Titan_Blitz

I'm not sure what qualifies as exploit missions, but the MA has been a godsend for leveling. Those of us who joined the CoH party late and missed the glut of players leveling to 50 for the first or second time have had a hard time of it.

Level 40 was a brick wall where most people would go sit in Peregrine and beg for a farm team. Trying to find a legit team was impossible. Now at least with MA I can play and level my character myself.

MA is not bypassing content. That content was dead before MA came out. Leveling was cycling radio missions and hoping for Freaks. At least MA adds some spice.

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Arc #6999, "Seekers of the Grail"
tl;dr: 3 stars. Offenses: weak plot, Contact deals in bad faith, overpowered mobs

Your Contact is Lancelot...I don't know if he's that Lancelot because he says that secrecy is vital and his brethren are not ready, etc. His costume is a bit on the garish side, a mixture of gold and bright blues and reds, though I realise that's a pretty subjective thing. He wants you to investigate some new group calling itself the "Seekers".

Entering a warehouse, I first ran into an "Arthur's Sword" Minion (BS/Shield) and "Merlyn's Adept" LT (Necro/Dark). Next was an "Arthur's Guard" LT (Mace/Shield) who popped BuildUp and promptly whacked me for 1036 points. He did spawn as a +2 but this still seems a bit much for an LT. I quickly ran into an "Arthur's Arrow" Minion with Archery...no idea what the second set might be. Finding the target computer triggers a new objective, "defeat the boss". The Boss is "Arthur's Wrath", a Mind Control/Empath. The bio says the Wrath agents are rumored to be telepathically linked to "Arthur". Lancelot gets angry when you tell him the goons use Arthur's name.

You are next sent to a ship (...) being used as a mobile command post by "Bors", one of Arthur's top men. You are warned that he's a powerhouse, and there is even a "WARNING: this mission contains an Elite Boss" at the end of the briefing. (Nit: would be better presented in-character and/or with color so it stands out.) What you are not told until after you accept is that it's a timed mission...30 minutes to reach and defeat an EB at the back of a ship map. I hit stealth and flew past it all, of course. I spotted one Boss spawn, another Wrath, and then another Wrath...right next to Bors. I hit a Luck and Elusive Mind and went in swinging. I managed to drop the Wrath without agroing Bors, then took on him and his (largeish) spawn. Bors is an Axe wielder, and I'm not sure what his second set is. In any case, he didn't have any -KB and was easy pickings. In any case putting the Boss spawn potentially so close is likely to be problematic for many. Afterwards Lancelot tells you that you've confirmed his greatest fears and he must leave to seek his brethren, but has something for you to do first.

That something is to go to another Seeker base to try to find out what happened to the previous hero he asked to help him. Nice time to find out the job's already killed someone, maybe.... The hero "Krieg" (Boss, /info says he's "weakened by captivity") turned out to be alive and triggered a new objective to "Find Merlyn's Tome". He's an escort so I took him to the entrance, but he didn't leave. He wouldn't fight after that so I never found out what his powers were. He did appear to be running a Willpower toggle. The map was an office-to-caves number; the first spawn point in the caves had a large Boss spawn overlapped with a second spawn, the lot becoming much more "fun" after the Wrath cast Regen Aura on everyone.... The new objective was a a "Merlyn's Altar" with a large spawn around it. Evidently the objective was to protect the altar, because defeating the initial spawn around it cleared the mission. (There were a few mobs left from an ambush.) The Clues assume that you take Krieg to the altar and then escape...since the altar is a required objective it would be better to drop the escort portion of Krieg's objective.

The tome not only tells you where Merlyn is but also tells how the entity behind this is something Merlyn summoned but couldn't control, so he submitted to it, and that he convinced it to use the Arthurian myths as a mask. When you get back, Lancelot confesses that he doesn't have an army coming to back you up and you're the city's last hope. In the briefing for the next mission he says he is that Lancelot, that this "entity" is something the Knights of the Round Table fought, and that the "Merlyn" working with "Arthur" is not that Merlyn. He's sent Krieg ahead to Merlyn's location. At this point you are working for someone who has consistently lied to you and left another hero out to dry.... In the accepted text he goes on to say Merlin put all the Knights into suspended animation, set to awake when the "entity" returned, but they don't have the power to compete with superhumans now.

The first target at the base is "Galahad", a Dual Blades/Super Reflexes. He's surrounded by another huge spawn, which included one of the Adept Necro/Darks and one of the Guards, the ones who hit for 1K+. I got caught in a fear off the Necro and faceplanted (it didn't help that I couldn't see the Adept cast a Tar Patch, causing instant interrupts on Aid Self). Defeating Galahad triggered the Defeat Merlyn objective (and gave me a Clue with a misspelled title -- "Galasad". At least I hope that's a typo and not a very bad pun.) Krieg was available as an Ally but I bypassed him. I ran into another four Arthur's Wrath spawns, the first of which was a +2. I popped Elusive Mind and took it out, then stealthed the other three because they weren't listed as objectives. Merlyn himself was a Fire Blast/Force Field; he opened with Inferno, as is usual these days...and missed. On his defeat (which the Clue says is a death, hope you don't have a code versus killing...), Merlyn admits there is no grail (which I thought we'd already established) and with Merlyn gone the Seekers will be weakened as he was partly responsible for enthralling the goons.

The last mission is an assignment to take out "Arthur", whom is said to be an AV. Krieg has gone ahead again. It's an Oranbega map, a large one.... I took down a frontloaded Wrath, and bypassed three more. Krieg spawned on the upper level of one of the big rooms, I left him there. I got dirtnapped later on by a 1252 hit from an LT in the Big Bad's room. "Arthur" turned out to be a Broadsword/Shield AV (EB) who dropped me in the first heat when Practiced Bralwer's autocast interrupted my Aid Self just before I took a 1200 point Head Splitter. (N.B. -- the Big Bad hits about as hard as the Lieutenants.) I took him down in the rematch. His defeat Clue says the armor was empty (typo: "faught") and you can't help but feel he's not gone forever.

Lancelot thanks you, tells you that we still don't know who or what the entity was, and that its enslaved goons will slowly return to their normal lives.

The arc does invoke the Arthurian legends, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea. There are probably dozens of bios on each server that involve those stories leading to some potential backlash from fervent RPers, not helped by the fact that it plays loose and fast with them. The Contact deals with the player in bad faith; the arc doesn't really throw the Idiot Ball but it would take a big leap of faith for someone to keep working with Lancelot by act IV. An additional issue is that we never really see the Seekers doing anything bad. We don't bust up a robbery by them, recover stolen goods from them, rescue hostages intended for mind control, etc. We never find out who "Merlyn" really was or what "Arthur" really was. It's pretty clear from the dialog that the Seekers are bad guys, but without that it's as if you've been handed a gun and told to walk into the next room and shoot the first person you see. The arc is Boss-heavy at points but I wouldn't mark down for that; I'm just noting it for the benefit of squishier builds. The Arthur's Guard LTs, however, are way over the top.

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I don't know how, but you played an older version of the arc. Most of those problems have been addressed already. I don't know how re-publishing works, I guess its not instant. Oh well.

Also, I'm telling the story *I* want to tell. It would be impossible to try and make sure everything was compatible with all the different possibilities of PC back stories.

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Arc# 6999 Seekers of the Grail; random thoughts as I play through

The contact is cool looking.

Mission one: Few grammatical errors in the intro. "If this is what I fear I cannot risk being discovered, my brothers..." That comma should be a semicolon or make it two sentences. Same with "I need you to investigate this group, they call..." and "So what say you, will you help me?" I'd make that last one two sentences. Ditto for the text in the intro box upon entering the mission; make it two sentences.

The difficulty seemed reasonable. I wiped out a couple times against the boss, but I'm soloing on yielding. (I'm an illusion/force field controller for the record). I came back in and liberally applied deceive and it went better.

I like the look of the Seekers enemy group.

I'm going to stop pointing out specific grammatical errors; suffice to say that a lot of your sentences either need a semicolon or need to be split into two sentences.

Mission 2: Eww, timed mission. I'm going to skip past most of this with superior invisibility and see if I can take out this elite boss.

And it turns out I can. I like how you built up to him with some minions talking about him in the first mission. I couldn't really keep him held, but I could keep him confused while I beat on him. I had one little unlucky miss streak and he broke out and one-shotted me. I didn't have any active defenses running at all, though.

I noticed that I'm only two missions in and already have four clues. That's cool.

Mission 3: Good choice of maps.

You might want to add a little more to Krieg's description to make it more interesting.

Good use of transitioning from one objective to another with the tome.

I hate the Arthur's Sword minions. I can't hold them! I've gotten much better at dealing with Arthur's Wrath, though. Got to keep them deceived before they can buff up their friends.

I got a bit overwhelmed in the last room with the altar. I expected Krieg to help me, but the lazy jerk just stood there and watched as I got ambushed. When I got back into the mission after being defeated I took control of the situation and wiped 'em all out. There were a lot of baddies in there on Unyielding!

I just noticed the group that Krieg belongs to - the Seekers? That doesn't seem right; I would make a separate group and put him in that. <Recruited Heroes> or something. If you have him listed as a boss in your main enemy group, then when there are more people in the mission, he may show up as a randomly generated boss (I think).

I feel like the "Tome of great value" clue explains a lot of the story, but it's a bit confusing to read. Try to reword some of it to be more clear in what you are trying to say. I think what you're saying is that some villain decided to pose as King Arthur, the historical figure, in order to motivate his crazy thugs by making them think of themselves as knights. Not a bad plot at all, just try to reword this clue. Maybe even consider changing the format to make it seem like you're reading a passage from the tome, though this might be tough to pull off and still have it give all the information that you want it to.

Still seeing quite a few grammar mistakes scattered throughout.

Mission 4: I like the connection to the historical King Arthur.

Big typo in the box that pops upon entering mission 4; it says "Merly" instead of "Merlyn".

Wow. Galahad killed Krieg and then beat me into the ground with one hit. I don't know what kind of defense set he's got, but about 80% of my attacks were deflected.

Came back and beat Galahad. Whatever defense he was using must have worn off, because I was able to keep him chain-held. Sucks that Krieg died - have a feeling I could've used him for fighting Merlyn.

Galahad's name is spelled as "Galasad" in the clue.

Alright, Merlyn wasn't actually that bad for me. I couldn't hold him, but I was able to keep him deceived the entire time. I deceived him and he immediately nova'd and killed all of his support, making my job that much easier.

Consider changing the clue you get from killing Merlyn to actual dialogue from Merlyn before he died rather than just a summary. It could give him some more character to have that villainous diatribe be in his own words.

It just occured to me...what are the Seekers doing that is evil? Seems like we've just been invading their bases and taking them down.

Mission 5: Yikes, gigantic Oranbega map with lots of bosses...I'm using superior invisibility to sneak past this stuff and find Arthur.

Oh man, Arthur was a tough fight solo. I couldn't hold or deceive him for more than a couple seconds at a time. I had to run away a couple times and wait for Phantom Army to recharge. I ended up beating him with about 15% of my life left. I did this without ever freeing Krieg. I just didn't want to look for him on that gigantic map and then have to clear a path to Arthur to bring him along; he wasn't all that much help in the previous mission anyway.

I gave it four stars overall; it's a good arc and most of the enemies are well designed in looks and powers. The plot is pretty good, and would be even better if it were explained more clearly. There are a lot of grammar mistakes and a few typos (the mission 5 complete text says "knew world" instead of "new world"). Clarify what exactly it is that the Seekers are doing that is evil and why they must be stopped since we never see them outside of hanging out in their own base.

Now then...I would LOVE it if someone could give me a review of my arc. It's arc #46405; The Unmaking, Part 1: Entropic Ascension. Depending on what kind of feedback I get (if I get any), I have some ideas in mind for a part 2 and possibly a part 3. Feedback on the story, the difficulty...basically anything and everything! I designed it to be soloable, so if it's too tough in a spot I'd like to know. I've got zero ratings on it right now which is making me sad!

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Hey, thanks for the feedback!

I know the grammar was a bit sloppy, the text input does not always update properly and gets funky with copy/paste. I had not really gone through it with a fine tooth comb. I went through today and tidied it up, and added a few notes to the story to clear up some of your questions.

I don't know why you saw Krieg as a member of the Seekers, he is not even a part of that group, I will look into that.

Other than grammar/typos, what do you think it needs for yoto consider it worthy of 5 stars?

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I'd really like some feedback on my first arc (Or at least for some people to play it :P)

Arc ID 41565, Astoria in D Minor.
5 Missions, although the missions are all short-medium length and can be stealthed if that's your thing.
It's a horror arc in Dark Astoria. It's more of a personal story that ties into the greater plotline of the Dark Astoria zone rather than an arc about Dark Astoria itself.

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Mission 1:

Find daughter, alright I can do that. First collection was easy to find, and a clue! I like clues and this one is well written and motivates me to go deeper into the map. This map is huge! But the encounters are not so bad that it slows the pace down. Rescued Event Horizon, cool fight and logical dialogue, but I have to lead him out? Bah, what a downer.

Ambushed! The NPC says, "Stop the, the Warshade knows the way out of here!" Well, I know the way out too, odd thing to say.

Event Horizon gives me the info of a contact that can help me, so far so good. First mission was fun.

Mission 2:

Off to find Schism, enter into a dingy hospital map... 7 Survivors to find?! Schism is right at the start with another good clue, cool costume too.

Found Haley! Ugh, have to lead her out. I can forgive large maps if you don't force me to run back through them after clearing them.

I rescue her and she runs off again? Spider sense tingling...

Mission 3:

Cool map, I like the patrols.

So I find Haley, but the clue leaps to a conclusion that does not make much sense. Why is it so obvious that only Schism could be responsible?

Found Schism, dude was crazy, now hes dead. This map would have been annoying if I had not had Fly.

Mission 4:

Enter mission message is some sort of odd symbols, I don't know if this is intended or not, but it does not make sense. If you want me to hear some sort of language say something like, "As you enter the crypt you hear a bizarre language, "Enter crazy speak."

Ok, this fog sucks. I understand you want a creepy atmosphere but not being able to see two feet in front of you is annoying.

Got to the end finally, really hated this map, almost quit the arc because of it.

Get a clue from a conveniently placed pay phone, are Haley and Irene not dead?

Mission 5:

Same office building, just ran past everything to kill the boss. So it was supposed to be me killing everything?

Final thoughts:

The story ended up being pretty confusing. If the fog was making me see things differently there should have been some better hints, like the monsters in the first mission speaking to me, etc.

It just felt like you pulled the rug out from under my characters feet and said, "HAHA! You done it." Also, the final contact message was a wall of text with no spaces, that is not readable.

Pacing began to drag, last map being the same large office building was a let down.

The arc was very easy, so I doubt anyone will have trouble soloing it.

If not for that foggy cave map I would have enjoyed it, but that thing really frustrated me. Story has potential, just needs some touching up.

Check out my arc if you get the chance # is in my signature.

There is a three mission publish limit? Aw, that is bogus.

They are only 100kb big! Why the small limit?

Bah, that ruins my idea.

By doing standalone missions that direct the player to the next mission # through either the mission success or mission failure dialogue I figure I can create a deeper and more interesting story.

The trouble is I can't think of good ways to use the mission mechanics to make it clear that the player has a choice to either fail or succeed to advance the story how they choose.

The mission fail or success needs to be triggered by the players decision, but most of the events you can choose from only make sense if they end in success.

Is it practical? Any ideas?

#6999 Seekers of the Grail. Spent about 12 hours creating it and would love to get some people to play it.

5 Missions, all custom mobs. Tried for a challenging balance of powers and abilities that are still possible to solo.

Let me know what you think!

Check mine out, spent a lot of time on it and could use some good feedback.

#6999 Seekers of the Grail

Note: I can't get the boss animations to work properly and it is bugging me, it would add a lot to the atmosphere.

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I just finished playing this, and, I've got to be totally honest... It rocked. I really enjoyed running this arc. Great theme, nice flow, and I liked the look of the enemy group.

Just two things that stuck out for me:

-The contact felt very lifeless. Maybe that's how you meant him to be, but I didn't really feel motivated to do what this guy said at all. All the other characters in your story had great personality, though.
-The last mission map: Orenbega? Oh no! This is just personal opinion, of course, but I really don't like the Orenbega maps. I mean, it fits perfectly in a thematic sense, but it made me a little sad when I found out I'd have to run through those small tunnels to find the boss. But, like I said, that's just me.

In the end though, I gave you 5 stars. I really enjoyed the theme, the story progression, the characters, as well as all the little clues you threw in there. And fighting the last boss at the end felt rather epic.

Can't wait to see more from you.

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Based on your feedback I created a new contact and completely reworked the story. It is definitely worth another play through to now.

I know a lot of players dread that map, but that last room with the pillars is too cool to pass up. If you can think of a better place to fight the last boss let me know. I have not seen all of the maps you can choose from.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

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Hey folks, I'm looking for a little feedback with an arc I've been toying around with since open beta.

Arc name: The Balance of power
Arc ID: 8391
Author: Xer'Tul
Length: 5 missions long, about 45 minutes to an hour to complete.
Premise: The story has you facing a rogue group of aliens, ehe Granox, bent on conquering this arm of the galaxy. You're enlisted to help by a man named Theronius, a Cosmic Paladin who had, long ago, been made the sole survivor of his species, thanks to the Granox. The story takes you aboard space vessels, asteroid bases, and underground cities, as you work to defeat the Granox, and enure piece in the galaxy.

If someone could give that a peek and let me know what I should fix up, that'd be great.

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Mission 1:

This map is just too big. I think you should ease the player into your story with a few medium/small missions that create the interest to want to do the final large mission. With only one boss fight at the end the map felt lifeless. Adding a few unique boss fights that add more to the lore behind the alien attackers would make the map more interesting. Maybe a patrol or two would add life too.

The paladins look cool, and having them fight alongside you is fun. But the aliens look too much like dark elves, if that is the look you were going for then you nailed it. But I think they could use a little work.

Also, I spent more time looking for the last bomb than I did actually playing the mission. Usually when that happens I quit the mission and go do something else.

Mission 2:

You tell the player at the start of the mission that the Paladins don't allow revenge, and that they cannot find out. But just inside the mission the player rescues a Paladin to assist the player inside the mission. This does not make sense to me.

Another large map, but the computers are easier to find than the bombs from the first mission. I love the map choice, it fits the theme perfectly.

Halfway through the second mission the player finds the first clue, but it is not really a clue. Don't tell me that the data contains information, tell me what the information is. I want to know more about these aliens.

Leaving the mission I am not really interested in playing the next step. For the sake of feedback I will, but you should be aware that at this point you have lost my interest.

Mission 3:

Great, a smaller map! Crap, an Elite Boss. The Elite Boss took me quite a while to kill. Consider adding a buffing/healing ally that the player has an option to find to make the boss fight more interesting.

Not much to this mission, the boss was right outside the mission spawn. Killed him and left.

Mission 4:

Neat concept, empty ship until computer is accessed. But again it feels very lifeless. I know that is what you were aiming for here, but it feels too much like the first mission.

Mission 5:

This is the type of mission that makes a good climax, but after playing through Mission 1 & 2 it just makes me groan. Also, the final boss was underwhelming.

Final thoughts:

It has potential, but I think you need to work on the pacing and flesh out the story with more clues and boss dialogue. If you make changes let me know, I will play through it again.

Also, if you get the chance feel free to check out my arc, #6999. I have spent a lot of time on it but can't get anyone to play it. Would love some feedback.

Hey, check out my arc. I'm getting a feel for the creation tools and could use some feedback. I slacked off on the last two missions because it was getting late.

Mission Name: Seekers of the Grail
Arc ID: 6999
Mission(s): 5
Morality: Heroic

Description: A new group of renegades needs investigating. They call themselves the "Seekers of the Grail" and refer to their leader as the king.