Pro Payne: From 1 to 50 in M.A. (suggest arcs!)
By
airhead,
Posted on: 2009-04-21 21:52 in Mission Architect
Well, I can plug two of mine here 
# 1345: Jumping in Feet First. Levels 1-9, designed as an starter arc. I've made it 1->4 with it without much trouble solo on heroic.
# 61013 The Invasion of the Bikini-Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! : Levels 5-25, I've had good feedback after my last tweak when it comes to difficulty (the custom Lts. on the second mission were hitting a bit to hard sometimes). It's got a few hairy spots, but shouldn't be too bad. Lower part of the range may be harder than higher due to the available stock mobs.
My end-game arc is # 1589, but that's a long way off anyway, and there's a lot of choice for the range (35+).
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
Well, of the arcs in my sig, Dream Paper will work as soon as you can take Tsoo, which may be before 15, and Bricked Electronics will work as soon as you can take goldbrickers, they spawn minimum level 8.
The Bravuran Jobs I wouldn't recommend running until the 20s, but if you want to try your luck against the customs and Carnies, go for it.
EDITED: Oh wait, heroside only? Heroes get floored at 30 by the Carnie mission, but the Carnies spawn at 40. Probably not a good idea then.
Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?
My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)
Love the concept! I have a couple of toons I am going MA only with. One is a brute AT who is a hero, so all MA hero arcs for her. The other doesn't realize he's an Architect hologram and has no idea why his physical body seems to lose substance the further he gets from an Architect building.
The arcs in my sig will all work for your concept, I think. HISS and Heiress probably fits better for later levels. Low Tide is a lowbie mission. Found and Lost I would normall recommend waiting for early 20s, but could be done in late teens with Payne being a scrapper.
While this seems to be a hotly contended issue, I dare say my Welcome to AE arc works just fine for low levels. I've had people go at this at lvl 2 and come out at 6, 7, and 8 without much trouble at all. YMMV, though.
"Hunting the Dark Dragon" and "the Revenge of Hro'Dtohz" are both higher-level arcs, however, so it might take you a while to get to them. The first seems to work just fine at or above 35 (recommended 40), but I definetely recommend you be 45 before taking on Hro'Dtohz.
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Pro Payne has gotten his start! His first arc was actually one of my own design (so as promised, I will not discuss it here it isnt the ones posted in my sig, however) five missions that over the course of an hour got Pro Payne up to level five (and certainly a standard game experience: he practically gained two levels in the first mission which actually was on a small map and then slowed down from there).
I did run across an interesting issue that my fellow architects should be aware of (if youre not already): apparently if you set a boss objective to use random for the boss, it will potentially pick ANY boss that is in the correct level range for the MISSION, regardless of the level of the character playing the mission. As my missions level range was 5-14, I ended up with a level 14 boss facing down my level 5 character. The fact he was scaled down to a lieutenant certainly did not make the fight doable. 
The most obvious result of this early experience with an MA only character is that it was actually noticeably easier to fully-equip my character with level appropriate stuff. Keeping him in +3 TOs has put barely a dent in my supply of tickets its certainly not game-breaking, but I get the impression there will be absolutely no need to conserve resources for the day where I can give him SOs (again, through MA) well see if Im correct. Conversely, my supply of real money is abnormally low right now, but I suspect thats a pretty artificial low. The reality is if I converted all of my MA tickets into salvage rolls, I could probably pull in a few tens of thousands with the occasional lucky roll of a luck charm, etc and that would put me at about where Id be with a normal character right now (who almost certainly would have made about that much on normal salvage drops, and selling the tutorial inspiration). So, so far, the tickets seem reasonably well balanced if I were to cash out Id be about where Id normally be.
At level five, I took on the first arc suggested here. You can read the review below (I wanted to get a good start, so I must confess it is longer than I think others will be). It got me just beyond level six, and it was time to get the raptor pack.
That involved a series of radio missions and the safeguard without fire shield on, no use of my attacks or healing flames, and only using powers that were either natural (brawl, throwing knives, and sprint) or from the uncles stash of veteran artifacts (e.g. ghost slaying axe, blackwand, and nemesis staff). It was an interesting experience, to say the least a lot of running around ignoring mobs while looking for the mission objective.
It didnt get Pro Payne a level but that was kind of the point: get the raptor pack with minimal impact on his quest to be MA-only. So now Pro Payne is back at A.E., gearing up for his next mission (which will have to be after work tonight).
Its certainly too early to draw definitive conclusions, but so far an MA-only character is proving to be a lot of fun!
M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice!
)Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)
Arc #1345 Jumping In Feet First (A very solid 4 stars, close to being 5)
This arc casts you as a new hero whose first set of missions has you foiling Council experiments trying to take Nictus fusion in new directions, ultimately leading to you dismantling the project, and a show down with the Archon in charge.
There are a lot of things I liked about this arc. First, it is exactly what it claims to be: an interesting and well-done alternate start for a new hero. The difficulty level was spot-on: at least played on heroic the arc never got so difficult as to be frustrating, or so easy it was boring. The text and dialog all had the right feel, and did a very good job of capturing the feel of being a neophyte hero on his or her first set of missions. The companion characters (and you have allies in all of the missions) were very reasonable they were at lieutenant level, and it didnt feel like they were stealing the show from me, with perhaps a minor exception at the very end. Finally, the plot of the arc was well done in terms of where it would fit in the games overall progression it was a Council plot that needed to be stopped, not a desperate struggle to save the entire world from the greatest evil that has ever existed with Earth-shattering consequences should we fail. (Not that I mind the latter, but the former is far more logical for a new hero to be taking on). In short, this arc was better than most of the intro arcs in the real game (similar pacing, but better plot and more interesting missions) arcs that I would give the average 3 star rating, and so this one deserved at least four stars (and I thought was on the cusp of deserving five).
Now, for a few criticisms. Several of the custom characters belonged to the All Custom Characters faction Id suggest simply creating a custom faction called Council (I can verify you can name custom factions after real ones in the game) and setting it as their base faction in the character editor. Although normally Id be very wary of suggesting making something harder (I prefer to err on the side of easy) the final fight was almost anti-climactic. The issue was that, since it was heroic, the character was a lieutenant, which would have been very appropriate if I was alone but I had two other helpers with me, and with our combined firepower the end boss got taken down in about three seconds. Hard call, I know, but Id suggest running a few tests on heroic with his rank scaled up to Elite Boss (operating on the assumption that hell downgrade to Boss if the arc is played as intended) and see how it plays. And, of course, like most MA arcs (mine included) it can always benefit from another round of proofreading Id suggest altering the first mission complete clue to read in minute detail rather than minutely (and though not tho). In the second mission briefing, pop up might be a little better than pop out. And the last sentence of Sigmurs description didnt make any sense to me.
M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice!
)Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)
Very interesting idea, gives me some ideas...lol
But if you want to try it, I'm not sure if this will be easy for a lower level person with less powers, but you can try it. It is a level 1-54 mission.
Invasion of the Samurai
ID#: 93272
Level: 1-54
Group: Custom group
Length: 5 missions, about 20-30 minutes
Synopsis: You are hired by a US General to help crush the Samurai's rebellion to try and take back thier land. In the first mission you find out something about a weapon that the Samurai are creating to help thier side in the rebellion. The rest is to you to find out when you play it =) Don't forget to read the contact text.
Arc #17702, "Every Rose..."
It's designed and intended as a lowbie (levels 1-10) villain arc, so Pro Payne will get a chance to tale a little walk on the wild side.
It is written as a chance for a new villain to join the Circle of Thorns, rather than Arachnos.
Hope you have fun! I'm looking forward to any feedback you have. It's always fascinating seeing how various people react differently to the same content!
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!
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I did run across an interesting issue that my fellow architects should be aware of (if youre not already): apparently if you set a boss objective to use random for the boss, it will potentially pick ANY boss that is in the correct level range for the MISSION, regardless of the level of the character playing the mission. As my missions level range was 5-14, I ended up with a level 14 boss facing down my level 5 character. The fact he was scaled down to a lieutenant certainly did not make the fight doable.
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Huh. Maybe that only happens with lieutenant scaling? I've tried picking a random Council boss on a 1-20 map and I've never gotten any Council boss that wasn't a 20... gonna have to test it from the other end now. That would suck if it only worked downward.
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)
Thanks for the review! Couple of things
The "All Custom Characters" is a surprisingly resilient bug of the MA. All the custom characters have, indeed, their own faction. The faction even shows when I edit the missions.
Yet, it keeps showing as "All Custom Characters".
I'll try later to see if scratching them all and redoing them will do the trick, but I got tired of trying different things to make that "All Custom Characters" tag go away >_<
The final fight, I have to take into account that it's easy to end up fighting the boss with just Clarissa - just turn left instead of right at the back of the map. And she can be really non-helpful depending on how the melee AI is feeling that day. I'll experiment with adding more mobs and see how it goes, but that final fight has always been hit and miss in my tests - allies have a very bad case of ADD in all cases.
I'll review the text again, thanks for pointing it out. And thanks for the review! 
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
All of @TheDeepBlue's arcs are designed for low levels, search his global tag and you'll find them all.
if you wanna try my latest publish,, should work fine for your lvl, it runs from 5-14.. takes 1-2 hours depending, i average about an hour on lowbies. any feedback welcome
Here are my observations on that bug: editing the custom mobs in the mission itself don't seem to work. Here's what's always worked for me (so far):
Apparently, custom mobs always display their base faction, regardless of whatever custom factions they've been added to. The only work around I've ever found is to directly edit the custom mob - on the last screen of the editor (the one with the description) you can actually set the base faction for the mob - it almost certainly says 'All' right now, but if you set to something else (or select New and type in Council, for example), it should reset the mob's base faction.
You don't want to know how long it took me to puzzle that one out. I hope it works for you.
M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice!
)Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)
I'll plug one of mine here:
Duality: 84105, levels 10 - 20, Horror themed, 5 missions.
A Crazed Slasher is stalking the students of Paragon U, and it's up to you to stop him before he kills again!
First, many, many thanks for offering up arcs to play. I appreciate the interest in my little project here. Ive been arranging them in an order that I hope will work best (at the moment Im focusing most on arcs designed specifically for very low level characters, and will progress to higher level arcs with time be patient! I want to get to everyones arc).
Pro Payne decided to try his first foray into a villain fantasy tonight. The review is below. The arc got me from level six almost through level seven and Im still more than up-to-date enhancement wise: Ive got the best tickets can buy (granted they *are* TOs), and many hundreds of tickets to spare. The advancement is feeling slower than average, but Im really feeling (at least so far) like the ticket system is making up for my slower advancement my letting me feel maxed out for my level with tickets to spare. Its a fine line, but Im pleased with it so far its just enough of a reward to keep me from feeling like Im being gypped by the slower level advancement.
Now to the review (not into mini-review mode yet, so please forgive the length of the feedback I hope you find it useful, or at least amusing, Kitsune
)
#17702 Every Rose (3 stars; a solid premise and good ideas I really think this arc could get higher ratings with some editing work)
The player performs a series of tasks with the ultimate goal of become a secret agent for the Circle of Thorns in the Rogue Isles. The arc starts with a test of your merits, and proceeds to the Circle doing a favor for you (in the form of casting a spell intended for your benefit). Of course, nothings free, and the Circle asks for you to do a favor in return when you succeed, you are inducted into their ranks.
I think this is an example of an arc thats got really good ideas, and just needs some work to fully realize its potential (man, that sounds cheesy, but its true). I liked the basic idea behind each mission, and the basic idea behind the arc. Its just the implementation, in my opinion, that needs work.
First, the pacing and difficulty level were good for the character levels the arc was aimed toward. The only deviation I could see were in a few of the ambushes in the later missions, particularly the one or ones associated with the kidnappings in the fourth mission: they appeared to be set to medium or hard with a front spawn in. As a scrapper, Pro Payne dealt with them just fine, but I can easily see how a low level villain (other than a brute, whod probably be okay) might find the ambush overwhelming Id always advise that when aiming at content for low levels, go with easy on the settings. Also, I can vouch for the fact that medium or hard ambushes get surprisingly brutal in bigger groups, or when youre set to level 2 or 4 difficulty. The ambush literally appearing next to me was a little jarring, but I can see how that might be a necessity (they showed up at mission complete, and if they hadnt been set to front I might not have even known they were coming for me).
Also on the good side: I really liked the final mission. Sure it wasnt exactly action packed, but the whole feel of Orenbega as a stronghold, with roaming bands of Circle mages slaughtering any foolish enough to disrupt my initiation ceremony worked well for me.
Here are my (hopefully constructive) criticisms:
Mission One. In the mission briefing, perhaps referring to my magical potential would be better than magical ability. If Im going to role play, its more acceptable to suggest that my character might have a potential for magic, rather than declaring hes got actual magical abilities. (Yes, I know M.A., and the whole premise of my character is that he doesnt even really have abilities, but Im trying to approach this from the standpoint of how a character with a newly created villain might react. And, presumably, if I want to join the Circle, Im a magical character but that little change certainly could make the story more accessible to characters who just want to try out the arc, while having barely any impact to the story in the eyes of a character who is genuinely magic origin). In this mission and the next, the end of mission clue was an almost exact copy of the clue I got by actually getting the mission objective it was a little redundant, especially because I got them at exactly the same time. It might work better to erase the objective clue in favor of the mission complete clue. It did seem a little like the contact sort of forgot about the book I was sent to get once I got back I was trying to pay careful attention to the text, but maybe I missed something.
For both missions one and two, it did strike me as odd that the decoys were all destructible, while the real goal was clickable. It seemed like they should all be one or the other. Another idea would be to mix it up a bit: add some clickable glowies as additional decoys, and make the clickable the real target in one mission, and the destructable the real target in the other.
Mission Two. The reference to walking cardboard boxes totally threw me. The elbow for Longbow (L-bow, hehe) joke kinda fell flat for me I think it might have worked a little better if Id known Longbow were there (I think they were spawning in as battles, and often they were dead before I got there so it took a bit for me to figure out the reference).
Mission Three. I like the fact that lots of different factions are getting brought in I think thats a strong point in any introductory arc: show what the games got to offer. Its not that Vahzilok dont fit in a graveyard, but I think it needed to be clearer to the player what exactly they were doing there (I imagine it was to dig up corpses for body parts maybe a few boss spawns with them set to the digging emote? You wouldnt want to overdo it, but it could fit them into the situation a little better).
Mission Four. The fact that the Circle are the spirits of dead wizards possessing the living is actually a major reveal in the later game, and theres no reason a low level villain would know about it. The problem is one of the kidnap victims mentions it in their description text IMO, mentioning that you have, no doubt, a terrible fate awaiting you for the kidnap victims without actually mentioning the true nature of the Circle would make this work a lot better as an intro arc. Also, at least one of the kidnap victims is listed in the Normal II faction I wonder if youd be willing to rename them to something like Normal Citizens or something?
Miscellaneous: Id recommend checking some of your mission objective text for consistency. Its really a tiny nitpick, but there are places where youve got a period, that it would just look better in the nav window if youd omit the period.
M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice!
)Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)
Pro Payne had one more arc in him tonight, and so he moved down next on the list (arranged to make the most of the level ranges offered up in the arcs suggested so far).
Feh. Another villain arc. But I figured I'd give it a try:
Arc Id #2260 (5 stars. And I don't mean 'it just barely made the grade.' This was a *solid* 5 stars, IMO)
I've just been hired by Harrier Payne (ironic, no?) to prove to his girl that Harrier is the only man for her. What happens as a result is something you're going to (and *should*) see for yourself.
First, I felt dirty for playing this as a hero. Very good sign it's a good villain arc. The mission design and pacing is top notch. Here's what I liked:
I'm being evil - and I mean *really* evil - in a story that casts me in the major role, yet does not require me to be attempting to take over the planet, destroy all mankind, etc., at level 8 (again, I'm all for world domination - villain side, of course - but I figure I should be much higher level before 'slaughter all mankind' becomes a viable goal.)
Here are my nitpicks.
The crates in the first mission disappear when you "collect" them - that didn't quite click (no pun intended): I'm stealing the stuff in the crate, not the crate itself. Well, I guess I *could* be sealing the crate, but the messages in the mission (for whatever reason) were more suggestive of me tearing open the crates and taking anything valuable I found inside, rather than actually just hoisting them on a soulder and making off with them.
And that's pretty much it - my only nitpick is "I don't like the fact the crates disappear." Get the point? It's just my opinion, but it's a very, very good arc.
Okay, that's it for Pro Payne until the end of work tomorrow, but keep the suggestions coming in and I'll keep playing through the arcs (and posting my impressions).
M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice!
)Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)
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Arc Id #2260 (5 stars. And I don't mean 'it just barely made the grade.' This was a *solid* 5 stars, IMO)
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Thank you for the review!
Good luck with your character!
61866 - A Series of Unfortunate Kidnappings - More than a coincidence?
2260 - The Burning of Hearts - A green-eyed monster holds the match.
379248 - The Spider Without Fangs - NEW - Some lessons learned (more or less.)
I will offer mine up. They are:
Name: Death to Disco!
Arc ID: 84420
Level Range - I have said 25 and up, but i have gotten a lot of feedback from people playing it at lower levels (as low as 15) saying it was fine.
Name: Trademark Infringement
Arc ID: 2220
Level Range - This one can be tougher depending on the luck of your mix of enemies in each group. I would say 25 and up unless you bring break frees or have some mez protection.
Name: Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids!
Arc ID: 2019
Level Range - Only 1 EB at the end of the arc so this should be doable at any level you feel your character can handle an EB.
WN
Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story
Thanks a lot for the review! Glad you had fun. Going to address a few of your points here: I have ben experimenting with a few tricks that have gotten comment in these missions.
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The only deviation I could see were in a few of the ambushes in the later missions, particularly the one or ones associated with the kidnappings in the fourth mission: they appeared to be set to medium or hard with a front spawn in.
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I'll double check, but if I remember correctly, they are all set to Easy. They are indeed set to spawn in Front.
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For both missions one and two, it did strike me as odd that the decoys were all destructible, while the real goal was clickable. It seemed like they should all be one or the other.
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This was done deliberately, to make the true goal easier to find.
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The reference to walking cardboard boxes totally threw me.
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hee hee, A little lame attempt at humor. It's a reference to a recurring bug in CoX where some 'inanimate' objects sometimes become unrooted, at least enough to 'look' at you when you enter aggro range. Lately, Rikti Bombs have been fleeing combat on occaision! It's also a reference to the Metal Gear Solid series of games, where the hero often stealths around wearing a cardboard box as a disguise.
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Its not that Vahzilok dont fit in a graveyard, but I think it needed to be clearer to the player what exactly they were doing there (I imagine it was to dig up corpses for body parts maybe a few boss spawns with them set to the digging emote? You wouldnt want to overdo it, but it could fit them into the situation a little better).
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Not a bad idea.
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IMO, mentioning that you have, no doubt, a terrible fate awaiting you for the kidnap victims without actually mentioning the true nature of the Circle would make this work a lot better as an intro arc. [ QUOTE ]
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Good catch.
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Its really a tiny nitpick, but there are places where youve got a period, that it would just look better in the nav window if youd omit the period.
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Also a good catch.
Good luck with your character, and I think your concept is an awesome idea! Be careful on the way to those trainers and in those Safeguards.
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!
I'm just happy that people are seeming to find the feedback useful. By the way, what I'm doing here should be fairly rare in this thread: a rebuttal to a rebuttal. In general once I've posted a review, I think that if the arc author wants it, they should be free to have the last word about their arc. I'm going to try to make it a habit to only respond to a rebuttal if it involves offering up actual feedback or information that the author might find useful.
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I'll double check, but if I remember correctly, they are all set to Easy. They are indeed set to spawn in Front.
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Here's the specific reason that made me wonder what the difficulty was. I'm still set to heroic - at that level easy ambush spawns are usually two minions, and occasionally three (or occasionally one minion and one lt). The ambush spawn I got was four minions and one lt. After your response, I did think of an alternate explanation: I was actually carrying two kidnapping victims back to the door, and they arrived at exactly the same time. Two easy ambush spawns popping up right on top of me might look like a single medium or hard ambush.
Of course, that might be a consideration for a character squishier than a brute. I can imagine that if I was a mastermind with my one minion out at level 4 or something, and got all three kidnap victims to the door at the same time, it might show up as a pretty impressive ambush popping up on top of me, all keyed to attack me directly (rather than the minion) as ambushes frequently do. I'd imagine my life expectancy would be measured in seconds at that point. 
Granted, at level four, it would basically mean I was exiting the mission through the hospital rather than the front door - debt free, but it might raise an eyebrow. I wonder if setting the ambush at the "rescue" rather than the "delivery" would work a bit better?
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Good luck with your character, and I think your concept is an awesome idea! Be careful on the way to those trainers and in those Safeguards.
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Thank you! In the comedy department, I've actually built a few macros around brawl that have him saying things like "Freem!" and "Scrooosh!" (and other "visual sounds") when he punches in the outside world - as though he's imagining using his powers while punching bad guys. I'd give it under a minute before getting kicked from a team that invited me without reading my description or search comment...
M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice!
)Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)
I dont have much in the way of comment about MA-only that wouldnt be reiterating what I said yesterday: the pacing, advancement-wise seems a bit slow (which really only proves that the mission and story arc bonuses, along with patrol XP, do add quite a bit to the pace of the game so be glad for them folks!), but as long as I can effectively keep myself in the best enhancements available for my level, it seems at least a reasonable trade off. I honestly dont know when Im going to start looking into IOs I suspect perhaps at level 12, when I can see what, if anything, I could buy once Im totally outfitted with DOs. Im pretty sure Im going to have an ample ticket surplus. Im about midway through level 9, and have well over a thousand tickets. Im now positive Im going to have plenty left over when it comes time to change out to DOs, so the only question is what, if anything, to get with my surplus. If you guys have got anything youd like me to try out, Ill take it under advisement.
I am still finding it a fun way to play the game I dont think anyone wanting to focus on MA arcs would at least be disappointed in the first 10 levels. And I am happy to see that there are plenty of good offerings in this level range.
Okay, now to tonights mini reviews (and they really will be mini this time):
#2180 Bricked Electronics (5 stars; honestly was teetering between four and five, and decided to go with five).
Pros: This arc is well written, with an intriguing twist at the end. I actually liked the organization system for clues the author came up with I didnt think it was strictly necessary, but it certainly didnt detract from my enjoyment of the arc. The custom foes were well done and well balanced (always worth bonus points from me, since custom foes do add variety, and Im always pleased when an author includes them while resisting the urge to power them up and thereby make them unfun). By and large, I enjoyed the plot, and thought the story was good.
Cons: There were points where the story got hard to follow. To me, the weakest point was the stumbling across the Council sub-plot in the third mission: it doesnt tie in that well to the rest of the arc, but I honestly didnt find it so far out in left field that it ruined the arc for me either. The last mission did strike me as kind of a risk on the authors part: if it goes well, you dont seriously annoy the player, and you get to keep the rating he or she has been forming as theyve been playing the arc. If it results in a mission failure, I can certainly see a player being miffed enough to rate it lower (lets face it making the last mission in an arc fail-able always risks irritating a player who has invested in playing through the arc.) That said, the premise behind the last mission is certainly logical, and the time limit did make it exciting for me.
#1154 Low Tide (3 stars)
This absolutely struck me as a MA newspaper mission go in, collect a (rather vague) clue, and defeat a boss (its a rarer form of newspaper mission, but it is a setup I *have* seen). Granted, theres just a tad more story (I infer that the infestation transformed the crew into Hydra
although I have no idea why). It was very playable at my level (although, occasionally, the patrols got a bit hairy for me, but I am NOT inclined to complain about difficulty in a mission where I actually succeeded and didnt even die once). Theres nothing really wrong with it and theres nothing exceptional about it either, hence 3 stars completely average, IMO. The only error I noticed is that while all of the minion and lt. Hydra were part of the Low Tide faction, the Big Bad was actually Hydra. However, that did not affect my rating in any way
More later! This is still a very fun project for me! And again, thank you to all for offering up arcs for me to play!
M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice!
)Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)
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I dont have much in the way of comment about MA-only that wouldnt be reiterating what I said yesterday: the pacing, advancement-wise seems a bit slow (which really only proves that the mission and story arc bonuses, along with patrol XP, do add quite a bit to the pace of the game so be glad for them folks!), but as long as I can effectively keep myself in the best enhancements available for my level, it seems at least a reasonable trade off. I honestly dont know when Im going to start looking into IOs I suspect perhaps at level 12, when I can see what, if anything, I could buy once Im totally outfitted with DOs. Im pretty sure Im going to have an ample ticket surplus. Im about midway through level 9, and have well over a thousand tickets. Im now positive Im going to have plenty left over when it comes time to change out to DOs, so the only question is what, if anything, to get with my surplus. If you guys have got anything youd like me to try out, Ill take it under advisement.
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Heh. I'd like to see an IO build from extremely low levels, even though it'll be hugely expensive. I want to see how much money you can make by cherrypicking rewards at the MA...
Though that's more market goofery than anything and as such may not be your bag.
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#2180 Bricked Electronics (5 stars; honestly was teetering between four and five, and decided to go with five).
Pros: This arc is well written, with an intriguing twist at the end. I actually liked the organization system for clues the author came up with I didnt think it was strictly necessary, but it certainly didnt detract from my enjoyment of the arc. The custom foes were well done and well balanced (always worth bonus points from me, since custom foes do add variety, and Im always pleased when an author includes them while resisting the urge to power them up and thereby make them unfun). By and large, I enjoyed the plot, and thought the story was good.
Cons: There were points where the story got hard to follow. To me, the weakest point was the stumbling across the Council sub-plot in the third mission: it doesnt tie in that well to the rest of the arc, but I honestly didnt find it so far out in left field that it ruined the arc for me either. The last mission did strike me as kind of a risk on the authors part: if it goes well, you dont seriously annoy the player, and you get to keep the rating he or she has been forming as theyve been playing the arc. If it results in a mission failure, I can certainly see a player being miffed enough to rate it lower (lets face it making the last mission in an arc fail-able always risks irritating a player who has invested in playing through the arc.) That said, the premise behind the last mission is certainly logical, and the time limit did make it exciting for me.
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I try to end my arcs with a modestly tight time limit or otherwise failable condition, if it makes any sense for the mission to end one of two different ways. It's the only branching path that will "stick", so to speak, even if I have to write the souvenir so it sounds ambiguous.
When I was in beta I'd often let timers run out just to see what happened. That's why I try to keep them low, though admittedly for your AE character going out and punching things on the street isn't an option.
(For the record, the mission won't fail if the Goldbrickers destroy that deposit block, only if time runs out. Though I'm not going to ask you to play through again to see what happens, it IS a little more interesting than YOU IDIOT FAILURE WHY DID YOU FAIL LIKE AN IDIOT)
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)
Huh... looks like an interesting little project here, Coulomb.
I've got an arc to throw your way, with one warning: it's still in a somewhat rough stage of development; I'm still tweaking it in terms of difficulty, since my only tests so far have been on my level 50 (purple-less) blaster main, exemplared down.
With that out of the way, "Trollbane" (#106553) is written for level 10-14 characters (although, with the difficulty as it is, you may want to wait until 14... or maybe not. I'm really not certain how it plays with a 'real' lowbie :/)
I'll be interested to see your reaction- I drew quite heavily from a relatively obscure segment of CoH lore (Back Alley Brawler and his time with the Regulators), and, well... you'll see.
"A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates
MA Arcs: #12285, "Small Fears", #106553, "Trollbane", #12669, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising"
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Here are my observations on that bug: editing the custom mobs in the mission itself don't seem to work. Here's what's always worked for me (so far):
Apparently, custom mobs always display their base faction, regardless of whatever custom factions they've been added to. The only work around I've ever found is to directly edit the custom mob - on the last screen of the editor (the one with the description) you can actually set the base faction for the mob - it almost certainly says 'All' right now, but if you set to something else (or select New and type in Council, for example), it should reset the mob's base faction.
You don't want to know how long it took me to puzzle that one out. I hope it works for you.
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Well, deleted the local files for the custom groups, re-assigned them from the published mission, re-re-resaved a few times as groups kept flaffing about (at one point the third mission allies showed up in the boss' group!), and finally managed to make the factions stick! Thanks for the advice
I've also added more mobs to the final fight while leaving the boss almost intact (made him /inv instead of /regen, should give him a bit more resilience without increasing its danger noticeably). There should be a veritable mess of mobs during the fight (2 ambushes), should make things more interesting with the allies!
Ran it a couple of times and seemed ok
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
Pro Payne stems from a project Ive been interested in since the live release of Mission Architect. One of the design goals of MA, as stated by the developers, was that it should be possible for a character to go from level 1 to level 50 doing nothing but MA content. So I have created a character with just this goal in mind (with a paltry number of caveats, mentioned below)!
Although I talk about it in more detail below, obviously Im going to need an endless stream of good story arcs to play on my way to 50. I intend to occasionally update this post with my observations of what its like to play a MA only character, and in doing so I also intend to post mini-reviews of the arcs Im playing along the way. So if youre interested in having your arcs played by yet another character, and dont mind seeing said mini-reviews posted here, then suggest arcs for me to play the more the merrier!
Okay, now for more details about what exactly my plans are (and an in-character background too):
One, I do intend to play the safeguard missions with him. This is purely a selfish decision: I want him to have access to the temporary powers the safeguards make available. (But there will be restrictions to the safeguards and the radio missions that lead up to them, detailed later in this post.) All other missions will be played entirely in M.A.
Heres Pro Paynes character background, written in first person:
Hi there! My real name is Johnny Payne, and Im the nephew of one of Paragon Citys most veteran heroes he did make me promise not to say who he was. Unlike most of you, I dont have superpowers, but Ive always looked up to you all and Ive always wanted to be a superhero more than anything! Well, I didnt think Id ever get my chance, until that brilliant Dr. Aeon opened up Aeon Entertainment!
See, I might not have real superpowers, but the geniuses at Aeon Entertainment made it so that when Im playing one of the missions in their virtual reality simulation, the computer can make it seem like Ive really got the superpowers Ive always wanted. So now, at least when Im not waiting tables at InFront, I can actually live my superhero fantasies, just like I was playing some kind of giant, ultra-cool superhero video game!
Now, they said I kinda have to play by the rules. I cant just start out as powerful as my uncle. Theyll pretend like Im Security Level 1, and whenever I, um, level up, I get to take my frequent player punch card to one of those hero trainers, where theyll help me figure out which new power I get to add to my Mission Architect profile, or which power I can make more powerful. I already took it to Back Alley Brawler, to get started. He was pretty cool about it; didnt make fun of me for wanted to be like a hero or anything.
I even selected what my first powers were going to be like in the simulation. Im definitely going to go with being a fire scrapper all the way. I just think fire is such a cool power to have. And I read somewhere they can solo through missions really well, which I think is going to be important because all the real heroes kind of look at me weird when I ask for a team.
Oh, and my uncle did give me a little bit of extra help. Hes actually semi-retired, and since hes such a long-time vet, he had an undead slaying axe, a nemesis staff, and a blackwand to lend me. Thatll help in case any criminals pick on me on the way to and from the trainers, or when I need to go to a store to buy or sell things I get with my architect tickets. He even said I could use it if I wanted to stop any crimes I heard about when Im listening on my police scanner, like if I wanted to stop a bank robbery or something. He did say to be really, really careful, though, and not bite off more than I can chew in the real world, since all my ultra cool fire powers wont work in the real world.
Now, back to being serious: my goal is to actually update this post from time to time with feedback on what it is like to play a (nearly) MA-only character. As hinted, Pro Paynes main RP quirk is that I wont use his fire powers outside of MA (i.e. in radio or safeguards of which I intend to use only just enough to get the safeguard temporary powers); beyond that I certainly do intend to spend his tickets and influence normally, including my normal activities on the market, etc.
I will try to make about half of the arcs I play based on random searches (although I have no interest in arcs that look like farms), and half based on recommendations. Of course, in posting my feedback on what its like to play an MA-only character, Ill also post my impressions of the arcs (these will tend to be fairly brief, however Im not really interested in giving full-fledged arc reviews here, but I will put up a few notes and the score I gave it.) Obviously, as a huge MA fan, I will certainly not hesitate to play my own arcs too but I will not be mentioning those arcs in any feedback in this thread (well, beyond any IDs showing up in my signature).
One last thing for recommending arcs obviously I want to have him gaining XP as much as possible, and in facing foes that are reasonably scaled to my current level, so if you post an arc here for me to try, understand that I wont necessarily be playing them in the order I see them here; I will often be arranging them to play them in an order that is most appropriate to my level.
Oh, and it is okay to post villainous arcs for me to try. The best thing about Pro Payne not being a real hero is that hes more than willing to try to see what its like to be a villain, as long as real people dont have to get hurt.
Off to MA!
M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice!
Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)