DB_Cooper

Hi there! I have an identical play-style with my significant other ... and I really like the idea of your thread. Could you please try playing my MA creation?

#1626 The Golden Roller Gets His Groove Back

It's a single mission designed for lowbies to solo or play with small teams. The intent was to make something like the paper/radio missions, but with a slightly more engaging story and play-through. Let me know what you think and have fun!

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This is the funniest damn thing I have read in a LONG time. Keep it up!

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QFT

Umm... to be clear... this is NOT a negative review. Simply feedback on playing with squishy Villains in response to the in-game feedback you received. The text/dialogue is spotless and seems to have been fully edited. I love the story and eagerly await the next parts...

I would definitely describe this as a Story/Plot/Character driven arc... versus the "Scrapper Challenge" types of MA missions designed to test supreme builds, etc. That's exactly why I wanted to leave some feedback because while I'm a casual player... I'm an experienced casual player and I failed on my main toon twice now... so I can clearly envision more casual players who are also unable defeat the EB in the opening and AV in the finale mission. They are officially no joke on anything but the lowest difficulty setting. I'd hate for any players to miss out the excellent fiction just because of the tough boss fights. I'm sure it's a lot easier on teams, but I seem to recall you posting somewhere that as it was story-based you intended to to be solo/duo friendly for those who want to take their time and read, etc.

You could maybe tone it down a smidgeon, though I'm not sure exactly how you'd achieve this while keeping everyone happy... just food for thought. Overall, though, this is still my favorite use of the Hologram Contact and Mission Architect, period. It's ... engaging.

So... I re-ran later with my 50 Psi/Dom and a partner, A'ndromeda a 50 Dark/Kin Corr. Difficulty setting was Malicious.


IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS -- WATCH OUT!







This time no issues with Ginzago... everything was fine up until the last mission and the AV. We couldn't beat him and he killed us 4x each. The waves of ambushes seemed to crush our dreams whenever we seemed to be gettin' him. After realizing it was hopeless in our current setup... jogged outside to the BM (in Mercy Island, we were in Mercy AE) to buy much-needed inspirations... went back in... and the entire defeat all map had reset. O.o.

Had been playing 1-2 missions at a time over several hours... but we couldn't summon the effort to re-clear the map to likely get our [censored] handed to us by the AV -- again. So, had to quit without rating -- again. Did you change something I missed maybe since publishing on Test? I can't shake the feeling that the mobs/missions are tougher.

Rugged / Solo = fail at mission # 1.
Malicious / Duo = fail at Finale.

Looks like the lowest difficulty setting is appropriate for Solo/Duo (at least for me). I feel like my Dom had been faring well in the MA, even against EBs/AVs, though I can't crack this particular nut for some reason. I feel... humbled. I also am sick of running out of Inspirations, sick of being Terrorized, and unhappy that +Recharge from Speed Boost no longer affects my pet Singularity after i14 (Sing used to spam stackable holds/immobilizes that would've really helped with the AV).

I'm still wondering what we did to respawn the entire map, too. That was the dagger in the heart that finished us off. Maybe I'm tired. Maybe I'm unfocused. More likely, I'm just not l337 enough to ignore the Author's Note DB's advice to solo/duo squishy Villain AT's -- play on Villainous. If you're l337 and up for a challenge -- solo with a Dom/Corr on Malicious/Rugged and let us know how it went!

Who remembers that Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text game that was like this. I still think some motivated forum goer needs to make/publish a playable City of Heroes: Golden Age game on the internet

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*scratches head*

Huh. I can see how Luna's encounter would have gone awry if they didn't do some reasonable flanking work for the fight; but even with your Dominator? Can you try running him on Villainous for comparison?

I honestly didn't take villain ATs into account (I thought at the time that flagging an arc as "Heroic" was enough to lock out villains, but I was wrong) when I built the AVs. The stock classes are pretty even keel though...

Hrm. Testing this tonight then, I can borrow a bud's Dominator and try it on that difficulty for comparison. Can you try it on the default Challenge: 1 setting?

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Hey Turg... I think I'd just left the setting on Rugged by accident and was too lazy to change it. Usually my Dom eats anything Rugged, however. Dom's are a fairly good test toon because they have so few HPs and defense/damage resist options... and well hey what can I say I love Doms.

**SPOILER ALERT (but probably nothin' major)**






I can't recall exactly but I may also not have done a full clear. I remember that my Singularity pet was definitely giving me random aggro problems and I was turning him on/off. I'm pretty sure Ginzago was a +2 EB. The first time I went down I am pretty sure I ignored my Accolades and could've Phase Shifted... but was just testing. The next time I did the same thing, but I got mad. The third time he beat me down I was angry and definitely used (abused?) some Accolade and Temp powers... but he still got me.... then got me again... then I realized there was a kind of horrible inequity in the fight that I couldn't figure out how to overcome... and, reluctantly, I had to give up and leave unrated. When I ran it on Test, I don't recall any major issues with the first mission boss.

I don't want to give you inaccurate feedback so will test again right now on... Malicious. I'll let you know how that goes and if it doesn't go well I'll actually listen to the author's note and run solo on the lowest difficutly. I've already played/rated your arc on Test so please know that ignoring MA authors' instructions (a new habit I'm developing) would never affect my rating ... hopefully just help test, etc. Anyhow... I love the dialogue and scale of this arc... here we go!

EDIT: or not, the servers are locked right now following the publication of today's patch

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Mateo: Not a spoiler really, like I said, it's just more insight on how I shorthand stuff. Maybe I should do intentional easter eggs in my arcs?

Update: I'm kinda concerned about a bunch of comments I got yesterday on the first boss (mish 1, at the end) being too hard (causing the players to walk away). I got about 5 of them yesterday, but nothing else was mentioned at all last week (mostly it's about the Lieutenants).

I haven't played it yet to confirm, but anyone have opinions with their boss fight on the first map? I tested with 3 different toons (controller, blaster, scrapper), and I did fine each time, but I was also on Heroic to Unyielding at the time.

Lemme know, I have an update finalized excepting this bit, more feedback would be good.

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Hey Turg... true life confession, here. I ran through it again on Live and the boss on mission #1 handed me my [censored] like seven times in a row. I was on 'Rugged' with my 50 Dom. I had to walk away 'cuz I couldn't get through it or find teammates. I've made it before, but I can totally understand some casual players having trouble with him and never being able to enjoy the rest of the arc.

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Okay so ... my inital foray into the Mission Architect has been republished on Live as:

The Golden Roller Gets His Groove Back!
Arc ID: 1626

Please play, rate, share feedback, etc.

Also, congrats to Turgenev on his Developer's Choice Arc (Arc ID 1013)!

I have my brother visiting me this coming Friday, so probably will not be able to make the TF unless I can talk him into "observing." We'll see. I'd estimate 15%

Count me 85% in at this point. If I can get my PB Barak Obackup the minimum level 20 by then I'll run it with him; if not then I'll re-run it with Coors L1ght, who is sittin' @ 25.

I know Sir Zane is interested in this too. The question is -- is he still reading the forums?

It was definitely good to see some CO'ers last night. Thanks for helping me play test out my Architect mission too guys.

I could be persuaded to run the PSTF again -- I just don't want to have to lead/schedule it

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I've been tinkering with MA a bit DB. I'll give your mission a whirl next time I'm on.

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Thanks El_Zilcho, and thanks in advance to anyone else willing to try my mission out. It will take you about as long as a radio mission, scaled to difficulty, but hopefully will have a more interesting story. Fair warning, it's level range is somewhat narrow from 15-20 but it's all about the fun ... especially on Test. Tried to keep the content somewhat consistent with the CoV canon.

There is so much content out there it's easy for stuff to get buried... a lot of the highly rated content is also garbage (I think people's entire SG are spamming 5-star ratings??)... I think I'm just going to try the stuff people I know make... which would still provide like triple the content of the CoX universe

It's going to be a good Issue, for sure. If anyone has anything they'd like me to test for them, just let me know!

The Golden Roller Gets His Groove Back!
TEST SERVER
MA Arc ID # 17960

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How did the Sister Psyche TF go?

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2:51:27

It was done with a pick-up group and was more grindy than some of the smoother TF runs we've done with Capitol Offense. Jamelles and I had been neglecting the toons (level pacted) after several failed attempts go get one going, so when someone started broadcasting Sister Psyche we jumped.

Lots of Freaks. Freaks don't mix well with defeat alls, and of course they take a while though the xp is great. I still have 60% of level 25 left, though.

I was talking w/Sir Zane in game about maybe re-running it with some CO'ers (I'd exemp for the merits). If folks are still wanting to do it, I think it would be more fun with Capitol Offense.

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*is tingly for I14

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Well, if anyone is tingly for i14 and already on Test ... would you be willing to try out my first go at the Mission Architect? It is a one-mission arc, and shouldn't take more than 5-15 minutes depending on how you play. Any ratings and/or feedback is greatly appreciated.

The Golden Roller Gets His Groove Back!
[color= black]# 17960[/color]

@DB Cooper1 - Test

If I wasn't so tired I'd be drafting some Capitol Offense backstory arcs in i14 Open Beta ...

So.... tired. So, so, tired.

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What time?

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Er, I don't know. Sometime between now and 9pm?

I'm popping my head back in after being busy with... you guessed it... work. Work is the bane of gaming, no?

Did anyone ever pull off the Sister Psyche TF? If not -- or if people want to -- I am game to run it today.

Sister Psyche TF fail, as in it never got started. We'll try again next weekend!

Time adjustment fail. Apparently time goes ahead one hour today. That means the TF is starting at 4:30pm EST in the real world, not inside my house where all the clocks say 2:43pm now. Sorry about that.

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I'll log in at 330 to see whos on to play!
Vix

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I am in an extremely casual mood this Sunday so will simply login at 3:30pm and spam the CO/SG chat channels to find other TF friendly individuals online. In the worst case scenario we'll try to snag a few randoms to fill out the team or do something else... play alts... etc. Happy Sunday everyone!

Alrighty then... looks like this could happen Sunday afternoon. I'll plan to be around ~3:30pm.

Okay so no particularly strong sentiment for Saturday... Sunday afternoon perhaps? Maybe at the 3PM start time?