at_Obscene

Leave no survivors.

I've been playing this game on-and-off since CoV launch. My main for most of that time was a EM/INV Brute. Since the nerfing, he's been pointless to play. And believe me, I've tried several multi-billion Inf builds to try and resuscitate him. Nothing makes the set worthwhile now compared to other primaries. Ask yourself when was the last time you saw anyone ingame running around with the pom poms of doom? The Devs really need to do something to restore this set. I don't care what they turn it into, but it needs a bit of the Energy Aura treatment.

Cool! My first forum review. Thanks!

I don't know what the solution to the difficulty concern is. I've done several revisions of this mission, and no matter how it's tweeked I get both "too hard" and "too easy" feedback. Maybe that's normal for everyone using custom critters?

Oopsie on the missing Dee Seed descriptions ... I'll add 'em if I can do that without taking down the arc. I wish I could better control boss/ambush spawn locations on that map; usually it makes for a more entertaining boss encounter, but sometimes they spawn too far from Dee Cain and show up late or not at all. It would be nice if we could set ambushes to spawn at the location of the boss instead ... and I so wanted that zombie-coming-up-out-of-the-ground animation for them.

I left destroying them all optional for buggy-game-mechanic reasons, but don't think it messes with the story too much since the contact explains going in that it's proved difficult to wipe him out since inevitably some scrap remains to regenerate again.

Arc Name: Don't Play With The Dead
Arc ID: 260107
Faction: Neutral
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Obscene
Difficulty Level: Medium/Hard
Keywords: Horror, Custom Critters, Challenging
Synopsis: Investigation of an unregistered school for the dark arts leads you down a far darker path.
Face a variety of creepy custom critters, new factions in each mission.

New version of an old (well-rated) arc, taken down and republished after recent changes to custom critter powers. Now a little easier than it was before, but the final EB is made tougher by better support.

[ QUOTE ]
Genres A-L

AE System
---
5th Anniversary Flashback Smackdown (126896) -- Neutral
Bare Knuckles of Rage (9304)
'Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces the Great Face' - Tryouts (190069) -- Heroic
Death for Dollars! -- Neutral
Mission Architect Playable Tutorial (28470)
Signal to Noise (67277) -- Neutral
Welcome to Architect Entertainment -- Neutral

Character/Supergroup Origins
---
A Hero is made, Not Born (20863) -- Heroic
A Mother's Nightmare (6955) -- Heroic
A Rose's Thorns (113224) -- Heroic
Birth of a Fossil -- Heroic
Jumping in Feet First (1345) -- Heroic
Midnight Bells Toll -- Villainous
New Flame Rising (161066) -- Heroic
Noah Reborn (2370) -- Heroic
Polar Emergence Neutral Government User Interface Network (PENGUIN) (29205) -- Heroic
Secret Origins(Tech) The Snake Women of Epsilon V (42221) -- Heroic
The Amazing Rat Race (1144) -- Heroic

Classic Super-Hero/Super-Villain
---
A Crusher Crimewave #1 : Crisis at The Citadel (50271)
A Crusher Crimewave #2 : Escape from The Zig! (83458)
A Crusher Crimewave #3 : The Fall of Mocker (123613)
A Show to Die For! (30645) -- Heroic
Check... and Mate (15095) -- Heroic
Deadly Sins! (99366)
In The Shadow of Statesman (1160) -- Neutral
Marketing Opportunity (83747) -- Villainous
Paradox Paradox (69221) -- Heroic
Sidekicks Can Be A Pain In The Cape (28430)
Teen Phalanx Forever! (67335) -- Heroic
THE BOMBER (16607) -- Heroic
This Life Immortal (5756) -- Heroic
To Save A Single World (83744) -- Heroic
'Tis Nobler in the Mind -- Heroic

Comedy
---
The String Thief (15726) -- Neutral
Mean People (16690) -- Neutral
The Extadine Lab (2595) -- Heroic
MacGuffin Delivery Service (1567) -- Villainous
ParaCon (1684) -- Heroic
The new and improved Lord Recluse Strike Force -- Villainous
The Fire Bunnies - Neutral
You Say It's Your Birthday! (3630) -- Neutral
Trademark Infringement (2220) -- Heroic
Hail to the King (34640) -- Neutral
Walk On the Wild Side (3580) -- Neutral
Shirley You Jest (25474) -- Neutral
The Invasion of the Bikini Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! (61013) -- Heroic
Gnomish Madness (30204) -- Heroic
Doctor Nadir and the Hellion Heist (49661) -- Heroic
Laugh? I Thought I'd DIE! -- Heroic
The P.U.G. Strike force (35585) -- Villianous
A Translator is the Wind or the Thunder in Turns (2936) -- Heroic
What's in a Name? -- Villainous
None More Black, Dude! (86312) -- Neutral
Rise of the Drakule -- Neutral
Return of the Revenge of the Son of Drakule Part 2: First Blood -- Neutral
Martian Chimpanzees and the Cyborg Cheerleaders of DOOM! (69947) -- Heroic
Daytime Divas (94504)
Death to Disco! (84420) -- Neutral
Too Many Bunnygirls! (101165) -- Neutral
Invasion on Earth BX1132! (98943) -- Neutral (poster version B)
Ee=Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! (3662) -- Neutral
The foul-mouthed Handyman! (1076) -- Neutral
City of Norms (132994) -- Neutral
Killing The Meow Farm (141625) -- Neutral
Shortbow - (143566) -- Heroic
Jerk Hackers! (162482) --Heroic

Comedy/Drama
---
Kidnapping an Idol (136188) -- Neutral
Fashion Apocalypse (14840) -- Neutral
The Running of the Bulls (29973) -- Heroic
A Super Team is Born -- Heroic
Cause of How Some Silly Stealed My Wings (1481) -- Neutral
How to Survive a Robot Uprising (12669) --
Dr. Duplicate's Dastardly Dare -- Neutral
It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding (9059) -- Neutral
TURG FICTION: Ghost in the Machine, Act I -- Heroic
Rum Runners of Bloody Bay (3691) -- Heroic
Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids! (2019)
The Toypocalypse! (49280) -- Heroic
Fishing for Fame with Red Herring (66861) -- Heroic
Putting Out Fires: A Corporate Satire (20100) -- Villainous
The Rise and Refall of Pets'n'Things.com (1061) -- Heroic
The Cat's in the Cradle (8776) -- Villainous
Females for Hire (110723) -- Neutral
Freaks, Geeks and Men in Black (161629) -- Heroic
Death by Snoo-Snoo! (247372) - Heroic


Crime/Gangs
---
Bricked Electronics (2180) -- Heroic
The Bravuran Jobs (16809) -- Villainous
The Black Flag Is On The Rise (Pirates!) -- Villainous
Win the 2009 Freak-Lympics (2150) -- Villainous
Ninja Crimewave! (2142) -- Heroic
The Internet is for Crime (53385)[/url] -- Villainous
Plastic Pistol Peril (1135) -- Heroic
Friends in Need (Of Body Parts) (31005) -- Villainous
A Little RnR (17523) -- Heroic click for Promotional Poster
Mechanical Mayhem (76712) - -Villainous
Females for Hire (110723) -- Neutral
Battlin' Tom's Murder Extravaganza! (99803) -- Villainous
Meet the Demon Spawn (151099) -- Heroic
Slash DeMento and the Stolen Weapons (100045) -- Heroic
[ZQ] Power Play (187269) -- Villainous
Fatale Attraction - Part 1 of 3 (181264) -- Heroic
Fatale Deception - Part 2 of 3 (227466) -- Heroic
Fatale Corruption - Part 3 of 3 (232783) -- Heroic
Whitehawks (113811) -- Heroic


Drama
---
A Flame the Burns Bright (112548)
Clonus, Parts 1 & 2 (21499) -- Heroic
Digital Love (3571) -- Neutral
Matchstick Women (3369) -- Heroic
Of Mentors and Legacy (1589) -- Heroic
The Conciliators: Simone (4010) -- Heroic
The Fan Club -- Heroic

Farms
---

Global Domination
---
Axis and Allies (1379) -- Villainous

Global Destruction
---
The Twilight of this Blue Orb (98529) -- Villainous

Heist
---
Celebrity Kidnapping (1388) -- Villainous
Easy Money (31490) -- Villainous
The Great Diamond Heist (96169) -- Villainous

Historical (Realistic)
---
Wrinkle in Time (68920) -- Heroic

Historical (CoH Lore)
---
Origins - Volume 1 (57077) -- Heroic
The Consequences of War (227331 and 241496)
The War on Superadine (7959) -- Heroic
[ZQ] The Once and Future King (71601) -- Heroic

Holiday
---
Battle of 15 April (72140) -- Neutral
City of Ho Ho Ho (18775) -- Heroic
Hectic Holidays (36999) -- Heroic
Santa's Missing List (34961)
Santa's Workshop of Misfit Toys (134140) -- Heroic

Horror
---
Astoria in D Minor (41565) -- Heroic
Creepy Crawlers (82553)
Dark Dreams (3615)
D!E COUNT DADDY MACULA D!E! (10119) -- Heroic
Duality (84105) -- Heroic
Don't Play With The Dead (260107) -- Neutral
Hunting the Hunters (93362) -- Villainous
I Will Dance On Your Grave (92630)
Lights, Camera, Scream! (68627)
Movie Monster Madness.. (102058)
Project: Perilous - Into the Chthonian Pit (#3586) -- Neutral
Small Fears -- Heroic
Something Comes to Yarmouth (58812) -- Heroic
The Amulet of J'gara (1709) -- Heroic
The Children of Astoria (217499) (masearch link)
The Zombie Apocalypse Task Force: Something wicked this way comes.

Large-Scale Crisis
---
A Warrior's Friend -- Heroic
Alpha and Omega (60015) -- Heroic
Bleed the Freak (6919) -- Heroic
Flight of the Valkyries - Precursor (20272) -- Neutral
Is it Live or is it Memory-X (70210) -- Heroic
The All-Seeing Eye (57352) -- Heroic
The Clockwork War (18672) -- Heroic
This Is War, Part I - the Revenge of Hro'Dtohz -- Neutral
War of the Worlds - The Anakim Invasion - Part 1 (15006) -- Neutral
War of the Worlds - The Anakim Invasion - Part 2, The Terran Revolt (46711) -- Neutral
Win the Past, Own the Future -- Heroic
Akhdar Blood Arc: 247198

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
It doesn't. They are all worth the same (for a given rank) at any setting.

[/ QUOTE ]
So there is no incentive to design/run any mission with higher-than-standard mobs ...

Returning after a break, can't find this info anywhere.

What is the difference in XP rewarded for standard vs hard vs extreme critters? And now that we can cherrypick custom powers, how does that affect the formula?

Thanks.

I don't publish a mission until I've soloed it (without dying or stacking purples) several times first, but I have also been designing my critters as a challenge to a "Billion Dollar Brute". I'll warn you it's hard in the description, so no apologies if your Level 21 Defender can't complete it. The problem with wanting to create these challenging arcs though, is that they usually get low-starred when the player dies, blaming the author instead of their toon, despite the warnings. So yeah, if you care about ratings, pander to the weak. </brute>

AE System
--------
Welcome to Architect Entertainment -- Neutral
Death for Dollars! -- Neutral
Bare Knuckles of Rage (9304)
Signal to Noise -- Neutral -- 67277
*

Character/Supergroup Origins
--------
Birth of a Fossil -- Heroic
Secret Origins(Tech) The Snake Women of Epsilon V (42221) - Heroic
Noah Reborn -- Heroic (2370)
Jumping in Feet First - Heroic - 1345
Midnight Bells Toll ----Villanious
A hero is made, not born. -- Heroic 20863
*

Classic Super-Hero/Super-Villain
--------
THE BOMBER --- Heroic --- Arc 16607
In The Shadow of Statesman --Neutral--1160
A Show to Die For! --- Heroic --- 30645
Check... and Mate #15095 - Heroic - Mini Task Force
Teen Phalanx Forever! -- Heroic (67335)
This Life Immortal - (5756) Heroic
*
Comedy
--------
The Extadine Lab -- Heroic
MacGuffin Delivery Service (1567) -- Villainous
ParaCon -- Heroic
The new and improved Lord Recluse Strike Force -- Villainous (though I wouldn't recommend against a hero )
The Fire Bunnies - Neutral, They are only bunnies after all...
You Say It's Your Birthday! (3630) - Neutral
Trademark Infringement -- Heroic (2220)
Hail to the King Neutral (34640)
Walk On the Wild Side - Neutral - 3580
Shirley You Jest (25474) -- Neutral
The Invasion of the Bikini Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! - Heroic - 61013
Gnomish Madness (30204) - Heroic
Doctor Nadir and the Hellion Heist (49661) - Heroic
Laugh? I Thought I'd DIE! - Heroic
The P.U.G. Strike force (arc 35585) -Villian
*

Comedy/Drama
--------
A Super Team is Born -- Heroic
Cause of How Some Silly Stealed My Wings #1481 -- Neutral
How to Survive a Robot Uprising -- Heroic (12669)
Dr. Duplicate's Dastardly Dare -- Neutral
It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding (9059) -- Neutral
TURG FICTION: Ghost in the Machine, Act I - Heroic (althoughs romantic villains could try this too )
Rum Runners of Bloody Bay (3691) - Heroic
Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids! (2019)
The Toypocalypse! (49280) - Heroic
*

Crime/Gangs
--------
Bricked Electronics -- Heroic (LIVE! 2180)
The Bravuran Jobs -- Villainous (16809)
The Monstrous Regiment of Lesbian Hellions -- Heroic (27178)
Win the 2009 Freak-Lympics (2150) - Villainous
Ninja Crimewave! (2142) - Heroic
Whitehawks (Arc 49364) -- Heroic
The Internet is for Crime (53385) - Villains
Plastic Pistol Peril (1135) - Heroic
Friends in Need (Of Body Parts) - Villainous (31005)
A Little RnR - Heroic (17523) click for Promotional Poster
*

Drama
--------
The Conciliators: Simone -- Heroic (4010)
The Fan Club -- Heroic
Matchstick Women -- Heroic -- 3369
Of Mentors and Legacy - Heroic - 1589
*

Global Domination
--------
Axis and Allies -- Villainous (1379)
*

Heist
--------
Celebrity Kidnapping -- Villainous (1388)
Easy Money -- Villainous (31490)
*

Historical (Realistic)
--------
Wrinkle in Time -- Heroic(68920)
*

Historical (CoH Lore)
--------
The War on Superadine - The Regulators in their 1980's drug war (Heroic) (Arc 7959)
Origins - Volume 1 (57077) -- Heroic
*

Holiday
--------
Hectic Holidays -- Heroic (36999) also comedy
*

Horror
--------
Astoria in D Minor (41565) -- Heroic
Dark Dreams (3615)
Don't Play With The Dead (31813) -- Neutral
The Amulet of J'gara (1709) -- Heroic
Project: Perilous - Into the Chthonian Pit (#3586) - Neutral (Unless you happen to be a mad cultist, in which case, go nuts!)
Small Fears -- Heroic
Lights, Camera, Scream! (#68627) - 3 Mission arc that get's you into the B-Horror film circuit.
*

Large-Scale Crisis
--------
A Hero's Halo -- Heroic
This Is War, Part I - the Revenge of Hro'Dtohz -- Neutral
Win the Past, Own the Future - Heroic
A Warrior's Friend - Heroic
The Clockwork War -- Heroic (18672)
Flight of the Valkyries - Precursor (20272) -- Neutral
The Human Hive (#1632) - Neutral
*

Magic
--------
The Magical Miss Fitz (5079) -- Heroic
Chains of Blood (5492) -- Heroic
A Deal with Destiny -- Heroic
*

Military
--------
Redoubt Operations #1: Fires over Kalago -- Heroic
Red Storm Rising (Arc 4912) -- Heroic
Whitehawks (Arc 49364) -- Heroic
Axis and Allies -- Villainous (1379)

*
Misc. Adventure
--------
The Portal Bandits (3326) -- Heroic
*

Mystery
--------
Blowback (18575) -- Heroic
Dream Paper -- Heroic (13030)
Dream Paper 2: Restless Sleep -- Heroic (16797)
Dream Paper 3: Broken Dreams -- Heroic (13064)
*

Mythology
--------
Atlantis Attacks! -- Neutral (30898) -- Click for Promotional Poster
Anactoria's Descent Into the Underworld -- Villainous
The Seelie War -- Heroic
The Unseelie War -- Villainous
Tales of Cimerora, volume 1 : Of feathers and fur -- Heroic
The Aegis Affair - Heroic
Witches and Warriors (53006)- Heroic
The War of Fate(12220,46722)- Heroic
Rites of the Maenads (61159) - Heroic
*

Nemesis Plots
--------
Brass Reaver: Part 1 -- Neutral
*

Player-Chosen Outcome
--------
Hunting the Dark Dragon -- Heroic
Playing Gods -- Heroic (51106)
*

Sci-Fi
--------
Adventures of the Space Marines -- Neutral
Adventures of the Space Marines 2 -- Neutral
Above Mars - Part 1: The Wellington -- Neutral (13215)
The Final Nemesis
The Adventures of the United Earth Rangers -- Neutral (29549)
The Continuing Adventures of the United Earth Rangers -- Neutral (70237)
*

Un-themed Survival/AV/Time Challenges
--------
The Meatgrinder -- Neutral
*

Puzzles/Riddles
--------
Grim Riddles (#1396) - Heroic

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

14 per arc.

That is why some people have split their story up between two or three mini-arcs.

Hey, movie makers only get 2-3 hours to tell a story, and, if the story doesn't fit, they make sequels or trilogies.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unless they've lifted the 3 arc cap, that seems like a very serious problem.

-D

[/ QUOTE ]
Depends. You can still make more than three arcs, but only three can be published at a time. If one of your missions isn't getting good ratings, you can republish it after an edit, or pull it down entirely (and loose ratings) in favor of something that's hopefully better.

Additionally, if a mish makes it to Hall of Fame or Dev's Choice, you get a slot back for more publishing.

But if you just want to make a mish that you only want to run with your friends or SG, don't publish it. Just save it locally and run it in Test Mode whenever you want.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is like being given $100Million to make a movie, then just before filming you find out you can hire no more than 10 actors, and no wardrobe changes either. Doesn't make it impossible, but you just eliminated the vast majority of stories ....

Gah, this filesize limit is really neutering all my plans. side note: Can different critters share the same name?
for example, 3 minions named "Bob" all with different costumes? or 3 minions named "Bob" all with different power sets?

[ QUOTE ]
14 per arc, 14 total. It has to do with how many character definitions can fit into your 100K arc file limit.

[/ QUOTE ]

Let's say I want 4 different looking minions with the same powers just alternating costumes; is there a way to make this take up less filesize just by specifying different costumes, rather than creating 4 unique minions. Or would each minion need to be created and listed in the file seperately (and need a unique name?), even if everything else is the same?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

But be warned: every custom critter takes about 6.5% of your *total* mission file space. You're not going to be able to get more than about 14 custom critters into a single mission arc - 15 if they all stand in a phonebooth and don't speak.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please clarify; 14 per mission? or 14 per arc (14x5=70 total)?

[/ QUOTE ]

14 per arc.

That is why some people have split their story up between two or three mini-arcs.

Hey, movie makers only get 2-3 hours to tell a story, and, if the story doesn't fit, they make sequels or trilogies.

[/ QUOTE ]

Damn. So I guess I wasted the last couple weeks designing a dozen new factions, over a hundred costumes, and planning out plot arcs tying them all together. lol@me

[ QUOTE ]

But be warned: every custom critter takes about 6.5% of your *total* mission file space. You're not going to be able to get more than about 14 custom critters into a single mission arc - 15 if they all stand in a phonebooth and don't speak.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please clarify; 14 per mission? or 14 per arc (14x5=70 total)?

[ QUOTE ]
Of course, you already got what you needed, since I couldn't find the images at work : p

I made all these screen shots a while back when some one asked pretty much the same question.

Death Shroud
Cloak of Darkness
Obsidian Shield
Oppresive Gloom
Murky Cloud
Dark Regeneration
Dark Embrace
Cloak of Fear

All toggles minus Darkness.
All toggles with Darkness.

Any questions? : p

I love the set, my personal taste. The endurance drain is a [censored] with Stone Melee, but all the smash and doom makes me happy ^_^

Oniwanban is so very, very angry ^_^

[/ QUOTE ]

Great breakdown. Very helpful.

What you've shown there is good enough, though it might still be interesting to see OG on a Huge avatar since that dminishes effects a lot. I was just curious about playing around with a DA concept, but didn't want him turning into a big black blob.

You are awesome! And wow, that doesn't look at all like I would have guessed.

Can someone please post of a screenshot of any character running only Oppressive Gloom. Every Dark Armor toon I see seems to be also running Cloak Of Darkness and Fear, and I'd really like to know how costume-obscuring this power is. Thanks.

I was excited about dual-builds, but I won't bother with this feature until you can use your IOs across both builds. Otherwise just call this the "gimp build" option.

I reactivated my account to check out the PvP changes.

This new mez system is so much better. I love it. Makes fights a lot less binary. Really smart change. Good job Devs.

Ditto on travel suppression. There might be a few things that need further tweaking - I wasn't happy about having to respec my main toon out of Teleport. - but generally this makes zone PvP a lot more fun. Pre-I13, it was a game of tag. Now it's a fight. I'm seeing spontaneous group vs group clusters forming, instead of just a swarm of individuals bouncing around all over the place, running as soon as they get scared they may die.

I understand players who built to abuse the too-fast toggle-dropping insta-kill old mechanics are frustrated right now, but ultimately I believe PvP will be much better off for these changes.

However, WTF is with the DR numbers? Not a horrible idea, but so extremely implemented I can't believe it got out of beta this way. Many powers are now nearly useless. And in a RPG smart builds should still be superior. Dial DR down and you've got a good game here.

Lots of people have reported similar over the last few months. Long threads with no resolutions. Maybe it's just my memory, but I'm noticing they all seem to be high level Brutes too.

Thanks, but damn, am I kicking myself over doing a big clean up of the register a few days ago ...

OK, I went 10 pages back and didn't see this bug mentioned, but it's been on live for weeks.

On a Huge Body Model, there are serious problems with certain glove types. They warp to bizarre proportions. I'm not sure how many in which sub-sets are broken this way, seems a few, but you can observe it when trying to combine Robotic Arm upper body with Pirate Hook or Monsterous. It's like it's trying to use a smaller body type hand on the huge body type frame.

Old costumes aren't effected. Only when you create a new toon or edit your costume will this bug show up. And it shows in both the editor and ingame.

For Brutes, a couple of questions:

Do any of these powers drain more END per foe than the others?

Is Mu Lightning the only one that returns END to you?
And is it more than the attack costs in the first place?
(net gain or net loss?)

[ QUOTE ]
1. Lack of toxic resistance.

[/ QUOTE ]

According to Hero Builder, Power Surge with 3 Res SOs will provide 70% Toxic Res. (unless that is wrong)
With Hasten and Lightning Reflexes it can be up a little over 50% of the time.