Ultra_Violence

I would like to just say I agree with the original poster. The Devs have a heck of a game or we wouldn't be here. The real problem is that it isn't only a good MORP it is a better super hero COMPUTER GAME than anything else available IMO. And yes I have played the others and don't care for them.

It is very easy to sit at home and complain about other people's work but if you are in the software industry and work on a large interrated system (and try and coordinate a couple dozen people) you have some idea how hard what they are doing is. This isn't some guy with a C++ program on his PC.

I also agree with most of the Devs calls. It is up to them to decide what gets priority. Even when it isn't something I want/like. I realize I am not the only player. It would be nice if others realized this but I don't see that happening any more than people realizing that the Devs know how to do their job better than someone who has never seen the code.

Take the game as it comes and instead of complaining about what you don't have enjoy what you do.

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...Oh, and I would still be willing to work up a nice bribe to get one of the devs to work on this on the side...

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As a Dev myself (although not of games atm) I can tell you that's a great way to get a Dev to either ban you, or get fired if he/she is stupid enough to do something like this, Devs either work as a team on a team-project, or don't work at all!

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Actually the reason he said it can't be done means no one CAN work on it on the side. You can't design a completely new game engine on the side while no one is looking. I mean someone is bound to notice LOL.

I always thought Defiance was when, against all logic, you are still asking them to repeal ED...

What would really help would be the ability to edit your guide, regardless of age, instead of just posting replies to it. If that could be made possible for that forum only it would be very cool.

NOTE ON PAWN SHOP MISSION:

If you free ally from jail first sneaking through this mission becomes hopeless as they are about as subtle as as an Elephant in tap shoes. Assume you are going to set off every alarm and set them off one at a time instead of all at once so you don't get buried.

If you don't have an ally to "help" you it is entirely possible to get through this mission without triggering any of the alarms and it great fun to try. You can manipulate the safes from quite a distance away check out the area the red lights cover then stand back out of the way and open the safe.

Breaking down the back door with melee attacks can be more challenging but IS possible if you can run around the light or possibly straight down middle and stand directly next to door.

It is quite the thrill the first time you get through this mission without setting off any alarms!


ANOTHER NOTE ON JAILBREAK:

I have found a great way to save time (especially in later levels when there is almost always a jailbreak side mission) is don't attack objects until you have done the jailbreak or verified that there isn't a jailbreak mission. Since you freed "ally" will destroy everything in sight anyway destroying things before you get him is a waste of time.

Here is a more in depth explaination of how to deal with the Wanted Poster Side Mission:

Break In: Note that this is the only side mission that you don’t need to defeat the villain group to do. If there is a villain group saying with this key then if you go to the PD Jail you will find this mission already set up and ready to go even if you don’t have the “key”. Enter the Jail. Run to the elevator ignoring the police, be sure to turn off all AoE damage and put pets in passive mode so you don’t pull them. Better to deal with police on way out. When you go up the elevator you will come to cells. There will be a boss + mobs AND you will trigger a longbow ambush which will take a few seconds to arrive. If you are very strong just take on boss, otherwise get right back in elevator, go back downstairs and wait for the longbow ambush deal with them first. Then go up deal with boss and mobs to get a time bonus. Note you can’t use rest if you are too close to doors but you can in center of room. Once mobs are down break down door to free your ally.

Leader of the Pack: Once ally is free the real challenge starts. Keeping him under control. He will follow you, mostly, unless he sees anything else, then he will run off after it. The villains tend to be very powerful though so they are a big help. Lead him out and on way out clean out the PD Jail for some additional time. Once outside he will attack every destuctable object he gets near so accept this fact and help him make a path of destruction towards where you are going.

Tricks of the Trade: Ally’s priorities are Attack mobs, Attack objects, follow you. Sometimes he will get stuck on an object due to a bug, if you destroy it he will go to the next closest object. You can use these 2 things to control them if you are smart.

1) So when your ally gets stuck (and he will) the lesson is destroy everything anywhere even vaguely close first then destroy the object he is stuck on and he will have no choice but to follow you.

2) When ambushed by Longbow attack them, draw them past your ally (to get his attention), then run towards bank (or where ever you are going). This way he will chase the Longbow mobs. Often you can get him to chase them quite a long way before he kills them or they turn and start attacking him. Either way it is a means to get him to move through a whole area without destroying every object in it.

3) As you get to higher level missions expect to get this mission and don’t start destroying objects at the start of your mission. Once you get Ally you will be destroying plenty of objects anyway so you may as well use them for the bonus. I hate to use the word synergy but it actually applies here. Lead insanely destructive ally toward objects that will give bonuses and use ally to get badges for things like destroying cars and vandalism.

4) In lowest level mayhem missions allies are probably more trouble than they are worth unless you are VERY good at controlling them. This is because they are easily killed by an exploding Car/PD van and there are lots of them right in front of the police station. So unless you can lead him away from the whole area (or get very lucky) before he starts beating on cars you will lose ally almost immediately. Having Force Fields/healing helps but may not be enough against purple Vans.

5) Parking meters are the worst. Once they see one they won’t stop until they have destroyed them all even if they are going in the wrong direction, which may lead to tons of other objects leading to even more objects. This is a good time to employ the run ahead of them and destroy all the stuff they are going towards tactic. Think of it as putting up a fire break to stop a forest fire.

6) Note that if you lose your pet there is a bug so that when you enter a building they will show up eventually but will get stuck in the door. You CAN use this somewhat. When you open the bank vault grab the cash and run for the front door. Your ally will be fighting the hero at the front door or just outside the bank (or will possibly be dead and the hero hurt by the time you get there). Basically they will enter the door then go right back out again. If you go out they will come out and go right back in.


ALTERNATE BANK ATTACK FOR WEAKER VILLAINS:

A second way of dealing with bank if you aren’t as strong and have plenty of time is to clear everything on the way to vault then trigger the bank ambush as soon as possibly by walking up to the vault. Run to the front door to and kill the ambush. There will be 2 more ambushes of police/security but there will be a short delay before each spawns. Go to the vault and attack it while you wait. If the vault falls before you have kill both of the other 2 ambushes don’t grab the cash yet, run to the front door. Wait until you have killed all 3 of the ambushes THEN grab the cash. Otherwise you have to fight the hero + longbow + a police ambush at the same time. Now you will just get a hero + longbow which is much easier.

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All you have to do is go in, then come back out again. They'll come running up to you, go into the mission door, then a moment later come right back out, and as long as you're not stealthed they should see you after a moment and start following you again. It's worked for me almost every single time.

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I have not had this experience what I have had however is when I "lose" my connection to my ally when I go in a mission they appear in the mission then immediately exit. If I exist I see them come out then immediately go back in the mission.

You can use this however as I describe at the end of the next update.

The Devs already posted they can't do this, why bother posting it again and again? It can't be done. Get over it.

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Oh good, I got wings for Birdy tonight and she only has 14 tokens left now. I was afraid I was going to run out soon.

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I know, I finally got my main down to 22, now I am going to be bumped up to 27. *sigh*

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One of my toons had 28 backed up BEFORE I8, I am afraid to even look anymore. Then there is my first 50 I haven't played in a like year....

I wonder if there's a deposit on these things?

Just want to add on the subject of the Jailbreak Villains. At higher levels IF you can baby sit them past their cardboard box fixations, they can be real assets when solo. They will however slow you down a LOT. So if pressed for time just forget them.

If you aren't press for time, lead them along destroying all objects in your path, because you will lose them otherwise. They can make difficult boss fights incredibly easy. Also can be a big help against the end Hero. The tough part is getting them to the fight.

The other down side is that stealth is out once you have them. You can't sneak past the red lights in the pawn shop anymore with 'ol clumsy following you and you can't bypass mobs anymore either as they attack everyone. So weigh that in your decision whether to keep them around.

There is a bug that if you lose them then enter a mission they will just show up but usually get stuck in the door (they keep going out and if you go out you will see them and they will go in so something like that). If you play with it enough you may be able to get them following you again but remember it is timed.

ALSO NOTE ON PAWN SHOP MISSION:

It is possible to get though this without triggering any ambushes, especially if you have a small character. I forgot to include this in the original post. Avoid the red lights, each time you enter one you trigger an ambush. If you do, deal with it before moving on. Trying to run through the mission opening safes and triggering more ambushes can be very hazardous to your health.

The mission has 2 areas. The first area is very easy to avoid the red lights. Then you have to open a security door to reach the second area. There are 2 red lights protecting the door. In some configurations large characters will not be able to get through door without triggering lights, large melee characters will often be unable to open doors without triggering the alarm. Sometimes you can get around them on sides, small characters can run straight down middle. If you can't just trigger the alarm, and deal with the ambush don't waste a lot of time trying to avoid it.

What I think was most amusing is that the Devs thought everyone would have a claim to bases because of personal items.

I would guess that at least 70% of players don't even realise they place items in the base without special permission. I know the leaders in my SG were stunned to find out they couldn't stop me. It is like Newspeak, it you tell people they can't do something enough they believe you. lol

All the base designers do is sell it all as soon as you place it, so it serves no real point anyway.

Other SGs stop it by not putting in any work tables. They just build them when the architech needs to build something then sell them immediately. Not that the tables are terribly decorative.

I almost always take Fly even though I have never cared for flying. Air Superiority fits in too well in too many of my builds to make it worth going for something else. It's also just too easy to use.

As far as fun SJ has the "wow" factor down. When you start playing you have to take SJ. After plodding along in other MMOs SJ is just such a trip.

I am kind of disappointed that there isn't more emphasis on getting villain areas up to Heros levels. I mean there must be twice as many zones and areas for heros as there are for villains. Villains have fewer contact missions, no Shards, no Hollows, no Stringa and no Hazard zones at all.

So what is I8 about? Getting heros equal to villains. Heros have tons of missions and zones to explore compared to villains. So lets take the only thing villains had that heros didn't away from them, newpaper missions and mayhem missions.

That wouldn't bother me as much if they at least threw the villains a bone. But it doesn't sound like they really plan on balancing villains much, instead all they talk about is adding more to heros or to both. i.e. the Stateman taskforce and inventions.

Toon is easier to spell than character. Char is a power/spell in many games including this one and is much less commonly used so isn't as readable.

Given the spelling level of some posters I encourage them to use words they can spell.

Bah, I've never bothered with the Prima guides, they will be outdated faster than my guide will be. lol My experience has been that they tend to confuse new players more than they help because of this. But I am a crabby old person heh.

The side quest villains will do the same if you give them the chance also. They will destroy items and kill any police in the area. But everyone stops fighting if you aren't reasonably nearby. Sometimes based on the setup this does work out though and you can fight one group of police while the side mission group fights another or blows up cars or something.

Thanks for some of the ideas but I tried to keep the guide away from exploits/cheats. Resets and outside maps are not a designed part of the game and not only do I not encourage them I don't want my guide deleted. lol Resetting to add to the time is definitely an exploit, whether you realize it or not, and could get the whole thread deleted.

Also they really aren't necessary except maybe your first time or two in a new map and I think it gives the mission more flavor to have the time crunch while you look for the villians.

The rest is good info. I was tailoring this more for lower level villains as I ran into SO many people who really don't have any idea how to do anything more than barely finish the bank mission before time runs out. And I can't walk everyone through the mission.

Also one note that if you really have trouble with an ambush(es) you can use some of the Consignment Shipment mission to help kill them for you if you didn't clear it. Just lead the ambush there and run to the back. The ambush will trigger the mobs in the warehouse as they run in and if they shoot back they will end up fighting every mob in the warehouse before reaching you.

With Hero if can get him to attack the mobs they will aggro him and ignore you till he is dead (theoretically I haven't tried this one lol) you can join in the fight after they have aggroed him and use them as allies. Of course he may just make short work of them.

Mayhem Missions

I have come to the realization through group mayhem missions that many people do not understand how to complete a Mayhem mission in the best manner possible and some are actually actively spreading bad information. I’ve actually had people ask me what happens in side missions because they’ve never been able to do one. None of this is malicious Mayhem missions are a bit tricky at first and the timer can make people nervous but there is actually PLENTY of time to do everything, provided you haven’t selected a difficulty that is way over your head anyway .

I can complete a Mayhem mission and both side missions with 15-20 minutes left on the clock. I consider it a failure if you don’t do both side missions, never mind the bank mission. I think you should have enough time to clear the mission of all cars and trucks so you can work on your badges. You deserve it.

This guide is primarily for the solo player as in groups you really can’t control everyone else. Having a strategy and getting people to follow it are two different things. Telling people to say not engage mobs in bank and run to vault will inevitably lead to a Mastermind who doesn’t put his pets on Follow/Don’t Attack or someone who leaves an AoE damage aura on as they run through the bank and aggro’s the entire bank on you. So in groups it tends to be better to not do anything complicated i.e. anything more complicated than kill everything unless you know the people you are with.

First rule, DON’T PANIC. There is no need to run straight to the bank. That is a bad idea on many levels. The mission is timed but there are many ways to get more time and lots of ways to get yourself creamed by rushing. It is important to understand some of the concepts of Mayhem missions:

- each group of police you kill gets you 30 seconds. If you are at the proper difficulty you should be able to take them in something less than 30 seconds so fighting them is not a bad thing, you get experience and a few extra seconds. If you get in a fight with a cop always wipe out the whole group and get the bonus.

- when running at various places on the map you will trigger longbow ambushes. These also give you 30 seconds and tend to be much smaller groups than the police. These are a very good thing because you should be able to take them out very fast and gain time. Do NOT stand around waiting for them however. Kill cops, destroy items but don’t just hang out, you are being timed. Long Bow ambushes will follow you into missions and if you trigger multiple they will all show up at once when you enter a mission which is a very bad thing. So deal with ambushes as they happen.

- destroying objects can get you lots of extra time. Most objects only require 1 or 2 destroyed to get the bonus like bus stops and police cars. Regular cars require quite a few but carry a 3 minute bonus. Larger items only make sense to destroy if they are easy to destroy. At low levels avoid red and purple objects they aren’t worth the trouble. Also be careful of cars at low levels as they can injure you when they explode. At higher levels they will seldom hit you anymore and do little damage. Go for the exploding objects first if they destroy something else you get credit for that too. You only get the bonus once so don’t keep destroying the same things unless you are going for badges.

- stay on the ground. Bad things happen to villains who try to Fly to the bank and avoid all the mobs on the ground. They Top of the screen is full of Longbow Eagles just waiting for people trying to cheat.

By destroying items, longbow and police as you go it is easy to get your time up to 20-25 minutes. That is without doing any side missions while gaining experience and exploring the map.

SIDE MISSIONS:

It is best to do most side missions BEFORE the bank mission. This is because side missions give a large time bonus on completion but the bank mission doesn’t. When you complete the Bank mission ends but times just continues to run down. Keep your eye on the clock and work your way toward the bank along side streets making sure not to let the clock run down.

Side missions are controlled by villain groups running loose in the outdoor area the trick is finding them. The good news is they only have like 4 spawn points on each map. So once you find one there is a good chance they will be there again next time you do that map. There will always be a boss in the group and when you kill the whole group you get the “key” to a side mission. When you get a key you will usually get a new location on your map you can enter to do a new mission. Check your clues for information. Exception is the Wanted Poster.

BIG SECRET: If you have turned off the mob text, turn it on again! This is the best way to find the side mission mobs. When you get close you will hear them talking. Also they will start attacking anything nearby including cops and Longbow. Watch your messages you can more often find them through messages before you see them.

Don’t just run around the map wily nily looking for the side mission mobs as you will trigger half a dozen Longbow ambushes who will all end up hitting you at once. This is especially true if you have SS. You don’t have to fight every cop group but you shouldn’t avoid it either and you need to clear ambushes as you cause them so killing cops while you wait for them is always a good idea.

The Missions:

The Pawn Shop: This is the toughest one. Ambushes galore in here. Be ready for heavy fighting. 3 safes will spawn in front area with some random guards plus there will be red security lights on floor, enter a light and you trigger an ambush. Each safe also trigger an ambush. You need to open all 3 safes to get a time bonus. Then in back of building is a door you can break down (which also triggers a ambush) when you enter back area and trigger another ambush, there are 3 more safes and more lights and more ambushes. Open those 3 safes for another time bonus. Just go slow and clear up the ambushes as they happen so you don’t get overwhelmed. And don’t “Go into the light.”

The Wanted Poster: This is the exception mission. No new area to enter and this mission is best left until after you are done with the bank. What you do is go to the Jail and go up stairs to the cell with all the guards in front. Just run past everyone downstairs don’t fight them. Deal with the guards and break down the door. You get a powerful ally who will follow you (poorly) after that. Unfortunately the AI for you ally stands for Artificial Idiot and you will be lucky if you can drag him anywhere. This is mainly because he is forced to destroy everything in his path, whether you really need every box and trash can destroyed or not. They can be quite useful for destroying cars however if you can get them into a row of cars and of course they will help you slaughter the police downstairs. If you free them before doing bank and do bank mission when you come out they will be gone. I have never been able to get one to follow me all the way to bank that is hopeless.

Arson: When you enter you will trigger an ambush so just stay at door and kill them. Then run to bombs and set them. They trigger ambushes but they appear based on a random amount of time it seems so sometimes you can set all the bombs without seeing another ambush sometimes you will get 3 more. Just be alert. You get a time bonus when the fire starts and you get hurt if you run through it.

Consignment Shipment: Jackpot. This is the best mission for most and potentially the easiest. A warehouse with a glowie box in it somewhere which may or may not be guarded. No point in fighting anyone here just run past them. When you enter you will trigger an ambush but who cares? Since you are by passing the mobs and they are all villains they will all attack the Longbow chasing you lol. Run around and find the glowie, kill someone if you have to. Click it and you get a new Temp Power and a time bonus. Then run out.

Identity Docket (Kidnapping): This is the least obvious of all the missions. You have to figure it out for yourself. Look at the clues then act. It is a fairly small map and target will be as far from door as possible so you should be able to guess where they will be from the layout without much exploring. Depending upon your AT and play style you can just run straight through to the target clear the mobs around him and lead him out of the mission while people shoot at you or you can clear a path or you can do a little of both (clear half of the groups so they can’t do too much damage to you). Remember if you don’t attack them they won’t follow you. You need to lead the target to door out, then you have to lead him to mission exit. You get a huge mission time bonus though, like 8 minutes.


THE BANK:

This is the one thing that people mostly get right if at the wrong time. After having dealt with the side missions (or if you are running low on time and can’t find the little devils, it happens), it is time to deal with the bank. Outside the front door you will trigger an ambush. It usually takes a while to arrive so I trigger it and go attack some police, kill the ambush then return to the bank. Again don’t drag you ambushes around with you if you can help it, deal with them on your terms where you control everything not inside the bank where you don’t know what the situation will be.

The fastest way to deal with the bank is to by-pass the guards and run straight to the vault. Guards are not police so they don’t give a time bonus so bugger them. Normally there are no more than 2 groups in the vault area but very occasionally it will surprise you by putting 2 groups and the boss guard there making it a much harder fight. Be ready for this or to turn and run if you don’t think you can handle that fight (remember you have nowhere to retreat to). Once you have cleared the area in front of the vault start banging on the door. Watch you END though. When you first hit the Vault an ambush will trigger and when you grab the money 2 ambushes will trigger. Your best bet is when the vault is just ready to do down, use Rest if you need to. That way you are at full power when the hero shows. When the 2 ambushes show up after you get the money, remember that you only need to defeat the 2nd one (the longbow and hero) to win the mission. The first ambush is just fluff.

After defeating the hero and Longbow you can exit the mission or if you are a badge hunter the real fun starts. Finish the 1st ambush run outside and start your reign of destruction with the time remaining. Lots of cars phones etc to destroy for Vandal and Impounder badges and if you have done it right hopefully you have lots of time to do it in.

Actually Solo it works a lot better if you do the side missions FIRST. I also deal with most of the cops, cars and items I pass as I go.

I do that then the bank and I usually end the mission with 15 to 20 minutes left and a new power. Only exception is I don't usually bother to break the prisoner out of jail if I get that side mission until after the bank as they are more trouble than help on missions. Great for blowing up cars though.

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Free respecs introduced in January 2005, with Issue 3.

Issue 3 - free respec given
Issue 4 - free respec given
Issue 5 - free respec given
Issue 6 - free respec given
Issue 7 - free respec given

Note: some respecs were given shortly before an issue release, some shortly after.

The devs should just say what their policy is. "No, we do not plan to give out free respecs every issue" or "Yes, we will be issuing a free respec with each issue" or "We won't be giving out free respecs every issue, but we might be giving out free punch and pie".

Easy peasy.

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Acually they HAVE said what their policy is try checking their old posts before complaining.

They give free respecs when there is a change to the game or builds which would significantly effect players such that they may need to respec their characters. They may also give them out as a reward such as deemed fit by the Devs such as Christmas/Anniversary or CoH etc. But don't count on those they are at Devs whim.

I8 doesn't have any changes to game play or changes to sets so there is no reason for a free respec. I felt it was obvious there would be no free respec.

I played EQ for 3 years. If you have only played recently you don't know what the original EQ was like. We used to have to play for weeks to gain a level. Getting to Max level took months even for power players.

Then they started watering down the game so everyone could get to raid levels quickly but it took like 5 years before that happened. Until then 1 death meant like 4-5 hours of play wiped out. But high level players knew what they were doing. They didn't make it easier to level until they had tons of high level content until then it was near impossible to level. CoH is easy.

One of the problems here is that your interests aren't everyones as pointed out. I played EQ for 3 years and absolutely HATED raiding. One of the main reasons I like CoH is because I won't ever be forced to raid again. Why anyone likes raids is beyond my understanding.

Competeing against other humans is another thing I could care less about. This is something younger players care more about. I like helping other players out but I could care less about their equipment or what they think of mine.

For me enjoyment comes from setting goals and achieving them. Trying out new powers and strategies. CoH allows me to combine different powers in lots of ways to develop tons of tactics. It is a very flexible game. I also like customizing my characters. The more ways I can make my character unique the happier I am. Games like WoW every Warrior is a warrior blah. At least EQ had a very good system for adding new skills after you maxed out and didn't let you swap them all around whenever you wanted.

Getting to 50 isn't important unless that is a goal I have set for myself. Most of my characters haven't reached 50 because there is no point. I can have more fun with a new character. I leave a lot in the high 30's and 40's.

You get out of the game what you put into it. If all you care about is leveling, the game will get boring because you aren't putting anything into it and have set your goal of 50 so far out it takes too long to achieve.

For example my current toon I decided to see how much prestige I could earn with a toon if I did only things that earned max prestige regardless of anything else. At level 26 he now has over 260K prestige and has passed most of the people in my SG. He isn't leveling fast but he has tons of prestige, influence and salvage from hunting only bosses and doing outdoor missions (hunting X bosses LOL). And I had a lot of fun from doing something very different and playing MY game.

You have to pick a game that does what you want or accept a game for what it is, you can't expect a game to become what you want it to be. Unless you are the publisher maybe.

Unfortuantely whenever I try to milk MIs I get people coming by to steal both the pets and/or the MI. Since MIs aren't a common spawn while you are fighting her you will see (usually a Scrapper for some reason) come stand next to you and watch the combat and as soon as the pets spawn they spring into action killing the pets and the MI.

If you say anything they will claim they were helping you. So if you see people standing around warn them off and if they don't leave kill the MI yourself. Better something than nothing.

But the best time to panic is before there is an actual problem!

After you find out there isn't a problem there is no reason to panic!

Actually I like the protect the item from being destroyed missions but if I have to protect like dozens of items each mission it could get a bit old....

Can't I have bad things to break?

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Will we be able to drop the "hunt 10 thorns in Perez" mission and the "go run talk to the Hollows guy/the PvP zone contact" missions?

Ie, is this for bugged missions only, or is a general QoL fix? I know that those missions in particular are really an enormous pain when I'm playing the early and mid-game hero side, and I'd much rather simply be rid of them.

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Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

If the "drop mission" code doesn't allow me to skip these missions and ditch outleveled arcs in their entirety, it's all but useless to me.

And, note that I'm not asking to get a single point of XP for missions I drop in this manner. All I want is to (1) never do an "introductory" mission for a zone I've already street-swept two dozen times with my alts, and (2) never have to spend hours clearing out ancient arcs for every contact that I've ever done a single mission for.

(You think I'm exaggerating about that last point? Schadenfraulein on Virtue had to clear nineteen outleveled arcs before any of her current contacts would offer her one. At least six of those were from contacts for whom she had done only one mission previously.)

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This is not true. You can have as many story arcs open at once as you want now. I have had 3 open at once. You haven't had to finish one arc to get another for quite some time.

My PB had Light Form wear off then was killed by a Stalker. I got full debt. As you know when light form wears off you are left with almost no hit points. Apparently this is considered hps lost to a mob. Basically what it really means is that you can't use Light Form in a PvP zone unless you are next to the zone line or you rack up debt.

Good Samaritan laws would not protect you regarding property damage or manslaughter. Good Samaritan laws are not there to protect people who are arresting criminals. They are to protect people who are trying to saving lives. So if you pull someone from a burning vehicle and permanently cripple them because they had broken their spine, they can't sue you (probably heh).

Burning down a building isn't Arson unless they did it on purpose. Doing it on accident is still a crime though. Just as killing someone isn't Murder unless there is forethought.

What Frostfire was guilty of is reckless endangerment. This is the same as the idiot old man that drove through Farmer's Market in LA at 60 miles an hour because he couldn't see what he was doing. His intentions don't matter, what he DID was recklessly dangerous and put others at risk. Unfortunately for Frostfire he as a much worse attorney than the idiot old man. Plus Frostfire didn't appear to show remorse. Juries don't like it when killers don't show remorse and Frostfire still maintained he did nothing wrong. He should have maintained that because he was young and trying to help he deserved a reduced or suspended sentence.