Egos_Shadow
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Posts
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MAIN EVENT
#529832 - "Rularularian" by @Ankylosaur
Heroic levels 41-54, Long
Description: "Lt. Col Flynn, stationed at Mole Point Charlie, needs your help! One of his expedition teams went through a newly discovered Hortha Vine... and then it closed! Rescue his expedition team and take a journey that explores the origin of the Shadow Shard natives."
Summary: Superbly put together technically, and it uses a trick that should be added to the standard MA author toolkit for any of those maps with multiple sections (if it wasn't already). Lots of allies, but you can (mostly) just ditch them if that's not how you like to roll. It plays with a lot of Rularuu story elements that have seen very little use in game (like a lot of the Shadow Shard really...), and that's fairly fertile ground for exploration. It comes up with an explanation for some Shadow Shard canon (which I'm not entirely sure quite fits) and runs with where it leads. The only problem, really, is the use of 'Mercenaries' as allies. Not that there's anything wrong with them, I just kept mentally retitling them 'Sublicensed Defense Contractors'.
CLASSIC REWIND
#57179 - "Zero Tolerance" by @Ghostmaker
Heroic levels 41-54, Moderate
Description: "The Pocket D, run by DJ Zero, is considered neutral ground. But now, the creatures of the Shadow Shard have started staging attacks on the club! Why are the minions of Rularuu determined to crash the party?"
Summary: Oh snap, Rularuu finally noticed Pocket D! Now where are we going to go for event badges?! It does actually has a point to what's happening beyond that Rularuu demands to consume all the scenery, too. The mechanics are very straightforward, for better or worse, depending on your preference, and Rularuu always provide an interesting challenge. Go. Hunt. Rularuu. Also, you run into Akarist, who is inexplicably curmudgeonly, possibly due to all these kids on his lawn.
#405822 - "Overload" by @Peppercat
Heroic levels 40-50, Long
Description: "A new robot menace sweeps Paragon City! Do you have the skill and intelligence to combat the mechanized mayhem?"
Summary: Really, back in the day we were hoping more of the real City of Heroes arcs would be like this one - plugging neatly into continuity with a supervillain at the end who's not just a boss of Faction X with a unique name. And the only thing stopping this one from plugging in thusly is that it uses the older version of a faction, but that's hardly a problem. It's a portal faction potpourri with a robot stompstravaganza, what's not to like? But beware if you think you're equivalent to a whole ton of heroes, or these robots will pew pew 'til you qq.
#82369 - "Quid Pro Quo" by @Hertz
Villainous levels 40-50, Moderate
Description: "Something for something. That's the golden rule, even in the Rogue Isles. Feel like a villain in this grisly lowbie-friendly level 1 starter mission. Not for the faint of heart."
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin. Let's face it, it seems like every other contact in the Rogue Isles is trying to jerk you around in some manner. Who hasn't relished the thought of doing brutal things to some of them? Well, now you can do brutal things to a guy who tries to short a deal. Brutal, brutal things. If you enjoy brutal things, do we have the arc for you! Also, standard disclaimer for older arcs, strongly references the Zig origin, you know the drill.
#452785 - "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by @ZemyaSoldat
Villainous levels 26-30, Single Mission
Description: "Say what you will about the Carnival of Shadows, they certainly know how to have a good time. Unfortunately, a couple of heroes - along with some Wyvern backup - have taken over the warehouse that the Carnival intended to use for their next bash. Looks like it's time for you to take out the trash."
Summary: Is it time? Why is it time? Because the trash needs to be taken out? If we liked doing chores we wouldn't be villains. YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME! While it does suffer from the common villain complaint that we're treated a bit like mercenary handypersons, so does almost all of the rest of villain content so we can't really hold it against this one here. And really, who doesn't find themselves looking for an excuse to bust a bunch of Wyvern in the face from time to time and then party with Carnies afterwards? Or was that just me? Say what you want, you get to romp around punching Wyvern and that's never not fun. What could go wrong? (Spoiler alert: the heroes are both controllers.) -
Quote:Yeah the Vigilante and the Vigilante->Villain tips basically rarely stray from the idea that you're a terrible person. And, I mean, you are, but it's clear from almost all of them that the narrator does not approve of you. There's less "I had to do this because it was necessary" and more "lolololol for teh evulz!"Originally Posted by Arcanaville
You see that most dramatically in the writing for the side switching morality missions. The writing is actually pretty good in them, but it portrays switching to the villain side as being hollow, empty, and ultimately meaningless. It doesn't just say that other people see it that way, the missions are scripted for the character themselves to feel that way, which in my opinion is abrogating their responsibility as writers to make a valid player gameplay choice entertaining. If you are going to allow players to switch sides, you should write that choice as being a good one, at least from the player's point of view if no other. If you can't bring yourself to do that, don't offer the choice.
Contrast with the Rogue and Rogue->Hero tips where the narrator is very much on board with your choices, and when stupid things happen, the world is almost always laughing with you, rather than at you. -
Quote:I would probably do that with converters that dropped from enemies... probably still not optimal but whatever right? Enemy drops are "free".Originally Posted by Darth_Khasei
Optimized? I mean the fact that you can take a crap recipe and spin it into a golden one is all I was pointing out. It does cost more converters to do it that way for sure, but remember these are people that are into the entire random roll deal having gotten the converters from Super Packs mainly in the first place. We shall see.
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Quote:Spinning Trap of the Hunters is still not exactly my optimized use strategy for converters.Originally Posted by Darth_Khasei
What people should do is keep all the "junk" recipes from drops and use those instead of selling them to vendors or heaven forbid even deleting them as some of my friends do.
Junk is still mostly junk. -
Quote:O_oOriginally Posted by Mazey
One time we were starting a trial and the entire league ended up in someone's tip mission instead of the trial. We ended up just tearing though his +0/x1 mission. I can't imagine what was going through his head while it was happening.
"Step aside sir, this is Task Force 'Flambeaux Must Die'." -
Quote:You could make a mission where you pick one and help them fight the other (+the other's usual allies).Originally Posted by Lulipop
Or someone make an AE mission where all we do is click something and the two appear to duke it out. Make it a gambling/boxing like event on different servers. I see potential here
C'mon, like people would let them have a fair fight. -
Quote:Flambeaux runs on a team with Polar Shift (I think that's her name?) and Ghoulish Delight at one point at high levels, so she can play nice... sometimes... sort of. I've never seen her in the same place as Echnida (the evil spines scrapper from the Rogues Gallery). Nor have I ever seen Arachnos and Flambeaux in the same place without them trying to kill her.Originally Posted by Swordacool
Fusionette does have allies but Flamebeuax hangs with more than just Freaks. Shes got the arachnos too and that little squad of people in Atlas. I think in one of the tip morality missions she appears too with a Villain that has Spines...but I may be wrong on that.
I think the Shining Stars have pretty much written Flambeaux off. I mean, on tip missions you're constantly running into people trying to reform Mangle (Mangle of all people - I mean, why not try that goodie-goodie stuff with Echnida? Echnida just needs a hug, but Mangle is bugf*@# crazy) but everyone just seems to be hoping Flambeaux will go away. -
Quote:I mostly compile lists of interesting stuff from the forums, so if it's advertised anywhere, I know about it. There is a list, but not a queue. No guarantee is provided. Caveat venditor.Originally Posted by Ankylosaur
One is bemused! One is but left to but wonder how one is to elicit such musings about one's own meager forays in storytelling.
Ironically, however, I already hit Rularularian on Sunday. -
MAIN EVENT
#514570 - "Terra Mystika: The Nexus" by @Lord of Storms
Heroic levels 40-54, Long
Description: "A fellow hero tells you she is from another dimension and asks for help in defending her world. Helping her quickly brings up the question: is there a traitor among her people?"
Summary: It's a wonder that anyone from Mystik Earth would hang around Primal Earth, what with the fact that their insistence on spelling Mystic with a 'k' no doubt earns them far too many "D'awwwh"s from Primals. A nice faction invasion potpourri arc in the Portal Court style (spoiler: other Earths' Portal Corp equivalents aren't any more secure than ours). The last mission refuses to accept that the technical limits of the MA system exist and tries to defy them to give you some choices. Mileage will vary wildly by player as to wether it succeeds, but respect the attempt.
CLASSIC REWIND
#379488 - "Storming Citadel" by @MrCaptainMan
Heroic levels 5-10, Single Mission
Description: "Citadel is in serious trouble! This is a job for Blue Steel - but there's no time for him to get here so you'll have to do. Can you help, hero?"
Summary: Still wins huge points for the sheer "Wait, what?" factor, though your suspension of disbelief may need its hoists reinforced. Plus it's pretty funny and a classic comic book plot.
#204942 - "Chris Jenkins: Attorney At Law" by @Jophiel
Heroic levels 1-14, Single Mission
Description: "Chris Jenkins kidnapped by Hellions? It's up to you to save him!"
Summary: A solid arc involving punching lots of Hellions, and a nod to the fact that in Paragon city, lawyers are never unemployed for long.
#6017 - "Mercytown" by @Frija
Villain levels 1-10, Moderate
Description: "Ancient forces stir within the waters of Mercy, will you be able to defy an underwater cult, steal an aeons lost tome, all the while enduring the inane ramblings of a mad scientist?"
Summary: Ia, ia, Merulina f'thagn. Suffers from the problem of a lot of 2009-2010 villain arcs in that it strongly references the Zig origin. But what are you going to do right? Finds a decent balance between comedy and evil (sometimes the joking makes people seem more evil) and features the Coralax. What's not to like (apart from the getting beaten with spiky coral clubs)?
#378944 - "Too Clever By Half" by @Samuraiko
Villain levels 5-10, Moderate
Description: "Vernon von Grun, in his latest and greatest attempt at mad science, encounters a.... SLIGHT problem. Panic with him! NYA-HA-HA-HA-HA...HELP!"
Summary: It's entirely possible that there is no amount of Von Grun which I would consider too much Von Grun. It does have the standard complaints (it still references the Zig origin, and he does kind of disrespect you sometimes - but you're level 10, what do you expect) but it also answer burning questions about SCIENCE, and nobody can take that away from us. It does unfortunately not feature any bees.
RANDOM SHINY
#489497 - "The pain of the lash." by @SARAH-01
Heroic levels 20-54, Single Mission
Description: "A pair of young heroes find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, and encounter a cross-dimensional plot. Can the players rescue them, and prevent the Praetorians from increasing their ranks?"
Summary: Amusing customs are the highlight here, and somehow the total sparseness of clues makes it actually more amusing. Less is more? The fact that someone runs into a person who looks like them but is kind of a jerk is all we need to conclude that it's Praetorians and start punching. And we are once again correct! -
In which Our Protagonist enters the Fantastic World of the Mission Architect, finds Wonders Therein, and Talks Briefly About Them, possibly using Inappropriate Capitalization, that you, Dear Reader, may be Well Informed.
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Quote:I ran into one that was all Necromancy/Dark Miasma, seeded with AV/EB Necromancy/Energy Melee encounters.Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Whaddya MEAN that an "All AVs with EB ambushes" mission is a "bit much" for level 1s?
Defeat all. Outdoors. -
A lot of people test with scrappers and brutes and don't really run into problems with, for example, knockback in their testing.
Then again, at that level, you can be juggled by stock in-game mobs if you hit them wrong, so... -
Quote:They could re-add PvE items of power maybe. Do a "sg trial" periodically to get a buff thingie for a month (note, this is completely setting aside the whole idea of Items of Power triggering any kind of PvP).Originally Posted by Ace Jones
1. Super Group Buff
Some kind of ambient buff, not a huge one but inline with those gained from powers such as Mystic Fortune. A buff that applies, or maybe multiplies, for each member of a given SG on a team.
Another option would be Mission Computer repeatables that gave a supergroup buff similar to the faction buffs given for PvP zone missions. Ie, small boosts to +Resist or +Damage or what have you. Nothing really huge or interesting, but it would be something you could do to contribute to your group without having to have everyone online and working together at the same time. I mean, some SGs are just social groups spread across different timezones with radically different levels of play activity. This would give something for them to do to help each other in game that's not gated by herding the cats to be on at the same time.
It doesn't have to be big. Just little things that give more of a feeling that you're in a group working together, rather than just a bunch of people renting a particularly interesting storage locker. -
Quote:It would actually be pretty cool to use the faction-switching mechanic to have infiltration (either heroes going 'deep cover' or villains going 'oh yes I am so totally reformed right now you guys seriously'), with associated missions. The current tips all play it as a truly genuine conversion.Originally Posted by Nalrok_AthZim
"Requiem must die, hero. We cannot get to him directly. You will have to join the Council. You will have to earn his trust. You will have to follow his orders. And when he trusts you enough, you will have to stab him in the back."
Or you could have arcs only available to people who had the 'Ascended' or 'Descended' badges. -
Quote:He's rejecting our reality and substituting his own.Originally Posted by KianaZero
I did, and I'm afraid I don't see the misinformation and fallacies that you're seeing.
Could you help me out? I don't see what you're seeing. -
Quote:In the vigilante->villain tip where you run into Flambeaux, she turns out to be so dense that she's impossible to mislead. You confront her with a revelation (that's actually true!) and it just kind of bounces off because she has high resistance to information that doesn't mesh with her world view. Though then you really beat seven kinds of heck out of her since vigilantes are jerks.Originally Posted by Demonic_Spark
I love Flambeaux cause anything with her is gonna be funny, but in a Role Play way, you turning the corner in anything and see her there just gets a instant
/em, facepalm "ugh things just got stupid..."
Really the way vigilantes and villains treat her is a puppy kicking moment. The rogue tips with Flambeaux on the other hand treat her kind of like your little sister showed up at your normal hangout and you need to gently shoo her out before she hurts herself on something. No no, kiddo, Nemesis robots are for grownups. -
Quote:You must use this new power only for good. ..no wait evil! ...no wait...Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
So now we know the secret to making the devs do what we want. All I have to do is ask for the exact opposite.
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
*reaches for the Undead Slaying Axe to put this zombie thread down for good*
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Quote:'cause the AE is pretty buried in grind stuff right now. Makes it hard to find, you know, actual arcs. On the other hand, you might always succumb to the temptation to add other stuff to the mission, in which case, hey. Everyone does like a good Freak stomping.Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
I have never written an arc. I am interested, although unsure I will start for this "speed" project. Why would I "unpublish" it if I like it?
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Quote:Yeah pretty much. I really don't think you will have much trouble finding maps full of Freakshow - the only advantage AE has over the normal game in that regard is not having to go outside.Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Nice tip there thanks. I really just want to grind AE for speed though, so it looks like I am looking for Freak outdoor maps?
Just as a guess, I imagine that AE is belly button deep in arcs whose entire description is "freaks on an outdoor map lololol", and which are mostly entirely as advertised.
If you really want something tuned to your exact specifications, it's not like it takes very long to write your own. You learn useful skills, like making a custom faction that excludes Super Stunners. Just remember to unpublish it when you're done. -
Quote:C'mon dude. You're describing the Freakshow. Smash/Lethal/Energy and they're even energy vulnerable! And they're everywhere in the game after 25 or so, you can't throw a rock without it bouncing off a couple of Freakshow missions.Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
I am desperately trying to 50 my new concept without taking a crapton of time away from my solo all Blueside project. The new guy is a Elec/Elec Scrapper. I am concentrating on S/L defense. I'm currently sitting at 27, so still waiting for a few big powers to come in.
I need an arc that has mobs with pure Smash/Lethal attacks (or attacks categorized with S/L, preferably with an energy component so it hits more of my armor) and that are relatively vulnerable to my elec attacks. (if they just keel over when looking at pictures of electrical outlets I am cool with that)
Does anybody have an arc that I can grind that fits this description?
Go! Hunt! Kill Freakshow! -
Quote:They crashed out doing the TPN incarnate trial. After that, you get a weird bug that makes you appear in random people's missions if you try and rejoin the crashed trial. That's why "abandon" - they had to leave mission, go back to the trial LFG and abandon it to clear the bug.Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
I am speed leveling a new character I am trying. I am grabbing all the banks as I go. So I am running my 5 radio missions on Talos last night. I enter the third one. (I am solo, trying to be quick) and right after me comes a couple mobs. I was thinking I had caught an ambush and was getting ready to hit powers/insp/defcon4 when I noticed it was another player. And after them comes another! And they are 50+1s (I was 26)
Me "What are you doing here?"
Them "What?"
Me " I don't mean to be rude, but this is my 26th radio mission. What are you doing here?"
Them. Long pause (obviously in teamspeak) "Abandon"
I went on and ran it fine after they left. Big layer cake cave room for the boss, least they could have done was go in and judgement the crap outta it for me. Sheesh, peeps these days. -
Or if they want to keep it as is, why not let us mail ourselves Midnighter Unlock tokens with Astral merits just like you can mail yourself Alpha, cape and aura unlocks?
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Quote:Well, I wouldn't call it evil. Diet evil. Evil lite. Zero calories, not evil enough. She hangs out with Freakshow a bunch, and whines about how people don't give her the attention she feels she deserves, in the manner in which she deserves it. To call her "evil plans" a cavalcade of amateur hour shenanigans is doing them too much credit.Originally Posted by Durakken
wait... she goes evil , really?
The high level villain and rogue tips with Flambeaux are really funny, though. It's like you're more than a bit embarassed to even be in the same zone with her. -
Quote:With Going Rogue they added more personality to the Rogue's Gallery - previously these characters, who dated back to Issue 7, were just costumes, brief bios, and maybe a line or two before you pounded their face in. With Going Rogue a ton of these one-offs got fleshed out in the tip missions, and then with the new tutorial Flambeaux made it even further up in stature to a full speaking role. Continuity's time frame is weird in MMO content, but the point at which you meet her in Twinshot's first arc (level 5-10) is the same level range that she shows up in the Mayhem mission (and in the same zone no less), and it's before her turn to evil (which doesn't happen until after level 30, iirc).Originally Posted by Durakken
I didn't know Flambaeux was in since then... I've never heard of her till the Galaxy City got destroyed issue and I'm pretty sure she is introduced as new, but i could be misremembering... If what I'm remembering is the case then the mayhem missions could be seen as ouroboros missions for her or something like that? or maybe she just accidentally got added or something.