Alari_Azure

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I saw this yesterday in broadcast...
"hey, did any hih levbels that i dint talk to bloc me?"

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Holy crapoli! It makes one wonder how people like that ever actually managed to set up an account, much less be able to read any instructions or mission descriptions.

It would be very nice to be able to do that for one of my missions, too. I haven't really tried all of the possible ways to make it happen, but it seems that it would be a waste of time to even try if it would make it auto-complete.

Sometimes, if you make a lot of changes in one session, there seems to be a 'lag' that does weird things like that. Have you tried logging out and back in to see if it changes?

Basically, I agree with the person above that said it's a way to understand the opposing perspective. Kind of a 'know your enemy' type thing. I usually play heroes but it's kind of interesting to see the type of stuff that the 'other side' does.

The thing that bugs me most is when I play a heroic arc (marked as such) that has me used as a patsy to do something that is clearly villainous. Or, one that includes what I would assume to be 'the good guys' that I'm forced to oppose because, for some reason, these classic 'good guys' are supposed to actually be bad. It's annoying for me to see that kind of twisted situation where typical good guys are portrayed as evil.

Don't get me wrong, I can understand the concept of there being a 'bad cop', or even 2, on a police force that I might need to keep from undermining the law, but when the entire force is portrayed as corrupt, it tends to make me wonder how that could happen. It's an implausible scenario unless I'm on the wrong side of the law.

That kind of story, that is supposed to be 'heroic', just doesn't sit well with me. As I go through it, I feel betrayed by the contact and the author that set me up in that kind of a situation to begin with, especially if the contact has told me that there's supposed to be a 'good' reason for it, but that reason never really pans out. If I can't believe it, it makes me feel like I'm on the wrong side of the situation. Clearly, that mission should have been marked as villainous, or even 'neutral' if the point is that the alignment might not be as it seems. To me, it's clearly not 'heroic'. If the author marked it heroic just to make fun of heroes being used as a patsy, then I'll probably never run another arc that they post, because I can no longer trust them to tell me the truth about the objective of any story.

Broadcast: lvl (insert#) elec/elec blaster looking for ae to electrocute baddies for fun & profit. (or words to that effect)

I was so happy to get this review from Pro Payne the other day that I decided to post it here. It is the best feedback about my custom enemy that I have ever gotten in the last month that my arcs have been up. I am very grateful for it because it gave me a chance to see this group from the perspective of a character that is not as powerful as the tanks that I tend to play (not meant as an insult/brag in any way), for one thing, and from someone that has a lot of the game experience that I lack, since I have only been playing for a year. He definitely understands the dynamics much better than I do.

It's about my shorter (1 mission) introduction arc that features my first custom enemy group. Since this review was posted, I have made many of the changes that he suggested to improve the overall look of the 'gang' and to make them more 'generic' so they don't all look like multiple "clones" of individual characters.

I might also be adding more individual 'bosses' that are not bosses, that will be optional, in order to feature individual characters of the gang. I hope this will help to define the lower ranking members that have followed this new leader from the Outcasts, in order to tell the story from their perspectives in more detail. I encourage anyone that plays it, or the longer version, Meet the Demon Spawn #151099, to read the descriptions of the characters to get a little more of a feel of what they do and who they are. I consider them to be an important part of the story telling process of the arc.

I have also toned down the bosses due to this review and some feedback from other people, yesterday, in game. I'm hoping that all of those changes will help me to tell a better story and make my arcs much more fun to play by teams or solo players. It was never my intention to create an arc that was impossible to beat by solo players. Apparently, they were a bit too overpowered for other classes of PCs, and I apologize again to Pro Payne for getting him killed.

As I told Pro Payne, all constructive feedback is greatly appreciated by me. If you would like me to try your arc, feel free to leave the number or title and I will be glad to try them. Just keep in mind that my highest character is only a level 38 dual-blade tank and I have to solo, because I have some connection issues in team missions. If there are EB/AVs in a much higher level range than that (40+), most likely I will not be able to complete the arc.

I hope this will encourage more people to try my missions. They are fun for me to play and I hope they will also be fun for you.

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Okay, here's a review for Telstar's arc:

#100045: SlashDeMento and the Stolen Weapons! (4 stars; I was teetering between 3 and 4, but went with 4 cause I did have a good time overall in the arc.)

Apparently, a new gang was trying to make its name known. I believe their name was the Demon Spawn, although I might be mistaken (Pro Payne suffered brain damage and temporary amnesia from the generous beating he received at the hands of the gang's leader). The Demon Spawn were evidently mostly ex-Outcasts (although there were ex-Hellions in the mix too) who had not managed to make it very high in their original organization, and were looking for something newer (and more violent). A former Outcast minion - Slash DeMento, and his brother 'The Lacerator,' had splintered away and formed their own gang. Eager to prove themselves the next big thing on the streets of Paragon, they'd stolen some weapons, along with a massive bomb (that probably would have leveled the whole city block).

These guys may have once been mere minions, but they were an object lesson in what a little bit of individual attention from a dedicated gang leader can accomplish - even the ones that were still minions (and likely did include new recruits off the streets in addition to ex-Outcasts) tended to be rougher than any Outcast or Hellion. DeMento had managed to forge his gang into a group as lethal as the Warriors.

Pro Payne managed to arrest DeMento, confiscate the weapons, and take out one of DeMento's chief asides (again, don't remember his name any more. Brain damage.) Unfortunately, the Lacerator remains at large; the gang is weakened, but certainly hasn't been eliminated yet.

Pros: With the exception of the bosses, the custom group is balanced and generally fun to fight (the one exception for me was if a lot of axe wielders would happen to spawn in, which resulted in lots of knockdown - but that was fairly rare, and the occasionally challenging fight is not a mark against a story arc; I only grade down when every single fight is very challenging). The custom character descriptions, when present, actually tell the story of how the gang was put together, which is a neat touch. The custom group combines very good variety without resorting to the common technique of giving lots of the minions a debuff - this group didn't get boring (or particularly frustrating) to fight. And I didn't notice typos, grammar, or awkward-sounding phrasing: in short, the writing is good writing. And good use of color and text formatting. Finally, I like the idea of using MA to add minor 'custom gangs' to the low and mid level game - the up and comers trying to become the next big thing, and just might succeed if not nipped in the bud.

Cons: As a one-mission intro arc, there isn't much of a plot (beyond the option to learn about the gang's history through the bios). I did notice something odd: the "objective" text had a formatted color, but seemed to be the generic text (e.g. 5 Stolen Weapons, Slash DeMento - or something like that - rather than 5 Racks of stolen weapons to recover, Arrest Slash DeMento); I'm definately one of those folks who likes "custom formatted" mission objectives - it adds a feel of polish (IMO) above and beyond the generic text. But here are my biggest three bits of constructive criticism:

1. I did think there needed to be more variety in the appearance of the gang members. They certainly should look similar to each other, but minor changes in costume pieces from one to the other would definately improve the custom group as a whole (they didn't all have the same face, hair style, and hair color - but a little bit of variety in what they're wearing will make them seem more like a street gang, and less like "mad supervillain Slash DeMento's nameless, faceless - not literally - army of underlings and minions.")

2. The sluggers, Fire bugs, and Tiger Paw minions had no descriptive text at all (well, other than the default). Everyone else had very individual descriptive text, which worked great to tell the gang's story, but gave the odd impression that I was fighting an army of clones. In other words, it didn't feel like "Chills" was a class a minion just learning to use their ice powers. It felt like I was battling clones of the character Chills over and over again. My suggestion: use copy-paste to "capture" your 'long' descriptions to something like a word document (or whatever). Then redo the 'generic' gang members with short, generic descriptions (e.g. 'The Chill Spawn are former outcasts with cold powers who joined the Demon Spawn.'), and, where needed, more generic names. Then scatter a bunch of boss encounters (they should NOT be required objectives) through the mission, using everybody who has a more individual description as a boss (takes advantage of the fact that, among a custom group, you can use even minions as a "boss" - they don't scale up or anything - you just get a "boss fight" where you're fighting a minion or a lt. instead.) In the 'description' in the boss detail, then paste in the more complete description for that character. Viola! You now have a mission filled mostly with the 'standard' minions and lts, but you also get to run across a specific 'Chill Spawn' (or whatever) named Chills who has his own unique bio. You can even give him flavor text to say when you fight him in combat. That way, all of that hard work on individual character descriptions gets used, but doesn't make it seem like Slash DeMento managed to steal some sort of advanced cloning vat. Well, unless he did.

3. My suggestion: be very, very leery of giving bosses access to build up (or lt's for that matter). It's just my opinion, but if there are mobs in the mission that are capable of using build up, that's pretty much an automatic give the players full fledged red or orange warning text recommending a team for the mission (I don't *think* you had that - I do think you had some text that hinted that a team would work well in the mission, but that's a far cry from bright, lurid text actually recommending a team.) It's not that I would have gotten a team, but that's a clear warning there's going to be a very hard mob in this mission, and I should be prepared.

Oh, and why is buildup so hard to deal with? Bosses already do lots of damage - when you set them to hard, you get a boss that has higher damage scale attacks than most of the standard bosses, coupled with an 80% damage boost. You quickly go from a "typical" boss whose "heavy hitter" attack might knock of one half to one third of your hit points, to a boss that can practically one shot you. (To give you an idea, Slash actually hit me with a single attack for 660 damage - that's at least 90% of my hit points at max).

Think of it as your revenge on Pro Payne for Vandal beating you over and over again in my arc

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This review and our related conversation can be seen here.

The best you can do is set it up for the escort to spawn up front. As long as it's an indoor map it should work. If it's an outdoor map, you have no control over the spawn point.

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You can only have one "base" group.

You can use any number of groups as bosses, patrols, guards, etc.

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I see.
Yes; I did that.
I was just under the impression that you could have the game alternate the spawns between two groups.

Ok then, thanks!

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Using patrols you could probably do something like that. Set one patrol as one group and another patrol as the other group. That way you get a mix of different groups roaming around and you can add dialogue for them, too. I'm not sure what would happen if you used groups that are usually enemies (standards) for those patrols, but if they are custom, I would think they would ignore each other as long as they aren't set up as a battle. Standards might work that way, too. Or make a custom group that is a combination of 2 other groups. But, the spawns would be a mixture.

People can already play MArcs for 0 xp. Just don't publish them. Problem solved. No xp for joo.

Ahhh...now I see what you mean. If they are listed as 'non-combat' I don't think they can take any damage, so getting them killed is probably impossible. They do have to be taken to the target point, though. I can't think of any possible way it could be failed unless you couldn't find them. I can't remember if there is an option to choose whether or not an escort is 'optional', but I don't think there is. I suppose if you're forced to enter text, 'just in case', you could make it a simple thing like, "Oops!" or "Fail!" just to CYA for that happening. It certainly wouldn't take up a lot of space. LOL

Easy way to find out is to copy the text, then clear the space. If no error shows up, it's not able to be failed so the text is unnecessary.

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Primus was never mentioned in G1. He's mentioned in some of the comics, there is also a "Covenant of Primus" in Beast Wars. But as Coulomb2 pointed out the name has been used for leader figures in various other nerdy things, and it's fairly generic, plus the Transformers movie never mentions him and I don't think the current comics run does either, so I'm pretty sure any trademark they might have had has expired.

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Ahh...Ok. Thanks.

I had never heard the name before. I have heard a lot of references to Optimus Prime, so I wasn't sure if that was what he was thinking of or not. Chalk it up to the confusion of an 'uninformed' older person.

lol

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Interesting; I'll try using Works... It might help.

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I meant that using Works was giving me fits because it's a word processor. Notepad is much cleaner because it has no built-in formatting that can mess up the text. That's why it can be used to type code in. There's no 'hidden' formatting.

Sorry, if I wasn't clear about that before.

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Worry not - your other missions are most certainly on Pro Payne's list!

(Sorry I'm being terse here - I feel like I've been spending more time on the forums lately than in the game. I'll be back to my old, verbose self once I've had a little break )

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No problem, I understand completely. I have only recently started visiting the forum (mostly due to MA) and it's like crack. LOL

Thanks for considering my other missions.

Pardon my little unrelated side note, but I am wondering about the reference of 'Primus' being somehow related to 'Transformers' that I saw mentioned, somewhere. I'm not sure if you were referring to the toys/movie, or, if there is some kind of in-game content referenced. (I've only played CoH for a year, so I have very limited knowledge of game lore) If it is a reference to the toy, I don't recall that name at all. All I thought of was 'Optimus Prime' being the leader of the Transformers. (The only reason that I even know that is because my son did part of a colab flash video on Newgrounds, and his part of it was Optimus Prime vs Solid Snake) So, it's not quite the same thing, therefore no problem using that name at all if that's the case.


/sidetrack

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Okay, here's a review for Telstar's arc:

#100045: SlashDeMento and the Stolen Weapons! (4 stars; I was teetering between 3 and 4, but went with 4 cause I did have a good time overall in the arc.)

Apparently, a new gang was trying to make its name known. I believe their name was the Demon Spawn, although I might be mistaken (Pro Payne suffered brain damage and temporary amnesia from the generous beating he received at the hands of the gang's leader). The Demon Spawn were evidently mostly ex-Outcasts (although there were ex-Hellions in the mix too) who had not managed to make it very high in their original organization, and were looking for something newer (and more violent). A former Outcast minion - Slash DeMento, and his brother 'The Lacerator,' had splintered away and formed their own gang. Eager to prove themselves the next big thing on the streets of Paragon, they'd stolen some weapons, along with a massive bomb (that probably would have leveled the whole city block).

These guys may have once been mere minions, but they were an object lesson in what a little bit of individual attention from a dedicated gang leader can accomplish - even the ones that were still minions (and likely did include new recruits off the streets in addition to ex-Outcasts) tended to be rougher than any Outcast or Hellion. DeMento had managed to forge his gang into a group as lethal as the Warriors.

Pro Payne managed to arrest DeMento, confiscate the weapons, and take out one of DeMento's chief asides (again, don't remember his name any more. Brain damage.) Unfortunately, the Lacerator remains at large; the gang is weakened, but certainly hasn't been eliminated yet.

Pros: With the exception of the bosses, the custom group is balanced and generally fun to fight (the one exception for me was if a lot of axe wielders would happen to spawn in, which resulted in lots of knockdown - but that was fairly rare, and the occasionally challenging fight is not a mark against a story arc; I only grade down when every single fight is very challenging). The custom character descriptions, when present, actually tell the story of how the gang was put together, which is a neat touch. The custom group combines very good variety without resorting to the common technique of giving lots of the minions a debuff - this group didn't get boring (or particularly frustrating) to fight. And I didn't notice typos, grammer, or awkward-sounding phrasing: in short, the writing is good writing. And good use of color and text formatting. Finally, I like the idea of using MA to add minor 'custom gangs' to the low and mid level game - the up and comers trying to become the next big thing, and just might succeed if not nipped in the bud.

Cons: As a one-mission intro arc, there isn't much of a plot (beyond the option to learn about the gang's history through the bios). I did notice something odd: the "objective" text had a formatted color, but seemed to be the generic text (e.g. 5 Stolen Weapons, Slash DeMento - or something like that - rather than 5 Racks of stolen weapons to recover, Arrest Slash DeMento); I'm definately one of those folks who likes "custom formatted" mission objectives - it adds a feel of polish (IMO) above and beyond the generic text. But here are my biggest three bits of constructive criticism:

1. I did think there needed to be more variety in the appearance of the gang members. They certainly should look similar to each other, but minor changes in costume pieces from one to the other would definately improve the custom group as a whole (they didn't all have the same face, hair style, and hair color - but a little bit of variety in what they're wearing will make them seem more like a street gang, and less like "mad supervillain Slash DeMento's nameless, faceless - not literally - army of underlings and minions.")

2. The sluggers, Fire bugs, and Tiger Paw minions had no descriptive text at all (well, other than the default). Everyone else had very individual descriptive text, which worked great to tell the gang's story, but gave the odd impression that I was fighting an army of clones. In other words, it didn't feel like "Chills" was a class a minion just learning to use their ice powers. It felt like I was battling clones of the character Chills over and over again. My suggestion: use copy-paste to "capture" your 'long' descriptions to something like a word document (or whatever). Then redo the 'generic' gang members with short, generic descriptions (e.g. 'The Chill Spawn are former outcasts with cold powers who joined the Demon Spawn.'), and, where needed, more generic names. Then scatter a bunch of boss encounters (they should NOT be required objectives) through the mission, using everybody who has a more individual description as a boss (takes advantage of the fact that, among a custom group, you can use even minions as a "boss" - they don't scale up or anything - you just get a "boss fight" where you're fighting a minion or a lt. instead.) In the 'description' in the boss detail, then paste in the more complete description for that character. Viola! You now have a mission filled mostly with the 'standard' minions and lts, but you also get to run across a specific 'Chill Spawn' (or whatever) named Chills who has his own unique bio. You can even give him flavor text to say when you fight him in combat. That way, all of that hard work on individual character descriptions gets used, but doesn't make it seem like Slash DeMento managed to steal some sort of advanced cloning vat. Well, unless he did.

3. My suggestion: be very, very leery of giving bosses access to build up (or lt's for that matter). It's just my opinion, but if there are mobs in the mission that are capable of using build up, that's pretty much an automatic give the players full fledged red or orange warning text recommending a team for the mission (I don't *think* you had that - I do think you had some text that hinted that a team would work well in the mission, but that's a far cry from bright, lurid text actually recommending a team.) It's not that I would have gotten a team, but that's a clear warning there's going to be a very hard mob in this mission, and I should be prepared.

Oh, and why is buildup so hard to deal with? Bosses already do lots of damage - when you set them to hard, you get a boss that has higher damage scale attacks than most of the standard bosses, coupled with an 80% damage boost. You quickly go from a "typical" boss whose "heavy hitter" attack might knock of one half to one third of your hit points, to a boss that can practically one shot you. (To give you an idea, Slash actually hit me with a single attack for 660 damage - that's at least 90% of my hit points at max).

Think of it as your revenge on Pro Payne for Vandal beating you over and over again in my arc

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First of all, thank you so much for giving such a detailed review! I really didn't expect it to be so thorough. I do appreciate it, very much. This is the type of feedback that I have been hoping for, so I can get a better feel of how other players fare against my custom group. This is extremely helpful to me. I really want people to enjoy my arcs and not just be frustrated and 'put off' by overpowered enemies. My main focus is that I want these stories to be fun to play. I hate dieing in missions and I don't want to set people up for that kind of thing happening to them. I prefer that they have a good time and want to try my other arcs because of the stories.

I notice that you chose to do the shorter 'intro' version of my custom group. It was my first attempt at using that particular enemy. My first published mission was a single one featuring the Circle of Thorns. After doing that one, the bug really bit me to get a little more creative. I was smitten by the possibilities in taking it to the next level. I've really been enjoying the whole process of developing characters and missions.

I have been thinking that the minions and lieutenants needed a bit of tweaking to make them seem more 'generic' as far as names & descriptions go. I do like the idea of using some of the more specific ones as minor 'bosses' and making a new version of them with a more common title rather than a name. I think I will take your advice about the costumes, too. They do tend to look a bit too 'upscale' for common street thugs. I guess I was trying to use a common color scheme to tie them together, like 'gang colors', but I might want to do a little adjustment there.

I really am sorry that Slash turned out to be so overpowered. Since most of my characters are tanks, I really needed to have an objective eye look at this gang from another perspective. My tanks don't usually have any trouble with him. I guess I tend to forget that my gals tend to be pretty tough. I will definitely remove his build-up power. I'm not sure exactly what to choose as an alternative, but I will take a look at him. I am always open to suggestions.

I have already tried to tone him down a bit, but I will have to see if I can tweak him a bit more. I originally had him set on hard/hard, but, then I realized that he was definitely stronger than I wanted him to be. I'm pretty sure I scaled him back to standard, but I will double check that, too. I found out just how tough he was when I tried to do this mission on my n00b tank, at level 4. Yeah, that was not a good plan. LOL I thought it was just the fact that I was so small, but I guess he was just too strong, after all. I might also change his bio a tad, to indicate that he had moved up quickly in the ranks of the Outcasts, so it doesn't seem so implausible that he now has a gang that is more powerful than they are. (BTW, the other boss was Hatchet McGee. )

Since this was one of my first tries at creating a mission, I agree that it is still a bit rough around the edges as far as nav text, etc., goes. I might have to go back and recheck it, and do a bit more work on that kind of stuff. Since then I have gotten a little better (I hope) at that type of detail. It took a little trial & error to figure out exactly what all of that text actually did. I had noticed it when I played it on my new character the other day, but I have been working on another custom group and a new storyline that I want to use in my next arc, so I'm not sure how long this one will remain up.

Again, thank you so much for all the time you spent on this review. I will work on making those changes. I do hope that you will consider my other missions in the future. And, even though that little 'payback' was unintentional, it is duly noted. I guess that really does make us 'even'. LOL

It might have been one of the maps that the devs pulled out. I have had issues with map sizes that seem to be fine one day and bugged the next, but they usually show up with an error message.

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Could be both then.

I typed my text into Word and did copy/past (using the ctrl shortcuts).
I also use paragraphe breaks and macro such as $name (quite a lot of them, really).
So, yeah, I'll have a look at the file, it didn't cross my mind to open it as a text file...

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I had a problem when I used MS Works for editing some stuff and pasting from there. After that, I tried notepad and it worked better because there seems to be a conflict with the basic formatting used in word processing programs. Notepad doesn't have all that formatting junk built into it.

I don't know if contacting support could help you figure out what the message means and how to fix it. Have you tried to send a petition about it?

You might want to copy the text to notepad to see what's actually there. At times I've had problems with text that had a paragraph break in it that was showing as an html error in the text. Usually it's caused by the text editing function that seems to have some wonkiness in the way that it copies/pastes, especially if you try to use ctrl+c/ctrl +v. After removing the text to notepad it would still seem to have one or more characters in the text bar, when none could be seen. The only way I could get that to clear out was to highlight the whole space and backspace or delete it. Then it would show 0 characters in that text bar. For some reason there was an extra space showing up as being there, even when it looked blank. After you clear it, paste the text back in from notepad using the right click/copy/paste. Hopefully, that will clear it up.

Another thought... there may be a problem if you're using the $name, etc., commands. Never ran into that, but maybe it's a macro or bind that you're trying to use?

Thank you! That EB really was a payne! LOL (sorry, couldn't resist the bad pun)

I wrote down a few quick notes as I went along. It was mission 2 (pretty sure), in one of the clues it says something like "Terror Attack *Destroyes* City". Get the 'e' out and you're all set. I think I might have noticed a few more minute misspellings/grammar errors, but I didn't write them all down. Sorry. I probably should have.

BTW, just to add to my frustration level (nothing to do with the mission itself) that set me up for #3, I had one of my infamous 'DC'd from mapserver' episodes when I was already near the end of #2. I was just about to go after the boss and collect the last clue. By the time I could get back in, I had to redo the whole thing. What was really odd was that the clues I had already collected were still listed, but I still had to go back clear out the enemies & collect the objects over again. (It was easier to clear them than to have the gang chasing me around. lol) CoH has some rather strange issues, methinks. Not sure if it only happens in MA.

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I just played "Future Imperfect". I'd just like to mention here that the author takes his own advice on custom groups. They're not overpowered, they're varied, and they don't have multiple stacking "annoying" powers. I'll PM you a more detailed critique.

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I tried it earlier on my 38 dual blade/tank, and I agree. The custom enemies were not overpowered with annoying power sets. They were a challenge, but I didn't feel like I was in over my head. The story was very good and I was looking forward to reading all of the clues and character descriptions, because they added a lot to the story.

I do have to beat myself over the head with the idiot stick, though, because I failed to realize that the EB in mission 3 was 'optional'. After I got him almost down, to about 1/4 health, he popped something that made my accuracy go bye-bye and my attacks completely useless. I couldn't touch him after that. Then, he proceeded to polish me off fairly quickly. Wash, rinse, repeat and I quit the mission. After burning through 2 racks of insp (large ones) I decided to call it a day. LOL

But, that was definitely my own stupid fault for not remembering that he was not required to complete the mission. Chalk it up to my inexperience at higher levels (that mission was 45+) and not paying enough attention to mission objectives. My highest char being only level 38, I have not had enough experience with EBs, I guess. I've only been playing for a year and have never done any TFs due to crashing in teams. Even with MA setting me at 45, he was still a red level 46 EB to me. It was definitely not a match made in Heaven. LOL

I have vowed that I will go back and finish the arc, because I really did like the story, and the characters. I'm certainly looking forward to kicking his butt! In the future I will definitely pay closer attention to the mission contacts and the nav text. Important lessons, learned the (painfully) hard way. I do hope the arc stays up long enough for me to be able to get to the end of the story, because I definitely want to see what happens. I highly recommend it. If you're doing it in a team, all the better. It really is a good story.

Since you are looking for story based arcs that will be possible to do in your level range, I'll submit these for you. The first one is strictly CoT, ranged for 5-54 (I think, maybe 50). The other 2 are a strictly custom group, so I'm not sure how you will feel about trying them based on what you've said about custom groups not being amongst your favorite arcs. All I can say is that I tried to create these characters so that they would not be over the top in difficulty. I have played them on my new ax/tank and they can be tough at under level 10, but since she is now level 10, they are not as bad. The Bosses are usually scaled down to Lts for me, since I have all my chars set on Heroic. I have played them on a variety of tanks (I have to solo due to connection issues) and most of them can hold their own pretty well. I have also tried them on my dual scrapper. With some use of inspirations, I haven't had a lot of trouble on any of my chars. (Although, I tried 100045 on level 4 with my n00b and died a couple of times....lol) I think in good teams, any of these could be easily handled by low levels.

Arc Name: Deal with The Devil's Pawn
Arc ID: 113615 (Single Mission)
Story Arc Name: Slash DeMento and the Stolen Weapons
Arc ID: 100045 (Single Mission)
Arc Name: Meet the Demon Spawn
Arc ID: 151099 (4 Missions)

Feel free to review if you like. I don't mind constructive criticism at all. I would rather know if there are any problems that I can fix, to make them better for people to enjoy. Totally up to your discretion.

I really like this idea.


Taurus: If the influx of new street gangs into Paragon City is beginning to get your dander up, maybe you should take out some of that stubbornness in cleaning up the streets on Arc# 151099, Meet the Demon Spawn. It can do wonders for your blood pressure to be able to put these guys in the Zig.

Arc Name: Meet the Demon Spawn
Are you ready to accept a challenge from Paragon City's newest gang of thugs and their leader, Slash DeMento? Hang on to your hat and be ready for a wild ride. These guys are new in town and they want to make a big impression. The bad kind! They're stockpiling weapons & bombs galore, and need to be stopped before someone really gets hurt.

This is a custom gang that are a spinoff of the Outcasts. It's a 4 mission arc. (I also have a short 1 mission intro that could be substituted. Story Arc Name: Slash DeMento and the Stolen Weapons #100045) No EB/AVs in either one. It's mostly a serious arc with a slight touch of humor in the last mission of the 4 part.

Comments can be made using this link.

I have 3 published ARCs that I would appreciate you trying out. I've worked hard at creating stories/missions that people would enjoy playing. The first one features the Circle of Thorns and the other 2 feature a custom enemy group. I hope you will try them all. Any and all feedback is welcome and will be much appreciated. If I can improve on any of them, please, don't hesitate to let me know about it. If you find any errors, I would especially appreciate your telling me about them, too. I've run them on several of my chars and all are solo friendly, though I did try the single missions on a low level tank and the custom group can be a tad tough. You might want to bring some help if running these with squishies, or under level 10. I would really like some feedback on the custom enemy group, if you would be so kind.

You can send me a message in game or post it here, in this thread . My main focus is to create missions that are fun for all to play. (No EB/AVs in any of these missions)
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Arc Name: Deal with The Devil's Pawn [/color]
Arc ID: 113615
Faction: Neutral
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Alari Azure
Difficulty Level: 5-54
Synopsis: Single Mission/Circle of Thorns/Medium Map/Ambush/Boss/Collection/Patrol
You must defeat The Devil's Pawn and recover Lucifer's Scroll. The Circle of Thorns must never be allowed to unlock the secret spell that has been written on that scroll. If they ever do, it will be the worst thing that could ever happen to Paragon City. They must be stopped before it's too late.
Estimated Time to Play: Depending on size of the group, approx 15-20 minutes.
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Arc Name: Slash DeMento and the Stolen Weapons
Slash DeMento and his gang, the Demon Spawn, have stolen some Weapons and a Bomb from the Paragon City Armory. You need to defeat him, destroy the Bomb and confiscate those stolen Weapons.
Arc ID: 100045
Faction: Neutral
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Alari Azure
Difficulty Level: 1-54
Synopsis: Single mission that is a hint at the new custom enemy group in the next arc in the list.
Medium Map/Custom Enemy Group/Ambush/Boss/Collection/Destructable Object/Patrol.
Estimated Time to Play: Depending on size of the group, etc., approx 15-20 minutes.
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Arc Name: Meet the Demon Spawn
Are you ready to accept a challenge from Paragon City's newest gang of thugs and their leader, Slash DeMento? Hang on to your hat and be ready for a wild ride. These guys are new in town and they want to make a big impression. The bad kind! (There are no EB/AVs so it can be soloed without too much difficulty, but there are a few enemies that can be a little tough. None are extremely hard, though.)
Arc ID: 151099
Faction: Heroic
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Alari Azure
Difficulty Level: 1-54
Synopsis:
Mission 1: Word on the street is that the Demon Spawn have stolen some weapons and bombs from the Paragon City Armory. They've been getting bolder since their leader, Slash DeMento, gave Frostfire a beating and left with half of the Outcasts following him. We need you to recover those items before they can harm innocent people. Will you help? (This one is similar to the single mission above with this custom enemy group, but with a little different twist. No Boss in this one and the Bombs are a collection rather than destructable.)
Mission 2: I'm afraid the Demon Spawn haven't been deterred in their big plans. This time they've kidnapped Professor David Bradford. He's been working on a new weapon system for the military. They've stolen the files, with all of his research, to put it together. You need to get in, rescue the Professor and recover his stolen files.
Mission 3: The Demon Spawn are at it, again. This time they've kidnapped several members of the Research & Developement team at Benson Robotics, Scientist Susan Wu and 3 Robotics Technicians. They've also stolen some robotic parts and the laptop computers needed to build a new prototype. It seems that their plans are getting bigger all the time. You need to rescue that Benson R&D team and recover all of their stolen materials.
Mission 4: Apparently, Slash DeMento has issued a challenge to you, personally. He didn't like the time his brother had to spend in the Zig, or the beating you gave him, after your last meeting. This time he's taken your friend, Glenn Breck, as a hostage. He's threatening to sell him to the highest bidder. You know he has some enemies that would like to see him go away, forever. You need to defeat Slash DeMento and rescue Glenn Breck.
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The first mission does not have a Boss, all the rest have a Boss, collections, ambushes, patrols, and rescues. It's a story arc that ends with the main character, Slash DeMento, challenging you to rescue your friend, a famous Paragon City radio/TV personality.
Estimated Time to Play: 10-20 minutes for each mission, depending on your group and whether or not you defeat all enemies.
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Enjoy! Please, rate them and send feedback, especially if you gave a low rating. Thanks!

In game, I am usually playing either Alari Azure, Shannara Arielle, Scarlet Knightingale, Telstar, Shaqalar, Star Saphire, or my n00b, Raven Axe.