Defenestrator
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Posts
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Joined
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Cincinnati, eastern time zone.
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I subscribe to Discover magazine, and every month they have some medical article that involves weird symptoms and doctors trying to figure out what's really going on. It's like an episode of "House" without all the sarcasm or the incredibly gorgeous Olivia Wilde.
My problem is that I read these things and I always seem to have these incredibly vague "symptoms." You know...
Skin rashes -- it's hayfever season, so I usually end up with some mild skin problems.
Joint aches & pains -- now that you mention it, my knee has really been acting up...
Swollen belly/abdomen -- I think I've put on a couple of pounds lately, and that's where it's gone.
So imagine my shock when I got to the end of the article and diagnosed myself with...
Ovarian cancer. -
The appropriate term is "bacon lung." It has a much better sound to it than "H1N1."
Anyway...hope he's back on his feet soon. -
Forgot to include my standard response to "can't find a team" posts:
So, you can't find a group?
What method are you using to find a group?
Are you level 40 and standing around in Atlas Park and spamming in broadcast? You're doing it wrong.
1) If you're going to spam in broadcast, you're better off doing so in a zone close to your level range.
2) You should learn which global channels are in use on your server and look there. Every server has these. Some have multiple channels and you should utilize all of these.
3) You should learn to present yourself in a manner where people who might be looking for group mates will want you. Your broadcast should MINIMALLY include your AT and level and be written coherently.
Can't get on a group? FORM ONE!
1) Learn to use the team search function and invites.
2) Learn to read user comments in said search screen. Someone doesn't want a blind invite? Send a tell first!
3) Speaking of sending tells first, you don't need to write a book, but give SOME information as to the plan. If you send tells such as "Group," "Team?" or "U TEAM" you will not win friends or influence people. (And those are some of the more coherent bad examples I've received.)
Anyone who can't find a team in this game is either playing during off hours on a low population server (and even then they have ways of finding teams), or has extremely bad manners and exhibits anti-social behavior. (There, I said it.)
Once you've formed a group?
1) Don't be a tool.
2) Be a decisive leader if you are leading. (i.e. Don't stand around for 10 minutes before setting a mission.)
3) Don't be a bossy leader, if you are leading.
4) Don't run only YOUR missions if you are leading.
5) Don't be a tool. -
NOTE: the people who are busy AE farming are the same people who were previously busy farming outdoor missions in Peregrine or TV missions in Grandville before AE farms existed. Once the AE farms are killed, they will most likely go back to their previous behavior, thus they really have no effect on whether or not "real" groups can be formed.
Also note that server population is probably down slightly because of a combination of the following reasons:
1) CO just launched and some people are over there. Many will probably return soon. Some already have.
2) There is an open beta of the new issue on Test and many people are there. They WILL return soon.
3) Schools have just started up again, cutting into the playing time of many.
4) Miscellaneous other reasons I don't feel like thinking up. -
Quote:Yeah, it's horrible to be rude to PEOPLE WHO STOLE FROM THEM.Originally Posted by talnar
i will agree that it is better then the normal DRM, but i just find that they are beeing a little rude about it. i got the collector's edition and i am loving it but then again i can affored it. personaly i think they should be nicer to the pirates then saying " the bug is your morals"
If someone breaks into my house, it's not going to be "please" and "thank you." It's going to be Baseball Bat Justice.
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To date no game has been "killed" by a direct competitor coming out.
Games like "Matrix Online" have managed to kill themselves, but if older games like Ultima Online or EverQuest can stay open and functional then I'm pretty sure CoX isn't going away any time soon. -
With only 4 people signing up, this didn't get off the ground, so we have this:
With football starting tonight (WOO HOO) I've set up a salary cap league over at ESPN.com.
It's very simple: you have monies. You spend the monies to make a team. You can change your team throughout the season as long as you don't go over the salary cap on any given week.
Step 1: go here and sign up: http://games.espn.go.com/gridiron/en/frontpage
Step 2: Join the group "CoH League" with the password "victory"
Step 3: Try to make your team name similar to your forum name here, so we know who to mock for taking Tony Romo. -
Quote:I know it's legit because despite teaming with 7 versions of himself, Satanic Hamster has debt.Originally Posted by ReclusesPhantom
It is photoshopped. The team chat names and defeat names are different to the team list and it has said nothing about team mates joining. Also, you can see "Two satanic Hamsters" is at the top of the team chat window.
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Quote:I don't think a horror or tragedy arc is a bad thing. But, at the end of the arc, I think players want to see:Originally Posted by Zamuel
It's interesting that I feel like devil's advocate for both ScooterTwo and Defenstrator's views. I feel that the good thing about the MA is that it allows you to make stories that you can't get in the main game so while it might need tweaking, a horror/tragedy arc is perfectly fine. I have two arc concepts I have planned that will break the mold slightly so while there may be frustrations, I'm more than willing to give different styled arcs my attention.
1) That they accomplished SOMETHING good (or bad, if playing a villain) and that something good came out of the story, even if it has a tragic feel to it. (I forget the title, but there's a Lovecraft story where the protagonist "saves" the world simply by delaying the death and destruction for 500 years, for example. Oh, and he's driven insane, which isn't really doable in this game.)
2) That they were the focus of the story. While we may be writing "our" stories, as soon as a player accepts the missions, "our" stories become "their" stories. They are the protagonist. Their characters are the ones that are "living" these stories and so must be engaged in that way. If their characters are dragged along as second fiddle or bootlicks, they will probably not enjoy the arc.
If you can keep focused and succeed on those two points, you will have a good arc. -
Quote:It FELT like 20.Originally Posted by Scootertwo
Actually there are only 11 succubae in that map.
10 Acolytes and 1 Priestess.
I checked this out again yesterday, and either there is a bug with Clear Mind or it doesn't work quite the way I thought with Confuse.
If I got confused and she used Clear Mind, it would override over the top of the Confuse and cancel it out.
If I had Clear Mind on me, and I got hit with Confuse, the Confuse would overwrite the Clear Mind and take effect.
I even checked the icons...Clear Mind -- 9.1 protection versus Confuse.
The Confuse powers - -3.0 Confuse Protection
And I only had one instance of Confuse on me, so Clear Mind SHOULD have worked. I'll send Castle a PM to check on this.
Again, I would simply advise to tone it down. Maybe make the Acolyte's "lesser Acolytes"? -
Quote:While that might be a good story for fiction, this is a game that you're creating content for. People playing the game are playing heroes to feel, you know, heroic. While playing PnP games, my group would see this. A GM would set up a mission for failure (pretty much no matter what the players did, it was the story to fail to be resolved the next mission) and it usually left a bad taste with the group. It's good from a storytelling perspective, but bad for a group's enjoyment for the evening.Originally Posted by Scootertwo
Any color should work for me I use the villian skin so it's all good. as long as the typo fix is different from the rest of the text..
Can I ask one favor for those helping to fix these arcs. don't rate them until after the author says they are fixed.
Part was 5 star averaged now 4.. meaning someone 3 starred it
And I realize that I have a different concept of fun from others... part two is supposed to be more challenging..and in honesty it's part of the story to fail.
It's not supposed to make the heroes feel all warm and fuzzy. It's to see how far they will go to save what they percieve as an innocent. not everything is a comedy. Meaning they all lived happily ever after. Sometimes stories are tragedies where the "good guy" dies and thats it.
This is the feeling I get with what you're trying to do. You're telling your story, but you're messing with the heads of the players by setting up a "sucker's bet" for missions that are designed to fail. It's a good thing to tell a good story, and there's one in here, but keep in mind that some people are not going to share your vision and aren't going to like this style of story to play in a game.
I did play another arc yesterday where a very short mission was set up to fail (although, the player has a pretty fair chance at succeeding). The dialogue afterwards was actually pretty hilarious and it got immediately resolved in the next mission, so I let this slide. (GAH...was just checking for the arc # and I think I tossed it.
)
Another thing to mention is that a huge complaint I see on the forums regarding content in this game is that the players feel like they're playing second fiddle to the core heroes (Statesman, Positron, etc.). This is especially evident on the CoV side where you're indoctrinated into a villainous organization and the contacts frequently talk down to you and treat you like dirt. This is also something I've tried greatly to avoid in arcs that I've done. There were missions in your first arc where you "succeed" in the mission and come back to be berated by the contact, and I think this is a negative. It fits in your story, but it doesn't necessarily fit in the tone of the game.
There are some stories like this I would like to do, but this medium is very limited with what you can do and convey, so I've simply chosen to rework them. I think this is the wall you're running into.
Again, this is your story and I can only offer advice, but you should also understand that there will be people who do not like this style of story (you say this yourself) and will probably not rate it with 5 stars. -
Quote:No, I read the story.Originally Posted by Scootertwo
Typos fix'd before you posted I was in the middle of editing when you played it. 3 stars
See I can tell you didn't read it. If you payed attention the first mission is simply supposed to be just go and watch. You are not "supposed" to be able to interact with anything. I hate to spoil anything but the damage is already done the second you say yeah show me the story. If you play part II you you find out that wasn't anything you could do.
Look, I'm not worried if you change stuff or not. The Emp. Defender following me around used Clear Mind twice during the whole mission, plus I had to get to her first. There were about 20 Confuse using MOBs in that mission (a small map). I stood around most of the mission unable to attack anything. If that is your intent for this mission that's okay, but it's not fun to play.Quote:*spoiler alert*
Again the choice of that particular boss is essential to the story considering who the main Villain actually turns out to be. This is an off shoot of established real world Mythology. Sorry the Succubae stay hence the Emp being there she will put CM on you.
The navigation that comes up for an escort did not come up, so it was not obvious that I needed to run her out. "Focus on the task at hand" is vague. I also didn't see a Mission Prompt for "Escape with Hell-Cat," which would have been useful.Quote:Actually it can support a lot of things. People are too easily distracted. the only thing you have to do to complete the mission is get her out. Every thing I mean everything else, I cannot stress this enough, IS NOT NECESSARY. So I added the line in the send off dialogue. "Focus on the task at hand" I guess thats why they called the badge poor impulse control. -
ScooterTwo: your first arc.
Like Zamuel, I tend to cringe at time travel.
TYPOS, SPELLING, GRAMMAR (trying to omit that which Zamuel already pointed out):
MISSION 1:
Mission briefing:
"Don't be alarmed the anyone you see" is awkward. "the" should probably be "that."
MISSION 2:
Mission briefing:
"a hero showd" should be "a hero showed"
"if they had succeded" should be "if they had succeeded"
"what you desribe" should be "what you describe"
"worst of the damge" should be "worst of the damage"
The phrase "What would she do if she saw what you describe the was like when I brought you back?" is awkward. I'd go with "What would she do if she saw what you described to me?"
Empathic Eve dialogue: "Names Eve nice..." should be "Name's Eve. Nice..."
Post Mission Briefing:
"It's a very long story one I don't time to tell right now" should be "It's a very long story. One I don't have time to tell right now."
"Alot" should be two words.
"...died that night it was my greatest failure" should be "...died that night. It was my greatest failure."
"are you still willing?" should be capitalized.
Mission 3:
Mission Briefing:
"I need you to rogue for me." should be "I need you to go Rogue for me."
"the address, she live at" should omit the comma
"steal thier files" should be "steal their files"
Mission 4:
Mission Briefing:
"valuble" should be "valuable"
"this fire thats is" should be "this fire that's" or "this fire that is"
"I need to risk yourself again" should be "I need you to risk yourself again"
COULD NOT COMPLETE MISSION 4 (see below)
Story issues:
Time travel. Please don't take it personally; it's really not my cup of tea. The idea of going back in time and seeing a situation and knowingly altering the past is probably avoidable by not going back in time in the first place. I think my character, as a hero, at about the time the contact was telling me to go back in time and rob a police station would have said, "This is your problem, lady. YOU fix it." And then I'd have thrown her out a window.
Contact appearance -- contact is blind, but is wearing clear glasses. Either go with no glasses or dark glasses.
DIFFICULTY / MECHANICS ISSUES
Missions 1 and 2 -- overuse of Confuse powers. I'd change the standard bosses into another power set and save Confuse powers for the boss at the end. In mission 2, due to my difficulty settings, every encounter had a boss with Confuse. After rescuing Empathic Eve, these encounters became "Defenestrator stands around and takes damage while the ally does all the work."
Mission 4 -- could not finish the mission. I think the problem you're having with getting glowies to spawn is that the map does not support three glowies + three hostages. Check the limitations of the map and cut out what you need to.
Also, I would bump Hell-Cat down from an Elite Boss to a standard Boss. She made the end of the mission too easy. -
Quote:That was the problem. Had I known to clear the map first, it would have been a piece of cake.Originally Posted by Zamuel
the main part of my strategy was clearing the ENTIRE map before I pressed the "allies nao" button. Plus, it took failing once to figure out a better strategy.
However, I would not alter the mission to say "clear the map first." -
Quote:Believe me, I understand this, too. I definitely want to make something that has a challenge to it. As Zamuel mentioned, the big bad at the end of "Husk" hits like a truck. And he DOES have a healing power, but it requires a "To Hit" roll. Most people load up on purples before tackling Elite Bosses, so I'm hoping the heal isn't a huge issue. Still, though, if he hits too hard it's a problem. I ran one mission where the elite boss was Super Strength / Invuln, both set to Extreme. I had a Statesman EB and a Lord Recluse EB as Allies AND WE COULDN'T DENT THIS THING. Oh, and I ate a Knockout Blow right through Elude for 2947 damage. I'm all for a challenge, but there comes a point when the challenge becomes impossible.Originally Posted by Calash
Thank you both. Great feedback.
The last mission balance has been a bit of a pain for me. I am trying to create a challenge that requires some thinking before charging in. It seems to work better with some AT's and players than others.
Healing Flames is one of those powers that does not need a To Hit roll and it fires off rather consistently. I think the problem I've been having is I've run into a LOT of missions where Fiery Aura is all the rage on Elite Bosses, and I know it's going to take me 10 minutes to bring the EB down. I can stack Divine Avalanche pretty well when Elude drops, so my defense pins down the EB's To Hit, but it's a real downer when I see this power choice.
Invulnerability has Dull Pain, but that doesn't recharge nearly as fast as Healing Flames and is much more manageable as a result.
Also, if the pet robots had survived to the final encounter, I probably would have done a lot better against the end boss. Zamuel cheated and had a confuse power.
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Well, counting me, we're up to 4 people.
We would need to find at least 4 more to make this worthwhile. -
Quote:I missed those bits of dialogue, so I think it would make it okay. I'm still a littel sketchy on a robot (becoming self-aware or not) ratting out the plan.Originally Posted by Zamuel
I didn't have a problem with the robot blabbing the plan since his text mentioned that he was becoming self aware. Likewise, it mentioned that he escaped police custody so I was okay with him showing up in the next mission.
Well, yeah, that will own a MM boss.Quote:Carrion Creepers + Seeds of Confusion + robot allies + Mastermind EB = glorious chaos. I was in there with my katana/reflexes scrapper, who can handle just about anything in the game unless they have massive accuracy or to hit buffs or massive defense debuffs. I pretty much ignored the robot minions since the only things they could hit me with were the Assault Bot robot Burn patches. Seeds of Confusion makes those Healers Bots that race in a lot easier to deal with, too.
I probably won't be able to hit any more arcs tonight (Friday) since we're got that all robot MM strike force running tonight. -
Okay, ran through Calash's arc, 17006. This would have been too many tells, so here it goes:
Overall impressions: story was good, and the arc used a lot of very innovative construction dynamics, which I liked. I'm going to have to figure out how you did a couple of those. I think you may have overdone the dynamics on the final mission, though (see below).
TYPOS, GRAMMAR CORRECTION:
Mission 1: Clue: Assault Bot Memory Chip: "Dark Veil" is spelled incorrectly.
Mission 2: Mission Briefing: the phrase "She is going to follow on...between the two of us he can" should probably have been "She is going to follow on...between the two of us we can"
Mission 3: Mission end briefing: "I was worried about this cutie." should read "I was worried about this, cutie."
Mission 4: Mission briefing: "This is it sweetie." should read "This is it, sweetie."
Mission 4: Mission end briefing: "You did it honey." should read "You did it, honey."
Mission 4: Objective: "Communication" is typoed.
STORY ISSUES:
Mission 2: the Susan Veil clue about the toxins is repeated pretty much verbatim by the contact in the mission end briefing. You might want to change the clue to "Susan Veil hands you some important looking documents" or "Susan Veil hands you a computer disc" or some such, that way the same thing isn't being read twice.
Mission 3: the MK-IV Android Clue where he spits out all the information about his boss. Androids (as well as robots and other constructs) will not defy their programming. Assuming he was created by the villain, the villain would not have put in programming that says, "Blab master plan to the authorities if captured." I would remove this clue, but add a desk with a Shipping Manifest with the information this clue gives. Also, if the authorities take him away, he probably should not be present in the next timed mission since it would be unlikely he'd return to that destination in time. (The last bit is a minor thing, as it could be rationalized.)
ISSUES WITH DIFFICULTY:
I think the key at this point is to ask yourself if this arc is meant for solo play or for a group. It could easily be changed so that it is playable for both.
In mission 3, the Mark IV robot was easier to handle because you gave an ally to help. In mission 4, the Mark IV robot took 10 minutes to defeat due to: Healing flames going off every 60 seconds or so and healing 1400 damage AND the ambush with the healer bots running in and hitting him with Healing Aura. When my Elude dropped he was back at full health. I have only one character that would have been able to defeat this Elite Boss, and I was only able to do so with a full tray of inspirations.
Later in the mission, the main bad guy appears to be a Robots / Willpower elite boss. Unfortunately he starts standing next to two Healer Bots, so I had to immediately contend with Willpower's regeneration levels AND two Healing Auras. When the ambush hits, two more Healer Bots ran in and repeated the process. It took 10 minutes to take down this one Elite Boss. (As a comparison, I can take out most elite bosses in 90-120 seconds.) I have no other characters that could have defeated this boss. The pet robots you littered for me to pick up didn't survive to this encounter, so they were of no help.
At the 5 minute mark these things tend to be tedious instead of challenging.
What I would recommend:
Put less annoying powers on both characters and change them to Archvillains, this way they'll be tougher for teams to deal with and solo capable as Elite Bosses for a wider range of characters. This would also enable you to preserve your healing ambushes, though you may wish to test this out a bit.
If you do want to keep the EBs the way they are, I would recommend adding a "WARNING: suggested only for teams" in your mission description.
Okay, this brings us to the last part of the last mission, the "Stop two robots from escaping." A couple of notes:
1) A large team would have seen multiple bosses and it would not have been easily discernible WHICH robot you need to prevent escaping. Amidst the chaos, it might have been too easy for him to run.
2) I'm not sure if you used a random map or not, but they spawned too close to the elevators. If I'd missed once, the mission would have failed (and after 20 minutes of pounding on 2 EBs, this would have been a cheap way to fail).
And that's it. I think if you consider these things, you'll have a really strong and fun arc on your hands. You did a great job of repurposing COX artwork to create robotic villains and combined that with some really clever mission dynamics.
And I have to ask...how did you make it so I got robotic pets? This one is boggling my mind. -
Quote:What MM temp power?Originally Posted by Mental_Giant
And we'll all have the MM temp power. Has it been fixed?
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Quote:After 9 can be a little rough for me, but I should be on throughout the weekend. If there's a particular arc I can try to run through it solo (PM or post it here) as I think solo testing is just as needed as group testing.Originally Posted by Zamuel
Will you be on after 9PM EST? I'd like some assistance on one of these.
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Add them to your signature when you get the chance, Hippeh.
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If people are looking for honest feedback, I'd be happy to also run any arcs posted here (though I can't start on this until tomorrow night).
As far as spoilers, I would suggest trying not to give too much away to the curious. It should be easy enough to say:
"Mission 3, front ambush -- trigger seemed funky as 200 minions attacked"
or
"Mission 2, hostage 'Michelle' -- typos in dialogue." (I actually had this one.)
Of course, if there's a flaw in the story itself, it might be hard to avoid spoilers. -
Quote:If you don't keep all force fields on all players and all bots at the same time, we will consider you a failure.Originally Posted by Viking698
OK in with a Bots/FF
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I haven't done this yet at all.
Chaos Theory -- Bots / Traps
I'm in!
NEED MORE ROBOTS!