PoliceWoman

I tried making a water-based toon as a rad blast/time manipulation corruptor, with all powers from both powersets recolored a dark blue. With bubbly special effects in rad blast and swirly whirlpools of time, I thought this visually looked watery.

Added: A Long Time Ago In A Zone Far, Far Away (#529478) H45-54
A routine base inspection leads to something bigger. (Low exp, interesting mechanics.)

Source: The Howard Zaine Trilogy teaser thread.

Added: Tales of Cimerora: Of Feathers and Fur (#12647) H40-54
Daedalus asks for your help saving Cimerora from mythological beasties.

Source: AE Story Team running arcs from Monthly AE Author Contests from The American Legion

12/29/2011

I've been slacking on journal entries for a couple months; partly due to being busy, partly due to being on CoH a bit less. Someone reminded me online that they hadn't seen a journal entry in some time, and so, here's my attempt to catch up for the last few months.

I started Bette Noire, a Street Justice/Willpower brute. Her name is sort of a pun on the French expression "Bete Noire" and a reference to Flamebird, and her costume is sorta Batgirl/Batwoman inspired while trying not to be exactly like either one. I like Street Justice so far, it feels very brutal and lives up to the "street" name. Did DfB a couple times and a bunch of lowbie MA arcs to get to level 18.

I bought 5 arc slots from the in-game store, and developed and published a new story arc, Agent of the OSS (arc #525356), a WW2 era arc where you fight lots of Nazis, somewhat connected to the Ubelmann the Unknown arc, with some throwaway pop culture references. This was pretty fun to write and play test, and I've lured a few people into trying it out. Most like it but complain the arc seems too short to them, but I'm actually OK with this, as I think "serious" story arcs are invariably too long, using all 5 missions allowed just because they can.

I also got a fun review of my Papers and Paychecks (arc #298290) story arc. Playing this arc actually motivated a free player to subscribe to the game, just so he could send me a private email on the forum saying how much he liked it! He wrote "Let me just say first off, that if all AE arcs were like this one, I’d never leave the building! .... This arc was an EASY 5 stars (too bad there’s no way to give it a six)." which I thought was pretty awesome. Of course, he also wrote "I was a little annoyed that you used a stock civilian model for Jenny, because no matter how you angle the camera, you can’t see up her skirt. I thought that this was going to be a strike against you, but it all worked out in mission #2 when she handed me a photocopy of her fanny (good save)." ... which was....a little weird. But hey, it's the Internet.

Hit the inf cap and mailed myself 900M on 10/20. The market for rare salvage (which I trade in) has really become low margin; even though I still buy and sell a lot of these, I make very little inf per unit now (typically buying at 900K and selling at 1.1M inf for a pretty measly profit), so have not made much money since then. I should probably look for a new market niche, but fortunately, I have several billions socked away still, so I'm not really hurting and can afford to be lazy.

Around Halloween I bought the Halloween costume pack; not really using anything from it yet, but it seemed cool. Had a fun time with the Haunted House trial, the devs really outdid themselves on that. Police Woman picked up Is there a doctor in the house? and Tricked Out badges.

Police Woman did various incarnate trials, upgraded to tier 4 Longbow lore pet. The nerfed Keyes trial seems really easy now, at least compared to the original version of it. Probably for the best, though, since now (non-hardcore) people are actually willing to try it. I even led one Keyes trial run, and learned that you need to assign people to clear war works from the terminals on the first and third reactors (but not the second) and the pattern to ask tanks to lead Antimatter around (the lone bunker, then the left of a matched pair, then the right).

I got to see the Mind of Mayhem (MoM) trial for the first time and thought it was really cool, though it's a little troubling that we end up [SPOILER]killing Shalice Tilman[/SPOILER] as a story result. Got most of the badges, but there's one that requires killing illusions of different giant monsters that will require several runs to get; some people were "farming" these by just doing the first part of the MoM trial, then aborting (rinse & repeat), but that didn't seem very fun to me. I also did the TPN trial a couple times; both times I was assigned to an "outside" team where we were focused on killing telepaths that were riling the crowds of protestors, and occasionally an AV-level Maelstrom. The TPN was quite well led and successful enough to get me the "Master of TPN" badge, which was rather ironic as I really did not see very much of the trial (I gather there was a whole "inside" area of the trial that I never saw).

I did enough trials to upgrade Police Woman's Destiny to the T4 Ageless Radial Epiphany.

Police Woman was on a speed Tin Mage that finished in 14m 24s, recordbreaking time (as far as I know for Liberty, anyway).

Spacegirl (who I had rerolled as a beam/rad corr) had her sci-fi based SG gradually stop playing over the course of a few weeks. I ended up moving her to my private SG and respec'd her several times; once to dump Cutting Beam because I thought it sucked, and a second time to get Cutting Beam back because I needed more AoE. Somewhat ironic, I know. Finished all the TF Commander task forces and started doing ITFs and eventually a STF, and hit level 50 on an Eden trial formed on SisterhoodFriends channel. Once I hit level 50 I solo'd through Alpha Unlocked and started doing incarnate trials, and respec'd her to a soft cap range DEF build that I'm really liking:

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.95
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Spacegirl I21: Level 50 Magic Corruptor
Primary Power Set: Beam Rifle
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Psychic Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Single Shot -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(7), Numna-Heal/Rchg(9), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Numna-Heal(11), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(11)
Level 2: Charged Shot -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(13), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 4: Accelerate Metabolism -- Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(A), Zephyr-ResKB(17), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(19), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(19), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(46)
Level 6: Disintegrate -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(21), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(23), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25)
Level 8: Hover -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(27), LkGmblr-Rchg+(27)
Level 10: Enervating Field -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Lancer Shot -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(29), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 14: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(33)
Level 16: Mutation -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Cutting Beam -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(33), Posi-Dmg/Rng(34), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 20: Radiation Infection -- HO:Enzym(A), HO:Enzym(36), HO:Enzym(36)
Level 22: Lingering Radiation -- Acc-I(A)
Level 24: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 26: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(37), LkGmblr-Rchg+(37)
Level 28: Tactics -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(37), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(39), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(39), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(39), GSFC-Build%(40)
Level 30: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Overcharge -- Ragnrk-Dmg(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(40), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(42), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(42)
Level 35: Fallout -- Cloud-ToHitDeb(A), Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb(36), Cloud-Acc/Rchg(48), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Cloud-%Dam(50)
Level 38: EM Pulse -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(42), Lock-Rchg/Hold(43), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(43), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(43), Lock-%Hold(45)
Level 41: Dominate -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(50)
Level 44: Mind Over Body -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(45), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), RctvArm-ResDam(46), RctvArm-EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Scourge
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(34)

I rerolled Quick Katie, formerly a 50 plant/kin controller, to an elec/kin corr, partly because I decided I like corruptors more than controllers, partly because it felt weird to me to use plant attacks when the real Katie Hannon uses elec blasts. Actually, the real Katie Hannon is storm/elec or maybe elec/storm, but I figure "Quick Katie" needs to be at least part kin. After a couple DfBs, Posi 1, Posi 2 and Synapse, I got the new Quick Katie up to level 20.

I rerolled my katana/fire brute a few times, deciding I liked Virtual Girl's TRON-like costume but not her name, which is too similar to that of a porn site. So I made a technology origin kat/fire brute named Just Pixels, got to about level 7 before deciding this name was dumb, then rerolled another tech kat/fire brute named Software, a name I was pleasantly surprised to get. Got Software up to level 25 through a combination of DfB, Posi 1, Posi 2, Striga, tip missions and some AE arcs.

Olivia Q (50 MA/SR scrapper), one of my oldest toons, had several members of her old SG return to CoH with free-to-play and I had the chance to team up with them a few times, fighting stuff just for the fun of it, which was quite cool.

With the release of Titan Weapons, I rerolled Kyrie Eleison (formerly a fire/fire brute) to a titan/fire brute. I think this provoked some eyerolling from my global friends, who were like, you rerolled that toon again? I am really liking titan weapons/fire so far, though; an angel swinging a huge sword around "feels right". A combination of DfB, Posi 1/Posi 2/Synapse, story-oriented AE, Striga, tip missions, and First Ward got her to level 26.

Strong Woman (50 inv/SS tanker) joined a Tanker Tuesday event where a league of 18 tankers just barely beat the Lord Winter's Realm event, then I did a tanker only ITF in 37m 26s. I would've guessed an all-tanker team would have pretty poor synergy (since my mental image of an ideal team has at most 1 tanker and lots more debuffs), but both these went a lot better than I expected.

Over the last few months I played a bunch of AE arcs, partly to support the Player's Choice contest. Here are some quicky reviews:

Challenge of the Splendid Pals episodes 7-9: corny Superfriends-inspired fun, messed up slightly by profanity filter, 4 stars.
The Black Theorem: somewhat tedious math-oriented arc, 3 stars.
The Patrolman's Beat: decent writing, but story made me feel like the sidekick to the NPC hero. 4 stars.
The Complete Cat-Girl Cloning Project: mechanics seemed fine, story very weak. 3 stars.
How to Succeed in Mad Science without really trying: kinda fun with some issues, couldn't beat the boss who had granite armor and self-heals. 3 stars.
The Golden Scepter: mystical quest, a neat story with a very cool look, 5 stars.
A Very Special Episode: fun TV based romp, 5 stars.
When the Words Stop: surreal and imaginative, but it also left me totally confused. 4 stars.
Exploding Planet: superman homage that didn't really grab me. 3 stars.
Grunty McFisterson's Guide to Winning Respect: decently written intro villain arc where you beat people up to get "respect", but the contact plays you for a fool, so it really has the opposite effect. 3 stars.
Ouroboros Chronicles: Tales of Nemesis: a neat story but the gameplay bogged down due to large maps and chained objectives. 4 stars.
Shadow of Grime Alley: a Batman homage that had some plot problems. 3 stars.

I also played a bunch of TFs:

4xPosi 1: 1h 14m, 40m 7s, 49m 7s, 52m
3xPosi 2: 52m 24s, 1h 2m, 46m
2xSynapse: 1h 22m, 1h 18m
2xManticore: 1h 33m, 1h 29m
1xNumina: 1h 52m
1x1st red respec: 13m 6s
1x2nd blue respec: 1h 38m
1xEden: 25m
1xSutter: 49m
1xKal: 15m 6s
3xKahn: 24m, 26m, 22m
11xITF: 14m 13s, 1h 9m, 18m 20s, 46m 41s, 43m 46s, 32m 15s, 22m 2s, 37m 26s, forgot time, 53m, 24m
1xLGTF: 22m 8s
3xSTF: 27m, 27m, forgot time
3xApex: forgot time, 16m 22m, 19m 56s
2xTin Mage: 17m 42s, 14m 24s

...and did a bunch of incarnate trials:

8xLambda: 1xFail, 5xCommon, 3xUncommon, 1xForgot
11xBAF: 7xUncommon, 2xRare, 1xVeryRare, 1xForgot
7xKeyes: 1xCommon, 1xUncommon, 3xRare, 1xVeryRare, 1xForgot
1xUnderground: 1xRare
2xMoM: 1xCommon, 1xVeryRare
2xTPN: 1xRare, 1xVeryRare

Anyway, if you got this far, thanks for reading, and have a happy New Year! See you in game!

My beam/rad corruptor just hit level 50, and this is the build I've tried to respec her into. The main goal of the build was to get soft-capped range DEF, plus whatever recharge and hit points I could scrape up after that. I'm planning on playing her primarily on incarnate trials (yes, I know 45% range DEF is no longer "soft cap" for this...I figure I can eat a luck or two) and level 50 TFs (STF/LGTF/ITF/Kahn/Apex/Tin Mage). My budget allows me to comfortably purchase sets of purple recipes, but not PvP recipes. Any suggestions welcome!

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.95
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Spacegirl I21: Level 50 Science Corruptor
Primary Power Set: Beam Rifle
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Psychic Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Single Shot -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(7), Numna-Heal/Rchg(9), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Numna-Heal(11), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(11)
Level 2: Charged Shot -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(13), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 4: Accelerate Metabolism -- Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(A), Zephyr-ResKB(17), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(19), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(19), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(46)
Level 6: Disintegrate -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(21), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(23), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25)
Level 8: Hover -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(27), LkGmblr-Rchg+(27)
Level 10: Enervating Field -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Lancer Shot -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(29), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 14: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(33)
Level 16: Mutation -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Cutting Beam -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(33), Posi-Dmg/Rng(34), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 20: Radiation Infection -- HO:Enzym(A), HO:Enzym(36), HO:Enzym(36)
Level 22: Lingering Radiation -- Acc-I(A)
Level 24: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 26: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(37), LkGmblr-Rchg+(37)
Level 28: Tactics -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(37), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(39), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(39), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(39), GSFC-Build%(40)
Level 30: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Overcharge -- Ragnrk-Dmg(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(40), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(42), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(42)
Level 35: Fallout -- Cloud-ToHitDeb(A), Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb(36), Cloud-Acc/Rchg(48), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Cloud-%Dam(50)
Level 38: EM Pulse -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(42), Lock-Rchg/Hold(43), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(43), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(43), Lock-%Hold(45)
Level 41: Dominate -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(50)
Level 44: Mind Over Body -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(45), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), RctvArm-ResDam(46), RctvArm-EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Scourge
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(34)

Two Chicks at Once (#83920)

Played on a 50 MA/will scrapper.

Mission 1

Briefing: signifigantly -> significantly, aquired -> acquired

I kinda think the pink and purple parts of the uniforms doesn't really fit with the traditional Longbow red & white color scheme, but your mileage may vary.

The first mission could use some more mission details; I cleared through to the glowy, and the only mission details I encountered were the patrol with the dialog about Miss December, and the box itself. Maybe a boss or another patrol with more dialog, or wall poster glowies with glamor shots, or something. Maybe some well equipped Longbow getting their photos taken by a photographer (a "captive" civilian using the camera emote while his "guards" do some sort of flirty pose).

Debriefing: signifigant -> significant.


Mission 2

So from the mission briefing, I think I'm raiding the Crey Cosmetics Division. Or maybe Cosmetic Surgery.

"Chest Slider" is a fun clue. The manual is OK, but not quite as funny; the unguent doesn't seem particularly funny (at least to me).

The actual Crey enemies in this mission are a little dull - all Crey tanks (I played at level 50) and only one has any dialog, who complains of the lack of scientists. I think the Crey could stand to be more funny. Consider adding mad scientists working on bizarre cosmetics projects; middle managers panicked about their Chest Slider project overruns; maybe Kelly Uqua working on the ad campaign for the new line of Crey mascara.


Mission 3

briefing: opinioned -> opinionated.

Johnny's dialog is terrific - however, I think his costume doesn't quite look right. The real Johnny Sonata has a much older face, and the colors are not quite right (a little nitpicky, admittedly). See http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/File:Johnny_Sonata.jpg

The "Ice Mistral's marker" clue seems rather short and dry; consider having an itemized list of crazy things Johnny Sonata has billed her for. You can use the "end of mission" clue instead of the "defeat boss" clue if you need extra space. Is there room for a (friendly) Ice Mistral spawn that you can confront with the marker and demand she help with the calendar? (There might not be, I know the casino maps are quite small.)


Mission 4

It doesn't make sense for my initial objective to be "Meet Ice Mistral" when the briefing told me I should find Silver Mantis. I think it would make more sense for your initial objective to be "Defeat Silver Mantis" and have Ice Mistral be an optional encounter with nothing as an objective. Sure, someone could stealth by Ice Mistral, but I think that would be OK. I'm actually not sure I buy that Ice Mistral would help with Silver Mantis anyway (though she does mention she wants to hurt Silver Mantis), though I guess you want an ally to help with the AV.

Although beating up Silver Mantis furthers the plot, the mission wasn't particularly funny. This arc really relies entirely on comedy, so I think this mission could stand to have funnier dialog and/or situations.


Mission 5

Not sure that Longbow actually has any valid pretext to confiscate the calendars, since they aren't against the law in any sense. Maybe we can let that go for the sake of comedy.

I rescued both Silver Mantis and Ice Mistral; each had dialog, but their guards did not. I think the Longbow guarding them should say *something*, maybe tsk tsking them or trying to compare their assets or something.

Is it worth making custom versions of Silver Mantis and/or Ice Mistral, versions who have used the devices you captured from Crey and/or the teeny bikinis that Lord Recluse forced them to wear? Also, from a game balance standpoint, having 2 EBs as allies is pretty overpowered.

"The Babes of Arachnos" clue: "calalog" -> "catalog"

Clicking the 4th crate triggers "Defeat Ms. Liberty" as an objective; I think you could use a message or clue somewhere that actually says Ms. Liberty has arrived to stop you.

Ms. Liberty's last line, "I would've looked so good in a negligee" doesn't quite make sense -- since we have not actually stopped Ms. Liberty's photos from being published.

I wonder if it would be more fun to have Longbow bust up the actual photo shoots, rather than just confiscate the calendars after the photo shoot has already occurred? Then you could have the player rescue Silver Mantis, Ice Mistral and the various other Arachnos models, and maybe cameramen or something. Maybe give Jenkins a cameo as a cameraman or something, just for fun, or have Becky or Barracuda crash the party, angry because she wasn't asked.

Debriefing: "flash you a mercury smile" sounds weird, should be just "flash you a quick smile".


The souvenir is pretty fun.


Overall

A fun, lighthearted adventure. I felt that some of the missions could use a little more content, especially more funny dialog. There were funny parts but some of the missions (especially M4 and M5) needed more. Liked how Lord Recluse and the patron AVs were (mis)characterized, Johnny's dialog, and the souvenir.

Shadow of Grime Alley (#144416)

Mission 1

I didn't really get why rescuing Sara triggered finding the buttonman's body (she never mentions this), or rescuing Matt triggered finding Matt's friend's body (I didn't think he mentioned this, but scrolling back, I saw it's stated in the system text, which is very easy to miss). I'd suggest adding dialog or clues pointing to these objectives.

Mission debriefing seemed too short (only 1 line).


Didn't have anything to say about mission 2.

Mission 3

In the briefing Gordon talks about "Striga and Rogue Isle Family factions"; it would sound a little more authentic if you used family names like "the Marcone family". Also "Commisioner" should be "Commissioner" (both in send-off message and in Gordon's description).

Mission popup "Gunfire, yelling, sounds of scuffle" isn't a proper sentence. Also I think "sounds of scuffle" sounds much less impressive than the gunfire and yelling; I'd suggest simplifying this to something like "As you enter the station, you hear yelling and the sound of gunfire."

Inside I run into "Goon" whose description is just "Someone needs to keep the Mooks in line", seems awfully terse; I'd suggest you flesh it out a little. I'm a bit puzzled over who these goons are working for; in later missions I find out they're minions of the Gat, but I think after you defeat the goons in this mission you should get a clue or some info from Gordon saying that the goons confess to working for the Gat.

Found a body bag; this one body bag contains BOTH Virelli and Caruso? Seems a little weird, maybe should be 2 body bags.

There's at least one patrol of SWAT officers in the police station. I think their dialog is too calm; real cops would be a lot more agitated if someone came into a police station and blew away some witnesses in police custody. I assume "the Gat" did it, but how did he get by the police that would normally be here to shoot Virelli and Caruso? Seems like that would have required him to kill or capture the cops that were already there. Possibly there should be cops surrounding the bodies of the dead witnesses, too.

Also wasn't I supposed to meet Gordon Stacy here? He wasn't present anywhere in the building; seems inconsistent.

The end-of-mission clue postulates that Tommy Thomason and his wife were killed by a mugger, but according to the story, Tommy "Gatling Gun" Thomason is a mob enforcer with his own custom firearms, which makes it very implausible that he could be killed by an ordinary mugger. I could believe he was killed by another hitman, or a sniper, or even a supervillain; a common mugger seems unlikely though.

Debriefing has Gordon Stacy explaining why he wasn't there, but I'm not sure I buy it. Could HE be "the Gat"? The paragraph breaks in the debriefing are somewhat messed up, you probably want to insert additional line breaks.

Gordon expositions a lot more about the Gat's son, but finishes by claiming the Son of the Gat is dead. It doesn't make sense for him to talk this much about someone he thinks is dead; I think he should either not talk about this, or else suggest that maybe Wayne faked his death (the obvious implication -- and Gordon Stacy IS a detective, after all).


Mission 4

Inside the mission I find Don Napolino, who has been captured by some Mooks. But Napolino seems to be asking them to look for his daughter, which is weird if he's captured by them.

I run across a Family/Mook battle where one of the Family says:

[NPC] Button Man Gunner: Aiiieeeeee! Oh, it's just Bette Noire. Whew.

....but this mob actually fights me, which doesn't make sense for him being relieved to see me. The mooks talk about their boss being low on ammo. Maybe they really do work for the Gat. The mooks guarding Angelica Napolino confirm this.

I find the Gat and confront him. He's escorted by ... Arachnos? Huh? Is that on purpose? This surprised me at first, but got explained later. I beat up the Gat, but upon defeating him, the clue he drops claims that his men "rescued him at the last moment". This feels like kind of a cheat, as I clearly beat him up at the end of this mission.


Mission 5

Since I already defeated the Gat in mission 4, this mission to capture him again feels like filler.

The very first encounter is with "The Gat?" who has extremely silly dialog that kinda breaks the mood of the arc. Defeating him doesn't seem to accomplish anything except tell me to defeat the next person claiming to be "the Gat".

I eventually find the real Gat and fight him, and he's using a shield and martial arts. That seems weird, he's in his home base and has a jillion Arachnos minions guarding him now, but he wasn't able to find reloads for his guns? Seems rather implausible and a guy named "the Gat" should really fight with his signature firearms.

The mission exit popup, "This time, he's down for the count" is missing a period at the end.


Souvenir

I'd recommend making the souvenir longer, basically giving a summary of the plot of the adventure, much like a normal story arc souvenir. This would look a bit more polished.


Overall

I like the basic concept of turning Batman's origin into the origin of a crazed gunman. However, I don't buy that an ordinary mugger could kill a top Family enforcer, and Wayne's motivation to kill Family capos for not providing his father protection feels very weak. Also if this is his motivation, why kidnap Angelica, who had nothing to do with it? Mission 5 feels kinda filler-like since you already beat the Gat in mission 4.


Suggestions (use if you like them, ignore if you don't like them):

* Change Tommy's death to be the result of a hit from a rival Family member who never gets identified or caught. This makes Tommy's death more believable and gives Wayne a better reason to kill other Family members.
* Changing Wayne's motivation like this would end up removing the reason why he would kill homeless people in Kings Row, but the arc as written really doesn't do very much with that plot thread anyway -- it follows the Family killings. However, if Wayne is only killing Family, his actions are basically that of a Vigilante. You might consider exploring whether the player should really arrest Wayne in this case, or might sympathize with him. This might also be a chance to give Wayne some more depth as a character than "crazed gunman".
* Consider cutting mission 5 entirely and have the arc end on the Gat's defeat in mission 4. Or, if you really like the Gat-Cave, remove the Gat from mission 4 (just say he's already gotten away) and have the player fight him only in mission 5.
* I'd suggest dropping "The Gat?" who seems to be a humorous element in an otherwise non-humorous story, and let "The Gat" use his guns in the final fight.
* With the Gat's minions being named stuff like "Mook", consider having a connection to Guido "the Mooch" Verandi, whose minions are also called Mooks. Maybe Verandi is backing the Gat's moves, in a play to take over some of the mainland Family territories.

Hope some of this helps!

Terra Mystika: The Nexus (#514570)

I thought this was a neat concept. I really liked the Central Alliance and their weird background chatter, and the additional custom models in the Roman group. The accusation mission was also a neat idea. The writing in the briefing and the clues all seemed solid.

I felt the first 3 missions were rather repetitive (perhaps intentionally so); even though they had different enemies, they all had exactly the same formula. I'd recommend mixing it up some, while keeping the key element that a traitor was somehow passing information and/or materials to those groups. I thought it was a little strange that the same traitor would be supporting three different groups from three different dimensions, though; it's possible I didn't fully understand the motivation here.

Having the arc end on the accusation felt rather abrupt, I would've expected the traitor to fight back in some way. Consider having a final confrontation with the traitor; either a combat, or perhaps some sort of courtroom scene. That would give a better sense of closure.

Hope that helps!

Villainous

1. Arena (#456200)
2. Interdimensional Headache (#459592)

I really liked Arena's portrayal of obsession; it was a great concept with excellent execution. I liked the subplots with Amanda Vines and the conceit that all the mission briefings were television interviews.


Heroic

1. A Mosaic of Shattered Dreams (#497506)
2. Legacy of a Rogue (#459586)

Mosaic got me involved with the story early on and made me care about what happened to the characters. Mosaic's secret origin and weaknesses were both ingenious and horrible. I liked the moral choice that is portrayed at the end.


Lowbie

1. Tutorial Arc 3: Dark Harvest (#470181)
2. The Blue Devils (#468738)

I liked that Dark Harvest introduces the player to the Kheldian/Council story, and the missions were really rich with detail.

Added: Arena (#456200) V40-54
Arachnos assigns you as security for a high stakes arena gladiator match.

Source: Player's Choice Awards 2011 Voting thread

This arc was actually previously on this list, under a different arc id #, until it was broken by a patch and unpublished.

Added: The Blue Devils (#468738) H1-5 or Vig1-5
Investigate a new street gang that is causing trouble.

Source: Player's Choice Awards 2011 Voting thread

Mission 1:
Love the name "St Elmo's Fire" for a Hellion boss. I really think his dialog should incorporate some of the lyrics from "St Elmo's Fire"; can't you see him saying something like "I can see a new horizon, underneath the blazing sky"?

Elmo is portrayed as being rather nerdy and even his own men don't seem to respect him that much. Seems to diminish the idea that beating him up will enhance my reputation. Consider having the player catch Elmo during or just after some sort of criminal act, like robbing a bank? Then the player could beat up Elmo and abscond with the loot. I guess the mission does portray Elmo having stolen some school books, but beating up Elmo and taking his school books doesn't quite have the same excitement level.

In the debriefing, Grunty refers to me as "Johnny No-Name" which seems contrary to the idea that he is promoting my reputation. Also "reptuation" (sic) is spelled wrong.


Mission 2:
"redheaded criminal stepchildren" doesn't really work as a description of the Skulls. I don't think I've *ever* seen a redheaded Skull. Needs a more appropriate colorful term here, like "death-worshipping thugs" or something.

Found a Longbow minion guarding some rocks, apparently continuing the Longbow subplot from the previous mission. I sorta like the extra Longbow details because they give the missions more items of interest, but so far this subplot feels a little underdeveloped. How did Officer Dusty know I was coming here, anyway? No one but Grunty and I knew my next target. Is Grunty betraying me?

I like that the Skulls ambush have dialog where they recognize my name from my previous exploits. Finally, some recognition!

I like how Mydnyte is characterized as an overly melodramatic goth kid. That kinda works for me. But does beating up a depressed girl like this really garner me additional respect? Oh well, let's go with that for now.


Mission 3:
So Grunty reveals he sent me to beat up his kids to teach them a lesson. Considering this is a villainous arc, this seems extremely poor parenting -- the player could be an axe murderer or a killbot with spinning razor blades for arms, who "beats up" people by killing them dead.

Considering Grunty has just admitted that he deceived me and used me, why should I accept his mission at this point? Arguably, the next mission should involve killing off Grunty to further enhance my reputation, since a villain of my standing should not let people get away with "playing" me.

I'm not sure I follow how Longbow managed to capture Elmo and Mydnyte; *I* was the one who killed/defeated them, after all. It's also a pretty big stretch for Longbow to believe that I will rescue Elmo and Mydnyte, considering I mercilessly beat them up recently.

Mission entry popup: "Miss Liberty" should be "Ms Liberty" (Miss Liberty is actually a different hero entirely).

The story sometimes refers to Officer Dusty, sometimes to Officer Finish. I guess her full name is Dusty Finish, but for the sake of consistency, choose one usage and stick with it.

Both Mydnyte and Elmo have some dialog showing that they're straightening out after being beat up, then rescued by me. This seems like it would ruin my rep as an up and coming villain!

Found Officer Dusty and beat her up again. She did not do anything different than the last encounter where I also beat her up, which makes this a rather poorly planned trap. Considering she knows I can beat her in a fair fight already (from mission 1), I really think she needs an ambush, a secret weapon, a suit of powered armor, or some other leverage that makes her think this fight will go her way.

Found the Enchanted Weapons objective, but up to this point no one has used enchanted weapons and they haven't been connected to the story in any way, so this mission detail really feels out of place. Try to tie it to the story better, or else replace it with some kind of mission dressing that better fits the story.


Overall:
Interesting premise. Fun villains (really liked the names). I don't think the plot of the story really works as written, though; the motivations don't quite work. It doesn't seem to make sense for Grunty to send an ex-con from the Zig to beat sense into his children, considering there's probably a 50% chance that I'm a serial killer who will permanently snuff his kids in the process.

Once it's revealed that Grunty was just using me, it doesn't make sense that I would help him "out of the goodness of my heart"; since I'm a villain, it would make more sense for me to kill him -- *especially* if my major motivation is improving my reputation.

I felt Officer Dusty's antagonism towards the player was not sufficiently developed; arguably I defeated only bad guys in missions 1 and 2, so why is Longbow targeting me specifically? And considering *I* beat up Mydnyte and Elmo, why do they think I would care enough about them to rescue them?

Possibly these plot problems could be excused in the name of comedy, but if you want to go that route, I think the arc needs to be more funny. The name "St Elmo's Fire" was funny, and goth girl's characterization was funny, but I think you need more jokes or humorous situations to really make it comedic.

Hope that helps!

Added: A Mosaic of Shattered Dreams (#497506) H25-54
Investigate why supervillains are attacking an innocent family.

Source: Player's Choice Awards 2011 Voting thread

FYI - I can't seem to get The Ouroboros Chronicles: the Tales of Nemesis (#522236) to load for me. Anyone else have this problem? It might've been broken by a recent patch.

Yay! Way to go!

Added: A Very Special Episode (#457506) H30-54
The popular host of a children's television show has disappeared.

Source: Player's Choice Awards voting thread

Added: The Golden Scepter (#9852) H35-53
A mystical guardian sends you on a quest to recover a dangerous artifact.

Source: Monthly AE Author Contests from The American Legion

Added: Interdimensional Headache (#459592) V41-54
Work with a rogue portal researcher to explore another dimension for profit.


Source: AE search tool set to length=medium/long, not voted, morality=villainous, status=looking for feedback or final .... then working through arcs from this search until getting to page 6.