Zaphir

Thanks for the review, glad ya liked it!

Just a few quick notes:
- It is indeed supposed to be set before the 'original' JK arc. It's kinda tricky to tell this without breaking the fourth wall, so I used a line in the first briefing making an offhand reference to the mysterious and unresolved disappearance of Invisible Falcon as per Glazius' suggestion in his first review. It may be too subtle, but I couldn't figure out a better way. The level range is sorta arbitrary, mostly because freaks are either 20-xx or 40-xx, and I had to go with the 40-xx group to keep level ranges consistent.
- I'm very glad to see someone else got the Nuclear Winter reference this arc is supposed to be a sorta-homage to one of my favorite PC games, heheh. (I had to restrain myself from directly including quotes by NW or his lackeys)
- About timed missions: the last one is supposed to 'go both ways' (again evoking a sense of urgency common to spy thrillers), and you 'succeed' even if you fail (let me just say I spent some time on the 'net trying to find fissile materials that have a half-life under 40 years /cough). Some of the people who played the timed missions love 'em, others say they're a bit excessive, I may look into making 'em untimed later.


Thanks again!

-- Z.

'Ey there,

Thanks for the review! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the arc after the initial 'issues' with the timed missions were worked out (I messed up on that one, but it's my first arc... live and learn ).

A minor note about the assassins -- they (Ubijtsa) are set as normal bosses and should show up as part of regular spawn groups; I think you need to have a group size of 2+ (3+?) to make sure you see 'em. They used to have a ninjutsu secondary, but when my test group ran through the arc for the first time, I figured that it might not be such a good idea (crane kick from stealth for 3/4 of the tank's hp, followed up by a restealth a few seconds later... ow), so they're boring MA/SR scrappers now.


thanks again,

-- Z.

Minor update!

The arc is now fully 'I16-compatible' [custom mobs should give decent xp while not being too annoying to fight]. There were also two more reviews and a re-review; I edited them into the original post, but I'll list them here for posterity:

Re-review by GlaziusF on the COHMR page (or forum thread) -- 5 stars
Review by airhead -- 4 stars
Review by Coulomb2 on the 'Pro Payne' thread -- 5 stars

The arc is sitting at twenty-something plays atm (and was hit by an anonymous one-star bandit /sigh), so if anyone is looking for an arc to play, go ahead and give it a try! I'm also open to feedback and suggestions for improvement.


-- Z.

'Ey there,

I remember playing Mercytown! It was one of the first arcs I played (after a recommendation in one of the 'what arcs to play' threads), actually, and it made a good first impression of MA.
If you want to see some campy 60's spy movie action, give "The Coldest of Wars" a whirl (arc id #299972, thread in my sig). It's my first [and so far only] arc, and doesn't have too many plays -- I can always use more feedback.


thanks in advance,

-- Z.

'Ey there,

I've revisited my arc, "The Coldest of Wars" (cohmr: http://cohmissionreview.com/2009/08/...ldest-of-wars/ ) and made a few changes to it based on your input and other reviews/comments. I've also made some power changes so that it's hopefully not useless for XP in the post-I16 world - most critters were using custom power combinations before, but now the only 'custom' settings remaining are the end boss's main set and the archer minion's trick arrow set; trick arrow includes a blinding attack even on standard, so that had to go. If you feel bored enough to re-review* it, I'd really appreciate any and all criticism you could toss my way!


thanks again,

-- Z.

* Arc may or may not contain less annoying maps and powers. Shake before using. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

Tell me about it.. so far my [3-week-old] arc got 10 plays, 3 of which are folks from my SG who participated in the test run, and 2 more are reviewers; the only 'comments' I got were from the reviewers (many thanks to GlaziusF and airhead, btw!). That leaves a whopping 5 people who found the arc in either of the reviewer threads, cohmissionreview.com, either of the announcement threads (here or in the 'technical' MA forum), the arc's own thread, or just random AE searches. And I don't think I'll break 20 in the next few months, either (last two weeks had 2 non-reviewer plays total).

Edit: omg I just checked it and it has 12 total plays now... that's 2 in one day, crazy!


-- Z.

'Ey, thanks for the review! Good stuff. (and feel free to suggest improvements, there is no such thing as 'final' in my view, heheh) Just some notes...

'Ey there,

I've recently finalized [hah, as if] my first arc, and I'd like to get a good evisceration, if possible. :P

ID - #299972
Title - The Coldest of Wars
Length - 4 missions (~60-100 mins of playtime)
Level range - 40-54
Difficulty - moderate; there is an elite boss [downgrades to normal boss on low difficulty] in the last mission with Ice Control (used to have Ice Armor too *cringe*), but I tried to keep other annoyances to a minimum.


thanks in advance,

-- Z.

'Ey,

<shameless_plug>
If you don't mind campy Silver Age-esque stuff (mad science! ice cream that licks back!), feel free to give my arc, "The Coldest of Wars" a whirl. ID is #299972, and it should be pretty soloable (there is a controller-type EB in the last mission, but if you're solo and playing at difficulty 1-2, it should downgrade to a manageable boss). Level range is 40+, but it shouldn't be TOO bad for lower levels either.
</shameless_plug>


-- Z.

Arc Name: The Coldest of Wars
Arc ID: 299972

Faction: Heroic

Creator Global/Forum Name: @Celestial Nemesis

Difficulty Level: Moderate. Mostly stock enemies (Crey, Freakshow, Winter Horde), with a single spawn of custom villains in the second mission and an all-custom fourth mission. I've toned down the customs after playtesting with a low 20s villain group (note to self: tanker attack sets on lieutenants are a bad idea). Last mission has an EB, but it should downgrade into a manageable boss when playing solo on a low difficulty; its powerset was also altered to be less frustrating to solo players while still providing a good challenge. **NOTE** Two of the four missions are timed, but the timer is not too strict and there are appropriate 'branches' of the story if a timed mission is failed so that the story still makes sense. The sense of urgency is an integral part of pulp 60's spy movies, so I couldn't resist.

Synopsis: The Federal Bureau of Super-Powered Affairs keeps a close eye on Crey, trying to find evidence about a suspected illicit superhero engineering program. You assist agent Janet Kellum following a lead about a potential breakthrough, only to find that this time, Crey have bitten off way more than they can chew; their meddling has awakened an ancient, all-but-forgotten enemy. Can you stop this old-new menace before it's too late?

Estimated Time to Play: 45 mins - 1.5 hours, depending on difficulty, team makeup, etc. Of the 4 maps, the first is Medium, the second is Small, the third one is a smallish outdoor map; the fourth one is also Small, but with a kill-all objective. The last two missions are timed, but my low-damage test team was able to finish with 1/2 of the clock remaining.
As a solo lv42 rad/sonic defender on heroic difficulty, I completed the arc in 45 minutes, but I didn't spend any time reading descriptions or mission text. [NB: this was before I shortened the outdoor mission, it should be much faster to complete now]

Link to More Details or Feedback:
COHMR page, review by GlaziusF (now re-reviewed after I've made some improvements to the arc; original rating was 4 stars, the original review is also available on the COHMR page) -- 5 stars
Review by airhead -- 4 stars
Review by Coulomb2 -- 5 stars
Review by Tangler -- 4.5 stars
Review by PoliceWoman -- 5 stars

Notes: This is a story-focused mission arc; I tried to make its tone a bit campy (mad science! when ice cream licks back!), but not off-the-wall absurd either. I'm especially looking for feedback on the custom group on various difficulties / team sizes (too easy, too hard, too annoying, not annoying enough?) and general impressions about whether the story 'works' or not. English is not my native language, so any spelling / grammar / style corrections are welcome!

Mission note: I changed the #3 [outdoor] mission map after some review feedback (that I agree with) regarding the annoyance factor of large outdoor maps and annoying places for glowie spawn spots. Sadly the new map has unremovable civilians all over the place, running counter to the story -- just ignore 'em. I'll keep it as it is for now until AE gets a suitable smallish residential / commercial outdoor map that could work for a 'normal' neighborhood... imo it's better to have a less annoying map than a more immersive one. :P

Thanks for the input! Precisely the sort of feedback I was looking for. I'll go ahead and fix it up. [edit: probably tomorrow -- going out of town in a few hours]

Some notes:
- The arc is supposed to be a precursor to the 'real' Janet Kellum arcs (the data you find in the Crey compound foreshadows it). I didn't find a way to tell that without breaking the 4th wall, though.
- About the 3rd map, I am sort of in a bind; the story just doesn't really have the sense of urgency without an outdoor map, and RO was the least-annoying one I could find that still passes for a Paragon City map. If Martial Flush didn't have the earthquake things, I could've used it as some kind of suburb, but noooooo... anyway, I'll reduce the number of glowies a bit. (I admit that when soloing this, I just jetpacked around the map until I heard a glowie alert, then swooped down, killed it, moved on) I think the map is level-locked due to the Freak boss; I wanted to make sure that high-level chars still get xp, so I had to get the boss with the 40-54 level range.
- Ah, the last boss. Originally she had a more offensive second set, I just wanted to keep her alive long enough for people to read the banter. But yeah, ice armor is probably a bit much, I'll change that. I can also move the collection to the start of the zone (it currently has a 'middle' spawn point, but still keeps spawning in the last room, grrr), though that risks spawning it before the captive. I really don't want a bigger map, since large maps with kill-alls make me want to stab things.
- The debriefing: my original intention was to make the entire arc be a sort of "mental time travel", with themes and characters that just don't make sense to a 21th century person, thus the "illusion-shattering" bits and [intentionally cheesy] moralization at the end. Still, I should probably edit that, since it was getting too wordy there, anyway...


thanks again,

-- Z.

I would like a review for my arc, if possible. It's finished, but I'm still gathering feedback and/or bug reports before creating a promotional thread for it. It's my first arc and I'm not a native English speaker, but don't hold back.
Arc # 299972, "The Coldest of Wars"


Thanks in advance,

-- Z.

Ah, thanks... this makes sense. I think I'll probably just reduce the number of glowies heavily and give them all an "approach" text so players will know when they are near one. Sadly, the story I thought up needs an outdoor city zone for this to work, and those are all vast (except for stuff like st. martial after an earthquake, but that's no good).

Maybe in a future patch they'll add a "# needed to complete" to collect / destroy objectives. Hey, I can dream... :P


Thanks again,

-- Z.

'Eyall,

I'm working on a outdoor mission in my arc that requires the player to collect things. Now, I'm not too crazy about outdoor glowie hunts, so I thought it would be nice to spawn a lot of these things, but only require the player to collect X (so they get enough research data to proceed, disarm enough bombs to prevent the structure from collapsing, weaken the aliens' energy transportation grid enough to force them to leave, etc etc). Is it possible to do this with collect / destroy object goals? I seem to recall an arc that had something like this, though my memory can be pretty bad at times.

If this is not doable, what's the maximum amount of glowies that are considered 'non-obnoxious' to collect in an outdoor mission, assuming they are all spread out in a particular sub-area? (though I might just alter the story and rewrite it to fit an indoor area as a plan B)


Thanks in advance,

-- Z.