Atlas_Centurion

It's not just MM pets. I think it's a lot of mobs. I've noticed ranged mobs charging up to brawl me, and my specially created AE blasters tend to run up to melee for no good reason.

Any word of when the patch is going to migrate over to the regular servers?

It is really ridiculous. I played around with my thugs mm today. Set all my thugs except the Bruiser to "stay/defensive" in one spot. Bruiser and I sashayed up to a mob (pretty far away, within mish), and I told the bruiser to attack w/o issuing new orders to the rest of the thugs. In short order, sure enough, the rest of the gang had marched up and was shooting the mobs.

Why isn't "stay" working?

I submitted it as a bug report.

The really big problem here is that Goto and Stay have been pretty much destroyed with the new behaviors. When I play mm, especially a /traps MM, I count on Goto and Stay to set up ambushes and otherwise make enemies' lives a living hell. With the new issues, I can't do that.

Also, on the grave knights and bruisers hanging out at range: If one group of mobs is hanging out at range when they should be meleeing, I can deal with that. A quick goto command, and it's all solved. Or, better yet, maybe I want one grave knight blasting, and the other meleeing. In the old system, I could do that. Now? Everybody from the thugs to the lich charges into melee, and I have to constantly pull them back if I want to play tactically, it's a major headache to bring them all back under control.

How about this. Set up a switch for "ranged" or "melee" behavior in addition to the other sets. Would that be too much to ask?

I've noticed this with mm robots. Pets charging into melee have always been a minor issue, but now they charge in all the time!! It's seriously crimped playing as a mm!!

I had this problem in a bad way with my bots/ff mm. Pets have always had an issue charging into melee when they're not supposed to, but it does seem to be pretty bad after I17.

Thanks for the feedback. I've tweaked my plans a bit. I think I'm going to put the Essences mission on a timer. Is there some way to fork the arc so that the PCs get one mission if the fail, and a different mission if they succeed? Or at least to fork the dialogue?

I'm brainstorming a villain arc with custom enemies, and I wanted to bounce it off you guys really quickly. What do you think?

Mission 1: Search Legacy Chain, get book, summon the Fae. As it is, I have Legacy Chain types showing up as the PCs destroy the Seal. I think I'm going to make the ritual a little mor complicated ... obtain the book (collection), then two new goals pop up: Fetch mystic herbs and add them to a cauldron and speak ritual words over an altar. After this, destroy the seal to let the Fae in.

Mission 2: Retake Magus Alexander's sanctum. The mission will include some rescues that are not essential. Also, they must bring back from Alexander's sanctum a couple grimoires and a wizard that Alexander had held prisoner ... this wizard has some knowledge of the Dreamlands, and his knowledge will be essential to send the fae back.

Mission 3: Magus Alexander is worried that he will be blamed as the fae run amok in an Arachnos base, Magus Alexander wants the PCs to eliminate both the Fae AND Arachnos agents. He also gives them evidence to plant in the base mainframe that will make the incident look like a Longbow attack.

Mission 4: Obtain ingredients needed for a ritual to return the Fae to the Dreamlands. The PCs must obtain essences. To do so, the PCs must venture into the Dreamlands themselves and retrieve the essences. Since it's the Dreamlands, it wil be shaped by the PCs' own experiences (that is, it will be a standard map), but the Fae will haunt the map, as the Dreamlands are their own world. Different groups will guard Essences: LB guarding Essence of Virtue, Arachnos guarding Essence of Evil, and maybe a couple others. After the PCs retrieve the Essences, they'll find themselves trapped in the Dreamlands (i.e., a new mission objective will pop up), and they'll have to defeat the Lord of Dark Imaginings, a powerful Elite Boss fae who does not want the PCs to leave. I may replace this with a destructible object w/ ambushes.

(I think for this, I'll want a map with a jail in it. Is there a good one to recommend).

Mission 5: Magus Alexander has concocted a ritual that will return the Fae to the Dreamlands and seal them there. As he performs his part of the ritual, he sends the PCs to an underground temple. There, they must put into place the Elemental Essences they gained from the Dreamlands and speak a mystic incantation. They must also defeat the Archduke of Valyr, a powerful Seelie Fae whose will is keeping open the portan between the Dreamlands and the Rogue Isles. Once all of this is completed, the Fae will be returned to the Dreamlands.

That does help, actually. And this does give me a few ideas.

The mish is a villain mission. The PCs' initial motivation is a simple exchange ... they help the contact take over the world, they get Australia. Or something like that.

Let's see ... this gives me a general arc:

Mission 1: Search Legacy Chain, get book, summon the Fae. As it is, I have Legacy Chain types showing up as the PCs destroy the Seal. I think I'm going to make the ritual a little mor complicated ... obtain the book (collection), then two new goals pop up: Fetch mystic herbs and add them to a cauldron and speak ritual words over an altar. After this, destroy the seal to let the Fae in.

Mission 2: Retake Magus Alexander's sanctum. The mission will include some rescues that are not essential. Also, they must bring back from Alexander's sanctum a couple grimoires and a wizard that Alexander had held prisoner ... this wizard has some knowledge of the Dreamlands, and his knowledge will be essential to send the fae back.

Mission 3: Magus Alexander is worried that he will be blamed as the fae run amok in an Arachnos base, Magus Alexander wants the PCs to eliminate both the Fae AND Arachnos agents. He also gives them evidence to plant in the base mainframe that will make the incident look like a Longbow attack.

Mission 4: Obtain ingredients needed for a ritual to return the Fae to the Dreamlands. The PCs must obtain essences. To do so, the PCs must venture into the Dreamlands themselves and retrieve the essences. Since it's the Dreamlands, it wil be shaped by the PCs' own experiences (that is, it will be a standard map), but the Fae will haunt the map, as the Dreamlands are their own world. Different groups will guard Essences: LB guarding Essence of Virtue, Arachnos guarding Essence of Evil, and maybe a couple others. After the PCs retrieve the Essences, they'll find themselves trapped in the Dreamlands (i.e., a new mission objective will pop up), and they'll have to defeat the Lord of Dark Imaginings, a powerful Elite Boss fae who does not want the PCs to leave. I may replace this with a destructible object w/ ambushes.

(I think for this, I'll want a map with a jail in it. Is there a good one to recommend).

Mission 5: Magus Alexander has concocted a ritual that will return the Fae to the Dreamlands and seal them there. As he performs his part of the ritual, he sends the PCs to an underground temple. There, they must put into place the Elemental Essences they gained from the Dreamlands and speak a mystic incantation. They must also defeat the Archduke of Valyr, a powerful Seelie Fae whose will is keeping open the portan between the Dreamlands and the Rogue Isles. Once all of this is completed, the Fae will be returned to the Dreamlands.

I think this could work.

Hi ... I just wanted to get some feedback on a story arc I'm working on. I've got a decent first mission set up, but I could use some thoughts on where to go with it.

The concept: A Circle of Thorns magus commissions the PCs to summon faeries of the Seelie Court to serve him, but the ritual goes horribly awry.

So far, here's what I have:

Mission 1: The players enter a Legacy Chain office/cave map, where they find the Grimoire of the Sidhe. After they find the Grimoire, they must destroy the Seal of the Ancients to bring the Fae into our world. I'm thinking of adding a bit more to this, perhaps two more steps to the ritual. Maybe ... recite a spell over an obelisk or similar. After the PCs perform the final ritual, a group of Seelie faeries appear, chastise the PCs for meddling with forces beyond their ken, and attack. Incidentally, this'll surprise the hell out of the players, I expect. I created the faeries, and they're kind of tough.

Mission 2: The CoT mission giver reports that the Fae, not amused with his summons, have taken over his sanctum. He sends the PCs to clear out this sanctum and return it to him. I'm thinking of including a couple optional rescues in here ... but how can I make it more interesting than a standard "beat up all the mobs" mission?

Not sure where to go after this. As a theme, I want to put forward the idea that our CoT magus was foolish to meddle with powers that mortals were not meant to have. I'm thining of a final mission where the PCs must confront a major Sidhe Prince (Archvillain or Elite Boss level), perhaps with the CoT mission giver taking a personal interest in the mission or else sending a couple CoT types along to assist the PCs.

Ideas I'm looking for:

1) What would be a good way to enact a ritual to send the Fae back to where they came from?
2) What might be a good interim mission?
3) How can I make this mission arc stand out?

Thanks for your assistance.