Arc 6143 "Escalation"

"Escalation" was mentioned in the City Scoop.

Well, in the horoscopes, at least.
(can be found under Pisces)

City Scoop - Mission Architect Horoscopes

What have people said about "Escalation" recently?

[Tell] 2009-06-19 03: 41:39 Message From @Elodian : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Very nicely done! Well written, a clever idea, and well executed.

[Tell] 2009-06-26 15: 39:16 Message From @Selachian : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Fun arc. Final fight was difficult, but not unbeatable (ran with a level 39 MA/WP scrapper).

[Tell] @Aehaed: Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Good fun.

[Tell] 2009-07-02 09: 29:36 Message From @Basil Acid : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Amazing arc, really enjoyed her evolving forms. Was well wrote and exceptionally executed! Great job!

[Tell] 2009-07-05 23: 21:38 Message From @Archdemon : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Cool concept. I liked how her clothes kept "shrinking" when she upgraded, nice touch. The only thing I'd suggest is adding a few more different bad stuff-doing robot spawns on the first mission, if you have room, it did get a little tedious with all the backtracking on the big map.

[Tell] 2009-07-08 05: 42:43 Message From @MisterD : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: fun arc..nice av fight at the end..was fun solo

[Tell] @slave teri: Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Loved it! i did manage to solo it, but it took great effort to do so (and lots of purples.)

[Tell] 2009-07-22 21: 16:28 Message From @Bashful Banshee : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: More, Give Us more

Justice players, you can enter into a raffle for playing and rating my arcs.

Details in Justice section of forums:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2068802

Check out Tahlana's excellent "COH Rotten Tomatoes" project, aggregating reviewer results.

Escalation made #11 on the "main list" (3+ reviews) with a respectable but not perfect 4.3 stars.

link to Tahlana's Rotten Tomatoes thread here:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=185675

check it out! a lot of great arcs listed there.

re-posting the promotional flier, since the previous html seems borked now:

"Escalation" will be reviewed on the "AEntertainment Tonight" internet radio show on September 10th, Thursday at 7 PM.

here's the link to the "AEntertainment Tonight" forum thread:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...=185931&page=3

and KSJR website is at:
http://kjsr.net/

Changes made to "Escalation" on 9/28/09

5 typo corrections.

Big thanks to Police Woman for the replay! Still the best proofreader in the MA community I've seen!

This is really cool.

Hotrod5 on DeviantArt played Arc #6143 and was inspired to make some 3D poser style art about their character in the arc.

the pictures are a little spoiler-iffic for one plot point, since they are from Mission 5.

here are the links:

http://hotrod5.deviantart.com/art/Co...tion-139975118

and

http://hotrod5.deviantart.com/art/Co...n-02-140207035

Very neat. Thanks Hotrod5!

Well, been a while since I posted, but here's some "recent" comments.

[Tell] @Shocking Arua: Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Hey great story arc it was very intersting. I just loved the ending it was hard but not impossible. Can't wait to try some of your other arc's.

[Tell] 2009-08-04 18: 31:34 Message From @jdice : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: lot's of fun ty
[Tell] 2009-08-04 18: 32:35 Message From @jdice : 6143 was some fun ty

[Tell] @Majoram: Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: It was good, but not great.

[Tell] 2009-08-13 17: 38:31 Message From @Cai : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: I liked this arc much better than the Amazon one. Nice job on the arc. Definitely had that Syndrome feel from The Incredibles where he kept building a better robot, but a nice twist having it be the actual villain. Overall fun. Feel free to try my arcs on @Cai, but just a warning they can be a bit tough. Arc 1613 and 258384

[Tell] 2009-08-13 21: 04:05 Message From @Happy KillMore : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Good story, but the first map is a bit big for having to hunt the boss multiple times.

[Tell] 2009-08-15 00: 55:15 Message From @sdhealer : Feedback on Architect Mission Amazon-Avatars: nice story arc

[Tell] 2009-08-15 09: 05:54 Message From @TXGB324 : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: A fun arc with a fun villain - you're right about the team though, I just couldn't manage to kill her last form solo. Might want to edit down her comments a bit in the 1st mission - big wall of text sometimes when you go in for a fight.

[Tell] 2009-09-02 19: 28:35 Message From @M I Abrahms : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Well thought out story, if moderately predicable. Leaves me wonder if Dr. Lation is an actual character. Reviewed for AEntertainment Tonight, Sep 10

[Tell] 2009-10-07 13: 16:07 Message From @Striker One : Feedback on Architect Mission Escalation: Nice campaign. Seriously.

thanks to all players and special thanks to those who left feedback!

Posting a lot about this arc, mostly because a little inspired by "Escalation" just hitting 200 plays! Yay! (still stuck solidly at 4 stars, so I guess that verdict is in from the general MA playerbase)

A little while back, I added a URL to the debriefing and souvenir text.

This URL leads to a piece of art of I commissioned referencing the "Escalation" arc.
Done by Rob Banbury, aka Bambs79, the same guy who did the promo poster.

The idea is, it's an "easter egg", sorta like those "end screens" they had on old-style video games, a single static image that was a "reward" for finishing the game.

Being an end-screen, it is a spoiler for one of the major plot "developments" of the arc, so I won't post a direct link here. Not that it's particularly well-hidden if the curious want to find it.

Of course, if you've run the arc before, feel free to PM me or send me a tell in the game, and I'll send you the URL.

Some flattering recognition that made me feel really good about this arc.

In this thread about "favorite arcs", Escalation got listed as a "favorite" (played 3 or more times), by both PoliceWoman and Venture:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=193260

And it's a neat thread idea in general. If there's an arc you've played 3 or more times, go post your favorite on it! And big thanks to PoliceWoman and Venture for the mention!


And then, we have the nominations for the 2009 Player Awards, in this thread:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=193739

Where PoliceWoman nominates "Escalation" for "Best SO Range Arc".
which is incredibly gratifying to hear from such a prolific reveiwer!

Looking at the competition in that category (Including PW's own "Teen Phalanx Forever!" and the incredibly mood-creating "Astoria in D Minor" by @The Chesire Cat), I think I'm gonna get my butt kicked in the judging. But this is certainly a case where "it's an honor just to be nominated" isn't just a cliche', it's a heartfelt sentiment. Quite happy to be in such illustrious company.

Excuse my good mood, as it appears that "Escalation" caught the eye of someone on the Dev's judging team.

from the announcement of nominees:

Quote:

Best Hero Story Teen Phalanx Forever! - 67335 - PW The Most Important Thing - 266877 - Aisynia Escalation - 6143 - FemFury

Can I resort to the cliche that "it's an honor to be nominated" ?

And in all seriousness, being put in the same category as PW's Teen Phalanx arc is quite the compliment. I think I have to go check out Aisynia's arc, haven't played it yet, and see what I'm up against. Not to mention, check out a good arc, since clearly the nominating committee has good taste.....

Bit of a warning, perhaps.

Apparently, several people were playing "Escalation" in a team to evaluate it for Player Award voting, and the AV in final spawned as +4 levels to the team when difficulty was at +0.

Clearly, not intended, and part of that strange AV-level spawning bug that I hope the Devs fix soon.
Just to be forwarned, watch out if playing on a team, if the difficulty goes wonky.

And, everyone should check out the player awards voting thread. I'm having a blast playing through all these great arcs so I can decide who to vote for:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=195353

One change I'm considering making is the minimum level for the arc. Currently, I have it set to 22, as a way of saying "Probably shouldn't try this arc until you have SOs". Might change it to level 32, to say "Probably shouldn't try this arc until you have the Tier 9 in your primary".

Some new modifications to Escalation done on 11/6/09

- corrected typos: "Lahsion" in Mission 3 intro, "Esclation" in souvenir

- changed minimum level of all missions from 22 to 32.
This is my way of saying "You might not be able to take the final fight if you don't have your Tier 9 in your primary yet". This is in response to a team of TO and DO level characters who played the arc and got stopped cold in Mission 5. I want to give fair warning.

- as suggested in a feedback tell, added nav bar text for optional hostages in Mission 5
(player suggested I would want to make sure that others didn't miss the hostage dialogue in rushing to the final fight. good point)

- changed map on Mission 4

- added some extra optional objectives in Mission 4.
(Even managed to put in some small amount of faction diversity, finally addressing the "nit" from Venture's review long ago.)

- Edited and trimmed text throughout the arc to make room for the above added objectives. Sitting right at 99.99% !

Played through this today and am posting my thoughts on it in my One A Day thread.

Well, just about time to close off this thread, as "Escalation" got a Dev's Choice!

Announcement thread is here, including all my "thank yous":
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=200236

I do need to make one more post in this thread, to respond to Sister Twelve's very thought-filled review. Been meaning to do that, but the lead-up to Thanksgiving vacation and all the travel kept me away from it. Soon, I promise.

Then, it's time to close up this thread, and for me to get cracking on writing some new arcs. Pressure is off, time to see what I can do next...

Pro Payne gave Escalation a very nice "mini review" in his thread.

Link to post here, Escalation is the last one of the capsule reviews.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...&postcount=220

Thanks to Pro Payne for the kind review, and for enjoying the arc.