Aisynia

So, I'm making a mission (WITH AN ACTUAL STORY, WOW) that's primarily geared towards ticket acquisition. We need these right now to get our stuff unlocked, and I don't see the harm in it if it has an actual reason to exist aside from that What I want to know, however, is how best to maximize the ticket output of a mission without making it difficult to solo. I'm not even 100% sure on how tickets are awarded, and how it's determined how many you get in any given mission.

I would be grateful for any thoughts and feedback, thank you

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/postl...Board=villains

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The high collar cape & hood from the 2nd pic, is also available for the female. Enjoy!

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Better be you sexist pig!:P




J/k, that all looks phenomenal.

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Yes, but can we use the robe without the hood, that's the real question.

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I'm glad to see a positive response to the pack. The high collar cape & hood from the 2nd pic, is also available for the female. Enjoy!

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Are the hoods a separate item or are they attached to the cape? I will be annoyed if I can't use my girls' hair with the capes. It might cause me not to buy, in fact. I have no interest in the witch stuff at all, and all my characters are women.

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hrmm...Ok, so, which is better support for a good team? I am guessing a Crab because of all the team toggles right?
And yes, I know. Just trying to make my mind up since I like both the Huntsman and the Crab, but my main on that is a Bane. hrmm...Maybe I will just keep it the way it is and just make a seperate crab...Sounds like a plan...Thanks guys

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A good Huntsman is an absolute boon to a team. Huntsman can take more leadership toggles than a Crab without sacrificing any critical powers. Crab builds get very tight, while Wolf builds have a lot of breathing room. Talen is only half right. It's Surveillance and Build Up that are the key advantages in terms of grabbing Bane powers. Cloaking Device is only decent if you have melee attacks for Stealth Strike (and the gun melee will do it), but when you're an AOE monster, I fail to see the point of doing that in the first place.

There are a lot of .. well I'm not sure I would say exaggerations.. but possibly unintentionally misleading statements... in this thread, which I'm going to clear up.

First, Huntsman AOE vs. Crab AOE. Crab AOE is better, hands down, but Huntsman AOE is not in any way weak. Crab AOE is way ahead of Huntsman AOE on paper, but in practice, it isn't that far ahead. Either one of them look in the general direction of a spawn and stuff dies. A lot of stuff dies. The Crab is going to be a bit faster at it, and has more leeway with damage type and arc radius, but the Huntsman isn't going to have any issues either.

Huntsman, because of their build flexibility, can easily stack up two Assault and two Maneuvers. Teams love this.

Crab survivability is better, but Huntsman are not squishy. The Bane armor gives +20% HP, and 2x Maneuvers + CTefensive will leave you relatively untouched at range.

Huntsman get Build Up. Ignore the redraw, it's insignificant compared to the advantages it brings. Build Up is Build Up is build Up and it is spectacular. Add it on top of +30% Damage from double Assault and whatever set bonuses you have, and things get pretty ugly (for your enemies).

Huntsman have better single target debuffing due to Surveillance. Throw in an Achilles and you're really in business. This is great for large teams who are fighting AVs or EBs (such as ITF or probably all kinds of MA arcs), as you can dramatically decrease the damage resistance of a single enemy. This isn't something to laugh at.

Ultimately, it comes down to more than a matter of damage or survival. The Crab has both of those over the Huntsman to one degree or another, but this doesn't mean the Huntsman does crap damage, or that the Huntsman is flimsy in a fight.

When I compare the two, I think of Crabs more like Blasters and Huntsman (built how I build them anyways) more like Corruptors. They both fill their role differently, but they're both very effective.

Also, check out my guide

/Unsigned

Defenders are the most overpowered AT in the entire game, bar none. They don't need an inherent, much less a buff. Defiance was reworked because Blasters were hurting badly. Defenders? Far, FAR from it.

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Well the reason for me is the fact that I really don't like the idea of sacrificing a costume slot just for looking normal.

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Guess you don't wanna look normal that bad, 'cause they are never, ever going to put this in. I think Clark Kent had to sacrifice a costume slot, so do you

I've never seen the point of a secret identity system when you can just use an alternate costume slot for exactly that. That's what all the day job costumes were put in for, amongst the numerous other costume pieces that are more civilian in nature. I say this as a roleplayer.

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I'd go for both.

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This too.

However, for now, I think an "Are you sure?" button would be the single easiest solution the devs could implement. I was trying to think simple.

The "Apply to base" buttons on the various windows (lighting, style, etc.) are rarely used for a medium-large base with a lot of variation in room design and theme. Yet, accidentally hitting them is a little too easy. I rarely do it, but I just did, and now I'm running around fixing everything in a base with 25+ rooms. Can we PLEASE get a prompt asking us if we're sure any time we hit an "apply to base" button?

That would be sexy, thanks.

Check your options menu.

EDIT: Wait, I dunno where it is, but it's in there.

I think my only real issue is the 5 layer room, and my only real issue with that room is the multitude of holes in the floors. If they patched all the holes in the floors, I'd be a lot happier.

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Arc Name: Dimensional Rift Detected
Arc ID: 16279
Enemy Group: DECAY, Decay's Transformation, Decay's Influence
Description: A dimensional rift has opened up in Paragon City and you are asked to investigate.
Challenge: Very difficult, despite having no EBs or AVs.
Morality: Heroic
Length: 3 missions (Considered Medium)
Author: @EnderXncdr

Sadly, I am posting this before I hit the bed, so I will not be able to test your arc LLamaBoy , but I will tomorrow when I get up.

Edit Notes:
- Added another mission as a tie-in to the end mission.
- Significantly decreased the debuffs of custom minions, in particular Minion of Fear (who was the main offender), but Minion of Apathy, Minion of Torment, Minion of Greed, and Minion of Ignorance has not been changed.
- After a lot of digging, most Confuse powers have been dropped, with the exception of a Boss (would spoil the surprise if I told you which one).
- Increased the difficulty of Officer of Fear. (All Officers are supposed to be tough)
- Decreased the difficulty of Officer of Apathy. (With the exception of this one, and you will appreciate why after facing her. Hint: No more Energy Transfer)
- Decreased the difficulty of Final Mission.
- Added more background story to plot.

All right. Go ahead and check it if you want.

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I will run through it But please check mine as well, I have made some changes and would like another opinion since the changes

Reviewing all the dialogue now, for mission one, I realize that something happened during the development of mission 1 to make the computer section totally obsolete. I'm trying to rework the mission so that they make sense again

EDIT: Ok, I did a significant update to the first mission, hopefully it flows better. If anyone wants to check out my arc, by all means, feel free

Also made the final boss spawn more difficult.

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Can't comment much else, it was pretty nice and a good setup. The first clue "they want to destroy the surveillance and the mainframe" (pharaphrasing because I've lost the clues as I completed ) seems like a bit... disjoined. It's like "omg, they'll destroy a computer!" So early in the arc all I could think was "Er, so what?". Throw in a bone or something on the player wanting to catch them and most having fled already or something? I.e., some sort of reason why that data is so important! I mean, if I lose the surveillance data there's no lack of punks in that base I can grab and torture for info

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Yeah, that was difficult to put in. Basically, it's explained in the clue dropped by Jackson (though not well enough, because of the space limit). Here's the clue:

According to this Data Cube, these people are called the Nihilists, and they want to wipe out all life in the universe! Including you! They plan on hacking the base surveillance system, then destroying the database! If they aren't stopped, it might be impossible to track them down!

The basic idea is that these guys are still here because they're the clean up crew. They came by to wipe out all record of their raid. Ghost Widow and Wretch thought they were already gone. I guess I didn't think about the "lol just beat one 'til he talks" thing, but really... I suppose you could also say it's hard to torture an emo idiot who wants to kill himself and everyone else in the entire universe If that's my biggest plot hole, I'll be happy


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Hows the NPCs distributed? I got massively spammed by blue text as soon as I walked in into the mission, can you place some patrols to "back" or "middle" or are those spots taken? I suppose it could be the massive activation radius that battles seem to have right now...

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I haven't run into that personally, and I've done it a few times. I will say, however, that coT maps in general seem pretty wonky. I went through 3 maps before deciding on that one, because half the time, my objectives wouldn't even show up

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Typo: [NPC] Ice Thorn Caster: You will rue the day you tresspassed upon our city, you fool!

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Eimyrha's final words: Do you actually have to "kill" her? We generally "defeat" things when explicity talking about it in-game, but up to you I guess

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She's an immortal minor goddess. She isn't going down unless it's all the way, but being what she is, it isn't permanent

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Both glowies give the same "You have found Book Two of the Ritual of Alka'Ta." system message. Which is disconcerting at first until you pick the right clue.

[/ QUOTE ] Whoops, fixed. They're both necessary, I just had the wrong text.

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Like... totally.

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Like, totally!

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Mission 3:

The navbar... Well, nevermind by now

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I know, I know! Honestly, it doesn't bug me. It's a bit crowded, I admit, but I've seen worse from the devs

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I like the optional objectives! If only there was a way to get the contact to react differently depending on whether we complete side objectives or not...

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*sigh* wouldn't that be great?

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[NPC] Crey Voltaic Tank: What!? Did you call them here as backup!? -> looks like a good place to put a $himher!

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Yeah it does. But it kept not working Seriously, I don't know why, since it worked for an ally in the last mission.

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Mission 4:

After all the great lines, this mission felt a bit lifeless... What about some lines for the battles related to what Wretch did to make them fight?

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Space. This arc is 99.97%. I cannot fit any more. I was forced to take stuff out of this arc. I agree, it sucks. I wanted to put a lot more dialogue in this mission, but I just could not. :|

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Did you have a bout of royalness when writting the "The Nihilist Directive Pt. 4" clue? It's written in royal "we"

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.... hmm.. damn. See, I also mod Oblivion, and when you write the quest journal in that game, you use first person. "I did this, I did that." And I was looking at it from that perspective, including Wretch in there with the player, making it a we. I will change that. Thanks for the heads up.

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Mission 5:

[NPC] Nihilist Gunner: It's them! You've gotta be kidding me! -> Another place for $himher?

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Yeah, wasn't working.

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Maybe you should not assume that Wretch is with the player when Marino's rescued... In my case he wasn't, he couldn't keep up with the flying scrapper ^_^ I think it's easy enough to tweak the text to be a bit more neutral.

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What!? No leave Wretch behind! Wretch sad! Where best friend!?

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You didn't close the " in Marino's clue.

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Whoops

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The great lines are back!

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Yeah, Mission 4 was kinda dead due to space. I had to cut stuff out. I cut an entire mob type out and still ran into the wall.


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So, overall impression is that the arc's very good.

There is enough self-spoofing humor to make the McGuffin cool.

You pulled the "incompetent bad guys who somehow manage to threaten the world" pretty well, with some humorous "No, the UNIVERSE!!" thrown in for good measure

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<3

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Wretch is well written. Maybe change the font a bit on the [] stuff? Minor, may actually make it less readable, but maybe give it a spin to see what happens (colour or italics or something).

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I was going to do this as a final touch up, but as it stands, I can barely write five words without hitting 100% file size. :|

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Overall very enjoyable, couple of suggestions up there, but it was a very well done job!

Also: Not commenting on difficulty, I was at 4 on my scrapper and plowed through everything, as she usually does

Gave you a 5 ^_^

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I appreciate your feedback and the rating. I will strongly consider rewording the clue in the first mission, and I changed all the lil' typos. Some stuff, I simply can't do because of space.. it sucks

EDIT: After all the fixed, I'm at 99.98%

Them three, yes, they kick butt

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Anyway, my brand new arc:

Arc Name: Of_Mentors_and_Legacy (waiting for a fix on the spaces >_&lt
[color= orange]Arc ID:[/color] 14843
Faction: Heroic
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Aliana Blue/Aliana_Blue
Difficulty Level: Medium-Rare. I kid, there're many bosses but most are optional. AV warning! The last mission has AVs, but it can be almost autocompleted at the lower difficulties (because the NPC helpers are such badasses, if you care and feed them).
Synopsis: A testing of a simulation designed to train heroes against a new Freakshow weapon turns into a little surprise.
Estimated Time to Play: 20-60 minutes, depending on how much you ignore the side objectives. Not a single defeat all in there. Going straight for objectives you can probably knock it off under half an hour.

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Played through, took well over an hour. I don't see how this could ever be done in twenty minutes. I didn't rate, as it really doesn't seem to be in a finished state. Mission design was excellent and the general story was good, but suffered from clarity issues, which I will outline last.

First, minor issues with spelling, grammar, and clarity. There were more than I'm listing here, but I didn't note the ones that weren't really all that bad, just the really overt ones.

SPOILERS for Aliana's arc!!

<ul type="square">[*]The contact says "advert" instead of ad or advertisement. I've never heard someone actually say this, but it could be where I'm living. It sounds pretty awkward.
[*]In the first mission, the Demonbinder says "pleasure work with" and it seems as though it should be "pleasre to work with".
[*]The Blood Brother (who I never saw) says "I'm too good at this"... but it didn't make sense to me in context. Was it supposed to be "I'm not too good at this"?
[*]First mission return dialogue, you misspelled Interfere as "interfer". You did the same in Paelin's speech in the last mission.
[*]Also in the first mission end dialogue (I think), he says "hoping anomaly will" when it sounds like it should be "hoping the anomaly will".
[*]Beast Tamer Hakkene says "can't stand to me", I think you meant "can't stand up to me".
[*]Third mission intro text says "do any guesses", when it should probably be "make any guesses". It also says "for what you told me". "For" should likely be a "from".
[*]Edge's bio has some odd description at the end. It said something about "impervium resolve all thorough", which made no sense to me at all. Are you trying to say that Edge has an impervium-like resolve? I would leave thorough and throughout (what you probably meant) out of there personally (for simplicity's sake), but it's up to you.
[*]Clue: Mist's Rescue says "got in time", did you mean "got there in time"?
[*]The second letter says "went without a hitch". for clarity, you may wanna make it "went off without a hitch". It also says "extended control over..." It would probably be more clear if it said "extended their control".
[*]Clue: Edge's Fate needs some serious clarification. It left me fairly confused.
[*]Clue: Fall of the Circle says "Explained minutely" but it might be better to use "briefly". It also says "captures" instead of "captured". I make THAT mistake myself all the time. Dang D and S key being so close.
[*]Fourth mission end dialogue says "take over control", and it should be "take control", as the over is somewhat redundant, especially given the rest of the sentence.
[*]Final mission intro dialogue. you misspelled "Tina Macintyre" as "Tiny Macintyre". I'm sure she appreciates that "Where we should be sending you to" doesn't really need the "to" on the end. "For what you have told.." should also be "from what you have told..." About the nukes, I would make it either plural or singular, but keeping it as is, I would change "give it to you" to "give them to you".
[*]Final mission popup says "hiedout." May have more misspellings, I accidentally closed it too fast &gt;.&lt; Better check it
[*]Mist's dialogue in final mission "please find Phillip". I think, considering she's the mom, and she's going with you, it might be more appropriate to have her say "please help me find Phillip".
[*]Asoulx says "You date attack me!?" and I was like "I don't usually attack people on dates, not that I would date you"
[*]And the final mission return dialogue with the contact, he says "their gamesBut the. But the future...". I imagine this is a major, hardcore typo, and you meant "their games. But the future".[/list]

Ok, now on to the really serious stuff. The story itself is sound and interesting, but it has some major issues with clarity that I feel you need to work on. Maybe it was intentional, but it was kinda jarring.

<ul type="square">[*]When the contact starts helping you... there's a major lack of clarity as to why. He never really talks about his motivation. At the beginning of the mission he's like "restarting the simulation, hope it doesn't do that again!" However, he does an almost immediate flip in the other direction and is helping you triangulate everything, with no explanation whatsoever (that I saw) I think he should explain what's going on a bit better, letting the player know why he's helping them.
[*]The second mission's goals on the nav menu are extremely misleading. I don't know if this is on purpose, but it wasn't very fun. You had a bunch of guys named "Herd Leader", and so I assumed it would be one of those. Turns out, it was a guy off in some dark corner of the map who didn't have Leader in his name at all.
[*]Things just sort of happen in a whirlwind. There's no real indication or buildup that Paelin could, in fact, not be working in the best interests of these two parents. I had no idea he was going to make sure they died until the last possible moment, and even then, I had to read between the lines of the clues. I can understand wanting to surprise people, but in this case, I think you need to work on the buildup a little bit.
[*]I think the basics of the story are very solid, but the pacing seems a bit off. You need generally more buildup, and better communication with your contact so you have a clear view on the chain of events.[/list]
There you go. Fun story, but I feel it can be improved. I'm looking forward to a second draft

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Gonna go through this thread and see about running through some of these arcs. Some sound very interesting.

I do really, really, really need feedback on my arc though. Badly. I think it's more or less in its final stage, but I would love some thoughts on its story and atmosphere, or see if anyone spots any mistakes I missed (I keep finding them...). that kind of thing.

Arc Name: The Wretch's Gift

Arc ID: 14865

Creator Global/Forum Name: @Aisynia1 (on test) / Aisynia

Alignment: Neutral

Difficulty Level: Moderate. Enemies balanced to be challenging on Level 4 difficulty (played through with scrapper and blaster), but not overpowering. Several boss encounters, patrols, and battles. One AV at the end (downgraded to EB while solo), but you get some help.

Synopsis: Although it hurts to think about her, the Wretch is afraid for his sister Pia (Better known as Seer Marino), who has gone missing. Help the Wretch uncover a sinister plot involving the wayward Fortunata, save the universe, and just... perhaps... reunite a brother and sister, if only for a moment.

Number of missions: 5

Estimated Time to Play: I've completed it several times in around an hour, could take 2 if you do the optional objectives.

Arc Name: The Wretch's Gift

Arc ID: 14865

Faction: Neutral

Creator Global/Forum Name: @Aisynia1 (on test)/Aisynia

Difficulty Level: Moderate. Enemies balanced to be challenging on Level 4 difficulty (played through with scrapper and blaster), but not overpowering. Several boss encounters, patrols, and battles. One AV at the end (downgraded to EB when solo), but you get some help.

Synopsis: Although it hurts to think about her, the Wretch is afraid for his sister Pia (Better known as Seer Marino), who has gone missing. Help the Wretch uncover a sinister plot involving the wayward Fortunata, save the universe, and just... perhaps... reunite a brother and sister, if only for a moment.

Estimated Time to Play: I've completed it several times in around an hour, could take 2 if you do the optional objectives.

Feedback Thread: [Arc 14865] The Wretch's Gift

Whoops, forgot about this thread.

Thank you for the compliments guys I'm glad you enjoyed it.

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You'd still want them up and out to see if they're recharged and ready to go, but, since you're not clicking on them, you can use

/windowscale tray# .6

to shrink them.

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Or learn to switch trays with a key command so you can check them without always having them up. It's what I do, and why I only need 2 trays open at any one time.

@ the OP, wow. Amazing! I never would have imagined we could customize that thing, so much of it is useless to me, thank you!

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* You will be forced into a respecification when you switch sides. This because the devs do not want Patron Powers hero side nor Epic powers villain side. Thus you will respecify your character and have to pick new level 41+ powers.

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This could be a serious issue.

They would have to assign new epics to all of the Villains and Patrons to all of the Heroes. Now they could just apply scrapper/tanker epics ot Brutes, and Blaster/Def to Corrs or something, but I'm not sure how well that would go. It would almost certainly require modification of some powers. The opposite is also true, what Patron Pools do you give hero Archetypes?

Also, what do we do about Epics?

I think Epics should also be allowed to switch sides. Being an Alien or a Soldier in the Arachnos Army doesn't prevent you from having a change of heart.

For Warshades, they are falling back on their old ways.

Peacebringers? Their philosophy has become warped.. the only way for peace on earth is to kill everyone on it. Also, Light is not Good.

For Soldiers and Widows. Arachnos is a cut throat place, and maybe upon realizing how messed up it is, they finally understand why the heroes do what they do. Sometimes, they were simply prisoners who were in the zig and were offered a new life with Arachnos in exchange for their freedom. There are already plenty of Villains gone Good in comic books, so this isn't a serious issue. As for the Uniforms? Let em keep 'em. They've been using that armor or bodysuit for a long time, they're used to it, it helps them in battle. If the player RPs, there's nothing preventing them from taking the Arachnos insignia off of their uniform. In fact, I've seen plenty of heroes running around using the Arachnos symbol on their costumes anyways.

I say we just have some base items, like chairs with NPCs in them, typing away. That way I can have them staff my huge command centers, etc.

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It's not silly at all, it opens up a lot of options for vets who have played for YEARS

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That's all that really needs to be said.

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So you agree, then, that it's not silly to act like it's a gamebreaking advantage after all.

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Indeed. He's so.. contemptibly fatuous... he didn't even realize he was agreeing with me.

I'm done with this thread. I'm right, he's wrong. End of story.

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You said it pefectly right here.

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It's not silly at all, it opens up a lot of options for vets who have played for YEARS

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That's all that really needs to be said. After all, that is the point is it not?

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Way to twist my words.

No, that isn't the point. Vet rewards are supposed to be neat little perks. This is a BIG deal. Not little. More than a perk.