Arc Reviews 3: The Final Dimension
By
Alexander81793,
Posted on: 2009-04-13 21:28 in Mission Architect
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Savage War
Arc ID: 59152
Global @Aracade
Recomended level. 30's
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2 out of 5 stars
Ran this with my level 37 Spines/Dark scrapper...
Ok, first problem I run into is that the contact mentions I am heeding a call. That's fine, it makes sense as an introduction, but as a player I don't know what the call was. Outside of the small description of the arc, I have no idea what I'm doing there and why.
Ideally, any opening mission should explain what the arc is about. All I know now is that I have to go earn the trust of this tribe, but I don't particularly know what threatens them or why it's imperative I earn their trust. The contact should tell me about the problems her tribe is facing and then get me started on the path to fixing them.
Anyway, my first mission involves me gaining the trust of the tribe by proving my strength. I have to take down their two shamans (not that "shamen" isn't a pluralization of the word shaman). The first one is Hakera, a Elec Melee/Plant Control boss, who utterly obliterated me because of the energy power and the confuse. Oh, and the /Nin minion that kept unhiding and hitting me for 2/3rds of my health. Really, /Nin shouldn't be used at this point because of the bugs with it that makes them hella annoying to fight. She also decided to camp the mission entrance, which resulted in several deaths. But eventually, I was able to take her down.
The second boss was easier, probably because as a Stone Melee/Earth Control boss, it had less annoying powers (no confuse) and I actually had some resistance to its damage type.
After that, though, you're sent in to get a key to rescue several of the contact's children. Apparently, the key is held by a Council commander. There's no seeming connection at first, but knowing the Council, there could be a good explanation.
Unfortunately, the mission has some problems. First of all, many of the spawn points seem to be taken up by battles between the Council and the Savages. Because the Savages seem to have a lot of /Nin powers, you end up only coming across them and dead Council, leaving little for me to do.
Unfortunately, the base boss is the Elite Boss Mech Man from the Citadel task force, who has a ton of lethal resists and does a lot of damage. I eventually had to just use my Warwolf Whistle to kill him, as I don't believe he goes down to Boss level. When I did beat him, I find a clue saying I searched his body, took a keycard, map, and $100. There's actually two copies of this clue, one for beating the boss and one mission complete.
The whole part is weird. Why is a MechMan leading a Council base? Why does it act like it's a normal person (even though the clue specifically states it's taken from a metal body)? And why that TF EB, which is much tougher than most EBs? It's just a poor choice both narratively and game play wise.
But anyway, next I'm sent to the Council base to free her children. I also need to destroy several stolen artifacts, though why I simply don't retrieve them isn't said. I also need to retrieve a bunch of bodies by putting wolves' teeth on them, as that will teleport them away. It's a timed mission, giving me 90 minutes to do it.
Now, here is the reason I hate long maps. The mission has 11 collect tasks, 4 destroy tasks, and 11 hostage tasks. I get down to the last collect and, while searching for the glowie, I get disconnected. And have to start ALL OVER.
And having all those objectives does little for the mission. Really, it could be cut in half, and I'd still get that it's a lot of things to do, but it wouldn't nearly be as long a mission.
Anyway, I finish it and the next mission is to take down the "Council leaders". The leaders are Vanadul, Havok, and Dreadnaught.
I am immediately given an EB ally, the Savage Queen, who is an Archery/Super Reflexes. Later on, I also find the Savage King, a Claws/WP.
Anyway, I fight through to the leaders. Vanadul is just the 5th Column Vandal with a misspelled name. Dreadnaught is Col. Burkholder (once more, the 5th Column version). Warlord Havok is just Requiem.
Since I wasn't on Invincible, those three were just Elite Bosses. My allies mostly took them down with little input from me. They were all close to each other, though, so I guess if all three attacked, the help would have been nice. But even though Dread and Van spawned right next to each other, the Savage King killed Dread without me even hitting him.
With the bad guys beaten, I am given a tooth by the contact, who tells me if I find where it came from, I will be lead to a great treasure.
Now, I'm not quite sure where to begin. This arc has a LOT of problems story wise. For one, we never learn who this tribe of people is. We don't know WHY the Council is kidnapping them. I don't know why I'm helping them out. There's no explanation for anything.
Add in the constant spelling and grammar errors and what you have is just a bad arc. It has some glimmers of potential. I think you could conceivably come up with a good story as to why the Council is trying to kidnap and take over some tribe of savages. But the story was not told here.
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Name: If you teach a man to make a fish
ID: 38226
Handle: @Heronator
Level: 20-30 (20-24 will get bumped up to 25 for the second mission).
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4 out of 5 stars
Run with a level 26 Mind/Rad controller...
First thing I notice is that even though the mission is listed as Neutral, it seems more like a villainous one. Or at least a pretty mercantile hero one.
Anyway, when Captain Mako killed Scrapyard, some of his teeth got knocked out. GENE, a UN organization, wants to collect a few for some of their super soldier project. You're asked to go collect them.
You get sent to a Scrapyarder base (definitely should be a Villainous arc) and are told to retrieve the teeth. The task was fairly simple with no tricks. You grab the tooth, which gives a pretty nice clue text, and head out.
Anyway, with the tooth, GENE manages to clone a more docile version of Captain Mako (my that was quick!), but the Coralax end up invading the lab and you have to go in and fight them off. Sadly, it's a defeat all, and I personally don't see the story reason for it to be a defeat all.
First, you come across Dr. Barlow, the contact and project's leader, and rescue him. He turns out to be an Energy Blast/Elec Armor Lt. So while he's helpful in the mission, he's not overwhelming. He's also not really necessary, as far as I can tell, but he's probably nice for someone who is a little squishier.
You eventually come across Mako-2, the clone, who looks like a pretty darn good costume copy of Mako from far, but really shows the limitations of the costume creator up close, where it looks more like a lizard than a shark. But it's still pretty good. He's a Claws/Something boss (he spent the entire time held, so I doubt it was a defensive set).
Mako-2 only gives unintelligible grunts, but the Coralax ambush you at 50% health, calling him the Mouth of the Leviathan. I'm not familiar with the Mako patron arc, so I assume his connection to the Leviathan is explained further there, so I'll just assume it meshes well. Even if it doesn't, it still makes enough sense that I can let it go.
Anyway, you defeat him and collect all the biosamples and the mission completes.
Anyway, there was nothing really wrong with this arc. Everything it did, it did fairly well. There were no plot holes, no typos, no bad writing. The only thing is it was pretty obvious that something bad would happen from attempting to clone Mako, but it wasn't the standard (eg. oh no, our clone ended up going CRAZY!)
The were two things, though. One, it was a little too short and not super interesting. I feel like there could have been three missions: 1) Get the tooth, 2) Coralax attack the lab and you fight two or three of the Mako-clones, 3) You have to go track down the Mako-clone the Coralax escaped with that has matured and gotten stronger (maybe have him be a custom EB or maybe even an EB version of Mako [if one exists in that level range]).
Two, it doesn't seem to know if it's a hero or villain arc. Attacking the Scrapyarders is definitely a villainous thing to do. But then there's no real reason that a villain would go bail out GENE after the Coralax attack. Either the first mission needs to be turned into a different group that has the teeth or the second mission needs to give some incentive to the villains.
Still, it was solid, fairly entertaining, and made use of two enemy groups that don't really get much play.
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Name: If you teach a man to make a fish
ID: 38226
Handle: @Heronator
Level: 20-30 (20-24 will get bumped up to 25 for the second mission).
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4 out of 5 stars
Run with a level 26 Mind/Rad controller...
First thing I notice is that even though the mission is listed as Neutral, it seems more like a villainous one. Or at least a pretty mercantile hero one.
Anyway, when Captain Mako killed Scrapyard, some of his teeth got knocked out. GENE, a UN organization, wants to collect a few for some of their super soldier project. You're asked to go collect them.
You get sent to a Scrapyarder base (definitely should be a Villainous arc) and are told to retrieve the teeth. The task was fairly simple with no tricks. You grab the tooth, which gives a pretty nice clue text, and head out.
Anyway, with the tooth, GENE manages to clone a more docile version of Captain Mako (my that was quick!), but the Coralax end up invading the lab and you have to go in and fight them off. Sadly, it's a defeat all, and I personally don't see the story reason for it to be a defeat all.
First, you come across Dr. Barlow, the contact and project's leader, and rescue him. He turns out to be an Energy Blast/Elec Armor Lt. So while he's helpful in the mission, he's not overwhelming. He's also not really necessary, as far as I can tell, but he's probably nice for someone who is a little squishier.
You eventually come across Mako-2, the clone, who looks like a pretty darn good costume copy of Mako from far, but really shows the limitations of the costume creator up close, where it looks more like a lizard than a shark. But it's still pretty good. He's a Claws/Something boss (he spent the entire time held, so I doubt it was a defensive set).
Mako-2 only gives unintelligible grunts, but the Coralax ambush you at 50% health, calling him the Mouth of the Leviathan. I'm not familiar with the Mako patron arc, so I assume his connection to the Leviathan is explained further there, so I'll just assume it meshes well. Even if it doesn't, it still makes enough sense that I can let it go.
Anyway, you defeat him and collect all the biosamples and the mission completes.
Anyway, there was nothing really wrong with this arc. Everything it did, it did fairly well. There were no plot holes, no typos, no bad writing. The only thing is it was pretty obvious that something bad would happen from attempting to clone Mako, but it wasn't the standard (eg. oh no, our clone ended up going CRAZY!)
The were two things, though. One, it was a little too short and not super interesting. I feel like there could have been three missions: 1) Get the tooth, 2) Coralax attack the lab and you fight two or three of the Mako-clones, 3) You have to go track down the Mako-clone the Coralax escaped with that has matured and gotten stronger (maybe have him be a custom EB or maybe even an EB version of Mako [if one exists in that level range]).
Two, it doesn't seem to know if it's a hero or villain arc. Attacking the Scrapyarders is definitely a villainous thing to do. But then there's no real reason that a villain would go bail out GENE after the Coralax attack. Either the first mission needs to be turned into a different group that has the teeth or the second mission needs to give some incentive to the villains.
Still, it was solid, fairly entertaining, and made use of two enemy groups that don't really get much play.
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Thanks very much for the feedback! When I wrote this arc, I was specifically trying to write it Neutrally, with the idea that a villain (looking to get paid) or a hero (believing that fighting the Scrapyarders is for the greater good, as GENE is a UN organization like Vanguard) could more or less insert themselves in it without me writing for one or the other (or worse, write as if the contact never knew if the character was a hero or a villain). But, I'm going to be re-designing a couple of aspects of this arc sometime in the near future, so I'll slate it towards one side or the other then.
And the second mission is a kill all because the PC is supposed to secure the lab, as the invading Coralax wrecked GENE's defenses. I think I put something to that effect in the text, but I will re-read it, and emphasize that portion more if necessary.
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And the second mission is a kill all because the PC is supposed to secure the lab, as the invading Coralax wrecked GENE's defenses. I think I put something to that effect in the text, but I will re-read it, and emphasize that portion more if necessary.
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While that makes (some) sense, I would imagine the Coralax would lose interest once Mako-2 was gone.
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Arc Name:[/b] The Stream of Time
Arc ID: #40738
Faction: Neutral
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Silent Spy
Difficulty Level: Lvs40-50. Mid-Hard Difficulty.
Recommended Team Size: Could be done solo, but its more fun with friends.
Synopsis: Anomalies have been detected coming from the past in the stream of time!
Estimated Time to Play: 45-60 mins
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4 out of 5 stars (almost closer to 4.5 out of 5, really, but I can't rate it that, so...)
Ran with my IO'd out level 50 BS/SR scrapper, so I anticipate no difficulties...
Anyway, I meet a time traveler from the late 1800s who apparently has the ability to build any machine he wants. I believe this may be somewhat against the CoH canon, which says that superpowers didn't really come into being until the 1930s when States and Recluse opened the Well of Furies.
But then again, there's Nemesis, who was supposedly around in the American Civil War, so...
And that brings us to the mission. The contact wants to send us to the Civil War, where he has discovered off time anomalies. I need to find out what their source is.
Anyway, you fight Confederate soldiers, who are pretty well costumed. They look fairly decent. Their weapon powers are a bit odd, but make the best use of what CoH actually gives. Nemesis Rifles for guns (which is actually a story choice), and either Dual Blades or Broadsword to emulate a Sabre.
You also need to save General Grant, a BS/WP AV for the Union. Once you free him, you need to defeat General Lee, a DB/Regen AV. I have to admit, it was pretty funny seeing him say "The South will rise again!" as I beat him as he hits his self-rez. Both of these characters are well designed, physically. Anyway, you discover a box full of Nemesis weapons that the Confederates have.
Having discovered that Nemesis is behind the time anomalies, your contact discovers another one in 2002 during the first Rikti War. You're sent in to correct the time anomaly.
You have to rescue Sister Psyche, Synapse, Statesman, and Positron from Nemesis the Nemesis. Each of them has a funny, sometimes OOC comment that is kinda... out of place, I think, but didn't really bother me. States makes an interesting comment that helps explain why destroyed Council robots are all over the map, which is a real nice touch.
You ultimately have to defeat 3 Rikti Heavy Armors and Hro'Dotz. None of them are difficult with 4 AVs helping out.
Next, you get sent to 1932 and Brass Monday, which is an obvious point. You have to rescue several of the early heroes, including Statesman, costumed in his 1932 costume as can be seen on some of the backstory pages. The costume isn't a perfect replica of it (the hair and face looked off), but it was still pretty good. I'm disappointed he didn't say anything when I rescued him, though. You also save Dark Watcher (a Kinetics/Something I didn't notice boss), Elementar (Elec/Storm Boss), Team Vambrace (Energy/?? boss), and Maiden Justice (MA/Inv AV [I think it's a custom one, but I don't really know]).
You also need to disarm 10 bombs and defeat the 1932 version of Nemesis. Beating him spawns modern day Nemesis. He spawns numerous ambushes during the attack, which can add a little difficulty that's nice considering you have so much help fighting him.
With that threat averted, you must destroy the equipment that's letting Nemesis travel through time. And... dun dun DUUUUN! It's from the future (a twist that, while probably obvious, I didn't see coming). It's a timed mission.
Once you get in, you have to destroy 4 generators, defeat Nemesis, and rescue "a hostage". That last one actually piqued my interest, as the hostage is not named, unlike the prior missions, which makes me wonder who it might be. The hostage ends up being your contact, which totally makes sense, as he reveals Nemesis forced him to build a time machine. You have to escort him out and then defeat future Nemesis, who once more spawns ambushes.
Ok, I really liked this arc. It was fun going back and heroing with General Grant and the original Freedom Phalanx. The plot made sense and was solid. The writing was likewise solid.
But that's what kept it from getting 5 stars. It was just solid, not spectacular. Without the excellent job recreating the 30s Phalanx and making the Civil War soldiers, I think it would have only been a weak 4/strong 3 as opposed to a strong 4.
For one, Nemesis's plot wasn't particularly well developed. I know he was messing with history, but I didn't really know WHY. Brass Monday was obvious, the Civil War less so, and the Rikti Invasion even less. I know he was involved with the last two, but I'm not sure what he was trying to accomplish by altering the outcomes of those conflicts.
I'm not really sure how the plot could be tightened up or changed to be more satisfying for me. But I did really like it and - if the author can come up with something good - I could easily bump it up to 5 stars.
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Arc 58363
Author @Cavatina
Arcname: Nuclear in 90 - The Fusionette Task Force
Level range 1-14
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3 out of 5 stars
Ok, so the much hated Fusionette has noticed that some of her fellow Nuclear 90 have gone missing and, because of her Vanguard duties, asks you to go look for them for her. I'm sent to the warehouse they've all vanished from and am warned about the Hellions being there.
You go in and find Molecular Mandy (whose name reminds me of the "Moleculo" skit from SNL that Conan O'Brien did many years ago, but I digress). She's a Rad/Rad boss who wasn't too tough more my exemped down BS/SR scrapped, but might prove challenging to a natural 14 because of the debuffs. She's one of the Nuclear 90 but is working with the Hellions for some reason.
One of her lines in the middle of fighting you seems to indicate something is up with her, as she cuts off a comment to suddenly make a stereotypical villain taunt. Her last line implies she teleported away when you beat her.
You go back to Fusionette, who is very confused. What's more, another of the Nuclear 90, Neutrino Nick, has been spotted robbing a MAGI vault. You're sent to stop him and are given a device that'll reroute their Medicom teleporter to the Vanguard base.
You go in, fine more Hellions, and fight Neutrino Nick, who ends up being a Fire melee/Fire Armor boss. I have to say, the name doesn't really fit (why not Fission Frank? Or something else nucleary that might have something to do with heat, as opposed to neutrinos). Anyway, you beat him and an amulet falls off him. He tells you that the amulet was controlling his mind, making him do evil.
Third mission briefing, and we have the intrusive *emote* in the middle of Fusionette's speech to tell us she has to look down at a paper to see what Lady Grey said the amulets were. You are given a divining rod to track down the other Nuclear 90 who were wearing the amulets and save them.
I go in and get three objectives: Save Jim Temblor, Radioactive Reimi, and Electron Elly. I'm already sick of the alliterative names on the Nuclear 90. Anyway, you save old Faultline from some Hellions, then "save" Reimi (Energy/FF) and Elly (Elec blast/something else) by beating them up.
Anyway, you learn from them that a Hellion named Immolation Ken (really? That's his name? It's... pretty awful. It's not a pun or reference that I can see, and WHY does everyone have their real first name as part of their hero/villain name?) is behind everything.
You go to take down Ken and save Mandy. You're told that Ken is an EB and that you might need a Break Free to fight him. This is obviously OOC stuff, as it's separated from the narrative, but it's not in a different color or anything and could be worked into the narrative easily enough.
Anyway, you go in, beat up Mandy, and fight Ken, a Fire Blast/Fire Control EB (I fought him as a Boss on Heroic because exemped down I had only two attacks) who provided a decent challenge. He has a rather uninspired costume of jeans and a shirt with a logo on it. You beat him and then he says he'll "get me" for this.
And then you go back to Fusionette for the wrap up... which is about two sentences and says virtually nothing about what just happened and offers no sense of conclusion to anything. It's pretty much the equivalent of "Thank you" at the end of some particularly old video games.
In all, I was again fairly disappointed by this. The idea is good enough, that someone is kidnapping the Nuclear 90 and it's up to you to find out why and put a stop to it. The execution is just lacking.
A big problem is the Fusionette character. I can't remember too well how she acts in canon missions, but here she's presented as an airhead teenager who just talks about the mall and things like that. She's annoying and totally fails to create any tension with the missions, because she's constantly using the modern-day equivalent of valley girl talk and acting like a spoiled teenager rather than a hero whose friends are being kidnapped and turned evil.
Secondly, there is a very large lack of closure to any of the missions. You beat someone and then never hear what happens to them, you're just thanked by Fusionette and sent on to the next task. It sucks the emotional investment out of it.
Add on the utterly uninspired names for the characters involved and as a whole, the story tends to fall a little flat. It gets 3 stars more for the good idea than anything else, because it could clearly be built on with a decent reworking.
And finally, there are a lot of punctuation, grammar, and capitalization errors in the text. I don't think I went more than two or three sentences without coming across a missing apostrophe, a misplaced comma or period, or a Word that was randomly capitalized in the middle of a sentence. It needs a good proofreading to fix all that stuff.
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Thanks for the advice. sorry i didnt respond sooner. Yeah. I fixed a good deal of those typos, and I do agree with the criticism about the not explaining why they were being fought part..so I fixed that. As for Fusionette..well, i wasnt exactly going for a very serious tone, but I fully understand that writing her the way i did won't please everyone. Glad for the honest review and the helpful error pointing out though/
Want comedy and lighthearted action? Between levels 1-14? Try Nuclear in 90 - The Fusionette Task Force!
Arc ID 58363!
I could use some feedback on my latest arc.
Arc Name: Dr. Dave and the Copper Legion
Arc ID: 60280
Author: @theHedoren
Length: Very Long
Level Range: highest minimum level is 41, and all missions cap at 54
Difficulty: Medium- Final mission contains 1 AV, but with 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.
A little side-note: I did include two Defeat Alls, but one of them is on a very tiny map (Midnighter Club), and most mobs will be defeated during the other objectives anyway. The second one is a medium-sized map, but it's a simple layout (and the plot seemed to demand a kill-all for that mish). I could also use some suggestions on the final AV. He can be easily replaced, and I wonder if I should put someone else in instead.
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
Appreciate any and all feedback on this one (my first attempt at creativity on CoX)
Posted after I did some rewrite of content and tweaking of custom baddies (regen + ice armor + flee on damage BAD IDEA) there is a backstory to go along with it but reader be warned it's long! It is the (almost) full story of how the arc came to be so get a cup of your favorite and enjoy. You don't have to read the story to do the arc tho so don't worry!
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...art=1&vc=1
Arc Name: Second Generation Hero
Arc ID: 41429
Global ID: @Rampager
Synopsis: You must help Rampager get his Mace and Armor back
Difficulty Level: 50 Boss, EB, AV, AV Allies
Faction: 5th column + custom
Estimated Time to Play/Number of Missions: 5 missions, 1 timed, 1 hr or less with 4 players
Morality: Hero
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Hm, looks like you wouldn't much enjoy my Rikti arc then. However, I could definetely use this sort of feedback for "Hunting the Dark Dragon", especially with regard to if the different aspects of story represented tie into one another well or not.
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Hello? 
"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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Hm, looks like you wouldn't much enjoy my Rikti arc then. However, I could definetely use this sort of feedback for "Hunting the Dark Dragon", especially with regard to if the different aspects of story represented tie into one another well or not.
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Hello?
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Post your arc's name, the arc's ID number, your global handle, and the level range appropriate for the arc (I like running these for XP)/
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Passing Notes
by @Aracade
Arc ID: 72475
Lenght: Long
Morality: Neutral
Recommended Level Range: 30 - 50
Enemy Group says Custom but that is only partly true.
Three Missions
Huh, thought I had. Guess not, my bad. Well, here are the details:
Arc Name: Hunting the Dark Dragon
Arc ID: 2922
Morality: Heroic
Faction: Circle of Thorns, Malta Operatives, Space Pirates, Spearhead Division
Creator: @Acid Zero
Difficulty Level: Hard (1 AV(EB) with no allies, end boss very tough)
Synopsis: I created this in response to the many dragon invasion themed arcs I found on test, and decided to give it my own (slightly chaotic) spin by employing dragon concepts from people I know. I like to think this arc takes several things in new directions, and not just with the dragons - it's also up to the player to choose which way this arc ends.
Estimated Time to Play: 1/2 - 1 1/2 hours
Recommended level range: 40-50.
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
I'd like some feedback on my arc:
Arc ID: 48942
Name: Too Drunk Too Be Alcoholic
Global: @DLancer
Level Range: 30-45
Missions: 5 on small/medium maps.
Enemies: Crey, Freaks, Custom Group; 2 AVs (missions 3 and 5, both of which give allied EBs)
It involves alcohol, obviously, and subliminal messaging.
Current Published Arcs
#1 "Too Drunk to be Alcoholic" Arc #48942
#2 "To Slay Sleeping Dragons" Arc #111486
#3 "Stop Calling Me"
I'd like my latest arc to get reviewed.
Arc Name: The Knights of Rularuu
Arc ID: 75386
Faction: Malta Group, Custom Rularuu
Length: 4 missions
Morality: Heroic
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Vanden
Difficulty Level: Hard
Synopsis: Who would've thought that one of those endless Malta missions would turn up something like this? (1 AV, not recommended for weak soloists)
Estimated Time to Play: 1 hour
I don't know if you've got any of my other arcs on your list (1684, 1992, 2595), but if you do, you can go ahead and take them off. This is the one I really want reviewed.
Issue 16 made me feel like this.
Warning: This poster likes to play Devil's Advocate.
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Arc Name: Dream Paper
Arc ID: 1874
Faction/Level Range: Lost, Tsoo, Trolls (heroic alignment) -- 10-20 stuff.
Creator Global/Forum Name: @GlaziusF/GlaziusF
Synopsis: The Lost are breaking into the cheapest apartments in the city. Finding out why will lead you up a scanty trail of evidence to a disquieting conclusion.
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4 out of 5 stars
Even though it's heroic, I ran it with a level 10 MA/Nin Stalker (as I have no heroes in the 10-20 level range currently).
You start off with the contact telling you the Lost are breaking into the Singer Lofts, where he lives. He asks you to go stop them, as usually they don't bother breaking in, just preaching. The accept message tells you the clues are numbered according to what mission you find them (I'm not sure this is necessary, but it's not a negative either) and that optional objectives are listed in blue (again, don't even know if optional objectives need to be listed, but not a negative).
You have to clear out the Lost (seems like a Kill All), rescue any tenants, and search boxes the Lost have brought with them. The tenants include an Outcast and an old lady you have to escort out named Old Lady Yan. She seems to know something, but doesn't tell you, saying she doesn't want to trouble you. One of the boxes contains a broken jar which contains paper pouches full of yellowish powder.
The map was short, so the kill all didn't bug me too much. Your contact tells you the powder is Yan's medicine and that she never talks about it or tells anyone what it is. He sends some off to the police to get checked out. It turns out the powder is a drug linked to the Tsoo and they were wrapped in packing slips from a closed down warehouse, leading you to the next mission.
You go to the warehouse to fight the Tsoo. You're told you have to defeat Stalking Tiger and clear out the loading docks. While fighting through, you come across Cloud Guardian, who inexplicably talks out loud about their plan. Defeating him gets you a clipboard with no usable information on it (it's wet and the ink's run).
After you take down Stalking Tiger, the warehouse leader, you learn that Ms. Yan is his grandmother and the drug is just an herbal pain killer that COULD be turned into Superadine. He also hints that there is something bigger going on, but doesn't tell you what.
You contact is baffled, because the Lost wouldn't be after just a painkiller. He eventually figures out they were after the paper it was wrapped in, because they attack the police lab it was sent to to get the paper. You're sent to the lab to stop them from making off with all of it.
Inside, you can rescue a Longbow Officer who seems to be listening to the Lost's propaganda. You free him and he runs off, saying some odd things. You free a technician and he tells you when he looked at the paper, he couldn't look away. You also find some of the paper and looking at it gives you a mental image of Steel Canyon around the lab and the idea that a manhole cover in the corner is important. You also free one of the PPD Psychics and he tells you that the paper can store psychic impressions on it like a recorder.
Your contact realizes that a bunch of the paper was donated to a youth hostel. Obviously, that's a bad thing. You discover a Troll was donating it, so you track him back to his hideout. Once you find him and save him from his fellow trolls (who don't like him for working for someone else), he tells you he delivered the paper on the request of Mr. Blaloch, the man who runs the youth hostel.
Your contact tells you the paper is coming from a warehouse in the Royal District (how he finds out isn't made clear that I could see). Inside, you find a box and opening it you find some paper, which gives you an image of Mr. Blaloch with a very sinister face superimposed over him.
When you find Blaloch, he attacks you with Mind Control powers. During the fight he spawns several waves of ambushes (or at least one large one), which I feel is a little much for a mission that caps at level 20. He speaks in partial Rikti speech and thanks you when you beat him, saying "it's finally gone now". In the clue you get, he tells you he doesn't remember anything happening, just going to sleep and then waking up fighting you.
With the mission finished, your contact tells you a psychic scan of him detected nothing that would have given him Mental powers. No split personality or anything. You're told that you'll be contacted by the PPD Psychic you met earlier with more information, but...
That's 5 missions and is thus the end of the arc.
So, while I really, really want to give this arc 5 stars, I can't because it ends without clearing up any of the mysteries. I feel like I've only played half the arc. And while I understand that, eventually, there might be a follow up made, currently, it doesn't seem to be there.
Which is a shame, because everything else around the arc was really good. The writing was all solid or better, the story followed a very logical progression, the characters all had personality. I was completely expecting to give it a 5 after the 2nd mission, but the lack of closure just derailed it.
If a follow up is put up, I could be ready to give it 5 stars (as long as the follow up was also just as good, as I'd really be rating them together). But until then, I can't go any higher.
[ QUOTE ]
Name: "Every Rose..."
Arc ID #: 17702
Forum Handle: Kitsune9tails
Level Range: 1-10 (Villainous)
[/ QUOTE ]
3 out of 5 stars
Run as a level 10 Necro/Pain MM...
Ok, I am already partial to this arc having done nothing else because of what it purports to be. You see, I can't stand Arachnos and the shoehorning of villains into working for Arachnos that the CoV plot is. I hated it the first time I realized it (about a week after CoV came out and I was level 15 or so with my main villain). I hated it even more when the Patron Powers were announced, because it essentially forced you to join up with Arachnos to get access to those powers.
When I heard about the Mission Architect, my first thoughts were "I can't WAIT for there to be a bunch of arcs where you're supposed to be working for/joining other villain groups in CoV." That's why I made the Council arcs you can see in my sig.
So getting an arc aimed at representing a new player joining the Circle is right up my alley. I should note that though it's advertised as being 1-10, most of the missions are good for XP into the mid-30s, though it mostly makes sense storywise to run as a lowbie.
However, the arc starts off with some problems. First of all, your contact says she doesn't sense your powers coming from the Blood of Atlantis. Firstly, I think she's referring to the Blood of Mu, in which case, it'd be better if she just used that. Second, I'm pretty sure CoX lore has pretty much most magic users descended from Mu or actually a CoT-inhabited body. And, of course, many RPers (supposedly the people who would be interested in this type of mission) may say they're from the Blood of Mu, so this could be a little weird.
But for now, it's not a big enough problem that it gets in my way. For your first task, you're sent to pick up an Ancient Tome from a warehouse. Nicely, the entry text talks about it being one of your first jobs since escaping the Zig, which ties in nicely to the theme of the arc.
You are mainly presented with crates that are destroyable objects, none of which contain the tome. But the actual crate is actually a collect object, which is a little bit... off, I think. It's a little odd having them be different.
Anyway, once you find the tome, an ambush of Tuatha spawns, which, let me say, are very difficult for a level 10 to handle. But since the mission is complete, you can easily get out now. The tome gives you a description clue, but the mission complete gives a copy of that same clue. One should be deleted.
With the tome in the hands of the Circle, they offer to cast a spell for you as a payment. It's assumed that the spell is a minor one that they can cast without actually mentioning what you ask for (which is a nice touch, though it does assume some things about the player). Unfortunately, to cast it, you need to retrieve some rare magic coral for them.
You go to a cargo ship which is mining the coral for Dr. Aeon. As might be guessed, some Coralax are wandering around, but they tend to be killed by the Security Guards before you really see them. There are also wandering Longbow, who are a little sturdier than the Coralax.
This mission also features the "fake objectives destroyable, real one collection" thing as the first mission, so I just skipped the destroyables and went right to the collect. Getting the coral spawns an ambush of Coralax, who got killed by Security, so I just went out. Once again, you get a double clue, though one is much longer than the other.
For the next mission, you need to go get the spell cast on you. The objectives of the mission are quite vague in the debriefing, so I have no idea what to expect going in. The contact warns that you might not immediately feel the effects of the spell (since you won't, actually, notice anything). You go into the mission and it appears to autocomplete, telling you the spell has been cast.
Ok then.
Your next mission is to kidnap people with the "Blood of Atlantis" (again, this should be the Blood of Mu) for the Thorns to inhabit. This mission briefing makes a number of errors with CoX canon, such as saying the "souls of ancient Atlantis" are held in the Thorn Tree and that plunging these into people with the Blood of Atlantis create new CoT. I'm not sure on the Thorn Tree thing (I don't remember if that is where the CoT souls are stored), but the CoT are not Atlantean, they're Oranbegan.
Anyway, you set up a "Family reunion" in the Rogue Isles and go to kidnap the people, but the Legacy Chain interrupts. The map is an outdoor CoH map, but it's implied you're still in the Isles as there are RIP wandering around. It would have been nice if this was a smaller map and used a CoV one, as it stands it's one of the more annoying outdoor CoH maps.
As it stands, there's 3 hostages to kidnap. Two are customs in the "All Custom Characters" group instead of in their own group. One is held by Family. The other is just standing around. The third is being "protected" by the Legacy Chain.
Anyway, that mission is a bit of a jumble. It's on an annoying map with an annoying mission type (the escort) and has 3 different enemy types that are a little random in their selection.
With that success, the contact offers to initiate you into the Circle of Thorns. Since they can't do it the "normal way" (by replacing your soul with one of the Thorns), something the contact seems disappointed with, they say they'll do it "another way".
This seems like a "bad idea", but I go through with it anyway. The contact goes a little... out of character (not breaking the 4th wall, just acting not like a Circle member) by mentioning big screens and DVDs. But whatever, odd little aside.
Inside, you have to meet with 3 CoT Masters, retrieve a thorn and cape from a chest, and then meet with your contact. The mission has hostile Legacy Chain and friendly CoT all through it. The CoT mages are hostages who just stand still when you free them and give you their blessing. When you meet with your contact, her speech is cut off midway through. She follows you as an ally, whose powers I couldn't divine, because most of the Chain were dead well before I got to them.
Anyway, with the ritual cast on you, surprisingly, nothing terrible happens. You're welcomed into the Circle and told to take advantage of Arachnos as much as you like.
In the end, while I appreciated the idea and totally wish there were more arcs where you are presented as working either as or to become a member of one of the various villain groups, I think this arc is fairly disappointing. It's disjointed and jumps from objective to objective. While, yes, you do have to prove yourself to the Thorns, I'd have liked a coherent story arc better than just doing a few tasks and them going "Welcome aboard!"
Plus, the misrepresentation of CoX Lore is big a failing. It also doesn't quite make sense to me that the Circle would be sharing its secrets so openly to someone who has yet to prove themselves.
There's also a few typos scattered around that hurt it as well.
If not for the fact that I like the concept and I want to see many more arcs with the same general theme of working to become a member of one of the myriad CoX villain groups, I'd probably have rated it a 2. I hope the author goes back and reworks the story into something that's more of a story, as I'd definitely rate it higher if it were better.
[ QUOTE ]
Arc Name: Dream Paper
Your contact tells you the paper is coming from a warehouse in the Royal District (how he finds out isn't made clear that I could see).
[/ QUOTE ]
Clarified that in the briefing - once the paperboy Troll was able to put ideas together he pointed out where he picked up the paper. He promised he'd do that after you saved him in the previous mission. Have restated that.
[ QUOTE ]
When you find Blaloch, he attacks you with Mind Control powers. During the fight he spawns several waves of ambushes (or at least one large one), which I feel is a little much for a mission that caps at level 20.
[/ QUOTE ]
Single medium ambush. But he does tend to spawn with his followers spread out and sprawled out, so if you just went for him directly you'd be getting a lot more Lost on you in a hurry.
[ QUOTE ]
He speaks in partial Rikti speech and thanks you when you beat him, saying "it's finally gone now". In the clue you get, he tells you he doesn't remember anything happening, just going to sleep and then waking up fighting you.
With the mission finished, your contact tells you a psychic scan of him detected nothing that would have given him Mental powers. No split personality or anything. You're told that you'll be contacted by the PPD Psychic you met earlier with more information, but...
That's 5 missions and is thus the end of the arc.
So, while I really, really want to give this arc 5 stars, I can't because it ends without clearing up any of the mysteries. I feel like I've only played half the arc. And while I understand that, eventually, there might be a follow up made, currently, it doesn't seem to be there.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, leave 'em wanting more, right?
Yeah, this is obviously a setup. I had part 2 (and 3!) going on Test, but I decided to change things up a little bit on live, get more variety out there. (Also there's this thing where even if you cap Lost at level 29 Rikti still show up, and if you make a custom group of just Lost without the random 5-30 spawners, half the map is empty when it spawns at 29. Gonna have to check up on those.)
[ QUOTE ]
Which is a shame, because everything else around the arc was really good. The writing was all solid or better, the story followed a very logical progression, the characters all had personality. I was completely expecting to give it a 5 after the 2nd mission, but the lack of closure just derailed it.
If a follow up is put up, I could be ready to give it 5 stars (as long as the follow up was also just as good, as I'd really be rating them together). But until then, I can't go any higher.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, if you're really curious, and you have someone on Champion, Triumph, or Protector, I can run you through parts 2 and 3 in test mode.
I have rearranged Alfonse's final sendoff and given him room to point out something - you did everything you set out to do. All that paper is off the streets and Mr. Blaloch is a bit stunned, but otherwise okay.
Yes, there's more to worry about now, but that's not your fault.
Also slightly closed off the previous two mysteries - the manhole in the vision in mission 3 now inexplicably feels like home (whoooooo lives in the sewers beneath Galaxy? LOSTBOB SQUAREHAT!) and there's an extra bit after you take out Stalking Tiger that should hint at what shenanigans the Tsoo are up to, and I mean that literally.
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)
I don't have characters on those servers. But I eagerly anticipate the other missions being put out. Here's hoping you get more slots to put them in with.
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I don't have characters on those servers. But I eagerly anticipate the other missions being put out. Here's hoping you get more slots to put them in with.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ah. How about Virtue? I think I have a couple over there in range as well.
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 ]
Name: "Every Rose..."
Arc ID #: 17702
Forum Handle: Kitsune9tails
Level Range: 1-10 (Villainous)
[/ QUOTE ]
Hey, that's me!
[ QUOTE ]
Ok, I am already partial to this arc having done nothing else because of what it purports to be. You see, I can't stand Arachnos and the shoehorning of villains into working for Arachnos that the CoV plot is.
[/ QUOTE ]
I totally agree, and your missions are on my list of missions to do for that very reason.
[ QUOTE ]
However, the arc starts off with some problems. First of all, your contact says she doesn't sense your powers coming from the Blood of Atlantis. Firstly, I think she's referring to the Blood of Mu, in which case, it'd be better if she just used that. Second, I'm pretty sure CoX lore has pretty much most magic users descended from Mu or actually a CoT-inhabited body. And, of course, many RPers (supposedly the people who would be interested in this type of mission) may say they're from the Blood of Mu, so this could be a little weird.
[/ QUOTE ]
Admitted. I should just use Mu and Oranbega, although I thought they were both associated with Atlantis. I figured that the Circle would be using the 'standard method' to recruit the player if they could sense that their magical blood was of the proper type, so the assumption is that whether or not you qualify, the Contact can't sense that for some reason. Since you never know if a player has that in their backstory or not, you kind of have to assume it.
[ QUOTE ]
You are mainly presented with crates that are destroyable objects, none of which contain the tome. But the actual crate is actually a collect object, which is a little bit... off, I think. It's a little odd having them be different.
[/ QUOTE ]
This is something I thought I'd try to help the player. Only one crate makes the 'glowy hum' and can't be targeted, making it a little easier to find among other crates.
[ QUOTE ]
This mission also features the "fake objectives destroyable, real one collection" thing as the first mission, so I just skipped the destroyables and went right to the collect.
[/ QUOTE ]
See? 
[ QUOTE ]
For the next mission, you need to go get the spell cast on you. The objectives of the mission are quite vague in the debriefing, so I have no idea what to expect going in. The contact warns that you might not immediately feel the effects of the spell (since you won't, actually, notice anything). You go into the mission and it appears to autocomplete, telling you the spell has been cast.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's a bug. I have since altered the mission to work around that.
[ QUOTE ]
It would have been nice if this was a smaller map and used a CoV one, as it stands it's one of the more annoying outdoor CoH maps.
[/ QUOTE ]
Noted and will be changed It was chosen for the carnie tents, but someone suggested setting it in an apartment building and I'll try to find a map that fits that.
[ QUOTE ]
Anyway, that mission is a bit of a jumble. It's on an annoying map with an annoying mission type (the escort) and has 3 different enemy types that are a little random in their selection.
[/ QUOTE ]
Not random; the Chain are there to protect the hostages, the RIP are ther because they are the local police, and the Family is all over the isles ...and is there for the pun.
[ QUOTE ]
The contact goes a little... out of character (not breaking the 4th wall, just acting not like a Circle member) by mentioning big screens and DVDs. But whatever, odd little aside.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, they have to do something for fun when they aren't out stabbing people with thorns. Seriously, though... I like the idea that many of these villains have relatively normal lives when they aren't out actively villaining. Villains are people too! Except when they aren't of course...
[ QUOTE ]
When you meet with your contact, her speech is cut off midway through.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'll double check that.
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While, yes, you do have to prove yourself to the Thorns, I'd have liked a coherent story arc better than just doing a few tasks and them going "Welcome aboard!"
[/ QUOTE ]
Fair enough. I think I'll just gently disagree on this point, though. If joining the Circle required some big specific plot, they wouldn't have level 1 members! But I will consider it.
[ QUOTE ]
Plus, the misrepresentation of CoX Lore is big a failing. It also doesn't quite make sense to me that the Circle would be sharing its secrets so openly to someone who has yet to prove themselves.
[/ QUOTE ]
I will reread my lore and try to tighten that up. And I figured that the CoT had to be a little forthcoming, or the PC would not realistically join them. But it's a very interesting and discussable point.
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I hope the author goes back and reworks the story into something that's more of a story, as I'd definitely rate it higher if it were better.
[/ QUOTE ]
I was specifically aping the style of early CoH arcs, where you are working for ELITE or whoever and it isn't a cohesive story but more of a tutorial. I have a new arc coming up that should be more of a cohesive story.
Hopefully, with fewer typos.
Thanks a lot for the review and the rating. I will definitely rework the arc a bit and I hope you like it more later!
Story Arcs I created:
Every Rose: (#17702) Villainous vs Legacy Chain. Forget Arachnos, join the CoT!
Cosplay Madness!: (#3643) Neutral vs Custom Foes. Heroes at a pop culture convention!
Kiss Hello Goodbye: (#156389) Heroic vs Custom Foes. Film Noir/Hardboiled detective adventure!
[ QUOTE ]
I would like to toss in "Brass Reaver" part 1 and 2 (16952 & 59456) for review.
handle: @turbo-ski
prefer lvl: 40-50
[/ QUOTE ]
3 out of 5 stars.
I ran part 1 of this. I did it on my BS/SR scrapper.
You meet up with you contact, a security advisor for the US Military who is following a villain named Project Reaver. Reaver was the only success in a government program to create the perfect assassin that, predictably, went rogue. He's currently the bodyguard and accomplice of someone named "Sarix Morrison".
One of their crimes is happening right now in Portal Corp and you're asked to go stop Reaver and find out why they're attacking. Inside, you find Nemesis, and the entry text says something along the lines of "Why would Reaver be working with Nemesis?" which, uh... I don't know. I don't know who Reaver is or what he acts like, so this question (presented as being made by my character) seems totally out of left field.
Anyway, you eventually find "Fake Reaver", an EM/Inv EB. His description says he looks overly metallic and his dialogue quite clearly spells out that he's a Nemesis Automaton. He wasn't a difficult fight, but because I was a Lethal damage character, it took a long time to chew through his HP and resists.
The clue is a glowie Rikti computer, which is oddly out of place. The clue provides no actual clue and your contact doesn't acknowledge it when you talk to him, he merely focuses on the Fake Reaver.
You're next sent to Brickstown, the last known location of Sarix, and told to try and "form an alliance" with the two villains, presumably to discover what Nemesis is up to. When you get in to the mission, the popup says Nemesis has already arrived and you hope you're not too late to stop the "Hivemind" plot, which I assume would be the plot the clue from the last mish would have told you.
Early in, you find Sarix, a DM/FA AV. The Nemesis soldiers surrounding her mention them being invited to Nemesis's palace and say that Reaver has already received his "gift". The clue in the mission is another Rikti computer which once again gives no actual clue.
You fight Project Reaver, a Energy Assault/Willpower AV, who would up being easier to kill than the Fake Reaver for me, as he was lowered to an EB because of my difficulty. During the fight, he is clearly brainwashed by Nemesis and claims that Nemesis has "taken away the pain". After the mission, the exit pop up tells me Sarix took him away and gave you her phone number in case you needed her.
Now, I'm not really quite sure why I let them just walk off. It seems like I should have probably tried to question them, or capture them since they're villains, or SOMETHING... They are supervillains and I originally was going after them anyway.
However, it appears they willingly went to someone the contact knows, as he mentions needing to get a powerful psychic to break Reaver of his Nemesis brainwashing. You're told that a psychic named Mental Scale (neither a hero nor a villain, we're told) can do it and he was last seen working with a Russian villain named Red Kite. Scale has been seen breaking up Carnie raves (even though I don't associate Carnies with raves, more with decadent parties) and that Kite was recently spotted entering just one such rave.
You're sent to go get Mental Scale to help you, though I don't honestly understand why you couldn't go to, say, Sister Psyche or someone similar for help. Maybe if the contact made some mention about how you're working with two dangerous villains so you don't want to have to get a favor from a superhero for fear the villains will object. But it's not.
Anyway, you go in and find out immediately it's a Defeat All (ugh!). You save Red Kite and she says something to the effect of "Let's go help Mental Scale". She's a Fire/Thermal AV. She also makes a lot of "I'm having a snack" jokes, which I assume is supposed to be a HILARIOUS character quirk, but which isn't really actually funny. I free Scale, who is a Mental Blast/?? AV. Once you finish clearing the mission, he agrees to go look at Reaver.
Scale says you need to enter Reaver's mind to clear it of the Nemesis influence. You quickly find Mental Scale inside and are fighting Shadow Shard Reflections, explained as "reflections of all Reaver has killed."
You come across Nightstep, a "fragment of Reaver's former self", a Katana/SR AV and free him. He says the Hive Mind is trying to destroy the Lady and release Reaver. You also free the Ancient, another fragment of Reaver, surrounded by Void Seekers. He too mentions the Hive Mind and the Lady. He is an Electric Assault/Electric Armor AV.
You free the Lady, who is just a regular hostage and not an ally. Her dialogue implies she's someone who once died and turned Reaver's former self into Nightstep. She says you should leave before he turns into Reaver again.
You fight the Hive Mind, which is just the Nemesis AV renamed. He talks about a "Nemesis Sol" and says he conquered the Rikti and that a large number of Fake Reavers were about to be released on Paragon City. He also mentions something about Sol claiming the power of the Ancient Ones.
You also find the Database (another Rikti computer glowie) that finally gives a real clue, saying it's the coordinates of the Fake Reaver factory. Your contact sends you to the factory to stop them.
The next mission is another Defeat All and there are apparently 4 Fake Reaver EBs scattered throughout the mission that need to be beaten too, as well as 8 Reaver Generators. Luckily, you get the real Reaver and Sarix to help you out. Although it seems like Sarix was accidentally set to not attack, as she never does and is ignored by the enemies.
You also find a clue in the mission (another Rikti computer) that gives you the "Nemesis Retreat Plan" which says "In the event of Nemesis Plot failure, claim it was all part of the plot to start with" which is pretty amusing, and then says to retreat to an alternate dimension and hook up with Nemesis Sol.
Anyway, once you finish all the objectives, you go back to your contact and he says the Reaver's gone missing (presumably after Nemesis Sol) and says to come back in a few days for the next stage of the arc.
Ok, now, this arc does one thing fairly well. It's a good example of how to make a multi-part arc and keep it self contained. The story is a complete story from beginning to end, revolving around the Fake Reavers and stopping them. The unresolved ending with Nemesis Sol, wasn't the main part of the arc and it's fairly explicit that the second part of the arc will deal with that. So it's not like you're left going "Where's the resolution!" That's good.
However, the rest of the arc is a bit... well, uninspiring. The story is solid enough, with Nemesis making robotic versions of Reaver and trying to subvert Reaver to his own will. The problems are numerous. For one, the custom characters are boring, with none having particularly interesting costumes (aside from the Ancient, who looked pretty darn cool with the Reflections effect on him), none having any interesting personalities (Sarix and Reaver, for getting so much screen time, are particularly flat and display little personality), and virtually no dialogue from them.
Second, the three Defeat Alls is tedious and tiring. Especially when you have to fight the Fake Reavers, who are very annoying to fight as they just take forever to chew through.
Third, the lack of clues or storyline hints compounds the boringness of the arc. There's very little progression with the story. Your contact even seems bored with everything, sometimes barely saying anything beyond "Go there and do this" and "Good luck".
Fourth, there is a lot of custom characters that are used just to be used, I think. Mental Scale and Red Kite, for example. The arc would progress along fine without them even being there. They might be the author's characters or the author's friends (in fact, I figure Sarix and the Reaver are too), though I wouldn't really call them Mary Sues or anything just because they are too... well, boring, to overwhelm the arc.
So, while there are a couple of decent points to the arc, it suffers overall from a lack of oomph. It's a Plain Jane of an arc. Sure, you don't really regret playing it, but there's nothing that makes you want to play it again.
First off thanks for the feedback.
- I did write in clues for the first few missions but apparently those got zapped or deleted when this went from Test to Live somehow and I never picked up on it. I'll be sure to write them back in next time I'm online. One of the problems with MA though is that clues don't get much text space, which means I have to fill it most of this stuff with the contact instead of clues.
- The whole mission with Mental Scale serves two purposes, it introduces Mental Scale who's existence has a major plot point in arc two and is a device to enter Reaver's head in the 4th mission.
- The 2 Defeat Alls are there because it wouldn't make much thematic sense for those situations to not be Defeat Alls. First one is forming an alliance with a guy that is determined to destroy all the carnies there for abusing mental powers, not the type of person to leave the job unfinished or let someone force him to leave the job unfinished. Second is destroying a Fake Reaver factory which implies destroying all the robots and staff as well.
- Sarix is supposed to be set to aggresive, but I've noticed that the melee type NPC allies can sometimes go completely passive despite being on aggresive mode. This frequently happened with the Twlight Champions in Part 2 when I was testing that, I'm going to assume this is probably what happened here as well.
- Odd that you thought the costumes were lame, most of my good feedback has been that the costumes looked awesome.
- Keep in mind this is a Neutral arc, not a heroic setting. The contact is mainly only concerned because Reaver being around keeps him employed, whether he ever gets caught or not.
- The Fake Reavers minion-Lt.-boss types are light Invul and tend to do very quickly on my ice/cold. The only ones that should be taking a longer time are the EB types that have all of the set.
Please add me to the cue.
Arc Name: Bugs and Robots, ma'am, bugs and robots
Arc ID:53433
Faction: Heroic
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Nod
Difficulty Level: Above average (custom enemy faction, custom AV)
Synopsis: A new villain group infests Paragon City. It's up to you to find out why and stop them!
Estimated Time to Play: 30-60 minutes
I've run it solo with many ATs and level ranges, and have had teams of up to 5 people run through it.
[ QUOTE ]
- I did write in clues for the first few missions but apparently those got zapped or deleted when this went from Test to Live somehow and I never picked up on it. I'll be sure to write them back in next time I'm online.
[/ QUOTE ]
Great. That would have helped immensely, I think.
[ QUOTE ]
- The whole mission with Mental Scale serves two purposes, it introduces Mental Scale who's existence has a major plot point in arc two and is a device to enter Reaver's head in the 4th mission.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's understandable, but it would help to have a better reason for going after him than "he'll be important later." Otherwise, it shoehorns you into hiring him when really anyone would do, just because later he'll be vital to the story (something neither the contact nor the player would have any idea about).
Giving some reason that he specifically was sought after would help. It could be as simple as "he owes Reaver a favor" or as complex as "Since we're dealing with villains, we can't get a hero to help, and there's no way I'm letting another villain mess around in his brain. But there's this guy Mental Scale who I think we can use" and then explain why.
[ QUOTE ]
The 2 Defeat Alls are there because it wouldn't make much thematic sense for those situations to not be Defeat Alls. First one is forming an alliance with a guy that is determined to destroy all the carnies there for abusing mental powers, not the type of person to leave the job unfinished or let someone force him to leave the job unfinished. Second is destroying a Fake Reaver factory which implies destroying all the robots and staff as well.
[/ QUOTE ]
I seem to recall 3 Defeat Alls. The first mission, where you stop the Nemesis break in at Portal Corp, the third mission where you grab Mental Scale, and the final one. For stopping break ins, I normally say "Defeat the Raid Leader" is more than enough fictional justification for why they stop robbing the place. Their boss just got taken out and the rest scatter.
I can understand the wiping out the Carnies with Mental Scale part. That one works storyline wise, though again I think you could have just replaced it with "Take out the Boss" to ingratiate him to you.
And on the factory one, I don't see why taking out the 4 EBs and Nemesis AND the Reaver Generators isn't enough to consider the factory "shut down". I'm not sure why I need to take out the dumb grunt sitting over in every corner. It's not like if I leave him there, he's going to be able to rebuild everything by himself.
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- Sarix is supposed to be set to aggresive, but I've noticed that the melee type NPC allies can sometimes go completely passive despite being on aggresive mode.
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It's possible. Usually when melee characters don't attack it's because they're just slightly outside of the range of attacking. This happened with Sarix on the second mission, when she stopped attacking the Fake Reaver. But I just moved a little, got the Fake closer to her, and she started wailing on him. Never happened in the final mission.
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- Odd that you thought the costumes were lame, most of my good feedback has been that the costumes looked awesome.
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Different tastes, perhaps. But to me, Reaver looked like just an amalgam of different tech and magic/monster parts that didn't seem to fit any unified theme. Mental Scale had scales on his face and wore a karate gi. I can barely remember what Sarix wore (much of it was obscured by the fire armor anyway) and I can't remember anything about Red Kite's costume.
The Fake Reaver Lts and Minions did look nice, though.
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- Keep in mind this is a Neutral arc, not a heroic setting. The contact is mainly only concerned because Reaver being around keeps him employed, whether he ever gets caught or not.
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Well, that's a problem. The only way the player can know how much of a threat or how important a problem is comes through the contact, especially in MA. If the contact doesn't seem to give a damn about what's going on, it'll be hard for the player to muster up enthusiasm either.
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The Fake Reavers minion-Lt.-boss types are light Invul and tend to do very quickly on my ice/cold. The only ones that should be taking a longer time are the EB types that have all of the set.
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I did mean the EBs, yes. The other ones weren't a problem in the slightest. But giving EBs defensive sets, especially Invul which gives it insanely high Smashing/Lethal resists (or Regen or Willpower, which make them nigh impossible to kill), you can run into some "Wow, it's just taking forever to kill this guy" issues. It wouldn't be so bad if it was a one-time thing, but you gotta fight 5 of them in the arc, and by the third one I was like "Enough already".
He's one of mine.
Author: Eryrex
ID: 62774
Title: A Dinosaur Dilemma
Level Range: 40-50
Number of Missions: 3
Subject: A villain is willing to give Longbow information on Arachnos in exchange for a favor from the heroes of Paragon.