Fascinating reviews, Venture. I'll read them as long as you keep writing them. :-)
-D
Darkonne: Pinnacle's (unofficially) mighty Dark Miasma/Radiation Blast enthusiast!
Be sure to check out this mighty Arc:
#161865 - Aeon's Nemesis
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It be a good idea to set up a Critic's corner and send some of the Arc critic results to the City Scoop.
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Scoop's had about half dozen people or more volunteer to write reviews (I lost count).
Prophecy & Dreams | Prophecy & Dreams Discussion
Nerd Flirting | More Nerd Flirting | Nerds Talking About Flirting
Unbidden | Star Patrol | Real World Hero
How to stay at 4.5 stars...
If you get a 4, just get one 5 to fix it.
If you get a 3, just get two 5's to fix it.
If you get a 2, just get five 5's to fix it.
If you get a 1, just get seven 5's to fix it.
If you get a 0, just get nine 5's to fix it.
Oh, yeah, this is easy to do...
Green Dwarf 50 Stone/Axe Tanker
Time Traveller 50 Rad/Rad Defender
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And by that standard, anybody who picks something other than one of the standard pre-built costumes should win every costume contest they enter. And everybody who PvPs should always win. How high a standard do I want here? Melissa "War Witch" Bianco. If it's as good as anything she's written, it gets at least four stars, probably five, from me. No, I don't care how many hours of work you put into it. No, I don't care about your feelings; this isn't pre-school and I'm not your therapist and you don't get an A just for showing up.
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Brad, have you read some of the content in game?
Dispari's Hollows arc is better than the current content from Wincott. Many of the missions pre RWZ/pre Faultline revamp are average to below average.
Stephanie Peebles: Defeat 10 Council, Rescue a Scientist, Clear out a warehouse, Defeat a Family Boss, etc.
Croatoa contatcs: Defeat some mobs outside, defeat all in a map, delivery mission, rescue.
The RWZ stuff is great, but only so in comparison to the large amount of tedious dreck in the game. Let's face it, the Dev's Choice stuff out there is better than the current content in many ways and may of the non Dev's Choice missions are better than some of the content available.
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By the way, if you do write well, it's not "weeks." OK, my first story arc did take me 3 weeks to polish to maximum quality, but that was because I was still learning what the system could and couldn't do, what the various settings on objectives did, and so forth. My second story arc, which is currently averaging 5 stars, took me 15 hours to write, from initial inspiration through white-boarding the plot through initial construction and testing. Based on feedback from other players, I found an intermittent bug in the game and worked around it in less than an hour the next day. It only takes "weeks" the first time, if even then -- or else you can probably never do it at all.
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Hmmm well, my arc got written out in under a day but then fiddling with mobs, settings, power levels extended that quite some time.
My next one is a beer&pretzels arc and will take far less time to produce. Agreed on your point about using the rating system as a flag though.
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This Green Dwarf controversy, though, is exactly why I've flat-out stopped sending feedback to anybody unless I know them personally until they find a way to anonymize it. Someone threatened me with a 1-star for giving his arc 3 instead of 5 stars on day one.
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This is unacceptable but sadly prevalent.
I wonder how much less ratings shenanigans there would be if there were no badges or arc slots or whichever associated with HoF/DC... :/
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
If anybody is looking for something to do, feel free to review my two-parter: 3962 and 4804 (in that order).
The thing is story-oriented, but that's not to say it's necessarily a cakewalk ... I spent most of my revision time trying to make it easier, actually. Both parts should be soloable at difficulty 1 on most non-support builds, in spite of the big bads. Teams might be better off with 4+ members rather than duos or trios.
The allies are all EB rank (deliberately, as I've already tried setting them lower and didn't like the results), and there is one defeat all mission in the second half (it's a relatively small one, though).
In case you want to get XP for it, the first arc is capped at max level 20, the second at max levels 29-30 (depending on the mission).
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How to stay at 4.5 stars...
If you get a 4, just get one 5 to fix it.
If you get a 3, just get two 5's to fix it.
If you get a 2, just get five 5's to fix it.
If you get a 1, just get seven 5's to fix it.
If you get a 0, just get nine 5's to fix it.
Oh, yeah, this is easy to do...
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... if you've actually written a 5-star arc. If 901 people who play your arc rate it 5 stars, and 99 slap a zero on it (an unlikely mix, but your example, so let's run with it), you'll still have a 4.505 rating and round up to 5, across 1000 rankings, and will make it into the Hall of Fame.
But you don't want to write a 5-star arc, do you? You want to write any old random 3 star arc and then claw your way into the Hall of Fame by trading 5-star reviews with 901 people. And if all 901 of you do it, all 901 of you will get the Hall of Fame icon ...
... and the words "Hall of Fame" will be completely and entirely worthless to anybody trying to use them to find top-quality content. So will the star rating, because 901 of the 5-star arcs will be pointless and generic.
Don't expect NCsoft NorCal to sympathize with your desire to do this either; the last thing on Earth they can risk is to have people buy the Architect Edition box tomorrow, try a dozen random "5-star" missions, and conclude that Mission Architect was a total waste of time because the supposedly-best stuff that players have written are no better than madlibs. So even if your review-trading system worked (or anybody else's), what you should expect is for NCNC to simply increase the number of ratings needed for Hall of Fame far, far beyond what you could plausibly link-trade. That would still leave the 5-star pool hopelessly polluted with mediocrity, but they can't do anything about that until they find some way to "rate the raters" the way some websites do it, and I'm not holding my breath on that.
Just accept that there is no way that NCNC is going to let that HoF icon be something you can meta-game for; they don't dare let people have it who didn't earn it honestly from their fellow players in SvS (Story versus Story) combat.
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Scoop's had about half dozen people or more volunteer to write reviews (I lost count).
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Tell them to get in the thread and write some then! I'd like to see more people doing reviews here. Venture's doing a great job but he's just one person and can only review so many arcs.
@Doctor Gemini
Arc #271637 - Welcome to M.A.G.I. - An alternative first story arc for magic origin heroes. At Hero Registration you heard the jokes about Azuria always losing things. When she loses the entire M.A.G.I. vault, you are chosen to find it.
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Brad, have you read some of the content in game?
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Yes, and I've been saying all week that I wish we could rate and feedback canonical missions the way we do AE missions. They should have them show up on the contacts. Because you're absolutely right. Other than Bonefire which I might 4-star, there isn't a single 5-star arc (by my standard) in the entire level 5-15 range of canonical missions. I've been begging them, in the name of customer retention, to go back and rewrite those contacts so that instead anybody who falls into that contact chain gets 10 levels of short stories with closure instead of 10 levels of single-mission stories and street sweeping intended to leave you cryptic clues towards the level 15+ content. That there's just plain so little content on the blue side that's any good until you get to level 15 or 20 is why none of my vacations from the red side last very long. Now, you tell me: given the tools to do what NCsoft hasn't done themselves yet, which behavior do you want to reward? Just showing up with stuff that's no fun to play? Or showing NCNC how to do it?
I want to reward good behaviour Brad.
I've been fair in my ratings; I've one and two-starred stuff that was horrible. I've three starred stuff where the effort was there but it needed help and I've five-starred stuff that was fantastic. Four stars is above-average but needs help.
I think...the disconnect with myself is that players are doing it for love of the game and to express their creativity. Given they aren't getting paid for it, you'll likely get a lot of original content while others just plug and plug because they want the awards.
And then there's canon. If you use States or a known NPC are you raising red flags? Are you better off just being original?
Ideally you want people to be original, use canon as a basis and the mechanics of the game to improve on the source material. It's nice when you get shorter, lighter arcs though.
As with everything, the good stuff will generate a buzz. So will the bad stuff, but it will be vultures hovering around the carcass. 
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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How to stay at 4.5 stars...
[/ QUOTE ]Write an arc that isn't [censored]?
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The next ingredient is hops...from Praetorian Earth. The nav bar says "Find the Alpha Wolf and assert your dominance"....um....riiiiiight.... Taking him out triggers the spawn of EB "Loup-Garou", a Super Strength/Regen. Thanks to the current AI silliness the first thing he did was pop Instant Healing, meaning the first 60 seconds or so of beating on him just didn't count. After a effort roughly akin to felling the mightiest tree in the forest with a herring, he bought it.
Next up was a trip to Eden for yeast. You are warned to bring END insps and to stay out of melee range...nice thing to say to a Scrapper. I also noticed going in that this mission is level-locked to 50, which actually EXed me to 49. The objective target is, I kid you not, a gorram Blue Mitochondria. I did try to fight it but, as a Scrapper, that was just not happening. At this point I bailed out of the arc and one-starred it. If zero was an actual option I'd have used it.
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I'm not sure why you're complaining about things being too tough if you're playing on Challenge Level three or higher (which I assume is the case since you were exed to 49). I ran this mission solo at Heroic with an electrical blaster, as I recall, and while it was not trivial to best the Loup Garou and the Mito, it wasn't all that hard (i.e., no visits to the hospital).
Because custom characters are essentially player characters (admittedly, played by a bad player), we can't insist on running at the same level of difficulty that we've been running at all these years. PvE against custom characters is almost like old-style PvP.
That said, I agree that there is a tendency among many authors to make their missions really tricky and excessively hard. But I wouldn't put that all on the authors.
In some ways, it's hard to make to missions easy. For example, because the only choices you have are standard/hard/extreme for power sets, if you pick anything but standard for most melee defense sets, even minions wind up with status protection, which makes missions extremely difficult for lower-level controllers and defenders. (One problem with giving us free rein over power selections, though, is that it allows you to create non-challenging opponents that are easily farmed. The devs have to consider a ton of stuff when designing things.)
Another example: I think a lot of authors would love to be able to use the standard PvE powersets for their mobs, if they could control their appearance. But to get the look you want, you have to use player powersets, which are generally more powerfu. It would be great if we could skin standard mobs with custom costumes.
I'd also like to put standard PvE skins on custom characters. This would be really nice because of the space it would save in arc definitions, as the costumes are what take up all the space. The Halloween temporary costume powers show that the system can handle putting a huge variety of standard PvE skins on most any character.
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WARNING: DO NOT PLAY
Arc #2007, "The Green Brew"
tl;dr: 1 star. Offenses: Killer GM
Green Dwarf (author insert) needs you help in creating the perfect....
...beer.
That's probably worth at least four stars immediately from the frat members.
Your first stop is Oranbega, to retrieve some magical water from one of its springs. Guarding the place is "Sinadria", one of the Dwarf's exes, who spawned frontloaded. At first glance she looked like a Succubus EB but is actually a custom with a lookalike costume (well done), a Claws/Couldn'tTell. I ended up needing to use Elude as the fight got pushed into the next spawn down the corridor. This was a small map and the glowie spawned about in the middle.
Your next task is to retrieve some special barley from a Redcap-infested field in Croatoa. Upon entering the map the nav bar instructs you to find "Alsae", who turns out to be a Grain Nymph ally (Boss, Plant/Thorn). Rescuing her triggers the spawn of the real target, Redcap Boss Iron Heel. Unfortunately this means you have to grovel over a large outdoor map again, and even if you choose to ditch the ally your stealth is blown off. Upon completion Alsae gives you a sack of barley and "another present to remember her by", If You Know What I Mean.
The next ingredient is hops...from Praetorian Earth. The nav bar says "Find the Alpha Wolf and assert your dominance"....um....riiiiiight.... Taking him out triggers the spawn of EB "Loup-Garou", a Super Strength/Regen. Thanks to the current AI silliness the first thing he did was pop Instant Healing, meaning the first 60 seconds or so of beating on him just didn't count. After a effort roughly akin to felling the mightiest tree in the forest with a herring, he bought it.
Next up was a trip to Eden for yeast. You are warned to bring END insps and to stay out of melee range...nice thing to say to a Scrapper. I also noticed going in that this mission is level-locked to 50, which actually EXed me to 49. The objective target is, I kid you not, a gorram Blue Mitochondria. I did try to fight it but, as a Scrapper, that was just not happening. At this point I bailed out of the arc and one-starred it. If zero was an actual option I'd have used it.
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I have to disagree with you on this one - I played this arc and had a blast! I was on my Dual/Regen Scrapper - all i had to do to the Mito was stay above him (i have fly) and used my Black Wand Vet power to kill him, his ranged attacks were not very powerful and with my Instant Heal and he was dead long before its timer was up - the mission after the Mito was also great with a lot of suprise twists - i might suggest if you dont have one of the vet ranged attacks you try buying the revolver temp power - if your not in Melee he is a piece of cake! As for the loup-garou he was also easy and i am only lvl 42, his bio text was an amazing either legend or piece of fiction - whichever it was it read great!
I gave it 5 stars for creativity. wonderful flavor text (if you bothered to read it) and actually making me have to find creative solutions to the problem!
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I gave his arc 5 stars. Of course, I was a Blaster and was pleasantly surprised that what I was expecting to be a tough battle (the mito) actually took about 15 seconds without using any inspirations.
I'd say if you have ANY ranged attack (including temp/vet powers) then give this arc a try. It's really fun.
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I gave this one 4 stars, because I was running a tanker and didn't realize that a few shots from a Nemesis staff would've taken care of the Mito. I would agree about the Loup-garou, at first I didn't think I'd be able to take him down at all (ran it on Rugged), but then his Instant Healing wore off. He would be a lot harder with a Blaster or Troller, but a team could handle him without much trouble I think.
I wish now I'd given it 5 stars, as I enjoyed the story and the variety of settings. I haven't played many other arcs so far, but this one stands out.
Speaking of arcs, try Sidekicks Can Be A Pain In The Cape, #28430!
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The next ingredient is hops...from Praetorian Earth. The nav bar says "Find the Alpha Wolf and assert your dominance"....um....riiiiiight.... Taking him out triggers the spawn of EB "Loup-Garou", a Super Strength/Regen. Thanks to the current AI silliness the first thing he did was pop Instant Healing, meaning the first 60 seconds or so of beating on him just didn't count. After a effort roughly akin to felling the mightiest tree in the forest with a herring, he bought it.
Next up was a trip to Eden for yeast. You are warned to bring END insps and to stay out of melee range...nice thing to say to a Scrapper. I also noticed going in that this mission is level-locked to 50, which actually EXed me to 49. The objective target is, I kid you not, a gorram Blue Mitochondria. I did try to fight it but, as a Scrapper, that was just not happening. At this point I bailed out of the arc and one-starred it. If zero was an actual option I'd have used it.
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I'm not sure why you're complaining about things being too tough if you're playing on Challenge Level three or higher (which I assume is the case since you were exed to 49). I ran this mission solo at Heroic with an electrical blaster, as I recall, and while it was not trivial to best the Loup Garou and the Mito, it wasn't all that hard (i.e., no visits to the hospital).
Because custom characters are essentially player characters (admittedly, played by a bad player), we can't insist on running at the same level of difficulty that we've been running at all these years. PvE against custom characters is almost like old-style PvP.
That said, I agree that there is a tendency among many authors to make their missions really tricky and excessively hard. But I wouldn't put that all on the authors.
In some ways, it's hard to make to missions easy. For example, because the only choices you have are standard/hard/extreme for power sets...SNIP!
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The way i handle it in both Through the Looking Glass and my joke one Three Stars was to fill each mission with rescuable allies of boss or higher rank, but make them un mentioned and optional.
For example if ar 3 in TtLG is to hard you can find and recruit the Thugs/Energy Blast EB Thugz Killa
For the fourth mission Pink Defense and Officier Xanatos are waiting to be found...
and for the last one...i keep that my little secret
AE # 67087: Journey through the Looking Glass - Save the World
LLX VirtueVerse! - Check out my crazy Toons
This is the size of group that we have balanced AVs for, 6.
-Positron 06/07/06 07:27 PM
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(My current projects are 4643 and 4829, in case anyone wants revenge. )
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I got 4643 review coming up...
If anyone can review my arc, it would be very appreciated! I'm open to any constructive criticism. 
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Arc Name: The Stream of Time
Arc ID: #40738
Faction: Neutral
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Silent Spy
Difficulty Level: Lvs40-50. Mid-Hard Difficulty.
Recommended Team Size: Could be done solo, but its more fun with friends.
Synopsis: Anomalies have been detected coming from the past in the stream of time!
Estimated Time to Play: 45-60 mins
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50s: Silent Spy - MA/Regen Scrapper | Tinkerhell - SS/Inv Brute | Extrasensory - Psi/Men Blaster | Ana Cruz - DP/PD Corruptor | Sara Thunderbird - Elec/Elec Scrapper | Pinstrike - Spines/SR Scrapper | Cold Feet - Cold/Cold Blaster
@Silent Spy, Champion Server
Venture, can you look at mine?
ID: 30821
Title: The Pool Gang
Author: @Crimson Racer
The Pool Gang were just a bunch of locals from Kings Row who hung out in pool halls. Being slight of stature, they found that people noticed them more when they were in a group. As capes started proliferating, they now had an excuse to put on tights and kick the butts of the local street gangs. But they started to go beyond just picking on the gangs, causing the arc's contact to leave the group. He asks you to see if you can knock some sense into them. He figures when they see someone from the big league coming down on them, they'll hang up their tights and come back to their normal Saturday night pool sessions. If you agree to help out, you can hopefully find out who's exploiting them.
It's listed as long, but it's only three missions and none are a Defeat All, so you can stealth to the few objectives there are (though some mobs seem to have better-than-usual perception). A custom boss exists for each level, the end boss is an EB if you're set for a middle difficulty level. The end mission has the contact joining you as an ally, so it shouldn't be too difficult. I think the overall difficulty is about moderate.
The Pool Gang is a custom group. I wanted to do something with a silver-age feel to it, like the old campy villains in the DC universe way back when. Like the Royal Flush Gang dress up like playing card characters, these guys, coming from a pool hall, look like billiard balls.
In any case, I had a great time coming up with something that I don't think is exceptional, but I think is better than just the average mission. The problem is that there's so many stories out there that it's not getting played. I'd love some feedback. I have plans on going in and adding a few details here and there like custom dialog at different points.... things to add a little more flavor and bring it to life more.
Arc ID#30821, A Clean Break
The only problem with defeating the Tsoo is that an hour later, you want to defeat them again!
"Life is just better boosted!" -- LadyMage
"I'm a big believer in Personal Force Field on a blaster. ... It's your happy place." -- Fulmens
If you wish to know what I base my ratings on you can PM me
Arc #4643
Blowback
Length: 5 Missions
Foes: Malta, Rikti and some custom
Contact: Crimson
My Rating: 4 Stars
TL-DR
Pros: Very well written, Follows cannon in both dialogue and story, Nice degree of challenge (not too hard or easy).
Cons: Suprise EB, Annoying custom foe/ally, A map slows the flow of the story.
Full Review:
Mission 1: Crimson has some intel on the malta (of course) and he needs someone to check out a base while he checks another. I can't quite place my fingure on the mission intro but the way it is written seems off to me.Like you enter in the middle of a conversation you were already part of. Not a big deal.
Anyway, you enter the mission and you need to hack a computer for info as well as 'confiscate' 4 peices of equipment. How did we know there was equipment to find...wasn't mentioned before. Ah well. There are a few patrol just randomly saying things but one alludes to something 'going off' and that its not safe to be near when it does. Hmmm...the malta ARE up to something.
The equipment you take has been used recently to break dimensional walls and the computer hack turns up an email from Enigma Silver 6-3 mentioning invitations.
You can even bring down a Titan if you want.
When you leave Crimson tells you he found the same info in the other base.
It was a nice simple infiltration mission that sets up the story well.
Mission 2: Turns out that meeting is happening now...and, in what is a very well written mission intro, its a rikti raid. You have to go in and find hostages (no escort), defeat a rikti boss named Ja'Dar and a suprise EB named Bluehawk Avenger (MA/Devices with flight).
The mission is fairly simple. there are alot of patrols of both Vanguard and Rikti who when they meet fight it out. I liked the use of this over battles because it allows them to happen at anytime...not just when you get close.
It may take a bit of time to find each of the 5 hostages but I found this to be keeping with the mission idea...its an invasion senario so it shouldn't just end immediatly.
This mission had a suprise EB in it named Bluehawk Avenger (her backstory is decent check it out). Normally this would be a big deal but the suprise is there for a reason. I do have to say here that she will either be a complete chump to fight or one of the most annoying time wasters ever. Right now the MA seems to have a problem with /Devices on custom foes. They tend to stand there doing nothing but use web nades and caltdrops. This means she slows you to a crawl, makes it so you can't fly or really move but never lays a finger on you.
When you exit Crimson gives you the skinny on Bluehawk. Nice to know. Makes the character more interesting.
Mission 3: Again well written intro text. The author (Venture) has Crimson down very well. This mission has you go after Bluehawk Avenger in a cave to rikti map. First you have to find Bluehawk then rescue 5 hostages (again no escort).
The flow stalled a bit here for me. From the intro text I got the feel that events had picked up speed, but the map choice and the rescues took longer than I liked. Far too many places for those hostages to hide in that map....
Also, you get Bluehawk as an ally. She proved to be an infuriating and quite honestly useless ally. Due to the /Devices issue I mentioned earlier she spent the entire time just throwing smoke/web nades and caltdrops.... After a while I ditched her.
When you return Crimson tells you about Bluehawks fate and a bit of story to the Malta
Mission 4: Crimson sends you into another Malta base, this time to find some low level supers the Malta have captured. The writing on this intro is the best so far as you get a feel of almost reserved desperation tinged with resignation of the events. Very well done Venture.
You enter to find there are two Titan bosses to fight, evidence to find and 10 bodies to search. I really wish you had said 10 captives to find as it would have made the fact that they were dead more interesting. I know the intro text alludes to this but still.
The evidence you find shows that Enigma Silver 6-3 is defecting....well not defecting more quitting the Malta Organization.
When you return to Crimson he almost seems apologetic you had to find the bodies as he expected it. Again, this would have had more impact if the nav bar said captive not bodies.
Great pacing on this mission with the bosses making subtle hints to a more horrible fate of the captives (I am assuming perhaps I missed something Venture could fill me in on)
Mission 5: Crimson tells you all hell is breaking loose, Enigma Silver 2-0 is hunting Enigma Silver 6-3 (who has taking some Malta troops with him) and the Rikti think they have been double crossed so Ja'Dar has suited up to kick bum.
The map is the expected but still nicely used Malta Robot Factory map. You have to defeat Enigma Silver 6-3, Enigma Silver 2-0, Ja'Dar as well as 4 Rikti portal equipment.
Multiple patrols and battles give you the feeling of a battle taking place but sadly due to the way they work in the MA you don't feel a part of the battle. No fault of the author but maybe some ambushes tied to a few non-required boss battles will immerse you more.
Anyway, Enigma Silver 2-0 is a standard Gunslinger boss. Ja'Dar is now an AV/EB (I cannot for the life of me remember what the actual renamed model Venture is called and to lazy to look it up)
Enigma Silver 6-3 is a custom foe. His costume seemed slightly out of place as did his power choices. Bots/Sonic Shields? I missed his info text as the battle was very fun and I forgot to check. He was an EB for me on my run so I am not sure if he is an AV on higer difficulties.
A special note goes to the clue dropped when you defeat Enigma Silver 2-0. It really gives you the feeling of the Malta Group in that little paragraph.
When you return Crimson give you info on Enigma Silver 6-3 and thanks you.
Personal thoughts: I don't like the Malta at all. The story behind them isn't really that interesting to me and the foe make-up of the group can either be frustrating or pushovers, there is no inbetween IMO. That being said, I loved this arc. It is probably the best Arc I have seen to include a foe I hate.
Now my rating of the Arc is not affected by my hatred for this group. The two things that keep this from being a five star is the annoying EB/Ally Bluehawk and the serious stutter in mission 3. I would be more than happy to re-rate this arc if Venture fixes those two things (and maybe the nav text in mission 4 but thats not as important).
If anyone else want me to review an Arc let me know.
For public consideration:
Furry Menance
Id: 34398
Faction: Heroic
Global: @Valente
Level: 1-54, soloable, but should scale nicely to larger teams
Basic: What happens when a mad doctor tries to create manimals out of actual furries? They go wild, of course! There is story and action to be had and an all custom(But balanced, I think! I could beat it at level 2!) super group to face.
I'd love feedback from anyone on it, it's been a lot of work for me, fun kind of work!
Venture,
I just wanted to thank you for the review on my arc. I found it extremely helpful and shined a light on a few things I didn't even consider as problems. Specifically, plot holes, which to me seemed sufficiently explained, weren't. And the positioning and highlighting of things like bring a team and time limits which I hadn't considered doing. I've got a list of those things now and assuming the filesize holds up Gilgamesh will be handing out case files on the Imperium to players after the first mission which should explain more thoroughly who they are and how their presence fits their usual profile of activities.
I don't know why Kali Erinyes spawned as an AV for you in one mission and an EB in the other. In both instances she's the same custom character who is an Arch-Villain. I have no idea why the game would spawn her as an AV for you in one mission and an then scale her down to an EB in the other, but that certainly doesn't sound like the way mission scaling is supposed to work. I imagine that if you were soloing she was probably supposed to spawn as an EB in both instances.
I will admit, I could have told the exact same story with already created factions and canon lore but didn't. I could say that I did it because I didn't want to risk running afoul of a plot point I wasn't aware of considering I run afoul of it somewhat already. Like if imperiuvm is an ore or does it come from meteorites or is it artificial? I sure couldn't figure that out but thought it was important to keep it impervium anyway in the story. And would you believe I didn't remember anything about West Libertonia until after I'd written the arc and it was too late to easily change it?
But unfortunately the truth is I wanted to create something new and talk about it. And I like robots. 
In any case. Thanks again. I've got my lovely list of plot holes to fill up and some changes to make. Though they'll all still probably be purple, throw -defense, and Kali will still be obnoxious for some groups.
Addendum: Here's a list of changes that have been made to the arc based on Venture's feedback.
- Spectre now spawns in the middle instead of the back in Mission 1, which should prevent him from spawning right where Sizwe is.
- Gilgamesh refers to the Mechanius Imperium specifically in Mission 1 instead of calling them "heavier opposition than anticipated".
- After completing Mission 1 players receive a file on the Mechanius Imperium. This file reveals who the Mechanius Imperium are, who their leader is, and reveals that they have been involved in other similar attacks on other countries in the region. They appear to be chiefly interested in gaining resources, personnel, or concessions from local governments.
- Sky Raider hostage guards in Mission 2 now clean their guns which will hopefully make them stand out more.
- The "bring a team" entry in Mission 3 is highlighted in orange now.
- Gilgamesh now tells players they have a ninety minute window to accomplish the goal in the Mission 3 briefing and explains why in the send off dialgoue.
- Gilgamesh doesn't forget to thank players for rescuing Sizwe in the Mission completion text in Mission 3.
- The nintey minute timelimit is also highlighted in orange.
- In mission 4 Gilgamesh asks the player if, "You and your team" are ready to go in. Your team is highlighted in orange.
- The difficulty of Kali Erinyes' Invulnerability has been reduced from Extreme to Hard.
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For public consideration:
Furry Menance
Id: 34398
Faction: Heroic
Global: @Valente
Level: 1-54, soloable, but should scale nicely to larger teams
Basic: What happens when a mad doctor tries to create manimals out of actual furries? They go wild, of course! There is story and action to be had and an all custom(But balanced, I think! I could beat it at level 2!) super group to face.
I'd love feedback from anyone on it, it's been a lot of work for me, fun kind of work!
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I got this one if its ok with you?
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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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Then they'd be political speech writers. 
What, complain about someone reviewing my arc? Of course not! Go ahead.
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The system I've been trying to stick to is this:
Everyone gets three stars by default. Story can swing that by 1 star. Fun factor can swing it by one. That gives it the full 1 to 5 range.
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Good system.
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What, complain about someone reviewing my arc? Of course not! Go ahead.
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agreed i don't care who reviews mine, feedback is the key to inprovement!
AE # 67087: Journey through the Looking Glass - Save the World
LLX VirtueVerse! - Check out my crazy Toons
This is the size of group that we have balanced AVs for, 6.
-Positron 06/07/06 07:27 PM
So back to the matter at hand, if anyone would like to take a look at my arc and give me some feedback, I promise not to get butthurt if you don't like it:
Arc #45525: Effrego Quartus Parietis
It shows up as Long, but it's four shortish maps with no defeat alls or anything like that, so shouldn't take too long.
Just a little story about what happens when someone is handed more power than they know what to do with. Thanks in advance.