Another fairly large update to the arc.
Arc is now officially 4 missions, down from 5.
- Mission one has had a makeover. You are not entering into a low level Crey facility. This has the effect of the local security force conning Grey to high level players. It also lets the Robots wipe the floor with them.
Don't think Crey is going to sit back and take it. By the time you enter reinforcements are already on the way. Find the Security Chief and you will get some additional help.
- Created new group for the robot minions and completed custom bio/colors for all of them. This is now correctly applied over all the missions
- Fixed mission 2 so that the computers "appear" to have the same name. (Hint: Watch the combat text to get an idea if you have the right terminal)
- Final mission has been fixed. The final spawn has dropped from 3 to 2. Apparently some spawn points moved on my with I15 and caused some spawns not to show.
Updated the final mission to add additional objective tree. Only two steps but if you need additional help it is now possible to get it. This is partly in testing for larger objective branches for a story I am working on.
On a side note, in case people have not noticed, we now can edit our posts no matter how old they are. With this I have cleaned up this thread and put all my updates into my first post. I hope they let us keep this ability, at least in this forum.
I would like some feedback on the final mission of my arc from anybody who has played it.
The intent is to bring a bit of thinking to the missions. In that a problem is presented during the optional EB encounter. Drones with healing abilities spawn during the battles. 1-2 for a solo player depending on the difficulty level. If they get into melee range they like to fire off Recovery Aura and increase the difficulty of the encounter.
This mechanic is doubled against the final EB as well as having the healing mobs there at the start.
This presents a challenge to the player that I had hoped would inspire different strategies. The first being simply the targeting of the ambush before they reach the target. The other mobs in the ambush are intentionally weak to allow focusing on the healing mobs without too much danger.
There is a second option as well. You can gather allies to provide more damage along with some debuffing. This helps to break up the ambush as it arrives between the targets as well as reduce the +regen.
My question to those who have played the arc is if this is working as intended. Do the ambushes, along with hint text provided, create a different encounter and is this difference entertaining?
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Calash
I would like some feedback on the final mission of my arc from anybody who has played it.
The intent is to bring a bit of thinking to the missions. |
You can't do that. Neither can anyone else.
"Micro out the healers" is not "a bit of thinking". It does not require the strategic acumen of Sun-Tzu to realize you are shoveling sand against the tide until they snuff it. It requires someone who has played games like this maybe twice in their lives. If you want to design encounters that require tactics and not just button-mashing you need to look at things like the Sewer Trial or Imperious or Barracuda TFs, and the tools to do that not only don't exist in MA but most likely never will.
Quote:
| If they get into melee range they like to fire off Recovery Aura and increase the difficulty of the encounter. |
Quote:
| The first being simply the targeting of the ambush before they reach the target. |
Quote:
| There is a second option as well. You can gather allies to provide more damage along with some debuffing. |
Quote:
| Do the ambushes, along with hint text provided, create a different encounter and is this difference entertaining? |
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:
| You can't do that. Neither can anyone else. |
Well, we can try to use the tools provided in as unique and entertaining fashion as possible. Sure we are not going to get the levels of a sewer trial but without attempting we will never get much past the "punch bad guy in face" methodology we all now enjoy in AE.
Quote:
| Recovery Aura is not the problem (it's just annoying). Fortitude is the problem. It's +15% ToHit and +25% damage per caster. |
Quote:
| The player is supposed to be the focus of the action, not the NPCs |
Thanks for the extra feedback
I removed Fort from the healing mobs, however in testing I can not get any ambush mobs to cast it on the EB.
Are you sure it was Fort that you were seeing on the EB, or was it just the extra boosting of the patrol mobs that caused problems? I want to make sure I was not missing some other buffing going on.
Pretty sure, though it's always possible I was mistaken.
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"
Odd. I will give it another run tonight. Fort has been pulled so if I spot any odd buffing it will be from something else.
Just made some minor updates to the story.
- Corrected some minor typos
- Created weak version of EB from Mission 3 to simulate damage you did to him.
- First EB in Mission 4 (The weak version) is set to Rogue. Former healing ambush now attacks EB and player. Story updated for this.
Last mission is a bit less difficult at the start but retains the end difficulty.
This is definitely an enjoyable arc and I'd really encourage for people here to try it out.
I am glad you enjoyed the arc.
Every single time a patch comes out I run into some odd issues with this arc. This time around I had to edit the last mission to get the final spawning working again. I will play with he maps a bit over the next few days but for now it is locked at a single spawn.
This time around the patch also increased the size of my mission to over 100%. Had to pull some dialog to get it back in line.
Arc ID: 17006
Title: End Game - Final Moves
Faction: Hero
Difficulty: Hard
Team/Solo: Difficult Solo
Length: 4 missions
Notes: 3 Elite Boss encounters, timed mission.
Summary:
It has been years since the events that Robert Veil, now known as Dark Veil, blame his sister for. He was arrested, had his mind erased, and sent to prison as part of a cover up by Crey.
Now he is moments from his final plan of revenge against her. Can you, with the help of his former assistant, find out his plan and stop him before it is too late?
Update: 9/22/2009
- Changed final map.
- Adjusted spawning on final map. EB still shows up at the start, but rescue is in the middle and forces you to backtrack a bit should you want to accept the help.
- Reduced final spawn to 1 to try and fix bug.
- Removed some dialog to fix bug
Updated: 9/5/2009
- Corrected some minor typos
- Created weak version of EB from Mission 3 to simulate damage you did to him.
- First EB in Mission 4 (The weak version) is set to Rogue. Former healing ambush now attacks EB and player. Story updated for this.
- Final EB does not spawn with healing mobs. Healing still provided in ambush spawns.
Updated: 8/11/2009
- Tested reducing one EB to Boss level. This threw off the mission balance and was returned
- Renamed EB boss. Now called Assult MK-IV
- Removed on Ally from last mission. New allies that are part of secondary objectives are still available and increased to 5
- Removed Fortitude from ambush spawns.
Updated: 8/6/2009
- Changed map for Mission 4. Objectives now flow better overall. Two seem to like to spawn at the front despite the settings but it works.
- Added hint text for all missions. Check back with your contact for more information should you need it.
- Updated forum post since we now can edit (YEAH DEVS!!)
Updated: 7/26/2009
- Removed Mission 3 to help the story flow better
- New map for Mission 1
- Mission 1 default Crey mobs are now locked at level 45 to fit with the story. Support forces are now player level and allies.
- Mission 2 uses Arachnos map
- Mission two now has an added objective in the form of a rescue. This fills in the gap that removing Mission 3 left.
- Mission 4 map changed to large due to spawning bug
- Mission 4 Ally now Boss level. Additional powers added to balance this.
- Mission 4 now has a hidden objective that will help the player
- Mission 4 ambushes balanced. Much more dangerous if you ignore them
- Group "Dark Veil" now named "Minions of Dark Veil"
- Custom descriptions and coloring for all stock mobs.
*Spoilers and Notes below*
A retelling of the End Game arc posted here Final Moves covers the events leading up to and including the Checkmate chapter of the story. The final battle with Dark Veil in his lab is exactly how I had imagined it when we first completed that event.