LaserJesus

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

That's about the silliest thing I've ever heard. You always put Noxious Gas on your Tier 3 pet. ALWAYS. The debuffs from Noxious Gas on a Tier 3 is nearly double that of a Tier 3, and your Tier 3 will stay alive longer. If that means using GoTo to send my Lich into melee, then that's well worth it for the massive debuffs he'll dole out. Added bonus, the Lich actually stays put.


[/ QUOTE ]

Right, go ahead and put Noxious Gas on your Lich in PvP and force him into melee.

[/ QUOTE ]
I will. I've tested Noxious Gas with Power Analyzer Mk III and checked out the debuff numbers. The tier 3 pet gets the biggest debuffs. Go ahead and check it out yourself.

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, what I posted was the siliest thing you've ever read...*Eyes Lasers post*

[/ QUOTE ]
The voices in my head are upset by that remark.

[ QUOTE ]
Guys, Nathan Fillion shouldn't play every role ever.

[/ QUOTE ]
You realize that a horde of people just pointed at you and let loose an inhuman scream, right?

[ QUOTE ]
Zombie Horde being your most melee oriented pet, you most likely want to put Noxious Gas on one of them; however they are easily killed, I mean wet paper bag easy.

[/ QUOTE ]
That's about the silliest thing I've ever heard. You always put Noxious Gas on your Tier 3 pet. ALWAYS. The debuffs from Noxious Gas on a Tier 3 is nearly double that of a Tier 3, and your Tier 3 will stay alive longer. If that means using GoTo to send my Lich into melee, then that's well worth it for the massive debuffs he'll dole out. Added bonus, the Lich actually stays put.

That said, I've played a Necro/Poison to 50, and I enjoy it. It requires a lot of micromanaging though. Keep bodyguard on, and make sure you're always the one to open the fight. Open up with Neurotoxic Breath so you take the alpha instead of the pets. Then choose your debuff targets wisely. Get some recharge and endurance reduction in them, and you can debuff a whole group pretty easily. Just make sure to use weaken on higher rank enemies, enemies that deal more damage, etc. to help keep your pets alive.

Really, making sure you're using your debuffs right is the biggest trick.

Oh, and don't sweat a few little zombies dying here and there. I'm actually kind of glad when my first zombie dies. That means I can get a 7th pet out. Man, I love Soul Extraction.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, none of this colour nonsense.

See! Even Firefox says it's spelled wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]
Set your spell checker to gibberish and you'll be fine.

Now if I could only understand why my work laptop occasionally sets my spell check to French...

[/ QUOTE ]
Fixed

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm fine now... I don't think I want that much milk a day anyway. Half a litre a day is more than enough milk for a full grown adult male.

[/ QUOTE ]
*points at Liv and lets out an inhuman scream*

[/ QUOTE ]

*pretends to have no emotions*

[/ QUOTE ]

talk america talk, please.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, none of this colour nonsense.

See! Even Firefox says it's spelled wrong.

How NOT to Bind a Demon Using Magic & Machinery
Arc ID: 257266
Author: @EleventhPlague
Rating: 4 stars

Short Version
A semi-serious, semi-comic mission that is fun, but could use a few tweaks here and there.

Plot Synopsis
Get a crash course in how not to be a successful villain as your hero cleans up after the mess of a demonic rampage that could have been prevented by common sense.

Story
I imagine some would be upset by the feeling of cleaning up someone's mess, and the occasional parts where you're too late, but that's part of the story's charm. The story's akin to a Seinfeld episode in a way. Just, imagine that Seinfeld has superpowers and you're playing as him. A seemingly normal situation (for a superhero) goes wrong because of people acting stupid and absurd.

However, there's a couple ways to make it better. The contact's opening dialogue lays on the "mysterious informant" too thick. He gives the player absolutely nothing to go on, I have no reason to know why I want or need the information he has, and then the favor and the information he gives me are practically the same thing. The information is that the Circle of Thorns are summoning a powerful demon, and the favor is to go stop the summoning. I'm a hero. I probably would have stopped the summoning anyway.

Later on, after the inevitable botching of the summoning and my defeat of the demon, Arachnos arrives and takes the body away, hoping to bind the demon themselves. The story states that Lord Recluse wanted the demon bound, and that Black Scorpion wanted to try and bind the demon by technological means. Lord Recluse apparently let him.

This is in character for Black Scorpion, who's dumb as a bag of rocks and would probably think that turning an unbound demon into a cyborg is the greatest idea ever, and that he should get a prize for thinking it up. It's not so much in character for Lord Recluse. I question his judgment a lot, but I can see him at least having enough sense and knowledge of Black Scorpion's intelligence to backhand him for being so stupid.

The easy fix to make this make sense is to take Lord Recluse out of the equation. The patrons often act on their own accord, and I can totally imagine Black Scorpion saying "[censored] YEAH, CYBORG DEMON MINION LET'S GO GET IT!" and then upon his failure to bind it, and in fact just making it a demon with a metal exoskeleton with laser beams, getting some Moe-style whacks from Lord Recluse. Of course, saying "Whyyyy I oughta..." afterward in the Curly voice. The story has Scirocco's minions searching for the same book you are to banish the demon in the next mission as well.

With that change, everyone's motivations would make perfect sense, and the story would be a wonderful exercise in stupidity that doesn't suspend most players' disbelief.

Mechanics
Personally, I think the first instance of the demon, pre-cyborg, should be made weaker. Not because it's too strong, but because it's stronger than the cyborg demon. The cyborg demon should be more powerful than the normal variety to really drive it home that Black Scorpion's idea of adding laser cannons and such is probably the worst idea ever. Taking away some of it's harder hitting mace attacks would do the trick.

I also would suggest turning down the countdown time on the glowies. They're a bit long. I'd also turn down the number of foci in the last mission to 4 to try and make them all spawn in the last room. That's just an aesthetic thing. While we're on that subject, Apperating should be Apparating. (Yes, I have read Harry Potter.)

Final Thoughts
After getting to the third mission, I said "If the demon got turned into a cyborg, 4 stars. If not, 3 stars." Not sure if that's important. Just wanted to share.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm fine now... I don't think I want that much milk a day anyway. Half a litre a day is more than enough milk for a full grown adult male.

[/ QUOTE ]
*points at Liv and lets out an inhuman scream*

[ QUOTE ]
1) Your post says you're searching on the mountain in Eastgate Heights. If so, I'm pretty sure that's the area in the lower right of the zone, whereas the place you should be looking is the big pit in the middle.

2) Most advice on hunting Magmites dates from before the Hollows revamp a few issues ago. Nowadays the smoky spots will usually just spawn minions and lieutenants unless you've got at least a small team together (just 2 or 3 people will do it).

Good luck!

[/ QUOTE ]
Veeery rarely they will actually spawn a magmite lord. However, I always found more magmite lords in groups laying on top of rubble than underground.

'Tis Nobler in the Mind uses some complex mechanics in it, as does the last mission of Drakule Armageddon 5: This Time, It's Personal!. Both can be found in the link in my signature.

[ QUOTE ]
Why?

There is a lot of evidence supporting the idea that cutting dairy, or at similar somewhat balanced source of calcium + magnesium + phosophorus + vitamin D, out can lead to a lot of bone issues later in life, especially osteoporosis. Lot of older folks have spontaneous breaks because of dietary problems.

You can't just go chew on a piece of limestone to get calcium, though most everything that says "added calcium!" just has ground limestone, and is probably cheaper than whatever its going in to replace. By itself, calcium will just go into bone spurs, which can be as big of a problem as getting a little too little.

There is also some new evidence suggesting that higher end levels of balanced calcium can improve chances of avoiding cancer. It makes some sense because calcium ions play a very big role in cellular messaging, and a lot of cancers have bastardized cellular signaling as at least part of the problem.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm assuming it's because of lactose intolerance?

Well, custom enemies, no. But standard enemies will not level up to the level of the mission. For instance, if you made a mission with the minimum level of 25, and threw Skulls in there, they'd cap out at like 15, making them gray.

The Portal Bandits
Arc ID: 3326
Author: @Lazarus
Rating: 5 stars

Quick Version
A plot that makes sense, and a difficulty level that's actually challenging instead of cruel.

Plot Synopsis
An unknown alien species is stealing portal technology, and it's up to you to find their mastermind and stop them.

Story
It's funny, the more I like a story the less I have to say about it in a review. The plot makes sense, and it's obvious that the author has done a lot of editing and fine tuning. I can't remember a single typo or anything. Everything, including the random civilians you need to save, have fully fleshed out descriptions. The clues are descriptive and informative.

The only thing I can really say in the realm of criticism on the plot is the fact that you never see Cobalt Stinger, who's mentioned a few times in the arc. I don't know if he/she's not in the arc due to space concerns, but it'd be nice for him/her to be in there.

Mechanics
You will be primarily fighting the custom group in this arc. It's tagged as challenging, and it means it. While there's only one enemy that will load you up with mezzes, others do have one or two, and there's plenty of buffing and debuffing going on. I played it on difficulty 4 as usual, so I was facing a lot of them. However, this is not an arc to try and solo with a squishier character.

That said, my Scrapper who regularly tears through just about anything (except enemies with build up and such things, god I hate build up so much) was not absolutely obliterated, but I definitely was challenged far more than a normal mission. Since the arc is up front about the difficulty, I consider this a plus. Missions that are more challenging than standard content while not being just outright mean are one of the hardest things to pull off in AE. I know this from personal experience. (Damn you Dark Regen for healing retarded amounts when given to an AV!)

Nice touch on the third mission where practically all of the enemies were doing the dance rave animation. I assume that the author used the boss detail to pull that off. I was very confused when I first got into the mission, but after the boss encounter it made sense.

Final Thoughts
I had trouble deciding whether to give this 4 or 5 stars. In the end I decided that if I was having that much trouble deciding, I should probably go with the benefit of the doubt and give it 5. Definitely an arc to go play if you're looking for a challenge.

[ QUOTE ]
Also, Reichsmann having a "Fifth Column" log on his chest is no surprise- the old Axis Amerika map was liberally festooned with Fifth Column banners, which actually makes some sense- you're in the alternate Paragon City, and the timeline appears to have diverged during WWII, when the Column was active in the States. Hmm... wonder if Axis Amerika was created when Ubelmann succeeded?

[/ QUOTE ]
Damn, you beat me to it.

Remember guys, Axis Amerika is simply an alternate Earth where the Nazis won, presumably because Marcus Cole was on the Nazi side. Who's to say that Reichsman wasn't the leader of the 5th Column of that world, and after the war decided "Yeah, all this is mine now. Step over, Hitler."

The "I only serve the 5th Column" line needs to change, I agree. At the same time, him having the 5th Column emblem on his chest makes some sense.

When the hell am I getting my pension check, Liv? I've been waiting 3 weeks now!

<QR>

I'm just waiting until you guys manage to pull off a 5 minute Kahn TF. Now THAT would be truly ridiculous.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


We don't have gold, here, Just so ya know.



[/ QUOTE ]

Hi Mister_Wonder,

Welcome to City of Heroes/City of Villains and an extra special welcome to the Justice server. I'm sure that the Carebears and Muppets will be here soon to give you a more formal welcome with perhaps a gift basket selection full of tasty links. So stay tuned...

As for your above claim:


LRN2PLYNUB

[/ QUOTE ]
[censored], I do need some gold for my LOTG: +Def/+7.5% Rech. NCSoft needs to hook me up with those gold sales.

[ QUOTE ]
Can you post your backlog so we know who's on it

[/ QUOTE ]
Anyone who's posted in this thread that I haven't reviewed yet.

As a side note, I'm noticing that I'm catching up with my backlog. I'd say that I promise to be nice if you submit your arcs for review, but that'd go against the spirit of the title.

C'mon, I know you guys are making new arcs with the new slots you can buy! Let me at 'em!

Trifecta Task Force
Arc ID: 164681
Author: @Ashcraft
Rating: 2 stars

Quick Version
Hardly any narrative, treats the player like a fool at times, and some parts of the plot that made my common sense go nuts.

Plot Synopsis
A hero named Trifecta needs your help to get his fractured psyche put back together.

Story
I don't know about you, but when voices come through a computer telling me that they're the fractured psyche of a hero who needs my help to find Sister Psyche, I'm not one to say "Yeah, that sounds perfectly reasonable. Let's go, disembodied voice." I mean, I realize this is a superhero game and crazy [censored] happens constantly, but I have no reason to trust this man. He doesn't really even give me a compelling reason to.

In fact, I never really get a reason or explanation for most of the things that happen. Most of the mission introductions are a few lines of text, one or more of Trifecta's personalities telling me to go to a place and do something. However, the explanations of what I'm supposed to do are usually pretty nebulous, leading to some guesswork in missions when the objectives are particularly vague.

I'm also supposed to believe that psychic entities are somehow incredibly weak to mental control. People who are mind controlled by the evil personality fragment include Rikti, Clockwork, and even Sister Psyche. (More on that last one in a bit.) The only non-psychic enemies that are being mentally dominated are normal citizens.

But seriously, I'm supposed to believe that Sister Psyche can be dominated by this guy? Sister Psyche kept Malaise under control, and he can make everyone around him go insane. I know some people have problems with the signature characters being better than normal heroes, but their power levels in canon are written to be rather incredible. Sister Psyche is more or less the top of the heap when it comes to psychic power, with the Clockwork King and Kalinda close behind.

I also had an issue with being attacked by the PPD when I went to go stop the evil personality from destroying the stabilizers that apparently were supposed to keep it in check. The story says that they were told by Sister Psyche to stop anyone from getting close to them, but A) apparently can't listen to reason, as I could have quickly explained the situation, and B) not only did not attempt to stop the little mind goblins from attacking the devices, (I saw a PPD patrol walk right by some and do nothing) but also feel it necessary to prevent other PPD from getting to the devices, as I found a couple groups fighting each other.

The fourth mission where I was supposed to capture all of the different personality fragments and put them back together was also kind of a slap in the face. The evil one was a fake with no apparent explanation. This continues in the last mission where there are numerous fake ones.

Mechanics
Man, oh man, do I hate vague objectives. I'm also not a big fan of outdoor maps. I really hate it when both are combined. After saving Sister Psyche in the first mission, which happens to be the outdoor Skyway map, I was greeted with an objective which was something like "Stop the psychic disturbance". Commence facepalm. Thankfully Synapse sticks out pretty well in a map filled with Rikti, but still. Vagueness on an annoying and large map fills me with anger.

There's the aforementioned police fighting each other and not the people they're trying to stop. That falls under the purview of Mechanics as well, as it's a problem with alignment settings.

There's also a lot of psychic attacks being thrown around in this arc. If you've got no defenses against that, it's gonna be a killer.

Final Thoughts
The plot is barely existent. It's not like it can't be followed, I just felt completely detached from the story. Compounding that were the times when my common sense was telling me that what was happening shouldn't be.

[ QUOTE ]
Also, I imagine that the new animations for MA are a street fighter type dealio. Punches, hopefully.

[/ QUOTE ]
If that's the case then I'm going to be one happy son of a [censored].

I'm hoping that the Assassin's Strike power for Broadsword will be some kind of two handed swing.

Preferably with jumping involved.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The patch notes actually state that certain destructible objects were pulled because they were affecting both players and enemies in unwanted ways; i.e. either buffing, debuffing, or generally doing damage when they blow up.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lots of stuff that buffed, debuffed, or did damage when it blew up was replaced by the same object that didn't. Most destructibles do damage. I don't know why the generator is so special.

[/ QUOTE ]
It's probably an oversight. The fact that all of the destructible objects need to be reset makes me think that a likely scenario is that they just wiped the old list and put in a new list of the updated objects, which didn't have generators in it by accident.

By the way, already published arcs didn't become unplayable. What happens with live arcs with destructible objects, is that the destructible object just isn't there. You can complete the objective just by killing the enemies that are guarding the non-existant group.

It may have something to do with the map. Are you using the villain tutorial bunker? I know that only has a couple spawn points, which would be taken up by your ally and boss.

[ QUOTE ]
And 64 any detail, 35 bosses, and 312 collectibles doesn't help my need for an ally/rescue point in the slightest

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't understand. Why can't you use one of the any detail spots for an ally?

Rider's Ribs Restaurant Rescue
Arc ID: 163967
Author: @Zamuel
Rating: 4 stars

Quick Version
A well balanced custom group and a story that elicited a few laughs.

Plot Synopsis
The owner of Rider's Ribs has been kidnapped by a rival restaurant chain. Only you can save him and ensure their delicious ribs can be enjoyed by all!

Story
An absurd premise is definitely a plus for me when dealing with non-serious missions. This is quite possibly one of the least earth-shattering crises I've ever had to deal with in my superhero career. However, I DO love me some barbecue ribs, so saving Tyrone Rider was of the utmost importance. Screw this whole 'Rikti Invasion' thing. I'll let Statesman take that one.

Beyond the absurdity of the premise, a few dining-related puns help to keep the comedy going. The only suggestion I have to improve the story is to make it funnier than it already is. Every now and then when I'm tinkering with my humor arcs I'll notice another opportunity for humor in the dialogue and add it in. Something that's funny can always be made funnier.

Mechanics
The custom enemies that form the entirety of the enemies that you'll fight are pretty well balanced. The worst power that will get thrown at you is possibly weaken. However, on minions it's not even that huge of a debuff. The minion that used it never spawned in large enough numbers due to the large variety of minions to stack it on me and drop my accuracy to an annoying level.

Tira being only minion class, however, meant she was pretty much gone after 2 fights. I guess it's not such a big deal, but I felt kind of bad that she didn't even make it to the first boss, let alone her father.

Final Thoughts
This is one I could easily recommend if you're into silly humor. It should be easy enough for practically any character, especially if you turn it down to difficulty 1.