airhead

A Clean Break, #30821, @Crimson Racer

This is a good ol' supervillains-for-your-superhero arc. Story-wise, probably better suited to the lower end of the level range (30-54). A great short story plot, 3 medium-sized maps. Lots of nuggets, like mission titles and navigation, for pool buffs. Highly recommended! Minor comments below.

Cheers, airhead

Perhaps the first mission could be adjusted to match missions 2 and 3 using the I15 ability to do so. Also, it seems odd that these Pool Gang guys run at such a high level, if their opponents are the Skulls.
The contact's description (Story Settings) is missing (readable through Ask about this contact).
The Pool Gang decided to dress up as supers - perhaps explain where they get the superpowers?
6-ball is lime green with a stripe? 5-ball also has a white stripe down the middle. You could make the 5 into a 9-ball. I understand there's no 10+ chest detail. Perhaps the 6 could be the ten, using roman numeral X... I guess there is no easy way.
mission 2 intro: talkin -> talkin'
Not as climactic as was possible. Hopefully there'll be a sequel to take it from nine-ball to kelly.

Lockdown, #250142, @Mandu

Against all advice by the author, I'm attempting this solo...

Overall, I enjoyed this arc a lot. The story is simple enough, it ties into the maps well, and it progresses to a climax. Good quality text. There's no major surprises, but perhaps that's true to silver age stories. 5-stars for your first vote! Some detail below.

Cheers, airhead

Hmm. Sounds like there's a lot of forcefield generator stations, diverting all Longbow squadrons, and that's not even enough! And it is "costumed-types". That is a lot of villains. I do wonder where they suddenly came from, unless they're robots or clones.

I get into the first mission. In the very first room, I encounter some baddies, then a Rikti gadget. I click on it, and the mission is done! I have stopped the baddies, but then, no, I have simply hacked a single computer. I ran this twice (since I missed the return message first time) and both times the computer was in the first room.
Mission 1 return: under control -> under their control ; nearbye -> nearby
It says we know what they're doing - yes, we know they're protecting themselves first. But their greater goal is still unknown.

The enemy groups I haven't even met yet are explained by my contact! I like this contact already. This is a great change from the 'treat em like mushrooms' attitude of many arc contacts.
Into the second mission, the text is all very clear and typo-free. Uncanny. I stealth through the mission, done fairly quickly. The plot is good, very silver-age. Here we go into the fourth mission!

I particularly like the description of the Sun Dogs.
The Spring Heels Elite is missing a description.
I stealth around, another mission done. With care, I had few encounters with baddies (soloing).

Last mission intro: first paragraph ends with two periods.
Woah, Spring's holds are strong. Winter's too. Nice challenge.
Then I'm done!

Firstly, great to have you back to reviewing Talen Lee!

[ QUOTE ]
The author already has a large number of ratings and they're positive - my opinion is but one of many, and while I think it's more important than the others, the author can happily be inculcated from criticism by such experience.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this completely. An author isn't likely to make significant changes to something that seems to work (it may have worked particularly just after opening, when less was expected of arcs) so it may be too late for a quality-shifting detailed review. Unless they're sitting on 3 stars. Even if you did make an incredible difference to the arc, history has probably resigned it to whatever rating it already had.

Perhaps you could take your playlist, multiply each current rating by number of plays, and start with the ones most likely to benefit from your help?

Cheers, airhead

M3 busy dialog: breath -> breathe
M3 entry popup: the street of -> the streets of
Bit of a loss as to why Statesman is involved here. He makes for a pretty powerful sidekick, leaves me doing little.
Statesman (don't know if you wrote this): Colewas -> Cole ; were -> was ; well -> Well of Furies ; mention of Stefan without connecting him to the well
So it's a defeat-all on a big outdoor map. Perhaps not the worst outdoor map, but people will often quit an arc at this point. Especially if they don't have powers suitable for bouncing quickly around a map to find that last hidden critter. I finished it, it took a long time.
M3 return: "Catalyst stands..." sentence should be in orange ; saught -> sought ; essense -> essence
M4 intro: The entire description is not Catalyst speaking - you've previously colored that orange. Not sure what you want to do here. You've reversed your scheme (somewhat) and now his speaking is yellow. Also has quotation marks. All good, but should be consistent with first two missions. Also, why "near worship"? Sounds like there's ambivalence among the troops.
M4 intro: presense -> presence
This next mission is like the first and the third, big open map with the same creatures to beat, one new boss. Like the first mission, I have specific groups to defeat, this time there are 24 of them. I resign from the arc, I just don't have time to do this.

The arc is monotonous in its gameplay. But otherwise, it has an interesting Contact concept that might work, and a grand story that should ultimately be quite heroic (for contact and plot I rate this a "potential 4-stars"). But I am tired of fighting the same group in outdoor clumps over and over, I'm afraid I cannot finish this. I suggest you plan to playtest this right through with at least 3 different archetype heroes for play balance - that should also test your patience for this.

I have a heroic arc with a bad-guy contact, #1144 (in my sig). The plot is much smaller in scale than yours, the contact is petty, not grand, but you're welcome to give it a try if you like.

Regards, airhead

248963, AmericanAngel-Pete

4 unique maps, 1 large map, bosses and allies. One unique map is defeat all (hopefully a casino!).

As noted already, anals -> annals in the Description. Also eveil -> evil.
You've suggested levels 1-50 - not too specific

Custom group throughout. Oooh. I'm trying this with my level 50 controller, gonna be a long arc...

The contact is impressive-looking. With I15 you can add a description to the contact in the Story Settings, which is accessed through Ask about this contact.

M1 intro: you're are not -> you are not
I'd change "He turns" to "Catalyst turns", a bit less confusing. Alternately, if you're suggesting I'm one of his commanders, you might simply address me as such. Perhaps commanders and allies, to appease heroes who don't like to be ruled by nobody
M1 send-off: activateMisery -> activate Misery
My pop-up box suggests my actions will prevent Catalyst - so I am not on the same side as Catalyst? That's strange. Neutral morality, I'm very confused right now. Catalyst does sound like someone with too much power, so I think my objectives are probably appropriate, but still confused. Was I snooping on Catalyst's initial monologue?
I'm on level 1 difficulty. The map is full of lieutenants?
My goals include 15 Catalyst's Defender - I just destroyed one, and its whole team, didn't reduce the count. Can Defenders clone in ways other than the 15?
Okay, I found another group with 2 Catalyst's Defenders. I took that group out, the count went down. Looks like you have C.D. in your spawn group - with I15 you can now select that member of your Custom Group (from the listing of all in the group) and right-mouse-button, choose Not Regular Spawn. Then you can use them only for "Boss" objective, won't appear otherwise (and count will make sense).
I found Abomination. It's group is Winter Horde, you could add it to a custom group if you wanted a different name.
I saved abomination, but it looks like I really have to save all 15 of the Catalyst's Defenders. Grim.
Another problem with the Catalyst's Defender goal - looks like I need to defeat the whole group for it to count. Perhaps say "Catalyst's Defender Teams" in the Plural Navigation text slot. Or change the objective to count with Boss Only to complete.
Some of these types seem to be set on Extreme - causing tar pit and that lightning pet. So definitely not a farm, perhaps a challenge arc? I'm mostly in it for the story, luckily I'm a controller and don't need to put up with their holds and endurance drains.
Amazon Clone description: ou -> you ; it's -> its
You can also set Singular Nav description to "Defeat the last Catalyst's Defender Team" for better description of objective when only one left.
Well, that was a lot of tickets...
And when I return, it seems that despite all my efforts, Abomination has somehow disappeared? So, why did I bother with all that? Return message confirms the pop-up on this.
Okay, second mission, it's clearer that I am listening in on Catalyst who is somewhere else. Thi is unusual use of MA (which I like!) but it'll take some effort to get it clear what's happening.
M2 intro: downing -> dawning ; hte -> the ; acheiving -> achieving ; The themselves -> They themselves
The Accept string is very long, runs past the end of the window, cannot read.
Accept string: everyones -> everyone's
M2 send-off: disuaded -> dissuaded
Objectives just 2 this time (phew). One objective says "Director Prime" - rescue, or defeat? And I haven't heard of him yet.
Agent B dialog: you with my DNA -> you have my DNA
Agent B enemy dialog: .Stay -> Stay
I beat Director Prime. Why is he defended by 5th Column? Perhaps an error.
Then rescued Agent B. Again, it seems I might be too late. Pop-up suggested I might be closer (to stopping Catalyst?) but the return message indicates Catalyst is happy. Too many fails doesn't encourage me to keep going...
The "One of Catalyst's commanding officers..." text should be in orange?
Incidentally, I suspect this should be a Heroic arc, not Neutral?
Mission 2 return: manafest -> manifest
Mission 3 intro: bring my the -> bring me the ; perheps -> perhaps

I have to go to bed, I'll continue with mission 3 in the morning. I like the contact perspective, I hope you can make it work (just needs to be smoother). And if it is a Heroic arc, perhaps I can feel successful in saving lives, even if I didn't prevent harvesting of the DNA?

Cheers, airhead

Celebrity Kidnapping, #1388, @PW, Lv30-40

I liked this a lot. Funny, with great customs and dialog, just the right length, and full of interesting events. Some suggestions below.

My Captain Dynamic arc 190069, is also 3 short missions. Hopefully you can give it a shot - it could definitely be funnier, currently I list it as Drama.

Cheers, airhead

You might add something to the dialogs crossing of the yard:
Convict: Wow, a riot! What are the odds of that?
Convict: Pretty high, actually.
Longbow Minigun: You think this riot might be a diversion for a break-out?
Longbow Flamethrower: Nah, they're probably just excited to see that Arachnos Flier.
The Paris dialog is great throughout. Also your (custom) prisoners, photographers and cameraman!

Mission 2 - I can't think of an I15 way to vary the vagabonds more, the suitable groups are all lower level. I liked Terry.

Mission 3 - Reporters very funny. If you have objective and file space, you might vary the dialog of the police officer bosses.
In final return message, change: You're back!, to: You're back? (to highlight surprise).

Hi Dalghryn,

Rikti scale to become The Lost if brought into an arc under level 30. For your topic then, it's a logical absolute limit.

For other critters, scaling back from 40 to 30, you need to test that thoroughly for playability (and to make sure everything comes out level-reduced). They will have more powers than usual encounters at 30; the players will also have less powers, and lower bonuses, than before. It could become unplayable.

Cheers, airhead

Edit: having played the arc in question, I know that story-wise (coming to the aid of a supergroup initially in a small way during the Rikti War) this could potentially involve slightly lower levels. Probably not level 1. In this case, MA behaviour is the constraint, as The Lost do not make sense as the primary invasion force.

Nice arc, very short, seems like the introduction to something huge! Nonetheless, it's complete, and fun and easy to play.

The power armour under the lab coat is a great touch. All the glowies in the last room was nice too.

Some very minor thoughts below. Cheers, airhead

When I arrive, I hear rallying cries of the Scrapyarders. Surely they don't know I'm here. Perhaps ... of the Scrapyarders at work.?
It said I'd taken the Scrapyarder's grisly trophy - does it still have flesh on it? Sharks' teeth typically don't.
Mission 2 return: endevor -> endeavor (or English-English: endeavour)

A big thanks to Rockslider on Infinity for helping me out with the big bad at the end!

I had to give Part 2 a go, completing the tale I'd started twice before. It was definitely grimmer than Part 1, and got progressively more bleak. The challenges mirrored Part 1, perhaps a little too closely, hopefully you can change one of them a bit.

I do recommend this arc, it's not fun-haha, but it's challenging and heroic, and very well written. It should suit pick-up groups too, assuming they can side-kick to a common level. Or supergroups. For soloers, you'll need to be pretty good against an AV.

The two arcs do stand alone quite well (part 1 more than part 2). Any empathy a player might have for the non-player heroes (and their fates) would come from the first arc.

It's a great way to get your history lesson. I look forward to your version of the Alpha team's efforts next - 80% casualties from 1000 heroes! Clickie... clickie... clickie...

The Amazing Rat Race (arc 1144 / Heroic / Lv 15-40) - The trial of a young Crey cleaner and his boss. Unravel the cleaner's villainous past; Is the boss evil, or just mean?

It's an origin story, unconventional contact, with a long fourth mission. Designed for soloing, with one electric EB. Solo Khelds not advised! In the fifth mission you can influence how justice is served a few different ways.

Crumbs. So if it doesn't follow the lore, it's not allowed to be popular?

Hall of Fame simply means a lot of people liked it. It says nothing about the content, but if you're a pretty typical person, you might like it.

I'm not sure why 2 suddenly appeared together - perhaps fate. If it was Dev intervention, I truly hope it was a process applied equally to all arcs. Like the wonderful no-zero-stars on Test.

But Footsteps oscillated at near-HoF for a long time, that's no surprise to me. If you don't like it, that's allowed - you're in a minority, which is also allowed. I hadn't heard of the other arc.

Perhaps we can also convert 1's and 2's into 3's and just have a "good (4), great (5), ugly (3)" rating system. An "ugly" would still counter 3 "great"s in the battle to get 1000 four-and-a-half's. I'd also eliminate the star calculation next to Dev Choice arcs, since that no longer applies.

tl;dr: if you don't want to read this, I don't want to summarise it

I ran through this, since it's on test, and has Family in it, something I'm also working on. Useful already - I'd forgotten about the Family-'Dyne connection.

First mission, I meet the two families. All very familiar, but then, not. Good descriptions on the two factions. Curiously, two of the hostages were tattoo artists. Those guys really should get out less.
And on to the second mission. Plot starting to thicken - the families are arranging a marriage, yet the bride to be has gone missing, causing mayhem in a public place.
Enrico's description echoes the author's opinion too aggressively. Remove "ie" (breaking to a new sentence) and change 'know music' to 'know classical music'. [Even if this reviewer agrees with that author]
Neil: couldn't let -> couldn't you let
Sal's Clue: LIps -> Lips
Mish 2 exit pop-up: reduce elipsis to 3 dots...
Act 3: Tommy the Trasher was the second person I met in the mission! That was fast. Has he just arrived too? Unusual for a leader to be at the front, particularly for the mob.
Oh dear, an Irish boyfriend. No wonder they got troubles.
Entering Act 4, nice mission-entry Clue.
Diablo is a nice super- concept for this otherwise just-heroic campaign.
Mission 5 intro: Navarre -> Navarra [in the red text]
Interesting how you've stacked all the optional goals up front. Considerable destruction in this 'wake'.
And the inevitable pyrrhic ending. As I'd expect, in the Ventureverse, crime doesn't pay! At least, not for the crime bosses. The souvenir then takes care of the "less criminal". Very well written.

I haven't played this arc previously so I can't compare its development, but I did enjoy this play-through. It got better throughout. Formulaic, but extremely well done. Cinque stelle.

The imps were a bit cliche-custom-critter - pity you can't get Bat'zuls to cover the level range, or something else un-human. Purple rikti monkeys?

Cheers, airhead

Edit: you asked for ideas for more unusual endings:
<ul type="square">[*]Darrin falls for the player-hero (gender be damned), but the player-hero doesn't reciprocate, Nicky is left with the Lurch (Diablo).[*]Diablo decides to kill Darrin with an overdose of 'Dyne (see floor in the ceiling room in the final hall) but it goes horribly wrong, per Reanimator.[*]It's all a trap to kill Diablo, room is full of destructibles, which must be destroyed within an (almost unreasonable) time limit, else everyone blows up. Hero is inclined to prevent the explosion because Darrin and Nicky are unwitting bait. Indeed, one of the destructibles (all identical) contains the unconscious couple.[*]The hero is Diablo. There is no real Diablo, it's a useful boogieman, but since the situation calls for Diablo to turn up, the bad guys circulate yon hero's picture around with a Diablo label. Wackiness ensues.[/list]Sorry.

Back to Baler (and then another shot at DeviousMe's arc)

Baler's revamped his arc since the review above. Most typos are fixed (just trailing periods missing in clues and pop-ups), and the contact's origin is clearer. The new arc description is great. It really doesn't say any more than before, but it says it much more interestingly! I ran this one again for the cafeteria access.

The initial discussion with the contact still doesn't clarify what kind of crash site this is, not essential, but easily confused with the Rikti Crash Site.
The alien clue in the first mission suggests the alien disappears, but he's still standing there... I don't know if the MA can demonstrate this. Perhaps there's something in the list of Animations that could apply on Rescue (or else have him run off?).
The second mission glowie search remains the same. The last one was high on top of crates, and doesn't make any particular noise or glow. The rest of the missions go pretty quickly, the story ties together well. And the new souvenir is awesome!

Cheers, airhead

Most-valued! A favorite thread.

(Hides sig for this one)

This next one has 3 reviews, it's a freshie, called A Night at the Movies by Claws and Effect.

The description, "You are being sent to investigate a strange case.", doesn't grab me - what's strange about it, without giving too much away? Why would another player single out this arc, just from the description? (although I'm not sure how many people actually find arcs that way). At least the title is intriguing.

Ahh, Malaise is my contact. He has a suitably arrogant attitude. I guess at this time he's being a good guy.
Mission 1 send-off: occuring -&gt; occurring ; Independance -&gt; Independence
I'm bamboozled why "my presence [might] come as enough of a surprise to prevent a reality shift" - what does any of that mean? Are we sure it's a reality shifting being, and why would my presence make a difference when the Freedom Phalanx failed earlier?
entry popup: soundstage -&gt; sound stage
8:20pm: Enter mission 1
Woah, tiny trashcan glowie on this moderately large map - luckily it was in plain sight.
Okay, I run around, find Manticore, and free him. He suggests he doesn't know me - but I did his Task Force! An ambush comes after I've freed Manticore, seems a bit gratuitous since the mission is already over (unless I hadn't found the glowie yet).
So! The bad guys (whoever they are) are collecting superpowered folks.
Regarding the movie script clue, I'm a little confused by the double-negative in the last sentence. Are you saying the script didn't preclude my arrival?
8:35pm: Return to contact
Return pop-up does a great job of summarising clues so far, in case I'm a typical player (doesn't read everything).
Return info suggests I have surprised someone, I don't see/know how. I do understand how I've managed to profile the culprit somehow.
Not sure if you could have more clear evidence that there has to be a superbeing individual behind this, and that I surprised him somehow.
script-writers -&gt; scriptwriter's
Mission 2 intro - Ad Lib Generator is a nice touch. Although the science behind this is just a little too loose to comprehend.
M2 send-off: far reaching -&gt; far-reaching
8:40pm: Enter mission 2
Okay, so I'm saving the Freedom Phalanx. Only, this is the first of many times I've done this where I actually feel like the plot supports doing so.
Synapse's comments were golden. Positron simply asks for some help, which doesn't give quite the same in-a-movie context.
Citadel seems confused too - like he's not following the script very well? I guess I liked the Synapse reactions, was hoping others might be in a similar vein.
Odd, Positron has chosen to follow me around, but isn't contributing at all.
I'm guessing Back Alley Brawler is behaving like he's in some kind of action movie, but it's not really clear.
Statesman's comments are on track.
9:24pm: Return to contact.
Exit pop-up: realeasing -&gt; releasing
My contact says the powers came from a fourteen year old. I don't see how this was deduced (and it's best if the player figures it out, to keep him central). It wasn't in any of the clues, and I didn't see it from the dialog.
Return msg: occured -&gt; occurred
Mission 3 intro: he;s -&gt; he's
So Positron figured it all out. Hm. Is it possible, somehow, to weave into the last mission that I figured it out? I know, I'm selfish, but it'd be cool...
Accept message says I'll meet with Manticore, not completely clear why - perhaps "I'll team with Manticore on this one."
And then in the send-off the contact explains this to me, like it wasn't my idea...
9:31pm: enter mission 3
I'm not sure what the pop-up on entry is supposed to mean.
Freed Numina, Manticore took most of the hits and it took forever to heal him back up, but it wasn't until I beat up her last henchman that it acknowledged I'd released Numina. Could change it to boss-only.
Psyche appears after Numina, but it's nice they're in the same last room.
Psyche's dialog is awesome. I wonder if the author's real name is Steven
9:47am: Return to contact.
Finale. Beat the big bad! Dialog is all good, let's go. Oh - you could reword to say that the Freedom Pholks can't go since Steven may have already written their script (kinda where you were going I think, just could be clearer).
Pop-up on entry is spot on.
Well that was fast. Steven's not as tough as the Freedom Pholks. He could be a bit more spoilt-brat, perhaps.
And we've won. The return message, last sentence, I don't know where that's coming from - looking back at my notes, it was probably the attitude on the first page. But that attitude was dropped soon after.

Generally, some details need to be smoother, but I had no problem at all understanding the basic plot, and it's grand enough to involve the major heroes without reducing the player to a spectator. Battles were well chosen, you got the right ally, and the right heroes-as-bad-guys for the battles to be soloable with still some challenge. With some further clarity, you have a 4.5 star arc already. With some more movie-world and in-character humour, a steady 5.

Thanks! //airhead

First a quick run through 2292. The arc has had over a hundred runs, and is averaging 4, so probably isn't really worth a review. However the author has had some negative feedback about the arc being confusing, which suggests it may be unconventional. So I'll run through it quickly anyway in case I learn something myself.

The contact is a little irritating to begin with, but it's a standard contact, and this may be his MO. He's also apparently got a shaman spirit in him, but that doesn't seem to explain the attitude. The contact is also scared by idea of the Circle having demons, so despite his uncanny perceptions, he doesn't seem to be too familiar with CoT.

I meet the first dragon, Rynn. It mentions a place I've never heard of, and a person apparently important to that place. Strikes me as a blatant player-insert - easily fixed by explaining everything in the context of what I might know (very little at the beginning). If the place and PM are important, then I don't know that yet. Which means I could discount the description as useless, when it's really not.

Player is a little better. While the name is possibly confusing (sort of meta) it's fine by me. The unfamiliar place is referred to now as a 'realm', so no doubt the lizards are not from these parts.
Lost Guitarist's Words clue: migrane -&gt; migraine
Officer Blake's group is "YCPD" which means nothing to me at this time (some obscure kind of police department, no doubt).

Clues to this point suggest the lizards were summoned from an other-place concert. Then Rollister's clue confirms this. I'm supposed to know the name Rollister from somewhere, the Positron task force, at this level that's not a huge assumption (although I've done the TF and forgot that name).

I find the last dragon and I'm done. Really, no confusion at all so far.

On exit it says something about a classic guitar, that I seem to have. I'd overlooked the clue that explains that, I think I must have gotten it on exit.

Drummer's Take clue has a last sentence that makes no sense to me.

The mission completed, the contact sends me onwards to keep investigating stuff. All making sense so far.

"The air reeks of cordite and C-4": Check Wikipedia "cordite" (third paragraph) to determine whether you still want to say this

The Malta was a shock, as much as the Assault Bot. I'm in Oranbega...

Another Malta calls me a MHI. There's also a Weedkiller operative. All canon, but potentially confusing to someone who hasn't played a lot. I forget what Weedkiller related to, I think killing superhumans (but this arc is about dragons and possibly demons). I haven't yet got a clue how demon/dragon summoning is relevant to the Malta's government machinations.

I search around the thorn cave for a while, but find no "Survivor". I have to give up.

I guess things are just starting to get confusing about the plot, up til now it was just slight miscommunication. If I could find the Survivor, perhaps everything will start to make sense. But I can't, I'm stuck.

Regards, airhead

This is a very solid and enjoyable story. Surprisingly few customs. 14 votes and still at 5 stars - the griefers are slow today. I'll add a 5-star to this.

capitalize Ming (loads of these)
Nice first and second missions. Very conventional stuff, but done very carefully, complete with good animation choices.
Haiku could perhaps have a seasonal element in each (I think some do).
On return from second mission, I learn the police have seized the vase, and Liang Qian. I thought I did that.
I guess I haven't met Amanda Loomis much, but she's, uh, optimistic!
Nicely worded reveal of Wu's suspicious nature.
Lt. Anders is very cool!
The plot and style of clues is very much aligned with existing content. The devs may like this.
M4 entry popup: each-other -&gt; each other
(Long-)Wu, the solitary custom, gets progressively uglier throughout. Nicely done.

The story is conventional, but it's very well written. I expect it doesn't contradict CoH lore, it all felt logical to me. Sorry I cannot offer any suggestions for improvements, aside from typos. Unless you were to make a crowd of little dragon-like pets to spawn with the big boss at the end. Or in I15, it could be Storm Elementals, if they can exemplar correctly (currently that seems only to apply to the mission-wide spawn type selection). In I15 you could also recolor the Long Tsoo to have that same yellow-green skin, if there was some logic behind that change. Or keep it just the way it is.

Cheers, airhead

From an airhead to a (galactic) hobo,

&gt; I wish ... that you would actually DO airheaded reviews
&gt; ... i.e., review these arcs tongue in cheek.

I thought about that, long and hard, at least, long and hard on the airhead scale. I could write reviews in character, the character having the superpower of radiating gullibility (and being subject to his own power as well). Defeats would come from asinine conversations, that might start, "Hey, would you mind lying on the floor?", and trips to the hospital would often result from misinterpretation of villains whose dialog came first. I will get to this someday, meanwhile I'll try to be a little bit more useful.

As soon as you have an arc ready though, I'll get straight on to providing some useless feedback! It's a great idea.

Cheers, Airhead

Heya Te,

Your fixes should also address the hero's potential reaction to being duped all along, but otherwise that list is a good start. Note that the extra space in I15 also comes with some cool new gadgets, like custom robot descriptions and even colors, so the extra space doesn't last long...

How to Survive a Robot Uprising, #12669, @Wall of Knight

My second request. This one has been around for a while, but hopefully the author is open to overhauling the arc (otherwise, no point in an editorial). "Running out of space" is never a valid excuse here, since there's always less important things that can be removed for the sake of a better story.

The contact is a box of bits called "/Hide". The name strikes me as something "programmer-y". Which makes it cute, but I'm already having to make large leaps of logic just to comprehend the contact's name. The mission entry text presumes I guessed it's a shapeshifter, I didn't. Needs text to somehow connect itself to Citadel, since I don't assume it follows immediately from the text in the Arc Description. In fact, the shapeshifter element overall is never properly explained, and may be irrelevant (if, say, /Hide is just a hologram).
The first mission introduction also assumes someone sent me here - as a hero I tend to travel as I see fit, answering to nobody. But I'm willing to admit I did come across this box of stuff.
The box of stuff isn't glowing nor transparent for me. I don't get that one.
Okay, so if the mission description is updated to highlight I'm working on behalf of one of Citadel's intel guys, I'd be in a much better position to continue.

The entry popup indicates I feel I'm in the right place, although I don't yet know what that might be at all.
The nav says "The loudest noises are this way". Again, this isn't what I expect from my nav text. "This way" would be forward, even if I've turned right around.
I found someone who needed rescuing, a hero from a group called "Shameless Self-Insertions". For those few who read the group name, this is blatant, breaks the fourth wall - perhaps "Heroes Fearlessly Inserting Themselves", would still be obvious, but could also be read as a hero group name.
My EB ally gives me speed boost. Some people don't like EB allies, others don't like speed boost. But its okay for me since I have psi attacks (in a robot arc, yeah...)
I'm encountering reflection robots (Zenth Mech Man and Zenith Hoverbot). In I15, you'll be able to change the description of critters. I'll assume they're not meant to be reflections, just bots that fit within the level range of the arc, and the descriptions will change at I15. Okay, so I beat a HVAS and the mission is over. That needs to flow from the nav text.

[Aside: I was so confused by the arc at this point that I contacted the author, who explained the direction it's supposed to take, hence my more specific suggestions above. Thanks author! I said a lot about the first mission, but the story runs smoothly from here. Get the first mission right, rule the world.]

In the second mission, the contact's lingo is getting a bit heavy, hard to read. Suggest changing th'ol' to the ol', and watcher to watch yer.
The nav text is much more practical here.
My mind-powered dude is doing okay using Mass Confuse. But now he has a partner, an Arachnos! Good that we can put our differences behind us. Briefly. I like this part a lot.
The patrol dialog is a lot of fun. References to all kinds of movie robots.
Beat up the robots. Pity the Arachnos couldn't betray me at the end.
The last sentence of the return message gets a bit hard to read, requires reading a few times. Perhaps eliminate some of the slang there.

M3 send-off, watcher -&gt; watch yer ; first paragraph has a &lt;br&gt; in the middle of it ; interetin' -&gt; interestin'
The nav shows "1 An unsecured laptop", will need to add Singular text for that one to make it look right. The exclamation point on the end of broadcast! looks strange followed by a comma, perhaps drop the !.
Malta vs Malta! Impressive massacre, won by Titans. I wonder, can you use Auto Turrets for your bot crew?
Zipped through to collect the glowies, everything seemed a bit preoccupied when I ran past.
The Intel from the Malta Group clue casts aspersions on /Hide because Crimson might be in China? That doesn't make him a bad referee. Perhaps think of another story here.

Into mission 4. Portal corp is truly the next logical next step, as that brings lots of robots with it!
Can't really tell who is killing who in the battles as they go quickly. Ahh, I caught up to one - the Virals are getting trashed by the Glitches. Perhaps that could also be covered in battle text (Virals / Glitches).
Okay, my ally is a PPD Quantum?! Are the Nictus somehow involved in this too? There's two of them, seems to be more than a coincidence. [By the end I realise that's a red herring]
Police-Chief Viral: carefully neutral -&gt; controlled
And he went down VERY fast, thanks to Mass Confuse. But otherwise an impressive bad guy group. Glad they weren't hitting me. Didn't get time to even check his group name.

In mission 5, the accept says "Y/N", how do I choose N?
The droll comments about "another warehouse" could be removed to provide text space elsewhere.
Drone-controller has a nice description.
I leapt in, took out the two mainframes as everything arrived, ran on, rescued Energon as stuff continued arriving in waves. Worked out a lot of fun.

Into the last room, the sheer number of endurance-draining robots is making this unfun.
And then the big bad - a laptop in a box? Guarded by a regular dudes? That's it?
And as often happens, I miss the final return screen, I must have double-clicked it. Hopefully it's covered in the souvenir. I think it is, intriguing souvenir. Clears up a bunch of loose ends.
But as a hero, I am still left to ponder, what (if anything) did I accomplish here? If I've been tricked all along, will I be full of praise for this arc? (Answer should be obvious).

I think you need to be sure to have a basic story here that centres on the player (mostly true already), and make sure it can be understood by everyone, and enjoyed (as a hero). I think that is: Citadel's staff sends you after robots for a good cause. Everyone should understand that, and hopefully enjoy it - the ending is currently a bit of a downer (at least by the souvenir). Then you can complicate it with the background of the contact, the "dialect" of the contact, and add funny bits to it, so long as these do not detract from the basic story. This might require more than just proof reading, if the story doesn't provide a heroic experience on some level.

Good luck with this, I'll happily replay after rework if you like.

Cheers, airhead

233720: A Close Encounter @Baler

My first requested review!
9:35: Collect arc.
The MA description is pretty generic: An intelligence gathering mission turns up some startling information. All Enemy Groups are listed as Custom Group so I don't learn anything more there. Perhaps look at adding some spice to this.
But it is looking interesting enough - one unique, and 3 small maps. Defeat-all in the second (small) mission. My contact is military but I don't recognize the uniform. Perhaps she could be from D.A.T.A. or G.I.F.T. or just an extension of police or other agency.
I'm off to check out a classified crash site. I assume this means Rikti Crash Site. Taking photos is assumed to not be my MO, for most players that would be true. I'm not entirely sure who "these clowns" will be.
9:38: enter mission 1
Ahh, it's an alien crash site. Perhaps indicate its unknown what crashed in the mission introduction.
I meet the custom military group. Cute, and incompetent.
Trooper's description indicates these guys belong to a Corporation - but I'm not sure which.
I've found a body bag, contents are not human!
body bag Clue: it's -&gt; its ; extra terrestrial -&gt; extraterrestrial
I find a crate as well, containing a control panel! The Clue doesn't mention the control panel, just the lettering on it. Probably add a little to the Clue, I'm curious what I might make of it. In the end, this "control panel" seems to be a red herring.
Found alien. Ahh, Trooper indicates he's working for "Eath For Humans" - and isn't thrilled about it.
Grunt says: We're just doing our job -&gt; put punctuation on the end. Also for "nutjobs" comment.
The alien is interesting - not all-powerful, looks like a little part of an invading army! Nicely done. It's small too. Given its description, it's odd that I simply rescue it, and not take it along for interrogating.
But the alien's clue is confusing. Why do I think the mercenaries were being controlled? Shouldn't I also be taking photos of the alien, as I do the other clues?
And then I find the barrel, and get two clues, one for the barrel and one for completing the mission.
barrel Clue: it's -&gt; its (in title and text)
many of the Clues need punctuation on end of text (even just a period).
Indeed, this has me curious!
9:54: Return to contact.
The return message sums up the experience nicely.
9:59: Enter mission 2.
The pop-up needs punctuation on the end.
I'm curious now that I find the powersuit, that the alien wasn't wearing one. Perhaps he'd been stripped of it, perhaps that can be explained in the last mission.
Trooper's comment: rendevous -&gt; rendezvous
The Shipping Crates are small and brown. In this warehouse, they're extremely hard to spot. Perhaps use something that glows, or at least give a clue they're small and brown somewhere. Even if with the powersuit clue. Or say "wooden" in the nav. Half an hour to find one clickie on a small map is not fun.
Warehouse secured.
10:28pm: Return to contact
Nice personality with the mission introduction. looksee -&gt; look-see
10:31pm: Enter mission 3.
Squaag: shocktroops -&gt; shock troops
Computer files clue: uses acronym SIU, not sure who this is (presumably the group the contact belongs to).
"Aliens" seem to have an interesting mix of powers. Since I tend to mez my opponents, I'm not sure how they'd work against a scrapper.
And that tech I rescued sure was acting strangely! I find the last computer and clue.
Lab recon info: EfH guys are just pawns in what exactly? They're working for the "aliens" but it's not clear they're unhappy doing so.
10:40pm: Return to contact
Mission 4 intro: possiblity -&gt; possibility
Note that my acceptance phrase is a little small-minded, perhaps I can act more heroically.
And here I go destroying stuff - any reason we don't like the Qald? Other than xenophobia?
10:42pm: Enter mission 4.
3 of the 4 objectives are in the first room. The fourth is just outside the elevator when I reach the second floor! Nice and short.
Okay, now someone has arrived and told me to "take me to your leader" (in his own way). In the fashion of classic B-grade alien movies, I guess I will.
I find the guy, who apologizes for his mistake. This kinda fits with the "aliens invading" presumption, they kind of were. Perhaps my contact could behave a little more xenophobically too, inferring invasion from fairly circumstantial evidence. And in popups I might even be skeptical, if the contact's attitude defies belief.
Unless of course this turns out to be a hoax, and they ARE invading...
Which could be a 5th mission, but I like it as it is.
10:55pm: Return to contact.
Nice final text. What exactly was the significance of my contribution here to the CoH? It ends a bit flat, perhaps because the contact says thanks at the beginning, not the end, of the final text.

The souvenir suggests I have some information I gathered. Sometimes souvenirs recap the adventure just completed, you might do that here. You could make it more grandiose, proclaiming how I united two dimensions, or somesuch. Or anything else more than just a copy of some data.

Overall, I think this arc has a solid structure and plot that doesn't need any major changes. That makes it a potential 4-star already. There's places things can be clarified, and perhaps some personalities (the Sq*'s, the contact) made a little more intense - you might model any of these on aspects of people you know who are "intense" in some way. I get the feeling the story isn't supposed to be deadly serious, so a little hammy might be okay. You could also add non-required objectives to any of the missions, to provide some more flavour/background of the "aliens", Earth for Humans, Eagle's Talon, or the SIU/contact. I think the people and places will need to become a bit more memorable to consistently get 5-starred; and I don't think you're that far off.

I enjoyed going through this a lot (excepting the glowie search and I'd be happy to go over it again if you upgrade it.

Cheers, airhead

The Superadine Withdrawal Blues @Null Geodesic Arc 205046

I saw this on CoHMissionReview.com and it sounded fun. I'll put an abridged review there.

Interesting premise. Odd that a Troll arc should be for levels 1-50 - I chose to play it with a level 12 dark/kinetic defender called Vegemite Kid - almost certain to have difficulty based on the description. But it's within Troll levels.

Nice contact. Sure, I'll help you out. Loved the send-off message!

For a humour arc, it sure is brutal. Invisible DEA agents constantly killing me in surprise attacks. Ambush on the Superadine (died). Bought a pair of wakies. Now I just need to find Jimmy. Couldn't get through the second floor (died). Made it past council, but not DEA (died). Made it to third floor! Ran out of wakies though, not good.

Oh oh! Extremely not good - I need to escort him back through the war zone. And despite being an EB, he doesn't get involved. Nonetheless, I managed to beat the Council and outrun the DEA, barely alive at each elevator. Only 4 missions to go...

Jimmy's going to Peregrine Island bank. Not good news, with me at level 12. But after vegemiting a few policemen, I get through to the vault. Jimmy's surrounded! I pull a policeman with a poorly aimed Vegemite blast. Two left. I take them out, and then the folks who appeared next, including Officer O'Malley. Then just as we're headed out, it's an 8-man ambush! Naturally, I have no hope in heck, so I just try to make some distance towards the door (died). Looks like a long slow siege coming up to get Jimmy out of this one. I stock up with 2 wakies, and a pile of greens. Ready to run, playing Chariots of Fire.

More patrols of 3, take one out. Then everything comes after me. I use all my greens just to get back to the front door, but I take a few with me. This is epic. I return with another full load of greens. Another patrol waiting for me at the door, I clean them up.

Dammit. I want that safe I can see just beyond Jimmy. I'll just get Jimmy out first. Mission Completed, I go back, clear out the patrol at the safe, and it's mine! All mine! I teleport out just as the safe's ambush arrives.

And we're off to party! I might have thought that would take place in Skyway or The Hollows, but it's Atlas Park.

The Reformed Trolls need descriptions. Wow! So cool! I'm in a mass battle that's actually skewed in my favour - for a moment. Then the dreaded DEA show up as I was writing that last sentence (died). I come back, outrun the DEA - very empty map! Doesn't bode well when it comes ambush time. DEA agents also need descriptions. Didn't get far (died). Their shoot-first, sneaky approach means they're just villains. "DEA Agent defeated Reformed Troll"!

Cleaned up another group of three, then made a hash of a three groups. Ran, barely made it back past some Reformed Trolls. Helped them a little from my place of hiding while they finished off the bad guys. Woo!

Rescued Jimmy, but the inevitable ambushes came (died). Finished off my Reformed Trolls too. But got my payback, and now Jimmy's also contributing! Fantastic. With Jimmy and a Reformed Caliban, we trashed the Council ambushes that followed Mephisto's demise.
Typo in mission 5 intro: wearhouse -&gt; warehouse
Wow, my lame little defender beat Jimmy! Going toe-to-toe wasn't the answer (died) but after a lot of running around, he fell. Took out his Superadine too. Plenty heroic! Talk like troll!

I really enjoyed this. Nothing I'd change, 5-stars already, it's hard, but it's fun enough to weather those (running out of fingers...) 8 deaths.

Cheers, airhead

232910: Dimensional Rift Detected! @Killo

Where can I improve on it? What can I add? What needs to be modified?
Mission 1 is a Defeat All - ominous.
Okay, the contact seems a little tricky to get along with. He's Top Secret, but that's his name, so he's perhaps a joke character. Then he almost calls me a victim, to assist in a crisis.
Joking, in a crisis. He even says "Heh". At this point, I'm hoping it's not a Heroic arc.
So I don't exactly Accept, I ask a question. Which results in my accepting the task, not exactly fair.
Mission 1 entry pop-up: Decay - is that a name? -&gt; Put it in quotes, or -&gt; name: Decay.
So it's a zombie mission (Flesh Fatale). Nope, a demon mission (The Beast).
Demon Thrasher: quick work with -&gt; quick work of
Wicked Howler: through the bones of anyone nearby -&gt; through their bones
Top Secret Kid is described as an authority figure in the "Superdudes", but his dress, name and adrenaline fixation don't really add up to being an 'authority' - perhaps just call him a leader. He's an EB too, hopefully opponents are worthy of that. For now I leave EB to kill stuff, no xp in this mish for me.
Invasion Leader correctly deduces it was me and TSK that encountered him. But some people leave sidekicks behind, so it might have just been the player.
I cleared all, and then the reason why Defeat All sucks - I missed something. Somewhere. I have all the objectives, I've defeated the big-bad, but I'm left searching around for one thing I missed somewhere.On my third pass over the entire map I find the Flesh Fatale that was in a corner.
Reasonable tickets for a story mission.
7:36pm: Return to contact.
Okay, so TSK lets me know what's really going on. I must say, I don't like contacts who keep me in the dark. TSK also knows more about Decay. It would be nice if I wasn't sent in blind to battle zones by my supposed friend.
Second mission. I'm a little confused, so TSK is from another world. Yet there's another rift in Portal Corp, which is in my world. Perhaps it could be a little clearer that TSK has come to help protect my world from the things that terrorize him at home.
Second mission sounds identical to the first.
7:40pm: Enter second mission.
I rescue yet another EB ally from Possessed Scientist. Reasonable use of another faction's critters here, science and magic again intersecting in a scientist's mind.
Zoe takes out an opponent in a single kick. Then I find TSK. I abandon both as they make the mission meaningless for me. And then there's a third ally! I find a A-Max, but the nav says "Find DJ Max!". I promptly lose him.
And then Sonica, ANOTHER EB. And the Invasion Leader too, a LT at Heroic difficulty. Sonica wipes him out before I get very close.
So now another mission done, and I'm left to find the last ally. He's back where I abandoned the first two allies, overlooked as he's dark in the dark and I had to run fast to lose the allies.
Weaken those allies a LOT to make the battle more fun for me.
8:00pm: Return to contact.
M2 return msg: others fights -&gt; others, fights
Ahh, at last, a mission by myself. But otherwise, it sounds identical - defend a lab map from the same custom group from the first mission.
8:02pm: Enter mission 3.
But it's outdoors this time. All I have to do this time is find and close the rift - so I will ignore all the creatures that were Defeat All in the first mission. Perhaps just have the first mission not be Defeat All, if these critters are allowed to live. Or perhaps TSK knows they don't live long outdoors, so he's not worried - or something.
Note that the werewolf description says they live their lives completely in shadow - but it's daylight here. Not a big issue.
Woo, despite the vast, multi-level map, I find the glowie fairly quickly. Zero tickets, but I can get back to the story.
8:08pm Return to contact.
It says those poor people in the area [that I just came from] suffered a horrible fate. They were turned into werewolves by Decay? Or not? Perhaps could be better explained.
M3 intro: one way -&gt; one-way; specfic -&gt; specific
The mission 4 accept phrase doesn't imply commitment - "Uh, I dunno"?
So it's mission 4, after 3 missions of just cleaning up, and now I'm going to begin the process of solving the problem. Perhaps one of missions 2 and 3 are redundant. Arcs don't have to be 5 missions long.
Strange. I have to protect a chest, that registers as a bad-guy - but I can't hit it. Seems it was just a bug, by clearing around the chest I complete the mission. For a monster Oranbega map, you chose a good way to do a hunt, since the object spoke to me as I passed it. It's still a huge map for one objective.
8:22pm: Return to contact
And off to the inevitable big-bad confrontation.
I collect all my allies, but they never get involved in combat. I cannot beat the AV alone. I realise this arc has never been tested right through. I give up.

So far this looks like a collection of author's heroes, a collection of custom creatures, and a loose story to sort of tie them together. No plot development until mission 4, and mission 5 is broken. I included suggestions along the way above. This definitely needs a more complex plot if it is going to be more than 2-3 missions.

//airhead

Genres A-L

AE System
---
5th Anniversary Flashback Smackdown (126896) -- Neutral
Bare Knuckles of Rage (9304)
'Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces the Great Face' - Tryouts (190069) -- Heroic
Death for Dollars! -- Neutral
Mission Architect Playable Tutorial (28470)
Signal to Noise (67277) -- Neutral
Welcome to Architect Entertainment -- Neutral

Allegory
---
Who is Kidnapping the World's Great Philosophers? (86347) -- Neutral

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

Classic Super-Hero/Super-Villain
---
A Crusher Crimewave #1 : Crisis at The Citadel (50271)
A Crusher Crimewave #2 : Escape from The Zig! (83458)
A Crusher Crimewave #3 : The Fall of Mocker (123613)
A Show to Die For! (30645) -- Heroic
Check... and Mate (15095) -- Heroic
Deadly Sins! (99366)
In The Shadow of Statesman (1160) -- Neutral
Marketing Opportunity (83747) -- Villainous
Paradox Paradox (69221) -- Heroic
Sidekicks Can Be A Pain In The Cape (28430)
Teen Phalanx Forever! (67335) -- Heroic
THE BOMBER (16607) -- Heroic
This Life Immortal (5756) -- Heroic
To Save A Single World (83744) -- Heroic
'Tis Nobler in the Mind -- Heroic

Comedy
---
The String Thief (15726) -- Neutral
Mean People (16690) -- Neutral
The Extadine Lab (2595) -- Heroic
MacGuffin Delivery Service (1567) -- Villainous
ParaCon (1684) -- Heroic
The new and improved Lord Recluse Strike Force -- Villainous
The Fire Bunnies - Neutral
You Say It's Your Birthday! (3630) -- Neutral
Trademark Infringement (2220) -- Heroic
Hail to the King (34640) -- Neutral
Walk On the Wild Side (3580) -- Neutral
Shirley You Jest (25474) -- Neutral
The Invasion of the Bikini Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! (61013) -- Heroic
Gnomish Madness (30204) -- Heroic
Doctor Nadir and the Hellion Heist (49661) -- Heroic
Laugh? I Thought I'd DIE! -- Heroic
The P.U.G. Strike force (35585) -- Villianous
A Translator is the Wind or the Thunder in Turns (2936) -- Heroic
What's in a Name? -- Villainous
None More Black, Dude! (86312) -- Neutral
Rise of the Drakule -- Neutral
Return of the Revenge of the Son of Drakule Part 2: First Blood -- Neutral
Martian Chimpanzees and the Cyborg Cheerleaders of DOOM! (69947) -- Heroic
Daytime Divas (94504)
Death to Disco! (84420) -- Neutral
Too Many Bunnygirls! (101165) -- Neutral
Invasion on Earth BX1132! (98943) -- Neutral (poster version B)
Ee=Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! (3662) -- Neutral
The foul-mouthed Handyman! (1076) -- Neutral
City of Norms (132994) -- Neutral
Killing The Meow Farm (141625) -- Neutral
Shortbow - (143566) -- Heroic
Jerk Hackers! (162482) --Heroic

Comedy/Drama
---
Kidnapping an Idol (136188) -- Neutral
Fashion Apocalypse (14840) -- Neutral
The Running of the Bulls (29973) -- Heroic
A Super Team is Born -- Heroic
Cause of How Some Silly Stealed My Wings (1481) -- Neutral
How to Survive a Robot Uprising (12669) --
Dr. Duplicate's Dastardly Dare -- Neutral
It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding (9059) -- Neutral
TURG FICTION: Ghost in the Machine, Act I -- Heroic
Rum Runners of Bloody Bay (3691) -- Heroic
Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids! (2019)
The Toypocalypse! (49280) -- Heroic
Fishing for Fame with Red Herring (66861) -- Heroic
Putting Out Fires: A Corporate Satire (20100) -- Villainous
The Rise and Refall of Pets'n'Things.com (1061) -- Heroic
The Cat's in the Cradle (8776) -- Villainous
Females for Hire (110723) -- Neutral
The Cathedral of Mild Discomfort (153712) -- Heroic
Freaks, Geeks and Men in Black (161629) -- Heroic

Crime/Gangs
---
Bricked Electronics (2180) -- Heroic
The Bravuran Jobs (16809) -- Villainous
The Black Flag Is On The Rise (Pirates!) -- Villainous
Win the 2009 Freak-Lympics (2150) -- Villainous
Ninja Crimewave! (2142) -- Heroic
Whitehawks (Arc 49364) -- Heroic
The Internet is for Crime (53385) -- Villainous
Plastic Pistol Peril (1135) -- Heroic
Friends in Need (Of Body Parts) (31005) -- Villainous
A Little RnR (17523) -- Heroic click for Promotional Poster
Mechanical Mayhem (76712) - -Villainous
Females for Hire (110723) -- Neutral
Battlin' Tom's Murder Extravaganza! (99803) -- Villainous
Meet the Demon Spawn (151099) -- Heroic
Slash DeMento and the Stolen Weapons (100045) -- Heroic
[ZQ] Power Play (187269) -- Villainous

Drama
---
A Flame the Burns Bright (112548)
Clonus, Parts 1 &amp; 2 (21499) -- Heroic
Digital Love (3571) -- Neutral
Matchstick Women (3369) -- Heroic
Of Mentors and Legacy (1589) -- Heroic
The Conciliators: Simone (4010) -- Heroic
The Fan Club -- Heroic

Global Domination
---
Axis and Allies (1379) -- Villainous

Global Destruction
---
The Twilight of this Blue Orb (98529) -- Villainous

Heist
---
Celebrity Kidnapping (1388) -- Villainous
Easy Money (31490) -- Villainous
The Great Diamond Heist (96169) -- Villainous

Historical (Realistic)
---
Wrinkle in Time (68920) -- Heroic

Historical (CoH Lore)
---
Origins - Volume 1 (57077) -- Heroic
The Consequences of War (212069 and 212073)
The War on Superadine (7959) -- Heroic
[ZQ] The Once and Future King (71601) -- Heroic

Holiday
---
City of Ho Ho Ho (18775) -- Heroic
Hectic Holidays (36999) -- Heroic
Santa's Missing List (34961)
Santa's Workshop of Misfit Toys (134140) -- Heroic

Horror
---
Astoria in D Minor (41565) -- Heroic
Creepy Crawlers (82553)
Dark Dreams (3615)
D!E COUNT DADDY MACULA D!E! (10119) -- Heroic
Duality (84105) -- Heroic
Don't Play With The Dead (31813) -- Neutral
Hunting the Hunters (93362) -- Villainous
I Will Dance On Your Grave (92630)
Lights, Camera, Scream! (68627)
Movie Monster Madness.. (102058)
Project: Perilous - Into the Chthonian Pit (#3586) -- Neutral
Small Fears -- Heroic
Something Comes to Yarmouth (58812) -- Heroic
The Amulet of J'gara (1709) -- Heroic
The Children of Astoria (217499) (masearch link)
The Zombie Apocalypse Task Force: Something wicked this way comes.

Large-Scale Crisis
---
A Warrior's Friend -- Heroic
Alpha and Omega (60015) -- Heroic
Bleed the Freak (6919) -- Heroic
Flight of the Valkyries - Precursor (20272) -- Neutral
Is it Live or is it Memory-X (70210) -- Heroic
The All-Seeing Eye (57352) -- Heroic
The Clockwork War (18672) -- Heroic
This Is War, Part I - the Revenge of Hro'Dtohz -- Neutral
War of the Worlds - The Anakim Invasion - Part 1 (15006) -- Neutral
War of the Worlds - The Anakim Invasion - Part 2, The Terran Revolt (46711) -- Neutral
Win the Past, Own the Future -- Heroic

[/ QUOTE ]

Chains of Blood @DFH, arc 225317 on Test

An apocryphal story about the Circle of Thorns and Legacy Chain. Version 061609.

Custom villains and AV, but nonetheless I'll give it a shot.

The entry pop-up says I hear Legacy Chain in the distance - what exactly does that sound like? Do they have a particular battle cry or something that could be mentioned instead?
A corpse. I thought, for a moment, my goodness! It's the corpse of one of Venture's own toons, Venture or Starfall! And I was momentarily amazed and impressed at what someone would do in the name of a good story. But then it turned out to be a Legacy Chain nobody. So we're back on formula.
Found Venture and Starfall. The bios read like classic author-inserts, not entirely relevant to the plot at hand. Later, I realise Venture's bio is relevant. Perhaps could just make a reference to the plot as its known at this time, to keep them in context. At least they're both just a Lieutenant.
The kidnapper has an interesting background. That alone has me interested in continuing this arc. There's really not much else for me to go on from this first mission, but it's enough.
So the tome I collected is the key. But meanwhile I have to rescue another batch of the Chain gang from the Circle. The Chain are astonishingly bad in combat with the Circle. I actually saw one battle on the second level, but there was no way I could save them from their near-instantaneous fate.
Typo: Act III send-off: your and your -&gt; you and your
Arch-Tellus - color scheme seems a little dull, even by Legacy standards.
Okay, the Chain is related to the CoT, no major surprise there. Now I have to beat up Belastios. But it's not really explained why, I first imagined he must be a demon.
Cinoval says he'd have freed himself eventually - but he's not actually captured (or at least, not guarded).
Perhaps make Xanos a little tougher. Cinoval finished him without my help.
Final Clue doesn't seem to make sense - I did what followers did not? I drove the Envoy back to the Pit rather than let it spread its evil? Not in this arc I did not.
After defeating the altar, it says I signal for a teleport retrieval. Yet my Nav still says I have 3 Redeemers and an Entity to defeat - perhaps they should be optional?
AV is too tough for me to solo when I'm lagging, so that's it for that arc.

Overall, the characters aren't as interesting as in Blowback. Part of this is perhaps the number of characters. Cinoval seems an interesting concept, particularly the means of his demise, but still everyone reads as having very similar personalities. The Blowback guys do have the benefit of recurring more. Without completing the arc, I'm not sure what my impact was on CoH, but that might be resolved at the end. For those who can't kill the AV, perhaps the last mission could describe your potential impact before you begin...

//airhead