opprime28

Go ahead and post your arc promotions for level 45-50 ranges here.

Please include:
- Faction (Hero or villain)
- Range
- Focus: (Story, action, or levelling)
- Difficulty: (EBs? Custom? normal? etc.)
- Summary: (a sentence or two explaining what the arc is about.)

Example

The Unborn Conspiracy: The Council of Thorns TF
Faction: Either (leans toward heroes)
Range: 45-50
Focus: Story, action
Difficulty: Custom group, progressively increasing difficulty, one 2 EBs, one AV.
Summary: A string of recent break-in to SG bases has prompted the VAULT Reserve to test their security system. Be hired by them and get involved in a conflict that is larger than anyone could have imagined.

Go ahead and post your arc promotions for level 36-45 ranges here.

Please include:
- Faction (Hero or villain)
- Range
- Focus: (Story, action, or levelling)
- Difficulty: (EBs? Custom? normal? etc.)
- Summary: (a sentence or two explaining what the arc is about.)

Go ahead and post your arc promotions for level 26-35 ranges here.

Please include:
- Faction (Hero or villain)
- Range
- Focus: (Story, action, or levelling)
- Difficulty: (EBs? Custom? normal? etc.)
- Summary: (a sentence or two explaining what the arc is about.)

Go ahead and post your arc promotions for level 16-25 ranges here.

Please include:
- Faction (Hero or villain)
- Range
- Focus: (Story, action, or levelling)
- Difficulty: (EBs? Custom? normal? etc.)
- Summary: (a sentence or two explaining what the arc is about.)

Go ahead and post your arc promotions for level 1-15 ranges here.

Please include:
- Faction (Hero or villain)
- Range
- Focus: (Story, action, or levelling)
- Difficulty: (EBs? Custom? normal? etc.)
- Summary: (a sentence or two explaining what the arc is about.)

Example:

Speedy's Low Level Hero Training Service (#64275):
Faction: Heroes
Range: 1-18
Focus: Story, action, levelling, and humor
Difficulty: progresses from easy to moderate to difficult as you progress in levels and missions.
Summary: Speedy's Low Level Hero Trainng Service specializes in giving new young heroes the knowledge, experience, and influence they need to be a top notch hero in Paragon City. (It's basically like hero training via the Secretary of State and the DMV. :-) )

Lets make this an easy place to find arcs for our lowbies
!

Ok, we've all seen the numerous posts on people voicing their concerns on various effects that the new (and I might add, overall AWESOME) MA system is having on the culture of the game. I thought it might be helpful to come up with a consolidated list of these effects. . This is meant to be both a safe place for people to voice their concerns over ways that the MS system is impacting their experiences with the game, and also a single resource for the Devs to view possible effects the MA system is having on users that they may not be aware of. Hopefully this may help them address those they see as valid, accordingly.

I think it would be best to divide the concerns into categories. Off the top of my head I can think of 4 that I've consistently read or heard about, but can add more others may have noticed.

Teaming All things encompassing the formation and enjoyment of team playing.

Mastery : The "know-how" players gain on how the game "works" as they level through regular game content. In short, having the appropriate game-playing mastery for your current level.

Economics: : The marketplace and other "drop" or "enhancement" related issues as effected by the MA system.

Content: : This refers to regular, cannon, in game content, NOT content found on or through the MA system.

These are just the initial categories I can think of off the top of my head. Please let me know which category your concern falls under and I'll continue to make the master list as the thread continues.

Again, this is not a debate thread. If you disagree with someone, frankly, take it elsewhere. This is aplace where anyone can voice their own individual concerns for the devs to see. Duplicate concerns will not be added to the master list, though one concern may be added to more than one category if it applies.

Here is the list I can think of off the top of my head on concerns I've seen.

Teaming:
- Forming non-MA teams is incredibly hard to do at the moment.

- The constant call for MA farming teams drowns out any calls for regular team formation.

- having the MA in zones like Atlas, Mercy, etc. have made finding teams of appropriate level range more difficult (this used to be easier as zones were generally level specific, but now almost every zone offers "content" via the MA for any level.)


Mastery

- Many higher level toons are showing a total lack of basic knowledge of the game and its workings.

- The existence of so many "Meow-50s" is really bothersome at higher levels as experienced teams must either tutor these inexperienced players, or the inexperienced players can make the difficult, higher level game content even more difficult by making "newbie" mistkes.

Economics

- the rate at which tickets drop has made once valuable items drop drastically in value.

- the market is becoming "worthless" as there are now two alternative, often much less expensive, ways to attain the rare items people need.

Content

- much of the game content is being ignored now due to easier, faster, higher-rewarding MA arcs at all levels.

- much of the game content requires teaming to complete successfully, which is being harmed by MA content.

- several zones are heavily lag-ridden due to the high concentrations of all level heroes and villains, while others are largely wastelands.



As I said, this list is meant to grow, and be nothing more than a resource. Feel free to add your concerns, or those you hear from others, and respect the concerns of others. The devs can decide which are valid and which may simply be an overreaction to change and/or likely to settle on their own in time.

I'm sorry, but I think Starkraving does have some valid points, even if they've been discussed "ad nauseum" and/or the MA isn't the only source of the concerns.

The fact is, these players didn't have a simple enough grasp of the the game to know that when the tailor tells you to go hunt something, it's not a "what" but a "who" and ask "where can I find them?" Taken as a whole, it's REALLY clear that these players had been PLed at the least, or SOMEHOW made it to level 30 without experiencing and becoming familiar with the most basic elements of the game, at best.

The markets have been SERIOUSLY destroyed by the MA system's ticket system, and that should be stressed. We currently have...hold on, lemme count...influence, infamy, merrits, tickets...that's -four- different currencies in this game right now, with completely uneven methods of distribution (compare infamy to influence, or merrits to tickets) but ALL come in to play in the markets, where the items one is supposed to purchase with these items is equally available to all methods. This destroys resale values on some items and hyperinflates them on others. It isn't a "DOOOM" message to point this out and ask that it try and be balanced in some way, and quickly.

And the truth is that, since beta, MANY people have complained about the difficulty in the MA system and exposure. Dev's choice HAS gone unaltered since about the first week, and about 90% of the Dev's choices prior to that were actually done on test. Hall of Fame is, essentially broken due to griefing. Then the search system in MA continously puts the same stories toward the top, with no real way to randomize it. Granted, some players have creatively dealt with this in some forum-based methods (sfma codes for example) AND the Dev's have accounced their working on this for issue 15, but that only validates Stark's concerns, not invalidates them. The post was labelled "unintended consquences" and Stark clearly laid out what he saw as some of those. That's NEVER a bad thing. At worst, it's a waste of time if they've all already been pointed out, at best it brings to light issues that the Devs may not have been aware of or recognized.

I think what might serve us all best is a single forum thread labelled "Culture of MA concerns list" where everyone can post a single, unified list of the concerns they're coming to have over the effects of the MA system on the game culture. This way the Devs have a single source to find how the MA is effecting the game and people aren't rehashing the same issues over and over "ad nauseum."

I'll go post it right now.

ok, I made one change, if anyone is looking at playing my arc.

As of your test, the EB in the third mission, The 1st Living Creature (Living Spirit), was surrounded by the enemy group "living creatures" which was composed of three other bosses archetypes (Living fire, Living Thunder, and Living Creation) The difficulty was set to "hard" and I switched the enemy group's difficulty to "easy." So now it SHOULD spawn a smaller group of luits surrounding him instead of a larger group of bosses. I have a feeling this will take care of the issue, but I'm going to test it when I get back from work this afternoon.

Thanks for the feedback. I will definitely try rewriting that text to clarify it. I also like the idea of using more highlighting with it.

Mission 3 EB: This used to actually be a chain instead of a group. There are four living creatures in Revelation, and you used to defeat the creature's one at a time, with each kill spawning the next in the chain, a little more difficult. The problem is, it forced people to run back and forth all over the map looking for the EBs.

Do you think limitting it to two creatures, with no surrounding enemies, spawning one after the other would work? Would it even out the risk/reward issue?

I'm a little scared of changing a lot in mission 3 since most of the feedback I get is people loving that map with the elementals and how it fits the feel perfectly, but I also can see how the current arrangement of the bosses would be crazy hard with certain solo archetypes.

[ QUOTE ]
The Unborn Conspiracy: The Council of Thorns 5381
Rating 2 Stars

I ran this arc with a lvl 50 Thugs/Poi MM on diff 3.

Overall I did not find this arc fun to play. The first two missions are fine, but the third mission gets very tough and the storyline becomes so confusing and complex I actually gave up trying to understand what was happening. Contact dialogue starts off good, but then becomes a jumble of stuff that almost sounds like three different stories. There are some spelling and grammatical mistakes, lead in to mish 2; cooperate is misspelt, disagrees is misspelt and "As you" is typed twice. Custom critters looked great and were fun to kill, but they get forgotten in this disaster.

Mission 1 get the energy blocking device, kill boss. Nice and fun.
Mission 2 rescue Shadowwalker, kill Mendior. Nice and fun. At this point everything makes sense and I even know why the CoT and the council are cooperating.
Mission 3 i read the contact dialogue going in twice, im still not sure what she said. Great beautiful map. EB at end overpowered. Extreme bosses passing out SB to other bosses and an EB is not a fun challenge, its a death trap.
Mission 4 another overpowered EB and some Mulch (which were cool), until each of them alone kills you in a second.

This is a good arc for a large team that doesnt read contact dialogue, who like pounding on tough AVs, on a low diff.

nuff said.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm...

Thanks for the review. I do have some questions though.

#1: "Mission 3 i read the contact dialogue going in twice, im still not sure what she said. Great beautiful map. EB at end overpowered. Extreme bosses passing out SB to other bosses and an EB is not a fun challenge, its a death trap."

Here's the contact dialogue going in to mission 3.

" We've examined the photograph you gave us, but we have some serious concerns. This "Grimmoricum" that the Mage spoke of...it doesn't seem to exist in ANY records. We contacted SERAPH to see if they had any record of it, but none of our resources have turned up anything about what it is or why this Mage would believe it to be so powerful.

We do have an...idea, however, and SERAPH has agreed to help us. Of course, they're as concerned as we are. They've arranged for a guide to meet you. This is where it gets...difficult...$target. The guide will be meeting you in the spiritual plane. This won't be the Underworld, but it won't be heaven, either. It will be the space between. This contact, Gary Owens, exists there, save for moments when he comes to the aid of a Super Group in this world named the Inner Sanctum. He has agreed to help you scour the spiritual plane and see if they have knowledge of this Grimmoricum.

I must warn you, this will be dangerous. ."

My question is, can you help me figure out where you got confused? Since it's a story-driven arc, and so far all of the feedback I'm getting in tells is that people love the storyline, I want to clear any parts that may be confusing up.

The basic concept she's saying is that since neither VAULT nor SERAPH can find any records of anything called the "grimmoricum" they're sending you to the spiritual plane to find answers there. Obviously since the CoT are involved the Grimmoricum would be magic in nature, so the spiritual plane's inhabitants will likely have knowledge of it. If you can show me where you got tripped up I can clarify it for others.

#2:
Mission 3 EB: The EB in this mission is actually supposed to be the toughest in the arc. Its bio and the clues tell you you're actually fighting the living creatures from the book of Revelation (the 4 beings that surround the throne of God.) The warning in red going into the mission saying how dangerous it will be is supposed to clue you in that you may want to take allies. On a team, I've only died fighting this mob once, having run the mission with three different teams (two of which were only 3 man teams.) Should I change the text from "I warn you this will be dangerous" to "I suggest you bring friends?" Would that help?

This is meant to be run like a task force which is what the TF at the end of the title is meant to suggest. It does say " Suggested level: 40-50, Suggest TF style team play. Story driven. Roughly 1 hour." in the description, but maybe I should make the title clearer?

Any feedback on ways to improve it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for reviewing it and helping me refine it.

If you get the time and you don't mind running a 5 story arc that takes about an hour to an hour and half, The Unborn Conspiracy: The Council of Thorns is an arc of mine I wouldn't mind feeback on.

Also, if you want someone to run arcs with you to help with reviews, send @puhma an ingame tell and let me know. I'd be more than happy to help at any level.

Well, here's what one poster put up for a review of my arc for low level toons. They seemed very pleased. Hopefully you will be as well.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....part=5&vc=1


Speedy's Low lvl Hero Training Service 64275
Rating 5 Stars

I ran this arc with a lvl 2 Energy/Fire Blaster on diff 2.
Duo first mish, solo remainder.

Overall this is just a great arc. It has no flaws. The missions are fun and interesting. The contact dialogue is funny and involving.

Mission 1 basically sends you to the sewers to do what you would otherwise be doing your first day in Paragon city, but adds some funny commentary.
Mission 2 shows new heroes that Trolls are rude.
Mission 3 has you fighting Lost, my favorite low lvl enemies.
Mission 4 teaches young heroes that they will at some point fail missions. I knew what she was trying to do and no matter what I tried I could not stop her. I failed.
Mission 5 Statesman would be proud. Lord Recluse not so much.

This arc deserves five stars because it makes the most boring part of the game less boring. It replaces the sewers as a way to get to lvl 10 (or almost) with funny dialogue and one enemy type at a time. I became immersed in the story and I actually WANTED to read what the contact person had to say; a rare and wonderful thing.

Great job!

Wow. Thanks for the review on Speedy's Low Level Hero Training Service. I really appreciate the comments and am glad you had an awesome time!

"Speedy's Low Level Hero Training Service" is meant to be a FUN, creative way to level your new hero. I took a level 3 hereo from 3-10 in one run with a team of 6. It's a five mission arc, first being a mimmicked sewer run, second being an outdoor troll fight, third being a Lost "stop them from destroying that thing" mission, 4th introducing you to arachnos, and 5th being a custom group that is hilarious. It felt really balanced both times I played it with a team because the missions increasein difficulty as you level, and by the time you get to the custom NPCs everyone is aruond level 10 and can handle them. they aren't a blow off, but can be handled rather well if you work together. It makes for a fun run, and the premise is neat. The idea is this is some cheap, low budget company that promises to help new heroes gain the "influence, experience, and knowledge they need to be sme of Paragon's greatest heroes." The way it's written, though, it's like being trained by the Secretary of State and the DMV. ;-)

Also, as a nice touch, each missions completion clue is a "page from the Speedy's training manual" that explains some of the aspects from that mission for true new users. it covers things like ambushes, clues (how to find them), escorts, defeat alls, contacts, defeat bosses, how teaming effects difficulty, etc.

I'd say give it a try. Everyone on both of my teams loved it, and the second team had to break up after about an hour but three peopel wanted to stay just to see how it ends. It was worth it in the last mission. Lets just say "Speedy's" is trying to make you feel like your purchase made you truly heroic, and so they arrange a hilarious meeting with some b-grade actors playing the roles of various Coh peope.

I wouldn't mind two arcs being reviewed. One is my arc, 5381, " The Unborn Conspiracy: The Council of Thorns ." It's four missions long, which I know you said you'd rather avoid, but the first, second and finall mission are both able to be done fairly quickly. All in all the whole mission takes a medium team about an hour.

It's a story driven arc so read the details, but includes both custom and ingame villains, and isn't some sort of "vanity arc" for one of my own characters. Hopefully you'll enjoy it.

The other would require you to roll a new hero, since the arc is called " Speedy's Low Level Hero Training Service. ." It's a five mission arc meant to replace the boring drive of sewer runs and still get you from level 2-10 fairly quickly. I think it's witty and light hearted, and the final mission is funny. Lets just say you're fighting b-grade actors trying to convince you they're the freedom phalanx. :-) This one probably should be run by a team though to really replace the "sewer run" aspect of speed levelling though.

Would love your take on these arcs.

Arc ID: 5381 "The Unborn Conspiracy: The Council of Thorns TF"

Factions: Council of Thorns (Custom)

Creator Global/Forum Name : @Puhma, Opprime2828

Difficulty Level: / . 1 EB in part 3 surrounded by several boss level protectors, 1 AV in part 4, custom group has one dark miasma critter. Take him down first (like you would a sapper) and life becomes MUCH easier. :-)

Synopsis: The VAULT Reserve has learned of a string of break-ins to the bases of some prominent Super Groups. As such, they've decided to test the security of their storage facilities. They want to pay you to do it. Help them test their reserve and become involved in a battle that threatens to do more than just end the universe.

Estimated time to play: 1-1.5 hours with a team, possibly longer solo.

Current rating: 12 players rated, 5 star rating currently. Feedback has included " Incredible arc. Very fun and creative, " " I had a blast with this arc. It's definitely Dev's Choice worthy, " " I hated the dark miasma critters until I figured out which critter it was. After that, I loved the drones. I'll play this one again ." and " Just wanted you to know your arc was really fun. Didn't know you could do some of the things you did with the MA. I LOVED what the hostage in the first mission did when you led her out. Really creative ."

And no...none of those were my friends.

I'd love all feedback you guys can offer. Will warn you, the third mission uses the [u]Vaults of Mu [u] map, and people with sensitivity to light and/or bad monitors sometimes have trouble with that map.
Thanks!

Holy crap. For a long time I've been working on a story-driven SG idea for virtue, and I've been working on tryin to adapt the overriding storyline of the SG to work with existing missions within the game (if you ignore the current content storylines and replace them with one given to the SG by me.)

This totally allows for me to actually CREATE my own missions to fit the SG storyline. How cool will it be for an SG to form as lowbies and follow an overiding storyline for the entire SG straight through till their fifty?

Man...I hope this is schedule for issue 13. :-)

While I'm excited that they're letting me ditch my super soaker for a real weopon, could you PLEASE PLEASE fix the frickin bases already?

Give bases some loving in this issue. Please. Some loving. any loving. Just give it.

I see no mention of base issues for i-10. I was under the impression they said i-10 would give bases some loving, finally, and maybe even get items of power, SG missions, etc. back online.


I'd much rather have the stuff we DO have work than get a bunch of new stuff that will likely only half work never to be fixed.