First off, it's so hard to do a Malta arc right. Like Nemesis, there are so many layers of deception and intrigue that anything short just falls flat.
That said, I really enjoyed your story. The whole "impossible redemption" angle was pulled off well, and the gradual unfolding of events gave it a nice pace. There were occasions when I felt like the narrative was larger than me, and I was just observing events, but they didn't last long. The amount and variety of detail in your clues was a plus, also.
One of the better things I noticed were the characters. They were... well... in character. Rikti-speak, Crimson's personality, even the Malta mech dialogue. Everything sounded like it ought to.
There were, however, times when things seemed to go over my head. I'd finish a mission and talk to Crimson, and he said something that seemed like an obscure tangent until I went and read through the clues. Maybe having him do a quick paraphrase here and there would clear this up, or maybe it's just me.
Also, I understand there are certain flaws with giving custom characters "Devices". Bluehawk as an enemy was slightly irritating, but manageable. Bluehawk as an ally, however... I'm assuming she's set on Aggressive, and her enormous Perception range didn't really fit with my style (especially with the Rikti Comm. Officers).
Some of the mission maps were larger than Id prefer. Especially the missions with rescue captives objectives. This was just a minor quibble, I guess. Ill file that under my Personal Preferences.
Lastly, I was unclear on the reason for the Rikti's presence. I mean, I get how they were appearing, but the why was a bit more obscure. By the end, I wasnt sure if they were here by coincidence, or if they were deliberately plotting with Malta. Either I missed some dialogue somewhere (from characters or from clues), or I should chalk it up to unknowable events. The Malta Group is mysterious, after all.
In closing, a good effort with some really great writing and a solid plot line. Just some general roughness at the edges, but an enjoyable story nonetheless.
Cheers, and write on!
Rise of the Copper Legion (#60280; with soundtrack)
The Fractured Dreamer (#498588; with musical theme)
"Now Leaving: Paragon City": original composition for the end of CoH
Thanks for the feedback.
I'm almost certainly going to change Bluehawk to MA/AR tonight, and maybe downgrade her from EB to Boss as well. I haven't decided on that part. She is really not all that tough as an EB.
What the Rikti were doing there was explained...three times. They were deliberately plotting with Malta. Malta used its equipment to set up Steel Canyon for a raid (allowing the Rikti to teleport past the War Walls), and in return the Rikti were to destroy some offices housing people that were giving Malta a hard time.
I used the smallest maps possible for the rescue missions, given what was available for what the story required. Neither is a clear-all. Maybe I can find something better for the Rikti cave run.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
Ah, I gotcha; I never rule out the possibility that I skipped over something accidentally. And in any case, I still had a blast.
Rise of the Copper Legion (#60280; with soundtrack)
The Fractured Dreamer (#498588; with musical theme)
"Now Leaving: Paragon City": original composition for the end of CoH
I did change Bluehawk to MA/AR. I left her as an EB for now. She hits hard but she has no defensive powers and no knockback protection...a lot of builds can keep her off her feet constantly.
I also found a smaller map for Act III which should make it less annoying, and put in an EB warning for Act II's briefing. I toyed with the idea of changing 2-0's death clue to mention some molten bits of brass (shell casings) among the ashes, but I had someone hit me in the head repeatedly until I felt better. (Word of Gawd: this was not a Nemesis plot.)
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
My real beef with Bluehawk was in Act III, when her Targeting Drone made her latch onto Rikti mobs from an uncomfortably long distance. I had a few "When did Lady Jane get here?" moments with her as an Ally, but as an enemy she worked just fine. I imagine the MA would help with this, anyhow.
Rise of the Copper Legion (#60280; with soundtrack)
The Fractured Dreamer (#498588; with musical theme)
"Now Leaving: Paragon City": original composition for the end of CoH
Arc 4643: Blowback @Venture (Hah! I just got it. Oops)
Tried this with my usual purpled level 50 Mind/Forcefield guy.
The first mission has a nice, compact, multi-level lab map. Humanizing patrol commentary, so I let those two guys live. On the next floor the patrol commentary is even better. But my policy changes when opening a door gets me stunned; lack of attention to my messy inspiration box gets me defeated. I go back in and sneak through the objectives instead.
The second mission looks onerous, on a large map, but with a good macro to latch onto names it goes reasonably quickly. The big-bad scares me, but turns out to be mezzable.
The third mission has a cool title for Latinophiles (yeah, yeah, so -phile is Greek). The mission itself runs smoothly. By dint of my random approach to the problem, Blue Avenger is the last person I meet, so the mission takes longer, but good tickets. The clues continue to keep the story clear.
The story continues fairly predictably into mission 4. Predictable because the narrative has been smooth, not because the plot is lame! The seemingly large collection has a twist, which is much appreciated. The big-bads are tricky, as Malta often are, but after several minutes they go down.
Mission 5! It looks like a well-laid-out complex battle. I explore some elements, then go in after Ja'dar. He hits very hard. Unfortunately there's no room to run around, so all I can hope to do is mez him. He mezzes, then the little purple triangles of give-up-already appear. After spending so long on this arc, I hate to walk away. I spend a little time looking for an ally. None, but the Malta fight the Rikti. I then spend 30 minutes trying to get Ja'dar and the Malta EB to fight. Nope, they completely ignore each other. I even Mass Confuse the Malta's pets, but that doesn't inspire Ja'dar to fight back. I have to assume Ja'dar is on the same side as the Malta. What seemed like a last great ray of hope turned out to be a nasty joke.
In the end, I'd have voted this only a 4 for the unbeatable AV-EBs. But after seeing the arc's current voting status, I made it a 5, since it's definitely not a 3. I'm hoping you'll find a fix for the Malta-Rikti thing so 5 makes sense.
Cheers, airhead
[ QUOTE ]
My reviewing style may seem petty, with careful attention to typos. But no. Being OCD, finding a typo makes me happy, not sad. This time I am putting the typos out of the way at the end where they probably belong.
Mission 1 pop-up: could put a period on the end of the sentence.
Mission 1 Nav: 4 equipment to confiscate -> pieces of equipment?
Mission 3 intro: targetted -> targeted ; attack staged from -> attack was staged from ; out, any means -> out, by any means
Mission 3 Captured Citizen: says '$himher' (you could just say: ...unless freed.)
Bluehawk's Story Clue: first paragraph ends with 4 periods, should be 3?
[/ QUOTE ]
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!
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Thanks for the feedback.
Ja'Dar and Enigma Silver 6-3 should be on Rogue faction. I'll double-check that. I'd downgrade Ja'Dar in Act V to an EB if I could but as I've said there's no suitable model. I think 6-3 needs to stay an AV, which unfortunately means soloing Controllers/Dominators will always have issues.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
It's live feedback from a level 40 DB/fire brute. because even with the changes we wants our Mission Engineer now, precious.
---
Haha, yeah, that's our Crimson. "Malta. Take 'em."
I think it's "nip it in the bud", not "snip", though.
Clickables are all in the back. Is that to facilitate ghosting?
Conversations are pretty amusing, though I wonder if the Malta dress down to go places or if you've just got five guys in skintight bodysuits and tech harness lounging at a sports bar.
I guess it's a little more acceptable in the Rogue Isles but they're persona non grata there, too.
Hmm. Yeah, Crimson is technically a Longbow operative, isn't he? That doesn't exactly come up too often.
It'd be kinda funny if he quoted the "official Longbow position" on matters Vanguard and then proceeded to nutpunch it, but that's just gravy.
---
Jesus. War Wall disruptors?
...I guess Director 13 was just being a petulant child when he sent the Kronos Titan over to tantrum on the walls if they could just have turned them off.
I wonder if they're helping the Rikti or just using them as cover for an op, but either way that's still cold.
...whoa. Yeah, they are actually working with Rikti.
Either that or they're just twisting the knife into another conscript.
I mean, I don't want to go IT IS ALL A DIRECTORATE PLOT here but there are very few things a global conspiratorial organization cannot plausibly be doing.
With Guardian buffs on her she was rather tough to hit and the boosted damage and attack speed wrecked me the first go.
I do rather dislike this map, there's actually a sizable enough section over the edge of the fence that a boss can spawn there. It's not immediately obvious that you should go town there, but that's not something I'd expect you to address.
A Vanguard patrol actually sprung one of the civvies, which makes me wonder why Crimson told me to get them out of there. Maybe "yeah, Vanguard can fight the Rikti. They'd also rather do PR than avoid collateral damage."
Malta are using the Rikti as an interdimensional hit squad. For the lovva monkey.
---
Hmm. Okay. One more thing occurs to me in re the invasion of the caves - she's snapped and gone rogue. Malta's a big believe in psycho pressure so I don't see too many hardlocked cranial-bomb-type safeguards.
Crimson, credibly, wants to spring her from Malta control. He's done that before, no?
...there was a control implant here. But it's gone now. This isn't going to end well.
Or... maybe... not? Apparently this is all on the level, as level as it gets.
---
Okay. Somebody has objections to using the ALIEN INVADERS SWORN TO DESTROY HUMANITY as dumbfire weapons, and they're having a good old capitalist argument by throwing armies at each other.
Okay, that's a masterstroke iceburn completion clue. Sweet Christmas.
You know, you'd think someone would object on the grounds of: working with the Rikti brings another multinational paramilitary organization (to wit, Vanguard) in direct conflict with Malta.
But 6-3 feels like My First Steps At Freedom. Seriously, guy, "no better than the supers"? Really, he seems too naive to be a Malta commander.
Interesting use of the biotitan components, not much gets done with that.
---
And now, the denouement. (That's French for "when the villain gets it".) 6-3 has gone to ground, and he should know better than that. Don't Stop Moving, right?
This is gonna be ugly.
It's good to see a tip off to the warehouse.
I find 2-0 outside. For all his posturing he seems to be just a normal gunslinger. Crimson was really warning... I guess 6-3 is just going to be fighting with a strength born from desperation or something.
...or Ja'Dar could have put on his big boy pants. That works too. What is that, the Herodotus model?
Heh. 6-3 is in fact fighting with the strength of desperation. He jumps me from a catwalk as two patrols with sappers converge on my destination. This is what rise of the phoenix is made for. (I really hate malta patrols, there's ALWAYS a sapper in, just like the normal mission spawns used to be.)
I do wonder if fly is counter-productive on him, though. Can he summon his robots while he's flying? It doesn't seem so. After I phoenixed I was able to pull off and mow down his bot squad and he never resummoned while I was jumpslashing him.
---
In the end though there's nothing that really bugs me enough to downstar. I wonder if it was even the Rikti that did it, if there are just people in Malta who retreat into a little paranoid shell and start randomly sabotaging things until they get silenced.
These are, after all, guys who get outflanked by Nemesis, which suggests a certain lack of self-assessment.
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)
Thank you for the feedback and review.
I think it's "nip it in the bud", not "snip", though.
Believe it or not, "nip" is filtered. You can say "frigging", which is a sexual reference, but not "nip". Evidently the profanity filter was calibrated by the Taliban...on crack.
Clickables are all in the back. Is that to facilitate ghosting?
I believe I have them set to "any", actually. The map generator tends to have other ideas.
It'd be kinda funny if he quoted the "official Longbow position" on matters Vanguard and then proceeded to nutpunch it, but that's just gravy.
I'm pretty sure that he did.
...I guess Director 13 was just being a petulant child when he sent the Kronos Titan over to tantrum on the walls if they could just have turned them off.
They didn't turn the walls off; they in essence dug a tunnel under them for the Rikti. The Rikti were able to teleport past the walls thanks to the temporary wormholes. Normally they can't do that.
A Vanguard patrol actually sprung one of the civvies, which makes me wonder why Crimson told me to get them out of there. Maybe "yeah, Vanguard can fight the Rikti. They'd also rather do PR than avoid collateral damage."
Vanguard wasn't going to get enough people on the scene fast enough to make a difference. The "early responders" do help out but they're toast if they wander into Ja'Dar or (gods forbid) Bluehawk Avenger.
You know, you'd think someone would object on the grounds of: working with the Rikti brings another multinational paramilitary organization (to wit, Vanguard) in direct conflict with Malta.
Had Crimson not picked up the scent, the Rikti would have been in and out and Vanguard would have been left scratching their heads wondering how it happened with no idea Malta had ever been involved. I would imagine that with Crimson's intel, they'd come up with a modification to the War Walls to keep anyone from using this trick again.
...or Ja'Dar could have put on his big boy pants. That works too. What is that, the Herodotus model?
Yep. I would rather have used an Elite Boss version of a Chief Soldier -- one AV would have been enough -- but there isn't one. I didn't want to have him climb into a Heavy Assault Suit or make him a Magus.
I do wonder if fly is counter-productive on him, though. Can he summon his robots while he's flying? It doesn't seem so. After I phoenixed I was able to pull off and mow down his bot squad and he never resummoned while I was jumpslashing him.
Mastermind summons do seem to have some quirks on custom mobs. Neither 6-3 nor Federico Poletti over in "Two Households Alike" will summon if you put a toggle debuff on them, for instance.
Thanks again!
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
[ QUOTE ]
I think it's "nip it in the bud", not "snip", though.
Believe it or not, "nip" is filtered. You can say "frigging", which is a sexual reference, but not "nip". Evidently the profanity filter was calibrated by the Taliban...on crack.
[/ QUOTE ]
Oh. Then can I suggest "cut 'em off at the ankles"?
[ QUOTE ]
It'd be kinda funny if he quoted the "official Longbow position" on matters Vanguard and then proceeded to nutpunch it, but that's just gravy.
I'm pretty sure that he did.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, no, he says he's not supposed to like them. There's got to be something a little more overblown than that going around.
Then again there could very well be flyers hanging up in Longbow breakrooms captioned "Vanguard: You're Not Supposed To Like Them".
[ QUOTE ]
You know, you'd think someone would object on the grounds of: working with the Rikti brings another multinational paramilitary organization (to wit, Vanguard) in direct conflict with Malta.
Had Crimson not picked up the scent, the Rikti would have been in and out and Vanguard would have been left scratching their heads wondering how it happened with no idea Malta had ever been involved. I would imagine that with Crimson's intel, they'd come up with a modification to the War Walls to keep anyone from using this trick again.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah. And thinking on it, I think Borea actually gives you the occasional mission to sweep Malta off the overworld in RWZ. So no love lost there.
[ QUOTE ]
...or Ja'Dar could have put on his big boy pants. That works too. What is that, the Herodotus model?
Yep. I would rather have used an Elite Boss version of a Chief Soldier -- one AV would have been enough -- but there isn't one. I didn't want to have him climb into a Heavy Assault Suit or make him a Magus.
[/ QUOTE ]
I guess broadsword/energy blast (or just an armor type) with some creative design wouldn't work either?
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)
If I'm going to use a Rikti character I'll use a Rikti model for it, not throw a human into a rubber suit and hope the player doesn't see the zipper.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
[ QUOTE ]
If I'm going to use a Rikti character I'll use a Rikti model for it, not throw a human into a rubber suit and hope the player doesn't see the zipper.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, the whole reason I said that is because I've seen some pretty convincing "player Rikti"... though unfortunately I never took screenshots.
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)
The following changes apply only to the version on Test, incorporating Architect features from Issue 15 that may not go live.
The arc's ID on Test is #22648. The following alterations have been made:
<ul type="square">[*]Enigma Silver 6-3 is now Robotics/Force Field, now that I can do that without having to give him Detention Field.[*]Bluehawk Avenger loses Eagle's Claw and Flamethrower, gains Crippling Axe Kick and Full Auto.[*]Civilian hostages in acts II and III now use the Random selection. Currently this also picks from unique models; General Aarons has been getting in a lot of trouble lately....[*]Decoy bodies removed from Act IV. There are now battles between Malta and Malta Splinter Cell still going on when the player arrives.[*]Rikti transport stabilizers removed from Act V...if we ever get to use the Assault Portals I may add them back.[/list]
If you're checking out i15 I'd appreciate feedback on the changes. Thanks in advance!
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
The following changes apply only to the version on Test, incorporating Architect features from Issue 15 that may not go live.
Due to a resetting of the Test AE database, the arc's ID is now #215711.
<ul type="square">[*]The base faction for acts I and V is now "Malta Enigma Silver", which is described as an advanced-weapons R&D unit. "Robotics Engineers", using Robotics (all three Pulse Rifle attacks, Battle Drones) and Willpower (Mind Over Body, HPT, FH) replace Op Enginners. "Neutralizers", using Electric Melee (on Hard) and Electrical Blast (Charged Bolts, Lightning Bolt, Short Circuit) replace Sappers. Neutralizers aren't working well thanks to Artificial Stupidity (they don't wait for targets to use Short Circuit) but I would like to hear opinions on the replacements anyway.[*]Thanks to the changes in required powers, Bluehawk Avenger has Buckshot and Flamethrower again, so I took away Full Auto.[*]Battles between Malta and Malta Enigma Silver in act IV reduced to Easy; Medium ones were leaving too high a mob density.[/list]
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
Blockback version 061209 on Test
I never did finish this, but since then I've learned a bit more about soloing, and maxed out my purples. Here we go again, on level 1 difficulty. The arc has definitely been fine-tuned a lot since I last played it, it's now one of the best I've seen.
Mission 1
For the new breed Malta, perhaps they could use a blue-green to more closely match the old breed Malta. Or perhaps that is intentional.
Woah. All 4 device glowies appeared within 8 yards of each other.
Mission 2-5
One of the exit clues has a boss make the effort to reply to his recalcitrant employee... a tip-off that Malta probably wouldn't do. Still, it's a typical villain soliloquy, and the guy probably sees his assassination as inevitable at this point.
Mission 5
I love the pop-up message on entry. You're outnumbered! Come out with your hands up!
Outdoor guys' chatter is a little repetitive, if you have any file or objective space left you might break em up.
Last time I played this, the main floor of the Malta Base was a spectacular war zone. Now the patrols seem to be ignoring each other. No sign of Ja'dar either, he's moved outside. Perhaps you need to set patrols to rogue or something now - I found my groups were also less likely to engage in my test mission.
Well, can't find two of the instigators (turned out to be outside somewhere) so I took out 6-3. That was a great battle. Confusing the robots produced few hits, but swayed the battle just a little in my favour. Had to use my Geas; managed to save my Eye of the Magus, since I (thought) I still two folks to go, (presumably) each of higher rank than 6-3!
But there's 2-0. Not more powerful (I guess he lacks that R&D edge). Easy target.
And there's Ja'dar. He's had an I15 makeover. From the roof here, he looks like a pokemon.
Oh dear. I can get him (eventually) into chain holds, but I ran out of endurance. I exit (taking the handy-dandy Arachnos flyer) to get some more. I hope my graphics doesn't crash before I'm done!
Now I'm without Eye of the Magus, I will have to jump around to avoid getting hit. This probably won't work.
It worked for a while, then he took me out. Gradually, jousting along the dock, I'd hit him twice, put up the personal force field, jump over him, hit him twice again... and scratched him slowly down to about 30% over about 15 minutes. One death occured, when lag seemed to miss my force field toggle, but instead it toggled it on-off. Then the Eye returned, and I hit him with everything I had left. Eventually I won.
Great battles, perhaps not solo-able on some builds. But it's advertised as a Challenge in I15, so I think that's fine. Thanks for making this.
//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!
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The devices in Act I have a tendency to spawn together on some maps, even on Live. I have no freaking idea why, since all the Tech Lab maps have ample detail points for collections.
The patrols in Act V are all set to Rogue. They shoot at each other properly outside, but the ones inside the warehouse have a tendency to ignore each other. This is why I've moved almost all the action outside the warehouse. I've bugged it, but frankly I'm beginning to think that it might be better to lose the unique map.
I'm thinking of changing Act V to an outdoor Paragon City map: 6-3 was trying to keep moving when Ja'dar ports in with his forces, starting a running gunfight, which allows 2-0 to catch up, wackiness ensues. Maybe use the Steel Canyon Mayhem/Safeguard map, have it end (almost) where it all began...would also hammer home why you can't just let them all slug it out.
2-0's The Reason You Suck Speech would be better delivered in a cut scene of some kind but we don't have that option. (And hopefully never will -- can you imagine the cut scenes in the Mary Sue arcs?)
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
The following changes apply only to the version on Test, incorporating Architect features from Issue 15 that may not go live.
Thanks to another reset of the AE database, the arc's ID on Test has changed again to #225316.
<ul type="square">[*]Neutralizer units changed to Electric Blast (standard plus Short Circuit)/Cold Domination (Hard). The FX aren't perfect but this gives them an END drain (which they still set off without targets....) and debuffs that should make them effective without being too annoying.[*]Act V moved to Steel Canyon, same map as Act II (lampshaded). The Warburg map just wasn't going to work. I have determined through my own testing that all Patrol details set to Rogue will consider each other to be friendly regardless of enemy group or such (/bugged it). To get around this, I gave the map to Malta Enigma Silver, set five Hard battles (the max) between Malta and Malta Enigma Silver, and gave half the spawn points to Rikti patrols on Rogue. The result is that any time forces that should be hostile to each other come into contact they should actually fight.[/list]
Feedback on the changes very much appreciated from those trying out i15 on Test.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
Just for the record, Venture, I may be in the minority, but I understood why you put the decoy bodies in Act IV and thought they were an appropriate touch. I've found that, if you try to satisfy every critique, even if there are more than one with the same point, there are always folks on the opposite side of the table.
The SOLUS Foundation - a Liberty and Pinnacle SG
"The Consequences of War" - Arcs # 227331 and 241496
I'd removed them well before the recent unpleasantness, actually.
I don't change what I'm doing to make my mother happy; I'm certainly not going to change for people on the internet. 
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
I liked the extra bodies too. Although if you replaced them with battles that would get the point across just as well.
The only thing I really didn't like from a design standpoint was all the hostages saying the same thing. It reduced them from "people in need of rescue" to "plot device to get the player to the right place at the right time," IMO.
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
The only thing I really didn't like from a design standpoint was all the hostages saying the same thing. It reduced them from "people in need of rescue" to "plot device to get the player to the right place at the right time," IMO.
Considering these are normal people suddenly put at risk of death, the only thing any of them should be saying is some variation on "AIEEEEEEEEEOMG WE"RE ALL GONNA DIEAIEEEEEEEE!", not pausing to toss off a well-scripted bon mot.
Ultimately they are just props. They're not characters, their only role is to get rescued and leave. They're there in lieu of a defeat-all requirement so the player has to engage the map and doesn't just cherry-pick the main objective without requiring that he hunt down every last mob stuck behind a rock or the like. I don't see need or point to dress them up beyond that.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
Really enjoyed this arc. It offered a great supplement to the canon malta arcs, and did so with missions that were far more fun to play. 5 stars easily.
My only nitpick was the final mission, since I've never done a LRSF I didn't know you could enter the main building. Perhaps you could put a note about that in the briefing (maybe you did and I missed it), if it wasn't for a friend pointing it out I might have been flying around uselessly for a bit longer 
Infatum on Virtueverse
I did put a note...in orange, actually, in the acceptance text. Hate to rub salt in the wound but it's really hard to miss.
That map will be gone in i15 though. It's rapidly becoming overused and there were some spawn issues. In the new version the arc ends (almost) where it began in Steel Canyon.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
Figured as much, I have a tendency to gloss over the accept text more than I should.
Infatum on Virtueverse
Arc Name: "Blowback"
Arc ID: 4643
Length: Very Long (5 mission)
First Published: 4/8/2009 08:42 PM
Morality: Heroic
Description: Malta and the Rikti learn that the enemy of my enemy is my enemy, and a Malta officer learns that you can't retrace your steps after you've walked off a cliff.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"