I know Venture is now backed up with all these requests, so I'll just post mine for anyone who wishes to check them out. (Of course, Venture is more than welcome to try them too when his list is open again. 
)
I have two so far:
"Shaded To Black" ArcID: 4996
A new group of villains working with Arachnos; technology abound; Manticore on their tail, and you answer the call.
(For levels 40-50. Story-driven. Investigation/Sci-fi/Adventure. Has one EB and one EB/AV, Allies are provided. Solo-friendly below Invincible. 4 short missions. 30-60 minutes.)
Notes: This is my first one; the one I did during open beta and spent so much time on (I think a couple of weeks). Even though there is an EB/AV in there, I created this to be soloable (as long as you are below Invincible. I made sure to mention it). The EB/AV is sort of important to the story.
"The Missing" ArcID: 37636
What starts out as a missing person case turns into something more sinister.
(Available for all levels. Story-driven. Mystery. Solo-friendly, only contains one custom standard-level EB. An optional Ally is provided. 3 short missions. 15-30 minutes.)
Notes: This one is shorter than my previous one, but many have thought it to be better in some areas, mostly because of the story. It has less custom mobs and is less epic than the previous one, but it has a bit more heart I think.
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I think this mission was bad... But i believe it will make it into the Hall based on the rules of HoF as I understand them. As of my search today, this mission had 882 ratings, and showed a 5 star rating. As I understand it, Hall of Fame requires over 1000+ votes, and a rating of better than 4 or 4.5 (not completely sure which). If this really is the sort of mission that warrants Hall of Fame status, I submit that achieving Hall of Fame status is more about advertising than superior mission design and/or writing.
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You are incorrect, to make it into HoF an arc needs to actually get 100 5 star votes.
The average rating and total number of votes have nothing to do with it afaIk.
Incorrect actually, on TEST it was 100, on Live it is 1000.
Also, it requires a 5 star average - rounded up.
That means 4-stars are counted as 5-star if the average leans 5-star; thus to say a "4.5 star" rating is completely reasonable.
A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.
Wow, thanks for all the analysis. I wasn't expecting that much.
As I suspect, the way it ends is all a bit confusing. The original concept for the arc had you being used as a sort of trojan horse to provide information to Longbow/Myriad without Loomis getting his own hands dirty in case things went wrong. He had you "installing viruses" on computers on the ship, but it was really loads of his data on the villain groups. I ended up having to cut that out for space (the arc is sitting at 99.74 percent full). It was also supposed to be clear that he decided to help Myriad after he read through the stuff you collect in Mission 3 and it struck a chord with him. But I'm afraid that wasn't presented too well. (Also, he wasn't betraying Myriad. I guess that was ambiguous too from Myriad's comments. You were the ally he was betraying to get in with Myriad's crew).
(Yes, Lamont was an ally for those who might not be able to solo Myriad)
Hello, all. I thought I'd speak up in my defense. I am the Green Dwarf that Venture is speaking about. From the outset, I told everyone I knew that I would 5 star everything as I just didn't want to intentionally grief anyone in this game. When @Jake Summers slammed my arc so badly, I tried to reason with him to no avail. In the end, I told him I would reduce my fives that I had given him to the same scores he thought I deserved. And I thought that was the end of it. Well, I was wrong. For four days, I have received praise and kudos for my storyline. This afternoon, I suddenly started getting low stars with no comments from a lot of people. I can only attribute this fact to this flame from Venture. I doubt I will ever write another story arc after this. I will leave my arc up for those who care to play it for its merits and I'm sorry if my actions offended anyone.
Green Dwarf 50 Stone/Axe Tanker
Time Traveller 50 Rad/Rad Defender
It's not a flame, it's a review. Though I can see if you have been automatically back-patting players on the back for their arcs regardless of content, how you might feel that way when someone suddenly rated yours on its own merits. You may not have asked Venture to review your arc, unlike his other subjects, but now you have quite a bit of feedback and a lot of exposure.
Use it to your benefit. I'll keep an eye out for your arc.
There are no words for what this community, and the friends I have made here mean to me. Please know that I care for all of you, yes, even you. If you Twitter, I'm MrThan. If you're Unleashed, I'm dumps. I'll try and get registered on the Titan Forums as well. Peace, and thanks for the best nine years anyone could ever ask for.
So you're Green Dwarf.
To be honest, I lost interest in playing your arc from two things. First, your repeat spamming of it in the Beta Testers channel on Test. Secondly, your generic "I gave you five stars so come and give me five stars" feedback that you give, which I received 3 times from you in a single night.
You pretty much caused a one-man case of hype aversion. Personally, I doubt Venture's review has anything to do with it. Remember that only a small fraction of the playerbase even registers for the forums.
Good publicity, bad publicity....it's still publicity.
Don't take it personal, it's just someone's opinion and thoughts on your work.
Besides, how would anyone get better at something without criticism.
I would like for any and everyone to review my arc Elemental Distortion MArcID: 18525.
I'm not that great of a writer so I don't know if I have alot of plot holes or not. You can submit comments to me in game, this thread or through PM. I'm really enthusiastic about this feature and would like the maximum amount of feedback on my arcs so I can make better ones that we all can/will enjoy.
Venture if you have the time, I'd love for you to put my arc in your queue.
Current Projects:
Arbiter Chaos-lvl 43 Bane Spider
DivineStorm-lvl 35 fire/storm Corr
TerrorGash- lvl 32 axe/elec brute
Elemental Distortion MAarc ID: 18525
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I recognized some of the cosplayers (Leeloo, Indiana Jones, Phillip J. Fry, Dr. Manhattan); others, if they were supposed to be references, went past me.
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Just played this one, I also recognized Drizzt Do'Urden and Leela from Futurama. The others stumped me though.
http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes#
#47092 & #34056
JJ
I delete more 50s, then you'll ever have.
http://www.pandora.com/people/jjdemon
Artists always hate critics, generally having a hard time with negative reviews. That happens in artistic endeavor that has artists and critics. An artist that let's a critic end their career probably wasn't really much of an artist in the first place. If you really love your art, then you will continue with your art because you love it. MA may not really be art, but it is about creativity, and there are critics/reviewers.
When I went through and PLAYED your arc all the way through, I finished up and sent you feedback directly.
I give you a lot of credit for being a PROMOTER, which is a different sort of thing as well. While most of us have published missions and get a few responses if we are lucky, you have over 800 ratings since issue 14 was released. I have some idea of how you got there, and I do think it involved something like spam, but still, I do think you took the time to do it. I don't think a bot was involved (don't see how it could be).
MMO's are communities, and the Devs are the final arbiters. I don't know if your mission will make it into HOF, but it may deserve to make it there by dint of your cleverness in advertising. I don't think that this was intended by the Devs, but they haven't spoken on this either. When you come right down to it, HoF isn't that big a deal, there are no monetary rewards, and I don't think you were offensive (I don't know how your communiques went with Venture).
I suspect that you didn't really play through my arc. You DID give me a 5 star rating, which is something, but I have to say it doesn't mean as much to me now since there was no commentary that went with it.
For Venture and others (I include myself in this category), we would like to make it into HOF, but we also want to make our mission arcs the best that they can be. That's why we like to read the reviews that Venture writes up.
I think that what happened here is that you got upset when an arc that you really really want to see in the HoF get shot down by possibly the most prolific critic on the boards, and you reacted emotionally. I'm not sure what your goal in posting here now is, but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, and assuming that you are upset at the turn of events, and you are trying to apologize by saying you will stop writing arcs.
If any of your actions offended, for me they were these: I felt that you were cleverly using spam to get what I considered a mediocre arc to HoF status. I did give you credit for understanding promotion though. I took time to really run through your arc, but I didn't feel that you took the time to really run through mine.
You compounded this when you reacted and changed your reviews of @Jake Summers arcs. That said that you were handing out 5's not because of the merits of an arc, but because of your attempt to reach HoF status with your Arc, and you changed your ratings because @Jake Summers didn't like your arc.
I have no idea what you will do next. You haven't posted much in the community so far, so it is all up to you. But I do think that this little exchange has been important for the community.
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Arc #2007, "The Green Brew"
tl;dr: 1 star. Offenses: Killer GM
Green Dwarf (author insert) needs you help in creating the perfect....
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Just as a warning to anyone else doing this arc, Green Dwarf sent me a comment on one of my arcs along the lines of "Hey I liked your arc and I gave it 5 stars, come play mine next!"
Okay well, I thought, why not he was nice enough to play my arc I'll give his a run (oh how nieve am I...) I get through it, even after the awful Hamidon encounter and come to the conclusion it wasn't really my cup of tea, I give him a 3 star rating and send him a few comments about why, nothing insultling.
Green Dwarf immediately marks down the arc he'd given a 5 star to me, marks down the other arc I had, then logs on another account to do the same thing again.
So well, be warned when giving comments on peoples arcs you don't know. But hey, 70 free tickets.
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I'd /petition for that.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
I wouldn't let this stop you from creating more story arcs. It sounds to me like you have the writing part down, but you need to work on balancing out the key encounters. The thing you have to remember is that you never know who will play the arc. Solo or Group and what AT's will people bring (the second is very important when considering solo player attempts). Creating an encounter that will require ranged attacks is not a good idea, since numerous melee AT's will have limited to no ranged attacks available. And ambushing while fighting the final boss might be fine for groups, but against solo players it will probably overwhelm them. Since the system currently doesn't allow you to require a minimum group size for MA arcs, maybe some tweaking to the encounters people seem to have issues with is in order.
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Hello, all. I thought I'd speak up in my defense. I am the Green Dwarf that Venture is speaking about. From the outset, I told everyone I knew that I would 5 star everything as I just didn't want to intentionally grief anyone in this game. When @Jake Summers slammed my arc so badly, I tried to reason with him to no avail. In the end, I told him I would reduce my fives that I had given him to the same scores he thought I deserved. And I thought that was the end of it. Well, I was wrong. For four days, I have received praise and kudos for my storyline. This afternoon, I suddenly started getting low stars with no comments from a lot of people. I can only attribute this fact to this flame from Venture. I doubt I will ever write another story arc after this. I will leave my arc up for those who care to play it for its merits and I'm sorry if my actions offended anyone.
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I really don't want to sidetrack Venture's fine thread but I found Green Dwarf's arc delightful myself. It had a nice whimsy feel to it, pretty lighthearted too.
I guess...not every arc in the HoF is going to be Citizen Kane or Schindler's List or somesuch, just as not every HoF arc is going to be topnotch. HoF can just as well represent what a player did with mobs, tools, dialogue as well.
As for the vote-swapping, guess what it's happening outside of GD. I imagine it's going on every server. Each person has a limited pool of friends and all and there is a badge attached to it.
On my published arc I've had a harsh review, some good reviews and some great ones. Makes sense, it's not a fantastic arc but there are some good qualities to it (I hope).
HoF just isn't achievable and neither is Dev's Choice unless you're a practiced writer or you schmooze players or are the Dev's good side or catch their eye in a positive manner.
Honestly folks...this is an MMO. How high a standard do we want here? Most people aren't going to be putting weeks tweaking their arcs. If the story is good, the mobs acceptable in challenge and the whole is engaging it should be noted by both players and Devs.
Questions about the game, either side? /t @Neuronia or @Neuronium, with your queries!
168760: A Death in the Gish. 3 missions, 1-14. Easy to solo.
Infinity Villains
Champion, Pinnacle, Virtue Heroes
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Hello, all. I thought I'd speak up in my defense. I am the Green Dwarf that Venture is speaking about. From the outset, I told everyone I knew that I would 5 star everything as I just didn't want to intentionally grief anyone in this game. When @Jake Summers slammed my arc so badly, I tried to reason with him to no avail. In the end, I told him I would reduce my fives that I had given him to the same scores he thought I deserved. And I thought that was the end of it. Well, I was wrong. For four days, I have received praise and kudos for my storyline. This afternoon, I suddenly started getting low stars with no comments from a lot of people. I can only attribute this fact to this flame from Venture. I doubt I will ever write another story arc after this. I will leave my arc up for those who care to play it for its merits and I'm sorry if my actions offended anyone.
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Or, you can take the complaint to heart and put in a ranged ally in the mission v. the blue mito.
Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides
So what you're saying is people should like things they don't like because you don't like not being liked?
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You pretty much caused a one-man case of hype aversion. Personally, I doubt Venture's review has anything to do with it. Remember that only a small fraction of the playerbase even registers for the forums.
[/ QUOTE ]Also, sleaze. "hi i rated u 5 nao rate me 5" is the worst thing you can do for your rating unless the person you send it to is of like mind.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
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You pretty much caused a one-man case of hype aversion. Personally, I doubt Venture's review has anything to do with it. Remember that only a small fraction of the playerbase even registers for the forums.
[/ QUOTE ]Also, sleaze. "hi i rated u 5 nao rate me 5" is the worst thing you can do for your rating unless the person you send it to is of like mind.
[/ QUOTE ]
Especially when it's obvious that they didn't actually play the arcs and you get multiple feedback tells from the same person within minutes of each other.
Anyway, enough derailing! More reviews!
I don't think you're wrong there Neuronia *BUT* you seem to be forgetting a few things here.
1) This is Venture's thread, and his reviews. They don't claim to be definitive - they are things as Venture sees them. You don't have to agree with them - I certainly don't in many cases; heck there's a reason I haven't, and likely won't be asking for reviews from him; largely because our opinions seem to be dead opposite on many things. (It'd be like going up to a guy who hates Star Trek while wearing Vulcan ears, a red shirt and a little upside down V badge and asking him to rate your costume.)
That doesn't mean Venture's opinions are wrong though - they're his opinions, and apparently valued by many folks. Some of whom really just want someone who's willing to take a long hard look at their work, which the average player isn't going to do. Most folks seem to just rate and go on, not even offering feedback. That's fine, except that you cannot improve your writing without criticism; meaning those who know they could do better, but aren't sure where the problem lies, find someone like Venture who's willing to do the grunt work extremely valuable.
2) Vote Swapping - Just because it's happening all over the place does not make it right, nor desirable.
I'd be more willing to just let sleeping dogs lie, but to have someone change their vote on an arc they probably didn't even play based on someone's honest criticism of their own arc... is frankly ridiculous.
Especially in this case, where he went into a thread specifically for reviews, by someone who is well known to be a bit of a hardarse when it comes to fiction... and asked for one.
3) Although I agree that the standards some people have for Architect are extremely high - even to what I'd call ridiculous at times; ultimately that is their call. We've all got our standards, some more lax than others.
Myself, I tend to give out 5 stars relatively often; my criteria being: A) Is it fun? B) Is it spelled/written well? C) Does it make sense? (Or in the case of a cracked-out comedy that isn't intended to make sense, a double dose of "Is it fun?")
That doesn't mean someone else's much harsher criteria are wrong. Neither does it mean someone else's much lighter criteria are wrong. We've all got our own metric, and those of us who do the writing need to accept that.
===
Now, I don't think this means Green Dwarf needs to be blackballed forever, but I think he needs to learn a lesson from this; primarily that retaliating for a low review is flatly wrong.
Look - if you rate an arc in the first place - give it what it deserves.
Period.
That's it.
Lowering your vote later after a poor review is just bad form; and I don't care what excuse you try to use to justify it; that's exactly what it is. It's petty, its retaliatory, and it is not acceptable.
And I wnat to add this:
It does not matter how many fantastic reviews you have gotten. It does not matter how much praise you have accrued. *Someone* is going to dislike what you've done. That's the nature of creativity - it's subjective.
Heck - I'll give an example:
On test, my A Super Team Was Born arc was 5-star with something like 170 votes and Dev's Choice. It was a MONSTER as far as test was concerned.
Venture I think gave me a 3 star? Oh well. That's his opinion and I'm perfectly willing to accept that.
Another example:
In the same day I received the following two tells:
"Very imaginitive! Great idea!"
"Boring, unimaginitive. Blah."
Same day, same arc, different players, 180 degree different viewpoint.
You cannot expect everyone to love your stuff, even if many people do. It just will not happen. Letting yourself acknowledge that relieves a whole lot of stress.
Hall of Fame and Dev's Choice are not guarantees. I used to have 2 Dev's Choice back on test - I now have none. Oh well - such is life. I'd love to someday hit Hall of Fame, but I'm not going to hold my breath for it either.
The above is not flaming anyone either I'll add - I know damned well how frustrating it can be to suddenly go "WTF?!" after a bad review or comment. Even being able to calm down later - yes, I still get annoyed when I see a negative review; especially one without any suggestions on how to fix whatever was broken (or worse, not even telling me what was actually broken).
Just the same - if you're going to create and put it out there for people, you have to expect at least a reasonable level of negative feedback.
Note: I said reasonable. If someone is stalking you over it (I've had this happen in other regards) - then that is not reasonable; but if someone simply says "I don't like it" - well... that's to be expected.
Move on and do your best, you can't force anyone to think what you want them to. Instead - please yourself, please your fans (ie: the people telling you they liked the arc 'but maybe this could be tweaked') - pay attention to critics who aren't jerks (the guy who tells you they didn't like your arc because of X or Y, but isn't actually flaming you about it) - and ignore the bozos who tell you "You Suck!".
Sorry to barge into your thread with such a diatribe Venture; I wouldn't if I didn't think some folks needed to hear it, even if I don't know that they'll listen.
I'll shut up and go back to cranky old writer mountain now <x.x>
A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.
Honestly folks...this is an MMO. How high a standard do we want here?
How high can we get?
Then...we raise the bar.
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"
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How high can we get?
Then...we raise the bar.
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<British>Our story arcs goto eleven.</British>
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Honestly folks...this is an MMO. How high a standard do we want here?
How high can we get?
Then...we raise the bar.
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Agreed. That attitude has always baffled me. Of course we should always set the bar high and keep raising it! Imagine what would have happened if novelists, film makers, and artists had always said the same thing?
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Agreed. That attitude has always baffled me. Of course we should always set the bar high and keep raising it! Imagine what would have happened if novelists, film makers, and artists had always said the same thing?
[/ QUOTE ]
Micheal Bay would finally get his wish to title all his movies, "Mother@#$@ing Explosions!", Product Tie-ins the Movie would be #1 at the boxoffice, and Uwe Boll films would be exactly the same?
Arc #7780, "Nobody of Consequence"
tl;dr: 4 stars. Offenses: The Usual Suspects Ending, surprise EB (optional), plot holes
The author specifically requested feedback on the use of status effects in this one, so I decided to run it with my level 29 Corruptor Mother Night. She's slightly under the level range of some of the missions but that shouldn't be a problem.
The Contact, Loomis, a Tsooish guy is looking for a chance to make a big score and earn some rep with Arachnos. He has a lead on a recent theft from an Arachnos base, which he's passing on to you so you can recover what was stolen and split the reward with him. The mission calls for you to search 6 containers and defeat a Big Bad, "Inspector Lamont" of Crey Security, who says as you approach that someone has been stealing from Crey. The Inspector was an Electric Assault/Electric Armor Boss, and a bit of a handful for me thanks to ElecA's energy resists. None of the crates have the items you're looking for.
Loomis next tells you that several factions in the Isles have had tech thefts lately that smell of inside jobs, but are suspected to be connected in some way. He's identified some guys at a Council base he thinks might know something and wants you to interrogate them. The cook tells you that the group was started by guys who used to be in Crey but got tired of the danger in the Isles. The courier tells you about a private server the group is using for communication, and something about "Myriad leading them all back home". And the mechanic admits he's part of a network of Minions of various groups that are stealing from their employers because they're tired of being mistreated. The author does kind of powerpose you here, describing you as beating the information out of these guys, but it's a Villainous arc and that's acceptable.
Your next task is to raid an abandoned Crey facility believed to house the private server. The base is filled with custom "Perpetrators Unknown" mobs with names like "Anonymous Bowyer", "Anonymous Blade", etc. This is where life started to get "interesting" as there were Willpower and Super Reflexes mobs in the mix with the +perception to see through my Shadow Fall. Coming around a turn on the first level I spotted "The Undestined", a +1 Elite Boss whose bio implies he used to work for Black Scorpion. He wasn't in the objective list, but he had a Willpower mob standing next to him...I decided to try my luck. He turned out to be a War Mace/Electric Assault and managed to take me out when I got him to about 10%. I converted some greens, rezzed and got him on the rematch. I ate a second death later on taking on a double Tenacious spawn, which I attribute to operator error. The clues in this base, aside from the server, include personell files from various groups indicating which members have been disciplined lately and a Crey file on a "Myrna Mathers", who was Oswalded by Crey and eventually ended up in the Isles, then vanished with "important genetic information".
Loomis works over the server and finds a ton of information about "Myriad" and her plan to get a bunch of disaffected Minions out of the Isles and back home, hopefully with pardons. The briefing has a good bit about the plight of Myriad's faction, but, of course, you're sent to bust her at a meeting with Longbow. She's carrying a lot of information about the major factions which should be worth a bundle. The mission takes place on a ship map -- on VU2009 players are starting to complain about these becoming too common, probably as a result of hero-only players who don't know how common they are redside using them. I don't mind them that much myself as they have high ceilings and let you fly past a lot of spawns you don't feel like dealing with if the mission isn't an escort or clear-all, which this one didn't appear to be. I did spot Inspector Lamont early on as what seemed to be a possible ally but using her would have required clearing the way to Myriad. Myriad herself was an Ice Blast/Plant Controller EB; I was doing well until I ran out of BFs and got chain-held. She was back to full health when I returned with a better inspiration loadout, but I won the rematch. She gives a good The Reason You Suck Speech as you beat on her. Her approach text lets you know that Loomis is betraying her.
In the debriefing Loomis apologizes for playing you, saying that he was trying to leverage his own pardon and that he didn't give away any information about you. It's not really clear who he is getting this pardon from, seeing as how he sent you to bust up Longbow. I'm guessing the idea is that the player is being sent into a trap at the freighter, which doesn't really make sense. If he wants a pardon from Longbow the best way to do that is to stay with Myriad. Sending you to work against her efforts then feeding you to Longbow puts him on the outs with Myriad so if she wins, he's screwed, and if you beat the trap he's really screwed. Maybe there's another player in the mix the author didn't make clear -- it would really suck for Loomis if it was made obvious to the player that he's been in negotiation with Malta the whole time.... The arc does have a The Usual Suspects Ending, which is problematic. I didn't feel as though I'd been thrown the Idiot Ball. I think if the plot was cleaned up the last-minute betrayal could work. The story does have a good theme to it.
As for the status effect issues the author was concerned about I can't say there was a real problem until the last battle, and that's manageable with inspirations.
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"