Heronator

Specific part: The knee-worn jeans that many low-level enemies wear. I want those ******* pants.

General request: It would be awesome if you did these in themed batches rather than just individual parts. For example, if you guys give us a Vahzilok skull mask, don't leave us hanging. Give us the apron and rib cage too. A huge draw (at least, for me personally) is to make a character that looks like an NPC as precisely as possible (I'm still annoyed that I can't exactly replicate the palette and pieces of all the Praetorian Cops and Resistance members). So, while giving individual, cool pieces does appease those who simply want to incorporate those pieces into a new costume, for those of us making characters who are supposed to be current or former members of existing factions, you're just leaving us hanging. A co....stume tease, if you will.

With this new patch, the unreturnable completed halloween tip mission that was in my tray has been (thankfully) gotten rid of. However, on that character, I have been unable to get another Halloween Tip (yes, I have been ToTing in costume). Is this purely a streak of bad luck, or have others also not received another tip drop?

Doing a little more testing, it seems that credit is not being earned towards the Zombie Apocalypse badges (at least the ones for defeating minions and lieutenants). Soling the apocalypse, tried fighting zombies in Grandville and Cap, and after going through several waves of zombies in both locales, the character (level 50 villain, never side-switched) does not have a single point of credit towards either.

Unrelated to the Halloween Tip, the current costume temp powers are not counting as credit towards Clothes Horse and related badges. I've earned 11 costumes on a character who previously had none, and did not receive Clothes Horse (which normally grants at 10 costumes).

EDIT: The character in question is a level 50 villain (not a rogue), ToTing in Grandville, so this isn't a problem relating to being in the opposing faction's area or being in Praetoria.

I think of it as Prey-toria and Prey-torian.

Except when it concerns Nova Praetoria. For some reason, in my head, that is "Nova Pruh-toria".

It appears that the primary Test Server (not 02) has been overwritten with characters from Freedom. Don't suppose we have any word on when they'll back-up the normal Test characters again, do we?

Hi, I'm trying to find an RPVG for a villain of mine on Virtue. For most of my time playing the game, I haven't actually had a home server, but I'm trying to rectify that now, starting with the character I've been playing a lot lately. He's a low-powered Outcast who happened to be freed along with the other villains in the Breakout, and is just trying to get by in the Isles.

I'm looking for a VG with good Role-Play (not necessarily plotted storylines, just people willing to chat in character and team with), who have a place for a "thug" type. Someone whose not too good at anything, and is just looking for some cash (he's also extremely power hungry in the literal sense, so he'd probably go for an "experiment" role as well).

Thanks for reading, and I hope to know all of you more as I acclimate myself to actually having a home server for once!

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the character's name is Brian Slater

Thanks for the notes; I totally missed the endevor/endeavor thing.

Yes, Mako's tooth has some dried gum flesh attached to it. The idea being, it was knocked out of his head by Scrapyard, rather than coming loose naturally.

And good thought about the mission 1 entry pop-up. I changed it to reflect the fact that the Scrapyarders shouldn't be ready, and would just be working.

Arc Name: If you teach a man to make a fish

Arc ID: 244484

Tags: Solo Friendly, Canon-Related, Sci-Fi

Length: Long

Morality: Villainous

Enemy Groups: Scrapyarders, Coralax, Custom Boss

Description: The UN-run GENE Project (Genetic Enhancements for the Neutralization of the Enemy) hires your villain in an attempt to mass produce clones of Captain Mako for use as a super-soldier.

Link in my signature to the arc, as well.

This was the first arc I made after I14 went Live; it was reviewed by several of the resident Arc reviewers, and has now been updated, to incorporate those changes (albeit, there's been a large gap between this update and those reviews), and for I15.

The arc centers around Dr. Barlow and the UN-run GENE Project, which wants to mass produce clones of Captain Mako for use as a super-soldier, and Dr. Barlow hires your villain to "help out".

I didn't quite know what I was doing, and I accidentally unpublished, and then published again, rather than just re-publishing. I'd love some feedback and ratings to bring me out of the limbo that is "No Ratings".

Between the ever-busy streets of Paragon City, the night always moved at a breakneck pace, as people of all types tried to get their business concluded before the dawning of the sun. Tonight, that business had been interrupted.

Dodging through the sprawling back alleys of Kings Row, Revenant ran as fast as his feet would take him, his ratty shoes splashing dirty puddles, his wake swirling plastic bags and sheets of newspaper. The Hellion Damned kept looking over his shoulder, his mask pulled up to his forehead to see better. Occasionally he'd hear the low-pitched whirring of cybernetics, the clakking of a weapon being loaded, and the thump of combat boots on pavement.


“Target averaging 210 bpm. Lactic Acid build-up probable. Re-Route energy sub-routines to Movement Mesh. Prepare for target confrontation.”


Revenant was panting heavily, and ran down an alley to a dead-end. Exhausted, he turned around, only to see his pursuer move in to block his only exit route. Standing at nearly 6'1”, this man was an impressive sight. Military grade body armor, black sunglasses, and blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. The flashing glint of a nearby streetlight revealed the man's cybernetic right arm.

“Hey listen man, I give up, okay? I surrender! I'll submit to arrest, I'll head to the Zig, I'll do whatever! Please, man!”

The man strode forward, the cyberarm grabbing the Damned at his jaw, fingers of steel creeping across the Hellion's face. Fingers that could rend metal began to slowly compress bone.

“You fail to understand. Arrest is no longer an option. Your ignorance saw to that.”

The man's eyes flashed red behind the glasses, “Reach into your left pocket, and remove the device.”

Revenant fumbled with his jeans, pulling out a small electronic component. The thing was the size of a soda can, with wires coming from both ends, and making a low hum. It looked like it had been taken from the set of a Sci-Fi B-Movie.

“This thing? Man, I was just looking for a score! I was just lookin' for a hook-up! I just needed a fix! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!”

The man took the device from the Hellion with his free hand, “'Sorry' does not cut it. The moment you took it, you moved from the realm of annoying street scum to tangible threat. And all threats must be resolved.”


“Target pheromone levels rising. Necessary level of fear induced. Three auxiliary targets located. Calculating Viral Spread probability...near 100%. Proceed.”


“You now have two options; expeditious and painful, or time-consuming and excruciating Please choose now.”

Revenant had become hysterical, sweat and tears puring from the 'hardened criminal', “No, no, no...please man, you don;t have to do this...I'll go quietly, I'll rat out whoever you want...I'll snitch, I'll do time, I'll do whatever man. Please, please don't...please don;t do this...”

“Incorrect response. Excruciating it is.”

Faster than Revenant's brain could process the man's response, electrical impulses shot down the arm, causing the mechanical hand to instantaneously close at full force. In a contained spray of gore and bone, the Hellion leader was now missing a lower jaw. Revenant screamed in wordless, garbled agony, as an integrated SMB extended from the man's cybernetic arm.

In the distance, some watching Skulls looked down from a rooftop. One of the thugs spoke up, “Man, that was brutal. I thought the heroes weren't allowed to do that?”

The other Skull shook his head, “They're not. That guy's pulling some illegal sh*t down there. Dude's crazy.”

“Hey, I think I saw him on the news. Says he's some Gulf War vet who opted for a cyberware augment after he got blasted by an IED. What'd he call himself?”

“Becker, I think. Lieutenant Becker. We'd better spread the word. Stay the hell away from that guy.”


“Audio Analysis Complete. Viral Spread has begun. Loading possible scenarios. Recommended action; leave the scene. All traceable evidence removed; probability of discovery at this stage is statistically insignificant. Initiating Transmatter Intradimensional Shift Sequence X2397-B”


*******

It had been a usual day for Lieutenant Becker. He was hitting up his contacts for any news of criminal activity, while WARCRY-Z continued to calculate the aftermath of the previous night's events. Becker had just finished cleaning out a Clockwork nest when Z beeped inside his head.


“Incoming sub-wave transmission. Origin Point: Atwater Cybernetics, Sub-Level Delta. Patch?”


Becker gave the mental okay, and he heard a voice come in over his integrated commlink, “Allan, do you receive me? We need to discuss something rather important.”

Becker recognized the voice as Ernest Mitchman, his cyber-surgeon.

“I recovered the miniature reactor you were developing. It turns out it was just some Hellion.”

Ernest's voice betrayed his anxiety, “That's just it, Allan. He wasn't 'just some Hellion'. He was Calvin Morales, nephew of the Mayor. The PPD Are beginning a full investigation, saying that 'murder is murder, even when the victim is a metacriminal.'”

Becker was stunned. That punk was the Mayor's nephew?

“I'll call you back, Ernest.”

“What? Allan, NO! Don't you hang up on me! We need to work on this for you to-”


“Sub-wave transmission terminated.”

Every time I shut down and turn my computer back on, the updater needs to fix all the files again, even after they've been fixed before.

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Name: If you teach a man to make a fish
ID: 38226
Handle: @Heronator
Level: 20-30 (20-24 will get bumped up to 25 for the second mission).

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4 out of 5 stars

Run with a level 26 Mind/Rad controller...

First thing I notice is that even though the mission is listed as Neutral, it seems more like a villainous one. Or at least a pretty mercantile hero one.

Anyway, when Captain Mako killed Scrapyard, some of his teeth got knocked out. GENE, a UN organization, wants to collect a few for some of their super soldier project. You're asked to go collect them.

You get sent to a Scrapyarder base (definitely should be a Villainous arc) and are told to retrieve the teeth. The task was fairly simple with no tricks. You grab the tooth, which gives a pretty nice clue text, and head out.

Anyway, with the tooth, GENE manages to clone a more docile version of Captain Mako (my that was quick!), but the Coralax end up invading the lab and you have to go in and fight them off. Sadly, it's a defeat all, and I personally don't see the story reason for it to be a defeat all.

First, you come across Dr. Barlow, the contact and project's leader, and rescue him. He turns out to be an Energy Blast/Elec Armor Lt. So while he's helpful in the mission, he's not overwhelming. He's also not really necessary, as far as I can tell, but he's probably nice for someone who is a little squishier.

You eventually come across Mako-2, the clone, who looks like a pretty darn good costume copy of Mako from far, but really shows the limitations of the costume creator up close, where it looks more like a lizard than a shark. But it's still pretty good. He's a Claws/Something boss (he spent the entire time held, so I doubt it was a defensive set).

Mako-2 only gives unintelligible grunts, but the Coralax ambush you at 50% health, calling him the Mouth of the Leviathan. I'm not familiar with the Mako patron arc, so I assume his connection to the Leviathan is explained further there, so I'll just assume it meshes well. Even if it doesn't, it still makes enough sense that I can let it go.

Anyway, you defeat him and collect all the biosamples and the mission completes.

Anyway, there was nothing really wrong with this arc. Everything it did, it did fairly well. There were no plot holes, no typos, no bad writing. The only thing is it was pretty obvious that something bad would happen from attempting to clone Mako, but it wasn't the standard (eg. oh no, our clone ended up going CRAZY!)

The were two things, though. One, it was a little too short and not super interesting. I feel like there could have been three missions: 1) Get the tooth, 2) Coralax attack the lab and you fight two or three of the Mako-clones, 3) You have to go track down the Mako-clone the Coralax escaped with that has matured and gotten stronger (maybe have him be a custom EB or maybe even an EB version of Mako [if one exists in that level range]).

Two, it doesn't seem to know if it's a hero or villain arc. Attacking the Scrapyarders is definitely a villainous thing to do. But then there's no real reason that a villain would go bail out GENE after the Coralax attack. Either the first mission needs to be turned into a different group that has the teeth or the second mission needs to give some incentive to the villains.

Still, it was solid, fairly entertaining, and made use of two enemy groups that don't really get much play.

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Thanks very much for the feedback! When I wrote this arc, I was specifically trying to write it Neutrally, with the idea that a villain (looking to get paid) or a hero (believing that fighting the Scrapyarders is for the greater good, as GENE is a UN organization like Vanguard) could more or less insert themselves in it without me writing for one or the other (or worse, write as if the contact never knew if the character was a hero or a villain). But, I'm going to be re-designing a couple of aspects of this arc sometime in the near future, so I'll slate it towards one side or the other then.

And the second mission is a kill all because the PC is supposed to secure the lab, as the invading Coralax wrecked GENE's defenses. I think I put something to that effect in the text, but I will re-read it, and emphasize that portion more if necessary.

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Arc 38226 - If you teach a man to make a fish
Rating: ****

This morning I'm doing arcs while waiting on other stuff to start happening, so it was a nice relief to find some shorter ones in the queue. I'm actually surprised at times to see the low number of runs some arcs get (should I advertise mine again now? Naahh), when you have some of the DC and Hall of Fame crap with literally over a thousand runs. Still, not everyone is there for the same kind of thing I am, so I pick through the less populated end of the spectrum, finding arcs like this one. With only one rating to its name, and a level range that Gallows might soon be escaping, I took it upon myself to do this arc before I outlevelled it and felt sour I wasn't getting any XP.

This arc would have been a three; it's competent, simple, and short, depicting Mad Science depicting its own downfall. Instead I edged it up to a three because it does two things that I haven't seen done well in MA arcs yet; it involved the contact in a mission without making him annoying, and it included an entirely legitimate-feeling Defeat All mission. The enemy groups were well-selected, appropriate to the level range and not overused.

The thing is, the arc doesn't overstay its welcome. It's solid, it's robust conceptually, it doesn't throw you against any unreasonable challenges or wear its concept out. We're doing Mad Science here, we don't want to bog ourselves down with measuring out the phlebtonium. Run it, it'll only take you a few minutes, and you'll have fun.

A short review for a short arc, so the tl;dr: Play it, it's fun.

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Sounds like I did something right! Thanks for taking a look at this, I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thought it was a fun little arc.

Name: If you teach a man to make a fish
ID: 38226
Handle: @Heronator
Level: 20-30 (20-24 will get bumped up to 25 for the second mission).

Like Vanden, I'd love any feedback I can get for my arc.

ID 38226, If you teach a man to make a fish. Link in my signature.

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You suckers are lining up for Talen to insult you, while I get it for free.

Suckers.

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I'd rather someone tell me the truth bluntly than lie to me sweetly.

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This. The blunt truth you can work with, sweet lies or "Eh, it's okay." is useless.

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My thoughts exactly. That is precisely the reason I submitted my arc both here and in Venture's thread. I'd LOVE it if someone played my arc, thought it was total crap, one-starred it, and then gave me a half page list of ways to improve.

Because that is way better, and will help me make a far better story, than the single, no comment, four star rating it currently has.

I'm really looking for some feedback for my arc, so I would like to submit my arc to you for consideration as well.

Arc ID: 38226

Name: If you teach a man to make a fish

Faction: Neutral (Features the Scrapyarders, the Coralax, and a custom boss)

Difficulty: Easy. I was able to solo the arc on my level 6 (bumped up to 20 & 25 in the missions) Invuln/SS Tanker. There are only two missions, neither of which use long maps (Both are on the smaller end of medium). The second mission is a kill all, but the map is nearly entirely linear, so defeating everything in your path should suffice.

Synopsis: The UN-run GENE Project attempts to clone Captain Mako for use as a super-soldier

A link to the arc also appears in my sig.

I'll toss mine into the ring as well.

Arc ID 38226, called "If you teach a man to make a fish"

It's about a UN-sponsored organization called the GENE Project, that attempts to make a clone of the infamous Captain Mako for use as a cheap, durable, super-soldier.

The second mission is a kill all, but on a small map (and the reason is supported by the story). It features the Scrapyarders, the Coralaxc, and a custom boss.