BackFire

Oh how far this book has fallen since Brubaker's departure.

*pours a 40 over DD's grave*

#69(of 10) Day Job accolade powers.

WW Teleporter
Vitalize: Ally Heal
Revive Ally
Frag Grenades
Rune of whatever the heck you get from the Midnighter Club
Tear Gas (AOE Hold)
Base Teleporter

Hi Triumph.

For almost a year now the MA Superteam has called this server home and I figure it's time to make it official and invite the rest of you to join in the fun! If you enjoy playing Mission Architect arcs for the story as opposed to farms, then check out the info below and meet us each weekend in the Rikti War Zone. We love to see new faces!

Everything you wanted to know about the MA Superteam:
What: An open Superteam that meets each week to run non-farm Architect Entertainment content. (originally started by Wrong_Number in the Mission Architect forums)

Why: To play, rate, and critique player made content and uncover the cream of the AE crop while having fun.

When: Saturday or Sunday mornings (as scheduled), 12 noon Eastern (9am Pacific). Sessions usually run 2-3 hours depending on interest.
Where: Triumph Server, Rikti War Zone AE building
Who: All ATs and levels are welcome. SG/VG membership is available but optional. There are no requirements for costume, colors, powersets, etc. We just want people who like playing missions for the story!

How: The MA Superteam is a group who plays AE content for the story, not the XPs. We run missions at a casual pace to allow everyone on team to read NPC chat, mission briefings, clues, bios, etc. We also try to leave constructive feedback for all the arcs we play so authors can improve the AE experience.

The core of the MA Superteam is made up of authors from the Mission Architect section of the Official Forums and they often share advice, experiences, and their AE expertise with other members of the group.

Another significant portion of participants comes from the global chat channel, "MA Arc Finder", which is the unofficial Arc promotion and Mission Architect help global channel (add it today!)

We choose missions each week thru various means and are open to new ideas:

Requested feedback arcs from the forums, members, or global chat channels
Hot topic/Newly posted arcs from the forums
Members' favorites
Members' in-development arcs for testing purposes
Random Roulette (plug in a few search terms and hit Random)
High Roller (member who rolls the highest on /em dice chooses anything they want)
Make or Break arcs (random non-farm arc at 5 stars with less than 10 plays)
Theme weeks
Newly marked Dev Choice arcs
Newly marked or rising to Hall of Fame arcs
Guest Author arcs

Ways to join:

Find members at AE in RWZ on Triumph any scheduled morning
Shout out that you're looking for the MA Superteam in the global channel, "MA Arc Finder"
PM me here on the Forums
Contact me via global, in-game @backfire

This Saturday we're running "High Roller." So bring your /e dice emote and a list of your favorite arcs to play. Hope to see you there!

Are you able to earn inf in Costume Contests and other player event challenges? Just another idea of how casual players earn inf.

Great event all, thanks for hosting. The AE Challenge was a lot of fun and I was amazed that our pug group of lvl 1s - 20somethings was able to complete it AND defeat the optional big bad!

Here's a little screenie from the pre-activities moment of silence. Very classy event, American Legion, well done.

Had a solid turnout this week and some very solid 9-11/Patriot Themed arcs.

First up was an arc @PW made just for Patriot Day:

Crisis at Talos Towers, ID #448216 by @PW
1 mission arc, Heroic

This was one of those special kinds of arcs that really opens your mind to the creativity authors can express thru the AE system. "Clever" doesn't begin to describe the concept and execution of this mission.

The story was simple enough: rescue people trapped in a collapsing building. But the execution was far from simple. The mission is uniquely fast-paced, exciting, chaotic, and touching...all at the same time! As an AE author you will be kicking yourself, saying, "Why didn't I think of that!"

Highly recommended for teams as difficulty and spawning would vary quite a bit solo and the team spawning was a perfect fit for the atmosphere of the story.

***** 5 Stars. The only complaint I heard was that it left people wanting more, but isn't that what a good story does? Make you want to play more instead of log off, exhausted and bored?

American Patriot, Defender of Earth, ID #446711 by @Sardonic Paladin
2 mission arc, Heroic

This arc was recommended in the American Legion Patriot Day event thread.

The first mission was intriguing: you fall asleep watching a history program on TV and dream (mission 1) of rescuing some famous American patriots from the 5th Column. 2 things made this mission interesting: first the history lesson in the character bios and clues. I'm a sucker for sneaking in some education with my fun, and 2: the costumes for the patriots were spot-on! However, I was put off by the mechanics the author used, as the chained objectives slowed down the mission and made it a bit tedious.

The 2nd mission was a much more traditional "save the world" scenario with your character charging into action back in the real world. And while the story of the 2nd mission was typical hero fare, complete with a guest Hero appearance, the segue between the 2 missions wasn't very solid. There needed to be a stronger tie between to them so that the story had more 'meaning.'

Still, it felt heroic, patriotic, and I learned something!
**** 4 Stars.

Made to Wave the Flag, ID #384776 by @LaserJesus
5 mission arc, Heroic

If you've ever played an @LaserJesus arc you know you're in for a ride and this arc is definitely a 'seat belt required' attraction.

The entire arc is a bit of a mind trip as your character wakes up in a hospital bed, disoriented...the subject of a mysterious experiment. You team up with other captured heroes and try to make an escape, but can you believe the things you see and do?

The highlight of this arc is the memorable characters and witty dialogue from NPCs that have their own unique 'voices.' The story, itself, is full of twists, turns, sacrific, and surreality. Just when I thought I knew where it was all going I had to re-think everything. I'm actually still not sure exactly what happened, but I'm sure I had a good time doing it!

On the downside: the main enemy group is Malta and there's a LOT of text. Now, personally, I didn't mind the Malta or the text. I actually like missions with a bit of challenge and LJ's writing is top notch. It's just that 5 missions of slugging thru both can leave you feeling drained and ready for a RL break. That said, it's still worth the effort!

***** 5 Stars. Reserve a good block of time and bring lucks & break frees

Next week we play High Roller, where the Superteam member with the highest roll on /e dice get's to choose any arc for us to run. Warm up your eDice and be ready for fun!

Eva, that was just one of many examples of the different directions an arc with this theme can take. There's probably hundreds of arcs that are not even 9-11 related that are offensive to some, "you can't please all the people all the time" and whatnot.

Anyway, we found some good arcs to play today. Thanks again to PW and Zam for some great suggestions.

Thanks Zam, I'll put it on the list!

I disagree. Comics and superheroes are a fitting theme for telling these kinds of stories. I remember one of the first steps in the healing process, for me, was Amazing Spider-Man's tribute book and the 9/11 collaborative.

I also think there's room for all kinds of stories in MA. Whether they're funny, fantasy, heroic or somber.

The events of 9/11 impacted people in many different ways and MA provides a unique medium to tell stories related to it. The theme is wide open for interpretation: from expressing gratitude to the first responders, unwavering patriotism, untold tales of heroism, a Paragon perspective, or a touching memorial.

I agree, it can be a touchy subject, esp if handled poorly, but I don't see why it'd be any more touchy than an arc made for Memorial Day, July 4th, or Veterans Day.

And I think avoiding the subject is counter to the lessons learned that day..."Let us never forget."

I look forward to seeing the arcs people have come up with and esp PW's Paragon take.

Wow, no love, eh? MA Superteam meet tomorrow morning, if you got a 9/11 theme arc you'd like played let me know quick!

Don't touch my legacy pants!



The last time someone "improved" them they got completely removed from the creator and a suitable replacement was not provided. I cannot make any changes to my costume slot #1 without losing my pants and it irks me to no end!!

I don't care if they're not up to someone else's standards of resolution or if they clash with the newest overly shiny fashion trend. Leave mah pants alone!

I was thinking of running some 9/11 themed arcs this weekend with the MA Superteam and I need suggestions.

Wanted, arcs which feature any of the following:

• 9/11
• Patriotism
• Firefighters
• Policemen/women
• First Responders
• Military
• New York City
• The Twin Towers
• Ground Zero
• The American Flag
• Uncommon heroism by the common man
• Defeating terrorists

Post any arcs you think would fit the theme or PM them to me.
I've found a few from this thread in Player Events, but I'd like to see what else the MA Community has to offer.

I'm not sure what would be more awesome:

Spidey, Andy Samberg, & Bill Hader in a Lazer Cats digital short...

or

Spidey & Venom as guests on What Up With That?

Small turnout this week but a fun run as usual.

First up was an arc that I jotted down from the MA Arc Finder channel looking for reviews on:

"Project Z", ID #98358 by @Dark Lu

While the arc had an exciting concept of zombies being created and controlled by the 5th Column, it's execution fell short.

The zombies were pretty much the generic zombies we already see in-game with 1 or 2 customs that had no 5th Column feel to them.
The first few missions had very little dialogue or clues, making them feel 'empty.'
When dialogue was finally added in later missions, it was unimaginative & repetitive "URRG"s from zombies. It got old fast.
The main contact's "voice" was a distraction and didn't seem to fit the theme of the arc or make a logical connection as being 5th Column.
The main contact's motivation and the players' motivation for helping him were underdeveloped.
In general there was nothing 'new.'

So, while it didn't grip me with the story or characters, it was techinically sound and the concept was interesting. *** 3 Stars but lots of potential for re-edit.

Our other mission arc was a random pick for 'something sci-fi':

"The Manimals of Dr. Morrow", ID #53411 by @Killershrike

This one started off on the wrong foot, with Manticore giving us almost no set-up and sending us to rescue some citizens from some mysterious animal/human hybrids.

The first mission is an unannouced timed mish. Luckily, 30 minutes is more than enough for a team to find a few hostages and free them. The hybrids are a pretty tough bunch and they're complimented by some tricky Thug masterminds who are really calling the shots on kidnapping citizens. Difficulty may be rough for solo players, but a balanced team should be able to get thru without too much trouble.

Mission 2 delves deeper into who's behind the Thugs as you infiltrate a base full of them. Unfortunately, this mission featured MM OVERLOAD as custom groups of all MMs (with the same name to make it confusing to find the 'real' MM) litter the map and you get ambushed by more. It wouldn't be so bad if most of them couldn't call Gang War on top of the mess, but we eventually slugged thru the mish to zero in on the big bad.

Last mish was a basic defeat the big bad with a mix of everything we'd already seen.

The whole thing was pretty formulaic, the MM enemy group made it overly difficult, Manticore was completely out of characater as a contact, and obvious mistakes like referring to the manimals as 'half-human, half-hybrid' dragged the arc down. Half-human, half-hybrid...would that make them 3/4 human and 1/4 animal?...

Anyway, it was a technically solid 4 star arc but all of the above dragged it down to *** 3 Stars.

Hope to see more of ya next week and hopefully some better arcs!

The irony is, if Scott Pilgrim were real he'd have been totally excited for this movie but would have been too occupied with video games and slacking off that he'd have missed it, too, thinking he'd just download it later or something.

At least I can say I did my part. I watched it, brought friends to watch it, promoted the heck out of it on Facebook, and generally let the world know I'm in lesbian with the Scott Pilgrim movie. *sigh* I'm sure it'll do better on video.

Also the troopers from Allegiance were from from 'evil.' And when they saw the direction the Empire was heading they went rogue.

Wasn't Mara Jade someone who believed in the ideals of the Empire until she fell for that rascally Luke? She was never evil, didn't use the dark side of the force, and genuinely thought she was making the galaxy a better place.

Goodness!! The sheets cost more than the couch I sleep on! Pottery Barn es loco.

Had a great turnout this morning! It was nice to see so many familiar faces and a couple new players in the AE.

We ran 2 new arcs today: a doppleganger arc and a recent arc from the Latest Arc announcement thread.

1st up was the doppleganger arc "Fistful of Suzuki", ID #440157 by @Lazarus

2nd one was "Chris Jenkins: Superhero at Large", ID #415230

Both were fun, well-balanced arcs but I was too out of practice after my vacation to give them a full critique so I just gave 'em 5 stars and called it 'good.' Give 'em a shot when you get a chance!

Next week I'm thinking we try to find some more doppleganger arcs. If you know of any good ones or ones you'd like the MA Superteam to run thru, post 'em here.

Just show up at the AE in RWZ on Triumph or holler in the MA Arc Finder global channel. Or PM me @backfire in game. We'll get ya hooked up one way or another