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Blue, you just blew my mind. Mind you, I find your ideas silly and their thought process to be flawed and terrible like your braincase, but that is an insightful observation, and for it I will opt to not eat your brain. Case.
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I see how it is. You're just not capable of appreciating art this pure.
61866 - A Series of Unfortunate Kidnappings - More than a coincidence?
2260 - The Burning of Hearts - A green-eyed monster holds the match.
379248 - The Spider Without Fangs - NEW - Some lessons learned (more or less.)
Well, I'll shamelessly post my arcs first I suppose.
Arc Name: 'Tis Nobler in the Mind
Arc ID: 5260
Morality: Hero
Creator: @LaserJesus
Difficulty Level: Solo, hard
Arc Description: Arachnos has developed a new mind control device, and a mysterious man named Mr. Rutherford wants your help to stop them.
Arc Length: Long
Arc Name: A Career of Evil
Arc ID: 8928
Morality: Villain
Creator: @LaserJesus
Difficulty Level: Solo, Medium
Arc Description: David Lake is assembling a team of criminals to pull off a job that many would say is impossible, and he needs a villain with your expertise to pull it off.
Arc Length: Long
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: Well, uh, I like badges and tickets. 
Beyond that, I'd really like to hear feedback on the arc, whether it's different bugs you've encountered, how much you liked the story, how difficult it was, etc. I'd like my arcs to be challenging but not so difficult that it's impossible.
Arc Name: Rise of the Drakule
Arc ID: 51357
Creator: @LaserJesus
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: Doctor Von Heksung wants me to help him destroy the evil vampire lord DRAKULE to put a stop to his reign of vampire-induced evil.
I've played all 3 of LJs arcs and this one was the most enjoyable to me because he took something that was basically an inside-joke meme from the Halloween events and turned it into a fun story arc.
The atmosphere was perfect for the story from the goth rave with teenagers drinking hemoblood to the final fight with Drakule... who I had to admit was pretty bad[censored] looking. Actually all of his characters fit the vampire motif without seeming stereotypical, even though they were...but maybe that's why it works.
My only 2 complaints were that one of the bosses in the first level was a runner and that he did not name the brides of Drakule in the 2nd. But I imagine with all the customs he probally had .001% of space left, so I will just pretend they were all named: Druscilla, Dragula, Dannika and Darla *nod*
Suggested Music to Jam With: This, This or This
Moving on to.....
Arc Name: Complete Randomness (Part 1 and Part 2)
Arc ID: Part 1: 38882, Part 2: 47623
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: Ok this arc is being chosen because over the last few days I have noticed a rising trend in arcs that being released.... they are half-done. The first story arc consists of me running through 5 maps collecting one item for my contact for reasons that she does not give me. I also do not recieve a clue each time I collect the item so I really have no idea what I am getting but from the mission descriptions I was thinking "Ok I must be building a megamek for this Fortunata or something."
Part 2 comes around and the Fortunata is now upgraded to a femme-fatale Iron Man uniform. Now she reveals her past and future plans. She was gathering the items to make herself a power suit, which makes sense, and now she wants my help to assassinate Lord Recluse so she can take over Arachnos.
I'm ok with that, as the AE simulator is just that I'm not going to throw a OMG THAT IS BREAKING CANON flag down or anything. But here is where the problem is: The contact says we need to find where Recluse is at and she's coming with... so off we go! Once inside, the contact is inside...captured by the Arachnos.
[NPC] Mechaweaver Faye: Thanks for the save. I forgot to turn my armor on.
See that was a pretty funny line because it fit in with her being captured. Well, we find his hideout and from the computer and go to mission #2...where Faye is once AGAIN captured by Arachnos. So after freeing her, and there was no dialogue this time, we get to the end and my brain broke a little.
Apparently Recluse hired the Mu Goddess Hequat to stand in for him. So rather than Recluse being there I had to beat on her.
Finish the mission start #3 and surprise... Faye is captured again. We go through it and I beat Recluse, Faye died in the process, and my debriefing is that now that he is dead she is going to take over and make the Rogue Isles a nicer place to live.
Discussion
*Hops on soapbox*
I do not mind testing out arcs for people and giving them feedback, but I'm really not a fan of people just going "ok my arc is done, go play it" and I walk into the mission and the objectives on the nav screen aren't right, there's numerous typos, their npcs are missing dialogue, there's no clues and/or their custom characters lack bios.
In the end it would end up frustrating the creator because I would just rate it on whether the story was interesting and how much I enjoyed what was there. However my 3, 4 or 5-star rating would quickly be gobbled up by 1 star ratings and negative comments about how terrible it was, when technically it wasn't complete.
So my new policy on this is... When an arc is not complete, I give them a review of what i like/dislike and mention they are not getting a star rating yet because the arc is not done. It's not really fair to give someone a low rating just because, in a way, the arc isn't completely done. But on the other hand, it'd be nice if they didn't publish it until it was.
Anyone else experience this?
Well, the only reason the Brides of Drakule aren't individually named is because they're a single detail. If they weren't, I'd have to do a chain where you kill the first, and that spawns the second, etc. and that's screwed me over in the past.
I'm glad you enjoyed it though, and here's another song to play while playing the arc.
Talia! Try my new arc!
I haven't written most of the dialogue yet, and what little I did write I did after a few shots and I didn't spell check anything yet, but it is mindblowingly awesome!
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I'm glad you enjoyed it though, and here's another song to play while playing the arc.
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No that's being saved for the sequel 
There's only gonna be a sequel if a ton of people play it and make it Hall of Fame, freeing me up another slot. So get to spreading the word!
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Arc Name: A Little RnR
Arc ID: to come soon
Morality: Hero (lvl 1-53)
Creator: @Thornster
Why you think it deserves to be played: This started with an idea of simply fitting a villain I created into a story arc. From things weren't turning out the way I wanted with existing mobs so I created a custom group. My idea was to have mobs with powers completly in very different combinations than we are used to ... and I used energy/electricity as a theme. Anyway these are bored rich kids ... they deserve your attention! 
The text is coming along but comments are more than welcomed.
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Just wanted to show off my promotional poster and mention that after the first few comments I have reviewed my mission a bit. The mobs have way less end drain powers, I have filled in most of the mission text (I still need to write up the mob descriptions), I tried to express their motivation more clearly and I made the last boss an EB instead of an AV so it is easier to solo. Comments on the changes/entire arc are appreciated.
Its 3 missions and I usually pull it off, solo, in about 20 minutes.
I have played a few of the Arcs mentionned here but I didn't come back here to comment them. Some I bailed half way for different reasons (usually not because of quality) but I will make an effort to come back here to comment ... promised.
Made a a little animated gif too.
Oh by the way Talia, I sometimes I like getting exp for my testing so I copy the arc I am working on, delete a few missions and publish the 1 mission arc. So yeah, if you did hit one of those ... it would look unfinish ... but I don't promote those and even if I got 1 star for them ... I wouldn't mind since I unpublish them quickly.
Char Site | My DeviantArt
Global=@Thornster
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I haven't written most of the dialogue yet, and what little I did write I did after a few shots and I didn't spell check anything yet, but it is mindblowingly awesome
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Oh by the way Talia, I sometimes I like getting exp for my testing so I copy the arc I am working on, delete a few missions and publish the 1 mission arc. So yeah, if you did hit one of those ... it would look unfinish ... but I don't promote those and even if I got 1 star for them ... I wouldn't mind since I unpublish them quickly.
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I wasn't pointing the finger at any one person.
Actually, I'm not even sure the arcs I was referring to are from anyone on Justice since the MA arcs cover all the servers.
People on Justice have been very good at telling me if I am just testing/feedbacking or actually playing through their finished arcs
Arc Name: Ghosts of the Bloc
ID: 1991
Morality: Hero
Creator: @Ronnoc
Difficulty: Moderate, 3 AVs not set to Extreme.
Arc Description: A menace from the days of the Cold War has reared it's head, and a group of heroes from the USSR that have made it their sworn duty to protect their new homeland need your help to put the Ghosts of the Bloc to rest once and for all.
Arc Name: A Formula For War
ID: 50512
Morality: Hero
Creator: @Ronnoc
Difficulty: Moderate, 2 AVs not set to Extreme.
Description: Travel back to the final days of WWII's European Theater. Berlin has fallen, and the 5th Column are dangerously close to completing a super-soldier formula that threatens to reignite the war.
Why you should play them: Well, these arcs let you fight two classic comic book villains: Commies and Nazis, respectively. The stories aren't complicated, but I like to think they're written alright and would love to here some feedback on them, as a whole 6 people have rated the first one, and the second only got published last night. The first features a custom villain group, who I've toned down since the arcs first iteration do to some feedback and my own experiences. The second arc primarily features the 5th Column. I can solo both on my blaster with a few inspirations for the AVs/EBs so they're not terribly difficult, either. If you do play both, I would recommend playing Ghosts first, as the last mission of A Formula For War has a slight tie in to it that I think works better being experienced in that order.
I know, Talia, I was expecting to be stabbed for my attempt at humor.
stabbity stab stab stab
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Moving on. ITF, STF anyone?
@hard - @authorised
Little less conversation - little more action please
Arc Name: Hell hath no fury
Arc ID: 37596
Creator: @Ms. Teri
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: The reason I liked this one was because it was story driven. While I like a lot of arcs because they are story driven, this one was unique in the aspect of what the story entailed.
Essentially you were dealing with a super-villain named Scorned. Sadly I forgot to write down her real name but before she was a super villain she was a normal married woman with two children. Then her husband divorced her, took the children and refused to let her see them.
That pretty much broke her down mentally and she took on the name Scorned and is determined to get revenge on her ex-husband and everyone that was involved in the ending of the marriage.
The reason I like it so much is that we have lots of different stories out there right now and they're all really good, but this one was real. When I say real I mean it was written well enough that you could understand why the villain was doing what she was doing and at the same time be slightly horrified at what well... someone scorned is capable of, especially if they have super powers.
Arc Name: When Joe met Becky: a love story.
Arc ID: 3207
Creator: @PumBumbler
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: Because I wrote it. 
The good: I liked writing it for the extension of storylines from CoH and CoV. I don't want to write too much more without giving away the basic premise. All that I can say is that it revolves around the Malta story in "A Titan called Joe."
If you know your CoH/CoV lore you might even guess the rest. I'm not a big fan of 'vanity arcs' personally. You won't find a PumBumbler AV at the end or some specific Justice inside joke. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just like to cast my net for players who know the game but don't necessarily know me, which is likely to be 99% of the population.
The bad thing is that it involves Malta. I already got a low rating simply because it involved Malta...I'll never understand people who rate arcs poorly simply because the author included mobs that are existing in the game, but that's a rant for another day.
The ugly. I couldn't put in the end boss that I wanted to since it was not 'level appropriate.' I made the mistake of subbing it in once I had enough tickets to buy the expansion, but I didn't notice that it said 'Level 52-52 AV'. My poor friend Super Boo (on a different character) went all the way to the end and discovered she was facing down a level 52 AV on heroic.
I'm sure I lost stars for that fiasco. So I had to sub in a Boss level character which moves down to a Lieutenant level on heroic. Which makes the final mission a bit anticlimactic. However, I wrote a souvenir clue at the end that should wrap it all up nicely.
Level 46-50. 4 Missions, 3 Bossy type badguys to defeat (mandatory), balanced around heroic. No defeat alls, 35-50 minutes.
Description Even bad guys need love. Especially when they weren't that bad to begin with. An extension of Crimson arc 'Rescue Candice Boxer from the Malta Group' and Vernon von Grun's mission 'Investigate Devouring Earth attack on Arachnos base' in Von Grun's Redemption arc. Playing those first are helpful.
Arc Name: Web of Deceit: Return of the Red Widow
Arc ID: 53420
Creator: @PumBumbler
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: Again, like my first, arc, I really enjoyed taking established canon and creating the backfill for it. Of course I always run the risk of having the real CoX writers run me over later on, but it certainly is fun to grab a 'minor' character and run with it.
In this case, the main story revolves around the Red Widow. If you're not familiar with her, she (well parts of her) appear in Ghost Widows Patron arc story. Not much is known about her, but I filled in a bit and extended her story a bit to flesh out what she was like.
In this case I was happy to be able to include the 60s style Arachnos for your encounter with the Red Widow. If you are able to get close enough to her I hope you enjoy the way she looks. I would have liked to be able to add the sepia tone effect when transitioning in to indicate a flashback, but that was a minor quibble for that mission.
Normally I don't want to get into the 'OMG the world is on fire, put it out put it out' situations but unfortunately I did paint myself into a corner. In a sense this arc tends to read like a Patron arc but once I started with the Red Widow (If you read her background on CoH wiki you'll understand) I had no choice.
This brings my long winded discussion to Mission 3. Ideally I would have like to balance it like my first arc...46-50. However the inclusion of a central character in my arc is only available as a (you guessed it) Level 52-52 AV. Seeing as the world is on fire, I guess it was OK to put this character in. The interesting part is that I had to rebalance/rewrite the entire mission around the idea that you should be able to do the mission solo on heroic, which you can.
The 3rd also gave me a chance to put in lots of easter eggs and hidden content within the mission itself, so you can spend a lot of time exploring to find hidden clues and text within the mission.
The last mission is also a nice denouement to nicely tie together the entire story, and takes from canon of minor characters in the CoX universe to make it work.
One thing I *think* I found is a bug that may be on the 3rd mission map that has a boss spawn point hidden, in that the boss will spawn but you can't find him. In that case you may have to reset the mission. :P
Level 50. 4 Missions, 4 EB level badguys to defeat (mandatory), balanced around heroic. No defeat alls, 35-60 minutes.
Description This story revolves around the return of the Red Widow, who is featured in Ghost Widow's arc in CoV. ***Level 50 highly recommended; mission 3 spawns Level 52s minimum unless updates are made to the game. These missions may be difficult even on solo difficulty 1 unless you are very experienced.
I finally got around to filling in some of the info for the arcs I've run. I'll try to keep notes from here on out of the ones I run and post them here too
Arc Name: Fall of the White Plains
Arc ID: 2248
Morality: Hero
Creator: @talia rayvyn
Difficulty Level: Solo with Medium difficulty. There are some EB (or AVs maybe, depending on your difficulty) but those missions have ally helpers, so its not much of an issue.
Arc Description: In the final days of the First War, the city of White Plains is under attack by the invaders known as 'the Rikti'. It is up to you to aid Tessa Rayvyn in rescuing her family.
Arc Length: Long: 30 minutes to an Hour. It might be shorter if you opt to skip around the missions. I did not.
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: As mentioned before, Tal did an excellent job of crafting her story around the current continuality of the game. The story was well thought out and flowed nicely. I never felt like my own character was playing second string to her own, even though the main part of the story was about their plight during the first Rikti War. It was fun to read about her interpretation of what happened during the war and the small mentions of the war timeline the arc (like Alpha and Omega Teams preparing for their strike).
Arc Name: Blitzkrieg
Arc ID: 3416
Morality: Hero
Creator: @Mekkanos
Difficulty Level: Medium to Hard depending on whether you're solo or with a team. We ran it with a team of 8, so the arc scaled up really well. It's good for a large team needing a moderate challenge without feeling completely overwhelmed by the difficulity of the missions.
Arc Description: A simple investigation into Malta Group activity turns into a fight for the freedom of heroes everywhere as you uncover the sinister Project: Blitzkrieg
Arc Length: Long: I think it took us about 45 minutes to an hour to run through it.
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: Ive always enjoyed fighting the Malta Group because of their bag of tricks. This was no different. The contact dialog for Crimson was excellent. He had that militaristic tone of voice throughout the Arc. Very confident and firm in the way he spoke. Much how I imagine Crimson would speak. The arc itself was a load of fun. The missions and clues flowed well. The thing I liked the most was the amount of detail Mekk put into the clues and the dialog to the character. Everything was explained without making your feel stupid. I think he captured the spirit of the Malta and their anything goes mentality.
Arc Name: Bump in the Night
Arc ID: 22272
Creator: @Lucien Vargas
Morality: Hero
Difficulty Level: Easy to Medium. We ran this with an 8 man team, but anyone who wants to solo it could do so without much of a problem. The custom mobs aren't exactly pushovers, but they're not a major roadblock either. Its a good balance of fun enemies to fight while still being somewhat of a threat.
Arc Description: Strange things are going on at Paragon General Hospital. Lights flickering, objects moving by themselves, and sinister creatures lurking within the edges of the peripheral
Arc Length: Average: It took us about 30 to 45 minutes to finish. A few missions allow you to skip around to the objectives if you don't want to fight all the way through the mission.
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: Lucien crafted a really nice story and the atmosphere was spot on for his arc. I think a lot of that had to do with the custom enemies he made for it. Not only do they look cool, some of their descriptions are down right frightening. We ran this with an 8 man team on heroic. Unfortunately, do to the way custom enemies arent scaling properly for teams on heroic, I couldnt tell you whether or not the boss was supposed to be an AV or an EB. Either way, there is an optional ally to help you out if you need it.
Arc Name: A Hero's Worth
Arc ID: 51853
Morality: Hero
Creator: @Lite of Paragon
Difficulty Level: Group Orientated - Hard. Soloing this arc is possible, and, according to lite, much easier than if you're on a larger team. It does contain a handful of AVs, but they will scale down if you're solo. It was designed for teams, it seems.
Arc Description: Sister Psyche has gone missing and Valkyrie is asking for your assistance. Help Valkyrie and Manticore track down those responsible for this terrible act. Beware, Manticore and Sister Psyche are husband and wife, and that makes this a pressing situation.
Arc Length: Very Long: Over an Hour to complete.
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: The story on this is very good, but so is the difficulty. If youre not too sure about your ability to solo a few EBs (scaled down from AVs) then its probably best you do this with a team. The ending is a bit emotional, and not quite what you expected to happen, but still good nonetheless. The only downside (if you see it as such; I dont) is that the arc is pretty long. We all had fun on it, but a lot of the maps are pretty big in size and youre not really given the option to skip around and complete objectives to make it shorter. Still, its a fun arc to play through and an interesting story to read.
@Cassie
Cassandra Storm - Ice/Storm Controller
Co-Leader of Legends of Justice
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stabbity stab stab stab
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That is my line.
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stabbity stab stab stab
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That is my line.
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You were taking too long. Stabbity stab stab stab's need to be delivered in a timely manner to the offense.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Arc Name: Formula For War
Arc ID: 50512
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: This story is set during the end of DubyaDubya Two and involves you working with the Allies to stop the 5th Column from producing a super soldier serum.
The reason this story works so well is because it's a peroid piece so it makes sense for either a hero or villain to be working with the contact considering the time period. Another nice feature that is overlooked until you sit down and think about it is that the 5th column and spetsnaz soldiers are all custom. Which means not only do they spawn at any level but you won't have to deal with Warwolves or vampyri or floating robotics which makes you think "wait they need a super serum for what?"
The story hits an interesting twist when the Russians decide they want the serum as well and you are racing against them to get it. And for my favorite part...he tied it into one of his characters (who's like dirt old in modern times) as one of their metahumans back then. I enjoy seeing MA arcs where people not only incorporate their characters but let you learn something about them, and this got it covered.
The pacing was also nice as it was mostly 5th and then spets, which we all know we can rampage through. The fight vs the super soldiers are challenging but not frustratingly so as (YAY) their super strength is set on Hard tops. I can't tell you the number of times I /em forehead when I see an EB/AV with Super Strength on Extreme.
Rage + KO Blow + EB/AV level = BADBADBADBADBAD.
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stabbity stab stab stab
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That is my line.
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I [u]KNEW[u] there was something wrong with Iggy's characterization of Kat in his story arc! I just couldn't put my finger on it!
NOT ENOUGH STABBITY STAB STAB STAB!!!
Iggy, if you're reading this, please correct this oversight!
Thanks for recommending my arc, Arwen and Cassandra! I'm really glad you both enjoyed it, since it shows that my work on it paid off. Anyway, here's an arc I enjoyed back in beta so I hope everyone will like it too!
Arc Name: The Burning of Hearts
Arc ID: 2260
Morality: Villain
Creator: @TheDeepBlue
Difficulty Level: Solo oriented. Easy
Arc Description: Harrier Payne has a broken heart; the love of his life has left him for another man and he really expected better of her. She needs to be taught a lesson, and he'll pay for your help.
Arc Length: Long to Very Long depending on how fast you move through it
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: Like TheDeepBlue's other arcs, this one is a low level arc (It's 1-10) so the scale of the events here is rather small to match. However, that does not make the story worse by any means.
As the description suggests, you are hired by a multimillionaire named Harrier Payne to get revenge on his girlfriend, who has left him for another man. It seems like a fairly simple premise but the story it tells in the end is a rather tragic one. You slowly figure out the true nature of Harrier Payne and his relationship with his girlfriend throughout the course of the arc and I was quite disturbed by him. By the end, you'll have done some terrible things to some people who probably don't deserve it but the arc is labeled as villainous for a reason, after all.
The first mission is especially creatively presented, as you're wrecking things, stealing stuff and taking down goons to try to get the attention of a certain individual. I just thought it was creative to have all these things you can do on the map to try to draw the boss out.
Overall, I'd definitely say this arc is worth checking out. It's not particularly large scale but like Blue's other arcs, it doesn't need to be in order to be an effective, if depressing, story.
My arcs:
Title: Blitzkrieg
Arc ID: 3416
Title: Soldiers of Fortune
Arc ID: 4431
Title: The Rikti Accession
Arc ID: 278757
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Arc Name: In the Shadow of the Towers
Arc ID: 1402
Morality: Hero
Creator: @TheDeepBlue
Why you think it deserves to be played: Ok this story arc is everything I always wanted in City of Heroes. Basically you are working WITH that's right, with not for, the Paragon Police Department. And the reason it was instantly likeable was the part where the chief says "I know this is low level stuff but we are overbooked on crime and honestly one hero can do what a squad of my best people can do".
That is the kind of stuff I like to here in CoH because superheroes ARE supposed to be better than a normal police member but yet we pretty much end up getting stuck working for them like we're an average citizen. Despite being exemplar'd to 15 this is one of those really well written arcs that makes me ignore that I just lost a buncha my powers.
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I ran this arc on Talia's recommendation, and I enjoyed it very much. DeepBlue did an excellent job with his story telling, and the humor in it is very funny without overshadowing the rest of the story. The way he interweaves the canon into his story is very well done, and this arc plays like something that could be in the actual game.
@Arwen Darkblade
Proud Member of Hammer of the Gods and Sanguine Syndicate
Arc ID #86194 "Cry Havoc"
Arc ID #103934 "Dr. Thomas' First Day"
[URL="http://tobyfife.blogspot.com/"]Hero Girl[/URL] - my geek culture blog
Arc Name: Bump in the Night
Arc ID: 22272
Creator: @Lucien Vargas
Morality: Hero
Difficulty Level: I soloed it with my scrapper without any trouble... take that for what its worth. No EBs, a couple bosses. The custom mobs I though were typical difficulty, though I did hear someone else complain about one of their types (I dont want to spoil anything)
Arc Description: Strange things are going on at Paragon General Hospital. Lights flickering, objects moving by themselves, and sinister creatures lurking within the edges of the peripheral
Arc Length: 4 missions, I did it in 2 play sittings, but I'd guess total around 30-45 min.
Why you think it deserves to be played/discussed: Most of this arc is a very well designed custom critter group, with wonderful costume designs. The story, and dialogue are well crafted, and the arc is good fun in general. Its one of the few arcs I've seen that has set up a good sense of atmosphere out of the norm.