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Arc 5073 - The Bravuran Jobs
Rating: ****
I finished the first mission and found myself with only one clue... figuring the other mentioned clues would show up in the other missions, I moved on. Hope that's not a mistake.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure what you mean about other mentioned clues. The "got clue" noise makes the same sound as the "got badge" noise, which is a bit odd, but not exactly something I can prevent.
[ QUOTE ]
Now we hit mish 3, and I'm getting thrown astride the 2-level bump. I'm trying to work out why, if there's a custom enemy group that the level range goes so oddly in this arc - 20-30, 20-30, 30-54? But we'll see. There are ways to limit a level range (like hiding a single Legacy Chain Kaolin, for example, somewhere on the map). The enemy group introduced looks pretty neat, has a distinct theme in names and powers, and overall, remind me a lot of Crey. It serves you well to know who does what, but at the same time, you don't get the feeling they're all handcrafted snowflakes designed to look unique. In fact, the designer has hidden their faces in many cases, which reduces the jarring effect of an army of identical twins. While I was warned about such things going in, I actually found one of the mobs a bit too rough, and saw the tell-tale sign that it'd be even rougher for a dom or controller - he was toting a damn shield. Being a dirty [censored], I came back and mugged him with inspirations running. This just served to play into the theme further. But then, I died again at the next time one turned up. Then again. Then again.
Now, I'm up late right now and I feel like hell warmed over, but come on.
[/ QUOTE ]
This is a problem with difficulty settings for Broad Sword - I can either give him the same two attacks that a minion gets, or five attacks plus build-up. Fortunately, Shield Defense doesn't actually get the status-protection power until it's set to Extreme, so you can still knock that Mr. Problem back or hold him still.
I think I'll have to tone him down while the devs put in a reasonable intermediary between minion and Mack truck. I think in other weapon/offense sets the short-term damage boost only comes out in "extreme" difficulty, and I'd rather not give him a mace or axe because then he'd be chaining stuns/knockbacks.
(I know that it's Build Up that's giving you grief because the other type of lieutenant with a lot of melee attacks to chain doesn't have a shield, or a buildup-alike)
[ QUOTE ]
The fourth mish has one thing I've become fond of - an enemy spawning based on something else happening. The problem is, the hint for where to find the newly-spawned badguy is totally unhelpful because it seems to be wrong.
[/ QUOTE ]
The lobby is the first floor of a hotel, isn't it?
Oh, wait, I used a random map for that. Were you on one of the ones that starts you off at floor 5 and goes down? Hmm. Well, either I'll bite the bullet and use a specific map or genericize the hint but I have no idea how to make it both generic and still helpful.
[ QUOTE ]
In the end, what did I think? Well, great dialogue, and a story that covers a range of interesting enemy groups and only really gets weird when you have to deal with the level range issue.
[/ QUOTE ]
I actually had a broader level range on test, but there were some issues with using 1-54 versions of certain enemy groups. Perhaps they've ironed those out, I'll have to see. Unfortunately I can't manage to fit the Legacy Chain and Carnies in the same arc without at least a little level strain, but the lower-tier Carnies they made for CoV are IMO suitable for fightin' at 20, if not before.
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)
Love reading these reviews, so figured I'd throw my hat into the ring. I've been trying to get people to try my arc since I've revamped it, and this seems like a good option. Still trying to decide if I want to change the title or not...
Author: @Xaphan
Level Range: 5-20 (15-20 in the third mission)
Subject: Fresh out of Paragon, a faction of the Outcasts come to the Rogue Isles! But they're not here for villainy...
Arc # - Name: #2050 - The Outcast Outcasts
Rating:
Man, my arc is going to get torn a new one. This should be fun. 
Both of the arcs in my sig could use a good flogging, particularly the villainous one. I'd love to get them close to as perfect as possible.
You suckers are lining up for Talen to insult you, while I get it for free.
Suckers.
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You suckers are lining up for Talen to insult you, while I get it for free.
[/ QUOTE ]
More or less. I just someone to run my damn arc.
Hm, if you're more about story and characters than mechanics, I'd definetely appreciate if you could take a look at "Hunting the Dark Dragon" for me (arc ID in my sig). Specifically, the take I'm looking for is whether people feel I managed to string the arc's multiple strange, divergent elements together in a fashion that makes decent sense to the stranger.
Also, if you would, I'd like you to take special scrutiny of the final boss and his strategy - well, if your character even chooses that path, of course. 
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
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You suckers are lining up for Talen to insult you, while I get it for free.
[/ QUOTE ]
More or less. I just someone to run my damn arc.
[/ QUOTE ]
What Clouded said.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Brillig
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.
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[ QUOTE ]
You suckers are lining up for Talen to insult you, while I get it for free.
Suckers.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'd rather someone tell me the truth bluntly than lie to me sweetly. 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You suckers are lining up for Talen to insult you, while I get it for free.
Suckers.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'd rather someone tell me the truth bluntly than lie to me sweetly.
[/ QUOTE ]
This. The blunt truth you can work with, sweet lies or "Eh, it's okay." is useless.
Aegis Rose, Forcefield/Energy Defender - Freedom
"Bubble up for safety!"
[ QUOTE ]
Arc 1472 - Hearts on Fire
Rating: *****
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm about halfway through this arc right now, and was taking it pretty seriously. Until the point at which I realized it was in fact about LESBIAN HELLIONS. Hopefully it can take this tired meme and give it some impact.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Arc 1472 - Hearts on Fire
Rating: *****
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm about halfway through this arc right now, and was taking it pretty seriously. Until the point at which I realized it was in fact about LESBIAN HELLIONS. Hopefully it can take this tired meme and give it some impact.
[/ QUOTE ]
It does, IMO.
Now, let's test your objectivity, Talen. I expect you'll find some things not to like about my arcs, even if some of them are the result of current limitations of MA (stupid Detention-happy bubblers)...
Author: @Megajoule
Level Range: 30-54 (one mission is 40-54)
Subject: Gamma Upsilon 28-3 needs you! Travel to an alternate Earth and join the fight against Nemesis Rex, Emperor of the Americas!
15447 - Blood, Sweat, Toil and Tears
Rating:
Author: @Megajoule
Level Range: 3x 1-54, 1x 25-34
Subject: A new villain is making the headlines. Enter the mind of a retired hero to relive the past and find a clue to aid you in the present.
15976 - Glory Days
Rating:
My characters at Virtueverse
Faces of the City
[ QUOTE ]
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Arc 1472 - Hearts on Fire
Rating: *****
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm about halfway through this arc right now, and was taking it pretty seriously. Until the point at which I realized it was in fact about LESBIAN HELLIONS. Hopefully it can take this tired meme and give it some impact.
[/ QUOTE ]You know, I've known the character Salamander for about... what, three years and I only just got that joke. In my defence though I didn't find Salamander's sexuality particularly noteworthy, and more served as a solid indicator of the futility of Epitaph's aims... and he's the idiot, not you.
Here's one for you to chew on:
36861
Heroes No More?
Level range: 1*-50 (*:later missions cap at 45-50, but mweh)
Thing is, it has everything you despise (Hero-lopsided, Arachnos, Ritki, Mary-sues, and a defeat-all final mission), but I'm hoping the story will be decent enough to warrant a balanced review.
or not, *shrug*
-STEELE =)
Allied to all sides so that no matter what, I'll come out on top!
Oh, and Crimson demands you play this arc-> Twisted Knives (MA Arc #397769)
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So I'm going to rework Mission 1 and take that guy out. It was really just a complete mess up including him in the first place. I'll find a way to still cap it properly but without resorting to such ham-handed measures.
[/ QUOTE ]I have only done a little bit of gating work myself - Hopeless features an NPC who's only in his mission for that reason - but might I suggest that you have the Council analysing a Devouring Earth of the appropriate level range? That ties it to the rest of the arc better, too.
Auther: @eye of khalid
Level range: Any though some status protection helps
Subject: Out of control elemental wizards
41844- An element of Danger Part 1
Author: @eye of khalid
Level range: Any, again, status protection helps a bit
Subject: Part 2, the ending
41967- An Element of Danger part 2
There are no kill alls, I did do some proofreading, it doesn't involve any of my characters though the end villain is a name I use
Pinnacle is my home server.
Cohort of the Lethal Ladies/Deadly Dudes
Magic based arcs:
41844 - An Element of Danger, Pt 1
41967 - An Element of Danger, Pt 2
[ QUOTE ]
Here's one for you to chew on:
36861
Heroes No More?
Level range: 1*-50 (*:later missions cap at 45-50, but mweh)
Thing is, it has everything you despise (Hero-lopsided, Arachnos, Ritki, Mary-sues, and a defeat-all final mission), but I'm hoping the story will be decent enough to warrant a balanced review.
or not, *shrug*
[/ QUOTE ]Hey, being fair, if I say I didn't like it and it sucks, that doesn't mean my review was unbalanced.
[ QUOTE ]
I'm about halfway through this arc right now, and was taking it pretty seriously. Until the point at which I realized it was in fact about LESBIAN HELLIONS.
[/ QUOTE ]
Oh, now you've crossed the line. Sir, I challenge you to a fight.
(I win.)
[ QUOTE ]
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Arc 5073 - The Bravuran Jobs
Rating: ****
I finished the first mission and found myself with only one clue... figuring the other mentioned clues would show up in the other missions, I moved on. Hope that's not a mistake.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure what you mean about other mentioned clues. The "got clue" noise makes the same sound as the "got badge" noise, which is a bit odd, but not exactly something I can prevent.
[/ QUOTE ]The opening briefing notes that you get multiple clues, keyed and numbered to the mission they're in. What I understood that to mean was that the first mission would feature five clues, each of which would be the explained impetus for the other four missions in the arc. Obviously, I was wrong, since those clues show up in the later arcs themselves.
[ QUOTE ]
This is a problem with difficulty settings for Broad Sword - I can either give him the same two attacks that a minion gets, or five attacks plus build-up. Fortunately, Shield Defense doesn't actually get the status-protection power until it's set to Extreme, so you can still knock that Mr. Problem back or hold him still.
[/ QUOTE ]Guess my stuff just didn't proc. That happens. Still, I'm very glad you've been considering these things.
[ QUOTE ]
I think I'll have to tone him down while the devs put in a reasonable intermediary between minion and Mack truck. I think in other weapon/offense sets the short-term damage boost only comes out in "extreme" difficulty, and I'd rather not give him a mace or axe because then he'd be chaining stuns/knockbacks.
[/ QUOTE ]Both of which I can deal with more easily than just dying, but I'm not sure how universal that appeal is.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The fourth mish has one thing I've become fond of - an enemy spawning based on something else happening. The problem is, the hint for where to find the newly-spawned badguy is totally unhelpful because it seems to be wrong.
[/ QUOTE ]
The lobby is the first floor of a hotel, isn't it?
[/ QUOTE ]Yes, actually, the lobby is the first floor, and is a waiting area which flows through to the rest of the building (I used to manage a motel). Going back there got me bupkis - I needed to actually stay on the 'top floor' of the building and go to what you might know as the two-tiered book-and-office room? So the clue to go to the lobby wasn't that useful to me. I was stealthing it - I've taken to doing so so as to see the majority of the story without slowing myself down killing Carnie #God Only Knows.
[ QUOTE ]
Oh, wait, I used a random map for that. Were you on one of the ones that starts you off at floor 5 and goes down? Hmm. Well, either I'll bite the bullet and use a specific map or genericize the hint but I have no idea how to make it both generic and still helpful.
[/ QUOTE ]Aye, one of the constraints of writing, I'm afraid.
[ QUOTE ]
o[ QUOTE ]
In the end, what did I think? Well, great dialogue, and a story that covers a range of interesting enemy groups and only really gets weird when you have to deal with the level range issue.
[/ QUOTE ]
I actually had a broader level range on test, but there were some issues with using 1-54 versions of certain enemy groups. Perhaps they've ironed those out, I'll have to see. Unfortunately I can't manage to fit the Legacy Chain and Carnies in the same arc without at least a little level strain, but the lower-tier Carnies they made for CoV are IMO suitable for fightin' at 20, if not before.
[/ QUOTE ]I've been fighting carnies redside for a good long time, and I've never found them scary. My dominators tend to make missions with them much faster and more brutal than normal, so I don't see them necessary to show up in the 30+ range per se.
If I had to cut something from the arc, it would obviously be the carnies, though, due to their being the odd-man-out of the level range...
Could you make mish 3 feature a lone hostage of an enemy group that scales up to 30 and no further, effectively 'locking' that one mission at level 30?
If that mission uses Carnies, then that would probably make things worse, since there's apparently a bug where even though Carnies are listed as 30-54, if you go in as a hero they'll refuse to spawn any lower than 40.
Issue 16 made me feel like this.
Warning: This poster likes to play Devil's Advocate.
Wow, that's annoying.
Oh well, these are the constraints we agree to work with.
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If that mission uses Carnies, then that would probably make things worse, since there's apparently a bug where even though Carnies are listed as 30-54, if you go in as a hero they'll refuse to spawn any lower than 40.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I got a report of that very recently from a friend. It never got noticed until then as it's a villain arc and even then nobody had taken a level 35 hero into it. Strangely, the Ring Mistress boss still spawns at 35, it's all the other Carnies that were level 40.
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You suckers are lining up for Talen to insult you, while I get it for free.
Suckers.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'd rather someone tell me the truth bluntly than lie to me sweetly.
[/ QUOTE ]
This. The blunt truth you can work with, sweet lies or "Eh, it's okay." is useless.
[/ QUOTE ]
My thoughts exactly. That is precisely the reason I submitted my arc both here and in Venture's thread. I'd LOVE it if someone played my arc, thought it was total crap, one-starred it, and then gave me a half page list of ways to improve.
Because that is way better, and will help me make a far better story, than the single, no comment, four star rating it currently has.
[ QUOTE ]
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You suckers are lining up for Talen to insult you, while I get it for free.
Suckers.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'd rather someone tell me the truth bluntly than lie to me sweetly.
[/ QUOTE ]
This. The blunt truth you can work with, sweet lies or "Eh, it's okay." is useless.
[/ QUOTE ]
My thoughts exactly. That is precisely the reason I submitted my arc both here and in Venture's thread. I'd LOVE it if someone played my arc, thought it was total crap, one-starred it, and then gave me a half page list of ways to improve.
Because that is way better, and will help me make a far better story, than the single, no comment, four star rating it currently has.
[/ QUOTE ]
Amen to that.
Of course, all the [censored] had to say about my arc was "it's not even a story".
"If you're going through hell, keep going."
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
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!