Bubbawheat

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I refuse to plug my arc as if it was Sham-WOW. Consequently, it's sitting at 75 plays. If pimping it is the way to HoF, it's not worth it.

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And that goes to show what pimping out an arc does for you. I've pimped out one of my arcs quite a bit, even writing a front page article in the City Scoop about its creation, and it only has 130 plays.

I say congrats to @Muu and @GadgetDon for their HoF arcs and hopefully they will actually remain HoF for quite a while, and avoid the low-star griefers that have previously plagued the HoF arcs so far.

Seems like this is going to be an interesting month. I was just glancing through the votes and it doesn't seem like there's any clear frontrunner this month. Lots of votes getting spread around. Definately getting some good entries here.

Arc Name: Temporal Anomalies - The Jamie Salladon Task Force, Part 1/2
Arc Id: 3962
Author: @Dyne
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 1-20, clockwork, custom
Description: The Clockwork are behaving even more oddly than normal, and a fellow hero asks you to check it out. Along the way, you start uncovering hints that something more dangerous is going on.
Played at: Level 14



Jamie Salladon, aka Usurper Dyne, asks me today to investigate some Clockwork acting oddly. They are digging up some clay for their King and have a girl named Ellie Wiggins hostage. Very unusual as Clockwork are usually interested in scrap metal rather than clay. Pressing on, and the clockwork have two more hostages who have psychic powers, but when I get there, they aren't clockwork, but clay warriors. Also to add to the strangness, the hostages refer to them as being normal clockwork, and one of the hostages *is* a Clockwork. Curiouser and curiouser.


(This is one of my favorite screens so far from this project, by the way)


When I return to Jamie, she has a big error message right in the middle of her sentence, but when I ask about it, she just ignores me and goes on with her speech. This time I'm after the lead kidnapper from the clockwork, named Heironymous. I also happen across someone who reminds me of Ellie Wiggins, named Heterodyne who was quite powerful and even took down Heironymous with no help at all from me. She says she comes from another world, and recognizes these clay minions as not being Clockwork. I return again to Jamie and another error message and she is suddenly interrupted and says she is the real Jamie and not just an AE simulation. Also that the clay warriors are from another world as well and somehow got into the AE interface, but the system couldn't handle them and treated them as Clockwork. This seemed odd to me, because I've seen many varied and unusual enemy groups that were handled just fine by the AE system.



Anyway, I'm sent to take out the leader of these Clay Warriors: the Golem King, who seems a perfect parrellel to the Clockwork King, only made of clay instead of metal. Also, Ellie was there to rescue once again, and keeps mentioning that she wants to join "No Supergroup". I'm not familiar with this concept, but it might make more sense to someone who was actually in a supergroup. This Golem King was quite powerful and his mental attacks scrambled my circuits so much that I could not do anything before being defeated. So, I had to procure help from a nearby blaster named Shock 23 who brough along his assault rifle and sundry gadgets. The Golem King was still quite powerful for us, but we were both determined and were able to succeed.



Yet another case of mistaken identity and confusion with the word "Temporal" which means "of time, or pertaining to time", which this mission did not in any way deal with time, merely dimensions. Hopefully I will not make the same mistakes with my future contacts.

Three Stars: Good.

heh, actually an edit before I saw your reply to it. I did add a touch more information, and changed that clue I mentioned to talk about self-evolving technology instead of the time splitter. Keeping it non-required though. The mission description does have "hidden details" in the tags.

Will probably try a bigger clean-up pass come i15 when I play with the new features (namely renaming the Time Shifter's custom minion group, which has a lot more mobs in it than you saw {shivans, coralax, living armor, etc [hydra almost always show up though]})

It is an interesting thought, I had always intended to have it just be some random, nameless scientist. Though after i15 goes live, I might end up adding a fourth mission where instead of heading back to the Wyvern base, you decide to track down the scientist and wring some information out of him. Although, that would end up making it even more like A Tangle in Time with it's 4th mission going to Mobiosa's base.

Hm... I could add more information to the computer, having a list of files that don't seem to mean anything, but as you progress through the missions, they make sense to look more closely at them.

Although, if you have problems with the general concept of a "time vampire" as I was going for, then I doubt further explanation could sway you. But the basic idea is a learning ai that uses the energy of those around it to jump them both back in time in order to speed its own learning/evolving process.

(BTW, there is a hidden clue with story information within the useless and joke glowies, it's lab equipment with the clue: "You find some research about Time Shifter. Apparently it's original intent was to give surgeon's more time in critical situations by allowing them to reset if something unexpected goes wrong. There was also a previous try, something called a Time Splitter. Though that turned out to speed up time.", did you happen to catch that one?)

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Before I start I should point out how incredibly similar this story is to "A Tangle in Time". I almost think the two authors should collaborate and put all the good ideas from both stories into one arc.


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One of my early feedback /tells referenced A Tangle in Time, and I did borrow a few of his ideas to help improve my own arc already.

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Nit: the passcode, "Sister Psyche", generates a bit of powerposed-dismissal in the player's voice saying "Real subtle Manticore" - huh? When did Manticore get involved?

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Manticore is more or less the head of Wyvern.

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On the plus side, the arc doesn't throw the Idiot Ball (unless you count pushing the button on the unknown 2nd artifact without thinking... ok, that probably *does* count, but it can be overlooked) and the arc progression seems natural for what develops. You react in a reasonable manner each iteration given the information you have at your disposal. My only complaint in this regard is the throwaway comment at the end that you were trapped for three months; it's completely unnecessary, and undermines the pacing of the story you just experienced.


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Been meaning to change both of those complaints: removed the button press, and changed "you've been there for three months" to "The Wyvern sound like they had been trapped for what felt like weeks to months or more"

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In short, the gameplay and mechanics are interesting and the missions are reasonably fun to play, but I don't think the author has succeeded in hanging them off a coherent story.

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Well, if the missions were interesting and fun, I feel like I've accomplished more than a lot of missions out there. Thanks for the review.

I know, I want to change the color of my MA/SR scrapper to... aw crap!

I approve of this feature

One option would be to make the kids be hostages and not escorts. Just have them say "Thank you for clearing the way out" or some such. Or even just have the first two be hostages and the last one be an escort, that would minimize the backtracking. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a little story for a lot of playability.

Close one for me, tough choice between two serious ones: Lousy Day and Projectionist, and two funny ones: Tartyrsauce and Toxic Shia

My vote goes to Lousy Day for a great iconic pose and style for a remarkable teaser poster better than many real movie teaser posters I've seen.

My wife's favorite is Fusionette the Movie by Toxic Shia.

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Did someone say "Horror Themed"?

Small Fears (#12285) should fit the bill quite nicely; I'd recommend playing it on a higher-level character, though, since that's what it's balanced around.

May want to pack some breakfrees for the last mission- thanks to that stupid, stupid, stupid decision to force confuses on anybody foolish enough to use Mind Control or Illusion Control mobs, the difficulty can be a bit wonky currently (i.e. it may not bother you in the slightest, or it may drive you mad. *sigh*)

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Quick review time. Played as a level 40 fire/fire Brute on challenge level 4. The story is pretty interesting, you're contacted by a psychic boy whose trapped by some dark figures along with two other children. Unfortunately, when you get there you only plan on rescuing two of them, which you have to lead back to the door, and then it spawns the third child where you have to backtrack all the way back three floors at least to find him and escort him all the way back to the entrance. You're wearing my shoes out man! The mobs are all childhood fears made flesh, complete with the hallway monster, the bully, and the Monster Under Bed (which I thought was an odd choice for wording, though I don't have a better suggestion). The designs are quite excellent and are pretty well balanced. Though I believe they get tougher as you go along, at least they do in the final mission, where two of them have confuse as warned.

The second mission sends you up against Mother Mayhem, which you find out about in a glowie (which should have a bit more information, I was unfortunately unfamiliar with Mother Mayhem and felt somewhat in the dark) She and her psy-wielding minions were more than a match for my psi-defenseless fire/fire brute, but I eventually prevailed. Final mission sends you against the demon from another dimension that is the head of these monsters. Great design on the final boss, well semi-final boss. She was difficult, but not impossible for me. Which couldn't be said for Mother Mayhem who unfortunately spawned at an extra +1 level and proved more than I could handle and I had to call it quits.

Overall, great customs, good story design, too much backtracking on missions 1 and 3, just add a little more clarity in places when you get some extra room in i15.

I can't narrow it down to just one because I have to mention Ghoulish who I love the name, the costume, and the concept.

And also Burnt Matchstick that I loved enough to make on almost every server and an arc using the character designs (although not the name)

Horoscopes are pushed back a couple weeks (July 14th) because I lost my internet connection for a few days, missed the deadline (we were also 1 short, I could have used my own, but would prefer not to), and have something ready for next week.

If you like this feature, and haven't submitted one yet, show me what you got! You don't have to write up a horoscope, you can leave that up to me, I will PM you for final approval before submission.

Jabberwocky is a short and interesting arc with many varied customs. Don't remember the arc ID#, but I'm sure you can find it by the title

And I love Wonderland as a theme, played many of the shorter ones I have found, will definately be keeping an eye on this thread.

Thanks for the review, I like the in-character style which I have also used myself in one of my review threads. I understand your point about the plot holes, and I plan to change the council base to a custom-standard group soon. As for the recruiting process, the idea is that they are lured into the cult with typical cult-promises and recruiting tactics. Then after they are convinced, they are scarred in an initiation sequence so to speak. Also, the Matchstick Women recruit those women who already have fire powers. I suppose I could make that more clear somewhere in there.

I've got about 3-4 global friends that were total newbies that I helped as much as I could. Of course, I haven't seen them since, but hey, at least I tried.

Hmm... maybe it's me >.> ... <.<

I've had my own graphical glitch before that I never figured out, and hasn't happened in a while since.

Arc Name: Groundhog Daze
Arc Id: 3465
Author: @Grand Slam
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 1-54, 15-25, 5-15: custom
(and the dropping level range makes sense and is a nice touch)
Played at: Level 11-13
**Time Loop #2**

My contact today sends me on a job taking out an ineffectual criminal that is after some temporal artifact. His name is Punxsutawney Phil and he has a group of rodents following him. Once you get there, I find some scientist who lets me in on some information about a temporal generator that, if activated, could create a causality loop. Perfect, something I'm intimately familiar with. And when I get to it, of course it's been activated. I take out Punxsutawney Phil who "senses my temporal energy", which makes perfect sense, considering. Afterwards, he says he'll see me... before.



And now, I'm stuck in someone else's time loop. And, it's weakening me. Sounds like he's stealing my bit, he's going to have to pay for that. Well, at least it would be weakening me if I was at a higher power level to begin with. My contact also notes that Phil has increased in reputation to be considered my equal. Second time around and I don't find much more information, except that extended loops would eventually erase me from existence, but this is just a second go around. Third time is the charm as I use my speed and intelligence to get back before Phil this time. The scientist helps me out by giving me a temporal stabilizer to keep myself from getting weaker, and also to trap Phil. Quite a useful little gadget, might have to hang onto it myself afterwards. Since I'm there first, I can destroy the temporal generator before Phil gets a chance to use it once again, I defeat Phil, and when I get back to my contact he lets me know that they are destroying all of their research so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Since if Phil can cause such a ruckus as a minor player, imagine what would happen if a major player got their hands on it.

Four Stars: Recommended!

Just for fun, let's take a look at part of that in regards to Going Rogue:

1.) New high level Space Station Zones (PVE, PVP, & Co-op)

An expansion restricted high level zone, possibly in Praetoria?

2.) Characters that do not wish to change sides are rewarded by becoming exemplary heroes or villains, and earning rewards not available any other way
3.) Heroes and villains who go to the other side can also act as Double-Agents.
5.) Players undertake missions that define their character's morality and steer them in a more heroic or villainous direction
6.) By switching sides (going from good to bad or bad to good), players can access content "on the other side" (heroes can experience villain zones and content, and villains can experience hero zones and content)

just possible parts of side switching, which has been announced.

4.) Character Creator 2.0 includes Powers Customization, allowing players to customize not only the character, but also the actual look of its powers

announced.

7.) Completely new low-level player experience/zones for new characters in which new characters do not begin a hero or villain, rather become one or the other through early gameplay

also a very possible low level expansion exclusive zone involving Praetoria somehow.

8.) New Spy Archetype, Power Sets & Costumes
9.) Universal Enhancement Slots - at level 50, these enhance powers to the character, essentially bringing them to a hypothetical "Level 60" once they have earned all ten slots

and these also make sense as something that could be expansion restricted.

alltogether, the survey makes sense as things they would try to implement. The ones that accrued the most interest would be pushed to the front burners, while the ones with the least interest get put on the back burners, or scrapped alltogether.

It seemed to me to be a suggestion and not a rule. I don't think something that minor is a big deal anyway.

Relativity Be Damned by @Tragic Eight Ball

which is unplayable at the moment too.

Honestly, this makes me a little mad. When the dev's announced the Dev's Choice, they said it wouldn't be as elusive as, say, Bug Hunter. But it's been quite a while into issue 14 and we have 12 Dev Choice arcs. I thought they might be holding off awarding new Dev's Choice after they announced the badge will be going away, so they don't have as many badges to take away. But after today with a new Dev Choice, that theory is more or less out the window and the fact is that they just aren't awarding this title to any arcs. I know they're busy, but they said they would be looking into arcs that are generating buzz, and I've lived in this Stories and Lore section of the forums and have never even heard of this new Dev's Choice arc, when there are quite a few arcs floating around that are getting consistently rave reviews from everyone that's played them.

At least, it would be great to have some official word on this, whether it's "We're too busy to play many arcs and look at the forums, but this one managed to slip through" or "We are waiting for issue 15 to come out because of the badge issue, but this one managed to slip through" or even "we've looked at those arcs and didn't feel they were dev choice worthy, but this one did."

Always good to have more reviewers with different points of view.

Take your pick, or try them both:

#3369: Matchstick Women
level range: 25-50 (recommended)
Missions: 3
Morality: Heroic
Synopsis: A mysterious flame sends you on a trail of a cult of women arsonists. Follow the clues to their crazed leader to stop them once and for all. (1 EB)

#137561: Ctrl + Alt + Reset
Level range: 15-30
Missions: 4
Morality: Neutral
Synopsis: Foreshadow sends you to investigate a temporal artifact confiscated by Wyvern. He thinks it's more dangerous than anyone realizes and you find out he's absolutely right! But now you're stuck in a time loop and have to figure your way out.

Most of those were deleted because they are broken

Arc Name: The Horsemen Chronicles (Part 1)
Arc Id: 195149
Author: @Citizen Razor 2
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 5-14: Vahzilok, Skulls, Outcasts, Hellions, Clockwork
Played at: Level 11-13



My contact today is Alpha, the leader of the Horsemen. According to him, there was a small window where there was an open connection to Praetorian Earth. Even though this sounds more like a problem with dimensional portals and not time portals, I decide to help him out... this time.

When I get to the source of the disturbance, I find a sewer full of Vahzilok, and a room full of dead bodies from the water department. And one of their IDs are missing. Suddenly, in pops someone named Omega who starts talking about five artifacts that he's searching for in this dimension. Unfortunately, he decides to teleport away on his own instead of letting the zig teleporters get him. I get the feeling I'll be seeing more of him later on.

Next up is a trip to Orenbega where some Skulls happen to be trying to get back one of their bandanas. There are a couple of other unimportant magical artifacts you find, and like I anticipated, you find Omega once again. And again, he teleports away.


Now I know what that Skull's thinking, did he fire 6 shots, or only 5?

Now Alpha is trying to get one step ahead of Omega instead of being one step behind him, so he finds out about a cave in the Hollows where some Outcasts are trying to dig up something. This time I do get there first and find a stone key made from the skin of a minion of Igneous. Omega's there, even though I don't have to, I try to beat some more information out of him before he leaves again.

Alpha thinks he has finally figured out the pattern to all of these seemingly random artifacts. Apparently, each one is tied to a superpower origin. And also, they are tied to important souvenirs on many hero's paths. But instead of going after the next artifact, Omega sends me a message saying that he wants the Stone Key back and he's taken hostages, including Sam Wincott. Who he get's a hero's medal of honor from.

Finally, we get to the finale where Omega is planning on using all of these origin specific souvenirs to open a stable portal to Praetoria and Tyrant's army. This time he's aided by the Clockwork. I'm in a large map looking for an etched Clockwork piece in several possible boxes with "oodles of doodads". One of which was in a very odd place. Finally, I find the correct part and now have to destroy some portal devices. The devices go and it's time to go after the Clockwork boss: Crackhammer. And then it's time for the final showdown with Omega, and this time Alpha has managed to jam his teleportation signal and send him to the Zig once and for all. Which in superhero terms probably means about five to ten weeks. Alpha congratulates me on a job well done, and is seemingly surprised that Omega is his own double. And now I'm off to look for more actual *time* anomalies.



Four Stars: Recommended!