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Arc #1285, "Training Day"
tl;dr: 2 stars. Offenses: many plot holes, surprise EB/AVs, spelling errors, "just a bunch of stuff that happened"
Detective Morgan of the PPD's Vanguard Liason Office wants your help in tracking down a "Docter Armington". An apparent typo in the first briefing is not a good sign. Armington has taken an Officer O'Leary hostage. Morgan tells you if there's nothing to bring back to make sure he's not suffering, and reminds you there's no such thing as a brutality charge in his unit. Um, yeah.
The warehouse you're sent to is filled with custom-faction bots. O'Leary has been turned into a cyber-zombie Claws/SR EB (no warning, but nice job on the model). Defeating him spawns a new objective: "Rip Armington a new one for what he's done." Um, this is a Heroic arc, right? Armington is another EB, Bots/FF, and may try to run when low...I'm not sure. On defeat he says "Teleport activate!" but the defeat text says you can rest easy knowing a monster has been taken to justice...um, which is it?
In Act II, you learn that O'Leary survived the battle and now has control over his new body. The scientist responsible is adapting the nanotechnology that was used on O'Leary ("Lockgear") for battlesuit use. Hmm, nanotech that warps people body and mind developed by a mad scientist now being adapted into Vanguard battlesuits? What Could Possibly Go Wrong? You're asked to oversee a transfer of the equipment. Once on site the objectives are to retrive 5 components, rescue O'Leary (down to Boss) and defeat Armington again. The enemies on this one are Freakshow, with a patrol of the custom drones tossed in for color. Armington is back with a bunch of Freaks for guards; when you start beating on him he hits you with a threat we don't often see in City: "I will make you MY MONKEY BUTLER!"
Yeah.
When Armington gets low on health "Michael Faraday" spawns, a Dark Blast/Dark Miasma AV with machinegun-toting "Cultists" and Energy Blast/Dark Armor "Cultist Ascendant" LTs, the latter's info saying they've been upgraded with Lockgear. They spawned Rocks Fall Everyone Dies style. Even the Contact doesn't know who Faraday is. In Act III you're sent to bust up some of Faraday's cultists in an effort to learn more about him. The mission takes place on an Arachnos lab map, with an Arachnos raid in progress. Heard at entry from a Cultist: "Faraday will whipe this world of life!" Um, yeah. You have to search various computers until you find a Clue stating that Lockgear was invented by one of Faraday's cultists and given to Armington in the hopes that it would end up in Vanguard's hands. Sure enough, Faraday now has control over both Armington and O'Leary, so for Act IV you and Morgan have to recover the Lockgear nanotech before it goes all grey-goo on everyone. Somehow, though, the mission takes place in a sewer. You have to destroy three objects. O'Leary and Armington are present but don't have to be fought. Morgan is supposed to be available as an ally, but spawned in the last room.
For Act V you get a letter from Faraday taunting you into a final showdown. This being a comic RPG you're not allowed to call in an air strike. The match takes place on a small sewer map. It turned out O'Leary was available as an ally but he was behind Faraday and behind some geometry so I didn't see him until well after the fighting was over. Faraday spawns as an AV/EB again and calls multiple ambush waves as he dies.
The plot does not make sense in a lot of places and there are more than a few spelling errors. It also assumes the player is a graduate of the Harry Callahan Police Acadamy. This needs a lot of work.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm going to agree, having seen it pointed out that way. The arc as it stands now is a result of manically trying to incorporate changes based on all the feedback I'd received, but I left a lot of hanging ends. I think I might pull the arc until I can do more edits.
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I'm left with the feeling that this is someone's origin story and that the player is a Xanatos Sucker.
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I think it may in fact be an origin story but not one of a player. I haven't done this arc myself, but the description you give of Joe standing alongside the Freedom Phalanx while they hold off a group of villains reminds me of the final mission of the Recluse Strike Force. There is always a single, unexplained Longbow Eagle standing with the Freedom Phalanx in the center of the map in that mission (Presumably delivering Ms. Liberty's body). I believe that is supposed to be Joe himself. It's a clever way to tie in with the canon content, at least.
My arcs:
Title: Blitzkrieg
Arc ID: 3416
Title: Soldiers of Fortune
Arc ID: 4431
Title: The Rikti Accession
Arc ID: 278757
I just want to say, curse you for introducing me to TV Tropes. It almost makes me want to craft an arc with as many different tropes I can squeeze in.
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I mean, you're (presumably) in this mess as a hero, contacted by DATA to do some investigative work; in theory, you should be able to compensate for a contact that's being less than honest with you.
"Compensating" for a dishonest Contact, in most player's minds, means "disembowel him and find someone else to work with".
If this was a tabletop game, players confronted with /Hide's duplicity would immediately try to Take A Third Option. If the players try to go Off The Rails and the GM won't let them, they'll probably be upset and they'll probably be right.
For my part, I wouldn't take orders from a Contact whom I knew wasn't trustworthy. Any damn thing could be at the end of that rainbow: get duped into destroying the world, helping a villain conquer the world, unleash the Rularuu, DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER.... You can't play games with "the company". The players have to be certain that their employers aren't going to use them as pawns, sell them out, set them up or otherwise jerk their chains. Forcing me to go along with an untrustworthy Contact just because the format allows you to do it is playing in bad faith.
[/ QUOTE ]
Interestingly, I'm currently working on scripting an arc that does, in fact, have a less than 100% trustworthy contact. But I agree with Venture that this is very treacherous (pun intended) territory because I don't care how often the devs do it, and how often other players attempt to do it, this always sucks if you discover this fact early on and then have to follow the railroad tracks to stupidville.
I think the solution to this problem is to give the player a reason to work with the contact in spite of the contact's duplicity. The player could be enticed to try to outsmart the contact, for example as a double agent of another character *in* the missions, although this is probably very difficult to pull off. You could also try to take the player off the tracks momentarily: the contact could say do X, the player might think its better to do Y, and the mission offers both choices prior to mission complete. This is potentially even harder to pull off successfully without seeming contrived, but has massive payoff in gameplay if its done deftly.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
Dude's just saying how he feels. People misconstrue things all the time, and so if Venture thought that, you can bet other people did, too. And since you asked for a review, well, you got it. And if he missed the point, that's not just a failure on his part.
-STEELE =)
Allied to all sides so that no matter what, I'll come out on top!
Oh, and Crimson demands you play this arc-> Twisted Knives (MA Arc #397769)
Venture should probably look at DeviousMe's thread for an example of how to review something. Rather than just saying "you're doing it wrong", he says "here's what I thought was wrong and how you can fix it."
Much better than the negativity without correction that I've seen here.
"the reason there are so many sarcastic pvpers is we already had a better version of pvp taken away from us to appease bad players. Back then we chuckled at how bad players came here and whined. If we knew that was the actual voice devs would listen to instead of informed, educated players we probably would have been bigger dicks back then." -ConFlict
Though I think Venture might've been talking about Sam Peters, who again, isn't the origin story of one of my own characters. Next time, don't be so quick to label something, Venture.
I said it felt like an origin story, not that it was an origin story. I did try a Google search on the name but didn't find anything likely off the bat.
I stand by the review. Fearghas has asked me to dequeue the other arcs in the series, so I will.
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"
Arc #47550, "Karmic Exchange"
tl;dr: 5 stars. Nits: very tight timing on last mission
FULL DISCLOSURE: The author of this arc is a member of my SG and someone I've gamed with online for several years. This is why the arc was allowed to jump the queue, but that is the only slack I'm (consciously) cutting it. Actually, just to ramp up the difficulty a bit, I ran it with my 35 TA/A Defender David Moonbow. All of the missions go up to 50, but the floor jumps around a bit between 30 and 45.
Elizabeth Bertinelli asks for your help. It seems her husband Michael, a bush-league super codenamed Corpus Rasa, is having trouble accepting her recent death. She has some minor magical ability allowing her to stay on this plane but she either can't reach him or he isn't listening to her. He's trying to find a way to bring her back to life. He's already stolen information from the Vahzilok and is now trying to infiltrate Crey. Liz wants you to save him. His powers are low-grade shapeshift (takes half an hour to change form) and telepathy (barely better than acute insight), so he has no combat ability. The map is a standard tech map and you just have to find the hostage, no escort. Liz thanks you for saving him and hopes he'll put aside his plans to bring her back.
Of course, he doesn't. With the information he stole about Project: Revenant, Corpus Rasa has decided he's on to something and is now trying his luck with the Circle of Thorns. Liz is afraid he's going to use something like their soul replacement process to restore her to life, so off you go after him. In the accept text she tells you that she was killed on their wedding night and Blackthorn, the villain responsible, is in jail. On entry to Oranbega, you hear Circle mages bickering with each other over who the shapeshifter is and whether or not there's more than one. You only have to find one glowie, unfortunately for me, it spawned right next to an Arch-Mage of Agony. It took three deaths to get him dragged far enough away to let me click it. At my best I couldn't get him below 60% health. The Clue tells you that Corpus Rasa now knows how the Circle substitutes one soul for another and has stolen one of their sacrificial daggers. Liz is convinced her husband is prepared to sacrifice someone to resurrect her now, and firmly believes it would be wrong to do so.
And it looks like she's right. In Act III Corpus Rasa has taken over a Family warehouse by impersonating one of its leaders and ordered the goons to kidnap a mystic for him. You're sent to rescue the mystic. Liz says that her husband has gone too far now and has to be stopped, even if you have to take him down, but implores you not to be too hard on him. This mission scales to 45-50, which is a bit unusual for Family...no surprise factions though. You take down "Vinnie Vertuno" a.k.a Corpus Rasa (LT, Gravity Control/Invul, he is using some stolen gadgets) and free the hostage, but the Clues say that even as Corpus Rasa is being taken away something doesn't add up....
Sure enough, Act IV opens with an Arachnos raid on the Zig. Liz is afraid Corpus Rasa will break out in the confusion and might take Blackthorn with him. She wants you to keep Blackthorn imprisoned, at least, so Corpus Rasa can't murder him. Blackthorn spawned front-loaded for me on the Zig breakout map as an Energy Blast/Illusion Boss...only it wasn't him. It was an illusionist named Miss Mirage who took Blackthorn's place so Rasa could make off with him, disguised as one of Blackthorn's old allies. Rasa had actually arranged the Arachnos raid before you busted him by impersonating Daos himself. (To be fair, it's not as if your typical Arachnos cell is manned by the sharpest tools in the shed. "I, Arbiter Daos, your leader, will speak now about my, Arbiter Daos's, plan. My villainous, villainous plan. Question the plan at your peril. Uh... any questions?") Mirage is helping Rasa because Rasa has promised to use his resurrection gizmo on her dead husband; she's more than willing to stay imprisoned to bring him back. Liz is distraught...because her husband's plan will work. She'll be brought back to life exactly as she was. The only catch is someone else has to die.
Liz manages to track her husband to a warehouse full of Carnies, and she Does Not Want To Know what he shapechanged into to get them to help...but he's got Blackthorn and the machine ready to go. You only have 15 minutes to destroy the Karmic Exchange Chamber...or will you? The briefing contains an "inner monologue" in which you wonder if this is all that bad, a machine that will bring good people back to life by killing bad ones.... Act V takes place on the Carnie Party Warehouse map; you have to destroy the Karmic Exchange Chamber and take down Corpus Rasa, who is now an EB using Gravity Control/Invul and has a fairly sizable spawn around him. I stealthed the map (which has Carnies, and Family and Circle out for revenge) and took out the chamber, but couldn't take down Corpus Rasa in the time left, eating four deaths trying. Presumably this means he's able to repair the chamber and finsh the transfer...the mission fail debriefing tells you that Liz feels herself being pulled back to her body and begs you not to try to use the technology yourself, since you may have learned enough to build one in your investigations.
The timing on the last mission is very, very tight and may give low-damage builds like the one I used problems. However, you are told in advance. I could have gotten help or cut my difficulty (I was on CL2; cutting to 1 would have made him a Boss and a much easier kill). The author tries something ambitious in giving the character a moral choice at the end which causes the arc to bump up against some of the system's technological limits. Act V could end with just the destruction of the chamber, but that would potentially mean Rasa is still on the loose with the means to make another. The timing could be longer but then choosing to let it run out would be more annoying. About the only change I'd suggest is downgrading the Arch-Mage in Act II to a regular Circle Boss.
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"
Personally, I could use a little straight talk. The little feedback I've gotten (almost all positive) has made me too complacent about the mistakes I've missed.
Venture's reviews are kinda like celebrity roasts: all one's flaws and missteps are pointed out for people's entertainment, and the best one can do is smile, say 'thank you', and make a little mental Post-it for later (for self-improvement or revenge, I couldn't say).
Of course, I haven't been reviewed by Venture, so I can't promise I'd be as calm and objective as I am now....
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
[ QUOTE ]
Venture should probably look at DeviousMe's thread for an example of how to review something. Rather than just saying "you're doing it wrong", he says "here's what I thought was wrong and how you can fix it."
Much better than the negativity without correction that I've seen here.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's odd - I think Venture's doing a great job of pointing out exactly what he doesn't like about an arc and why.
I mean, he's harsh as hell, but I wouldn't expect anything less of him.
bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner-
ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenth ur-
nuk!
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Venture should probably look at DeviousMe's thread for an example of how to review something. Rather than just saying "you're doing it wrong", he says "here's what I thought was wrong and how you can fix it."
Much better than the negativity without correction that I've seen here.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's odd - I think Venture's doing a great job of pointing out exactly what he doesn't like about an arc and why.
I mean, he's harsh as hell, but I wouldn't expect anything less of him.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm kind of in the middle here- I think Venture is (uncomfortably) good at nailing flaws right on the head, but he's occasionally a bit vague as to why something is a problem- it took me three tries, I think, to pry out why he had a problem with a "Usual Suspects Ending".
... I just realized that we're critiquing Venture's reviews. This is all getting rather meta.
"A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates
MA Arcs: #12285, "Small Fears", #106553, "Trollbane", #12669, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising"
... I just realized that we're critiquing Venture's reviews. This is all getting rather meta.
Par for the course for lit-crit, AFAIK. Deconstructionism should set in next week.
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 ]
Venture should probably look at DeviousMe's thread for an example of how to review something. Rather than just saying "you're doing it wrong", he says "here's what I thought was wrong and how you can fix it."
Much better than the negativity without correction that I've seen here.
[/ QUOTE ]
My response to this would be...
If he tells you how to fix it, then he's writing your arc for you.
If he simply tells you what's wrong and then go fix it, you're still writing your arc.
I know many times when I've had fiction critiqued, when someone tells me how THEY would have done something, I usually disregard it, because it's usually totally not what I would do to fix the issue.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Venture should probably look at DeviousMe's thread for an example of how to review something. Rather than just saying "you're doing it wrong", he says "here's what I thought was wrong and how you can fix it."
Much better than the negativity without correction that I've seen here.
[/ QUOTE ]
My response to this would be...
If he tells you how to fix it, then he's writing your arc for you.
If he simply tells you what's wrong and then go fix it, you're still writing your arc.
I know many times when I've had fiction critiqued, when someone tells me how THEY would have done something, I usually disregard it, because it's usually totally not what I would do to fix the issue.
[/ QUOTE ]
I disagree. Giving advice on how to improve the problem isn't the same as doing it for you.
For example, if someone were to post a build for a stalker, and I told them that the level they picked their powers was way off, I'd be doing similar to what Venture is here. If I went on to say "you should move Placate and Sha earlier in the build, as those are key survival tools", then I'm not making the build for them, but letting them now how they could improve it for themselves.
Now, if I posted a build and said "here, do this" then you could say I was doing it for them. If Venture were to rewrite the mission text as he would like it, then you could say he was doing the same.
"the reason there are so many sarcastic pvpers is we already had a better version of pvp taken away from us to appease bad players. Back then we chuckled at how bad players came here and whined. If we knew that was the actual voice devs would listen to instead of informed, educated players we probably would have been bigger dicks back then." -ConFlict
[ QUOTE ]
I disagree. Giving advice on how to improve the problem isn't the same as doing it for you.
For example, if someone were to post a build for a stalker, and I told them that the level they picked their powers was way off, I'd be doing similar to what Venture is here. If I went on to say "you should move Placate and Sha earlier in the build, as those are key survival tools", then I'm not making the build for them, but letting them now how they could improve it for themselves.
[/ QUOTE ]Using that analogy, it seems to me Venture's reviews are like saying "you took Placate and Sha too late". While you would say "you should move Placate and Sha earlier", both versions provide the same message.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
Perhaps, but his feels less... specific, in my opinion. Rather than saying "you took it too late" it feels more like he's saying "the order you took your powers is bad". One's providing how to solve the problem, one isn't but still remains in the negative.
"the reason there are so many sarcastic pvpers is we already had a better version of pvp taken away from us to appease bad players. Back then we chuckled at how bad players came here and whined. If we knew that was the actual voice devs would listen to instead of informed, educated players we probably would have been bigger dicks back then." -ConFlict
Arc #1665, "Ant Attack"
tl;dr: 3 stars. Offenses: irritating mobs
Coyote wants you to investigate strange goings-on at Janice Street. (Nit: contact name is "Contact Hologram".) The bad guys are...ants. Flamboy Ant, Insignific Ant, Ramp Ant, etc. Cute. Ants have a variety of melee attacks and some of them are winged. The mission takes place on an outdoor city map with just "Find out what's going on" in the nav bar. This may mean a lot of grovelling over the map. There are a number of human hostages, all optional, but the objective is Clarivoy Ant, who is being held hostage by other Ants out of jealousy. Clarivoy Ant tells you that Tyr Ant has (I think) imprisoned Queen Luxuri Ant and is wasting the hive's supplies in partying. They've come to the surface to scavenge for food.
In Act II the university calls Coyote and says the antmen are breaking into their basement. This would be Bad, but it seems they have some fusion batteries down there, and it would be Even Worse if the ants try to open them. The map is, of course, the invention tutorial map. Immediately upon entering I was hit by a Broadsword/Shield Boss "Serge Ant" with BuildUp that skewered me. He also had status protection and Against All Odds, screwing up Aid Self, and on top of all that had the indecency to run when he got low on health (and I couldn't stop him, since he can't be knocked down). You also have to deal with "Radi Ant", a Broadsword/Pain Domination Boss. There are three glowies to check, one of which has the fusion batteries.
While you were at the university, though, Clarivoy Ant escaped...but his tunnelling led the scientists to the hive. Act III has you go into the hive to rescue Luxuri Ant and restore her to the throne. I immediately picked up an ally, Gall Ant, one of the drone class Lieutenants. He didn't last long, but the next ally was Vali Ant, a Boss. The Queen is an Elite Boss but she doesn't follow you into combat after being freed. You also get Defi Ant (Minion, dies on impact), Uncompli Ant (Boss, the healZ0r kind) and Clarivoy Ant (Psychic Blast/Pain Domination). Tyr Ant turned out to be an Archery/Regen EB. He popped Moment of Glory and Instant Healing on agro, so the first 60 seconds or so of combat weren't very productive. Defeating him ends the mission, even though he rezzes instantly. (I was half expecting to find Tyrant, the Praetorian down there....) Coyote tells you the Queen has sent a Represent Ant to City Hall to handle negotiations with the city and promises not to steal any more.
It's a cute little arc that doesn't overplay its joke, but some of the mobs are turned up too high, particularly Tyr Ant. And I suppose it would be too obscure to have one of the human hostages shout "Them! Them!"....
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"
Thanks for your review, Venture.
With the trouble you seem to have had with my bosses and allies, I fully understand the 3 stars. 
I'd like to be able to reproduce the situation where my bosses become too tough and the allies die too quickly (I've seen that comment before, but can't seem to make it happen myself yet.) so I was wondering if you could let me know what level you were playing at, team size, difficulty setting, what archetype you used, powersets..?
Thanks again.
Edit: Just thought I'd add: You clearly put a lot of thought into your reviews, so I think it would be a good idea to provide a little more info in the in-game review message. Not everyone you randomly select for your reviews will be a forum reader.
Heh. "Augh! It's Them!"
Great. Now I'm gonna have that high-pitched chittering sound stuck in my head....
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 6536
Paragon High
Length:1 mission
Foes: Custom
Level Range: All Levels
Contact: Dexter Davenport (custom)
Rating: 4 Stars
TL-DR
Pros: Quick, balanced foes, cute concept, humerous ally
Cons: lacks any real story
Overview:
Young Dexter Davenport is tired of seeing the bullies, cliques, polulars and in crowds tormenting the other students at Paragon High. In his frustration he asks you to help find out what is behind this recent rise in swirlies and wedgies.
Upon entering the school you see the normal assortment bullies who immediatly try to ply their trade upon you. After a few hallway encounters you find poor young Dexter in peril.
After rescuing him he runs off shouting something about Nerdboy.
Confused but interested in finding the source of all the trouble you press on. Roughing up the students reveals that its the (Vice) Principle who is putting these students up to it.
You decide to go have a few choice words with the principle but on your way you find a familiar kid again in peril. Young Dexter is in costume now as the schools resident hero 'Nerdboy'. With his help you find the (Vice) Principle and explain to him that what he is doing is wrong. Of course this explination is in the form of a slap upside the head.
After the dust clears Dexter, AKA Nerdboy, begs you not to tell his mother about the whole costumed hero bit as he is sure to be grounded.
Specific Review:
This is a cute one-off mission that is not too challenging yet not a complete cakewalk. The halls of Paragon High are filled with the expected combatants. Football players, cheerleaders, goth girls ect. Their info text is dissapointingly short.
The map could probably be a bit smaller given that the arc is essentially a one joke arc. On large teams the added foes could make the joke overstay its welcome (not sure as I solo my reviews). I solo'ed this mission with a level 12 defender and a level 50 scrapper and neither had any trouble. The ally (Nerdboy) might be set a little to high as he summons the full bot line but truthfully it did not bother me the times I ran it because he spawned very close to the end of the mission resulting in only having him there for the last leg.
I rated 4 stars simply because there isn't a story to draw me in and I don't know if a story can be really added to this mission without ruining the one off feel of it. If the author was to include a plot about how the students all got powers from the evil black magic administration, for example, then the mission becomes grounded in a sort of game reality. This kills the silly nature of the story. Sadly I don't think there is a way to get me to rate it higher. At least I can't think of anything.
Still, as always, if you do make changes let me know and I will re-run and re-rate.
Current queue:
53131, 17702, 4431, 1589, 71523, 60280, 13574, 68930
After seeing some of the recent posts I have re-printed my queue for those who do not want my (a) review of their arc. No questions asked and no insult taken if this is the case.
I'd like to be able to reproduce the situation where my bosses become too tough and the allies die too quickly (I've seen that comment before, but can't seem to make it happen myself yet.) so I was wondering if you could let me know what level you were playing at, team size, difficulty setting, what archetype you used, powersets..?
I was solo, playing my 50 Claws/SR on CL4. (Venture/Virtue, follow the link in my signature if you want to see the build in Mids'). This is a heavily setted/purpled build. Some of your mobs are turned up high enough to have BuildUp, which gives mobs a waaaaaay bigger +ToHit than it does players. You have some of their defensive powers turned way up too, particularly Tyr Ant. Putting defenses on a Boss or higher makes them very much harder to defeat, doubly so when you use Regen or Willpower on high settings.
As for why some of the allies died so fast, it was because they were low-ranking mobs. A Minion-level ally standing next to a Boss that tosses off a Whirling Sword is probably going to drop dead.
Just thought I'd add: You clearly put a lot of thought into your reviews, so I think it would be a good idea to provide a little more info in the in-game review message. Not everyone you randomly select for your reviews will be a forum reader.
I haven't randomly selected anyone since the first three or four reviews. Everyone arc I've reviewed since has been by request of the author. Presumably that means they're reading the forum.
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"
Thanks for the review Hell_O_Ween.
Honestly, when I made this mission it was just for something cute to try out the MA (it all started with the high school cliques with powers and went from there). I had never even initially planned to put much text in the different fields, but then I kept having ideas and hearing dialogue in my head, so had to give in to imagination's cracking whip.
Oddly enough, it never even occurred to me to explain how the students got their powers (is that bad?), but I sort of thought of it as what you would expect that particular high school stereotype to have, just turned up a notch. I do plan on putting in a bit more info text, just haven't gotten around to it yet (at first they weren't even going to have any, but then the voices in my head started).
I originally had more ambushes at the end, but some earlier feedback mentioned the end boss was overly hard, so I tweaked a bit. I ran it several times myself both solo and on teams to try to make sure it was reasonably doable and still fun/challenging (which I HIGHLY recommend as having to deal with the mobs YOU made makes you really eager to balance them for all types of players/ATs).
I'm really glad you liked it and if it was fun to play then my personal mission is accomplished. If I do any significant changes, then I'll be sure to let you know. Thanks again for the great review
I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.
Arc 53131
A Heroes Final Stand
Length: 3 missions
Foes: Psychic Clockwork, Malta Group, Arachnos, Axis Americans, Custom
Contact: Arachnos Traitor Kalinda
Rating: UNRATED (Unable/unwilling to finish)
TL-DR
Pros: Quick missions
Cons: Undeveloped story, Contradictory clues, miss matched foes, overpowered final mission, lacking logic
In fairness this arc has a disclaimer stating it is not finished
Overview:
Kalinda, an Arachnos traitor, has discovered that Lord Recluse has gone mad with power and is going to stage an assault of Paragon city and enslave the Supers there. She needs you help to stop him.
First you need to slow the attack preperations enough so that you have time to end it. That means beating the general in charge of the refueling the flyers. This Bane (Crab) Spider General also knows where the Field General is so you need to get that outta him to.
He turns out to be in Mercy finishing up on the flyers there. After a quick fight he spills the beans on General Bonestripper.
Bonestripper is hanging out in Mercy with a bunch of Psychic Clockwork he got on loan from his best friend the Clockwork King. A quick fight later he has given you a satnav location, a chared note and a slightly damaged flash drive all pointing to where Ghost Widow is hiding until the battle.
It wasn't a huge suprise that she was in her Tower. You enter to find she has Psychic Clockwork, Malta, Axis Americans as well as her normal Arachnos minions on her side.
Its a tough battle but you arrive to find Ghost Widow.
(INCOMPLETE REVIEW DUE TO BEING UNABLE?UNWILLING TO FINISH)
Specific Review:
The plot is very basic and relies on an odd motivator. If the contact is indeed the Kalinda from Mercy then her reasons for turning coat are very odd. She is upset that Lord Recluse is doing what he always does and attack Paragon?
Mission 1: I am told in the briefing that I am looking for a Bane Spider but both times I played the mission I found a Crab Spider. The mission has a 30 minute time limit (which you are warned about) but it being one of the smallest maps in the game it is not hard to finish for any AT.
Mission 2: This mission just made no sense to me. Here is a general who according to the briefing had just suffered an air strike to thin his numbers yet he is just hanging out in mercy?
Also why does he have Psychic Clockwork as allies? The fact that he is friends with the Clockwork King is just out of left field to me. The oddest thing here tho is all the conflicting clues. Bonestripper says he is giving you a SatNav location of Ghost Widow, the two clue says you got a flashdrive and a charred piece of paper. The contact only acknowledges the paper. As a side note, both time I ran this Bonestripper did not summon any of his pets. He used alot of his Dark Miasma powers and only once did he use the pulse rifle to attack. I suspect this is due to the Dark set being ranked higher than the pet set but I am not sure.
Mission 3: This mission is level locked at 54 which is just an awful design choice. Even with the constant warnings from the contact that you need a team. My lvl 42 Window was slapped around pretty hard that by the time I got to the end and found an AV that had not scaled down I was getting upset. After a few more deaths I quit and ran my IO'd scrapped through. He may have been able to beat Ghost Widow solo but it would take a long long time and any mistake on my part would have meant starting all over. In the end I decided I didn't want to spend the time. Also what is with the mishmash of foes. Arachnos, Axis Americans, Malta, Arachnos, Psychic Clockwork? I could not make heads or tails about the choices. Nor did I really understand why I was after Ghost Widow other than she is, as you put it, Recluses right hand man.
I did not rate this arc as I did not finish it but even if I had I doubt it would have gotten any stars. It needs a story that makes sense, foes that go together and the last mission should not be level locked liked that.
A serious re-write is needed for me to play this arc a second time.
I am changing my reviw policy slightly. If an arc is obviously unfinished I will not review it here. I will send an ingame review stating that you can contact me via forum PM to get any notes I have
Arc #12798, "It Does a Body Good?"
tl;dr: 2 stars. Offenses: weak plot, problematic mobs, "just a bunch of stuff that happened"
Detective McLord calls on you to free hostages being held in a health store chain's warehouse by "an unknown group". The bad guys are Pugilists, a mix of Super Strength, Energy Melee and Martial Arts mobs. Lieutenants have Energy Melee with BuildUp and Invulnerability turned up high enough to have Unyielding and Dull Pain, essentially making them Bosses. You have to free several hostages, unfortunately the counters for these are improperly formatted in the nav bar. The completion Clue says you find bottles of pills labelled "Ripped" on the defeated Pugilists.
McLord sends the pills to a lab for analysis...and promptly loses contact with the lab in Act II. When you arrive at the lab (small tech lab) the place is full of Malta. The mission is a clear-all with one glowie. Chatter from patrols implies that Ripped is a Malta supersoldier drug, which is confirmed by the Clue: Ripped is a mix of caffeine, opiates, epinephrine, steroids and superadine (it says here).
Next, McLord traces the boxing gear worn by the Pugilists to a gym that housed a drug ring a year ago, specializing in performance enhancers. Act III is a short warehouse map with Pugilists, one glowie and a Pugilist Boss, Super Strength/Kinetics, uses Rage. On defeat the Trainer says "Rick" has all the chemicals he needs and soon the city will be "fitter than ever". Malta is also still interested in the drug; clicking the glowie triggers a Malta ambush (I just clicked out).
Finally, in Act IV the Pugilists plan to spike the punch at "Fitness Fun Day", an event held by the city to promote health. McLord expects Malta to show up as well. (He talks as if he's never heard of Malta before...dude, they spawn about fifty feet in front of you in Peregrine....) The mission takes place on the commercian Carnies map. Main spawns are Pugilists with Pugilist/Malta battles (which the Pugilists seem to get the better of). There are three hostages (case typo: "civilian") and six barrels of drugs (glowies, case typo in completed text: "you have secured the chemicals"). The map has way too many inconvenient places for the barrels to spawn, and all the battle scenes spawn with Pugilist Bosses so they're all over the place. You get a perfunctory congrats from McLord at the end.
This is a fairly bland arc with a plot right out of the level 10-15 bracket and some mobs dialed up to 11. Malta's involvement in the story is gratuitous and almost comical -- the Pugilists are strictly small-time amateurs and Malta can't handle them. If the interlopers were Skulls or even Family it would make more sense, but those mobs are going to be way too difficult for that level.
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"
Arc #1009, "The Legacy of Joe, the Longbow Eagle"
tl;dr: 3 stars. Offenses: You Can't Fight Fate, undeclared AV/EBs, deceptive Contact, plot issues
Dr. Lloyd, an experienced time traveller (gaaaah...time travel and transparent reference...), needs your help in the past. There's a long diatribe on temporal mechanics that basically serves to remind you that you don't actually have a choice. The goal is to ensure someone named "Joe" becomes a Longbow Eagle. The first task is to travel to 1964 and destroy a crate containing several copies of the movie Casablanca, thus ensuring that Joe's parents will meet. To do this you have to fight the Chronologists, a custom faction of "anti-Menders". The factin includes mobs with Controller abilities and at least one with SR, making stealth problematic. The mission is a glowie hunt, you just have to find the right crate. Afterwards you are told that because you destroyed the film reels Joe's father did not go to the movies that night and therefore did not die in the fire that broke out at the theater. If we can't change history then how do will know what would have...oh, never mind.
The next task is to steer "Joe" towards a career in the military. To do this you must travel to WW I (yes, it says the first one) to prevent the 5th Column (eh?) from kidnapping a "Francois Ghails" whom they believe to be the first true mutant. This is supposedly to disprove the theory that mutants began appearing after the atom was split. That theory Fails Game History Forever in the first place so I'm not sure what the point of referencing it here is. Worse, we're told Ghails isn't even a mutant. The mission takes place on a St. Martial map with 5th Column and Chronologists (hostile to each other). Ghails is a simple hostage with no escort. Lloyd explains afterwards that Ghails was part of a long chain of events culminating in the creation of the G. I. Joe toys, which our "Joe" played with as a child.
The next mission sends you to an abandoned hospital in 1997. You are told you won't have to worry about the Chronologists, but Ouroboros will be involved...along with Arachnos. You have to re-arm any weapons you find, take out the Arachnos Weapons Expert and take down a Mender to ensure he can't travel back and undo what you've done. The mission uses the Mother Mayhem map and is level-locked to 40 (for no clear reason). The "Weapons Expert" is a Bane Executioner with a large spawn who managed to drop me with a 1030 point crit. The Mender is...Lloyd. Lloyd is a Broadsword/Ice Armor and is either an AV or has his defenses turned up high enough to give status protection, and also comes with a large spawn of guards. Lloyd tells you on your return that he was once a Mender and that was when he learned that history can't be changed. The explanation for the mission is that a band of Freakshow would find the weapons and go on a rampage with them, which Joe would see on the television. The news report would motivate him to join the military.
For Act IV, you have to save a woman from a Carnies party, so she'll get drunk celebrating with a guy who works at Agincourt, causing him to order too many jetpacks the next day, leading to Joe having a spare one to pick up when Caleb attacks two weeks later. The warehouse map has large-scale battles between Arachnos and Carnies, including Bosses. There's a placed Boss too, a Dark Ring Mistress, but you don't have to defeat her. You just have to find the hostage, no escort.
In Act V you have to save Joe from an Arachnos ambush. This ambush includes Black Scorpion, "the villainess Aki-Ran", the Chronologists with a lead Surveyor who has to go, and takes place in a Malta base. You're told Indigo and Crimson are around somewhere too just in case you need help...why do two AV-class characters need my help...oh, never mind. You're told all this after you accept the mission, too. The map is a tech map with all the various factions at each other's throats. "Surveyor Lars" was a Boss, looks like Electric Blast/Kinetics. He tells you you're being used (again...) and asks if you're working for Ouroboros or "Suffusion". Aki-Ran turns out to be a Ninja/Pain EB working for the Carnies. She claims during the fight that Sister Psyche is responsible for her current psychological problems (which, hell, may even be true). The map is stupidly easy with Indigo and Crimson along. In the debriefing you're told that Joe would be the only Longbow agent to stand with the Freedom Phalanx as they pushed back a large wave of Arachnos villains, earning him a medal from the city, which inspired someone named Sam Peters to take up arms against Malta in a fight in which only you have a larger role to play.
The arc hammers you repeatedly with the idea that You Can't Fight Fate. In that case why not just go home and grab a cold one? The undeclared AV/EBs are annoying as always. I'm left with the feeling that this is someone's origin story and that the player is a Xanatos Sucker. The plot asks more questions than it answers and straightjackets the player. It says in its info field that it is "episode 1"...I'm not motivated to try out episode 2.
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"