Just wanted to update on some of adjustments I've made, based on some of the feedback.
- The two main boss allies have been set to Lt.
- Adjusted a bit of the spawn points for the battles in the first mish.
This seems to be my most popular arc. Most of the comments in-game and PM's are really great, kinda brings a smile to my face each time I log on. ^_^
But I was hoping for some more technical feedback on grammar or a bit more on gameplay or mission design. (Unless of course, everyone thinks its already fine the way it is. O_O)
I do wanna thank everyone that played though, especially the ones that gave some feedback. As always, I'm looking for more ways to improve my arcs. So keep em coming. 
I think it's a great story arc Shadowrush! While it has a great story, it's very cute and funny where it should be 
I did not notice anything in the grammer, spelling, writing that should be corrected. I usually do notice this part, because when I play it's usually w/ my husband and since he cannot read what the contact is saying, I read it aloud to him. Usually when something is poorly written, it pops up quite noticably when read aloud.
The custom critters are cute. For Panda's they are quite appropriate.
The 6 allies in the final mission might be a bit too many, but they are easy to lose if you do not want them to tag along. A few times I did leave them in the hallway and then went back to pick them up.
I think when we played it we had a few deaths, but both toons were a little squishy (Blaster and Defender). I think all the deaths happened when we didn't notice a Communications Officer and he then summoned a horde of Conscripts.
I really like your arcs Shadowrush. I hope they get MA or Hall of Fame so you can create more!
Luna
46 Toons on Freedom, 1988+ Levels, 17 Level 50's
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<^_^> I didn't know there was a thread for this here!
I already sent my feedback in-game; but I wanted to note here - Loved this arc! Lots of fun to be had with it >_<
I enjoyed it enough I actually gave the character that played it a Panda costume <'x'>;
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Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
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I'm working so I thought I'd ask if you have a screenshot of these pandas...
Thanks for the comments guys/gals!
I have another update:
- Although no one has mentioned it, it occurred to me that it might be possible for someone who has not done any of the Faultline missions and skipped reading the mission description, to not realize that you need to enter the building in mission 3.
To remedy that, I added "Enter the building and" to the first objective on the nav bar, which I believe is "Find Clues". I've also added a couple of extra lines to the mission entrance popup to mention it as well, and even say that there should be an entrance on top of the scaffolding.
- Someone mentioned that they missed the destructible object in the last mission. The object I used was kinda darkly colored and was the Rikti Pod, which I guess may mix in with the design of the map. And since it didn't make any noise, it might be possible to miss it.
So I changed it to something that would stand out more in a rikti map. It now uses the ancient lockbox object, which I think is even more appropriate to the type of object it's supposed to be anyway. It's not darkly colored and stands out in a rikti map. Not to mention, I just realized, it's supposed to be small enough to fit inside a crate in a previous mission. The Rikti Pod wouldn't fit in a crate. 
I also added appropriate in-game shouts to the enemies guarding the the object to call attention to the player. With these, I believe this will go a long way in preventing anyone from missing the object in the last room.
- And one last minor thing, I set the boss detail in mission 2 to just "Only Boss needed to kill". It seemed odd that if he wasn't the last thing you defeated in the room, you'd only get the clue about what he said after defeating the rest of the room.
I do have one concern, which was suggested by a couple of people so far: What do you guys think about the number of allies in the last mission?
A lot of the comments I get was the fun of having an optional group of pandas with you in the last mission. I put in six, and the texts do recommend trying to get as many as you can along the way. But when you do have all six Lt's., does it make the mission too easy, even with the patrols and ambushes I placed in the mission? I've had conflicting comments on the matter. Some say they're fine since it's so much fun, or that a few of them would sometimes die along the way.
If I decrease their number to 4, will it decrease the fun factor of having a group of pandas following you along? Will 4 still have the same effect ,while at the same time, help keep the mission from being too easy?
To FluShot: Sorry I missed your post. I didn't see it till now. You're probably no longer at work by now and hopefully have already seen the pandas (You did play my arc right? right? ). But I may decide to post some screenshots of the arc for marketing purposes for others to see.
Well that's it. Thanks for the feedback, they're all great! The story arc just keeps improving! I think it's really close to being finalized, if it's not already. (Although of course, any work isn't truly finished :P) Keep those comments coming!
I personally thought 6 was just right honestly, the last boss is kinda rough! <@_@>; He'd probably be beatable without them, but it would have taken substantially more work from me (I died twice in the process).
So from my perspective, the allies are fine as they are <@,@> of course I was on a blaster dealing primarily Lethal damage at the time; so that may have been a major factor.
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>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.
When I played it I was on a team of two, and the 6 allies did make things die VERY quickly. I think 4 would work just as well.
They all stayed alive until the final room. And yeah it was a little hairy in there, and all but one panda died 
. I died too (was on my defender), but we were able to regroup and took the boss down without much of a problem.
I think either way (4 or 6) would be fine. Like I mentioned in my feedback, if they get in the way, it's always pretty easy to run faster than them and "lose" them. Having them along is about like running a Mastermind
Keep up the great work!
Luna
46 Toons on Freedom, 1988+ Levels, 17 Level 50's
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Globals: @Luna de Nocturne & @Luna Moone
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Thanks again for all the feedback and comments! The weekend was great as well for feedback!
Here's another update:
- I went ahead and reduced the number of primary allies in the final mission, from 6 to 5. I asked a few people of their opinion on the matter, and it seems to most it didn't really matter that 6 was available originally, actually a few thought they would have had a tough time without them (or at least the pandas that made it with them to the end). And at the same time, a few thought 6 was a tad too many. So it looks like 5 pandas will be the magic number.
From separate playtestings solo (I solo tested it with a blaster, a controller, a defender, and two scrappers), this looks like a good number, with a little leeway towards casual players. It's enough that my squishy characters still didn't have too much of a problem but still give a bit of a challenge in the end, and at the same time I still get the fun of having a squadron of pandas following me around. ^_^
And of course, like before, they are all still optional and not needed to finish the arc. But of course, it's just really more fun with them around. ^_^ They'll be available for anyone that wishes for some panda might!
Thanks again for people who've played my arc. As always, I'm still looking for people to try it out and give comments.
Really a standout arc. Fun, funny, and well-balanced. Well done, 5 stars from me. Could safely tone down the number of allies in the last mission, I think.
Freedom: Blazing Larb, Fiery Fulcrum, Sardan Reborn, Arctic-Frenzy, Wasabi Sam, Mr Smashtastic.
Well I went ahead and toned it down a bit more, to just four allies, which was the original number I was thinking of in a few posts up. From playtesting again, a few will probably have a bit of a challenge in keeping them all alive to reach the final room.
So far everything is fine with the heroes I've tested it with. Only my blaster had a bit of a challenge, and only had one panda that survived by the end (not counting the story rescue).
So this should be fine I believe. And for those who haven't tried, yes, the arc is soloable even without any of the allies. The final battle might be a challenge to a few casual players without pandas, but quite doable. They're mostly there to assist and for fun! (^_^)
Thanks again for all the feedback, and the few who helped test a bit.
Just an update:
- Removed two extra patrols in the final mission that have no dialog. They didn't really add anything.
- Switched and adjusted some of the Battle details in the first mission. It seems, more often, the pandas were winning in these skirmishes, which is odd to see sometimes, since they're supposed to be needing your help. The Rikti should now generally be winning these battles.
- Rewrote a couple of text for better readability.
Thanks again for everyone that's played my arc, especially those that gave feedback. Pandas vs. Rikti broke 200+ votes today! Thank you so much to everyone!
For the few that seem to like playing my arc repeatedly, thank you and well... keep on playing! And for those that are looking for a story-focused adventure arc with a hint of humor, and haven't played this arc, please give it a try!
Another quick update, based on feedback for the initial mission:
(Mostly to make it a little more interesting.)
- Moved one of the optional Rikti computer glowies, featuring additional Pandara info, to the first mission. To spread the collection of info across the arc for players to collect, if they're interested.
This will also help introduce to the player that additional optional clues can be found in some of the missions.
- Also modified the enemy groups around the Captive in the first mission. The Easy encounter is now set to Medium. Playtested on Rugged solo, the encounter is still quite easy with just an added minion. At times a LT. would spawn, which is fine.
Again thanks for all the feedback, and those that have reviewed Pandas vs. Rikti!
I've noticed that some post links to reviews of their arcs, so... um... I've decided to do the same. This is also a way for me of thanking and recognizing some of these reviewers.
Review by Beach_Lifeguard
Review by PoliceWoman
Hmmm, ok. I only have two so far for this arc. Gotta work on posting it on more review threads.
Also, I've been thinking about creating a poster for this arc to help market it further. I've started work on it, and will be posting it probably in a few days.
I love the comments I've been getting lately. From parents playing the arc with their kids, to people who admittedly thought they wouldn't like the arc at first glance but loved it once they played.
Keep those plays and comments coming! Pandas are ready! Pandas are go!
Well I've finally finished the poster for Pandas vs. Rikti. Here's a link to it:
Pandas vs. Rikti Poster
I decided to go for a more simplistic and clean approach to the poster. Took me a while of experimenting to figure out what I wanted to do. I originally had a really complex background but it didn't look right. I think it came out okay.
Nice splash, I'll check this arc out. The "When" at the beginning doesn't look right though...
Edit:
I just ran the arc on my 42 DB/Fire scrapper (on heroic). I gave it four stars. Thoroughly enjoyed the story. Very cute custom npcs and use of emoticons for their language. I'll have to admit though, I had no clue what the majority of the emoticons meant. The rogue pandaras were well balanced in terms of power sets, definitely not overpowered.
Liberal use of clues helped the story along greatly.
Now, for why I didnt give the 5th star:
- There was quite a bit of dialog throughout the arc that seemed awkward ... examples:
"Commander Rottier was pleased with your rescue."
That's nice, considering I rescued him. Sounds like someone rescued me.
"Only me and a few "....
" ... but to be sure we need to protect it."
Maybe you meant " ... but to be sure, we need to protect it."
Sounds like you're questioning whether or not it needs to be guarded.
There were quite a few examples like this throughout the arc. Missing commas or extraneous punctuation, and awkward phrasing.
Other feedback:
- The "Cleric/Monk" class in most fantasy rpgs is associated with healing. I was surprised when he pulled out the gun. I was expecting an empathy defender combination of some sort.
- I expected an ambush when I attacked the ancient device. Personal taste on when to do ambushes though - minor nitpick.
- Panda Prime should have been at least a boss? He spawned as a Lt., just like the other npcs. I was expecting some kind of heavily armored "Optimus Prime" type of character. Oh well.
- I was wondering about the O'Bollard name, it doesn't sound very Panda'ish or Rikti'ish. Sounds Irish to me. He didnt look very Rikti either, maybe a few more subtle costume changes?
- The Rikti don't know about the second device... So, I'm guessing Rottier didn't know about it? That doesn't seem likely, considering he was the last commander.
Nice arc, I enjoyed it.
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Oh hey, I remember playing this arc. My brothers just randomly stumbled upon it, and after describing it, I had to run it too. Really nicely done; my blaster had a little trouble with the last fight on account of the ambushes arriving all at once, but I pulled through after coming back and mopping up the leftovers.
For some reason, it cracked me up to come around the corner and see all these guys running around going >:O
Arc #41077 - The Men of State
Arc #48845 - Operation: Dirty Snowball
Thank you for the feedback Hercules, much appreciated.
I'll like to address a few of them:
[ QUOTE ]
Now, for why I didnt give the 5th star:
- There was quite a bit of dialog throughout the arc that seemed awkward ... examples:
"Commander Rottier was pleased with your rescue."
That's nice, considering I rescued him. Sounds like someone rescued me.
"Only me and a few "....
" ... but to be sure we need to protect it."
Maybe you meant " ... but to be sure, we need to protect it."
Sounds like you're questioning whether or not it needs to be guarded.
There were quite a few examples like this throughout the arc. Missing commas or extraneous punctuation, and awkward phrasing.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'll see to checking these out and correcting them. Oddly enough, I... actually removed some commas because a friend of mine, and a feedback from someone, mentioned they weren't needed.
I'll do my best to see if I can find more. But considering I've proofread this arc so many times and didn't see these, it maybe unlikely that I'll realize something is awkwardly phrased, etc. You wouldn't happen to remember more of them, would you? It would make it easier to track them down.
[ QUOTE ]
Other feedback:
- The "Cleric/Monk" class in most fantasy rpgs is associated with healing. I was surprised when he pulled out the gun. I was expecting an empathy defender combination of some sort.
[/ QUOTE ]
The Panda Clerics, including Gemessner, do have Empathy. They are Empathy/Assult Rifle mobs. I decided to give them Assault Rifle (which, I know, Defenders do not have) as their secondary blast set. Like some in-game mobs, I decided not to be strict in following player AT powerset combinations. The gun was to help bring a bit more of the military theme into the mix, along with the Panda Operatives. Clerics with guns is also a subtle reference to a Christian Bale movie, Equilibrium. (Yes... if we had Dual Pistols, I would have given it to the Panda Clerics >_>
[ QUOTE ]
- Panda Prime should have been at least a boss? He spawned as a Lt., just like the other npcs. I was expecting some kind of heavily armored "Optimus Prime" type of character. Oh well.
[/ QUOTE ]
He originally was a boss, but after some feedback about the Allies in the end, their number, and overall balance, he was toned down. Although, story-wise, it would be better for him to be a boss, but many felt it was unnecessary. But I do admit, I'm always tempted to bring him back to being a boss.
lol. As for being like Optimus and being heavily armored... well... he is already the most armored panda in the arc. He is also at max height like the final boss. His personality and name are the only ones inspired by the popular leader of the autobots as a reference/in-joke of sorts. I still wanted an original character though, so I didn't want Panda Prime to be too much like him.
[ QUOTE ]
- I was wondering about the O'Bollard name, it doesn't sound very Panda'ish or Rikti'ish. Sounds Irish to me. He didnt look very Rikti either, maybe a few more subtle costume changes?
[/ QUOTE ]
It's actually "O'Ballord". It's very Rikti'ish. Try saying it a few times. The Rikti names I decided to use are basically based on words or phrases, much like U'Kon Gr'ai.
As for not looking very Rikti... I'm not sure what else to add. I roughly based his costume on Hro'Dtohz's armor mixed with a panda uniform. I also used an alien head and made it really long to try to mimic the effect of starting to become fully Rikti. I can't think of anymore ways to make him more Rikti looking with our available costume pieces. If anyone has any suggestions... that would be great.
[ QUOTE ]
- The Rikti don't know about the second device... So, I'm guessing Rottier didn't know about it? That doesn't seem likely, considering he was the last commander.
[/ QUOTE ]
Rottiar didn't know about it. As mentioned in the arc, the second device was only known by Panda Prime, Gemessner, and very few high officers. They were all killed except for Prime and Gemessner. Rottiar only recently became the last commander when you came into the story. The previous commander, before him, was killed before you arrived. Gemessner was planning to brief Rottiar about it, but you were immediately both sent to the arc's second mission before he had a chance to. Some of this info is written into the arc, and some are just implied. I didn't think the detail was important to the story as a whole to fully explain, and with text already filling up the page briefings and thinking that it would already be understood that he didn't know... I decided not to elaborate on it. I guess, I could find some space somewhere for it, to mention all of these.
Again, thank you for the feedback Hercules. I'm glad you enjoyed it. (^_^)
Niviene: Thank you so much for posting the er... poster. Much appreciated.
Monkey_King: Thank you for the comments. I'm glad you and your brothers enjoyed it. Sounds like you played an older version of the arc. You may be pleased to know, I've lessened the ambushes on the final fight since then.
Just played this last night and thought it was quite fun. It was one of those arcs that I was able to just jump in and play and have fun with. I'll most likely be playing it on several of my alts as well... well done!
"You'll never defeat SetTargetHealth 0. "-Castle
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"Oh, and we�ll probably nerf Regen again�just for fun."-BaB
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"so we are looking into the possiblity of maybe someday thinking about maybe implementing something similar to this, in the future" -Positron
I loved the Pandas vs Rikti arc. I'm not sure how team friendly it is; I solo'd it with one of my strongest characters. But the dialog and panda costume design was seriously entertaining. Solid 5 star arc IMO.
Freedom: Blazing Larb, Fiery Fulcrum, Sardan Reborn, Arctic-Frenzy, Wasabi Sam, Mr Smashtastic.
Just an update:
- Based on feedback from Hercules, I've edited some of the text that I could find (and the ones mentioned by Hercules), that needed some adjustments. Mostly punctuation and such (It's not one of my strengths, unfortunately). I went through every mission, clue and dialogue. Hopefully, I've caught them all. If anyone sees anymore punctuation errors, don't hesitate to point them out.
- I've also changed O'Ballord's name to Obahl'Ord (as well as any text mentioning the name), to help make it sound even more Rikti-ish. At the same time, it still contains the same hidden word when said quickly. >_>
- Corrected a spelling error in the souvenir.
- Added a sentence to the Mission 2 debriefing to further imply that Rottiar has not yet been told about the existence of the first Device (the one the contact is using).
That's about it. Oh and I'm happy to announce, Pandas vs. Rikti now has 302 votes! O_O Thank you so much to everyone that has played the arc.
Vicious_Circle, Sardan: Thank you for the comments!
Woohoo! Pandas vs. Rikti won 3rd place in Projectionist's Mission Architect Contest!
There were 90+ entries. The Second and Third prize is a full action painting or small figurine of a CoH/CoV character of your choice.
The winners were announced here.
Here's a quote from Projectionist:
[ QUOTE ]
3rd place: Pandas vs. Rikti by Shadowrush (Arc ID: 68930)
The cuteness of this arc doesnt take away from the basic struggle between the two races. It is fun fighting from first to last mission and I got a real Star Wars feeling from it. Good, clean fun that leaves you grinning. And, yes, the Pandas should become a part of the game canon!
[/ QUOTE ]
Congrats to all the winners, and thanks to Projectionist for the contest!
Just another update:
- Updated the arc to I-15 standards, when the new Issue was released.
- Added keywords. And set the Story Status to Final.
- Edited the description for Panda Knights, based on Forcefield power changes.
- Since Boss level custom critters no longer have the tier-9 melee attack, I have returned Panda Prime to Boss level.
Woohoo! Pandas vs. Rikti has reached 400+ votes. Thanks again to everyone that played, and for all the great feedback and comments.
I've been making a few arcs since open beta, and I can't seem to get enough of creating story arcs. Well for my latest one, and probably my last published one (since it's my 3rd one, filling all my slots), until of course, I decide to unpublish something (or get lucky with a Dev's Choice or Hall of Fame).
For my latest one, I decided take a step from making a very serious arc. It's still very story-driven, just a bit more... let's just say fun? comedic? adventurous?
This is a little tale I've penned down as:
Pandas vs. Rikti
ArcID: 68930
Faction: Heroic
Global: @Shadow-Rush
Level Range: 30-50
Difficulty: Moderate
No. of Missions: 4
Estimated Time: 45-60 minutes
Synopsis: In a parallel universe, Earth is populated by sentient pandas. They've been invaded by Rikti, and they are losing. Using an ancient device to interface with our Architect system... they are asking for your help.
Notes: Story-driven. Adventure. Some Comedy. A bit text heavy. Solo-friendly. Only one EB. Also fun for teams.
I hope you'll give it a shot. The pandas need all the help they can get! Would be great to get some comments and feedback.