Col_Blitzkrieger

1) Most wings are crafted from recipes that may either drop off enemies or be bought at the auction house. Category is Recipes -> Other. Other wing types are available from the 15 month Veteran award, or the Valkyrie pack available on the online store.

2) The low-level people with flowing scarves you mention are probably wearing Shoulder Capes, which are a veteran award for playing for 21 months. These may be applied to a character from as early as level 1, during character creation, no mission required. An armor-plated version comes with the Valkyrie pack available on the online store.

3) VEAT = Villain Epic ArcheType, Arachnos Soldiers and Arachnos Widows, which become playable upon getting a regular Villain Archetype to level 50, and come with an exclusive semi-customizable Arachnos uniform in their first costume slot.

Well, I have an arc with 2 minions, 2 lieuts, 1 boss, 2 EBs and an AV, and I'm at about 80% with 5 missions.

Now if only DA didn't suck so bad on the Villain Archetypes...

It's not that surprising that many of the leavers are old-timer veterans. The game's just not new and shiny for them anymore, they've done all there is to do (discounting the MA), and there's not much that can be done about that other than providing a brand new game.

He was never exactly difficult to find in the first place... You know, map waypoints, direction/distance indicators and all that.

I've seen mission entrances in Nerva more difficult to find than Flux's old location.

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Auto unlock your country of origin, then have to do a mission to get the rest, maybe?

[/ QUOTE ]Cool idea there.

Might be taking another short break due to a certain unexpected real-life incident I just heard about. Sorry folks, just can't bring myself to reviewing right now.

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There are also ambushes after each rescue in the final mission which you didn't mention either.

[/ QUOTE ]I was busy trying to get Frankie to stop running back and forth between the entrance and vault room randomly for no apparent reason, sorry.

No idea why he kept doing that. Nearly got me killed due to agro, too.

I've said this before, but the MA eliminated my biggest problem with the game - lack of endgame content. I have stuff to do on my 50s now, and I love playing them again. i14 rocks.

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Spam.

(why is this thread still here?)

[/ QUOTE ]Same reason all the other recent attention [censored] threads are still there?

You'd think they'd have the courtesy to keep it in one thread if they're proclaiming their departures in bulk, instead of cluttering up the first page with threads full of copypasta and themselves replying to each other's threads anyway.

Arc #82059, "A proper heist."
tl;dr: 4 stars. Offenses: Punctuation, "Just a bunch of stuff that happens".



Your contact is a guy named Reynold Smalls, who proposes to you to rob a bank together, for only 10% of the cut. And by together, he means he's too old for this crud and needs you to assemble a posse of his acquaintances before you can pull this off, even if you could probably solo a normal bank mission - but cash is cash, so you roll with it.

First on our list is the muscle, who turns out to be a former Family heavy named Frankie, currently holed up somewhere in Mercy after shoving some Capo's teeth down his own throat after an incident involving Frankie's sister.
The map is the familiar old Kalinda's-first-mission map, appropriately full of Longbow. Your goal is to find Frankie and free him. Nothing too complex, and the map is tiny. There's also an optional Hellion Damned boss, probably only there for level scaling purposes. Frankie, dressed more like a former Hellion than former Family goon, doesn't need to be escorted after the rescue, and says he owes you a favor as thanks.

Pleased that Frankie owing you said favor means you don't have to pay him for his part in the heist, Reynold next sends you after Sammy Polenski, a hitman, next on our list under "firepower". He recently did a hit on someone from the Family, and they've caught up with him. You're told to go help the guy out, and ignore what he says about your appearance.
Sure enough, the next map is full of Family, an office. Another simple goal - just find Sammy and rescue him. Along the way, there was a particularly nasty Bone Daddy in a particularly tight corridor, who reminded me just how damn strong Skull bosses really were. Sammy looks moderately amusing, sporting a green suit with a green high-collar cape and green very-wide-brimmed hat. During the encounter he shows signs of rhypophobia, exclaiming that both his captors and yourself are all filthy, and that you should clean yourself up. At least he's sort of nice about it towards you.

Muscle, get, firepower, get, next up is the getaway driver, which seems almost unnecessary when most villains have a travel power by threat level 14. He brings it up later that she can just drive you to the bank, so you don't have to wade through the streets to get there. In any case, the driver turns out to be Reynold's own daughter, who you have to go and save - this is essentially a carbon-copy of mission 2 (obligatory Bone Daddy for level scaling purposes included), only the map is a warehouse and the captive is female. Note, this particular captive seems to actually be a combat-capable Ally, though the mission ends in success when you rescue her anyway, so all she did was pull out a shield before I exited.

As for the finale, Reynold casually tells you that he's already sent the others ahead of you, and tells you to go catch up to them and wrap things up - they should've cleared the bank by now.
Reynold overestimates your helpers. The map is a standard Bank map, full of the usual Security Guards faction, who are -not- cleared out at all. Indeed, Frankie is within sight, subdued by the guards and muttering that they should've waited for you before barging in. Whoops. In any case, this last mission is pretty easy, though Frankie went through some MAJOR AI-glitches... Oh, you also rescue Sammy in the vault room, right before grabbing the loot and taking off.



Well, it works as an easy lowbie villain arc. I use the word "easy" here liberally, as the Bone Daddies were anything but. However, they're entirely optional and only present for level scaling purposes, so players with luckier spawn locations can simply bypass them.
The story's kind of dull, though not to an unreasonable degree, being aimed at lowbies, to whom robbing a bank might still be a complex operation. However, it's consistent, and possesses some witty dialogue, including several Lampshadings/gags at recurring CoV elements (brokers, the need to traverse the streets to get to a bank when you could drive there, rescuing people as a villain, etc.), resulting in an overall enjoyable experience.
While it isn't quite epic to the degree of some of the other content out there, it's appropriate for its intended level target, and completely soloable, with no overpowering gratuitous custom factions. Worth taking a lowbie villain on a playthrough.

#Arc 27552, "Apocalypse Cow"
tl;dr: 4 stars. Offenses: Surprise failable mission, powerposing/godmodding, "Just a bunch of stuff that happens".



WARNING: Humor is subjective. May not be funny to everyone, especially if you do not enjoy puns.



Your contact is Santa Gertrude... okay, this arc is so FULL of bovine puns I'm not even going to link what they all refer to. Seriously, play it, Google everything, nearly anything that is not a standard mob is a reference to a breed of cow or other cow-related joke/pun/reference. It's ludicrously well done.

Anyway, your contact sends you to rescue Jamaica Hope, who's been abducted by the Devouring Earth during her picnic in Eden. The mission is timed at 30 minutes, which you're warned of in advance (accompanied by what could be a subtle anti-farming stance declaration by the author). The map is the rather huge Eden map, as was expected... Luckily, there's no escort involved, so this was relatively quick and straightforward. By the way, she was kidnapped because she was in bio-weapons research in Crey Industries.

As if on cue, a Crey lab is attacked by DE, destroying anything they get their hands... claws... tendrils... er, limbs on. Your goal is to rescue some... okay, a LOT of scientists. Some are allies. Speaking of which, the map seems to either have a bunch of rather large ambushes or rather large patrols trotting around, one of which managed to kill one of the allies while I went AFK for like 20 seconds to get a snack from the kitchen, next to an elevator which I thought would be a safe spot. Mission failed, oh well.

One of the scientists you saved told you that the program they were working on (apparently focusing on cattle...) was run by a guy named Walter E. Cowtz, who'd fled with the genetic plans. The next map is a cargo ship (starting to feel like an overused map, that one), full of the usual boring Crey Tanks, and some oddly arcane looking bookcases.

Your goals are to pluck out two glowies from amidst several fake ones, and to defeat a boss, who is not, in fact, Cowtz. Instead, there was a custom Boss surrounded by 5th Column, who died way too fast for me to be able to tell what his powersets were. He seemingly tries to flee at low HP, which turns this into a surprise failable mission.

Without much of a briefing, you're implied to have chased Cowtz further, and the next map is the Primeva river map, full of the token gratuitous 5th Column cameo we've all seen in half of the arcs so far. Seriously, it's my favorite faction in the game, but everyone seems to put them in an arc whenever they need "unspecified bad guys with guns" so this won't win bonus points from me.
Cowtz is Mercenaries/Dark, and thus turned my Brute into mincemeat in our first fight before I could really do much. Goshdang Fearsome Stare. During the rematch I brought some appropriate insps and got my revenge. Cowtz rambles on a bit during the fight, and in the end you're explicitly implied to have killed him; oh well, the arc is Neutral.

But, who would've guessed it, there IS a cow level! The final mission reveals that the experimental humanoid cattle supersoldiers have escaped from wherever it is they were being held, and it's your job to stop them before things get ugly. The map is the Mother Mayhem hospital, and is a defeat-all full of custom mobs... and they're all cows!
Seriously, every one of them even has a description you'd expect to see in a cattle-themed Wiki, except for a sentence or two about supernatural powers in the end. In any case, either the author feels some sort of association between cattle and the arctic, or I missed a joke, but every single cow mob seems to have ice powers of some kind. Can be very annoying when Ice Armor using mobs get buffed by Cold Domination ones. There's also a moderately tough EB, Fire Melee/Ice Armor, and the only female, who you have to, quote, "slaughter". After turning them all into hamburgers, you're implied to make off with a little baby panda cow... thing, which was on her shoulder, deeming it too cute to kill.



I don't really know what to say. While running this arc, I was mostly staring at my screen in disbelief - but, for a change, in a good sense. The amount of cow puns is staggering, taken to the point of nearly counting as an art form. I realize I didn't cite any puns in the review, but, seriously, people... go play this. There's too many. Barely a single sentence that doesn't cowtain a pun on cattle.
Gameplaywise, some of the missions were annoying. The timed captive hunt on the huge Eden map isn't something that I particularly enjoyed, in spite of the humorous banter uttered by a DE patrol at one point. The second mission has a -ton- of escorts, none of which are allowed to die. The final one has particularly synergetic custom mobs, which may or may not strike you as a good thing.
I'm not sure if it's fair of me to nitpick at the story lacking impact, considering this was obviously a humor arc. Sure, the puns were hilarious in both quality and quantity, but it has the common flaw of not introducing or explaining characters or key plot elements - though, in hindsight, I suppose the 5th Column showing an interest in cow supersoldiers isn't that odd, considering they already employ Furries... Also, the arc blatantly decides what your character does, or even SAYS at some points, though this may not bother most people in a humor arc.
I understand the author is unable to edit the arc due to bloating, and not wanting to lose his current ratings. However, all things considered, this arc is definitely worth checking out. Bring help for the EBs though.

Wrong forum in my humble opinion - should go in Suggestions.

I agree with you, though.

That's strange - you say you were auto-lackied to a higher level? And it didn't work then? I'd send a bug report, that doesn't sound right. I'll do some MA arcs later tonight on my own MM to see if this affects me too.

Doesn't make sense for Mayhem missions.

My name is Col. Blitzkrieger, I play a bunch of toons on Union, mostly redside, though I do love also my Warshade. My in-game hobbies are the MA and answering peoples' questions on game mechanics, builds, and other power-related questions. No intentions of leaving as i14 pretty much eliminated my biggest problem with the game - lack of stuff to do on my 50s.

I also enjoy Italian food and I'm single.

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The Damage aura's a waste of endurance

[/ QUOTE ]...when soloing. In large teams it can provide a huge percentage of your AoE damage output.

Why don't you just start/join a team? I don't understand the point of this thread.

Well, keep in mind that a 20% proc chance means every attack has a one-in-five chance of proccing, not that every fifth attack will proc. It's really a matter of luck, some missions go by with very few procs, sometimes it procs so often for me that my Enforcers' damage output seems to get nearly a 50% boost.
I honestly don't see it in the mess of orange numbers very well, but I notice it proc pretty often in my Combat Tab. You'll notice it more by fighting larger spawns to make use of cones, and with more pets out at a time. Procs are just subtle like that, but this one is very effective in increasing damage output for Enforcers, Mercs and Jounin.

Also, I highly recommend you get an Achilled Heel proc, too.

Ah, good to hear; my own shameless badge-farmage has been limited to getting the Mission Engineer accolade (more for comfort than bragging rights), so I was only specifically aware of the Defeat badges being odd.

They really ought to swap things around so Published-play badges have the higher needed values and Test-play badges have the lower ones. After all, you're more likely to play through a ton of published arcs, than to test a gazillion of your own; this is assuming you don't just farm them.

I have an Elec/Elec Brute and an Elec/Shield Brute... I've never noticed Elec Melee being particularly endurance-heavy on either one (granted, the first one has unlimited endurance thanks to the secondary), except maybe Chain Induction. I have minimal EndRedux slotting in my Elec/Shield Brute and I only have occasional endurance trouble when running Grant Cover (which I don't do when soloing), easily mitigated by carrying CABs. Just my experience, though.

Works fine on my Enforcers. Are you sure it doesn't proc? Mercs are DoT heavy so your screen's gonna be full of numbers... Or were you monitoring the Combat tab?

And to think people want the ability to have capes with coat tails and wings.

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I still want to know who it is in the I15anniversary banner

[/ QUOTE ]My wild guess is Reichsman.