Bubbawheat

Arc Name: Out of Time
Arc Id: 94443
Author: @Frightfall
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 5-40: Family, 5th Column, custom
Played at: Level 6-8

Tonight I pay a visit to Vinnie Las Vegas. He tells me about a hero named Frightfall and how he mysteriously vanished into thin air during his retirement party. Apparently he knows some tech guys that decided it was a wrinkle in time and space. Not only that, but they've calculated where it will appear next, and so he sends me to an old, rusty ship.



When I get there, I find that it looks brand new. By my calculations, the wrinkle in time has taken me back into 1926. The Family have placed a bunch of wierd gizmos all over the cargo ship. In order to deactivate the gizmos, I have to remove some crystals from inside the devices. I also find Frightfall early in his superhero career, who comes along to help. He's still pretty inexperienced and doesn't end up helping a whole lot. I also find a Dr. Kreuler and a group of Timeway Men. He summons some robots, but they can't protect him from my gravitational destruction. After defeating him, I grab a remote control that he left behind upon teleporting in escape. I can easily see that this remote is a time control device using tachyon technology. A little primitive for my tastes, but it gets the job done, and when I bring it back to Vinnie and he has his own tech guys confirm it. They also use it to calculate where the next time wrinkle will be.



This time I am transported to an office building in the year 1993. Once again I find Frightfall who comes along with me. 5th column are also here along with more Timeway men who are using strange devices to steal information out of some databases. Not the most brilliant plan in my opinion, but I'm here, so I might as well stop it along with their leader. Although my nav computer won't let me back until I defeat all the enemies, which I think is a little unnecessary. Coming back to Vinnie, he tells me that they have tracked all of this time manipulation to an alternate future universe, and I have to go there because "your exposure to those focusing crystals has infected your sub-atomic particles. So....you're going to have to go into their dimension anyway to shed them. Otherwise these wrinkles they are creating will start to rip you apart from the inside. Whaddya say tiger, fancy living?"



Finally, I arrive at this alternate universe. My first thought: "Damn you! Damn you all to hell! Hmm... I must have absorbed some time from a movie fan somewhere along the way. Anyway, I find the current version of Frightfall, who for some reason doesn't want to tag along with me this time. Must be his old age getting to him. I search this doomed area and find who's ultimately behind this. I see Fear Rising and realize it is an alternate version of Frightfall. It takes all of my skill to defeat him, although I find that keeping him in one place is the best tactic and I return to my own time for now. Vinnie tells me that Fear Rising had come back to this time to harvest energy from various versions of Frightfall for reasons that neither Vinnie, nor his tech guys understand.

Three Stars: Good.

Edit: Wow, this really makes me feel like I'm not accomplishing much. While this arc only got 3 stars, it's not a bad arc, but it's still sitting at just my one play after all this time.

Just look at it another way and it becomes:

"A bunch of stuff happens!"

That's fine by me.

Time Loop: 137561
Level range: 15-30

No AVs or EBs, just a few bosses and some Wyvern. It's a fun mystery with lots of details, clues, and time-loop references.

Whoo, thank you!

Harsh, and probably reportable since it is based on a real person. Just fair warning if someone reads the bio and decides to report it, he will probably get generic'd.

Just telling you in case you didn't know since you seem fairly new based on your reged date, copywritten characters and real people aren't allowed as CoX characters.

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Well, I wouldn't mind losing some threads - the ones for test versions of arcs that got replaced in live. But yeah, as someone who had all his threads for live missions vanish, I'd rather they didn't.

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One thing they've done in the S&FA forum is created a recycle bin post where one person went through a lot of the old threads and marked those that were outdated and didn't contain any art. A major undertaking for that forum, but if it's done regularly it wouldn't be too much work.

Another thing to keep in mind when editing: Autosave doesn't really help, saving doesn't really help. If you want to save an unfinished copy of your re-edit, you have to at least get it to a publishable state and republish as a de-facto "autosave". The only thing you have to worry about is people playing in the middle of an edit, though you could also change the description to mention that it's in the process of being edited, then you just have to remember to remove that when done.

Only 6 ratings? And you're wondering if you should republish or re-edit. I've re-entered complete missions from scratch (see 2711 Exploring the Architect, I made each new mission separately, then I re-created the mission from scratch in the edit window to retain my arc ID#) But that was also to keep the four digit ID number. If you only have 6 ratings, and you don't care about your ID number, just republish and save yourself a headache.

I always appreciate good feedback on my arcs. I feel both are pretty well polished, but I feel they are never really finished.

Time Loop

Matchstick Women

I'm not sure if anyone would want them, but I enjoy the designs of my Matchstick Women if you're looking for some fiery enemies. I don't have pics of the actual custom mobs yet, but I have the characters they're based on.

They are a group of women arsonists led by a crazed woman named Emily Metzer who now goes by the name Burnt Matchstick. Emily actively recruits young women who have a natural talent with fire and lures them in with the promise of family. But she then scars and tortures them so they will never want to leave, and all of the minions now keep their scarred faces covered.

Adding my first arc to this thread since the original post got purged.

Arc: 3369 Matchstick Women
Level Range: 23-54 (SO range)
Enemies: Council, "Matchstick Women" - misc. fire/fire customs
Description: You find a mysterious flame that becons your attention and draws you into itself, telling a tale of women arsonists, setting fires, kidnapping women. But what do they want? Follow the flames to the home of their cult and their crazed leader.
tags: *Story Focused [SFMA], clues, souvenir
Matchstick Women on CoH Mission Review - post a review!

And what people are saying about Matchstick Women:


[Tell] 2009-05-19 10: 15:08 Message From @Beanstalk1 : Feedback on Architect Mission Matchstick Women: Good arc. Nice story, well told throughout, custom bad guys were nice, looked good and fought well, a fun arc to play - well done If ya get a chance please try arc 91644

Time Loop on CoH Mission Review - submit a review! Keep me in the top missions!

Back with more of what people are saying about Time Loop!

[Tell] 2009-05-23 17: 38:40 Message From @MikesMind : Feedback on Architect Mission Time Loop: Fantastic. literally best mission i have done on AE. top marks

[Tell] 2009-05-23 17: 40:22 Message From @AmadanDaenaris : Feedback on Architect Mission Time Loop: That was one of the most enjoyable arcs I have every played. Very well written. Very quirky... lots of humour, with the right amount of danger. Very well done.

[Tell] @Hellguard: Feedback on Architect Mission Time Loop: Really enjoyed this arc... nice little mystery and very well written... 5 stars

[Tell] @Alari Azure: Feedback on Architect Mission Time Loop: Fun arc. I thought time was somehow moving backward since the mission sendoff seemed to show that. Excellent puzzle. Even though it was a tad annoying going over the same steps over and over, the hook was good enough to make me want to find out the answer to the puzzle. I liked that the enemies weren't overpowered, too. I'm on a lvl 37 tank, so that could be a factor. I had fun beating all the bosses at the end. 5*

*note: This comment was during a bug I accidentally put in during an edit when I changed the final boss's minions from <devices> to <bio-devices> but forgot to change the boss objective to be surrounded by <bio-devices> instead of <devices> so the final spawn was a bunch of Time Shifters, with an ambush of a bunch of Time Shifters.

[Tell] @Lazarus: Feedback on Architect Mission Time Loop: Let's do the time warp agaaaaaaiiiinnn.

[Tell] 2009-05-23 23: 36:46 Message From @El Condor : Feedback on Architect Mission Time Loop: Cool concept. I was truly disoriented when the looping began (which was a neat revelation). The arc of the story to it's conclusion was interesting and unique. I feel that the details could have had more of a unique touch. Is there a place for more custom minions and lieuts? I realize that the plot you set up handcuffed you in terms of map choice, in-mish events, etc. Nevetheless, cool arc!

[Tell] 2009-05-24 11: 27:11 Message From @MrCaptainMan : Feedback on Architect Mission Time Loop: "Youre looking for sth more mad scientisty' - genius. - just finished mish1. sometimes, you KNOW ur gonna enjoy an arc after one mish. like now. mish2 - hm, two artifacts...ive got them both, havent I? unless fores took the first one off me? FS's briefing for mish3 is nicely done. - your clue drops are not in order, but text golden. - just met the TIme Shifter. Awesome. Finished! great.. cant fault that. short, simple, fun, top banana.

[Tell] 2009-05-25 14: 32:29 Message From @MowDownJoe : Feedback on Architect Mission Time Loop: You got a good sense of humor there. Though I was almost expecting a Groundhog Day reference in there somewhere.

*note: There is a groundhog day reference hidden in one of the mission 3 clues.

[Tell] 2009-05-27 23: 15:57 Message From @Magik13 : Feedback on Architect Mission Time Loop: I loved it - nice excuse to send a hero against wyvern and fairly amusing without being overly repetitive.

[Tell] 2009-05-28 14: 23:09 Message From @PW : Feedback on Architect Mission Time Loop: Fun but some plot holes, changes in mission each loop were strangely inexplicable. will post more on forum, thanks!

This forum recently got purged of old threads, I think that should not have happened, what do you think?

Both the Screenshots & Fan Art and Roleplaying forums are marked "Do not purge". I believe this is to prevent getting rid of player's creative works. Do you feel that this forum is in the same category as those two? While there is typically no specific creative works in this thread, there are links to creative works in the form of mission arc advertisements and the link is the arc ID#. There are also reviews of mission arcs which are creative works in and of themselves. There is also a sticky thread where you can advertise your arc and link to it, which may now be a dead link.

The only downside is that there are some people who take down their arcs for whatever reason, and there are a few pointless discussions or questions here or there, but that holds true for the Screenshots & Fan Art section as well.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

Ouch, I would have guessed this forum would be a no-purge zone like Screenshots & Fan Art and Roleplaying

Changed a few more minor things to help with some notes that PoliceWoman and Venture had.

Marx's dialog is changed, especially his opening dialog so the artifact doesn't go off during your fight, but before it. And Marx is a bit more aware of what's going on throughout.

The Artifact's clue in each mission alludes more to "Time Shifter" so seeing him as a boss in the final mission makes a bit more sense.

The compass text is changed so you're not "Investigating the Disturbance" every time.

Mission 2 is changed so that you have to get the computer first, then it spawns Marx in the back, which shouldn't affect things for most people, and the second computer spawns in the front so it should be near where the first computer was at least.

The first two computers get clues which mention that you completely overlook it the first time which is why you seek to investigate it the second time around.

Added a few more notes in the popups, like that the first artifact is missing when Foreshadow asks for it, and when you find the artifact, you feel pulled back to Foreshadow.

A few other minor changes. Still planning on updating the intro and briefing text to add more changes in each mission, but will probably wait until i15 goes live.

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...farming that is.

It's simple. Farming is producing crops for harvest. Before the Mission Architect, players couldn't produce ANYTHING in the game. Thus, farming did not exist.











So, what were they doing? Ranching. They were herding pre-existing cattle into fenced in areas for eventual slaughter. That's right, all they were doing was ranching.

Farming did not exist before the Mission Architect. Now, by the implementation of the Mission Architect system where you can make your own enemy groups, farming now exits.

The developers, with Issue 14, finally created farming. For realz.

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That's sigworthy. I tried... and tried... and tried... and tried some more to make it fit into a sig. I sacrified my global, forum handle, PERC title, and MA advertisement, shortened "Mission Architect" to MA, "Issue 14" to "I14", chopped out the little sentences in the middle that were redundant... and it still wouldn't fit.

Finally I found a way, and my MA and global got to stay

Edit: I absolutely had to have this in my sig.

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You just have to know the trick to it.

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It's simple. Farming is producing crops for harvest. Before the Mission Architect, players couldn't produce ANYTHING in the game. Thus, farming did not exist.

So, what were they doing? Ranching. They were herding pre-existing cattle into fenced in areas for eventual slaughter. That's right, all they were doing was ranching.

Farming did not exist before the Mission Architect. Now, by the implementation of the Mission Architect system where you can make your own enemy groups, farming now exits.

The developers, with Issue 14, finally created farming. For realz.

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Thanks for the feedback Bubbawheat. I will definitely work in your suggestions:
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- I think I will add some Crey mobs and dialogue to connect them to the story more.
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- And I had been critiqued in the past for making the mission way too difficult, as I had placed many patrols in the mission so that the jail yard was crawling with Iron Agents. After being critiqued that it was way too difficult, I scaled it way back so the mission would be easier, even making the lieutenants minions because even as minions some of them are tough (the Ethereal Models, for instance, can really surprise you because they are stalkers, so when they were lieutenants, they were just way too tough...). But it sounds like I went too far in the other direction and I'll adjust it a bit back towards being more challenging again...
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Red Warlock

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I agree that the stalker-like mob should remain a minion, but you can probably find another one that doesn't scale up too hard as a lieutenant. Also, if you are adding Crey, that will fill your lieutenant hole as well, so keep that in mind. I would suggest shooting for 3 custom minions and 2 custom lieutenants, or if you're adding Crey to mix with them, you can do 4 custom minions + any number of Crey and 1 custom lieut + any number of Crey. Good luck!

I see what I did there, don't know why I messed up that pair-up. Bishop of Battle is Clobbertime's. But that's fixed, and I added Planet Girl's take on Electagonist.

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Still up on the chopping block: Electagonist, Clobbertime, and DarkEther (unless I skipped them)

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The remake of Rainbow Jester I did for Tuter King is back on page 4. I don't think he cared much for my costume work but he did seem to like the bio I did up for him.
This was fun and I'm looking forward to the next round.

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I meant, those are the ones that haven't had their own costumes re-made. I've got your new look for Rainbow Jester in there.

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Hi Bubbawheat,

if you have a chance, would love for you to check out my short:

The Legion of Mutants vs. The Iron Agents (200364). It's a single Mission. Here's the synopsis: "The Iron Agents, advanced cybernetic warriors developed by the Crey, have taken the Legion of Mutants hostage and are holding them at a high security prison facility. Break the mutants out of the Zig and they will help you fight the Iron Agents!


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Played as a lvl 45 TA/Psi defender solo on heroic: challenge level 1. I enjoyed this mission as a fun little one-off. You're sent by "The Shadowy Figure" to rescue the "Legion of Mutants" which are remeniscent of the X-Men in general concept only, though Brickhouse bears a tiny resemblance to Colossus, from the "Iron Agents" at the Zig. Simple enough mission briefing, although the Crey are mentioned, they really have no bearing to the plot whatsoever. In my opinion you could omit the Crey and just reference your "Iron Agents" custom group, or another possibility is to add some standard Crey mobs to your Iron Agents, though it could affect your level range. It's just a thought.

I enter the Zig breakout map and have three nav objectives. They could be combined if they are all rescues, though I soon find out that one: Iradium Vice, is not a rescue, but a destructible object. By its description, it nullifies the mutant's powers which allowed them to be captured. You should mention it in the opening briefing, and I think you want to go with "Irradium Device" possibly? The clue for the Iradium Vice mentions the three sewer pipes in the back of the map, which were more vaguely mentioned in the briefing. This is nice for those unfamiliar with this map. I remember the first time on the map taking forever to figure out that I had to go into the pipes at the end. I get to the cells and rescue the first mutant, and I now also have to rescue Brickhouse. I don't think he should have been a spawned objective, and you should add the plural nav text for them to say "Mutants to rescue" and the singular to be "Rescue the last mutant" or even put their name in the singular version. It's also nice on this map that the enemies tend to be outside the cells and the hostages spawn inside the cells, so if you don't want them to tag along, it's easy to avoid them after rescue.

With their help, the two bosses were pretty much cake. I liked all of your custom mob designs, although I only saw several minions and no lieutenants, I don't know if you have regular bosses since I was solo on heroic so they wouldn't have spawned. You should change a couple minions to lieutenants, and possibly add a few Crey mobs in the group if you want to for some added variety. Also your allies and bosses have descriptions, but your minions could use them as well. A team would cakewalk through a map full of minions. And this mission doesn't scream "farm" to me. So overall, I liked it. Simple but effective, and fun, though some changes would definately be welcome.

Still up on the chopping block: DarkEther... come on TA!

[u]Inaugural Slurpie Edition Pair-Ups! Originals![u]

Heavens Agent - Brimstone Dragon/Crestent

Larissa Rasputin/DDGryphon - Sparktakus

Electagonist | 2 | 3/Planet Girl

Tuter King - Rainbow Jester/Clobbertime - Bishop of Battle

Turkey Lurkey - Runriot/GrayHuntress

Mariner | 2/Bayani

Kheldarn/Vexxxa

Soul Train/John Printemps - Kibo Electin

Suichiro - Massacre Melanie/The Foo - Maiden Light

BubbaWheat - Burnt Matchstick/VoltSentinel

Flame Enchantress/Hericane

Johnnykat - Dynoman/Buckeyestar - Cybernautica

DarkEther/Thor’s Assassin - Lord of Valhalla


[u]Inaugural Slurpie Edition Pair-Ups! Newnesses![u]

Heavens Agent - Brimstone Dragon/Crestent

Larissa Rasputin | 2/DDGryphon - Sparktakus

Electagonist | 2 | 3 | 4/Planet Girl | 2 | 3

Tuter King - Rainbow Jester/Clobbertime - Bishop of Battle | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Turkey Lurkey - Runriot/GrayHuntress

Mariner | 2/Bayani | 2

Kheldarn/Vexxxa | 2 | 3

Soul Train/John Printemps - Kibo Electin

Suichiro - Massacre Melanie | 2/The Foo - Maiden Light | 2

Bubbawheat - Burnt Matchstick/VoltSentinel | 2 | 3

Flame Enchantress | 2 | 3/Hericane

Johnnykat - Dynoman/Buckeyestar - Cybernautica

DarkEther/Thor’s Assassin - Lord of Valhalla

So the complaint was that it's a farm that doesn't give you anything? Isn't that like an anti-farm?

Your best bet is to go over to the reviewer list look through their threads, find one with a shorter list of reviews and with a review style you like and post it in there. The QPQ have the shortest lists but you usually have to leave feedback on one of their arcs in return. Good luck, there's a lot of author's and it's hard to get noticed sometimes.

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Speaking of "chuckled".... this has to be one of the most contagious laughs.

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Man, I'm usually not a fan of watching people laughing, but that was really funny.

I guess I forgot to mention it here, but this thread is now closed for submissions. If you would like to submit an arc, either go here for my weekly reviews, or go here for in-character reviews of time travel arcs. I will add these last two onto my queue, also note that playing my missions is no longer required, although it is appreciated.