Shagster

Might as well put the promo posters for my arcs here too

re-posting the promotional flier, since the previous html seems borked now:

Check out Tahlana's excellent "COH Rotten Tomatoes" project, aggregating reviewer results.

"Amazon-Avatars" didn't make the main list (need 3+ reviews, only have 2), but is maintaining a 5 star reviewer average so far.

link to Tahlana's Rotten Tomatoes thread here:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=185675

check it out! a lot of great arcs listed there.

Check out Tahlana's excellent "COH Rotten Tomatoes" project, aggregating reviewer results.

Escalation made #11 on the "main list" (3+ reviews) with a respectable but not perfect 4.3 stars.

link to Tahlana's Rotten Tomatoes thread here:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=185675

check it out! a lot of great arcs listed there.

So, on 8/6/09, after 2 full days of the one month qualifying period, we have 4 whole global names qualifying for the raffle.

So, if nobody else jumps in, those 4 lucky people are assured the 4 prizes.

If this rate keeps up over the month, we might be looking at around 30 to 60 entries. That would give each entrant a 5 to 10% chance roughly at one of the random prizes.

I'm posting a announcement about the raffle twice daily on JFA, so we'll see if particpation ramps up or peters out.

Justice players, you can enter into a raffle for playing and rating my arcs.

Details in Justice section of forums:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2068802

Justice players, you can enter into a raffle for playing and rating my arcs.

Details in Justice section of forums:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2068802

Hey there, Justice, this is @FemFury, making a rare post in the server section of the Forums.

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TL; DR summary: Play one of my arcs and send a feedback tell in the next month, and I'll enter you into a raffle for influence / infamy prizes, plus signed comic books.
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Over all these years of City of Heroes playing (since before Issue 1), Justice has been my home server, and it's been a great place from Hamidon raids to pick-up-groups to the whole crowd on the global channels.

I want my fellow Justice players to play, and hopefully enjoy, the arcs I've written in the Mission Architect, but I don't feel comfortable just spamming the Justice global channels. So, I'm creating a bit of an incentive to give them a try, and creating a raffle that I will feel comfortable talking about on globals.

Between today (August 3rd) and my birthday (September 3rd), anyone who plays, rates, and comments on either of my two MA Arcs will be entered into a raffle drawing, with 200 million total influence / infamy as the prize.

And no, you don't have to 5-star me. Feel free to leave honest feedback. I'm pretty confident in my arcs. "Escalation" has gotten 5-star reviews from both Venture and PoliceWoman. I'm sure some will find the arcs not to their tastes, and that's fine. But I don't feel I'm inflicting something horrible on people. I'm bribing people to TRY my arcs, not trying to bribe poeople to LIKE them.

Yes, I hope this will increase my number of ratings. Despite great buzz and comments, both arcs haven't gotten a new rating in weeks, since they dropped from 5-star to 4-star after a slew of low-star ratings. I put a lot of work into these arcs, and my birthday present to myself is trying to add to the feeling that there have been more player-hours spent enjoying these arcs than player-hours I spend writing and tweaking them.

all prizes MUST be delivered on Justice Server, as that's the only place I have this kind of influence.
First prize: 100 million
Second prize: 50 million
Third prize: 25 million
Author's choice: 25 million

In addition, all prize winners may, if they are interested, send me their snail mail address, and I'll send them signed copies of all four issues of AC Comic's FemForce where my scripts were published.

First through third prizes will be made by random drawing among the entries.
One entry into the random drawing for playing each arc. Max of two entries per global name (for playing and commenting on each arc).

The Author's Choice prize will go to my favorite comment or feedback. This will go to the best critique, the nicest compliment, the comment that most makes me smile, the cleverest remark, the snarkiest insight into my failings as a writer, or whatever strikes my fancy.

The arcs in question are "Amazon-Avatars" (#5909) and "Escalation" (#6143).
Please check out the official threads linked in my signature, and at least look at the pretty pictures I commission for the promotional posters.

To enter into the raffle, play one of my arcs, rate it, and send me a comment and include a mention of "Justice Raffle", so I know you have a character on Justice. If my global tells fill up, I'll check comments in the mission architect. If you don't want to send a global tell, feel free to leave a comment on the threads for the arcs on the forums (links in my signature).

After September 3rd, I'll make the random number generation to select the name from my list of qualified global names. I'll announce the winners here and contact the winners by global tell to arrange a time to drop off the Influence prize.

Thanks for reading, and good luck to those who choose to enter the raffle.

What have people said about "Escalation" recently?

[Tell] 2009-06-19 03: 41:39 Message From @Elodian : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Very nicely done! Well written, a clever idea, and well executed.

[Tell] 2009-06-26 15: 39:16 Message From @Selachian : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Fun arc. Final fight was difficult, but not unbeatable (ran with a level 39 MA/WP scrapper).

[Tell] @Aehaed: Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Good fun.

[Tell] 2009-07-02 09: 29:36 Message From @Basil Acid : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Amazing arc, really enjoyed her evolving forms. Was well wrote and exceptionally executed! Great job!

[Tell] 2009-07-05 23: 21:38 Message From @Archdemon : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Cool concept. I liked how her clothes kept "shrinking" when she upgraded, nice touch. The only thing I'd suggest is adding a few more different bad stuff-doing robot spawns on the first mission, if you have room, it did get a little tedious with all the backtracking on the big map.

[Tell] 2009-07-08 05: 42:43 Message From @MisterD : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: fun arc..nice av fight at the end..was fun solo

[Tell] @slave teri: Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Loved it! i did manage to solo it, but it took great effort to do so (and lots of purples.)

[Tell] 2009-07-22 21: 16:28 Message From @Bashful Banshee : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: More, Give Us more

What have people said about "Amazon-Avatars" lately?

[Tell] @Green Cloak: Feedback on Architect Mission Amazon-Avatars: soloable good custom enemies

[Tell] 2009-06-20 11: 45:41 Message From @Nova Tigress : Feedback on Architect Mission Amazon-Avatars: Level 42 Dark/SR scrapper here. I did this solo on Tenacious, and loved every bit of it .THANK YOU! Five stars

[Tell] 2009-06-28 13: 18:10 Message From @Fire Breathing : Feedback on Architect Mission Amazon-Avatars: nice.. well done.

[Tell] 2009-07-10 01: 18:46 Message From @Mr Body : Feedback on Architect Mission Amazon-Avatars: fun, not too tough

[Tell] @Malthaeus: Feedback on Architect Mission Amazon-Avatars: Good fun, thanks!

[Tell] 2009-07-20 00: 18:23 Message From @Malthaeus : Feedback on Architect Mission Amazon-Avatars: Ran it again and brought friends. Good fun!

[Tell] 2009-07-21 21: 34:08 Message From @Marty Rallner : Feedback on Architect Mission Amazon-Avatars: A bloody awesome story, but I spent hours on the 3rd mission trying to find the last ritual. Then I fell through a hole in the map and had to restart. Might want to get tech support to take a look at that. Look forward to completing the arc sometime =D

[Tell] 2009-07-22 10: 11:52 Message From @Marty Rallner : Feedback on Architect Mission Amazon-Avatars: Alright, tried again and I gotta say that was awesome. The patrol dialogue was enriching and fun. Aphrodite's zerg rush ambush was a bit tricky until I applied every AoE I could think of. Artemis wasn't too hard with the provided allies (Nice touch using Octarine, though there's a typo in his dialogue, "stuided") If the devs don't consider this worthy of Dev's Choice, there is no justice.

I think you might want to check out both my arcs.

Amazon-Avatars (5909) is a 41+ arc. Got some challenge, but not excessive amounts. It's got a lot of clues and NPC dialogue for detailed story. And some custom enemies in the last 2 missions I've gotten lots of good feedback on.

Escalation (6143) is all about a supervillainess developing a grudge. If you like the idea of an opponent with some personality, and character development throughout the arc, then this may be fun for you. It's playable from levels 20 and up, so you'd get XP.

Ultimo Girl should be a good fit for either of my two arcs.

Amazon-Avatars is a pretty huge, global level threat (arc 5909)

Escalation starts out with a detective asking an illustrious hero to help with a situation well below them. But, as the name implies, it goes up from there, with a worthy fight at the end. (Arc #6143)

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Embarrassing Situations in Sitcoms -- I literally have to change the channel or leave the room to avoid seeing the characters humiliated at times.

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Wow. That's been me at times too.

Thought I was the only one.

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(Also, pohsyb confirmed something to me a lot of people have noticed -- there's about a 10% chance that any given triggered event won't happen. It's an intermittent bug they're having a hard time nailing down. For now, at least, if you're using triggered required objectives at least some of your players are going to get skunked, which will probably affect your ratings.)

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Oh, bloody hell. That could totally wreck havoc on the first mission of "Escalation".

Explains one complaint I got about "fixing the spawning" with no details given.

Not really any other way I can do it though...

Hope they squash this bug sometime.

"Escalation" was mentioned in the City Scoop.

Well, in the horoscopes, at least.
(can be found under Pisces)

City Scoop - Mission Architect Horoscopes

changes made 7/15/09:

-fixed the invalid arc status post patch
had to re-select the destructible objects in Mission Three

Apologies to anyone who went to play the arc while it was invalid!

With luck, Escalation is in it's final mode, and I won't have to edit anymore unless a patch breaks it.

One more edit I *will* make sometime is to add an extra URL ot the souvenir clue. Remember when you would beat those old-school video games and you'd get a special end-screen graphic?

Well, I've commissioned Rob Banbury, the artist who did the promo poster to Escalation, to draw another art piece or two. Links to the new art will be in the Souvenir, so as to be a "reward" for completing the arc.

Changes made on 7/15/09

-fixed invalid arc due to patch. Destructible objects in missions one and four needed to be re-selected

-name change of hostage in mission five

-slight change to debrief text in mission five. Becktrees says a bit more spectulation on Escalation's problems in final mission.

-added a couple more scripted minion spawns in mission one. my playtesting showed it was a little sparse on such a big map

I fiddled with some Rogue / Ally ambushes in the final fight, just to see how it felt.

Spent a while making it work on my test version of the arc, throwing in Crey and Arachnos ambushes coming to collect their "return on investment" from Escalation. Had dialogue from the ambushes making it clear they'd attack Escalation if the hero got out of the way.

In the end, I decided it took away from the "it's personal" feel of Escalation versus the hero or heroes. Plus, it seemed to easy for the Rogue ambushes to end up making the fight tougher by hitting the hero. So, changes dropped.

(I'm reminded of that anecdote about the author who was asked what he did for work in the morning. "I put in a comma." Shocked friend: "That's all? What about the afternoon?" Author: "I took it back out.")

GlaziusF and Found Boy, thanks for the suggestions, I did playtest out the idea of spicing up the last fight with ambushes, but it didn't work for me.

EvaDestruction, thanks for speaking up. I agree with you. It needs to be personal in the last fight. Bringing in third parties weakens the plot and character development of the "big grudge".

In the end, I think I should take Venture's advice. Mark this arc as Final, and move on. About time I stopped obsessing over my two curent arcs so far and starting writing more. I've only written two arcs so far, I've got 6 more slots to fill!

Thanks to GlaziusF and Found Boy for their thought-provoking feedback. And thanks to EvaDestruction and Venture for the encouragement in favor of the current version of the arc. Was good to hear both sides, and I appreciate the time spent by all of you.

Let me chime in to join those saying this is a good arc.

I played it based on knowing the Architect in-game.
Nebs mentioned he was going for a certain type of arc, namely a good "standard style" arc. I.e., using normal factions from the game, keeping custom stuff to the minimum needed, and so on. Basically, make it play like a really good story from the standard game.

I think Nebs succeeded admirably in this, and also wrote a good story.

I need to make time to play the most recent revision, but based on the earlier play, I give it my thumbs up.

I'll phrase mine so you can slot them into any star sign you don't have an entry for:

(insert name of needed starsign): Your house is in strong opposition to Gemini, thus you are destined to fight a villain who has mutliple aspects, multiple faces, or multiple bodies. Looks like you'll be playing "Escalation", Arc #6143

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(insert name of needed star-sign): Your stars are aligned with some major conflict with a Virgo. From the minor stars, looks like you are going to be in trouble with the Virgin Goddesses Artemis and Athena. Play Arc #5909, "Amazon-Avatars", and see if you can get them before they get you!

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As to the final fight, any suggestions to "add a wrinkle"? I'm not eager to add ambushes, given how tough Escalation Extreme is for most players. And I don't neccesarily want to add allies, since the plot and theme is supposed to make it more "hero vs. villain grudge match".

I suppose I could add a post-defeat ambush of robots trying to retrieve Escalation's unconscious form. Could even follow that with a Crey extraction team shouting "the Countess wants that woman analyzed!". Or Arachnos troops saying that the mad scientists want to see the results of the supplies they sent.
Thing is, that could end up being anti-climactic, after the big fight...


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Why after? An ordinary small ambush of Rogue-aligned whatever researchers won't exactly make much of a dent in the player and Extreme E is just going to mulch them like so many dandelions. She's a big enough player that other people want a piece of her action, so to speak.

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Hm. Good point. Some mobs during the fight that go after both Escalation and the hero could be fun. And doesn't really increase the difficulty because the player can just back off and let her do all the work if wanted....

thanks!

em: goes off to ponder and plan.

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Today's next random stupid illiterate grief victim: (random tosses me a repeat) Escalation (6143). Verdict - ****. Review on MA Forums Thread.



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My reply to GlaziusF's review is finally posted in the thread for Escalation arc:
Reply to GlaziusF review of Escalation

Thanks again to Glazius for the review!