I needed something to lift my spirits, so I picked...
Arc: The Invasion of the Bikini-Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space!
Arc ID: 61013
Author: @Aliana Blue
Number of Missions: 3
Description: This is my attempt at a humorous arc, with some over-the-top Crazy Awesome stuff and not-so-subtle references to the work of Ed Wood (heck, he IS the contact!). Levels 2-25, and not particularly difficult although it can get a bit hairy in a couple of spots of the second mission.
Rating: *****
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Character used: Zetsumei Mitsukai, Level 50 Dual Blades/Dark Armor Scrapper
Difficulty: Tenacious (Diff 2)
Level for Arc Playthrough: 25
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Mission 1:
I meet up with Mr. Edward Wood, who tells me that I am needed to save the Universe or such and that my first task is to clear out a warehouse full of mutants. Oddly, he also asked if I needed any makeup. Well Zetsu is already white as bone and likes it that way so I said no and went on my way.
Dressed in her best leather jacket and miniskirt combo, Zetsu cleaned out a warehouse full of Lost and disarmed a bomb. Along the way she met a Vampire Worshipper and a few ambushes who seemed to be confused as to what to say. Something about missed cues and rehersals.
Oh and the bomb, or the M-Bomb as it called itself, talks. Mr. Wood informed me that it was a mutagenic bomb, and that everyone without a hundred mile radius could be infected by the mutagen, except for me of course. I have plot armor!
Mission 2:
The M-Bomb blast has created atomic supermutants and this obviously means aliens are plotting against the Earth. Now I have to track down the only man mad and capable enough to make such a thing using extraterrestrial technology, Dr. Goesoff!
(Oooh, the Doc Vahz lair map. I always liked this one.)
Within Goesoff's lair I found zombies and ran into some Samurai Vampiresses, including Miela the Seductress. I discover after fighting her that the Samurai Vampiresses intend to use Goesoff's atomic superscience to conquer the Universe!
I arrived just in time to see another Vamp lose a fight to a couple of Circle of Thorns minions. After dispatching them I located Dr. Goesoff's notes and and found a pretty flashy device that does nothing. Along the way I also picked up Goesoff's assistant Lobo, who has decided to turn on his master.
To my horror, Dr. Goesoff had been experimenting on himself and also had atomic superpowers of his own!
(Also had an inventive mid-boss-fight ambush, never seen anyone use Hydra tentacles so amusingly before.)
Unfortunately, the Vamps have the atomic superscience now!
Mission 3:
Edward Wood informs me that he has been for years working to expose the plans of these aliens. He has foiled 8 plans before they could be noticed by the public, with Plan 9 barely being stopped in time. Now here comes Plan 10 and only I can stop it!
I entered a high-tech lab full of Vamps and was pleasantly surprised to come across Edward Wood, who had come to help me along with some zombies of his own! Together we defeated Matriarch Melinda and stopped Plan 10!
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The Verdict:
I know this sort of humor won't work for everyone, but I know that I had a lot of fun in this arc. It really caught the spirit of Ed Wood while giving the fun twist that these aliens were real all along and he was making movies to alert the public to their presence and scare the aliens into changing their plans. The dialog was top-notch and hilarious when combined with the various sight gags that appear within the arc. 5-stars!
Favorite Dialog:
Mutate Slicer: Protect the bomb! I..Um... (Frank, you were right, it wasn't our cue.) *Ahem* Protect the boss!
Tentacle: Okay Frank, there were no Tentacle props available, but this ain't gonna... Oh bugger, that's our cue. *Ahem* GRAAAAAR! I'M A GIANT OCTOPUS TENTACLE!
Wolf Spider Assault (1): Where did these... These things come from? (referring to Samurai Vampiresses)
Wolf Spider Assault (2): I have no idea, but can I keep one?
Matriarch Melinda: Now my dearies, do not worry, I have studied this matter thoroughly. The less a female is wearing, the more likely it is she will come out unharmed.
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Now you did put 2 arcs up for me to review, but only played one of mine. If you want the other arc reviewed, just play whichever of my arcs you haven't played yet and leave me feedback. Then I'll be happy to put your second arc back in the queue.
I so have to play that arc. 
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed it, it's the first arc I publish that gets more than a few plays, and feedback seems to be positive
[ QUOTE ]
Now you did put 2 arcs up for me to review, but only played one of mine. If you want the other arc reviewed, just play whichever of my arcs you haven't played yet and leave me feedback. Then I'll be happy to put your second arc back in the queue.
[/ QUOTE ]
Oh sure! I wasn't trying to get "2 for 1" so to speak, it was mostly that, as you said, this kind of humor isn't for everyone, so I threw the second as a backup in case you read the intro and thought "I'm so not playing that [censored]"
I think the MacGuffin does sound interesting, I'll give it a try later today 
Players' Choice Awards: Best Dual-Origin Level Range Arc!
It's a new era, the era of the Mission Architect. Can you save the Universe from...
The Invasion of the Bikini-clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space? - Arc ID 61013
Arc: The Descender
Arc ID: 33034
Author: @MrSquid
Number of Missions: 5
Description: Deep beneath the sea, a race more ancient then the dinosaurs has lurked for eons. Now, enslave this race, and use its power to rule both land and sea.
Rating: ****
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Character used: Vikki Vandale, Level 50 War Mace/Willpower Brute
Difficulty: Tenacious (Diff 2)
Level for Arc Playthrough: 31
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Right off the bat I see a couple things that are wrong. First, it should be "more ancient than the dinosaurs" in the description. Secondly, purple text is very hard to read, especially in the MA room.
Mission 1:
Now comes the next issue. Captain Mako is the contact and refers to the end results of his second patron arc where you don't give him the power of the Leviathan after he tries to kill you for it. Question is, why is he asking a level 31 villain for help when this battle was with a level 40+ villain?
So he decided to destroy the leviathan since he cannot use it and sent a strike force to do so, level 31 strike force I'm assuming. He wants me to find out why it hasn't reported back.
And so we begin.
First thing that is unusual are these Virtea I run into. I'm curious as to where in the lore this name comes from as so far I have seen them pop up in 2 Corolax arcs now but look utterly different. These are pretty reptilian looking.
I came across a battle of Virtea vs Arachnos with Coralax nearby. During this I saw a common bug where the Coralax joined the battle but attacked both groups. Not much the author can do about that issue right now.
In my search for the leader of Strike Force Tsunami (which was called Task Force Tsunami in the clue) I took the north tunnel of the Leviathan map and found a pile of bones. These turned out to belong to the guy I was looking for and the mission ended.
Good thing I continued to the end of the tunnel or I would have missed some of the cooler looking Virtea, who for some reason do not spawn in the tunnels at all. I was starting to think that this group was pretty monotonous. To be honest though, those ears on the Virtea Mantas look pretty silly.
Mission 2:
Upon my return Mako informed me that he had heard of the Virtea but had never seen them before. He decides to have me do a little research and steal a book called "The Tome of the Abyss" from the Circle of Thorns.
Pet peeve here, you say in the blurb that I hate this city. How do you know that I, the player, hates Oranbega? It's not good to define my character's opinions for them.
That aside. I went on the glowy hunt and found the book in the first room. However, the clue annoys me. First, it names the book "The Tome of the Depths", so the name need to be fixed. Secondly, it just says "Maybe it would be best not to tell Mako about this one..." but doesn't tell me WHY.
So I come to the second room and find the Circle ready to burn their library down. Since when do they do that anyway? Also if the bookcases are not under attack or marked as required, then why bother to defend them?
Interestingly the Tome Keeper is a Behemoth instead of a Mage. I beat him up and now I get the clue that I should have gotten when I first found the book. Really the mission should have ended right then and there when I got it and read the book.
Anyway, it's a prophecy about how the hound of the spider king will send his minion to ensure the destruction of the sleeper but said minion will rebuke the orders and cause the return of the Vitrea. Yeah, it's about me, I get it.
Mission 3:
Interestingly, the Circle did burn down the Library and now Mako is busy doing research on his own, so I'm going to go take another look at the Leviathan cave myself.
Kudos on having a mission that is self-motivated rather than tossing me the idiot ball. So I go to check out this prophecy on my own and find that the Virtea are now friendly to me and that I have to save three of their chieftains.
Well checking out the south path was a waste of time. All three of the chieftains were in the north path. Redjac and Blackfin filled me in on the history of the Virtea through clues, but Whitefang told me nothing.
Ah poor Calystix, he's already a pushover for Vikki and this time she has 3 boss-class allies behind her? This will be over quickly.
Upon stomping Calystix, Barracuda arrived and was kind enough to spawn in this same cave, although deeper inside the it than Calystix was. Can't control the placements that well so no big deal.
Gave 'Cuda the royal beatdown while she rambled about the Circle having another copy of that prophecy and that awakening the Leviathan will destroy mankind and such. What bothered me here is that in her plea she assumes that I am human.
Upon my return Mako informs me that I had actually killed 'Cuda and that he has no idea that I caused the awakening of the Leviathan. Oddly he tells me to flee the Rogue Isles, which seems quite out of character. Especially as Arachnos is trying to figure out what to do and probably needs all the help they can get.
Mission 4:
Now I am informed that St. Martial has been destroyed by the Leviathan. Funny, I thought Sharkhead Island would be first since that is where it is entombed.
Welcome to the ruins of St. Martial, looks a lot like a flooded boomtown but regardless it's time to join the Virtea in some good ol' genocide against the Coralax.
This mission does combine two of my biggest annoyances with outdoor maps, boss and hostage/ally hunts. Fortunately, my jumping around searching for them triggered some of the Virtea to kill 2 of the Shapers for me, since I never saw them. I also stumbled upon the Virtea Khan but left him in the bust to find the third shaper and end this annoying mission.
I finally found the last Shaper and killed him. I noticed that they all still had the default description calling each of them Calystix.
Umm, and apparently I have been given the Blood of the Leviathan now, which I injected into myself without thought and have become immortal and apparently a demigod for the Virtea.
Mission 5:
Now I'm going to destroy Arachnos by using some magical "Abyss Wells" to summon each of their leaders and slay them in turn. At least that's the plan I'm given. Upon entering the mission I find that I'm suddenly level 50 again.
I have some backup from the Virtea Khan and some Great Whites. I come to the first abyss well and summon Black Scorpion...to somewhere. I have no idea where he is supposed to appear.
I figure out they're all going to spawn at the end and just go and click all the glowies and run to the end. The Khan got stuck in the floor somewhere but I didn't bother to try to get him out. Anyway, the leaders of Arachnos were pretty much pushovers with the three Great Whites backing up.
The End.
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The Verdict:
I'm sure that you could see how my ethusiasm was dropping as the arc went on. I went in rather knowing I was probably not going to like it as I could see that it was going to take me way out of character. None of my villains are really the world-conquering type and none would go about exterminating entire species. I'm sure someone else will enjoy it, but I didn't. Anyhow, I'm going to rate this arc based on its design mostly anyways.
I can't find much wrong with the story really, aside from my comments above about certain parts that I didn't care for, but those were my opinions anyways. I do wonder why Mako would suddenly act concerned and tell me to go save myself from the Leviathan, that was very out of character for him.
The missions are not bad, just that they had things that I don't care for. Some of the big maps are unavoidable as there are no smaller versions, but the big flooded boomtown map was a poor stand-in for St. Martial and was annoying as it is a very big place to be finding 3 Elite Bosses and 1 Ally. The fight in the last room against the Arachnos leaders was much too easy for me as well. At least they did have good dialog that fit their characters.
Even though I didn't enjoy it much, I acknowledge that it just simply was not for me. I give it 4-stars, from a basis of 3 plus 1 for the sheer ambition of the project.
==================
I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get any new review requests today after the dozen I got yesterday. I guess I'll be doing some more random ones soon. A few submitters still owe me feedback as well before they can get in the queue.
Arc: Heroic Rescue (Extended Version)
Arc ID: 1501
Author: @Robzilla
Number of Missions: 3
Description: You commit a random act of Heroism (being a hero, that is generally what you do. . .) that leads to something more. . . .
Contact is a nearby radio where you learn of a building fire (not the Hellions this time!) with several people still trapped inside. Catch? oh yeah, this building has toxic chemicals stored inside of it. . .
Spoilers. . naw . . .mission arc progresses from there.
All three missions are timed (reasonably timed based on solo testing at lvl 50). No AV fight. One EB end fight. Custom enemies in mission three. No defeat alls. Several Rescues (suprised?). Several clickies on an outdoor map mission two.
Suprise ending to mission 3.
I added rules for re-submitting an arc after changes have been made to address issues that led to a low rating. These rules are also in the first post for your reference.
If you didn't get a good rating, but made changes to address whatever flaws and problems I found in your arc and want to re-submit it for review, then you can just do so. Keep in mind re-reviews will have a lower priority than arcs that have not been reviewed yet. The re-review will be much shorter, most looking at the changes and fixes rather than a second comprehensive review. Upon review I will update my rating of the arc both in this thread and in the game.
Thanks for the nice well thought out review! Couple of things:
[ QUOTE ]
Right off the bat I see a couple things that are wrong. First, it should be "more ancient than the dinosaurs" in the description. Secondly, purple text is very hard to read, especially in the MA room.
Mission 1:
Now comes the next issue. Captain Mako is the contact and refers to the end results of his second patron arc where you don't give him the power of the Leviathan after he tries to kill you for it. Question is, why is he asking a level 31 villain for help when this battle was with a level 40+ villain?
[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks for pointing out the spelling error. Seeing as how I have written almost exclusively on computers for my entire life, I've come to rely on spell check as a crutch.
The issue of level ranges was something I grappled with the entire time I was designing the arc. I only originally planned to use the Coralax for two missions, but that would mean de-leveling the player with no real explanation. I then tried making a custom group of "Coralax Purebloods", so the player could stay level 50 through the entire arc, but they looked like absolute crap. I finally decided to cap the first four missions at 30-31, and bump up to 50 for the final one using the blood of the Leviathan as a justification for the level bump.
[ QUOTE ]
First thing that is unusual are these Virtea I run into. I'm curious as to where in the lore this name comes from as so far I have seen them pop up in 2 Corolax arcs now but look utterly different. These are pretty reptilian looking.
[/ QUOTE ]
The only place the Virtea are EVER mentioned is in this article on the COH main site. I think the reason you have seen two wildly different interpretations of them is because 1. We have pretty much no information on their appearance, and 2. We never actually see them, which invites players to use them as a jumping off point for a custom group. I tried to make them look pretty shark-like and I think I succeeded.
[ QUOTE ]
To be honest though, those ears on the Virtea Mantas look pretty silly.
[/ QUOTE ]
I was trying to replicate the little horn jobbers on a Manta Ray's head, and those ears were the best thing I could come up with. But yeah, they do look pretty silly. Ill see if there's some good horns I can swap them out with.
[ QUOTE ]
That aside. I went on the glowy hunt and found the book in the first room. However, the clue annoys me. First, it names the book "The Tome of the Depths", so the name need to be fixed. Secondly, it just says "Maybe it would be best not to tell Mako about this one..." but doesn't tell me WHY.
[/ QUOTE ]
The abyss/depths thing is my bad, just a lack of proofreading. As for not telling you WHY you decide to keep this from Mako, well, I wanted to put the full text of the prophecy in the clue itself, but couldn't fit it in 300 characters. So I moved it to the mission complete clue.
[ QUOTE ]
Anyway, it's a prophecy about how the hound of the spider king will send his minion to ensure the destruction of the sleeper but said minion will rebuke the orders and cause the return of the Vitrea. Yeah, it's about me, I get it.
[/ QUOTE ]
I tried not to beat you over the head with it. In an earlier version of the arc it was actually FAR more simplistic. What you saw was a second draft after I made it more mystical.
[ QUOTE ]
Well checking out the south path was a waste of time. All three of the chieftains were in the north path. Redjac and Blackfin filled me in on the history of the Virtea through clues, but Whitefang told me nothing.
[/ QUOTE ]
Really? All three are supposed to give clues. Hrm, going to have to double check that...
[ QUOTE ]
Upon my return Mako informs me that I had actually killed 'Cuda and that he has no idea that I caused the awakening of the Leviathan. Oddly he tells me to flee the Rogue Isles, which seems quite out of character. Especially as Arachnos is trying to figure out what to do and probably needs all the help they can get.
[/ QUOTE ]
Now that I think about it, it is pretty out of character. I'll try and change it to something more ruthless.
[ QUOTE ]
Now I am informed that St. Martial has been destroyed by the Leviathan. Funny, I thought Sharkhead Island would be first since that is where it is entombed.
[/ QUOTE ]
I picked St. Martial since I really wanted to use that map (mostly because I could put almost a hundred battles on it), and because of all the zones in CoV, St. Martial is the one that looks most like the destroyed city the map is based around.
[ QUOTE ]
I figure out they're all going to spawn at the end and just go and click all the glowies and run to the end. The Khan got stuck in the floor somewhere but I didn't bother to try to get him out. Anyway, the leaders of Arachnos were pretty much pushovers with the three Great Whites backing up.
[/ QUOTE ]
This was another design decision. You see, in my opinion, the most villainous feeling mission in the game is "Defeat Romulus the Warshade" from Psymon Omega. Right before this mission you get a void rifle to help during the fight. So you walk in, whip out your void rifle and force feed Romulus Nictus energy. It's not even fair. Every shot takes off about 1/5th of his health AND knocks him back, and by the time he gets back up, you shoot him again! This to me felt incredibly villainous since there was no sense of honor at all. You don't even try to be fair. So I tried to replicate this feeling with the Virtea bosses, and having them do most of the dirty work for you. It helped reinforce the image that they could easily help you take over the world I think. That being said, I think I may have overdone it. Giving you three bosses AND an elite boss is just overkill. I think ill tone it down to just the Khan.
So once again, thank you for the feedback. I will be sure to take it to heart, and make appropriate changes.
I would like a review if you would be so kind (good or bad is fine I USE all criticism!)
I will get on yours as soon as I get off of work so I'm not asking for a freebie!
I did a good (I think)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
Arc: A Warrior's Friend
Arc ID: 16689
Author: @Yumii
Number of Missions: 5
Alignment: Heroic
Description: Infernal requests your help in thwarting a Praetorian attack on Salamanca. When the reason is revealed you and Infernal must fight your way across Battle Maiden's homeworld of War Earth to stop a sinister plot from unfolding! [AV/EB at the end]
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It's essentially my attempt to expand the lore surrounding Battle Maiden and War Earth, since in the entire canon of CoH they get... what, 1 mission? If you've played that mission (Save the Warrior Village, Maria Jenkins arc) you may also recognize a couple tidbits I tossed in.
I re-vamped her enemy group, since they're Issue-1 old, back before weapon customization or shields; not to mention before a lot of the much better costume pieces like Roman and Valkyrie became available.
I didn't update Battle Maiden herself though, both for space reasons and because ultimately, I'd rather leave the character herself up to the devs to alter.
It's a long one though, just as an FYI; and the third mission is a bit long particularly (it's an outdoor map with 2 "Find Ally" bits - but they should be relatively easy to find, as should the destructables you need)
Obviously it's one of those "Only if you have the time" kind of things >.>
A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.
[ QUOTE ]
You see, in my opinion, the most villainous feeling mission in the game is "Defeat Romulus the Warshade" from Psymon Omega. Right before this mission you get a void rifle to help during the fight. So you walk in, whip out your void rifle and force feed Romulus Nictus energy. It's not even fair. Every shot takes off about 1/5th of his health AND knocks him back, and by the time he gets back up, you shoot him again! This to me felt incredibly villainous since there was no sense of honor at all. You don't even try to be fair.
[/ QUOTE ]
I haven't chosen Psymon Omega as a contact in a long time (I usually outlevel him) so I don't remember the Void Hunter rifle doing anything to him really. Nice to hear they eventually fixed that. I just stopped using it after the first couple shots and kept it as a souvenir anyways.
I'd like a review for my latest arc, The Knights of Rularuu.
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
Feedback thread here.
Issue 16 made me feel like this.
Warning: This poster likes to play Devil's Advocate.
It's time to review something that hasn't been requested, one of those little gems I've stumbled upon on my own. I present to you...
Arc: The Storyteller: Sabrina's Tale
Arc ID: 1237
Author: @Redbone1
Number of Missions: 4
Description: Reading a story is on thing, watching is another, but to relive it... That's something else entirely. The Storyteller invites you to live through one of his tales in which we see that sometimes, superpowers can't make the world right.
Rating: *****
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Character used: Anna Nethema, Level 50 Dark Melee/Fire Aura Brute
Difficulty: Tenacious (Diff 2)
Level for Arc Playthrough: 50
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Mission 1:
The contact is an elderly man, dressed in white with a long beard and glasses. The Storyteller is a keeper of tales from now and before and offers me a tale from the later. However, he does not simply tell you the story, he gives you the chance you live through it. He offers me the tale of Sabrina.
When the Storyteller was younger he knew a woman named Sabrina, a woman of beauty and grace but whom was pursued by more then mere men.
This story takes place before the Rikti, before the Council, before much of what we knew as evil today. It begins when Sabrina failed to arrive for a date with the Storyteller, and on his way to her home he heard her voice from inside an abandoned building...
That of course was a mere summary, the contact text is much more verbose than that. You'll have to play the arc for yourself to see it all. Now I begin the first mission, taking the place of the Storyteller.
I enter the abandoned office building and find it to be inhabited by spirits. Not very far inside I find Sabrina, being held captive by the spirits. They were not happy at all when I rescued her, and after leading her out Sabrina told me that something called the Finder of Souls was after her.
With Sabrina waiting outside the building, I searched it for the Finder of Souls and found it on the second floor. What it told me as it faded away upon defeat was disturbing: "She is ours. She was ours. She will be ours again."
Mission 2:
For some time Sabrina and the Storyteller were safe, but he could always see the spirits watching them from the shadows, out of the corner of his eye. He knew he had to learn more, to find out what the Finder of Souls meant, and there were two groups who could tell him. The first, the Midnighters, would not help him as he was not of their ranks. But the other group, whom you would not want to deal with, could be forced to tell him.
I stepped into the Storyteller's shoes and entered the halls of Oranbega. There I had to search their bookcases for information and question the Keeper of Knowledge. I fought through their halls and came to the library, where I fought the Keeper (an Archmage of Ruin) and found two books, "The Unliving" and "Dwellers of the Beyond".
After the battle was over, the Keeper told me about how there is much more than simply the Living and the Dead. There are in fact many places inbetween, and among them are those who could be living but are not due to chance, willing to do anything to escape that limbo. Such beings were described further in "The Unliving", but was more distressing was what I learned from "Dwellers of the Beyond". I learned that the Finder of Souls was harmless in itself, but once it found its target the Grim Reaper would soon follow.
Sabrina was one of the unliving, and whomever she had made a deal with to escape was coming to take payment.
Mission 3:
The spirits came to Sabrina's apartment and dragged her away. The Storyteller was able to get help from his friend in the Midnighters and divine her location, a disused warehouse inhabited by its own ghosts and now inhabited by a much more powerful spirit.
I entered the cold, dank warehouse and searched it from end to end, defeating every ghost until I came upon the Reaper who had taken Sabrina away.
The Reaper is a rather well designed Elite Boss in my opinion. Necro/Dark MM with a costume that fits his name to a T.
Regardless, I am too late to save Sabrina.
Mission 4:
Of course the Storyteller was not ready to give up just yet, even if he had already lost. He went to every seer, mystic, and fortune teller he could find, until one told him where he could find Sabrina one last time.
I entered the office building to find that a number of lost souls were being rounded up and forced into portals to the beyond. I freed these souls and sealed the portals, then found Sabrina, who had become the new Reaper as required payment for her time spent alive. There was no choice but to defeat her and send her away.
That is what the mystic who told him where to find her had meant by saying that "In order to win, he must be willing to lose."
================================
The Verdict:
This is definitely one of the best story-driven arcs I have played since the Mission Architect was added to the game. I am having trouble finding any flaws whatsover. The description lacks a warning about the two EBs within the arc, but that's not a problem with the arc itself. The story is well written and the idea that you are placed in the Storyteller's shoes to experience it yourself is rather creative. Now I don't know if he really had superpowers or if the big battles are just embellishment, but honestly I don't care to ponder that question at all. A well-deserved 5 stars.
So it's finally GlaziusF's turn. I took a glance over his three offerings to see what looked interesting.
I wanted to play Anna more today, so looked at The Bravuran Jobs, but noticed the wonky level ranges and decided to skip it. If there is a reason to be going from 30 to 54 between missions it better be a good one.
It then came down to Bricked Electronics and Dream Paper. I noticed that Dream Paper was at 44 reviews and still 5-starred, so it was tempting to go in and find any flaws that I could, but Bricked Electronics looked more interesting at the moment. Largely because it has Goldbrickers in it. I miss those guys.
Arc: Bricked Electronics
Arc ID: 2180
Author: @GlaziusF
Number of Missions: 5
Description: Mark Freeman finds a ghost in a machine. Follow it through the trash heaps of Skyway City to stop a grievous heist.
Rating: *****
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Character used: Anna Nethema, Level 50 Dark Melee/Fire Aura Brute
Difficulty: Tenacious (Diff 2)
Level for Arc Playthrough: 20
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Mission 1:
Hello Mark Freeman, just pretend I'm a Tanker instead of a Brute. So you can talk to machines? That's nice, and you found some sort of 'ghost' on this old cellphone that disturbs you and want me to go to the shop you got it from and ask around? Sure, why not?
Hmm, you probably meant to say "stashed among a bunch of little shops" rather than "smashed among".
So I enter the pawn shop to immediately run into some Goldbrickers. In Skyway City? Awesome. I take them all out, including their chatty leader Billmark and search the place for clues. Seems the shop owner didn't come in today, but I found his home address.
Something odd happened. The two crates in the back were listed as objectives, but the mission ended upon defeating all of the Goldbrickers instead. I think you need to take a look at this mission and see if some objectives are overriding each other.
Anyhow, Billmark had an old copy of the Rogue Island Protector that was all marked up, Mark is having it analyzed to find out if any of them is signifigant.
Mission 2:
I figured I'd be going to visit the shop owner next, but Mark talked to him for me and sends me over to the warehouse where the owner got the cellphone. The warehouse turns out to be infested with clockwork.
Of course I picked the character with no end drain protection. Oh well.
Seems the game heard me because every inspiration drop I got during this mission was a blue. However I noticed these Clocks were part of a group called Constructs, and soon ran into some very different robots. Nicely designed ones, somebody was having fun with the Cyborg Booster Pack.
However there are some bugs. While fighting one spawn a robot ran away through two other spawns, which proceeded to attack it. Next thing I new all three spawns were attacking each other instead of me, despite being of the same group.
I found the warehouse owner, J.J. Cartwright, who left peacefully after I smashed her robot guards. I found the two crates full of old cellphones as well.
Mission 3:
So Mark finds a few more phones in those crates that give off the ghost vibe and apparently JJ got them from a pile someone had dumped into a sinkhole somewhere. Since she's been wiping the memory of them all, I need to go and retrieve a more "fresh" specimen for Mark to look at.
The cave I arrive in is a Council base. Apparently that sinkhole is the airshaft and these Council guys are getting a bit annoyed at someone dropping crates full of trash down them. I locate the two crates and find the Archon. Upon defeating him however, he decided to release toxic gas and I have to search the place for the three canisters. That's rather annoying as I had just searched the whole map already and now have to do so again.
Fortunately all three canisters turn out to be in the nearby cistern room. With them all taken care of I can move on.
Mission 4:
Well of course since the phones I found have cameras, their previous owners couldn't resist using them. That means Mark was able to extract photos of the Goldbrickers and their hideout.
Oh, and JJ send me a little robot ally as well. I wonder how long he'll last being only a minion.
The answer is, quite a long time as long as the melee ally bug keeps him from attacking and grabbing aggro. However, he nearly died early on when a Bombadier hit him once for half of his health.
On the third floor I found a LT robot that JJ had sent as well. Sweet. By then I had also found both "laptops" (the desks have desktop computers on them however) and found some odd plan from the Goldbricker boss to re-elect the president. President of what?
Turns out it's a coded message, the kind Mark Freeman is not familiar with. Spy-speak.
Mission 5:
Finally a break, The Exchange Bank shut down its security systems for an inspection and the Goldbrickers made their move right then. They've tricked the staff into thinking that the bank is closed for repairs, leaving the place abandoned but the alarm guys showed up anyways and alerted the PPD.
And stupid JJ has gone off to play hero as well, so I have 10 minutes to rescue her before she gets caught in the crossfire. Here we go.
I find JJ in the lobby and free her, taking out all the Brickers and heading off to the vault. I didn't even notice she was suddenly a Bots/Kin Mastermind until she finished summoned and caught up, as I stop for nothing on timed missions. Got to the vault and finished the mission in 4 minutes flat.
And the revelation. There was a law that allowed the Banks to reclaim money in inactive accounts after a certain amount of time. This law had been suspended during the Rikti Was but was going to be reactivated soon, and the Goldbrickers were after a particular account that they didn't want to be claimed by the bank. The account likely belonged to King Midas himself.
================================
The Verdict:
This was more fun that your typical lowbie arc. It was nice seeing the Goldbrickers in a heroic arc, heck in any arc at all since I've not seen anyone else using them yet. I like seeing neglected groups showing up in MA arcs.
The gas canister part in mission 3 felt totally unnecessary, but not anything worth subtracting a star for. All other flaws were minor mistakes that can be fixed.
Well played, here's your 5-stars. Don't spend them all in the same place.
=============
That's two five-star reviews in a row again. People are gonna start thinking I'm easily pleased if this keeps up.
Well I'm on a roll today, so time to take Anna through...
Arc: Heroic Rescue (Extended Version)
Arc ID: 1501
Author: @Robzilla
Number of Missions: 3
Description: You commit a random act of Heroism (being a hero, that is generally what you do. . .) that leads to something more. . . .
Rating: ***
================================
Character used: Anna Nethema, Level 50 Dark Melee/Fire Aura Brute
Difficulty: Tenacious (Diff 2)
Level for Arc Playthrough: 50
================================
Not a very eye-catching title, to be honest. I also noticed that the 2nd mission drops me down to level 14 and wonder how that is going to be justified.
Mission 1:
I turn on the radio to hear a report on a building fire, with the addition that it is a chemical solvent manufacturer that is on fire. Luckily I'm nearby and can come to the rescue.
I have 10 minutes to enter the burning building and rescue four workers from...toxic waste canisters? I'm wondering how they all managed to get cornered by them, then oddly I got ambushed at the door by some canisters that moved towards me.
Inventive, anyway. I rescue all four workers with 5 minutes to spare and exit the burning building. The radio reports my success, yay!
Mission 2:
Now the radio reports a new development. Several chemical bombs have been set around Steel Canyon and only I can disarm them as the bombers have threatened to remotely detonate them if anyone else tries to. Apparently the fire was only to cover their theft. Hmmm...
Now I have 15 minutes, but have been dropped to level 14 for no apparent reason.
So I'm searching for the glowies, along the way I see some guy named Nuclear Archer taking shots at more toxic waste containers lying in the streets. Ok.
Oh great, some of these glowies are fakes as well.
So I found all the real bombs with 10 minutes to spare and moved on to find out now that the bomber is holding the radio station hostage.
Mission 3:
I have 30 minutes to rescue them all and thankfully am level 50 again. I get to the Radio Station and enter to see a group of Jester-themed villains.
I rescued the first two hostages and went up to the second floor. The third hostage was all bloodied up and mumbling about a trap. Regardless, time to find the boss, who calls himself The Imposter, and end this.
I find him around the corner and boy does he take a long time to kill. When you're on your own without allies, Willpower EBs are a PAIN. Not that he ever stood a chance at killing me, but he took nearly 10 minutes to kill, eating up a lot of time.
And what made that more annoying? After he drops he reveals that he is not even the real Imposter and that I have another bomb to stop somewhere in the building. I find the bomb, which was not really a bomb, and the mission ends.
I leave and talk to the radio to find that there is no ending. Is this arc even finished?
================================
The Verdict:
Well the first mission was pretty neat and inventive, after that it goes downhill. If you want to drop the max level of the player mid-arc, give a reason for it. Even if it's something like "the toxic fumes have made you weaker, it should wear off in 15 minutes" or something.
I don't know what to think really about the Imposter and his minions. What is the reason for the Jester theme and why is everyone Dual Blades/Willpower or Dual Blades/Devices? Why are the Devices ones semi-transparent? Do you know how annoying stacked Caltrops and Web Grenades are in a timed mission?
Is this arc even finished? It just drops dead after the third mission with no explanation. If you're planning to add more put in a disclaimer at the end.
I can't give it more than 3 stars in it's current state.
[ QUOTE ]
So it's finally GlaziusF's turn. I took a glance over his three offerings to see what looked interesting.
I wanted to play Anna more today, so looked at The Bravuran Jobs, but noticed the wonky level ranges and decided to skip it. If there is a reason to be going from 30 to 54 between missions it better be a good one.
[/ QUOTE ]
The reason is "I wanted to make something any villain could play and get XP for but Wyvern and Legacy Chain don't go that high".
[ QUOTE ]
It then came down to Bricked Electronics and Dream Paper. I noticed that Dream Paper was at 44 reviews and still 5-starred, so it was tempting to go in and find any flaws that I could, but Bricked Electronics looked more interesting at the moment. Largely because it has Goldbrickers in it. I miss those guys.
[/ QUOTE ]
Villainside has a lot of guys who show up in one storyarc and then vanish under the tide of Longbow. I like digging them up.
[ QUOTE ]
Hello Mark Freeman, just pretend I'm a Tanker instead of a Brute. So you can talk to machines? That's nice, and you found some sort of 'ghost' on this old cellphone that disturbs you and want me to go to the shop you got it from and ask around? Sure, why not?
Hmm, you probably meant to say "stashed among a bunch of little shops" rather than "smashed among".
[/ QUOTE ]
The impression I wanted to leave, whatever the size of the pawnshop map, is one of those stores you find in urban areas that's ten feet wide and 50 feet long.
[ QUOTE ]
So I enter the pawn shop to immediately run into some Goldbrickers. In Skyway City? Awesome. I take them all out, including their chatty leader Billmark and search the place for clues. Seems the shop owner didn't come in today, but I found his home address.
Something odd happened. The two crates in the back were listed as objectives, but the mission ended upon defeating all of the Goldbrickers instead. I think you need to take a look at this mission and see if some objectives are overriding each other.
[/ QUOTE ]
The crates at the back showed up in blue text. That means they're optional objectives. I should have put that in the opening accept text.
[ QUOTE ]
Mission 2:
I figured I'd be going to visit the shop owner next, but Mark talked to him for me and sends me over to the warehouse where the owner got the cellphone. The warehouse turns out to be infested with clockwork.
Of course I picked the character with no end drain protection. Oh well.
Seems the game heard me because every inspiration drop I got during this mission was a blue. However I noticed these Clocks were part of a group called Constructs, and soon ran into some very different robots. Nicely designed ones, somebody was having fun with the Cyborg Booster Pack.
However there are some bugs. While fighting one spawn a robot ran away through two other spawns, which proceeded to attack it. Next thing I new all three spawns were attacking each other instead of me, despite being of the same group.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I use a battle between the constructs and clockwork to lock the map. I think everything in a battle is considered rogue so it can damage other things... did the robot run into the middle of the battle?
[ QUOTE ]
The cave I arrive in is a Council base. Apparently that sinkhole is the airshaft and these Council guys are getting a bit annoyed at someone dropping crates full of trash down them. I locate the two crates and find the Archon. Upon defeating him however, he decided to release toxic gas and I have to search the place for the three canisters. That's rather annoying as I had just searched the whole map already and now have to do so again.
Fortunately all three canisters turn out to be in the nearby cistern room. With them all taken care of I can move on.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, all the gas should show up in the same place. Unfortunately because of the structure of the average Council base I can't guarantee you'll find the Archon before the room that should have gas in it.
[ QUOTE ]
By then I had also found both "laptops" (the desks have desktop computers on them however)
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah. I accidentally abandoned some changes instead of saving them and missed fixing the desks on the return pass. Good now.
[ QUOTE ]
I find JJ in the lobby and free her, taking out all the Brickers and heading off to the vault. I didn't even notice she was suddenly a Bots/Kin Mastermind until she finished summoned and caught up, as I stop for nothing on timed missions. Got to the vault and finished the mission in 4 minutes flat.
[/ QUOTE ]
Dang. Well, I'm not going to turn it down to 5, I want it to be realistically attainable but still pressure.
I can appreciate not wanting to stop to watch animations play, though.
[ QUOTE ]
And the revelation. There was a law that allowed the Banks to reclaim money in inactive accounts after a certain amount of time. This law had been suspended during the Rikti Was but was going to be reactivated soon, and the Goldbrickers were after a particular account that they didn't want to be claimed by the bank. The account likely belonged to King Midas himself.
================================
The Verdict:
This was more fun that your typical lowbie arc. It was nice seeing the Goldbrickers in a heroic arc, heck in any arc at all since I've not seen anyone else using them yet. I like seeing neglected groups showing up in MA arcs.
The gas canister part in mission 3 felt totally unnecessary, but not anything worth subtracting a star for. All other flaws were minor mistakes that can be fixed.
Well played, here's your 5-stars. Don't spend them all in the same place.
=============
That's two five-star reviews in a row again. People are gonna start thinking I'm easily pleased if this keeps up.
[/ QUOTE ]
The gas is there to show how much of a nutbar Targus was becoming and because of a little theme I don't see too often - when you're a hero you often just stop whatever crime you come across, and there's no reason that has to stop when you're running a mission arc. So you find yourself in a base with a paranoid Archon and a supply of nerve gas, and you take both of them out because that's just how heroes roll.
And villains pretending to be heroes.
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 ]
The crates at the back showed up in blue text. That means they're optional objectives. I should have put that in the opening accept text.
[/ QUOTE ]
Question: How do you get your non-required objectives to still show up in the objective window? I haven't been able to find any answer to that question. Not surprised since I see it appear so rarely.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The crates at the back showed up in blue text. That means they're optional objectives. I should have put that in the opening accept text.
[/ QUOTE ]
Question: How do you get your non-required objectives to still show up in the objective window? I haven't been able to find any answer to that question. Not surprised since I see it appear so rarely.
[/ QUOTE ]
You have to enter text for both plural and singular navtext, even if it's only one optional objective.
Players' Choice Awards: Best Dual-Origin Level Range Arc!
It's a new era, the era of the Mission Architect. Can you save the Universe from...
The Invasion of the Bikini-clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space? - Arc ID 61013
[ QUOTE ]
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[ QUOTE ]
The crates at the back showed up in blue text. That means they're optional objectives. I should have put that in the opening accept text.
[/ QUOTE ]
Question: How do you get your non-required objectives to still show up in the objective window? I haven't been able to find any answer to that question. Not surprised since I see it appear so rarely.
[/ QUOTE ]
You have to enter text for both plural and singular navtext, even if it's only one optional objective.
[/ QUOTE ]
So it's exploiting a bug? (At least I considered it a bug when I stumbled upon it during Beta.)
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
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[ QUOTE ]
The crates at the back showed up in blue text. That means they're optional objectives. I should have put that in the opening accept text.
[/ QUOTE ]
Question: How do you get your non-required objectives to still show up in the objective window? I haven't been able to find any answer to that question. Not surprised since I see it appear so rarely.
[/ QUOTE ]
You have to enter text for both plural and singular navtext, even if it's only one optional objective.
[/ QUOTE ]
So it's exploiting a bug? (At least I considered it a bug when I stumbled upon it during Beta.)
[/ QUOTE ]
Not really, the fact that it doesn't show up is more likely the bug. Pohsyb used it in his fire imp arc to show optional objectives in the bar, for example. Pretty sure they want us to be able to show the optional objectives in the bar, but it's not working too well.
Players' Choice Awards: Best Dual-Origin Level Range Arc!
It's a new era, the era of the Mission Architect. Can you save the Universe from...
The Invasion of the Bikini-clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space? - Arc ID 61013
Summary of Arcs Reviewed Thus Far
================================================== ===================
Arc ID - Title - Author - Rating
================================================== ===================
57352 - The All-Seeing Eye - @Steele Magnolia - 5 Stars
2595 - The Extadine Lab - @Vanden - 5 Stars
40783 - The Stream of Time - @Silent Spy - 2 Stars
11102 - Merulina Awakens! - @Neuronia - 3 Stars
33034 - The Descender - @MrSquid - 4 Stars
61013 - The Invasion of the Bikini-Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! - @Aliana Blue - 5 Stars
1237 - The Storyteller: Sabrina's Tale - @Redbone1 - 5 Stars
2180 - Bricked Electronics - @GlaziusF - 5 Stars
1501 - Heroic Rescue - @Robzilla - 3 Stars
[ QUOTE ]
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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The crates at the back showed up in blue text. That means they're optional objectives. I should have put that in the opening accept text.
[/ QUOTE ]
Question: How do you get your non-required objectives to still show up in the objective window? I haven't been able to find any answer to that question. Not surprised since I see it appear so rarely.
[/ QUOTE ]
You have to enter text for both plural and singular navtext, even if it's only one optional objective.
[/ QUOTE ]
So it's exploiting a bug? (At least I considered it a bug when I stumbled upon it during Beta.)
[/ QUOTE ]
Not really, the fact that it doesn't show up is more likely the bug. Pohsyb used it in his fire imp arc to show optional objectives in the bar, for example. Pretty sure they want us to be able to show the optional objectives in the bar, but it's not working too well.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I've got to agree with that here. Non-optional objectives will show up (using their objective name) even if you don't put in any text. Optional objectives need both singular and plural text to show up, and I provide that even for single objectives if I want them to show. People don't have to find the crates in the back room, fight the weather-control robot, or grab JJ's package to complete those respective missions, but the crates and JJ's package spit out a clue and they may want to fight the robot anyway, so I put it in the navbar. (The other little robot ally in the package mission doesn't drop a clue so he doesn't get a navbar spot.)
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)
Arc: Passing Notes
Arc ID: 72475
Author: @Aracade
Number of Missions: 3
Description: Open one chest and strange things hover in your future --Recommended Level Range: (30 - 50) -- Archvillian.
Personal Discription: No where near as well made as yours or anyone elses arcs I've played thus far which is a disappioint ment on my part. Grammar and spelling are not my strong suits so if spot something I didn't notice or didn't know, you have been warned in advance. My only hope at the moment is what little I have now makes sense and if it's not in such a way I can't extend it or get a better discription or something.
For the kind of 'overall enemy I want to deal with.. I'm not sure I can explain it that easly. I hope you like it or atleast it doesn't make you want to kill something.
Arc: Passing Notes
Arc ID: 72475
Author: @Aracade
Number of Missions: 3
Description: Open one chest and strange things hover in your future --Recommended Level Range: (30 - 50) -- Archvillian.
Rating: *
================================
Character used: Naga Obscura, Level 50 Ninja Blade/Energy Aura Stalker
Difficulty: Tenacious (Diff 2)
Level for Arc Playthrough: 50
================================
Mission 1:
Amusingly, the contact takes the form of a large chest, inside which I found a letter. Not so amusingly was being informed that I was somehow poisoned by chaos itself, which means that even being a robot or an alien will not protect me. Damn!
Even worse, I won't recieve the antidote unless I go and steal some of Ghost Widow's hair. Not sure how I'm supposed to steal non-corporeal hair, but I'll play along for now.
I step into a tech lab filled with Arachnos, odd as I was expecting an Arachnos lab. My objective is to find a strand of hair, so I guess I might not have to fight Ghost Widow after all. I go on searching the lab until I find a strange looking man named "Dr. Kindred". Oddly, his group is listed as "Paragon Defenders", so what is he doing here with Arachnos?
Upon aggroing he says some odd stuff about "returning his beloved to life." Huh? What does this guy have to do with Ghost Widow?
Annoyingly, killing him did not finish the mission. Seems he has no real reason to be here. The search goes onwards. I find a refrigerator upstairs that contained a preserved sample of Ghost Widows hair. Mission complete.
I will also state for the record that as a Stalker, I really hate ambushes, especially ones with no dialog to announce their approach.
Mission 2:
I place the hair in the chest and recieve another letter. Wait, I was in a different reality in that last mission? Huh? This story makes no damn sense.
Now I have to destroy some seeds, that are alive and dangerous. Ok, sure. By the way, have I been cured of the "poison" yet or what?
Oh JOY! A mission to defeat two bosses in the Ruludak map! This won't take long at all! And it's filled with Werewolves, Arachnoids, and Winter Horde oh my!
I want to stab the author at this point.
Soon I come across some bizzare looking Elite Boss named Alice, who is Archery/Sonic. Dr. Kindred was Sonic/something as well, what is it with this author and Sonic powers?
At least Alice proved to be a rather easy EB, but now this meant I had already used my tier-9 Defense this early in the arc and might not have it for the next boss, who will probably also be Elite. I also picked some "pink shard" up off of Alice. So where are these seeds? Was Alice one?
Oh look, I passed a Red Cap. I hate Red Caps. I'm so glad I am invisible.
And I ran all the way to the end of this damn map without seeing this other boss. Had to backtrack 1/3 of the way before I found him in this blasted fog.
I slaughter this EB easily (he was Ice Control/Fire Assault?) and can pretty much ignore his UNANNOUNCED ambush thanks to having Power Surge up again. I grab some "blue shard" and leave.
Mission 3:
Once again the new note tells me nothing really, except that these shards will react to the ghostly hair somewhere in the next mission and that will somehow stop chaos. The letter even flat out refuses to tell me why the heck I am doing this. Oh, it also says that it hates me.
Was I ever given the damn antidote or is that supposed to happen in the last mission?
Oh, upon accepting the mission it finally tells me that I will get it after this mission.
Carnies and Arachnos, lovely combination. Oh, Vanguard as well!
I run through this twisting cave map to the last room. I see a glowie that is probably the Antidote. I also see the required EB (Gardava), but oddly another EB in this room (Rip Van Twinkle) who is not required.
Gardava is a Axe/Shield EB, and quite obvious an EXTREME one. This means she popped her tier-9 right when I attacked and I was doing almost no damage for over a minute straight. Eventually I got her down to 1/3 and Power Surge crashed. I got back before she regened to 1/2 and took her down a lot more easily without her tier-9 defense on.
Clicked the glowie, got the antidote. Didn't bother with the other EB and left.
No explanation in the last debriefing. Felt like I wasted my time.
================================
The Verdict:
This is a definite example of a 1-star arc. The story doesn't even try to make sense and throws EBs at you for no good reason in the 2nd mission, and has an extreme EB in the last mission using some sets that are quite overpowered for an EB at those settings. The choice of maps is pretty bad, especially mission 2. The choice of bad guys makes no sense either, if you're going to try to recast existing enemies into a custom group give some explanation for their appearance. Otherwise just make your own customs. However, with how poorly these EBs were balanced, an entire faction of customs might well make the arc even more annoying.
I recommend you go back to the drawing board on this one. This does not even feel like an arc, it feels like three random missions chained together.
...
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Mission 1:
Wait, why are the Rebels tossing web grenades at me? I hope there is a good reason for that anachronism in the plot, because it is already mighty annoying whenever you run into */Devices critters. Also I think there is another hat in the custom creator that might fit them better. I wonder if those Nemesis rifles are just the closest thing the author could find or another clue.
[/ QUOTE ]
At the end of the mission, you receive a clue saying that the weapons the Confederates using are from the future, and after turning in the mission Edwin points out that they are Nemesis weaponry. I couldn't figure out a way to give out this clue earlier. Perhaps a collection item?
[/ QUOTE ]
A collection item is a possibility. Perhaps you could have General Lee spawn with some Nemesis instead of Confederates so that he can introduce you to his new friends. That could also bring the level range of mission 1 in-line with that of the rest of the arc.
Still, Nemesis don't use web grenades so I suggest a different secondary. A common one is Regen on the lowest setting so that it's mostly the passives.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I see a huge list of objectives. Rescue: Back Alley Brawler, Statesman, Citadel, Manticore, Numina, Sister Psyche, Synapse, and Positron. Defeat Hro'Dtohz, The Dragon, and 5 Rikti Generals. At least that's what I'm assuming since it only lists the names and not what I am to do with each.
Seems all the heroes are being held captive by Nemesis, who are going unnoticed by the nearby Rikti. First up is Synapse and he doesn't even thank me for freeing him, or anything else for that matter. Neither Positron or Statesman are talkative either, so I'm not expecting much anymore past this point.
Oh wait, Sister Psyche said "Hello?" and Manticore berated me for running off when he was the one who got stock a couple blocks back.
I ran into Hro'Dtohz after getting everyone except for Citadael. He didn't have any dialog at all. I died during the fight and all the heroes finally spoke up that they were lost before I hit Soul Transfer and stunned Hro'Dtohz, whom they all ganged up on and killed quickly. Nice if they had done that before I died.
Oh, I lost Statesman half the map back too. Yeah, funny comment about nerfing me if I run off again, States. This is like herded cats, with the uncertainty of "will they kill everything I come across before I get to attack or will they stand and stare while I do all the work on this spawn?"
I finally find Citadael and notice that I lost Sister Psyche. I can't be bothered to go looking for her so I go to find the rest of the Rikti leaders and try not to fall asleep at the keyboard.
You'd think these Rikti Generals, who are in Heavy Assault Suits, would be easier to find. Anyway, I ran into The Dragon next (isn't he Dra'Gon in the Lady Grey TF?) who had nothing to say to me and proceeded to train the heroes on him.
You know what? Manticore doesn't do a damn thing in any of these fights. Oh, and Positron has sunk up to his knees in a rubble pile and is stuck.
Finally it's over! If you ever wanted to see the signature heroes acting like a bad PuG, then here's the mission for you. As for me, I'm already subtracting stars from the rating.
[/ QUOTE ]
I can change the map to a map where the allies aren't as prone to getting stuck, perhaps? They're all set to Fight Defensive and Follow, so they should be following you wherever you go and not wandering out on your own. They might have gotten stuck if you were flying or jumping around and they were trying to follow you. Also, they should only attack when you are attacking a mob or if they get attacked by a mob.
As for them not fighting after you died and not until after your rezzed, that might be because they are set on Fight Defensive and not something like Aggressive. But if they were set on Aggressive, then they'd likely be aggroing even more. So which do you suggest I do?
[/ QUOTE ]
I was staying on the ground with Sprint off, yet BaB managed to get caught on a sofa twice and I have no idea where Sister Psyche went off to. The big problem here was that they did all the fighting for me and it was mostly a matter of herding EBs onto other EBs.
I suggest a lot less of everything. 8 EB allies was serious overkill, especially when required to rescue. I bet the signature heroes were spread all over Paragon City during the attack, so really there should only be a couple of them on that map.
I've never seen Hro'Dothz appear out in the open and Dra'Gon is only a TF AV, but I don't know about their past activities. I'd say cut it down to 1 of them and reduce the number of Generals to 2 or 3 at most.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So after I ditched Dark Watcher I found Statesman. Nice job on his 1930's outfit by the way. Not so nice job on his incredibly large aggro radius. So while States is off soloing the map, I rescued Maiden Justice, who was nearly just as bad. Finally they called down and we all found Vambrace. After that I found the last 2 bombs and came across Elementor. Then I waited for them to finish killing all the nearby mobs so we could move on to Lord Nemesis.
[/ QUOTE ]
He is set to Fight Defensive and Follow, so he shouldn't be running off on his own soloing or aggroing. It might be a glitch or a bug.
[/ QUOTE ]
Melee allies are prone to this. It seems the difference between Passive and Aggressive is about 5 feet added to their aggro radius.
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Of course Nemesis turned out not to be at the end of the map so I had to backtrack. This did allow me to ditch the knockback twins, Vambrace and Elementor. In fact, Nemesis was close by where I had ditched Dark Watcher, so having a change of heart I picked him up again before attacking Nemesis.
And by attack I mean kill a few minions while the EB allies do the actual hard work of beating down Nemesis.
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I didn't realize there were so many with knock backs, I'll see what I can do on that.
Should I demote the allies to from AVs/EBs to EBs/bosses or bosses/Lts so their damage is lessened and they don't take care of all the fun work? It'd be a simple change to do.
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I think it's just a matter of less allies or weaker ones. Either cut it down to 1 or 2 EBs, or 3-4 Bosses. Don't bother with LT allies, they die very fast in EB fights.
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And once he was down, I had to defeat Nemesis as well. Yeah, you read that right.
So I went back to the other end, picking Vambrace and Elementor up again and seeing that the present Nemesis is not there. Sorry, but your Nemesis is on a different street. Going back the other way I find him near the beginning of the mission, and the heroes make silly short work of them.
And during neither of these fights did either Nemesis give a speech, or even an arrogant comment. Very disappointing.
Two strikes.
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He should spawn at the end of the map as he is set to and as he has every time I've tested it. This may also be a bug or something.
And I'll add in dialogue for Nemesis when I get back to work on it.
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This time Nemesis (1932) was in the middle and Nemesis (Present) was in the front.
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So after getting my head back together I return to the task at hand and destroy the remaining three generators.
After that it's time to take down Nemesis, as an EB, alone. First I wiped out all the Colonels around him and retreated down the elevator for a few minutes to wait for the stacked vengeance to wear off. After that taking him out wasn't much of a challenge.
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Should I add in something to make it a challenge, like more ambushes? I didn't set anything since I figured for solo players to take down an EB without an ally might be difficult as it is, but if its too simple I can add something in.
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Well the ambush did complicate it a bit as it had a Colonel in it and I had to be careful not to kill him (hard when you have cones and AoEs) so Nemesis wouldn't get Vengeance cast on him again.
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I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy the arc and found it boring, I truly am. I'm just wondering what you would recommend that I change to fix the errors.
EDIT: I'm really looking to improve this arc, so I really am open to any constructive criticism or helpful advice.
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Most of the boredom was from A) how long the missions took due to objective overload and B) having the allies up-staging me for two entire missions. Those are the two biggest flaws to fix and would take you up a couple stars if they weren't there.