Justice Blues

I just clicked on the left minus sign on the French and German sections and they stay that way. The only section that is expanded is the English one. Do you have cookies enabled for this site? Do you log on everytime or do you have the Remember Me box checked?

It would not only require a re-writing of this arc, it would require a re-writing of the third arc. I don't think I am ready to give up on the 3 arcs being a connected series just yet.

Thanks for the review.

There are some unanswered questions, partly because of ways the story changed after I did the first arc and started on the second.

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But, wait. He's not actually instrumental in the rise of the Future Skulls despite his weird proficiency with spells? Be interesting to see what actually IS.


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Yes he was instrumental in their rise. Their future came about because of his messing with the various summoning spells (They didn't bootstrap themselves) and he helped keep it going by using his summoning abilities to pull the shard of the Pillar back from their time to use as a gate and keep their future a possibility. The first part is never stated explicitly, but I thought I put the second in some of Mirror Spirit's text in this arc. So either that edit didn't take or I need to make it more explicit.

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...but if they're misusing the pillar like this, where are the Menders? Shouldn't they be trying to mess with this somehow?


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Maybe they are. But seriously, the easiest way to explain the lack of action from the Menders is, they know the hero will win because he did already in their history. And they do allow the Midnighter Club to do their own thing with that version of the Pillar, so it is not like they meddle in every time travel event in the game. Besides, I couldn't figure out anyway to have the Future Skulls invade Ouroboros that wasn't completely off the wall.

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Man. That mission's here and gone before I can blink an eye. You putting all these on short maps?


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Yes actually. For low level arcs, I tend to use the small maps. Some because it is the only one to use, like the Hellions or Skulls office maps. I guess I could actually make this map a bit bigger, since the final map is so small.

That is the most frustrating part of the arc for me. The small map and limited spawn points for the Midnighter Club map. The story really calls for using that map, but there is so little that can happen there, it really doesn't feel like a finale. If they would place one or two spawns in the entrance area, it would really help.

The Highest were supposed to be the focus of the second arc, but that obviously fell by the wayside. I may have been better off keeping with that plan, but the story took off when I had to make some changes due to MA limitations and they ended up remaining a mystery at the end of the arc. As for them losing to the Skulls but beating the Legacy Chain, that is pretty random. I have seen it go the other way on different plays of the arc. There are 5 minions in the group, so the spawn variety is pretty random.

I am not sure what more you wanted to know about the Death Brides, although I did add some stuff to the earlier arcs after you ran them. They are women that were possessed and corrupted, sometimes voluntarily, more often involuntarily, to require killing others to survive.

Thanks again for the review, your comments have given me some ideas for changes, and with luck, some improvements.

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I have dumped the timed mission... twice, actually.. but apparently both times I forgot about the MA bug that requires you to reset the interface before making more changes to the same arc. Result - Timer's still set, and I'm borked.



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What bug is this? Do you mean if you make some changes, then republish, then edit again without exiting the MA interface, then republish, the second lot of changes won't stick?


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Actually, it is the first edit that won't stick. You need to wait for the message that the arc has been republished, then do a search to refresh what the MA has for your arc, or if you open it up, you will be editing the version that was there before you started editing. The safest thing to do is to shut down the UI completely after seeing the republish message. That way you know it has to reload the new version of your arc before you try editing anymore.

Thanks for the review. Sorry to hear it does not stand by itself well.

Others have said the Future Skulls felt tacked on, and then they were only in the last mission.

The Death Skull was a an Lt. from the Future Skulls. I didn't want to use one of the 2 bosses from that group and I figured that you would have ran into one of the Lts. in the first arc, so it would look familiar. I guess I could change it to a Bride.

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unless the point was to keep me distracted so that I’d not be around to stop this ritual.

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This was exactly the point of the artifact. Talshak even says, in the intro to the last mission:
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just to keep us busy looking for something worthless.

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The level range is like that for the same reason you face such a nasty boss in the first mission. Limited choices for a boss. Legacy Chain bosses in the low levels cover levels 5-9 (Or maybe 10?) and 10-14. There is nothing that covers from 5-14. Since I can't use a Lt. I had to choose one of those ranges, and keeping the top seemed like a better idea to me and some friends I checked with. (Yes, I can set the levels of the mission to 5-14 anyway, but then a level 5 will run into a level 10 final boss. This seemed like a very bad idea. )

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I believe that you actually can set a lieutenant or even a minion as a boss. The trick is to make a custom group that contains just that one enemy.
At least, this is what I think I recall from my own experimentation. I can't check right now, so it's entirely possible that I'm wrong.

I think there's also a "use random boss" option, which might fix the level range issue - especially if paired with a custom group that contains only the bosses you're willing to have show up.

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I have tried both of those options and they don't work. If you create a custom group with just a Lt. from a standard group in it, the custom group will not be on the list of groups to use for choosing a boss. Custom Lts. work fine, but not standard ones. Even editing one and changing a few colors so it is non-standard will not allow it to show up.

And the Random bosses thing doesn't work either. It really is frustrating in these situations.

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Arc 255895: Future's End @Justice Blues

I was invited to try Future's End, #255895, understanding I haven't played the first two in the series. It will be interesting to see how well it stands on its own. I see 4 small maps (one with defeat-all) and a unique map. All sounds good. Solo, Canon, Save the World.

Overall, the arc was quite enjoyable, 5-star potential. Had some really good moments, and did not contradict canon. Some small things could be improved, and may require some change of emphasis if the arc should work for people who haven't played parts 1 and 2.

The Description says Mirror Spirit wants me to finish off the Future Skulls, and lists the two previous episodes. I wouldn't expect this arc to stand alone based on that. I considered that you could say this is "the third arc featuring the Future Skulls" (rather than calling this a "sequel") but after playing through I think it might require several changes to make this standalone. I'll still offer suggestions for doing that, but might not be worth it. On the other hand, you might get more plays.


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Thanks for the play. I knew there were things that would need modified for people that have not played the other arcs, but it is hard to see them myself.

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The level range has an odd lower limit in the third mission. I can't think of why, best to iron that out. Let me know what's causing it, if you need suggestions on how to fix it.


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The level range is like that for the same reason you face such a nasty boss in the first mission. Limited choices for a boss. Legacy Chain bosses in the low levels cover levels 5-9 (Or maybe 10?) and 10-14. There is nothing that covers from 5-14. Since I can't use a Lt. I had to choose one of those ranges, and keeping the top seemed like a better idea to me and some friends I checked with. (Yes, I can set the levels of the mission to 5-14 anyway, but then a level 5 will run into a level 10 final boss. This seemed like a very bad idea. )

In the first mission, I would prefer a Lt, so that lower levels don't have to worry about getting chain mezzed. Unfortunately, there is no way to place one with the current MA system, you can only place bosses from standard groups. If I could create a custom that looked anything like a CoT Mage, I would, but that is also impossible.

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I'll play this with my level 14 psi/energy blaster, Eying Maiden.

Mission 1
The contact, Mirror Spirit, gives a great prologue of the Future Skulls in the first paragraph: Skulls from the Future. This is good. This also involves me in events ("fighting against us") that could be less specific, without offending people who actually did do the previous arcs. It also mentions "your adventures with Talsak", not sure how to reword that since I didn't play the earlier arcs. The Accept string says "finish them off", which sounds like I started already, which I didn't. In any case, this mission is about finding the Futes, not finishing them, so a different Accept could be used.


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Good point about the Accept, I will switch that around. I am not sure what I will do about the Talshak mention, since if they did play the arc those missions should be mentioned.

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There's a very specific warning to bring break-frees for a boss I know nothing about. It's a little immersion-breaking. I understand you want a warning, would "I hope you have the right inspiration for this - to Break Free from anything holding you back." Still in warning color. I appreciated the warning and grabbed a couple.
M1 entry popup should end with ?

I'm off on the path - to a Skulls hideout. I meet Circle of Thorns? Then skulls. A second level battle shows they're in opposition. I'm to find Dirjact. Why? Who is he? Maybe Mirror Spirit might have known? That would possibly make it more logical to warn that Break Frees are needed. Otherwise, it could be "Defeat whoever is in charge here".

Dirjact is being held. Perhaps he could say "Mere punks should not be able to hold me" rather than "You..." so I don't think he's referring to me. Dirjact lets me know what Bonesnap is up to. He says communicate with "something", perhaps that could be "something from another dimension", or "something evil", it's a bit vague.
exit pop-up: beat -> beating ; kind of nice -> nice


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While Dirjact does come out of nowhere, the idea is that Mirror Spirit does not really know what she is sending you for. Her spells, especially for this first mission, are very vague. The closer you get to the goal, the more specific they can get because of what you learn along the way.

Good idea about his dialogue, especially the section when he is held.

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The return message, and the mission 2 introduction, are great. Also no issues with this being my first Future Skulls arc. However the Accept, says "beat up Bonesnap again", this is my first time.

I meet my first Future Slammer, one of the Future Skulls. It seems there is a "Bride" managing this operation. Intriguing.
[NPC] Future Slammer: How much longer must we put up with these weaklings?
[NPC] Gravedigger Slugger: Until the Bride tells us it is time for them to die.
Who are the weaklings? Regular Skulls? The one responding seems to be a regular Skull.

Bonesnap seems to have figured out a way to fly? I really don't get the dialog here. I also think Bonesnap's dialog could show an interesting personality. As it is, he says "blast you" and "I don't have time for this". What is he up to? (Is flying relevant?) The Clue says a little bit, but that should be apparent in the dialog. Also, I beat him down bit by bit, but he never ran. Nav says to stop him escaping, shouldn't he be trying to escape? If he can escape, the return-fail text will need to make sense (perhaps you still stopped him from doing whatever it was, Mirror Spirit gets a new take on the path, etc).


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The Future Skulls group is a mixture of the regular group, re-colored mobs, and custom mobs. I can probably redo the descriptions on the normal looking ones, but I don't want to take them out, since their changing looks are to show a progression of corruption.

Bonesnap was talking about catching a flight. He was heading for the Rogue Isles, he had an appointment there with the Legacy Chain. I am not sure why he didn't try to escape for you, he is set to run at 1/4 health left and he has taken off every time I have ran the mission. Actually almost got away the first time.

If he gets away the exit text does say that Mirror Spirit will rush her spells and his injuries will slow him down. But what I would give for branching arcs at this point. A really different 4th mission would show up if it was possible.

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Mission 3 intro starts describing Mirror Spirit's demeanour. If that can't be captured through the words she says, then you could put it in italics to differentiate it from her speech.
Mission 3 intro: i -> I
I'm to defeat the leader at a Legacy Chain base in the Rogue Isles. My first thought was that this would be the leader of an invading group, like Dirjact was. But Mirror Spirit seems adamant I'll be fighting Legacy Chain. Perhaps Mirror Spirit could specifically name this leader as a Legacy Chain to be a bit clearer.

Once in the mission, I encounter High Followers (group Highest). Who the heck are they? Why are they my friends? Some dialog, or their descriptions, should help me out here. I haven't played the previous arcs. All of Axe/Mace/Archer have the same description, could vary more. And they do say a few words, despite having a plate fixed over their mouth. Perhaps the description could explain that?
You might add more delirious dialog coming from Legacy Chain (patrols or bosses). Otherwise, it seems I'm gratuitously beating them up.
Tlanextic says "get out of my mind. You do not belong here" - I assume "You" is not me? Could be clearer, who is "you"?
Defeating him gives a clue. Says he died. I trust I did not kill him (I'm a hero!), perhaps you can explain why he died.
Tlanextic's Whispers Clue: I don't think 'exit' is the word you're looking for there. But I don't know the mechanism used to get the crystal into our time, so I can't suggest an alternative.


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I was actually going for ambiguity in the intro text. I want the player to think the same as you, so that finding the Radiant as the final boss is a bit of a surprise.

You actually know exactly as much about the Highest as someone who has played the other 2 arcs. They got squeezed out a bigger part by a growing story, but I do want to leave them in as a bit of a mystery and to indicate there are things going on beyond just the Skulls plans.

I am not sure the map will support a patrol, with the various battles I have going on. I will check that and see, since it would add some variety and more information.

I was afraid that the Radiant's dialogue would be confusing, but I can't figure out anyway to show him fighting his possession. If I could color the word balloons someway that would work, but it isn't possible.

The reason for his death was explained by Mirror Spirit in the exit text of the 4th mission, although you would have to extrapolate what she says about what happens to the people possessed by the Future Skulls.

Exit is actually exactly right for what he saw. I just realized while I know how the fragment got to the present, I never explained it in the arc. More re-writing to do.

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Mission 4 intro does a wonderful exposition of the power behind the baddies.
Mission 4 send off: that is keeps -> that keeps
Death Skull description: in to -> into
Nice mechanics to have villain in the final room, and requiring it to be cleared.
The return message could possibly ask me to come see Mirror Spirit in case I can help with the cleanup. Then I'd have a reason to be here for Mission 5 (which is when a problem is discovered).


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Good idea for changing the return text. I have to say, the final room looked better before the patch when they changed the destructible objects. It was the altar that healed villains, so it had the green gaseous effect and it really fit with the whole basis for the story. Now it just sits there and breaks.

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And onto the fifth mission. The introduction does a great job of describing the menace, but could go a little further to highlight why this is a "Save the World" arc. How do Future Skulls threaten the world?
Into the mission, I first met an undercover squad member. This confused me, as I hadn't met regular folks. But it makes sense once I realise there's regular squad here too.
Why doesn't the Midnight Squad Researcher want to hang around to help? It says that in his description, although since he's tied up in tendrils, there's no way I can guess he doesn't want to stick around. He just asks me if I've stopped the Bride who I recall from several missions ago. But why is it saying "Last Bride"? The "last" part is never explained.
"The body of this Bride crumbles, just like the last one. Guess they were both from the future." - is this referencing a previous arc?
The Bride could have more epic dialog. Perhaps monomaniacal, world-mashing or world-ruling diatribe, make it feel like a finale.

And we're done! Thanks for the experience.

Cheers, airhead

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Yes, the bit about the crumbling Bride is referring to the end of the second arc. I could take it out, but it does help explain something for people that played that arc. One of those bits where I need to weigh possible confusion for new players with a slightly enriched play experience for recurring players.

The researcher doesn't want to hang around because he does not have combat powers. Frankly it was something to remove the default description from that hostage because it didn't fit. I will have to some up with something different.

I will have to think about what to do for the Last Bride part. Especially her dialogue, it does look rather flat.

Thanks very much for the detailed look and feedback. It is very helpful to get a fresh look from a newcomer to the Future Skulls. I don't think I will be able to remove everything the references the other arcs, but I should be able to make some things clearer.

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First off, I'm not 50 yet and I'm not anywhere close to needing to go back and do old arcs. So this is just out of curiousity from reading other forum posts...

When you go back and do old arcs, do you get to go at full power? Or is it like exemplaring? Do you get the arc level influ or level 50? Just curious.

I know so little about it, my questions might not even make sense. >.<

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Arcs are arranged by level ranges, i.e. 10-14, 25-29, 30-34, etc.

When you go back, you are exemped to the highest level in that range, and your powers/slots are limited to what you had at that level.

As to rewards, I am not sure on that as I haven't done enough flashback arcs to notice.

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Just your powers are limited, all slots in them work normally, just like regular exemping. Rewards are for your regular level, except generic recipe and salvage drops are for the level you have exemped down to.

Mine (In the link in my signature) are all designed for solo low level characters. The first 2 seem to succeed pretty well at that, the third I am still waiting on more feedback so see what does and doesn't need changed.

I have three low level arcs as of now. I tried to make them a true trilogy, each part telling its own story. No EB/AVs in any of the missions. If it takes a while to get to them, that is fine. I am still tinkering with them anyway, especially the last 1.

Fighting the Future

Title: Future Skulls
ID: 4727
Levels: 1-15
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Canon Related, Save The World
Description: The Skulls are just a street gang now. But they have big plans for the future. Mirror Spirit asks for your help to stop one of them. [SFMA/LBMA]

Title: Simple Times
ID: 70801
Levels: 5-14
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Canon Related, Save The World
Description: Talshak the Mystic has asked for your help with a minor clean up mission in a warehouse. Happens all the time, no big deal, just giving someone a quick helping hand. At least that was how it started. Sequel to Future Skulls, 4727. [SFMA/LBMA]

Title: Future's End
ID: 255895
Levels: 5-14
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Canon Related, Save The World
Description: Mirror Spirit has contacted you again. It is time to finish off the Future Skulls, and she thinks she know how. Can you stop the Future's End? Follow up to Future Skulls, 4727. and Simple Times, 70801. [SFMA/LBMA]

Feedback welcomed in the Fighting the Future Trilogy thread.

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I have put her bio in there. I know I did. Copy and paste, straight from ParagonWiki. The MA hates me, it really does.

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Did you put it in the "Story Settings" section? In the "About Contact" area, there's a field for "About Contact." That's where the bio should go.


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Yeah, that is where I put it.

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I will do you one better. That entire sentence was not supposed to be there. One of the changes I made right before you ran it was changing that section of the return text. Some of the other changes definitely did make it in, from what you said in the rest of the review, so I don't know what is going on. Told you it hates me.

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Sounds like you were probably hit with the editing bug. I mentioned it in another thread, but basically, it goes like this:

You have the "first draft," so to speak, of a published arc. Let's call it Mission A.

You notice errors. You make the edits. You then republish it with the changes. Let's call this Mission A1.

When that happens, you *need* to refresh the search engine to make the most recent version of your story arc show up. If you don't, then the AE interface shows you the old version.

So say you've republished the arc, but you didn't refresh the search engine. You see some more errors. So you make some edits and republish it.

Unfortunately, you just republished from Mission A, so all of the changes you made for Mission A1 is lost. So changes that you thought you made are suddenly not there anymore.

It's happened to me a few times. Bloody annoying bug.


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Yes, I am familiar with that requirement for republishing arcs. Unfortunately, that sentence was removed/rewritten at the same time I did the other changes in the arc you did see. So unless it has started just affecting random bits of the edits we do, that can't be the explanation.

And by "at the same time" I mean I did a copy and paste of all the changes on one republish. I selected the entire text fields and deleted them, then pasted the new text in. Much easier and faster then trying to remove particular sections of text. I have checked my source for the C&P and it has the correct text in it, so I do not know how this happened. It really does hate me.

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Actually, she says she thinks that is who they are trying to contact. Based on the Coralax involvement and the flooding, it is a good bet, but she does not know for certain.

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Ah, OK. I must've misunderstood that part then.

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I will look at it and see if I can make it clearer that she is only guessing.

Thanks for the review, I am glad you liked the story.

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In any case, it’s time for Horsemen Brute to start cracking some Skulls. The contact is Mirror Spirit (the trainer in Faultline). She doesn’t have a bio. If I remember right, she was created when CoH was released in Korea, but I’m not really that familiar with her storyline. I head over to ParagonWiki to refresh my memory. Ah, she’s with W.I.S.D.O.M. and she’s the manifestation of a sacred mirror that used to do crimes until she was defeated by Foreshadow.

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I have put her bio in there. I know I did. Copy and paste, straight from ParagonWiki. The MA hates me, it really does.

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I return to Mirror Spirit empty-handed. She tells me that she thinks the Coralax there were under a “Guardian” spell and were forced to protect something that was very powerful. This sentence in the Mission #2 debriefing is awkward:

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One of the others will be able to find something we can use Horsemen Brute.

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I’d just drop the name from that sentence completely.


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I will do you one better. That entire sentence was not supposed to be there. One of the changes I made right before you ran it was changing that section of the return text. Some of the other changes definitely did make it in, from what you said in the rest of the review, so I don't know what is going on. Told you it hates me.

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It’s time for one desperate gambit … we have to use the Crystal of Time and Space to send me into the future that Mirror Spirit saw. (Saw should not be capitalized in that sentence.)

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The capital is to indicate it was done via prophesy, scrying, or some other paranormal means, rather then just seeing it by looking out the window.

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The objective is to find the Bride. I guess the objective for Mission #4 will be to Kill Bill?

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I just have to say, I really, really wish I had done that on purpose.

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I return to Mirror Spirit. She congratulates me and tells me that she will try to find out who it was that the Skulls were trying to contact. Wait, I thought she already said they were trying to contact Merulina. Huh. In any case, the destruction has been prevented.

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Actually, she says she thinks that is who they are trying to contact. Based on the Coralax involvement and the flooding, it is a good bet, but she does not know for certain.

I am glad that the last Bonesnap is not too much stronger then a regular Bone Daddy. It is for low level characters and I didn't want to overwhelm them. Which did happen when there was no way to choose the powers for customs.

The good news is, I have a full group of the Highest done, right up to an AV level character. The bad news is, the Skulls took over the story when I started the second arc and it took off in a direction I wasn't planning on. So the Highest do appear again, but only glimpses. A more complete exploration of them exists in my head, but I have not created it yet.

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Title: Future Skulls
ID: 4727
Levels: 1-15
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Canon Related, Save The World
Description: The Skulls are just a street gang now. But they have big plans for the future. Mirror Spirit asks for your help to stop one of them. [SFMA/LBMA]


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Soloed on level 14 Shield/Fire Tank. First of all, I noticed that the writing seems very polished which made things easier to follow. It was pretty easy on my tank, and the missions had a nice variety.

Here are the notes I made as I was running through it.


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Thanks. I have been writing and re-writing it since the closed beta. I certainly hope it is getting polished.

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Mission 1

Nice clear intro, pretty dramatic, now I'm curious to know how the skulls will end the world.

Pop up - I'm impressed that I can smell darkness

Nav bar a bit redundant - Find the information, Find the Information Mirror Spirit sent you after.

A group of Skulls spawned at level 12, which was odd, but probably a bug that you can't do anything about.

I liked Bonesnap's dialog, though I think his mention of a ritual and sacrifice might be important enough to warrant a clue to summarize it.


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An example of being too close to the work. I never look at the Navbar anymore, I have ran the missions so many times. Easy enough to change, if the changes stick. (See below)

Actually, the map is set to ramp up. That gives you lower level spawns, usually with larger numbers in the front of the mission, rising in level until they are your level at the finale. If it works right, it can help give the impression of wading through the minions to reach the big boss.

Thinking about, you are probably right about a clue for Bonesnap. I guess I didn't give him one because he is not a required objective. And I ran out of room before the I15 changes.

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Mission 2

Intro text is well written and clear.

Nav bar seems redundant again - Search the Coralax cavern for the information. Search for information

It's a nice change to get to fight Coralax. They're pretty under represented in the offical content.

The clue is a bit confusing. Failure wasn't really on my mind, and I'm not seeing the significance of the item - You took this small piece of the shattered urn, to remind you that failure is always possible.

Ok the end pop up explains that I feel empty handed, but I'm still not sure why I grabbed that piece of the urn.

I don't know about the end text. I'm not sure what a Guardian spell is, but it's capitalized so it must be important. Also, it's concerning that I didn't find anything but she believes others will be able to! That makes my character seem less important and also calls into question why I did this mission in the first place. I'd also like something to relate it more to the first mission.


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The piece of urn is just what it says. A reminder that sometimes there is just nothing to find, no matter how great of a hero you are. In most of the arcs in the game, if the contact says, "Go check here and see if there is any information we can use." you will come back with exactly what is needed to get to the next step.

I couldn't have that happen this time for the story. Mirror Spirit has sent out dozens of heroes searching for information, but you are the start of things and the hero. Your failure is unexpected and it helps build the idea that desperation tactics are needed, setting up the 3rd mission.

As for why you did the mission in the first place, she doesn't know you won't find anything until you actually look. I could probably add something about her sending you to the most likely source of information, and have you be the last searcher to return. Which would also mean re-writing the start of the 3rd mission. Will think on it.

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Mission 3

Ok at least she's explained that everyone failed to find information.

Oh Jesus I was afraid this was going to be the ruined Atlas Park map. I'm glad that it's not! Still this seems like an awfully large map for a single objective.

Interesting custom mobs. I like the descriptions.

Nav text, is the Bride a "him?" Also the name of the boss isn't mentioned previously, so I would either mention the Bride in a clue, or make the objective sound more generic - Find the boss and beat the answers out of him. Find the Bride

Bride of Death had interesting dialog and is apparently a victim herself. Nice clue.


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It actually used to be worse than the ruined AP map, I originally had it on the flooded Dreck map. That map was the inspiration for the original story I had, which morphed into its present form. But it is huge, and a lot of people rightly complained about it. This one is much smaller, but still gives the flooded destruction look I wanted for the story.

And this is the See Below part. I have changed the Navbar at least a dozen times so far, to refer to beating the answers out of her. And it just doesn't seem to take. Other changes go through fine, but I keep getting comments about the Bride being a him.

The problem with mentioning the Bride before this point is, no one knows she exists. The spells which are used to send you there are looking for anyone that knows the needed information and will help you. (That is the desperate part. There is no way to know if someone like that actually exist there. And I just got an idea to add to the story writing that sentence. Hope I have room. ) I don't really see any way to add information about her to the mission before you reach her, and I can't add it before that mission.

I am glad the point of her not necessarily being a volunteer is more clear. I always had that in mind, but Talen_Lee did not get it when he review the arc. That is actually a point that plays a part in the last arc, so I wanted it to be clear there.

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Mission 4

Nice detailed intro text, though I am wondering what the Skulls are doing in Salamanca. That seems like an odd setting for Skulls and we haven't heard hints of a connection before. I hope this and the connection to Coralax gets answered. Also noticed typo: "You have only *and* hour"

Wasn't Bonesnap the guy I defeated before? How did he come back?

The objectives were clearly marked with animations, which was nice. One of the victims was Penelope Yin. How did she get involved? It seems weird to just toss her in here.


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There is no connection between the Skulls and Croatoa. The idea is they are performing a huge and powerful magical ritual, summoning something from a different dimension/universe. So I wanted it to be set somewhere associated with magic in the game. My choices are pretty much limited to Croatoa and Dark Astoria, and Croatoa already has at least 2 mystical beings regularly crossing dimensional barriers.

Penelope got involved the same way the other hostage did, the Skulls were sucking their powers out of them to power the summoning ritual. You have ran into the other hostage in game also, probably under 2 or 3 different names, rescuing her from various people for Azia.

I wanted the mission to be more then just defeat the boss, and the idea that they are sacrificing innocents to fuel the ritual fits both the Skulls death worship and other summoning rituals shown in the game. Generic civilians would work, but do not indicate much power.

I actually chose both hostages so that lower level players would have a better connection to them. Penelope is one of the most powerful psychics on the planet, so she makes for a really big battery and it indicates that something really, really powerful is part of the ritual and behind the Skulls. And whatever name you meet the other hostage under, she is usually described as having huge potential.

Yes, that is the same Bonesnap you defeated before. He came back the same way other characters in the game return later in an arc. I have been doing Ouroboros running the Mass Duplicity arc and there is one character there that shows up 3 times in the first 5 missions of the arc, and you are required to defeat him 2 of the times. All part of the Zig's revolving door policy. If you are playing a character that kills rather than captures, you will have to come up with your own explanation for his survival, just like you do in the regular game when someone recurs.

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Nice summary for the souvenir, but I'm still not getting the importance of the urn fragment. I'm assuming that will come up again in the follow-up arcs.

Overall, this story flowed well except for Mission 2 which seemed very out of place and not well connected to the main story. I'm sure it has significance further into your trilogy, but right here, in this arc it feels like "stuff that happened" smack dab in the middle of an interesting story. It kind of steals away from your momentum. There are some other minor details and a few things that seem out of place. Penelope Yin's involvement should really be developed along the way, or not there at all. I thought it was a good lowbie arc though, and look forward to playing the next installment (maybe later this weekend).

Rating: 4 Stars

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Thanks for the review and the thought provoking comments. Not sure why the piece of urn sticks with you so much, it is just what it appears to be, a souvenir. Heroes seem to be big on them and it let me give you a clue for the mission and something to use for the arc souvenir.

I look forward to your reaction to the second arc, I just did a major re-write on it and have no idea how well it works for an outsider.

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This was originally envisioned as a two part story. As you've no doubt noticed, it sort of begs for continuation, but I want to get this first part nailed down so I'm happy with it before I even consider a sequel.


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Yeah, I was expecting another arc somewhere finishing the story.

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Justice_Blues' Low level trilogy (I think he's revising it?)


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Always, but I have finished the major revisions I was doing on the second arc. Until someone says something that gives me another idea on changing it anyway.

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Probably after our fabulous SD Comic Con vacation:


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I am seriously jealous.

As I said in my comment, here is my feedback on The Next War on Drugs.

Mission 1: I blew up the van full of explosives? Shouldnt' I keep the Trolls from setting it off? You are right, that joke was a crime. And again, beating on explosives, blowing them up to keep the Trolls from blowing them up?

Mission 3: Instead of a massive construction effort in IP, you could say the massive construction effort in North Steel City. Or if you don't want to reference that, Skyway might work better. There are all kinds of construction works there, but I don't really remember seening any in IP. I understand, Family = IP, but maybe they are trying to branch out to other city areas?

Nice use of chaining objectives. But why is the mission set for level 15?

Mission 5: Ran into a problem finding the 3rd clue. It spawned inside one of the trucks in the loading dock. Unfortunately, while that truck is open in some maps, in Lou's Garage it is closed. I could hear the glowie, but couldn't see it. Fortunately there was a small crack at the bottom of the truck door where I could just barely click the glowie. I would guess this map will disappear for that kind of thing to be fixed.

Pretty good story, with some nice use of MA techniques to move the story. One of my pet peeves is jumping around in levels. Why the level jump to 15 in mission 3 and 20-22 in mission 5? The jumps were small, and I didn't count off for them, but they didn't seem necessary.

I did think of a twist to your story that you may like, or not. If you have the contruction projec in Skyway, the Trolls blowing stuff up serves a double purpose. They distract the PPD and they aer destroying buildings, which will need to be re-built. Or they are taking out construcktion sites of non-Family companies, which will hurt those companies and give the Family a leg up. Just a thought.

All in all, a fun story, with some different stuff going on.
Rating: ****

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Thanks for the review, it seems that today was my day to come up in everyone's queue.

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And I want to know exactly what that cost, and how they demanded payment!

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I have a question for you. I received some input from several who have played the arc, that it would be more fun if the same villian group wasn't the main feature of all 5 missions. So here goes the question. You said: "The warning states that the story arc may contain: Elite Bosses, Extreme Elite Bosses, Extreme Bosses, and Extreme Lieutenants! I gulp, but I go ahead and accept the mission. I am playing this on CL 2, so the bosses will be bosses and the EBs will be EBs. Sounds like fun."

I am not quite sure if this was purely sarcastic or if you enjoy a challenge.....But I am considering changing my main villian group for my future mission. I may create a mixture of non-custom villians, or if that can't fit, use a non-costum group.
Do you have any types you enjoy fighting, or you think would make sense for a leap into the future.

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If I remember right, the villain group ended up not being too frustrating to fight. The only time I felt a little bit frustrated was when there were two of the "Fear Followers" mobs who were stacking ToHit debuffs on me, dropping my accuracy. But popping a few yellows and taking them out took care of that.

Really, my tanker is pretty durable and can survive most anything. I was a bit worried about the "Extreme Elite Boss" warning because some powersets make EBs tedious to fight (Willpower, Regen, Super Reflexes, etc.) None of your EBs had that problem, though.

The sheer amount of warnings on your arc might scare off potential players, though. But since it's a high-level arc, you do want your mobs to prove some challenge instead of being a complete walk-over.


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Just wanted to point out, those warnings are not necessarily for the mobs you fight. Allies are also placed in that list, you could easily get Warnings about Extreme EBs, and at the end the player is going, "Wow, I must be really tough!" not realizing the Extreme EB was the Ally from the first mission.

What I find more irritating is the fact the clues are placed on the Clues dropdown in the order your objectives are in the mission. I have a mission with 2 boss encounters and I need them to be in the right order, so I need to put the one in the back first on the list and the one in the middle second. Otherwise it can happen they switch. But that means the clue from the second boss is in higher on the clue list than the clue from the first boss.

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The feature I'd really like to see is a spawn that has two bosses/LTs/what have you having a conversation.

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This, most definitely. I worked around it in one of my arcs, but I think the story would have worked better if I could have put the 2 together.

It is a know problem with the Family in a certain level range. They are in the game at that level, but only on the Rogue Isles. A switch is set somewhere in them, so that those levels of Family will only spawn for Villains in MA. There are one or two other groups have that that problem, one of them only spawning for Heroes, but I can't remember which they are at the moment.

You weren't asking me ArrowRose, but having played your arc, I would say yes, having one of you missions being a different group, say the Family in the first mission, would make it better. I am a big believer in mixing things up as much as the story will allow. My second arc goes from Minions of Igneous, to Hellions, to Warriors, to Skulls, to a custom group. That is a bit extreme, even for me, but if your story allows it, having another group in one mission can really help keep the players from getting bored with your story.

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I am currently in the process of re-writing much of my second arc, (to improve it I hope. ) so you may want to move at least it and the last one down on your actual playing list. The changes should be up in the next day or two, depending on how my testing goes.

This shows the problem with getting reviews. People give you feedback and you end making changes to make things better.

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No worries. As with the "Consequences of War" story, I'll probably be playing parts 1, 2, and 3 several days apart to ensure I judge each arc on its own merits and to make sure you get the full rewards.

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Turned out that getting the changes into the the second arc was not as time consuming as I feared. Unfortunately, with the massive changes I made, I just know that Dalghryn is correct and I missed something somewhere that is now totally nonsensical. Just testing the arc showed me a few things, and one thing I know about being a writer, you never, ever, find all of your own tyops.

Well, I just finished redoing Simple Times. Changes to all 5 missions, the least to number 5, some canon fixes to 1 & 2, major changes to 3, and a completely new number 4. I think the story flows and builds up to the final mission much better now.

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Same mechanic as Confuse... it actually increases XP/minute... some people just don't understand that.

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[Really NOT trying to be snarky}
Since when? I was under th impression that (and I've never used confuse, btw...even though I have 3 ILL trollers ), 'arresting' that enemies that have taken damage from an NPC, yield a lower amount of Xp depending on the damage taken from said NPC (including some powers, ie: confuse, OLD chain reaction, others). Even in MA (or AE, whatever...make up our minds, people! ).

AM I wrong? AM I a n00b?

P.S. Don't answer that last one, hehe.

[/ QUOTE ]Yes, the XP per mob will be lower... but, you'll be able to kill more mobs in the same time frame, which'll result in a net increase. Lets say your NPC ally is doing a LOT of damage... and you're only really doing about 20% of the damage to each mob. What does that do to the XP you'd make for that mission? It'd cut it in half... BUT, what does it do to how long it took to complete the mission? It was cut to one fifth! That's a one hundred and fifty percent increase in earned XP per minute!

See this chart for how it works out. Really, confuses is basically one of the most underrated abilities in the entire game (which is why I love Seeds of Confusion... it's up basically every mob, and it's pretty easy to hit the entire spawn with it).

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While this may be true for Confused mobs, an EB in a MA mission is not the same thing. When they hit, they tend to just destroy things, not wound them the way the regular mobs do. It doesn't matter if you get the mission over in 1/5 the time, if you get no xp/inf/tickets for 90% of the mobs. I had one in a mission I ran the other day, I hadn't lost yet when I ran into a spawn. I went to hit Footstomp, but before my attack went through, the EB dropped in, hit Whirling Axe and the entire spawn fell over dead. It was fast, but that was 5 minions and 1 Lt. I didn't get inf or tickets from. An Lt or maybe a Boss as an ally may have the same kind of effect as using Confuse, but an EB or AV is just too much more powerful than the standard mobs.

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Everytime I try to edit a contacts info the game drops when I click Save and Exit and an error log pops up, any idea what this is all about

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If you are just trying to change the Contact Information, there is a place in the Storyline section of the editor that allows you to put a description in. Any changes in the description in the character editor won't show up anyway, only things put in the Storyline area.