GGG247

Thanks for giving my arc a try. Based on your feedback, I made several changes:

Mission 1: I added 5 "rescue innocent bystander" goals so that there would be more to do on this big map. There's now more reason to run through the map.

Mission 2: This map is fairly small, and with a Patrol, a Safe (with evidence needed to put this faction of Carnies in jail), a rescue an ally, and a fight the boss, there's no room for more things to add. I actually tried to add a few rescue dancers, but it wouldn't let me, as the map was at capacity.

Mission 3: Believe it or not, that particular map won't allow more than 1 rescue! I switched to City Map 01 and added 6 "Rescue Local Law Enforcement" goals, 3 patrols, and an ambush to flesh it out a little more. I wanted to use City Map 02, but for some reason I can find it on the list of available Outdoor maps.

Mission 4: no changes

In terms of justification, I tried to make it clear throughout that the hero is "helping" Latin Lava while he uncovers evidence to shut down 2 enemy factions. There are several pop-ups, mission goals, and clues that reference returning stolen items to the original owners, compiling evidence for the DA, and arresting your "favorite snitch" once the arc is complete, so I think this is okay as it is.

Again, thanks for the valuable feedback on this. Every time I get information from players, I find that the arc gets better and better.

This is a terrific Guide. I decided to try out a TA/A a couple of days ago, purely due to this Guide. I hit 20 with him today, and he's rolling through the levels. I used your recommended layout (with a few minor changes) and got on Virtue so that I'd have plenty of people to team with. On teams, I find that Flash, Glue, Ice, Acid, and Poison Gas Arrows, all by level 14, are really turning the tide for us. I'm keeping these guys so debuffed the rest of the team in taking them down very quickly.

Thanks for the great advice!

If you have the time, I'd appreciate a review of any one of my arcs listed in my sig. Probably "Why Do Bad Girls Like Bad Boys?" would be best, as I'm trying to get more feedback in order to improve it.

Arc Name: Titanic 2: Electric Boogaloo
Arc#: 3016
Difficulty: Medium (1 EB in second mission)
2 Missions
Enemies: Council, Custom
Levels: 1-54

Story: The Council have caused the new luxury liner Titanic 2 (great name, eh?) to run aground just off the coast of the Rogue Isles. There's plenty of loot to be had before the ship goes down, so why not help yourself?

This was a very unique and interesting series of missions. In it, The Therapist guides you "through hypnosis" through a series of missions designed to allow you to confront personality flaws and fears.

In Mission 1, you confront The Librarian, a person who frightened you as a child. She's surrounded by Little Dream People, fire blasters who you'll encounter throughout the missions. In Mission 2, you go through the abandoned hospital map (cool) and confront your own Vanity. The Librarian is an ally in this mission. The Therapist is with you in each mission as an observer. Also along for the ride is the Steel You lack, a knight in shining armor who assists in your fights.

In Mission 3, you and Vanity take on Your Secret Shame (!) in an outdoor map. This is a tough one, as those Little Dream People are blasters, and your allies have a hard time identifying them since they blast you from a distance. I ended up running past them and them back again. This aggroes my allies and made the fights easier for me. Mission 4 is in the sewers and you and Your Secret Shame fight The Door, which unlocks your consciousness.

Between each mission, the author has The Therapist explain the meaning of each enemy and how vanquishing it has helped you as a person.

I really enjoyed this arc, as it was completely different and interesting. Like the best arcs in this game, I was entertained AND I felt I learned something new.

The only problem I had with the arc was the varying levels of missions that existed. Mission 1 was level 1-20, Mission 2 was levels 21-29, Mission 3 was levels 30-40, and Mission 4 was levels 41-54. I ran this arc twice, first on my level 18 Scrapper and then on my level 35 Blaster. My Scrapper was fine on the early levels but just didn't have enough tools to fight inthe higher level missions. Auto-exempting worked fine, but she didn't have Stamina, enough defenses, or more than 2-3 attack powers (with few enhancement slots). I wasn't able to finish. My level 35 Blaster completed it fine, but of course received no Xp for the first 2 missions. This could be a problem, as no character will be able to fully take advantage of this excellent arc.

Again, I really enjoyed this arc and encourage others to give it a try (with a higher level alt). Due to the weird level thing, I gave it 4 stars rather than the 5 stars that it would otherwise merit.

Name: The Roots of Domestic Terror
Arc#: 103955
Morality: definitely Villainous
Difficulty: easy-medium
Levels: 1-54
Enemies: Custom Group called Gregg's Guerillas, and all-natural powers military unit
Plot: You meet a being who hates humans and wants your help in creating as much terror and chaos as possible. In order to inflict the most damage, you'll need to get some serious weaponry. Fortunately, a suspected terrorist is currently in FBI custody awaiting trial. If only you could gain access to him....

I ran "Axis and Allies" last evening and sent you some feedback on it, but I wanted to re-iterate that it was the best arc I've done so far.

Fantastic use of costumes and maps, and I felt like I actually learned some things about World War 2! The scope of the arc was really huge, yet it was broken into nice-sized individual missions. I thought that I was rolling along so efficiently that I may have won the war a little sooner than 1945, though! (The final hostage let me know "when" I was at that point.)

Anyway, great job! This is definitely the kind of arc the Devs must have had in mind when they came up with MA. (I gave you 5 stars, if you couldn't tell!)

I've been running 0 star missions almost exclusively, as there are so many, and there obviously must be more than a few in there that are really good. Here are a few tip-offs to ones that should be skipped:

1. The mission summary is blank or full of mis-spellings
2. The mission summary says just "kill all <blank>" or "farm mission"
3. The mission contact wasn't chosen (just the generic green hologram)
4. The mission summary is all about some popular movie, comic book, or TV characters (Last night, I helped Luke Skywalker fight Darth Vader in one mission.)
5. The mission summary goes into GREAT detail about some kind of fantasy society at war with some other fantasy-type faction. I've found that the more background that needs to be explained BEFORE even starting the mission, the more convoluted the mission becomes. ("Wait, what am I trying to do again? Is that the guy, or is it the other guy who I need to watch out for?")

I'm getting dinged in my feedback for some missions for having a custom group of villains that have no background story. I can't find anything that allows me to add one of these. I can do it on an individual character within the group, but not the overall group. Do I have to type the same thing in for each character in the custom group? If so, is there a copy & paste function in MA?

Help, my future Feedback ratings are in your hands!

This is a great strategy and works well in getting my new alts a nice little nest-egg early on. I've been stopping once they get about 1 million, as that's usually enough to buy all the TOs and DOs that they'll need in the early levels.

Thanks for outlining this for us. The method for determining how much each Invention recipe will be worth upon resale was the part that I had been missing.

Good guide!

I bought the $19.99 pack last night. It was fast and easy. I logged out of the game, bought the pack at the NCSoft location, logged back onto the game, and there everything was.

I created a new BS/Shields alt (lvl 11 now) a couple of weeks ago named Valerie the Valkyrie (yes, I came up with the name first, the powers second) and had her in the "Tights with Skin-Metal" outfit. From the Valkyrie pack, I added the wings (of course), the headband with wings, the sword, the shoulder pads, the gloves, and the belt.

Unfortunately, the boots were enormous and didn't look right on her at all (and Valerie is an Amazonian-type warrior, too). I don't know if they had the men's boots accidently for the female builds or what, but they just didn't look right at all.

I tested the Mission TP and liked it. The 2 hour cool off may be long, but i don't care. The previous night, my lvl 31 Stalker was doing missions for Timothy Raymond, and he had her running to every corner of Nerva Archepelago, back-and-forth, back-and-forth. I was sold on buying this pack just on the TP alone.

Thanks again for all your work with this. I keep your spreadsheet on my desk next to my computer and consult it each time I play.

Excellent work!

This is great information. I printed out the original version of this, made soon after I9 came out, and have it on my desk for constant reference.

The new version is very nice, but the colors on the pdf wreak havoc with my b&w printers (at home and work). Specifically, the purples and greens don't translate well (i.e.-at all). Is there a way you could do an Excel version of this valuable reference guide so that we could change the colors/backgrounds ourselves in order to print it out as needed?

Thanks, and, again, great work. This is the best format for inventions and bonuses I've ever found.

I agree with several of the previous posts. I've done the Midnighter Club missions given by Costanza (sp?) twice; once on my new lvl 17 Plant/TA Controller and once on my lvl 36 Ill/FF. These missions are tedious, especially since mission #2 and #3 use the EXACT SAME MAP!. I can't imagine taking many (any?) more of my alts through this series of missions.

Once you get entry to the Club, the hidden clues, as noted above, start out okay, but them devolve into random clicking. I started out actually taking notes, then eventually just ran from room to room, looking for the little blue hand to pop up. For those of you who don't know, the answer to all the clues is "a book" or "a box". I found 8, then got stuck and quit.

Roman Town is very pretty and well made (like "Age of Empires"), but there wasn't a lot to do here. After doing a couple of timed missions, it dawned on me that I had neglected to take my Ill/FF to the RWZ yet. I immediately left to do that instead.

I think I equate this new content to a half-baked cake; it looks good and maybe even smells good, but it's just not quite ready for consumption yet. Hopefully, a lot of new things will get added (Including a better reason for leaving a major city in the present day that's chock-ful of villains, aliens, and invaders to travel to a sleeping roman hamlet in ancient times facing some political upheaval).

Very nice guide. However, I'm curious as to why you don't recommend Ice Storm. I have an Ice/Traps Corruptor with Ice Storm slotted up and I get a lot of use out of it (of course, Caltrops keeps the enemy slowed down). Is this the problem with Ice Storm for Blasters--no way to keep the crowd in one place?

Thanks for the effort you put into this. I also created a WP/Fire Tanker when I11 came out, and I love the combination. Scrapper-like damage with Tanker protection!

As you say, this can be a tight build, as all the powers are good choices. I managed to fit in Build-Up and Combustion, but skipped Resurgence. I pushed Taunt back to 38 and MoB to 18, as they weren't really needed too much prior to that. I took Fast Healing much earlier, and that seems to have helped a lot in the lower levels.

I'm at 43 now, and I think I'm going to get Boxing and Tough for some added protection. I really like playing close to the edge with this alt, so any extra protection is helpful.

Good guide. I'm glad others are seeing how much fun this combination really is.

First choices for new alts:

Electric/Storm Corruptor
Plant/* Controller
Fire/* Scrapper
Spines/Fire Scrapper

This looks like some fun. I'd better hurry and level up all those WP Tankers and Scrappers I made for I11.

I hope they keep Frostfire the way he is now. It's really the first "big" bad guy new heroes face, and it's a real accomplishment for a level 10-12 hero to triumph over him. I still like fighting him with new alts I create.

Maybe give him a second chance to get even with heroes or something. They could add this in place of some of the "defeat 20 xxxx villains in yyyy location" missions that Julius the Troll and the Mystic guy give you.

Great Guide! I went in and changed my build plans on my Ill/FF Controller last night, based on your recommendations. I'm planning to take 8 FF powers rather than the 5 I had previously scheduled. Thanks for the very detailed and informative info.

I've been looking forward to these Trials for quite some time. I managed to get on an Eden team and enjoyed it.

When I hit 38 on my WP/Fire Tanker, I tried to solo the Sewer Trial. Well, that didn't work! lol Anyway, I waited until I hit 40 and tried again. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to lower my difficulty setting from the highest level. I still did fairly well, as I just ran out of time (everyone was a purple Boss, so I had to take them 2 at a time).

During the mission, I hit 41, so now I'm no longer allowed to get the mission! It seems a waste to have this exclusive high-end content that's available for such a short period of time. Why not make this available for levels 38-45 so that people could maybe at least stumble onto it at some point. I'd REALLY like to take another stab at this solo, as well as be part of a team.

Here are some views of my new Base for the Wentworth Security Agency. I was invited to join this SG last summer when it was really active. Once the leaders hit 50, they quit playing, so I found myself the leader of a pretty decent Base with a lot of spare Prestige laying around. Anyway, I completely re-did everything, building my "dream" Base.

Overview of Base:
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...iew_edited.jpg

Main TP Room 1:
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...47/WSA_TP1.jpg

Main TP Room 2:
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...47/WSA_TP2.jpg

Main TP Room 3:
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...47/WSA_TP3.jpg

Medical Center:
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...SA_Medical.jpg

Workshop:
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...A_Workshop.jpg

Entry Room:
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j.../WSA_Entry.jpg

I was really pleased with the results. I also got to play around with the "magic desk" trick, which was fun. The Base still needs some tweaks, but I think I'm headed in the right direction with it.

This is the best, most complete Guide I've ever read. The rough draft version that was published some time back was enough for me to build my Mind/Thorny Dominator, and I'm really glad I did. He's very powerful, even at just level 19, and I'm enjoying the playstyle a lot.

I'm glad to see that you've taken an already-great Guide and made it even better! Fantastic job.

Very helpful Guide! Some of my alts have turned out great, costume-wise. Others look terrible (including a couple I did last night). I could never figure out why some are tough to create, while others almost build themselves. I think your Guide will be very helpful on my next alt.

I get into trouble when I "know" what I want, can't find the exact right pattern in the costume creator, and then start taking the "close-enough" approach. I end up with a lot of close-enough pieces that, taken together, aren't close-enough at all!

The advantage to the passives is that, as your HPs decrease during a fight, the defense from the passives kick in and really add to your defensive abilities. These are stackable, so having all 3 passives adds much more than just having 2.

I'm not sure of the actual numbers, but I believe that this begins when your HPs drop to 60%. When your health bar turns red (25%), you can really feel the effect. Suddenly, you're getting hit a lot less than you were before, giving you the time you need to finish off the enemy. I can't tell you how many thimes I've been in a fight, really get hammered, when suddenly, the enemy starts whiffing over and over again. It's like they've forgotten how to hit me. It makes a BIG difference.

As noted above, I strongly recommend taking all 9 SR powers. However, if you absolutely MUST drop one, I think I would vote for Evasion. I've seen some people say that they can go without Elude, but I think this would ONLY work if you teamed on a regular basis in the higher levels.

Thanks for giving us a very nice Guide for one of CoX's most under-appreciated Primary sets. My AR/Devices (an FBI sharpshooter) is at level 29, and I love playing the character. I've also started an AR/Traps Corruptor for more villanous blasting. The format you've followed in your Guide is extremely helpful for planning a build.

One note about Buckshot and M30 Grenade, though; knockback enhancers only enhance KB distance, not the likelihood of KB (I found this out the hard way). I've had some success replacing those with Range enhancements so I can blast from a somewhat safer distance.