MentalMaden

Last night my Plant/Kin, Connie Ferris, dinged lvl 50 making the total now 16. Thanks to all those who teamed with me along the way. Hmmmm next?

See sig. *I'm* pretty fond of control myself *and* I do not subscribe to the "damage first" trend that is being pushed around here lately. *I'm* just saying that fire controls just fine and it's a fallacy when people say it doesn't. Anyone who is around here knows that earth is far and away my favorite primary and yes it does "more" control, but that doesn't make fire inadequate.

And I'm not too sure why "all fire/kins should be shot" just because of "their" playstyle. *And* there are fire/kin builds that are centered around support and teaming by the way. And there are plenty of *us* out there. So put the gun down.

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I think, if you want to keep the character and enjoy it, you should use your second build to create a more solo-focused toon, a 'real Controller' instead of a Kinetics-bot. Play that for a bit and then use that experience to decide how much to tell those Buff-bot wanting teammates to go jump in the Hollows.

A Controller should be about their Primary, not a gimped version of a Defender. And you should play a character so that You are having fun, rather than being a slave to the desires of your teammates.

Be Well!
Fireheart

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So with that logic a defender should skip most of its secondary and not take attacks? Thats a pure healer argument, and I think we all know how that ends. The truth is a controller (or any AT for that matter) isn't at its peak performance until it utilizes both its primary and secondary. And I would argue that a controller doesn't show its true potential until teamed and using both its control and its buff/debuffs. That old "primary only" argument is just an excuse for someone not to do their job; and controllers whether people want to admit it or not are support builds. If you want to control and not support, play a dominator. Until then, SB plz.

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it is my opinion, that all Fire/kins should be shot.

But that is only because I like when I see controllers controlling, not doing damage.



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Fallacy #1 (with sub-fallacies). If you have a Fire/Kin you are a) a bad player b) PL'd c) only interested in damage and refuse to buff teammates

Fallacy #2. Fire/Kins and Fire/X have no/little control



I could go into detail, but I'll just leave it at that.


Gross generalizations are gross.

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I love carpet

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Do you REALLY love the carpet or are you just saying that?

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Title: Coulrophobia (Fear of Clowns)
Arc ID: 1178
Creator’s Global Name: @Mental Maden
Mission Count: 5
Notes – very difficulty sensitive. It can and has been solo'd but a team is recommended. If you want an easy ride don't bump the difficulty. If you want a challenge, crank it up.


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Lowdown – For an arc about clowns I was expecting a non-stop joke fest and though this arc is reasonable well written, the humor is on the light side. On the plus side the customs are all well done appearance wise and all have bios that rhyme in a humorous fashion (I do feel that the Big Bad should have broken this mold and gave more info). I did like the concept of a character's named Knock-knock and wish his dialog was a series of bad knock knock jokes. Still, the story and contact's dialog was solid throughout.

Funny Level – A cheap ride at the local fair

Fun Level - Varied

Let’s up it to 11! – More funny in the clues (don't tell me it is a ransom note, show it), add more variety to patrol dialog, give the objects some humor test, consider combining two mission into one or dropping one to up the pace.

Overall Rating – A decent arc with lot's of potential, but it still need some work in the humor area.


WN

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Follow up to the follow up.

I've since tweaked some of the EB and AVs difficulty even more to soften them just a touch. I also added more "rhyme" to Roberto's bio to differentiate him from the others, but would like something a little more "epic" but that will take some time. I liked your idea of the leader of the Knock-Knocks saying things in knock knock form, then I looked at his bio and remembered......it was a knock knock joke! (sort of ) Wasn't sure if you noticed that. When i15 comes with all of the MA changes I'll likely go in and tweak even more to even out the mobs a touch and while doing that, I'll see about increasing some of the mob dialogue. And I'll finally get started on the sequal.

Sure we need more ghost towns in the game.

/unsigned.

Ok, I did drop Hobo Joe down a notch so he won't have build up. I also took some of Who's There?'s defenses down a notch.

When I saw you step up and say you were running this (knowing you are a solo/duoist mostly) I almost warned you again.

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Group recommended but can be solo'd.

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While I've known blasters to solo this arc, I personally don't think of them as solo toons, sorry blasters. And yeah the powersets can be frustrating (much like clowns) but a friend or two along for the ride (esp a controller) will really make a lot of those annoying powers...........well less annoying. But I give you tons of credit for getting far and thank you for the positive and negative feedback and will amend my OP just a bit to reflect some of your concers.

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I loved the idea of the Egg Registry - nice to see someone doing research for an arc - and was Olivia any relation to Francois?


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Thanks, I did do some research on clowns and clown culture and all of the custom names are related to historical clowns and when I read about the clown registry I knew I had to use that concept in the arc. Thanks for noticing.


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But the damn difficulty is awful. Heaven knows what sort of hardcore uber player you're used to. At diff 1 I shouldn't be getting 2 shotted by orange bosses, which is what happened when i met Hobo Joe.

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Yeah I do run with a crowd that likes a challenge; the harder the better. My first live trip through this arc was with 7 other regulars on my server the day MA went live and to be honest it was way way way too easy; I think we were on the last mission in under 30 minutes....I'm talking steamroller here. Not an optimised team, mostly people's mains looking for badges. I tested it with various versions of teams, and a bit through solo on my FF defender but to be honest that (solo) was just running through the mission to see if everything is where they should be.

The Hobo Joe issue- I'll definitely look into that after work. I dropped his diff down recently and will double check that it "stuck" or maybe even drop it down more if possible. To be fair he hasn't really been an issue before but I'll definitely look into it. Definitely not intended to 2 shot you as a boss.

Didn't see caltrops??? The mimes throwing the web grenades should have been tossing the 'trops as well....and yes they see through stealth with their targetting drones. Not intended but a side effect of their secondary.

Now I'll be honest, you aren't the first to complain about the difficulty but it seems to be more of a soloist thing than a "truely" hard issue. It is a challenge and I won't deny that one bit. I think maybe a little stronger warning and maybe a more accurate description will help, because I do like the challenge portion of the sets.

Thanks bunches for taking the time though. Any input is helpful.

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I love carpet

I love...desk

I love.......lamp.

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Bookeeper Jay, are just looking at things in the office and saying that you love them?

Name: Coulrophobia (Fear of Clowns)
Arc ID: 1178
Poster 1
Poster 2
Heroic
Missions: 5
Difficulty: Group recommended. I have known some to solo this but it is rather difficult...find some friends. The arc is "difficulty setting sensitive" so if you want an easy ride or want to smell the roses more stay around Diff 1 but if you want to show off you and your friends awesome skills try cranking it up. It starts relatively tame and increases in length and difficulty as the missions progress. At the proper settings and team size you will see EBs and AVs in the last two missions.

Description: Positron hates clowns; so help the guy out! A famous scientist from Paragon City has gone missing and signs point to the Carnival of Shadows. Or could it be a mysterious new troupe that is trying to break into Carnie territory?

Note: The original feedback thread was eaten in a recent forum purge, but I have tweaked the arc based on feedback in the past (descriptions, tweaked some difficulties on certain mobs, etc). The arc had also suffered from some strange HTML error in a default decription for carnies and was unplayable without my knowledge for quite a while, which explains why the feedback thread ended up purged.

Anyway, I'm about ready to start a sequel and wanted to get this out for anymore feedback and just to share the arc with others. It's about clowns so it is a little silly but it also can serve your "challenge" needs as well. Hey, it has mimes with caltrops! What's not to love?

Enjoy.

One more time. This arc is very difficulty sensitive. Heroic (Lvl 1) will be rather normal but as you increase the difficulty it will get significantly harder. The mobs can be frustrating and challenging even in easy mode, be warned....they are clowns!

Edit- rolling edits due to feedback.

Get out your beatin' sticks.

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I'll pretty much just repeat what LM says anyways

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Heh, yep, same here.


But I have two Earthies at 50 and to be honest, if I didn't love variety so much, I'd have one of each secondary. It's taken all my willpower to not roll an Earth/Storm especially given my love for /storm too.

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Oh roll an earth/storm. You know you want to. DO IT! DO IT! hehehe.

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Oh, I have no doubt it will happen.

Right now, I'm finishing up my Plant/Kin (48) then I have several more late 30s/early 40s that need attention. But next troller may likely be Earth/Storm........although I still want to do something gravity-ish..........arghhhhhh!

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I'll pretty much just repeat what LM says anyways

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Heh, yep, same here.


But I have two Earthies at 50 and to be honest, if I didn't love variety so much, I'd have one of each secondary. It's taken all my willpower to not roll an Earth/Storm especially given my love for /storm too.

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Title: Coulrophobia (Fear of Clowns)
Arc ID: 1178
Creator’s Global Name: @Mental Maden
Mission Count: 5
Notes – very difficulty sensitive. It can and has been solo'd but a team is recommended. If you want an easy ride don't bump the difficulty. If you want a challenge, crank it up.


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Lowdown – For an arc about clowns I was expecting a non-stop joke fest and though this arc is reasonable well written, the humor is on the light side. On the plus side the customs are all well done appearance wise and all have bios that rhyme in a humorous fashion (I do feel that the Big Bad should have broken this mold and gave more info). I did like the concept of a character's named Knock-knock and wish his dialog was a series of bad knock knock jokes. Still, the story and contact's dialog was solid throughout.

Funny Level – A cheap ride at the local fair

Fun Level - Varied

Let’s up it to 11! – More funny in the clues (don't tell me it is a ransom note, show it), add more variety to patrol dialog, give the objects some humor test, consider combining two mission into one or dropping one to up the pace.

Overall Rating – A decent arc with lot's of potential, but it still need some work in the humor area.


WN

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Thanks for the assessment and I took some advice on the EBs and knocked their difficulty down on some primaries and secondaries as well as fixing up some of the naming issues. That "all custom character" issue is annoying. Seems like everytime they do some changing to the system all kind of things get out of whack.

As far as the humor goes, to be fair its not just a humor arc; its also supposed to be a challenging arc as well. But sure I can go in and tweak up some of the funny. I do like your Knock Knock suggestions and will work on that.

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Title: Coulrophobia (Fear of Clowns)
Arc ID: 1178
Creator’s Global Name: @Mental Maden


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I just tried to play the arc and it won't start. Check it out and LMK when it is up and running again.

WN

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Ack! Thanks for the FYI will look and see what the skinny is.


Edit- Update......yep found the issue (one of the default descriptions for Carnies had an HTML error.....go figure!) anyway it should be fine now, and this explains exactly why my count hasn't increased in a while, so thanks WN!

Earth/Rad is still my favorite "all around" controller. It was also the first of my controller 50s. Take a look at LocalMan's Earth/Rad guide here. It's pretty comprehensive and should be a good place to start.

And yes it would be a nice duo partner with a fire/fire blaster.

Happy Birthday.

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It's not greifing when you're right.

My deffinition of a farm. I'm talking about the massive outdoor missions with high level boss mobs and some objective like "Kill all the crazy Rikti" or something silly like that. The ones people advertise as boss farms in broadcast. Those are the farms i'm talking about. What possible reason is there for creating a single mission arc with a big outdoor mission filled with bosses? Besides as a farm.

If the farmers were jsut removed from the main zones i'd be happy. Instance the AE's so that they aren't interfeering with the rest of the game. Theres no reason why they should have access to zone broadcast, the players not farming shouldn't be forced to find other zones and just ignore the issues, the've done nothing wrong. And regardless of your opinion of farming the way they abuse the broadcast system in Atlas and make anything else happening in broadcast impossible is not right.

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So is it really farming you care about so much or broadcast spam?

Oh no he dihn't.

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The military could even be called, 'Military'.


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Now why would you do that??? I'd prefer Jennifer.

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It's the only way to get rid of them. I urge all legitmate players of the game

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Please define "legitimate" and cite documentary support for such a definition.

Thank you.

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Leg-it-im-ate: Pertaining to gender. ex: "despite the appearance of a trouser-snake, Troy Hickman may or may not be a woman."

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Yeah, I think that's an example of a quantum mechanics phenomenon known as "Schrodinger's Johnson"...

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I went to High School with Schrodinger Johnson. The guy's a jerk; owes me 10 bucks.

Had to do it.

I've used this thread as a way to find fun arcs to play and have enjoyed some fun arcs. I even did the two shorter arcs of WNs last night......Trademark Infringement got a lot of "lols" in team chat. Unfortunately, I hadn't completely read OP in full detail about making sure and leaving comments.

But if you have any spare time, try:

Title: Coulrophobia (Fear of Clowns)
Arc ID: 1178
Creator’s Global Name: @Mental Maden
Mission Count: 5
Notes – very difficulty sensitive. It can and has been solo'd but a team is recommended. If you want an easy ride don't bump the difficulty. If you want a challenge, crank it up.

Oh and it has mimes with caltrops!

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Shouldn't this whole thread be in the farming thread? Or is this someone's new cry for attention?

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Not when you have such a wonderful, unique, snowflake.

Pretty lil' snowflake,
Pretty lil' guy.
Needs it's own thread so,
We dont' pass it by.

Look at my lil' snowflake,
One of a kind.
If you read my snowflake
It will change your mind.

Snowflake, snowflake
No two are the same.
This is serious business
This isn't just a game.

Pretty lil' snowflake,
Pretty lil' guy.
Needs it's own thread so,
We dont' pass it by.


(i.e. There is a thread already for this.)