Pro Payne: From 1 to 50 in M.A. (suggest arcs!)
By
airhead,
Posted on: 2009-04-21 21:52 in Mission Architect
As usual, thank you to everyone for the suggestions. Every one of them has been put in my play queue (as usual, typically in an order that will best suit Pro Payne level when he plays through them).
I've played through Teen Phalanx Forever! and feedback is on the way (probably early next week).
To GlaziusF: actually I would be interested in seeing the sequel - I'm not sure when I'm going to have time, but if the offer's still open when I find the time, I'm game. I actually do have an odd request: Triumph is my "villain" server; even though it's "out of character" running that arc in test mode would work pretty well for me (I've got a "badge" character villain, and an opportunity to work on testing badges would be welcome).
Over the next week I'll be checking this thread for additional posts, and adding to my queue. I did want to let you all know I'm going to be pretty scarce for the next week - you know all those folks saying they're going to be busy with finals? I'm one of them: only on the other end - I'm one of the folks who has to make, give, and grade the finals, and that's going to keep me occipied. I'm going to try to play from time to time, but I'll probably be prioritizing arcs where the author hasn't requested feedback (for next week only).
Keep the suggestions coming!
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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To GlaziusF: actually I would be interested in seeing the sequel - I'm not sure when I'm going to have time, but if the offer's still open when I find the time, I'm game. I actually do have an odd request: Triumph is my "villain" server; even though it's "out of character" running that arc in test mode would work pretty well for me (I've got a "badge" character villain, and an opportunity to work on testing badges would be welcome).
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Well, drop me a global tell, and I hope your badger's over 35 because we'll need to meet in the RWZ.
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)
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To GlaziusF: actually I would be interested in seeing the sequel - I'm not sure when I'm going to have time, but if the offer's still open when I find the time, I'm game. I actually do have an odd request: Triumph is my "villain" server; even though it's "out of character" running that arc in test mode would work pretty well for me (I've got a "badge" character villain, and an opportunity to work on testing badges would be welcome).
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Well, drop me a global tell, and I hope your badger's over 35 because we'll need to meet in the RWZ.
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Way ahead of you. He's level 50.
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)
Its been a busy week for Pro Payne (hes got finals, and hasnt been able to wile away the time at AE as much), but he has managed to get several more missions under his belt. He spent some time pretending he had a sidekick (who joined the Teen Freedom Phalanx), got a terrible drug off the streets (but at a very hefty price), saved a bunch of cute little spiderlings, beat the tar out of a nutso clown, and sparred with a dangerous new technological threat called the double helix.
Heres his current queue (theyre arranged in the order he intends to play them, typically from lower to higher level, but hes waiting to get to level 22 and SOs - before starting any of them; so for the time being hes been searching for arcs where he can fight level 20 and 21 foes).
1709, 2220, 84420, 5073, 2922, 1567, 3326, and 1356. Remember to let me know if you want a review of your arc posted here (versus just having me play it).
Speaking of which, I promised Police Woman a review of Teen Phalanx Forever!
So
#67335: Teen Phalanx Forever. (Gave it 4 stars; I'd give it 5 with some "extra plot" added to missions one and two)
Pro Payne plays his sidekick (Kid Pro Payne) in this arc that depicts his adventures with the Teen Freedom Phalanx. It began with him proving he had the right stuff to join by helping the TFP take down Dr. Vahziloks latest evil plan. Next was a mission to help out his new supergroup by taking down the Clockwork King and rescuing Penelope Yin. Afterwards, Kid Pro Payne got stuck with monitor duty: his snooping around in other TFP members stuff give him a tantalizing hint that someone named V had it in for Citadel XP (the teen Citadel, naturally) he erroneously wondered if it was Val (although he couldnt see why that would be), but then the base was attacked by the Freakshow and Clamor, who had been hired to capture the remaining members of the TFP (Kid Pro Payne found out, after the battle, that Citadel XP and Cora teen Sister Psyche / Manticore had already been captured by this mysterious V). Well, V ended up being an upgrade of Citadels design based on powerful Council robotics technology the deadly Citadel Vista! The Teen Phalanx rallied and defeated Citadel Vista before he could consign Citadel XP to the scrap heap (along with the rest of the Teen Phalanx). Unfortunately, Kid Pro Paynes adventures ended there, as Pro Payne needed to call on his trusty sidekicks skills for the time being. Kid Pro Payne and the Teen Phalanx parted ways, but with a standing invitation to call on the Phalanx if ever the need arose.
Pros: A solid, well-polished arc. Minimal typos (meaning there may be some, but I didnt notice any), excellent mission design from a technical standpoint (mission #3 was particularly impressive). As advertised, the arc worked just fine for a level 19 character, although, on a personal note, I think the arcs story (obviously) works best if you play it with an out leveled character to best capture the feeling that youre really your main characters young, inexperienced sidekick. The characters were likeable and fun to interact with. If the authors intent was to capture the feel of those teen hero cartoons (or comics), this arc did a great job. Okay, so then, why not five stars?
Cons: I hate to admit it (and I apologize for any hurt feelings), but for such a well put together arc, I was rather bored at least until the 3rd mission. I gave a lot of thought as to exactly why this is. Im sure part of it is a little personal (those teen hero shows and comics never really captured my interest, even way back when I was a teen), but if that was all there was to it, I probably would have actually rated the arc 5 stars anyway. There was more to it than that:
The first two missions were on somewhat long maps that I have done many times before and are fairly close to simply being replicas of canon missions, with the TFP inserted in. On one level, it works well since it gives the impression that Im helping the Teen Phalanx (for example) in *their* run to stop the Vahzilok wasting disease (Dr. Vahzilok even had mostly the same dialog) but the problem is Ive stopped the Vahzilok disease so many times before that (one) Im rather bored of it, and (two) it does kind of break immersion (if real Pro Payne actually stopped the Vahzilok plague some time back, shouldnt Kid Pro Payne and the TFP be stopping an all new plot?). I *may* have missed something, but I think actually adding some clues and changing some text to flesh out the tail-end of an all-new Vahzilok plot would be really neat (or even somehow have the Teen Phalanx members relate the stages of the story arc they were on prior to you getting there to help with their final battle with Dr. Vahzilok).
The clockwork mission was a variation from the finale mission in Synapses TF, which was good! But, again, I almost wanted more background story in here, to create the feel that I was part of foiling more of a plot than kidnap Penelope to make her the clockwork princess although, on a sinister note, perhaps some gear that suggests the King intended to remove her brain and implant it in a clockwork body. Admittedly, that may be a bit too dark for this arc, though (and really isnt very canon).
Basically, missions one and two just didnt capture my attention as much as I wanted them to but mission three certainly did. Heh, put me down as one of those heroes who just had to rifle through everyones stuff. This mission was extremely well done (and the fact it was short, and clue-intensive, was a neat diversion from the fairly long previous missions), and caught my attention again.
And, of course, that meant that (along with a somewhat shorter seeming map), I was more invested in the story again for the finale.
Still, I was somewhat disappointed that I never got to meet Statesboy. (Obviously I didnt grade down for that, though) My honest opinion: with a bit of sprucing up of the first two missions, Id certainly have been willing to rate this arc a solid 5 stars.
And on to another arc (I dont believe I got a specific request to review this one, but I did want to mention it and give a bit of feedback, since I really liked the arc, but could see several places for improvement).
#156389: Kiss Hello Goodbye (4 stars, could easily be 5 with some polish)
This arc is written in a film noir / gritty detective story style, and it works really well. As I said, I really enjoyed playing it, loved the story, and the only thing keeping it from 5 stars was the need for a bit of polish (to both the flow of the missions, and a few technical details).
Most of the dialog in this arc, including conversations with your contact, are actually written as your own characters inner monologue some may not like that, but I certainly didnt mind (probably because Pro Paynes whole concept is a regular guy who like to use AE to role play being a hero, so hes very willing to let the author write the character hell play for the arc), and it was done well.
In the arc, youre sent by a Dame Best to rescue her kid sister. The kid sister is wanted by a dangerous drug cartel because she knows how to make a mind controlling drug called Siren. Only it turns out that she *is* Siren
the drug is a chemical or a pheromone (or something similar) that she exudes, and the criminals want it for themselves (and also to get it off the street). There are numerous twists and turns to the plot (all done well), and a genuinely sad ending (which is both in keeping with the theme, and a good sign: it means I actually cared about the characters).
Of course, while playing the arc, I made a list of several suggestions this is one of those arcs I really want to see improved, as I really liked its potential.
I wasnt totally clear on the relationship between Dame Best and Dame Eden Lake (were they the same, and if they were, then why was Ligea sorry Im probably misspelling her name Ligea Best instead of Ligea Lake?) It just confused me a little.
A very minor nitpick: you might want to rename Slick Willie to something a bit less politically charged. It didnt bother me in the least, but some folks are just jerks and will find an excuse to be bothered by something like that. Obviously this was *not* something I graded down for.
Also, and related to one of my more major suggestions: it might be useful to actually have Slick Willie give up the location of the boat in his dialog. Again, I was a bit confused as to how exactly I found out about the boat I assumed S.W. told me based on the fact that he gave up information, but specifics do make the story easier to follow.
And so, my major suggestion I do think theres a need to make the transitions from one mission to the next a bit stronger. By that, I think it isnt always very clear how exactly you knew where to go next (often, the dialog would hint that youd gotten the info, but wouldnt mention any specifics).
There did seem to be some odd typographical bugs in the dialog Like odd spaces showing up after my name, but before punctuation marks (e.g. Pro Payne . or Pro Payne , instead of Pro Payne. Or Pro Payne,) I havent noticed that in other arcs, so I assume it has something to do with how you formatted the dialog text. (It does tend to show up in the clues as well)
Theres definitely some proofreading and editing work that needs doing sorry, I do find making long lists of every typo I find hideously dull, so, well, I didnt make one, but I did notice quite a few. A very careful once-over of all your mission text might help you catch a lot of those. Oh, and dont forget: i before e except after c. 
I believe its in mission 4, but in the mission where you fight Old Fossil (as opposed to him being an ally), OFs description still made it sound like he was on your side.
Very neat arc! Thanks for suggesting it!
And now, back to the grading grind. Keep those suggestions coming!
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 hate to admit it (and I apologize for any hurt feelings), but for such a well put together arc, I was rather bored .... I think actually adding some clues and changing some text to flesh out the tail-end of an all-new Vahzilok plot would be really neat .... The clockwork mission was a variation from the finale mission in Synapses TF, which was good! But, again, I almost wanted more background story in here, to create the feel that I was part of foiling more of a plot ... Basically, missions one and two just didnt capture my attention as much as I wanted them to.
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This is actually really helpful input. I mostly set up the first two missions to introduce the player to the team and set up a working dynamic; however, I think you have an excellent point that each of the villains in these missions should have a more interesting criminal plot in mind.
I will definitely try to come up with more stuff to add to the first two missions to make the villains more involving.
Thanks for your run through and detailed feedback!
@PW - Police Woman (50 AR/dev blaster on Liberty)
TALOS - PW war journal - alternate contact tree using MA story arcs
=VICE= "Give me Liberty, or give me debt!"
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#156389: Kiss Hello Goodbye (4 stars, could easily be 5 with some polish)
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Thanks a lot!
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There are numerous twists and turns to the plot (all done well), and a genuinely sad ending (which is both in keeping with the theme, and a good sign: it means I actually cared about the characters).
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Glad that came off for you! Yay!
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I wasnt totally clear on the relationship between Dame Best and Dame Eden Lake (were they the same, and if they were, then why was Ligea sorry Im probably misspelling her name Ligea Best instead of Ligea Lake?) It just confused me a little.
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One is an alias, the other is her real name.
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A very minor nitpick: you might want to rename Slick Willie to something a bit less politically charged.
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You aren't the first to say that; I'll consider it.
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e.g. Pro Payne . or Pro Payne , instead of Pro Payne. Or Pro Payne
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Oops!
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I believe its in mission 4, but in the mission where you fight Old Fossil (as opposed to him being an ally), OFs description still made it sound like he was on your side.
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I'll check on that as soon as I get a chance.
Thanks again for your review, and I'm glad you liked it. I will republish as soon as I can: it doesn't seem to want to let me republish while I have 3 missions up for some reason. It will let me edit and save, but it wants me to unpublish an old mission rather than republish.
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!
A major milestone for Pro Payne last night: level 22, and (finally) SOs! Rejoice, for now Pro Payne plans to once again take up the queue of those higher level arcs (if you want to see what it is, or if you're on it, scroll upward; it's in an earlier post - if you want to be placed on it, post your arc ID here. If all you want is a play-thru, that's all you need; but if you want a review, please ask specifically for one, so that I can mark your arc as "review requested.")
Anyway, here's Pro Payne's current "stats", for those that are interested. I've got a few observations that I'll put in a second post after this one (lest people get too turned off by my tendency to post massive walls of text).
Now level 22, Pro Payne has 1,261,807 influence to his name. With no need to spend it on enhancements or anything else (he has tickets for that), ALL of it is bidding on a Steadfast Protection: Knockback Resistance IO. The "knockback hole" in Firey Aura is enough to make me want to set myself on fire (pun intended) - hopefully this will help, and allow Pro Payne to spend less than half a fight on his back.
He's done a total of 36 story arcs (28 are heroic arcs)
He's earned a total of 11,238 tickets, and still has 4,502 left to spend (this is *after* completely decking him out with SOs - so yes, so far the AE system has allowed me to keep my character totally up to date with whatever the best available enhancements are from among the TOs, DOs, and SOs).
He's got 47 AE badges so far, and of the "accomplishments within AE" (that are not related to authoring or testing arcs), he's only missing the last badges for "click glowies", "defeat custom foes", "destroy objects", and "inspirations."
More to come...
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 throw the arc in my sig into the ring, but I would suggest waiting until probably the 30's to do it. The regular mobs aren't a big deal and while I've never had any problems with the EB in the last mission, plenty of people have. He's Radiation/Radiation and a standard enemy created by the devs, so there's no shenanigans there (I would just say who he is, but I hate to spoil the surprise). I just want to give fair warning so you can decide for yourself.
I wouldn't mind a review and I think this is an interesting project. I hope you continue to have good luck with it.
--edit--
Oh, and you might want to dump some of those tickets into a low level gold class recipe roll. You might get your -KB IO recipe out of it for "free." And if you don't, you'll probably get something you can sell for a pretty penny.
If you want a glimpse at Pro Payne's current status, just read the previous post. Here are some of my "along the way" observations.
Having played through all of the low level arcs people had suggested, Pro Payne hit an interesting lull. He still has a decent "to do" list, but they are all arcs that would scale him up to level 25 or higher, and that was something he wanted to avoid until reaching 22 and SOs (For me, my character actually feels weakest around 20 and 21, when my last batch of DOs is getting pretty outdated, just before you get the huge boost SOs provide, and the game's pacing and 'fun factor' suddenly go way up again).
There are remarkably few MA arcs (at least with good searchable tags) that cater specifically to characters in the very early 20s (most of the 'MLMA' arcs have at least a few missions that "auto-sk" you up to 25, 30, or even higher), so the last two levels for Pro Payne have been the roughest.
He's been doing lots of arcs based on random searches, and has been forced to take on lots of arcs with nothing but custom groups (in the, often futile hope, that the groups are decently balanced for a 20-21st level character) - yeah, I could have started hitting my "22+ queue", but I really want to enjoy those arcs as much as possible, and so I've been saving them for post SO to minimize frustration.
And, in doing random MA content for these past two levels, I must say I have truly come to appreciate the overall quality of the work posted by people who frequent this part of the forum, and have posted in my thread. When you've been playing 3, 4, and 5 star arcs, it's a shock to the system just how awful a 1 or 2 star arc can be.
Not that they're labelled 1 or 2 stars. The sheer number of 4 and 5 star arcs you get in random searches that are absolute drek boggles the mind. I've given out a LOT of 1 and 2 star ratings this past week, and those were for the arcs that I could actually defeat the first fight (if the first trio or duo of minions faceplanted me without me even barely denting their health - and that's assuming I was even facing a mission that *had* minions, versus ones with no plot, a field of glowies, and nothing but leutinants everywhere - or bosses; those, by the way got reported as farms). I was expecting it to be bad, but what caught me off guard was just how bad, and how many there were.
I have a renewed appreciation for those of you (and me too - shameless plug of my own arcs, down in my sig) who are writing real stories for MA, and I'm really looking forward to getting back to those arcs (and really dreading the day when I run out of them - I might have to take my own arcs down and start writing my own content for Pro Payne... yeesh.)
So keep up the good work all! (For me, finals and turning in grades are almost done, so expect to see more activity next week!)
(BTW, to Captain Awesome, I did play two of your arcs - although on another character - and I do have that promised feedback for you; I'll write it up and put it in my other thread when I get the chance - again, probably early next week).
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)
Well, on Sunday I'm publishing an arc that's 21-30. Not sure how well you'll do without SOs, as the arc relies rather heavily on custom enemies. Nothing too hard in there, though.
No need to worry, for I do have SO's now (see my earlier "progress" posts). I'll add your arc to the queue as soon as it's published. I've already added General Zod's ... er I mean Geek_Boy's.
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 would like to add my arc to the eventual queue.
The Second Coming of the Mega Mech ID #122274
It's level 25-32, I would advise holding off on it until the late 20s as it contains two AVs. They aren't designed to be too tough, a Scrapper should be able to take them with SOs and a couple of inspirations.
I appreciate any and all feedback, as I haven't gotten much on this arc.
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
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And, in doing random MA content for these past two levels, I must say I have truly come to appreciate the overall quality of the work posted by people who frequent this part of the forum, and have posted in my thread. When you've been playing 3, 4, and 5 star arcs, it's a shock to the system just how awful a 1 or 2 star arc can be.
Not that they're labelled 1 or 2 stars. The sheer number of 4 and 5 star arcs you get in random searches that are absolute drek boggles the mind. I've given out a LOT of 1 and 2 star ratings this past week, and those were for the arcs that I could actually defeat the first fight (if the first trio or duo of minions faceplanted me without me even barely denting their health - and that's assuming I was even facing a mission that *had* minions, versus ones with no plot, a field of glowies, and nothing but leutinants everywhere - or bosses; those, by the way got reported as farms). I was expecting it to be bad, but what caught me off guard was just how bad, and how many there were.
I have a renewed appreciation for those of you (and me too - shameless plug of my own arcs, down in my sig) who are writing real stories for MA, and I'm really looking forward to getting back to those arcs (and really dreading the day when I run out of them - I might have to take my own arcs down and start writing my own content for Pro Payne... yeesh.)
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Random crap is randomly crappy, ya.
But I'd think there'd be enough SFMA-tagged stuff you haven't played yet to work for you - or is that all high-level?
Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?
My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)
I've been trying to find arcs for my Scrapper to level on, it got tough when I got to 21. Plenty of good arcs before that, and I'm seeing lots that are 25+, but as was already stated, a lot of those contain enemies that might be tough before SOs. I've searched the SFMAs, and I think I've pretty much done all of the ones that start at 20.
21 is the sucky level for MA.
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
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No need to worry, for I do have SO's now (see my earlier "progress" posts). I'll add your arc to the queue as soon as it's published. I've already added General Zod's ... er I mean Geek_Boy's.
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Yeah, the only thing you really need to worry about is the EB at the end. He hits like a truck.
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Yeah, the only thing you really need to worry about is the EB at the end. He hits like a truck.
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Yeah, the rest of the arc could be soloed by a kitten. I've never had trouble with the end EB, but then again I'm a lover of lucks and just down them like pez before those kinds of battles. I soloed it with a Blaster who basically has Rise of the Phoenix in her attack chain and didn't die once, so I don't think the difficulty is too high as long as you know what you're doing and are forewarned (and I spell it out in the mission text, too).
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Yeah, the only thing you really need to worry about is the EB at the end. He hits like a truck.
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Yeah, the rest of the arc could be soloed by a kitten. I've never had trouble with the end EB, but then again I'm a lover of lucks and just down them like pez before those kinds of battles. I soloed it with a Blaster who basically has Rise of the Phoenix in her attack chain and didn't die once, so I don't think the difficulty is too high as long as you know what you're doing and are forewarned (and I spell it out in the mission text, too).
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I have a similar strategy - if I know a difficult EB is coming, I load up on purples (which is why I'm such a big proponent of warning the player when they're about to start a mission with a required EB). The only time I grade arcs down for EBs is if I end up facing the notorious situation where I've soft-capped my defense, added some extra resistance for that lucky shot or two, laid into the EB, died quickly, and barely dented the EBs health. And even that doesn't reduce the rating (hey, sometimes the bad guys just get lucky) - that has to have happened several times in a row on the same boss before I chalk it up to really bad balance and rate the arc down.
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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Yeah, the only thing you really need to worry about is the EB at the end. He hits like a truck.
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Yeah, the rest of the arc could be soloed by a kitten. I've never had trouble with the end EB, but then again I'm a lover of lucks and just down them like pez before those kinds of battles. I soloed it with a Blaster who basically has Rise of the Phoenix in her attack chain and didn't die once, so I don't think the difficulty is too high as long as you know what you're doing and are forewarned (and I spell it out in the mission text, too).
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Actually I was talking about my arc specifically.
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Actually I was talking about my arc specifically.
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Well, then I guess it's true for both of us.
Alright, just published the arc. It's arc ID 177930, Fighting Freedom. 5 missions long, but none of the missions are particularly long. Aside from the end fight, nothing should be too difficult to fight.
Since it's actually the "lowest level" arc for my queue, I've placed it at the top - The plan is to play it on Pro Payne tomorrow, and to work my way down the queue in order (roughly).
By the way, my current queue is (and they're arranged roughly in order of the minimum level I'll be while playing them):
177930
1709
2220
84420
122274 (requested review)
5073
51728 (requested review)
2922
1567
3326
1356
We'll see where that gets Pro Payne!
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)
Played three arcs today - and only made it halfway through my current level; it's very clear I'm going to need LOTS of arcs to play, so keep those suggestions coming.
(By the way, so far it's been a bang-up start ... I liked all three of todays arcs, and rated each one five stars. I really thought 1709 stood out - I can heartily recommend that one as a "must play")
Oh, and I do watch the MA Arc Finder global channel for advertised arcs (and ... heh ... am more than willing to plug my own there too) - so promote your arcs there too from time to time. I can tell you at least one player is plucking arcs for his MA character to try from there...
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)
An update from the world of Pro Payne.
Upon reaching level 22, Pro Payne actually made use of the "dual builds" feature in what I think was a rather novel way, in what I like to call:
A Way Around The Unceasing Agony Of Only Having Vet. Powers
For those of you following "the story" - you'll know Pro Payne doesn't use his fire powers outside of MA missions (unless I forget to toggle off his armor by accident or something) - take a gander at his first post if you want to know more. The only missions he does outside of MA are the scanner missions he needs to unlock a Safeguard at each appropriate level range, to get that useful temp. power.
That the whole "out of MA" experience has gone downhill did not come as a surprise - I was expecting to dread the runs to get those Safeguard temps, and what a way to really drive home Pro Payne extreme preference to return to MA as fast as humanly possible. What did come as a surprise was just how fast relying on brawl, ghost axe, nem. staff, and blackwand (and his throwing knives), with no armor, started getting very lethal: I had figured the game was balanced in a way that would have made that play style agonizingly slow, but doable if I was very careful. What I learned is that by level 10 a typical lt. and minion spawn had a pretty good chance of doing me in.
By level 20, I found myself seriously considering either giving up that "concept" aspect of Pro Payne, and letting him use his fire powers in 'out of MA' missions, OR just giving up on getting the rest of Safeguard temp powers. Then, an interesting solution to the problem that also had a rather neat "side benefit" occured to me.
Pro Payne has been adventuring in MA for some time now - he may not have superpowers in the outside world, but there'd be no doubt that his physical fitness level would have greatly improved (at least if you assume that MA is sort of holodeck like, and his body is getting all of the normal benefits of running everywhere, taking swings at foes, etc.)
So, Pro Payne's alternal "outside" build incorporates "concept friendly" pool powers, things like Boxing, Kick, Tough, Jump Kick, Swift, Health, Stamina, etc. Nothing that attempts to go too far in the direction of "super" (e.g. Teleport, Whirlwind, etc.) - but at least powers that (with perhaps a minor stretch of the imagination) you could imagine a highly trained martial artist or boxer might have. Although I don't have them yet, there's no reason Pro Payne couldn't "acquire" powers that are obviously technological (such as Aid Self, where it's clear that Pro Payne is using technology to heal a wound, not some inherant superpower).
It's been fun in the sense that I've gotten to try out several pool powers I wouldn't otherwise give a second glance to (and still wouldn't for some, except for the fact they're significantly better than no character powers at all).
Missions outside of MA are still significantly harder, but at least I'm not facing the prospect of needing to run to a contact to stock up on inspies after each fight (or, gasp, actually *failing* a Safeguard, and needing to replay the scanner missions to get another one).
Also...
Being A Hero Requires Tenacious Work
Pro Payne has now officially set his difficulty to Tenacious, so as to allow Bosses to be Bosses, and EBs and AVs to be EBs. It's been in the plan all along, once Pro Payne got access to SOs, and something I can say I highly recommend for any others trying the "level up a character entirely in MA" route - since there's no such thing as an XP mission bonus, this more than doubles your XP per mission (not to mention that for a scrapper, heroic post SOs is usually way too easy).
Still, I do feel compelled to repeat an observation I've made before, lest any Devs be rummaging through this arc (yeah, right)... every time I switch away from heroic, I always wish more than anything that there was an option or options that allowed you to directly control the "rank down" code independent of mission difficulty. I would LOVE to be able to have bosses, EBs, and even the option of AVs spawn "normally", even at heroic. There are many characters I'd just keep on heroic, if only I could actually have real bosses in mission (I've had many characters that I started that game set to difficultly two or three just so that bosses would stay bosses, even though I didn't *want* that added difficulty caused by increased spawn size or upped spawn level).
Okay, on to today's review... (which will be in the next post.)
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)
As requested, feedback for #122274: The Second Coming of the Mega Mech (5 stars).
I've been very pleased with the number of arcs that I've found to be very high quality and fun to play - especially because (let's face it) not everyone who thinks they're a good writer actually is, OR some authors might have good ideas, but don't seem to think good grammer and spelling is important (I'm not talking about the occasional grammer or spelling error - I'm talking about authors where every other clip of text has something wrong...). So to have a string of arcs that are well done, with good use of English, is something I'd like to thank the community for. And this arc is one of them.
Pros: While I found this arc's start to be a bit rough (I'll talk more about that in "cons"), I certainly thought it more than made up for it in the end. While it does rehash an old story, it adds a really neat new twist in the form of a custom group that I thought was very well done: the Cult of the Mega-Mech is very well designed. It took no suspension of disbelief to see these fanatics as ex-Council who'd joined a quasi-religious splinter group: the costumes stuck me as very 'Council' in style, but modified in a way that perfectly suggested "secretive religious kook." Actually making a custom group seem like it could have thematically come from its parent group, and yet look distinctive in their own right is hard to do, but this author did a good job. Another thing I liked, that can probably be chalked up to something beyond the author's control (but that I liked anyway), is the use of the maps. See, I'm not an obligate TF runner - I'm a soloer who likes a good story. As a result, I often don't get to enjoy some of the more unique TF maps, because the current order of the day in TFs seems to be race through the thing as fast as humanly possible. This MA arc ended up being a fun opportunity for me to just admire some of the unique maps from the Hess Task Force, without some extremely impatient team leader getting mad at me for wanting to stand and gawk. Oh, and I did certainly note that the quasi-religious nature of what turned out to be the main villain group of the arc give the "second coming" reference in the arc's title (and the religious feel of the mission titles) more significance. Nice touch!
Cons: Here were my main criticisms - just a few, and I hope you find them useful. The very first mission is a bit rough around the edges, IMO, and has the weakest story elements. Specifically:
1. The contact's introductory briefing has her telling me to "stop looking at her like that" in response to something she had just said. In general I think putting implied thoughts in a "PC's" head is a very risky thing to do: it only works if the player was basically thinking what his character is supposed to be thinking anyway. And if that had happened with me, I wouldn't even be mentioning this. But it didn't work for me, since I didn't have any real reaction to what the contact said that spawned the "stop looking at me like that" comment.
2. I did want a little more backstory behind Burkholder - who is largely present in the story to just get beat up in the first mission. The story just assumes he escaped prison (not a stretch in and of itself, but I would have been happier if there was at least some nod as to how exactly he escaped - got out in the great Destined One breakout, was freed in a massive Council assault on the Zig that prompted the contact to call me on her emergency line, or whatever), and then the fact that he just goes right back to the factory to build his giant robot is, well, kinda boring. It's the old plot, without the benefit of the twist that's coming up (which certainly, IMO, saves the story). In fact, I really thought the story might have even been better if Burkholder hadn't been in it at all. "We checked. Burkholder's still holed up in the Zig. So why have we been seeing all these shipments going into that factory? And now, suddenly the door is locked, and we've lost contact with one of our Council informants. I'm getting a really bad feeling about all of this, and I'd like for you to check out that factory and see what's going on."
Granted, it's just my opinion, but it does seem to me that that setup is considerably more suspenseful, and would absorb you into the story better than "Well, nuts. Burkholder did his obligatory four seconds in the Zig before his inevitable escape, and now he's back working on his robot. Beat him up for me."
3. In the first mission debrief, there's a reference to Hess and "some group he'd sent into the factory" that seemed out of place. Perhaps I'm being hopelessly dense, but I wasn't sure if that was supposed to refer to the original "play" of the Hess Task Force - or if Hess had just ordered a bunch of people into the factory. In either case, the reference to Hess didn't seem necessary.
Summary: A great arc that starts out just a little weak, story-wise, in the beginning, but more than makes up for it by the end. A solid five stars.
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)
Here's my latest, hope you enjoy it!
Arc Name: Kiss Hello Goodbye
Arc ID: 156389
Faction: Heroic (But could easily be run by a villain who can be hired to un-kidnap somebody)
Creator Global/Forum Name: Kitsune9tails
Difficulty Level: Tested with a soloing L25 Inv/Fire Tanker primarily
Synopsis: Kiss your usual inner monologue goodbye! This mission is narrated by the whiskey-and-cigarette kissed voice of Film Noir and hard boiled detective stories. When a beautiful dame with a missing sister rolled into your City, the nights got hot and the action got wild! Can you figure out the mystery before the end? Can you save yourself from a terrible trap? If not, Kiss Hello Goodbye!
Estimated Time to Play: 1 hour (more if you clear all)
This should be soloable by most skilled players if they are careful and pick their battles.
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!