Race Through Time
Arc ID: 126376
Length: Very Long
Morality: Heroic
Author: @JohnnyQuick
Help Synapse prevent his deletion from history.
First arc I've done. Any feedback would be welcome. No AV's or EB's.
Thanks for your feedback. The arc is at 99.something%, and I had to delete the customs' descriptions to make it fit.
I take your point about the Freaks; I have them there because I love Freaks! I will have to give some thought to that, though, because obviously, it's self-indulgent rather than plot-specific.
As for the complexity of the plot . . . I'm not sure what to say to that. It's complex because I like complexity, and I prefer not to play simplistic storylines. The story is dependent on Nemesis, he being the antagonist and all, so that part stays. My main concern about this point is whether or not you could follow the plot based on what was said by the contact, found in the clues, etc. If so, then I feel that I did my "job." But if you got lost or were confused about something, please let me know. Complexity, to me, is a good thing. Confusion and lack of clarity are not.
I had the customs all with ice powers, but I got complaints that they were too difficult for some AT's. I went in and tried to make them more balanced as a result. Now I'm rethinking that, too.
Again, thanks for your feedback!
I would certainly love feedback on mine: (and I will give feedback on some of the ones listed here as well!)
Attack of the Monsters of Legend
Arc ID: 82060
Morality: Neutral
Brief Synopsis: Abraham Van Helsing, legendary arch-nemesis of Count Dracula, has been kept alive all these years by gypsy magics, and he's recruited you to help save the world from the reunion of a deadly triumvirate; Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and the Wolfman. Dracula and Victor Frankenstein have combined their resources to raise Victor's monster and put together a plot to rid the world of costumed heroes and villains once and for all. But was there really a fourth member at the meeting between the Count, Dr. Frankenstein, and the wolfman, as Larry Talbot, his memories seen through the shrouded mystery of his alter ego, hazily recalls? There just might be more to all of this than it seems...
If you're a fan of the old Universal monster movies or just monsters in general, you should enjoy this.
My Mission Architect arcs:
Attack of the Toymenator - Arc # 207874
Attack of the Monsters of Legend - Arc # 82060
Visit Cerulean Shadow's Myspace page!
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I have completely reworked my arc after finding the correct set of maps I wanted. Can I please get feedback?
Title: Keeping the Open Circle closed
Arc ID: 26046
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Just tried to play this and it wouldn't let me. I click play and it acts like it is letting me, but the mission doesn't come up.
My Mission Architect arcs:
Attack of the Toymenator - Arc # 207874
Attack of the Monsters of Legend - Arc # 82060
Visit Cerulean Shadow's Myspace page!
Arc Name: Bringing A Lord to Power
Arc ID: 2782
Length: Very Long
Mission Count: 5
Morality: Villainous
Description: Blightlord has a new scheme. Whatever it is, the payoff's sure to be worth your while.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
This is NOT the "Live: Announce You Latest Creation!"
This is actually, the Mission Arc Critiquing Thread. In this thread, it is customary to post a review of an Arc before submitting your own Arc for review. I know this rule is not hard to follow, but people are just dropping them off like children at a daycare.
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This is NOT the "Live: Announce You Latest Creation!"
This is actually, the Mission Arc Critiquing Thread. In this thread, it is customary to post a review of an Arc before submitting your own Arc for review. I know this rule is not hard to follow, but people are just dropping them off like children at a daycare.
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My bad. I honestly should have assumed that. Sorry. 
I'll get on that. >.>;;
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
Arc Name: Dorks & Dungeons
Arc ID: 148594
Length: Medium
Mission Count: 1
Morality: Heroic
Genre: Humour
Description: When pen and paper role playing goes horrendously wrong.
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I've got two critiques out but only one in return so far. This one's been getting a pretty good response so I thought I'd throw it up.
THESE MACHINES KILL FASCISTS
Arc ID: 118731
Factions: The 5th Column, Rebelling 5th Column robots, and someone else. You'll figure it out soon enough.
Creator Global: @Doc Photon
Difficulty: Level range is 30-34. There's two custom enemies you might find a bit more difficult and one EB, but most of this arc should be about as difficult as a typical 5th Column arc at those levels.
Length: Just three missions. The second one often ends very quickly. Good for when you want a fast one to blow through.
Synopsis: The 5th Column is in trouble -- their robots have gone berzerk and turned against their masters. The prevailing opinion is the new Autonomous Command droids are on the blink and have hijacked the rest of them. Maybe. But what's with the strange things the robots are shouting now, as they tear their fleshy meatbag masters apart?
This was published once before but I took it down and changed some things pretty heavily to rebalance it. I much prefer it now, and player response has been even more positive than I expected. Here's hoping you like it.
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Nice and funny for sure. The humour works and doesn't fall flat like some other arcs I've played.
I gave it 4 stars due to there being some grammatical problems during the first mission intro text. I sent you a message saying the same thing. Also something I didn't like, but is out of your control, is being 33 capped for the first mission, 39 capped for the second, and 33 capped again for the third. When the next AE update comes out hopefully you can specify a constant level. But again, I know that's out of your control so it's a suggestion for improvement when the option becomes available.
Certainly would recommend other people try this one out though, it's fun!
The reviewed are is Dorks and Dungeons ARC# 148594 by @doctor7
OK first I want to state I did give it a 5 star. The 5 star came from the fact that I did enjoy the single mission that the arc was composed of however, I was disappointed there was only one mission.
The mission was a defeat all, generally I hate defeat alls since many people tend to love putting them in open map areas where you then spend a half hour looking for that last enemy. This map was excellent for a defeat all. A snake cave. So perfect choice. The mission seemed to have alot of time, effort and thought put into it which along with then playability factor is why I gave it a 5 star.
P.S. I also enjoyed the custom character choices. Again i'm sad there wasn't more to the arc then a single mission.
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Mission I have up for review:
Mission: The Rise of the 7 Deadly Sins Demons: The Fall of Order
Arc ID: 55264
Author: Elixa
Mission Difficulty: Med
Mission Length: 4 short missions. (please note the first mission exempts you down to lvl 28 all the rest up to lvl 50)
Recommended player LVL: 35+
Details: This Arc consists of 4 missions with 6 Bosses and a EB, if played by a single person on a lower diff setting. In bigger groups there will be 6EB and a AV. It will be necessary to free the ally in the final mish to defeat "Wrath" though some exceptional toons may be able to without him.
The difficulty lays with the diversity of the Boss's each boss: Greed, Lust, Sloth, Gluttony, Pride, Envy and Wrath all have powers that reflect what type of demon they are. Please keep in mind a different stratergy may be needed for each.
Final Tip: Most people have had issues with the Lust Demon. Please keep in mind she has a power to blind but is somewhat weak in general. If you suprise attack her and keep her so she cannot hit you with the Blinding attack then she becomes easy to defeat.
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This is NOT the "Live: Announce You Latest Creation!"
This is actually, the Mission Arc Critiquing Thread. In this thread, it is customary to post a review of an Arc before submitting your own Arc for review. I know this rule is not hard to follow, but people are just dropping them off like children at a daycare.
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My bad as well. Sorry for breaking thread protcol.
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I would certainly love feedback on mine: (and I will give feedback on some of the ones listed here as well!)
Attack of the Monsters of Legend
Arc ID: 82060
Morality: Neutral
Brief Synopsis: Abraham Van Helsing, legendary arch-nemesis of Count Dracula, has been kept alive all these years by gypsy magics, and he's recruited you to help save the world from the reunion of a deadly triumvirate; Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and the Wolfman. Dracula and Victor Frankenstein have combined their resources to raise Victor's monster and put together a plot to rid the world of costumed heroes and villains once and for all. But was there really a fourth member at the meeting between the Count, Dr. Frankenstein, and the wolfman, as Larry Talbot, his memories seen through the shrouded mystery of his alter ego, hazily recalls? There just might be more to all of this than it seems...
If you're a fan of the old Universal monster movies or just monsters in general, you should enjoy this.
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I would certainly love feedback on mine: (and I will give feedback on some of the ones listed here as well!)
Attack of the Monsters of Legend
Arc ID: 82060
Morality: Neutral
Brief Synopsis: Abraham Van Helsing, legendary arch-nemesis of Count Dracula, has been kept alive all these years by gypsy magics, and he's recruited you to help save the world from the reunion of a deadly triumvirate; Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and the Wolfman. Dracula and Victor Frankenstein have combined their resources to raise Victor's monster and put together a plot to rid the world of costumed heroes and villains once and for all. But was there really a fourth member at the meeting between the Count, Dr. Frankenstein, and the wolfman, as Larry Talbot, his memories seen through the shrouded mystery of his alter ego, hazily recalls? There just might be more to all of this than it seems...
If you're a fan of the old Universal monster movies or just monsters in general, you should enjoy this.
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Ok, first off I'm a big fan of the concept, fighting these classic monsters. I'll be writing this review as I progress through the arc, so bear with me if thoughts get repeated occassionally.
Mission One:
Your opening paragraph seemed a little clunky. Perhaps some rewording is in order? Also, "he who watches over us." Minor thing, but any references to God, the pronoun should be capitalized.
Wolfie was an alright fight. Looking at his description, might I suggest going to an imdb entry or something of that nature for ideas on fleshing it out? Oh, and when I defeated him you have the Wolfman saying the narration. Bit of a hit on the immersion. Since you have that clue there, it's really not even necessary at all to have it, or you could edit your green text that gets displayed for completing the objective to say it. Either way, I'd say take off the narrative.
First mission was good. Map was appropriate as were the enemies. Dialogue was fine, and NPC costume was good.
Mission Two:
Coming into this one, it seems that each of the unique characters (having seen Igor and the Bride) could benefit from the same suggestion I gave for Wolfman's description. The Bride two-shotted me as a lvl 50 Blaster. Perhaps her difficulty is a tad high? Not too much to worry however. Once I knew what I was in for, she went down pretty hard.
The Mace for Igor was a nice idea, breaking up those Super Strength bosses for something a bit nicer. I also like how you used his dialogue to justify your choice of critters for the map. I was a bit shady on the use of Spirits for it, since Vahz were the obvious choice, but given those annoying level restrictions, I completely understand. Igor's dialogue could use the dialect I think, the whole lisp deal showing in the text. Unless of course that's not what you were going for with him. I was just surprised to read his stuff in plain speak.
Frankenstein was much easier than the Bride when I decided to lay down a Bonfire and stand in the middle of it. He just ended up bouncing away as I shot him in my safety patch. Dialogue for both the monsters was fine for me.
Frankenstein himself was a tad anti-climactic after those monsters, partially since he was a class lower than them. I understand the reasoning, I dunno. It just didn't sit properly with me. But, I realize he isn't the end boss either.
Your choice of map seemed almost too high-tech, though I appreciated using the destroyed one, for the Frankenstein legends. I hesitate to suggest using the Dr. Vahz map, but maybe you could toy with some others and see what works? As I mentioned earlier, though I wasn't sold on the Spirits at first, Igor's justification of them made me feel better about it. I'm noticing in these last two missions your mission title said to find a clue that is accomplished through the defeat of a boss. "Clue" to most will equate to "glowie" and honestly, all that stuff in your mission title just ends up looking cluttered. I suggest changing titles to something more like, "Best the Wolfman" and "Capture Dr. Frankenstein" and then under it in the goals section have those "Defeat 2 monsters, Find Clue (or Defeat Igor in this case), Defeat Dr. Frankenstein, etc." On to the next mission!
Mission 3:
Ok, contact's opening text is short, sweet, and gives a nice feeling of suspense for the mission. Good one. 
Gonna break away from my norm for a second and say that first off I'm a big fan of your map choice, partially because this is my favorite map of the cave styles and second because it fits very nicely considering the CoH stock. Only other I could really think of is maybe the Midnighter's Club map or something from the Patron arcs. Ah and the critters! Very nice. I was honestly expecting Council Vampyr, so this is a pleasant surprise.
Now, your clue ended up immediately next to Talbot. Was that intentional or did I just luck out? If it wasn't intentional, try setting the clue to always spawn in the middle or back, and keep Talbot up front. Should clear that up a bit. Also, does he really have to be led back out? Perhaps he should only be set as needing to be rescued, and will continue on to fight with you (assuming he does fight at all in human form.) Otherwise his appearance there doesn't seem to have a whole lot of purpose or any real justification. He could easily have just gone to Van Helsing, rather than risk capture. Now you COULD justify it in Helsing's mission text, informing the character that Talbot was captured by Dracula for an unknown reason and will need to be rescued. Then you're golden.
Fighting Dracula went as expected, he downed me one, I used Rise and finished it. Again, dialect could be expressed in his dialogue, unless you don't feel comfortabe with it or it comes out clunky to you. I'd rather feel something's missing than hate what's there.
Were those the Halloween vamps or your own (I missed the event due to a hiatus this year)? If they're yours, well-done. Nicly balaced, good fights. One Bride by happy coincidence was very nicely placed from a dramatic point of view.
Mission 4:
Ehhhh, ok, here's where you lose me. And not even because of the twist! It was pretty unexpected and I have no issues at all with the "The contact is the villain" bit. But what DID kill things for me was the challenge. Realistically, I'd pummel him right then and there. Why agree to go to his lair and fight through hordes of wolves and bosses to get to his face again and THEN pummel him? Look for some justification for me to have to go take him in his lair. Maybe rework that text to engineer a trap, but don't issue a challenge while I'm standing right next to him if it can be easily resolved right then and there. On to the mission itself.
Ok, the map is fine I suppose, not sold on it. But the critters, didn't the contact say I would fight the wolves? Not that I'm complaining, these Vamps are easily my favorite of your mob choices, just pointing out an inconsitency. Ooh... Maybe for the mob that accompanies each boss, you can set them to be guarded by the mob type that was in their mission? Just a thought. Moving on...
Is it necessary to make a new boss with the name "Remade" at the end? Just using the previous model should do. Your current system just seems a waste of space. Also, I notice none of the monsters have any text. Seems strange to me. Maybe they could use just a message for when I first see/hit them and possibly when defeated? Just another thought.
Ok, first impressions for Van Helsing. WAY too tough. Is that Energy/Regen or WP? Yikes. And he uses it well at that. Combined with his Elite Boss (Meaning AV in teams, o.o) he's not soloable without pulling out all the stops. And I realize that may have been your intention, but it really hurts the enjoyable groove I had going, now that I knew how to fight the first three monsters and got revenge for my thrashings earlier. That and the powerset choices seem odd to me, not very "Van Helsing" but of course this IS his grandson (and a Midnighter at that O.o) so cest la vie. I'mma try this fight again using just Accolade buffs and if that fails, I'll pull the Shivan. If I need the Shivan, he's definitely over the top in some area (Make him an EB/Boss, less devastating powersets, limit the amount of powers he has). Ok, Accolades did the trick. So maybe a less Squishy AT could solo him, but speaking for those of us who don't have +Def and +Res powers, he's a tad difficult to take alone.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, the arc was enjoyable. I purposely got picky in this review because you could have a winner on your hands with a few things tidied up. In hindsight, maybe writing in dialects would make things too camp, so feel free to ignore that suggestion (and any others really, it's your arc). The idea alone had good merit, the twist was nice even if the execution wasn't exactly how I'd prefer, and in the end boss fights were enjoyable, if only cause I finally figured a good strategy for the buggers. On that note, the same strategy worked for all of them. This may not be a failing of yours and rather that of the game, but all I had to do was toss down a Bonfire, hit BU and Aim and just shoot the hell out of them before they could get up. Alexander being the over-the-top exception (Because I had to add Accolades to the mix. Everything else was the same but for a longer period of time). Perhaps boss Powersets could be varied more between Melee and Ranged and the strategy they use?
In the end, I gave it a 4, despite any seeming harshness in my review. I did enjoy the arc, and like I said, those minor things mentioned above are all that really prevent it from being a real hit with some proper exposure.
Best of luck to you!
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
Hello everyone. Can somone please give my Arc a look?
Arc Name: The Seven Deadly Sins
Arc ID: [color:r ed] [/color] 5568
Faction: Neutral
Creator Global: @Shay 'd
Difficulty Level: Medium/Hard
Synopsis: Do you have what it takes to defeat The Seven Deadly Sins, and save The Seven Virtues? SFMA
Estimated Time to Play: 1 mission, 15-20 mins
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Hello everyone. Can somone please give my Arc a look?
Arc Name: The Seven Deadly Sins
Arc ID: [color:r ed] [/color] 5568
Faction: Neutral
Creator Global: @Shay 'd
Difficulty Level: Medium/Hard
Synopsis: Do you have what it takes to defeat The Seven Deadly Sins, and save The Seven Virtues? SFMA
Estimated Time to Play: 1 mission, 15-20 mins
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I just finished this mission. I have to say I thought the concept worked well. There were a couple of issues I have with it though. The entry popup and exit popup don't really inform you of anything. It was just go there, thankyou and that was pretty much it, I thought that could be elaborated more.
When I got inside the mission I thought that the idea and costumes for the captives worked well. I thought that was the best part of the mission. I was saddened when I went to read about the "Virtues" and there was no text written for them at all. Just the typical boss text. I also found the same with the Sins, which I have to say was the biggest dissappointment for me in the mission.
I like the combination of the ghosts and banished pantheon but I felt that the costumes for both the sins and virtues were too similar. Nothing to really help identify them. I felt some of the sins made sense though, Wrath being a fire blaster/fire tank or brute, and envy being a martial arts/kinetics. The rest of them I didn't think had any planning on the powers, just didn't get it if there was.
The foes were medium to the harder range when we are talking the Elite Bosses, I solo'd this arc on an Energy/Dark brute on challenge lvl 4. This is the level I can pretty much run with. I will say I had no issues with your EB's until I got to Wrath and Greed, those too were tough. I ended up going and getting the "virtues" I had rescued to come and help me with those two. Well 3 of them at least.
I am not a big fan of a lot of helpers in a mission, one or two ussually will work. They also kill steal a lot. I would walk into a mob of BP and hit one and the mob of 6 were all dead. Getting credit for only the one kill.
Overall I enjoyed the mission, I hope the critique above is not taken negatively. I just wanted to read more about the captives and the bosses in the fights. As well as more information as to why I am going there in the first place? Other than just this dude asked me to go.
I have a mission that I posted here a month back and got a review then. Since then I have totally revamped the arc and was hoping someone could give it another try.
Arc# 25911
So you want to join the Agency?
This arc has AV's if you are on larger teams with the settings high. I run it solo on challenge lvl 4 and that keeps them to EB's which are manageable. I am looking for input on the story, concept and dialogue of the NPC's in the mission if anyone can help out.
Thanks
Sorry to do this, I just read the whole critique before submitting your own thing but I really haven't even played any other archs or even done regular missions in weeks. I created my missions mostly by pulling all nighters on my dad's computer sence mine is out of commission at the moment. I'd be happy to critique some other story archs when I'm able but it's a little difficult to get on the game right now.
I have spent the last 3 weeks creating and perfecting (to my standards) 3 story archs.
The storys were originally planed as part of a YouTube series so I had the script allready but sence I had trouble with schedualling and voice actors dropping out because of it the project was abandoned. Sence I saved the script I used it as the basis for my story archs and made a few changes due to restrictions of the mission creator. (as the mission creator is updated I can hopefully add to them.)
Anyway... I recommend that you play through the archs in order if you actully want to follow the plot.
Story Arch 1: Lord Imperial's Origin
Mission 1: Difficult, takes place on Sharkhead Island on Mythical Earth 4 centuries in the past.
Mission 2: Difficult, same as mission 1 but in a cave
Mission 3: Easy, takes place on Mythical Earth in Nov. 2004
Mission 4: Easy, takes place Atlas Park Primal Earth Nov. 04
Mission 5: Easy, takes place at Portal Corp. Nov. 04
Story Arch 2: Lord Imperial's Girl Trouble
Mission 1: Easy, takes place 2 centuries in the past.
Mission 2: Difficult, takes place at Portal Corp. Dec. 04
Mission 3: Easy, takes place at the Zig Dec. 04
Mission 4: Difficult, takes place on Mythical Earth July 2000
Mission 5: Difficult, Takes place on Primal Earth Jan. 2005
Stary Arch 3: Lord Imperial vs Lord Vestereo
Mission 1: Difficult, takes place on Primal Earth Feb. 2005
Mission 2: Difficult, takes place on Primal Earth Feb. 2005
Mission 3: Easy, takes place on Mythical Earth March 2005
Mission 4: Easy, takes place in England on Mythical Earth M 05
Mission 5: Difficult, takes place on Mythical Earth present day
Story Arch 3 Mission 2 unless you're on the easiest difficulty I strongly recomend haveing a team for that. If you are solo the recomended stratigy is to watch the nav while you're fighting the EBs. You have 2 EBs to fight, the second one pops up when the first is low on health then you should be able to run away and go after the second EB, get his life down then you'll have an ally spawn to help you finish the mission. It's not nessisary to do the mission that way but that's how I did it durring testing and the ally is really no use if you don't do it that way.
Play through at your own pace, some missions may actully be harder that I described depending on your AT. I judged their difficulty myself based on my testing with a scrapper.
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Arc# 25911
So you want to join the Agency?
This arc has AV's if you are on larger teams with the settings high. I run it solo on challenge lvl 4 and that keeps them to EB's which are manageable. I am looking for input on the story, concept and dialogue of the NPC's in the mission if anyone can help out.
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Just ran this with my 50 Inv/SS tank on Challenge level 2. Not completely IOed out, but with a good number of Set Bonuses.
First problem was the attitude of the contact toward the player. It was not too bad in the first mission, but the later ones made it seem like the player was a newbie just starting out. Even at the lowest levels the missions can be played, this just sounds and feels wrong.
You have the basis of a good story, or at least a fun one, but the attitude of the contact was immersion breaking.
There was also a disconnect in the story. Even reading all of the clues and the mission text, it did not flow easily. It was especially apparent with the third mission, with the sudden addition of the Rikti. Some foreshadowing of that would help.
The EBs were not too bad. Although the custom EB in the last mission is enough of a pain without 2 ambushes. Especially the second one with the multiple debuffers and end drainers. I had to kite them away from the EB to beat them, and the only reason I could was Unstoppable. They may be easier on a team, but solo control specialists will not be able to get through. You mention the AV/EBs being in the arc, but that doesn't stop most of us. 
Typo, it is interrogate, not interrigate. It is spelled incorrectly in 3 or 4 different places in the third mission. But that was the only one that stood out.
Spawning the last boss at the front of the the map on the last mission? Bad idea. Having to run all the way back to find him is not fun. If it just happened to spawn there for me, make sure it is one of the first encounters you have in the mission details. That may not stop it from happening, but it will keep it to a minimum.
Your dialogue for the last boss in the last mission? Very bad. One reason I avoid that particular group is how hard it can be to write their dialogue. Best thing to do is look at the information on them at ParagonWiki and run the dialogue by several different people familiar with the group.
Like I said, a decent story, although not really my normal cup of tea. The attitude of the contact toward the player and the final dialogue are the real weak points.
My next one that could use a look:
Title: Simple Times
ID: 70801
Levels: 4-15
Description: Talshak the Mystic has asked for your help with a minor clean up mission in a warehouse. Happens all the time, no big deal, just giving someone a quick helping hand. At least that was how it started. Sequel to Future Skulls,ID 4727. [SFMA/LBMA]
Justice Blues, Tech/Tank, Inv/SS
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Fighting The Future Trilogy
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Arc# 25911
So you want to join the Agency?
This arc has AV's if you are on larger teams with the settings high. I run it solo on challenge lvl 4 and that keeps them to EB's which are manageable. I am looking for input on the story, concept and dialogue of the NPC's in the mission if anyone can help out.
[/ QUOTE ]
Just ran this with my 50 Inv/SS tank on Challenge level 2. Not completely IOed out, but with a good number of Set Bonuses.
First problem was the attitude of the contact toward the player. It was not too bad in the first mission, but the later ones made it seem like the player was a newbie just starting out. Even at the lowest levels the missions can be played, this just sounds and feels wrong.
You have the basis of a good story, or at least a fun one, but the attitude of the contact was immersion breaking.
There was also a disconnect in the story. Even reading all of the clues and the mission text, it did not flow easily. It was especially apparent with the third mission, with the sudden addition of the Rikti. Some foreshadowing of that would help.
The EBs were not too bad. Although the custom EB in the last mission is enough of a pain without 2 ambushes. Especially the second one with the multiple debuffers and end drainers. I had to kite them away from the EB to beat them, and the only reason I could was Unstoppable. They may be easier on a team, but solo control specialists will not be able to get through. You mention the AV/EBs being in the arc, but that doesn't stop most of us.
Typo, it is interrogate, not interrigate. It is spelled incorrectly in 3 or 4 different places in the third mission. But that was the only one that stood out.
Spawning the last boss at the front of the the map on the last mission? Bad idea. Having to run all the way back to find him is not fun. If it just happened to spawn there for me, make sure it is one of the first encounters you have in the mission details. That may not stop it from happening, but it will keep it to a minimum.
Your dialogue for the last boss in the last mission? Very bad. One reason I avoid that particular group is how hard it can be to write their dialogue. Best thing to do is look at the information on them at ParagonWiki and run the dialogue by several different people familiar with the group.
Like I said, a decent story, although not really my normal cup of tea. The attitude of the contact toward the player and the final dialogue are the real weak points.
My next one that could use a look:
Title: Simple Times
ID: 70801
Levels: 4-15
Description: Talshak the Mystic has asked for your help with a minor clean up mission in a warehouse. Happens all the time, no big deal, just giving someone a quick helping hand. At least that was how it started. Sequel to Future Skulls,ID 4727. [SFMA/LBMA]
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Thanks for the info and taking the time to run the arc. Ironically I thought I had corrected the interrogate spelling issue before. Thanks about the dialogue in the end mission, the paragonwiki may be helpful as I really have no idea what to write for that particular group. The last boss is supposed to summon at the end of the mission, and it is odd because about 50% of the time it is at the end in the second tunnel and 50% of the time he spawns pretty much at the front door. Not really sure how to correct that one.
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Thanks for the info and taking the time to run the arc. Ironically I thought I had corrected the interrogate spelling issue before. Thanks about the dialogue in the end mission, the paragonwiki may be helpful as I really have no idea what to write for that particular group. The last boss is supposed to summon at the end of the mission, and it is odd because about 50% of the time it is at the end in the second tunnel and 50% of the time he spawns pretty much at the front door. Not really sure how to correct that one.
[/ QUOTE ]
I thought that might be the problem with the final boss. Nothing you can really do to definitely fix it. One thing you can try, to minimize it (you hope anyway 
) On the mission detail page, where is that spawn in the list? In general, the game places spawns in order of that list. So ideally, you would want the final boss spawn second, right after the encounter that causes him to spawn. If you have that, you are pretty much stuck with whatever the game wants to do for placement.
Justice Blues, Tech/Tank, Inv/SS
----------------------
Fighting The Future Trilogy
----------------------
Dorks and Dungeons ARC# 148594
Length - 1 mission
Run with my L34 MA/SD Scrapper on Tenacious. I'll go bullet style here.
- Typos in mission intro. You've got an extra quote just before thursday in the 2nd sentence. Also, thursday should be capitalized. And you need a period in front of "me", followed by "me" being capitalized to start a new sentence.
- Fun premise overall. A member of a D&D group brings a real spellbook to a session, and the characters get brought to life.
- I personally don't like real-world political comments in missions, and your "... otherwise all the conservatives will be proven right..." comment bugged me. Not a great tragedy, just figured I'd mention it.
- I really like the design of your characters.
- Very funny dialog, especially the "Who says walking around looking for heroes isn't a great way to spend the day?" one.
- Baddies could be a little more challenging, but for what I perceive to be a comedy arc they don't need to be so.
Overall I thought the funny parts were good and the characters looked great, but the fact that it was only 1 mission long coupled with the typos and off-putting political comment kept me from giving you 5 stars. Fix the typos and add another mission or 2 & I think you'd have a really fun little arc that would be accessible to a lot of characters.
Thanks for creating and posting the arc.
__________________________________________________ __
My new arc:
New Flame Rising, #161066
Alignment - Heroic
When some Hellions are busted for starting fires in Steel Canyon, a note is found on one of them that directs them to go to Founder's Falls after the blaze. The Hellions seem to be moving up in the world, but who could be helping them and why? A new villain group seems to have come to town.
Designed as a TF, this arc should be good for SGs, people who regularly team, and strong solo characters. It has 4 missions with a very short first one, and the rest containing EBs. Mission 4 has a total of 5 EBs (you're taking on a new themed-VG that's trying to establish itself in Paragon City). If you want to play the arc solo and not fight EBs, set it to Heroic for the EBs to drop to bosses. they will still be challenging, so be prepared for that.
Thanks,
I've given folks a bunch of reviews for their arcs ingame, but this is the first one that I've done that's not limited by the terseness of ingame tells...
ArcID: 119228
ArcName: Hero Therapy! (TM)
Author: @Ridiculous Girl
Level range: Ramps up nicely from beginning to end.
1st mish: lvl 5-20
2nd mish: lvl 20-29
3rd mish: lvl 30-40
4th mish: lvl 41-54
Synopsis: You can't sleep; the weight of the world is on your shoulders from all the superheroing you've been doing and your fellow heroes referred you to a therapist to help get you back in the game...
Review: This is what I like
a non-standard, interesting premise for a story. It's well put together, and the humor works without trying too hard. I was kind of hoping that I'd get clues after each mission -- isn't that what therapy is all about? But the mission exit dialog actually performed that function. Having clues would have been a bit more long-lasting while doing the arc.
The maps are well selected... somewhat gloomy and spooky in line with going deep into the psyche.
The objectives in this whole arc are very well thought out and enjoyable; they are very appropriate for the story. Writing a story alluding to things the main character "did" without actually giving specific is hard to pull off, especially while making it appropriate for many different main characters. This one pulls it off very well. Overall a very engaging arc... I couldn't wait to get to the next part to see what other surprises my "subconscious" had for me and actually had me trying to avoid the end objective to find all the gems the author put in the arc.
Minor technical issues (occasional spoiler):
1st mish: in the mission intro text there's a minor misspelling (I think the only one I saw):
"refered" should be "referred"
also, the Navigation Text Single appears to be missing for the Librarian;
I *might* try to put the librarian in the main room w/ the bookcases instead of the cave, but YMMV.
2nd mish: I think perhaps the allies that were supposed to be in mish 2 got killed. They weren't present despite the entry text saying they would be (and I spent an extra 10 minutes checking the whole map to look for them).
The siphon speed spamming from the Nightmares is intense... they spammed up to 6 and 8 instances on me at the same time. Was that intended or is that fallout from the 5/5 patch?
3rd mish: The allies did show up as advertised in this one (not that I needed them for the PB I was running, but it was good to see they were working). Nice effect on the boss here. The mask used makes her look true to her name;
4th mish: In the final room, The main ally barged in before I was in percep range of final boss and got himself killed so he was unavailable to assist in that battle. The final map is one of my all time favorites! Glad to see it again
Overall I give this a 5 on story, 4 on the few technical issues (some of which appear to be patch related)... I gave this a 5 in game.
-------------
I have two arcs I'll put into the crosshairs:
#1:
ArcID: 7326
ArcName: Avenging the Dead
Author: @Saunik
Length: Long (4 missions)
Alignment: Heroic
Faction: Custom;Family
Recommended level: (any can play it, but I'd suggest having some crowd control for certain areas)
Synopsis: Many years ago the Dead Zone, a metal band on the rise, discovered their roadies used their shows to shuttle Superadine around Paragon city. When they found out, they were discredited and killed. Now Stalwart Records is at it again and someone's not happy about it...
First 3 missions run the full range of levels. Due to the Family having a broken spread (they're lvl 1-40, then 45-50), the last mish gets nerfed to 1-40. If they fix that issue w/ the Family the last mish will also span the full range.
With the recent (5/5) patch, the last mish got nerfed from using the Crey Hero Lab map. I put in another one that has the same geometry but is dressed differently. It has a similar play but the feel just isn't quite there in the end encounter. Rumor has it that the map was pulled due to spawn issues; I look forward to it being fixed and re-enabled. Also, may want to bring along some Lucks due to the power changes that were introduced in 5/5 as well. It should be soloable if you're careful.
#2:
ArcID: 135096
ArcName: Superhero Downtime
Author: @Saunik
Length: Very Long (5 missions)
Alignment: Heroic
Faction: Custom, Council
Recommended level: This one's runs the full gamut from 1-50.
Synopsis: All you wanted was a little quiet time to catch up on your favorite TV show... Is a little relaxation too much to ask?
Janrith
Triumph Heroes:
=============
Saunik: lvl 50 Mutant Sonic/Electric Blaster
Photaun: lvl 50 Peacebringer
Taukezo Kensei: lvl 50 Natural Willpower/Dual Blades Tank
Published Arcs:
7326 Avenging the Dead
135096 Superhero Downtime
[ QUOTE ]
Dorks and Dungeons ARC# 148594
Length - 1 mission
Run with my L34 MA/SD Scrapper on Tenacious. I'll go bullet style here.
- Typos in mission intro. You've got an extra quote just before thursday in the 2nd sentence. Also, thursday should be capitalized. And you need a period in front of "me", followed by "me" being capitalized to start a new sentence.
- Fun premise overall. A member of a D&D group brings a real spellbook to a session, and the characters get brought to life.
- I personally don't like real-world political comments in missions, and your "... otherwise all the conservatives will be proven right..." comment bugged me. Not a great tragedy, just figured I'd mention it.
- I really like the design of your characters.
- Very funny dialog, especially the "Who says walking around looking for heroes isn't a great way to spend the day?" one.
- Baddies could be a little more challenging, but for what I perceive to be a comedy arc they don't need to be so.
Overall I thought the funny parts were good and the characters looked great, but the fact that it was only 1 mission long coupled with the typos and off-putting political comment kept me from giving you 5 stars. Fix the typos and add another mission or 2 & I think you'd have a really fun little arc that would be accessible to a lot of characters.
Thanks for creating and posting the arc.
[/ QUOTE ]
Just wanted to say thanks for this review. I went back and address the grammar problems you pointed out, thanks for letting me know. I find that no matter how much I proof read my own work stuff always seems to slip by.
I also slightly modified the intro dialog to say "the negative stereotype will be proven right!" I wasn't attempting to make any "real world commentary" beyond "some people think D&D players do dabble in the occult." In my experience I've never encountered a liberal person that's found something wrong with D&D. But I don't want my Arc to start any sort of debate on the subject so rephrasing it should improve it a bit I think without losing the humour of the situation.
As far as making it more than one mission that's one thing I've heard consistently throughout the feedback and I think I should say that I had originally intended it to be three missions long with each mission having it's own unique group of enemies. However, upon finishing the first mission I had used about 80% of the 100kb. As such I thought it would just be best to compact everything into a single mission as best I could. Right now it takes up just under 95% space. If they increase the storage size three-fold I'll change this one up for sure but, as it stands, I want to use my other two arc spots for other things.
As far as balancing goes I think I did a pretty decent job. The minions are very weak but the Lieutenants and the Bosses aren't push overs so you can get swarmed. However the bosses don't spawn on lower challenge levels so choosing the challenge level affects how difficult the mission will be by quite a lot.
So with my Scrapper I can solo through at level 4 but with my Blaster I have a hard time soloing past Challenge level 2 which is pretty comparable to real missions. Hope that helps as to why my minions are pretty weak.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that your feedback was appreciated and implemented on the stuff I was able to change.
As well I just finished another comedy Arc that I'll post when I have time to give someone else a critique.
[ QUOTE ]
I've given folks a bunch of reviews for their arcs ingame, but this is the first one that I've done that's not limited by the terseness of ingame tells...
ArcID: 119228
ArcName: Hero Therapy! (TM)
Author: @Ridiculous Girl
Level range: Ramps up nicely from beginning to end.
1st mish: lvl 5-20
2nd mish: lvl 20-29
3rd mish: lvl 30-40
4th mish: lvl 41-54
Synopsis: You can't sleep; the weight of the world is on your shoulders from all the superheroing you've been doing and your fellow heroes referred you to a therapist to help get you back in the game...
Review: This is what I like
a non-standard, interesting premise for a story. It's well put together, and the humor works without trying too hard. I was kind of hoping that I'd get clues after each mission -- isn't that what therapy is all about? But the mission exit dialog actually performed that function. Having clues would have been a bit more long-lasting while doing the arc.
The maps are well selected... somewhat gloomy and spooky in line with going deep into the psyche.
The objectives in this whole arc are very well thought out and enjoyable; they are very appropriate for the story. Writing a story alluding to things the main character "did" without actually giving specific is hard to pull off, especially while making it appropriate for many different main characters. This one pulls it off very well. Overall a very engaging arc... I couldn't wait to get to the next part to see what other surprises my "subconscious" had for me and actually had me trying to avoid the end objective to find all the gems the author put in the arc.
Minor technical issues (occasional spoiler):
1st mish: in the mission intro text there's a minor misspelling (I think the only one I saw):
"refered" should be "referred"
also, the Navigation Text Single appears to be missing for the Librarian;
I *might* try to put the librarian in the main room w/ the bookcases instead of the cave, but YMMV.
2nd mish: I think perhaps the allies that were supposed to be in mish 2 got killed. They weren't present despite the entry text saying they would be (and I spent an extra 10 minutes checking the whole map to look for them).
The siphon speed spamming from the Nightmares is intense... they spammed up to 6 and 8 instances on me at the same time. Was that intended or is that fallout from the 5/5 patch?
3rd mish: The allies did show up as advertised in this one (not that I needed them for the PB I was running, but it was good to see they were working). Nice effect on the boss here. The mask used makes her look true to her name;
4th mish: In the final room, The main ally barged in before I was in percep range of final boss and got himself killed so he was unavailable to assist in that battle. The final map is one of my all time favorites! Glad to see it again
Overall I give this a 5 on story, 4 on the few technical issues (some of which appear to be patch related)... I gave this a 5 in game.
[/ QUOTE ]
hey, thank you for running this... i was looking in this thread because i submitted a while ago and i was going to whine that i did not get a review.
-i do not think anything spawns outside in the main areas of the midnighter club, unfortunately. it was the only map that i could think of with a library or library related.
-the second mission map is a problem in general. spawning of allies and the therapist has been problematic. they should always spawn near the front if possible. but with that map the therapist, who is the trigger frequently spawned in the back, right near the final boss. i recently tried to fix this, but i have not tried it enough to see if it is consistent. i am trying for therapist first and then with further progress in you find the allies. but sometimes you have to backtrack. which is not what i want, but what sometimes happens.
-the little nightmares do spam their siphon, but i like that. it seems they go for the one that set off the trigger, which is difficult to figure out, because they are sent from the back. when you are solo it is a pain. but i like it when the siphon and speed up. sometimes they siphon off a battle before they arrive, which in my opinions is even cooler. 
-i wondered if anyone would ever notice that detail with her mask...
-i adjusted the boss, but allies and their aggression are a difficult thing. he is on aggressive. i wonder if it makes sense thematically to put him on defensive?
but thank you for you play and for the feedback. it is always appreciated. i am glad someone dived into the detail. i just ran it again and found myself going through it too because it is fun.
global: ridiculous girl
Hero Therapy! (TM) - 119228
welcome to donut world - 1233
oh and the clues thing... i have several people mention that. no room. i hit memory cap early, with all the details. constantly fighting with 99.99% memory. if i knew what to add for clues i cannot anyways...
global: ridiculous girl
Hero Therapy! (TM) - 119228
welcome to donut world - 1233
[ QUOTE ]
#2:
ArcID: 135096
ArcName: Superhero Downtime
Author: @Saunik
Length: Very Long (5 missions)
Alignment: Heroic
Faction: Custom, Council
Recommended level: This one's runs the full gamut from 1-50.
Synopsis: All you wanted was a little quiet time to catch up on your favorite TV show... Is a little relaxation too much to ask?
[/ QUOTE ]
Mission 1: **** Off to a pretty good start. I'm liking the story so far. The map was nice and straightforward and the enemies weren't bad.
Mission 2: ***1/2 Had a bit of a funny happening at the mission intro text. I ran the missions on my pig toon and funny enough the contact said "Sorry to piggyback on your storage buffer". Enjoyed that coincidence. The map really didn't work for me. Also, having to look for the signal jammer on this map was a pain.
Mission 3: ***** I liked the map so much better this time around. I'm liking the occasional custom group to mix it up from the normal council
Mission 4: ***1/2 Plot's losin a little of its depth, but it's still good. I fail to see how the mission fits in with what the contact was telling me. The mission itself was short, but enjoyable.
Mission 5: ****Story seems back on track here. The map is a bit long for my tastes. I'm enjoying the challenge, and it's definitely proven to be one
**** all in all, not the best arc, but an enjoyable one.
Here's my arc. It's nature is an odd one. It starts off serious and degrades into comedy towards the end. This is intended.
I've posted this here before, but i had taken it down and edited it based on feedback i have recieved/
Arc Name: Put an End to the S.P.E.C.
Arc ID: 142341
Faction: Arachnos, custom
Creator Global/Forum Name: @PownUnoobs
Difficulty Level: It's not too bad, though there is an eb at the end
Synopsis:Rather than creating an origin story for Lord Porkluse, I created this, where you instead battle his creators. In this arc you are led by Agent Steve as you attempt to bring down the S.P.E.C.
Estimated Time to Play: 30+ depending on team size and build
Link to More Details or Feedback:
[ QUOTE ]
I also slightly modified the intro dialog to say "the negative stereotype will be proven right!" I wasn't attempting to make any "real world commentary" beyond "some people think D&D players do dabble in the occult." In my experience I've never encountered a liberal person that's found something wrong with D&D. But I don't want my Arc to start any sort of debate on the subject so rephrasing it should improve it a bit I think without losing the humour of the situation.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm a conservative and I played D&D and other tabletop rpgs for years. I didn't take offense to the original way you had it, but I could see how some players might have, and then given you a low rating. That's why I made the suggestion to change it and I think what you did is perfect.
Thank you for the review, I'll get right on the typos and questionable dialog:
[ QUOTE ]
Mission 1: uh oh....a defeat all. There is just never a good reason for a defeat all mission. Luckily, it's mitigated by using an arachnos base with no real hiding places. Enjoyed it. The one Con on that mission is the clue at the end. I wouldn't put words in the character's mouth, but phrase the clue more generically.
For example. "Working with criminals, like the Clockwork, isn't normally your style." I would change that to read something more like "may not be your style".
[/ QUOTE ]
I hear that people don't like defeat alls a lot, but to me, there are good reasons, and I feel this is one. However, I may consider adjusting the missions, either in size or plot.
[ QUOTE ]
Mission 2: I like having clickies in a mission that are not required objectives. However, if you're going to have more than one I would give them separate clues. Otherwise it just seems like why bother clicking any after the first.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'll look into that. I might lower the number of them to one... should be easy enough to rewrite a little text for it. Thanks
[ QUOTE ]
Mission 3: ack! Defeat all!! In an office map! Nooooooooo!
More non-required, clue giving clickies. Good idea but, IMO, needs better execution. Same advice as in Mission 1, though. I think there were 4 or 5 of them in this mission and again, after the 1st, there was no point.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes yes, Defeat Alls are the devil! Thanks Ma'ma, you really s-s-saved me this time!
Again, I might adjust the text and remove some of them. And yes, the size of the mission might change. I try to keep my maps small-ish as is, but I can drop the size a bit more.
[ QUOTE ]
Mission 4: Good job on the custom bosses. I thought they fit in with the clockwork well. I did not get the mission intro dialogue, though. I thought the contact was breaking down or being assaulted, but, didn't see why that would be from the mission.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, the mission text was supposed to give a sense of "dialog" between your character and the Clockwork. Upon entering the mission, the contact is supposed to scamper off someplace, leaving you alone. I'll see if I can make that clearer. (if that wasn't your problem, drop me a PM and we can work out what you had an issue with, and how I can better get the point across)
Thanks again for all the feedback, I'll keep hammering down those pesky typos. Seems every time I smash two, one pops up. I'm making headway, but I'll be damned if it isn't the slowest headway ever!