parfait]#71880[/post]
  
• Deal with The Devil's Pawn [post=@Alari Azure]#207266[/post]
  
• I Will Dance On Your Grave #92630
  
• Rex is Missing! [post=@ShadowVulpine]#51702[/post]
  
• The Magical Miss Fitz [post=@super fitz]#5079[/post]
  
• The Shadow Rune of the Warlocks - A Moth Cemetery Tale #124319
  
• The Tannhäuser Gate [post=@Aisynia]96322[/post]

Military

• Axis and Allies #1379
  
• Red Typhoon #4912
  
• Redoubt Operations #1: Fires over Kalago #1297
  
• Redoubt Operations #2: Wrath of the Imperium #269283
  
• Whitehawks #113811

Misc. Adventure

• Impossible Kung Fu Mission #111367
  
• The Portal Bandits #3326
  
• A Glitch in the Wyre [post=@Gulver]#73197[/post]
  
• The Council Cargo #36951
  
• Hero Therapy! (TM) #119228
  
• The Second Coming of the Mega Mech #122274

Mutant

• The Legion of Mutants vs. the Iron Agents #200364

Mystery

• Blowback #4643
  
• Dream Paper #1874
  
• Females for Hire #110723
  
• Hunter of Beasts: It begins with a riot... [post=@Lycanus]#110465[/post]
  
• The Fireside Poet #189439

Mythology

• Atlantis Attacks! #30898
  
• Madness And The Minotaur #90124
  
• Rites of the Maenads [post=@SoulTrain2]#61159[/post]
  
• Tales of Cimerora, volume 1 : Of feathers and fur #12647
  
• The Aegis Affair [post=@Lycanus]#16376[/post]
  
• The Four Treasures of the Tuatha De Danaan #164100
  
• The Parable of the Fruit Salad #65369
  
• The Seeds of Yggdrasil #48907
  
• 7662: The Seelie War [post=@Fleeting Whisper]#2462[/post]
  
• 7662: The Unseelie War [post=@Fleeting Whisper]#2453[/post]
  
• Ecloga Prima (Haec excursio in lingua Latina) #309162

Nemesis Plots

• Brass Reaver: Part 1 [post=@Turbo-Ski]#244755[/post]
  
• Rise and Fall of the Iron General [post=@fra diavlo]#142200[/post]
  
• The Handbag Plot [post=@Jock Tamson]#36414[/post]

Player-Chosen Outcome

• Hunting the Dark Dragon -- Heroic #2922
  
• Playing Gods #51106
  
• Time's Maelstrom #182874

Public Domain Characters/Literature

• The Praetorian Invasion of the Land of Oz [post=@Sakura-Kishi]#168841[/post]

Puzzles/Riddles

• Grim Riddles #1396

Sci-Fi

• Above Mars - Part 1: The Wellington [post=@Yumii]#159769[/post]
  
• Adventures of the Space Marines #2133
  
• Adventures of the Space Marines 2 #2171
  
• Assault on Aru Prime #174856
  
• City of the Apes [post=@Nylonus]#171184[/post]
  
• Spaced Invaders #77971
  
• That Mysterious Buzzing Sound [post=@Red Zero]#12774[/post]
  
• The Adventures of the United Earth Rangers #29549
  
• The Balance of Power [post=@Xer'Tul]#26931[/post]
  
• The Continuing Adventures of the United Earth Rangers #70237
  
• The Fracturing of Time #171031
  
• The Knights of Rularuu #75386
  
• The Nemesis Theory - [post=@Red Zero]#171203[/post]
  
• Welcome to Donut World! [post=@Ridiculous Girl]#1233[/post]

Arc 15976, Glory Days, @Megajoule

I echo all of Xyzygy's comments above!

This is a great story. It's a really good use of the AE system, exploring an old hero's memories (through a Mu-magic alternative to hypnosis) to provide a lead on a modern day villain. Very smoothly done. The style of each mission is wonderfully aligned with history's enemies. Where an ally is provided, he is well balanced to let the player lead (and takes a few hits when you need him to).

The detail is great (the souvenir is really well written!). Without giving too much away, I was pleasantly surprised in one mission to find my 'ally' had not foolishly gone and gotten himself captured or killed. A nice change.

Note that other arcs also have the exact same title. One published at almost the same time as this one, a third published much later.

The first mission contact dialogue suggests you've come to the contact because a modern villain resembles a historical one. This premise is set up in the Arc Description, players would do well to remember this detail (not always easy if someone else selects the mission).

The only confusion I have is that the down-up-down-up level range across the missions. The nature of the earlier missions offers some potential to explain this effect away, but no explanation is provided for suddenly losing and regaining powers. Also, the last mission allows for levels 1-54. With an Elite Boss, level 1 isn't practical. You could look at smoothing out the bumps in the level range, and perhaps explaining the remaining bumps with some pseudopsychobabble.

A classic tale done very creatively, highly recommended to others. 5-stars.

Does the team get another round of knighthoods?

Actually, ordering the ratings is theoretically possible with the post id being pretty close to chronological order (at least since the forum migration). Tahlana has the data in Excel, tabulated by arc name/number against reviewer-rating and reviewer-postid. Excel is predisposed to sorting of data, but re-sorting the rows and columns just for posting would be tedious. If Excel had a SORT(array) function in the math formulae, it would perhaps be trivial.

Meanwhile, mouse-over the reviews, latest review has the highest "p=" number.

Hopefully more will be possible through Tahlana's other experiments underway (described above). This really is a great initiative.

Arc 307732, Uninvited, @Lazarillo

This is a very well written arc. It is of a the quality of a very careful canon-guided hero-side arc, only it's a villain arc. That means it is a villain arc with a plot! It's not the player's plot, so a lackey plot, but that's fine for levels 10-14. It follows some of the action of the dev-content Hollows arcs from a villain perspective. The pace, dialog, story and customs are Very well done. There is an EB warning, but play it on difficulty one and you shouldn't have too many problems. For me this was easily 5-stars, and I'd recommended to others. I'm glad I got to play this. Detailed play, "comic page" and finally typos below.


I tried to solo this with a level 9 DB/WP brute. It's a complex mechanics, canon arc with magic. It's "very long" (not really, in the end), villainous, with consistent levels of 10-15. My villain "Meshacre" is pretty close to level 10 now, so hopefully the Elite Bosses mentioned are not in the first mission. The first mission is a Unique map, and defeat-all, which would deter some people. Also having an EB at this low level. But I'm on level 1 difficulty, so it may be just a Boss. My goal is to stop a band of interfering heroes. Sounds good!

I'm doing this for Arachnos, contact is Operative Castillian. His authorized investigation team never returned - does that mean I'm unauthorized? No problem really, as a villain, but my first contact was Kalinda. Mission 1 has no title, might be nice. I like the Operative's personality. He cares - that I remain useful.

Mission 1 - and it's the wonderful Minions of Igneous! Definitely underused. And they're speaking their language, cool. I get taken out trying to take pictures. The patrols provide some good complexity to the battles. I finally find an ally, but in the last place I go. His rescue completes my mission. For a Defeat All, the map was fine.

Mission 2 follows in a perfectly logical way, to talk to the Legacy Chain. Not much dialog inside, but what there is, is spot on. I find the Lorekeeper in charge. He's got imps! I run like mad. Coming back, we take each other out simultaneously. I'm not able to check his description. Returning from hospital, I seek out the information to complete the mission. And as seems to happen more and more, I get stuck in a permanent jumping mode and have to exit, re-enter to fix the bug. I find a desk with information, yet I still have the objective to Find information on the Igneous. Do I need to get all the bookshelves? Yes, I did (a little anticlimactic as I'd overlooked one and had to search all over).

Mission 3 looks interesting, combats setup inside-out. My allies prove to be marginally useful before they go down. I take down the hero troublemaker and it's a quick one!

And Mission 4 looks like the finale. We get to go after the Cavern of Transcendence. Only, this looks more like a Rikti cave... I guess the Atta Troll Cave (Unique maps) is too big for this arc, but this isn't really what I expected. I see Legacy, and hear Wyvern. Looks like fun!
Looooong caverns. Not Rikti after all, despite the introductory graphic (very odd). Eventually I find my way to Talshak and his Phantom, along with some Legacy Chain. The portal is a... cauldron? Not sure if that's based on canon somewhere. Alternatively, you could have the portal be a Storm Elemental captive in a CoT magical hold animation, just to be a pile of flashing lights. At least the cauldron has a grate covering it. I manage to pull Talshak's guard, and then take on the magician himself. And win! He was actually an easier battle than the Lorekeeper, as he had no pets.

Cheers, airhead



Typos:
M1 intro: third sentence is a question, should end with ?
M1 busy: valueable -> valuable
Lorekeeper Kinsolving dialog: menaingless -> meaningless
M2 Evidence of Involvement Clue: sieged -> besieged
M2 The Igneous and the Cavern Clue: these, the -> these books, the
M3 intro: targetted -> targeted
M4 patrol dialog: I hear $name got Agent Dobie. [no active player when text given]

G'day, fush and chups, okay lah,

I'm in Singapore, an island still looking for an Ocean. But we're heading south soon, tectonics permitting.

I play hero-side mostly on Infinity, various ATs but often a controller. I've been spending too much time in MA stories, and am often looking to do TFs instead.

Cheers, airhead

Arc 304290: Galactic Protectorate - 05: @Unknown Hero

Here we go agaaaaaain...

Nice description on Contact Swan. A quick recap on what has come before (very helpful!) and we're off on another rescue mission. Well, collect-information-ahead-of-rescue mission.
Division 8 this time. They certainly seem frivolous. All female? Okay, just two male colonels later on.
Second mission, I'm to interfere with the "concert" planned by GP-8. Why wouldn't I raise this learning with Swan, that it is perhaps just a concert? I could still go as a precaution, my mission could potentially be one of stealth rather than repelling an "invasion".
And finally, to disrupt the concert being put on by GP-8's general. Only, the concert's been cancelled (according to dialog). Even though the final adventure is in a rave warehouse. Gathered up Mynx, clobbered General. I return, Swan's happy to see Mynx, but then there's a cliffhanger to lead into the next (unwritten) arc.
Souvenir says concert went ahead, but in-mission dialog (Mynx captors) suggests it's cancelled. Rave has no concert-goers, only GP-8. Is that all they do?

I ran this twice. First time, I ignored all the optional clues. Second time, I read the optional clues. They're definitely optional, which is good, but ignore them and you have no sense at all of a bigger picture. Note, the Clues in the final mission are at the "Back", which means they might not be read before the player returns to the contact at the end of the mission. So the content may be lost to members on a team. Could they go into the second mission?

This arc felt quite disconnected from the other arcs. GP-8 seems to have been recreated as a sonic division due to happenstance. It's not clear what was GP-8's "angle" before Sonica. But now it's just a band, and a few extra people. The purpose of this division, within the larger picture, is not clear. Even though the division has suffered in two significant battles. Everything points to a focus on combat, independent of other divisions. But their actions suggest they're just having a concert. Optional clues help a little here - they're just another bunch of people, sent to occupy Earth since seven divisions were required. Their actions (a concert) still seem frivolous, but since they're aliens that's probably okay. Combats seemed okay as a mezzer. Plot only advanced very slightly through optional clues, but some foreshadow of a climax at some point is given. 4-stars.

Satellite Siren: it's -> its ; it's -> its
Base Commander: was collected -> were collected
Planetary Judgement: Consideration Clue: Protecotrate -> Protectorate
M1 Return text: but don't know -> but I/we don't know
Col. Dore: it's -> its
Col. Tido: sufferred -> suffered
Col. Mifa: accepted -> acceptance ; accpeted -> accepted
Gen. Sonica: offerred -> offered
Gen. Sonica dialog: all it's forms -> all its forms ; Howetver -> However
Souvenir: payed -> paid ; unkown -> unknown ; Galacitc -> Galactic

Arc 281575, Et In Arcadia Ego, @FredrikSvanberg

This is a re-review. Lots of little changes have been made to make things easier to follow - fantastic!

Plenty more atmosphere in the Carnie mish! The Captive "Civilian" has the description: Ken Kellerman has been kidnapped by Crey. He'll need your help if he's going to escape with his memory intact. Might like to put your own description.
Nice change on the Dream Armor, better than a clickie.
Mission 3 send-off is a strange blue color, rather hard to read.
In the mission, Save the Dreamworld, The Hedonist is now of type "Hero". Since I'm the hero, that's kind of strange. But then it is a dream, so I can accept that. With the aid my two buffed allies, I found the battle fairly easy, but not trivial. It's probably pretty good right now.

This is a nice piece of work. Flows really well. The plot is simple, but the setting is unusual. I like it. 5-stars.

Arc 129029: Holy Moses: @Intelect

Save the world mystery, in three maps! Ramping from small to large, interesting. Family and Circle of Thorns. The level range is all over the place. The only overlap is at level 45. There's also a good chance that the arc with Family may not work for the whole level range due to a bug in the Family group.

The contact's name is Micheal Gabriel, an unusual spelling of "Michael". Perhaps a typo?
Contact has no description added, that I could see with "Ask about this contact".
Mission 1 intro: It was recently sent to Paragon Via heavily armed cargo ship to Paragon. -> It was recently sent to Paragon by heavily armed cargo ship.
The loss of the Ark angers a Prime Minister - presumably of Israel, where the Ark was found. A local crime family is suspected. Family from Israel? Interesting twist, I wonder how different they'll look. Why exactly do I invade an office full of Family? What country?
My Accept text is "Go on a Crusade". In particular since it's said with the capital "C", I hope I won't be persecuting anyone based on their religion. It's not particularly heroic at this time.
Mission 1 send-off: ill -> I'll
The contact's Busy message is pretty rude. I'm further inclined to ignore him.
Mission 1 busy text: genius you -> genius, you ; were -> we're ; dont -> don't ; i -> I
Mission 1 Nav title: wereabouts -> whereabouts
Mission 1 Nav objectives: Pertaining -> pertaining
Mission 1 entry pop-up: dosent -> doesn't
The pop-up info and the Nav spelling my target as "Gweedo" already suggests someone is masquerading as the Family, which would make for a consistent plot, good. Perhaps clarify what I'm to do with Gweedo - Rescue/Defeat/other him.
I find the information, it suggests the Family was hired by the Circle of Thorns to do this job. That's a pretty weird alliance there. What's in it for the Family? It'd have to be pretty impressive! Especially for them to invade Israel. Unless these are Hasidic mafia (I am kinda kidding, but you could color them all black...). Or I never left Paragon City... but Paragon City doesn't have a local Prime Minister.

I go check out Gweedo. His description, a Family Boss default, suggests he's from Paragon City. I expect I'm not in Jerusalem after all.
Mission 1 return text: their -> they're ; anti pagan pants -> anti-pagan pants

It's only 1 mission of 5, but there's at least some typos found. I am a little too confused, and since religion is tricky ground I don't want to be too confused. Perhaps you can tidy up the first mission, and I can try again.

Cheers, airhead

No worries! I look forward to giving it another try.

I just had a hair-brained idea - perhaps, instead of Arcadia, Dreamlord's palace was in the Shadow Shard, or even [one of the Shadow Shard suburbs]? Not everyone would recognize the connection, but it'd reduce the confusion at having Reflection Events there. This might not exactly match your backstory, but it might be consistent. As always, you're welcome to throw that idea away too.

Cheers, airhead

It ïs än ëpïc hïstöry öf grëät bättlës, lëgëndäry trëäsürë, fëärsömë mönstërs! Love the first boss's waaay-too-late rescue ambush in the first mission, and later the patrol-upon-completion to provide dialog. Oh, it's an ambush. [fled] And there's lots more too, but I won't reveal anything. You'd have to glean your Cheats from the typo list below.

For those needing a break from serious intrigue and obscure references to Canon, try this - if any reference to anything is too obscure, that's because you're an orc. Awesome!

Great (5-star) tale. //airhead

Dat Stubbo With Da Birdy Hat dialog: strenght -> strength ; seige -> siege ; bretheren -> brethren
Burnt-Out Crystal Clue: probabaly -> probably ; it's -> its
Overloaded Gizmo dialog: unplesant -> unpleasant

Hi Kupun!

It's been a really long time since I spoke french. more than half my age. Just finding your arcs was a challenge - going into "More" search options, and changing the Locale drop-down menu to allow for non-English arcs.

I decided to try Un braquage Or-normes (#177513). L'Ascension is closer to HoF (just 938 votes to go!) but it has AVs, and I'm soloing. I will not much idea what is going on, but your summary lets me know I'm stealing stuff. That should work in any language.

The contact for this arc has no description in the Story Settings. You could add that, I'd see it when I try "Ask about this contact". Also, the level range varies a lot. You might like to use the feature (since I15) to set the level range. Since you have elite bosses, it'd be best on the high-side - you could have each mission limited to levels 46-54.
You could also select some Keywords for the arc, assuming Keywords exist for French arcs.
It looks like I'll be doing something diabolical and new. And after 20 years in the Zig! Oh, that must be my contact.
And on to the mission! Oh boy. I hope you don't mind if I don't spot your typos.

Jimmy's excited to be out of prison. He's got a new plan! It looks like he's put a lot of thought into it, or at least a lot of words, so I'll definitely sign up. C'est sur! Super
So there's merchandise, special... things, and esplosifs! Awesome. I can see the word "millions" too. And something about 20 years, I hope I don't end up in jail. Let language be no barrier to supervillainy!

I think trouver must mean "find/rescue". Or "steal". Same thing, I guess. Lots of stuff to steal. And I need to vaincre (vanquish?) the Chef de la Police! That sounds good to me. First up, it looks like I need to rescue Billy, the little brother of d'Ordell. Favorite son, I think. Has a katana and a sachet of superadine. (Ooh, ooh, typo! Superadine, not Superadyne). He calls Morse, another person I'm to rescue, oncle. I think I'm getting this! Three youngsters, their "uncle", and other... stuff.
As the police say nasty things to Billy, I feel I'm missing out on learning some really good street French. I free Billy. He looks... French. Oh. Billy's an Elite Boss, so he tends to annihilate anything we meet. Not great, but at least I don't have to care about him. He's a LOT tougher than his older brother, Ordell.
Woah. That was very... Tarantino. My allies took the place apart. Was actually fun to "watch", I really like the costume personalities you've created. I was beating on a baddie when all my allies ran off. Then the objectives rapidly disappeared one by one from my Nav, the mission ended, and the allies wandered back. I didn't actually see anything, but the sequence of events was surreal!

Mission 2! Diversion, surprise, and a bank - looks like fun! Ouais la ferme! The three kids will come along, I think. Ooh, it's a timed mission! Something about a lemon-flavored bomb (citron... explosif... I know I'm getting this wrong now). I teleport to the safe. My poor ally tries to follow on foot, and Pitre wipes him out. As I'm looting the safe, the mission exits! Oh, so I guess my ally was supposed to live. Heh. My return-fail message says "oO". I guess that's the same in any language. These crazy-eyes say, "oh well".

And then it was time for me to sleep. This is a VERY cool way to rediscover a language almost forgotten! Continued the next morning.

Mission 3, and I'm after a Russian called Sergei Borisky of the Red Family. He has a good stock of arms, I think. Well, time to go beat on the competition! Oh, the nav says parler, so perhaps speak to Borisky. I get to steal his arms along the way. And yes, "speak" was an approximation for what I did to the new chief of the red mafia organization. I'm not really sure where that got us, perhaps stealing the weapons, but now it's time to execution mon super-plan! See, it's not that hard to read, really.

Mission 4 looks like, uh, stuff, then more stuff, then ah! Billy is coming along. And something about 5 minutes! A timer?!
Oh phew, not a 5 minute timer. But Sergei is back. I guess that was the rushin' part. LorkWoft is back too, from the first mission! Bigger, but not better. It's like a reunion.
Sergei gets Confused, all done, just need to steal l'argent from the safe. Done! And out before the ambush arrives.

Mission 5. I have an escort already... Billy's here, and Jimmy. And I have to beat up Barry. First, I meet Piciotto Arnaqueur, but strangely he has nothing at all to say. I let him rest on the floor. Turns out to be several of him, perhaps his name got too fancy to be a key villain. Finally, I take down Barry. And there was twist with my contact! At the end, just for kicks, I get to escort Billy out. A strange last step, probably explained if I was better at languages.

Overall, really good fun. I liked the characters involved (visually, and sometimes I could understand them), and some of their behaviour was awesome. The big supervillains all having regular names was very cool. Right up to the biggest, baddest guy - Barry. Billy was funny in the first mission for being overpowered, but then his overpowered-ness overwhelmed later missions. Seemed to be mostly his shuriken of insta-kill. But I did like that he ran so fast! Good for an ally. I enjoyed this a lot. 5-starred in game.

Cheers, airhead

Since the arc is barely 40% complete, I don't think anyone will get to it soon. Also, you need to say more about it here in your post, otherwise nobody will even know if it's interesting.

But I gave it a shot (assuming it to be the arc number in your signature). It looks like I'll be molly-coddled through some missions by your hero, who is "one of the highest ranking heroes in Paragon City", and "just like Back Alley Brawler" (training young heroes). That all probably makes you happy, but I'm not sure how it makes any players happy. Heroic arcs typically (although not always) center on the player as being special.

It's a level 1-14 arc. The contact starts out by saying it's okay to fail if I don't have what it takes to be a hero. (Typo: skulls -> Skulls). This sounds more like a level 1-5 arc, and even then if I've done the Outbreak Tutorial then I've proven myself to be a hero already.

Nonetheless, I enter the first mission, expecting some kind of interesting lesson. I collect some artifacts - could use a description of what I found, for sure (ideally different for each artifact). Maybe even a Clue for each. If it's really intended as a lesson, you could put some learnings in here.

I defeat Thighbone. He said "Aehaed$", looks like you have $name$ where you should have $name. After defeating his group as well (might indicate that in nav text, or else make the objective boss-only-to-complete) I get a Clue - that has only a title, and provides no information at all towards the plot, or the lesson. I clear the Defeat All map, and get a Clue that also says what I've done, but doesn't advance the plot or the lesson.

I stopped at this point. As a lesson (learning curve), it's not there. It looks like you're learning to use the MA system, which is great. Going forward: The key to having people appreciate your story is to think about it from your player's perspective, not when-you-were-a-player. Flame Blade was a cool hero for you, for all the reasons in your head - but his "ranking" is not interesting to others. Think about why the player is there, what fun will they have? What experiences do they have already, if you're still planning to write a lesson? (Probably been through Outbreak, and more if you allow higher levels). And play other story arcs, to see what you enjoy from them. It's often about how a story made you, the player, feel.

Good luck!

Arc 297943, A Surprise Fit for a Baron, @Baron Von Doffen

I enjoyed this arc. It's a global-spy-hero story, with good pacing, although some quieter times. I'm at a loss for hero motivation in places. It's a 4 from me right now, but could be a 5. Either the spy intrigue could be amplified (give foreign places more atmosphere with pop-ups and dialog, even language twists) or there could be more personal interest in this - bad guys specifically targeting me by the end (create dislike of the bad guys) or even someone I can like (presumably the contact, every other recurring person is a villain). Perhaps there's other ways to enhance this too! The level range is probably too broad given AV/EBs are present. Other minor stuff below.


Interesting. The arc is for all levels, which is hard to balance - either too hard at the low end, or too easy at the high end. It should be tested at both. 3 medium maps and a unique map - the missions might be expected to have multiple objectives.

The enemies are 5th Column, Custom and Police. Makes sense for a real-world style setting, protecting a global summit. I'm understudy to a (hitherto unknown) group of heroes running the protection. As a level 50, I hope they treat me with respect (this would be hard to balance, given that any level can play).
The contact is a Paragon City Representative. I presume we're hosting the summit!
Contact name: Pargon -> Paragon
Contact description typo: aggreed -> agreed

Mission intro: intrusted -> entrusted
So I'm to take Vann into custody. Yet it is also explained that we never seem to have enough evidence about his activities. Why is this time different?
Oh. Well, I guess I better accept the mission regardless, since that's the only option I have.
And Vann has requested no supers come by him, and he's protected by the Police. Sorry, but at this point I am not being a hero. I am at best a kidnapper, at worst an assassin. As this is a heroic arc, I need a heroic cause to continue. I'm asked to "go easy" on the Police, but I have no cause to invade at all.
Mission 1 send-off: Period required on end of last sentence
The pop-up indicates the Police are on the wrong side. But if this is a summit participant, and there's no evidence of any wrong-doing, they're on the right side.
First two levels has no patrols/bosses providing dialog.
Finally find Vann. There ought to be a reason for my hunting him down, that ideally requires I stay silent (so the Police cannot know better, if they're to be protecting him). That isn't easy. Perhaps the Police are implicated as well, or it needs to be a secret so I'm in the guise of a villain, or something. Anything.
I beat the ambush, and take Vann to the entrance. I stealthed the mission (to avoid hurting cops) so this is awkward. Luckily I have a lot of mez powers, others might not be so fortunate (especially those below level 10).
Okay, so Vann now with criminal investigators. But why on earth couldn't we inform the Police? I don't mind, if there's a reason.
Typo in The Two Global Powers Clue: placed behind -> placed them behind
Reason for my invasion finally comes with the end-of-mission clue. But it needs to be shadowed before I accept the mission.
Typo in exit pop-up: couple files -> couple of files
Mission 2 intro: its them -> it's them
The introduction indicates I'll be facing a known supervillain. Can't I know who, before accepting the mission? Or even afterwards? It's in the mission title, but that's not really helpful when it's a known supervillain. Perhaps some background on Le Souvrain (his MO or archetype, for instance) could be provided by the contact.
Nice map for Peru! I keep looking for opportunities to use that map.
Description of Inactive Bomb: It must be -> They must be
Ahh yes, the problem with this map - everyone is swimming. You could lampshade that problem by having a random boss ask why he has to swim everywhere, when other villain groups provide canoes. Or explain how their villains' boat sank. Maybe even stick in a crocodile?
Le S's description mentions Doctor Velocity (and many other concepts). The only one I don't know: who is Doctor Velocity?
Le S is powerless against mind attacks. That was pretty short. Still, it's an EB (perhaps downgraded from AV, since I'm on difficulty 1). Players under level 30 would seriously struggle here.
I return, and now I'll be going after the League of Rogues. Have I finished with the summit? Could I get a thank-you for that part?

The third mission has me facing known supervillains again with no intel on their abilities. Not even their names, which I presumably saw on my crumpled piece of paper.
M3 send-off: every goal -> any goal
Militia Commander: Milita -> Militia
You could add some recolored militia from other factions to broaden your custom militia group.
Good dialog with the Longbow battle. Not much dialog otherwise.
The big-bads aren't so big or bad, a bit of a pushover for a level 50, but perhaps a good challenge for a low level player.
Typo in Harvester: Dimention -> Dimension
Awesome. I typed the coordinates from the computer clue into googlemaps, and it tells me Geneva (even giving a street number, but I suspect that's pushing the accuracy of the lat-long).
Computer Clue: accessable -> accessible
Nachtbandenkampfer is spelt with a capital K in its description, small K in the return message. Not sure which is correct.
M3 Return message: Its all -> It's all ; aquired -> acquired

Mission 4! The send-off text implies I leave before finding out all I can. That makes a big assumption, I don't think I'd actually run off mid-sentence. I'd need a reason to ignore my contact, which is unlikely, even if I didn't like her. Well, if she was prone to rambling on and on and on - but she's not. And it's not even a timed mission.
Mission 4 entry pop-up: officers It doesn't -> officers, it doesn't
Not sure why 5th Column are involved here. But it gets explained in the AV's description. Not everyone will see that, might want to add a clue for it too, when defeating the AV.
Le S was similar challenge to before, although he spawned at +1, so was a little more challenge. I still wonder how someone low level would handle him, you might want to raise the lower level limit for the arc missions to at least 10. Baron, on the other hand, is an AV - so minimum level should be 30-ish (and test it at the minimum). Although he is a fairly soft AV, since I can chain-hold him. He still hits very hard, and he took me down once.
Incidentally, how did Le S. recover from the last time I beat him up?
The hostage had the name of the real-world UN leader: Sec. Gen. Ban Ki-moon. Perhaps Kan Bi-Moon, or Ban Ki-Sun as a homage rather than a copy.
M4 return message: Its likely -> It's likely ; its only -> it's only ; It's
Global -> It's a Global
Souvenir: 'dove' shaped -> dove-shaped ; Carribean -> Caribbean ; couple groups -> couple of groups
Even the souvenir still doesn't explain why a bombing in the Peruvian countryside would have any global implications.
But a very nice souvenir nonetheless.

Cheers, airhead

The post number does come from the #n link in the top-right, but in code it's even simpler. Using the example above:

3.8 stars (5 reviews) -- Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces The Great Face (#190069): 4, 2, 3, 5, 5

The code for this being:
3.8 stars (5 reviews) -- Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces The Great Face (#190069): [post=1230903]4[/post], [post=1328691]2[/post], [post=2062434]3[/post], [post=2067082]5[/post], [post=2067151]5[/post]

These happen to be in chronological order, but that might be too hard. Hopefully you'd have a computerized way of writing out the postid text, otherwise it'd be a nightmare to do by hand. You'd also need to capture post numbers from every review, but I do think it's worth it to access the original reviews, and I'd be willing to help.

Cheers, airhead

Arc 281575, Et In Arcadia Ego, @FredrikSvanberg

This arc needs quite a bit of work, but otherwise has a good premise of aiding the dream world which is being abused by Carnies. The pace comes and goes, the magical feeling comes and goes. The first 2 missions were mysterious, the third and fourth were tedious, the fifth... well, probably suffered from lack of build-up. Also the game spawned an AV 3 levels below me, which wasn't much of a challenge - probably no fault of the author, unless placement was "Any" and pacing was "Ramped up" (then AV might have copped the worst of both). Some special names need explaining along the way, typical of a story that began as an origin tale, but easy to fix. This arc has 4-star potential. I can see 5-star potential but would require considerable rewrite, so I'll say 4-stars but I'm willing to re-review. Details below.


An origin story! It's still a story, good enough for me. Magical too. High-level, consistently level 41+. 3 unique maps, 2 medium maps. That could be pretty big, especially if the mediums are CoT caves. But the monsters chosen are very different - Carnies, and Reflections!
The arc description is sufficient, I need to follow up one of my dreams. Okay, so I'll decide whether I want to play this arc once I meet the contact. But something could be added here to make the arc sound juicier to a random player.
The contact is a regular-looking young man called "The Conduit". Sounds like a superhero moniker. His description indicates he's a placeholder for someone called Dreamlord, for when Dreamlord comes into the real world. Hopefully I'll quickly learn who the Dreamlord is, or else this is not useful information at all. Perhaps it could be also suggested that The Conduit is someone I've met in my dream.

First mission introduction doesn't explain Dreamlord. Is he good, or evil? What's his purpose? To hold back the critters in "dreamworld" from entering our world? Or more? Also, is The Conduit still in my dream when he's talking to me? I think so, since he says he's intruded, but on the other hand, I can see him here.
The Accept string is the default, perhaps could be "Awaken and do ... whatever" - clarifying I'm still asleep. The send-off does clarify I'm still asleep.
Yes, that's a lot of reminders that I meet Conduit in a dream, but it is important to get the player off on the right foot when your setting is unusual.
"My worst nightmare" arrives. He's so... not. Looks like a mid-level Crey tank. Perhaps you could rename him (Childhood Nightmare?). Or use a Storm Elemental (if abstract is okay). Even the Rikti chief mentalist (reflection version) might be scarier, especially if you color it nasty...
The return text and the second mission intro are very similar. Perhaps focus on the dream dust in the return message, leave the invasion to the intro (still mentioning dream dust in intro, since only team leader gets the return message).

Second mission, again a default Accept message, room here to spice things up. So, the Dreamlord's palace (which must be in the real world, since The Conduit is contacting me through dreams) is being invaded. Why does he have a palace? If he's "here" in place of The Conduit, why did whoever-he-was-before-being-The-Conduit possess a palace for the dream lord? Ahah - but it is all explained in the send-off message. I like how we think. Once I enter the mission, a pop-up could explain The Conduit's connection to this abandoned office. Is he a bum here? He's not dressed like a bum.
Aside - can you add an aura resembling reflection-events to The Conduit? Since he's a dream world creation?
The Conduit says, "Follow me" - is he coming to the palace too? Yes he is... in a new guise, which is absolutely fair enough. But shouldn't he also have a reflection event type aura? Perhaps The Conduit is an author's insert, who doesn't have reflection event aura, but for the sake of the story it'd be good for dreams-in-the-real-world to have that consistency.
It'd be best if you can create a custom group from all the level 41+ reflection events, so you rename the group. Not "Shadow Shard Reflections". Perhaps "Assorted Nightmares".
Okay, I meet Dream Raider - and discover that my ally is now the liability. I won't be bringing him along any more!
Great Clue - go bash 100+ carnies. We'll see how that works in AE.
Returning to The Conduit, he mentions Arcadia. I assume that's another name for "dreamland" but I don't think that was defined anywhere. Hopefully it's not from an mythos of another comic company.

Morpheus Heights - is that Peregrine Island? Could say so. There's another bland Accept message, perhaps imply my enthusiasm for the task.
Send-off message suggests "better men and women than me" have been lured by the Carnies. Nobody is better than me! I'm level 50! (Just being facetious, but perhaps avoid that comparison, since the player in this game is encouraged to feel like the best thing since sliced bread).
Busy message - capitalize "Carnies".
The mission has loads of Carnies hanging around. There's no patrol/boss messages indicating what they're doing (okay, it's a semi-permanent street party, but no harm in reminding me of that). And for such a big map, it's very repetitive. Perhaps include some things happening here that aren't critical to completing the arc. Destructible or defendable objects, Battles with law enforcement, muggings, just variant animations, anything at all.
Found the Dreamlord. Capitalize Carnies in his description. He's dancing with the Carnies - the only non-standard animation on the map. Carnies call him Lord Ego, supposedly his new name since his powers were stolen by "his old conduit". I presume then it's not The Conduit that I met. If it is, then this is confusing.
Hm. I guess I'll still go ahead and rescue "Lord Ego". An escort on this map seems gratuitous. Unpopular with some, but I don't mind. Oh wait, I do - this type of exit is not good for escorts. It can be hard to get the escort close enough to the exit point, unlike a conventional door. I got lucky, and I return to contact.

The Hedonist is mentioned again, could clarify that it was Dreamlord's previous Conduit (unless current Conduit doesn't know that). Arcadia mentioned again - could define that in Contact description or first mission description.
Okay, now The Conduit is also calling Dreamlord "Lord Ego". He's never done that before, why do it now?
Fourth drab Accept clause.
Some good patrol text on entry, remind me of the Carnie's intentions.
Oh. It's a single-glowie mission. I think it's a medium map, which is worthy of a bit more than one glowie. Instead of just changing to a small map, could add more depth to the storyline here. Any other objectives at all. Even just a random captive plaything being indoctrinated into the Carnies should deter players from stealthing the whole thing. Otherwise, I'd suggest dropping this mission as uninteresting.

So off to the finale. I think the armor concept is a little trite. It's described well as being non-standard, but just calling it armor is a bit pedestrian. Considering the grandiose theme of the arc. Perhaps it manifests as armor, but could be Imagination, or Positive Thinking, or Dream Will (the power to influence your own dreams), or something. But whatever it is needs to be integral to the overall plot - why is the Dreamlord losing at this time, perhaps because of the armor?
Typo in italicized send-off: lets -> let
There are a lot of duplicate patrols spouting the same text about redecorating. Perhaps split into multiple patrols with varied text.
The Conduit appreciates my arrival, which is nice.
"Shadow Shard" group is here too.
Okay, that's weird. The Hedonist showed up as Level 47 EB (since I'm level 1 difficulty, it's an EB) but I'm level 50 - so he cons blue! Looks like a custom, so shouldn't be level-constrained. I've never seen anything like this.
I found the Dreamlord. He appears to be already wearing his armor, but I guess there's no fixing that.
Nice left-behind and rejoined messages on The Conduit.
The Hedonist has Shadow Shard allies. Another reason to fix the confusion on the Reflections guys' group name.
Since the AV was unusually low level spawn, I didn't have much trouble beating it.

Cheers, airhead

Edit: I'd forgotten to comment on the souvenir, which is a very good one.
Conduit's real name, Conrad - I think this is the first time it's given?
Otherwise, it's well written, and clarifies many of the confusions above (albeit too late for gameplay).

Awesome!

The list still doesn't have reviewer name clear, I understand that would get pretty wordy (and may even break the size-of-post limit if there is one). That's fine, the prospecting player will just have to consider all reviewers equal (fair enough).
For chronology of reviews, you can mouse-over each rating and see the post ID (p=postid) at the bottom of your web browser. The lower the number, the earlier the review.

Looking good! //airhead

I guess Tangler's got it right, although I see 5-stars as gaining potential for random plays, rather than Hall of Fame. The flurry of story playing has diminished since Architect was released, or else the sheer number of stories has spread those players around. In any case, stories progress much slower now than they used to. Hall of Fame might come, but first you'll need to get random plays. I'd be happy just to get random plays.

1. Deliberate effort to produce a story without a story. Textless farm arcs not labelled "farm" would get this if they succeeded in wasting my time. [If I join a farm team I get whatever I deserve, and I won't vote].
2. Well written, but no story. A stealth farm arc as above, that actually has complete paragraphs (typically still lacks minion and lieutenant descriptions).
3. An unintelligible story, that I cannot suggest a fix for. More likely, I wouldn't vote, just PM the author.
4. Fair story, fair gameplay, fair humour (usually applicable), fair attention to detail. But something about it suggests to me that lots of editing won't get it to 5 stars (but I am willing to consider I could be wrong, and play it again). If I cannot finish an arc I may not vote, but I may post a review.
5. Fair story, fair gameplay, fair humour (usually applicable), fair attention to detail, with potential to be excellent in at least one of these areas, enough for me to want to play it again. "Potential" allows for great arcs with lots of rough edges, but architects are less likely to edit an arc that's already been played a lot. Conversely, I allow less room for error. Dev's choice supposedly cannot be edited, so better be faceted.

All that said, most of my votes have been 4's and 5's, with a few 1's and 2's for stealth farms advertised as stories.

Arc 15095, Check... and Mate, @ARH

Awesome poster, actually makes me want to play this arc! Unfortunately it's a challenge arc for teams, so utterly unsuitable for me. Still, I'll give it a start with my level 50 mind/forcefield controller with 30+ purples.

Okay, as a hero, I despise my contact already. He gets way too much pleasure from the pain of others. And now I have to run the poor, unfortunate, perhaps non-violent villain out of town again? Better me than the nasty Pulverizer.

Mission 1. I gaze across the cargo ship. The enemy is very interesting - Italian made layman-friedly. I decide to rush this one, as it's timed, but the cry of a forklift driver as I teleport overhead catches my ear. I go back and rescue him. So now I'm hooked.
The Torre, resistant to mind control, are a good challenge.
The big-bad in the first mission was pretty tough! Took everything to bring him down, then he got back up again. Despite me zapping him all the way, he made it to the exit at the far end of the ship. Seemed to have some major build-up, despite being only a boss (I'm on level 1 difficulty). These things concern some reviewers, but for a team challenge, and an optional objective, it seems fine to me.

Mission 2. Woah. Lots of goals, but in the end, I only had to destroy the amplifier? Odd. I went back outside to find one of the cargo boxes, but destroying it gave no extra clues, so I exit the completed mission.

Off to the third mission. I didn't realize this one was another indoor-outdoor map! Cool.
No shortage of ambushes! One included a Torre, which made for a pretty tough ambush. Got me a map, and saved the fool Pulvis.
Destroyed the objective, and on to the next mission.

Ooh, mafia! They dress as badly as the ones state-side. No sleek, Italian suits here.
I rescue a girl. But the plan's changed? Checkmate is no longer planning to control Paragon City from his Italian island? Not sure why, but we're back to the city then.
Incidentally, why am I immune to the mind control? Do I have something in common with the girl from the last mission?

Off to Skyway to take on the big bad. Fifth mission! Everything has to hit the fan here. My contact is swearing less now, might have expected it to get worse.
Awesome group here, the Insaniacs! Lots of variety in names.
A LOT of of running around, sequential hunts on a vast map. The finale better be worth it. And as the last amplifier appears, I defeat the big bad's sidekick with the help of Pulvis. For a lieutenant, he's extremely destructive. I did the tanking, it worked well. And now for the big bad! Gotta find him first.
Okay, round 1 went to CM. Mind control ignored my Elusive Mind and a break free. Pulvis is still alive, and perhaps most of the ambushes have already arrived, so round 2 should be close. Nope, I confused all the ambushers, but Pulvis was too busy doing silly lie-on-the-ground animations to help. He died almost before he got up. Had to wait 25 minutes for my accolades to return. But I'm not doing enough damage here to take him out within one minute, so probably pointless. Definitely need a Shivan stick to defeat this AV.

Okay, the AV just gave himself a 2142 point heal. Forget it. A good arc for 4 of 5 missions. I tried to solo a team mission in any case, so I won't vote. Poster is still good.

Cheers, airhead

Arc 296884, A Show of Hands, @Lazarus

A smooth, enjoyable arc. I went thru on level 1 difficulty with a level 50 controller, and perhaps I had the easiest archetype for this. But it did seem pretty soft, closer to Easy than Challenging. Still, 5 stars for giving me something very enjoyable, with subtle shouts to previous arcs.

Four missions with mostly small maps. No defeat all. Consistently level 40-54. Enemy groups include Freakshow and Council (pretty regular guys), as well as "Generic" and "Custom". I still haven't figured out the difference between those. There are enemies with custom power selections. All very good news, although it's "Challenging" despite having no EBs or AVs. I'll be watching to see how that's done. The arc description warns of ambushes, which appear in all but the first mission. That's a bit more prep than my airheaded villain would be expected to do. So on to the plot.

I'm using a fence to sell something. But it got stolen. I wonder if I'll find out what I was trying to sell. If not, then it's a "Luck of the Gambler +7.5", I always have too many of those. It's little wonder this arc is tied later to the author's McGuffin arc (which I haven't played yet). My contact is the fence. Sounds tougher than me. I hope she doesn't know that, or she'd have stolen the goods (or the payment) herself.
The initial message indicates the item hasn't been stolen yet. Perhaps the Arc Description could have me "help the fence sell the item" or something, to avoid pre-empting that plot development?

Mission 1. Despite Amanita being just a Lieutenant, her fly trap is slaughtering things pretty fast.
Strange. Saved a crate, got an ambush? Must have been a lucky patrol, the arc guide doesn't list any ambush.
End of mission clue is called "M1" - if that does refer to the mission number, perhaps call it "First Mission", or "Part 1" or somesuch.

Off to Mission 2 to track down the Freaks.
M2 entry popup: but sounds like -> but it sounds like
Location of the Council Base Clue: required -> require
I'd heard (dialog) that one of the Freaks ran off with the Item when the Council arrived, but I wasn't sure he was in league (slight hint that there's a mole) until I read the M2 Clue. Not sure how the M2 Clue knew. (M2 Clue knew. M2 Clue knew. I'm alliterate!).
And now I'm expecting space aliens.
Return message - reminds me I'm talking to Amanita by phone. Is that necessary? She appears to be right in front of me. Perhaps it could be a holo-phone. Holographic phone. Holographone. Uh, whatever.

Mission 3, and there's big guys. What was I selling, compost? My first objective is a few feet into the very first room, but I've more to do now. Ten feet further on - a cool new optional objective! Really nice glowie placement, I wonder how lucky I was. No ambush yet. The optional glowies are very small, I expect I won't be able to find all of them on this map. But I did!
I find what is probably the main culprits here. They're very familiar, I've met folks like this on another Lazarus arc.
Okay, a villain just spouted the great reveal. But not before something invisible came after me! And it's only mission 3... something has got to go wrong. Not much in the way of ambushes here. And some of the enemy groups appeared depleted by Battles or running into enemy-enemies. I found a nice unlisted objective too, it's good to be greedy.

On to the last mission. I am wondering how the chaos can be increased from here. That seems to be a key theme here. But it's a nice choice of map, expecting plenty in the big room at the top!
Mission sounds like a candidate for a timed mission (~15 minutes to go), but it's not. Guess it doesn't have to be [and in the end, didn't want to be].
Nice defeat dialog on the critter that "escaped" the last mission.
And then I beat up the remainder. There's a minor ambush, nothing significant.

The final floor of mission 4 map has two defendable locations in that last room. You could have the Council and/or Freaks come in for some revenge at the end, bringing something defendable with them...or an ally that's useless, if any of that ever makes sense. Another objective that applies is "Battle" (see my arc 190069, using this map in mission 3, pardon the plug). So why would a Battle suddenly appear... perhaps it could be going on when I arrive. The battle won't start before I get there, the floor's very short. Adding anything would add to the chaos and congestion. If you free up the regular spawn in the last room, by adding a Battle instead, then the regular spawn could be changed to another ambush. I really didn't feel I got enough ambushes, considering the hype.

And the final return message spells favour with a 'u'. Awesome result at Headingly, eh?

Cheers, airhead