Any good level 1 forward MA's made yet?
By
10100101,
Posted on: 2009-04-10 07:08 in Mission Architect
Yes, but I'm out of slots and I can't publish them.
The key to making good lowbie content is to avoid customs. Custom characters always get a robust amount of powers, but lowbie enemies intentionally only get "shoot a pistol once" or "swing a knife once" to keep them managable. So, hellions, skulls, contaminated, snakes, RIP, etc. are okay.
Global @Twoflower / MA Creator & Pro Indie Game Developer.
Mission Architect Works: DIY Laser Moonbase (Dev Choice!), An Internship in the Fine Art of Revenge (2009 MA Award Winner!) and many more! Plus Brand New Arcs for Issue 21!
I made one called "Go Kill Skulz"
It is meant to be an alternative to doing a sewer run to lvl up your shiney new hero.
5 mission arc should get you to lvl 6-8, just in time to go to Kings Row and get your Rocket Pack
Each mission has a different Enemey group, but there is a Skull group in each to fight, such as a Patrol, ambush, battle and a boss.
So hopefully when you show up in Atlas you can announce ""Go Kill Skulz team LFM"
get a team together and level up the lowies a new way.
The advantage is you can hop over and lvl up between mission much easier than fighting for 6 levels with your lvl 1 attack only.
Also you can go up the diff level between missions if your team is Uber (I hate running around sewer trying to find the lvl 7-8 enemy)
Trips back from the hosp will be quicker too
You could aways do the Atlas contact missions, but they have you traveling all over the map with no travel powers
Laserblitz
"Kicking digital a$$ and taking "trademarked by NCsoft" names since 2007"
If you see a rainbow costume or named "Emcc" it is me
I have a 4 mission arc published, Future Skulls, ID 4727, for 1-15. The first couple of missions are pretty straight forward, shouldn't be a problem with any low level. The 3rd and 4th you need to defeat custom bosses, but I tried to keep them reasonable. And there are some custom minions in the 3rd that are unreasonable, but they are not required for the mission and are easily avoidable. I guess I should grab a low level alt and give the arc a try. I didn't think of that before. 
Justice Blues, Tech/Tank, Inv/SS
----------------------
Fighting The Future Trilogy
----------------------
As much as self-promotion makes my skin crawl, you might want to try my arc #1472, Hearts on Fire. I actually got feedback from a level 4 Stalker complimenting me on how well balanced it was, which was probably the most valued feedback I've gotten so far.
I just published yesterday [u]A hero is made, not born[u]. It is a medium length one mission timed story that is Hero only and low level (1-14). I noticed the lack of true low level missions and good short missions. A lot of the short missions are really just personal farm missions and the authors don't even bother to provide story or text and just throw a bunch of overpowered custom mobs on a map.
It is a quick shot mission but can be a challenge to stop the villain from fleeing at the end.
[ QUOTE ]
Yes, but I'm out of slots and I can't publish them.
The key to making good lowbie content is to avoid customs. Custom characters always get a robust amount of powers, but lowbie enemies intentionally only get "shoot a pistol once" or "swing a knife once" to keep them managable. So, hellions, skulls, contaminated, snakes, RIP, etc. are okay.
[/ QUOTE ]
I can't stress this enough....I decided to level a character solely on MA, and its been ...troublesome at best. Things to watch out for:
-Custom Groups (I won't attempt them on my lowbie, too much pain)
-Missions that have 1-54, followed by 40-54. A lvl 10 sk'ed up to lvl 40 does not a lvl 40 make.
-Unique Maps (awesome! a ton of glowies to find...in an outdoor map with no travel power....)
-Custom Groups (a lvl 10...with...rad infection, and ele end draining powers...nice).
Proud member of the Cole-a-lition.
Fighting to make every reality, a better reality.
I WAS working on one, but haven't gotten too far.
I using customs, but they were included as alternates of a normal group so most of the time you'd have one custom per two or three regular enemies, and I tried to make them low-powered. Didn't seem too bad, but I had only tested it on a low level brute so far.
I had one map that was all custom in there too, but they were only allowed to have minions and one boss, and were melee with no status protection so anyone who had ANY status available could keep them at bay.
"I think you're confused. This is /b, not /b/."
Actually, that's not a bad idea. Think I'll hop right on that.
Thanks!! ^_^
I'll suggest my own Save the Spiderlings mission.
Any character should be able to complete it. I would say even at lvl 1 - though I didnt' test that....Hmm...should do that.
My lowbie submission: A Simple Investigation (#19646)
It is for levels 1-14, and is intended to be like the Atlas & Galaxy missions. Only one custom boss and he is not too tough in his Lieutenant form.
When I get around to publishing, I think I'll list the levels of characters with which I've tested it as a clue.
Like:
This is the story about a hero who had three heroes of his own. [Tested~4,7,13,28]
Or with a little thought maybe level brackets that make it searchable (only good if many folks bought into the system)...
Tested~[Low][Mid]
I, too, have felt the pain of unbalanced, non-lowbie friendly arcs.
I've got some ideas swimming about in my head for a 10-20 arc involving reasonable opponents (mostly Family), and plan on putting out a 1-10 and 20-30 as well, to help flesh out the low level content. Mostly villain stuff, though.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yes, but I'm out of slots and I can't publish them.
The key to making good lowbie content is to avoid customs. Custom characters always get a robust amount of powers, but lowbie enemies intentionally only get "shoot a pistol once" or "swing a knife once" to keep them managable. So, hellions, skulls, contaminated, snakes, RIP, etc. are okay.
[/ QUOTE ]
I can't stress this enough....I decided to level a character solely on MA, and its been ...troublesome at best. Things to watch out for:
-Custom Groups (I won't attempt them on my lowbie, too much pain)
-Missions that have 1-54, followed by 40-54. A lvl 10 sk'ed up to lvl 40 does not a lvl 40 make.
-Unique Maps (awesome! a ton of glowies to find...in an outdoor map with no travel power....)
-Custom Groups (a lvl 10...with...rad infection, and ele end draining powers...nice).
[/ QUOTE ]
Custom groups by themselves are not bad. My arc has a custom group because I wanted a couple of custom bosses for story reasons. But most of the group is regular Skulls, and I have tried to keep the power of the bosses down. So if the only reason you are skipping an arc is it has a custom group, you might want to give it a look.
The level jumping around OTOH, is a real pain. I have been re-writing my second arc because the mobs I wanted to use were too high a level. Since I want it to be accessible to low levels that finish my first arc, I needed to make some changes.
I was somewhat worried about the bosses for low levels, but I have received feedback from a level 4 and a level 5 that were both happy with the arc, so it seems to be fairly balanced.
Justice Blues, Tech/Tank, Inv/SS
----------------------
Fighting The Future Trilogy
----------------------
I saw one that was about saving the Burn Dinner or something. It had hellions in it. It was decent I suppose. It needd some story work but the gameplay was sound for a low level character.
[ QUOTE ]
I just published yesterday [u]A hero is made, not born[u]. It is a medium length one mission timed story that is Hero only and low level (1-14). I noticed the lack of true low level missions and good short missions. A lot of the short missions are really just personal farm missions and the authors don't even bother to provide story or text and just throw a bunch of overpowered custom mobs on a map.
It is a quick shot mission but can be a challenge to stop the villain from fleeing at the end.
[/ QUOTE ]
I feel like a newb. I didn't realize there was an arc number.
Mine is 20863.
[ QUOTE ]
As much as self-promotion makes my skin crawl, you might want to try my arc #1472, Hearts on Fire. I actually got feedback from a level 4 Stalker complimenting me on how well balanced it was, which was probably the most valued feedback I've gotten so far.
[/ QUOTE ]
It really is very good.
Dream Paper and Bricked Electronics (see my sig) are both good lowbie arcs. Dream Paper is 10-20, Bricked Electronics can probably be run from level 1 since the only enemy group that's higher than that starts at 8.
Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?
My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)
[ QUOTE ]
I made one called "Go Kill Skulz"
It is meant to be an alternative to doing a sewer run to lvl up your shiney new hero.
5 mission arc should get you to lvl 6-8, just in time to go to Kings Row and get your Rocket Pack
Each mission has a different Enemey group, but there is a Skull group in each to fight, such as a Patrol, ambush, battle and a boss.
So hopefully when you show up in Atlas you can announce ""Go Kill Skulz team LFM"
get a team together and level up the lowies a new way.
The advantage is you can hop over and lvl up between mission much easier than fighting for 6 levels with your lvl 1 attack only.
Also you can go up the diff level between missions if your team is Uber (I hate running around sewer trying to find the lvl 7-8 enemy)
Trips back from the hosp will be quicker too
You could aways do the Atlas contact missions, but they have you traveling all over the map with no travel powers
[/ QUOTE ]
I noticed that there are two versions of this published.
Also, someone made Go. Hunt. Save Skulz. Haven't tried that one out yet. 
So far I've played through, on a low-level Fire/SD scrapper:
Hearts on Fire
A Simple Investigation
Save the Spiderlings
A Hero is Made, Not Born
All four were pretty fun, I've got to say. I had to replay A Hero is Made, Not Born, because I failed it the first time due to the running villain, though.
They're all nice, quick and relatively balanced missions/arcs, and definitely worth playing as a lowbie.
Done solo, for the record.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
1472 - Hearts on Fire
[/ QUOTE ]
It really is very good.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ha ha, thanks. Too bad people are actually going to the trouble of giving me zero star ratings now.
"Zero Stars--When one star is high praise compared to how you feel about the arc!"
Given the premise, I tried to make "The Monstrous Regiment of Lesbian Hellions" friendly to low level players, and successfully soloed it without deaths on a level 4-6 scrapper.
The arc won't be everyone's cup of tea, though.
<《 New Colchis / Guides / Mission Architect 》>
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison
I have plans to make a lowbie friendly arc sometime, when I get around to getting used to using it. Curse you Job!
[ QUOTE ]
To be specific. Hero themed MA for new characters and up.
[/ QUOTE ]
I want to run a character all the way through on MA missions, and I have been dying to play one of the villain ATs as a hero. I just never thought about combining the two. I'm going to work on that, thanks!
As to arcs that are out there, this first one is a shameless plug, an single mission arc of mine designed for lowbies.
Arc ID: 1154 Low Tide
Played a TA Defender solo, from level 1 to 10 on test with this one, so I know its possible
You might also try this one
Arc ID: 1080 Lure of the Tuatha
Its a full length arc (5 missions). The first three missions are Tuatha minions, so very lowbie friendly. The last two missions have custom baddies, and will most likely need a strong soloing AT or a team to finish, at least before you get your SOs. Well, maybe not, you can probably stealth a good deal of the last two if you're not hung up on maximum ticket gain.
I had a level 5 to 10 arc almost finished on test but the Snake Eggs being removed from the MA messed it up.
So either I'll redo it when the Eggs are returned, or think up a new idea, because I do think some low level MA missions are a good idea.
To be specific. Hero themed MA for new characters and up.
Course to be fair, I would say Villian themed as well.
Reason I ask. It would be a little weak but it's an alternative.
The alternative being, I don't want to be the FREAKING BAD GUY!!!
I like the ATs but being restricted to Villian Access only... unless I play half concious while ignoring every single bit of dialog, interaction and everything at the same time beat myself with a stick the moment I note I'm starting to read. I'm still going to be stuck being the evil greedy, self centered, murdering, thieving bad guy.
I'd like to reduce the amount of lying to myself required to enjoy a character I play.