PoliceWoman

Thanks for all the love for Talos Vice. It was a story idea that was bouncing around in my head almost from the first time I ran into Detective Croquette in Talos Island. I'm so glad to hear that people had fun playing the story arc!

Global: @PW


Cimeroran Ms. Liberty

The grateful Cimerorans bestowed countless honors on Ms Liberty after she traveled back in time to defeat the 5th Column attempt to overthrow Imperious. Here she is in full Cimeroran regalia, donned in honor of Imperious's restoration.



Luminary 7

Luminary 7 features multiple upgrades installed by Citadel, including hectocore processors, advanced combat tactical expert systems, and the VK-99 Event Horizon vibro-blade, resulting in a significant performance increase over the previous generation Luminary Vista.



Kid Valkyrie

A relatively inexperienced but promising heroine, Kid Valkyrie has risen from the ranks of the Teen Phalanx to take a place in the new Vindicators with her mother's blessing.



Star Swan

When the Cosmic Collective threatened to destroy the solar system, Swan's telepathy was the only way the heroes of Earth were able to make contact with them and persuade them to turn aside. But this was not without cost; touching the infinite consciousness changed Swan forever.

Speaking as both an MA writer and reviewer, there are two sides to the story.

As a reviewer, you will often play a story and find some problem with it, which we'll call A. In order to provide useful feedback, you need to communicate to the author that A is a problem. There are several ways to do this. Here are a few examples:

"A is stupid."
"I really hate A."
"Only an idiot would A."
"A didn't work for me."
"I don't think A makes sense. Have you considered B?"
"A is okay, if you like that sort of thing."
"I noticed A. But you're cool, so here, five stars."
"It was the best arc ever!"

These are all messages attempting to communicate problem A to the author with varying degrees of success. It's my opinion that most authors will ignore your feedback if you phrase it too harshly ("A sucks!!") but they will ALSO ignore your feedback if you phrase it too nicely ("Your arc was the best arc ever! 5 stars! Oh yeah, also A. Though really your arc is perfect, so don't change it."). So when I was doing reviews, I tried to steer somewhere between these two extremes.

I didn't always succeed, though. Some authors are really sensitive to criticism of any sort, and will not accept any kind of criticism. Some authors ask for reviews purely as a way to get plays on their arc, and won't change their arc no matter what you say. Unfortunately, it is difficult to help these kinds of authors. Even worse, these people usually do not understand that writing a critical review of their arc *is* helping them.

As a writer, I usually try to put out as finished a product as possible when I first publish an arc -- but every arc I've written has improved A LOT due to player feedback. People running through my arc will often catch my bad ideas (Did I really think re-creating the boring Synapse TF in Mission Architect was a good idea? What was I thinking when I named the villain Panty?? A whole mission of enemies that throw caltrops, what's up with that??) and suggest brilliant new ideas. CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS INVALUABLE. If someone spends an hour running through your mission and offers you helpful feedback, try to stay open minded and listen to it -- even if you think the reviewer has the social skills of a bridge troll, try to read their words and understand what they are saying. It could help improve your arc.

<opinion>
Worst support set: Sonic Resonance

* Bad at soloing because many sonic resonance powers require a teammate, almost none are useful solo. (This makes it worse than trick arrow, another favorite for "worst support" set.)

* Bad at teaming because teams expect you to keep them alive, and sonic does a poor job of doing that. No heals whatsoever, and the resist buffs are less mitigation than the defense buffs from FF, cold or emp (this surprised me, because my gut feeling was that +RES should be good, but I found that +DEF was nearly always better mitigation for anyone who wasn't already at the DEF soft cap; this makes sonic worse than FF, another candidate for worst support).

* The RES debuffs from sonic are arguably the set's strong suit, but the sonic disruption anchor is horrifically END costly, and rad, dark, cold, and possibly storm and TA are all preferred over sonic dispersion for RES debuffs, due to the other things they bring to the table.

* As a bonus, your visual effects can make your teammates feel physically ill when looking at them.


I've gotten a trick arrow mastermind and a force field defender to level 50. I tried a grav/sonic controller and a sonic/sonic corruptor and ended up giving up on both by level 30.
</opinion>

Added: Forsaken People - A Tale of Old Astoria (#534314) H20-29
Investigating a series of occult murders leads to something more.

Source: Great to Decent arcs thread

Added: Meet the Author (#543322) N1-54, would suggest H12-40
Your agent arranges for someone to ghost write your tell-all superheroic memoirs. Comedy.

Source: Great to Decent Arcs

Added: The Seventh Project (#530481) H45-54
You're on the trail of a shadowy organization selling superweapons on the black market.


Source: The Howard Zaine Trilogy teaser thread.

Added: 001-Bonefire: FREEDOM Style (#540613) H10-14
Help Manticore stop a gang war. Remix of a canon arc.

Source: Great to Decent arcs thread.

Yay, mentioned in a "Choose My Adventure" article on Massively.com. The author has nice things to say about Mission Architect in general, also. Hope it draws some interest to Mission Architect.

There is some kind of graphical glitch that causes Nemu's archetype icon to incorrectly display as Blaster, Controller, or, most recently, Dominator. Sometimes the animations for his powers might look like attacks from those powersets, too.

But don't let it fool you. Nemu is always a Scrapper.

I'm pleased to report that Teen Phalanx Forever! has reached Hall of Fame status. It was a long road and I wasn't sure it would ever quite make it, but always hoped.

Many thanks to everyone who sent their teen sidekicks to play the arc, especially those who rated it, reviewed it and/or left feedback. Player feedback, over time, improved this arc a lot.


Teen Phalanx Forever!

Great choice congrats!

An earlier poster mentioned how crazy it would be to speed the Posi TFs, so I thought I'd mention: on Saturday night I did a "speed" Posi 1 in 32m 33s and a "speed" Posi 2 in 39m 36s. I played a level 11 fire/time controller with no stealth and mostly training enhancements.

As a lowbie, I would've been fine with a clear-all TF for the exp, but the TF leader wanted speed and I was able to work with that, despite being conspicuously non-soft-capped on defense. It helped that the average player skill on the team was very high; also, one of the players did have stealth and TP, and would actually TP teammates to objectives. I also made frequent trips to contacts between missions to buy Lucks. I actually would say there was a good amount of teamwork on this team; I definitely felt that my controls, buffs and debuffs were necessary support for the damage dealers on the team. And I still got to level 15 by the end.

If you're interested in this, I actually wrote a Mission Architect story about exactly this subject: Teen Phalanx Forever (#67335)

In this story, a young sidekick of your character joins the Teen Phalanx for adventures and fun.

Nice! I'm glad to hear this is continuing.

I thought about Teleport, but realized that on a laggy day I would probably fall from the sky and die from it.

So I think I'd go with Accelerate Metabolism. It makes you just a little better in every way, plus it burns calories like crazy!

This post inspired me to check how many of the arcs recommended in the "Thank god it's Thursday" thread I've actually played.

As a silly diversion, I challenge every avid story-oriented Mission Architect fan to copy Bubbawheat's list and color code the arcs they've personally played and the ones they liked! A lot of people have complained at the slow rate the devs are playing these arcs .... So far, they've played 17 arcs (according to Bubbawheat's count). Can you say that you've done better? If not ... why not?


Here's mine:



yellow = I've played this
green = I've played and recommend this
red = I looked at this, but I either couldn't finish it, or it's not my cup of tea
white = I haven't looked at it yet
blue = I wrote this (thanks for the nomination!)


#60197 "Becky's Revenge" by @New Age Ronin
Fear and Loathing on Striga #350522 by @FredrikSvanberg
Against the Wickerwork Khan #346904 by @Clave Dark 5
Drakule vs. the Werewolf Bikers from Hell #340316 by @LaserJesus
Golden Age Secret of the Paragon Society #344596 by @Wrong Number
Talos Vice #338380 by @PW
A Hero in Need... is a Friend Indeed! #375018 by @Wrong Number
Vernon von Grun's Extraordinary Extradimensional Excursions
The Time Bandits - Arc 39008 - by IantheM1
Arc #444732 - Fresh off the Flier
The Invasion of the Bikini-Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! #61013 @Aliana Blue
Teen Phalanx Forever! #67335 @PW
One Million Eyes #71933 @minimalist
Celebrity Kidnapping #1388 @PW
In Poor Taste #259920 @Wrong Number
The Next War on Drugs #245042 @anachrodragon
The Heart of a Gemstone (ID 504716)
#384776: Made to Wave the Flag
#260284: A Warrior's Journey: The Flower Knight Task Force
#29262: Hopeless
#6017: Mercytown
#8925: Forget the Rose, Send me the Thorns
#318983: Ignition of the Machine
#118690: Sibling Rivalry by @Sister Flame
#2260: The Burning of Hearts by @TheDeepBlue
#5073: The Bravuran Jobs by @GlaziusF
#298290: Papers and Paychecks by @PW
#380417: The Star-Dwellers by @K'aji
#87333 The Internet Is For PWN! by @VoiceOfIsaac
#58363 Nuclear in 90 - The Fusionette Task Force by @Cavatina
Grim and the Green Arc ID:61156 Heroic by @Quinch
#379488 "Storming Citadel" by @MrCaptainMan
#25295 "The Extadine Lab" by @Vanden
# 175660 "The Heart of Talos: a warriors task force" by @Djinniman
# 89438 "Facing the darkness" by @Leandro
# 60280 "Dr Dave and the Copper Legion" by @TheHedoren
Bricked Electronics #2180 by @GlaziusF
Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black (ID#161629)
Missing Arc#41922
Big Daddy's Dilemma Arc#333680
#144447 "Gladiators of Venus
Madness + Murder = Bedlam! (arc# 259194) by @Swelter.
@dragon-hawke : arc 221617 - Unification of Villainy
@twiztid dragon : arc 217401 - Creature Feature Cruise of Terror
Arc 137005 : An Introduction to Mission Architect : The Heroic Badge Collection
Arc 206108 : An Introduction to Mission Architect : The Villainous Badge Collection
Arc 448313 : An Introduction to Mission Architect : The Rogue Badge Collection
Arc 448387 : An Introduction to Mission Architect : The Vigilante Badge Collection
#1396 "Grim Riddles" @Mantid
Arc 149433 The fall of Mender Moebius : Part 1 : The Beginning of the End
Arc 331466 The fall of Mender Moebius : Part 2 : Arachnos Park
Arc 324392 The fall of MEnder Moebius : Part 3 : The Abductions
Arc 263911 The fall of Mender Moebius : Part 4 : Penultimatum
Arc 263823 The fall of Mender Moebius : Part 5 : The End of the Beginning
arc #487283, Crafter's Cafe
#452144 "The Murders in the RWZ Morgue" by @FredrikSvanberg
#322373 "Dead Fellas" by @Sand Sultan
Dhahabu Kingdom and the Indelible Curse of Hate: #367872
Dhahabu Kingdom and the Unfathomable Nightmare of Sand: #453511
The Consequences of War #227331 @Dalghryn
The Echo #1688 @MrCaptainMan
Outbroken #379017 @Aehaed
Task Force Mutternacht #349522 @twelfth
The Christmas We Get #356477 @Venture
Unfair Trade #373846 @Lazarus
#25622 "Teh Freakshow Artz Klub" by @Geveo
#26811 "Love is in the Error" by @Witch Engine
Suppression 374481 @Gypsy Rose
A Very Special Episode 457506 @Wrong Number
#517859 "Crime is Art and Art is Crime" by @TwoFlower

Total I've played: 49!

I'd like to submit for your consideration:

Agent of the OSS (arc ID #525356)

I enjoy short story arcs and wrote a couple done-in-one missions myself. I occasionally get feedback like "That would've been a great radio mission", so I agree that there must be some player demand for more tip missions or radio missions.


Crisis at Talos Towers (#518075) H43-49
A Rikti dropship has struck the Talos Towers, causing massive structural damage and setting them on fire. First responders attempted to evacuate the building, but have themselves been trapped by the fire and debris. They need a hero. Can you help?

Attack of the 50 Foot Villain (#363366) V41-54
An accident causes you to grow to giant size and attack Tokyo.



Here are some more one-mission arcs by other authors that I've enjoyed:

The Murders in the RWZ Morgue (#452144) H35-54
You are sent to the Vanguard base to catch a killer. Mystery.

Storming Citadel (#379488) H5-10
You're miniaturized and enter Citadel's brain to make repairs.

Big in Sumeria (#328391) H25
Help the Spirit Busters battle paranormal manifestations. Ghostbusters homage.

Chris Jenkins: Attorney At Law (#204942) H1-14
Even lawyers deserve to be saved from rampaging Hellions....don't they? Comedy.

The Bestest Radio Mission Ever (#1526) H35-54
Amusing mash-up of every radio mission in the game. Parody.

Trademark Infringement (#2220) H35-54
Battle an army of villains with rip-off costumes and character concepts. Parody.

The Extadine Lab (#2595) H40-54
While investigating a new designer drug, you fall down a rabbit hole. Surreal.


I hope that helps. Have fun!

This topic has been really interesting to read. I've often wondered whether "choke points" or "doors" were a better strategy for the prisoner phase, and I've tried both methods on BAFs that I've led, with varying success.

Reading this topic makes me lean towards the "doors" strategy. Here's why.

The "choke points" strategy, if executed correctly, should be better at leveraging the league's debuffs, buffs and DPS by concentrating people close together. But, as several people mentioned above, if people get spread out or fail to chase runners, the choke points strategy fails.

The "doors" strategy has the advantage that each person has a pretty clearly defined goal (i.e.: stop stuff that comes from your door) and so it's harder for them to screw up, and if they fall behind they can call for help.

Since I form BAFs by inviting the first 16 people who express interest, I lean towards the strategy that is harder to screw up, over the strategy that is numerically superior if you do it right.