Wrong_Number
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Posts
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Quote:Originally Posted by MrCaptainMan
....the difference of course is that nobody posts a 'MCM's late with his review - I quit!' or 'MCM let's us down - thx 4 killing the game, MCM!' thread when I'm late with a review lol.
MCM promised me a re-review of one of my arcs once I16 went live which was like 2 weeks ago so, he is late! I hate it when MCM let's us down like this....thanks for killing the game for me.
WN
P.S. - I quit! -
I16 brought an unforeseen change to this arc. Apparently the last map in the arc will no longer support three boss spawns so I had to change it to another map. Not happy that every new issue forces these types of changes.
WN -
I made a few minor changes in anticipation of I16.
- Added Random Crey Minion, Random Crey Lt. and Random Crey Boss to the group "Crey Scientists" that Sauer is in.
- Moved Dr. Disco Fever into "Disco Nation" and set him to not auto spawn. Been meaning to move him for awhile.
If anyone notices any issues with these changes, please let me know.
WN -
Quote:Originally Posted by GlaziusF
@GlaziusF
Running this on a lowbie Peacebringer, diff 2 for more AoE fun stuff.
---
My contact is "the Mystic Lynne",.....
What are is this a review for?
WN -
Ok, people asked for it and MCM made me cry over it (kidding) so I did it. The Hero Wannabes and The Wannabes have been merged into one group. The new and improved Wannabes consists of these customs:
8 Minions
4 Lieutenants
2 Bosses (regular)
1 Big Bad (special don't auto spawn boss)
Hope you are happy!
WN -
Hi all,
MCM's review and the uneven mix of customs that can spawn has got me thinking and I could use some input from those of you that have played this one mission arc.
To refresh memories, Trademark Infringement is the arc where a trademark lawyer goes coo-coo and starts issuing trademarks willy nilly. As a result, lots of lame, rip-off wanna be characters show up and it is your job to stop them.
The way the customs are set up they are broken into two groups. The main group is The Wannabes and it has in it 6 minions, 3 Lt.s and a boss. The other group, which the main boss belongs to, is the Hero Wannabes and it has 2 minions, 1 Lt., a boss and the Big Bad (Copycat) who is set to "Do Not Auto Spawn".
My question is: Should I combine the two groups into one group?
This would up the mix throughout the mission of characters hopefully, but the down side is that it would mix hero and villain Wannabes. Would it be a negative to see a Thor ripoff and say a Catwoman ripoff in the same group or since they are all "bad" no matter what they may think of themselves would this be ok? I don't want to increase the mix if I am them losing a star because "You mixed hero and villain ripoffs".
Just another point, I have around 1% space, so anything other than some text can not be added.
Thanks for your responses.
WN -
In preparation for I16 I moved Copycat out of his solo group and added him the the Hero Wannabe group. That should allow him to maintain the exp level he gives.
WN -
Quote:As I noted before, as a single player you should not be getting that kind of repetition. There are 6 Minions and 3 LTs in the main group. You got a crappy spawn. I ran the arc a few times yesterday and one time I got a bad spawn where 2 of the 3 LT.s in the group did not spawn in the entire mission. AE is flaky, but that is not news.Originally Posted by MrCaptainMan
If Mr Cold had only appeared once, then i wouldnt have this slight irk either. I met at least 10 Mr Colds, and i think the repetition dulls the parodies impact a little.
I understand where you are coming from, 4 should be considered very good even though the Devs have set it up otherwise.Quote:Bear in mind we are talking about the difference between a 4 and a 5 here. I know you think anything but a 5 is worthless, but 4 is really very good IMO.
Its a great little arc, i just think it could be better is all.
My "issue" (I mean issue in the smallest sense of the word) is that what you think it could use to be better is not doable in AE so there really is no way for me to improve it.
Thanks again and I look forward to reading more of your reviews as I think they are some of the best here.
WN -
Quote:They are not meant to be individuals. It seems odd? How many Dr. Manhattans, Rorschach's, etc. did you see after Watchmen was released? How about Spidermans everytime another of those come out? See my point?Originally Posted by MrCaptainMan
If they aren't meant to be individuals, it comes over as a little odd that more than one person would pick the exact same costume and name and also get a trademark for it.
I'll be waiting.......Quote:However, since you asked, and i know you love the 5-stars so much, WN , I promise that come I16, I'll run it spawned for a bigger team, so i can see your bosses too, and I'll 5-star you then.
WN -
Cap,
Thanks for the review. Being only one mission and all customs I put a ton of time into the design of the customs. There are 15 individual customs in the mission. Being that you played it solo the bosses from the two custom groups likely did not spawn. So you should have seen around a dozen different characters. If you did not, you got a bad spawn for some reason which, though rare, can happen. I just checked and the arc is 99% full. I respectfully ask that you rerun or just take a stealthed toon through and check to see how many characters you see. If the only thing holding you back from 5 staring turns out to be a limitation of MA.....five star me baby!
WN
P.S. - Did you notice that each hostage had their own bio too? -
- rez powers
- healing powers combined with already very hard to defeat foes
- Unstoppable
- Too many Slow powers
- MM bosses (though these do not bug me so much)
- Detention Field
WN -
Quote:Originally Posted by Eraserdog
H
Title: Weep Day
Arc ID: 310702
Creator’s Global Name: @Eraserdog
Mission Count: 5
Notes: Designed for heroes between 35-50. Soloable, but pack a couple of medium purples if you do. A couple of the boss encounters can be nasty alone even just on difficulty level 3.]
Lowdown – An retired hero's grandson contacts you for some help and it quickly becomes apparent that an all out assault is under way against retired heroes. This leads to a series of events in which your help is needed and the search is on for whoever is behind this plot. This 5 mission arc is over packed with objectives both mandatory and optional. It features some of the best characters and descriptions I have come across. Overall the story is very well written.
Funny Level – Easily can be a Very Humorous arc, but some of the annoyances pull it down to a Humorous.
Fun Level - Grandma has her good days and she has her bad days. I was having a blast despite the first mission map being too large until mission four which brought it to a dead stop (see picture below).
Let’s up it to 11! – This arc needs to be trimmed down on objectives or at the very least the number of each objective. The fourth mission especially needs to be reworked starting with the escort. Also, after leading someone out on such a large map then defeating the Big Bad only to have a four glowie hunt pop up was an Arrrgggggh! moment. The glowies have no text on their bar. The boss that could be out of Poor Taste could use some funnier lines (contact me in game if you want my thoughts).
Overall Rating – There is a great arc here, it is just a little muddled and drawn out at the moment. With some trimming this will be a 5 star arc, but for now 4 stars. In any case it is definitively worth a play.
WN -
Quote:
Title: 1000 Miles to... Atlantic City?
Arc ID: 310472
Creator’s Global Name: @GabrielNYC
Mission Count: 1
Notes – Work In Progress, Extreme EB
Story – I never expect too much in the way of story from short and sweet missions. The fewer missions in the arc the less story I expect to find. That said, I do at least expect a set up and some framing of the mission I will be playing. This mission is set to "work in progress" so hopefully more will be coming for now however 2 stars.
Fun Level – Reasonable fun for a clear all. 3 stars.
Playability – Everything is playable except for the final EB which was pretty hard and I bet darn near impossible for many characters. Being a NJ based mission I thankfully had brought Miss Jersey (BS/Shield Scrapper) so I was able to handle him. 4 stars.
Polish – There was some great detail in many of bios though a few are still missing. I would like to see more dialog and objectives (maybe a kidnapping?). The contact has no name. A nice start. 3 stars.
Overall Rating – This arc is clearly as it states a "Work in Progress". That being the case I did not rate it in game because I did not want to hurt it's rating. I will gladly replay and rate this arc when it is ready for prime time. For now 3 stars.
Let’s up it to 11! – Expand upon the little contact text that is there and give him some sort of twist to make him interesting. Finish all bios of your customs, the ones there so far are good. Add some dialog to your battles. If it is there (I never heard it), you need to re-balance the fight so it goes on longer. Since your baddies are the Elvis gang I would insert a lot more Elvis references into it. Perhaps rename or give Elvis type nicknames to some customs.
WN -
Quote:I think it is just lip service. I would be shocked if more than a handful of random player arcs were played by anyone with the authority to grant DC. The quality of many of the arcs I have played and reviewed in general far exceed 90% of the current DCs.Originally Posted by Eva Destruction
There was also a response from Posi in one of the "why aren't there any new DCs?" threads stating that a few arcs almost made it, but failed to meet some requirement, like not warning about an AV. He then completely failed to tell us what all those requirements were. So who knows, half the people in this forum might have had an arc considered for Dev's Choice at some point, but been rejected because of some little thing that could be easily fixed without detracting from the arc at all.
Hellguard, who has a DC, has mentioned that when his arc DC was played back in Closed Beta he received feedback saying what held it back from being DC'd. He changed that stuff and it was DC'd. This makes sense. Unless the "powers that be" are such jerkwads that if they played an arc that was DC material, but the author missed something minor like missing an AV warning they would just say "tto bad" and move on. I would like to think they would send feedback saying "Add an AV warning and we will DC it".
WN -
Quote:It is meant to be a funny, enjoyable and a quick diversion. Had I wanted to make a story intensive arc be it comedy or otherwise it certainly would be more than two missions.Originally Posted by M_I_Abrahms
While I can't answer for the other DJs, for me it felt like more of a diversion than an actual story. It was a pretty and well crafted diversion, to be sure. I'm kind of curious how many custom critters were in this arc, because that seems like the real focus, more than the actual plot.
I guess it is a matter of expectations. I personally don't think the MA is only for story intensive arcs nor would I want it to be. I like that there are one or two mission arcs in MA that don't stretch otherwise great concepts to the point of being overdone and boring. I don't know about you, but I have played more than my fair share of 4-5 mission arcs loaded with filler missions.
That said, I feel that if an arc succeeds in every way to be what it set out to be it is clearly a 5 star arc. That is my opinion of course and how I rate. I am certainly aware that others may not appreciate arcs shorter than 4-5 missions or concept or humor based arcs for that matter.
Again, thank you all for running and reviewing it!
WN -
Thanks to you all for running and reviewing Death to Disco! (84420). I am curious as to why all of you rated it 4 stars since every word you said about it was praise, not a single negative comment. What do you all feel would needed to be changed to make this a 5 star (adding is out of the question due to space limits)? Thanks again!
WN -
Thanks to the Aentertainment Tonight crew for running and reviewing this arc. The radio show reviewing it can be found at www.kjsr.net in the show archives. It is the Thursday August 27th 2009 show.
WN -
Quote:Lowdown – While working in a lab late one night a scientist saw an eerie sight of... monsters over running his lab with the intent of destroying his experiment. It is up to you to stop their shenanigans. Great, fun concept with little in the way of story due to it being a one shot, but what do you expect War and Peace?
Title: The Monster Hop
Arc ID: 27861
Creator’s Global Name: @Big Daddy Vio
Mission Count: 1
Notes – Will be tough for any character not able to solo bosses well or any character without plus perception (Bring Yellows if this is you!).
Funny Level – Abbott and Constello meet Frankenstein.
Fun Level - A graveyard smash!
Let’s up it to 11! – There are no clues and that is an opportunity missed to jam in more humor.
Overall Rating – A very fun tip of the hat to the old school Universal monsters. A must play! (5 stars)
WN -
I will be there and available should a spot open up.
WN -
It might sound silly, but I did see a big drop in posts, plays of my arcs and review requests after the new forums came out. I do know I use the forums less since the change myself.
Personally, I started a new arc well over a month ago, but can't motivate myself knowing that it will get so few plays. Currently my four arcs have from around 100-450 plays all sitting at 4 stars. As others have noted new arcs have little chance of being noticed, but I will add that older arcs even with a decent number of plays rarely get noticed when in the giant "4 star basement". I can go days to over a week without a single play and that is with my visibility here and in MA Arc Finder.
People that don't use the forums or ask for reviews or put themselves on lists or use MA Arc Finder can quickly get disenchanted with AE. My husband for example has a couple of arcs he made. The one has been sitting at 27 plays 4 stars for months without a play since it dropped from 5 stars.
Ok, I have gotten a bit off subject here, but I guess my point is that AE and by association this forum section, is getting close to the "last straw. Those of you my age might recall the game The Last Straw "You Broke the Camel's Back!" (I kid you not) was the catch phrase for the game. In the game each player took turns placing varying sized straws in sacks on a camels back until he broke under the weight.
That game is kind of how I see AE and the devs continue to add straws and players continue to hit the breaking point where they "break" and just give up on AE. Honestly, the more the devs try to fix the farms, the more people that use AE for content stop using it. This reminds me of bases in a lot of ways and I can see a time in the not so far future where AE is reduced to a small core group, like base builders and most of the players don't bother with it. This sucks because the idea of AE is truely great and still easily saved if the devs cared about saving it.
WN -
Quote:Originally Posted by Zamuel
Title: Rider's Ribs Restaurant Rescue
Arc ID: 163967
Creators Global Name: @Zamuel
Mission Count: 3
Notes I was intriguingly undecided on whether to submit this here or to the humor arc thread
Story It all starts with a restaurant owner's kidnapping and leads you through the trials of a very dysfunctional family. I can understand why the author was unsure as to whether to ask for a review here or in my Ha Ha Hut thread since there are several humorous elements through out the arc. That said, it felt to me like this arc could not decide if it was trying to be humorous or dramatic. The last mission undoes the first two missions which was annoying. 3.5 Stars
Fun Level Reasonable fun throughout and I did not ever feel the dreaded "when will this thing end" that I do with many arcs. 4.5 stars
Playability No big problems here for me, but I am betting some many have problems with the MM boss or the healers in the last mish. 4.0 stars
Polish All the characters had short bios and most characters that could had dialog. The patrols however were missing dialog. 4.0
Overall Rating 4 stars. A decent arc worth playing.
Lets up it to 11! Ok, my feeling is that you should just go for the comedy and drop the drama bits. The funny stuff there is good, just add more! The last mission could use a rewrite since the rehash does not advance the story. There is a great funny arc here just waiting to bust out.
WN -
WB Philly! To all those that bet me she would never return....pay up!
WN -
Title: The Revenge of Fred Wonka
Arc ID: 40522
Creators Global Name: @Ridgid
Mission Count: 1
Notes Heroic
Lowdown Fred Wonka, the way less successful and talented brother of Willie is pissed. He is sick of playing second fiddle while his brother gets all the glory so he comes up with a plan to ruin him and it is up to you to stop him. Could be a very funny idea, but it never is fleshed out or developed very much at all.
Funny Level As funny as breaking a tooth on a Gobstopper.
Fun Level - A little more fun than a paper mission.
Lets up it to 11! More than one piece of dialog for the evil Oopmas and how about more detailed bios for them too. Fred was dull in appearance and seemed cookie cutter. Snazz him up! Add custom info for the destructibles. Maybe add some patrols with dialog about why the reject oopmas are rejects.
Overall Rating It's one quick mission so you are not spending too much time with it, but there are large gaps and areas badly in need of some TLC. (3 Stars)
WN -
Title: Stealing from the Midnighters
Arc ID: 26496
Creators Global Name: @Blackwolfe
Mission Count: 1
Notes Extreme Elite Bosses
Story This is a one mission arc so as you might expect there is not much story, however the story that is there is good. 4 stars.
Fun Level The diversity of powers and looks of the customs held my interest through the overpowered big bad almost ruined it for me. Had I not been a /dark MM this could have been a mission I could not have finished. 4 Stars.
Playability Does the final boss really need a self heal that will take them from near death to full health? I think not. The last room is loaded with bosses, but they are optional. 3.5 Stars.
Polish I enjoyed all the customs quite a bit and thought their bios were all well written. You contact though still has "Contact Hologram" over her head. 4.5 Stars
Overall Rating 4 stars, but better bring your big guns for this one.
Lets up it to 11! Tone down the Big Bad, give your contact a name and add a souvenir.
WN -
Quote:Originally Posted by Bubbawheat
Bubba, you have taken the single greatest picture anyone has ever taken of one of my arcs!.
WN