Dalghryn

Ditto with the same bug. It's frustrating as heck when you take the time to completely re-do a mission when a new feature is released, only to find out the feature's bugged and you have to put everything back.

I pushed my hand through two more missions. Invisibility isn't much of a plus when you have rescuies you want to hang on to.

Nice use of text color for warning (though how necessary it was, I'm not sure--more on that shortly), animations, optionals and conversation. It makes the mission seem more dynamic and realistic to have different things to see and hear. Story's flowing well, with great use of clues.

First semi criticism here... I understand it really wasn't Dr. Aeon. That's pretty much par for the course with him and good use of continuity. I'm not certain it still wouldn't be appropriate to notch him up a bit. Running a level 50 martial artist, I could have toasted him on even level without the help of my five lady friends. With them, not only was the red text warning not necessary, but "friends" would have given me time to nap.

With the Nagans, and/or with friends, an EB would be doable, and challenging. If the player chooses to scale up, that's his/her call, but would do so with fair knowledge of the potential consequences thanks to the warning.

Understanding I may be jumping the gun since I have two more missions to go, but I'd run Dr. Aeon(?) as an EB.

Taking another break.

I was refering to the actual description in the MA...which also says it's a sequel to arc #3326, now that I scroll down a little further. So, in short, no nits to pick yet. Did I mentioned I'm on pain meds?

The story so far...

I ran the first mission of "Breaking the Barrier;" one mission's about all my hand can take right now, so I'll offer feedback as I go.

Thus far, it's pretty much exactly what I expected out of Lazarus--well-written and well crafted. Unfortunately, I haven't run the first arc, so I'm having to go at it from a less informed perspective. The plus side to this is that I can play it to decide how well it stands alone. The minus side is that I know from my own arcs that I'll probably have a better picture of what's happening--and probably get into the arc more--if I had played the other arc first.

He handles the transition from arc to arc the same way I did, with some basic language establishing your relationship ("It's good to see you again...") and good use of the first clue to give you background on what you "did" before. Since those are the same tools I used, I could hardly complain.

That said, about the only nit I have to pick thus far is I think there should have been some notice that this was a continuation in the arc description (I'm going by recall here, so if there WAS notice, feel free to slap me). That way I would have either played the first arc, or at least been ready to accept my character's position in the grand scheme of things before I ran this one. Again, a very small nit, and one easy to get over. I really wish I had the time and stamina to play out the first arc before I finish this one.

Otherwise, I like the Nagans very much. Very nice concept. Well executed visually and technically and, like the rest of the text thus far, well written. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

I understand perfectly why Bad Dog makes the suggestions he makes. As the arc is written, both Statesman and Recluse seem to be overkill for the problem that's being addressed. That said, and with every bit of respect to Bad Dog, I'd suggest an alternative solution to replacing them with lower-level characters.

To me, the most interesting aspect of the arc (and what has the potential of making it unique rather than just 'another Nemesis plot' arc) is the fact that you've been presented with a situation that requires both Statesman and Recluse--CoX's two big dogs-- to help solve a crisis. Removing them and replacing them with anyone else removes what was the most intriguing aspect of the arc for me.

That said, Bad Dog is right in that, as it stands, the reasons for their being there just don't rise to the level one would expect. So, up the ante. Rework the text, dialogue and objectives in the three missions where they are involved so that any hero/villain of lesser calber stands a far greater risk of failure.

Just my thoughts. You'll find that the challenge with doing an arc is that you often get really good suggestions from different people that simply conflict. You have to pick a direction and go with it. If you try to incorporate every good idea, you'll drive yourself wacky.

Since I did make time to play through "Another Nemesis Plot," and my wife swears she'll watch the baby and hold off on the honey-dos long enough for me to play two arcs a month uninterupted, count me in, Bubbawheat.

As much as I'd like to see more runs on "Casualties of War" #241496, I think I'll go ahead and submit "Consequences of War," since it's the first of the pair. If a member's already played "Consequences..." fairly recently, feel free to run "Casualties..." instead.

Arc ID#227331
The Consequences of War
Keywords: Challenging, Canon-Related, Drama
Levels: 38 - 54
Difficulty: Moderate to hard, depending on your character's difficulty settings
Description: On May 23, 2002, the Rikti invaded. Fortunately for Earth, they hadn't taken the heroes into account. Months later, after tens of thousands of deaths, the heroes ground the Rikti to a bloody stalemate. But the Rikti had a plan...terrible plan.

Now, on to my comments.

"Another Nemesis Plot" has a lot of potential. I really like the idea of negotiating a truce between Recluse and Statesman and then teaming with them in order to stop yet another threat from the person that's arguably the third most dangerous villain next to Recluse and Emperor Cole.

You can tell the author put thought and heart into his work. If he'll take all the advice given thus far to heart, it has the makings of a top notch arc. The biggest quibble I have has been noted before. I'd suggest finding a grammar pro to go over the text. While the errors don't necessarily beat you over the head, they definitely keep the arc from being what it could be.

Otherwise, I'm not certain why the second mission is a defeat all. I'm not adverse to them (In fact, I use one), but they should really be explained well. Also, have you considered customizing the Council and Malta robots by recoloring them to match Nemesis' color-scheme some? Just an idea.

As much as my first thoughts were to comment negatively about the last map, especially with the later spawns that require ercovering it (and the fact it doesn't map), the beachhead is a perfect place for this finale to take place. Personally, I didn't find it all that troublesome when balanced with what I knew the author was trying to establish story-wise.

I am curious as to why Statesman's captors were asleep when I spotted him in the first mission. I could have also sworn I saw something about the Rikti in the description, but saw nothing about them in the arc. I am senile, though, and may have missed something.

In any case, thanks for the arc. Flesh it out a little and get that grammar pro, and it has a lot of potential.

To the point... is there a time when you think it's proper to stop promoting an arc and let other authors/arcs take advantage of the opportunities?

There are many of us that have older, more seasoned arcs that we've been promoting in one form or another for quite some time. I'll use myself as an example. Many of you are familiar with me and my two arcs. Some of you have played them; some of you have played them more than once. They've changed, improved considerably, and have become somewhat firmly nestled in the rarified land of "Page 3" in the MA search engine.

Honestly, they've gotten to the point where the only changes I would like to make are changes that would result from improvements to the MA itself, such as allowing "bodies" to remain "bodies," etc. I do make small tweaks here and there, based on input, but usually input now falls into the category of "I like what you did, " or "The change I'm suggesting has been discussed many times and left out for valid reasons."

Unfortunately, I don't have time to work on a new arc, so they're my babies. Others in similar positions are out of arc space, or have other reasons for wanting to keep promoting. But, should we be happy with our arcs' place in Wrong Number's list of 13ish arcs that stand to benefit first from any changes made as a result of her "Change the HoF" thread? Should I (we) leave them to their fate and get out of the way of people that could use the exposure more?

When should an author be satisfied with their lot? Curious minds want to know.

Congratulations!

Two arcs a month may be pushing it. I just had major hand surgery, so even typing this is challenging. And, I have a twenty month old baby. At 51 years old, that's a challenge as well. I'd love to add mine to the list, but I think I'll wait to see who else joins. If the majority are the MA board regulars, I wouldn't want to make people that have already played it once (or more) to have to run it again.

Great idea, in any case, Bubbawheat - as usual.

That's one of the disadvantages of only getting an e-mail regarding one response, but none of the others... you get a really heated argument primed, only to find out everyone else beat you to the punch. Well, I agree with everyone that posted in reply to Sumericon's last post - so there!

Gotta roll with Wrong Number and Lazarus here. The requirements for HFA can't possibly be "working as intended." Further, the quality of the remaining 100 plus play five star-rate arcs, is (by and large) better than much of what was lucky enough to get HFA when the MA was well-played. As a matter of fact, there are dozens of four star arcs that are better than many early DCs and HFAs.

The powers-that-be often re-vamp based on changing or improperly estimated game dynamics. There's no reason why they shouldn't do so in this case.

Will you accept arcs that have already been published that fit the criteria, or do they have to be new arcs? In any case, great idea. Thanks, very much, for giving your time to this effort.

For the record, similar suggestions were made to my arcs. I started with five characters. I did exactly as Bubbawheat suggests and used the extra space to flesh out the remaining characters. I tend to think they're much stronger, and I've had quite a few reviewers agree. It's hard to let go of your babies, but these folks usually don't steer you wrong. (Of course, given the number of arcs you've written and the time you spend on the boards, you already know that, Mirror man. )

I wish I had more time to run AE missions. The Players Choice Awards are really a great example of how CoX players can do something special. Kudo's, yet again, Bubbawheat. And, good luck to all the nominees.

For the moment, I will second "Storming Citadel." Maybe I'll get some free time to play and nominate some more before it's over.

No, it isn't.

Absolutely not. I'm regretting unpublishing both of my arcs back when they only had 40 plus plays. At this point in AR development (and I use that term loosely), you may never make it back up.

After having looked over your list of arcs, and having played each of them, I'd second my motion. Tweak away, but they're all solid arcs. Until they make some changes in the AE that let us know what tools we may end up having at our disposal to improve our arcs and get more plays, I'd leave them all.

I hadn't really noticed how many of my favorites are already DCed. Anyway, how about these for starters:

A Hero in Need... #375018 - Wrong Number
Suppression #374481 - Arrowrose
The Echo #1688 - MrCaptainMan

Well, now that Dr. Aeon sems to have returned, maybe he's looking at some of this stuff. We have another contest, and he's re-opened the Dev's Choice Suggestion thread. There haven't been any hints of anything else, but they have to be re-thinking the HoF problem, and a junk purge just seems inevitable.

As for the rest... one can only hope.

Besides waiting on the Devs to allow us to use unconscious people/bodies like they've been doing in most of the new content, there's not much happening here. I'm considering adding a final objective in "Casualties of War" that's dependent upon the completion of everything else where the player character finds one of the Regulators or other in-game (but not quite top tier) characters who emphasizes the importance of what you've accomplished despite the losses, but I'm not sure.

Also, I've had several people suggest they'd like to see an "Aftermath" arc that depicts some of the positive results of the Collective's sacrifice. I have a plot in mind for a final "Aftermath of War" arc, but I'm iffy on this idea at best. I rather like the conclusion as it stands, but I can see their point. Of course, the current state of the MA doesn't do a lot to inspire creativity at the moment, particularly with the amount of work that goes into one of these things.

If anyone has any thoughts on this, or any other tweaks, please let me know.

Eva, if you're in the 40 - 50 range, you had to know I'd plug "Consequences of War" and "Casualties of War." I don't have a clue how long it's been since you ran them, but I did make quite a few changes from the days when I was plugging them hard for reviews.

Of course, if you're not there yet, feel free to ignore me.

It could be equally said, "It's also sad when people think that complaining about people complaining about topic B in a thread about topic A is 'constructive.'"

The conversation about why some people are not happy with the idea of another contest, or at least another contest by itself, is also "about a contest." It's simply not about the contest in the same way you think it should be about the contest.

If the Good Doctor had meant it to be just an announcement, it could have been locked, or he could have specifically said, "Please post contest entries only," or "Please, only positive comments," or some such. He didn't, which suggests not only positive comments are okay, but constructive ones are as well.

Okay, as usual, I've changed my mind (I have the right; I'm over 50 ). Since a lot of people ARE seconding arcs, and we don't know that might not help, I'll second:

The Golden Age Secret of the Paragon Society - #344595 - Wrong Number, and
Outbroken - #379017 - Aehead

I'll also nominate:

The Echo - # 1688 - MrCaptainMan

Thanks.