Spell_Blade

Amateur writer here who cut the milk teeth on fanfiction. I'm also an old school pen & paper gamer from the days of AD&D 2nd Ed as well as the old Advanced Marvels Super Heroes RPG.

I'd love to get behind something like this, but I can bring one sorta tech-ish skill-in-development: textures. I'm not so good at the 3D modeling, but I've been learning how to re-texture existing models via a program called DAZ Studio.

I don't know if I'd be any help to the cause, but I'm willing to give it a go.

EDIT: Also, I have domain space that I've done absolutely nothing with for a couple of years now and I'm willing to put that up for use if situation calls for it. It's paid for, nameless, and of course completely blank. Just let me know if it's needed.

This is the first time I've posted since the announcement came down.

Hope implies that there's a chance, even if it's a slim one, of getting what we all want. There is a slim chance. It could be as slim as dental floss, but it is a chance.

People are gathering together all kinds of ideas, some more realistic than others. You might not think it'll do any good and you may very well be right. However, don't begrudge the people who want to put effort into trying to save this very well-loved game.

There are some, like myself, who really can't do a whole lot. I've no remarkable influence in real life and I'm not made of money. Seems pretty cut and dried when you put it in that kind of perspective.

Regardless, I have a voice. My voice. When my voice joins with others, it becomes much louder.

I have options of making myself heard and I will use them. As many of them as I can. If that means flooding twitter, so be it. If that means flooding NCSoft's mail room, don't think I won't. I plan to be every bit as annoying as I possibly can to make myself heard.

I don't believe in false hope. There's no such thing in my book. You either have hope or you don't.

It might be futile. It might not work. But if six years in this game didn't teach me that heroes are persistent and annoying to the evil-doers, then it didn't teach me a damn thing.

Kiddygrade led the Hami raid tonight and did a great job. There were a few hitches, but everything shook down in our favor and Celtic Druid got the final hit on the great big blob, which netted him more than 10 Mil in influence. Thanks to the Beard Brigade for offering the 1 Mil initially, which started others tossing in more offers.

I was heading up the scrapper team under the guise of Dark Elf Cuisinart.

Awesome performance by Kiddygrade and the other team leaders! You were missed, Wulf, but we did save some Jell-O for you!

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As a general rule, I focus more on plots than the actual missions themselves. I'm a sucker for a good story. I will look at arcs from the vantage point of a writer and give you what feedback I can. I promise that I will be objective and honest about what I see. However, I do not promise that I won't at times be blunt in my honesty.

So, down to business:

Fallen Angel
Arc ID: 111352
Length: 5 Missions
Character Used: Dark Elf Cuisinart - Level 50 DB/WP Scrapper (Guardian)


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Thank you for the feedback on this. As harsh as it was, it was definitely needed. I know it had 84 rates on it, but not alot of feedback. This is where being a badge hunter has a disadvantage. Despite my asking for no free stars, I had gotten some. As for here, I've had only one other review on these forums and that was 2+ weeks ago. Most of the in game comments have been short and positive. So it's welcome to have a much harsher critic to point out flaws and offer suggestions.

I have spent a good bit of time editing this. Most of the changes were in the first 2 missions dialog, so if you have a chance to take a quick peek at it, please let me know what you think. Hopefully it'll add a couple more stars to the rating you gave it. :P

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I'm glad to know that you went back and reworked the arc. When I get the chance, I'll give it another run and see how the changes work out. I can't promise it'll be soon, but I do promise that I will give it another go. (I've picked up a bit of a queue in this thread and I need to whittle that down before I can re-do any arcs, especially the longer ones.)

The Existence of a Gnome
Arc ID: 154205
Length: 5 Missions
Character Used: Dark Elf Cuisinart - Level 50 DB/WP Scrapper (Guardian)

Good Stuff: Clever story idea.

Bad Stuff: Cabal painted as truly villainous. Ambushes during boss fights.

Premise: A new cabal of sorceresses have sprung up outside of Croatoa and Gordon Bower would like for you to look into it.

Mission One was simple. Find four clickable altars. This one could easily be stealthed through. The idea here is that you're taking pictures and recording what the ladies around you are saying as you work through the map.

In Mission Two, which was a timed mission for some reason, you have to go through some catacombs and destroy tomes that the Cabal ladies are setting up to bring forth their sisters out of the spirit world. The other goal here is to defeat a Cabal sorceress named Melinda... who was a cakewalk. For some reason, the spawns on this mission ranged between 49-51.

Mission Three takes place in the Midnight Squad's lair and requires you to secure some relics as well as deal with an upstart named Catherine Smote. Catherine is not a typical Cabal lady by this point. She's a Fire/Elec blaster type. I was having the typical endurance issues in fighting her, but it wasn't that much of a problem... until an ambush showed up at my back and sapped out the rest of my end. Catherine was defeated by DoT and I exited out with a bare sliver of life left.

In Mission Four it was time to reclaim the artifacts that the Cabal stole from the Midnighters. They'd taken refuge in a warehouse that also had shipments of garden gnomes, which seemed to fascinate the witches for some reason. All this came with the bonus of having a rematch against Catherine. MAGI has sent help here in the form of Desdemona and Nerril. Again, an ambush showed up during the boss fight and started whittling away at my endurance. Like before, Catherine died by DoT and I got out of Dodge.

The final stroke against these Cabal was destroying the last of the tomes in Mission Five. You also had to rescue Tiki Gnome, one of those garden gnomes from the previous mission who had accidently been enchanted and given life by Catherine. Given the dialogue cues from the ladies as you work through the map, apparently something went terribly wrong.

In the end, Tiki was registered as a hero and put with a group who could help him adjust to his new life.

This was a clever idea. However, I think you could have kept with the original Cabal names instead of altering them for a custom group. You also might want to rethink some of the dialogue in Mission Two, I believe. The Cabal are not truly villainous, they're just some powerful ladies who have been backed into a corner by the Red Caps. If they're a splinter group that isn't led by Mary M., then you really should make that more clear. That was my original impression at first (with the dialogue and the custom names) and it may not be a bad idea to run with if that's the impression others are getting.

Rated: 3 Stars

Saving Grace
Arc ID: 124477
Length: 4 Missions
Villain Groups: Circle of Thorns, Crey, Freakshow
Character Used: Sorcerist - Level 49 EB/Dev Blaster (Guardian)

Good Stuff: Solid storyline. Custom characters appropos to their theme.

Bad Stuff: Some lack of consistency. Lack of punctuation in places. Unexplained use of a "Defeat All" mission. Combatative hostages. No souvenir.

Premise: A pair of twins are part of an organization that works against the Circle of Thorns find out that maybe their mother isn't dead after all.

This was a good Hero morality arc. In Mission One, you're asked to rescue Thunder Shower's brother, an EB named Stormborn, from a situation where he might have gotten in over his head. While there, the contact wants you to search for clues to either prove or disprove her brother's belief that their mother isn't actually dead. My only gripe is that it used the Oranbega map, but that's just because like most people I hate that map. However, considering it was the CoT that I was fighting against it was apropos for the situation.

You find out that apparently the CoT have been partners with Crey for some time concerning an experiment. Interesting, but not necessarily unlikely. Bad guys searching for power could conceivably make such an alliance.

In Mission Two, you're searching an abandoned hospital in Perez Park looking for more clues. (The mission door popup here was missing a period.) The Lieutenant version of Stormborn apparently isn't going to wait for you so you have to find him inside. Though it was more of a map glitch than anything else, a lot of the clickable computers seemed to spawn inside of gurneys. The clickables also needed some punctuation, both for the interrupt phase ("Searching data base") and for the "Nothing useful" text that followed.

Mission Three was against the Freakshow and involved searching a warehouse for clues. The mobs spawned at a -2 initially, growing in difficulty as I proceeded through the map. This was also a defeat all without a general purpose. I found Thunder Shower (who also spawned at a lower level) not far in because she wanted to see things with her own eyes on this run. However, she was extremely squishy and nearly died several times as I advanced on. Also, the clickable in this mission was a pile of rubble, however the interruptable text referred to it as a box. The clue that came with the clickable also said rubble, so that might have been a missed past edit.

Mission Four was the final attempt to rescue "mom" but it also came with 3 other rescues. Again, the mob spawns started out as unequal to my level, beginning with the first mob ranking at -1. The first rescue went off without much of a hitch, even with the ambush. Sonic Snowplow, despite being freed from stasis, was an active combatant until I got him to the door. Unfortunately, the second rescue did not go so well. Miss Needle went running off after one of the ambushers, got herself aggroed by others, and got herself ultimately killed. Scatterspike, rescue #3, was taken to the door like the first, but instead of leaving he followed me back into the heart of things. His affiliation tag also read "Villians" which had me wondering if he was suppose to turn on me at the door or not considering his dialogue after getting him there. The ambush after rescuing "mom" almost caused me to eat it, but I managed to muddle through without dying and still somehow keep Storm's Grace intact. Once I got her to the door, the mission was over.

I suggest fixing the punctuation in the texts. I also suggest altering the Defeat All or clarifying a reason for it. You may want to look into whatever reasons caused the mobs to spawn at less than equal levels as well. Some people just aren't into easy wins. You may also consider changing the hostages to non-combat status. It'd be more realistic for them to be disoriented and incapable of fighting freshly removed from stasis. Either way, the danger of them running off after an enemy makes it very easy for them to get killed.

All in all, though, as a story this one was nicely played out even with the "bad stuff." With a few adjustments and some corrections, it has a lot of potential.

Rated: 5 Stars

124477, 154205, 156389, 106553, 12669, 126073, 3416, 4431, 4727, 70801, 161797, 101165, 148476

... Bludgeoning on...

So as not to step on any toes in Venture's thread, I've started my own. I'll take review requests, just keep in mind that I do work most weekday nights so I may not necessarily be able to get to them in a timely manner if they're long arcs.

As a general rule, I focus more on plots than the actual missions themselves. I'm a sucker for a good story. I will look at arcs from the vantage point of a writer and give you what feedback I can. I promise that I will be objective and honest about what I see. However, I do not promise that I won't at times be blunt in my honesty.

So, down to business:

Fallen Angel
Arc ID: 111352
Length: 5 Missions
Character Used: Dark Elf Cuisinart - Level 50 DB/WP Scrapper (Guardian)

Good Stuff: An interesting expanding of Longbow forces.

Bad Stuff: Badly organized plot. Lack of consistency. Unintelligent "Elite" hero.

Premise: Arachnos has been watching a certain hero named Angel Irene for some time and they've devised a plan to bring her to their side.

(I'm going to go on record as saying that I have no idea why the author asked for this arc to be reviewed considering it had already been rated 84 times before I ever got to it. I'm also going to go on record and say that I did not enjoy this arc at all.)

Apparently Angel Irene has been getting bored as a hero and now spends her time badge hunting. Okay, so somehow this makes it perfectly okay for an elite hero to go wantonly beating up on Red Caps and Tuatha. This is how you find her in Mission One. The PC is a villain posing as a hero to gain Irene's trust. Irene is obviously not too bright if she takes someone she's never even seen before at face value when they waltz up and hand her a supposed note from Ms. Liberty. If the signature heroes were really worried about her lack of enthusiasm in her work, I'm sure they would have done something much more official in that sense.

But no, Irene has been hit with an Idiot Stick... and not just once. Because when she does as the note instructs, which is breaking into a supposed rogue Longbow base in Mission 2, she is confronted with two blatantly obvious dialogu cues that something is not as it seems. Yet, for the sake of the story, she continues to work with the PC in beating the snot out of Positron and defeating all Longbow forces in the base. She also doesn't seem to care that you're lifting Positron's plans off the computer banks for something called a Power Transmuter.

Irene went from a Lieutenant in Mission One to an Elite Boss in Mission 2. That caused a raised eyebrow. I suddenly found myself being followed around by a slightly more helpful version of Fusionette on overdrive. I engaged my Suspension of Disbelief and plodded on.

Mission Three was a rescue to get Irene out of the Zig. Okay, standard villain run. An escort mission with no help from the escort, no big deal. Complete with ambush. Again, no big deal. Irene's also back to being a Lieutenant again. The problem here was a half hour timer that counted down for when some major trouble would arrive. I beat the timer, but I suspect I would have had some signature heroes on my case if I hadn't. My Suspension of Disbelief was still running, however, because if Irene had been a smart hero, she would have immediately turned on the PC and told him to go someplace very hot.

However, Irene's been hit with the Idiot Stick and that almost never reverses itself.

In Mission Four, those lifted plans come into play as Arachnos has developed a fully functional Power Transmuter. Irene is its first subject and is getting her powers altered from Energy Blast/Devices to something else Energy Blast/Rad. I almost ate it when I reached the Transmuter and found myself assaulted from all sides by various custom Longbow forces. The Longbow Freezers had my powers chilled down to almost pencil points. Miss Irene has now changed her name from Angel Irene to Seraph Irene and is just burning for revenge against Longbow and the other heroes who "betrayed" her.

It was at this point my Suspension of Disbelief went into failure.

The last Mission featured a rematch against Positron as well as destroying Longbow's version of the Power Transmuter, which is where they were getting their nifty upgraded soldiers. Irene went from lieutenant to EB again in this mission. Her affiliation tag also still read "Justice Legion Elite" which I thought odd considering she was supposed to be a villain by this point. Positron was an EB both times and this time he actually dropped me just as I got him down to next to nothing in health. I got back up via Resurgence and finished the job.

The contact gave me my requisite pat on the head and all was well; except that a quote from Spaceballs ran over and over through my head: "Evil will always win because Good is dumb."

This whole arc played Irene out to be an idiot. A truly elite hero should never have been so easily duped. I would have found this plot far more believable had Irene already been looking for a reason to turn evil. Then and ONLY then would I believe that she would have taken an unknown "hero" at face value without checking into things on her own with her own contacts. I strongly suggest taking out the first encounter with Positron. His very presence there at the facility should have been enough of a warning flag for Angel Irene to cease and desist immediately. This might require some dialog alteration of the final fight against Positron, but I think that will help make the arc's plot a bit more believable.

In any case, I quote Lady Sally McGee: "I like my bull**** plausible."

Rated: 1 Star

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If the odds are that stacked against you. Why even write an arc if Venture's going to inevitably mark it down and his can't-think-for-themselves fans will one star it down further?

Should all arcs be 5 stars, no. But why keep the cream from rising to the top because of a no-win scenario?

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Venture doesn't low-rate all arcs. Besides, there are several other reviewers here so a second opinion is not out of the question. Everyone has different tastes, likes, and dislikes. Just because Venture might 1 star an arc doesn't mean that people like Talen_Lee or myself are against high-marking it. It really is better to get more than one person to review something anyway, just for that very reason.

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No, I'm saying that if you want to use a term repeatedly for a specific problem inside mission arc reviews, either coin a term, or use something with that agreed-upon definition without increasing ambiguity.

I'm sorry but there's nothing increasing ambiguity here. There just isn't. Language is ambiguous by nature, about the only useful thing deconstructionism has to say. Every academic paper or book I've ever read takes terms that have a lot of baggage attached to them and uses them in very precise ways, either implicitly or explicitly conveying how the author is using the term.

What, exactly, would be improved if I said self-indulgent author insertion instead of Mary Sue? I would expect the vast majority of readers would say to themselves "oh, he means a Mary Sue". I don't expect any smaller proportion would ask me to clarify that term than have asked what a Mary Sue is. N.B. that I did essentially coin/swipe the term "just a bunch of stuff that happened" for a story problem and not only did the community figure out what I meant by it but I'm seeing it crop up in other peoples' reviews now. This tells me that people around here can figure this language thing out for themselves, requiring neither a caretaker nor writers who restrict themselves to small words.

Bottom line, I am not changing the way I write to make you or anyone else here happy. As I have said many times before, I am not Burger King; you cannot Have Me Your Way. If you don't like the way I write, don't read it.

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I completely agree with Venture.

Regardless of what someone calls the Mary Sue stigma, the point is it's something to be avoided in a story arc. Identify it any way you want. The bottom line is almost no one likes Mary Sue... except her writer.

On another subject that's related to the original topic, I'd like to toss in that people working on plots which deal with changing someone's morality should really think it through. Ask yourself the question: "Would I fall for this hook, line, and sinker?" I recently got myself exposed to a "please review" arc that had a 'morality shift' plot which was so full of holes, bowling balls could have leaked through.

I'm one of those people who does not like to see an "elite" hero dummied down to the intellect of a two year old. It doesn't matter who's character it is. It makes my head hit my desk, a lot, and gives me the worst headache. Treat the characters involved in your arcs as if they had their own minds.

And for the love of all that's holy, treat the players as if they had their own minds. If you know the plot wouldn't work, then tweak it until it does.

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I don't see the definintional issues being any different here than they are in fanfic. No one in fanfic circles agrees on what a Mary Sue is, either. If I were critiquing fanfic I'd still have to pick a definition and stick to it.

[/ QUOTE ]Then maybe you shouldn't pick up a term with a dozen definitions, attach ANOTHER definition to it, and then wield it. It smacks of a desire to create a lexicon - not in the natural, communal way that actual lexicons are created, but in the nasty imposing fashion of a fascist editor.

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Mary/Marty Sues show up in other places, I'm just using writing fanfiction because that was one of the first locations I'd ever heard the term and, let me tell you, that is one genre that hates the character type with a passion... More than Venture does.

In the CoX theme, I would probably classify a Mary/Marty Sue as a "shameless self-insert" without rhyme, reason, or plot. Making an arc just for the sake of showcasing how bad*** your character is would be a very good example of an MS. Having that character "outclass" the players would fit right into this situation. Attaching a sub-standard story to it would make it an even worse crime.

Now, if someone does an arc where the Player(s) rescue someone's character because they goofed and got in over their head, that's something else entirely. But, even that has to be done with a certain amount of finesse.

The purpose of MA is to create a story that you want to share with other people. In many ways, this is like an interactive version of fanfiction. The writer of the arc is still telling a story, but they've got more visual tools to work with for it. That both simplifies and complicates things for some people.

Pet characters don't always denote Mary/Marty Sues. In the fanfiction genre, more often than not, Mary Sue was the basic term for a "shameless self insert" that went way overboard.

One example of it would be something like this: the newly introduced female half-elf in a Lord of the Rings fanfic has superior magic powers rivaling that of Gandalf, uses a sword like a master, rides a unicorn, and has the attention of Aragorn, Boromir, and Legolas. Everyone wants them, or wants to be them, and suddenly the entire canon cast is hit with an Idiot Stick. Everyone gets portrayed as grossly out of character, personalities get maligned, and the entire story becomes painful to read - IF you managed to get that far.

The other alternative is that she's a helpless PitA who couldn't fight her way out of a wet-paper sack, but she still manages to snag the attention of the most desired males in the fan-base. Either way, when she's introduced, the aforementioned males get hit with the Idiot Stick.

In fanfiction, they were easy to spot - they were the perfect people who had hordes of lovesick men/women just trailing after them. Admittedly, in CoX, not so easy.

I don't mind someone writing their characters into a story, as long as it doesn't turn into a bunch of self-grandeurising crap. Don't make your character "better" than someone else's. We're all Heroes and Villains in the game. Security/Threat Levels may vary, but technically we're all equal. Venture refers to the Idiot Ball with good reason. NEVER pass it on to another player. No one likes being treated like they're stupid.

As a writer, particularly in the fanfiction genre, I've learned that Mary/Marty Sues come in many different breeds.

-- Damsel in Distress
-- Independent Barney-Bad***
-- Love Me For I Am Cute
-- Destined Lover
-- I Hate You/Will Kill You!
-- I Am What My Writer Wishes To Be

These are just a few of what seem to be the most common. More often than not, these breeds are mixed together to give the reader an even more pronounced feeling of nausea. The trick to keeping a character from becoming a Mary/Marty Sue is to not make the players feel underpowered in comparison. You also want to avoid the character making the Player Character out to be inferior in some way. (Villainous gloating does not count here, that's just another cliché.)

All original characters have the potential to become Mary/Marty Sues, but with a bit of caution you can keep it from happening. Make sure that the character is needed, but keep that reasonable, too. We don't want things bordering on obsessive co-dependence.

Different people write different styles best. Some are good at humor while someone else is good with angst. Just don't bog the story down with one or the other. Keep things balanced. I think that's the best advice I've ever heard.

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Thanks for the review, Spell_Blade! To address the bad stuff quickly...

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Bad Stuff: No text warning of level decrease in first mission. Ambushes during "boss" battles.

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The level decrease is something I want to get rid of...I just need to change the Lieutenant to something that has a level 50 version. I may just turn him into a noncombatant and use the Civilian model, having him go back to base to check on those reinforcements.

As far as the ambushes...as you stated, the fights were pretty easy in the missions that had the ambushes. I purposefully set the ambush to 'easy', so it's a bit of an added challenge without being overpowering. It's quite possible to defeat the boss before the ambush even gets to you, and that gives you the Mission Completed button to exit. Plus, each of the first two missions has an optional Ally to help you with the fight.

Thanks for the comments on the final boss. Another reviewer had a problem with multiple bosses showing up, so I'll be taking a second look at it.

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Admittedly, those fights were easy and for that I applaud you on not making a situation potentially impossible for someone "support" based (thinking Corruptors and Defenders here).

Really, it was just a minor gripe which was why your arc still got five stars.

*** Spell Blade's Current Queue: 111352, 124477, 154205, 156389 ***

Arc Name: Digital Transition
Arc ID: 143017
Length: 3 Missions

Good Stuff: Good original storyline. Appropriate mobs for storyline. Solid final boss (even if the KB irritated me :P).

Bad Stuff: No text warning of level decrease in first mission. Ambushes during "boss" battles.

Character Used: Donnie Danes (Controller: Fire/Kin 50/Guardian)

The use of Computer as a contact was well done. Especially with the Tron reference. The overall use of the Computer trying to resurrect Radio as an ally against the Television, also well done.

Admittedly, my Fire/Kin is tricked out pretty well, so the mobs here were easy - even with the forced level decrease. Throughout the first two missions (Freakshow and Psychic Clockwork), I had little difficulty even against the "bosses."

The last mission was the bigger challenge. I'm not really a fan of timed missions, but this one had a plausible excuse for it and the mission objectives were lined up fairly well, so I didn't dock for that at all. In fact, I applaud it here because it lended a bigger "feel of tension" to the situation that I thought added to the mission.

The Avatar of Television (Illusion/???) was well done as a custom critter, despite the KB abounding. He was just annoying enough to be enjoyable as a boss. Fortunately, there were no ambushes this time for which I was grateful considering I was getting bounced around like a basketball enough as it was.

Overall, I liked the various movie references used throughout and I liked the use of the Radio's "original" contact text from CoV. Well thought out and well played.

Rated: 5 stars

Arc Name: Kung Fu on the Loose
Arc ID: 77533

Good Stuff: Very well done custom enemy group with a nice variety. The story arc style was very much like what would come from the Television in regular gameplay. The dialog was also definitely very much what I expected for the type of arc that I was going through.

Bad Stuff: Large number of patrols. Ambush triggered during EB fight in mission two.

I played this two mission arc with my level 50 SS/Invuln Brute on the Villainous notoriety setting. I don't have her "tricked out" with special IO sets or anything spectacular, but she still solos very well.

The mission screen contact dialog was much like what one would get if they did a Television mission. Kudos there. The pop-ups were also very similar. More Kudos. The rather gratuitous amount of patrols all saying the same thing over and over kind of started to kill it for me after getting halfway through the map, but I pushed on.

In mission one, I was enjoying the use of the outdoor map and mangling those same patrols. I had the workaholic badge before the end of the mission. Master Gi was easy enough, making me wonder what demon he made a deal with if he supposedly defeats Xo later in the "movie."

It was on mission two that things got even more interesting, and hairy. I applaud the clever use of stealth for some of the minions. I should have expected it, but it caught me totally by surprise and I like that. Things took a bit of a downturn in the battle against the EB, though. I wasn't too worried at first (I was expecting a nasty brawl), but as he started getting closer and closer to defeat an ambush rolled in! Then, once I'd defeated the boss and turned my targetting elsewhere, he got BACK UP! Not always a big deal if you're used to fighting Freakshow, but when you've got a triggered ambush (or two - I know I had at least 6 guys on my back other than the boss) that's kind of not kosher. Even with a Mu out, I still had to pop Unstoppable and a couple of inspirations.

Overall, I would have rated Kung Fu on the Loose 5 stars had it not been for that one detail. It was clever, cheesy, well-thought out and had some good costuming. *thumbs up*

I suggest taking out the ambush or toning down the boss a bit. A brute can take that heat better than a Corrupter and when your custom mobs can inflict stun/immob/hold yada yada, that starts wandering into the realm of "OMG I can't beat this guy." People who don't have a chance don't vote well.

(I'll take review requests to ease some workload here. If you post here, please also send me a PM to be sure I get the arc ID number.)

Arc Name: Shepherd
Author: @Spell Blade
Publish Number: 135806
Morality: Hero
Description: A parole officer is trying an experimental way of forcing Spiteful Hope to finish out her sentence - hero sponsorship. In order for the villainess to be free she has to perform heroic acts, but they only count as long as there's a hero around to supervise her.
Length: 5 Missions
Enemies: Arachnos, Freakshow, Council, Red Caps, Circle of Thorns.

This arc can be soloed. Mission objectives are either rescue or defeat boss (or both). There is a souvenir for arc completion. The last mission can be failed.

That would be because we didn't have nearly enough people, as Wulf said. Many of us were farming in preparation for later raids.

And no, the Jello blob didn't spawn.

It helps if you make your presence known. If people think you're not coming, they're not coming either. At the time you logged in, those of us who WERE there were farming EoEs.

1) How will the repricing of bases affect you personally?
Honestly, it will give me the chance to make the base bigger so that I can add more to better give my SG members what I can to aid them in every way possible.

2) Will you dismantle your base to gain the additional prestige from the repricing?
Already working on it, but whatever you guys did to the SG base editor keeps crashing my computer so bad it locks up... and I've got a pretty decent computer.

3) How long would this process take you if you were to engage in this practice?
Working on it now and it's taking longer because of the aforementioned crashes. Normally, this shouldn't take me more than 5 or so hours, but it's already looking to take even longer.

4) What are the positive and negative concerns regarding repricing?
So far, things are looking okay. I'll know more when I manage to get the base totally completed.

5) How will this feature affect you long term and short term?
Short Term: My play time is being limited by the restructuring of the base.
Long Term: I'm not seeing any real problems that might come up in the future, but as we all know, things change. So, that too could change.

Base Salvage Exchange to Invention Salvage
1) What is the negative effect on your base for this feature implementation?
Having to clear out ALL the salvage bins of the base salvage for the changeover takes a lot of time and running around. Worse still, now the seasonal event salvage has to be moved to make room for the invention salvage. On top of that, 30 items per bin is not enough.

2) What is the positive effect on your base for this feature implementation?
Community Invention Salvage bins. Period. (Been whining for this since the beginning.)

3) How long will it take you to adjust to learning this new system?
Already done.

4) What side effects to this system do you currently see from transitioning the old to new system?
Quite a few, and none of them good.

5) What security concerns do you have regarding this change?
Mine are minor, because most of us are RL friends or people that we've come to trust in game. Those who aren't among those haven't played in so long, they may as well be non-existent.


Additional Notes:

1) The salvage bins hold only 30 pieces on their three times the size of a hero shelves while my lvl 50 scrapper can hold 60 pieces in his spandex shirt and tight leather pants? Makes NO sense to me. The bins need to be expanded to at least 50 capacity. The 18 bin max per SG base is also not helpful if the bins stay at 30.

2) I'm sure you Devs know about the problems with the market and the real money traders fluxing the prices up and down. I can't honestly fathom why you've added more fuel to the fire. There are pieces of common salvage going for more than 30K a pop and you're making us even MORE dependent on it.

3) Security issues for those SGs who have huge rosters. The bins need to be capable of being locked down individually, not as a whole. I've been wanting this for ALL storage: enhancement tables, too. This just makes common thievery in SGs even worse.

4) The bin history needs to be revamped back to the original where it showed the history for that bin alone, not all bins in the base. There's no way to identify a thief with the current set-up.

5) SG members other than the leaders aren't going to want to give up their precious rare salvage. You've essentially forced a choice for SG leaders - help themselves or help the people who likely won't thank them for it later.

My 2% of a Dollar: All of this is just what I'm seeing so far now that it's gone live. If you really want this to be suitable, the bins need to be expanded and there needs to be an ability to lock them down individually to help against theft.

The base salvage system was better because there was little worry about theft of important pieces needed for the base upgrades. There also wasn't such a heavy cost on the SG leaders to build those needed upgrades. Now that you've changed the system over to using invention salvage, SG leaders have to be even more ruthless and selfish.

Something like this would have been better implemented if the auction house prices weren't being so heavily influenced by the RMTs. Some of the costs just to build telepads are going to be astronomical, especially in the older and larger SGs. On the test server, the RMTs aren't nearly as influential. Now that it's live... well... You can figure that out, I'm sure.

[ QUOTE ]
I will not be there for the raid next week, as I will be celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. Donnie Dane has agreed to lead a raid if there are enough folks in attendance, so if you're planning to be around, go get some jell-o, and I'll see you all in two weeks.

[/ QUOTE ]

For those of you who don't know the player behind Donnie Danes, that'd be me. And yes, if we get enough people in the "jello cooler" then I will be leading the Hami raid.

I picked Wulf's brain for tips and tricks. Hopefully, I got the picks out before he left or his family's gonna be real surprised come later this week. But, much appreciation to him for answering my questions and giving me the macros he uses.

For those of you who will be there, I'll be in-zone as my tanker "Spell Breaker" and I look forward to seeing you. Hopefully, even with the holiday, we'll have enough to provide jello to all of Paragon for the holiday.

To everyone who won't be able to make it: Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends. You'll be missed, but I'll give Hami a few extra thwacks in your honor.

Take care and I'll see some of you Wednesday!

Knights of Tir Asleen

Leaders: Spell Blade, Spell-Binder

We're not a huge Supergroup by any means. We don't have a website. We're too laidback about things to go all out like that. We're just a friendly bunch who likes to make jokes, bad puns, and have some fun while whittling away the hours online.

What You Get:
~A group of people who are willing to help new players learn the ropes. Ask your questions and we'll answer them seriously, honestly, and respectfully. We'll offer advice on character builds, pool powers, enhancements. You name it.
~Character support is essential sometimes. Some of us run solo, but some of us don't mind teaming at all. We'll even jump onto an alt that's close to your level just to do so. Especially if you're in a mission bind and need that extra body to soak damage.
~We stock our enhancement table with TOs, DOs, and IOs. The storage is open to members. Need that extra little boost to Accuracy? Go for it. That's what it's there for.
~Leveling Assistance. It really sucks to bust your backside only to run out of contacts and be two or three levels away from that next one. Spell Blade, our level 32 Scrapper, is more than willing to sidekick members and give them that extra little bit to get where they're able to continue on with the storyline.
~Open trading between members. Got a recipe you can't use? Probably. Likely, there's someone in the SG who can. Need a luck charm to make that recipe you've paid a hideous-over-ungodly amount of influence for? Just ask! Chances are, one of us WILL have one to pass over without raking you over the financial coals.
~A base that's constantly improving. Currently, we have an invention worktable, personal storage vault, and a telepad to Atlas.
~Spell Blade will assist lower levels with "reasonable" requests for influence. Especially if they show dedication in furthering the SG with Prestige.
~People who make regular use of our SG chat to communicate with each other. Bored and need a team? Plug into the SG chat and see who's where. We're trying to convince some of our "solo-locked" players that teaming can be fun and beneficial to all.
~An SG who regularly runs together in teams without cluttering things up with bad players who like to aggro three red-con mobs at once. We do have a coalition that is welcome on our teams, but we don't add in PUG players to "fill the ranks." While in SG teams, we focus on teamwork to the benefit of all involved.
~Some of the higher levels are willing to Exemplar down. If you want to run a TF, plan it with us ahead of time to make sure that everyone who wants in will have the time to do so. Unfortunately, real life eats into game time and some of us work odd hours.
~We will help with badges, even in the tutorial zone.
~We will also help with escort runs. If you unlocked a new costume piece or got the stuff to open a new costume slot, the higher ups are willing to SK you and follow along/lead you to the tailor in Steel Canyon to make the desired changes.
~We always give our SG mates a chance at costume piece recipes before we rush off to the auction house with them. We're not a greedy bunch - we'll try to keep the trade reasonable.
~We DON'T kick for inactivity unless it's obvious you're not coming back.

What We Ask:
~Run in SG mode until lvl 25. It doesn't hurt your income and it will benefit everyone in the SG overall. After level 25, it's your option. No one will look down on you if you click out of SG mode.
~Specialty IOs in the enhancement table are not fair game. It is a storage after all, and we only have so much room for enhancements on our persons. If it's something that isn't a basic enhancement origin, please leave it be. Messages will be left should something like that come up for grabs.
~If you can, add to the enhancement table. Low level TOs, DOs, IOs - all of these are useful to everyone. Accuracies and Healing are always in high demand. A crafted enhancement that is useless to you might be something someone else in the SG has been dying to get. Passing up low level salvage to Spell Blade helps, too.
~Treat the other Knights as kin. Some of us are real life friends. Part of why this SG was born was to keep the "blind SG inviters" off our backs. That basic idea grew a little and we're willing to share our experiences and that feeling of friendship. We don't believe in abusive behavior. We'll rib and make jokes, but we try not to go too far. Please do the same.
~If you're leaving the game permanently, let Spell Blade know. Some of us would be sad to miss the chance to say our farewells.

Incidentally, colors are Black and Blue... but we don't really have a dress code. We're not even exclusive about what ATs can join. We're an extra-large team, not a country club. The extra colors are more ways to modify your costume, nothing else.

Wow, this turned out longer than I thought. After slogging through all that, if you do want the chance to join us, send an email to Spell Blade. The swordsman is on almost daily so he'll get it and get back to you within 24 hours.

I agree. It's not on our side. My connection issues have been getting worse, also.

Considering that, before i10 they were fine and I've made no changes to my computer in the meantime, I'd have to say it's something else.

There are lag spurts around the Black Market/Wentworths, University, and Vault for me since I9... They're usually not major, so I don't think much about them unless I'm around there when an invasion starts. Dunno if anyone else has had this problem, but I figured I'd toss that out here.

I understand you guys are trying to look into all possibilities, but with the problem still being so widespread... [sigh] Not like it'll stop me from playing anyway, 'cause I'm an addict.