NullGeodesic

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The issue isn't about reviewing arcs released to the general public. The issue is targeting certain arcs with the sole INTENT of making fun of them. No matter how you serve it up, that's griefing.

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Fail.

Griefing would be targeting a specific arc with the intent of publicly giving it a bad review irrespective of the arc's actual quality.

In a way, this is much like libel. Public criticism is only considered wrong if, one, the sole intent of the critic is to do harm to his target's reputation, and two, the criticism is knowingly false. Neither of those apply in this case, so get off your high horse and get over it.

Frankly, this thin-skinned PC business irritates the heck out of me. Your right to not be offended by what I say does not trump my right to say whatever the heck I want, nor anyone else's. You really need to realize that these reviews have a point, admit that they are funny as heck, and, lastly, get over yourself.

Sorry. Normally I wouldn't jump out of the woodwork and lambaste you like this, but this isn't the first time I've seen you jump on someone out of over-sensitive righteous indignation and, frankly, that's a real pet-peeve of mine.

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It would be poetic justice if people zero-starred every arc you ever make.

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And you call him a griefer?

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As for dialogue or plot holes, that comes from the translation I did of the the source material and a desire to keep true to it. (i.e. The characters always met in nice hotels or offices, so I never considered using one of the Abandoned maps.)

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One of the problems here is that what may seem like thick (even oppressively so) atmosphere in a book or movie comes across as depressingly thin when presented in this format. Primarily, this is due to the space limitations. In book form, a couple of colloquialisms per page is enough (or even too much); here, we get at most a few paragraphs, so I'd rather those be just dripping with flavor even if it means not being perfectly true to the source.

Regarding the maps, I see you dilemma, and I remember enough about the book (although it's been a long time since I've read it) to understand the problem. There may not be a good map to use that's perfectly true to the source. That said, it's a shame that the great effect of the costumes is washed out by the overly colorful maps.

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Arc Name: The Maltese Bird of Prey
Arc ID: 207827
Faction: Neutral
Diff Level: 37-50
Playtime: 30-60 mins


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tl;dr: 3 stars.
Pros: A solid arc; short, to the point missions; great costumes; good atmosphere.
Cons: Multiple typos; minor plot holes; dialog needs some work.

I played this solo with a 50 DM/SD Brute, on Diff. 4. Stream of Consciousness review:

Mission 1. Bit of an abrupt intro dialog. Writing is okay (serviceable, but could be better), but I'd like to know why Mr. Diamond is laying all of this on me. Why am I here?

Cool costumes; I like the washed-out effect.

I find Arch. Cool twist, but not unexpected. Nav. text is now "Help Arch tail Thursty." Huh? This makes no sense, considering. And... I find Thursty. Of course.

Mission 2. Contact dialog could use some sprucing up again. It has shades of Film Noir, but for this kind of story I'd rather see you lay it on thick. Again, I wonder, why am *I* doing this, instead of Mr. Diamond.

"slip- for now." -> "slip... for now."
"charachter" -> "character"
"No questions asked". -> "No questions asked."

Joey's dialog would make more sense if he weren't surrounded by thugs while you beat him down. Otherwise, t'was clever.

Also, Joey's surname is Moracco in the briefing, but Morocco in the debriefing.

Mission 3. Complaints again as above. I still haven't seen why I'm doing all the heavy lifting.

"five-thousand" -> either "five thousand" or "five G's" (or some other period appropriate colloquialism).
"Thursby" is "Thursty"? Or vice versa?

I'm not sure I like this map choice; it's too colorful, in contrast to the costumes, and doesn't feel period appropriate. Especially the computers sitting in the cubicles.

Wilma's dialog seems to indicate a past history with my character that doesn't make sense. "Keep on riding me..." as an opening line? Swapping the order might work better; try placing the "Shove off." line before the "riding me" line.

Well hello, Mr. Diamond. What are you doing here?

Oh glowy, where art thou? Guess I shouldn't have skipped the first floor. For such a small map, this glowie hunt is proving painful. And, of course... a trashcan hidden in the corner, blocked by the stairwell. Great spawn point, CoX. The trashcan's name in the target reticule is a little odd, too; instead of "Find out what's got the..." maybe change it to "An Interesting Looking Dustbin" or some such.

Debriefing: "I got slipped a..." should be "I get slipped a..." Also, maybe shorten "a Mickey Finn" to just "a mickey;" it's more concise, and seems more in character.

Avoid dashes in your text; they are almost never grammatically appropriate. Use commas, semicolons, ellipses, etc. instead.

Mission 4. Morraco/Morroco is now Moroacco?
"Subded" -> "subdued."
"My guess is if..." -> "My guess is, if..."
"it's got" -> "its got"

New mobs! Woah! What are they doing here? Well, I guess no period piece would be complete without them.

On the glowie: "tougher then" -> "tougher than"

And a thug makes the mistake of hitting me with -fly. Guess the mooks have a death wish.

Huh? Invisible hostage? Might want to change his powersets. Mission exit makes little sense, sense Capt. Jakoby got away.

Mission 5. I'm at a loss as to why Mr. Diamond is giving me this last mission. Multiple plot holes here. Why is the Fat Man getting the prize? Why are we having Wilma take the fall for mission one? And, lastly, why am I doing this again, and where's my cut?

"turned up" -> "turned out"
"dead-end" -> "dead end"
"tie-up" -> "tie up"
"lose" -> "loose"

Once again, I dislike this office map; it's too colorful, which detracts from the otherwise awesome costumes.

"Setting up" means "beating up," I see. This would make more sense if it were a "planting evidence" style objective. Joey's lines could be more clever; especially his defeated line. And I do for the Fat Man as well; the mission briefing is making a little more sense now, but I still don't like it.

Debrief: I like the parting line. Haha.

Summary: As it stands, this is a solid three star arc; however, with a little effort cleaning up the typos and filling in the plot holes, I would easily bump this up to four. Spruce up the contact dialog and I'd give this a five.

The difficulty seemed reasonable; however, all the mobs are custom, which means low level characters should beware. There's only one EB (who appears twice). I cake walked this on ruthless with my Brute, but he's heavily IO'd (although, on the couple of occasions that the EB actually hit me, he hurt). On heroic/villainous it should be doable by just about every archetype.

Lastly, I'm not sure it's possible, but I'd really recommend that you replace those standard office maps with something less colorful. Maybe the CoV Abandoned Office set? Your mobs look great, but surrounding them by a brightly lit, colorful backdrop greatly detracts from the effect.

*****

And now, my submission, for your consideration:
Arc Name: The Superadine Withdrawal Blues
Arc ID: 205046
Faction: Neutral
Levels: 1-50
Playtime: 30-60 mins
Enemies: Council, PPD, Custom
Description: An old Troll tries to go straight, but bad habits die hard. A humorous MA arc for levels 1-50. (Warning: Contains an EB.)
Difficulty: Moderate to Hard

I've had no trouble running this arc solo and with small teams at higher levels, but have not tested it extensively for lower level toons so I'm unsure of how it will play in that range.

I just ran through Axis and Allies; I sent my critique as feedback, but I'll rehash it here for posterity's sake.

A nice, solid, well plotted arc. The highlights were the second and fourth missions. The trooper's dialog was nicely done. Overall, I thought your choices of maps was stellar; unfortunately, although I understand why you chose it, I really hate the map you used for mission three - hunting for the objectives was annoyingly painful. (I wish there was a smaller map with the same feel to it.) Otherwise, well done.

My only real criticisms are these:

First, Schadenfreud's dialog seemed flat to me - just somewhat bland and unenthusiastic, considering the scope of the project she's having you enact. I think giving her an accent would help tremendously to flesh out her character.

Also, I'd like to see a little more exposition tying everything together. Why did each of the allies surrender after their respective missions? Fill in the blanks for us.

Overall, well done. A solid four stars from me.

And, with that, a little quid pro quo for quid pro quo's sake: I not-so-humbly submit my arc to your tender (or untender, as the case may be) mercies.

Arc Name: The Superadine Withdrawal Blues
Global: @Null Geodesic
Arc: 205046
Length: Long (4 missions)
Morality: Neutral
Level Range: 1-54
Difficulty: Moderate to Hard
Enemies: Council, Paragon Police, Custom Group, one EB.
Summary: A reformed Troll tries to go straight, but old habits die hard.

I run a DM/DA Brute on Liberty, and have soloed on Relentless for my entire career. For the most part, I've had no problems whatsoever - only a slight hiccup in the high teens (pre-stamina) when the purple bosses would last longer than my end and insps could hold out. Stamina and SO's have changed that; the only problems I have now are with CoT debuffing me to the point Dark Regen stops hitting (I probably need to slot it more).

I never have a problem building Fury (and this is on a build lacking Shadow Punch). I generally cycle Brawl, Smite and Shadow Maul continuously (with Hasten), and rely on incoming hits to generate the Fury I need. I also tend to herd multiple mobs when I think I can handle it - the only difference I've found between 3 +2 minions and 10 +2 minions is a Luck and about 15 seconds. Several minions banging on you also makes taking down bosses much easier.

That said, I mostly play in groups, and act as much like a tank as I think I can get away with. Nothing builds Fury faster (or is harder on the nerves) than multiple purple bosses pounding you into the dirt.