Hertz

And I think you can include those guys anywhere: as allies, as hostages, as bosses, whatever. It'll constrain the level range no matter where they appear, even if they don't spawn.

For instance: make an ambush of Skulls that spawns upon the rescue of a hostage that is held by friendlies. You will never rescue that hostage, so the Skulls never appear, but the mission level is constrained anyway.

Prisoners in Brickstown have a reduced XP reward. Maybe they forgot to do that in the MA and have pulled them for the time being?

I don't really read NPC information, so that may explain why I tend to keep my NPC descriptions short and plot-related.

One of my NPCs is described as, "Ohmboy must be here looking for his lost comrade, Naalehu." That way, all players get that plot point, but they're not bogged down reading a 400-word bio.

That might be useful, but what might help more is a more detailed feedback: rate the arc in stars for difficulty, story, and design, and average the three for the final rating.

Also, it might be nice if we could access some information such as, "35% of players finished mission 1. 16% of players completed mission 2. This mission was rated 4.3 stars by Scrappers, and 0.9 stars by Controllers."

I'll have to find a way to keep you updated on Stan and Lou.

Getting back to the original question and not the hijack about what is and isn't farming...

When you are seeing these spawn sizes, are you in Test Mode, or is the arc published? I'm having difficulty getting bosses to spawn in my missions on Test Mode, no matter what my difficulty is set to. Even on a team of two, set on Difficulty #2, no bosses.

Now, please consider the flip side of the coin: are you trying to design your mission so it's harder, or are you giving consideration to the fact that some people might wish to play it with a solo Controller? Because you can make larger spawns, in certain ways, but by doing so you eliminate many potential players. Your audience will not respond with universal joy to see the mission packed with enemies unless they are farmers, Scrappers, or Brutes.

1004, "Welcome to...", solo Blaster (50 elec/elec) on Heroic.

Mission 1: Virus.exe is ridiculously difficult for a lieutenant, especially playing an elec/elec Blaster: my holds are useless and my damage is minimal, and that's my main shtick as an Elec/Elec. I shouldn't I have to pop 3 purples and 5 blues for a single lieutenant fight. (If Virus.exe is actually a boss, then he spawned as a very tough lieutenant on Heroic.)

Mission 2: "Emergency Override" doesn't have a verb by it. I realize this is probably something that's too late to worry about now, but I'm just saying.

Mission 3: "First thing's first" has some mutant punctuation. The whole mission is full of Endurance-draining enemies, which is incredibly annoying. The fact that you can't tell which incursions are important enough to defeat until you get close enough for them to talk — and that if you didn't see which one was talking — means it can be effectively a defeat all. There are couple of spawns on the large two-layer room with the glowing thing in the center where the group name is "All Custom Characters" instead of "Virus." About midway through this mission I began to ask myself, "Do I really want to go through the rest of the arc if it's all against this same faction?"

Mission 4: Got to the point where it advised I would need a team, and quit the arc.

I rated it 4 stars overall, because it was a very solid effort. It's really a shame that it was given Dev's Choice so soon in its development lifespan, because it really could have used a more thorough pass for errors and balance, in my view.

Ack! No fair! We lost our Cuppa and our Lighthouse, now we lose our Ex too?

Seriously, best of luck in your new adventure. Be sure to pack lots of Lucks and Break Frees and Catch a Breaths.

I'll see you around Pinnacle, if you ever stop by.

Objective: Mastermind Escort does not always summon pets (arc 60639) upon rescue. Instead the AI gets caught in "use my secondary powerset!" mode and does not switch over.

Subjective: I love the way you can design your own creatures and costumes and groups. I don't know if this is just the beginning, or if further unlockables and innovations are in the works, but I am simply amazed and delighted at the things you can already do with the Architect. Kudos to everyone.

I'll check it out tonight.

Since I'm posting from work (*cough cough*) I won't be able to play your missions until later tonight.

Arc Name: Catching Lightning in a Bottle
Arc ID: 60639
Author: @Hertz
Number of Missions: 5 (one defeat all)
Level Range: 40-45 heroic
Description: Defeat the body-exchanging villainess Shanghai.

I'll throw mine at the end of the queue as well, I suppose:

Arc# 60639, "Catching Lightning in a Bottle" (and no, it doesn't have any of my characters in it, and it isn't about me)
Heroic, level 40-45, 5 missions, 1 Defeat All

Do it the other way around. Make your 5 missions using Circle of Thorns first. Then, with whatever space is left over, make up your custom enemies.

I would not be opposed to being able to set spawn sizes.

...in Test Mode.

After all, if I'm designing a mission, I'm constantly going into the AE, quitting out, breaking up my one-man Task Force, editing, trying again... makes it hard to test team-sized spawn rates. I want to be able to "ghost" through a mission and observe the spawn sizes and distributions.

Did you hammer on the console of the Millenium Falcon as you said it?

I see the whole heightened perception thing as a bonus, really. It could force designers to re-think the strength of individual custom enemies, if you could find yourself facing 3-4 spawns at once.

[ QUOTE ]
Feature Name or Description: MA arc no longer giving tickets

[/ QUOTE ]
Which arc?

It's possible it was in, or had just gone into, "Hall of Fame" status or something.

I know she's listed as a "Pet" in the "choose an enemy group" list. Does that help?

Bug Description: On the Zigguraut ("Breakout") map, the medicine cabinets are still clickable objects that advise you you've found H.T.'s medication. I presume this should not be.

Mission name: Catching Lightning in a Bottle
Arc ID: 60639
Morality: Heroic
Length: Very Long (5 missions but only one Defeat All)
Description: Stop Shanghai, the body-exchanging villainess, wherever and whomever she might be.

When I solo, it's mostly with a level 50 Electric/Electric blaster, but since I run two computers I occasionally dual-box a variety of characters. Here's my take:

Outcasts provide a good overall challenge at low levels: no one enemy is too tough (like Skulls bosses) and good teamwork will pull you through. The most under-used enemies in the game, I think. The Lead Shocker is the best of the bunch: mobile, challenging, and equipped with Energy attacks (which, for Outcast-level players, aren't part of the standard defensive package).

Tsoo are also fun, and neither too hard for their level (like Vahzilok) nor too bland and easy (like Family). There's a good variety of tactics in there. Best enemy: Tsoo Sorcerer.

Crey are good in the 30s for the variety of tricks they can pull: sleeps, stuns, energy, cold, electric. They're good because there's no single "get that guy first and the rest is easy" target. Best mob: Crey Radiologist. It's the only standard hero-side enemy who uses Radiation. He's not threatening on his own, but if you let yourself get distracted by the big guns (Power Tank, Voltaic Tank, and those EM-wielding lieutenants) the debuff can really start to hurt.

And you can set Patrols to Ally, as I recall. It might be possible to almost fill a small mission with Allies, but there would still be leftover spawn points, I think. I'll have to play with it.

Remember the Rikti War Zone mission where you walk in, and it's full of friendly Vanguard? I want to accomplish something similar to that: you enter, the mission is full of allies, and monsters appear individually in isolated spots. Is there a way to accomplish that? Can I look on my hard drive and tweak the file to make it so?

I've come up with the right angle for a Stan and Lou story arc, I think, something appropriately silly. I know exactly how I'll pull it off. It's just a question of what tools are going to be available, which maps I'll have to choose in order to get the right number of spawn points, and so on.

I'm thinking that the level should be relatively low — somewhere between 6 and 14, so they can be Hellions. That way, we can have guest appearances by Karl and Gunter and some of the other named bosses.

Woohoo! That's so much nicer than "NC Northern California." Makes you sound mysterious, dynamic, modern, and all that buzzword stuff.

Plus, it makes it harder for the black helicopters to find you if your location isn't in your title.

I was hoping to do another Stan and Lou this weekend for Sharkhead Isle, but it didn't work out. Instead, I played around with the Mission Architect so I could see what it's capable of. I've got one mission arc published — no, not a Stan and Lou arc.

I'm sure there's a way to use Stan and Lou in a mission arc, but I'm still puzzling out how that's going to work. I'm still toying with the various ways I can wedge some humor into the Architect.