Lord of Storms

Congratz, @Ankylosaur!

I would like to submit:

Terra Mystika: The Nexus #514570, Heroic 40-54

for consideration.

Thanks for the Feedback, Zaphir!

I must admit patrol dialog in the 1st two missions was on my mental to-do list and it appears I lost it. I has going to have a few critters in the missions located in the Nexus comment on how the place looked so different just yesterday (this morning, an hour ago, whatever).

One of my concerns was that I was giving the player too much (optional) information to read through and I should cut back some. Sounds like you think it should be the other way. So, I will look at the maps and see if I can find a few to allow more details (like patrols) when I can.

Again, thanks!

Oh, you are probably wondering what arc I would like to be reviewed...

#514570 Terra Mystika: The Nexus

A fellow hero tells you she is from another dimension and asks for help in defending her world. Helping her quickly brings up the question: Is there a traitor amongst her people?


Looking for feedback, especially comments on whether there is too much information given that it detracts from the story, which is generally a mystery. I am talking specifically about the backgrounds of the villain groups (talk to the contact, the "busy" text), "extra" storylines (Nexus Shadows, etc), or other tidbits that might seem outside the main story.

PENGUIN by Tubbius

Actually ran this with the author himself. I liked how this was handled, using the contact as a hologram/visual mail program, with passwords used to allow you to continue to learn more. At first I found it a little jarring (for lack of a better word) because I felt like I should be traveling to the city zone and not entering the lightstream as always, but that passed and it felt more immersive maybe? Hard to say it exactly. Maybe more like it just felt right. It reminded me of a movie, where I stumble across a website or program and I am trying to hack into it out of curiosity, and I have to investigate in the real world to find more clues.

A good, light-hearted, somewhat short story, and a good introduction for one of Paragon's most memorable heroes, Waddle!

Onward!

Arc #525356 Agent of the OSS by @PW

Good story, fast-paced. Almost too fast paced, it ended before I expected it to (I hadn't finished reading clues because I expected it to continue). That might have been a bug, my last mission said it completed, gave me the option to exit while still showing objectives to complete. I may have to re-run this to see what happened.

I haven't joined in until now because mainly I have wanted to submit an arc that I haven't written yet. Not sure when (or if) I will, so I thought I might as well get started.

Welcome to M.A.G.I.

Over all a good story, with a few (possible) errors I sent in a comment, so I won't repeat them here (and I said possible because I am not sure they are errors). A few non-cannon points that might have some up in arms, but honestly, I am not big on cannon myself and even the devs have made some mistakes there, so only mentioning it as a warning to purists.

Some good points: Nice variety in the groups you fight, mostly standards - good thing (good at lower levels, customs are generally harder to defeat than standard enemies), kuddos for avoiding the CoT maps (I don't much like them either), and liked how we got to meet the "big bad" early on and yet having him get away so we can face him later, and have it actually make sense! I know we get to do that in stories and novels, but I don't see it often in MA and I think it helps to develop the story. Good Job!

Arc #115935 Cracking Skulls by @Flame Kitten

Good Short story (3 Missions) without a lot of text (not a bad thing), enemies are mostly Skulls with a few good customs (Good at lower levels, see above comment).

I mentioned that there was not a lot of text earlier, but one area that did have a lot of text was the objectives in at least the 1st 2 missions. I believe that you can tell a story by details in the clues, NPC dialogue, the objectives, etc., but less is more when it comes to the objectives - less words, that is. I like to glance at my objectives quickly and a lot of text there makes it harder to be quick. Not meant as a complaint, just a suggestion to look at it from a different viewpoint, since it does tend to pull you out of the action.

I would like to nominate

A Very Special Episode #457506

For best Heroic.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked Once A Hero!

Ok, guess I can throw one or two in...

Once a Hero, #524193 for Custom Group (The Haunted)

and

Terra Mystika: The Nexus, #514570 for Heroic Arc (Best Custom - The Wardens is probably a stretch since they are only really in the end of the arc as allies)

Best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery!!

Hmmm? Ethical? Well, let's think about it...

The Devs, according to my understanding, made it very clear that AE was not for farming. Yet, players continue to make every type of farm possible and many players, it seems, using it only for farming.

These "farmers" might, just might even be down rating anything that isn't a farm. In other words, they "punish" authors for actually making the arcs the devs intended us to make with AE, because they are not farms....

Sorry, my ethics meter just exploded... what was the question again?

Best Arc - Heroic or Vigilante **

(1) The Golden Age Secret of the Paragon Society #344596 by @Wrong Number
(2) Made to Wave the Flag #384776 by @LaserJesus

Best Arc - Villainous or Rogue

Best Arc - Comedy

Best Short Arc: 1 - 3 missions **

(1) Talos Vice #338380 by @PW aka PoliceWoman
(2) Murders in the RWZ Morgue #452144 by @FredrikSvanberg

Best Lowbie Arc: designed for levels 20 or lower **

(1) A Hero in Need...is a Friend Indeed! #375018 by @Wrong Number
(2) Talos Vice #338380 by @PW aka PoliceWoman

Best Original Group Design **

(1) The Wickerwork from Against the Wickerwork Khan #346904 by @Clave Dark 5
(2) Dhahabu Kingdom and the Unfathomable Nightmare of Sand #453511 by @Zamuel

Alright, Vivian...

You may have a few points, they might even be true, but I don't agree with them. It was already pointed out that the AE/MA was marketed as an alternative way to level, so i will leave that alone.

I also won't dismiss everything out of hand because that really doesn't help the discussion, it only solidifies everyone's position. However, you are wrong on at least 2 counts that I would like to bring up:

1) There are drops: Tickets. They can be used to "buy" the very things you correctly say don't drop in most story arcs, so I don't see where the point of driving prices up comes in. In fact, I understand there is less "junk" from the ticket buys, so I would think it would have the opposite effect of adding more desirable salvage, etc. to the market.

2) You can get normal drops from the more popular DC choice arcs if you choose. That might include the Guest Authors and Hall of Fame arcs, but I really don't remember if they do or not.

I thought most outside of people on these forums thought AE already gives no or little exp, so what is even the point of this thread anyway?

Thank you all for responding. I noticed that the replies were quick, I am impressed

I have started going through my custom critters and giving them custom powers, trying to give xp closer to 100% (this will lead to a new round of testing the critters, of course). One thing I noticed is that I had to give the higher ups MORE powers to get them closer to 100%, in some cases several times more powers than a standard critter would depending on level... So, to keep the xp up, the Custom critter is tougher, with more attacks, so the same xp compared to a standard critter...

Or am I seeing this wrong?

Sorry if this is a repeat of an earlier post, but I have only recently returned to CoH (on-again, off-again player) and even more recently starting using MA, so I am curious about how authors are handling the experience penalty for custom critters.

1) Do you simply ignore it and use all custom critters anyway, focusing only on the story?

2) Do you use standard critters (possibly recoloring them, renaming them, putting them in custom groups) and change the story to fit, keeping in mind that almost all players are looking for good experience?

3) Or a balance of the story and experience, using what you can to keep experience as high as possible (or should I say as close to “normal” as you can)?

So far I have only one “serious” arc published (that I am still working on/looking for feedback) and I used standard critters as minions, with higher critters hard/hard to keep experience up. I want to do more arcs, but I would really like to use all custom critters for the story. I don’t want to use all hard/hard (I like to solo myself, and not many willing to group for MA anyway). The problem is, I am not sure anyone would even play arcs with the experience penalties in place.