Stop stalling and tear apart our arcs!
Issue 16 made me feel like this.
Warning: This poster likes to play Devil's Advocate.
Well, I'll throw mine in the ring as well.
53006 - Witches and Warriors - Heroes
42221 - Secret Origins(Tech) The Snake Women of Epsilon V - Heroes
2150 - Win the 2009 Freak-Lympics - Villains
2142 - Ninja Crimewave - Heroes
Yeh, 2 accounts.
Arc 3291 - Romio and J'Let
Rating: ***
I'd like to hold up a tiny little flag of semiprofessionalism that I did try to go through things methodically and not let people jump the 'queue' of sorts I had. But unlike Venture, I'm doing this to earn XP, to accrue stuff on my alts. So I let the character I want to earn XP on factor things - and tonight, I was hoping to get some XP on D-38, who's a level 46 SS/Fire Brute. What that means is that YanYan, who had the first visible arc in the right level range, gets to jump the queue. Oh well. It's not like people need to hear me complaining about their arc.
So! Romio and J'Let. I haven't even pressed the 'Play' button here, but I'm going to assume, based on the name, that I have an idea of what's going to go on in this arc. The story presents itself as a fairly fanciful bit of probably-not-actually-happening. There's a really pleasant storybook angle to it. Not too amazing, but at the same time, not bad at all.
The arc does feature an escort, but it does, mercifully, refrain from putting him back in the [censored]-end of the mission, or make you rescue the whole scooby squad. The establishment is a bit bland, the development uninspiring, the resolution simple. All told, not an arc I found myself particularly excited to experience.
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An Aside: I was actually under the impression that the nemesis soldiers, the tiralleuers and all, were clockwork and autamatons. Is this not the case?
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In the end, while I thought the arc concept is cute, it doesn't really do anything I wouldn't expect, given that I've finished high school. I didn't notice any truly brilliant writing, and there are some minor spelling errors. A cute little outing, the arc is a fun diversion if you're not already fed up to the back teeth with Rikti and Nemesis and don't mind seeing a remarkable classic story redone in dialogue options slightly less primitive than lolcats pictures. A thin tribute, a thinner parody, it fails to be funny or poignant to me. I wasn't a fan, but I did like the framing mechanism of the book. A weak three, it maintains its three status by not being actively bad. Just boring.
Now I'm tempted to start an arc review thread of my own.
Current main:
Schrodinger's Gun, Dual Pistols/Mental Blaster, Virtue
Avatar: Becky Miyamoto from Pani Poni Dash. Roulette roulette~
It's handy as a way to keep things straight, to be honest. And if you're an arrogant blowhard like me it lets you pass your opinion and people will come to you to ask you to tell them what you think.
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And if you're an arrogant blowhard like me it lets you pass your opinion and people will come to you to ask you to tell them what you think.
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Honesty compels me to admit that this is pretty much my entire reason for wanting one.
Current main:
Schrodinger's Gun, Dual Pistols/Mental Blaster, Virtue
Avatar: Becky Miyamoto from Pani Poni Dash. Roulette roulette~
Arc 1579 - Council's Long Con
Rating: ****
We bust out Operative Gallows again. Again; a stealth-enabled Bane Spider, he's got nothing but common IOs and a single Knockback Protection IO, is level 28, and is a sour little [censored] of a man. The tone of the contact - an original character, obviously - is quite appropriate and befitting a Council organiser. I'll admit, and this is going to sound perhaps creepy, but I was kinda hoping that the contact would be one of your sexy spy double-agent super-soldier womenfolk, something that, for some reason, I long for in the Council. I feel the whole organisation under-represents women.
The arc starts out solidly, with a stealthable mission with a clear purpose, a sensible ideal behind it. It's well-handled so far, and while there's an element of 'flunky,' the arc writing then projects the specifics of the plan onto you. You then go on to do something that is - quelle surprise - smart. You know, the kind of thing you'd expect of someone who's accomplished an existence in the Rogue Isles, someone who's hovering around their mid to late level 20s.
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An Aside: Now, something that's a pleasant little side-effect of the Mission Architect system is that the first missions in the arc are the ones you want to hurry through, because the later missions are those that reward the better merit awards. If you're building and you need a time-sink mission in the arc somewhere, I advocate putting it towards the end - and don't be too petty about letting people stealth the early missions.
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Onward through the arc, I found the next mission to be quite dense on its priorities... and yet, it eschews the 'defeat all' angle. Thank god. If you're looking for tickets, this is a good avenue - the density of the mission means that you'll have lots of stuff to do, and while some if might feel repetitive, you can still scream past it - destroying objects, and a handful of bosses (yes, I know). It's not just good for tickets - it's handy for badges, too. This might be a mercantile reason to enjoy the arc, but if I'm being sent to do something, it's nice to know the gaming aspect isn't suffering. Also? There's lots of dialogue from the various enemy groups around, and I found it... well, remarkably charming. It wasn't the edgy, gritty comic book seriousness I've been hankering for - it makes them come across as kinda personable and makes you feel a bit mean to beat them up (though, you know, we're talking about a villain arc here). So overall, a net plus.
So with all this, I feel hard-pressed to complain about a smidgen of the dialogue. I've PM'd the author about it, but unfortunately, as it is, your contact says something that is, well, blitheringly stupid. And the funny thing is, that one line really broke the flow of the whole arc for me, because I was up to that point quite enjoying the sense of escalation wedded to the tone of the event. The protaganist in this arc isn't a mustache-twiddling, gleefully barmy jackass, he's doing a job to get paid by someone with a lot of money to spare. With that reptilian behaviour in place, hearing an odd line that seeks to sweep a problem under the rug stood out like a rusty nail in a chuck-e-cheese ballpit. Then? A suitable follow-up, and a conclusion that feels, honestly a bit weak.
The very end of the arc is the weakest point. It's a mission type that's annoying to do, and due to the semi-random way the mission type executes, it can be quite short. After facing down a big bad boss (who I solo'd very quickly through the use of inspirations), it felt a bit of an anticlimax to get the fourth mission I did.
I'd recommend this arc to a character of a scientific or technological bent.
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Arc 1472 - Hearts on Fire
Rating: *****
First and foremost, I did this arc on a non-50, non-purpled brute. If I was in the 10-15 range, though, I'd have done it for the XP, not just for the sake of reviewing. Why? Because it's a bloody good arc.
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If any arc was made canon, I would want it to be this one.
I am really liking your reviews! Keep them coming!
[COLOR=darkorchid]Nebulhym's AE Arcs: Try them now![/COLOR]
# 12647: Of feathers and fur...[COLOR=yellow]Winner of [B]The American Legion[/B]'s January 2011 AE Author Contest![/COLOR]
# 292389: From Tartarus with love...
# 459592: Interdimensional Headache
QR
Check out "Find Jack's Hair"
I forget the arc # but you can search by the name just as easily. It's a 3 mission arc meant for all levels so there is only one custom mob/boss. I'm hardly a serious writer but I don't mind constructive feedback even if negative.
I'll submit 1285 to your good graces, and I assure you... no defeat alls.
Arc 1992 - A Hero's Halo
Rating: *
Alright, comedy is not usually something that lands with me. It might be because I'm a bitter, humourless shell of a man, it may be that I grew up in a religious environment that means only the most absurd or ironic humour is going to hit the crux that earns my normally mirthless smile. I've found a certain transatlantacism, where I merit wordplay and cunning linguistic over shall we say, slapstick, or scatology. So it was with no small amount of trepidation I booted this arc up because it says right on the tin, 'comedy arc.' What that typically means is 'sucks, but we'll call it humour, so people can't complain.' You know what they call unfunny comedy? Crap.
So! My immediate concerns arise when the contact looks suspiciously like the author's forum avatar. What, I wonder, might the purpose of this be? Am I going to be called upon to save the hero's custard pudding from his evil nemesis, the spoonman? What's going to happen? Reading the synopsis bothers me, too - someone trying to explain or justify something that everyone else in the game has every day. I really do despise when people try to tie cosmetic or unmechanical elements of the game to some in-universe story, which is why powerset proliferation made me want to hit Doc Brainstorm's supposed-writer with a hammer, compounded when I got to the end of the VEAT arcs and got to watch Statesman make the same idiotic statements in universe. So because I bought a halo last year at winter - which, funnily enough, I didn't! - there's some conspiracy plot towards the Shadow Shard? Well, that sounds ... pretty much nothing like the Shadow Shard I've dealt with, but what the hell, it's comedy right?
I must say, I didn't find the first NPC's outfit all that special, though also seeing that she was lieutenant put her somewhere in the realm of 'combat pet' to me. She's not here to upstage me while pretending to be here to advance the story. One mission down, though, and I'm looking for this mentioned comedy. As it is, so far, it seems a hero has entrusted me to investigate a piece of forehead oriented bling that doesn't seem to actually mean or do anything... and I've not heard anything that I can identify as a joke. Is this like a shaggy dog story? Gunna unveil at the end a two-line joke and leave me going: Oh god?
Okay! So I'm looking to help solve a hero I've never met before's fashion concerns and he wants my help for... some reason or other, okay, whatever, I can grab my gourd and hold my breath until this pays off... You know, the more I get into this arc, the more I think that it really doesn't merit the comedy tag? It's not funny, it doesn't appear to be dealing with a particularly comical idea... it's just, you know, an arc? It would seem like, well, a pretty standard arc if not for the fact that the last mission is an obligatory 'Team Up With Me.' Without the mission loaded up, I'm expecting to see a super-strength/invulnerability super-tanker boss character who's going to tag along behind me and annoy me by hoovering up the tickets...
... and I am pleasantly surprised. Restraint! Restraint! My god, what a strange beast it is to see it, but the author has managed to keep himself from Mary-Sueing it up with his character chasing me around one-shotting things; instead I have a handy lieutenant target. I mean assistant. Nonetheless, I quickly ditched him to go on and do the whole 'kill lots of stuff and see characters I wouldn't know from a milk carton' thing. Striking out in pursuit of a punchline, I chased around and found... well, nothing. Just the rest of the mission. Oh, and remember that restraint I thought I found? Turned out it wasn't. No, at the end, you have to face down a boss-class enemy who pasted me twice through demonic, has an armour set so he's basically uncontrollable, and wore the face of the contact. Gee bloody whiz wow. What a shock and surprise. And you know what? He was a super-strength/invulnerability super-tanker boss character who decided to tag my chin. What a merry coincidence that the character offering the arc, and the creator of the arc, happens to be the most powerful of all the bad guys. Wow. I did not see that one coming.
I quit the arc at that point. Hell with bashing my face against a brick wall. Death through capped s/l resists seems a perfectly good reason to stop wasting my time. I'm here for story and I sure didn't find any of that. If the last story dialogue made it all make sense or delivered the joke or somehow made the whole situation feel less like self-glorfying [censored] then I'm afraid I missed it. Terribly sorry.
Surveying from the end, the arc left me with the impression I'd walked into a party where I not only didn't know anyone, I hadn't been invited. The comedy-drive fell flat because I had no idea what, exactly, was supposed to be funny, the motivation was thinner than tissue paper rolled out under a hammer press, and the whole arc's underpinning plot seemed to not even be noticed by its author - that is, an alien invasion of soul-sucking monstrosities has a fantastic chance of achieving what it's after if it just preys on the ignorance and vanity of our supposed defenders, which is then emphasised on a meta level when the most powerful and most obnoxious foe in the whole arc happens to be a torqued-up version of the author's avatar. Is that the joke? Is that, the uh, the funny? What, I have to ask, am I missing? Because it doesn't sound like comedy to me. It sounds like, well... unfunny comedy.
Maybe that was the joke.
That it was on you.
"If you're going through hell, keep going."
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Wow, you're brutally honest. I like it.
I'm going to do something rash and ask you to tear one of mine (well, the only one so far) apart. It's heroic, though, but if you can handle being called a "good guy" to your face, your villains can play, too.
The arc is 49280: The Toypocalypse!
Suggested levels: 30-ish, but higher levels can play, too.
Yes, as the name suggests it is about rogue toys attacking people. Yes there is a conspiracy, and a blatant sequel hook, but I try to keep the tone semi-serious. It's no comedy. I try to make the enemies balanced so they're a threat, but not a brick wall. No self insertions or Defeat Alls here, honest! One character may be a little too close to a Mary Sue, but it's kind of on purpose. The sequel is going to be villainous, I already have plans.
Besides, even if you DO trash the arc, it's a great way to find out where it needs to be tightened up.
Aegis Rose, Forcefield/Energy Defender - Freedom
"Bubble up for safety!"
If you want another villainous one, I've got 53385: The Internet is for Crime put up, 3 missions, pretty short overall.
Bad thing, it's a comedy arc. :O
Plus, as needs to be borne in mind, this is just my opinion. I can justify it and I can explain it, but nobody has to take it as fact. No matter how dogmatically I state that someone's arc is a turd sandwich in a soggy paper bag, they don't have to agree with me, and as long as they're having fun, good for them.
Funnily enough, Toypocalypse was on my list, but I think I was spelling it wrong. Thankfully, a ref number helps a lot.
Also, I've been running hero and villain arcs on my villain characters and trying to disinvolve the character of my character from the arc itself. Gallows is worth noting because he uses common IOs, swivel will be using SOs (unless I get bored), and D-38 is using a heavily IO'd build with multiple sets. If something is too hard for Gallows (and curiously, nothing has been so far), I break out D-38. If something's too hard for D-38 I toss it in the scrapper, because I'm not looking for The Next Scrapper Challenge, as 'twere.
A Jaunt Into Dataspace, #1438
Levels: 30-50
Morality: Neutral
Difficulty: Soloable on a Defender
I'm a bit hesitant because the arc starts off with a Defeat All with custom enemies - two of your major peeves. (At least it's a Small map?) It's only three missions, though, and no AV/EBs. I'd really appreciate an in-depth analysis of the story, what works, and what doesn't.
Character index
I feel suspiciously like I'm standing at the front of a classroom. You don't need to be afraid of custom enemies and defeat alls inherently, you just need to give me a good reason for either of them. And neither of them should serve as a purpose unto themselves - a defeat all is not justified just by being a defeat all, you need to give me a reason I'm rooting out everyone. And a custom enemy group is fine as long as it has a purpose that is not simply 'look cool and be hard to kill.'
Well the toys were mothballed for a while after a beta patch revision invalidated half of them and broke two of the missions. Since I14 went live I've been repairing it, and fixing typos. So if you had trouble finding it, it may be because it wasn't Live until 12-13 hours ago.
My balancing point is this: The FF/Energy Defender in my signature. If she can make it through solo on Heroic, it's fine. She's not a great soloer, which makes her a great balancing standard. I'm sure a Scrapper will find my arcs easy. Well, yeah. It's a Scrapper. I know my Stalker can take out the Toypocalypse in 10 minutes flat.
Aegis Rose, Forcefield/Energy Defender - Freedom
"Bubble up for safety!"
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I feel suspiciously like I'm standing at the front of a classroom. You don't need to be afraid of custom enemies and defeat alls inherently, you just need to give me a good reason for either of them. And neither of them should serve as a purpose unto themselves - a defeat all is not justified just by being a defeat all, you need to give me a reason I'm rooting out everyone. And a custom enemy group is fine as long as it has a purpose that is not simply 'look cool and be hard to kill.'
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Well, obviously *I* feel they're justified, otherwise I wouldn't be using them, but you'll make the call yourself when you play the arc.
Character index
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So if you had trouble finding it, it may be because it wasn't Live until 12-13 hours ago.
[/ QUOTE ]Yes, well, that explains the hell out of THAT! 
I'd like to submit my first arc for consideration:
#45525 - Effrego Quartus Parietis
It shows up as Long, but I used smallish maps, so there isn't really any part you'll get bogged down on. My tanker didn't have any trouble soloing, nor did the controller found it and offered suggestions.
One thing I'd like particular feedback on is the second mission. There was an intermittent bug with one of the goals not completing properly, but I tweaked the objective and haven't run into the problem since, so it should be fixed.
Just a warning, as I add you to the list, I don't know if there's much advice I can offer on a technical level. I'm much more about story and character.
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You crazy people with three arcs already.
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Hey, some of us like to slowly mull over stories for long periods of time, some of us have stories spring fully formed from our heads like Athena from the head of Zeus.
Not that they're always GOOD stories...