Arc 38226 - If you teach a man to make a fish
Rating: ****
This morning I'm doing arcs while waiting on other stuff to start happening, so it was a nice relief to find some shorter ones in the queue. I'm actually surprised at times to see the low number of runs some arcs get (should I advertise mine again now? Naahh), when you have some of the DC and Hall of Fame crap with literally over a thousand runs. Still, not everyone is there for the same kind of thing I am, so I pick through the less populated end of the spectrum, finding arcs like this one. With only one rating to its name, and a level range that Gallows might soon be escaping, I took it upon myself to do this arc before I outlevelled it and felt sour I wasn't getting any XP.
This arc would have been a three; it's competent, simple, and short, depicting Mad Science depicting its own downfall. Instead I edged it up to a three because it does two things that I haven't seen done well in MA arcs yet; it involved the contact in a mission without making him annoying, and it included an entirely legitimate-feeling Defeat All mission. The enemy groups were well-selected, appropriate to the level range and not overused.
The thing is, the arc doesn't overstay its welcome. It's solid, it's robust conceptually, it doesn't throw you against any unreasonable challenges or wear its concept out. We're doing Mad Science here, we don't want to bog ourselves down with measuring out the phlebtonium. Run it, it'll only take you a few minutes, and you'll have fun.
A short review for a short arc, so the tl;dr: Play it, it's fun.
I've liked your reviews so far so I think I'll post both of my arcs here for you to review. Blitzkrieg (The first one) is more popular and is hero oriented while Soldiers of Fortune (The second one) is less popular and is villain oriented. If I absolutely had to pick one, Soldiers is probably the one that needs more help if its slightly lower ratings and overall popularity is any indication. I'd would love it if you did both, though.
Author: @Mekkanos
Level Range: 45-50
Subject: A simple investigation into Malta Group activity turns into a fight for the freedom of heroes everywhere when you discover the sinister Project: Blitzkrieg!
Arc #: 3416
Name: Blitzkrieg
Author: @Mekkanos
Level Range: 30-35
Subject: Battle two mercenary groups for an ancient item of power with the help of some unusual allies!
Arc #: 4431
Name: Soldiers of Fortune
Hope you like them!
EDIT: Looked through a little more carefully and saw what you were looking for in terms of how you want the arc presented. I've edited this with both arcs and put it in terms you prefer.
My arcs:
Title: Blitzkrieg
Arc ID: 3416
Title: Soldiers of Fortune
Arc ID: 4431
Title: The Rikti Accession
Arc ID: 278757
I want to recommend two of my arcs, because I really can't decide which one I'm more invested in. A review for either one would be greatly appreciated.
Arc Name: The Double-Edged Sword
Arc ID: 4384
Length: Long
Difficulty: Medium- Final mission contains 1 AV, but with optional Allies; a few collections, several rescues (Captives and Allies)
Synopsis: Crey's latest experiments unleash a powerful force on Paragon City. I won't say much more, but there's at least one plot twist.
Arc Name: Dr. Dave and the Copper Legion
Arc ID: 60280
Length: Very Long
Difficulty: Medium- Final mission contains 1 AV, but with two Allies; many collections, some captives to rescue, an escort mission
Synopsis: An expedition to Cimerora uncovers and ancient weapon which -- in the wrong hand -- could destroy all of Paragon City. Plenty of mystery, some danger, and an obscure CoH villain.
And seriously, a review for either arc would be great.
*edit- But after some thought, maybe I'll push more towards #60280. It's the newer one, and I don't have much feedback on it yet.
Rise of the Copper Legion (#60280; with soundtrack)
The Fractured Dreamer (#498588; with musical theme)
"Now Leaving: Paragon City": original composition for the end of CoH
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Arc 38226 - If you teach a man to make a fish
Rating: ****
This morning I'm doing arcs while waiting on other stuff to start happening, so it was a nice relief to find some shorter ones in the queue. I'm actually surprised at times to see the low number of runs some arcs get (should I advertise mine again now? Naahh), when you have some of the DC and Hall of Fame crap with literally over a thousand runs. Still, not everyone is there for the same kind of thing I am, so I pick through the less populated end of the spectrum, finding arcs like this one. With only one rating to its name, and a level range that Gallows might soon be escaping, I took it upon myself to do this arc before I outlevelled it and felt sour I wasn't getting any XP.
This arc would have been a three; it's competent, simple, and short, depicting Mad Science depicting its own downfall. Instead I edged it up to a three because it does two things that I haven't seen done well in MA arcs yet; it involved the contact in a mission without making him annoying, and it included an entirely legitimate-feeling Defeat All mission. The enemy groups were well-selected, appropriate to the level range and not overused.
The thing is, the arc doesn't overstay its welcome. It's solid, it's robust conceptually, it doesn't throw you against any unreasonable challenges or wear its concept out. We're doing Mad Science here, we don't want to bog ourselves down with measuring out the phlebtonium. Run it, it'll only take you a few minutes, and you'll have fun.
A short review for a short arc, so the tl;dr: Play it, it's fun.
[/ QUOTE ]
Sounds like I did something right! Thanks for taking a look at this, I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thought it was a fun little arc.
Arc 2409 - The Mystery of the MAGI vaults
Rating: ***
One of the tropes I recommend people reinforce on their characters is to not roleplay out the grind of levelling up. The nature of this game, with its arced storytelling means that - well, prior to Mission Architect - people would generally always do a few of the same arcs a few times, and the arcs were not written to explicitly say 'Oh, you've done this, like Dave last week and Carl will next week.' That's a problem when people don't take that into account, because it means that everyone who's done anything for Azuria, whose starting arc features an object going missing, seems to think it's hilarious to represent her as losing a few thousand items daily. This paints a starting contact as slightly retarded, and new characters as the meaningless odd-job men of a busywork dispensing incompetent.
I am, perhaps obviously, not a fan of this representation of Azuria, as it relies on a player assertation that the game doesn't support. On the other hand, I can take a joke as well as the next man (kinda), so loading up this arc was done with caution. I didn't want to grade a perfectly acceptable arc because it had a premise I disliked.
Once completing the arc, I tried to work out what my feelings were. The arc feels like a lowbie arc. Now, I don't know what others think, but I think that's a good thing. There isn't a large amount of lore, enemy groups aren't listed like you know them all already - the arc very literally treats you like you're new-ish to the game. Not necessarily appropriate for the Mission Architect, but I think it's worthy of attention. There's no huge slabs of text, there's no 'here, let me explain something that you couldn't have known about before now,' exposition. At the same time, the arcs behave sensibly. You're sent searching for something, and rather than it being in The Last Place You Look by definition, it can be right at the start. This might be against some people's 'why did I bother zoning in' meter, but for me it makes it feel more like a thing you're doing than a course you're running.
So, while I don't like the premise per se, the arc is competently put together, uses the tools presented to it well, builds an atmosphere and an attitude and doesn't force you to do stuff that's not on the label of the mission. There's a lot of use of monster emotes, too - enemies behave like they're there. They talk, they mutter amongst themselves. My only complaint about this is that if this was an early-game arc I'd wonder where all the effort went after this point.
I did find it kinda funny that the arc sends you 'all over the place' - Galaxy to Perez to Atlas, etcetera, even though you don't actually have to do it, thanks to the architect datastream malarkey. It also takes advantage of the ease of creating custom bosses in that almost each character with a name is made to be a bit more distinct. I didn't feel like I was meeting a bunch of someone's alts but rather, dealing with a large group of different members of a gang. In essence, this is what I would have expected the official missions to be like, if the developers had had the time to do it.
So, a solid arc with a flawed premise that makes really good use of the MA Tools and is appropriate to its level range. Three stars.
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because it means that everyone who's done anything for Azuria, whose starting arc features an object going missing, seems to think it's hilarious to represent her as losing a few thousand items daily.
[/ QUOTE ]
There's also the Wheel of Destruction, the pieces of which you bring to Azuria *specifically* to keep them out of the hands of the Banished Pantheon, and the Banished Pantheon gets them back the *moment* your back is turned.
I forget if there's other instances of "The MAGI vault has been broken into!" in CoH lore, but still, those two incidents don't exactly inspire confidence.
Character index
Isn't the Magi vault actually in Galaxy?
Nobody blames Gregor though.
Might as well sign my wife and I up for the burning light of harsh reality:
My wife's - Arc #59147 "Shades of Betrayal, Acts of Sacrifice".
Mine - Arc #64800 "The Power from Out of Space".
My Arc: The Power From Out Of Space, ID# 64800
Mrs. Spoon's Arc: Shades of Betrayal, Acts of Salvation, ID# 59147
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Isn't the Magi vault actually in Galaxy?
Nobody blames Gregor though.
[/ QUOTE ]
Cause you never bring the items to Gregor or even talk to him unless you're a magic hero starting in Galaxy. Most players probably forget he exists, if they ever knew that he did to begin with.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Isn't the Magi vault actually in Galaxy?
Nobody blames Gregor though.
[/ QUOTE ]
Cause you never bring the items to Gregor or even talk to him unless you're a magic hero starting in Galaxy. Most players probably forget he exists, if they ever knew that he did to begin with.
[/ QUOTE ]Who?
Yes, the vault is in Galaxy - hence the reference to the warehouse being right under MAGI's noses.
Composing reply to review atm.
#2409 - The Mystery of the MAGI vaults. Azuria has contacted you to help her stop the thefts from the MAGI vaults.
#68054 - Out of the gutters. Left for dead, you swore that you were through with being a victim (alt villain beginning story)
Thank you for taking the time to play it and for the review - much appreciated.
Said this in tells, but replying for the benefit of the thread.
The idea of the arc was to turn the player trope around - it's not Azuria's fault that stuff goes missing; she is competent and does take her job seriously - I'm sure that people have done LOLAzuria arcs, but that wasn't my intention.
On the NPCs, you're quite right - they're all created for the arc as I figure that characters are only really interesting in the context that they've been created for - anyone who does tabletop RPing will know the dread that the words, 'Let me tell you about my character' inspires when uttered by a stranger, so my own characters will be making appearances in stuff made for the groups they're in (34734 for example - not a review request), but very rarely otherwise.
I am, as you noticed, a huge fan of patrols because they can talk and make the map feel more dynamic, and I'm glad that that worked as intended.
re: Wondering were all the effort went after the early game arcs - that's true of the official content in a way. Levels 1-5 have nice custom maps and so on, then you mostly just see the same scenary over and over again.
Without spoilers, did you suceed or fail at mission 3?
#2409 - The Mystery of the MAGI vaults. Azuria has contacted you to help her stop the thefts from the MAGI vaults.
#68054 - Out of the gutters. Left for dead, you swore that you were through with being a victim (alt villain beginning story)
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because it means that everyone who's done anything for Azuria, whose starting arc features an object going missing, seems to think it's hilarious to represent her as losing a few thousand items daily.
[/ QUOTE ]
There's also the Wheel of Destruction, the pieces of which you bring to Azuria *specifically* to keep them out of the hands of the Banished Pantheon, and the Banished Pantheon gets them back the *moment* your back is turned.
[/ QUOTE ]
And the back-turning takes the form of a patrol she sends you out on, which the Cryptic mission writer almost certainly put in (back in the day) just to get you out of the room so you aren't literally standing there when it happens.
"Azuria."
"Yes?"
"What did you do with the Wheel?"
"What wheel?"
"The Wheel of Destruction that I just gave you, two minutes ago."
"..."
"You lost it, didn't you."
"..."
"Son of a..."
"..."
My characters at Virtueverse
Faces of the City
I like the way you review and have started running the ones you've given 4 & 5 stars to. It's nice not to have to search for something with an actual story. lol I'd love to get your feedback on my arc. It's my first attempt and it's kind of silly but...
Arc Name: Save the Music
Arc ID: 16460
Creator Global Name:@Arsenic's Rage
Length: Medium
Definitely can be soloed, but I've heard it gets real rough at the highest challenge level. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! 
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I forget if there's other instances of "The MAGI vault has been broken into!" in CoH lore, but still, those two incidents don't exactly inspire confidence.
[/ QUOTE ]
There's also the Talisman of Po incident, where she sends you to a Sooper Sekret Safehouse because even the MAGI vaults aren't secure enough to keep it away from Nemesis!
Three guesses what the safehouse is crammed to the rafters with upon your arrival. "I have to tell you, Azuria's feeling a little embarrassed after sending you into that trap," indeed.
And while I'm here I may as well toss this on the pile, since the only feedback I have is from friends, a random "5 for 5," and a commentless 1-star.
Author: @Wonderslug
Level Range: I recommend 30-40, but 25-50 works. One mission caps at 45 thanks to a level range bug with Freakshow.
Subject: A business-minded demon offers handy tools of the villainous trade at low, low prices.
Arc #: 4178
Name: Wholesale Soul Sale
I'll throw mine at the end of the queue as well, I suppose:
Arc# 60639, "Catching Lightning in a Bottle" (and no, it doesn't have any of my characters in it, and it isn't about me)
Heroic, level 40-45, 5 missions, 1 Defeat All
Just checking in, I've been keeping an eye out here to see if you've had a chance to run my arc. It does have a story though I think I room for improvement. The arc id again is
41844 for part 1 and 41967 for part 2. If anyone else is interested in checking it out and giving me some constructive criticism that'd be grealy appreciated.
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
Going to add my new one to your list, since my first one is in Vanden's.
Title: Simple Times
ID: 70901
Levels: 5-15
5 missions, no AVs/EBs. Sequel to Future Skulls, ID 4727, but hopefully the story doesn't require you to do it first.
Justice Blues, Tech/Tank, Inv/SS
----------------------
Fighting The Future Trilogy
----------------------
I think you mean Venture.
Issue 16 made me feel like this.
Warning: This poster likes to play Devil's Advocate.
[ QUOTE ]
I think you mean Venture.
[/ QUOTE ]
Hey, I got the first letter right. 
Justice Blues, Tech/Tank, Inv/SS
----------------------
Fighting The Future Trilogy
----------------------
Arc 45525 - Effrego Quartus Parietis
Rating: *
The first thing I notice is that the level range dances all over. I consider a consistant level range to be a kind of final lick of polish on a work, something that refines it. Partly because a level range is often tricky to create with the tools that are available to us it represents a willingness to use an awkward tool with care.
The whole arc is constructed on a rather unfortunately meek premise of a lone individual who thinks the game is in fact, a game. Given that this is a virtual reality simulator within the game, he's really quite onto something, but it's that kind of fourth-wall painting that just ruins my sense of immersion. I don't want to be reminded none of this game is real because I'm not the kind of person who needs that information. The arc then goes on to commit a number of what I - and others - consider cardinal sins, even when performed by the developers - a surprise EB, a surprise timed mission and an Elite Boss chasing you around hoovering up the tickets.
The arc schizophrenically tries to introduce and expand on items in the same breath, which means that it can feel a bit like three or four plotlines barged into one another all at once, and that obviously leads to problems when you consider that the tools used for advanced exposition - things like Clues - are eschewed entirely.
If I had to summarise this arc simply it would be A simple concept, execued simply. There's nothing refined, nothing clever. There's a lot of stuff that seems to be using the tools in the game purely because they're there. There's no clear sense in my mind that the arc had any greater purpose beyond 'let's see what I can do,' and the writing seems to reflect that.
Compound this with bad map choice, unimaginative use of enemies that I've fought a lot - and I do mean a lot - and you have an arc I didn't even bother finishing. If there's going to be an amazing twist at the end that Makes It All better, I'm afraid the arc building up to that was too much for me to bear.
Arc 1152 - The Doctor Returns
Rating: ****
When you review a friend's arc there's always possibility you might be providing it with something undue because it's connected to a friend. I know that I find Fred's sense of humour as similar to mind and when he makes a pun, I usually get it, so chances are that this arc - which uses humour amongst its serious plot - gets extra thumbs up from me for that reason. Plus, it's the kind of story I like, with a handful of useful tips and tricks amongst it, a few jokes at the expense of both the Mission Architect and those people who use it, and a twist ending that I really enjoyed.
The twist won't suit everyone, I can see that. Despite that, I still think it was a good, well-written conclusion and I really enjoyed it. There's a school of thought that every different bit of MMO writing that says everything needs to be able to fit every character for every continuity, but anyone who's ever run a pen-and-paper RPG will know just how ridiculously unfeasible an idea that is. Some characters will fit this arc really well, some won't. And some people will come up with their own conclusion to the story. Just don't act like the author's somehow deficient for not making everything perfect.
There's another element to it - I really enjoyed the level of combat the mission threw at me. At one point I was given the option to click four glowies in quick succession and deal with four stacking ambushes at once. Now, I loved that, revelling in beating down a big, impressive gang of guys all in one. Other people might want to be more cautious - I can imagine stalkers aren't happy with it.
The arc's not perfect. Some of the formatting could be tightened up. I didn't mind the spam jokes, or the references to The Doctor - after all, she's an established point of lore. Some of the briefings felt very 'chunk of text' - just big enough to be harder to read, but not so big that there were obvious places for text breaks. There were other minor formatting errors, too, but the author has noted that they're worried by potential UI issues when they try to alter that kind of thing. The arc uses an established canon character, but exists in a level range - at some points - that predate that established character. There's also a cool trick in the same mission but I fear I don't want to spoil it for people, so they can feel clever when they work it out.
The arc also does touch on the open sore that is the Mission Architect system itself. I'm not a fan of having to explain everything in-universe, so this arc was already running uphill. Fun, funny, in need of a bit of refinement, and using jumping level ranges, the Doctor Returns is a good arc, falling a few editorial errors and a bit of polish away from being a great arc.
Can I have my purple IOs back now Fred?
Hmm, I'll have to try The Doctor Returns.
Suggestions:
Super Packs Done Right
Influence Sink: IO Level Mod/Recrafting
Random Merit Rolls: Scale cost by Toon Level
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Arc 43636 - Find Jack's Hair
Rating: *
There are times as a reviewer I get this occasionally inflated ego that lets me think that by reviewing something that's good, I'm bringing it up from the mire of obscurity. I dialled this arc up and saw immediately, a comical opening. Ho boy, this is going to be rough, I think. With Operative Gallows this time, I drew his knobbly phallic object and started the arc. Then, I read the opening dialogue... this isn't really a story, no. This is it seems, much more about the author fiddling with things. Part of me thinks it might merit no stars, but I just as much suspect it's just another humour arc that I'm not going to find funny.
There are some basic formatting errors - the first mission objective has a period at the end, and the boss name sits in the bar like a squat frog as the author failed to realise what that entry actually does if left blank. The dialogue is brief, the writing sparse - in general, this arc is, well, barely there. I don't want to write a ranting tirade against it because it's not like it's bad, but it's also very much not good, either. At hest, it can be seen as inoffensive, or unpresent. Like an atom or our solar system, it's mostly composed of nothing, but nobody's going to [censored] that either of those two things aren't still relatively effective at their job of giving astrophysicists something to do.
I give the arc one star, not because it's a 'bad arc', but because there's not really much of an arc here at all. I very much got the feeling this is an arc Clouded created to get to grips with what the mission architect could do, and, failing a better reason, just made a brief joke and stretched it out for five pages. It's not high art, and I wouldn't recommend any one emulate it, but the failings of this arc feel like those of ambivalence. The author made a joke, made an arc to fulfill that joke, and it does its job (and I did laugh at points).
This arc is a Bugs-Bunny, 4-minutes-before-the-movie style joke which is polite enough to not overload itself with 'because I can' objectives. I'd love to spend pages ripping it apart, but it doesn't actually have many in the way of failings. Maps are different from point to point, missions are structured in a not-too-annoying fashion, and there's a bit of metahumour I found funny without it being annoying. The arc didn't try to do much, and my god, did it succeed at reaching those goals.
In the end, complaining that this arc is badly written and simplistic would be like [censored] that a twinkie isn't a balanced, substantial meal.
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Very fair review, a bit over the top to make your point but I expected nothing less. Thanks for taking the time to run through the missions.
And you were right...it was just a long joke inspired by Jim Beam.