Citizen_Razor

Story synopsis time:

Tyrant has sent a member of the Wolfpack to try and establish a beachhead into Paragon City again. Help the Horsemen prevent this from happening. NOTE: This story arc is set to Level 10-14 and contains an EB (downgraded to Boss on Heroic) in every mission.

I've soloed this arc on those characters:

Lv11 Claws/Regen Scrapper (in test mode)
Lv11-13 Spines/Willpower Scrapper
Lv10-11 Storm/Elec Defender

And now, the feedback (yeah, I'm ripping off Police Woman). Even though I've had only ten people rate my account, and none in the last week or so, I figured I'll go ahead and post some of the feedback I received regarding this arc. I think it's a good arc and I'd love to get some more feedback even if it is in the "sucky" Lv10-14 range.

I am removing the name of the people who provided feedback because I'm not sure what the protocol is. I assume they all sent me the feedback with the assumption I wouldn't post their names publicly for everybody to see.

So without further ado:

[ QUOTE ]
Well that was a well thought out arc. I enjoyed the last mission most of all, the number of items, the dialogue, use of story, language all fit and the inevitability tying it into the GR, well done. Suggestions otherwise, I think the preceding missions didn't feel as epic, perhaps because it was the same thing, collecting objects, as I was hoping that Omega came as an ambush sometimes, or they got there ahead of me so I had to fight them off item. Also it seemed some text lacked emotives in the early mishes.

[/ QUOTE ]

I went back and fixed those text mistakes. There were a few objectives that didn't have any text attached to them, so I corrected that.

Since then, I've also copied the mission over to test, removed a boss fight that I only inserted in the story arc in order to force the level range to be Lv10-14, and tried to vary things up a little bit so that it is not quite as repetitive.

I'd love to add Omega as an ambush, or to have him guarding an objective. Alas, there is not quite enough control in the current MA interface for that to happen. The problem is that, if I were to set Omega as an ambush, then on larger teams there'd be a whole bunch of Omegas EBs ambushing the team, which wouldn't make any sense since there's only supposed to be one Omega.

Still, I am glad you enjoyed the final mission. Which is kinda funny considering the next feedback.

[ QUOTE ]
Enjoyable overall except for the last mission. The map is extremely big for the mobs you run into so it seems like a lot of hassle for the size of the map. 4 stars

[/ QUOTE ]

I took your feedback into consideration, but ultimately decided to keep the same map. It has the right amount of spawn points that I need, and thematically it is what I wanted for my story. Where else would the villains go to send items to Praetoria other than the Portal Corps?

Yeah, the final map is somewhat large-ish, but you can skip most of the rooms and run directly to the elevators.

[ QUOTE ]
I enjoyed that story. Not too hard, not too easy. I don't know if you can do anything about this, but the mobs running away at the drop of a hat did get annoying. The Skulls seem to be the worst. I was having to chase guys all over the map to defeat them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I *so* wish I could do something about the enemy "Run-Away" AI, but alas, that is completely out of my control. I find it annoying too.

By the way, there is a version of this arc on Test. I've taken advantage of some of the changes to the MA interface that's coming with Issue 15 and tweaked the story some. Changes I've made:

<ul type="square">[*]Removed the Madness Mage from Missions 1, 3, 4, and 5. The Madness Mage is only there on Live to force the level range to be Lv10-14. I kept the Madness Mage in Mission 2 because that mission takes place in Oranbega so it makes sense for a CoT mage to be there.
[*]Removed the Rows of Lockers objectives in Mission 4. The new objective is to free all three hostages. Omega spawns when Sam Wincott is freed.
[*]Added a Clockwork boss battle to Mission 5, to replace the Madness Mage battle.[/list]
All of those changes will be coming to Live as soon as Issue 15 hits live. I haven't decided whether I will simply unpublish #195149 and simply publish the test arc on Live under a new number, or whether I'll redo all of the test changes onto my published arc and keep my arc number. I suppose it depends on the number of ratings I have for this arc when Issue 15 hits live.

I am also working (on test) on the villainous counterpart to this story arc, where you help Omega open the portal to Praetoria. That'll be published when Issue 15 hits live.

They changed that Rikti Chief Soldier. He now does a second ranged attack even when in melee range.

That mob is no longer the ideal Damage Farm mob. You'll have to find another mob.

I was using a +3 Hercules Titan for my damage farm way back when I was working on the Immortal badge for my tanker. I don't know if that'll work for everybody, though.

He said receiving emails, not sending e-mails.

What they really need to do is to set up a 2nd "global ignore" list for spammers. I've already had to cycle through my /gignore list twice due to those spammers. Problem is, there are people that I have put on my /gignore list for legitimate reasons. However, those e-mail spammers send me so many e-mails that I have two options: 1) Hit "Delete" instead of "Spam" as to prevent my /gignore list from overflowing, or 2) Periodically go through my global ignore list and clean out all of the spam accounts to ensure that the people I *do* want to ignore stay ignored.

I don't know if this qualifies, but I have a Lv10-14 arc, #195149, called "The Horsemen Chronicles (Part I)." It centers around your attempt to prevent the opening of a portal between Praetoria and Paragon City. There's a Custom Critter boss (EB, downgraded to Boss on Heroic) put in for some challenge, but that's the only custom critter in the entire arc.

I have a Lv10-14 arc for when you reach that level. "The Horsemen Chronicles Part I" #195149.

Feedback is welcome and desired. :-)

My guess?

All of the Praetorians are Lv40-54 or 45-54. *Except* Anti-Matter, who is Lv40-44, as he only shows up in Tina McIntyre's story arc and not in Maria Jenkins' story arc.

The devs probably thought it'd look out of place for all of the Praetorian AVs and mobs to be chosen at Lv50 except for Anti-Matter, so they left him off the list altogether.

He'll probably be added to MA once Going Rogue is released as that'll feature Praetorians heavily.

When you get the badge for that particular IO set, you'll then have it memorized.

You can never memorize an uncommon (yellow), rare (orange), or ultra-rare (purple) recipe.

Then we'd see a bunch of "3-Plus Star Cartels" solely so that people could unlock additional slots.

I, too, would like additional slots. I have an idea for a grand epic that'll take eight story arcs to tell (one each in the Lv10-14, 15-19, 20-24, etc. range). Then I want to make a villainous version of that epic arc, so that's 16 arcs total. And that's not counting the other stories I want to do. I'd *love* more publishing slots, but alas ... I only have six (since I have two accounts) slots so I'll make do with what I have and hold onto the futile hope that the devs like my arc enough to give it a "Developer's Choice" spot so I'll get additional publishing slots.

I dunno. It's sort of weird.

One of my arcs, #2701, has four missions and is classified as "Very Long."

The other arc, #195149, has five missions and is classified as "Long."

So the determination certainly isn't the amount of missions there are. I think it depends on the size of maps you choose and the number of objectives you have.

I really wouldn't bother if you're trying for the badge. They're going to take it away when Issue 15 hits live anyway. You'll get a badge when one player plays and rates your arc, and since you already have one arc with a rating, you'll get it.

I can see both points here. Generally, somebody playing a MA mission would expect *some* sort of reward, be it xp, inf, or tickets. If your mission will not have much of those, it probably should say so in the introduction so that players will be forewarned can can choose to skip over your mission if they want to.

But on the other hand ... reporting your mission for content as a "Rikti Monkey Farm" -- especially when you CAN'T farm rikti monkeys for badges using MA -- then complaining it doesn't give any rewards is just being petty and vindictive. So any points the player might have had is instantly void.

Still, you should probably add a warning in the introduction just to be on the safe side.

It seems to go down every night at a certain point, then is brought back up in the morning.

You can already get 3 slots for $20! Just buy a 2nd account, publish your 3 arcs, then cancel your 2nd account.

Granted, you can't edit those 3 arcs unless you resubscribe, but ...

There are a lot of things in the CoX-verse that completely and utterly violates the law of physics. Heroes and villains flying around in the air despite not having lightweight bones or feathers. People blazing around at 50 mph or jumping to sheer heights. Firing energy blasts from our hands and not having that fry our hands to a crisp. "Arresting" people by smashing them in the face with a mace, axe, sword, or katana and no one get as much as a bruise from it. Frying people's inner body using radiation is considered "heroic," as is setting people on fire, encasing them in a solid block of ice, or electrocuting them with lightning bolts. Teleportation technology violating the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, as well helping everybody be virtually immortal. And so on and on.

All of those not only break the law of physics, they shatter it into smithereens, then violate the corpse of physics repeatedly in inappropriate ways.

I file the Nemesis' "steampunk" technology under the same category that I do everything above. It works that way because it just does, and because it's COOL!

The MA server was probably down. It seems to go down quite frequently on Test.

I created a new arc that I am pretty pleased with. So far it's gotten 5 ratings and has an average of 5. (Which, of course, means that the one-star bandits will probably be hitting it soon.)

Anyway, it's #195149 -- "The Horsemen Chronicles (Part I)."

It's designed for a Lv10-14 hero. The only flaw is that, due to the current limitations of the MA interface, I had to shoehorn a Madness Mage into every mission. I have a version up on test that fixes this problem, but until issue 15 hits live this is what I have to work with. :-)

The story focuses on your attempt to prevent one of Tyrant's minions from creating a portal to Praetoria. I think I did a decent job of combining CoH's lore with an eye towards the upcoming "Going Rogue" expansion.

Check it out, and let me know what you think.

Some Arachnos AVs are Lv54-54. Set an ambush point off a glowie using those AVs and set those ambush to "friendly" so they don't kill you, and there ya go.

Or put them as a hostage somewhere in the mission.

Lv54-54 Characters are:

Black Scorpion (Arachnos)
Captain Mako (Arachnos)
Ghost Widow (Arachnos)
Lord Recluse (Arachnos)
Scirocco (Arachnos)

If you want Lv53-53 characters, they can be found in the Freedom Phalanx (the LRSF Freedom Phalanx roster) and Arachnos (the AVs found in the 4th mission of the STF) roster.

Likewise, Lv52-52 characters can be found in Arachnos (The AVs found in the 2nd STF mission) and Vindicators (from the LRSF).

Yeah, that's what I thought. That's what I've been doing so far. I just wish I had some more control over my arcs sometimes.

I'd love to have a "defeat a boss to rescue a hostage / an ally" choice.

Or triggering an ambush with a boss in it that you have to defeat in order to complete the mission. (I understand why they don't do this -- ambush enemies can get trapped in walls and cause the mission to be impossible to complete, but still ...)

Or a series of objective where you have to complete an objective get a key to go to the next floor, then complete another objective to get a 2nd key, and so on and on. Kinda like what they do in the Frostfire mission.

Or something where you have to complete two objectives in order to trigger the final part. Like you have to find a key to the door, AND destroy the shields on the door before you can fight the Big Bad. Right now you can't do that. You can find the key, which causes the shields to pop up, then after you destroy them you fight the boss.

Ah well. I'm just trying to make my arc (#195149, by the way) a little bit less repetitive, but the limitations on the AE is making it difficult.

OK, so let's say I want to make a mission where I have a hostage that's guarded by a boss/EB/AV.

Like, for example, Lord Recluse is standing over a captured Statesman. I need to defeat Lord Recluse (and his Arachnos minions) to free Statesman.

Is this possible to do in the AE right now? I see an option to set the group guarding the hostage, but that just makes random people from that group guard the hostage.

Alternatively, when I put a boss in its own custom group, it will sometimes spawn multiple instances of that boss -- something I don't want to happen. I want just *one* boss and multiple lts and minions.

Is there a way to do what I want to do?

I don't know if I should wait until issue 15 comes out with the new AE changes, or if I should go ahead and ask for your feedback. What the heck. I don't have any ratings on it anyway. The major difference between the live version and the i15 test version is the fact that I took out a specific mob that I only put in to set the level range to 10-14. Now that you can choose your own level range in i15, I didn't need to use that mob in every mission anymore. The plot is the same either way.

So without further ado ...

Author: @Citizen Razor 2
Level Range: 10-14
Arc # 195149 - The Horsemen Chronicles (Part I)

In this arc, you have to prevent a villain from opening a portal to Praetoria and allowing Tyrant to invade Paragon City. It's designed for Lv10-14 heroes and is the first part of an ongoing meta-story arc (I haven't created the next parts yet, though).

I hope you like it. I tried to use pre-existing CoH lore and put in several Easter eggs.

Eh, it's not like I'd be losing any badges associated with it. I'd just have to ask that person to replay it when I republish it.

But seriously, if somebody was to play through it, I'd appreciate any constructive feedback that could be given. Even though I've removed a boss fight from most of my missions on test (and changed a boss fight in the final battle), the main storyline is still the same. My changes are merely cosmetic. Any feedback given (other than "Wow, I fought that stupid Madness Mage in every mission! Get rid of him!") would be helpful.

I'm tweaking my Lv10-14 arc. Right now, due to the limitations of the AE interface, all of my missions have a CoT Madness Mage in it. I wanted to restrict my arc to the 10-14 range, and that's the only halfway decent Lv10-14 boss mob I could find. I made the Mage the "minion" of the arc's real big bad, but it was, IMO, a weak compromise. Now that I can actually SET my own levels, I don't need the Madness Mage anymore, so I'm removing him from all of my arcs (and editing the dialogue / clues / etc to reflect the change).

I'll probably have to unpublish and republish my arc when issue 15 hits live, simply because I've already made all of the changes on test. I'd rather simply copy the edited "test" arc over to the live folder instead of redoing all of the changes again on live and maybe miss something the second time around. But since the arc currently has zero rating, it won't be that big a loss. All I'll have to do is edit the arc ID number in my signature.

I've went over my arc several times, but like you said, an extra set of eyes never hurt.

Arc ID # 195149
Arc Name: The Horsemen Chronicles (Part I)

Note: It's designed for Lv10-14 toons.

I'd appreciate it if you could add this arc to your list as well.

#195149 - "The Horsemen Chronicles (Part I)"
Faction: Heroic
Creator Global: @Citizen Razor 2
Difficulty Level: Lv10-14
Number of Mission: 5
Estimated Time to Play: 30 min - 2 hour
Synposis: Tyrant wants to establish a permanent portal into Paragon City, but realizes that as long as the eyes of the Freedom Phalanx is on him, he will never be able to do so. Therefore Tyrant is using the Wolfpack, a fledgling group of villains, to do so. Tyrant has sent Omega (custom critter) to Paragon City to collect five artifacts that will be used to build a permanent portal. You have to prevent that from happening.

I don't care if the badges are going away. I'm still gonna create stories!

This is my newest arc:

Arc #195149 "The Horsemen Chronicles (Part I)"
Morality: Heroic
Length: Long
Global: @Citizen Razor 2
Type: CoH-Focused

Description: Tyrant has sent a member of the Wolfpack to try and establish a beachhead into Paragon City again. Help the Horsemen prevent this from happening. NOTE: This story arc is set to Level 10-14 and contains an EB (downgraded to Boss on Heroic) in every mission.

It's challenging, but should be soloable. Bring Break-Frees. My Level 11 claws/regen scrapper that doesn't have any DOs was able to solo it. I have 5 other toons, from every AT, in that level range that I'll be running the arc on.

Feedback is highly welcome. I really want to make this arc the best it can be.