mistformsquirrel

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Qr - if I couldntbtrust someone with my coh password, I'm not sure I'd be happy trusting them with my actual life.

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I'm not sure I'd be entirely happy with the idea that someone would place the same value on my life as they do my characters in a video game.

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To some people, their character has more value...

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I wouldn't use that as an example at all.

This is someone who had serious mental disorders, likely that existed long before he started playing EQ.

(I've got a few of my own, and yes, I have at times been on psychological medication for it - no I'm not crazy, but yes people with mental disorders play these games.)

Simple truth is, the underlying cause of his suicide is almost assuredly the disorder. EQ sounds like an escape, much as I used to use other games the same way. I was lucky enough to have some good friends who kept me from winding up in a similar situation however.

Mental illness isn't a joke, even if the "guy shot himself cause of EQ" line sounds funny - it really isn't.

They do and they don't actually - sometimes you can convince a GM to undo a name change if you pound them over the head with the law.

Other times nothing you say will change their mind no matter how logical.

However it is better to be educated than not; you don't have to be a copyright lawyer to understand the basics.

@AcesHigh - Just an FYI -click on those links, each one will tell you what is copyrighted under that title (I looked this up myself earlier, but was too tired/annoyed with myself to explain):

1 - Text - which means the body of a text.

2 - Music Recording/Lyrics

3 - Text adaptation (I'm going to assume this means that it's a text adaptation of an episode to a print format; but it could go other ways)

4 - Star Trek episode (Unless there's another meaning to "Star Trek 47"; either way, still definitely not the title.)

5 - Same as above - not sure why it's listed twice.


None of those claim title copyright at all. Now Trademark, if it were part of a logo could happen. But like I said - you can't copyright a title. Ask the Copyright office yourself if you feel up to the adventure.

A GM is more likely to crack down because they aren't copyright lawyers either, and have a corporate policy that, from the experience I've seen others have of it, is fairly vague. (I've never had anything get genericed myself; but I have had friends do so - I use proper names mostly so I suspect that's the reason. Rather hard to generic "Yumii" when there are probably hundreds of characters with the name, none of whom are like mine.)

I suspect GMs are looking at a "Shoot First, Ask Questions Later" policy since in many cases, they really are copyright violations, and the exceptions are just that, exceptions.

This does not mean you cannot appeal the decision to someone higher up however. Heck it's necessary to appeal in some situations because sometimes your character predates the supposed violation. (Usually this is when you have a character with a name similar or identical to something added later in CoH - yes, you can be genericed for stuff that's added after the fact; but sometimes you can get the name back since the date on the character is older; still, the longer this game exists, more outside sources will also have things that have come after some of our characters, and such)

A shorter way of saying everything I've meant in the thread is:

No, I'm not a copyright lawyer. Neither are the GMs who are enforcing these rules. Knowing the basics of copyright law isn't too difficult; the more complex stuff is, and music copyright is confusing as hell from what I've seen, but the bottom basic "What can I copyright? What can't I copyright? How do they interact?" stuff is easy enough, and good knowledge to have even outside of the game for anyone who does anything creative in their time.

It won't prevent a genericing to know this of course, but it gives you a chance to appeal; and if it's a name you were quite attached to it can be worth fighting for.

... feels much better expressing information while chill <. .>; sorry again for being snappish earlier - trying to help but it's a frustrating thing for me because so few people believe they can understand the law without years of law school; when it's really not much different (on the base level of course) from "Do not drive when the light is red. Don't hit pedestrians. If you DO hit a pedestrian, don't run off."

Sorry for being a pest about this, but it's too important to just shut up and say "Okay, I'll avoid anything that's ever been used before" - because if you start looking it up, a positively ENORMOUS number of minor characters exist in the major comics universes - and that's not including more minor companies and even webcomics (which are in fact still copyrighted).

Needless to say if they enforce the rule based solely on name - be it for character or mission arc - a whole lot of people who had no idea their name wasn't original (and *nothing* is original - I'm sure random patterns of letters have shown up as dragon names in published material before) would be in trouble.

To a point <,< But this one is.. uhm... out there. If it is actually a Nemesis plot.

Which LISAR shows it could very well be a Nemesis plot by Nemesis plotting against himself.










Yep. Ouch. My head ><

Blah, Hellguard is right on that count.

Sorry for taking up so much of this thread btw <x.x>; Copyright makes me grumpy (largely because of the way large companies misuse it in relation to small companies and individuals - they scare people into thinking copyright does stuff that it doesn't; the idea of copyright is great, it just gets twisted a lot)

Err... Long story short - yes, the GMs can, and likely will act more harshly than is legally necessary; I'm just a very bitter person in this area <x.x>;

I'll shaddup <x.x>

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Well, we have good Statesmen and bad Statesmen, but... Is it just me or is Lord Nemesis evil in absolutely every dimension?

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My theory about that is that one of the Nemesi has actually offed as many other iterations of himself as possible - so the Nemesis we know is the only Nemesis that exists for most worlds. (And when you have an army of robotic duplicates, it'd be easy to make other people think there are still multiples of you)


Of course that's just my pet theory.

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*Spoiler / Rampant unsubstanciated musing *





I have read people suggesting that Mender Silos is in fact Nemesis (his name is an anagram of: 'Lord Nemesis').

So, that'd be one 'good' Nemesis.
Unless, of course, the anonymous letters are right...

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I don't think that's an Alternate Universe Nemesis though - that's Our Nemesis, From the Future.

The real question there (assuming he's Nemesis) is:

A) Is he 'for real'; and there's some massive thing that's been brought down on us? (Genre conventions suggest that there is, and he's the one who caused it at least in part; but then there is those letters...)

B) Are the letters right? Could this be some sort of uber-Nemesis Plot?

Several significant differences exist however:

1) Space ship vs waterborn ship

2) Star Trek IP vs CoH IP used

3) Starship Combat vs Infantry Combat

etc...

It resembles it in the same way a cat named Snickers resembles a dog named Snickers - they're both 4 legged mammals that share the name Snickers.

Think of it like this:

If the above were illegal by copyright, so would any fantasy novel which involved an Evil Overlord and an Artifact of Doom due to resemblences to Lord of the Rings. Yes, you can see the inspiration clear as day - but they aren't an attempt to clone the work or rip it off.

As for the Copyright page:

Here, from their FAQ -

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html#band

How do I copyright a name, title, slogan or logo?

Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. In some cases, these things may be protected as trademarks. Contact the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, 800-786-9199, for further information. However, copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship. In some circumstances, an artistic logo may also be protected as a trademark.


The work in total is copyrighted of course. (You don't even have to register it to have a copyright - once an original work is complete, it's covered; though to bring a lawsuit you pretty much have to register to have a chance at winning)

But the title is not.

Flower Knight. She's in the first mission of the tutorial... and then we see her what, once more, chatting away in Ouroborus?

<;_;> C'mon, give her a LITTLE story at least... please? Anything but more Fusionette (I like her, but not THAT much)

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Power Customization: BABs already explained this. Weapon Customization is step 1, but anything further requires wholesale engine upgrades because animations are baked in.

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I'm wondering if the reason why they hired so many people and have so little to show for it so far isn't just because of Going Rogue... I wonder if they're rewriting the game's engine from the ground up?

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I suspect it's likely.

Isn't that where the "Type R" programmer quote came from? He was asked about a possible graphics upgrade, and Posi said "We brought in several Type R (inside joke) programmers to look into this possibility" or something?

You cannot copyright a name.

It is, in fact, impossible. You cannot trademark a name. (You *can* trademark an image + name combination however)

As long as it uses CoH and your own personal stuff, and no Star Trek IP, you are legally fine. (Whether the GMs will see it that way is another story; but from a legal standpoint, it's not a problem)

What you CAN Copyright:

A Name + Story = Ie: The whole package.

Example - You could legally write a story called Weapon X. You could NOT legally write a story called Weapon X and then involve a claw wielding regenerating mutant.

Trademark:

Murkier, but as far as being in the same industry my understanding is this:

You can have a claw wielding regenerating mutant.

You can use the name Wolverine.

You can use blue and yellow tights.

You cannot combine these things.

So for it to be a trademark issue you'd need the title AND image - which you do not have.

Again, GMs can be much harsher than the law allows for; but from a legal standpoint it is not likely to be a problem.

I do wish people would at least educate themselves a bit on copyright law though - it's not cut and dry no; but it's far too easy to let oneself believe what the corporations say rather than what the law actually says, which prevents perfectly reasonable name usages/character concepts.

Took alot longer than intended to get around to this; but I *finally* got through the 3rd arc in the Undying One series! It's review time! <,<

Arc Id: 139463

War Against the Undying One: Part 3/3 - Striking at the Heart


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This review is going to include more critique than usual, because this arc, I felt, had a lot of good points, but enough negative points that need addressed, that I think I should mention them and give suggestions.

I still think that the overall story is enjoyable, and with work, it'd be an excellent end to a good series; right now, I consider it to be a mixed bag; enjoyable, but at times confusing or even frustrating.

The arc begins with Sidus telling you that the armies of Men, Dwarfs, and Fae (presumably he gathered the Fae himself while you were gathering the other two) are all ready to confront the Undying One's armies in the field. The battle is going well, and your secret weapon: the Vengeance of The Earth from Part II, is ready to be unleashed against the Undying Army.

Your job: Retrieve the Vengeance of the Earth and infuse it with additional magics before it engages the enemy in the field. Right now it's in a weakened state from the previous battle (in part II), hence the need for more magic.

Oh, I also want to mention - this arc is a bit tougher than the previous ones in the series - I couldn't win with Lily Knight, so I switched to Yumii, my level 50 Katana/SR (it was quite easy on her). I imagine most level 30ish characters could handle the arc, maybe even mid-20s; but pre-SOs it's a bit rough.

Mission 1:

Sounds easy enough right? Go grab a Quarry and help it plow through some mobs; that's what it sounds like.

Unfortunately it's not so simple - The Vengeance of the Earth is not a Giant Monster or Elite Boss in this case - it's a lowly Lieutenant. Kind of understandable I guess, being as it's supposed to be drastically weakened, which is after all why you've gone to fetch it.

Unfortunately, this mission is designed to be failed. The instant you rescue the Vengeance of the Earth from its guardian Trolls, several Adamastors spawn (labeled Necromantic Golems). Predictably the Vengeance of the Earth dies in short order.

The story is predicated off this failure; but because it all happens so fast, and is pretty much out of your control, it can leave a bad taste in your mouth. This is unfortunate, because the rest of the arc is quite good; but when your first mission is an auto-fail... I imagine this is why the arc's current ratings are not what they could be.

As I said, I'm going to be giving some recommendations, unlike on a normal review, because I think the arc would benefit from a few changes.

This mission - I honestly recommend re-writing it.

Either A) Remove the mission, and start the arc on Mission 2, with Sidus frantic over the Vengeance of the Earth having been destroyed, or B) Revamp it so that the Vengeance can survive mission 1; but is destroyed or warded away "off camera" (with an appropriate description.

As it is, the mission functions as something akin to a kick in the teeth to the player - wasting some time while not actually letting them accomplish anything.

If we had cinema scene capabilities this might be different - a cinematic with the Vengeance being destroyed could be cool, and properly channel the player's thoughts against the enemy - but as it stands; it doesn't work that way.

Mission 2

This is where the arc starts to pick up; though it does have its flaws.

Without the Vengeance of the Earth available to close the trap on the Undying One's forces, you are forced to rescue the now encircled generals of your army. You must also engage and destroy 5 Necromantic Golems (Adamastor Elite Bosses).

Battles rage across the entire map; unfortunately through what I can only guess is author error, there are a couple creature mixups.

Namely:

The Infantry Army of Kor (Your infantry) does not contain any Eisenreich troops other than the Jaeger bots. It also DOES contain (rather strangely) both Storm Elementals and CoT Ice Thorns the former of which also exists within the Undying One's army, and the latter doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.

Also - there are, for some inexplicable reason, no dwarfs present at all. We're told they are a part of the battle, but I didn't see a single dwarf in the entire engagement. It's possible they were killed early; but I also didn't see any dialogue for them; which makes me a bit doubtful.

However Mission 2 does have something absolutely *fantastic*; and really shows off one of WillTs strengths as an author.

The use of ordinary non-custom critters to create a unique faction.

This is the Undying One's Army, a truly magnificent horde of different beasties from throughout CoH; and a few custom critters to liven things up as well. I won't bother to list them all, but on the whole it's a very neat looking force that fits together surprisingly well, despite having been drawn from all over the map. It's a shame we aren't able to rename/re-description default creatures, because that was the only thing hurting the overall feel.

The use of Adamastor as an EB as a "Necromantic Golem" was also I think a fantastic choice. He's huge, scary, and packs a wallup, but he's also puny enough that he can be taken with a mid-level character and some inspirations.

Having 3 allies on this map also helps - and having a Warhulk as one of them is particularly enjoyable. There's just something I personally love about them.

The only real bad part about this mission is the creature mixup (fixable) and the way CoH handles massive battles (not fixable by the author) which is unfortunately poor.

Mission 3:

Mission 3 is... odd. I think the problem is that Sidus glosses a couple points that could use elaboration.

He sends you to retrieve the Undying One's soul, which he has removed. (If you're a D&D nerd like myself, think "Liche's Phylactery")

The problem is, you aren't given much explanation as to how you can go after this if the Undying One won the last battle. Clearly it's a desperate gamble, but an explanation that at least says that your forces have re-grouped and are holding the enemy off would go a long way I think.

The mission itself is straightforward, a glowy hunt in Orenbega, but the glowies are all close to the door, and if you get lucky like I did you'll get it on the first one. Very short.

Mission 4:

I'd say this is the peak of the arc right here. Normally I HATE the Ruladak caves - but WillT's use of non-custom mobs actually made them interesting. Thorn Vines, Will O Wisps, Storm Elementals and Shadows all exist within the cave network while you head for the Well of the Stars.

The Well incidentally, is a tear in the fabric of the universe, which is how the Undying One (named Koschei) achieved his practical invulnerability. There's a key story element here but I won't give it away (though it's not a huge surprise if you've been paying attention)

Overall I liked this mission a lot - the atmosphere feels just right.

Really if I had to give any negatives, it would be that there aren't a few more Thorn Tree vines (I only saw a single spawn of them); but that may not be fixable as I'm not familiar with using that map. There may not be enough spawn points for it.

Mission 5:

Once again we're missing a little exposition: Somehow while you were un-lichifying the Undying One, leaving him mortal once more... your armies have made it to his Capital; and it is up to you, Sidus, the druid from Part II, and a fae (A red cap actually) to put an end to Koschei.

Unfortunately, you're left scratching your head as to how you went from losing a battle and your secret weapon, to the enemy's capital in what appears to be short order.

Some of this may be due to text limitations, but a couple lines tossed in as "While you do that we..." earlier in the arc or a "While you were busy with that, our forces won decisively at..." etc...

Still, fighting the crazy menagerie that is the Undying One's army is still a load of fun, and Orenbega makes a good setting, though it's a shame we couldn't use something more palatial. (No fault of the author's there of course)

The Undying One went down fairly quick; but I was fighting him with 3 allies and a level 50 scrapper.

Still, he appears to be pretty well designed - a sort of Rasputin looking character; which I approve of most heartily.

The dwarfs also finally made an appearance in this mission - 2 of them off to one side, presumably they'd been part of a battle event. I didn't see any text for them though, which might have helped some.

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Overall:

Good -

When this arc is "on it" - it's really ON it. It can be quite immersive, and the creative use of existent mobs allows for much greater enemy variety than a purely custom group would allow.

The overall story, while not particularly original, is solid - a classic "Evil Overlord" fantasy scenario; which I feel is as good a base plot as anyone could have. (Then again I'm quite fond of such scenarios so...)

Also the character of Sidus is interesting; though there's not much way to go deeper into his story unfortunately. (Not without adding clues or something I guess, but maybe I'm the only one who'd be interested in that anyway)


Bad -

The big problem with this story is it feels rushed. The mob mixup in mission 2, the lack of dialogue on some mobs, and especially the gaps in overall story... they all lead to a feeling like this was dumped out before it was ready.

Which is unfortunate, as it hurts what is overall a solid design, barring that first mission.

Overall - Overall I recommend a playthrough if you've played and liked the previous two arcs, so that you have "The End"; however this is with the warning that the ending is a bit marred in places, and I probably wouldn't recommend it just yet if it stood on it's own.

If taken wholly by itself, I'd probably rather PM the author with suggestions - but since this does have the strength of the previous offerings to stand on, I can give it a cautious recommendation - one that acknowledges the flaws and celebrates the positives.

Sorry again for taking so long to do this >.< I intended to be done much sooner but I needed to get away from fantasy stuff so I wouldn't overload.

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Well, we have good Statesmen and bad Statesmen, but... Is it just me or is Lord Nemesis evil in absolutely every dimension?

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My theory about that is that one of the Nemesi has actually offed as many other iterations of himself as possible - so the Nemesis we know is the only Nemesis that exists for most worlds. (And when you have an army of robotic duplicates, it'd be easy to make other people think there are still multiples of you)


Of course that's just my pet theory.

That's one of my favorite parts about them <'x'> But then maybe that's just me <,<

They don't look like any of the Bane though, not that I remember anyway.

Thrax were huge and bulky.

Hunters might have been the closets, but they had digitrade legs and a totally different head structure.

The sniper ones didn't bear any resembelence at all either.

Hrmm... I'm not really thinking of any Bane that resemble Rikti; though some of their ship designs certainly shared characteristics - Bane Drop ships and Rikti Dropships have a few things in common; and I think the Striders could pretty much be picked up and inserted into the Rikti here and you'd not notice them being too out of place (with a slight facelift of course - not a lot though, just a few minor touchups)

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If we ever get Rikti costume bits (not just the weapons - I mean like actual customizable Rikti parts... I know, not likely), I'm so doing a Rikti character of my main >.> just because.

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Yeah, but a Rikti with cat ears is just gonna look weird, y'know?

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>.> not if they're big metal cat ears <o.<>

*edit*

@Inokis - Believe me, I want it too! That'd be great!

Especially if we get to control Drones. I LOVE the drones ><;

If we ever get Rikti costume bits (not just the weapons - I mean like actual customizable Rikti parts... I know, not likely), I'm so doing a Rikti character of my main >.> just because.

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Attack Squirrels Mastermind Set.




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Particularly efficient against Nemesis...

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Obligatory link. We also need Squirrel Blast and Squirrel Armor.

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<._.>b this gets my unconditional squirrely support.

For me all I ask is this:

MOAR.

In general.

There are few things they could add that I would not enjoy in some capacity.

New zones? I'm there.

Old zones revamped? I'm there.

New costumes? There's a reason I hoard Halloween salvage ya know; and it's not because I have a burning need to dress up like Hamidon or States.

New powers? Always a plus.

New game systems? Barring a few very odd choices that I find highly unlikely - bring em on. Inventions went through better than I could have imagined; Architect is a blast...

Long story short - More COX = More fun for me.

(PS: Power customization and more weapon options would be a high one on my list though...)

Yeah >_< I've been lazy of late and been leveling another character rather than Lily Knight! I will definitely review the 3rd one soon though!

<^_^> thanks or making em, it's been a good time so far; and something I hope to see more players try.

Twisting the AE into something totally non-CoH based is fun <,<

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What always makes me grimace every single time I log on is the big CoH splash screen prior to the log on window.

I cringe seeing Statesman's half mask helmet thing and his one lazy eye staring out from under it in the foreground.

I can imagine my friends who are committed to other MMORPG's trying out the game, and just laughing their butt off at our game's main character.

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>.> I thought we already did this ourselves...

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I wonder what this expansion will break.

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Can't be any worse than the bugs they apparently got in I14 beta. I heard at one point they managed to break levelling entirely - you'd go to a trainer to get new powers and stuff and it simply wouldn't let you.

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Wow <'x'>

The worst I14 bug I saw before launched was one where every time you clicked Edit, you'd crash to desktop. Every. Single. Time.

Makes working on a story arc kind of tough <,<

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True. They couldn't "kill" it with MA, so they're taking more drastic measures!

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Castle : "Drat it, Positron ! First we give them Mission Architect, then we give them Going Rogue, and they STILL keep playing !"

Positron : "I know ! This time, we'll send them money ! Surely THAT will drive them off !"

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ZOMG MY HUNDRED DOLLAR BILLS ARE NOT BRAND NEW FROM THE BANK!!!!11111

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

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Minx (She just needs help)

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Heyheyhey >.> That's my SG's mascot you're talking about <o.<>m

Time for another review! (Had to have a break in there somewhere so I could avoid burnout hehe <@_@&gt

Arc ID: 98754

Name: War Against the Undying One, Part 2/3: Drawing on the South

This arc continues your mission, at the behest of the strange dwarf Sidus, to rally the world's armies against the Undying One.

In this case - your objective is to rally the major southern powers to your cause; largely the Eisenreich; a technomagical society that uses rune-engraved firearms and brass golems - and the scattered tribes of the Dun Uidoc.

The first mission sets you against the Dun Uidoc, a tribe driven from their homes in the north by the Undying One's growing power. They've sought refuge in the south, but many nations have simply turned them away, or worse - made them slaves.

So it is you are sent to quell a slave rebellion in one of the Eisenreich's territories. The goal is to capture the leaders of the rebellion and convince them to follow your plan - a plan that should draw the Eisenreich into the conflict against the Undying One.

The mission is straightforward, and you get an oddball surprise in the first mission: some of the mobs have stolen 'technomagical rifles' - which translates into giving them the Nemesis Blunderbuss as a weapon. It works out surprisingly well.

As a warning: Engage the Choppers first however - the Militia (the gun users) are tougher, and the Choppers have a Hold power, although it's rarely used if you're in melee right away. (They fight with an axe, hence the name)

This mission is, largely, a bit tedius. It's not horrible and it makes sense, but finding all 3 leaders and the 2 crates you must destroy is a bit difficult. Most missions are substantially better than this, thankfully.

Sidus now informs you that the slaves you captured/now freed armed with your information were in the path of the Screyan Red Army, and now the Eisenreich force headed to subdue the slaves should run right into them. The goal, according to Sidus, is for you to save the Eisenreich commander so -

A) He'll be impressed with the danger posed by the Undying One's forces

B) In saving him you'll earn some respect and thus perhaps actually be listened to

C) The Dun Uidoc will also step in to help smooth over the slave rebellion situation - the goal being that although neither they nor Eisenreich will trust each other, they must stand together if we're to succeed.

This map is very very active - lots of patrols. You'll commonly find yourself fighting 2 or 3 patrols at once; so you're going to have to be willing to do some hit and run - especially if you're lower level. Thankfully most of the enemies are melee'ers, so squishies have a good chance of just kiting them (aside from the throwing knives; which hurt, but can generally be lived with.)

Other than that it's very straightforward: Grab the commander, who'll help you fight if you save him first; and then defeat the enemy commander (or vice versa).

Surprisingly, I had a lot of fun with this mission even though it was very simple - I think because all the patrols and battles kept things feeling lively.

A side note: Very good use of Nemesis troops here - the Eisenreich troops are all represented by Nemesis soldiers, and it fits quite well.

As for the Screyans, they seem to be a combination of Medieval Russia and Lord of the Rings fallen humans They look pretty decent overall; and you get a real feel in this mission that you're facing a horde, since as I said, you'll commonly be outnumbered by more than you're used to.

I will note that this mission, for me, spawned only Minions, barring one exception. Don't think the enemy group is all minions though - the patrols and Battles just seem to spawn nothing but Minions is all; but several Lts. do exist, you'll see them later.

Once you've defeated the enemy commander and secured the Eisenreich commander, you're done; though you may feel like sticking around to bash some more baddies, as it's quite entertaining (at least it was for me).

When you return, Sidus informs you that although you defeated that group; now that the Screyans are on the trail, they've just sort of barged into the Eisenreich proper. They appear to be a very aggressive group.

At any rate, they've attacked a supply depot within the Eisenreich, and to further drive the point home, you need to save the Eisenreich commander here and defeat the Screyan commander once more. The choice of map here is... odd. The Midnighter Club makes some sense, and a little explanation for the seemingly electric lights are given, but it feels a bit odd.

Nevertheless, I couldn't think of a better choice either, so I didn't bother mentioning it ultimately.

This is a very fast mission so I won't go any further with it, suffice to say, it's short and sweet and you're likely to encounter a few of those Lts. I mentioned at last.

You return, and Sidus is both thrilled with your success... and extremely annoyed.

While you were gone, one of the Dun Uidoc druids; Keelin, ran off into some local caves to commune with a fungas-man druid. Apparently they get along quite well. Sidus however is quite irritated, as the druid in question is one of the few things keeping the Dun Uidoc working with the Eisenreich; and she hasn't returned.

This mission is pretty much the set up for Mission 5; and I don't want to spoil the surprise there, suffice to say the mission is a simple Brown Caves mission with 2 rescues and a destructable object. Simple and fast, though the last bit may require backtracking. (It didn't for me; but knowing the spawn system... it could.)

Mission 5 makes the entire arc. If it wasn't necessary to give you the other missions to lead up to this point, I'd just say "Make this the whole arc" - but they are, and the other missions aren't really bad at all; it's just that the 5th mission grossly overshadows them.

I won't give away the surprise, but there's an optional Ally here guarded by Trolls (Bedrock of the Devouring Earth) that will turn the entire thing on it's head.

(Though I will say you may as well consider you have it; because nothing is going to stay alive long except the final boss)

Speaking of the final boss - unless you're 35+ I would recommend against facing him alone. He is TOUGH - not a custom mob; but a COT mage I've never faced before. It's an EB with enough damage reduction that I'd never have been able to kill him before; and the aforementioned ally even took some time to kill him.

Still, it makes sense given that the individual in question is supposed to be extremely powerful, and you are given an immensely strong ally to make it doable; so that's mostly just a warning.

Overall:

I won't recommend this quite as highly as the first, though I still think it's a great deal of fun. The big problems here are that CoH doesn't handle large scale field-battles between two armies particularly well; and so they can feel a twinge stale at times. There's also less atmosphere than in the first arc.

However - on the upside it has a very clever use of Nemesis troops; some other mobs you won't expect to see; and serves as a capable lead in to Part III; which is going to be the final showdown.

As always, I haven't finished all 3 parts yet, so while I recommend doing this; I can't say if Part III will be worth a darn or not (though at this point I'm pretty sure it will be quite good!)

All told - This is what I'd consider a slightly above average D&D adventure. If it were left on it's own it would be rather flat and dull, but because of the tie in to the previous arc, it works well. It's the "Middle Film" in the trilogy I guess you'd say, so it's expected to be a little less than the first and third.

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be ready to review part III!

Myself - 2d art/animation are my favorites

That said, every format can be used to an absolutely astounding degree by the right artist.

[ QUOTE ]
I am highly supportive of giving melee sets a ranged attack, insofar as I recognize that there's a legitimate interest in preventing players from hover-blasting helpless mobs into oblivion.

However, I want those ranged attacks to be comparable to the ranged attacks given to other melee mobs in the game. For that matter, I'm not even sure that the ranged attacks are comparable with the ranged powersets.

Brutes, scrappers, and tanks are going to power through practically anything; I'm frankly not worried about balancing my missions for them. However, story-focused, text-heavy arcs are best seen solo, and I want my arc to be soloable by as many characters as possible. Prior to the change, a mid-teens defender could solo my arc on Heroic, playing normally (i.e., no hover-blasting or the like). That's no longer the case.

And no, I don't want to use the same old enemies that people fight in regular missions. A custom look to the critters, along with custom descriptions, are vital to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Complete and total agreement.

Thanks dugfromtheearth! I appreciate you finding those for me! I'll see what I think later (gotta take a break from the COH tonight or I'll burn myself out <T_T&gt tomorrow however...

<(III)> It is back to the depths of the nefarious dungeons of our superhero game!