GlaziusF
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:The fourth mission is "supposed to be" a Legacy Chain hideout in an abandoned foundry, much as the third mission is "supposed to be" in a run-down electronics shop. The Timekeeper has different ideas.Originally Posted by Bubbawheat
(This arc is definately not for everyone. It's well constructed to intentionally be misdirecting. It takes a cue from Memento in its non-traditional storytelling by telling the story in reverse, but still telling the important bits to the player so you know what to do, as well as some internal monologue that explains what you are actually going to do. There is also a ton of text in all the briefings, as well as an extra one in the busy text which is supposed to be the intro text of the mission going backwards. I did cheat a little and copy/paste them in the correct order to see if it holds up that way, and it does pretty well, though I noticed there's mention of the Legacy Chain which are nowhere in the arc, but it could be an intentional misdirection that is explained somewhere in all that text, but I know I missed it both times around. Which isn't hard as I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be looking ahead of me or behind me. And as the first intro is the failure final text, and the final return text is the successful final text, there isn't anywhere to actually put a true intro anywhere, so you're never sure why this actually started on this path in the first place, just the ultimate events.
As for the first intro, you can probably get most of the sense of what Maros is asking you from the busy/accept texts for the last/first mission. I figured it'd be more of a downer if Maros just went on with a perfunctory first briefing like he was still messed up.
Yeah, that's about the size of it. I wanted to put in somebody who was going through time the right way alongside you, so the little sideplots exist.Quote:Things are definately a bit clearer on the second runthrough, though I never fully understood what part the Family and Freaks had to play, unless they were just red herrings. Which they were fairly interesting red herrings. -
Quote:Or take a weakness to cold and then be an ice tank. If people had to pick generic disadvantages most would end up taking things that their powerset protects them against anyway.Originally Posted by Silver Gale
Er... define "equal".
In a P&P setting, I could get my character some bonus points by taking "Arachnophobia", and the DM would make sure I ran into spiders frequently so that the weakness actually has an effect on the game.
In an online game setting, I can take a weakness to Cold and then just never take any missions from factions who do Cold damage, and enjoy whatever bonus comes with it. -
Quote:Is there some reason this isn't in the actual test server forums, being a discussion about a change on the test server?Originally Posted by The_Coming_Storm
Added restrictions to prevent player difficulty from affecting Task / Strike Forces
No scaling up. Yay. Stupid devs are stupid. -
@GlaziusF
Running this on a DB/fire brute, 2 villains, +1, no AVs, all bosses.
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One mission? Okay, this should be fun. Let's see what I'm walking into.
Huh. Some generic security guy is gonna let me off the hook if I mess up somebody else's plans.
Can't be that simple, but let's roll with it.
Huh. Freakshow.
Well, it's probably gonna be that simple.
Okay. Three identical hostages with three identical descriptions and three identical conversations leave me a clue about what's going on - the Freaks are trying to spring a blood relative of one of their bosses.
Alright.
So I get up to the boss, he talks about a chopper on the roof (which, okay, is practically impossible to implement) and then calls for Johnny to back him up... but Johnny never shows.
So... where's Johnny? The mission's over.
And the arc's over.
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Storyline - **. The entire reason the Freaks show up and we never see hide or hair of him? C'mon now. Maybe he's another hostage who never asked for this crap? Maybe he's the cleaner's big bro and he's like Metal Shift or t3h s00p3rfr34k with a different name. I was expecting more than just Freakshow, too. Some crazy over-the-top thing where the Devouring Earth brought the donuts and the Carnies spiked the coffee and Arachnos is going overboard to restore order and the judge is a Nemesis automaton. I do admittedly expect more in terms of complications from single missions than from individual missions in arcs.
Design - **. I do admittedly expect more in terms of complications from single missions than from individual missions in arcs. Like chaining objectives - the mission sets up to be a normal day at the DMV and then there's this hostage in the lobby with Freakshow and when I rescue him the place goes nuts. Or "choices" - maybe Johnny promises me a fat wad of cash if I let him run away. This is pretty much just any filler Freakshow mission I could pick up from a hero contact with the text slightly changed.
Gameplay - ****. What can I say? It's pretty fun to fight the Freaks.
Detail - ***. Pretty simple stuff all told. Nothing really wrong with it, but it's all rather generic. The Cleaner doesn't even have his own bio.
Overall - **. Okay, I'll admit: I talked this up to myself a bit. I was expecting some kind of insane bureaucratic runaround that'd take me through a bunch of villain groups, or an offer from the villains to join forces with them, or... well, something other than a filler Freakshow mission. In every arc I expect something I can't get from the game. For a 5-mission arc that can be a plot thread. For a single mission, not so much, unless the mission's a big one and the plot's created through chained objectives and the like. Single missions are also a good showcase for complex mechanics or custom groups, neither of which are present here. -
So tonight's arc is short and simple: Bad Day in Building F (324124). Verdict - **. Review lower in this thread.
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Quote:Just for future reference?Originally Posted by Jophiel
I realize this is treading ancient ground but a friend of mine recently started the game and spent the first 10 levels complaining about endurance (on a tank). Then I told him the path to Stamina and the next 10 levels were largely spent on getting the required powers to get (A) a travel power and (B) Stamina at 20. Which meant anywhere from 6-10 levels of not getting any sexy new attacks or nifty things (I say 6-10 because he probably did think the travel powers were cool).
The dual build feature is a really great way to have a power-packed time in the early levels and get Stamina at 20 or thereabouts anyway. I heartily endorse this product and/or service. -
Quote:Yeah, some maps just flaked out for no apparent reason in I16, not displaying any minimap or objectives.Originally Posted by The_Cheshire_Cat
Quick update: I had to change the last map in Beating Heart of Astoria because apparently the one I was using no longer accepts escorts or collections or anything else because the map doesn't even show up when I pick it.
It should still be functionally the same, but the new map is a bit... noisier.
Crazy. -
@GlaziusF
It's rereview time! Running this on a low 40s sonic/rad defender with a decent solo build. Even level, no extra heroes, no AVs all bosses FINAL DESTINATION
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M1: Some grammar strangeness in the opening briefing. The opening text has two paragraphs crammed together (the second one starts "obviously, we can't let this sort of research") when there should be a blank line between 'em, and it looks like you went and did some grammar cleanup puttin' emdashes in for commas but forgot to take a couple of 'em out. Just keep an eye out for stray punctuation.
M1: Agh! Death arena! Can you pick map without death arena pretty please? Not that it matters for completing this particular map but still.
M1: "It must not be allowed to fall into the hands of Crey and be used to fuel their dastardly plots." This from a guy who was a Crey scientist until Internal Affairs looked at him funny. I mean, we the players know Crey never met a puppy it didn't kick and then strip for parts to use in the new Puppagon Protectors toy line, but to its own employees it can put up a decent front of LEGITIMATE BUSINESS. ...oh, right, checked the briefing again. Eriksson is Janet's inside man. Might be nice to have a mention of his nature in the opening popup as I glossed over it.
M2: Okay, "warning -- timed mission" sounds really off. Especially since Janet is doing something with what is likely a known fixed duration (shutting off power), she can just spell the time limit out in large red friendly letters. Or, y'know, normal-sized ones.
M2: Even though you can put logs in the correct order no matter what order you added the objectives in now (grab the icon, drag and drop) I'd still like an entry number in the logs, if you've got the space for a little "Entry 52:" prelude.
M2: I don't think you need to do any kind of trickery that indicates the boss here is speaking Russian. Just have him speaking in English and mentioning he'll be glad when deep cover is over and he can speak the proper mother tongue.
M3: . . . I just had the most terrible idea. It's a shame you can't go ALL the way with it as the Winter Horde isn't tintable. The ice cream machines are still escorted by the same models, but they're "Frosted Freaks" who have decided to hang out in the subzero spray too long and been covered in ice that they rip off and throw at you. (all the way would involve chocolate frosted freaks, strawberry frosted freaks, pistachio frosted freaks...)
M3: That aside, new smaller map is much better.
M4: The chaining works much better, mostly because it isn't there. But I run into everything in just about the right order anyway, so even though Aurora mentions Igor and Molotov I'll let 'em slide. ...also, was this map in better repair the last time I was here?
M4: Hmm. I could swear I heard the actual Paragon Protector name bandied about over the course of the arc. The final debrief shouldn't be talking about it like it's something mysterious.
M*: Careful with your verb tenses in the souvenir. You're talking about past tense, and the verb "to have" should always be conjugated "had".
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Storyline - *****. It was last time and this time there's nothing to ruin it.
Design - *****. End boss is much less with the stacked slows, and she doesn't show up out of nowhere on yer head either.
Gameplay - *****. New smaller outdoor map is much better.
Detail - ****. The revision of the arc left a little detritus behind. I think I've caught most of it in this rereview.
Overall - *****. Much Improved. -
Tonight's arc (that was last night's arc then I fell asleep) is a re-review of The Coldest of Wars (299972). Verdict - *****.
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Quote:Contacts used to suggest you bring friends to any mission with a known boss in it.Originally Posted by LordSquigie
The are "A Path Into Darkness" from Colleen Nelson could use some sprucing up. The story is interesting, and provides some great backstory, but Nelson keeps suggesting you bring friends for the later missions, when the nastiest enemies to be fought are a few Dark Equinox Archons. Given that the arc involves a plot to flood the streets of Paragon with new warwolves, it could use an EB or two, and maybe a unique room for the end map.
True story.
Also, Cap'n Mako's mission to defeat Ace McKnight ends in hilarious fashion, as immediately after his mug for the camera his escort of Knives of Artemis start kicking his smug face in.
This would be hilarious if a) it was actually intended and b) he didn't spawn health-dependent Knives ambushes to chew on any spectating villains.
I haven't tested it recently but as of about a month ago it was still messed up despite some bug reports. -
Quote:Don't worry too much about the fast leveling craze, as if it pops up again it's going to be in an entirely different form.Originally Posted by Kylazin
Well thank you all for the warm response!
I suppose I didn't really do that much research before joining, so I didn't know about this fast leveling craze type of thing? Anyway, I bought the combined box online so I think that means I have access to both heroes and villains?
We are very casual gamers, so it will likely take us a long time before we see half of it, and before we can start playing both sides of the coin. I'm glad to see a friendly community here, since EVE's can be very cutthroat. My girlfriend is quite new to gaming as well, so I am taking it at her pace. Glad to know that the community is willing and able to help.
Thanks again!
Every account ever now has access to both heroes and villains, so yes, you do too.
Some things to keep in mind.
When you hit level 5, take your heroes to Kings Row and your villains to Port Oakes. Talk to the contact that pops up and you'll pick up a newspaper/police radio. You can use it in most of the standard zones to get infinitely repeatable if somewhat bland missions, with a special mission at the end to rob a bank/protect a bank that gives you a new temporary power for every destination zone you run it on. If you take the mission you'll be introduced to a new contact, succeed or fail -- this is the only way to get some contacts for villains, and it's not bad for heroes either though generally they're better about introducing you to the next guy up the chain as your levels rise.
Build Advice I: You'll unlock power pools at level 6. You can pick up some temporary travel powers from the bank missions, but you'll generally want to pick a tier 1 power from a travel pool before 14 so you can pick up a travel power then. Your primary and secondary power sets are generally better at doing anything that the power pools might do for you, so only look into them if they give you some capability you don't already have. (I generally consider it pretty vital to pick up Aid Self from the Medicine pool on a blaster or any other character without a self-heal.)
Build Advice II: There's a power called Stamina in the fitness pool. For a lot of builds it's a gamechanger as it increases the rate at which you recover Endurance, which powers everything else. But it needs two other powers to unlock it, and opens up at level 20, which means that if you get Stamina and a travel power as soon as possible you'll devote like half your power picks to that by the time you hit 20, which often isn't too fun. But the game lets you create alternate builds, so here's my advice: at first, don't pick up Stamina, instead getting a feel for as many low-level primary and secondary powers as possible. When you get to 20, talk to the trainer and swap your build -- you'll basically have to reselect the powers one level at a time, but you always keep all your XP when you swap builds. Now that you've actually played with the powers, drop your three least favorites and pick up Stamina.
Build Advice III: This is more personal. When I looked through the game manual prior to installing CoH for the first time, these were my thoughts: "Oh, Aim and Build Up say they just boost damage for a short duration. They must not be very useful." "Unyielding says it resists all these status effects. How common could they be?" "So I can create these uncontrollable pets? Heh, that power's useless." For that brief instant I channeled the spirit of Wrong Wong McWrong, thrice voted the Most Incorrect Man in All of History.
Contact Advice: For heroes around level 15, go to Faultline and follow that mission chain. For villains around level 15, try to do everything Marshall Brass asks of you. This'll give you the "Entrusted with the Secret" badge, for being exposed to time travel, which will let you summon a portal to Ouroboros, where at level 25 you can play any pretty much any other early-game story arc or badge-granting mission you might have missed.
Money Advice: The black market/Wentworth's are actual real places that exist and if nothing else you can sell salvage and any recipe that doesn't start with "invention:" there for a decent chunk of change. The invention tutorial at level 10 does a pretty good job of explaining the basics, but that loading screen tip that tells you you can play the game just fine without inventions is pretty much on the money. They're definitely an advanced topic. -
Quote:If you've unlocked Diabolique's ghosts they definitely exist in this level range. But that means bringing Chill of the Night back, so use at your own risk.Originally Posted by Aliana Blue
Uh... wha? The group includes the non-CoT ghosts found in portal missions and such (like the spectral passengers of the ghost ship) It's... odd that you got only Nerva demons.
Hm, just checked and the non-CoT do spawn at level 50... But only the boss, wtf? (So I get a level 50 Lost Soul and a bunch of level 40 Nerva greys). This was working fine before! I'll have to check further *grumble*
Yeah, Twilight Son's big bad (Smoke and Mirrors) is a bit of a weirdness. He's called Baron Zoria, I could swear his model is the Akarist ally from the Library of Souls, and for a while he even had Akarist's description (he may still?). But prior to the Smoke and Mirrors bit, the lore was pretty solid - Baron Zoria was in the minds of a lot of people the real power behind the Circle of Thorns (who were presumed to be modern people resurrecting an ancient civilization) but when you got up to the Library of Souls arc, it was revealed that the spirits of Oranbega possessed normal people and put their actual souls inside crystal thingamabobs.Quote:Thanks. The CoT lore seems a bit convoluted, so I went with Twilight Son's big bad, since it'd be recognizable for many players. Your suggestion's good, I'll rewrite that part.
("I will pierce myself with this thorn, and gain the mystic power of an ancient civilization!" he shouted.
The acolyte said, "No, Zoria. You ARE the ancient civilization!"
And then Zoria was a crystal.) -
Quote:Yeah, if you try to follow it, it'll make you work for the plot. There should be enough provided in the navbar and the popups to give you a clue of what to do to complete the missions if you just click through everything and don't care.Originally Posted by GrinningSpade
You could have warned us. You could have said that this is an arc not suited for the intellectually challenged. Not suited to play when you are drunk, stoned, sleepy or dead.
I figured I'd throw them in for a little perspective, yeah. Good to know they had the desired effect.Quote:This arc is seriously complicated and you have to pay attention to the clues to even try to understand what and why things are happening. I think I got it, well some parts of it anyway. Thrown in for good measure are some other clueless persons who also seem to have stumbled into this nightmare thing, makes you feel less lost actually.
The last map's one of Scirocco's later-game arcs. Map 3 is also a unique job, from Mender Tesseract's arc, but unfortunately it's currently up to chance whether you'll reach the really interesting part of it before the mission's over.Quote:Its got clever dialogue (even with explanations what is going on for the dumbfounded of us), engaging enemies from various fractions with special attention to the swat equalizer who you learn to hate anew, unique maps (never saw the last one before), lots of special attention in descriptions, clues and extras. Absolutely not recommended for teams as they will miss half of the goodness.
I like to think the sights and sounds will be entertaining for teams, but you do definitely lose something by not being the guy who's talking to the contact. That's unfortunately unavoidable in this particular case. -
@GlaziusF
Playing this one on a high 30s archery energy blaster, diff settings 1 hero +1 yes bosses no AVS.
NO WEAPONS NO ITEMS FOX ONLY FINAL DESTINATION
Caveat: I know nothing about Queen, other than that any casette tape left in a car for long enough will become a Queen album.
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"see the terrible future" is a 75% chance of Red Atlas.
Oh! Marchand's Office!
...the "back" spawn doesn't work in this one though. Just so you know. Since the map is part outdoors it can just drop it anydangwhere.
Huh. Custom Arachnos? Some "Crab Spider LB", which I guess stands for "longbow" archery/SR with stat resists. Kind of an odd choice given Arachnos is pretty techno. Also no crab backpacks. Maybe call them Wolf Spiders?
Ah, wolf spiders are melee, crabs are range. Kinda odd given that the actual ones are capable at both distances.
Missing like crazy because every lieut's SR. Also completely unable to apply any kind of crowd control. I can connect with Total Focus, Bone Smasher, and Energy Punch and they're still up and attacking.
The lottery strikes and Amanda Vines actually shows up on the roof. She tells me what I've picked up from the patrols - someone killed Arachnos from the inside and then took out most of the world's heroes under the pretext of a peace talk.
...but if that's the case, why is the new Arachnos even bothering to use the old one's nomenclature and costuming?
Anyway, this all came to pass because somebody got hold of a dimension-hopping being of pure potential and misused him.
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So let's go play Child Protective Services, shall we?
Aw. Not much going on in this base aside from one dude who's an investigator. I liked the copious chatter in the first mission and I was kinda expecting it to keep up.
These first two missions have had basically successive clues showing up on complete - there's only one thing to do, so it drops a clue, which completes the mission, which drops ANOTHER clue...
Why bother? It's not like they're separate bits, either. One usually ends up restating the other in part or in whole.
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So, on to the final boss fight.
Apparently you weren't planning on this to be some kind of rock opera...
But I really have to ask why not.
Anyway, "Youth" is as mustachioed as the guy who's been sending me on these missions, and he has no description at all.
...and I thought he was kneeling, but it turns out he's just very very small.
So about half this map is completely unused, as the boss just shows up right by the portal when I tag back to it. He's Thugs/Fire, and mad enough to sport a giant pumpkin head for no apparent reason.
Fortunately my squishy pal who's rad to be with has things under control there, with an assist from my AoE self. He rezzes, but by that time the mission's complete and I fly the coop.
Unfortunately somebody bugs me to look something up and I misclick and miss the ending text.
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Storyline - ****. Not that I expected the ending text to be worldshaking. The storyline was pretty straightforward and nothing I haven't seen - madman acquires being with cosmic power, attempts to take over world, you put the kibosh on his plans, sail on star travellers. It seems like this "great power" of Youth was just what Magic was doing for me - Mad Al just had more capacity to take advantage of the visions of the future. The title led me to expect something more, like for Mad Al's troops to actually be created from Youth's imagination, or his own mad scientific perversions thereof.
Design - ***. The last map is 50% unused space - I scooped up Youth right on the first floor down, took him to the portal, and the boss fight was right there. While a nice touch overall, it left me wondering if something hadn't gone wrong somewhere. The custom Arachnos... really aren't "out there" enough. They're basically HK Arachnos - recolors with off-brand armor. I thought this guy was supposed to be MAD.
Gameplay - ***. They are pretty maddening to fight, at least. SR makes the hard to hit and shrugs off crowd control and knockaround. Add the rocket boots and any melee lieutenant is practically guaranteed to be in your face beating... uh... your face in. I could understand if this was one lieutenant's gimmick, but it's the same for all of them.
Detail - ***. No bio on Youth just made me a bit sad. No specific variation on the New Arachnos bios for powersets (or even to explain the difference between Crab and Wolf) was a bit of a letdown too. The restated clues for the first two missions just didn't make any sense to double up on... and while I'm not taking points for this, I really got the hankering to see this done up as a rock opera.
Overall - ***. An arc that doesn't exactly swing for the fences but is fairly solid for what it is, which needs a little more attention to detail, powerset variety, and objective placement to really shine. -
And rolling right into tonight's arc, it's The Dreams Of Youth (286607). Verdict - ***. Review lower in this thread.
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@GlaziusF
Running this on a level 40 ice/axe tank, 3 heroes' worth of even level spawns with bosses but no AVs.
Man, I don't think that's ever gonna stop being a mouthful.
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So... I'm in what's supposed to be a training exercise against Freakshow with milspec ordnance.
But the glowy column of light just dumped me into... Oranbega?
I encounter a CoT who seems to think the Circle rules the world and heroes are tasty meat snacks. ...how's that happen? The Circle getting stomped by the Mu was the impetus for this whole demon summoning thing.
Nice custom demon, though.
I find a glowie near the middle (looks like Back glowies just show up there now) and it reveals everything. This is the distant future where the Circle rules the world for... some reason... and Ouroboros wants me to make a difference.
Kind of a weird approach there, guy. I mean, odds are I'm cleared for Ouro at this point anyway.
It does save you the trouble of having to make an interesting Ouro contact model, but still.
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But alright, let's do an end run around causality.
Hmm. I kinda got the point of things after the first CoT death mage leading a DE herd. I've battled through like six of them so far and I've barely gotten above the first floor.
No chance you could cut that down a bit, is there?
I rescue some kind of angel thing from the Circle, who have worked out how to use the DE as heavies. Kinda interesting how it works out all in all -- buffs from DE emanators are coded to work only on DE, so when there's a cairn and a fungus hanging around I can still punk the mage.
I wonder if you could make some kind of custom enemy group that's a mix of DE and like Behemoths and Thorn Casters or something, just to cut down on the pain a quartz emanator can bring on.
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...I guess Collin's okay with the future turning out this way? I can see where he's coming from, not wanting people to mess with the system, but his viewpoint still seems kinda harsh.
Hmm. I think you need to add the other ranks of ghost to this group you have guarding the hostages. All I'm getting are the other Nevra demons, and they're spawning in at -1. (I dinged 41.)
Freeing the hostages gives me a boss, who tells me I was too late to stop them from capturing the hero.
...uh, I can arrive at any time I want. Nice job on the landing, Mender Kidnap.
Anyway, he comes free and it seems like everything's going to turn out alright now.
I'm not exactly sure why the mission exit pop says I'm so uneasy, Edge's bio makes him sound like a Confidence Elemental.
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Well, Collin has the portal set for the future again.
It's gonna be Red Atlas, isn't it. We can't have utopian things.
Oh! Not Red Atlas. A tech lab. With an entry pop-up telling me this is unexpected.
For a moment I wonder what's unexpected, and then I round a corner and get a canister full of sniper gas in the face.
NO ONE EXPECTS THE NEMESIS INQUISITION! Our 6,492,312,760 secret plans include...
I've arrived in the far future. And Nemesis won... somehow. Reading through the files it looks like it was just by showing up, playing both sides of a conflict against each other in mutually assured destruction.
But, uh... Baron Zoria was a bit of a froofy nobleman, with great aspirations but no real power. His soul is jammed in a crystal in the Library of Souls. There's an immortal Circle mage currently using his body and possibly alias.
In that one Smoke and Mirrors TF I think he does appear as an end enemy but that seems to be the result of some canon confusion. Weirdly enough its description is Akarist's, and I think the model is the Akarist hostage they added to the Library of Souls arc, in I think I6?
I'm unsure if the Circle even has head honchos. There are the archmages in the Augustine TF who seem to be a sort of leadership council...
Anyway. Just say the kid took out the Thorn Tree or something, that's a pretty major place of power and would be a serious blow to their operations.
Man, this thing better not turn out to have been yet another Nemesis plot.
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Collin seems awfully concerned about the future for someone who was all possessive about his sim being hijacked not two missions back.
Anyway, on entering I find out this was... a Circle plot? A plant within Ouroboros? Dang.
Mist is running Hurricane, which is on even when she's a captive and tosses the Circle all over the dang place.
Speaking of all over the dang place... yeah. There's a lot of geometry/spawnometry where a misplaced gale can have you fighting three groups at once. Not that I can't handle it, even with the spawn size cranked up, but it's still annoying. Any chance you could make this lady /cold instead of /storm?
I fight a somewhat interesting ice/fire EB demon (but, uh, the Circle kinda has those, they're called Blade Princes) and then fight Paelin, a ninjas/invuln AV who only seems to have rank 1 of the minion summon. Kind of underwhelming.
He talks about the necessity of doin' what he's doin', which makes me wonder if he went rogue or if this is legitimately the way our future is supposed to turn out.
No clues drop on his death that might provide an answer.
Ah. There it is, in the souvie. It looks like this guy was just a n00b at messing with time, which makes me wonder why he was on this duty, or if his botched handling of the whole situation was just part of somebody else's plan for the timestream.
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Storyline - ****. I'm not a big fan of the framing device. My contact's not really thrilled about this whole thing for like half the arc, which doesn't do a lot for my own motivation. And Paelin is a cipher -- up until the souvenir, anyway, which is kind of a shame as he's one of the big movers in the plot. I'd kinda like to see this with him as a contact in Ouroboros, with you hijacking the Pillar of Ice and Flame for the last two missions and him just being embarrassed and going off somewhere for intense training when you finally return. Or something along those lines anyway.
Design - ****. The second and fifth missions are full to bursting with death mages. Not quite so bad in the fifth mission when you get help more or less right away, but all those boss fights right after the other in mission 2 were just kind of draining. I also find it a bit odd that a couple custom demons get thrown into the mix when the Circle has a lot of serviceable EBs already. Also I have a couple of issues with chained objectives - the hostage rescue and boss fights all hit in about the same 90-degree arc of the same room in mission 5. If I wasn't chasing stragglers down who got galicaned across the map, they would have spawned in surrounding me.
Gameplay - ****. The other issue with chained objectives is that putting two chains on an outdoor map, such as happens in mission 3, is introducing a lot of hunt-and-peck to resolve each chain. And on a map prone to chain aggro like the graveyard map, sproinging around and landing wherever isn't a very good way to search for what you need.
Detail - ****. I'll admit that part of this is probably on the game, and not this arc in specific, but Baron Zoria is really not any kind of Circle leader, and this mission's selected level range puts it beyond the point in "the storyline" where the Circle mage possessing his body is a credible front man. You can probably peel out references to Baron Zoria in specific and replace them with the Circle in general.
Overall - ****. Honestly it probably would have been more impressive if I'd seen it right when MA launched, but it's still a very serviceable arc in need of a little polish to really shine. -
Quote:Man, this thing's been out since April and only 20 people played it?Originally Posted by Aliana Blue
Hey Glazius, can I be cheeky and ask you to check one of my arcs when you have time? I posted it in the mission review site ages ago but nobody ever commented on it there
It's gettin' played tonight. And finished in two days. Yay, RL distractions. Of Mentors and Legacy (1589), verdict - ****. Review lower in this thread.
Also! I got a new arc out there. Check mah sig. -
Arc Name: Backwards Day
Arc ID: 329000
Faction: Circle of Thorns, Slag Golems, Family, Freakshow, Custom Group (villainous allignment)
Creator Global/Forum Name: @GlaziusF/GlaziusF
Difficulty Level: Medium/Hard
Synopsis: Unfortunately, the final ritual failed. The ultimate knowledge was lost forever, and Diviner Maros held prisoner in the depths of time. ...at least, that's what he's telling you. As far as you know, that hasn't happened yet. Maybe you can make the future go your way?
Estimated Time to Play: 60-90 minutes
Link to more details: CoHMR entry
Promotional Copy:
[ QUOTE ]
IN A WORLD where tomorrow always follows today, one man has put the playlist of his life on shuffle. His name: Diviner Maros. His mission: ultimate knowledge. His invaluable companion: YOU!
Dig for ancient treasure, conduct arcane rituals, and travel into the Vaults of Time to fight pasts that never were and futures that should never be! But be wary -- Maros never told you it was BACKWARDS DAY (329000). (rated MLMA -- for villains 25-30)
[/ QUOTE ]
Notes from the author:
This one has a very specific gimmick to the mission briefings. No, they're not all written backwards. For the most part they're perfectly readable. But you'll want to bug Maros before you step into the mission...
And unfortunately that means you'll miss out on some of the effect if you're running as part of a team. -
Quote:What do you mean weak? Tanks and scrappers get the same melee damage multiplier up until about the levels when tanks get status protection.Originally Posted by Mr_NoPants
I find the lower levels on tanks very displeasing. You are either a weak scrapper or you have almost no attacks.
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Quote:Global chat channels keep their colors when you zone.Originally Posted by Zekiran_Immortal
I just love this issue
Thank you devs for listening to us!
First thing I noticed was that in the character load screen, our last worn costume is on, instead of just the first slot. WOO HOO!
Anything else we've been suggesting for ages that got in this issue? (aside from the Very Painfully Obvious?) -
@GlaziusF
Alright, testing this one's lowbie chops with a single-digit FF/energy defender, standard diff. (1 hero, even level, no solo bosses, no AVs)
Arc ID is apparently really 230866.
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Okay, I have to say, as far as missions go, we really need more of them that are just some guy on the street saying "Listen, $name, I know you're fightin' for justice and I'll let you finish but there's this building full of Hellions that really needs a hero!"
Unfortunately this is... just a building full of Hellions. No sign of whatever it is they're doing that's so dangerous it needs a hero. I mean, okay, I realize as part of their normal daily life they perform unholy rituals to Baphomet, smuggle ancient and powerful artifacts, and try to establish the largest private purse collection in the tri-country area, but I'm not actually seeing any of that. Just a decayed office full of Hellions. It's not even on fire. Well, most of it's not. Since the default Hellion animation loops include hucking Molotovs there are bits of it that light up briefly.
I get a clue for completing the mission but it's just a generic clue about cleaning the place out.
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So now the Hellions are in a casino, lighting up the place. And they've brought weapons. No, not arcane weapons. Looks like they lifted this stuff from a SWAT van somewhere.
Sweet fancy Moses it takes a long time to stare at one of these racks before the weapons are collected.
And I finally get a hint of something like plot when the weapons are approximately 156.4% more awesome than the Hellion's usual Sacrifice Night Specials.
But... that's it. It's over.
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Man, I can't rate this, there's nothing here. It's like two radio missions with less hoofin' it and also less progress toward a raptor pack.
Except radio missions at least try for a funny little bit of boss dialogue or pun-flavored collectible.
I mean, okay, your little explanation in the thread has a reason for why it's so... basic... but just seeing the description here or in-game it doesn't seem that way.
Like, where was anything about this guy being pressed into joining the Hellions? That sounded interesting enough to play but it never shows up!
Any concrete suggestions at this point would be pretty much me writing your arc for you, since it's such a blank slate right now.
So here's an abstract one: think of an awesome moment. Think of the awesome moment you want to put into a story, and go into MA to make it real. Then figure out how to get there, then figure out how to get back to reality, if such term can be said to apply to a place where a dude with a steam boiler strapped to his back nails an alien laser squid to the wall with a forcebolt from his gear staff. -
Tonight is a night for lowbies. Tonight is a night for a Hellion Smackdown (230866). Review forthcoming.
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Quote:Haven't played a flier in a while, have you? They've been getting knocked around for a couple issues now.Originally Posted by Ultimo_
Something I noticed, is that I periodically get knocked down while hovering or flying. That's right, I'm in the air and get hit by a knockback/down effect and fall onto an invisible floor several feet above the actual floor...
Most notably, the in-place backflip you do when you're hovering was retweaked so it imposes a significant animation-type delay to activating other powers. Less than the one you get when you get knocked down but you get up again, but still noticeable. -
I don't know if somebody's included in their list of praises, but...
We've been able to color the text global channels display in for a while. But those colors never seemed to persist across zones.
UNTIL NOW. -
@GlaziusF.
Running on a level 49 spine/regen scrapper, diff... uh... 2 heroes, even level, bosses on, AVs off.
Okay, that's going to get a lot more complicated.
Also this arc (Second Generation Hero by @Rampager) is apparently actually ID 114256.
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Hmm. For an arc that is supposed to be about recovering some stolen stuff, it starts off rather oddly - with me directed to save Statesman from the 5th Column.
And then in the sendoff there's this giant text dump about how the stuff got stolen.
Also if this mission is so important that the sordid details can wait until I get back, why bother with this giant ill-fitting teaser in the sendoff text?
Awwwww, Red Atlas?
...I mean, okay, it actually fits here, but this map is such a pain to dart around in. So many walls blocking line of sight to guys just squattin' in broken-down rooms covered by smoke.
I also get objectives that seem like default text for Statesman and... Frostwolfe.
Extra Es are seldom a good sign.
Okay, there's the boss group, let's check out the new blood.
Hmm. Okay, Ripshock and Trapdoor have no bios at all, Orbweaver is apparently a specific person (who, as a minion, can show up multiple times per spawn) and Frostwolfe's bio ends in the middle of the first sentence, right after his name.
And his only line is to... call a silent ambush for backup right when the battle starts? Apparently?
Trapdoor is an exceedingly annoying LT-rank rad/archer, since radiation is a click power in the AI's hands.
I don't exactly have a lot of time to examine the ambush, but it contains a Protean Fang, also with no bio.
Statesman's escort contains a Shrieker, who -- say it with me -- has no bio.
There's a mission completion clue which is just "You rescued Statesman!", no text, and another one apparently for springing Statesman which runs over the edge of the clue window.
The mission exit popup says "let's get out of here and shut this portal down", but who's the "us" in there? It's an objective system message, not a little shoulder narrator - second-person plural is about as far up as it can go.
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Okay, the contact has the pattern of a teeny little line before the mission starts and then a giant story dump when I push accept.
It's okay to actually talk about the mission in the pre-mission text. In fact, I encourage it, along with a pale green highlighting of some verb phrase containing a crucial mission objective.
And also, as applies in this case, a warning that the mission is going to be timed and roughly how much time is available. Nothing like looking up at the title bar and realizing that you've lost a couple minutes toward parsing the intro text.
(Paragraph breaks are your friend. Remember to double 'em up or the text will still run together!)
I'm fortunate enough to pick the right branch out of the two and find the journal I'm looking for in the first big room I come to. And then I get a boss defeat objective. Just a name, again, no indication of why it might be a good idea to whack this guy before I walk out the door.
I head for the back to look for him, but he actually spawned down the other branch from the start, and because of the map's pacing setting is a -2 elite boss. Stone melee/war mace, The Man With Two Build Ups. He has, say it with me, no bio.
I get a clue about some kind of data web embedded in him, and also one about the logbook I just found to trigger him, except describing it more generically. (also it needs an apostrophe-s after the hero's name since it's intended to be possessive)
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And it takes until the third mission until the guy actually starts talking up the mission before it happens.
Unfortunately neither it nor the mission sendoff text are kind enough to tell me where I'll actually be going or who I'll actually be fighting. Is it Oranbega? Some other caves? A warehouse? Is it going to be CoT on-site or these new guys?
Also my contact tells me everybody in this group has a spider name, but I can't google up anything on ripshock or shrieker spiders.
It looks like it is the new guys in Oranbega. I finally get to look at Suntiger's bio, though surprise surprise it doesn't actually have one.
...oh joy, a jail map. With... four identical maces to collect? I guess three of them are decoys or something.
No, I get a clue after the first one, but there are still three showing up as left... and there's no system text telling me if I got the right one or not.
Apparently collecting the last mace glowie... spawned Baphomet in? That's got to be a pain for somebody who just turned around when they got to the jail, which is where I found two of the maces.
The armor doesn't have any kind of interaction text at all to it, either.
So, fighting Baphomet. Let's see, let's see. Not a bad fight all in all. He seems to call for help at low health, but it never arrives, and he gets a death rattle off AND drops some kind of rant about returning to the mortal plane in the system text, where it ought not to go.
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While en route to Manticore I receive word that he was missing and presumed captured.
That's not the summary of the fourth mission briefing. That IS the fourth mission briefing. I... how does that translate into anything like a goal? Am I out hitting the streets? What does my contact have to do with any of this?
Okay, I AM hitting the streets. But.. didn't I retrieve the dude's gear from the CoT now? Why does the mission popup think I'm still going after it?
Frostwolfe is now a regular part of my balanced mission spawns. This is a reasonable response from MA, which likes to toss bosses in to spawns for 2 heroes, but I wonder if you intended it.
I spring Manticore - no dialog, no system text, no clues. I drop Funnelweb - no dialog, no system text, no clues, though at least they have a perfunctory description. And then the objective chains into finding... some kind of mission mainframe? How? Why?
I search all over for it and finally find it in the graveyard I'd cleared out in hopes of finding the boss. It's being guarded by CoT (what?) in a "being repaired" pose (WHAT?) and still has its default description, which is at least ostensibly true.
It drops an Arachnos DVD. ..maybe the Arachnos should have been guarding it? I don't even know anymore.
There's an exit popup which sounds a lot like what my contact should SAY when I finally get his stuff back to him.
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...what, guy, you're not going to come in? Apparently Funnelweb's squad has some kind of doomsday weapon, and my confact's sendoff is just a rambling mass of ramble.
I find Funnelweb first in the base, on the bottom floor of that five-floor reactor room with like a jillion catwalks. He has rage! Though he never got to pop it last time and doesn't live long enough to make use of it this time, it's still a terrible terrible power especially if you're supposed to fight him as an AV. Capped to-hit like FOREVER.
As I get janked by a combination of radiation and sonic debuffs and a bane spider's stealth strike, I notice that the navbar title for the mission is entirely in lowercase.
Requiem and... the ghost of Captain Combustion (I've stopped trying to make sense of things at this point) are within spitting distance of each other. Manticore chases him when he runs through the arc, and there's another hospital trip in my future.
And even though the mission said I needed to defeat Requiem, nothing chained off of him. After the ghost was freed from captivity, the mission completed.
Apparently he was the guy who knocked off the guy who killed Manticore's parents? Would have been nice to get some kind of perspective on that from his kid.
The ordering in the mission was all out of whack. Apparently I was supposed to scoop up Manticore, then drop Requiem, then beat Funnelweb, then free the ghost? But really the objectives seemed to shake out very differently than that...
I get clues without titles from Funnelweb, Requiem, and the ghost. And the bomb that I was supposed to worry about was this anemic little glowie. I was expecting like a Rikti UXB or something.
And my souvenir is... Jimmy's mace? I thought he needed this thing to be a hero. Also it gives me a little bit of background on the mace but doesn't say a thing about the storyarc.
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Storyline - *. Here's what I can kinda piece together. The guy who killed Manticore's family was wiped out by Captain Combustion. But he had a whole bunch of followers, who resurfaced one day and killed Captain Combustion, stealing the legacy intended for his grandson. ...that's about all that I can pull out that makes sense. Rampager (Jimmy?) might have said some of this. He might have said more, but every briefing is a solid block of rambling text. There's a lot of other stuff tacked on - the portal to Axis America, the 5th building a giant robot, Baphomet wanting to possess the relics and get into the real world... somehow, the mainframe sitting in the middle of the street that links to Arachnos, and Requiem thinking he can somehow get the 5th back into action with Captain Combustion's ghost, which he has acquired... somehow. The set pieces in each mission are kinda okay on their own, but I just can't string them together into anything coherent at all.
Design - **. I can't really make sense out of why the enemies have the powers they have. Mercs/Psi Assault? Ice armor over a cheery yellow bodysuit? Rad/archery? Fire/ice? SS/Elec? Stone Melee/War Mace Melee? I don't get any of it because it doesn't exactly follow from the monster names alone, which are all I have to go on as most of them have no descriptions to speak of. Two maps have objectives necessarily placed randomly (missions 1 and 4, outdoor) and two have objectives which may as well be placed randomly for all they can be stumbled across in any order (missions 2 and 5).
Gameplay - **. Wandering around randomly trying to find objectives to complete isn't much fun, and this mission pulls it on 4 maps out of 5, with the last mission having the added bonus of chains that are talked up inside the mission itself but which don't actually exist.
Detail - *. A lot of why the story doesn't make much sense is that Rampager has two modes - single bland line and WALL OF TEXT LANDS A CRITICAL STRIKE ON YOUR ATTENTION SPAN FOR AN EXTRA 9999.99 DAMAGE. There might be some clues in the description of the various members of the villain group, but most of them are blank, and the two that aren't are named people who can still show up in multiple on-screen copies, one of whom (Frostwolfe) has half a sentence of description. System text and dialogue are used in consistently and in the case of at least one mission seem to have been omitted completely.
OVerall - *. This feels really unfinished and sloppily done. Mission 4 has no dialogue at all from anyone. Most of the custom enemies have no description at all. Briefings are just a giant pile of possibly-connected statements piled wherever. I really wonder if this was an early draft uploaded by mistake.