And even if we wrote farm arcs, people would just be farming Behemoths anyway.
Changes made to "The Amulet of J'gara": Toned down the allies in mission 5.
* Avatar of Strength lost Slice, 5 attacks is plenty for him.
* Avatar of Initiative traded Empathy for Fire Manipulation and Fire Blast for Fire Assault.
* Avatar of Balance traded Dark Miasma for Empathy.
Having two healers available and such powerful debuffs made the battle with Mindskewer too easy was a common issue raised. I hope this finally addresses it.
@GlaziusF
Playin' this one on a DB/fire brute, mid 40s, diff 2 for actual boss fights.
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Ah, mad science. Always fun to work with. Just so happy to be doin' what they're doin'.
The shopping list and various other gear are just kinda begging for a "mission start clue".
I was expecting a mandatory fight with Dr. Aeon with this posse in tow. I mean, I get a fight, but the way the mission's structured means that what I have to do to get it completes the mission.
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Oh boy it's time to go look at dystopia I can't wait.
Why can't any of the futures we go look at ever be utopias? Why do they all have to be Red Atlas?
(here's a plus though, Red Atlas is really easy to find stuff in, it's all round agony hall PROTIP)
So the apocalypse is gonna be DE-flavored with Rikti and CoT mix-ins? This one, anyway?
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So... now I'm a gofer. There's got to be something here she's not telling me.
Ah, that's what she's not telling me. Because it's something I'm telling myself. SNOOP MODE ON.
Oh no, DHMO! I hear that stuff'll level houses if used properly.
The glowies here can't seem to make up their minds about whether to dump the interesting asides into the system message or into my clue tab.
Also, the fridge really needs purple stuff and Sunny D.
So, kind of hilarious - the vocal guards on the explosives end up on the other side of the room entirely via the usual spawn group hijinks.
Hilariously Tiny Nitpick: can you set up the objectives so the portal component is the last thing that drops?
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Huh. Go into a bunker and load stuff onto a memory stick? This is sounding like some other Lazarus.
Pretty nice, the chained objectives work really well here under the pretense of restoring power to the system.
It looks like in the future all villain groups will be simplified into one faceless legion as powerful as they are generic.
Actually I don't know what to think about these guys, but I kinda sympathize with their predicament. They're like trapped space marines except instead of an alien it's my swords ventilating their ribcage. Wonder what the bossman will make of me.
Ah, he's gone stir crazy. Okay.
Hmm. Survival horror games tend to date-stamp all their logs. I think you can spare the characters here, right? Especially since people can encounter the files in any order.
Uh, kid? I know we're working together and all but I'm still a villain here. Do you really want to spell out for me how much you care about your mom, who she is, and where I can find her?
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Now what was that password? L-triangle-R-triangle?
Oh, hello little currently-not-glowing bomb. You're not ominous at all.
I go up an elevator and see like four of 'em planted in a room. Getting a very Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight vibe here.
Hmm.
Okay, when I take her to the door, is she supposed to step out? Because she's still following me around and the mook squad that just staged an ambush seems to think that she's gone off-site.
If mommy dearest is still tagging along when I hit the last bomb it makes sense that I need to drop the raid guy, but what's blocking me from getting out on my own again? Maybe he's got an ECM rig or something?
---
Storyline - ***. I'm really not seeing the "parallel" here. It feels "orthogonal". Maybe because the last time I played the other one it was still in beta. But missions 2 and 3 really feel like unnecessary cameos when I consider the upshot of the arc, which is a techno genius building a time portal to save her mom. The test run to the future and the gofer run seem... well, reasonable but not necessary. They don't hurt but they don't help either.
Design - ****. This is more of a "6 -2" rating, because it really uses the new chaining well, but there are like 8 models for the group that cameos in the first mission and never shows up again and 3 models for the group that's opposition in the last two. Seems a bit wrongly weighted there. I realize it's supposed to be a faceless government organization, but Crey and Malta both do variety with their MIBs.
Gameplay - *****. Either I got very lucky or there was a lot of time and care put into reasonably locating all the chainables. Only real frustration was some terminals in mission 4 located in a generally enemy-free region of the room.
Detail - ****. Serviceable detail, plus points for the investigables in mission 3, minuses for stock descriptions on stuff like the Nagans and Mission 4 Agency that the mission logic tells me I'm not supposed to understand.
Overall - ****. A well-crafted arc that makes some well-realized choices I happen to not agree with.
Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?
My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)
Yeah, Allies and Escorts have a new bug. Allies set to Wander or Do Nothing will start following you anyway and Escorts set to Exit Mission will not do so.
I really wish they'd add a "Return to Exit" detail, I guess for here the boss having some sort of jamming equipment would work.
[ QUOTE ]
minuses for stock descriptions on stuff like the Nagans and Mission 4 Agency that the mission logic tells me I'm not supposed to understand.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well the Agency you have a bit of a point for, but I'm not going to make duplicates of the Nagans just to change their descriptions, which I would have to as I don't have enough room in the arc to overwrite them all. (Adding a new description to a boss/ally spawn only overwrites what the player sees, it does not overwrite the description built into the critter so the storyarc file ends up bloated.)
Changes made to "Of Futures Past":
* Cobalt Stinger now has "Ask About This Contact" info.
* Added Mission 1 Start Clue: Cobalt's Shopping List.
* The fight with Dr. Aeon in misson 1 is now required. Seems everyone was electing to fight him anyway and you have plenty of backup.
* Cut down on some of the extraneous clues in mission 3, moved their text to the objective complete text.
* Removed the buggy explosives detail from mission 3.
* Added timestamps to the mission 4 clues like GlaziusF suggested.
* Expanded the Ubermensch's dialog in mission 4.
* Alina Ivanov in mission 5 is now set to continue following you after attempting to lead her out. Revised the dialog of all ambushes and the Raid Leader to reflect this. However since the escort objective is technically completed, if she is defeated after this point the arc will not fail.
* Raid Leader in mission 5 now explains in his dialog why you cannot leave without defeating him first.
@GlaziusF
Playing this, perhaps inadvisably, on a mid-teens Peacebringer on diff 2. Lets see how it goes.
Ooh, its a swat guy. Hi, swat guy! He needs a description.
Alright, time to climb aboard a non-responding ship. This always goes well!
Huh. The Sky Raiders are handling these guys pretty nice. The force fields help even with radiation.
Ships really deserted. I like that wrinkle in I15.
The boss himself is a nice visual, though the self heal is a little annoying.
Interesting setup. Lets see where it goes from here.
Warriors warehouse, Warriors, various magical artifacts
looks pretty standard.
Oh! Its that one lady from that one arc! Im not going to go inside my head again, am I? That was an arc-specific powerup, I think.
But okay. Smuggling irradiated meteor fragments from Bloody Bay in the hopes of
I guess thats what the rest of the arcs going to find out, huh?
Oh! This is going to be an interesting little diversion.
Heh. Yep. Tiny little monster stomp. Good times, good times.
Hmm. Technically, the bodies you go after here should turn on when you free the Chain guy, not when you click the coffin.
Any chance you could either pick a different map or cut down on the body count? It was really quite frustrating poking around that three-tiered room trying to find things hidden inside offices, behind desks, and under stairs.
Huh. When they were talking Moth Cemetary I was thinking of that one cemetary map with the moat and the island. Guess its just a cave? Just as well, I suppose.
Oh, I get backup from the Legacy Chain and the Midnight Squad on this? Keen.
Huh. I see the spectral Midnighter and I get all excited, like this is some specific dude, but his bio is very generic-sounding. Ive never encountered these things fighting the Midnighters before.
Hmm. Shamans casting and mooks digging. Did you put this together specially or is it one of the new Banished Pantheon in-mission animations?
Some more of that guy from the first mission, and then a boss room thats basically three mask fights, which would be kinda interesting if I hadnt already busted through a bunch of masks just getting here. Go go diff 2!
Storyline - ****. Solid, no real problems, but the one overriding question I had was how do the Pantheon plan to CONTROL the army of Shivans, exactly? I get that the rituals involved
somehow
and I know a SWAT guy wouldnt have a clue. Maybe one of the guys in mission 5 can drop something off. Also, while its fun to take down a big guy with some backup in mission 3, I dont really gain anything for it, plot-wise, aside from finding out another villain is busting out of jail, which is pretty much de rigeur. Im aware the Shivans are involved, I fought them in mission 1.
Design - *****. Good use of allies and empty space, and an interesting custom enemy, though theres just the one of them. (Well, two counting Mindskewer but Ive seen her before.)
Gameplay - ****. Rummaging around that three-tier room was just tortuous. It has so many little tiny missable places to hide things!
Detail - ***. I know youve got room for em, so why not give all your special allies/talky enemies little bios? Not the BP masks so much, but the Legacy Chain guys who serve as allies/hostages, the Warrior troop commander, the SWAT sergeant
Overall - ****. A couple little gameplay frustrations, a solid story that needs a little more polish, and a cast of characters with stock descriptions that I wanted to find out more about.
Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?
My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)
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I was taking a look at the arc and... wtf. HOW DID THE MAP GET CHANGED?| Any chance you could either pick a different map or cut down on the body count? It was really quite frustrating poking around that three-tiered room trying to find things hidden inside offices, behind desks, and under stairs. |
Grrr.... That was not the map I was using when I made this arc. This isn't the first time I've seen this happen when they patched MA. It's set back to the correct map now and I've cut out about half of the bodies. I also changed it so only the first body is required, once you defeat Lughebu's Avatar and secure the meteor shards the mission will end. I changed the mission success pop-up to tell that more Legacy Chain have arrived and are taking care of any remaining Pantheon while you radio the contact.
Changes made to "All Consuming":
* Replaced the Avatar of Lughebu in the final mission with a new custom boss.
Changes made to "MacGuffin Delivery Service":
* Took a few powers away from Amanita Infernis. She was a bit overpowered for an ally.
Changes made to "Of Futures Past":
* Reduced the number of bombs in mission five from 6 to 4 and cut their interact time from 4 seconds down to 2 seconds.
New Arc published today!
Arc ID: 296884
Arc Title: A Show of Hands
Morality: Villainous
Level Range: 40-54
Length: 4 Missions
Description: Things go topsy turvy when just a couple of hours before the sale somebody robs your fence. Get the item back in time and teach the thieves a lesson about stealing from the likes of you. (Ambush-heavy, teams or strong soloers recommended.)
Arc 296884, A Show of Hands, @Lazarus
A smooth, enjoyable arc. I went thru on level 1 difficulty with a level 50 controller, and perhaps I had the easiest archetype for this. But it did seem pretty soft, closer to Easy than Challenging. Still, 5 stars for giving me something very enjoyable, with subtle shouts to previous arcs.
Four missions with mostly small maps. No defeat all. Consistently level 40-54. Enemy groups include Freakshow and Council (pretty regular guys), as well as "Generic" and "Custom". I still haven't figured out the difference between those. There are enemies with custom power selections. All very good news, although it's "Challenging" despite having no EBs or AVs. I'll be watching to see how that's done. The arc description warns of ambushes, which appear in all but the first mission. That's a bit more prep than my airheaded villain would be expected to do. So on to the plot.
I'm using a fence to sell something. But it got stolen. I wonder if I'll find out what I was trying to sell. If not, then it's a "Luck of the Gambler +7.5", I always have too many of those. It's little wonder this arc is tied later to the author's McGuffin arc (which I haven't played yet). My contact is the fence. Sounds tougher than me. I hope she doesn't know that, or she'd have stolen the goods (or the payment) herself.
The initial message indicates the item hasn't been stolen yet. Perhaps the Arc Description could have me "help the fence sell the item" or something, to avoid pre-empting that plot development?
Mission 1. Despite Amanita being just a Lieutenant, her fly trap is slaughtering things pretty fast.
Strange. Saved a crate, got an ambush? Must have been a lucky patrol, the arc guide doesn't list any ambush.
End of mission clue is called "M1" - if that does refer to the mission number, perhaps call it "First Mission", or "Part 1" or somesuch.
Off to Mission 2 to track down the Freaks.
M2 entry popup: but sounds like -> but it sounds like
Location of the Council Base Clue: required -> require
I'd heard (dialog) that one of the Freaks ran off with the Item when the Council arrived, but I wasn't sure he was in league (slight hint that there's a mole) until I read the M2 Clue. Not sure how the M2 Clue knew. (M2 Clue knew. M2 Clue knew. I'm alliterate!).
And now I'm expecting space aliens.
Return message - reminds me I'm talking to Amanita by phone. Is that necessary? She appears to be right in front of me. Perhaps it could be a holo-phone. Holographic phone. Holographone. Uh, whatever.
Mission 3, and there's big guys. What was I selling, compost? My first objective is a few feet into the very first room, but I've more to do now. Ten feet further on - a cool new optional objective! Really nice glowie placement, I wonder how lucky I was. No ambush yet. The optional glowies are very small, I expect I won't be able to find all of them on this map. But I did!
I find what is probably the main culprits here. They're very familiar, I've met folks like this on another Lazarus arc.
Okay, a villain just spouted the great reveal. But not before something invisible came after me! And it's only mission 3... something has got to go wrong. Not much in the way of ambushes here. And some of the enemy groups appeared depleted by Battles or running into enemy-enemies. I found a nice unlisted objective too, it's good to be greedy.
On to the last mission. I am wondering how the chaos can be increased from here. That seems to be a key theme here. But it's a nice choice of map, expecting plenty in the big room at the top!
Mission sounds like a candidate for a timed mission (~15 minutes to go), but it's not. Guess it doesn't have to be [and in the end, didn't want to be].
Nice defeat dialog on the critter that "escaped" the last mission.
And then I beat up the remainder. There's a minor ambush, nothing significant.
The final floor of mission 4 map has two defendable locations in that last room. You could have the Council and/or Freaks come in for some revenge at the end, bringing something defendable with them...or an ally that's useless, if any of that ever makes sense. Another objective that applies is "Battle" (see my arc 190069, using this map in mission 3, pardon the plug). So why would a Battle suddenly appear... perhaps it could be going on when I arrive. The battle won't start before I get there, the floor's very short. Adding anything would add to the chaos and congestion. If you free up the regular spawn in the last room, by adding a Battle instead, then the regular spawn could be changed to another ambush. I really didn't feel I got enough ambushes, considering the hype.
And the final return message spells favour with a 'u'. Awesome result at Headingly, eh?
Cheers, airhead
Arc: 379017: Outbroken See all your old friends in the Outbreak Tutorial sequel!
Arc: Coming Soon: The Incarnate Shadow Shard of Fire and Ice Mender Rednem needs you!
Massively.com opinion poll: Please Help Save CoH!
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Not a real issue since the theft happens in the first several minutes of the arc. Mission 1 is just setting the scene.| The initial message indicates the item hasn't been stolen yet. Perhaps the Arc Description could have me "help the fence sell the item" or something, to avoid pre-empting that plot development? |
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| I went thru on level 1 difficulty with a level 50 controller, and perhaps I had the easiest archetype for this. But it did seem pretty soft, closer to Easy than Challenging. |
FYI: "Generic" shows up whenever you use the Empty option for the map's enemy group. I don't know what the point of that is really.
Defendable objects have ambushes attached to them by default, you can't turn them off or give them dialog. I add them in because the mission felt bland without more dialog and I didn't want to resort to loading it with Tank Freak bosses.
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| I'd heard (dialog) that one of the Freaks ran off with the Item when the Council arrived, but I wasn't sure he was in league (slight hint that there's a mole) until I read the M2 Clue. Not sure how the M2 Clue knew. (M2 Clue knew. M2 Clue knew. I'm alliterate!). |
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| The final floor of mission 4 map has two defendable locations in that last room. You could have the Council and/or Freaks come in for some revenge at the end, bringing something defendable with them...or an ally that's useless, if any of that ever makes sense. |
Plus that last room is crowded as it is with just those two Medium spawns.
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| I really didn't feel I got enough ambushes, considering the hype. |
Mission 2: 3 Ambushes (1 for Agent Tyler, 2 for the one Defendable)
Mission 3: 1 Ambush (Archon DeLeon)
Mission 4: 3 Ambushes (1 for Jeetal, 1 for the Gravitist, 1 for Sessily)
10 Ambushes in a four mission arc is not enough to be considered "ambush-heavy" compared to most game content? Well, your mileage may vary.
Thanks for playing!
Quote:
@GlaziusF|
Originally Posted by Lazarus_NA
Arc ID: 296884
Arc Title: A Show of Hands |
Running this on a mid-40s DB/fire brute, diff 2 for the boss fights.
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Ah, the generally offscreen fencing operation. Kind of a transparently generic intro, but I'll roll with it.
Sigh. Freakin' Freakshow. Alright, rowdy boys, time to eat sword.
Oh. That's interesting. They had a giant robot to help them.
...which is different from your average Tank Freak by the meat content of the average Tank Freak's lunch.
Time to see what this wrinkle is.
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Huh. A time counter. This is feeling... heist movie.
Aw, they never actually get anything in the heist movie.
Okay, so Crey hired the Freaks to grab something, which may explain the giant robot, but one of the Freaks narced to the council.
Which is already part space alien, thank you very much snarky mission exit clue.
---
Time to keep running.
Well, there's two leads dead and dried up.
Can you size up these bomb-planty clickers? Transparent is hard enough to see but they're so tiny. SO TINY.
I'm guessing you filled the last room full of these dudes with silent boss spawns. Well, and the one noisy one. Nice trick, but who's gonna boost it from THEM?
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Wait, how does my spaceship know which way to go, here? Council telemetry on their porter?
Oh, somehow I... tracked one down? O... kay.
Plenty of cruft around the base to interact with but not much of it's profitable. Good posing that I don't have the time or inclination to mess around with this.
But really, why fake it? I know allies and timed missions don't play well together, but this is a freakin' level 40 story arc. A little robodroid isn't going to swing the boss fight one way or another.
And after all that horrible runaround I... made the sale after all? Uh. Not that I'm complaining but "great job here's another 10 percent" is something you say to a shoe salesman.
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Storyline - ***. Laz, this is going to sound like the weirdest thing ever, but it feels like you ripped yourself off here. I mean, I've been introduced to the Nagans - villainside, even, as part of another arc - and I've played MacGuffin tag even though I was trying to drop it instead of find it. Novelty is all the Nagan presence contributes here (and a superfluous 2001 joke if that was supposed to be their robot helping the Freaks in the first mission) and at least while I was playing keep-away with the parakeet I had some clue as to what the hell it actually WAS. Also, actually winning at the heist movie without even trying doesn't feel right. Timers! We got 'em so use 'em!
Design - ****. I don't really get the robot henchmen. They felt more like proof of concept than anything useful, since a tank freak would make a better boss than an assault bot, and a little minion is about as useful as a paper-mache breastplate against any given ambush. Actually picking out the tiny transparent bombs against the busy Council base was a bit of a pain too.
Gameplay - *****. But since they were optional and I brought it on myself, no points off here.
Detail - ****. Solid work here too. Even though all the bug texts were the same they made sense the way they were. The one thing that bugs me is that a lot of the clues drop out of order, and since they're all so small and perfunctory they blend in with each other.
Overall - ****. A solidly crafted arc that nonetheless rings a bit hollow, and doesn't put enough effort into selling its plot.
Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?
My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)
Quote:
Played as a level 44 fire/fire Brute on Challenge level 4: Ruthless. I recognize my contact as the fence from your MacGuffin arc and there are several similarities and a callback or two to it. In both arcs there is a MacGuffin that everyone and their mother is trying to snag. Unlike the MacGuffin arc, this item is never mentioned by name or description, it's merely the "hot" item of the day, and the buyer is the "ticking clock" - coming to pick up this item in a few hours. This plot device is kept up throughout the arc in mission briefings and some clue descriptions being more rushed the closer the time gets until the buyer shows up.|
Originally Posted by Lazarus_NA
New Arc published today!
Arc ID: 296884 Arc Title: A Show of Hands Morality: Villainous Level Range: 40-54 Length: 4 Missions Description: Things go topsy turvy when just a couple of hours before the sale somebody robs your fence. Get the item back in time and teach the thieves a lesson about stealing from the likes of you. (Ambush-heavy, teams or strong soloers recommended.) |
This arc feels much like a caper movie, with the macguffin changing hands again and again until it ends up in the claws of the arc's custom space snakes, the Nagans.
The full plot of this story is a little confusing, intentionally, as it's hard to tell sometimes who's coming and who's going. This is of course exacerbated by the fact that I tend to play later at night and occasionally lose details. But the meat of the story is pretty clear and I enjoyed following the object from group to group and wondering where it would eventually end up. The objectives in each mission are fairly straightforward, yet interesting. The gem in this arc is an optional glowie which is a box of bombs. This spawns four points in the base (which ended up mostly in the same room) to place the bombs, cause a villain's got to cause some collateral damage.
I'll be collecting my ratings at the end of my weekly reviews thread for these new in-thread reviews, to help with the new Rotten CoHmatoes thread, and as I'm mostly done with requests for a while.
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I suppose I can throw in a clue to make it more apparent, but the Robot was part of the warehouse inventory and was inactive until the Freaks powered it up and reprogrammed it. I figured the unaware dialog would have gotten that across.|
Originally Posted by GlaziusF
Oh. That's interesting. They had a giant robot to help them.
...which is different from your average Tank Freak by the meat content of the average Tank Freak's lunch. |
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by GlaziusF
Can you size up these bomb-planty clickers? Transparent is hard enough to see but they're so tiny. SO TINY.
|
Quote:
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Originally Posted by GlaziusF
Oh, somehow I... tracked one down? O... kay.
|
Quote:
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Originally Posted by GlaziusF
But really, why fake it? I know allies and timed missions don't play well together, but this is a freakin' level 40 story arc. A little robodroid isn't going to swing the boss fight one way or another.
|
Quote:
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Originally Posted by GlaziusF
And after all that horrible runaround I... made the sale after all? Uh. Not that I'm complaining but "great job here's another 10 percent" is something you say to a shoe salesman.
|
Quote:
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Originally Posted by GlaziusF
Timers! We got 'em so use 'em!
|
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Bubbawheat
The full plot of this story is a little confusing, intentionally, as it's hard to tell sometimes who's coming and who's going. This is of course exacerbated by the fact that I tend to play later at night and occasionally lose details.
|
Changes made to "A Show of Hands":
* Added a clue to the Assault Bot in mission 1.
* Fixed a typo in one of the ambush dialogs in mission 2.
* Added a clue to the Battle Drone in mission 4.
Quote:
Why not? Or at least SOMETHING explosively nasty. There's bound to be a few of 'em lying around. |
Originally Posted by Lazarus_NA
Well unless you also found some pre-mixed drums of ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel to strap them to
|
Quote:
|
Depending on how big that undisclosed amount was (you saved the bank note as a souvenir for a reason) 10% is likely to be a huge amount. Maybe if the Devs gave a way to give a different souvenir if you fail the final mission of the arc. Plus it makes the writing much tougher if the 2nd or 3rd mission failed but you still show up at the next mission just fine. |
Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?
My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)
Quote:
Played as a level 30 fire/fire tanker with a few teammates that dropped in and out. My contact today is Percy Winkley and he's not the one being rescued this time. Instead, a couple other Midnighters have gone and gotten themselves lost while searching for an artifact, I believe. I ran this a few days ago so I'm starting to lose a lot of details, so I'm gonna make this one a bit more vague.|
Originally Posted by Lazarus
Arc Name: The Amulet of J'gara
Arc ID: 1709 Faction: Tuatha de Dannon, Circle of Thorns, Void Demons Morality: Heroic Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium Synopsis: A pair of Midnighters have disappeared while on a mission to Croatoa. What begins as a rescue leads to an assault on the Midnight Club itself and a battle for your own mind and soul. (AV present, Allies are provided.) Estimated Time to Play: 30-45 minutes |
You rescue a couple of the Midnighters, but there's still one missing, you also find out some information about an artifact that one of them might have stolen. The Amulet of J'Gara. It does some interesting thing about transferring a soul into another body or something similar. It ends up playing an important part at the end, so it would help more to pay attention when you see it pop up first, or for the second time through. Afterwards, Percy tells you of an invasion at the Midnight Club itself, there's also a warning to bring along a hefty team because it's gonna go down!!! Or something to that effect. It's a defeat all with Circle of Thorns, but it's not that big of a map, also the only boss conditions in the mission are Boss level, no EBs or AVs as I expected from the warning - which is pointed out in the return text.
Shadow illusions
There's still one Midnighter missing, but when you show up at your next lead, things are a little weird, one of the enemies isn't your run of the mill enemy, but instead a black shadow of a creature. And you find out [spoilers through the rest of the review] that it's all an illusion, though I was never quite sure when the illusion might have started. The shadows are illusion creatures controlled by the evil boss creature who has the amulet and is stealing your essence, as well as the missing midnighter, and the Circle of Thorns boss you've fought a couple times before.
Me and more shadows.
For the final mission, you remember the exact details of what the amulet does and find a way out of this trap because of it. This is the burning Hellion map that I am very familiar with, and enjoy quite a bit as well, though thinking a couple days back, I'm not clear why the building is burning. You also have to rescue three aspects of yourself. Your balance, strength, and... something else. I liked how they all looked, and got a group shot of us all together. This time around the boss you've been following is an AV (->EB) and after you defeat her, you are free from her trap.
Group shot - I'm the match in the middle, and my friend the snow bunny is on the left.
I enjoyed the story of this arc, it was interesting and detailed, with a nice twist towards the end that wants me to play it again and see how well it holds up.
Watch out for the big bad.
What Bubbawheat said. 
The Amulet of J'Gara was a fun romp, and while I figured out what the twist was before the reveal, it was still very well done. I gave it an easy 5 stars. The only critique I had, as I said in my feedback tell, was that the Midnighters could have used custom descriptions... yeah, it's a nit, but I have to find something to crit.
Thanks for a fun evening.
The SOLUS Foundation - a Liberty and Pinnacle SG
"The Consequences of War" - Arcs # 227331 and 241496
Changes made to "All Consuming":
* Rewrote briefing and send off for first mission removing the timed aspects of the mission.
* Added Engine Control Unit glowies two first mission. New objective to gain control over the engines and stop the cargo ship.
* Fixed the name of the Corrupted Husk in the first mission, it is now "Walking Corpse" again.
Changes made to "A Show of Hands":
* Added a single Nagan Incinerator to the final mission. Had some room left and thought I'd try slipping in one of the new critters I was working on for a future arc.
I played MacGuffin Delivery service.
I absolutely loved it! Below are the notes I took while running it:
Mission 1:
Nice simple intro that sucks you right in!
Love the laptop bio!
Loved the Box of Donuts - very tastee!
*I was confused by this clue:
"You defeated them, but had to leave when some Family men came in through the back door, mentioning a silent alarm."
I had to fight them, not leave (unless I missed the exit option because I needed more coffee). Ah I see more came, but I got the clue before I exited, so this was confusing to me.
Mission 2:
Again I enjoyed the brief and to the point dialog from my laptop.
Love the mission still busy - my sort of humor (perhaps not intended to be funny but made me smile).
Love all the guys reading the papers!
Loved all the villains hanging out and I didn't have to fight them!
Loved the surprise with Amanita.
Wolfe - funny defeat dialog.
Nice name for freak boss.
Mission 3:
Loved contact dialog. Potato chips made me smile. Hmm... I must be hungry. First donuts, then chips.
Nice weapons rack clue.
Love the staring at the colors comment.
Took me a very long time - but perfect choice of maps.
Mission 4:
Love the Metal Smasher comment about points.
Enjoyed the humor in the NPC dialog in general.
Liked re-appearance of earlier villains.
Loved the last line!
Overall
This arc was really well-written, from the title to the last line! At the same time it was a lot of fun to play. For me, 5 stars.
@Gypsy Rose
In Pursuit of Liberty - 344916
The Vigilante - 395861
Suppression - 374481 - Winner of The American Legion's February 2011 AE Author Contest
Changes made to "MacGuffin Delivery Service":
* Mission 1 now features a proper Family ambush after the Tsoo are defeated.
* Shortened the interact time on a lot of glowies.
* Rearranged a number of objectives to put clues into a better order.
* Amanita Infernis now has damage dialog.
* Made some grammar and story adjustments.
* Tested and certified arc as issue 16 compliant in preparation for submission into the "Best Villain Arc" category for the official contest.
Changes made to "The Amulet of J'gara":
* Rearranged a number of objectives to put clues into a better order.
* Added more damage dialog to the allies.
* Chris McNeil now betrays you against his will after the big reveal in the 4th mission.
* Added a new minion to the mix. Abyzou is an Archery/Dark Armor foe, looks rather like a demonic cupid.
* Tweaked the allies in the final mission to be a bit weaker. I cannot drop them below Boss-rank or the AV they are meant to help with will slaughter them in seconds, but I can remove a few powers so that they don't do so much of the work for you.
* Tested and certified arc as issue 16 compliant in preparation for submission for the official contest, submitted for "Best Hero Arc".
Changes made to "All Consuming":
* Put the clues into a more consistent order.
* Fixed the combat options on the allies in mission 2, they were not fighting much of the time.
* Corrected a few lines of dialog.
* Tested arc for issue 16 compliance before submitting for "Best In-Canon" arc.
Changes made to "The Portal Bandits":
* Corrected a few lines of dialog.
* Addressed issue of Crey Scorpion Tanks not spawning correctly, only way to do it was to remove all Crey except for the Scorpion Tanks.
* Rebalanced Nagans to get a good compromise between reward and difficulty. Overall they have become a bit easier as well.
* Tested and certified arc as issue 16 compliant in preparation for submission into the "Best Enemy Group" category.
Changes made to "A Show of Hands":
* Same adjustments made to the Nagans.
* Removed 1 destructable item from mission 1 to stop the problem with stacking destructables.
* Added damage dialog to Amanita Infernis in mission 1.
* Tested and certified arc as issue 16 compliant in preparation for submission into the "Best Original Story" category.
Changes made to "Of Futures Past":
* Nagan changes apply to this arc as well.
Changes made to "The Amulet of J'gara":
* The AV version of Mindskewer no longer has Confuse due to spamming issues. It has been replaced with Mass Confusion, which has a much lower accuracy and a much longer recharge.
Too be honest, I don't really need more feedback on "MacGuffin Delivery Service", "The Portal Bandits", or "The Amulet of J'gara". All three are now flagged as "Final" status. The arcs I need feedback on are the newer ones: "All Consuming" and "Of Futures Past".
You're free to play the arc you want, and I do hope that you play them all, but after a hundred or so ratings you're not likely to tell me something that I haven't already heard about that arc over a dozen times already.
And just because I've heard it a bunch of times doesn't mean I'll address it, especially if it's a trivial complaint like "3 rooms for a CoT map is too big, WAAAHH!"
One should always listen to criticism, but one also needs to know when to stick to their guns. If we authors addressed every little thing that someone found annoying, and different people have different annoyances, we'd all just be writing farm arcs or some crap.